On the bus after United. It’s not too late… or is it?
Arsenal clinched the hard three points and confirmed “summer shape” worries at the same time.
Gyokeres or Sesko?
The eagerly anticipated clash of two of the market's hottest strikers was meant to settle the unspoken question lingering in the minds of every Arsenal supporter. Who was better? Who was sharper? Who could make an immediate impact? Who could stand before the fans and beat their chest? The young Slovenian or the seasoned Swede?
As it turned out, the answer was Matheus Cunha. The Brazilian, a player we were sniffing around last winter, was an absolute menace, terrorising our defence every time he got on the ball. Some might argue it was actually his partnership with Mbuemo that caused us all sorts of headaches. My take on their performances is a bit different. Mbuemo capitalised on our stretched defence and the fact that Calafiori seemed more interested in helping the linesman track that tricky offside line down on the Manchester half. Ricky was so committed to aiding the officials, in the 12th minute he actually volunteered to observe on the referee's behalf whether Rice's cross (poorly handled by the goalkeeper) had indeed crossed the line.
Source: arsenal.com
And whenever it did cross, Ricky felt absolutely obliged to let every last spectator know his observation.
Yet, at the same time, in his nominal area of the pitch, there was a glaring void. Mbuemo had so much space to himself, he could have let Havertz's donkeys graze there or even given Win a frisbee or two to chase.
But Matheus Cunha? We should have snapped him up in January and been done with it. He can play at nine, he can roam at ten, he can move from the wing. Okay, he walks around the pitch at times, but so what? Whenever he picked up the ball – on the right, on the left, straight through the middle – he caused no end of trouble for any opponent in front of him. He was even awfully close to winning a penalty after Saliba's challenge.
Cunha is a proper threat producing machine. I can only imagine how helpful he could have been in our previous season's campaign. And who knows how that PSG clash might have ended if we'd had this exciting weapon on the bench.
Overall, United looked good. They looked confident: Mbuemo, Cunha, and Dorgu are already well integrated into the team. Their defenders have certainly moved on from the "Maguire Mykonos debauchee" style. Adam Clery's analysis highlighted that their main weakness was the lack of a focal number nine to pin down centre-backs and create space for their creative maestros. And they're about to get exactly that in Sesko. We were fortunate he only stepped off the private jet last week. Once he gets up to speed, their overall play will become far more cohesive, even if he only bags ten goals or so.
What about Arsenal though?
Despite bringing in all those "progressive players" with a knack for delivering the ball into the final third and the opposition's box, our output was worryingly low. We also didn't maintain possession, a staple of Arteta's team. Manchester United actually dominated the ball, and an early goal offered us larger pockets of space and the opportunity to unleash those shiny new players on the counter-attack.
However, the problem wasn't the new, shiny players; it was the old-school Arsenal core that barely managed to create a decent scoring chance.
Declan Rice was not convincing for most of the game. Yet, despite the criticism, he remains a world-class player. It was his superb cross that troubled the goalkeeper (who was clearly distracted by Big Bill’s charming French Accent), and later in the game, Rice came agonisingly close to "bending it like Declan" directly from a free-kick.
Bukayo Saka endured one of his worst games in the last couple of seasons. He was remarkably quiet and couldn't even dribble past Mason Mount on a quick counter. Mason bloody Mount! The bloke who polishes the bench better than the finest Italian furniture factory.
Gabi Martinelli was a disappointing continuation of last season. No sharpness, no punishing shots, no inspired runs in behind defenders. This was particularly disheartening considering we were largely playing on the counter-attack, which should, in theory, have afforded Gabi acres of space. But Martinelli was effectively silenced by their right wing-back.
Kai Havertz's performance was also quite dull. I'd expected to see a caged lion finally let loose, a player desperate to prove he's a first-choice striker. Instead, he ambled onto the pitch devoid of any additional energy. In the middle of the second half, our captain was chasing down defenders to win the ball back, while a freshly introduced Kai drifted aimlessly alongside De Ligt.
Martin Odegaard was actually the best of the "old crew" on the pitch. He put in a tremendous amount of running, moving in and out of his zone, and attempting those quick passes in behind the lines. He was very much alive, but made far too many technical errors. So many misplaced passes, some of them metres away from their intended recipient. How on earth, Martin? You're supposed to be our technician! Nevertheless, it gives me hope. We all know Odegaard has a knack for a pass, so as long as he's getting into positions where that final ball is just missing, I'm not overly worried.
Kai's display could be linked to the injury news that suddenly descended upon us today. Generally speaking, though, the sheer volume of technical errors from the entire team gave the impression they were simply knackered. The quality of football reminded me of a third game in a week around Christmas, when everyone's just hoping for points.
What exactly is Arteta doing in training again? With all this talk about "learnings from last season," Arteta pointed fingers at the recruitment department, but not at himself and his staff, who seemingly fail to grasp that game freshness is a massive contributor to success. Slot clearly demonstrated that, and it should have been one of Arteta's main takeaways.
Our defence wasn't particularly solid either. The newly reappeared worry is our lack of a reliable player to shut down the left winger. Calafiori was indeed an exciting addition on the left flank, but he can’t hold his man, if the man is somewhat sharp. Myles has unfortunately confirmed the rumours of a dip in his level. It's completely expected for an 18-year-old not to reach new heights every year, however, after spending two hundred million on wing-backs, our left-back position is still far from being firmly secured. Ben White was also torn apart by their fast players, meaning our only truly cementing wing-back is Timber, who, regrettably, can't be on both wings at the same time.
But our new signings?
Gyokeres wasn't half bad, actually, despite what some might say. A couple of times, he properly muscled his defender off the ball and got into some decent positions. His final action, though? Absolutely dreadful. Still, can't be too harsh on a guy who clearly cares so much about the fans that, instead of a simple cross into the box, he decided to send the ball directly to Sweden. For now, I'll put those dodgy touches down to nerves. He clearly wants to make an impression, and I'm hoping that once the jitters settle, his ball control will improve, because that really wasn't the hardest of touches.
Madueke, on the other hand, looked like a scared kitten, just no output whatsoever. Money well spent, Mikel! How on earth did that deal go through without a second thought? Where's all this character vetting you're so proud of, Mikel? Wasn't that one of the main things on our "hiring checklist"? I've seen precisely none of it! Madueke was signed as an expert in dribbling and ball carrying, but he couldn't even carry half a ball.
I'd understand if his passing was depressing, because he's not yet adjusted to how his teammates move. But ball carrying? That just takes you and your immediate opponent to dance in this tango. And Madueke on Sunday wasn't even invited onto the dance floor.
Looking at Madueke's performance, I actually started to miss Trossard. For all his deficiencies, he can actually hold onto the ball pretty well and at least win a foul off some lumbering moose in a Man United kit charging at him. Leo, Leo… Originally, the title of my draft only had the "not too late" clause, but I had to adjust it with the recent news of Trossard's salary increase.
That was another cold shower in the middle of a baking August day. The club that hasn't managed to conclude a single major sale has gone and increased the salary for one of the best candidates for selling. And by doing that, that very same club has made selling the player impossible. And all of this after spending a large chunk of the transfer budget on a third option in the same position. I can only imagine how it feels to be a supporter of this club?!
Increasing Trossard's salary with no conditions attached makes absolutely no sense to me. I've got nothing against Leo. But his salary was low because he was coming from Brighton, where he'd been benched after a falling out with the head coach.
Our club isn't running a charity here. The fact that we've given inflated salaries to Jesus, Zinchenko, Martinelli, Nelson, and Havertz is a bad decision on our part, but it doesn't mean we need to keep giving away our budget, because it comes at a cost. It comes at the cost of Eze signing for Spurs and bagging a goal and an assist in his first North London Derby for them instead of doing it for us.
Honestly, none of the names above actually required such a hefty cash bump. Jesus, although a Premier League winner, was clearly replaced by Haaland, so he needed minutes. Zinchenko wasn't going to be their starting left-back either. Martinelli had one impressive season for us, Nelson had one season on top level in general in his career. And Havertz didn't have enough goals to his name at Chelsea to warrant such a salary.
Footballers are already swimming in money with their contracts. They receive millions of pounds, they can protest like Isak without any serious repercussions to their career. If they get injured for a long period and don't contribute to the club's success, they're still fully paid (and not 30-60 days a year like a regular employee). They can drop their performance levels and sit on the bench collecting the money without any repercussions.
The justification doing the rounds is that it was triggered by Havertz's knee injury. Injury or not – he's still our player by contract. Again, I'm not against Leo, but raising his salary only makes sense if he has concrete offers already. And if he does, why not sell him and buy a new prospect instead of a 30-year-old?
So far, we're completely losing the attacking transfer battle. Ekitike was brilliant for Liverpool, and there was none of this "he needs more time" nonsense. He just pressured the defenders and got his chance after a clumsy rebound. Reijnders was, as expected, very good for City, Cunha and Mbuemo were quite decent for United, and Kudus was impressive for Spurs. So far, we have nothing to show for it.
I know we expect it to pay off in the long run, but it's still August on the calendar. It's not too late to find a new home for Martinelli or Trossard and bring in another addition to the team. There are plenty of exciting players out there who have the character and skills to take on the biggest opponents (at least →Eze← and Semenyo). I love Martinelli, but if you can't have a fresh, exciting start to the season, what factor is going to change your confidence in the middle of it? Maybe with the Trossard extension, it's late already…
The only bright spot
On a brighter note, Zubimendi's performance caught my eye. Despite being clearly elbowed in the very first minute – a blatant foul the referee, of course, completely missed – he kept his composure and battled on with even more passion. Later the ref inexplicably awarded a free-kick in an aerial challenge on Bruno and proceeded to ignore most of the back shoves from the United players for the rest of the game. So, nothing new there, then.
But Zubimendi's impressive display wasn't just down to his line-breaking passes; it was mostly about his exceptional reading of the game. Several times in the first half, instead of simply watching the play, he was spotting midfielders making runs from deep, getting back in time to stop them and, frankly, save our bacon. That is the type of activity I've never noticed Partey and Jorginho to be involved in. He'll certainly need time to adjust to the relentless pace and physicality of the Premier League, but this impressive quality of his was genuinely pleasing to see.
Despite Zubimendi's known ability to distribute the ball and even play on the line with the centre-backs at times, Odegaard was still dropping deep to collect the ball. I fully expected and outlined in previous posts the reasons for it. However, in general, the midfield looked far less static than it did for much of last season. That said, we're simply not going to win the league with performances like the one on Sunday. After the game, the usual rhetorical question popped up: would I take a 2-2 draw where we created loads of chances and outplayed the opponent over a narrow 1-0 victory, like the one we saw?
I would, absolutely. At the start of the season, it's the hope that truly fuels you for the months ahead, whereas by the business end, it's the points on the board that matter most.
Next up, it's Leeds at home, and it's certainly not going to be an easy ride. Mainly because they look like they're ready to have a go at us at the Emirates, while we still looked like a disjointed unit. The sheer quality of our attacking players, however, should make the difference. If not, what exactly did we spend £110 million on in July for?