Mikel Arteta looks a dead man walking and we’re one game into the season. His embarrassing carry-on before the game in his press conference wasn’t an off day at the office, it was a window into the mindset of a ‘manager’ that has lost control of whatever he had bottled when he first joined the club. The team performed at 60%, there was no evolution of the football, and we were bodied by a Brentford side with literally zero Premier League games worth of experience.
It was shocking, but I think most people half expected that it was going to happen. There was a slight narrative working against us and we let it consume us. If Chelsea went there, they’d have come away with 3 points, and probably spanked them. They wouldn’t let the ‘plucky upstarts in their new stadium’ get the better of them. We allowed it, and what was most painful is Arteta set the expectation for that result through his behaviour pregame.
I don’t want to keep banging on about this, but as ‘manager’ you set the tone for the club. When you are the defacto leader on the football side, you cannot allow yourself to make things about you and your feelings… unless you’re Jose Mourinho at his peak. Arteta was visibly sulking before the game because he didn’t have the players he wanted. He decided not to set out a lofty ambition for the season. He didn’t pump his players, instead, he chose to flame grill Willian, and he pontificated over whether Auba could get back to his best form. He basically communicated he didn’t have belief in the players he had, and worse, told fans to temper our expectations.
He should have come out and set a lofty ambition, not tell the fans that consistency is what he was looking for. He should have rallied the players, ‘we have the most talented group of young players in the world, they’re going to shock you, and the doubters will see… top 4 is what we’re going to achieve’… what did we get? A spoilt brat sulk and a non-answer about the season.
This was such a miss. If you set big ambitions that are a little crazy, it can do magical things. The talent on the pitch have a north star, so they know what the expectations are. Management has a target and you make them accountable, and you can make sure every decision is filtered through the lens of ‘are we moving towards this mad goal.’ Fans get pumped because someone at the club has standards. If you beat the drum about the vision, people tend to rally and overperform… and even if you miss the target, you’ll be a damn sight closer to it than you would if you set the target as ‘consistency.’ There was no aspirational target set and the players dropped a performance like they’d been told they were shite.
He also couldn’t give us a straight answer on Auba and Lacazette. Why couldn’t he just be straight and tell us what was wrong with the players? Giving an ambiguous answer now has half the fan base wondering if something more nefarious is at play.
The football was pretty much exactly the same as last year. Loads of passing that lacked purpose, lots of aimless crossing to forwards that weren’t present in the box, and no real bang-bang to our game. The players look weighted down by too much information. Nothing really flowed. There’s still no intelligence in our final third play.
Now, what is clear… losing Auba and Lacazette was a big miss for us. Balogun looked like an 18-year-old upfront, it’s his first game, you can forgive that, but he’s clearly a long way off where he needs to be. Martinelli was absolutely anonymous all game, and Pepe was back to his infuriating worse. But here’s what I can’t deal with… how can those names offer so little energy? Why couldn’t Arteta get them to press? How can you have three players like that and not really cause a problem in attack? That’s not a talent issue… that’s a system problem. It’s also a management issue, because they weren’t giving their best. Hardwork can be just as useful as talent, we didn’t seem to have either yesterday.
Arteta has had 6 weeks to address the lack of creation in the system and he hasn’t solved it. Give it to Tierney is not a strategy. Lobbing balls into an empty box is how Steve Round and David Moyes got their P45s at Manchester United. We had 22 attempts at their goal and only hit the target 4 times. They had 3 shots on target and scored two.
Look at the mess in the team as well. Granit Xhaka wanted out at Arsenal a few weeks ago, now he’s the captain. Cal Chambers is a centre back who is now playing right back, he played like that yesterday, dropping two errors in the build-up to their first goal. Bernd Leno is consistently playing like a keeper that wants a new challenge, you can call a foul on their second goal, and yes, I agree… but it is an affront that a professional keeper lets that happen to him. Where is the fight?
So many of the problems we have in the squad are of Arteta’s doing. He was responsible for Pablo Mari, who looks way out of his depth. He was the guy pushing Willian who is now persona non grata. He told us Cedric Soares had special qualities. All of the players on show yesterday have had long enough under-Arteta to understand the system and they should all be well versed in the expectations of what should be delivered on the pitch.
I think the bigger worry about all of this is it seems like the biggest miss in Arteta’s Arsenal is how he treats players. The Willian issue is a prime example. One minute, he’s a fave, the next, he’s in the bin. Same thing happened to Gabriel last season after a poor 60 minutes saw him benched for 10 games. He’s not looked the same since. The social EQ looks to be weak with Arteta. You can have the best coaching ideas, but if people don’t like you, you can’t survive at the highest level. There are quite a lot of Arsenal fans that just don’t like Arteta because of how he behaves and that’s not a good omen. Just look at Thomas Frank, rallying his fans, talking glowingly about the club, the history, and the plan for the season. That should have been Mikel.
Instead of dropping Brentford with a fizzing performance, we limped out like it was the Villareal game. Now we head into the Chelsea game without key senior players and a painful lack of confidence. It’s quite likely we could finish the first three games of the season bottom of the table with 0 points. The nightmare start of last season looks like it could return for round two… and we only have ourselves to blame. We didn’t get our business done fast enough, we didn’t move the football on with what we have, and the players performed like they’d listened to a manager that lacks focus and fire.
The manager spent all his fan capital during that horrible run. There’s no forgiveness in the system for him because we’ve not seen enough good stuff to care. I don’t know what peak-Arteta football looks like, so it’s hard to get excited about what 3 extra players could do for the football. That’s a problem that can only be solved by winning big games. Chelsea is now a cup final and so is the City game. Will the players go to bat for him? Or will they taste blood in the water like they did with Emery?
We’ll see.
We did a video and a podcast to verbalise the pain.
1st
And
4th
The
Got it anywsy
Now?
Man, that game was f@#kin awful
It was a disaster
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to changing their minds.It does not give the right to weirdos and obsessives to try and hound someone off the blog
I come in here despite the defeat to discuss the shit that is happening to our clubYes I go to games
Yes I support the club first
Not the manager not the board
Top Ten??
Will be hard to keep his job after an 0-3 start
Someone is finally seeing the light…..
Top 10?
Aaahhhh, I always read the post first. Fatal mistake. Like hiring Arteta.
Everyone here support the club. I would still be watching if Brighton beats us 9-0 and cheering for the men in red and white.
I hate the current coach though!
Well said Pedro this shit cannot go on
Pedro flip flopping again. Simple question Arteta in or Arteta out?
Is the most arrogant man manager the world had ever seen still in a job?
CGAugust 14, 2021 15:53:33
Mr SergeOnly jesting.You are entitled to your opinion as much as anyone.
Thanks CG
Mr serge
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion”
If you live by the sword then be prepared to die by the sword..
Pedro will be shooting down the manager this week, then he’ll be telling us to “trust the process…” next week.
Who does he support more? The manager or the club?
That’s what happens when you trust the hype rather than concentrate on whether they have anything to back it up.
Pedro was flying the Arteta flag before he came to the club.
How has “Pep says he’s good…” worked out?
Utter shambles, we’re going to take years recovering from this.
Do we still trust the process? Are we still on after Christmas table or?
Pedro finally seeing the truth!
Tony, re your question on previous thread, I think the uncertainty surrounding our bid for Tammy and lack of clarity on their respective status has stirred a confrontation with Arteta…. And we all know what happens when this novice of a man manager gets confronted or challenged.
As for my voice at the emirates, it will be a definite Roman 👎 for arteta and this shambles of a situation at the club.
Pedro i hope your next post is not one biggin up Arteta …. seems like its a realistic one, then a pie in the sky one.
The truth is, what you stated today.
He is not liked
That is the kiss of death
0 points from 3 games will already tank our season…
Woah. Peter, you never mentioned how saucy David Brentwood’s manager was. His hair game, fashion game and overall bluster was on point. Which is I suppose what your referring to with regards to ‘setting the tone’. Their manager looks like he would get the female and male supporters sucking his tinkle. I liked his JIB. It’s absolutely over for Arteta. We now have to make a monster decision on a new manager ASAP. The players already look shot and the decision to pay £50m for White looks mental. A big club would sack Arteta and bring in a massive name… Read more »
Not sure Mike did video analysis on Brentford.
He should have….
Even with PEa and Laca, still would struggle. There is a lack of cohesive attacking in this team and its all individiual efforts to score the ball…
Shameful.
A kid who did not study for his final exam… and failed it.
Mr Serge sulking is quite amusing considering the abuse he aims at me for my opinions .
Here is just one of many.
“Pierre Ozil hahhahhaaa
Go back to your bedroom in your mum’s house and bang one out with your ozil glove you gimp”
Edu and Arteta need to be fired together.
This tandem is not working.
Replace with high quality.
Keeping one or the other will result in the same.
Tweedle dee and tweedle dum
Edu. Lolz.
maybe we get a draw against city or chelsea
but not holding my breathe.
Arteta needs to go now. After the next few games its only delaying the obvious to keep him around
PierreAugust 14, 2021 15:55:30
Mr serge
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion”If you live by the sword then be prepared to die by the sword
How is ozil numb nuts ?
The “Give it to Tierney” strategy. Exactly what my brother called it. The club’s biggest problem now is the manager. As long as he isn’t playing to the strength of the players, then we should expect more of the same.
Pedro,
“ There’s no forgiveness in the system for him because we’ve not seen enough good stuff to care”
That’s not what you’ve been saying for past 18 months, that’s what many posters on here have been saying and you’ve binned them or ridiculed them for it.
We will go 0-3. That’s top four gone already.
You cannot under any circumstance be a £2b club and be eighth. You just can’t.
It’s like owning a Rolls Royce and driving on skateboard wheels. Pointless.
Pierre I stand by that opinion of you because I told you I respected your posts but you need to lay off the ozil love and you went in with both boots
You can’t then make it look like I was the instigator that’s just poor
You are a bit strange for doing that but not as strange as your ozil fascination
I am not sulking at all
Pedro Agree with much of that, but you’ve also got to acknowledge how your ‘it doesn’t matter what order you buy your shopping’ feeds into the narrative around the club. We had a drab attack last season, and rightly there’s room for criticising the playing staff and their suitability. So why then are we game 1 and lining up with the exact same set of players, but expecting a different tune? Auba, Laca, Pepe.. 180 mil horribly spent on guys that don’t carry an attack, or gel together whatsoever. You take the front three out of any team in the… Read more »
Totally agree there Pedro.
Nice post to read and totally sensible!
Can our next manager/coach, you name it, be bald with distorted teeth and pointed ears??
No more sauce please!
I don’t know what peak-Arteta football looks like
Haha, there is no Peak-Arteta football!
Arteta should take a 1 year hiatus and learn man management.
Of course his arrogance won’t allow him to think he made any mistake and will try to find a job straight away to prove he was always right.
Average player, average cone man, average manager
I like that podcast video. It looks like Pedro and Matt are sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the pews of a rural Mid-West church, with the organ behind them, and Pedro is there for confession, where he knows he must renounce Tets.
Best wishes for your move, Pedro. Some stuff you can’t take with you, some stuff goes in a box, but LeGrove will be in the same place as before!
There’s always overreactions to good and bad results, and our truth is somewhere in between Remember United fans having a meltdown after losing to Palace, getting tanked by Spurs, then we turned them over early last season. Not sure what’s happening internally at Arsenal But if Arteta has lost a group of senior players? Namely his 2 senior strikers, and we fail to get them out, then we may as well sack Arteta, we all know how that script ends, there’s absolutely no value in dragging it out Massive 17 days ahead for the club, even if we take 0/9… Read more »
Serge is clearly shook from his Arteta-belief-system collapsing.
Hang in there, buddy, a win next week and you can go back to being an insufferable-super-fan, caressing the feet of Arteta and everything Arsenal
Rambo are you serious ? FS man jog on I never flip flopped in my life
Trust me I am now done with the process
Please don’t be jealous of my season ticket you too can get one rambino
I suspect Auba must have violated another non_negotiable. Laca just supported him. No wonder Arteta looked a bit absent minded yesterday.
Rich, you are either away with the fairies or you’re trolling. Your forecasts are laughable.
So we have:
Auba
Laca
Willian and
Granit
A million a week and all of them cunts. Should have all gone. You can’t work with people who don’t work.
Good post Pedro. I dont disagree with any of it. I cant see how Arteta can turn this around. If that’s the case we need to get rid ASAP and not waste time. Signing Abraham or Ode is just prolonging the agony. We took a punt on a rookie manager and it didn’t work out. That’s football, move on.
Right now we’re looking at 6th-9th place finish, depending how lucky we get with injuries, a few astute adjustments can see us push on into the second tier of the league between 4th and 6th, and that would be something to build upon, particularly if we add to some of the exciting young talent already on our books
Before you start making predictions you have to know where the goals are coming from. There no evidence of any of the young talent scoring loads of goals. Goals win games remember?
The major beef I had with Arteta was that he kept all the bad eggs in our squad ( we all know who they are) , instead of binning them off . First season I can digest he was looking at those he can trust but sincerely if you are a football manager how can you make such expensive mistakes and not expect to be sacked . Those bad eggs have made the squad quite literally worse.
We were that bad yesterday, that I don’t think it matters how many players we sign now, I just can’t see them making a difference in this system, whatever this system is
And you are right Pedro , Arteta is downright unlikable . Gives off very Mourinho vibes . He may become successful later but right now he isnt learning.
Pedro you should apologise to all the people you gave a hard time too with your staunch Arteta defence.
Flip flopper take a chill pill, you are pathetic
Rambo still not proving where I said I was a super fan as I knew he could not
Joker
Nice to see Villa doing well with their new signings lol. Watford might all turn us over.
Spanish and Portuguese people are known
to be arrogant.?
Players clearly not going to play for arteta, everyone down tooling
The biggest issue with a new manager is how xhaka gets a new page and a clean slate. He’ll turn back into the teachers pet and we’ll be stuck with him again. Round and round it goes…
We never had a chance in hell of top 4 this season. Credit to Brentford, they played great, their keeper was fantastic, the press and intensity were impressive. They took their first goal well. We were shit, but we will probably have worse performances this season… Ben White went for more than 3X what Vestergaard went for. And one would think soton could’ve held Leicester’s feet to the flames on that deal with the Fofana injury. What are we doing in the transfer market with deals like this and Pepe? We should be playing like underdogs week in week out.… Read more »
Fully on board with that CC, the ever present need at this club since Ozil lost his way has been replacing him, something we’ve yet to do. Went into last season with exact same conversation rolling and somehow we’ve decided to double down on that and go for round two. Is it indecision in the target or style of play we’re searching for or is our transfer man inept or potentially a combination of both? Something’s clearly not clicking. Zero excuse to be sitting here after first game lost having this chat. Aouar begging a move, Ødegaard asking for the… Read more »
Same song
Pedro deleted my comments *sniff* *sniff*
I want an apology
Good post Pedro
You’re right that it’s a real problem that if we forget however good arteta is or isn’t, a very large fraction of the fan base has decided they don’t like him. That’s a very dangerous place for any manager to be. You can be the best manager on the planet but if the fans are done with you then every time anything goes wrong the fans are going to make a fuss.
Arteta is absolutely skating on thin ice and needs to get at least 4 points from the next 3 games imo
Sid you are the pathetic weird one mate
This just plays out like a tragic comedy, one day he’s Sauce, the next he’s Vinegar.
More than safe to say now that we’ve seen all that Arteta has to offer, and its really not much at all. Out of his element, out of touch, and basically out of time.
I wouldn’t like to be Arteta in the Emirates next week. He keeps racking up the bad records – worst start, least points in a run and now a defeat to a team who haven’t seen top flight football since 1947. Any takers on the only EPL team to concede 2 against Brentford this season? The task of turning his Arsenal project around is way beyond his skill set given that Chelsea and City are up next. Would beating those 2 earn the forgiveness of the Arsenal fans? Even if they did, they would never trust him and he will… Read more »
This obviously cannot be what you hoped for or expected, Pedro? Disappointment is a word, but i suspect it likely is not the one you have in mind these days.
Ben White clear example that arteta has lost it… 50m…
We don’t play to the style he is best with
Chambers
Shocking
The problem I have with Xhaka is that whoever plays with him in midfield will have to run a lot to cover for him. Hopefully, the young Lokonga is physically stronger than TP and can stay healthy for awhile.
“Right now we’re looking at 6th-9th place finish”
If Arteta has indeed lost the room and key senior players, as is being hinted, your forecast may be a tad generous Rich.
At least Pedro’s holding strong and not lost his marbles like our good buddy Serge
Happy to see that Pedro is changing his opinion but he should reflect on how he became the fanboy-in-chief in the first place. A lot of people on Le Grove are extremely agenda-driven and only look for proof that support their beliefs. Pedro used to be different until he became the worst of the bunch. It’ll be interesting to see whether the tune changes if we eke out another ridiculously undeserved win against Chelsea like we did last time… On a separate note, this is a depressing situation. The only thing that could improve us is a new owner and… Read more »
“””””James wood.August 14, 2021 16:26:41
Spanish and Portuguese people are known
to be arrogant.?””””””
His biological dad is a vertically challenged french truck driver, it also explains his grudge against french speakers.
Test
Finally allowed back on…good afternoon gents. Been a while
The flip flopper needs a hug, poor thing
Hey! How’s your hair
Hey RH nice to see you bro
Sid
Lmao, that explains the issues with guen and saliba
Xhaka was another problem yesterday – did absolutely nothing with the ball – short passes to players around him was all he could Manage
Arteta must however take all the blame for that lack of energy
Just looking at the two teams when they first emerged and you had this sense that the game was already lost. Our lot looked like they were attending a funeral
It was Villarreal all over again
Xhaka back to being the teachers pet for the new manager.
1st one in at training, working extra hard, and finally get the manager sacked with his limited ability.
Round and round it goes.
Will we get a proper manager who will see right through that? Nah, don’t think so…
Nothing in this post indictates that Pedro has seen the light. We will always be one victory away from “Arteta is a generational coach”.
Nice to be back Samesong
I have been reading and honestly if yesterday’s result is what it took to push some over the edge then they have been pretending all along for reasons best known to them
The red flags on Arteta has been evident from day one. Self absorbed and arrogant, all about him and making him look good. Say what you like about Ozil but the way he treated a former team mate was a window into his personality. Petty and vindictive, not the attributes of a leader.
Arteta should have been shown the door as soon as he decided Martinez wasn’t good enough to be our number 1.
Sal Really hard to fathom that the exact same convo is order of the day a full year on, but here we are. Not only that, but with the uncertainty surrounding Auba/Laca it makes all the more sense that an attacking overhaul is desperately needed. We need a CF, CAM, and arguably another AM to inject enough quality and change in the composition up top. We aren’t going to land a Bruno (aka a singular catalyst), so in reality a good few changes are needed to drastically alter the ponderous, blunt efforts in the final third. Give me Odegaard, Aouar… Read more »
Solid post Pete, no other way to look at it other than the shambles clubs in having had proper summer to remedy all.
Tense times for Mik this run with supporters back in its do or die time. No other way to paint it, cause this ‘horse shoe ball’ isn’t going to remotely cut it. Add in something’s clearly not right behind scenes.
Brighton have turned it around at Burnley.
We probably need to change to a back 3 with Ben White, with height around him. Not what you want to hear with you shiny new £50M CB signing but alas.
Leno
RWB (who the fuck knows)
White
Holding
Gabriel
KT
Partey
Lokonga/ESR
Saka
Laca
Pepe/Auba
CC
Agree, i’ve been beating the drum for both Aouar and Øde or Bruno for far to god damn long. Its not a hard thing to work out.
As for Abraham, seems written now. Both ill, not covid? Err ok.
Diet Pep saw his options and couldn’t hold back the depression.
it was nothing close to a first eleven.
how he fixes this is anyone’s guess but it doesn’t look promising.
Kids aren’t ready and the seniors aren’t good or motivated enough.
he might have to just say fuck it, blow it up once and for all. get rid of the nearly men and blood all the youts.
Welcome back Receding !
“Give me Odegaard, Aouar and Tammy at the expense of Auba, Laca, and Willian tomorrow.” A Chelsea reject with a patchy goal scoring record A guy who can’t crack it at Madrid and wasn’t pulling up trees the six months he spent here And a dude from Lyon whose stock has plummeted and is being hawked around Europe for cut price Nice!! How about the coach does his job for once, coach!! Make the team greater than the sum of its parts. Or has he already convinced you on how he wants to play and those three are the missing… Read more »
Cheers TR7…been enjoying your posts. Good to be able to post again
Exactly Olu Arteta wants to put square pegs in round holes and when they don’t fir, like a five year old he throws them away., instead of looking for or creating square holes. Ozil was clearly on the down side of his career, but in his last season at Arsenal in a team that struggled to create chances, he still created more chances than anyone else in the team, but Arteta threw him away and signed Willian to be the creator instead. Guendouzi was dispatched to Siberia because his attitude didn’t fit into a round hole. I’m still not sure… Read more »
Good ebening, Bet were all missing that guy now! Thought I’d give it a day before coming on to rant, and everybody has pretty much covered it in the comments anyway. Good post Pedro, you made some great points but please don’t switch again to arteta can do know wrong in a few days. I have to say I’ve never watched the podcasts before, but finally took the time to watch this one. You seemed a little more scathing of arteta on it than you normally do on here. Are you usually like that? or was yesterday the straw that… Read more »
Won’t make a lick of difference who we bring in really. Need the manager out.
Then we can start thinking about never seeing:
Chambers at right back
Mari in the XI
Xhaka at the club
Our striker and keeper issues
I need to do a last read through before clicking on post comment,.
Sal
No shot it’s Covid, for my money Laca is getting pushed out (understandable given his last year), and it looks like he’s clashed with Auba, maybe about the captaincy or his general poor performance which hasn’t went down well.
Hard to be bothered, you’re talking about a 32 year old striker that’s been measurably declining for 4 years, and a guy in his last year, both issues slap bang in the middle of a period your team can’t score or create chances.
My problem is this should’ve been tackled head on a month ago.
The post today must have been difficult for Pedro…I mean, to call it as it is and admit this is all bullshit after months of spinning and spinning!
Hope you didn’t do it while plastered, Ped.
Receding
Think is safe to say bulk of this space see need for MF reinforcements, notably attacking end.
You may not agree w/ those targets but doesn’t change need.