THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT FOR ARSENAL (THAT COULD BE WEAKNESSES)

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE GOOD STUFF

You can’t deny it, a lot of things went right for Arsenal last season. That’s not to say we were lucky, but in a season like we’ve just had, some things really have to go your way. It’s worth talking about them because sometimes they can betray a potential weakness heading into the following season.

So here are some things that worked nicely for Arsenal.

Bill and Gabs

Our two centre-backs clocked a beastly amount of minutes last season.

Bill Saliba - 4,502

Gabriel Magalhães - 4,331

Big Gabs would have clocked closer to Saliba had he not spent some time on the bench at the start of the season thinking about that time he dared to consider Saudi money.

Those minutes for players so young are kind of wild. If you think back to some of the conversations we had pre-season, it focused on the fact Arteta overplayed Saliba, which played a role in his back injury against Fulham the season before. The concern was how would Arteta manage the load with Champions League - not how could he play him all the time.

Our manager is merciless, he thinks fatigue is for cowards, and players should man up and eat raw chicken guts like the Liver King. Can we argue with his premise after last season? We cannot. But what I can tell you is massive minutes tend to catch up with most players at some point, and there can be a sting in the tail.

Now, that isn’t all players. Kyle Walker is a minutes monster, as have many City & Liverpool players been over the year.

Here is some analysis from The Athletic regarding changes per game.

Manchester City are bottom of the table, like they were last season. Arsenal are 2nd in the table, one place better than last season. It is notable that Liverpool, a team that finished 3rd, were way closer to the City than Arsenal.

There is a threat of overloading players in many positions, but for me, the real worry is our centre backs.

Yes, Ben White was bought as a centre-back. But I don’t like the idea of sacrificing our best right back to cover for our best centre back. You’re disrupting two positions vs one. Tomiyasu plays centre-back for the Japanese national team, but if Saliba is out any longer than a month, then Tomi cannot do it because he breaks.

Big Gabi is almost never injured; he’s built like Declan, but if he does take a hit, I’m afraid Kiwior is not the man to come into that role over the long term. He lacks the aggression and physicality of the Brazilian, and I think he’s prone to getting turned and beaten for pace. A left-sided centre back is a bigger need this summer than another fullback.

The Right Wing

No, not the return of Nigel Farage to the big stage. I’m talking about last summer, when hundreds of people, my family included, told me tying Reiss Nelson down to a new deal was the key to a better life. The decision made sense if you fussed over things like securing young talent to deals so you could sell them… but if like me, you noticed that Reiss had been on the market every year for 4 years prior with no takers (sometimes because he’d get convenient injuries during transfer windows), you too would be wondering why we put him on a monster new deal.

He played 729 minutes this season. 255 in the Premier League. He scored 1 goal all season. He’s getting more attention for holding up Leon Bailey’s Jamaica shirt in a hotel room than he did for all his contributions to our season in 2024. He couldn’t get minutes when Bukayo was bleeding and hobbling around like he’d been hit by a London bus. Mikel Arteta is incredibly lucky there was no injury to Bukayo - and after 3 summers of trying, he absolutely has to get elite coverage for him this summer.

Fast Start For New Signings

This is a weird one, but worth putting out there. Our new signings were put into the starting 11 pretty fast at the start of the season. Xhaka left in the summer, Thomas Partey was out for most of the season, and Ramsdale was binned way sooner than expected. That allowed us to do a lot of hard work earlier in the season, at the expense of the football, that reaped some heavy rewards in the back half of the season.

You might say ‘why Pedro, that is what happens with most new signings.’

Well, I don’t think that happens this summer. If we sign Sesko, Luiz, Neto, and Diomande… they might not get minutes from the off. This means that integration into the team will take longer. We might be entering the phase of our development where it takes a season to integrate players because we’re layering quality on quality - whereas we’ve been using quality to make up for a lack of it in seasons past.

This is what tends to happen at City. You don’t see the best of their new players until year 2. Matheus Cunha cost a small fortune and managed 800 EPL minutes. You’ll probably see more of him next season and wonder how he was kept out of the side.

Disruption Free Zone

This is paranoia kicking in - but did you notice how much drama there was at Arsenal this season? Not a lot. Smith Rowe eating a giant kebab was probably the most salacious piece of gossip at London Colney in the last 12 months. I suspect that might change as the calibre of players that get the cold should improves.

Big players on big money don’t like sitting on the bench. For Reiss, it’s a joy being part of the squad - I’m not sure that’s how Zinchenko and Jesus will be feeling right now. Manchester City has not been above blow-ups - just look at the Cancelo issues. Liverpool also faced their own problems last year. I’m thinking of Darwin refusing the handshake of Klopp while deleting all his Liverpool pics. I’m also thinking about some of the nonsense with Salah at the end of the season.

Arteta is an intense guy, he pushes players to the limit - these young obedient boys are now mega stars on the global stage. At some point, there will be a drama moment that tests the system.

Fan Love

My final point is 70% a trusim: Our fans were pretty f*cking amazing again this season. The caveat here is they were not at the start of the season. I don't want to hear. I’m imagining it because I was there for West Ham, and it was pony…, and the only voices that matter on this are those of Arteta and Odegaard, who demanded more from the fans and the club.

There were voices in the Arsenal ether who said it was a hopeless task - and they were really f*cking wrong. The club invested in the pre-game experience, they put offers on beer, they encouraged fans to get down early, they put out hype videos, allowed TiFos, the concourse became a platform for noise and joy… and guess what? Everyone found their voice.

The club cannot let up next season. The fan connection to the players and coaching staff has been immense. Our voice and our support is a big marginal gain at home (and away). The club needs to make sure they keep watering that delicate plant.

Ok, that’s me done for the day.

Tell me in the comments what YOU think went well this season. First primo post coming tomorrow. x