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.
Ernest Reed
Yes, I’d be surprised if Arteta played Xhaka at the first opportunity, and yes I believe Arteta is earning his spurs as manager.
To repeat myself, I’d be surprised if he played Xhaka at ANY opportunity, and hasn’t learned from his mistakes.
Raptors,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q4MMs3R19g
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55071648
Pepe praised by Arteta after Pepe red car
*card
Gbat: “Some on here were calling Arteta the 3rd best manager in the league earlier in the season.”
That’s true and I’ve admitted to it many times without anyone else bringing up either.
I was fooled.
But I also predicted our struggles 8 or 9 rounds ago. Can you say the same yourself?
Dissenter / Marc Don’t care what the comp was it was an Arsenal match. Poor management to put Pepe in literally the next match, just like it will be poor management to Xhaka into next available match. Set a fucking example and be consistent is my point. Decisions like these are the reason Arteta has a litany of players acting as if there is not consequence on and off the pitch. “What is it you’re missing. Take those Arteta blinders off to start with. 🙂” Dude its almost as if you read without taking anything on board. Open the gate… Read more »
englandsbest I’d be surprised if he didnt play Xhaka at the first possible opportunity , thats how low I rate Arteta now. Do you think Auba really wants to play with Xhaka the donkey in midfield behind him. ? Dont you think its weird that Willian of all people has passed the ball to Aubameyang the lowest number of times ? Its because they have no camarederie and we are almost 1/3 into the season. Auba wants to play with Pepe its clear as daylight . Look at his excitement when he arrived vs Willian . What does Arteta do… Read more »
What Xhaka did was ten times worse than what Pepe did. Pepe reacted stupidly out of frustration to his marker needling him over and over in a game Arsenal were struggling in. Arsenal were bossing when Xhaka took umbrage to Burnley player having a reaction to having his legs chopped from underneath him, as if to say who the fuck are you to complain about me taking one for the team you complete nothing of a player on half my wages. I am the great Xhaka, the Swiss team captain and a proud holder of my parents house key, and… Read more »
B63,
He said he played well. Am I missing something re the red card?
Sorry for the rant guys .
sal
Not that simple – what if you want to keep other players fresh for the PL matches that Pepe is suspended for.
It’s also a balanced approach to realise that all players make a mistake or do something stupid on occasions after all I even gave Xhaka pass in August 2016.
Divine
Firstly – a lot of us are close to a rant at the moment so no bug deal.
Secondly – that’s the most polite rant I’ve ever seen!
Sal
Pepe apologized to the team and the manager. He was unavailable for premier league so Arteta rotated him to the EL.
You wanted Arteta to drop him…for what?
A symbolic gesture in a very busy run of games?
“A symbolic gesture in a very busy run of games?”
When players are dropping like flies do to injuries and a lot of managers have complained about not keeping the 5 subs rule in such a congested season.
Raptora,
Perhaps your glasses ?
Before the match, Arteta told BT Sport: ‘He had a really good reaction towards the players and to every supporter after he let the team down.
‘After that I had to support him, it’s a player who is constantly trying to get better and better and I’m trying to help him reach his best.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8991449/Mikel-Arteta-praises-Nicolas-Pepes-response-Leeds-red-card-scoring-Arsenal-Molde.html
Yeah Raptora, plenty to gun after Arteta for, but as Bergkamp says, not sure you’re really paying attention here.
Arteta is wise to try to create a band of brothers siege mentality with the squad, at least the ones that aren’t too pissed off with him.
Lets see if that works for him.
Pedro
Which “good reaction to the players and to every supporter did Xhaka make”
Did they send you the videos of Xhaka’s “reaction” to the supporters?
Now you’re just toeing the Arteta BS line.
“When players are dropping like flies do to injuries and a lot of managers have complained about not keeping the 5 subs rule in such a congested season.” Marc you just labelled it a 9th rate competition with the group all but won and now we’re worried about not being able to field a side without injury? Double standards for me, we had plenty of options on hand. Needed to set the example for pulling. a faux head butt and costing us vs Leeds and move on. Has to be a consequence even with apology for me. As for Xhaka,… Read more »
Marc
I am actually having a good day at work , so I am at my best behavior but fcuk me people arent calling spade a spade these days .
I don’t know if some on here are Spurs Trolls or Arsenal Supporters, It’s getting hard to tell the difference ?
I thought our supporters were above this sort of behaviour but I stand corrected.
He even repeated that Pepe let the team down.
It’s never the same to what he said about Xhaka. Far away, away from it.
It’s fact he has favorites and his favorites don’t deserve to be supported – Xhaka and Willian to name a couple. Both have done stupid things and the contrasting treatment they received compared to players he really, really dislikes like Guen, Saliba, Pepe. He’s a hypocrite, bad man manager and a leader that the squad decided not to follow.
Divine
I think it’s just a case of refusing to to accept what you’re seeing.
It’s not what I wanted to happen but it is happening only think to do is accept it and move on.
Bergkamp63 Before the match, Arteta told BT Sport: ‘He had a really good reaction towards the players and to every supporter after he let the team down. ‘After that I had to support him, it’s a player who is constantly trying to get better and better and I’m trying to help him reach his best. Swap the words Pepe with Xhaka after he comes back from his suspension and plays like the box to box midfielder Wenger hired him for . Yeah mate cant see that happening but I can assure you he will come back from suspension and start… Read more »
We haven’t played particularly well for a good few years now. Yes we have come 5th and won the cup but we’ve not been convincing. Had some excellent performances followed by terrible ones. I’ve always been more interested in the players and their performances than who’s the manager or technical director etc. And I don’t like this squad. I don’t see any manager taking us to the top until the squad is sorted. I think we’ve made some terrible signings over the years and it’s all come to a head. Of course we should be playing a lot better and… Read more »
Everything else is based on imagination. Our results are a direct result of internal affairs. You don’t want to tell me, we are the 15th best squad, right? Our shambolic history breaking low is a result of a manager who doesn’t know what he’s doing and how to win games with a squad that is far, far from 15th best. All the decisions he made regarding every player in the group, has lead to the disgraceful results we’ve been getting.
DS,
I sincerely hope you are wrong !
Wenga out!
GBat,
I have said it countless time, you cant undo 10 years of neglect in 10 months, this lot on here are dreamers.
Anyone but the deranged knew we were stuck with a lot of players on huge contracts we can no longer shift.
I’ll say it for the umpteenth time, it will take another 2 years to sort out, is that so difficult to understand ?
Bergkamp63 I don’t know if some on here are Spurs Trolls or Arsenal Supporters, It’s getting hard to tell the difference ? I thought our supporters were above this sort of behaviour but I stand corrected. What sort of behavior man ! Its not like Xhaka is Cantona mate who can get away with kung fu kicking the fans at stadium . He literally told the fans to fuck off and offered no apology , he cost his team 3 points in a crucial match where we had a period of some pressure . And not for the first time… Read more »
If Arsenal were interested in a debonair ex footballer who was a mediocre midfielder,
then Scott Parker should have been priority over L’il Moyes
The “non negotiables” are people in a group and it should be called un dropables..
Obviously I didn’t mean the Chelsea way by saying take retirees from Chelsea. When Frank had the ban, he knuckled down and worked with the academy players and got a fine tune out of them and this season looks closer to the finished article.
DS,
Yup. Guendouzi even did it after we lost the game so he was annoyed at the final score and at the cunt. He didn’t react during the game and fk his team around in the process. Xhaka did it just to keep his “tough man” image and cause he’s a daft, shambolic player.
I have said it countless time, you cant undo 10 years of neglect in 10 months, this lot on here are dreamers. The question is whether Arteta is taking Arsenal in the right direction. Obviously, he’s not – the club is barrelling towards the relegation zone. Moreover, his mistakes have been painfully obvious ones, beginning with recruitment and retention: signing and re-signing terrible players. Buying good players is the single most important attribute for any manager, and Arteta has shown he has no judgement in this regard. That, combined with this horror show run of results and his appalling man-management… Read more »
“Anyone but the deranged knew we were stuck with a lot of players on huge contracts we can no longer shift.I’ll say it for the umpteenth time, it will take another 2 years to sort out, is that so difficult to understand ?“
It’s the sorting out part and how Arteta has been going about it that I’m having the problem with.
You can’t with a straight face say the first part and then ignore the fact we’ve just put a new batch of underperforming seniors on big contracts impossible to shift.
Pedro wtf man I’m tired of reading these posts where you ask the same questions over and over again (willian, luiz) with no actual answer, no actual way of answering them unless there’s inside info you can’t share. This whole bullshit at senior players not caring- MAYBE AT ARSENAL WHERE THE OWNERS DON’T CARE EITHER. But to call luiz weak minded etc is just bitchy. he’s a CL winner, an EL winner, a Prem winner. He’s also played in the 7-1 brazil germany game and played for PSG. he’s had high highs and low lows. Anyone else in our squad/staff… Read more »
Raptora
And that Maupay manged to injure Leno deliberately too .
DS,
For starters one of those players had been a complete whopper behind the scenes creating a huge amount of disharmony in the squad. Another Anelka if you will.
Secondly he, once again, stated their (both) behaviour was unacceptable and rightly so.
I find it amazing that only a few short weeks ago after winning the FA Cup & Community Shield (ok so not exactly a major trophy), Arteta is now the object of a witch hunt.
Those people should hang their head in shame given the size of the task he has on his hands.
@Pedro As many already posted you go hard in on Arteta when fucks up, then over the next few days you build your confidence and hope again in this Newb. The only reason he was halfway decent at the end of last season was because he had 5 subs to correct his errors of a starting lineup. Now he doesn’t. Lets see what happens after the next 3 games and Arsenal will be lucky to pick up a point or two from 9. Then you again go hard in on Arteta only to again weaken your resolve. Come to grips… Read more »
Pedro, You still see that as a players issue and as soon as the bad apples are ditched everything will be rosy again, when it is deeper than that. Some of the problems directly stems from Arteta’s decisions. Tactically he has shown to be inflexible. He was not able to anticipate and counteract both Leicester and Mourinho game plan. The world and his wife knew what was coming and still he did not just fall into their trap, he ran into it. So changing personnel may have a temporary effect like he initially did when he arrived, but soon the… Read more »
Bergkamp63 Exactly. We’ve still got Ozil, Elneny and Mustafi at the club. They were told publicly by Emery that they weren’t wanted. Yet they’re still here and it’s all Edu and Arteta’s fault apparently. People on here seem to think it’s really easy to get rid of players and they should accept any offer. I feel we had to sign Aubameyang to a new deal. With covid hitting I doubt any offers received would be enough and we couldn’t afford to see him go for nothing next summer. I don’t rate his overall game and I don’t think Arteta does… Read more »
Anyway, Soton will prob sink an Arsenal side let by such a chump in Arteta.
He can be comforted that the likes of Willian, Xhaka and co nod their heads in agreement to everything he says in training, and run around really fast. Just a shame they don’t do anything to help the team when it actually matters.
When Arteta walked into our club it was a given that the cliques were already there. Nationalities/cultures hang out naturally with each other. There are hidden networks of influence, camaraderie and shared experience at any complex organisation, and especially so when you have elite athletes all vying for limited playing time. In order to deal with this naturally fragmented culture, you need to forge an identity that is greater than any single clique. You need to instil in the squad a belief that unleashes an energy in the collective that ultimately defines the fine margins in the game itself. When… Read more »
GBat,
Well said Sir !
good point about the 5 subs md
Valentin
Agree on some of your last points. This is Arteta’s first job and he wants to control everything.
He hasn’t learnt yet that he can’t control it all and that he has to trust others to do their job.
Hopefully he’s not past the point of no return but at the same time when you have been so intense in one way flipping to a different approach looks weak.
MD-Gunner, Your forget also the water break. He was able to change tactic within 20 minutes of the start of the game and like you said with 5 substitutes he not only had more choices on the bench but he was more willing to make use of it early. Compare to now when he does not make any change tactical or personnel before the 70 minutes. David Luiz staying on the pitch was entirely due to not wanting to make use of a substitution early in the game. Also it looks like whoever posted on twitter that David Luiz barely… Read more »
Evening, The club has been a mess since the day david dein was booted out. Things deteriorated quite quickly as wenger took his eye off the ball and got involved in too much on the transfer side. That meant the playing side suffered. Then when it came to contract negotiations which dein used to deal with. Wenger started thinking it was his own money and started buggering up deals because the price didnt match what he thought players were worth. Our business deals were average at best compared to other clubs shirt deals, sponsorships deals etc. All of these things… Read more »
Bit early to go big on Pirlo as a coach. Juve not been great so far.
Gerrard showing signs of being a very good coach. Rangers had a lot of investment compared to the other teams bar Celtic but seems to have something about him as a manager
Bergkamp63 No one denied the task at hand for Arteta , it was huge and difficult. But this season’s mess is completely down to him. If you call Mustafi, Xhaka , luiz and Ozil as bad apples . Then why add more of them to the squad like Willian and Soares and give Luiz an extension ? Xhaka was very publicly on his way out when Arteta told us to have faith in him only to let him disappoint us again , same goes for Luiz and Mustafi . If Guen was another Anelka , then what the fcuk is… Read more »
It’s like patomine season on here.
Pedro pops his head out from behind the curtain, gets booed and has rotten fruit thrown at him and then darts back off stage!
“Arteta’s a great coach, oh yes he is!”
“OH NO HE ISN’T!!!!”
*Pantomime season
Marc Faber with the most excellent post I have read today . Brilliantly put sir
Andy1886 – perhaps your spelling was correct the first time – Arteta runs on stage and grenades are thrown at him.
Arteta’s fate may be changed now that his hand has been forced
Xhaka and Bellerin have been taken out of circulation, If only Willian can jus get a boil on his arse then we may stand a chance against Southampton
Play AMN in the middle, let Pepe loose and let Soares prove to a point to Southampton and stat
The return of the sauce may begin tomorrow.
Arsenal 5 – Southampton 1
Dissenter
You really think so?
I’ll take 1-0.
Unfortunately, can’t see it happening though.
@DivineSherlock: many thanks, appreciated.
NORG – you could be right, Marc may well be seeding a minefield for Pedro as we speak!
Graham
There has to be some kind of siege mentality in the squad now I would imagine.
If Arteta doesn’t start with Willian then we stand a chance of breaking the dam of frustration.
He has to drop Holding as well- he’s too slow for Southampton.
Xhaka is out
Bellerin is out
I think we’ve exorcised some demons and we will win.
.
How much time does Arteta have left after Southampton
I can’t see him leading this team out of a relegation battle or in worst case scenario in the championship
The Southampton keeper has a few clangers in him. He will do us a big one tomorrow.
Diss, who gets the nod over Holding?
Arteta is inexperienced no doubt but lets face it who else would want the job, Allerdyce ? The real issue is recruitment. Pepe, Luiz, Willian are poor buys We have been spunking money on sub standard players for a while now. Things won’t change until he clears the dressing room of all the deadwood. And thats going to take time. All those now shouting for Ozil must have short memories. The guy is talented but a waste of spa ce.
****Marc Faber with the most excellent post I have read today . Brilliantly put sir****
Echo that.
Except probably say its best post of all of 2020.
Faber on Fire.
The most important thing you need to be a succesful manager.INSTINCT!
And he nails it.
Fergie, Wenger, Cloughie and Klopp all had/have it.
I would say D. Dein had it too.
This lot can have all the coaching badges going- but if you have no managers instinct- you will always get rumbled.
Arteta will still be the manager in 2021. He is better than Emery. Of course time is short,but he will turn this around. He will have a different team running out there tomorrow.
andy1886
David Luiz is back and he has to prove he is on good terms with Arteta.
Diss, yes that was my what I was thinking about, is Luiz still onboard even if only on the surface or has he checked out?
Holding isn’t the problem, don’t get me wrong he isn’t big tone or sol but him and Gabriel are the best combo we have.
The problem is bellerin out of position, upfield on the right.
It’s xhaka not in the midfield so whoever plays on the right, partey, elneney ceballos they get dragged across from the right.
This leaves a big huge gap on your right side. Watch the spurs goals again and you’ll see it. (I’m betting mikel hasn’t)
Watch the game tomorrow and you’ll see the difference with no bellerin or xhaka.
Has he been sacked yet?
“He is better than Emery. ”
Based on what? He can’t even match the points tally Emery was sacked for.
Every fan has his favorite. Once his mind is made up, he won’t see any good plays from a player he dislikes. Last game, Willian headed the ball to Laca who was free 6 yards from the goal. He managed to kick over the ball. Willian has also sent a low cross to Saka who stood about 6 yards in front of the goal. Saka didn’t react the the pass. Willian has lost a step. But he was not totally useless. Of course, he didn’t deserve his 250k weekly wages.
Better than emery. Ha
Not a chance.
Emery has won 3 europa’s
I give arteta 30% chance to beat benfica
Ixi
I give him 10% chance to get to the benfica match
There is not one thing that shows arteta to be better than emery.
Id go as far to say arteta is one of the worst managers in the league
“The return of the sauce may begin tomorrow.”
Through the forcing of his hand of course. As soon as his favs are back in contention Arteta will revert to form and play them once again, simply because he cant help himself. And the vicious cycle begins anew.
The sauce has always been tainted, and by the Chef himself no less.
Nelson
The only 3 players I’m dead set against in the squad are Xhaka, Mustafi and Xhaka. The others vary from meh to good although Bellerin needs to shape up pretty sharply.
The big problem is the manager.
Emery wasn’t sacked because of the points tally. Everyone knows that.
Aside from the bloggers unsubstantiated view there is no evidence that Arteta is at emery’s level not to speak of being better than him This blogger wants everything changed: the owners, all the players, DOF and the board There is a point to all of that as limited and unrealistic a perspective it is I agree Arteta is out of his depth as a manager and shouldn’t be there That we need a visionary DOF who could maybe replicate what the likes of Monchi is doing at Sevilla But there is a burden of concern for what Arteta brings to… Read more »
Gladwin
It was part of it and the points tally reflects how the managers influence is affecting the squad.
Arteta is probably the worst manager in the league.
As a coach, he’s not bad. Definitely has potential.
As a manger, he’s fucking dreadful
For every Bob Paisley, Jose Mourinho or Walter Smith, there’s a dozen Paul Clements, Carlos Queirozs and Steve McClarens. That’s the honest truth – not all great coaches make for good managers/head coaches. Ultimately as a fan, I don’t really care what the management structure of Arsenal is, if we are a successful club. Win the Champions League and Arteta can have a job title of “Overlord” for all I care. But if you aren’t winning everything Fergie style, then people are going to look critically at the failings of your setup. And that means as a rather disappointed fan,… Read more »
Watch the Europa League final we played against Chelsea again and comment my friend. Arteta is in his rookie year and has demonstration some vision of what we can get to see in a few years from now. Not that the steady decline of 10 years will auto correct in 10 months. So what exactly is the suggestion, fire Arteta and hire a new manager – does that solve it??
I agree with much of what you posted earlier, Marc Faber. My hope was Arteta was a very fast learner and would come to quickly realize who the problem players were and not play them. The exact opposite has happened, he hasn’t identified them and he has actually doubled down and plays them the most. Players like Xhaka, Mustafi, Luiz, Laca and Bellerin who have already shown previously that they weren’t good enough to get us to our goals under more experienced managers. . The only way I see forward is changing the manager again, unfortunately. The new manager will… Read more »
In fact I think as an assistant manager he’d be excellent, he doesn’t have to worry about real man management, he can practice different routines and coaching drills and be really good for it.
As the one making all the decisions however, he’s crap.
Gladwin
Arteta has shown absolutely nothing that makes
Me want to trust him with the arsenal for another day let alone another year or two
Zero
Zilch
Nothing
Like Kaz says he may be the worst manager in the league
Kaz
Hed be great at putting cones out and getting tea for a real manager.
We can all draw up an extensive list of things that Arteta has got wrong these past few months but what exactly can we say he’s got right? I’m intrigued. Name me one constructive decision that Arteta has made that has benefited the team or the club? Difficult isn’t it? Where has he shown he has what it takes? It’s as if the FA Cup win never happened or, as it now seems, Arteta thought he’d sussed it. All the cock ups are just staggering. Yes, we will be better off without Xhaka and Bellerin in the team tomorrow but… Read more »
Maybe someone needs to tell Gladwin Arsenal wasn’t Emery’s first job nor his last.
If he wasn’t sacked for his points tally, why was he sacked then? Don’t tell me, he lost the dressing room. While Arteta has the dressing room in check and can’t beat Burnley at home, that makes him the worst Arsenal coach in my lifetime.
“Name me one constructive decision that Arteta has made that has benefited the team or the club?”
Ozil and before you counter, he’s been terrible for a long time now.
Lolz.
Human nature dictates that when we are faced with a problem we normally fight or flight. However, there is a third option for the very clever among us: think and innovate.
He can’t. I doubt any of you can either.
“Watch the Europa League final we played against Chelsea again and comment my friend”
You mean the final that ended 0-0 at halftime before the same players all of you want replaced now collapsed spectacularly in the second half? Great proof of Arteta being a superior coach that. If anything Emery should be the one upset, he had never lost an EL final before until he met our bunch of wasters
Ernest
When is the last tine we g me have scored from pen play?
Ozil isnt a favourite but i bet wed be playing better offensively with him
“fire Arteta and hire a new manager – does that solve it??”
It solves some of it. Not firing Arteta not only makes it difficult to fix the other problems but actually exacerbates them.
Ernest no matter your thoughts on Ozil there was nothing constructive about leaving him out of the squad and having him turn up for training every day.
If you want him gone force the club to make him go or play him. He is a big influence in that dressing room, get rid completely or not at all.
Gladwin
If Emery had been on 30 odd points at that time do you think he still would’ve been sacked?
Receding
It’s almost as if Arteta wanted Ozil around to show the other players who’s in charge.
Why pit the two managers up against one another?
Neither have moved the needle any where close to level we had hoped at this stage. Each making pretty mental mistakes along the way, problem with Arteta is he has more of a roadmap of what not to do following Emery yet proceeds down the same path. Feels very self inflicted at this point.
-Auba instructed to play off the shoulder of the defender and stop dropping back so much. -Midfield 3 of El Neny, Willian & ESR. ESR and Willian to play passes forwards as much as possible and pushing up. -Saka as a LM not an LW -AMN as a RB so Pepe can play as a RW without defensive duties and instructed to stay up so we have a place to counter. -Tierney as a LB So a lopsided 451. Kind of like how Mourinho had a lopsided Inter. Play through the middle of the pitch looking for quick early passes… Read more »
Biggles
Just because Arteta is now “manager” doesn’t mean he can’t be over-ridden by Edu. It is what supposedly happened in the summer with the Partey signing.
The cult of the director of football lives strong on here but the manager has to have a say because ultimately he is coaching the players and picking the team.
The new structure has been in place since August. That’s not long enough to judge it.
The problem is Arteta needs results on the pitch to buy the time and patience.
Is the sum of our parts worse than burnley’s or the lower half of the table?
I may be wrong in this expectation but a coach has to be able to extract the maximum potential out of the resources available to him and then look to build on that
If Arteta can’t do that from now over the next couple of games it’s time to go
“Watch the Europa League final we played against Chelsea again and comment my friend”
Yup, clearly Emery could have done better by losing in the round of 32 to Olympiacos like Arteta did.
Much better than losing the final to Chelsea obviously.
Joker.