Second International Break Comes Just In Time For Arsenal

The second international break couldn’t come at a better time for Arsenal.

The team has demonstrated good and bad during this second stretch of games, and they will need to dig down and focus even better during the next stretch which is, without question, challenging. After the break, Arsenal play 13 matches across all competitions, between the end of November and the start of January.

They are not the only club dealing with this horrendous scheduling, and other managers have made their feelings plain on the matter before. But Arsenal will have to correct some flaws, patch some organizational errors, and function more fluidly if they are to keep the pace in the Premier League.

Everton are an early warning to other clubs that consistency much be achieved for extended stretches of a grueling campaign. One eight game stretch simply won’t do it, for any team in England.

Arteta’s Arsenal Revolution: Back to Basics

The club has yet to properly gel with new man Thomas Partey, while offensive cohesion has not always been guaranteed of late either. Dani Ceballos must be better, for the defense is best protected by the offense that we should be seeing from a team with Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian and Nicolas Pepe.

Relating to those four however, they have not been firing on all cylinders for most of this campaign. Lacazette has looked hesitant in front of goal, Aubameyang has scored only twice this season, while Pepe still looks a shadow of the man who was purchased from Lille under the Unai Emery regime.

For Pepe, I believe it to be a matter of confidence as much as anything, for even when he succeeds, the player shows little of the enthusiasm that he showed in Ligue 1. He must develop some swagger about him and his play again, for the starting lineup is begging for him to win time.

Willian has shown little of the spark we wished he would bring since the first match of the new season. In the games since, he has looked disjointed and out of place at times, with little volition in many of the matches, thus that his substitution is welcomed. Yet Pepe performs with equal levels of the same qualities; Arteta can iron these out in both players surely, but Pepe must come around sooner than later for his talent is sorely needed at the Emirates.

Meanwhile, the midfield needs to grow more comfortable with itself and the backline must grow more comfortable with youth permeating its ranks. Partey, Ceballos and Granit Xhaka are capable of a lot, but they must grow more cohesive in their efforts to connect the back and the front of the shape. Young players like Bukayo Saka and Joe Willock must crucially continue to integrate into the first team as well, for even in games like the Aston Villa defeat, lessons can be learned and experience gained.

Defensively speaking, we have good young players and if we are going to give up goals with more experienced players, it is worth considering whether any of the younger players might fair better. David Luiz has shown glimmers and glimpses as usual but the rumors that William Saliba looks better each week fuels speculation that youth could soon be the fashion in front of Bernd Leno.

In any event, the overachieving nature of Arsenal since the restart last season must be kept in proper perspective, and it must be admitted that it will take time to iron all the kinks out of the Gunners. Patience is required, as well as resources and persistence, but with these three qualities, Mikel Arteta and Edu can rebuild this team into a Wenger-esque/Guardiola hybrid that could really cause problems for clubs in England and Europe.

The Schedule

13 matches across the aforementioned period is nothing to snub one’s nose at, It begins against Leeds, before it picks up in the Europa League midweek clash against Molde. Wolves come to north London on the weekend before Rapid Vienna are hosted in London as well. Arsenal visit Tottenham just two days later, with Dundalk the following weekday. Three straight Premier League games follow, against Burney and Southampton at home respectively before a trip to Goodison Park is in order. The Carabao Cup quarter-final match against Manchester City follows on the 22nd of December, while games against Chelsea, Brighton, and West Brom complete the murderous row of games.

That gambit is no joke, and if Arsenal can escape it unscathed, they will be a stronger team for having done so. This break will be the last chance the players have to hunker down and focus before it begins, and while they will return to their league clubs in time for training in the lead up to this extreme run, it is certainly not enough time to work out all the kinks that a team like Arsenal still has at this point in the season.

But it is time to start, and if good habits can be worked on, and success can follow, then we have a good chance of building on those habits in real time. This, for a young team in the midst of a hectic schedule, is absolutely crucial. Progression like this will be the only way Arsenal can stay relevant over the course of the many competitions they wish to win and achieve success in.

And so we must hope and show confidence and support for both our team, as well as our manager. For the season is long and no matter the bumps in the road, the boss has shown he can win and that this squad can win together. The innovations that will come will demonstrate these facts as obvious to all and the progress we see will continue to bleed into next season and beyond.