Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
It was a night of frustration at the Emirates as Arsenal missed the chance to go back on top, losing 2-0 to West Ham.
I said pre-game we’d need to be efficient in the final third: at the end of the game we’d had 30 shots and scored no goals, so that’s about as far from efficient as you can get. The Hammers had three attempts on target and scored twice. It’s an Arsenal tale as old as time really. How often does it happen that we start brightly and go behind to the opposition’s first attempt?
We did start pretty well, but the story of the last few week is that the final pass or the final action hasn’t been good enough. Crosses just a touch heavy; shots that lack precision; passes that aren’t accurate enough or quick enough; players movement in the opposition box not sharp enough. Same again. And then we give away a silly goal. West Ham worked it well down their left, a quick, dangerous, cross caught us out, Gabriel made contact to clear it away but it hit Zinchenko and went back the other way.
From there the ball looked like it was going to squirt behind for goal kick, but Jarrod Bowen played it back across and Tomas Soucek was unmarked, due to Trossard ball-watching, for an easy finish. There was a VAR check which was inconclusive as to whether the ball had gone out or not. We can bemoan the technology if we like, and maybe it’s something the game should be able to do better in this day and age, but it is what it is. If that tech existed, it might have shown the ball just in and it’s still a goal – we should have defended better.
Up the other end Bukayo Saka had a header very well saved, and then hit the post, Martinelli shot wide, Jesus had an unconvincing shout for a penalty, but what sticks out to me most about that first period is our wastefulness from set-pieces. The plan was obviously to put the ball near post, and while I accept there’s a very small area in which that kind…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2023/12/arsenal-0-2-west-ham-not-good-enough-front-and-back/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2023-12-29 06:26:37
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