Another Xhaka Moment Of Madness, Another Poor Result

Burnley 1 Arsenal 1
Premier League
Saturday 6th March 2021, 12.30pm

The team selection has some eyebrow raisers - Calum Chambers got a rare start, albeit at right back, with Bellerin on the bench, presumably with the some big games for the club’s season on the immediate horizon in mind. Willian kept his starting spot, although Saka was re-introduced in place of Pepe. Thomas Partey was back in the eleven, with Pablo Mari retained in spite of some poor moments last weekend at Leicester.

The visible lack of quality of the Turf Moor pitch told you plenty – Burnley were not about to try and outdo Arsenal using technical superiority. Not quite the ‘they don’t like it up ‘em’ of seasons past, as players do seem to be a lot more protected these days, but nevertheless a nod to days of old. 

Arsenal came out of the blocks well and their goal after six minutes was a sign of what can be achieved when you take on the opposition instead of playing safety possession football. Credit to Willian for driving forward from the halfway line before passing to Aubameyang. The number 14 fashioned an opening with stepovers and feints and Burnley keeper Nick Pope was found wanting at his near post.

Everything looked good, the front four were quite fluid, with Aubameyang out wide a good deal of the time and the opposition centre backs not always knowing who to mark. Chances were created, as Aubameyang, Saka and Partey all had decent opportunities to double the lead. It was the possession football, with the high pressing that Arteta wants from his players, but without being clinical enough in front of goal.

And how they paid for failing to put the game to bed whist dominant. Where to start with Burnley’s 39th minute equalizer? Another in a long list of Arsenal shooting themselves in the foot moments by gifting the opposition with bad decisions. Leno’s ball to Xhaka was what Arteta wants to see, in spite of Martin Keown’s old school half-time conviction that it should have gone long. What the former player does not acknowledge is that for Leno to be forced to punt would be a failure of the outfield players to provide an option, however dangerous. This is the way that Arsenal play under the current manager. Right or wrong, when they make a mistake, it can often be perilous. 

Granit Xhaka has a history of playing Hollywood balls across his own penalty area and their going to an opposition player. But none as bad as this one. He had an angle if he’s played it first time, but opted to take a touch, which then required him to chip Chris Wood to get the ball to David Luiz – instead he hit the Burnley player who saw the ball cannon into the goal off the side of his torso. How many more times are the side going to give away such cheap goals? Plenty more as long as they progress with this ‘non-negotiable’ of a tactic. Madness. Sometimes, you just have to play the percentages and battle for a second ball. 

As for Xhaka, the sending off v Burnley at home, his role in losing the ball for the first goal against Leicester, when will the penny drop? Arsenal have been going backwards since he joined the club in 2016. He’s unreliable. So a game that should have been dead and buried was all square at half time.

The start of the second half saw plenty of end to end football, although of limited quality. You certainly sensed that Burnley felt they could win. Putting the ball in the net was the issue for the visitors and Arteta put two players on who were more likely to score than those they replaced – as Lacazette and Pepe replaced Odegaard and Willian respectively. 

Erik Pieters came on for the last 27 minutes for Burnley – the ex-Stoke City player. It made me reflect on how the Premier League is a more watchable division without that kind of team. Burnley are plucky, unfashionable and have no money, but let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a loss if they went down, such is the quality of their play. You can only watch grit alone for so long before it gets dull. They’ll stay up for another season. As long as Sean Dyche is in charge their spirit alone will muster enough points.

The game came to life in the last 20 minutes once Pepe had entered the fray. A cast-iron handball against Pieters was somehow not given by Kevin Friend, the VAR official. Why didn’t Andre Marriner look at that on the monitor? Intent or otherwise, those have been given all season. Pieters stopped the passage of the ball with his arm out wide like an air traffic controller. “Proximity” the PGMOL relayed to BT Sport. Eh? They are making it up as they go along to try and justify poor officiating. In spite of VAR, that seems to be declining further in England, a country that didn’t have a ref good enough to be selected for the last World Cup Finals tournament. Lee Mason’s disallowing of Brighton’s free-kick goal recently just another in a litany of poor and inconsistent decisions this season. Even Peter Walton could not work out why the spot-kick was not awarded, which shows you how stonewall it was. 

It could have been even worse for Arsenal, as the Clarets’ scorer Wood should have won the game in 79th minute with only Leno to beat, but the keeper saved well. 

Ceballos replaced Partey before Pepe criminally missed a gilt-edged chance. Next up, a penalty actually given for handball against Pieters with an accompanying red card… although both  – rightly – were overturned. The Gunners kept going and came close as Aubameyang was blocked and Ceballos hit the post. However, the ball just wasn’t going in. 

There is now a very real possibility of no European football next season – in the remaining 11 Premier League games Arsenal are still to face Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea. In theory they have easier matches against Sheffield United, Fulham, Newcastle, West Brom, Palace and Brighton, but nothing can be certain with this team, who have taken one point from six against the might of Burnley this season. This game should have been over long before Xhaka messed up, as he so often does.

You can see what Arteta is trying to do, but it feels like he doesn’t have the quality of players to do it. Too many mistakes in their own half, too much profligacy in the final third. It would not take a vast improvement to tip the balance, and but for the mistakes and the missed chances, Arsenal could easily be in the top four. But how to tip the balance is the challenge for the manager, and if he does not qualify the club for European football of some form next season, you have to wonder if his job will be safe. We know he is looking at a Europa League trophy as his route to salvation, and a cup triumph worked out last season when he won the FA Cup to secure continental competition for the current campaign. Three two legged ties and a final. Possible, but in terms of pure maths, a one in sixteen chance. The bookies have Arsenal as third favourites at 6-1, behind Manchester United and Spurs.

Let’s end with a line from Doktor Schneide, who is back in the habit of messaging me after Gunners matches… “Honestly. I could scream as loud as Lacazette having a defender’s finger being laid on him.”

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