After watching veteran center back Shkodran Mustafi make yet another glaring error leading to the opening goal of Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City in the League Cup, every Gunners fan asked themselves the same question; where is William Saliba? Surely the teenage defender that cost the club 27 million pounds could not be any worse than Mustafi, who has shown yet again that he will never correct his error-strewn ways. This continues to be the biggest head-scratcher in a season full of them under manager Mikel Arteta. Why are the younger, hungrier players not being given a chance?
The treatment of Saliba is one of the biggest knocks against Arteta so far this term. Why invest so much money in such a talented defender only to leave him out in the cold? Senior defenders in the squad, such as Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac, are known quantities, and that quantity is poor. Continuing to give them valuable minutes at the expense of younger players not only hurts Arsenal in the short term but, more importantly, in the long term. At least if a player such as Saliba was to make an error in a match such as this, he would undoubtedly learn from it. Mustafi and Kolasinac have shown they never will.
It is not only defensively that this problem persists. Arsenal’s biggest issue so far in this disaster of a season has been a complete lack of creativity in the midfield. Unsurprisingly, there is a young, hungry creative midfielder who fits the profile that the team lacks perfectly. Emile Smith-Rowe has proven in loan spells at RB Leipzig and Huddersfield Town that he has immense talent and a bright future centrally linking up play and driving the ball forward. Yet instead of giving him chances to prove it for 90 minutes in Europa and Cup games, Arteta continues to leave him on the bench, providing him only with 20-minute cameos here and there. What would the harm be in giving him a run in the side as the main creative outlet? Surely it cannot be worse than having no creativity at all, as Arsenal currently have.
This issue also persists out in the wide areas, as Arteta’s continuing insistence on using the woefully out of form Willian on the wing in the Premier League has left fans and pundits scratching their heads. The Brazilian had a wonderful spell at Chelsea for a number of years. He is simply not the same player this season, and his awful and indifferent performances continue to harm the team. Meanwhile, Reiss Nelson has been terrific in Europa matches, showing a willingness to take on defenders and drive the ball into dangerous areas that Arsenal so desperately lack domestically. Why is he being left out of Premier League squads altogether? Not only should he be included, he should be starting weekly on the wing.
With six defeats in their last eleven matches, it Is so blatantly clear that the veteran players in this squad do not have what it takes to turn this season around for Arsenal. Until Mikel Arteta realizes this and shows faith in his other squad players, this dismal form will continue. With patience running out and his job on the line, surely he cannot continue to hitch his career to the same players that keep letting him down. With Chelsea up next on Boxing Day, it is now or never to show his faith in the young guns that might yet save his job and Arsenal’s season.
