That may be more of an issue for this new Champions League than Mikel Arteta, who seemed content enough to come from Atalanta with a 0-0 draw and an opening point. That was largely thanks to both the intelligence and instinct of David Raya.
The goalkeeper first saved Mateo Retegui's penalty after a quick run to goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana during a check, before somehow getting up to palm away the forward’s rebound. It ensured yet another clean sheet for Arsenal, their fourth in five games this season. If such defensive assurance is going to bring a lot of nils on one side of the scoreboard, though, the increasing question is whether a certain attacking predictability without Martin Odegaard will also lead to more nils on the other side, too.
This game was perhaps a warning for the next few months – maybe months – although the context inevitably made Arteta more conservative. It was of a piece with the 1-0 win over Tottenham in that sense.
Given this was the opening game of a fairly forgiving “Super League” group stage, to add to recent injuries, Arsenal were always going to play it tight around their own box and refuse to commit too many players forward. That inevitably took away invention but a question that is going to rise is whether they are overly dependent on Odegaard for creativity – at least until they just blow away a few teams again. Raheem Sterling, who did offer Arsenal’s best pass of the game on coming on as a sub, may be increasingly important.
This can’t be divorced from the nature of the new Champions League, either. It said much that it took a second-half penalty to finally set things off a bit.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 20, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 20, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
It's the unmade Rocky film with a twist... roll up, folks
There is no hate, no love, the gloves are big and the rounds will be short when Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight on Friday night.
While rivals hit the buffers, Liverpool deserve their lead
Alexis Mac Allister can have a footballing eloquence. His job involves reading the game.
United's ship steadied, now Amorim hits deeper waters
It may be the way all Manchester United managers imagine their reign ending.
Supermarket shoppers will soon find ‘every little hurts'
Is chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to hike employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) about to hit us all – and right in the supermarket baskets?
Barclays warns tax rise will hit workers' living standards
Business leaders accuse government of betraying the nation’
How Gary Barlow became accidental king of memes
The singer is currently enjoying a load of nice days out’ on his new travel show. It’s the latest step in his reinvention as an inadvertent icon of hun culture’, says Katie Rosseinsky
Brothers grim: on the dark world of Nineties boybands
As anew documentary series reveals what it was really like to ride the pop train to stardom, Jessie Thompson remembers her own youthful obsession and looks behind the curtain
Cast iron catnip for Gen Z's aspirations of adulthood
Police had to be called after hundreds of frenzied shoppers descended on a cookware sale this weekend. Helen Coffey dons oven gloves to tackle the LeCreuSlay phenomenon
'Some boys wet themselves, some wanted their mothers'
Reckless exposure to atomic weapons tests left young men and later, their children suffering from debilitating illness and disability. Zoé Beaty reports on the long fight for justice
Why India's trainee doctors are hoping for more bodies
Logistical hurdles and cultural sensitivities are affecting the donation of cadavers, so medical students are forced to train on anatomical models or simulations, reports Namita Singh