Winter Transfer Missed Opportunities and Regrets

[IBK]

I'm saying - IF the stories are true - Villa wanted to sell Watkins and Arteta wanted to buy him, despite knowing he'd lose Sesko. Obviously Arteta believed we were dangerously short up front and that couldn't be allowed to persist through the end of the season. That makes sense from a football point of view. It's not a guarantee of a title, it doesn't mean Watkins might not get injured in his first game for us, but for him to get the goals we'd need to overhaul Liverpool he has to to be playing here regardless of what else happens.

Non-football people decided the fee was too high, his age was wrong and the sell-on fee was a potential problem. So THEIR priorities are clearly paramount over and above football. It's about the finances with them, even when the requirements of the team are unequivocally clear. Is it unfair to say that? Business first then, which by definition is a lack of ambition in a sporting sense. This lot aren't going for what is possible, as you might get with a moderately wealthy owner trying to keep a lower league club in business, this lot have control of one of Europe's biggest clubs and they have clearly shown their hand in terms of priorities and intentions.

Did they spend 700mill? That's where I would like to see a real breakdown of Arsenal's finances rather than just spending figures. We sold a lot to finance that 700 mill too, and TV companies financed some of it and prize money from almost winning things. How much has been invested by the owners beyond their purchase of shares? I honestly don't know. If it's a lot, out of their own pockets, then okay, maybe it's harsh to say they have no interest. I suppose it takes something to part a billionaire with his money. But if it's little or nothing, and considering they've seen their wealth increase on paper at least, I'd ask what's it to them if we win or lose on the pitch provided we are winning on the balance sheet?

We are competing, money has been invested to stop us plunging down the table. But do you see any real evidence of a desire to go beyond this level? Surely the summer and this January are all the evidence anyone needs to see these owners have their focus elsewhere? Quick check on the P&L account, fly in for the big games, photoshoot and mural painted on stadium, hop the private jet back over the pond and leave the bums in the comfy offices to count the beans and ignore the manager. Certainly seems like this to me.

We aren't talking nice to haves, we're talking clear and present football requirement at a critical point of the season. I don't think there's any excusing this away. It's negligence, incompetence, you could even say it's a lack of duty. A serious clubs says, 60mill, for the finished article today, when we are desperately short, and still in the hunt for the PL and CL? Where do I sign? Do you want your arm back?

Our lot, well, we're worried about the sell-on fee. Come on now, am I being unreasonable or reaching conclusions by taking huge leaps?

You know what? I'm done today putting the other side of the argument. Here's the case for the prosecution.

Arteta and the club have done a good job up to this season re-establishing us as potential title contenders. Anyone who thinks otherwise is IMO being unfair. But we supposedly had a 5 stage plan for success. I'm all for being sensible and trying to ensure long term foundations and a base for sustained prosperity, but there comes a tipping point where ambition needs to be questioned. We are at this place.

The sad truth is that we have never, in the past 20 years, been in as good a position to push on and win the league as we were coming into this season. We were like an athlete in second place at the end of a long distance final on the shoulder of the front runner - ready to push for a win off the back of the last bend. Almost everyone had us as champions elect. We had narrowed the gap on Citeh, had seasoned players and arguably the best defence in the league and players ready to come into their prime.

But we had also lived a charmed season in terms of injuries, and generally been surprised with the form of the likes of Havertz (an unconventional front man) and Trossard's eye for a goal. It was hubris to expect these conditions to continue uninterrupted. With the huge demands on players over a number of cometitions injuries are to be expected, and the simple fact is that the club failed to hedge against this risk.

It's madness for a team with aspirations in the league and the CL to have gone into the season with such a small and limited squad in the forward department. We were already short of title-winning quality in this department, but instead of bringing in a single player to elevate our level, we cleared out 4 forwards in the Summer and guaranteed that we would have to rely all season, over 4 comps, on Saka; Odegard; and Havertz. Even if you argue that there was Jesus and Sterling - there is no way you can maintain that these 2 players came anywhere close to raising our level. Jesus wouldn't have done so even if he had replicated his most effective season for us, and was a clear risk. Sterling was a panic last minute punt at best. We have to remember that back up players are not just injury replacements, they are there to enable a manager to rest players and step in when they inevitably lose form.

As pleased as we are with the progress of MLS and Nwaneri, there is no way this was really planned, and no way that a serious title contending team would place their fortunes on 17 and 18 year old rookies.

And the inevitable chickens have come home to roost. To use my althetics analogy we have hit the wall. It has become obvious that this team is vulnerable to loss of form, injuries and the inevitable process whereby other teams work us out. In the absence of a reliable goal scorer we resorted to set pieces that suddenly seem quite easy to score against. Teams like Newcastle (and even Brighton; Bournemouth; Fulham) have worked out how to nullify our attacking threat. It's almost embarrassing looking at how all the teams in the top half of the league have striking options that humble ours (we have only 2 players in the top 40 goal scorers - Havertz 12= on 9, and Martinelli 28= on 6.

Don't get me wrong, I am not pearl clutching like a little brat - I know we are second in the league - but we need to judge our team's performance by the standards of potential title winners, not also rans. Forget Liverpool (whom I suppose could be regarded as a surprise run away league leader), there is no way on earth that we could have expected Citeh to drop off the way they have, and our squad was not strong enough for us to be confident of overhauling them.

So spare me the tears about January, Arteta. You were as complicit as the club hierarchy in sending us into this season undercooked - and champions elect do not take the risks that we have done in trusting that good form and lack of injuries will continue unabated. We will finish top 4. But this will be a season when we threw away the chance for your project to reach fruition. Maybe Edu knew something after all.