FINISHING DISASTERCLASS COMPOUNDED BY ALEX ISAK PERFORMANCE

GOOD STRIKERS SCORE GOALS

Arsenal learned the most brutal of lessons.

If you can't score, don't concede.

We conceded two very stupid goals that were most unlike Arsenal... and we couldn't score. Or even test the keeper properly. Or hit the target many times.

The difference-maker on the evening was the hottest striker in the Premier League... Alex Isak. He showed us what we miss when the chips are down. He had two chances all evening and he made something happen off both of them. He has sauce. He is a magic man. He has bang-bang. It's painful to watch someone who has all the ingredients we lack in our front three molest our center backs and give his team the upper hand in the first leg.

Arsenal, on the other hand, had 23 shots, 6 big chances, created 3.76 xG, and didn't score a single goal. The worst part? You kind of felt we could have gone for another 400 minutes and still not found a solution.

These games happen, but they're happening to Arsenal on a more regular basis than is comfortable. At some point, you can't keep cursing luck. At all costs, you should never, ever blame the brand of ball. We're either on fire in front of goal or we're scraping by on crumbs. When you break it all down, we really only have one player this season who can pull us out of a mess, and he’s out for 2 months. The solution can’t just be to put down £70m on a striker. It's demanding that our best players step up and show they can be heroes for the cause. Martin, Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, and Kai all have to be better in games like that. We know they are capable because we've seen it. If our season is to survive, we're going to have to see it soon.

The deeper concern for me was the fatigue. We controlled the game in a very familiar fashion, but the players looked leggy and uninspired. They moved the ball slowly and offered up foggy decisions all game. The biggest flaw in the Arteta machine has consistently been fitness. We know he likes to train his players intensely, and that cost us three players before the United game. He also has a habit of leaning into the macho view that mega players can deal with mega loads. Saka in all the games eventually cost him a detached hamstring.

The biggest worry about that loss? Arteta will want a reaction in the next game, which means there's a chance he could field a wildly inappropriate lineup against United and hand an advantage to Villa and Spurs the week after. He said the FA Cup was a 'beautiful competition'... well, if he treats it with the respect it deserves, we're going to be dead against two managers who absolutely hate Arsenal. Not a good position to be in - making emotional decisions on lineups because you messed up a League Cup game is where seasons go to die.

After seeing Arsenal get heavily linked with Thomas Rosicky for the new Sporting Director role, I did wonder to myself if we're already heading down a very Arsène Wenger-like path here. Building out kingdoms, not addressing really important positions for years at a time, and wrecking players during the season at the expense of trophies. These were all Arsène traits.

It's easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, especially after a horrible Brighton result. But that was a bad result in front of a home crowd that was expecting us to put on a show in a semifinal. It's hard to find silver linings. Last season, we had issues in the first half of the season, but by January 7th, we'd found solutions, and we went on to find our goalscoring touch. This season, without Saka, I'm wondering where that's coming from? We knew losing our best player was going to come with days like these. We shouldn't be surprised. I think the angst comes from the constant neglect of the forward positions.

If you don't add proper cover for your best player, expect to be exposed.

If you take a chance on making your left-sided eight your main striker, expect to be criticized when that player blows a free header so hard, it hits his shoulder and goes over the bar.

If you keep buying fullbacks, expect people to ask if you have your priorities straight when the goals dry up.

There is no doubt in my mind that Arteta wants to have it all, right now. He's not the one that decides the budget, he's only a voice in the room when making recruitment decisions, it's not totally down to him whether the club can get good prices for players they can't sell.

... but he is in the room. He is the top dog. We know he's a good salesman. It's getting really hard to understand how our recruitment process keeps on allowing summers to go by without making the right attacking purchases.

No cover for Ødegaard. No cover for Saka. No killer striker.

The most painful realization is that we're not solving those problems this January. That could make for a very long two months.

But let's end on a positive.

That was our first loss since Inter Milan on November 6th in any competition.

We're still not out of the League Cup. It's just leg one. We are more than capable of doing them at their place.

You'd rather take your first loss in the League Cup. Say what you will about our need to win something... no one really gives a fuck about the League Cup.

The fundamentals of that game were strong. 3.76 xG is monstrous against a team that strung out a deep-block 5-5 formation. We had enough chances from open play and set pieces to bury them. We did look lethargic and slow. If Arteta rotates and rests properly, we can do some damage in the Premier League next week.

Form is not permanent. This team has a history of coming good. Scoring lots of goals. And sharing them about. We did it after Fulham last season, we can do it again.

So pick up your head if you've lost it, wipe those eyes... and that little bit of snot in your beard. Now move forward. Plenty of season to go. It was one of those games. The job now is to make sure it's not one of those months.