We’re nearly there people, the Arteta stories have moved from…
‘NEGOTIATIONS HIT SENSITIVE PHASE OVER OFFICE FURNISHINGS’
‘VIEIRA IS THE FAVE’
‘WENGER SPOTTED AT COLNEY’
… towards, who will he sign and who will he steal from Manchester City.
It’s being reported that Arteta will pick up £5m p/a on a 3.5 year deal.
There are lots of suggestions about who his potential assistant could be, perhaps Domènec Torrent, Pep’s 57 year ex-assistant from Barca B, Barca, Bayern and City. Or 48-year-old Rodolfo Borrell, a 13 year tenured youth coach from Barca (Pique, Pep, Messi), who worked his magic with Liverpool (Sterling) and later as a Global Tech Director with Manchester City. There’s even a story that we’re stealing one of their top youth scouts, Sam Fagbemi. According to his LinkedIn, he’s a massive Gary V fan, and specifically the Manchester City youth team scout for the South of England. He actually appears to have officially spent 15 months at Arsenal, he’s also listed 6 years prior to that with us, which might have been part-time while he studied.
Here’s how he describes himself (edited to reduce words).
I hold a strong enthusiasm and passion for the industry of sports, part of this passion and drive is identifying talents in relevant sporting areas; and a contribution in terms of development. One area of this contribution involves scouting and recruiting for ages 5-16, in specific areas in London, for football. Many who know me know my passion is scouting and recruitment. I’m an out and out scout! I also follow up on every lead given!
I am always striving to improve my performance and my knowledge, whatever you put into your work, in most cases, is what you get out of it. I aim to put in a 100% at all times.
I have very unique methods of scouting and a strong determination and hunger. I’m blessed to be part of a very good team of experienced staff, which I learn from on a day to day basis.
“THE FUTURE OF ANY BIG CLUB HAPPENS IN THE ACADEMY”.
Sam, any man that uses block capitals to power home a message is a friend of Le Grove. Me, you, Donald Trump… what a team.
Here’s some of the stuff from his Arsenal job he rocked prior to moving up north in 2017.
Key Responsibilities
- Identifying players at the required level through the use of video and numerical analysis.
- Researching identified players in-depth using rigorous methods.
- Building a video scouting capability, liaising with the Chief Scout but also the Player analytics team and the scouts in the field.
- Identifying Players with whom his Club may wish to enter into negotiations with a view to securing their
- Working with PROZONE and/or SPORTSCODE, Microsoft Excel and Sony Vegas and/or Final Cut Pro.
- Working as part of a recruitment department at First Team/Academy Level.
- Leading the storage, maintenance and collection of data regarding Player performance in training and matches.
- Managing and overseeing an online scouting data resource.
- Interfacing with some of the football analysis software vendors contracted by the Club.
- Developing new and insightful initiatives and practices for evaluating Player and team performance.
- Initiating and conducting ad-hoc research projects for the benefit of team and individual performance.
Sam seems to be up to lots of things, he reads like an innovative. Scouts, coaches, has dark arts. I’m sold. This guy definitely drinks oat milk lattes, has an opinion on how you pronounce trequartista, and he reads Mundial.
I think I’d be slightly worried if I were a City fan, not because Arteta is going to snatch the league this year, more because it seems like the staff are making moves before something drastic happens this summer to the main man Pep G.
Back to Arsenal. This move, when it happens, is a huge step forward for the club. They could have taken the easy option that’d placate the ‘safety’ crowd, but they didn’t. Carlo was passed by, Martinez was rightly told where to go, Raul gave up on Nuno, and we dodged anything Kia J could throw at us.
We moved for the hottest young coach in the world. We opted for the moon-shot. Arsenal has positioned itself as a forward thinking football club and they should be applauded for the boldness of this decision.
Rumor has it Arteta will be in dugout for the Everton game this weekend, fitting, wouldn’t you say? One club has opted for the future, the other has anchored itself to the past.
So what should we expect?
Hearts and minds
Wenger (Merson), Emery (Cech) and Freddie (Xhaka) all did it. You have to play the hearts and mind game with the squad to start with, that means the unsuitable big names will likely feature. Go in dick swinging early, the senior players will down tools on you, and you’ll have a miserable start to your career. I have personally made the mistake. I started a big job, disliked the talent and the process, so I tried to make changes early. My intuitions were right, but my early actions made me the enemy of a lot of people. Always give people a chance to fail. Everyone will likely have the opportunity to prove themselves to Arteta, and so they should. This is not a caretaker situation, so hopefully we’ll see performances move up a level, if not, then the action will be taken.
Statement of Intent
I would suspect a huge part of interview process would have centered around the type of football we’re likely to see. The fans want to see excitement, it’s a simple as that, we are not about pragmatism, never will be. Mikel Arteta will have been hired to bring back Wengerball with a modern twist. He will go on the charm offensive with the fans early on and rectify all the wrongs of Unai Emery’s inane jabbering. Expect him to wax lyrical about style and vision when he sits in that first press conference, be assured that he’ll play up his Arsenal DNA, and let’s hope he can articulate a sniff of what the future holds. Maybe he’ll shed a tear? I’d like that.
No one ever cared about Emery, he couldn’t speak to us in English, let alone in authentic terms. Arteta will be different, he’s a trophy winning excaptain with a formula we want. He’ll hopefully have a ‘Mourinho walking through Chelsea in a Spurs tracksuit’ like moment that we can all get behind. Maybe a knuckle duster in his pocket at The Toilet Bowl? Too far?
A shift in style
Freddie is a fan and a solid coach. He wanted to move our football to the next level, but he lacked the resource, time, and backing to do it. Arteta is a different beast. He’s the man that controls the future, players that want to stay will know this. He’ll be confident he can move the club to another level this season. Expect a rough 3 months, but don’t be surprised to see glimpses of very exciting football well before the 3 years most of you were willing to give Emery to change things up. He’ll want to prove to the fans and the board he is a coach, first and foremost. Good coaches make magic happen with whatever tools they are handed. Jurgen Klopp had Liverpool in beast mode early on, though intermittently, with a far worse squad. Nagelsmann saved Hoffenheim from relegation in his first season, then took a team with a sub £40m wage bill to the Champions League with elite coaching. I don’t think it’s unfair to expect to see the makings of a footballing identity early on. Just don’t expect consistency this year.
Focus on Youth
Part of the hearts and minds offensive strategy will be to woo the fans with his approach to youth. I see there being two key initiatives. Firstly, like peak-Game of Thrones, there will be some senior heads that will roll. Not immediately, but rest assured, he’s taking someone big down. The solve for the molten-steel-on-the-head slaying will be bringing a kid into the mixer that we didn’t expect, or one that we didn’t expect because they’ve been average. He needs a poster child for his elite coaching to prove the fans he was worth the hype and to show the best kids in world football that they should give their early careers to us. We need to be the Ajax, Atleti or Dortmund of the Premier League. There will be a huge clear out of senior players this summer, we have to bring in replacements like Brandt, Haaland and Aouar if we’re going to push on next year. You only do that if those names are convinced by the coach.
A brutal summer
There are some great people at the club and there is some real shite. I fully expect the club to use this next 5 months to reshape the way we operate. Expect exits from the backroom team, be sure that there will be a very busy summer of players on the cards, and understand that there will likely be a lot of ‘who the fuck?’ people signing on for Arsenal.
Raul needs to make this work, he’s under pressure. Edu needs to show the fans he’s more than a well dressed, beautifully groomed, elitely (word?) fragranced man. Arsenal need some wins.
We do not have time to fuck around. The next 3 years will be the difference between us being a super club like Liverpool, or falling into complete irrelevance like Spurs in the 90s.
If Arteta is the man to take us forward, the vision is clear, the Arsenal way is about high intensity pressing, attacking football, geared around exciting young players. Now we know that, the technical team has to work their magic and make sure there are no excuses for failure.
This is it. It’s the future we’ve been waiting for. This is the most exciting move we could have made. Back it, because if it works, this really could be the next level Wenger was talking about.
I am absolutely thrilled, I hope you are too.
See you in the comments x
DM
Let’s hope you were right about Arteta, Pedro!
1st
Tr4phy
tr4phy?
Long read
Well done DM as usual! it was my first attempt.
A valiant try Adam! Welcome to the competition 🙂
You heard it here 1st!
Hope it goes well for our sake
Awesome marketing Pedders.
Proud of you my man!
Imagine Arteta giving us the next Sterling in Nelson. Would absolutely love it.
Arteta – it’s his time and despite what other posters on here think the diversion to appoint Emery may well work in our and his favour
It takes some of the post Wenger pressure off- also our most promising youngsters have more game time now than then
If we stops the shit show in defence as his first priority and maybe sign an elite CB and DM then we can get fast results
Ceballos coming back will improve things obviously but it will all be credited to the manager.
You heard it here 1st!
From last post
Receding hairline
Nothing is silly about my comment. It’s you who is feeling uneasy, reading it.
You don’t need to get riled up.It’s my opinion.
Take it or leave it
Besides you seem uncomfortable whenever Emery goons are mentioned.
“Freddie
You’re dreaming
This lot aren’t spending money until the summer.”
Then you better hope Arteta is the love child of Klopp and Jesus and has the motivational skills of Adolf H.
Would be typical Arsenal to hire in a rookie manager and tie one hand behind his back. There’s going to be little improvement with these senior players, hope the kids and new signings can step up then.
Arteta. Bringing the Art back to the Arse.
Pedro,sorry for the Language,one of my favourite quotes.I used it myself.You have to give people a chance to make a Cunt of themselves.
This Fagbemi [youth scout] is totally unrelated to Arteta. The timing is entirely coincidental. This is Mertesacker head hunting the city youth scout for the south of London, the guy who’s out-scouting us in our neck of the woods. This is a scout tasked with feeding the academy FFS. Pedro You’re the one who takes pride in knowing the ins and outs of Arsenal. You ought to have known better than to think a manager who’s tasked with finding talent aged from 5-16 years is connected with Arteta… unless of course Arteta intends to field 7 year old talent in… Read more »
* You ought to have known better than to think a scout who’s tasked with finding talent aged from 5-16 years
We definitely should try to get a CM and CB in January. Are there interesting loan signings we could consider?
At this point, it’s in the interest of everyone that Ozil moves on
Chika
I agree with you
Ozil should be flushed out by January.
He is just a waste of space and resources
Upamecano is the sort of defender that might interest Arteta. Strong, mobile and impressive ball playing skills. However, he needs to really step up with his defensive actions. Still very young though, so there’s clearly a wide scope for improvement.
*** inconsistency alert
Emery was the Spanish serpent for bringing his own physio yet Arteta is innovative for the entry of the academy/youth scout? [this is more of an academy scout by the way]
Whatever happened to the concept of managers coming in with only their portmanteau?
Pedro’s beliefs are like jello is seems, ready to be smashed when his man is in.
*** Aren’t we paying this novice manager TOO MUCH money by the way
£5 million when this is his first head coach gig?
Nothing has changed at Arsenal, it seems, same old wasteful wage system.
“He doesn’t need to be klopp to get this lot into top4 We were 1 point off last year and spent £140m in the summer. We shouldn’t have gone backwards.” It looks like we’re maybe about to find out. Tierney is injured and has barely played – 30m Saliba isn’t our player yet – 26m Pepe hasn’t settled yet, also been disrupted by injuries – 72m Luiz isn’t exactly pulling up trees is he. – 8m Martinelli is very promising but still only 18 – 6m Go on about the numbers as much as you want and ignore the reality… Read more »
The appointment was ‘imminent’ three days ago!
Tee, true talk.
It’s not working at all. I expect Arteta to adopt a high intensity game; something Ozil is incapable of doing.
There are lots of young dynamic midfielders we should be looking at.
Pedro is surely Artetained?Are you? I always get behind whoever is in charge. But if it does’nt workout, we move-on.S&S
Nice Pedro, a bit of positivity! He is a bright, young and driven coach that will bring new and fresh ideas. Too many neggy fans wanting to go for the easy option, when wouldn’t it be a risk to go for a young coach!
That photograph of Mikel “SauceMan” with Arsène is priceless, thanks a lot Pedro.
#prayforMikel
#prayforPedro
He needs a poster child for his elite coaching to prove the fans he was worth the hype and to show the best kids in world football that they should give their early careers to us. And IMO we have a player to do just that. No, its not Martinelli or Saka or Guendouzi. Its Emile Smith Rowe. Pep loves a free 8 who can dribble , pass , score and defend. And the Free #8s are very important in Pep’s system at city. That is why Kdb is their most important player. That is why Bernardo was their most… Read more »
Dissenter December 18, 2019 09:46:40 *** Aren’t we paying this novice manager TOO MUCH money by the way £5 million when this is his first head coach gig? Nothing has changed at Arsenal, it seems, same old wasteful wage system. —————————- You forgot to mention 3 and half year deal. Whereas Emery an experienced manager got a 2 year deal. It seems to me that Arsenal have gone in for Arteta after being rejected by our primary and probably second choice target. Arsenal might literally have had no other option. Arteta has used this knowledge to get a very generous… Read more »
Wasi
I was also impressed with ESR’s cameo against City. If he stays injury free, he’s gonna improve a lot under Arteta.
Any idea when Ceballos is set to return?
Let’s get this Arteta project underway!
Will need a lot of patience but confidence by all the stuff eschewed by players and staff alike. Low risk, high reward appointment. Needs to be backed by the board though.
This season is a write-off imo but things i’d like to see Arteta establish over the next six months:
Discernible style of play * (will be hard with some of the players we have not being equipped for modern footie)
Evidence of coaching (compactness on and off the ball)
Signs of improvement from individual players (particularly young ones)
Good positional play
Interesting post Pedro. Good job.
“Needs to be backed by the board though.”
Here lies the real “problem”, imo…
Chika
Ceballos will return this week probably.
Always good to see your comments RP. You’re certainly one of the 5 captains of Le Grove. 😀
“We moved for the hottest young coach in the world.”
#praythatPedronosebest
Wasi
Thanks. He has not been exactly brilliant but he should be very useful over the course of the season. Another that might benefit from the Arteta magic. Haha
Ha, thanks Chika. So busy these days but post when i can. Naturally get the concerns around Arteta due to his lack of experience but at the same time, outside of Pep/Klopp, don’t think there’s such a thing as sure fire success. Every coach is a risk, experienced or not. We went with experience with Emery and it bombed horrendously for so many reasons. Honestly looking back I don’t see how they ever thought he was a good fit with Arsenal. Arteta himself comes with many risks but at the same time, he has a great footballing mind and is… Read more »
Success man! We now know we are a scum of a club. Our expectations have now being lowered. You have my support mr mikel
Yeah right, it’s really fun to have 5 different Captains in our squad.
RP
Very important things you highlighted there. 👍🏼
Chika-
5 captains of LeGrove.” 😀😀😀
Thanks Major. Let’s hope it starts to come to fruition.
Chika
Upamecano reminds me of big Vinny Kompany. Fast, strong, authoritative and aggressive, but he’s got errors and red cards on him. Not sure he’ll have the charisma and communication of Kompany to put a large mask over his shortcomings.
He won’t be overrated by the media because if he ever joins us though.
RP
I totally agree with your take on the Arteta appointment and I’m fully behind the project. Like you, I also hope he gets a strong backing from the board.
I believe Arsenal fans would accept it’s a rebuild process, however, there must be visible signs of progress after a certain period.
OH DEAR,,,OH DEAR,,,
Wenger appears on the scene with arteta…..seen at London Colney!!!!
Are we looking at Wenger Mk 2?
i sincerely hope not…
I’m thinking surely not….
will the advice be just peripheral? I hope so.
Im always optimistic for the future, but realistic not to hope for a change by using previously failed components.(wenger)
If arteta is the new manager…..i say good luck to him and to do it “his way”.
Major
Haha I know right. 😀
“I believe Arsenal fans would accept it’s a rebuild process, however, there must be visible signs of progress after a certain period.” Of course. There’ll be debates about how long this period should be. But i think we need a lot of changes tbh. We have some bad apples in this squad. Because these players liked Ljungberg and their efforts against Man City were pathetic. As i said hopefully we see evidence of a new style of play, improved intensity on and off the ball, compact in how we press/or don’t press. Just can’t be leaving too many gaps on… Read more »
Dream10
Same worries I have with him. There’s a fear he might not be able to outgrow his lapses and errors.
I’d really like for us to get a CB like Sol to play next to Saliba. Awesome if we managed to get this defender in January.
“Rumor has it Arteta will be in dugout for the Everton game this weekend, fitting, wouldn’t you say? One club has opted for the future, the other has anchored itself to the past. ” Man pedro’s smugness is as if we have already succeeded. If Ancelotti becomes a better hire and if the results are laid bare in a year or two, Remember this line. I don’t know how someone can judge a coach this much without actually watching them coach. Things you hear in the background may be good but they aren’t the end all. Paul Clement was a… Read more »
I think ‘coaching’ is the most important thing for me. It’s so evident we’re badly coached and have been for years. From elementary mistakes to spacing and positioning it’s been poor. You have teams with much worse quality than us giving Man City better games because they’re better coached. This can’t go on. Those who aren’t looking to back the new regime. That starts with Ozil. Our lack of structure, intensity on and off the ball is beyond mediocre. It’s really amateurish. Need to stress the importance of our compactness with and without the ball. Whether we choose to press… Read more »
“Also would also like to point out that Emery has done wonders and actually overachieved in almost every club he has been in since he started management. Only blips are Arsenal and Moscow who are institutionally unstable. Psg was per the course.“ Think numerous will disagree, he didn’t get near the top 2 in Spain with Valencia, and finished 5/6th in the league with a side he won the EL win thrice. No improvement. These things were cited as concern early on and they proved true. Emery is a decent manager, but clearly not suited or capable to deliver at… Read more »
RP
“As i said hopefully we see evidence of a new style of play, improved intensity on and off the ball, compact in how we press/or don’t press. Just can’t be leaving too many gaps on the pitch.”
Very well said!
There’s a consensus that we need to sign at least a CM and CB in January. Any idea which players you’d consider gettable and of good quality considering it’s the winter window.
My hope is that he’s absorbed a lot from being Pep’s right hand man the past few years.
Discernible style of play.
that is all we can ask for now by arsenal fans. Wow we’ve really fallen
Tbh Ancelotti was never a good fit for Arsenal. Was available in 2018 when Wenger left and we never interviewed him. Again, available and we haven’t touched him. Got to ask yourself why. One of the most impressive CVs in world football and yet the best he can get is Everton. What does that tell you? Have to look closer to home. Look at what the Bayern players said about him, look at what happened at Napoli despite spending money. He’s been on a downward trajectory for about 4 odd years. Very similar to Wenger in that his best days… Read more »
“Romford PeleDecember 18, 2019 10:36:28”
Thisssss!!!!!
Cannot stress the coaching element enough with this club in the last 5 years, it should be the first topic Arteta tackles and will make a huge difference if done correctly imo.
Chika, gonna be hard I think. Teams don’t do as much business in Jan and we blew a lot in the summer so i don’t know.
CB’s i”d like though (Todibo, Upamecano, Ndicka)
CM (Soumare, Sangare Guimares)
These all improve our athletic profile. Whether it’s actually feasible or not remains to be seen.
The club will become an irrelevance Pedro if you keep ignoring how shit this team have been off the ball for years and years. Arteta must bring aspects that were missing from Wenger sides and not just in his last two seasons if he is to truly succeed. To state that Arteta will bring just entertainment . It has to be consistent winning entertainment if that what it is to be. Many are wary of Wenger mk II but this is what you are peddling at this time. So the club doesn’t move on from Wenger after all. All it… Read more »
“Discernible style of play. that is all we can ask for now by arsenal fans. Wow we’ve really fallen” We have fallen but discernible style of play is important because hoistory shows us that most successful teams have a defined method of playing that yields success long-term. Pep/Klopp have always been known for their styles and even when they weren’t successful when they first joined Liverpool and City you already saw signs of improvement straight away that you knew would get better with improved personnel. Emery was a liar. Spoke about being protagonists but he was the most cautious-minded manager… Read more »
Romford pele it is not even me advocating that we should hire Ancelotti, it is more about pedro’s partisan writing that only acknowledges the benefits of an arteta hire. He could also tank and We should lower our expectations. He has already set the bar too high for me regarding arteta.
But i thought this team is good for top4 or we going for the title by buying players in january
“Think numerous will disagree, he didn’t get near the top 2 in Spain with Valencia, and finished 5/6th in the league with a side he won the EL win thrice. No improvement. These things were cited as concern early on and they proved true.”
CC I think you know better. That he didn’t get near the top 2 doesn’t mean he didn’t overachieve based on his KPIs, working conditions and environment. He’d be alright after us.
On to the future hope Arteta delivers. Emery has already exposed the flaws in our team. His work should be easier
Someone demand a title so Kristoman can untangle his fanny
Agreed CC!
Also would implore people to watch that City Amazon Prime documentary which yields some good background info on Arteta. He was even coaching the Arsenal kids in his retirement year at Arsenal. Obviously will be different being head coach but I don’t think it’s as simple as saying that this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Sometimes Arsenal players mark their opponent like football is not a contact sports.
You find yourself screaming at the TV “get close” “stop moving backwards” “no, no don’t allow him make the cross”
The manner we conceded the first goal against City was just so dreadful, we made Fernadinho look like Ronaldinho.
Top quality commentary from Romford Pele this morning.
Good stuff lad.
When Kloop first started, he had Benteke and Sturridge as the forwards, Emre Can, Lucas Leiva, Millner as midfielders and Sakho, Squirtle, Nathaniel Clyne and Alberto Moreno as defenders. It took Kloop more than two years to rebuild the squad. It can be done. I can’t wait to see that we change the culture of the team and replace all those dead woods.
Wonderful , wonderful , wonderful post……..Many many thanks. Outstanding – where PedRo now leads – The Arsenal now follow. (We are finally bringing art and class back to The Arsenal.) And even better foto. Mr. Arteta aint he delicious? That jaw -line: that tan?? CG can see a romance blossoming with that new attractive doctor we have on the bench too. Two beauties there together. Just hope it dont distract from the job in hand……. The soccer. Anyway -Lets hope he can out do Wengers 22 years. Ill be giving him tips throughout the campaign- to help him survive what… Read more »
Habesha, Yes definitely agree. We shouldn’t expect Arteta to be an immediate success I agree. From the sounds of it he’ll have quite an expertienced backroom staff which should hopefully provide good counsel for him.
But I do think this is quite a low risk appointment. If he bombs we can get rid easily. I don’t think we can afford to give another high-profile experienced coach with communication issues who aren’t adept in squad building.
Mystic No I’ll have to disagree on that one, I had an in depth look way back when and he never got witching 19 or 21 points of the top two. Simeone did that in his first season (after Atletico had finished 7th or 9th) then won the league with his second if I remember. If you rattled off the squad he had at Valencia it put his “achievements” into context. It was solid, but not what I’d note for a second as overachieving. “On to the future hope Arteta delivers. Emery has already exposed the flaws in our team.… Read more »
Don’t think anyone in their right mind expected us to beat City or even get a point but we made it so easy for them which is why it’s annoying. KDB even said Arsenal don’t press as a unit so it’s so easy to exploit the gaps we leave. Every other side is so much more compact off the ball, even the relegation sides. Yes we need players, we all know that but we need to be coached. Anyone who isn’t willing to buy into that should be sold imo.
I harp back to what Graham Potter has been doing down at Brighton these past few months. All the players have bought into his methods and philosophies and clearly enjoy playing for him. They have become one of the most attractive teams to watch in the EPL. The new players have integrated well into the system, whilst those that played under Chris Houghton have upped their game considerably. At Arsenal, we’ve had four years or more now of players not believing in what they are doing(longer if you include the gradual regression under Wenger). If Arteta can get them to… Read more »
… and Ishola70.
The first thing Arteta must do is to privately talk to Mustardi, Ozil, Granité, Luiz and some others…
“You don’t want to fight for the shirt ? You don’t respect the club and the fans ?
Then please, feel free to get the fuck out the AFC.”
The big question is… will he have enough balls to do it ?
RP
“Emery is liar”
Ouch. Careful with such. His goons are lurking in the shadows. 😂
________________________
Interesting names there. I just hope we make the best of a difficult window.
“I do t agree that the season is a write off We are 7 points off top 4 and up against a shaky Chelsea and United.” We have a lot of teams to climb over and our confidence is in hell. It really isn’t possible tbh. You’d be expecting too many teams to bomb while expecting us to be almost flawless until season end. 99% unlikely. Had our board sacked Emery when they should’ve at least 6 weeks prior then maybe because our fixture list was kinder. We have nightmare fixtures until the end of Jan with a broken squad… Read more »
Who was it that said “coaching is fanciful”?
“Ouch. Careful with such. His goons are lurking in the shadows. 😂”
Who in their right mind is an Emery disciple?! Ffs lol
“I harp back to what Graham Potter has been doing down at Brighton these past few months.”
Agreed. Virtually the same squad that survived relegation by their skin of their teeth playing a better, more efficient brand of football which is yielding good results. Shows the value of coaching.
Left testicle
Guy, how dare you leave out Bumford from your captains?
Romford Idk about you mate but ever since Emery was put in place my focus has shifted to the balance in the side given it was “the” thing promised and promised upon arrival. I’ve watched football with a defensive eye since then and it’s been a chore to witness us I have to say. Under Wenger the silky football at times would mask it, or make it seem less apparent, but when we got a bit sterile for me it then suddenly sobered my view of the attitude to defending at this club. My one slither of comfort comes in… Read more »
“No I’ll have to disagree on that one, I had an in depth look way back when and he never got witching 19 or 21 points of the top two. Simeone did that in his first season (after Atletico had finished 7th or 9th) then won the league with his second if I remember.” You were always coming here. Points within top 2 are semantics. Atletico had a plan to challenge for the league. They got in players that matched ambitions of where they were and where they wanted to go, stage by stage. They were buying players of 30m… Read more »
Well CC Emery spoke about being good defensively but if you look historically his teams have never been. They always concede a huge amount of shots on goals. Considering we never had the players to play that way anyway it was always a bit of a wild one for me. Also i don’t really understand the concept that you either have to be a defensive team or an attacking one. The best teams marry both. Liverpool and City are both attacking teams but both have the best defensive records. Why? Liverpool have elite athletes so they can afford to push… Read more »
Arteta is going to have budding problems like any new manager, that’s obvious.’ Some of those problems won’t be became of a shitty squad or uncommitted player, some of these problems will also be because of missteps due to his lack of experience. We have to give him time not just because we don’t have the right players but also because he has to garner managerial experience on the job. Hopefully he identifies leaders in the squad to help him because he’s going nowhere until he wins over the leaders. One way to assess him will be how fast it… Read more »
Mad thing is I still think we would’ve won most of our home games under Wenger because we had better combinations under him. Away from home it would’ve been more of the same though. I don’t get why Emery was so reactive in home games. It was crazy annoying.
“We can easily say Diego overachieved with ATM and Emery overachieved with Valencia and Sevilla. It doesn’t have to be “either or” situations.“ If that’s what you want to claim then be my guest, it’s not how I see it. That much is based on the relative quality of the squad’s, and you don’t seem aware of the calibre of player Valencia has at that time. Atletico weren’t as gifted that end, hence my view. “Like I said earlier we all underestimated the ability of players Wenger left over to play modern football and the work needed to be done… Read more »
Ozil won’t press. He’s finished. Gotta go. All the unathletic players have to go. Need more higher intensity players both on and off the ball. If you aren’t willing to play at that intensity you shouldn’t play.
Certainly there needs to be a discernible style of play before the end of the season.
But again, it depends on what he wants to do because this squad is so limited. You cannot field 11 players who all fit a system. There will always be 2 or more who break it.
If Arteta, as rumours suggest, really is someone who demands a massive amount of work from his players then he’s pretty fucked already. At least before the club make massive squad changes.
Aubameyang seems like he’s gone…shame but need to make sure we get good money for him.
“I do t agree that the season is a write off We are 7 points off top 4 and up against a shaky Chelsea and United.” There in lies the problem. People still think we should concentrate on making top 4 this season. It will be more of the season. IMO that shouldn’t be our target. We should build towards the future with people that can buy into Arteta and the new thing he wants to do, just like Graham said. A lot of shedding need to be done January and summer. It would be silly to get hopes high… Read more »
“Aubameyang seems like he’s gone…shame but need to make sure we get good money for him.”
Unless we get CL he was always like;ly to leave anyway. If we get £60m it’s good business. Need to use the money we get from player sales to invest in athletic types who fit the modern profile and improve the squad.
‘Ozil won’t press. He’s finished. Gotta go. All the unathletic players have to go. Need more higher intensity players both on and off the ball. If you aren’t willing to play at that intensity you shouldn’t play.’
100%
‘He will have to deal with the fact he has no experience at that level’: Arsene Wenger warns Mikel Arteta that he will need support at Arsenal as his former player prepares to take over as boss
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7804941/Arsene-Wenger-says-Mikel-Arteta-Arsenal-manager.html
Wenger staying the obvious.
Pep is no longer the mentor, he’s now competition so all these tips are gone now.
Senior players can smell bull shit when it comes from a novice manager.
Let’s see if ‘good coaching ‘can undo ingrained bad habits or lack of athleticism in certain players.
The first thing SauceMan must do is to privately talk to Mustardi, Ozil, Granité, Luiz and some others…
“You don’t want to fight for the shirt ? You don’t respect the club and the fans ?
Then please, feel free to get the fuck out the AFC.”
The big question is… will he have enough balls to do it ?
“There in lies the problem. People still think we should concentrate on making top 4 this season. It will be more of the season. IMO that shouldn’t be our target. We should build towards the future with people that can buy into Arteta and the new thing he wants to do, just like Graham said.”
Agreed
Romford Totally agree, I did a dive into Emery’s previous roles myself to learn a bit more about him as I was really only up to speed with the buzz pieces being released around his inception. It wasn’t the best reading lol and the rest is history. Arteta was someone that understood the art of fouling and blocking channels, underrated player when with us imo. We won a few FA cups and were top 4 with him anchoring the side, all despite his advancing years. Have a level of confidence that he will transmit this view of the game onto… Read more »
Hope Arteta doesnt allow players to fail too much or we might get relegated! Understand the point though. He has no presence and no experience so he’s going to have to prove himself to the players in order to get any respect whatsoever. All this on the backdrop of the teams worst run for most of our lifetimes. Wonder how he will play under him. How he will address our defensive problems….how he will address players attitude problems…..all you can do is wonder since he has never managed a football team at any age or any level in his fucking… Read more »