Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is confident the Gunners can still advance to the Europa League semi-finals after conceding a late equalizer against Slavia Prague in the first leg of the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night, but his tactical decision in the game has drawn anger from fans and club legends.
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Arsenal had plenty of chances in the game but failed to test Slavia’s goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar. Even when Alexandre Lacazette was on target with a full half plane to run in, the Frenchman struck his effort against the crossbar.
Arsenal did not take the lead until after late substitutions | Julian Finney / Getty Images
Arteta eventually made changes and got Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe in the last 15 minutes. It had a positive impact and asked new questions about Slavia’s defense, with Aubameyang putting Pepe up with what should have been a winner in the 86th minute.
But the Gunners could not hold the lead and Tomas Holes scored for Slavia from a stoppage time corner that made Arteta turn into despair.
The away goal means that Slavia holds the advantage before the second stage and at least Arsenal must score a goal in Prague next week to cancel it.
“I totally think we can go there and win the match, otherwise I would not be sitting here. The way of thinking must be to go there and score goals and win the match, because we have to score goals if we want to go through, says a defiant Arteta afterwards via Arsenal.com.
Slavia equalized in stoppage time through Tomas Holes | IAN KINGTON / Getty Images
“It was a big decision to leave some players out but we decided to play the team that had the best chance at the beginning of the game, and also have some key players there to change the game when we need it,” Spanish explained.
“I think when they came in they had a real impact, which was very necessary in this competition and they did what we expected them to do. We did [the substitutions] when we thought it was the right time to do it, and when they changed their attitude and we thought we could hurt them and not before. Who should have done that before then, who knows? ”
When he saw his team give up the initiative by failing to put the game to bed, Gunners legend Ian Wright rumored on Twitter: “Take the chance! Do subs earlier! Finish the tie. ”
Take the chance! Do subs earlier! Finish the tie? pic.twitter.com/JNLFLwY9fE
– Ian Wright (@ IanWright0) April 8, 2021
Colleagues former Arsenal stars Martin Keown and Karen Carney, both analyzing the game for BT Sport, were also less pleased to see.
“They almost need someone to hit them in the face or hit them in the face before they wake up and they start playing. It was about Arsenal and how they played and by sitting down, I thought they chose the wrong tactics,” Keown said.
Carney commented: “It’s a nightmare for Arsenal, absolutely devastating. Arsenal had many chances, Slavia Prague should have been dead and buried.”
Keown also suggested that Arteta missed an opportunity to give Gabriel Martinelli another chance, who only appeared from the bench in the last 20 minutes as a replacement for Willian.
“They almost need someone to hit them in the face or hit them in the face before they wake up and they start playing.” @ Martinkeown5 thinks that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal gave too much respect to Slavia Prague in #UEL tonight? pic.twitter.com/LnE2DSQzqk
– Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 8, 2021
“I would have liked to have seen Martinelli in there,” said the retired defender.
“He is a player who continues to be overlooked. It’s so frustrating. he [Martinelli] could easily have played on the left side [with Bukayo Saka on the right]. Arsenal have no left-back on the left, that’s a bit of a problem for me. ”
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