Other than referees being incompetent and not giving Arsenal penalty, what do the resident Arsenal fans think is the main problem with this side?
- Are the players just not good enough?
- Is the manager not good enough?
- Is it Willian, who brings just about nothing of note to the team?
- Is the defense not good? Or is it the attackers who are out of form?
- Is it the formation?
- Something else?
We are not very good but better than out league position.
There are many things wrong with the squad and club. But there are also some very basic (and hopefully correctable) issues that have held us back this season.
We played the first 40% of the season without anybody who could play the 10 role and our results during that stretch are largely why Arsenal's league position is so bad. We have 20 points in 10 matches since Christmas and that is second best in the league after City during that period. Arteta made a major mistake in squad building but we're not going to be playing without anybody in this role again going forward, as we now have Smith-Rowe and Odegaard rotating there.
We also have had five players sent off this season (correct decisions, other than the Luiz decision against Wolves), which is just an absurd number. Almost every other club that fancies itself a top four contender has had 0-1. Red cards are absolute killers in terms of expected points in matches, especially when you get them against teams you should be beating. Keep everything about the squad and season exactly the same except remove the cards against Wolves, Burnley, and Southhampton (all games we looked on top before the cards, from which we got a combined 1 point in the end) and we probably have 40-41 points and are right in the thick of the battle for top four. In the end, its the players' fault that they were sent off and that is part of performance. But it should be a very improvable part of performance.