Arsenal got what was coming to them. After escaping Watford away with a lucky win last week, the Gunners gave it no more at home to Palace , who turned up ready for a battle. They dished out an almost perfect performance and all afternoon long capitalised on Arsenal's slow and sloppy play, weak defence and shaky organisation. A deserved loss in all honesty but a one that could severely damage our chances of a top four finish.
Both halves were Arsenal's with the ball but crucially, the work and organisation Palace put in without the ball meant they'd come out on top. It took just seventeen minutes for Arsenal's woeful defensive frailties to come to light as with their first real attack, Palace picked up a needless free kick (Mustafi's first poor decision) and through Benteke's head scored the opening goal. Poor marking and no organisation left the Belgian unmarked and six yards out. Emery made two changes at half time to inject some life into his side and it worked immediately as Alex Lacazette slid in Mesut Ozil who popped home Arsenal's first with his trademark dig finish. One all and game on. It didn't last though as individual mistakes continued to plague the defence. Two Palace goals in eight second half minutes both from poor Arsenal defending and no real fault of Leno in goal, took the game beyond the Gunners. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang grabbed an Arsenal second soon after setting up quite the finish but his side failed to took get a third. A calamity of errors and poor play means Arsenal visit Wolves on Wednesday evening knowing that even before kick off, a top four finish could be out of their hands on reliant on others.
Ratings and Talking Points
Unai Emery: 6.5
The back five set up was unnecessary as were the umpteen changes, especially in defence. Mustafi is a lost cause in any shape but with the more experience players alongside him, Arsenal ahve got away with it. With Mavropanos one side and Jenkinson the other, it was too weak and too inexperienced. He was the senior player in that side of defence and he got it all wrong. The other side with Kolasinac and Koscielny looked a lot more sturdy. Changing this at half time was the correct decision and moving to a back four was also the right thing to do. However, leaving Mustafi on was wrong, he was way off the pace and offered nothing. Emery may as well have played Mavropanos as he will at least gain experience and develop as a professional. Mustafi on the other will not get better and if anything, is getting worse with mistakes seemingly happening game after game. Emery left it way too long with Guendouzi and Elneny in central midfield. It didn't work at all last time so for him to start with it yesterday was just ludicrous. The arrogance to think that they good enough a pair to win Premier League football games is there for all to see. It was stupid decision that he should have learnt from last time. He just about got away with it last time, it failed yesterday. Torreira's introduction added a calm head who provided good drive going forward but it was ultimately too little too late. Our squad isn't good enough for six or seven changes and to still win. Surely Emery can see that now? And without Aaron Ramsey fro the start of the bench, it did look a little flat generally.
Laurent Koscielny: 6.5
Shkodran Mustafi: 3
Dinos Mavropanos: 5.5
Carl Jenkinson: 5
Mohamed Elneny: 5
Matteo Guendouzi: 5.5
Sead Kolasinac: 6.5
Mesut Ozil: 7
Alex Lacazette: 7
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 6.5
Subs
Alex Iwobi: 6
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 6.5
Lucas Torreira: 6
The Elneny-Guendouzi Partnership
The poor attempt at a midfield partnership fell apart before the game even started as Mohamed Elneny and Matteo Guendouzi started together. Last time this pairing started, Arsenal were poor and only a couple of second half changes dug them out of a whole. It wasn't to be again as the two were slow to pass forward, poor with their movement and even worse with the defensive side. Granit Xhaka was massively missed, and to start Torreira on the bench when Xhaka nor Ramsey were available was a joke of a decision that immediately came back to bite Emery. There was little link up with Ozil which meant the German had to drop deeper and deeper as the game went on. This didn't suit him at all and once Torreira entered the fray, things livened up a little. With Calum Chambers to return to the club this Summer, and Aaron Ramsey on his way out, the club need to move Elneny on. His rumoured salary is far too much for a squad player who offers so little. He's been loyal and a good professional yes, but ultimately football is about results, and he hindered the club in getting them. A cheaper and more capable central midfielder as a new signing or a promotion from the academy are far better options than Elneny. Guendouzi is still young and without Ramsey, Xhaka or Torreira alongside him, he cannot control the game by himself, yet. He's still developing and needs time to do so. Boiling hot pressure cooker matches won't help him at this stage.
Take £5mill for Mustafi and Move On
The club spent a shocking £35million on Mustafi over three seasons ago now. It was a shock then and has become a joke since. He continues to make error after error in the Emery regime and yet the man in charge still picks him over developing talents like Mavropanos. There is literally no difference between the two now, and at least the young Greek will develop and improve. The cannot continue to place their faith in Mustasi who has proved to be a liability at minimum and a calamity at worst. He doesn't communicate with others well at all nor does he seem to stay calm on the ball. He'll dive in, lose out and commit in a second and playing for a team like Arsenal who are notoriously disorganised at the back, it just cannot go on. It's not actually about his ability, it's about his level of reliability, to which he provides absolutely none.
@craigbennett10
Comments
Post a Comment