Making sense of our struggles this season. (A thread)

There was lots of optimism going into this season and for good reason - Arteta took over a side having 1 league win over 3 months and made us competitive - we beat United, City, Liverpool (twice), Chelsea and won silverware. Let us first recognize his excellent work last season.

Arsenal were a counter attacking team predominantly even if we scored beautiful goals playing out from the back. Arteta wants us to be a side that controls and dominates games. Right now we're somewhere in between trying to transition - that is not going to be easy at all.

It is important to recognize what Arteta took over. Predominantly, it was an Emery team, especially the midfield profiles. He's got rid of Torreira, Guendouzi (discipline) and brought in Partey. He wanted a creator (Aouar), but that move did not go through. What does this mean?

It means we lack variation. Partey is our most complete midfielder, but again, him, Ceb and Xhaka are all build-up players. Imagine a midfield trio yesterday of Xhaka/Ceb-Partey-Aouar. Suddenly the midfield looks different. The point is, he's just started building his team.

Without a creator in the midfield, what tends to happen is full backs become the main creative outlet, which is okay. But in our side currently, bar Martinelli no player has great aerial prowess. Aubameyang is decent, but he's always been better with feet despite his height.

Internal solutions for Arteta are having 2 natural wingers on either side, sacrifice one of Xhaka/Ceballos and play Saka in midfield. It will give us a decent dynamic, but again, not ideal. Smith Rowe is another option, but he's still inexperienced and raw in some aspects.

Assuming Auba continues from the left, we lack the following profiles:

-A complete centre forward (Martinelli is, but needs time to come back)
-A creator capable of playing in 4-3-3
-A box to box player
-A right centre back with athleticism and ball playing (Could be Saliba)

Right now, Lacazette is affecting the way we play a lot - he lacks athleticism and is not doing enough attacking crosses. Committing way too many unecessary fouls and just not clinical enough. Likeable character? Sure. Not good enough for Arsenal in 2020. That is the reality.

Arteta does deserve to be questioned when it comes to certain team selections, use of Auba outwide, being slow with the substitutions at times and also being too structured and predictable with the way we attack. They are all valid points.

But some of it has merit. Auba at left forward works with a better centre forward. Our structure in attack is closely linked to our structure when we lose the ball. We don't get picked off in transition as often as we did last season. Basically we are more competitive now.

As per @TheAthleticUK , Edu concluded Arsenal needed improved options at No 6, No 8 and No 10.

Partey is one, but we need two more.

As rigid as our structure may seem right now, with profiles Arteta is looking for, it will be different.

We're heading in the right direction.

Arsenal are a team lacking the right profiles trying to go from being a counter attacking side to a team that controls. Not easy. The culture at Arsenal is slowly changing, but not overnight. I trust Arteta to learn and get things right. End of thread.