Oh, God yeah. He's damaged goods, like most of our senior players, and needs to be upgraded asap.Originally Posted by Mac76
Right now, we're playing in a way that's designed to minimise exposing our many, many, obvious weaknesses, but it's hugely restrictive and I guarantee you that Arteta doesn't want to be lining up like this or basing his entire footballing strategy around damage limitation. I doubt very much that he wants to have to sacrifice a midfielder because we don't have any 2 CBs who are good enough in one-on-ones to play in a back two. I doubt he wants to be reliant on an immobile, one-footed central midfielder who can't carry the ball and who can only play a pass from deep when no one's pressing him. I doubt he wants to play his best forward on the left because there's no goals coming from anywhere else in the side unless he plays another CF. And so on, and so on.
I'm sure he's absolutely genuine when he says he's been impressed with the way the players have responded, and with the level of commitment and fight they've shown, but I think you can acknowledge effort and commitment when you see it on the one hand, and yet still acknowledge that we need massive amounts of upgrading. Most of his interviews are always laced with a heavy dose of "the gulf in quality [between us and the top sides] is enormous" and "we need to invest / improve the squad".
Right up until the moment these players actually leave, I think you'll hear Arteta talking them up, 1) because he needs to boost their value and make them more saleable, and 2) because he knows that we may not be able to shift them and that he might have to work with them right up until their contracts expire. But I think you need to read between the lines on this - no matter how much he might talk up or praise certain players, the fact remains that we can't improve the squad unless players go. We can't afford to keep them all, and we wouldn't be able to register them all to play anyway, so there will have to be outs if he wants ins.
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