To surmise that Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday night was a fair result would be one that invites ridicule. However, all things considered, it was a point the Gunners deserved – more so because of the French club’s profligacy in front of goal rather than their own performance.
42 seconds was all it took for PSG to carve Arsenal apart and open the scoring. Even before fans had settled in to watch the game, the criticism of starting David Ospina and dropping Petr Cech to the bench was rampant on both social media and television punditry alike. If not for the Colombian goalkeeper’s heroics, though, Arsene Wenger’s side may have found themselves at the bottom of Group A on matchday 1.
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Ospina may have been Arsenal’s man of the match but they might as well have given the award to Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan striker had as many as five decent chances on goal, failing to take advantage of an empty net on more than one occasion.
The defence also saw it handed to them with French media outlet L’Equipe even handing new signing Shkodran Mustafi a miserable 2 out of 10 in their player ratings – the lowest among all the players on the pitch. It was a harsh assessment of the German defender who was not exactly the worst player on the pitch.
Laurent Koscielny may have been covering for a couple of mistakes which Cavani failed to punish but Mustafi was nowhere close to being the worst player, making two tackles and 10 clearances.
In fact, it was because the defence was exposed so much that Mustafi struggled. The backline received almost no help from midfield or the wings. The full-backs were pegged back and the space between the lines saw PSG's midfield make merry. So much so that Angel Di Maria enjoyed a lot of freedom when cutting in from the flanks.
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Arsenal’s midfield is too predictable
A number of games have seen Francis Coquelin singled out for either a lack of drive or failure to link up with defence and attack. But a closer look at his role in different games shows that he has received different instructions. It is easy to lay the blame on one player but it is the system that must be questioned.
It wasn’t just the PSG game where the midfield failed to turn up. The same issues were prevalent in the games against Liverpool and Leicester City at the start of the season. The biggest problem Arsenal faced in midfield was the lack of a midfielder to allow the defenders to make a forward pass.
On numerous occasions, the central areas were left vacant and the defence were forced to pass wide to their full-backs, making it easier for opponents to press and win the ball back. In such cases, Mohamed Elneny’s positioning is better than Coquelin’s. The Egyptian midfielder is constantly on the move to make himself available for a pass.
Coquelin, while the most physical specimen in midfield for Arsenal, is rash and prone to bookings. And his contributions drastically decline when he’s on a yellow with his cautious play not helping the Gunners one bit. And his inconsistency has not helped Arsenal define their game this season. The Frenchman either refuses to enter the final third or drives forward too often leaving the defence exposed when they lose the ball.
It is this polarising figure in midfield that sees the whole system break down. Santi Cazorla is also exposed as a result and finds it difficult to move the ball forwards – leading to the likes of Mesut Ozil being starved of the ball in midfield. Cazorla is a diminutive figure and easily dispossessed when he is outnumbered. His effectiveness stems from finding the right pass and, without a partner for opponents to mark, he is the lone ball carrier.
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Granit Xhaka shows he deserves to start in midfield
When the team sheet for the PSG game was announced, the biggest shock apart from Ospina’s selection was that of Granit Xhaka not making the XI. The Swiss midfielder was benched against Southampton three days earlier and he was expected to make the lineup.
Xhaka has already proved that he is the missing piece to the Arsenal jigsaw. Calm on the ball, his positioning and movement help Arsenal circulate the ball before finding an opening. Xhaka’s ability to play as a deep-lying playmaker also releases the wide forwards and relieves the pressure on midfield.
So when he was rested for the Saints game, he was expected to play PSG – especially with a midfield of Marco Verratti, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Adrien Rabiot. Ozil did not track back as much as Wenger would have liked and it saw Cazorla outnumbered in midfield, allowing PSG to wreak havoc on the Gunners’ high line. With Alex Iwobi also failing to track back and help Nacho Monreal, PSG found it easy to create opportunities.
Aaron Ramsey’s return will give Wenger a selection headache but his ideal combination in midfield is Xhaka, Cazorla and Ozil. Clever on the ball, vastly experienced and with enough steel to own the midfield, this trio is disciplined and has the tactical nous to fight the toughest of midfield battles.
With support from Alexis Sanchez and either Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the flank, the Gunners should go back to having the strongest midfield in the league. Having already lost ground in the Premier League title race, Wenger must be proactive and take some hard decisions in team selection before the gap widens.
