Arsenal slumped to a surprise defeat earlier this week.
Preparing for Project Restart, Mikel Arteta’s side were humbled at the Emirates Stadium by Championship outfit Brentford, who left with a 3-2 victory.
It was a sloppy defensive performance by Arsenal – if the scoreline didn’t make that obvious – and at least two of the goals were avoidable.
In the first half, the Gunners, who took the lead, were pegged back and it stemmed from a mistake from centre-back David Luiz.
The veteran Brazil international dithered in possession and tried knocking the ball over his opponent’s head, before the Bees snatched possession and went on to equalise within seconds of Luiz’s showboating.
The 33-year-old is somewhat known for being quite error prone and here’s how Paul Merson reacted to the former Chelsea star’s performance, telling Sky Sports: “I mean that they keep your concentration levels. You need the fans there to keep you concentrated. One of the goals against Brentford, David Luiz tries to play out, flick it over the lad’s head, and that’s not honest. The fans try to keep you honest.”
It would be easy to dismiss Luiz’s error on the basis that it was only a friendly, but the truth is that he’s liable to do the same in competitive games, whether it’s a home game against Newcastle or a Champions League final.
And it’s definitely something that he needs to stomp out of his game but, thankfully, Arteta comes across as a no-nonsense head coach and he’ll make it clear to him that the risky maneuvers need to stop.
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