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Arsenal's fourth game of pre-season is done and, after this 3-2 loss to Villarreal, it seems Mikel Arteta has a lot to think about ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
Forget personnel – he will expect much more in terms of performance. The Gunners were haphazard in the first half and fell behind early on, former record signing Nicolas Pepe being on hand to turn the ball home from close range.
Things got worse then as Karl Etta Eyong doubled the visitors' lead in a similarly clumsy fashion soon after, though our new man, Christian Norgaard restored some pride when he headed in from a corner three minutes later.
Two more goals were traded after the break – Arsenal's second coming from the penalty spot – and it was Villarreal who ran out as the eventual winners.
Here are three takeaways from the Gunners' latest pre-season defeat.
Takeaway #1: It could be a looong year
Sorry for the pessimistic tone (again) but there is some cause for concern.
Chief among them is the sight of familiar problems: Arsenal were dominant in possession during the first period yet never created more than a half chance. Then, Villarreal made their first attack of the match and scored from it – 1-0 down in a flash.
The way it came about – calamitous home defending from both Jakub Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly – is becoming familiar too and only served to pour salt into the wound.
Irrespective of the occasion, that sort of ‘beat around the bush’ style of attack and the accompanying sucker punch is a regular feature at N5 and no trophies will be won next year if they are not both addressed promptly.
You would expect that the arrivals of Gabriel Heinze and Viktor Gyokeres will see Arsenal show more aggression and directness in their offensive acts, while the return of Gabriel at the back will hopefully restore some composure at the back.
Fingers crossed; there cannot be another year of shooting ourselves in the foot.
Takeaway #2: The floor is rising
To be honest, Neto and Raheem Sterling ensured the bar was on that metaphorical floor as Arsenal went about adding depth to their squad this summer.
But raise it they did and no one epitomised that on Wednesday more than Christian Norgaard. The Dane has effectively replaced Jorginho for us and already he looks like being of greater value – his fine interceptions and quick, firm passes helped to initiate counter attacks, while he also registered his first goal in red and white.
Cristhian Mosquera also gave us encouragement in the second half as he dealt assuredly with a couple of fledgling Villarreal transitions. These are still early days, of course, but the 21-year-old looks like he could be a real asset and, thus, he will automatically offer us more than his predecessor – the perennially injured and now departed Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Despite their bench status of present, they both have enough about them to suggest they can push for regular minutes; Arteta will be pleased.
Takeaway #3: Will the Merino experiment live on?
Yeah, about those rising floors…
The memory of Mikel Merino up top seems like the product of a fever dream and, after buying Viktor Gyokeres last month, fans might have believed that the ‘experiment’ would be consigned to history – oh how wrong we were.
Our new no.14 came off just after the hour mark and Kai Havertz missed out on the matchday squad due to a minor injury. So, with no other striker to turn to, Arteta opted for Merino and the Spaniard reprised his role from the end of last season.
It is most likely a quirk of the Havertz absence and is perhaps not crazy (eh…) given his impact over the final months of 2024/25 as our frontman.
But there is something off about the idea of ‘Phase 10’ Arsenal selecting a defensive midfielder up front after all the money spent of late, and it is even an indictment of the lack of frontline focus we have shown since Arteta was first appointed that he is still an option there.
It provided a nice laugh for fans today, now please make sure that we never have to see it in action ever again.