Arsenal: 4 talking points from Brentford horror show

New season, same old Arsenal. The problems that have plagued the side for the last three years were still evident as the Gunners succumbed to newly-promoted Brentford 2-0 in the opening game of the Premier League season.

As far as preparations go, Mikel Arteta took his side west of the capital in less than ideal circumstances. Already missing Thomas Partey in the engine room and with Gabriel absent with a knee injury, a sudden bout of illness in the forward departments limited Arsenal further.

With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang unavailable for the clash there was a first Premier League outing for Folarin Balogun at No. 9. He was flanked by Gabriel Martinelli who has just returned from Olympic duty and Albert Sambi Lokonga joined Ben White in making their first league starts in red and white.

Despite seeing plenty of the ball, goals from Sergi Canós and Christian Nørgaard were enough to see off a truly disappointing Arsenal side who were not up for the fight that their opponents brought.

Arsenal: 4 talking points from Brentford horror show as Mikel Arteta’s side lose 2-0 in opening Premier League fixture of the 2021/22 season

Arsenal started the match the better of the two sides but as we have seen numerous times over the last 12 months, the Gunners have possession for fairly meaningless periods of the game.

Posting 22 shots may have felt like an improvement in some departments but the quality of those shots was woeful and the abject defending ensured any positive notes from the game banished to the history books.

The 2021/22 Premier League season got off to the worst possible start imaginable.

With Chelsea and Manchester City up next on the fixture list, there isn’t much to be cheerful of. Here are the talking points.

1. Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers Struggle With the High Press

A dreadful night from both Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers. Far too often Mari was left exposed and was made to look second rate (which is being kind) as he looked shaky on and off the ball, as he did against Tottenham. Brentford found space behind the Spaniard time and time again as Bryan Mbeumo utterly terrified him on a minute-by-minute basis.

As for Chambers, he offered little going forward and like Mari was often caught out by the high press from the Bees, forcing him into countless stupid mistakes. It was evident that Brentford made a concerted effort to pressure Mari and singled him out.

To their credit, it worked brilliantly as it was arguably his worst game in an Arsenal shirt. Constantly found wanting and poor positional play thanks the well choreographed movements of the forward line, other sides in the division can simply sit back and take notes. It will happen again. A lot.

With Chelsea and Manchester City up next, it could get very ugly for both Mari and Chambers should they keep their places. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to use instead of them.

2. Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney & Bukayo Saka Reliance Remains

When your left-back is your side’s most attacking threat that tells you all you need to know. But, we already knew that, didn’t we?

Tierney was up and down the left flank, whipping in crosses and getting into dangerous positions, often having to deal with being double marked as the Brentford wing-backs did a fantastic job of squeezing the wide players into less threatening positions.

When Bukayo Saka was brought on, he picked up where he had left off from the Euros.

The general reliance on the three is all Arsenal had; anything dangerous going forward would only come from the trio. Saka is, as we all know, brilliant. When introduced, he changed the way Arsenal progressed the ball. There was extra drive and intention.

The Gunners suddenly had more potency going forward and managed to get the ball into dangerous areas. His chemistry with Smith Rowe was back on show.

However, while these three proved to be Arsenal’s best players on the night, it does leave something to be desired from the other players on the pitch. Often looking toothless going forward for the majority of the first half, once Saka was introduced to add to Smith Rowe, the only one with any impetus or penetrative spark, Arsenal looked like…something.

As we have seen over the last 12 or so months, the over-reliance on these young players is not healthy. It’s as you were from last season. Give them the ball and hope.

That’s seriously concerning.

3. Martin Odegaard Needs Signing, and Quick

It has been one of Arsenal’s main problems since Arteta took over. Once a superb strength has now become its biggest weakness. Simply put, if Emile Smith Rowe does not have a great game creatively, then Arsenal struggle. Big time.

In midfield the ceiling is ‘will Xhaka have a good game or not’, while in a creative sense it’s ‘Smith Rowe has to make something happen’. These are the parameters with which this side now operate in.

Having a player like Martin Odegaard or James Maddison alongside him would help to no end and the fact that a player hasn’t been signed to help with this yet is laughable.

With a front four that included three ‘finishers’ and one ‘creator’ in Smith Rowe, it’s little surprise that the mantle of creativity rested solely on the shoulders of the new No. 10. Bringing in a body to help share these demands is not only for rotational, it’s for the starting lineup.

With two weeks to go in the transfer window, someone has to come in to lighten the load. It is too much to expect Smith Rowe to solve all of Arsenal’s creative problems. A team the size of Arsenal knows that it can’t all fall onto one player, let alone a 20-year-old with what is essentially six months of Premier League experience.

Just another example of Arsenal’s horror transfer dealings. It does appear as if Odegaard is that man, which is great, now just get the deal done already.

4. Balogun & Martinelli Show Their Inexperience

When news dropped that skipper Aubameyang and Lacazette were both unwell and would miss the clash, Folarin Balogun was thrust into the starting side for his Premier League debut.

Having him lead the line was always going to be a tough task and having Martinelli out wide added another layer of difficulty to what would be a baptism of fire. In the first half Arsenal’s front three of Balogun, Nicolas Pepe and Martinelli were largely unsighted.

While Arteta’s hand was forced with three senior strikers absent, we know that at this stage at least, the young frontline didn’t click. Balogun may be better for the experience but watching the front three struggle to gel, pick up similar positions as each other and flood the wrong areas, it’s clear that this was a trio without a single appearance alongside one another.

Pepe did ok in some aspects, improving as he moved centrally in the second half, but Martinelli struggled to make any impact whatsoever and the disciplined Brentford central defenders marked Flo out of the game.

It was an awful night for Arsenal.

The same problems that have plagued them over the years still remain and with two tough games coming up, it is not inconceivable that there could be zero points on the board come the international break.

Arteta’s seat is getting hotter with every passing day.