Arsenal: 4 glaring mistakes Mikel Arteta made vs Everton

Arsenal have contrived to lose back-to-back matches against two teams who’d collectively won one Premier League match in their previous 16. From start to finish it was dreadful and Mikel Arteta has a lot to answer for.

Ahead of facing a beleaguered Manchester United at Old Trafford Arsenal have the opportunity to go eight points clear of their European chasing rivals. Losing 2-1 to Everton on Monday sees them sit one point behind them with a five worse goal difference.

It was a turgid display, and a woeful match overall.

Having possession for possession’s sake, the visitors created nothing of note in the first half barring one effort from Thomas Partey who had forgotten Arsenal weren’t playing at Anfield this week.

Everton 2-1 Arsenal: 4 glaring mistakes Mikel Arteta made as Gunners manager comes under severe pressure to be sacked

After VAR had saved their skin with Richarlison’s offside goal, the only meaningful attacking moment of the half saw Martin Odegaard coolly slot past Jordan Pickford from Kieran Tierney’s stoppage time cross.

Winning the game undeservedly, it couldn’t possibly get much worse from the Gunners after the break. Perhaps not worse, but equally dreadful.

Richarlison got his goal at the third time of asking after another VAR scare, Odegaard reaffirmed that he has no right foot, Eddie Nketiah was closer to writing his name on the post than on a contract, and Demarai Gray leathered in a stunning winner in the 92nd minute.

On the surface there were huge chances for Arsenal to win the match and no saves of note for Aaron Ramsdale to make. That would be viewing the game through tinted glasses made of San Sebastian roses.

Arteta was largely at fault. Again.

1. The Role Given to Alexandre Lacazette

Arteta was handed the ideal smokescreen to take Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the team for this one due to the quick turnover in matches, with rotation cited as the reason for him starting on the bench.

Yearning for someone like Lacazette to come into the fold, as soon as he does everyone is then yearning for him to be back on the bench. The Frenchman was dreadful at Goodison Park, with his tactically assigned role one of self-inflicted inefficacy.

Lining up as the No. 9, Lacazette popped up close to everywhere other than it. Along with Odegaard they would drift into wandering double No. 10 positions with the Frenchman out on the left, a tactical ploy that is usually adopted in a 4-2-2-2 shape. In those instances there has to be two strikers in front to work an effective counter-press, something that Ralf Rangnick implemented on his first game in charge of United against Crystal Palace.

Was this another muscle flexing moment from the manager? ‘I can do this too, it’s not only him who is good at this tactics thing’.

Lacazette already has a penchant for dropping deep, and the one time it did work is when Arsenal scored their goal with him involved in the build-up play and Martinelli stretching the back four to open the space for Odegaard. But Arteta is placing square pegs in round holes by stomping on them long enough that the frame itself brakes.

The rest of the game was Lacazette giving Tomiyasu a cuddle at right-back and being static on the rare forays into an attacking central zone. It was another experiment from the manager on a night that called for a return to basics.

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2. Everything About Granit Xhaka

When the team sheet came out it was a blend of surprise and acceptance. Granit Xhaka is indomitable, returning to action a full month ahead of schedule. He might be made of titanium, but he wasn’t even in the squad four days prior so it must have been a remarkable few days of recovery.

As far as the lineup goes, there is no space for revisionism. For the most part this was a team deemed more than capable enough before a ball was kicked of winning the matches: two senior midfielders in a pairing widely considered the best at the club. It felt like a welcome inclusion.

Xhaka played, but offered next to nothing in the that opening 45 minutes. The issues within the game stemmed from the midfield lacking progression and centrality, but the finger wouldn’t be pointed at Xhaka specifically as Thomas Partey was desperately off the pace.

Having not kicked a ball since September, the decision to throw Xhaka into the mix away from home on a Monday night against a side fighting for their lives has an air of weakness. The manager has such little faith in his team that he’s willing to make this call so soon against a team without a win in eight matches.

Arteta has always been Xhaka’s not-so-secret admirer and fielding him straight away is a public declaration of his love. He can’t go back on it now, and 90 minutes in every game to come is inevitable.

But the biggest issue of all – as playing him was, without hindsight, largely an accepted decision – was keeping him on the pitch for 98 minutes. He was dead on his feet and gasping for air in that second half and having already been booked for a tired foul he was then unable to make the professional foul to prevent the second goal.

What’s even more puzzling is that if Tierney was taken off due to a lack of playing time, why wasn’t Xhaka? Tierney hasn’t even been injured, yet he was considered less capable of completing 98 minutes than a Swiss who’d been in the gym on his own for weeks on end?

It was a baffling call, but just one of many.

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3. Sambi Lokonga Shunned From the Team

Sambi had a tough second half against Liverpool. Even that is relatively unfair to say, since it was only eight minutes after the break by which time he’d made way.

The response after that was some clever management from Arteta. Sambi and Nuno were immediately handed their chance to respond against Newcastle with the boss stating that he wants to reward the bravery to play this way, and the result was the pair being the best players on the pitch. Sambi in particular was excellent.

Skip forward to Old Trafford and Nuno is rewarded again, while Sambi isn’t. In example #[insert elaborate figure] of Arteta making the simple game complicated, he fielded Mohamed Elneny instead. The Belgian didn’t even make it off the bench.

Maybe it was because he was given a rest and being saved for Everton? It would appear not. Instead, Xhaka at 60% fitness played the entire 98 minutes while Partey was allowed to drop another appalling showing in midfield. That area of the pitch had no invention, bravery or eye for progression, with a young midfielder left to sit on the bench and scratch his head when all those traits have been on show in the performances he’s produced in red and white.

From being rewarded for showing willingness, and ultimately quality, the 21-year-old has watched two 29-year-old’s – one who is out of contract and one who was barely fit – play ahead of him consecutively, while another senior midfielder has been the worst Arsenal player on the pitch two games running and kept his place.

Sambi is still young and managing his development is important, but it has to be disheartening to think that you can’t even get ten minutes when the two central midfielders on the pitch are barely capable of tracking back with their legs wilting beneath them.

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4. What Has Eddie Nketiah Done to Deserve Minutes?

Are there certain triggers that prompt usage in this team? Does Arteta like it when his players play hard to get?

Nketiah rejected a new deal 24 hours before earning his first Premier League minutes of the season against Manchester United. Now, that contract was offered to him purely to try and squeeze more money out of the tribunal when he inevitably leaves for free in the summer, but it still doesn’t explain this sudden marketing scheme with Nketiah.

Why is he getting minutes now? And why is he getting minutes out on the left wing? Nobody is denying that the academy man isn’t talented, it’s just impossible to justify fielding someone who is actively seeking to leave the club over, for example, a 20-year-old academy star who shunned the advances of clubs across Europe to sign a long-term contract back in April.

And while the faith in Nicolas Pepe to ever live up to his potential in north London has well and truly ended, at least he’s actually a wide player. That’s now five minutes of football in six of the last seven league matches. When he does eventually see some action there is no chance of him being even remotely serviceable. Aubameyang would eventually come on with five minutes to go, so why not sooner?

"Quizzed after the game, Arteta said: “He [Nketiah] does every day in training what you see him do in 25 minutes here. “Every single day. That’s why I picked him.”"

What, miss from two yards? He may have looked fairly sharp aside from that, but the timing of it all is so off.

Apologies to Arteta, and this may come across as harsh, but nobody cares what Nketiah did or didn’t do in training. He is actively trying to leave. When he scored goals against AFC Wimbledon and Leeds, where was his place in the Premier League squad then?

Spoiler: he didn’t make the bench in either game that followed.