Arsenal bowed out of the running for the Top 4 race in a meek fashion.
We didn’t show up. The players were too nervous. They bottled the biggest night of their careers and I don’t think anyone left that field feeling good about what they offered up.
Newcastle were superb, we can’t deny that, they worked harder than us, and played like they were the team that had the Champions League on the line.
There can be no excuse. It wasn’t good enough. 5th will be our position this year and when all is said and done it’s about where we deserve to finish.
Mad as it sounds, it was probably best we tanked in that way. There are no doubts about where we lack quality, there are some players that Arteta will aggressively move out of the club this summer, and it is still absolutely clear where we need to add talent.
There are big shouts for our lack of movement in the January transfer window. It’s going to be hard to fight that narrative today, but I’m still calm about my view there… if you don’t think anyone can improve you, don’t just sign a body. Remember, we bid for the most expensive striker in Europe, our lack of movement was talent related, not because of ambition drain. My angst is less about what we did with our first team and more about what we missed with the squad we had.
There was a goalscorer within the ranks in Eddie. There was a capable 4th choice midfielder in Mo Elneny. Though hindsight is a wonderful thing, it’s difficult to believe William Saliba would have been a bad shout for our 3rd choice defender. Mikel Arteta’s season unravelled because he was too transactional with his squad. It’s a bug in his system. He only found ESR because of a covid outbreak. We only learned that Mo and Eddie would do a job because of injuries and shocking form. If you don’t trust players, you end up with an overburned squad, needless injuries, and squad players that don’t give a fuck.
Our season fell down because Thomas Partey, Tomiyasu, and Kieran Tierney can’t play 50 game seasons. If we’re honest, nor can Bukayo or ESR at the moment.
That still doesn’t account for the stage fright the team encountered yesterday, but we need to be very careful about calling time on the players or savaging their character. That’s lazy analysis. The likelihood is we’ll finish 1 point behind Spurs this season. 1 point isn’t the difference between shit character and elite mentality. It’s the difference between circumstances. Spurs has the best striking partnership in the league (world) and they have an average age of 29, they are both seasoned, they’ve never won a trophy, but they’ve been around long enough to understand the emotions around competing for things. Our striker hasn’t started 15 Premier League games this season, our other one stopped scoring goals.
Let’s talk about Spurs though, I will put it out there now; they are going to have a very fucking rough season next year.
- Harry Kane and Son will never have a season without injury like this again. Look at how shite they were against Burnely when they had to manage 3 games in a week. Champions League requires you play a first-team in every game from September. Older strikers can’t deal with that. Conte’s historical record will very clearly show he doesn’t manage European competition very well.
- Spurs don’t have massive money to spend this summer. If Conte gets Top 4, he is going to be a nightmare for Levy. There are no fuck-you-money cheques coming out of that part of North London. Remember, the worst season for Antonio at Chelsea was the one after he won the league and he made territory moves.
- Spurs will never get the luck they had this season. 3rd top scorer… own goal? Are you fucking kidding me?
They will be lucky to get 60 points this season. They took the sugar high of Conte, it might look like they are on the rise, but I assure you, it will come crashing down.
Now let’s talk about Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta is a ruthless operator and he will exact some big moves on his squad this summer. Cedric, Tavares, Xhaka, Pepe, and Mo could very well see the exit door. There might also be a more concerted effort to look at some painful realities: Both our fullbacks are extremely injury prone and so is our centre midfield maestro. We won 6 of 7 prior to the Partey injury… we totally fucked the top 4 after.
We hit our target this season. Europe is what the club planned for. 4th was the stretch goal, then it was the SURELY goal, now we are all in pain. But I’ve said all year, our feelings don’t change the target. We haven’t failed. If you are brutally honest, Champions League football for us next season might have been damaging to a squad that isn’t ready for multiple games a week. But… back to the plan. It is Top 4 next season, then it’s a title charge. Next season, there’s no flakiness from me on targets, I want top 4. He has had enough time, and he will have had enough money to take us to where we need to go.
Now let’s talk about the summer. It will be a blockbuster one again. The job to be done has never been clearer.
We need a proper striker that can run the lines, bully defenders, create an aerial threat, and score some fucking goals. I don’t want to see Gabriel Jesus, I want to see Tammy Abrahams or someone that lives in his world.
We need a proper centre midfielder that can compete with Thomas Partey. I want someone robust, that can lead, be a final ball merchant from deep, with the ability to offer us flex in the system.
There needs to be defensive considerations. Our fullbacks are brittle. KT has only been available for 57% of our Premier League games. That’s not good enough. Tomiyasu has only played 1600 Premier League minutes. It’s not good enough. Aaron Hicky, the Scottish 19 yr old that can play left or right-back feels smart. William Saliba, who can play right-back or CB is also a gift, he has 4000 minutes of experience, he is ready.
Then add another forward that can play across the frontline like Marcus Rashford or Gabriel Jesus if he’s cheaper than £60m.
The way this season ended has been painful. Arteta hasn’t managed the squad as well as he could have. Our players haven’t been as robust as we might have hoped. Inexperience has cost us.
… but we are still the hottest project in Europe for young players.
The boys could still finish on 69 points, which is exceptional considering the start, and the fact these chaps are part of the youngest squad in the league should not go unseen. These boys, despite the disappointment, will have learned a lot about themselves, even in failure (especially). They will get better.
Arteta tends to learn from his mistakes, he will be a better manager next season, and hopefully rectify the issues that have plagued him this season. He should hire more experience into the club, he should treat squad players better, and he needs to force the club to move fast this summer.
The fans are back on board. We haven’t been this united in 20 years. It hasn’t been this much fun for a very long time.
We were competing with 2 games to go, that feels painful because it went badly, but be real… no one expected this season to be this competitive. It has been a pleasant surprise even if the end game was very sad.
When the dust settled on 5th in the league, it won’t feel glorious, but it will be regarded as progress and a decent run in the first season of a new strategy.
Next season is about finding stability, improving weaknesses, and making sure top 4 is ours, and we’re in the Champions League.
Right, that’s me done. Listen to our podcast if you are brave enough. x
Bankz is here for the elusive tr4phy again
Let’s do this!
DM, come outside!
I ain’t Arteta
(((BOOOOM))))
This is how you get top 4.
No trusting the process or screaming “we’ve got the youngest squad in Europe”.
Europa
5th place in a shit league isn’t progress and especially losing 13 games, I do not trust the process after a terrible bottle job performance.
“There’s a very strong argument for making rookie managers work the lower divisions first, where they will quickly be found out if they have fancy, unrealistic ideals of football theory.”
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I like this comment. Arteta can exercise his Galaxy brain in a lower division. Holding is a CB for low block. Asking him to manhandle Son is beyond stupid. Pedro just kept blowing smokes to cover up Arteta’s failing.
Yesterday, the team hasn’t recovered from the loss in the NLD. There was no fight and no energy.
‘ Arteta tends to learn from his mistakes,’ No, no he does not and that is a proven fact. For a manager to be forced, literally by injuries, into discovering that those who he has no trust can actually put in a decent shift, is not learning your lessons. Arteta is a horrible man manager and that won’t ever change because one thing we do know, a leopard never changes its spots. You keep on believing what you want to believe but Arteta is not fit to be Arsenal’s manager and I sincerely doubt he’s fit enough to be any… Read more »
Morning Grovers, Good job on getting a post out Pedro and great pod again last night. I feel utterly dejected this morning. Had to take my daughter Persephone to school today and we were talking to her friend who’s also an Arsenal fan but we’re having to put up with her Spurs fans classmates ribbing us. Assaulting children so early in the day is never a good look so I left the playground ASAP. My Perse has to put up with that today. Fuckers. Seriously though what is it with shit teams raising their game against us like their lives… Read more »
The guy who scored last night was the very player Peter and his shit takes has been dismissing since February and yet he still wishes to die on this hill.
Also has been dismissing Conte and Spurs as imploding yet their points per game has only improved. Having more games with their squad is obviously going to disrupt them but 1. That applies to Arsenal and 2. They have money and CL. Kane and Son are not 33, they’re 29. Same age as Salah and Mane. Not exactly the end game of their careers.
I just don’t get that we have xhaka coming out to bat for arteta brown nosing not following “plans” then basically slaying the rest of the team. What about his role and elnenys? We basically had a big black hole where midfield should have been and odegaard is getting picked on? It’s not his job to win and retain the ball. Ffs honestly how many more years of Xhaka until the club works it out, with xhaka= no champions league. Not good enough. I’ll even say it politely because the creep doesn’t understand force. Leave, please leave, for the good… Read more »
Pedro, like that you are trying to be positive, but can’t see us getting rid of all the players that should go and getting it right with each signing, and that is only way we challenge top 4 again. Was nice to be involved in the top 4 race for a change, but so disappointed to have thrown it away against the likes of Southampton and Brighton. We looked far too lightweight last night. With Smith rowe, saka, Nketiah and odegarrd. Against an intense press and crowd, the players crumbled. Hickey and saliba in sorts the defence, but need robust… Read more »
My biggest complaint is Arteta is unable to handle big personalities. Paying Aubameyang to leave is what cost us top 4 – anyone telling me Aubameyang wouldn’t have risen to the occasion against Spurs?
We’d have had top 4 if Aubameyang stayed. Don’t get me started on Torreira and Guendouzi – they are head and shoulders above Xhaka and ElNeny.
We failed top 4 because of Arteta’s abysmal squad management and egomaniacal non negotiable.
If we don’t start next season we’ll and ate off the top 4 pace by Xmas, Arteta will need to go.
The reality is that Peter has been turned out to be spectacularly wrong despite being happy to dish out the “I told you so’s” when top 4 appeared to be on, he’s now too arrogant and graceless to say “I was wrong”. Make no mistake had top 4 been achieved, Peter would be recalling by name all those who disagreed with him. That’s a fact.
Arteta has to be the luckiest manager in fucking football history. Fucked up again Mikel ? no problem, try again…..and here’s another £150 million
*if we don’t start next season WELL and ARE off off top 4.
It’s disappointing + hugely frustrating, we have to keep going until the end, but ultimately if we finish 5th, then we’re hitting par. If you remove the emotion from this, then what we need to do is clear. Our season failed because we went into the season unprepared, a combination of difficult games, injuries to key players, and not finishing our transfer business early enough, that type of start meant we were always up against it. Our season then filtered out after Tierney + Partey got injured. Whether we finished 5th or 4th, we’re going to need to address squad… Read more »
‘ We were competing with 2 games to go, that feels painful because it went badly, but be real… no one expected this season to be this competitive. It has been a pleasant surprise even if the end game was very sad.’ That’s a cop-out if ever one presented. It’s like running a marathon and saying that your objective was to just run in one. Then with 100m left to finish you realize that finishing wasn’t your goal or objective so you just stop and walk away. Why on earth would anyone in their right mind not want to finish… Read more »
How is finishing 5th progess after 3 fucking years?
And how are you assuming the fanbase is united?
It’s probably more divided than before.
This guy has lost it. Untold II.
We’ve again maybe lost more or same no of games as we’ve won.
2 and a half seasons and a bucket load spent on the defence and we concede at pretty much the same rate.
Like that some have seen a vast improvement under Arteta but to mewe look pretty much same
I wonder if the club has looked into the annual injury situation, about two decades of that and counting.
How is finishing 5th progess after 3 fucking years?
And how are you assuming the fanbase is united?
It’s probably more divided than before.
This guy has lost it.. Untold II.
With Untd and the Spuds competing in the transfer market I don’t see us pulling in any worldies. We’re shopping the second tier. Also can’t see us buying the 5 players we need. 1 decent striker is probably all we can afford and the odd loan. Other sides will be stronger next year, progress will be more difficult. This season is on a par with losing the title to Leicester. An opportunity missed.
Cue meltdown from usual suspects lol.Who knows there could be one last twist on final day? As has happened in the past.
Time for Delia & the carrot crunchers to shock the world🤫
Good morning Pedro while I agree with most of what you said, I think the dry January in the end hamstrung us. Still not an excuse for the dog shite performance we got yesterday. That was down to a lack of experience fresh legs and nervousness. Also let’s talk about the summer window, we need at least 5 players not the 2 that’s been reported. A right and left back a CDM a winger and a striker at the very least. What has really frustrated me, this season was the lack of squad rotation. Was like the banter days of… Read more »
Bloody hell such an apologetic post after yet another disaster. Are you working g for the Kroenkes by any chance. Arteta is an absolute failure. He doesn’t learn from mistakes so what the hell are you talking about. Going to have to stop reading these nonsense articles.
Hickey could be brilliant, but with Tierney’s injuries, I’d feel much more comfortable adding another senior left back. We haven’t had a clean sheet since Tierney got injured, he’s a much better defender than he gets credit for. Injuries are a common theme with him, we should try and sign Zinchenko or Cucurella Partey is our best central midfielder, but we need to be able to get 40 games out of him, he’s not got near those number of appearances in his 2 seasons here, he’s 29, on big money, and his muscle injuries are a big concern If Juventus… Read more »
Arteta learns from his mistakes
A piece of evidence to prove this please.
“We were competing with 2 games to go, that feels painful because it went badly, but be real… no one expected this season to be this competitive. It has been a pleasant surprise even if the end game was very sad.” I admit i would have taken 5th at the start of the season. BUT… *With Man U imploding *Being 6pts ahead of Spurs with a game in hand couple weeks back *Being 4pts clear a week ago heading into the last 3 games This can only be viewed as a bottle job. Just like the Europa semi last season… Read more »
Pedro Not one mention by you of Arteta getting the sack, not one. Allow me to refresh your memory: Emery’s season 2018-19, 5 games to go and we’re 4th with a game in hand over Chelsea in 5th. Out of those final 5 games we managed 5 points and ended up finishing 5th. We were also playing in the Europa League SF against Valencia. You were very vocal about Emery getting the sack, in fact you absolutely hated him. With what is happening now and you’re giving Arteta a free pass? Why? After 35 games we were 4th and 4… Read more »
I never heard such rubbish in my life, we are going backwards not forwards. The fans have never been so united, at least 50% want him to be sacked. Your best young manager in world football looked lik a little boy lost on the toachline. The best bit of business we could do in the summer is replace arteta with Graham Potter
As much as I don’t rate Arteta and his abject signings ( Ramsdale, Odegaard etc.), I feel utterly dejected that we squandered a golden opportunity to get back to Champions league.
United and Leicester had an utterly forgettable season. Even Spurs seemed to be out of sorts until Conte took over. This was the season we should have gotten back in to CL.
The Bard
Spurs are heavily in debt. I don’t think it is mathematically possible for them to spend.
United would spend but lets be real, they have a bigger headache than us. And also, I don’t think we are shipping from the same store. They are clearly in bling territory.
I will be pleasantly surprised if Arteta managed to pull things off next season, but right now, alot of the trust is not there anymore.
It is actually more on Arteta. Can he turn things around.
More than 3 years in to his job and Arteta still has not figured out how to build an attack. Our defense is also average at best. The only thing which has improved is our set piece defense for which the credit goes to the specialist we hired.
Danny
Nobody in his right mind wanted Emery sacked post Europa League final.
If you recollect, Raul got an exciting signing, Pepe next window. Turns out to be a dud but we were all excited back then.
Everyone thought it was some progress post-Wenger.
Emery only got the sack in December when things were really dire.
The only way is down until arteta is sacked. 13 defeats this season! League position flatters to deceive.
The only top four player we have is saka, rest are 5th to 10th place players, hence why we have finished 8th 8th 5th. Facts don’t lie over 3 years
We’ve stockpiled our squad with so many average players it’s infuriating.
All that overhaul and getting rid of the bad eggs only to have a squad filled with avergae joes.
Also get Pierre’s thing about Odegaard. Such a soft touch player who won’t influence the very big games
Rich 4th or 5th doesn’t change my opinion. The squad still needs a massive overhaul. Midfield especially. We don’t have either the technical ability or physicality to dominate the midfield battle. It’s been like that for years. That Elneny is still getting games for us just shows where the squad is. He didn’t get near a Newcastle player all game. I’d sell any of our players if the price is right. Everyone loves seeing Saka, ESR and Martinelli start but they’re only 20-21. They’ve played very well but they’re inconsistent. And that’s what you get with young players. Martinelli for… Read more »
Let’s be clear 13 defeats from 37 is not progress however you look at it.
UTarse Arteta has to be the luckiest manager in fucking football history. Fucked up again Mikel ? no problem, try again…..and here’s another £150 million — On the other side of that argument, you could say Arsenal fans are the meekest in football. This season didn’t just go to shit yesterday. But our fans have been singing all season thinking their songs will make a bad coach great. Or their songs will help us score goals. We were losing 3-0 against Crystal Palace and they were singing Arteta’s name. Those fans deserve all the bad performances. While the Kroenkes are… Read more »
Dark Hei
Nobody in his right mind wanted Emery sacked post Europa League final.
———–
Pedro did (and so did I).
Raul got an exciting signing, Pepe next window.
————————–
When we all (including Emery) wanted Zaha.
Im struggling to be excited for next season, a lot of people presume that we’ll be better than this season when the reality is that our competitors will be even stronger. There’s a lot of top managers in the Premiership and money flying about whilst we’re still trying to get rid of deadwood. I wouldnt be surprised if we do nothing all summer and then decide to buy in late July/August once preseason is over…
Excitng times.
A lean mean non-stop machine by start of next season.
“Champions League football for us next season might have been damaging to a squad that isn’t ready for multiple games a week.” We still are not going to be ready for multiple games a week with Europa but now we are forced to either overpay for players of the required calibre or we have to get in second rate players who come with baggage. Both instances don’t work for our manager or for the structure of what the club is building. Partey cover/replacement as an example. With UCL there would have been a chance of taking Aurélien Tchouaméni. Now we’re… Read more »
Also regarding the “stretch goal” narrative. Yes 4th WAS a stretch goal until we positioned ourselves 1-2 wins from achieving it. Once there it becomes the goal. For example. In the 2015/16 season the stretch goal for Leicester City would have been to qualify for Europa. Once they achieved that they didn’t stop, pat each other on the thigh and say “job done boys” they set a new target of a top 4 finish. Once they achieved that guess what they did??? Yep pulled their balls out and said “”fuck this lets win the whole thing” And the rest is… Read more »
Pedro always insists that Arteta has been trained under the tutelage of the currently the best manager ie Pep. But we’ve seen Peps teams consistently crumble under pressure. Unfortunately, Artetas team seems to have picked the same knack of not delivering when it really matters. We discussed in great detail our form for the second half of last season. But what about our form this year in the second half. Spurs, Newcastle have both been so much better than us. And given the season in totality, especially looking at the money we spent, haven’t Moyes, Viera and Howe all proven… Read more »
It wouldn’t hurt as much if we weren’t in the top 4 race with Sp*rs.
For me Rashford is a no no, he’s not going to get 20+ goals a season.
Also surely at some point, Leno should have gotten the nod in goal seeing as Ramasdale has been twitchy for a while now.
Lack of rotation another thing the manager is going to have to learn going forward.
13 defeats though is quite a lot to stomach in a season where some of the usual suspects have floundered and we have spent quite a huge amount of money on our defence
If only Arsenal would take a ruthless path……
Arteta would then be rightly sacked this week.
Mikel if you love Arsenal as much as you pretend you wouldn’t need to be sacked…..you would apologise and then resign!!!
Painful, but this is a blessing in disguise. Once the pain subsides, there are a huge number of positive we can take from this. As much as I wanted CL next season, this team is simply not ready for that level. We would be on the wrong end of multiple hidings by proper teams in Europe. It’s like Wenger scraping into 4th all those years. Each time it was celebrated, but each time it served as a disguise for real underlying problems that he never truly addressed. What Arsenal needs now is brutally clear. There is no hiding from it.… Read more »
Next season is going to be right chore , im already not looking forward to it . Arteta has no chance of top 4 next season . He’ll overplay too many of first choice players in that long winded boring as fuck europa league competition for what , he’s not capable of winning it as he’ll galaxy brain as soon as he comes up against some semi decent team from mid table Spain or Italy while they’ll be physically drained for the league . Our purchases will be a problem without champions league there goes the likes of Darwin Nunez… Read more »
looking at that team, of the starters, Tomi, White, ESR, Saka, Odegaard did not look fit, no wonder the keeper was nervous. Then, the players already out with injury and suspension. No surprises what happened, I thought this team has been looking leggy for some time, Leeds, West Ham, and going further back. there may be mitigating circumstances, but that has turned out to be an expensive January. Apart from Auba and AMN, a player, it turns out we really could have done with, was Callum Chambers. This team really needs to get on top of these injury issues, which… Read more »
Sorry Pete, Arteta is not learning from his mistakes.. He should never have put Pepe on the field.. Much rather give one of our young players on the bench a shot at fame. A learning manager should have remembered that when he was forced to give Saka, ERS and Martinelli a run some 16 months ago it saved his job. Using Pepe is as stupid at this point in time as signing Willian to get you to the league title. I am not saying it would have changed the result of the game but it would have shown that he… Read more »
Pedro Arteta is a bum like Emery was.Why would you want to keep a manager with less credentials than Emery?
That makes Arteta Emery’s bitch in footballing terms.
Top bantz time.
Bati
Ramsdale should’ve been dropped months ago . His strengths over Leno has disappeared for the second half of the season . Leno has always been the better shot stopper and ramsdales great early distribution and calming crosses and evaporated
TR7 So you don’t think many of our players are any good, but you still think finishing 5th is a big disappointment…. When I said after our first 3 games that I thought things would balance themselves out, we’d finish 5th on 69-74 points, and be in the fight for 4th, I got told I was losing the plot, that I was delusional 5th isn’t an overachievement, it’s not an underachievement either, we’ve hit par, I get that when you add in a FA Cup 3rd round exit at the hands of a Championship team, it’s nothing to celebrate, but… Read more »
5th is the standard we are at and have been at fir many seasons. Don’t get angry lol. Quiet clearly Arteta, isn’t the man to take us to the next level as we have maintained our level of mediocrity. However we are stuck at this level for the next 4 seasons.
Don’t get angry at it, same thing will happen next season the sooner you come to terms with that the happier you will be
We were competing with 2 games to go, that feels painful because it went badly, but be real… no one expected this season to be this competitive. It has been a pleasant surprise even if the end game was very sad” Ok so let’s address this thing. No one expected us to compete for top 4 AFTER THE FIRST THREE GAMES because we believed Arteta was not good for the job. He finished 8th the previous season and exited to Olympiacos in the first KO round of Europa League. What hope would we have had when he started the next… Read more »
Aasim But we’ve seen Peps teams consistently crumble under pressure. Unfortunately, Artetas team seems to have picked the same knack of not delivering when it really matters. — Sorry, but you’re talking nonsense. The only competition you can have this argument is in the Champions league. And even in that, Guardiola, in a few years at Man City, has been as good in the Champions league as Wenger was in 22 years at Arsenal. But how can you look at the league and say Guardiola’s teams crumble under pressure? After their devastating loss against Madrid, they won their next game.… Read more »
At this stage it seems Pedro isn’t an arsenal fan anymore he’s simply an Arteta fan and the desire to be right about him permeates through every post now. He doesn’t need more time he will not fix things this is all in your head. 3 seasons now but apparently more time will see him improve… absolutely shocking insight given his tenure so far. But you’re not going to change and nothing’s going to change until he’s sacked
Soop
As for the “Arteta OUT” brigade… give it a rest already. It’s boring and so short-sighted.
—
I guess we should give him 10 years since 30 months and £250 million spent is so short-sighted.
Peckobill
I haven’t been one to really care about a goal keeper’s distribution but was very impressed with Ramsdale early in the season even if i wasn’t the biggest fan with us signing him seeing as goalie wasn’t meant to be top priority for us in a season where we didn’t have European football.
That said yes Leno should have gone back in weeks back when Ramsdale started to look all twitchy and uncomfortable.
Pedro You’ve coined “transactional” for Arteta’s horrible man management His lack of nuance in managing feisty characters and his a sense of emotional depth is why he will NEVER be a great manager. Imagine a highly rated foreign player that was scouted and signed by the club presented for duty early, months after the French league closed early due to covid. This lad had just lost both parents and was seeking a home. What did our manager do; he judged him harshly after TWO games and conspired with Edu’s poor job performance to dum him in the U-23s until January.… Read more »
I’ve never known a manager in world football at this level get the time and goal post moving that arteta gets . Who gets 3 – 4 years to get it right ? That’s not even competing for the title mind , that’s just to get top 4 . It’s a bloody joke
What’s the point of letting Arteta buy more crocks this summer?
He doesn’t have a clue about man management.
He overplays players, he sidelines those who question his tactics, he is not going to make it, like Lamphard.
The players don’t seem to buy into his ideas and soon they will go to Klopp, and Tuchel .
Hopeless situation
Also again, pretty naive and amateur by the club as a whole to let players who could have contributed to the run in leave in January without bringing in any replacements.
Totally agree Peckobill we have a nice friendly club and nice friendly fans who seem to accept incompetence
This mantra of Arteta will get better….Arsenal will,get better is just the typical half truths that getspeddled as facts. We don’t exist in a vacuum. We exist in a footballing ecosystem that’s changing all the time. United will never be this bad and are already taking measures to make this season a learning point. They have a young manager who;’s good with working with youths and they have some excellent academy talent. They’ll so have lots of money to get the right players for their project. Matt Kandela said something that got me nodding yesterday that “Arsenal won’t finish ahead… Read more »
Season done and dusted. Even if Norwich do a miracle and we win (I doubt), what happened yesterday will never be forgotten.
We should be getting deals over the line as soon as the season ends. The new recruits should ALL be available for pre season. The first match of the season should see 95% of the new players on the pitch NOT the subs bench.
We don’t want to read or hear 19 and 20yr olds bought and loaned out. Fed up with that shit.
…and Pedro, I think it’s time you stop obsessing in downplaying Spurs/Conte. They’ve achieved their target for the season. We have achieved ours ie Europa football.
Simple facts are Emery tanked 4th from a winnable position in his first season and got absolutely destroyed and his head was called for instantly meanwhile Arteta tanked 4th from a winnable position in his 3rd season and all of a sudden Europa league is acceptable and he deserves time. And why? Because the average age of the squad is slightly lower than it was under Emery? Why should that be a factor when it comes to how clearly bad a job the manager is doing. Simple fact is that in management you earn the right for more time and… Read more »
“This mantra of Arteta will get better….Arsenal will,get better is just the typical half truths that getspeddled as facts.We don’t exist in a vacuum. We exist in a footballing ecosystem that’s changing all the time.”
Bravo…..well said Diss
“Bruno Guimarães’ game by numbers vs. Arsenal:
73 touches (most)
49 passes (most)
12 passes into final third (most)
8 duels won (=most)
8 ball recoveries (=most)
3 tackles made
3 fouls won (most)
2 chances created
2 clearances
2 shots
1 goal”
He’s no Xhaka that’s for sure…
Arsenal are now a Europa Cup club, with Europa Cup players and with a Europa Conference manager. They deserve to be playing in it. That is the next level-post A. Wenger. The Kronks are happy with this too. ps. Ramsdale has to be one of the most overrated players in the league His lack of composure throughout ( and that horrendous passive yellow kit ) set the tone for that shambolic performance. We used to wear red and white at Newcastle ( think Bergkamp goal) Even a zero zero draw- would have meant Spurs had to win as oppose to… Read more »
1 midfielder is not going to be enough in the summer, we have nothing without Partey and he’s too injury prone to be counted on for a full season.
We need some that can play with him, AND someone that can rotate with him/replace him.
We need to get away from this mindset that we can only have u21 players or rejects on the bench.
Pedro We have to place this shambolic late collapse in the context of how you savaged Brendan for coming 5th twice – I believe you called him a bottle job Then we have to place this late collapse against Emery’s team falling apart, you didn’t hesitate to call him out too. At least then we were competing for the CL on two fronts. What do you call a manager who can’t get his team over the line when they are FOUR POINTS ahead with THREE matches left to go, without European commitment. What you’re seeing is the result of a… Read more »
Wenger in his last season lost 13 games, ended with 63 points, 74 goals and GD +23. I bet Pedro was fuming at those horrible stats.
Emery in his only season win 21 league games in the league on top of EL final. Finished fifth on 70 points. I bet Pedro was fuming.
It emphasizes what Matt was saying on podcast last night, the club lacks ambition top to bottom. Giving Arteta there year extension with achievements worse than his two predecessors clearly shows that
Diss Saliba has had a hugely successful loan, he’s played more minutes than any other player 21 and under in Europe’s top 5 league’s this season. He’s become a full French international, and won Ligue 1 young player of the season. We’ll be getting back an entirely different player to the one we loaned out, hopefully we can convince him to commit I don’t see the issue with this, young players being loaned out to gain experience, before going back to their parent club, really isn’t uncommon. White had 3 loans, Gabriel went out on loan at Lille Mason Mount… Read more »
And still they go on. the anti-arteta brigade, screeching for his removal,. A waste of breath. When will reality penetrate their muddled minds?
Come what may, Arteta will stay.
Why is Partey considered so good that all he needs is a partner.
I think we need a central midfielder that can bench Partey on a good day. Partey needs competition. He needs to be Ozilled.
If he’s as good as many claim, then he ought to overcome that competition.
People repeatedly scoffed at the Hojberg comprise but which midfielder has been more effective for his club when the chips are down?
Also the continuous comments about Spurs and Conte it’s so painfully obvious what’s going on he’s trying to belittle Conte and downplay the job he’s doing/would have done at Arsenal but absolutely had we appointed him in November and sacked the bum we’d have qualified for top 4 already. He’s a vastly superior coach in every regard
englandsbest
Or maybe there is no Arteta out being talked about but folks analyzing and comparing our season with previous and all the fuck ups that have taken place.
Partey is currently the best midfielder at the club.
Injury prone yes but even then he remains the best midfielder at the club so when people clamor for a better partner for him, it absolutely tracks
Torreira, Saliba, Gueon and Auba could have been playing last night. Arteta fault that they were not. But he did have a 50 mil bottle defender there. How did that work out. If Conte had managed this team we would be in top4.
Rich as long as he’s manager we’ll be going nowhere and there’ll be no success so long as you’re okay with that
Cedric, Tavares, Xhaka, Pepe, and Mo could very well see the exit door.
With 2 years left on his contract which pays him £75K per week – there will be no queue at the door waiting to entice him to join another club. We are stuck with him until his contract finishes or we pay him off – another sad loss.
I don’t often comment but allow me to add my own verdict to the morning’s hyper-polarised opinion soup. Overall, this has been a positive season for Arsenal, despite it having finished with a real whimper. The defence has, for the most part, looked more solid than in recent years. The summer signings have all bedded in well, and the spine of the team has taken shape. The lack of goals remains a worry – and the hope has to be that this is rectified in a big way by the striker(s?) added this summer. Champions League football would have been… Read more »
Mikel, thanks for the memories, but it’s time to say goodbye.
Also Edu’s gotta go too. The amount of money spent and the needle hasn’t moved coupled with the glaring holes in the squad and players STILL running down their contracts mean he absolutely needs to be sacked. Him Arteta and Xhaka need to go in order for the club to stand any chance of improving
Rich ‘ I don’t see the issue with this, young players being loaned out to gain experience, before going back to their parent club, really isn’t uncommon.’ Of course you don’t see it You were blind to the fact that we were spending £50 million to fix a problem that didn’t exist. Only Arteta can push a major club to spend that much money to buy a player that wasn’t needed and neglect a midfield that desperately needed major help. Many of us insisted all through last summer that Saliba was the club;s internal fix for CB. He had an… Read more »
And what’s all these nonsence about stretch goals?
So Leicester after surviving relegation and finding themselves atop EPl table should have told themselves ‘EPl is a stretch goal so let’s just go down to where we belong’?
Ac Milan who have been struggling for UCL should just give in and say ‘Scudetto is our stretch goal so we are okay with UCL?’
When you start finding dumb excuses for a manager then know you’ve lt the battle. Arteta won’t amount to much now or later. We’re just postponing the day of doom by not sacking him now.
Marko
Think calling for the manager’s head at this time is really pointless seeing as he just signed a new deal, we’re stuck with him either way which is sad because you could say after blowing our best chance back into the top4 in years, now would have been the best time to part ways.
Edu too has overseen some of the rubbish we’ve let get done in the transfer window especially the last two.
Like i said, whatever issues we’ve had this season can always be traced back to last summer’s transfer window
Diss You’re going with disaster outcomes, you’ve completely lost the plot again, this is just an emotional response to a disappointing finish. You seem to think that every club is going to get better, but we’re not…. We’ve got a very good first 11, we know there’s areas that can be improved, we know we need to add quality, depth, tactical nous+ goals If we get our transfer business right + secure our talent, then we’ll be better next season, regardless of what others do. Next season will be tough, we’re highly unlikely to compete with the top 2 teams,… Read more »
Batistuta
Just saying Partey is the ‘best midfielder in the club” is insufficient
We haven’t been in the CL for six seasons now and there’s no player in our squad that irreplaceable
We made a mistake last summer only seeking back-ups in the midfield because Partey was unreplaceable and now we are making another type of mistake in seeking “partners’ for Partey.
How about a proper midfield revamp, one that Partey has to fight for a starting place?
Partey has had as many poor games this season as excellent games.
Think calling for the manager’s head at this time is really pointless seeing as he just signed a new deal
I disagree I think it’s pointless cause it won’t change a thing but saying what needs to be said in the face of such nonsense and bias is needed.
Arteta took over a club that finished 5th the previous season, won the FA cup (regrettably now in hindsight) ended 8th, started a new one, exited Europa at first KO stage, lost all cup campaigns before QF ended 8th again playing the worst football I have ever seen as a fan. Started another one, changed strategy, invested 135m (highest of any club) and without distraction of playing Europe (cos he couldn’t qualify us to any for the first time in the club’s recent history) and yet still can’t make top 4 in a season our contenders have been utter dross.… Read more »
Rich ‘ You seem to think that every club is going to get better, but we’re not’ ..and you’re back to making wrong assumptions after all many of stragetuc miscalculations have been found out Remember arguing with you all summer that Saliba was ready and you arguing that Ben White was absolutely needed Remember arguing with you all winter that our squad was desperately thin and you pushing back that we had enough depth, even though Partey had shown us his crock potential by then. You got somethings right, like Ramsdale [who’s back to his Sheffield form again] Rich I… Read more »
Again if we’re back to the argument of the average age of the squad and young players signed I’d point you to the signings under Emery (bar Lichtensteiner and Sokratis) and average age of his squad and how it wasn’t an argument made at the time for him. In fact all these players mentioned and their age and it didn’t take long for people to turn on Guendouzi and Saliba to further their Arteta agenda. The goalposts haven’t been moved they’ve been upended and removed
I don’t for the life of me know why xhaka is still at the club. His introduction has coincided with us never making it to the CL.
How many points does he single handedly lose us every season with his reckless red cards? You can bet your house on him being here next season.