Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat against Bate Borisov last night, wasn’t entirely unexpected because the North London club continually concede goals and find it impossible to keep a clean sheet. The main problem is that Arsenal’s transitional period, has caused an identity crisis.
Once, the Gunners played an attacking game without hardly any tactics, which allowed for freedom of expression but in Wenger’s last few seasons, it rarely delivered the necessary results. At present, they are knee deep in tactics and game plans from Emery’s extensive knowledge of the game, yet, the free-flowing football has all but disappeared.
Their identity is confused, with a group of bewildered players looking to deliver a message they clearly don’t understand. How else can you explain what we are witnessing?. I don’t subscribe to the ‘Emery out’ mantra which is doing the rounds on social media.
There’s no way back from our current predicament, no matter who is the coach. No magic wand, no magic potion and no quick fix. Only patience, money and hard work will bring back success. In metaphorical terms, Emery was sold a bike that had little going for apart from the basic frame.
He has to start again, by deciding on his priorities and then seeing what he can afford, none of which, can be achieved until the summer. Anyway, there was a match to report on but there was nothing to get overly excited about from an Arsenal perspective. After a bright start, where Iwobi, Kolasinac, Mkhitaryan and Lacazette troubled the side from Belarus in their own backyard.
However, BATE then started to dominate and a strong looking Arsenal side couldn’t find a way back. Their natural flowing game seemed to desert them and their touch became less and less sure. At one point they looked like a team in search of even more instructions on what to do and where to go next.
There were lots of occasions where players looked at each other to see if someone else had the answers and that became a frustrating feature of this game, with every stray pass, short or long ball that failed to meet its intended target. BATE are the Belarusian equivalent of Reading in global terms and Arsenal on last nights evidence are more like Portsmouth.
Borisov toiled and stuck to the plan, knowing that the Emirates club could implode at any given moment. Maksim Skavysh and Nemanja Milic were the brightest talents on offer, with Cech probably the pick of the Arsenal side, for keeping the score down because there were chances for the home side to kill this tie off.
Mkhitaryan went close early on with a nice exchange between Kolasinac and Iwobi. Lacazette also teased but the ball just wouldn’t sit right for him. The Frenchman also had a goal disallowed before taking an early bath for retaliation. The striker lashed out after being dragged back by Filipovic and pushed back his elbow in frustration. That hardly helped, but the truth was Arsenal weren’t good enough and lacked a cutting or inventive edge.
In the 45th minute, the Gunners were slow to react to a dangerous looking free-kick and up popped Stanislav Dragun, to out jump Kolasinac. The ball rocketed into the net and Petr Cech barely twitched. It left Dragun’s Head like a rocket and even if the veteran keeper had been able to get a hand to it, the power probably would have carried it on and into the net.
Arsenal never looked like getting back on level terms, especially late on and even the substitutions couldn’t spark a revival. The one frustrating thing which immediately comes to mind is the underutilization of Mesut Ozil and now Denis Suarez, who is on a short term loan. According to ESPN, it’s reported to be costing £2 million for his services, so, unless his leg is broken put him on the pitch or it will be another flagrant waste of money.
I’m almost 100% convinced that Suarez will be used in the second leg for 90 minutes or close to that. If fit, Emery needs to put Ozil back in the side to give himself and Arsenal one last chance before they run out. There’s no doubt the North London club can turn this around at home but if they want to win the Europa League, they can’t afford any more performances as dull and uninspired as this.
