Arsenal were defeated 2-0 against Newcastle United on Monday night, thereby ending their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
Bruno Guimaraes scoring the goal that effectively ended Arsenal’s Champions League hopes for another season was ironic.
He may have been the type of acquisition that would have helped Mikel Arteta’s team over the line in the quest for the top four, but Arsenal decided against it, allowing Newcastle to capture the Lyon star.
In fact, they weakened it by allowing Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pablo Mari, and Folarin Balogun to leave on loan and, most notably, allowing captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to leave for free without replacing him.
“We had a clear plan of what we could do but then it had to be doable,” Arteta said in defence of Arsenal’s approach towards the January window.
“Edu [Arsenal’s technical director] and his team did a great job. We were very clear we only wanted the best people and the best players at this club.
“When the reasons to get a player on board were not the right ones we didn’t do it.”
In some ways, that is a commendable stance, and it is reasonable that Arsenal did not want to sign anyone in the middle of the season just for the purpose of signing someone.
However, there were excellent players available, such as Guimaraes, and now, following Monday night’s crushing 2-0 defeat at Newcastle, it’s tough not to point to Arsenal’s reluctance to reinforce in January as a major cause for their dismal season.
With the final Champions League spot in their hands, Arteta’s young and inexperienced squad couldn’t pull it off.
The season-ending injuries to Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey were huge and when Ben White and Gabriel Maghales suffered hamstring problems during the run-in, Arsenal looked like they had totally run out of steam.
“We knew [what was at stake], but we didn’t cope with it,” Arteta said after Monday night’s defeat.
“We didn’t compete, we never got into the game, we lost every duel.
“Newcastle were 100 times better than us in every department from the beginning to the end and that’s hard to accept.
“That’s the reality of what happened on that pitch.”
Arteta’s side knew exactly what they had to do when they travelled to St James’ Park.
Following Thursday’s setback against Tottenham, the Gunners were in a win-or-bust situation in terms of qualifying for the Champions League.
Arsenal lost the FA Cup final with a whimper thanks to an own goal from Ben White and a late strike from Guimaraes.
Newcastle looked like the team pursuing the top four after spending big in January and transforming their roster with five new signings.
Eddie Howe’s team looked energized and youthful, whereas Arsenal appeared stale and jaded.
Given what was at stake, the approach to the January window always seemed risky. Four months later, it appears that the gamble backfired spectacularly.
“We did what we could, with what we were allowed to do,” said Arteta when asked if he regretted not strengthening his squad.
“The team that we were able to build is what we were able to build and it’s the team that has taken us all the way here.”
After a dramatic season of ups and downs, Arsenal are surely now going to have to settle for a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League.
There is still a slight chance of finishing fourth, but they now need to beat Everton on Sunday and hope that Tottenham lose at relegated Norwich.
“We have to be there in case that chance appears,” said Arteta.
Deep down, however, he will know the door to the Champions League is almost completely closed.
There may still be one game to go but the inquest will now begin.
A fifth-place result would have been considered as a clear sign of development for Arsenal at the start of the season, but the way things concluded will likely leave a gloomy cloud hovering over the Emirates moving into the summer.
However, the manner in which Arsenal collapsed under pressure at a critical juncture in the season has brought some of the manager’s decisions into doubt.
Tactically, he was out-thought by Antonio Conte in the north London derby, and his changes in the second half against Newcastle appeared to hinder rather than help Arsenal.
Arteta looked crestfallen after the full-time whistle and should Tottenham now go on and claim fourth spot as expected, he will have to somehow pick himself and his players up ahead of the new season.
No-one will know better than the Spaniard what Champions League football would have meant to Arsenal in the long term.
The financial boost it would have given ahead of the summer transfer window would have been huge and it would have made keeping the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli far easier ahead of planned contract talks.
The same questions that have dogged Arsenal for years now persist. Can they reclaim their place at the top? Can they equal their finest players’ ambition? Is Arteta capable of outwitting some of the top managers in the business?
When the dust settles in the following days, the Spaniard will almost certainly stay stubborn in the face of such inquiries.
However, one of the key reasons Arsenal failed to cross the finish line this season was due to mistakes made during the January transfer window.
They took a risk that didn’t pay off. Arteta will now have to cope with the consequences.
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