Christopher Moltisanti would have a butchered-language field day with this week’s Arsenal news. It’s all focused on what ol’ Tennessee Molitsanti would call “a little dysentery among the ranks.”
Something’s leaking all over the floor at Arsenal these days. Whether it’s shit of the bull variety or the first seedlings of a mutiny isn’t quite clear. Gary Neville perceives the problem. Or at least he thinks he does.
There’s not much Red Nev’ doesn’t believe he can fathom, but there was definitely something to his armchair psychological appraisal of Arsenal’s performance during Saturday’s shambolic 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool:
I have to say that there was a few of those players in that front part of the pitch, it looked like a little mafia that. It looked like a little group of players who weren’t comfortable. Like there was a disconnect between them and the manager.
The effort from that front six… They were a joke. The lack of energy. All the way through the first half I was getting more uncomfortable. Mikel Arteta, I think he would have been shocked by the lack of application.
Few would argue there was a noticeable lethargy about Arsenal on Saturday. The problem is responding to this issue can be a two-edged sword.
For one thing, putting the players front and centre as the chief culprits for Arsenal’s malaise absolves the manager of blame. This manager has had enough excuses made on his behalf already. If there is a lack of effort from those up top, the question should be why? Not another opportunity to slam the fist on the table and demand players play for the shirt.
If you’re looking for reasons why Arsenal’s star strikers are stuck in second gear, look no further than overly cautious, muddled tactics and a stodgy style of play. Arsenal have long been pedestrian on Arteta’s watch because things like shape and pressing have been prioritised over showing quality on the ball.
The consequence of this philosophical about-turn from the days of Arsene Wenger has meant less chances for the front three. Blame Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe for a lack of effort if you want, but their primary job is to convert chances, and there’s been precious few of those.
Auba, Laca and Pepe need to be more involved, but in the right areas of the pitch. Sadly, the main goal-getters barely spent enough time in the final third to make a dent against Liverpool, according to some juicy Opta-based analysis:
Both players had 38 touches on Saturday, making 22 touches in their own half and just 16 in the opposition half. When you have your two most likely avenues for a goal making 58% of their touches in their own half of the pitch, it’s hardly a mystery why Arsenal’s attacking output was so feeble.
If your strikers are spending most of their time going in the wrong direction, there’s something wrong with the plan. Arteta might have wanted to be progressive, but those intentions were harmed by Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka missing out.
Those two are back to face Slavia Prague in the UEFA Europa League. It’s a significant development because Martin Odegaard was isolated and ineffectual without them.
Yet there was still a confusion about how Arsenal tried to play. That wouldn’t have been dispelled even if the team’s primary creators had been involved against Liverpool.
Arteta’s been in charge for 50 Premier League games and 15 months overall, but I still have no idea what style of play he is trying to implement. Worse still, his players look just as clueless.
If Aubameyang and Co. are a cartel of can’t-be-fucked mercenaries, Arteta needs fresh faces who will absorb his ideas. That’s going to cost money. A lot of money. Funds Arsenal aren’t likely to have or be able to generate during a pandemic-hit transfer market.
It’ll be a shame if Arsenal can’t push the boat out a bit this summer, especially since there are more than a few cultured passers who’d transform this sluggish team. Real Betis maestro Nabil Fekir is a worthy target, while want-away Barcelona man Miralem Pjanic is too good to ignore.
New talent is a must for the creativity department when Arsenal’s best source of chances is a left-back who is now injured. Hope, we hardly knew ye…
The greater worry beyond this season concerns whether Arteta and Edu can secure the right transfers. Their recruitment record so far is nothing to write home about. Willian? God save us. Even £45-million man Thomas Partey has been plodding and lacking initiative recently.
Aubameyang and his pals won’t improve without better talent around them. Yet the members of Arsenal’s front three can’t be exempt from blame. Auba in particular looks increasingly like a player who wants to be sold.
Again, the question should be why? Why has a man who was scoring freely before he signed his new contract rotted on the vine this season?
The obvious answer is he was playing for a lucrative deal when his goals saw off Manchester City and Chelsea in last season’s FA Cup. Arteta, incidentally, rode that purple patch to a trophy, but he’s hardly made a convincing case to Aubameyang about the prospect of more silverware.
Arsenal have a Champions League striker looking to make good on a third chance to win the Europa League. It’s not a good look, and frustration is beginning to show on all sides.
Aubameyang is a popular member of the squad, but the 32-year-old wouldn’t be easy to shift at this point in his career. The manager usually pays the price when a club is unable to offload its senior players.
This is why the idea of Arteta losing the dressing room cuts so deep. If there is a disconnect, the manager and his small army of assistants are likely to get the boot. Or maybe the grand champion of Process Speak sweet-talks Arsenal into the kind of spending spree usually reserved for those propped up by Champions League lucre.
Either way, get ready for another major financial hit. Whatever happened to the comforts of being looked after by an economist?
If there is no dissent, then Arsenal are simply stuck with a group of past-it or never-were players taking their respective cue from a clueless, inexperienced manager out of his depth.
The 49 Steps 
[…] to the so-called disgruntled fringe for salvation is part of the skewed and ever-changing logic that helps Arteta stay a protected species. When Arsenal lose, it’s because of overpaid […]
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[…] in an age. Just ask Gary Neville, who named and shamed him in his “Little Mafia” indictment of the misfiring big guns in Arsenal’s […]
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