Kevin Campbell insists Arsenal’s loss to Newcastle United had nothing to do with Mikel Arteta’s substitutions on the night.
The Gunners were beaten 2-0 by a spirited Magpies side that appeared to want the win more.
Arsenal had to win that game to remain fourth on the league table after Tottenham had beaten Burnley, but they failed to carry out the assignment.
Seeing that his team was not doing well, Mikel Arteta replaced the out-of-form Emile Smith Rowe with Gabriel Martinelli in the 53rd minute.
He probably should have brought on the Brazilian earlier, but Campbell said it wouldn’t have made any difference because Arsenal was simply poor on the night.
He tells Football Insider: “People can question the substitutions but it wasn’t the reason Arsenal lost.
“We were not at the races from minute one to minute 90. Do not blame substitutions for that defeat.
“The fact of the matter is, that was a learning curve. It is all good and well playing good for the majority of the season but these are the moments that define you as a player. This is where you earn your name.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
That game was simply a bad one for us, regardless of what people will say now.
That was our most important match of the season, yet our players didn’t show up, and now we face the prospect of playing in the Europa League next season.
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Our performance reminded me a bit of England’s semi-final against Iceland in the European Championship six or so years ago.
For whatever reason nothing worked. No effort on display. No passion to be seen. Its Arteta’s job to figure out the reason.
in one respect, KC just might be correct in his assessment, in that maybe no matter who was on the pitch this was going to be a difficult ask based on the amateur hour tactics being deployed…it must be noted though, that somehow, someway Ode and Xhaka finished that affair, regardless of the fact that the former went missing once AGAIN and the latter has rarely impacted any match in a truly positive capacity since his arrival on the scene many, many years ago
ESR did look leggy but the point is Odegaard and Xhaka are not Champions League players. How can we expect to get there without quality and energy in the middle of the pitch. Point to note is since Xhaka came we have never qualified.
Odegaard against Newcastle should have been hooked as he was pants and against Spurs he was a no show.
We get what we deserve and it’s clear to me that without strengthening the middle, we are going nowhere.
The goals output of those two is also shocking. You could have Mbappe up front and we’d not score many in this side as they don’t really create enough.
Decisions need to be made by Arteta to recognize this or he can move on.