Ok, so we’re over 24 hours now since the disappointing 1-1 draw against City and – ridiculous comments from Bernardo Silva about the turnaround time they had compared to us to prep for the game (hello? We played Atalanta away on the Thursday before we travelled up to Manchester in the corresponding fixture last year mate) aside – I’ve been quite surprised about how unified the Arsenal fanbase has been on what went wrong on Sunday.

I’ve listened to podcasts, watched some YouTubes and read a few match reviews and almost universally, everyone has said that they thought Mikel got it wrong first half and we were far too passive. As I mentioned yesterday with my thoughts, a few have also echoed what I said by talking about how passive we were.

I find this interesting because normally we get a diversity of opinions in the fanbase. Normally you get some perspectives that are slightly different takes, different angles, different viewpoints on what went wrong. But in this instance almost everybody is aligned on the fact it was an incorrect first XI selection but for me, the more worrying thing is still the passive mentality of that first half. This got me to thinking – in the context of Arteta’s post-match press conference – whether Arteta and his coaches will have looked yesterday and perhaps hypothesised that yes, they did get it wrong and yes, there are approaches against certain teams that need to be applied differently.

The one thing I will say I’ve always loved about Arteta is his ability to learn and action quickly. Perhaps he even did this on Sunday with the halftime subs. He’s been labelled as a bit too stubborn, a bit too “I do this my way and I’ll prove you wrong” and I get that, perhaps I feel it a little myself, but I do think the halftime subs was a visual admission of his error, rather than a verbal confirmation which if I’m honest, I don’t think we would ever get from him. That’s because it might – in his mind perhaps – mean that he’s not reflecting his players well enough and therefore that’s why he has to protect them by not singling out anyone like Merino, Trossard, etc. I listened to his post match interview and the first thing he said was how proud he was with his players; he wants to send a message to the squad that he has their back, but what I think most of us want to see is that he now tries different things in those types of games. 

We have Port Vale tomorrow, he’ll surely have a press conference today and whilst I still expect him to double down on his decision making from the weekend, I do think the team line up he picks tomorrow evening will be instructive on what will happen at St James’ Park. I think a lot of what happens with our midfield will be predicated on odegaard’s availability. If the Norwegian is back fit, I think he comes in for Merino and the midfield looks like it has some more dynamism to it. If he isn’t ready, then against a physical opponent like Newcastle,  I think it’s almost a dead cert that he picks Merino for that physical battle. How does this impact tomorrow? Well, if Merino starts and plays most of the match, i trhink it is less likely that we see him from the off against Newcastle. If he is rested, or is just named as a sub, I think that it means Arteta is saving him for the weekend’s action and that Martin’s shoulder injury is a little worse than we feared. Of course if Martin is still injured against both Port Vale and Newcastle, but yet Merino still plays, I think that might be a sign that Arteta is willing to try Eze in that creative central role. 

He won’t give anything away today, but in 36 hours time I think we’ll know where his head is at.

We have the squad to give this League Cup competition a real go this season too, I think, which had me wondering about how the players selected would feel about starting against Port Vale. With all due respect to the West Midlander’s, it’s hardly a glamour tie for those Arsenal players selected unless we’re talking about a bunch of youth teamers making their debuts. But we have such a depth in team that you could literally field a squad of first team players tomorrow:

Kepa

White   –   Mosquera   –   Hincapie   –   Lewis-Skelly

Norgaard

Nwaneri   –   Merino

Dowman   –   Martinelli   –   Trossard

That’s a pretty good line up and if all of those players started, we’d have a whole other team ready for Newcastle. Notice how I also went for Martinelli through the middle and if there was one question I would get a journo to ask if they are in the press conference today, it would be whether Martinelli’s form and the fact he’s got two goals from those central positions in his last two games, should merit giving him the opportunity to play centrally as a bit of a trial run? What we’ve seen from Martinelli is his super power; out to in runs timed well in behind the last man to put him in on goal. When he gets those chances, he usually finishes them and I can think of about six or seven different instances like that which he has finished for us in big games from that similar position. 

I also think it is good for the team to try it too, if I think about the profile of Gyokeres, as well as the way in which we need to play with him in the side. The swede wants to be put in behind like that. He wants to be given the opportunity to win the battle against the last man in defence. So if we can rest him, but get the team continuing to work on how they can find Martinelli like that, then I think it would be good for all parties.

Let’s see what Arteta has to say.

Catch you all tomorrow.