Arsenal: 3 negatives from huge West Brom win

Arsenal crushed West Brom 6-0 on Wednesday night as Mikel Arteta’s side briefly put their Premier League woes behind them as a first Carabao Cup second round fixture for 26 years ended with smiles all around.

With Manchester City to come on Saturday an entirely different test awaits. The reigning champions have enjoyed a mixed start to the campaign but still welcome the side managed by their former assistant coach as the unanimous favourites.

The Gunners couldn’t have asked for a better performance in the build-up, however. Seeing the goal-shy captain rediscover his shooting boots with a hat-trick, keeping a clean sheet and watching on as two debutants put in equally solid outings was the ideal remedy.

Spirits needing peeling up off the floor and the packed away stand who made the journey north on a Wednesday night had to have something to cheer about. That journey isn’t a kind one, scoreline notwithstanding.

3 negative aspects for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal as his side crushed West Brom 6-0 in the Carabao Cup second round with an Aubameyang hat-trick

Good thing all went swimmingly well and goals were finally scored in the right net this time.

So, then, why on earth is there anything negative? Huh? How could scoring six goals, conceding none, and having individual displays to herald prompt anyone to think differently of the result?

Like a good Florida condo, there has to be a temperature gauge. Rightly everyone is basking in the delight of the highest scoring away win since 2001 and the biggest victory under Arteta’s tenure, but that doesn’t hide that there were elements that could be improved.

Against opposition that Arsenal had to be beating comfortably, that first half showed that there is work to be done.

1. Slow Build-Up Play Out From the Back

West Brom started this match exactly how you’d have expected them to under Valérien Ismaël. His sides, no matter how youthful the personnel, press high and aggressively looking to force errors and convince the opposition goalkeeper to kick the ball long.

Arsenal may be trying to add variance to their game with Aaron Ramsdale’s arrivalo, but the onus remains on building out from the back.

And as seen in the first half, this is still too slow.

There were too many players taking uneconomical touches of the ball, failing to release in time and guilty of not being positive enough in possession.

Rob Holding, Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac and Mohamed Elneny were all culpable, among a few others, with the obvious benefit being that only one of those four are going to be starting matches for the club when the whole squad is fit.

Again the predictability of switching to a back three and then focusing on the left side came into play. Such was the lack of invention during those opening stags that Saka had to drop deep and take Tavares’ place just to inject some drive and technical craft in those areas: collecting balls on the half-turn, beating men and carrying possession. It took Saka being Saka, as well as a lucky bounce, to break the deadlock and settle Arsenal.

Arsenal need to maintain tempo, which is precisely why Ben White was signed.

2. Floor is Still Low in Certain Areas

This transfer window was centred around acquiring young talents who can lift the floor of the squad. For the most part, that has happened.

Nuno Tavares, Ramsdale and Sambi Lokonga are all upgrades on the ‘backup’ options in the squad and improve those areas, yet in central defence and at right-back there are still concerns to be had in what happens once injuries and COVID-19 strike, as they have done now.

Kolasinac will be gone so that’s no major issue, but Holding is not a defender with enough ability on the ball to be so heavily involved in Arsenal’s build-up, nor is Pablo Mari at the level required to be defending against top Premier League strike forces.

The latter didn’t play but was handed a rest as he’s going to be featuring once more on Saturday. At right-back, too, it’s clear that a first choice option is essential to unlocking other areas of the pitch, and the common denominator among all are that they do not have enough quality in possession.

Those early exchanges where the Baggies pressed Arsenal into tight spaces and forced (sometimes didn’t even have to force) errors in distribution allowed the nerves to settle in early doors. If you’re looking at a Man City side that can maintain and raise such levels for longer periods, the likes of Holding, Mari and Chambers will get slaughtered.

Arsenal steadied the ship and got a comfortable win in the end, but to see what the second string still looks like in some departments under early pressure from a Championship B-team shows how much more work is needed in the transfer window.

It won’t be this one though, and probably not even the next either.

3. Players Not Found With Clever Running

It’s frustrating to constantly be finding ‘excuses’ for Nicolas Pepe. This is his third season as an Arsenal player and if he isn’t going to be hitting the heights expected of him and his £72m price tag now, then he never will.

But, he made runs on Wednesday night that need to be picked out sooner. Or at all.

And a lot of this stems from the right-back on the night, Calum Chambers, who hasn’t had the best start to life this season, which is surprising considering how he finished last term.

It was a mismanaged Baggies high line with little pressure on the ball that meant the runs in behind were always on for the front three. Greater speed of thought and technical confidence in a right-back, with agility and athleticism, would have played in the Ivorian time and time again.

Martin Odegaard dropping off into the right-side pocket cleverly opened those spaces for Pepe and it took Mohamed Elneny(!) to finally feed Pepe in which led to the second goal.

Chambers just isn’t quick enough. Fortunately, after the late first half flurry, the game was a practice match and all of the aforementioned concerns were ignored as the likes of Nuno Tavares spent the remaining 45 minutes more advanced than Saka.

Pepe put in a strong showing on the night. You just can’t help but feel in games where teams press high, there is more that can be extracted from him.