Arsenal have had a relatively successful start to the 2020/21 season with 3 wins out of 6 in the premier league with defeats coming away to Liverpool and away to Manchester City and at home to Leicester respectively. They have progressed past Leicester and Liverpool in the Carabao Cup and have got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start with a 2-1 win in Austria against Rapid Wien. It’s been a case of steady rather than spectacular improvement. It would have been naive to expect a club that struggled for so much of last season to begin the new campaign playing flowing, attacking football and winning games convincingly.
Structurally, Arsenal have been much improved. Gabriel Malaghaes, the summer signing from Lille has made a good start to life in English football. They have generally been far more sturdy defensively, as has been the case under Mikel Arteta. Going forward is where the Gunners have looked rather toothless, however. None of the various attacking combinations have really worked convincingly. In the recent 1-0 defeat at home to Leicester, boss Mikel Arteta opted for an attacking trio of Saka, Aubameyang, Lacazette and while the youngster Saka showed promise, the more experienced duo struggled to influence the game. Lacazette missed a guilt edged chance to put his side in front while Aubameyang misjudged a headed chance. Arsenal had lots of the ball in the attacking third of the pitch but failed to create enough clear cut chances-an issue which has plagued the team for some time now. Jamie Vardy’s late winner felt almost inevitable as his stunning record against Arsenal continued. The Gunners were left licking their wounds after their third premier league defeat of the season and while the Emirates remains silent, tensions began to brew on social media.
Defensive improvement should not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Leicester scored with virtually their only chance of the game on Sunday. Pep Guardiolas Manchester City team had to rely on the clinical Raheem Sterling to get over the line last week with Gabriel particularly impressive. Previously, the Gunners had been conceding far too many chances and too many goals. Now there is a much better structure and shape to the defensive unit. However, its at the other end of the pitch where Arsenal’s struggles have been most apparent. Fans will point to some of the chances Lacazette has spurned this season but in truth, Arsenals real issue is creation.
The first and most obvious reasons for Arsenal’s lack of creativity is their lack of creative players. Arsenal’s Summer long hunt for Hossem Aauer ended in defeat and while the deadline day signing of Thomas Partey is a good addition to the Arsenal team-he’s hardly the creative spark that the Gunners have been sorely lacking. Granit Xhaka is a good passer of the ball but doesn’t quite have the vision or technical ability to open up a packed defense. Mohammed Elneny and Joe Willock are decent options that add depth but again, don’t have the quality to make Arsenal’s attack a more potent threat for opposing sides. Dani Ceballos is probably Arsenal’s most talented player creatively but the Spaniard normally operates in a deeper role alongside Granit Xhaka. Besides, talented as he may be, he doesn’t quite have the qualities Arsenal need going forward. Arsenal wingers also don’t do enough to create chances and so naturally, Arsenal generally don’t create enough chances.
There’s not much Arsenal can do with the personnel issue they have until at least January. Perhaps the more consistent involvement of Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson could give them further options but fans shouldn’t expect a fluid attacking football this season-at least not on a week to week basis. However, personnel is not the only issue Arsenal have. A lack of movement and chemistry between their attacking players has made for a pretty turgid watching. Hopes were high when Aubameyang joined Alexandre Lacazette at Arsenal in January 2018 but despite some promising early signs, their partnership never truly flourished. Aubameyang was outstanding last season but Lacazette struggled for large parts managing just the 12 goals over the course of the season. The main problem is that they were never really built to play together. Both players thrive when leading the line and poaching goals and at Arsenal they have gotten in each others way far too often. Neither player is particularly adept at holding up the ball and neither is particularly creative .For a striking partnership to be to truly fruitful there needs to be a variety of qualities between the different attacking players and that just isn’t the case with Lacazette and Aubemeyang. Nicolas Pepe, Arsenal’s 72 million pound signing from last summer has yet to deliver on a consistent basis. At his best, the Ivorian is a skillful, direct winger who is almost impossible to defend against in one on one situations. He’s also not the type of player that opens up deep lying defenses.
A very simple thing Arsenal can do to combat their lack of creativity is to move the ball quicker. Too often, Arsenal play has been slow and ponderous and it’s relatively easy for an organized defense to keep them out. It’s not a very complicated solution but its once which should improve the fluidity of Arsenal’s attack. Movement also needs to improve, particularly among the front three. Arsenal no doubt need to add creativity to their midfield but their wingers and strikers have to be less static. These starts with very simple things like making runs in behind defenders. In general, Arsenal have been to cautious at times and would benefit from taking more risks on and off the ball. This may been that the defensive structure which has served Arteta and Arsenal relatively well is slightly negativley impacted but as the boss himself emphasized: Arsenal have to score more goals. This structure should still be an option for the big games against the best teams but Arsenal have to be happen to transition to a more attacking game plan against lesser opposition.
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