The ex-Dortmund pairing of Henrik Mhkitaryan and Pierrie-Emerick Aubameyang both arrived at Arsenal in January and they have both settled in quite quickly, and it was great to see them combine for the Gunners second and third goals against Watford last weekend.
Their arrival was maybe too little too late to help us out this season as we were already too far behind the Top Four to make any major challenge, but even if they do click, Shkrodan Mustafi believes that the whole team needs to click, not just our two new arrivals. “Obviously they’ve known each other for a long time, but football isn’t about one pair, or three players playing together,” Mustafi said on Arsenal.com.
“We need to find more solutions as a team playing from the back up to the front and through the whole team.
“We have to try to find more solutions so we can bring everyone’s strength [into play]. That’s when we are at our best, when we can play the way that everyone is playing at their strengths. Then we achieve different results.
“For Pierre, I think it’s a little bit too early to make a statement, because I think it needs time. He needs games to see how he’s going to settle.”
There is no doubt that they will be excellent additions to the squad, especially from next season, but Mustafi is right; What is the point of having a brilliant attacking force if our defenders act like headless chickens and our midfield simply doesn’t have enough talent to compete with the best. My only hope is that having these two in the side will convince other top players that it is worth the risk of coming to Arsenal and challenging for honours once again, which we are not going to do without some major changes.
Darren N