Fulham vs Arsenal: Instant Reaction

Not a lot of comfort here today

Straight into things.

Headline: This is what not creating chances looks like

I came out very strong that Arsenal didn’t play poorly against West Ham and that they didn’t defend especially well. I think that is still correct, they were battered and it took luck, some bad finishing, and last ditch efforts to keep Arsenal off the score sheet.

Here on the other hand?

This was bad, Arsenal even got some of the good luck that was missing against West Ham to help them go ahead in this match and it still didn’t matter. Arsenal looked like they were dead on their feet here. The ball moved too slow, the crosses and final balls were off, and the few openings that were created were weakly or wildly hit.

After the opening goal, Arsenal had just 10 shots. That’s crazy, they spent over 30 minutes of that tied, and another 30 minutes behind. Just 10 more shots.

They weren’t even especially good shots, worth just 0.7 xG!

Arsenal won on Field Tilt but this was not a day where I think that tells a particularly helpful story.

After going ahead Arsenal became incredibly passive. Fulham got a foothold in the game and were able to create some threat. It took a mistake from Saka losing the ball with White up the field and Arsenal in a bad position to counter press to get them on the scoresheet but this wasn’t exactly stout defending with Willian giving a warning that Fulham could be dangerous here.

Even after Fulham scored and Arsenal went back into having more of the ball and more of the territory it was very much day where we saw the horseshoe of death come out.

There was no incision, Arsenal had just 24 touches in the box here, with only 15 coming after Arsenal scored. That is such a damning statistic that really hammers home just how much the team struggled to get the ball from the final third into actual dangerous locations.

The players that normally provide this really went missing here.

Odegaard who looked so good against West Ham had just 2 passes completed into the box and 4 deep completions, Saka had 0 passes completed into the box and just 4 deep completions, Martinelli had 0 and 0, Rice was the only one that had some in this match with 3 passes completed into the box but it still felt like he couldn’t break the lines and create actual danger but at least he did have something.

I know many people have been clamoring for getting Zinchenko out of the team but it really looked like a team that was struggling to move the ball forward, and when they did it was almost never with the speed to make Fulham nervous.

Kiwior and Tomiyasu combined for just 4 progressive passes in this match. He might be a bozo at defending at times but Arsenal didn’t even get the extra solidity conceding 2 goals, allowing the most shots this season, and lost the ball progression. This wasn’t the only problem with the team today with struggles all over the pitch but it certainly was a data point for how the team looks without him and how noticeable the change is.

One of the other things that has started to worry me is that the team struggling to create much of anything with their ability to beat a man with a dribble. Coming into this match Arsenal had completed just the 15th most dribbles in the league, and it isn’t even just because they don’t try them with the 13th most attempts and with the 18th best success rate.

Today they were just 6 of 16 on take-ons and really didn’t do much carrying the ball at the Fulham back line. Even worse it looked like a team that was not up for winning the duels.

The lack of much of anything in the attacking half is probably the most worrying thing here.

Things are probably going to be sad and a bit toxic about Arsenal for a while but at least this time most of the criticism will be deserved.

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