So we've made a good deal of fun and vented our frustration about Mikel Arteta banging on about how many crosses Arsenal are putting in, but I think he's talking about more than just Willian launching it over everybody's head over and over.

There was a move in the 2nd where Bellerin got around the corner and played a square ball, along the ground, about 8 yards out. It didn't find anybody, in part because Lacazette either broke off his run or was too slow, in part perhaps because the pass wasn't accurate enough.

In his pitchside comments, Arteta said they need to "keep working on the deliveries, on the areas where we are putting the balls, to have enough numbers."

People seem to be taking that as him saying "keep hoofing in aimless crosses."

I think he's also talking about being more precise, more clinical on chances like that. That move looked a lot like the Manchester City cutback goal that you see so often. Except it was more of a square ball than a cutback and the obvious part where City score it.

It was a good opportunity that didn't even result in a shot, and I'd wager the non-shot xG of the chance was pretty high. You can very easily read Arteta's comments to say "we need to be more precise and get those little details right."

And when he talks about #Arsenal getting "chances" I think that's perhaps better said "chances to create chances" and that his frustration is with the lack of precision in the ball that should be leading to the shot.

This isn't meant as a defense of MA or the tactics, per se. But since I had my fun criticizing the crosses uncharitably, I think it's only fair I look at things charitably as well.

And I'll reiterate what I said before. MA's continued selection of Willian is problematic and raises questions about his ability to see / address the problems with the attack.

On the one hand, it's MA's job to find the answer and try to make it work with the roster he has. But hasn't he been trying that? He's moved Aubameyang to CF, dropped Lacazette into the recessed role, started Pepe, started Willock.

Notably, he hasn't tried dropping Willian. But it's not as if he isn't trying different things to try to press the right buttons and spark something. And he hasn't found that combo yet, and it's become a big problem. You can only put so much lipstick on a pig.

So when you boil it down, the question is who is more at fault: the coach who can't find the answers (if they even exist) or the players for not being good enough.

Or I suppose the executives for creating the conundrum in the first place.

Where you come down on that is how you determine what happens next. If you think the answers are there and Mikel can't find them, fire him. If you think the roster isn't up to par, you need patience while they fix it.

I suppose you could think the answer is "both" in which case I guess you fire the manager and get new players, but do you have any confidence in the guys upstairs to get that right? They don't have a great track record.

And in that case, #Arsenal are in even bigger trouble because then it falls to Stan and Josh Kroenke to do the right thing and totally clean house.