Arsenal 0-1 West Ham: It goes past accidents
Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Stats are an excellent addition to the soccer expertise, however yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham is a traditional instance of a sport through which solely eyes are essential to make your judgement. The stats would possibly recommend Arsenal dominated, had 20 makes an attempt on objective to West Ham’s 5, and from that you just would possibly suppose we had been unfortunate in a roundabout way.
Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. The stark actuality is that West Ham had the most effective probabilities. Within the first half Thomas Soucek headed over from shut vary; Jarrod Bowen flashed a shot huge after Aaron Wan Bissaka did properly down their proper hand aspect; and within the second half Bowen nearly made it 2-0, simply failing to make contact with an excellent cross that got here in from the left hand-side as he peeled off the again of Gabriel.
On the different finish, there was nothing a lot to jot down dwelling about. A Riccardo Calafiori shot within the first half, a Leandro Trossard effort within the second which the keeper saved along with his foot, and that was about it. This isn’t a sport you possibly can look again on and suppose ‘If solely’ by way of golden alternatives we missed – as a result of there weren’t any.
This was a dismal efficiency from begin to end. Within the absence of so many key attacking gamers, we would have liked these we needed to step up, and people round them to offer help. I can’t be too important of a central midfielder being pressed into motion as a centre-forward if he doesn’t play that function brilliantly, and I feel there’s good motive why a gifted 17 12 months previous can’t shine like he did the week beforehand – consistency is a troublesome factor to realize within the early a part of any profession.
However, I feel we will have a look at skilled gamers and anticipate higher. I believed Declan Rice was very poor for the objective we conceded, monitoring the run all the way in which, after which simply letting Bowen go. Gabriel wasn’t nice there both, the 2 appeared to go off the accountability to one another with zero communication, and after Calafiori most likely may have accomplished extra to cease the cross. A free header from shut vary was a dagger to the guts for this Arsenal staff.
You may’t concede a objective like that in our present state of affairs. Now we have to be defensively strong as a result of objectives are laborious to come back by with out our attacking choices the way in which they’re. However, I feel yesterday went past accidents. They didn’t assist, clearly, however it is a movie we’ve all seen earlier than once we’ve been confronted with a staff who play with a again 5, a compact midfield which we will’t play via or round, and who keep organised to do the fundamentals properly.
I feel it’s a day the place even when we had Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and Gabriels Martinelli and Jesus, we most likely nonetheless would have struggled, as a result of these are usually the video games we discover most troublesome underneath the tenure of this supervisor. They’re Mikel Arteta’s Kryptonite. Perhaps that further high quality helps us discover a means via in the long run, however I’m 99% sure we’d have needed to huff and puff with out actually discovering any form of rhythm.
We had been clearly lacking these gamers, however I don’t suppose that’s an excuse for a staff efficiency that was this beneath par. When the supervisor himself makes that clear, refusing in any option to blame accidents or absences, I don’t suppose it’s a controversial opinion in any means:
I by no means felt that we had been on the requirements or the degrees we would have liked to have extra menace after which don’t permit them to run. I’m speaking concerning the requirements of the gamers and the staff that we performed right now, me included 100%, had been nowhere close to the degrees that now we have to hit to have the chance to win a Premier League sport right now. it was nowhere close to.
He was having not one of the suggestion it was about accidents, and it’s clear this was a efficiency which actually irked him. Which is one thing I feel most individuals can resonate with this morning. I didn’t actually have any situation with the beginning XI, Merino up prime isn’t ideally suited however what else is there? That’s a wider situation, and I don’t suppose there’s a lot level in re-litigating January as a result of all the things about that has already been stated, however between accidents and a scarcity of switch exercise, the chickens got here dwelling to roost yesterday.
I feel even with these gamers absent, we should anticipate extra from the gamers out there. Martin Odegaard appears a protracted, great distance from his greatest proper now – whether or not it’s damage or lack of kind or a mix of each of these issues, the dynamism and affect is gone from his sport on the worst doable time. And once more, squad constructing comes into focus as a result of there’s no one to fill the hole. Final season we may have turned to Emile Smith Rowe or Fabio Vieira, and whereas your mileage could range on their capability to make a distinction, they had been choices a minimum of.
I discovered the Declan Rice substitution an odd one. Was he having sport? No. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that he and Calafiori, each implicated to some extent for the Bowen objective, had been the lads hauled off early within the second half, however to take our greatest nook taker off on a day like this felt unusual – as a result of a set-piece appeared our probably option to make a breakthrough. The very fact it was in opposition to his former membership and in simply the 56th minute was much more so, and once you change him with a left-back who you will have by no means proven any inclination of utilizing as a midfielder earlier than (regardless of repeated questions on it), it felt fairly pointed, relatively than only a option to attempt to change the sport. Maybe I’m studying an excessive amount of into it, however it wasn’t a health factor, so it obtained my spider senses tingling a little bit.
The distress of the day was compounded by the sending off of Myles Lewis-Skelly, when a yellow was upgraded to crimson for foul on Mohammed Kudus on the midway line. I feel we’ve had some bullshit crimson playing cards this season, together with one for MLS himself however this was one we will haven’t any complaints about. I see chat a couple of foul by Kudus, however it’s one the place I feel now we have to simply accept Lewis-Skelly made the fallacious determination on the ball, obtained caught out, and we paid the value. With David Raya up to now out of his objective, I feel it’s a transparent goalscoring alternative and we’ll should do with out him for the journey to Forest on Wednesday night.
Raheem Sterling got here on to make zero influence once more past a poor free kick, and Ben White changed Saliba late on. I did marvel why we didn’t see Jorginho come on for Thomas Partey, even for 15-20 minutes. In case you’re ready to take Rice off for Zinchenko (who was worse than the person he changed by far in my view), I don’t actually perceive why you wouldn’t do this. A objective might need been helpful, relying on what occurs right now, and if the supervisor is indignant (and to be truthful he included himself in that), not doing all the things you possibly can to alter a sport needs to be a part of that.
It was a efficiency which calls for some introspection, however one we will’t permit to fester with a giant sport developing this week. The response must be speedy, however the low-level nervousness a show like that produces goes to resonate for a number of days a minimum of. There’s not rather a lot he can do in another way along with his staff choice for Wednesday, however he has to get much more from those self same gamers in opposition to a staff who will invite us to interrupt them down in a lot the identical means West ham did. That’s an issue he has to resolve.
All in all, it was a horrible day for Arsenal, and an excellent one for Liverpool. What slim hope there was of sustaining the title race has all however evaporated now. You might need come to phrases with that prior to now, however it’s nonetheless a painful one – significantly as a win yesterday would have closed the hole and utilized a little bit of strain. We let ourselves down, and we allow them to off the hook.
Until tomorrow.
