Poor from Saliba - and Pete says he won't do it again...hmmm, Real Madrid for starters and given that PSG press better that CP, you better brace yoself 😬
On top of that, Gabi's back to running with his head down and not seeing tap
We would have beaten Palace had VAR replicated decisions used against us with balls over the line eg Newcastle away last season . Yet again, VAR had to look very long and hard to find a way to deny us, with the original offside call clearly wrong. Just saying.
Not to sure about this Sancet Fella, seems like a more attacking version of merino... I had chatgpt run a side by side comparison if home with Merino lol
while Oihan Sancet and Mikel Merino share some surface-level similarities, they actually have distinct profiles when you dive deeper. Let’s break it down:
---
Similarities
1. Spanish Midfield Pedigree
Both are part of the new wave of Spanish midfielders who blend technical elegance with physical presence. They're tall, composed, and comfortable under pressure.
2. Versatility
They can operate in various roles across the midfield, adapting based on tactical setups. Both can play deeper or further up the pitch if needed.
3. Ball-Carrying Ability
Both are excellent at progressing the ball through midfield with confident dribbling and intelligent movement.
---
Key Differences
1. Role & Positioning
Sancet is a hybrid 10/8. He thrives in attacking midfield roles, often playing close to the striker, making late box entries, and scoring goals.
Merino is more of a deep-lying 8. He plays with a box-to-box profile, helping out defensively and building play from deeper areas.
2. Defensive Work Rate
Merino is a workhorse defensively. He racks up tackles, interceptions, aerial duels, and even drops into defensive lines.
Sancet? Not so much. His defensive numbers are low—he’s there to hurt teams with the ball, not win it back.
3. Passing Range
Merino has a more expansive passing game. He can switch play, play diagonals, and control tempo.
Sancet is sharper in the final third but doesn’t dictate games from deep like Merino.
4. Goal Threat
Sancet is a much bigger goal threat. He plays like a shadow striker at times—think of him as a Bellingham-lite with that nose for goal.
Merino scores too, but not with the same instinctive, striker-like presence in the box.
---
Bottom Line
Mikel Merino is more of a complete midfielder—a glue guy who keeps the team ticking, breaks up play, and adds balance.
Oihan Sancet is a high-impact attacking midfielder—less about control, more about damage. He’s more flair, more end-product, less grit.
If you're building a team and want someone to link play, defend, and orchestrate, you want Merino. If you need someone to break a game open, score, and create chaos in the final third, Sancet's your man.
You thinking of potential pairings or just drawing comparisons for style references?
I would want my AMF to be in the mold of a ball carrier like Musiala, Rodgers, heck even Foden. Being able to receive on the half turn and drive towards goal will help unsettle low blocks
It does fcuking matter because we played for a win with full strength side and we still couldn't hold on. I would agree with headline if we had played a few youths, mixed up our starting xi, but Arteta clearly wanted a W last night and we didn't do it. Not at all good way to prepare for a huge match next week.
Completely agree with this, who cares about the league we got out of the game with no injuries the focus is on psg 3 games and we are HEROS. Theres nothing in being 2nd place that can amount to being European champions. So dont care. Bring on Tuesday night and smash PSG
Obviously Arsenal have passed on the Nypan chap. Seems we're looking at a more established AM to compete with Odegaard. The Sancet guy from Bilbao seems of interest
I understand that player minds were not in the game yesterday and it's hard to fight that. However, there are two points.
1. Home crowd came yesterday to see the win and not it just being given away.
2. Why was it as close to the first eleven as possible? Martinelli played fourth time 90 minutes in the last 2 weeks and was obviously gassed when he couldn't control the ball in the 92nd minute in their box.
Why did Nwaneri get only mere 10 minutes? If the result is not a first priority, shouldn't we prioritise using these exact games to develop players, who, we know, have potential, but lack experience and consistency? Could we have seen another PL debut? I bet at least the crowd would enjoy that.
Call me pedantic but last night could prove to be a bit of a disaster to our season. I honestly feel it drags us down to this CL race with City, Forest, Newcastle and Villa (Chavs are out of the question now for me, luckily).. Bournemouth in the middle of the PSG games will be tough and heavily rotated, Liverpool away will evidently be tough, Newcastle at our place will be tough as they will come out flying and have the midfield and attack to really hurt us. Southampton will be 3 points..
This ain’t gonna be a nice run in, hold onto your hats.
City probably win their next 4, wouldn’t put it past Newcastle doing something similar, Forest have a nice run in and Villa have shown they can beat just about anyone when it comes down to it.
I’ll gladly and happily swallow humble pie on this comment but we’ve got to be realistic here and look at the dross over the last few weeks in league games
I know.. tbf, I’ve just double checked the table and this comment was written in rage 😂 1 win is enough to take us beyond Villa even if they win their last 4.
I apologise, it was the emotion and I should have done a bit more homework. But that result got in my head last night 🤯😂
I get it, drawing sucks, losing even more, in a year if things are going well, AFC could have won it.
However, AFC has won the EPL, gone Undefeated (The Invincilbes), but not won the CL, it would be epic for the team, Arteta, the FANS, management and the owners if they do it!
I’m fully aware that the focus is on CL and the league is done mate and like everyone, I will be the happiest man on the earth if we do bring CL home. But last nights result was ridiculous and puts us in a position we really did not need to be in for the last 4 games. As pedro said in a previous post, 2nd is symbolic and has financial reward in comparison to 3rd or 4th or even 5th.
Our next game is against PSG next week, that's a long break if the 1st teamers don't play minutes, they will be rusty so he had to play a decent squad and rest some key players. The boys did not play at high intensity and Pete is correct in saying it is preservation. The league does not matter now, would you rather lose the semis or push for 2nd? Liverpool do not lose currently and cannot lose with all the favours they receive. We will still make 2nd easily, but nit getting new injuries is key, and that was managed well last night. COYG!!!
of course we’re all going to pick the UCL. BUT … they’re not mutually exclusive but quite the opposite- winning helps
momentum.
This same type of
question is often asked when we play the same team twice in succession and people
ask that question - which is more important? As annoying as those types of fixtures are, the answer is always the same. Go all out for both as the momentum from one often carries into the second (eg and admittedly very old now but 2 cup finals v Sheffield Wed in 1993).
Agreed, all games are important but with our squad depleted as it is we have to choose our battles. And battling Palace with high intensity was not the battle to risk injuries. If we had a deeper squad of good players perhaps rotation would have been better managed, but in the PL you cannot afford to drop levels and our rotation players are not close to our starting players. This point was proven against Palace, take it as you may.
The 1st teamer's or what is left of them, should have been rested for the last 2 years, rusty, they can play is this system in their sleep, but Arteta keeps playing them all huge minutes, including Rice and Partey.
Partey can use the rest for the second game as he is on an unsustainable rate this year!
Arteta is pup light, without the $20 million dollar reserves 24 deep.
Amateur really.
If AFC come out flat against the oilers 2, you will know why.
If not, the players are trying to go way deep into the red zone to do something not thought possible, physically and mentally!
No point lamenting about the last 2 years buddy, we are talking about now. As u rightly say, what's left of them. We don't have a deep squad due to injuries and our squad players available are not on the same level. Granted our players have been run into the ground and that's on Arteta, but can he do anything about it now? Nope, so why stress about it? The focus is on the semis and anyone who is negative right now as an Arsenal supporter must surely be a troll. We beat Madrid convincingly, and look well in the race to win the CL, our first CL, we have not been this close in a while. So can we just celebrate where we are right now and stop lamenting about things we cannot change.
Okay mate, I agree with you on that, my point is you cannot call him pep lite and try to squeeze out negativity at a time like this, being where we are as a club. Do u then with all your experience in sports think that a coach with 4 years at the top level should know all the ins and outs of coaching and player management?
The fact that he is competing with pep, klopp, ancelotti and the rest at any level is remarkable. Can we stop finding the bad and actually celebrate what he has achieved considering his inexperience and the inexperience of his squad? If you cannot see that as a positive by taking his growth and achievements as a sign that he will learn from his mistakes, then there is no point debating this any further. Cheers mate.
Calling him out, fine. But lamenting on a bad performance when the team was clearly not upping the intensity to avoid any injuries. Yeah he should have rotated more earlier in the season, we can all agree on that. Hopefully he will learn that lesson for next season and have a deeper squad of quality to rotate with. The draw yesterday was Salibas fault, not Artetas. We need to acknowledge that. Calling him pep lite when we were challenging for the league despite all the odds against us, like refs and injuries, plus a CL semi after knocking out Madrid convincingly is a bit daft don't you think? So this is just a fluke then? Challenging for the league for 3 seasons running against all odds is just a fluke? CL semi just a fluke? Cmon mate.
Lamenting draws and losses earlier in the season is what concerns me, against Palace in the 34th game, for 2nd place bragging rights- I could give a toss potts.
AFC are were they are at for a reason, I have been playing, coaching, reading and watching sports for 50+ years, and never have I seen 3 hamstring surgeries, and Martin a millimeter away from the 4th, in one season, ever, anywhere.
Arteta has had 4+ years to figure this out and he has crushed our top stars for the last two years, anyone watching Saka, not being subbed, ever, anywhere for club or country knew he was going to break. However, the geniuses at the top could not figure it out?
Can't have it both ways, 2nd important for future, $, confidence, minutes, blah blah blah.
Saliba has made 2 mistakes that have led to goals, him playing non-stop a coincidence as a result of this, I think not.
Play the youth, change some tactics and let players recover from 2 years straight of games that have not been on the surgeons table, and an 18 year old that is playing insane minutes, hell, even Raya is making mental errors.
This can be done in games where players can save themselves for 20-30 minutes per game which leads to a game off every 4,
This is so easy to see, and people just writing off the EPL title at this date are blind, it does not matter in the least if we come 2-4th.
Should have rested players coming into the tougher schedule and play the cup games in the CL as if their lives depended on it.
If this was a game that didn't matter then why play so many first 11? Only for the chance to pick up an injury? And if Odegaard is playing injured then he should have been rested.
Peter you are right the league has been over. However, winning games breeds confidence. Losing a home game we should win before a massive CL game was not a good thing.
Who cares we win 1 nil but a win would have carried the confidence to PSG.
Outside of that, this was a chance for Mike to try new tactics. Ethan should have got more mins. Ode needs to sit down. Especially with a game like this, there was no reason to not give the kid more time and rest Ode. But Mike is your dude. The same lack of rotation still there. Trying new tactics- nope.
Second maters for next years champions league seeding and prize money from the pot, it's actually quite important financially.
Poor from Saliba - and Pete says he won't do it again...hmmm, Real Madrid for starters and given that PSG press better that CP, you better brace yoself 😬
On top of that, Gabi's back to running with his head down and not seeing tap
in passes for Saka 🤦🏼♂️
We would have beaten Palace had VAR replicated decisions used against us with balls over the line eg Newcastle away last season . Yet again, VAR had to look very long and hard to find a way to deny us, with the original offside call clearly wrong. Just saying.
Not to sure about this Sancet Fella, seems like a more attacking version of merino... I had chatgpt run a side by side comparison if home with Merino lol
while Oihan Sancet and Mikel Merino share some surface-level similarities, they actually have distinct profiles when you dive deeper. Let’s break it down:
---
Similarities
1. Spanish Midfield Pedigree
Both are part of the new wave of Spanish midfielders who blend technical elegance with physical presence. They're tall, composed, and comfortable under pressure.
2. Versatility
They can operate in various roles across the midfield, adapting based on tactical setups. Both can play deeper or further up the pitch if needed.
3. Ball-Carrying Ability
Both are excellent at progressing the ball through midfield with confident dribbling and intelligent movement.
---
Key Differences
1. Role & Positioning
Sancet is a hybrid 10/8. He thrives in attacking midfield roles, often playing close to the striker, making late box entries, and scoring goals.
Merino is more of a deep-lying 8. He plays with a box-to-box profile, helping out defensively and building play from deeper areas.
2. Defensive Work Rate
Merino is a workhorse defensively. He racks up tackles, interceptions, aerial duels, and even drops into defensive lines.
Sancet? Not so much. His defensive numbers are low—he’s there to hurt teams with the ball, not win it back.
3. Passing Range
Merino has a more expansive passing game. He can switch play, play diagonals, and control tempo.
Sancet is sharper in the final third but doesn’t dictate games from deep like Merino.
4. Goal Threat
Sancet is a much bigger goal threat. He plays like a shadow striker at times—think of him as a Bellingham-lite with that nose for goal.
Merino scores too, but not with the same instinctive, striker-like presence in the box.
---
Bottom Line
Mikel Merino is more of a complete midfielder—a glue guy who keeps the team ticking, breaks up play, and adds balance.
Oihan Sancet is a high-impact attacking midfielder—less about control, more about damage. He’s more flair, more end-product, less grit.
If you're building a team and want someone to link play, defend, and orchestrate, you want Merino. If you need someone to break a game open, score, and create chaos in the final third, Sancet's your man.
You thinking of potential pairings or just drawing comparisons for style references?
I would want my AMF to be in the mold of a ball carrier like Musiala, Rodgers, heck even Foden. Being able to receive on the half turn and drive towards goal will help unsettle low blocks
It does fcuking matter because we played for a win with full strength side and we still couldn't hold on. I would agree with headline if we had played a few youths, mixed up our starting xi, but Arteta clearly wanted a W last night and we didn't do it. Not at all good way to prepare for a huge match next week.
good points, we played a full power team for the win. Palace always seems to do this to us. Spoils and messes up shit
Completely agree with this, who cares about the league we got out of the game with no injuries the focus is on psg 3 games and we are HEROS. Theres nothing in being 2nd place that can amount to being European champions. So dont care. Bring on Tuesday night and smash PSG
Obviously Arsenal have passed on the Nypan chap. Seems we're looking at a more established AM to compete with Odegaard. The Sancet guy from Bilbao seems of interest
Sancet develops into a world class player in FM. That's about all I know of him
Reading Pedro was therapeutic my anger vanished instantly well done Pedro in deed thanks
I understand that player minds were not in the game yesterday and it's hard to fight that. However, there are two points.
1. Home crowd came yesterday to see the win and not it just being given away.
2. Why was it as close to the first eleven as possible? Martinelli played fourth time 90 minutes in the last 2 weeks and was obviously gassed when he couldn't control the ball in the 92nd minute in their box.
Why did Nwaneri get only mere 10 minutes? If the result is not a first priority, shouldn't we prioritise using these exact games to develop players, who, we know, have potential, but lack experience and consistency? Could we have seen another PL debut? I bet at least the crowd would enjoy that.
winning dead rubbers , if that is what it is, and coming second is important for momentum as well as
signing our marquee striker in the summer. However would have expected
more rotation last night.
You are contradicting your self. You have pointed out the importance of consisency in finishing second, several times.
Call me pedantic but last night could prove to be a bit of a disaster to our season. I honestly feel it drags us down to this CL race with City, Forest, Newcastle and Villa (Chavs are out of the question now for me, luckily).. Bournemouth in the middle of the PSG games will be tough and heavily rotated, Liverpool away will evidently be tough, Newcastle at our place will be tough as they will come out flying and have the midfield and attack to really hurt us. Southampton will be 3 points..
This ain’t gonna be a nice run in, hold onto your hats.
City probably win their next 4, wouldn’t put it past Newcastle doing something similar, Forest have a nice run in and Villa have shown they can beat just about anyone when it comes down to it.
I’ll gladly and happily swallow humble pie on this comment but we’ve got to be realistic here and look at the dross over the last few weeks in league games
Even if we get 5th, AFC will get CL league.
I know.. tbf, I’ve just double checked the table and this comment was written in rage 😂 1 win is enough to take us beyond Villa even if they win their last 4.
I apologise, it was the emotion and I should have done a bit more homework. But that result got in my head last night 🤯😂
Scott,
I get it, drawing sucks, losing even more, in a year if things are going well, AFC could have won it.
However, AFC has won the EPL, gone Undefeated (The Invincilbes), but not won the CL, it would be epic for the team, Arteta, the FANS, management and the owners if they do it!
I’m fully aware that the focus is on CL and the league is done mate and like everyone, I will be the happiest man on the earth if we do bring CL home. But last nights result was ridiculous and puts us in a position we really did not need to be in for the last 4 games. As pedro said in a previous post, 2nd is symbolic and has financial reward in comparison to 3rd or 4th or even 5th.
Symbolic of failure on certain levels, and keeping the team competitive in CL has been amazing.
The difference is pennies.
Our next game is against PSG next week, that's a long break if the 1st teamers don't play minutes, they will be rusty so he had to play a decent squad and rest some key players. The boys did not play at high intensity and Pete is correct in saying it is preservation. The league does not matter now, would you rather lose the semis or push for 2nd? Liverpool do not lose currently and cannot lose with all the favours they receive. We will still make 2nd easily, but nit getting new injuries is key, and that was managed well last night. COYG!!!
of course we’re all going to pick the UCL. BUT … they’re not mutually exclusive but quite the opposite- winning helps
momentum.
This same type of
question is often asked when we play the same team twice in succession and people
ask that question - which is more important? As annoying as those types of fixtures are, the answer is always the same. Go all out for both as the momentum from one often carries into the second (eg and admittedly very old now but 2 cup finals v Sheffield Wed in 1993).
Agreed, all games are important but with our squad depleted as it is we have to choose our battles. And battling Palace with high intensity was not the battle to risk injuries. If we had a deeper squad of good players perhaps rotation would have been better managed, but in the PL you cannot afford to drop levels and our rotation players are not close to our starting players. This point was proven against Palace, take it as you may.
it’s still a week until the next game though - players get rusty.
Exactly, so players needed a run out.
The 1st teamer's or what is left of them, should have been rested for the last 2 years, rusty, they can play is this system in their sleep, but Arteta keeps playing them all huge minutes, including Rice and Partey.
Partey can use the rest for the second game as he is on an unsustainable rate this year!
Arteta is pup light, without the $20 million dollar reserves 24 deep.
Amateur really.
If AFC come out flat against the oilers 2, you will know why.
If not, the players are trying to go way deep into the red zone to do something not thought possible, physically and mentally!
No point lamenting about the last 2 years buddy, we are talking about now. As u rightly say, what's left of them. We don't have a deep squad due to injuries and our squad players available are not on the same level. Granted our players have been run into the ground and that's on Arteta, but can he do anything about it now? Nope, so why stress about it? The focus is on the semis and anyone who is negative right now as an Arsenal supporter must surely be a troll. We beat Madrid convincingly, and look well in the race to win the CL, our first CL, we have not been this close in a while. So can we just celebrate where we are right now and stop lamenting about things we cannot change.
Okay mate, I agree with you on that, my point is you cannot call him pep lite and try to squeeze out negativity at a time like this, being where we are as a club. Do u then with all your experience in sports think that a coach with 4 years at the top level should know all the ins and outs of coaching and player management?
The fact that he is competing with pep, klopp, ancelotti and the rest at any level is remarkable. Can we stop finding the bad and actually celebrate what he has achieved considering his inexperience and the inexperience of his squad? If you cannot see that as a positive by taking his growth and achievements as a sign that he will learn from his mistakes, then there is no point debating this any further. Cheers mate.
Arteta can give our players extra rest and still keep them sharp for 4 games surely, is that not what he is paid big bucks go do?
He has at his disposal 4 subs per game, and the ability to rotate more than 2 players per game at this point.
So, play the top players we have into the ground this year, in the run in, and we should not call him out?
I think not.
Calling him out, fine. But lamenting on a bad performance when the team was clearly not upping the intensity to avoid any injuries. Yeah he should have rotated more earlier in the season, we can all agree on that. Hopefully he will learn that lesson for next season and have a deeper squad of quality to rotate with. The draw yesterday was Salibas fault, not Artetas. We need to acknowledge that. Calling him pep lite when we were challenging for the league despite all the odds against us, like refs and injuries, plus a CL semi after knocking out Madrid convincingly is a bit daft don't you think? So this is just a fluke then? Challenging for the league for 3 seasons running against all odds is just a fluke? CL semi just a fluke? Cmon mate.
Lamenting draws and losses earlier in the season is what concerns me, against Palace in the 34th game, for 2nd place bragging rights- I could give a toss potts.
AFC are were they are at for a reason, I have been playing, coaching, reading and watching sports for 50+ years, and never have I seen 3 hamstring surgeries, and Martin a millimeter away from the 4th, in one season, ever, anywhere.
Arteta has had 4+ years to figure this out and he has crushed our top stars for the last two years, anyone watching Saka, not being subbed, ever, anywhere for club or country knew he was going to break. However, the geniuses at the top could not figure it out?
Not a chance in hell....
Can't have it both ways, 2nd important for future, $, confidence, minutes, blah blah blah.
Saliba has made 2 mistakes that have led to goals, him playing non-stop a coincidence as a result of this, I think not.
Play the youth, change some tactics and let players recover from 2 years straight of games that have not been on the surgeons table, and an 18 year old that is playing insane minutes, hell, even Raya is making mental errors.
This can be done in games where players can save themselves for 20-30 minutes per game which leads to a game off every 4,
This is so easy to see, and people just writing off the EPL title at this date are blind, it does not matter in the least if we come 2-4th.
Should have rested players coming into the tougher schedule and play the cup games in the CL as if their lives depended on it.
If this was a game that didn't matter then why play so many first 11? Only for the chance to pick up an injury? And if Odegaard is playing injured then he should have been rested.
Peter you are right the league has been over. However, winning games breeds confidence. Losing a home game we should win before a massive CL game was not a good thing.
Who cares we win 1 nil but a win would have carried the confidence to PSG.
Outside of that, this was a chance for Mike to try new tactics. Ethan should have got more mins. Ode needs to sit down. Especially with a game like this, there was no reason to not give the kid more time and rest Ode. But Mike is your dude. The same lack of rotation still there. Trying new tactics- nope.