There are two ways we can behave over the next 6 months.
1.Entrenched in our views on where the football club is going and MISERABLE.
2.Positive about some of the basics that are in place and trust the plan for the summer is more January than last summer.
Too many Arsenal fans are taking direction one and it was embarrassing reading yesterday.
‘We’re gonna get spanked by 6’
If you spent the entire pre-game chat talking about how we were going to get spanked by miracle-man-Tuchel, you have absolutely no right to be bitching post-game about the performance and WIN.
Chelsea is the form team in Europe right now. That is proved out with form, that is proved out by big big results, that is proved out by the fact they are in the FA Cup final and the Champions League final. They even beat Manchester City at the weekend.
For large swathes of this season, we’ve been bad. But one real positive is we’re usually pretty decent at the planning part for games against top teams.
Yesterday, Arteta delivered a tactical masterclass and beat Chelsea the only way this squad is capable of doing so… pure shit-housery.
Was it pretty? No.
Was it effective? Absolutely.
We scored a goal because we pressured Chelsea at the back. It was a fluke, but you can’t deny goals from errors we forced aren’t part of the deal.
Then we clung on for dear life and defended like our lives depended on it despite there being nothing on the game for us that anyone cares about (get fucked with the Europa Conference).
It was a long way from protagonist football, but we have to be honest with ourselves, we are where we are in the table, and that’s because we lack the quality to go away to Chelsea for a game of tika-taka.
Arsenal hasn’t won at Stamford Bridge for a decade. That’s a big result. You take whatever you can get.
What you can’t do is sit there and whine about beating big teams in big games. It’s truly embarrassing stuff to see. Who do these fans think they are?
This season hasn’t been great, but thinking yourself above big wins isn’t on I’m afraid.
Let’s also rev up some red meat for the WE HAVEN’T IMPROVED crew.
That’s the table since Christmas day. Important if you are looking for signs that we can finish higher than 8th next season. 22 games of form indicate that we are tracking in the right direction, even if there have been some grim moments.
Third best defence in the league all season. Defensively, we’re much better. We’d be even better if we cut out the massive dumb errors. That will come as we upgrade players.
Attacking wise, we’ve been absolutely awful all season. What can we bank on here? Well, this summer, there will be upgrades all over the place. We won’t have a central midfield this bad next season. We’ll likely add someone who can deliver NOW numbers in attack. The young players are already chalking up more decisive moments and they will get better and better. Auba won’t give us a 10 goal season next year (hopefully). We’ll bin players that have been badly broken by the Arsenal machine over the last decade, mental baggage is a thing and there’s a group of seniors that need to go.
Also look at where we can make up the 9 points for the top 4 next season, because yes, there are only 9 points in it. Zero points against Wolves. Zero points against Aston Villa. Zero points against Everton. One point against Burnley. One point against Palace. Get a better midfield, start the season with creators, and move the fine margins our way and we start taking deep block teams down.
Our job next season is top 4. Since Christmas, we’ve only been outclassed by Liverpool and City. I’m not sure we’re a million miles away from anyone in the chasing pack.
Arteta needs to pick things up. He’s extremely sensitive in the media at the moment and he’s struggling with the pressure. He needs to step up and address the issues he’s helping to make worse. Did you see the Athletic ran with my keeper coach issues and Bernd Leno looking to leave? Move on that issue. The keepers have been dreadful this season. Everyone at the club knows the reasons and it makes Arteta look like a jobs for the boys manager. There needs to more self-reflection from Arteta. He’s not a rockstar, he can’t do it all by himself, and he really needs to build more know-how around him this summer. Vinai cannot allow Arteta to entrench power, he needs to clip his wings and get him back to basics.
Arsenal also needs to think about what the fuck they are doing with football leadership. Edu’s contacts game looks like it’s getting a seeing to. The scouts are being found via a headhunter service, which is excellent news, and stops him stocking the club with his mates. His disaster physio, Brazilian Bruno Mazziotti, looks like he might see the exit door despite Edu being a protector of him. The Athletic reckons Willian, Xhaka, and Bellerin will be exited. I told you months ago that was why Hector has been benched. This is all good news, the Willian stories are almost too good to be true. Again, a mate of Edu, a super agent deal from hell, one of many that should be sounding a huge fucking siren heading into another summer of big investment.
There’s clearly a deep affection between Arteta and the kids, roll with that. Old players being unhappy is telling and obvious. They don’t want to be part of a long-term rebuild at a late stage of their careers. That isn’t a jab at Arteta, it’s a BIG FAT TRUTH about Arsenal. We need to build back smart. Young kids like being coached with future proof methods. They’re getting big chances at a big club. Build on that. Grow a squad for the Champions League… and make sure that when that top 4 position lands, we have a team of 25-year-olds ready to explode. Don’t keep on accepting your captain trudging off like a brat, it’s not good for anyone.
This is a post that is glass half full, and I honestly do not care what anyone thinks about that because I cannot live in football misery for the next 6 months. If we put together a full season of how we’ve played since Christmas, we’ll be in the mix for top 4 come the end of the season. That’s what the plan is, that’s what the club is working towards, I am confident there cannot possibly be a start to the season as bad as the last.
What do YOU think?
See you in the comments.
“Here is the pattern of home/away games for each big 6 team.”
——————————————————————————
We are big six in fan support only.
*worst NOT first
Anyone got the metrics for home advantage this season during covid? Pretty sure I read somewhere that there wasn’t any advantage. Also, both Manchester clubs had blocks of 4-5 away games within their first 9 games. We got 5 home games in a row in our first 9 games too. Bottom line is that we’ve underperformed all season, right from the get-go. We can hope for a good summer window and a better run next season, but this one has been unmitigated shite in all comps. Big 6 mini leagues, since-Christmas tables, and a few away games at the start… Read more »
Nelson
Are you sure? Arteta’s been lucky fans haven’t been able to attend this season he’d would either have been sacked back in December or we’d have a empty stadium anyway.
Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of points available that were won by month.
Sept 66
Oct 33
Nov 33
Dec 39
Jan 73
Feb 40
Mar 78
April 33
Arteta has only managed to win 50 or more percentage of the available points in 3 out of 8 months so far.
Someone tell me why that’s great performance?
“Arteta is on borrowed time and next season hasn’t started yet. He needs a strong start of he won’t make the finals of the until-Christmas table.” So here’s my problem with letting Arteta stay until Christmas… the most important one is why? Is there another manager that we are waiting for? What has he done to deserve it? Pedro is contradicting himself shamelessly now. Repeatedly on the podcasts he says you should only get time if you achieve success and results but now all of a sudden he has no problems tolerating Arteta even though on every performance metric he… Read more »
One of several secrets of a great latte, oat milk or otherwise, is to use a triple shot of espresso.
Makes a world of difference to the flavor and stops it just taking like warm milk like your typical Starbucks latte
The season has been bad. I don’t read too much into ‘false’ leagues either. I would say it does show that we have been harder to beat by those we aspire to be competing with though. Liverpool and City are a class above. We’ve competed against MU, Che and Spurs (and Leicester (we had a perfectly good goal ruled out at home)) favourably. We need to find a way to beat teams that operate a low block. We need to eliminate individual errors. I feel Arteta should be doing better. I also feel we could be doing better with another… Read more »
Leeds
Agree – We’ve seen Pep, Klopp and Tuchel all be available over the last few years and not moved when the time was right.
Who will be the next “top” manager we miss out on?
Leeds –
Everything else to one side, I just don’t think Arteta will be sacked this summer.
For my money he’s been subpar. Who knows if he’ll correct some of his mistakes going forward.
Since I’m pretty sure he’ll be here next season, improvement and ceasing the repetition of mistakes is what I’m hoping for. And binning a bunch of senior players, but we’ve been begging for that for years.
Stato! Stato!
– Angus Loughran
“with Arteta there is always a standout decision where you are like what on earth is this guy trying now .”
—————————————————————————————————————-
Pedro has a better word to describe this. Galaxy brain.
I’m pretty glad that Arteta is making enemies of the media by stirring up stuff.
The media have twisted comments of all managers in the past to see appears but I’m not sure anyone misquoted him in that fake tantrum he had recently.
Seems his politics approach to answering basic questions came back to bite him.
Now the gloves will be off, they can see him for who he is.
*to sell papers.
I do not get this constant commentary about Arteta being a generational coach and therefore not experienced enough to be appointed manager/head coach at Arsenal. The only issue for me is whether he is good at his job and not his age or whether he had managerial experience elsewhere. Arteta has been involved in top level football as a player for 17 years and as a coach for 3 years at Man City one of the top teams in world football. Tony is entirely wrong in his assessment that no major company would appoint “Senior Manager” with similar experience or… Read more »
Saw a post on us being out of contention for European places.
Currently there is a 16% chance that we finish 7th or 6th.
IF, we win both remaining games v Palace and Brighton, there is a 70% chance we finish 7th or higher.
Do we want to be in the Europa Conference or not?
Emirates
Yeah that’s all great with one small problem. Arteta is really bad at his job and it’s about to cost us tens or hundreds of millions of pounds.
Marc
I am talking about fan support of the Arsenal football club world wide.
“I do not get this constant commentary about Arteta being a generational coach”
There is absolutely no evidence to support the claim that Arteta is a generational coach, there are only opinions in support of the claim.
“Do we want to be in the Europa Conference or not?”
Yes, unfortunately, for nothing other than the much needed revenue/prize money/ticket sales/etc. For everything else it’s embarrassing for a club the size of Arsenal to be a part of it.
Nelson
I know – I was just making the point that Arteta either be driven out of the club by fans in the stadium or find himself without any.
Matt So so true👏. This is why I left the blog( except for this comment). Not because of Pedro’s considerable time and efforts in keeping things going, it was all down to the flip flopping of opinions to suit his own agenda. Arteta is not good enough for AFC, as was Emery before him. Wenger started the rot. The powers that be need to go. Ask any true fan and they will tell you the same thing. Arsenal FC have become a boring and predictable club ever since we left Highbury. The fact we got in managers of the calibre… Read more »
Marc
That is your opinion. Guardiola who has considerably more experience than you and is rated
one of the greatest managers in world football has a different opinion.
Jamie
I want a break from European Football so that we can focus on the EPL and putting our house in order. It was my opinion last season and it remains the same now.
ES –
“I want a break from European Football so that we can focus on the EPL and putting our house in order. It was my opinion last season and it remains the same now.”
Yeah, but we need the cash so badly, even if it’s only £20 odd million. We’re paying Partey and Auba £26m a year combined!
” Guardiola who has considerably more experience than you and is rated one of the greatest managers in world football has a different opinion.”
He is hardly going to say anything else is he seeing as they are friends?
“is rated one of the greatest managers in world football”
Also, until he takes on an actual challenge I would hold off on calling him one of the greatest managers in world football.
I don’t know about anyone else, however, frankly, I do not care how old Arteta is. It’s his apparent inability to learn from his mistakes and arrogance that I have a problem with.
He is nowhere as good as he thinks he is.
ES
“””””I supported the appointment of Arteta as Head Coach””””
I was too -happy for him to replace Wenger. (Made more sense before he got too brainwashed with Pep and his fancy ideas and billionaire budgets. )Thought he could have imitated Wengers methods but with a younger and fresher energy. At least for a few seasons at least- until they found another big hitter.
But I was duped. From the movement he bought The Gazidas Watch he has played us and
I won’t be played again.
Jamie
Who says that we need the cash?
Arsenal is a private business owned by a billionaire. Chelsea made losses in most seasons
under Abramovich. No-one seems bothered about their situation.
There are too many assumptions made about our finances or for that matter what the Kroenke family are prepared to do.
Frankly I would be much more concerned about the finances of Man Utd, Real Madrid and
Barcelona than those of Arsenal.
Dissenter I had a written a more detailed reply but for some reason it is not getting posted. So I’ll just say this. I never said Partey is a progressive passing juggernaut. I said he is a box to box midfielder with better defensive skills as compared to offensive. And that has proven true but his progressive play has also pleasantly surprised me. Just a few hours, read a very detailed assessment of our CM transfer options by a redditor. And it also showed Partey is by and far our best progressive carrier of the ball. Check this out, its… Read more »
Remember what Chelsea did when they were without European football a few years ago, under Conte? They won the league. We are, it looks like, going to be in the same position, next season. Who genuinely thinks Arteta is capable of doing the same? Frankly, with the wage bill we have that should be the expectation, but when it suits the Arteta apologists continually move the goal posts to suit their narrative. When it it is going well, suddenly the positive results confirm Arteta’s inherent ability. When the results go against, other facts, outside factors are brought in to excuse… Read more »
Jaroda
I’ll happily take Europa Conference football. But only play the second team and our U23s players in it. The Conference would be great to bleed in the likes of Azeez, Balogun, Kido, Patino ,etc.
ES –
Arsenal FC’s financial losses are a matter of public record, they aren’t assumption. We’re losing hundreds of millions. We need cash from European competitions, no ifs or buts.
It’s possible that Kroenke will plug the deficit with his own money, but he doesn’t have a great track record for anything other than pushing the self-sustainability model at Arsenal.
I’m not at all concerned with the finances of other clubs, just the finances of my local club. Those other clubs you mentioned can go in the toilet.
”””””’I’ll happily take Europa Conference football.””””””””””
You need to see my shrink Captain.
Loosers Cup 2. Crikey, we might as well give up if we get knocked out of that.
Imagine Arteta parking the team bus in that on a Thursday afternoon!
Onana
Hakimi Anderson Konate Bertrand
Bissouma Berge Camavinga
Buendia Eduoard Dembele
CG
Even the Losers cup mak 2 is 10x better for the development of the young ones than U23s and U18s football.
Crimson
Is that you Football manager team?
So our “tactical masterclass” = “we clung on for dear life and defended like our lives depended on it….”
Lolololololol
“Imagine Arteta parking the team bus in that on a Thursday afternoon!”
The lack of respect on here – that wasn’t parking the bus it was a tactical master plan and those Bulgarian pubs teams should not be underestimated.
Captain Tierney Is that list a wind up? Has Rodri on it who starts for Man City as well as Pedri who starts for Barcelona and is their golden boy. Why in Christ would either come here/leave at all? Also has crab passing merchants like Bentancur who can’t start in a crap Juventus CM and Hojberg, I mean really? And excludes brilliant players that would be difference makers and are at smaller clubs/actually attaintable for us like Rodrigo de Paul or Grealish based on some ridiculous criteria of needing passing accuracy above a certain %. De Paul completes 80% of… Read more »
”””’Even the Losers cup mak 2 is 10x better for the development of the young ones than U23s and U18s football.””””””
I would argue Captain , allowing our talented young players to compete in that pile of shite- is akin to a form of abuse.
Which teams will be in it? And if you are unlucky enough to win in it- you simply go into Loosers Cup 1..
No thanks lets leave this to Spurs.
Emirates
It’s not my opinion it’s borne out by facts. Look at the table, look at his points tally per match compared to Emery who wasn’t good enough and rightly sacked, listen to what he says and what he does, look at his tactics team selections, his in game management and use of subs.
Name one thing he does well other than bullshit or make excuses.
Captain – Thanks for the link to the reddit page, some interesting work for sure on there.
Camavinga or Bissouma look like they should be our priorities this summer. Our issue with this once again is they will also appeal to teams that can offer actual top level European football and realistic prospects at trophies/glory.
One would hope Edu is working in the background on these deals but I doubt it.
Intresting to see Pedro is back on the Arteta train. Flip flopping yet again. Also mentioning the “since Christmas table” is just pathetic. The season starts in August not at Christmas. Embarrassing stuff really.
I mean based on that weird criteria Man United would have turned their noses up at Bruno Fernandes when at Sporting Lisbon because he was a 75% completion rate passer.
Hojberg/Bentancur over Bruno Fernandes, wow.
Even now Bruno completes 78% of his passes.
Pedro I agree. Arsenal fans should be more positive and should be happy to celebrate a win against Chelsea, under any circumstances. However, your judgement is clouded by your absolute belief in and dedication to proving things are better or will be better at Arsenal post wenger, and that the club’s decline over the years has been Wenger’s fault and no one else’s. You must be bitterly disappointed that contrary to your confident predictions, the club has declined further since wenger left. I’m not suggesting it was wrong to sack him, but the fact that we have been worse despite… Read more »
WE That list has criterias to find out a deep lying playmaker with good defensive skill as well. Thats why there’s no attacking midfielder apart from Pedri in there. And like always stats dont always show portray the whole truth and the criterias used have probably filtered out some good players. But anyway theres still some good players in there who we can get for cheap to take the 3rd/4th CM spot. Theres also a couple of good young players in there. Especially Pape Mata Sarr who if we could get for less than 10 mil can turn out to… Read more »
I’ve been really impressed when I’ve seen Bissouma this season But it’s always a good sign when you listen to fans of a players club and they’re desperate not to lose that player, Brighton fans seem unanimous in their love and admiration of Bissouma If we can find takers for Guendouzi, Torreira, Niles, Xhaka this summer, it’ll be a really good opportunity to get a couple of central midfielders to revamp our midfield Bissouma + Aouar £60-£70million Niles £20mill Torreira £15mill Guendouzi £15-£20mill Xhaka £20-£25mill £70million Nelson £15-£20mill Nketiah £15-£20mill £30 – £40mill should get us Odegaard Bissouma, Elneny Partey,… Read more »
Mikel Arteta is such a beta
Promised fans a football fiesta
Gave them siesta
I need a margarita
WE
The guy is also going to make an attacking midfield target list which will focus on the criterias required for the same.
Im sure we’ll the likes of Aoaur, Grealish, RDP and Bruno in there.
+ Pure stats doesn’t consider a few exceptions here and there and thats why its a fool’s game to rely sorely on data.
Biggest example- Xhaka, Mustafi, Perez TW.
The framed photo of Arteta with a dazzling smile has been removed from Pedro’s underwear draw and is now takes pride of place perched on the top of the chest of drawers.
Step aside Filipa B.
I don’t know how the conference works but if it’s a way into the EL we should be trying to get in and use it for squaddies and kids to get us in without much fuss
Anyone saw how Auba behaved after he was subbed out. He is just going through the motion in the past few months. I don’t think that he’ll change next season.
Rich Agreed. If we play our cards right ( i.e make competent sales), we’ll have enough cash to upgrade at least 4 positions in our first team. Instead of spending 30-40 mil on Ode, Id spend it on Buendia. Prem proven and has been Norwich’s main attacking threat for 2-3 years now, producing great numbers for a fairly poor side. Odegaard is like Mesut but with better work rate and a huge drop off in attacking quality. He will have few games where he’ll control everything but apart from that he doesn’t seem good enough (yet) to start for a… Read more »
Captain Tierney Fair enough if he is making another list, wasn’t mad on some of the names on that one though I mean Hojberg and Bentancur would be terrible purchases for us and having Rodri on it is just comedy, may as well add Foden and Bernardo Silva as CAM targets. Anguissa and Bissouma were both excluded who would be much better players for us than some of the names and are both at lower PL/Championship clubs now in Anguissa’s case. Both are exceptional athletes, excellent ball carriers, put up monstrous defensive numbers and pass well. They aren’t as neat… Read more »
I have a suspicion Guen might be worth keeping on as a rotation option next season. If he does ok we can probably renew if not sell in Jan
CT ”””’And you are mistaken if you think U18 and U23 football is better for a young player’s development than actual men’s football.””””””” There are too far many players in all these clubs academies. 95% will never be good enough. If you can play, you can play. Age is irrelevant. Old or young. R.Nelson has been at Arsenal since he was a baby- when will he be ready? Its only soccer – you aint asking them to fight in the Gaza Strip. Saliba should have been playing games for Arsenal 2 seasons ago. Have you seen the bloody size of… Read more »
China1
Thats definitely the smart option. Give game time to the young players, keep the backup options fit and sharp.
No brainer really.
But the thing with Arteta is, he will probably roll out with our first team in that competition too, unless we have guaranteed first place finish in the group. If we do qualify, Edu and Vinai must make it very clear to not use any first team players in that competition. Do they have the authority to do that ? IDK
If we play in the euro conference league I’d honestly play a team of:-
Runnarsson
Steve Round Tim Lewis. J. Kronke. Gunnersaurus
Edu. Arteta
Bus driver(c). Tea lady Willian
Nketiah
Truth is that Auba is frustrated that he’s been starved of service all season
He wasn’t in a hurry to sign that extension.
I believe he wanted reassurances that the club will get a meaningful system of football but instead Arteta chose to start the season without an attacking midfielder. Arteta decided that he would remake Aubameyang into a modern day Kevin Davies.
I’ve been critical of Auba all season but let’s not pretend that the manager has played to his strengths all season. Every manager but Arteta got lots of goals out of Aubameyang.
Sid
Joke Friday is now Bard Friday
All the time Arteta is boss
The quality of football is dross
His decision making is all of a dither
and the serving of quality is a mere ‘slivver’
His attitude? he couldnt give a toss
It is supreme arrogance for the whiners and wailers on here to claim they represent most supporters. Where is the evidence? I even doubt they reflect the view of most on Le Grove – they simply flood the site with their moans and groans.
The truth is they are always around even at the best of times. I recall hearing them the year we won the double under Berie Mee. And no doubt they’ll be heard the next time we win the PL title – under Arteta.
CG Mahrez and Kante, CL finalists were playing L2 football until 23. Vardy was laying bricks until he was 25. Edoaurd Mendy was unemployed at 23. And there are many more examples Every player develops at a different rate. Dont know why you are twisting the argument tho ? Admitting defeat again? The score must be infinity to me, Zero to CG by now. The conference will provide a great step for our youngsters, especially Azeez, Kido and Balogun to make the jump from boys football to the PL. And it makes much more sense to climb the ladder step… Read more »
Captain Tierney
That we agree on, Buendia over Odegaard any day
I would even pick a central midfielder like Bissouma over Odegaard and leave all the AM duties to ESR alone.
Odegaard is a bit of a letdown.
Don’t speak.
Just listen to Pep.
Pep Guardiola on next season: “Arsenal, they trust with Mikel. I know perfectly Mikel, they will make a step forward next season.”
If I speak. I will be in trouble. So pep speaks. 😂😂😂
Buendia should be our no 1 target in the summer, he is exactly what we need.
Wanna touch upon something for a second. He’s lost the dressing room right? I mean is it just me or has he lost the dressing room for a couple months now. I don’t buy the backs against the wall 1-0 fluke fest in a nothing game against Chelsea a testament to them backing the process at all
Dissenter When Arteta joined, he built the system so that Auba could flourish. All our attacks lead to us trying to feed Auba the final ball. And to Auba’s credit he performed very well, carrying us to an FA cup. We also started post covid same way, but when our only creator (Ozil ) was excluded from the side , the service became scarce but Auba’s form, Emi’s emergence, Saka’s continued development and some brilliant performances by Amn ended in us winning the FA cup trophy. The signs were creeping up, we were creating very fee chances. Then we went… Read more »
Arsenal players are all a cut above mid table. They want out maybe because they want to play a better football, get out of the Club where kids are treated badly. They were kids, had mentoring, and what is happening under Arteta is disgusting..
Arteta’s love for kids…that’s a cruel joke when one hears how he downplayed ESR superbly taken goal, how he tortured Martineli, was an oaf with Saliba and playing Balogun in situation where he is bound to fail and scant minutes that will do nothing to his confidence.
#ArtetaOut
eb
Plenty of us who go to matches will be back next season calling for blood if Arteta is still here.
And we’ll get it.
If Arteta had lost the dressing room, the team wouldn’t work their socks off like they did against Chelsea.
When a manager loses the dressing room, its pretty easy to identify really. Arteta still has a very firm grip on it from the looks of it.
We could have purchased the services of Buendia for £22M a year ago but we didn’t think he was worth it. It will now require over double that amount to prize him away from Norwich.
S Asoa
Bang on
And this for Tony: what experience at managerial level did Bertie Mee have?
Question for Captain.
Arsenal are 3rd in the league table since Christmas. (Which should mean the team is on an upward curve and should be kept the same but with some quality additions) so why is the manager now wanting’ ‘ruthless’ changes to his squad which has seen us in this 3rd?
If Arteta had lost the dressing room, the team wouldn’t work their socks off like they did against Chelsea.
Yeah I dunno if I can agree with that given it’s one of the easiest things in football to just sit back and defend. I mean I would have thought it was obvious given how the season was and the chopping and changing and inconsistencies that he’s lost them.
Captain Tierney I think Arteta just lost his way in his first transfer window. He shouldn’t have had a major role at all. He blocked the exit of sellable players, who’s transfer could have helped increase the budget. They waited too long for Aour and then had to settle for Partey when it was way too late. They also overrated Partey’s attacking play just like you and thought he could pick up some of that Ozil slack. Auba was misused in the first half of the season. He was isolated and all we did was just pump high crosses into… Read more »
https://www.thearsenalreview.com/article/exclusive-q-and-a-with-the-telegraphs-sam-dean
“what experience at managerial level did Bertie Mee have?”
The level of idiotic defence of Arteta gets worse and worse. I mean the world and football hasn’t changed at all in the last 50 years has it.
Marko
I don’t think Arteta’s completely lost the dressing room I think it’s closer to half in half out. They’ll follow the plan while it’s working but once the wheels come off it all gets a bit meh.
Also word is that we’re trying to tie down chambers to a new deal. So since he’s been manager we’ve signed Willian and Cedric, offered new deals to Luiz, Holding, Chambers and Lacazette and decided to keep AMN and Xhaka when we could have gotten decent money for them. Trust the process indeed.
They’ll follow the plan while it’s working but once the wheels come off it all gets a bit meh.
Wheels have fallen off a few times. Yeah I still think he goes in the end. Honestly I do I think people who support him can only see to the Chelsea game and disregard the season on the whole
marc
By ‘us’ I take it you mean the whiners and wailers? No surprise, they are always around.But they’ll be drowned out by the cheering.
eb
If we’d had fans in the ground this season Arteta would already be gone.
I really like Odegaard and think he has a high ceiling, we’d be buying a young and hungry player on the way up, if we can get him for £30-£40 million, we should do it Under no circumstances should we go into the season with Smith-Rowe as our only attacking midfielder, he’s a brilliant young player, but expecting a 21yr old who’s had a few growing pains to play every game is too much, and direct competition is healthy I don’t buy the idea Smith-Rowe + Odegaard can’t play together, and that Smith-Rowe can’t operate from the left, or Odegaard… Read more »
But they’ll be drowned out by the cheering.
There are people cheering for a midtable finish and no european football for the first time in 25 years?
How can be it be ruthlessness when we are tying Chaimbers down to a deal
We have too many central defenders, he’s not better than any of them
He’s not a right back and we have a back-up RB already. We need a starting RB.
Why are we effing around considering extending Chambers. He’s been here for 6 years, time to sell him.
They will extend Laca, Elneny and Chambers, that’s how Arteta will frame ruthlessness.
Dissenter Didn’t you read my reply to your earlier comment? Even back then I said, Partey is a defensive minded box to box midfielder. Never once did I say he will pick up some of Ozil’s creative slack or anything of the sort. And we didn’t get Partey just because, he was always our primary target, AFCBell was on top of this news all summer. I think the club was trying to bring Aoaur’s price down by playing skint but it didn’t happen and we ended up only signing Partey. I also said at the time that if I was… Read more »
Dont know why people hate on Chambers so much?
Pre ACL he was our best CB.
Post ACL he is our best RB.
He is a great squad player who can operate in 2 or 3 different positions with great efficiency. + Bellerin is also leaving.
We are NOT signing Grealish, Ode and Aoaur all in the same window. Even ManCity cant pull that off. Its only going to be one of those 3.
My choice – Grealish, Id settle for Buendia. Edu and Arteta will probably end up signing Ode because “he trains well”.
Rich
Small error on your valuations mate.
“Xhaka £20-£25mill”
Should read:
Xhaka £2.00 – £2.50
Although on the bright side I do think we’ll be able to find the cash to pay someone to take him off our hands.
CG “Arsenal are 3rd in the league table since Christmas. (Which should mean the team is on an upward curve and should be kept the same but with some quality additions) so why is the manager now wanting’ ‘ruthless’ changes to his squad which has seen us in this 3rd?” Because it’s a bloody miracle we’ve got the ‘third-best results with the squad we have and the loss of key players. Our squad is not the ‘third-best in the league as everyone on this blog has been saying. If anyone thinks the squad that underperformed under previous managers and which… Read more »
I wonder though what would a potential take over mean for Arteta. I can’t imagine given the likes of Henry’s comments about not recognizing Arsenal anymore that he’d survive. Question then becomes would they just hire Henry or Vieira as manager? Better than lego head that’s for sure but I prefer others
Marko
There are believe it or not although they do reside at the other end of Seven Sisters.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/nbpppp/scout_report_central_midfield/
Holding and Chambers look better than Gabriel who is very clumsy and error prone. Besides Chambers can play as a back up RB too.
Rich
We are not signing Grealish – not in a million fucking years. I know you like the player he is a very good player but what’s the point in keep talking about signing a player that just isn’t going to happen?
It’s like talking about taking your summer holiday on the moon – which is actually more likely.
Rich, Camavinga would be a spectacular signing, though I do worry about young French kids. It’s a lot to adapt to over here. Still, he’s the sort that usually ends up at Bayern on Real. Would be nuts for us to move on him.
Captain Toierney “Dont know why people hate on Chambers so much? Pre ACL he was our best CB. Post ACL he is our best RB” Ignorance mixed with the usual keyboard warrior behaviour of finding someone to hate on. I’ve also noticed that a lot of people keep calling him a centre back when he’s not. He can play there, it is his ability to play a number of positions well that makes him valuable. As a right-back, his actual position, he has been superb. He is so much better with the ball than Bellerin. People forget (or more likely… Read more »
Pedro – He’s ready to go now and will also provide high re-sale value in 5-6 years(if we can keep him that long). The only issue is as others have said, his profile. Real were interested and the favourites a year ago.
AFC, think he’s a centre back… he’s a little heavy-footed to be a PL RB. Be interesting to see if he can be a fixture in the middle next year. Mad that he’s 26 years old, I always think of him as a 23-year-old.