Arsenal’s Time-Wasting Tactics Frustrated Sporting CP – Hjulmand

Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand has criticised Arsenal’s time-wasting tactics in the UCL. Recall that the Gunners progressed to successive Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history, holding on to secure a 1-0 aggregate win over Sporting at the Emirates Stadium.

Describing the UCL statement as boring, Hjulmand noted that the game lacked fluency because Arsenal players kept wasting time during set-pieces.

The midfielder added that he is proud of himself and his teammates because Sporting CP deserved extra time at least.

His words, “I think it was an even game.

The impact of the first game, that we lost, made it more difficult to go to the Emirates and win, especially when we don’t often lose at home. We knew it would be difficult here.

But the game had low intensity and no rhythm, zero goals, and I would say boring.

I think a lot stops during the game, so we couldn’t get the rhythm that we wanted to. A little bit boring.

If I was a viewer from outside 0-0, also the first game 1-0 it’s not the way Sporting wants to show itself. We want to score goals, create chances and we didn’t do it.

During the game I felt a lot of stops, especially during set-pieces and it takes a lot of time out of the game.

When we did get the rhythm, we did create a lot of chances, especially in the first half. But at the end, we didn’t create enough to win the game, to be honest.”

WOW.

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.

In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season. Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.