Many times Arsenal have conceded goals when their own players and fans were not ready to start the game.
In the match against Fulham in the third round of the Premier League, despite being played at Emirates’ home ground, the “Gunners” lost in the first minute when Andreas Pereira conceded a goal. Previously, in the match against Bournemouth and Southampton in the second leg last season, Mikel Arteta’s teachers and students also fell into a similar situation. The Gunners became the first team in Premier League history to lead three times in the first minute in a calendar year. Broadly speaking, Arsenal has only kept a clean sheet in the last 4/21 matches at home since the beginning of the 2022-2023 season until now.
In these quick goals, Arsenal only need to focus to avoid disaster. However, the disease of losing focus right from the first seconds caused the “Gunners” many times to fall into a situation where they had to chase very tired. In the match against Bournemouth, just need Arsenal to put more pressure on the opponent’s crosser. As for the match against Southampton and Fulham, as long as they didn’t fail to pass, things wouldn’t have gone so badly.
Mikel Arteta does not criticize his players after mistakes and thinks it is part of football. However, the frequency with which such situations occur is an alarm bell for Arsenal. They don’t always come back successfully, and it’s not fun to let themselves fall into the chase from the very first minute.
In the past 3 matches of “Gunners”, Arteta played the same defensive system in 3/4 positions, except for the left-back. Thomas Partey took charge of the right-wing, Ben White and William Saliba played at centre-back, pushing Gabriel onto the bench. The midfield trio is kept with Declan Rice in the middle, Kai Havertz on the left and Martin Odegaard on the opposite wing.
This way of playing is a bit problematic when White often goes up out of habit and sometimes takes up Bukayo Saka’s space. Meanwhile, Partey “gets used to the smell” and likes to stick to the middle of the stone like a defensive midfielder and step on Rice. Therefore, as long as Fulham is accurate in the midfield passes, they can easily tear through the defense of the “Gunners”.
Arteta wants the team to be more flexible and unpredictable, but when he can’t be smooth, he often gets confused if some elements run in the wrong place like White or Partey.
“We played three games against three completely different opponents before that was the Super Cup match against Manchester City. Arsenal adapted and had many good opportunities. There were times when the team had to play with a lack of players, so It’s very difficult to immediately have fluency in the way it works,” said Arteta.