It's funny, isn't it? All managers appear to have their blind spots, Arsene's were towards the back of his team and Mikel's appear to be at the top end.
I was at the game last night and thought, to be honest, that game could very easily have finished 2-0 to us and Newcastle would have had no complaints. Equally, I have to acknowledge that even me, the uber optimist left five minutes before the end as it was clear the team were out of ideas and could still be playing now without having scored.
In contrast, there seemed to be a clarity of purpose, and, more to the point, a cutting edge to the visitors that we can only dream of at present. For me, Martinelli's one on one is the sliding doors moment of the game. Put that away and you might get Newcastle coming out and leaving more lovely green space to run into.
Obviously, he smashes the post, Newcastle scored a few minutes later and a tough game gets infinitely more difficult.
The Havertz miss in the second half defied belief and that Newcastle's second goal came from a rebound felt a bit like sick joke given the amount of blocks Newcastle put in around their own penalty area. But they had the players to take advantage of it. Isak would obviously transform this Arsenal team, but Anthony Gordon would also mark a clear improvement on Martinelli.
I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water because, even with all the mad shit that's happened to us this season, we're still 2nd in the league and, for all the frustration of being behind Liverpool, are still a very good team - even if we don't look it right now. However, even I am at the point where it is clear Arsenal can't achieve anything with this group of forwards. We need a Saka level forward on the other wing and ideally up front - but I'm fucked if I know who that should be.
