Mikel Arteta dropped a long and slightly self-reflective press conference ahead of the Palace game.
Key points wrapped:
- He knows he’s made mistakes this season
- There’s a very, very specific plan that is going into action this summer
- Anyone with a contract will likely be here next season
That third point doesn’t really make much sense to me. It’s clear that plenty of players with contracts are going to be ousted, and I’m struggling to see what the hidden meaning is with that sort wording.
The coach was emphatic about all the positives around David Luiz, without detailing the problems.
He was pretty clear Willian hadn’t hit the heights, but he took the blame himself.
He said Arsenal have had Ben Knapper managing the relationship with Saliba and a decision will be made at the end of the season. I suspect he didn’t commit to him replacing Luiz, because Luiz was our best defender and we’ll likely need to buy. Saliba might have to pick up the place of someone else.
The picture I hope we’re getting is that Arsenal FC made some bad decisions last summer based on a time crunch in a pandemic… this season, those same mistakes won’t be made.
Mistakes we made last summer?
The club didn’t communicate who was staying and going early enough or with enough force. William Saliba was always going to need a loan, that we had him in training early and still didn’t find a move for him was a really poor moment for the club. Same for some senior players. Mesut Ozil didn’t know he’d be omitted from the squad. I think a number of problematic senior players weren’t aware quite how left out in the cold they’d be. We need to address that early this summer so there are no illusions that cause deeper cuts when the chips are down.
Arteta and Edu need to make decisions based on reality, not emotion. Last summer, we kept a lot of the players that won us the FA Cup, thinking they’d turned a corner, when the reality is those players and their character had downed Wenger and Emery. Keeping Luiz was a disaster move and clearly not made based on pitch form. AMN should have been sold if we had no intention of playing him. Emi Martinez was clearly the better keeper for our system, but we stuck with the man that felt right.
We need to build out our first team with the future in mind. Oddly, I think Bertrand is a future-facing signing. It means KT is prioritised and we’ll have space for a homegrown player when they break in a couple of years. As for the gaps in the first team? Let’s not lean into 29-year-olds this summer. Instead, build out a team that can grow in value. Camavinga has a high chance of being an £80m player in 3 years time, he’s a gamble, but a sharp one based on what he’s doing at the moment. Martin Odegaard has been a touch flaccid at times, but if we can get him firing, he’s an £80m in 3 years time. Arsenal can’t go to KSE every summer with a begging bowl, at some point, Edu has to fire up the transfer machine and move on players for big sums. That only has a chance if we sign players that have high ceilings in their early twenties.
… and leading off that point. Signing older players to get you to the Champions League is a bum strategy. FIrstly, because we’ve been trying that since Wenger’s last season and it doesn’t work. Secondly, because if it succeeds, you have to replace everyone immediately because they are fading and you’ll not be competitive at the highest level with cast-offs. The best approach, based on what we know this season, is to grow a young group of kids into Champions League players, then when we hit the competition, we are ready to explode because those young players are now 25 with their best years ahead.
Arteta, love him or hate him, is doing what the future of coaching is going to require. That means asking players to learn new things. I don’t think it’s a surprise the kids are reacting better to that than the senior players. That’s a solid insight for team building. There’s no coach that is going to come in that is any good and not ask our senior players to change. So move out the players that don’t have time for growing and replace with profiles that want to advance their game and careers. Arteta is a young coach, he should work with younger players that are going to be receptive to his ideas and the longer-term nature of our project.
The last 3 years have taught us that there is no shortcutting the Champions League. You have to do things the hard way unless you have a spare billion to invest. The closest model to our truth is Leicester City. Good scouting, an elite ecosystem of in and out, with a clear footballing philosophy. There’s no reason we can’t make the Champions League under Arteta. There’s no reason we can’t go a long way to fixing the mess of our squad this summer. It’s just a matter of whether we’re learning our lessons or not.
We have an extremely consequential summer ahead, the lessons are clear, let’s see the Arteta chat is more than just whiteboarding. Arsenal fans need to see action and fast.
See you in the comments. x
first?
When I saw ESR pose over that yellow background, I thought it was at his home, watching partey and now auba do it, I see its a PR stunt from the people at the club.
Im talking to myself here…
4th trophy (i suppose)
The third comment about contracts was so Arteta didn’t have to talk specifics about who will stay and who will go.
The question asked was about Leno and it was more an answer of, the season is still going, we will see who we buy / sell when we get to that period.
It wasn’t a literal response to say everyone with a contract is staying.
We are certainly going about it the “hard” way with Arteta managing things.
Tierney wont last more than 25 games this season. Why not have a proper LB back up instead of someone who will get beaten for pace.
Last I checked, Pace, hunger and drive outperfomed experience on the wings
The feel good will disappear when we sign the next Ex Chelsea pensioner
Pedro
‘Edu has to fire up the transfer machine and move on players for big sums’
I agree, but getting ‘big sums’ for players like Xhaka, Mustafi, Bellerin- even auba, is the difficult bit.
I suggest arsenal cuts its losses and has a clearance sale.
Let’s get what we can for the dead wood and reduce that wage bill.
“Arteta, love him or hate him, is doing what the future of coaching is going to require. That means asking players to learn new things.”
but are they being asked to learn the right things?
Foxy, top 3 since Christmas would suggest there are some things that are going well. Joint 3rd best defence in the league over the whole season in a year we’ve been shit would also be positive.
Can he pull all his ideas together over a whole season is the big questions.
Alex, think there’s plenty of money to be had. Loads of homegrown talent and some solid seniors will pick up pockets of cash. Xhaka is only 28, Hector mid twenties, Matteo G, Willock and Reiss will all fetch a pretty penny.
Players asked to learn new things from …………….a coach who’s also learning new things.
Arteta still here.
He just loves the salary , boring crap football regardless of who we have as players.
We need a proper manager not a pretend one
Tom, that’s the point. The younger players are interested in learning the new things, the older, not so much.
You either back future football or you don’t… if you don’t, leave.
Nice plan, let’s hope AFC sign the right players. The buck has to stop with the squad which clearly is not of the standard required mentally to perform consistently.
still think Saka can stand-in for Tierney as needed and Martinelli, ESR, Pepe can stand-in for Saka
much prefer on focusing this summer on a mid-field that moves the ball FORWARD quickly
Agree Ray, need to work on those attacking transitions.
Sorry don’t see much at all in Oodegard,. Not a game changer. A master of the ten yard pass.
Did he have any assist ? Just not fast enough in his movement or play. The total opposite of
ESR who is fats and courageous. Oode is a nothing player, sorry.
So @Perdo what have you seen from Oodegard that makes you think we should sign him?
Does anyone seriously think there will be a move away from the rank incompetence of everyone involved in the squad-building at Arsenal? It’s the pipe dream of the perpetual optimist. Vinai, Josh, Edu and Arteta are incompetent people. As a Barnsbury-born lifelong Arsenal fan and season ticket holder it sounds crazy, but I would actually rather see the club relegated to the Championship if that is what it would take to get the C-graders who are currently in charge get jogged on, than get some form of Wenger-in-his-late-period endless quasi-success and have legohead tell me that he’s making progress, as… Read more »
@youdamn
not speaking for Pedro 🙂
but I thought Odergaard looked good and inter-played well with Saka, ESR, etc.
well until the International Break
since then he has looked a shadow of his former self, whether it is because of his injury or something else…
he certainly looked very unhappy when he came off the field at the end of our ‘victory’ against Chelski
We are coming to the end of the season this weekend. Arsenal are already making some significant announcements. Today it was announced that Kroenke had made arrangements to repay the Bank of England loan. By all accounts this will be paid by KSE and not Arsenal. Last week Arsenal sent out by email announcements for next season ticket renewals. The season ticket renewals should be arriving by the end of next week. It will be interesting to see the new prices factoring in that we are not competing in Europe. The club have already advised me that I will be… Read more »
I haven’t seen the press conference but if Arteta said “Anyone with a contract will likely be here next season” then he’s really lost the plot.
Is Future Football the new sauce?
Because I’m still to see the old sauce.
Learn new things. Is Arteta capable of teaching them new things? Or will it be more of the same ?every game 6000 passes backwards and sideways .
@Marc
I think there is going to be a lot of upset people come the start of next season when bar a few leaving , it will be the same old faces
“Martin Odegaard has been a touch flaccid at times, but if we can get him firing, he’s an £80m in 3 years time.”
You must be joking Pedro. No chance
TYAG
As I’ve already said I can see the Kroenke’s putting up the money for a token signing circa £20 – £30 million anything else will come from sales.
Problem is I just don’t trust the ability of Edu or Arteta to go and get the players we need.
Pedro,
Hello from a beach on the Jersey Shore. You need to check it out sometime. It’s an antidote to the tension of AFC at the moment.
I believe that Boussema would be a good signing but neither he nor Berge will address our problem of midfielders who don’t score goals. Partey hitting row z is not the solution.
So who would you all sign if you had 30m to spend? It’s a realistic figure and Camavinga will cost a lot more.
Same old faces in the squad means same old results next season. Especially with the coach who wears a pointy hat with “D” on it. Indispensable Xhaka, febrile and fragile full backs and Auba basically stealing a living for another season. Welcome to purgatory.
Global
Xhaka is down to 2 years on his contact this summer that magic number where we should be selling or extending.
You just know Arteta will do everything he can to extend and give him a raise.
Arteta is clueless he hasn’t used any sauce yet.
He’s trying to use his narcissist ways to blame everybody else.
The fans in the stadium will be putting their thumbs down.
Dave
How you doing mate?
My guess is the fans will be on Arteta’s back pretty quickly next season it’ll be interesting to see how Arteta handles it and what Pedro makes of the fans reaction.
A very Arsenal fan piece, full of hype based delusional b.s…. I was a huge fan of tierney, buy feel that he has a lot of ground to improve to get to this delusional hype that is surrounding him. Arsenal knew that they were buying damaged goods when they got him. So the thought that he is above bringing in real opposition seems very midtable Arsenal. Odegaard… 80% hype, 20 % performance…He is on Real’s books so there must be something about him, I can assure you that he will never be worth 80 mll playing for Arsenal…Just the fact… Read more »
Hi Marc
That’s for asking I have no more appointments until October so all seems well thank goodness.
Arteta has been lucky because when we lost seven in a row he would have got slaughtered.
We are just not playing the Arsenal way..
Arteta won’t go unless he’s dragged screaming and shouting
Pedro is back to his default settings, lap it all up till you are choked, spill it out and lap it up again. Arteta has learnt his lessons, he blames himself bla bla bla, has he ever stopped blaming himself? Has he changed his ways? Well, it’s not much about arteta, it’s rather about how the club has lost its glory that we are now competing with Everton, Crystal Palace and Co
Delusion at its best , better be prepared for the meltdown before christmas .
We have enough cricks in the squad to be gambling on Odegaard fitness or lack of it
*crocks
All supreme leader needed were 2 dead rubber wins
Emery went to the 2nd season in a better state than Arteta.
Once fans are back in the stadium, Arteta can’t fool with these last-night-learnt essays.
Deliver or go away.
He’s going to go with the same sort of midfield next season isn’t he with Xhaka he’s go to man.
Fail.
Mb
Emery fucked up the end of his first season badly and went into the following season with that hanging round his neck.
Arteta has fucked up just about everything this season and has managed to stop the exciting players we have from scoring goals.
My dour football, more baffling selections, more stupid excuses and he’ll have the fans all over him in no time.
Ishola
Only it’ll be Xhaka with a new deal.
Pedro: Luiz is our best defender. Also Pedro: keeping Luiz was a disaster. I think you need to arrange your thoughts and opinions. Considering we have the third best defense in the league, and the goalscorers are not scoring goals our issues have to do with chance creation. And that my friend is a shame to Mikel arteta. having played his best football as an attacking midfielder, he should know more than most the best ways to create chances for his strikers. Considering our attackers are not good in the air, you can possibly tell us you created chances for… Read more »
Lads put this up on the last post, not sure if you caught it, and wouldn’t want either of you two to miss it
Marc + Ishola70
Got some news that should cheer you lads right up 😂
Xhaka about a possible return to Gladbach:
“There are always rumours at the end of the season, that’s for sure. But I still have a two year contract in London, and I’m very happy with my family here. First of all, I’m looking at a successful Euro with the NT.”
Emirates Yes there will be a lot of movement. You will recall when Arteta first came into the club he said he was shocked at the size of the squad, it was too large to be manageable. Recently he mentioned this again. It causes lots of headaches, players who aren’t deemed good enough knocking on doors harassing you for playing time & causing problems behind the scenes because they aren’t playing. He also mentioned the center-back situation and of course, we know he moved on Sokratis & Mustafi, while Saliba went on loan. A smaller squad with better players and… Read more »
Alexander Henry – Mustafi moved five months ago. He is not an Arsenal player .
Arteta made no sense with his third point. I would expect us to move on permanently Bellerin Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Torreira, Willian , Nketiah, Nelson , AMN and Willock. Xhaka, Leno and Lacazette could also leave .
They all have contracts. With no European football we need a smaller squad and must make space for our youngsters
Bertie Mee ” I would expect us to move on permanently Bellerin Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Torreira, Willian, Nketiah, Nelson , AMN and Willock. Xhaka, Leno and Lacazette could also leave. They all have contracts. With no European football we need a smaller squad and must make space for our youngsters” This. Yes, I probably agree with most of those names. As brutal as it is, we need a smaller squad it was far too over-bloated & he’s taken on one hell of a job really. The previous management of the club under gazidis watch leaves a lot to be desired. As… Read more »
*just
Rich
Xhaka’s got 2 years to run at £100k per week no way he get’s close to that back in Germany so he’s going nowhere, the talk about him leaving is agent talk because he’ll be looking for a new contract soon.
Emirates
“”””””We are coming to the end of the season this weekend”””””
Thanks heavens for that.
What with;
Arteta and Round
Luiz and William.
Covid and VAR.
The return of The Clown and Villarreal.
it can’ t end quick enough.
And KSE want the same management team who took us out of Europe for the first time in quarter of a century , to do it all again next season but more ruthlessly.
In the words of that Irish Copper on the TV
“”” God, Give me strength”””””
Seriously, how does VAR not spot that Cavani was 5 yards offside for that goal. The offside rule is there to prevent goal hanging and this was a prime example, not the attacking player leaning forward defender leaning the other way we keep see it being used for.
Odegaard has not done enough to be signed permanently
He’s one that is still being rated for his reputation.
Madrid won’t sell him to us without some regressive clauses, same as when they “sold” Moratta to Juventus only to activate a clause to recall him to sell to Chelsea the following season.
There will be movement alright this summer, ….. the movement of Diet Peps bowels
Marc you make a good point. There is fantasy and reality. Moving players on top money isn’t easy. Most of today’s players are happy to sit out their contracts even if they don’t play. Ozil being an example. I suspect we will be stuck with a few of them or we pay off their contracts or we sell them for peanuts. A difficult window ahead.
Dissenter
I disagree that we shouldn’t try to sign Odegaard, he’s a brilliant young player, with a very high ceiling
Agree that under no circumstances should we agree to a buy back clause, or a substantial sell on
All the same contracted players plus Bertrand.
That’s saucy.
‘I think Bertrand is a future facing signing’
Very, very funny. I wonder if he would have been a future facing signing under Emery!?
Jaroda VAR is a disaster open to manipulation. That is my gripe. I watched a program on it and the technology is dated so they can’t possibly get the accuracy they claim. They guess or worse. The offside is a perfect example that can be manipulated by the person doing VAR to be either offside or onside. What doesn’t help is the fact they use every part of the body imaginable, which is why it takes so long. An armpit, seriously? As they concluded, only feet can ‘stand’ or ‘run’ offside therefore that’s all that should be measured to make… Read more »
The 20/21 season in song titles no.1
Willian, it was really nothing
(The Smiths)
‘I want it, and I want it NOW!’ Coming from an eight-year old kid it’s annoying, but understandable: he hasn’t learned yet that there’s a harsh reality out there beyond his doting parents. On here coming from (I assume) grown-ups it’s quite bizarre and tbh embarrassing. Are we indeed the southern softies, spoilt and pampered? Well, yes, if your experience as an Arsenal supporter does not pre-date the GG years. Years of feasting, no experience of near-starvation. At any rate, not until recently. Football success is cyclical here. We’re not in a one-horse league like Bayern M, or two-horse one… Read more »
Every loser wins
(Nick Berry)
Road to nowhere
(Talking Heads)
Down down
(Status Quo)
“Odegaard has not done enough to be signed permanently He’s one that is still being rated for his reputation.“ He’s 22, his reputation is what he’s got going for him. Hardly going to have a body of work to be admired at that age….aside from being signed by Real Madrid and then loaned out to great success. He’s being rated for his excellent season last year in La Liga with Sociedad at 21. He was also excellent the year prior in the Eredivisie for Vitesse. But he never carried us to top 4 in the 8 league games he’s played… Read more »
Runarsson to the hills
(Iron Maiden)
For whom the Bellerin rolls
(Metallica)
*tolls
Left
Suicide is Painless?
Or maybe not
Eagle
Seen that French squad for the Euros? Hard to see any other winner asides them. Big Benz is back
Song
“The only way is up” Yazz.
French Montana – Saucy
‘Holding’ out for a hero
(Bonnie Tyler)
Eminem – Rock bottom
Excellent!
.”Personally I am not particularly enthused by some of the midfield candidates that we are interested in. They may be decent players at lower level clubs, but are they really the height of our ambition this summer. Biessema and Berge are not going to be “match winners” if we are recruiting them.” C’mon Emirates. You’re really suggesting that we shouldn’t buy players from lower ranked PL teams? Really? So by your logic players such as Grealish, Bissouma, Berge, Neto, Matheus Pereira, Zaha, Eze, and Lamptey wouldn’t get a sniff in this current version of Arsenal? I won’t even mention lower… Read more »
AFC
More like “Relegation” to the tune of Celebration.
Portugal or France for me.
englandsbest I’m involved in a biggish football club and we have a Whatsapp group. You have just described what most of the rival fans think about our fans. The funny thing is they don’t actually dislike Arsenal just our fans. The shit I take about that Arsenal Fan TV mob….!!! It is a bit of an age thing, everyone has everything now not like us who basically had nothing growing up. Two live football games each season, 3 TV channels and a hand-painted car with go-faster stripes and a whippy aerial (remember them!!). Now they lease a brand new BMW… Read more »
Let’s push things forward
(The Streets)
Marc
I have no idea how miserable your life must be with all the negativity you post. Honestly, you need to have a day off for health reasons. Mine. I’m being serious, I hardly ever drank until I started reading your stuff…..!!
Get the ‘Partey’ started
(Pink)
Breaking up is hard to do – Neil Sedaka
Stay another day – East 17
We are the Champions (Queen)
Things can only get better – D:ream
AFC
You’re a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy.
Anyone old enough to remember the song called “Rosetta” by Alan Price & Georgie fame?
It’s a crap song but if you replace “Rosetta” with “Arteta” it’s pretty funny.
Being a critic myself of Wenger in his latter years, I can’t hate him ever. “When I was a kid, #RealMadrid were my team,” “I grew up watching [Alfredo] Di Stefano, [Ferenc] Puskas, [Raymond] Kopa, Santamaria, [Paco] Gento… They made an impression on me.” “I liked Real Madrid and, with the passing of time, I ended up facing them.” “I almost went to Real Madrid on two occasions. Not many people can say that,” he revealed.” “But I was involved in a project to build a new stadium that would replace Highbury and we had to finance it.” “We paid… Read more »
What’s another season of mid table mediocrity to be happy about?
We were an elite club now going down through poor management and lousy owner.
Nothings changing, great stuff heh
Left testicle
I am mate……!!
Mb
What I wanted pay to watch another season like one of those with Henry and Vieira in the team. That football was something else.
Mine’s half empty. 🥃
AFC
You really need to get a sense of humour.
That was a great goal by Cavani.
AFC
Yes, it was brilliant. I’m sure what Emery and Arteta been given, Arsene would be fighting for the the league in that kinda money.
But then it’s grass on the other side thing. I’m sure we will get out of this, with or without Arteta.
North London is red 🔴⚪
Interesting sound bite from half time breakdown of Brighton and City…
Joleon Lescott: “I’d expect them to double up there, he leaves Mahrez and he’s a 1v1 specialist.”
Take him to one side Ishola and educate him hahaha
He’s not a specialist when he is dumb enough to try to dribble deep.
Charlie quotes all media whether it be Lescott or The Athletic telling him Arteta is the real deal.