Match report – Player ratings – Video
Arsenal went out of the Carabao Cup, losing 2-0 to Sp*rs at the Emirates. This morning I’m relatively sanguine. Did I want us to beat them? Of course. Yet last night’s display, team selection and substitutes were an illustration of how we don’t have enough depth to marry our stated ambitions of getting back into the Champions League – whether that’s through the Premier League or Europa League – while fighting on four fronts.
Once again Granit Xhaka was picked at centre-half because I guess Emery felt he had no choice. He spoke afterwards about the Swiss international ‘helping the team’ with Mustafi still injured and Koscielny not ready to start his third game in a week. He’s not a natural defender though, and I think we miss him in midfield so it weakens us in two positions at once, even if he didn’t do that badly in general.
Up front it was Aubameyang flanked by Iwobi and Mkhitaryan again, and once more we were far from efficient enough. The stats earlier this season about how we were outperforming our xG surely must have tipped back the other way when you consider the chances we’ve missed in recent games. There was a golden opportunity for Mkhitaryan to put us ahead when he was played through by Ramsey, but with just the keeper to beat his effort was tame and easily saved.
I know he scored twice at the weekend but I expect better from a player on the kind of wages he’s on, and he remains lightweight for me. As for Iwobi, there are elements of his game which are obviously frustrating, but almost everything dangerous we did yesterday involved him in some way. It’s about the balance between the good and the not so good, as I wrote the other day it’s tipped too far the wrong way at the moment and we need to try something different. The absence of Mesut Ozil, more on that anon, leaves us with few attacking options from the bench, so that’s certainly a complicating factor.
They took the lead through Son after Sokratis had slipped when challenging from a long ball fro the keeper, and the South Korean timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap, and you immediately thought of that missed Mkhitaryan chance and how it would have changed the complexion of the game. The goal came during a period in which they were on top in terms of possession and territory, but it was untidy to say the least.
We rallied late in the first half, Ramsey forcing the keeper into an excellent save after good work from Iwobi down the left. Sokratis headed wide when he should have done better, and when we brought Koscielny on for Mkhitaryan at half-time I thought we’d move Xhaka into midfield but he became part of a back three. We were livelier, but not any more dangerous, and both managers traded attacking changes with Lacazette and Kane coming on.
The second goal is pretty dismal, a long ball from the keeper, Xhaka failed to challenge in the air, Kane picked it up too easily in midfield and with Sokratis more concerned about the player outside him than the one running through inside him, a ball over Koscielny allowed Alli through to make it 2-0. There was a chance to pull one back almost immediately but Lacazette’s shot clipped the outside of the post and went wide.
Nketiah came on for Guendouzi, but stationed out on the right he had little impact, and while Iwobi had been hit and miss, without him we had almost no attacking threat. I get that there are elements of his game that frustrate, and you won’t hear me argue with anyone who says both he and Mkhitaryan are players we need to improve on, but I don’t think we caused them any real problems after his departure.
The only hint of danger was when an mishit Aubameyang cross hit the bar, but we didn’t create the kind of chances that might have saved the game. Late on some idiot threw a bottle at Alli and should face the consequences, you can’t condone that in any way, and on the night – in direct contravention to what we saw a couple of weeks ago – they were the team whose performance merited the win.
Afterwards Emery blamed attacking inefficiency, saying:
We created chances in the first half to score, but today the efficiency was not good for us. Now we’ve finished in this competition and are thinking about Saturday because we have another three very important competitions, the first is the Premier League, then the Europa League and also the FA Cup. Today we finished this competition.
And that is the rub, because as painful as it is to lose to Sp*rs, I can’t say I’m hugely upset at being out of the Carabao Cup. I don’t think this squad needs the complication and effort of a two-legged semi-final against Chelsea in January when we have bigger fish to fry. Nevertheless, with two successive defeats, Emery has plenty to think about it when it comes to setting up for Burnley. And once again, the club have to got to look at that squad and realise that without some measure of investment in January the brief they’ve given the new manager – to get Arsenal Champions League football one way or the other – will be extremely hard to achieve.
Now …
Mesut Ozil
The German wasn’t in the squad at all last night, and it wasn’t another injury, not another back-ache, it was for ‘tactical reasons‘. I’m struggling to think of what the tactic is in leaving a talented, creative player out of the 18 for a North London derby – especially when said player should be very fresh having played a total of 103 minutes since November 11th – it’s December 20th, by the way.
Let’s be realistic: there is no tactical reason. Say what you want about resting him for more important games, but as you clutch for those straws, stop and think about this critically. This was a big cup game in which Emery used players like Torreira, Aubameyang, Xhaka, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan and others who have played a lot of football recently, and it’s clear that some of them are struggling for form.
At the very least Ozil’s presence on the bench gives you an experienced option should you need it, even if you might ask if he’s ever been effective coming off the bench. There was a very good case to be made for starting him last night, and he wasn’t even in the squad. For ‘tactical reasons’.
Not for me. I don’t buy it. I was on WhatsApp with James last night and his suggestion that it was a reaction to his performance against Southampton may well be part of it. Introduced from the bench he refused to get on the ball and as an instruction that makes no sense whatsoever, so perhaps it’s a punishment for that in some ways.
I know there will be people out there who will say Emery should have picked him regardless, especially for a derby, but managers will take all kinds of shit from players all the time so you have to ask what has happened that saw Ozil left out completely last night. I don’t think the Spaniard is the kind of man to cut his nose off to spite his face, he’d use a player if he felt it would help him get a result, so it tells me that something is very wrong between him, Ozil and Arsenal right now.
Obviously I don’t know the full details. Arsenal are keeping things quiet and the German’s PR machine will ensure everything looks hunky-dory but quite clearly it’s not. We have a serious issue with our highest paid player who the manager can’t trust in the team away from home because games are too physical for him, around whom there have been stories of bust-ups this season, and who now can’t get into the squad for a North London derby at home. If you think all is well and that this is just an Emery power-play or something, I’d suggest reading further between the lines here.
Of our 26 games this season Ozil has completed 90 minutes just five times. Is that value for £350,000 a week? If the player himself isn’t going to be used, that money could certainly be more efficiently distributed but a salary like that makes it very, very difficult for a club to move a player on if that’s what they want. And I don’t know if that’s what Arsenal want, but as the season goes on and Ozil’s participation becomes ever more limited, you can’t help but think that’s not an unlikely scenario.
Whatever has happened, when a star player like him ends up in a situation where he’s not being picked for this kind of game in these circumstances, you have to ask serious questions about his future. I think Saturday’s team selection against Bournemouth Burnley will be quite informative, so let’s see what happens there.
Right, that’s it for this morning. I’ll be back tomorrow with more and an Arsecast, and until then we’ll have all the news throughout the day on Arseblog News.
