Ain’t nothing I love to see more in the game than Arsenal stealing a win in the final minutes of a game.
Why?
It shows our players are still fighting when the season is dead.
It shows that in fact, we are capable of scoring goals and creating chances.
It feels good, after a season of having those sorts of moments going the other way.
Roy Hodgson’s last game in charge was a tough one to analyse. We controlled the game playing some nice football early on, the passing was slick, Palace couldn’t get out of the own area.
Then we scored. Saka and Tierney combined beautifully, the Englishman back heeling for KT to cross to the back stick where Nico was prowling with a perfect volleyed strike with his weaker foot. Pure Arsenal, the type of goal Arteta wakes up to after a deep bout of REM sleep.
Arsenal then fell back into a familiar pattern. We took our foot off the gas. We let Palace have a crack. This wasn’t helped by the general violent conduct of the Palace players. Benteke swiped at Mo, somehow managing to avoid a red card. A little late, Nico bodged a touch, Partey fouled, the freekick was whipped into the box and Benteke fouled two players on his way to a diving header that drew the game level.
Did it not feel like the officials were angling for a nice last game for Roy?
The tougher the ask, the harder Arsenal players fall back on the patterns of player we aren’t really that good at right now. We created very little. Everyone looked like they were remembering the instructions a little late. Palace were eating up the predictability of it all.
Arteta did make changes though, he brought on Odegaard and Martinelli. It helped. Mike McDonald wrote that there needed to be a rebellion in the system and it happened. Odegaard slipped a beautiful inswinger to the backpost where Martinelli gambled and bundled the ball home. Then Nico Pepe took command with a mazy power run that ended with a beautifully curled low shot. A £72m goal if ever there was one.
Some performances of note:
Nico Pepe. He’s a weird player. His G/A this season sits at 17. He’s scored some great goals. But at the same time, you can see why he causes frustration. His poor touch led to the freekick they scored from. He rarely takes the ball on a run. His first instinct is always to stop play, have a think, pass it backwards. I’d love him to be more consistently explosive.
Auba had a poor afternoon. Hard to go at him, he had malaria, which is a rough, rough thing to deal with. But overall he looked well off the pace again, he’s not taking chances on balls, he’s not making good runs and his holdup play is nowhere near what we get with Lacazette. His game is one of an assassin, hiding in the box and poaching, not sure why Arteta tries to make him come deep, it’s not his game and never will be. Bigger question: Does he want to be here? It’s one we tend to ask after every game. If he does, there’s a lot of work to do next season to make him work in the system, Arteta can’t keep asking things of players that don’t have it in them.
A lot of people were moaning about Thomas Partey. I don’t hate his game. I think he’d be a lot better if he wasn’t the singular driving force for creating openings. But, I still prefer him into the starting 11 than out of it. His form will improve, he’s very press resistant, he just needs to reduce some of that high-risk behaviour. He’s a bit Hollywood with his passing, but in a system fairly accused of being too rigid, he’s a breath of fresh air for his speed of thought and mostly on-point delivery.
Martin Odegaard has been up and down, but his talent for unpicking defences and opening up space with his movement has been a miss since his injury. He’s a different level on the ball, we don’t have a player that can break down a team the way he can, I think it’d be a huge add if we could land him next season. Let’s be honest, he’s not changing the fortunes on Real Madrid, but he certainly could ours given a proper run at the first team.
I had a lot of heart for some of that cover game from Gabriel. Another player who dealt with a horrendous virus, only to come back flustered. He has great pace, he’s powerful, he just needs to iron out some of the reckless in his game that has made him look a bit all over the place this year.
Final shoutout goes to Bernd Leno. Fast distro, good saves, totally dominant in his box against monster opposition. I’d prefer if we didn’t lose him this summer. He’s had a rough year, but if the club sorts the keeping personnel issues in the background, perhaps he can hang on. Though it’s worth noting… he has 2 years left on his deal, has shown no intention to sign, so technically, he should be getting sold this summer. Let’s see where this goes.
Actually, final shoutout goes to the fans. Kieran Tierney has probably never felt better about being booed. Football is better with fans, yesterday, it was a pleasure to hear the singing and the overall joy from the fans. Life is returning to normal. I couldn’t be happier.
Back to the bigger picture.
Game won. That’s 4 wins on the bounce. This is the table since we added creative players to the squad.
It has been a very rough season for a number of reasons. The Europa League collapse, based on what happened earlier in the season would have seen most coaches fired, but it has been clear for a while that Stan K is trying to replicate the good vibes he’s getting with a young innovative coach in America at LA Rams.
Arteta is here to stay, so people have to stop crying about it and look for positive signs of life.
That table above is a positive sign. It’s 62% if the season. If you are choosing to prioritise the first 38% to get to the truth of whether this project is viable, you are being disingenuous.
Over that period, we have the second-best defence over that time period, the third most goals, second-most points.
That’s Champions League form. If we’d been half the mess we were at the start of the season, which was still bad, we’d be in the top four right now.
Are there problems to solve? Absolutely. Arteta is a rookie coach, people complaining that he’s getting things wrong don’t seem to grasp that concept, or that it’s part of the deal. They also seem to forget the plethora of other coaches that are far more experienced than he is, managing equally bland seasons. Carlo A was hired a few days before Arteta at an expensively assembled Everton side that were 4 points behind where Freddie/Emery left us. He’s 1 point ahead of us. Mourinho, the most winningest manager in the world has left Spurs 2 points ahead of us, after a run at the title. Klopp, one of the best in the world, 8 points ahead on 66 after 99 points last season.
If we beat Brighton, at worst, we’ll be 9 points off 3rd come the end of the season. 9 points of a Chelsea side that was top last season, then added £250m worth of talent to their ranks. Again, I don’t keep on saying this because it’s an amazing feat, I say it because the context for this season for almost everyone is that playing football with no fans in a pandemic year has been a fucking nightmare across the board.
Then factor in our unusually nightmarish squad challenges… well, it’s not quite suicide watch like some would have you believe.
This summer, which needs to go very well, will add more players into the system that can do the things positional football demands. The defence will need to find more quality on the ball with a centre back and a right back. We’re going to need more than one Odegaard this summer, because we’re absolutely nowhere through the middle in big games. We’ll also need a top-quality midfielder, and if Arteta’s, ‘Who else plays as many teenagers as us? We can’t just put them all in’, is to be believed, then chances are we’ll not be looking at Camavinga this summer. I mean, I am totally guessing there.
The ideal scenario next season is one where we’re not constructing complex mechanisms to protect our weaknesses as a squad. That’s the dream. It’ll take a lot to get there, but it’s possible.
The hope for next season is simple… the benchmark level is what we’ve seen since Christmas, then after December, we find a new gear that looks more like the modern Arsenal we hope can exist under this manager.
So, the last game of the season has something on it. The chance to finish above Spurs and gain entrance into a European trophy no fan wants. At least it’ll be interesting.
Also, Harry Kane asks out at Spurs and all the media are begging Levy to let him go. Magic.
See you in the comments, podcasts return next week because I am not at home for the week.
You can stick your Europa League Conference – Northern up your arse!
4th
3rd
Just hope we only have domestics to focus on next season.
2nd
No, Pedro is the all knowing Oracle. We are mere plebs! 🙂
Haha. Read the whole post.. And no comments at the bottom…
Arsenal!
Top 4 next season.
With FA cup and Uefa Conference wins
lol Pedro
I will be astonished if we improve next season
Do you honestly see that happening with diet P
The ‘elite’ ingredients are just not there my friend
If you gave him the man city squad he’d still finish mid table
Pedro The thing about stats is that you can bend them to your will if you know how to. If you look at the last 15 games, we are 7th. If you look at the last 4, we are first. If you look at the last 23, we are 3rd while Leeds are 5th. Does anyone here think Leeds would crack the top 5 next season? No. That’s exactly why this table is meaningless. Wenger used to win the calendar year trophy all the time and if you go back to your post during that period where AKB’s were celebrating… Read more »
Top 10.
Taking pedro logics, my comment is top 4 and not in 15th
Azed, not sure you’re going to convince many that 5 months of data, 62% of the season, in a straight shot… is massaging.
Next season will be totally different because Arteta is no longer an unknown mystery. When Arteta took over, he won the cup by shit housing and hitting on the break and when we played Leicester, Brendan gave us the ball and we could do nothing with it. Next season, Saka would be treated differently, ESR would no longer be “that kid”. Teams would be more prepared for us. Oh and historically, the best teams and coaches fix the attack first and then shore up the defence later. Pep, Klopp, Wenger et al. The exception is Mourinho and there’s a reason… Read more »
Agree on all fronts Pedro, this summer is critical to push on from a very poor season. There’s green shoots there, but another summer as poor as the previous and KSE will have no option but to clean house at the top end AGAIN. Hope those involved are far less sentimental that I’ve seen on Le Grove. Guys like AMN, Bellerin, Willock, Eddie should be thanked and sold to the highest bidder. That’s 75 mil of home grown talent, and exactly what we should be doing as a football club to generate the money needed for top talents/players that will… Read more »
Pedro
15 games is about 3 months worth of data and that’s enough sample size. 15 games is almost half a season and we are 7th.
Odegaard is not good enough, need to be binned.
Also Pedro, any way we can get an idea on the banned words? I’ve lost some lengthy replies with little idea of how.
Think Chelsea’s Abraham is a banned word (his first name) oddly.
Azed, if you’re an Arsenal fan, you should know that historically, ‘build from the back’ is our thing.
Also, most Arsenal fans over the past 15 years would tell you their priority would have been to fix our porous defence.
Any coach coming after Emery saying ‘let’s score more goals before we address the leakage’ would have been laughed out the interview.
Cannot believe you’d right such nonsense.
19th but 2nd from 16:49. That means I’ll be second tomorrow..
Oh Pedro,
There’s the Euro’s the summer, which most likely means a short preseason, injuries and disruptions.
The idea that this form would carry on to next, is purely hope.
Would be happy enough with the return of Salina & Mavroponos for defence.The purchase of Emerson/ RB or Aerons.CM Buendia,DM Bissouma & A N Other up front.but qualadee only.That’s four top purchases & flog plenty more of the deadwood.
Charlie, don’t know what that was… not many banned words these days. Sometimes doesn’t like it when you quote people because it looks like duplicate
Also, most Arsenal fans over the past 15 years would tell you their priority would have been to fix our porous defence.
Pedro
Isn’t it ironic that the year we fix our defence is the year we are about to miss out of Europe?
What does that tell you using 15 years of data?
Pedro
You’re sounding like David Brent now holding onto and repeating that 62% statistic [”You don’t need luck when you have got 71.4% of the population behind you!”].
Azed, not sure we’re going to be damaged by the euros.
WE, if you can tell me a world in which 5 months of continuous data is not relevant to assessing the viability of a project, I’d love to hear it… because it wouldn’t hold muster in any serious boardroom.
I mean, you don’t even have to answer, that data is driving the reason he’s still here. It’s fact.
“There’s the Euro’s the summer, which most likely means a short preseason, injuries and disruptions.”
First ready made excuse for Arteta next season.
Azed, not sure we’re going to be damaged by the euros.
Pedro,
Preseason, our targets may be. Even getting rid of the bums would be affected by the euro’s
If you are an honest observer without any agenda you will realise there is no flow and rhythm in the way Arsenal play under Arteta. Our football is pedestrian, boring and lacklustre. Don’t let the results in the last few months delude you in to believing that we are on the right course. We botched up the only game that mattered post Christmas that was Europa semi final.
Pedro
Does the data say we’re playing good football which will translate to fans paying to be in the stadium? Does the data say we’re playing good football and are a team a company wants to pay top dollar to sponsor?
Because those 2 metrics will carry a shit load of muster in any board room.
Well said TR7
Delusion.
Plain and simple.
Credit for the so called post Christmas ‘revival’ goes to Saka and ESR who saved Arteta some blushes.
Clearing out deadwood only helps if we replace them with better players, and the squad with better balance Swapping one subpar player, for another subpar player, isn’t going to move any needle I want us to win on Sunday, and then let the chips fall wherever they fall, if qualifying for the Europa conference is a price we have to pay to finish above Spurs, then so be it Just send Steve Bould with the under 23s and players who need minutes, then leave Arteta on the training ground with the rest 5 consecutive wins, and 2nd in the league… Read more »
Some musings: Keep Leno as it is one less replacement that we will need to focus on. Arteta is worth another season just make sure that we do not buy top four cast offs and hand them absurd salaries (Willian and Mikhytarian ). Auba is a problem. Without knowing the full extent, malaria is a nasty disease that can stay in your system for years and it just may be that is happening with him. So as opposed to this time last year I would not be at all confident of him producing 20 goals next season. Bellerin seems to… Read more »
Rich
“Just send Steve Bould with the under 23s and players who need minutes, then leave Arteta on the training ground with the rest”
Exactly and any additional income is going to be desperately needed. A big question is what a ST will be next season.
Amen Rich, amen.
Some people say that Arteta is learning from his mistakes. Quite frankly I think that’s rubbish. If he is learning why did he play a false no9 in the semi final of the EL, when he’d played that same system v Man City and got our arses handed to us on a plate with city barely getting out of 1st gear. Surely if he’s learning he wouldn’t of revisited a system that didn’t work out first time around
Does anyone find it absurd that in the post Christmas table Chelsea have scored only 28 goals (13 less than us), conceded only 1 less and are still only 2 points off us. They are playing an even more fine margins game than we are. I think they’ll be found out next season unless ofc they splash another 150 mil cuz why not.
Never tell a fool he is a fool. Pedro you should know that by now.
@Marc
Yep spot on mate. When he tanks, which he will , we will be told it’s because of the euros
Having a good transfer window increases the chance of success for any manager including Arteta. Suggesting we are on the right path and all we now need is a good transfer window is in a way admission of the fact that Arteta is not good enough.
If Arteta has managed to deliver top two results since Christmas by simply adding Odegaard with his one goal and one assist, then why do we need a six player switcheroo/ addition to become the top four contenders?
Pedro “. That’s 4 wins on the bounce. This is the table since we added creative players to the squad.” Imagine where we has finished if we had included our most creative player in the squad in the first half of the season. We are where we are in the league partly due to that one poor decision that Le Grove celebrated and then complained endlessly of the side having no creativity.. Will just add that creativity comes in many different guises, inc creating space, creating chances, creating confidence, creative passing, creative movement off the ball which all leads to… Read more »
TYAG, overall though, if you look at that table, it’s hard to say that lessons weren’t learned.
Sure, plenty of dross out there, poor decisions, drab football at times… but overall, compared to more seasoned vets, he’s not doing that badly.
Who do you think is doing better? Jose, Carlo, Nuno? I mean, evidence would suggest any gains would have been marginal.
We need at least 3 better players to create competition and add some depth. A lot of the players we have are not bad, they just not performing and need that push. They also need to balance that with some comfort in squad depth. There’s nothing worse than bringing in Willian for Saka.
Pierre, Ozil has had one assist in 10 in Turkey.
Right, I’m off, have fun
Im loving this Arteta Propaganda network 😂😂
Ozil is a legend!!!!
For those who are disregarding the post Christmas improvement in results. If Arteta had been sacked and another manager would have put up the same numbers as Arteta has in the 23 game run, would that be classified as success for the new man? Even though we are 2nd in the 23 game table the damage that was done before (Arteta’s doing) was horrifying and left us with no realistic chance to recover. Any manager shouldn’t be able to come out of that with the sense of security that Arteta did ( Lax leadership from the top ). But the… Read more »
‘Who do you think is doing better? Jose, Carlo, Nuno? I mean, evidence would suggest any gains would have been marginal.’
Bielsa and Potter have done wonders with the squad they have got. Jose and Carlo are finished, using them as examples to prop up Arteta is not right.
I’m not swayed by the post Christmas argument personally. Arteta was very fortunate with some of the points we’ve picked up. The win at chelsea being a prime example
I want Arteta to succeed and prove he really is the real deal and the next big thing. However I’m concerned that his major personality flaws will always hold him back from becoming a top coach/manager
Rather than being proactive, Arsenal are just kicking the can down the road. If we don’t get a manager now, we’ll need one in the middle of next season.
Is Willock not better than Ceballos and Elneny?
We should the boy a chance
We don’t have goal scoring midfielders
That first goal was an Arsenal goal, but I’m not sure it’s an Arteta goal. Honestly, nobody actually knows what an Arteta goal is.
Nice to see pepe turning up with a couple of goals again though
This is what he’s capable of. The sorts of goals nobody in this team scores, left right, long rage, dribbles. Nobody else scores these goals
14/5 GA now
Not bad at all
Start him more often and he’s hitting 20 per season quite comfortably for me
More goals in martinelli saka and ESR next season too
HavynMay 20, 2021 17:16:35
Is Willock not better than Ceballos and Elneny?
We should the boy a chance
We don’t have goal scoring midfielders
No
Ceballos is the Spanish Joe Cole 😂
“””””If Arteta has managed to deliver top two results since Christmas by simply adding Odegaard with his one goal and one assist, then why do we need a six player switcheroo/ addition to become the top four contenders?””‘
great question Tom
posed it last week.
Why does Arteta want to be ‘ ruthless’ to a team that has taken him to the dizzying heights of 2nd in the Xmas Table?
Find it mystifying , fans want more of this turgid , clunky, joyless and ineffective soccer in the months ahead.
Mystifying.
Great post Pedro. The reason some people don’t want to acknowledge the fact that only Manchester City has had a better 23 game run than us is because it indicates progress. It is an inconvenient piece of evidence that contradicts their narrative. So they want to discredit is as meaningless, because they know it isn’t. Progress is the enemy of change. Clubs won’t sack a Manager who currently has their team performing as the 2nd best team in the Premier League, over two-thirds of the season, that would be sheer madness. Especially a club that knows this is an over-achievement,… Read more »
So when we pick up points we fortunate but when we unfortunately lose points we shite
CT was after Arteta’s head after the EL semi-final.
Now he is mentioning top four next season.
You see they all go back to the bowel to drink from again after a short period.
Guys like AMN, Bellerin, Willock, Eddie should be thanked and sold to the highest bidder. That’s 75 mil of home grown talent, and exactly what we should be doing as a football club to generate the money needed for top talents/players that will make a difference, your Buendia’s and Odegaard’s.
Cc
Yeah
Great shout
Keep Luiz Gabriel Auba and Willian then all we need is Coutinho
Imagine getting moist over an injury time win in a dead rubber against Crystal Palace. Beyond pathetic.
Winning meaningless matches when the pressure is off and there’s nothing to play for is child’s play. Once the new season starts Arteta will once again be exposed for the fraud he is.
Yes absolutely right. Qualifying for the EL conference or whatever that shit is does NOT mean we are sending saka and ESR to get broken in Eastern Europe every Thursday. We can literally let the #2 manage it along with whichever squaddies and kids Arteta confirms won’t be playing or will only be on the bench for the upcoming league game. Job done I really don’t know why people always assume you’re not allowed to rotate and have to breast your players. It’s as much of a distraction as you choose to let it be. Same for the EL. Christ… Read more »
The one match which actually mattered was against Villarreal, when Diet Pep bottled it and got bent over by Emery, of all people.
Pedro You said yourself that he should have been sacked after Villarreal. You can frame these stats to suit the agenda all day long, fact is that Chelsea who are in that table you pull up sacked their manager for under-performing and since they have appointed Tuchel have picked up 8 more points than we have in the League, beat Atletico Madrid, Porto and Real Madrid on route to the Champions League Final and beat City in the FA Cup SF labeit they did lose the Final which is a knock against Tuchel. United are in the Europa League Final… Read more »
Zeus Gabriel is only about 24. Not sure why he’s in your golden oldie list
“If Arteta has managed to deliver top two results since Christmas by simply adding Odegaard with his one goal and one assist, then why do we need a six player switcheroo/ addition to become the top four contenders?“ Why is the discussion always so reductive? A squad overhaul isn’t simply down to requirements for top 4 contention, it’s about the contractual situation of some players, the desire to change the profile of other players to be more suited to football we aim to play, and a basic desire to improve in areas with the greatest scope. Man City just won… Read more »
‘aubameyang suffered from malaria’. I leave in Nigeria and sometimes I have malaria everyother week. Trust me it’s not as bad as the media would have you believe.once you get over it, you’ll be normal in two days. Its not the malaria, he has been this bad before it. It’s the quality of chances he gets, the space and his Confidence. Arteta needs to find a way to give him that next season. I think we are going to enjoy st totteringham’s day. I would also like us to win the inaugural Europa conference league. 10 years from now. That’s… Read more »
Weagle with you on all points 10000%
@Zeus
now who’s being selective
agreed lucky to get three points from Chelsea, but also unlucky to drop points in consecutive games to Fulerton
so net:net that’s two points on the plus side 🙂
Like it or not, the bookies have 1.5 to 1 that BOTH Everton and Spuds will drop points
they also have us 1.5 to 1 to win
so the odds on us finishing seventh are 2 to 1
a good opportunity for Steve Bold to keep the bench focused and match fit 🙂
Quite worried that most fans still believe Arteta can move us forward, no evidence of that so far and more importantly he is not developing the players as not a single player is better under him.
We need to move on from him quickly or just agree to waste next season like this one as well and start rebuilding upper season.
Just hope we won’t be battling relegation then.
“Great shout
Keep Luiz Gabriel Auba and Willian then all we need is Coutinho“
Not sure what your point even is.
How much are we getting for Luiz, Auba, and Willian given one is out of contract and the other two are high-earning 32 year olds? Don’t get the Gabriel inclusion at all either, you’ll have to explain the rationale in selling there.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m going to pretend that the season we just had was anything other than a massive failure though which is why I take exception to the selective ‘since Christmas’ table being repeatedly trotted out as proof of our supposed upward progress.“ Nobody is asking for the season to be painted a success, everyone has condemned the result of the season. But you’re being obtuse if you’re unable to comprehend the sentiment behind our uptick in results since Boxing Day. We played Laca, Willian and Ceballos as #10 pre-Xmas which didn’t work at all. We criticised the… Read more »
Umar I’m with you
I had malaria multiple times as a kid and adult
It’s not a long term illness lol
Auba is aging but also suffering in a team with no progression through the midfield
Le grove has become an apologist forum
Sad
Manager has young talent in squad. Manager plays experienced players for a dozen games. They fail. Manager drops them despite the risk and plays the kids. Manager also publicly bins several other experienced players at the same time despite the backlash Manager then manages the second best record in the League from there. FANS REACTION – “young players saved him. He’s useless and the fact that he picked them and backed them means nothing” why on earth would anybody want to be a manager of a football team – a rally hard job – when all your critics are window… Read more »
Pedro used to rage over Wenger for Arsenal’s season being over in February, now when our season was effectively over in October, he’s using “table since Christmas”. It holds no substance that on Chrismas we were 15th. 15th. When our season was already over, he only had to worry about Europa. What did he do there? Kneeled and took it in. The prodigy lost to the bum Emery with a superior squad. After dropping out to Olympiacos the year before. What happened to the goals that were set for this season? They don’t matter? Nobody will be held accountable? Periods… Read more »
Ishola
You are speaking knowing only half the facts.
I was definitely Arteta out after the EL semi. And if the club asks me right now Id say sack and get in Rangnick.
After that I also said I’m still Arteta out but I know he is going nowhere. So instead of crying and moaning and hoping Arsenal tank next so Arteta is kicked out I’m gonna back the club i.e I’m gonna back the manager for the first 2 months into next season at least.
Half info is worse than false info
I still think Arteta should have gotten the sack but he’s going nowhere and under those circumstances I agree with Pedro that it’s better to look for signs of life. To me those are pretty obvious – the kids + KT & the fact that Arteta seems to have dealt with his man crush on Willian. Let’s hope that continues. As for next season, I hope he adjusts his philosophy around transitions. The issue that Pedro describes with Pepe is an issue we have as a team. We’re building too slowly and always give the opponent time to organize. The… Read more »
LoveSausage: “I still think Arteta should have gotten the sack but he’s going nowhere and under those circumstances I agree with Pedro that it’s better to look for signs of life.”
Is it what Pedro was doing when our manager was Arsene? Or was he pushing for Wenger’s head?
FairPlay cap T
I don’t think we have to worry about the Euro’s this summer. Other than Tierney and Xhaka who exactly is going to get significant minutes at the tournament? Plenty of our so-called rivals have far more to worry about.
why on earth would anybody want to be a manager of a football team
Johnno
Wenger had 9 million reasons…. Every year!
How much is Tets taking from the club every year? Anyone know?
One question Pedro, I would love you to address this.
Last season you told us the same things mate. Showed us the defensive stats, X.G, X.A all these fancy metrics, you continuously told us about “the table since Arteta took over” how this is champions league form. You always mentioned how you feel like we will definitely kick on next season and challenge for top four under the generational coach Arteta.
What is different this time Pedro? What gives you the belief that it’s going to be better this time? I’d really love to get your opinion on this.
“under those circumstances I agree with Pedro that it’s better to look for signs of life.””
Nope, better to be objective and realistic rather than try and look for evidence to support a pre-determined viewpoint.
WE “Spurs also sacked Mourinho for underperforming while still being clear of us.” To be fair the experienced Mourinho some fans wanted here was sacked for a number of reasons including player unrest and declining results. Arsenal are currently overperforming. You don’t sack a Manager who is on a run of 23 games that is 2nd best in the league, especially when he doesn’t have the 2nd best squad. Agreed that Arsenal were underperforming in the first 14 games of the season when we were in 15th place in the league, 11 & 12 points behind Spurs, Villa and Everton… Read more »
Emery gave us 22 games unbeaten run and was regarded as fluke and rightly so he was found out as the season unfold so what makes this post Christmas runs different afterall the football itself is neither here nor there, turgid boring sideway passes
We should stop winning the league in the last 20,15,… games because the league is actually 38 games a season,we are gradually accepting the joke of a club tagged with that mentality
I wish next season won’t be what I’m thinking
Raptora,
No, it’s not what he was doing. He was doing his best to whip up the plebs with pitchforks into a frenzy with Wenger and Emery. Not saying he’s being consistent. Just that I agree with him in this particular case on the basis that Stan and his idiot son seem to be firmly backing Arteta to stay.
Kronkenphobe – I do t think Arteta is being paid, it’s an unpaid internship we did as a favour to Pep Guardiola.
At least that’s what I assume – if we are paying him then he definitely has to be sacked.
Don’t think that was meant to say
Yes our build up play has been slow at times especially counter attacking teams. And the reason is that to build up quickly u need more players to push up and support the play. When that happens and players are making runs out of position and we lose the ball, we are open to counter attacks. And we have not been great at defending counters as we have slow defensive players in Xhaka and Ceballos who would need to make up ground. With a faster and more mobile midfield, a faster CB and more clinical passing we can play fast… Read more »
‘Nobody is asking for the season to be painted a success, everyone has condemned the result of the season. But you’re being obtuse if you’re unable to comprehend the sentiment behind our uptick in results since Boxing Day.’ Charlie it’s being trotted out on every one of Pedro’s posts now, of course it’s being framed as a successful season just with a terrible start in his eyes. He’s trying to compartmentalise the first third of the season with the two latter parts and is completely repressing and omitting Villarreal even happening now. And I am able to comprehend the uptick… Read more »
Woodro,
You kept telling everyone how much of a bum Emery is and how Arteta would instantly show him up.
Yet we just had our worst season in many a metric. And to top off, ‘Emery vs Arteta’ actually happened, again the one you insisted the platform where Arteta would show up Emery as the outdated, out-of-touch bum. And the exact opposite happened.
YOU WERE HOPELESSLY WRONG. OWN IT.
Looking forward to when Arteta wins ANOTHER trophy in the next 12 months, so all you whinging pricks on here can crawl back under your rocks. Utterly embarrassing ‘Diet Pep’ this and that.
Andy,
Looking for signs of life is, at least in my book, different from looking for things that support my point of view. Especially since my POV is that he should have been sacked. Call it a defense mechanism to remain sane over the summer.
Ultimately I still believe that Tets will be sacked halfway through next season because he’s at best bang average and the results will continue to show that. In the meantime I’ll try to look for positive signs that prove the opposite.
‘Looking forward to when Arteta wins ANOTHER trophy in the next 12 months’
What’s that?
The ‘I got grown ass men worshiping me like a teenage girl’ trophy?
Next season will surely be better. We have done fairly well against the top sides since Arteta took over. We beat Liverpool, City, Leicester and Chelsea twice. Plus we been very unlucky in quite a few games with the abomination that is VAR, not to mention the crap decisions by refs.
Schalke release Mustafi after 6 months but Arteta wanted to give him a new contract (which the player rejected)
This is the guy in charge or our “get excited summer” the guy who wanted to give Mustafi a new contract. 🙄🙄🙄
Honestly, some of you don’t understand setting barriers in a relationship and just bend over for any pretty face 😂😂😂