Arsenal: 3 takeaways from Brenftord friendly defeat

2. So many mistakes

Watching the highlights is never a good way to analyse a match. They never paint the full picture. However, they do provide a nice snapshot of the key moments of the match, and when it comes to the goals conceded, there were some very pertinent and concerning moments, to say the least.

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As you might have guessed given Arsenal’s history, the goals conceded featured some truly horrific errors. Brentford’s first goal features several awful errors. David Luiz juggles the ball in midfield and is dispossessed. Then Matteo Guendouzi and Sokratis fail to recover their positions, the latter is dumped to the ground, before Rob Holding is beaten too easily as he fails to block the shot.

The second goal is not much better. Alexandre Lacazette has the ball with his back to goal midway through his half. He fails to keep hold of it, is dispossessed, and then Holding is slow on the turn as he fails to block the shot into the bottom corner. And the third goal? Ainsley Maitland-Niles dallies on the edge of the penalty area before the Brentford player curls a beauty into the far corner.

They are all individual errors. And these have been the type of goals that Arsenal have consistently conceded in recent years. Can they show any sort of focus and concentration to avoid such simple mistakes? History would say not, but they need to if they want to finish in the Champions League places.