As he nears his one-year anniversary as Arsenal boss, it feels like Mikel Arteta has been given a crash course in crisis management.
One win from his first seven games in the Premier League as he attempted to unpick Unai Emery’s tangled legacy. His coronavirus diagnosis and the disruption to the season which followed. The decisive defeats during Project Restart which shattered any lingering hopes of Champions League qualification. The wrangles with Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi; the backroom reshuffles; the list goes on.
So far, Arteta has navigated those crises calmly and decisively. Inconsistent results last season were answered by promising performances and Arsenal’s triumphant run to the FA Cup final. While his hardline stance towards unwanted players has proved controversial, there’s little doubt that, wherever there have been power struggles, he has come out on top.
Judging by this showing, Arsenal’s current malaise could be his most difficult challenge to date. Defeat to Wolves leaves Arsenal 14th in the table with one win from their last six league games. Nuno Espirito Santo stuck with a back four at The Emirates – a set-up which he used for the first time in his three-year tenure in Wolves’ 1-1 draw with Southampton last weekend – and Arteta matched him despite having limited success against Leeds with the same 4-2-3-1 formation.
The game was disrupted early on after a sickening clash of heads which left David Luiz and Raul Jimenez on the turf. The latter needed oxygen and was stretchered off, while the former was bandaged up and, somehow, allowed to continue. Players on both sides were visibly distressed by Jimenez’s injury and, once the medics had carried him down the tunnel, the match resumed at a subdued pace.
Wolves were first to settle into their rhythm, gradually upping the pressure on Arsenal’s back line. They opened the scoring with a sharp passing move just before the half-hour mark, Adama Traore thundering down the right flank and crossing for Leander Dendoncker to head onto the bar only for Pedro Neto to score on the follow-up.
Two minutes later, Arsenal almost equalised when Kieran Tierney made a mirror-image run and teed up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Unfortunately for him, Conor Coady was there to nick the ball off his toe. As it turned out, Coady’s heroic intervention was futile. From the ensuing corner, Willian played a tight one-two with Hector Bellerin before whipping a cross in for Gabriel to head home.
That was a false dawn for Arsenal, who were on the back foot for the rest of the half. Wolves’ second goal around the 40-minute mark was frustratingly similar to their first, Traore showing impressive poise under pressure to get the ball to Neto before he galloped forwards and unleashed a shot which, despite Leno’s parried save, was gobbled up by Daniel Podence.
Bellerin and Luiz were guilty of backing off too far in the build-up but, with the latter now bleeding through his bandages, it was no surprise to see him struggling. He came off for Rob Holding at half time, a decision which should have been made earlier.
Familiar issues for Arsenal
Arsenal had the same problems here that they did against Leeds, even before Nicolas Pepe’s sending off last weekend. They created fewer quality chances than their opponents, their midfield struggled to get a grip on possession and, despite having greater threat in the wide areas, the team seemed disconnected.
Barring some sustained pressure with 20 minutes to play which saw decent chances for Aubameyang and Reiss Nelson – the former dispossessing Rui Patricio only for the angles to close on a gaping net – the second half largely passed them by. After barely a year in the job, Arteta still needs time to work on Arsenal’s issues but he will need all his crisis management skills to get them out of this mess.
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