I don’t really agree. Apart from anything else this team is a unit so it’s not 100% fair to assess individual performances without including the context of who they are playing with (and more importantly without)

At almost every point this season the side we’ve put out is a patched up side. In fact I can only think of one game where we had our strongest side available to us and that was away at Sporting Lisbon. And we demolished them

The only two players who I think have noticeably been poorer this season than last are Trossard and Odegaard. Trossard hasn’t been terrible but compared to last season the goal output hasn’t been there, and Odegaard looks unfit and he looks bereft of confidence.

For me the only other thing that is different is in the second half of the season we had the set piece routine to allow us to break down stubborn teams and then we could go berserk (and that accounts for why in the last 18 games we averaged 3 goals a game)

I think where I would agree with you is that there was a complacency in believing that what worked in 23/24 would work now. But to suggest the whole team is regressing, or we need to tear things up and begin again is for me a panic measure. Now it might seem hypocritical me saying this when I’ve been screaming for Arteta’s head congealed in its own evil blood. But actually the system and the squad is largely what I’ve wanted to preserve.


The main thrust of this team is that we are hard to beat, and that’s largely proven to be the case. There is adaptation for sure that’s needed, but when you look at what we’ve had to put up with in terms of being able to put out a team, and the way we’ve overplayed so many players….it would seem churlish to throw the baby out with the bath water