3 positives & negatives from the 4-1 rout against Leeds United

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<p>&mdash; Arsenal (@Arsenal) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1642210149887533060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>April 1, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div> <h2>Positive #1: Gabriel Jesus back among the goals</h2> <p>For the vast majority of Gooners, Jesus&#8217; barren run in front of goal was more than mitigated by the impact he has on the side through his pressing, movement and link-up play, but, he has been criticised for his lack of goals by certain sections of the media. After all, when looking at stats alone, Jesus had previously not scored since October.</p> <p>Therefore, as much as to silence the doubters, his two goals in this game would have been incredibly important to give him that confidence in front of goal that he displayed at the start of the season.</p> <p>He was <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://www.arsenal.com/news/jesus-thank-supporters-after-ending-goal-drought" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keen to thank</a> the fans for their support this campaign after the match.</p> <blockquote><p>&ldquo;I just want to say thank you to them for supporting me until the end. It&rsquo;s not easy when you&rsquo;re seeing your striker not scoring goals but they always support me.&rdquo;</p></blockquote> <p>Jesus is a terrific player even when he is not scoring, but when he adds goals into his game, on top of his aforementioned skillset, he becomes truly frightening.</p> <h2>Negative #1: No clean sheet</h2> <p>One of the only things that could have made this performance better would have been a clean sheet. Goal difference can, and has, decided title races in the past, and every goal we concede between now and the end of the season makes it more difficult for us to better Manchester City in this area.</p> <p>It is also frustrating from a purely defensive point of view given that we have now kept just one clean sheet in our last five games in all competitions. Our defensive solidity has been one of our greatest assets this season, but we are slowly becoming easier to create chances against.</p> <p>In this game, we were already three goals to the good by the time we conceded, but we must eradicate our leakiness at the back moving forward &#8211; especially against the tougher sides in the league.</p> <p><em>Continued on the next slide&#8230;</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span>&nbsp;#2 positive and negative </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><h2>Positive #2: Rob Holding</h2> <div id="attachment_133293" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-133293" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2293,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1474612354.jpeg" alt="" width="3200" height="2293" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1474612354.jpeg 3200w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1474612354-768x550.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Rob Holding was steady once again. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)</p> </div> <p>By no means did Rob Holding have the game of his life, or even a very good game for that matter, but he provided another solid display in the absence of the <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/03/31/mikel-arteta-provides-important-william-saliba-injury-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">injured William Saliba</a>. The Englishman is never going to be our first-choice centre-back, nor should he be, but his performance levels during the final stages of the season could potentially make or break our title push.</p> <p>He showed today that he is<a title="Rob Holding: Arsenal’s next ‘next man up’" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/03/31/arsenal-trust-rob-holding-william-saliba-injury/" rel=""> capable of deputising for Saliba</a> without significantly harming both our defensive structure and our ability to build from the back. That, in itself, is a positive.</p> <h2>Negative #2: Another slow start</h2> <p>Lightning-fast starts have become synonymous with this Arsenal side, but there have been occasions in recent fixtures where the players have failed to live up to those expectations, and this match was another example of that.</p> <p>We were sloppy in our build-up play and lacked intensity with and without the ball. Perhaps the recent international break is an explanation for that, but this is an issue that was present against Bournemouth, Everton and most recently, Sporting CP.</p> <p>Just as we did against Sporting, we allowed Leeds to create far too many chances and on another day, could have been losing heading into half-time rather than being a goal up.</p> <p><em>Continued on the next slide…</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> #3 positive and negative </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><h2>Positive #3: A response to Manchester City</h2> <div id="attachment_133286" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-133286" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1250351605.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1250351605.jpeg 1600w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1250351605-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Arsenal needed to respond to Man City’s 4-1 win over Liverpool. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)</p> </div> <p>After Liverpool initially took the lead, Manchester City’s remarkable 4-1 triumph against Jurgen Klopp’s side was a statement victory in the title race. All eyes shifted to Arsenal, and whether the team could handle the pressure that playing after your rival brings.</p> <p>The answer was a resounding yes. The performance was yet another sign that this crop of players have the mentality needed to deal with the pressure of a title race. Of course, the bigger test will be next weekend, when the team travels to Anfield, a stadium in which we have a particularly poor record of late.</p> <p>Whether or not we get the three points remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, the occasion is unlikely to get the better of Arteta’s men.</p> <h2>Negative #3: Eased off at 3-0</h2> <p>One thing I would have liked to see in this game was the side push for the fourth and possibly fifth goal before Leeds scored. Prior to Rasmus Kristensen’s consolation goal, the players had begun to take their foot off the gas, ever so slightly, but it was enough to allow the visitors a potential route back into the game.</p> <p>There is merit to the argument that had we pushed harder for the fourth goal, to begin with, then Leeds would have scored anyway, so this is admittedly less of a negative and more of a preference.</p> <div class="embed "> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="inCdZWDYi5"><p><a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/01/arsenal-4-1-leeds-player-ratings/">Arsenal 4-1 Leeds Utd: Player ratings as Gunners answer City’s call</a></p></blockquote> <p><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/02/3-positives-and-negatives-from-arsenal-4-1-win-over-leeds/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/04/01/arsenal-4-1-leeds-player-ratings/embed/#?secret=inCdZWDYi5" data-secret="inCdZWDYi5" width="500" height="282" title="“Arsenal 4-1 Leeds Utd: Player ratings as Gunners answer City’s call” — Pain in the Arsenal" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p></div> <p>Ultimately though, the positives far outweigh the negatives in the aftermath of this game, and it was yet another highly impressive performance from the team.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">