Well, here we go again, friends. Another week of ‘oh please god make it stop’ is heading our way. Manchester City in the EFL followed by Chelsea in the Premier League. Not ideal opponents, but when you are utterly shite, who is it good to play against?
The strategy for the week should probably be focused on giving it our all in the Premier League. Give the cup game to the footballing gods as a sacrificial lamb. Spend time coaching. A big performance and a win against Chelsea sets you up nicely for an ‘easy’ run of games. That is what we need.
Back to the grim story that is the manager’s future.
It’s pretty clear the plan as it stands is to back Mikel Arteta.
If he loses the next 5 games, I’m not sure they’ll be sticking with that idea, but hopefully it won’t get that bad. Not that there are any positives to really point to outside an uptick in xG.
Here’s the reality though. What do you think can be done right now that will give Arsenal the bounce they need?
Firstly, it’s obvious that the entire leadership team is badly off-key. We have three first jobbers trying to resurrect a club that has suffered a decade of failure. We have no footballing expertise on the board. KSE is addicted to bad decisions and staying loyal to the perpetrators. I’ll say it again for those in the back of the room in Delaware… how can you trust anyone that signed off on 32-year-old Willian for 3 years at £250k a week IN A PANDEMIC AFTER GIVING PEOPLE MANDATORY PAYCUTS. That’s a career-ending decision in most lines of work, not at Arsenal.
That last paragraph is there to drive home the reality: You don’t have good people making decisions at Arsenal. Sacking Mikel Arteta right now won’t bring us the joy or solace we need. Why? Because the only managers that are available are the b-listers who can’t get jobs.
Eddie Howe? Get the fuck out of my office.
Roberto Martinez? Red card for the commenter about to type ‘I’ve actually watched a lot of Belgium annnd’
Max Allegri? There’s a reason he hasn’t found a job in over two years. He’s a discipline merchant, supremely arrogant, and he doesn’t have any Premier League experience. He’ll cost a fortune, come with 10 of his staff, and there’s a very slim chance his brand of management will click with this group of players. You can say ‘THAT IS WHAT THEY NEED’… well, look at how the discipline thing is going down with Arteta. Look at how it worked under Emery. I also think the fans would detest his football.
The A-listers aren’t jumping onto this burning fire of a job. Julian Nagelsmann isn’t going to take it. Pochettino is still being paid by Spurs, he won’t take a pay cut to join us, and he’s not going to soil his Spurs legacy to join a club with no infrastructure. Brendan Rodgers ain’t stupid, the job is attractive, but is he going to want to work with this squad with Edu as the guy supporting him? No chance. Even a manager like Hassenhutl (not sure he’s an a-lister), who has always worked with Sporting Directors, might pass on moving midseason if we had the finance to do it.
If you can’t get an A-lister, which is what a club without leadership needs, then all you’ll be left with are managers that will have tools downed on them within 3 months. I am not even sure the idea of a rockstar manager works in 2020… I think all great managers are supported by great teams. The idea that Arteta could do it alone was naive. Now we know that, let’s not think a b-lister is going to turn this around.
Most new managers go through a shitty patch like this in their careers, it’s just usually way out of sight of an elite club. Ralph H had it at Southampton last season, but no one remembers that now he’s fixed it. Jose Mourinho did this at Chelsea in 2015, he lost 9 games, he was fired by December 17th, Rafa took over, then Conte won the league the season after. Top football clubs bin underperforming managers… but we ain’t a top football club.
The power move is a football CEO. You could be PC about it and shift Edu to the side, but it’s clear, he ain’t it by a long shot. Willian on a 3-year deal. Luiz given another year despite dreck performances. Soares on a 4-year deal. Pabo Mari on a perm deal despite keeping Luiz. Announcing signings at his super agents house. At best it’s an extreme conflict of interest, at worst, it’s the decisions of a Techincal Director that has zero creativity or plan to move the club forward. How could he rationalise any of those decisions if you sat down with him at a table? He’d be laughed out of west and north London pubs. You cannot keep faith with that sort of football taste.
We need a ‘been there, done that’ football CEO who can come in and take on the project.
Give whoever it is a remit.
Bonus the fuck out of them.
Tell them they’ll be given 5 years to do things properly with no pressure on them.
If you bring them in at Christmas, let them work with Arteta and Edu until the end of the season. Let them make the decision on their futures. Put the big footballing decisions in the hands of a person that knows the game. That has a track record. That has experience with all the shit we are dealing with.
Vinai should be taking away Mikel’s managerial role right now whatever the path forward is. It has not worked. If he complains, he can always quit. If Edu can’t pick up all of the job, why the fuck are we paying him to be here? Simple fact is Arteta was promoted to pick up the slack of Edu. That is shocking leadership from Vinai. Edu should have gone with Raul.
Arsenal are in a uniquely messy situation right now. Lots of fans will see sacking Arteta as the move to make, I don’t see that as a viable option unless there’s an A-lister lined up. A December hire is not something we should indulge in. I don’t want the top 8 version of Sam Allardyce for the next 3 years. These players need to claw back to midtable so we can make a proper decision in the summer.
I think that’ll be the plan… I’m just not entirely sure Arteta has it in him to move this squad of players into a satisfactory place in the league table. He’s still talking about fine margins. They truly seem to believe a couple of loan moves fix this mess… and hey, maybe an Isco turns it around for us. I’m just not sure I’m buying it. Feels like a movie I’ve seen before. I feel deeply uncomfortable about Arsenal making more short term signings to prop up a manager that has shown us next to nothing this season.
It bears repeating again. Luis Campos and Ralph Rangnick are both free agents. Both have performed incredible feats of leadership in their careers. Both are still at the elite end of the game. Both would do a great job with this Arsenal mess.
We’ll pass though, won’t we?
See you in the comments.
P.S. Podcast coming later + a striker review you’re gonna love from Mike McDonald.
Plus Burnley has one game in hand.
English managers just aren’t good enough.
No eddie no to Sam ect.
Let’s be honest german, Spanish and Italian coached are just on another level.
There is a reason no top team in the whole of world football is managed by an English man aside from Chelsea.
(This is coming from a UK citizen)
Graham
The City game is a free hit.
As much as I’d love another cup win, the Chelsea game takes precedent
Nobody pencilled in for Boxing Day, should be anywhere near tomorrow nights game.
Would be nice if we could see young lads like Balogun, Saliba and Smith-Rowe get 90 minutes.
………….Runarsson
…………Saliba Mari
Soares ……………..Kolasinac
……Ceballos Willock
Nelson Smith-Rowe.Martinelli
…………..Balogun
Omg
It’s really sad to where it has come to.
Never expected this from you Pedro of all people.
Massively disappointed.
I agree with a lot of your blogs, most of the time… But now i remember your comments on Ancelotti when both us and Everton were looking for a new manager and you said he would be a good fit for Everton (you got that right!) but not a good fit for us.. and that we need a progressive young manager like Arteta… I cant stop wondering now what would have happened had we hired Ancelotti.. What do you think? I dont think we expected him to do THAT well with Everton!?
Just curious, I wonder if we inserted a buy-back clause into the Martinez deal? Like smart clubs do.
London I think coaching is overrated even in Spain the top three clubs aren’t managed by Spaniards,the two Spanish coaches haven’t done wonders at arsenal .man management is key but I think Italians do tend to do better.
I think maybe the players have stopped playing for him. There is no way that group of players should be 15th. I believe we still have about the 4th highest wage bill? We had at least a top 6 squad at the beginning of the season. And now we play like Stoke.
If Arteta is the one deciding signings, I don’t want him to spend anything in January.
Burnley are pretty solid for a bottom half side and while playing a 442, none of this back five and non-existent midfield.
Will give CG (sag) his due , he’s no flip flopper ..the real flip floppers on here have all jumped on the CG bandwagon after giving him ( and me) non stop abuse for having the foresight to recognise where we were heading ..
Now look at the entitled one’s, treating CG( not a dig at you CG) as if he’s the messiah ..flip flopping on a weekly basis…
Where’s UN pedro , let him back on , let’s have some proper gooners on here instead of these plastic fans who spew their hatred towards the club like a disease.
andy1886
The odds are very slim that there’s a buyback clause in the Martinez deal. They paid too much for him to agree to that. Maybe we have a right of first refusal (like we had with Cesc) if they decide to sell him but I honestly doubt that too.
@Bacary, it’s a shame, not that I think he’d want to come back unless there are big changes. Cheap at £17m.
Lol didn’t it take Tr7 4/5 games to suss out Emery was a bad manager by the way. Wonder where that kinda insight has disappeared too with the current manager.
Would love to go back in time to see what most folks views where and the standards they set and how much we’ve all lowered them for the current gaffer
@South African Gooner Eddie Howe couldn’t cut it when he was at Burnley and scarpered back to Bournemouth. There’s long been speculation that the can’t cut it anywhere else. The manner of Bournemouth’s relegation shows that he doesn’t have half the talent you claim. You’re right down there with the same clowns who think Sean Dyche is the answer. The kind of manager Arsenal need isn’t available. Even if they were, no manager in their right mind would entertain going to a club with no money to spend, a broken and unbalanced squad, and an exec team that doesn’t know… Read more »
Pierre
You are becoming more and more of an insufferable cunt as the days go by.
Andy
I agree with you. He’s only 28 and looks as commanding as he did last season. It’s actually pretty strange that we persisted with Ospina without giving him a proper runout.
“The kind of manager Arsenal need isn’t available”
There are NO competent managers available anywhere? Really?
We don’t need a Klopp, just someone who actually has a clue.
Pierre, There’s nothing wrong with admitting a mistake from time to time. A lot of us were encouraged by the start Arteta made and by the positive comments coming from the dressing room, including from our captain. That was before he had shown himself dreadful at man management and dealing with growing pressure from poor performances. Maybe there was a sign of this in his dumping of Ozil and Guendouzi but Ozil has been a big disappointment since getting his new deal and Guendouzi behaved like a spoiled child. Even without including them in the equation, it’s clear that Arteta… Read more »
C’mon Wolves
Help us out will ya
Snowhite
“Its for the love of the club we want arteta gone you dunce”
I would have thought that you lot would have learnt from your prevous mistakes ..
Apparently not.
So you’re acknowledging the statement you’ve made more than once ‘we’ve dominated in our last 5 games’ isn’t true?
And it gets worse, the mighty Burnley pushing up on us now with a win. Relegation battle heating up for the Arsenal 😑😑😑
Burnley now have 13 points with one game in hand
Watch as the chasing pack of bottom dwellers march past us whilst Arteta is waving his alternative facts around.
Burnley 2 Wolves 1
Arsenal 1 Wolves 2
Arsenal 0 Burnley 1
By our blaggers thinking- those results had a 3.46829% chance of happening.
Squeaky bum time.
Arteta must be a worried man.
Has the support of ‘know nothing’ Pierre.
A man who’s support was the kiss of death for Wenger.
A man whose support was the kiss of death for Ozil’s career.
And now the impending kiss of death for Arteta’s brief foray into football management.
If sacking Arteta means we can only get a B lister, it means the AFC have the wrong owners.
A few years back we were ….”the owners want to spend but the manager does not want to”
And now consensus is that we have no money to spend.
Fire KSE, Fire Sauce and bring in some competent people here.
Areta apparently said he was a biden supporter so no wonder he likes fake news so much
Bacaryisgod “There’s nothing wrong with admitting a mistake from time to time. A lot of us were encouraged by the start Arteta made and by the positive comments coming from the dressing room, including from our captain” I was encouraged also but Arteta became very arrogant. What i dislike is the witch hunt , I’m no lover of Arteta’s football and his decision making has been appalling but some of the comments on here remind me of how they turned on wenger . There’s no need to constantly pick holes in everything he does . If he messes up i… Read more »
Snowkid I can’t understand why people still think we should have held on to Arsene. I have immense respect for him but there are three primary reasons why he needed to go, and probably well before he actually did. 1. Disastrous record in his last few years against Man City, Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool 2. Failure to resolve defensive issues. 3. Poor decisions in transfer market when he was able to spend (Mustafi, Xhaka) I was actually against letting him go for much longer than most on here. He was clearly handcuffed by an inability to invest in the… Read more »
If Fulham get a result against Southampton, and our results go to form against Chelsea and Brighton, we will really be entering the new year on the verge of the relegation zone. While it’s likely we’ll end up OK, it’s total arrogance of Pedro and his Twitter buddies to be nonchalantly accepting as fact that Arteta can experiment with youth and bin the seniors for the rest of the season, because it’s a ‘lucky year’ where the rest of the bottom quarter are particularly bad, so we can ignore the relegation battle as not relevant to us. Look at the… Read more »
One good reason Wenger should not come back, Granit Xhaka
Pierre
Fair enough but Arteta is on a historically bad run. I don’t see many managers being given a chance to climb out of the mess that’s been created. The problems are not all caused by him but he’s contributed plenty.
I’m no fan of statistics. As someone once said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics” or words to that effect. They are a distillation of the past used to foretell the future. They may work to a degree in areas such as mathematic – but not in football, there are too many variables. So when Arteta trotted out percentage statistics to explain how unfair it is that his team keep losing, I jeered like the rest. But on reflection I twigged that he was saying exactly what I just said: statistics don’t work in football. On the other hand,… Read more »
Also Pierre, I have less of an issue with his strategic shortcomings than his arrogance and blinkered approach to dealing with some of his squad. These flaws aren’t as easy to address as maybe trying out a new formation.
So what you are saying Pierre is that there are now similarities between both Wenger and Arteta and how they are perceived by others as no longer being successful, the rubbing it in if you will? The common denominator between the two happens to be their arrogance, which seems ultimately to attract you. In the end Wenger was on a slow train going nowhere and it looks like Arteta hopped on the very same train a lot quicker. You can wax lyrical or poetic, matters not. What remains important is that in the end neither were or are getting results.… Read more »
@ Pierre
Arteta is not up to the task.
But he is not the root cause of our issues . The catalyst for all our problems is KSE.
@ Ernest
Come on dude, can’t compare Wenger to Sauce. As much as I may not be a fan of Wenger, I have to admit he worked miracles for all those years. Getting up in the champions league with people like Chamakh and Bendtner every year is noting short of a miracle.
If we had an owner with big pockets, we would be a proper club. KSE actually bought the shares and paid by EMI.
I get what TR7 is saying earlier, some people need to take the attitude down a notch or three
Perhaps it is worth everyone remembering we are all Gooners who are hurting big time at the moment, everyone expresses this with different opinions and the name calling and jibes is worthless.
“Well, if he is IS doing things the right way, statistically speaking it’s highly likely that luck will. And I’m betting on it.”
Or…he’s just not that good a manager in which case, the stats associated with the standings are not lying.
Funny how stats can be interpreted.
As for luck, funny that.
So Alain St-Mx and Lascelles have been suffering from Long Covid meaning they can no longer play or train.
Is this the explanation for our season? Did the whole Arsenal squad have Covid earlier in the year, and now all are physically subdued by Long Covid?
Bacaryisgod
” The problems are not all caused by him but he’s contributed plenty.”
Totally agree
Arteta has been a fool, he decided to flex his muscles post lockdown and it has come back to bite him.
He had the fans behind him, he could have handled things differently and i would imagine that if he was honest with himself he wished that he had.
Quantam Creep back patrolling the blog aggressively projecting on everyone that he’s a lonely incel/50 year old virgin, what else is new.
Arteta doesn’t know that you even exist you window licker. Defending him more fervently than your personal pride, of which I am sure disappeared after the 10th Moniker.
How about actually debating football? If you’re capable of that without telling us that you’re an incel for the dozenth time.
More reasons Wenger should not come back, elneny, Santos, stepanov, Stephan malz , takuma sank, chu young park, Mikel silvestre,yaya sanogo, squillaci, Lucas Perez, Kim kalstrom, danilivecius, armoury bischoff,, those are reasons enough.
“Is this the explanation for our season? Did the whole Arsenal squad have Covid earlier in the year, and now all are physically subdued by Long Covid?”
Trust me Elmo, you don’t want anything to do with Covid. Its been around 9 months for me and physically i am still not right.
Ern
The only similarities between Arteta and wenger is the witch hunt that’s brewing.
Wenger was different class and his man management was up there with the very best as was the quality of the football ( important)
“He had the fans behind him, he could have handled things differently and i would imagine that if he was honest with himself he wished that he had.”
On this you are speaking the truth, Pierre. I was firmly in Arteta’s corner early on, but slowly his arrogance and the hypocrisy of his non-negotiables turned my opinion.
Wenger had years in which to perfect his Scent of Arrogance, Pierre.
Sorry to hear that, Ernest.
If multiple Newcastle first teamers have been impacted to the extent that they are no longer fit to train as professional sportsmen, many weeks later, it seems a reasonable assumption that there will be a couple dozen or more PL players who have similarly had their ability degraded, even if they don’t know Long Covid is the cause.
Pierre
I agree about Wenger’s man management
He never left his players out to dry, maybe he spoiled them too much but they always had his back.
“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“”You need fighters and you don’t want any victims. Victims bring excuses, victims bring negativity and they start to blame anything that is happening around them or is not going their way.”
Like blaming results on bad luck then?……
CG – your man is breathing down our necks.
Burnley sneaking up on Arsenal…ooh
Gor lucky at home to West Ham who outplayed us. Got lucky against Sheffield United too. Very lucky not to get thrashed at Leeds. Got a ‘soft’ penalty at United. Got lucky against the Saints at home. Luck works both ways, but that’s conveniently ignored when it suits.
FYI Pierre the Xhaka and Pepe red cards were not ‘soft’, as you’d kno if you’d been paying attention the last two decades. Head to head contact is always a straight red as is grabbing an opponent by the throat.
“you paddy loser.”
Bigoted piece of shit.
Jim
Comical, this chap is on his 14th or 15th Moniker.
May as well go with ‘Herpes’ for his next one.
You make your own luck in sports, manager complaining about not being lucky is sad and its on him that we so ‘unlucky’ now.
Arteta ego wont let him accept how bad at managing he is, when he supposedly next pep, so he talks about stats that prove that we really winning even tho Arsenal have lost four on trot and worst start in decades.
Pierre
Witch hunt lol…we’re near the bottom of the table, he deserves to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
I have been to matches Quatam Creep, not that it matters.
You on the other hand probably haven’t been to the ground in your life and live a train journey away.
Andy, Since Xhaka throat grabbing incident, there has been photo of similar incidents and some even worse that strangely enough did not resulted in red card. Same thing about foul throw. Check the number of throw-in where the player has at least one foot on the pitch, technically all of those are foul throw, yet they are never called on. Arsenal is just an easy target for referee. Bar Ian Wright who never kick a fuss, none of the big pundits are ready to defend us. So Mike Riley and his minions can continue their reign of biased call without… Read more »
Imagine a Schizo on an anonymous blog giving anyone life advice, hilarious.
Doublestink weren’t you the one spouting inaccurate passing stats to appear in the know? Yes you were.
—
I have no idea what you’re talking about, care to elaborate?
“Don’t cry Jim.”
Go fuck your mother
“Only a spurs supporter would still back arteta to
Be arsenal’s manager.Or a complete clueless moron”
Aren’t they the same thing?
Sbowkid
No chance an adult gets through a day in the real world running his mouth like this schizo.
Either a forever alone type or an edgy teen.
@WE –
“Either a forever alone type or an edgy teen.”
Edgelord teen.
Saliba is not registered for the premiership which means that none of Saliba, Sokratis and Özil can play in the Carabao Cup game against ManCity.
So keeping Saliba at Colney was really a poor move. With now reports that he is ready to go to war to get a move away from Arsenal this winter. Removing all reference to Arsenal in his IG feed being the first salvo against the club.
Thanks Mikel!
Get that deluded narcissistic mini tyran out of the club.
Comment section turned to complete shit! Jesus
Pedro is not going to bin Quantum leap because he’s making arguments Pedro wished he could make.
Somewhere there is a village that rejoice that he is gone or busy somewhere else.
Valentin
It’s going to be very difficult to sign talented young French players in the short term.
Arteta has destroyed in one year the reputation that Wenger built over two decades
You a night-porter Quantam?
Doubtful of that somehow, have to be mildly social for that.
Valentin
I thought young players didn’t have to be registered to play in the PL?
WE
Ignore the troll. He’s not worth your while.
Valentin’s anticipation to take swipe at Arteta with every given opportunity is something to behold really
Saliba is registered as an U21 player and so is eligible for other tournaments except the Europa
will be surprised if he isn’t in the squad for the Carabobo
Kind of hard to Diss when he’s spewing his verbal diarrhea all over the comments.
Hopefully Pedro outs the spaffstain so he has to piss off for a little while until he creates his 16th alter ego.
Norg
(Never write of Dyche.)
x 3 points at The Arsenal
x 1 point at Villa
x 3 points against Wolves
Proper manager.
The reason Pedro backs Arteta is because Gazidiz backed Arteta years ago. Gazidis and Pedro were besties, chums, BFFs. until Gazidis played his hand abandoned The emirates project then got the f#&k out of London.
Didn’t Mikel buy Ivan a gift of some sort. Ah we’ve made a huge mistake.
I’m not a Night-Porter weirdo.
La croq
Wasn’t there a story back when he was playing saying Arteta had a whip round of the players to buy Gazidis a watch?
Snowkid
We’ve also got Brighton away after Chelsea. Who’d have thought that we’d ever call that a 6 pointer?
We should still give arteta time.
At least 4 more games
Madness is real.
And if you’re supporting Arteta at this point you need a check-up. It can’t be normal or ordinary.
Arteta’s been chatting a bit of nonsense recently that I actually started to wonder if this was a side effect of long covid. Looks like he’s here in the short term anyway and hopefully early January transfers will give us hope-or bury us in despair. He just needs to stop talking atm.
London Gunner
Why 4 games?
And what are the amount of points out of 12 you would deem acceptable?
If Arsenal lose to Chelsea, come on Snowkid, where are our goals are coming from? Lampard has lost the last two he will throw everything at Arsenal to win this game. How will Arsenal’s abysmal defense control Chelsea’s attacking prowess? I can see it already Giro, Abrams and Werner licking their lips.
MD
Agree Chelsea have some seriously good attacking options available and with us not being able to score in a brothel at the moment they’ll be looking to ramp up their goal difference.
London gunner
Say if he wins all 4 games, then what?
London gunner
You said 5 games TWO WEEKS ago mate?
Soon you’ll be asking for the first 10 games in the championship.
Do you believe those alternative stats he’s throwing around?
Which Moniker were you on when I said that Microcock?
Unai na nai, Don, Aubergine, Uruguayan Pitbull, SuperRob?
I think Arteta has Christma/New Year matches to save his job and will be fired if significant improvement doesnt occur.
Snowkid
That ” undefeated in 1″ was an attempt at humor
No need to pick a bone with that comment
Diss, “law of averages my man One day we will get three triple deflected own goals come our way and the opposition will hit the cross bar 5 times in the same game. Then we will give Mikel a two year extension on his contract.” Hahaha that would be an absolutely incredible game to watch. Though the result of that win is the sobering part, even if it is a joke 😂😂 Don’t make me think of Arteta in his 22nd year at the club when the board finally moves him on with CC and EB only just coming around… Read more »
Also for some reason I think it was quantum leap, he knew that would hit the spot the cheeky bastard 😂
Someone made the comment earlier that it’s possible that a decision has already been made but it’s been decided it would be folly to throw a new manager or temp into the next couple of fixtures, better to let Arteta burn himself and then reset in a week or two.
Joe must be a fan of The weeknd
Goobergooner
I was just trying to deescalate the situation here
It was Quantum who made the joke. It made me chuckle at the time to be honest.
Since you have come on here you have called everyone who disagrees with you an incel, virgin, loser and you have the cheek to say that others are projecting.
As far as trolls go, you haven’t the brains to pull off a respawn for longer than a couple of posts before you are outed.
Aubergine, SuperRob, Quantam Leap and Uruguayan Pitbull are the gayest set of names that we have ever had on here by the way. Maybe for the next one include Arteta.
Marc
I don’t believe they have made any decision to do away with Arteta. They out all their eggs in one basket
They are just waiting for the first sign of life, like two consecutive draws o heave a sigh of relief. Arteta is talking like no one has knocked on his door to have a conversation with him. The man has the keys to the kingdom.