Arsenal 2-3 Villarreal – observations

Morning.

Pre-season continued with a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal at the Emirates last night. As we have done throughout the summer, today’s blog has some observations rather than a granular look at the 90 minutes.

Defensive worries

Yes, it’s ‘only’ pre-season, but throughout we’ve looked a bit wobbly at the back. In Hong Kong it was mostly from set-pieces, yesterday we struggled with open spaces against a Villarreal side who looked pretty tidy in possession. Both first half goals should have been defended better, and the third – coming late in the second half – saw us exposed on the break.

We’ve been so good defensively for the last two seasons, it stands out when we’re not. There’s time to put it right, but that’s exactly what we need to do ahead of a difficult start to the new season.

Attacking worries & disjointed team selections

I think a front three of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres is one which will probably start a lot of games for Arsenal this season. A midfield behind them of Christian Norgaard, Mikel Merino and Ethan Nwaneri is a trio that probably won’t. I understand the need to give players minutes, but there’s also a need to build some continuity.

If you can make a good case that Gyokeres is someone who could benefit from having a player like Martin Odegaard feeding him chances, and also for Odegaard to have that long-awaited 9 as a recipient for his creativity, it seems a bit odd not to give them time on the pitch together. The captain came on in the 63rd minute as our new striker went off, leaving Merino as the man up top. I’m sure there’s method to the madness, but I don’t really get it.

There was no Kai Havertz yesterday, so maybe the manager was reluctant to start Merino up front if he had viewed Odegaard as a second half change. It just seems to me that if we are going to have to adapt to a new striker – and there seemed little evidence of that yesterday – don’t we need to give our ‘first choice’ midfield of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Odegaard some time on the pitch with him? I hope that’s what we see this weekend against Athletic Bilbao. It’s the last dress rehearsal ahead of Old Trafford, and we need to see how it works.

On Gyokeres, Arteta said:

Every day in training I think he’s getting a really good feeling. I think he’s getting connections as well outside, which I think is really important with players that are going to help him to get in the position that he needs to get in. On his fitness level, I think he hasn’t trained really with the team for two months, so he’s done now six or five sessions I think before today, so I think on Saturday again he will take another step and he will be in a better condition.

It’s still early days, obviously, but the way we played yesterday was very familiar. Just putting a new lad up top won’t do anything unless we do adjust a bit. I know we were without Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard, but you couldn’t help look at that game yesterday and not pine a for a little more creativity and skill, particularly in the central areas.

Max Dowman, once again

We all know his age. We all understand how that has to be a consideration. But when a 15 year old comes on in every pre-season game and stands-out as possibly our best and most impactful player, you have to acknowledge that. You could argue it says something about everyone else, but to me that’s churlish. We all have eyes, we can all see we’re witnessing the emergence of a very, very talented young man.

Ideally, you don’t put him in the spotlight at this age, and don’t put him under any significant pressure, but after his displays this summer, I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t in the matchday squad for Old Trafford. I know it’s ridiculous really, but if you’re picking a team on merit, why shouldn’t he be included? He won the penalty which made it 2-3 last night, and when he gets the ball, he makes things happen in a way that too few others have during the games the summer.

Gabriel and Timber return

The two defenders got their first minutes of pre-season yesterday, which is good news as both are very important players for us. Ben White looks much more like his old self at right-back this summer, but last season taught us we’re going to need both him and Timber for a long campaign. Similarly, Gabriel’s importance at both ends of the pitch is obvious, even if generally speaking Jakub Kiwior has done well. The Brazilian just has a measure of presence that the Polish international does not. So, if we’re looking for a big positive from yesterday, that’s it for me.

Overall

The result doesn’t really matter, but the performance does at this point. I think we’ve struggled to find any fluency and rhythm this pre-season, and that might well be down to the number of new faces, some of whom have barely been involved. We saw Noni Madueke for the first time yesterday, a player Arteta says will play on both sides, and whose miss in the penalty shoot-out was about as obvious as it comes!

At the same time though, we don’t look as dangerous as you’d like. Statistically, we had 17 shots, on top of 16 in the game in Hong Kong, but the goals came from a corner and a penalty. I think Gyokeres had one half-decent chance which the keeper saved, so there’s a lot of work to do, and I still feel like there’s something missing when it comes to how we’re playing, and how we’re expecting to create chances. It could be stylistic, it could be the need for different personnel, or a little from Column A and a little from Column B, but it’s clear it’s something Arteta has to pay attention to, and find a solution for, asap.

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Right, I’ll leave it there for now. We’ll discuss these points, and the game in a bit more detail, in an Arsecast a little bit later on, so stand-by for that. In the meantime, have a good one.