We should have won this game in the first half but instead we lost it in the second. Games like this are inevitable. It just comes at an inopportune part of the season. At least we can comfort ourselves in Villa remaining fourth.
I do wonder whether this was our Fulham moment. Though we can’t now head of to Dubai. It’s Munich instead. That second half performance was reminiscent of Fulham. Leggy, sloppy and tired. We should also, as much as it pains me, give credit to Villa. They dominated the second half. It seemed inevitable that they would finally score. With the first half effort from Watkins that somehow hit the post and spun out and then the second half Tielmans effort that hit the cross bar and post, you felt it was coming.
In that first half we had a number of chances, whether it was Jesus’s missed header, Saka effort and Have-that running through a couple of times. We seemed to be playing our usual Arsenal way with Odegaard dominating in midfield orchestrating all of our moves. It seemed inevitable we would score. The defining movement, immediately after that Watkins effort, was when Trossard failed, from 5 yards out, failed to convert and instead Martinez was able to stick out a foot. As aggravating as this was it’s worth remembering how often Trossard has scored for us while being in that position. Shit happens. And today it happened to us.
It’s the contrast from the first to second half that was so dramatic. Arteta, who’s selection has been so good lately, changed up the balance of the team. Trossard got the nod over Martinelli but Have-that returned to left mid-field. In the first half the selection did not seem to impede us. Have-That made a number of penetrating runs while Jesus continued to work back and provide defensive cover.
Again, most of our creativity was down the right hand side with Saka and White working with Odegaard. It felt like we missed the breakaway speed in that final third. We would see Jesus and Have-that breakaway but not be able to separate from the defenders. Villa, who were wasting time from the first minute, continued to play out from the back and put themselves under immense pressure. It just seemed like we were destined to take the lead.
As we’ve seen before, of course, this though was a game of two halfs. And in the second half Villa were superior, the better team and controlled the game. We seemed off the pace, tired, somewhat sloppy and unable to convert any chances we had. Villa had the bulk of the possession and, most telling, we would lose all the second ball challenges. That’s the sloppiness we saw. But I suspect that came from tiredness. Sure, they also had a European match on Thursday and we had 48 hours more recovery time. But we largely have been using the same set of core players. Anyway, this had all the makings of a second half car crash.
And crash we did. After Zinny had made his customary mistakes, they were able to convert after the second phase of one of their numerous corners. While we had chances to get out of defense and had resisted the initial corner, we were suspectable to that second phase of the attack. White could have done better, Gabriel could have intercepted, Raya was caught in non-mans land and Rice was asleep at the back post. While none is entirely responsible, that’s too much collective loss of focus.
That second goal though was reminiscent of what happened against Bayern mid-week. In that instance, White was able to come back and recover. But this time as much as ESR tried, he’s no defender. And Watkins, who was impressive the entire game, wonderfully converted. It’s fair to say if he was playing for us, we’d surely have converted some of our chances. But the point here is that for the second time inside a week we over committed and left ourselves exposed. You just can’t afford to do that. And you have to be able to learn your lessons. Not that I felt we’d have even score an equalizer at 0-1. It’s more that we have to be able to learn from our mistakes.
I’m sure there will be some attention on Zinny today. I thought, defensively, he was a liability. He makes too many mistakes, passes in the wrong areas and fails to win important tackles and, in possession, he can linger on the ball for too long. To be clear, again, he was not the reason we lost. We lost because of our collective disintegration in the second half. Odegaard was non-existent, Saka barely touched the ball and Rice was largely anonymous.
You could see why Arteta made the changes he did. Not that they helped. And, I was surprised then White rather than Zinny came off. But we lacked our composure, rhythm and style. A large part of that has to go down to Villa and their accountant. They adjusted at half time and we did not know how to respond.
As disappointed and pissed off as I am it’s hard to get angry at this team. They have been so good for so long and such a pleasure to watch. And today, in the second half we just sucked. But, and I just checked on this, it’s not the end of the world. That only happens if that lot ever win the League. So, nothing imminent on that front.
The challenge now will be how we recover from this. Not just against Bayern but also against Wolves. Unlike Fulham, there is no recovery time. And the cloud of last year will reappear with the related fears about us fading away. But this is not last year. Der. We are a better team with better players. It’s just about whether we have the mental strength to respond.
What did make me angry however was the camera usage of the TV director. Today was an aggravating as I can remember. The number of times the camera lingered on a player with close up shots while the play was ongoing. Or the frequency with which they showed replays when the game was ongoing is so fucking annoying. We are tuned in to watch the game. Let us watch it. It’s ruins and detracts from the game. Rather than being absorbed in the rhythm and flow of the game we’re being forced to watch though this endless, tiresome “artsy” view of the game. Sure, I’m concerned about the creeping usage of VAR in the game. But, for me, this inept match director selection of various camera angles is much more frustrating. At least with VAR you know, at some point (and we’re seeing that in general) it will improve. But these camera shots are just getting more obtuse and destroying the viewing experience.
Ok, now back here on planet earth, as I’ve said, we should expect shitty days. We’ve not had one in a while. And today was certainly one. But it was a collective one. It was not down to an individual players. This was a collective failure – including Arteta. So, as I’ve profoundly said already, shit happens. It’s how you respond that counts. All is not lost. Just look at Liverpool. We have always known that City with their depth of squad and experience (and their pending 115 financial charges) were the likely favourites. But even they are likely slip up at some point. Hopefully.
What counts now is checking on the fitness of Saka and Odegaard and taking a breath to reset and refocus. We can’t be that aimless and disjointed again – I hope. Rather, we should be gathering ourselves for the mighty task ahead of us. This has been a better season than last year and it’s not yet over. There is no pre-ordained expectation that we should come out of this with a trophy. But we should expect a reaction and a response.
-LB7