In every young person’s journey through management; across any industry, there’s always a moment when things go badly to shit. Your PowerPoint plans get smacked by unforeseen circumstances. Those principles you promised to adhere to are tested by people you expected more of. You start engaging in contradictory behaviour because you believe there to be no other choice, and secretly, it’s easier to let things slide versus confronting people. That time is here with Mikel Arteta. Bad decisions have snowballed and the chickens have come home to roost. He has to take stock, get back to basics, and graft a path forward.
We thought simple answers were sitting in plain sight, those naive ideas were obliterated yesterday, now it feels like we’re entering a death-spiral. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Only the weak succumb to panic and the mob. Arteta needs to show strength and battle his way into the cockpit and take control of the Arsenal plane.
Firstly, let’s talk where the standards are slipping.
Why did Willian start? The club told him not to travel to Dubai and he said, fuck it, I’m going. What message does his inclusion send to the rest of the squad? What would we have said if Ozil did that? Why was Willian included if he broke the rules? If you have non-negotiables, they have to be for everyone, and if they are breached, there has to be consequences. The fact Willian was so bad in the first half he had to be yanked for Reiss Nelson was stunning. He hasn’t had an assist or goal contribution in 7 games now. His free transfer has followed the exact trajectory of nearly every signing we’ve made from a rival. How were Edu and Arteta allowed to do this deal? It is a catastrophically poor use of funds made even worse because there is a very clear history of these deals working out poorly for us.
Another observation. Watching the warm-up, you look around at the coaches and you have two that look like they’re about 23 running drills. I’m game for innovative thinkers, but we’re in a crisis right now and it looks like our ‘manager’ is going down the same path as Arsene Wenger. Surrounding himself with a backroom team he can dominate. It’s a small thing, but what does that say to the players as well? Where are the experienced heads to counterbalance Arteta’s youth? Who is the Villanova to Pep? Where is the guy that’s done it before at the highest level? The biggest weakness of Arteta is years served… he should have those weaknesses catered to by a Technical Director that has the cojones to impose himself on a junior coach and build a team around his weaknesses.
Then we have the game. Nicolas Pepe, darling of a huge chunk of the fanbase for no real reasons, landed a run. It was a big 90 for him. He had a chance to show he has something to offer the Premier League. He was a disaster, again. He was a gift for Leeds down the right. His game has no intensity, his body language is shocking and his creative output doesn’t merit inclusion. What is the difference between him in the side and Mesut Ozil? Bar Mesut can actually create. I wasn’t sure it was possible he could be more useless in the second half, but he dug deep and decided that he’d take an unintense situation and make it pivotal to the game by headbutting a Leeds player unprovoked. It wasn’t ‘heat of the moment.’ It was intentionally destructive. It was the power move of a player that really doesn’t give a fuck about Arsenal or his career. I’ve seen people bemoan Arteta for calling this behaviour ‘unacceptable,’ like he’s being unfairly scapegoated. He literally blew our game plan over nothing. Not sure what else there is to say here.
To be honest, we played better when he exited the field. Reiss wasn’t much better than Willian, but Saka coming on for Joe Willock gave us more balance and attacking threat than Pepe and Willian combined.
… on Joe Willock. How bad was he? I don’t think he could have done a better job proving why he doesn’t start proper games. He couldn’t do the basics right. He got in the way. He ran towards players with the ball, he held on too long, he made bad and slow decisions. A total disaster run out for him.
Auba dropped another 2/10. He looks drunk off his big deal. Nothing stuck through the middle. He lacked sharpness. He dropped too deep. He didn’t connect with anything. Another drossy day out for our most important player.
Think about the basics we’re fucking up. How many more times are we going to see a corner barely make the front post? My ultimate peeve at the moment is watching Hector Bellerin give away possession from throw-ins and worse… foul throw. Who foul throws more than Hector? If you do that in Sunday league, your mates rip you, and pour Fosters in your duffel bag after the game. How has this become a thing? Our setpieces at the moment are toilet break opportunities.
The output of the game was reflective of a very bad two weeks preparation. Things aren’t great at the training ground. There are disciplinary issues that you’re not seeing that are contributing to friction in the camp. The Dani Ceballos vs David Luiz issue wasn’t a case of light handbags. It was a big deal and Ceballos was to blame. His cries of ‘FAKE’ are nonsense. Willian sticking his middle finger up to the culture was shocking considering his seniority, then he gets a start and stinks out the place. That all the troublemakers of the last two weeks started doesn’t exactly speak to new high standards being upheld. But… Dani is an Arteta project. Willian is a reflection of Arteta’s tastes. Caving for your favourites? Not a good look.
Being a leader is lonely. Upholding standards does not win you popularity contests. It is stressful. But that is the job. Arteta seems to be losing sight of that part of his role, for someone that talks about culture as much as he does, that is a really big worry. Replacing bad eggs with your own bad eggs won’t move Arsenal forward. Simply put, you cannot be a proponent of high-performance culture and not hold yourself and your team accountable to the principles that make it so. I hear one of the coaches is a disaster. A real bad egg. Everyone loved who he replaced, not so much the new guy. It’s a small thing, but why are we keeping people at the ground that aren’t good for the environment? Small bad decisions grow under pressure like cancer, and at the moment, it looks like our new ‘manager’ is paying the price of lots of small bad decisions that are now teetering on the edge of terminal.
Arteta’s ruthless and precision approach to discipline at the start has softened. He’s caving on his non-negotiables for players he’s personally invested in. He cut off his nose to spite his face with Mesut Ozil. You can only make big dick decisions if there’s a plan. His plan was to replace Mesut’s creative output with two players that seem to have the same zero fucks attitude without the same quality. Now he’s paying the price for that and he didn’t give himself an insurance policy (by keeping Ozil in the squad), preferring to give the squad place to someone like Saed Kolasinac we all know is not good enough. The argument of ‘preserving the culture’ falls flat when you look at what is going on right now.
Now, the good news is none of this is fatal, yet. Elite leadership talent doesn’t cave to bad moments. Football clubs have ups and downs. The best people find a way through the bad times. Make no mistake, we just entered a serious RedZone for Mikel Arteta. Some brutal decisions need to be made and he needs to get the car back on the road.
First thing he needs to address is discipline. If you don’t hit the standards for Arsenal, you have to pay a price. Nicolas Pepe should not be seen for a while. He lacks discipline off the pitch and he’s a disaster on it. We just have to accept he’s the worst signing in Arsenal’s history and no amount or rewatching his Youtube videos will change that. Get him out of the club and move on. I have not idea what we’re going to do about Willian bar pin his picture on the wall at London Colney and promise never to give someone over the age of 30 a longterm deal ever again. Let’s go Dennis Bergkamp on this problem and stop believing players are going to give you what you need. That decision is on Arteta and it was a shocking one that we all knew would end badly.
Secondly, he needs to work out a way of getting us firing again. People on Le Grove are calling Arsenal notagonists and it’s true. We were shite going forward again. We looked interesting when Saka came on and we went to 10 men. Whatever purist idea Arteta has in his head about attack is not working. We are really fucking slow-moving the ball. We need to add 30% to the pace. We need to stop looking so mechanical. We need to find some unpredictability in our attacking play.
Thirdly, all this needs to have happened yesterday.
We didn’t lose against Leeds. We look like an Emery team going forward, but we’re pretty difficult to break down. Leeds only managed two more shots on target than us yesterday. Problem is, we’re clueless in attack. No open play goals in 7.5 hours of football is fucking dreadful. That will get solved though. Arteta will coach his way out of this because his future depends on it.
We have two really big games coming up. If we take 6 points against Spurs and Wolves, we’re right back in the mix.
Can we also just take a moment to celebrate what stars Kieran Tierney, Gabriel, and Bernd Leno were yesterday. The German made some outrageous saves. He was electric, what a clean sheet. Tierney is just a warrior. A proper player. A nightmare to play against. I LOVED that he had to be dragged away after catching Xhaka chumming it up with Alioski after the game. That’s the spirit you want at Arsenal, blowing up after the game, when it doesn’t affect your team. I’m so glad he’s maintained fitness. A true warrior. I also love what Gabriel brings to our defence. He’s settled so fast. What a player we have there.
Back to the situation. The Premier League this season is about top 4 qualification. The job of Arteta is to be within 6 points of top 4 come February. If we are in our current position by then, we’re on target to treat every game heading into the finish line like a cup final.
Football clubs go through rough patches. We are in a patch that has been ploughed with salt and arsenic, but we’ll come out the other side and things will start to go for us. We have Thomas Partey returning to midfield. We’ll start Saka next week and lean on his creativity. We’ll stop wasting time on Nicolas Pepe, we’ll put Willian on the bench, and we might take a chance on some young players that cannot possibly do any worse.
The season feels like it’s over, but it’s not. You’ll spend all week complaining about where we are, you’ll be angry at work tomorrow… that is your right fam. Things will improve though. It really doesn’t take much in this league to go from FRAUD watch to something more hopeful. Fingers crossed Arteta can find the path forward.
See you in the comments. x
@Godfather & @MB “I’ve said before that the worst mistake Arteta made was allowing Ozil into London Colney. Take the #10 jersey from the prick and hand it to Saka or Martinelli and let him rot at home since he has no intention of being a football player.” Both of you are clueless and are just spouting somebody else’s popular shit opinion. His being at Coney is in his FUCKING CONTRACT. as was revealed by the Athletic. If they would bar him from Colney Ozil’s lawyers and agent would file a breach of duty of trust and confidence as per… Read more »
Ernest
Paying exorbitant prices for a Kobe cut is one thing, paying through the nose for a regular cut just because the chef might make a table appearance wearing shades and a low cut shirt, while sprinkling salt in his trademark bs move is for suckers.
I feel sorry for the next club who hires Arteta as his fixation on defence will ruin the team.
Charlie
“You dismissed Aouar because of his goals and assists tally from this season but you’re feverishly wanking into a sock about a return of Ozil.What’s his figures looked like lately? .”
Ozil’s figures are very similar to aouar’s this season
Neither has scored a goal from open play..and Aouar jas one more assist.
You are too funny, Tom!
Yes Arsensl had problems in defence but that was down to Wenger and not because we are Accrington Stanley.
The defence should more or less have been ignored as the culprit responsible for the shambles is no longer at the club.
MD-Gunner
Yep, I understand that. It’s just sad to see a loss-loss situation for a worldcup winner and such a big club.
I can go to the extent of saying it’s the coach fault (Emery, Freddie, Arteta now) for his poor performance, but tell me, who is wiser? Sanchez who dumped a big contract just to get playing minutes or Ozil enjoying a honeymoon?
Someone should tell Arteta it’s okay to let one or two goals go in now and again, it’s normal.
What’s abnormal is parking thd bus in every game.
Very watchable match Wolves vs Southampton unlike the Arsenal these days.
Fair comments Pedro.
Promoting Arteta to manager showed the cluelessness of those in charge. An FA cup isn’t enough to thrust that much responsibility on a manager quite green in the role. I understand their experience with Raul and Mislintat soured that approach but to go backwards is too reactionary and will ultimately fail.
What is needed is for me to run Arsenal.
What’s the point of bringing Ozil back when he’s not match fit and even when he is match fit he plays like he isn’t match fit. boom boom
It’s like fans pining for Auba to start central. He did and we saw why he shouldn’t. Eventually Ozil will get his chance and we’ll see why he should stick to Twitter instead.
Mane might be the best player in the league but Traore is the one that’ll have a cult following.
Raheem
No point in moving Auba central if you’re not going to change the tactics as well. We don’t have the type of striker to play how Arteta wants to.
Theo strikes again
Marc
Hence why Arteta (and Arsenal fans) should be open to leaving him on the bench if only for short while. Can it get any worse? It’s a shame Martinelli is injured otherwise he’d deputise.
I can see some getting excited over Nketiah breaking records for England’s U21s. If he was any good he’d be in the seniors. Aren’t Bellingham and Sancho in the seniors?
Nketiah will still be playing U21 football at 25.
Raheem
Don’t understand what you’re saying – drop Auba, Nketiah isn’t good enough and Laca’s been awful.
Who the hell are you going to play?
Marc
They’re all awful take your pick but sure try something else. A bit of bench time might kick Auba into gear who knows.
Theo with a poor miss.
Raheem
Auba won the golden boot season before last, was a couple of goals off last season – his lack of form is down to 2 things Arteta’s piss poor management and lack of service.
If there’s a credible alternative fine but try something different? What does that even mean?
Come on, Theo. That should’ve been the second. Soton are playing some nice footy. They must have better players than we do. Or could it be the manager?
Marc
So you’d like Arteta sacked?
Marc
So Auba is a victim?
Christ, star players have really gone down hill of the only reason they aren’t delivering is down to everyone except them. Auba has been shit since the cup final.
Theo scores from open play. Are you even allowed to do that?
Arteta will come good. He needs two more windows, January and summer to add to Leno, Tierney, Gabriel, Partey, Saka and Auba.
MAD GUNNER: Stop talking about ish that your small brain can’t comprehend! The problem with dumb ass twats and the Internet is that it gives them a platform for their odious Rubbish. Clearly you don’t understand contracts or have ever worked in professional setting of any kind. Arsenal has more than enough reasons to bar him from the first team training complex. He has made public comments which are detrimental to the club, along with his agent and he is not on the active roster. Based on that alone they are well justified in telling him not to attempt first… Read more »
Guys the negativity here is becoming hysterical.
Did Leeds come to the game to sell peanuts?
They are a damn good team and we scrapped to a draw despite missing are two best midfielders and being a man down.
What is wrong with you nutters?
WTF are you guys expecting?
@Mb “I can go to the extent of saying it’s the coach fault (Emery, Freddie, Arteta now) for his poor performance, but tell me, who is wiser? Sanchez who dumped a big contract just to get playing minutes or Ozil enjoying a honeymoon?” I have asked myself the same questions and have come up with something that makes sense to me and also allows for erring on the side of past performance and experience. 1. Ozil knows in his head how to play the game because he has enough years of experience and had the best as team mates.He can… Read more »
@Godfather
Do yourself a favor spend a few quid and subscribe to the Athletic as it is very apparent you don’t know Jack about the legal case between Arsenal and Ozil.
.Contract breach? Constructive dismissal? Ozil and Arsenal – the legal angle
https://theathletic.com/2156374/2020/10/23/ozil-arsenal-contract-constructive-breach/?article_source=search&search_query=ozil%20legal
Just to help you be a bit generous with your own education the article will answer the following questions:
Are Arsenal and Ozil currently fulfilling their contractual obligations to each other?
Have any of Ozil’s public statements constituted a breach of contract?
Can either party unilaterally terminate the contract?
The questions are being answered by Sports Lawyers unlike your pub friends information base.
I wonder why these long thread is coming up now. We didn’t read about Arteta’s young backroom staff when he took aside Manchester City and Chelsea to win the FA Cup.
I just want to urge everybody to be patient. There’s always a moment of a bad patch. I’ve always prepared for it and in a matter of time, the team will get back guns blazing.
Looks like Pedro’s busy posting under new names to prop up Arteta!
Marc
I too noticed the sudden influx of new posters propping up Arteta. They all seem to be urging patience.
Make Arteta Great Again [MAGA]
Dissenter
Knew it wouldn’t take you long to start pushing your pro Trump agenda again!
How does one come to the conclusion Arteta will come good when he has no managerial history to take account of.
There’s been a lot of talk on here on all sorts of topics: 1) (Yawn) the so called non-negotiables and the consistency of their application 2) whether Laca/Pepe/Willian/ Xhaka/Ceballos “is shit” 3) whether Arteta is a decent man manager or not 4) which creative player we may or may not buy in January (news flash: there’s a fair few matches before we get there and Random Magyar Mandem comes to save the day – or not) All that really matters is this: will Arteta find a way by Christmas of getting this team to significantly increase the number of chances… Read more »
If Radio takes over at the Arsenal, I get to run the PR.
Can Arteta make Arsenal great on a budget or is he just a pocket money Pep?
Arteta’s non-negotiables Willian in the starting XI
Arteta out, Ralph Hasenhüttl in!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We are in a bad place. lots of what you say about Arteta and the players is compelling. He walked into an utter s**t show. At a stretch, 1 players is in the realm of world class. (On his day, where have those days gone?) The whole team from back to front bar Leno, Bellarin, Tierney Auba and (again on his day) Laca is sub par. But let’s not lose sight of the real s**those in this equation: KRONKE. KRONKE is the guy that avoided bringing in an elite/proven manager like say Ancelloti… Read more »
You know if there were any truth to the Xhaka-Eriksen swap rumours, I’d drive Granit to Milan myself.
Eriksen would solve our creativity problems in an instant. Premier League proven. Can play pretty much anywhere in midfield, although his actual preference is at #10 where he plays internationally.
CK
How about you take a few seconds to look at what we’ve spent the last few seasons and then shut the fuck up.
MAD GUNNER: Clearly you have reading or comprehension issues. Who is talking about contract termination? I don’t even know where to start with someone who lacks independent thought and is clearly a simpleton and a lineal thinker. You don’t know squat about contracts and legalize so stick to swallowing whatever is handed to you abs turn off the few malfunctioning cells in that vaccum between your ears! Again you clearly couldn’t read that at no time was contract termination mentioned! Again dummy, Arsenal is clearly within their rights to afford whatever training privileges they deem necessary to maintain squad harmony… Read more »
CK
“KRONKE” is not the person who owns Arsenal.
Kroenke is.
And at the moment he’s the least of Arsenal’s problems
@ Godfather
Clearly you didn’t read the article as you can’t grasp the legal arguments presented there and as a result you now stooped down to derogatory name calling as your arguments are originating in a space void of facts.
Since you now admitted twice that you wasted your time replying makes it clear you must be a brain amputee 😂
How Arteta stacks up against Arsenal’s predecessors after 29 matches Unai Emery – 57 points Arsene Wenger – 48 points Bruce Rioch – 48 points Mikel Arteta – 46 points Arsenal’s Ownership and the board are Architech’s of their problem. They had the summer to address the lack of creativity that was the issue even with Unai that problem carried on to Arteta once a decision was made that Ozil is not the man, a replacement should have been brought in during the transfer. The fact it wasn’t done is criminal and negligence on the part of the powers that… Read more »
so it was juice after all, dam shame.
I must say, I’m gonna walk back what I said about pepe and that left foot. It’s a dam shame all that talent is attached to that brain. goofy lad.
I’d be up for a sale in Jan for half the money, then I’d ask Josh for a top up for zaha.
Mikel, the dictator, ffs, who knew…
When people talk about Szoboszlai, Eriksen it Aouar coming in and “solving our creativity problem” I do get a bit anxious. How much of Arsenal’s failure to play attractive football and (more importantly) failure to create goal scoring opportunities is down to the absence of a creative player? My fear is that the super-conservative way the team is set up (whether we play 3-4-3 or as 4-3-3 as we did against Leeds) with all our midfielders (and pretty much all the attack too£constantly dropping back and/or tasked with defensive duties even when we play against less than stellar teams is… Read more »
Can someone tell me what is the difference in what Guendouzi did & what Pepe has done. To my mind & my eye, Matteo did not put any actual pressure on Maupey’s neck just as Pepe’s heabutt carried no force at all. So is it time for Nicholas Pepe to be frozen out from the Arsenal team?
“Can Arteta make Arsenal great on a budget or is he just a pocket money Pep?“
There’s only one person who can make Arsenal great…….again, and he’ll be out of a job in January.
Jesus the Holy source of all sauce has a worse points return than Bruce Rioch.
Will the madness never end.
Minaz, he’s suspended… but he did apologise today.
Pedro
How do you deal with Pepe longer term?
MAD GUNNER:
In addition to lacking basic reading and comprehension skills you don’t even remember what you wrote.
Don’t cry now … you started the name calling and insults, so don’t flop and try to play victim.
You called me out personally so don’t cry now …
If you can’t take the heat don’t start throwing flames … just a word of wisdom.
Ciao!
I wonder what odds a bookie would offer on Ozil finishing the season as player-manager.
No thanks to eriksen
A player in his late 20s on a downward trajectory of form who would demand huge wages.
No more of these deals thanks.
I hate seeing our team so impotent.
I hate seeing the frustration and helplessness in the players and the manager.
CC, I think it’s terminal for Pepe. I don’t think he’s rated. The hope must be that his super-agent can get him a move in the summer.
Have no idea what Arteta will do with him. Can he afford to ostracise another expensive player?
Pedro
I though Arteta’s remit is to improve the players.
You waxed lyrical about how he improved Raheem Sterling et al.
Now because Pepe made a mistake he’s gone in the summer?
This dysfunctional Pepe you’re setting up as Arteta’s scape goat is still far more productive than Willian, who’s clearly Arteta pet.
Why get rid of Pepe? Why not let him marinade in Arteta sauce to get better?
This Arsenal job is not a cheque book job so maybe Arteta isn’t the man for it.
I mean if we are going to kick out every player who has a misstep, who will be left?
The dross players that Arteta is accumulating at Arsenal? Mari, Cedric Soarer etc. He even offered an extension to Mustafi ffs.
At some point the spotlight needs to be shined on the manager.
The real problem is that Arteta is deficient in all departments. He is a rookie manager learning his trade at a top level (for now!) club. This would not happen in any other industry or business. A club of Arsenal’s stature required the finished product, a skilled and experienced manager with the strength to challenge/lead the inexperienced management/executive/owners. Even Maureen in his dotage has challenged notorious and experienced spendthrifts Levy and Lewis, partially getting what he wanted. Arteta talks the talk but is unable to lead a group of strong willed individuals – this is basic management 101. I understand… Read more »
Aussie gooner
You;re Wong about Arteta being deficient in all areas
He excess at tough talking at press conferences and “reconnecting fans back with the club”.
He’s lucky there aren’t fans in the stadium to boo his arse out.
Arteta needs to stop running the team like a fucking drill seargent. These are pros who are loads better than he was a player. He can try and foster a stronger culture and accountability – great! However, he is not experienced enough to handle these crises of personnel and also , on the field at the same time. A double whammy so to speak. I think that he needs to work on his relationships with each player… he needs to have them trust him, I get the feeling that trust is being eroded with how he is managing and also… Read more »
“maintain squad harmony ”
Ozil’s team has covered every angle. He has many friends in the squad openly supporting him. If the club uses maintain squad harmony as the reason to push him out of the training ground, they’ll be in for a big surprise.
BTW, the club must have more than one lawyer working for them. They definitely know what they can do.
Guns, the players aren’t going to start playing well with a hug. You’ve spent too long in San Fran tech companies if that’s your hot take. Watch All or Nothing and tell me hugs make you competitive.
The current shambles is not on the knoenkes. Like a lot of other clubs, arsenal are a self sustaining company. The message is clear, sell, generate funds and buy. It’s not the owners fault that the funds have been misused. Then we have Misilant, raul and co, who were hyped when they first came here so the argument of the Kronkes messing up bringing the right people in is moot. The only mistake the knonkes made was showing interest in the club a bit too late. With Wenger, they trusted everything on him and then on to gazidis and co.… Read more »
We’ve spent loads of money in the past few years, post Wenger. We just didn’t spend properly
Anyone blaming the Kroenke’s is just full of utter shite.
We have to sell to buy for the most part and the manager keeps blocking the sales of players who aren’t even starters.
great post – good summary – agree with everything bar the ‘hard to break down’ bit – Leeds broke us down plenty but didn’t make it count (they are a promotion team after all) – anyone else and we would have been down two goals at the 70th minute
Xhakalson should be the 1st person to be kicked out of Arsenal
Diet pep at a close 2nd
My humble opinion
“We just didn’t spend properly”
Totally agree, can give you 72 million reasons to back that up.
Peter, Why you hating on SF? lol no one saying give hugs and shit like that. Who does that? I am talking about building team spirit and trust first and foremost. He has alienated some players no doubt with how he went about the Guen and Ozil thing… He is now struggling to get our main man scoring goals. The team looks lost… as far as being the protagonists… Where is the fun as well? This fella comes across as a guy with a stick up his arse… We have always been a team that attacks, scores… pushes the pace.… Read more »
Guns
“….creativity. its in our DNA!”
Unfortunately no longer true. The bottom inspectors have been in to audit the club and found no creative DNA left in the corpse!
we are a fucking corpse!
Dissenter
Re Kroenke. How can you not see that a bad (incompetent) owner hires bad (incompetent) employees who make bad (incompetent) decisions like signing pepe for 72m. just cuz he’s willing to pay big doesnt make him a good owner. some might suspect foul play being it was lille and we later got gabriel for a relatively low fee considering what other defenders have cost in recent times…perhaps a member of the walton family wants to wash money, god forbid some billionaire asshole wants to flout the law-wouldn’t be the first to use sport to do it.
This place is fastly becoming like AFTV where everyone is trying to outdo the other in showing outrage And spewing negativity …. Guys the negative energy is so outta control!
We didn’t lose to. Very good team despite playing a man down and without Partey and El Neny I’m the middle. Hell we didn’t even concede a goal.
Let’s stop the negativity and get behind this club …
i still don’t feel like we played a bad game. DON’T SHOOT!
i mean, ten man against leeds, that blown penalty call, saka! that was just a good game. not the type of game arsenal has given us in recent years
Ughhh I wish we had an edit button on this site
preach on godfather.
and i, better timing
Ozil 42m Xhaka 35m Mustafi 35m Laca 50m Pepe 70m Mari, sokratis, soares combined 25m Willian 36m in wages over 3 years Kola free transfer. Dunno his wages but over 100k Mikki 30m – gone but on a free I think? The above lot have cost us around a third of a billion pounds in transfer fees, not including wages (exception made for Willian as a free transfer). To date none of them look elite outside ozil for about 2 seasons worth in total. Half of them can’t get in the team because they’re not good enough. The other half… Read more »
The interesting thing with city is that although they have an insanely expensive squad, they don’t have all that many players who cost insane prices. Most of their signings cost 30-45m, but the players they signed are mostly top quality
If even 30% of our transfer fees above had been a waste, it would mean 70% was well spent and we’d actually have a quality team right now
Godfather/Zac Are you kidding me? Do you watch the games live? Even the most optimistic Arsenal fan on the planet, Ty from AFTV, is running out of excuses! We are currently in 12th place in the EPL and showing little sign of improvement. This is not a position Arsenal should be in given the resources at hand. We could have lost to Leeds 5-1 and nobody would be complaining. There is very good reason to be concerned. In my 55+ years of supporting the club I would be hard pressed to find another period of abject, dismal football played by… Read more »
Aussie I would tolerate the bad football if we were winning but…
But it is kinda interesting that a player who played under wenger and Guardiola would be so risk averse
I am open minded about us playing defense first but we literally don’t have an attack. It’s honestly kinda odd
China
Good point regarding City. Like Chelsea they bought young and cheap to fill the academy, purchased young promising players for a fair fee, moved them on if they didn’t fit, trained them up for the 1st team if they did. They supplemented this with experienced talent for reasonable fees and wages They have not purchased has-beens on huge contracts with no chance of moving them on.
Great piece…I agree we’ve entered a danger zone! Not upholding the same standards for everyone will lead to drops in performance across the board overtime. Guendouzi and Özil must have a laugh right now. Willian was a bad signing for many reasons specially the length of his deal. I can understand leaving Özil out for the sake of not having to discuss it every game but than you have to perform for it to go away…after 7.5 hours of not scoring from open play, not creating enough and looking stale and him basically getting paid to be on twitter it… Read more »
Imo if we’re going to play defense first (I can live with that) surely the counter balance is your load your midfield and offensive players with runners who are going to be fast and direct on the break If which scenario AMN and Nelson should probably be in and around the team as two of our most direct runners, both being sprinters with good engines. Nelson on one wing and saka on the other should be playing hit and run with opposition FBs. Nelson has the pace to skin most defenders and saka is quick but also has great dribbling… Read more »
For me the lineup if everyone’s fit would be
—-—————Leno
AMN—-Luiz—-Gab—-Tierney
————Mo——-Partey
———-———-(?)<——-dunno
Nelson——Auba——-Saka
Arteta is a Check book manager
When he has to choose between a good young player and an average oldie, he typically chooses the veteran. He’s not interested in developing the young talent with potential.
If he has to choose between Dominik Szoboszlai or Christian Eriksen, who do you think Arteta will go for?
Martinelli is a starter in this team when he’s fit.
I swear to God, I will lose my mind if when Martinelli is back in contention, Arteta doesn’t give him chances to show what he is capable of. Or if he impresses by scoring or assisting, or by just playing really well, and next game he’s benched. My brain will explode.
“If he has to choose between Dominik Szoboszlai or Christian Eriksen, who do you think Arteta will go for?”
He’s been picking Mustafi ahead of Saliba in low pressure Europa league games. It’s kind of obvious.
Maitland Niles has played a total of 8 mins in our last EPL games. Completely healthy and available. What a way to waste £20m. Then people complain of squad poverty.
After we purchase Eriksen perhaps we could enquire how much Southampton want for Walcott – after all he scored a goal yesterday!
442 with martinelli and auba
Go old school
The thought of Walcot tracking back to help Bellerin fills my ghoulush soul with positivity
raptora
I’m with you on all of this.
I just don’t get it with Arteta.
Szobozlai chasing the opponents deep lying playmaker all game would be a game changer
Has he got the sack yet?
Martinelli will receive plenty of big chances from David Luiz the passmaster
The thought of Leno and Saliba exchanging passes is mind blowing