IT'S JUST NOT WORKING - IT NEVER WILL

TIME TO ACCEPT SOME REALITIES

There are moments in a season when we all have to be pragmatists and look at the bigger picture.

Arsenal are top of the league. City were spanked by a United team in disarray with a manager who looked like he was on his first day at a Next internship. Liverpool were held at home by Burnley and lucky not to lose.

Arsenal are 7 points clear at the top of the table in mid-January.

That is good.

But if we want to carry on this emotionless theme of pragmatism, we have to be serious about the players we have occupying the 9 position at the moment, because it’s not good enough.

If reading negative comments about players upsets you, please stop your read right now.

We need to be serious; I’m not going to ignore obvious problems just because people prefer cheerleading mediocrity in a safe space versus having an honest online sparring session over the realities of a player who isn’t cutting it. Call it 'Gyok Derangement Syndrome' if that makes you feel better. But please, do not vandalize my car with Swedish words I cannot translate in front of my children.

Our attempt at rectifying the striker issue with Viktor Gyokeres has been a failure. He registered zero shots on target again— yeah, I em-dashed without AI to tell you that’s the 13th time he’s appeared in the Premier League and struck out like that. Across the Liverpool and Forest games, the best he could muster was a single blocked shot. Arteta has to be realistic at this point that it’s not working; the player isn’t at the standard, and no amount of coaching is going to rectify the physical flaws, the blatant technical issues, or the harsh reality that his teammates—who are world-class—are seeing him as an option of last resort more often that not. There’s no ‘unlock’ for him in a team that deals with clogged passing lines, brutal defenders, and a lot of set pieces (something he wasn’t good at even at Sporting).

The ‘he needs quick balls’ tacticos really must have choked on their Wotsits when Gyokeres found himself clear when Murillo mis-timed a Martinelli clearance (literally the moment his fans have been telling us he dines off).

Gyokeres had the momentum and was clear of Murillo, the Brazilian the tripped over and we were dreaming of an easy goal...

But Gyokeres had no pace to burn, Murillo easily caught him, as did Anderson who was 7 yards behind.

This is where the blocked shot happened.

Williams (pink) didn’t interfere with Gyokeres, but I just want to highlight how slow Gyokeres is that Williams managed to catch about 15 yards on the £55m striker.

Let’s talk about what that action said about the striker. It demonstrated that he lacked speed against an average Premier League defender, that he didn’t have the awareness to deal with a player bearing down on him, and his technique is so limited under pressure, he can’t even adopt a slow striker mindset. He should have cut across Murillo, moved into the penalty area, and forced the Brazilian to choose between letting him have a shot, or clipping his legs and taking a red card and a penalty.

This week, he was off on 55 minutes. Zero shots on target, zero chances created, zero duels won. Another dreadful performance that contributed to Arsenal dropping their second game in a row without a goal. The reason he was purchased was to give us clinicality in big games… hard to judge that sort of metric when he can’t even get in position to receive the ball.

We cannot keep inventing reasons to believe there’s another level here. The underlying data is cataclysmic. He doesn’t shoot, doesn’t create, doesn’t hold onto the ball, doesn’t win duels, can’t pass, rarely assists, rarely scores… he’s not even average in the league at being bad. He’s at the bottom of the pile.

The eye-test is white wine vinegar on a sty. This is not working how it was supposed to. We are not looking at Thierry Henry or Bergkamp struggling at the start of their Arsenal careers. Be serious. Arteta has made swift decisions that have been far more unpopular, it’s time to make a move here.

Gabriel Jesus didn’t do much better, but at least he’s a Premier League player who knows where the standards are and has delivered to them. But again, this is another striker that was bought to score, and… he doesn’t score goals or really look like it. Dragging defenders out of position is great, but not in games where they won’t follow.

The most frustrating thing about our forward line is the two players that will light it up are… left-sided midfielders who have converted to 9. Mikel Merino missed one of our best chances of the game when he connected with a cross, grazing the ball just wide. The other of our left 8s was left on the bench. No Kai Havertz in a game that felt far more suited to him than anyone else on the bench. He needs minutes because he needs to be starting ASAP. Now, one would assume, he has no chance against United this weekend.

We also have to be brutally savage—Martinelli missed a sitter. It wasn’t good enough. He’s been great this season. But that game didn’t suit him. He wasn’t at his best partnering with Timber and Gyokeres, but he still found himself in the best position of the game. When he found himself free at the back post, he should have shot near post, but he went wide with his shot… but let’s be real, even if he’d accurately found the inside of the far post, Sels had it covered. Martinelli needs find the savage in him when we are in games like that. Beating up on Pompey or Champions League teams that can’t live with his physicality is not where we need him. He has 1 Premier League goal this year in his most prolific season. We need better. Talent is there, clearly.

Arteta really went for the game; he made changes early, he brought on all his shiny toys, but nothing went for us in one of those games that you can’t class as a disaster, but you also can’t be feeling too happy about. Eze coming on as the last roll of the dice made sense. He’s been hidden away for a month, he’s a big-game player… but once again, he mostly looked like he’d been thrown a bib by a Sunday League team and asked to join in while walking the dog.

We weren’t helped by the reffing combo of Michael Oliver and the hopeless Darren England. Aina tried to keep the ball from going for a corner; he turned into the ball and cupped it with his hand. I’m not sure you could get more clear for a penalty, but Arsenal don’t get those calls unless they go against us. Can’t be arsed to litigate refs, but that wasn’t a great afternoon, and it felt very much like a Northern ref connecting with a have-not coach. Who out of the media rules and values committee is going to comment on Dyche and his entire technical team whining for the full 90 minutes and what a stain that is on the game? No one? Shocker.

There was one more disaster performance out there… Martin Odegaard. I am struggling to remember many games I’d call him meek, but this was one of them. Useless in the duels, falling over with the wind, and totally ineffective in a mid-block game you look to him to shine in. Hooking your captain on 57 minutes for being below standard in a game like that really is embarrassing stuff. He needs to sit under a tree this week and do some thinking.

So overall, it was a good day.

Man City’s massive expenditure this month didn’t stop them from getting whacked by their local rival. Pep looks like he’s at the end of his tenure. He’s signing players like Donnarumma who look disastrous, his tactics are getting unpicked, and City continue to look vulnerable in big games. Arsenal fans are having a meltdown over a draw in a game we conceded zero shots on target.

Titles are often littered with silly draws. We just need to make sure there aren’t too many of them. Don’t lose to Inter and put one over United at home next weekend and no one will be talking about that Forest game, I can assure you.

Ok, punchy post today. I’ll see you in the comments. x