Did Arteta make a mistake playing Nketiah up front? by Daisy
Mikel Arteta is known to tinker with his Arsenal tactics on the odd occasion and with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard missing due to picking up knocks, Arteta had to play around a bit when it came to facing Tottenham on Sunday Afternoon.
Starting the game with a front line of Gabriel Jesus on the left wing, Eddie Nketiah in the middle and Saka on the left, some Arsenal fans were questioning why Jesus wasn’t starting in the middle, as it is his best position.
Jesus has been known to play on the wing for his national team Brazil, and moving Nketiah to a position he doesn’t usually play at made no sense, but Jesus has always been clinical in the centre for Arsenal, and on Sunday afternoon I personally think playing Jesus down the centre would have worked better than what we saw.
Both Jesus and Nketiah were not clinical enough against Tottenham and as the game went on Tottenham grew into the game and opportunities didn’t come easy for our forwards. But would that have been different if Jesus was playing through the centre? I think so. Although Jesus is capable to play on the wing, against Tottenham we needed our strongest attack, and after watching the game, Nelson would have been my personal pick from the wing and I think he would have created more chances for Jesus in the middle.
At half time Arteta reluctantly had to remove Rice and took Vieira off for tactical reason’s, not long after he took Jesus off and left Nketiah up front, personally I think this lost us the game. Jesus looked like the most likely player to score and although he missed some clinical chances, he wasn’t particularly having the worst game, and if he was moved into the middle and Nketiah taken off instead, I think we could have walked away with all three points.
Obviously, this is just my opinion and interpretation of the game I watched, and with injuries piling up, Arteta is bound to make some unfavourable changes and ultimately, will just have to work with what he’s got. Playing in four competitions this season, including our return to The Champions League, and a game nearly every three days, the squad will need to be rotated, but was this decision a reason why we didn’t walk away from the first London Derby with the three points?
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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