It’s not often I make correct predictions, but this week, I nailed it. I said on The Arsenal Opinion podcast last Sunday that we were going to see two victories post-City and here we are.
We are better than Leicester City. They shit-housed us in the last game with a Vardy counter and some shocking VARing. It was different this weekend, that’s not to say the afternoon wasn’t a wave of emotions.
The starting 11, on first perusal, absolutely stunk. It looked like a death wish from a manager that really doesn’t give a fuck about fan sentiment. Willian, Elneny, Luiz, Xhaka, Mari, and Soares didn’t feel like a winning formula… most fans were grumbling in the group chats. Then, after 6 minutes, the I TOLD YOU SO chickens came home to roost. Willian and Xhaka lost the ball, Pablo Mari back-peddled against a surging Tielemans run, Mo Elneny failed to move across, the Leicester midfielder took full advantage and unleashed a brutal low shot past Bernd Leno.
Personally, I was furious. I am an emotional mess during most games, but this starting 11 felt personal. My group chat felt the same.
‘Arteta doesn’t get it’
‘This could be the end of him’
‘He’s addicted to shit players’
My word, was everyone wrong. Badly wrong.
The team didn’t drop their heads, players like Pepe and Willian led by example with excellent drive and efficiency. We controlled possession, we showed patience, and we chipped away at Leicester’s resolve.
Our first goal looked like an Andreas Georgeson inspired setpiece plan. David Luiz hung at the back post, he moved towards the penalty spot, Willian found his run perfectly, Luiz worked a perfect diving header across goal. Brilliant stuff.
Penalties haven’t been good to us of late. There’s always a reason for them to happen against us and always a reason for them to NOT be given our way. Pepe had a penalty rescinded early in the game after a VAR intervention… but he managed to even it out when the same tech piped up on an Ndidi handball in the box. Lacazette stepped up, sent Kasper the wrong way, and drilled home our second into the bottom left. He loved that. The relief was very clearly expressed with a clenched fist.
Our third goal would not have been possible 4 months ago. Nicolas Pepe ran at a retreating Leicester defence, he passed to Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian creator controlled the ball and passed in one silky movement, he found Willian who cut back for Pepe to finish off the goal with a tap-in. It was a very Arsenal goal. Odegaard made it with his speed of thought and his technique. Pepe was embraced by everyone, including the subs. He seems to be very popular. That’s a good thing considering the PR around his introverted character.
We saw the game out from there with minimal fuss. It wasn’t total control. There was a scare at the back post in the 96th minute, but overall, it was unfussy considering where Leicester are in the league.
So the hot takes?
We were ALL wrong about the stating 11 and I am very, very happy about that.
On reflection, with some of that 20/20 victory vision, the selection was defensible.
Cedric Soares has been excellent in 90% of his games, covering for Hector on the right was smart. I’ll say it quietly because vegan twitter is mean… but I think Cedric is better in that role. He’s faster, his defending is superb, and he’s more efficient in the final third.
Lacazette upfront totally made sense. Auba needs to be firing for the big crunch coming. The Frenchman has also been a star this year.
I might have given Dani C that game after his error, but if it needed to be Mo, that’s all we had. Thomas Partey should NOT have started out there.
Nicolas Pepe is in electric form. Willian is one of our top earners, he had an excellent run against Benfica, he was always going to start. There was no world in which Saka played. Both the above-mentioned players were absolutely excellent.
Arsenal rotated so hard it felt like a League Cup run out, yet we still absolutely dominated Leicester start to finish. The bet by the club is clear… they are laser-focused on winning the Europa League… and having the best possible 11 to down Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side.
Back to Leicester.
This is going to sound stupid, but goals change perception. That 90 was not new. We’ve done it in every game since Chelsea in December (bar City). The difference was we delivered a result to go with the performance. Again, the group chat is used as a reference for the madness of being an emotional fan… but the narrative in mine went from ‘BRENDAN HAS ARTETA’S NUMBER’ to ‘OH WOW ARTETA MASTERCLASS.’ What was the difference?
Goals.
No red cards.
No hideous reffing.
Players stepping the f*ck up.
Arteta is bringing careers back from the dead. Our squad now feels bigger because good players are being… you know, good.
The Europa League played a huge role in that. Bukayo Saka’s contribution to that game was the assist for the Leicester game. These players need a focus. Top 4 isn’t on the cards, but now the squad is playing for starting positions in a cup run that could end in a trophy. That has the whole squad sharp. We beat a team pushing for top 2 with a bunch of squad players. That’s special.
Nicolas Pepe was literally unplayable today. He floated inside, he ran at players, he used his body really well… he was decisive. This is a player that looked so meek in November you’d have struggled to give him away. Clearly, he’s been working very hard in training and he obviously has a desire to make it here. It was a top-class performance.
Willian can’t help that he’s a Chelsea legend. He can’t do anything about that deal. But if he wants to be good, that is going to work for all of us. He really was top drawer. 3 assists in 4 days, that’s the same as you-know-who managed in the whole of last season. I thought his movement was good, the speed of his passing was much better, and he worked really, really hard.
I wasn’t sure about Pablo Mari. He was a bit embarrassing for the first goal, backing off like he had a bear running at him… but he certainly grew with the game. There was a moment late on when he was running with Jamie Vardy, his timing on the intervention was utter perfection. I would like to see more boldness with his passing, a bit more presence, but most people seem to be raving to me about him, so I’ll back off.
Granit. Xhaka. Take. A. Bow. Honestly, I feel gross writing this… but damn, he was fucking excellent. He’s been so good in 2021. The error early on was erased by a superb performance. He was hacked down 4 times, made 2 tackles, 1 interception, 6 ball recoveries, and he dropped an 87% pass completion rate off 71 attempts. He was fantastic, there were a couple of saucy moments, a kind of Cruyff turn, and a wonderful flick under pressure. He was GOOD.
I was a bit worried about ESR. He was one of two players that left the pitch with an injury before 50 minutes had played out, Barnes being the other. The fixtures are brutal. The Premier League should not have teams that play Euro games rolling first thing on a Sunday. Fingers crossed both players are ok.
The replacement for ESR was Odegaard, I thought he was absolutely electric. He’d been fairly quiet the last two games, yesterday, he burst out the traps. He pressed, he moved the ball very efficiently, and he had that little bit of special sauce we’ve lacked. He dinked a chip to Soares that was simply stunning. He assisted the assistor for the Pepe goal. He’s just the full package. I like that Madrid are leaking ‘JUST KIDDING, WE LOVE HIM’ articles to drive up his price. For me, Odegaard is our priority signing this summer.
You know things are shaping up nicely, because the only negative the ghouls had after the game was focused on who didn’t play. Namely, Gabriel Martinelli. I really don’t think it’s necessary to whine on about young players. He will get minutes. The club loves him, but he has to wait his turn like the rest of them. Some fans seem to hold dual imperatives in their head 1) WE MUST WIN ALL THE POINTS 2) YOUNG KIDS MUST BE BLOODED. It’s hard to do both. Gabi is fragile, loose, and inconsistent right now. We know that kids make it when they are ready, ESR the case study for that. Gabriel will make it, but I think Arteta deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one because every decision he made worked yesterday.
So where are we on the ‘SINCE CHRISTMAS’ trophy?
We’re in the top 4, baby!
2nd best defence.
3rd most goals.
That my friends is progress.
A lot of people think the Premier League table is all that matters. Sure, in a normal season, at a normal club. Arsenal are not normal and we are not in a normal year. Our organisation has been neglected and abused for 10 years. We hired a rookie coach because we’re broke and the view was that he was one of the best talents for his age and we could tap his City standards and grow with him. Mistakes and bad runs were priced into the experience. The terrible run happened, it was shocking, but the club moved on from it because they believed in Arteta’s approach. That means we can’t just look at the league for green shoots. We have to isolate moments in time and search for clues in different places. Christmas is when things clicked. So that table above gives good context as to whether things are truly moving to a new level. The eye test will tell you the football is better. Match reports like this tell you we’re seeing improvement beyond just the starting 11.
Even if you are #ArtetaOut, it’s a stretch to justify firing him because as it stands, he’s 7 points off Chelsea, with Liverpool, Everton, and Spurs even closer. Klopp, the 2nd best manager in the world, is 6 points off Arsenal in our worst ever season. Jose, £15m a year, with THAT Spurs squad everyone said suited him, 2 points off. Carlo 3 points. We’re in a year where David Moyes is besting them all!
Our next 5 games are Burnley, Olympiacos x2, Spurs and West Ham. 5 wins in those games and we’re cooking on gas. Arteta needs a run. Europa is absolutely key to the league. Rotation is too. Let’s see where it goes.
BUT… before all that, listen to my podcast. I’m chatting with the excellent Johnny and Matt. We discuss the smelly line-up, the big performances, and the expectations for the rest of the season.
ALSO, if you are a father, check out season two of Johnny’s How’s Your Father podcast. He’s hilarious, his guests are elite, and you should always support a fellow Gooner in a creative industry.
In defence of Arteta, if your main striker(Aubameyang) is scoring goals , the team will wìn more football matches. So bringing him on makes sense in that if Aubameyang had scored with his effort on goal , his confidence would be higher going into the next game , and as we all know (or should do) scoring goals is as much about confidence as ability . You can have all the ability in the world, but a striker with no confidence is of no use to a team.. Mind you , the same could be said of Martinelli , bringing… Read more »
Midwest/Chris “Also, I agree that bringing in Referees internationally to mix in and putting them on microphones like they do in the NFL so they can give an explanation would go a long way towards fixing transparency and bias issues.” Spot on comment. I said this a few makes back it really is a no brainer. PGMOL are so useless I wouldn’t trust them to look after my inflatable Dolly Parton doll, if I had one. There are clear problems with the way VAR is being managed. Initially, we were lead to believe it was to cut out the clear… Read more »
Going back to the much maligned, but hugely significant league table. Before Christmas, A was experimenting with different set ups. Since Christmas, he has stuck rigidly with a 4231. That means players can interchange seamlessly as they all know the system. Hence yesterday, 6 changes, a good win. Hopefully, we will continue to improve. I hope Bellerin doesn’t end up at Barca. Why on earth would he want to go there under these circumstances? It’s gonna take years to sort the mess out. And I wouldn’t be surprised if criminal charges start to appear once phorensic accountants get hold of… Read more »
Mid
I watched the first half of the Arsenal under 23’s pn saturday and Nelson was head and shoulders above any player on the pitch.
In saying that ,Liverpool were far the better team as Arsenal were doing the usual and titting around at the back and getting caught in possession in and around their own area.
I agree , nelson will leave , he’d be a fool to waste another season at Arsenal.
Green Bay 18.24
That would be Eileen his faith healer
Google it -.
I appreciate there can be a bias based on where your from growing up.. we have the same thing here.. East Coast, West Coast .. Midwest.
Usually if your from one place you think the others are mental. So I can appreciate that having the majority of refs being from the North of England is not a good thing in regards to fairness in a 50/50 call. I don’t necessarily think that means a conspiracy. It’s just baked into their dna.
The best thing Arteta did was revert back to the 4-2-3-1 just before christmas …
The wing back system was killing the team.
When Arteta first arrived , the 4-2-3-1 served Arteta well but i think he panicked after losing to Brighton and city on returning from lockdown and the fa cup win cemented his belief that playing with wing backs was the way forward, thankfully that is now a distant memory and he has seen the light.
Pierre-
Yep.. I was kind of disappointed Nelson wasn’t given more of an opportunity. I think injuries and circumstances may have decided a lot of his Arsenal career. Hopefully it’s not another Gnabry situation. But then again it may end up being more like Jeff Rein- A… Just not in our plans.
Ray parlour playing for Enland manager Hoddle ‘Hoddle said , Well, before you go for your scan I want you to go to see Eileen Drewery, my faith healer.’ So I head up to her room, knock on the door, walk in and there is this chair in the middle of the room. She told me to sit down. I sat down. She closes the curtains and I think: oh, is this a strip joint? Is Eileen about to take her clothes off? It was bizarre. Next minute she’s walking round me, then she goes in the bathroom, and I’m… Read more »
Windthorpe
“He’s a Buddhist. Believes in reincarnation. Many people do”
A little worse than that i do believe..
He said disabled people are paying for their sins from a former life(or words to that effect)……which didn’t go down too well at the FA.
I’ve never been a fan of any formation with 3 cb’s. I know it’s the En Vogue thing right now.. but I think it’s just an inherently bad formation with too many built in channels or gaps.
Switching to 4 -2-3-1 definitely helped Xhaka .. who is far from my fav player but he just is naturally more comfortable in it.
Hoddle’s actual quote…shame really as he was a good manager. Hoddle was steering England through the 2000 European Championship qualifying campaign when he made the controversial comments, interpreted as suggesting disabled people were being made to pay for the sins of past lives. “You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains,” he was quoted as saying. “Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have… Read more »
Pierre
That’s correct. It was bullshit about karma having led to people being born with disability. Crass and poorly timed. I think his faith healer’s second name was Drury or Drewry. Something like that. A monumental charlatan.
Regardless of how the game ended, the larger needs to be made. Martinelli is one of our brightest young talents and has been out of the squad for a while. He is chomping at the bit to play and with a perfect opportunity to give him game time the coach elects to risk Aubameyang and then complains about the toll that too Many games are taking on key players. This is sheer stupidity and illogical behavior. Imagine if Auba pops a hammy or is at the end of a horror challenge that ends his season, how does he explain that?… Read more »
Playing Martinelli was the obvious choice, why he chose to do otherwise is simply indefensible.
All I can say is that thank God we won.
The fallout of that decision with GM remains to be seen.
Pierre, you got that spot on about Hoddle. Blaming disabled people for their disability for a sin in a previous life and calling it Karma is quite unbelievable really. The FA had no choice to get rid of him and you are right, he was actually a good Manager.
The Godfather
Playing Martinelli was the obvious choice, why he chose to do otherwise is simply indefensible. All I can say is that thank God we won. The fallout of that decision with GM remains to be seen
The fact we won the game is the justification. Had we lost with GM being subbed on instead of Auba, then there would’ve be an even greater fall-out
Giving minutes to your captain and best striker who has been up and down is actually pretty defensible against a side like Leicester.
There is no fallout. He’s a 19-year-old on a 5-year deal. He has to earn his right like every other young player.
AFC Forever
Plenty of people believe in Karma, I disagree with Hoddle, but he’s entitled to believe whatever he wants
What’s next, thought police?
I don’t think he should have lost his job
Free speech includes the right to offend, and being offended by something, isn’t a legitimate argument
The definition of liberal:
“Willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas”
We either live in a liberal democracy, or we don’t…..
“The FA had no choice but get rid of him”
That’s when Hoddle understood the true meaning of karma.
Bringing on Auba instead of Martinelli for 10 minutes in a game that was in the bag still makes no sense to me. I also think it’s the sort of thing that people would have been criticising previous managers for. Does that mean I enjoyed the win any less, of course it doesn’t. Is it fair to ask the question, of course it is.
Calling people who doubt Arteta’s competence as a manager salt Emery fans is now par for the course with Pedro. He simply believes every one should get on board his Arteta love boat. When Emery was taking us downward. We wanted him out. Arteta has us in a worse position that Emery ever did and he cant be criticised?. What happened to the place where you can share your opinion not get force fed one. Happy for the win. Unexpected I must confess. However winning is obligatory to keep fans onside as is visible progress Win 11, lose 11 in… Read more »
It’s so sad that too many so called fans here are just too myopic. I remember not too long ago how they felt Soares and Mari were mere waste of money and space. That was despite the fact they’d rarely see these players in action. How many are still stuck to the belief that Willian can never cut it here? But the truth is that form is temporary and class is permanent. Before his arrival this season he had been outstanding for years at Chelsea and with time will rediscover his form for us. Am sure if Ronaldo or Messi… Read more »
Pierre Did you hear about the time Glenn Hoddle and Eileen Drewery visited Luton to demonstrate Eileen’s faith healing abilities? There were thousands there and they’ve built this huge stage in the Luton Town ground. The ground was full of believers and she takes the stage with Hoddle and starts the proceedings by asking anyone if they had an ailment. This middle aged guy walked up and said he had been on crutches since a big centre half crunched him in a tackle damaging his cruciate and breaking his leg. he told her he had been on crutches for something… Read more »
Rich, I am all for free speech but politics for me is a guarantee to fall out with someone. So I don’t discuss my politics mate.
Why draw ‘conclusions’ about Karma when you are not sure…
From where I come, we have a process called Jati Smaran. It requires a decade of practice which is beyond most people – however if you are successful in reaching that, you would know about what Karma is rather than speculating, believing and concluding.
Having said that, I am still unsure about Sauce. Is he the one to take us to the top 4..
Lol wasn’t this place buzzing with people who shat on every victory during the late Wenger period saying it didn’t matter in the long run?
Wasn’t it also here that xg and every available parameter was used to shit on every victory in Emery’s first season?
The absolute irony really lol
Pedro
Any idea what happened to Champagne Charlie?
I kinda miss his belligerent ways….
CC if you’re still reading I hope you’re ok
Champagne Charlie would never accuse anyone of not being a real fan if they were mining after a convincing victory.
He’d just call them a twat.
Mining – moaning
We either live in a free country, where the England manager is entitled to believe in Karma, and where we encourage open debate? Or we live in a country where people are punished for having the wrong opinions…. I don’t necessarily believe in Karma But nobody can prove Hoddle was wrong, and nobody can prove he was right, but as a citizen of this country, he’s entitled to believe what he wants People are free to be offended, and they’re free to disagree, but that doesn’t mean they have a right to try and get him fired for having an… Read more »
Richarlison looks like the only PL footballer who’s doing his own haircuts during lockdown
Wordsonablog
That typo was actually quite funny. It conjured up a very funny image.
I was living in LA in 2000, that’s why I missed it, shame, it sounded fun.
With Pedro it is easy to see what happened. He bought a ton of Arteta stock when it was at an all-time high price. The stock crashed but he argued it would rebound. Now the stock has climbed above its lows and he’s feeling really bullish again (hence the Xmas table).
He might be proved right and laugh at everyone who doubted his decision or the stock could crash again and he’ll end up with egg on his face. Either way, I admire the balls to go against the grain..
Being as I have the best musical taste on LG, listen to The Faith Healer by Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
But not on spotify
Guys, please don’t get into a fight over Buddhism.
Keep it to football.
BacaryisGod There’s signs we’re becoming a competitive team, and I like the way Arteta has us setup If we can purge this squad of a few more this summer, and make some astute signings, I think we’ll be on the right path Pep gets a lot of praise, and he’s clearly a talented coach + tactician, but he has spent over £800 million in 4.5 years at city, and he inherited a much better squad than Arteta did to begin with. He had months to plan his arrival, spent £200 and finished 3rd + pot-less, he then spent another £170… Read more »
Pedro “Midwest, it was fair yesterday. People who spent last year crying about performances and how shit we were trying to hijack the narrative after a good win about a sub that didn’t happen.If you were in a North London pub doing that after a big win, you’d get it in the ear and be told to fuck off” No, they would be given a bloody good hiding. You have been more than fair putting up with the attempts to personally troll and goad you, mate. Don’t know how you do it. When you have first-time posters yesterday coming here… Read more »
Why are teams kicking the ball out of play, straight off kick off?
This isn’t rugby.,,,
Rich
“Why are teams kicking the ball out of play, straight off kick off?This isn’t rugby.,”
Spread betting?
Thanks AFC!
Rich, no clue, seems to be a thing to instantly give away posession.
I wonder if it’s one of those data things about giving the ball away in certain areas at certain times
Rich
“Van Dijk at Liverpool took them up a few levels, he gets injured, and they crumble….”
Exactly. Klopp did a great job but it took serious investment and years. Look at them now, is he a bad Manager?
Willian’s still Shit btw
10games like last night & maybe I’ll start believing he’s turned a corner.
1 good game in close to a year? Even Sanogo had more. Still shit.
I hate green bay
“Being as I have the best musical taste on LG, listen to The Faith Healer by Sensational Alex Harvey Band.”
Yeah, great track, I saw them do it it live in the 70’s at the Hatfield polytechnic I think it was.
Everton look a strong outfit these days, they could be knocking at the door of top 4 next season.
I used to like Godfrey at the back when he was at Norwich, he has gone up a level since then.
Pierre
Everton are like Spurs mate, one of the teams that suddenly look like they are going places and then it all falls apart. Talking of falling apart, a few weeks ago a few on here wanted Ralph Hasenhüttl.
Pierre
If Everton hold on here, and win their game in hand against WBA on Thursday, they go into 4th
At least until after the Liverpool v Chelsea game
They’ll also have a big advantage the further English teams go in Europe
This must be an Arsenal thingy, Arteta on a season’s end Wenger type winning run try to make it into the top 4. I remember koscielny celebrating on reaching 4th place on the last say of the season by pipping the Spuds.
Akinzo – Thanks, another superfan lecture is just what the site needs. Bravo. “How many are still stuck to the belief that Willian can never cut it here? But the truth is that form is temporary and class is permanent.” Bet you said the same thing about Ozil, how did that turn out for you? “Before his arrival this season he had been outstanding for years at Chelsea” Err, nope. Now you’re just making things up. Ask Chelsea fans. Funnily enough the consensus was that he might have one good game every dozen or so and was mediocre the rest… Read more »
After Everton’s win 8 points of 4th and 6 points of European football plus a better goal difference is needed. That is a super tall order for the remaining 12 games. Winning the UEL is more and more looking like a must if Arsenal wants to play European football next season.
“With Pedro it is easy to see what happened. He bought a ton of Arteta stock when it was at an all-time high price. The stock crashed but he argued it would rebound. Now the stock has climbed above its lows and he’s feeling really bullish again (hence the Xmas table).He might be proved right and laugh at everyone who doubted his decision or the stock could crash again and he’ll end up with egg on his face. Either way, I admire the balls to go against the grain..“ Actually, the more accurate stock market analogy might be Pedro calling… Read more »
Anyone with half a brain can see there’s been progress.But clearly it’s not fast enough for some.Not sure what their schedule is.curious?
Tom, Barcelona are sniffing around… which might suggest it’s an underrated stock.
@Tom
That is a funny analogy but appropriate. Could the Arteta stock mirror the Game Stop stock that was pushed up by those who like it through the reddit micro blog, just like the Arteta stock is pushed up by the le Grove blog 😆
George Graham took us from 7th to 4th in his first season.
Bruce Rioch took us from 12th to 5th in his single season.
Arsene took us from 5th to 3rd in his first season.
Emery took us from 6th to 5th in his only full season.
That’s the last four full time Arsenal managers. Every one improved on our league position in the their first full season.
Seems to be a minimum requirement.
Tom,
Pedro is also otherwise known as Keith Gill (the man who made GameStop shares exponentially skyrocket).
Pedro’s Football_bets subreddit moniker is “Arteta is Deep Fucking Value”
Andy Each manager will have inherited an entirely different set of internal factors, and had to deal with an entirely different set of external factors Results from previous managers, have no correlation with the results of future managers Emery took us from 6th up to 5th, but then got sacked when we were 8th Arsene took us from 5th to 3rd, then won us the double, after going on a 12 game win streak in his second season Neither of these statistics has any correlation with the other, because they were 23 years apart, and under entirely different sets of… Read more »
Picture of Pedro in his latest guise
This is a good read.
https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2021/03/01/pepe-and-willian-shine-as-arteta-tactically-outsmarts-rodgers-at-the-kp/
Pedro
It’s only a matter of time before mathematicians dominate the tactical side of football with Geometry and Topology
And half time changes are formulated through artificial intelligence
Rich, people say football is simple… I really don’t think it is. Some of the shit they’re getting up to is really interesting.
Agree on the AI searching out weaknesses as games play out.
Pedro Barca’s recruitment has been off for years
It’s like the n1 thing they get criticized for these days
You know that as well as I do. It’s why they’re thinking about Bellerin
Football is not rocket science
There are levels in terms of tactics and science is key in terms of fitness, but in terms of 90% of the game it is not that complicated
How many of the top managers in the world are evenly vaguely eloquent enough to string five sentences together? You don’t need a lot of brain cells to be a Sam Allardyce or Alan pardew of this world
Pedro
Yes I saw that Gunnerstown article it was very well written and covered a lot of things many of us have been saying. The reason Arteta gets praise from other coaches is because they know what they see. Tactically on Sunday Arteta did a job on Rodgers.
What’s the status of ESR “injury”?
China, football is not as easy as you think bit you’re right about some of their IQ’s. Lot of crooks., George Graham took a bung, Sam Allardyce lost the England job, because of his liking for a bit of cash on the side, Venables was a serious crook and the biggest scoundrel of the lot had the cheek to open a bank account in his dogs name & got off with it – because the court believed he couldn’t read and write – Mr Harry Rednapp. What is so interesting is the fact that all of these are worshipped by… Read more »
Guess Arteta had to comment on Martinelli. So it appears Martinelli is training well and important to the club. Why no game time then? This is where Arteta shoots himself in the foot. Puts a good coaching shift in to win against Leicester and then comes out with this lip service regarding Martinelli. If Martinelli doesn’t get minutes against Burnley, Arteta cannot be trusted with anything he says. As I said to my son in his early years when you tell a lie and people catch you out, they will never believe you again. Maybe Arteta’s parents missed that part… Read more »
“Barcelona are sniffing around… which might suggest it’s an underrated stock”
Lol they’re sniffing round bellerin too pedders. Underrated stock?
Let’s all pretend Barca have had a good recruitment policy these last few years too
The same Barca that have Martin braithwait up front bringing home the bacon
I don’t understand some of The comments regarding martinelli. Yes, there is a chance that he is raw but he’s not going to iron out those flaws in a training session. Only game time is essential to develop a player because everyone on the pitch is giving 100% and in some cases looking to injure you. If leading a game 3-1 isn’t enough to bring in talent to develop, I don’t know what is? What if PSG had thought mbappe was getting labelled a superstar from the fans and decided to get a 30 year old to start before him.… Read more »
Martinelli has had 0 minutes in the last 10 games. When he does get a game, it’ll be a miracle if he scores or has a cracker. Now that’s bad coaching/managing and it’s on only one man.
AFC I think the ultimate challenge in football management is that it requires a tonne if stamina, it’s awful for your heart, it’s incredibly stressful and a cut throat job where you are more likely to be sacked than virtually any other job on the planet. It’s hard to manage egos and motivate a full squad etc etc All that stuff is where good managers earn their bacon imo But the vast majority of managers at major clubs including arsenal are operating with squads full of players far superior to most of their opposition, they have money to spend on… Read more »
I don’t doubt that if you asked Mikel what is 2+2 hed probably say ‘it’s the cubed root of…’ and start calculating backwards
Sometimes managers just need to stop over thinking stuff
Willian being the case in point Rather than maintaining his non negotiables when Willian fucked off to Dubai and was on miserable form for the entire season up until the last one or two games, arteta could’ve just been like you broke the rules, you’re in the sin bin and I need more from you on the pitch anyway and start giving our alternatives his spot on the wings earlier. Pepe has blown hot and cold since he joined but one thing most people agree on is he never ever got a chance to build momentum because he’d play well… Read more »
China
Totally agree, and then people wonder why can be 4th from the “since Christmas table” and not from the “after 10 games” table.
That table is equivalent to the time when we used to go unbeaten from March to may under Wenger and he would claim we have a world class squad and spend all summer posing on a beach in his Speedos.
AFC While skimming one of your posts yesterday you claimed people were insulting you behind your back. Let’s look at this get the facts straight. Many intelligent and knowledgeable posters here complained about your accusations of people trolling when in fact they are giving constructive criticism at best or just throwing some banter your way rather than swear or insult you in other ways. I stop reading your comments after the 2nd time you went into your crusade to stop what you saw as nasty people needlessly taking Arteta to task; however, I read comments by the respected posters here… Read more »
Tony
Nice post. And I’ve read it. Randomly up at a a silly time in UK.
Yeah lol the Asia breakfast combined with the no idea what time it is club in America club
Apart from arguing with Pedro most of us in these two time zones seem to agree on most stuff
Maybe it’s the Asian/American air!
China1
Good posts on the management side also.
Samesong
Thanks
One day we’ll have a united sheet from which to sing.
China
“Apart from arguing with Pedro most of us in these two time zones seem to agree on most stuff”
Not like the Brits to be argumentative right? So must be the air you speak of lol
One day we’ll have a united sheet from which to sing.
That day will come when we are winning titles again.
Arteta on Martinelli: “Laca (Alexandre Lacazette) has given us some really good spells, Nicolas Pepe is the same. I was really pleased with Willian yesterday because of the way he trains and he is starting to produce in games. “Everybody has to step up in games and create big moments because the front players at the end have to be the ones who decide it for us.” When pressed specifically about Martinelli, Arteta revealed that the player has been far from pleased with his recent lack of action. “He wants to play all the time,” he continued. “We know him… Read more »
Samesong
Amen to that.
Exactly tony
Everyone needs to fight and take their chances
Except Willian you has had 20 chances until he finally puts in a good game. It’s also not like Martinelli was poor when he did play this season. He was credited with being a hugely positive influence on the team with his energy and hard work driving forwards at a time when we desperately needed it
You’d think from mikels comments he was playing badly… like Willian… lol
It’s good though that he’s starting to get pressed on Martinelli as he will surely notice that people are starting to wonder what is going on
‘If he plays on Sunday he needs to perform like everyone else’ is a very transparent message that he hasn’t rated his recent performances
It’s also kinda curious what happened to Eddie?
Why didn’t we just loan him out in Jan? Has he kicked a ball in the last 3 months? I honestly cannot recall seeing him
Not sure what the logic is keeping him if he doesn’t want Martinelli on the wing and has auba and laca as CFs already
Eddie also needs minutes or he’ll never improve. Even if he’s not our level yet at least send him out to get games
‘The Arteta stock not only didn’t outperform the market (the PL), it actually tanked badly but there’s a good chance it might come back to even money in a year or two.’
All it takes is one tweet from le groves Elon Musk (prophet Sid) and the stock prices will be tumbling.
You can take this to bitcoin!
“If he plays on Sunday he needs to perform like everyone else’ is a very transparent message that he hasn’t rated his recent performances” That was my take China. One minute Arteta is praising Martinelli’s training, hunger and passion, but in the next breath is saying he’s not sure if Martinelli can perform. This is where Arteta is very disingenuous just spouting lip service. The worst thing Martinelli can be guilty of is trying too hard; something he did when he last had game minutes. This is not hard to deal with as an experienced manager. I don’t agree with… Read more »
sorry China not Tont
China1
Obviously I am concerned about the lack of gametime played by Martinelli. I think that he is
a fantastic prospect.
I am less convinced about Nketiah. He has had opportunities this season but has not played
particularly well. I don’t see him being selected as first or second choice striker.
If Lacazette leaves this summer I anticipate that Arsenal will buy a replacement.
“I feel we’d have fared better with Martinez The city goal for instance. That cross hung in our 6 yard box and Leno just watched it Martinez comes for that. Spilled milk now. Got to be Arteta’s biggest mistake. Up there with persisting with bellerin and Aubameyang at 9“ This type of analysis of the City goal can only come from someone still sore from Emi’s transfer or a huge Holding fan, or in this case probably both. It is spilled milk now but worth a rebuttal so it doesn’t register as Leno costing us three points nonsense his detractors… Read more »
Tom
Leno has had a good season but Windthorpe was correct on the sterling goal.
As we have all seen, Leno is very reluctant to come for crosses and prefers to stay on his line, whereas Martinez prefers to be on the front foot and dominate his area..
That is why Windthorpe is correct when he says Martinez would have come for the cross as it is his style of keeping…
Dominating his area is probably Leno’s weakest point, but he has to be up there in the top 5 keepers this season.
I can see the Barca interest in Arteta gaining traction if Laporta gets his presidency. With Bellerin reportedly having an agreement in place to return to Barca and him being close with Arteta since Arteta’s Arsenal playing days, I believe Arteta will have a lot to weigh up in the summer. You never know with Arteta. I mean he’ll be leaving a poor club to go to a poor club, but a poor club with player assets to sell vastly bigger than our own player asset pool. Not the worst thing to have Arsenal and Barca on your CV in… Read more »
China
“Eddie also needs minutes or he’ll never improve. Even if he’s not our level yet at least send him out to get games”
Eddie should have gone to Brighton on loan in January, they are crying out for someone who can finish off their numerous c chances per game and that is Eddie’s forte..
Arteta to Barca? Some of you really are gullible.
Maybe in a few years if he’s successful here. Right now? NO CHANCE.
Wonder what Edu’s viewpoint would be if a package deal was put forward for himself and Arteta? It’s not like they/Arteta would be going to a hostile environment. It’ll be Diet Pep going to better his master. Arteta as his way will surround himself with his cohorts and players he trusts. He could well rock up at the Camp Nou with Bellerin, Xhaka, Willian and Auba in tow. It won’t take long for the fickle, demanding Barca fans to acquaint Arteta with their legendary hostility. The Kroenkes might be a bit upset, but still sloth like in their reactions. If… Read more »