Category Archives: Arsenal

International injuries leaves Arteta having to rejig midfield for North London Derby

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Injuries happen. It is part of the course of a season and something all clubs have to deal with.

Last season, Kevin de Bruyne picked up an injury in the opening game of the season. He was not seen again in a Manchester City shirt until January. Erling Haaland also missed a chunk of the season, absent for a month.

I do wonder if we would have got so close to pipping Manchester City to the title if they did not suffer injuries to their two most important players.

City averaged 2.05 points per game during the extended period de Bruyne was injury. That rose to 2.6 ppg when during the second half of the season. Over a 38 game season, that is the difference between 77 points and 100 points.

What is frustrating though is the injuries we have suffered have not been when players are representing The Arsenal, but when they are representing their country.

I have always been frustrated with this early international break.

Clubs diligently plan pre-season, ensuring players fitness is ramped up in an effort to avoid injury before the season has started. And then 3 games in players go off to play for their countries. And in 4 weeks time, there will be another international break. And 4 weeks after that another!

By the time players return from the final international break of the year, we would have played just 11 league games. Some players would have played 6 times for their country in that period.

It just feels imbalanced that clubs pay the wages, but in the opening gambits of a season, only get their players for 67% of the campaign.

And the solution is not to move games to the 2nd half of the season. This would be even more disruptive. The solution is less international games. what really is the point of the Nations League and England playing the likes of Finland, Greece and the Republic of Ireland in glorified friendlies?

Considering we are also seeing the expansion of the Champions League, we are heading towards a collision course between FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League and Football League. Something will have to give. That might be an increase in clubs pulling players out with minor injuries.

Phil Foden was pulled out of the England squad by Manchester City. Cole Palmer was withdrawn by Chelsea. My bet is both will play this weekend. Maybe we just need to start playing the game?

Martin Odegaard picked up an ankle sprain against Austria. It is not yet known how long he will be out for. Riccardo Calafiori also hobbled off for Italy.

This makes our squad look a little thin bare ahead of the Tottenham game – the suspended Declan Rice is joined by injuries Mikel Merino, Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Kieran Tierney on the sidelines.

The headache for Arteta is the Rice, Merino and Odegaard would likely have been his first-choice midfield against Spurs. All 3 are out.

The absentees will probably see Arteta move from his favoured 4141 formation to 4231 with Jorginho coming in alongside Thomas Partey. He might then spring a surprise in the forward line.

Tottenham are very susceptible to the quickly played long ball over the middle. So Jorginho playing as a quarter back might be advantageous. To exploit Tottenham’s high line we then need pace – an attribute Kai Haverts is not blessed with.

Arteta might then opt for Gabriel Martinelli down the middle, with Havertz in the “10” role behind him. Havertz can then be his influential self in aerial duels, whilst also providing the hold up play that Maritnelli lacks, whilst Gabi dovetails nicely with his pace in behind. The old “big man small man” routine.

I would then expect to see Raheem Sterling provide extra pace coming in from the left. He is the sort of player that could really exploit Tottenham’s lack of defensive full backs. Sterling and Martinelli running through onto Jorginho’s long passes could be a drea. and then of course we will see Bukayo Saka on the right.

This formation will give us solid foundations with our back 4 and then defensive duo in-front of them. And then the ability to spring a quick attack from deep with the pace up top.

Hopefully, Odegaard is not out too long. Knowing our luck it will be a 4-week injury and he will be fit just in time to represent Norway at the next international break.

Football is a squad game, and you have to deal with injuries. We have the players to do it, and the midfield and forward line we put out this weekend will be quality and filled with internationals. We can have no excuses.

Keenos

Who is Arsenal’s greatest uncapped player?

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It’s that time of year again. Club football has disappeared as quickly as it came back. Two weeks of International friendlies, two weeks into the start of the new season.

A portion of the squad have jetted out to their respective national sides, with Mikel Arteta and co crossing their fingers for no major injuries to deal with once said teammates return. The remaining players left at London Colney would have continued to work away in a reduced group.

Mikel himself is no stranger to this feeling even as a player. It’s well documented how despite his classy, composed style of play he never received a call up for the Spanish National Team – but that’s life competing against Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Alonso, Fabregas, Cazorla and co unfortunately!



Still, a lack of national team caps does not make a bad player. After all, John Lukic, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Rocky Rocastle, Alan Sunderland, Michael Thomas, Paul Davis, George Armstrong, Ray Parlour and Kevin Campbell – all players with thousands of Arsenal matches and memories under their belts combined, only accumulated a total of 31 England caps between all 10 of them.

So what I am curious about is which Arsenal players you personally believe should have collected many more international callups? Which players did you see excel at club level or thought had that type of potential but were always shunned for whatever reason at national team level?

One player staying in London during this interval is Gabriel Martinelli.

His most standout season in 2022/23 which saw him contribute to a combined 21 goals and assists helped secure him a consistent place in the Brazilian National Team squad. But as time has ticked by and his end product numbers have dropped, so has Gabi been from the most recent Brazil squad named by Dorival Júnior.

We really are now reaching that point of a crossroads for Martinelli’s Arsenal career.

With patchy returns on the pitch and Trossard and Sterling providing stronger competition than he’s ever had for a starting berth, will the Brazilian end up outlasting the older Trossard and the on-loan Sterling and push on at 23 years old, or will his game time dry up as the season goes on and leave him in the wilderness? Questions to be asked and questions for Gabi to answer in the next 8 months that could well shape his future at the club in general.

Aside from the aforementioned topics, the days are ticking down until the next installment of us against them. So would you give Raheem a first start away in a north London derby? What’s been your personal favourite NLD memory? And what would be your celebration if you bagged a 90th minute winner against them lot? Creative ideas for the celebs are most encouraged.

Nick

King Kai, Raheem Sterling, and your angriest footballing moment?

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Kai Havertz

Result and referee aside, it was great to see just how much of a lead-by-example performance Kai put in when we were down to ten.

You think back to this time last year, the Emirates wasn’t a fun place for him. Hooked early after a horror show after Fulham, a couple of big chances missed against United – the crowd were on his back very early on and it didn’t look good.

But now, not only is he scoring and assisting at a rate any striker would be happy with, he’s also turned that early-Emirates discontent around, and put on one of his best leadership displays against Brighton. Down to 10, and yet he’d drop into midfield out of possession and then make early runs forward to drag us as far up the pitch as possible. That one vs one he made all by himself by bullying van Hecke, and the play and cross he put in for Saka were top quality stuff that we wouldn’t see from Havertz at the Emirates a year ago.

But he’s made it his home for good, and you can only be proud of him. 9 home matches since late Feb, 7 goals, 3 assists. Proper numbers.

Raheem Sterling

And now we’ve got another player with Chelsea links in Sterling. I understand any reservations on him, but I personally think we could be looking back on this deal come the season’s end with a lot of satisfaction. In a stable team with a good attack structure I definitely see him returning with good numbers. Maybe not to the levels he was reaching at City, but I’d fancy the environment we have here to help him flourish much more than he did at the Chavs.

Whats more is the lack of financial commitment we’ve put into this deal. Chelsea paying the bulk of the wages, no loan fee, and no obligation to buy at the end of the loan. Seems perfect to me. We either give a player that has quality and hunger to prove himself a great environment and he becomes a good valuable member of the squad, or we decide one season is enough, have no hands tied to Sterling and go for a younger, long-term winger signing when the loan ends.

Angriest footballing moment?

Anyway, with the international break starting (yawn) and that Declan Rice decision still fresh in our mind, I’m curious. What is the most angry or up in arms you’ve ever been with a decision a referee has made or a refereeing performance in general?

There’s a few contenders frustratingly, but you’ve got to go some way to ever top the 50th match at OT in ’04. Reyes getting booted up and down the touchline, more than one straight-red United foul waved away, and then that Rooney dive for the cherry on the… well, pizza, I guess…

Let’s just hope those lot don’t get away with 50 Romero fouls before he actually get punished in a couple weeks time, hey?

Nick