Arsenal 2-0 Wolves: The Debrief

Arsenal take three points and a few things to work on during the Premier League opener

The start of the season can always be a little start-stop. This match was no different and it looked very apparent that Arsenal had players all at different levels of ready and on the same page for this match.

This was far from Arsenal at the effervescent best but it was still a team that was worthy of the three points to get the season off on the right start.

Arsenal 2-0 Wolves: The Graphics

Arsenal 2-0 Wolves: The Debrief

18 - Shots for Arsenal (6 on target)

6 - Shots from outside the box

2 - Big Chances (both headed attempts)

1.4 - xG

2 - Goals

61 - Touches within 25 yards of the Wolves goal, 50 in the box, 19 in ‘Zone 14’

50 - Progressive passes

34 - Final third entries

53% - Field Tilt

Arsenal’s attack in this match was pretty good, but it would have been below average compared to what Arsenal did last season. Shots and deep touches were about the same but it ended up being worth lower xG from the team struggling to create a clear cut chance that wasn’t a ball to be headed.

One of the things that jumped out was that it looked like the pressing was ineffective. Arsenal’s passes allowed per defensive action was 7.6, which suggests a fairly high press, but it didn’t seem to generate much value.

Arsenal generated 7 high starts and were able to generate just one shot from that. Early in the match, Arsenal were able to force Wolves long or into mistakes but it was nothing remotely close to the suffocating press that has happened to many a team at the Emirates Stadium.

Wolves completed more passes than expected in the buildup.

Part of this is that it just seems like the spacing from front to back was off from Arsenal. When Arsenal would look to close down Wolves, Thomas Partey and opposite Winger sometimes seemed reluctant to step forward and compress the space in the middle. Some of this is due to the Wolves’ tactic of keeping players high and not allowing Arsenal to push numbers forward without risking being short behind.

There was also a period in the second half where the tables turned for Arsenal and they were the ones that struggled to get out of their own half.

From the 40th minute to the 70th minute, Arsenal struggled mightily to keep the ball, let alone get out of their own half. During this period Arsenal managed the following:

6 - Total final third entries (they had 26 in the other 60 minutes of this match)

93% - Pass efficiency in buildup

5 - Possessions with 5 or more passes (they had 21 in the other 60 minutes of this match)

If there is one glaring thing to work on coming out of this match, it would be figuring out why the team lost it during this period. From my watching, it looked like a combination of tiring, losing composure, and playing a more style of transition that favored riskier but potentially more valuable passes.

9 - Shots for Wolves (6 on target)

3 - Shots from outside the box for Wolves

1 - Big Chance for Wolves

3 - Shots from high turnovers (0.43 xG)

0.7 - xG for Wolves

0 - Goals for Wolves

Overall the defense still showed up solid, the biggest problems were from Arsenal’s own making. Clean it up and this will be the team we saw last season.

Thomas Partey’s Performance Divides Opinion

37 - Pass Attempts with 89.2% pass completion %

99.6% - Pass Efficiency (actual completion percentage compared to expected)

1 - Final 3rd Entry Pass

3 - Progressive Passes (6 on the more lenient FBRef definition)

3 - Box Entry Pass

4 - Key Passes

0.18 - xA

1 - Shot for 0.04 xG, also had a swing and a miss shot

3 - Times Fouled

1 - Progressive Carries

0 - Final third entry carries

0 - Progressive Passes Received

0.16 - xG Buildup participation

1 - Time Dispossessed

5 - Losses of possession in Arsenal’s own half

3 - Tackles (100% tackle percentage)

3 - Fouls committed

3 - Ball Recoveries

Discussing this Partey performance brought out divergent opinions and accusations of being agenda-driven. This is what I wrote in the instant reaction and after watching the match back this morning I don’t think I would revise it:

This was the tale of two halves. In the first half, I think he played pretty well boarding on wow this was good, I don’t like it when he has to run backwards and the spaces can still be too big but he still had some really nice moments. The second half? That was near disaster, I don’t know how he ended up playing a full 90 minutes because he looked cooked at 55. I think he had a big part of why the team seemed to have lost control in the bad period and the team looked rattled.

There was without a doubt good stuff from Partey. He had several passes on the edge of the box that were valuable, he set up 4 shots (none particularly clear cut and one took a nice bit of individual effort from Saka), a smart quick free kick in the buildup to the second goal, and few of his signature diagonal balls out to the right wing.

There was also a fair amount of stuff that was poor from Partey. He lost possession 5 times in the Arsenal half, the most of any player. Two of these led to shots and one of them in the box that if Zinchenko hadn’t been aware of would have been a potential disaster giveaway.

He also had mediocre midfield progression, having just one total final third entry and negative total ball progression.

On the defensive side of the ball, I can’t help but think that he still looks like he doesn’t fully trust his current level of athleticism. It is hard to tell from the outside but it also looked like he was dealing with fatigue heavily in the second half, for a player who did not have a summer tournament and a full preseason that is a little worrying. In pre-season he has either been too high or too low as Arsenal pressed, I think here he fell back too often and the distances in the press suffered. He was also a bit too quick to dive in committing three fouls.

It is a mixed performance for sure, and how you ultimately rate it probably comes out to how you rate different things. I am pretty forgiving on risk-taking if it does come off but with Partey the risks he was taking were in the final third and he shined there. The mistakes were in the defensive and middle thirds of the pitch, it was not the risky things that weren’t coming off, it was the things that you want to be able to depend upon your defensive midfielder to do that he was failing at.

Ultimately this wasn’t a disaster game, it had good moments and things where you can imagine him adding value to the team. It was just overshadowed by mistakes that it is hard to accept for a player in his position.

Bukayo Saka is simply the star, no longer just star boy

5 - Shots (tied for most)

3 - Shots On Target, led Arsenal

0.49 - xG

1 - Goal to ice the game

5 - Progressive Passes, led Arsenal

4 - Deep Completions (not Cross), led Arsenal

5 - Key Passes, led Arsenal

7 - Shot creating actions, led Arsenal

0.48 - xA

25 - Pass Attempts with 80.0% Pass completion %

114.8% - Pass Efficiency (actual completion percentage compared to expected)

2 - Times Fouled

6 - Progressive Carries

4 - Carry into the box, led Arsenal

7 - Progressive Passes Received

15 - Touches in the box

2 - Tackles

2 - Fouls committed

1 - Blocked Passes

4 - Ball Recoveries

Saka is a special player and I think he is ready to shed the star boy label and just be a full-on Superstar. In this match, he had 10 shot contributions, 5 each of shots and key passes. He had 0.97 xG + xA and was worthy of both his goal and his assist in this match.

He also probably should have drawn a penalty but his less-than-perfect falling might have cost him in that regard.

I am running out of words to describe what he does on a week-in, week-out basis but I am enjoying every minute of it.