Match Statistics: Villarreal 2-1 Arsenal
Trying something new is not a bad thing, but maybe the semi-finals of a European competition are not the best time to do it – especially when your season is in line.
Mikel Arteta has previously shown that he is not the type of manager who is afraid to think outside the box but this time his gamble backfires catastrophically.
Arsenal can now find themselves in a disappointing win after a 2–1 first leg defeat away from home against the villain in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals.
Given that he sat 10th in the Premier League in this game, and with his chances of qualifying for Europe the following season, but through domestic affairs, Arteta knew that Spain were in for the error. there is no place.
Yet he opted to roll the dice, surprising everyone by starting without a recognized striker and using 20-year-old playwright Emil Smith Rowe as a false nine.
It was somewhat straight from the Pep Guardiola playbook, but while it might serve for Arteta’s custodian against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, it failed miserably for the Arsenal boss at El Madrigal.
“It’s just like we designed the game,” Arteta said later. He said, “This is the decision that I made, thinking that this is the best way.
“But the game was air-conditioned after four minutes. It is therefore difficult to assess whether this will work. This was changed as we accepted the set piece and later we had to approach it differently. “
The key to playing with a false nine is movement around the player to get the defenders out of position and to make sure there are still plenty of bodies in and around the box.
But it didn’t just happen for Arsenal and Villarreal’s rescue, hardly an easy evening would have occurred until Gabriel Martinelli introduced just after the hour mark.
By that time, Arsenal were already 2–0 behind and were relegated to take two yellow cards, seeing the loss in the face with Dani Cabellos.
But Martinelli’s introduction gave Arsenal more focal points on their attack front and the visitors at least managed to salvage a goal from the tie and give themselves something to play for in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium next week.
That lifeline came from the penalty spot, with Nicolas Pepe slamming Bukayo Saka into the box after his sixth Europa League goal.
For Arteta, the goal would be a huge relief given how the game was going up to that point.
The Arsenal manager said in the build-up that these were the type of games the players lived for, yet a man gave his team a shocking end in the first half.
Arteta once again opted to start with Granit Xhaka at left-back and Switzerland International was revealed by Samuel Chukwuez with just under five minutes left, allowing Manu Trigueros to fire the opener home.
And things went haywire just before half-an-hour, when Raoul Albol was left alone from a corner close to the volley and doubled the home side’s lead.
At the time it seemed that Arteta had to change things in the break, as his game plan was clearly not working. But the Spaniard decided to stick to his guns and keep the same things at the beginning of the second period, though Ceballos was already booked and sent to a certain range.
The midfielder had shut down the momentum all night and it was no surprise when he was out on 57 minutes when he was again booked for another late foul.
Arteta said that after the game he was going to land Real Madrid’s loanee, but the truth is that he should not have come out for the second half in the first place.
“Clearly we talked at half-time that we had to be very careful,” the manager said. He said, “There was already a lot and I was going to take it away and by that time Gabby [Martinelli] Was ready to come, that action took place and he was out. “
After taking down 10 people with him and slipping the game, Arteta finally made a change when he brought in Martinelli. And it was no surprise to see Arsenal improve after the introduction of Brazil.
Despite being down to 10 men, he had a sudden ball threat. And when Saka went into the area, Pepe remained calm to punish home with 17 minutes remaining and kept the tie alive.
Arsenal could also level back to London, but Villarreal keeper Geronimo Rulli produced a smart stop to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was introduced as a late replacement.
Make no mistake about it, however, it was a very big hurdle for Arteta.
He tried to be very clever and he fell behind. Fortunately for him, his side managed to give themselves a lifeline ahead of the second leg.
By then, Aubameyang will have full expectation that Alexander Lacazette will also be available.
Arsenal should be made more of a threat and the false nine experiments we have seen in Spain will not be something we see repeated again.
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