I've been thinking a lot about the fact that in five years Arteta has only brought in five forward players: Willian, Jesus, Trossard, Havertz and Sterling.
Official: Mikel Arteta is the new Arsenal manager.
Despite that in 2024 no other PL team has scored as many goals as us.
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that's somewhat skewed by the post-dubai purple patch we had. if you go beyond 2024 to encapsulate sep-dec 2023, those numbers drop alot. in fact we played very constipated football at the start of 23/24 as well.
what I've noticed is that most of the big strides we've made under arteta were on the back of a wave of fresh energy - new faces and tactical tweaks.
22/23 - saliba and ramsdales defensive impact, zincehnkos inverted play, xhaka playing as a dynamic 8, jesus playing with a point to prove
23/24 - jorginho playing 6 and rice at 8, havertz moving to 9, trossards hyper efficiency
24/25 - same tactical set-up as previous season , none of the signings making an impact of note, and no exciting storylines aside from maybe nwaneri. as a result the team look stale and short on ideas
we need an injection of major freshness. tetball needs a new car smell every season or it stagnates quickly. at the moment I'm of the opinion of 1-2 key forward signings will do it, but I haven't ruled out that the freshness may have to be injected at the top
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By all accounts, we also failed to land Vlahovic, Mudryk, Williams, Sesko and maybe a couple others I might have missed. So it's not like there isn't recognition of that fact.
I've been thinking the same thing. A reshuffle initiated both the 22/23 50 point run and the post Dubai run.
TBF, we refreshed the stagnant leftside with Merino and Calafiori who should have given us a new lease of life down the left. Instead, they've both struggled with injury to support in a sustained manner.
Going forward, it's hard to see where the impetus will come from if we don't change it up.
Basically, we keep getting found out.
Been noticing that as well!
daredevil I saw Ruben Amorim was talking about the lack of time he has had to work properly with the players on the training ground. Due to the constant midweek football, United are in a continuous cycle of light training & prep for matches. I realise this is more of an excuse for him coming in mid season than for Arteta, but wonder if there is something around not having the time to get good work in on the training ground.
I'd also say that, for all the understandable concern around recent performances, we're still 3rd despite all the injuries, the red cards and the away schedule we've had this season. Hand on heart, barring a second half of the season madness, I don't think it's going to be our year in the league (our next 3 away games have major angst potential), but I don't think that's a reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The deck has been loaded against us from the start.
RocktheCasbah I saw Ruben Amorim was talking about the lack of time he has had to work properly with the players on the training ground. Due to the constant midweek football, United are in a continuous cycle of light training & prep for matches. I realise this is more of an excuse for him coming in mid season than for Arteta, but wonder if there is something around not having the time to get good work in on the training ground.
Thats also true for Liverpool though.
Qwiss except Liverpool have been fit. We got Gabriel to do his first training session on Friday for a Saturday game where he was playing alongside MLS for the first time. Every week it’s like this given the constant injury issues. Arteta has said it’s challenging because there are times he doesn’t even have enough players to run a full scrimmage.
Not saying it explains all our issues, but it’s definitely a factor.
Claudius Liverpool are missing loads of defenders too, including Konate who's been huge for them this season. Everyone has injury issues, everyone swaps players in and out.
And anyway its not Gabriel playing with MLS that fucked us this week, the back 4 were fine, Gabriel was particularly excellent. Its in midfield and attack we have issues.
If we'll play miserable football every other week and need to go "I miss Ben White" because we can only play decent attacking football when every defender is fit, then the squad we've assembled simply isn't very good.
Right, but in midfield - whether Merino was the right signing for us or not (and it's far, faaar to early to judge), he was signed to play in a 3 with Ode and Declan Rice - we saw that midfield for the first time last week. It's December. It's okay for people to want us to be better - I want us to be better - but I don't think we should be hand waving the issues we've had either.
We've had Partey available in that time. A midfield signing was necessary because Partey can't be trusted to stay fit, but when he's actually been it's not like Merino is expected to be a significant upgrade on him.
yeah, fair enough, all I'm saying really is that things haven't gone anywhere near according to plan for us this season - and we're still third. Things are not that bad - yet!
RocktheCasbah he was signed to play in a 3 with Ode and Declan Rice
That's a pretty big assumption. Merino has been fit for quite a while now and this is the first time we've seen that midfield. Its pretty clear Arteta sees Partey, Rice and Odegaard as his best midfield 3.
Liverpool are changing around their midfield regularly too. They have had injured players in and out and most of all they have a new manager with a new system to deal with. Yet having one new midfielder is throwing us off? These are normal football issues.
And FWIW I think the Merino issue is blown out proportion. He's hasn't been that bad.
QuincyAbeyie we need a stat of % league wins with Partey at the base of midfield and Partey not at the base of midfield. The drop off is huge.