Well, good morning family. Arsenal is going to be on break for almost two weeks. During this winter break, it is very pertinent to assess our season so far and find a way to improve on our performances over the past weeks in the league.
I may be wrong, but something tells me that our coach, Mikel Arteta is still experimenting with players, in order to find a perfect Arsenal XI that will make his work easier. He is relatively new in the coaching world and it is only normal he experiments in order to find a winning formula. But has he not over-experimented with the team? Is it not time for him to get his perfect Arsenal XI ready?
Every coach who comes newly into a team does his best to stamp his authority on his team. He does this by either choosing his own captain, or choosing a regular set of players who will execute his games or whatever other means he deems best. You find out that when a club changes its manager, some players get affected. The manager, who comes with a plan on how to make the team win games for him, may deem some players unfit to play for him, and such players would either be sold as early as the next transfer window or he could be loaned out to play in another team who may need his services.
Ever since Arteta came, the only players who have played regularly for him are Mesut Ozil, Alex Lacazette, Pierre Aubameyang (he has only missed a game for Arteta due to a red card he got), Granit Xhaka, Bernd Leno, and David Luiz. Players like Lucas Torreira, Guendouzi, Pepe, Martinelli and Sokratis have played in almost all the games Arteta has managed. Now, these set of players look like they will form the bulk of his perfect Arsenal XI, but then again, have they all done well to be regular players? I doubt it.
One of Emery’s undoing, is his regular change of tactics. He had no particular style or pattern of play. He changes tactics based on the opponents he was to play. It worked for him at times but in most cases, his players played as if they were lost on ideas! Most times, these players want to play with a clear sense of direction and when a coach keeps changing tactics and players, he just confuses them more.
Arteta has started well but what I will really want him to do is to stop experimenting with the players and start playing with players who he intends using for a long time. He needs to start now and if it means including the youngsters in the team, fine.
We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua