It is done, Arsenal have been condemned to yet another trophyless season. Our 2-1 loss in Paris last night has seen to this in what would’ve been a heartbreaker. An absolute worldie from Fabian Ruiz and a sweeping finish from the excellent Achraf Hakimi was enough to down the Gunners despite a late goal from Bukayo Saka. This means the Gunners won’t get the chance for another bite at an unprecedented UCL crown in Munich later this month. The loss brought to an end a fantastic and unexpected run in Europe’s premier competition this campaign. A knockout stage that saw us dismantle both PSV and Real Madrid will now amount to nothing, much to the dismay of myself and Gooners alike.
Looking at the game in finer detail, it pretty much could’ve been a different story if we managed to take those big chances in the early minutes. This has been a story of our season really which only further brings to light our need for a natural finisher. Aside from those early chances, we failed to be of any significant threat to the PSG backline especially on the numerous occasions balls were driven low into the box. Even though the towering Gianluigi Donnarumma was in excellent form all night, it still doesn’t excuse the fact. Arsenal produced (via Fotmob) an XG of 3.14 last night, add that to the 1.63 generated in the first leg then it means that we managed only a single goal from nearly 5 goals worth of XG. That’s not good enough and that’s a big reason we lost the tie home and away.
Apart from that and on the defensive side of things Arsenal conceded yet again from a set-piece. Though some may argue we conceded in the second phase, it’s from a set-piece regardless and that’s a serious concern. That’s the third goal in four games in all competitions we’ve conceded from a set play. The finish was an absolute peach from Fabian Ruiz but questions will still be raised and rightfully so, it’s becoming a regular occurrence! For such a team who’s this good in the attacking phase, questions will surely be raised when we cannot do the same job in our own box! Declan Rice will shoulder a bit of the blame too given how he conceded the free kick in the first place.
All through the season and more recently, these problems have been prevalent, causing us to lose the Premier League title to Liverpool. In the Champions League semi-final last night, it cost us again. Dooming us to yet another season of waiting. Well on the bright side, at least we do have the Arsenal Women to cheer on in the UWCL final so who knows maybe the Champions League trophy will come to North London after all, one way or the other :).
Thoughts gooners, how much better could we have done with a natural finisher at no. 9?
BENJAMIN KENNETH
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Top 4 in Europe, top 4 in our league and lots of entertaining football all season. Not a bad year. Stop all this rubbish about changing the manager. Just stop buying older players past their sell by dates and sub players not having their best day earlier.
Look at the starting XI for the past 2-3 months. It’s a miracle we are where we are.
Obviously the lack of squad depth is no one elses fault but Artetas. I vividly remember our squad being paper thin last season and what did MA end up doing? He got rid of more players than he brought in. Loans of Neto and Sterling were just panic buys, and bringing Nwaneri and MLS into the team was not planned in the summer.
It was only a matter of time when the serious injuries kick in, and kick in they did.
In 18 games since the window closed we won 7 games !
Got knocked out of two Cups and are 13 points behind Liverpool……..
That’s a miracle?
Yet another season with absolutely nothing to show for it. And the pain goes on. Money will be spent this summer and we will get the same next season. There is a theme. Our set pieces are all repetitive and we are now conceding from set pieces. We even resorted to lobbing long throws into the box. Very classy. Not.
Not as much as peeps think ( unless we finish outside top 5 which won’t happen )
@Reggie
Chill out dude. We’re 2nd in the league, made it to the semifinals of CL and we won the FA cup before, right? 😂
When does the trophy presentation take place for those?😁
@Reggie
🤷🏾
I can 100% tell you Arteta wanted over Edu, Odergaard, Merino, Vierra (not Patrick) Sterling, Jesus and Zinchenko. The big one Arteta wanted Mount but Mount refused us (thank you) and we found out Haverz was available, so we piled in. We wanted Mudryk, we were going to pay 80 mil for him ( yes i said that) but he refused us (phew) so we got Trossard. Rice was 100% Artetas but in a nut shell, you can see our problem. Poor buys and random purchases. Along with ALL the other problems, that are staring us in the face and sone people choose to excuse. So I think there is a lot more than 2 problems.
So he should want the players over the DoF/SD. It’s the manager who falls on his sword if things don’t work out, not the DoF/SD.
I agree with the two points you make. Having said that, I think fatigue is a big contributor to the two problems. We’ve had virtually the same players most match days without rest. This is bound to translate into a lack of sharpness both offensively and defensively.
Lapse in concentration, poor decision making, lack of intensity and a lack of conviction tells me the guys are operating on fumes.This is in contrast to the fit and fresh team we had post that camp in Dubai. While Arteta can do better with rotation, I think the injuries have made it difficult.A summer break without any tournament will be of help. Importantly, new signings should add to depth and quality.
Finally on set pieces, I think the fact that two of our best set piece defenders are out has made us vulnerable.When in the team, Havertz and Gabriel are almost always the two that win defensive headers. And they tend to head it way out of danger. Without those two, the next best is probably Tomiyasu and he’s out too. Headed goals have dried out as well without Gabriel and Havertz. Shows just how injuries have impacted us.
Personally I thought there was more energy shown on the pitch than all season. Strange, I saw no fatigue? We kept going til the last seconds?
The energy was there but the sharpness of action was lacking from what I saw. It’s both mental and physical sharpness. Two good examples are Partey and Saliba. Lately they’ve made mistakes they wouldn’t have made earlier in the season. It’s just the little details- misplaced passes, heavy touches, weak shots, hurried shots, mistimed tackles, wrong weight of pass etc. They have been creeping into our game and this tells me there are tired minds and legs out there.
I agree with your assessment of tired minds and legs. Unfortunately we don’t have much quality on the bench, but it’s been that way for years.
Jesus is rarely available, and even when available does very little as a striker. Calafiori looks like another Tomi injury wreck waiting to happen.
We need competition in spots, and even then no guarantee Arteta will open things up to competition.
I hope Berta can bring in that outsider perspective, having just joined us, and his honest evaluation should be given the utmost weight.
Striker not good enough, not enough attacking midfielders, and way way too many LB’s in the squad.