It’s hard to know where the bottom is for this squad of players. It’s tough to fathom whether the manager can arrest the decline. You wonder if the exec team has the knowledge to intervene and support. We’ve not seen a run this bad since the 80s. We’re rudderless top to bottom. The process is fucked. We are back to being a banter club.
Arteta is in big trouble. This is going the way of David Moyes at Manchester United. Listening to him insist 44 crosses to nobody was some sort of success for the future was painful listening. If you don’t have a striker like Robin, Ade, or Giroud, why would an entire coaching staff go out of their way to ramp up crosses per game by 11.3 since November (James Benge stat)? Last time we came close to yesterday’s number of crosses we at least had Danny Welbeck to aim for (Leicester 2016).
Steve Round said in one of his Youtube videos that in the end, not winning enough games cost him the United gig. Now we’re following that regime’s legendary path to the bottom… literally.
Cross numbers were the least of our problems yesterday.
Arteta is stubborn. He is trying to will a flawed plan into points. Everyone looked at that starting 11 and worried we lacked legs and character. We gave Willian another game to bomb. We started Granit Xhaka despite his terrible form, his lack of physicality, and the absolute nothingness he offers to the squad. We gave Auba another game. The guy is a disgrace. Arsenal.com shouldn’t have run that interview with him in the week where he looked like he was a hostage on day 57 after being asked to denounce his religion, family, and love for nice things. He is not behaving like a captain. Everyone at Arsenal knows this. If your charismatic leader can barely crack a smile, how are the rest of the squad meant to pick themselves up? Leadership is turning up when things are hard, he’s not doing that right now.
The Thomas Partey decision delighted us. He was really solid for the minutes he played. Then something popped, he rolled off the pitch as a counter-attack started, and Arteta tried to shove him back on. It reminded me of that time Denilson dropped to the floor against United and didn’t smother the ball… except Wenger didn’t run on the pitch to pick the player up and kick him towards goal. If Partey has the same injury, we’re deeply fucked. It’ll take longer, there might be all sorts of complications. We’d have just killed our escape plan. We took a risk on our best player and broke him in the busiest month. Unbelievable banter. The worst of short term decisions. We were always a long shot to beat Spurs away. Now we’re a longshot to beat Burnley next week.
That starting 11 showed that Arteta is not learning his lessons. He saw what athleticism offered to the starting 11 in the week and he ignored it. He continues to opt for senior players that can’t play his system. His system might be fucking magnificent in his head or at City, but if the expensive experienced players he has can’t play it, it’s total shit. We thought we were hiring in a manager that could rearrange a motley squad of players to be better than the sum of its parts… it now looks like we’ve hired someone that is wedded to something he can’t do. At least when we shithoused we were competitive.
Arsenal won’t change the manager. The players will go long before he does, but that might be predicated on Arsenal not being in the relegation zone come the end of the month. We are shite. Our players have a long history of pundits bemoaning their meekness. But Mikel doubled down on them, no one asked him to. He gave out the deals, he extended the stay of execution for about 8 players, and he insisted that the things they do at training was the stuff of top 4 teams. Things went to shit in the first 10 games and he excused it by saying he needed 6 players to get back to the top. GREAT, we needed that actioned in the summer, not now.
Hector Bellerin was leaving. He was convinced by the project. We thought he had changed. Yesterday, he dropped his 6th foul throw of the season. HE IS A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER AND HE FOUL THROWS. Let that sink in.
The opening 3 minutes of the game was beyond parody. Lacazette was so slow from kickoff he was clattered as he passed the ball out for a throw. Granit Xhaka’s first instinct when Harry Kane burned him for pace was to rugby tackle. Hector gave possession away from a throw. 3 of our most experienced players dropping amateur moments like that, how can you progress with players doing things like this?
It might start with retiring the season and playing the system with players that can do it, even if it’s not at the ‘technical’ level Arteta wants. At the moment, the principles we set out with look like they’re being soiled every week by senior players that don’t give a fuck. How can Mikel be so ruthless jettisoning the ‘bad’ players to the far reaches of nowhere (right decision), but so accommodating for the absolute bums he rolls out every week?
Here’s an idea he should have adopted this summer. Play the young players instead. Just like Frank Lampard did at Chelsea. The guys that are attached to the club. The guys that want careers beyond current contracts. The kids that have ceilings. If we’d written off this season and binned the idea of yet more short-term fixes, the fans wouldn’t be as angry as they are right now. He promised Willian a Champions League final in 3 years. He can’t even get an accurate cross from the Brazilian.
Can anyone honestly tell me AMN, Reiss, and Eddie could have put in a drossier performance than what we saw against Spurs? I suspect Möller might have been better suited to a system built for Giroud like target practice and he’s never played a first-team game. Would he have bottled challenges? Would he have cowered aerial balls? Would he have been so half-arsed?
Leeds United cause everyone problems because they have a system built to accommodate subpar players. Worse players than we have. Jurgen Klopp said a good gegenpress is better than a number 10. Time to get real, the current players can’t play City football. ‘What can they do?’ is a must-find answer.
That answer should be geared around power, pace, and one-touch passing. We need to get back to the aggressive pressing, it’s shocking that Arteta let it slide like Wenger used to. We need to have actual athletes in the middle of the park. We need to find a modern take on creativity because we’re not getting it with the players we have right now and lobbing the ball into the box will not work without big players who love to rough it with slaggy defenders. If there is a vision of what the football could be, let’s play it, even if it’s only at 80%… because at least we could see where this process could take us.
Cedric has a final ball and he’s fast, I doubt he makes foul throws. Why did we sign him for four years if he can’t play?
AMN marked Mahrez and Traore out of two games. He moves the ball fast, he’s aggressive, he has some flair in his passing. Give him games. Hold him accountable. Make him better.
Reiss Nelson can move. He is fucking rapid. His career depends on making it at Arsenal. Give him minutes because he cannot be worse for the system than a player who complained he didn’t really understand what Arteta wants from him after taking a £250k a week deal.
Would ESR offer as little movement between the lines as Lacazette. Would he give you 4 pass attempts into the penalty box as a #10? Alex was one of our better players and he didn’t do much bar run around with some aggression. There was a moment in the first half when Thomas Partey broke the lines and none of our forwards gave him the movement he needed. Painful viewing.
Auba is droppable. Willian is droppable. Xhaka should be left off the January squad list. If you are not doing it, you should not play.
I know fans think they know best. We mostly don’t. But we do know that a chunk of our players will always let Arsenal down because we’ve been watching the patterns for years. I have said it time and time again, I’d rather watch kids fail who can get better, than watch older players stink out the place because they don’t care.
Arteta was hired as a rookie. We were told to take a chance on his coaching and promise. He should take a chance on players that want to be there. Kicking on with the seniors that have a history of mentally collapsing at every opportunity is unacceptable leadership regardless of how old you are.
Give the Hale-Enders a go. They have a culture, a shared belief, and drive. The understandable mistake Arteta made was being conned by bums, the unforgivable one is continuing with them despite their utter tripe performances.
Ainsley had it right. Get some legs in the setup. Get ‘a little bit of dynamics’ going. Find a way, because that’s the job. The stubborn approach is not yielding results. Big names are taking the piss. It’s time to get a grip. It’s time for shock and awe. It’s time to resuscitate the season because it is about to need an ICU bed, the nurse is revving up the ventilator and we all know that means it’s 50/50 prognosis in the worst of ways.
There are plenty of managers that have turned dire situations around, but most of them have admitted mistakes and made changes. We need that and we need it fast. Arteta looks like he’s unraveling and that’s not good for anyone. Let’s hope the soul searching this week is a little deeper than ‘just do the same thing.’
Fingers crossed.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Listen to our podcast from Friday. It’s evergreen. Most of it holds true today.
WE
No the result would likely be the same, a Spurs goal in stoppage. But optics would have played so much better, now we have a goddamn meme haunting us as well. Opposed to Spurs scoring past a downed man in need, if that doesn’t rally the troops nothing will.
Did i mentioned i’m leaning towards the nothing will with this lot?
Ernest
Fair! I couldn’t see it, thought it my explain why he wasn’t trying it.
Might*
Montana
Way off topic but lets talk about the important stuff. What river, how small a fly for this time of year how big were the Browns? Feel free to stretch it.
Honestly going back through the older comments I don’’t understand anyone who has watched Arsenal for the last decade can’t see that the Kronke’s have destroyed our club.
Hi Sal, sorry I was trying to catch up.
Lots of big rainbows yesterday.
Marc,
Yes Saliba stayed in London and did not go back to France because of Corona virus, but obviously he was sulking during his extra training sessions…
Remember when they were trying to use that he was not physically ready to play in the EPL as an excuse for his omission and that’s why they were sending to the less technical but more aggressive Championship division.
Seriously Arteta coaching staff should stop with the off the record briefing and instead of playing PR concentrate on making the right decision. Nobody is buying what they are selling.
Is nobody in the studio going to bring attention to Harry Kane’s sly habit of backing and crouching into in-flight players winning headers and endangering their landing spot? Flips their body and causes them to heavily land horizontally.
Has seen three instances of it since the start of the season with Gabriel yesterday, Cresswell vs West Ham and Lallana at Brighton where he actually won a penalty.
Absolute scumbag move that will seriously injure somebody soon.
Good ol’ Harry is the media’s darling though so not a peep. Jusy him being ‘streetwise’.
Montana
I was going off topic… you lucky bastard. What river?
No snow yet, Sal. Fishing the Missouri. Two hander swinging leeches and other small streamer patterns.
Sal, I used to guide full time. Work for Montana TU now and still guide a little bit. Come visit and I’ll take you fishing.
Valentin
It’s worse than that – he’s damaging the career of a highly rated young player. As someone said earlier word gets around and other young players will hear about this through friends / international team mates / agents etc.
Arsenal and Arteta will become the “don’t go there” club for bright prospects.
Has he been sacked yet..?
Dis ” grabbed away”
From the replay, it didn’t look anything out of the ordinary. Leon was standing next to the goal post facing Kane. head on. You should watch the replay. I admit it was a good shot. But if the GK went up to him, it could rush him the shot.
Not sure I’m understanding why there is still fuss around Saliba? He was bought as a future talent, given his age, no? In the evaluation and estimation of management he has been deemed not ready, no? Outside of the financial hit taken in purchasing said player, I honestly don’t find anything unusual about his current development by the club. He will get his playing time wherever it is offered and if the club believe he is not ready for prime time then that really is no different than any other youth player at the club. Once you get around the… Read more »
Right surely we’ve got to rock bottom…
Time to sieve out the shit play da yoot ffs.
Mikel has his job in the line
Ernest
Somehow I can’t quite picture that is how they sold the Arsenal ‘project’to old William.
He was a highly rated prospect starting in Ligue 1, why would he come here only to be banished from the squad?
Maxy, I’ll be back with a vengeance tomorrow.
Arteta ain’t going nowhere. Lots for him to fix, but he has to do it, otherwise we’ll fuck.
I would play the kids. If he really is about the “nonnegotiables” he would do it. Why ban Mesut and use all that capital and then keep playing this dross?
Pedro’s posting under another name again!
The fuss around Saliba is that its a decent sized stick to beat Arteta with who in all fairness hasn’t handled it great but how much of the actual story do we really know, besides those serious ITK’rs on Le Grove which is utterly comedic. My sources tell me they know little.
Little.
Montana,
Excellent, I just may take you up on that that!
Marc, It is already the case in France. Aouar entourage wanted more money, but the player wanted guarantee that he was going to play and not be stuck in the reserve. l’Equipe the daily Sport French newspaper is also a TV and it has a daily evening TV show about sports news and opinion. A while ago, there was a segment about how French players moving abroad early in their career was depleting the Ligue 1. They used Arteta and his treatment of both Saliba and Guendouzi as an example of how not to treat young players. They were sad… Read more »
Posting from an Ipad blows, error game intensified.
We have forgotten how to score like we normally used to.
Something is so wrong with this….
sal
It’s not the size of the stick to beat Arteta with – it’s how many of the fucking things there are.
Once people realise the Cup win was a fluke everything else falls into place.
“He was a highly rated prospect starting in Ligue 1, why would he come here only to be banished from the squad?” Thats just it isn’t it WengerEagle, he’s a prospect and not a veteran. Prospects seldom if ever are given the luxury of choosing their destinations. Saliba is no different than any other young player, Arsenal are interested and if you cant be excited about the prospect of playing for such a team, then you really should be playing pickup ball with pals. He was sold the same thing as any other youth player, play hard and work hard… Read more »
Sal The problem with Saliba is none of the people currently playing are that good. Before the season started, Holding was going to Newcastle, Mustafi will not be here next season and probably also Luiz. This would have been a good season to bed in Saliba. Martinelli came from the 4th division in Brazil and was supposed to go to the youth team but now he’s playing for the senior team. Fofana came from St Etienne and now is playing for Leicester. I don’t believe there’s a wide gap between Fofana and Saliba that one can start in the EPL… Read more »
Saliba’s former teammate is playing every match for Leicester and he is not good enough to start for Arsenal yet we are far below Leicester?
The Saliba issue isn’t only on Arteta but including Edu and Vinnai
Arteta was sold to us as a generational coach I’m really struggling to see anything generational about him, he’s becoming like later days Wenger stubborn and always indecisive,how do you persist with players that have repeatedly let you down
Anyways he should continue and that’s how his sack will come
Maxy
“And the other side is the cabal of crap players who are basically trying to kill another coach.”
The players most of which were hand picked by non other than Mikel Arteta himself.
And if you think that he’ll just resign out of the goodness of his heart then I can assure you that it won’t happen. He’s too stubborn for that… as well as no one in the right state of mind will pass on a nice payout.
Maxy
“One side is Mikel – a bright, enthusiastic Arsenal man”
The Arsenal man gives your post away.
You are invested in him because he was an ex player under Wenger.
I;m afraid one off FA Cup matches are not going to cut it if he fails badly in the bread and butter EPL.
Since the beginning of October, Arsenal have had more foul throw-ins (5) than Premier League goals (4).
Arteta Out
Maybe a replacement manager can use Ozil’s alignment of interest with the club’s – we want him to play well, he needs to play well for his next contract – to have a great second half. Maybe Guendouzi has a way back with a new manager. Maybe Torreira does too although I think hes much more settled in Spain.
‘What this team needed was a 19 year old centre back’
ffs…
PedRo
****Arteta ain’t going nowhere. Lots for him to fix, but he has to do it, otherwise we’ll fuck.***
Fergie could ‘nt fix this Arsenal.In fact Fergie, Klopp and Cloughie combined could not.
So Arteta and sidekick Round have no chance. No chance whatsover.
And all of his other coaches are even less experienced than Arteta. ( all under 30?!)
When you have a moment- have a peep at Round’s CV.
Everyone he goes – he ruins clubs he is supposed to serve.
Add Arsenal to his hit list.
azed,
Not only that but Arteta fully knew that Saliba is coming, yet he decided to add Mari to the bunch of CBs we have (also bought Gabriel). Same way he added Willian when we already had a 72m Pepe playing in the exact same position. Both useless transfers stopping talented players from showing if they have it or not.
SAG, it’s a fair point… which is why he’ll stay. No one is getting a turn out of this squad, so we might as well rebuild… but I think we need a proper technical director, some new R&Rs for Mikel, and a serious hit of honesty about what can be done and over how long.
Ernest, “Prospects seldom if ever are given the luxury of choosing their destinations. Saliba is no different than any other young player, Arsenal are interested and if you cant be excited about the prospect of playing for such a team, then you really should be playing pickup ball with pals.’ Saliba has literally the best clubs in Europe interested in him. He chose Arsenal because of the TH14 connection. Spurs made a higher offer that he rejected. Nobody forced Arsenal to bid 30 millions to buy him. His club would have been perfectly happy to keep an extra year and… Read more »
Pedro
“I’ll be back with a vengeance tomorrow.”
I love it.
You are playing late Ali on the ropes giving us rope a dope.
Taking the shots, kidding us into a false sense only to spring back from them ropes with the counters.
But will it end in victory Foreman like or will you have to be ordered to stay on your stoll and told it is over Larry Holmes stylee?
Feel sorry for Saliba as to me it seems we’ve messed him. If we had reservations last year we should have parked him at St Etienne for 2 years. Let him get 50-60 games under his belt.
But from the brief footage I’ve seen of him he looks pretty raw on the ball and physically looks like he needs to improve. He a big guy and seems quick over short distances but quite heavy footed in short spaces.
Sad to see Leicester take Fofana from the same club, throw him straight in and he looks class.
If Artea wasn’t an “Arsenal man” he would have been given his P45 already.
That’s how bad this season has been.
A dirty outsider would have been tossed away.
Ish, easiest position to take is be a misery guts… I know, I did it for 12 years.
We aren’t changing the coach, so let’s hope he can find some magic.
We await with interest Pedro’s next post.
The Teets rises from the ashes post.
Marc
“Once people realise the Cup win was a fluke everything else falls into place.”
Too convenient.
Regardless of whats gone down since that was an inspired moment where the club found the form to win and Arteta found a way for the players to show up for him in a system that worked for the purpose. Something he’s strayed from. Pretty sure Frank was just as desperate to win his first managerial trophy.
The Saliba thing is baffling. End of. Arteta had plenty of time to look at the lad starting from last season after lockdown. If he wasn’t even going to get into the Europa league squad over 7 KEEPERS, then loan him out. Okay we didnt loan him out – either its incompetence in finding him a move, horrible man management, or Arteta stopping a move – the latter of which is incredibly unlikely. But to not even put one of Europe’s hottest prospects who Real Madrid were in for last year – ESPECIALLY after the last 2 europa group matches… Read more »
‘What this team needed was a 19 year old centre back’
Pedro
Ironic from you considering you are suggesting Arteta should play the kids…
What’s the point of playing Mustafi this season? He’s not going to be here next season.
There’s nothing we can learn from Holding.
We should have used this season to blood in Saliba.
Sal,
DiMatteo won the Champion’s League with Chelsea in his first job as manager. Looking back at the test of hisangerial career, it was a fluke. A lucky fluke but still just a successful outlier in his managerial career.
Has the announcement of a new manager been announced yet.
Calypso/Red
Who do you want to be the next Arsenal manager ? Bielsa or someone else ?
Valentin
He managed Milton Keynes and West Brom before Chelsea.
Guys. Are you paying attention. The players you hate so much have contracts that run beyond next season. We’ve tried to push out many players yet they remained. Seems like mostly emerys players have gone so far but Wengers players (Artetas mates) are still here. How can we rebuild if they all decide to run down their contracts? Please go check yourselves and see exactly how long these players have left.
All a club can do is threaten a player with U23s reserves football but they can’t force them to leave. To break contract.
TR7
Anyone but Arteta
Good article and basically spot on with regard to the current situation. The one glaring omission is that you were the loudest voice promoting Arteta for the job, telling everybody that we were hiring a generational coach. You also told us last week that it wasn’t on Arteta but down to the weak squad he inherited. You’ve now thrown Arteta under the bus and told us that it’s the squad. The squad is unbalanced but nevertheless the bulk of this squad finished fifth under Emery and now sits in 15th.under the guidance of our generational coach. For sure the set… Read more »
That is the thing though, Arteta is not an ‘Arsenal man’.
He only spent 5 years here and didn’t play for the last two of those. He spent nearly twice as long at Everton and left far more of an impression there.
Guardiola spent most of his career captaining Barcelona and won every trophy there was to win.
Zidane only spent half a decade at Real Madrid but unlike Arteta he had a massive impact. Won a Champions League and league title as the best player.
Weagle
“That is the thing though, Arteta is not an ‘Arsenal man’.”
It’s enough for some that he played under Wenger for a period.
You know how some are with Wenger.
Ish, he was a cup winner, a captain, and he always said he wanted to come back. He’s an Arsenal man.
La croqueta
My guess of those that started yesterday who we would want rid of….
Bellerin – Think there would be interested from abroad
Holding – Sure a Newcastle level club would take him
Xhaka – Think a club in Germany would take him (e.g. Hertha)
Laca – Sure there would be interest at a knock-down price in his last year
Willian – Stuck with
Pedro
He was also quite a bland player and was a player at the club after we stopped being a real top force.
His output this season as manager as others have said have been reminiscent of him as a player -= bland.
Maxy
First of all, welcome to le-grove.
Your post, for the most part, makes a great deal of sense. The thing is, Mikel Arteta is making far too many basic mistakes to justify the support you feel he deserves.
I certainly don’t base my judgement on the so called “toxic mercenaries “ in our squad. My perceptions are based on fundamental issues that Arteta is not getting right.
Please excuse my English here but when you trust in a shite player like GX, you definitely ain’t the right fit for AFC.
Sorry but that’s the truth.
Said before on here that Arteta was never on my manager’s choice to takeover, once we sacked Emery. Always wanted Allegri or Conte. Think we did approach Allegri after Wenger left, and before we hired Emery. At first when Arteta came in, he looked like he changed some aspects of our game. We seemed to have better shape, and looked better organized. We then won the FA Cup beating some top teams along the way. But since then things have gone to pot. Some of the players look lost and perhaps have jacked off/downed tools and look as if they… Read more »
Arteta was solid and consistent for us as a player at a time when we really needed someone like that. Look I am furious with the guy and want him fired as a manager or atleast demoted back to head coach, but lets not let our current anger spill into revisionist history about his playing.
Was he good enough for a title winning time? Maybe as a backup yeah. Was he good enough for Arsenal as a player? Considering our team at the time, yup.
* things CAN’T continue the way they are.
Simeone is the highest paid manager in the world, GS88. Dont think he’s on the cards for us….
Pedro
Arteta was one of five extremely underwhelming responses to the humiliating 8-2 at OT.
The same season we over-relyed and ran 18 year old Jack Wilshere into the ground.
I never rated him as a player, let alone one who deserved to wear the Arsenal shirt, and towards the end of his ordinary career too.
If we’d lost 2-0 yesterday and given Reiss and AMN a go over Willian and Xhaka, I wonder if the press would have been kinder?
“No one is getting a turn out of this squad”
There’s a bloke in Spain who did okay with 90% of them….
Just saying.
Venga
Arteta was an average player. Not good, not bad, but painfully average. The amount of back and sideways passes that I saw with/from him on the pitch was staggering. Perhaps it’s the reason he loves Xhaka so much.
Hojberg is a player you’d like to slap…
Simeone will go to Inter when he ducks La Liga.
Venga, Dani.
Yeah good point, but we are a bigger club than AM, and it could be that are able to entice him.
He’s been at AM for a while now, let’s test the water and see.
We really need to start moving like a big club. We are danger of falling further behind even to clubs like Wolves, Leicester and West Ham etc.
Venga
It’s you who is revisioning history.
Arteta was no better than Xhaka.
Andy, the bloke in Spain that had the second-worst start in his second season? Great shout.
Pierre
He’s got plenty of team mates as well.
Arteta is no arsenal man for me..
Would rather an invincible than him…
Never cared for him as a player and clearly as a coach.
The hype is simply gone.
Arteta got drunk of the high of winning the FA cup… after that reality set in… the crash happened.
Pedro
“If we’d lost 2-0 yesterday and given Reiss and AMN a go over Willian and Xhaka, I wonder if the press would have been kinder?”
I don’t think most of here give a shit what the press are saying at the moment – what angered me so much was the predictability of it.
My fav is Conte.
Remember having a conversation on here with Cesc Appeal about 3 or 4 years back, and we were in agreement about Conte’s qualities as a manager.
He’s Premier League ready, and has actually won it.
Would be an excellent choice.
“Andy, the bloke in Spain that had the second-worst start in his second season? Great shout.”
Who’s the guy with the worse start?
Pedro
You’ll like this: Mourinho is the first Spurs manager since the 50’s to win his first two NLD…
GS88 – Conte is a great coach no doubt and sure he would get more out of this team but he’s a nightmare to deal with and highly doubt he would move to a club with the finances we have.
Everywhere he goes he wants big investment and then kicks up a fuss if he doesn’t get it.
Calypso, sounds like you enjoy it more.
What I want to know is what exactly Xhaka does or says to these guys? How do you play the fastest counterattack team in the league with the slowest error prone midfielder in the league. I can’t think of a slower starting midfielder. This is becoming more than a pattern…
PV4 is out of work.
Just saying.
The worst start to a season for over 45 years
Toniboy
What guys?
Do you mean his teammates?
“Trust me”
Xhaka tried to put in a shift. It’s just wasn’t very good. Auba was kind of half hearted. Laca was on the verge of not trying until he saw how much Saka was doing to try and get something from the game. Willian genuinely doesn’t understand how he’s being asked to play and it’s obvious. He is getting thrashed hard by the fans but a better coach gets him firing higher. Bellerin had some fault for both goals conceding. Partey started well until he felt his leg pull up. We don’t play fast little triangle passing football anymore. Nor do… Read more »
JP.
No managers perfect. Think Conte would relish Arsenal. The only thing I would say about him as a negative is the fact that he doesn’t have a great European record, considering the calibre of clubs he’s managed.
At Juve, Chelsea and now with Inter, he hasn’t managed to even reach a final of the CL.
But I’d still take him.
Maxy
It may be your first post on here, but it’s also the most praise-worthy on here.
Can we stop this bullshit that we have a squad that could barely survive the Championship. Is it the finished article – of course not do we have some good players yes.
We are certainly good enough to be positioned around 5th at the moment which we have us in the mix for a CL spot which would also help with some recruitment in Jan.
G62
The Managers….it’s ridiculous. Same has happened with 4 managers. He was chosen over Kante by Wenger for some reason only he knows. Kante cost Chelsea 5m more and Wenger knew him. When he is dropped we play better too but as soon as it matters….he is right back in there
Even if Arteta got us relegated. Pedro will be telling us he is the man to take us right back. This is relegation form and also Hubris of the highest order. Lose his next 2 league games and Arteta will be sacked. sauce and all.
Only consolation is how quickly United have climbed up the table, a couple of wins can improve the outlook. 8th is probably our best shout this season. As long as we stock up wisely Hjolberg was £15m. I’m not confident but oh well.
But his lack of creativity is worrying, the squad is white but an example is Cedric infront of Bellerin could work….they can kinda handle Son as they are both (sometimes) defenders and Cedric is meant to have the best delivery in the squad according to the manager….if wants to cross us to death.
Global
He’s already gone – Pedro’s just going through some fucked up version of the stages of grief. A combination of denial and blaming others – the players, Edu etc. The Kroenke’s will get it in Jan when he isn’t given £150 million to spend.
He was an unnecessary risk and everyone who whilst wanting him to do well was concerned about putting a complete novice in charge is seeing everything we feared.
“you can rugby tackle the Spurs player.“
Is that even allowed?
I mean you could physically hurt the other player……not to mention it’s hardly fair play.
Or does that only apply to Guen rugby tackling Zaha?
I don’t really want to rain on your parade CG but a bit of consistency wouldn’t hurt you much. Lol
*shite not white
Marc, stop wishing your ill-informed misery on people.
IT IS ONLY ONE PERSONS FAULT is so childish.
How shit of a manager is Vieira?
You are right Pedro, Arteta is not going anywhere for the time being, but that most certainly does not exempt him from well deserved criticism. Arteta has been at the helm for a reasonable amount of time now and his record indicates marginal progress at the moment. Well, actually at the moment its really a regression. He is still learning and still is trying to imprint his “style” of play. Its obviously not gone to plan, but admittedly from my perspective there are troubling signs on display. I am still supportive of the manager, but equally will no longer remain… Read more »
Arteta was a nothing player for us, not even as good as Edu was for us who himself wasn’t all that.
Pedro
So when did you grow up after blaming Emery for everything that ever went wrong?
BUT THAT ONE PERSON HAS BEEN DRIVING MOST OF THE SHIT DECISIONS.
It’s not childish to state.
We have lost home games against Leicester, Aston Villa and Wolves.
That hasn’t happened in quite sometime even with our average squad. One can only blame the coach who let it happen Pedro
Marc, you gotta get over Emery. It’s embarrassing.
Your whole schtick on here is avenging him, it’s a sad look.
Ernest, he deserves critique, no doubt. He invested too much trust in seniors, he gave contracts he shouldn’t have, and he hasn’t adapted to his new reality fast enough.
Doesn’t mean it’s over. Doesn’t mean he’s an awful person. Doesn’t mean he hates the French because Saliba was left out.
It’ll be an interesting month, that’s for sure.