Arsenal suffered a painful 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Saturday, ending their perfect start to the season and raising serious questions about what went wrong at the Amex Stadium.
While individual players have already come under criticism, one person who cannot escape the spotlight is Mikel Arteta.
The Arsenal manager admitted after the match that his team were simply not good enough.
Arteta said Brighton were “another gear” ahead of Arsenal in the basics of the game,
including the first and second duels and second balls. He also criticised Arsenal’s technical performance, particularly when trying to play out from the back against Brighton’s man-to-man press.
That admission will concern Arsenal supporters because these are areas that should normally be well prepared before a difficult Premier League away match.
Brighton did not surprise Arsenal with their intensity. Arteta himself said the team knew how difficult the match would be and had discussed what they needed to do.
Yet once the match started, Arsenal struggled to execute the plan.
Brighton pressed aggressively, forced Arsenal into mistakes and created opportunities from those errors. Pascal Groß opened the scoring before Charalampos Kostoulas doubled Brighton’s lead before half-time.
Chema Andrés then headed in a third shortly after the break.
The biggest question for Arteta is therefore not simply “Which player made the mistake?”
It is:
“Why was Arsenal not prepared to deal with Brighton’s approach?”
A manager’s job includes selecting the starting XI, preparing the tactics, identifying the opponent’s strengths and making changes when the original plan is not working.
Arteta did make substitutions during the match, but by the time Arsenal tried to change the game, Brighton already had a three-goal advantage.
That is where some Arsenal supporters will question the manager’s decisions.
The defeat was not caused by one individual alone. Arsenal made mistakes across the pitch, and Brighton’s performance was a major factor. But Arteta himself acknowledged that Arsenal failed to meet the required physical and technical standards.
The Arsenal boss also accepted that Brighton deserved the victory and described the defeat as a “big lesson” for his team.
For Arsenal, the important thing now is how they respond.
One poor performance does not erase the team’s strong start to the campaign. But a 3-0 defeat against Brighton has exposed areas that Arteta and his coaching staff will need to address.
The international break gives Arsenal time to analyse everything that went wrong.
Was the problem the tactics?
Was the starting XI wrong?
Did Arsenal underestimate Brighton’s intensity?
Or did the players simply fail to execute Arteta’s instructions?