Well, here we are, reality.
Life is pretty shit if you’re an Arsenal fan right now. But, things can improve fast if you believe. Positive. Mental. Attitude. Who said that? Kriss Akabusi?
For example, by thinking posi (shortened for impact), I managed to muster the energy to have the letter ‘T’ fixed on my laptop. Do you know how good that feels as a writer? Glorious. Absoluely glorious.
What doesn’t feel glorious is overseeing the current wreckage at Arsenal. However, spare a thought for Aston Villa who were beaten by the might of David Moyes and the strong backhand of Lady Luck last night. Also, pour one out for the main man, Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester lost to Fulham. We’re still just five points from 4th, even after losing half our games. This year is going to be rough for everyone.
What those losses mean more generally is that you can go from fraud to not-fraud quite quickly. 5 wins on the bounce and you are in the mixer.
The main problem Arsenal has is there don’t seem to be too many escape routes out of this mess.
Thomas Partey is apparently out for a long time.
We banished the one creative we had at the club.
Willock, Eddie, ESR and Reiss are a long way from being ready.
Ainsley must have sat on the boss’s guinea pig because he’s out in the cold again.
Pepe, let’s face it, is not good enough. He can barely look elite against pub teams. No chance he’ll click and be the Zaha Senor Emery wanted him to be.
All the great solutions we have as fans just don’t work with the mix we have at the moment.
Let’s also be honest, we lost our three big games in fine margins matches. Aston Villa was the blip. Then all hell broke loose and we demanded a more attacking brand of football.
What did we get? Emery carnage.
What does that teach us? That maybe we’re not good enough to play a delightful brand of football with players that couldn’t do it last year.
So much for the fans that said ‘I’LL TAKE SHITTY RESULTS IF WE TRY AND PLAY MORE ATTACKING FOOTBALL.’ Monday morning after a loss and people are sacrificing sheep on the Armoury stairs hoping the gods of football termination are listening.
Arsenal are a five at the back squad right now. Without Partey and Mo driving the midfield, we’re fucking shite. WIthout a creative to connect midfield and attack, we’re pedestrian and anti-playing through the middle. It’s a real shit sandwich.
Things will get better because I don’t think they can get worse at the moment.
By January, we’ll have Partey and Mo in the middle. That gives us tempo and speed at the base of midfield. It also gives us players that can press for a full 90. We’ll bring Gabriel M back into the mixer, much needed, again, he gives us something we don’t have. He’s direct, good with his head, and no one attacks the ball like him. He’s the Leeds United energy we lack. Then you have Pablo Mari and Cal Chambers coming back into the mixer. Who the fuck knows what Pablo will be like, but he can pass and he’s built. Cal was playing very well before the break and he can move the ball with purpose.
Then you have the transfer kitty that the execs will go begging for. We’re being linked with a whole collection of players. Buendia of Norwich, Isco of Madrid, Max Aarons… there are rumblings that we’ll try and do something sexy so we can unlock some sort of exciting football in the back half of the season. I don’t know how much I believe that noise… Vinnai is like a gambler racking up bigger and bigger debts at craps table. How many more ‘please sir, can I have some more’ moments will the Kroenke family accept with the wage bill we have and the empty stadiums that are happening?
The hope is we’re not starting January thinking about next season. I’d like to be in the mixer. That could start with a win this weekend, though I’m hard-pushed to see us dealing with Kane, Son, and Mourinho who are all in excellent in form at the moment.
Still, crazier things have happened. Are we not due something crazy? DO WE NOT DESERVE A THING AT SOME POINT?
I tell yah, fuck being the positive beacon of hope in the Arsenal community. It is way easier to be a miserable c*nt. Just take a negative position on everything, because eventually, in football, you’ll always be right.
Why did I back the vision? I could have just taken it easy, but oh no, I had to treat the Arteta brand like I was selling cookies at work. WHY DID I CHANGE? Now I have nowhere to hide, but you know what, fuck all of you that come to the site to gloat. You may have won the battle, but the war isn’t over… and let’s be honest, the people that are crying ‘SACK ARTETA’ would be the guys at war playing cricket with live grenades.
I think most people are on board with the idea of keeping Arteta on the project. We’ve seen 3 managers downed by this group of players, I’m not sure the club has the stomach to give someone else a go. The pipedreams of Allegri, Poch, or Nagelsmann are just that.
- We don’t have the money for their salaries
- We don’t’ have the money for the transfers managers on the up need to fulfil their ambitions
- We’re a fucking mess. Until we address the issues that are 10 years in the making, it’ll be hard to attract the very best.
We took the young manager route. We’ve made some bad decisions along the way. We will hopefully learn from them and course correct.
Arteta turned things around once, he can do it again. He needs to get back to basics. For starters, we’re not pressing, something that was really effective before. Where did it go? Players should be picked on form, not on reputation. Players should be dropped if they don’t’ hit the standards. Why have we gone from starting Reiss against Liverpool at the start of this project to bumming around with Willian again? If 5 at the back is the way, fuck it, it’s the way. If Auba on the left is better for him because he won’t press like our system needs, put him on the left. If Xhaka needs a special system to look half decent, then maybe he’s not the player for an 11 that needs 11 players that can run.
My hunch is it is not over, we’ll get into a good run, and we’ll laugh and joke about this moment as a turning point.
Dream, not hunch… but I can dream grenade cricketer.
Listen to the podcast with Aash and Pedro. It’s is GOOD.
1 cb (ibrahima Konate)
2 creative midfielders (Dominik+Aouar)
1 winger (seems he wants 2)
1 forward (oduard)
5-6 players for a change of system is about right .
On pepe i like the guy but I’m pretty sure Arteta wouldn’t have signed him if he was in charge then .
Trap 1 CB (Saliba is more than good enough, don’t understand what Arteta is doing there, unless it’s because he lost his mother and isn’t ready mentally, they still screwed up the whole situation) nevertheless we can still play 4 at the back with Holding partnering Gabriel. It doesn’t have to be perfect right now. 2 creative players – agreed that’s what we need but we could have easily picked someone up last summer instead of the pipe dream that Lyon was going to give us a steep discount on Auoars 50m price tag, which I don’t think he’s worth… Read more »
5-6 players to transition to 4-3-3, that’s all well and good. What do we do in the interim? They say a good coach makes his team greater than the sum of it’s parts, so he isn’t a good coach let alone a great one. Just a Jose/Pep wannabe intent on spending money. Any coach in the world could do with better players if offered the chance, nothing unique or generational about that. His league results since he came here has been average to poor so if that’s the best he can achieve with the present squad why does he deserve… Read more »
Freddie, I am glad you agree, ive been beating the drum we need 2/3 creators in the team
One is not enough…
Buendia and Isco?
I am hearing that DS might be going to Leipzig
I think the players are also looking forward to Jan.
I am sure they want to know who can help their sinking ship….
Also would give an idea of who would need to make plans to leave in summer…..
We need Xhaka to sit down…. a back up ok.
We need 2 starters in mid…. creative types…
If Areta still fails with these, then time to sack him
No listens to them and that Mexican travel divisors is just another Xenophobic measure because there’s an uncontrollable spread within America anyways. Mexico needs to build a wall pretty quickly to keep Americans out. Why??? In case Americans spread Covid to them???? Absolute jokers lol. It’s spreading like wild fire in America, I’m not sure they’re in any position to refer to other countries as being high risk lol ________ Ok so as a person who lives near the Rio Grande Valley.. I can absolutely say the CDC is 100% accurate Americans shouldn’t travel to Mexico.. The Covid is much… Read more »
Guns if we can get more than 15m for xhaka the cash would be worth more to us
Fire sale on the dross would be good tho I doubt arteta will be ruthless enough to sanction many (any) sales.
Mustafi keeps getting linked to Barca which is hilarious. If they will give us anything we should take it. Get his wages off the books, any transfer fee they’re willing to pay and get his ass out the club.
Diet Pep says he needs 6 new players
Loooool amatuerish
He has in short told players supposed to fight for him that they are surplus to requirements
Buying clubs will also be unwilling to take players that are not needed in midtable club
Amatueriiish
MidwestGun The situation in Mexico is as you said and the CDC travel advisory normally would’ve been taken at face value had they not lost a lot of credibility with the public for allowing political interference from the White House. It’s bad enough some of their early Covid-19 prognosis were incorrect and/or contradictory due to the fact this was a new virus, but their subservient behavior in face of Trump’s political pressure has damaged them badly. They clearly saw what happens to scientists on government meal tickets who stand their ground and contradict the supreme leader when NOAA’s chief scientist… Read more »
“Diet Pep says he needs 6 new players
Loooool amatuerish
He has in short told players supposed to fight for him that they are surplus to requirements“
Sid
If that’s what he said then losing the players will happen sooner than I thought.
Arteta quite simply doesn’t have enough built up equity as a former player and now a coach to tell half the squad they aren’t good enough, even though we all know it’s true.
Tom he is not just saying they aren’t good enough, he is admitting to setting them up to play football he doesn’t believe in. If the coach hates the football he is playing how would the players buy into it?
He is essentially saying you guys are too rubbish to play good football so have some rubbish football while we wait to get rid of you
Elite leadership
Baffling that Luiz played 40 kins minutes with fresh stitches on his forehead and blood leaking out.
Arteta’s pitch side decision making has gone from bad to worse.
Don’t want to lose 9-0 to spurs. Should play 9-1
Leno
Hector ,Sokratis, Elneny, Gabriel, AMN, Luiz, Gabriel, Holding, Tierney
Lacazette
“We want to move to a 4-3-3 but for that, you need a lot of specificity in every position but now in five or six positions, we don’t have it.”
Already shifting blame
“I think that what we miss is in the opponent’s area and the last part of the pitch. We have to find the key in the attack, that last decision, that last pass, that last cross to create a goal situation, a goal, a shot, a corner, etc.”
Then why sign Willian? Buendia was available, clueless
“Without attendance we are lucky the players hear us more but if you ask any player I’m sure they would like to hear us a lot less. It’s also really helpful so others don’t understand us. Sometimes it’s part of the strategy, so the opposition doesn’t have any idea of what we say”
Clown
HR
“We need six new players “ are five words that should never be spoken out in public and outside of the boardroom.
It’s the ultimate team spirit killer.
“Sometimes it’s part of the strategy, so the opposition doesn’t have any idea of what we say”
Looks like to me the opposition is understanding Arsenal schemes quite well without deciphering the Arteta’s Enigma.
Can’t say the same about our players though.
When people say they’re giving him the rest of the season, are they saying provided we don’t fall into the relegation places but keeping losing and drawing to all and sundry and playing horrible football then the manager can keep his job?
Are folks writing off a season that’s still got a whole long way to go in the hopes that the rookie manager learns on the job?
Not advocating sacking him now by the way but if in 4/5 games results don’t improve then what’s the point keeping him really
Tom- Yep.. I understand the CDC’s credibility is questionable..at best, given how they change their mind every week but it’s not just them,.. The WHO and basically any health organization like the Red Cross or Doctors without Borders that has a relationship with Mexico knows how bad it is there at the moment . . It’s not just Americans.. I don’t think anyone should travel there for some time. The crime cartels there are out of control as well with the government overwhelmed with Covid. Many of my friends and neighbors here are very very worried about their relatives living… Read more »
Morning,
Cant see Norwich being to keen to sell buendia in January,
Especially as there top of the table and want to bounce back at the first time of asking.
They also know they can probably sell at a higher price in june/july if there promoted.
Unless they have serious financial problems doesn’t make sense to sell now unless it’s a stupidly high offer.
You have to give Arteta a chance to get his players in and get a rythm going he has only been in charge for 30 games
This is a weird season we lost half our games but are 4 points off 4th
Patience is needed at this point
“Sometimes it’s part of the strategy, so the opposition doesn’t have any idea of what we say”
Because clearly nobody else on the opposition bench speak Spanish nor French. That explain the bad performance against Wolves, Leeds their managers understood the instructions Arteta was given to the player…
🤔🤭🤬
The fact we never had a plan B if we couldn’t get aouar is incompetents of the highest order. Arteta knew he wasnt playing ozil so needed a replacement, there was plenty of time to get someone in, but it’s all last minute again. We’ve been chasing partey since march/april but leave it with 30 minutes to go before activating his buy out clause. Something that could have been done in August so he was ready for preseason. Wenger used to do the same, put all his eggs in one basket then when we couldn’t get the player he wanted,… Read more »
You can talk about the players we have not replaced but basically we never replaced David Dein. I doubt Wenger would have enjoyed the success he had initially if it wasn’t for the football acumen of Dein and his connections within the FA and UEFA. He held major positions within those organisations and had a network of contacts second to none. He was also a very personable chap and related well to most people. Yes he made some mistakes towards the end of his tenure but we have not had such an experienced footballing mind behind the scenes since his… Read more »
Arteta was bought in last season to try and refloat the ship after it started to go under with Emery in charge. The brief was get us back into the top four or secure champions league football through the Europa. He was in 8th and still in the Europa league when he came. We got kicked out of the Europa by olympiakos at home after winning away with a clean sheet. And finished 8th where we were when he found us. Yes the cup final was great, we had some luck but I’ll take that. But he didnt get us… Read more »
If arteta thinks we need 5 or 6 first team players to play a 4-3-3, why did he reject 60 million for AMN, Laca and Xhaka when he doesn’t even want them in the starting 11?
…
That 60m would’ve bought him Aouar and the first installment for Szoboszlai.
A midfield 3 of Partey Aouar and Szoboszlai could’ve been starting for us this season. A more than adequate combination for his preferred formation…
Where was that ruthlessness he mentioned when he joined?
Aussie,
Your bang on the money about dein.
Wenger identified the player he wanted and dein did the rest.
Of course money and wenger was an attraction for any player back then, but Dein promoted the club, living in london, etc, and if the club needed to pay a million or two more to secure a player, it didnt matter
As soon as wenger got control of the buying and selling it was like he was using his own money.
China,
I’m not even sold on aouar, he wants to go to madrid, he looks good but there are other cheaper options out there.
Your right though, sell the 3 players that we could have got reasonably good money for, and that would have bought two quality chance creating midfielders.
Were starting from such a low base that it almost couldn’t have failed to improve us in midfield.
Upfirgrabs
Arteta will revert back to type against spuds this weekend. We will see a rock solid, brain Numbing 3 at the back and we will shithouse ourselves to a 0-0 draw. Likely Spurs will have 20 odd shots at goal, but we will grind a draw out.
Danny,
I’m not sure how this weekend goes.
Mourinhos bus against artetas bus!
Could be the most boring game in NLD history!
The only good thing is that form goes out the window, which is good for us since ours is appalling!
To be honest I think maureen has artetas number and we get done by son and kane again.
I would love to be wrong, I hate the spuds and maureen. But dont even think some of the players will be up for it.
Which is a disgrace in itself.
U4gn I agree, Aouar is not my first choice but arteta wanted him and could’ve had him. What’s his excuse? He can’t plead player poverty and financial poverty whilst turning down money for players who he doesn’t want to use who could’ve allowed him to get the players he wants. It doesn’t add up at all. Also Laca only has 18 months left on his deal so if we can’t sell him in Jan or the summer he’s another transfer fee pissed away for what reason? So he can be lower in the pecking order than Eddie nketiah. A kid… Read more »
With martinelli coming back, Laca should be either our third or fourth choice CF depending on your take on Eddie
Why are we turning down 25m for him + he has big wages…
China “Coming 2nd 5 years ago with a low 70s pints tally would be like if we came 4th this year with a low 60s points tally. The less said about it the better” So, Going by your warped thinking, winning the league in 1998 with 78 points is like coming 3rd in any other year.. The fact is, the table doesn’t lie , coming 2nd 5 years ago meant we were the 2nd best team in the country . The Wenger obsessives hurled abuse and protested towards the manager for ONLY finishing 2nd , until they finally got their… Read more »
My take on Eddie is I actually think he might become a lethal striker in the PL but I think he will take another 4 years to really be at that level in the PL. he is physically quite lightweight and struggles a bit against the physicality of the PL. you can see against his own age group he’s quality tho. The real question is will arsenal be patient enough (or will he be willing to remain a second or third choice CF at arsenal) as he develops? He’s a good third choice option imo but if arteta wants to… Read more »
Grabs
“I’m not sure how this weekend goes.
Mourinhos bus against artetas bus!”
Jose will go for the jugular this weekend , there will be no parking the bus from them .
Our hope is that we can sneak an early goal and defend for our lives..
Arteta has managed to get results in these types of games before so you never know…
We are not getting top four or anywhere near by playing back five with the majority of players behind the ball with a non-existent midfield and just hitting direct to the forwards. It may have worked out in one off matches in the FA Cup but it’s not going to work week in, week out in the EPL. We are not going to get top four either or anywhere near by trying to be more progressive with a 4-3-3 and actually trying to play some proper football because the team still has weaknesses in it at this present time. But… Read more »
Pierre
We came second to Leicester in a year when most of the ‘big 6’ were in transition, had new managers and were playing poorly.
The league was there for the taking and had Spurs not tanked we’d have been 3rd.
Coming 2nd to Leicester was probably our worst season under Wenger
Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea all lost 10 games or more and Chelsea who finished 10th did the Double over us. .
Pierre,
The problem is we go one down I just dont see us getting back into the game unless it’s a penalty, we look so devoid of ideas its frightening.
If we do concede first we then have to push on, and the way our defence is that’s gap central.
If holding starts with gabriel then I think they have the height to maybe keep kane quiet, but its sons pace and tricks that could undo us.
That’s before we even get to bale.
Pierre
Also, Wenger started the slide. We should be mopping up the last of his mess now once the season ends and Ozil goes. We should have sold Xhaka, Laca, Kol and Mustafi and should be looking g at a new dawn but unfortunately we’ve loaded ourselves with 2 more Ozils (hopefully Auba proves me wrong) and it doesn’t look like we will improve soon.
China,
I like eddie as well, but I think he needs games. He needed to go out on loan this season as leeds messed him about last year.
But that would have left us with an out of form laca and injured martinelli
Laca should have been moved on this summer like you say he’s going to sit out his contract if doesn’t go next month.
You do wonder who actually negotiates deals at arsenal.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the second best team in the country if there are no good teams in the country. How can this not be clear? That season the big 6 were all trash. Arsenal didn’t make them trash, they all had their own individual reasons for failing. If you beat Usain Bolt in a 100m sprint but he fell over, half the other competition got disqualified for repeated false starts, the next best pulled up with a hamstring injury and you finish second with a 100m sprint time of 10.5 seconds, you don’t celebrate it like it’s an… Read more »
Laca still being here baffles me, but nothing will baffle me more than the contract offer to Mustafi.
China
You forgot that you finished second to an opponent that should have been inferior, but took their chance.
Coming second in a zero horse race is not like a trophy. Bragging about this ‘achievement’ is honestly embarrassing
I really dont get the contract situation at arsenal, we’re not talking about losing star, top quality players.
Its almost always the same, let the player get down to two years then negotiate a new one or sell them.
Instead its string out contract negotiations over 6-9 months then he player is on the driving seat the last year of the contract.
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before how do they not learn from it.
RVP, Nasri, Adebayor, Sanchez, Ramsay, ozil, Aubameyang,
You would think they would learn after the first time!
Arteta is just playing for time when he states he hasn’t got the players at present to play more progressive football.
This team is not just a season away from transforming.
So what is Arteta going to do? Keep playing five at the back and looking to hit on counters for one to two seasons?
It’s like a child that doesn’t want to take his stabilisers off the bike. Too frightened.
He’s got to be a big boy sooner or later and take those stabilisers off.
Pierre
And also, just to show how you cherry picking of facts and stats is total bull shit, when you compare seasons before and after 98, all the champions finished on 82 to 89 points so 78 isn’t a great difference.
United won in 99 with a giddy 79 points! Lordy
If I entered a ‘England’s sexiest man’ competition and the only other people who showed up besides one looked like pie face, making me second place by default, I would not be fucking bragging about this lol
They also won the treble…
Tottenham came second the year after on 84 points.
If that mustafi contract extension (another one allowed to go under 2 years) is true.
And it’s what arteta wants, then he should be sacked just for that.
I’m waiting for the I’m pleased to announce granite has signed a new 5 year deal and will finish his career with us story at arsenal. Com.
Shit really hits the fan that day!
Can’t really understand the logic of us coming 2nd being the Great Man’s worst season…surely the circumstances that applied to all the other teams dropping points applied to us to?..
First – 3
Second – 6
Third – 5
Fourth – 6
Fifth – 1
Sixth – 1
Yep..I would say out of that remarkable record that last one was the worst.
Up4
That would be beyond sackable. That’s firing squad territory.
Xhaka signs a 5 year deal, Luiz gets another year and Arteta has a heart to heart with Mustafi and persuades him to stay.
Summer from hell.
‘We want you to staaaaay’
Sign da ting mustafi!!!!
bennydevito ‘But as Arteta is young and a novice I’m confident these errors in player judgement and thinking he can turn around unreliable old players is more to do with naivety and inexperience than bad judgement longterm. Hopefully he learns fast and ships out the unreliables and the overpaid oldies and integrates the youngsters as soon as possible. @benny theres nothing to prove that he woll learn anythibg and this is not a managerial college …its a bloody football club.Plus lets assune you are right and he turns out good,whats to say he wont fuck off to ManCity at the… Read more »
Freddie I’ll load the bullets!
Before the wolves game, some were dreaming that we might get six points in the next two games to steady the ship and I thought…”Do you mean six shots on target?” Now, I don’t think we will even get the six shots on target. Arteta will be sacked after the NLD or at least Edu.
Arteta has to find a system the players really buy into.
A system that won him the FA Cup was basically underdog football. Ultimately the players are not going to buy into that even if it gave them short term kudos in winning the FA Cup.
It’s clear that as well as some of these players not being up to scratch the team as a whole are not buying into Arteta either at this present time.
Danny, China
I wouldnt put it past arsenal that both those things happen.
We also had a goalkeeper that could pass out the back.
Pierres gone quiet since he got a dose of perspective.
It’s going to be a fairly quick post from me today, I’m mainly writing this now because I did a podcast with a friend who was over from London, check it out at the bottom of this blog!Today was all about the battles Emery hasn’t really won. Namely, he had to drop Granit Xhaka from the squad after his captain refused to tow the party line and apologise for his nonsense on Monday. He also brought Mesut Ozil back into the fold after banishing him a week ago very publicly.The starting 11 kind of looked interesting on paper, we opted… Read more »
Mee,
I’ve been saying for a month now I think he’s gone by boxing day night unless we turned things around, and that was after the villa debacle.
It’s not got much better with a draw and another loss.
Short of turning over the spuds (don’t laugh) or a draw against them, then 3 wins on the bounce against burnley Everton Southampton and then its Chelsea.
I think they might say get rid of him, then whoever comes in has money to spend in January?
Daniel,
Paragraphs sentences please!
🙂
Errr, new post lads
Daniel
Strange how 6 points off top 4 used to be a negative under Emery, but a beacon of hope for Tets.
Danny as much as villa has conceded one more than us.
It was a real dick move to sell Martinez.
He bought stability to the back line controlled his box.
Set up counter attacking moves (just watch the third goal villa scored against us) looked like he would win every cross into his box by catching it.
He should have started the season and leno told you have to win your place back or leave.
I’m sticking to what I said last week. The Wolves game changed nothing.
Auba’s goals had papered over the cracks for the past three years. We would not have finished 5th a couple years back nor 7th last year without them.
We have 5 players worthy of first team selection (no, Özil not included) and maybe another 8 that are squadies (no Özil there either. In other words we have a pretty shit squad of players that not even Klopp could make top 4 with.