Well, sometimes you go big for an idea… and you get absolutely spanked for it.
I went big for Arteta this season (week), excited by the things he’d learned at City, happy he’d dealt with some of our major issues, hoping that he’d be a fast learner.
The faith was absolutely rocked last night.
We drew 1-1 against Slavia Prague. Not the worst result we’ll ever have, but it was a very, very bad game for Arteta. It’s all about performances now for our rookie manager. Every game is an opportunity to make good with the fans, show them the trend is linnear in the right direction, a chance to earn back some of the cratered capital he lost in the winter.
He botched his chance again.
That performance was absolutely disgusting and it was all made by Arteta.
In advertising, there are three jobs you have a creative. Come up with ideas, sell them, and get them produced to the highest level. The same is true of football managers. The best managers have an idea, they sell it to the fans, and they produce it.
Arteta has great ideas, he’s done an ok job selling them… but he can’t produce.
What’s worse for Arsenal fans is that maybe… just maybe, you could forgive a creative director failing to produce an ad once. Everyone makes mistakes, we work with bad directors, we pick bland models or actors, we work with the wrong partners. What cannot be forgiven and what will not be tolerated, is picking the same cast again and getting the same results.
Arteta nearly lost his job at Christmas picking bums. He’s doing the exact same thing now and shock/horror… he’s getting the same results.
That’s a sackable offence.
He made a bold decision a few weeks ago to drop Auba for lateness. He then tried to get him back on track, it didn’t work. Not through the middle. Not by hiding him out wide. So he dropped him again. The BIGGEST statement he could have made, one that the fans would have adored, would have been to put Gabi in his place.
What did he do? He started Willian. The player he hyped pre-game as one of great ‘potential’… can you imagine saying that of a player that killed the Chelsea careers of KDB and Salah?
This was disastrous. Arteta dropped a lifeless 31 year old for a lifeless 32 year old. He did exactly what he did in the bad month of 2020 and got the exact same results.
Here’s the thing, the word is that Gabi is on FIRE in training. There’s nothing untoward going on. The only issue is Arteta is more invested in his personal rep as a transfer savant than he is as a coach in need of results.
It’s disgraceful.
What’s worse is this actually a pattern of bad behaviour now. He doesn’t like the kids. We have so many players that stink out our starting 11, but there’s always a way back for them if they’re 28+ or someone Edu shipped in courtesy of his own personal super agent. Gabi had one bad 50 minutes and he’s out for 8 weeks (can you believe the punishment?!).
David Luiz drops a disaster class? He’s right back in.
William Saliba has two rough games at Colney? Moved out to Nice on loan.
Mo Elneney drops countless 5/10s in midfield, who is moved on? The player man-marking big big names in cup semi-finals.
Under pressure, Mikel Arteta falls back on the bums Edu loves.
The Slavia Prague performance was problematic for so many reasons, the main one, he now has senior player issues that are all of his own making.
If Arteta bums his way to a Europa League win, it’ll start to feel like we’re basically in the same situation we were under Emery. A manager that is scared of making tough decisions, unless they are against young players that have a future with us.
This weekend is going to be a disaster. The squad has no confidence and no one will be focused for the game. It’ll be another shite performance ‘that is not to the standards of this club.’ I am already NOT looking foward to it.
Arteta is now burning fan capital the same way Emery did. His principles only hold true if you’re a small name. There’s no leadership around him to course correct the shitty inclinations. His coaching staff is kids and the assistant that worked with Moyes when he cratered United. He has surrounded himself with people that think Willian is a better choice than Martinelli. He has a team of ‘innovators’ that think David Luiz makes us play better, despite the league table indicating the opposite. He has a team that’ll let him hide Auba on the wing against Liverpool, rather than dish out some meritocratic justice. If everyone surrounding Arteta thinks this way, who is there to lead him into the light? Edu. Who has a vested interest in all the problematic names.
First rule of hiring a young person into a position of authority… surround them with elite experience. Give them a defined box to play. Be ruthless about what they can and cannot do. What did Vinai do with Arteta? Promoted him to an even bigger role he was nowhere near experienced enough to do. Unbelievable.
That is Arsenal.
Arteta is back to failing again. This is round two of a deadly disease. I’m not sure how he survives it, because his solves are the oppposite of what saved him last time.
I am deeply, deeply disappointed.
Now listen to my fucking podcast. x
I don’t want conte. He’s good but I really don’t like the wing backs formation
“Zaha wins 5 games for Palace on his own each year” Does he now, CC CP-1:0 Southampton Townsend finds Zaha with a pinpoint cross in the box from which his volley finds the net. Man U 1:3 CP Townsend scores from a Schlupp cross, Zaha not involved. CP get awarded a pen for a soft hand ball , Ayew who won the pen missed it, retake for keeoer off the line Zaha scores for the winner. CP 4:1 Leeds Dann scores a header from the corner, for CP first, Zaha not involved. Eze scores the winner from a free kick,… Read more »
You could give him the WB win as well , maybe.
Pepe is a very frustrating player. My take is he should’ve been doing much better by now on his own terms. However Mikel and emery have also managed him very poorly as well. All 3 parties are to blame for him not kicking on He’s shown quite a lot of times that he can do it for us so the question is why doesn’t he do it more often. Imo the reasons are: 1) my suspicion is he’s mentally quite weak. We seen he’s not vocal at all and always seems a bit soft and that can be seen in… Read more »
Tom
You’re a goals and assist merchant trying to sanitise a players contributions, it’s dull. Going to bat for Pepe is something else.
Charlie there’s more nuance to a Pepe debate than this because Pepe has shown quite a few times that he can be a real difference maker in matches. His good games are very good.
His bad games are very bad. Considering he’s been very poorly managed it’s hard to say 100% whether Pepe will be a proper player irrespective of the fact he himself hasn’t done enough to prove it yet
“You’re a goals and assist merchant trying to sanitise a players contributions, it’s dull. Going to bat for Pepe is something else.” Not at all. That’s why I gave him the United game at OT, where he absolutely terrorized them ( wonder why lol) even though his winning goal was from a pen he or CP didn’t deserve. You make outlandish statements that don’t ring true and then get bend out of shape when proved inaccurate. Think of it this way, City and Chelsea piss £80m and if Zaha singlehanded guaranteed them 15 points every season plus all the other… Read more »
Tom Bent out of shape over Zaha and Pepe talk? Are you ok? What’s boring is when you extrapolate an illustrative point I make about Zaha to the nth degree and then try and undo it as if it was said as matter of fact. It’s really simple, I rate Zaha because he provides an outlet and creates from next to no team play as he’s demonstrated time and again for Palace. All of our forwards are muck when isolated, they’re finishers and have little creative or destructive potential to them at all. Liverpool is the most recent case, but… Read more »
It’s 24 hours after yet another abject Arsenal performance and all charlie can talk about is Pepe. It’s as unsurprising as it is expected. You’ll get around to talking about Arteta eventually right
I can honestly say I don’t think we were ever this bad under wenger.
imagine
at one point we could have had Zaha and Mahrez as wingers.
Things just dont work out at Arsenal most times
Who needs Mahrez or Zaha when we’ve got Willian?
WOAB
of course. Willian is like a God of Arsenal!
Marko
If you want to talk about Arteta crack on, nobody is stopping you. But if it’s not you blabbering on about Arteta, it’s you flapping your gums about what I talk about. Be yourself you fucking tampon.
R.I.P. Prince Phillip a royal who would not have be en out of place here with his comments.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9455329/How-Prince-Philips-one-liners-brightened-day-critics-called-gaffes.html
He has gone too soon
In his willingness to play Willian over Pepe/Martinelli/Nelson he is prioritising being proved right as more important than achieving the right result.
This is an ego problem rather than an experience problem.
Wenger only developed this same problem after 22 years at Arsenal and multiple trophies.
Arteta has developed the same after 22 months and after 2* trophies.
Think about that.
Sid
He was a man you could very easily say he had good, bad and ugly parts of his character but overall he was an undeniable support for the queen dedicated to service of her country.
Monarchy or a President as a preferred state?
Thankfully not one that affects me directly but does potentially affect people I care about in the U.K.
But a coexistence of the 2 keeps the power base workable in the U.K.
Your king loves to self isolate in Germany with 20 concubines, thats a legend
Pepe needs to be utilized just like Pulisic was last season . Play him behind the striker allow him to roam freely . With Auba dragging CBs with him , he could of used that extra space to run . But with Arteta I dont expect much . He is trying to turn him into Mahrez ( no worries on his weak foot) . Pepe is so criminally underutilized by this lot . Any other club and he wouldve been easily the star.
Charlie You clearly haven’t been watching Pepe this season because the guy you’re describing isn’t him. You’re describing Pepe of last season. Pepe of this season is far more active, far more dangerous and quite often is our most dangerous player when he’s played. Look at him when deployed with ESR and Saka. Different beast. I don’t agree that zaha wins 5 games per year on his Todd. I’m not denying he’s a good player but there’s clearly something lacking or he’d be at a better club than palace wouldn’t he? If it’s a choice between Willian, Aubameyang and Pepe… Read more »
The £85m we spent on Gabriel, Partey and just one season of Willian contract would have been better spent on Jack Grealish. Could you imagine him with ESR Saka Odegaard and Pepe?
Divine I agree with much of what you say but for me Pepe is best allowed to roam and switch with ESR and Saka. That trio switching positions and probing for their own personal weak spots that their skill sets can unlock could do some serious damage with a forward in front of them who could combine and score and a couple of technically sound midfielders behind them. Odegaard? I’d like to see how he gets on there. Personally I’d rather not sign him if it means pushing ESR to the left. I want ESR in the middle linking Pepe… Read more »
Does anyone think the board would sack Arteta? Last I heard they all thought the sun shined out his arse, his contract doesnt expire until 2023 and havent got a pot to piss in.
Thing is it wouldve been great if Ødegaard could play alongside Partey in CM , like a Coquelin – Cazorla partnership . That would have helped us play ESR Saka and Pepe as well.
With Emery, his poor grasp of English meant that he couldn’t get his ideas across, albeit if he had any. Arteta has perfect command of the English language, consequently it is blindingly obvious that he has no idea(s)!
Odegaard lacks the acceleration and fitness for CM, his range of passing is Not great enough to compensate for that. He is better off playing the firminho role
Until Ode and ESR prove their fitness they should rotate with each other at #10 with pepe on the left and Saka on the right.
An addition of bissuoma and buendia to rotate in midfield, then bring back Guen and Willock.
Simple football.
A man that dresses like Diet Pep CANNOT be taken seriously
Sid
For once I kind of agree with you but I’d like to try odegaard in cmf vs low possession opposition where we will have all of the ball vs a low bloc
Just to see how it goes
That many options to break down a tough defence cannot be a bad thing
My concern Arteta is too negative to allow such attacking systems to flourish though
Great to see that Pedro is similarly judging Tets on the lack of performance and signals of “progress” that he was convinced of initially. Agree it was not the worst result, just yet again, disappointing and unexplainable decision making.
However I think this decision making has been going on for awhile now and I’m of the belief that the positive signs we saw in some moments in some matches were the exception rather than the norm.
Pepe can be effective if we use him properly. I am sure he wouldn’t have struggled this much if he was at man city or Bayern. We have a very poor midfield which isn’t creative enough so the wingers have to drop deep to get the ball or if they stay up the pitch they won’t get a sniff of the ball. Only a complete player like Saka could thrive in these circumstances. But pepe will never be a 72 mil player. We could get a lot of use out of him though if we set up the team right.… Read more »
As our funds are dire I wonder if Gabriel could convert to a DM?
Not like we’re short of CBs.
If alexis sanchez is 60m then pepe is worth 72m, pepe in a team with ozil and carzola is better than Alexis.
Sid never fails to amaze me with the amount of bullshit he talks daily. Generational stuff.
Who knows if Balogun will turn out to be the next Serge Gnabry or Jay Emmanuel Thomas?
Cautious optimism
Words of wisdom from the guy who thinks Serge is a Gujeratti and cannot hold a season ticket.
Sid, there’s a difference between ‘think’ and ‘know’.
I’m telling you for free.
Kenyangunner
Well I’d much rather risk contract funds on young prospects than old wasters like Willian, Ozil, Elneny, Lacazette, Auba.
Balogun looks quality in the U23….But so did Eddie. Only time will tell, either way he will have resale value at least unlike the old guys on massive contracts.
Yeah Sid, I love Pepe but sanchez was something else in terms of output
30 goals and 15 assists from a winger is quite the feat
I do think we could be talking about Pepe as one of our great wide men though if he’s played and given belief
Sid should watch more rugby because he knows FA ABOUT FOOTBALL.
SANCHEZ VS PEPE.
YOUR A FOOL.
I made the case some weeks ago that several young players at Arsenal were handled by the same agent most noticeably Saka, Nketiah, Nelson and Balogun. It became crystal clear that it was unlikely that both Nketiah and Balogun who were competing more or less for the same spot in the Arsenal first team squad could and would remain at Arsenal. Pre January it looked most likely that Nketiah was the chosen option. However, his performances when he played in the first team this season have been disappointing. For this reason it now seems that Arsenal are more likely to… Read more »
There are two kinds of players. Those who need to be heavily coached and managed to fulfill their potential and those who are best set free to manage themselves Most of our best players in wingers prime we’re the latter. DB10, Henry, pires, Campbell, cesc etc etc etc all these players work best in a system where they can manage themselves. Sanchez was 100% this kind of player thus why he was so good for us and not as good at any other club. The moment he had to fit into mourinhos plans his career was over. He was the… Read more »
Its you’re not your,
and i watched Alexis at Barca then Wenger put him in a team with Carzola and Ozil.
‘The moment he(Ozil, Auba, Pepe) had to fit into mourinhos(Diet Peps) plans his career was over’
Random fact, gegen press has been a thing in rugby way before it was in football
No Sid
At Barca he wasn’t allowed to flourish
He had Messi xavi and iniesta for gods sake
Arteta, Emery, Wenger, edu, Gazidis, the defence, the midfield, the strikers, etc, etc. but most never blame the kroenkes.
China
Exactly
Pepe is that type. Let him flourish
“It seems to me Arteta is failing at what must be the hardest part of any management job in any line of work … managing people. Egos. Ambition. Emotions. Moods. Temperament. Very, very hard; and it would seem he is struggling with that.”
exactly as I have stated a few times now the man may be a good football coach but he gets a zero for the intangible stuff which is 50% of the job and possibly the most important part
Cheffy
“Great to see that Pedro is similarly judging Tets on the lack of performance and signals of “progress” that he was convinced of initially.”
Still very mixed from Pedro though isn’t it.
He may criticise Arteta in the post itself but the headline of the latest one quite clearly is blaming the players and Arteta is the victim.
tbh it would be disappointing to see Pedro abandon Arteta at this stage after backing him heavily beforehand.
For those that backed him this is not the time to quit on him.
The thing is if Arteta win the europa it could give him enough capital with the players fans and prospective recruits for him to turn it all around and become a success.
For arteta his career is on a razors edge but its not over yet.
Tony
“As our funds are dire I wonder if Gabriel could convert to a DM?Not like we’re short of CBs.”
Is it joke Friday.
Imagine watching Gabriel receive the ball in midfield with his back to goal….
He couldn’t even control a simple pass back from Cedric in the the last couple of minutes, which eventually led to the equaliser the other night..
Ishola
It isn’t over for Arteta yet – the EL will more than ever now be his make or break. If he uses remaining Prem games to blood more young players – Balogun, Azeez and certainly Martinelli should be given full game time plus wins EL then he will and should still be here next year
NorthBanker it isn’t over yet for him even if he doesn’t win the EL and blood young players until the seasons end.
He will still be manager of this club come what may at the beginning of next season.
We will get the line of covid disruption to the season and of course his so-called potential in this slow burning project.
It’s not over for Arteta yet, but he’s on the ropes If we qualify on Thursday, and take 6/6 from Sheffield United + Fulham Then the Everton games suddenly has some importance, and Le Grove goes nuts with potentially Arteta vs Emery In the semi final Pedro will be watching that one from behind the sofa….. Things look grim now, but football can turn quickly, hopefully we find a winning formula, and we can finish the season strongly, our run in isn’t the worst The players need to stop sulking, and Arteta needs to give the players some space, and… Read more »
Northbanker
He won’t do that.
They might appear in the last game or two but he’s going to go for Europa league places and shoot for a more respectable league position. His ego won’t allow him to deviate from that.
His ego and arrogance are his major flaws
Personally I’m disappointed that Arteta seems not to be the brilliant new coach many of us had hoped especially after winning the FA Cup. It all looked so good and promising then. Then we started getting too many worrying signs – the sale of Martinez (a catastrophic decision as i have repeatedly said), the signing of Willian – 2 over 30s being offered 3 year mega contracts, the dismissal of Guendouzi, the refusal to play Martinelli for any substantive period at all, the refusal to sell players of key value like AMN and then not use him, the handling of… Read more »
He won’t get sacked even if he goes out to Slavia and doesn’t make any significant progress in the remaining EPL matches.
It will be damaging for him for sure but the powers that be will double down on him and stick with him at least going into next season.
What people need to remember was that Emery was seen as a dirty outsider. This is not the case with Arteta.
Losing Tierney and Ødegaard at this critical time is a killer. But the problem is self infected. They both be allowed to play three games for their country. And Arteta still selected them to play against the Pools. The medical team should have advised the coach that they were both in the red zone. It was a collective failure.
I’m wondering whether we will see a token head roll at the club other than Arteta at the end of the season. They may sacrifice one to look to appease to signify it’s not good enough although not Arteta. Pedro has been edging for a long time that Edu is more of a problem. We might see him as the sacrificial lamb and it won’t be too big of a loss will it. They will need to appease the fans somewhat if the worst scenario plays out this season and shunting Edu and bringing in a new face to replace… Read more »
Rich It’s about performances now We need to see some positivity in the final third for the rest of the season. We need to see signs that next season we will be in the top 4 We need to see that our attacking and youth player riches are not being squandered by a coach determined to strangle them in favour of negative, ego driven bore ball that yields 6th-10th place finishes I don’t care if we nick 6 points now I care about what I see on the field. What I see now is enough to not want to continue… Read more »
Northbanker
Selling Martinez was his biggest mistake thus far. Terrible decision. Only Jamie still disputes it
Keeping auba and bringing Willian in are his second
Rich
I like your thinking 11.02. You have a very balanced way of looking at football matters.,more balanced than myself I would say,I want Arteta gone and have done for a long time now. What would you say to the argument that knowledge/wisdom that Arteta is lacking can be learned/gained but that actually his greatest weakness is his character, call it his ego,arrogance, narcissism,whatever and that is far less likely to change. Hence any extension of his time,regardless of results in the short term is only delaying the inevitable.
Will just point out that in Martinelli’s 17 appearances (many as sub)since his goal v Chelsea , he has failed to score one goal. Will also point out that Eddie’s goalscoring record compared to Balogun is more prolific. Internationally Eddie has 35 in 38 games, compared to 5 goals in 19 for Balogun . Will also point out that Eddie has only started 3 league games this season during the period when our creativity was zero, so to write any player off (especially a prolific goalscorer) is premature , just as it is premature to build up Martinelli and Balogun… Read more »
Pierre
I want to see Eddie do well but he needs a loan. He’s not going to get the required game time here with auba laca Martinelli and maybe Balogun looking for his spot
I’d like to see us try 2 up top sometimes though with such a roster of forwards. You could add Pepe to that list too.
Wiglaf
In fairness the Auba decision was one that would have been hard not to make
It should however have prevented them from doing it twice with Willian even though that came first legally
The moment he let Xhakalson back in the team, before the FA cup, it was clear to me he was Diet Pep
A proper transfer strategy set by the Board and enforced by a good DoF could have avoided some of these mistakes
A great DoF signing is imperative and whoever is coach next season should be no more than that
Would Overmars – Rodgers work as a combo I wonder
Almuniasaynomore We can only deal in the immediate, and I don’t think KSE will sack Arteta even if we go out on Thursday Losing Tierney is a massive blow, but it’s a self inflicted blow, I’m not in any-way making the case for the quality of Kolasinac, but at least he was a left back We loaned out our only natural replacement for Tierney, then over played Tierney, and inevitably broke him Now we have no left back for our run in, it’s not Soares’s fault he keep looking to cut back onto his right, because he’s not a left… Read more »
There will always be the narrative that Arteta is ok and more than ok and it is just other factors.
For me the appointment of Arteta itself is just another reflection of the poor running of the club rather than him being an exception and a victim in all this.
But the Arteta is a victim line will be popular with more than enough fans.
Rich some good points about the imbalance of the squad. I dont believe Arteta will be sacked but I do expect a huge clear out in the summer. If he fails next season then I can see his position might be untenable. I do think we fans underestimate the complexity of managing elite footballers
They aren’t chess pieces, they are multi millionaires with massive and sometimes fragile egos. Is Auba bothered that he isnt putting in a shift? I doubt it. There are currently no fans to give him a hard time and £350grand a week quickly dispels most worries.
“Niles was then sent out on loan 3 months later, because we had no use for him,”
————————————————————————————————
We wanted him to play full back but he wanted to play midfield. The club has granted his wish.
Rich An accurate and pretty much indisputable summation. You didnt assign blame or responsibility for those decisions whereas I blame Arteta for a lot of them,rightly or wrongly. But my question is if we managed miraculously to overhaul the other areas of management within the club, kroenkes excluded,that’s not happening, and managed to bring in say an Overmars type dof,would you then back Arteta to be the man to turn things around? I’ve read every perspective here over the last few weeks but I’ve yet to read a genuinely intelligent argument as to why Arteta would succeed given the right… Read more »
Wiglaf It was far more people here than just Jamie that backed the decision to sell Martinez. Lots of sarcastic comments whenever Martinez made a glaring mistake for Villa [rare] and looking the other way on Leno’s more frequent gaffes. Forget that he’s a better goalie which he is, that period of time where he was between the sticks synching up with the Cup run was the only time under Arteta where we looked resolute and assured at the back and that confidence was largely in part due to Martinez’s presence. Leno lacks that command. He may be a better… Read more »
A goalkeeper is the least of our worries, we made top 4 with Alumunia, fabianski and Ospina
Weagle Always on point. Couldn’t agree more My point is that it’s only Jamie now who’d argue Leno was the right choice. Northbanker On the face if it, it seemed a hard choice but a choice that needed making in my opinion. I saw this coming with him 2 season ago. He was always the sort that disappeared when the chips are down and to me only ever offered the final touch which pads his stats and don’t get me wring, he’s great at it but we cant afford to carry someone like that who’s not contributing around the pitch… Read more »
Also I think the prospect of overmars and Rodgers is quite exciting. Opens the door to a DB10 return ❤️ Stop it
Until we improve our decision making away from the pitch, then we’ll just end up with a revolving door of managers, because we’ll be setting them up to fail Rich You don’t think Arteta has been a key contributor in all of this? Many if not all of the poor squad decisions are his. He had all summer to take a view on saliba. I still maintain signing Gabriel was a mistake and I’m starting to suspect the same with Partey who’s underwhelmed for me. I’d have Torreira straight back in that midfield without question and I’d have had Grealish… Read more »
SidApril 10, 2021 12:23:53
A goalkeeper is the least of our worries, we made top 4 with Alumunia, fabianski and Ospina
😂
It’s really not. Tell us again how poor Sanchez was when he had Messi xavi and iniesta feeding him. Farmer Sid 😉
‘Personally, I believe the talent of players like willock, Eddie, Martinelli, Balogun and Nelson are being wasted by Arteta.’ Not every young player is going to make it. No doubt over the years you were probably also championing the likes of JET, Owusu-Abeyie, Henri Lansbury, Fran Merida and Wellington Silva as excellent prospects that deserved more game time. There’s nothing egregious about ‘writing off’ some young players based on performances when they are given opportunities. You conveniently omit to mention that Eddie Nketiah was poor at Leeds in the Championship and Bielsa didn’t at all fancy him despite him breaking… Read more »
To me it keeps coming back to his flawed personality. I’m genuinely wondering if you think such an argument exists.
Almunia
Yeah that’s my big concern now. It’s becoming clear what a bell the bloke is
Some genuine humility and soul searching is required along with a therapist perhaps to alter the issues in Arteta’s psyche.
Strikes me as quite insecure
Eagle
Willock has had a great impact at Newcastle
I’m not sure how much more you’d want form a 21 year old loanee
Wiglaf
He’s done pretty well sure considering his age and the circumstances but I don’t look at him and see a player that will help us get back to a competitive club personally.
I would take advantage of his decent spell and try to get a good fee for him. If Newcastle manage to beat the drop, they will likely look to make it a permanent deal.
If we do opt to make Odegaard [superior player and talent] permanent, how do you accommodate him, ESR, Saka and Willock in the team exactly?
Incase you hadnt noticed , Xavi, iniesta were there to support Messi, Alexis was isolated, now you know
Wiglaf The truth is that from the moment I heard the story about Arteta buying Gazidis the watch,I made my mind up about him that he was a self serving, narcissistic, sycophant who should never be let near a management job. Now, a part of me says that I’m being prejudiced and totally unreasonable judging a man’s character from one story, a story I can’t even be sure is true. Yet since he got the job a lot of his actions seem to confirm that his personality is exactly as portrayed in that story. That’s why I’m asking Rich if… Read more »
To my mind one person has to be in charge, and therefore be accountable for all on-pitch activities. Arteta and Edu seems to have this contrived and nebulous relationship which means both and therefore neither are in charge. Its no wonder we lack leadership and strategic direction. So if its to be a new DoF, that person needs to be in charge of the manager/coach and the football. And if we rightly regard this as a critically important appointment, then that person needs to appoint a new manager/coach. Of, if they want to persist with Arteta dedpite his manifold shortcomings… Read more »
If we fail to win the EL, we will desperately need to raise funds for any type of investment in the summer to improve the team by selling players. With all of the loanees back on the books we look incredibly bloated. For the ST position we have Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelli, Nketiah, Balogun. For wide forward/CAM’s we have Saka, Pepe, Willian, Smith-Rowe, Willock, Nelson. There’s simply far too many players and still a massive lack of quality when you look at the likes of United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester, Spurs. What’s the point in having Eddie, Willock and Nelson ride the… Read more »
Eagle
Let’s see what happens with Odegaard. Willock is better deeper and Arteta seems to love Odegaard as his 10 and ESR wide left
Not saying Willock is the answer but henoffers something nobody else does and he’s learning how to defend from midfield at Newcastle. Won’t do him any harm
Not against selling but I think he’s done well there myself and I personally think he’s done well for us too.
Highest goal scoring midfielder for two seasons while barely getting a game isn’t he?
If Newcastle show any indication of wanting to buy Willock at a reasonable price he will be sold this summer.
As Weagle says funds are likely to be short and it’s probably going to be a case of sell to buy in the summer transfer window.
Almunia
Yeah. I too share your concerns about his personality but maybe; if we hire someone to work over him, guide and pull him in line when necessary which I feel he needs then maybe he could work.
I’m not convinced he’s the master tactician he was sold to us as but he’s still a clever bloke who as demonstrated strong capabilities in organising defensive structures and exploring opposition weaknesses
But he doesn’t know how to create an attacking force from what I’ve seen and he seems to alienate too many of his squad.
Kroenkephobe
How’s it going man? You’ve still not put me out of my misery, who’s your keeper and who’s up front? Hope that life in lockdown in Wales is as enthralling as it is over here!
Arsenal are a mess. We need people with good understanding of the game and good eye for players to run the ship otherwise we will continue to be a mid table club for a long long time. Arteta is sadly not the guy to take us forward. He has some good qualities but the negative aspects outweigh the positive ones. We needed someone who had a bit of Mourinho and a bit of Wenger in him but Arteta is far more tilted towards Mourinho style of management both in terms of the kind of football he plays and his man… Read more »
Joe willock 8 goals/assists in 17 starts this season from midfield…
If only we had midfield player in the side with such impressive figures.
Wiglaf For who, Arsenal? He scored 3 goals. I mean two of those were against Dundalk who are quite literally a pub team. Can you honestly recall a single memorable Willock performance that wasn’t against Europa League minnows for us? Like I said, he may well go on to be a good player but it’s unlikely that he goes on to be a game-changer for us. You can’t keep every half-decent player and expect to improve as a club. Lingard has been killing it at West Ham. Do you seriously believe that they will bring him back and bench Rashford,… Read more »
We wouldn’t have sold Iwobi to Everton either with that kind of thinking.
And Iwobi looked every bit as good or better than Willock has for Arsenal.
What teams are they against Pierre?
Wiglaf
Yeah, I think it’s fair to credit him with that but again the question is, was his defensive success/organisation down to sacrificing attacking potential and if so,it wasn’t really all that clever was it? Maybe I’m being harsh but I can’t remember any game under Arteta where we played a good team and looked solid at the back and threatening going forward at the same time. He seems limited to me.
Almuniasaynomore I’m not really Arteta in or Arteta out, I generally don’t think managers get enough time to work, and that our biggest issues aren’t necessarily coaching or tactics, we’ve picked up some big performances in big games, and some of the points we’ve lost have been down to individual errors, rather than being tactical mistakes Our main issues are lack of leadership that should be coming from the top, poor squad balance, poor scouting and recruitment, poor contract management, some of our squad is extremely poor and overpaid For all the talk around coaching + tactics, it’s the players… Read more »
Auba cares only for his lifestyle and is poisonous to the club.
Arteta and co have made sackable offenses in giving him a huge deal and following that up with Willian.
He now has to play them as Josh and Stan want to see results using these two ‘star’ players.
Unreal