Carabao Final - on the bus. Clueless
Arsenal loses the first trophy of the season to Manchester City.
I’ll take you through this one chronologically, though to be honest, it’s the last thing on my mind after such a disappointing display.
The news that Eze was sidelined was a proper gut-punch for the Arsenal faithful. Eberechi has been finding his shooting boots lately and he was exactly the man for the occasion—remember his winner against this City in the FA Cup last year? He’s got that knack for a top shot or just an ability to glide through the City press. With him off the menu, Arteta went for Havertz at 10 and Gyökeres leading the line. It was a predictable setup given how Kai’s been faring in that floating role of late.
On the flanks, we had Saka and Trossard—and that’s where Arteta made his first two glaring errors of the day. I mentioned in the preview that Leo only really turns up when he’s fresh. He needs to be managed, 90 minutes a week tops, otherwise the tank runs dry and he becomes a passenger. Despite that, Arteta gave him the nod, and he was every bit as passive as I feared.
I honestly don’t get how I can spot it from my sofa while Arteta, with all his analysts and coaching staff, seemingly can’t make this connection. They track every blade of grass, so surely the data shows his numbers drop when he starts two on the bounce? If not—give me a bell, Mikel!
One potential explanation is that without Eze, Arteta wanted more control in the engine room, and Trossard is the closest thing we’ve got to a proper number 10. If that’s the case, he should’ve started Leo in the hole with Havertz up top, leaving the left wing for someone with a bit more gas in the tank.
The other mistake was starting Saka on the right. Bukayo’s been off the pace for weeks now, and giving him the armband hasn’t helped. In a cup final, you don’t just keep doing the same thing and hoping for the best. We had Madueke ready to give City something different to think about, yet Arteta stuck with Saka. And making him captain, when our leader on that pitch is Declan Rice? Against City, you need attackers at the top of their game (whether by skill, mentality or confidence) and Saka looks miles off it. I’m struggling to wrap my head around why, with Martinelli and Madueke fresh and raring to go, we saw the same wingers that started against Leverkusen.
The fullbacks were White and Hincapie and the place in the goal was given to Kepa. Look, I’m all for giving the number two a run in the local cups. It’s good for squad morale and long-term health. But in a one-off final with silverware on the line, you play your best eleven. People are saying Pep won the mind games by announcing Trafford early, goading Arteta into playing his backup. There might be some truth in that, but I suspect Arteta had promised Kepa the cup games and didn’t want to go back on his word. It is important to keep the given promises, but this decision certainly backfired.
The game itself
I expected City to come out swinging in the first fifteen, but it turned into a right cagey affair. That said, we should’ve been ahead by the 7th minute. White’s heavy touch actually did Rodri, forcing him into a rash challenge. Benjamin got there first, found Zubimendi, and he played Havertz clean through with a lovely one-touch pass.
Havertz, being in that position was really lackadaisical. He didn’t take his first chance seriously, when we all know that it might be the only one you get in the game of such caliber. The ball fell to Saka and his first attempt was in a very tight space. The rebound, however, fell to him again and that was the one the top player could bury. But Saka, expectedly in the form he is in, didn’t manage to send it past the English keeper.
The first chance was wasted, but the general feeling was positive. Saliba, Rice, and Gabriel were sniffing out danger, strangling City attacks at birth. They played a really strong first half that resulted in zero shots for our opponents. We did have some attempts to enter their box, but we were never as close as in the 7th minute.
I was on board with the “safety first” approach for the opening 20 minutes, provided we finished the half strongly. The game didn’t move out of first gear, however. I understand Arteta might have felt pleasant feeling over his body seeing how much City struggled to create anything. I also trust that after working with Pep, Arteta knows exactly what makes his old side struggle.
At the same time, if our strong suit is defending, then we should elevate the pace and intensity to a level where it becomes deeply uncomfortable for their back four, while still manageable for ours. With such a slow-paced game, even a weaker defence gets a chance to regroup, so the tempo played right into City’s hands.
Right after the break, however, the game changed completely. City came out of the tunnel energized and full of confidence. That was something I worried about in the preview. We needed to survive that first 15 minutes without conceding, and we failed that task miserably.
But even before the goal, things started to unravel. Guardiola tweaked City’s pressing approach. They left Kepa, Saliba, and Gabriel alone and deployed four players to block all direction of our second level of build-up: White, Zubimendi, Rice, and Hincapie. They basically said, “you can pass it between you three all day,” but they wouldn’t let the ball move forward.
And our team suddenly looked .. clueless. They didn’t know how to bypass this new approach, and Kepa spent thirty seconds on the ball standing in our box doing absolutely nothing.
This happened multiple times in the opening five minutes of the half. Neither the “positionally aware” Kai Havertz, nor our captain Saka, nor the experienced Trossard took the initiative to break the deadlock by dropping deep. They failed to provide a fifth option or drag a marker away to give Gyokeres a clear space to run into.
Our long balls were also pretty useless, despite having two physical forwards. Neither Havertz nor Gyokeres could win the ball high up and hold it to continue the attack. The defence our attacking duo was operating against consisted of Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, and O’Reilly, and we couldn’t really trouble this far-from-impressive back four.
City intercepted the ball as our players failed to offer any solutions. I don’t know how much blame lies with the players versus Arteta, but our team seems highly dependent on him giving clear instructions. We really lack leadership in the final third (our captains are really bland this season) and it’s deeply frustrating. It’s also a clear symptom of micromanagement; if a coach scolds you for deviating from instructions, the logical reaction is to stop taking initiative and wait for the next set of orders.
It was painful to see the team become toothless after one tactical tweak. We couldn’t string three passes together and barely crossed the halfway line. It looked like an old-school Arsenal performance against City, where we were happy to just defend heroically. That is not the attitude of a team firmly sitting at the top of the league.
Arteta’s choices against City seem driven by a fear of getting battered, which he can’t imagine in his most horrible dreams. It makes him prioritize the defensive side of the game so much that our attacking attempts look amateurish. He shows far too much respect to Guardiola’s team this season and it hurt our chances both times.
City were dominating and a goal seemed inevitable. Despite this, Arteta froze on the touchline. He didn’t change the build-up or throw on subs to change the dynamic. The players didn’t help themselves either; for all the talk of “dark arts,” none of them thought to go down after a collision to kill the momentum, give the team a chance to regroup and Arteta to pass down some instructions.
City’s efforts were accelerated by Kepa, though. A cross from the left—Kepa failed to deal with it, and the ball fell to O’Reilly on a silver platter. 1-0. Kepa definitely screwed up, but he wasn’t the main reason we conceded. We offered nothing in the second half, and City added a second five minutes later in similar fashion to confirm that allegation.
Look how many players City had in the box! It caused our defenders to rotate all over the shop—Saliba at RB, Gabriel at LB, Hincapie in the middle, and Ben White wandering around Doku in the middle of the box. That’s the desire to score, to take the game by the scruff of the neck. I never saw Arsenal commit more than four players in the box, even when we were the better side in the first half.
The camera panned to Arteta’s face and it was clear he didn’t have a plan. He threw on Calafiori, which was long overdue. After Hincapie picked up a yellow for a silly foul, he looked shaky. Semenyo had the better of him a few times and I expected Ricky to be brought on right after the break.
The other sub was Madueke, who I reckon was a much better fit for this game than Saka. Yet Arteta left Saka on for the full 90 despite another anonymous display. Apparently it doesn’t stop Mikel, despite Bukayo demonstrating no leadership or in-game tactical awareness to modify our build-up in-game. Not that Havertz or Gyokeres was better, but I fail to understand why Saka keeps getting a free pass when he’s clearly struggling.
The two subs added a dimension we lacked (to be fair, we had zero dimensions in that second half). Madueke lost the ball a few times, but at least he looked like he could trouble the City defence. Calafiori was probably one of our best performers in the second half, hitting the post with Trossard’s help for our only real chance for a goal.
But even with them on, we were nowhere near equalizing. Arsenal were truly clueless. To make matters worse, Arteta threw on Martinelli (way too late) and Jesus. Gabriel Jesus, who has been missing in action lately, was supposed to be the savior while Max Dowman, the only bright attacking spot of March, remained on the bench.
After the Everton game, many people praised Arteta for playing Dowman. I believe that if your attack is consistently struggling, playing a creative spark regardless of age is just common sense. There’s nothing brave about it. Bravery would be taking off a “star” player who is having a bad day in the office for a youngster. Yesterday, Arteta wouldn’t even risk it to win a trophy. He stuck with the players who have shown for months or years they don’t have what it takes in these types of games.
The first chance for silverware is gone. I always thought the quadruple talk from some sections of the fans was immature and even embarrassing for us as the fan base. For one not too familiar with the topic - the probability of winning all four tournaments was about 2.5% according to the bookies even before the Carabao Cup final. Even when you’re 55% favorites for one final (which betting companies gave us on Sunday), you can see how unlikely it is to win all four.
After Sunday’s defeat, we’ll have to work incredibly hard for even a single trophy. City have a boost of confidence while we were hit by a reality check. Some say it’s disappointing to have to sit on this defeat for a couple of weeks, but I think it plays in our favour. City’s enthusiasm will fade, and our players will have time to process the frustration and realize they need to fight tooth and nail for every trophy.
I don’t have a problem with losing the game—cup finals can go either way. I have a problem with the manner of the defeat. For all I saw, it could have been Wolverhampton out there; an organized defence in the first half that fell apart in the second and had nothing left for the final whistle.
And it’s not the first time we’ve seen this from Arteta’s side. The CL quarter-final in Munich, or the second half of the semifinal against PSG. In decisive matches against the big boys, Arteta often freezes and the players don’t know how to turn it around—again, likely a consequence of being micromanaged. They expect to be told exactly how to overcome the trouble.
In recent years, our only big decisive win came through two Rice free kicks, which isn’t a sustainable strategy.
After yesterday, I don’t think any top club in Europe will be losing sleep over us in the Champions League. If this freezing pattern doesn’t break, the League is all we can realistically hope for.
This team needs big attacking characters. Saliba, Rice, and Gabriel did their jobs, but we again lacked someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck upfront. Arteta also reverted to his conservative pattern and trust to “experienced” non-performers. He loves talking about every defeat being a “learning opportunity”. I think April and May will show us if he’s actually capable of it himself.