“You’re only as good as the players who give you the ball,” Paul Merson proclaimed on Saturday ahead of the North London derby.
Ignore the fact that he was calling for Mesut Özil to be brought back into the team despite the fact he isn’t registered in their Premier League squad, and he makes a valid point.
Arsenal suffered a 2-0 loss in the North London derby on Sunday, falling victim to the deadly duo of Heung-min Son and Harry Kane, with the former bringing his goal tally to 10 in the Premier League this season with a stunning long range strike.
More alarming than the scoreline for Arsenal though, was their performance, and the difficulty they faced in creating chances.
Despite having 69 per cent possession the Gunners only had two shots on target in the game. Mikel Arteta’s side did their best impression of David Moyes’ Manchester United as they rained crosses into the Spurs box which were duly gobbled up by a backline that ended the game with four centre-backs and two full-backs after the introductions of Ben Davies and Joe Rodon.
Arsenal’s star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been the biggest victim of these unimaginative tactics, only scoring two goals so far this season, one of them from open play, having come joint top in the race for the golden boot last season.
And judging from Instagram, the striker’s agent appears to be angry with Arteta’s tactics.
The Kmen Media account posted a screengrab of a Sky Sports graphic, showing Arsenal to be the worst chance creators in the league. The graphic also showed Arsenal have scored the 17th most goals in the Premier League and rank 18th in terms of shots on target.
The accompanying caption read: “If you create chances…” Presumably with the implication that Aubameyang would score more goals.
Mikel Arteta has the backing of his most senior players for now, but the tide could quickly turn.
