Arsenal: 4 talking points from Villarreal defeat

Villarreal Were Poor and Arsenal Were Worse

This theme is getting repetitive.

Against Benfica in the first leg of the round of 32, the Portuguese side were poor. Against Slavia Prague in the first leg of the quarter-finals, the Czech side were poor. Even in the round of 16 first leg with Olympiacos, the Greek side were poor and Arsenal only mustered a healthy scoreline courtesy of two stunning goals from Gabriel and Mohamed Elneny.

On Thursday it occurred again: Villarreal weren’t very good.

Of course, this summarises the quality of the Europa League. Arsenal have faced four average sides in the knockout stages and have come out of their first legs with just one victory.

There was nothing especially impressive about Villarreal, even if they had six shots on target, and they way they retreated into their shells after the break signals a mental fragility both in the manager and players. Just maybe. Arsenal did everything they could to let them win.

While this would in normal circumstances breed hope for the second leg, as surely Arsenal can’t be as bad as they were, there is no reason to assume the Gunners can improve upon that display given the way the end of this season is panning out.

They can’t beat poor sides because they are a poor side.