Morning.
Isn’t it amazing how much brighter the world seems when we score goals? The football world, obviously … the rest of it out there right now? Ooooof … we need more than a few goals to fix that. But maybe it tells us something about how to analyse a team and its players.
Ahead of PSV, I think there might have been a school of thought which insisted the problem was we don’t have goalscorers in the team, and the solution is to go out and get those goalscorers. Which can only be done in the summer, of course (or January, but let’s not go there again). And look, there’s an element of truth to that.
We are currently without four players who score goals for us. Their contributions vary, some are better at it than others – or at least more consistent – and without them available your mind obviously gravitates to those empty spaces in the squad where those guys should be. You think of how those spaces could be filled, and you see a solution that costs tens of millions of pounds.
For me, I think what underpinned the frustration over the last couple of weeks is that the absence of those players has been exacerbated by a sense that the players we do have haven’t been good enough in the final third. Which is to say, I fully accept any side shorn of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz (our leading scorer), and Gabriel Jesus will be significantly less potent in attack than they would otherwise be. That’s inarguable really.
However, is it unreasonable to expect more from Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, for example? I don’t think so, which is why our struggles against West Ham in particular were so frustrating for me. I think these guys are more than capable of delivering greater numbers than they have done this season. Is it more difficult at the moment? Yes, no question, but that’s how football works. In tough times you need your experienced players, your leaders to step up, and while I don’t put this down to any lack of effort or willingness on their part, they haven’t put up the numbers you might expect (and that’s even true of when we had some of the aforementioned forwards at our disposal).
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that all three played very well on Tuesday night, and we achieved a big result. 7-1 is a bit of a freak, let’s be honest, but there’s no doubt we deserved to win the game. I was happy for Odegaard in particular, because he has been the subject of a lot of focus of late. Criticism of player performance is part of the job, especially when you’re captain of a club like Arsenal, but for me some of it went too far, got too personal, and as I wrote last week, there are reasons – if not excuses – for his lack of form.
I was kinda amazed to read that this was the first time in his Arsenal career he’d had three goal contributions in a single game:
Martin Ødegaard had a hand in three goals in a single game for the first time as an #Arsenal player (2 goals, 1 assist), with tonight his 182nd appearance for the club.
— Harvey Downes (@harveydownes92.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I was sure he had a hand in all three goals in a 3-3 with West Ham during his loan spell, but who am I to question an Opta man! Anyway, I thought the captain’s comments after the game made it clear he has been well aware of his lack of end-product (at least), saying:
Every player in my position wants to influence the game with goals and assists and it’s something I haven’t been good enough at this season but two goals and one assist tonight is a good step.
I was glad to see a smile on his face in the post-game interview, and hopefully this is exactly what he needed to produce more consistently between now and May. Players often have these barren spells, for want of a better term, and it takes something like this to clear the drains and let the waters of creativity flow again (sincere apologies for most mixed metaphor I think I’ve ever produced). It was a good step, and let’s hope there are more to come in the weeks ahead.
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Elsewhere, the club have announced changes/rises to ticket prices for the season ahead. As someone who is not a season ticket holder, just a regular member, I never feel fully qualified to comment on stories like this, so I’ll leave it to the Arsenal Supporter’s Trust who most certainly are, and who issued a statement following the announcement:
The AST was very clear to the club – as were other AAB members – that we were calling for the price of season tickets and matchday tickets to be frozen in line with the national FSA campaign Stop Exploiting Loyalty.
In recent years Arsenal has seen its revenues increase greatly from both broadcast and commercial activity, while ticketing revenue has also increased as fixture lists have expanded and categorisation has increased. Just this week the club reported a surge in total revenue from £467m to £616m for the 23/24 season.
It is therefore frustrating that the average price rise is above inflation at 3.7%, with ticket holders in the lower tier facing increases of 5% and in the upper tier 3%. Similar increases will apply to Club Level. Premier League clubs including Brentford, Wolves, Liverpool and West Ham have confirmed price freezes for next season. We are extremely disappointed that Arsenal have not replicated this approach.
We understand that costs are increasing across football – especially for player wages and agent fees – but feel that Arsenal and all Premier League clubs should be making greater efforts to control these pressures rather than relying on supporters to take the strain.
The AST intends to place a greater focus on highlighting the need for sensible cost control measures in football over the next season.
We like to think of football clubs as more than just businesses – and that is true in some aspects – but when it comes right down to it, decisions are driven by basic things like supply and demand, and right now demand is so high it provides the opportunity for a price rise. At a time when everything else is hitting people in the pocket, it feels more acute.
You don’t expect any better from energy companies or water companies (make utilities and essential services state owned again, down with profiteers!), so it stings even more when it’s *your* football club.
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For some extra reading this morning, Tim’s column touches on the issue of left-backs and Mikel Arteta. It’s a running joke at this point because we have more of them than any club in history ever (©Opta, probably), but there’s some method to the ‘madness’, if you want to call it that.
The 7-1 Arsecast Extra is below too if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet. For now, have a good one, more tomorrow.
