Morning.
I reckon this is going to be a pretty quiet week in terms of Arsenal news. It’s been so hectic of late, the fact there’s no midweek game provides an opportunity for some quiet reflection on how everything has gone. I don’t really want to do that right now, there are still two games to go, and conclusions are best made right at the end. I have some thoughts though, but they can wait.
It seems Declan Rice has a hamstring problem, which is possibly the least surprising news I’ve heard for a while. It’s thought not to be serious, but Arsenal’s ‘serious’ hamstring strains this season have involved three players needing surgery, so this could be all relative. We’ll have to wait and see how he is for this weekend, but right now we face some issues in midfield and up front.
Leandro Trossard went off against Liverpool after doing the classic hammy reach-around … for want of a better term.
Mikel Merino is suspended after his red card, so if Rice doesn’t make it, we’re going to have to get a bit creative in terms of team selection. There’s already a lot of chat about Gabriel Martinelli playing up front, and you might be looking at Oleksandr Zinchenko in midfield too. Numbers could be short, but more on that as the week progresses and we have a bit more info.
Rice, by the way, has played the second-most minutes of any outfield player for Arsenal this season, with 3’948 for club plus another 516 for England across 6 international appearances (he missed two with a toe injury). If he’s feeling the strain, and his hamstrings are singing a bit, it shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone. So, with that in mind, can we stop for a moment to give some consideration to William Saliba?
There’s been a lot of discussion about him of late, and whether he misses Gabriel alongside him. I think Jakub Kiwior has done really well to be honest, but it’s entirely normal that the Brazilian’s absence would have some impact on Saliba. Perhaps more than anywhere else on the pitch, the partnership at centre-half is key. Teams often change and rotate in midfield, but the relationship between your two central defenders is so important. It’s why, when you find something that works as well as Saliba + Gabriel, you don’t change it unless you have to.
If Saliba had got injured, I’m certain we’d have seen Gabriel a little less assured at certain moments, and I think it’s true that since he had that hamstring surgery, a heavier burden fell upon the French international. There have been occasional mistakes, moments where he is normally so accomplished that haven’t been up his usual standards. The misplaced pass against Real Madrid, for example, which was followed by something similar against Crystal Palace.
I don’t think it’s all down to Gabriel though. I mentioned Rice’s minutes, but Saliba has played even more. No outfield player has played as much, with 4,421 minutes across 50 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal, plus 660 at international level for France. His consistency and availability have been so important, particularly in the last couple of months, but he’s not a machine. I think we have to recognise when fatigue is a factor for players.
It’s not just looking like you’re running through treacle, and to be honest, Saliba has not really demonstrated much in the way of physical signs of fatigue. Those mistakes though, for me they’re a sign that this season has been long and tough, and when players as good as he is start to make errors like that, it tells you something about how difficult it is to mentally maintain the levels required. When you’re just a bit tired, you’re more likely to fall short of what you can do when you’re fresh as a daisy – that’s true for all of us, so footballers aren’t exempt.
As I said in yesterday’s blog, it really feels like everyone just needs a break, some time off to relax and get ready to go and do it all again next season. There’s still a bit of work to do, but I hope Big Willy has a nice holiday, and when he comes back he feels fresh and ready to sign the new contract that I think it’s a crucial part of our summer business.
Finally for today, I read an article from a very experienced football writer who wrote about Arsenal lacking an attacking edge, which is a contention most would find hard to disagree with after this season. He referenced Arteta saying the squad was ‘super short’, and then concluded: “It’s an admission that raises a lot of questions [I agree with this], but it is at least an acknowledgement of responsibility, which is not something often heard from either Arteta or Arsenal.”
I do find that bizarre to be honest. Whatever you might think of him, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Arteta shirk his responsibility, in good times or bad. Even after Liverpool on Sunday, in the midst of his post-game fury, he said of Arsenal’s failings, “That’s on me, that’s my responsibility.”
Perhaps it’s because as Arsenal fans we’re more across everything Arteta says, poring over every word from every interview, but even a cursory knowledge of what he says – and has said consistently since the day he arrived at the club – makes the assertion in that article ludicrous. It’s easy to spot the managers who are bluffers, who deflect blame on anything and everything except them when things go wrong, but Mikel Arteta has never been one of those.
He’s had his moments here and there, but even amid his claims last week that Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League [I do not agree with this, by the way], the other parts where he says it’s on him/the team to improve and do better get consigned to the small print (if they’re even mentioned at all). So, assumptions are made about what he says from headlines that cause a reaction, rather than the full body of his comments.
Perhaps the lesson here for Arteta is not to give certain sections of the media the opportunity to make those headlines in the first place, but he’s a heart on his sleeve kinda guy for the most part. Plus I don’t think we can put the sensationalist rage-bait genie back in the online bottle at this stage. It’s just a bit of a shame that such surface level analysis exists when it doesn’t take much research or reading to understand it goes a lot deeper.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. We’ll have an episode of our Premier League round-up podcast, The 30, on Patreon a bit later this morning, and if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, the Arsecast Extra is below.
