Has Arsenal’s limited firepower upfront been of their own doing?
Our disappointing draw against Everton was the second time in two Premier League game weeks that we failed to close the gap to Liverpool at the summit. To make matters worse, we haven’t been able to score from open play in the last 320 minutes of top flight action with our last goal in that regard coming via Kai Havertz’s fourth goal against West Ham a while ago. This has certainly been our issue in those recent games, as you can imagine which has led to a lot of questions being asked about our firepower up front.
This is rightfully so considering we lack a player with that x factor in our front line to make things happen consistently, barring to a large extent, Bukayo Saka. But even he isn’t there just yet, which further emphasizes our struggles in attack. Against Fulham and Everton, we struggled as a cohesive unit, but at the same time, we lacked a player that could make something happen from nothing. This is somewhat the thing you’re going to get if you don’t pay attention to the attacking area of the pitch, and that has been exactly what we have done in recent years.
During Mikel Arteta’s five year tenure we have hardly seen a willingness for the club to shore up the attack, whether by prioritising quality additions with an eye for the here and now, or with young additions with a high ceiling for the future. Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus were the major additions in attack in recent years but they can’t be classified as the game changers we need. They may have played crucial roles at some points in the past but it was obvious we needed more. Others such as Willian and more recently Raheem Sterling were basically Chelsea rejects at the twilight of their careers with both contributing nothing to our attack, though the latter still has a chance to change that.
Mikel Areta has been backed with a lot of money, but it’s a shame that a sizable portion of that wasn’t invested in bringing in quality forwards. Much noise has been made about the left-wing and center forward position, we sometimes forget that Saka is still without a natural replacement. Raheem Sterling was brought in as that all rounder but we’ve seen how poor he’s been when in that role. Depth as well as quality in the starting lineup is missing in our frontline, a team seriously challenging for major honors cannot be having the duo Jesus and Havertz as striking options for God’s sake, it’s just not good enough! The problems stretch deeper than that, I am aware of that but there’s no doubt that more strengthening should’ve been done in that department over the years.
BENJAMIN KENNETH.
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A decent striker is the obvious missing piece but we are also very dependent on Odegaards creativity. If we had a striker something else would need to change, the only service into the box comes from corners and set pieces, and we don’t need a striker for them. We need a footballing striker which can create his own chances or he will simply starve to death. Look at Haaland at the moment, a brilliant center forward, but without service he is a passenger. I do not know who the missing piece is, but Jesus is not the answer, nor is Havertz. If Arteta does not see that Jesus and Martinelli are not good enough, we will continue to fall short.
Hi writer, with respect to your opinion, how did you see how bad Sterling is when he is always on the bench? The few times he has played in Cup competitions he has even had better performances than both trossard and matinelli….are you sure the Sterling you are referring to is the one playing for arsenal or the one that played for Chelsea cos as far as I’m concerned arteta has refused to give him any chance whatsoever
And why do you think that is?
The pursuit of Benjamin Sesko last summer was the clearest indication that the Arsenal hierarchy recognised the need to strengthen upfront in the face of so many departures in that area.
But when the deal didn’t happen they simply pulled the plug you would think Sesko was the only striker in the world!
And the team is clearly lacking in that cutting edge penetration that gives a good defence the attacking balance
This 👆👍
That was just a smoke screen, clubs who are serious have options A or B. If Mikel was serious, (which he wasn’t) he would he would have looked at option B, Maybe a loan move for Victor. But he had to show the owners why he brought Kai for 65M. What a utter waste of funds – Viera 30M+, Ramsdale 30M+, Calafiori 30M+, Morino 35M+ , Kai 65M +, Rice 100M+ . Gabriel J 25m+, Zinchenko 30M +, Close to 350M+ and nowhere close to winning even the Carabao cup! Moyes managed to win the Conference Cip with Rice! And have forgotten all the costs of the past players – Lokonga, Cedric, Tawares, Turner, Runar, Marquinos, Trusty, Pablo Mari, etc. Arsenal fans deserve better!
Spot on comment. This is why Edu leaving is a blessing. A good technical director has a short list with prioritised actions. If we don’t get a top striker in January we can forget any trophy and will probably end up fighting for a CL place.
We were informed that Arsenal attempted to buy Sesko, but he didn’t want to join us, so we made do with Merino & Calafiori. Neither have really convinced, but I’m still hopeful for them. I doubt if we’ll spend £100million plus on another player this January.
Jax,
You say we made do with Calafiori (Defender), and merino (Midfielder) after stating that we went for Sesko, (a Striker).
What does that say about Arsenals transfer policy. They don’t get the striker they want, so they make do with a Defender and Midfielder.
The club is truly baffling at times.
Thing is we don’t have a recognised striker but we don’t try to play with one. We rarely have a player pushed up, trying to take on the CBs. We never have anyone central for early crosses into the box. We don’t play for a striker,or strikers instincts.
I agree, we are not set up for a striker who plays the traditional center forward role, such a player would starve to death.
Finally an Editorial that lays the issues at Edu and Arteta’s doing.
We purchased very poorly and very late at the start of the season. Hence we have gone backwards this season, rather building on last years effort.
Edu is gone, is not a bad thing, as for Arteta he should be given one more season, before he is moved on,
You will not win a title based solely on set pieces and corners.
Also these guys create so many chances, yet lack the end product skill set of putting the ball into the net. Why is that??
The tactics and the desire against Everton was bang average.
Imagine if Saka was injured for a few months, we would be mid table at this point.
No trophies this year or the next, as they need at least 4 or 5 new signings, just to get us back on track.
The real issue here is the £100 million the club wasted on Fabio Viera and Kai Havertz. Because Trossard, Martinelli, and Jesus being as rancid as they have been has allowed Havertz to escape a lot of attention for his very lackluster play this year.
You can’t “spread the goals around” for three straight years. Especially when none of our attackers are actually natural goal scorers. This was always coming and Edu and Arteta were too obsessed with defensive stats to do something about it.
Is Sesko the only striker? The answer is no the club owners are not truly in need of trophies if they are they would have known by now that Arteta cannot deliver Epl trophy. Yes the club needs reinforcement upfront and when the opportunity came calling Raheem Sterling became answer
seriously! The club already has two aged midfielders yet Arteta still went for 28 years Mikel Merino . You might say it’s too early but I am telling you that the season is over. It’s time Stan and Josh Kronke should brace it up and hire a seasoned trophy winning Manager. Arteta is still learning work, Klop left Liverpool at the end of last season and they’re still waxing strong, the club should hire Zidane and give him the support that Arteta and let’s see if he will not deliver far better than Arteta.
And give him the support/backup that Arteta enjoyed too.
The signing of Gyokeres, Xavi Simons would have been the best transfer window.
Gyokeres.
X. Simons. Odegaard. Saka.
Rice. Partey.
Timber. Gabriel. Saliba. White.
Raya.
We lack a player like Alexis Sanchez in the front line; never replaced that type player when he left.
Dominant, consistent, found ways to score when we needed a goal. Players like that are rare, but have we tried to find an attacker like that last couple Summer windows?
Havertz, Jesus, Vieira, Trossard, not in the same class as Sanchez was.
@Durand
Real Talk. Alexis was a battler. We also miss a midfielder in the mold of Carzola, one who turns defence into offence at the drop of a hat. Him being two footed didn’t hurt either.
I dont know if am the only one seeing this,but lately you will realise that Odegaard only passes the ball to Saka whenever he is in possession.
Is it because of the 433 set up where he plays predominantly onthe right side or is it because he things Saka is our only hope of scoring?
This has made us so predictable and easy to defend. I wish we could do the 4231 formation for Odegaard to play more centrally and give our forwards better service.
We also must add someone who can match the level of Saka either onthe left or C.F if we hope to achieve any glory this season.
Or is it because he is left footed so the natural pass is always to the right?
We’ve raved about Nwaneri being his natural replacement, but Miles-Skelly looks better. Composed in the ball and can see those passes.
I keep saying. A striker is not going to solve anything in the whole attacking line is as nonchalant as it is at the moment.
This striker will come in and will also become stale as the whole team. Havertz, Martinelli, Trossard, Jesus have all got to perform better than they have done so far. And Arteta has got to spice up our attacking predictability. Let our forwards swap their positions throughout the game so that we can become more unpredictable.
This season was there for the taking now that Man City seem to have tanked. We seem to have become stale and dormant and going nowhere right now..
The manager had got to try something different in our attack. It’s become so boring and mechanical.