Wow. That’s A LOT of criticism of a manager who has his team top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League, through to the League Cup final and into the last 16 of the FA Cup.
I see where you are coming from. I wrote this in the post: " I simply don’t believe brushing aside Championship opposition at home provides any real barometer for our ability to secure silverware—and that remains the standard I apply to these posts."
I believe that last season Arteta made mistakes in squad management that stopped us from winning silverware - went with the strongest squad in all competitions in January and got eliminated from cups and weakened position in PL. And when I see the same mistakes done this season - I can't help but be frustrated about it.
There was absolutely no need to bring Rice and Gabriel into the squad who he plans to play every League and CL game. And the fact that they remained on the bench only confirmed that.
We haven't won anything in the last 5 years - It would be simply naive believe we can go "all in" in every competition right now.
I think it’s really difficult to balance the trade-off between resting players and continuity. Imagine if Arteta had fielded a weakened team and lost…
His ethos is that you bring your A-game EVERY game (the foggin standards) so it would be a contradiction to pitch up for a game with a bench full of kids.
I think he’s getting it mostly right, but it’s going to be incredibly hard to keep winning and also to keep everyone fresh for the run-in. Nice problem to have!
My view is that this exact ethos derailed 24/25 in January. And I don’t want it to derail 25/26 in March.
Our first eleven against Wigan was incredibly strong. Bringing 4 kids on the bench would not be throwing the game away. You can still bring 4 seniors on the bench.
It is just healthy squad management. Gabriel, Timber, Rice, Zubimendi and Saliba are top 5 by played minutes by some margin and I hate to see them involved when they don’t have to be.
Wow. That’s A LOT of criticism of a manager who has his team top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League, through to the League Cup final and into the last 16 of the FA Cup.
I see where you are coming from. I wrote this in the post: " I simply don’t believe brushing aside Championship opposition at home provides any real barometer for our ability to secure silverware—and that remains the standard I apply to these posts."
I believe that last season Arteta made mistakes in squad management that stopped us from winning silverware - went with the strongest squad in all competitions in January and got eliminated from cups and weakened position in PL. And when I see the same mistakes done this season - I can't help but be frustrated about it.
There was absolutely no need to bring Rice and Gabriel into the squad who he plans to play every League and CL game. And the fact that they remained on the bench only confirmed that.
We haven't won anything in the last 5 years - It would be simply naive believe we can go "all in" in every competition right now.
I think it’s really difficult to balance the trade-off between resting players and continuity. Imagine if Arteta had fielded a weakened team and lost…
His ethos is that you bring your A-game EVERY game (the foggin standards) so it would be a contradiction to pitch up for a game with a bench full of kids.
I think he’s getting it mostly right, but it’s going to be incredibly hard to keep winning and also to keep everyone fresh for the run-in. Nice problem to have!
My view is that this exact ethos derailed 24/25 in January. And I don’t want it to derail 25/26 in March.
Our first eleven against Wigan was incredibly strong. Bringing 4 kids on the bench would not be throwing the game away. You can still bring 4 seniors on the bench.
It is just healthy squad management. Gabriel, Timber, Rice, Zubimendi and Saliba are top 5 by played minutes by some margin and I hate to see them involved when they don’t have to be.