BREAKING DOWN THE ATTACK CONCERNS

GOING TWO FOOTED ON THE NEGATIVITY KNOWING WHO IS ON VAR

I know I shouldn’t give him what he wants, but I have to say something. The three worst words to see in an email subject line are ‘William Gallas said.’

I’ve never known an elite-level athlete DESPERATE to be an edgelord pundit be so boring. He chats like the rugby guy at work who has no idea about football, but he knows you like Arsenal, so on Monday morning after a loss, he’s standing at your desk with a big grin because he’s been thinking about making some "banter."

“Yah, men against boys, was it? Bloody pansies. Scared of the rain, are yah? Overpaid woofters, the lot of them.”

The only thing I feel when he makes a statement is sadness. Imagine playing at playing at the very top of football, people falling over themselves to talk to you, the when your career is over, realizing that all those people who thought your inane chatter was insightful and “hilarious” now find you so bland it’s almost entertaining. Like Big Keith from The Office.

William is probably paying a PR agency a $5,000-a-month retainer to help him stay relevant (I get the emails). They’re gassing him up with fake reports about how his comments are landing with the public, assuring him that Sky Sports want to give him a permanent role next to G-Nev and Carragher, when in reality, the only people picking up his comments are SEO link farms trying to drive page rank value for ED meds.

Now, let’s chat about some of the things I’m reading online.

ARSENAL CAN’T ATTACK

We went away to Inter Milan, the Italian Champions, and didn’t score despite having 20 attempts and generating 2.3 xG. This is the third time we haven’t scored all season; the other two were Bournemouth away with 10 men and Atalanta away in the Champions League.

Let’s break down the issues:

SIGNING ATTACKERS:

There’s the fan perspective—which I’ve indulged in—and then there’s the pragmatic view of how recruitment actually works at top football clubs.

The fan argument is strong. We haven’t spent much on forwards. It’s about £65m if you want to be dramatic, or £125m if you factor in that signing a striker this summer was hard because our main target preferred a year at Leipzig over sitting behind the Big German.

However you cut it, spending 21% of our total Arteta budget on forwards feels low, especially when you compare it to other top-6 rivals. Our spending weakness has been our failure to secure a back-up for Saka despite trying for years, and not signing Sesko this summer.

The counter-argument here is that Trossard brings down the average, yet his output has been better than £80m Mudryk. We haven’t invested heavily in forwards because we tried to see if Hale-Enders (Reiss, Eddie) could step up, and we have Saka and Martinelli on huge deals. When we complain about our forwards, we’re actually complaining about back-up players.

The pragmatic view of transfers is simple but tough to stomach. The best clubs work to their own timetable. They don’t care that you think our best chance is now; they care about getting the right players, at the best price, even if that means waiting.

This is how smart teams operate. United, for example, moves on whims. They signed Zirkzee because Twitter loved him; now there are rumors he’ll be out by January. They signed Casemiro in January, fans rejoiced, and now they’re seeing why that was a terrible move.

Arsenal have their signings lined up for the next two windows. They know who they want, they’ll have agreements with agents, and these players will satisfy fans. The idea that players were available at the prices we would pay, and we just passed, is nonsense.

ARSENAL CAN’T SCORE:

It’s nice to think Arteta can coach perfection, but he has humans on the pitch, and they won’t always do exactly what he needs. There will be games where luck is against us, where players can’t turn the screw, and where doubts creep in. Maybe you’re feeling that now, but it’s too early for throwing in the towel.

Arsenal have had one of the hardest starts among the top six. In fact, I’d say it’s been the hardest. Yet, we’re still close to City, and Liverpool won’t matter in March.

Take Liverpool, for example. They added an expensive backup keeper and Chiesa over the summer. Drab as you like, despite a new manager and Champions League money. They’ve had their best Premier League start ever, scoring only two more goals than Arsenal, with supposedly the best forward line in the league. Who’s talking about lack of signings? No one. When things go south, guess what they’ll point to.

Arsenal have faced some tough games, the integration of new players hasn’t been perfect, and we’ve been fluffing our lines. But let’s add some context:

• We’ve played 30% of our Premier League games with 10 men.

• We’ve faced Spurs, City, Villa, Bournemouth, and Newcastle away (Chelsea up next).

• Our fullbacks, key to our game, have been in and out with injuries, forcing us to play Partey at right-back.

• Our biggest creative threat has been out for 9 weeks.

Now let’s talk about patterns - the biggest predictor of the future is the past. The past two season, Arsenal have scored more goals than they have in any Premier League season in the past. We haven’t lost any big players, there are no major injuries, I would suggest we have not lost the ability to attack. It’s also why Arteta hasn’t needed to spend £300m on attackers. He has that.

LOSING A MAJOR PLAYER

Our captain and main creator has been out for 9 weeks. We beat PSG and Spurs, drew with City with 10 men (should have won), and drew with Liverpool (should have won).

The only truly shocking game so far was Newcastle. I don’t think Bournemouth was bad, as our plan seemed to be riding out early pressure and not succumbing like City did last weekend.

Back to the point I’m making:

“You have to be able to cope with losing your best player.”

Some say we’re too dependent on Saka and Odegaard, as if that isn’t exactly why they’re our captain and highest-paid player. Imagine taking Rodri out of City… oh wait, three losses in a row. Take Salah and VVD out of Liverpool, and what happens? They drop out of the Champions League places. Clubs with limited resources (and even those with infinite) can rarely manage long spells without their best players. Given all the challenges, we’ve done pretty well.

THE SILVER LINING

Let’s pull things back—Arsenal will be okay. We had this exact same debate last season. After West Ham, fans were railing against xG, saying we’d lost our spark, only for us to go on a blistering run and end up just two points behind City.

This season will be different. External factors will have more impact. City will struggle to cover for Rodri in January. Liverpool will pay for uncommitted players later in the season and likely run out of steam under Klopp. Beyond those two, there aren’t many real contenders.

Arsenal will have players returning over the next few weeks. Odegaard will be match-fit after the break. Those who haven’t clicked yet will find their rhythm, and Arteta will get the boys playing again.

Fan doubt spreads fast—I’m not having it. It’s not that Arteta doesn’t deserve critique; it’s that there are clear patterns at play, and now we have evidence that this system works, these players are excellent, and peaking early isn’t our style.

Let’s see what we can do on Sunday. I’m excited for the game. I think we’re going to surprise some people.

Friday therapy dropping later. x