The decision to wear red shorts in the 3-2 win over Watford was a commercial decision made by both Arsenal and Adidas to test whether changes to home kit colours would be accepted, according to reports.
After hearing about the reasons behind the kit change, most fans on Twitter have come out against moving away from the traditional white:
No, no, no and more no. Unless absolutely necessary we should be in white shorts. We should wear as much home kit as possible at all times, red shorts if the opposition wear white shorts and only away/third if the red shirt clashes.
— Mike Cox (@MrMikeCox) March 8, 2022
Traditional colours should be used, end of. Red top, white shorts for the home kit. Yellow and blue away kit. And then the third kit can be used for the designers to be creative.
— Glen 🏴🇨🇭🇺🇦 (@Gladtroax) March 8, 2022
Tell @adidas no thanks. We wear red and white. There’s no water to test. Cheers. Cc. @Arsenal 👍🏼
— Joe Mc (@JPMc99) March 8, 2022
Absolutely not. Don’t undo all of your hard work @Arsenal
— AFCAMDEN (@AFCAMDEN) March 8, 2022
Too much like Liverpool. Blue shorts would even be better
— DJ Shadow Cabinet (@mrchilliwilli) March 8, 2022
NO! @Arsenal play in white shorts. Come on adidas, stop messing with tradition just to make money. And I’m not even sure it would be a success. Apart from anything else, all red doesn’t look as good. I don’t think Horst Dassler would have approved.
— Richard Ingham Evans (@Ringham7) March 9, 2022
no no no, it’s alright but it’s not arsenal, we almost looked like liverpool because there’s so little white. Red and White, 🔴⚪, keep it as it is @adidasfootball
— AFC Kieran 𒊹︎ (@kieranibr) March 9, 2022
I don’t like it at all…. it make white on our jersey lil, if they’re gonna make a red short then they should make the shirt middle red to be white and a touch of red at the side , something like Ajax shirt with red short and socks
— ThayourWalters (@Akintay55053844) March 9, 2022
Arsenal play in red and white shirts, white shorts. It’s the club’s identity. If you want to mess around, release some training kits or third shirts. This ain’t it
— Sean (@GunstarGreen) March 8, 2022
It should be pointed out that red shorts have been tried in the past, although it has never been implemented as an official kit design by any manufacturer.
Moving away from the club’s traditional colours would be risky and it is hard to know whether Adidas will continue with their plans now they have seen the reaction to the Watford match.
Considering that, since their return as the club’s kit sponsor in 2019, they have been pretty successful in satisfying supporters with the design of their shirts, it would be surprising if they do go ahead with the controversial change.
