Arsenal : Arteta lines up his shark jump
After Arsenal’s latest defeat, this episode of #Vincibles centres on the first leg of the Europa League semi-final with Villarreal. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta explained his decision to start the match with no strikers: “We have played with three strikers many times this season and didn’t score any goals, so it was a decision I made. The game was conditioned after four mintues [when Villarreal opened the scoring] so it is difficult to assess whether it would have worked or not.”
We leant that no strikers means no goals, save for a jammy penalty in the second half which made the scores 2-1 to the Spanish club – currently the 7th best club in Spain. As for not understanding how things were progressing because the opposition scored so easily before racing into a two goal lead and missed three glorious chances to make it more, well, Arteta has reached the delusional stage of football management.
He continued his thoughts on not understanding if the plan was working because Arsenal were getting thumped and had failed to register a single shot on target on the Arenal website:
Arenal: on whether it was a gamble to start today’s game without a striker…
Arteta: It’s the way we prepared for the game. It’s the decision that I made, thinking that it was the best way to play, but the game was conditioned after four minutes so it was difficult to assess whether it would work or not. Conceding from the set piece as well also changed it and after, we had to approach it in a different way.
With the game ending 2-1 in Spain, Arsenal are down but not out. “They got out of here alive,” said Villarreal’s Trigueros. “We should have killed them off.” Like Arsenal, Arteta lives another day.
Posted: 30th, April 2021 | In: Arsenal, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
