There is no doubt in my mind that Mikel Arteta and those around him made the decision to gamble the opportunity Arsenal earned themselves this season. Champions League qualification was barely spoken of after back-to-back eighth-place finishes.
Yet, Arsenal’s recruitment in the summer enabled Arteta to construct a starting eleven capable of elevating itself into the argument. Buoyed also by Manchester United and Tottenham’s struggles, winter came around with a problem that had not snuck up on the club.
Well ahead of the opening of the January window Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s captaincy was stripped and his subsequent actions meant Arteta saw no choice but to remove him from first-team actions. I have no problem with a manager disciplining a player and even exiling them from the group if it is for the betterment of the team.
READ MORE: Arsenal drop biggest clue yet that Mikel Arteta will remain manager even after top four failure
Arteta put it best himself on how actions on the field can allow leeway for the bending of club rules. If you deliver, you earn that buffer.
“I don’t think I am too hard on that to be fair. I don’t know the perceptions externally, but there are some minimums, and there is a line that you cannot cross. If somebody’s going to cross it because he’s scored 25 or 30 goals that dressing room has to accept it,” Arteta said in February.
“First of all, you have to score 25 or 30 goals, or 40, or 50 and maybe they say, ‘listen, guys, don’t train,’ or ‘you train once a week and you play.' They will decide. If they’re happy with that, with me there is no problem. If they’re happy with that and they can live with that it’s OK. You have to do it though.
Aubameyang was not earning that buffer and his disappointing season gave the club no issue with sanctioning his departure to Barcelona. I too had little issue with this.
However, not replacing him was always a gamble that is now being exposed. The hard work to build a competitive team was undone through a lack of preparedness, stubbornness and risky decision-making.
In Arteta’s pre-match press conference he was asked about Alexandre Lacazette’s interview conducted with Canal Plus. His response raised eyebrows.
"His contract situation allows him to make a decision about his future. We have expressed our intention is to speak in the summer. For the rest, I just want him fully focussed on his duty which is to defend Arsenal in the best possible way,” Arteta responded.
There is a contradiction here. Mikel Arteta is reliant on Lacazette as Arsenal’s senior striker to deliver and frankly he has not been. Without a goal from open play in 18 matches, more than 19 hours, for the number nine of a club vying for a top-four finish is not sustainable.
Yet, Arteta calls for full focus from the Frenchman who, with just two months remaining on his deal, naturally will have his mind split between his job with the club and his future. Talks at the end of the season for a player without a deal signal one thing, uncertainty. A lack of answers and even less assuredness.
This problem has been self-inflicted. For all the good done behind the scenes, especially with recruitment, this has been one massive blunder. Finish in the top four, all would be forgotten. But the reality is that looks unlikely.
Nine points missed that could have put the Gunners into the ascendancy in the race. Arteta spoke too of recognising the issue was with finishing chances.
I know that. He clearly knows that. Reader, I am sure you are more than aware too. Yet we created this issue and it leaves me with little more than anger, frustration and an annoying sense of nostalgia for missing out on opportunities when it knocks once again.
