BIG news for the Guendouzi fan club coming out of Germany. Bild, their version of The Sun, reckons there’s no chance of the loan renewing and they also state there won’t be a perm move. The article suggests his theatrics don’t work for the club. This story has come off the back of a 7 week period where the player has started one game, dived in his own box to gift a goal, and had his coach call him an ‘animal’ in relation to the way he learns.
Matteo is one of those boring stories that hangs in the air when people who have no clue about human dynamics whine on that his deeply negative attributes are exactly what is required for a team like Arsenal to progress. They mistake being a dickhead with being someone that cares. In Sunday League football, that might hold weight, but in elite team sport, being a supreme dickhead doesn’t wash anymore. It’s not just football that refuses to tolerate it, Reed Hastings, Netflix founder calls talents like Matteo G ‘brilliant jerks’. He doesn’t accept them at Netflix, a company that has changed the face of Hollywood by building a high-performance culture of dense talent that is highly collaborative.
Dickheads slow things down, which isn’t conducive to a time-poor environment when you’re playing three games a week. If everything is an argument, a mediation, or a spanner in the works… it can be a slow drain of energy. Leadership loses trust capital with the wider group because the player being indulged is being put above the rules. Teams don’t like working with dickheads, because it saps energy. You also lose collective focus, because the toxic tentacles of gossip grip the team. Kola and Mustafi had to go because they were fueling those sorts of problems, then they landed at Schalke and staged a coup immediately.
The Matteo Gs camel-back-breaking moment might have been Neil Maupay, but it certainly wasn’t the only issue. The two massive arguments in Dubai, plus plenty of problems back at Colney you don’t know about snowballed, and not even just with Arteta. Freddie had his issues as well, some mocking antics were caught on camera at a training session when the Swedish caretaker wasn’t looking last December. Really not helpful, especially in a crisis with an Arsenal legend trying to help.
Hertha Berlin are coasting down shit creek, no paddle, head in the mess drowning. Matteo is one of the biggest talents in their squad, and even they don’t see the pay off being worth the hassle.
Dickheads are not good for culture.
We still have some of that dickhead behaviour that goes on at Arsenal. Auba has been guilty of it this season off-field, and in midweek, it looked like an example of him flexing his power muscles when he dropped a low energy disaster class. There are some people in life that have the unique gift of being able to lift a room with a smile… but also the ability to crater vibes without saying a word. Without meeting him, Auba seems to be that guy. He didn’t look interested in the week, it was a shocking performance… it could have been ‘one of those nights’ or it could be a sign that he hasn’t forgiven the system for slapping him for his timing transgression in the week.
“When you have clear ideas and principles, it’s about applying them,”
“There’s no point just telling people what we expect from them, then not making the decisions when those things are not accomplished.”
It’s always something, isn’t it? We should be going into this weekend feeling pretty positive. What we’re mostly thinking is how does Arteta manage the squad after a low-focus 90 in midweek? Do you start Auba after that? Or do you give minutes to Gabriel Martinelli who immediately lifted the game with a powerful 12 minutes? It’s tough, because really, you need your best player for the remainder of the season… what Arteta has to gauge is whether that Auba performance was a bad game, which players have, or a middle finger.
The most important thing this weekend is beating West Ham. We’re mid-March. They are in the top 4 because they absolutely deserve to be there. They are well organised, powerful, tactically astute… and they’ve been beating big teams all season.
You can be a ‘PREM TABLE IS ALL THAT MATTERS’ table banger… and live in a world of misery about Arsenal being in 10th place.
OR, you can say that the first half of the season was extremely shitty, but Arteta survived it and the gift he was given was a second chance.
Here’s the table since Christmas.
We’re now playing like a top 4 side. You see it on the pitch. You can see it with the performances we’re putting in. Cut the errors out of the above and we’d be 8 points better off at a minimum. Remember, we can control unforced errors. Our sustainable football model has us dominating games, defending well, and creating lots of high-quality chances. Errors can be tamed with coaching and better players this summer.
Arteta’s job until the end of the season is to prove that he can consistently deliver high-quality performances.
West Ham is going to be another opportunity to show he has the sauce to keep this half-season form going into next season.
The big challenge tomorrow is going to be fitness levels. West Ham are partly succeeding this season because they are rocking 1 game a week at the moment. Arteta has had a rocky time managing the fitness between Europa League games. He did it to perfection against Spurs last week. Can he manage it against a high flying team that doesn’t have a Europa game?
I think resting Partey and Odegaard was a smart move. Those two give us the control and forward momentum you simply don’t get with Dani or Mo. I’d like to see Pablo Mari in central defence, I think Cedric Soares is our best right back at the moment, and hopefully the resting of Bukayo will see him burst out of the traps.
Who knows what you do with the #9 position?
These are the big moments Arteta and his staff need to manage. In the grand scheme of things, the Premier League is finished, it’s all about beating Racist FC in the quarters of the Europa… but the fans are watching. West Ham is the Essex Gooners bragging rights derby. The Premier League will also be paying attention… can we give Moyes the same laser focus we gave Jose last week? Can Arteta slay his original footballing father again?
I hope so. Win tomorrow and we go into International week on a very sweet high. Let’s see what the boys have to offer!
P.S. I answered some questions for Arsenal Addict. David is a good friend of the blog, an OG blogger from back in the day, and he’s firing up his site again. Take a read here and give him a follow @ArsenalAddict.
ALSO, we just dropped a special podcast with @SVCarboholic from the Touchy Gooners podcast. We discuss the Arsenal project through the snobby lens of progressive football. It was great fun… how football chat should be imo. We’ll be doing a part 2 soon. Please check out their podcast, it’s excellent, here’s their Patreon for more elite content.
Top 4 surely
Top for since Christmas
1?
Top two next season with stability
Champions League winners in three years with Willian scoring the winning goal
Tr4phy?
Chelsea will probably be top of the league if you compare the stats since their new manager’s appointment.
Be creative
Thanks for your wisdom Pedro. Always insightful and clever
Good post today Pedro Would Arteta really go to war with Auba after convincing the board to splash out on a 3yr monster contract? Starting Martinelli tomorrow would be the most ballsy of ballsy moves, I really hope Arteta does it The question would then be, how would Auba + Laca react around the training ground to being dumped for the teenage rookie? Do they sulk and become a problem, or do they react with increased effort and determination? Arteta still has to manage big egos in that dressing room, he’s just got rid of Ozil, Kolasinac + Mustafi Is… Read more »
Spurs are shit
It’s a nuanced judgement call that as supporters we’re not in a position to make confidently. Most of us on here would probably say fuck it, pick Martinelli at CF and put PEA on the naughty step ( bench). Since PEA was already on the naughty step against the Spuds, his subsequent Thursday performance hardly encourages a repeat.
ESR, Odegaard and if fit Saka, have to start so CF only attacking position to fill.
That’s the back page headline sorted courtesy of Crimson!
I absolutely CANNOT see Martinelli starting tomorrow. Can’t even see him getting any minutes.
Can’t have Martinelli getting minutes when we have the in form Willian on our hands.
Have to start with
Saka–Odegaard–ESR
……………..Laca…………..
Samir – agree that is the most likely option
I wouldn’t be surprised if Saka was declared “injured”
So we can pull him out of the internationals and get him a well deserved 3 week rest
Willian had a calf strain on Thursday, and I’m not convinced Arteta will beast Smith-Rowe with 3 starts in a week
We either move Aubameyang left and Lacazette central
Or it opens the door for Martinelli or Nelson tomorrow
Crimson
No Shit!!
Saka available for selection!
Arsenal are a business and our product is games of football at the highest level. And a football game, by it’s very definition is chaotic, totally. So, we have to produce a high end product to deal with chaos. The only way to properly do that is to have extremely well defined systems and procedures that all understand and adhere to. Guen is poison, he can’t be associated with us, and now Auba maybe.
BTW, some questioned whether MA should have gone public with the Auba thing. I think absolutely, it sets an example to the youngsters.
I would try a refreshed line up.
Leno, Cedric, Holding, Mari, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Pepe, Odegaard, Martinelli, Auba.
Save Saka and ESR. One is coming back from an injury and one just played two games straight.
Good post Pedro
Auba had a stinker on Thursday, I’d put down to a bad day at the office hopefully, but if not it’s a tricky situation to manage, it’s one for the summer I’m not adverse to making him available though
Buckagh
Who’s going to take Aubameyang and pay him anywhere near what we are?
Maybe if PSG sell Mbappe, or if he fancies a move to the Middle East
But I think we’re likely stuck with him, hopefully he pulls his head out of his backside soon and starts firing again
Gundogan again. What a season he’s having.
I don’t get this Auba abuse. He has never been a player that puts a shift in. He is there to score goals. As long as he is still getting us those goals People should just let him be. People are now jumping on him because he missed two sitters on a game? Yes it doesn’t look great it happened after a derby he was dropped for but I don’t think it was more than an off day. And the sitters didn’t matter in the end. We qualified. Sometimes he will miss and most times he will score. People have… Read more »
Sid will chase the crazy baldheads out of town, for wishing death on him
If Messi and Ronaldo are the Bugatti and Zonda of football, then Surely DeBryne is the Rolls Royce. What a player
Everton with 25% possession at home says it all really
KDB is the 911 turbo s
Comfortable around town and just as good on the track.
Habesha Gooner
I’m not annoyed with Aubameyang for missing a few chances, I’m annoyed that he can’t be bothered to get out of bed on time and lead by example, particularly when he’s a senior player being paid 8 figures
I’m annoyed that he though he was too good to warm down with the other subs, and instead revved his car outside the stadium and left early, like a petulant school kid
It’s really not unreasonable to expect professionalism from our captain
“I’m annoyed that he though he was too good to warm down with the other subs, and instead revved his car outside the stadium and left early, like a petulant school kid“
This x 10
Villa play Tottenham tomorrow and the schedule is showing the game as a match day 18 fixture.
Anyone from the games in hand have no importance on the table crowd wanna take a stab at that one?
Pedro “We’re now playing like a top 4 side. You see it on the pitch. You can see it with the performances we’re putting in. Cut the errors out of the above and we’d be 8 points better off at a minimum. Remember, we can control unforced errors.” Cant agree with this particular angle. You look at that table and the obvious metrics that stick out are the 17 point gap between first and second, and Man City scoring 45 goals in the same period we could muster 25. Meaningful improvement won’t come by lowering our 11 goals conceded to… Read more »
Before Spurs played I thought we would win and I’m getting the same feeling. I think a hard fought win is again on the cards if we cut out our unforced errors.
3-1 to the Arsenal
Auba brace and a Pepe special. 😎😎😎
CC, focussing on Man City is not relevant when you consider what our short to medium term aspirations . Liverpool with a fresh , first eleven can compete with City- every other team is an also ran.
Next season we would obviously like to progress to being genuine top 4. When we qualify for CL again, we can hopefully push on to compete for the PL but we’ll need City to have quite a drop off to finish above them.
Comparing our average goals a game with City seems a stat too far!
Guendouzi will be playing for a new contract next season if he’s still at Arsenal
He’ll be a model student until the ink dries on his new deal, then he’ll revert to type
A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots
Rich, do you really expect Guendouzi to return to Arsenal next season? Seems to me we’ll sell him to a French club whose coach fancies their man management skills.
Bob
I don’t agree, it’s what’s going to determine our potential longer term. I don’t believe in making a side mistake-free, I think you have to accept the human element of the sport and minimise it best you can.
But as far as aiming for improvement we should be benchmarking ourselves to the best and seeing where the shortfall is. Hits like a truck when you do that, we aren’t nearly potent enough.
Sorry Pedro but I can’t stand the “top four since Christmas” narrative. The table absolutely is all that matters. It’s fine saying it’s all clicked since Christmas but arteta put us there trying to double-down on absolute shithouses like mustafi. I’m glad he seems to have learned his lesson but he doesn’t get pass just because we’ve improved. Anyway completely agree re luiz and guendo definitely needs to be moved on. Plus I hope we stick five past these racist f***ers and progress to the Emery derby #COYG
Who in France outside PSG has the money to buy him? Or pay him? The whole league is close to financial collapse I don’t think Arteta will want to keep Guendouzi, and with 12 months left on his deal this summer, we may end up in a situation where we sell him for a pittance 16 months ago he was one of the highest valued teenagers in Europe, he’s still captain of the French under 21 team, but we’re in a weak negotiating position, in a really weak transfer market I’m really not convinced by the idea that there will… Read more »
Fair enough CC but incremental, realistic improvements will see us return to properly competing. Is it not stating the bleeding obvious that City are miles ahead of us., we need to make fewer errors in defence and become more clinical in front of goal?
Arteta knows more than most how City operate so successfully. Highlighting how much better they are than us doesn’t practically help us. We just need to concentrate on our own improvement and hope City lose focus when they get complacent with success and Guardiola leaves or gets stale.
Pedro
The season started in September not Christmas.
This top 4 since Christmas narrative is not helping anyone except to push an agenda.
If we are going to progress at the club we need to deal with how things are not how we would like it to be framed and looked under certain conditions.
Arteta knew the score when he.took the job on… don’t treat him differently because he’s your favourite.
He’s a big boy, let him stand and fall under the same criteria as anyone else.
we seem to forget that Laca has been playing better, given us option to possess the game better and whenever we play a long ball, he takes a link up play with the blistering pace of ESR, SAKA and intelligent of MO. The truth is that, Laca is a better option upfront to give us more balance between the midfield and the attack. My preferred line up tomorrow will be
Leno
Cedric Luiz Gabriel Tieney
Partey Xhaka
Saka Odegard Smith Rowe
Lacazette
Bob
You could reduce everyone’s input on here to stating the obvious if you decided so. We all want Arsenal to be better so should we all draw the line at ‘we should get better’ and call it that?
“Highlighting how much better they are than us doesn’t practically help us“
If you understand where you’re short versus the best out there then you can make the most impactful improvements. They’re literally the standard you compare yourself to so I’m not sure how you disregard them for a ‘focus on ourselves’ approach. They are the context.
I’m with Rich on that, no chance of any money being thrown around with virtually every club in Europe skint.
Loans and swaps galore, most contracts are simply going to get run down, like it or not, at least it will get their salary off the wage bill to free up space for the following season.
Leeds, Arteta could have been sacked after a miserable November and December. The powers that be decided he should be given more time. Since Xmas most of us I’d imagine feel that the loyalty shown to an inexperienced coach is being repaid. Quoting a table since Xmas simply highlights a reassuring trend. What happens for the rest of the season will determine the confidence in Arteta. If we make the EL or even the CL will be reflected in our acquisitions and net spend. The table since Xmas is simply a positive snapshot, if the picture still looks rosy come… Read more »
CC, we’re so far behind City that to focus on them seems to be fantastical.
Their financial position doesn’t allow us to compete, like-for-like. Any half knowledgeable Arsenal fan knows where we are lacking but to compete with City we need two or three windows of almost faultless acquisitions with shrewd selling to support our net spend. Even then we need City to dip. It could happen but competing with an exceptionally well run, well resourced state sponsored team is a seriously tough ask.
Not to mention the fact that Man City are now a sustainable club, their last two sets of financial results show that, their turnover is north of £500m which is not far off Man Utd’s turnover, a direct result of on field success has ensured that is likely to continue.
Bergkamp63 We need to box smart, if we fail to move on Lacazette, Elneny, Nketiah, Chambers, Guendouzi All players with 12 months remaining on their deals We should renew Balogun, Saliba, Willock, Nelson, and loan them out for the season That way we’ve got potential internal replacement in 2022 I agree that clubs running players contracts down will become the new normal for the next few years, it’ll be mainly loans, and clubs paying players to leave If we can somehow move players on this summer, it’s a buyers market, with clever scouting and recruitment, we should be able to… Read more »
Not a fan of Willock or Nelson but agree we have a mammoth task offloading a lot of players, can’t see it all happening this summer, almost certain to take until Aug 22 to complete the job.
Bob There’s benchmarking yourself against City and then there’s expectation of outcomes. I’m not saying we should be hitting their numbers next season, I’m saying to bridge the gap we need to be scoring way, way more as a priority. Next season we should be aiming for 75+ goals in the league versus last season’s 56, and this seasons circa 50. That would be attainable improvement which would make our top 4 hopes ten times more likely. Eradicating all errors isn’t a strategy. Call that simplistic, but it shapes our transfer strategy and directs focus to the most pressing need… Read more »
I fundamentally agree CC. I’m optimistic as I can see where we have attainable room for improvement. Arteta has shown enough coaching ability to make me feel optimistic, he needs Edu and the scouting/negotiating team to back him up.
Arsenal certainly hit the target in Emery’s maiden season scoring 73 goals.
The handbrake has well and truly been applied post Emery.
Kendo , are you saying Emery was worthwhile but Arteta isn’t?
Bob N16
What I’m saying is, despite Arsenal conceding 51 goals they still managed to win more games, score more goals and finish higher than the current team.
Emery’s first season he secured 70 points, and we scored 73 goals
This was considered abject failure…..
Bob
Totally agree, and the summer business will be vitally important to establishing balance up top.
Kendo
Might’ve got somewhere if we didn’t concede 51 goals, our highest amount since the early 80’s.
Champagne Charlie
Have we gotten anywhere conceding just 29 goals
Kendo
No, because we haven’t scored enough. Emery would’ve got somewhere if he managed to organise a defence, he didn’t and he’s out. Arteta will fail if he can’t orchestrate and attack on top of his organised defence.
Rich
Emery conceded 51 goals, bottled top 4, and humiliated us in the EL final. It was abject failure.
Champagne Charlie
A question for you, was Arsenal’s start to last season better or worse than this season.
Sacking managers every time they lose a cup final, isn’t a sustainable policy Games against Chelsea are usually a flip of a coin, that can go either way I flat don’t care that we sacked Emery, I just don’t think he didn’t do as bad a job as some make out And it’s not hard to point out the hypocrisy of some people We’ve gone from Top4 isn’t a trophy Onto 5th and a Europa league final is abject failure, and we should sack our manager for being 8th and 5 points off fourth Onto…. we’re in the top4 since… Read more »
Kendo,
Do you think we are better organised defensively than under Emery? Do you think our attacking play has developed in the last few months? Did you not think Emery lost the dressing room and the players did not believe in him? Do you think the players believe in Arteta?
Kendo
It’s marginal on the surface, but last season was much worse because the manager wasn’t making a meal of his debut season in management, he was a veteran that had lost the plot extending back 4/5 months.
Champagne Charlie Why is it that you want Arteta to be given time to fix the attack, after he’s improved our defence But you didn’t want Emery to be given time to fix our defence, after he almost hit the 75 goal target you’re now asking for? I agree Arteta should be given time to work, but I said when we sacked Emery that nothing would change in the medium term, and things might get worse before they get any better Many people told me I was wrong… For all the talk about coaching and tactics, it’s the talent on… Read more »
Rich, ‘you didn’t want Emery to be given time to fix our defence’. Did you have confidence in Emery’s ability to communicate and organise our defence? He was limited by the players he had available but to say he was less than convincing would be an understatement.
Before Xmas most us had lost a lot of confidence in Arteta but he’s turned it around, an inexperienced coach learning on the job and the players appear to be buying into his leadership. The same could not be said of Emery.
Rich
Emery had ample time and showed no signs of progress, we started well and got progressively worse. He was a veteran manager and the expectations were higher because of that.
Arteta started well, won the FA cup, then had a horrible start to the season before overseeing a clear improvement. He’s a young coach and they are deserving of more rope because of that. Either you hire a young manager and allow him to learn, or you don’t bother altogether..
You don’t hire a young manager and hold him to the standard of a seasoned pro.
Bob N16 I’ve always been behind Arteta, even though he wasn’t my pick Managers don’t get enough time to work, which means they’re more reluctant to give young people opportunities, which I hate I did think that going into the Chelsea game, if Arteta didn’t take at least 4/9 his position would have become untenable going into the New Year What’s saved Arteta is a lack of fans in the stadium What happened IMO with Emery, is expectations were set high due to a £140 million spend, fans turned, and instead of the players standing up and taking responsibility ,it… Read more »
Champagne Charlie
So Arsenal have purposely dropped down a level by hiring a novice in the hope of doung what exactly.
Fair points Rich ,and I’m sure I’m projecting somewhat, but Emery came across as someone who couldn’t communicate and convince his players to perform in a way that maximised their talents.. We all know there were a load of overpaid, underperforming players in the squad but his tinkering and his lack of clarity was pretty obvious, even from a distance.
Emery was a bad appointment, let’s hope that Arteta is an inspired choice!
CC, can you be bothered to simplify it sufficiently for Kendo? I’m checking out.
Emery certainly struggled with language and communication
I just think it’s funny how many people have moved the goalposts when it comes to what constitutes success, what constitutes progress, and how long a manager needs to makes the necessary changes to rebuild a successful team
Bob Ni6
I agree Emery was a wanker but let’s not pretend our current manager is no less of a tosser. Just ask the players he’s upset.
Pedro
“ We’re now playing like a top 4 side. You see it on the pitch”
Stop insulting your ardent audience
It’s like telling ha that it’s rainy while you’re peeing all over us.
The “after December” league is a bunch of nonsense
The goose was cooked after December and expectations are crystallized.
We aren’t playing like a top 4 side because we are not facing top-4 pressure going into games. There’s no body breathing down our necks and w all knew the league was gone for a long time now.
Dissenter
Don’t think we’ve got a chance of top 6?
I’m with Rich. Emery deserved to be fired but to say he was an abject failure is calling a dog a bad name just to hang it. People forget Emery explicitly stated he would rather win 5-4 than win 1-0. Arteta fixed the defence by sacrificing our attack. We attack better now because we have better players. If you add Partey, an experienced Saka and ESR to Emery’s first season, he would definitely have finished top 4 and won the Europa. Arteta has done well and deserves all the credit but as I’ve said for the past 2 years, player… Read more »
CC, I’m with bob. Focus next season is on being the best of the 7 teams vying for positions below 3rd.
City the target for the season after… top 4 the focus next.
Reduce dumb mistakes by 50% and improve finishing by 20%… two things we are absolutely capable of and we do that:
Diss, struggling to make sense of that… the threat of the sack is pressure.
Kendo, pick it up. Childish insults don’t add to the conversation
Rich, Emery wasn’t given time because he was a disaster behind the scenes. Zero respect, terrible coaching, utterly depressed morale.
Someone at Arsenal told me the vibe was ‘so unArsenal’
Emery was also part of the dirty Raul deal.
In on a super agent recco. Kept quiet on player deals because he knew why he was hired. Paid out in full when we were skint unlike any manager in Europe after he was sacked.
No sympathy
Kendo, at a base level… Arteta won a trophy. Did Emery?
Pedro
Benchmark against the best, close the gap in the major departments, and the ‘best of the rest’ stuff takes care of itself.
It’s like aiming for top 4 when the elite of the elite are aiming for the title and top 4 is a byproduct. Reigning in ambition isn’t what ambitious people do, and same applies with setting the standard around the club for professional.
It’s not ‘kind of professional’, it’s absolute, irrespective of our current standing in 10th. You work toward the pinnacle and “fail” gloriously, not lower standards and champion mediocrity.
*reining in ambition
Pedro That’s fair enough, people close to the club would know better than me, it’s certainly better to admit a mistake early, than continue down a bad path I don’t think 5th, 70 point, 73 goals, and a coin toss loss in a final, was as bad as some make out There was mitigating circumstance as why we started badly last season as well, Emery also gave opportunities to a lot of young players, which is something I always like to see A flaky as fu*k dressing room certainly didn’t help Emery either What’s done is done, hopefully Arteta is… Read more »
Rich, just like our position this year isn’t reflective of where we are heading… Emery’s on paper record wasn’t the full story. He was a dumpster fire of a leader. A joke with the players, a pussy with his bosses, no vision. Villarreal his level. Hopefully we make the semi final and smash him. CC, I think we are aiming for top 4 so we can build funds to move to the next level. We can’t take City out on 100m spend this summer… but we could move to 3rd. Rinse, repeat, go again. Ambition at Arsenal is winning the… Read more »
Pedro
Not all improvement has to be external improvements, even if we only signed Odegaard, and genuine competition for Tierney + Leno, I’d expect mainly the same group of players to be much better next season
Azed Arsenal were trending down before the final with Chelsea so losing it wasn’t a big surprise, especially when you consider many thought Hazard was then Europe’s top three player and like Rich said, games between PL often become a coin toss and turn on a single play. That said, I don’t think missing out on CL by one point and losing EL final can be seen as abject failure, in fact, it was a failure by the smallest of margins. Hardly anyone thought Emery was taking Arsenal to becoming the PL title winners at the time of his hire.… Read more »
Rich, we’d compete for top 4 with the exact squad we have next year.
Biggest shift for me was moving on the bums
Tom, Pirlo had about 3 weeks of coaching under his belt… Arteta worked under Pep and won two Premier Leagues, 3 cups, and brought City IP our way. Worth the extra pennies.
Pedro
Benchmarking against City doesn’t mean literally competing with them next season, it’s the attitude and intention I’m talking about. We’re not going from 10th to 1st, every fan is understanding of that I’d hope.
But Arteta believes entirely in manifesting greatness by holding everyone accountable to elite standards. He’s treating us with the same scrutiny he was accustomed to at City from top to bottom.
CC, thoughts on Auba?
Pedro
Arteta’s record at City if I remember correctly was one game in charge which he lost.
City are on track for a quadruple and running away with the league this season. Not exactly in turmoil after he left are they.
Biggest shift for me is the development of Saka + Smith-Rowe + Tierney
Along withthe loan of Odegaard, who looks like a player with a very high ceiling
If our recruitment and squad planning doesn’t significantly improve, it won’t matter who our manager is, because we’ll be setting them up to fail
Tom, what was Pirlo’s coaching record before his juve job?
Rich, my hope if that if it takes a year for an identity to form… we can judge.
With Emery it ranked. With arteta, it’s on the rise.
Better recruits and we rise further
Pedro Thought it wasn’t the move to extend him last year honestly, don’t rate his all-round game for the CF role. Preferred Lacazette even as an inferior goal scorer, feel he makes the attacking unit better overall. Advocated we bin both and go Edouard-level with the recruitment to fully signal the intent. I really dislike the use of the captains armband in the whole ordeal too, it’s been used as a sweetener on his contract and that’s a big woof. He’s not captain material at all and Arteta will need to navigate this one carefully or he’ll lose some stock… Read more »
Pedro
What was Arteta’s head coaching record before Arsenal job?
Does current Guardiola assistant ,Brian Kid, get the same credit for City’s exploits Arteta gets since he too has been there from 2016 ?
Tom,
Wenger, Poch and Pep all offered Arteta a job.
City desperately tried to stop him moving twice. He had a massive rep in the game for his innovative coaching style, plenty of player who worker with him are on the record about his talent.
He won a trophy in yr 1.
Now he has top coaches in the league paying attention… and Barca’s new Prez wants him next season.
Bit tiring to keep playing the ‘why is he a thing’ card.
I’d like to see some internal promotions
Luiz – Saliba
Ceballos – Willock
Lacazette – Martinelli
Bellerin- Niles
Niles – 2
Willock- 8
Martinelli – 9
Smith-Rowe – 10
Smith-Rowe taking the no10 and Willock taking No8, 12 months after Saka taking 7, would be a fantastic advertisement for Hale End
CC, with you in Auba. Declining star and a meek leader. Shame we gave him a deal so big we can’t sell him.
Would drop him tomorrow but not sure we can do that.
I don’t know why we want to compare Arteta with Pirlo. Up to now, Pirlo sucks. He inherited a team winning a lot of Seria A championship. Now Juv is in 3rd position, trailing Inter by 10 points. In the CL, Juv used to reach semi final or final. Now it got locked out in the round of 16.