FIXING ARSENAL ONE BOX AT A TIME (LONG READ)

by .

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.

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China1

If arteta took us into the championship you’d be on here saying there are positives to be had. You are literally 100% the thing that you used to resent in an AKB right now

Mark

@Pedro

“China, anyone that know the game accepts Xhaka has been excellent.”

😂😂

I suppose it’s okay to Troll on your own website.

Mark

Anyone pushing that Saliba wasn’t ready for Arsenal’s defense, their judgement cannot be trusted.

China1

Pedro perfect case in point

I agree with you that for most of the Leicester match xhaka looked quite good. It was one of his best ever arsenal performances

The difference is in your assessment of the match you completely glosses over that it was his shocking mistake on the left which set tielemens up for their goal (Mari also to blame for poor defender later)

So if this is xhaka in excellent form, getting assists for the opposition, then what is his average or worse level? Well we know the answer to that already, don’t we

Mark

Torreira and Partey would have been an interesting partnership. He’s better than Elneny, I don’t think it would have been a bad idea to try it.

China1

How low has the standard been set for excellent when this is what we’re calling it

If xhaka has been excellent whilst gifting several goals away, picking up a red card and being a mainstay in a team struggling in 10th or wherever we are now, which adjectives should we use to describe the players we used to have like cazorla, cesc, vieira, petit, Gilberto etc? Weren’t they all excellent? But their levels were all several miles higher than xhaka’s so which words shall we use instead?

China1

On Xhaka’s excellent run of form let’s see a list of how many matches we can remember where we can say he’s neither cost us a goal, nor a red card, and he’s also dominated the center of the pitch

It shouldn’t be hard to recall since CM is the most influential role on the pitch and excellent CMs routinely dominate football matches.

Pedro

China, Ivan G smashing it at Milan, so not much of a hit on me now.

Let’s talk about xG. How is that looking since Chelsea?

Very good. Results catch up with performances in the end.

I didn’t revel in Emery, I just knew he was a fraud and so it proved.

Mark, not sure if you’re watching all the games, but common consensus among those who do is that the loan was correct.

China1

Pedro why are we starting the dates at Chelsea? The season started in august

Mark

That’s what I like about China’s posts, they’re backed up by common sense points and facts

“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.”

Nuff said.

China1

Why is it I recall you taking great issue with wenger winning the first half of the season trophy or second half of the season trophy but only getting 4th over 38 games?

Also nice try Pedro but I said gazidis at arsenal. Even you eventually admitted he had failed us

And why would xG be the primary thing we should look at over you know say results over the course of a season?

Words+on+a+Blog

Pedro

There’s a troll called Pedro who keeps coming to the comments pages spewing incoherent optimistic fantasies and making assertions that are ridiculously easy to disprove.

Ban him please

Pedro

China, I said he was good. He left before he had the chance to operate independently for a Milan he’s rebuilt. My judgement was correct.

Wenger had 15 years. Arteta hasn’t had 15 months. Bit of a difference.

China1

Pedro you said Emery was a fraud but even after ‘xG finally caught up with him’ he got 5th, 2 points behind 3rd and a EL final in a team that depended on esteemed players like iwobi, welbeck, mustafi, kola, the as you said not very good Torreira (POTM multiple times), sokratis, the list goes on

That’s some fraud

China1

Oh so at what point has arteta had enough tome that we’re allowed to just judge him over a league campaign?

How many seasons does the ‘since Christmas xG is good trophy’ count before we need to actually do things in the league?

Pedro

Mark, yes, I did. But right now, there’s not a better choice. He’s been good, you cannot deny the reality.

Words, there is no wisdom in crowds, especially on this thread.

Revel now, you will have eat humble pie on this… the pivots will be fun to watch. It’ll be like the Raul deniers all over again. Or those that behaved like this when I called Emery. People never learn.

Pedro

China, again, operate in half seasons… when the Wenger magic wore off he crashed us in the league, destroyed our style, humiliated us in the cup final, killed morale, and was fired.

Total fraud.

China1

i would suggest you draw a line in the sand about what you believe is acceptable for us this and next season but as we know when unfavorable tides come in they will continually be washed away so a new line can be drawn somewhere more favourable

China1

Emery was not judged on half seasons by you.

Pedro

… and for the 500th time.

XG tells you if you’re seeing something that is real.

First half of the season was a disgrace.

Arteta was not fired. So write it off. They believed in him.

Now we are seeing the fruits. So is the project worth continuing with? Absolutely. Errors can be fixed if the fundamentals are in place.

China1

The angry xG posts revelling in how any day now we wouldn’t be so lucky to keep winning were being posted as early as late September or early October of emery’s first season.

And those were games we were winning with all those drossy players, including the awful torreira

Pedro

China, he was.

First half of the season: great points total, but xG suggests its a mirage.

Second half: it’s a mirage. This will continue,

It did. He was sacked. The end.

You can’t whine about me being right while you waved an emery banner and told everyone he was elite.

China1

Nice try Pedro when did I call emery elite or wave his banner? I called for him to be sacked at the end of his first season for narrowly bottling 3rd and losing the EL final

Those, Pedro, are called high standards

Pedro

Lol, torreira such a good DM emery played him as a #10

… honestly, do not die on this hill

Pedro

High standards isn’t calling for someone to be sacked my friend. It’s having an understanding of why and knowing what you want out the other side.

You’re on the wrong side of this.

Mark

@Pedro “common consensus among those who do is that the loan was correct.” I’m sorry I strongly disagree with that statement. Saliba has had glowing reports on his games in France. A lot of the press actually scoffed at that suggestion L’Equipe in particular said as much saying , something along the lines of ” Arteta’s decision that he wasn’t ready seemed disengenous , especially given the state of our defence” I don’t know if you have actually watched him play, but I have. Haven’t watched all his games, but from the little I saw , anyone who knows football… Read more »

China1

Kinda funny that when Emery had low xG he was a fraud but when Arteta ended last season with it and started this season with it that got a free pass. It’s better since Chelsea so nothing else matters *throws bucket of white paint at black wall* It’s also interesting how many of those players emery had to rely on arteta has since had to ship out in order to do much worse in the league. What’s the reason for that? Ozil, guen, torreira, mustafi, sok, kola, AMN, mikki, iwobi, welbeck the list of hangover wenger players emery utilized to… Read more »

China1

Pedro you are literally not self aware right now

You called for wenger and emery to be sacked.

You literally cannot be serious

And yeah Torreiras plaudits and awards were won at DM. Why emery started playing him high up the pitch instead to the detriment of the player and the team is absolutely baffling and Emery’s mistake

See the difference is I don’t need to pretend Emery was perfect because I wanted him sacked. He wasn’t good enough.

Words+on+a+Blog

Pedro I actually agree with you that we have significantly improved since Christmas and that “second half of the season” Arsenal are way better than “first half” Arsenal. BUT you really do have to understand that the kid glove treatment you mete out to Arteta can be pretty galling. In terms of management decisions, personnel decisions and tactical decisions he’s made a number of calls that you’d have absolutely crucified Emery or Wenger for. Take Xhaka’s latest blunder. Why have him, a player prone to costly errors and not exactly renowned for getting out of a tight spot, as the… Read more »

Pedro

China, yep, and I have detailed analysis as to why and where we needed to take the club.

I am totally aware of what I write.

China1

ok Pedro since you said we need to judge in 6 month incrementS The first half of emery’s first season Torreira was DM. Then he got injured. He came back intermittently as a bench player and a less defensive role in the tail end of the season Now let’s ask ourselves (or just check the records because this is a statistical fact rather than opinion), which period of the season were we winning a lot of games with a tight defense? The first half of the season. Which part of the season was torreira winning plaudits and POTM type awards?… Read more »

Pedro

Words, Arteta is a rookie. You have to price mistakes into the equation. As well as cultural context and the dreadful situation he picked up.

Xhaka plays because there’s not a better choice. It was a bad fuck up. But if you make Partey the only player who can receive the ball, it’s easy to nullify, you double up

When we played a limited system, everyone complained. Remember? Fix the faults, but not at the expense of the entire system which is largely working.

Biggles

Torreira isn’t perfect. He’s too short and I’m not certain he truly had the athleticism to play 40+ games a year in English football. However he was a specialist DM who played a blinder in the world cup. He was gritty and determined and far more mobile than Xhaka. When played in position, Torreira was great. He sucked under Emery when he got played way out of position. Remember him as a #10? I think he still did better there than Ozil would at DM. Right now though, I’d be happy playing him as a DM with Partey doing box… Read more »

Pedro

China,

First half of the season when we were getting results despite being violated through the middle and lucking out?

You don’t have a case. He’s now in a slower league and Diego wants nothing to do with him.

Don’t take my word for it, sure, but maybe take the word of the best paid manager in world football.

He’s average. That is why he was moved on:

China1

Sorry Pedro I really do love you and your blog but you’re being put through a blender this morning

China1

Yea Pedro torreira has done poorly at Atletico for any number of possible reasons.

I don’t pretend he hasn’t, unlike you with xhaka

Pedro

Biggles, his passing wasn’t good enough and he had no power. You need a creative force next to Partey with raw power.

China1

Except that I do have a case because when dear leader Arteta started picking Torreira alongside Xhaka before lockdown he won player of the month. Again.

It’s weird how that happened.

Pedro

China, just remember, majority of the time the comments goes against me… I am right.

Odds are with me on this one. My thoughts are never in a blender.

China1

Also Pedro if we were being violated through the middle (your words) it’s kinda odd then that torreira must take your criticism for that but his partner for much of the same periods torreira played xhaka doesn’t need to

Absolutely curious stuff this

Pedro

China, manager judgement over POM… especially when the manager is Diego

Pedro

China, not really. We don’t get violated now LT has gone and GX starts every minute.

China1

‘ China, just remember, majority of the time the comments goes against me… I am right.’

😂😂 noted

China1

Oh but we were getting violated worse than ever when torreira was out the team (or playing in the silly advanced role) in the first half of last season under emery. Who was playing CM at that time when torreira was on the bench? Granit And yeah you’re absolutely right, torreira is gone this season and it’s been a roaring success I’d say with Granit playing every minute. Fabulous season so far and much better than last year or the year before Pedro you should be on your knees praying to all the various gods that arteta brings home the… Read more »

Mark

Pedro, I know it may feel like people are attacking you, but it’s not personal , all the posters (myself included) who come here appreciate the time and effort you put in. It’s just that it seems that you’ve moved the goalposts for your boy. You’re happy to write off the season for him yet would be ready to get the ‘Get outta our club’ banners for anyone else. The squad was top 4 quality for Emery, yet even with major changes, the squad isn’t now good enough. How can that be? I (people) were calling for ESR to be… Read more »

Pedro

Mark, I am game for football discourse. Which is what I get from you, China and most of the others.

But the character assassinations over football are unacceptable.

This season, all goal posts were moved at most clubs. Everyone bar City have been shit.

If you accept Arsenal have been run into the ground over the last decade, it’s off to expect someone to fix us in 14 months.

… next season will be much, much better. No doubt. It’s there.

Pedro

China, our season didn’t fail on Granit… it failed on not having a #10

rollen

China, anyone that know the game accepts Xhaka has been excellent.

really?

Mark

Pedro Everyone bar City have been shit. So why are behind Villa, West ham , Everton and Leicester? I prefer to look at my own backyard. I honestly feel if we had a better manager we would be placed higher with this exact same squad. I’m not going to name other managers, I’m basing this on what I feel Arteta has done with this squad, the players he’s selected, substitutions and in game management. That’s why it’s unfair to not judge him by his results. This improvement you foresee next season isn’t a given. It may be more of the… Read more »

China1

Pedro my gripe about xhaka is as much that I think the compliments just extend too far He’s been better under arteta than the previous two managers. I’ve no issues saying that But better than trash > now is average and still error prone is a more accurate summary imo. Excellent is a very strong word Like I said earlier if Xhaka has been excellent what was cazorla typically when he played for us? There are levels to this and I’m afraid with xhaka the primary driver of him getting lots of credit is not him dominating games in the… Read more »

Pedro

Mark, not sure where we stand in the league means others haven’t been shit. The fact that if you cut out individual errors from our last 4 away games and we’d be 5th doesn’t exactly scream that the league has been good

Rollen, if you think Xhaka has been shit, you are wrong. It’s that simple.

Mark

Pedro as an Arsenal fan I only hope that next season will be. We all want Arsenal to be playing proper football again. It’s just frustrating that people say well we have to play Xhaka cos we don’t have any other better options. Well we had a chance to get rid of and replace him with someone better, more mobile and athletic. However somebody decided that’No’ he’s important to them and convinced him to stay. Despite all of what we knew about him for years. So that he’s still here despite not being good enough is on Arteta. His choice,… Read more »

Pedro

Mark, he won’t be sold… but I think we will phase him out with a young signing. That’s my hope anyway. Not sure the lack of competition is a good thing. Need a Gabriel of centre midfield

China1

Pedro it’s because others have been shit that arsenal should be higher You can’t control the mistakes or issues other teams have or had only your own The bar has been very low this season due to everyone else being shit. That’s an ideal scenario to quietly nip in and take advantage. That’s what Leicester, villa, Everton etc have all done with squads certainly no better than our own Our primary issues have not been the pandemic or covid. We didn’t have stars players out for ages suffering like Newcastle. We didn’t miss having fans in the stadium, it spared… Read more »

Pierre

Pedro “China, our season didn’t fail on Granit… it failed on not having a #10” Yes it did, and we know who’s fault that was, don’t we. A year ago we had a no 10 who before the first lockdown started under Arteta in every league game in an Arsenal team that was the only unbeaten team in Europe domestically and were in contention for a champions league place. That no.10 never played for Arsenal again , and now we are sitting in the bottom half of the league ….that worked out well didn’t it . We now have a… Read more »

HerbsArmy

Pedro, you have more spin than the Indian Test Cricket bowlers that just embarrassed England.

Mark

@Pedro. : “I think we will phase him out with a young signing. That’s my hope anyway. Not sure the lack of competition is a good thing. Need a Gabriel of centre midfield” I hope so , I personally think he brings little to the team, slows us down, and plays too many backward passes. (Not even mentioning the Brain farts and being a liability) the sooner he’s out of the first 11, and we have an effective player there we will be a different side. I don’t think people realise just how much we miss having him in there.… Read more »

David Smith

Hoping Arteta succeeds , as it seems the clubs whole football structure has now been based around him. Quite impressive for him, gayer just over a year, almost Wengeresque.
If he fails, we get a new manager, probably Edu gone, The coaches gone. I just dont see anyone at the club capable of building another structure. The owners haven’t got a clue, the CEO is not a football man. The rest are Artetas men and our lawyer friend?

Pedro

Herbs, you misspelt ‘vision’

Pierre, Ozil hasn’t done anything in 6 games in a farmers league and now he’s injured. He was a toxic figure. Thank fuck he’s gone.

Agree on ESR. Put odegaard on the wing.

Pedro

Mark, like those solutions, would be great to buy from the Prem!

Pedro

Steven, I don’t have independent thinking? Based on what?

HerbsArmy

Collectively, I’m sure most of us hope your undying loyalty to Arteta is justified, Pedro, but Arsenal are a shit sandwich and the more Arteta adds his ‘sauce’ the less appealing they become.
I hated that he wore our shirt, so not a fan of him at all, but as he’s currently the manager naturally I hope he succeeds.
However, it wouldn’t bother me if he was sacked.

Ernest Reed

Of course being in marketing has its advantages, doesn’t it Pedro? Such as the inane ability to spin a tale like only a spinmeister can or could.

Utterly shameless you have become. One would honestly believe we are seeing the second coming of Jesus the way you hype Arteta up.

Leedsgunner

Joan Laporta elected as Barcelona president.

Before his election, Spanish media sources were saying that Laporta wanted Arteta to replace Koeman… as Barcelona manager.

Go on then, do us a favour!

😂😂😂

Pedro

Ernest, behave and disagree without stooping to character attacks. It’s unbefitting.

Pedro

Herbs, I have a better track record on Arsenal than most. Everyone complained like this when I went after Raul and Emery. How did that end? Delicious pivots and denial.

Pedro

Steven, I’d rather talk football tbh. I’m sure you have the hottest of independent takes on how white privilege doesn’t exist… but I’d rather talk about Arteta and Xhaka.

HerbsArmy

If you remember Arsenal under Terry Neill, Pedro, you know what to expect with Arteta.

Pedro

Terry used to drink in my local in Covent Garden, there’s no correlation.

HerbsArmy

Both the cheapest options in Manager choices. Neill was an ex-Arsenal player too.

Ernest Reed

character attacks? Is that what that is, Pedro? Funny that you would view it that way. Lets just say that we see reality in very different ways and i have little appreciation for those who try to spin facts to suit their own agenda, all the while telling others they are wrong because they don’t share or see your point of view.

Nothing more to be said, its your blog and you can write whatever you want and how you want. Life moves on and so do each of us in our own way. Take care and best wishes always.

Pedro

Steven, Sean Dyche came from wealth. His dad was a consultant. Faux working class bully.

Pedro

Ernest, I have better information than you. Your reality for Arsenal news is google, mine is not. Remember that.

Leedsgunner

Pedro

So what does Geoff think? Does he agree with you? Any chance of a guest post?

As I said yesterday I disagree with you on Arteta but I respect you as a fellow fan…

As a thought experiment, if Arteta followed his Barca DNA and left the Emirates for the football equivalent of the Death Star who is no. 1 on your wish list?

Me? I would be happy with any of the following

Nagelsmann, Erik Ten Hag, Klopp, Hassenhutl, Rudi Garcia, Bielsa

HerbsArmy

The decade of Terry Neill (8 years) and Don’t How’s (two years), 1976-86, is when Liverpool completely ran away from Arsenal in the trophy count, which includes four European Cups.
That is ‘vision’, Pedro.
And in the summer of 1986, Arsenal turned Alex Ferguson away.
Arsenal have about as much ‘vision’ as Stevie Wonder.

Leedsgunner

More than a few Liverpool fans screaming for Klopp out… 😂😂😂

Yes, please we’ll gladly take him!

Ernest Reed

Respectfully Peter, arrogance is never a good look. Show some humility, young man.

Pedro

Steven, you’re conflating English atrocities, privilege, with classism. All bad things. But all separate conversations,

Back to football.

Pedro

Ernest, nor is attacking my character when you are the one living in ignorance.

Ernest Reed

Good night, Pedro.

Pedro

Leeds, they’ll be back full force next season, no doubt,

Pedro

Steven, i think the world would be a better place if we acknowledged our white privilege. You could take that Rotherham, Kettering or Paris and it would be an acceptable message.

Pedro

Steven, usually privilege isn’t seen a bad thing if you are the privileged one because everything is a little easier.

Which is why people talk about it.

Tony

Pedro OK I’ll bite from skimming your post. “I wanted a progressive manager that would move us multiple levels with future football. I have no doubt we have that in Arteta.” There’s none so blind as this that will not see! That’s you Pedro 100%. So where is he? This winning progressive manager with excellent man management skills and visionary in-game management? Where is this manager who excels in making the right decisions, such as squad acquisition and sales, ala Martinez, Runarsson, Xhaka, AMN, Laca et al. Where is the identity? Where is this process? Is it the way Arteta… Read more »

Socrates

“Anyone that knows the game accepts Xhaka has been excellent”

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry, GX is an absolute abomination, fun fact, we haven’t made the top4 since he was signed.

And not really sure how anyone can say that with a straight face, GX was the death of Wenger as well as Emery. If Arteta gets to next season and GX is still starting games, Arteta will be gone by Christmas.

Pedro

Steven,

Acknowledging your privilege doesn’t mean giving up your job or selling your house for £10.

It means helping people that might not have had the same chances you did to make the world a bit fairer.

Do you disagree with that?

Pedro

‘I said Gerard’

Puuurrrllease…

Mark

S. Berg

What exactly is it you’re trying to say, White privilege doesn’t exist?

If Pedro mentioned it in a post it would have been in direct response to some of the shit that gets posted on here.

So what’s your point? You’re angry cos he mentioned it. Usually people who respond this way are the deniers, the Holocaust didn’t happen brigade…

It’s a football blog, yes other subjects are touched on, but you coming on here spouting all this outrage is fuckin Bollocks.

Go find somewhere where your views will be echoed. In polite terms FUCK OFF!

Pedro

Steven, i already do those things. The ball has been rolling for a while.

Socrates

Mark,

Don’t you know, the Holocaust was in the past, so doesn’t matter.

LOGIC 🙂

Pedro

Steven, if you don’t feel like it applies to you, don’t worry about it.

China1

Lol welcome back Stevey! Pedro and I spent the last hour arguing with each other, so apparently we are both quite capable of independent thought, otherwise we’d be agreeing wouldn’t you say? If the only requirement to be considered a Marxist is to be a sheep incapable of independent thought should we use the same expression for people on the right wing who would’ve gladly followed trump off a bridge if requested? Or you know try to overthrow democracy? Should we call them Marxists too as they have all the traits you just described and then some As for me… Read more »

Tony

Socrates
Either the or change Pedro’s recreational input choices.

Whatever is his preference is clearly not working and clouding his thinking.

Psychedelic infusions maybe ok for visualizing walking round a mainboard looking for errors by the way some silicon giants did way back when.

Can’t see how this works with football.

Maybe it helps with Pedro watching Arteta in a tutu flailing around on the touchline.

Tony

either that*

China1

If you said to my brother your fucking socialist Marxist! Or whatever he’d smile and say yep and hold up his copy of the Morning Star socialist newspaper he always buys lol

Only in America are these words terrifying

Emiratesstroller

Pedro I agree 100% with your post and indeed was thinking more or less the same after the Burnley game. 1. Arsenal’s horizon this season is to finish in 8-10th place in the EPL, which I think all will agree is not good enough. 2.Also I don’t think that we will win the Europa Cup. So the gateway to competing next season in Europa Cup let alone Champions League will also be gone. Personally I believed last season that qualifying for Europe and playing on Thursdays and Sundays was too much for our current squad. 3. We have the nucleus… Read more »

Pedro

Steven… you are surely not giving me that big Irish chat and you live in America?

You should absolutely apply white privilege to yourself, ffs…

China1

Steven come to China and be a teacher and see if white privilege exists I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve overheard say they have a preference for a white English teacher even if they’re not a fucking native speaker compared with a black Brit or American etc. and I say this as a white guy who benefited from it (not intentionally ofc) I didn’t earn that privilege and the only thing I can do about it is try to educate the people I see perpetuating it by reminding them and encouraging them to focus on quality rather than… Read more »

Dissenter

Pedro
Why are you indulging this ‘Steven Berg” character

China1

And yes Steven when you land in Beijing they will most definitely consider you white and not as cousin of North Africa’. You’ll get all that juicy privilege whether you want it or not