Arteta’s Arsenal Sink Further Into The Mud

Arsenal 1 Slavia Prague 1
Europa League Quarter Final 1st Leg
Thursday 8th April 2021 8pm

Six changes from the team that started against Liverpool indicated that even Mikel Arteta realized his side needed a jolt in the arm. Given his display last weekend, it was no huge surprise to see Aubameyang dropped. Odegaard’s injury meant a start for Willian, and Granit Xhaka returned, as did Saka and Smith Rowe. Bellerin and Cedric came in at full back. 

To think, people were delighted when the Europa League quarter final draw meant that Arsenal could avoid any of Man Utd, Roma or Ajax before the final. Hmmm. They could still go through in this tie, but in honesty, I wouldn’t even fancy them against Villarreal over two legs, not with Unai Emery’s record in this competition and his knowledge of the opposition his team would face. 

Arsenal should have had enough to comfortably settle this tie in the first leg, but their finishing was poor, the general quality in the final third well below standard and their lack of solidity at the back gave the visitors plenty of encouragement. Early in the game, Leno punted a goal kick into the visitors’ half, and I thought – hello, pragmatism finally arrives. If only it had been the same in second half injury time when Gabriel and Cedric refused to put the ball deep into opposition territory, giving away a throw which ultimately led to Slavia’s equalizer. 

What was most worrying was the bitty nature of the team’s play. Yes, they threatened, but rarely looked like a cohesive unit. It was a disjointed performance, although even so, man for man, Arsenal’s superiority created enough gilt-edged chances for the second leg to have been a formality. Saka and Aubameyang missed great chances, whilst Alexandre Lacazette is a case all on his own, such was his profligacy on the night. On one level, there should be encouragement that more chances should flow in a week’s time in Prague, but overall, you just get the feeling the players do not believe in the manager’s tactics anymore, and that the good moments are produced in spite of, not because of them. 

The inflexibility of Arteta’s dogged approach doesn’t help. Sure, play the ball out sometimes, but don’t make it a non-negotiable. Sometimes, just clearing your lines isn’t the worst sin on a football pitch, especially if you have a result in the bag and the clock is ticking down.

I was glad of lockdown for once, thinking at half-time how relieved I was not to have made the trek to the Emirates to watch that 45 minutes. Things didn’t improve greatly for much of the second half, and given Arteta had five subs, it felt like he waited far too long to freshen things up. In the end, it was one of his replacements, Pepe, who found his scoring touch, finishing the kind of chance his colleagues had been passing up all game. 

For much of the first leg though, the final ball was poor, especially disappointing with the number of crosses that came in from the byline, and often numbers were lacking in the box, a surefire sign of a lack of commitment. There doesn’t seem any point in picking apart Willian’s non-contribution. Here is a player who simply isn’t putting in a shift, and his three year deal has looked like a huge error for so long now that you worry about who is taking the decisions at the club. Was this all down to Raul Sanllehi? Did Edu have any input? We are led to believe Arteta is involved with regard to approving transfer targets, which would explain the continued number of chances the former Chelsea man gets in spite of the argument not to play him.

Martin Odegaard was definitely missed, and Emile Smith Rowe had less influence than normal. You can’t expect youngsters to drag a team out of a malaise, although Saka did at least try to make things happen. Reports that he might be sold in the summer to fund a rebuild are hopefully paper talk. The club need to be rebuilding around such talent, not letting it go. 

How many times have Arsenal played convincingly this season? It feels like the poor performances outweigh them significantly. This was a bread and butter European home match that should have seen a convincing win against opposition that were not hard to break down. That Slavia had some decent chances of their own before scoring shows that in all departments, Arteta’s team were complacent, disorganized and lacking in quality. Could a different manager get more out of these players? You would have to say that is possible, given the raw talent. Motivation, trust and organization seem to be absent.

Rebuilding this team is beyond Arteta until he can demonstrate greater tactical flexibility and engender greater respect from his players. The obsession with defenders trying to ensure that possession is retained under all circumstances eventually led to Slavia’s injury time leveler, and what might prove a significant away goal. 

The problem with recent performances is that it is difficult to see where momentum can be established, which will be required if Arsenal are to somehow negotiate their way to the final of this competition. And that is partly because it feels like the players no longer believe in the man picking the team and determining the tactics. It feels now as if the only question is whether the owners pull the plug on Arteta this summer or give him half of next season. And in addition whether, on a long-term basis, Edu is actually the right man to be taking football decisions at executive level. 

Right now, it just has the feeling of a football club severely lacking experienced leadership at all levels, from the owners down. It feels like a club inexorably sinking into the mud. I can’t see Arsenal being involved in European competition next season, which on one level may be no bad thing, but financially, will handicap their spending ability over the summer, and possibly lead to the sale of crown jewels such at Saka, simply to balance the books. There is the faint hope that somehow, the players can conjure their way to Gdansk in May and win a one-off game – against Manchester United or Roma. But that feels like a long shot. The Premier League is gone – seven points off of a Europa League place with eight games remaining, and no form to speak of. This really does seem like end of days territory for Arteta, going through the motions. The rebuild will have to be done by someone more experienced at managing a football team, ideally working under someone more experienced at running a football club.

Messaging with Doktor Schneide didn’t provide too much light relief last night.
60 minutes into the game -
Dr S: You know if it wasn’t for all our efforts on target, we’d be looking quite ordinary... 

Me: We are not going to win this trophy
Me: Will do well to win the tie
Dr S: Arteta winning the dressing room would be a good start.

After the equalizer
Dr S: Right - turning over to something less miserable. The Elephant Man is on BBC 4.
Me: Nothing as ugly as this

Arsenal face the task of enticing back season ticket holders who have got used to not attending home matches, and will have often seen the benefit of not traveling to the Emirates to have watched some pretty ordinary football over the course of this season. Right now, the 2021-22 season feels like a very tough sell. Unless something drastic happens, such as a massive injection of funds from the owners (Financial Fair Play has collapsed, right?) the club’s decline still has a way to run. This is what happens when you have people running a football club who don’t have the first clue how to do it. The days before Danny Fiszman and David Dein fell out, which propelled the club to the golden era that concluded with the move to the Emirates, seem a distant memory now.

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