Arsenal: Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman show what Gunners are missing

Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry carved Arsenal open with direct, skilful dribbling in Wednesday night’s friendly against Bayern Munich. Their play exposed what the Gunners are missing: quick, purposeful dribblers.

As soon as Kingsley Coman received the ball, skipped past Ainsley Maitland-Niles for the first of many times, and drove at a now exposed Arsenal defence, it was clear that the second half would be a completely different proposition to what came before.

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Prior to the break and the Coman introduction, Arsenal had handled the threat of German champions Bayern Munich in Wednesday night’s International Champions Cup fixture fairly tidily. Other than when their own incompetence got in the way, primarily through the legless control of Shkodran Mustafi, Bayern did not create too many dangerous opportunities. That all changed at half-time.

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Coman and Serge Gnabry, playing opposite the Frenchman, injected a speed and ferocity into Bayern’s play that the Gunners simply could not handle. Every time either were presented the opportunity to dribble at their opposite number, they took it. And invariably, they succeeded, especially Koman who was electric as he beat Maitland-Niles all ends up time and time again. It was a brilliant display of attacking firepower by the Bayern wingers, even if they proceeded to lose the match 2-1.

Coman and Gnabry’s performances also stood in stark contrast to what occurred at the other end. While Bayern played with verve, vigour and frightening purpose and pace, the lack scything, carving dribbling in the Arsenal squad was evident. There were some nice pieces of play, of course, and chances were created throughout, but few game-wrecking openings were engineered, the play a little slow, plodding through the midfield with no intensity or feeling.

And the times that Arsenal did not look dangerous predominantly stemmed through the excellent Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and his willingness to drive with the ball at exposed Bayern defenders. Playing off the right side, he skipped past David Alaba on numerous occasions, broke forward on blistering counter-attacks, at one point carrying the ball the length of the pitch to tee up Mesut Ozil, and was a livewire when dribbling with the ball.

With the tactical tendencies of high pressing and well-structured, bunkered defensive lines sweeping throughout football, having players that can beat defenders in tight spaces or wriggle away from challenges and pressures or manoeuvre themselves into space without having to rely on a pass from a teammate is essential. One of the reasons why Manchester City and Liverpool were the best teams in the world last season was their wing play, with Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane comprising two of the best pairs of wingers in football.

But Unai Emery does not have this type of player available to him. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was woeful once again, Mesut Ozil is a creator and facilitator, while Alexandre Lacazette is capable of beating defenders but is much more comfortable with his back to the goal. The best dribbler in the squad is Alex Iwobi, which tells you all you need to know.

Arsenal have forgotten how to dribble. Coman and Gnabry, on the other hand, most certainly have not. And they illustrated precisely the damage that they can do. It might be time for Emery and co. to follow suit.