In a stormy North London in a sold out Emirates stadium, not even the roar of the fans could overcome the crashing of the thunder in the skies above. Arsenal, it seemed were destined to drop points, the heavens erupted in a downpour of rain and lightning and with that Tactico Teta became undone.
A flash (pun intended) of individual errors costs Arsenal a deserved three points. In a match that can well and truly be described as one sided. Arsenal dominated, possession, shots, xG and more. Yet the result a thrilling 2-2 draw to watch live felt like a loss to all those in attendance and the millions watching at home.
The lineup
Once again Arteta experimented with his back line, Partey at Right Back, and Kiwior replacing the banned Tomiyasu at Left Back. We had predicted a similar lineup in our prediction article, however the surprise of Trossard at the nine role was unexpected. Perhaps Arteta had been listening to the fans on football twitter screaming out for a Trossard start. Well it just didn’t work out well. Trossard was unable to get on the ball much in the first half consequently seeing him take off at HT for Eddie Nketiah who rightfully should be starting whilst Jesus is still recovering.
As for Partey at RB, on paper and in the previous two games we see the natural pivot into CDM allowing White to move from CB to his now favoured RB role. It works yes, but then it doesn’t. Seeing it in person you can literally see trepidation and hesitation in the eyes of Partey when he is at RB. He knows certain wingers will have him beat for pace, this is made worse if Saka is up on the wing and not helping him in defence where he is lacking. Moreover, his linkup play on the right hand side is not as well connected and fluid as that of Saka and White who appear to have a telepathic sense when playing together.
It was this lack of commonality and miscommunication that saw Saka make the mistake leading to Fulham’s goal in the 1st minute. More on that later.
Why can we not have what is a tried and tested back line. The one which all users on X were desperately putting forward in their predicted line ups each and every week.
Is it the fitness issues, is it the trust in the players. Did Arteta just forget all about last year once he signed Timber and was instead mesmerised by the qualities the young Dutchman displays on the pitch? For the time being we don’t know, but it seems clear this team is not fully fit. Even last week Declan Rice on his interview said hes playing at 80% fitness. How true is this for the rest of our squad. It’s clear right now Gabriel and Zinchenko cant last 90 minutes. Arteta seems tempted to push Jesus into this category too. With there being 1 week left of the transfer window we need to either bulk up the squad or remedy our fitness issues fast.
The errors
That first Fulham goal really got all the fans blood boiling. It was so evident from where I was sat in the clock end Corner just how badly it went wrong for Arsenal. As stated above Partey at RB doesn’t work. Compounding the issue is his lack of understanding with Saka on the RW. It takes a while for them to warm up into a game, thus in the first minute a back pass from Saka to Partey goes awfully wrong. Whilst his pass isn’t great, neither is Partey’s movement. Now factor in Ramsdale, who whilst not the main fault for the goal, his footwork and positioning have to be questioned. He scrambled back to goal, not in a straight line, but in strange zig zag panick that slowed him down and gave the Fulham Striker enough time to choose a corner for his shot.
Now is it time for Raya? Yes he is shorter than Ramsdale, but his footwork is where he shines as well as his ball control. Is it time for him to have a go … with next week being against United. I’d rather not go for such a drastic change yet.
As for the 2nd goal. Zinchenko had come on, and began dominating that left hand side. He was everywhere, LB, LWB, LCM, and even LW. He was playing great! Then, the mistake the lack of concentrating that momentary blip that curses us all. A useless foul leading to a set piece. We should have done better defending this pure and simple. We allowed then in by shutting off mentally. It cannot happen again.
Zinchenko shone yesterday bar that mistake leading to their set piece. He knew when to overlap, underlap, sit, hold go wide and mixed it up so fluidly for us on that left hand side. We need this scholar of the game back onto the pitch where he belongs.
Masterful Substitutions
Whilst fans argue Arteta is tinkering too much with the back line and double pivots in the midfield, or is Havertz the right man for the job. His decisiveness with substitutions must be praised.
The Trossard experiment failed in the first half. So immediately Eddie was brought on and had an impact. 10 minutes later, Arteta once again sought to take the momentum and improve the left side with Fabio Vieira on for Havertz and Zinchenko on for Kiwior. They truly had a strong impact. Taking us to 2-1 with a Vieira assist and Eddie goal we were thriving. Mikel throws on Jorghino with 6 minutes of normal time to play to secure up the midfield. But then our mistake cost us. With 9 minutes of added time Jesus made his return to the Emirates but to no avail. Nevertheless impactful substitutions and tactically correct ones too to hold the game.
But we dominated?
Whilst we dominated the game did it feel that way? To anyone who questions if Arsenal dominated that game… can I recommend Specsavers, the branch in Wimbledon is quite nice and friendly.
The stats show we dominated, with possession, shots, chances created and xG all in our favour. The simple flow of the game had Arsenal in front. Even when the calamity of the start is factored in. The only missing ingredient was goals. Trossard as a nine didn’t work in the first half, Nketiah up front clearly added a lot to our game. The same can be sad for Havertz and Fabio Vieria. Both will be crucial to our squad but maybe now is the time to play Fabio the way he attacked the game went into tackles and pushed us forward must be credited. He is adapting to the league and is a changed man from last year.
What comes next?
We need clarity, clarity on the health of the players, clarity on the tactical aims and clarity in front of goal!
Are our players fit? Can we go back to the traditional back 4 from last year. Does Havertz have a role as a starter or as a super sub whilst he learns and adapts to his role in training?
This game left us with more questions and they must be answered next Sunday against our historical rivals Manchester United.
By Reekesh Somaroo