Monaco win provided a blueprint for how Arsenal can reinvent their attacking approach from open play
Arsenal 3-0 Monaco (Saka 34′, 78′, Havertz 88′)
EMIRATES STADIUM — In hindsight, unveiling a mural of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover pre-match might just have forced the moment of self-reflection Arsenal needed. This wasn’t so much jumping the shark as doing cartwheels over it. It felt like the logical end of Jovermania, visual confirmation the gag had gone too far.
Yes, this was a monument to Jover’s undeniable excellence, to Arsenal scoring 23 goals from corners alone since the start of 2022-23. But it was also a monochrome, grinning reminder of their increasingly dangerous dependency on dead-balls, of just how limited Mikel Arteta’s side can be from open play, repeatedly funnelling play between Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka and hoping they Do Something – as they did here.
Arteta spoke recently of Arsenal aim to become “kings of everything”, and said on Friday, “We want to manage the game 100 per cent”. Even pre-match, he boasted to TNT that “the amount of entries we have in the box is more than any other team”. You’ll never sing that, etc, etc.
This pursuit of perfection, this obsession with control and flawlessness in every area, has been gradually breaking something in this Arsenal side. It creates an overwhelming pressure and mental block which might well be contributing to the ongoing dulling of Gabriel Martinelli, or Gabriel Jesus’s continued collapse in confidence.
It has translated to ranking 13th in the Premier League for open play goals since the start of last season, a figure they topped in 2022-23. Especially against clubs in the top half of the top-flight, or those operating low blocks, Arsenal have too often been staid and tiring and tired and predictable, too busy calculating every action’s risk to ever actually take one, and saved by set-pieces.
And for the first 25 minutes against Monaco, nothing appeared to have changed. Arsenal were slick and smooth without being exceptional, threatened without creating anything concrete, couldn’t even assume dangerous enough positions to win a corner or free-kick despite being afforded space.
One fan hollered “Come on Arsenal” with such vigorous aggression, Maghnes Akliouche looked over in surprise while still ferrying the ball through midfield. The hosts entered the box at least three times. This was business as usual.
And then, with the air of Forrest Gump shedding his leg braces, Jesus suddenly remembered Thilo Kehrer and Mohammed Salisu had not been elite centre-backs when he had faced them at West Ham and Southampton and probably were not now. He missed two excellent chances, but was redeemed by left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly, who danced past Akliouche and found Jesus down the left, feeding Saka’s eighth goal of the season.
This was Arsenal’s first goal from open play in 286 minutes, having scored from set-pieces in four consecutive matches. It could well have been one of five in the first half alone, with Odegaard and Martinelli also slipping balls wide.
Monaco briefly resurged early in the second half, but even against Arsenal’s 10th different defensive combination of the season, danger rarely really materialised. Saka’s second was testament to his doggedness and ever-growing responsibility, pressuring Salisu and goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki into losing a ball he lanced home. He then set up Kai Havertz for a late third with similar spark and intelligence, although Odegaard and Trossard had already missed further chances.
For a group which does not lack confidence, this profligacy in front of goal feels like a consequence of the extreme pressure both history and Arteta are exerting on Arsenal. They have now been chasing and chasing without release – without success – since growing into title contenders in 2021-22.
This was supposed to be their best chance to dominate the Premier League, yet once again they are chasing. This constant mental pressure and exertion may well be what has restricted their attacking play and impacted their finishing – this was far from an isolated incident.
It is not Arteta’s fault he’s not a relaxing or easing presence – his intensity is key to his squad’s belief in him and themselves – but there were repeated examples on Wednesday evening of what is possible if he can rediscover the balance between open play and dead balls and Make Arsenal Fun Again. Their set-pieces may well be a marvel of statistical manipulation, but it’s hard to call them fun.
And in a match where Arsenal only earned two corners, here was a reminder of what they are capable of when allowed to enjoy and express themselves, even against a team which largely sat deep. There were long balls and through balls and shimmying runs here to great effect.
Odegaard, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino started their first game as a midfield trio, and there is the basis for a winning foundation here – especially when combined with the remarkable Lewis-Skelly, who became Arsenal’s youngest Champions League starter since 2011 at just 18.
He may well transpire to be a vital wildcard for Arteta this season – for 64 minutes he did a better impression of Oleksandr Zinchenko’s best than the man himself has done for some time.
Arsenal will and should still score set pieces and Jover should be venerated for it. But here is another way, a blueprint for relaxed invention and variation they would do well to lean more into, one which has occasionally reared its head of late against Sporting and West Ham but often felt either disincentivised or fully nullified. This was still led and ignited by Odegaard and Saka, but worked as a more cohesive unit.
This side oddly resembled the freewheelers of 2022-23, thrilling and sharp and varied, everything they were not against Fulham or Manchester United last week. It also solidifies their position in the Champions League hyper-table, third with two favourable games to go.
The mission is now to understand this feeling and repeat it, to be able to take similar risks when the pressure is greater and defences fiercer. If they can play like this more often, set-pieces can go back to being a welcome addition, and fans can remember Jovermania for the bizarre sideshow it should be.