Arsenal had a great chance to win the North London derby against Tottenham, but we blew it and ended up tying 2-2. Many factors cost us the game, including our attackers Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah missing good chances that could have won us the game.
Gary Neville chastised our forwards for failing to capitalise on goal-scoring opportunities.
We took the lead twice, the first time on Cristian Romero’s own goal after he deflected Bukayo Saka’s shot. Spurs levelled three minutes before halftime. We gained the lead again in the 55th minute on a penalty after Romero blocked White’s attempt with a handball. Son equalised moments after Saka’s penalty to tie the score at 2-2.
We squandered a handful of chances, including one when we were leading 1-0. Jesus dispossessed James Maddison in the Spurs box, but with the goal at his disposal, he blasted over the bar.
Neville believes that our lack of a poacher instinct is holding us back. He emphasised how our forwards were not performing to the standards that are required of them.
“I’m not a fan of strikers who just stay in the six-yard box and grab a goal; not many of them exist anymore anyway,” he said. on SkySports “I like forwards who are flexible and can play on the left and right. But you’ve still got to have a couple of players in your team who have that smell of where the ball is going to land.
“Listening to Sir Alex Ferguson and the England coaches over the years, it was always the way that forwards had to make runs across the defender. But if the ball’s on the other side and gets crossed to the back post, that they can make a run into that area too.
“Earlier with Jesus, when he robbed Maddison, these are big moments in the game. You’ve got to be on the move and be sniffing, smelling, anticipating, and Arsenal haven’t got that.”
“On a corner, when it’s getting flicked on, you’ve got to get in at the back post,’ he said. ‘I think of Ian Wright darting in and around the six-yard box because I used to mark him at corners, and he was a nightmare.
“He would always peel around to the back post to make sure if the ball gets glanced on, which it does, that he’s there. Nketiah wasn’t there. He was hanging out and didn’t make that run.
“I really like this Arsenal team, and they could go on to win a title or finish second, have a great season, and win trophies without that type of player, but it became obvious in this game that it was missing. Alan Smith pointed it out on commentary too, and he knows far more than I do about playing up front.”
His assertions obviously coincide with the many calls that we need to recruit a fantastic striker next year, as the last piece of Arteta’s puzzle.
He obvously agrees that Nketiah or Jesus is not the man that can do it?
Darren O
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