UNMUDDLING THE SQUAD

After spending about 4 hours on two Arsenal Opinion Podcasts and a little appearance on Latte Firm – my overall takeaway from the weekend is that the squad feels a little muddled.

Now – I don’t have the blueprints for the Arteta/Edu vision. We’re watching a mixing bowl right now and judging the cake. No doubt there’s something beautiful in mind, but it’s hard to make judgments until we’re oven-ready.

So where are my concerns?

LEFT-BACK ISSUES:

Kieran Tierney has spoken to The Athletic, and it doesn’t sound like he’s in a rush to exit.

“No. It’s not really up to me. I’m happy; I’m working hard every day, getting minutes. I’m just trying to do as well as I can,” 

“You can’t play every single game, every single season, every single year. I don’t expect that.”

It also sounds like he doesn’t mind being part of the squad. Which is great, I think? He’s actually a no-nonsense left-back, the likes of which we don’t have. Keeping him could be a good idea.

Then you have Tomiyasu, who started against United. He’s a right back and a centre back before he’s a left back. But not according to the weekend.

Zinchenko starred in a presser – but he’s not training and he’s injured AGAIN. Are we starting to see the reason he was only good for 23 games a season at City?

We also have Kiwior, who has stepped into left-back more times than he has at right-back.

That’s a lot of players with no clear path of what’s going on. It seems like we’re putting bacon into a chocolate Soufflé out here.

RIGHT BACK

Ben White was a brilliant right-back for us last season, but he is actually a centre-back, though I was told that he played right back as a young man at Brighton by someone that played with him.

Tomiyasu was our best right back few seasons ago, but he’s struggled with availability.

Cedric is still here.

We just dropped £45m on Jurrien Timber.

Who is going where here?

MIDFIELD

We’ve gone from having very few #6 options to far too many. Big Mo, Jorginho, Rice, and Thomas Partey all seem VERY happy in the videos, but is 4 6s too many? Who goes? Who starts? How do we share the minutes?

Kai, ESR, and Trossard could all be #8 or they could be other positions? I’m not sure. Are we playing #8s or are we going with two 10s next season.

Mikel Arteta said Rice, Kai, and Odegaard will be good after 55 games. Not my fave comment, but I understand what he’s saying.

You see what I’m saying? It all feels a bit crazy. But… we haven’t seen the cake. The problem is the cake needs to be ready in 2 weeks.

My other big concern is this: Mikel Arteta has alluded to the time needed to get the cake tasting good. Gabi Martinelli said in an interview the players are basically preparing to be shit in the Champions League.

My concern – how is Mikel Arteta going to frame this season?

He needs to be upfront and honest very soon.

Is this season a major title push? Fans are expecting that after the spending.

Is this season about maturation and growth? We’ve never played Champions League. The boys have never played 3 games a week from September. We’ve spent big but aged down the squad. Is it realistic to make so much change and get MORE points next season? Or is there a blip coming?

The fans need to know what the objectives of the season are. One of the biggest PR mistakes of the past was the clubs lack of honesty about what the plan was, namely a longer-term plan focused on young players growing together.

The sooner Arteta addresses that, the sooner we can get behind the project.

In other news, Kylian Mbappe has been offered £700m to go to Saudi for a season – with a £300m fee heading to PSG for the heartache of it all. I feel like the power players involved in this deal are more invested in the optics than the output. Mbappe is a world-class player, no doubt, but there are other players in the world and the player isn’t worth the money on offer.

The bigger problem for European football is a nation-state is upending football and it’s happening so fast its paralyzing the game.

Allan St Maximin is getting a mega move to Saudi that’ll help with Newcastle FFP. What is fair price? How can anything be fair when their ownership group is both the buyer and the seller?

Mitrovic is threatening to strike if he isn’t allowed to exit the Premier League.

Jordan Henderson has soiled his rep on gay rights because the money was worth more than 20 years of doing the right thing.

Can you blame any of these folk for taking the money? No. You can’t. It’s easy to be a purist when you’re not the one getting offered so much money it could keep your family safe for 3 generations.

But you can look at the leagues and the governments who are acting too slow on all of this.

The new normal worked for the Premier League when we were on top – now Saudi is shaking up things, it doesn’t feel so good.

What can be done?

Who knows. Maybe this is just the way it’s going to be with sport. I do worry there’s going to be some deep regret about all of this when it’s done. Selling off cultural icons doesn’t seem like a good idea. But maybe that’s just where the world is going and we should all jump onboard.

What do you think? Share your views below! x