Newc 0-1 Arsenal: the good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good

Arsenal off to a winning start against Newcastle and despite some pretty boring football, there were quite a few positives.

First and foremost, Arsenal kept a clean sheet. It can barely be overstated how important this is. Arsenal kept just one clean sheet away all of last season, against Watford in the dying days of the season and only because Deeney got a red card in the 10th minute.

Expected goals for Newcastle was very low, just a 0.37 and to illustrate how well Arsenal did defensively, Newcastle only created 9 shots, 7 of them were less than 5% chances, one was a 6% chance and one was a 14% chance. Arsenal didn’t allow Newcastle to create a single big chance.

Arsenal also ran at Newcastle. Last season Arsenal were pretty miserable in the dribbling department, 14th in the League with just 14 per game. Today, Arsenal attempted 26 dribbles, with the three young players leading the pack. Maitland-Niles led all players with 4/6 dribbles, Nelson was 3/4 and Willock was 2/2.

It can barely be overstated how important this is. Arsenal were awful at taking opponents on last season. This season, with the additions of Pepe and Ceballos, along with playing time for Arsenal’s academy players we should see a lot more direct attacking. We need this to break down all of the Allardycian teams that play 8 at the back (like Newcastle did today).

There was also a good deal of Arsenal shithousery today. Danny Onions ran over and blocked the pass back to the keeper after the ball went out of play in the 93rd minute. Xhaka dribbled into the corner and fell over when he felt contact. Maitland-Niles committed a couple of professional fouls. All told, Arsenal looked a bit chippy. I like it! No team ever won the League being sweethearts to their opponents.

And finally, Aubameyang huffed and puffed but when he got his chance he took it. Questions over the Newcastle defending for sure but huge credit to Maitland-Niles, who was my man of the match, for winning the ball, driving forward and playing the easy pass to Auba for the goal.

The Bad

Arsenal struggled to get the ball forward. Passing in a horseshoe around the back for what felt like 16 hours. That was just the first half. As a result, Arsenal created just 3 shots in the first half and I have to admit… I fell asleep twice.

That first half was as ugly as I have seen an Emery team play. So ugly that people were praising Willock like he’d been on a Messi. I get it because Mkhitaryan was pretty poor but can we just let Willock play football and have an actual good game before we start hyping him to Jupiter? THANKS.

Part of the problem was that Newcastle played a 5-man midfield and 3 at the back. It’s super difficult to get through that type of wall and especially to play through the midfield.

However, Mkhitaryan and Guendouzi kept killing off the attack with bad passes, bad dribbles, or ball-dawdling. I’m not a hater of either player but they looked well out of shape today. I love that Guen presents himself to collect passes but I can’t quite figure out why he’s always under pressure. His touch seems fine but he seems to turn the wrong way often which invites opponents to tackle him. He is a tremendous player but needs to get that head on a swivel ffs and see the opponents around him.

I have to admit that it’s really frustrating to watch Arsenal struggle to get the ball forward. I’m used to Wenger’s football where we used to advance the ball and pass it around in a horseshoe around the opponent’s box. Now we seem to pass it around in a horseshoe around our own box.

The Ugly

I’m not a tactical expert (I’ve only been watching football for 20 years or so) but it looks to me like Arsenal are easily man-marked. At least, that was what Newcastle did on almost every play. And their “pressure” started with Arsenal trying to play out from the back.

We set four guys around the box, they set four guys around the box. We can’t launch it long because we don’t have any midfielders or forwards who can win the long balls. Leno tried one to Xhaka and he sort of just headed the ball to nowhere. It was weird.

We could really use a Giroud. I know Lacazette is ok at that role but if he’s not in the lineup we struggle to build from the back.

And finally, I really really think that Arsenal need to press teams like Newcastle. Their center backs are not that good. We need to press them when they have the ball and play a little bit higher up the pitch in general. Not “Crazy Wenger High Line” higher, but playing the ball out of our own box is just ugly football. To me. Maybe I’m a dumby.

Qq

27 comments

  1. Early to lament system but that rendition wasnt creative in anyway. There has got to be a way to produce more balls to our front three to make use of, and it shouldnt be only from the other team’s stupid mistakes.
    1-0 to the Arsenal….against a minor doesnt augers well.

  2. It was a good defensive match from Arsenal while Auba is good at taking chances like this. Also, an away match with a clean sheet is also impressive.

  3. Had forgotten how inconsistent officiating can be in the PL. It’s also weird how hesitant commentators, media people, etc. are too mention it. Hate to bring it up first match of the season… but it stinks given the margins (we were so close to 4th last season) and what’s at stake,

    1. Atkinson only issued one yellow card to Newcastle for an obvious dive in the penalty box but somehow saw fit to dish out 3 to us while not issuing cards to them when similar or worse fouls were committed.
      On another note, while that performance was at times truly frustrating we have to remember that was far from our first X1. It was a bit risky but it worked.

  4. Thanks for the review Tim

    Keeping a clean sheet is not just good but I think its great. I realize that Newcastle is not a great team but if Emery can improve our organization and decrease the number of goals we concede then top 4 is a real possibility. With the goal scorers we have in our front line we should score more then enough goals. We overthink the higher level stats such as dribbling, key passes etc etc Last year our midfield was useless and we had no one who was very good dribbling and yet we still were the 3rd highest scoring team in the league because we had good forwards.

  5. I am surprised you never mentioned how effective Chambers was today nor how ineffective Xhaka was.H is lack of pace and mobility contribute to the time it takes us to play our way up the park.He does not make the right angles to receive the ball and is unable to drive forward in the way young Willock can do.I am not getting carried away with Willock but he looks a real quality player for the future.

  6. Im glad you mentioned the long balls stuff, Tim, because the one thing I think our squad lacks is a classic centre forward of quality. A big guy, a hold it up guy, a beast in the air. Someone like… Yana Sanogo? (dont laugh). Id like to see us groom or buy and groom a young striker with that skillset.

    Didnt see the game, but I see Chambers getting a lot of props from those who did.

    Understand the point about over-hyping Willock, but Im a fan. Id much rather see us play a young core (Torreira, Guen, Willock) than the ponderous Xhaka, whom I gave up on a long time ago. Yet, Id have played him today because we were a bit short of experience.

    Oh, and a word about Chelsea. We were better than them but lost to them in our second game last season. United showed how to make your moments count, and a lot of people writing them off could be left with egg on their faces.

    It’s only one game, but Lampard offers a cautionary tale to people banging the drum for Arteta at Arsenal. A big club is a tough place for a green manager, no matter how good he was as a player.

  7. What of the other teams? I only saw Tottenham, and….

    I like the look of Spurs with Ndombele, a ball ferryer par excellence. He has a game not dissimilar to prime Wilshere’s — good on the half-turn and burst with the ball at his feet.

    With him and Cissoko in particular (and with Alderweireld, Sanchez etc), they look as physically imposing as The Invincibles. With all due respect to Auba, Kane is the best all-round striker in the league, and if he says fit; he, Son and Llorente will make them very tough competitors. With Eriksen (if he stays), Dele and another superlative ball ferryer in Lo Celso — Dier is no longer central, and they have a heck of a midfield there, a much better one than ours. They have defensive depth too… Foyth looked good in the Copa or Argentina, even if Davinson remains shaky.

    We’d do well to finish ahead of them.

    Speaking of midfield, how did Ceballos look? Will his slight frame lead to to him being bullied?

    1. Ceballos looked off the pace , so did Pepe predictably.

      City looked most impressive I’m sorry to say. Looks like their title winning procession is well on its way.

      United did to Chelsea what they used to do to us a lot.
      Absorb the pressure and counter.
      Frankie Lampard got the Wenger treatment with not so dissimilar result.

      United have way too much talent to be overlooked for top four.

  8. It was a dire game of football but the Arsenal won, so all is well in my homestead.

    Emery was rewarded for sticking with players who knew his system best instead of throwing the new players right in. It was ballsy to start with two callow teens and Nelson in particular looked out of his depth to my eyes. The team was cohesive from back to front without the ball. I never noticed Chambers which is the best thing I think I have said about his defending. Improving from the away performances of yesteryear is a low bar, but this is a start.

    It would be nice if we could be both defensively solid and offensively potent. That’s peak football stuff though. Not many teams manage it. Passing in a U around the opposition’s box is worse than around your own if you constantly give up high leverage counterattacking opportunities. I don’t think we had the horses to pull it off today even if we wanted to though. It was the right call to sit back a bit and use the speed up front to try to score in transitions.

    1. Tough to make any proclamations based on a little cameo. Does look like he’s short of match fitness and will take him a bit to get accustomed to the pop and fizz in the PL.

  9. A quick question Tim, I watched the Chelsea game and felt like OGS may have figured out a way to make those kids gel..do you think we could grind out a result from them?

    1. That score was the result of Chelsea’s weirdly open tactics. Lampard had the team playing too open in possession and when they lost possession, which they did way too easily, Man U had a ton of space to counter into.

  10. The best thing about the game, result and clean sheet aside, was watching our younger academy graduates not look out of place. I agree with AMN as MotM, and also that Willock wasn’t great. He looked good though. I don’t know if this is accurate, but I felt Xhaka did well out there and was a calming presence.

    The ref was bad again. We got kicked and attacks blatantly blocked off and he wouldn’t card them, but a mistimed block attempt and it was a yellow for us.

    Another positive. We’ve got some depth once players start coming back. Tierney, Bellerin and Mavropanos training together. Holding to play in the U23s tomorrow. A whole new back 4. Seems Mustafi is on his way out since he didn’t even travel.

    The football though. Woof. Bad. Boring. Dull. Hopefully it’ll improve but probably not. U is for Unai.

  11. I wonder who the players are that Emery is saying could leave us. It has to be someone with transfer value. The club has to balance the books a bit and Iwobi was just the start to that. There’s an obvious logjam at LB now with Tierney in the fold, so Kolasinac could be on the chopping block. Elsewhere, Chambers’ good performances might cement his move to a European club with cash to spare (Napoli? Inter?). He has happily matured into a solid player but I don’t see him starting a lot of games ahead of Luiz, Sokratis or Holding, and we have Saliba and Mavropanos waiting in the wings as well. Then there’s El-Neny, if anyone will take him off us. My feeling is that it will be some if not all of those three who will depart.

  12. Looking at the other top teams this weekend, I thought we did well: a clean sheet away playing with a lot academy graduates and sumptuous finish from our Golden Boot striker from a caviar pass from an academy grad. 1 nil to the Arsenal!

    Boy did we get dispossessed easily and often, though. Our midfield couldn’t handle Newcastle’s marking as Tim points out and the constant loss of possession had us struggling to find forward momentum.

    The Ozil and Kolasinac situation was an alarming distraction as well. The sooner that gets sorted, the more settled the team will be and hopefully those guys can rejoin the squad, contribute and have a worry free season. This world is absurd and awful in new and strange ways that still surprise me.

    Also really looking forward to seeing what Pepe and Ceballos can bring for a full 90 minutes.

  13. I’m foolishly all in on Ceballos as a key missing ingredient- he made some text book, “oh shit, the premiere league is faster than I thought,” errors when he first came on, but we looked so much more lively and Arsenal-like with a player like him on the pitch – thought he made both Guendouzi and Xhaka look way more confident and effective.

  14. Tim, did you read The Athletic article on the change in the goal kick rule? It was interesting to see Michael Cox’s interpretation on how it will change pressing at goal kicks and how Citeh are stretching teams. We don’t seem to have a plan on how to cope with the rule change at the moment and Newcastle forced us to turn the ball over way too easily. Hopefully Emery can think of something to break the press.

  15. Agree with everything you said Tim but I am on the hype train for Joe W. What stood out more to me than anything else was our transition game. When we got possession we had speed galore going at them. Nelson Auba AMN and Willock were flying at the magpies and it was hard for them to handle. Two players stood out because they didn’t play with pace. Mkhi and Xhaka. It’s one game – yes – but it was really apparent to me who can play with that kind of aggression. It’s something we haven’t been able to do for a while and it was exhilarating to watch us dominate with athleticism for a change.

  16. Nice one admin. I think it was a fairly boring game but it’s still early days, so let’s cut the team some slacks. I thought the defense was good considering how we fared defensively in our previous season(s).
    As expected, the XI wasn’t our preferred one but I believe it’s good way to build for when we will face Liverpool in GW3. That game will be a proper test of our level and preparedness for this season (even though I don’t believe it will really affect how we will fare this season).
    Nelson and Willock were okay. What I noticed about the two of them yesterday was that Nelson was playing with the hand brakes on but Willock on the other hand was trying to make things happen; the way he went about it was kinda naive but nonetheless admirable. There was a particular moment he lost the ball and he quickly ran his legs off to recover the ball with a tackle that set us up for a chance at goal. It was lovely to see.

    I’m optimistic for the upcoming games 🙂👍

  17. Teams I’ve coached I have told them there’s three ways to get behind a defense; over the top (long balls), around the sides (wings, crossing from the flanks) and through (one-two’s, on the ground, through balls to feet). A defense can close down two out of three. Newcastle sits deep (takes away the over-the-top) and five across in midfield (takes away the flanks), then we have to go through the middle. Going through the middle takes skill and panache.

    But… the skill level… the skill level. Guendouzi has energy and turns with the ball well. But his first touch and his passing accuracy are garbage. AMN… so many poor touches. Auba even, pushing the ball into dead-ends and out of his reach. Mhki… OMG, awful. And then Xhaka, who has some decent skill, is so slow to get on the ball and show himself, that’s why the horse shoe passing.

    1. I have always thought that most Arsenal fans are either coaches who loved playing football, people who write about football or those still currently playing football. I am speaking from what I have seen outside of Britain though. Arsenal has spent such a long time without sucdess that we didn’t get glory chasing fans, we also get a lot of negatuve press so we do not look very attractive to those looking for a new team to support, but what we have always had was a way of playing football that everyone who has played the game, understood how amazing it was and also how difficult it was.

      I have seen young boys try to score “Arsenal” goals, I have seen technically gifted players be described as “Arsenal” or “Wenger” players and I have seen performances being described as “Peak Arsenal”, even during our worst seasons.

      It’s great to know that what I have been seeing seems to be true, makes me feel like I am part of a group of true fans of football.

  18. I was pretty unimpressed at our performance against a team without any attacking teeth.

    Every time we took a goal kick, with this building from the back nonsense, I could see a disaster happening.

    Against even a moderately good attacking side the chances of giving a goal away will increase considerably.

    It is suicidal.

  19. Statsbomb did an article about Guendouzi and made the point he is much better playing with torriera than Xhaka because he gets to play on the other side. Pretty sure they said it’s because he is much better receiving the ball from one side because he tends to be blind on the other side when he receives the ball. Just mention it because you seem to have picked up the same phenomenon.

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