There were a lot of things to admire about the Arsenal performance at Anfield earlier this week. The cloud of impending doom that seemed to hang over any Arsenal game at Anfield and away at any of the traditional big six seems to have been dispelled. In many ways the game felt like a genuine contest with Arsenal staying within touching distance of Liverpool for a large part of the game. There was however a worrying aspect of the game that seems to be becoming a trend in the early part of the season. Arsenal are simply not taking enough shots.
Arsenal attempted to execute a game plan that saw them defeat both Manchester City and Chelsea on their way to the FA Cup last season as well as Liverpool in the Community Shield earlier in the season which is a direct embodiment of Arteta’s philosophy. Looking to build from the back, attract the Liverpool press and play quickly through it, allowing their dangerous players space in the attacking third to cause havoc for the opposition. It looks very good when it works. Social media was awash with photos and videos after Arsenal’s first game of the season. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal against Fulham was impressively similar to his goal against Liverpool in the Community Shield.
Apart from the brilliant finish on the end of the move the whole sequence was the Arteta machine at its absolute best. The slick passing was amazing to watch and the whole team looked in sync and ended up securing impressive wins in both fixtures. This has somewhat overshadowed a failing of some sorts of Arteta’s team that comes to the fore on the many occasions when the moves don’t work out, when the passes are not as accurate and the movement is flawed.
This high risk, high reward system leaves Arsenal unable to control possession in the final third when it doesn’t work out and against higher quality teams it allows them to get caught in possession in dangerous areas as was the case in numerous instances against Liverpool and even more worryingly on quite a few occasions against West Ham and even Fulham. This not only leaves their attack hamstrung but it puts more pressure on their defence.
This startling statistic puts things into perspective, Arsenal have taken the second-fewest shots in the league this season (24) tied with Manchester United who have played a game less and only bested by West Bromwich Albion (22). Liverpool in comparison, have taken almost triple the number of shots with 61 efforts so far and have unsurprisingly scored three more goals. The difference may seem small at this stage in the season but the disparity will most like increase as the season goes on.
The similarity in conversion rates among the top clubs in the leagues means that to get an edge in terms of volume of goals teams will simply have to take more shots. Last season’s top three for shots taken in the Premier League were also unsurprisingly the top three for goals scored (Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea). Arsenal have started the season quite poorly in this regard and will need to improve if they want to make full use of the attacking talent they have up front.
That has also been a feature of Arsenal this season. The favoured attacking triumvirate of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Willian have struggled to get going at times and this is totally understandable against the best team in the league but not so much against a team like West Ham. Personally that game against West Ham showed how early Arteta’s side are in their process. They were outshot by the Hammers 7 to 14 despite having over 60% of the ball and could only put the Hammers’ five-man back line under consistent pressure very few times throughout the game.
Like I mentioned earlier, Arsenal have a particular framework within which they want to move the ball upfield and it was struggled at times against David Moyes’ side who are very cautious and like to drop off rather than press the ball. The Hammers’ success in winning the ball in the midfield on multiple occasions and moving rapidly in transition to create chances was a precursor of what could happen against Liverpool and so there was no surprise to see how many times the Reds pinned Arsenal at times in their own penalty area and won the ball back.
Many people believe that Arsenal should abandon this attempt at building from the back and just “go long”. That is actually a component of Arteta’s system, to look for the long ball towards Aubameyang, Lacazette and Willian who often come narrow and try to make runs in behind. Liverpool and West Ham though have showed the two ways teams can look to combat this. Liverpool were aggressive in their press and tried to shut off the supply to the forward line while West Ham sat off Arsenal and reduced the space behind their defensive lines and both these strategies worked to varying degrees.
The overall ineffectiveness of Willian after the first game was expected, but is still worrying since Arteta seems to trust him over his other options out wide on the right. Nicolas Pepe has provided some impetus when brought on and I feel like he will become a more consistent fixture in the starting 11 as it is becoming clearer that his pace can offer a different threat for the Gunners.
The fact that Arsenal have had fewer touches in the attacking third than both Everton and Leicester and more than half the number that Liverpool have had proves that they are having some trouble moving the ball into dangerous areas. All this would probably not matter that much if Alexandre Lacazette had converted the chance presented to him by Dani Ceballos to draw the Gunners level in the game at Anfield. That sequence showed the reason why Arsenal have been pursuing Houssem Aouar and felt the need to sign Ceballos on a new loan deal. Players like this are able to break through a press either by dribbling or incisive passing and that weapon in the Arsenal arsenal (see what I did there) would make them unpredictable and would provide another outlet to the front men.
An honourable mention has to be given to Bukayo Saka who has been quite effective at providing that kind of threat as well and it is no surprise that he and Ceballos were involved in both goals against a stubborn West Ham side. That sort of player would enjoy playing with Aubameyang and Lacazette who have excellent movement but have been largely disappointed by the service, or lack thereof from the creative players.
I will be very happy to see Ceballos sign permanently for the Gunners because he offers so much in terms of creativity and unpredictability but if the Aouar signing is pushed over the line that need would be largely covered and I am sure Mikel Arteta is very keen to add the Frenchman to his ranks.
Arsenal are still quite early in their journey under Arteta and the ugly truth is that days like those at West Ham and Liverpool are not completely behind the Gunners. The signs are good however and improvement will happen with time, the one thing that we can be sure of is that Arteta will be steadfast with how he wants this team to play and should that vision come anywhere near being fulfilled there are good times ahead for Arsenal football club and their fans.