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.
“Arteta should have been shown the door as soon as he decided Martinez wasn’t good enough to be our number 1”
Good afternoon Graham , as you know, for me it was a couple of months before that for his handling of the Ozil situation.
That was the catalyst for every poor decision since.
The Martinez decision had a similar effect on the team and we haven’t as a club recovered from either decision…..
Having just watched Chelsea it’s hard to believe that they played 120 minutes not 72 hours ago.They absolutely battered Palace and 3-0 hardly tells the story but what struck me was just what a good player Chalobah is. Everything you want from a CD he was outstanding
I doubt he will play next Sunday but he looks a player
I don’t see how we get enough talent in to make up for the lack of a proper manager. Again, Brentford didn’t beat our talent, they beat our system. Until we have someone who can make decent use of the talent we have, and can properly identify where we need strengthening, it will be more of the same. I don’t know that White is a bad player, but he was a bad decision. Lokonga looks like he may turn out quite well, but what did he do for us yesterday? I love KT like Pete loves Tets, but all the… Read more »
To update on home advantage with fans back in the stands, 7 games played, 6 home wins, 1 loss (Burnley, having been ahead against Brighton).
Big shift from last season.
See Everton came back that benitez Is a Willey old manager knows what he is doing
Really spot on article. It’s time for the Board to man up and give Arteta his P45.
By the time we return to the Emirates for the fourth game of the season and the team at the rock bottom of the table with zero point, Hollywood would be on set right inside our ground with the fans reaction to Le Tet.
And I have to say the Kroenkes are not helping their own cause with the kind of appointments they make. Cos this is leading to them at some point.
Hopefully we can somehow find a way to cover White’s aerial weakness. Yes his ball playing ability is superb but he is first and foremost a defender and Aerial defending makes up 50% of the so called at of defending. White is not good in the air. As a matter of fact he is quite poor. If we’want top 4, we’ll have to get maximum points against the weaker sides. What kind of football do weaker sides play? Counter attack, over the top balls and set pieces. Toney BULLIED White yesterday. And don’t expect anything different when he comes up… Read more »
Receding
Really isn’t either/or, but given it’s the transfer window it makes sense that the issues about squad composition are at the forefront. We don’t have a good enough balance in attack, that’s been demonstrated and commented on for two years now.
There’s two weeks left for the club to make changes or I can tell you exactly what sort of output we’ll likely see with Arteta, Conte, Rafa, or Allardyce in charge give or take their relative influence.
Conclusion; Arteta is a poor coach and a terrible manager..the sooner he fucks off the better!
Peak tiki taka Barcelona was all about the team, its movement and passes. It was pure symphony played by midfield maestro who could move, pass and interchange at any tempo It then declined into pass the ball to Messi and watch it win with the games for us.
Peak Arteta is pass the ball to Tierney and watch how he kept crossing the ball to no one in particular. Forget about the team and midfield maestro, because we have a CB who can lump it long and in midfield we have Xhaka as a ball hole of creativity.
Has Pedro hit the smelling salts?
We have an egomaniac dicatator at the helm with zero empathy . I can see the athletic article already about people being “zombies” around Conley once he leaves
“Think is safe to say bulk of this space see need for MF reinforcements, notably attacking end.” In the past 18 months our manager has Stopped the sale of a certain Xhaka twice Spent 50m on a DM and made him the highest paid DM in the league Given Willian a three year deal Approved the extension of Auba on a contract that makes him unsellable and then hasn’t a clue how to use him Extended Smith-Rowe and handed him the number 10 Jersey Decided a ball playing center back at 50m was the best use of resources Loaned the… Read more »
How KT has signed a long term contract blows my mind . That guy is an A1 gem of a bloke to see arteta and not care and sign on
I hate to say this but if Arteta fails his replacement is likely to be the return of Arsene Wenger. As coach/manager with no say on financial matters like players wages and contracts. With maybe Arteta as his assistant manager.. I imagine conversations have been going on with the Kroenkes.
“There’s two weeks left for the club to make changes or I can tell you exactly what sort of output we’ll likely see with Arteta, Conte, Rafa, or Allardyce in charge give or take their relative influence.”
I respectfully disagree, you cannot tell me exactly what the output would be with Conte and Benitez,two actual managers, off The back of the bland offering’s we have seen under Arteta.
This team as it is, without a single addition, can give much more than Arteta has managed to coax from them during his time here.
What will Diet Pep do in 2 weeks that he hasnt been able to do?
This job is simply to big for Arteta. Sooner he leaves, better for everyone involved.
As for his replacement, I would be happy with any of these three – Conte, Martinez, Howe.
Who do you think we should get ?
Spurs went through 10 applicants and settled for nuno
Reckon Conte would turn us down
We should have gone for Rodgers last time
Don’t trust the board to get it right
When multiple professional players (Ozil, Guendouzi, Saliba, Torreira, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Luiz, Willian, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelli, …) fell out with the same manager, Occam Razor should tell you that maybe they are not all assholes and that they are unlikely to all be the problem. The problem is the vindictive, petty, dictatorial manager. Last season when it was written in L’Equipe that players were complaining of being unhappy and being bullied, Pedro resorted to the French clique cliche to excuse Mikel. Now even British journalists openly state that Mikel does not like his players and that it is reciprocated. Once Mikel… Read more »
We can’t defend, we don’t create anything from midfield, and we can’t score plus Leno’s a big worry.
We’re headed for the Nottingham Forest scenario.
England’s best
Why in God’s name would you think Wenger would touch the current arsenal with a barge pole?
Wenger didn’t have any magical powder dust, he had players who could play Wenger ball. In this current side, who do you think can play Wenger ball in the middle of the park? Xhaka?
Wenger was never a tactical coach, he relied on technical wizards to dominate games, he should be the last person to be coming in to manage the team. Not that he would want to anyway.
We are Not spurs, we are a big club flip flopper
Great post valentin
No way Leno will put his body on the line, last time he did Guendozi paid for it
Early days , he may improve but quite possibly we have spunked 50m on a cb who can’t play in a back 4 without 2 monsters beside him.
All this while we have a 6 4 rolls Royce ready to go. You can’t write this shit
Even Arteta supporters and I WAS one need to be honest. That was pathetic yesterday and while with everyone fit we have a decent core we don’t have a side and with Xhaka at the core of our team we will never be successful . Leno was poor and despite a very nasty and biased agenda from Sky they’ve encouraged every future opponent to bombard Ben White .
Positives
ESR , Tierney and a decent effort from Sambi
The rest was awful
Sid great comment man you are amazing lol
I keep hearing ( normally from charlie) that Aubameyang and Lacazette can’t play together and have no onfield chemistry and the balance isn’t right blah blah blah. If this is the case , how did they manage to score 51 goals between them in Emery’s first season in charge. 51 goals is a huge number for a pairing that can’t play together wouldn’t you think ? To me, it is too easy to say that players like Aubameyang or Ozil are crap without taking into consideration the football they are being asked to play by their manager… A bad manager… Read more »
englandsbest
I would have put the odds of Arsene coming back at about 500-1 but anything is possible with this club, especially with the lack of managers out there that are both interested and available in the job.
gunnernet August 14, 2021 14:47:30 Ustyno, Pedro was blaming Mari for dismal White’s debut, what do you expect?? I saw it and it’s quite funny Whatever he’s defending Arteta won’t survive this season,he was lucky there was no fans last year I stand with what I have been saying, Arteta should have gone elsewhere to make mistakes and learn before coming to Arsenal,this is a serious business not some play station where you wish it can all work well,the lovers of Arteta wish it can just work well for I equally do for the sake of the team but I’m… Read more »
I don’t rate Lacazette, never had, but he can produce more than we have seen under Arteta. I didn’t expect both Auba and Lacazette to still be here 18 months into a new regime, I reckoned one would have been sold and the fee/wages invested elsewhere. I am no longer emotional about Arsenal, I have realized most of our fans aren’t quite honest with themselves what their expectations are. The jaw dropping lowering of the bar as to what success is once Arteta took over did it for me. I don’t rate a single Arsenal player highly and I don’t… Read more »
To me Arsenal fc is too big for Arteta to handle. He has add to the problems instead of solving them due to his inexperience. Arteta and Edu lacked the essential ability to identify players for the system they were introducing. It is doubtful if both themselves understand the system. Look at the players acquisition both did since they came in: Runnarson, William, Pablo Mari, Partey, Cedric and Gabriel, and now White, Tavares and Lokonga. For last season alone, which of the six(6) added players can you say add value to Arsenal fc? Take it or leave it Partey, Auba,… Read more »
Welcome back RH did amnesty international get you out?
If you break it down( the only time arteta has looked ok is playing a low to mid block, deep, and wait for saka or somebody up front to combine.
That is the mentality of a glen roeder or something. Completely basic. He can’t progress out of a deep block and hope our quality combines to score. That is it, there is no other plan. Every time he steps out of a back 3 he gets slapped.
Yer da with a back 3 and this squad could get to 40 points
If the club had any ambition conte would have been hired 3 months ago. Only silver lining of lego head in charge is it will get so bad thr kroenkes may end up selling
As for Xhaka, we need to try to compartmentalize his role in the team with his game performances. 1. Should he still be at the club? No, but we should not have sold him for that insulting Roma amount. What we needed to do was wait until the summer to see if any better bids would come once it was apparent no replacement was coming in for him (Lokonga took Ceballos’s place in the squad. Crazy to have extended his contract. 2, Should he be captain? Absolutely no way. He was talking up a Roma move this summer and he… Read more »
As I predicted, every cloud has a silver lining. Le Grove’s comments have gone through the roof!
The earlier Mertesacker takes over the higher our chances for CL football
“To update on home advantage with fans back in the stands, 7 games played, 6 home wins, 1 loss (Burnley, having been ahead against Brighton).”
Worth noting Arteta was credited with improving our away form, many choose to ignore the absence of fans, will be interesting how we fare away from home this season with fans back in the stands
We already know last seasons home form was dismal, will our fans improve that or will they worsen it
Good post Pedro
Let Marc back in please he has good comments.
Arteta has burnt his boats by ostracizing Auba and Laca
He doesn’t get that the club comes first not his ego.
Unfortunately the owners are far too detached to know what the he’ll is going on
“Welcome back RH did amnesty international get you out?”
Lol no idea who negotiated my release Tony.
We’re Doomed Captain Mannering We’re Doomed
Think that may have been the conversation between Arteta and Edu today as they watched the tape of the game.
Sid-I love Per and think he would make an excellent caretaker manager but only for a handful of games until an experienced, savvy manager with good player management skills is found. We just can’t jump from one rookie to another on a permanent or season-long basis.
You heard it from me first!
Bacary
We should have taken the 20 million for xhaka last January.
18 million from Roma wasn’t insulting.
No one else wanted him it wasn’t a lack of money since there blowing 34 million on Tammy Abraham’s.
Did he play badly yesterday, he was bang average, and lost the ball in a dangerous position that could have cost us, xhaka pulling a xhaka.
Just because he wasn’t bad doesn’t make him good or good enough.
Valentine
Spot on I’d also add none of our forwards can seem to svelte regularly in this system and arteta is the common denominator in that too . Don’t think any forward, striker or wide player will ever get high numbers under him
Up 4 grabs
Except it wasn’t 18 million was it?
Up 4 grabs
I would have snatched 18m from Roma in a heartbeat and so would Arsenal. It was more like 11m. Of course, we should have taken 20m for him before it that was the actual offer.
Talking of mertesacker is it me or does Pedro look like his twin in that podcast.
Someone deserves to go today between the leadership. Arteta as many have said is out of his depth and Edu just looks like he wants to lead the playboy lifestyle off the back of this great club.
Would be happy if they both went, but don’t think the Krankies will endulge me on that one.
We may not lose against Chelsea, we will play the usual low block defensive way we do and hope to nick some thing on the break. Not the ideal way to play but then that’s how he got absolute power handed over to him.
Someone posted a link to a Brentford style of play analysis in the run up to the game ( I’m sorry I don’t remember who it was) and even though I don’t usually watch these because most of them are just bunch of self serving promotional bs as much as any actual analysis, this one I did watch in its entirety since I don’t remember ever watching them play……….. or maybe because the analyst when greeted with the usual how you doing responded with a ‘meh” , which is usually a sign of a straight shooter who doesn’t like wasting… Read more »
Pierre In 2018/19 Aubameyang was 28/29 Lacazette was 27/28 They were both at the peak of their powers, both players now in steady decline We need to learn when to dump a player who’s starting to regress, and to recognise players who are on the verge of crossing over into a consistent performers It’s the mistake we made with Ozil, we should have sold him in 2017, or let him walk out the door in 2018 Same with Aubameyang last summer We need to return to 1yr contracts for outfield players over 30, and move away from mega contracts that… Read more »
The season just started and I’m already looking forward to the next. This club is a mess.
@DUIFG
We also had a 6’4″ Mondeo but he got palmed off to Germany again. Feel sorry for Mavro, doubt be can be worse than Mari.
Bacary everywhere I’ve seen it was either 18 million pounds or euros, not a huge difference in either.
If I’m wrong and it was 11/12 million that’s still better than keeping him and paying him 100k a week for the next 2 years to be abysmal. And then offering him a new deal To boot.
He’s an accident waiting to happen.
I don’t know what peak-Arteta football looks like
This is peak Arteta football. Look no further.
Cal Chambers is a centre back who is now playing right back Chambers has never been good enough for this club. He can’t defend. Zaha, Monteiro from Swansea and every winger he’s come against has had him for toast. He doesn’t even have the shape of a proper footballer, whenever he runs with the ball you don’t see conviction in his actions except when he’s clearing it out (he’s always clearing the ball out, the last one proved fatal) . In every position he plays the opposition has a better player. I can’t even remember the last time he started… Read more »
“move away from mega contracts that make it impossible to move players on”
Hate to break it to you Rich but mega contracts are all we have as a draw right now. See Partey as exhibit A. Auba as B.
We don’t play in Europe, we are not expected to challenge for anything soon and we have a manager who is fast acquiring a reputation for being difficult to stay onside of.
a lot of hope lost on the first game. biggest fears for me are striker and goalie. Leno looks like he doesnt care. he let himself be pinned for the second goal which is unacceptable. His passing was poor again. he’s going to be a big poroblem this year, his head’s not in it. He’s looking like beocming the latetst example of a modern arsenal player: move from foreign league to a bigger club on big wages get cynical and stop showing heart and courage. Not a great analogy, but does anyone remember when kieran gibbs pretended to jump to… Read more »
Yep we loaned out probably shipped out two central defenders this summer who could have done a job but elected to spunk 50m on White instead (nothing against him as early days) but why oh why can they not see what at least half the commentators on here have seen
Do you remember when Bergkamp went over 30 and we gave him one year extensions.
If the club can do that to him then the likes of ozil willian auba shouldn’t have had s sniff of a contract longer than 2 years or they should have been sold. When they hit 2 years remaining so we wasn’t in the position we were in with RVP, Alexis, ozil, Aubameyang. Ramsay, and now Lacazette.
Club couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery.
Poor recruiting and worse sales have combined to create an unbalanced team. Excessive money being spent on the wrong positions while we are left wanting for players in the MF, RB and keeper. Combine that with a manager, who took us to an FA Cup victory by playing quick, athletic counter attacking football, who has lost his way completely by forgetting what style of play got us there. Much damage done is a short time by Arteta/Edu and it needs to stop
It’s difficult to get back to sausage after being served caviar 2 decades 😉
MGOONER vegan sausaged at that
Sausages
Norwich look much better coached than we do. They play some good stuff going forward. How much did their squad cost? Lack of quality players can not be the reason we look so incoherent and impotent. This is so depressing.
Cantwell seems like he might be worth a punt for a bigger club.
Jota the new Firminho with goals.
Thank you leeds and paddy at Crystal palace for losing worse than we did so at least we’re not bottom longer than 24 hours!
Paddy if you want to pop over to the emirates your welcome anytime.
So we have all had our moans and groans, anybody have any ideas we can pass on to Mr Arteta to improve the football apart from the obvious “do one”
Florentino Perez is seriously considering applying for Real Madrid to play in the Premier league instead of La Liga. No joke.
https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbol/real-madrid/20210814/1001675811/real-madrid-planteo-irse-laliga.html
Imagine if Willock starts banging them in for Newcastle while we struggle to get a shot on target. That will only confirm all the now universal doubt about Arteta’s judgement. If just feels broken, with no prospect of repair. That press conference has to be the most extraordinary start to a new season – a big sulk, while telling us, and so the players, to lower our expectations. What, from eighth? Meanwhile, all other managers are expressing excitement and anticipation. Is he getting his excuses in early – before even a ball is kicked? Mikel ‘I’m a Loser’ Arteta (but… Read more »
Arteta net spend since his appointment at Arsenal: £110m. Brentford FC net spend since 2017/2018: -£45m. If you think Arteta shouldn’t have been sacked after dumping us out of the Europa League in embarrassing fashion two seasons on the bounce (most recently to the guy folk laughed at for his wonky teeth and greasy hair) and after all the excuses made for him (give him money and a full preseason to shape the squad) , I can’t help you. £70m worth of his £80m summer signings started the game yesterday. The other £10m summer signing was on the bench. We… Read more »
La liga is ducked and Perez knows it
Decent podcast yesterday. Johnny is his usual outstanding self and Pedro was disarmingly self-deprecating. Matt doesn’t really add much but he was hosting Pedro so fair enough. Is it me or does Matt look like Gareth Southgate’s less rugged younger brother?
Pedro Why are you flip flopping again? You have spent all summer telling us about the big plan Arteta has, how he is getting the players he wants, how we will see a different team on the pitch, how smart Ben White signing was, how keeping Xhaka.is not that bad, how preseason results, games and signings order dont matter. But now you are trowing the towel in the first league game. Well mate, at least stick to.your narravite and stay in the sinking ship alongside Arteta. You cant keep tagging us as Negative, Trolls, or clueless and then say “Hey,… Read more »
Up 4 Grabs
So we sell him for 11m and then start the season with Elneny and Lokonga in central midfield?
Remember posters berating Emi for not wanting to stay and fight for the no one spot a.k.a “weak sauce”?
Maybe , just maybe his spider senses told him it wasn’t worth the risk with Arteta running things , or perhaps dealing with the Arsenal goalkeeping setup.
Leno looks absolutely shot in this system now and he’s gone from leagues top three/five keeper and Arsenal’s MVP candidate before his shoulder injury, to a complete weak link many are pondering replacing as a must do.
Johng
‘So we have all had our moans and groans, anybody have any ideas we can pass on to Mr Arteta to improve the football apart from the obvious “do one”’
Even on its own, ‘Do one’ is a pretty good option right now.
Leno’s meekness is more worrying than his quality.
@ Johng
Give Diet Pep a diet Pep budget and everything will be sorted 😉
The guy clearly has talent but he needs players to execute his game plan.
Receding hairline Maddison off with another hip injury today I’d much rather Odegaard at half the price, and half the wages, than £70 million and £200 k p/w for Maddison, Odegaard for me has by far the higher ceiling Our issue is poor scouting, there must be other players out there similar to Odegaard, who just haven’t had the opportunity at bigger clubs Where they’re small fish in a big pond, but we can offer them a platform to come to Arsenal and become superstars Similar to Joe Wilock, he’ll go to Newcastle in a counter attacking team, and they’ll… Read more »
Rich – unless we somehow manage to convince a bona fide world class star to join us, we should steer clear of anyone asking for more than 70 or 80k pw imo. Especially if they’re in the age range you’re talking about. They should be wanting to come to play for us, not having to be convinced by a big contract. We throw our money around like it doesn’t matter.
Mgooner, more like a full fat coke with extra added sugar budget like PSG levels
Bacary, For a game or two yes, but more importantly we don’t blow 50 million on a centreback we don’t need and use that money to sort out the midfield, we line up our players, make he deals with the clubs and on the 1st of july register them. They then acclimatize to the club, new country maybe, and team mates. We could have played holding yesterday and I’m betting with his height he wouldn’t have been caught out. Sort the midfield, sort the right back spot, reserve goal keeper then if you have money left look at the defence… Read more »
“Odegaard for me has by far the higher ceiling”
I don’t know about that. I think you are choosing to ignore he played 14 games here last season and didn’t really move the needle that much. That was his shop window and it was underwhelming.
Don’t get why you all expect him to light it up once he is signed onto a long term contract.
Receding
Lacks that killer pace over a couple of yards to lose a marker and to one footed for the middle of the park
We dont need a reserve goal keeper we need 1st goal keeper. We should have sold Leno and brought Matt Ryan and Onana. We should have kept Saliba and invested 50 million in midfield. At the same time take whatever we can get for Xhaka.
0 points after the first 3 games should raise the temperature adequately.
Even with the upper management at Arsenal that should raise some eyebrows.
Say what you want about Spurs and Chelsea. Those two clubs try to win and aspire to be better. If those clubs were going through the Shiite we are now it would be all hands on deck, wholesale changes. At Arsenal it’s seemingly just a water cooler discussion.
Rich re Maddison: “Odegaard for me has by far the higher ceiling”
I mean, you are allowed to have an opinion and Maddison ain’t top class either, but you are waaay over the top re Odegaard.
Arteta gotta stop the highline bs, hes doesn’t have the players for it, we should play like we did last year with a creative cam
“Receding
Lacks that killer pace over a couple of yards to lose a marker and to one footed for the middle of the park”
Not to mention he is allergic to scoring goals. Without goal scoring midfielders we will continue to struggle
Receding we just sold a goal scoring midfielder.
Only at arsenal.
Rich It is easy with hindsight to make a decision to offload Aubameyang in Summer 2019, but the choice was to renew the contract of a player who had scored 29 goals that season or take a hit and lose the player for zilch. There was no evidence that Aubameyang was in decline when the contract was renewed and the majority of pundits said it was the right decision. What were the wrong decisions were the signings of Luiz and Willian from Chelsea. Indeed I would venture to suggest that our experience with buying players from Chelsea has been awful… Read more »
The Club should be planning for hitting reset. Like now, basically. The issue is… who is going to do that? Certainly not Edu, Vinai? please. Josh K? Is Arteta going to sack himself? It feels like everyone is sitting around waiting for the disaster to happen rather then trying to prevent a disaster. So … the near future of our Club relies on Josh K getting a clue and then somebody within the Club with the ability to find a replacement within weeks if not days. This is why it’s all depressing as fuck and should have been handled end… Read more »
What a goal by Mo
The worrying thing is…well, actually the thing that has made me give up on a club that I have supported for over fifty years and went to Paris to watch in 2006 through the haze of a bar window…that nothing will change until Kroenke has gone. Not breaking news I know but deeply depressing because that odious family will never leave. Look at the boardroom, look at the management structure and the non-entities that fill it. His son is on the board FFS! Never had to prove himself at the cutting-edge, ever. This is an organisation that has now sacked… Read more »
Odegaard is 22 Look at Chalobah at Chelsea, he’s been out at Ipswich, Huddersfield and Orient, he’s gone back to Chelsea, and Tuchel has taken a shine to him Saka went from sitting out the back end of 2019/20, to starring for England at the Euro’s a year later Look at the development in Smith Rowe, he went from saving Huddersfield from relegation, to Arsenal No10, yesterday he was by far the best player on the pitch Look at what Maddison, Grealish, De Bryune, Fernandes, we’re all doing at 22, hardly pulling up any trees Odegaard is a seriously talented… Read more »
You’ve been missed Receding, welcome back.
Rich we had him already. hardly a needle mover.
No thanks