‘Never’: Ruud van Nistelrooy shares what Arsenal didn’t do at all in the first-half of last night’s game

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PSV Eindhoven inflicted a rare defeat on Arsenal last night as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side won out 2-0 in their Europa League clash.

Goals from Joey Veerman and Luuk de Jong were enough for PSV to see off the Gunners. It means Arsenal missed the chance to go straight into the last 16 phase. Now, they need to see off Bodo Glimt to ensure that reality.

Mikel Arteta was disappointed with the levels his side showed last night. However, his counterpart, Ruud van Nistelrooy, had kinder words and believes it was more down to PSV’s excellence that the game swung in his side’s favour.

“I have seen the last games Arsenal have played and I thought the way they played in the first-half, they were tremendous. We couldn’t get them off the ball and we had a lot of problems stopping their possession and their rotations between the players,” Van Nistelrooy said after last night’s game.

“They just never seem to lose the ball. The second-half we changed it a bit and put them under a bit more pressure. It was the things we did well, we scored the goals at the right time as well, so I think it was more of our credit than lack of form for Arsenal.”

TBR’s View: Arsenal will have games like this PSV one

Arteta was right in his assessment of his team. Arsenal simply weren’t at it like they have been and PSV probably should have won by more than two.

However, it’s a long old season both domestically and in Europe and teams will have these blips. Sure, it wasn’t the best performance but like Van Nistelrooy says, there were positives too for Arsenal.

The Europa League seems like a big chance for the Gunners to win a major trophy this season. But they’ll need more of what they’ve shown in the league to enjoy success. Arteta, then, will be keen to park this performance and move on.