Have Arsenal’s attacking tactics become too predictable?

 

Arsenal 0 Burnley 0  
Premier League  
Sunday 23rd January 2022 2pm   

In Arsenal’s pursuit of a top four place, I think it’s fair to say that the inability to defeat the team propping up the table, at the Emirates does not bode well. On the upside, at least the result was an improvement on the behind closed doors disaster of December 2020, when in the midst of a woeful Gunners run, Sean Dyche’s men took all three points from this fixture. 

Scoring goals seems to have become an issue since Arsenal netted in the first half against Manchester City on New Years Day. The team were scoring for fun in the run of matches after the defeat at Everton. The goals in the five league games that followed came from Lacazette (2), Odegaard, Gabriel, Martinelli (3), Smith Rowe (3), Saka (4) and Tierney. They all seem to have dried up. It’s real feast or famine stuff as four matches in various competitions since have seen the Gunners completely blunted, accompanied by two cup exits. 

It’s difficult to see a solution aside from trying Martinelli in the middle. It feels like Mikel Arteta has burned his bridges with Aubameyang, who wasn’t exactly prolific anyway. Alexandre Lacazette may be a good link player, but his goal return – rarely spectacular – has seriously tailed off this season. Eddie Nketiah? Please. 

The problem with using wide players as the main source of danger is that they can be snuffed out with sheer weight of numbers – as Liverpool demonstrated on Thursday evening. Arsenal did get a little more joy from wide yesterday afternoon, but Burnley packed their box with bodies and weathered the storm. Arteta’s team needed a deflection to go their way, but it didn’t come. For Burnley, eating the clock from early in the first half, it was a case of job done. 

Yes, there were spells of excitement, close things, dominance and hope. You did feel the goal was coming at one stage in the second half, but it was not to be. It seemed like what was needed was an Ian Wright, a Thierry Henry, a Robin van Persie to blast through the barriers in some fashion. At the moment, Aubameyang having gone off the boil and the alternatives going through a dry patch, Arsenal are lacking in that department. The papers may suggest Vlahovic from Fiorentina as the likely solution, but there is no sign the player himself wants to move to a club that cannot guarantee him Champions League football. The club will likely have to sign potential that can come good, like they did way back when in buying Anelka, Henry or Van Persie. 

Nobody was to know Aubameyang wouldn’t work out when he was offered his expensive extension. He’d performed wonderfully in winning the FA Cup weeks earlier, even if he had no idea about how to lift the trophy. Since then, he has felt like a luxury the club cannot afford, with the goals drying up a major factor in Arsenal failing to qualify for Europe last season. Still, finding the solutions to problems like these is what Edu is paid for, so let’s see if anything transpires in the next week. It feels like something has to be done. 

The match doesn’t require too much by way of analysis or detail. Burnley had the odd attack, and Ramsdale certainly needed to be alert to keep a clean sheet. Predictably, Arsenal had most of the possession, but peppering away at the opposition goal came to naught, aside from a little excitement with the occasional near miss. In summary, the Gunners could not unpick the defensive web.

Due to a combination of various factors, they now only have two matches in the next 40 days. Plenty of time for the manager to get his players back and work on improving their finishing ability in training then. They really need to try and win at Wolves and take three points at home to Brentford. However, yesterday’s result feels a little significant, suggesting difficult times ahead. It appears as if Arsenal’s method of attack has been seen often enough to be nullified. You can accept Liverpool achieving that, but Burnley? 

Still, some perspective. The last four goal-less matches featured three cup games. In the Premier League, the last six games have seen a run of four wins followed by an unlucky defeat and a frustrating draw. There is opportunity to turn this around and it cannot be ignored that Arteta has not been helped by the lack of a central midfield – although it was self-inflicted yesterday given both the normal first choice options were suspended for this game. 

Only the end of the campaign will tell how much yesterday’s result really cost. However, failure to beat relegation fodder is always a concern, especially with home advantage. It feels like a very cheap two points dropped.

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