It’s proving to be yet another ‘nearly season’ for Arsenal. As controversial ex Man United defender, Patrice Evra said,” with Arsenal it’s always next season.” There is genuine anger from the Arsenal fan base about how the Arsenal hierarchy have given up on this season. Losing your first choice front four and not try to replace any of them is pure incompetence or even plain ignorance.
Yet Arsenal still sit second in the Premier League and face PSV in the round of 16 of the Champions League tonight. Dropping points against West Ham and Nottingham Forest has all but secured the title for Liverpool. Already out of both domestic cup competitions, the Champions League is the only silverware the Gunners can win this season.
“In the last two results it’s been very different, in terms of performance as well, not getting the right result that we want, but we’ve certainly been better, especially in the last game with the opposition. And the fact we still have gears, even with the players that we have, some of them have gears to take us to a different level, “said Arteta in his pre-match press conference against PSV.
Even the most ardent of Arsenal fans know Mikel Arteta is stretching a bit. “Some of them have gears to take us to a different level,” he said. Ben White is certainly a welcome boost for the squad but who else is Mikel Arteta talking about? A badly out of form Martin Odegaard? A teenage sensation in Nwaneri who’s cramping up every game due to an overload of minutes? Is it Raheem Sterling? Trossard who’s actually tired from carrying our attack for long periods of this season. Mikel is huffing and puffing his way into being optimistic, on Twitter we call that ‘Copium.’
It has taken an injury crisis for the Arsenal squad building to finally come under scrutiny. Heading into the 2024 summer transfer window, many Arsenal fans felt the squad needed an elite striker or at least a forward who could make the difference when it matters. Bayern Munich had exposed Arsenal’s overdependence on their right side for attacks by using Konrad Laimer, Alphonso Davies and Noussair Mazraoui to handle the Odegaard-Saka- White rotations on the right.
What did Arsenal go and do? Sign another defender of course! They then added a midfielder whose only strength is winning duels and making a turn look so slow on the ball. They failed to not only address the glaring issues upfront but they also did not resolve the midfield issues with Partey and Jorginho entering the final 12 months of their contracts.
So, Arsenal’s to do list has significantly more things to check off in the 2025 summer window. A striker, left winger, replacements for both Partey and Jorginho plus a creative midfielder to aide Odegaard are all on the bucket list. And can we finally get the Saka back up? Can Arsenal accomplish all that in one window?
Edu’s departure certainly indicates some turmoil behind the scenes at London Colney. Was it just a power struggle? Ego? Or a blurred vision for the club between the parties? Talk of Edu’s replacement has intensified this week with Andrea Berta considered to be the leading contender for the job. A big summer transfer window needs a big personality at the helm. Pressure is on the Kronkes to get this appointment right.
Back on the pitch, Mikel Arteta just has to find a way to win. The fan base is growing increasingly tired of the turgid football they are watching from the team. His Captain is badly out of form and a small fraction of the online Arsenal community are increasingly calling for him to be replaced going into the next season. Fingers have also been pointed towards the manager due to his preference for physicality and duel-winning over flair which has historically been associated with the modern Arsenal.
As Arsenal’s writer for the Athletic, James Mcnicholas, put it on the Overlap, “No one wants to be the nearly men.“ A Champions League exit at the hands of PSV would be an all-time nadir for Mikel Areta’s project. Can Mikel Arteta navigate his team through this difficult period or has the board’s lack of ambition cut the wings of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal project.
