SLOPPY FINISHING CRISIS HITS DEPRESSING NEW PEAK
Arsenal feels like the plot of a seriously average horror movie right now. Someone at the club did something unthinkable. They walked under a ladder, reversed over a black cat, said a trigger word into a cursed mirror 5 times, or walked over the grave of a very sick individual… because our luck has been atrocious, and the output has been this weird throwback of glorious failure.
For the 4th time this season, we’ve lost a game we shouldn’t have because of outrageous bad luck in an otherwise really good performance. I know people shape their view of performances based on results, with plenty saying that wasn’t a good performance, but by any standard, to do what we did to Liverpool in the first half was thoroughly excellent. 13 shots, 5 on target, 3 big chances, and 1.5xG
… but no goal.
It was a travesty. We came out flying. The passing was sharp, there was variety in our attack, all that talk of ARSENAL CAN’T PROGRESS THE BALL was well and truly in the bin after a one-week attempt at making it the sticking narrative.
… but no goal.
After exiting that brilliant first half, PTSD kicked in and I was feeling the dread of inevitability. Liverpool was going to punish us for our front three failings and the footballing gods were not going to intervene in this grotesque travesty.
Liverpool went from two chances in the first half without a shot on target to 1o shots, 3 on target, and 2 goals in the second.
What pains me about the collapse is Liverpool unloaded 4 subs, 2 of them were babies no one had heard of… Klopp was raising the white flag and thinking about Fulham in the League Cup. Arteta changed out Reiss Nelson for Martinelli and that was it. He left all the players flouncing around in front of goal on the pitch to find a way. They could not, and Liverpool found a way. They won a freekick in a dangerous area from a foul the ref wasn’t giving all game. TAA whipped the ball into the box and Kiwior was on had to nod it past Aaron Ramsdale.
Killer.
They weren’t done. Dias went on a meandering run and ripped a screamer into the top corner of the inside post.
Dead.
So where do we go after a game like that? To our attacking players. The team that gave us 86 goals last season hasn’t managed to score a goal from 6.47 xg over the last 3 games. It’s getting embarrassing now. Kai Havertz started as the 9 and he looked like he’d never kicked a ball when he moved into the final third. Saka was dreadful all game, he is clearly cooked. Reiss Nelson just isn’t at the level, he is absolutely brilliant at looking great doing very little. He should have scored inside 2 minutes and made it a very different game. Odegaard hit the bar. Martinelli had no end product when he came on.
It was a disaster. We lack a killer. Arsenal have 6 players who have all lost their guts in front of goal at the same time. It’s not good enough.
Fans want a striker right now… anyone. It’s not going to happen. We don’t have infinite cash and the fans that bang the table the loudest for deals NOW are those that will be calling Edu a bum in 6 months when the hot name of the moment is a total fraud. We have specific needs, not many strikers can do what we need, the best deals are available in the summer. Stating that we should go hard at Brentford or whichever club has a player we want negates the fact that if teams are competing, they don’t sell. If they are failing, they don’t sell. If they are in the middle, they’ll want to stay there, so they don’t sell.
Arteta has to coach his way out of this one. This is a confidence crisis that is underpinned by the right fundamentals.
The team is playing great football
The team is creating a lot of good chances
We are conceding very few
The issue is the form of ALL of our players
If you have good form and you keep doing things right, eventually results will follow.
So you have two choices, you think our players don’t have another gear in front of goal, and this failure right now is us for the season.
Or, you understand that form is temporary, and class is permanent.
We’ve had one bad game in 6 weeks. We’ve had some terrible results in that period. There has been no luck. We conceded 2 goals from 3 shots on target today. 2 goals from 4 shots on target against Fulham. 2 goals off 3 on target against West Ham. That’s 6 goals off ten shots on target. We have taken 63 shots over those three games and recorded 0 goals.
I’m telling you, the tide will turn, players will return to form, and we’ll go on a tear in the back half of the season.
Losing three games in a row make you angry and it’s a struggle to see the light. There’s plenty of light to be had at Arsenal. We just need a spark in front of goal and the freak luck other clubs are having in our penalty box needs to stop.
This is a rough patch. It’s the pain we knew we’d go through. We just have to ride it out.
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