match report – player ratings – by the numbers – Video
Our lead at the top of the table was extended to 8 points last night, despite a 0-0 draw with Newcastle, the first time this season that we haven’t scored in a Premier League game.
Mikel Arteta stayed with the same side that started against Brighton, and once again we started fast. There were moments of danger: Martin Odegaard shot high, Bukayo Saka forced the keeper into a save with his feet and Granit Xhaka shot into the side of the net. After that, the game settled down a bit in an obvious pattern: Newcastle sat with 11 men behind the ball in a compact, well-organized block, and we tried to split it up.
I thought it was interesting afterwards when the manager was asked if this type of scenario, where the opposition plan is to deny Arsenal any space, is something we will have to deal with more. He said:
“I don’t think Newcastle wanted to establish themselves like that. That’s not how they play. They haven’t played against any team like this, so thanks to our players.”
I know what you’re saying, but I don’t agree. I think that’s exactly how Newcastle decided to play, because they watched us and saw our threat. If you leave space for us to attack, we have players to punish you. On that basis, they executed their plan quite well, even if the stats show Arsenal having 17 attempts on goal. They parked their bus to good effect, and every time they got a free kick, they would launch the men forward to try to get one out of a set piece. Last night, they were essentially a very rich version of Tony Pulis-era Stoke, and it worked for them.
However, this is the reality of being at the top of the table. Teams don’t prepare like that against you if you’re not good, and that’s another problem we’ll have to solve. I think the level of frustration after a 0-0 draw against the team that is third in the table and hasn’t conceded a goal in six games is much more a measure of how successful our own season has been, rather than the our. to show. Of course there are things we can do better, but I don’t think we played badly or anything.
You can see why Newcastle have conceded fewer goals than any other team in the Premier League this season. I also think Arteta can see why as well, hence his very public frustration with penalty decisions that he called ‘outrageous’. He went crazy on the bench for handball in stoppage time, but I think that would have been tough. Going by my own rule of how I’d feel if that were held against us, I’d go crazy. People have arms, they have to be somewhere, and he was so close to Xhaka when he played that ball in I don’t know what he was supposed to do. However, I think we have seen the dice in the Premier League this season, so perhaps he is more frustrated with the change in the threshold for these types of decisions.
Where I think he has a much better case is Dan Burn’s foul on Gabriel. Earlier in the game, both Eddie Nketiah and Martin Odegaard were booked for backing up an opponent. Eddie’s was very light, Odegaard literally yanking the shirt off the guy in front of the referee who had booked the Arsenal striker for less, for which he had no choice but to issue a yellow card. So, on that basis, if those incidents were yellow cards, how the hell can Burn pull Gabriel’s shirt around his neck, obviously fouling and obstructing him in the box, and not be a penalty? This seemed pretty black and white to me, especially in the context of how the game was officiated.
It’s also no surprise that managers and fans are so frustrated with VAR when changes seemingly come into effect mid-season. It just adds to the feeling that there is a lack of consistency in decision-making, and they talked on TV about a ‘light touch’ when things are now reviewed by VAR due to the arrival of Howard Webb as director of refereeing at PGMOL. . So if you’ve seen penalties all season long, right or wrong, for a particular type of incident and then don’t get one, I understand how a coach might be upset, particularly when it’s a very tight game like this. .
For me though, the biggest problem of the night was the fact that we didn’t have anyone on the bench that the manager felt he could turn to to try and make the difference in the closing stages of the game. We had a few chances, Eddie, who worked hard all night, forced the keeper into a good save after a sharp move in the box, but in games like this what you have on the bench can often make the difference. Fresh legs, a different type of striker who represents a different type of threat to the opposition, those are important tools in any team aiming to win the Premier League.
Clearly Mikel Arteta did not want to disrupt the XI on the pitch too much, perhaps after seeing how the changes impacted Brighton’s later stages of play, but really the only senior attacking substitute he had was Fabio Vieira. I was thinking of it as an option, but I wasn’t quite sure how to present it. When asked about this afterwards, he said:
“We were on top of them, we were chasing the goal. We were in a good moment and I didn’t want to make any more changes.”
And on possible new recruits:
“We are trying to do our best because we can’t waste any windows even with the team and the numbers we have. We’ll try.”
It looks like Emile Smith Rowe is close to making a comeback, but it’s not enough on its own. Gabriel Jesus has been gone for a while, Reiss Nelson is an option but still not very convincing, and I think last night showed very clearly that this is a team that requires more attacking depth. Having that clear in a game that we still got a point from, rather than a loss, is in some ways a positive way of taking that into account, but I don’t think this is any kind of revelation for the coach or the Head Coach. There’s a reason we’ve bid twice for Mykhaylo Mudryk, there’s a reason we have a strong interest in Joao Felix.
So now, with roughly 10 days until we play a Premier League game, the North London derby, no less, there is an urgency to make progress on those fronts. Let’s see what happens, but I would be very surprised if we don’t add to the squad before the next league game.
However, as I said before, the fact that we don’t win is always frustrating, but we’ve set very high standards this season and I think that’s also a factor in how we feel about it. It’s not a 10-point gap, but an 8-point lead over a Man City side facing Chelsea on Thursday is still nothing to sneeze at, and now we have a bit of time to address team depth. Let’s see what they do.
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Right. Let’s leave it there for now. Because the schedule is a bit out of whack right now, we’ll have some Arsecast for you later this morning, so be ready for that.
Until then.
