’Someone should punch Arsenal players in the face’

All season long, it’s either good Arsenal or bad Arsenal and in last night’s Europa League quarterfinal against Slavia Prague, the Gunners fans witnessed the bad Arsenal for the second week in a row. After being swept away buy Liverpool (3-0) in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s men managed only two shots on target against Slavia Prague, scoring in the 85th minute, before conceding away goal deep into injury time.

UEL drama: Arsenal frustrated by late equalizer as United triumph away

The „giant killers“ from Prague (eliminated both Leicester and Rangers) will certainly be happy with the score, since the away goal can be crucial in rematch. And defensive blunder by Gabriel Paulista and Cedric Soares forced Granit Xhaka to scream after the match "Just clear the f*****g ball away man" (courtesy of pitch microphones and Goal's Charles Watts). And former Gunner defender Martin Keown criticized the team after conceding the late goal, but also Arteta’s tactics.

„For me it was about Arsenal tonight and the way they played. By sitting off they chose the wrong tactics. There was an opportunity to take the initiative and ask questions, can you play? But they were allowed to settle and build from the back. It seems like Arsenal are not proactive in games, they need someone to slap them or punch them in the face before they wake up and start to play. The result is hugely disappointing, it's going to be difficult now for Arteta. He's made a lot of changes within the club, a lot of people have been allowed to go. He's in charge now and he's not quite getting the reaction from the team. They're making sloppy mistakes and it cost them“ Keown told BT Sport.

Gunners coach Mikel Arteta still thinks that Arsenal can go to Prague and win the game (which is logical for any coach to think), but also pointed out the missed chances by his players.

„I think the players stepped in and gave absolutely everything. It's a really difficult opponent to play with. The amount of duels and individual man to man situations they create, we managed that really well in certain moments. We were much more aggressive today and ambitious to play some big chances and we didn't put them away. I just have the belief that we can go there and win the match. If not, I wouldn't be sitting here. The mindset has to go there and score goals because we have to score if we're going to go through. I don't think players switched off at the end of the game. I think they made a bad decision playing the ball into an area where we got trapped. From there we conceded the corner“ concluded Arteta.

Clearly, Arsenal’s boss and his captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are not on the same page since the Spurs derby. Auba was missing again from the starting lineup, and came into the match only 12 minutes until the end, but managed to assist to Pepe for the leading goal. Auba is still their most dangerous man and he will have to play in Prague if the Gunners want to advance to the semifinals.