Well, well, well… Klopp was the fraud all along. Arsenal win tomorrow, we’ll be 3 points off the Champions in the most nuts season on record.
It is quite incredible how a side can go from looking like the greatest footballing machine ever created, to total bums after one bad signing, a couple of injuries, and a global pandemic.
It’s a bit of a shame we’re playing Manchester City this weekend. They are one of the best teams in the world right now. Pep has managed the transition to a new vision with the same sort of deft innovation he always does.
The best manager in the world was pumping Arteta like he always does.
“All I can say is the last months show me that all managers need time and he is not an exception. What I see in the last two months every game Arsenal played is better than the opponent.
“Tomorrow we will have an incredible performance. They have an exceptional build-up, they have quality and they have energy. They have [Bukayo] Saka, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and all the players with the quality in the middle.
You might think this is patronising stuff. He’ll probably beat us tomorrow. But he’s not far from the truth if you are watching The Arsenal develop through the correct lens.
There are still mistakes in the system, we’re not perfect, but Pep is not wrong… we’ve been the better in all our games since the Chelsea game.
The key thing for me… we’re unpredictable now. Pep will recognise that looking at our games. We can press, we can sit back, we can go long, we can build from the back, and we can execute a well-crafted plan of shit-housery. Look at how we’re developing, versus the mess Jose is overseeing now his one-trick pony strategem is injured.
I’ve been saying for a while now, something is brewing at Arsenal, and it’s hard to deny it. We might lose tomorrow and we might lose on Thursday, but don’t take your eye off the ball. All the reports I’m hearing are that the coaching is phenomenal behind the scenes and things are building nicely. More importantly, you can see it on the pitch.
I thought a big show of our improving style was the game Auba had the other night. Sure, he missed some big chances, but did you pay attention to his game? Look at those runs he was making. That was a man that could smell the potential of a killer pass. Auba was running the channels. He was taking risks. He wasn’t doing that before Christmas. Arsenal has gone from a side that could barely progress the ball from the back, to a side that has options all over the park. Auba’s game sums us up… you don’t take chances on runs if you know the pass won’t come.
ESR, Odegaard, Partey, and Saka can all pass round corners. They can deliver from deep. They can beat an aggressive press. They dribble past players. When that clicks in this Arteta system, it’s really, really tough to play against.
Compare that to pre-Christmas when we had 2 power plays, that one on the left being the main one, well, it’s night and day. The passing is starting to look cognitive. Players are recognising the patterns, they know where to move, they know the triggers, they might not be the most aggressive pressers, but they are very intelligent at it now. There’s thought in every tactical setup these days.
We totally controlled Benfica. Whine about the result, but don’t snipe at the performance from a team that had just had to deal with Leeds before a plane journey. We controlled possession, we drew them out, made late runs in behind, and we delivered 8 quality chances that unfortunately didn’t have the finish.
We’re doing that regularly now. The xG might not always show it. But the positions we’re taking up in attack are good. The chance quality is way, way better, and the football is getting close to sexy.
The interesting thing is you can see the phases. Last year, we stopped being whipping boys. No more walking through the middle. This season, we started well defensively, we mopped up setpiece defending… then it went to hell for a bit. But part of that was down to not having the right players. Part of that was losing your best midfielder (he’s still out). If Liverpool can lose VVD and crash, why would anyone think Arsenal could lose their best midfielder and not suffer?
Now we’ve found some of the missing links. Big players are coming back into form (Auba/Laca/Gabriel). Troubled players are more settled because part of their usefulness was only going work playing with certain profiles of talent (Xhaka/Pepe/Hector/Cedric). Young players are shining (Saka/ESR). We also found an Odegaard who added more quality and confidence to the starting 11.
You should be excited as a fan. I’ve never felt more confident the path we chose was correct. We’re starting to see the fruits of the time we afforded the manager. We have to navigate this season with progress in mind, then Edu, Vinai and Arteta have to NOT make the same fuck ups as last summer.
We shouldn’t be signing David Luiz to a new deal. We should be ageing down in player profile. We need a top centre midfielder. Saliba should be integrated. We should sign Balogun down as our 3rd choice striker. We should sell the names that aren’t working or loan them for the year to shop window them.
Interestingly, I did hear that Willian is a top guy and an excellent trainer. No joke. What Arteta says about him is true, it’s not PR. He’s very well-liked behind the scenes. It’s not working out for him because he’s just not the player everyone thought he’d be. I get the sense the deal was rushed (can’t imagine why). It’s simple, never take a chance on the roulette of age. This was a mistake, Arteta has to accept that and never do it again.
I also don’t think you should read too much into the Gabriel M stuff. He’s not playing at the moment because the side is buzzing. It’s hard to change something that’s working, especially for a player that is raw power. He’ll get his chance though. There are also a number of kids coming through that everyone is very excited about as well, so expect the youth theme to continue into the Arteta tenure, there’s still a lot to come.
I don’t really have a lot to say about today. My hope is it’s a great afternoon of football. Key for us is to not concede early and see if we can grow into the game. It is going to be absolutely essential to take our chances. CIty’s defence has been immense this season, Auba won’t get 5 good chances tomorrow, he’ll be lucky to have two… so let’s see what we can do. Should be fun.
The constant debate about Arteta is boring. Arsenal are not going to offload him in foreseeable
future.
The club have invested in a young coach who has been recruited to develop the team as a long
term project. The club knew when they sacked Emery that this was the direction to move in.
Divine, rookie managers will make mistakes… so will experienced managers. Look at Tuchel double subbing today. Shocking.
But… Arteta is learning fast. The players like him. The things we hated are improving. He’s bringing sexy football back.
We are on the right track. It’s just going a little slower than we expect as Arsenal fans.
CT
Gazidis was a survivor at Arsenal with the Wenger regime firmly holding the power.
I would imagine Gazidis felt his Arsenal tenure was a successful one for him in finding his European football niche as in what he’s doing at Milan. Arsenal was his jump over the pond springboard.
Gazidis is more upper class spice wheeler dealer than a football man, in that making money comes first. Isn’t that what you’d want from your CEO?
None of the above makes me like the man. I really do detest his disingenuous kind, but they are necessary cog in business.
Captain Tierney
Gazidis was a disaster both in how he ran the club and managed its finances. He left before he
was sacked.
The fact that Milan are near top of Serie A is a measure just how poor that League is at the moment. Do you seriously believe that they are better than Arsenal?
The club went from Dein to Gazidis and Wenger running a power grab trolly dash.
The geriatric BoD happy with their share values were willing to go with the flow they had no chance or real desire of oversight for.
No doubt Wenger and Gazidis’ office carpets were fully swept under with each others’ misdeeds and errors.
The blind policing the blind if you like..
Pedro Are you in your senses? Who in the world cares he has Milan back at the top. Thats not why we signed him. We signed him to help keep us on the top. He did the exact opposite. Thats like saying Emery has Villareal firing on all cylinders so we should have stuck with him. Or We should have kept Mkhi because he is balling at Roma. Gazidis had 10 years at Arsenal, only thing he did of note was to negotiate a better deal for the stadium sponsorship. Tom Yes, Gazidis was so good financially that we sold… Read more »
Post-Chelsea game there’s been progress, Check! What happened to the games prior to the Chelsea game and why the so-called progress? My recollection was that we had both Willian and Louis out because of covid, Auba was an unused sub because of injury. It was literally backs against the wall for Arteta after losing 4 games in a row. He threw an untested ESR on at number 10 with Saka and Martinelli on either side, because he had very little choice, basically wishing for a miracle to save his job. As much as Pedro would have you believe there was… Read more »
Pedro
No doubt about the football , honestly the best attack we’ve played since Wenger . Just a bit sceptical right now having seen the first half of the season.
Apparently Pedro fancies himself as a cult leader, This blog is his church. Anyone who isnt a good acolyte should leave, so the repetitive chanting can commence.
“Arteta is a brilliant coach. He is taking us to football paradise”
Again
“Arteta is a brilliant coach. He is taking us to football paradise”.
Globalgunner
I’m sorry he’s taking us to football what exactly?
Did he quantify what that meant?
Maybe it’s the Arteta paradise where no matter the cock up he’s immune to all consequences.
Globalgunner
Atleast in Pedro’s opinion , he is trying to make us see the truth as he was doing during Wenger , doesnt make him wrong .
Arsenal’s last 5 games,
Arsenal 0 Manu 0
Wolves 2 Arsenal 1
Villa 1 Arsenal 0
Leeds 2 Arsenal 4
Benfica 1 Arsenal 1
scored 6 conceded 6
Please show me the sexy football, because if that’s sexy for you, you really do have low expectations.
Hardly generational either, Socrates is it?
Arteta wasn’t generational as a player: above average with the occasional stand out moment during a season.
Somehow that ‘Generational’ transfers to Arteta as a manager.
Why? Can’t seem to fathom that out.
If He continues at 1 win from 5 then generational loser would be more apt.
So this guy Pedro has completely lost it then
Spend years mocking Untold and Attwood only to become a bigger joke later on
Basically Pedro is begging for the Wenger model to return. Only with a stronger defence. Literally everything he calls for is the Wenger blueprint
Socrates
But but… according to Pep, we have been better than all the teams we played since Chelsea. I mean it’s coming from pep so it’s worth like 18 points out of 6 games with 3-0 sccore line each. Oh wait….
“Also Mystic, just remember… people with your sort of view were giving me shit when I said Emery would fail. Where are those people now? Trying to land one on me with Arteta.”
Yea. You saw so clearly how it was going to end for Emery when we were seeing “exciting progress” or atleast were “optimistically cautious”. How you haven’t seen this one bewilders me. I mean, Arteta has been worse than Emery by far and yet he is progressing us? According to you?
I still hope Arsenal will smash City today though…
Big game tomorrow. I just hope Arsenal don’t get thrashed.
“Basically Pedro is begging for the Wenger model to return. Only with a stronger defence. Literally everything he calls for is the Wenger blueprint “ ……….including the “judge me in May” bit. Except he apparently means May 2022 , or maybe even 2023.
Hats off to our owner, Kroenke, for finding his holy grail
He successfully acquired a manager that has the fanbase clapping for producing bottom half football.
Brilliant stuff for him. Not so much for Arsenal fans but business is what matters, why bother to compete when you can milk the cash cow with effective PR
“Basically Pedro is begging for the Wenger model to return. Only with a stronger defence. Literally everything he calls for is the Wenger blueprint “
The only thing wrong with the Wenger model was the defence and the constant selling of players every season, which, in turn was a result of weak defence and players wanting out because we were not competitive. So, I think everyone should want the Wenger model to return only with stronger defence.
Exacting progress happening at Arsenal stated confidently then followed by the disclaimer we could lose at home to City,which is fine, and also crash out to Benfica, which isn’t fine no matter how besotted you are with the manager. At this point nothing you say should even be debated, just a shake of the head and move on. And Liverpool are having a season from hell, stop proclaiming the fact we are still points off them as progress. The leaders in the league this season play in light blue, they are called Manchester City and we are 22 points off… Read more »
Love Sausage.
Been reading this blog for 8 years, this is my first comment. I really don’t get some nastiness here. And some of the expectations. Quality-wise we’ve been on a relentless march to mediocrity for 10+ years. And people here whine and talk about saviours. There are no saviours or quick wins. Just a slow and hard work to raise standards. I’ve disagreed with Pedro’s POV plenty but he’s right on this – if you don’t see the improvements since the Chelsea game, you’re choosing to look the other way.
Is this Pedro’s Darian or what?
Gooner Grower I’ve got absolutely nothing against that. It’s just that Pedro campaigned for a decade to remove Wenger only to champion everything he brought to the club. Not giving more than one year to older players Trusting in youth Creating patterns and triangles all over the pitch Playing football the right way Outsmarting the market Buying low, selling high Coaching players to become some of the worlds best Harnessing creative young talent from around the world It’s all Wenger. Only with a solid defensive platform. All of Pedro’s big criticisms of Arteta are the opposite of what Wenger would… Read more »
“Quality-wise we’ve been on a relentless march to mediocrity for 10+ years.”
And we have arrived at mediocrity. We are 10th on the log, have won the same number of league games as we have lost. Mediocrity is when you label this progress and look for all manner of excuses to justify it.
I’ve seen it all now, the same blogger who got the gazidis hate started is now saying gazidis is a good CEO?
Who kidnapped Pedro?
as if we’ll win against an in form City
a draw will be a great result as it is
a loss most likely
thanks to Arteta there’s no more excitement watching the team no matter how much the potential because he will just damper everything due to his incompetence and huge unwarranted ego
the sooner we get rid of him the better
Winthorpe
But those tweaks including a stronger defence are vital and without them it is not possible to compete. And Wenger refused to change his ways and think about the weaknesses. I don’t think Pedro or anyone ever criticized the sexy football which Wenger had us playing. But the organization was lacking and it was not possible to win much in that system. The hope is that with Project Arteta, that won’t be the case.
“We might lose tomorrow and we might lose on Thursday, but don’t take your eye off the ball” “Interestingly, I did hear that Willian is a top guy and an excellent trainer. No joke. What Arteta says about him is true, it’s not PR. He’s very well-liked behind the scenes. It’s not working out for him because he’s just not the player everyone thought he’d be.” Just wow pedro. Anything to justify Arteta’s miserable season so far huh. If he loses to benfica and we go out, then he should be fired. I see there is promise in some of… Read more »
https://arseblog.com/2021/02/auba-and-auba-and-auba-again/ Good little read I can half accept this. Auba has not had anywhere near the work rate he should have considering his lack of ability on the ball to crest chances for himself If you’re expecting your team mates to give you the ball where you do the most damage then you need to be on your toes all the time. Not hiding. Moving forward I hope they are right and this is the best way to bring the best out of not just Aubameyang himself but our entire attack. It’s no good doing what’s just best for Aubameyang… Read more »
Spot on post Pedro. No one is suggesting we are on course to win the CL but we’ve got a good deal of quality in the team and we’ve shipped out much of the deadwood. Arteta needs a couple more transfer windows then we can judge him. I’m really enjoying seeing the youngsters. The doubters on here will no doubt argue that Klopp should be sacked at Liverpool. They don’t seem to understand that football isn’t linear it’s cyclical. I’ve posted before it was always going to take a while to sort things out after the Wenger 20 year dynasty.
Grower
Yes
I agree. The biggest issue with wringer was he was given free reign. That’s the clubs fault. They should have took over on transfer negotiations once wenger identified a target and should have forced a defensive coach onto him. If he refused then fine, let him go. Nobody in world football compared to him and Guardiola for creating the most beautiful attacking football teams. Obviously wenger never had the money to compete with pep’s ability to buy any ready made defender he wanted so a top defensive coach should have been hired
We are at home today Arteta knows pep’s squad and tactics more than any other manager We’ve beaten him before in a high stakes game with a less capable squad. We are currently riding a high wave of a tracking confidence after an excellent run of games Don’t forget, since the Chelsea game we have been the better team on the pitch every single time except for Aston Villa We should have buried wolves United and Benfica Only the finishing and woeful officiating has cost us those wins. Had we took our chances we’d not even be taking of officials… Read more »
*attacking confidence
19th placed West Brom played over one hour of football with 10 men and nearly won. The game ended 0 0. Now that’s progress.
Progressive Arsenal went one man down and lost a one goal leaf within 10 minutes. Progress much?
thanks to Arteta there’s no more excitement watching the team no matter how much the potential because he will just damper everything due to his incompetence and huge unwarranted egothe
Ac
You need to stop
If you aren’t excited watching OG Saka ESR and Pepe then I’m not sure there’s any hope for you. Maybe try volcano boarding
That’ll get your heart rate up
Thorough
Yes. A penalty and a fluke long shot.
Kept wolves under control otherwise
Stick to the facts
Winthrope
Agree with all that you say. It was partly the club’s fault to let Wenger have a free rein. But once he had it, he was responsible for all that was wrong at the club and he had to go. Also, Wenger was too worried about the club’s finances, which was never in his job description, and the Tr4phy madness.
I hope that after a few years without the Tr4phy, Arsenal would be competing for actual trophies like the Premier league title.
You know when you start watching a Film, you sort of immediately know/sense who the bad guy is by the way he looks and acts. Come on, you all know what I mean. His general demeanour promotes an untrustworthiness. Everything about them seems underhand and illicit.
That was my first ever impression of Ivan Gazidis.
Others though thought the opposite. He looked the part and talked a good game, so let’s trust him.
How well did that work out for us?
Grower
Yes except that it’s too much work and responsibility for one man to cope with and maintain our high standards on the pitch. It’s no coincidence we dropped a level when Dein went and no coincidence we dropped another level when rice went. Wenger lost the two guys who made his life easier.
Anyway
He’s gone now
By Tr4phy madness, I mean trying to get to Top 4 at all costs.
This blog has turned into a kind of QVC with Pedro trying to sell some cheap, sub-standard costume jewelry that is ‘the thing to be wearing this summer’ and yours for just £120 for a pair of ear-rings that won’t stay in and fall apart anyway after two weeks. Lots of promises, less deliveries than Hermes! Let’s be honest, the youngsters look good. Saka and ESR look brilliant, Martinelli we know is quality but he needs game time to get back to where he was. Odegaard looks quality even if we only have him for a few months, Gabriel at… Read more »
Winthorpe
Yes, onto Project Arteta, I think he has made some bad decisions, we all know, and Pedro has pointed out many times, which ones. I think how fast he learns from them and corrects them, either by himself or with help from others like Edu, will decide how successful he becomes.
After reading this Arteta PR article, it’s very clear now just how low the expectations are of our fan base. We are sitting 10th, 6 points from 14th, with an unbelievably hard fixture list coming up, out of a realistic European spot and playing dull one dimensional football. Arteta has lost the highest amount of games in a season since Terry Neil was in charge in the early 80’s. We still don’t know our starting 11 but it’s ok ‘trust the process.’ This article begins by mocking Klopp, calling him a fraud. It’s embarrassing. The man has brought the champions… Read more »
Reading through the comments last night, i get the impression that a large percentage of posters will want Arsenal to get turned over against city. The problem with Arteta is the last 12 months have been wasted . We are now back to where we were 12 months ago, and this time Arteta must not cock it up. To me it’s obvious where it started to go wrong, the first lockdown came and Arteta started to make very poor decisions that were masked by the FA cup success but became apparent at the start of this season.. The football was… Read more »
Winthorpe. Why didn’t West Brom concede a penalty and a fluke long distance goal?
TeeCee
I think as Pedro does, that Arteta is learning on the job. And no matter what others say, I believe Edu is competent and can help Arteta see reason about things like handing Luiz.a new contract.
Winthorpe
The Arseblog post about Aubameyang reflects my thoughts almost exactly. Breaking it down simply, we can put a Golden Boot winner, with the highest goals to games ratio for an Arsenal striker prior to this season, in front of an exciting young trio of creative attacking midfielders. We can also try out Martinelli in the same way, perhaps even Balogun, but who knows what is going on there.
Pierre why do you always write on the assumption all other teams are performing at their maximum and only Arsenal have a lot more to give?
Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs are all having very poor seasons too. United too to an extent.
Still waiting for the Arteta-in crowd to answer, when and where Arteta has changed a game of football from the sidelines and we’ve actually gone on to win?
Asking for a friend.
(I see Arteta sycophants, I see AKB’s in disguise)
Socrates
Bringing Lacazette on at Brighton comes to mind
“After reading this Arteta PR article, it’s very clear now just how low the expectations are of our fan base.”
PR from the sauce salesman…..
I have totally disengaged from this season.
Arteta totally fucked up the start, but is showing signs that he’s learnt some important lessons and he does have some kind of plan.
It’s all starts again this summer for me.
“He’s a genius”
A quote from Pep last month. About Big Sam.
I don’t think we can take anything Pep says about an opponent prior to a game seriously.
Pedro
“I don’t really have a lot to say about today.”
Where I come from, elderly relatives always begin a speech with “I don’t have much to say”, then proceed to talk for an hour and a half, before concluding to a bewildered audience with: “like I said in the beginning, I don’t have much to say”
Moral of the story: None. You said plenty bro. Very upbeat too.
Btw did anyone watch the Merseyside derby yesterday?
I’m hearing TAA gave away a penalty. It was not intentional but stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity. Got away with no booking.
ThoroughFebruary 21, 2021 08:33:09
Winthorpe. Why didn’t West Brom concede a penalty and a fluke long distance goal?
Thorough
Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t expect Leno to save every single penalty he’s up against. Or prevent every rarely laser precision long shot. Ridiculous
Also
Why didn’t West Brom win the fa cup and charity shield? Why didn’t West Brom beat city and chelsea and United and Liverpool?
SocratesFebruary 21, 2021 08:48:00
Still waiting for the Arteta-in crowd to answer, when and where Arteta has changed a game of football from the sidelines and we’ve actually gone on to win?
Chris
Let’s see.
I hope he does. But I’d rather see Martinelli and Balogun being primed to lead the line. Both of them.
Socrates
Brings Pepe on
He score we win
Sheffield United
Bring on Pepe and Willian on. They score
Not one of your better posts Pedro.
I accept Arteta sees out this season but will never go the lengths you have in this post to justify it.
Like I said yesterday if we finish any lower than 7th and don’t make the final of the Europa League he needs to be fired come end of the season. No amount of reports from the changing ground should change that.
Arteta has had over a year with the squad and we’re anything but consistent with our performances.
Socrates
That is one area of Arteta’s game where he is horribly lacking. His in game management has been diabolical at times.
Playing Luiz for 45 minutes after that horror clash with Raul.
Playing Partey knowing he is injured.
His persistence with Willian.
There ar just some of the vast inexperienced in game management mistakes he has made
But that doesn’t mean there is tangible progress in the way we play and how much we have improved.
But that doesn’t mean there is **no** tangible …
TeeCee
Love your take on things.
All true.
When your starting point is pushing an injured player back onto the pitch, then yeah there’s definitely been some improvement.
That however doesn’t then equate to us being anything other than a banter club with arteta in the job.
Jeez Emery was squeezing juice out of the dried out lemons of Jenkins on and lichsteiner, but I must give Mikel “bin all these youngsters” arteta time to metamorph into this world class manager while in the Emirates cocoon?
Hate to say it, we have a moth instead of a butterfly on our hands.
I’m not sure how you’re back on the Gazidis train, Pedro. I suspect it’s a case of devil’s advocate. There was no reason why Gazidis would succeed in the Premiership and he didn’t. He screwed us up for years and then jumped when things were beginning to crumble. Even the sponsorship agreements he negotiated pale in comparison with our peers, despite our huge inline following and no doubt relatively rich fan base, compared to say the scousers. On top of that he wrapped us up in terrible deals, not least Ozil. The guy was a worm and a snake and… Read more »
Arteta has been at the helm now for over 14 months( not 14 days or 14 weeks) and yet we’re being force fed things on here that still don’t make sense. Anyone that allows players like Willian, Luiz, Xhaka, Bellerin and even Leno to pull on the Arsenal shirt, does not, imo, have the good of the club at heart. It’s like trying to fit square pegs in round holes. We have some wonderful talent at the club but when you have individuals that are conning us all, including our gullible manager, you have to keep questioning. There’s no other… Read more »
We are 10th for Christ sake and teams above us have games in hand.
I’ve never read so much bullshit in my life and I am am old git.
That’s why some of the good regular posters have gone, I am close to going ,
I read this blog and the comments section on a regular basis and like most things in life at the moment, it is deeply polarised. I unashamedly fall on the side of Arteta at the moment, and this is not because my expectations are extraordinarily low or because he was a former player or because of the myriad of other suggestions that have been put forward but for the simple fact many of the issues he inherited. But he has had 14 months I hear you scream… We are not Chelsea, we are not Man City, we do not have… Read more »
@AC
“Hate to say it, we have a moth instead of a butterfly on our hands.”
😂😂😂
That made me laugh.
“I did hear that Willian is a top guy and an excellent trainer. No joke”
Really? This is a joke. Are we paying him all that big money to train and be a “top guy”? I thought we brought him in to play and improve the team. Come on, no wonder we are a joke of a club.
Teamagooner: Wilian had just had his best season, statistically for Chelsea scoring 9 goals in 36 appearances when we signed him. All I can say is hindsight is always 20/20… I’m not sure anyone could have predicted his fall off would have been so steep and so dramatic.
There are two schools of thought who post on Le Grove. The first of those are realistic and recognise that Arsenal following departure of Wenger are now in a “reorganisation and rebuild era” and turning the ship around will take time. There is no quick fix solution particularly in the current pandemic, which has impacted on revenues. The second group are those who have zero patience and seem to think that Arsenal as a big club should adopt the “Chelsea philosophy” of short termIsm and sacking the manager every five minutes and buying new players on a wholesale basis. The… Read more »
Cheney10 – Don’t fall for the ‘money’ argument, it’s nonsense, factually incorrect. We’re third after the two Manchester clubs in terms of net spend over the last five years (higher than Chelsea) and we have a bigger wage bill than many clubs above us. We have money, we’ve spent lots of it, it’s just that we’ve spent it very, very badly.
Not all on Arteta by a long chalk but don’t fall for the trite excuses that people trot out to defend the indefensible.
what is the good of getting rid of dead wood when you replace it with dead wood
@Andy1886 Your points are all fair but I’m not falling for excuses they are our reality. You talk about 5 years and a high wage bill none of which fall at Arteta’s door and the argument on here has been about Arteta. I am Arsenal through and through, and I am deeply unhappy about being in 10th. However, over the past 14 months we have not been the biggest spenders and I suspect our wage bill will have reduced somewhat now. My point is to judge Arteta by his reality and not hold him accountable for his predecessors’ mistakes.
NORG… who is deadwood? If you mean wilian, please see my previous post.
andy 1886 We are not third largest net spenders under Arteta, which is frankly the only stat which is relevant today. Also what is more relevant is how well the money is being spent. This season we recruited Partey and Gabriel and paid the bulk of our transfer budget on these two players. The only other players we paid transfer fees for were Mari and Runarsson. The former is a decent squad player. The latter was a waste of money. Arsenal have also recruited two players on free transfers. Soares was probably a decent squad acquisition. Willian to date is… Read more »
ES
As always a very measured post.
I get where you’re coming from on this ES but, the thing is, even if you are considered a “rookie” by some, you should still have the gumption and abilities to act on the obvious
Hence the ongoing negativity towards Arteta.
Totally agree with the assessment ES.
Emiratesstroller
I’ve got news for you the second option is what works.
Cheyney – Willians age should have been factored in – especially with the deal he has been given.
The club needs to eject the sleepy owners and adopt the Chelsea and Man City model.
Winthorpe Thanks for saying a lot but sidestepping the question and kissing the point. I’ve seen Mourinho totally change tactics and draw a UCL semi final against an amazing Barca team. I’ve seen supposedly average managers change a game by adjusting play or using their subs. I’ve seen Arteta done none of these. I’m not even sure we’ve come from behind and won a game since he became our manager. Maybe he has and I missed it but it must have been few and far between. All I’m saying is this stardust you people keep talking about, this tactical ingenuity… Read more »
*missing the point of course.
Cheney10
And we continue to play him, hoping he will replicate his “best year” with us sooner than later? When we can give chance to others? No wonder, as I said previously, we are a joke and our opponents do not take us serious.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result”
ES, as you’ll have noticed I acknowledged that Arteta isn’t responsible for poor past recruitment. That said your analysis is a little superficial, if success was entirely dependant on buying players then we may as well hand Man City the title every year and have done with it. Wenger won titles without buying them as did George Graham. What we need to see is Arteta improving players he has and using them in a way that maximises their potential. So far we haven’t seen a lot of the former but I’d agree he’s getting better at the latter albeit starting… Read more »
Interesting post from Pedro. I broadly agree, If we keep key players fit, we’ll be much better in the second half of the season, than in the first. Cohesion is an underrated aspect of building success, squads are assembled through the transfer system and youth team, but they’re built on the training ground There’s certainly signs this team is progressing, Arteta’s been lucky that there’s been no fans in the stadium, which has given him time to work, which he likely wouldn’t have been afforded otherwise I have no idea if the improvement is because of the coaching, but I… Read more »
Rich
Maybe the improvement is down to the lamentable opposition.
NORG older players bring experience and although I agree that we should consider age, in Wilian’s case, I’m not sure anyone could predict the dramatic decline in output.
Temagooner: fair point and if by November, after another window, we are not seeing progress then we can use this to judge him as he will have to own the mistake of it ultimately proves to be one. I just disagree that after 6 months we can use this lightning rod of a player to make the generalisation that we are a ‘joke club’.
Thanks NORG.
The contract was clearly not thought through well and now we have this albatross on our necks for at least two years. And some fans continue to defend this. Reality tells you most players decline when they get into their thirties. Of course there are exceptions, but generally that is the case.
Man City to their credit are capitalising on a collective breakdowm on all the Premier league teams.
Emiratesstroller
Best post of the day man . Another transfer window and we may look decent squadwise , With almost all the deadwood gone. We may require a top world class striker in couple of years. Realistically I dont think its impossible to win Europa this year , provided we keep key players fit.
@thorough We have people who just can’t conclude simply by what plays out right before them week in week out. If it’s not something complex, their minds is too complex to interpret simple stuffs, so they make every simple thing complex and stick to it. Arteta is a fraud, no more, no less. Pedro is up there writing nonsense about klopp, whereas his own arteta doesn’t have even half of the problems klopp is having for a while now yet his arteta is still short of klopp’s position on the table. He sees nothing wrong with arteta but klopp is… Read more »
Cheney10
Let’s hope he comes good and starts performing. But I don’t expect us to give such a long time for old and experienced premier league players to begin to show their capabilities. It would be okay if he was younger or came from a different league.
Blackstock We were struggling to create against every team, and were almost bottom for chance creation in the league, the metrics and performances were worrying, but we’re now consistently carving open quality chances Smith-Rowe has been a revelation, having a player who gives us energy, movement and quality in the final third, who knits things together, has transformed us We were coming from such a low bar though, that it’s different to gauge the exactly level of progress Getting Partey fit, and adding in Smith-Rowe + Odegaard, will potential change the dynamic of the team Saka is progressing fast, Lacazette… Read more »
Vickinfz.
People forget its a results game. We’re 10th, going into a tough run of games when we’ll probably plunge even further and people are still anointing Arteta. It’s crazy double standards.
Thorough
It’s a results business when Emery is in charge. When Arteta is in charge it’s about focussing ONLY on the positives, ignoring the clear and repeated mistakes, using other clubs position to try and misdirect from our situation and talking up intangible factors, such as ‘something is clearly brewing’. Throw in lots of ‘if’s’, ‘but’s’ and ‘hope’ in for good measure as well.
Mustafi can’t even start for schalke 04. Bottom of the table club that is shipping in goals for fun…..Says a lot.
Pedro “If you are sold on progress on the pitch, and you can’t see that since the Chelsea game, then you have bad opinions on football. I can’t help you.” Mate you can look down your nose at me all you want. I do see progress, but it’s not that hard considering we were absolutely gash at the start of the season. We are defensively better, yet have still lost as many as some of Wenger’s worst seasons and Emery’s full season, all within 2/3 of the season. Our attack is getting into better shape. But it wasn’t lacking under… Read more »
The man
The myth
The legend
YAYA Sanogo is going to Huddersfield
Our season didn’t start at the Chelsea game either by the way