Not one or the other, but both

Morning all.

Let’s start with Arsenal Women this morning who took a big step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Chelsea last night. It was a game of high quality goals, you can see them in the match report here, and Renee Slegers side are in good shape going into the second leg.

As ever, Tim and the crew have everything you need over on Arseblog News, and there’ll be an Arsenal Women Arsecast later today.

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Meanwhile, as the Interlull takes hold, there was some bad but not particularly unexpected news about Eberechi Eze yesterday, as the BBC’s Sami Mokbel reported that he’s going to miss around a month with a calf injury. The fact around half of that will be taken up by the international break is something of a blessing, but it’s still a blow to lose a player who  looked like he was starting to find some rhythm in his game.

Overall, his numbers this season are not bad, with 9 goals and 6 assists in all competitions, but it felt that of late he was on track to really add to those. Now, he’s going to have sit out some fixtures in which he would have been very useful. Man City away on April 19th looks like it might come too soon based on the time-frame suggested. Southampton in the cup, Sporting away and Bournemouth at home are almost certainly going to be beyond him, but let’s see.

I know I’ve said this before, but I think for us to be where we are despite the injuries we’ve endured, and the way some of those injuries/prolonged absences continue to impact players on their return, is perhaps under-appreciated. You don’t need to me list off the myriad issues we’ve had since the start of the season, but I do think other sides would have been more greatly affected than we have been.

I currently live in this realm where my anxiousness about winning the Premier League can shift my gut feelings in a significant way. Sunday, for example, has left me sad about not winning the final, but also more worried about what it means for the rest of this campaign. We were on something of a high going into that game, having responded so well to the Wolves disappointment, but it doesn’t take much to scratch at those wounds. However, the team’s ability to respond to disappointment, and to win games without key players over and over again is a kind of safety blanket to that fear. So, hopefully we can demonstrate that again.

There is hope that Martin Odegaard will be ready after the Interlull and obviously that would be very welcome. I think we saw on Sunday the value of a player/players like him, it becomes very obvious when you don’t have that kind of techincal quality on the pitch, but the big question about how close he can get to his best level is a reasonable one. His season has been beset by injury, and each one felt just a bit unfortunate, both in terms of how they happened and the timing.

It’s also fair to say he, like a few others who play primarily in the opposition half, hasn’t really found the kind of rhythm and form that makes him so effective. I think it’s also fair to say that the idea Odegaard was the primary cause of the team’s collective issues doesn’t stack up when you see us struggle without him too. For me, and perhaps this is too idealistic in the modern game, I think this is a side that needs more players of the profile of Odegaard and Eze. Not just one or the other, but together. How much that was in Arteta’s plans pre-season, I don’t know, but it’s not something we’ve seen often enough in my opinion, and I recognise injuries have been a considerable factor in why.

I think we could construct a midfield with more creativity and craft, without losing too much of the physical elements that Mikel Arteta seems to value so highly. I know it’s early, but if I’m looking at our squad for next season, I want both of those players to be supplemented by another option. Maybe it can be Ethan Nwaneri, a ball carrier, a dribbler, good in tight spaces, and someone who wants to shoot and score goals, so let’s hope the Marseille spell does him good in that regard. There’s the potential of Max Dowman too, let’s not forget, and I’ve seen people making a case that we should be using Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield, but sometimes I feel we’ve gone just too far the other way in terms of our technical level. It’s great to have hard-running athletes, but if you have the kind of back four we can put out regularly, with a player like Declan Rice in front of them, for me there’s greater scope for creativity ahead of them.

Arteta spoke just the other week about how the man for man element of the Premier League is a big reason why it has become so challenging and difficult. We’ve countered that with an efficiency and consistency from set-pieces that is remarkable, but the game will correct itself as it always does. My feeling is that greater focus on players with individual quality in the middle/forward thirds of the pitch is where it will go, and I’d like us to be ahead of that curve. That’s one for the summer though, until then let’s hope Eze can recover quickly, and that players like Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and even Kai Havertz (depending on where he’s played), can find something closer to their best during the run-in.

Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. Have a great Wednesday folks, till tomorrow.

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