• The Arsenal

  • Official: Mikel Arteta is the new Arsenal manager.

It's funny, isn't it? All managers appear to have their blind spots, Arsene's were towards the back of his team and Mikel's appear to be at the top end.

I was at the game last night and thought, to be honest, that game could very easily have finished 2-0 to us and Newcastle would have had no complaints. Equally, I have to acknowledge that even me, the uber optimist left five minutes before the end as it was clear the team were out of ideas and could still be playing now without having scored.

In contrast, there seemed to be a clarity of purpose, and, more to the point, a cutting edge to the visitors that we can only dream of at present. For me, Martinelli's one on one is the sliding doors moment of the game. Put that away and you might get Newcastle coming out and leaving more lovely green space to run into.

Obviously, he smashes the post, Newcastle scored a few minutes later and a tough game gets infinitely more difficult.

The Havertz miss in the second half defied belief and that Newcastle's second goal came from a rebound felt a bit like sick joke given the amount of blocks Newcastle put in around their own penalty area. But they had the players to take advantage of it. Isak would obviously transform this Arsenal team, but Anthony Gordon would also mark a clear improvement on Martinelli.

I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water because, even with all the mad shit that's happened to us this season, we're still 2nd in the league and, for all the frustration of being behind Liverpool, are still a very good team - even if we don't look it right now. However, even I am at the point where it is clear Arsenal can't achieve anything with this group of forwards. We need a Saka level forward on the other wing and ideally up front - but I'm fucked if I know who that should be.

    I think we need to acknowledge the deficiencies of the choices that Arteta has made in our team setup in respect of our attack. Diaz, Jota, Gakpo are not magicians but appear to be so much better in that Liverpool side because of the way they attack rather than their innate eliteness. Arteta has made certain choices that make us better in some ways but worse in an attacking sense (advancing too early, one-paced attack, insane focus on the flanks vs central, etc.). I don't think there is a team in the world (bar RM) that can have 2 Saka's. We of course need better quality upfront (I still don't understand why we bought Havertz) but perhaps also a few slight tweaks to the system. In my view, if Arteta can deliver that over the summer (and I don't see why not since he has been able to slightly tweak his system each season to improve the team), he should stay, if we exhibit the same patterns and deficiencies without the personnel change to adjust for that, he should go.

      I'm sure Arteta wanted to spend money last summer and address our weaknesses. However, it was clear that selling first was the priority, and he wasn't backed to the degree that he was in previous windows.

        Qwiss Something went on there, I reckon. The hope is that Arteta was on the smarter side of it. What's undeniable is that until Edu is replaced and his replacement is bedded in, the buck stops with Super Mik.

          daredevil but this then does come back to the way we keep spending on defensive reinforcements.

          I think I'm possibly the most pro Arteta poster on this forum, but we had a game a couple of weeks back where we had one attacking option on the bench in Ethan Nwaneri - and three left backs. Without wanting to get all Liz Truss about it (nobody needs that), that says, well; a) we've been a little unlucky, but also; b) we have got our squad planning just a little wrong.

          Arseblog made the point today that none of our three summer signings even got on the pitch last night, which makes you wonder what the point of them all were.

            • Qwiss

            • Post #3840

            RocktheCasbah but Anthony Gordon would also mark a clear improvement on Martinelli.

            I'd take Gordon over almost any left winger we've been linked to. He takes responsibility in a way few others do. Think he'd be perfect in Artetas system too.

            That said he's got the same number of goals as Martinelli this season and in more minutes. This is why the LW spot is so hard to upgrade. Newcastle would want over £100m for him.

              • Tam

              • Post #3841

              I would too. Difficult argument to make based on output and also mentality, as Martinelli is no shirker, but I like Gordon and like that he’s got an edge. He’s a bit of a prick and I’d like one or two more Ben White’s around. Gordon, Martinelli and a Jesus replacement would be a good situation going into next season.

              • MistaT

              • Post #3842
              • Edited

              Bernard Woolley --

              . Diaz, Jota, Gakpo are not magicians but appear to be so much better in that Liverpool side because of the way they attack rather than their innate eliteness.

              I think Diaz has shown he's elite in multiple purple patches. Jota/Gakpo, I'm less impressed by as I find them one dimensional. But across all three, they don't ever play in a manner similar to what Arteta asks of Martinelli. I call this out to suggest that it's not only about the quality of the attacker (that we play/sign), but also what is asked (demanded) of them.

              I think Diaz is a special player, and at one point I thought he could reach the level of Sanchez. But I also don't believe that Arteta would grant the player the freedom, or accept the variability, to enable them to hit that attacking level (output).

              All this to say, I'm having a hard time believing that a brilliant LW signing will take us up a level unless Arteta also loosens his demands.

                  • Qwiss

                  • Post #3843

                  MistaT Jota would be brilliant if he could stay consistently fit but that doesn't look like something that will ever happen. Gakpo is an ok striker in a strong team, bit of a Havertz in that regard. Agree on Diaz though, he's a top winger.

                    • Dom

                    • Post #3844

                    Claudius

                    Last season we were incredibly fortunate with injuries. Saka, Odegaard, Rice, Saliba and Gabriel were never rotated last season so it's hardly surprising most of them broke down this year. The injury list is only one of three equally important causes for the subpar season, the other two being the aimless, slow football and a disastrous summer.

                      MistaT All this to say, I'm having a hard time believing that a brilliant LW signing will take us up a level unless Arteta also loosens his demands.

                      It'd have to be a player with Martinelli's attitude and workrate but just … better. At ball striking and close control. That player's always been bloody hard to imagine.

                          • Coombs

                          • Post #3846

                          Burnwinter its stochastic squad-building. It's about probability of form, injury, combinations, balance, etc. It's not about guaranteed, direct upgrades in this case.

                            Bukayo Saka when asked about the defensive work he is doing for Arsenal: “It’s good that you noticed that because the attackers are doing a lot of work for the clean sheets. But, of course, we have to do our job to help out the defenders, it’s not easy, as an attacking player, I want to be up the pitch and save my legs for the transition, but when I look at the results this season, we have a lot of clean sheets and it shows that it’s working.”

                            Ancelotti: "If I have Modric & Kroos I can't expect to press high. I'd be an idiot if I didn't counter with a forward like Vinicius, who has a motorcycle under his feet. I'll give you one last example: if I have Ronaldo, I work on how to get the ball to him often, not exhaust him with tracking back"

                            Martinelli gets a lot of flak but I wonder whether adjusting our approach in attack could make him more effective. This is a guy Klopp used to fawn over constantly, almost to the point of blatant tapping up.

                            I suspect Saka would have even more goals and assists with less defensive responsibility.

                            Even Henry would find it hard with the traffic we allow the opposition to build up at times.

                            Arteta needs to adjust and quickly.

                              • Qwiss

                              • Post #3848

                              SimplyThePest I remember Henry talking about how Wenger told him not to work back as hard as he was. That his finishing would be sharper if he wasn't exhausted from running up and down the pitch constantly.

                                  Qwiss and Paris confirmed it unfortunately when he had to run his socks off with 10 men and then missed his 1v1

                                    It's 2025, every winger tracks up and down the flank. Newcastle just beat us playing a 5-5-0 where they had every player tracking back and behind the ball.

                                    Not that I disagree with the notion we should be able to allow our forwards to relinquish defensive duties from time-to-time but Martinelli's inability to finish isn't because of tracking back. For one thing, Saka can finish fine and for another thing, we've seen Martinelli finish fine in previous seasons. So I don't think it's workload that's the problem, it's more a confidence issue I think.

                                      • Qwiss

                                      • Post #3852

                                      Don Pacifico tbf Martinelli and Saka have scored the same number of league goals.

                                      Martinelli is outscoring his xg. Saka isn't. Both on 5 league goals.

                                          Qwiss fair do. Either way, I'm not convinced tracking back is the main reason we're all a bit fed up with Marti.