GREEN SHOOTS IN MILAN

LET'S GET TOXIC POSITIVE

We’re having quite the month, aren’t we? Arsenal lost again, this time in the Champions League, in familiar circumstances... a very bad piece of luck combined with some bland attacking output.

Inter Milan were pretty decent in the first half, I’ll give them that, but they only hit the target after they were awarded a dubious penalty. It came after Merino had a contested ball smashed into his hand from point-blank range, adjudged to have been on target, which meant it had to be a penalty. It’s mad that you can be penalized for something no human brain can react fast enough to avoid. Çalhanoğlu sent Raya the wrong way, and that ended our first 45.

So, what went wrong? Arsenal struggled a bit under their press. Inter’s off-the-ball shape was really good. Our midfield of Merino, Partey, and Trossard wasn’t up to much. There was absolutely no spark to our attacking offering. The whole outing felt very much like Arsenal-in-December-last-season. The players have been in a bad-luck rut, we’re missing key players, and nothing has quite clicked this season.

The second half was going to be pivotal because it was basically the last 45 minutes we’d get before facing off against Chelsea. Arteta needed to find some sort of spark. He found it by taking off Merino, who was pretty anonymous once again. Jesus earned himself a half to prove he still had the sauce, and in fairness to him, he brought a little bit of spark. The spark of a Bic lighter running low on gas, but a spark nonetheless.

Arsenal weren’t close to where we know we can be, but we were finally dominant. The boys tired out Inter, asked a lot of questions of them, their legs started to go, and we flexed into a mode that suffocated them. Every ball we lost, we’d win it back and recycle into their box. The strategy seemed to focus on our aerial threat, knowing they’d be too disciplined to play through the middle. We had 14 corners, lobbed 43 balls into their box, had 20 attempts at their goal, and created 2.3 xG.

Zero goals.

You can rage about that outcome, but sometimes, you have to look at a game and say, fuck, it wasn’t meant to be. Inter had one shot on target —that unlucky penalty—and we had nothing to show for our efforts.

There were certainly some problems we haven’t solved yet, but the performance was pretty decent, and when you’ve had the month we’ve had, you have to take the positives where they land.

Creative Concerns

Without Ødegaard, we lack creativity and a bit of purpose. Martin gives us drive, goal threat, creativity, and the belief we can beat anyone. We’ve spent too much time this season without our creative force, and no one has stepped into his shoes to deliver even 30% of what he offers. Trossard has been dreadful filling in for him, and to make matters worse, he looks like he’s angry to be on the pitch when he fills in there.

Bad Minutes

It’s easy for me to say that Ethan should be getting full games, but I don’t see him every day in training. Still, it’d be foolish of me not to use my platform to state with unrelenting certainty that he should be getting more than 9 minutes in a Champions League game like that. He wasn’t perfect when he came on, but he’s direct, he takes chances, he’s physically capable, and he created a bit of space for a wicked shot that went over. Why did Arteta keep him as a backup to Martin if he had no real interest in blooding him from day one this season?

Martinelli Stinking Out the San Siro

We have to call it out—Gabi is starting to kick up an aroma I don’t like. It’s like bending down to pick up a pen in the summer and realizing you’re not fresh. It’s not an emergency, but you have to fix up before the whole office notices.

That was another nothing afternoon. He was head down, looking very Quaresma, and offering a similar output. His loss of the ball outside the Inter area led to the counter that ended in their penalty. My issue is he’s looked stuck in 2021 form for a long time. There’s no confidence, little threat, no one is scared of him, and his development has regressed.

How bad must Sterling be in training to get nowhere near the grass after a performance like that?

Where Are the Killers?

Arsenal is a Halloween movie. The female protagonist is out in the woods, she’s left the front door unlatched, the basement door open, accidentally cut her phone line, the internet’s out, phone battery dead, and the creepy music has started as she cooks pasta while listening to Madona with noise-canceling headphones... but Arsenal’s cast of horror movie baddies are hiding in the bushes with no desire to be part of the scene. They’ve decided it’s all a bit unfair, latched the door, locked the basement, and gone for a beer.

Our killers have all the attributes to be box office, but season after season, that part of the game only shows up for 7 months. Those two months it disappears tend to cost us the league and big trophies.

Our spooky szn is big away games where we don’t score: Porto, Atalanta, Inter, Bayern, to name a few. We have the chances, but lack the killers. Don’t make me bring up Gyökeres… but he missed one big chance against City, fluffed the second, then scored two penalties. We don’t have a throat-slasher up front.

The Positives:

Luck comes in batches—our bad luck is going to end and shift the other way. Big teams tend to make their luck, and we did exactly that last season.

Our bad phase this season has coincided neatly with City’s, over a Premier League game and a Champions League one. Beat Chelsea at the weekend, start a good run after the international break, and we’ll be in really good shape. Easier games, most of our big away days over, big players returning and getting into form.

My hope is last night was our West Ham, and we don’t have a Fulham moment against Chelsea.

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INTER MILAN - CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - ON THE WHISTLE