Morning all.
There’s nothing like a defeat to get fans temperature boiling. There’s frustration, annoyance, anger even. Blame for our miserable style of football in the Premier League is thrown around willy nilly. It’s human nature to blame someone, even if that someone doesn’t necessarily deserve it.
In Arsenal’s case, every player and Mikel Arteta deserve criticism. Our game plan wasn’t good, our passing was sloppy, certainly defensively and overall, I think too many players had a stinker.
There was a moment in the second half when Trossard was back defending, except he wasn’t actually defending. He poked a toe out towards the opponents feet where the ball was, missed it and gave up. If that’s the actions of a player who wants to win the league then we might as well all give up hope. He wasn’t alone though so please don’t think I’m picking on him. Saliba and Zubimendi were equally as bad with their risky and sloppy passing in our own half. I don’t think I’ve ever seen either be that bad before then.
You know there are games when you/I hope that everything comes together on the day? Sunday one definitely one of them but instead, everything fell apart. Our passing looked nervous, too safe and certainly off. Saliba, on one of his too many ventures into the final third had a great opportunity to play the ball across the box where 2/3 red shirts were waiting but no, he passed back to Rice who was being hounded by a Utd defender.
We oft mention our negative passing and slow build up play but I’m still far from convinced this comes from Arteta. Before you think I’m stupid, look at how we play in Europe. We didn’t fluke a win over Bayern Munich and Inter Milan or Atletico Madrid for that matter. No, we beat all three by playing really well. “Vamos” – that’s what comes from Arteta on the sidelines.
Does anyone truly believe that Arteta tells Odegaard to look behind him for a pass before in front of him? Does Arteta tell his defensive players to make idiotic passes which end with us surrendering possession? Of course not. Yes, we play out from the back which can often frustrate us but I’m not sure there is any directive to faff around as much as we sometimes do.
I’m as disappointed with Sundays performance and result as the next fan but take out the errors, we wouldn’t have lost. Don’t get me wrong, our attacking play is far too safe and timid in my opinion but what concerns me just as much is watching how little our front players move around in attempt to find space. Our throw-ins are dismal because no one moves quick enough or at all. Only when Madueke came on did Saka pop up on the left but why? Why are our two wide men so rooted to the spot? Does that come from Arteta? Probably.
The other day I wrote about trying something different, mixing things up to make us less predictable. If that’s something as simple as our left and right “wingers” switching sides throughout the game then why not? If Arteta wants a change up front, why not try Martinelli or do I dare suggest Madueke? Both have pace to burn and in my opinion, would scare the life out of defenders. Even switching Jesus and Martinelli/Madueke/Trossard depending who is on the pitch could bare fruit especially as Jesus is more winger than striker in my opinion.
Ok, a bit extreme but I’m sure you get the drift. Make us unpredictable. Not all the time of course but just sometimes and in certain fixtures when finding a goal is proving difficult. Arteta has no problem with moving defenders around, nor midfielders when it’s been necessary so why not our attacking players too? Get them moving and in more ways than one…
Just a thought from my armchair.
After Sunday’s defeat, Arteta was as asked about the fans and whether his teams performance reflected the nerves and tension in the stands:
> I wouldn’t use that word, because we played in Stamford Bridge in a semi-final and we were brilliant. Against Inter, one of the best teams in Europe we were brilliant. But sometimes you don’t have that day and when you don’t have that day, we have to do the simple things much better than we’ve done today. And on top of that, when you look at the goals, and the goal that Dorgu scored from there, with that angle, in the top corner, it’s the only place he can put it. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent as well.
Admittedly, two of Utd’s goals were very good and yes, one has to give credit where it’s deserved but more importantly, perhaps for our own players, maybe Arteta too, that not always does there need to be an additional pass or five because if the goal is in sight, just go for it. Because sometimes, they find the target.
Now the storm has passed though, there is a reason we’re top of the league and it’s not because of making mistakes. Mistakes that I hope we don’t see for the next four months.
Catch up in the comments.