Martin Odegaard is more important to Arsenal than Mikel Arteta, who is stuck in his ways and was taught a lesson by Simone Inzaghi in defeat to Inter.
Whether for Arsenal or England, “Bukayo Saka has to play on the right.” It’s a statement no one ever contests.
For England, we get it. He’s comfortably the best English right winger, he has to play, and the ludicrous wealth of forward options means he’s not needed to play elsewhere. For Arsenal, we’re not sure we do get it anymore.
There’s no question it’s his best position. His hit-rate when coming inside on his left is second perhaps only to Mohamed Salah in the Premier League when in that position, and he threatens going the other way.
There’s also no question that this isn’t really about Saka, it’s about kickstarting a stuttering Arsenal attack by any means necessary.
Arsenal X was ablaze with frustration at Leandro Trossard starting again after a string of distinctly average displays, culminating in what was widely considered to be a shocker against Newcastle, with Gabriel Martinelli granted more wiggle room by the fanbase despite similar mediocrity over a longer period of time.
Gabriel Jesus was introduced at half-time here but we wonder what he, Raheem Sterling or Ethan Nwaneri have to do to earn a start, or rather how ineffective Trossard or Martinelli have to be to be dropped in their favour.
Jesus didn’t do much when he came on and Sterling’s yet to get going following his loan switch from Chelsea. But they’re unlikely to improve without game time and Arsenal wouldn’t be losing anything by using them over Trossard or Martinelli, whose main contributions are fluffed crosses, misplaced passes and turnovers.
As Saka frequently finds and generally copes brilliantly with, he was doubled and times tripled up on stuck out on the right. Rio Ferdinand urged Arsenal to get the ball to him early in the piece at the San Siro – not that they need a second invitation – because “I don’t think the full-backs can handle him”.
He had more touches (73) than any Arsenal player other than the centre-backs but was surrounded as the Gunners’ only real threat, making for a very comfortable night on the back foot for Inter. Simone Inzaghi has displayed his tactical chops on a frequent basis in the Champions League over the last couple of seasons but we can’t imagine his instructions ahead of this game were much more unusual or complicated than ‘stop Saka and you stop Arsenal’.
If Sterling played Saka could move into the middle and at least be more of a goal threat. It might not work and we can hear the Arsenal fans scoffing as we write this, but Mikel Arteta is in Worth A Try territory because they were flogging a dead horse against Inter, as they were against Newcastle on Saturday.
MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365
👉 F36Skive: Edu’s top 10 most expensive Arsenal signings…
👉 Edu leaving Arsenal: Five Chelsea rejects included in ranking of every signing made under Brazilian
👉 Arsenal: Edu replacement identified; ‘set for wider role’ after Arteta reveals ‘plan’ – ‘happened quickly’
Fortunately for Arsenal it’s a solution to a problem they may not have for much longer, with Martin Odegaard coming on for the last five minutes here.
The Gunners captain is a wonderful footballer who’s got so, so much better during his absence by virtue of his side’s alarming lack of creative spark without him. He doesn’t strike us as a footballer who feels pressure, which is fortunate given Arsenal’s season appears to rest entirely on him hitting the ground running.
He’s only one man. And while we have little doubt that Arsenal will improve thanks to the enviable qualities he’s produced on an outstandingly consistent basis, if Arteta is banking on Odegaard putting the attack on his back and carrying them to glory, either in the Champions League or Premier League, he’s surely mistaken.
Inzaghi made six changes for this game. None of Nicolo Barella, Marcus Thuram, Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Alessandro Bastoni – in-form players who have been near stalwarts in Serie A – started, and they won. Conversely, Arteta continues to start players who aren’t performing for Arsenal, and they lost, again.
Arteta’s unwillingness to adapt in order to solve glaring and obvious issues cost Arsenal on a night when the opposition manager made a horses for courses selection no one would have expected and came up trumps.
If anything has become clear over the last couple of months it’s that Arteta’s importance to Arsenal pales in comparison to Odegaard’s. Good luck, mate. It’s all on you.
