The Prologue
When I received the request to do this piece I was in the middle of a horribly complicated wrangle with Virgin Media who, on 8th May, right before the final, season defining three weeks of the season, accidentally disconnected my services. All of them. Internet, TV, landline (not that I’ve had one plugged in for years) – the lot ! In fact, as a result, I hadn’t received the original request.
When I eventually spotted the ‘memory jogger’ request, I misread it in haste as a brief to pick out the outstanding performers of the season. One of the few serious points I have often made in this bar is that I am loathe, considering the team ethic that Mikel Arteta has fostered in the club, to ever pick out a Man of The Match. Every player in this team, and this squad, is so dependent on all the others, I feel it makes individual awards unfair and even a bit redundant.
Having subsequently re-read the brief, I was both relieved and simultaneously perturbed to discover it was a good deal farther reaching than that. A squad review detailing “Who was outstanding, who disappointed and the most noteworthy improvements this year.” To quote Scooby-Doo, “Yikes!” – this requires TTG levels of summarising skill. And I’m afraid that for all of you who like your football articles to contain lessons in classic literature and ancient history, Scooby-Doo is all you’re getting from me!
The Disappointments
I don’t think anyone in the squad has been a disappointment per se. The great strength of the squad has been the spirit, the togetherness and the genuine warmth this group have demonstrated towards each other.
I have felt disappointed for a number of players because their playing time and contributions have been seriously curtailed by injury. Those that fall into this category would be – number of games in (x) – Gabriel Jesus (13), Kai Havertz (24), Mikel Merino (14), Ben White (9), Martin Odegaard (13), Riccardo Calafiori (9), and Jurrien Timber (8). Add to that a cautionary note concerning Max Dowman who was also unavailable for 13 games with the ligament injury he suffered – a good reason to be extremely careful when considering playing a 16 year old against cynical old professionals. I have concentrated on those injuries that have caused successive weeks of unavailability. They add up to a total of 103 weeks and that is a lot of talent to have missing from the squad over a season.
I guess this section would also have to include Christian Nørgaard. It’s fairly clear that the manager decided he was not at the required level to rotate in midfield – a pity because it would have enabled Martin Zubimendi to pace himself better over the season and not suffer the dip in form caused by a relentless first term in English football. It should be stressed here that Zubimendi proved a tremendous addition to the team, allowing Declan Rice to progress more into his “8” role knowing that the back door was securely guarded (no, don’t titter, Missus!). It should also be noted that the manager and players have made the point that Nørgaard, despite his lack of playing time, has been a tremendous example to the squad in terms of the standards he sets.
If I really have to be critical in a title winning season, I would say Noni Madueke has disappointed me. He clearly has ability and, hopefully, his second season will see him come good but, after all the step overs and feints, his final delivery has often been poor. And I absolutely hate to say I fear this could be the end of the road for Gabriel Martinelli. I’m not sure left wing is his best position. He is not a tricky player and being marked by a touch line does him no favours. His pace is his greatest strength but going round the outside and ending on his weak foot renders his end product underwhelming too. He has seldom to never been deployed through the middle – where I personally think he is best suited – but I suppose there must be a reason for that. He has a tremendous work ethic and has been here so long he is one of our own. A thoroughly likeable, genuine member of the squad. I would love to see him still here but if the club is looking to strengthen the attacking department of the squad, I do feel only one of Martinelli, Jesus and Trossard will survive.
The Most Notable Improvements
My own first nominee for this award is Viktor Gyökeres. He eventually arrived last summer for a reported fee of €64 million with a phenomenal goal scoring record behind him in Portugal, no pre-season and, it must be said, a fair amount of scepticism that he would be able to transplant his skill set directly into the higher class environment of the Premier League. For a good while it seemed the sceptics were right. He looked slow, clumsy and weak in the challenge, lacked ball control, failed to hold the ball up or bring other players into the game and, to my memory, only scored either against the weaker sides in the Premier League, from the penalty spot, or in the more comfortable conditions of the Champions League. If Gyökeres was the answer to our goal scoring problems, what on earth had been the question?
It looks quite clear now that the newly recruited Gabriel Heinze has been of massive benefit to Gyökeres over the season. Apart from improving his sprinting speed, he now has a totally different attitude to how he receives, controls and holds the ball up. It starts with a determined step across his centre back locking him in place with his arms, a step and push backwards to clear a yard of space in which to control the ball and provide the vision of where his team mates are. He has begun to integrate far better into team play and has accumulated a total of 21 goals across the season which is a very decent first season return.
My next two suggestions might surprise a bit in this category. They are Leandro Trossard and David Raya. I have to admit to being a little disappointed and quite surprised when Trossard was offered significantly improved terms on his contract before the start of the season. I thought he had looked past his best the season before, only really impressed as a substitute and generally, much like a prawn cocktail, disappointed as a starter. As it transpired, the new season found him in much better form. Despite a dip in form in the second half of the season, he turned in twelve goals in all competitions, worked really hard and proved a valuable squad member considering the long absences of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, and the unfortunately underwhelming form of Gabriel Martinelli.
David Raya had clearly made himself a very obvious first choice before last season. However, I thought he scaled even greater heights last term, pulling off saves that earned the team several highly valuable points. When he first arrived he was, by his own admission, quite nervous about stepping into a team where expectations were at a different level to his previous clubs. He was also replacing a fans favourite in Aaron Ramsdale and in his first season he often looked quite jittery, seemed to unsettle the defence to me and took up some very odd positions between the posts. Last season though he built even on the season before. He plays as a sweeper keeper and is an integral part of how the team plays out from the back. He is now regarded by many as the best in the world. We have come to regard the truly exceptional as almost the norm now as David Raya looks practically unbeatable. (Except on penalties, shh!)
The Outstanding
I could almost list the whole of the rest of the squad in this section. The obvious choices would be Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhäes, and William Saliba who were inexhaustible at the core of the defensive formation on which the title bid was built. Gabriel also made a fantastic contribution to the attack, creating havoc at our anti-football set pieces although I was surprised to see that he only scored four times across all competitions during the season. It seemed a lot more.
I want to mention Martin Zubimendi again here too. C100 referred to him earlier in the season as a “Swiss gold watch of a player”, a phrase that has stuck in my head since. His quality absolutely shone through at the beginning of the season as his defensive covering helped to release Declan Rice to go forwards whenever possible. He was available for the whole of the season although it’s physicality eventually took its toll on him, requiring some time for him to recover during the final few weeks. That, in turn, led to the emergence of the first of my three, intentionally possibly less obvious, main nominations for this section – Myles Lewis-Skelly.
We had all been impressed with Myles when he stepped up to fill the troublesome left back slot – an inverting left back slot at that – the season before. It was something of a surprise not to see him featuring at all at the beginning of last season. Mikel Arteta clearly preferred to go with the physicality, experience and extra defensive capability of Riccardo Calafiori, and for a lot of last season it appeared that, sadly, the writing might be on the wall for Myles.
What we didn’t know was that behind the scenes the manager was schooling Myles in exactly how to play his boyhood and academy midfield role in a highly demanding first team setup. And then, just as Zubimendi began to tire and Mikel Merino remained sidelined with his broken foot, up stepped Myles Lewis-Skelly again to absolutely help to save our season. He slotted into our midfield like he’d been playing there for years, displaying strength, tenacity and an ability to win and carry the ball past opponents as well as anyone in the team. He played with a lovely calm and desire to always try to look for the positive forwards option. Declan Rice must have breathed a huge sigh of relief to see the Lewis-Skelly cavalry arrive, and possibly took a quick look over his shoulder at the young man showing the potential to match him in a few seasons time. Myles was entrusted with the remaining league games of the season and was then paid the highest compliment with a start in the Champions League final. A quite brilliant contribution from such a likeable, talented young man at a critical time of the season.
Christhian Mosquera is my second personal choice for the “outstanding” section. He arrived from Valencia last summer at the age of twenty-one for a fee of £13million. Since then he has played at centre back on both left and right sides, covering multi-game absences of Gabriel and Saliba, generally reckoned to be the best centre back pairing in the world. Surely the highest accolade he could have earnt was that the absences of our first choices were hardly noticed. He is a proper physical presence, calm under pressure and careful with his passing out of defence.
He also filled in at right back when both Jurrien Timber and Ben White were ruled out with injuries for the final games of the league campaign. Then, as our third choice right back he became another very young squad member to be entrusted with a start in the Champions League final. His job was to mark the best left winger on the planet in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The PSG man only managed to get past him on one solitary occasion, and that was after both Christhian and Bukayo Saka had been disabled on our right hand side by two of the dodgiest yellow cards you will ever see – and as Arsenal fans we’ve seen a few. We may need him at the beginning of next season if reports are true that William Saliba has been playing with a back problem for some time but the French are insisting on playing him through the World Cup – I’m sorry, The Donald J Trump World Peace Cup. In any event, a tremendous season from Mosquera. We are lucky to have him.
Piero Hincapié gets the last of the three spots. He came on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer with an obligation to buy at the end of the season “depending on conditions”. I have no idea what those conditions were but it’s impossible to think they were not met. He will be a €50 million addition to the squad, presumably some time in June.
I don’t know anything about Ecuadorian football other than when ever I’ve seen brief glimpses of their national team playing, the players have looked technically competent, quick, athletic and very strong. Hincapié has not disappointed. He initially filled in at left back during one of Calafiori’s injury spells and then at centre back when Gabriel was unavailable. Since then he appears to be at least equal first choice at left back, probably depending on Mikel Arteta’s tactical preference on a given day. Calafiori offers more going forwards, certainly in terms of variety and chaos in the opposition area, but Hincapié is the better defender when facing a particularly dangerous winger.
I can’t remember a game when Hincapié has disappointed in either of his positions. He is an aggressive defender, tackles well, a careful passer and must be an absolute nightmare to play against – a big lad, strong and relentless after his man. You could argue that he doesn’t have Calafiori’s ability to excite but he has settled seemlessly into the side and been reliable whenever needed in vital positions in our defensive formation.
Conclusion
Ultimately the squad held up and delivered our first league title for the now much over quoted twenty two years. However, it did get close considering the level of investment made last summer, once again due to the amount of injuries suffered. We finished up stretched in the full back and midfield departments by the end of the season, just as we had been in the attacking areas at the start of the season.
The most alarming of those injuries to me were the ones incurred by Saliba, Saka and Calafiori, an incredible four times, in match warmups. We have been unlucky in that injuries have tended to hit certain areas of the squad in clusters. Personally, without any inside knowledge, I still feel our recovery record and strength and conditioning practices have been suspect for a couple of years.
I have offered that opinion on the blog several times over that period so am not simply jumping on the bandwagon given that interestingly in that regard, the club has recently sacked head doctor, Zafar Iqbal, and are to appoint the former Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest head of medical services, Arnaldo Abrantes. Spanish physiotherapist Joaquin Acedo has also been brought in to review the club’s injury management. We’ll see.
The last and probably most important thing to say is that Mikel Arteta, Andrea Berta and the owners have built an incredible squad. In fact they’ve rebuilt an incredible club. Whoever has played, coached, supported or in any way been involved, they have developed a very special atmosphere throughout the entire club.
There is a wonderful togetherness throughout the squad which must be carefully protected over the course of this summer’s comings and goings. It will be sad to see any of them go but no club can stand still in elite football. Thank you and very best wishes to every single one of them. Quite apart from the trophies, you have given us all back genuine pride in this great club.
Fabulous piece Trev. Your judgement on the players in the various categories chimes with my own in every regard. I was particularly pleased to see you single out Mosquera and Hincapie. Absolutely spot on my friend.
It was also a season memorable for meeting you and having you lay hands on my tender places (Missus!). Hoping to see you at a game again next season.
I could almost repeat C100’s note in its entirety but Trev has yet to touch my private little places. As we tend to meet on the North Bank twenty minutes before a game we would be risking expulsion from the ground and a banning order!
This is a very well constructed piec3 and serves to illustrate really well how strong our squad is. The analysis of MLS is spot-on and I think Hincapié was pound for pound our best buy last season. He was quite excellent .
I have reservations about some spots in the team in that I don’t think they are quite up to our standard which is the best team in the league and possibly the best in Europe next season .I also share the love for Mosquera. He did a great job .
So on the basis of what Trev has suggested and my own thoughts we might part company with
White ( in January )
Vieira
Jesus
Trossard
Martinelli
Nørgaard
and possibly Nwaneri .
Unlikely departures might be Odegaard , Zubimendi and Havertz but I don’t believe Arteta wants to let any of fhose three go
Great work Trev- what do others think ?
Haven’t read everything yet, but will do promise. Just the headline and the photo got me welling up.
xxx
A very good read, Trev. I agree 100% with you about Mosquera, and indeed with most of your assessments, except I thought that you were harsh on Raya. He made some critical saves to keep games at nil-nil that we would go on to win. We probably also underestimate how tough it must be for an elite keeper not to have very many shots to save. I am also glad you mentioned Gabriel Heinze. A very good call. I get the impression he has been a massive influence.
I forgot @4 to note the absence of an assessment of Ødegaard and Eze.
Thank you, fellas !
Ned, I just needed to reply to you quickly. Maybe I confused you with my terminology of “last season / last term” ? My point was that in the season just gone Raya had improved EVEN more than the one before. I actually said, as you have, that he pulled off several saves that had earned us highly valuable points – and he has made the exceptional almost the norm. If I can suggest you re-read the bit about him I think you’ll find we don’t disagree at all …?
Thanks Trev
A tough gig giving opinions when everybody has one.
Not much to disagree with although I think that Noni improved radically over the season, particularly in regard to his defensive duties and positioning.
Eze likewise although I was disturbed to hear that he won’t be changing his penalty routine. If so, I hope we don’t let him take any more.
UTA.
A very fine review, Trev, very much in harmony with my own thoughts on our ‘Champions Again’ season.
You’ve covered all of the highlights and positives so well that I won’t say more other than ‘two thumbs up’ on 49, 49 Lewis Skelly. I think your/TTG’s thoughts on likely exits from the squad are on the money too (I hope Nwaneri doesn’t leave).
My niggles focus most on Bukayo’s achilles and Martin Odegaard’s general health and wellbeing. At their best, both are fundamentally critical to the team. Neither (imo) came close to their peak in the season just gone. Will they, can they again? Can Saka carry the team like Salah did for the Dippers?
I agree that Victor improved substantially over the season. Hopefully there’s scope for more in season two. I’d like to see him as one of three potent, different style strikers next season (I’m very happy with Kai). That Madueke starts for both Arsenal and England remains something of a surprise for me – however, good on him, may he increase his potency and end product as the team strives to make it two in a row next season.
And then there’s Eze – much more to come from him too. I think transforming Eze from an occasional to a nailed-on starter is one of Mikel’s most important challenges.
Trev@6: I am easily confused. I have re-read the passage on Raya, as instructed, and agree that we are in agreement. Apologies.
A number of you will be getting mini- questionnaires on last season which we build into a number of posts over the summer . I’ve spared those who’ve written recently and Bath who is sprawling on a sun lounger somewhere neat Lake Como I believe .
If you’ve not been asked to participate and would like to drop me a line at peter@lebeauvisage.co.uk and I will try to include you
I thought Viktor had a great game for Sweden albeit in a heavy defeat yesterday . On another day he could have filled his boots and he put in a couple of sumptuous passes . He is now officially better than John Hawley !
Thanks Trev, an excellent idea for a piece and an enjoyable execution.
I am still thinking it over but will definitely reply…….
As promised my own 1s 9d opinion on things……
Disappointments: Agree on Norgaard as it just hasn’t worked out but I share Noosa @7’s view on Noni, I didn’t buy the early Aug/Sept hype as there was no end product but I thought he definitely improved over the season and was happy enough with him by the end.
Most Notable Improvements
Agree on Raya,Vik and Leo, who was fantastic first half of the season but
I’d probably add Timber who was world-class especially first half of the
season, he was already very good but it was just a level step-up to me.
I thought Cala was much better defensively.
Outstanding: wot you said Trev, I’m behind you all the way matron!
I am not sure the injuries are a problem that will go away in this
post World Cup season and we’re going to need reinforcements –
let’s see if you and TTG are on the money in your predictions!
I am still thinking about Eze, Ode, Gabi M, Ethan and Ben as
it’s difficult to know what to do – fortunately MA gets the big
bucks to make those calls 😃
Nicely done, Trev. Agree with all your observations and with BtM’s view on Nwaneri though the lad needs regular games now and a loan might suit all parties. Sitting in our bench will do him no good at all.
Thanks all – nice to see it hasn’t caused TOO much argument. Hopefully the next article up will do that 🤣
Nice one Trev, what a great piece!
Another old boy, Nicolas Pepe, now with Villarreal, spotted with Ivory Coast.
TTG@2: One player off the books is Karl Hein. As previously reported, Werner Bremen has triggered its option to buy after a season-long loan. Hein will become their player from July 1. We reportedly got €3 million for him.
Hamburg wants to make Fabio Vieira’s loan permanent, but is low-balling at €10 million, according to the German press. I would imagine Berta would want at least half as much again.
There is also the question of the lesser-spotted Reiss Nelson, due to return from his loan to Brentford, to deal with. Might we have to give him away?
Ned @20 – I guess the question for Berta is “ is Fabio Vieira worth more than £10 million of Hamburgers ? “
Ned
Reiss Nelson has a terrible injury record . It will be very hard to generate anything significant for him .
SigningWatch
Manu Kone is very impressive in the French midfield- looks like he can hold or play box to box
Looking forward to the first hydration break to be held in the rain…
https://x.com/grimshub/status/2069367992069112260?s=48&t=EqT1i8Zy95E7NS0sqkJRhA
Looks like they’ve been reading the blog back at HQ.
Very interesting article Trev @25. So glad to see we are upgrading the medical dept. Have you offered your services as a consultant?
Failed at Question2, C100.
“Name” was OK but “nationality “ was not Spanish 🤷♂️
El Trev@25: How does this chap fit with the Portuguese doc you mentioned? Is it a new role?
England and Ghana playing for a draw here.
Spence for O’Reilly was the wrong call. Nover overlapped. Much better last 20. Still top of the group with Panama to come.
That was so boring.
Reminded me of Forest 0-0 Arsenal this last season. Elliot Anderson played well that night too. We should have had a penalty mind.
Ned @28 – no idea at the moment. I’ll try and read up on them today (I’m sure you will have already) – I’ve been a bit busy so far this week.
Thanks Trev @25 for the link……
I feel I read something similar the last time we rejigged the medical department……
I am not sure shooting the doctor will be the answer to our injury woes but
we have to do something and I guess a fresh approach is as good an idea as any.
Breaking News
Trev will be unveiled as Medical and Conditioning Director at Arsenal in the next few days . The finishing touches are just being added to a three year contract worth £10 million a year . As his agent I take a modest 49% We are in safe hands
4.9% we agreed on, TTG. The man is a crook !
You can’t trust these City wide boys Trev!
This blog doesn’t do politics. But this piece, from 2008, is fabulous on how football ran through the heart of New Labour.
https://www.ft.com/content/ac5461f6-eb14-11dc-a5f4-0000779fd2ac
C100
Can’t access that article unfortunately
Trev
4.9% ? A man has got to eat . Fortunately Bath has been confirmed as Head of Medicine but as a Scot he’s even tougher to deal with than you . Especially after last night which won’t go down as a red letter day for Scottish football sadly
The Hincapie move was confirmed as expected,
though I expect he has other things on his mind just now.
A giant thunderstorm just woke me at 4AM – it’s been raining for two days non stop
while everyone is slowly roasted in Europe – anyway, I am finally watching a bit of
World Cup football. Piero vs Kai and er….. Pepe vs no one I’ve ever heard of to be honest
As Kai doesn’t need the points it’s Go Piero and No one!!
I think Germany have brought their own referee with them !
Hahaha, yes on the ref TTG, but Ecuador are at least giving it a go
and the Germans don’t look that arsed to be honest.
Kai off after an hour
My support seems to have jinxed Curacao as Pepe sticks
a second goal with his rarely seen “good finish”
Ecuador have taken the lead 😂
Young Neuer looked a tad slow to me, perhaps time to
recall a more experienced glove butler like Sepp Maier
Well played Equador! Brilliant game!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>