Arsenal’s return to football after 100 days hasn’t gone as we all expected.
With the form that we were in before the suspension of football, most of us expected our players to return to the game with win after win and I even predicted a shock win at the Etihad.
After watching Brighton snatch victory from us at the weekend I am back to worrying about how bad it can get.
One thing that has bothered me the most has been the injuries that have been piling up.
We lost Pablo Mari and Granit Xhaka to injuries in the first game and Bernd Leno followed against Brighton.
Those are three key injuries and with the fixtures coming at us really fast, who knows who will be next.
Injuries are normal in football and that is why the smartest teams prepare for the worst by signing good players for squad depth.
These injuries could give us a bad end to the season if they continue to pile up, but who is to blame for the poor replacements we have on the bench?
It is easy to buy first-team players but a lot less so when you are buying backups and at some point, the club needs to have a proper look at its recruitment policy.
Signing David Luiz was hardly inspiring and there were more solid options available at the time, Gary Cahill, for example. He may not be fashionable but he rarely makes the sort of mistakes the Brazilian makes.
Loaning Cedric Soares, an injured player, is another example of bewildering recruitment.
I hope that this will be the end of mediocre signings and that when the transfer window reopens we sign players that will give us the depth we are sorely lacking.
An article from Ime
I hope that you are right but I doubt it…
This excuse was not accepted to defend Unai Emery.
Poor scouting, recruitment, contract management and financial accumen in the transfer market have been ongoing issues at Arsenal for four head coaches/managers for years before Arsene Wenger departed.
Arsenal cannot keep churning through head coaches without providing them with the tools to do their job ie scouting and recruiting appropriate players to fill the obvious deficiencies in the Arsenal squad, managing the contracts to keep the players Arsenal wants to keep and optimise sales of those players to be moved on.
Injuries impact on all clubs, because football is a contact sport. Expert medical resources are required to prepare players physically and mentally, manage injuries and rehabilitate players back to play, while limiting the chance of reoccurance.
For a head coach whether Mikel Arteta, Emery, Klopp or Guardiola to be successful the executives, Board and back room staff need to be top class. In Arsenal’s case the executives and Board have a lot to answer for. It is about time Kroenke took an interest in the Arsenal business asset and asked some serious questions about how the money is being spent and Arsenal managed.