Arsenal are on their way, but is the best yet to come?

TotalArsenal

It is Monday and we are more than half way through the second interlull of the season. I wonder how many club football fans would vote in favour of abolishing international games during the club-football season; I would imagine it to be close to 100%. I like watching the international games, but only if they are played at high intensity levels and any injuries would not have such an impact on Arsenal’s fortunes in the PL. This is clearly incompatible during the club-season, and as a result we are watching slow tempo, no risk and low intensity games, and it sucks. And yet we still have our star players returning home injured, with Saka the latest victim whilst Odegaard has missed many key games already.

In a past post I have suggested that the club-football season should not be interrupted and that all international games should be played after it. There would be plenty of time for all international games to be played during a now longer break period: all players can give their all without them and their clubs worrying too much about injuries, so there then would be the required focus and intensity during all the international games.

Anyway, we are where we are and we hope that Bukayo’s injury is not too bad. Saka has been immense with nine assists/goals in the PL already; that’s just one less than Haaland, and that without Ode and Ben in many of these games. I will never tire of watching Bukayo’s off and with the ball actions, and I don’t think I have ever watched a more efficient AND effective winger strut their stuff in the PL. I guess Mikel did bring Raheem Sterling in to deal with a possible Saka absence, and first signs have been good. Well, let’s see what will happen next.

The absence of Odegaard and, until recently, Mikel Merino, did not hurt us too much until now, and I am excited about what our team will be able to do once all are fit and available. I doff my hat to Thomas Partey who has carried our midfield over the last two months and has been quietly sensational. IF, and it is a big if, Thomas can stay fit throughout most of the season, Arsenal will have such a chance to make it all the way. And there is more to come from our midfield: Declan is not purring as yet, Merino has yet to settle into the team, and our captain’s return, whenever that may be (hopefully soon), will lift the whole team.

It’s this imminently strengthening of our midfield that makes me believe we are yet to see what this Arteta-Arsenal team is really capable of. The defence is solid, our full backs have become all-round monsters, our attack is starting to reach full fire-power; and with an ever stronger, more versatile, and fully-fit midfield, I think we can continue, and even improve, on our excellent start to the season.

Key in all of this is developing a style of play that suits the team and is as effective at home and away. In our away games we tend to sit back more and lean on our defence qualities, whereas at home we push up much more and aim to dominate teams in their own half. The former seems our more natural style of play and the latter is not working as well as as it should do. We are simply conceding too many goals at home, and leave ourselves with too much to do to get maximum points: sooner or later it is going to cost us. And for me this is the nr1 goal for our midfield: get the balance right between making us a defensive fortress and a ferocious attacking machine, home and away. Will Rice, Partey, Odegaard and Merino be able to do just that: what do you think?

By TotalArsenal.

51 thoughts on “Arsenal are on their way, but is the best yet to come?”

  • Good post TA.

    I agree, Arteta has done an absolutely fantastic job in tweaking our tactics during this period of difficult fixtures with key players absent – which may also hopefully silence the inane complaints regarding Arteta not having a Plan B or whatever that means?

    Arteta has a Plan B, C, D, ad infinitum…

    I have to laugh when I read some online pundits opine that Arsenal are playing better without Odegaard – no we’re not playing better we’re playing differently and adapting.
    You have to despair at some of the garbage put out at ‘content’….

    I have no idea at all about the fitness status of Havertz or Saka or Odegaard but I wouldn’t risk any of them if there’s any doubt at Bournemouth. We don’t need to risk Bakayo, Odegaard might be a few more weeks anyway (we can cope) and Kai is probably fine, he just needs to be used sparingly why he recovers completely from his knee issue. It’s why we brought in Sterling.

    As for Partey, its amazing at how he’s managed to remain fit for so long, has Arteta made adjustments to how he plays? Or is the motivation of playing for his next contract having a revolutionary effect on his fitness and desire to put Arsenal first?

    Sometimes putting your club first can give an invigorating boost to your club career, just imagine what might have been if during his first season at Arsenal if Gabriel Jesus had actually played it safe with his health and not gone to the WC where he did further damage to his knee? Maybe he wouldn’t have missed the best part of a season and and half and maybe he’d be our No.1 choice for centre forward instead of sitting on the subs bench with face akin to a smacked arse?

  • Thanks Total. Amen to your two main thoughts and to the tenet of the BBC article which reinforces your concern over meaningless international games. Perhaps a compromise is to allow for international matches in the season preceding the FIFA World Cup and that preceding the EURO’s. This would allow a fallow season every other year. I also like the idea of staggering fixtures in January, to allow clubs a ten day break between games. A reward for the busy Christmas period and an opportunity to refresh and refocus for the second half of the season.
    Your second thought about the midfield does elicit a growing sense of excitement, only tempered by the ever looming spectre of injuries (the big “If” you mentioned). Add Nwaneri into your mix, and, yes, the best is yet to come. We may indeed need shades. 😎

  • A good read, Total and agreed, the team does have a lot more to show, regarding its best form. Consider this; we were undoubtedly, the team that played the best football last season but showed some vulnerability at the back, in the process. This season, we appear to have traded some of our fluidity and entertaining style for pragmatic and collective defending (as you pointed out, not so much at home; but it’s a work in progress) where even the Striker falls back to do some defending. It is effective, earned us the points and kept us in and around the leaders; a good place to be, considering our injury problems.

    Certainly, the midfield is yet to reach the cohesion levels of the second half of last season, after the team returned from the winter break in Dubai. With the addition of Merino, inverted full back play of both Calafiori and Timber and the fitness of Partey, fingers crossed, we’ve still to see the best from that midfield.

    Another understated area in which our best is still to come is in the forms of both Gabby Jesus and Raheem Sterling. I feel once those two become match-sharp, get the trust of the fans/management and regain confidence, some defenders will find them too hot to handle.

    There is a bit more to come from the team.

  • No surprises, after the recent run of results, but Jonas Eidevall has resigned from his position as head coach of our women’s first team and is to leave “with immediate effect”.

    First Team Assistant Coach Renée Slegers will take charge of the team as our Interim Head Coach. Hopefully, a substantive manager is recruited soon enough, unless the interim coach suddenly does bits with the side.

  • “The club-football season should not be interrupted and that all international games should be played after”
    How can any fan not agree with this? … the current organisation of international football ruins everything: domestic leagues because of the injuries sustained during pointless international confrontations (not to mention those sustained “after the fact” by the best of African-SouthAmerican (GJ9?)-Asian players, who all play in Europe, as a consequence of their multiple travels by plane, the jet-lag effects, the adaptation to brutal variations in temperatures …), and international football itself because all this inflation of games has achieved, eventually, is demonetizing the very principle of confrontations between nations.
    He was maligned as a FIFA-mercenary when he suggested it, but I can’t help but wonder if this is not precisely what dear ol’ Arsène had in mind when he suggested that international competitions should take place every year … This could actually happen, provided the qualifiers become history, and a “pyramidal” system is set up. The WC would take place every other year, with a “League A” at its top, 4 groups of 4 teams each – the very best ones, based on their past results in the competition (bye-bye qualifiers and friendlies, hello unburdened fixture scheduling) then right below two divisions – Leagues “B1” and “B2” of 4 groups of 4 teams each, etc .
    Such would things be, the first time. Then just as in domestic leagues a system of promotion/relegation would have to be implemented, the last four of “League A” going down and the four best teams of “League B” going up, etc. – there could be various ways of deciding who these four promoted nations would be, there could be playoffs instead of just the first two teams of each group going in the up elevator …
    Let’s say 3 weeks of prep for the squads, then 3 weeks for the competitions proper, that’d be only 6 more weeks of football for the top players, with a maximum of 5 games (plus a few friendlies during the prep) for the finalists – but all of the games would matter, and most of them would be worth watching, probably remembering too. Is it any wonder that what remains for many the best tournament of all time, the 1970 one, was the last time the format of the competition was precisely this “four 4-team groups immediately followed by the knockout stage”?
    Years without WC would be filled with continental competitions, based on the same principle … BUT, because there is a big but (pun intended), of course all of this will remain wishful thinking, since those who complain shed only crocodile tears. The clubs, because it would be very simple for them to no longer free their players in the middle of the season. If all of them united stood their ground, FIFA would surrender overnight. The most shameless hypocrites are the players, who complain about being overused but take the money, and – united in greed with their agents as they are – show no sign whatsoever of being on their way to accepting any kind of paycut, even though this is the one and only condition for football to start coming to its senses.
    And in the end, there’s us, the fans, whose money runs the show, but who are too disorganized to even contemplate putting any kind of pressure on the powers-that-be. I wrote the exact same thing at the time of the “Super League” (on “Untold”, or so I think) and look at what we’ve got since: FIFA-UEFA are more powerful than ever, and have imposed a 48-team WC tournament, a 32-team club WC, as well as the current CL formula, on top of this ludicrous League of Nations, not to mention such yummy WC or Euro qualifiers as England-SanMarino, France-Gibraltar, or Netherlands-FaroeIslands … you name ’em!

  • Jack Wilshere off to Norwich City breaking up the Arsene inspired awesome foursome of Mikel (manager), Edu (sporting director), Per (academy) and Jack (under 18’s). Best of British to him. It was against Norwich that he gave his second best moment in an Arsenal shirt (first being his performance v Barcelona). What a goal and what a player Jack was. His name conjured up the image of a Spitfire pilot, his game was as heavenly as the cathedral of the city to which he is heading to. May he make Delia and the Canaries sing.

    High Flight

    By John Gillespie Magee Jr.
    Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
    Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
    of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things
    You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
    High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
    I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
    My eager craft through footless halls of air ….

    Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
    I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
    Where never lark, or even eagle flew—
    And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
    The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
    Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

  • Dupont, then …
    Well Stu, you named the name all rugby fans are in awe of, the one and only Gareth Edwards, but I won’t go anywhere near comparing Antoine to him.
    First because, even though I know these legendary Welsh teams, the J.P.R.-Phil B.-Gerald D. ones, made me love rugby as much as their French opponents of the time, my memories of them date back to my parents’ b-a-w TV, so to say they are blurred would be an understatement. Then because rugby has changed so much, from the time of (muddy) playground, natural-born players of 70s Wales, to players scouted by and developed in clubs from a very young age like Antoine … They’re in a pantheon, an Olympus of their own, these Welsh legends, out of reach for the mere mortals who came after them.
    Now the one who impressed me more among the scrum-halves you mentioned was probably Van der Westhuizen, but he and Antoine are so very different in style that referring to the Bok legend is very difficult too. Furthermore, there’s a belligerent streak (which is very likely to have accounted for their triumphs) about SouthAfrican players, even the most elegant ones like VdW … Antoine is a fierce competitor, of course, but he doesn’t have it in him.
    So that, at world level I don’t know, but what I’m sure of is that Antoine is the best French scrum-half ever. Only Jérôme Gallion (and I remember him very clearly) could be regarded as a possible match for him, but the truth is Antoine is better than him at … everything (running, passing, kicking, reading the game …). Santiago Arata, Castres Olympique’s’ and Uruguay’s scrum-half, has even called Antoine the “Messi of rugby” which, coming out of the mouth of a South-American player, is some praise indeed.
    But what I like most about Antoine is the both-feet-on-the-ground, humble lad he still is … There was this very funny moment during the Olympics when, on one of the jingoistic programs French TV had become an uninterrupted display of, he was given the mike in order to introduce his gold-medalist teammates, but handed it over straight away to Paulin Riva, the captain of this “Sevens” team, saying Paulin was the one who should do this. Then Antoine stepped back so the woman in charge of the program couldn’t get another chance of casting the other players into his shadow … As I watched the woman’s discomfited face, what an inward, huge “attaboy” I gave him, then!
    Lastly, a few words about “my” moment of the Olympics, which I wanted to share with you guys … First you have to keep in mind that I was a child of 1960s France. I think it’s very hard for non-French people to get how big cycling was for us then, and of course the Tour de France in particular. Whether men were at work or on summer holidays, there was no way they would do anything but listen to the last 90 minutes of the stage of the day on the wireless. As for us kids, we would either be racing, like bats out of hell, along roads which were much safer than they are now, and/or carve a reproduction of the same stage, in our playgrounds’ dirt, or in the beaches’ sand, before using a combination of finger-propelled marbles and Salza miniature riders to re-enact the very same stages.
    We all knew, as the great Jacques Anquetil used to say that “you don’t complete a Tour on mineral water”, let alone win it, of course. But there’s doping, and there’s doping … To me what happened in the 98 edition of the Tour had signified the end of my passion for the sport … until August 3rd, 2024. This was the day of the Olympics’ men’s individual road race, the day when cycling as it should always be came all the way back from I don’t know where I had buried it.
    No hierarchy within the teams, no earphones to tell the athletes what to do (or not to do) … the very layout of the race too, through the streets of Paris, was such that the lads were able to remind us what wonderful sport cycling can be, a combat sport really, fit for daredevils only – Remco Evenepoel’s descents from the top of Montmartre were things of beauty, in particular. Then there was this puncture 2 miles from the finish line, Remco’s reaction to it and his final triumph … The moment he crossed the line, got off his bike and posed with it, with the Eiffel tower in the background, it had been long since my long-forgotten passion had come flowing back. What a lad! ( and rumor has it he’s an excellent football player, too!)
    Speaking of football, I can’t say I’m worried about tomorrow, I just hope Ethan will be given minutes … but COYG!! anyway, of course

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9f4a3f47145fd3b08bcc0cb3d4612a81e2f51788/0_189_4458_2675/master/4458.jpg?width=1900&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none

  • Nice, LG. Words well worth the wait. “The Messi of rugby” indeed. Just as Leo was born with a ball at his feet, so Antoine carried one in his hands as he emerged from the womb. I think you likely had a pen with you, which must have been a slight discomfort for your dear Mama.

    Those cobblestones on the streets of Montmartre would be every cyclists nightmare on a rainy day.
    “Ornate chaos” is how the Guardian described that race.
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/article/2024/aug/03/cycling-mens-road-race-paris-olympics-2024-montmartre-remco-evenepoel

  • Yes Stu, I’ve heard that poem many many times but knew little of its author.

    It’s a very interesting story and worth visiting Wikipedia to learn more.

    I’ve read quite a few opinions regarding our next three games and how Arteta can/will navigate them, but for me it’s simple, you play your strongest team and most tactically able team for the next opponent. Don’t underestimate Bournemouth or anyone and don’t become fixated on Liverpool because that last game will mean a lot less if we don’t beat Bournemouth…

    Arteta can and probably will change half of the starting XI during the game if, IF, it all goes well. We play Preston (a) in just over 10 days time and that’s when I’d expect a more experimental line up.

  • Agreed, Kev. Fact is the present Bournemouth side has a few nimble (of feet) players we cannot afford to take our focus off of, with Semenyo the top of the bunch.
    I trust Arteta to ensure the boys don’t lose focus and intensity. Arrive, be aggressive, take control, settle early nerves with an early goal and unsettle the fans and hosts for the 3 points.

  • Great minds Eris 😉

    Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Partey, Rice, Merino, Trossard, Sterling, Havertz

    Subs: Setford, Zinchenko, Kiwior, Jorginho, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Kabia, Jesus

    I like the bench..,

  • One of the blogs, Sports Mole, wrote that “Top-half teams have proven to be the Cherries’ kryptonite in recent times”. I can’t say I recall how they’ve fared against all of the top half sides, but I know they have given some big teams the shake-down, another reason why we have to be wholehearted about getting the win.

    Unless some of the injury speculations are real, I shall expect a team made up of:

    Raya;

    Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;

    Partey, Rice, Havertz;

    Saka, Jesus, Trossard

  • Raya
    White-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
    Partey-Rice
    Sterling-Merino-Trossard
    Havertz
    (Setford-LewisSkelly-Kiwior-Kabia-Jorginho-Jesus-Nwaneri-Martinelli)
    … what life without Saka tastes like, we’re about to know …
    Six players out (Neto, Timber, Tomiyasu, Tierney, Saka, Ødegaard) on the threshold of such a hectic schedule is a cloud whose silver lining I fail to see …
    As for today, 1-0 to the Arsenal will make me a very happy gooner indeed
    COYG

  • Teams:
    Arsenal
    Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Merino, Partey, Rice, Sterling, Havertz, Trossard

    Subs: Setford, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Lewis-Skelly, Jesus, Martinelli, Kabia, Nwaneri

    Bournemouth
    Kepa; Araujo, Zabarnyi, Sensei, Kerkez; Cook, Scott; Tavernier, Dango, Semenyo, Evanilson

    Subs: Travers, Hulsen, Brooks, Christie, Adams, Smith, Sinisterra, Kluivert, Unal.

    No Saka, no Timber and with Zinchenko and Martinelli on the bench.

    Well, COYG!!!!

  • A red for Saliba means we go a man down, once again, third time this season. Not sure Saliba needed to grab the Bournemouth striker, did he? Both he and White could have caught up with him since it was still a long way to go to the goal.

    Now, he won’t play vs Liverpool.

  • Semenyo starting to get some joy down their left flank. Our senior players need to step up here. Raheem Sterling is sacrificed to allow Kiwior come on.

    What I dread is this bad habit of retreating we have the moment there is some adversity. Arteta has to fix that.

  • Hahahaha! It wasn’t to be, Legal. It was one of those days and I am not sure I have seen us look this listless this season. Something was just off and this time, that red card was deserved, though forced on us because Trossard decided to pass backwards, when he had a choice between any of Partey, Calafiori and even Rice.

    With so many injuries, it will be important to get players back fit again, and get back our rhythm as we go into a line up of critical fixtures. Leaders needed now.

  • LeGall*

    2-0 to the home side it ended. We made tok many errors today; from the keeper to the rest of the outfield players. Poor Kiwior. He would feel he was hooked because of the error leading to the penalty decision; but I’d rather think it was a case of needs must as we chased the game.

  • I think Legall jinxed it in an earlier comment.

    Or it’s me. Last time I missed a game and was in the Netherlands, we lost to Villa away. . I had a bad feeling about this one. I loath those interlulls 😔

  • One of those days indeed, Eris
    I don’t think anyone thought we’d go unbeaten anyway, but yes surrendering to the Cherries is not what many would’ve expected, either.
    What worries me is the big hole on the right flank, of course – I like Sterling, but he’s just not at the required level at the moment – but also our lack of passion, intensity … vitality (!!) BEFORE Bill was given his marching orders.
    Kiwior is about to be given the Gus Cæsar treatment, I’m afraid, the poor lad. That was a terrible pass indeed, the kind a shy youngster may deliver in that situation when he’s picked for the first time, but the truth is I have difficulty understanding why he had to play RCB in the first place, when our backline could’ve been
    Calafiori-White-Gabriel-Kiwior (Zinchenko)
    Calafiori is not Santi of course (who is?), yet to me he looks very comfortable on the ball with his so-called “weaker” right-foot, I thought shifting him to RB was a no-brainer. Now I do hope White-Gabriel will be our central defense during Will’s absence …

  • Havertz put in a shift again chasing lost causes and trying to hold onto the ball in the hope of some support.

    Yes I have noticed a tendency to pass backwards a bit too often and maybe that is what led to Trossards pass towards goal from inside the Bournemouth half. We live and learn so hopefully there will be some introspection and a slight change in that area.

    Forget Liverpool, that will sort itself out in good time, what we need is a positive performance and result against Shahktar this coming Tuesday and Saliba will play in that one

    I’m guessing, as his red wasn’t for violent conduct or serious foul play that it’s a one-game ban?

  • Ainsley, finally getting the praise he deserves:
    “So far this season he has played three different parts: RB, RWB, box-to-box MF, because playing various positions is the nature of his game. He doesn’t mind, and the part he plays in our game is the reason why he gets so much playing time. He is a versatile, shape-shifting player, he has this ability to be efficient throughout the pitch, in middle-of-the-pitch combinations, or thanks to his darting runs along both flanks, as well. Most of all he constantly adapts to what his teammates are doing. He uses his intelligence to serve the team. He does many things that go under the radars, but are very important to the team. He gives us balance. It’s very important for us to rely on such versatility, and I wish I had more players fitting in with such a profile in order to have a team which can do something different at any time, while keeping the same structure.”
    Pierre Sage (“Peter the Wise” – I kid you not !!), head coach of Olympique Lyonnais
    He’s a good man, Pierre Sage, and Lyon is a beautiful city – its restaurants could turn any Bhikkhu into a glutton
    So very happy for the lad …

  • Spot on, LeGall, re our lack of passion and intensity, before Saliba’s red and the prospects of going unbeaten. That’s why I made the observation about the listless disposition of the team. We would need to recover and play well midweek; it’s what the fans will demand and it’s what the fans deserve, after that unexpected defeat.

    Right, Kev. Saliba will only miss one game, as stipulated in the rules for “last man preventing goal scoring opportunity” sending off.

  • Happy for young Ainsley Maitland-Niles. I always thought he (along with Reiss Nelson) would go on to another club and become very important to their play. He just looked a bit restricted and under-valued at Arsenal, given the quality we possessed.

  • Cheers Eris, that’s what I thought regarding Saliba, as for Maitland Niles, it’s ironic that since he left Arsenal, he’s ended up playing in exactly the same position that Arteta was using him in until he allegedly began to bitch about not being picked in central midfield.

    All things considered I think that Ainsley is playing and playing well, in the league or ligue that best suits his playing style and temperament.

    He remains the best penalty taker I think I’ve ever seen. Everyone is losing their minds and he just laughs.

  • Enjoy this one, Kev (from 04’OO” on, if you don’t feel like watching it all)
    3-3, 90+16′ (!!), and … this:

  • Well, on the bright side…
    1. We kept 11 players on the pitch for the whole game.
    2. Leo is not going to have another week as bad as this last one.
    3. We got three points.
    4. Thomas and young Gabe excelled.
    5. Ummmmmmmmm

  • 5. Lewis Skelly made his second appearance in the Champions League.
    6. We’ve played three games in the Champions League and haven’t conceded.
    7. Raya continues to play like a champion.
    8. Man City play bad and win (usually) it’s a good habit to have and we’re getting there.

  • Dark side(s) …
    Not the game itself, I don’t give a damn about those first eight games. I liked the way we dominated PSG, but this format is pure madness. Pre-season friendlies make more sense imo. We’ll make it to the round of 16 anyway, either straight away of through the playoffs.
    No, what I didn’t like at all was – although slow-motions may be deceptively magnifying – the image of Calafiori twisting his knee. There must be a lot of fingers crossed at the club as they wait for the X-Rays …
    As for the U19s being beaten by Shakhtar at Meadow Pk, I don’t even know what to say … I wish I knew what exactly is wrong with the way this academy’s been run since Mertesacker took over. He’s a disgrace, how he can still be in charge is beyond me …

  • LG, the club must surely be content with the job that BFG is doing?

    I guess it’s a matter of what you want from an academy, do you want to win youth trophies or do you want well rounded young players good enough to get into the senior squad?

  • Good comments, guys. I was impressed with the number of chances we produced without Bukayo and The Ode. Our finishing was below par, though. I also thought that Merino and Rice, who, other than their skin tone look like brothers, are starting to gel.

    Like Legall, I am worried about Calafiori: didn’t look good.

    Other positive is that Martinelli made the difference once again, and for his sake alone I hope Calafiori is okay.

  • LG, it flatter me that you remember what I said several weeks ago.
    However, I think you might be harsh on Mertesacker.
    I am obviously biased towards Per – partly because he is the only players I have met in person at the Düsseldorf airport – but there might be other factors at play here. (TLDR)

    1. The coaching staff is mediocre at best.
    Focusing on the U21 coaches:
    – Freddie Ljungberg is a great guy and a club legend, but he was bang average as the U21 manager (P:22, W:10, D:7, L:5)
    – Steve Bould in his case the word ‘mediocre’ is a huge overstatement. Despite being the assistant of Arséne Wenger for 334 games and for Emery for a further 58 it is alarming how little he understands football. He almost manage to relegate our U21 team full of excellent players at the time. And he now coaches the highest valued team in the Belgian second tier, yet they are sitting at the #8 position of 16 clubs. He bought a player for 4M who worths 0,4M now. A decorated playing career is a good springboard for a managerial stint, but if you are not smart, you won’t succeed; and I don’t know a better example than Bould
    – Kevin Betsy seemed like a decent fella with a coaching background of several youth national teams of England – and he knew quite a few Arsenal players from their appearances in 3-lion jerseys – but the stats didn’t support the optimism. His largely unimpressive time as our U21 coach (P:32, W:113, D:11, L:8) was followed with an appointment for Crawley Town, where he was fired after just 16 games. He stepped back and was an assistant coach for Wigan and Cambridge, but since this summer he is ‘demoted’ to an individual coach for QPR.
    – Mehmet Ali is the longest serving youth coach for quite some time. He has no football playing background. Regardless whether his appointment was related to the demonstration of the club’s inclusion and diversity, he is not worse than his predecessors, but unfortunately he is nod better either. He made 100 league points from 63 games, and a woeful 4 points from 6 CL group stage matches. I think the players are better than most of our opponents, but it is being compensated by the lack of tactical repertoire. He had a few positive runs – including his first 6 games (5W1D) or the start of this season (5 straight wins), so we often start hoping: “this will be the rise of the academy”, but we lost the last 3 domestic games conceding 13 goals, and we are drawn back to the reality and mid-table.

    2. Arsenal youth teams are not playing for the win
    I know you understand it, LG, but let me explain for the potential sceptics here.
    There might be some truth in something “is part of the Arsenal DNA”. Probably creative attacking football is. Maybe even 4-2-3-1 formation is also part of the club’s genetics. But “playing our best possible players to win every game” is not one of them; especially at youth level.
    And there might be some good arguments behind that. Playing lads way above their age level could be a good thing to speed up their development. Moving them outside their preferred position could be adding to their skill portfolio or understanding of the game. But we have to understand that these ‘experiments’ set back youth efficiency.
    Arteta might be also at fault that some of the youth players were unavailable for the YCL game as they were part of the first team squad despite having zero chance whatsoever to actually play. But even that wouldn’t explain why we were playing with massively underage players. Hell, Marli Salmon (15) wasn’t even part of the U18 team. I don’t think you can blame it on Mertesacker. 🙂 And I might have said it wrong, there can be plenty of explanation that we fielded 15y and 16y players (Annous, Zečević-John, Ibrahim, Julienne, O’Neil) in an U19 tournament, but these aspects can be considered only because winning the games is not a key priority.

    3. Lack of concept, planning and motivation
    This might have been covered partly in the paragraphs above. Under Wenger there were actually 2 paths from the academy to the first team. The first one was based on ‘reward’: if the young lad was consistently good enough he get a run in a cup game, if he continued to excel he slowly but gradually became part of the first team. See Fabregas, Iwobi, Nelson, AMN. The second was more based on needs. If the first team lacked players in a certain position, Arsene and Emery was looking for possible youth talents that could save massive millions for the club. They had a couple of years to play them against U23/U21, then in cup games and eventually in the PL. See Bellerin or Saka.
    Maybe you can fault Mertesacker for the lack of concept, but his hands are tied, if the paths have been shut between the academy and the first team. And how can I know that there is no succession planning in place? It is not that complicated. What are the positions where we lack quality either now or in a few years? There are 2 issues I can name and the club could have already started planning:
    A: defensive midfield. Partey is 31; Jorginho will turn 33 in December. Both of them have contracts expiring this summer. We can either buy a new defensive midfielder or use the 2 years to promote someone from the academy to be the next understudy to Rice. The good thing is that we have Myles Lewis-Skelly, who happens to be a generational talent and a genuine DM. The bad ting is that in the past 15 months he played 82 competitive minutes for the first team, and exactly none in the DM position.
    B: central striker. Despite my optimism it seems that Gabriel Jesus might not be the long-term solution to our CF challenges. Havertz is more of a false 9 than a target man. And I understand that everybody (!) would prefer to spend 100M on Gyökeres than taking a chance on Chido Obi Martin to see if he can be developed into a lethal striker, but my explanation that it is a lot easier to spend money if it is not yours, and apparently youth promotion is old school and unsexy.
    C: deputy attacking midfielder. Obviously Odegaard is and should be – our primary playmaker , but when he is not available we are struggling big time. I thought it is common sense to bring Havertz back to AM as it was his preferred position in Germany and in Chelsea for a few years, and Jesus will play up front. But apparently it wasn’t a no-brainer at all, as Arteta rather used Merino and Trossard as playmakers than to withdraw Havertz to midfield. I think the single goal that we scored in our last 2 games clearly shows it is being the wrong way, but the case I’m making is for Nwaneri who should have been developed much-much more intensively to be able to reliably deputize Odegaard in the short or medium run, but in the last 27 months (as he was discovered a season before MLS) he played 122 minutes for the first team.

    I think this comment is long enough not to dwell into the motivation part of the other youth players who might struggle to perform consistently if the players for cup and YCL games are selected seemingly randomly, and there are not paths to the first team. I’m honestly not sure if I were a talented 18y would I prefer to sit on the bench next to my first team idols – without the chance of playing – or compete in the YCL with the strongest selection to qualify from the group and give our best to bring home some silverware, but I don’t think that the decision is either in their or MErtesacker’s hands.

  • Nice, PB. I expect we will see Nathan run out against Preston N.E. While he is still only 17, he has shown the confidence and skill to be Martin’s understudy. Meeting Per must have been a treat. Did you get a crick in your neck?
    Good 5,6,7 & 8, Kev. Those clean sheets especially.
    LG, even at 18,130 km away, I winced when I saw Riccardo go down. I’m picking a strained Medial ligament, and hoping it’s not an ACL.

  • Great rant, PB. I don’t agree with your premise but you have expressed yourself well.

    I have no doubt that Arteta will use youngsters if, and only if, they are deemed good enough and ready. There is no time or opportunity to experiment other than in the domestic cups. The pressure Arteta is under is immense, never forget that

  • Morning Stu, no mate, I’m having a family event this Saturday, football will be on the back-burner until Sunday…

    I see that Max Dowmans family and the families of many other apprentices were dismayed at Jack Wilshere leaving. The feeling is that Arsenal should have fought harder to keep him at the club. Seems that those on the inside, those with more knowledge, valued Jack as a coach!

  • Thanks for the effort, P. – and the intel, there are many things I just didn’t know in there.
    Now one or two things …
    PM has been here 6+ years. Wasn’t choosing the staff one his main job requirements?
    Talking of requirements: I don’t want to dwell on Obi-Martin too much (or at all) if only because I’ve always had my doubts about such huge-unit-CFs piling up goals at youth level, but his move to the Old Toilet can’t be seen as an outstanding achievement for our Head of Academy, can it?
    Jack, now … you left him out of your assessment of the coaching staff, I hope it is because you don’t regard him as being mediocre … I think he was the perfect fit for the U18s. I think I know a thing or two about trying to get the best out of kids, and man, I how I wish I had been as good with them, from a “relational” PoV on my first day of teaching, as Jack was with our boys from the getgo. The bond he created with the 2022-2023 bunch is how they made it to the YC final, not for any tactical, or technical superiority. When I saw the same kids play in Lens in the YL under Ali, they were like electric toys when the battery starts losing power – but who decided not to capitalize in this competition on what Jack had ignited the season before, if not PM?
    Jack is gone now. To Norwich. Not even as head-coach. Seriously, what is he going to learn as an assistant in Norwich which he couldn’t have in Colney? And who has been unable to talk him into staying? How hard a negociation could it have been?
    etc. etc. but that’s just details, what I do miss is the way Liam B. ran this Academy, with the same passion as when he led the team on the pitch. Compared to this, Mertesacker looks like an ectoplasm to me, and I often feel that it is this absence of substance that sifts through the layers of the structure, and accounts for the way the kids happen to underperform so often …
    Anyway, big game ahead … I’ve tried to figure out a line-up, after taking Timber-Calafiori-Saliba-Saka-Ødegaard-Tomiyasu-Tierney out of the picture.
    I’ve come up with
    Raya
    White-Rice-Gabriel-Zinchenko
    Partey-Jorginho
    Sterling-Merino-Martinelli
    Havertz
    which doesn’t look that bad to me, what do you think lads?
    Last, but not least … Dylan
    Stu, I was listening to « Another Self-Portrait » this afternoon, and there was this title I hadn’t really paid attention to before, « Working on a Guru », with a mean guitar on it … I wanted to know more so I googled the title and what came up on top was « Untold Dylan » (https://bob-dylan.org.uk/) – which is run, just like « Untold Arsenal » by Tony Attwood. I had known of the site for quite some time actually, and wanted to ask you if you did too. If you don’t, take a look at it, the amount of info you got there is just mind-blowing, and if you feel like writing something about Robert Z., Tony will publish it – he told me once I could but … I just don’t know where to start

    Wednesday mornin’ feels so bad
    Ev’rybody seems to nag me
    Comin’ Thursday I feel better
    Even my old man looks good
    Friday just don’t go
    Saturday goes too slow
    I’ve got Sunday on my mind
    COYG

  • A couple of things that I’ll take from tonight’s 2nd and 3rd tier UEFA competitions is the Fabio Vieira didn’t get a start for Porto, he got 30 minutes off of the bench.

    Also that Tottenham only managed to beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 and that being a penalty, but the media narrative around them will be business as usual for their ‘mate’…

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