SportsExplaining Arsenal’s 5-0 Loss To City

Explaining Arsenal’s 5-0 Loss To City

August 28, (THEWILL) – Ferran Torres capitalised on the chance to lead the charge of Manchester City’s attack against a hapless Arsenal side at the Etihad to net two of City’s five goals as the Blue side of Manchester piled on the early misery on their former assistant manager Mikel Arteta, whose side finished with 10 men.

Inside the first opening 12 minutes, the Gunners were already two goals down, which was an early marker of the ominous Matchday three that awaited Arteta’s impotent side. Ilkay Gundogan fired a header past Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal and Torres scored the first of his brace with a strike that took advantage of Arsenal’s terrible defense.

The red card to Granit Xhaka, his first for the season that is merely three games old, was a sending off for a reckless challenge that Martin Atkinson believed was dangerous enough to merit the Swiss an early bath and further plunge the visitors into desperate territory.

Glo

It could not get any worse for the men from the Emirates but it did before the first half was done. Gabriel Jesus, who had provided Gundogan with the assist for the first goal, scored one himself with the helping of a Jack Grealish through ball into the area that he needed two legs to control and tap in.

Arteta’s input into the game plan, especially as the Gunners were going into the next 45 minutes bleeding and on the ropes with a numerical disadvantage against a free-scoring City, had damage-limitation as the name of the game.

Arsenal had shown no sign of a fightback with a full squad strength, it was fantastical thinking they were going to mount any sort of challenge as blunt as their attack had been in the matches so far played. Apart from the English League cup played midweek, the Gunners have belied their nickname having been unable to fire in any goals in the EPL itself.

It was no surprise therefore that Rodri added his goal to the City haul eight minutes into the restart with an assist from Torres, who himself rounded off the scoring in the closing stages with his second of the day to end another five-goal City victory.

Sitting pretty in the relegation zone after three straight defeats and no goals in the bag so far with only a few days to the end of the transfer season, Arteta must be considering what his plan B is for what may come the more Arsenal fans rise in direct opposition to his continued stay as manager.

The loss to newly-promoted Brentford in the opening fixture of the EPL pointed to dark and uncertain early days of the Gunners’ 2021/2022 campaign and THEWILL pointed out the dire straits that awaited the young manager given that his next two ties were going to be tougher.

What is most troubling is the near absence of a sense of tactical approach to the Gunners’ game. Against Brentford, it seemed the plan was to get the ball to left-back Kieran Tierney and pray someone could get on the end of his hopeful crosses into the area. The prayer went unanswered.

Against Chelsea and City, even that reckless hope was absent. There was no recognisable logic to their play as though they required the assistance of an immature and inexperienced opponent to get going on the break as they did against West Bromwich Albion in the EFL Carabao Cup.

It cannot be known with any modicum of certainty how long Arteta will remain at his job, as the angst against his rebuilding project at the Emirates snowballs with embarrassing defeats as such. One thing is clear; the international break might present him with a temporary reprieve but the sooner he begins to command his squad to victories in September fixtures against Norwich, Burnley and city rivals Tottenham, the better for his job.

It also goes without saying that it behoves on Arteta to instill much greater discipline in his side, especially with the regular red-card customer like Xhaka. As much as can be debated that contact in Saturday’s instance was not terribly harsh, the optics were all Atkinson needed to issue the straight red.

The Arsenal team can do without that indiscipline, added to the myriad other matters at hand that it is important to immediately intervene in.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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