Arsenal fans need to come to grips with the reality that this team isn’t winning any trophies this season and they will be hard pressed to make the top 4.
by Eric
Like most skippers at the elite level of professional football, Mikel Arteta is a master of “coach speak”. Unfortunately, there is no amount of “support the players who are here” or “we deserved to win the game” and “we are in a difficult period right now” he can mix into a word salad that obfuscates the truth that this team is miles off the pace in terms of championship credentials.
The average Arsenal fan is more likely to hit the Euromillions than they are to witness this year’s team win an EPL crown or the Champion’s league. The club’s weaknesses, namely the substandard finishing that has characterized their play all year long, are simply too pronounced for this group to win a major trophy. The sooner Arsenal fans accept that harsh reality, the sooner club management can meaningfully address their own failings in this area.
Gabriel Jesus Isn’t Getting Any Better
Gabriel Jesus is a nice guy, but Arsenal fans are not looking for someone to marry their sister. They’re looking for a stone-cold killer who dispatches goal scoring chances with the ruthlessness of a US Marine Corps sniper. Gabriel Jesus has never been that and more importantly, he will never be that. Ever. On his best day, Gabriel Jesus is a backup forward or supporting winger for a clinical striker.
On a “normal” day, Gabby is a guy best subbed on, or off, at the 60-minute mark. On his worst days, he is dreadfully wasteful. That’s why Guardiola never trusted him at CF in must-win games. Arteta, who saw Jesus up close for several years, should have known this. Lauding Jesus for his “pressing ability” is like chatting up a sports car because it can carry multiple golf bags in the trunk.
That’s a nice bonus, but it’s no substitute for a world-beating quarter mile time or high performance on the skid pad. There is a reason that Man City never won the Champion’s League while relying on goals from Gabriel Jesus. It’s the same reason Arsenal will never win while relying on goals from Gabriel Jesus. He’s not good enough, he can’t stay fit, and his understudy is even more ineffective than he is.
Neither is Eddie Nketiah
It’s obvious Mikel Arteta has a lot of faith in Eddie Nketiah. What’s not so obvious however, is why. This is a guy who has 19 goals in 108 EPL appearances. In other words, he scores one goal every five games. That’s hardly an impressive return on 100kGPB/week. At this rate, he will have to break James Milner’s all-time EPL appearance record to score 100 goals. Nothing about Eddie Nketiah’s game says championship caliber striker.
He is also going on 25; an age at which most elite strikers are already producing at a high level. You can watch Eddie Nketiah every week for a year (or more) and you still won’t see a single aspect of his game that is, or projects to be, “elite”. There isn’t a defender in the entire EPL who loses sleep wondering how he’s going to contain Eddie Nketiah the next day.
This begs the question of why Arteta has turned down multiple offers for Nketiah. The fact that the interest is mainly from mid-table sides like Crystal Palace and not title contenders in any of Europe’s top leagues should speak volumes about his low ceiling. Unfortunately, Arteta isn’t listening. Eddie Nketiah is not good enough and he’s not getting any better. The sooner Arteta accepts that and moves him on, the better.
The Likelihood of Winter Reinforcements is Slim
Arteta can preach faith in Nketiah and Jesus all he wants, but it’s painfully obvious FFP is hindering the club’s efforts to add reinforcements this Winter. That only underscores the folly of burning up 65 million quid and 300k/week on Kai Havertz. It all adds up to another season without silverware. At this point, 3rd or 4th is probably the best Arsenal can do.
The Current Results are Unacceptable and There Needs to be Accountability
Five years and 700 million quid into the Arteta experiment, the current state of affairs at CF is unacceptable. At season’s end there MUST be a THOROUGH and RUTHLESS inquest into why Arsenal went into another season so woefully ill-equipped up front. In the meantime, there will be some thrills and some good wins. Unfortunately, as long as Arsenal fields second- and third-rate players at center forward, Arsenal fans can forget about major trophies.
That’s an unpleasant reality, but the truth hurts. If this issue is not meaningfully addressed in the off-season, Arsenal will be in the same place next year: short of goals with Arteta trying to “coach-speak” his way out of a problem that’s largely of his own creation. At that point, it will be time for a very different inquest; the subject being whether Arteta and Edu are the right men to lead this club forward.
Eric
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