This season Arsenal feel like a different side to how they were last campaign when they lifted their first Premier League title in 22 years. It just doesn’t truly feel the same.
Last campaign I felt very confident going into every game and I felt blown away by the fact that we also ended up in the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years, which I’m not sure we all expected at the commencement of the 2025/26 football season.
However, this year I don’t quite have that good of a feeling, or perhaps sixth sense, depending on if you believe in that sort of thing at all in life.
Have Teams Worked Out the Arsenal Way?
We don’t look bad or horrendous and we certainly don’t look incredibly worse. In fact, when we scored three goals in seven minutes versus Lille in the Champions League last week to win 3-0, Arsenal certainly looked indomitable, but overall our game has changed.
It appears that sides are learning “The Arsenal way”, being able to trap us from right to left on the field and close down any gaps across the field which we took advantage of last season, making us squeeze our football into a tighter area which we’ve struggled with.
At the same time, we appear to be more compact at the back and David Raya had claimed seven clean sheets in 11 matches in all competitions before the Everton game, which is respectable.
Alongside that, we also have three players for one position in defence, which as fans or from a management perspective we can’t complain about.
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Have Arsenal Sacrificed Their Attacking Mojo?
Last season at times we were caught on the counterattack and it looks like Mikel Arteta wants to prevent that from happening again. But by doing this, it’s limited our attacking game, which has become in a number of moments slower and somewhat similar to the days of Arsene Wenger when fans complained about the “boring” Arsenal slogan, which seems to be reappearing again.
Of course, Saturday’s comfortable 2-0 victory over Everton was another positive result, but it hasn’t entirely changed my feeling that Arsenal are playing a different style of football this season.
We have gone from “bottlejobs” to “boring” again and it’s not any catchier, although I think I know which one I prefer personally.
There’s still three quarters of the season to go, but Arsenal and Arteta really need to get the fans’ and side’s attacking mojo back again, one way or another, just like the song says!
Liam Harding
Do you agree that Arsenal have become more cautious this season, or is Arteta simply making the changes needed to defend our Premier League title?
Join the discussion in the comments below.
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