Arsenal Lacking In Front Of Goal For United Defeat

So, here we are again with Arsenal. On the end of another defeat to Manchester United in which we had ample opportunity to take the initiative but clumsy defending let us down. It seems an all too familiar story, and one that rankles even more given the fact United have looked so fragile this season and we have seemed so fluent going forward. So what went wrong? Can we learn anything from squawka’s statistics?

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In the battle

Well where Arsenal have tended to struggle since the days where we had Viera in the centre of midfield is in “Duels” that decide much of the destination of the 50-50 balls. Unsurprisingly Arsenal were not on top when it came to the combat on the pitch, winning only 41% of the tackles we went for and 42% of the aerial duels. The good part of it is that is was in their half, but then that highlights that our midfield is not good enough at winning the ball back high up the midfield and when we get the ball into the box we have no-one capable of challenging on a regular basis. That is without Giroud on the pitch for Arsenal at least.

Creating Chances

Again, unsurprisingly, we were far better at creating chances than United, managing 20 chances to United’s 9. With this stat we also managed 84% pass completion compared to 73% which showed quite how much better we were with the ball, but passing around the ball with no end result is so typical of Arsenal that is makes me want to cry.

We also put 33 crosses into the box. 33. That’s a huge amount for a team with no real aerial threat, because so far Welbeck hasn’t really proved himself as a target man in the the Premier League. So are we confused as to how to create the most effective chances? Or just desperate to get the ball as close to goal as possible just to try and get the ball in the net by any means necessary, because apparently our shooting is not good enough?

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Actually Finishing Chances

And now we’re down to one of the big points. Finishing. 8 shots off target, 6 blocked and 8 shots saved, with one goal. Granted, Giroud’s finish was glorious and it’s a shame it came when we were already 2-0 down but until that point our finishing had been dire. I may have been singing Wilshere’s praises in the defensive midfield role he definitely isn’t a finisher, that 6 yard pass towards De Gea has to count as one of the worst finishes I’ve ever seen.

Now I know that you can say De Gea played brilliantly and the defence was good but to be honest our finishing just wasn’t up to scratch and if our shots were anywhere near the corner of the goal or with more pace than a tortoise then we might have got somewhere. I do like our passing game but sometimes you wonder if midfielders ever do tackling in training or join in the finishing practice because sometimes it doesn’t really look like they do.

Arsenal need to improve in both their midfield defensive duties and their overall finishing, because until the 95th minute we’d managed 22 shots with no goal, and I don’t think that’s a good enough return.