From Philip Brune :
Myles, actually watched the whole game.
A few scattered thoughts, from what was definitely a scattered game:
– The lack of pace of Xhaka, Wilshere, older Koscielny, and Monreal seemed to leave acres of space in midfield. Umtiti would have been a good signing, maybe.
– Xhaka ran back enough to get a great view of Coutinho’s opener, but not enough to actually prevent it… clearly doesn’t have any kind of defensive instincts. But man can he hit a ball.
– Alexis was mostly lousy. Looks like he hasn’t adjusted his game at all, despite appearing a step slower (whether it’s from mental or physical causes, who knows!)
– Iwobi. Low on confidence, even lower on positional awareness.
– If Walcott is the answer, I don’t like the question
– Koscielny was at times immense, but could not always rescue the center midfield. Xhaka and Wilshere were often far too close to one another defensively. It takes a while to form an effective defensive partnership in CM, it seems.
– Cech was good.
– Lacazette made a lot of good runs that were “rewarded” with a lot of lousy passes. Reminds me a bit of a rich man’s Defoe.
– Draw was probably fair.
Cheers to the beatnik,
phil