Man United - on the bus. The hill to die on
Arsenal got a second defeat in a week for the first time in the season and got eliminated from another cup competition. The frustrating thing is: it’s the kind of loss that leaves you with a gnawing sense of déjà vu, like watching a horror movie where you know exactly when the jump scare is coming.
The whole vibe was reminiscent of a Europa League clash with Lisbon two years ago: we played at Emirates, the game went until the penalty shootout, we lost it and two players got severely injured… It was like watching a rerun, only with a different supporting cast.
Before the game, Arteta faced a classic managerial dilemma:
Pander to the emotions like some fans demanded - best 11 play every three days, not an inch to ManUnited and, of course, win, win, win.
Make a cold, calculated decision for the good of the team - acknowledge the obvious fatigue in the squad, rotate players, prioritize the North London Derby and the Villa league games.
He chose the former, a decision that predictably backfired in the worst possible way. If you’re going to risk playing your best players when they’re clearly running on fumes, you need to be absolutely certain they’ll destroy the opposition. Was the confidence there after the Newcastle game? Definitely not.
Playing a rotated squad wouldn't have guaranteed a win, but it would have provided a safety net. A loss would have been easier to swallow, the team's confidence wouldn't have taken such a battering, and they could have approached the next game with a clean slate. The only hard pill you have to swallow? You might have had to sacrifice the game. But sometimes, you have to lose a battle to win the war.
Bad squad management
By the way, the line-up I suggested could have totally matched Man United at home. Rashford got his first senior start against Arsenal and scored two goals. Why couldn’t Nichols start against them? Why aren’t Kiwior, Zinchenko and Sterling not fit to start from the first minute? If we are short of attacking players, shouldn’t the good manager try to find solutions from the inside? For example, play in midfield the guy who plays for his national team there and was creating chances last season.
We are 5 years in and Arteta still can’t manage the squad to compete in multiple tournaments.
The squad is simply thin on numbers. We don’t have enough players to compete in four tournaments. If the plan was to play kids in the cup, then why was this principle sacrificed in the FA cup?
The best players are being overplayed. Odegaard, Saliba, Timber will play now every three days, because there’s no “direct” replacement and stubborn Arteta doesn’t want to try indirect ones.
There’s no trust in reserve players that are not as talented as the main 11. As a result, they constantly sit on the bench, lose their form, confidence and can’t help the team if suddenly called upon.
Muscular injuries, like the ones Saka and Nwaneri have had, point to unnecessarily intensive training sessions. It is getting ridiculous - to not get injured from fatigue players have to signal themselves that they need a sub (like Timber did yesterday). Fans of other clubs laugh at Saka “limping out from the field” when he had a bad game. I think that’s how Bukayo manages his body and he has been doing pretty well until December. That’s what Arteta told about Bukayo two years ago:
"REST Saka? All world's best players CAN play 70 games" I Arsenal 1-0 PSV I Mikel Arteta
Where did he get this knowledge from? As far as I remember his only experience was in Manchester City. And in that team Pep heavily rotates the attacking players - every FPL player is aware of that. De Bruyne, Gundogan/David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Foden, Mahrez/Savinho, Sterling/Grealish/Doku - all of them were getting rest from time to time. Apart from that Pep used the wide squad.
Last season our successful run was when we were out of all cups. We barely went past Porto and as soon as we played against Bayern, we lost a game against Villa that ultimately was crucial.
The bottom line to all this: Arteta can do well only in one competition, because he didn't learn to manage a big squad in all these years.Arteta's squad management is criticized for failing to compete in multiple tournaments.
Transfer window
It's January, the window's open, and if Arsenal don't pull their finger out and bring in some attacking reinforcements after the Gabriel Jesus injury (and it doesn't look good, does it?), then we might as well just pack it in for the season. In January!
We need to now look back and acknowledge: last summer window was fucking wasted. None of the signings are there for us in the toughest week of the season so far. And the worst bit? All our initial worries about them have been proven right:
- Calafiori is injured all the time.
- Merino is built like a tank, but he is slow and can't play at Premier League pace. Looks like a rotation player.
- Sterling is not motivated and not integrated with other Arsenal players.
It was well known that Arteta had pushed a lot for Merino. As a result, we’ve spent 80 million and didn’t really help the squad instead of signing a scorer, when goals are the biggest commodity of a football team. Everybody who watched Matheus Cunha last season knew he has something special in him, but now, in January, of course, his price tag is much higher. We couldn’t sign Sesko, so we did nothing instead? If a goal scorer would have been a priority, there were options out there.
After the summer transfer window our main options in January are MLS for left back, Nwaneri as a stand-in for Saka and still the good old Declan for left 8. Isn’t this the definition of a failed window?
There are voices saying that we are in the same position as we were a year ago - out of two cups and with 40 points after 20 games. There are a few differences though:
Last year we had a break where everybody rested from pressure, recharged, probably built some connections and confidence. This time we have a game every three days for another three weeks and there’s no single bloody piece of evidence that Arteta will manage the squad better throughout this period.
Last year we had all our critical players fit. Currently we are without our by far most threatening player for at least two months.
The one bit of good news? We can still do something about it in the transfer window. If we sign an attacker this could be the event that resets our squad and gives belief to the players. After it was confirmed that Kvaratskhelia leaves Napoli this window there can’t be any more excuses that there are no players to strengthen our squad. The Georgian player was regarded as one of the biggest winger talents in Europe and if he openly leaves for the price of 60-65 million this could be an opportunity to act on.
Given Trossard’s form and his refusal to sign a new contract, we need a left winger anyway. So why not now? It won’t solve the need for a striker in the summer, but we need two players, so it would be smart to buy one now and try and save the season. A finisher would be ideal, but a left winger would also do the job. Maybe even play Martinelli up front. He might be better just focusing on shooting instead of trying to beat defenders all the time.
There have been other names floating around - Cunha, Lookman, Mbeumo, Duran, Williams. Williams is exactly the player we don’t need to sign today - he has two goals in La Liga this season. We need someone who can score now, not a project for the future.
North London Derby
Tomorrow we have a real crucial game against Tottenham and I am not very optimistic about it. I know that Spurs also played for 120 minutes on Sunday. However, they have rested their attackers - Kulusevski, Son and Solanke only played the extra time. At the same time we played our first choice back four from the first minute. Have you often seen Gabriel making such silly mistakes in 2024? There’s a dodgy clip running around of Zirkzee dribbling past Saliba twice in a single attack. Do you think that happens if Saliba has fresh legs? No way.
That’s why not playing Kiwior and Zinchenko on Sunday was a huge mistake. I would much rather see Alex opening Man United defence and Miles keeping up the pace with the rapid Spurs attackers. Those are last 6 Spurs league results:
There's only one win against Southampton and they conceded 15 goals. One of the potential hopes for a good result would be if we change our tactics for once. We give the Spurs the ball, sit in the deep block and in our attacks play high vertical passes for Martinelli and Havertz behind their line. Given their severely depleted defensive line that should also be tired, I think this has a good chance of working out. But if we let them settle into their rhythm while we faff about passing sideways, it will be the same scenario all over again.
Sadly Arteta is not flexible, he plays one single system and continues recycling players in it. I’ve seen this movie twice last week. It will not be fast, it will not be spicy. Probably means we're pinning our hopes on set pieces again. And it might work, but I also see Spurs scoring if we don’t constantly keep the defence on red alert.
My preferred XI? Raya - Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko - Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Trossard - Martinelli, Havertz. But I am pretty sure that it’s not happening. At least not in this shape. Let me know your team selections in the comments. COYG!