Best analysis I’ve seen on Arsenal’s season, focused on the issue throughout & generally sensible opinions👌🏾

"The problem is Declan Rice" you massive troll hahaha. God I love this guy.

I'm biased as a Geordie, but Adam has been brilliant this season in these videos. I gave up on four four two after decades, but he has brought me back. He's just mint at stuff like this.

After the 2-2 draw against Tottenham at home, Jorginho was unused substitute for many games during Christmas because of the error he made leading to the second goal.

I think it needs to be said that both Jorginho and Partey were both injured during that December run, so Arteta did not really have much of a choice in this regard, Rice was really the only available 6. That being said its accurate to say that progressive passing from that 6 position is probably the biggest area of improvement for Rice. Not a surprise the kind of midfielders we are being currently linked to, the plan is seeminlgy that Rice is going to be the 8 going forward

Mikel saving Jorginho for Bayern was the wrong move. He didn't know which competition he wanted to win in hindsight.

I really think the injury to Timber was a big hit to Arsenal. He looked amazing, and left back has been their weakest position this season.

Proud of the team and the manager. I enjoyed this season more than last year. Arteta is evolving as a manager and his team is following him.

What's more disappointing is Jorginho only started 4 games in that first half of the season (in the league) and only 1 was out of choice, the others were because Ødegaard was injured. It was the same problem last season with Partey, Arteta should've made the change against Southampton and played Kiwior and Jorginho instead of Partey and Holding but he had to wait until after the Manchester City game because he was too scared. I also think another issue is Timber, we cooked Nottingham Forest in that first half when Timber played, 2-0 in 30 mins. Then he got his injury and came off and we end the game 2-1. Then when he comes on against Everton we actually start breaking them down.

Yeah but prior to the December run we were winning games with Declan as the single pivot. The issue was really our finishing. The chances we had against west ham and Aston villa but we didn’t score one goal.

The mark of a winning team is depth. I thought it would be at least three seasons before Arteta cut the dead wood and turned the team around, but he's managed an unbelievable turnaround. These days, I just want to enjoy an entertaining (and preferably winning) performance by the team. Arsenal have been exceptional in the last few seasons, but realistically there's still a lot or work to be done to strengthen the squad. But still... just goes to show how much a team needs to dominate to win the league. I don't know anyone who wouldn't take 89 points at the start of a season.

Still think that Arsenal spent the season deputizing at the left back spot. When you compare the dynamism of White with defensive, transitional and attacking support on the right to the frankly average things going on to the left back. Timber's absence could possibly be the the two point difference.

"WHY ADAM CLERY ISN"T GETTING ENOUGH RECOGNITION" is what I think after watching another masterclass thank you mate, amazing job as always presenting. Your passion and football IQ really come through every time.

Thank you for the "bottling" bit. I can't stand those football Bros.

That pause after "that's how it goes" right in the end is a separate video Adam. We believe and we go back to our "it is what is" cave of emotions as an Arsenal fan. It has been a joy watching you throughout the season breaking down every Arsenal game, thank you to the entire 442 team and specially the post production team to get this out in no time after the games. That team deserves FourFourTwo beers.

FourFourTwo has been one of the MVP channels of the EPL 23/24 season. An excellent video, entertaining & insightful. I’ve been saying this, Declan Rice is not a 6. He is a formidable roaming 8.

Excellent analysis Adam, I think Arsenal always looked significantly better with Jorginho in the side and Rice playing as the eight. However, I think the reason Arteta didn't fully trust Jorginho in the number 6 role was because he didn't have the right physical profile - he is 32, much slower than Rice, and nowhere near as good in duels. So while I think Arteta always recognised that having Jorginho increased Arsenal's attacking threat, he was concerned that including him would leave Arsenal more open and vulnerable on the break. Of course, bringing in Kiwior/Tomiyasu to replace Zinchenko compensated for Jorginho's lack of physicality, but in December Tomi was injured and Kiwior was out of form, so it is understandable that Arteta did not have the courage to make that decision then.

I think all this had a big impact on Martinelli, as well. Everyone keeps talking about his "poor form" this season but the left side (especially when he was starting) was anemic and abandoned. Havertz playing the 8 really hurt him and by the time they stopped doing that and put Rice there on a regular basis, Nelli was coming back from injury and Trossard was starting on the wing. Arsenal tend to favor the right side anyway with White, Ode and Saka so the left is ignored even under perfect circumstances. The last game against Everton, Martinelli was basically back to his old self (apart from playing on the right instead of the left). He still had 6 goals and 4 assists (I think) in the prem but that's a far cry from his 15/5 from last season (when he had Xhaka in the 8 position). Havertz is really good as a "false" 9 or whatever it is he's been doing but giving him so many matches in midfield was clearly a mistake.

I completely disagree. Declan Rice wasn’t the issue. Kai Havertz is not a midfielder plus Zinchenko was our first receiver in an inverted role that initially led to so much success but his form dipped considerably this season. Plus Nketiah played up front for a few games and he’s not enough and Jesus hasn’t been the same since his World Cup injury. Edit: He seems to also forget the West Ham 6-0 and Burnley 5-0 during our post Jan run when we played Rice at 6 🙃

A big reasons Arsenal did not win the league is because of this weird belief by Arteta that Jesus and Zinchenko are league winning material. Jesus never makes the best final play be it shoot or pass. And Zinchenko is a defensive liability and offensively takes too much time to make an easy play. I don't know how Arteta dropped Havertz to midfield to accommodate Jesus during Aston Villa or bring Zinchenko in. He found his winning formula. Rice at the 8, Havertz up top. But changed it for no reason.

I thought you'd do a Leverkusen video after the Europa League

Not quite, for me the reason we had this blip is the same reason we seem to have 3/4 game blips under Arteta. Its the overuse of the same 12-14 players and not using all of his squad to its fullest. Thats not just Jorginho, thats Vieira, Smith-Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah, Kiwior.. if he had used them more when we were winning then when the games come thick and fast (like they did over xmas) and again in April (Bayern & Villa) the whole squad are match fit and quite fresh. Not 12-14 players absolutely fatigued and then 5-7 players not match fit. This is the biggest reason and its the number 1 part of management Arteta needs to get better at. Thats where the major difference between him and Pep

Loved the content this season Adam, your personal analysis in particular. Would love to see as many videos from you as possible nest season! A podcast even?

Like I said ... u r spot on.... but I would repeat that the Aston villa game lost arsenal the league, because after arteta had seen this working template , he reverted to same for the Aston villa game...with jorgino and partey on the bench

11:05 i yelped 😂

Found that so incredibly insightful, thank you. Really shapes my thinking regarding the summer

another thing that a tiktok creator(cant remember his name) points out about arsenal struggle in that time is using Kai Havertz as an 8. The man simply does not have the ability to play as an 8 but Arteta keep chugging on

You are right, Arteta trying to get the right balance in midfield and attack costs us some games like Fulham and West ham in December, after finding the right team which was winning games left and right with 8 games to play he messed up the villa game at hope changing again the winning team by putting in zinchenko and Jesus in the 9 instead of havertz which cost us the 3 points which would have won us the title. Hard luck next season we strengthen we win 🏆 a trophy

Subscribed. Great analysis and love the channel!

Watching your videos makes us realize what a managerial point of view looks like and even though you give it to us already boiled down and narrowed so that we can easily understand it it's still quite obvious to me hwo much of a work that is to find these fine margins as it is really down to these!

Brilliant video and superb analysis as always. I would love to see a video compilation, highlighting all of the decisions that were made in favour of Manchester City throughout this season. I really would. Maybe kick it off with the clip of Guardiola thanking Michael Oliver from a few years back?

Arsenal fan. Bummed we just missed out - but pep’s city are just so damn good what can ye do. It’s great to be in title run ins every year again - surely he’ll sneak ahead to win one soon. Keep backing Arteta he’s our only hope

Loved all those videos this season, proper analysis🙌🏼

In the second leg in Munich we were looking the better side for most of it until Kimmich scored and then Arteta brings Jorginho off, puts Rice at no. 6 and Havertz in LCM. Guess what we looked much worse and barely created a chance or troubled Bayern's defense. Partey needs to go and we need a good replacement.

I just have one push back on your comment about "Arsenal did not just look right" with Havertz at LCM vs Villa - in that first half we were completely dominant and should have been AT LEAST 1-0 up at HT. Havertz was causing all sorts of trouble with his late box runs. It wasn't Havertz at LCM that was the issue, it was Arteta being too slow to make changes in the 2nd half when we were clearly flagging physically.

Bit harsh to refer to finishing two points behind a team that are literally cheating as "falling apart"

Can you do a west ham Lopetagui video please? :)

Love the analysis you put out there. Thank you!

Arsenal fan here. I'm really happy with things, honestly. I'm not as trophy driven as other supporters. I just want to see my team playing great football, competing, improving, fighting. I like Wenger's idea of Style and Steel, and I really feel like we ended the season epitomising that ideal. The reality is a lot of the other teams had much more impactful injury concerns than we did this season, and City had to go on a simply ridiculous run to pip us at the post, so honestly what more can we ask for? Ecstatic with the effort. Looking forward to next season!

I have no words to represent my appreciation for the hard work that goes behind these videos! You explain it so perfectly and so detailed that it's mind blowing!

He didn't want that, he wanted Kai as an 8. to such an extent that he played Partey right back. Madness. Partey right back was idiocy. His neck was saved when Partey got inured. He was forced to go back to last years back 4. Had Partey been played in CM with Rice, we would have rocked it.

nice call mate. great sum up

Whoa I haven't seen this fella since I stopped watching What Culture videos a couple years back. Good to see him still kicking around too. Good analysis, too...even if it hurts my heart!

Exactly why you train every DM and DLP on FM to play killer balls often lol

I don’t think it’s quite right to say that the Chelsea / City games in the first half of the season made Arteta think he HAD to find a home for Havertz. He was finding a place for him most weeks anyway in midfield. It was ONLY those big games where Arteta clearly thought he needed more defensive help that he played the Jorginho/Rice combo and we looked great. In the “easier” games he played Rice/Havertz and we struggled …. We just GOT AWAY WITH IT until December / Jan. Don’t u remember all the “they’re not scoring enough goals” chat? I also don’t think it’s purely a “Rice can’t pass” issue. It was that PLUS the fact his midfield partner in Havertz ALSO can’t pass forward or dribble so we had no progression in midfield at all. I think Arteta always intended Havertz to be LCM (he literally told us that all offseason) and he was just wrong. And it took him until January to admit that and pivot away from it.

Teams are scared of City even before the ball was kicked. The same for the Utd team in the 90s & early 2000s. They already have a psychological advantage against teams. Arsenal needs to build on this aspect.

Great video as always. Adam, you don't have shipping to the US. Is there any digital version? I am Chelsea fan and I hate Arsenal lol but this Arsenal is scary and great to watch. They are doing great work at that club

Spot on mate. Arteta repeated the same error from those games against Villa at home using Havertz as left sided 8 and we lost.

Another entertaining and insightful analysis as always!

Quality content Adam.

this is very helpful. Thank you so much.

Timber being out for the entire season plus Partey and Tomi missing important games where we dropped points like Fulham (H), Spurs (H), Aston Villa (A), Liverpool (A), West Ham (H) didn't help either, great video as always Adam and im sorry the boys couldn't pay of your faith 😔

Great analysis - you get my sub for it.

89 points is a great haul, but it's not one that would win the league nuch in 10 years. Arsenal's points and goals would only have won the league twice since 2015, and one of those is a goal difference of 1. And if City needed to beat 89 last season, do you think they wouldn't have? I don't. They didn't need to

Pep will never commit no 6 to an english player. Ask kalvin phillips . They are below par in passing ability. Arteta needs more spanish players in his team

Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool are all teams Arsenal have beaten in the past season, yet they are the ones with trophies. This video gives me hope, but another part of me thinks Arteta has one more year to turn talk into trophies. Please keep focusing on us in these videos, and I will keep watching this fantastic analysis.

I think its mostly due to squad overhaul. Arteta clearly needed time to understand the strength of his squad (havertz being the best example) which finally clicked midseason. Add to that the need to adapt for a lot of key pieces (havertz, raya, the squad to these guys, etc) meant that the offense didn't go really well to start. Add to that a goalkeeper who was asked to adapt to a new system without qny preseason and a goalkeeper with a shot confidence and you get a a lot of costly mistakes (second goal against chelsea, goal against newcastle, first goal against fulham) that can't be saved by the lackluster offense in the start of the season.

Love your analysis! The best!

That's great, Adam good insight and very entertaining too. The Athletic did an article saying Declan Rice could not ( yet) find a pass through central areas, so they concur. Next season? 🤞

It's because we know how Arteta is abt winning duels to retain posession and Kai is the only one stands 6 ft 3 to win them.

When I saw Havertz in the left 8 role in the line-up for that Aston Villa game in April I got a horrible feeling. Having seen that plan not work well so many times earlier in the season I just knew it would end up coming back to bite us.

Absolutely SPOT ON. Havertz LCM was a failed experiment. It was the reason why Arsenal started slow in this season. Things changed dramatically once Arteta brough Jorginho back in the side. I will add Kiwor too; him and Tomiyasu made that left side impenetrable which was a weak link when Zinchenko played. Arteta could even sacrifice Saka, like he did with Martinelli and Jesus, and it wouldn't create much difference which was done by playing Havertz as LCM.

Great analysis bro Can you do a video on Crystal Palace?

Arsenal really could have done with keeping Xhaka to play alongside Rice.

Have to look at the overall performance, incredible performances. 16 of the last 21 leagues… that says it all.

Also biggest problem is that Zinny too much thinking about Ukraine war also cost Arsenal the title.

Amazing video! COYG!

The problem was using Havertz as midfielder and Zinchenko on the left. Arsenal still doesnt have a left side since Xhaka's departure, Tomi and Kivior are consistent players but cant support the left wing properly. Maybe Timber can fix this, but we still need another alternative for the left midfield when Partey and Jorginho are unavailable.

City Fan here. Was gonna say something stupid just to troll but in all honesty I am a fan, like & respect Arteta, the players & the organization. If there was a team I felt was capable of winning the league besides City it was the Gunners. The biggest problem encountered by anyone that contends for the PL title is simple...Manchester City VERY RARELY drops points after January. Look @ the last 7 seasons. Observe the record & play of City after the midseason transfer window. City doesn't even have to acquire any players...they just "Lock In" & it's extremely difficult to gain ground on them, much less hold them off. Last season ('22-'23), the Gunners were sort of a young, unproven squad of players who were good enough to win games on pure talent alone but it was more like watching a bunch of kids from different schools running in the woods in the dark chasing fireflies...uncoordinated as F (let me land)... Sure, you caught a ton of them (fireflies = wins), but even when you put them all in 1 jar they still didn't make things bright enough to keep you from smashing face-first into trees (like losses & draws were holes in the jar lid that were too big & the "fireflies" were getting away)... as proven by your record in April & May of 2023: April: (GUNNERS 4-1 Leeds / Liverpool 2-2 gunners / West Ham 2-2 Gunners / Gunners 3-3 Southampton / MANCHESTER CHAMPIONS 4-1 gunners)... May: GUNNERS 3-1 Chelsea;... Newcastle 0-2 GUNNERS;... gunners 0-3 BRIGHTON;... NOTTINGHAM 1-0 gunners;... GUNNERS 5-0 Wolverhampton). 17 points "bottled" in the last 2 months of the season. This season Arsenal was absolutely AWESOME & I would have been satisfied & genuinely happy if they'd won the Premier League title. But the team wasn't quite ready to be champions...draw vs Man City & the loss vs Villa in the last 2 months?...sealed fate. You were good enough to win...just not against City. Had it been any other team you were battling against (including Liverpool) Gunners would've won it all, guaranteed (probably would've also won against Bayern & possibly even the UCL...(too much pressure thinking about us). Side Note: I would've been ALL-IN rockin' Gunner Red had you all been in the UCL Final (#$%& Real Madrid...just kidding, but F 'em, though). I would love it if we, City & Gunners, combined powers & dominated the league for (ever?) years to come, sharing the title year after year, battling season after season to see who gets the trophy (Odd years = Arsenal...even years = City). But I'm sure that you will take the throne in '26. That's a no-brainer...too good a team not to. Just not THIS coming season...we gotta get #5 in 2025!!! Five In A Row Before Pep Can Go!!! P.S: Pardon the novel, just felt the need to voice my genuine respect & admiration for the Gunners.

Excellent analysis 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Deep balanced analysis Adam, so can you compare Man City's midfield

Bigger issue related is having Havertz in midfield. He was much better when he was up front. Rice has been doing that job for England and West Ham for years now

Amazing analysis man💯. U still haven't given an analysis of De-zerbi for chelsea

Gutted we didnt win the league but City do deserve a bit of credit as they were without KDB for half the season. Next year I believe our moment will arrive.

I really like this channel

arsenal focused too hard on countering the top 6, they forgot about the rest of the fourteen teams

I'm a lifetime Arsenal fan. My attitude is, while Arsenal didn't win the league, they did win respect and that, more than anything, is what Arteta has brought to the team and club. It shouldn't be undervalued.

Incredible analysis! This is how sports journalism should look like!

Not a take about the content of the video - excellent analysis delivered in top notch fashion, as usual 🙌🏻 - but I’m interested in the lightbox comment. Where can we donate to your run, if it hasn’t already happened? Ta.

Thomas Partey is key not because he wins us games, but because he's baggage. Baggage on the pitch, baggage off it. Replacing him in the summer is as key as improving depth in this team in order to compete on all fronts next season.

Brilliant video

You have just confirmed a suspicion I had, it's also partly to do with Playing Kai as a left sided no.8. In the first half of the season, we struggled to create chances and only won by a header or individual skills like the goal Nkentia scored against Forest at home. Rice is not good in dribbling or making line breaking passes, so most of his passes are sideways. Had we not sold Xhaka we would have comfortably won the league because instead of building on the excellence of the previous season, we started a new by trying new things like playing Kai as a no.8, something he hadn't done in the PL. I hope we don't repeat the same. If Partey goes we should get a suitable replacement who can do what Partey does i.e vertical passing and press resistance to progress play. I hope no other first team members will be sold. Those 4 games and playing Zinchenko when we were winning against Fulham at home. Zinchenko should only play if we are struggling to break down a team and a good structure should be set around him for cover when he roams into midfield eg the winger dropping etc.

Amazing analysis! Like watching Inception - 5 levels deep!

England are toast with Rice at 6 is what I'm hearing 😒😒

Would love a video for the 'next' jorghinio based on his unique stat profile

If only Arsenal had been able to retain Granit Xhaka, I wonder where he went and how his new team got on this season? Failing that (and as a Chelsea fan I hope this doesn’t happen!) I wonder whether Enzo Fernandez would be the missing piece?

Zinchenko and Havertz have got away with one here

Arteta needs to get it spot on next season with out any mistakes this time.

I actually pointed this out to my mates earlier in the season... When people wanted to take of Havertz head for whatever reason... We weren't able to play out from back as really when Declan Rice was in the six role... He hasn't learnt how to be dangerous from there yet... But he will... Undoubtedly...

Very good analysis. It is clear that Jorginho is not the strongest CDM and Havertz is not exactly a killer CF. So we definitely need to improve those two positions. Apart from LB I guess unless Timber is good to play there.

I actually thought the return of Partey upped our attacking play another notch. I find he progresses the ball decidedly better than both Rice and Jorginho.

as a unbiased brentford fan i’m guessing arteta didn’t use jorginho due to his mistake against tottenham in the beginning of the season

I guess the upside of Arsenal consistently upping their level to try and surpass City, and doing it fairly I might add, City are inadvertently creating a monster

As a city fan, city really had a very average season this year. I am extremely happy they eventually won it and made 4 in a row. Arsenal looked better in 2024. Next year, if city want to win, a lot of changes are needed.

Liverpool lost out to City with 97 points. It's hard to be too bitter or obsess over points lost when that's who you're up against. Only points dropped that feel inexcusable to me (over a 38 game season, you're always going to have some duds) were the two dropped at home to Fulham who were a goal and a man down with 10 mins to go. It's been a young squad at Arsenal for a few years. There's improvement every year and that's largely been because young players are becoming more experienced and in some cases entering their peak years. I think if Arsenal sign a player who's consistent/consistently available and can play primarily as a 6 (or an 8 if needed) as well as back up for Saka (if that player could also comfortably play as a 9 that would be ideal, if not may also need to sign a striker) then I think those would be the biggest gaps in the squad filled, and with another year of great experience for this squad I definitely think Arsenal would be in a great position to win a major trophy next season. Ultimately, City are in every competition so it's never guaranteed! But I think Arteta gives us as good a chance as anyone would

god dammit Aston.... that was the most crucial game! and thomas party being out so sad man...

The level is 2 places up from our usual 4th and at the same time that the top 4 aside from City in LIverpool, Chelsea and UTD have all been terrible. UTD now have had a better season and still sacking their manager, we need to really be doing the same if we're to try and start actually doing/winning anything

The problem was simple, Havertz in the left 8 😢😢😢😢😢

I agree with you I thought we were the best team this season. It could be a mental block for other teams but in the run in premier league teams have a habit of not trying or rolling over against City towards the end of the season. Take Villa for example. Either way, we had a great season and I’m sure we’ll be back next. Love the channel.

Would be interested in seeing why Liverpool didn’t win the PL after being ahead of city/arsenal for a long while