We're deep into three competitions, have a cup final in a 4th one next week, and we have a striker in good physical shape who's chipped in with 11 G/A since January. I'm not sure what people are even asking for anymore.
No surprises it was this mentality monster who has already carried a team successfully in two title races that stepped up when we needed the goal. We're playing a system that is geared towards none of the strengths he built a reputation on and he's still got 18 G/A (which is twice what the other jokers we were linked with have accumulated) because that's what big players do, they adapt.
Arteta is never going to be a manager of quick transitions and stretching opponents, but I think he has shown he's willing to compromise a little bit, and that bit is going to see players like Gyökeres and Eze thrive going forward.
Last night was a perfect example: do you want to win the league or do you want to have a lot of pointless possession in the final third? There's no way the Arteta of a few years ago would have come up with the right answer (to him they were the same thing) but the Arteta who coached yesterday hooked Zubi and threw on four players whose idea of football is that it should be played vertically, not sideways. Two of them scored, two of them assisted. Immediate validation.
I want him to be bold and start with Eze, Gyökeres, Havertz and Saka against Leverkusen. That's the best recipe for team success that we've got going forward, and it's got enough individual quality to bring home more than one trophy this season.
