Splatrick Vieira

Oh deary me! Wasn't that just shocking?

It took me quite a while to get to sleep last night. As we all saw, nothing went right - from the team news right through to the final whistle. And I’m going to spend some time going through my ‘hot takes’ from the evening:

Firstly, injuries and squad depth. And this was always going to be something that might have come back to haunt Edu and Arteta from the end of January right through to May 22nd. Of course, compared to other sides Arsenal do not have too heavy a workload, but the squad is on the very fringes of acceptable size so almost any injury makes a difference.

We've today had the news that Kieran Tierney is out for the season (thanks go to Scotland Manager Steve Clarke, who played him from the start in both of his team's Interlull friendlies), and that that has serious implications for the entire team. Arteta can go one of 4 ways, and none of them feel quite right. 

He can persevere with Tavares, but that looks the least likely of the scenarios. The guy looks shot of confidence… and perhaps of ability at this level too. On the other hand - and here’s something that bears discussion regarding Lokonga and Nketiah also - he’s barely been given a minute of First Team football over the past few weeks, so what do you really expect? Arteta has a few days to work with the boy now, and if he does play he ought to get our full support.

The Manager could also switch Cedric to left back - but that’s dependent on what’s really going on with Tomiyasu (out for another fortnight, so if he does it may mean a switch to right back for White; it'll make a huge difference when he does finally return). Or he can play Xhaka there; but that changes the whole balance of the team.

Or finally he can switch to a back three - Holding alongside White and Gabriel - and play with wing backs. But that’ll surely put Saka at left wing back; and whilst Starboy can do that, it’s not where he’s going to be most effective. But with three central defenders behind him he would have a certain license to roam, and I think that this is how I'd prefer to see him go.

Compound any of those scenarios with the injury to Thomas Partey. If that’s also serious, it puts pressure on Lokonga to come in from the cold - and also references where Xhaka plays. But a central midfield of Sambi and Elneny is not going to cut it, is it?

Up top, I now wonder if we’ve seen the end of the useful life of Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman has scored one goal from open play since November - which is pathetic - but if he’s now also failing to hold the ball up and bring others into play (I know that comparisons to Harry Kane are daft, but you know… chalk and cheese) then Arteta might as well try something different. I man, what has he got to lose? The alternatives are Nketiah and Martinelli; but we know that the former blows hot and cold, and that the latter is currently more effective off the flanks. The wildcard is the mercurial (I've chosen that word carefully) Pepe.

So all in all there’s a lot for the Manager to consider before Saturday’s Must Win game with Brighton.

Secondly, the performance. And nobody - with the possible exception of the substitutes - came out of the game with any credit at all. In the face of the sort of pressure that the side has been able to cope with quite well throughout the successful run since the New Year, from back to front they lacked both confidence and poise.

The central defensive pairing set the tone; harried and hurried from the start. Cedric had Zaha (a player I'd love to see in an Arsenal shirt) to deal with. And Tavares didn’t put a foot right all evening. 

Ahead of them, Partey had a nightmare. Where the player we’ve been lauding for the past couple of months has disappeared to, goodness knows. He literally couldn't pass me a bag of sweets on that showing. And now with a possible thigh injury on top…

Xhaka was Xhaka, and he of course does his job wherever he is asked to play, but he's not going to drive a team under severe pressure onwards, and left back is not his position. Odegaard had his worst game in an Arsenal shirt, neither Saka or ESR were particularly effective, and Lacazette had a night that deserves to haunt his dreams for weeks to come.

As for Palace… well, they were superb. At perhaps the absolute apex of their ability. That ground is one of the most difficult to go to, with their amazing fans so close to the pitch and so vocal in support of their team. So if you start badly - as Arsenal did - you’re always going to be on the back foot. And whilst Arsenal improved in the second half - and with a little good fortune could have scored a couple of goals (ESR and Odegaard both missing more than reasonable chances) and had a penalty (Kouyate on Saka, anyone? If that’s Salah it gets given), they got precisely what they deserved in the end. And Arteta didn’t hide from that afterwards.

But much kudos to Patrick Vieira for setting his side out how he did. Palace are a completely different side to the one that was managed by Roy Hodgson last season. On the other hand, those saying we have the wrong ex-Arsenal midfielder as Manager are out of order. Despite the performance and result last night, it is clear that Arsenal remain on the right road. Let’s hope that this was a mere pothole.  

We all knew that there were going to be bumps in the road, and that a team essentially so young and inexperienced was always likely to have nights like this, so we really have to hope that this was a one-off. With That Lot seemingly hitting form (although whether one should be getting carried away with big wins over Leeds, Everton and Newcastle is a matter of opinion), it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. 

But Arsenal still remain in control of their fate - just! They must win the obviously winnable games, and hope to pick up the necessary points elsewhere. And the significance of the game at The Toilet Bowl grows by the day - avoiding defeat will be absolutely crucial!

Clearly, Arteta and Edu decided to take the chance that the limited squad with which they left themselves would come through relatively unscathed. So last night could later be seen as a Red Flag game - the night it all unravelled. In which case Captain Hindsight (aka Piers Morgan) will be having a field day. 

The issue is that compared to successive eighth place finishes, fifth or sixth might have been regarded as improvement at the beginning of the season. But we’ve had our sights raised, so anything less than fourth will be now seen as failure - and especially if we lose out to That Lot! But for the moment nothing can be gained from doing anything apart from getting behind the team - and ‘the process’ - between now and the end of the season.

So I’m going to remain firmly behind this side. Starting against Brighton on Saturday. I’ll be there supporting whoever turns out in a red shirt at the top of my voice.

Arsenal till I die. COYG!