Gooooooood morning! Arteta dropped some intel about some of the reasons we struggled early in the season.
DEADWOOD DEEPSTATE. Think I stole that from someone on the Arsenal Vision Podcast. Now it is mine.
The allusion was that certain players that aren’t here now were the problem.
I cannot imagine which part-time social media manager on £350k a week that could have been?
I cannot imagine which binned players might have been causing those issues?
I cannot imagine which players exiting might also have had a role?
The mess of the squad at the start of the last season led to dramatic decisions. Those decisions against big names were obviously going to hit the morale of the squad. You’ve all worked with a dickhead who hands their notice in and determines to burn the house down.
‘THIS PLACE IS A HELLISH VACUUM OF PUSS THAT IS GOING ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM’
Actual quote from Sandra from accounts at my place.
The biggest issue, Mesut Ozil, was a problem because he was the king. Everyone knows that when the King is dethroned, you have to kill him, because their prior power will always be a threat to stability. The German was too big for Arsenal at that point, he was hurt by the rejection, so it was clear he’d be a problem internally and externally.
Form has picked up since we rid the squad of bad eggs. Things have been better since we discovered the power of creativity in our midfield. We controlled games far better with Thomas Partey in the side.
Everyone is whining on about how 23 games of form doesn’t count for anything. Well, let’s see how that pans out next season, but also dig a little deeper into some other elements.
Leicester beat us with their only run into our box. We smashed them at their place.
Fulham beat us without having a shot on target.
Wolves didn’t deserve to beat us chance. Self inflicted Wolves.
Spurs beat us off 5 attempts at our goal and 30% possession. It was palmed off as ‘genius’ at the time, but let’s be real, it was luck as shown by Jose exiting the building a few months later.
Burnley beat us off 2 shots on target.
Everton beat us twice.
Villa beat us twice.
Basically, a lot of very lucky stuff happened against some very average teams this season.
Turn 3 of the above games into more positive results and the last game of the season sees Arsenal in Champions League spots in our worst ever season.
Hardly a stretch, right?
Think how much better life will be if we have a settled squad come the summer. Creative players from the start. An Auba not dealing with family issues and malaria. Young players a season on.
Arsenal will sell a whole collection of players. I’m not sure reading the praise of the manager is indicative of who we are keeping, it’s a negotiation tactic. Do we really think Madrid believe their future hinges on Odegaard? Doubtful… but it’ll pump his price. Same for the players Mikel is saying are under contract. We are less desperate this summer, which will lead to bigger fees (or actual fees).
Arsenal will no doubt try and make Martin a centre piece of our rebuild this summer and I’d agree with that. I’d certainly prioritize him over the Norwich fella at £450m or whatever they are looking to charge for him.
Then we’ll go for a right back, which has basically been a dead position all season. A nightmare for many reasons, but mainly because we’re lopsided when we attack. If we can bring Tierney levels to the right, it opens a whole world of possibilities.
Ryan Bertrand is perfectly acceptable cover on the left (Leicester after him, so should be safe).
Then we need to address that midfield. I have no idea who we’ll look for in that role, but hopefully we have another press resistant player that can move in the role.
Shake out the deadwood this summer.
Have a 6 week preseason and bond the leaner group.
Make sure everyone is excited and knows their own personal plan.
There will be no excuses next season, but I don’t believe there will be a need for them.
The players are backing the manager. Look at the vibes in the training ground video for David Luiz’s send off.
The club is going to bat for the first team again this summer.
I think we’re on the up.
Final word for the Edu story doing the rounds. The gist is he was taking orders from someone banned from Brazilian football for corruption when he was over there. I don’t understand enough detail to give a running commentary, but the basics are pretty clear, he took orders, he knew who from.
Arsenal relevance:
- It shows real lack of leadership to keep quiet when things like that are going on. The guy giving orders was behaving like Pablo Escobar from jail. Shocking stuff.
- Subservience to shady characters is clearly part of his operating system.
Speaking up about tough things that don’t feel right is part of any big job. I’d say ‘imagine if that was Arsenal’ but let’s be honest, we’ve seen people fail to speak truth to power in our football braintrust to great cost. Shocking deals, cosy agent relationships, huge wastage that a layman could have predicted.
This story is a bad reflection on Edu, but an even worse one on our leadership. Did anyone check in with people that had worked with him to see if he was a determined leader, or a soft touch people pleaser?
I doubt anything will come of it, but at the very least, I hope Vinai V, Richard G, and Josh K are keeping an extra close eye on who we are talking to this summer. The number 1 interest should always be Arsenal FC, that clearly hasn’t been the case with a lot of the decisions we’ve made over the past 4 years. The weaknesses on show in this story aren’t hard to trace back to some if the things we’ve seen at Arsenal (subservience). It is also a worry that he can be so comfortable working with a man of corruption. It’s a canary in the coal mine. Let’s hope we’re not on the receiving end of one of these stings in the future.
I see we’re trimming the fat but avoiding the 10 tonne elephant in the room. Yes by all means sack Steve Bould who’s been here for 30 years and the fitness guru who just joined us but avoid all scrutiny of the dogshit manager. This club never ceases to amaze
Also did I read that correctly deep state rebels? You can’t get anymore deep state than Granit Xhaka and Arteta convinced him to stay. I’m all for blaming Ozil but when the manager has more or less struggled all year it gets hard to blame it on olde bug eyes who left in January
Ridiculous is believing Holding, Mari and Chambers should be our first team players.
You do love these average players dont you, while we are lets also make Nketiah our first choice striker.
Sir Alex Ferguson talking about surrounding talent with the right type of characters with the right level of work ethic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExfC1nRVLSU
Le grove needs to remember that chambers is not just a reserve rb He’s a premier league level cb and dmf. Gabriel is not. Luiz is not any more. You may think that going out and splashing £30m on a centre half is going to improve us but you’re wrong. We have enough quality at centre half at the club to ensure we can shut out the best teams in Europe. What we need is a keeper (Leno is cack) , a right back and above all else, a technically elite cmf. Next season (22/23) will need a starting striker… Read more »
I used to come to Le grove to get a fair analysis of games and the team as a whole and ofcourse for the comments. Right now all i see are excuses, excuses and more excuses for the manager. Fact of the matter is we have been shit, utter shit, both in the premier keague and in Europe. Our football stinks, i dont know what positive things Pedro sees in the manager. Trust the process my foot, now its all Ozil’s fault. Really? This site argues like its on Arteta’s payroll. Disappointed. Basing an argument on the second half of… Read more »
Key word being talent
Some of you guys are a bit harsh on our head coach/ manager. Fair enough, outside the top 6 isn’t where we feel Arsenal belong, but we’re not in the bottom half, so the season’s not exactly a disaster is it? Some of you aren’t factoring in Covid,empty stadiums and the general weirdness of the season. That’s before we even consider the man wore the shirt with pride and distinction. A true club legend, deserving more respect than you fools are showing him. Farewell Steve Bould. Now let’s get that fake out.
The bertrand signing just smells of a team who have no idea or imagination on who to recruit. Get a young LB who will actually he useful in the future, in case a real team comes in tierney. Let’s be honest, we are stepping stone for players to get to better teams. Only old, retirees come to the arsenal home for old players. Sell cedric, as we are clearly not using him, sell bellerin because he’s useless and sell xhaka because we compensate a lot of things to make sure he functions in the first 11′ I don’t think we’ll… Read more »
Mari, Holding, Chambers, Saliba, Gabriel – really we don’t need any central defender. We can bring back Mavrapanos if required. 6 defenders enough for the league, FA Cup and Carabao.
Lack of quality in CB outside of Gabriel and Saliba though. Basically full of back up squad player level CB’s
Rich
That’s a great post
Say war you want a bout air Alex and Neville but it’s great hearing them discuss that will to win and living and breathing that culture through your the club
Rich
Good video , it also emphasises the difference with a manager who knows what he’s talking about not just soundbite bullshit like ours
MarkoMay 23, 2021 13:44:10
Key word being talent
Marko
You need brains to be a top centre half. You need to be able to read the game
You need personality
Gabriel lacks this. Yes he’s athletic but we require more than that
He will be gone in 2 summers
Tr7
Vermaelen was much more capable than Gabriel is. I just don’t see what is so special about him. Massively overrated by the usual know nothings. The same who lauded leno and all the other over hyped duds we bin within 2-3 years of signing
He will be gone in 2 summers
He probably will be after 3 seasons with us he’ll likely want to win some trophies and won’t be short of clubs interested in signing him.
Bard
While you might have a point regarding Leno I personally would keep him just on the fact would you actually have confidence in the brain trust at arsenal when the same bunch of clowns thought Runnarsson was the answer . I dread to think who they would get to replace Leno
Sorry Beard *
Zeus I’d take you more seriously on the topic of Gabriel if it wasn’t for your opinion on chambers “Le grove needs to remember that chambers is not just a reserve rb He’s a premier league level cb and dmf”. He’s literally only ever held down a regular starting spot in the premier league for a relegated Fulham side who didn’t trust him enough to play CB. And speaking of brains to be a CB that ain’t him given the amount of individual errors he’s made in an Arsenal shirt. Remember it’s what year 8 with Calum Chambers and we’re… Read more »
Zeus I’m not sure you’re the best on this subject you literally talked up chambers quality a few comments ago and it’s been nearly 8 years of struggling to hold down a regular starting spot and multiple loans with him.
He has more premier league experience with other clubs than he has with us… enough is enough already
Tr7 you’re forgetting it’s not just about quantity thr quality in that list is really missing even ake is better than all our defenders bar luiz we need to ship half of those guys out and get a quality central defender zo partner saliba or holding. Gabriel still needs to learn how to play.
This shows me a man who doesn’t know what he’s looking at in terms of assessing a player’s ability but more importantly assessing the mentality and footballing intelligence
You just don’t see it until it’s too late
Yes and you’re literally talking up the quality and intelligence of someone who’s struggled here for 7/8 years. You couldn’t be any more late than that
Gabriel is 23, he came here off the back of a breakthrough season, with only 50 competitive games in total, didn’t speak any English, he also arrived late, and didn’t have a pre-season He’s got some really interesting qualities, we didn’t sign the finished article, we were always likely to have to develop him, and it’s not surprising he’s looked better next to Luiz who speaks the same language, and is by far our most experienced centre half How much has Fofana benefitted from playing next to Evans? How much easier was it for Ashley Cole to come in and… Read more »
Rich all very valid. I just feel he isn’t really smart enough and depends alot on his physics
This team has struggled by and large under this current struggling manager so any new signings get a pass for me if they’re not playing as well as they could because that’s literally the case for most everybody under Arteta.
Physique****
Beard ‘Vermaelen was much more capable than Gabriel is. I just don’t see what is so special about him. Massively overrated by the usual know nothings. The same who lauded leno and all the other over hyped duds we bin within 2-3 years of signing” I think most people confuse physical build and aggressiveness in a central defender for talent. Gabriel is very rash for my liking. Mustafi and Paulista failed at Arsenal because they were rash and made wrong decisions even though they were aggresive and tough and athletic. I much prefer the likes of Mari who is great… Read more »
Most accept that we should be buying young players and develop them.
This means giving them time to develop and not to expect them to be this finished article after one season, or even two.
TR7 Holding + Chambers are players who have developed Look at the difference between Tierney’s first season and this season Henry the greatest player in PL history took a while to adjust, as did Pires Pepe is still raw in aspects of his game, but he’s certainly developed tactically in his two seasons with us, and he’s also much better in the challenge I could understand the argument is Gabriel was 25/26. and into his third season, but I’d certainly expect him to be much better next season than this season, and I’d expect him to be even better in… Read more »
By the way I love that propaganda video of luiz’s ‘emotional’ farewell speech. We really do put kim jongs propaganda unit to shame. All we needed was for him to give the speech holding an Arsenal flag, bare chested with a flaring red cape , hair flowing in the wind standing on corpses of spud fans
It’s really not a good time being an arsenal fan right now, you are thinking about the shit of a season we are ending, the eyesore performances on one hand and on the other hand you are reading about our possible signings and you just can’t see even a flash of hope.
Rich
I am not for one moment suggesting we sell Gabriel. All I am saying is Mari has been more impressive than him this season. Not even writing him off, merely saying he has been rash in his play. Let’s hope he shows more maturity next season. Prefer Mari and Holding as the first choice center back pair for now.
Karsa exactly not make decisions on a young player after 10 months
What about settling in ?
I like Gabriel he is not the problem with this team and will improve over games played
As the specials sang … This is the dawning of a new era ..out with the old and in with the youth…
Next season will be immense
Tr7
Personally I would like to see a back 3. Mari. Gabs n saliba
You reckon that could work ?
Josh Kroenke will attend today’s match…
RSPC
I think we will employ back 3 only in a few matches and it will be a tactical decision. Think we will go with a back 4 in most games.
Arsenal starting XI vs Brighton: Leno; Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Xhaka, Partey; Pepe, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Aubameyang
Arsenal subs vs Brighton: Runarsson, Mari, Cedric, Elneny, Ceballos, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah, Lacazette
With Auba in the starting line up we start a man down.
@Left Testicle
Yep I agree. I think mentally he’s already left Arsenal
………………Leno
……..Holding Gabriel
Chambers ………Tierney
……….Partey Xhaka
Pepe Odegaard Smith-Rowe
……..Aubameyang
Fancy Pepe to have a big influence today, needs a goal or assist to make it 20 combined for the season, which would be something for him to try and build upon next season
Pepe now looks firmly in Arteta’s good books, there’s no doubting he can influence football games, if he can continue his upward trajectory, he can become a really important player for us
Looks a decent line up to me in the circumstances.
Agree with Rich concerning Pepe. I think Odegaard may well put in a performance too.
I guess every one and their dog will have their eyes on bissouma today. It’s time for his arsenal audition.
Auba doesn’t deserve a starting place
What channel is the game on?
I tuned in for game build up. 🙄
No Willian and Elneny on the bench, hopefully we’ll never see them again in an Arsenal shirt after today.
So ode is about to finish his loan spell so he gets to play and also be in his favored position
ESR has to be shunted out wide (even tho he can play there) and Martinelli who needs minutes has to sit on the bench
Arteta doing peak arteta as usual
Would have been nice to see Balogun and Azeez on the bench.
Probably already been mentioned here but Bould has got the elbow.
Pepe will have a poor game then pop up with a goal and an assist.
Skysports arena
Channel 408
15.50
Gabriel is our most talented CB by far imo but he can get sucked in and if it doesn’t come off it costs him, so that part is what he needs to improve on to be consistently very good
No farewell for Bellerin? Classy from Mikel that
” WE WANT KROENKE OUT ”
” WE WANT KROENKE OUT “
Odegaard is far inferior to Smith Rowe as a 10. He slows down our snail-paced football further as compared to Smith Rowe whose turn and run into space is a welcome relief.
No pre-last game preview on LG? Shame.
Agree on ESR – shunted out wide by a loanee who is a lesser player in the #10 role. Poor judgement once again.
Shows the all round empathy with the club. Last day of the season and barely any comments here.
Do people actually think ESR is better than Odegaard?
10 minutes to kick off and not even managing a comment a minute.
Do people actually think ESR is better than Odegaard?
Not me. Not yet anyway. ESR has only a handful of first team games to judge him on. Odegaard seems to be paying the price for a drop in form following injury. Before the international break everyone was clamouring for us to make his move permanent,
Hey y’all how’s it going? almost game time… Have mixed feelings.. about last game. will miss Prem… League Footie… but so glad this season is over.. Not really thrilled about prospect of Europa League conference thing though. Would be nice to finish ahead of Spuds.
Marko,
Odegaard has a better final pass and shot from distance, the rest ESR better than him in every aspect
Be good if the fans inside could arrange themselves on the seats to spell ‘Arteta Out!’
” WE WANT KROENKE OUT ”
One goal in 10 games for Auba.
I personally don’t think Real will sell us Odegaard at a reasonable price.. so not sure what the point of playing him is .. unless they think we have a chance to sign him.
Marko. Yes
Looking at substitute bench Arteta is MAD.to have Runnarson. But looking back , Bergkemp had indicated his desire to help out Arteta . The Fraud Evertonian just ignored but being an insecure person went about knocking out the genuine Arsenal legends. Freddie Lindberg went out, so also Gunnersaurus. Bould has been an yes man without a spine, so maybe deserved. Now Pedro speaking of German clique. Guess that means Mertesacker is going to ensure there is no fall back plan to enable a prompt Arteta sacking. This creep toady has foresight to have been actively involved in obtaining player pay… Read more »
Fans arguing over who’s better out of Odegaard or Smith-Rowe, is a much healthier place to be, than where we were at until Xmas
Direct competition is healthy, having 2 talented technicians in the final third, has certainly improved our fortunes
Odegarde has become very Arsenal of today, not the style he came with. That’s neutralized by Arteta.
Not much of Laca recently. Keeping him injury free to sell this coming TW?
And MO playing… sign we’re serious about keeping him?
I’m glad Arteta has rested Saka, he looked tired, and since joining the WhatsApp group of the wankers avengers (Alli, Maddison, Grealish, Barkley and other wankers) he stated waving his hands more and work less, acting mini superstar like.
Good too see the fans voicing their displeasure at our football disinterested owner.
KROENKE get the fuck OUT.
It would be good to see us win today for some positivity for the fans at the Emirates. And considering that B&HA are safe from relegation, the players may already have an eye on their holidays.
Jon Moss is my favourite overweight, stupid ref. He should have stayed in the culture club with Boy George
Come on The Arsenal!!!!!
REQUEST
To Arsenal lovers who are at the stadium do your bit to get the Fraud Arteta Out.
Long live the Arsenal
The owner, Manager are temporarily in charge.
Brighton in an old syle Arsenal away kit.
I’m afraid of potter giving Arteta a lesson in passing and attacking football with limited players
Too slow in taking shot
anyone got a decent link to the game?
Partey learnt shooting … only a yard wide
Partey getting closer.
Shooting mode today… xhaka took a pop
Potters over rated. 2 seasons in charge he’s been fighting relegation. Even hughton has Brighton finishing higher up in his first year in PL with Brighton
Partey shoots and nearly gets it on target. Progress.
Go on ESR! hope he scores a couple today.. hey look Partey had a decent shot..
Are we playing europa league final?? Our players seem to believe so
are fans allowed in the stadium?
Brighton goalkeeper seems a risky Runnarson type. Long shots could get a goal
Yep Gonsterous.. fans in stands.
@S Asoa
Don’t believe it mate. The kids going to be a top keeper
Gonsterous.
Yes. 10,000 Gooners.
Xhaka, partey, pepe, and odegarde all taken a shot within 10 minutes… good desire in display
Good tackle by Ode.. where the hell was Xhaka.. Anyhow.. good counter attack.. but that shot was poor.
What a waste in the end after a great pass to by pass all of Brighton.
How’s the 10000 selected?
Close up of the ref and jesus, he looks way out of shape
Great cross from Tierney… NO RUNNERS into the box!