Arsenal’s recent defeats to Aston Villa and Bayern Munich have raised questions about Mikel Arteta’s squad management, and he needs to make a key change.
The Gunners embarked on a remarkable 11-game unbeaten run in the Premier League after returning from a mid-season trip to Dubai, and looked fully fresh as they dismantled teams with ease.
However, a busy April fixture list has now caught up to Arsenal, and some key players, and Bukayo Saka in particular, look exhausted.
The loss to Bayern saw Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira left as unused substitutes, and questions have been raised about their futures as a result. However, Arteta may also be somewhat to blame for his squad’s tiredness due to a lack of rotation throughout the season.
Mikel Arteta needs to learn how to rotate throughout a whole campaign
Speaking on The Athletic FC Podcast, journalist Art De Roche highlighted how the next step for Arteta will be to rotate his squad with a lot less fear in earlier stages of the campaign, rather than throwing his fringe players into the biggest games with little match practice.
“Emile Smith Rowe started and got man of the match against Luton, but it almost becomes a token gesture when you do that (make changes) and then those players don’t get any more minutes until this point,” he stated of Arteta’s lack of consistent rotation.
“I think one of the really big evolutions Mikel Arteta still needs to make, is how he actually uses his squad players at the right moments, to get them to a stage, both physically and mentally, where they’re able to have a real impact, and where he can trust them to.”
Arteta needs to have more faith in his Arsenal squad
After nearly five years at the club, the players available to Arteta now have almost all either been signed by him, or been given new contracts during his reign.
Last summer, Reiss Nelson extended his deal, but has started just one game since, whilst £34m signing Fabio Vieira has made five Premier League starts in just two seasons.
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Arteta needs to give his squad players more opportunities earlier in the season, and more consistent appearances. This will allow his first team to avoid burnout, whilst also preparing his backups to be able to step in with little notice.
This summer, Arteta needs to sell anyone he does not have enough trust in to play regularly, and replace them with players he is willing to occasionally start ahead of the likes of Saka and Martin Odegaard.