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Morning all.
Sadly, the kind of performance we saw against PSV Eindhoven was nowhere near Old Trafford yesterday afternoon. The first half was more like a training session with a timid attacking unit up against a defence happy to let those up against them just pass the ball amongst themselves.
Mikel Merino had a shot but dragged it wide of the post. Martin Odegaard tried his luck too but Onana dealt with it with ease. Leandro Trossard saw his shot miss the target and then as halftime approached, the same player was adjudged to brought down Garnacho just outside our own box. Fernandes did what Fernandes does and Utd went 1-0 up.
Could Mikel Arteta work some magic at halftime?
Sadly not as more of the same followed with a bit of extra threat from Utd to deal with. Odegaard’s shot was tipped over the bar by Onana and from the resulting corner which Odegaard took, Rice volleyed over. He did everything right bar keeping his strike lower.
Up the other end, David Raya was in outstanding form. Mazraoui must have thought he’d doubled Utd’s lead.but Raya stuck out his leg and knocked the ball out for a corner. The Spaniard was soon called into action again, stopping a Zirkzee’s fancy flick of the ball towards goal.
With around fifteen minutes of the game left, we equalised. Jurrien Timber provided the assist, Declan Rice smashed his shot past Onana. A lovely strike. I thought that goal might spark Arsenal into life but sadly, it didn’t, not really.
Martinelli, making a much welcome return from injury, blasted a shot on target which Onana pushed around the post. Just minutes later, Hojlund looked certain to give Utd the points but Rice had other ideas as he committed to a perfectly time challenge to avert the danger.
Trossard saw another effort limp wide, Onana got fingertips to an Odegaard shot before Raya once again spared our blushes. I don’t know how he managed to keep Fernandes’ shot out of the net but he did, brilliantly…
There was a time when a draw at Old Trafford would be deemed a good result but not these days, not this season and certainly not yesterday. Even with the injuries we have, we should have beaten what I think is one of the worst Utd teams I’ve seen. But yesterday’s kind of performance, certainly domestically, summed up our season. Summed up our football too really. Slow, tippy tappy and in the final third, unimaginative. Ethan Nwaneri couldn’t get into the game but at 17 years old, he can be forgiven. Odegaard, Trossard and Merino saw a lot of the ball but didn’t really do anything purposeful with it.
I know it’s easy to be critical of Mikel Arteta but I think the criticism he’s getting nowadays is justified because one doesn’t have to be a footballing expert to see how poorly we’ve been playing in the league. Personally, I think Arteta was a bit too slow with his substitutes too and when they did come, they were odd. I know he probably hoped we’d score the winner when he brought Tierney on but taking Partey off probably contributed to Utd having more chances to win the game. Trossard was, in my opinion, the player who should have come off.
As expected, Mikel Arteta and his style of football is being heavily criticised by a number of ex players turned footballing expert. One has gone as far to suggest that this group of players will never win anything and neither will Mikel Arteta. I’m sure there is a number of Arsenal fans who feel the same and I’m kind of one of them. I wrote about Arsenal being “too nice” the other day and yesterday’s type of performance was what i was alluding to. Instead of going to Old Trafford and tearing a dreadful team to pieces, we were passive in our approach. We made it easy for them to believe they had a chance.
This isn’t me suggesting Mikel Arteta should be replaced but I do think he needs to change the way Arsenal play the game. I know we have injuries, but so does every other club barring Liverpool but even so, no one will convince me that this group of players are capable of playing to a much higher tempo.
Right now, domestically we’re drifting and if we’re not careful, that drift will take us out of the top four and then all the hard work Mikel Arteta has done, will be undone.
Next up for Arsenal is PSV Eindhoven at The Emirates on Wednesday night. The tie is all but won so I hope we see a few changes. It’s an ideal situation for Mikel Arteta to actually give the likes of Kabia, Edwards and/or Butler-Oyedeji a chance.
Catch up in the comments.