Arsenal: The one crucial change Mikel Arteta must make after Champions League final loss | OneFootball

Gunners so close to breaking new ground, but gameplan must be tweaked

Could Arsenal really do it like this? Even this Arsenal side? Score inside six minutes, shut up shop, and declare the Champions League final closed for business?

For 65 minutes, Arsenal were both of those things. Paris Saint-Germain were frustrated, longing for the days of that first leg against Bayern Munich and all the space, freedom and fun that came with it.

The gameplan worked superbly - until it didn't. Cristhian Mosquera had for more than an hour marshalled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia expertly but then he blinked.

Space opened up and PSG started to come alive. Bradley Barcola had opportunities to settle it before the agonising drama that followed.

In 2006, Arsenal made it to within 14 minutes of glory. Two decades later, even closer. All the way to penalties, a shootout won 4-3 by PSG.

Mikel Arteta has taken Arsenal so far - to within two better penalties of the greatest season in the club's history.

Now, though, he must tweak his side and his gameplan so that perfection is not required. There must be more of a margin for error so that every loose challenge at the back or misplaced pass on the counter-attack does not carry such huge significance.

Neutrals around the world must have been grimacing when Kai Havertz burst through on goal and lashed brilliantly into the roof of the net inside six minutes.

It was clear what would follow - a test of whether Arsenal could defend better than PSG could attack. Spoiling was the name of the game.

The tactics were not subtle. Arsenal had barely 20 per cent of the ball in the opening 20 minutes. Piero Hincapie had been warned for time-wasting by that point.

Arsenal completed only 69 passes in the first half, the lowest figure on record in a Champions League final, and yet they were never truly troubled.

Desire Doue and Dembele resorted to shots from distance. Kvaratskhelia, used to cutting inside and finding half-a-yard for a shot, instead discovered he had to go 10 yards and past three defenders.

Gabriel was remarkable, making eight clearances in that opening 45 minutes. The entire PSG side completed six.

However, the requirement to be note-perfect against the best attack in Europe on the biggest stage proved too much. Mosquera lunged in and PSG moved level having not really created a significant chance.

Cruel end: Gabriel was colossal again for Arsenal, but missed the decisive shootout spot-kick

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The match opened up and space was on offer for both sides. Arsenal were increasingly their own worst enemies, making poor decisions and playing themselves into trouble.

Bukayo Saka had the chance to play Havertz in. He turned into trouble, lost the ball and PSG broke, leading to Kvaratskhelia hitting the post.

Gabriel Martinelli wasted a chance on the break. Jurrien Timber and Noni Madueke made bad choices too.

Those were understandable in the circumstances but each attack has heightened significance when Arsenal play like this. They did not know when the next one was going to come, so could not afford to waste the precious few in the way they did.

Barcola should probably have put the match to bed. Madueke then had a big appeal for a penalty waved away in extra time, the kind of marginal call that was unlikely to be overturned whatever the referee gave on the pitch.

To penalties it went. Eberechi Eze took an age to stutter up to the ball and eventually pulled his spot-kick wide. That was briefly forgotten when David Raya parried Nuno Mendes' effort.

The fifth penalty fell to Gabriel, tasked with extending the shootout. It felt particularly cruel that it was the Brazilian who blazed over and was immediately swarmed by PSG players in jubilant celebration.

If the margins are always so tight for Arsenal, pain is sometimes inevitable

It was largely down to Gabriel that Arsenal kept PSG at bay as long as they did. Not just on the night but across Arteta's reign, few have played more of a role in dragging Arsenal back to Europe's elite.

The stutter he also opted for on his way to the ball felt out of character. He is a defender with front-footed, decisive instincts. Approaching the ball so delicately felt unnatural. Hindsight reigns supreme, but the outcome was ugly.

Defeat in the 2006 final marked the end of an Arsenal era. The ‘Invincibles’ side were broken up, with Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole among those to leave in the summer that followed.

Arsenal's task is to ensure this season, the glorious Premier League high and now this gut-wrenching low, is not as good as it gets.

It should be the launchpad for more, the start of something. This final showed how close Arsenal are to breaking new ground and reigning in Europe for the first time in history.

It also displayed what is required to make up the final few inches. If the margins are always so tight, pain is sometimes inevitable.