Risky strategy costs Gunners again in Euro chase

ARSENAL have scored many more goals than they have conceded by playing out from the back this season. It is a core principle of Mikel Arteta’s, and it is Arsenal’s way of controlling matches.

Arteta believes that passing out from the goalkeeper is worth the risk, and the course of their season backs that up. But when it goes wrong, when a player makes an error, it leads to major problems.

Granit Xhaka’s attempt to curl the ball around Chris Wood – the ball striking the Burnley player and bouncing into the Arsenal net – was a perfect example, and it was not the first time this calendar year that an individual error in possession has led to an opposition goal.

In the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, Cedric Soares underhit a pass to Gabriel, Bertrand Traore claiming the ball and assisting Ollie Watkins.

It could also be argued that the goal conceded in the 3-1 win at Leicester City was caused by the same problem. This time there were two errors: firstly from Xhaka to play a poor pass, and then from Pablo Mari to allow Youri Tielemans to run unchallenged into the box.

Arsenal are rarely caught out of their defensive shape these days. There is a far more solid structure and discipline than under Unai Emery but individually players have given away silly goals by making rash decisions.

In their 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers, David Luiz was sent off for a challenge on Willian Jose that resulted in a penalty.

In the first leg of their Europa League tie against Benfica, Emile Smith Rowe gave the Portuguese side a penalty by foolishly handling the ball after a short corner. In the second leg, Dani Ceballos dangled a leg and conceded an unnecessary free-kick on the edge of the box.

With Xhaka’s error against Burnley, it could be argued he was not helped by the pass from Bernd Leno. This is not to excuse Xhaka, but to suggest there were wider factors at play.

With a long ball dropping from the sky, he bafflingly attempted a backwards header to his goalkeeper. From the moment it left his head, there was only one outcome.

There have been other similarly inexplicable brain fades this season which have cost Arsenal points in tight games.

“We are talking about it all the time, just trying to nullify anything that we give to the opponent,” said Arteta after Burnley. “We have to improve that individually. In the end we have to make decisions on the pitch, and it looks easy from the outside.”

The overall strategy will not change. “If someone makes a mistake because they’re playing the way we want to play, I will always support them,” said Arteta.

Away from those errors, the Spaniard sees genuine progress and pointed to their 0-0 draw at Burnley in February last year as proof of their development. “If you compare the game today to the game we played here last year, it’s a different world,” he said. “We completely deserved to win today and a year ago we probably deserved to lose.”

Until the silly errors stop, though, all of their progress will mean little when it comes to their push for European football. (© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021)