Leicester - on the bus. Super Mik answers the call!
Two goals from Merino's debut at the #9 position.
This was the first game in our unexplored “thin ice” part of the season. Luckily the opponent was also the easiest. Leicester are on their way back to Championship and thankfully they didn’t make any progress today.
The starting line-up was very predictable, especially after the Friday press-conference. The front three were Nwaneri, Trossard, and Sterling. The only question was who would play in the middle, and traditionally conservative Arteta leaned on the Belgian who had played this role before. In retrospect, this was a bad decision, because neither Trossard nor Sterling looked threatening in their positions.
I was expecting to see some interesting moves to get more manpower in the box, but except for a couple runs that Rice made behind the backline, everything else was usual. As if nothing had happened in February. Odegaard had two opportunities to shoot from right outside of the box, but he took so many touches to get into the position and finished them both with a flick to Trossard. Don’t get me wrong - a flick is an interesting option, but only if mixed with true shots testing the goalkeeper. There was only one man on the pitch who utilized the full range of skills today.
In the first half, Arsenal dominated possession and spent most of the time on Leicester's half, but it was not an achievement under the current circumstances. Leicester and all future opponents will be happy for us to do that if we don't create chances. They also, very expectedly, tried to press our defense at times, because Raya doesn’t have a long ball target.
Sterling leaves Arteta no chances
I’ve mentioned in the preview that today’s setup would be a true test whether Arteta learned something. I was expecting to see something new tried today. But Sterling left Arteta no chance to take an alternative path. His performance was just dreadful - he couldn’t keep an offside line, he couldn’t dribble past the opponents. All his crosses in the box were both weak and to the opponent. He really couldn’t do anything useful! Many of our attacks ended with him losing the ball. What was Arteta waiting for in the first 70 minutes? After the first half it was clear that the man is as useless as they come.
It's difficult to explain what happened to him. It's also sad to see him in such a state, a mere shadow of his former self. Other players consider him a great character, but we can't afford to feel sorry for a Chelsea loanee who isn't contributing to our success! If you've lost your skills, it's on you. Sometimes players do everything right, but the finish or final pass is off. And it just needs to click at some point. But here, everything is off. He probably let himself go, got worse in all aspects, and now, on the pitch, he still expects the output of his younger self. I think there's a reason Arteta was so reluctant to use him earlier in the season; he probably noticed it already in training. How embarrassing does his signing video look now?
How can I sum up this section? I don't want to see him starting again this season. He should be a rotation option to keep our only true attacking diamond fresh. 15 minutes to take the load off Nwaneri's legs at the end of the game, not more than that.
17-year old Nwaneri is the main threat of a title chasing team.
It's just astonishing to see how a seventeen-year-old player, who barely had any minutes before the start of the season, now carries the attack of a Premier League runner-up. He started slowly but created more and more threat as the game progressed. Every time he took the ball, there was a feeling that it might end up in a dangerous chance. His crosses in the first half were spot on, he just didn't have a target in the box. Rice tried to get on the end of it once, but his shot was poor.
My worry in the half time is that we should bring Merino (or another planned target) as soon as possible, while Nwaneri and Trossard are still fresh in their legs. Expectedly, Arteta wasn’t ready to risk such a change until it was too late.
In the second half Ethan produced the two most dangerous and powerful shots of our whole senior team - first touched the cross bar, second almost broke the post. And then he delivered an inch-perfect cross on Merino’s head that decided the game. His performance was cemented with another goal after Trossard’s cross from the left side. It’s worth mentioning that both of Mikel’s runs were perfectly timed to avoid an offside and reach the ball.
The honorary mention of the match goes to Myles Lewis-Skelly, who despite not being too active in attack, made a game-defining save in the second half. He somehow managed to deflect a cross that was about to land on Leicester’s striker meters in front of the goal and not hit our own goal. A true miracle that we stayed at 0-0.
The next challenge awaits
Let’s remember that it was only the first lowest hurdle. Next week we are facing West Ham at home, who lost today to Brentford. We absolutely need to have a front three of Nwaneri, Merino, Trossard, our winger should be at their best position creating chances and the likes of Merino and Trossard can get in the box and increase their goal tally. I’d also be interested to see if we can have another option at front - for example, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji. I saw a camera spotting another attacking talent on our bench today.
I absolutely don’t want to see Sterling up front. Frankly, I would also prefer Zinchenko closing up the game on the right wing. He’s also left footed, can deliver a cross and keep the ball. Not at Ethan’s quality, but we are not spoiled with options now. We need to build our momentum before we travel to Forest, Old Trafford and the Champions League clash.
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