Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta Emulates Jurgen Klopp in Blaming Injuries for Poor Performance

Arsenal have been struggling for form the last couple of seasons. With a sub-standard roster, the Gunners have failed to compete at the top of the league with clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.

After finishing two consecutive seasons outside the top 6 of the league, Arsenal invested heavily to excel in the upcoming 2021-22 season. But despite spending the highest transfer fee among other top clubs, the Gunners have had a disastrous start to their season so far.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta mirrors Jurgen Klopp as he blames injuries for poor start

Arsenal began their campaign with a match-up against the newly promoted Brentford. While they were favorites to win the game, the Gunners were outplayed by the Brentford who beat them 2-0. This trend continued against rivals Chelsea as well. ‘The Blues’ who saw the debut of superstar striker Romelu Lukaku, were simply amazing and won 2-0.

The Arteta led Arsenal side were lackluster defensively and lacked decisiveness in the final third. After such a horrendous start, Arteta revealed that the club was indeed hard hit by injuries. “It’s really challenging at the moment. We are missing nine players and the majority of them are big senior players. It’s what we have.”

The Spaniard also appreciated his young squad for stepping up for the team. “We put out there a team that would be probably unprecedented in the history of the club. But credit to the boys. How they try, and the passion that they are trying to bring to the team. They are playing with a lot of courage.”

This post game presser was reminiscent of another Premier League coach. Last season, Liverpool were one of the teams who saw many of their crucial starters like Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez miss significant time due to injury.

Back then, the German coach had a similar interview where he claimed that champions Manchester City wouldn’t have won the league of they were in a similar situation and were missing multiple players. While Klopp had a similar response, Liverpool certainly were much more competitive than the Gunners.

Even with multiple players missing, there’s no avoiding that Arsenal have simply been woeful. Given that their fixture list stacked with matches against top teams, Arsenal have to find a solution in their tactics because the significant reinforcements haven’t immediately fixed the problem. Is Arteta the right manager for Arsenal?

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