We are twelve games into the season and have only conceded three goals. I could talk about the defense here, but instead I’m going to focus on the strategy and what we did in the summer.
Arsenal had two options:
Spend £300 million on a few game changers
Spread that money across a deeper squad and take more chances on talent
Mikel Arteta is already getting a headache because we took option two. This is what he had to say:
“One, the emotional part and my attachment to the individual, to the person, and I would like to play them all. But in the second part, obviously, without any doubt, I would rather have this situation than the situation we had in recent years, when at one point we were very few in number.”
Without a doubt, number two was the better option. We took risks on some players who still have a lot to prove. Gyökeres has the lowest ceiling of all the big forwards bought last summer, but we know where his floor has been over the last two seasons, and that floor is on stilts. Madueke has a reputation in the game for attitude problems and a lack of output, but we’ve already seen that he’s almost a serious player. Mosquera cost £15 million, probably less, and it could have tanked… but it looks very good. It seems like we haven’t missed anything at all this summer.
The main pain point we all wanted Arteta to suffer from was the pain of having ‘too many players’ headaches, and he certainly has that. That might be a problem at some point, but we’ve already proven conclusively that a witch doctor would prick the hamstrings of a voodoo doll from afar, because no one in the league has suffered as many injuries as we have.
That said, rotation is the elixir of a good Premier League life, and Crystal Palace are offering Arteta another chance to prove he has banished the demons of his toxic 2010s views: to be great you have to be a real man and unbreakable. He needs more wakefulness in his life, more sensitive (maybe not that actually), the man needs to be one with the bodies of the players (that doesn’t read well either, right?). Okay, he should resist the temptation to pick his favorites.
So who could he rotate for the Palace match? Difficult call, you must say. Myles Lewis-Skelly had a great game against Atletico, but the chaos merchant from Italy will be fresh and a great option for Palace. Jurrien Timber has played a lot of games lately – will he finally get a start? Big Gabi will likely sit out the match. Mosquera took the fight for him against Atleti, but it is also worth noting that Hincapié is now very available. Too early, I’d imagine, but damn talent for staying cooped up for too long. We also have that left-wing position open for rotation, but after Martinelli put in another blistering performance, would you?
I guess my whole point here is that it’s very difficult for us real Arsenal nerds to get anywhere near a starting XI. If it’s hard for us, it’ll be hard for Glasner. And don’t forget that Glasner’s boys haven’t even had a week to prepare against us; they were too busy preparing for Larnaca in the Europa League, after which they were defeated 1–0 at home. I can’t say it enough… teams like Palace having European football without a European football team makes it VERY difficult to compete with the Arsenals of the world. They don’t have seven clear days to concentrate solely on fouling a tired Arsenal.
Palace have had a very good season, especially taking Liverpool to next week three weeks ago. But they haven’t won a game in three games, so they will be a bit nervous. I would be more concerned about this game if it no longer existed. We should really take care of it at home, especially after the brutal way we dismissed Atletico. Palace are good, but we have a weekend where City play Villa and Liverpool go to Brentford. Those two are great opportunities; three points on Sunday are non-negotiable in my opinion.
Arteta, a man utterly obsessed with atmosphere, has taken his authoritarianism to a new level by ensuring that the club switches off the televisions in the halls after half-time.
“We want them to just play the game with us, which is very different. To do that you have to sit in your seat with a certain behavior and a certain body language. It will be a good test on Sunday at 2 p.m. how we show up after a big Champions League match. If we go a step further and do something that we didn’t do last year, then everyone has to come to the stadium with that mentality, so that’s what I want to see.”
This is definitely peak control freak stuff, but you have to salute it. He wants to win, and if having fans in their seats changes our chances by 0.0000000000000001%, he’ll get a piece of that. This shouldn’t be controversial, but I bet there will be complaints about it on Sunday for ten English pounds. Especially since it takes so long to get a beer in twenty year old stadiums. But you’re there for the football, not for the Asian lager or the delicious Guinness. Learn to drink pints and watch football.
I’m dry gagging at the thought of drinking a Guinness. Horrible.
Arteta has also highlighted Mateta’s excellent form and what to do about it.
“First of all, it’s about what they do as a team, their level of organization. They have very clear intentions about how they want to attack and what moment they use to attack and hurt opponents. So stopping the source is probably the best way. When you get into certain situations with him, one-on-one, you know he’s very productive and he’s been very, very successful, especially lately. So try to avoid that.”
He really is a bit of a monster. I don’t mean to offend the Gyok Yobbos, but if the Swede were to emulate anyone in the Premier League, he wouldn’t go far wrong looking at what Mateta has done. The player is not easy on the eyes, he is very powerful, he is a total nuisance, and if you get him one on one, he will attack you.
I suspect Arteta knows Adam Wharton’s threat to us tomorrow. He is a very Spanish-English player, very easy on the eye, and there are rumors that we were interested in him when he was at Blackburn Rovers. He is their Zubimendi. He was on the bench for Europe, he’s key to how they play, and I imagine he knows he’s putting himself on display in games like this, so he’ll no doubt put on a good show. Yeremy Pino has also been impressive this season, as has Ismail Sarr. But the most impressive person in the Palace line-up is Glasner. Simply top class. He is a coach United should have looked at. He works with all the tools at his disposal, he creates aggressive, well-disciplined teams and he makes players better. We cannot underestimate Palace.
The most important player for Arsenal is Eze. He will get the start. How will he react? So far he has been good for Arsenal. Great? Not seen yet. But it is brewing. The jobs he has to do are varied, and he has shown signs that he will be deadly once he clicks. Can he click against the team that really produced him? Declan had problems against West Ham. Palace fans will melt his heart as they cheer him on before the match. Will he be able to handle it? I hope so.
Okay, that’s all I have for now. See you in the comments. X
PS If you want some Before the Whistle Members stuff, check out the video below. You can also sign up for a FREE trial to experience the wonders of the premium content including ad-free work, bonus content, exclusive live OTW content and access to the Discord where you can call me a fraud for being mean to Gyokeres, straight to my digital face.
Podcast
FOR THE WHISTLE – CRYSTAL PALACE (H)
Pedro and Johnny Cochrane are back in the foreground for a Before the Whistle that fluctuates between delirium and fear. Arsenal’s defeat to Atleti still leaves Pedro in shock. He serves humble pie after doubting Viktor Gyökeres, and Johnny won’t let him forget it.
#DESTROY #PALACE