Inter 1-0 Arsenal: Higher, however not sufficient

Match report – Participant scores – Arteta response – Video

Nicely, this November is popping out to be a traditional of the Arsenal style, as we suffered one other defeat, happening 1-0 to Inter final evening.

We began the sport in shaky trend. Denzel Dumfries completely rattled the bar with a shot, earlier than they fizzed one other one large within the opening 4 minutes. Issues settled down a bit then, even when a few of our defensive determination making was uncharacteristic. You not often see William Saliba and Gabriel go for a similar ball, however on one event they did, just for the house facet to not profit from the chance.

There wasn’t quite a lot of risk from our first half efficiency, it felt like extra of the identical after Newcastle on Saturday, though there was a shout for a penalty when Mikel Merino was clearly caught within the face by Yann Sommer who didn’t seem to get any of the ball. VAR checked, VAR moved on in a short time, and I feel Inter bought a bit fortunate there.

Luck is one thing that’s quick provide for us proper now – and I do know, you make your individual luck and many others and many others, however it felt typical that simply earlier than the break Inter bought a penalty for handball in opposition to Merino. You see these given in Europe on a constant foundation, however I simply don’t see how that must be a penalty. The ball deflects onto his arm from ridiculously shut vary – what’s he presupposed to do? It’s not at the same time as if he’s blocking a shot, however the referee pointed to the spot, and Turkish Bruno Fernandes put them 1-0 up.

Mikel Arteta wasn’t comfortable about both determination, saying afterwards:

if you happen to’re going to present a penalty within the different field, clearly that one needs to be as a result of he punches him within the head.

No matter the way you may really feel about our efficiency, I can perceive that frustration. There was a half-time change, Gabriel Jesus approaching for Merino, and I feel we had been fairly a bit higher within the second 45. I’m not a fan of TNT Sport commentary at the most effective of instances, particularly that zany gimp Fletch who makes all of it concerning the ‘bantz’ with the ex-players he was alongside him, however I didn’t actually agree with their competition we had been horrible within the second half.

Once more, I don’t assume we had been good, or close to our greatest, however we had been definitely so much higher than we had been in opposition to Newcastle, and we dominated proceedings for essentially the most half. Sport-state could have performed a component as Inter had been comfortable to defend, however we had all of the ball and all the probabilities. Sure, Inter rested a few of their key gamers from the beginning, however introduced just about all of them on within the second half and it didn’t change a factor.

Arsenal had 13 photographs to Inter’s 1 after the break, creating 1.3xG to their 0.05xG (if you happen to’re into that type of factor), and we did have possibilities. Gabriel flicked a Bukayo Saka header goalwards solely to see it cleared off the road; Kai Havertz – our greatest participant on the evening for my part – pressured Yann Sommer into an important save after he curled shot in the direction of the highest nook; and Havertz once more was denied by an excellent block when he turned and shot from shut vary. The ball deflected simply large, which is kinda typical of the way in which issues are going for us proper now. One other evening it goes the opposite facet of the submit, and we’re speaking a few respectable level away from dwelling in opposition to an excellent workforce.

So, we had been positively improved, however in the end not ok to get the purpose I feel we deserved. You couldn’t assist really feel that regardless of the dominance an excessive amount of was lacking. Gabriel Jesus was vigorous however supplied no purpose risk, Leandro Trossard had one other a kind of performances the place he was effectively under his finest, and it fell to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli to fireplace in crosses from large areas which Inter dealt for essentially the most half. Their centre-halves and wing-backs made a complete of 38 clearances on the evening.

We had dominance, however not sufficient craft or creativity. I feel you need to acknowledge it’s very arduous to interrupt down an Italian facet at dwelling, and this Inter facet are Italian champions who’ve but to concede a purpose in Europe this season. I additionally assume the way in which they celebrated on the finish was instructive, as a result of they knew they had been underneath the cosh – at very least when it comes to territory. They may barely get out of their very own half.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t alter our have to do extra when we’ve that a lot possession. Ethan Nwaneri got here on with about 10 minutes to go, and had one glorious flip and shot from the sting of the realm, however once more you had been questioning what may need been with a bit extra time from him. Folks have talked about how he hasn’t performed as a lot as they might have preferred within the absence of Martin Odegaard. The skipper made a short cameo final evening, and it was good to see him again, however there’s an enormous a part of me that wonders what Nwaneri and Odegaard working in tandem seems like. While you’ve tried different gamers, and various programs, and so they haven’t actually labored, what else is there?

Once more, Raheem Sterling didn’t get off the bench, and also you don’t want a PHD in Mikel Arteta to learn between the traces there. The previous few video games have informed us what the supervisor thinks of him proper now, and it’s a problem we’ve to assume strongly about addressing in early, early January.

Afterwards, Arteta spoke positively of how his workforce carried out, however mentioned:

The fact is the consequence and we participated in that as a result of we had many conditions that we will resolve a lot better in entrance of purpose and rating no less than two targets, after which extraordinarily annoyed as effectively as a result of there are two choices that on the finish marks the consequence and the course of the sport.

So, you may be comfortable sufficient with the dominance – and maybe annoyed by the referee’s choices – however if you happen to can’t convert that into targets, you could have a reasonably important drawback. It’s one we’ve bought to repair shortly, as a result of Chelsea on Sunday will likely be one other powerful away recreation, and the very last thing we want is 2 weeks of introspection as we go into the ultimate Interlull of 2024.

The glass half-full outlook this morning is that we had been improved on how we performed in opposition to Newcastle, however that was a really low bar. The workforce appears like it’s enjoying, to make use of an outdated favorite, with the handbrake on a bit, and Arteta has to discover a technique to launch that forward of Sunday.

Proper, I’ll go away it there. We’ll discuss concerning the recreation in a bit extra element in an Arsecast which will likely be arising for you a bit in a while this morning, so stick to us for that.