So much for Arsenal and their backup summer signings

Poking fun at Arsenal is easy. Whenever a club of their size has such a considerable fall from grace, makes bizarre decisions off the pitch and produces dreadful results on it, the pile on begins.

It’s something the supporters have to ride out. It happens to most clubs who suffer such fates. This time it’s Arsenal’s turn.

Beating Tottenham in the North London Derby on matchweek six of the Premier League to move up into the dizzying heights of tenth place – crucially above Tottenham – there is less for others to pick away at: the mood has lifted and the results have improved.

Singled out for amusement and the being butt of every joke, plenty of that came during the summer transfer window.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1442731799382269952

Arsenal and their ‘backup’ summer signings have integrated into Mikel Arteta’s side brilliantly with all six playing key roles in the Premier League

Spread out across six new additions, Arsenal spent more money than anyone else in the Premier League – and indeed Europe. Early glimpses into exactly what it was the club had spent so heavily on came back with a widespread agreement that all this cash had been spent on improving the bench: ‘a bunch of backups’, it was claimed. ‘Embarrassing’ and ‘clueless’ were a few more words uttered.

But that wasn’t just from outside Arsenal, as even supporters looked at the arrivals of Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard and said three at most are regular starters under Mikel Arteta. Especially prior to Tomiyasu’s arrival, Arsenal were claimed to have parted with a significant amount of money without improving the starting XI.

When the full-time whistle blew in the North London Derby, every single one of those new arrivals was on the pitch. Against Burnley in the previous outing, every single one of those new arrivals was on the pitch.

And for a bunch of backups, they’re doing alright.

Realistically, nobody expected it to have gone like it has: Ramsdale was thought to be a slow integration and Sambi wasn’t expected to have played this many minutes. Even Nuno Tavares has had his fair share of time on the pitch.

Not only that, they’ve all started their Arsenal careers off brilliantly.

Ramsdale and Tomiyasu are both vying to claim the Player of the Month (this time not just because supporters love shiny new things), White has settled alongside Gabriel after a rocky opening, Sambi has been a breath of fresh air in midfield, this team looks very much like it’s partly belonging to Odegaard and Nuno Tavares has performed well in all his late Premier League cameos.

For some it is too soon to deem whether they’ll be a success, but for others it looks certain that they’ll have fruitful careers in red and white. All so young, to have settled as they have and found high performance levels, they can only get better.

Many may not reach their peeks for another couple of seasons. That was expected, and they’ll also have ups and downs to deal with. But for all to have come in, got the supporters on their side, improved various aspects of the team and offered strong glimpses of what is to come, then, well….that’s not bad for a bunch of ‘backups’.

They’re on the right track.