When a team aspires to compete for the league title, usually the first half of the season sees them ‘in the lab.’ The rhythm of the fixture list is very different before New Year with European group stage games, early rounds of the League Cup and the persistent international breaks fracturing the flow of the early season.
New signings can take some time to bed in- think back to this time last year when a lot of Arsenal fans were sucking their teeth and craning their necks to justify the respective outlays on David Raya and Kai Havertz. Fast forward a few months and consensus had formed on the importance of both players. It took a little time.
This season so far, Arsenal have been disturbed by injuries to key players and have dropped points three times in the league now, on each occasion when they have gone down to 10 men. Arsenal were beating Brighton and Manchester City at the time their red cards were issued and drew both games, they were level with Bournemouth when Saliba received his marching orders and lost.
It hasn’t been plain sailing so far but title winning campaigns rarely are. In the autumn of 2001, Arsenal drew at home to Bolton and Blackburn and lost at home to Leeds and Newcastle before Christmas before righting the ship. On Christmas Day 2003, they were 3rd in the table and went on to win the title by 10 points. On Christmas Day 1997 they were sixth but won the title with two games to spare.
Things are a little different in the debatably conceived Manchester City era, admittedly. But City seem to face questions every autumn which Guardiola manages to answer in the second half of the season. In the first half, it’s all about staying in touch while you iron the wrinkles. But here are three questions I have as we head towards the ‘second quarter’ of the season.
What will a Rice, Merino and Odegaard midfield look like?
Given how heavily Arsenal prioritised the signing of Mikel Merino this summer and the likelihood that Jorginho and Thomas Partey won’t be at the club next season, it is reasonable to assume that Arteta sees a Rice, Merino and Odegaard triumvirate as the medium term future of the engine room.
It is symptomatic of the season so far that we are unlikely to see that combination at all before mid-November. Early season injuries to Merino and Odegaard have delayed what is likely to be a (hopefully short) transition to a new midfield three. My personal opinion is that we do not get the absolute best out of Declan Rice in a slightly more advanced role, especially when the midfield is lacking the velvet glove of Martin Odegaard.
Rice and Merino paired up in the eight roles at Bournemouth always felt a little stodgy, like forcing down a few slices of dry toast. Of course, there will be questions over Rice dropping deeper into that anchor role, it could be that Merino and Rice behave more like a rotating double pivot, with one ‘holding’ and the other ‘going’. If that is to be the case, the understanding will take some time to form.
This piece from Scott Willis makes the case that Rice’s passing is underrated and that he doesn’t trail Jorginho and Partey in that respect as much as people think. He could probably stand to work on his body position a little when he receives the ball so that he can play those passes more smoothly. It’s a very coachable issue but Arsenal don’t have the luxury of time, he will need to learn quickly.
The purchase of Mikel Merino tells us a lot about what Arteta wants from the fabled ‘left eight’ role. He played Xhaka there all the time, bought Kai Havertz for the position before he semi-accidentally became the team’s centre-forward, now he has bought another lanky duel monster for the role. All the while, Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe, whose physical profiles are ‘sleeker’ were not as trusted there by Arteta.
The only member of this trio without that sense of mystery is Odegaard, who will come back at some point and do Odegaard things. Arsenal have undoubtedly missed his marriage of fantasy and relentlessness, they have become a little functional in his absence, especially when an unwanted absence of Bukayo Saka thrown into the mix. But how this midfield three will look and how quickly it gels will be pivotal for Arsenal’s season.
More from Jesus and Sterling
Despite being spared international duty in October, Gabriel Jesus could not force his way into the starting line-up at Bournemouth. Given Odegaard and Saka were unavailable and Martinelli was only fit enough for the bench, that is pretty damning of Jesus’ current status. The Brazilian didn’t see any action until Arsenal were 2-0 down.
Jesus came on in stoppage time of the 4-2 win over Leicester even when the score was 2-2 in the late stages. On Tuesday night against Shakhtar, he started but was subbed on 68 minutes even though he can’t seriously need his minutes managing. Jesus has looks moon faced and like he desperately needs some jump cables to reignite his Arsenal career.
Raheem Sterling is also a rotation option in the Gunners front line and, maybe similar to Jesus, that represents a relegation of sorts considering his former levels. Unlike Jesus, Sterling hasn’t produced anything of note in an Arsenal shirt as yet. The club probably were boxing a little clever from a negotiation standpoint to leave the loan deal with Chelsea so late in the window.
However, increasingly I am getting the feeling that was less a negotiating position and more because Arsenal lacked at two columns, one that said ‘Sterling’ and another that said ‘nobody’ and they still had to convince themselves that Sterling was the better option. He has little to no chance of a long-term Arsenal contract but he is playing for his next deal.
That is his prerogative, of course, what I really care about is what he contributes to Arsenal. I was really hoping for a little bit more than ‘good for some starts and some goals in the early rounds of the League Cup’ from him. I was hoping he could be more Yossi Benayoun and less Denis Suarez in terms of a loan deal but, at the moment, he still has some levels to go and Arsenal need him to chip in a little more than he has done so far.
Martinelli to kick on
Arsenal do, at least, have one attacker whose performances are heading back in the right direction after a mini slump by his standards. Martinelli has hauled himself back towards his previous level with a considerable amount of elbow grease. He put in the effort and the end product slowly started to return on its coat tails.
However, he can certainly improve in that respect and while he is getting somewhere close to his previous level again, now the aim has to be for him to continue to develop and perhaps reach the ‘Ballon D’Or nominee’ echelon many of us tipped him for before this calendar year.
He will likely always be unfavourably compared to the young buck on the opposite flank but at 23, he ought to have his best years ahead of him and after a small bump in the road, it would be very nice for him and for all of us if he could jump from the ‘I think Martinelli is back’ lily pad to the ‘Martinelli is one of the best wide forwards in the world’ one.
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