Arsenal’s criticism is embarrassing – Mikel Arteta has found a winning formula

Arsenal have faced criticism for their direct style and set-piece goals, but Mikel Arteta needed something to change to finally end their title drought

These days, it seems like you have to be careful with praise. Yeah, but they only score from the corners. They became Set Piece FC. Own goals are the second highest scorer. Oh, what a laugh!

Of course I’m talking about Arsenal. And some people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid giving themselves any credit.

Arsenal are under pressure and have taken two points from their last three games. They went to Leeds knowing it was a big game. And they lost talisman Bukayo Saka during warm-ups.

And what did they do? We beat Leeds 4-0 away. It was only Leeds’ third home defeat this season. Do you know how difficult it is to win at Elland Road?

read more: Arsenal, Mikel Arteta admits serious injury as he considers deadline day transferread more: Gunners win title race in next five Premier League games between Arsenal, Man City and Aston Villa

Noni Madueke was promoted from the bench to the starting lineup and served as a blindfold. The assist, the corner kick (given as an own goal against Karl Darlow) should have been his goal, but it was only one of Arsenal’s four goals from set-pieces.

Still, they are battered. That’s embarrassing. They topped the Premier League, finished first in the Champions League, reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and are still in the FA Cup. Still, there’s more.

Manchester City will play better football. I tend to agree. But even Josep Guardiola joked that he parked his bus at the Emirates at the start of the season.

Paul Scholes says they are the worst champions in Premier League history. Really? Have you checked how many international players they have?

There are cards on the table here. I’ve been critical of them quite a bit this season. I wrote an article before Leeds that analyzed why Leeds had such a high number of set-piece goals (57 per cent, 17th out of 20 games) and why safety-first Mikel Arteta chose to go down that path.

Well, it’s very simple. They have been runners-up for three years in a row, but missed the lead too much last season.

And guess what? They were slammed for being bottlers and always finishing second. So Arteta tries to deal with the problem…but still gets beaten up. I can’t beat him!

Let me be clear. I want to see free flowing champagne football. Surely we all would. However, three of his four goals for Leeds came from open play. Still, we are keeping an eye on the goal they scored from a corner kick.

The first one seems to be credited as a corner. Really? The ball was cleared. Madueke’s cross was sensational and Martin Zvimendi headed it home.

And what about wins and performance? Come. It’s a statement win. Credit where credit is due. And yet, the “buts” still come. That’s madness.

I was also critical of Arsenal’s reinforcements. I don’t think Victor Gokeres is good enough for Arsenal. I don’t think any of the players we signed last summer were good enough to improve the team. It’s a bigger team. But that doesn’t make them the strongest team.

I think sporting director Andrea Berta deserves attention. Not Arteta. He did the best with what he had.

And it’s worth pointing out that they were the second-top scorers in the Premier League, surprising all of Europe.

Look at the statistics. According to CannonStats.com (data courtesy of Opta), Arsenal (who won all 8 games by the way) had a goal difference of +19 (beating Bayern Munich by 5), with 17 goals coming from open play (second only to Bayern).

In fact, Liverpool scored more goals than Arsenal from set pieces. Arsenal’s xG in open play was 15.2.

So do you know why that happens? To me it’s obvious. Teams will compete in Europe. You get more space and chances from open play.

In the Premier League, teams sit back and defend. They make low blocks. City are good at solving that. Very good.

But Arsenal needed to find another way. They played some great football in Arteta’s first two title challenges. This made them popular among neutrals. But they finished in second place.

They are now trying to find a winning formula. Trust me, if Arsenal came up short I would be the first to criticize and say it was a wasted opportunity. But until they do, they certainly deserve a little more recognition.

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