The game against Brighton was an extremely difficult watch. For me, main issue was how flat our performance was. We simply did not compete. Whilst we have a long way to go as a team to get to where we want to be, we need to ask ourselves the question – are we getting the most out of the players that we have right now? I think the answer to this is no. And that falls on Arteta.
On the contrary, just take a look at Brighton. We saw a tactical masterclass from Graham Potter. Remember, Brighton were without Bissouma, Welbeck and Lamptey – yet, they were able to put in top performance and play us off the park. We were lucky that they didn’t finish and were saved by Ramsdale yet again.
So really, what the heck is the excuse for us because we only had Xhaka missing?
I believe the main issue for this is that Arteta needs everything to be perfect. If not, we we simply don’t have an answer – it’s almost as if we need Xhaka and Partey playing every single game. We need Tierney to be in form and our attackers to be decisive every single time. There’s too many things that need to align for us to convincingly win a game of football.
If you look at how choreographed we are, it is incredible to be honest. I alluded to this in my article last week, which you can read here – Arteta is a believer in this concept in football known as positional play. The issue with this is that we need a certain profile of player and many things to go our way during the game. Our players are more suited to sitting back and hitting teams on the counter transitions.
Now, I’m not suggesting that we need to change the way we play completely. And for a new manager to implement a style, he has to believe in it. But some level of adaptation becomes imperative. When Jurgen Klopp took over an average Liverpool side in 2015, he implemented his ideas and you could see a clear improvement in every single player. It’s early stages for Arteta, but I’m really starting to think that some of our players aren’t able to express themselves the way they can. A good manager is able to implement his ideas and improve the team – Graham Potter completely changed the identity at Brighton whilst improving the players.
We’re way too precise in how we do everything. Against Brighton, our press was non existent. Whilst there is a tactical reason for as to why we didn’t press that my colleague alluded to in his article here, it did not work and Brighton were entering our final third at ease. What’s the point of having high energy levels if you aren’t going to press? We only play once a week essentially so let’s be intense off the ball and leave everything on that pitch!
It is important for Arsenal to do well right now and whilst we definitely are building something for the future with youngsters, I believe that we can get a lot more as a team right now and Arteta has to take his share of the blame for these flat displays.
Apart from the Norwich game this season, we never crossed more than two goals in terms of xG in the Premier league. Not to take anything away from the Tottenham game, which by the way I thought we were brilliant in and took our chances really well but in general, creation has been a big problem.
Even against AFC Wimbledon, a team from the first division, we struggled to create chances until Saka came on. We were way too structured against a side that had a gaping hole in the middle of the park. When a clear pass was on to play someone in, we’d go out-wide and that infuriated the crowd. Some will say it’s the players, others will say it’s the manager – for me, it’s a combination of both.
Now, let’s look at the other side of the argument. Arsenal have a pretty inexperienced set of players and are the youngest squad in the division. Despite being talented, they still have a lot of room to grow and as a result, some level of inconsistency is to be expected in terms of the performances.
Having said this, I firmly believe that an approach that suits our team more will ensure a greater consistency in the levels of performance. Arteta has struggled to adapt his game plan without our best players playing together. And it’s high time we showed consistency regardless of who plays. We had Martinelli as an unused substitute against Brighton – our squad depth isn’t as bad as some might think.
Additionally, Arteta’s in game management leaves plenty to be desired. In the Tottenham game, it was evident that our players were tiring, with him only making the substitutions once Spurs pulled one back. The infamous 0-0 draw home against Villarreal saw Xhaka getting injured before the game and was replaced by Tierney. Strangely, Tierney played the inverted left back role (originally for Xhaka) when it clearly doesn’t suit him. Arteta has to be flexible and understand his players better.
There are very few games we have convincingly dominated under Arteta – the players need to be allowed to keep playing. We play with a lot of nerves and as Wenger would put it, ‘a little bit with the handbrake off.’ When I watch Arsenal play, I sense a team that lacks confidence and plays with fear. As we saw against Tottenham, the team clearly is talented and can produce moments of brilliance – the manager has to play his part to get us more consistent.
If there’s one good thing that’s happened to us recently, it’s our back four. They’re top talents who can defend in isolation. The goalkeeper is showing some great signs as well. We should be brave, play a high line and give our attackers the freedom to express themselves. We need results now AND we need to evolve an idea – Arteta needs to go back to the drawing board this international break and re-evaluate his tactics, or he will not be here for much longer.
Interested to know what you think in the comments below.
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