It was hard enough for Arsenal to cope with the demands of the Europa League in the early part of the season with quite a small squad, and to still maintain the consistency to remain at the pinnacle of the Premier League, but Mikel Arteta knows that it is only going to get even worse once we get back into action against West Ham on Boxing Day.
And although the transfer window is approaching quickly, Arsenal still have quite a few injury problems so our ultra thin squad will have to dig deeply from tomorrow. In fact from tomorrow, we have four games in just 14 days, so Arteta will have to try and rotate straight away and try and keep the squad fresh before he can bring in reinforecments and get them integrated into his squad.
But the boss has made it clear that there will definitely be “more resources and more players” coming in, which will be sorely needed if we are going to negotiate the minefield ahead. “That is something we are obviously very aware of,” Arteta told SkySports.
“Obviously the type of the game we have to play in Europe has allowed us to make a lot of changes and have a fresher squad for the weekend, and then we have repeated the starting XI a lot.
“In the second half of the season, I don’t think that is going to be the same type of numbers. We are going to be playing every three days. The congestion and the amount of games we have to play is going to be incredible. We are going to have to have more resources and more players to be able to do that.”
“I think in the long run you are going to be where you deserve to be — and we have the confidence we are on the right path,”
“But as well we have the red lights and alarms, because what is coming in the second half of the season is something unprecedented — and we need to be ready for it.”
The important thing for Arsenal fans here is that we now know that Arteta and Edu obviously have a clear plan to cope with the rigours ahead, and it is looking like we are going to need a lot more than one or two players coming in this January.
But the Boss has also made it clear that he will only buy the right type of player that fits Arsenal’s philosophy, which makes itt even more difficult.
The biggest problem is that there are not so many choices in January as there is in the summer, so there will have to be compromises like loans, etc.
But I have faith that Arteta will do his very best to find solutions to the “unprecedented” season ahead. Do you?
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Mikel Arteta pre West Ham talks about injuries and Arsenal’s transfer window.
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