Saka being injured is the biggest reason for our attack being so poor.
Not only is he one of the best attacking players in Europe, he made things happen, either by scoring goals out of nowhere or making them.
Also, without him, opposition teams are finding us easier to defend against because they’re not doubling up on Saka and none of Havertz, Trossard, Jesus, Martinelli or Sterling are game changers.
With Saka back and a couple of genuine top quality attacking signings and those underwhelming players back on the bench where they belong, we’ll be far more efficient in attack.
Yep agree with this as well but hard to tell to what extent given the poor form and injuries. We would unlock teams more with ode and saka at their best and the sentiment wouldn’t be quite as bad.
That’s something mikel has to look at for next season, how do we adapt now that teams know our primary focus is down the right.
Hence I think signing someone like Wirtz to play the equivalent of Odegaard’s role on the left would make a huge difference. Lot of pressure on whoever plays 6 then but let’s see.
Henry made a salient point last week during UCL. Why is it that Liverpool can have a fully fit squad all season, but Arsenal can’t?
Luck may have something to do with it but maybe also the style of play (super intense press), the intense training etc. From what I remember he said something along the lines of ‘you should aim to have your best 11 paying every week. You can’t win championships without them’.
Obvious, sure but it rings true with the article from the Athletic a while back about how Slot’s methods have effectively enabled Liverpool’s entire team to stay fit all season. Wonder if there’s something our staff could learn from.
Maybe the amount of injuries we’ve had to key men is more to do with how much that core group gave played in the last 2-3 seasons and they’re just burned out?
My one worry is that once our attack is back, our defence will be next. I hope Arteta and the club are ready for 1-2 of the main bank five to be out again for a lengthy time.
Arsenal went through 2 seasons of maintaining a relatively healthy starting XI.
I just think these injuries are outcome of 2 seasons of high level output from same set of players.
Saka and Havertz’s injury was so predictable given the amount of games they have played
It is a tactical issue because it’s not sustainable season to season, I’ve questioned the viability of the way he had us playing in terms of season to season and indeed we’re regressing with each passing season.
This season we started off the pace.
Peps team is not only missing Rodri but it has aged significantly over the past few years, decline without rejuvenation was inevitable.
If you look at the way we play and think the main issue is players only rather than coupled with tactical instruction and lack of ideas then you’ll be in for a rude awakening even if we do make some good signings.
We can sign Sesko and Williams for example and not a great deal will change
Ok so maybe now we’re getting somewhere. I can understand this argument given the nature of our high pressing (city managed it for years though) and some reliance on set pieces/being super solid at the back.
So that would acknowledge that the same successful tactics one season can fail due to player issues the next no? Why can’t that be the case here given the disjointed nature of our team this season.
Why is Trossard playing bad because of the tactics in your view and not just because he’s in bad form? Or Odegaard? Or Havertz?
What you called correctly was Havertz not maintaining his hot form from the second half of last year, but now that he hasn’t, then it’s a tactical issue causing us to score less?
As for the last bit, those two players aren’t examples of what I expect would make a big difference. Williams maybe but haven’t watched enough this season.
You’ll have seen me asking for wirtz/gavi/vitinha plenty of times or asking for Jorginho to come on the pitch. Quite clear we need more creativity but I don’t see how we can’t achieve that by buying a top creative player either for LW or LCM. Then we need a striker to bury the chances like Gyokeres.
Put Wirtz and Gyokeres or Kvaratskhelia and Kane in this tactical setup and we’d be top. We need better and/or in form players. Even last seasons Trossard and havertz would do the trick.
I don’t think its fair to say that we’re regressing with each passing season. Last season was our best year by any measure and we were at our peak in the second half. The football might have been more exciting the season prior but we were a much less effective team in almost every way.
This season has obviously been shit but its just really hard to tell what might have happened without the injuries. Going forward, I agree that we need both new attacking players and also some kind of tactical refresher because its gone a bit stale but I think we’re talking about tweaks, not ripping it up. Pep changed his side and their tactics quite a lot over the years, you always need to keep it fresh because other teams study you and learn.
We’ll sign a new creative player, get the others back and people will say the tactics changed lol
Anything where we can play more down the left will alleviate the pressure on the right side and the oppositions ability to stifle it. LCM and/or LW are critical to fix this setup, I trust it so much I’m even happy to watch Partey walk to facilitate it.
Not from me. Have plenty criticised the signing of merino, even before we did it I wasn’t convinced. Calafiori, while better and more necessary, should’ve been prioritised behind a striker. Maybe it was.
I’m also not saying the existing players aren’t mostly good enough, they at least were at one point. Now we see Trossard and martinelli with sustained poor form and therefore should upgrade and replace one.
Really don’t think our issues are that bad. Spread the focus of the attack and bring in a proper goalscorer.