After PSG. Lack of freedom in the SYSTEM

Arsenal got eliminated from PSG in a semifinal and concluded by this a fifth trophy-less season in the row under Arteta.

The only improvement we have over the last year was a scalp of a European giant in a Champions League and that’s important, and fair play for that. But let's be honest, everywhere else we've gone backwards. The football's become drier than a week-old scone. In Premier League there were so far 17 out of 35 games where we scored at most one goal. Is this the feature of the team that is going to win big trophies? I certainly don’t think so. You can blame injuries, but such games was scattered throughout the whole season: away losses to Bournemouth and Newcastle in October/November, draws against Fulham and Everton in December before Saka’s injury, recent games against Everton, Brentford and Bournemouth after Saka’s return. 

But let’s get back to the semifinal. The second leg started very positively. In the first 15 minutes, we took a hold of the ball, we were direct, we were aggressive, we created a couple of good chances. The period was topped by a brilliant shot from Odegaard that was matched by a brilliant save. And while the shot itself was great, it was a reminder that those sorts of efforts from the captain have been hiding all season. 

After PSG managed to get through this period of pressure and fight back with dangerous chances of their own, they scored a goal when Fabian Ruiz just smashed it into the net. How many episodes we had when our player just took on the defender and tried to smash it into the net, like Kvara or Fabian Ruiz did? I can only remember Saka’s curler in second half. 

Arteta's SYSTEM doesn’t encourage freedom, bravery and risky solutions. Out of the 2.9xG yesterday - 1.5 was created from two Saka’s shots when PSG were 3-0 up and definitely put their foot off the gas. Martinelli was a much better finisher when he was young and wasn't intensively coached by Arteta. Now he looks like he's overthinking every episode. You can blame this on the player. But when you see Odegaard on the edge of the box with a clear sight of goal and he doesn't pull the trigger – Bournemouth away, twice yesterday – you have to ask questions. Whatever is the reason Odegaard not shooting (coaching, confidence or injury), it makes it so miuch easier for the opponents to defend -  they send the extra man to cover Saka and don’t bother too much about the threat from our captain. But Arteta keeps him on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes, because he knows the SYSTEM well. At the same time grounded Nwaneri sits on the bench. I don’t know what Ethan did - too much TikTok time, went to toilet without teacher’s permissions or didn’t clean his locker - but he’s not getting the warm treatment in the last two weeks. 

And even he seems to have lost a bit of that initial spark and directness throughout the course of the season. When he became a starter in February, suddenly his flair and audacity started to fade away.

Yesterday around 70th minute Merino was alone on the corner of the box, but instead of attempting to directly fire it in, he waited for Martinelli to make a run. The exact same way that Odegaard is regularly waiting for Saka or Timber on the right instead of taking initiative by himself. Apart from that opening spell, we lacked any real directness, lacked verticality in delivering the ball. Our slow build-up play has allowed PSG to easily get back and close most channels. That's exactly what we do to opponents and we are good at it. It can't be denied that Arteta has built a team that is very good out of possession. But when it comes to scoring, our biggest goals of the season were delivered despite Arteta and his staff and not due to them. 

Against Madrid, Declan Rice smashed the ball in when Mr Jover told him to cross. Same Mr Jover who instructed today to do a long throw-in 30 times into the box, despite that it worked only the first time. Where was the variety, unpredictability? PSG got to know what exactly to expect from us in the second half from different set pieces.

Against City in January, Partey took a long shot that got deflected and made us take the lead and destroy them afterwards. I am pretty sure it was against Arteta's instructions.

And it’s fine if new set piece tactics wasn’t invented, the problem is that players are not encouraged to take decisions on their own so most of them repeat the same thing over and over. When you look how the semifinals are turned in your favour - it's not by systematic play. It's about someone having a go, being direct, believing they can do something special. The PSG strikers just had a crack from anywhere within sight of the goal in both legs. Raphinha's equaliser in the first Barca-Inter semifinal probably had an xG of about minus three.

But in our squad only Rice and Saka have the audacity to overcome the instructions and do whatever they believe is best in the moment. Why? Because they are undroppable in this squad. And the rest don’t risk it, because if they fail to deliver, they will join the Grounded Benchwarmer Zinchenko/Nwaneri/Kiwior club and drop out of favour. Kiwior is, by the way, one of the best second choices in his position that we have in the club. And he would be happy and belong here if he would be rotated in the quarter of the games by a less stubborn manager. He demonstrated that he can play in CL play-offs and not be a liability. Yes, he's a bit risk-averse (wonder why?), but he’s not making noticeable mistakes. 

Would you like to guess how many times Kiwior started this season, while Gabriel was left on the bench in PL or CL? Fucking zero. None. Doesn't that just sum up Arteta's approach? Having a player good enough at this level, but refusing to give him a run of games.

There’s a common narrative that once we get better strikers, trophies will queue up in front of our cabinet door. But the number above is exactly why I don't see any evidence that even after we buy two or three good players Arteta will fix his weaknesses. 

He was hit in the face for the lack of rotation with the spring of injuries and still played in the first eleven against Bournemouth before the most important game of the season. As a consequence in the 50th minute PSG players already looked fresher and started to dominate the midfield. And we didn’t have the legs to be aggressive anymore and started to concede dangerous chances.

When we buy three new players in summer, I expect the three other players to warm those cozy bench seats. The likes of Merino, Martinelli, etc.. How many times Zinchenko featured this season? Same Zinchenko that was brought against Bayern a year ago to gain control. How many minutes did inconsistent but talented Nwaneri get after Saka was back in the squad? We might have looked dangerous in front against Madrid, because Saka was injured and not completely gassed out by April. 

I wrote in detail about exposed Arteta’s weaknesses after the first leg and they were partially demonstrated in the second game.

• Missing or very late in-game changes. Myles was making mistakes and playing with fire for a long time, his sub was dragged until we had a penalty on our goal. We haven't tried anything new, except Saka moving all across the front line. I wouldn’t be surprised it was his initiative: he didn’t want to give up, but was doubled up on the right side, so he went looking for opening elsewhere. But we didn’t attempt to shoot attempts from distance, we continued the same predictable throw-in routine.

• Overplayed starters. PSG was overrunning our midfield in the second half and we had no response in terms of fresh legs or aggression.  Rice looked exhausted, Partey somehow too, Merino couldn’t keep up due to his generally low pace. MLS’s mistakes were also down to the lack of freshness.

• Sticking with the favourites until the end. We needed to score two goals, Odegaard wasn’t anywhere near the box, but Nwaneri sits grounded on the bench.

For now I can't see what will change next season. Unless we buy someone who can just singlehandedly pull us through games, like Yamal does. But those sorts of players cost a king's ransom and aren't on our shopping list. Isak, for all his talent, isn't that type of player either. Neither are Sesko, Gyokeres, or Nico Williams. Someone going by "Batistuta" summed up my feelings pretty well yesterday:

Perfect time to part ways. We've improved and he's done his very best but no serious club keeps a manager this long who's not won anything. This is as far as he possibly can take us

I don’t believe a single moment that the board will let Arteta go. At the same time I don’t think Saliba will renew the contract this summer. And if we remain trophy-less for another season, Saka would also think about leaving. And he’ll have the full right to do so. Player of his talent and attitude deserves to be winning titles every season. Or at least try to change something in his career to win them.

Now we go at Anfield where all the same starting bunch will try to overcompensate for last two defeats, while the Grounded Benchwarmer club will happily watch them from the bench until the 80th minute.

And both groups will be thinking about the summer holidays…