'Difficult to take for Arsenal'
Arsenal still need a striker if they are to "go to the next step", says former defender Matthew Upson.
Having lost the semi-final first leg 1-0 to Paris St-Germain, the Gunners needed to win in Paris to progress to a first Champions League final in 19 years.
However, despite producing an xG of 3.14 in the game on Wednesday night, Arsenal could still not outscore PSG and succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and 3-1 loss on aggregate.
"It is difficult to take for Arsenal. Another semi-final they end up losing. It's becoming a little bit of a habit, which is not great," Upson said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
"It just didn't happen for them in this game.
"There are so many positives about what Mikel Arteta has done with this Arsenal team, they're a very good side.
"For them to go to the next step, it is looking at the finer detail, but for me there is one glaring thing. It's that position that we are always talking about - a player that is going to produce those goals. Other players will benefit form that as well, Bukayo Saka will get more space, Gabriel Martinelli will have more space.
"When PSG break away you always feel they are going to put the ball in the back of the net. Arsenal don't have that level."
Listen back on BBC Sounds
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Leandro Trossard: Arsenal forward set to pen new deal as 'value' recognised
Leandro Trossard is set to sign a new contract at Arsenal. The Belgian, who joined the Gunners for £27million from Brighton and Hove Albion back in 2023, has spent two and a half seasons in north London, scoring 28 times and assisting 23 in 124 games at the Emirates Stadium. He has played a crucial role in Mikel Arteta's turning around of the club's fortunes, with Arsenal now firmly considered title contenders. The Athletic reports that the winger has agreed on fresh terms to his current deal, which will mean a 'significant' wage increase to reflect his valued role within the first-team fold. Trossard's current contract expires in 2027, and that will be the case once more with his new deal. Previous reports had claimed that Trossard could leave north London with Arsenal rumoured to be wanting to strengthen their frontline. Trossard was an unused substitute in Arsenal's opening-day victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford last Sunday, when Riccardo Calafiori notched the winner. Trossard suffered a groin injury during the Gunners' pre-season friendly against rivals Tottenham in Hong Kong earlier last month, and has yet to return to action since then.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jones begins US Open qualifiers with win
US Open 2025 Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website & app Top seed Francesca Jones took the first step to reaching the US Open main draw by winning her opening qualifier, but Heather Watson was among four Britons to lose on Tuesday. British number four Jones beat Slovakia's Viktoria Hruncakova 6-3 6-4. She will face Ekaterine Gorgodze of Georgia on Wednesday as she looks to reach the US Open main draw for the first time in her career. The world number 86 has never received direct entry to a Grand Slam before and narrowly missed out this time, meaning she is the top seed in qualifying. The 24-year-old served six aces in a match lasted one hour 22 minutes and notched an 87% win rate on her first serves. Meanwhile, former British number one Watson was defeated 6-3 3-6 4-6 by Gorgodze as she failed to reach the main draw for a fourth successive year. British women's number seven Harriet Dart edged out Romanian Anca Todoni - who sits 112 places above her in the rankings - 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (10-6). British men's number five Jan Choinski lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to Argentina's Andrea Collarini, but Oliver Crawford beat Alex Bolt of Australia 5-7 6-4 6-4. George Loffhagen was beaten 4-6 5-7 by Jason Kubler, while 22-year-old Jack Pinnington Jones lost 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (14-12). Jodie Burrage began her qualifying campaign with a win on Monday, but British number five Dan Evans was eliminated and will miss out on the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2018. There are six Brits in action on Wednesday in the second round of qualifying: Jodie Burrage v Arantxa Rus Jay Clarke v Arthur Cazaux Billy Harris v Mikhail Kukushkin Harriet Dart v Ayana Akli Oliver Crawford v Garrett Johns Fran Jones v Ekaterine Gorgodze Players must win three matches in qualifying to advance to the main singles draws for the tournament, which begins on Sunday. Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley have direct entry into the men's singles, with Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal in the women's. Live scores, results and order of play Get tennis news sent straight to your phone
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
How narrow Saka and Martinelli expose Arsenal's counter-attacking problem
The word of the summer in Arsenal circles has been 'direct' with the signings of Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke hinting at a desire to go from back to front in fewer Arteta's team have been associated with control over the last few seasons and their dominance of territory has at times verged into sterile possession against deep defences. Arsenal's manager talks frequently of a need to improve when attacking 'open spaces', something title rivals Liverpool have was little to commend Arsenal's performance at Old Trafford despite their 1-0 victory, and a succession of fluffed breaks showed the quest to offer greater threat in transition remains a work in progress.'In open spaces we should have killed them, and straight away they went back the other way,' said Arteta post-match, referring to how United were dangerous counter-attacking Arsenal's own botched counter-attacks. With Arsenal's centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel uncharacteristically shaky in the first 45 minutes and their midfield subdued, they were unable to build play from deep with their usual authority. Last season, Arsenal averaged 14.5 open-play sequences of 10 passes or more in Premier League matches. On Sunday, they managed just four across 97 minutes of football, repeatedly rushing decisions and making basic technical errors. They averaged just 2.53 passes per sequence compared to 2024-25's season average of 4.27. As a consequence, Arsenal had to rely on moments when United turned the ball over, or rare occasions when they played a pass successfully to Martin Odegaard between the lines. There is an inverse relationship between what Opta defines as 'direct speed' – metres per second progressed upfield in open-play sequences – and long sequences of possession. With Arsenal's passing scratchy at Old Trafford, the length of their sequences cratered but their direct speed increased on last season's average. Balancing security with productive chaos could be something Arteta grapples with as the season continues. The problem, of course, is that they failed to convert their two 'direct attacks' (according to Opta's definition) and numerous other dangerous situations into goals, or even many shots. More than half of Arsenal's expected goals total at Old Trafford was accounted for by Riccardo Calafiori's winner from a set-piece. This is not a new problem. Last season, no team converted a lower percentage of their fast breaks into shots than Arsenal, with one in five of these moves failing to result in an attempt. A lack of efficiency was also a problem when Arsenal regained possession higher up the pitch. Last season, Arsenal forced 335 successful high turnovers, of which 14.33 per cent resulted in shots with six goals scored. By contrast, Crystal Palace scored the same number of goals from just 252 successful high turnovers, with 18.25 per cent resulting in a Old Trafford, Arteta appeared to experiment with the position of his wingers Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. Throughout Arteta's reign they have had chalk on boots, with Arsenal's reliance on the flanks a perceived though, the pair took up narrow positions inside the width of United's back line when Arsenal were counter-attacking and made straight runs. In this early breakaway that started with David Raya catching a United corner, Saka and Martinelli offered Odegaard very little angle for a pass, jogging down the middle of the pitch. Odegaard did well to pick out Saka who was tackled by Mason Mount. In this move, Martinelli and Saka have again narrowed early rather than holding their width for a late out-to-in run. With the wingers in such close proximity to Odegaard, it is hard to match up pass and run. Odegaard tries to thread a pass to the left of Matthijs de Ligt but he does not find the run of Martinelli. Just before the hour, Raya found Odegaard in acres of space between United's midfield and back four. In this instance, Saka is actually inside the Arsenal playmaker and temporarily loses sight of both his team-mate and the ball. Normally, we would expect to see Saka in the bottom right of the picture ready to make an out-to-in run. He just about manages it, but Saka ends up in a battle to stay onside before running down a cul-de-sac near the touchline. These movements clogged things up and closed off passing angles for the player on the ball. They also left Gyokeres with little space to run down the sides of the United centre-backs, with the striker finishing the game with zero shots and 21 touches. Chances are typically created by straight passes to diagonal runs or diagonal passes to straight runs. Two of the same and it is a high-tariff skill to execute. Odegaard was not blameless when picking the final pass, either. Saka's goal in Arsenal's 3-0 friendly win over Athletic Bilbao, set up by Martinelli, shows how this tactic can work as we saw for many years with Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool. Perhaps the pair are still reaching full fitness or taking time to learn new patterns. There is sense in Arteta allowing his wide players closer to goal in an attempt to make Arsenal more potent, but on this evidence it may take several games to bear fruit. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
