Arsenal let down the 5/10 star, who lost the ball 27 times

Arsenal Came in their FA Cup A third-round confrontation with his old rival, Manchester United, and he knows that everything is not in his favor.

This has been an unlucky term. From those red cards against Brighton, Bournemouth and Manchester City to Martin OdegaardAn ankle injury in September and Bukayo Saka's painful hamstring injury.

Mikel Arteta He has coached some fantastic games this season but due to a number of circumstances has been unable to get over the line on several occasions.

Well, in football, you can also make your own luck, and the Gunners did not take advantage of that in their two cup matches in recent days. Against Newcastle United, the Londoners created a series of chances Kai Havertz Most notably missing a header from a few yards away.

Against United When the Red Devils won on penalties on Sunday, it was the same old story; Arsenal were unable to score some decisive chances.

It was Bruno Fernandes who opened the scoring against the run of play, but after Diogo Dalot was sent off, Gabriel pulled the hosts back level. Arteta's side were unable to find the back of the net from that moment on, and were forced to pay the price for a wasteful finish, losing 5-3 on penalties.

The aforementioned Havertz was perhaps the biggest culprit at the Emirates Stadium.

Kai Havertz's performance in numbers against Manchester United

Arsenal entered last January in need of a striker. Havertz eventually went on to He scored eight goals and provided seven assists As a striker at the end of the 2023/24 season.

However, the Gunners entered the summer window needing a centre-forward again. They didn't get one and instead put their trust in the German again.

He scored four goals in his first seven matches From the league campaign, this decision seemed justified.

However, a year after their problems in front of goal became really bad, Arsenal are in no better position. In fact, this time it looks worse.

Make no mistake, the board simply have to strengthen the squad this month otherwise this group of players at the end of the season could be particularly difficult.

That's because Havertz is once again starting to show why so many are questioning him A £65m buyout in the summer 2023. For the most part, the former Chelsea man has defied his critics but in the last two games, he has shown why he cannot be trusted to lead the line long-term.

If his miss against the Toon a few days ago was bad, his effort against Ruben Amorim's men was even worse.

In fact, he fired a shot wide just yards before things got worse at the end of the game when the ball accidentally fell into the hands of the German international from close range. Did he register? Of course not. Interestingly, he shot over the bar.

When he went into the shootout lacking in confidence, it was perhaps no surprise to see him miss the spot-kick. He was the only player absent. It was decisive.

As it happened, another player missed a penalty kick, in normal time. That was the leader.

Martin Odegaard's performance in numbers against Manchester United

Odegaard was an exceptional part of the Arsenal team last season. It was a major element, Scoring 11 goals and 11 assists In all competitions. Together with Saka, they ran riot down the right flank, opening up space for the teams and making sure the opposition defenders begged them for mercy.

Well, this time it was a little different. In fact, it was very different. Odegaard is yet to score from open play in the 2024/25 season and has been far from his best since returning from a 12-match layoff due to an ankle injury.

His poor run of form showed no sign of slowing against United on Sunday, and it was a missed penalty that prevented Arsenal from getting away with things in normal time.

After Harry Maguire was ruled to have obstructed Havertz, the Norwegian advanced but was blocked by substitute goalkeeper Altay Binder. This was the first penalty kick Odegaard missed in his career so far.

These things can happen but it does The Athletic's Aaron Catterson-Reid noted during the gamehis still shots were largely “sad”. Now, executing Saka's corner kick from the right side will take some effort, but from his numerous passes into the box, not much has come out of it.

And while the captain played an impressive ten key passes, eight more than any other player on the pitch, many of them were not really impactful, with the exception of Declan Rice's second-half header from which he should have scored.

To make matters worse, Odegaard lost the ball 27 times, more than any other player, and his inability to kick the ball left the Emirates Stadium crowd frustrated.

He had three shots in the game, just one on target, but on multiple occasions, the 26-year-old received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and chose to pass it to a teammate rather than shoot it. It wasn't a surprise to see him get a low player rating after the game The goal got 5/10 For the former Madrid man.

It is clear that the Norway international, like many of his teammates, suffers from a lack of confidence.

Two cup defeats in a few days won't help, but some new signings certainly will. If Arsenal are to salvage anything from this season, the team needs to strengthen and they need to strengthen quickly. Here's Stan Kroenke.