• Arsenal are 4th in the Champions League, won 2, drawn 1, with 7 points.
• Shakhtar are still winless in their first three games in the competition.
Manchester City prepare ahead of Spurs clashvolume_off
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Arsenal struggled late on to beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 and remain top of the Champions League table after three games.
Competition: UEFA Champions League 2024-2025
Date: 22 October 2024
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Result: Arsenal 1 – 0 Shakhtar Donetsk
The cannons are fierce but not pushing.
Arsenal, playing at home, didn’t have to think much about going forward immediately. “Be quick, try to have the ball and the momentum of the ทางเข้า ufabet https://ufabet999.app game, and look for the first goal as soon as possible.” This is Mikel Arteta’s attacking philosophy. They did that in this game. The first half statistics and the performance on the field went in the same direction. They had more ball possession than their opponents, passed the ball more, and created more chances. What was lacking was the number of goals scored. Which was a bit low, scoring 1 goal from 8 chances created. That indicates the away team’s tight defense and Arsenal’s quality of the ball. Which today was not sharp in the final third, despite pressing hard throughout the first 45 minutes.
The Gunners tried to press very hard and attacked with at least 6 players in front of the away team’s penalty area, steadily controlling the game. But with the ball speed not being very fast. The opponents were able to close down the area in time. So even though they had a lot of the ball. They could not penetrate, and Shakhtar waited for a chance to counter, using Egilnaldo and Georgi Sudakov as the two main players in the counter-attack game.
The first door is unlocked, but the second door isn’t.
Gabriel Martinelli proved in this game that he is a very useful player for counter-attacks or when there is space to use his pace. When he is in form, he is dangerous for any team. The first goal in this game came from his agility. Which was accompanied by luck when his shot hit the post and bounced off the opponent’s goalkeeper into the goal. At that moment, the home team’s early lead should have made it easier for them to play and look for a second goal of the game easily. But they tried to do that. The second goal did not come and it was a problem for them until the end of the game. Even a penalty late in the second half that should have been a chance to close the box was unfortunately missed.
Personal Error in the Gunners’ defense
Leading by only one goal made the situation of the game unclear. Arsenal may have attacked more, but because they had problems with sharpness and were not fast enough to overcome Shakhtar’s disciplined defense, their defense was always full of mistakes. It could be said that this was one game where Arsenal’s players in defense were not very stable. There were mistakes that should not have been made. It was only good that they did not concede a goal.
The game that should have been much better turned into a close game. Plus, getting a penalty and missing a shot gave their opponents more encouragement at the end of the game and they pressed on hard in the hope of getting a point to take home. Even though they were disappointed, the away team fought well, which was in contrast to the home team who won. However, they had to look at themselves and wonder why this game was full of mistakes that should not have happened.
Trossard’s penalty was not precise enough
Arsenal should have closed the game out despite not being much better, having been awarded a late penalty, but they suffered late on when Trossard’s penalty was saved by the visiting keeper, who was not strong enough. The mistake was a reflection of the player’s lack of confidence, and in fact Trossard has missed two games in a row, both with this shot and the double that ultimately led to Saliba’s red card in the last defeat to Bournemouth.
The problem of lost confidence could come back to haunt the team at any time. You can see from the previous season that there was a period when the team had this problem, which caused the performance to drop and eventually led to the championship.