Arsenal Shoot Themselves In The Foot at Molineux

Wolves 2 Arsenal 1
Premier League
Tuesday 2nd February 2021 6pm

What can you say? Enjoying relative domination in the West Midlands rain, Arsenal – who should have been more than a goal up - switched off in first half injury time, ending up with the scores level and a man down at the interval. An uphill task became nigh on impossible when they contrived to get themselves reduced to nine men during the 45 minutes that followed. And all down to lunacy and a familiar failure to intelligently assess a situation.

Arsenal did start very well, with Saka imperious in all aspects except managing to get on the scoresheet (although VAR denied one of his attempts), and eventually their superiority telling through a cracking goal from Pepe, who can be an awkward opponent with his ability for the unpredictable. In flashes you can see why the club were tempted to splash the cash on him – his YouTube highlights reel is probably mindblowing. 

Still, it was all for nowt. David Luiz has shown signs of improved decision making of late, but old habits die hard – and Luiz has been making high profile clangers long before he arrived at Arsenal. He had no chance of catching Willian Jose, who exposed the Brazilian’s lack of pace, but was stupid enough to make contact – accidental or otherwise – in the penalty area and bring his opponent down. It’s getting too familiar a story now and once Luiz’s suspension is over, Arteta must keep the player he battled to retain for this season out of the first team. We've seen enough now. The benefits he brings to the side are far outweighed by the points he costs it. Arteta has Gabriel and Mari to select ahead of Luiz. So assuming Rob Holding has become a first choice pick, there is no good reason for Sideshow Bob to make any further Arsenal appearances, unless in a Europa League second leg match where the advantage is so substantial his selection would not risk it being overturned.

And yet, Luiz isn’t the only regular who is guilty of making lunatic decisions during a football match. Bernd Leno has his own history, but in the cannon of gaffes (many of which he has somehow managed to get away with), yesterday’s took top prize. Coming out of his area is ok – it’s what sweeper keepers do when a high line is played against pacey forwards like Traore. But in the numerous safety first methods of eliminating immediate danger, handling the ball is not one that would occur to anyone. He’s made some excellent saves of late, but there is just something a bit mad about this keeper. In the heat of the moment, composure is key, the ability to make the right decision. That made by another German shotstopper, Jens Lehmann, in the 2006 Champions League Final, probably cost his team, through their ultimate fatigue, the trophy, but it was understandable. It was not as blatant an error of judgement as Leno’s. Bayern’s Manuel Neuer has written the playbook for the role in the modern era, so not all keepers from Leno’s country are incapable of making the right decision by default. 

It's a difficult one, because Leno is the best keeper at the club – the options to replace him not as compelling as with Luiz. But one suspects that until Arsenal do buy a better player in this position – one less error prone – they will not challenge at the top end of the table. There have – in spite of some terrific saves – always been question marks about Leno. For every corking save like the fingertip one in the United game, there are moments like the failure to get down to the ball that cost the club their defence of the FA Cup at Southampton. Arteta needs better, and it will be interesting to see how quickly Leno gets back in the team, if loan signing Mat Ryan, regarded as the first choice backup, sees action and does well. 

The second half was fairly agonising to watch whilst Arsenal had ten men. When Leno saw red after 72 minutes, it became tortuous, and even though Wolves were only a goal up after taking the lead through a wonder strike from Moutinho, you just wanted the game to end. As it happened, in injury time the Gunners gambled and had a couple of opportunities blocked, but until then, you knew it was too great a risk to go forward in numbers, and it became a game of attack versus defence, Wolves more interested in running down the clock than adding to their lead. 

With Arteta’s Arsenal, it can feel like two steps forward, one step back. Frustrating as anything, but shooting themselves in the foot is something that has to be eradicated. Points are just too hard to come by for that. Arteta has moved on some deadwood of late, but there is still plenty of sawdust in the brains of remaining players, going on this sorry display at Molineux, a match they should have won easily against a fragile Wolves team struggling for form. But hey, let’s look on the bright side – a team of eleven men at Villa, with no danger of Luiz or Leno being anywhere near the starting eleven. 

 

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