Ian Wright was critical of Emile Smith Rowe for not showing ‘calmness’ or ‘composure’ in front of goal for Arsenal during their 1-0 defeat at Southampton, as he told Premier League Productions (16/04/22 at 5:10 pm).
In a frustrating afternoon of football for the Gunners, Smith Rowe had a guilt-edge chance from five yards out to get his side’s name on the scoresheet at St Mary’s.
Smith Rowe didn’t start the game, but he was brought on in the second half to inject some life into his goal-shy team.
Following Bukayo Saka’s cross from the right, the header out landed in front of Smith Rowe’s path, but he could only scuff his volleyed shot.
Understandably, Wright, just like the rest of the Arsenal fans, was annoyed by what he was seeing.
“Look at Arsenal here, Emile Smith Rowe, he really slashed at that,” said Wright. “You want a bit of composure. You want a bit of calmness there.
“You look at the way he really smashes himself at this. All you want really is to get on that and get a clean contact on target. The goalkeeper is still stretching to try and save it. If he gets a good contact then he probably scores.
“The problem is striking. And taking chances. You saw those chances, they weren’t half-chances. They were good chances.”
The recently repeated argument of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be brought up now Arsenal are on a torrid run.
Not so long ago, when things were going well, the argument was that Aubameyang’s exit was good for all parties.
In truth, Arteta made the right call to let him leave for Barcelona because it was good for the club. its culture and the dressing room.
The issue lies with the fact that he allowed the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles to leave when a player like him has been needed.
And another striker wasn’t brought in during January.
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