EAGLE-EYED fans spotted Mikel Arteta’s unsuccessful tactic as his notes were pictured during Arsenal’s shock 2-0 defeat to West Ham.
The main focus of the Spaniard’s masterplan appears to be to attack West Ham’s so-called “hotzone”.
However, for all the Gunners tried, none of their 30 shots hit the back of the next against David Moyes’ side.
Arteta chucked the kitchen sink at West Ham in the second half after Konstantinos Mavropanos’ header made it 2-0 and made a number of attacking changes.
Eddie Nketiah, Reece Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe were all thrown on but failed to make a difference.
Bukayo Saka went closest for the Gunners when he hit the post in the second half.
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A zoomed in picture of the note showed that Arteta scribbled down a note telling his players to overload the West Ham box in the first half.
The note also revealed tweaks to Arsenal’s 4-3-3 system depending on game state.
After the match, Arteta admitted that his front three of Saka, Martinelli and Jesus were not effective enough.
He said: “West Ham won the game but I think we deserved much more.
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“We tried, and tried and tried but the difference was maybe in the boxes. You have to make the difference in the boxes.”
He was also aggrieved by West Ham’s first goal, which saw the ball cross the line before Jarrod Bowen pulled the ball back for Thomas Soucek to finish.
He said after the game that VAR technology is not up to the required standards: “If the technology we have at the moment is not good enough to give us that answer (of whether the ball went out), what we have to do is, without that, win the game.
“I haven’t seen it. They’re saying it’s not conclusive. It’s a shame that with the technology we have, it’s not that clear so we can say whether it’s out or in.
“It’s done. It’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
