Hindsight is always 20/20. We are probably in most challenging condition of this season, and here’s what few things could have been done and dealt better in my opinion.
Injury worries
Prioritizing midfield over CB – We are left with a midfield of Elneny, Xhaka and Sambi. Mohamed Elneny has played 171 minutes in this season, which is less than Pablo Mari who is on loan, Calum Chambers whom we sold, Maitland-Niles who is playing for Roma, and other 19 arsenal players. Lokonga looked to be a good prospect but we all know he is raw and needs time to mature in his role. Xhaka is Xhaka – though we have seen some good partnership matches between Partey and him, it’s always Partey’s brilliance in the midfield that made difference.
Thomas Partey picked an injury against Crystal Palace and probably won’t be available for a good part of ‘our most important games’ this season. We needed reinforcement in midfield. Playing any combination of Xhaka, Elneny and Sambi is not enough in terms of quality.
Tomiyasu has been injured too, but credit to Cedric who has managed that right back position pretty convincingly. At the left side, Tierney picked an injury and we are left with Nuno Tavares – who after a good run of games had couple of bad ones. He has been substituted before and during half time in his last two games, which is kind of an insult for a defender. I still feel we have a player in him and he just needs enough game time to pick up his form. Lets hope it happens sooner rather than later!
Thin Squad
For the first time in 25 years, we failed to qualify for Europe. Edu and Arteta decided to trim down the squad to bare minimum; there were contract terminations, outgoings and loans. It makes sense if the player loaned was Kolasinac, contract terminated was of Ozil and player sold was Chambers.
But… we could have kept Willock who performed exceptionally well on loan to New Castle and could have fit well in this ‘project youth’. We could have not loaned Guendouzi who was a regular starter for Emery and even Arteta before the Brighton incident happen. Guen looked better at 19 than Sambi at 23. Frankly, I would have kept even Maitland Niles if it meant we didn’t get to see Xhaka every week.
At CB, Gabriel and White are doing good so I have no complaints there. We have a decent cover in Rob Holding.
We are stuck with only striker we have in Lacazette. We managed to let Aubameyang go to Barcelona, who is scoring for fun and we are paying a part of his salary – only at Arsenal. We need goals and Laca can’t score one. Eddie situation is a contractual mess which should have solved by now – either make him sign a contract or make money of him.
Man Management
Guendouzi – one of the hottest prospect 2 years back, valued at 40million is on loan to Marseille and will be joining them on permanent. Not sure how much we will get for him but it ain’t much!
Saliba – another prospect for whom we paid 28million pounds, only to loan him twice then not registering him for 6 months before loaning him again for the third time. He has made his debut for French National team and left with only 2 years of contract for Arsenal. All the cards are with him and he isn’t particularly happy with the way treated him.
Aubameyang – a player who was our best scorer for 2 seasons, won us a FA cup, earned a big contract before falling out with Arteta.
In layman terms, Willock could have been the midfield player we needed, considering Partey’s injury record and our options. Auba could have still contributed and scored few goals. Guen could have been a starter or we made good money on him, had he been not ostracized. We could have used that 50million we spent on White, if we had kept Saliba and so many more things.
In this list of negatives, there is a ray of hope that we manage to qualify for Champions League. We are still favorites and had a decent run of games bar the Crystal Palace one recently. If we make it, Arteta will get the credit for making it despite all these challenges – some of which he created himself.
Hope costs nothings. Come on you gunners and fu*k the spurs!
An empirical well-researched piece Ambarish. The cupboard is almost bare after 1 game where we’ve suffered some injury setbacks. This is the sort of thing that happens to the more shambolic clubs like Leeds and Everton. We used to have masses of injuries during the second half of Wenger’s tenure but compared to that era, we have relatively few injuries this time but the crisis seems worse because the squad is so thin. I suspect the Basque Bantamweight and Sao Paolo’s Bunga-Bunga expert have failed to do their contingency planning properly. That’s why it’s puzzling that players like AMN and dear old Francis Coquelin before him were not respected for their versatility. Mark McGuinness, now at Cardiff, could have stepped in competently at LB. I’d also give some serious consideration to Omari Hutchinson at LB who is Saka-like in terms of his promise. Or get Norton-Cuffy back from the Imps…
In any case, we surely have enough to overcome the seagulls?
Ambarish. You have to stop mentioning Guendouzi. Every time I hear his name and think about how badly his talents were wasted, I burst into uncontrollable tears. Ms Kroenkephobe thinks I’ve got a hormone inbalance.
Partey out
KT out
Season is hanging on by a thread
Kroenkephobe
And we did that to ourselves. We had players who would have helped certainly in midfield and CF.
There was a 19 year old starting week in week out, sometimes best player on the pitch, sometimes like a headless chicken – exactly like any other teenager. He could have matured with hst. I am more saddened than angry on his treatment. He stood for another Arsenal player, and never played again. What he did was wrong but didn’t require this harsh punishment.
Henry14
Hopefully we will make it.
Nice one Mb, agree with you there on your analysis. I’d go further back and still point the finger at the 50 mill on Ben White, good player but not worth that. More importantly that was not the position we needed to prioritise, we all said that money needed to be spent on midfield and look where we are now. I am even tired listening to that argument myself but Christ almighty it was an indefensible use of funds. Funds,which btw,have been further hit by the great Arsenal giveaway. This is why for me the jury is very much out still on Arteta. And edu better have one hell of a summer lined up!
I still think we’re favourites for 4th simply because spurs will drop a lot of points also. We could crawl towards the line so slowly we might even drag utd back in by default!
Hammers down to 10 men here,pity. My standard position was always to shout for prem and Scottish teams in Europe but then I made an exception for utd. Then Liverpool, then Chelsea…..
Young lad is fine now,thanks for asking, hope all is well with you guys
Almunia
Midfield should have been a priority. We all knew this was coming. 50m gets you starting XI midfielder.
Amen to that, it’s been long we haven’t celebrated Saint Totteringham’s Day.
Storm clouds gathering over at Le Grove it would appear. Pedro will be issuing bans on people speaking the truth like a speed cop handing out fines at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. That’s what happens when the truth becomes less important than blindly supporting one individual who doesn’t even have a strong connection with the club.
The one thing that irks me about Artetapologists is that they blithely claim the rest of us aren’t gooners. And the latest claim is that you’re not a real fan if you don’t go to games (which is particularly mystifying and self-destructive as Pedro and his cronies don’t either). No wonder the fan base is irredeemably split with rubbish like that. The point is – Arsenal matters to all if us and I’m glad I can come to London is Red and say that.
Well said Kroenke..
It’s so true! Like it’s a crime to critique or call out the obvious. Without people ‘ self appointed Superfans ‘ trying to question how much of a fan you are.
As well as ostracizing players we could have used, I’m pissed off at the de-valuing of our players and the shit fees we ask for them. Mavro not given a sniff after a successful loan, sold for £1.5m , Guend. £13m , chambers, AMN (soon to be sold) etc Players we had offers for on the table, rejected only to leave them unused on the bench,cthen sold for peanuts. Absolute joke.
Not buying in January!! All this shit about just getting our 1st targets. What a load of bollocks! Vlahovic didn’t ever want to come so not s realistic target. Why did we waste the whole transfer window, dithering on him and Arthur???
Rank amateurs. There are plenty of players we could have looked at to give our squad some depth.
Makes me sick how some people will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics, to frame everything Arteta does as the best option. Like he can do no wrong.
When Saliba goes, I say when, cos with Artetas big ego, he has already decided that anyone who speaks out publicly will not play under him. Arteta is making totally un-enthusiastic noises about Saliba, and is not going to try to heal the rift. Cos Arteta views himself as bigger than the club or it’s best interests. I doubt we will ever see Saliba kick a ball for us in anger.
Which is absolutely fuckin crazy for a club that isn’t exactly filled with potential world class defenders.
Mark C
All true. And to think we used to be known as the Bank of England club, renowned for being cautious and clever with money. Our management team has absolutely trashed the resale of current and former players and somehow, into the bargain, made us seem like over players for those who are past it but still got fat contracts, eg Mhki, Willian, Luiz, Mustafi and Ozil to name but a few. I fail to see how Kroenke, money – grubbing bastard that he is, is unable to join the dots on this.
Peter Hill Wood, Fizsman and good old Ken Friar would be horrified.
Resale value and overpayers. Sorry.
Our recruitment has been poor for many years. However I’m not going to forget that Arteta convinced Xhaka to stay and sees him as undroppable. That’s why Sambi was dropped as soon as Xhaka was fit again, receiving no minutes to keep him in form and ready to step in when needed like now.
People forget that Arteta offered Mustafi an extension ( Thankfully even he’d had enough and declined) wtf was that about?? Mustafi when you had Saliba there all but forgotten.
So many Man management mistakes, on top of the non existent squad rotation is enough for me to decide that the job is too much for him.
I don’t bother getting into things any more with the Acolytes on le Grove , no objectivity and childish name calling for having your own opinion.
Having your fan status questioned cos you don’t follow the narrative. Sad!
Mark C
Good point. There are some powerfully unpleasant snidey little wankers on there these days. I don’t know why some of the more sensible ones persist. What are your thoughts on the Brighton game? Should be a win no?
@Kroenke
So true, it’s probably habit, cos it was a place to go and share our thoughts on the team we support.
You’ll notice that a lot of posters no longer post or do so very rarely. Which is a shame.
Site has lost it’s objectivity. I know Pete is invested in Tets, but all logic seems to have gone out the window. Absolutely everything Arteta does is looked on as the right choice, and anyone mentioning any drawbacks is ridiculed and told they know nothing.
And loads of wankers trying to police the blog, with impunity cos, they’re sipping the Kool aid from Mikel’s arse.
As to the Brighton game, I’m not confident cos they’re a good side and potter’s no mug. Even if their form’s not been great, Arsenal is the club that loves to give. Be it players for free or to teams who ain’t scored in ages.
With the injuries who is picked will have an influence on the scoreline.
So right now I’m just a passenger, this is on Arteta to earn his corn and get the players set up and raring to go. As it was his choice to not get anyone in January, the bed is made.