Sunderland managed to hold Arsenal to a 2-2 draw, a result that will no doubt leave Mikel Arteta and his players frustrated.
And while there were positives to take, one cannot ignore the glaring negatives, chief among them Riccardo Calafiori’s underwhelming display.
The Italian had started the season in fine form, stringing together quality performances and looking every bit the unorthodox playmaker Arsenal hoped he would be. But against Sunderland, he looked a shadow of that player and may well have handed Arteta a reason to consider Piero Hincapie or Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back.
From free role to fouls
Packaged as Arsenal’s creative outlet from deep, a left-back with licence to roam, Calafiori offered little in the way of chance creation. Instead, he spent much of the match committing needless fouls and losing possession.
Calafiori vs Sunderland:
• 0 tackles won
• 1 big chance missed
• 5 fouls committed
• 7 times possession lost
The media did not hold back. Goal wrote:
“Pushed forward well from left-back without looking overly threatening.” A subtle nod to his lack of cutting edge.
Meanwhile, Football London added:
“Somewhat erratic in the first half, but not in the usual way, which impressed. Grew into the game, however, and linked much better with Trossard as the game went on.”
Time for a change?
With Hincapie and Lewis-Skelly both available, there is little justification for persisting with Calafiori at the moment. At best, he has been found out, no longer the surprise package or secret weapon he once appeared to be.
What feels more frustrating is Lewis-Skelly’s lack of Premier League starts. Despite impressing when called upon, the teenager has clocked only 87 minutes in the league compared to Calafiori’s 863 minutes and 11 starts.
On paper, that suggests a significant quality gap. In reality, the difference is not nearly as stark. Lewis-Skelly has held his own defensively and, crucially, is not a liability going forward. Even Gabriel Magalhães has publicly admitted he feels confident playing alongside the youngster.
If Arteta is searching for balance, energy and consistency on the left flank, this could be the perfect moment to give the teenager his chance.
Let’s discuss in the comments.
Darren N
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Have you seen enough of this Hincapie to demonstrate that he is a better alternative to Califiori? From the little that I’ve what I’ve seen ,the Ecuadorian is little more than an upgrade on Cedric. I doubt whether either he or Skelly would have improved matters at all. The way we played, so flat, Skelley would have been forced into making similar fouls as the Italian. Perhaps you are simply spotlighting one player here as a scapegoat for that horrible first half outing by our team. Trossard was poor until he scored that beauty, the central defence went to sleep to allow Sunderland’s first goal. Merino didn’t exist. Why weren’t Nwaneri and Skelley brought into midfield after we took the lead? and also why when we had five centre halves on the field ,wasn’t one of them on our goal line to cover Raya?
None of what you say excuses the fact that Calafiori had a bad game.
Perhaps your not giving enough credit to our opponents Joe. S?
Regarding Califiori, it was the worst performance I’ve seen from him and he was lucky to be on the pitch.
As for the rest of the players you mention, I guess we were watching a different game.
If Raya had stayed on his line, they wouldn’t have scored the equaliser.
You don’t know the brilliant shot would not have gone in if Raya was on his line that’s just speculation.
Come on MR DES EVANS,
It wasn’t a shot it was a lob, and if Raya hadn’t been doing his Superman impression and stayed on his line it would have been a simple catch.
If Raya hadn’t been doing superman impression all game they would’ve scored a lot more that’s the point many of you failing to recognise instead focusing on one incident. Crack on
MR DES EVENS,
Your right he did make some good saves. But he got the one big decision wrong, and it cost us 2 points.
Herr Drier,
I still maintain, had he stayed back he would have stopped the ball going in.
Just to add something else to that, I noticed that a pundit questioned whether there would have been a penalty check by VAR, had the ball not gone in. He was saying that while in the air, Gabriel had a big chunk of strikers shirt in his hand.
But we’ll never know now will we.
Yes Derek, it would’ve have been an easy catch for Raya.
As you have highlighted Raya made some good saves so one error in judgement can’t outweigh that as he prevented more than he allowed that’s the main point.
MR DES EVANS,
Of course one error in judgement can out weigh all his saves. While having made those saves kept the score down, the one big save he failed to make cost the team 2 points.
As harsh as that sounds, if you read my post of Nov 11 at 6.24 to Herr Drier, you will see I do acknowledge the life of a goalkeeper V the life of a striker.
The harsh reality’s could not be more different could they. 🤷♂️
When you see the replay from behind the goal you will realise that if he’d stayed on his line he would’ve caught it easily.
If he stayed on his line at other times they would’ve scored more goals so not sure why some of you are only focusing on the one that went in and not the ones he prevented but hey some will always just call out the negative and ignore the bigger positives
Called out one error that he’s made that’s led to a goal in what, 15 games. That’s how good he is. He’s the best I’ve seen play for us since Mad Jens Lehmann. All the top keepers make mistakes, just like all players do.
Exactly, how many call out the good things? Where is this energy when he keeping clean sheets?
I take it you are quite new to JA, as there’s been plenty of times where he’s been praised for pulling off great saves.
Herr Drier,
Although I won’t back down on my opinion that Raya was at fault for the goal. What I will say is that’s the harsh life of a goalkeeper.
A goalkeeper can make 9 worldly saves, and make 1 mistake. What is it the fans remember.
A striker can miss 9 open goals, and score the winning goal, what do the fans remember.
A day in the life of a goalkeeper and a striker, couldn’t be more different could they. 😂👍
Derek, agree, it’s always the one mistake that stands for a World Class keeper like Raya. I’ve seen some of our best Keepers make mistakes that have cost us. I still can forget Seaman being beaten in the last minute of the CWC Final in ’95 in Paris. To make it worse it was the ex N17 player Nayim that scored it from the halfway line 😡
Herr Drier,
I feel your pain, I to share it.😠😂
MR DES EVANS,
The biggest negative he cost Arsenal 2 points. Paint it anyway you want, in that instance he should have stayed on his line.
The fact that they scored, confirms it.
Nonsense, he saved Arsenal a point with previous saves otherwise we would’ve lost that’s the point you overlook but you’re not alone.
Not saying Califiori was brilliant , sometimes clumsy but was Trossard any better in the first half? One way or another Califiori prevented Sunderland from counter attacking. You can’t blame him for Sunderland’s first or second goals. What exactly did Merino do? At least for much of the time Califiori was involved in the game.And yes,Raya was at fault but we also saw how Sunderland’s central defence blocked a certain Arsenal goal so why wasn’t anyone in our central defence stacked team on the goal line to perhaps do something similar. So yes, perhaps we are watching different games and see only what we want to see.
So your logic is because Calafiori’s team mates did not play well he should not be criticized? Look at his stats. He had a bad game. The article did not say he was the only player who had a bad game
Also, as I’ve stated Ken, Sunderland are I team I do respect. During the 79 -80 season I stood behind the goal mouth with their fans on their three visits to London and also made a “pilgrimage” to the cow shed that was Roker Park, just to get an idea of what it might have been like to watch Len Shackleton , Jim Baxter or even Brian Clough play. However, although I’m happy to see Sunderland in their current position guided by a very promising manager. I feel like this game was a loss. We missed a golden opportunity and got too many things wrong on Saturday. I welcome the international break but also can’t wait to see us turning it around against Spurs, just to prove that our display against Sunderland was simply a bad day at the office and not a sign of some of our weaknesses coming back to haunt.
👍
Calafiori hasn’t suddenly become a fouling machine… he regularly fouls a player who gets past him.
He’s good at the dark arts and usually gets away with it. I wouldn’t replace him, he’s the best in that position and just had an off day, everyone has them.
One off day and he needs to be replaced?? Trigger happy fans!!!
Right?!! Every player has an off game now and then. Storm in a teacup.
I think we need to check ourselves as Arsenal fans, before we are called out on our feeble and fickle nature.
Not every unimpressive showing by the ‘team’, is some player’s mistake. People need to understand football better. Why’s Calafiori a subject of replacement? Saka, Merino, Calafiori, Eze were all tired at some point and needed substituting. The bench was full of fresh capable bodies that weren’t used.
Mohlanka,
Regards your thoughts on Substitutions, spot on. 👍
Very good points raised. This shows even the coaches sometimes don’t know what they’re doing. Even for the Trossard goal Calafiori lagged behind and didn’t do the overlap when there was plenty of space to do so. It’s no brainer Skelly or Hincapie should have taken his place.
Calafiori overlapped so many times without being passed to I lost count, also if he had in this instance as you suggest, then Trossard wouldn’t have scored the goal.