Do you remember when the season kicked off that we were speculating that now that Arsenal had finally got over the line and won a title, that the handbrake would come off and we'd see the players express themselves, and we'd witness loads of exciting football as a result?
How's that going? Because I have to say that Arsenal's laboured 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest was quite possibly the most boring game of football I have ever seen in almost 60 years of going to matches; and - I guess - 30 years of watching football regularly on television.
This game replaces Arsenal's dreadful 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City on December 27th, 1983 - which I recall as part of a double-header attended by myself and my Chelsea-supporting friend Anthony as a Christmas 'treat' - as the worst game I've ever seen. I recall that we went to Stamford Bridge in the morning to watch a very entertaining 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Portsmouth, which featured a 25-yard screamer from Tony Hateley for the away side. And we then went on to Highbury.
What I remember most about it was that it was absolutely freezing cold, and Anthony and I stood shivering in a sparsely-attended Clock End watching some really dire stuff. It was so bad that we waited until the teams came out for the second half to go for some much-needed Bovril. Arsenal had thrashed Spurs the previous day at the old Toilet Bowl, with Charlie Nicholas breaking a 4-month goal drought, so we were hoping for more fireworks. But the players were clearly feeling the effects of that, with Charlie finally notching his first Highbury goal from the penalty spot to equalise midway through the second half. Dreadful...
This was just as bad. Worse, frankly, I guess, given our expectations for this side. We know what we are, after all... But teams have worked out how to combat Arsenal's stlye of play, and whilst results have been generally excellent - 10 wins and just single defeat so far this season in all competitions - they are not thrilling us supporters, and simply cannot carry on doing this, or they are sure to get caught out and start dropping points at some stage. Arsenal must have breathed a sigh of relief to see Morgan Gibbs-White's name absent from the Forest team sheet. And with their main centre forward being Liam Delap, their problems are glaringly obvious.
I'll try to analyse Arsenal's issues here - as I'm sure that many are doing at the moment. Firstly, it's inevitable that 'lesser' teams are going to do their best to stifle the Champions by sitting deep and leaving as little space as possible for Arsenal to operate. Very few teams are remotely equipped to take Arsenal on by playing any form of expansive football, and they therefore revert to a certain type. Each low block that the team comes up against seems lower than the previous one - if you thought that Sunderland sat deep, this was even worse... and it means that there is little or no room in which to operate (Saka was double- or even-triple marked at times). Very few sides will look to play expansively against Arsenal; although perhaps they should - look what Brighton did a month ago, and what Forest almost did themselves in the last few minutes of this game.Saying that, these teams tend to be more expansive against Manchester City, for goodness' sake! And it's worth bearing in mind that Sunderland and Forest are two venues from where Arsenal came away with just a single point each last season; two wins this time round.
As regards team selection, right back and left wing were the only queries. Ben White was preferred to Jurrien Timber at right back - perhaps with Bayern Munich in Mikel's mind - and slightly surprisingly for me Eze was preferred to Madueke on the left. It was no surprise to me to see Bruno replace MLS. And the game fell into a familiar pattern, with Arsenal totally dominating possession, but doing little or nothing with it.
And why is that? Well, as we all know, there is little room in which to work when teams are prepared to sit quite that deep. But there do appear to be some fundamental flaws in Arteta's tactics at times, with spontaneity sacrificed for structure, and some players fearful - to my eyes at least - of making mistakes and therefore playing too slowly, and too safely. We once again saw the old Horseshoe of Doom out to play, with the ball being constantly recycled from side to side and very few 'vertical' passes going around or into the opponent's penalty area. Of course, with space at an absolute premium that's understandable, but there are surely ways to counteract such tactics. None of the intricate stuff was working; but there was literally no real estate in which to work.
So what should they do? Play more quickly. Keep trying the intricate, and don't worry about losing the ball that far from our goal, because it's never too long before we win it back. Or shoot from distance, in order to draw defenders to the ball. If the players don't try anything different, then they should surely expect the same result; which is what happened. Move after move broke down without a shot going in on the opponent's goal.
Forest - with just 25% possession - looked more threatening with that limited possession than Arsenal did with all of theirs. And apart from headers from Havertz and Gabriel (from a corner), and a penalty obx melee that featured a goal-bound back heeled effort from Gabriel, plus a couple of free kicks from 25 yards out by the home side, the first half was completely without interest. Nobody was playing well, frankly - perhaps apart from Gabriel who looked back to his best, I thought - and it was no surprise when Arteta made a half-time change.
Poor Eze was the scapegoat. Although, to be fair, he had done nothing for 45 minutes. Seemingly unwilling to go outside his wing back, unable to gel with Calafiori, and constsantly drifting into the already crowded central areas, it didn't look like he was capable of following instructions. So it was no surprise that he was hooked for Madueke, who - for all his faults - at least tries stuff. And this felt like a micro view of Eze's Arsenal career. Apart from the odd flash of brilliance, his time at the club has been disappointing. 5 goals against Spurs last season, and a few spectacular (and important) goals aside, there has been very little consistency. Yes, it was fun to steal him from under the noses of That Lot, but he doesn't really seem to suit Arteta's system, and his style - and the areas in which he likes to operate - also don't fit in with the rest of the team. Arsenal don't need an 'inside left'. I am desperate to see him succeed - as I am with every Arsenal player, of course - but I wonder if this season might be his last at the club.
Noni is like Marmite, of course. We don't know if we're going to get Good Noni or Bad Noni - and we often get both in the space of a few seconds. But he at least showed some ambition to try something different whilst the others laboured. Odegaard, Saka and Havertz all struggled to make any impact, and neither Rice nor Bruno were anywhere close to their best. And even when Arteta made a further triple substitution, very little changed. It looked for ages as if the game was going to peter out - and when I say peter out, that would imply that there was anything of note to report - into a 0-0 draw, with the home side almost devoid of ambition (apart from looking to hit Arsenal on the break), and Arsenal almost devoid of ideas. At 6.06pm - 33 minutes into the second half - I posted on a couple of WhatsApp groups: 'If I were a neutral, I'd switch this off'. There was nothing to hold anybody's attention.
And then Good Noni popped up. A dart into the penalty area, a stepover to create a yard of space, and a right(wrong)-foot shot rifled towards goal. A big deflection off of a defender's thigh wrong-footed Sels, and the ball crashed into the back of the net. Arsenal needed that bit of luck, and there seemed no other way that they were going to get the win; but Noni had at least tried something. You can't rely on him to be reliable in any shape or form, but that maverick moment was what turned the game in the away side's favour.
The last few minutes were nerve-wracking, frankly. For whichever neutrals who hadn't switched over to Antiques Road Show, there was some actual action of interest as Forest were finally obliged to attack. Fortunately, their strikers are rubbish. Delap may or may not make it as he gains experience, but Chris Wood looks done now. Both wasted excellent opportunities due to lack of technique and composure, and we should also thanks Rice and Konsa for extremely timely interventions.
I'd like to take this opportunity to query one of the chances that Forest carved out late on, as Michael Oliver allowed Delap to get away with a clear foul throw as he set up a late opportunity. I'd assume that - had they scored - VAR would have dealt with it. I'd hope so, anyway.
And so Arsenal hung on and regained second (probably first) spot in the table. But - as I keep saying - they can't go on like this.
I can of course not let a post go by without mentioning Manchester City. We will have to wait for the result of their appeal - foregone conclusion as it appears to be - and until such time it makes watching Premier League football a surreal experience. 7 Premier League wins in a row for them now - for all that they let in two goals to Ipswich - and it's difficult to know what to make of that. Or to care, frankly.
But it did us all a power of good, I'm sure, to see PSG take them apart in the first half of their Champions League game on Wednesday (the second half was much more equal; but, as I had said to my wife very early on, Maresca picked the wrong starting XI). This was the match that I dubbed El Cheatico; because if there's any side who have come close to City's levels of financial doping, it's PSG. Nation State versus Nation State; and matches of that quality are what you get when you decide that you can spend whatever you want on getting hold of the very best players that you can buy. If we're struggling to cope with what City have done over the years, you have to ask yourself quite what the point is of supporting any Ligue Un side apart from PSG - because you have no hope. The match was great entertainment, of course; but viewed with the tatse of ashes in the mouth.
Arsenal now move on to an extremely tricky away tie in Munich on Wednesday; by far their most difficult group stage game. And then it's Everton at home - beatable, of course, but they won't make it easy. They say that the end justifies the means - but as far as Arsena's performances go I'd hope to see an uptick in style to match the points tally. Anyhoo... that's Arteta's job.
So COYG!
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