Arsenal seems to bounce from crisis to crisis with the fans.
William Saliba is the latest exhibit in the hall of ‘WTF ARE WE DOING?.’
The young Frenchman bossed a lot of games in Ligue 1. He made a cup final he wasn’t cleared to play in. He joined up with Arsenal 3 months ahead of time to acclimate… then he was binned from all the squads. Consigned to the U23s.
The French media are now whipping up a furor with a fanbase that doesn’t need much fuel to rage these days. They reckon Saliba’s people have been told Arsenal will look at loans AND sales this transfer window.
This has sparked all manner of conspiracy theories on the internet, which aren’t helpful.
The simplest explanation for all of this nonsense is that Arteta simply doesn’t rate the player. For some reason, he looks at him and doesn’t see talent. I find it quite bizarre that the man who insisted on rehabbing Mustafi, giving Luiz another deal after all those errors, whilst signing the 17th worst keeper in Ligue 1 (letting him die in a quarter final)… has a problem with a 19-year-old centre back that looked like a stand-out prospect in a league known for generating top talent.
It’s odd. To bin Saliba from all the squads was just plain vindictive. To even consider selling him after we’ve spent 3 months very publicly telling the world Mustafi is more important to us is quite simply maddening leadership.
Now, I’m not saying he’s going to be world-class. The French league affords kids like Saliba game time because the overall standard of the league is very low, I’m not sure why this offends people, but if it does, ask yourself why their teams tend to do so badly in Europe (One European Cup since 1993. Never won Europa). They have one major team. The rest have business models geared solely around farming players to sell the big clubs. The opportunity is so big there for this, hedge funders have been picking up clubs like Lille to rake in profits from the transfers.
What this means is someone like Mbappe can land games at 16 he might not have done so in the Premier League. It also means that it’s easier to look like a worldie. For every Gabriel, there’s a Nicolas Pepe who looks like he’d struggle in the Championship. For every Eden Hazard, there’s a Gervinho. Being elite in Ligue 1 for 12 games doesn’t mean you’re ready for the Premier League.
Still, we’re grown-ups. We can accept that some make it and some don’t. What we’re all struggling with is why Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff didn’t even try with someone that looks like a generational talent? Not good enough for Dundalk, but good enough for full games against Marseille, Lyon, and Monaco? Please.
Now, to be clear, this whole debacle to me reads like trouble being brewed in the French media. Edu isn’t stupid enough to sell a 19-year-old at a loss before he’s pulled on an Arsenal shirt. I think the loans manager will be looking to shift him on to a Premier League outfit, or maybe even a London club in the Championship. I worry his agents will try and send him back to the comfort of St Etienne, which would be a big mistake. He needs minutes here, to learn the culture, and to toughen up.
Bigger thing here is this: Where is the leadership here? How has the club let this story snowball like this? Why is Arteta allowed to bomb players like this? Why isn’t there at least the forethought to show the fans what the player is all about… like he did when he showed us in the League Cup that Runarson was so bad we’ll need to replace him in January?
This lack of consistency needs to be addressed moving forward. It does look like certain players are given different treatment and opportunities. There’s usually an age bias involved.
United racked up another 3 points courtesy of a penalty. That’s 33 in 59 games. They are running at about a penalty every other game. When do people start asking serious questions about this? Over ten years, they’ve had +35 in their favour, Arsenal have -12. I’m not making this a bias thing against Arseanal, but Bruno Fernandes has 15 United goals from penalties in under a year. Tricky players? United has twice as many penalties as Liverpool despite having 400 less touches in the box (United has the 5th most touches in the box over 1.5 seasons). More dribblers? Liverpool smash United. Every way you look at this, it stinks.
Now, I’m not saying this is brown paper bags stuff. But, it is worth further investigation. You cannot have a team that wins that many penalties without questioning what’s going on. Pogba won one against Villa for tripping himself up, VAR missed it. Someone from the ref association needs to be flagging this with the refs so we can bring the game back into line.
If players keep diving, refs pay attention. If rotational fouls becomes a problem, they pivot. United winning obscene amount of penalties consistently over two seasons is unacceptable. It starts to look like the leagues biggest money-spinning club is being given an extra push.
There were several Asian plane crashes in the 80s and 90s that appeared to occur through no mechanical fault. They eventually concluded that the cockpit culture of Koreans led to fatal errors (same in South America). Due to the hierarchical nature of the cultures, and the taboo of challenging authority, colleagues would let errors slide even if death was assured.
Are we seeing a hangover from the Ferguson era? Do refs look at United differently because they were so dominant? Is there a North West sway of referees that leads to bias? Do we need refs to have training to make them look at United objectively?
Whatever the problem, you cannot deny the data. It’s compelling and in any other organisation, there would be an investigation if officiating were consistently that in favour of another team without clear reasoning for it.
WEST BROM today.
Mikel Arteta needs this win badly. The game is huge. I expect a dirty reaction from Allardyce after his side shipped 5 goals against Leeds. This afternoon will be 10 across the back, the deepest of deep blocks, with nasty bully-boy tactics. This will be a cup final for their manager, they will be fired up, and we have to be ready to fight.
Arsenal has played a lot of matches in a short space of time. There might need to be rotation today. I’m half expecting to see Willian given another run out after his ‘sickness.’ His game in tight spaces might be useful. There certainly won’t be much need for last man runners. I would like to see Gabriel, Saka, and ESR given minutes with Lacazette again if I’m honest. It’s 7 days until our cup game with Newcastle, where they might end up resting players because survival is the most important thing to their season.
One performance I’m watching out for tomorrow is Pablo Mari. He’s been fairly decent in his last two games for us. Both technical games with the ball on the floor. How he deals with long diagonal balls into the box will be a huge test of his mettle.
I’m also interested in how the midfield is going to shape up. If he refuses to give AMN minutes in this game, you have to wonder if they’re ever going to come? I’d rather not see Mo and Xhaka in the midfield again. Having a midfielder that can offer quick passing and a runner into the box could be helpful, but we’ll see.
Currently, there are 9 points between 14th and 3rd. Managers go from HE’S WINNING THE LEAGUE to WHAT A FRAUD within the space of 3 wins or losses. If we win today, we position ourselves nicely for the second half of the season where the games are kinder to us, and hopefully, we have a couple of signings to bolster where we’ve lacked. I’m not placing bets for top 4, but with the pressure off, I am hoping the younger players can show they have more than the seniors that let us down.
Let’s see what we have today. It’s a banana skin and a half. Arteta needs to have pure focus and he simply must bring home three points.
Enjoy. Listen to the podcast if you haven’t already.
If saliba leaves for good, and goes on to become the. Beast he has already shown glimpses of I will have zero respect for Arteta. What a fucking shambles. And if it’s all down to his compliments of Guen, or that shit talk about being trapped or whatever it was, then Arteta is petty as fuck. Amn not being utilised after being kept at the expense of 20m to the squad, because of talking some shit about Ozil is also petty as fuck. Players have opinions, why should it matter if they rate players that have been binned, for dubious… Read more »
This summer is a really interesting window with 5 players having one year left on their deals. 1) Lacazette: He’ll be 30 this summer. There’s really only two choices here. Let him run down his contract and he can leave on a free in 2022 or sell him. Here’s the problem with selling him. First, what club will pay any kind of transfer fee and also give him the long-term deal he’ll be looking for. Prediction: Smart money is him leaving on a free in 22 as a 31 year old. 2) Kolasinac: We know he’s in the Schalke shop… Read more »
Pedro
Yes, I missed a letter in my email. Seems I’m worse than Willian at the moment..
Maybe Saliba is the mole that Arteta vowed to ‘destroy’.
Clownface needs to realise he’s a nobody in the grand scheme of things. Lot of managers are drunk on power and have this unchecked ego. But there will be 100 other managers who will be waiting to snatch talents. In the end the only loser is the Company.
Experience equals quality seems to be arteta’s theme of the season until the last 3 games.
But not selecting Saliba for any match is seriously incompetent, and sticking it to the club on a very expensive signing.
Just voted ESR for Decrmber player of the month on .com
I know he only played 2 games last month, but I think he’s been the difference maker.
Lineup the rest of season should be.
Laca/Auba
Martinelli/Auba. ESR. Saka
AMN. Partey
Tierney. Gabriel/Mari. Holding. Bellerin
Leno
Just watched the highlights. Excellent team performance against a poor side. Hopefully that game came just at the right time for us and we are building up some speed as we go into Jan and feb. On the plus side, our team must be fresher than most, having down fuck all since the start of the season. Also, our winter tx window doesn’t seem so urgent now that the kids have been integrated.. A back up keeper is urgent, however. It would be nice to have some more creativity in midfield: through loan if need be but not another has… Read more »
Great team performance yesterday. Confidence is starting to grow. Tierney goal already looks a goal of the month contender.
Tierney is now at peak fitness and it shows in the way he is playing the game. He’s gained half a yard of pace in the last few weeks and is looking physically stronger game by game.. The performances of Tierney at left back should convince Arteta that the 4-2-3-1 system is here to stay.. Since changing system Tierney has moved up a level and he obviously loves marauding up and down the touchline.. He has surprised me with the level of his performances recently, he was playing decent before but he has now moved to another level. Also, Saka’s… Read more »
Aussie G ‘this is the type of game Balogun should have been on for Abu after 60 minutes.’ Couldn’t agree more. Very happy for the win and the manner of the win. However, Arteta cannot be trusted as a manager or a coach for that matter. We are getting the wins because the team is better balanced – not perfect by any means, but this squad was always at the level to finish around 7th. Most here want elite youth signed; me included. Arteta is not the man for a project youth, he cannot deal with precocious talents and we’re… Read more »
Why has Arteta only now changed to an attacking formation when he believed that this team wasn’t capable of it only a few games ago. And the fact he came into the position stating he wanted to play the arsenal attacking way is also quite bizarre considering he subsequently went on to play 7 behind the ball. When was the last time we went nearly 1000 minutes without scoring an outfield goal? And how did previous managers get our team to score goals yet Arteta couldn’t for a long period of this season? Arteta’s time at city gave him such… Read more »
I won’t be praising arteta yet, we know how he stumbled across this winning selection and he’s subtly doing his best to spoil the fun. For partey’s partner, Guen should be nailed or Azeez. Arteta knows how good these players are, I want to believe so because it’s unbelievable if we the fans know how good these players are but our coach doesn’t. Azeez if not for anything should be playing ahead of willock, he’s that good, he’s got mad skills on him, guen is doing fine too. Arteta seems to have cost us saliba and balogun, how many more… Read more »
I would go for another creator with ESR before any new CM. If he gets injured then we are going back to our crappy non creative football again. Xhaka, Elneny and ceballos are poor but they will be enough against lower teams if we create enough chances like we are now. Also Partey is back. So that will mean we will only have to keep one dud in the team till the summer. We need to score more goals and a creator needs to be signed. But that doesnt mean we drop ESR. It means the new signing will need… Read more »
I think for sheer quality Saka should be POTM but for bringing sunshine to a team that has been so utterly starved of it, I’d be very glad for ESR to win
We are not putting all our eggs in the ESR basket. There are creative alternatives such as Saka at 10.
But I’ll never get why people would be ok with Xhaka walking out in the first 11 every week just so we have a rotation option with ESR
It is not only an inefficient use of resources but it also suggests that playing well (ESR) is less important than being the teachers pet (Xhaka) and below standard players can keep their place just ‘because’ whilst players who are making waves have to constantly look over their shoulder
Arsenal should be a meritocracy
That will make as much an impact on our performances as any actual signings. Keeping xhaka and buying a creator flies in the face on that
3 wins on the trot, nicely done. The 4-2-3-1 is definitely helping us. I would still not trust arteta in the window.
Get saliba into into team, dump a few liabilities and concentrate on bringing in the right players in the summer. Jan is never a good window, but one body in as a loan maybe good.
Good win, always good to stick one on fat sams chin.
I used to love the days when the fools would accuse Arsenal of trying to walk the ball in the net.
Yesterday was a reminder of how good our football used to be under Wenger and it is no coincidence that 2 of Wenger’s academy players were pivotal in last night’s performance.
Our 2nd goal yesterday reminded me of our goal v Leicester a couple of season’s ago.
Very similar movement which heavily involved Ozil against Leicester and it’s fantastic to see Smith Rowe take over the mantle of playmaker
Lacazette played a very similar role in both goals.
Pedro
Honestly this is shocking , dissing the french league just because Arteta isnt playing Saliba . Yes there are always duds , but thats same for every league you buy in. By all accounts Saliba is a very talented youngster and Arteta isnt playing him because he is vindictive not because he doesnt rate him. For every Gervinho we had a Koscielny from that league.
Why is no one mentioning Pablo Mari? Brexit racism???
China I despise Xhaka’s game more than anyone in here. May be as much as Ishola. But elneny looked good next to partey at united. And I am willing to bet Ceballos will look good too. Even Xhaka will be adequate against lower league teams. But we only have one ESR. Saka for all his talents is a winger. He is not a N10. We need a creative player there. If we sign another CM and ESR gets injured then our attacking numbers will go down fast. Shots on goal and shots on target will become a rarity again. As… Read more »
I agree though. Xhaka needs to go the first chance we get. If we had an offer now we should jump on it and replace him.
Ooh feels good to be back.First of all a happy new year to Pedro and all of you..9 points out of 9.Fantastic performance by the boys and……arteta.I hate big sam and it was nice to see his sad face.Glad to see esr and saka shine…hopefully my boy azeez is next in line.Give Tierney the arm band already.Cheers all.
How different does the table look now! Some lovely goals last night, delighted for Tierney, our future captain surely. Saka and ESR have a brilliant understanding and all of a sudden we have options up front, with a resurgent Lacazette, Martinelli eased in after serious injury, and Aubameyang sure to find form again. ESR has traits of Ozil, Hleb and Rosicky with his silkiness, and a little of Ramsey’s directness. Not to big him up too much too soon but sincerely hope he keeps his run in the team going and steers clear of injury, he looks an extremely exciting… Read more »
Is it fair to say we’re back in contention for Europa League?
I’d properly written us off a few weeks ago, regardless of our cakewalk through the group stage….
Edu and Arteta have done more than enough to warrant their places in the first batch of dross we need to clear. The 3 wins cannot be misused to justufy and cover up the incompetence.
We deserve much better, as some of the kids have demonstrated lately.
Floom expectations with Mari are probably (rightly or wrongly) low so people are holding back
It’s good for martinelli that the team is doing better now as it takes a bit of the pressure off him. Previously he and saka were the great white hopes with so much resting on them but with some points on the board and players form picking up it should enable him to slowly find full fitness and form without us looking to him to deliver everything on day 1
Useroz – according to Ian Wright it’s the younger players actually like him . It’s the older players who went into a huff . Changing manager now could be a disaster with the older players still not coming on board and disaffected younger players.
Arteta should be given the season unless he has another terrible run. However in this season with UTD suddenly looking dangerous anything is possible. Arsenal could just as easily go on a long unbeaten run and be up in the mix. I remain positive for him
Tony “Arteta is not the man for a project youth, he cannot deal with precocious talents and we’re already looking like we are going to lose Saliba, Douzi and Bolagun because of poor handling by Arteta’s despot ego.For me, when we are so financially constrained, losing those players should be grounds enough to let Arteta go. Not just for the mismanagement of the players, but the millions we’ll lose for their potential values.” Couldnt agree more – on the back of the disgraceful Martinez decision this man is going to destroy the very basis of our recovery. Edu must also… Read more »
Habesha I see your point but I still disagree – the reason being our attack will be improved by a better partner for Partey It’s not really a defensive move to sign a b2b or a DM, it’s actually offensive. The reason being said player isn’t really being bought to fix defensive frailty – our defense is that bad – the purpose of buying them is to either be a true DM and free up Partey to go b2b and get more involved with offensive transitions or if we buy a b2b the new signing can also take part of… Read more »
Pleased to say that i was correct in my assumption that Arteta would turn things around through luck or design..
The Arteta bandwagon will come to a halt until the next time we drop points..
We do not need to waste money by bringing in another CAM.
We are paying a perfectly good CAM 350 grand a week, so why not use him if the need be..
Smith Rowe has obviously learnt from the master so Ozil would be a natural replacement if ESR is injured or fatigued…
It’s like right now if you put a peak cazorla, cesc or even Ramsey alongside partey you’d get all the creativity you’re crying out for without needing to drop ESR – you’d just tell partey to sit and the other to play b2b.
Or put a Kante in this team and let Partey go b2b and again you’ll get a lot more offensive output from this unit regardless of who is at 10
Guess we are shaming posters that had the temerity to question one win in ten
Never forget dream10 and Val also supporting CG that kt might not be as good as we thought.
Habesha, nope I’m not having it, I am Isholas main rival for dislike of xhaka 😂😂. On a serious note, the club could go one of 2 ways, either a cm or a cam and we would improve if we bring in the right quality. I believe that we have enough quality in attack to be dangerous without esr, given we keep the same formation and not shoehorn Laca into the no.10 spot. Saka can rotate there if we play Pepe or Willian right. I believe Willian would do well there (cam), provided he has the right base behind him.… Read more »
RH,
Fuck them, if they are happy with being 11th after our worst start in 50 years because of inexcusable mistakes by 1 man, then let them gloat because we beat the 2nd worst team in the league. We still have a negative win ratio.
Not one of those posters said our squad was weak when a manager they didn’t like was in. So fuck them, they can have what they deserve.
North banker, I do have some sympathy with the club’s decision to let Martinez go. We had two goalkeepers who deserved the No. 1 shirt who both would have been dissatisfied to not start. We needed to sell one to raise cash
Would you have preferred the club to have attempted to sell Leno?
There are many poorer decisions in the transfer/contract department than plumping for Leno as our No 1, Understandably Martinez was unwilling to not be a starter.
Pierre you fence sitting bastard 🤣🤣
At last…. Arteta is beginning to focus on a ‘settled team’, which is and has always been the route to success. The back division is now more or less settled with probably Gabriel a more mobile defender likely to replace Mari when he returns to fitness. Otherwise Partey will probably replace Ceballos and Elneny and provide more physicality and control in midfield. Both Martinelli and Smith-Rowe have added enthusiasm as well as hard work ethic to the attack although I still believe that Arsenal need to find an experienced creative midfield player of class to add to our options. Lacazette… Read more »
Dissenter
“You do know that January is notoriously difficult to sign good players.”
There you go again, jumping in feet first without reading a comment properly.
Never mentioned actually signing a player. I said “if” we actually sign someone I would prefer am.
Bojangles
It seems your stock phrase is ‘jumping in feet first”
I was referring to the entire premise of even considering signing anyone, preferring that we rely on our squad till the summer.
A simple conversation with you becomes a grating needless word picking exercise.
Dissenter
I’m quite happy for you to ignore my posts which obviously means you not comment on them. If you are capable of doing that of course.
Pierre pumping the ozil bandwagon again lol seriously bro even for you that’s taking the piss
The nearest ozil will get the the arsenal squad now Is taking gunnersaurus to lunch
Goober we are 3 wins in 3 we have a right to be happy you have a right to be a misserable Muppet
Everton
16 9 2 5 6 29
Chelsea
16 7 5 4 13 26.
Aston Villa
15 8 2 5 13 26.
Man City
14 7 5 2 9 26.
Southampton
16 7 5 4 6 26.
West Ham
17 7 5 5 3 26.
Arsenal
17 7 2 8 1 26.
In actuality, we. are farther away tfrom teams above than what meets the eyes due to games in hand …
So we are likely going anywhere for some time
*aren’t *
Useroz city have Chelsea today our next run if games do not have anyone in the top 6 so we can catch them
Let’s not pretend that all is well at Arsenal just because we’ve won three games on the bounce. It’s a start but Arteta still has a mountain to climb if he’s going to lead our club into the Champions League.
An entry into the Champions League has to be the bar on which Areta has to be judged.