Sead Kolasinac endures difficult night as Emile Smith Rowe and Matteo Guendouzi add gloss to indifferent performance
Friday 5 October 2018 09:51, UK
Arsenal made it eight wins in a row with a 3-0 victory against Qarabag on Thursday night. As well as making nine changes, head coach Unai Emery switched his formation to 3-4-3 for the first time this season, but the experiment lasted all of 45 minutes - so what went wrong?
Having lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation so far season, Arsenal head coach Unai Emery converted to 3-4-3 for their Europa League encounter in Azerbaijan.
The move paid off, initially. Sead Kolasinac - returning for his first match of the campaign - started at left wing-back and highlighted exactly why he is nicknamed 'The Tank' after just three minutes, out-muscling Qarabag captain Maksim Medvedev before going on to earn a corner when his cross was turned behind.
From the resulting corner, Nacho Monreal's header deflected off Sokratis' midriff and Arsenal were ahead with four minutes on the clock. So far, so good.
There were further signs that Arsenal were adapting well to 3-4-3 when Kolasinac was afforded acres of space out wide before rolling it across the box for Emile Smith Rowe, a move often seen at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City casually turn the opposing defence inside-out before a low cross is followed by a tap-in at the back post.
On this occasion, Smith Rowe could not stretch far enough to apply the finishing touch, and though the 18-year-old's starring moment was to come, the fine-flowing move was the last real positive to be drawn from Arsenal's dabble with 3-4-3.
For while Kolasinac was a threat going forward, he was exposed on numerous occasions defensively, with Qarabag continuing to find joy when playing it behind the Bosnian and Nacho Monreal.
First, it was Mahir Madatov who ghosted past Kolasinac, and soon after it was Medvedev who caught him unawares. But for two strong saves from Bernd Leno, it could easily have been different when Arsenal headed into the break 1-0 up.
Emery had seen enough, and the Spaniard reverted back to 4-2-3-1 when bringing Lucas Torreira on to replace Monreal at half-time. Kolasinac retreated to left-back, while Qarabag continued to attack down his side, and he was let off the hook once more when Madatoc's touch let him down two minutes into the second half.
Against a more clinical side, Arsenal would have been punished for their defensive errors, while for Kolasinac, he will hope the brush off the cobwebs after what was a difficult return to first-team action.
But there was some joy for Arsenal to take from their 5,000-mile round trip. Victory, for one, but also the second-half goals for teenager's Smith Rowe and Matteo Guendouzi. Making his first start for the Gunners, Smith Rowe brushed off the disappointment of two missed opportunities in the opening half by timing to his run to perfection after 53 minutes, receiving Alex Iwobi's pass in full stride before calmly slotting in their second.
The gloss was then well and truly applied by 19-year-old Guendouzi, who may have struggled in possession on Thursday, but at least joined Smith Rowe in scoring his first goal for the club when cleverly working himself a yard of space on the edge of the area and slotting it into the far corner.
The glass-half-full outlook tells you it is eight victories on the spin for Arsenal, and two wins from two in the Europa League, but if you view the glass half-empty, then you must worry that repeat performances in the upcoming double-header against Sporting will not bring about such positive results.
Regardless, the performance is unlikely to put Emery off from experimenting further when travelling to Portugal in three weeks' time. We may not see a return to 3-4-3, but after Sokratis, Smith Rowe and Guendouzi made it 20 different goalscorers in this competition for Arsenal since the start of last season, we can expect that figure to rise further before Christmas.
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