In the 2023–24 season, Arteta and the boys need to have learned from their failed 2022–23 Premier League title charge. Arteta seemed to have learned his lesson about adding quality to his squad. The three signings (Havertz, Timber, and Rice) he has already made have massively improved the quality of his squad, but notably, there’s talk of him completing other deals.
With quality sorted (meaning he has quality depth), Arteta has another thing to sort out. He needs to adopt squad rotation.
For 248 days last season, the Gunners led the Premier League. For the better part of last season, they were imperious; they dismantled almost every team that faced them. However, as the season ended, three things disrupted Arsenal’s form: they were predictable, tired, and couldn’t replace key stars like Saliba (whose season ended early due to injury).
The reasons for these three struggles at the end of the season stem from the fact that Arteta depended on certain players for the better part of last season. Week in and week out, the Spaniard used similar players; they delivered at first, but in the end, they failed him.
Next season, squad rotation will be the rule of the game. Arsenal’s starting lineup may be as follows:
Ramsdale
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko
Rice, Havertz, Odegaard
Saka, Jesus, Martinelli
But even so, at times, we would love to see Saliba rested for Ben White, a formation tweak to see Tierney comfortably play at left back, Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira given chances at attacking midfield, Trossard replacing Martinelli, and Nketiah replacing Jesus (who can be deployed in the wings at times). We would love to see Havertz play on the right wing or as a false 9. Arteta now has a quality squad; squad rotation should be the way forward.
Daniel O
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I don’t think White would be a good stand-in for Saliba, because his aerial ability is inconsistent. Tomiyasu and Holding would be more suitable for the role, because they’re taller than White
I’m sure Arteta and White still remember about their experience when playing against Ivan Toney two years ago. Saliba was also overwhelmed by Toney’s hold-up play, but at least he’s bigger and taller than White
Show me a CB that never had a game he struggled give me the name and I will give you games he struggled, arsenal played against Tony twice and they managed one goal with an offside
Saliba struggled against Toney’s physicality, but at least he’s better than White in that aspect. That’s why I don’t recommend White to play in Saliba’s position
But arsenal is not goijgnyo be playing against Tony more every week, and white has played CB for us too..
I’m afraid the likes of Haaland and Mitrovic will bully him in the air
That’s why we have other CB’s, saliba is still there, it’s about rotation not replacing
Kiwior is also a good stand in at CB as well as fullback and DM. In recent training exercises in USA he was top for jumping highest from both a run up and from a standing position, also quickest over a short sprint. The way Arteta has been building the squad, I’m sure we will see a lot more rotation especially being in four competitions.
Kiwior played well in Saliba’s position. If Kiwior and Tomiyasu stay, Holding may have to leave
I agree – I was impressed by kiwior, and I suspect he was not overly comfortable playing as the right CB rather than the left. He fit into the side a lot better than holding, I guess because of his playing style, athleticism and ability on the ball.
And by coming out and making it clear he wants he wants Partey to stay, shows the gaffer has learned a great deal from the last campaign.
The world class Thomas Partey does not have to play 38 games for Arsenal to lift the big jug this time around, the team will be super confident with the Ghanaian in the middle.
Of course any coach will rotate very well now with the players at our disposal now. We didn’t hav dis much luxury last season, when we rotate 1 or 2 players d whole system crash
I also believe party will be instrumental if used wisely,Terry should remain in the team because he will play a vital role in our title challenge, yes rotation will definitely be the key especially if more players are signed.
Of course he already knows about rotation and would have done it more last season, if the players outside the preferred 12-13 had been up to the same standard. Hopefully with the new additions and the further development of some our young guys, we have a much deeper squad this coming season.
AndersS, why are Kieran Tierney, Reis Nelson and Jorginho, who didn’t get that many opportunities, “not up to the same standard”? If they are not good enough for Mikel Arteta, why are they retained, or in Nelson’s case given a contract extension?
Arteta did in fact rotate quite a lot in the beginning of the season, especially in the Europa League games.
It was quite obvious, as soon as we had 4-5 second choice players in the line-up our performances dropped several levels.
So, basically Arteta could have chosen also to rotate in the PL, and accepting worse performances, or to keep going with the preferred players, getting most possible points for as long as possible.
He did the right thing, IMO. Not only did it get us back into the CL, which I assume was the target right from the beginning, it nearly also got us the championship.
Would we have done better, playing the players you have mentioned, more. Who knows, we might have done worse.
World class Thomas Partey will always win any midfield for any club in the world of football! That was the simple reason some were comparing him with Casemiro last season! Some how the media concocted the rumors of him leaving arsenal… Then suddenly came suggestions linking him to Man utd… While Arteta was smart to ‘be rubbished the rumor!
Thomas PARTEY should stay.hes better than any DM👌shine PARTEY shine☀️✨💫
One has to assume he has rotation in mind with the signings he has made, otherwise what’s the point in making them? Players can’t just sit on the bench and then be expected to perform.
I think we should expect a core of essential players to play almost every minute of every game and only come off when a game is comfortably won. This is fairly common.
Pep tends to play Rodri, Stones, Haaland, Dias, Ederson, Bernardo Silva providing they are fit. For us I think we can confidently assume they will be Ramsdale, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Jesus.
As well as rotating players in and out of the side, Arteta needs to be prepared to rotate on the pitch. Jesus is our best cover for Saka and using him wide occasionally will give game time to Nketiah/Balogun.
All of this makes perfect sense, so we can predictably expect the same players to play every minute of every game just like last season because Arteta is arrogant and doesn’t like to admit he’s wrong.
Hopefully all the players are up for the challenge and playing with more confident to gain the trust from Arteta for him to rotate his squad more. I think Tierney will get more opportunities and will be more involving in the team if Timber continue to impress. Timber will be nailing his spot very soon. I personally think he will be our most important signing. Looks like he’ll be one of the best defenders in Europe not long from now. Great signing by the club.
Agreed.