This game was billed as a fresh start for Arsenal. Under intense pressure after three defeats from three to open the league season, Mikel Arteta described it as a chance to “reset” following the international break.
“We don’t want to use any excuses,” Arteta said, before going on to list three in the form of injuries, Covid disruption and “extremely difficult games” against Manchester City, Chelsea and, less convincingly, Premier League newcomers Brentford.
While there’s little doubt that enforced absences have been a hindrance, nothing can be said in mitigation of an Arsenal team going into their fourth league fixture rock bottom of the table with nine goals conceded and none scored.
While Arteta’s impassioned appeals for patience and faith in The Project
have rung increasingly hollow, the promise of a new beginning against Norwich was more than an empty platitude. The front cover of the matchday programme featured Arsenal’s six summer signings in Takehiro Tomiyasu, Aaron Ramsdale, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Nuno Tavares and Martin Odegaard, with a four-word greeting: “Welcome to the family”.
Five of those signings started the match, with only auxiliary full-back Tavares left on the bench. Tomiyasu signed from Bologna less than two weeks ago and had his first training session with his team-mates last Thursday meaning that, where Arsenal have often been accused of looking like a team of strangers, that cliché could be interpreted literally here.
Before the match, Arteta had talked about needing “to create relationships, chemistry [and] understanding” between his players and, unsurprisingly, they struggled to find their rhythm early on. Having deployed a back three in the 5-0 humiliation against City, he switched to a back four with Tomiyasu coming straight in at right-back, White and Gabriel Magalhaes in the centre and Kieran Tierney on the left.
Where the defence gave a much improved performance compared to the showings against City, Chelsea and Brentford – Tomiyasu was especially impressive, marauding forwards and almost scoring a spectacular debut goal with a dipping volley just before half-time – the midfield and attack were disjointed. Denied a move to Everton late in the transfer window despite openly pressing to leave on Instagram, Ainsley Maitland-Niles started in his preferred position in the middle of the park but failed to make much of an impression.
Lokonga did well in defensive midfield, frustrating Norwich’s gradual build-up play with energetic pressing and several timely interceptions. Odegaard was less effective and was often forced to drop deep to find space, though he did set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with a fantastic lofted ball only for Tim Krul to stand tall and save his attempted dink.
It should worry Arteta that, despite starting a familiar front three in Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka, it wasn’t until well into the second half that his side started to threaten in earnest. While there is obviously pressure on Arsenal’s new signings to revitalise the team, their longer-serving players also need to step up for Arteta’s reset to work. For all Pepe’s mesmerising footwork in the first half, he was limited to a succession of fruitless corners by Manchester United loanee Brandon Williams. Aubameyang ran the channels menacingly, but his finishing was just as erratic as it was last term.
Come the 55-minute mark, both sides had managed one shot on target. It took a hefty slice of luck for Arsenal to take the lead just over 10 minutes later, with Pepe hitting the far post with his initial effort and the near post on the rebound before bundling the ball to Aubameyang for a tap-in. Norwich appealed furiously for offside, but VAR declined to intervene. While, after three league games without a goal, Arsenal couldn’t afford to be too fussed about aesthetics, it wasn’t exactly a return to razor-sharp attacking football.
While Arsenal were utterly dominant for the last 25 minutes or so, overrunning Norwich in midfield after the arrival of Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey, they were still hugely wasteful in front of goal. Aubameyang, Pepe and Smith Rowe all went through one-on-one only for Krul to deny them, while Saka had a succession of shots blocked or deflected wide. At the final whistle Arsenal had taken 30 shots in total, with seven on target. As much of a relief as it was to win, a return of one very scrappy goal ought to be a cause for concern.
Scoring goals was a fundamental problem for Arsenal in the Premier League last season and, on current evidence, it could be again. Speaking after the match, Arteta admitted “we should have scored many more… the efficiency has to improve”.
Where he can take encouragement from the way Arsenal rallied defensively, only one of his summer signings, Odegaard, is likely to up the team’s goal tally significantly over the course of a full campaign, having helped out considerably on loan between January and May. As such, even as his new signings helped him to draw a line under his miserable start to the season, Arteta’s hopes of rebooting his glitch-prone “project” may rest on whether or not he can get his attack to click on a more consistent basis.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3E9X6AZ
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