SALIBA DEBACLE NEEDS RESOLVING

by .

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.

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Upstate Gooner

1

Upstate Gooner

2

Upstate Gooner

3

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

Upstate Gooner

Boom!

Upstate Gooner

Groovey, you SOB. I thought I had in the bag.

Chi

Top

Chi

Folks in the comments posting bs multiple times just to be in the top 4.

AC

“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.”

Finally something we can agree on

John G

Basically Arteteta is just an arse

Habesha Gooner

Arteta is horrible at spotting talent. I am all tor Holding staying but no way he will be enough to be a starter at a top team. We already know that. Now I don’t know for sure if Saliba is the answer but giving him no chances is stupid. If Saliba isn’t given one chance before moving permanently, Arteta deserves to be sacked. We signed him for 30 mil at 18 years of age for a reason. I don’t mind if he goes on loan with an idea to get him ready for next season. But moving him on before… Read more »

SUGA3

Arteta was happy to sell Martinez, who is currently leading the clean sheet stat and bring in Runnarsson. He has made a lot of bad and/or weak decisions so far, so I would not trust him to handle Saliba’s situation well either.

John G

He’s so bad I can’t deven bring myself to spell his name right 😬

grooveydaddy

This Saliba thing has to be personal….he must have rubbed Arteta the wrong way à la Guendouzi..

It feels like too much of a stretch that his lesser rated CB partner is thriving in this league but somehow Saliba csnt cut it? Doesn’t add up….

salparadisenyc

Happy New Years you savages, its game day! Another year Groving under Arteta, should be interesting.

Pedro all for bashing Lique 1 for its level but bit disingenuous to call it a 1 team league when 2 of last 4 teams standing in Champions league were PSG and Lyon. With Lyon currently sitting top of table, Aulas has done very well keeping his talent. No doubt pandemic market also helped.

Thats me hoping its lasts, love seeing the oil money challenged with less resource.

Upstate Gooner

Saliba situation alone is a sacking offence. Add to that Willian,. Luiz, Soares, Xhaka, Mustafi and a few others, and of course, our poor form prior to beating Chelsea, and the fans are rightfully asking questions why Arteta is still in the job and wtf is going on at Arsenal with respect to hierarchy and management.

azed

Did Pedro just call Arteta out?

Upstate Gooner

And I wouldn’t trust Arteta with a single penny in January transfer window

Aussie+Gooner

Yes Pedro – the two great mysteries of life – WTF has happened to Saliba and how do Man Utd get so many penalties? With VAR it is the stuff that goes on behind closed doors that is the worry. With no spectators in the grounds there is no imediate feedback. We have to beat WBA today, no question. By kick off we will be in 14th place and at the final whistle the team below us will have 2 games in hand. If we see Willian and co back in the starting line up and Martinelli and ESR on… Read more »

John G

I hear the goal keeping coach has identified a new right sided centre back hense Salina being surplus to requirements apparently his name homer simpson

Kris

“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 do so badly in Europe. They have one major team. The rest have business models geared solely around farming players to sell the big clubs.” hahahahahahahahahaha In the last 4 seasons, except PSG, we saw Lyon in the CL semis once and the Europa semis once, we saw Marseille in the final of the Europa, and Monaco in the semifinal of the CL. 4 teams… Read more »

Graham

To bin Saliba from all the squads was just plain vindictive

Just like the double standards with the non negotiable that lead to Guendozi being loaned out and so many other calls

Arteta is unfit to be a manager – simple as that

Elmo

So Podge appointed at PSG, but only given a 1.5 yr contract (+ club optional extra year), meaning he had far less leverage in negotiations than he would have expected when he left Spuds 12+ months ago.

Will be interesting to see with the cost-cutting in top-flight football if the negotiating power is shifting back to the clubs from the players / managers, as there simply aren’t many out there anymore able to pay big money or take on expensive, long-term commitments.

David Smith

Whatever the issues with Saliba and others, the club are coming out looking bad. The sooner they bring in some leadership, the better. But , perhaps the main lesson from all this, be very careful handing over your business to the kids . Utds treatment from the refs really should be looked at, I cannot see beyond Mike Riley with this, or at least him playing the role of someone’s useful idiot. Riley is hopeless, but keeps his job because someone in power wants him to, not because he does it well. I remember all that stuff about Liverpool and… Read more »

AC

“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?” When the dictator is done with us by the end of 2022 season, we would still not have CL, probably will have a bad reputation in Europe among top talents because… Read more »

Peckobill

Groovedaddy
Saliba’s lesser cb partner is thriving because he’s with a manager who can coach and knows what he’s doing while we have arteta . I’ll keep saying it arteta is the worst possible fit for the arsenal job for what we need . That’s even before we get to is his myriad of poor managerial skills

AC

Granted some of these fights are because of the need to create a high performance culture at the club but gutting the whole club to achive HP cluture is not sustainable.

The Godfather

Sorry Arteta has faults but to say that he has a personal issue with Saliba is fine foil hat madness.
I can understand Ozil and Guendo but some of you
are crazy people. The Lad had personal issues and they wanted to protect him and thought Mari and Mustafi would be ready earlier. Now you can question that reasoning but to say he has a personal beef with Saliba is idiocy.
Enough already you crazy people

Aussie+Gooner

John G – Arteteta & Salina

I think someone has sabotaged your keyboard! It is simple to swap key tabs over – it annoys the hell out of people and takes them an age to figure out what’s wrong!

The goal keeping coach who identified Runarsson as a hot prospect was on some heavy medication or money was changing hands under the counter. We have two fine prospects in Karl Hein and Arthur. Okonkwo in the u23’s. And of course we should have kept Martinez as everybody knows except the keystone cops of Arsenal management.

John G

Aussie+Gooner
Thick fingers, small phone keyboard and shit old man eyesight is my downfall

Aussie+Gooner

Godfather

I don’t think it unreasonable to question the decisions made around Saliba. The evidence is there for all to see. He was a hot prospect in France and his former CB partner (viewed by many as inferior to Saliba) has floureshed in the EPL. I think it is more than just a few ‘personal issues’.

Peckobill

Godfather
Read some of saliba’s social media posts over the last six months , he pretty much can’t stand arteta when you read between the lines and he wants out . Between him and guen , arteta is destroying our reputation for the french market in good up and coming young french talent . It’s a big talent pool to miss out on and one Wenger had us fully intrenched in .

BacaryisGod

Easy solution for Saliba. Put him on sale. If one or more teams offer around 30m for him then take him off sale and play him now. If no-one makes a decent offer then send him on loan in January.

It’s clear we should let the market decide what we should do with our players because we certainly can’t trust the judgement and/or personal vindictiveness of Edu and Arteta.

Bob N16

Am I missing something but there seems to be a consensus from posters today that Arteta is responsible for acquisitions and for that matter who is retained. I’m not suggesting he doesn’t have an important voice but surely Edu has been in charge of ‘ins and outs’ since Sanhelli left. Saliba’s apparent misuse is really frustrating. Without knowing all the facts, he appears to have the greatest ceiling of all our CBs with Gabriel running him close. Holding and Chambers have not been available enough, Luiz and Mustafi are gone this year and Socrates is irrelevant. There’ s talk of… Read more »

DigitalBob

Sorry but I don’t buy that Saliba is simply not good enough for the premiership. I mean to not even be registered and not feature for the first team in anyway when the likes of Mustafi and Kola have been allowed to play this season stinks of either A)poor judgment or B)An agenda against Saliba that is not related to his footballing ability. A or B this whole thing is another mark against Arteta. While its rare for teenage centre-backs to come in and be world class, Saliba doesn’t need to be, he just needs to be solid enough to… Read more »

azed

“The Lad had personal issues and they wanted to protect him ”

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

Graham

Godfather if your premise is correct which it may well be then all Arteta needed to do was to say publicly what a great prospect Saliba is and have included him in the mammoth Europa league squad and given him a game.

We have a manager who is either extremely unpleasant or completely incompetent – and I increasingly suspect both.

I genuinely find I cannot watch any of his press conferences or his sideline antics as I am embarrassed to have him associated with a club that used to have a measure of class.

Peckobill

Bob
Arteta was promoted, he makes the decisions now . It’s why Pedro was against the promotion, he has no one to behind now , no one to blame . It’s on arteta

Graham62

Arteta is not only terrible at spotting talent, he is clueless when it comes to picking players who create a positive vibe in the team. Favouring players like Luiz and Willian. Prioritising the elder statesmen over the youngsters. Approving the purchase and contract of probably the worst GK in the entire footballing structure of this country. Inexplicably offering Mustafi a new contract. Letting the best GK we’ve had since crazy Lens to leave the club. Mishandling the development and progress of Pepe. Discarding AMN when he was clearly on the up etc etc. As I said earlier , a win… Read more »

Rich

“Edu isn’t stupid enough to sell a 19-year-old at a loss before he’s pulled on an Arsenal shirt”

This remains to be seen, the people running our club are absolute basket case, I wouldn’t rule anything out with this lot.

John G

Bob N16
He is definitely the one who is not playing the lad though and I think, that’s what getting up a lot of people’s noses.

Aussie+Gooner

Re Saliba

Does Arteta have daughters? Just asking for a friend!

The BFB

Martinez, Saliba and Willian: three names, three atrocious decisions, three sackable offences. Why is Arteta still here?

Peckobill

Pedro
You don’t think u21 national squads talk .
You never heard players asking compatriots about clubs who’s played at the interested club .
Didn’t willian say in his interviews he spoke to luiz ? Ditto Gabriel ?
Your very naive

AC

When I think about it, someone like a zidane, pirlo, gerrard and even lampard to some extent doesn’t struggle with player relationship so much. How much of it is due to the fact that they are legendary players while arteta is not?

I think Arteta is going too hard on players because he doesn’t generate a natural respect out of the players that all these other coaches do. It is very scary what someone’s insecurity can do to others.

Graham

You don’t have to be a great player to get respect – you can also be a great manger. But we appointed someone with literally zero managerial experience who was a decidedly average player – and who then demonstrates his vindictiveness, insecurity and incompetence at every opportunity.

curse

arseanal…. lol

John G

Average player, very average manager. The club and more so the fans( especially the ones paying the highest ticket prices going) deserve a lot better

Valentin

Pedro, Still think that Arteta has seen the light where the latest rumour has Arteta demanding that Saliba is sold at a loss to finance the purchase of an experienced right footed CB? As every body who has watched Saliba play can testify, the kid is talented. He is without a doubt one future France Captain. Please stop accusing Edu of the Saliba issue. The issue stems from the fact that Arteta wants him gone and clearly that has nothing to do with his football ability. It is a personal antipathy. It could be as simple as Saliba and Guendouzi… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

What I actually think is Arteta has been an assistant to one of the best coaches in a while. And he saw what Guardiola used to do. But his Ideas about football haven’t been good enough to justify bombing anyone. If we were closer to top of the table we would believe him when he says a player isn’t ready. But so far he has picked some horrible players as his center pieces to his team. And the results have been crap. And right now he looks like guardiola without the actual ability to back what he says and comes… Read more »

AC

“I’m not suggesting he doesn’t have an important voice but surely Edu has been in charge of ‘ins and outs’ since Sanhelli left.” Bob, Edu is in charge of everything is what Pedro and a lot of arsenal activists want us to believe as it will spare arteta some blushes. But you can find the truth in this arteta interview from summer. “https://arseblog.news/2020/09/goalkeeping-targets-informed-by-coach-admits-arteta/” Edu doesn’t even have the authority to decide who should be our 3rd choice GK this summar. Edu is a mere yes man and a honorary technical director. He will be gone soon but that should not… Read more »

John G

Valentin, very sad if it is down to something like that and very unprofessional

Rich

AC Arteta can go as hard as he likes on the players. Where he screwed up was, not dropping Willian after his little trip to Dubai. Meritocracies are society and natures change agents, and only fair system You only get out of life what you put in, whether that be on a professional, or more importantly personal basis Having a competitive environment based on merit, is what drives progress and innovation, rather than stagnation and self preservation But they only work, if they’re applied consistently No society can thrive or even survive, whilst those that produce, pay for those that… Read more »

Peckobill

Valentin
Mark my words if he does sell saliba it will be for a loss because arteta is so dumb he lets the world know he doesn’t wants badly rid of a player but the worst part is I can promise you now he’ll buy someone like John fucking stones or someone equally bland and mediocre

John G

Peckobill, you may have hit the nail on the head, wasn’t Stones one of his projects at city

Bob N16

There is something we’re not being told about the Saliba situation. It’ s the most troubling aspect of Arteta’s time as coach/ manager. I do still feel that Arteta could be a success but a novice coach shouldn’t be supported by a novice CEO and an inexperienced ‘Head of Football’. Right now I get the feeling that there are a fair few on here who would rather see Arsenal lose tonight than a ‘papering over the cracks’ third win in a row. If you want Arteta gone okay but for me Edu would have to go too! Personally I want… Read more »

Anonymous Commentator

Get arteta and edu out now, they clearly have no idea what they’re doing going by this saliba situation.

Pierre

The Le Grove Arteta out bandwagon is on the roll.

Personally, I wouldn’t take any notice of them as they have a history of getting it wrong .

Starting with the hounding of Wenger .
Followed by the support for Emery
Followed by the support for Arteta’s non negotiables and the treatment of Ozil and Guendouzi.
And finally turning on Arteta .

My views are the complete opposite and time will tell if Arteta deserves my support.
Despite some atrocious decision making ,I believe he will turn it around with a respectable league position(only respectable) and another cup final.

John G

If we keep winning great, I would hope we all want that. But I have my doubts that with the present leadership that the team can sustain a good winning run

Bob N16

AC , if Edu is as you say ‘an honorary technical director’, how can that be allowed? A novice coach without the support of a Director of Football.

Don’t buy it.

Either Edu has power or Arteta is not being properly supported. It’s one or the other. Either way it can’t all be on Arteta much as some of you would like to insinuate.

Rich

Bob N16 Surely no Arsenal fan wants us to lose tonight? I wouldn’t bet on it, because I don’t think we’re a particularly good team, and the league is competitive But if we beat WBA, Palace + Newcastle in our next 3 league games? That’s 29 points at the halfway point, Realistically I was hoping for 60-65 points this season, I didn’t think we’d crack top 4, but I was hoping we’d get a little closer than the 10 points we were off last season, and also get back into the Europa via the league, 9/9 from our next 3… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

“Saliba, who is believed to earn around £160,000-a-month in his current Arsenal contract, came through the Saint-Etienne youth ranks and made his first-team debut in September 2018. ” That’s from the Daily mail linking him to a loan or sale. Anyone else believe we put a 18 year old (at the time) CB on 160k a week? All the credible reports puts him on 36k a week. If they’re off by that much there’s a pretty decent chance they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. I hope so because he could become our best CB since Sol Campbell… Read more »

Peckobill

John g
The worst part is in about 3 years time we’ll be extending stones contract even after his usual brain fart moments ( he’s the English mustafi ) while we watch whichever club we sell saliba to for 15 mill in turn sell him for about 50 to one of the elite clubs. Some need to educate themselves on here how highly saliba is regarded in France . Ask the french posters on here , absolutely nothing like Pepe situation.

Bob N16

Anonymous, if as you suggest Edu and Arteta should be removed from their jobs, who should take responsibility for giving them their jobs in the first place? Wold VV is not the kingmaker so who gets to appoint the next double act?

Jamie

Freddie –

£160k a month is about £40k a week, so sounds about right.

Bob N16

Freddie, 160 k a month is around 40 k a week!

Peckobill

Bob
All irrelevant about an experienced head of football , someone like Rangnick or one who knows his stuff would sack arteta anyway

Bob N16

Daily Mail is a disgrace of a newspaper though!

Freddie Ljungberg

Jamie

Ahaha,missed that it was per month in the article, smh.

Ok, we’re doomed then and Saliba is leaving. Thanks…

Bob N16

Peckobill, do you not think that an inexperienced coach would benefit from a top quality DoF?

AC

Rich, The willian decision was pathetic. But I still think Arteta has got the concept of meritocracy wrong in many other situations. Joe Willock and Eddie has landed so many minutes under arteta because they run hard. But at a club like Arsenal meritocracy should be on results and not on how hard someone works. If that were the case, someone like ESR and Balogun would have made their debuts much earlier than december 2020

G8

Arteta is full of shit
He’s obviously undermining Saliba’s Arsenal career for personal reasons, same as Guendouzi
I am 99% sure Arteta made the two decisions because he has a fucked up personality
He thought he has already made it, and was acting like a big shot after winning the cup

Ozil situation on the other hand was the club and the upper hierarchy decision

Freddie Ljungberg

Bob

If we need the DoF to hold the novice managers hand and sort out his line ups, tactics and who he picks to be in the squad of the existing players maybe we just need a new manager? It’s not like he’s getting a lot of things right, can’t think of any actually except winning the Fa cup with Fat Sam tactics.

John G

Bob, that is a big problem. It feels like that there is not anyone capable at the club of steering the ship in the right direction. Stan needs to step up or sell if he doesn’t want the hard work

Cheney10

I’m not sure why everyone is losing it over a 19 year old none of us have see play live and no little more than what others have said probably also based on YouTube clips. I suspect there is a lot more going on with him than meets the eye… He is 19, in a new country, doesn’t speak the language, wasn’t allowed to play in the cup final and is likely simply homesick which is impacting on his mindset, approach and attitude. How would you have felt at 19 in that situation? Just because he was bought for a… Read more »

Peckobill

Bob
If you mean arteta then no , way to many character and coaching flaws , arteta has so many of the DoF compensated for all them he may as well do the job himself . Remember Bob the most important thing the DoF doesn’t coach and doesn’t pick the starting eleven .

rollen

Easy solution to Auba Pepe Saliba Amn Guen Toreira.
Get the real manager.

Northbanker

Having started with high hopes for Arteta, I now no longer trust his judgement on any player. Edu is simply a joke and the sooner both are kicked out the better so we can implement a proper youth strategy for the club, including integrating Saliba before its too late, getting Balogun to stay and bringing back and coaching Guendouzi.

Time Up

A manger sold Emi, loaned Guin and Tor, thinks Eddie is top 4 striker and play horrible football should not have any right to judge a talent like Saliba.

He’s not fit for a club like Arsenal. The man is lost, I don’t think he knows what he’s doing. Him thinking he’s going to win the CL within 3 years with his incompetence, it shows the man is insane. Just like the mad man before him who said the next level is the next level.

Dissenter

Pedro has dug his trenches deep initially Arteta hill
Doesn’t it offend you that Arteta offered Mustafi an extension and didn’t even give this young lad a sniff of an opportunity?
Arteta fucked this up, stop blaming the French media. This one is in the rookie manager who’s learning his trade at Arsenal.

Dissenter

Deep into Arteta hill

rollen

This idiot will waste Gabriel and Partey too and Pedro will call them crap.

Anonymous Commentator

Sorry Bob. I really don’t care about who is above them, the fact right now is that arteta and edu are in charge of our playing side and neither of them knows what they’re doing. This saliba situation has gone on long enough, it can somehow get worse still, and we’re supposed to just accept that the papers are reporting arteta wants to sell saliba while offering holding a new contract. It’s disgusting. I can’t blame kroenke for this one, I can’t blame edu really because arteta is the one who decides who is going to be in his squad… Read more »

John G

Rollen, he already has with Gabriel

Freddie Ljungberg

Pedro

Sure, to set the philosophy of the club and pick players based on that to buy.

Edu isn’t responsible for freezing out Saliba, he’s not responsible for picking Willian every week and benching/play Pepe out of position, he’s not responsible for wantin/ to keep Mustafi and persuading Xhaka to stay, he’s not responsible for playing Tierney at LCB in a back 5 with 2 defensive midfielders in front of them when we’re screaming out for goals etc etc.
The game starts in just over 2 hours so I’m gonna have to cut the list short.

AC

“Either Edu has power or Arteta is not being properly supported. It’s one or the other. Either way it can’t all be on Arteta much as some of you would like to insinuate.” Bob, The following are some of the major decisions by the club since summer. Have a look and decide for yourselves who is driving all the decisions. 1. Guendouzi out (public info that he fell out with arteta) 2. Torriera out (public info that he fell with arteta) 3. Ozil out (same guy again) 4. Aubameyang signs 3 year contract only in the presence of Arteta (edu… Read more »

Peckobill

Bob
The best scenario I can give and if you have time to dig around and read up about them but if we had rangnick as DoF and negalsmann as coach you’d be thinking in a years time what the fuck did we hang on to arteta for so long

Dissenter

‘Did Pedro just call Arteta out’

No.

salparadisenyc

Not sure its been touched on but interesting Poch on such a short term deal, 1.5 years with option for additional. club signally success or basta.

In terms of selection good move for me Poch, have to think Dele Ali will be transferred in. Very curious to see how the Poch deals with the egos, notably the shit-bag that Neymar can be. Would even test Fergie’s patience and courage on occasion.

Hope Lyon take them this season.

John G

AC, think you could have got to 50 with that list

rollen

Hopefully Pedro gets some benefits for this sheet he is pulling with Emery Gazidis and Arteta. Its against best interests of the club so hopefully its worth it.

Freddie Ljungberg

Pedro “Feels weird that so many on here are two weeks behind on what’s going on. Graham62 whining about Willian and Luiz after they’ve been dropped for two games.” Any actual sources to show that they were actually dropped? Here is the only place I’ve seen that, everywhere else they’re out because of sickness, available today though so we’ll see. Eddie over Auba/Martinelli. Keeping Luiz on with a bleeding head so he missed 2 weeks of football, rushing Partey back and then pushing him back on the pitch. Just thought I’d add some issues that a DoF wouldn’t have been… Read more »

Bob N16

You’d obviously be a very odd supporter if you haven’t been disappointed by Arteta’s intransigence in his continued picking of players who were so off form. Playing Lacazette in an unfamiliar ‘square peg in round hole position also frustrated me. Of course there has to be some serious concerns about his ability to do the job. All that being said he has been hampered by Partey not being fit, not being able to get rid of overpaid players during a global epidemic and being almost forced into picking inadequate players like Xhaka…..and appearing to be poorly supported by a Head… Read more »

Jamie

We need to rotate as a matter of course, although part of me still thinks we should play the kids (winning formula in back-to-back games) again tonight.

We really need to keep picking up wins, and I have no confidence in some of the seniors doing a job, even against West Brom. Sad, really.

Habesha Gooner

The ridiculous thing on arteta is that his fans seem to think we should completely trust him on the decisions he makes based on just an FA cup win. It doesn’t matter that our league form over the past year or the fact that people like Sam Allardyce are openly talking about us as their relegation rivals. Never mind the fact that our football legends fear for us about relegation right? I will say this though, If Arteta stays he must win the trust of fans by showing tangible results on the table and on the pitch. We arent the… Read more »

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