MIKEL ARTETA is clearly not looking for an easy life as he tries to bring Arsenal back on track.
How else to explain the decision to start playing with three behind despite the fragile defensive weakness of his team?
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Especially when two of that trio are subject to error David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi.
But Arteta concluded that less is more while trying to replicate Sheffield United’s 3-4-3 formation and has almost moved away.
It was an experiment that worked during the 2-0 victory in Southampton on Thursday and one on which the manager decided it was worth continuing.
But it wouldn’t stop Arsenal fans from looking through their fingers as their team started out as an accident waiting to happen.
They were extremely fortunate that John Lundstram had left the offside before returning at close range after only eight minutes.
Because the ease with which Ollie McBurnie won the initial header from the deep corner of Oliver Norwood should have made all kinds of alarm bells ring for Arteta.
And there was even more cause for concern five minutes later, when Mustafi launched a long throw right in front of his target with David McGoldrick a few centimeters from getting a decisive touch on the rear pole.
With full-back Sead Kolasinac an unlikely third member of that defensive triumvirate, Arsenal would have always fought in the air.
And the introduction of Rob Holding for the injured Luiz shortly after the break did not do much to solve the problem.
Maybe things will get better next season when William Saliba finally arrives from Saint-Étienne and Pablo Mari will recover from the ankle ligament injury that excluded him for the rest of this campaign.
Because Arteta knows that her team cannot continue flying instead of pants if she wants to achieve her long-term goals.
United took the ball back into the net through John Egan, but was denied once again by the linesman’s flag shortly before Chris Basham wasted a glorious opportunity to overtake his team.
Yet Arsenal failed to follow the warnings and in the end they were punished when McGoldrick followed a terrible mistake in the 87th minute between Kolasinac and Mustafi.
And even if their redness was spared by Dani Ceballos’ stopover winner, Arteta will continue to suffer from sleepless nights as long as his team continues to wreak havoc in the back.
