- Why a club making complaints about referees in public is probably not a good idea
- The 22 players Arsenal are already said to be signing.
By Tony Attwood
As the end of the season approached, Arteta spoke frequently about not having enough first-team players at Arsenal making comments such as, “We knew from the beginning of the decision that our squad was super-short and, being super-short, we had some players that had a high probability of getting injured.” That was said in a press conference recently and Arteta doesn’t say things in press conferences he doesn’t want to see or hear in the media.
And just in case we didn’t get it he also said, just before the end of the season, “If we demand the players to play more games in more competitions with more travel and more intensity, the only solution to deal with it is more players.”
On one occasion he took this further specifying that he wanted three goal-keeprs and 22 players he could choose from to play in front of one of them. Later he revised this upwards to 23 or 24 outfielders and four keepers (which of course is possible with three of the outfielders being under 21).
And of course, such a squad would give a lot of coverage for the inevitable injuries that Arsenal will get both from accidents and from the tactics of the many teams who don’t have defenders skilful enough to play against the sort of teams Arsenal have been able to put out – especially in the 2022/3 and 2023/4 before the foulers realised there was only way to stop Arsenal.
In fact Arsenal were running a squad of 22 outfield players last season and although we had several keepers on the squad, Raya dominated so much that the others hardly had a look in.
But the fact is that no matter what their salary, players want to play. Since there is no point buying back-up players for the squad who are not able to jump into the team if injuries to others demand it, and since very few players are happy to sit on the bench all since, and since those youngsters except games, and since there are at least two more youngsters knocking on the door and will demand transfers if they don’t see a route to the first team… buying back up players seems a real gamble.
Now of course, criticism of Arteta is one of the mainstays of contemporary football journalism, and so he is blamed for sending Vieira on loan to Porto, but to have kept him at the club would have hindered his development, and no one knew that Odegarrd and Saka would get injuries. Can you imagine the outcry if Vieira had been played and allowed to develop within Premier League games while Odegaard and Saka were left on the bench and winnable games slipped into draws?
It is often said that the size of Arsenal’s squad last season was of their choosing, but to say that suggests the manager could have foretold that the number of Arsenal injuries would have escalated to such a degree last season – and that top players were willing to come to Arsenal, knowing their chances of players were utterly dependent on injuries which might or might not occur to others.
What’s more, giving top players a rest and using newcomers is often very unpopular with crowds and is damned by journalists if, as a result, the team gets a draw rather than a win.
However, there is another argument now developing and that is that the Arsenal medical team are simply not up to the job. That’s what we heard during Wenger’s time, so it is a tale due for another run-out. Evidence however is lacking.
And in the end, we always come back to the squad size. What everyone wants is not only enough players in the squad to cover for injuries but for those players to be of such a high quality that they will be able to slip into the team at a moment’s notice if needed, and of such a personality that they are willing to see on the bench match after match if not needed.
Ah, comes the reply, but they can play in league cup matches, FA Cup games against lower league sides, and come on as subs. And yes they will if they then see a route to the first team. But otherwise…
What Arsenal have done is promote junior players each season to the actual playing squad, which is one area that has been a success. But overall it is a balancing act, and one based to a large degree on guesswork, although in any season there are going to be about 10 teams that know that their only way to beat Arsenal is to injure a player or two. Not enough to take them out of the next few games (as that will only help the opposition) but enough to make them be substituted in the one game they are kicked.
And sadly, it is calculations like this, that football has come to. Players know, as well as we do, that Arenal are awarded far fewer penalties last season than other club while Liverpool got nine. Even Bournemouth and Brighton got seven each. Everyone in the game knows this, so recruiting for Arsenal gets ever harder.
They, and their agents, know this is not a level playing field. Who is to stay that the next new Arsenal forward won’t be chopped to pieces by defenders? Players and their agents know what happens in the Premier League; they see the stats just as much as we do. For that reason there is no point in a journalist or blogger saying “We should buy X,” for there is every chance X and his advisers will say, “with refereeing like this, what’s the point?”
