Five things we learnt from Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace. by Yusuf
When the Premier League fixtures were announced, there was much apprehension around Arsenal’s opening day fixture. Selhurst Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Arteta’s side in recent years with last season’s 3-0 defeat still on the minds of fans. Friday was an opportunity to banish those blues to a distant memory and show a new, more resilient Arsenal. Although the Gunners secured the three points, it did not come without its difficulties.
Here are five things we learnt from Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
William Saliba exceeds all expectations on his debut.
William Saliba’s introduction to life in N5 has been unconventional to say the least but as far as his time on the pitch, it could not have gone any more perfect. Not many 21-year-old centre backs can claim to have secured a clean sheet and man of the match on their debuts, especially playing their first game in a new country. Comfortable on the ball, and decisive in his defending the Frenchman was a reassuring presence at the back and showed a maturity well beyond his age. His stature is evident and clearly a defining quality, but Saliba’s reading of defensive situations and ability to get to ground and make tackles with such speed and conviction like he showed against Wilfried Zaha in the penalty box, are standout qualities that we’ll hope to see more of as the season continues.
Expecting this level of performance from Saliba every week may be unrealistic, but a performance like the one he showed at Palace did his reputation no harm.
Gabriel Jesus brings a different dynamic to Arsenal’s attack
Another player making his debut albeit a player who’s joined more recently is Gabriel Jesus. If William Saliba wasn’t your man of the match for any reason then it certainly went to Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian was electric under the lights at Selhurst Park and had everything in his performance, besides the goal he much deserved. Jesus was a constant threat on the ball and consistently looked to push the team forward with his pressing ability and driving run, nearly leading to the opening goal for Gabriel Martinelli. Jesus’ technique in linking play, combined with his athleticism and willingness to get into the opposition box shows a complete centre forward that Arsenal have been craving. He may not have gotten the goal he wanted on the opening night, but don’t be surprised to see Jesus on the scoresheet on his home debut this weekend.
Ben White’s mixed performance but manages to keep Zaha quiet.
It’s not often you spend £50 million on a centre back only to play them at right back but such is the level of depth at Arsenal right now. With Takehiro Tomiyasu still injured, Ben White is Arteta’s chosen right back to deputise. White had a mixed performance. Arsenal largely built up their attacks on the left hand side and White was less influential in build-up play than might have been expected. His comfortability on the ball and ability to play more inside the pitch is a strength for Arsenal however did also show its fragility and was an area that Patrick Vieira’s side did look to expose with constant long passes over White to Zaha. Of course, Arsenal won’t play against a defender with the distribution of Joachim Andersen every week, but it was a tactic Palace had much joy with and something that needs addressing. On Zaha, he was largely a peripheral figure and struggled to contribute much. That’s testament to White who handled him well throughout the match. While it’s evident that White is still a downgrade from Tomiyasu in that position, his ability is still levels ahead of Cedric and should continue deputising when the Japanese international is unavailable.
Oleksandr Zinchenko provides different qualities, but Tierney still proves his worth
Arsenal’s last debutant on the night was Oleksandr Zinchenko and like the others passed the test competently. Zinchenko was assured and calm on the ball throughout the night and his combinations with Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka on the left hand side was an area the Gunners looked to maximise when progressing the ball forward. Similar to Joao Cancelo for Manchester City, Zinchenko plays more infield than most full backs, helping control games and snuff out counter-attacks. While he performed largely well on the night, there are areas of concern around his defending, especially one on one. In the second half when Arsenal had less of the ball Kieran Tierney came on for Zinchenko and although the Scotsman isn’t as competent on the ball, really showed his value to the team in his defending. When Arsenal play games where they’re expected to dominate the ball, Zinchenko is suited, however in tough matches when Arsenal have to play more cautiously, having a defender as good at that in Tierney is incredibly valuable.
Arsenal still struggle controlling intensity
It’s often been said that losing to Manchester City is a “death by a thousand paper cuts” City do not overwhelm you in the same way as Liverpool, but simply take you apart slowly with their patient play and superior technical level making most games they feature in appearing like a training match. In the opening 30 minutes Arsenal showed a similar superiority and were completely comfortable against Palace. However, after some promising play from the home side and encouragement from the Selhurst crowd, Palace grew into the game and upped their intensity, something which Arsenal struggled to deal with, and would have been punished for without Aaron Ramsadale’s heroics. The second half was largely the same with Arsenal grinding out the result and having less of the ball for large spells while nicking a goal on the counter. The inability to control intensity and to continue dominating the ball throughout a whole game, even when game state changes, was a prevalent issue last season and an area the team needs to improve.
As this team is still young, with more experience and coaching it may well improve naturally, but Arsenal’s current “death by 500 paper cuts” still needs more refining to reach City’s level.
- Yusuf Malik (YMalik77)
Mental piece,@yusuf malik.you must be an analyst.LOL!!!
Good observation
OT: Mari is going to Monza, so maybe Arsenal will call Trusty if Magalhaes gets injured? The money from Torreira and Mari deals could also be used to sign a new player
What 7million ,not going to get much of a player for that .
Pretty sure Mari is a loan deal anyway ,obligation to bye if they stay up ,which I doubt they will .
Buy*
Mari’s loan fee must be decent + an obligation to buy? I heard we’ll get around 20 M from Torreira’s + Mari’s deals, if Monza remains in Serie A next season
Torreiras fee is 5 million and Maris 2 million that’s what I’ve read anyway
Arsenal transfer case is as a result of long term incompetence.
Since emirate era we buy cheap and sell off our best players, we thought we escaped spending big, but several years of buying mediocre players have brought down the players values, we were only able to attract quality players by negotiating big wages, this cause us to overpaid mediocre players and so we have been struggling to offload them.
Some might think it’s Edu incompetence but if one look at the whole situation, why is it difficult for our players to attract good suitors despite claiming to be quality.
Torreira couldn’t convince fiorentina to pay his £12m valuation, Bellerin despite having good season with Betis, he couldn’t get the club to make a bid for him,
Bernd Leno the best 2nd goalie in epl – no one wanted him except a newly promoted Fulham who got him for paltry £4m.
Some blame Arteta for poor man management, this may be applicable to Pepe because we didn’t use him enough and that has made his valuation drop, however, players that were sent on loan, how did they fair?
The bitter truth is, this players are not good enough for any top side, Mari will be joining Monzo for nothing, the option on his loan is non existent imo, Monza buy other players but refuse to pay for him, that goes to show where the important players are
In my opinion, we paid too much for some of our players, as the results of our bad player assessment. This isn’t exclusive to Arsenal, if you remember about Mutu, Crespo, Shevchenko, Torres, Morata, Werner, Lukaku, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Maguire, Sancho and Keita
Pepe scored many goals in Ligue 1, but many of them were penalties and he was awful in AFCON before coming to the Emirates. I watched Torreira playing in World Cup and didn’t see anything special in him, yet Arsenal still signed the slow diminutive midfielder
Bellerin is known to have injury problems and Mari wasn’t consistent enough to compete with Magalhaes. As for Leno, his contract was expiring while having relegated as our second-choice GK
Whilst many will not want to hear this it is a legacy of the Wenger years. It was probably justified to an extent when we were regularly reaching the CL. However, since we fell out and remained out it has become more of an issue with each passing year.
Give it a rest david
I wouldn’t usually respond to your PR Arteta posts where you worry more about other posters opinions than your own(never seen you post once without mentioning other fans opinions) ,but now after nearly 5 years blaming an old manager really shows what you are about .
Move on buddy like 99%of the fan base have .
If AFC vows at every start of game to
Uphold high pressing for early goals we can be certain of top 3.
This is very Candid
Pressing,Pressing ,Pressing and Pressing!!!
Link Play, Link Play, Link Play with One touch One Pass or One touch One shoot!!!
This will distabilise all defends especially with Accurate and Speedy Relays from the back.
And you can get very early goals,
The issue is not just the transfer fee – we need to look deeper.
1 Squad size: we have a limited number of overseas player slots. If you have too many players you get the Ozil situation ie you have to pay senior players to sit at home. Bad for morale, Arsenal’s credibility and the wage bill. That’s often why teams sell before buying
2 If a player is on 100k a week that’s £5m a year wages before mentioning the “add-ons” they all get. Trying to eke out another £2m fee is a false economy if you lose the sale. Profitability and financing are as much about wages as they are about transfer fees.
We still haven’t learned to control the midfield commandingly…IJS
If Arsenal gets Bowen, he will really be a good signing 👌👍👊💪
He’s got all the qualities of a typical Arteta winger: great pace, power, tactical discipline, technique and hunger.
He can play anywhere across the frontline. Him and Nketiah will really really push our front trio of Saka, Martinelli and Jesus.
GK: Ramsdale, Turner
CB: Saliba, Mangalese, Holding
SB: White, Tomi, Tierney, Tomiyasu
CM: Partey, Xhaka, Elneny, Lokonga, Odegaard, “Big Signing”
FW: Emile, Fabio, Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Maquinhos, Jesus, “Big Signing”
Bowen might come overpriced, he’s a tireless worker and could also play in the midfield in a 4-3-3 formation,
I just hope we get an all round player like joelington of Newcastle.
I still think we need a central midfielder in the mould of Tielemans or Savic in order to control games and also because Partey is injury prone to be relied upon for the entire season. That said, Bowen would be an excellent all round buy, but is he coming to Arsenal or are Arsenal planning to bid for him, I an not sure.