Analysis – Newcastle Loss And Odegaard Absence Exposes Ugly Truths About Arsenal’s Attack

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arsenal’s disastrous loss to Newcastle, which was by far the club’s worst performance of the year, is shining an unforgiving light on some ugly truths. The first of these hard truths threatens to derail what many fans hoped would be a title run: Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard have been papering over the cracks of a painfully average attacking core for the last several years.

It’s time to face facts concerning Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus. We rely on both players despite it being obvious that neither is good enough. Martinelli’s development has completely stalled. He is who he is; a pacy footballer who can score in bunches on hot streaks. Unfortunately, the distance between his peaks and valleys is so vast that he’s completely ineffectual unless he’s on a blinder. That’s never going to change.

This has been obvious to Arteta and Edu since last year. If it hadn’t, they wouldn’t have tracked Nico Williams all summer. As for Gabriel Jesus, he is in a different, albeit no less frustrating box than Martinelli. Instead of a young player who isn’t getting better, Jesus is a player who should be in his prime but is regressing every week. He’s worse today than he was when we signed him.

Kai Havertz is another player struggling in Odegaard’s absence. He’s not a natural center forward; something that makes him very dependent on players like Odegaard to open space up for him. He’s simply not going to have the natural instincts that full-time center forwards have vis-a-vis running into space and creating his own chances. So, he’s on the struggle bus too. Theoretically, Gaby Jesus would chip in here and take the pressure off of Havertz but…….yeah, see the above paragraph.

Jesus Preston
Gabriel Jesus scores his first goal of the season against Preston

The only reason these deficiencies weren’t so glaring before now is that Martin Odegaard’s brilliance compensated for their substandard play. Between Martin and Saka’s production, plus some goals from Havertz, Arsenal have been putting up a mirage that they have a championship-caliber front line. Odegaard’s absence shattered that mirage. This front line is basically toothless without him.

That brings the spotlight to Leandro Trossard. You know, the guy who was scowling and mean-mugging after scoring l vs Aston Villa; supposedly in protest over not being a regular starter? He’s starting now. How’s that working out? The numbers from Newcastle are atrocious. 77% passing. Double-digit turnovers and only two duels won while pulling the strings for an offense that mustered one shot on goal all day.

That’s somewhat excusable because Trossard is not a natural CAM. He’s a winger, who, like Martinelli, doesn’t start regularly because he is consistently inconsistent. Then there is Raheem Sterling, who has lost at least a yard of pace and done nothing to justify his presence in the lineup or on this team. He is a pale shadow of the player he used to be. His next team will likely be in the MLS or Saudi Arabia.

Are you starting to notice a theme here? A collection of consistently inconsistent forwards who are all playing some of the worst football of their careers at the same time. Because that’s what they are. It’s what they’ve always been, but the only reason no one noticed is that Odegaard and Saka created so many chances that they scored despite themselves.

With Odegaard out, the entire left side of our attack (Trossard and Martinelli) and our backup center forward (Gabriel Jesus) have proven themselves to be dreadfully substandard. They are also making Arteta look like a fool for keeping faith with them this summer, instead of breaking the bank for Gyokeres after the Sesko deal fell apart. Now, this season looks to be falling apart because of that gamble.

It’s hard to imagine Ethan Nwaneri being more ineffective than Trossard at CAM (or whatever false 9 gambit he’s playing with Havertz). TBH it’s hard to imagine practice cones being more ineffective than any Arsenal forward not named Saka. Unfortunately, putting Nwaneri in at this point, when the team’s title run hangs in the balance, is unfair to him and could be setting him up for failure. With that said, Arteta’s seeming intransigence vis-a-vis Nwaneri has been difficult to understand.

He’s not much younger than Cesc Fabregas was when he broke into the lineup and became a star. I know Arteta has his reasons, but this team has one point in three games. Arsenal’s offense yesterday was like watching paint dry; dull, drab gunmetal gray paint. It’s been that way since Odegaard went down. What’s more concerning is that there was never a plan B for an injury to Odegaard or Saka.

The way this team is playing, they will be lucky to score ten goals between now and Christmas. Liverpool may have a double-digit points lead by then. Meanwhile, Odegaard is going to win team MVP while sitting on the bench, because Arsenal is obviously not a title contender without him. That is the ugly truth.

The people responsible for constructing this team need to be held accountable for it. That’s also true of the nearly half-dozen underachievers in the attacking core who haven’t been good enough all year long. Depth was supposed to be Arsenal’s strength. Yet the club is still rice paper thin in the attack.

It’s borderline ridiculous.

E MCC


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13 Comments

  1. It’s news that isn’t news. Nothing we’re seeing now could have been ruled out during the summer. Nothing was done then and, possibly, nothing much will be able to be done until next summer now. Sadly, Arsenal will just have to make the best of it.

    1. You say “Nothing was done then ” ( in summer).

      Ins
      David Raya – Brentford (permanent)
      Riccardo Calafiori – Bologna (permanent)
      Mikel Merino – Real Sociedad (permanent)
      Neto – Bournemouth (loan)
      Raheem Sterling – Chelsea (loan)

      Outs
      Emile Smith Rowe – Fulham
      Eddie Nketiah – Crystal Palace
      Aaron Ramsdale – Southampton
      Mohamed Elneny – Al Jazira
      Cedric Soares – released
      Arthur Okonkwo – Wrexham
      Reiss Nelson – Fulham (loan)
      Fabio Vieira – Porto (loan)
      Sambi Lokonga – Sevilla (loan)
      Nuno Tavares – Lazio (loan)
      Karl Hein – Real Valladolid (loan)

      We brought in some good players in but lost depth especially in attacking back ups in midfield/ forwards. The ones who left were under performing but are generally making a good fist of things elsewhere – questions should be asked why Arsenal couldn’t get the best out of them. How many supporters are wishing ESR stayed, who always tried his best and provided a spark. Arteta is in phase 4 and 5 after nearly 5 years and hasn’t yet delivered the expected trophies considering the backing. Maybe Edu has got right by quitting.

  2. Two EPL games should be enough for Arteta to see Havertz’s inability to quickly cut inside and make diagonal passes from the right wing, due to the combination of his high center of gravity and mediocre dribbling skills

    Maybe Havertz will eventually grasp the right-sided AM role if he keeps playing it, but we don’t have time to train a senior player

    Arteta should’ve assigned Nwaneri there, because he is better at those aspects

    Nwaneri misunderstood some through passes from our CDM and RB, but I’m sure he’ll be more prepared next time

    1. @,Gai we are lacking qualities in certain aspect of the pitch in the absence of Odegard. And Arteta as a coach has not been able to find a solution. Calafiori and Ben white are the manageable full backs we have in the absence of KThieney. They both move the ball forward well to support attack.. But they aren’t fit at the moment. Arteta seem limited in his tactical awareness and certain quality of players. Odegard remains our sure bet to winning runs..

  3. The analysis set out by the writer of the article is certainly justifiable criticism of players entrusted to operate in our front three with the notable exception of Saka who himself has become very predictable in his inverted role.Our Manager is of course responsible for our lack of quality and strength in depth when it comes to the limited choices available to him up front and I can fully appreciate the frustrations of fans given our disappointing results recently.While I appreciate the shortcomings of Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus the fact that Havertz is generally used by Arteta as a centre forward when he clearly is not a conventional striker is down to the Manager and therefore I would temper any direct criticism of the skilful, hard working German.What really concerns me is our failure to create many clear cut chances which many fans put down to the absence of Odegaard.That may be an important factor but another is our lack of natural attacking full backs who can overlap and cross on the run to create danger .Robertson and Alexander Arnold of Liverpool are not particularly great defensively but are very effective in an attacking sense and add to the threat have from the likes of Dias,Nunes, Gackpo and of course Salah.Compare this to our full backs who, with the exception of the injury prone KT, are not natural full backs and never will be.Timber, White, Calafiori,Tomi and Kwior , who are all basically centre backs, have been used at full back, and while they have done well defensively , do they really do the business going forward?I have deliberately excluded Zinchenko who has the skills to create yet has not been mentioned as a potential deputy for our badly missed Captain !After a has much to consider when it comes to future recruitment, and apart from the need for a natural striker I hope he recognises the limited benefits of playing natural centre backs as full backs.

    1. I can’t put it any better Grandad.
      When Arteta joined Arsenal we had 2C.Fs Auba and Lacca.This guys actually won us our last trophy. Somehow he jettisoned both and has never bothered to replace them.
      Look at the difference where everyone is a central defender with no L.b or R.b.
      Then our forwards apart from Saka and Odegaard are so average &inconsistent.
      The team has no ball carrying or a box to box midfielder but we still use the 433 formation .
      When we needed upgrading on the right wing and quality backups for Saka &Odegaard we instead sold all substitute forwards with no replacement.
      I mean, there is something wrong in this team and with due respect Arteta has a fair share of blame.I don’t think he is the right guy for that Job.

  4. Haven’t seen a good ole rant in many moons, forget about the players we don’t have.

    When a team is winning every thing is swept under the carpet, but it’s the gaffer man management for me, the legendary Frenchman always say you got to find the resources to win a game, we haven’t been utilizing ours effectively.

  5. The responsibility lies with the ones who built this squad. 4 DM’s and Odegaard; 1 creative midfielder out of 5; but Arteta prefers defensive football over open attacking play.

    Our back unit is CB’s, not a true fullback among the lot. Overlaps rarely happen, everyone inverts like it is an obsession.

    Our attackers are basically facilitators, how many actual finishers are there?

    While goals may be spread out as Arteta says, only 2 people really create; Odegaard and Saka. One is out injured and the other is constantly overworked. Saka not only is tasked with scoring, but now also being the creator for the squad.

    Hopefully the new sporting director can help rebalance the squad. Starting with a B2B midfielder, a striker, and at least 1 true fullback who can defend and overlap to offer a different option. That would be a good start, and then Jesus, Zinchenko, Vieira, and either Tomiyasu or Kiwior can be replaced as well.

  6. That sums up the situation pragmatically. That said, generally as football fans, when things are not going well the sky is falling. We are in a mini crisis, as someone once said, “you don’t win the EPL in the first 10 games, however, you can lose it”. That’s were we are at, how do we react to this bump in the road? It’s not a click of the fingers, even though if we go on a winning streak the sky will be blue again, for a while at least.

      1. Maybe, but maybe ESR wanted a guarantee of more playing time. I am a big fan of ESR and he is the one player I did not want to.

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