We’re going with a short post today, I’ve had time to think on what we’re seeing at Arsenal, and clearly, it’s not good enough.
If I’m going to be consistent, then I have to hold Arteta to the same standards I’ve held the previous two managers. My view is you need to see progress. Whatever the vision, at some point, you need to see it consistently. At 18 months, I want to see an identity, even if it fails. I want some 5-0 wins even if its at the expense of some bad losses.
Football is about performances.
Winning ugly only matters if you’ve shown the world you are capable of winning with beauty.
Arteta hasn’t found the formula. It’s mostly rigid and ugly. Good managers work with the tools they have, our guy is not doing that.
We rarely win with glory.
We often lose with pain.
At some point, bum mistakes need to be levelled at the person in charge.
Villareal, regardless of what the Spanish tell you, are not a good side. We had the players to do something interesting and we fucked it up.
Our squad didn’t show up. Good players, well rested, with only one thing on their agenda. There’s no excuse.
The tactics were poor. The team selection was average. The performance was absolutely awful.
We came away with hope because one of our stars won an extremely dubious penalty.
Arsenal are now at the stage where we might win the game in the second leg inspite of Arteta, not because of him.
The energy was low, the performance was bland, the team selection was bad galaxy brain in the worst of ways.
Arteta chose to play Xhaka at left back, despite giving Cedric a 4 year deal. He chose to play Chambers over Bellerin despite having zero pace in his back 4. He thought the best option was to leave Martinelli on the bench.
Those were awful decisions.
We’re at the point where his approach doesn’t even have a nuanced excuse. It’s just pure terribleness an amateur could fix.
Thomas Partey was awful, he’s been here 10 months, you can’t hide behind ‘adaptation’ away in Spain. He’s been there for 8 years, this was his moment.
Every Arsenal fan KNEW Ceballos was going to be sent off because he’s shite and lacks maturity. Earlier in the season, he was mean to the kids in training, which caused a fight between him and David Luiz, because the exChelsea man wouldn’t tolerate it. Arteta knew he was a dick, but he was given the game.
Chambers played right back again when Hector was fit. The Spaniard might be off, but he’s a pro and he can at least run. Chambers is a centre back. Why did he start, he was awful?
Xhaka has done a good job, but he’s not a left back. Cedric is a good full back, certainly capable of playing against Villareal. Why didn’t he start? We gave him a 4 year deal. We need Xhaka as a centre mid in big games, even his detractors can see that.
There’s no identity.
There’s limited effort.
We are shocking, even with good players starting.
It’s time to questions the process.
We’re now at the point where it’s fair to ask if this project is worth the juice, because rookie mistakes aren’t one offs now, they’re now part of the deal.
Does a Europa win change the mess? It wouldn’t have for Emery. Now I’m worried it won’t for Arteta.
Arsenal are woeful. There’s no peak. The best we can hope for is bumming our way to the final… then what?
Arteta picked the slowest defence in Europe. He chose to bench Martinelli. He tried a front 4 we had now clue about. Emery beat him tactically.
It was miserable.
There’s still 90 minutes to rectify this, my concern now is what happens if he does sort it? What does next season bring? Are we extending the inevitable?
I’m pissed. Arteta didn’t make a minor error, he dropped a major. Where do we go from here?
What do you think? Let us now in the comments.
P.S. It’s just me an Johnny on the podcast. Take a listen. x
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First step towards progress would be to stop lowering the ambition.
Top 4 is not enough. PL trophy is.
Europa/FA cup is not enough. CL trophy is.
Those who don’t fight for it, be it Xhaka or Ceballos or Partey or Willian, they don’t fucking deserve to wear that shirt. I see Arteta don’t wear one anyways…
Vintage
Aston villa was the first game we played at the Emirates. We drew that game 1-1
Late in the season we tasted our first defeat in our new home against west ham where they beat us 1-0.
“I noticed that Emery has successfully developed the high pressing game. In the 1st half, they pressed with 4 players. It totally stopped our play out from the back.”
My missuss had to suffer my rage at this … why is it that in all the time at Arsenal we couldn’t muster a press for more than 10mins of a game whereas Villerreal were pressing high and aggressively for long periods.
Was this a one off for them? Does it come down to the group of players we have are just too lazy / mollycoddled to do that?
The real question is who will hold Mike accountable? Is it Josh? Edu?
Vinai? All of them weak and incompetent.
Edu and Mike are on the same level… for fucks sake!
Last night was no different from what have seen all year.
Inept line up
Poor management ( Dani)
WE need to get rid of this fella end of season…
He is not Pep
We do not have the team like CIty or the $
What the hell is he doing??
Its a shame that most of the fanbase are already switching their attention to Arteta. This is a shielding and distraction tactic from the main problem which is Kroenke. Wenger, Emery and now Arteta all working under diabolical leadership and structure. Nothing will change until Kroenkes gone we all need to focus our attentions on this sole purpose and objective, anything else is groundhog day as far as I’m concerned.
The kroenkes are the same as Arteta , all talk and bullshit. If they were serious about restoring Arsenal back to the top they would of sacked Arteta this morning. They are as clueless as Arteta, I’m just amazed how the kroenkes ever made money
Gonsterous I stand corrected. Pedro, honest post mate. I half expected you to abandon ship and go into witness protection so fair play for fronting up for your lashings. It’s sad the way things are turning out under Arteta as i was excited by the “new era” of his appointment. But in the end it’s more of the same minus the 22 game unbeaten run. I thought he would be a development coach which given our financial situation and high volume of youth prospects would have been exactly what we needed but 18months in hardly anyone’s really improved. More frightening… Read more »
Manure has Cavani and we have Auba lol
Where I am based major news don’t even bother with the Arsenal result ! That hammers home how low Arsenal has fallen.. Unlike the Hollywood movie the angel has fallen, this is sorry scene with the club…
Arteta simply isn’t up to scratch and we usually “counsel out” such non performing staff before needing to let them go…
What’s Vinai fucking about ? Vinai is very lucky to still be around still ….the trio should leave asap anyway.
Lolz.
Arteta is as bad as all the one eyed blogs Pedro has sent out for the past year.. Because he nailed his colors to the Arteta mast Pedro has blindly defended Arteta when most reasonable fans have been raising questions all season. I thought Pedro would come up with another slant last night but to his credit he hasn’t. Even he can’t defend the indefensible !
Yeah Pedro agreed on most points
I can forgive mistakes. I struggle to forgive the fact that 70+% of our games are littered with baffling mistakes from the manager.
It’s not like he’s doing something clever and it just needs time or the right players. He’s not doing much of anything clever at all. And it shows both in frequently poor performances and even more frequently poor results
Arteta shifts into Emeryzone?
Nah, he’s been in the Emeryzone for a while.
Feels more like The Twilight Zone, a place where ESR plays as a false nine whilst Martinelli and Nketiah twiddle their thumbs on the subs bench, a place where the 97th minute injury time cavalry is composed of Willian and ElNeney.
There are good performances and results scattered in there but isn’t the same true of every mid table team? It’s absolutely par the course. Just look at Everton, villa, west Ham, Leeds etc
Totally normally to sometimes play well. Doesn’t make you a champions league team
What I can say with absolute certainty is this, if arteta grew his hair, rubbed in a whole vat of hair gel and started aggressively grimacing whilst playing with his throat there would be no major difference between him and bummery
What still bugs me from last night is the lack of intensity and drive from us in a cup semi final. Our whole season rests on these games and we muster a measly one shot on target in open play.
And it’s not the fact we lost( 1-2 away is cool) as we have a good chance of progressing, its the manner of these performances.
We lack fight, control and a cutting edge in most games this season and it’s boring.
Nah it was west ham who were the first team to win in the league at the emirates
Frustrating game west ham deserved to win
For Arsenal’s sake, I still hope that we could somehow win the Cup and play some CL football next season. I wish the club would hire an experience DOF this Summer to guide the club along. The current process is only good for a midtable team.
Even if we win the EL (unlikely) is like to see the club to replace him in the summer anyway. A thanks for the two cups and all the best in the future from me
If bummery had a 1000 yard stare, wore a turtle neck, and kept shouting at the sidelines in a collection of European languages he’d be Diet Pep.
“What I can say with absolute certainty is this, if arteta grew his hair, rubbed in a whole vat of hair gel and started aggressively grimacing whilst playing with his throat there would be no major difference between him and bummery”
LMAO
China1.
Arteta is over blown. He is not as good as he thinks he is. An experienced DOF can guide him along.
I’m tired of your flip flopping pedro. Either you’re patient or you are not. Haven’t read a single comment above, sort your agenda so I can get behind it or not. Sorry, love the blog but find a direction.
Vintage,
Are you sure, because the initial game at the Emirates was against Aston Villa. I remember the defeat against WestHam which we absolutely batter but got caught once on a sucker punch counter attack.
The Spend some fucking money was a few years later. I might be wrong, but I don’t think that it was against Villa either anyway.
Have to say I’d be hugely surprised if Arteta doesn’t make it to the start of next season. As some perceptive posters have pointed out,the Kroenkes could have deflected attention by sacking him and gaining (minor) credit with the fans. If you accept that they are too stubborn to sell,then they will also see this to the (bitter) end. I would like to see him go now,but I cant see it happening. I would be much slower to criticize/ judge Odegaard btw. Creative/technical players of his ilk are the most vulnerable to criticism when a team’s not performing well. The… Read more »
You can trust Emery to bring out the Rottweiler in Pedro. Funny part is that he`s sunk his fangs into Arteta`s behind.
Im loving this. Maybe the Geordies will put the final nail in this Joker`s coffin
Arsenal is not gonna make it folks, the approach is ****ing garbage.
At least we know that Arteta won’t be here next season now, no way he continues his internship while the club continues to plummet in shambles
Surely Stan and his son cant be that daft
Nelson, I don’t think that an experience DoF would be able to help Arteta. You can’t help people who refuse to help themselves and Arteta does not strike me as somebody who would gladly listen. My take is that an experienced DoF will initially give suggestions, once his suggestions are discarded he will start issuing orders. Again I can’t see Arteta accepting to take orders without trying to bypass the chain of command and worm his way directly to Vinay. He tried that once already to get parity with Edu. However Once that happen with an experienced DoF then it… Read more »
Surely Stan and his son cant be that daft
yes they can
Kroenkephobe
Meant to wish you all the best in sorting out your move, happy days ahead for you both I hope. Don’t let arsenal get you down,happier days are always closer than we think!
Guess we’ll find out pretty soon one way or the other, if he doesn’t make the final or get whooped in the final against fckin Man U and still stays in the job next season then the club is truly fcked
an offensive minded coach would never go with this shit line up
Arteta has showed his hand from last season… he is a rigid defensive coach.
Imagine a Bielsa or Rodgers picking a line up like this?
Pep or Klopp even?? Even Pep would say, ummm no, we are shit, no need for a false 9
He showed how tactically inept he was yesterday. We are so lucky to not have them score a third. That would be curtains.
@englandsbest “Management has been a learning process for Arteta. But he is bold enough to experiment. Had Tierney and Laca been available, there would have been no need. And evidently, for whatever reason, he thought neither Nketiah and/or Martinelli was the answer. Okay, his experiment failed. But fall marks to him for trying.” —————————————————————————————————————– No, not full marks for trying. Fail marks for trying more like. The place to experiment is the 4th round of the League Cup against Charlton, not the semi-final of the Europa League when your entire season and indeed, the next as well for budgetary reasons,… Read more »
Pedro is hiding.. Lol
What place are we in since Xmas now?😂
His anxiety of not knowing how to naturally build an attacking side, was on display. He wanted to fit all his dribblers and creators at once on the pitch.
SMH !!!!!
He is playing Emery ball- fucking around with lineups, not knowing what he is doing, the players also had no cohesion… bar Saka who had to pull a solo act to win the pen
Get out Mike… take a vacation permanently
Can still see us reach the final but i rather go out now. I prefer to be humiliated by Emery than losing a european final against ****ing United and their hobbit coach.that would be so much painful!
Can’t watch the likes of Penandez and slab head taking the piss on the club. If we make the final I don’t care whether if it means Arteta stays pls just win the fcking thing.
Supreme leader is fully behind Diet Pep, i mean he is in Diet peps full behind
Arteta is the biggest fraud in the game based on the last few months…
ESR got a right whack during the game would be madness
to risk him .
Last night proved how deluded Arteta has become,,no starting full backs ( 2 on the bench),Odegaard clearly wasnt fit,and to top it all off ESR as a false 9 in a European semi final ,,total shambles start to finish,,Arteta Out
His tactic was to throw in all players from la liga and hope for the best
The spineless Diet Pep fanboys have used cancel culture on anyone that dared point out the flaws of their idol
Valentin
I think your right. I confused one traumatic match with another!
Yesterday’s game has also exposed the limitation of both Holding and Mari to support the attack. After our attack through the midfield has been stopped, Holding and Mari started to send long ball up field. But the quality of their long balls were very bad. They were either inaccurate or too hard. Maybe they should learn a few things from Luiz in the training ground.
Cazorla
that wasn’t a defensive formation just because we didn’t have a cf.
playing without a striker was certainly not an normal, or even offensive line up was it?
Seems like Pedro is coming around. But, there have been posts like this before. A 1-0 against Newcastle and I suspect the generational talk will start up again. Yesterday’s loss was on Arteta. Not a squad quality problem. Our squad isn’t the best but it’s plenty good enough to thrash Villareal. It wouldn’t matter if we had young Cesc and prime van Persie out there—Arteta would find a way to ensure that they were misused. Hell, he’d probably have isolated and alienated them just to prove a point. We made a mistake hiring Arteta. That’s fine, sometimes shit doesn’t work… Read more »
Once again, Saka’s bravery and positivity saves Arteta’s blushes. Furthermore, he is targeted so much he can’t be far behind Grealish as the Premier Leagues most-fouled player. Also, am I the only Le Grover underwhelmed by both Partey and Odegaard. Thomas hasn’t got the engine we were led to believe he possessed, misplaces too many passes and his shooting is woeful. As for the expensive loanee, too many simple ten yard passes and a reluctance to shoot will not take us to the next level. On a positive note, however, Pedro has at last seen the light.
Who could be the next manager?
That’s a problem on it’s own as there is no obvious candidate.
Mert is the next manager,
you can take this to the bank!
So disrespectful calling Emery bummery when the board and current manager are not fit to tie his shoes
Pedro will 9nly come around when he admits Emery is a better manager.
Despite what many think on here, Partey is fine , I like the way he plays the game. It’s like a player is never allowed to make a stray pass. The thing is , Partey is a forward thinking player and forward thinking players will naturally concede possession of the football occasionally as they take more risks. What should also be taken into consideration is that his midfield partner (ceballos)is a bit of a loose cannon plus it seemed to me as if Ceballos was asked to cover xhaka., leaving the central midfield area for partey .to cover.. Give him… Read more »
Sid
Why you keep saying Mert? did you not read the interview when he said he was terrified to play and get picked? This is not what we need as a coach. no way jose
Another example of how horrendous the referee was yesterday.
We actually scored from an indirect set piece routine.
The ref gave a Free foul for this – a Villareal player tripping a Villareal player.
https://m.imgur.com/TcfG2Wt
Tony Adams prefered a drink to calm him, its normal to be terrified accepting it is a big step towards overcoming
No thank you to any millenial coach.
We need an experienced – successful one… none of the same – Mert reminds me of a cowardly arteta yes man as well.
Im telling you for free.
Tony Adams would shut down the pubs before stepping on the pitch!
If Mert wanted to get in coaching he wouldn’t if become the head of academy.
Chewing Gum Helps lower Game Day Nerves and Reduces Fear
@ GSF, Three words
O.G.S!
Ten Hag signs new Ajax deal. Brendan Rodgers he already knocked back Spurs. No Nagelsmann. Doesn’t look promising for them. Is there a lack of decent coaching options around at the moment?
Rightly or wrongly I don’t believe KSE will pull the trigger on Arteta even if we don’t go through on Thursday. I think he will be given the summer to reshape the squad. Emery was shown a degree of patience and the same will likely be afforded to Arteta.
a lot of players drank before a game decades ago.
Pedro
‘I want to see an identity, even if it fails. I want some 5-0 wins even if its at the expense of some bad losses.’
Sounds like you want wenger back.
Anyway, we were crap last night but I still think we’ll sneak through though.
I’m also pretty sure we will get through on Thursday by hook or crook, but the potential final I really worries me. Perhaps defeatist but I fear Man Utd would really put us to the sword.
Wenger fumbled with his zipper to calm nerves
Chris
Villareal always score away, which means Arsenal would need two goals or more.
Considering we failed to score two goals in two out of three against Benfica, Olympiacos, and Slavia, not sure then where that confidence is coming from.
Biggles
According to you – and all the other knowledgeable tacticians on here – winning a football game is a simple matter of picking the best players and putting them in their best positions. But it’s like saying winning the national lottery is a simple matter of picking the right numbers on the right day. A statement that’s really not very helpful.
I’m reasonably sure that every manager plays his best players in their best positions whenever he can. So how come they all don’t win most of the time?
I’ll leave you to answer that one.
32 year old capoue and forsyth formerly Watford players and Arsenal has to resort to long balls to overcome their midfield
Let that sink in
Tom
I think we will see at least two of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Tierney, we won’t see an experimental line up again surely, and if the players can’t raise themselves for this then it wouldn’t just be potentially the coach who needs to be changed. Quite frankly I would be very happy to see the back of at least 5 players in our squad who start their fair share of matches.
Its not Arteta, its the players who find the means and ways to get it done.
They know whats at stake…
Would not be surprised if they dont follow his instructions to win the game… I think secretly some of them think Mike is full of shit
Englandsbest Picking winning lottery numbers odds are about one in 300 million. Picking players best suited to given positions — and I’m not a statistician so I’m taking a wild guess here — are probably a bit better. Not to mention the 5 subs to correct any misjudgments. How hard was it predicting Xhaka at LB would be having a hard time against Chuckwueze? Half the posters on here said it before the game. Arteta didn’t think so because……….Xhaka did well at LB against Slavia. Well, Slavia don’t have a tricky , fast winger. It’s hard to throw a snarky… Read more »
The kroenkes don’t give a flying fuck about Arsenal. If they did they would have never gone for the cheap bloke rookie option to replace emery in the first place. They probably figured some people would be gullible enough to buy it, as a (negligibly) ex arsenal player, guardiola disciple and as a guy who talks a good game.
Like the kroenkes if what arteta could produce was anything like the bluster and hyperbole they come out with we might indeed “be excited”. Its not looking like it will ever happen.
Penny finally fucking drops Pedro.
Well done you!
Just one refereeing mistake after another
Vestegaard never in a million years was that a red
Fooked the game up from the start.?
Watching our U-18s being given a walloping by Liverpool U-18s. You would think it’s the senior teams playing. Same outcomes. The rot at the club is deep!!!
This is so depressing
Not so sure James, dangerous and out of control, could have broken Vardy’s ankle. As a club we’ve suffered a fair few nasty injuries like that so on balance I’d rather see a red card for a dangerous tackle than one for breathing on someone in the penalty area.
Many will scorn me for this, but even on his bad days, winger was never this bad – except the day he started sanogo against bayern Munich. Arteta has strikers on the bench and chooses Pepe as center forward. I knew as soon as I saw that we were going to struggle to score even one goal. Xhaka was played out of position, why wasn’t bellerin playing, and we don’t have a single creative player in the squad. And we need a new goalkeeper. I watched the game at a bar in Vegas, and the fellow next to me actually… Read more »
Shad: agree with you on Cedric and Sara to cover the left-side and to provide a real threat [Tierney seems to take a couple of games to get back up to speed and we don’t have those warm up games] Xhaka did quite well, especially without support before Martinelli came on — despite the focus on his attacking contributions, Martinelli is very useful defensively The criticism of Chambers is a little harsh as crossing into the box is almost pointless unless you have a target in the box and we didn’t have any targets Also what happened to our press?… Read more »
Andy1886.
On review Andy I agree
So easy to see something first time and comment
was definitely dangerous.
What’s better between losing marginally to Villarreal or get humiliated by Man utd in the final?
Andy
I tend to agree with you there.
First reaction …..it seems harsh, but upon reflection I thought it was the right call.
The only problem of course, the explanation given by VAR was that it was for denying the goal scoring opportunity and not for a dangerous tackle.
So back to square one.
I don’t think Vardy gets to the ball if not tackled but they thought he would’ve.
Kenyangunner
Going to the final always better.
Roma gifted United three goals yesterday and even though The Mancs are more talented I hardly think it would be a blow out.
Tom/James, Yeah, right decision for the wrong reason. I’d still like to see ex-players in the booth with VAR, referees seem clueless in interpreting anything more subjective than offside.
Imagine you are the average European fan. You follow the Premier League but not that closely. You know all the big names and a few of the players from the more successful teams. Let’s say you are a Napoli or Valencia fan. You then look at the Arsenal line-up for yesterday’s semi-final against Villareal. The might Arsenal. Here’s what you see. Leno: I think I’ve heard of him. German right? Chambers: Who? Holding: Who? Mari: Who? Xhaka: Isn’t he a midfielder? Ceballos: Who? Partey: The midfielder from Atletico. I know him. Thought he was good, though. Odegaard: That young kid… Read more »
KenyaGunner
Good question but I think losing to Emery’s Villareal would be far worse.
I’m going to keep fighting this ‘Saka at left-back’ battle until people stop suggesting it.
You have a fantastic academy graduate who has always made it clear he doesn’t want to play left-back. He’s our best attacking player. Play him in his best position. Period. Do you want him to want to stay at Arsenal? C’mon people!!!
The managerial pickings are slim out there. I would love for us to take a gamble on Gasperini.
Gasperini better speak good enough English though. If not, no go.
If Tottenham take Rangnick that will be a real kick in the balls. He is actually the obvious choice.
Lol England’s best it took arteta a whole year since joining to start regularly playing Saka in his best position despite everyone knowing he was best on the wing before he even joined
The guy is a fraud. At least with wenger he had a history of great successes. Really no idea why you think arteta can do no wrong in the face of all evidence to the contrary
Bummery vs farteta
A match made in paradise
Lol Pedro you spent 3 years running the arteta propaganda and you’ve gone and fully indoctrinated cazorla and England’s best
Now they’re going to go to war for him forever unless you can guide them towards the light!!
Don’t need another novice cutting his teeth on management to replace Arteta who may one day become a decent coach but isn’t remotely good enough now.
Piss weak performance that sadly was not out of character.
Farcical team selection.
Hard to see us turning it around in the second leg.
Bummery vs farteta
A match made in paradise
LOL good one.!
Arteta has not made a single tactical masterclass since he has been with us for nearly 18 months. (A record in itself if he really is to be considered “generational”) Now some will crow that he won us the FA Cup. Let me re-frame the setting as some genuinely think that what we did vs Liverpool was impressive. Liverpool had finally won the PL. They finally won it after fucking up with that Stevie G slip. The entire club was over the moon. Winning the FA Cup was the last thing on their mind. From what I remember, there was… Read more »
Been thinking Brenda would be perfect. EPL tested. Won in other leagues. Plays attacking football. Not a novice. Experienced. Can work with teams on a budget.
Ticks lots of boxes. Would jump at this if it were to open I feel
Tom
We could ALL see it coming – including me. Perhaps you read my post – a forecast that Arsenal would win provided Tierney played at LB.
But what NONE of us knows – including you – are the precise circumstances that made Arteta play Xhaka rather than, say, Soares.
Guns of SF Interesting line of thought as my cousin was highly praising Brendan when I spoke to him last night. And I can only agree. He is a proven PL manager who has an actual idea of what he wants and does it. A manager that I would welcome at the Arsenal. I’d take anyone who has a proven record over a novice nobody who genuinely thinks he is Pep. Someone mentioned that Pep setup his team with a false 9 in his CL game on Wed night. If that is the case, this really shows what a wannabe… Read more »
Did you see today Southampton vs Leicester? Bredan who? Why anyone can’t see the real manager ?
G. Giarlis
Leicester are 3rd at the moment in the PL and finished 1-1 vs Soton.
So what’s your point?
The snobbery at having someone experienced at the club is ludicrous on here.
So carrying on with MA is the way to go then is it?
Cazorla
You are right. It was Chelsea. For some reason I had the Community Shield game in mind.
My apologies.