Mikel Arteta

Is it just me or is anyone else getting fed up about this narrative that is being spewed that Arteta’s system is the issue and he needs to tweak things and it’s gone stale etc. I’ve never bought into it, and this pre season has proven beyond any doubt that our issue is a personnel problem, not a system problem. The introduction of Max Dowman has been the most telling sign of this. Our best player has been a 15 year old kid, who over the course of pre season has constantly managed create chances, whether it’s getting to byline or cutting inside. So if the system was really an issue then why has this miraculously not affected Dowman. Yet when it’s the other players in the squad the excuses are endless about them being isolated etc, when in fact our players either aren’t good enough or they just don’t want to take risks/be imaginative. And the reality is, we haven’t had as good a transfer window as people make out. The squad last season had 3 major missing pieces: a striker, a world class dynamic left winger, and another creative midfielder. We have only addressed one of these areas. The other 5 signings have been replacements for players that left, so it’s not as if we’ve improved the starting 11 or the squad, it has been pretty much a like for like window. The jury is still out on Madueke and I really hope his succeeds, but watching the game yesterday you could tell his natural instincts are of a right winger, not a left. Hopefully we remain in the market for an Eze + Rodrygo because if Liverpool land Isak I think it could be game over before the season even starts.