SALIBA OUT – 4 WAYS TO SOLVE DEFENSIVE RUT

You can personally have your view on all sorts of issues Arsenal face after a sad run of three draws.

Thomas Partey has dropped a level.

Gabriel Jesus has missed chances.

We missed Xhaka.

We seem to be in a run of luck where the opposition scores off every single mistake we make.

All valid in their own way, but the truth of the matter is everything has collapsed around the absence of William Saliba.

I love Rob Holding, he’s a solid defender, he’s great for the dressing room, and I understand why he was included originally. The psychology of a dressing room would have made any other decision cruel, especially as we were winning. You can’t keep someone training hard all year, just to pass over them when they are given a chance to shine, players notice those things.

… but, things have changed.

We’ve lost two 2-goal leads.

We’ve conceded 9 goals in 5 games.

We’ve dropped points against two relegation candidates.

We conceded 3 goals against a team that was averaging less than 1 goal a game.

Our attacking approach, that starts from back, has been unraveled. Teams know the weakness and it’s left us tactically injured.

It’s mostly because Rob Holding cannot be William Saliba. His passing is too slow, he lacks confidence, he either goes safe to his right, or long with a less than 50% pass accuracy, the players around him know he can’t handle the pace, and the whole team has dropped 10 yards.

Arteta now has permission from the fans and the players to do something new.

Here are some ideas:

KIERAN TIERNEY AT RIGHT BACK

This one seems to be the least talked about option but the most likely in my mind. The players will want to shop window himself for the summer, so the chance to shine against City could be huge for him. He’ll be up against Jack Grealish who likes to cut in on the right, perfect for a left back, and a strategy we adopted with Tomiyasu against Liverpool.

THOMAS PARTEY AS AN INVERTED RIGHT BACK

There’s a lot of talk about Thomas Partey dropping in at right back and becoming the inverted midfielder. I don’t like it. He’s a fragile player as it is and asking him to add increased load (loads of sprints) to his game against a brutal side seems designed to fail. We’re also lacking anyone else in midfield with physical capabilities. I don’t think we can win without PEAK Thomas in the middle.

ZINCHENKO AT RIGHT BACK

This could also be quite alluring. Zinchenko is incredible with both feet, he absorbs instruction better than anyone, he’s a winner, and he knows City. Putting him on the right and letting KT play on in his natural position could be a sharp move. My worry is he doesn’t have the physical attributes to deal with Jack Grealish on the wrong side of the pitch.

3 AT THE BACK

Look, we could role with KT, Ben White, and Gabriel at the back. You could have your choice of who you’d like to have at wingback then. It’d be a curveball move, but let’s be clear, we’re going to need throw City in some way. Mikel Arteta likely didn’t change up the team on Friday so he didn’t give anything away for this game.

It’ll also be interesting to see what Arteta does in attack. Does add Trossard as an additional midfielder, does he go with two up front, or does he just keep things the same because we’re finding goals at the moment?

It’s going to be a tactically delicious game.

Things that are important to remember:

Don’t lose. That’s the message. Escape with a point or more and anything can happen. Take something from City and belief will flood the system. Exit with a shot of hopium and we might win the Premier League.

To deliver that, something has to change.

What do YOU think? Comments below. We’ll be making some podcasts today. x