Reflection…

Morning all.

Will a break from the pressures of the Premier League be good for his players? A question put to Mikel Arteta after the disappointing performance against Brentford on Thursday night:

We are doing that every week. Every three days we are playing in different competitions, so we are so used to it.

We will reflect on the game (against Brentford), take the positives, the learnings, what we have to improve, and go on Sunday again with the energy and the batteries fully charged to win the game.

We’ve been trying to make sure that everybody is a big part of what we are doing in different competitions, and Sunday will be the same. The history that we have with the FA Cup is amazing. We play at home, and I’m really excited to recover and go again.

Reflection is a good thing but more important is learning. Mind you, I’m pretty sure Arsenal players should have worked out a plan to play their style of football a bit quicker more often than they do by now. Just as they should have realised long ago that taking a second touch or making a fourth fifth or sixth pass instead of short sharp progressive passing will benefit the opponents rather than themselves. 

As Kev mentioned yesterday, Martinelli’s heavy touch presented Mignolet with an opportunity to save his shot whereas an earlier strike would have possibly ended up in the back of the net. Rice too was guilty of passing the ball instead of sticking his laces through the ball from close range.

Why keep searching for perfection when any kind of goal counts? It might look pretty when it works but when it doesn’t, well, it looks a bit stupid. Be more positive, decisive and clinical, a message Arteta sends his players every day. Madueke needs to work on his final ball, Eze needs to show a bit more passion and Mikel Arteta needs to give the players a kick up the backside before kickoff and not just at halftime. Assuming he doesn’t already of course.

This is the time of the season when the players need to really kick on, not to go into their shells. The end of the season will be here before we and they know it and we want as well as need to be at the top of our game if we’re to win silverware in May. The Arteta critics are already sharpening their “sack him” pencils and I’m sure they will get sharper if this season ends pot-less.

The odd few people who think sacking Arteta now is the right thing to do is as hilarious as it is ridiculous. Top of the Premier League, the Champions League table, a League Cup Final date next month and still in the FA Cup. Yep, he deserves the sack. Like I said, ridiculous.

Boo hoo, we’ve not won anything since Mikel Arteta’s first season in his post! Shock horror but nor has nearly every other club in this league. In fact most clubs bar City, Newcastle and Liverpool have been involved in a managerial merry-go-round more than a focussing on stability, longevity and a solid future. Yet Arteta has played a huge part in doing all of that for Arsenal.

But he’s spent multi millions on the squad so he should be winning more… Er, that’s not quite true. Not in relation to money spent because despite the vast amounts the club have spent, in my opinion, only in August 2025 did he start a season with a strong and deep squad. A squad which could potentially end up with silverware. Lo and behold, that’s where we are now, in four competitions with the potential of winning one. Maybe even two. There’s the possibility of winning nothing too but that’s something to worry about in May, not February. That is of course, unless one prefers to live a glass empty kind of life. I don’t. In fact I’m the opposite because despite the match day footballing frustrations, I want Arsenal to end the season on a massive high.

Catch up in the comments.