The Wheels Are Coming Off For Arteta

 

Everton 2 Arsenal 1 
Premier League 
Monday 6th December 2021  8 pm   

Arsenal’s Premier League 2021-22 in three acts...
Act 1 - Lost first three matches, in relegation zone.
Act 2 - Unbeaten run of eight games sees a climb to 5th place
Act 3 - Three defeats in next four sees Arsenal drop to 7th, overtaken by Spurs and Manchester United, under new, experienced coaches.

Arsenal now have a run of matches against Southampton (home), West Ham (home), Leeds (away), Norwich (away) and Wolves (home). Southampton. Arteta being Arteta, I suspect he will pick up just enough points to remain in contention for a Europa Conference League qualifying spot, but based upon the last four matches, I think it’s safe to say we can forget any prospect of returning to the Champions League next season. 

There has always been hope that Arteta can be the man to reverse Arsenal’s fortunes, but never really conviction, with the possible exception of the afterglow from the 2020 FA Cup win. Mind you, we’ve been down that road before with Arsene. Winning that trophy in 2013, 2014 and 2017 did not make things better in the league or Europe. Recent seasons have seen other clubs get smarter with their money and managerial appointments, and get more out of their squads, meaning Arsenal have been usurped by Liverpool and Spurs, and when it has been clear that the manager needed changing, have constantly fudged the issue, delayed for too long, and allow the club to slide further away. Not changing things until too late has seen many a wasted season that might have been turned around.

Just to stop being over-repetitive, I hold this groaner back and drag it out every two or three seasons. But here it is again…
Why wouldn’t you trust Arsenal to take your dog for a walk?
Because they can’t hold a lead.

Ahead at Old Trafford, and ahead at Goodison Park, they ended up with nothing from either match. Individual errors cost them against Manchester United, but at Everton, although a pig’s ear of a throw-in between Tavares and Partey led to the Toffees’ first goal, for the most part it was a mixture of poor overall performance and poor management. Why leave a tiring Xhaka on the pitch for 90 minutes? Why even pick Partey at the moment? Why put on Nketiah, a player who is never going to make it at the club, instead of Aubameyang? Both missed pretty easy chances, as the latter was on the pitch by the end of the game, but there’s a reason the captain is on huge wages and the youngster probably on his way through the exit door at the end of the season. 

But for VAR, Everton would have won comfortably, although the decision not to red card Godfrey for a boot in the face of Tomiyasu, if reversed, might have swung things significantly before anyone had hit the net. Doktor Schneide reflected on a poor game up to this point with the message -
Terrible match so far. The only effort on target has been on Tomiyasu’s face. 

Richarlison had two chalked off for the most marginal of offsides before scoring a legitimate equalizer. Credit the Gunners’ offside line for at least coming good with the help of Stuart Atwell at Stockley Park. In between those two incidents, Arsenal had taken the lead thanks to a first half injury time strike from Odegaard, a beautiful volley from the returning Kieran Tierney’s cross. It wasn’t the only cross of real quality by the left back, but Arsenal’s forwards were not really at the races for most of this game. Goals from midfield are welcome (although Odegaard played between midfield and attack in the number 10 role), but the lack of goals the more orthodox attackers are chalking up is costing the club points. 

Let’s see who comes in next summer, but I think it’s fair to say Aubameyang is never going to return to the consistency that saw him contend for the Golden Boot. Lacazette has made a contribution, but the club hasn't got its money’s worth when you add his wages to the 2017 transfer fee. Nketiah? Forget it. Balogun? Maybe one day, but not anytime soon. Martinelli? Seems like more of a wide attacker. Not a 20 goal a season man. Potentially a very good player, but not the goal machine this side needs, the Ian Wright, the Thierry Henry, the Aubameyang of his first two and a half seasons at Arsenal.

Just for the record, Tierney, Xhaka, Saka and Lacazette started this game, replacing Tavares, Elneny, Smith Rowe and Aubameyang. Call it rotation, although without European football this season, Arsenal have played five less game than they normally would have by this stage. Not really sure about tired legs, but then again defeat last Thursday night gave the manager reason to give others a try. Smith Rowe was injured anyway. 

Arsenal enjoyed far more of the possession than their hosts, but that didn't translate into goals. The bottom line here, much like against Manchester United, was that here was a team at a low ebb, there for the taking. Arsenal were not good enough to take advantage and finished with nothing from two matches in which they were ahead. It suggests a mix of incompetence on the pitch and in the dugout. 

Right now it feels like purgatory. Halfway between triumph and disaster. Mid-table mediocrity. Arsenal, under Arteta, will bobble along, finishing somewhere between sixth and eighth. The whole point of having a structure in which you have a director of football running that side of the club is that the coach is not critical to ‘the project’. In terms of personnel, we can see what is happening. More younger players, more sell-on value, the aim of better handling of contracts (although that hasn’t been going so well), but in terms of a style, there’s something identifiable – possession football, playing out from the back, aggressive use of full backs, 4-2-3-1 formation – but it’s nothing a better coach can’t come in and achieve more consistency with. 

There is a core of decent players at the club. Last summer’s transfer window feels like a success in terms of improving the quality of the squad. But there are too many errors, stuff that needs ironing out by a better coach. Xhaka, tiring in his first game back, and on a yellow card, had to pull out of a tactical foul in the build-up to Everton’s winner. Elneny and Lokonga were on the bench. But all three subs had been used. Lack of foresight there given Xhaka had been carded in the first half. What has happened to Ainsley Maitland-Niles anyway? He offers more than Elneny. Another fallout? On that level, you have to wonder about the relationship between the club captain and the manager, for Arteta to bring on Nketiah for Martinelli. Why not Aubameyang to play from wide, as he has a multitude of times?

In terms of game management, what we did see after the equalizer was a lot of Spanish style timewasting from Arsenal, which was ironic given Benitez made his reputation at Valencia, real masters of this as those that made the two trips to the Mestalla when Arsenal were in their prime under Wenger will recall.

That Arsenal conspire to lose matches like this and last Thursday’s suggests that the soft underbelly that has been a factor for about 15 years now has still not gone away. Arteta won’t be going anywhere for a while, but neither will Arsenal until they recruit a manager who won’t be learning on the job.

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