Arteta paying price for not curing glaring Arsenal weakness

The manager Mikel Arteta has a reputation for carefully squandering the best opportunities, but his season at Arsenal is on the verge of a sabbatical because he left the most important asset at risk.

The painfully painful outcome of Arsenal’s humiliating 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final was the penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in the third-round of the competition.

So many of Arsenal’s problems, and why they trail Premier League pacesetters Liverpool by six points having played a game more, result from Arteta and the club’s transfer strategy.

When the Gunners’ biggest, most obvious weakness was their lack of cutting edge, Arteta’s acquisitions have reduced them to a blunt instrument.

There are a variety of responses, cynical or otherwise, that could be given to Arteta’s claim that “from 1, 000 games like this you should lose one. Sadly, this was it. You [Arsenal] deserve to win the game by a mile, but the only thing that will be judged is that we are out.

The simple answer is that Arsenal hasn’t had a recognized striker in a while, something Arteta has rejected because they should have done so to strengthen other areas rather than their most pressing, obvious need.

And now that they are struggling to keep up with Liverpool in the title race and are exiting the FA Cup at the first hurdle, Arteta and Arsenal’s failure to sign a goalscorer has been exposed.

The issue is significant when you look at the statistics for those previous two defeats. In capital letters.

They had 23 shots with only three on target against Newcastle, and 26 with seven on target against Manchester United in 120 minutes. Of those 26, 22 came from inside the box – Arsenal having 55 touches in Manchester United’s penalty area.

For all that, the only goal, in both of these games, came from defender Gabriel’s deflected shot.

Last season, Arsenal’s flaw was obvious, but the opportunity to fix it was omitted during the summer transfer window.

With a release clause of £55 million, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko was touted as a top target, and Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres, a prolific player, was also in the frame.

Instead, Arteta focused on bolstering Arsenal’s defense by completing the acquisition of Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori for a potential £42 million deal, and then signing Real Sociedad’s Mikel Merino, who isn’t a natural creator, for a fee of £32.6 million.

When Raheem Sterling joined Arsenal on loan in the final moments of the summer transfer window, the only attacking addition resembled a last-minute impulse purchase made on deadline day. He has played 12 games, scoring one goal, and struggled to make any impact.

Although Kai Havertz has a striker career, this is not his preferred position. He has lost glaring chances against Newcastle and Manchester United and has become a poster boy for Arsenal’s shortcomings. Even the crucial penalty in the shootout was missed by the German.

He made 11 touches and five shots inside the Manchester United box. In the final moments of Newcastle on Tuesday, a chance to resurrect that 2-0 deficit, he made an attempted header that flew wide off his shoulder.

And to make matters worse, Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off in the first half against Manchester United, who was by no means prolific but at least more a natural fit through the central areas.

Arteta admitted afterwards: “It’s a big worry. He needed to stretch out in a lot of pain. The concern is with how he felt when he had to remove his clothes.

This season, Nicolas Jover, the coach, has earned his own mural outside Emirates Stadium. More of the attacking name has been used on set-pieces. Twenty of Arsenal’s 62 goals in all competitions, 32%, have come from set-pieces, including penalties. The mural was Jover’s reward.

After the FA Cup exit, Arteta said, “There’s an element about not putting the ball in the back of the net.” He was being clear.

He added: “The ball has to go in the net then you have to batter the opponent. That’s the reality”.

Theo Walcott, a former England and Arsenal forward, stated to BBC Sport: “It’s like everyone else has said before. Because it would have been a completely different story, Arsenal needed a striker right now.

” Arsenal have gone from being a free-flowing forward line, exciting the crowd, to going a bit stale at Emirates Stadium. They are currently unable to do that, which is what you need for players to do.

And Micah Richards said to Match of the Day, “The difference between winning these ties and winning the league is just a center-forward.”

After his pessimistic bulletin on Jesus, Arteta and Arsenal’s need is even more pressing, but in January, solutions may be hard to come by.

In the event that Sesko is moved to Arsenal, he has since signed a five-year contract with RB Leipzig, and Gyokeres will be on the radar of Europe’s elite should he enter. Ruben Amorim, his former sports coach, would undoubtedly like to see him at Old Trafford.

Alexander Isak, who showed his brilliance by tormenting Arsenal on Tuesday and scoring a goal at the Emirates, is a complete non-starter. He is now significantly more expensive than the £60 million Real Sociedad loan in August 2022. Take that fee, Newcastle fans would insist, and double it.

Arteta may point out that Arsenal’s Premier League goal tally of 39 is only eight behind Liverpool. Tottenham is only one point ahead of Arne Slot’s league leader with 42, while Chelsea’s is the same as Chelsea’s.