Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Arsenal Vs Eintracht Frankfurt: 5 things we learned – Hello, Bukayo Saka

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal runs with the ball away from Kyle John of Everton during the Premier League 2 match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on August 23, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal runs with the ball away from Kyle John of Everton during the Premier League 2 match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on August 23, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Arsenal, Bukayo Saka
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 23: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal runs with the ball away from Kyle John of Everton during the Premier League 2 match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on August 23, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images) /

Arsenal travelled to Eintracht Frankfurt to open their Europa League campaign on Thursday night. Here are five things we learned from the 3-0 win.

In their Europa League curtain-raiser against a dangerous Eintracht Frankfurt, on Thursday evening, Arsenal put in a typical performance of the Unai Emery era: dangerous on the counter-attack, some smart combination play here and there, but worrying open at the back. In the end, they swept to what looked like a comfortable 3-0 victory, but had chances fallen the other way, this could have been a far sourer piece.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Unai Emery out?

Nevertheless, here are five things we learned from a night in which Hale End came to have fun.

Arsenal, Calum Chambers
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 28: Calum Chambers of Fulham shows appreciation to the crowd after the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Fulham and Exeter City at Craven Cottage on August 28, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) /

5. Calum Chambers is not a right-back

Only three outfield players have played every minute of the Premier League season thus far. One of those players is Ainsley Maitland-Niles, all five of his appearances coming at right-back in place of Hector Bellerin. Unai Emery, therefore, decided that he needed a rest. With few other natural options available to him, the head coach turned to Calum Chambers to fill the position. It did not work.

Chambers put in a performance reminiscent of the dreaded night in Swansea City when Jefferson Montero gave him a runaround. This was not quite as stark as that, especially given he improved markedly in the final 20 minutes or so, but the opening half-hour was a reminder of one very plain fact: Chambers is not a right-back.

I do have sympathy for his poor performance. Filip Kostic was Frankfurt’s best player and is a dangerous wide attacker. He is no easy man to mark. And Chambers was playing out of position, clearly lacking the necessary agility and movement skills to defend one-on-one in wide areas. This was never going to end well. If Emery is going to use Chambers, it must be as a centre-back or not at all.