It was a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg that Arsenal had to forget. Alexander Isak’s goal and assist propelled Newcastle United to a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium.But while Mikel Arteta gave Newcastle credit for their performance, the Arsenal manager also believed there was another issue at play in the Gunners’ poor finishing: the match ball itself.
Arteta believes his players can turn things around in the first leg on February 5, but will need to adapt to the “tricky” ball to do so. Unlike the Premier League, the Carabao Cup uses a Puma Orbita 1 while a Nike Flight football is used in Premier League matches.
“It’s just different,” Ateta said of the ball after the game. “It’s very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to it because it flies differently, when you touch it the grip is also very different so you adapt to that.
Habits can make it difficult to adapt to slight differences like the ball, but when Arsenal took 23 shots creating an xG of 3.12 but only put three on goal to test Martin Dubravka, it’s a bit more than just the ball. Arsenal’s Premier League play has better outperformed their xG in their last five matches since the 0-0 draw against Everton, but none of the teams they faced were of the quality of Newcastle United.
Doing their best to stop Arsenal from shooting in the box, Eddie Howe’s defense limited the space to where he wanted the Gunners to shoot and it worked. To make up this deficit, Arsenal will need to ensure the second leg is played on their own terms, even if it takes place at Newcastle’s stadium.
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