No heroes against Manchester United at home, and now we’re all looking for some kind of comfort blanket. Am I ready to be that item today? Possibly.
Arsenal generally do not achieve bad results. The last time we conceded three such goals was Luton Town, who have been relegated twice since 2023, and Jack Wilshere is now their manager. It is a rarity to concede 3 goals from 3 shots on target with an xG of 0.71. Unfortunately, football can be a cruel bitch sometimes, and it will hit you with gleeful brutality when you least suspect it.
Perspective FC’s view is that we have been undone by a shocking mistake from one of the world’s best players this season and a goal that came from another dimension… the space occupied by Tony Yeboah, cigar and strong whiskey in hand.
But for me, that was only 40% of what the day was about, because the remaining 60% had an air of familiarity that, if left unchecked, could lead to a season collapse that I’m absolutely unprepared for… so let’s talk about what bothered me.
When you open a panicked fan inquiry into a misstep like 3-2 against United, you have to look at patterns. The clearest pattern I can point to now is that Arsenal are pushing hard on four fronts now that we have a bigger squad, and that hasn’t worked out so well.
United don’t have Europe at the moment; they thumped Man City last weekend after a full week of preparation. So what did we do? We ignored what was happening and we went quite hard during the match against Inter Milan, for no reason except pride. We won, it felt nice, but it would be hard to tell me that some of that fatigue wasn’t visible yesterday.
We had previous. Arsenal went all in for the League Cup, then we drew against Nottingham Forest, who had eight days to rest and prepare for us.
Sometimes you have to prioritize, and Arteta doesn’t really do that. There was literally no reason to go hard against Inter Milan. We were three points better off than anyone else in the UCL. We could have lost that match and made up for it with an academy team against the worst team in the tournament. But we didn’t. Arteta wanted to keep the momentum going and everyone went to the San Siro.
Arsenal are currently the best defensive team in the world. No one comes close. So if you watch a first half against a halfway decent United side and the mistakes come from key players all over the park, you have one of two explanations:
- They are dead after all the games they have played, especially the center of our midfield, which hardly gets any rest.
The players are nervous about the build-up, and fear creeps over them on the field.
It could be a combination of both, but I prefer the problem to be the first point because we can correct it. If it’s the second one, we’re in trouble because fifteen games is a lot to get through when we’re dealing with anxiety.
So there are two plans when it comes to Arsenal and there are many ways in which Arteta tries to achieve that with smart selections and tactical variations:
Overpower and overwhelm oppositions by restricting space, nullifying strengths and attacking weaknesses in a ruthless manner.
Set-piece bombings over and over again.
If these two strategies don’t work, there is no other mode. Arsenal completely controlled the opening 30 against United. We took the lead. It should have been the kind of game we had to finish in an afternoon of 2 or 3 nil… but we conceded a stupid goal when Zubi gifted Mbeumo. Then they scored a second that was out of this world. Merino got us back with a meaningless goal. Then we let them back in 2 minutes later and had no answer.
Arteta rolled with a quadruple sub that didn’t really change much. There were a lot of hand gestures from the key players. The manager looked angry on the sidelines. But none of that affected the lowest intensity to save a game I’ve seen in a long time. It was so meek that it seemed like we were the team trying to oversee the game.
What’s the problem here? Is the team so driven by the culture of low-risk football that they don’t dare take risks? Eze looked terrified after a month of solitary confinement following that Villa mistake. Gyokeres? Useless. Madueke? Gervinho-esque. Am White? Not great. Mikel Merino was the only difference maker.
This Man United team, as featureless as it has been for a long time, still has more difference makers than Arsenal. Mbuemo does more than our entire front three in the Premier League. Fernandes has his faults, but he pops up in big games all the time and he is a G&A machine. Even Cunha, who was cheaper than Gyokeres, scored a screamer like we are rarely treated to at Arsenal.
Many people claim that the system is the problem, but we can’t avoid having a big conversation about the individuals because it hasn’t been good enough.
No one has more than five goals in the Premier League and we are almost to February. No one has more than 4 assists. That’s a shocking achievement for a team challenging for the Premier League.
Saka, 0 goals in last 13 PL matches.
Big Vik, 0 goals without penalties in his last 13 PL games.
Martinelli, 0 goals in his last 13 PL appearances.
Madueke, 0 goals in his last 25 PL appearances.
Eze has not contributed in the Premier League since November 23.
Trossard, 1 goal in his last 11 appearances.
Martin Odegaard has one goal and only four assists all season.
That’s pretty diabolical when you consider that Ruben Amorim made United players go to work crying every day and United have created the most xG in the league this season.
Martin Odegaard also deserves a special mention because that performance was terrible. Against Forest he was addicted because he was useless in the duels, and against United he hid deep in midfield, probably because he doesn’t want to be a duel monster. A captain being removed from the pitch after 58 minutes… that’s terrible symbolism.
Gabi Jesus was a hopeful savior, he didn’t really change much beforehand, although you’ll never convince me it’s better to let Gyokeres get torn there by Lisandro Martinez. I’m willing to try Jesus for more than one Premier League start before begging to return to someone who doesn’t shoot, doesn’t create and doesn’t win duels.
Bukayo Saka, recently named our highest-paid player, has scored just four Premier League goals this season… is that good enough? No. Yes, he played well, but he should be carrying us on his shoulders in games like this and he hasn’t done that this season.
While improvements can be made to the balance of the system… it’s the players who are on the pitch and playing games that dominate them overall… and they still play with their food, and that costs us in games like United’s.
Arsenal spent a huge amount of money on deepening their squad last summer, and looking at how their signings performed… well, it wasn’t good. Our two targets were Mosquera, who is a backup, and Zubimendi, a deal done the summer before. We started looking for a sporting director who was preferred because of his close ties with super agents. Besides the bump of having enough players, I’m not sure we look at the money spent and feel too good about it.
Madueke is so fun to watch, but he doesn’t do much with it. I’ve never enjoyed watching zero output so much. His aimless run led to the counter for the Cunha goal. Everyone was on the edge of their seats and… he just left it out.
Gyokeres, my word, I can’t go on about it… but after 97 minutes, if you’re here:
and the ball ends up here:
All you have to do is ask questions about scouting, from one man’s point of view.
Eze, a player we thought was the solution, looks like a ghost, broken by Villa Park’s penalty.
Hincapie is far from a hit.
We are not saying that Arsenal are bottling the season because that is pure projection from fans who are afraid of what has happened before.
Arsenal are still at the top of the table. We have a fully fit squad to choose from. We have been brilliant for most of this season.
These types of games happen every season with big teams, and ours is no different. We are the best team in the world right now, it doesn’t matter who has to debate that; for me, no one comes close to what we offer.
As fans we have to moan it out of the system, then get behind the boys and go again.
There is no choice. This is what winning a title looks like. The players need to do better, we need some heroes to stand up and be counted, and we need to kill our Premier League games and not care how it happens.
Kids moaning online that they don’t like us winning… can’t think of a more embarrassing mentality.
“I’m only happy if we win the way I want to win” just smacks of the noise made by people who have never won.
If we win the league this season with a stingy defense and 75% of our goals from set pieces, I will love it. We should all do that. Winning is all that matters. We can worry about how we solve the problems at the end of the season, because so far these problems have not been enough to turn our season upside down.
Leeds is huge. Kairat is only good for getting minutes for players who need them. If we can get three points this weekend we can put that United mess behind us and make a charge for glory.
Hope, coping and faith is all we have at this stage of the season. If you give up now, what’s the point of following football? You are everything you accuse the players of. Buckle up, it’s up to us to win. X
#SLOP #FLOP #UNITED