A Combination of Bad Luck, Bad Play and Bad Decisions by Management are Derailing Arsenal
The Jurrien Timber injury, combined with questionable transfer decisions and substandard performances by key players could derail Arsenal’s title hopes.
by Eric
It’s safe to say Arsenal fans were expecting more from the club than they have received recently. Unfortunately, a combination of bad luck, bad play and bad management decisions are conspiring to derail Arsenal’s season. The ugly truth is that without a major talent infusion from the transfer market, Arsenal’s hopes of winning silverware this season are likely dashed. It’s time to take a dispassionate look at Arsenal’s problems, and what the club can do to rescue itself.
The Jurrien Timber Injury was a Dreadful Stroke of Bad Luck
Aside from Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber was the summer addition Arsenal fans were most excited about. Throughout the preseason, he showed the athleticism needed to defend his position and the technical quality necessary to play the inverted midfield role Arteta prefers. Then, he went down with a devastating ACL injury in the very first game of the season. This left Arsenal in the unfortunate position of having to rely on Zinchenko.
The Ukrainian’s talent on the ball is not in question. However, after being played in the hybrid LB/Inverted midfielder position for the last 18 months, opposing teams have zeroed in on his defensive weaknesses. Targeting Zinchenko by making him defend the space he leaves open behind him is now step one in everyone’s game plan for cracking the Arsenal defense. That’s bad luck, but every team has to live with injuries.
Manchester City has been missing Kevin De Bruyne all year, and Chelsea went without Christopher Nkunku for the first half of the season. Dealing with injuries is part of the challenge of winning a championship. With that said, there is such a thing as controlling what you can control. Arsenal has no control over injuries, but they have fallen short in several key areas where the club’s management was firmly in control of what transpired.
Arteta’s Hubris in the Transfer Market is a Huge Problem
Let’s start with the 800 lb elephant in the room. Arsenal doesn’t score enough goals. Gabriel Jesus’ finishing has fluctuated between substandard on bad days and slightly above average on good days for his entire career. Even he’s aware of this, as he recently went on record as saying, “Scoring goals isn’t his strong suit.” Well, that begs the obvious question of why is he playing center forward? Isn’t scoring goals a center forward’s primary function?
No one ever touted Thierry Henry’s pressing ability or Luis Suarez’ hold up play because they scored 30 goals a year. Gabriel Jesus would be hard pressed to score 30 goals in two seasons. His understudy, Eddie Nketiah, has a very pedestrian 19 goals in 106 appearances. Yet, he was re-signed to a 100,000GBP/week contract extension. Why? The two of them combined don’t add up to one world class striker.
Wouldn’t Arsenal have been better off cashing in on Eddie Nketiah and combining that money with the near 65 million quid paid for Kai Havertz and making a real run at a proper center forward? The buyout on Victor Osihmen’s new contract is 126,000,000GBP. 65 million for Havertz, plus 25 million each for Nketiah, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe would have raised more than enough money to get that deal done last summer.
Arteta Smelling His Own Fumes on Havertz and the Academy Products
It would be different if Arteta were using Reiss Nelson or Emile Smith Rowe, or they were effective when they played. Sadly, when Eddie Nketiah does play, he personifies the term “bang average”. Yet for some reason, he and Reiss Nelson got fresh contract extensions. Now the club finds itself handcuffed by FFP concerns due in part to their combined salaries plus the transfer fee and wage packet for Kai Havertz.
Yes, Kai Havertz has somewhat settled in, and he’s even notched a game winning goal. Then again, a player making 300,000GBP per week ought to be winning matches regularly, not once every few months. It’s hard not to wonder if Arteta wasn’t “high on his own fumes” after salvaging Xhaka’s career and thought he could do the same with Havertz. Whatever the case, Arsenal isn’t getting value on the Kai Havertz investment.
The massive outlay to re-sign academy players who are not being used (Reiss Nelson) or underperform when they do play (Eddie Nketiah), combined with a puzzling gamble on Kai Havertz, is evidence of a muddled and poorly executed backroom strategy. The club is paying the price for all those questionable decisions and now they must sell the academy players before they can buy a proper striker. None of it makes any sense.
Several Key Players Have Regressed Instead of Progressing
The fallout from injuries and questionable transfers are not the only hurdles that need to be cleared if Arsenal is going to get this season back on track. Zinchenko is a flat-out defensive liability. Several players, namely Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, and Ben White have regressed drastically this season. Even Bukayo Saka’s effectiveness has been diminished by a combination of cynical fouls, fatigue, and a steady diet of double teams (which also limit Martinelli’s effectiveness).
It remains to be seen whether Mikel Arteta can fix all of this, because it’s a laundry list of problems. With that said, apart from the Jurrien Timber injury, Arteta can look right in the mirror for the root cause of many of the most pressing issues currently facing the club. The low percentage gambles and decisions Arteta had a hand in making are all coming up snake-eyes at the same time.
Then there is the issue of how painfully one-dimensional this team is. The future remains unclear, but one thing is for certain: If this season ends trophyless, Arteta and Edu will rightly be regarded as the architects of their own demise. In the meantime, Arteta, Edu, Ben White, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Gabriel Jesus need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and step their collective games up. Majorly.
E McC
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