An article by fanatical Arsenal fan, Tomorrow.
Given time Mikel Arteta could make Arsenal a success again.
Everton away, Bournemouth away, Chelsea at home, Man Utd at home. On current form, we will be lucky if we got even one point from those games.
Everton is the league’s top form team alongside Liverpool and Leicester. Bournemouth just beat Chelsea away and Chelsea and United are always huge risky games.
If Arteta is to come in and do little to change the outcome of the above, then it’s not new. Unai and Freddie had the same problem.
So it’s time that we need to give.
The issues are just as much tactical as they are personal. To some extent, the directors have done well to bring in Pepe, Tierney and Martinelli. It’s a shame bad form and injuries have hit two of them. While the other has been called talent of the century.
We have gems, and Arteta needs time to bring that together with better senior talent.
It’s now not a matter of if Ozil is good enough or not, it’s about arsenal moving on from a period of struggle.
New faces with new hope need to be installed, proud to be playing for Arsenal FC.
Toerrira, Saka, Martinelli and even Tierney when he played looked like they have the sort of energy our team needs.
There is a lot of youngsters along with Saliba joining that need top quality senior players around them.
Auba, Laca, Leno and Kosalinac are the only senior players I would keep. Kolsalinac has had glimpses of both poor and excellent moments – I think Arteta might be able to bring it together.
Kolasinac has a quick burst of pace but poor recovery. I don’t see why he is not played as a CD where that short injection of pace can stop that situation where we see the likes of Sokratis panicking when one on one.
Because Chambers wants to prove himself, I would play him also at centre back. Play Saka as wing-back and M.Niles at RB.
Sorry, I go off-topic, I switch between the long and short term.
Short term Arteta needs to get something out of the four games above if he becomes the manager. Its Thursday tomorrow and the game’s on Sunday.
City play tonight, I am so interested to see the news, if any, after the game.
Any doubts the squad has over Arteta’s appointment will surely be judged on who his backroom staff is.
Arteta is one of them average footballers like Pepe who came through Barca ranks became a cult hero at Everton for being a big fish in a little pond. The same as what Sigurdsson is doing.
He has been under Wenger management and has learnt from his generations best manager, who learnt from Cruyff.
If it was me, a way to assess him is to see what team he selects after two or three games against your own predictions.
Although mine is a little left-wing (or right-wing depends how you see it.lol) I would currently go for
Leno
N.Miles Chambers Kos Saka
Torriera
Gendouzi Willock
Pepe Auba Martinelli
Top teams end up with a top line of five. Liverpool has their full-backs and top three for example. Arsenal could have Pepe Auba Willock Martinelli and Saka.
Then you have a defensive line of N.Miles Torriera and Gendouzi who protect your back two of Chambers and Kosalinac. Chambers will be the pivot and Kos will use that short sharp pace and clean up and danger.
This would be my current solution.
From defending you have Kos who can break the lines and run forward with the ball with Torriera dropping in, you have Saka who can run with the ball and can pass and go or receive.
In midfield, Willock has the energy to close down and get in goal scoring position. He almost plays like the no.10 by being close to Auba but with the added situation of having Martinelli also like a no.10 as Saka takes up the wing.
It’s creative and delusional I know, but just as much as arsenal wanting to take such a big risk in the modern game where stakes are high on an unknown manager. Yet, one day 22 years ago, we appointment an unknown from Japan!!
Originally this was a comment but I felt it deserved far wider coverage – Admin Martin