The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, not just from an Arsenal point of view, but also my own. I’ve personally spent most of January travelling back & forth from the States with work, therefore it’s been tough to catch many of the games & the ones I have, I’ve watched through jet lag tinted goggles. So from a footballing perspective, I’ve been hovering in & around the “red zone” for the last couple of weeks.
Anyway that’s enough of my own personal BS, you haven’t come here to read about that. As I said, it’s been hectic from an Arsenal point of view, pretty much since Christmas. However, for the first time in English football, we are to see a winter break introduced. Hopefully it might help us out a little bit, this will be the first time Arteta has had to take some time with the squad, without games coming thick & fast. He hasn’t had a massive amount of time with the squad really, he’s been Head Coach for what, six/seven weeks now? We have to remember he’s still incredibly junior in his new role, not just at Arsenal, but as a Head Coach in general. There’s been a lot to cover over the last few weeks, since the last blog I put out, so to make it easier I will put this particular blog into sections, bite size chunks if you will.
Performances
We’ve played four games since the last blog, drawing three in the league & winning one in the FA Cup. The draws were mostly disappointing in my opinion, obviously there were some great positives in the away draw at Stamford Bridge, however the other draws against Sheffield United & Burnley really failed to deliver anything significant at all. What’s become abundantly clear in this time are two things really, 1. we’ve become much more solid defensively which is great, but 2, we really don’t have much potency in our attacking play at all. During some of these games & in particular the one against Burnley on Sunday, there’s been some worrying things to note. Pepe doesn’t seem to be getting a look in at the moment & you really have to start wondering why, at this point in time. Unfortunately it’s been a rather lacklustre start to his Arsenal career & we’ve only seen minor flashes of his ability. Our record signing wasn’t even called upon when trying to win a game on Sunday, I really felt that Arteta would swap Lacazette for Pepe & in doing so, move Auba to the middle. Let’s hope there’s nothing sinister going on behind the scenes here though, there’s a good player in there & we could really do with him finding some reasonable form to help us for the remainder of the season. I have to give a quick mention to Mustafi, firstly because he deserves a little credit for how he’s reacted to his terrible error at Chelsea, but also for seeming to have ankles made of rubber. He’s played well since, putting himself on the line at times, but let’s be honest though & as harsh as it may seem, he’s not the answer & a mistake always feels inevitable.
Signings
So with Mustafi not being the answer, that brings me nicely on to the next section. With the January window passing, which is becoming less & less interesting it has to be said, we made a couple of loan signings. We recruited Pablo Mari & Cedric Soares from Flememgo & Southampton respectively. Let’s be honest, not many of us will know much about Mari. I listened to the @arseblog podcast about them the other day, where they spoke around many of the statistics gathered about him & Soares. Mari could be interesting, he will be the first left footed central defend we’ve had since Vermaelen & he’s also taller than some of our options at the back, coming in at 6’3. Soares arrival isn’t one to inspire it must be said, but what it does bring is a bit of depth at RB, with AMN stating he’s not that keen on playing there, we now have someone with Premier League experience as back up to Hector Bellerin & given he is still recovering from his long injury lay off, that’s not a bad option to have.
Martinelli & Lacazette
With all that’s been going, there’s been two players spoken about more than others around the club & that’s Laca & Martinelli. Both are in polar opposites right now in terms of form & overall happiness it would seem & it’s the young rookie who is leading the plaudits, whilst the more seasoned pro is severely lacking in front of goal at this point in time. The form of Laca is dividing the opinion it has to be said. The fan aspect of your mind wants you to stick with him & hope he finds that form that won him our player of the season award last year, but then your logical footballing mind just wants to disagree with that. I think we are at the point now though where Arteta may well try something else, but who knows. Martinelli on the other hand is really having a cracking first season in English football. You can’t help but admire the kids tenacity & desire to want to play the game. He really has epitomised the way I’m which to work your way into a starting eleven. He’s scoring goals as well, being the second highest scorer in the squad with ten goals & that’s a very reasonable return from him at this point if the season.
Next Up
We now don’t have a game until Sunday 16th, where we will host Newcastle at the Emirates. Here’s to hoping that the team are well rested & that Arteta has had ample time to try & work on our attacking style of play with them. With far too many draws in the league this season, it would be great to get back to winning ways again.
Until then
The Arse 