Arsenal Vs Newcastle United: Let’s see some attacking flair

Mikel Arteta has done a remarkable job as Arsenal head coach. But if there is one thing missing, it is attacking flair. After a two-week break, might we finally see some against Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon?

When he arrived as Arsenal’s second head coach in a year-and-a-half following the forced resignation of Arsene Wenger, no one really knew what to expect from Mikel Arteta. After all, he had never managed a team before. How could anyone provide any real and accurate analysis about the situation?

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And yet, in his first month-and-a-half in the job, Arteta has shown that he has is at the very least a capable football coach, which is what he was heralded as by the Manchester City players prior to his return to the Emirates.

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But while Arteta has made plenty of improvements within the Arsenal team thus far, there is still an absence of attacking flair and creative spark that many were hoping for and even expecting. In Arteta’s first three games in charge, a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, a 2-1 loss to Chelsea and a 2-0 victory over Manchester United, one of the distinctive features of the team’s performance, especially in the first halves of those games, was how quickly they moved the ball and how able they were to create goalscoring opportunities.

Since that time, however, the same offensive threat has not been so present. In fact, the balance, verve and clinical nature of the front players has slowly depreciated, so much so that in the 0-0 draw with Burnley prior to the winter break, Arsenal had only two shots on target and bar the early stages, rarely looked like scoring.

With a two-week break, including a training camp in Dubai, there is a justified hope that Arteta will be able to enact change in his team’s attacking play. In fact, Arteta was questioned about whether his team’s defensive improvement under his coaching has sacrificed their attacking threat. In response to a question asking what is most important, scoring goals or preventing, Arteta said:

"“It’s winning. Obviously, that game for the crowd [the 7-3 against Newcastle] is great but for the manager it’s not great because balance-wise we suffered. But I love scoring goals for sure. I love attacking football, but I like attacking football where you control what the opponent does to you in your own box.”"

In essence, the Spaniard does not care how Arsenal are winning games, as long as they are winning them, but it obviously helps to have a productive attack. You have to score goals to win games, oddly enough. The best attacking teams will regularly be the winningest teams. And so, unlocking the Arsenal attack is still a crucial element that Arteta must achieve if he is to truly build a top-four challenging team.

When Newcastle United arrive at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon following a two-week break, maybe, just maybe, the Gunners have learned how to attack with fluidity, pace, accuracy, creativity, and, most importantly, flair.