Line in the sand: What Arteta has to change for Arsenal to win this league

I get why everyone is annoyed. I am annoyed. If you want to read that type of stuff, head to my X or Bluesky, where I’ve shared a lot of frustration over the last 24 hours.

We have already played Aston Villa, Liverpool & Man Utd twice.

We are ahead in the Carabao semi-final, still in the FA Cup and have top 2 of the Champions League secured.

You’d have killed for this position at the start of the season.

That doesn’t hide the fact that the last three Premier League games have been below the standard. Something needs to change we know that - but don’t meltdown. The manager and players must treat this defeat as a line in the sand and the time to change their approach.

When that Cunha goal found the bottom corner it felt like Arsenal had just crashed out all the competitions at once. That’s actually the reality of Manchester United, who are already out of all competitions and they have played with a freedom that says as much.

Arsenal will not be afforded that mental freedom. You can’t if you want to win the major trophies, especially your first in more than two decades.

The reality is we were all scared of this team’s mentality, so we wanted to win the league early so that the Man City (a) game didn’t matter and the run-in didn’t matter. We all wanted that psycological safety.

But this team are not ready to be runaway winners. They are going to have to earn it and prove the doubters wrong in the process.

I’m hoping Arteta has recognised this too. The quadruple sub before 60 mins in hindsight was probably too much, but what it does show is that he knows his initial setup was wrong and wasn’t working.

We can’t change the past, but we can let it inform how we handle the future.

We have to learn from this run of three games and put actions in place to ensure we are better placed to go on a good run in these final 15 games. It’s time to really rethink some tactical aspects of this Arsenal approach. Here’s what I would do.

I said in the previous issue that the trio of Zubimendi, Odegaard and Rice just isn’t working. For all their individual qualities, they don’t gel as a trio.

Arteta has a £60/65million asset in Ebere Eze, who turns 28 in the summer. He was a leading player in the Premier League last season and Arsenal need to find the best of him, now. Whilst he may not be diligent off the ball, he possesses qualities unique to this Arsenal squad. Arteta has to get him into the Premier League XI from the start.

That could come at left-wing, where, following a good spell, Leandro Trossard has tailed off, and Gabriel Martinelli blows hot and cold. Or centrally for Martin Odegaard, who has a couple of good games and is then mediocre for several.

I think I would lean into Declan Rice dropping into a double pivot with Zubimendi and shift Arsenal to more 4-2-3-1. We were playing this way in the early part of the season. I think back to our performance at St James’ Park. We needed late goals to win it but our performance there was brilliant.

Our best football came when we were playing with this approach. Allowing one of Zubimendi and Rice to progress into more attacking zones when the opportunity presents itself.

What this crucially does is allow the third midfielder to play as an out-and-out number 10. Give them freedom to find space in the pockets, get shots away and properly support and work off the striker.

Who that number 10 is is also key. Martin Odegaard to me feels more like a player for a line deeper, trying to set the tempo. I could see him at the base alongside someone like Cristhian Norgaard. Arsenal’s two most natural 10’s for me are Mikel Merino and Ebere Eze - give them the free role or second striker opportunity.

Too often we have seen our full backs in the most dangerous areas and our wingers having to play as linesman, whilst our lock picker midfielders are forced to go deep.

It feels like Arsenal are playing NFL sometimes, when William Saliba is allowed the ball and dared to pull off a remarkable pass to break through opposition. Our attacking patterns of play in open play are just not right. The below screenshot sums it up. Timber is waiting in the box whilst Saka is forced to hold width and stay out of the danger area. Odegaard has dropped deeper to get on the ball and nobody is occupying that ‘number 10’ position between the lines. It makes Arsenal pretty easy to defend against.

This leads me into my next point which is Arteta needs to find the pairings and combinations that bring the best out in this team. It all feels a bit jumbled currently. He plays Madueke, Gyokeres and Martinelli in Nottingham and then Saka, Jesus and Trossard against Manchester United. Both trios basically did nothing and the balance did not look right.

His subs then had no rhyme or reason either. Putting Madueke and White on to push Saka and Timber to unnatural positions on the left felt like a panicked move.

Myles Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Martinelli have been poor, but at least they are left-sided players with the abiltiy to make an attacking impact. Keep Saka and Timber on the right and bring those players on, surely?

It felt like the first time Timber and Saka had been on the left together and it was - it was a wild throw of the dice that did not work.

Arsenal have to know what combinations work, we are nearly in February, relationships should be budding, but we feel a bit lost in the wash.

The reality is this has been the case for most of the season, but set pieces have masked much of this.

Arteta wanted to win in Milan for a number of reasons that make sense. You want to win every game. The reality is that game really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Most fans could see Martin Zubimendi and Jurrien Timber were struggling for form lately, probably because they are knackered. They’ve played every game and every minute that has mattered.

Cristian Norgaard has done nothing wrong when he’s played and he would’ve been fine to play against Inter to give Zubimendi a physical and mental break. For me he should’ve played the Chelsea game and against Inter. I’d give him the Kairat game and Chelsea next week.

At right-back Timber has been run into the ground and he’s even played at left-back when Ben White has been available.

Ebere Eze has been seemingly punished for that one error against Aston Villa. He’s a 27-year-old, top 10 Premier League player last season, that we have spent over £60million on, Arsenal have to get more from him than they are currently.

With all that in mind, here’s how I would approach the next three games - in what will be a pivotal week in setting the narrative for this run-in:

I feel these line ups sufficiently rotate the team, give good balance in defence and attack and create the chance for new combinations to be built.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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