Fulham vs Arsenal: Instant Reaction

The raw emotions and thoughts at full time.

Straight into it.

Headline: Doomed by the first half

You can only recover so much in this game and Arsenal just had so little to offer in the first half that it basically set them up that they were fighting an uphill battle from the start.

The lineup was sub optimal, dealing with injuries across the back line again forced Jurrien Timber to the wrong side and Thomas Partey out of position to the right. This was the same issue that the team had against Newcastle and a similar struggle to progress and create balance reared its head again.

Looking at the pass map and average positions, the first half again just screamed a lack of balance as the whole team is tilted too far to the right and the players on the left are all sucked into the middle.

The team struggled to effectively move the ball up the field and it was a half that was wasted. The non-shot xG is a good reflection of this:

Arsenal didn’t let Fulham do much, they also didn’t really try all that much once they got their goal, but Arsenal just totally had no ideas or ways to get the ball up the field. It was a dreadful performance, I found myself struggling to watch and keep my focus on the game at all. It was just a whole lot of nothing.

The second half was better as Arsenal seemed to be playing like the season was on the line but in the end it was just not enough to overcome throwing away 45 minutes.

Even in the second half, there was still just not enough, even if it could have been with the tight margins on the potential go ahead goal.

Open play is just not enough