[ad_1]
It felt like Arsenal were playing into Tottenham’s hands in Sunday’s North London derby, so the way the game turned out was no surprise.
The Gunners looked good and clean on the ball against the Spurs, but it never looked like they were going to hurt them.
That’s an ongoing problem for Mikel Arteta’s team, which has averaged more passes per shot than any other Premier League team this season (55.5) and scored just 10 goals in 11 league games.
You could see that Tottenham were happy that he got the ball because they knew they didn’t pose much of a threat.
On the other hand, everyone who has watched Spurs this season knew that their game plan would be to use Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to hit Arsenal at halftime when the visitors’ attacks were interrupted.
So the goals conceded by the Gunners, especially the second that ended the game, they were extremely naive.
I imagine Arteta had been teaching his team how good this Tottenham is on the fast break, and being aware of it, being organized and fired up in transitions when they lose the ball.
Instead, they were Arsenal schoolboy stuff. For Tottenham’s second goal, they were sucked into the ball and it was too easy to play through them. There was no going back from there.
Aubameyang didn’t think he was going to score
If you look at the league standings, things look pretty bleak for Arsenal at the moment, but I don’t think their situation is as bad as their position might suggest.
What is clear is that they are really fighting for confidence and on top of that, the man who led them to the end of last season and brought them great results is not working at the moment.
I’m talking about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored 22 league goals in 35 starts last season, but has only managed two out of 11 this time.
All forwards suffer a drop in form at some point in their career, and there is no question that Aubameyang is below his best at the moment.
His penalty against Manchester United on 1 November is the only time he has found the net since the opening day of the campaign.
He had a great opportunity against the Spurs when he reached the end of a Kieran Tierney cross early in the second half, but had no real conviction with his header. He just guided him over the bar.
It was a header from a player who didn’t think he was going to score, and I would say the same about his only other goal attempt on Sunday, a shot that was blocked by Toby Alderweireld late in the game.
Aubameyang never looked like he was going to surpass Alderweireld, or even try. The Spurs defender was in full control of that situation, and this is also how one could describe the way Tottenham dealt with Arsenal throughout the match.
What does Arsenal lack in attack?
While Aubameyang is not the player he was last season, I don’t think it can be said that it’s all his fault. The service you are receiving is not the same either.
Against Tottenham, Arsenal’s game plan was essentially to get the ball wide open and cross into the box. Many of them.
That meant they had Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette and, when he came in, Eddie Nketiah, trying to get past Alderweireld and Eric Dier.
That was never going to happen very often, even before Spurs manager José Mourinho hired an additional defender in Ben Davies. He added another when Joe Rodon came in before the end as well.
In the past, Arsenal have always had more than that: more cunning and more creativity. Arteta has to figure out how to get that back.
In his prime, Aubameyang is decent in the air, but that’s not the route to Arsenal’s goal. They really want to poke holes in teams, probe in channels, and try to slide balls behind defenders for their quick forwards. We didn’t see much of that against the Spurs.
How do the gunners fire again?
Reverting to a back quarter could be one way to increase Arsenal’s attacking threat.
While they may have more ball control and see a lot of possession when playing with three center halves, they are still conceding goals. And clearly they are losing something at the top end of the field as well.
It might be time for Arteta to place another body in a more attacking area, especially a more creative minded player. For example, if you got Arsenal’s middle third half against the Spurs, they could have had Reiss Nelson on the field.
Arteta could argue that a 3-4-3 formation is a way of bringing Tierney and Bukayo Saka together on the side, and I actually thought they were Arsenal’s best players against Spurs with their good work on the left.
However, one way or another, Arteta has to modify her approach.
He got off to a great start as a manager, but with nearly a year in the position, it’s clear how much work he has to do.
Arsenal are not moving as smoothly as everyone expects, and maybe that’s because Arteta has focused too much on the defensive side of things.
It has worked because they are no longer a soft touch, but now he has to focus on regaining his attacking advantage. It has clearly become a problem.
Jermaine Jenas was talking to Chris Bevan of BBC Sport.
