Here’s the thing: I don’t think the decision is that crazy, even if it was, who cares, we need a moonshot to kick-start this 2.0 project. Safe is not a strategy that correlates with our situation. Safe is literally 14 years of Arsene Wenger and 18 months of Emery. Safe is code for meek, stagnant, unoriginal. It just pushes you further away from taking the drastic steps needed to make Arsenal competitive and relevant on a meagre budget.
Arsenal needs a coach, I think he can be that coach.
Sure, there are parts that he’s going to have to learn. Being the go-to for managing a squad of egos is going to be tough. He’ll be the lonely one in the dugout, but look, he’s not some nutter tactician that hasn’t managed groups of players before, he’s been a captain at two top-level football clubs. Commanding the respect of fellow professional isn’t going to be a steep learning curve.
The most valuable thing Arsenal can spend their money on is great ideas because we can’t afford to unload another £200m on players this summer. We have a great group of kids coming through, we will waste their talent if we give them to Carlo (I don’t think we’d go here, but in a fit of panic, he is basically Emery of 2019 after being freshly fired into a narrowed shortlist). We’ll need to reshape the squad in the summer, likely with young kids. They aren’t coming here for an average coach and boring football. We need something to offer them. With the names on offer at the moment, I don’t see anyone in the pack of managers that has a higher ceiling than Arteta.
This was the round two of canvassing for Arteta in 2019. Does the Carlo piece make me sound like an idiot? Yes. But think bigger picture people. I wrote quite a few extensive pieces; here is the gist of what I thought he could bring to Arsenal (second piece).
- Elite communication
- World-class coaching
- Extreme work ethic
- High performance culture
- CITY IP
- Sauce
It took some time to see it all unfold, but I think he’s delivered on all of the above elements.
Today, he deservedly signed a new 3 deal that runs to the end of the 2024/25 season.
There are some out there that wanted the season to finish before rewarding him, but Arteta confirmed he was offered one after the three losses.
Let’s be clear, the worst possible idea that has gained traction with Arsenal Twitter is that we should have waited until we were totally sure he was going to put us in the top 4. This doesn’t stand up to any sort of rigor, you don’t let elite talent run down a deal, just in case something goes wrong.
Arteta has spent £200m+ of the clubs money, you don’t let the architect leave. Sure, it might be a gamble, but how dim would it be to let the best young coach in Europe run down his deal? What does that say to him about our relationship with him? That it’s transactional. What does that say to the players? That he isn’t important.
The standards merchants want you to believe that they would look at the table if things went wrong, look at the body of work, and say… Mikel, you missed out on top 4 by a single point. You are fired. No rational person in sport would do something that stupid.
Offering him a new deal in a low moment is exceptional in its shrewdness. It shows that we’re thinking beyond pure points on the table and we’re respecting the circumstances and the job that he has done beyond just points (let’s be clear though, points per game this season has been good and we’ve been in top 4 form since December 2020).
Look at what he’s done:
- Brought a brand new philosophy to Arsenal that has been implemented up and down the roster of teams
- Ripped out all of our toxic players
- Massively reduced the wage bill
- De-aged the squad to an average age of 24, the youngest in the league
- Fixed our leaky defence, the first manager to do it in 15 or so years
- Brought through a number of young players that are edging into best in class territory
- Has us top 4 for points with 4 games to go
- Has us top 3 for shots on goal, has us 4th for shots on target
- Has the fans in the stadium ROCKING and united around our brilliant young squad
Like, honestly, how can anyone be sitting there saying he hasn’t achieved anything?
… because some fans still don’t understand what it takes to build a club back to the top in the richest/strongest league in the world. They live in the era where giving Jose or Conte £100m and half a season is all you needed to get back to the top.
- Conte is sitting behind us in the league, complaining about how hard the Premier League is
- Ralf Rangnick says it’ll take 6 years to fix United
- Carlo failed at Everton
- Jose failed at United and Spurs
- Thomas Tuchel, a total rockstar everyone said we should have hired, is 3 points behind us in the table after spending £100m+ on a CL winning squad
As I said in 2019, there is no better person for this Arsenal project.
We have someone that loves the club, who is excited by the longer-term nature of the project, whilst delivering on his promise.
Matt Kandela went to the West Ham game at the weekend, he called me after and said:
‘The Arteta out stuff is bollocks, everyone is totally behind him, there are no doubts’
This gives us stability. This will make it more likely the players are going to sign up again this summer. This means the dream of challenging for the league in two seasons is still very much on.
Right, see you in the comments.
_________________________________________________
You thought I’d leave this post without slagging David Moyes? No chance.
The West Ham manager had to defeat an average Frankfurt team, they blew the home leg, it was clear that the most important thing for them to do was fix up for the return game and go there fresh.
What did he do? He played all his stars. There is no world in which this was a smart decision. It was dumb.
He put 32-year-old Aaron Cresswell into the Arsenal game. What happened? Due to deep, deep fatigue and the emotional stress attached to being bullied by Eddie for a long 90 at the weekend, he fumbled a simple long ball, then he gets sent off for the bungled challenge.
West Ham didn’t have a response. They weren’t fresh. They struggled to breakdown a very poor Frankfurt. They was NO answer. There should have been, even with 10 men. It was AWFUL.
David Moyes blew the second leg because he tried to play a cute game against Arsenal to kickstart his team. He failed, he blew West Ham’s easiest chance at Champions League EVER by being greedy and too clever by half.
Frankfurt literally rested their entire team against Leverkusen, even the goalkeeper, now they have to beat Rangers to get into the biggest competition in the world.
West Ham vs Rangers. What a dream that would have been. The Hammers fans, humming the CL theme tune, Moyesy a legend forever… now, the best he’ll get is Europa Conference.
What a SHOCKING fail. But he deserved it. I told him my support would not be there and look what happened. I LOVE IT.
Right, I’m really going now. x
Shaun
No
AFC Forever Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer. We can only seize Russian assets, if there’s Russian assets on Western soil We can only seize Russian money, if we have a paper-trail and know where it is… It’s often better to sit on information, than to jump in like a bull in a China shop, and waste leverage, when we don’t really need it…. We can only ban people from our payment systems, if they use those payment systems to begin with… Our politicians and the majority of our drippy career bureaucrats, are as thick as 2… Read more »
China
That very much is the point and why so many get confused as to why investors were so interested in Chelsea.
I know so many understandably question RA the fact is that his purchase and huge injection of cash has been dwarfed by the final sale price.
A representative from the Raine group this week suggested that in ten years the £2.5 billion investment will be worth circa £10 billion.
My point was trying to point out that there won’t be an annual dividend or the like because as witnessed at Chelsea you can speculate to accumulate.
AFCF & Mr. Serge – and that is why I could never support City over Liverpool no matter how much I may dislike the scousers. Having obnoxious fans pales into insignificance when the alternative is owned by a regime that carries out political executions and denies basic human rights to its citizens (‘The Citizens’ ironically being Man City’s nickname) including denying the right to free speech amongst other restrictions.
Some things should weigh much more heavily than football rivalry.
Luton in the playoffs.
Great story.
There won’t be a war cause nothing to gain unlike Iraq
Pep still getting pelters for Wednesday night’s collapse.
Didn’t see the recent Everton vs Chelsea game that ended 1-0. But just finished watching the highlights. I had no idea that Jordan Pickford was such a good keeper. Guy was like the wall of China against Chelsea. For those of you who are familiar with his performances, is he better than Ramsdale ?
China I don’t know the ins and outs of the Chelsea but I gather there were multiple British led bids and the club still got sold to an American firm. Bar the likes of Brentford, Brighton, WHU, Norwich and Spurs there is very very little UK ownership of PL clubs even the likes of Burnley and Villa have financial input from US institutions. That’s the worry because at some point the likes of KSE, The Glazers, FSE, Bohey will join together with the likes of Levy at Spurs , Cities owners the Newcastle owners and this will change all sort… Read more »
Patino is not ready for Premier league football i think. He’s got the talent for it but his body is not. He looks and plays like an underdeveloped 16 year old. On top of it his style of play is quite similar to Wilshere. He should probably play in the under 23 for a couple of years to develop or maybe go on loan in the championship or something.
We don’t want a Wilshere MK 2 situation.
F** k Chelsea & their chavs.Hope they go to the dogs.Which would be very appropriate seeing as the Bridge was once a dog track.Scum.
Rich
I love Partey but if Juventus or similar come calling lets gladly sell for the reasons you mentioned, high injury rate and high wages.
Tchouameni as replacement, what do you think ?
As for “ Moysie”.Without a shadow of a doubt was trying to to be way too clever putting out a full strength side against us.Was a gamble & backfired big time.For what? Possibly getting into a Europa/ conference spot? Mug.He had a golden opportunity to go for the throat of a mediocre Frankfurt & f** d up.😂
Naija
No one is coming for Partey,same way no one came for him until Arsenal showed up with his release clause
I think you just like to type T-c-h-o-u-a-m-e-n-i over and over again.
Dissenter
Hahaha Come on bro, Are you trying to imply that teams don’t fancy Partey ?As for T-C-H-O-U-A-M-E-N-I, what can I say I m truly impressed with the player and I think he would do well for Arsenal.
The wishful thinker in me hopes we buy him as I think he will take us to the next level.
Diss if partey had xhaka abilities and wad injury proneyou’d be his biggest defender on here. You just like to take the minority view so as to look different same as pierre but less obsessive.
I woke up this morning feeling excited for no good reason, even though o have a dentist appointment
Now it’s dawned on me, it’s because Liverpool, are going to give spurs a major shellacking today and prepare us with the opportunity to go 5 points ahead to tomorrow
Bring it on.
Also Dissenter
I ve been reading about Tielemans all fucking season, and didn’t cry about people having their opinions.
Raulishuss
What are you talking about
Partey has had as many bad games as good games. He said so himself
There are many times in the past two seasons, when it soundly be heresy to say Xhaka was the better midfielder
Partey is very good but he’s not consistent enough for all the drooling praises he gets here.
You’re right, I think for myself and don’t march to anyone’s beats.
Pierre is one of the best posters here by the way, if you can disentangle him from his Ozil obsessions.
Isn’t T-C-H-O-U-A-M-E-N-I a defensive box to box player? He’ll be perfect along with signing a neves or tielemans. His recovery numbers are kante lite and he has good shooting technique. Is he even remotely secure with ball though? Don’t want us signing 2017 ndidi
Naija
Rich has his pet cravings like Joao Felix and Frankie De Jong
You have your Tchoumeni
It’s all good fun because we know none of those players are coming to Arsenal
The club has to move Xhaka on for Tchouemeni to work for us. Arteta has to be parted from his Xhaka first unless he won’t play the lad.
Pierre is one of bitter poster on here I’ll give you that. An old man who has so much sentimental attachment to young average boys so much so he’s ready to fall out of love with his club because of. WEIRDO. As for partey if you can’t see how much quality he has then i can’t help your soccer understanding. Kinda is one of the few midfielders in the world that can be used by ELITE clubs as the single anchor man in a 4-3-3. His quality as both a destroyer and a calming progressive midfielder is sensational but don’t… Read more »
Partey not kinda***
Wolves on holiday.
This Liverpool Spurs game has me nervous. I’m not taking anything for granted.
Goal been ruled off Same, but Wolves are in free fall now.
Damn!!! it was always a tough ask to leapfrog chelsea but i was really really hoping we would. It would have been amazing for the bantz alone
Head pats for Pierre. He found another way to squeeze Joe Willock into his Arsenal criticism.
Leftside
What can I suggest to allay your anxiety’s about the spurs game
It’s at Anfield and Liverpool have just progressively gotten better.
That cast of attackers and the form of Thiago Alcantara is way too much.
I’m more concerned about what a desperate Leeds can do tomorrow than tonight’s game.
Left side
Wolves have had some good opportunities they would of buried against us.
Wolves are pissing me off how many chances??? This is how Chelsea win these games.
Raulishuss…
can you imagine the sick joy Pierre would get if Willock hurts Arsenal when we play?
…Would be like heaven for him. He’ll deny this, of course, but reading him for years, we know the truth.
Naija + soccer
I’d love Tchouameni at Arsenal, not sure how realistic that is though, think there’ll be plenty of clubs in for him.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up at Liverpool, but if we get CL, then maybe it’s possible?…
Terraloon, Yes, it’s been proved that football clubs don’t work like other financial assets in terms of generating profits. That said, it hasn’t stopped people from trying. The Glazers are taking money out of United every season. And then you have the fact that the chavs will be owned by a PE firm. These companies operate with 2-5 year investment horizons. They look for companies that generate big cash flows but use them inefficiently. They then slash costs as a means to increase the enterprise value before selling. So even if they don’t end up taking dividends (which they probably… Read more »
Raulishuss Part of the reason why I m so impressed with T-C-H-O-U-A-M-E-N-I (😄 🤣) is because I think he’s made for Arsenal. He’s the guy we ve all been crying for all these years when Song, Flamini,Denilson, Torreira and all these guys had their audition there and yet they were all missing something. Tchou isn’t lacking that something, he’s the something. He covers the midfield and screen the defense well, very good at counter attacking and running with the ball, very good at 1-2s, master interceptor, very good tackler, only averages a red a season. He would be perfect for… Read more »
Diss,
All points that are comforting but I just keep thinking back to that game, City v Spurs at home this season. We were all so sure they would get rolled over and the jammy so and sos still managed to pick up a win against all odds.
I’m more confident that we show up tomorrow with the right approach and take all points v Leeds.
Same,
Wolves have the look of a side that are waiting for the season to end.
Naija i hear you bro. I just hope he isn’t the average french dm. Ie good with recoveries etc but average technique
VAR
Haha
That’s a penalty
There’s Chelsea penalty. Saiss dumbass couldn’t finish first half.
When you pay £4.25 billion for a club with an old stadium, what room is there to make a profit?
I know hedge fund managers have to be super smart but I struggle to understand the rationale behind paying that much for Chelsea.
Wolves charity fc
And there it goes
Chelsea FC are shite though better finishing and they would be down 3-0
What’s the allure of 3rd, ahead of 4th?
There’s Oliver Twist-ing going on here
I want 4th place
Depriving Spurs if it makes it sweeter because of the chaos it will cause for them.
The drama from Conte slamming the door on his way out will be with the wait.
What’s the allure of 3rd, ahead of 4th?
Chelsea have been terrible. Wolves just haven’t taken their chances so yeah would of loved to see them lose.
2-1 great goal by Trincao
Sell Partey? Is that a joke? The only reason we should do that is if he can’t get over his injuries by the end of next season. This clamour for any signing when we have one of the best DMs in the world is stupid. The only question that can be asked of Partey is injury wise. Tchouameni is young is a good footballer. But I wouldn’t exchange him for Partey right now. May be in a few seasons.
Chelsea have all but sealed third with this result. I hope they would have a chaotic end to this season.
Wolves have woken up.
May be a draw is coming. I hope so.
No dont sell Partey, just buy cover/competition. Whether this summer or the next, we need it. One DM and one AM and we are set.
Lukaku starts and Chelsea are winning. Brentford on a tier.
2-2 lol
Wolves should of pummeled Chelsea today. Chelsea got a jammy penalty. Wolves much better side
Spursy stuff from the chavs.
Great result so far
Get in there Wolves
Jinxed it. Hahahaha. Arsenal for third.
From LA dodgers to London Dodgy
This idiot deserves whatever he will get with this stoopid i investment
3rd and 4th are in play now. We should fight for 3rd.We can make 3rd
If Arteta make third I m re-extending that new contract!
3rd would be lovely wouldn’t it
The battle between the teams between 9th and 14th is even more intense than the top 4 battle. Something like two points separate 6 teams.
Raulishuss and tufnell ….the American nonentities
” An old man who has so much sentimental attachment to young average boys so much so he’s ready to fall out of love with his club because of. WEIRDO.
can you imagine the sick joy Pierre would get if Willock hurts Arsenal when we play?”
imagine , an Arsenal fan supporting the club’s academy players who are succeeding in the toughest league in the world , how weird is that.
Unlike some on here, I would never be so presumptuous as to suggest that I have a firm grasp on what the future holds…that said, I’m an ardent proponent of the old adage that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour…as such, I’m neither surprised by the fact that the powers that be have once again acted in a rather nonsensical fashion when it comes to their handling of all things Arteta-related, considering his premature managerial appointment and the previously unheard of financial backing he received, even after he quickly deviated from the original plan and shit the… Read more »
Diss
I think it’s if we finish 3rd, we go straight into the group stages
But if we finish 4th, we’ll have to win a 2 legged tie to go into the group stages?
We just have to win our games and see where we end up. Good thing at this point is that we don’t need to look at the table. If we win our games from the position we are in, we’ll know where we end up.
They scrapped the play offs for the top4 leagues i think. 4th takes you directly to the group stages
Looks like luck is following ARTETA recently.
Chelsea are lucky that the two teams trailing time for top 4 are going to play each other.
That’s why they will sneak in 3rd/4th place.
Top 4 from any of the top 4 leagues; England, Spain, Germany and Italy goes directly unto the group draws
Not much rides on this United game but they have been so poor
Crazy how this spurs and Liverpool game is a must win for both of them.
Lots of pressure on both sides. Not so sure it will be a full on conclusion. Spurs are the underdogs.
Hope I’m wrong and Liverpool hammer them.
Watching the Brighton game and Cucurella has impressed me this year at left back. Apparently being considered for Brighton player of the year. There is a story floating around that Spurs are in the hunt and asking price would be around $17 Mil. TransferMarkt has him at $22 Mil. That is a ridiculous bargain. We should be all over that.
Nelson
Luck is a weapon my brother. If it’s visiting, Arteta good for us.
Br0wnoe
Din’t believe everything you read in the tabloids
From the transfer of Ben White m you ought to know that Brighton are not going to let a player they just signed for £15 million last season …for £17 million.
If they consider selling him, it will be for 2-3x what they paid.
Brownie
I ve noticed Cucurella too. Reliable, hard to beat, infectious energy, and good going forward.For that price, that’s a good bargain.
Don’t think BHA will take 17m for Cucurella. No chance. At least 35/40
Cucrella looks like a top player..and with that long hair has the swag too…better than KT and Tavares for sure
Brighton 1 up
If United lose here, and lose at Palace
West Ham could pip them to 6th if they pickup 6/9 points
United playing in the Europa Conference could give us an edge if we butted heads for any potential transfers, would make them less attractive, and might restrict their budget
Brighton playing some beautiful stuff here, need to get another while they’re on top,
Brighton should be out of sight but their finishing has been woeful today. Cucharella would be a great addition, we know KT cannot stay fit.
How does Welbeck miss that?
Horrendous from Welbeck !
Yeah since he played against curecella earlier in the seaso he’s looks a decent player.
Brighton will find a away of messing this up.
I think Ragnick was being extremely optimistic when he said it would take 2 or 3 summer transfer windows to fix United. Watching Juan Mata attempt to half-heartedly press and at an extremely slow pace reminds me of Willian for us. Like what is the point of playing him at this stage in his career?. Luckily for them, Welbeck got to Welbz.
Anyhow… Long may it continue… I rate Ten Haag highly but this might be a suicide mission for him. If he turns this around next season then he really is a coaching genius.
Ten Haag need to make the tough decision about Ronaldo
Ronaldo’s individual brilliance and giant stature is obscuring how bad United are. He has to let Ronaldo leave to let a process of growth start.
It’s not Ronaldo;s fault but there can’t be any new beginning until he’s left.
United have the money.
Two smart windows and a manager that has a clue and they’ll be competing again.
They’re a super rich club and can pay the extra wages the average team won’t.
Just need to buy proper players to fit into whatever the manager they have is trying to do really.
Just the sheer volume of players they need to turnover though.. I’m struggling to think of anyone I would want to keep if I was Ten Haag from today’s lineup. I know they have the money but damn.
Great finish!
Sign him.
Is Ronaldo going to cry.. ? It kind of look like it.
Ten Haag is used to working with promising youth and the energy they bring and the types of things you can do in regards to teaching and motivation.. They just said this United lineup is the oldest this season. They are going to have to turnover about 20 players.
Rangnick is actually worse than Ole
Full on disintegration….Hahaha got to love it.
This is United’’s 7-2 moment
They may have to sack Rangnick
There’s no evidence to overrule that goal
Even VAR was like nope… you suck.
This is delicious, how the mighty have fallen…
United fans used to be so unbearable, don’t hear a peep out of them these days 😂
The question is would United have been this bad this season, if they hadn’t signed Ronaldo. Hes the only one scoring while everyone else seems to have regressed or stagnated.
It felt like they were on to something last season after they added Bruno. The Ronaldo signing should have completed the puzzle for them but it seems its unraveled them.