Sports

How Arsenal ran themselves into trouble against PSG

Myles Lewis-Skelly tackled by PSG midfielder Joao Neves
Myles Lewis-Skelly’s dribbling through midfield was less effective against PSG than Real Madrid – Reuters/Benoit Tessier

Missed chances were the theme of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final exit to Paris St-Germain, but Wednesday’s second leg in Paris also featured a small number of technical errors that proved costly.

The general level of Arsenal’s performance was impressive as they made PSG suffer and defend their penalty area more than at any stage of the French club’s run to the final.

However, Arsenal’s passing rhythm and waves of attack were occasionally punctured by unnecessary giveaways and a tendency to run the ball into trouble.

In the first leg at the Emirates, Arsenal’s two best chances for Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were created by driving midfield runs from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice. These carries ripped open PSG’s man-to-man pressing scheme, and would surely have been part of Mikel Arteta’s preparation for the second leg.

It is impossible to survive a match of this standard and intensity without mistakes, but Arsenal were at times guilty of ignoring the simple pass and taking too many touches.

The free-kick that led to PSG’s opening goal, scored by Fabián Ruiz, came from Rice taking a heavy touch, rather than using his instep to play the first-time pass out to Jurrien Timber. From the set-piece, Thomas Partey’s defensive header was central rather than out towards the corner flag into a less dangerous area.

Lewis-Skelly, the youngest player to start both legs of a Champions League semi-final, was guilty of over-elaboration. His knack for attracting opposition pressure and then driving clear from them is such an asset, but his risk-reward dial was turned too far in favour of the former.

The Arsenal left-back was dispossessed twice trying to dribble through one of the sharpest counter-pressing teams in Europe, and his stray, overly ambitious pass towards Bukayo Saka led to the PSG almost killing the tie in the first half. It took a 70-yard recovery run from Rice to make a block on Désiré Doué, but Lewis-Skelly had to be more conservative as practically Arsenal’s last defender in the middle of the pitch.

For PSG’s third goal of the tie, Partey was especially dozy, failing to change direction quickly enough and losing the 50-50 with Achraf Hakimi.

A pattern throughout both games against PSG was conceding shots from around the edge of the penalty area. In the build-up to the first goal at the Emirates, Rice was attracted out to the right to help Timber against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, with Mikel Merino failing to recover into the space left at the edge of the box. Ousmane Dembélé shinned his finish, but the well-directed shot bounced in off a post.

Even with Partey back for the second leg, the space afforded around the edge of Arsenal’s box was once again a problem. Without an orthodox striker, PSG’s forwards were not really interested in competing with William Saliba and Jakub Kiwior in the box. It may have come from a set-piece, but Eberechi Eze’s goal for Crystal Palace also came from the same zone.

Recruiting firepower has to be Arsenal’s priority this summer, but they are also front-runners to sign Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, a specialist No 6. If that deal goes through and Arsenal return to the same stage of the Champions League next season, it will be interesting to see if he improves matters in this department.

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