Well, here we are, once again licking open wounds on a Monday morning. It’s grim. But every moment like this presents an opportunity to learn. That Liverpool performance will give credence to certain debates going on behind the scenes. It’ll also shake out any decisions being moved on emotion, versus hard facts. It needs to mean something because we had a game like this last season against Villa after a semi-final win and it seems we learned nothing.
A bum result like the Liverpool one is par the course for this squad of players. We know we can compete against them because we’ve beaten this Klopp side in the past when they were at a higher level. The main difference this weekend? There was nothing to play for, so the players switched off.
The manager takes responsibility for that, no doubt. The players, well, it’s hard to pin the blame on them. That’s simply who a lot of these players are. You can’t coach character. They have the talent, but unless there’s something of interest on the line, they don’t always show up and that performance will always wait in the wings. You can zig and zag, but ultimately, you usually fall back on who you really are.
We can rectify some of those issues this summer.
Dani Ceballos, under no circumstance, should return to Arsenal. That performance was absolutely shocking. When you’re highlighting the importance of Xhaka to that level, you know something is up. He didn’t know where to receive the ball, he didn’t know what to do with the ball. Even the passes he made that found a man weren’t of the level required… Liverpool press in such a way that if the angle isn’t perfect on the pass, they kill the man receiving. Watch Dani back, time and time again, his sloppiness put his receiver under pressure.
We lacked alternatives. Mo Elneney is not the one. That we started this season with those two as back-up midfielders was an abomination. My big fear on the Egyptian was that we were rewarding him a new deal for being good, the suspicion is that Arsenal will be taking up our option on his deal so we can sell him for decent money. Still, both of those players need to be relegated in the squad.
There’s also the David Luiz issue. He’s our most important centre back, but he comes loaded with baggage as well. He doesn’t show up in games that don’t mean anything, and at the age of 33 (birthday in 2 weeks), are we really going to continue to make him the lynchpin of our defence next season? Your comfort blanket cannot be players like that.
Even Alex Lacazette, who has been a bit of a star this season, has to be moved on. What we can’t do is look at big performers in a drossy season. We have to look to the future. Auba was our big bet last season. There’s only one role he can play… that’s as a centre-forward. That means we can’t keep Lacazette unless we want a £180k a week sub.
Tough decisions have to be made.
We’re already making some of them as well. The lack of Hector time, now missing for 5 games, is most likely linked to him telling the club he wants out this summer. That’s great news for Arsenal and great news for the player. Cal Chambers is no right back and the fact he’s taking minutes over Cedric is ominous… but the happiness I take from that is we’re using his position to see who is up to it next season.
The Rob Holding contract also looks a bit perplexing at the moment, because as solid as he is, he can’t play the style of football we need from him. But, he’s young, British, and he is of the standard in the league. If he can’t cut it, then he’ll be loaned next season and we’ll be banking a fee. His deal was Arsenal acting like a business… I hope.
The Premier League season is now dead, but it’s still of use. We should be trying to find out which players have what it takes at this level. Arteta should be gauging who has the right spirit when there are no chips on the table.
The summer has to be laser-focused on our needs. We have 16 players that, if kept fit, could take us to top-4. Reality is that’s not enough.
Some proper business has to take place this summer.
Watch for basically all the loan players being moved on. Hertha Berlin are now calling Matteo a top professional, which hopefully means that they’ll deal with us this summer. Joe Willock scored from the bench against Spurs, he’ll find a move. Mavropanos will be sold, hopefully to Stuttgart. I don’t think there’s going to be a future for Ainsley, but he’ll find a decent club, no doubt. The only name coming back will be William Saliba who should get a run at starting next season.
Eddie, who only has a year left on his deal, will be sold. It’ll be interesting to know whether we have an option to extend his deal so we can up the fee. Regardless, a team like Brighton would be great for his talents. Reiss Nelson is hanging on harder than Nik Bendtner, he needs to leave, someone will give him a chance.
That’s a lot of gaps to fill, maybe too many, but look… there’s plenty of cash that we could raise, and there are lots of good players that could build out the foundations at the club that are extremely brittle.
Arsenal needs real competition for Bernd Leno. He’s been very disappointing this season. We can’t keep carrying him.
We need a world-class right-back like Hakimi. We need to settle on our roster of centre-backs. There has to be a young and hungry left-back to compete with Tierney. Playing him after 3 world cup games was a disaster decision, but the choices were limited.
Our midfield needs desperate attention. We should be sniffing around players entering their final two years. Young, hungry, exceptionally fit, technically gifted and intelligent. Spending big on one Premier League talent would be smart, but we can’t leave it at that. We need to be very cute. Rummage in Austria, Eastern Europe, have a look in Spain, Portugal and Holland. What can we find in South America? Make Brexit work for our squad.
Our forward line is where the toughest decisions must happen. Right now, it doesn’t work. We’re not scoring enough goals, it’s as simple as that. Pepe had a bad game at the weekend, but that was more down to receiving the ball so deep and having no options. He’s got something, but at 25, could we sell him and upgrade? Lacazette? We can’t keep a striker that doesn’t score. Auba? We have to keep him, he earns more than Mesut, he ain’t going nowhere. We have to make it work. But we have to build on what makes him tick. Sign Odegaard. Give more minutes to Martinelli. See if we can find more runners that can unlock the best finisher in the league.
That’s a lot of work for a Technical Director that thought Willian was faster than he was and blew £39m on him because of special qualities we’ve not seen.
One of Arteta’s comments post-game was.
‘We lacked clarity’
I agree.
Arsenal picked Arteta because they were prepared to go on a journey. Emery was a plaster on a gaping wound, his combination with Don Raul caused an infection. Symptoms? Unbalanced squad, cratered culture, bloated wage bill, no identity… skint.
Arteta wasn’t just hired because we fancied going high risk, he was also the best choice they had economically if they wanted to jump a level. Someone suggested to me on the internet that we should hire Julian Nagelsmann… like, honestly, the most unoriginal suggestion. We don’t have the money for wages, we don’t have the financial backing, and the club is too far away from the top for most to take the risk.
Things have to get worse before they get better. The painting is half done. Since Christmas, we’re top 4, still. The improvements didn’t all evaporate because of the Liverpool game… just like Chelsea aren’t now absolutely shit because West Brom put 5 past them.
The big question isn’t whether this coaching could work… I’m convinced it can. It’s whether Arteta the manager and Edu the Technical Director can move this from a petri-dish maybe to something that works over a whole season.
The only way we get there is if the summer is ruthless and laser fucking focused on what needs to happen to move us to the next level.
Next season only works if Arsenal FC is honest about what hasn’t worked. There must be consequences for not hitting the mark. There needs to be solutions to the weaknesses we know couldn’t be addressed in 18 months. This season will be a pass for a lot of managers, next will not be. The best thing that Arteta can do with the remaining 9 games is give the fans a taste of the young players and dish out some accountability to sloppy seniors. The best way to keep the fans onside is to go out and win the Europa League with a brutal destruction of all the teams we’re about to play.
Arsenal needs to work under Arteta. The next 8 months are crucial. Europa League is what the 1990 FA Cup was to Sir Alex Ferguson. There needs to be a silver lining, that would be one, but nailing the summer is the most crucial of trophies.
Let’s see what we have!
Barcary
You are completely and utterly deluded
Please take your arsenal tinted glasses off.
Go through every single player of our first 11 and make a casee for why they are the 4th best player in the league in that position….
What you can’t
I’m still waiting for the arguments for keeping on this bum of a manager past this season. I know it’s hard but I kinda expect something. It used to be that he was changing the culture of the club and hard work and people earning their place was a thing going forward but between Aubameyang and Willian and his treatment of others while underperforming players keep their place it seems fuck all has really changed
Not quite sure why Pedro wants to offload two low cost players in Mavrapanos and Willock when they have the potential to be solid squad players. Don’t forget it will be a buyers market this summer.
Our goal should be purely to get rid of the mercenaries at this point and I also think we’re all ok with Hector (who isn’t a mercenary) getting a move if we can get a respectable fee in return.
London Gunner
Every player on every team looks better when the team’s performing well. You are misquoting me also. I said we should be challenging for a Top 4 position. I didn’t say we should be guaranteed Top 4.
Right now, it’s clear that Man City, Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea have better squads. I would put us in the same category as Leicester, Spurs and Everton and our squad is stronger than West Ham’s and Aston Villa’s. The reason we’re not competing for a Top 4 place is because we’re underperforming. It’s as simple as that.
Almunia And it was TH14 and his deliberate handball that thwarted Ireland’s WC play off game wasn’t it? That must add an extra misgiving. He tarnished his image with that one. More generally, it’s sad to see Irish international football in a bit of a slump at the moment. I saw a bit of that Luxembourg defeat the other day and they largely deserved to lose from what I could see. It’s all a long way from Spider stepping up and taking that beautiful penalty in that WC shoot out. I loved DoL too of course although his Arsenal reputation… Read more »
Two things: Withe regard too Tierney’s injury , I looked early last season at his appearance record for Celtic, which shows that his only weakness is the number of games that he is likely to play per season. Anyone who thinks Auba is going anywhere at the end of the season is living in cloud cuckoo land. No-one is going to pay him remotely what we do and he is not going to take a drop in salary to go somewhere. His first two seasons were great and it is just possible that he may have one more decent season… Read more »
Wolves is copying us. After falling behind 0-3, now is 2-3.
Kroenkephobe Yeah the utd supporters over here (not as many as there once was) really had a field day with that handball. Luxembourg deserved to win,it’s a hard watch. A long way from the glory days now. Kenny is actually trying to get them to play attractive football but they don’t have the players, the opposite to Arteta’s cup winning formula really. You have confused me with your five man midfield now, it means you had to play one up front and choose between Wrighty and TH. Also who’s your keeper? Did you go with the heart lukic,or the head,seaman?… Read more »
Barcary
”
Right now, it’s clear that Man City, Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea have better squads”
Thanks for proving my point
Arsenal’s record regarding selling and recruitment of players has been appalling for at least a decade and the transfer windows since Edu and Arteta were supposedly in charge showed little or no improvement. The judgement of this hapless pair influencing this summer’s transfer window fills me with trepidation and anyone expecting great things are likely to be disappointed. How low must our once great club sink? I never expected Arsenal to be the 4th best team in London, and I fear it will be several years before we celebrate St. Totteringham’s Day again despite Pedro describing them as shit. What… Read more »
One of Arteta’s sackable offences is creating a pressure free chamber for Leno.
He’s been shocking recently, maybe because he knows he walks into the team every week bar major injury.
Keep Arteta?
If we are so stupid we have no future.
Keep Auba? Stupid.
Sell Nelson? Why? because of Atreta?
Sell Mavropanos? What?
Keep Leno? We sold Martinez , what a stupid decision.
Well ,good luck next season.
Marko
” it seems fuck all has really changed”
____________________________________
Arteta replaced the problem of Ozil with Auba + Willian. What do you expect from an inexperienced coach/manager.
I was one of those on here who hoped that Arteta would move Auba on rather than give in to his ridiculous demands. Sadly he was too respectful to the elderly. Well, his actions in Jan prove that he has learned from that mistake. He showed his ruthless streak. Some club this summer will take Auba as a free transfer, or pay his full wages on a loan. The alternative for Auba will be no games play at all. I think Bellerin will go too. I shan’t miss him either. Arteta will be working with a clean slate, every player… Read more »
Kroenkephobe,
Haha -likewise I’m a decrepit old gooner – and back in the day I too was “banished” to the far reaches of (mid) Wales (Aberystwyth) – loved it.
Now safely esconced in North London, busily (and futilely) planning The Counterkroenke Revolution along with a few sad old Trots.
London Gunner
Your dishonesty is getting tiresome. Just because a team has a better squad it doesn’t mean they automatically finish Top 4. That’s why Chelsea and Liverpool are out of the Top 4 currently.
Question for Le-grove
If Arteta was in charge of Westham, would they be in the top 4 right now?
If Arteta was manager of West Ham would they be top 4 right now?
YES or NO.
Answers below.
I remember watching sam Allardyce’s Bolton at the Emirates a few years back , and Bolton’s main tactic was for the keeper to hoof the ball into the Arsenal half to the right touch line to compete for a header.. At the time i can remember saying that it must be dreadful being a fan of a team watching your side play such negative football with no ambition and fear of putting their foot on the ball.. And here we are now watching an Arsenal side playing Allardyce football using exactly the same tactic of hoofing the ball aimlessly upfield… Read more »
“Ramsey, Mkhi, and to a lesser extent Iwobi walk into this team……WALK into it.“ Mkhi walks into this Arsenal, and I was for keeping him. Ramsey limps into this Arsenal on crutches but I understood why he was let go, but in what universe Iwobi walks into it only god and CC knows. I’m assuming in place of Pepe ……perhaps? One thing though; Pepe has 5 goals and 1 assist in the PL in some 1100 minutes. Iwobi-1 goal and 2 assists in 1300 minutes. Must be some intangibles regular mere mortals can’t grasp. I’ve watched all Everton games and… Read more »
Arsenal doesn’t work under Arteta. Fucking hell, accept it already, the defences for keeping Arteta are getting more and more farcical.
Arsenal hasn’t worked under anyone For some time, , not since Graham’s genius and desire, then Wenger, Dein and Danny Fs sheer will and planning to succeed, that and Wenger knowing foreign markets. Things changed when the Wenger Dein axis was broken, that ambition went And hasn’t come back. Arteta has his faults, as did Emery and the latter day Wenger, none of them could fix what the club has become, nor I suspect can any other manager. I am not saying KSE aren’t trying, and don’t want success, I just think they alone are incapable of achieving it in… Read more »
Loaning our holding makes no sense if Luiz is not renewed
He doesn’t need to be first 11, he’s a squad player and there aren’t that many bench CBs in the PL who are better than him.
All of this fuss because he had a bad game after barely playing for a good few months. Huge overreaction
Fucking hell lol! Ozil, Mkhirtaryan and Ramsey absolutely wouldn’t walk into this team because they were more often injured and apart from 1 season, appalling.
Emery got sacked for leaving a top 4 squad in 8th, Arteta has vastly improvedthe squad yet is 10th.
Marko, you’ll never win with CC because he’s constantly moving the goal posts, contradicting himself and rewriting history. Surely after all this time you’ve worked it out by now?
“How can you enjoy this? It’s like a teacher trying to explain the most basic issues to a retard student that is trying to be as obtuse as possible.”
Beats the f’n heck out of reading your pathetic schtick, Cazorla..
Benny Earlier you put Ceballos and fucking Sokratis down as players we need to sell in the summer. In the kindest way possible, you haven’t a clue, so maybe skip the playground antics and look for a pulse before commenting. Tom Iwobi is a much better wide player than Auba, or Pepe, it’s that simple. His end product was largely absent, but he has technical ability enough to look after the ball, beat a man, and industry to protect a flank. Much less ability than Mkhi hence why I said a “lesser extent”, but he’d get picked over who we… Read more »
Emery’s squad was much worse than artetas ESR, Ode, Saka are all upgrades on the regularly injured and highly inconsistent attacking midfielders Emery had at the time he came in. Ramsey was actually a quality player in his pomp but he was already badly impacted by injuries by the time emery arrived and his qualities also didn’t suit most of his team mates at the time. Mikki was never consistent in England under any of the 3 managers he worked for and was frequently poor. Iwobi was at best a squad player tho I always liked his effort and athleticism,… Read more »
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-dont-bottle-desire-win-23856107
sad but true
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9437519/Kieran-Tierney-set-join-David-Luiz-Arsenal-sidelines-knee-injury-against-Arsenal.html
KT out for weeks
Lest we forget Emery had zero wingers in his squad in his first season
Arteta has saka Pepe Martinelli Willian Nelson esr as options
Pedro Pathetic post given how you were optimistic for top 4, at the start of the season. After we beat fulham, you were certain we would have a great season with arteta getting the best out of everyone. Fast forward 10 months and our best player can’t hit the back of the net, William is turning out to be one of the worst purchases, we have soiled our name of being a platform for youngsters. Our GK who was rated world class before his injury, has his confidence shattered and is playing more like almunia these days. Coaching was supposed… Read more »
Tony
KT OUT?
who saw that coming eh? Definitely not arteta. Next we will have saka out who has been playing continuously, either he breaks this season or the next but it is inevitably. If we have another jack or diaby situation, I’d feel sorry for the lad as he is not being treated right by the coach.
Gons Totally agree. First Arteta doesn’t trust the kids to play them and then next he plays them too much and starts to break them to save his neck. Now Arteta’s faith in the sulky older players is being repaid by lackluster displays on the pitch with some pundits saying the elder pros aren’t following Arteta’s instructions. Does that mean they’re downing tools on Arteta? My son asked me if Arteta went who would he take with him as managers do when they leave? I asked my son who would want to follow a failing manager with too many flaws?… Read more »
Diss
“How can the likes of Raheem Sterling and Jota out-jump a 6′ 2″ defender?”
______________________________________________________________
Holding defends the space and not the man. He focus on the ball and sets up his position. An experienced/good defender would also be aware of where the danger is coming from and blocks off the advance of the opposing attacker.
Diss
Do you remember the game against Aston Villa? They played a cutback to their lone striker, Walkins, at the 18 yards line. Holding positioned himself at the 10 yard line. Do we have a defensive coach to teach him how to play the CB position?
Only a charlatan would expect Auba to Track TAA
Chambers must have been tracking Robertson, without realising Jota had replaced him.
Auba did actually put a shift in in the second half of last season
But apparently his new contract killed anything resembling the kind of desire he needed to track back this season
Auba is looking increasingly like Ozil. Now let’s wait for Laca to get a big pay day contract too and he can join Auba and Willian on the golden oldies retirement package
It is actually a pretty pertinent question of which players have improved under arteta since for all the questions about his management, his specialty was supposed to be in the coaching of players ESR and Saka have arguably kicked on tho Saka was already great and ESR wasn’t here before so hard to judge artetas impact on them Auba is a worse player now. Willian is worse than last season. Leno is doing worse. Bellerin more of the same. Xhaka has been ok by his standards but not sure there’s any change since the second half of last season. Laca… Read more »
I guess Soares is maybe the player who has shown the clearest before and after progress this season under arteta? Still not elite but he’s definitely done quite well on balance
Who else is an arteta coaching success story? AMN was last season so it was all the stranger that he got binned off this season. He was a nice little project player for arteta last season. No idea what happened there
Laca is in a similar boat contract wise. He is playing his heart out, will he do the same after a new contract? I think not. sell laca, have auba, martinelli as strikers next season with nketiah and balogun as back up which will not expensive and we can always bring in New bodies if it doesn’t work by jan. Focus the cash on the mid and get in a good partner for partey so he isn’t busted by the 60th min. Use willian as back up (as we won’t be able to get rid of him). Sell xhaka and… Read more »
WOAB
Our paths probably crossed somewhere near Swindon when I left N5 and decided to “go west” and move to Pembrokeshire with Ms Kroenkephobe and the little uns. As an indicator of how relatively isolated we are, a visit to Aberystwyth is like a day out in a properly big city!
Good to know there are others on here who think workers should own the means of production! Keep on keeping on.
“Of course the whiners and wailers will pick out the negatives and exaggerate them monstrously. A doleful bunch.” We don’t have to bother now – the team on the pitch and the manager does that job for us! I can’t believe that there are still some on here that worship the cult of Arteta! It has been blindingly obvious to most for some time that he is in above his head. Has Arsenal now become a training academy where novice coaches can learn on the job? Sounds like some twisted YTS scheme back in the 80’s! At this rate of… Read more »
Going for Hakimi at right back would be stupid. He would cost an arm and a leg. And we have CM and CAM holes to fill. Max Aarons would be the perfect target for me. Young, English, talented and wouldn’t cost more than 20 to 25 mil. The list of players we have to sell is clear by now. Lacazette, Nketiah, Williian( if we got him out), Elneny, Torreira, Willock, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Chambers, Bellerin and May be Mavropanos ( still would like to see what he can do). That is a lot of money right there if we play our… Read more »
Doesn’t take long for some to throw in the towel and start screaming for change. What precisely is the new plan. Get a new manager in, there must be dozens waiting in the wings. Maybe we can get Pullis cheap. Sell most of the players and buy another dozen. Easy. And if that doesn’t work we can sack him and sell the newbies. Liverpool was a shocker no doubt but we have played really well in patches recently. Keep the faith.
‘When you talk about Guendouzi and see his skills,” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “You realise that he is a great player. I’ve also read that he had problems at Arsenal but here he behaves very well.
“He puts all of himself on the field. He is a great professional. Guendouzi’s situation confirms that we must always understand how to help the players, with a talent like him it is worth it.:’
So clubs can decide a player’s talent is worth a club going the extra mile in managing them? Who could have thunk that?
The Bard Have you been in hibernation? Have you not seen the stats relating to Arteta’s managerial efforts? (let alone watched the games!). Funny how Emery ‘only’ lasted 51 games – people were screaming for his head long before the end! Arteta reaches that landmark this week – so what is reactionary about asking for change now? And of course Arteta has a worse record than Emery in his 51 games and Wenger’s last 50 games (and people were screaming for his head for years!). Please explain your unbridled loyalty to Arteta! Arteta (first 50 PL matches) Won: 21 Drawn:… Read more »
Talking about selling players, Lucas Torreira wants to go back to South America. Edu should find a decent midfielder in Boca or other big clubs in South America and do a swap deal.
Ok it’s the DM and yep it’s Martin Samuel but he is reporting that Arsenal are considering selling Saka to raise funds.
It has been rumoured for a while that Arteta was willing to sell every young players including Saka, ESR and Martinelli to raise funds and buy ready made players.
If his choice of ready made players is of the same calibre than Willian and Luiz, God have mercy of Arsenal.
If he actually goes with this idea of selling Saka to buy Ödegaard, at the first dip of form the Emirates will be a cauldron of toxicity against him next season.
Selling saka will be up there with the likes of selling cole. Something we will talk about for many years. I don’t think arteta is that stupid to sell the one mega star of arsenal unless he’s an undercover agent from city to destroy us from within.
Thorough,
That’s call man management.
Guendouzi may be a annoying attention seeking man child, but good managers find a way to channel that bad energy into something productive.
My way or the high way does not work without unlimited funds. Even with near unlimited funds, managers have to viewed as firm but fair and approachable by players. Advocating publicly meritocracy but playing favourites behind closed doors and behaving in a petty, vindictive manner just build resentment into players.
Valentin Football management is very short term. Post Wenger it’s very hard to believe that Arsenal will allow a manager to go more than a couple of seasons without achieving top 4 or CL qualification as a bare minimum. Arteta probably has this seasons EL and next season, probably without the EL , to achieve that minimal requirement. Saka, ESR, Martinelli and Tierney, Gabriel are decent players of that there is no doubt but we need to get real in that all seem prone to injury and to be honest I very very much doubt that without significant quality, ready… Read more »
There is no way the Emirates crowd would have accepted that performance v liverpool. Arteta is a fortunate man to be playing to empty stadiums as he would be feeling the weight of the fans on his back.. Arteta is also fortunate that we have had a very favourable draw in the Europa cup as this gives him and the players a great opportunity to get the fans back on side. Failure v Sparta prague could be the straw that broke the camels back .. It will be interesting to see if Arteta makes wholesale changes in the league now… Read more »
The bonkers thing about selling Saka is if the whole point is to buy a ready made player, why bother when saka is already of the required level? Considering arteta is quite happy to go in the market for expensive players like Aouar and Partey, you wouldn’t be surprised if we sold Saka for 60m only to blow pretty much all of it on a single player who might not even adapt to the league and be as good as Saka already is Just look at Pepe. If Pepe was playing like Saka this season I don’t think fans would… Read more »
Totally agreed Pierre
Saturdays performance was truly shocking. The drop in quality in the absence of Saka, ESR, Luiz and Xhaka only served to reinforce the fact that we have a very poor squad overall. To get back to top four we need at the minimum upgrades at right centre back, right back, back up to Tierney, minimum two central midfielders in place of Elneny and Ceballos while keeping MO. A solution to the CF position that suits how we want to play is a key.
You can literally imagine us selling Saka for 60m then buying Aouar for 50m
I really really hope I’m wrong but I wouldn’t be surprised.
And Aouar is very talented ofc, but we don’t yet know if he will do it in the PL but we do know saka will. It would be a really pointless arrangement imo
I just hope I’m wrong. Keep saka at all costs unless the offer is silly
Pierre
Slavia Prague you mean
Martinez, Ozil, Guendouzi, AMN, Torreira, Saliba, willock , nelson , Eddie and Sokratis have all fallen foul of Arteta in the past 12 months since the first lockdown.. In Arteta’s first 4 months it was all running very smoothly . He had taken over a team with no confidence , results and performances were encouraging , the quality of the football was decent enough. Since coming back from the first lockdown, we have lost as many games as we have won in the league. The team received a boost at Christmas with the arrival of ESR as CAM, so what… Read more »
Pierre, That make sense, but you assume two things: 1) Arteta make choices based on meritocracy and output on match days rather than how people behave toward him. If it was the case a few players would not be constantly shoehorn into the first team. 2) Arteta is willing to adapt his tactics to the players he currently has rather than force an unsuitable tactics to those players. I understand the desire to play from the back, but at one point you have to accept the players limitations. If they can’t handle it, then it is his job to either… Read more »
Pierre
Do you think a partey esr partnership can work in the middle of the pitch? Ode playing a bit higher. Given the work rate of both ESR and Ode, maybe they can interchange.
But you are right about ESR at LW. That one is on mikeal. Diet pep really drowning in the deep end.
Diet peps main tactic is to have the player he perceives as the biggest threat on the left wing( one of Auba/ESR/Saka/ pepe) and hope for the best while the midfield and RB do not push forward.
Ode in midfield is recepie for injuries, Buendia would do better there
Season hanging by a thread, I fancy a super fit and efficient Slavia team to beat us on Thursday the big pitch will suit them and then dump us out in the tie. Then what? How does that season not be a disaster?
Patson Daka , buy that bloke. Sell Lacazette + Nketiah.
Also the remaining PL games I’d like to see Martinelli- Auba – Pepe. With ESR in #10 , Partey and Xhaka. Also we need a solid Midfield player alongside Partey.
Gonsterous
A 4-1-4-1 would allow Odegaard and smith rowe to play centrally with partey as the holding midfielder.
Personally, i think smith rowe is more dynamic with his off the ball runs into the box and link up play and Odegaard is a more Ozil like CAM who brings others into play and likes the ball to feet .
So yes , it could work well as they would compliment eachother.
Would also play Martinelli, Eddie or Balogun as the loan striker to give the attack better movement and energy.
Pierre, Regarding Ödegaard, I am one of the few not overtly impressed by his output. He looked good in patches but IMHO that’s because the players around him were stretching the opposition for him. I think that he lacks dynamism and short burst of acceleration. his lack of dynamism is more visible when both Saka and ESR did not play. He can play some nice forward passes, but he can’t eliminate a player by himself. Against compact low bloc that’s not be necessarily an issue, but against pressing team that becomes one. The opposition know that he won’t be able… Read more »
4141 to accomodate partey, ode, ESR given their injury record is a gamble,
Ode should rotate with ESR until they prove their fitness and build a system that wont leave us exposed incase they are injured.
451 with Bissouma and Buendia coming in would be safe. We can also play the 4141 with those two coming in.
Agreed, Ode lacks acceleration and his passing is not at a level of Cesc or Xavi to compensate
Not sure where this Saka to be sold rumour has even come from because it is just downright ridiculous. I know we have made stupid decisions recently but there is no way Edu or Saka will countenance the sake if Saka with the quality he has. The boy is a jewel and if we want to get back to the top Saka will be key. Also yes we do need to invest in better midfielders but how about giving our own a bloody chance. Very very frustrating that Arteta wont even give Azeez more game time. He looks like he… Read more »
How depressing to keep reading that David Luiz and Granit Xhaka were key absences in the side and were massively missed against Liverpool.
Sums it all up really doesn’t it.
Although some have noted that the youngsters missing Saka and ESR may have been more of a factor.
Let’s hope it was the latter. A bit more digestible.
SidApril 6, 2021 09:30:55
Diet peps main tactic is to have the player he perceives as the biggest threat on the left wing( one of Auba/ESR/Saka/ pepe) and hope for the best while the midfield and RB do not push forward
Sid
Come now! Chambers cedri and bellerin all participate to varying degrees of success as attacking right backs this season. Bellerin has squandered numerous Greta opportunities to create goal scoring chances
Arteta went missing against Liverpool.
Anything other than Luiz and Xhaka are absolute key.
Bit tragic otherwise.
Valentin I agree , Odegaard needs good movement around him to be at his most effective. I would say that taking into consideration that he has had only a couple of months playing in the premier league, he has performed better than expected. The liverpool game was just a very poor team performance and it highlighted our lack of technique on the ball. Due to our lack òf confidence on the ball, we reverted to hoofing the ball to the touchline Pullis/Allardyce style which allowed Liverpool to totally dominate the game. Odegaard had no influence on the game as he… Read more »
I’m pretty certain that all this shite about Saka is mythology. But were he to be sold and replaced by, say, 3 established but lesser value players, they’d stop paying saka 30 bags of sand a week and instead pay 3 players 100 plus bags each, meaning an extra 270,000 shelled out every week in wages. There are two potentially promising replacements, both with double-barrelled names (Norton-Cuffy and Taylor-Hart I think – so many posh people around these days with fancy surnames! ). In any case I gather these two are quick and technically strong wingers with an eye for… Read more »
A key decision has to be the best partner for Partey which will depend on what exactly is Partey’s
best role. Is he a defensive minded holding midfielder or more of a roving destroyer and creator like PV6. I personally think the latter and a highly mobile positionally disciplined player like Bissouma or a younger Kante behind him could be the best option.
anyone who sells Saka and buy Aouar needs shooting it is as simple as that .A lot of die hard fans are on the edge now but if Arsenal sell Saka and buy some sulking frenchie with half the ability who may or may not shine in the prem most Fans will rightly be like listen I am not gonna bother any more because that is just pure stupidness , we already have to deal with this Kronke bollocks the managers a rookie and genuinely does not no how his players are going to react to his methods of coaching… Read more »
Pedro is a dreamer, top four since Xmas!
and Arsenal needs Arteta!
We need an experienced manager not a rookie. Without progress the clubs finances go down.
Look at the players he has brought in it tells all about him. Clueless.
Why should we suffer another 8: months of this?
What’s the point? He’s had 50 games to show his capabilities and we are tenth.
Our real problem is getting the right manager lined up and sorting out the management structure to stop the purchase of has beens on stupid wages.
Edu needs to go as well.
Diet pep just moved from using a midfielder(xhakalson) as the 3rd CB to using the RB (chambers) as the 3rd CB. He is obssesed with an inverted left back.
He is likely to sign a RB than a CM if he is here in the summer.
Comparing Partey to Viera should be criminalised, he is Not even as good as Essien at CM. He is best at DM.
David D Without significant investment from KSE there is no money in the pot. All the cash reserves have gone. Without CL football , without match day income for the best part of one and a quarter seasons , without selling players for any real profits for a season or so there simply isn’t any way that the club are able in the short term to be recruiting players without cash. Now some suggest that deadwood is going to be sold at the top of the market valuations. They aren’t. Some suggest that some players are just going to walk… Read more »
Moyes has been back at West ham about the same time as Arteta at Arsenal and they are 4th having inherited probably a worse squad that was close to relegation!!!
Selling Saka would be a clear indictment of the continued mismanagement of the club. If finances are at issue, maybe its because management have squandered away precious funds on ridiculous contracts for players who were and are not worth it.
Until you change the ridiculous mindset that currently permeates those making transfer decisions, you can go and find a comfortable chair because nothing is going to change and will be guaranteed to get worse. Arsenal are a clusterfuck of a shitshow!
Back to Emery. He may not have been a good coach but we reached Europa Final and should have finished 4th with Mustafi ,Sokratis and others who have since been binned by Diet Pep.
Question remains, which player has improved under Arterta?
Willian,Partey and Aubemayang were shining now they all pale shadows of their past
Someone asked if West Ham were being managed by Arteta would they be in 4th place? Absolutely not, they would be fighting for their lives in a relegation scrap. The reason West Ham are competing is because they believe in themselves and have bought in 100% to what their manager is having them do. The only thing that Arteta would bring is his ridiculous non-negotiables and we know how well that has worked out – he’s got Arsenal firmly believing they are a mid-table team. But hey, what do i know? The blog owner believes Arteta is Elite and Generational,… Read more »
I don’t really understand what your trying to say Terraloon but under no circumstances should your base of good players and there only really is the two that you mention be sold…sell the manger ,Edu the rest of the team but keep those two …………………..in fact change the lot , the board , owners ,team manager , techinal what ever you want to call it and half the supporters as well
The season is already a disaster when you look at our PL position and the talk of hopefully getting through a EL game…sad times.
Bit mad considering last time Liverpool spanked is Xhaka definitely played then.
Arteta apologists will say anything
On the subject of 100% buying in, worryingly Gary Neville alluded to quite a few of Saturdays team appearing to be downing tools on Arteta.
Arteta’s 50th Premier League game, a crushing 3-0 loss to Liverpool, was the Spaniard’s 17th defeat at the helm of Arsenal. Wenger only lost 16 in his final 50 games, while Emery managed just 13 losses in his 51.
Tyag
To be honest a lot of arteta’s losses have come in games with atrocious refereeing decisions Wolves and chelsea spring to mind off the top of my head
But it’s not good enough The squad is far better than we are showing in game we should be doing better in Arteta can motivate them to beat the big teams so it’s no excuse getting edged out by the smaller teams the way he does. He’s got to do better. No excuse. I still maintain this team is more than capable of top four status as it stands and the fact we are so low is down to the manager He has next year and if it’s not improved then it’s game over He’s strangling the team through fear… Read more »
To Arteta’s defense, he did have a game plan against the Pool. Tierney was playing like a third CB while Auba played like a Wing back. That is like a back 3 formation which was deployed successfully for the FA Cup winning run against big team. Unfortunately, the time has changed. Tierney was tired due to overly used. Auba was downtooling. The team still hang in until Tierney was replaced by Cedric. Why didn’t the coaching stuff tell Cedric the game plan. We saw Cedric got outplayed by AA high up on the sideline leaving a big gap for Salah… Read more »
One of the decisive things that made them show Emery the door was the fact that a group of players had lost any faith in him and his tactics. The question is whether the same thing is happening with Arteta, and if there is such a group, if it will spread across the squad as a whole. Very few managers can survive that. The performance on Saturday would suggest it might. We shall see.
I read that Arsenal are submitting an offer to Hakan Calhanoglu at AC Milan, who is becoming a free agent at the end of the season.He’s just turned 27 – and his time at AC Milan looks like it’s coming to an end. Calhanoglu is after €5m-per-year without bonuses, while the Rossoneri won’t go higher than €4m . It’s reported that Juventus has submitted an offer which is more financially alluring than Arsenal’s offer.
Nelson
It seems Auba was tasked with being the wing back and also cutting off supply to Trent Alexander Arnold. Of course that plan failed because Auba is not that type of work horse player.
Arteta’s tactics were devoid of reality. He’s asking players to do what they are least good at.
If he wanted a workhorse who would run tirelessly for the team and put in lots of graft on the left side, he should have started with an eager Martinelli.
Gary Neville already alluded a few weeks ago that it looked like some players had not don tools but did not buy into Arteta rigid tactics. I think he may be right. The solution is either change the manager or change players. The problem is that the troublesome players are the experienced players whom Arteta specifically requested: Aubameyang, Ceballos, Xhaka, Luiz and Willian. That’s not a good picture for the upper management if the players Arteta went to bat for are now the one who let him down. The big picture is made even worse when you add the fact… Read more »
Kroenkephobe
Nice to see you taking my line of thinking regarding Saka
You criticise my economic theory about rejecting £150 million
And now you’re using my theories and passing them off as your own
Nice to see I’m getting through to you 😘
Valentin
Older players have been around for a lot longer and can tell when a manager is operating on fumes.
Arteta gave Auba an almost impossible tasks that does not match his skill set; he was supposed to be blocking off the passing lanes for Trent Alexander Arnold.
Is there anyone who thinks Auba is suited to that type of role?
Valentin
Auba’s attitude wasn’t right. There is rumor that Xhaka wants to return to the Bundesliga and there are three teams eyeing Laca. If the Captain doesn’t trust the process, it will poison the whole team. About time to take the armband away from Auba.