The Champions League campaign kicking off for the Gunners Last night and the boys started with a bang. A massive three points against a very strong team from the fourth tier the pools. The line up stayed very similar to the weekends 3-0 win at the Emirates on Saturday, however without the skipper and with Declan Rice replacing him. The club and the fan base were optimistic about the opening night of the UCL.
In my opinion, we started the game slow, we seemed frantic, shaky and lacked control. This comes down to the selection in the midfield. With the skipper out, Mikel Merino stepped up and played in the more attacking role out of the three centre midfielders – Martin Zubimendi as the six, Declan Rice as the eight and Mikel Merino playing more in front of them. This displaying a very strong and sensible midfield. With Mikel Merino only dropping a 6.5 rating and only one chance created, this demonstrated a lack of urgency and creativity in the middle of the park. To me this is a selection issue, with young talent Ethan Nwanwri on the bench, would it have been beneficial to have selected a more natural number to act as a bridge between defence and attack? However, due to the solidarity Merino, Rice and Zubimendi bring to the midfield, maybe it was the right call.
Now lets focus on the defence. With yesterdays 2-0 win, this marks our fourth clean sheet in five games this season. We have known for a few years now that one of our biggest strengths is our defence. However, one thing we had lacked in this area of the pitch would be depth. With the past few years, we have had injuries to Saliba or Gabriel, with lack of worthy replacement, we may have solved this issue this transfer window. The 21 year old Christian Mosquera has come in for the injured William Saliba, and to be honest I have not seen much of a difference the past three games in the backline – this is a massive compliment to Mosquera. The rest of the back four are regulars for the gunners, always providing David Raya with security and solidarity.
The frontline remained unchanged from the victory at the weekend with the most promising of the front three coming from the right hand side in the form of Noni Madueke. Due to Noni being direct and taking his man on in a one versus one scenario. With the majority of the time getting the best of his opposing man, the final ball lacked quality, not reaching its designated target. With Eze looking a little bit lost on the LW and The Gykores missing a few half chances, it seemed to be a frustrating performance for the two forwards. However, this season our strength seems to be that we come in numbers. Mikel Arteta bought on Leo Trossard and Martinelli in the second half. With Martinelli scoring a goal assisted by Trossard in the Seventy- second minute of the game (36 seconds within Martinelli coming on.) And with Martinelli returning the favour for Leo to score in the 87th minute. Ensuring the 2-0 win for the Arsenal.
Overall, I think yesterdays performance against the Bilbao is a positive one. Even though the start of the match can be seen as sloppy or slow. The stats display the game as being a dominant performance and a 2-0 win. However, the message should be we are different, we now have strength in numbers, a squad worthy of winning the biggest competitions and that is why us as a fanbase need to believe and get behind the team.
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