On the Whistle: RC Lens 2-1 Arsenal - "An injury every bit as frustrating as the result"

Full-time inlawns Arsenal have lost 2-1, a disappointing result, a disappointing performance, a disappointing night all round for reasons that we'll get into here. It's the first defeat of the season and I think it's difficult to argue that Arsenal did enough to win the game. Certainly our own mistakes contributed and there was some excellent finishing from the French side which punished us pretty severely but this was not a good performance. Certainly after about 25th minute or so not a good performance and frustration and disappointment compounded potentially by the loss of Bukayo Saka who went off injured in the first half. I have to say look you already know if you're a regular viewer of this channel what I think of Bukayo Saka's his durability, the character that he shows playing game after game despite receiving kick after kick. I think it's remarkable. I think it's a testament to him. I think by and large it's been a really positive thing for Arsenal and for his development but I think tonight and listen it's easy to say this with hindsight but even before the game I thought tonight might have been a game to leave him out. He went out of the Bournemouth match on Saturday feeling injured, feeling pain. We're just a few days on from that and here he was starting this game and I get it right. You want your best players out there but I think the presence of Manchester City next in the fixture list should have given Mikel Arteta a bit more pause for thought, should have given him greater consideration when it came to selecting a starting XI and when it came particularly to selecting Saka. I know Man just say the next game is the biggest one but in this instance that would be wrong to say that. Man City is the biggest game and all the Champions League games are going to be important for us but you can afford to lose a group stage game. Arsenal have lost tonight. Their position in the group, partly thanks to results elsewhere, is not in particular peril. If they do the jobs in home games they're still going to be in a really strong position when it gets to the crunch and it gets to qualification. The game against Man City in the Premier League, it's not quite a final but I think it has almost that degree of importance, partly because City are so good that I think the opportunity to take points off them is so precious. I think we can't win this league without beating Man City and because the psychological value of it is going to be so significant in determining how the rest of the season plays out, I really think that it would have made sense to just sit Saka down, let him recuperate, let him be his best for Sunday. At the time of speaking I've not seen the press conference so I don't know what Michael Arteta will say about Saka's injury. I'm not sure we could trust it anyway. I saw him go back onto the bench and sit with the rest of the subs. Obviously he wasn't rushed away for immediate treatment but it didn't really look like that sort of injury anyway. It wasn't a broken bone or damaged cartilage or anything like that. It looked like a muscular problem. Now normally you'd see a muscular problem and think, well that'll keep the player out for two or three weeks. Genuinely, given Saka's toughness, as I spoke about earlier in the week, I wouldn't rule him out. I would never rule him out and given his importance to the team and given Arteta's absolute insistence on picking him whenever it's possible, I think he'll have a chance for Sunday and I think if there's any chance he can play, he probably will play. An international break follows, I think I'm right in saying, so Arsenal might consider it worth the risk, especially if it means they can keep him out of England duty. But let's see, let's see. That's going to be something Arsenal fans are fretting over and there's going to be a lot of frustration over that because I think a lot of fans saw it coming. There's always a bit of bad luck when a player gets injured but sometimes you contribute to your own bad luck and as I say, I think this was a chance to not use Saka, so a bit of frustration there. Arsenal did take the lead through Gabriel Jesus because Saka, with an assist of course, always contributing, collecting a loose pass, playing it to Jesus who finished really clinically. One of the more difficult chances and yet he took it really well. His form going into Sunday is some source of encouragement. And I thought Arsenal started really well, there was a little early period where Lonz had a couple of corners and threatened a bit of pressure, the crowd were really up for it, it was a great atmosphere there tonight. But Arsenal rode that pretty well, came into the game, looked controlled in possessions, Nchenko pulling the strings, everything really hinged on the equaliser. It was a concession of possession from David Raya, maybe a little bit more ambitious than he needed to be on the ball. I'm not going to come down hard on him there, I do think that when goalies give the ball away they get hammered for it. I didn't think it was right to hammer Aaron Ramsdale for it and I don't think it's right to hammer David Raya for it either. We ask these goalkeepers to beat the press, to take risks and sometimes those risks will backfire. You're essentially asking probably the least technically adept player out of the XI on the pitch to take some of the biggest risks in some of the riskiest parts of the pitch. Sometimes that's going to go wrong for you and it did for David Raya tonight. Even so, they had the possession 40 yards from goal, everything Lonz did from that point on was perfect. Brilliant take, brilliant lay-off, brilliant finish and that was one-all. Then you had the Saka injury and the game really swung on that. I did think Fabio Vieira was maybe an odd choice to replace Makaio Saka. There were other options there. Reece Nelson would have given you that threat in behind. There was no Martinelli of course. Trossard's not really that sort of player to run in behind. Vieira certainly isn't. I think he does better in those kind of central roles that Odegaard and Havertz were occupying. Other options you had, you could have put Eddie Nketiah on and pushed Gabriel Jesus wide. I think either that or bringing Nelson on would have suited us a little bit better than Vieira who didn't really get into the game in any meaningful way. Just one more thing on the goalkeeper situation. As I say, I'm not going to criticise Raya for the mistake and I think by and large he's been very good since he came into the team. I will say, and people's opinions will differ on this, if it was up to me Aaron Ramsdale would be getting these European games. I think Nikola Teta has spoken with pride and with conviction about having two great goalkeepers, two very very good goalkeepers in the squad. That's something that he really wants. Well if you really want that I think you have to give both reasons, both keepers, a reason to feel wanted. I think you've got to give them both reasons to stay. You know what everybody says about the two goalkeepers thing is that it's difficult to keep two happy and I think Arsenal are actually in a quite fortunate position where having both the Premier League and the Champions League, they actually could keep those goalkeepers happy. They could give the Premier League games to one, the Champions League games to another and I think it wouldn't significantly diminish their chances of qualifying. I think Raya and Ramsdale are close enough in terms of ability to do that. I just think in picking Raya for the PSV game and the Lons game tonight, you're sending quite a clear message to Aaron Ramsdale and I think it makes it very difficult frankly for him to stay happy at the club, for him to think he's going to get enough game time with just the domestic cups. Obviously he'll keep pushing for a league place and a Champions League place, obviously injuries can happen but I think these Champions League group stage games are an opportunity to give Ramsdale that game time that he needs to stay sharp and to stay happy. I'll repeat myself, if you're serious about wanting two good goalkeepers, you've got to keep them happy and at the moment I don't think Arsenal are really doing enough to do that. What else to say? We didn't really recover, yeah. It was another excellent finish from them on the second goal. They did punish us pretty severely and there were chances for us at the other end, you know, Tommy Assu, pretty unfortunate I thought. His shot goes straight to Bryce Samba either side and it's a goal. There was a little scramble towards the end there with Rhys Nelson involved but it wasn't to be. I'm just trying to think about the conclusion from the game. I thought Declan Rhys looked very good in the deep line midfield role. I thought William Seliba had some very positive moments, as he tends to. I thought Tommy Assu had a decent enough game at right back and showed the strength of the squad in that position. I think it was right to give him the game, to give Ben White a rest. We're very blessed at right back to have both Tommy Assu and Ben White. One thing you would have to say about Saka and the amount of games he plays is we're not as blessed in that position. We don't have someone who is close really to Saka in terms of what he's capable of contributing. That's easier said than done. I will touch on Kai Havertz briefly. I feel like it's difficult with Kai Havertz because there was such opposition to the signing and so much negativity outside the club, questioning the deal and the wisdom of the deal, that there's been a lot of pushback from Arsenal fans. I feel like it's difficult to be critical of Havertz without being accused of jumping on some sort of bandwagon. It's not my intention at all. When he signed for the club, or when he was close to signing for the club, I did a video about how I thought he'd be used. This was partly based on conversations I'd had with my brother, who's a Chelsea fan and saw quite a lot of him. Honestly, I thought he was coming into Arsenal to play No. 9. I really did at first. That was my assumption until I heard otherwise. That made sense to me because I felt that we needed a different option at No. 9. I felt like there were too many similarities almost between Jesus and Enchete. I felt that we needed somebody taller who could play No. 9, who was maybe more of a hold-up player, a link player. I say No. 9 in the broadest sense, 9.5, false No. 9. When I watch Havertz play in midfield, it is still early days, but to me he looks like a forward playing in midfield. I really think that when I look at him, the positions he receives the ball, he doesn't look comfortable to me in those deeper areas. He doesn't look comfortable with 360 congestion. To me, he looks like a guy who should be playing up top. Now, some people will say that's ridiculous because I know there are people who saw him play at Chelsea who thought he wasn't a striker. I think he is a striker, but just an unconventional sort of striker. I don't preclude the idea he'll adapt to this midfield role, but what I would say is this. He played up top in the Community Shield against Man City. Has he had a better game for Arsenal than that to this point? I'm not sure. I'm not sure he has. And actually, if Saka is out at the weekend, I'd be thinking very seriously about playing Kai Havertz up top again. You know, that would enable you to play Trossard or Martinelli on the left, put Fabio Vieira in the left eight role with Odegaard. Oh sorry, scrap that. Thomas Pate is potentially fit and available. So you could play Pate, Odegaard and Rice as your midfield three or Vieira if you want to go more attacking. Trossard or Martinelli on the left, fitness dependent. Gabriel Jesus on the right in a position where he's really excelled for Man City previously and Kai Havertz up top. And you can use him as a hold-up player. You can hit him early with long passes from presumably David Rye or Ben White or whoever it might be. You could try and drag City players out of position for the likes of Jesus and Trossard or Martinelli to run him behind. I'd be thinking very seriously about that and we'll see in the long term how he adapts to the role. But I'm just sharing my observations at this stage. To me, he still looks like a forward playing in midfield. Maybe that's part of the plan. We use him as a kind of second striker at times. Runs to the back post, winning flick-ons, almost like a traditional target man. I don't know, something to keep an eye on. I can hear the baby crying so I'd better go and deal with that. Thanks Manchester United for providing some solace. Andrea Nanna is everything I dreamed of and more. Disappointing night and we'll all forget all about it if we beat Man City on Sunday. But all eyes are going to be on Bakaya Saka. I'm sure we'll get reports on the degree of limp he had as he gets on the bus tonight. Thanks for watching as always guys, especially on the bad nights. I do appreciate it. Subscribe for more videos and take care. Bye-bye.