Forgettable and consequential (Positives Needs & Hopes)[WOL 0-2 ARS]

‘Forgettable and consequential’

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

Oh boy, that game was rusty and forgettable.

Oh boy, that game was memorable and consequential.

So many things were true about this game that did not seem possible at the same time.

We looked like we made more bad decisions in the first hour than we have for the rest of 2025 combined. The rust was likely the reason but there was no time for rust. Sterling took the ‘Rust of the Game’ award quite easily which illuminates how poor he was because he should’ve been thumb wrestling for this award. Partey was off, Trossard played his worst game for the first 70 minutes that he’s played for the club and even though he’s been rather good at false nine before, it was looking grim for the rest of the season. Odegaard stepped up in the second half but was poor in the first half.

It was also true that a win was looking unlikely unless one player produced some magic…. Ethan Nwaneri. That should never happen on any professional team, ever. Arsenal in particular look more guilty in this scenario because we aren’t a team reliant on one 25 goal striker but expect all but Raya to contribute. That almost sounds silly but even though I can’t prove it, I believe that Arteta ‘expects’ the end of season scoring charts to look something like this….

Goals in all competitions: Havertz 20, Jesus 15, Saka 20, Trossard 15, Martinelli 15, Odegaard 15, Rice 15, Partey 6, Gabriel 10, Saliba 5, White 5, Timber 5, MLS 5, Calafiori 5

Then you have Nwaneri who breaks into the team and looks like the only threat in a must win game. Simply not good enough.

When Arsenal play like they did for the first hour we are almost always guilty of two things that we saw against Leicester. Lack of risk taken in creation and desire to take the initiative to take a shot that isn’t a high XG opportunity. We were suffering from both of these. We seem to have a stubbornness to not accept the game that we are playing. Too often we are facing a deep defensive block that look like they could shift left and right for another 90 minutes always giving us 1 v 2 situations as well as blocking shots all day long.

We introduced a new way to frustrate on Saturday too. Killing attacks by repeatedly getting offside or in Sterling’s case, looking like your left winger was a lottery winner.

But still Ethan plugged away seemingly unaware that everyone else looked like they were following a script leading to the likely end of our title chances. Ethan has the same attitude as Saka. Regardless of circumstance, Saka and now Ethan, seem to have such a strong desire to rise above mediocrity.

I understood why Arteta waited until he did to sub off Sterling. We just don’t have the luxury of sucking even more confidence from a player who is going to have to contribute and is currently close to totally drained of belief anyway. Players like Sterling don’t necessarily have to have good games, they just need a moment. The moment didn’t come and then with that substitution, our season may have changed for the better. The decision to make that sub was pretty obvious so the flowers that Arteta deserves weren’t really for that. It was more the decision to use Merino. He could’ve put Tierney on the left and hoped that he could connect with a failing Trossard or Calafiori at striker as he played there in his youth. He could’ve tried Odegaard at false nine and put Merino at left eight or moved Nwaneri to striker but he was playing effectively where he was.

The choice to put Merino at striker was the right one based on the only success we were having in attack in Nwaneri. With Trossard at striker we were nullifying Nwaneri’s best weapon, the in-swinging cross. The goal was such a massive relief but actually unsurprising. Football is so very simple if you choose to see it this way. Put players in areas of strength based on the game in front of you and ensure that those around them compliment their best skills. In fact both goals prove this point. Nwaneri in-swinging and Merino heading from 7 yards out. Trossard’s early left foot cross and Merino being on the end of it. I don’t think that anyone has commented about why Merino made that second goal look easy. The reason that Merino in front of goal may prove to be genius is that arguably the most important quality for a finisher is composure. Max, his friend Jake and I were just having a discussion about how over 50% of all shots go over the crossbar. At the highest level it’s rarely technique that is the issue but that the technique is affected by the over excitement/nervousness of the finisher. It’s rare to see someone who makes goalscoring look easy because controlling adrenaline is difficult. Watching Merino play I notice how elegant he is. How vertical his posture is. How serene and unflustered he looks. His reputation for not impacting games from midfield is fair as Arsenal attack more down the right and Merino is a little too conservative, but that was an unflustered finish of an elegant player who was just playing in his mode.

We might be thinking that he is a good option as he is an aerial threat but don’t discount that his serenity may lead to more finishes like his second goal.

POSITIVES:

Merino:

This was his day. Not all players have a moment in their career where they were individually responsible and without their contribution everything changes. As I write this I’m re-watching the game and Merino is about to enter the game. I’m going to pretend that I don’t know what’s going to happen so I can share his joy again.

Nwaneri:

Now he has impressed already but for me this was his coming out party. I was a little embarrassed that a 17 year old was the only one carrying an offensive threat for much of the game. I forget the saying. The ……………. of youth [exuberance – Ed.]. My brain is frozen having just sat and watched Max play 3 games in arctic conditions so somebody in the comments will tell me the adjective that I’m missing. Anyhow, Ethan did not seem to realize that he was supposed to be lame like the rest. His ‘I’ll show you then’ attitude really shone and will build an even greater level of trust towards his playing time. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I think that Saka and Nwaneri will be our two starting wingers for next season, simply because this dearth of options will give him the opportunity to make himself undroppable. His career looks like it could really have changed when he looks back on 2025 because I’d imagine that Tuchel will pick him in March and there is a good chance that he doesn’t just sit the England bench for experience but start one or both of the two March fixtures. Saka and Madueke are out and that leaves Bowen or out of position Palmer or Foden. Then you have to ask who is the form player right now? In my mind if you can start for Arsenal you can definitely start for England as Arsenal are a better team.

His reputation is already growing and so has his response. Leicester clearly did not want him cutting inside and shooting but were then exposed to his unseen ability to cross and shoot with his right. If he can become as deadly with his right as his left then he will only have Dembele at PSG as an equal in this side of his game.

It looks to me as if Arsenal are doing more functional training with Saka and Nwaneri. Their ability to cross that flat in-swinger and accuracy when shooting far post are almost identical and can only be achieved by repetition.

We need to keep these comparisons on the down low for his sake, but it’s becoming harder not to talk this way. This stat is simply phenomenal.

Odegaard:

He seems like such a conscientious person. He seems to have such high standards for himself. A healthy dissatisfaction with his performance. Always pushing himself and others. His first half was poor by his standards (not by the standards of others), but his mentality dragged his game to the level needed.

MLS:

He changed the destiny of this game. That interception at the back post was one of the most pivotal moments in our season to date. His introduction has been transformative and he will only continue to improve as he gets even bolder in his desire to penetrate through midfield.

Rice:

He is spending more time driving into the box and being in the box that it’s a matter of time before he goes on a goalscoring run. He is learning the timing of being a box player as it doesn’t seem natural like it is with Merino.

NEEDS:

White and the overlap:

As well as Nwaneri played, he desperately needed Timber to overlap him to release a defender to follow him. Timber didn’t but White does. It’s likely because MLS is inverting and Arteta doesn’t want his right back going that far forward with a left back in midfield. Whatever it is, we have to identify that whether it’s Saka or Nwaneri, we would be more productive if they had that release valve.

Merino:

Someone needs to tell Mikel Merino that scoring a brace doesn’t replace the fact that you missed buying your wife a Valentine’s gift. You may have seen the interview.

Corners:

As threatening as we are from corners we seem to score them in batches and have periods where we have 10 a game and don’t look like scoring. I think we need to be more unpredictable, especially as we have between 5 and 15 per game. It would work because everyone is expecting an in-swinger. I’d love to see a low driven ball to the edge of the box and a Partey shot.

Sterling:

He looks like a troubled soul. I don’t want to put the boot in because you never know what’s going on in someone’s life that might be affecting their performance. He just looks sad. It could be that he is realizing that having started so young and having so many minutes in his legs, he is playing like a 34 year old winger rather than one 4 years younger.

Ref v Timber:

I’m surprised that Timber didn’t headbutt him. I counted 4 times that he was left on the deck with no punishment given. Perhaps Timber told him that he looks like a complete cheesewizz with his socks pulled up so high that he looked like he was wearing sexy stockings.

HOPES:

Liverpool’s next three:

I saw their game yesterday. The Tarkowski equalizer is in their heads. They looked rattled against Wolves. They play Villa, City and Newcastle next and if they get 9 points then I think they win it. I don’t think they will though.

Merino:

I’m putting Merino in every part of this blog. He made us happy. When I was young my friends and I would go to Milton Keynes. We’d spend the entire day people watching with the intent on finding the best look-a-like. I remember finding 3 Brian Moore’s (host of The Big Match) in one day. I am gifted at this and my gift hasn’t left me. Having lost all humility I am now going to insist that Mikel Merino looks like a Spanish wine waiter. I can just see him in a tux with a dickie bow and a napkin draped over his arm with a bottle of the finest Bordeaux red.

TWEETS and THOUGHTS:

I actually didn’t know that our unbeaten run was this long.

Drew has always been observant. I was tempted to use his thought as my opening piece. ‘Resilient’ is exactly what Arsenal are. A product of coaching expectations and standards.

Football fans have the best sense of humour.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis Skelly are a gift. A gift from Per and his team that will likely end up being valued north of 150M. If both are given their England debuts in March, which they should, then their rise will be seen as incredible. England have so much competition and yet these two have so quickly become the best two options currently fit and available. Unlike Arsenal who have 25 players to choose from, Tuchel has ten times that number and still our cream rises.

This will also mean that Arsenal may be able to completely finish their squad this summer as we will not need a left back and we will only need one winger, not two.

Unless we decide to go huge with Isak or Musiala, I’d imagine that the rumours of a summer where we get Nico Williams, Ben Sesko, Martin Zubimendi, Johann Garcia and Sverre Nypan is achievable at about a 180-200M outlay.

The sun is starting to shine.

Mike McDonald

Former Highbury regular. Moved to TN, USA in ’99. Married with 3 kids. Coached in UK and US for 27 years.
Mike McDonald Soccer Academy in Morristown TN, Olympic Development coach, Regional Premier League Champion.