Two nights ago I lay down to sleep. My window was open. It was a perfect 65 degrees out. There was a slight breeze. And as I began to uncoil all of my worries, flooding my brain with all the gathered fear of the day – police shootings, militarized citizens, a burning planet, Ruther Bader Ginsberg’s death, COVID – I heard the rain start falling in a gentle wave on the bushes outside my window. A shot of endorphins washed over me. We hadn’t had rain here for what seemed like months and relief shot through my entire body like I had been carrying my half of a sofa up some stairs and had felt my grip slipping but I kept going just getting right to the edge of dropping it so full of panic and at that last moment with my fingers on the edge and my arms shaking we arrived at the destination and I was able to set my end of the couch down and breathe.
Arsenal scrapped out a 2-0 win over Leicester in the League Cup yesterday with goals from Eddie Corner Eddie Why Eddie and Nicolas Pepe. The win added to a string of recent impressive results by Arteta over the teams above us in the table: since losing to Spurs, Arsenal have beaten Liverpool (twice), Man City, Chelsea, and Leicester, picking up two trophies along the way.
Arteta’s style in these matches isn’t entirely visible quite yet. The left side of the Arsenal attack seems to be a major focus and yesterday Reiss Nelson benefitted from that but where the left impressed the right side faltered. This is something we have seen now in back-to-back matches with entirely different personnel across the pitch. It could just be coincidence or could be a plan. Something to look out for going forward.
It was difficult down the right for Arsenal partly because Maitland-Niles spent a lot of the game passing backwards. It was an odd performance from the Englishman. We are used to seeing him play much more assertive football but perhaps the Leicester press got to him (pressing data isn’t available for these matches and he didn’t have a lot of turnovers so I’m not sure), or there were instructions, or the unusual lineup made him uncomfortable, or the midfield wasn’t supporting properly, or something. One bit of praise I would like to hand out is that he’s really improved his first touch.
I feel fairly certain that Brendan Rodgers intentionally targeted the right side. Pepe expressed a lot of frustration with service and kept asking for balls over the top or between the lines. That said, when he did get the ball it wasn’t great.
We know that Pepe doesn’t like to use his right foot. ESPN didn’t pipe in fake crowd noise and I could hear Brendan Rodgers instructing the left back to “show him outside” and so many times this cut off any forward or progressive moves. If teams cut off Pepe’s left-footed crosses it does make him quite easy to shut down.
It’s telling of the player’s quality that Pepe still manages to work in a few moments of magic in amongst the many moments of frustration. He didn’t score the goal outright but he did create the chance: getting himself clear in the 6 yard box only to have his shot saved, collect the rebound, and cross the ball for the own goal.
That move and a few subsequent might show a way forward with Pepe. I like him overlapping and getting played in with through balls from the midfield and I have long wanted to see a more central attacking midfield in the Arsenal set up. That would require the team to abandon the back three or switch to a 352 – neither of which seem to be an option for Arteta at the moment. The other moment came on a counter, which is something Pepe does extremely well. We need players feeding Pepe as much as Pepe feeding others and if we can find him on these counters he will be a revelation I expect.
What is clearly part of the plan is to have Eddie Nketiah and the front three press our opponents. Nelson and Nketiah seem to relish this approach and press easily and often. Nketiah is especially active and his dogged determination is exactly what led to Arsenal’s 2nd goal. I just feel like Nketiah lacks a bit of confidence. I want to see him take people on more often, like Reiss Nelson! I want to see him try some audacious shots from outside the box. And I think that will come. If he keeps scoring scrappy, hardworking, goals, I feel like he will start to try more. He’s done it in the past.
In some ways I think this match should have been easier. Bukayo Saka should have been awarded a penalty when he was fouled several times in the box early in the match but the ref swallowed his whistle. I feel like this is exactly why FIFA have taken over control of VAR from the English refs: because they are so often inconsistent or blatantly wrong with their calls. Sadly, VAR wasn’t used yesterday.
There is more that I could write about but I need to leave something for you. The good news is that we advanced in the tournament. The bad news is that now we have to play Liverpool twice in a week. That reminds me of a time – back in the early part of the 21st century (January 2007) when me and a Liverpool supporting friend made a 30 minute drive up to Seattle at 6am to eat mediocre breakfast food and watch The Beast (Julio Baptista) stick 4 past them in a weird ass 6-3 win. That was part of a week in which Arsenal also beat Liverpool 3-1 in the FA Cup. These kinds of weeks tend to be super odd so that’s where my expectations are set: something odd.
I also remember where I was for the Liverpool game – the Liverpool pub in Borough with a massive Kopite friend. Good times, and not just because I was younger and significantly slimmer
I was not yet an Arsenal fan back then so my only experience watching an Arsenal vs. Pool game with a Pool-supporting friend was the Arshavin 4 – Liverpool 4 match.
How do you manage to put the words
Liverpool
Supporting
& Friend
all in the same sentence?
Because I don’t live in England and he’s a good guy.
That is absolutely no excuse!
facts!
Whatever happened to “The Beast”?
He was nothing of the sort of course, even though he looked the part.
Could hardly call himself “The Lamb” though.
One of those mystery signings, which had no rhyme or reason.
There were quite a few around that time.
Such an odd career. He has two seasons where he scored 20+ goals and then just fell off a cliff – I too wonder what happened to him. How do you go from 20 goals to like none. Weird.
HGH?
Interesting that Arsenal players seem to benefit from playing on the left side of the park. Nelson was the latest example, but there are others, which I’m sure you can name. Attacks don’t seem to be anywhere near as fluent down the right. I feel sorry for Pepe in a way. It just doesn’t seem to work somehow.
Funnily enough, Arsenal historically have tended to be a “left sided” club. Back in the 70s it was all Brady and Rix, followed by Sansom , Woodcock and Anders Limpar. More recently think of Ashley Cole, Marc Overmars, Robert Pires, even Thierry Henry. The list goes on. I’m struggling to name many creative players who played on the right. Typically, you had players like David Price, Brian Talbot and Ray Parlour, whose main job was to get up and down the pitch. Workers.
No idea why that should be.
That is an interesting observation. Walcott definitely played on the right and had his best years there if I may say but obviously nothing like Henry or the others you mention.
David Rocastle, of course.
Long before that there was George Armstrong. Basically an old fashioned right winger. Even he ended up playing a lot of games on the left.
Still struggling to think of many.
How about Freddy Ljungberg?
There is an article in Four Four Two.
Are you allowed to put in links?
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/julio-baptista-i-loved-my-loan-spell-arsenal
Funny enough, I was getting frustrated watching Pepe and thinking that we should all chip in to get him a hypnotist who’d convince him that his right foot was actually a second left. And then he scored (forced an OG… same diff.).
Maybe I should think unkind thoughts more often. . .
It is noticeable that although we’ve historically preferred to build up attacks on the left, a lot of our left sided forwards have actually been right footed. I then got to wonder how many left footed players at the club ended up wide on the right. Could only think of one, which brings me round to Pepe. Obviously a talented boy, who should be our match winner, especially considering how much we paid for him. I watch him when he’s about to be brought on and he always has this bemused expression on his face. No idea what Arteta’s instructions are obviously, but I often wonder if anyone at the club knows what to do with him exactly. It’s almost like he’s an afterthought. I mean what do we want from him precisely? I can’t remember whose idea it was to buy him, but what was on their minds? A left footed right winger? A novelty at Arsenal. How do you find a use for him?
Understandable observations. But maybe the answer doesn’t lie in Arsenal’s history, but in that of the sport itself.
It isn’t unusual to play two inverted wingers on each flank. Liverpool, Barca, PSG, Real, Man City; everyone who’s anyone has done this in the recent past with great success. I firmly believe it isn’t working now because Pepe does not get the right service from the nominally defensive midfield and back five. He’s got sideline chalk on his boots when he should be permanently stationed around the corner of the opponents box receiving though balls and isolating their centre back 1 on 1. Where he is an absolute monster, I mean how hard is he to disposes?! He has huge tentacle legs. The biggest issue is Arteta is funnelling all play through to Aubameyang, Tierney moves to LB and the whole team is lopsided in his favour. Though understandably so, this leaves Pepe with scraps and regularly nobody within 20 yards of him. We need to return to 433 as soon as possible so he can combine with an attacking midfielder and show the talent he started to show at the end of 19/20. Right now it’s just painful seeing Willian take his minutes when he was just getting into his stride. I really wish that cup final screamer had counted, what that would have done for his reputation and confidence..
Tomato Soup
the inverted wingback situation is something arteta has brought in and has always been an issue for pepe. until they move away from it, which they probably won’t, a use hector as an overlapping fullback, we probably won’t see much from pepe.
Good points.
The fact that Arteta has got a 30 something player on a free transfer, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea and seems to be playing in exactly the same position, doesn’t exactly bode well for Pepe, does it? At the same time Saha seems a lot more adaptable and is “oven ready”. You really have to question sometimes how Arsenal go about spending their hard earned dosh.
The other thing you have to bear in mind is the development of both Saka and Martinelli, who look like turning into first team regulars. Was it really necessary to spend all that money, or was it just some executive’s vanity project? A nice little earner for the agents, no doubt.