Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EU BLEW IT
Gunners put in a dreary display as Arteta’s men flop out and face no European games next season
SHAMBOLIC Arsenal have failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in 25 years.
Mikel Arteta’s side surrendered to Unai Emery’s Villarreal in a lame goalless draw to crash out of the Europa League in the semi-finals.
Furious Gunners legend Martin Keown branded Arsenal “frightened” and said: “The manager has to come under scrutiny.”
THEY went out with barely as much as a whimper.
And that is perhaps the biggest worry of all for boss Mikel Arteta.
This was Arsenal’s biggest game of the season, the last shot at a trophy and the final hope of getting back into Europe next season.
And their players just did not show up – yet again. There will be no English clean sweep in the European finals as Arsenal were the weakest link as Villarreal sealed their place in the Europa League final with Chelsea and Manchester City taking centre stage in the Champions League.
There was no intensity, no passion and no desire from the players to save their season from finishing in downright depressing mediocrity.
Knocked out by Unai Emery, the manager they sacked 18 months ago and that is perhaps the biggest embarrassment of all for Arsenal.
Villarreal boss Emery was sacked with Arsenal in eighth which is a place higher than they are now, he had guided them to a Europa League final which is more than Arteta has been able to manage. Arsenal always expected Arteta would need time to turn things around, they won the FA Cup in his first season and, even if this year was going to be tough, at least the fans expected some signs of progress.
But Arsenal are going backwards, further down the table, out of Europe for the first time since the 1995/96 season and now a club losing touch with the elite.
Far too many players have let themselves down, let Arteta down and, ultimately, let Arsenal down with second-rate performances.
The big-money signings like Thomas Partey and Nicolas Pepe have not delivered and even captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang twice hit the woodwork but could not summon up a match-winning performance to dig the team out of trouble.
The lack of fans (right, protesting outside) in the empty stadiums is a double-edged sword because they provide energy and atmosphere but it is also hard to imagine they would not have turned up the heat on Arteta after far too many lacklustre displays.
They only needed one goal, a 1-0 win would have sufficed thanks to the away goal in a 2-1 defeat in Spain last week but Aubameyang’s late header was as
close as they came. It took Arsenal 26 minutes to even threaten the Villarreal goal as Aubameyang saw a cross halfcleared by Daniel Parejo, he then tried again with an audacious effort with the outside of his right foot and the curling shot hit the outside of the post (left, frustrated Martin Odegaard).
Aubameyang was Arsenal’s biggest threat, cutting in from the left before unleashing a shot which Villarreal keeper Geronimo Rulli spilled, let the ball go through his legs but recovered just in time to stop it going over the line. Kieran Tierney, a replacement after Granit Xhaka was injured in the warmup breathed a sigh of relief when Samuel Chukwueze was stretchered off injured as the Villarreal forward’s pace had given him a torrid night.
Arsenal showed some signs of life at the start of the second half as Pepe drove a cross shot just wide and Emile Smithrowe chipped another effort over the bar. But Partey gave the ball away in midfield for the umpteenth time which allowed Gerard Moreno to get a shot on goal which was saved by goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
The final heartbreak was when Aubameyang headed down and against the post with a chance he should have taken from Pepe’s cross.
Villarreal are hardly European heavyweight and yet they were still better than Arsenal.