Quote Originally Posted by WES View Post
I think the blown it narrative and the playing dull football narrative are simplistic.

We have had a lot of injuries this year, and expecting all our new arrvials to step in i.e. Hchappie for Calafiori, Eze for Odegaard, Gyok for Havertz, without a drop off is not reasonable. One off the least commented upon issues this year is how poor Havertz has been and where he should be playing. Before his injury last year he was superb and a clear choice for no. 9. Gyok is in the team ahead of Havertz, certainly not something I expected or wanted.

And football generally in the PL is pretty dull. I don't watch the turgid crap we've been putting out recently and then switch to Liverpool/City and get blown away by how exciting it is.

It's some complex combination of injuries, common tactics in the PL, Arteta adjusting to a new set of players and yes, Arteta still learning to some degree. Someone will stumble to the title because of how sh1t the league has been, I'm not convinced that means we bottled it. I think it means we were lucky to be 9 points ahead in the first place.
I certainly dont think we have bottled the run in. I just think that we didnt have any bottle to begin with.

I'm not having this guff about new signings. If that were a big problem you'd expect a slow start with things improving. That hasn't been the case.

Gyok has taken a while to settle in and I still dont think we know how to use him.properly. same with Eze.

Hincapie took a while but has been excellent, and Mosquera looked pretty good from the start. Madueke had a few flashes early on but has been **** recently. Norgaard was never given a chance.

There are many errors you can point to but for me the problem is fundamental. It is Arteta. Everything stems from his negative, controlling approach.