The disappointment of defeat for Arsenal against Villarreal was perhaps eclipsed by the performance. Mikel Arteta might have said that the result was painful but that he was still happy with many aspects of the game.
“So, in a lot of things, I’m very happy,” he said. “Today, I think the result is painful.
“I think they’ve been super-efficient, but we’ve been naïve, especially the way we have been defending open spaces, and that’s something that, especially the way we play, we have to absolutely nail. Today we haven’t been good at all in that department and that has cost us the game, for sure.”
With less than two weeks now until the opening Premier League game, this is a concern. However, many questioned the manager even before a ball was kicked as Arteta’s line-up came in for scrutiny.
Viktor Gyokeres started with Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka; however, it was a fully rotated midfield three from what is expected to be the starting trio in the Premier League. Christian Norgaard, Mikel Merino and Ethan Nwaneri started the match.
Martin Zubimendi came on at half-time and played for a small period on the same side as Gyokeres; however, when both Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice came on, the Swede was removed, and so did not get that exposure to the expected midfield trio. This sparked questions on the final whistle of why.
Arteta was asked how long it might take Gyokeres to get used to his teammates. The Swede has come from a team playing a different style to the Gunners, and therefore, both player and club will need to adapt.
“I hope days and every day in training I think he’s getting a really good feeling,” he said. “I think he’s built connections as well outside, which I think is really important with players that are going to help him to be in the position that he needs to get in.
“His fitness level, I think he hasn’t trained really with the team for two months, so he’s done now six or five sessions, I think, before today. So, I think on Saturday, again, I think he will take another step, and he will be in a better condition.”
The reality on the day was that Kai Havertz’s injury prompted a start for Gyokeres. After very little time with the side, it would probably have been Havertz that would have started were he fit. He wasn’t and so Gyokeres came straight in.
The expectation is on the weekend, Gyokeres will indeed partner with Odegaard, Rice and Zubimendi in what is the final match before the trip to Old Trafford. There is perhaps an element of not wanting to give Ruben Amorim too much information, but the substitutions will have conserved those starting figures for the Athletic Club match.
If it isn’t a case where they start together, then rightfully it would have been a baffling choice by Arteta. However, the answers are assumed to be coming this weekend instead.
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