Arsenal head into another week where everything feels poised on a knife-edge. Truth is, I don’t believe there’s a knife-edge Arteta is hanging on. This season will be put in the bin for a lot of major clubs. Liverpool just lost their 6th straight home game at Anfield, Spurs have been utter shite, United have failed to capitalise again… really, it’s hard to hold any club up bar Manchester City who are well ahead of every team in Europe.
If the objective is to get back into the top 4 next season, then we’re likely chasing Leicester, United, Chelsea, Everton and Spurs. We are easily on the level of those clubs and if we can fix a few things over the summer, I think we’ll certainly be up there.
Structurally, we’re in a good shape.
We defend well. We’re in our worst-ever season and we have the 5th best defensive record as it stands. Structurally, we’re built really well. It’s a group effort, everyone knows where to be on and off the ball, and players are far more accountable than they have been in a decade. We don’t get battered these days, you never feel it’s coming either. That’s progress, because there was always a spanking waiting in the wings under Wenger, and Unai Emery oversaw a game where Watford unleashed 31 shots at our goal. That sort of banter has been consigned to yesteryear.
We’re also looking slick on the ball. Our build-up play is excellent. Forget the Xhaka error yesterday, the build-up for our goal that started with Thomas Partey flooring a Burnley player with his deft movement and it was pure NSFW stuff. That is a consistent feature of this team. Whining that we should just ‘HOOF’ that ball is really unimaginative. Fixing the problem is more appropriate than the default Sunday League rhetoric that followed Pep G when he moved here.
Our final third needs some work, no doubt, but before Christmas, we were dull and unimaginative, now we’re creating a consistent flow of high-quality chances that aren’t being finished. As problems go, this is a better one to have than being a turgid fine margins attacking unit that is sad to watch.
The foundations of a top 4 team are undoubtedly in place at Arsenal FC.
There are two issues we need to fix as a matter of urgency. We make too many errors in both boxes. Defensively, we punch ourselves in the face. It’s not structural, it’s a lack of concentration. Granit Xhaka always has that move from yesterday in his locker, but we have to accept reality, he’s our second best midfielder and he’s vital to our play. Saying he shouldn’t start is a nice soundbite in the comments section, but who else are you playing there? Ceballos who gave Leeds an assist 2 weeks ago? Elneney who refuses vertical passes? AMN who gave the ball away about 50 times in his last appearance before being moved to WBA?
We’ve also had 5 red cards this season. Again, this is an area we can control. Doing dumb things can be addressed with coaching and upgrades.
Unforced errors are our biggest enemy. Xhaka alone has contributed to 8 goals since 2016 from errors. You can’t hide from data points like that. The coaching staff know that this problem exists and they will work to fix it. Key point though… the system is not the problem. Individual errors can be debugged far easier than an Unai Emery like approach that invites waves of hell at your goal. We’ve dropped 8 points from our last 4 away games through unforced errors, win those points and we’re 5th now (via @KayaKaynak). The objective will be to cut those unforced errors in half next season.
The second part of the equation the coaching staff will be looking at is finishing. We’ve been awful in front of goal this season. We weren’t taking our chances before Christmas, we are taking more of them now, but not enough to see out games.
Again, I think this is hopefully an anomaly. When Arteta first started, we had a finishing rate so good it was unsustainable. I think it was second only to Liverpool. Auba will hopefully not be this bad next season. Saka, ESR, Odegaard, and Martinelli will find the net more often after a season of playing together. People were saying Saka wasn’t top-class before Christmas because he didn’t score or assist… what are those people saying now? Young players get better with minutes. Pepe and Willian might come good and contribute to the levels we thought we were buying into. Pepe certainly looks like a live wire. I know we’re all upset that Martinelli is sitting on the bench right now, but Lacazette was brought on as a false 10, and in a straight choice between the Brazilian and Pepe, you have to go with Pepe. He should have won a penalty, and scored two goals, he made the right impact.
If Arsenal takes 20% more of their chances next season, we’re going to be a top 4 side.
There’s a 3rd thing we need to deal with, and I have no idea how you coach this. Arsenal have always been easily rattled. That Xhaka error gave life to a shit Burnley side. It took us 20 minutes into the second half to get over our misery and that’s not good enough. Dealing with adversity has been a weak point since way, way back when. The squad needs to get better at that. We should be able to concede a shit goal and get back to the plan right away.
The machine that has been built at Arsenal is controlling teams now. Every game since Christmas, bar Manchester City, has been dominant from Arsenal. The problem we have now is not the machine, it’s the coding. Things like finishing will come more naturally, unforced errors will likely be addressed with upgrades in certain positions. It’s debugging versus a total rewrite.
Now, transfer news is always contentious, so don’t hang me. But I don’t think the club will renew on David Luiz with the young centre back production line we have coming through. The chances of Dani Ceballos joining us next season are very, very low. We’ll probably land Martin Odegaard on loan for the whole of next season and try and get a buy clause in his deal. Arsenal will look to ship out £100m worth of talent, which seems doable even in this market. Then they’ll look to bolster right back, left-back and central midfield.
We’re strapped for cash though. A consistent flow of poor decisions has seen to that. Arsenal paid out Unai Emery £10m on his full deal almost immediately after he was fired and he landed a job 6 months later, a very unusual move. Spurs and Chelsea simply paid Conte and Pochettino their monthly wages until they found new roles. You have to wonder why a Super Agent recommended manager is getting a full payout from a club that’s asking people to shut windows and heat their lunch using bonfires to save on the heating bill. I guess that’s why we don’t have a Don at the club anymore. It’s also why I don’t care for Unai Emery, he knew why he was at Arsenal, so fuck him.
We need Edu to be the guy that sniffed out deals for Odegaard, Martinelli, and Thomas Partey. This summer needs to be about smart signings. I want to see us picking off players no one else is looking at. 22-23 years old, a couple of seasons of football under their belt, high levels of technical ability, with strong characters. Get that centre midfield position looking a little deeper with a lot more quality and we’re laughing. I’m also quite hopeful AMN can do this business at WBA and prove he can cut it at Arsenal in the future.
It’s hard to be Mr Positive. Honestly, I’d rather be throwing shit at the project with the reprobates every day because it’s easier. However, that’s not my style. I write what I believe in and fuck everyone else. I wanted a progressive manager that would move us multiple levels with future football. I have no doubt we have that in Arteta. It was always going to take time, but the foundational work that’s been done so far is more than enough to convince me that this project is going in the right direction. I wrote right at the start the road back to the top would be rocky, it’s been rockier and less linear than I hoped, but there’s something brewing. It is now clearer than it’s been in 10 years what needs to be fixed… it’s up to Arteta to fix it and do it in fucking ruthless fashion. Get the basics down until the end of the year, start picking sides with next season in mind, then go to town this summer and bring in a generation of talent that’ll fire us to the Champions League places next season.
… or, win the fucking Europa and do it now. See you in the comments.
Just a general note to everyone. I write this blog for free, if you are not bringing something interesting to this thread, or you are insulting my character, you will not participate in the comments here… go to another site.
The disrespect is so childish.
Long time reader – first time poster…love the blog…and also the positivity from Pedro… But for me it feels like we love to shoot ourselves in the foot every time we make anything that resembles progress. You write “He should have won a penalty, and scored two goals, he made the right impact”… but making the right impact surely is actually winning a penalty (not his fault VAR didn’t work out) and actually scoring two goals, instead of missing 2 chances , one of which was unbelievably straightforward. I like Arteta. He’s intelligent, got charisma and I’m happy we have… Read more »
Pedro
I know that writing stuff daily is taxing and you also record podcast as well , can you not bring someone to explain the tactical side of it as well ? For dummies ? After last match, I do feel most on here dont really know why we do the things we do . An explainer as to how we play and expect to in future .
Divine, that’s a good shout. I’m going to try and bring Mike McDonald into the mix on the next one!
Pedro, he’s been here long enough!
How’s that.
Xhaka is our 2nd best midfielder?? People are entitled to their opinions. To me he’s not good enough. 2nd best after a pile of shit shouldn’t mean he has to stay. He should be replaced.imo.
Question I’d like to know Pedro is do you think he should be sold or kept?
Playing Xhaka has a direct impact on our performances, so I don’t see why it’s a non argument. Unless you don’t want to commit yourself to the obvious fact, that Mikel rates him so he’ll probably stay.
James, for the first time in a longtime, the most pressing things to fix are very, very clear and within our control.
We’re on the cusp, next season will be very different… but it has to happen next season.
Mark, sure, you can say that 14 months is enough to turn around a club run into the ground over 10 years… not sure that’s realistic.
Xhaka is good. He helps us play the way we play…. but, he has errors. I think he needs to be upgraded, but I doubt he’ll be sold.
@Pedro
“We’re on the cusp, next season will be very different”
But will it tho? I wish I shared your optimism. It’s just that I don’t see the simple changes or the way players are treated improving. There are little things that could be done right now, and Arteta is failing at these.
I just don’t see the shift we need to get us over the ‘cusp’ happening due to Mikel’s stubbornness/arrogance.
Mark, cut out the unforced errors in the last 4 away games and we’re 5th THIS season.
Next season, it’ll be much better.
I dont see any progress since late Wenger.
Also many should apologize to Banford.
Mark
Xhaka being our 2nd best midfielder is an indictment on Arsenal hierarchy before Arteta came in. I know I was slating Arteta yesterday for keeping him but it was in the heat of the moment. Arteta already has no.10 sorted , a WC DM in Partey . A top class CM would really elevate this team .
Referees in the EPL are utter shit
Lucas Moura just dived blatantly and got the defender a yellow card
Agreed. It’s got to materialise next season otherwise fans and media will rightly be questioning things even more. If next season we were without Xhaka and Luiz in the squad, then provided suitable additions and replacements are made, that will be 4/5 red cards less and 5/6 less goals given away from stupid mistakes. We’ll be better off already. I like to think I’m a patient person etc but Xhaka and Luiz are highly trained, highly paid professional international footballers who still unintentionally make stupid mistakes on a regular basis. After a while it just seems silly to allow it… Read more »
Take the point, there are some positives to take, and believe things will get better with time, but just cannot come to terms with how often this team shoots itself in the foot, must be unique at this level? Arteta will have no choice bit to improve things next year, I am sure he will do his level best. But not helped by some inexplicable decisions from referees that seem to cause us problems virtually every other game. How much longer can these referees be unaccountable, they are completely inept, almost to the last of them, some might say selectively… Read more »
Great post.
The foundations are there. Compare our football now to that of the first half of the season and the improvements are obvious.
It’s like I could accept a draw and signs of progress in these circumstances against a top 4/top6/even top 8 team this season but against Burnley who lets face it are shite and played poorly save for 2 decent chances (?), I feel we might just be prematurely kidding ourselves.
I’m not saying 14 months is enough to turn all the problems of the club around. We’re still a work in progress. It’s the manner in which he’s gone about it, I have issues with. He could and should have done better. There are little things he could have done which may have heralded more results. This is why so many people have their doubts about him. His in game management and substitutions is a big one for me. He does things which just don’t make sense ( not if you want to win a game). I feel Arteta is… Read more »
Pedro,
“Mark, cut out the unforced errors in the last 4 away games and we’re 5th THIS season”
Like Radio Raheem stated yesterday, this line of thinking is very disingenuous
You’re assuming that Arsenal are the only team that drops points due to individual errors.
If we cut out individual errors in Emery’s first season, we may have finished second or won the league … so no need for Arteta.
if that rankled you, it’s because you’re being unnecessarily panglossian [thanks kroenkephobe].
If we had Ancelotti as manager would we really be sitting in 10th???
I think we’d be in 3rd……
Matt B, The EPL is a lot more physical and intense than the other leagues. Its format (no winter break), the referees leniency and the number of domestic Cup games means that injuries and missed games are higher than in other European Leagues. Any player who relies on his physicality to impose himself has a rude shock when they join the EPL. It is not just a question of speed, but also of stamina and recovery time. Defensive midfield is one of the most demanding position. Between suspension, injuries and rotation usually players in that position miss in Europe 3~6… Read more »
Ha ha
Spuds concede to Benteke’s header
double Champions League finalists in 8th getting your sympathy after a few injuries? We’ve gone the bulk of our season without Thomas Partey, but no one on here wants to talk about that. —————- Pedro, As of last week Liverpool players have missed 1,032 days with injuries, by far the worst in the league. Arsenal in comparison have only missed 357 days, which is one of the lowest numbers in the league. On top of that almost half of their starting eleven tested positive for Covid at one time or another, and having tested positive for it myself— with the… Read more »
For me, the best things about Arteta’s reign to date has been improving the defence and getting rid of a lot of deadwood. As is being said it lays a good foundation for next season. Ozil, Sokrates, Guendouzi, Mustafi, Kola, Welbeck, Mikhi, Iwobi…I know there are others… All players below the standard who were contributing nothing other than sucking money out of the club
Pedro Arteta has to accept some culpability for those unforced errors, cos he gave Luiz another contract and convinced Xhaka to stay, when we could have sold and replaced him. Now if he’d not done the above I think we’d have been better off this season. But we can only judge him by what he’s done and where we are in the league now. Bottom line for me is no European football next season, then Arteta has to go. Even Emery got us to a final. There has to be some accountability FFS. Arteta’s set a load of negative records… Read more »
Evening Grovers, Some great honest posts recently Pedro, including today’s, excellent. You’re saying it exactly as it is as far as I’m concerned and you’re giving Arteta his due criticism. There’s definitely progress though, absolutely, and I don’t feel afraid or pessimistic before and during each game like under Wenger and Emery. Under Arteta we have shape, defensive stability minus the errors of course, and our attacking game is really taking shape. I’m really optimistic for next season especially if we can clear out the ones we all agree need to go and retain Odegard as he’s loo very promising… Read more »
Pedro, Still with a hard on for Emery I see. Man he really pissed you off, let it go man. Leno is a good goal keeper at what he does, but it’s the things he doesn’t do what martinez did that’s the problem. He’s better than what we had but when the starting base is almunia fabianski and a partially retired cech of course he look great. Fifth best defence, yay, when it’s the best or at least second best I’ll be happy. Everything else isn’t good enough. Lol xhaka is our second best midfielder. That tells you how piss… Read more »
Lol if you need someone to explain “tactics” for you based on what we’ve been seeing all season then maybe we aren’t really doing anything all that special really.
Glad most have hope that things will turn around but there’s literally no evidence things will change significantly next season.
Horrible to already be throwing the season in early March, you’d think we had latter Wenger in the dugout especially with all the excuses too
Up 4 Grabs, 5th best defence in the league in our worst league campaign in a generation.
He’s a good keeper. I loved Martinez, but getting sidetracked over something that wouldn’t have given anything extra to our points total is weird focus
5th best defensive record isn’t much to shout about. Shows just how inefficient we must be in other areas
Pedro, Good analysis, agree that the foundations are being laid, but much work still to be done. I, like many, simply don’t trust the mgmt team to manage transfers and contracts properly, they haven’t been since Dein left. Hope current infrastructure proves us all wrong this summer and beyond. January was a bit better than previous windows, particularly the subtractions. Profile for all immediate future signings should be as you say young, athletic, technical and mentally tough. And all mistake merchants and tired legs/minds need to be moved on. I reserve, as you do, to hold judgement on the rebuild… Read more »
Bati, no evidence, bar massive improvement in xG, massive improvement in style, control, chance creation and results since Christmas.
Being militant about your own blindness there.
James, it does… too many errors in both boxes. The fix we need is clearer than it’s ever been.
Also, Mo Elneney better than Xhaka? Pack it in…
Bale starting to get in a groove right in time for the NLD
And thats the game done
Just been doing some research and if you cut out the goals we conceded we would be champions even this year.
Anyone who can’t see that we are likely champions next has an Emery-fixation.
Pedro, you think luiz won’t sign another deal? Arteta seems to start him where possible.
Yep haven’t been this Bale in years. Still think we’ll get something from the match against them.
*seen
Muppetman, I don’t think so. Saliba and Mavropanos come back next year. Future is Gabriel, Holding and Mari
Wonder if he will go onto coaching/player role, everyone seems to think he is good around the training ground from what I’ve read.
We’re strapped for cash though
——————
Kroenke is one of the richest people in the world, to say we’re strapped is simply not true. Last season we bought Pepe and this season Partey. If you’re broke then you simply can’t spend that type of money.
Assistant ref can’t be spotting a paunche at this level. Come on sort it out!
Valentin
Partey has missed 15 days with a singular hamstring injury this season and 44 days total in three different episodes over six year span, according to transfermarkt.
I think you are speculating there a bit.
What really worries me is that Arteta will sideline Saliba again and try to sell him next year. If that does happen it’ll be clear to me it’s not because of footballing reasons.
Saliba’s ceiling is very high, he could be our VVD, to lose him because Mikel didn’t like him saying he felt prematurely judged will be criminal.
Unforgivable if it happens.
“cut out the unforced errors”
I am afraid that the only way to cut out unforced errors by Xhaka is to replace him.
Pedro,
Worse season in a long time, but because we have the fifth best defence it’s something to shout about?
What does xhaka do better than elneney, who is another player not good enough by the way.
Arteta sent torriera guendouuzi and AMN out on loan but kept xhaka?
Up 4 grabs, literally everything bar running.
… and yes, Matteo G was a huge problem and you only have to google his name to see why. Torreira wasn’t good enough, and you only have to look at minutes played to see why.
Honestly, how can we debate if you think Mo is better than Xhaka? What a terrible take.
I just can’t see any real progress of this team under Arteta, it’s 10 mins of decent football , ponderous and clumsy for the rest
And I don’t see any sign of change next season, it’s all wishful thinking , more like del boy
“This time next year we will be millionaires”
Tackling, creating, running, defending all the things that midfielders like partey does or are supposed to do., xhaka can do them better than elneney, ESR, Amn, guendouzi and torriera?
Pedro have a word!
G8, you’re not watching properly if that’s how you see it. It’s just an incorrect view.
Up for Grabs, Xhaka plays in the same starting 11 as ESR.
He is better than AMN, Matteo, and Torreira. That is a fact.
Pedro our best midfield performance this season was at old Trafford, partey and elneney in I think the only game they played together.
Elneney isn’t good enough but at least you know your not going to see brain farts like yesterday’s performance from captain slow.
Mo Elneny is a shockingly bad midfielder who will be binned this summer. That’s why he rarely plays. Unreal that you’d double down on this.
Yes he does play in the same 11 as ESR?
Partey and ESR are better than xhaka so xhaka can’t be our second best player if there better than him.
That also wasn’t our best midfield performance this season. We created next to nothing in that game.
Defensively we were strong, partey was all around the pitch, and this was before ESR came into the side.
What was a better midfield performance.
And the award for the most condescending post of the season goes to Divine Sherlock.
I think everyone on here can just about work out why we try and play it out from the back. You’re not on some higher level of intelligence to everyone else mate.
Pedro mate you’ve lost all sense of reality if you think it’s better for xhaka to be doing something imaginative and highly risky when being pressed in our own box than doing something basic If the same scenario pops up again against Olympiakos you’d like to see him try to be clever again and potentially cost us our entire season? For what? Because it’s imaginative? Imaginative, suitable and good are not even remotely related to one another. When emery had us making such mistakes you absolutely slaughtered him and the player for it. There are no prizes for being most… Read more »
Didn’t someone on here yesterday post that xhaka has been responsible for giving away 8 goals this season?
Quite curious what guendouzis numbers are in comparison
It’s quite comical that you are going to die on xhaka hill Pedro. You’ve literally gone fuck it and wipes out your stance on the player from the last 5 years because arteta likes him
Pedro, this from the United match report. Manchester United’s much talked about diamond midfield struggled to deal with Arsenal’s energy, and the visitors had the better of the chances as Willian hit the bar and Bukayo Saka headed over unmarked. Aubameyang curled an effort just wide after the break, but he got another chance from 12 yards after Paul Pogba had fouled Hector Bellerin in the box, and the Gabon striker duly converted. Arsenal: Leno (8), Holding (8), Gabriel (9), Tierney (7), Bellerin (8), Elneny (8), Partey (9), Saka (7), Willian (7), Lacazette (8), Aubameyang (7) No xhaka even on the… Read more »
Pedro if xhaka is better than torreira why was it torreira who won multiple player of the month awards when they were literally partnering each other?
Meanwhile I am not xhaka sure has ever won that award in all those years with us because he’s always been average at best and trash at worst
Pedro the reality is that if we don’t win the league this season it will have been an abject failure from arteta You can dress this up in positivity any way you want (you didn’t for emery or wenger curiously) but unless we win the EL it means arteta has taken a much better squad than they had and absolutely tanked it Why are you talking about what our objective is for next season being top 4? Didn’t we have an objective this season? That’s just vanished with zero accountability if we don’t meet it? Okay. And you’d have spared… Read more »
Win the EL*
Fair points there China 👍
Did arteta tell Willian the objective was to win the CL within 3 years
So year 1 objective was seemingly have the worst league season in my life time and probably not win anything
Year 2 objective was to come top 4
Year 3 objective was to win the CL
Sounds like a plan and we’re certainly on course for the year 1 aim
Everyone has their opinions on how this season is going, but the deciding factor is where we finish. 9-10th he should go, cos by any metric he has not improved us,
I have no problem with Arteta but Pedro’s flip flopping is legendary.. Once upon a time, Emery was supposed to finish top 4 with Xhaka, Guendozi, Torriera and Ramsey in midfield? Now Torriera isn’t good enough and Guendozi is a problem player? What happened to Arteta’s special coaching? I’m pretty sure you were confident that if we had hired Arteta instead of Emery we would have finished fourth but now tenth is seen as progress? As for the best defence, if team x wins one game 4-3 and draws another 3-3 while team B losses 1-0 twice, team A would… Read more »
Arsenal teams have a problem , stemming back from the Wenger days, we do not know how to press the advantage and kill off teams when we are on top in games, as soon as we score we start this sideways/backwards passing i noticed partey started to do that in games, we have few players who drive forward ,commit the opposition when we go a goal up, we tend to play on the break when we score first, so when like yesterday the other team scores it takes us a while to get our focus back. Arteta as a player… Read more »
China knows. Backing a multi season failure like Xhaka just because Arteta has a boner for him is really weak. Shit, Pedro was running that thing calling him Saint Arteta and how he was making dimwits like Mustafi and Kolasinac perform like never before. Generational manager was extracting the maximum of these chums. See where they are now? Wonder manager shipped them away cause they just suck dick and his magic didn’t work. Wonder how many more myths are gonna get debunked in the near future. Truth is we have an underperforming manager have us lower than we are supposed… Read more »
Can you imagine the scenes when the season Xhaka leaves we make top 4. Xhaka is Arsenals handbrake. Mr sideways and backpassiing King himself. Yes he plays more forward balls nowadays he knows his days are numbered but before he was a key issue. In a 4231 you cnt have 1 of the midfielders in a double pivot not being able to defend. We are literally playing Partey with the handbrake on because he has to cover 4 xhaka. Id prefer Elneny and Partey partnership as it unleashes our 50m midfielder and elneny can be trusted to sit and defend.… Read more »
Arteta has to sort his shit out next season or he will be out of the door. His first priority is to upgrade the midfield and bring in a good all round midfielder to partner Partey. If he fails in this top priority of bringing in a new good all round midfielder it’s goodbye to Mikel Arteta next season. He won’t see the following season at Arsenal. He will be finished as Arsenal manager. Even the midfield upgrade is not cast iron in getting top four but if he doesn’t even try to upgrade that midfield then it’s certain failure… Read more »
I wanted a progressive manager that would move us multiple levels with future football. I have no doubt we have that in Arteta.
Pedro, do you mean moving multiple level downwards? Yup, we do have that guy in arteta.
Personally I think Partey and Torreira would’ve been our best midfield base pairing this season. I don’t get why people have forgotten that he was actually a good player when he played for us. The first half of the season people were gushing over him. After that he drifted somewhat, but he was also constantly played further forward in a role that didn’t seem to suit him. I really think if he was asked to just play the anchor, help the defence and get the ball moving into attack, he would’ve formed a good partnership with Partey.
Raptora spot on. This is no longer a blog more of a client pitch and the client is Arteta.
The Generational Manager promotion flopped
The special sauce slogan went down in flames with the ficus groups
The “season only begins at Christmas” viral campaign backfired when it tuned out Wenger – who worked with a rival agency to Pedro’s – had used it for many years
So now we are in the “tenth is twice as good as fifth” phase – which has a warped mathematical logic to it I have to admit.
The unimaginative and finished Jose M has Tottenham 7 points clear of us with 7 more goals scored and the same goals conceded.
Yet we are now defensive demons and clicking offensively. If arteta is getting his ass handed to him by a has-been, finished manager, where are we heading?
“We are literally playing Partey with the handbrake on because he has to cover 4 xhaka.”
Always been the case.
Any midfielder that plays alongside Xhaka for any period of time has to baby sit him.
We even had the scenario where a wet behind the ears Guendouzi was baby sitting him as well or at least trying to.
Just imagine having two midfielders that can look after themselves.
As another poster said earlier it would really elevate the side.
Pedro fawning over Xhaka is just trolling, relax guys. He’s utter gash and was the zenith of Wenger banter signings and a huge factor in his eventual “mutually agreed” departure. £30m from Germany and thought to be a box to box midfielder, but nothing of the sort. He of course plays the same double pivot defensive midfield role that Arteta was in until he retired that window – pretty much explains the love in, it’s literally his heir. The other disasters that window were the signing of Mustafi and the sale of Gnabry. The combination of mindless errors that Xhaka… Read more »
I would swap Kane for Auba in less than a heartbeat
I like Arteta as well and am hopeful about our project with him but damn, if this ain’t the most positive post about him ever lol. And we are not easily at the same level as Utd or Chelsea. Their talent is superior to ours unless we move around seriously in the summer.
You just knew spurs and bale would find form as they approach NLD…
It had to fuckin be
…oh and I’ll say it
Partey, not working out…. injuries yeh blah blah but u just know
Biggles summing it all up.
Let’s not forget that we have clean up the squad and a system has also been established. Recently, we are hurt by brain fart and not enough depth in the squad. Last game, I felt that some players were tired. Both Tierney and Saka were not as sharp as usual. Partey played only one good half. But the system is competitive. It was a painful season to reach to this state. At least, there is hope that by improving the squad depth, we could compete next season. During those last Emery days, we didn’t see where the team was heading..
I think Pedro is right , there is know amount of coaching that is gonna fix xhaka , just get rid and upgrade . Arteta and Edu are both lacking a sense of humour they should really just send xhaka over to FC Schalke I know this would not really be amusing for schalke fans but can you imagine the Arsenal fan base most would be crying laughing for days
Agreed DM
Torreira might not be the elite long term solution but he is a vastly more effective player at dm than xhaka
He could’ve sat to let partey play b2b
The only reason why torreira dropped off last season was Ceballos’ form improved loads after lockdown and a combination of Ceballos and tor would’ve been worryingly short in the PL
But torreira and partey would’ve been more than capable as a first choice pairing this season
Improvement is only to be expected when we had our worst start to a season since the formation of the premier league. And Edu and Arteta in charge of the summer transfer window is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
China, torreira and MG have proved exactly why they aren’t here. No good bleating at me. LT not to Simeone’s taste and MG called a child by his manager after diving in his own box.
Since we dropped out of the top 4 and never returned our midfield went to shit Here are some of the players who got at least semi regular game time over this period Partey <- the great white hope of our midfield Ramsey <- flawed player but integral to our old cup wins and top 4 pushes Cazorla <- class El Neny <- average Torreira <- multiple POTM awards when fit with regular game time at DM Guendouzi <- interesting prospect. Bad attitude Willock <- didn’t play much. Likely average Ceballos <- mixed between very good and very poor spells… Read more »
“torreira and MG have proved exactly why they aren’t here”
Pretty easy to argue that Xhaka has proved exactly why he shouldn’t be
RockyRoe
Does Mourinho have sauce?
Raptora, Xhaka has been good. Viewed through any lens.
Not sure what your tangent is on Kola and Mustafi. A few months ago you were crying he was going to keep them, now you are whining he moved them out? Which is it.
No Pedro, torreira has already demonstrated his value to arsenal by playing well for arsenal and being widely recognized for it That arteta dropped him for several months then loaned him out where he has since failed at a different club doesn’t undo this It’s like saying if AMN doesn’t do well on loan it proves why we had to ship him out – except that he never should’ve been dropped for Bellerin in the first place should he? He was a better RB at the end of last season and dropping him like a stone for 6 months then… Read more »
RockyRoe, is any Spurs fan happy with where they are heading with Jose?
No.
Fawning over Jose is very sad, but par the course from the types that revel in a bad result.
‘Xhaka has been good through any lens’
Pedro please nobody believes this, and you know that
This season he got himself sent off and given away several goals already. If that’s your definition of good at this level then actual good players like Cesc and Vieira must basically be god to you
China, he’s average, which is why he’s out and can’t land minutes for Atleti
China, anyone that know the game accepts Xhaka has been excellent. BUT, anyone pushing LT and MG fantasies cannot be trusted.
Pedro you accuse others of rebelling in bad results yet you were looking for as many negatives to dig up about xG as possible when Emery was on his long winning run People here have memories. You can’t say A today and B tomorrow and hope no one will notice You wrote ‘Arteta dies on Xhaka hill’ just a few months ago and said it was the same hill Wenger and Emery died on and here you are telling us no no no, he’s been good. In advertising you can do this because your audience doesn’t track whatever message you… Read more »
Yeah Pedro and I guess anyone that knows the game thinks Gazidis was quality for us as well
Please just don’t, nobody is fooled