Arsenal Vs Brighton: 5 things we learned – It gets worse

Arsenal hosted Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday night in Freddie Ljungberg’s second game in charge. Here are five things we learned from the 2-1 loss.

I was not sure this Arsenal season could get worse. I was wrong. Even after firing Unai Emery, which was the correct decision, the Gunners have proceeded to flounder in ways only this club seems to know how. Bar a 15-minute spell after half-time, the Gunners were thoroughly outplayed by Brighton and Hove Albion, eventually falling 2-1 with a scoreline that was rather kind on Freddie Ljungberg’s team.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Freddie’s First Foray

Here are five things we learned.

5. Move the ball

I wrote before the match that Arsenal needed to prove that they can move the ball quickly, both by being direct with long passes from back to front to expose defences and with quick, one-touch combinations to break out of high presses and create openings in the final third. There was very little of that, here.

This is not something to pin the blame on particular players. Yes, those passing the ball were ball, especially Sokratis and Hector Bellerin, but they also weren’t provided sufficient options to play forward passes into. Similarly, when the front three did get the opportunity to drive at Brighton’s backline, they caused problems, but they also stood 50 yards away from the ball, meaning that any pass into them was a near-impossible one.

In possession, Arsenal played without tempo, speed and accuracy. They invited Brighton to press high up the pitch, invariably failed to play through it when they did, and lacked any semblance of control of the match as a result. It is not a coincidence that when they got going in the second half, they played quickly. The Gunners can do it. They proved it here. But they now must replicate it for 90 minutes.