This summer, Arsenal will look to solve a long-standing problem. The club is finally expected to sign a traditional number nine to complete the missing piece in Mikel Arteta’s attacking puzzle. For several seasons now, Arsenal have gone without a natural centre-forward in a squad that has desperately needed one. Aside from the arrival of Gabriel Jesus, who is not a conventional striker, the Gunners have repeatedly neglected this crucial area, much to the frustration of supporters.
The lack of a central threat has undoubtedly cost Arsenal in key moments. Margins have often gone against them, and the absence of a goal poacher has stood out as a major reason for the near misses. Defensively, the team has been outstanding, few clubs in Europe can match their solidity at the back. Perhaps it has been the pursuit of defensive perfection that has come at the cost of attacking fluidity. Regardless, it appears Arsenal are now ready to back their manager, with Sporting Director Andrea Berta already actively searching for the right number nine.
Sesko or Gyökeres? Either way, a change may be needed
There is no shortage of realistic targets. Arsenal have been linked with Benjamin Šeško, Victor Gyökeres, Jonathan David, Matheus Cunha, and Hugo Ekitike. In recent weeks, however, two names have stood out as priorities: Šeško and Gyökeres. Both players reportedly come with manageable price tags and wage demands. According to reports, Andrea Berta favours the Swedish international Gyökeres, while Mikel Arteta prefers a move for Šeško.
Regardless of who arrives, both strikers bring something different to Arsenal’s current options. They are more traditional in style, with predatory instincts inside the penalty area, rather than playing deeper to link up play. That raises an interesting question. How can Arsenal maximise their impact? While tactical decisions are obviously up to the manager, that does not stop fans from offering ideas.
Time for a rethink in the fullback roles?
One potential adjustment could involve the fullback roles. Since the 2022–23 season, Arteta has heavily relied on inverted fullbacks, who step into midfield to support build-up play, retain possession, and help with pressing. Oleksandr Zinchenko was brought in specifically for that role, while Ben White also shifted to right-back around the same time. The system worked wonders initially, with Arsenal unexpectedly challenging for the title that season.
However, there has been growing criticism this campaign, particularly regarding the lack of natural width, especially on the left. Though Ben White and, at times, Jurrien Timber have offered overlapping runs from the right, the left flank has lacked that outlet.
With a traditional striker set to join, a slight tactical shift could be warranted. Allowing both fullbacks to overlap more often and deliver accurate crosses, not excessively, but with intent, could add an entirely new dynamic to Arsenal’s attack. Inverting fullbacks made sense when Arsenal had different types of forwards, but with a new focal point likely to arrive, this could be the right moment to experiment.
A change in approach may also lead to squad adjustments. For example, if more width is desired, a new left-back may be brought in, and Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez could be a strong candidate. That, in turn, might see Myles Lewis-Skelly move back into midfield, a shift that was expected long-term anyway.
This is just one observation, but what do you think? Should the arrival of a proper striker prompt a tactical rejig?
BENJAMIN KENNETH
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Funny thing Gyokeres is not the kind of striker who likes to stay central. Those who have watched him know he likes to drift out wide,particularly towards the left. If we allow him to play his natural game,which includes cutting in from the left,there would be no need for a drastic change in tactics.It would be like Jesus used to interchange with the left winger to great effect in 22/23.
6 years in not one proper forward signed ,let go of numerous forwards and still Arteta fans moan about squad depth .
33 players signed in his tenure
7 goalkeepers
8 fullbacks / defenders.
That’s 15 players that should take up 3 positions,that leaves 18 players to take up the remaining 8 positions,that there is the problem,all this talk of squad depth is his own making ,pathetic that some fans still use this as an excuse .
4 LBs in the team against PSG ,let me guess that’s edus fault .
Fcking ridiculous.
People usually don’t understand why I slander Edu. It’s his primary duty to look at the squad and know which areas are lacking. He signed more than one thousand left backs and had not a single proper striker in. Thankfully his dim wit act of trying to sign the completely finished Arthur Melo on a 2 year loan with a €40m obligation was swiftly denounced by Josh not to mention his love of signing Kia Joorabchian’s finished clients. Good riddance
As usual zero constructive comments … and off topic …yawn!
Considering the season they’ve had, Should Spurs hang on till the end, this will be one of most iconic interviews by a manager:
“I’ll correct myself – I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year. Nothing’s changed. I’ve said it now. I don’t say things unless I believe them.”
-Ange Postecoglou
Congrats Spurs the Pride of NL!!!!! The bragging rights deservedly lies with you. Words perfectly matching with deeds by Ange. He only needs 2 years not 6 years to win a European trophy. If Arsenal had won UCL the Super Cup at Udine Italy would have been a NL affair shortly after meeting in the Asia pre season. Shame on Arteta and Arsenal. CoYS the Whites!!!!!
Of course the tactics need a change. Why spend a ton on a striker, only to have him play like Auba, Laca, Nketiah, Jesus, and Havertz.
What is more likely, all those playing as striker are flops, or Artetaball is barren for strikers.
If we have same tactics, same inverted fullbacks, same square pegs in round holes, then same results will surely follow.
Squad has tried several strikers but it never works properly; problem is the system not the players.
We have scored a lot of goals using these same tactics and system. We have been one of the most defensively sound teams in the world. Last season we amassed the highest points total that we have had in almost a generation.
Amongst those you have highlighted which ones are top class strikers?
Sorry, but what you are saying does not make sense.
We played differently this season compared to the last, with less success, even when havertz was available – we spent much more time building down the wings, and were much less willing to play forward passes into the centre, and were much less able to hurt opponents. Hopefully zubimendi will help with that (assuming he does join as expected), but I think it was directed by arteta in an attempt to be less predictable – it didn’t work (and was boring to watch). Something does need to change for next season
You’re spot on about our bias to play through the wings. I saw a statistic a few months ago that we were one of the worst teams in terms of playing through the middle. Part of it could be tactics but another part of it is that we are facing more low and mid blocks. Teams pack the middle with bodies meaning we have to go wide.
You’re also right on Zubimendi. I think his kind of pass selection and press resistance will allow us to play a lot more through the middle. It helps that he can play with either foot. With him, I think we’ll also see less of Odegaard having to drop deep to help Partey with build up. He can then concentrate on what he’s good at further forward.
I also get the point folks are making about having a fullback or someone else staying high and wide to open up the pitch. We missed that in the absence of Saka and White. Nwaneri and Timber all like to come central. A physical striker will also stretch centre backs. While we can tweak tactics, a huge part of why we’ve become predictable this season is because of a lack of players who can open up the pitch for us. We also badly need at least one more good dribbler.
Do you think Zubimendi, Partey, Odegaard AND Rice would fit in the same eleven? Zubimendi’s arrival would likely see one of Odegaard or Partey lose their spot.
Nope, I think only three will start at a time which is a good thing because we can then set up in multiple ways. You also end up with someone on the bench who can come in and offer something different. I think even Havertz and Nwaneri will have a role to play in midfield. And Merino of course. I’m hoping Arteta will rotate better in stead of relying on the same three every day. For instance, I can see a midfield of Zubimendi-Rice- Havertz working well against physical opponents like Newcastle.
David
Auba tied for Golden boot, then was 1 goal short to Vardy the following year. Pretty good goal scorer, if you are honest. He was brought in to score, not defend.
Arteta won his only trophy with that squad he thought was not good enough. He’s won how many trophies with his hand picked squad?
Under Arteta, Auba’s goals dried up like every striker in his Artetaball system.
You mention defensive stats when we are talking about the striker position?
Curious how you defend Arteta and make excuses for lacking a clinical striker, rather than pointing out the dire need of a striker.
My comment wouldn’t make sense to you, because your rose tinted glasses can’t see the hole in his tactics or in our striker position.
You could argue that the main reason we haven’t won the domestic cups with the current squad is that we’ve been solely focused on trying to win CL and EPL. It was the opposite when we won that FA cup.Because we had no chance at the big trophies then,we put all our eggs in the FA Cup basket.
Klopp had a similar problem at Liverpool as well when it was said he didn’t take the cups seriously. It’s difficult to compete on four fronts, especially with a thin squad. That said, I think the Arteta and the players should have done better.
I don’t think Auba’s goals drying up had anything to do with Arteta. It’s well known that Auba was dealing with a personal issue at the time-a sick parent. He seemed like a player lacking in confidence. It could also be that it was just natural decline because even after leaving Arsenal, he was never prolific at Barca or Chelsea, like before.
About the need for a clinical striker, I wish you can find today’s press conference with Arteta. He addressed this topic. You get the sense that he’s very much aware we need more goals in the team.As to why it didn’t happen earlier, who knows? We can only speculate.
Finally I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Arteta’s system with regards to strikers. If Merino who has never played there managed to score goals, what of a career centre forward. Even Kai Havertz matched his Chelsea tally in half the games at Arsenal. Everything suggests that most strikers would thrive in this system. You just need to look at the chances Saka and Odegaard create that go begging for someone to finish.
Food for thought:
If merino a DM who has never played CF before could score as many goals as he did, and if havertz could already better his goals scoring record with Chelsea at that postion. Surely Arteta-ball ain’t “Anti-stiker”.
Thanks for killing the narratives that some folks are hell bent on selling, That Arteta system of play isnt viable for strikers.
Spurs tonight showed with a pragmatic game plan a team can be beaten by the same opponent 4 times in a season. Even Newcastle Utd couldn’t do that fate with Arsenal after failing at the 4th hurdle.We all recall Spurs beat Utd 4 times while Newcastle beat Arsenal 3 times in 24/25 season. Victory is still possible even with excusable injuries is the lesson learnt from tonight’s Spurs. Thank you Spurs!
@Ambachew, I don’t know if you are an Arsenal fan; I’m not sure. But if you are, you can switch allegiance and join the Spuds’ fan base. This is an Arsenal site.
CM, my sentiments exactly. How on earth can a so called Arsenal fan write COYS beggers belief 😡. He obviously doesn’t know the history of the rivalry between the clubs !
Ah let the Spudster talk. I’m always interested to see what the delusional Spuds fans can come up with for banter. One spot removed from relegation and they still have nerve to prance around and try to wind up fans of a team that has finished top-2 for three years in a row. A good year is when we do the double on the Spurs like we did this year. We have lost just two of our last 33 NL derby home games against Spurs who haven’t triumphed at Emirates Stadium since 2010, meaning we boast an unbeaten run of 14. I bet a majority of Spurs fans were not even alive the last time they won the double. Its been so long ago I can even remember when it was.
phimar, since that lot last won the League, the Berlin wall went up and then came down, man landed on the moon, colour TVs were introduced, and they finally became a London club.
Please just decide on Gyokeres or Sesko and get it done rather than ongoing angst over which one is “perfect” while they get frustrated and sign elsewhere. Either one can both adapt to our attack or we can make tactical changes to get the best of them. Their clinical capabilities in the box will be a critical improvement. Just get it done early and integrate them into the attack
Credit where it is due. This is the trophy the greatest footballer on earth Diego Maradona lifted in 1989 with Napoli. CoYS!
Go to a vermin site if you want to keep writing COYS, because you ain’t no Arsenal fan !
What a dumb thing to say Mr C.Man. I didn’t see anything that was anti Arsenal in Ambachew’s post. All true as well. Not being from North London, I don’t share your territorial instincts, but it’s obviously clear that Arsenal’s season has been a self inflicted failure brought on by poor tactics and general mismanagement.
Thank you so much Joe. S for your spot on remarks. Those who were bruised with Arsenal’s unstoppable failures know well the feelings. Good day!
Territorial instincts is local rivalry and if you’re from Australia or Africa as examples, such local rivalry isn’t in your DNA.
In itself, it doesn’t matter who won last night. Both teams as time went on in the tournament, were prepared to sacrifice their league position (knowing already that those league positions were never going to be good enough to gain a European place)
The issue I have is allowing the Europa League winner automatic entry into the CL. It should not be dangled as a carrot, instead the winner should get to defend the trophy the following season – if they fail to qualify either for the CL or Europa League
Entry is crazy anyway as it’s not a true league of champions. However, what this season’s final has shown is 2 teams who weren’t good enough last season to get a CL place and aren’t even good enough this season to even enter the Conference League can get the opportunity to play in the CL.by winning the EL.
Seems loony to me
For some unknown reason, I noticed a sizable number of our fans take issue with teams playing in the champions league by winning the Europa league. I didn’t see anyone having an issue with it before. In fact, when we played the final at Baku, we all wanted to prevail primarily so we would get the same privilege. Now it’s Spurs and United’s turn and we’ve suddenly become disgruntled with the rules.
Don’t forget that this rule was thought about and only brought to life in 2014 for real reasons and not for the fun of it.
If the carrot called the champions league is taken away, it will automatically become less competitive
I think it’s mainly because of how poorly both teams have been in the league – just seems crazy that teams so close to the relegation zone should be given access to the champions League. That doesn’t detract from your point on the hypocrisy, though.
Yes, it’s head scratching indeed. But it’s the rules and I’m okay with it.
And also remember that some teams get knocked out of Europe early and focus on their leagues, making the leagues more competitive just as some lose focus on the same leagues due to their bad position and focus on Europe. I think it balances itself out
As the CL is no longer a cup comp for league title winners, it makes the Europa league less interesting if in most cases it is made up of teams who are much further down the league. But less interesting for who in particular? Not the teams competing in it. I wonder if Declan Rice thought the Conference Title wasn’t worth competing for? It should not be all about the so called big clubs as that was what the Conf League was all about.
Baku was a route in and you will take it if it is on offer. Doesn’t alter the fact that the 2 finalists were not good enough for anything more than the EL last season, would not get in any European league as a result of their poor showing this season, but can leapfrog over real contenders this season for a CL place on the strength of winning an inferior trophy.
Could this scenario can repeat itself again and again?. Is this what UEFA wanted?
I agree the Europa league is inferior but only when compared to the CL. It’s a prestigious trophy in itself especially when you consider that we don’t have it on our shelf (I stand to be corrected). Right now, I’ll gladly take the EL and a 5th place league finish than 2nd place empty handed.
In years to come, people (us & our children & grandchildren & great grandchildren & great great grandchildren & more) will remember Spurs in 2025 but no one will even ask about us. That’s why I don’t play down on it.
And I know how I always feel when my friends call me “nearly man”. We have automatically become the new Spurs (banter club) of London.
Not disagreeing that it has no prestige. Far from it. It only feels inferior if you make the CL and drop down.
Gladly taking 5th place and the EL trophy shows a certain standard with the emphasis on 5th – not 16/17th. No CL teams dropping down this season and a few big names would have under the previous incarnation might have changed the final 2 competing for the trophy. Even more reason now that the new system is in place, to respect the Europa league for what it is. A worthwhile trophy but not one that gives automatic elevation to a higher league. Defend the title by all means but it should stop there. Whoever wins the CL this year automatically gets to defend it and quite rightly.
I also agree that we remember our trophies and don’t remember the runners up spot. All the more reason for Arsenal to show that they can be winners.
Joe.S, I’m not from North London, in fact I live closer to France than London, but I hate the vermin from N17 with every sinew in my body. I have Arsenal mates from all over the UK who share the same feelings.
Herr Drier
People from North London probably had school mates who supported either team and valued their friendship over everything else. I was from Highgate and had two best mates, one who supported Finchley and the other Spurs and I went with them to games. Couldn’t do that now, but I thought nothing of it back then. A team I do hate has just made it back into the Premier League.
A club that would rather lose a game against City than see Arsenal win the league does not deserve any complimentary mention on an Arsenal site.
Get real, my friend!
This is actually for Joe S
Taking too long to win titles has consequences. We’ve come short of winning titles recently not just because of inconsistent officiating or multiple injuries but largely due to our not signing the right players and overplaying our first 11 and also not allowing other players have a chance to play in the first team(Take MLS and Kiwior for example, they probably would not have had enough games to play this season, and we would not have known how good they were if injuries did not happen to Calafiori and Gabriel Maghales respectively), little wonder Saka, Martinelli, Havertz, Gabriel Maghales all suffered hamstring injuries because they played too many games.
Also our game play became too predictable, worsened by the absence of a traditional forward which the manager refused to sign and the management refusing to support him when he finally realized he needed one.
Credit to Spurs for doing what we have been failing to do all this while even though they occupy an embarrassing league position.
I hope Spurs winning the UEL becomes a wake up call for Arsenal to take all competitions seriously and win something next season.
Now I’m no Spurs fan at all. But Like them or not, I say congratulations to them for winning the Europa League. Whether people agree with it being a route to playing in the Champions League is neither here nor there to be honest. If that the rule then so bi it.
But don’t worry people, we can always console ourselves with the fact that we finished 2nd in the League for the 3rd season running.
We got to the League Cup semi-finals, and we reached the Champions League semi-finals. And those two unforgettable results against Real Madrid.
And don’t forget, now that we’ve got the dream team of Bertha and Arteta at the helm, and we’re going all out in the summer to bring in these world beaters that we all keep hearing about. And not to forget the next phase of our rich journey of life under this winning machine of a manager called Arteta.
Meanwhile that lot at the other end of Seven Sisters road, have a trophy🏆 to show for their efforts, in a season where they’ve been absolutely atrocious.
But don’t worry guys, trust the process. The trophy’s are coming, no honestly they are. I can’t tell you in what century, but there coming. Honest!😂🙄🤦♂️
Whoever we choose as our new forward, they had better be top drawer!!
We cannot afford a costly mistake.
I feel that Rodrygo is the sexy choice, but I have a gut feeling that, if we buy him, he will not turn out to be the prolific goal scorer we need.
I do not envy whoever has to choose the new Number 9 (possibly our future)