We’re going to play a game today.
GOOD OR BAD?
ARSENAL USE HEADHUNTERS FOR SCOUTS
Story in the Guardian said that Arsenal have activated a crack team of sporting headhunters to find themselves some on-the-ground scouts for Germany, UK, France and Spain. So, like… hiring scouts for scouts?
This might seem odd to you. Last year, Edu was championing the future of a centralized scouting system. Now he’s hiring new people. I found that weird, but I suppose you need to see people in the flesh and have connected people to find out important things like:
Is the player a total whopper?
Are they fast in the flesh?
How loud can they shout?
We sacked the last batch of scouts because they failed. Never forget that. There might be some sort of HR law that states you can’t rehire in the same position for a set amount of time, hence the wait. Who knows.
Two things that intrigue me here:
- We used headhunters. That’s a professional way to find talent. No more ‘how about my mate Bruno Mazziotti’ or ‘Kia knows a guy’ recruitment. This is a move in the right direction.
- WHY NOW. We’re about the enter the most pivotal summer of all time and we’re only now engaging the people that find players. Feels like we missed the boat there.
SCORE: GOOD
LA RAMS LOVE WHAT YOUNG COACH BRINGS TO THE PARTY
Sometimes, to truly know what Stan vibes about, you need to look to America where is Rams team are landing lovely write-ups in the WSJ about having all their talent traded or hired.
“We’ve had a lot of turnover for all the right reasons,” coach Sean McVay says. “Those are positive problems if you’re having guys leave for better opportunities.”
The Rams were a moribund franchise for years until they made the bold decision to tap Sean McVay and make him the youngest coach in modern NFL history. Four years later, he’s still the youngest coach in the league. The difference now is that his résumé includes a Super Bowl appearance and a 43-21 record.
One of the NFL’s worst teams quickly became one of the NFL’s best teams under McVay and general manager Les Snead. The idea of hiring a young and unproven coach—particularly one with a connection to McVay—became the hottest thing in football since the wildcat.
“In an era where people are looking for turnarounds, we are a turnaround,” team president Kevin Demoff says.
Rams hire a young guy. Arsenal hire a young guy.
KSE back the Rams. MAYBE they back Arsenal.
Now, before the Deputy Douche Bags of the NFL rush to tell me I’m wrong, hear me out… Arteta is supposed to be the ideas guy, he’s supposed to be part of a transformational moment, The Rams project is pretty decent.
Seems pretty clear KSE like something about this approach.
We are long way from the top, but if we have a good summer of ‘trades’, we won’t be far off next season.
SCORE: GOOD
MIKEL ARTETA GETS CRYPTIC ABOUT CHANGE
‘Do I create the necessary environment for a top elite team to perform at the highest level & get everybody in condition to give their best. And do I get the best of the players that I have? The maximum, whatever the level is. This is how I judge myself.’
Well Mikel, clearly not, we just shit our pants against Villareal over the two legs and we’re midtable. Something is wrong, you have to own that, and you have to fix it. Ruthless isn’t changing a squad that mostly isn’t yours… it’s making the necessary changes to the staff you hired and fucked up a year ago. The environment isn’t perfect, the keeper department has been a disaster, things need to change.
“Now it is how we evolve, there are a lot of things that had to be done and they have been done, a lot of changes to make and a lot of them have been made. Now it is time to evolve. To evolve you to have to take things so that when they are a little more settled and established, take them to the next level.”
Big changes are coming this summer. WAR CHEST STORIES ARE THERE. We have talent that we can actually sell. Arteta needs to move hard at the squad. Shift on players that are old or useless. Sign in a blend of ready-made and youth. This is his last window where he can get away with pointing at the last 10 years. The moves have to be elite.
Question is, does a man that won’t admit Xhaka at left back was a mistake have it in him to admit his backroom team might also need a bit of the non-negotibales treatment? Does a man addicted to pumping players that let him down have the guts to tell David Luiz and Kia the party is over?
We’ll see.
SCORE: BAD
That’s all I have for you. Don’t complain, I’m not out here asking you for $5.00 a month. This is free. Only thing I ask? Get the podcast in your damn ears and stop resisting my voice.
I don’t want us in Europe next year, qualify or not. We just don’t deserve it. With our resources, struggling to finish above West Ham and a bankrupt Spurs (who sacked their manager)…we should be totally ashamed of ourselves.
@Champagne Charlie
May 13, 2021 13:07:43
“Look I can’t make you see what I see from the season. If you don’t see a pattern of play and organisation then that’s that. For me we’re a mile better organised than anything we’ve seen for years, that’s given us a foothold in almost every match this season and made it about fine margins vs 30 shot blowouts.
…there’s potential within the mess. How much remains to be seen, but I don’t think we’re at the point of ending things with Arteta. I think it’s premature, and I think it undermines his initial appointment to give so little relative time to influence matters.”
Bang on- 100%
The short-term memories of some on here are staggering. For the last 5 years under AW (many would argue longer), our record against the top-teams was abysmal- there were regular heavy losses, no coherent defensive structure or solidity, no tactical gameplan. The signings were poor, the competitiveness gone (outside the odd cup run). Emery didnt feel like the right appointment- but we all gave him a chance as a) he wasnt wenger, and b) he was the europa league specialist. What we got was more confusion- and there was no tangible improvement defensively whilst our attacking play regressed.
Under Arteta, you can clearly see what he is trying to achieve. The acceptance of standards below being the best- the non-negotiables- thats precisiely where we need to be. Our playing out from the back is under a high press night & day better than it was (still not perfect by a long way- but we dont look like were are going to conceded every time the GK has the ball in his hands). The players are organised & press as the team- we no longer carry a no 10, they have to do a shift too. And, since Christmas, we have finally started to find our feet going forward. Nowhere near good enough for challenging for the top prizes- but there is improvement. And the deadwood is being dealt with. Slowly, sometimes painfully expensively, but the sins of the past are being sorted- Ozil, Mustaphi, Sok, Mikhi, etc., etc.
The frsutration is that it so often feels like 1 step forward, 2 backards. The persistance with Willian; the man management inconsistencies; the ‘galaxy brain’ moments (a semi-final needing to win is not the time to experiement with a false-nine); the reluctance to go to a solution that seems to be blindingly obvious to everyone else; the intransigence to play certian players. Its frustrating as fuck.
But, he is a rookie manager. Some of those are undoubtably rookie mistakes. Whether or not he should be our manager right now is moot- he is. And, whether or not he’ll be a great manager will ultimately come down to whether he can learn from them (and how fast- time is not a commodity given in modern football)- and thats either with us, or someone else.
But, as you very articulately said, the potential is clearly there. With Arteta, we are 6 months pregnant- there is zero upside in changing anything now: you have to see this through next year, otherwise you have gained nothing and lost everything. If anything, now is a time to be looking above him (Vinai, Edu, etc) and asking whether the structure is working there (you would have to say not- but thats a different point).
But, to change the manager now? Unless The Kroenke’s have suddenly decide that they are going to drop 250m in the transfer market (fat chance) and hire a 9m a year manager to get the best out of them- I fail to see the how it would move us forward. More than that, I want to see if he can turn that potential into tangible improvement & momentum next year- its too early to call for me.
MorayMay 13, 2021 14:15:50
Is there a better “dead rubber” team in world football than Arsenal?The moment the pressure is off and we have nothing whatsoever to play for, expect peerless performances. It’s both predictable and shameful. Cowardice has run through Arsenal since early on in Wenger’s reign.
_________________
It truly is pathetic. Same thing last season when they beat Liverpool who was already on the beach. The Arteta fangirls thought he was vindicated after that lol. Embarrassing. Wenger used to do this all the time at the end of the season after getting dumped out of every competition.
If your reaction after Arsenal win at Chelsea is ‘yea but..’ then you should have the night off, simple as that.
It’s funny because you can go back to when we beat chelshit under Emery a couple of seasons ago and see what some of the same superfans reactions were….you know,the same guys that are calling people fake fans for ‘moaning’ after a win.Embarassing bunch and should be ashamed of themselves….how many times have we seen xg stats being used to knock a win here when the manager wasn’t arteta?
Serge
If Villa beat Everton and you would expect Man C to beat Everton, we can finish above them assuming we win our remaining 2 games. Spuds have games against Villa and Leicester, games they can potentially lose.
All this talk about qualifying for Europe as if it is the end of the world. It’s not. Assuming we don’t qualify it may prove to be a blessing.
Game preparation is a massive part of football. It was one of the main reasons Leicester won the league. It’s why West Ham are doing well. That’s been our biggest problem; doing well in Cups and Europe is a massive hindrance in the league. You can’t play your best team every week, you don’t have players at peak fitness levels & you will get muscle injuries. You fly back early hours Friday, factor in recovery and you’re lucky to have one day to prepare for the opponent Sunday. You have no time to recover from fatigue and the lactate inflection point (LIP), which is the exercise intensity at which the blood concentration of lactate and/or lactic acid begins to exponentially increase, leads to fatigue. Half your players are at 80% of their usual fitness. Fatigue not only limits physical fitness but leads to injury. It also leads to mistakes & bad decision-making. So you are playing an opponent who has a minimum 20 percent advantage before you consider the other advantages. Like tactics.
If you have no European midweek games, you will have an entire week to prepare tactically for the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses; their players, set pieces, defensive positions (if you’re playing someone like Vardy how you drop etc). You play in Europe and you can’t do that because the coaches will have been preparing the team for the European opposition. One game at a time. So your 20 percent disadvantage increases.
This is why chopping and changing occurs, it will be based on fitness analysis, injury prevention and things like tactics.
Being out of Europe for a season won’t be the catastrophe the doom-mongers like to paint because it is certainly worth a bundle of PL points. It could be the difference between Champions League football the following season. It’s a debate worth having but as with a lot of what gets discussed, it really isn’t looked at objectively or on balance.
Charlie,
Thanks for the response,pretty much summarises what it comes down to,some of us have given up hope with him, some of us haven’t and all are waiting for the next few months to unfold. I’d be very happy to be wrong, fingers crossed we see the club rise again one way or another.
Under Arteta, you can clearly see what he is trying to achieve. The acceptance of standards below being the best- the non-negotiables- thats precisiely where we need to be.
Eh? There’s really no clear style or strategy on show unless you count all other facets of our game are poor so we retreat to defending our own box. I mean last night was a perfect example we were gifted a goal from two Chelsea players making a mistake which was very fortunate for us because otherwise we wouldn’t have created anything all game and then we got bodies behind the ball. We had similar against United at Old Trafford where I’ll admit I didn’t really care back then because we broke our poor record there despite the worry that we won creating nothing and defending for our lives. I’m not sure that’s Arteta’s strategy but maybe it is. Also the whole standards and non negotiables nonsense is laughable when you see inform players dropped and average error prone players start consistently. Didn’t Willian visit Dubai and Lacazette break covid protocols at some point this season but still are teachers pet
Every EPL team has an average 26 to 28 players. A good coach should be able to train a team A and a team B. With the European games, it would attract good players and has more funding to sign them. That’s the plan of a top team .
SurferX
Yes, can’t disagree with any of that. How people can’t see the difference in our team now without the ball to previous years is beyond me. It’s night and day. These things don’t happen overnight and there will be bumps along the way. The mess he inherited would have been a problem for any manager, let alone an inexperienced one. To his credit he has never shirked anything, his press conferences are honest and he fixed our defensive frailties almost immediately winning a big trophy too. That deserves more credit than some people want to give him. Unfortunately, some people are just far too closed-minded and opinionated, taking an extreme position of obfuscation.
Nelson
“Every EPL team has an average 26 to 28 players. A good coach should be able to train a team A and a Team B”
Are you taking the piss mate?
That is possibly one of the most naive comments I have ever read on here. And that is saying something.
Seriously, the comments on this blog are so divorced from reality it’s like visiting the planet zoob.
Improving defense is not quite an achievement if it is at the cost of playing quality football. You think Wenger couldn’t play this kind of football ? He easily could have. Most managers can do it. Quality of a manager lies in striking a balance between the two.
Improving defense is not quite an achievement if it is at the cost of playing quality football.
I mean we’re not even that great defensively to justify it. We’re currently 11 clean sheets on the season and even Emery got 8 in 2018 but was still able to get 70+ goals. The view some people have on how we’re performing overall is mind boggling to me sometimes
This mini rebirth of the charlatan and Diet pep fanboys will end in dissapointment
Im telling you for free!
Like last night wasn’t a defensive masterclass or anything we were literally boxed in our own half with men behind the ball for the majority of the game while Chelsea were in second gear and with starters rested on the eve of a cup final.
Good to see Marc back…
Anyone in need of some respite from goonerdom should check bbc news where that corrupt old cunt David Cameron is having a new arsehole torn for him by the treasury select committee. The man who stuck his cock in a pigs head.
Kroenke,
I’m listening to that. He’ll get off.
Annoying that some of the people asking the questions are more concerned about their 15 minutes of fame and won’t let him answer.
AFC Leicester didn’t win the league because they were not in Europe. They won the league because they had a very good team with a handful of top class players meanwhile all the other bigger teams had bad seasons at the same time
It was a perfect storm which allowed them to win the league with what was in fact a very low points tally by modern PL standards.
If we tank the league again next season everyone who is on here saying how good it’s going to be to have a couple of extra days to prepare will be left wondering what is happening as if it wasn’t predictable
And like I said what’s even the point of having a better league season to qualify for the CL if we think playing 2 games a week, half of which are against pub sides and incredibly average European teams is so damaging to us? If the EL is too much for us then if we miraculously get top 4 next season – we won’t – we’ll be getting knocked out in the group stages because we’re not cut out for 2 games a week. Ironically if we come third in the group we’d drop into the EL.
Y’all a living in dream land where we have a good PL campaign next season and come top 4 because we’ve not had to send our fringe player to play Dundalk or young boys on Thursday evenings.
And the proof is in the pudding that even when arteta has had a frankly horribly season we still were only 2 victories away from winning the EL and qualifying for the CL by the back door. Even after being shit for most of the competition we still nearly won it because it’s that winnable. Even emery was one good game away from winning the EL with arsenal and is again with bloody villareal. If he can do it I really don’t get why people think it’s anything other than a ‘there to be had’ trophy, money and back door to the CL
But like I said, when we don’t come top 4 you’ll all be disappointing lamenting that if only there had been another way to qualify or another competition we could’ve won…
I can bet my house on the fact that Wenger looking back on his tenure with arsenal will regret not doing more to win another PL title. He is not going to be proud of the fact that he made the owners millions, he’s going to be proud of the many achievements in his tenure and sadly, he deserved another PL title post 2005 but he was his one worst enemy. Sad knowing the best manager in arsenal history (for me) did not reach his potential.
Good to see left nut back……
Why didn’t the referee give Kepa a yellow card yesterday
If you believe the ref played the advantage after he denies a goal scoring opportunity by scooping a deliberate back pass from the goal line, he ought to have gotten a yellow card after we scored.
“All this talk about qualifying for Europe as if it is the end of the world. It’s not. Assuming we don’t qualify it may prove to be a blessing.”
Oh dear and the same guy then makes another comment including “Seriously, the comments on this blog are so divorced from reality it’s like visiting the planet zoob.”
We lost circa £70 million in the 3 seasons prior to last, last season showed a loss of £47 odd million with hardly any effect from COVID so we’re sitting on something like £120 million in accumulated losses prior to this season where we’re down £90 – £100 million in match day revenue and we have an increased wage bill.
Apparently the solution to that is to take off another £30 million in revenue in European TV / prize money and knock ST’s down by 15% (that’s my guess what they’ll but we’ll see shortly).
I reckon we’ll be showing combined losses of £250 million or more after this seasons accounts come out, at the current rate we won’t be able to play in Europe because of FFP.
Oh year we have to pay back a £120 million loan to the Government in a few weeks.
Yeah marko there’s nothing we can do about it now but I just can’t see a silver lining on this one
Because you and I both believe arteta will start the season, tank the league, be sacked by Xmas, and we’ll at best have the league cup and FA cup to play for. The new manager comes into a mess.
But if we had been in Europe then even if the league gets yanked and Mikel gets sacked by Xmas as I predict will happen, at least the new manager has something valuable to play for just as Tuchel has done so well for Chelsea after Lampard got sacked
Anyway it can’t be undone now. But that silver lining doesn’t exist imo
It’s better that we’re out of Europe next season (because midweek games affect the squad) so that we can really try hard to qualify for Europe the season after (where midweek games affect the squad).
Elite logic.
Qualifying for Europa for the start of the 2022-23 season will be seen as progress.
Jamie
And these morons think all these players are going to want to play for us with no EL let alone CL.
It’s staggering.
Basically if we don’t qualify for Europe one way or another next season I think arsenal as a major club are absolutely fucked and long term mid table is where we will be.
Some call this the circuit break. Death spiral is far more likely unless miracles happen and next season is a proper success
Its like an Arrow guys , Arteta is pulling us backwards so he can fire us at rapid speed towards the top . Come on Trust The Process.
China
Arsenal are very close to the stage where if we were a horse they’d shoot us.
Marc –
It says nothing for the epic losses you highlighted too. Crazy.
Sherlock
I’ll bet you a cold beer on a sunny day the arrow ends up in Arteta’s foot.
Lol Sherlock you got me there
Sid,
Thanks for the laughs during my incarceration! 🙂
Longest ban to date.
How can anyone with a modicum of understanding of our club’s finances wish we better be out of Europa ? And it’s not that we are going to win the fucking league if we have two days extra in a week to prepare. We get through the earlier rounds of Europa with our second string team, so Europa doesn’t hamper our league position anyway.
Some of the ‘positive’ guys on here might think I’m just being reactionary or anti arteta or whatever but it’s not that, really
Fuck arteta, emery, wenger, whoever. Right now I honestly believe the club is standing on the precipice of complete, genuine irrelevance. Everton/villa/west ham, this level of irrelevance.
Everyone running the club, management, coaches, edu, vinai, Stan, everyone needs to pull it out the bag this season. If they don’t I honestly think what we’re seeing now is the club circling the drain and I genuinely believe once we fall down that hole it will be almost irreversible without some absolute wizardry to bring us back any time soon. The damage will be lasting. Don’t qualify for Europe next season and our best young talents we want to build the club around will be asking to leave.
Deary me it’s depressing. Someone needs to save this fucking club before it can do itself any more damage
I’m listening to that. He’ll get off.
Left – as sure as night follows day. I don’t even understand why this isn’t taking place in a court. It’s a massive abuse of power. But when half the so-called cross-examination is coming from fellow Tories, you just know nothing will happen. He’s a fucking enemy within – he’s screwed the union, our relationship with Europe and used his position to become filthy rich. This country feels fucked and on a precipice.
TR7 & China
Well said both of you.
I know Pedro’s not a finance guy but I do think it would be good for him to do a piece highlighting just how much trouble we are in. If Pedro doesn’t feel comfortable doing it maybe Swiss Ramble would like to do a guest post.
The same crap was spouted by Champagne Charlie over experienced manager Wenger, – give him time and with the right backing he has another title in him. The man is a deluded fool.
Kroenkephobe
I’m not going to get into a long drawn out political debate with you but have you checked how much Tony Bliar has made since he left office?
Dela
That’s harsh on both the deluded and fools.
China1
Its the Kool Aid Pedro wants us to drink haha.
We’ll see what kind of additions the club makes in the summer but there are three main reasons players want to join a club in no particular order: wages, the style of football a manager is known for, and the European exposure.
Call me crazy but the wages is the only reason for anyone of note to even consider Arsenal at the moment, and as we all know that’s how you end up with players you can’t move on when things don’t work out.
And that’s where the circle closes……
Yeah no idea what AFC Forever is on about re it being a positive thing us being out of Europe next season.
Massive hit on our financials not to mention lessens our attractiveness for prospective new players. It’s also a real tangible backdoor into CL football if the league campaign doesn’t go to plan, I would argue that it is a much more realistic one than breaking into the top 4.
We’ve been to the EL Final/SF in three of the last four seasons. Should have been two Finals if we took care of Villarreal.
Who is dropping out of that PL top 4 to make room for us next season? City aren’t going anywhere, United will probably sign Sancho and improve further, Chelsea just need to get a proper goalscorer like Haaland in to make them title contenders, never mind CL places.
Leicester won’t stand still and Liverpool will come back with a vengeance, too much quality and top players not to.
Not sure why anyone bothers replying to these ‘positivity to the point of idiocy’ lads.
AFC ‘I showup with my peabrain only when Arsenal win’ Forever ?
Champagne Chuckles- the legendary AKB, the ‘Wenger has it in him to win the PL in 2018’ guy, the Xhaka championing hero.
If there was an award on Legrove for being the loudest and an award for the being the dumbest, he’d do clean sweeps every year
I would love to know what Geoff has to say about all of this , Any chance we could get him back Pedro ?
Tony
What are you saying ? One phone call from the sauciest manager is enough , he has a plan to win CL in 3 years . Willian has all the details.
oh sorry its Tom , I get confused
Honestly speaking I’ve felt a lot of negativity over the last 7 or 8 years. That much is obvious. But until today I’ve never felt fear before. Genuine fear that arsenal are on the brink of genuine collapse as a big club. But I really believe we’re teetering on that edge and the same people were asking to turn it around are any of the same people who’ve been accelerating us towards it. What’s not to be scared of about that?
Rambo
They can’t both win it every year – would you let them take turns? Maybe have several awards in different categories? Or just let them share it?
The best thing Cameron did was give us the referendum!
Shit I forgot about Arteta’s “plan” to win the CL in 3 seasons.
Year 1 – Pants and misses out of Europe altogether
Year 2 – ? but a repeat of the above with the sack seems more likely than him finishing top 4
Year 3 – Pundit on the CL final for Kazakhstan TV.
Does that count as winning it?
Marc
He is as big a thief as Cameron. No quarrel with that. He’s even got the gall to head up some middle east peace think tank when he and Dubya made the second gulf War happen. Oh the irony (and the millions). Completely corrupt. In fact it pains me almost to say it that the only former PM in Britain with any dignity is Major.
Lefties feel no affiliation with Blair. He was ideologically aligned with Thatcher and never belonged in the Labour movement.
“Champagne Chuckles- the legendary AKB, the ‘Wenger has it in him to win the PL in 2018’ guy, the Xhaka championing hero.If there was an award on Legrove for being the loudest and an award for the being the dumbest, he’d do clean sweeps every year“
I don’t think you give yourself enough credit, I’m no match for you and the rest of your incel armada.
Everyone talks about progress.
Since December 2020 Arsenal have won more points than Chelsea. In those 22 games, we have won 2 more points. That is despite Chelsea having spent £220m in the summer on half their first team: Havertz, Werner, Ziyech, Chilwell, and Mendy.
Form between first/second half of the season:
Matchday 1 to 18——Pos: 12th——-GS: 20/GA: 19
Matchday 19 to 36—-Pos: 4th——–GS: 30/GA: 19
Current form, last 6 games:-
Matchday 31 to 36—-Pos: 1st * ———GS: 10/GA: 3
* If Liverpool wins both games in hand they would have 1 more point than us so we would be 2nd.
Also anyone in a profession will tell you Saka and ESR are likely to tank next year. Arteta’s management skills will make sure of it.
With more experience comes more baggage, with more baggage comes more tantrums, with more tantrums comes less effectiveness.
This especially the case with youth who are ahead of their curve in any profession. Which is the case with Saka and ESR
AFC
It might have missed your attention but during those 22 matches you mention Chelsea sacked a failing manager and brought in a new one.
How about you compare the points from Tuchel’s first match?
marko
dissenter
What Arsenal ought to be looking for in a manager is not simply one who occasionally wins something. A professional, if you like, who does a professional job. Arsenal is bigger than that. And here is what perhaps distinguishes older fans from younger ones. We are accustomed to a season when the clubs win nothing, sometimes several seasons. But the Club always retained its identity, its eliteness.
Given time Emery might have won something, but he would never have been a committed fan. And commitment is what we need at the Club if it is ever to regain its identity and eliteness. Now beyond question Arteta is a committed fan. Everything he says and does confirms that.
‘I don’t think you give yourself enough credit, I’m no match for you’
Charlie- I’m known to drop the occasional pearler. But you know what gives me the strength to keep going? Bruh its you. Knowing that I’ll never be the biggest joke of the blog. You my rock, you my Everest 🙂
eb
So your process for hiring a manager is to find one who owns his own Arsenal pom poms?
Because you and I both believe arteta will start the season, tank the league, be sacked by Xmas, and we’ll at best have the league cup and FA cup to play for. The new manager comes into a mess.
I still believe that he’s getting sacked come the end of the season. How could he not
Now beyond question Arteta is a committed fan. Everything he says and does confirms that.
Absolute total nonsense. I dunno man I think you might be a little unhinged with shit like that
New post… another flip flop?
AFC Forever
‘Since December 2020 Arsenal have won more points than Chelsea. In those 22 games, we have won 2 more points.’
Hold on, you were literally just suggesting that not qualifying for Europe next season was a silver lining due to fixture congestion and fatigue weighing us down in the league and now you’re making a direct comparison to Chelsea’s league form since a very specific date to highlight a perceived improvement on our end which ignores that they have had great success in both the Cups. The Champions League being the absolute pinnacle of football beating Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Porto over two legs.
Talking out both sides of your mouth.
That first month Lampard was still at the helm and he was promptly sacked for not being good enough.
Since Tuchel was appointed on 27th January, Chelsea have picked up 35 points from 17 whereas in the same timeframe we have picked up 25 points from 16, last night’s swing game factored in.
So they have actually been considerably better than us even in the league since Tuchel was brought in, forget about their Champions League and FA Cup exploits on top of that.
“Since December 2020 Arsenal have won more points than Chelsea. In those 22 games, we have won 2 more points. That is despite Chelsea having spent £220m in the summer on half their first team: Havertz, Werner, Ziyech, Chilwell, and Mendy.“
You can add Pulisic for $70m to that total while you’re at it, which makes it a cool $250mil
for the quartet of Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech, and Havertz.
And the return for that outlay is 16 PL goals in 6600 minutes of PL play.
“Oh,but the Chelsea are so much more talented” …..blah, blah, blah lol!!!!!
WengerEagle
“Yeah no idea what AFC Forever is on about re it being a positive thing us being out of Europe next season”
Firstly, I always want to see us in Europe. However, if I believe that for the greater good of the club missing out on the Europa League might be a good thing for the long term, it’s a happy sacrifice. Given the choice of Europa League next season and the following season or no Europa and the Champions League the next, its a no-brainer. If anyone bothered to actually read my comment and the explanations, I can’t see how that can be misunderstood. I don’t drop bombs like most people, I take the time to explain.
I accept the point about attracting players however you get better players in the Champions League.
The problem with this blog is everything is always negative. It’s deliberately framed that way, there is dishonest framing all over the place. Too many extremists and pot stirrers. Nothing wrong with having an adult conversation but this blog makes that difficult.
I have supported this club since the sixties; I have stood on freezing cold terraces when we had crap teams, I have invested considerable time, money and my heart into a club I love. Social Media warriors who slag off the club at every opportunity are what they are but these over-opinionated, disingenuous zealots are just extreme elements who are only interested in one thing. The game they play.
WengerEagle
“Talking out both sides of your mouth”.
That sums up this blog, that was unnecessary. So I’m done today, go find someone else your age to act hard with.
AFC Forever
You can’t come on here and bitch about half the posters on a daily basis and then get precious about a relatively innocuous comment like that, come on.
I rate you as a poster, unlike that freak that posts here on a hundred new Monikers and can’t actually debate like an adult without spazzing out and throwing insults at everyone he disagrees with.
Apologies if it came off as inflammatory. Happy to actually have a debate with you.
It wasn’t inflammatory. AFC debates like Bamford. Thinks everyone who disagrees with him is mean-spirited.
England’s best,
“Now beyond question Arteta is a committed fan. Everything he says and does confirms that.”
1) how do you know he is a fan? Because he says he is? You should ignore what Arteta said, because most of it is just PR stuff. If Arteta can lie about his reason for benching players,he an lie for taking the Arsenal job. Do you think that if Barcelona or ManCity came calling, he would be out of the door ready to go. He may have been with Arsenal as club captain, but Rangers, Everton could also claim to be his club.
2) even if he is a fan, that would be completely irrelevant. Kevin Keegan was a true Newcastle fan who bleed barcode but he was also a limited manager. Between a true fan but limited manager and a good manager with no affective connection with the club longer term the second option is always better. You should judge a manager on his job performance not on what he says during his press conference.
More bs I hope…
media linking us to “struggling Liverpool man and Cheslea flop…”
Can see Arteta and Edu rubbing their hands…