Well, well, well, good morning to you ALL!
Let’s start the day with the great news that West Ham essentially ended the hopes of Wolves entering the race for top 4 this season. I’m not sure there’s any coming back from that many defeats over a short space of time, so I’d say the race is now Arsenal, Spurs, and United.
Also, I need to stop saying we have 13 games left, because we have 14 games.
14 cup finals.
So do we have any reason to think that we’re in good shape? Well, the Statsbomb folk dropped this little table of expected goal difference over the last ten games.
So what does this tell you?
Firstly, all the xG cry babies at the start of December were massively wrong. They misread the data, didn’t understand the context of what was going on, they weren’t watching what was happening on the pitch… and they didn’t understand how a striker like Auba was damaging to a system that needed someone very different.
Arsenal were pretty damn correct when the binned off Auba in December. He has a fan club that wants to point to each goal he scores, but the simple reality is this:
- He didn’t score goals for Arsenal
- Arsenal score more goals without him
- We’re making moves on top 4 just fine without him
We’re one of the most in form teams in the league since he left us. The attitude on the pitch is better, more players are involved in the goalscoring, there’s a deeper range of options that make us very unpredictable.
It is quite heartening that the group of fans that always point to the players we don’t have at the club have been pretty much silenced. You don’t really hear too much about Guendouzi because our midfield has been great this season. You don’t hear about Saliba because Ben White is quite literally the standout centre back signing of last summer. You don’t hear about Ainsley because he’s been really bad.
The project is in good shape, the only drama we’re dealing with at the moment is referees and red cards, we just need to keep our heads down and knock down all these difficult games we have coming up.
Arsenal have put their season ticket prices up by 4% this season. I read from @DarrenArsenal1 that the hike gives the club an extra £2.5m a season, which is a right leg of Auba for 6 months.
It’s really tough to know what to say here. Static prices for years is unusual, inflation is through the roof, the club has been blasting through cash… I’m surprised the hike isn’t more based on business metrics.
However, the flip side that the home fans are treated poorly, they are absolutely essential to project, and the painful PR they get off the back of it is not worth £2.5m. Inflation is absolutely killing UK people at the moment, these hikes seem unnecessary.
I’m also not sure how Arsenal is run. A couple of seasons ago, they fired 55 people, then toppled the Gunnersaurus… only to go and drop £250k a week on Willian. It’s weird how they prioritise where they extract extra coin from.
Finally, let’s talk captains armband. I’m not sure it’s going to be KT when the decision is made. I think they’re going to give it to someone who is more reliable when it comes to fitness and I think they are going to give it to someone who has experience of the role. My view is it’ll likely be Martin Odegaard and that would be the correct selection.
Martin Odegaard is right up there as one of our star performers, he’s been pretty robust this season, and the coaches, the fans, and the players seem to really respect him. I’m also paying a little bit of a attention to the left back links that have been coming through thick and fast. Quite a bit of smoke wafting through the Marble Halls, don’t you think?
We also seem to be getting quite a lot of linkage to Joao Félix, the £100m Portuguese star from Atleti. I honestly have no idea why a player of his flair went to play for Diego, but he fits the profile of a fallen star that is quite young, and I’d imagine he has a profile that’d be of interest to Arsenal. That said, he’d be expensive, and I’m not sure how his sort of star profile would fit at Arsenal? But who knows, he’s the sort of name we’d only be close to if we made Champions League.
Right, jump into the podcast today!
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again
grooveydaddy, come outside!!!
3rd.
Tr4phy
4th
Haaaahaaaaaaa!
DM, you sneaky sneaky man.
Almost forgot you’re a constant threat
Sorry Bankz. Not gonna be here rest of the week so you should have free reign until next week (well, you and Groovey)
I’m worried about Utd; Spurs not that much. As for the captaincy, I’d fancy Gabriel. He’s warrior, he gives a fuck a hates losing
Europa
Well in Bankz. Your cabinet must be full now sir.
First team!
IAT, How is it a ludicrous decision to let Aubameyang go? You have a player, a nice, well liked guy, but right after he signed the biggest contract of his career, he stopped producing. I defended him when pundits said it was the money, hoping to be wrong. Look at what he produced last season and the first half of this one. Why would it be ludicrous to get rid of him and the big wages for next year, to try and improve the team? If you say extending him when he was playing great was ludicrous.. then you’re dishonest… Read more »
Captaincy? I wouldn’t be very surprised if Laca signed on for another season. he clearly likes the project (based, if nothing else, on his interview after the Wolves game last week). I guess it depends on his champions league options.
Odegaard looks fit for purpose and I am sure that Pedro has more insight into the feeling in the dressing room than I do. But KT arguably symbolizes the heart and soul of the team. His commitment is never in doubt. I guess that it depends what you want your captaincy to symbolize.
NJ Gooner
I think Laca wil stay if we have CL, we will need experience he has taken the rol Auba didnt, plus Xhaka wants out, he is the only reliable option Arteta has to keep some experience in the side, surely he will give Laca a non starter rol most of the season but it will help with the dressing room.
The way Laca talks everytime he is interviewed seems like someone that clearly understands that has a most important rol beyond the pitch
‘all the xG cry babies at the start of December were massively wrong’
Our pl opponents during this period has been the likes of wolves, Brentford, Burnley(drew), Norwich, Leeds and man City (lost) we also lost to Nottingham forest and Liverpool in the cups in this time
Let’s see where we are at the end of the season
SAGG,
I am guessing that Arteta may evolve away from the youth hiring focus to, as a read in one commentary, sprinkle the team with some experience – especially if Xhaka, Laca and Leno (remember him?) do all depart.
But I can imagine a tweaking of the system to 3-5-2 to let Laca play behind a big forward for a season if he signs a new contract.
Bigper, we’re 2 points off top 4 with 3 games in hand over West Ham and United after 24 games.
You need to pivot out of ‘it was just an easy run’, we’re where we are because we’re doing great. No need to wait until the end of the season to be absolutely clear on that point.
It is beautiful to see all the ‘SACK HIM NOW’ crew calling for patience on this season. Where was that attitude when it was needed most?
Where was the quality control when we finished 8th and 8th? Or was that perfectly acceptable?
Pedro, you’ve asked for Wenger to be sacked when we were getting top 4s every single season (same as me). You had zero patience for Emery. But 8th and 8th is perfectly acceptable. Now a top 4 is a stretch goal and Arteta is getting another free year. He’ll also get a pat on the back for a job well done even if he manages a 5th or 6th – the same placement Emery was deemed a failure for. Will he be called a bottler like Rodgers was last season after he failed to finish in top 4 with LEICESTER… Read more »
Pedro You and the other Arteta idolators are wrong, wrong, wrong about Gunnerdouzi. The common theme running through every conflict in the club in recent years has been the involvement of Tets. That’s possibly to be expected given his role but he appears not to give a flying fuck about protecting and even increasing player values. He is fucking abysmal in this area and its costing the club. I would be delighted if a player of MG’s calibre was to return (and for nothing!). It would help drive the departure of GX and reduce the wage bill. But the basque… Read more »
Rap…you are if nothing else,relentless.
Can’t you just enjoy our position in the table(even if it changes)-and the fact that we beat Wolves and our nearest rivals aren’t doing so well at the moment?
”Where was the quality control when we finished 8th and 8th? Or was that perfectly acceptable?”
It was and it still is, and that’s why all the posturing is completely pointless, which is what Jamie so eloquently pointed out a week ago or so.
Johnny, Can’t Pedro enjoy it without throwing some cheap insults around? He has nothing to celebrate. 8th and 8th is forever in the history books. Let’s not turn it into a “I told you so”. He sold another reality where Arteta is hired to better our current players so we don’t have to spend so much on transfers. Arteta didn’t do that, he sold or gave away almost every single player we had, bought big and still finished 8th and 8th. Somehow the project started this season and 18 months absolutely didn’t matter. Never happened. I’m not bringing the subject… Read more »
Felix was a joke against utd not so long ago, English defenders will laugh at him. Rather save the money and beef up some of the academy players..
Martin Odegaard is right up there as one of our star performers
—————–
He’s a very skillful player and it’s always a thrill to see players turn it on but he’s only got 3 assists in 22 matches which is big worry with 14 to go, he needs to be much more clinical with his final passes.
The Great ‘Best manager alive’ Klopp also finished 8th in his first season but yeah let’s all pretend that didn’t happen. Thus is a guy that’s already won titles in Germany and reached the latter stages of the champions League with his former team Dortmund. But he came 8th in his first season just like ‘young rookie Lego head Arteta. He’s won the Premier league and the champions League since so its not really cute to mention that Klopp had to grind first too, putting in time AND buying the right players until they started properly winning. Just don’t get… Read more »
Arteta is at worst maybe 10 months behind schedule but I simply put that down to inexperience. Experience is Hugely important don’t care how smart you are. He’s gaining experience fast as we speak and that correlates with his team, as they are starting to show some consistent progress.
I m starting to see some hugely impressive underlying stats. Let’s watch this space.
Arsenal PLC accounts are due to be lodged at Companies House today. Will take a few days probably before they are accessible but this is the first hint as to what to expect
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10560041/Arsenal-increase-season-ticket-prices-time-2014-club-facing-huge-losses.html
The IOC is going all out for an outright ban while Mr Infantino is shitting his pants.
Klopp also finished 4th in first full season, going from 60 to 76 pts.
Important to note that Klopp inherited a team that had finished with 62 pts the year before. Liverpool were 6th-8th in 5/6 seasons, the odd season when they finished 2nd was due to the best individual performance in the history of the EPL in Suarez.
Before Klopp – 63, 58, 52, 84, 62 pts.
Before Arteta – 75, 71, 75, 63, 70 pts.
Klopp’s first 18 months – 60, 76 pts.
Arteta’s first 18 months – 56, 61 pts.
I mean there is some difference, no?
The endless debate continues.The Bedwetters criminalising Arteta for finishing 8th & 8th in first two seasons as always disregarding the mess he inherited & the rebuild.required.It’s as if these events should never have happened.That he simply should have walked in the door & obtained CL in his first season.or his second season.No .Or even now.Why wait? It’s tedious beyond description this endless criticism for sanity’s sake move on to something else.It’s a journey.Try & accept it.
“It is quite heartening that the group of fans that always point to the players we don’t have at the club have been pretty much silenced. You don’t really hear too much about Guendouzi because our midfield has been great this season. You don’t hear about Saliba because Ben White is quite literally the standout centre back signing of last summer. You don’t hear about Ainsley because he’s been really bad.” Sometimes I really do feel like Pedro is trolling on his own blog. Our midfield has been great?! One word – Xhaka. I can only imagine how many more… Read more »
Naija – “Just don’t get why Arteta keeps getting ridiculed for coming 8th in his rookie seasons, despite all the mess he’s had to deal with.” He’s not being ridiculed. People are pointing out facts. It’s probably because in his first season he did it with a squad that had just finished 5th months earlier, and in his second season he only improved us 5 points and while we won four more games we lost three more than the season before. Arteta’s signings and decisions on contract extensions were a bit flakey. People couldn’t see what he was trying to… Read more »
** became a term of mockery
Yes we are doing much better but the midfield has been great ! really.
From tweets by Tim Stillman. Writing something about Arteta and looked back at that interview he gave after the last game of his career against Villa in 2016. “For me to play at this club you have to be the best in your position. When you lose that, I think you should be away from this place. “I have probably been here too long. In the last few months, I probably didn’t deserve to be here. “For me, the standards you need to play for this club, it cannot be eight out of 10, it has to be 10 out… Read more »
”But Arteta has to take it to the next level next season or else those who have gone balls deep for him this year will have a difficult job trying to explain it away.”
No they won’t.
The narrative has been set already. This isn’t the league of Wenger, or even Emery’s.
Top four is harder than ever, and as long as Klopp and Pep remain they’ll always have a four year running start on Arteta, and our squad will remain the youngest for the foreseeable future.
“”” stumbling into the new approach and this season has a lot of luck with teams outside the top 3 falling over themselves to drop points enabling us to catch up after our poor start.””””
At what point does Arteta start to get some credit ? He’s got his faults absolutely , but to minimise his time here to just a happy accident is little bit harsh I think.
Naija has a reasonable view..
And also, are people counting Artetas first partial season in the criticism? …
I definitely don’t think that’s fair, especially since he grabbed an FA cup.
Fair to mention a full season at 8th, no doubt……..
But I don’t think that was too much to give him more time with such a mess of a squad he had to fix.
It has been fixed.
I know we’re all hoping he’ll make a big jump up to 4th or 3rd this season, right?
Right Artetahaters?
Raptora So even according to the stats you put up, the sum total of Liverpool’s last 2 finishes before Klopp, 84+62 = 146. Arsenal’s on the hand is 70+63= 133. So by your own argument and presented stats, Klopp inherited a stronger team than Arteta since 146 is more than 133 in any country. Then you put up Klopp’s first 2 season finishes at 60, 76 points, while Arteta’s is 56, 61 points. What you fail to see in your provided stats is that Klopp gradually improved at Liverpool 60, 76, 75 then 97. Arteta is also gradually improving at… Read more »
Inside Right – love how you put up such selective POV. Anyone watching Arsenal under Emery could see what a disaster zone it was. He blew top 4 when we started to go into freefall at the end of the 18-19 season which then finished with utter humiiation in the Europa Cup Final. Our owners showed patience and he kept his job. We then played some of the worst football we have seen ever. Arteta took over an absolute mess of Wenger’s declining years (which in fairness Emery also inherited) and exacerbated by Emery’s meddling It’s not black and white… Read more »
I know we’re all hoping he’ll make a big jump up to 4th or 3rd this season, right?
Right Artetahaters?
Won’t speak for” Artetahaters” , but as the honorary president of the international bedwetters association I can assure all the dry bed dwellers that we are hoping for the same thing.
Naija,
I appreciate the humor truth be told. Good one lol.
On a more serious note, the 84 pts of Pool was 90% Luis Suarez. Absolutely insane campaign for him.
Pedro deliberately throw shades at people who don’t agree with him probably to generate traffic and when people counter him then you see people calling others bedwetters
My question is this are the people calling others bedwetters for responding to Pedro BEDDRYERS???
It’s beginning to sound childish calling people names because you don’t agree with what they say,even Pedro who brings this debates don’t call others names
“It is beautiful to see all the ‘SACK HIM NOW’ crew calling for patience on this season. Where was that attitude when it was needed most?”
Yeah, remember back in the day there was this joker telling everyone that Arteta was in a ‘Death Spiral’, in fact he did it on two separate occasions!
Whatever happened to that guy?…
Upstate, sometimes I wonder if people like you will ever come on here and say, ‘shit man, I’m so sorry I trolled the blog earlier in the season, because we are in shape I couldn’t imagine right now’
… but you don’t.
Raptora, I’m having a great time right now. All you guys that sat on this site saying “WHEN WILL YOU ADMIT YOU GOT IT WRONG’ seem desperate to try and save yourselves.
Why can’t you just admit you shit the bed, got Arteta/the player wrong, and act like you enjoy seeing a successful Arsenal?
Incidentally did you see that Everton have demanded an apology for the penalty incident against City? Would love to see us be as forceful for similar incidents.
Andy, Frank went hard at them, really good stuff. Not sure Arteta’s politeness is moving the needle
Naija, you should probably stop with the Klopp comparisons before you embarrass yourself any further.
While we are playing barely one game a week because we got dumped out of all cup competitions the earliest in living memory, Pool went to the CL final in Klopp’s third year while also making top four.
May I just remind some of you that it wasn’t the Arteta doubters who brought forth this ridiculous Arteta/Klopp comparison you keep persisting with.
“It’s beginning to sound childish calling people names because you don’t agree with what they say,even Pedro who brings this debates don’t call others names”
Literally in this post he uses “cry babies” lol.
Nigel, Paying Auba to play for Barcelona for free for the rest of the season IS ludicrous. What savings are we making now that we couldn’t have made in the summer transfer window anyway? What did we actually gain from letting our top striker go mid-season without replacing him? Is having less offensive options when we’re in top 4 contention supposed to be a good thing? I think you’re being quite revisionist. Auba didn’t “stop” producing after his extension. What actually happened was Arteta oversaw the longest goalless streak from open play in this club’s history. It was relegation level… Read more »
Tom
Based on the project’s 3 year timeline, as shared by Pedro previously, there will have to be an improvement next season otherwise the project will have stalled. If there isn’t a jump the following season then the project would be off the rails.
We all want Arsenal back in the CL and we all want the club to be genuinely challenging for the title. So I want it to succeed. But if the project doesn’t pan out, then questions will surely be asked.
Looks like AMN is going to be back at the club next year. At some point, he might just salvage some of his career once he realises he isn’t a midfielder. If he settled on being a FB then we could still use him as our standby RB if Cedric is dumped in the summer
Raptora
Here you come again 😁
I wish we can debate with facts so people can pick a thing or two than the names,just my thought though
BTW,I think Arteta wants to make Martin’s Odegaard the next captain not bad though,will say Gabriel should be the vice captain
Nigel, The Wolves win was freaking fantastic but it dawned on me that this was the first time we had ever won a league match we were losing at halftime under Arteta. Statistically, your average (not elite but average) manager wins these kind of games ~9.8% of the time. It has taken Arteta 18 attempts in comparison, a success rate of 5.6%. I am not sure Arteta, with his current ethos, would fare that well at a smaller club. I also remain concerned that we’ve continued to have these streaks of 3 games or more without open play goals. It’s… Read more »
. If as it looks we will be back in Europe next season the challenge for Edu and Arteta could be much greater than this season unless Stan can magic up some £200M. There is a real danger of Arsenal going into next season back in Europe with a squad that is just not up to the combined task of playing again in Europe and maintaining a top 4 or 6 position. The current paired down squad will need some serious reinforcement in both quality and depth but where is the money going to come from. Unfortunately the next batch… Read more »
Tom Arteta won the FA cup in his FIRST season on his first job in the first year of his coaching career. You see we can do this all day long. I personally think Arteta is doing a good job, has he made mistakes ? Absolutely. I m glad he did so he can learn from it. I don’t think Arteta is on Klopp’s level, just implying that even Klopp was given patience despite the fact that it wasn’t all rosy for him at first either. Surely people can see Arteta had some initial struggles too but he’s improving. Like… Read more »
InsideRight, I actually think this season we have a better chance at top four than the next.
It’s got nothing to do with moving goal posts and everything to do with Arteta’s squad rotation habits and fixture congestion.
You could be right, Tom. This is a golden opportunity and it’s a shame we didn’t find a way to improve in January. I can see Man Ure getting their act together more next season. Wolves will likely improve. Hell, we might even see Stevie G makes some moves in the summer to improve Villa. And for all their failings, Spuds continue to hang around the general area like a bad smell. There’s been a lot of speculation about a big spending summer to strengthen key positions. But at the same time our rivals will strengthen too. Let’s hope our… Read more »
Tom, Unless we hit the jackpot with the CF and CM signings that we’re all waiting for in the Summer. Then we’d be a stronger team regardless of the manager in charge. No Europe this season was a huge advantage though. I hope we’ll make it count. Because the dream CF and CM signings could depend on it. It’s all very much connected. Make top 4 this season and we’ll be an attractive club for many players, and we’ll have a lot of dough to spend. Land the CF + CM of our dreams and we might have the squad… Read more »
When we qualify for the CL this season in 4th and KSE drop another £200m for players, will the mood hoovers still bitch that we didn’t finish 3rd and it should be £250m? I’m more ‘up’ for the season than I have been in years, the ground is rocking, the table looks really interesting ….. cant we all.just enjoy the ride
haha, you sound like Republicans. Ready to throw jet fuel over a loss, out here preaching class when your opinion is looking like a huge miss.
We have IAT pondering:
comebacks as an issue
whining about Auba exiting despite our goalscoring record since he left
Whilst also stating that a manager here a little over two years is a slow learner despite getting a broken club into contention for top 4 in his second full season
Honestly, the ego on some of you.
”Arteta won the FA cup in his FIRST season on his first job in the first year of his coaching career. You see we can do this all day long.”
Naija, if by we can do this all day long you mean comparing apples to oranges then I’m definitely not interested.
Klopp taking Pool to CL final and making top four was to say he had a major distraction of 14 Cl matches while also achieving the minimum league requirement he set for himself.
Arteta had none of that this season.
One thing that both Generational and Klopp did was they were made clowns by the bum Emery as he lifted 2 Europa league trophies after he beat them in the semis and final respectively.
Now that’s a common factor between the two.
Raptora, Well, the difference between then and now is the league is much more competitive. When Klopp took over he inherited a pretty decent team and made a few brilliant signings in a stable market. Arteta situation is different, he inherited dross, had to make moves in a difficult market in a much more competitive league. If you cannot see the difference then I can’t help you.
Raptora, why are you on an Arsenal fan blog behaving like that?
I am loving this team. The boss has done an incredible job. First half of his tenure he inherits a team so soft they could do Andrex commercials and somehow wins the FA Cup beating City and Chelsea in the process. Emery’s team rolled over and let Chelsea tickle their bellies, same team beats them at Wembley. Interesting. He rebuilds the foundations by routing out the poisonous players who were on daft contracts and with the owner’s permission tears up contracts or waives transfer fees in order to just get shot. Big club mentality. He installs reminders of our past… Read more »
Tom
You are implying that Klopp took Liverpool to a champions League final in his third year, while conveniently neglecting the fact that Arteta won the FA cup in his first season. You can’t acknowledge Klopp’s success while shitting on or disregarding Arteta’s. It doesn’t work like that.
Once again, like I said, this is not a Klopp vs Arteta debate. I merely was pointing out the fact that a great coach like Klopp was afforded time to fully get his plans working. The Arsenal hierarchy has also given Arteta time to get his plans working as well.
Why are you calling other Arsenal fans cry babies?
Naija, not to mention that Klopp didn’t have to do the bulk of his rebuild during a pandemic.
Raptora, because people that have malicious intent when it comes to Arsenal deserve that tag. I absolutely do not care if anyone was offended by that, because if you were weaponising xG to shit on our progress, that is exactly what you are.
You seem to take delight coming onto an Arsenal blog, when we’re doing well, and trying to make everyone feel shit about all the good that is happening.
Do you think that is normal behaviour?
Where was Klopp at 39? Not managing a PL team fighting for top 4.
Berg10kamp, probably a better line of attack on this weird conversation.
Berg10kamp
Klopp did a great job at Liverpool, changed something like 35 players. Fantastic manager. However, he didn’t inherit anywhere near the problems Artea inherited. The cultural deficit at our club was a serious problem, not helped by the daft contracts. For a novice manager in his first job, it must have been a nightmare. It was made even harder by the pandemic.
Pedro, I was just about a few days ago saying that White is a better player currently to Saliba even if it’s not a huge difference, he is ahead of him, and as you know I’m a loud Saliba fan boy. I’m not afraid or ashamed to change my opinion depending on the new information that I process. I’ve talked about Lacazette being a big problem for this team as if we miss on top 4, I believe he’ll be the biggest reason why. It’s a decision that Edu/Arteta made. Big gamble. I’ve also said that Klopp did better in… Read more »
Pedro
It is beyond weird mate.
Said it before, it doesn’t add up.
I’ll give myself a timeout before you do it. All good.
Rap, I’m not going to time you out, I like having you on here, I just don’t get the need to constantly shit on the club.
We are doing better than you thought
Arteta isn’t the problem
You are an Arsenal fan.
If you can’t roll with the good times, what’s the point?
InsideRight As we all know, Arteta’s initial plan was to go with seasoned professionals. This is why he brought in Willian and Partey. I guess Mari too. That plan didn’t work though, mostly bcuz of Willian and Ozil, my opinion. I call it the ‘Willian project’. ESR completely tore that plan apart when he came into the starting 11. Is that when they decided to go with youth instead ? I m not really sure but I know that when ESR came in the team, something changed in Arteta’s plans and the club’s direction. They could have persisted with the… Read more »
raptora
“What so bad have I said?”
Jesus mate, you have no self-awareness.
You literally spend every day shitting on the club in some way or another. We know the Wolves result pissed you off, you kept going on and on about how lucky we were, literally minutes after the whistle into the next day and the next.
Raptora never been in the ground and never experienced the real deal. We’re here rain or shine in good times or bad. The players that represent us get our respect the players that leave are not our concern any more.
Like a jealous ex stalking our old players. Get a fucking grip
Naija
“They realized their initial plan wasn’t working so they changed it. I respect that.”
Brilliant comment.
Everyone makes mistakes it’s about how you learn from them. Some people use them to enhance their knowledge and become better at what they do. Others repeat the same mistakes over and over. As you say, I always respect people who can hold their hands up, acknowledge mistakes made and learn from them.
Berg10kamp
Berg10kampFebruary 28, 2022 19:39:09
“Where was Klopp at 39? Not managing a PL team fighting for top 4.”
Hahaha certainly Klopp at 39 wasn’t competing for 4th in a league that had a seasoned Klopp for competition.
Pedro, Honestly, I’m so used to us playing in the midweek, that this season the games are so few and far between that I can’t keep my enthusiasm and be excited for our next game when the downtime is bigger than what I’m used to. I think the positives are good and all, but to improve, the problems need solving. Also I’ve always took it bad when a player I like either quits, or we sell them. So I’ve been watching Barca highlights and Marseille live when I have time. Someone compared it to stalking an ex girlfriend. It’s a… Read more »
AFC: “You literally spend every day shitting on the club”
If Arteta is what you call Arsenal FC, then sure mate. Have it your way.
AFC forever “The boss has done an incredible job. First half of his tenure he inherits a team so soft they could do Andrex commercials and somehow wins the FA Cup beating City and Chelsea in the process” All very contradictory if you ask me.. How can it be that the team Arteta inherited were so soft that they managed to beat 2 of the best teams in europe to win the FA cup….i don’t suppose you were saying that at the time. Whereas the team that is supposed to be so hard to beat went out of the domestic… Read more »
”You are implying that Klopp took Liverpool to a champions League final in his third year, while conveniently neglecting the fact that Arteta won the FA cup in his first season. You can’t acknowledge Klopp’s success while shitting on or disregarding Arteta’s. It doesn’t work like that.” Naija, let me simplify this for you since it seems we’re talking past each other here. -Arteta wining FA cup in his first season ( or any other season) -a great achievement. -Arteta finishing 8th in his first season – no big deal -Arteta finishing 8th in his second season- a major disappointment.… Read more »
Under Arseblog’s ratings: Poster: Dude, love you blogs, you give a voice to my arsenal obsession and allow me to feel part of a community. But for me, these ratings are low. And I’m not saying that anyone was magnificent. But I think as a team effort we were incredible. Our desire and drive and determination was impeccable. I feel like most players on the field deserve 8’s or higher just for sheer willpower and strength of mind. Partey and Xhaka for me were exceptional. Really controlled the midfield. And Laca and White also I thought took the game by… Read more »
AFC: “We know the Wolves result pissed you off”
You are an imbecile. Don’t talk to me again.
Pedro,
I’m not sure what the hell you’re talking about when you mention Republicans but I’m pretty sure a manager with better comeback ability would have pretty useful in the semis against Villarreal and Liverpool.
It’s also hilarious to see you of all people questioning someone else’s ego?😉
This summers transfer window could be interesting. There are reports Kroenke is supportive of Arteta and Edu’s plans to make a big push for talent. Obviously, finishing 4th changes the market but I wonder what the strategy will be? Chelsea are likely to find it difficult now. Man United haven’t even got a manager yet, so it may be a good time to go shopping. With Kroenke backing we could go for De Jong and with Everton sinking DCL will fancy a move. Make no mistakes, Arsenal is a very attractive destination now and years of frustration may be coming… Read more »
A brief summary from the AST on Arsenal’s latest financial results:
“Some quick headline takes on Arsenal’s financial results: Headline numbers in terms of loss before tax and wage bill Loss before tax GBP 127m and wages up GBP 10m at GBP 244m”
Barca suddenly look a proper team again under Xavi and they paid €75m for De Jong.
We’re as likely to get Haaland.
De Jong is superb, his goal vs Napoli was beyond top class.
Also: “KSE loaned Arsenal GBP 201.5m to refinance stadium loans on a two year notice – rolling basis. No details of KSE loan terms / interest cost etc. No notice given as of reporting date. Cost of refinancing was £32m – all added to Arsenal’s debt” “Drawings on the new Barclays facility – replaced the BoE COVID loan of GBP 120m. Barclays facility is GBP 70m – no drawings as at 31.5.21 (post balance sheet likely used to pay for Partey)” “Broadcast and commercial revenues: Broadcast up to GBP 184m vs GBP 119m but related to TV deferrals from COVID… Read more »
Personally, i think the side Arteta and Emery inherited was tougher than you think, many of that squad had against all the odds won 3 fa cups and went on to win a 4th trophy in 6 years and reached a european and league cup final .
So that’s 6 cup finals in 6 years from that squad, and yet we are being told they were soft, even though that squad of players had beaten city in 2 semi finals and Chelsea in 2 finals…
Kroenkephobe if you’re going to talk about common denominators, Guendoizi has had problems everywhere he’s gone. Same same Ozil amd same same Auba, albeit Aubas has been discipline rather than attitude.
It’s also interesting to note that the players Arrieta kicked out we’re part of the two 8th placed finishing teams, so if they were all that good, why were we so poor?
He inherited a mess, and he has put the house in order. I for one feel happier about our squad than any time since 2008
IAT, you are out here trying to shit on the progress because your insightful commentary has been very off base this season.
We’re in the mixer for 4th, try and enjoy it, it’s a bit sad to watch you have trouble with our progress because you were wrong.
Said it before but worth repeating; Arteta getting his chance after Emery instead of Wenger was the best thing that could’ve happened to him.
Pedro should be grateful for that particular twist of faith.