Detailing the complicated mess Arteta is struggling to escape

by .

I’d love to be able to feed you some snippets that the problems we’re facing are about to be tackled like Granit spying a speed demon on the halfway line, but the noise is pretty miserable across the board. The mess you see on the pitch is reflective of a young ‘manager’ that is struggling to control the mess he’s made and a club that doesn’t know how to leash him.

I see a lot of ‘WHAT HAS HE DONE’, and sure, we’re all pissed, so say what you like. But the reality is he did do quite a lot of good in his first 6 months.

  • He picked up a dead cat in a relegation fight
  • He made us tough to beat
  • He breathed energy into a very stale setup
  • He attempted to implement a culture based on merit, not reputation or tenure

The first half season saw wins against the top 6, a big improvement in our defence, and a level of fight we’ve not really seen over the last 5 years. Off the ball movement improved dramatically. We also won an FA Cup.

So what went wrong? Arteta saw an opening for a power grab and he took it. He was given a promotion he wasn’t qualified for. Arsenal gave him powers he wasn’t ready to yield. He used those very badly.

Things have gone downhill very rapidly since then and it’s hard to separate the manager from the mess.

He went to the board and asked for deals for:

  • David Luiz: £160k p/w
  • Auba: £250k p/w
  • Willian: £250k p/w
  • Soares: £60k

He opted to keep Granit Xhaka in the summer because he thought he’d rehabilitated him. £90k p/w

He decided the best move wasn’t just to bench Mesut ‘the Tweet troll’ Ozil, it was to kick him out of the squad, despite having no creativity in the starting 11. £350k p/w

That’s £60.3m worth of wages currently offering next to fuck all to the project.

He spent 3 months watching William Saliba in training, then decided not to give him a place in the squad… he didn’t even exit him on a loan deal so he could work on his game. Quite a shocking way to treat a £30m asset. If Arteta thinks he’s shit, put him out on loan to Germany and get one of their big clubs to pick him up. If Edu thought he was so far down the pecking order he’d not be good enough to make the Europa League squad, why is he here festering and bitching on Instagram?

Everything I’ve head about Matteo leads me to believe that he should have been binned, but look, he’s in Germany as a ‘punishment’ and could land us a £25m fee in the summer if he carries on scoring screamers.

The reason I mention these two different problems is because they speak to why Arteta the ‘manager’ has been such a huge fucking disappointment.

We hired one of the best young coaches in the Premier League. That’s not in doubt. My view when he was hired was that he’d be used as a palette cleanser for a club that has been lost for years. He’d come in, bin the senior players that don’t give a fuck, and he’d move Arsenal towards a new vision that made us a destination for the best young players in the world.

He was sold as a coach. A change maker. The person who was going to modernise Arsenal and put some pride on the badge. Someone who could sniff out bullshit because he’d worked with the best in the game.

When Julian Nagelsmann, the best young coach in the world, lost in the semi-final of the CL last season, he said ‘There’s a certain profile of player I’d like at RB, but the boss says no.’  That is how you deal with a manager full of ego when he comes to you and lobbies for Willian. You tell him to get the fuck out and come back when he has a good idea. You explain that old players deteriorate rapidly, and worse, they just don’t give a shit. Add to that, when said older players are your peers, they are unlikely to care for your coaching. They don’t need to learn anything because they’ve done it all before with bigger names.

So what did Arsenal do? They bought into the fantasy of short term fixes… again. Arteta wanted to shortcut back to the top. He thought he’d assemble a bunch of journeymen for one last ride, win his trophies, and move onto the next shiny object. Mikel, a man who is a football obsessive that rain man’s post-its all over his walls, didn’t realise his masterplan was the one Wenger and Emery had tried.

A group of football leaders paid about £8m between them sat in a room and agreed that this shocking plan was the way forward. They all looked at Willian, a 32-year-old, and thought not only that he was good enough for Arsenal, they thought he was so good they doubled his salary to come to Arsenal, and they’d give him one more year than Chelsea were offering.  On the salary, the player had already told the press he wanted to stay in London. There was no competition for his signature, Spurs certainly weren’t able to offer that money. He had no leverage. How does that happen? Can someone please explain how you sign off on madness like that? Jokes that Edu is now pushing the London based ‘hit the ground running’ star as a name that needs time to settle.

Think on David Luiz. He gave away how many penalties last season? How many unforced errors of his led to goals? We play at Manchester City, he’s benched, he’s sulking, we call on him and he drops a disaster class, a penalty and a red card… proving yet again, he’s a mentally weak joke and should be exited.

What did Vinai, Edu and Arteta decide that week? To reward that fragility and inconsistency with another new deal. That, after his agent piped up about Arsenal in the press. What were they all thinking? They weren’t and we didn’t have a Ralph Rangnick or a Luis Campos to tell them all to fuck off.

Arteta is a coach until he’s earned his stripes. His main skill and the reason we hired him was his Manchester City IP and great rep in the game for being very good on the training ground. The job he should be doing right now is transitioning Arsenal to the best place for young players to build careers in the world.

Good leadership wouldn’t be talking about a 3 point plan for success with Henry Winter. It’d be getting Arsenal and Arteta back to basics. It’d be sitting him down in an office and explaining the magnitude of this fucking disaster he’s overseeing.

Here’s the problem, the true solution to this mess does not align with what is needed right now… results. It also doesn’t marry well with a manager that seems to have a bit of an ego problem.

The true solution: We should pivot away from senior players that don’t care.

The reality: Moving to a kids-only strategy might not win us many of our next 5 games.

Additionally, how will the owners and the board look at a move like that. Their young manager they thought was a visionary convinced them to commit to £60m p/a worth of investment that has regressed us to our worst start in 30 years.

We are boxed into a corner. The only way out is to win. That might mean moving to more of a hybridised model while he sorts things out.

Long-term, if he does get out of this mess, he’s going to have to go and tell the board he sinned. He is going to have to hold his hands up that he made a huge, huge fuck up and hope they forgive the largesse. He is going to have to stop being mates with players that let him down and sell them this January. It’s soooooo awkward.

Then there needs to be strong leadership. We need to get back to a strategy that suits the state of the club and where it is at right now. We have to do things the hard way and move forward in a responsible way. No more naive mistakes. Bin the super agents. Start building processes that make sense. Create a strict profile of the sort of players we target and make sure we stop signing players over the age of 26 years old. Start planning 3 windows ahead. Get our contracts into shape. Don’t give another player a £250k a week deal for the next 5 years. Loan out young players if you don’t rate them. Become a selling club until you have enough success to become a buying club.

Most managers in Mikel’s form would be calling their lawyer right now to arrange a severance deal. Vinai should recognise that and not let a good crisis go to waste. Use the moment to take back control, use it to assess whether we have the right staffing across the club. Are the experienced coaches right? Is the Technical Director delivering value? Where can we start upgrading the process? Don’t take the word of Arteta that what’s going on at the club is great, do the dirty work yourself. Talk to people. Probe for the truth. Try and sniff out patterns. If there are bad eggs, get rid, and upgrade. Don’t leave it to Arteta, he’s already shown his hand hiring in a bunch of yes men. A good leadership structure would put people in place that would challenge him and soften out his inexperience. I’m not sure we’re getting that right now.

I don’t know where this ends. I don’t know how low this goes. All I can tell you is this is as bad as it looks and there isn’t a clear way back to normality any time soon.

Plenty of it can be put on Arteta, but sadly, there is a lot more wrong with Arsenal than just him.

P.S. Now listen to The Arsenal Opinion. I bring together Janan and Matt for the first one. It’s a good one. Therapeutic listening.

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Logie Bear

1st ?

Logie Bear

First?

Logie Bear

Third as well (!)

Elmo

“Mikel is doing a great job,” said Edu, in his role since July 2019.

“It’s normal and easy to be driven by results. But I can see the future, see where we go and the way we are building things on a daily basis. Everything here is right, everything here is working.

“How many young players have started to get opportunities and perform quite well in the first team?

“I can see a big and beautiful future. It’s very strange to say that in this moment, but I have to be fair – that’s the way I see the photo.”

Sotongunner

When we’re we a team and I quote “fighting relegation” under emery. I’m not arguing he was a good appointment but position wise even in Arteta wildest dreams you couldn’t argue he somehow picked us up from that. Yet more empty hyperbole from the marketing man.

Roy

Pedro, what’s good if something lasts for 6 months in football? FA ciphered wasn’t an Olympics medal to last for 4 years. And we are back to – -less confident on the filed …. its visible -Out of form bunch -A string of issues and bickering -In-comprehensible style of play -frustrated bunch of youngsters, who by the way, has grown up more in between (these are not as fresh as during 2 years back The only thing different is the rhetoric that got formed by winning the FA Cup. Change the rhetoric first. To move forward one needs to accept… Read more »

Alexis

Nice post pedro

andy1886

Top half?

WengerEagle

Edu is in self-preservation mide himself, haha.

What else do you really expect him to say?

WengerEagle

Mode*

Black Snake

The problem I see is that the board/MD & technical director dont have a clue or a spine and have allowed the club to become the shitfest that it is.

“Long-term, if he does get out of this mess, he’s going to have to go and tell the board he sinned. He is going to have to hold his hands up that he made a huge, huge fuck up and hope they forgive the largesse.” – even if Arteta did that, theyd probably say he’s done nothing wrong and give him another promotion!

Batistuta

Lol at “We hired one of the best young coaches in the premier league, utter delusion considering we’re hovering above the relegation zone at the moment and are playing some of the worst football anyone has seen Arsenal play

Sean Mukiza

Spot on Pete. Excellent piece today! Speaking facts for once.

Sean Mukiza

Pete please do a reaction Pod or piece on Edu’s ridiculous interview. I’d love to get you rhtoughts on it. Good footballer way way way out of his depth as a Sporting director.

AngeAusArsenal

I’d rather lose with the kids than ever watch Xaka, Willian, Luiz, Cebellos, Lacazette and Bellerin play for Arsenal again.
The results might be similar but I bet the football would be better. He still has his favourites among the academy players as well, if he can’t see that Balogun is going to have a higher ceiling than Nketiah than he really is not the man to take us forward.

Mb

“We hired one of the best young coaches in the premier league”

Or

We hired one of the young coach who we thought would be best (working with Pep). He had played for Arsenal and would understand Arsenal DNA and grow himself and the team.

Young coach – Yes
Would be best – No
Understand Arsenal DNA – No
Grow himself – No
Build a team – No

Accept the fact that we took a gamble and it didn’t play well. Move ON.

WengerEagle

Somebody on here, think it was Dissenter said on here yesterday that he felt sorry for Aubameyang right now after being ‘convinced’ by the club to remain. Absolute bollocks. The man lives a very charmed life here. Don’t get it twisted, and I have always said this, while being an elite goalscorer and one of the world’s best at that Auba is very limited in his all-round game and pales in comparison to the elite CF’s in Kane, Aguero, Lewandowski, Haaland, Suarez, etc. Truth is that he was just playing his cards close to his chest re the humming and… Read more »

englandsbest

‘Don’t expect someone from outside to come inside and be a magician because it’s not going to happen’

andy1886

So MA picked up AFC in the middle of a ‘relegation dogfight’ when we were 10th or 12th (can’t remember exactly) but we’re not in a relegation dogfight now when we are 15th with a worse record and worse current form?

Yeah alright.

South African Gooner

I wish , PedRo would not compare Arteta to Wenger. One will go down as one of the greatest managers of all time and the other will go down as one of the worse. Wenger lasted 22 years, Arteta will not last 1 full one. Some of the errors Arteta has made- as you have rightly pointed are absloutely horrific. As for his coaching credentials, where, why, how and whom are they? 1 goal from open play in 8 games , tells me , he cant coach, let alone manage. What he does do very well, is in talking bullshit.… Read more »

Davey

Results results results we hired a coach not a manager

Dissenter

The Chinese Super League has set a wage limit of about 3 million so an exodus of players are expected back to European clubs.

Expect Edu to be champing at the bits to bring back his Brazilian buddies.

Sean Mukiza

What happened to #WECAREDOYOU? You put your little signature there and now we hear fuck all after you got your little blue tick & a response from Kroenke JR.

Be brave Pete you have a massive platform here that could make a difference.

Tom

Arteta is rightly facing serious criticism and I struggle to see how his job continues to be tenable given the depth of our current slide. However, I think it is important not to over look Steve Round’s role in this. This is a man who has coached England (with McClaren as manager); Newcastle (with Allardyce as manager); and Everton and Man Utd (both with Moyes as manager). These are teams who have played some of the worst football imaginable – teams devoid of creativity and imagination in attack, and low lock block zero press teams in defence. It is fair… Read more »

Dissenter

The only way Mikel Arteta could have worked is for him to be head coach with very strong guard rails under a very experienced DoF.
The only way the Arteta experiment would work in a big club was for the manager to be humanizing and in touch with reality. Instead, we got an arrogant dude who wrested power from the DoF who employed him at the very first opportunity,
Arteta is too character flawed to be a top manager. He needs to go drive in the Paris-Dakar rally for two years like AVB did.

Arteta out.

Mr.J

@ Andy1886

Exactly.

I also need this questioned answered too, unless I have completely misunderstood the meaning ‘Dead Cat’ and ‘relegation fight’?!?!

We were far from a dead cat when Arteta took over… BUT we are exactly that now!!

Also, “He attempted to implement a culture based on merit, not reputation or tenure”… this is the type of statement you write when you’re reaching and have run out of positive things to say – especially underpinned by the word ‘attempted’ – because, lets face it anything but this has happened.

Gladwin

Arteta can still turn this around by going the Chelsea way. Don’t know if he has the courage to do it.

Dissenter

Wenger Eagle Bollocks, I was one of the few people here that was against us keeping Aubameyang last summer. I wanted us to sell and start again. That said I do feel sorry for him because he wanted to leave and the club had to convince him there was a project. We’re you sleeping when Arteta and the fan base were pressuring him to ‘sign da thing’ He was persuaded to stay and I doubt he committed to a project that will launch 50 hopeful, crosses into the box a s a panacea to our problems? I would feel sorry… Read more »

Mee

Arteta has never worn Arsenal regalia on the touchline, not even a badge. Like who the fuck does he think he is?

Davey

Arteta and Edu can fuck off

Grant Elkin

Pedro you know fall well how this shit show will end, lose 70% of are remaining games survive relegation by the skin of are teeth. A massive player revolt and the eventual sacking of MA. I’m sorry mate but this as you probably know beep down, is only going to end one way and that’s badly.

Dissenter

WE
The way you phrased that last comment ignores the fact that he was skeptical about the project and the club had to convince him by overpaying. The club also deployed fan pressure, just to refreshen the memories that you’re suppressing.
I wanted us to sell but understood why the majority here thought differently.

Auba was never a good footballer-great goal scorer like Harry Kane He is a great goal scorer who needs lots of movement and pace to thrive -conditions Arteta has taken away.

Doublethink

Arteta lost whatever faith I might’ve had left with that team selection Sunday, he needs to go.

into the red

Having coaching credentials is one thing. Being a manager is a completely different thing, with a very different skillset. As we are now finding out with Arteta, who has none judging by his actions, and nothing in his past to suggest that he has. Fergie used to say towards the end of his career that the hardest thing in modern management is dealing with players who are multi-millionaires and who all have their own retinue of agents and ‘advisers’. Multiply that by the number of squad players, the influence of social media, and you can see a completely different set… Read more »

ace

hahahahaha, knew a Pedro post won’t be complete without a statement like this:

‘We hired one of the best young coaches in the Premier League.’

Watching the stages of grief in a person is very amusing from the outside. Hang on folks, our guru is at the bargaining stage.

Dissenter

Mikel Arteta; ‘I’ll take the bullets”

Too late for that since you’ve been throwing everyone under the bus but your faves.
Still expecting that Xhaka apology, just like the apology he squeezed out of Pepe.

shaun

The Problem with Arteta is the more he faces the media the more you want him gone , the more trouble he gets into the more arrogance he shows , the way he has dealt with players he thinks he can act like Pep and yes it is also the Clubs fault frigging joke really .Any sane person was thinking you need a man of experience to Manage a football club the size of Arsenal and especially in the climate we as a club find ourselves in . So we have owners who do not know a lot about football… Read more »

Dissenter

Pedro
You left out the Mari 4 year deal, after 100 minutes of trial football. That was Mikel too.

Sid

Its clear some of the players are NOT good enough.
Its clearer their manager is WORSE than those players.

Im telling you for free!

Sotongunner

Is it too hard to admit that giving arteta managerial rather than just coaching was a mistake. I think we would be getting rid of the wrong man and edu needs to go. The transfer dealings and love in with kia is corrupt. As my name suggests I’m from Southampton and I know people in the club, cedfic was a bad egg there yet what do we do. Go and sign the saints cast off who happens to be a kia client and now funnily enough can barely get a kick. You couldn’t make it all up, the incompetence and… Read more »

shaun

“Still expecting that Xhaka apology,” that would be better for Arteta’s PR , he’s looking a little cuntish at the moment

Dissenter

Pedro showed enough contrition with this post.
The man has some pride so don’t expect him to douse himself with lighter fluid on his own blog.

He’s embracing reality, albeit in slow motion.
Help him, assist him and embrace him. Support the Pedro reality project.
He is one of our own.

South African Gooner

Gladwin

****Arteta can still turn this around by going the Chelsea way.****

Its this Chelsea way, that has him teetering on the edge.

Luiz, Willian and nearly Jorginhio given money and contracts old Arsenal stalwarts and loyalists would have crawled over broken glass for.

Not if, just when Mr Bullshitter leaves.

They ALL need the firing squad

WengerEagle

Dissenter

What elite club are touching a 32 year old Auba? And for anything even remotely close to 250k a week?

Spare us the shite. He would have stayed for less, like I say he pulled off a blinder.

And as the senior CF in a team that don’t score goals, how sorry can you really feel for the man? I mean he is part of the problem.

Marc

Pedro

Are we currently a “dead cat in a relegation fight?”

Marc

WE

Auba is not the problem or even part of the problem. He’s scored goals everywhere he’s been, no one has outscored him since he made his debut in the PL and scored 22 goals last season 1 off winning the Golden Boot.

Are you really suggesting that he’s gone from all that to not being able to score in a brothel overnight?

WengerEagle

Van Persie somehow managed to bang in 37 goals in that fucking dire 2012 team. Wasn’t as bad as this one but when Song Billong is your chief playmaker, he had absolutely no business doing what he did. Dragged us by himself to a CL spot. That is the kind of company that people put Aubameyang in, shit I have heard Arsenal fans proclaim him as BETTER than RVP and our best CF since Henry. 1 open play goal in 12 games is unacceptable. He has as many own goals now ffs. And his goal was scored at Fulham, on… Read more »

Marc

Pedro

“Most managers in Mikel’s form would be calling their lawyer right now to arrange a severance deal. Vinai should recognise that and not let a good crisis go to waste.”

So we should sack Arteta?

Dissenter

‘Luiz, Willian and nearly Jorginhio given money and contracts old Arsenal stalwarts and loyalists would have crawled over broken glass for’

That’s plausibly true
We had Joghinho as a realistic option.
Westham saved our bacon because they refused to sell Declan Rice to Chelsea. Had that happened then Arsenal was willing to swoop in for Joghino
That was one of the reasons [other than Aouar and Torriera] why we waited so late to activate the Partey deal
We would have had the trifecta of the Chelsea players that mocked Arsenal openly on their team bus in Baku.

WengerEagle

Marc

Completely passing on putting any blame on a CF that we paid 60m for and pay 250k a week for scoring ONE open play goal in 12 PL apps while ripping Xhaka, Bellerin, etc on a weekly basis is pretty dense if you ask me.

You know my stance on the Arteta and the club, doesn’t mean that Aubameyang is uncriticisable. He has been fucking turd and one of our worst performers.

Dissenter

WE
Are you missing the point that I wasn’t keen on him staying
I wanted us to sell him and start again with a younger player who did more than just finishing.

Of course he played a blinder. The club was desperate….he wasn’t desperate to stay. We had to throw everything at him to convince him, those are facts my man.

Left Testicle

Oh, I get it now. It’s not Arteta’s fault. It’s Arsenal’s fault for offering him the Managers position.

WengerEagle

Dissenter

I know your position on Auba, but you are dead wrong that we had to pull out all stops to keep him.

Like I said, what were his other options?

Dissenter

Honestly, the joke is on Arsenal FC right now
Mikel is a dead man walking, every one knows it- the media, the players and most of our fan base. Even Pedro is embracing that reality.
It’s Arsenal pathetic management structure that’s on full display. That’s what the next round of negative stories will zoom unto after Southampton does a job on us.

Doublethink

Who picked Bellerin, Willian and Xhaka Saturday? How would changing the technical director rectify that team selection?

Ernest Reed

Arteta is the sole architect of his own demise. This will end in deserved humiliation, count on it.

Philip McConnell be

Edu and Arteta should both lose there jobs immediately.

Get Ralf Rangnick in to steady the ship and keep us in the Premier League with a view to a move upstairs and getting a new coach in place for the start of next season.

Edu and Arteta are in way over their heads and it is time to pull the plug before this gets any worse.

gambon

Hilarious that an hour after posting this, Arteta has come out and defended Xhaka, saying theres nothing to discuss. Hes finished, he is probably a good coach, but he is a terrible, terrible manager. He has pretty much got everything wrong since he came here. – Sold the wrong goalkeeper – Made a public display of wanting to keep Maitland-Niles, who he doesnt play – Keeps playing Bellerin, the worst FB in the league – Signed Soares, for absolutely no reason – Signed Mari, for absolutely no reason – Extended Luiz – Alienated Saliba, didnt even give him a loan… Read more »

Sid

So Edu signs players L’il Moyes DOESNT want then he pulls a Saliba, Martinelli, Torr on them, freezes them out

Im telling you for free!

Dissenter

Remember when the banter was about Emery using a power point to convince the board.
O what an outrage it generated on legrove.

What do you think Arteta used to dazzle them?
What BS generator did he employ to charm those mummified bastards given that he told Willian he’s winning the CL in three years.

Grant Elkin

For those who think Xhaka is done read this! Taken for the Arsenal site, I have now officially lost faith and respect for MA as a manager! on whether Granit has a future at Arsenal after ‘another rocky moment’… He has [had a few rocky moments] and he’s not the only one. There’s a lot of players who have had rocky moments. What I can say about Granit is that his professionalism and his commitment with the club and with his team-mates is maximum. He knows and we know that he had a moment where he lost it and I… Read more »

WengerEagle

Ernest

That for now is the only thing that Arteta has going for him over late Wenger.

The fact that we aren’t on the receiving end of humiliating spankings.

I mean losing at home to 5 goal Burnley is pretty humiliating but it’s not quite 6-0, 5-1, 10-2, 8-2, 4-0, blowing 4 nil lead bad now, is it?

We have generally been losing games by 2 goals max, Villa aside. Just needs a hammering to be the final nail in the coffin for some fans.

Chelsea may oblige.

raptora

Pedro: “His (Arteta’s) main skill and the reason we hired him was his Manchester City IP and great rep in the game for being very good on the training ground.” So we call all finally agree that Arteta should be an assistant manager and nothing more. – His starting lineups are shocking – His ingame management is shocking – His substitutions are shocking, even worse than Wenger’s – He plays injured players – He doesn’t sub injured players on time Even if he was to have a good DoF above him, none of the above will get fixed. He’s doomed… Read more »

Marc

gambon

One of the problems is “coach” has several definitions. Right now the only definition where Arteta can be described as good is the one which can be described as “putting the cones out”.

Marc

raptora

“Even if he was to have a good DoF above him, none of the above will get fixed.”

Well a good DoF would have fired him or not employed him in the first place.

It’s crazy that Pedro is still pushing the line that Arteta came in and saved us from certain death but will not say he’s got to be fired when we are in a worse place now.

WengerEagle

Yeah that is it pretty much gambon.

I am sure Arteta would be very useful in the right capacity but as the overall gaffer and leader? No chance.

Too many fundamental flaws for managing a group of people no matter how football smart he is.

Dissenter

Marc
The natural instinct of any wannabe manager would have been to get a substantive head coaching job after we didn’t hire Arteta in 2018.
He should have taken up a position as head coach of a smaller club with less pressure. Instead he went back to playing ‘manager-in-waiting’ at City. Maybe prospect of starring in the amazon prime documentary was too tasty to walk away from.

alexanderhenry

Pedro I’m not going get in to whether Arteta is in fact a great coach or not. You might be right but our style of play, his in game decision making and team selections are giving me serious doubts. You are absolutely correct about other things though: Replacing managers is not a silver bullet- the managerial merry go round is not a ride we want to be on- , arteta needs help and needs to delegate and the people running arsenal football club are utterly hopeless, so hopeless in fact that I think arteta’s job is stil relatively safe. Is… Read more »

Marc

Believe it or not I wouldn’t have a problem with what Arteta is saying this morning about Xhaka if I thought for one second it was about maintaining a maximum transfer value when he’s sold in Jan but we all know he’ll be back in the team for the Brighton game.

raptora

None of our players is evolving.
AMN, Willock, Nelson and Nketiah are at the exact same place they were 2 years ago.

Emery developed Iwobi, Guendouzi, Martinelli.
He introduced and started playing young Saka.
Aubameyang was scoring for free.

Who has Arteta developed?

Instead of working with Pepe, he decided to bench him for a 32 yo Willian ffs.

Marc

Dissenter

Agree – it seems Arteta was so good he was too good to do the hard graft that all other successful managers go through.

Dissenter

No proper DoF can even work with Mikel so the idea of demoting him back to head cach6 doesn’t fly.
Sven Mislintat would have walked away the moment Mikel did that power grab.
You knew there was a problem when the head coach is immersing himself in player wage reduction talks. Everyone knows the manager has to be separate from that process so that he can maintain a good relationship with players to manage the aftermath.
Everyone … but Mikel because he was trying to impress the Kroenkes

Marc

Anyone saying we shouldn’t sack Arteta because “changing managers doesn’t fix the problems” is just an apologist and weak minded.

They were exactly the same people saying we shouldn’t replace Wenger because “who can do the job”. Well if we’d have done it at the right time we would have had full fat Pep or Klopp.

raptora

Absolutely shocking performance by Arteta in every paragraph.

Nothing that Pedro says will change that.

If he was that good at the training ground, what can he show for it?

He hasn’t made a single one of our players better and our performances have been utterly shocking.

Doublethink

So does that mean Arteta saying what Pepe done was worse than Xhaka or am i missing something?

Aussie+Gooner

Let’s look at the positives……….At least we won’t have to witness Walcott skiping past Xhaka time and time again. Or witness Xhaka turning his back on a Theo thunderbolt as it cannons off his arse and sails into the net over a stranded Leno!

Sotongunner

Supporting xhaka, pretty indefensible. Refer Pedro back to the “xhaka hill” statement. I think perhaps it’s more of a xhaka dantes inferno pit rather than hill as seems the “manager” can’t see what, every man, woman and child can see about this player who does appear to be genetically missing vital parts of his brain. Liability, not good enough for club and finally for good measure told the fans to f**k off and can’t apologise. Well xhaka can f**k off and take arteta with him as that really just takes the biscuit and is a two fingers up to the… Read more »

Marc

raptora

“He hasn’t made a single one of our players better”

It’s not even that good most are regressing and getting worse.

raptora

Marc,
Enough of the full fat expression. For real.

shaun

“he lost it and I know the reason why, but what I cannot do is just throw everything that he has done away just because he made a mistake. ” if this is truly what Arteta’s response is to the xhacka incident. He really is a PR frigging nigthmare …so gone from unacceptable to he lost it and I know why lol……………lol .They should just tell him not to talk anymore

Marc

Dissenter

If the club moved to replace Edu right now with right profile DOF and told Arteta the new guy would be senior to him do you think Arteta would accept it?

Marc

raptora

It was the first time I’ve used it!

Dissenter

AlexanderHenry
Love you man but this’ sacking the manager is not a silver bullet” argument is a hogwash.

When you’re bleeding out rapidly from a transacted artery, the first thing is to apply a tourniquet
.
When the club is in free fall heading into relegation zone with worsening performances m you sack the manager.

No one is asking for a cure all. This is to arrest the precipitous decline.

alexanderhenry

Pedro Also, I think your definition of what makes a good football manager is a little skewed. The ‘special sauce’ you so often allude to is special because it contains many ingredients. So, Arteta knows his tactics but there’s so much more to it. I think all modern football managers understand tactics to a high level but it’s question of which tactics are the most effective for the squad you have. There’s no point in trying to make Burnley play like man city. They’d lose every game 10-0. Also, man management is crucial. How is it that Willian has gone… Read more »

alexanderhenry

Dissenter

You may be right but the club will stick with arteta for a while yet.

Dissenter

Marc
Yea…Edu is about to get his pound of flesh back and regain his powers. The club won’t make that mistake again after firing Arteta.
There’s no way the Kroenkes haven’t instituted the search for a new manger already. That’s just basic stuff now.
They are wise to seek a permanent manager because this lot won’t respond to another Freddie stele caretaker.

alexanderhenry

Dissenter

‘There’s no way the Kroenkes haven’t instituted the search for a new manger already. That’s just basic stuff now.’

Why does that not fill me with hope.

Marc

Dissenter

I’d be interested to know what this Tim Lewis is doing at the moment – what is he telling the Kroenke’s.

I think we might not have a choice with having a caretaker manager for a period – all depending on who we’re looking at.

I know the Poch has always said he wouldn’t manage us – I wonder if we could put that to the test? Allegri is also available but other managers might not be available right away.

Dissenter

Alexander H
Sorry but the road to redemption isn’t resolved in a single step.
I don’t have any qualms about us hiring and firing managers until we strike gold. There no point persisting with an obvious error just to maintain the semblance of stability.

The difficulty will be to convince a proper manager with a record to work under Edu who’s a nonentity in European football circles. All he’s ever done is activate a release clause. Any of us could have done that too.

Marc

“So, Arteta knows his tactics but there’s so much more to it.”

I think a replay of the Spud match might put that particular fallacy to bed.

raptora

Arteta: “It [Xhaka’s red card] has been resolved internally,” said Arteta. “There is a lot of players who have had rocky moments. “What I can say about Granit is his professionalism and his commitment with the club and with his team is maximal. He knows and we all know that he had a moment where he’s lost it and I know the reason why. “But what I cannot do is throw everything he has done away because he’s made a mistake. We all make mistakes and I am here to protect the players when I see that they deserve it.… Read more »

raptora

You only need to read this and sack Arteta on the spot. It’s not getting better. He’s lost all plot.

Marc

alexanderhenry

Was it the wrong decision to sack Emery a year ago?

andy1886

Just WTF is this ‘Manchester City IP’ that Pedro is so keen on? Another PR buzz word?

As far as I understand it the Manchester City philosophy is to chuck shit loads of money at a problem until you hit on the right combination (something like £580m net spend over the last 5 years).

Who on earth thought that would be a viable scenrio for AFC?

Mr.J

@gambon You know what the sad thing is…. I know that you’ve probably missed out s few things on your list. Can’t remember if you mentioned it… If I was in a position of power at the club Arteta would have been told under no uncertain terms to integrate Saliba into the team… he has binned off a significant outlay the club has made, without even an opportunity – personally, what he has done with Saliba (and Martinelli pre-injury, Pepe, even Guendouzi) is a sackable offense. The line up against Southampton will tell you everything you need to know about… Read more »

andy1886

*scenario

raptora

Compare Xhaka’s treatment to Pepe’s. Arteta makes mistake after mistake after mistake. All of his bad decisions adding up is what lead us to this 15th place and not looking brighter.

Dissenter

Marc
I fully expect that the search for a new manager is underway.
Mikel knows it and the players know it too, through their agents. That’s just the way the wheel turns in football.
Poch;s best achievement is his work at spuds. He’s a very loyal guy who’s said he won’t ever manage Barca’ because he coached a lesser Barcelona club so why mess up his life’s achievement in London?
…and for what, to work under a technical, director in his first job in that position , under Vinai?

Poch isn’t happening. I don’t even want that drama right now.

Graham

I flipped from looking at Republican tweets claiming they still won the Presidential election to reading Pedro articles still claiming Arteta is a great coach and Arteta claiming GX is a great player.

What ever happened to

– providing objective evidence
– admitting you got something completely wrong

I used to like this blog as it was the only source of sanity in the early years of the Wenger decline but now It has turned into the Arteta era Untold.

Bertfish

Pedro you can add the wages of Mari (why sign another average CB when we have half a dozen already), Saliba (should be out on loan) & Sokratis (should have just let him go as a free given he was not going to even get a squad place) being spunked. So thats probably another 150k a week down the pan on top of what you have mentioned.

It’s totally cockridden!

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