Winless in 4 league games before the November international break, Arsenal were hoping to return and go on one of those winning runs. But they have only managed to pick up 2 league wins over Forest (3-0) and Manchester United (2-0) but have failed to win against Fulham (1-1) and then Everton (0-0).
These last 2 draws have been frustrating for sure; it has Gooners debating whether they’re still in the title race or not.
Going into this campaign, after Arsenal put up a title-winning run in 2023-24, many were sure our Gunners were going to, from Match Day 1, run the show in this title race, but that hasn’t been so.
Putting aside banter and jokes, what do you think has caused Arsenal’s process to appear to be slowing down under coach Mikel Arteta?
The Spaniard has got us to where we are; he took over Arsenal in December 2019, when we seemed to have lost our identity and competitiveness, but over the years he’s led us re-find our identity and rediscover our competitive edge.
Even so, there are doubts about the Spaniard; some now feel he’s not the one to take Arsenal to the promised land.
The Arteta Project’s peak was 22/23, when the attack-defense balance was favourable. After then, as the balance shifted more towards defence and winning duels, creativity began to decline.
Unfortunately, Arsenal, rather than being a good team in set pieces, began to be solely good in set pieces because that was the only creative outlet they had, while being overly focused on defence. Scoring from open play has been an issue.
Arsenal needs some change, and at the moment, bringing on board some top attackers (like Gyokeres) seems like the only way they can salvage anything this season.
What do you think? What has caused Arsenal’s process to look like it’s slowing down?
Darren N
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
So many of us said this is the summer
Remember the Eddie Nketiah being a better option then Mbappe debate lol
Think you are taking it a little out of context Dan, there’s no doubt the Frenchman is a top top player
We should have replaced Nketiah with a proven finisher few years ago. We have needed a real striker for the last few years and if we don’t get one in January this will be another year hoping for a top 4 finish.
I couldn’t help but post this out of context piece. Kavanagh just casually waved off the protest of West Ham players as a Bounemouth player picked up the ball and ran at least two yards with it to delay the play after the whistle had gone for a foul against Bounemouth. The same Kavanagh…
And people say refs aren’t biased.
The worst one was Szoboszlai against Forest. He was on a yellow, aggressively booted the ball about 10/15 feet away, and received no punishment.
And we’re told it’s a non subjective, black and white decision. In fact, it’s the easiest call the ref needs to make, and yet they consistently ignore the law…unless it’s Arsenal of course!
Didn’t Martinelli escape a second yellow last week in the CL ?
I don’t remember that one, although I know rules are different in Europe. E.g. They have zero context for handballs in Europe, if it hits a hand, it’s an auto freekick, whereas slightly different in England.
I would also add refs always seem to use Arsenal to set a precedent, which they never follow up on with other teams.
Just think of those two yellows, resulting in a sending offs for Martinelli and Tomiyasu in recent years. I said at the time, you won’t see a ref do that again, and we didn’t.
It’s been pretty much the same with the Rice and Trossard situations. I have genuinely lost count the amount of times that players have done far worse, yet 99% of the time escape any action.
If that’s not biased I don’t know what is.
Artetaball is a graveyard for strikers. Hear me out. I can’t think of a single striker in world football today who would excel under Arteta’s system.
Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah, Balogun – all failed to cut it under his system. Arteta expects the striker to track all the way on defensive duties leaving no one up front. This probably explains why our wingers constantly need to recycle the ball back our defenders because there is no attacker in the box. It’s all about ball possession – without penetration. Sideways and backwards. Boring, slow, predictable and dull.
Artetaball is not striker friendly; more life a graveyard – to die and rot forever.
Well, your assessment of the system based on those strikers you have listed is extraordinary.
I would love a another striker, but that won’t solve our main issue of chance creation. A quality left winger would be a far better option in Jan.
Just like Wenger ignored defense, Mikel is ignoring forwards/area of least interest. If Auba and Lacazette did fail, so would Goykeres or Isaac. We have a reliable defense with White, Saliba, Gabriel and Timber, but the back ups though costly are nowhere near the first team players, except Tomiyasu who cannot play 3 matches of 90+ minutes each. The midfield needs reinforcements and Morino is not going to add value as the years go by as he has peaked and age is not on his side. Rice has gone backwards in a year, Ode has no able backup, Mikel does not trust Nathen to start EPL, Marteneli is struggling as the he has no able LB, CAM Left to partner with just as Saka has Ode. Remove Ode has Saka has a drop in performance. Kai is nowhere a lethal CF nor a CAM. Until Mikel revamps his midfield, adding a striker will not impact you much. Take the case of Halland at City. Will need at least another 100M for CAMs and another 100M for a lethal CF. Add another 100M for CDMs as Partey & Jorginho will be leaving this summer That makes Mikel’s spending over a billion with nothing to showcase, just the FA won with Wenger’s/ Emery’s players. Nevertheless, wish him good luck in the Carabao Cup and hope he gets his formation and tactics right.
@lucy78 9i agree with your comments on the referees. The red cards Rice, Martenilli, Tomiyasu and Trossard got we will probably never see again. What are we meant to make of that? Don’t change the rules half way through the season change them at the end. We were cheated! We have to call it what it is. But my thoughts on the striker is that as much as I like Havertz I always knew he was not the right buy at the time. Most fans were puzzled when the signing was annouced and most commentators laughed or were left baffled but we wanted to trust in the manager and back the team. So what we see is an over reliance on Saka to make things happen and the left wing looking poor. I don’t think one player can fix all the problems we have. The problem of rotation and keeping players hungry as well as other issues but i think a very good striker will take the pressure off Saka and help to bring out the best in martenilli, Trossard and other players. In the game on Saturday we had maybe 5 clear opportunities. to put the ball in the back of the net and we didnt. I remember growing up and hearing that in some games you might get 1 or 2 clear opportunities and you have to take them. The fact is we need a clinical goal scorer. Maybe there is not such a thing. we’ve seen Haaland miss some sitters but we need someone up top who will worrie defenders making saka and Martenilli job easier.
If I were a betting man, I would say Arteta won’t win any trophy this season.
Our attackers are struggling. Saka is the exception, and I can tell you for free Saka can be better than what you’re seeing. Arteta overcomplicates things and tries to shoehorn players in; this is the case of Merino and Havertz.
PArtey remains the best midfielder in this team; it is not surprising we lose when he doesn’t play in the midfield.
No club signs a manager based on him being an assistant. Mikel has coached absolutely nowhere. He will be a very good coach but we are the wet stone he is using to sharpen his tools
“The Arteta project has hit a brickwall….” Really? After just 16 games into the PL season? And for a team sitting third in a 36-team CL table!
Arsenal fans, we really need to rediscover ourselves!
@CorporateMAn this isnt American sports where you tank games and hope for good drafts . Our objective is to win the league or at least trophies . Do you think Arteta can do that .
Too reliant on the right side of the pitch – two seasons ago, Martinelli scored 15 league goals and we had a better midfield balance so could attack either side. With Xhaka gone and Martinelli looking Sunday league everything goes through Odegard and Saka – which then becomes easy to defend against. Transfer window we need an elite level left winger and additional creative midfielder to help Odegard
While I believe we do need a proper number 9, that alone won’t solve the problem altogether.
Our right side functions far better than the left, for whatever reason. And I believe that if that’s not addressed, signing a proper number 9, is going to be wasted, if he can only rely on service from the right side.
I believe we also need a bit more creativity from the midfield area. We have Odegaard and Nwaneri, and then I’m struggling to find any other creative player to be honest.
Time will tell, I guess.👍
OOPS!
I had a brain freeze, add Saka to the creativity list. Other than that I’m struggling another creative player.