I celebrate a BIG birthday next year and I have begun\nto realise that I have been following Arsenal for sixty three years. Reflecting\non this it staggers me how much the experience of following a club has changed.\nWe are all familiar with the change in player lifestyles (I remember my father\nbeing very upset when he encountered a clearly penniless Jimmy Logie when we\nwere en route to an Arsenal game). The game is fundamentally different in\nalmost every respect from the one many readers of this blog fell in love with\nas young whippersnappers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the biggest change of all lies in the scrutiny\nand analysis that we see carried out routinely in the game now. Remembering\nback to my early days as a Gooner (not a term in use then!) it is salutary to\nthink about how little you might be aware of what happened in the away games\nthat you were unable to attend. I would be sent down to the newsagents to get\nthe results edition which would often have the late scorers in the Stop Press.\nThere was no televised football and often truncated accounts in the Sunday and\nMonday papers…..and that was it. No online analysis, no OPTA stats, no Sky\nSports or Match of the Day or blogs or player ratings proliferating after the\ngame. With this reduced scrutiny and massively reduced noise around the game\nthere was inevitably less pressure. Timeframes were more protracted for\nstruggling managers and off-form players. The painful demise of Billy Wright in\n1966 was a very savage moment in Arsenal\u2019s history yet it was played out in a\nmuch milder way (in most respects) than the end of Unai Emery\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So an examination of Mikel Arteta\u2019s first six weeks in\ncharge of Arsenal and what the immediate future might bring for him and the\nclub is , in a sense, ridiculously\npremature and inappropriate but at the same time it is interesting to reflect\non how things have changed and how the club has developed during his very short\nperiod in charge. I claim this because I am already reading wildly differing\nviews on social media about the success (or otherwise- and there is plenty of otherwise)\nof Arteta as manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My intention in this brief assessment will be to look\nat what he has altered …and not altered… and what he will have to do in the\nlonger term to restore our fortunes. One key point is that he signed a three\nand a half year contract which is a considerable increase on the duration of\nthe two year contract given to Emery. That suggests a considerable investment\nof faith in Arteta and an acknowledgment by the Arsenal management that he will\nneed time (and presumably resources) to turn the club around. The decline in\nthe second season under Emery, after an ultimately disappointing but not\nunpromising first season, left the club in a sorry state and things escalated very\nquickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in his first six weeks Arteta\u2019s first challenge has\nbeen to stabilise the club and impose a style of play that maximises the\ntalents we currently have at our disposal. He has overseen 9 games,7 in the\nleague (won 1, drawn 5 and lost 1) and 2 in the Cup (both won). The draw\ncomponent might be frustrating but 4 have been away and in 2 of them we have\nbeen reduced to 10 men, in the Chelsea game coming back from a goal down twice,\nat a ground which is not a happy hunting-ground for us. While only one game,\nthe United home victory could be described in anything like wildly enthusiastic\nterms I have watched all of the games he has overseen. I sense the imposition\nof a much more structured style which leaves us much less vulnerable defensively\n(contrast that with the chaos of the home draw with Southampton) although we\nseem to find it difficult to sustain a high press for ninety minutes. No game\nillustrated this better than the Chelsea defeat at home where we had been\nutterly dominant in the first half, led early but fell away significantly and\ngave up two goals in the last ten minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artetaball is a high-energy pressing game with\nemphasis on ball – retention (playing out from the back is a key feature).\nAttacking down the flanks via the fullbacks is integral with an attempt to\noverload on the wings but as one full back advances we see a more rigid system\nof cover operating with Maitland-Niles moving across if we advance on the left\nand Xhaka settling into a more defensive quarterback role on the left enabling\nKolasinac and Saka to get forward to exciting effect . In short we are\ndefending much better but are nowhere near as dangerous in an attacking sense\nas a team with the forward talent we have should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is amazing to speculate what some fans believe a\nnew manager should be capable of doing. I wasn\u2019t looking for a quick fix but a\nfundamental reset. That takes time and I believe it is shaping nicely. We\u2019ve\ndrawn too many games but we\u2019ve had terrible luck with injuries, those couple of\nred cards and we are trying to eradicate several months of the very bad habits\nwe had fallen into. Compare our current form with our performances against\nSheffield United, Brighton and Eintracht Frankfurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2019-20 has been a bit of a Groundhog Day season if\nyou can extend a day into a season. It certainly feels like it. Change will be\nincremental not dramatic and I think I prefer it that way because for it to be\notherwise would suggest the players were deliberately playing below their\nnatural level and I would find that utterly unacceptable. At least we can\nbelieve that the reason for their mediocrity this season has been a combination\nof coaching deficiencies and individual performance blips rather than a can\u2019t\nbe arsed attitude. We also lack sustained quality in some areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me our priority this season has to be the Europa\nLeague as qualification for the Champions League via the League looks unlikely\nalthough tantalisingly it remains just within reach. It would be exciting to\nhave a tilt at Wembley in the FA Cup too but a salutary concern is that we are\nstill only seven points off the relegation zone despite a mid-table position.\nAlleviating that concern as soon as possible would help us all sleep more\neasily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what might lie beyond this season, especially if we aren\u2019t able to secure European let alone Champions League football? Manchester United and Chelsea have survived similar fates in the past but they are not owned by Stan Kroenke! Our options for next season in terms of building the side would be restricted, but by the same token Arsenal still remains a highly attractive destination for good players just not perhaps the world-class players we might have aspired to in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will need to be pragmatic, imaginative in our scouting\nand prioritise the absolutely key areas of the team. That means that if they\nare fit we have adequate goalkeepers, full-backs and with Saliba joining we may\nnot need to strengthen too much at centre back if Mar\u00ed settles in well and Luiz\ncontinues his improvement under Arteta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me it is time to reshape the midfield. Creatively\nwe have struggled this season, the recent statistics on Ozil\u2019s lamentable away\nform underlining perhaps our greatest need. I think it is time to jettison Ozil\n(perhaps for Grealish?), to sell Xhaka to gain more mobility in midfield and to\nhope that we note a continued improvement from Guendouzi, Torreira and the\nreturning Smith- Rowe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst underwhelmed by Pepe who appears a one-trick\npony, it is at least a dynamic and explosive trick and his deadball delivery is\nexcellent. We have quality out wide in Saka and Nelson but we also need to\nrethink our striking options. Neither Aubameyang or Lacazette is in the first\nflush of youth and hard though it may be to do it, the sale of both might\nrefinance our teambuilding especially if Martinelli can assume the mantle of\nstriker in the way he has this season. West Ham\u2019s recent purchase of young\nBowen was an interesting one. He is a goal machine who will thrive in the\nPremier League (but perhaps not there). We may find ourselves fishing in a less\nthan elite pool of strikers but we hope Nketiah can step up to the mark and as\nwith almost every position our ability to spot uncut ( but almost ready) gems\nwho can be transformed by an exceptional coach is the hope that we cling to. I\nam relatively positive about the off-field team who have tidied up most of the\nmess Gazidis left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arsenal fans are going to require patience,\nintelligence and a degree of faith, exactly the sort of qualities I associate\nwith Goonerholics! My faith in Arteta is strongly grounded but he will need the\nsupport of quality scouting and a management team that give him as much\nfinancial support as is feasible given our relatively straitened circumstances.\nI hope the progress we make will quieten the inane banter on social media. But\nthat is very hard to envisage in these bizarre times we live in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I celebrate a BIG birthday next year and I have begun to realise that I have been following Arsenal for sixty three years. Reflecting on this it staggers me how much the experience of following a club has changed. We are all familiar with the change in player lifestyles (I remember my father being very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}