Well here we are. The day after. I’ve been doing some thinking. Ignoring the ‘haters’ as American’s would say, and I have some thoughts. Some people say ‘the best thoughts.’
Enjoy.
FRESH IDEAS FOR AN OLD PROBLEM
I bought into a hipster vision of a manager that would play exciting football that was so expressive, they’d put it in the Louvre. We haven’t seen that yet. There have been improvements, we’ve been more effective, and we’re solid… but, the football has paid the price.
We’re now into the Emeryzone when it comes to tipping points. We’ve lost 50% of our Premier League games, we’re averaging the lowest number of shots per game in about 50 years, and the football looks badly lacking in sauce.
Arteta needs to find a solve. If you’re going to bin of Mest Ozil, you have to have something up your sleeve that is more interesting than David Luiz playing Hollywood passes from deep. We need better ideas and we need them fast. Lose against United, and things are going to look very dire.
GIVE THE KIDS A SHOT
Arsenal Wenger is on a press tour, have you noticed? Of course you have. Well, one thing I liked that he said was about giving kids a chance, even if they cost you some points. Wenger gave Cesc a chance and he thrived. He overplayed Jack Wilshere when he was 18, giving him 56 appearances. Now, I’m not asking for that, but if we have kids that can break the lines with a pass, is there not a squad we could line up with that could protect the player? Is some creativity better than 8 attempts at goal for the rest of the season? ESR, where are you? Willock? Saka? Patino? THERE MUST BE ONE KID THAT CAN CREATE. We are not City where it takes 10 years to break as a youth players. We’re Arsenal. We could be Dortmund. Is there REALLY a difference between watching kids with high ceilings make mistakes… versus watching senior players make mistakes?
MOVE ON FROM THE SPINE OF DOOM
I know it was one bad game, but let’s be honest, it’s been coming for a while. Mustafi always has a switch-off moment, we know what he’s about, why is he being offered a new deal? Granit Xhaka can do many things well, but we are now at a stage where the experiment can end. Thomas Partey can do all the things he can +++. It’s time to move on from player that have failed us for years. It’s time to give our new players a chance. It’s time to make Arsenal better again.
GET GABI MARTINELLI FIT
Look, I know we over-rank players that are broken… but imagine Gabriel as a focal point in attack? Powerful, aggressive, great in the air, and HUNGRY. Surely he’ll at the very least get into that front 3? I really cannot wait to get him back in the squad. Anything is more interesting than having to watch Nicolas Pepe fall over himself.
SIGN JACK WILSHERE
Ok, I’m sorry, but he’s on a free. Would a pay as you play be so bad? He’s 28, not 39. Am I dreaming? Could he help out? Just for one game? Give him a shot? Ok… maybe I took this blog down an incorrect path.
That’s me done, listen to the podcast, it perks up after we get over our depression.
Leftside I’d love to see a breakdown of the cost of some of the CM’s playing for other PL teams who could’ve been bought with the £23 – £27 million that we had on the table for Xhaka. We’ve got options now if Arteta doesn’t cock it up. On Sunday it looked like both Xhaka and Ceballos were told to move into the FB positions when they went forward leaving Partey alone in CM. What’s even more worrying about this are Arteta’s comments after Vienna last week about Partey being able to control the midfield all by himself. All reeks… Read more »
GunnerDNA “It’s over for him” Bollicks. Not a chance. It is really sad that we have so many knee jerkers who think Premier League Management is so easy. Talk is cheap. Wanting to sack the Manager (while slagging off the ability of the players he inherited) is so pathetic it beggars belief. Might be a bit of banter fun for trolls but how in hell would that improve us? Same players. Perspective: Lost 3 games; Llverpool, Man City (away) & Leicester. How many teams will get points in those games? Creating a narrative that these are disgraceful defeats & Arteta… Read more »
Marc
I’d be very surprised the United game produced a classic.
Fully expecting a tight game.
Going gung ho with the pace United have in their forward line would be naive at best.
And United will be looking at our lack of creativity, but pacy forward line, and be thinking f*ck pressing them, commit strategic fouls, gets back into position, and let them try opening us up.
It’s got all the hallmarks of a cagey game, hopefully we can push the margins in our favour, we’re overdue a result up there,
Le Sauce
I’m not saying we don’t have the squad to do it – I’m saying I don’t think we have the squad Arteta wants to do it and he won’t have the money to buy the players he wants unless he does do it.
It’s chicken and egg and I’m not sure Arteta can utilise the squad he has well enough.
Marc
That was the case on Sunday. Partey was isolated as Xhaka and Ceballos covered the FBs when attacking so we vacated the middle of the pitch and looked to attack through the wings bearing in mind that Leicester we’re comfortable defending our wing play because we didn’t have any one who would provide aerial threat to convert any of the crosses and the cutback which used to be our bread and butter under Emery was also lacking.
Rich, “GunnerDNA We lost at Anfield At City And a tight game to Leicester, who hit City for 5 just a few weeks back And if we lose at Old Trafford, a place where we don’t generally have much luck, you want to sack the manager? Our fan base is full of overreacting bedwetters.” It deeper than results, Arsenal have no identity. If that’s all he can do in 10 months he should be sacked. He’s not good enough! He will get enough time at Arsenal to drag us down further because the Club lacks ambition, so need to get… Read more »
Fair play Marc. It is all up to Arteta at the moment.
One thing is clear, the kroenkes don’t joke with their champions league money and arteta will definitely feel the heat if he falls short at the end of the season
Rich
“Our fan base is full of over reacting bedwetters”
This.
Don’t forget this blog (like every blog) has it’s fair share of trolls playing the banter game, so some of the comment has to be taken for what it is. The majority of fans understand the game and as disappointed as they are, know you can’t sack a Manager who has won a major trophy against the odds with a bunch of players he inherited. If losing away to Liverpool and Man City is so dreadful, there would be managers being sacked every other week!!
There is too much criticism about the decisions made to recruit Willian, Soares and Mari. WILLIAN is rated an experienced and versatile player who Chelsea wanted to keep. He came on a Bosman. There is speculation about his contract, but the facts are we would not have recruited him unless we offered a better contract than Chelsea. SOARES came also on a Bosman and is also an experienced full back. Arsenal were recruiting someone to compete and/or understudy Bellerin. MARI cost us a modest transfer fee and was recruited because Arteta wanted a left footed centre back. Despite some of… Read more »
AFC Forever: “Yes there are some problems creatively but let’s stop pretending it’s anything other than that.” Honestly, how is this a small problem? It’s like saying, “We’re shit at defending and we concede a lot”, now it’s “We are shit at attacking and we can’t score for shit”. We are a boring, dull, zero passion, zero ambition, sideways passing, predictable, slow tempo, robotic, ugly playing football side. And the manager has done very little if anything to try and change that. We were hearing how great we are playing when it was actually Auba scoring goals from half chances.… Read more »
The match at Old Trafford has draw written all over it. Both managers are under a bit of pressure and none would want to come out at the loosing end. It’s going to be similar to the Leicester game except that man u has more pace and we would have mustafi at the back…
I can only hope we can spring up surprises because another loss would let the knives out for the coach
Marc “I’m not saying we don’t have the squad to do it – I’m saying I don’t think we have the squad Arteta wants to do it ” Mate, every day half the players are being slated on here. Yet at the same time Arteta is too.. So what is it? Are the players good enough for top 4?. If so it’s on the Manager. Conversely, if the players aren’t good enough then it’s not on the Manager. Too much hypocrisy on here, especially as two of our losses were City & Liverpool away and the third to a team… Read more »
Rich, it’s going to be a pivotal game… agree, not sure we’re about to see an explosion of football, but you’d hope to see a reaction after the dismal second half against Leicester.
At least United won’t deep block.
To get creativity in the team you have to start utilising midfield. Let’s be honest Arteta has been abandoning this area far too often with Leicester match being the latest example. Not only were Xhaka and Ceballos going wide leaving Partey on his own moves where still being instigated from Xhaka but instead of from his usual deep midfield position it was on the left wing. If Partey can’t be first on the ball in this current midfield then our search for improvement for midfield must go on and it is far from fixed. The only viable option is to… Read more »
raptora
It’s called being too clever for your own good.
Lego Hair – LOL!!
To me he’ll always be Captain Scarlet.
AFC, “Talk is cheap. Wanting to sack the Manager (while slagging off the ability of the players he inherited) is so pathetic it beggars belief. Might be a bit of banter fun for trolls but how in hell would that improve us? Same players.” And that’s the exact reason why I don’t listen to Mikel press conference because he’s all talk and no action. If he continue to struggle I want Arsenal to sack him and hire Mauricio Pochettino before United, CFC and PSG to see if he can get something out this group of players and get us back… Read more »
AFC, the players are good enough for top four… but so are the players of at least 7 other squads.
Arteta should be doing more with what he has. United is a big chance to get things back on track.
AFC Forever
You are right but the truth of the matter is we’ve been shite in every game this season.
GunnerDNA I said when Arteta took over it would take him a few years to get us going, alongside much better scouting + recruitment. The same for Emery, that he slightly overachieved in his first season, and our summer business the following summer was vastly overrated and we’d go backwards, and that sacking Emery wouldn’t change much. Our problems aren’t coaching ones, they’re poor scouting, poor recruitment, poor fund allocation, that’s been going on for far too long, and you don’t undo that in 10 months. Our squad is one that should be finishing between 6th-8th. And the argument between… Read more »
Even Pedro opened his eyes and saw that the team has huge problems at the moment. Even Pedro. Yet some in the forums think we are overreacting. I mean, GunnerDNA saying it’s curtains for Arteta if we lose vs Manure is maybe the only one over the top comment. The rest are people sharing their ideas on how to fix the current bad performances. And make no mistake, we’ve been close to shocking since the start of the season. Having a combined amount of maybe 60-70 minutes total time of playing good football 9 games in the season speaks on… Read more »
I hate to say it, but I very much see a loss against Man U on the cards. If we are facing Penalty United with either Sokratis or Mustafi at the back then we may as well start 2 goals down. Ole’s team talk will basically be to Rashford, Martial and Greenwood to just get into the box – job done!
The match at Old Trafford has draw written all over it.
LeSauce
Man UTD hasn’t won a home game this season and guess which team is good for breaking unwanted records?
Haven’t scored a goal since Jesus was a boy, you know the team to play against.
Haven’t kept a clean sheet in like forever, you know the team to play against.
Marc, I hope that the goalkeeper coach who had worked with him before, see something in him and think that he can correct his flaws. Hopefully he is not yet ready, but could be a monster in the making. However Looking at his games at Dijon, I think that the transfer of Runnarsson smack of ManCity Claudio Bravo’s purchase school of thought. We need a goalkeeper who is good with his feet, let’s hire him. Oh shit he is crap at the rest, you know the important goalkeeping bit like actually keeping the ball out of the net. Never mind… Read more »
Raptora, you have ignore GunnerDNA, he’s a bit of a part timer with football.
We have issues, but they can be solved.
We need to utilise Willian better, start exploring the middle of the park, and possible experiment with a kid for a sustained number of games.
We have a good base, but not good enough to zero goals conceded every game. Arteta needs to ramp it up. United could be a watershed moment. Then we have to finish out the mini session with wins against Leeds and Villa.
Azed, that’s exactly it… everyone is expecting we hand OGS as huge boost.
The watershed is turning that notion on its head and coming away with the bounty.
Yeah, I think we lose at Old Toilet. We’ve had some draws going there lately, but our last win was in 2006, almost 15 years ago. To expect to win would be wishful thinking, but I’d take a draw. Not having fans on the stadium could help us though. If we were in a bit better situation I’d say this is the best chance to win there we’ve had in a long ass time. Sadly, we’re not. And so a draw would be a decent result. More so, I want to see Arteta doing something in fixing our attacking problems.… Read more »
“Our squad is one that should be finishing between 6th-8th.” Probably true, but that’s why you try to hire a manager who can over achieve with what he has. Merely doing what is expected isn’t enough. Mikel is supposed to be a great coach so it’s hardly surprising expectations are higher than that. Great managers continually over-perform. Good managers often exceed expectations but eventually fade and leave. Average managers take their sides to a position in the table that’s expected and eventually are sacked by ambitious sides. Poor managers don’t last long. Question is: Is Mikel a great or even… Read more »
I’d have loved Jose… He will pick up a cup this year and they look certainly in the box seat for a top 4 spot. Arsenal would have buckled last nights game…. I’d take Evertons manager now we have missed that boat.. Don’t let an fa cup fool u… Top sides care little for it and deep down we know it
Team spirit looks shocking, ozil has the players in his side that’s 100% clear.
Raptora Mate, I agree but it’s not something that’s not that difficult to solve. Look, Arteta, rightly or wrongly, prioritised defensive shape without the ball. For years Arsenal fans complained that were soft defensively and easy to get at. All true. He has fixed that, our defensive shape is better. The problem we have is the opposite to that, it’s movement through transitions and in particular playing through the block. That’s where we are poor. Only player we have with the vision and ability to improve that is a hate figure who can’t even get 20 mins in a tight… Read more »
Pedro we can’t be so sure united won’t deep block. Ole might take a look at what Leicester did and adopt the same approach, he has no win at old Trafford this season and he is a counter attacking specialist. I expect him to hand the initiative to Arteta and look to counter
Matt Martial is suspended for Sunday Pedro The problem we have is clubs know we struggle to break teams down. Teams will now strategically foul us, break up the transition, get back into shape, and let us have the ball, and be relatively comfortable in doing so. They’ll then look to pick us off, as we commit more players forward. That’s why we don’t commit players forward. And why I believe the benefits of an extra defender and defensive structure, currently outweighs the benefits of playing an additional forward/attacking midfielder I don’t think that’s Arteta’s preference, I think he see’s… Read more »
Rich, Not much between Leicester and Arsenal when everyone’ fit but Leicester were decimated with injuries. Automatic starters missing: Soyuncu, Ricardo, Ndidi, ………Vardy on the bench and only good for 20min, Madison fresh back from injury and struggling for form. If the likes of Praet, Tielemans, and Barnes ( the last two decent players) put fear into a fully fit Arsenal squad playing on home turf then we should just call it quits now. Arsenal should press and try to suffocate the shit out of them but that’s not Arteta’s style. That’s the problem , not that we lost by… Read more »
Pedro, “Raptora, you have ignore GunnerDNA, he’s a bit of a part timer with football.” What would you call yourself for all the false narratives you was campaigning about when Mikel Arteta got hired? There are too much stick to beat you with at the moment, its best to sit this one out. You was all acting like common sense is irrelevant and now you realize that you was just telling Lies in the end. Its just 6 games in a new season and you crying out for Jacky boy for help, the quickness of you getting humbled. You’re a… Read more »
Axed
Unfortunately that is a legitimate concern. Over the years we seem to help teams in poor form and resurrect dead careers (Benteke). I just hope our players have gotten over such weak mentality and get the job done next week. We need the 3 points even more than expansive football, anything just to bring belief and confidence back
Pedro
“Arteta should be doing more with what he has. United is a big chance to get things back on track.”
Agree 100% – the football God’s have just told me that they will grant us a win but only if you put the picture of the Fraulins up prior to kick off.
It’s in your hands now!
Rich, true… Leicester doing what they did was unexpected… If that’s going to be every side this season, we need to fashion a creator out of something. ESR, Willock, Willian, Saka, Wilshere… just go hard at an idea.
We can’t just play around the edges
Ashburton “Top sides care Littie for it” Really? I wouldn’t want Jose stinking out the place. As for trophies, that’s the sort of delusion rubbish I would expect from a Spurs fans, saying trophies don’t matter. After all Spuds last FA Cup was in 1991, 30 years ago. So a fan would have to be, let’s say, 38 to remember that. So please explain why a Spud fan doesn’t want to win an FA Cup? Bollicks, they’re fans only claim to fame is finishing above Arsenal in the league. As for their last League title, 1961, 60 years ago (laugh),… Read more »
Marc, that’s a good shout!
*their.
” Its just 6 games in a new season and you crying out for Jacky boy for help, ”
And one appearance by our new £50 million CM.
Sorry to rub salt in the wounds but talk of Wilshere doesn’t even come close to knee jerk.
Pedro
I need something to cheer me up!
Lol this team ain’t beating anyone away. Get real folks. Wish all you like Artetais et in his ways and will start Laca up top, Auba on the wing and Xhaka in midfield. I’m no longer surprised by the results coming when a novice is at the helm setting us up for failure week in week out. Arteta want the midfield and team overall to play like he did as a footballer and Arteta sucked ass so why does anyone think he’ll get us playing fluid attacking football makes me laugh. He was the epitome of sideways safe football and… Read more »
GunnerDNA, go add some photos to your instagram or something… leave the football chat to people that understand what’s going on.
‘Sack the manager’
So fucking childish and amateur.
Marc I disagree, my sources close to the footballing gods just informed me that Pedro has the change the name of the blog to Le Bumery for 6 weeks to stand a chance of adding more nails to oles coffin
“We can’t just play around the edges”
We literally only play along one edge, he left edge. Arteta’s set-up so far is proving to be a one trick pony.
Attempt to question the illusion of progress has been met with accusations of being pessimists,
we know something will have to give, what we dont know is when or where,
Its great to hope but the reality is dire
“I said when Arteta took over it would take him a few years to get us going, alongside much better scouting + recruitment.“
Rich, define “get us going”…………top for? Then maybe, but looking at his transfers and contract extension, it’s more about the here and now then a few years down the road.
Our last win in the EPL at Old Toilet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiFSc_C86hY What a player Cesc was for us. I hated the way he left us and I at the time didn’t want him back cause I was still hurt. But looking back, Wenger refused to get him back because he had Ozil. Cesc went on to have a top season combining with Diego Costa time and time again in Conte’s Chelsea title run. 5 goals and 12 assists in the equivalent of 15 games played in the EPL. In his first season for them he registered 24 assists. Mental numbers. Wonder… Read more »
GunnerDNA
“I want Arsenal to sack him and hire Mauricio Pochettino”
Mate, you’re a third rate troll.
Arteta can just decide to shock everyone and start Runnarson, Mustafi, Xhaka, Elneny and Willian as a false 9. Man u might be in shock throughout the game and we win
Wisdom!!!!
Pedro
“I need something to cheer me up!
My mate had terrible sunburn, he was in agony and couldn’t sleep at night as his legs and chest were red raw. So he went to see this new doctor who prescribed him Viagra. ‘I didn’t know that cured sunburn doc” he said.. The Doctor smiled back at him, “Oh it won’t cure the sunburn but it will keep the sheets off your legs’
He might be a troll but if eventually Arteta doesn’t work, which could happen to any manager, let alone a rookie, Arsenal will need a top class manager. My top pick would be Conte, but Poch is right up there.
Le Sauce
As I am a Prophet for the Football God’s I’d suggest you’re following false idols.
The Wilshere comment is obviously tongue in cheek.
2 things
1) Arsenal will not sack Arteta at the moment – it’s not the way we operate.
2) even if we did the Poooooooooooooooooch would not be an option – he’s being linked to the Madrid job which is the job he dreams of.
Losing to United and we still could be only a couple points out of top four, so the table is really not that sign if right now.
Playing style is.
Significant
Raptora
“My top pick would be Conte, but Poch is right up there”
.
Lol, what Trophy did Poch ever win? Why did Spurs sack him?
Seriously, this is the sort of stuff that Rich was alluding to. Just imagine an ex Spud manager losing away to Liverpool, City & Leicester – Jesus, death of a thousand cuts.
I think the VAR concerns are pretty valid re: Arsenal. One thing the FA or UEFA or FIFA can do is make the audio of their decision making live to the audience . Thats what they do in Cricket if you’ve seen it or in the Australian league of football . It shows how they make their decisions. A bit of more transparency that FA wont allow.
AFC
That’s terrible – whilst I appreciate the effort it’s nil points I’m afraid
What worries me is that Rogers told all EPL managers how to defeat Arteta’s Arsenal. Just a ball over the head of Xhaka,and you can open up the defense easily.
Marc
At least I tried!!!
Divine Sherlock
As I said,with Riley in charge it will never improve. These dodgy VAR decisions should be called out but as it’s Arsenal nobody really cares. The Leicester & Man City ones were awful & baffling.
Man fuck Poch. Honestly I don’t see him addressing anything and besides we’re not sacking Mikel and it’d be stupid to anyway. If we have long term reservations about him then let him see out his contract or at least wait until the summer or next summer while putting out the feelers to the likes of Nagelsmann and Marco Rose. Also has to be said Edu should be sharing in some of the blame from a squad composition point of view. He should have stood up to Mikel this past summer he should have told him that this player and… Read more »
“THINGS I’D LIKE TO SEE ARTETA ADDRESS”
Maybe the obvious.
Sol Campbell was a spud player for 12 years. He joined us and in an Arsenal legend now and is universally loved by all of our fans.
If you are consistently good for us we will treat you well no matter where you’re coming for.
from*
Divine
Yes it should be on audio like the cricket. If they have to explain the decision rather than whisper it in an earpiece, it creates accountability. Riley would never agree to that, he likes PGMOL incompetence to be ignored.
The Mane incident and the Gabriel one were identical. One referee at Stockley decided to investigate through replays and awarded Liverpool a few kick for dangerous player. The Walker high foot was not even reviewed despite being identical. How is that even possible?
Are we getting in the referees excuse nice and early? I mean that should be the least concerning thing to us at this point
Arteta blaming refs this early into the process is a worrying sign.
Jim Lahey
My view on winning football matches is old-fashioned: either take control of midfield or bypass midfield.
Right now Mikel lacks the quality to boss midfield – hopefully Partey makes the difference. But he does have players able to bypass midfield: Tierney, Saka, Bellerin and, above all, Pepe (if used properly.)
None of the midfielders score in open play. At key moments, they should hold the midline and let Pepe & Co go. Goals will come.
Arteta shouldn’t have made these refereeing comments. It makes him look a bit clueless.
We were playing a team that put Harvey Barnes up top in the first half and should have been able to come back from a disallowed goal in the 3rd minute.
H&L, you’ll go in the bin if you continue to add zero value to the comments with your hot beavis and butthead takes.
I think Arteta will start with Mustafi at Old Trafford.
That will get some juice flowing.
Oh god… Mustafi.
Diss, I don’t like the excuses… but if you’re playing the fine margins game and you get a good goal disallowed, pretty clear you’ll be going after the refs.
Not like he’s the first to do so.
Our goal should have been disallowed. I needed several replays to be completely sure if the ball hits Xhaka or not, and him being in an offside position, so close to the keeper and basically shielding the ball on it’s way to the net… I dunno, I’d be pissed if they had allowed the goal if we were on the receiving end of it.
Pedro
Is it true that Arsenal offered Mustafi an extension?
If it’s true, what does that say about Mikel’s judgment and vision for Arsenal?
Diss, Chris Wheatley wrote the piece, he’s pretty well sourced.
The power of football: Mesut Ozil is providing 1400 meals per day at 11 schools in the north London area. The #AFC midfielder has been paying for meals for charities & shelters since March and this week expanded it to schools.
He only cares about money.
What is worse?
Arsenal offering Mustafi a new deal.
or
Mustafi rejecting Arsenal’s new deal.
englandsbest
I am with you on this one. Pepe has the potential to be a good winger. He needs better coaching and on pitch support. Didn’t Barc provide Messi some substances to help him grow. Pepe also need support to build up his strength.
Marko. You missed the earlier convo about VAR. It’s not an excuse, its a discussion worth having irrespective of Arsenal. The point ofVAR was to stop injustice, bad decisions changing games. Take the Gabriel incident at Man City. It was foul but wasn’t given, fact. Did it change the result? No idea. Could it have changed the result? The referees behind the VAR control cannot give two different decisions for teh same thing, that is unacceptable. The rules of the game are supposed to be implemented more accurately by VAR Leicester at home. If Lacaettes goal had been allowed would… Read more »
raptora
October 27, 2020 13:55:16
—————-
Correct, Xhaka was offside and interfering with play.
They are feeling the heat …..
diet Pep going after the refs,
Supreme leader Kim Peh Dro with extreme brutality, making his blog among the worst bloggers rights violators in the blogworld
Dunno CT, if you are bothered by Mustafi rejecting a new deal, that’s on you.
*Just changed batteries in apple keyboard – it was missing letters and words!!!
The enforced disappearance of Dariano, Redtruth, CG are some of the violations that have happened. Many grovers live in fear.
CT
What is worse?Arsenal offering Mustafi a new deal.
or Mustafi rejecting Arsenal’s new deal.
Arsenal offering him one.
He only cares about money.
It’s a PR stunt. Good PR = money. So yes he only cares about money. It’s all about his brand and if people knew that his brand was lazy wanker who pulls sickies and plays like a bum then it would effect his brand so he’s trying very hard to divert attention from his uselessness as a footballer. It works for some not on most and clearly not on prospective clubs
Don’t hold back Marko
Sid, I’m watching you.
Tom I don’t think there’s currently a huge difference in quality between 3rd and 8th We’re likely over 38 games in the middle of that cluster. Teams come in cycles. So what I meant by a couple of years to get us going, I’d expect incremental improvements in shape, playing patterns, and team cohesion, and I think they happen slower than the patience of the majority of football fans. Then like when Liverpool signed Van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho, and Klopp had time to work with the rest of his structure, like his full backs, and forwards, things then started… Read more »
AFC, agree with your points… problem for Arteta is I’m not sure he has the squad for a fine margins approach at the moment.
Some Italian teams have shown interest in Mustafi during the last TW. The board has information that Mustafi has a market. That’s why they try to protect their right on Mustafi. Mustafi is probably also aware of that.
Pedro I love the war by way of social media that Mesut is waging against the club I really do. Every day I hate the freak that little bit more and it shows his true colors and where he’s at as a footballer as in total nonentity whose schtick now is “Look at me look at me”. Totally useless a total has been Germany were right to disown him
Pedro, Arteta also complained VAR didn’t sufficiently review Kyle Walker high boot incident.
Did anyone think this was pen worthy? Not likely.
Working the ref is a good strategy at times but not a good look for a rookie coach.
What are the chances of the title of this blog after utd game being
‘Arteta silences his doubters’
Looool
I think Mikel just needs to take the handbrake off
He’s still growing a s a manage and is struggling with that old question of whom do you trust, your process or the players.
He is struggling with overbearing management and too much control.
He needs to loosen up.