Last October I wrote with substantial excitement about the direction that this Mikel Arteta managed Arsenal squad was heading in. I spoke about their momentum and their irrepressible winning energy. I praised their character and the squad’s charisma. I was delighted with their rampant form, style of football, and the balance of the squad.

Now, 10 months later I look back at a campaign that promised so much and very nearly delivered on all counts. In the end, I was very disappointed but not shattered to see Arsenal fall just short, the title snatched away by a relentless Manchester City that chased and chased and gained unstoppable momentum at a late stage when Arsenal’s energies started to finally lag and plateau.

What caused that late season drop in confidence and momentum? The loss of William Saliba was hugely significant. I think Arteta erred by not switching Ben White back into centreback beside Gabriel where he has excelled in the past. Tierney could have returned to top form with a decent run of starts at left wingback and Zinchenko could’ve done a job at right wingback. Reconstructing an extremely resilient and compatible back four without Saliba (and Tomiyasu) was essential in order to not leak points to the hard charging Man City. Arteta made other choices and Arsenal began to leak points.

It was painful seeing Man City not just overtake Arsenal but race comfortably clear in the end. It spoke to a not quite resilient enough squad and I think some small managerial mistakes: the beforementioned selection decisions and the lack of player rotation for the likes of Saka, Martinelli, White, Gabriel and Zinchenko. Arteta played those guys into the ground – admittedly a very difficult decision to rotate them given how incredibly well they had been playing. However, there was opportunity to give Nelson, Trossard, and in particular Tierney more game time. Losing Tomiyasu to his post-Christmas injury, overlapping with Saliba’s injury, was also hugely damaging.

My pre-season wishlist

With an eye to the balance of the squad and the recruitment I thought was needed, my off-season wishlist was as follows:

• At least one more box-to-box midfielder to replace Granit Xhaka (who it seemed would inevitably leave)
• Possibly another creative midfielder
• An out and out goal scoring striker: e.g. a Romelu Lukaku or a Dušan Vlahović – a really, really, big fee marquee signing striker
• I was also hopeful that most of the following would be sold: Pepe, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Holding
• And with at least two of the following to go out on loan Lokonga, Marquinhos, Balogun, Cedric
• I was not thinking about adding another wingback. But Jurrien Timber looks to be an inspired signing

Granit Xhaka was sold, to Leverkusen for a respectable fee. A great deal for both parties and a satisfying conclusion to Granit’s Arsenal career. Maitland-Niles will be very happy with his free transfer to Olympic Lyonnais. Matt Turner is sold to Nottingham Forest for a reasonable fee and Albert Sambi Lokonga looks very likely to go out on loan which will be good for him.

Huge money has been spent on bringing in Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya. All signings that created plenty of excitement and have significantly added depth. More players will go out on loan I am sure.

Declan Rice

Declan Rice is one of the most highly regarded English midfielders and rated as one of the best internationally in that deep lying midfielder role. It was obviously a hugely expensive transfer. A record for Arsenal at 105 million pounds. Is he worth that money? I am not sure. Time will tell.

Will he cover a lot of ground, will he make tackles and intercepts, win headers, will he make a high percentage of quality, progressive, passes? Yes. Is he English and does that add on $30-40 million? Yes.

My concern was always that Arsenal were spending an enormous sum buying a deep lying midfielder to strengthen an area of the squad that is already very strong in my opinion. He is in direct competition with the outstanding talent that is Thomas Partey and the extremely accomplished, and very well performed last season also, Jorginho.

It was a case of buying someone because he is young, in excellent form, English, and he was very keen on a move to a bigger club after winning a trophy with West Ham. The timing was very good. Is he the type of player that I thought they should spend up so large on? No. Is he a very popular signing? Yes.
Will he be very lucrative for club’s marketing activities? Yes.

Am I Mikel Arteta? No. Will Mikel respect me for questioning this transfer? No. Will he, Declan Rice, and a lot of English football fans hate me for this? Very likely yes. Will I survive after writing this blog? Who knows.

Kai Havertz

Anyhow, as for Kai Havertz, I view this one as also being a bit of a ‘convenience’ transfer for Arsenal. He’s an interesting young footballer. One who has very obvious talent and athleticism but one who has perhaps struggled with being shoe-horned into multiple roles at Chelsea and who has found that disruptive. He was desperate for a move. It’s definitely a good move for Havertz. Is he a genuine striker? Not at this stage. Does he look like he can become a genuinely prolific goal scoring no 9? The jury is out on that so far. He definitely has some of the attributes that you’d want in a Premier League striker. But he struggles with clinical chance conversion. So far.

If Havertz can make sure he consistently wins his fair share of 50/50s in midfield I would think he’s much more suited to playing as a Martin Ødegaard type attacking midfielder and that will serve him and Arsenal best. It will be up to him to adapt his game to fit the mixture of playing styles in midfield and form a really productive and balanced understanding with Ødegaard, Partey and Rice – all of whom are surely guaranteed to see more minutes in midfield.

He will need to chip in with at least half a dozen goals and half a dozen assists in order to be deemed a success this season. He is expected to be creative. It’s definitely a bonus that he can provide cover at centreforward if others fall foul of injury or form issues. Havertz will be battling fiercely on the training pitch with Fábio Vieira, for opportunities in midfield.

Ødegaard and Partey

Martin Ødegaard was magnificent last season and grew immensely in stature. A softly spoken, articulate, astonishingly skillful, tireless, fiercely competitive, lead by example midfield general and Captain. He was inspirational last season and let his actions do the talking. I was in awe of how he elevated his game. He produced crucial goals in pressure moments, covered the pitch like a man possessed, made tackles, outstanding assists, and oozed sublime trickery on the ball. In that kind of form, Ødegaard is an absolutely world class talent who is almost impossible to dispossess. He was very much a man for the moment and a personality who grew into the role of being a true team leader.

As was the case last season, Partey should be a key player again. All the big fixtures. He is a rock for this side and a crucial influence. He will keep Rice very honest and there will be fierce competition there. They are both superb athletes and brilliant ball winning, ball playing, midfield dynamos. Partey’s passing repertoire is world class. I think Partey is more crucial to Arsenal’s success this season but Rice may prove me wrong. Jorginho’s seasoned cool head and reliable, hardened, tireless influence as cover and competition for Partey will be very valuable again. There will be injuries in midfield and a fair bit of rotation. Jorginho will always step up and do a job for the team. He will be important.

Defensive depth

Arsenal’s defensive depth looks amazing now. It’s fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. The resources that Arteta now has competing for starting places are very, very, impressive. Timber is already establishing himself as someone who can justify a starting spot based on his on-fire preseason performances. The question is where; right or left wingback? He can play both extremely well, as can Tomiyasu. Zinchenko is an inverted left wingback and the incumbent based on strong form last season, particularly with the ball at his feet which is by far the strongest aspect of his game. Ben White took complete ownership of right wingback (but must still be considered an excellent centreback, as he has also been) with an immense run of consistently outstanding form and durability. I also rate Tomiyasu very, very, highly and it’s a shame that he suffered so much from lack of opportunity last season and serious injury as well.

Zinchenko is a player who was very popular in his first season with Arsenal last season. Arteta was very clearly a big fan of his inverted wingback style of play, which I am not – generally speaking – a big fan of. Not because of Zinchenko, just in general. I accept that he is a progressive-focused passer of the ball and a busy player. A player that wants lots of touches in midfield and does contribute a lot of very forward focused, positive passing. I have concerns over his defending at times. His inverted wingback role does place added pressure on Gabriel who has to cover for Zinchenko very regularly when teams counter well. At times last season I thought Zinchenko’s style of football cluttered central midfield and interfered with midfield fluency.

Centreback is very clear-cut based on last season’s form: Gabriel and Saliba. All day. Every game. If possible. As many games as possible. They are absolutely formidable. A world class centreback pairing. One of the top five centreback pairings in elite professional football. A Maserati and Ferrari side by side. We’ve got plenty of fantastic depth there with White and Tomiyasu both very, very, accomplished centrebacks as well. The upcoming young Polish international Jakob Kiwior is hovering as cover after White and Tomiyasu and is also very capable of covering as a more defensively minded left wingback if needed.

Aaron Ramsdale was a talismanic presence in goal last season. He gets better and better. With David Raya now signed to be a very experienced and respectable injury cover (and quasi-rival) our goal keeping gloves are in very, very, safe hands. A charismatic fan favourite, Ramsdale is very unlikely to give Raya a sniff of overtaking him.

Front three options

Up front, Martinelli and Saka were immense. Twenty nine goals between them and sixteen assists (11 assists by Saka). Absolutely immense. Gabriel Jesus started very strongly, faded a little and then suffered a heartbreaking injury. Nonetheless, our Brazilian Jesus still finished the season with a very respectable haul of 11 goals and seven assists from 26 games. His energy levels are exhilarating, he will always give you 101%. I crave more goals from Brazilian Jesus and I’m reasonably sure that he can tap into that well of goal scoring inspiration and give the club a tally closer to 20 this season – we need to see that from him. Once he returns from injury.

Leandro Trossard was a revelation for me last season. I was skeptical when he was signed during the January window. I thought he was a dodgy signing. A player who had too much to prove. By the end of the season he had proven me wrong. He made very significant contributions. I love Trossard’s energy; all hustle and bustle and foot to the floor acceleration with excellent creativity. He contributed ten very valuable assists and one goal, his play definitely promised more goals and more assists. A very successful addition to the front three mix.

Eddie Nketiah showed he can be very consistent when given an extended run of starts – he found a rich productive vein of form. He grew as a player last season and it will be fascinating to see whether Eddie can replicate that hot run of very consistent goal scoring form again this season. It looks likely he’ll get the game time he needs with our Brazilian Jesus sidelined again due to serious injury. When given games, Nketiah has to score. He has been wasteful in the past. Last season saw an improved Eddie, that has to be the new Eddie Nketiah.

Expectations

It is extremely pleasing that Arsenal are back in the Champions League this season. I can’t wait for that campaign to begin. I am definitely confident that we have the necessary depth in our squad to successfully handle a campaign in Europe, with the travel, as well as the Cup competitions and Premier League. It represents a significant workload for the players but we have the balance in the squad, the depth in the squad, the outstanding quality in attack, midfield and defense, to handle it and be successful.

Arsenal will do something impressive this season. We are going to take some scalps. Top priority has to be winning the league and knocking Manchester City off their throne. It can be done. The recent Community Shield win should be a significant confidence boost. We need to advance beyond the group stage of the Champions League. That should be a minimum requirement / expectation.

And win another Cup competition this season. These would be my goals for this squad if I were Mikel Arteta right now:

• Win the league
• Win the FA Cup (preferably)
• Progress to a Champions League quarter-final

This is achievable. Definitely.

Victoria Concordia Cresict – Victory Through Harmony.

Arsenal for life.