Arsenal were far from their best in their defeat to Fulham on Sunday, and while the players as a collective have taken the blame, Mikel Arteta’s decision-making was also below par on the day.
The Gunners took an early lead through Bukayo Saka, but delivered arguably their worst performance of the season as they threw it away to lose 2-1.
Arsenal hardly threatened beyond their goal, and none of Arteta’s substitutions were effective.
Jakub Kiwior was replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu at half-time, before Gabriel Martinelli, Ben White and Kai Havertz were taken off for Leandro Trossard, Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Jesus.
Jorginho and Emile Smith Rowe were unused substitutes, and Micah Richards has now questioned Arteta’s decisions over which players he elected to bring on.
Micah Richards slams Arteta’s substitutions against Fulham
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Richards expressed his surprise that Jorginho did not come on to give Arsenal more control in midfield, particularly given the inverted role Tomiyasu played when he was introduced at half-time.
“From a tactical point of view in that game, you’ve got Kiwior playing at left-back, so you’ve got four centre-halves,” he stated.
“Then in the second half, he brings on Tomiyasu, and obviously Tomiyasu is right-footed, but if you look at Tomiyasu’s positioning, he’s actually playing in midfield.
“I’m thinking, you’ve got Jorginho on the bench, you want another man in midfield, I wouldn’t say he [Tomiyasu] was overrun, but it wasn’t really happening, and I just thought, bringing in Tomiyasu, the changes that he made in the game, didn’t have the desired impact.
Jorginho or Smith Rowe should have come on against Fulham
Declan Rice and Kai Havertz were far from their best against Fulham, and unlike in their defeat to West Ham, Arsenal had little control in midfield, and no creativity or composure in the middle of the park.
Tomiyasu replaced Kiwior at half time, with the Polish defender struggling to replicate Oleksandr Zinchenko’s inverted role, but a midfielder should have come on at this point or even later in the game.
Jorginho could have provided some much-needed experience and calmness to an Arsenal side struggling in an away game, and could have helped control the tempo from the middle.
Smith Rowe could have added more creativity, with Trossard and Nelson failing to make an impact both out wide or in the middle, and Arsenal registered just two shots on target.
Arteta will have to make changes to help end this recent poor run of form, and perhaps Jorginho or Smith Rowe could start against Liverpool in the FA Cup if he aims to change up his midfield shape.
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