ARTETA HAS SQUAD OPTIONS, WILL HE USE THEM?

BIG FAITH TEST - ESPECIALLY FOR NORGAARD

Well, here we go, another massive game at the start of a typically very difficult month. Brentford, a team we do quite well against, but one that will ask questions of Arsenal physically, particularly after we answered physical questions to a C grade at the Chelsea game.

Brentford are a smart, well run team. There are no pictures of their players on the training ground the day before a massive game. I suspect Keith Andrews and his team will have recognized the legginess of Arsenal, and I’d imagine they kept things light heading into a very difficult away game.

Mikel Arteta? Who knows. My hope is that the players were doing the lightest of activities since the weekend and Arteta relents on his starting 11 preferences and brings some fresh blood into the starting 11.

Brentford have been hot garbage away from home this season. They’ve lost 5 of 6. The comfort blanket of the Gtech will not be with them, and when you’ve lost 90 percent of your away games, you’re going to need more than explosive players to get you past Arsenal whoever they play.

They’re also not that good against Arsenal. I know, you’re lazy, you didn’t check, because you just feel like they beat us all the time? Wrong. They’ve beaten us once in ten games. We’re unbeaten in eight. We’ve won seven of those ten games. They just don’t make them easy games and we still remember Bernd Leno getting his hands pinned and Ben White having a disaster against Ivan Toney.

Brentford are hard to judge against big teams. They were totally controlled by Man City, managing just a single shot on target from six attempts in their 1-0 loss. They battered Liverpool 3-2 and they beasted a sorry United side 3-1 with relative ease.

The good news, you hope, is that there are lots of players who should be close to being ready for this return game.

Gabi Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Martinelli, Ben White, and maybe even Kai Havertz will be in the squad, and some of those names should be getting starts.

You can’t rotate to mad levels, but there’s no reason we can’t see five changes for a game that is unlikely to see mountains of chances fall the way of a Brentford team that leans heavily into pragmatic football.

One player we haven’t seen much of is Christian Norgaard. He’s been fit for a while, but he can’t get a look in ahead of Zubimendi. It’s a bit alarming if I’m honest, because Zubimendi is kind of good at what he does, and I’m not sure we’d do well dropping Declan into a 6 if he dropped out for an extended period of time.

If Norgaard can’t get a game against his old club, you’d have to assume Mikel Arteta just doesn’t fancy him, and he’s not going to see much action this season. That would require Arsenal to invest in a new central midfielder in January, because you can’t just pin a whole season on one number 6 and think that’s going to see you through. I’m getting quite sick of the club taking incredibly robust players and making them regulars of the crock club. Zubi is going that way if we don’t find a suitable way to rest him.

Ben White has been out in the cold for a long time, but his experience would do wonders for this game, especially considering the hours Timber has put in this season.

Brentford seem like they’ve unearthed another total gem in Thiago. Eleven goals in 13 appearances. Some penalties, some really tasty goals. He is very fast, built like an English 9, and he’s a real menace in and around the box. Quite the steal from the Jupiler League, and another example of how well run Brentford are. Out goes Mbuemo for a ten times return, in comes another forward plucked from obscurity, and he bangs right away. Dango Ouattara has been working wonders on the left, with three goals and four assists. Kevin Schade, another really decent looking forward, has also been in the mixer with three goals and one assist as contributions.

The other part of the Brentford story is watching Thomas Frank, their beloved manager, exit to Spurs and tank, then promote the set piece coach from within. I’m not sure I’d say he’s totally thriving, but Brentford haven’t gone backwards. They’re smack bang in the middle of the table, exactly where you’d probably expect a team like them to be.

But his story is interesting, and an example of Brentford innovating within football. I saw this comment from Dave Reddin, a performance leader who has worked in Rugby.

“But let’s be honest, specialisation of coaching is still not really recognised or universally adopted in football.

“I do see the huge opportunity in this model, both from a team perspective, the ability to really get down to the detail, whether that be set plays, throws or tactical elements and phases of the game, to the technical improvement of the players, at every level.

“That’s one of the things I see most opportunity in. If you compare the prevalence in football with other team sports it’s still an awfully long way away.”

Mikel Arteta is certainly a coach who has adopted the mindset of specialist coaches. Bring people in who can help find edge in places more traditional coaches might not be looking in. A set piece coach comes into work and looks at the set pieces of 100 clubs to find the edge. Man City had a crack with Jover and it didn’t work out, but Arteta maybe invested in the novel idea with more vigor because he was greener than Pep, and he’s found the magic.

Arteta really does seem to operate more like an NFL coach than anything else. He has specialists, he has built out his team full of highly technical, clever players who can play different styles, and have the flexibility to change up their roles two or three times within a single 90 minutes.

The promotion of Keith Andrews was really allowed to happen because Brentford lost a manager succeeding, so the model worked. But the hire has been good. Exiting managers is so, so disruptive. Good people leave, young talent can be iced out, player routines are disrupted, it’s just painful. So if you don’t need to, why would you? Promoting from within is brave, it’s unsexy, but Brentford have made it work for them.

Also, beware of 21 year old Michael Kayode. He’s the Italian kid who drops those 40 yard throw ins that have been causing teams nightmares this season. He’s also a pretty decent fullback as well. Extremely fast, great one vs one, and a chaos merchant going forward. One to watch.

This game, without doubt, is a must win, especially with an away day at my biggest haters gaff, Aston Villa. Get a win here, build some confidence, slay the progress of a manager who has crept Villa up the table in impressive fashion over the last few weeks.

Ok, that’s me done you absolute freaks. See you in the comments. x