I’m a very huge fan of Mikel Arteta but he just got it wrong against Bournemouth

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·20 ottobre 2024

I’m a very huge fan of Mikel Arteta but he just got it wrong against Bournemouth

December 31st, 2023. That was the last time we lost a Premier League game away from home, and now almost 10 months on we have finally lost another one against Bournemouth on Saturday. The record was going to end eventually, but we would have loved for it to be delayed further, and certainly would have hated the manner in which we lost, losing partly due to a red card to Saliba in what was a rare moment of panic from the Frenchman.

If someone hadn’t watched the game, the person would have thought that the dismissal was the sole reason for the loss however factors such as key absences, poor individual performances and finally Arteta’s poor team selection were also responsible for the loss.

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If you’ve consistently read my articles ,then you will know that I’m a massive fan of Mikel Arteta and would defend him no matter what just like many gooners, but this time around I just have to admit that he was in part responsible for our loss.

Before the sending off we were playing terribly with the Gunners struggling to find a creativity spark and the chief reason for this besides the absence of both Saka & Ødegaard was him choosing to go with a midfield three of Merino, Partey and Rice, Benching Martinelli and moving Trossard to the Left wing, this meant that he played Merino as a more attacking midfielder who played closer to Kai Havertz in the defensive shape.

This was a poor decision from the Spaniard, considering how well the pairing of Trossard and Havertz have done for us in Ødegaard’s absence.

The fact that Trossard struggled to impact the game on the left (causing the red card also) then it would have been better that Arteta started Martinelli and played Trossard more centrally, closer to Havertz, but we all know what he went with.

This was not the sole reason we lost, but it played it’s part in what was a very poor opening 30 minutes to the game which eventually led to our first loss of the season.

With this in mind, was there any other selection error from the Spaniard?

KENNETH BENJAMIN.

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