Arsenal went to Palace in the week and got badly beaten up. They struggled back to their feet, somewhat battered, on Saturday, only to get knocked straight back down again by a Brighton side that has been woefully out of form (one goal in their previous 7 matches, and none from 31 attempts the previous week). It was painful to witness... as we all suspected it would be when we saw the team. And is of great concern going forward, as the fixtures are about to get considerably more difficult. With That Lot winning again over the weekend, matters are barely in Arsenal's hands any more.
Of all the solutions to the left-back problem, the one I least fancied was the one that put Granit Xhaka at left back. As I wrote in my last piece, it changes the whole balance of the team. It was ill thought out, and on top of that badly executed. The entire balance of the team was out of kilter.
As if it wasn't bad enough to have lost Thomas Partey, taking Xhaka out of the engine room left Sambi Lokonga, who has barely kicked a ball in anger in three months, on his own against a rugged and battle-hardened Brighton trio. Odegaard and Smith Rowe were asked to play too far ahead of him to give him the support he needed. It was a recipe for disaster, and Brighton dominated the opening stages of the game. It wasn't until Xhaka switched with Sambi (not the answer) or started to rotate into midfield - leaving Arsenal's left flank exposed - that we saw anything like parity in there. It sometimes looks difficult enough for a player as accomplished as Partey to take on the lone role, and it's simply far too much for Sambi at this stage in his development.
Not that Arsenal didn't have chances in this period - they have the better players, after all - but the general momentum of the game was the other way as Bissouma and his mates smothered Sambi completely. And here's the thing; losing Partey from central midfield is bad enough; but to then take his partner out of there too was really asking for trouble. Arteta got this one badly wrong, and we paid for it.
But the manager's post-game reaction was doubly disappointing. He said: 'We made it really difficult for ourselves. We were sloppy. We had no purpose to attack. We were imprecise and we didn't want to play forward.' I'm sorry, Mikel, but that's entirely down to you. Don't put it on the players.
When Brighton finally took the lead in the 28th minute, it was down as much to Arsenal errors (brought about by the poor initial shape of the side) as to good play by the away team. A long punt into the area that Xhaka should have been occupying - he was somewhere up on the left wing, in an area that ought to have been occupied by Smith Rowe - and Mwepu had the freedom of The Emirates. He pulled the ball back into yards of empty space on the edge of the area for Trossard to sweep the ball home. There was nobody within 10 yards of him. Basic - and horrendous.
.jpg)
There was plenty of controversy in the game, as once more things didn't go right in the important moments. Leaving aside the litany of yellow card offences committed by Bissouma, Caciedo, Cuccurella and Veltmann (all high on the ITWGX Index) that went unpunished (Saka had a card flashed at him for something much less worthy) - referee Coote is the least effective, and most indecisive, of a bad bunch of referees as I've seen this season - there was the disallowed Martinelli goal on the stroke of half time.
We're all under the impression that this season, when it's that close, that the benefit of the doubt goes to the attacking side; and if it takes that long to disallow it (and with guesswork!), then surely it's not 'clear and obvious' in any case.
Perhaps the Brazilian was offside. It's impossible to tell, frankly, because the camera angle that would have showed precisely where the back foot of the defender was didn't exist. You'd need x-ray vision to be sure! It was guesswork to disallow a goal that has been allowed to stand by the on field officials, and it took all of 3 minutes and 46 seconds for the VAR to do so. No defender had complained either. But it's Arsenal, so...
I must own up, however, to my part in it. From my seat 50+ yards away on the half-way line and obviously nowhere in line, I did say to the people around me 'I think that might be offside'. As soon as it went in. Yes, it was all down to me, I'm afraid...
Arsenal were considerably improved in the second half, as Arteta went to a back three and put Xhaka back where he is best. A couple of driving runs from the freed up Lokonga showed what he is capable of. Yet Arsenal failed to impose any real pressure on Brighton, with most attempts on goal failing to trouble Sanchez. ESR, Odegaard and particularly Lacazette were largely totally ineffective - again - and it feels like Arsenal have now been 'sussed out', and that Arteta once more has to come up with something different or new. Which is of course going to be difficult in the absence of two of his key players.
Brighton's second goal was quite lovely, as they toyed with the right hand side of Arsenal's defence before Mwepu found space on the edge of the area to fire an unstoppable half volley past Ramsdale (who I don't recall making a single save in the game, by the way) into the bottom corner. And at that point it felt like there was no way back.
Some people have said to me that the atmosphere was somewhat flat before and during the game. That, I feel, was initially down to trepidation and then to the team totally failing to inspire the crowd; there's only so much that we can do, and from the moment the second goal went in it was largely moans, groans and gallows humour. Until very late on, that is.
Late chances - a free kick from Odegaard and the follow-up from sub Nketiah both hit the bar. And then a speculative long range 89th minute effort from the Norwegian took a massive deflection and lobbed over Sanchez to give Arsenal some hope of snatching an unlikely point. But that barely looked possible, despite late headers from Nketiah and Gabriel going close. The sight of them taking a short corner late into injury time summed up the flawed thought processes and lack of urgency as they lost ground they can ill afford to lose.
So what can the manager do? It's clear that he has no faith in Tavares, and he is therefore only an option as a wing-back. But he simply has to put Xhaka back alongside Lokonga until such time as Partey can return. The solution may have to be Saka at left back or left wing back - or the fairly imminent return of Tomiyasu may mean that he can then flip Cedric to left back. Not ideal... but Xhaka at left back is dead in the water.
Further forward, Lacazette was once more utterly ineffective. Seeing him pop up in midfield or on either wing - anywhere but where he is supposed to be - is frustrating beyond belief. So perhaps it's now time to pop Martinelli (who I frankly prefer off the left) or Nketiah up there. We know that the latter isn't the long-term answer, but he poses a different threat (if that's the word) to Laca, and got into more threatening positions and had more efforts on target in 20 minutes than the Frenchman has had in the past 4 matches combined. What was working a month ago is simply no longer doing so.
Next, it's Southampton away. An absolute MUST WIN. And they're coming off an embarrassing 6-0 home thrashing by Chelsea. Either we'll see a reaction, or they'll stay 'on the beach'. Let's hope it's the latter - but they are known for their pressing, and that won't suit Arsenal.
The mood of optimism has dissipated, but all is not lost. Let's stay behind the team... but we need something from them to help us do so; and they/we need help from the manager too. We all knew that stripping the squad back to such low numbers was a massive risk, and I suppose that we'd got away with it - up until Palace. What would we give for Calum Chambers to still be at the club? And that's ridiculous!
Anyway... I'm still shouting COYG! Please do the same!
No comments:
Post a Comment