With this being my last column for 2017, I’m going to try and answer the three biggest issues facing Arsenal in 2018, as they try to keep up with their rivals and not let another season slip into the abyss that is Europa League football.
3. Will they save Hector and buy a fullback?
I actually feel sorry for Hector Bellerin.
He’s 22.
With Arsenal’s formation switch to 3-4-2-1 and Özil nominally playing at RW, Bellerin is literally playing on the right hand side for Arsenal all by himself.
He has to do all the defending, AND be an outlet for possession, AND provide overlapping runs for to help attacks. It’s a ridiculous workload, and he looks pretty much exhausted by it.
Again, he’s 22. It’s not like he’s the finished product or anything like that.
Occasionally, he’s going to have runs of bad form and during those periods, he needs backup.
Right now, he has nothing.
Mathieu Debuchy is the nominal replacement for Bellerin, but saying Debuchy can do the same job demanded of Bellerin is like saying Donald Trump can do the same job Barack Obama was asked to do.
Debuchy is too small to play centre-back and injuries have robbed him of the athleticism required to play wing-back.
Arsenal’s treatment of this situation has been nothing short of bizarre.
Playing Ainsley Maitland-Niles as a left-back when you have Nacho Monreal fit and available is bewildering, especially as Rob Holding and Calum Chambers are in desperate need of game time.
Maitland-Niles, to be fair, hasn’t looked awful as a full-back, but he’s right footed, so would probably look more comfortable at right-back, but hasn’t been picked there. Yet.
Arsenal need a right-back capable of doing the running Bellerin is asked to do, or another left back so that Maitland-Niles can play on his stronger side.
Either would do. Just as long as it’s before Bellerin gets hurt from having to run a half-marathon every game.