William Saliba’s last-man tackle against Bournemouth saw him pick a red card, which forced Arsenal to play with ten men for the third time this season. Indeed, each time our Gunners found themselves playing with ten men, they’ve ended up dropping crucial points. They forced draws against Manchester City (2-2) and Brighton (1-1); they hoped to avoid defeat against Bournemouth, but the Cherries secured a 2-0 victory.
Though one might place all of the blame on Saliba’s red card, don’t you think coach Mikel Arteta’s decisions also contributed to the loss?
The decision to overlook a creative mind like Ethan Nwaneri and start without a natural creator, instead playing three DMs in Mikel Merino, Declan Rice, and Thomas Partey, ensured that our attackers would struggle from the start.
Having already played WITH 10 men before THIS SEASON, Arteta and his technical bench should have had an idea of how to handle the situation. Certainly, not every team you play with a red card requires a deep block. At times, it’s necessary to display bravery and attack; Arsenal didn’t demonstrate that against Bournemouth, treating the Cherries with such respect that they had every reason to believe they could deny our Gunners all 3 points.
Furthermore, the matchday squad should not have included Martinelli if he was not match-fit. Given his availability and match fitness, he should have started and withdrawn at some point. Even if he wasn’t 100% fit, Saka would have started if he was available, as should Martinelli.
The Brazilian was quite influential after his introduction and arguably had the best opportunity to score throughout the game; had he done so, the Gunners would have had no trouble holding on to their lead.
Aside from his side picking a red card, surely Mikel Arteta’s decisions didn’t help his team in that game.
Darren N
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I have mentioned selections in previous posts.
Arteta is a good manager, but makes some real head scratching selections some games. This unbalanced midfield was a great example, not to mention choosing Trossard on LW and not in midfield where we lacked creativity.
He had Trossard or Nwaneri, for creativity, yet opted for none with his midfield selection.
At home against Villa last year was another great example. He drops an inform Havertz from striker to start Jesus. Jesus predictably doesn’t score, and Havertz was muted by being dropped to midfield. The team struggled to deal with Villa, no hold up from Jesus, and we were 2nd best in every facet all game.
Thought like most on here that we set up wrong but you can not legislate for a head gone moment from LT to make a back pass that kills your Defense off.
Off side if they make the forward pass but not from one of our own
A poor day at the office
Put it bed and we move on to the next game
Onwards and upwards
I have seen a number of comments and also anger directed at the manager for “poor decisions”. However, the reasoning behind the criticisms are generally flawed and for the most part unreasonable.
E.g.
*We should have played Nwaneri. This is a 17 year old who has never started a PL game.
*Trossard should not have started on the left. Yet he has often played there and this is one of his more usual positions.
*Martinelli should have started. This is a player who is still recovering from injury and may not be fully fit
*Merino should not have started in midfield. Yet this an international player who has played in the very same position for the current European champions.
Well said.
Wow! David, I can’t believe what you have written. You are beginning to sound like me.
Have you been hacked🤣
Good coaches should always be learning so, hopefully, Arteta can use something out of the defeat to improve things in the future. That said, he has been at it for a while (both with Pep at City and at Arsenal) so tactics/team selection should probably be a little less of a problem now.
Personally, I’d just leave Jesus warming the bench now – he contributes nothing as far as I can see. I’d also give Nwaneri more game time, let’s see what he can do with that, mix things up a little.
Did the fact, we lost a player, not make it THE most important thing?
Everything else is secondry.
When you are down to ten men the last thing you need is seventeen year old rookie in the team, Merino and Rice are the sort of players you need to cover the ground to make up for the shortfall.
Tomorrow night is the perfect game for Nwaneri.
I only watched bits and pieces but did sense before the sending off that the team were not clicking very well.
The absence of Odegaard and Saka in particular has weighed heavily.
Some managers throw on the new signings immediately and Arteta is the opposite. Looking at the “whole”, 2 of our most important players were absent, Calafiori and Merino have only just joined – particularly with Merino just back from injury as well, and Timber is sidelined too. In fact, there are a lot of injuries and White has only just recovered making this “whole” not fractured but a bit shaky.
A settled team is so important, and that can hardly be said so far. It has been an enforced rotation rather than happening by choice.