“Can we give it to all 4 of them?” Arsenal fans divided over Man of the Match after Slavia Prague masterclass

Pepe clearly took advantage of their piss-poor defensive tactics and likewise showed a deft touch on the opening goal…he was left open on numerous occasions tonight, rarely saw any double-teams and even when he was 1 v. 1 the defender was almost always taking an exaggerated inside position, which seemed odd considering he rarely cuts back on his right foot outside of the box

it appeared as if the defensive strategy was to provide more coverage help on Saka’s side then play tighter lanes through the middle…I can only assume this was based on the fact that, with Xhaka in the LB position, overlapping runs to create more width was highly unlikely, which left Pepe with considerable space on the counter…good on him for not overcomplicating matters and putting in a proper shift

Saka pressed forward well and even broke down the double-team on several occasions, which ultimately led to his shot off the post, the foul that led to Laca’s successful penalty effort and his scoring strike…good on him for being aggressive in the final third and bringing his shooting boots

for me though, the real MOTM was ESR…he provided us with a much-needed presence in the middle of the park, which has been a real weak spot for us this season…he nutmegged a defender to set-up Pepe and he was consistently looking to attack in a much more direct fashion…more than once his passes in the middle third led to scoring chances and he was constantly finding pockets of space off the ball…he was a bit unfortunate when his goal was negated by a half-toe offside call, but it mattered not

we have been plagued by our propensity to build-up too slowly and our failure to commit enough men in and around the box, so having ESR and Ceballos more committed to the attack paid considerable dividends again…playing scared just doesn’t get it done, unless you have a whole host of players who can create high percentage goal-scoring opportunities on their own, which just hasn’t been the case in recent years

watching Prague in attack reminded me of our difficulties over the last several years, as they created some opportunities in the counter but without enough men joining the attack they rarely amounted to anything resembling a clear goal-scoring opportunity…we were decent in defence but the real key was that we did enough from an offensive standpoint to discourage them from overcommitting in the final third too often…by the time they were forced into changing their tactics, the game was done and dusted…like I’ve always said, for teams who want to play one-touch offensively-minded football their best defence is a good offence, which is what we witnessed today

the only sad part is I just wish we had showed this sort of courage more than twice all season…besides this potential elimination game and our display against Chelski following Christmas, we’ve only ever showed glimpses against some lesser lights