Arsenal were made to work hard in their Europa League opener against Rapid Wien yesterday. The Gunners conceded early in the second half after a terrible mistake by Bernd Leno, but goals from David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured the win for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Leno’s mistake has attracted lots of criticism. Arteta, despite the risks, wants his team to play out from the back. The German’s attempt to do that in Austria yesterday failed and it could have proved to be costly.
Things worked out in the end for the Gunners and Leno has received support from his teammate David Luiz. The Brazilian scored the all-important equaliser and, despite missing out on his clean sheet, he has backed the German to play out from the back.
He told Goal: “I think Bernd is amazing. It is part of our philosophy to build from the back, this is a normal thing. You always play to eliminate players from the beginning when you build then it is going to be much easier for the strikers.
“So, if you count how many times it went well… but just one he did wrong and this is part of our philosophy. He is great and he gives us the opportunity to play from the back to try to help us.”
Luiz wasn’t the only person in support of Arsenal’s number one. Arteta was asked about the German’s mistake after the game, and he too has backed Leno to stick to the philosophy of playing out from the back.
He told Football London: “It’s part of our game model. We need to understand when we can do that and when we should kick the ball into the stands. It is a big part of what we’re trying to do but we recognise from the outside it’s much easier than inside.
“Bernd can do that, he has the courage to do it, we’ve been very successful at doing it with the amount of goals we have scored even in important games. We need to find the right balance but I will keep encouraging them to do it in the right moments.”
Leno himself wouldn’t have been happy with his mistake. The former Bayer Leverkusen man could have done better with the goal Arsenal conceded against Manchester City last weekend as well. But he has proved that he can rise from his errors.
The German showed his worth in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup win against Liverpool. Leno saved two penalties and was exceptional on the night at Anfield. He will be tested more, especially while playing out from the back, but that will not force Arteta to change his system.
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