Arsenal: Red cards and folly in Europe and England

Red Cards are enveloping both Premier League and Europa League competitions for Arsenal. Can they find a way through all the red tape?

With a disappointing first leg in Northern France, Arsenal again find themselves at a disadvantage in the Europa League. Against BATE Borisov of Belarus, just a round ago, Arsenal also had a poor showing in Europe, before a dominant second leg back in London.

That game, in Belarus, saw Alexandre Lacazette commit a sharp elbow, earning both a red card and a two game ban. The second BATE leg, in London, and the first Rennes game, in France.

Lacazette’s pace and aggressive nature outside of the box could’ve aided in defusing the pace of Rennes. On the other side, those same principals would’ve aided in the buildup against a young, fast and aggressive back four and mid four.

Auba would’ve been a late match sub, for fresh expression and threat.

While Lucas Torreria played in this game, unremarkably, he too fell victim recently. Against Tottenham, his stoppage time red card saw a three game Premier League ban, to accompany the 1-1 draw.

Missing Manchester United on Sunday, followed by Newcastle and Everton in April, severely handicaps the team during a crucial stretch. The depth, shapes, roles and possible second half adjustments all are affected.

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After a quick start, thanks to Alex Iwobi’s curled effort, Arsenal proceeded to struggle. The aforementioned pace of Rennes became too much to bear. Two yellow card efforts for Sokratis between the 34’ and 41’ minutes made the difference of quality too remarkable.

This red card effected our defensive organization, attacking expression, ability for fluidity and desired lineup. Losing the toughness of Sokratis became all too blatant.

From the penalty resulting free kick, when Rennes scored the goal to bring the match level, the game was effectively lost. The Arsenal own goal off of Nacho Monreal in the 65’, beside the final Ismailia Sarr 88’ header, further epitomized the winning 3-1 strategy against the Gunners.

Run them ragged, and once down to ten men, run them further. In this war of attrition, a one man advantage is a critical blow, and with the loss of Lacazette from the last round, the bench was a little lighter even still.

With an away goal in hand, and two home games in the seven day span, United and Rennes in the second leg, all is not lost. A regrouped team, much better at home than away, and with a full squad, sans Torreria, certainly should not be counted out on Sunday.

Nor should the following Thursday feel hopeless. While we lose Sokratis, we do regain Lacazette, a more aggressive offensive strategy in London surely follows and will be necessary to move forward after the hole dug in Rennes.

But the weight of these infractions remains a heavy burden, not only on the club, manager and players. It leaves its Gooners seeing red.