On another day, Arsenal put four past Monaco in the first half and we’re talking about the most comfortable of Champions League wins imaginable.
Today was not that day, however.
While we are still talking about a comfortable win, the manner in which we came about it was a little more frenetic than any of us might have liked
In fairness, we were simply brilliant in the opening half. Too good for Monaco in almost every respect and missing only the goals to underline our dominance. That was ‘the Good’.
‘The Ugly’ was undoubtedly our finishing. Much has been made of the glut of set-piece goals we’ve scored of late, coupled with some bed-wetting over the relative lack of open play goals. As it transpired against Monaco, we’re better off sticking with the corners.
Our finishing was horrendous and contributed in no small part to making it much more of a contest than it ought to have been. Particularly egregious were misses by Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli, all of whom should have scored in the opening 45 minutes.
Fortunately for them, we had Bukayo Saka to thank for finally putting the ball in the net and making the dominance pay.
We should have been three goals clear going in at the half, though, and you could comfortably have made a case for four. If the need for Mikel Arteta to consider striking reinforcements was acute before this game, it’s even more so now. If we’re going to sustain our form into the future, we need someone who can apply the finishing touches to all the good we do in build up.
As for ‘the Bad’, that was a huge chunk of the second half. Monaco we’re shockingly bad in the first half but, somehow, shockingly good in the second.
Everything they lacked in the first half was evident after the break and, I have to say, Arsenal struggled to cope. We weren’t helped by our own infuriating inability to keep hold of the ball or to make simple passes but a good part of that was down to the pressure and intensity of Monaco’s game.
Clearly, words had been had at the break and were swiftly acted upon. As we know, the trouble with not making your dominance pay is that you leave yourself a hostage to fortune and we were exactly that for the majority of the second period. Worse still, the chances we did have to relive the pressure through breakaway goals were, without fail, squandered.
Thankfully, Arteta sensed the sands shifting and made a triple change that ultimately recaptured the momentum we had lost. After Jorginho, Jurrien Timber and Leandro Trossard entered the fray, we stabilized and finally added the goals our first half performance warranted. The addition of Kai Havertz proved a boon late on too.
In the end, it was a performance that had a bit of everything. Most pleasing was that we were able to mitigate all the defensive injuries we are currently dealing with without too much damage being done.
Sure, we creaked a little when put under pressure but we just about held against a good side and that’s encouraging.
Miles Lewis-Skelly was sharp in a difficult inverted full-back position and Jakub Kiwior did enough too. Hopefully, both players can pick up a little more confidence for the weeks ahead.
Further forward, we can at least say the ‘chances for open play’ debate has been buried, if not the ‘actually scoring our chances’ debate. While we got away with it on the night, the Fulham game shows that you will often only fashion a handful of chances and taking those you do create is imperative. Not every side will be as porous as Monaco.
For now, we can revel in a decent Champions League win and a secure place in the covered top eight. If we can pick up one more win from our last two matches, that place will all-but be secure and we can look forward to a few games’ rest in the spring.
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