That was the common consensus from the majority. And they are right.
But it is also important that we learn from the defeat against Liverpool. And Manchester City. And Chelsea.
At some point we need to move up to the next level. Away from calling it a project; that we are a team in development.
For now, it is fine. We are a team whose target was to compete for top 4. We are in the race.
But if we want to transition from top 4 contenders to title contenders, we need to begin getting results against City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Those teams comes to Arsenal and do not see it as a “shot to nothing”. They see it as 3 points. Anything less is a failure.
The change won’t happen this season.
Considering how poor we have been and for how long, turning the good ship Arsenal around was always going to take some time.
It feels like we are on the right road. Just at some point we need to find a new gear if we wish to be title challengers.
At the moment we have one of the youngest teams in the league. They were due a capitulation and in the second half at Liverpool it was heads gone.
The game is easy in hindsight.
Mikel Arteta should have probably gone with Kieran Tierney over the inexperienced Nuno Tavares – especially against Mo Salah who is probably the best player on the world right now.
Likewise we probably should have flooded the midfield. Played Ainsley Maitland-Niles ahead Alex Lacazette matching up Liverpool’s midfield 3; with Maitland-Niles also providing extra cover in that wide position against Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
As it was Tavares was exposed on the left and we were over run in midfield. Thomas Partey and Albert Sambi-Lokonga provided no cover and no out ball.
But then had we made those changes and lost Arteta would have been criticised for changing a winning team.
We move on with Newcastle at home up next before trips to Everton and Manchester United.
Whilst a trip to Liverpool at the moment is a shot to nothing, we need to be returning to the north-west expecting wins in the coming weeks.
5th in the table after 13 games. I am happy. We dust ourselves down and move on.
Keenos
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Anfield Stadium, Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool L4 0TH
Saturday, 20th November 2021. Kick-off time: 5.30pm
(4-4-1-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Nuno Tavares; Bukayo Saka, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe; Alexandre Lacazette; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno; Kieran Tierney, Martin Ødegaard, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé, Mohamed Elneny, Gabriel Martinelli.
Yellow Cards: Mikel Arteta
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 37%
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: Andy Madley
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Chris Kavanagh; AVAR Sian Massey-Ellis
Attendance: 53,394
And so it’s that time again, Liverpool at Anfield, with all that heaven will allow. The history is one thing; the here and now is another, of course. Today will be a perfect test for our boys, in as much that we will be able to gauge just how far we have come under Mikel Arteta, using this successful Liverpool team as our benchmark for future progression in all competitions. Remember, we remain unbeaten in the Premier League since the Manchester City debacle at the Etihad Stadium on 28th August, which is nine matches ago of course, and it will be very interesting to see if we can continue this successful run at the Anfield Stadum this afternoon.
The home side kicked the contest off, and immediately both sets of players showed their competitive edge. Using our tried and trusted 4-4-1-1 formation, it all started to look very solid at the back despite early pressure from Liverpool, who passed the ball around confidently, moving out into midfield from the back. We played some interesting movements down the wings, with Bukayo Saka looking impressive, firing balls over into the centre of the penalty area for our strikers to capitalise on. It is becoming obvious that there are lots of little battles all over the pitch between various players that will start to unfold more as the match wears on, and both sides are just looking for natural gaps in the play to exploit. Takehiro Tomiyasu crossed a superb ball from the right wing after sixteen minutes for Bukayo Saka to get his head to, but sadly Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got there first to clear the danger. Arsenal are playing some good, precise football, finding our players well and advancing into the Liverpool half with some urgency; we also need to get Thomas Partey and Emile Smith-Rowe into this match as soon as possible, as they are crucial to our success today. Ben White and Gabriel look solid at the back, confidently clearing Liverpool attacks as they materialise. Just before the half hour mark, Aaron Ramsdale made a superb save from both Thiago and Sadio Mané from close range to deny the home side a certain goal; a minute later, Alexandre Lacazette did get the ball into the net at the other end, but the goal was chalked off for offside. Then, emotions got the better of the two managers after a somewhat innocuous tackle, which resulted in both of them receiving a yellow card from Michael Oliver! And again, just ten minutes before the break, Aaron Ramsdale made an incredible point-blank save from Mo Salah, which amazed everyone in the stadium. The game became really exciting end-to-end stuff now, with no quarter given nor taken by both teams. Unfortunately, just six minutes before half-time, we went one down when a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick found Sadio Mané, whose header beat Aaron Ramsdale from six yards, despite getting a hand to the ball during its goalbound flight. A couple of minutes later, Albert Sambi Lokonga fired in a low shot from long range which was saved by Alisson, and although the match started to level out, we went into the break one down, unfortunately.
Arsenal got the second half underway, and almost immediately we brought the match to the home side when a superb through ball by Emile Smith-Rowe found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who although was tackled by Virgil van Dijk, was sadly offside. Playing out from the back has its dangers, and losing possession is just one issue; we were fortunate not to be punished by Trent Alexander-Arnold, but fortunately Aaron Ramsdale recovered just in time to defend his goal successfully. A period of Liverpool pressure sadly led to Diego Jota walking around a couple of our defenders (after a pass by Nuno Tavares which went astray), and eventually Aaron Ramsdale to score the second goal of the day after fifty-two minutes. Directly afterwards, Albert Sambi Lokonga was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles in order to shore things up better at the back. It didn’t work, as Liverpool started to overrun us constantly, chipping away and wearing us down; after Alexandre Lacazette was replaced by Martin Ødegaard, following wave upon wave of attacks on our defence, Mo Salah scored the third with a simple tap-in after seventy-three minutes. A few minutes later, the game was completely put out of our reach when Takumi Minamino scored the fourth Liverpool goal, with again, a tap-in from close range. An ineffective Thomas Partey was replaced by Mohamed Elneny, and our game became simply one of containment now. The home side seemed to be content with mere possession and a pattern of denial towards ourselves, and with nothing more to do with this Saturday night game, the match desecnded into a disappointing defeat for us.
Yes, this was a disappointing result, and with only thirty-seven percent possession, the scoreline was truly horrible; but please let’s get all this into context. We competed as best as we could, and after all, we are still a young team who are growing and learning as we go from match to match. Today’s opponents show the standard that we must aspire to, and given time, we will; but it is still to be remembered that we not only have had an excellent unbeaten run in the Premiership up until now, but we are still fifth in the Premiership table tonight, which is great. This was Liverpool after all, and they are utterly ruthless, so to walk away from Anfield having only been one down at half time, was heartening to see; although we fell apart in a fifteen minute spell in the second half, we shall take this on board for future reference. It’s not the end of the world, we shall return. Fingers burned, lessons learned.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Newcastle United at the Emirates on Saturday, 27th November at 12.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.
Arsenal’s recent unbeaten run coincides with a consistency in tactics and personel.
Mikel Arteta has settled on his best central defensive partnership and, injury aside, the XI he has put out has bene the same core of players in a 4231.
With Liverpool away up next, the feeling will probably be “more of the same”, hoping that the confidence we are playing with allows us to compete.
But Arteta might also be tempted to make tactical and personel changes having had 2 weeks to prepare for the challenge that is Liverpool.
451
Arteta might be tempted to move to the more defensive 451 against Liverpool.
This would also result in playing duel left backs in Kieran Tierney and Nuno Tavares to combat Liverpool’s overload of attacking on that side.
Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are Liverpool’s main attacking threat. Arteta could try and lock down that side with Tierney and Tavares.
That would make us more defensive on that side, but maintaing an attacking threat with the pairs ability to bomb forward and put crosses in.
Arteta coulde give them further reinforcements by playing Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the left of the 3 central midfielders. He would be instructed to push onto the left hand side when defending to give a third man.
Alongside Maitland-Niles in the 3 would be Thomas Partey (who should be fit) and Albert Sambi Lokonga. it would be a high energy, physical midfield which should give Ben white and Gabriel nice defensive cover.
On the right I would be tempted to play Nicolas Pepe with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top.
Pepe is at his best playing on the break and with Sadio Mane potentially out injured and the defensively minded Takehiro Tomiyasu behind him, the Ivorian feels a better option than Bukayo Saka.
The tactic would then be simple. Defend deep, overload the left hand side and middle of the park, and then rely on Pepe and Aubameyang on the break.
343
Arteta has succesfully transitioned the team to a 343 for key games previously. He might opt fot his option again.
A back three of White, Rob Holding and Gabriel would give the side defensive stability to build on.
Liverpool do not really play with a striker – Fabinho often dropping deep. So what you owuld do is have Holding just hold his position and then use Gabriel and White to help out their wing backs (Tierney and Tomiyasu).
So when the ball is out left at the feet of Salah, Tierney faces him and Gabriel closes the gap. Holding and White shuffle across with Tomiyasu then tucking in. Fairly basic stuff.
Liverpool’s central midfield does not realy offe rmuch of an attacing threat or look to dominate games, so you could get away with just Partey and Lokonga in the middle.
Partey would be the one to look after Fabinho with Lokonga asked to press onto Liverpool’s midfield.
The front 3 would then be Saka, Aubameyang and Emile Smith Rowe.
Saka and Smith Rowe would be asked to put in a defensive shift; covering Trent and Andy Robertson.
The worry with this formation is that a 343 can quickly turn into a 541 which would leave Aubameyang isolated.
Personally, I would go 451.
It is the clsoest to the current formation we play, just with a bit of extra defensive stability.
Tavaras and Tierney would lock down the left hand side whilst still offering an attacking threat and you would have the Aubameyang and Pepe giving Liverpool something to think about on the break.
You can also quickly and easily transition into a more attacking 4231 by bringing on Smith Rowe and Odegaard or Lacazette if we are 1-0 down with 20 minutes to go.
Plenty to think about.
Have a good Thursday.
Keenos
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She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 