Three important things we learned from Arsenal’s draw with Brentford

Arsenal huffed and puffed but the visitors held on for a draw at the Emirates, here are THREE things we learned from a very tough day at the Emirates:

1) Granit Xhaka’s influence is diminishing.

  It is probably naive to think that Xhaka can continue his rich vein of form in his new role this season- this is not to blame him for our draw today but his levels have dropped post the World cup- even while he was at his best, I can’t help but notice some of his shortcomings in the role, but as Arsenal was winning and dominating, I felt there was no need to mention it.

This position requires a lot of intelligence which Xhaka has, but what the Switzerland international has lacked is the elite movement, link-up play, ball-striking, and consistent goal-scoring ability required to play in that position, (Smith Rowe says hi). This deficiency has often been by covered by the all-action Gabriel Jesus, however,  the striker’s absence and our games against low block teams have really exposed him, it is time to start phasing Xhaka out of the team.

2)  Arteta needs to be more flexible.

 I understand that Arteta wants to dominate the games, but there are some teams that just allow you to dominate just to hurt you on the break. When you play against such teams, you need more runners than playmakers. Having Zinchenko and Xhaka in midfield helps Arsenal dominate games, both players would rather have the ball to their feet than make runs in behind as they look to dictate play.

In all the games we have played against low-blocks,(Newcastle, Everton, and now Brentford) they have not been as effective as they have been in the other games, and it is not a surprise we could not win any of those games. To succeed against this kind of team, you need intelligent movements in and around the box, which is why I am disappointed Arteta did not change our setup tactically.

As Smith Rowe and Jesus are not available, Tierney for Xhaka and Trossard for Nketiah would have been a better change, this pushes Zinchenko into the Xhaka position,  Tierney provides an outlet for Martinelli, and also stretches Brentford a bit more. A defender could also be sacrificed in order to have all the aforementioned on the pitch at the same time. Whatever the manager does, he needs to find a solution to this quickly as many teams are going to set up this way against Arsenal now.

3) Jesus and Smith Rowe are needed urgently

Someone said to me, if Nketiah leads the line, he will score more goals than Jesus, but if Jesus leads the line the team will score more goals. Nketiah is not a bad player, in fact, I would not be surprised if he scored a hat-trick against City, but in this kind of game, Jesus is what you need.

I remember the game at Wolves, although Odegaard got the goals, Jesus’ role was so vital. Nketiah performs better against the big teams as they don’t really sit deep, but Jesus makes everyone better against any opposition.

It is easy to forget that ESR was our top scorer last season, the more I see Xhaka play the 8 position, the more I keep imagining  ESR in there. I am convinced he would be a massive upgrade to Xhaka as far as the position is concerned. Arsenal needs to get their dynamism and unpredictability back;  the return of ESR and Jesus guarantees that, I just hope it won’t be too late.

What do you think?