Arsenal find a way to win
This is hardly going to go down as a classic in the pantheon of Arsenal's Europa League exploits despite the novelty of such a northerly trip. Bodo is a picturesque harbour town that has been a delightful destination even in the drizzly conditions, but the Gunners will be keen to get out of here with their three points as soon as possible.
Despite being overwhelming favourites for this game, Arsenal knew they were not dead certs for victory. Bodo/Glimt had won their previous 14 European matches at the Aspmyra Stadion - including a 6-1 thrashing of Roma - and after the game Mikel Arteta was delighted that his team had managed to come away with the win.
"We are really happy to win here against a team who have won their last 14 games in European competition in a row," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference. "They deserve a lot of credit for that. Not many teams do that. We have come here as number 15 and won it.
READ MORE: Every word Mikel Arteta said on Turner's distribution, Saliba concern and Arsenal desire
"We talked about it in the last few days and that was the challenged in different conditions, in different context, making a lot of changes find a way to win. We’ve done it."
Arsenal sides have faced European trips in the past where they've been favourites and still not managed to come away with the victory. Take BATE Borisov during Unai Emery's full season in charge where the Belarussian champions managed a shock 1-0 victory that forced the Gunners to play a strong side in the second leg.
The importance of maintaining the winning feeling around the club can not be underestimated, even if the display was far below the standard we've seen this Arsenal side set in recent weeks. The fact that the winning goal bounced in off Bukayo Saka's face is probably fitting for a game of such little quality, but as the Gunners look to progress straight to the Europa League round of 16, moving one step closer to it has to be the overwhelming positive.
Tierney reacts to Liverpool snub
This was always going to be an important game for Kieran Tierney.
Even though it's impossible to suggest anything other than the fact that Mikel Arteta got it right by choosing to play Takehiro Tomiyasu at left back in the absence of Oleksandr Zinchenko against Liverpool, the selection would surely have been a source of frustration for the Scot. Speaking ahead of the game Arteta admitted that he had reacted well after the team selection had been made.
"Like any other player," he told football.london when asked how Tierney had taken the news. "We know that we made the decisions always based in the best preparation to win the matches. Kieran accepted that like any other player."
Still though, you felt the former Celtic man went into this game with a point to prove. The criticism of Tierney when compared to Zinchenko is that he is unable to play the inverted full back role as effectively as the Ukrainian. Undoubtedly, Tierney had been a star performer in Arsenal's two previous Europa League fixtures, but this was when he had been playing more like the Kieran Tierney we've come to know during his time in north London, overlapping to great effect and causing problems with direct delivery from left-back.
From minute one against Bodo/Glimt though it became clear that he was going to be asked to operate more towards the interior of the pitch. He took up a position almost in the centre circle as Martin Odegaard and Fabio Vieira pushed high in the two eight positions.
It's no secret that this is not Tierney's favoured interpretation of the left back role and his performance on the night suggested that as he struggled to make too much an imprint on the game. He is an excellent traditional attacking left-back who offers Arsenal something completely different to the alternatives who have played ahead of him at times this season. But with the way the Gunners are progressing tactically as a team, perhaps there is a question to be asked about where he fits in on a regular basis.
The answer Arteta would give to that is probably that Tierney provides him with the different options he wants to play against different opposition. Liverpool was more of a Tomiyasu game, while Leeds this coming Sunday may be more suited to Tierney's strengths. However, with the way Arsenal are looking to impose themselves in big games at the minute it's probably safe to say that the Scot is not at the top of the pecking order.
Highs and lows for Lokonga
It's worth starting off by saying that Albert Sambi Lokonga is an extremely gifted player who has a future in this Arsenal side if he can live up to his potential. Perhaps it's due to that ability that we judge him more harshly than other players in the Gunners ranks.
On Thursday night we saw the best and the worst of what the Belgian has to offer.
His slide rule ball through to Bukayo Saka on a pitch where the artificial turf made passes hard to judge was perfectly weighted, while his intensity to win possession back on occasion was superb. At the same time though, we saw yet more of those lapses in concentration from a positional standpoint that were present against Manchester United and at times he appears to have lost the progressive nature to his passing that made him such an exciting prospect when he first joined last summer.
You get the feeling that the Belgian will iron these kinks out from his game with time. Thomas Partey did not become a regular at Atletico Madrid until he was 24 and even that came after two seasons out on loan with Mallorca and Almeira. If you look across world football then there aren't too many 22-year-olds being trusted with the responsibility of the number six role like Lokonga is, even if it is only in Europa League games.
The awareness of when to commit forward and when to try risky passes will only come with more miles on the clock when Sambi can fall back learned experiences to get him through tricky situations. The former Anderlecht midfielder will be back among the starters next Thursday against PSV undoubtedly and with that comes another chance to learn even more on the role. He's not there yet, but he's certainly on the way.
'Phenomenal' Turner can still offer more
On a night of sideways rain and blustery coastal winds, few things seem to have created more of a storm than the debate over the performance of Matt Turner.
His defenders argue that, on a night that could easily have been tricky, he coped well. The artificial pitch was an undoubted banana skin for the American, but when judging the bounce to sweep he was impressive, while the major save he was forced to make from Amahl Pellegrino in the second half was a smart stop low to his left. Mikel Arteta counted himself among this group praising his No. 2 for how he had performed between the sticks.
"I think he was phenomenal in goal," the Spaniard told football.london. "The way he was reading the situations, especially when defending the area in behind the centre halves when he needed to control the space there, the way he set himself in the one against one situations that he had he was really good."
At the same though, Turner's detractors would argue that when it comes to his ability in possession, questions still remain. Arteta has spoken constantly about his team's need to kill teams by making 'hundreds of thousands of passes', but with Turner's tendency to go long on the night, this became difficult. Arteta was willing to admit that the American still has work to do in this field.
"He is improving, he’s getting better, obviously we’re asking him different things from what other managers have asked him to do," the Spaniard said. "He was much better in the first half than in the second half. In my opinion, we could have had some more control."
Players on the pitch shared these sentiments. After being brought on in the second half as a substitute, upon seeing Turner go long when under pressure, Granit Xhaka could be seen turning to the 28-year-old gesturing with his hands pushing downwards as if to indicate that he should keep calm and continue playing on the floor. The style of play Arsenal have developed this season has been based on dominating play with front-footed positioning and short passes. This is not Turner's strength based on the evidence so far.
To be fair to him, it's only a very limited sample size that this conclusion is based on and he has shown throughout his remarkable rise from nearly dropping out of college to playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world that he is more than capable of developing his game.
However, despite Arteta's insistence that he would be happy throwing Turner in for a Premier League match if something happened to Aaron Ramsdale, there will undoubtedly be doubts in the Arsenal boss' mind as to whether he's capable of allowing him to maintain the control he wants in games.
READ NEXT:
Every word Mikel Arteta said on Turner's distribution, Saliba concern and Arsenal desire
Why Fabio Vieira shouted at Reiss Nelson, Turner half-time drill: Arsenal moments missed vs Bodo
Turner, Nelson and Mikel Arteta’s relief – Arsenal winners and losers after Bodo/Glimt victory
Arsenal handed huge Premier League title boost vs Man City before the 2022 World Cup
Arsenal news and transfers LIVE: All the latest news, rumours and gossip from the Emirates Stadium
