The Arsenal senior players who are damaging a youthful team

Mikel Arteta called upon his senior players before the season began to be the foundation that allows the emerging and exciting young crop of Arsenal stars to flourish.

He is not getting his wish.

In case it was already abundantly clear, Arsenal have the youngest squad in the Premier League. They are regularly fielding the most youthful starting lineups in the division, a coin that very clearly has two sides.

On the one hand the benefits are a combined ceiling ready to be aimed for. This group has the exuberance wanted to play a possession-based style of football and each lesson learned is one they will absorb together and collectively improve upon.

The senior players at Arsenal are ruining a youthful team with Partey, Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe among the main culprits

But they need help. They lack the experiences, the hardships and the guidance to know how to react in certain game states. Arteta plays a huge role in that, but on the pitch the commanding senior figures who can lead by example, shout and organise their teammates is paramount to success.

Arsenal have a few of them, with only two, perhaps three, on the pitch at any given time: Thomas Partey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are the pair this fledgling flock of talent needs to rally around and stabalise.

They’ve both been dreadful. The Manchester United defeat was the claggy icing on a stale cake.

Starting with Partey, some of the criticism he’s faced over recent weeks stems from other factors beyond his control. He’s been handed a more reserved role, being asked to act as the foil to Sambi who is given the creative license in the team. That, coupled with such lofty expectations on his shoulders, has contributed to the heat he’s faced.

Against United he was plain terrible. Everything he did was laboured, his actions were tentative and in possession he gave away some painfully sloppy passes that the Partey of old could have executed standing on one leg.

The collection of strong performances he’s put in are growing fewer and farther apart. Where previously it might have been one in every two, it’s not more like one in every four or five. The commanding, combative and controlling outings he’s produced in an Arsenal shirt may as well have come from Abou Diaby given how long ago they were.

On the whole it is growing increasingly difficult to justify the £45m paid for him, which at the time it already was given Arsenal knew they were never going to make any serious resale value on him. The days of him looking utterly world class drift further away, which is an inexplicable event for someone who is undoubtedly bursting with talent.

He has to find a new gear. Performances like the ones he’s producing are ruining a youthful team. Sadly, in the case of Arsenal, he’s not even the worst of the bunch.

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