Inter vs Arsenal: Gunners’ emphasis on crosses doesn’t work as Mikel Arteta’s men fail to score again

Bukayo Saka cuts off his left foot, sees his man at the back post and bends him excellently. You can’t ask for much more from a center in open play, but he flies just past his target. No wonder. Even when you have one of the most reliable delivery methods in the game, a cross, whether from a live or dead ball, tends not to be the most effective method of scoring.

Especially when they were the type that Arsenal delivered tonight. They were not attacking the backline, placing their central forwards and attacking midfielders to make cuts. The Gunners hung the ball high and told their big men to go up and get it. And they did it quite well. They should have scored at least one or two of the 46. They even had some open playmaking. This was not dissimilar to Inter’s encounter with Manchester City earlier in this league phase. You never felt that Simone Inzaghi’s team (a heavily rotated version of them) were buckling under the weight of attacking pressure, but a couple of better headers and the Italian champions would have been beaten.

The biggest difference this time was a penalty that could reasonably be considered unofficial. It is the type that occurs in UEFA competitions, but it raises the question of whether defenders have considered simply not having arms. That might have been the only way Mikel Merino would have ensured that Mehdi Taremi’s shot missed his target. Hakan Calhanoglu missed from the penalty spot. A good first part was undone. A good second half wouldn’t be enough.

After a nervous start, Arsenal came out on top in this contest. It is rare for a team to arrive at San Siro and finish the first half with more possession, more territory and more shots. Mikel Arteta’s men seemed to have the measure of Inter, a team that is not used to being pressured with the intensity with which Kai Havertz led the attack.

As is often the case, set pieces caused all kinds of difficulties for Arsenal’s rivals. Twice in the first 48 minutes, William Saliba found himself in a position to do better with a header, shortly after Denzel Dumfries had to kick off the line when, for the first time, Yann Sommer had misjudged one of the infallible Bukayo Saka delivers from the right.

Also in open play, Arsenal intended to live and die on the ability of their wide men to deliver a ball in an instant. They really can. Saka was throwing every corner into the corridor of uncertainty while Gabriel Martinelli responded to the double teams Inter threw at him by working an angle to deliver. When he did well, Sommer ended up hitting Mikel Merino’s head much more than the ball.

It was not a particularly fortuitous night for the Spaniard, who might wonder why an unfortunate deflection into his own hand at one end is so much more worthy of a penalty than a goalkeeper’s clearance at the other. Merino is still finding his feet in a midfield role that looks even more complicated in Arteta’s 4-2-4, which manages to have many more players behind the ball than you might imagine. It was therefore no great surprise to see the Spaniard withdraw at half-time, the introduction of Gabriel Jesus allowing Arsenal to drift towards a more familiar 4-3-3.

Even in a better setup, it took time for Arsenal to get going. Sommer wasn’t really tested in open play for an hour. Havertz found space in the right corner of the box, firing the ball high left. Even their best shots were crossed, and their best chance from open play came from something resembling a missed Leandro Trossard cross that landed favorably for Havertz to volley. Yann Aurel Bisseck dived for the ball just in time.

That was going to be the best chance of a second half in which Arsenal played like the best version of themselves they could be. Without Martin Odegaard, who was only fit for the last three minutes, it seems all they can do is move the ball to the flanks and see if Saka or Martinelli can do something against a double team. Ben White and Jurrien Timber could have overlapped more. They seem to be the embodiment of Arteta’s conservatism, a coach who so far this season seems more obsessed with mitigating risk than creating it for the opponent.

Not to say that Inter’s goal was not in danger tonight. With so many crosses flying over their bows, it was always going to be a messy ending. However, if Arsenal had had more means to assess the defence, their dominance could have been reflected on the scoresheet.