Things have been going pretty well for us this transfer window. We have managed to sign Declan Rice, a right profile 24-year old with loads of experience and hungry to achieve more. I don’t know if Rice would be able to fix the problem Thomas had last season, but we have tried to address it. We have got Timber, which allows us the flexibility to use White as CB if and when needed. Last season, we ran out of ideas and bodies when both Tomiyasu and Saliba were out, injured. We had to play Holding because White couldn’t be shifted to CB, and Kiwior is still raw to adapt to the style of play Arsenal does. We have also addressed Xhaka’s immobility with Kai Havertz. Despite his Chelsea’s performances, I am hopeful on this. Kai will prove to be a much better player for us, and will certainly have more runs in him than Xhaka.
We have stop gaps in other places, Tierney is a very decent defender if Zinchenko get injured (again), Nelson/Jesus can cover for Saka at RW, Trossard provides a cover for Martinelli and can play up top too. We have ESR in the mix this season, who can cover for Odegaard. We have a solid, young team who just finished 2nd and is going to fight till death to improve it. They are going to play at the grandest of the stages in Champions League and I’m sure players who fought to get the #10 and #7 shirts at Arsenal would want to prove they deserved it.
So, what is this reality check?
First, we are playing in one of the toughest leagues in the world. Second, last season was a transitional/poor season for most of the top 6 and they are aggressively fixing their problems. Third, it’s not a one-game-a-week for us and Mikel is not very good at rotation I’m afraid. Lets get into the details.
First point is evident. It doesn’t matter if you are Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenals of the world, you are not guaranteed to win against the likes of Brentford, Brighton or Wolves. Even a newly promoted side like Forests can restrict City to share points. We didn’t make it last season not because we lost to Man City or Liverpool, but because Everton beat us, Brentford restricted us to a draw at home and we couldn’t get past the Southampton defence twice. There’s no guarantee in March 2024 that a team which sits on top can easily beat a team fighting for relegation. This is what makes Premier League exciting and is something you can’t do much about, than to concentrate on your game and improve as much.
Second point is concerning.
- Liverpool – Last season Liverpool fell of the cliff after Mane left. They had a very old and tired midfield too. They have let go Firmino, Milner, Keita and Chamberlain while strengthening their midfield by getting deals done for Szoboszlai and Mac Allister. Again, the same philosophy as ours, bring in young legs but experienced. I’m sure Klopp would be serious to get back into the mix after having missed the Champions League spot.
- Man City – Well, Man City have only brought in Kovacic as of now and half of their title winning team is off to Saudi. That’s a good news till you check that Pep is still there and he can build a team from scratch whenever he wants. All the money that is coming in, he will use it to fix what’s getting broken. They have unlimited money and one of the best managers in the world.
- Chelsea – The best transfer for Chelsea has been their manager. They have brought in Pochetino, who is great in building a solid team playing a definitive football. All the talents in the world and they were poor because there wasn’t anyone to manage them. Now, they have one and they have let go of the players that weren’t performing in their system. Mason Mount, Havertz Pulisic, Koulibaly, Kovacic, Mendy are all gone and it’s the last transfer window that will help them. The likes of Mudryk from last season are going to improve, and there recruitment is still going on. I personally think they will be the ones to watch out for, and are going to make life tough for everyone around.
- Man United – Well, Ten Hag is doing what Arteta has done at Arsenal. He is another non-emotional manager, has let go of De Gea and replaced him with Onana. Maguire has already been stripped of captaincy and he has brought in Mason Mount from Chelsea to strengthen his midfield. United are in Champions League, they have added motivation to invest and ETH is a very capable manager in building a team which can fight. They are going to be a pain in the arse, as always for us Arsenal.
- Newcastle United – They are the new addition in top 6. David Howe has gotten them the Champions League spot, after bringing the likes of Guimaraes. They are yet again in the market trying to improve on their 4th place finish, and has already brought in Sandro Tonali from AC Milan. Another oil money club to fight against, with virtually unlimited money and a manager who has done pretty well after taking over a relegation fighting Newcastle a year and half back.
- Tottenham – Well, they are going to be sh*t always, so nothing to worry about them.
It’s not going to be easier this season, that’s for sure.
Coming to the last point – we are all aware of Arteta’s stubbornness in playing a fixed starting XI, with last 10 minutes subs. It has it’s Pros and Cons. When these players play together regularly, they develop a chemistry and understanding about each other’s game. Also, a winning team is very high in confidence and any changes to it likely causes a small disruption. However, not all players are built like Saka or White, and playing them week-in, week-out can cause them fatigue and injuries. We have seen Partey broken, we have seen Saka not playing to his best, and we have also seen what happens when a player not rotated enough comes back in the fold when one of such cases happens (with Holding).
I’m in the favor of sticking to a playing XI but not that rigidly. It’s as simple as subbing out Saka a little bit earlier if we are 2-0 up against Forest. Showing a little bit of confidence for the bench players against the bottom half teams can keep these players fresh for the important games.
This season is going to test Arteta on his rotational skill. We are going to play twice a week and it’s not like no one would care this time. He will have to manage players in a way that they do not get injured, do not get stale, do not feel dejected; all while keeping them motivated for every minute they play.
As I said the last time, it’s going to be a tough season for the Manager, having to manage the team in two important competitions while improving on the last season’s performance; players after staying on top of the table for around 30 weeks and not winning; fans because we have seen improvement and the frustration and anger has changed to hope.
Right, see you in the comments.
Tony, you reckon migrants are treated too well? Ok, believe the Torygraph if you will.
Your views are warped. If the list of young players were treated as badly as you suggest, why are they are they happy to be playing, signing new contracts etc. You would be the first to criticise if they were mollycoddled and you know it! Sometimes it isn’t always an easy path but to construct an argument that these players are thriving in spite of Arteta, rather than because of Arteta is a difficult one to pull off.
When it comes to Immigration Thailand is light years ahead of the UK. Spain is looking like it’s adopting Thailand’s financial rule of thumb of needing a certain amount of money in a local bank account; 800,000THB. It has to sit there doing doing for 6 months.
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That’s for a retirement visa. Tourism is a big part of Thailand’s income as is the expat community who could afford to live, work and retire here. What is happening in the UK would never happen here.
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I’ll leave you with this even though I’ve paid my NI fully to get my pension, which I still haven’t registered for. If I were to come back to the UK, I would have to pay the NHS for any health issues I had in my first 6 months of being in the UK. Migrants get it straight away.
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That and so many other reasons make the UK what it is today. Anything, but fair for Brits and migrants first.
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Nowhere is perfect to live; paradise doesn’t exist except in our minds of what paradise would be. Britain is not geared to have 70m+ inhabitants where your internal free systems (education, NHS, dentists et al) are at saturation point and cut backs will continue to persist.
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It doesn’t matter who is in power Britain is firmly on a downward slope unless it makes radical changes that the masses will rebel about. It’s happening all around the globe.
doing nothing*
A compelling argument, Bob, but right now if you were a young player who who would you feel safe to move to and get playing time. Barca and RM are broke, Bayern Munich is a one horse race team. Equally, the PL is the world’s best league that pays the most.
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That old filthy lucre old chestnut. It’s not like those who have signed are being paid peanuts; no, it’s Wenger’s tactic of offering them the most to keep them.
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City would be a bench situation. Manure and Chelsea are in transition, so unstable to go to. Not really much choice and they know Arteta will be gone if he has a bad season.
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Right now Arsenal, as a club is better for them, not necessarily if Arteta the right manager? That is still an unknown quantity. They do know, though, the pets at least will get game time until they are injured or bad form from being over played.
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I only those the Telegraph as being a broadsheet newspaper. The news is covered by all forms of media, so take your pick. 🙂
chose the Telegraph*
Bob, I’ve never followed politics or even voted once. As KP alluded to about my 70s and 80s I did my own thing even when working corporate. My results spoke for me so I did what I wanted and missed annual meetings and team building and other corporate BS. Never went to a Xmas party; I only worked for the company they didn’t own me and they never fired me either.
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I still do my own thing and am very successful at doing it. 10 years as an employee who it didn’t suit was enough for me. I’d done my time in corporate and knew how to conduct business globally having been very successful at it.
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I would imagine your vocation is fully met to suit who you are and that is admirable and something I greatly respect. Our lives have been so different and yet we find mostly common ground. It’s no good quoting me Torygraph or any political views as they will be lost on me, Bob, as I simply don’t care about the UK any more than I do France.
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The UK cannot affect my life, but it will continue affecting your’s, Bob. I prefer it may way! 🙂
For some who is not fully taken by Arteta you sure defend him as his MVP fan, Bob.
You’re right molly coddling would not be supported by me either but a sympathetic understanding of Saliba’s torment at the time would have been far more humane and show sound management.
Not sure if you have the insight to know exactly how Saliba was treated. He should have played in the first half of the season before going on loan. He seems happy now!
All I would say is that for the most part the papers are to the right so quoting an article from them, has to have a recognition that there is a prism in operation, reflecting the vested interests of the ownership.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/kai-havertz-makes-arsenal-history-as-first-player-to-set-embarrassing-pre-season-record/ar-AA1e3xxQ?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=2c4c5bb378374961a1a151c03f110381&ei=12
Little do they know that this is all part of Arteta’s genius masterplan – make other teams think we don’t know where he’ll play and other players thinks he’s shit and we’ll win the PL & CL at a canter.
When I read things in the paper you can tell if that is click bait or had more truth then falsehood in it if you have followed Arteta over the past 4 years a trend will emerge and you build your opinion on that.
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For me Arteta will die on the Havertz hill and hopefully be gone next season. I am just looking at the young players that he discovered and the record is dismal. So one trend is he trust more buying players then developing academy players. So if the papers report on new players, I look at the situation through that lens.
It’s an opinion blog, so I will have mine too :))
I think for the first couple of years, everything was wrong with Arteta except getting the crowd together. He has improved (learnt on his way, and the leadership deciding project youth is the way). He surely made us play some beautiful football last season, and ending up second was an achievement. However, he is stubborn about rotation and we paid the price in terms of injuries, drop in performances and it also meant players coming from bench didn’t have enough game time to pick things up (Holding, Kiwior).
Started worse, improved on his way, got into Champions League and has a proper fight with Pep’s side. Rotational aspect and team management can be judged better this season when we have two games to play every week, and he has basically got the back ups he needed.
Costly, yes but he got em anyway. So he will be judged in his 4th season. Anything less than a trophy and a good Champions League run will not be considered a progress. He talks about setting the standards high, those standards applies on him too.
Killroy,
I’ve not been very impressed with Havertz but I have a feeling he will improve his game and us drastically.
Feelings are sh*t most of the time though.
Agreed Ambarish.
The Havertz Hill, as predicted.
Out the horses mouth, Bob. From Arteta.
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Anyway, it triggered me to know what went on. I really felt for Saliba and I’m extremely impressed he has matured so well. Proves he’s had good advice and support from his family and agent, who I was impressed not to move Saliba on for a huge agent’s fee.
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It really angered me and just confirm’s my thoughts on Arteta the man, not the tactical coach – that has still to be decided when or if Arteta brings home a PL title or CL trophy.
Very well said Ambarish.
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Bob, I’d be very happy for all us gooners to win the title this season even Pedro. I’d want to see if Arteta can win the CL, so I can look past the manager and take heart in the important silverware he wins us. Doesn’t mean I have to like or respect him as a person because I never will and Arteta will never change. The later is very evident if you look at him over the last 40+ months.
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In general manager’s job is 2 things; to make the right decisions and delegate.
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Arteta has proven numerous times he’s a poor decision maker and even worse under pressure during games. The worst part is when things are going against us the camera focuses on Arteta chewing his nails or fingers looking lost. Then Albert Stuivenberg wanders over casually offering Arteta choices, which invariably he doesn’t use. Wish, rinse & repeat. Will this habit change? I have no idea.
To be fair, Bob, even you said you are unsure about Havertz, so you can’t be surprised we all feel the same. I’d love for Havertz to be the dream buy we all missed completely. If Havertz nails the #8 this season, I’ll be one of the first to acknowledge what a genius signing it was.
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However, if it all goes Pete Tong then we are stuck with a £338k a week underwhelming player no one wants so we have to pay him off.
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It’s not a remake of Calvary Hill with Havertz and he has more than a fair shot of showing what he couldn’t do at Chelsea. If he doesn’t, he will have that cross to bear.
No one Havertz to fail (well no Arsenal fans at least) my concern is sometimes a player just isn’t suited to a particular league or style of play for example Bergkamp great at Ajax, awful at Inter & God at Arsenal, Veron was great in Italy, awful and ManU and worse at Chelsea.
Now Arteta might be able to bring the best out of him but for a player who’s looked bereft of confidence for sometime we really need to stop any negative media stuff it’ll just make matters worse.
Marc
Agreed we all want Havertz to be the next Bobby Pires as their styles are somewhat similar when Havertz is on song. Big shoes to fill but also for a much bigger fee and income. Alan Ball was a silky ball player. Freddie Ljungberg also a great 8, as was Rocky. Parlour another.
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I know the playing style is different now, but as effective 8s the above names were truly magnificent. If Havertz is as good as Nasri the he may just justify his price tag.
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There are others and Ode is wearing the #8 so reality is #7 the great Liam Brady’s shirt number.
Tony
Not sure Saka will be happy with you taking away his shirt number!
When sticking to numbers and facts it took Arteta over 3 years to beat Emery’s total points. Emery inherited Wenger hang overs was not monetarily supported by KSE to the degree that Arteta was. You can only play the football with what your players are capable of. Emery was sacked because of the clueless fan’s pressure and politicking from the Club.
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Arteta finished 2nd place after a bottle job and owns the unenviable record of sitting 240+ days on top of the table without winning the title. Sure an improvement over finishing 5th after another bottle job.
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Are you trying to tell me that with the hundreds of millions investment in players another manager like De Zerbi, ETH, Nagelsman or even Emery would do a worse job then Arteta? Not a snowballs chance in hell.
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This season will be a do our die for the generational one and we will see how he handles pressure and how he treats the squad when feeling that pressure.
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23rd of December after the Pool game will be evaluation day and no excuses from the Apologists.