Why can’t we learn from our mistakes?
Many times over the last few years we have let players go, and some rightly so, yet instantly we have regretted it as we have fallen short with regards to injuries and being short in that position.
And I find myself seeing the same situation again!
A while after letting Ainsley Maitland-Niles go to Roma, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard tested positive for Covid, Mo Elneny and Thomas Partey went to AFCON and Emile Smith-Rowe has an injury he can’t shake off, leaving us short in midfield.
Even without Covid we still would have been short in midfield with the way Xhaka is playing.
So the question is why can’t Arsenal have experienced backups in the squad and not have to worry about being short in positions?
Why does it always happen to us? We let players go and then we have an injury crisis!
This is frustrating especially because despite the losses to Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, we were on a good run and had a injury- and Covid-free squad.
I know it was just timing, but it seems that when it’s bad it’s bad and when it’s good it’s good, there’s never an in between with Arsenal!
And so this current crisis meant we finally had to put a request to the Premier League to postpone our game against Tottenham on Sunday due to the inability to field a full set of players. But what are the chances the Premier League will accept it?
In all honesty given how our luck is, I don’t have much hope that they will accept, and as much as I hope they do, just seeing we are in this situation again with injuries and being short of players in certain positions surely means Arsenal need to wake up and stop letting players go if they don’t have enough of a back up! Because it’s not always guaranteed they will be able to sign players when they wish!
If we finish outside the top four and end up trophy-less this season then this will be a period we will look back on and realise that’s where it possibly all went wrong!
We need to make sure we have enough experienced cover in the squad to be able to get through the season. And if this transfer policy doesn’t change then we can expect the same issues season after season no doubt!
By all means sell players and let them go on loan but by doing so you need to ensure you have enough back up of players first, in case players get injured, sent off or are needed for their countries!
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
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