Et tu, Pépé?
Before Pépé was sent off in the 51st minute, he was to be credited for at least trying to get forward and take on defenders. And while I won’t belabor the criticisms about how Pépé was naively goaded into head-butting Leeds’ Egzjan Alioski (who fell to the ground as if he had just insulted Zinedine Zidane’s sister), it is fair to note that the Ivorian is dispossessed rather frequently. In fact, Pépé is the second most dispossessed Gunner this season, despite having made the Starting XI just two times this season. The last Gunner I can recall to be this loose with possession was Alexis Sánchez, but unlike Pépé, generally speaking the (reportedly) 5’6″ Sánchez was a force of nature on the pitch, who more than made up for his tendency to dally on the ball during his time at the Emirates.
Role Reversal
First, last Sunday I watched the usually prolific Arsenal women’s team (i.e., scorers of 30 goals in just seven matches in the Women’s Super League) play Chelsea in a 1-1 draw. The Lady Gunners scored the match’s opening goal in the 86th minute, only to concede the equalizer via an own goal just four minutes later. Then today, with over 66% of possession, 25 shots, a man advantage for nearly half the match, and failing to pick up all three points, one would have been forgiven for thinking that they were watching Arsenal in the later years under Wenger. Leeds probably “deserved better” today, but as Gooners know all too well, if that was the standard, then Wenger would probably still be roaming the touchline at the Emirates rather than working for FIFA.
“That’s Bad, Dad”
After NBC studio host Rebecca Lowe commented that Arsenal has not scored a goal from the outfield in five consecutive league matches, this was what one of my daughter’s shouted from the other room. Unfortunately our scoring dry spell continues. When Saka came on today as a substitute, he almost single-handedly pulled off a smash and grab, but if his injury is serious, then that leaves one less creative player for Arteta to deploy in a side already bereft of attacking options. Mesut, how do you spell schadenfreude again?