Arsenal: Early game problems still holding back full potential

Arsenal has conceded early goals in many of their matches this season. If they want to compete for trophies and win games this needs to stop.

Early in games, Arsenal seems to sit back and invite pressure on to themselves. If they want to win games they need to attack from the off and not let up all game. Arsene Wenger needs to push his players on and off the pitch.

At the San Siro Thursday, the Gunners started flat and invited the hosts forward. Both Suso and Giacomo Bonaventura came close to opening the scoring. Whatever the tactics are, they need to change. Early on, they need to press high up the field all game, press the opposition and look for that early goal.

If Arsenal could score early against Watford on Sunday, for instance, they could kill them off early.

They have just conceded too many early goals this season. The games that stand out for me are Southampton, Brighton, Manchester United, and Liverpool. All those games were away games, not surprisingly, as they have been very poor away from the Emirates.

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If the Gunners want to compete for trophies, they need to push the opposition back and score that early goal. Against Southampton, United and Brighton they conceded within the first ten minutes. For a team that’s short of goals, as of right now, that could, and did, prove fatal.

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Against Milan, Arsenal was lucky as they just stood off them and let them play in front of them. The fact that they were unable to put in that early goal gave way to a lessening of their own pressure.

That, in turn, helped with the confidence of the visitors. You could see the team seemed more focused and willing to actually push forward in attack. Patrick Cutrone was maybe the only Milan player to really threaten David Ospina in goal, hitting the side netting after being put in by Hakan Calhanoglu.

They could have been up a few goals before half-time as well but with some good saves from Ospina and a real captain’s performance from Laurent Koscielny, they got nothing from them.

It’s all about forcing the issue, right from the off. They can’t sit back and defend to start games. I don’t see Manchester City or Barcelona doing that. It’s a poor game plan. They need to adopt a new plan when they play Watford at the Emirates on Sunday. They need to attack Watford’s rather weak defense, exploit their slow center-backs.

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If they can start Sunday’s game on the right foot and score early they could win the game convincingly. The defensive line needs to push higher up the field to combat the press, and squeeze the life out of the Watford attack.

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