As I’m the current negative one of the Just Arsenal Family let me refer to the elephant in the room.
Spurs have sacked Nuno Santos having deemed 15 points from 10 League games unacceptable.
The Gunners only have two more, yet 17 points from 30 is our ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and something ‘to rejoice’. Yes, these were actually direct quotes after our win at Leicester.
West Ham fans have shown more humility and they won at Villa Park to go 4th.
Let me stress I’m not wishing our manager to be sacked.
When I predict we won’t finish top 4, it’s not due to Arteta but his employers.
I like Arteta and want him to succeed, and acknowledge that a key difference between the NLD sides at the moment are the atmosphere in the dressing room.
Nor am I willing to spend the entire season going from game to game with being told I told you so or vice versa based on the short term of a one-off result.
Since Mr. Wenger left we have regressed, and I will never accept that in 2021 the Gunners being 6th is something to boast about.
Certainly not something to message another Gooner and crow about.
For the record; If we finish top 4, I will hold my hands up, but maybe wait till we are actually in the top 4 before pumping your chests not ….6th
As things stand, I’m being proven correct, so I don’t understand the showing off.
This article is more to highlight the different in standards between the two clubs.
I always say to be a big club you must act and think like a big club.
Spurs are 100 percent not bigger than us, but their own owners and fans act like they are.
I spent the week being told that 10th was okay because of the points difference between us and 4th and that even 6th would be a progress.
How come when reading reaction on Spurs’ social media feed they don’t care about being 5 points off CL qualification or 2 points off the Europa positions?
For the record Brighton and Wolves could argue they are only 4 points behind 4th, does that mean I have to say they will qualify for the top 4 if I don’t believe it?
West Ham are currently level on points with Man City, does that mean they are going to win the title?
Spurs simply, rightly or wrongly, feel that 8th is unacceptable, that they shouldn’t be below a West Ham or Brighton.
Some readers have pointed to our schedule meaning we have been unlucky to face 4 of last campaigns top 7.
Yet Spurs have equally faced 5 of last year’s top 8 and yet in their statement that’s not an excuse.
It’s as simple as their chairman and supporters not tolerating the bare minimum while ours ‘rejoice’.
What’s strange is the very same readers (I can prove this) who now seeing being outside the top 4 as ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ verbally abused the greatest manager in our history for the exact same thing.
When Unai Emery finished 5th, those who wanted him out now see 6th as progress.
It makes zero sense.
I will respond to those who can give me an explanation, but usually you just get name calling which makes sense because you can’t give logic to something that has no logic.
In the last two years both London sides regressed. Both times Spurs changed managers.
Arsenal finished in their worst position in quarter of a century, and I now have my peers gloating about 6th?
Arsene Wenger warned us that as a fanbase we were in danger of losing our values.
Supporters who one year are verbally abusing one manager for being outside the top 4, then trolling the likes of me for suggesting 6th isn’t anything to shout home about
Bergkamp says we are losing our identity while Henry has claimed to not recognise us.
Spurs fans booed their players off at half time on Saturday. Days later Daniel Levy made his latest sacking.
It doesn’t mean they will do any better. It means they simply won’t tolerate being outside the top 4.
Apparently, Arsenal fans not tolerating being outside the top 4 is being negative.
I simply never thought the day would come when Spurs fans would have more ambition.
Owner? Of course!
Fans? Never in my wildest dreams…..
Be Kind in The Comments
Dan
Agreed, they sacked poch after he had made them consistent title contenders with zero budget and no signings. Sacked rednapp for finishing 4th a position we would wet ourselves over and now they sacked nuno after only 10 games when artetas had years. No getting away from it they’re a more ambitious club than us all day long.
Are they showing more ambitions with no direction, chaos and changing managers often? How successful have they been since they sacked Pochettino? Do Tottenham have an idea or do they just have panic?
Conte is a serial winner and is set to be announced as Spurs’ new boss exactly 5000 days to the day since the club last won a trophy in 2008.
13 years without a trophy and 60 years without a league trophy. Nothing wrong with Conte, but I’m not sure he will be able to make Tottenham a great club.
They are not showing ambition, just how bad they are at running their club. Levy is a Megalomaniac and the tiny Totts have always been in our shadow and will remain so. Conte will be lucky to see out his 18 month contract.
Declan Conte serial winner would not have taken the job if there was not money for Transfer market mark my words
The word is DESPERATION not Ambition. If Levy was ambitious he would have appointed Conte in the summer
Exactly, Phil 👍
Phil Spot on! Conte turned down Spuds approach in June. Now he accepts it, so what FUNDAMENTALLY can possibly have changed at Spuds so very soon!! They had no real money to spend in June, as was obvious, so why have they suddenly got huge money available now?
Answer : they have NOT and despite certain bogus financial promises of spending power that have surely been made by Levy to Conte, I can plainly see, as do most Gooners and even those Spuds who can separate their brain from their heart, that this sham marriage is heading for a very swift divorce.
After all Conte is a serial club divorcer and has left many unhappy clubs in his wake already. Watch this space!
Phil, Jon, to answer these points Conte was still (in his own words) emotionally tied up with leaving Inter and it wasnt right to take on a new role.
This was the reason and partly why I guess Spurs interviewed so many people.
Maybe Nuno was seen as a simple role filler… who knows.
What we do know is Conte and Spurs football director are close from their time at Juve.
We also know he won the league playing 3 2 5 essentially on attack and 5 2 3 in defence.
Funny enough it was what Spurs tried to play against us at the Emirates. But the connection with the attack and base was so disconnected.
Maybe this tactic has a counter solution now, maybe Spurs just dont have the players. But in time Conte shoukd do well.
One advantage is, Conte wont be replacing Oli at Man U!
How can Spurs match Conte’s ambition, only time will tell.
How long before a top club come knock. Like Madrid did for Anchelotti
On the side of Arsenal, we continue with our process. We are not focused on Spurs, we are focused on the league leaders and use this as our blueprint to being competitive again.
Over the past 5 years Spurs have a nett spend on new players of around 194 m and we have a nett spend of around 318 m.
To claim Spurs and their owners have more ambition than us/our owners is absolute nonsense.
He has beaten Spurs, Aston Villa and Leicester convincingly, the games I expected him to lose. Up to this moment the evidence says he is looking like he is finding his feet and probably we are truly heading in the right direction.
Nonetheless, considering he is the FA Cup winner in his first few months and we have seen these sparks of brilliance before, I agree with you that it is still early to celebrate.
I think he has bought himself more time, the top 4 is still up for grabs and anything less is a failure. I was 100% certain he will fail but results speak otherwise. Personally still not sold but I have noticed. Perhaps he might end up fulfilling his potential that is not out of the question now but we just have to wait and see..
I don’t think we rejoice at being 6th on the table, it’s more due to the fact that our summer signings have been integrated so seamlessly and our performance levels are clearly on the up. The team finally seems balanced and we don’t have any glaring weakness screaming at us!
You could also argue that Spurs were “Showing more ambition than Arsenal” when they hired Jose Mourinho, and look where that got them. I think the two clubs are trying to do different things. Hiring guys like Mourinho and Conte is all about getting a couple of years of trying really hard to win, then mopping up the broken pieces afterwards. Maybe this “Ambition” is an attempt to persuade Harry Kane to stay, or appease their fans if/when he goes.
Arsenal are attempting a more long-term plan, and although it maybe appears less ambitious in the short-term, it’s more ambitious in the long term and more in keeping with building up the club properly.
Of course that’s unless Tottenham owner Joe Lewis is planning on doing a bit of a Man City/Chelsea project by putting some of his own enormous fortune into the club, but that seems unlikely because he’s as tight as Mike Ashley, despite being a lot more wealthy.
” Arsenal are attempting a more long-term plan, and although it maybe appears less ambitious in the short-term, it’s more ambitious in the long term and more in keeping with building up the club properly.”
And there my friend lies the whole point in a nutshell.
Excellently put.
It got them above us ?
Yossarian The famous words WAIT AND SEE
I distinctly remember saying to a Spurs friend after the first 3 games “we can only go up you can only go down”. He just laughed. I guess now he will hope Conte can take advantage of their very soft schedule through till Xmas.
Fan expecation can be so ridiculous.
Watford + Newcastle have sacked their managers already. Norwich Leeds Everton Man U could follow soon. Westham have a horror schedule upcoming and could drop to 8th in a months time and Moyes out will be the call. If Chelsea fail to win the PL or the CL Tuchel will be sacked. If Pep fails to win the CL he will probably call it a day. If Liverpool finish below 2nd Klopp will be moved on. Arsenal’s horror start now seems like a blessing in disguise as fan expectation went so low it could only go up. Arteta will do everything to pour cold water on the top 4 expectations but secretly will drive his team toward that goal.. My expectatios are for Spurs and Arsenal to jostle for 5th and 6th the rest of the season but neither will make top 4.
I suggest we keep our own house in order, and not be concerned about that lot down the road.
Conte has a relatively short term contract, which in turn will probably help them hang onto Kane for that period.
Let’s see how the two clubs have progressed after said period.
After all, some were fixated with hiring Benitez on here pre Artetas’ appointment.
I said at the time, and have seen nothing to convince me otherwise, we will finish above Everton in the league this year – so far so good in that respect.
We WILL finish above Spuds.
OT
Emery to Newcastle
I said yesterday no chance ,in the article on here .
Looks like I was wrong according to sky sports .
Dan kit YES and endless money to spend
Does it matter what the spuds and their fans think Dan?
Or any other club, come to that?
What matters is the direction of OUR club and, at this moment in time, we have progressed ulwards from the first three results.
When we were bottom of the table, the spuds were top…. so today we can see progression, surely that is irrefutable?
We have to move on from the Arsene years, as comparisons matter not one iota – I only defend the great man when false statements are made about his tenure with factual evidence.
MA is gradually making his mark at our club, making mistakes along the way (as did AW and UE) and PL positions at this stage of the season mean absolutely nothing – neither does the positions that AW and UE finished at.
You say that the spuds are showing ambition, because they have sacked their manager… well they must be the most ambitious club, bar Watford, in the PL if that is the criteria that measures ambition.
This is the season that we can REALLY judge MA, as he has now got the squadron he wants.
Let’s watch how he performs and judge him on that, not what the spuds are doing down the road.
The day we judge ourselves against the spuds, is the time we should really be concerned.
KEN IT APPEARS THAT YOU AGREE WITH ME AND DISAGREE WITH Dan in thinking constant manager changing – as Spurs have done relentlessly over many past decades despite winning virtually nowt – is NOT ambition at all, but foolishness and simply desperation.
A Prem club that thinks it wise to sack a manager after only ten Prem games only, with five of them won, is beyond bonkers imo and near to committing suicide.
Firstly Spuds are not showing more ambition than us – no way, even if Conte goes there.
The difference between us and them and why MA hasnt been sacked is that our new process requires time and our performances ( not including the 1st 3 games) have been on average, pretty good.
There is a style and you can see on the pitch the players are on it, they want to progress and move forward, get better and we have a very talented bunch of under 23’s that can only get better under teh right conditions.
Spurs, well ive watched the majority of their games and they are the complete opposite to us.
They are flat footed, Kane is playing like a he belongs in a north and south league, they are very boring and easy to predict and if you watched Nuno’s last interview, he looked lost, deflated and ready for teh boot.
I really dont think he has had any support from the players there and Kane didnt want to stay in the first place, its a big task to motivate a player that doesnt want to play for you anymore.
that then bleads down into the rest of teh squad, even if it is unintentional, it just happens
8th , 8th now 6th is pretty good ?
Some outlier fans will gloat that we are in sixth place. Some outlier fans will despair that we are only in sixth place and not in the top four.
The rest of us, and I daresay the vast majority, will be in the middle. Happy to see the team on a nine game undefeated streak and climbing the table but also conscious of the fact that the road will be bumpy.
We don’t need to be reminded that success is fragile. We’re Arsenal fans, if course we know that! Equally we don’t need to be constantly told that the glass is half empty.
Serious question Dan, if Arsenal is out of the top four until the last game and then sneaks in to that fourth spot, is the season a success in your eyes? And if it is, isn’t it a bit of a shame that you spent 37/38ths of the season being dissatisfied?
# enjoy the ride
” # enjoy the ride ”
Love that Voyageur.
Isn’t it so much better to be on board with the fact that the club RECOGNISED that decline had set in (M A obviously shook this up), and clearly laid out a plan (the process) to lift ourselves out of said decline IN A STRUCTURED FORWARD LOOKING MANNER, building for a brighter future in as near as possible reflecting past glories (at THIS POINT IN TIME a very tall order, and yes will take further time).
We could have simply brought in an Allegri type name at huge cost, who with the squad at the time who have come to exactly the same conclusion as Arteta – THIS SQUAD IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH – and would have up sticks and gone at contract end.
Repeat, repeat, repeat and still not attain top 4 – directionless, floundering and entirely pointless.
I for one find the path we have taken extremely motivating.
Much more challenging than the desperation of the “hire – sack – hire -sack” cycle.
Why on earth would you sack Arteta right now ???
I know this is NOT going to happen, but this is the impression some give on here.
Yes we could go to Liverpool and get beaten, and the knives will once again come out (as some live game to game right now).
Lack of ambition that I accept get beaten at Liverpool ? – far from it ! (I actually fancy a draw).
No, I simply look at the path we are on and the bigger picture with the blinkers off.
Make no mistake. Each and every manager in the EPL prays we don’t get our transition right !
I do not want Artea sacked, although I am not convinced yet that he is the right guy for the job.
He could prove me wrong or right but time will tell.
The important thing is that we support him and the team.I think more so in the coming weeks with some tough games ahead.
Yeah a fair question
If Arsenal on the last day of season were in top 4 then I would agree we competed for top 4 and yes it would be a success
You still don’t get it do you?
You’ll see it as success if we get into the top four on final day after whining about everything for over 37 weeks.
Yeah proper modern day football fan in a nutshell
Isn’t that was what happened during Wenger’s last four CL qualifying years Eddie?
The problem is, the bar has been lowered and what was seen as abject failure (6th) is now considered to be progress.
Exactlyy problem with modern day football fans.
You can’t whine about the club’s performance all season and suddenly say the season is a success because they got into the top four on the last day.
Now with Wenger, it wasn’t like this, top four was always certain and fans only moaned about not challenging for the league.
Has the standards dropped? No it hasn’t, just because most fans acknowledge that we are not th club we were 15 years ago and that we need to start from the scratch while supporting the progress we’ve been making so far, doesn’t mean the fans have lowered their standards. We’re trying to work out way back to the top.
We are not entitled to top four or the league title because we are Arsenal, u less we fight and work for it. That’s what we’ve been doing and that’s what fans keep commending, while half the other fans keep thinking we are entitled to 3 points on match days just because WE ARE ARSENAL.
crap mentality, no single club owes us the right to get 3 points or top 4.
Everyone’s fighting for it
Hi Ken.
The legend that is Arsene Wengers’ unbelievable achievement in attaining a top for finish for 20 consecutive seasons (often in very testing times – and this has come home to roost now) remains carved into our folklore.
No one wishes he could have achieved more that one losing final in that time, than the great man himself.
However, the “top 4 bar” was set over a 20 year period – built upon, then stagnating.
Mikel Arteta walked through the door in December 2019, inheriting a complete mess.
An F. A. cup win disposing of Man’ City & Chelsea followed.
Liverpool were then defeated in the Community shield.
Then M A got to grips with the obvious problems blighting our club.
My point being comparing a 22 year reign, with one of 2 years and a few months to regain the “top 4 trophy” is somewhat previous.
In my opinion no lowering of the bar has been accepted.
The present manager needs to be afforded a fraction of the time Arsene had in order to rebuild, leaving us anywhere near Wengers standard.
I am in no way comparing the two, but perspective of the reign of each surely has to be applied.
Progress with perspective.
Well said Dan. We have slipped into chronic mediocrity. Enjoying a good run of games isn’t progress. Even relegation clubs have that every season. It’s about where we can be and I’m sorry but I’m still not on the Arteta train because I see him to be someone who uses emotions and sentiments to run a team. We should have a top manager to entrust funds to and not a novice who weilds so much power and authority in a club of Arsenal’s stature. Signs may look positive but I’ll just call that form, not class. And for those who complain of hiring Conte because according to them, he won’t sign young players, bla bla bla, wouldn’t we be better giving him £150m than a novice management team? How did he manage to attract Hakimi and Lukaku to Inter Milan? As the saying goes, “An army of sheep led by a lion will defeat an army of lions led by a sheep”. Spurs are actually showing more ambition than us at the moment by not just looking for top players, but top management.
It is AFC you support isnt it mate?? After three defeats due to having half our first team players out is not a great start but then as the young buys show just how good they are and can be, you knock it??
In my many years of agony being a Gunner, I have seen the Lions and the sheep and the top sheep was the most successful in our history. Blame the owners not the manager.
That depends dude
I think we had a good enough team not to lose at Brentford, that should never be acceptable
Can you tell me half the team that lost at City 5-0 – never acceptable
Out played at Brighton and drawing at home to Palace – not acceptable
I need to see more consistency that’s all
Palace beat City and Brighton drew with Liverpool last weekend. We want progress, at this point, which is exactly what we’re seeing.
Daniel Smith I totally agree with you we need more consistency lucky to draw against Palace and Brighton who have improved dramatically
What is becoming clearer each passing week now DAN, is that more and more people are getting on board with Arteta and fewer and fewer are still choosing not to see the wood for the trees, like you.
You are on the losing side in this “battle” and were you as wise as some others, you would change your stance on Arteta and get on board with the realists who can look further than the misleading and boring old “8th 8th 6th” saga you trot out so often.
You ignore the fact we had only a shell of our first choice team fit against Brentford. I know why too, as it suits your agenda to ignore it, but it remains the truth, even so!
Why should we only consider this season like it’s arteta’s first in charge, especially while talking about the first three games? What happened to the whole of last season? Two years in charge and we’re just like Everton, finishing in mid table. C’mon, it’ll take much for Arteta to win me over cos I think we’ve already seen his ceiling
This is Arteta’s first season with practically ALL of his choice of players on the pitch.
The last 18 months have been a clearout to be fair…
And that in a nutshell Pat is the whole point.
I and others have argued this very point for the 18 months in question, but are “up against” (for want of a better phrase) complete fixation with 2 x 8th finishes which is far too simplistic.
O O G
Exactly AJ.
I WOULD ARGUE SIMPLE MINDED, RATHER THAN “SIMPLISTIC”. Those who wilfully choose not to see the nuances in any situation are simple minded, as those with such obvious biased personal agendas are.
Well said, don’t forget it ain’t easy to change one’s behavior, spurs don’t spend that much and I don’t see how CONTE will change that in a flash,
He’ll probably get fund in January but in the long run, I doubt it,
When running a business, stability is key, you might say Chelsea change coaches and are successful, think again, they ain’t making as much as they spend or probably the profit margin would be meager , so my best guess is, the profits from other businesses are plunged into Chelsea fc,
I’m not totally convinced with Arteta, but I’m an Arsenal fan, so I stand by Arsenal fc,
Hopefully we get a stronger and taller CM and a CF/CAM in January.
1 + 1 = 2
Chelsea are progressing profitably too
We are arsenal, very simple .
Its not often I do not agree with you but mate? AFC will never feel less ambitious than the Spuds. Their policy of having 2/3 managers per season is not great and even though their only ambition is to beat AFC one per year I see no future for them. I just hope they keep Levy.
Spurs more ambitious… What have they won? I think it’s a combination of how poor their performances have been as opposed to the actual amount of points they have picked up. Add that to the fact that Nuno was not a popular choice for a new manager in the first place! Made his position pretty fragile from the off imo.
We have alot of young players in our team now with plenty of promise and their performances should consistently improve given the right coaching. Whether Arteta is the man or not for that job remains to be seen and there is clearly still work to be done in terms of signing/developing players to add depth to the squad to get us back to where we belong.
However at least we can see a team in place who should improve with the above…. What have Spurs got? Besides Kane and Son who would you really take from their team? Have they got any good youngsters coming through because I haven’t heard of any! Fact is I think Spurs are currently in the position now where we were under Emery two years ago; their players are either out of form or just plain average. They need to start clearing out and rebuilding themselves otherwise they’ll only continue to sink.
Said fans were more ambitious
Jim Jim Remember our players did not want to play for Emery who is a good manager
First I would like to point out that you keep comparing Arsenal’s current position which is subject to change over the course of the season to Unai Emery’s final league position at the end of the season which is misleading and unfair.Your argument would make more sense if you compared Unai’s team after 10 matches to Arteta’s team after a similar number of matches.
Secondly,I’m not convinced that Arsenal fans are chest-thumping after our recent wins like you say and if at all there are fans doing that,then they are in the minority.That claim is an exaggeration and a blanket generalization on your part.I think most fans are just happy that our team is showing signs of progress after a terrible start to the season.This acknowledgement of progress has not only come from Arsenal fans but pundits of the game as well.Surely these former footballers and managers understand the game better than most of us.
Thirdly you say we’re only only two points ahead of Spurs and yet I could also say that we’re only 3 points away from M.City in third.You keep saying we are regressing.We were 20th and have been rising steadily to our current position in 6th.English is my 3rd language but that doesn’t seem like regression to me. I would also not bring Arteta’s previous finishes into this discussion because it’s a different season;Arsenal team has changed a lot with many incomings and outgoings over the past year,other teams have changed,we are no longer in a European competition.Heck,even some of the officiating rules have changed.I’ll judge the performance of the team and manager in isolation.
Finally,Tottenham are in different circumstances to us for the most part.We have a younger team with new recruits and this comes with its challenges.We also had injuries and Covid at the beginning of the season affecting key members of the team-this was even highlighted by Pep in our match against City.The team has done relatively well since the manager had a near full squad to choose from.Most importantly we are on a winning streak while Spurs are on a losing streak with a more experienced and arguably better side.In addition,there are four teams that have clearly have better squads overall than us.I think it would be arrogant of us to have top four as the bare minimum expectation.
No mate I meant regressing since Wenger left
Hence why you now see 6th as progress
6th was seen as failure under Wenger and Emery
Agreed Dan, these fans are so deluded.
Dan has deliberately misrepresented
a key point Onyango made in order to further promote his negativity.
As for Tom I have to disagree, Onyango has made some fair points and none of them suggest he is in any way deluded.
Hiring and firing is no solution. The Arsenal model is the perfect one, the club gives time and space to a new manager and sacks him only when it is too much of bad results all over. The arsenal model will always be more successful in the long run, more stable and reliable to take the club upwards.
I think most Arsenal fans could put up with where we are in the table high or low if we started to play good football and started to look like a team.
I agree Spuds are doing there best to catch us and it hasnt worked yet as there going through managers like theres no tomorrow.
I can take any defeat and any place in the table once my Arsenal plays the footballl i like to watch.
Spuds are better in every department. It’s us who needs to catch them. Honestly take your head out the sand, we are average.
How much success have Tottenham achieved by changing managers? In retrospect sacking Pochettino hasn’t been a great success 🤣🤣
We get it. You’re a ridiculous pessimist who can’t see the forest for the trees.
We are 6th, blah, blah, blah. Last week it was we are 10th blah blah blah.
Reality: 1st in the league on form.
Reality: Almost all of the transfers that have come in this season have strengthened our squad and we are actually dominating matches for the first time in a while.
Reality: We have the youngest squad in the league, so they can only get better (which was the point of this rebuild when we started to decline and the whole league got stronger with more money flying around)
In the modern vernacular Bob – REAL TALK !
No Reality – we are 6th
Reality we finished 8th two years in a row
If your happy with that then that’s cool mate
Fixation on HISTORIC league positions – the latest of which we are 3 points off 3rd (which happens to be Man’ City).
What were the club meant to do, nothing ?
Can I ask you Daniel, rather than constantly trot out league positions what would you have actually done post Wenger / Unai ?
Spurs are 5 points off man city ?
Couldn’t give a **** about them.
Again a non reply, stating the obvious.
The question was what would YOU have done to revive our fortunes post Wenger / Unai, which would have bettered leaving us TODAY 3 points off 3rd ??
Constructive response please.
Reality: We are not at the end of the season so our position is irrelevant.
Yes, we were 8th two seasons in a row and it wasn’t good enough. No one has made the argument we were good enough so nice straw man.
Spurs sacked their manager but position is irrelevant ?
You’re just getting embarrassing at this point with these non-arguments. Not only are Spurs completely irrelevant to anything, but they also have multiple reasons to fire their manager that aren’t based on their position, which you can’t seem to stop harping on about: Negative football, dramatic change in form, and stats that show they should really be lower down the table, not higher.
Plus Bob the fact that lot clearly weren’t playing for Nuno, whereas have you seen the team spirit within our camp right now – excellent.
Plenty more to do, but we are moving in the right direction working to a clear policy.
The day we use them as a yardstick, is the day we have clearly hit rock bottom.
a question for @Daniel Smith…
how long did it take Klopp(who can be argued to be among top 5 coaches in the world) to put Liverpool where they are now?
We were crap and against palace and Brighton, played off the park. To spurs credit they won’t suffer it and will move fast rightly or wrongly. Conte is an elite manager, end of story.
spurs fans thought Jose was the second coming and look how that worked out. The biggest mistake Levy made (before appointing Jose) was getting rid of Poch.
I don’t worry about Arsenal at all, we are getting better, and now Arteta will build a stronger squad. On the left back we have two quality options, and this will be the standard. If we want to compete for the league we will need quality on the bench as well. Youngest team in the league and already showing us what we can expect the next years, very promising. I love the process, but even more an exciting Arsenal team. Still we can expect a bumpy ride with so much young players, but they will only get better 🔴⚪️
We can all judge at the end of the season, wether spuds made an ambitious decision or not. We are on our path, 22 months and counting, they are on theirs, just starting. The end of the season will be judgement day. Chelsea last season changed their manager to devastating effect, we didn’t. Spuds are slightly different to us as they emoyed a manager who had managed prem football before and he failed but they have been decisive, will it work?
“Employed”
The situation is different for us and Spurs now. They have an established team with a core of experienced players who have played together for many seasons. We are building an entirely new squad. Also, they didn’t play their first three games with 2/3 of their team missing, we did. Therefore comparing expectations is not realistic. We are a big club, but must admit that in the past years major mistakes have been made, especially in recruitment, which means we have to start all over again if we are to have any chance to go back to the top. A new approach was needed and it was always going to be a long process. But if executed right, which it seems it is, we will be rewarded with a team which could potentially challenge for the title in the next 3 years. All new additions to the team in the last two seasons have been excellent and on the pitch you can see clear improvement especially in strong starts and set pieces which were never our strong sides. I think we have much more reason to be optimistic than Spurs, who seem to be where we were 3 years ago.
Well said MM.
I agree your central point but I disagree that all new additions have been excellent. However, I would accept that they all show promise and recruitment has been well thought through.
The team still needs strengthening but the overall strategy is sound.
Showing ambition would be spending £150 million in the transfer window.
Tottenham Hotspur always choke. Although Conte always win titles for e.g. with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan; I doubt he will has success with Tottenham Hotspur.
If he does, I will take my hat off.
Kenny If a top team come in for our young players and offer top money will we sell that is the Question?
Guardiola & Klopp are 2 of the most successful coaches in recent times but success doesn’t last forever, i believe Guardiola will give it 2 more seasons than movie on, Liverpool has one of the oldest team in the league so sooner or later they have to start to rebuild, so if arsenal continue to make progress with our young team we should be in prime position to take advantage of any lapse in form
DAN Totally agree with everything you said good write up
Think about the wage bill tho
I likewise agree with many of your sentiments, although I wish you would stop using the latter days Wenger as a measuring stick…to be honest, the systemic lowering of expectations started under his watch and continues to this day…now if you said that compared to the Wenger of the pre-Emirates era, we’ve failed miserably, then I would be in total agreement…of course, if Arteta puts us in a position to compete for the top 3, then I’ll have a serous rethink, so long as the play on the field passes the all important “eye test”
I’m sure I’ve read this article before
Same old repetitive written that’s been on here for the past couple of years . It has gotten so boring.
Haha, I’m sure I’ve read this comment before… etc…..
Admin pat, as you said yourself you do seem to be Mr Negative and I personally don’t see how that helps the fans the club the players or the manager, I really hope the players don’t read this stuff but in this day and age I expect many of them are regulars on this website.
In regards to your article, I agree that the Emery sacking wasn’t really justified, after all did anyone really expect us to hire a manager better than Wenger? The reality of the club ownership says NO. Emery needed more time and more support, I feel he personally had a language barrier but none of us really know what went on behind closed doors, ultimatly the club felt like he wasn’t the manager to take us through this transition we are currently going through.
Most fans wanted change and sadly many fans abused the wrong person.
Arteta now has been given the support and I think it’s important he’s also given the time. He has been granted almost all the signings we know he and edu wanted. He has also been able to clear the club of a lot of the players who were quite frankly sucking us dry. For this I commend both Arteta and the club.
Arteta had also shown that he has ability and understands the job. everything in and around the club has improved or is continuing the improve at present including our performances on the pitch with ALL his new players available. I’m Including Thomas Partey in this as really last season he got very little game time.
If you don’t believe me, then I’d start listening to the pundits that are close to the club. They are all now saying the same things and nearly all of it is positive. The changes are starting to pay off and we are progressing as a TEAM, team being in capitals as we seem to of been lacking this for a while.
So please I ask you Pat, get behind the club you love ❤️
Hey Tojo,
Just to clear up your message, which I actually agree with totally!
But if you look at the signature on the article, it is our very own Dan Smith. He may seem negative to many people, but he has also been known to be correct on many occasions.
I am fully behing Arteta’s process, and I will support whoever is in charge at Arsenal at any time, but poor old Dan has been cast in the role of Mr Negative at this moment in time.
But that doesn’t mean he is wrong, as we are all entitled to our own opinions, n’est pas?
One problem is Mr Smith has cherry-picked (not the first time) some comments from some exuberant fans and used it to create his straw man. This is disingenuous and is a reason other fans will take umbrage at his comments and articles.
Apologies Pat, I miss read who the article was by.
Just one reason(among the many) why DAN and I see things so completely differently as to “ambition” , is that DAN seems to think that changing the manager as soon as the existing one hits a bad patch , proves ambition!
I say it is the very opposite of ambition.
Look at the long term comparison history between Spuds and us as to which has changed their manager far more often and which has had far more success and trophies over many past decades!
Many unsuccessful clubs change manager frequently with little long term success.
The obvious exception to this rule is Chelsea but they have an exceptionally rich owner who throws huge war chest money at new managers almost each year or two, DESPITE the success the actual sacked manager has brought.
He even sacked Ancellotti after having won the Double. So Chelsea iS not typical then. Changing the manager so often, generally means starting again from scratch and entails huge outgoing financially for new players and only Chelsea and Man City can afford that.
So asking for constant change is NOT ambitionat all but hasty foolishness that usually brings no long term improvement at all. DAN and I are poles apart on this one.
MANY THINGS WE AGREE UPON BUT WE ALSO HAVE MANY AREAS OF DISAGREEMENT.
I totally disagree that Spuds are showing more ambition than are we.
I see tham heading for a long term regression when it becomes obvious that Levy will not and cannot back Conte as he will expect.
I foresee a “vicious divorce” ere long and they were not even “married ” til today!
Answer: No