Arsenal: Just how many players should be kept?

Arsenal put in another shocking performance against BATE Borisov on Thursday night. So, just how many of these players should be kept this summer?

I think it is fair to say that Arsenal are in a poor run of form. In fact, since the turn of the year, I can only think of two good performances, and one of those was against the hapless, relegation-bound Fulham.

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This dire stretch culminated in a 1-0 loss to BATE Borisov on Thursday night in the first leg of the round-of-32 Europa League tie against the Belarusians. Keep in mind that this was a team that the Gunners beat 6-0 and 4-2 last season with a B team. Also keep in mind that Borisov haven’t played a match in two months. Not the greatest look in the world.

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It leads me to ask a rather simple but perhaps concerning question: just how many players would you actually keep? This, I should state, is a purely hypothetical question so I will list off many names that I would want Arsenal to sell that, in reality, they probably cannot afford to let go as too much squad turnover would end up being detrimental to the team. That said, a quick scan down the squad list, picking out the players who I believe deserve to stay next season is still a depressing task.

Here are the players that I would keep this summer, in this strange, idealised world: Bernd Leno, Hector Bellerin, Sokratis, Rob Holding, Dinos Mavropanos, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Alex Iwobi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. That is just 13 players.

It gets worse when I consider who I would be happy being the starter at their position. Ideally, it is just three players: Bellerin, Torreira and Lacazette. If money and logistics were no object, I would only keep all of the other players at the club in a reserve or developing role. That is a damning indictment of where this team currently is.

The lacking personnel does not absolve Unai Emery of blame. The lack of progress the team has shown this season is still concerning; the seeming confusion in tactical awareness that has persisted suggests that either the players are not wanting to play how Emery wants them to or are not understanding what Emery wants them to do. There are plenty of problems that can be attributed to the head coach.

But there are serious deficiencies in personnel. We have seen it all season long. We saw it again on Thursday night. No speed in attack. A need for creativity without Aaron Ramsey, who is leaving, and Mesut Ozil, who will likely leave. A severe lack of natural and potent width in the final third. These are all personnel problems that neede to be solved.

Sadly, the Arsenal squad is simply not good enough. This exercise just proved it. As did Thursday’s 1-0 loss BATE Borisov.