It wasn’t terribly pretty or fluent, but Arsenal’s win on the opening day at Manchester United brought to mind what they say in golf – there are no pictures on scorecards and no greater irrelevance than the detail of how a ball found the hole.
For Mikel Arteta, there would be a degree of justification if he wished to see Sunday’s 1-0 victory in much the same way, though it wouldn’t necessarily be helpful.
It was a fabulous start in the numbers’ game but not so fine on the eye.
That might seem like nitpicking, but on such details a title can be won or lost, meaning there will also be an internal reflex at London Colney to explore their day more comprehensively.
On the intangible quality of resilience, they showed it in abundance at Old Trafford against a United side benefitting from a sublime atmosphere and the twin menace of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha. But there will also be the question for Arteta of how his side allowed United to dominate and threaten with such regularity, when those same qualities were conspicuously missing from the team that actually won.
Establishing those corrections across the next 10 months will be key to breaking their streak of near misses.
Viktor Gyokeres and supply lines
Definitive conclusions based on one hour of football would be daft in the extreme. But it is also fair to say this was nothing close to the kind of Premier League debut he would have craved, hence why he lasted only 60 minutes before being subbed off.
There were promising elements to his game, which mainly traced to his work rate and physicality. Arsenal have long been prone to a spot of bullying over the years, but the sight of Matthijs De Ligt bouncing off the Swede’s frame and hitting the deck would suggest they have a striker who can answer rough questions.
But they haven’t paid £64million for a battering ram and the more fundamental qualities of his game were missing here. That could be told through a series of unflattering statistics: 22 touches, nine passes, zero shots.
Some of the blame for such inauspicious contributions might be directed to Bukayo Saka, who failed to open a supply route. It is to be expected that two such talented, intelligent players will strike a productive relationship far sooner than later, but they were operating on different thought patterns at Old Trafford. The runs and passes never seemed to align.
If there was a low point for Gyokeres, it came in the 51st minute when he was set loose into space on the left by Martin Odegaard, but overtook the ball on his before then fouling Casemiro in an attempt to win it back.
‘He did a lot of things very good,’ Arteta said. ‘In the finishing situations, he didn’t have that many chances because before we had to play that last ball, we were standing still.’
Controlling the centre and unlocking Zubimendi
If there was a theme of the first half, it came from the regularity with which United were able to burst through the middle. That will be a concern for Arteta, not least because Martin Zubimendi has arrived with the justified reputation as one of the world’s best defensive midfielders.
Initially, the Spaniard was slow to track the deeper runs and intentions of Cunha, which in turn allowed the United forward full-speed charges at Arsenal’s exposed centre-backs. Much like Gyokeres’s dynamic with Saka up front, the expectation will be that Zubimendi and Declan Rice can mould into a formidable pairing in that bank of three with Odegaard.
There were signs here in the second half that they were already adapting. On the ball, Zubimendi was tidy and intelligent. He is one of those players who will draw lazy sneers for his volume of short deliveries, but it was also notable that no one on the field managed more than his six line-breakers in the first period. His quality will shine through across the season.
The Martinelli issue
Gabriel Martinelli was largely ineffective, supporting the understanding that Arteta is willing to let him leave. The worry is that Noni Madueke didn’t offer much more when he replaced him.
There were a couple of occasions where Odegaard looked left to direct an attack, only to see Martinelli had not anticipated the manoeuvre.
Pivoting to go right instead, Saka became a more predictable outlet and United seemed wise to the pattern.
Winging it and living dangerously
It would be harsh to single out Riccardo Calafiori on a day when he has scored the winner, albeit it from less distance than the average school ruler, but his adventures up the wing from left back felt like an accident waiting to happen.
Mbeumo and Diogo Dalot in particular exploited the gaps and on another day could have penalised Arsenal.
Used correctly, Calafiori’s engine and bursts are an asset, but there also needs to be a sense of caution and awareness of the game state – he was going on his charges at points when his team-mates were hanging back, causing a vulnerability where none needed to exist.
