Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Arsenal Vs Napoli: 5 things we learned – Well, that was wonderful

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal celebrates scoring his teams first goal of the game during the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg match between Arsenal and S.S.C. Napoli at Emirates Stadium on April 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal celebrates scoring his teams first goal of the game during the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg match between Arsenal and S.S.C. Napoli at Emirates Stadium on April 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 11: Arsenal Manager, Unai Emery signals from the sidelines during the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg match between Arsenal and S.S.C. Napoli at Emirates Stadium on April 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 11: Arsenal Manager, Unai Emery signals from the sidelines during the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg match between Arsenal and S.S.C. Napoli at Emirates Stadium on April 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) /

4. Manage the game properly

The second half scared me. Eerily reminiscent of last season’s semi-final against Atletico Madrid, Arsenal’s key aim for the second half of the first leg was to keep a clean sheet. The damage, a two-goal lead thanks to some excellent interplay and clever pressing, had already been done. Now they just needed to sit on it.

Thankfully, this time, they were able to see out the second half and come away with the clean sheet. That now means that one goal in Naples would require Napoli to score four. But the game was not managed all that well at times.

Napoli missed opportunities in the second half, the biggest culprit being Piotr Zielinski, and could and perhaps should have snatched an away goal. Had they been able to, this tie would have very much still been in the balance. As it is, Arsenal are heavy favourites to progress. But lessons about game management are still yet to be mastered.