2 positives and 3 negatives from Arsenal's shock loss to Fleetwood

Arsenal suffered one of the biggest upsets of all time on Tuesday night when League Two Fleetwood Town knocked them out on penalties in the Carabao Cup fourth round.

After a bizarre early break in play prompted by a drone hovering over the stadium, Fleetwood took a shock lead when Aaron Loupalo-Bi shrugged off Marli Salmon and slotted beyond Illan Meslier. This gave the Gunners a mountain to climb against the League Two outfit's stubborn, compact low block, and they made little inroads toward turning it around in the rest of what was a stodgy first half.

Arteta responded at the break by making two changes, introducing Martin Odegaard and Ben White in place of Salmon and Jurrien Timber. Odegaard's presence made a significant difference as the Gunners started to probe at the start of the second half.

They sourced an equaliser when Ceadach O'Neill's cross found Viktor Gyokeres inside the Fleetwood box, and the Swede bundled home in ugly fashion.

As Arsenal pushed for a winner, frustration grew. Max Dowman allowed this frustration to get the better of him, as he kicked out at a Fleetwood player following a reckless tackle committed against him, and he was somewhat harshly shown a straight red card.

With the game poised at 1-1 at the full-time whistle, the game went to penalties. Bruno Guimaraes missed the decisive spot kick, condemning the Gunners to an embarassing defeat.

Positives and negatives as Arsenal beat Fleetwood

Positive #1: Ceadach O'Neill

18-year-old Hale End star Ceadach O'Neill started. That's cool.

While he struggled to make an impact in the first half, receiving the ball in awkward areas, isolated on the touchline, he came alive in the second period. Cutting inside and clipping the ball across for Gyokeres to score, this contribution evidently gave him confidence to go and affect the game thereon.

The next few times he received the ball, he took on his man with ease, showing his technical quality. An encouraging debut. There might be something here.

Negative #1: Fringe players didn't step up

This was an opportunity for some of Arsenal's fringe players to stake a claim to play more Premier League and Champions League minutes. They didn't.

Cristhian Mosquera, who has been completely ousted by Ezri Konsa in the Gunners' first-choice eleven, he struggled on the ball throughout. While he had little defensive work to do, he had the chance to showcase his passing and carrying qualities, and he simply failed to display these attributes. Passing the ball out of play whilst trying to force balls that weren't on, it was a diabolical showing from the Spaniard. Konsa will continue to start.

A similar thing can be said of Piero Hincapie, who offered young O'Neill very little support, whilst he continually overhit his deep crosses. Riccardo Calafiori has nothing to worry about.

As for Martin Zubimendi, his passing was sloppy and too pragmatic, while he wasn't able to physically impose himself on a League Two defence.

Viktor Gyokeres and Myles Lewis-Skelly, less peripheral in the squad than the others but still not guaranteed starters, were equally as ineffective.

Negative #2: Lack of creativity against a League Two side

Low blocks with a five-man defence are difficult to break down. However, they shouldn't be this difficult to break down when the context is that it's the heavily changed Premier League champions trying to unlock a League Two team.

The lack of tempo, creativity and ingenuity in the first half in particular was startling. While Arsenal dominated the ball and the territory, they too often resorted to hopeful crosses, rather than trying to play intricate passing patterns when they got into the final third.

This game probably isn't really a reflection of what Arsenal are, given the team that started and the strangeness of the occasion, but Arteta will still be somewhat concerned that those out there looked so lacklustre going forward.

Positive #2: The away fans

The travelling Arsenal supporters are always great, but they really turn it on in the early rounds of cup games against lower-league clubs.

The 900 Gooners inside Highbury made themselves heard, and they saw the funny side of some of the night's humorous moments. After Gyokeres bundled in the equaliser, 'That's why we're champions' rang round the away end. Class.

Negative #3: The optics

No one really wanted this night, in the wind, in the north of England, in the midst of a congested fixture schedule. It was good for Fleetwood, but nobody at Arsenal was keen on having to take part in this occasion.

So ultimately, the result won't matter in the grand scheme of things. Arsenal won't be judged on their performance in the Carabao Cup; they have bigger fish to fry.

That said, the optics of losing to a League Two side aren't good. Gunners fans will be the butt of the joke in the football world over the next few days, whilst the players will be laid into for not taking the game very seriously.

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