Match report – Participant rankings – Arteta response – Video
Arsenal have a mountain to climb to succeed in the Carabao Cup ultimate after a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle on the Emirates final night time.
As I anticipated, Mikel Arteta picked a powerful facet to face a crew in good type, and there was even an indication of Raheem Sterling on the bench to – nominally at the very least – give us one other attacking choice. The guests started brightly, urgent excessive, and discovering some house in our ultimate third early on.
I believe we should always have been forward although, Jurrien Timber one way or the other headed a thirteenth minute Declan Rice nook over the bar from shut vary. He’s bought to place that one away. Tonali shot over for them after extra after good work from Alexander Isak, however because the half went on I believe the momentum modified a bit and we bought extra into it. On the half hour we should always have scored when a superb first time ball despatched Gabriel Martinelli by way of. He did the whole lot proper, burst away from the chasing defenders, however crashed his shot off the keeper’s close to put up. Maybe a end to the opposite facet gave him extra likelihood of scoring, however one on one like that, it’s important to take your likelihood.
The implications of that got here dwelling to roost a couple of minutes later when Newcastle went forward. The keeper lumped a protracted free kick to the sting of the field, we didn’t win the primary header, and whereas there was maybe a fortunate deflection into the trail of Isak, Martin Odegaard was at defensive sixes and sevens, and essentially the most in-form striker round proper now made no mistake with the possibility to make it 1-0.
It was Isak who made the distinction within the second half too. His sensible motion noticed him drop off to obtain a cross in our half (I believe we should always have been extra aggressive defensively and never allowed Tonali that a lot time on the ball), he laid it off out vast, and stored going into our field. Declan Rice is ball watching, Thomas Partey can clearly see the hazard however doesn’t react in any respect, and when Isak’s fast shot was saved by Raya, Timber was caught on his heels a bit as Anthony Gordon got here into tuck dwelling the rebound.
2-0 down at dwelling, and it was an uphill battle. Nearly instantly Newcastle dropped right into a 4-5-1 defensive form and did to us what Everton and others have accomplished this season. A low block is our kryptonite, and we battle. If you happen to have a look at the stats, we had 78% possession after their second aim, however simply 9 photographs and 0 heading in the right direction. Fairly how Kai Havertz missed that header I don’t know: the mitigation shall be he’s spent every week on his sickbed, besides it’s a horrendous miss that may have given us a lifeline for what remained of this sport and for the second leg.
There was a Jorginho shot from exterior the field that flew over, but it surely was all too simple for Newcastle to take care of. Crosses into the field have been meat and drink for the defence – even once we threw Gabriel up entrance late on – and simply not sufficient craft or guile to search out the proper of openings. In the end, whereas there are clearly components of our efficiency and personnel that may be analysed to loss of life, final night time can in all probability be boiled down to 1 easy piece of research: when you’ve high-quality up entrance, you’ve an important likelihood of profitable video games like this – and Alexander Isak is 100% that.
Some will argue that with out Bukayo Saka we’re lacking our Isak, and that’s not unfair. In the event that they got here with out him, and we had Saka, wouldn’t it have been totally different? Who is aware of? Possibly … in all probability … however that’s not the fact we’re dwelling in. He actually was the distinction maker although, medical and environment friendly, however past that particular person high quality, I believe there are points of fashion for Arsenal to cope with as effectively.
A rising bug-bear for me is the way in which we permit groups to get utterly reset by taking far too many touches in our personal half. The central defenders do it, the central midfielders do it too, and by the point we shift the ball to positions the place we’d like gamers to harm the opposition, they closed down and doubled-up on. Maybe it’s too simplistic to say we’d like tempo, however I believe that may be a key ingredient that’s lacking from this Arsenal facet.
I don’t simply imply a extremely quick man who can run actually quick down the wing, I imply tempo of cross, velocity of thought, fast motion that may unsettle defences. There’s merely not sufficient of that on this crew, so we glance one-paced, pedestrian, and turn into simple to defend towards when the opposition is effectively organised and disciplined. What we get is contact contact contact contact cross contact contact cross contact contact contact cross contact contact contact cross advert infinitum and it’s vitality sapping to look at.
That Martinelli second was improbable as a result of we used the ball rapidly after profitable it in our half. Bang, three passes to get us from deep to a one on one with their keeper. Sure, I understand how groups arrange towards us performs a component in how usually we are able to do that, however more often than not when that breakdown occurs in our half, we glance to retain possession relatively than harm the opposition. This opportunity was so placing as a result of it’s so uncommon, and it’s a problem we now have to deal with – not due to final night time, however as a basic downside with our play this season.
I’ve seen a number of speak about our xG final night time being very excessive however for me that was extra about quantity relatively than high quality. 23 photographs in whole, 6 massive possibilities, however 0 objectives. 23 makes an attempt will rack up some xG, however all of us have eyes too and we noticed that this seemed like an Arsenal crew that’s badly lacking one thing – not simply within the attacking third, however behind it too. I assumed Martin Odegaard was quiet once more, his type proper now could be wretched, however the onus can’t be on him alone to create.
It does really feel like he’s lacking Saka (who doesn’t) however Rice skewed fairly a great distance left when it comes to his motion areas final night time, and that doesn’t give the captain anybody to play with when he’s in possession. Late on, we noticed how our issues have been laid naked when it was usually William Saliba pushing up excessive to play within the house that Odegaard or Saka often function in on the best hand nook of the opposition field. That’s not a criticism of him, by the way in which, however the system meaning he’s the person attempting to fill that inventive hole.
Lastly, although he’s solely simply again from a knee harm, the supervisor’s refusal to make use of Raheem Sterling from the bench was notable for me. It’s not the primary time this season that we’ve been looking for a aim, and he remained unused. If he’s not even an choice once we’re determined, then he’s no choice in any respect and it’s important to carry another person in. I did marvel final night time if leaving Sterling sitting down was a type of message from Arteta to the board about what he has to work with, however when it boils proper all the way down to it, that is the ahead line he and Edu put collectively and he has to take some accountability for that.
There’s little doubt Arsenal want extra in assault, there’s no query in my thoughts that we now have to do enterprise in January, however once you fail to spend money on your ahead line correctly and – on the floor at the very least – prioritise defensive signings over attackers, you permit your self open to questions and criticism, and final night time laid naked a few of our switch enterprise in current occasions. Our three summer season signings didn’t play a single minute of a giant cup tie final night time, and whereas the schedule may need performed a component in that, it’s placing in isolation.
Afterwards, Arteta was requested about Isak, and mentioned:
That’s what you’ve – the actual high quality up entrance they usually could make a distinction. They’re very medical.
They have been. We weren’t, and usually are not too usually. And it’s an issue. If may need been a primary defeat in 14 video games, but it surely additionally felt prefer it was coming. Arteta’s insistence that it’s solely ‘half-time’ on this tie is the general public message he has to ship, however he’ll know what a large problem it’s going to be to show it round. You possibly can’t say we now have no likelihood, but it surely’s very slim, and that provides a degree of significance to this weekend’s FA Cup tie towards Man Utd too.
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Proper, I’ll depart it there for now. We’ll have an Arsecast for you a bit afterward this morning, so please be part of us for that. Till then, have one.
