After Unai Emery’s dismissal on Friday morning Arsenal appointed his assistant and Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg. Freddie had a fairly successful spell as Arsenal U23 coach, a position he held for just under a year before he was made assistant to Emery, the decision made with the promotion of youth in mind. The news of Emery’s departure was wonderful news to the majority of Arsenal fans, however with an away trip to Norwich approaching the squad needed to prepare immediately under new coach Ljungberg. The departure of Emery could have been troubling news for Norwich boss Daniel Farke too, he would not have minded playing against Emery’s Arsenal team who were winless in 6 in all competitions going into the game. Farke’s team had given him a great perfrormance away to Everton on matchweek 13 winning 2-0 at Goodison Park, however for The Canaries consistency is key and if Farke wants his side to remain in the top flight next season they needed to get a run of wins going. Despite all of the uncertainties prior to the game it was certain that the match was finely poised, a win for Arsenal and they were 5 points behind Chelsea and would have finished the day in 5th, a win for Norwich and they had 2 in a row for the first time this season.
Team Selection
Ljungberg’s first lineup was set to cause discussion and at 1PM on Sunday Arsenal fans may have had these three thoughts. Firstly asking themselves “Why on earth is Mustafi there?” secondly “Where is Pepe?” and finally pondering on the fact they may have seen this set up before. To answer the first question, Mustafi has been bad at times in his Arsenal career, it is something nobody can deny, however you have to remember this is a new coach and everybody has a clean slate. It’s also worth noting that picking your central defenders for the day as an Arsenal coach is essentially choosing the way in which the oppositions goals are scored, the outcome will be the same regardless. The decision on Pepe is a little more baffling however my thinking is that Freddie wanted the front three of Ozil, Aubameyang and Lacazette to move centrally on the ball and remain wide and press when Norwich were in possession. The front three is fluid in this setup, which links me to my third and final point, where have we seen this before? This is actually a formation Emery utilised in our 3-1 away defeat to Liverpool, a formation Gary Neville explained on that day would get us results on the road this season. Xhaka, Guendouzi and Willock all started and were able to provide defensive stability until Arsenal were chasing a goal, this is when Norwich found space in the middle of the park. Chambers also started at right back, something which personally does not fill me with confidence. The Englishman is much better suited to the central defence and is much more composed than Sokratis / Mustafi, possibly an avenue to explore.
As for Norwich they made one change from their trip to Goodison the week before, with Tettey dropping out of the squad for personal reasons, Ibrahim Amadou took his place. Norwich as we have seen are able to unlock teams through their excellent abilities to pass out from the back, most notably against Manchester City, where they were 3-2 winners at Carrow Road in September. The team had a strong Midfield which was flanked by Onel Hernandez and the exciting Todd Cantwell, who scored the second Norwich goal of the day. Teemu Pukki started as a lone striker and was able to rekindle his weak goalscoring form against an even weaker Arsenal defence.
First Half – Arsenal’s defence faulters again
The match started with a good pace and Arsenal dominating the ball, something which Arsenal fans will be happy to see again. Some good combination play featured with the midfield diamond passing and moving well. As well as this Freddie clearly employed a press from Willock and Guendouzi hoping to force errors from the Norwich backline. Despite some success in pressing this tactic possibly helped Norwich more as once they had possesion two holes either side of Xhaka appeared in which Hernandez and Cantwell operated. Lacazette had a big chance in the first five minutes however this was wasted by the Frenchman. A header cleared off the line by Norwich was Arsenal’s next big chance before Teemu Pukki put the home team ahead, embarrassing Arsenal in the process. Pukki was found in a worrying amount of space considering he was in a one versus three by the time the shot was taken, the lead remained intact for a couple of minutes for Norwich before a Christoph Zimmermann handball gave Arsenal a penalty and a chance to get straight back into the game. Veteran goalkeeper Tim Krul recieved a yellow card in the build up for the penalty which Aubameyang initially missed, however it was retaken when Max Aarons was seen to step into the box prematurely and subsequently cleared the ball. Aubameyang made no mistake from the spot at the second time of asking. The next big flashpoint in the game came on the stroke of halftime when Norwich broke via Onel Hernandez in the space which I discussed earlier, the German waited for the run of Todd Cantwell who fired Norwich in front with Arsenal displaying more calamitous defending.
Second Half – Resilience displayed by Arsenal
The second half provided fewer chances for the Gunners who had renewed spirits. However, Ljungberg’s pressing style meant Arsenal fatigued at around the 70 minute mark and due to the substitutions being made in the latter stages Norwich took a hold of the game. Arsenal’s number 1 Bernd Leno contributed massively throughout the second period making massive saves to deny shots which should have found the back of the net. I suppose the period of Norwich domination highlighted some qualities and deficiencies for Arsenal. It was unacceptable to be conceeding chances for such a long period of time, however it can be said that the fact we managed to prevent a third goal was a massive positive and something which may not have happened under Emery. It is also worth noting that if we had been more clinical in our dominant spells (of which there were plenty) the game could have easily been put to bed. Overall, Sunday was a promising day for Freddie and Arsenal despite not gaining the maximum points.
Arsenal player ratings
Leno – 8/10 MOTM: Won us the point in the end after some great saves, the man deserves a better defence ahead of him.
Chambers – 5/10: Average performance, good combination play along the right hand side at certain points however when he over committed Arsenal were punished due to his recovery speed. Should play CB.
Mustafi – 5/10: This rating may be slightly generous due to his good performances elsewhere this season however he was pretty awful espeacially when defending the first goal.
Luiz – 4-/10: Not much to say, quality on the ball however defensively too conservative and Mustafi had to overcompensate for him, not great when Mustafi can barely take care of himself.
Kolasinac – 6/10: Made some good tackles and was able to recover well when he had gone forward. Always solid when attacking on the left and neither of the two goals were his fault directly.
Xhaka – 7/10: Really good game given the circumstances, possibly could have done more on the second goal but I believe he was being instructed to press. Good passing as always and a fairly solid display.
Guendouzi – 7/10: Played well in the role he was given and he suprised me as he was able to contribute to the attack, sometimes he can struggle with that. Not much more to say however it is worth reminding ourselves that he is only 20.
Willock – 6/10: Pressed well and popped up in the box a few times but was largely ineffective, didn’t get on the ball enough and looked tired quite early. He is definitely promising though.
Ozil – 6/10: Good deliveries from dead balls and was moving the ball nicely. Playing him on the wing under Arsense did not work and I doubt it will work as he gets older. Not the man for a front three of players expected to press, should be behind them if these are the orders.
Lacazette – 5/10: Arsenal currently have an issue of having good players that are not cohesive together in a front three. I have been of the opinion for a while that Lacazette should make way for a world class left wing. Missed a few chances and was unable to impact the game.
Aubameyang – 8/10: What a striker, the best we have had since Van Persie and a true asset to the club, if he had better service and was not forced onto the wing to accomodate for Lacazette he would have an even better goalscoring record.
Subs: Torreira – 7/10: Came on, made a few blocks and shored things up in the midfield. Martinelli and Saka both did not have the time to make an impact, so I will not be rating them.
So there is my report on Freddie Ljungberg’s first game as Arsenal manager. Interesting time at Arsenal currently and one which excites me greatly, Sunday was the first day I was excited to see us play since the first game of the season. Hopefully the Arsenal board do not rush the permanent managerial appointment and give Freddie this season to make his impact – you never know, he might just be the permanent solution.
Joe Writes Football 