Arsenal: 4 negatives from 2-0 win over Newcastle

In an effort to summarise the 2-0 win over Newcastle, a ‘good day at the office’ might be the most fitting description: Arsenal weren’t poor, nor were they especially brilliant. They just got the job done.

This was a match where the result was more importantg than the performance, but the performance also had to be better than acceptable. Make sense? Taking on a dire team on home soil, one without a win all season, should only ever culminate in a comfortable victory.

With the visitors restricted to long range efforts and thumped balls upfield for Callum Wilson to dive at in an effort to win a penalty, the defensive side of the game went well for Arsenal.

It’s a result that saw them stay in the fifth position they occupied prior to the game, and one they would be sure to hold on to given Wolves were four points behind them ahead of their goalless draw at Carrow Road.

4 negatives from the 2-0 win over Newcastle as Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal stay fifth in the Premier League thanks to goals from Saka and Martinelli

Job done, but job not done as well as it perhaps could have been.

There is no hiding from the fact an improvement will be needed for the trip to Old Trafford, even if the current version of Manchester United is hopelessly unorganised and still dependent on individual majesty to drag them through matches.

Ralf Rangnick will bring his own ‘new manager bounce’ and while a man who firmly believes in intense, high pressing and counter pressing football will need time to implement his ideas on a side that hadn’t pressed effectively throughout Solskjaer’s tenure, the quality within their squad is still plain to see.

Some of the negative aspects from the 2-0 win, as we always try to keep focus and see the bad in the good and the good in the bad, will need to be ironed out by Arteta ahead of Thursday, even if it’s an entirely different game that awaits.

1. Sluggish Build-Up + Gabriel and White Too Slow in Possession

Criticism of two of the most beloved members of this team who just kept their sixth clean sheet in ten matches together? Yes, indeed.

For the most part – as in 90% of their performances – Gabriel and Benjamin White were excellent. They stifled Newcastle attempts to break with pace, won their duels and Gabriel in particular came out on top in an engrossing battle with Wilson from the first minute to the last.

But in what was a desperately painful opening 30 or so minutes to watch, the pair contributed to the predictable and sluggish build-up play that made for an exceedingly drab half an hour of football.

White was the guiltier of the parties. He saw lots of the ball in the right channels with the license to play a role more akin to the one he had at Brighton, it just wasn’t fast enough. With Takehiro Tomiyasu pushed up, White kept trying to feed the perfect pass through the lines. As capable as he is, and he found that ball on a couple of occasions, the yearning for perfection slowed progression down.

Most times that pass isn’t on and simply keeping the ball moving at pace is the best approach in trying to break down 11 men behind the ball. Gabriel did so as well, and understandably the low block style was always going to be hard to break down, there just needed to be more urgency from the offset.

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