MIKEL ARTETA faces having to change his principles after just two games in charge – because Arsenal haven’t got the players he needs to play the pressing game he wants.
Arteta has hardly hidden the fact he wants his Gunners to follow the example of his old Manchester City side in the way he wants to play the game.
That means every one of his stars need to put in as much of a shift off the ball as they do when they are in possession.
The Spaniard sent his players out with clear instructions to set about chasing Chelsea every time they were in possession, closing them down and pressing in numbers.
For just under an hour at the Emirates it worked as Arsenal produced arguably their most complete performance as a team of the season.
But the problem was, they were putting in such a huge effort to shut down Frank Lampard’s side that by the hour mark they were all completely knackered, and the Blues ran out 2-1 winners.
Where we had Mesut Ozil putting in a shift in the opening half, and looking threatening on the ball too, he was largely anonymous after the break.
That’s not to single out the German, who already looks twice the player under the new manager as he was in the Unai Emery era.
Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira were all working their socks off in the opening period, but all looked leggy as the game wore on.
It meant Chelsea were able to completely dominate the latter stages of the game, even though Lampard’s men were well below par across the pitch.
And if they go out and play the same way against Manchester United on New Year’s Day you can be sure the same thing will happen again.
Because when you employ the pressing game City do, and what Arteta wants his Arsenal to, you are only as good as your least fit player.
If you don’t commit as a team, and start to flag, then holes begin to appear all over the pitch and you get exploited.
That is what happened to Arsenal here, and will happen time and again unless Arteta comes up with another way of playing.
For with the players he has at his disposal, the Gunners just cannot carry out the masterplan for the entire 90 minutes.
It means the new manager has to find a way of getting his players to both press, and conserve their energies so they can last the course.
That won’t be easy in the short term, and it means there is little promise of the league position getting much better any time soon.
