Arsenal's attack simply refused to click.
Roma responded by tightening their defensive block, cutting off Kai's passing lanes before they could open up. Wilshere looked sharp on the ball, tidy in possession, and confident in duels, but his link-up with the front line never fully settled into rhythm.
Sanchez was lively as ever, still sharp in tight spaces and aggressive in every duel. Suarez kept making intelligent runs between the centre-backs, constantly trying to pull defenders out of position.
The movement was there.
The form was there.
The ideas were there.
But the goals never came.
The question kept repeating itself on the touchline.
Where exactly was it breaking down?
Pat Rice looked increasingly frustrated, running a hand through his hair before letting it drop again. The structure was familiar. The patterns were familiar. Even the passing combinations looked similar to last season at a glance.
Yet something fundamental had shifted.
It felt like a machine rebuilt with identical parts, only for the output to refuse to run the same way.
Pat Rice called out again, voice sharp.
"Kai, push higher. Get involved in the final third."
Kai responded immediately.
He stepped forward into a more advanced pocket, positioning himself closer to the edge of Roma's midfield line. The intention was clear. If Arsenal could not break through naturally, then he would try to force the issue by inserting himself closer to the decisive zone.
Wilshere noticed the movement and released the ball to him.
Kai had not even fully received it when he saw the pressure coming. De Rossi was already closing in, reading the pass early, stepping forward with intent. Kai adjusted on instinct.
A small touch backward, a quick turn through the contact, and he slipped past the first challenge. De Rossi tried to lean into him, to slow him down, but Kai stayed balanced through the contact and shielded the ball cleanly.
He came out of the turn still in control.
For a moment, he held it, scanning.
Sanchez was marked tightly. Suarez had two defenders near him. Wilshere was available but deeper than ideal. The usual passing lanes were blocked or delayed.
Kai exhaled once and decided in a split second.
Aubameyang looked up as the pass arrived.
Kai followed the ball with a sharp instruction.
"Drive. Break them open."
Aubameyang took it in stride.
A few quick touches, a change of rhythm, and he slipped past the full back, accelerating into the space near the box. For a brief moment, the defence tilted toward him.
That was the opening. He tried to square it toward Suarez, but the pass lacked precision.
Suarez still attacked it, throwing himself into the duel with Rüdiger and Manolas. He made contact with the ball, but the header came off at an angle and drifted wide.
It rolled out of play.
Kai stopped, exhaling through his nose.
Roma did not waste the moment to settle.
As Arsenal's shape was still transitioning, they pushed forward immediately, bypassing midfield with direct balls into space. Džeko and the front line began attacking channels, forcing Arsenal's defence to turn and recover under pressure.
The warning signs turned into consequences.
In the 31st minute, Roma struck first.
The finish came after sustained pressure and repeated entries into Arsenal's half. The goal itself was not complicated, but it exposed the gap left during Arsenal's attacking transition.
Roma celebrated hard, voices loud, arms raised.
They had just gone toe to toe with European champions and come out ahead on the scoreboard.
On the touchline, Pat Rice stared ahead, expression tight.
Arsenal were behind.
Nothing felt stable. The attack looked structured on paper, but in practice, it kept breaking at the same points.
Timing.
Final pass quality.
Movement coordination in the last phase.
He muttered under his breath.
"This should be working."
. .
Kai remained focused, but the frustration was visible in small moments. A glance after a missed pass. A pause after a broken sequence.
Roma were compact, disciplined, and now even more confident in their block.
Arsenal pushed again.
The substitutions came in waves after the break. Fresh legs, different combinations, attempts to change rhythm.
Pat Rice tried multiple variations.
Nothing shifted the core problem.
Suarez came off. Still no breakthrough.
Sanchez stayed active but increasingly isolated in tight spaces.
Wilshere kept running, kept receiving, kept trying to connect, but the final structure still lacked sharpness.
Then, late in the match, something finally changed.
In the 84th minute, Wilshere picked up space just outside the box. A small gap opened as Roma's line shifted late. He took one touch, then another, and struck through the crowd.
The shot went in.
1-1.
Arsenal had their equaliser, but the reaction on the touchline was muted.
Relief, but there was no satisfaction.
When the final whistle came, Roma looked pleased. A draw against the Champions League holders gave them confidence heading into their season.
Arsenal walked off with a different feeling.
Uncertainty.
The system still had no clear answer.
Pat Rice stayed back longer than most, watching the pitch empty before turning away.
The second match offered no clarity either.
A goalless draw against Real Betis followed in London. Arsenal controlled large portions of the game, but control meant little without an end product.
The pattern repeated in the third friendly.
A narrow win, a single goal created through a direct link between Kai and Suarez. A long pass, a simple finish.
Efficient, but completely unrelated to the attacking system Arsenal had spent weeks building.
It worked in isolation, not as a stable system structure for goals.
The concerns became even greater when considering the opposition. Their opponents were a German second division side with limited quality compared to Premier League standards. Against such a team, Arsenal had managed only a single goal.
Across three matches, Arsenal's defence looked stable, but their attack did not.
And the only thing that stood out clearly was how often the team relied on individual brilliance rather than coordinated structure.
Pat Rice was left with the same problem after every match.
The Premier League season was approaching rapidly, and every member of the Big Six was preparing for a title challenge.
Arsenal could not afford to fall behind.
The most frustrating part was that nobody could identify the actual problem.
Compared to last season, the attack had not changed dramatically.
Wilshere had stepped into the midfield role.
Aubameyang had joined the front line.
That was essentially it.
Aubameyang's performances on the wing had been promising. His pace and one-on-one ability created problems for defenders throughout the preseason.
Wilshere had also been excellent. His passing, movement, and work rate were difficult to criticize.
Yet Arsenal still struggled to create clear chances.
Pat Rice could sense the problem.
He just couldn't identify it.
That was what drove him crazy.
Late that night, the lights in his office remained on.
Match footage played repeatedly across the screen.
Pat sat alone at his desk, reviewing the same sequences over and over.
"Where is it?"
He rubbed his eyes.
"Where's the problem?"
The pressure was beginning to show.
His eyes were bloodshot.
As Arsenal's caretaker manager, he was already carrying enormous responsibility. Taking charge of the reigning Champions League winners was difficult enough.
Now he had to solve an attacking crisis before the season even started.
Countless people were waiting for Arsenal to fail.
Pat refused to be the man responsible for that collapse.
Another video clip ended.
Pat leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
"I can't find it," he muttered.
"If we keep playing like this, the entire system is going to fall apart."
He paused.
"The defense has actually been our strongest department."
Then he froze.
His eyes narrowed.
"The defense..."
A memory surfaced.
Arsenal.
The 2013-14 season.
Back then, Arsenal had not relied on intricate passing combinations. They had built everything around defensive solidity, midfield pressure, and rapid transitions.
The passing-and-movement system only truly flourished after Kai's development as a deep-lying playmaker.
Pat slowly sat upright.
A thought was taking shape.
The current problem was simple.
Opponents were dropping deeper and deeper.
They were denying Kai the space needed to play his trademark passes.
They were refusing to open up.
Pat's eyes suddenly lit up.
"If they're determined to sit deep..."
A grin appeared.
"Then we'll stop attacking them."
The logic was straightforward. If Arsenal became more defensive, opponents would naturally push higher. The moment they advanced, spaces would appear behind them.
And once those spaces appeared...
Kai's long passing game would become dangerous again.
Pat slapped the desk.
"That's it!"
The frustration that had haunted him for days disappeared instantly.
His mood improved dramatically.
"Perfect."
He laughed.
"I'm only the caretaker manager anyway. Let Arsène deal with the complicated attack stuff when he comes back."
"My job is to keep the ship steady."
The following morning, Arsenal's squad gathered in the tactical meeting room.
Pat unveiled the new system.
For a few seconds, the room fell silent.
The players stared at the board, then they looked at each other.
Especially Kai, Wilshere, and several veterans.
The setup looked extremely familiar.
In fact, it looked almost identical to the counter-attacking system Arsenal had used years earlier. It felt as though someone had turned back the clock.
A return to an older version of Arsenal.
A return to simpler football.
Nobody objected.
Given the team's current struggles, this system actually made sense.
At the very least, it suited the personnel available.
Kai found himself growing excited. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see whether the old formula still worked.
Their final preseason opponent would provide the perfect test.
Monaco.
One of the strongest teams in Ligue 1.
The friendly had come together partly because both clubs enjoyed strong financial backing from Russian billionaires, making negotiations straightforward.
Monaco themselves were an ambitious project.
Backed by significant investment, they had assembled an impressive group of talent.
Carvalho.
Carrillo.
Fabinho.
Moutinho.
And among them was a young forward who had yet to fully explode onto the European stage.
Kylian Mbappé.
Monaco was a club preparing for something bigger. They wanted a measuring stick. A chance to test themselves against Europe's reigning champions.
Arsenal provided exactly that opportunity.
The agreement was finalized quickly.
. . .
On August 4th, Monaco arrived at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal entered the match with a preseason record of one win and two draws. Monaco arrived eager to prove themselves. Both clubs had important questions that needed answers.
After discussions between the coaching staffs, an unusual agreement was reached.
The result would remain private.
No official scoreline would be released.
No tactical details would be shared publicly.
The match would be treated as an internal exercise.
A closed-door test.
For ninety minutes, two ambitious clubs would reveal their plans only to each other.
And nobody outside the stadium would know what happened.
. . .
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