Claudius We are basically top of the league on both quality of chances and finishing
This doesn't mean finishing isn't a deficiency.
What I see is an XI with a lot of relatively poor finishers, that resists taking lower percentage shots, and that resistance is probably under instruction. Arteta's spoken about patience working opportunities a fair bit in the past.
Øde, Jesus, Martinelli, Sterling, Havertz have all been either unable or unwilling to convert a scoring position into a shot at times this season.
We really only have Trossard and Saka (and now Nwaneri) that you actively want lining one up.
This description is not incompatible with good average chance quality and good average conversion of these good quality chances. Just means we're labouring to create fewer chances of that higher quality.
That still implies we could do with better finishers, which for me at least passes the pub test. We've only got two senior squad members good enough: one's injured, and the other's a half hour proposition who can't play both ways.
I also continue to think that if we've got a real bona fide scorer on the left, we'll drag defences around far more which will improve the chances falling for Saka and Øde. It's no coincidence Ødegaard scored way more often during Martinelli's most prolific and dangerous period on the left.
