- Bayern v Arsenal: Arsenal continue to out perform Munich in domestic league games
- Totties get a win and race up to 16th, but are still a very long way behind Arsenal
By Tony Attwood
When I came to think about it, it seemed rather strange that the question wasn’t regularly posed, and answered. Which is to say, “How are we doing this year compared with last year?”
Of course this isn’t a question that can be answered exactly because the fixture list isn’t the same each year, and although obviously by the end of the season we play everyone else twice, a measurement made after a dozen or so games can be misleading because of factors affecting just this year or last year. A key player was injured, the fixture list involved a couple of really tough games early on… that sort of thing.
But then, clubs ought to be set up to overcome such difficulties – so, I thought – there might be something to be discovered by seeing exactly where Arsenal were after seven league games in recent seasons. And if I may, I will stress that it is SEVEN LEAGUE GAMES and I am not including anything from the league cup, or a preliminary round of a European competition.
Now I don’t recall anyone doing this before – but if someone has then a) I’m sorry to have taken up your time and b) doubly sorry to have take up my time, because it took a lot longer than I thought it would. But for what it is worth these are the league situations after seven league matches soon after the start of each season as indicated in the first column.
And just to spell it out, this is only including league matches, not league cup, or Preliminary Rounds of European competitions etc.
Now the first thing you will notice is just how poor 2021/2 was at the start. From which you then can quickly notice that after that the first seven league games of each season have been really very consistent. The points total ranges between 16 and 18 after the opening campaign in this list. We know how to get going.
| Season | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 10 |
| 2022/3 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 18 |
| 2023/4 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
| 2024/5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
| 2025/6 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 16 |
| 2026/7 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 18 |
However although the points total across the last six years of the chart only varies by a maximum of two for each years, except the starting year of 2021/2 the number of goals scored has remained consistent, dropping just this season from the range of 14 to 17 down to 11. The defence has stayed where it was before, letting in five goals but we have scored fewer. There we are – the entire issue in half a sentence.
Now there is quite an achievement here – to have got the top number of points across this set of games (18) while knocking in roughly half the number of goals that we are used to getting. Not good for the entertainment ratings, but at least we are not going to have to be spending the rest of the season trying to catch up while looking over our shoulders.
In fact one could make a positive out of this: we can win when we score, and we can win wen we score fewer.
Now this seems to me an important point to understand. In points total we are at the top of the game, so all we have to do is knock in a few more goals Which although it sounds a bit odd to say, can be an interesting thought. For it suggests that a greater effort could be put into getting one or two extra goals at the end of the game just to help the numbers along.
Anyway we are second in the league, at a time when we have not really been at our very best in terms of the forward line. So we don’t have to go through an agonising discussions about which forwards to buy. Our players know perfectly well how to score, but have just been having a bit of a lean time. They are still getting the results, and we are undoubtedly on track for the next section of the competition.
But what about the league itself. As it stands the top of the table reads…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 21 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 18 |
So how did the table look a year ago after seven games? Here’s the answer
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
Yes we are down in the goal difference department but we are only three goals down in terms of scoring in the PL and a couple of goals worse off in the defence. Both can be rectified, while the things we have got right would create a lot more work if we were trying to reform them, because they had gone wrong.
So all things considered I would say we are surviving rather well both in the Champions League and the Premier League and on that basis I would suspect we are going to have rather a good season. Better still, because most managers and coaches will have seen us slip down the league, they’ll have forgotten all about Arsenal, and won’t notice as we sneak back into the top three.
When we take the matches against the same opponents we have done better than last season. The Brighton defeat was the one we won last season. But we lost at Aston Villa, drew at Sunderland and Nottingham. Now we won those 3 matches.
It all depends on who we played this time last year compared to this year so far.
In other words it is better to say have we had an easier start draw this year compared to last year. Then again we can also ask are the teams we have played so far, playing to form. Too many variables for points comparing.
But we can compare performances better than comparing points. Last year we performed slightly better with certain aspects or play like our set piece goals, which probably equats to why the number of goals scored this year is less than last year.
So on that aspect of missing our set piece mojo, we are not as good as last year’s goal scoring set pieces but we are probably about equal in in open play goals and would be near equal in defence if you discount Brighton as blip of a poor game.
14 goals last year and 11 goals this year, but we have scored no set piece goals this year, but last year we scored 3 set piece goals after the first seven games, so maybe that’s the difference.
I did say it would be harder this year to maintain our tactical surprise with set pieces as teams know our set up now and know to mark key players like Gabriel.
I said before the summer window when you asked on this site, if we could retain the title, that we needed to improve not just on players but just as importantly, we need to improve tactically and change up our set piece play, as well as bring in a tactical new style of players to give us tactical options.
Teams now know how to make games difficult and know they must win the second ball against us and to recover quick possession when they loose the ball.
In other words close us down quickly, and counter attack our highline with direct over the top balls to either anticipating speed wingers or a strong holding target man.
Our passing needs to be more one touch, rather than two touch, and we need at least two players anticipating the counter attack rather than just leaving the usual lone one on one, and we need to alter our set piece play with some new surprise moves. Just saying.
I am sure Arteta is working on improvements and would have had better luck in the transfer market had things gone to plan, but we must maintain that high energy, that quality one touch passing and anticipate the opposite teams quick closing down, getting to the second ball and fast transition attack play, like Brighton.
Arteta we know, will be working on this.
IMO.
daveg
Is Saliba’s injury another factor in the set piece goals being low so far? Not to mention the changes in the laws regarding corners started at the World Cup?