Merino is sharp and Dauman has a promising future. Arsenal’s key lies in “successful abuse”

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Yan Yu

On the same night, Paris and Bayern had a fierce battle, and Liverpool and Real Madrid were also fighting each other. So a game like Arsenal's visit to Slavia Prague would seem like a "backup" and somewhat irrelevant. However, in a corner that is easily overlooked, the Gunners still made a small statement: they are the strongest team in European football at the moment, certainly one of them. After winning 3-0, Arsenal temporarily rose to second place in the Champions League standings, and they were not at the top of the list only because they scored slightly fewer goals than Bayern. On the other hand, the record of 8 consecutive wins in all competitions without conceding a goal is also a bit scary. This is not only Arsenal's team history record, but also tied with the record of England's top league teams that has a history of hundreds of years.

So, Arsenal is really like the famous Shearer said: can't see the shortcomings? Such praise is a bit exaggerated. Not to mention that the Gunners have lost in the Premier League this season, just look at their current injury list. You will also feel that this team is not perfect. But in front of him, he just defeated an opponent who was obviously weak, and it was definitely not worth bragging about. But having said that, "successful abuse" is Arsenal's most valuable new feature this season. In consecutive battles, Arteta has also managed to arrange well and rotate to a certain extent, which must be worthy of recognition.

In fact, before heading to Prague, the atmosphere surrounding Arsenal was not very pleasant. After all, Arteta said that he was "worried about Dzekeresh's injury", which made people feel like the clouds began to gather as soon as they saw the bright sunshine. However, the Swede's "unknown leg muscle problem" is worrying, but there is basically no need to worry about Slavia's Champions League game. Without the real center, there is still "Mei Chao forward" who can immediately take over. Now we can be sure that the second half against Burnley last weekend was not because Merino forgot to play as a center forward, but because the Gunners took the initiative to relax too much, which led to a "decline in performance" in the last 45 minutes. When it came time to really take action, Merino was unequivocal and scored twice as soon as he took action.

"No Zekereis, no problem. Temporary Merino provides Arsenal with a solution." The BBC wrote such a title, and similar praise is not new, because last season, the Spanish midfielder stepped forward to fill the vacancy left by Havertz's serious injury - on February 15 this year, in Arsenal's first game after the German was absent, Merino also scored two goals and came on as a substitute. As for his first start in this game, he once again showed his true qualities as the "king of points". First, he outflanked Trossard's cross and fired a volley, and then he headed the ball before the rash goalkeeper, and headed Rice's diagonal kick into the net.

It must be admitted that the forward support that Merino can provide is different from that of Dzekeresh, otherwise Arsenal would not have spent more than half a billion pounds to dig out the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot. But at this moment, there is no need to discuss "who is better than who". The point is that the Gunners can use their existing resources to successfully crack their opponents in every game. As Arteta said after the game: "We lack a lot of offensive players and must find different solutions."

On Arsenal's injury list, Jesus and Havertz are both old injuries. Captain Odegaard and Madueke, who joined this season, will also rest until the end of November. Martinelli and Dzhekeresh were only recently added to the list. In addition to Suvimendi, who will be suspended from this round of the Champions League due to accumulation of yellow cards, the Gunners lack a lot of generals in the frontcourt, but fortunately the remaining main players are trustworthy, and the team also has reserves to show. For example, winger Trossard has been disliked by many Gunners fans this season because of his lack of speed. However, in the last two games, he has provided pass assists and successfully supported the left attack. In addition, midfielder Nelgao and left-back Inkapiye, who started the Champions League for the first time on behalf of the Gunners, also performed well and did not make any major mistakes in the midfield and backfield.

Speaking of Arsenal's reserve force, the biggest topic in this campaign is naturally Dauman (if Merino is not counted as a reserve). At 15 years and 308 days old, the Gunners' homegrown teenage genius set another record. Before this, no player under the age of 16 had ever appeared in the Champions League. The youngest record was Moukoko who was 16 years and 18 days old. And if you suspect that the former Borussia Dortmund striker is cheating on his age, the names further back include Yamal (16 years and 68 days), Babayaro (16 years and 86 days) and Shirki (16 years and 102 days).

There is no doubt that Daoman has amazing potential, as evidenced by his superb combination of man and ball skills and his sense of confidence that far exceeds that of his peers. In time, he is very likely to become a superstar. However, in terms of this game alone, the Champions League debut may be more symbolic for Daoman, because he actually did not perform much after getting 28 minutes as a substitute. At that time, the overall situation was decided, and the score on the field was 3-0. Arteta also had another "experiment" that people were concerned about: when Dauman replaced Trossard, Saka moved to the left. Is this a sign that Arsenal will add more smooth crosses in the future?

It would be very good if the Gunners could enrich their offensive routines. This would make it easier for opponents to be timid, and hostile fans would be embarrassed to say that Arsenal is a corner team. However, note that the Gunners achieved a "technical crushing" of Slavia Prague from the beginning, but the first step to open the door to victory was the corner kick. The difference was only from direct to indirect: Saka's corner kick Gabriel missed the header, but was blocked by the Slavia player with his hand, and then Saka scored a penalty kick. Is this routine a bit too "rogue"? But Arsenal’s set pieces are so good. If you knew how to do it, wouldn’t you use it?

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