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Morning all.
Regression – not for the first time post Christmas I’ve read regression and Arsenal in the same sentence. Is it justified though, have Arsenal regressed this season?
The season before last, having been in a strong position to win the league, we sleepwalked through the final few weeks of the campaign to finish second. Fast forward twelve months and we were at it again. Arsenal had looked favourable to lift the big trophy half way through the season but then a couple of draws followed by a couple of defeats and Man City took advantage.
This season was meant to be third time lucky however, the only luck we’ve had is bad luck. Bad officiating, bad injuries and another bad spell of results. Not to mention the performances.
Unlike last season, the title race was over quite early as Liverpool took advantage of every other club in the league having a very mixed campaign.
Have Arsenal regressed? My honest answer is I’m not sure and I say that because had we not had so many injuries, I think we’d have been much better than we have in the league. To lose players like Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Ben White, Gabriel for large periods of time would be hard for any manager of Arsenal to cope with. It’s not just the time they’re out but when they return, they’re not the same player for a few weeks, if not months. On top of that, Gabriel Jesus, Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu have spent more time off the pitch this season than they have on it.
Has Mikel Arteta’s management regressed? Well, that’s a tough one to answer because I don’t think he’s ever been particularly good at managing his squad, nor do I think he’s been proactive from the sidelines as it seems to me he’d rather let a player struggle on through a game than to change him. I think the only time I recall him doing something positive was when he substituted Myles Lewis-Skelly who’d been booked and was heading for an early shower had he stayed on the pitch. I’m sure someone will soon point out other occasions when the manager has made tactical changes if there are any.
The Spaniard must be the only manager in the game to have never signed an out and out centre forward for the first team. I don’t mean a winger/forward, I mean a goal scorer. Even Arsene Wenger signed strikers. Not all were very good mind you, certainly during the final few years of his time at Arsenal. But that was Arsene, if he could save a penny or two he would.
This Arsenal is different as we’ve been spending big money since the arrival of Mikel Arteta. Probably the most the club has ever spent in a five year period, yet still we don’t have a balanced squad. So this summer, that surely needs to change?
Of course we all want to see a striker signed but we also need to add some speed to the way we play and a different kind of creativity in the oppositions half. A player who can open up a defence with one pass or with one movement. A player who hasn’t even heard about receiving the ball and turning backwards, let alone do it. Again, again and again.
I don’t know about you guys but I want to watch Arsenal and be entertained. I recall Unai Emery saying he’d rather win a game 5-4 than 1-0 and whilst that’s a tad extreme in my opinion, I totally understand what he means. Don’t get me wrong, a 1-0 win can be exciting and entertaining but this Arsenal, certainly in the Premier League isn’t doing either.
I know after the the Bournemouth game Martin Odegaard said the players might have been thinking about the PSG game, or something like that but that game hasn’t been coming since the first day of 2025 has it?
Over to you guys, do you think Arsenal have regressed this season?
Catch up in the comments.