Over the course of the Spaniard’s time at the club and especially in his early days as Arsenal manager, one thing he kept bringing up in interviews and press conferences were the non-negotiables that every single player and backroom staff must adhere to.
Given the state we were in at the time, a club struggling to find it’s feet, talk less of being back in the mix with the elites at the time for major honours, then you can see why a ruthless approach to achieve discipline and consistency was needed.
Five years into his tenure and you can’t argue against his ruthlessness not having an impact on the way we are performing now. Instilling the culture and values the Arsenal of old were known for, were his primary objectives for choosing to go with a no nonsense approach to the Arsenal role which we’re reaping the fruits of now even if we’re yet to win anything major with him in charge.
This aspect of his job often leads to unsatisfactory reactions from the gooners, who often view some of his decisions as controversial and not being warranted with the biggest calls he’s made so far, instigating initial feelings of discontent from the Arsenal faithful.
Two of these calls in particular which stirred frustration from some sections of the fanbase at the time were the calls he made on Ozil and Aubameyang, the latter especially was such a huge call after he had impressed for us before his disciplinary issue.
With those two decisions it clearly laid a marker down for other members of the squad pertaining the need to have discipline, no matter how big of a player you are. No matter how some gooners did not like those calls at the time, it eventually proved to be the correct decisions.
Not only because there hasn’t been any disciplinary issue of that nature since then, but also because of how far we’ve come since that time.
More recently, we have witnessed Arteta continue his ruthless streak with our goalkeeping department. No one would have thought that we would he replacing Aaron Ramsdale after his immense contribution to the title chasing season of 2022/23, but that’s what we saw with the Spaniard bringing in David Raya on loan to eventually overtake the Englishman – which was a very unpopular decision at the time.
He has since gone on to prove us wrong once again with Raya winning the Golden glove in his first campaign with the Gunners, as well as taking his game to another level this season with some inspiring performances for club and country.
His willingness to be bold and make the difficult calls are part of the reasons why we’re back challenging for major honours again and gooners will be hoping that we finally have what it takes to make it over the line this season!
Thoughts gooners?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
I love our team, our style and our club but this is a bit of a puff piece.
Graham won trophies.
Winger won many trophies on a budget.
Emery got us to a European final and his squad won our most recent FA Cup, inspite of chaos in the boardroom and recruitment.
Arteta has massively devalued some players. Ruined other’s. Allowed Ramsey to leave for free instead of making him captain. Paid Ōzil to leave and spent more money than most other prem clubs. Don’t even get me started on the Hale Enders that have left.
I like and respect Arteta.
But what has he won? 8_5_5_2_2
Why the hype?
We should get rid of Arteta so that you can make some better recommendations to Edu / The Kroenke’s of the potential candidates to replace him at the moment.
Right? 🤞👍👌
It certainly doesn’t appear to me that you like and respect Arteta
Dougal, he’s won the FA Cup. As for Ramsey, he left on a free transfer under Emery, not Mikel. Hale Enders left under our previous manager, nothing new there.
Arteta is just what the doctor ordered at the time for Arsenal, Having said that we should all give what is due to Caesar.
Probably the only mistake made by the gaffer was how he handled the young Frenchman, having realized it was a massive blunder to play the German ahead of Saliba, he has since acquitted himself nicely
I do feel the Saliba situation was a culmination of different aspects at the time.
Saliba having lost him mother.
Only about 19/20 years old.
No experience in the EPL.
New country / league.
And also a bit of an attitude towards Arteta.
We all know that back then Arteta was trying to wrestle complete control. He was trying to dismantle this “Player power” attitude.
Wanted to show all the players that he was in charge and that his decision was final which Saliba tried to challenge to a certain extent. So Arteta flexed his muscles to send a message to Saliba: “I am the manager and I am in charge” sort of flexing.
That’s how I saw it and still see it to this day.
That’s a very interesting take, I did herd the rumors of Matteo Guendouzi whispering in Saliba’s ear
I had even forgotten about another trouble maker “Guendouzi”.
Now you can understand why we weren’t going anywhere with such toxic characters. The club did an amazing job clearing the rubbish out. Now see where we are.. And if Arteta was to leave or be sacked then the new manager would have a better foundation to build upon.
He made a mistake with Saliba which he himself admitted. So you know the situation better that Arteta himself? Jesus!
He is very lucky that Saliba still ended up at Arsenal
Don’t try to sugarcoat it.
So now you believe Arteta’s word on this Saliba situation? Your likes seem to pick and choose what comments and decisions he makes. You don’t believe him when he makes comments that go against your bursting “Anti-Arteta” agenda push.
And was he lucky that Saliba stayed or Saliba himself realised that Arteta was trying to get him in line inside of going the Guendouzi, Ozil, Auba, Balogun way? There is no evidence that Arteta was lucky. He mostly seems to get what he wants when he speaks to any player that he really wants sign for us or extend their contracts. Most players seem to respect and trust him, hence why once he has a word or shows interest in a potential signing they drop everything agree personal terms in a minute. Same with extending our players contracts. If he really really wants to keep them they will extend their contracts with us.
That’s what happened with Saliba and all the other players in our team that had had a few years left on their contracts. They all signed with not much problem. So it’s not luck that Saliba extended his contract like every other senior players in the last 3 seasons.
I think another case that he could have handled better was Martinez, the goalie we let go to join Vila. He is a great Goalie but we kept Leno. Leno was surely decent but I would love to see Martinez stayed with us.
On the transfer front, Kudus is the one I thought we really should have acquired.
By gongs are by gones, MA is our manager and I think we are on the right path, we shall support him to fight for the trophies we deserve.
I really don’t see how one can compare Ozil and Aubemeyang, let alone the Ramsdale situation and then say it’s down to the ruthlessness of MA.
JA has covered the Ramsdale / Raya situation recently of course and far from being “ruthless” his “pledge” to play both his “No. 1 keepers” proved to be wide of the honesty mark. 5/10
Aubemeyang is a different case to the above and our golden boot striker left MA with no choice but to discipline him – I applaud MA for the way he handled the situation and we all saw him delivering his decision to a stunned changing room 10/10
What followed was a media nightmare, with the player jetting off to Spain, the club paying his salary and no replacement worth talking about – leaving the club a laughing stock. MA was badly let down by the club in my opinion. 4/10
Now onto, probably the most divisive situation since JUDAS RVP, the situation regarding Mesut Ozil.
I firmly believe (my opinion of course) that MA was given an ultimation by Mr Kronkie to dispense with Ozil, mainly because of the grotesque salary the owner agreed to earlier.
Prior to the coronavirus situation, Ozil had played in every PL game, including the unbeaten run just before the virus led PL lay off.
Ozil was never to appear again in our famous red one white shirt, was dropped from the PL first team squad and, eventually, from the squad altogether.
Unlike Aubameyang, he never broke any of the club and MA’s rules, never brought the club into disrespect and remained fit and ready for action, as he trained everyday while this was going on.
Some fans said that MA couldn’t handle big names, some said he had his hands tied behind his back, but whatever it was, the club ended up paying Ozil to sit out his contract, paying him for sitting at home, I would hardly call that ruthless!! 4/10
Having given my opinion on the above, I’m sure there will be others who see all three incidents differently and that’s only to be expected.
I love the way MA has installed such a tight group of players, who, it seems, would walk through a brick wall to support him.
I don’t believe he could have achieved this with Ozil and Aubemeyang in the squad, so there is always two sides to every coin.
Finally, I would just like to give my thoughts on what Ozil (remember the most divisive figure since RVP?) achieved as a player and who, quite literally, the club gave away.
Innesta recently retired and was acclaimed as a legend in the game.
Let’s compare the stats, with Innesta’s stats first :
Plyd 1016 Goals 107 Assists 191
Ozil:
Plyd 737 Goals 137 Assists 258
I also believe the latter, because of his popularity in the world of football, sold many more shirts 😂😂😂
“I don’t believe he could have achieved this with Ozil and Aubemeyang in the squad, so there is always two sides to every coin.”
I think this is they key point and the reason it’s called ruthless. I don’t think arteta disliked ozil – quite the opposite actually – but I think he was willing to go along with his pushout because he knew it would make the team better. Despite those incredible stats, at best ozil was great one year, poor the next, and rarely up to snuff in the big games – for arsenal, at least.
Apart from auba’s indiscretions, he played poorly for a very long time before arteta pulled the trigger, which suggests to me he would have put up with some of it if auba was still playing as well as he used to. Imo the bad behaviour was the excuse to get rid of him, but the reason it was done was because he simply wasn’t playing well enough in arteta’s system.
I don’t think any of this was personal for arteta tbh.
I agree that nothing was personal with ANY player MA has let go Davi.
As I said, my opinion is that he was told what the owner wanted with regards to Ozil.
With Aubemeyang, it was down to the player’s attitude versus the manager’s requirements.
As for the keeper situation, MA has, occasionally, said things that have later come back to haunt him – CL in three seasons, pledging to play both keepers etc.
Some of it may have been lost in translation or even due to his relative “newness” as a manager, but it WAS said!!
Those stats of Ozil are incredible, it’s such a shame that, for whatever reason(s) his time at our club divided the fan base and tainted what, by any standards, was an incredibly talented player of his time.
Thanks for you reply Davi and I’m sure MA will continue to manage our club the way he wants, with no more interference from above.
Ken
I see things the same as you regarding Ozil and Auba. I also echo your comments regarding the “competition” between the keepers and the nonsense about subbing keepers during a game. More dishonest that ruthless, but that is my opinion.
Lastly I thought ESR handled poorly; far more productive that Vieira is, was, and likely to ever be for us. Secondly, if injuries were an issue, how does that square with Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu to name a few?
Perhaps ESR was more about filling the coffers after recent spending, but he was more productive than several of our attacking players.
All in all the club is in a good place, but “selective” ruthlessness perhaps would be a better term in my opinion.
Let’s see how this year turns out, and let’s keep working towards some silverware at the end of this year.
Thanks Durand, I thought the article was a thought provoking one on many levels.
By citing Ozil and Aubemeyang amongst others, it was bound to cause comparisons.
The club IS in a good place, but, as you say, being selective doesn’t give the full picture and Reggie, further down, gives another viewpoint.
Can you guys please post the actual “QUOTES” where Arteta promised Ramsdale all this stuff?
I have looked for any quotes where Arteta specifically made such promises to Ramsdale.
Or I will just take it as another agenda driven hit piece from the historical usual suspects (Arteta Bashers”) that continually make up stuff in order to carry on their agendas.
I will wait.
Arteta has been ruthless, obviously with the backing of the Board. Times had changed in the premier league and apart from the impossible happening with Leicester, only the very wealthiest and most determined owners have succeeded since Utd last won. Liverpool with the experience of Klopp managed it once too.
What cannot be underestimated either is the impact of Pep Guardiola in his pursuit of excellence. He has no quibbles about being ruthless as Joe Hart discovered. Arteta and the Chelsea boss appear to be cut from the same cloth as far as that goes
Sorry Goonster that was meant to be a stand alone post. 🙄
I couldn’t find proof of promises being made to Ramsdale. Most of Arteta’s comments at the time I’d put down to rhetoric. He did refer to rotation but as it turned out that Raya was his number one, then Ramsdale was left with the cup games both of which were early exits – so no further games.
Goonster
It took me 11 seconds to find 2 articles about switches GK during games. Type in topic, Ramsdale and Raya and numerous articles appear.
Try september 18 2023 Skysports and Eurosports articles.
A deeper search will find more detailed interviews to answer your specific question.
Arteta has admitted numerous mistakes, Saliba being a perfect example. Shocking how Arteta himself admitted he mishandled Saliba’s non selection for Europa league for example.
HH is 100% correct above, yet you seem to deny reality. Even Ken and myself about GK situation you “can’t find” but I did in 11 seconds.
Have your opinion by all means, but don’t try and make fabrications about others comments when they are factually correct.
Read the articles, and even find specific comments yourself ( they are not hard to find) if you want specific statements between Ramsdale and Arteta.
@Durand.
I asked for the actual “QUOTE” from Arteta where he made this special promises to Ramsdale. You keep pointing to Articles when you should just COPY and PASTE the part where Arteta promised Ramdale anything.
Can you please CITE the quotes? Just don’t play “Hide the Ball”. Yourself, Ken1945 and others seem to be confident in your claims that Arteta made such promises to Ramsdale in the first place..
You must at least have read the actual “QUOTE” which gave you the confidence to keep pushing the NARRATIVE that Arteta lied or was dishonest to Ramsdale.
I will wait for the actual “quotations”. You took the time to look for the articles online but could find 5 seconds to COPY and PASTE the actual Promise Quotes for all of us to see.
So I will wait for the Quotes from you too.
YOU go find the quote, numerous people have mentioned this, it’s no secret, even pundits have discussed this very topic.
I found the articles and statements you couldn’t find, just to disprove your statement that you could not find anything.
The articles are factual, the comments are true. If you want exact quotes, YOU go find them. I suspect you will claim they don’t exist as your comment suggests, and you will likely deny them even when you find them.
Do your own research, my friend you will learn that way.
👍
I agree with a lot of what you say. Regarding Ozil, on the “bald” stats, he was better than Iniesta but given the choice I suspect almost every top coach would have plumped for the latter because he was (along with his mate Xavi) the ultimate “team player”, something I don’t think Ozil could have been described as.
There’s surely little doubt that Ozil eventually proved to be a very divisive figure at Arsenal. He started well, but relations soured (not least between him and other players) when the club was panicked into awarding him that record wage deal, reported (back in 2018) at a staggering £350,000 a week in order to prevent him leaving after Sanchez had gone to Man Utd. To put that into perspective, Havertz is our top earner at £280,000 in 2024. Later, his apparent refusal to agree to a pay cut because of Covid didn’t help matters.
Eventually, Arsenal was obliged to come to a very disadvantageous deal with Fenerbahce simply because Ozil didn’t want to go anywhere else. Unfortunately, Arsenal was reported as still paying 90% of his wages when he was playing for them.
Overall, I think Arsenal would have been better off without him.
What a surprise. The same old special pleading for “The Shirt Selling Genius” . Who would have seen that coming?😊
And he never brought the club into disrepute / disrespect? What? He is the single most player that caused the most mayhem, chaos, disrespect and divisiveness to our club and managers. Let’s not be dishonest about this issue again.
May be both Arteta and Edu were also given an ultimatum to by The Kroenke’s to cut lose Auba, Laca, Guendouzi, Sokratis, Mustafi, Willian, Martinez, Willock, Kolasinac etc?
It’s always has to be “The Shirt Selling Genius” that has to be excused and afforded special pleading privileges. Always these dark forces conspiring against him. Conspiracies to take such a good man down.. It has never been his own consistently poor attitude, poor performances, poor mentality and lack of personal responsibility. But everyone’s fault for his own lack of work ethic.
🤦♂️
Ken1945
What cannot be denied is that Ozil trained every day throughout the fiasco of being dropped before heading off into the sunset with his contract paid up. Exemplary behaviour to keep working so hard in the hope of being restored to the first team squad
Personally, I prefer the attitude of Ramsdale who lost his number one place and also worked so hard to regain his position. He made it clear that he loved playing and wanted that opportunity again so he moved to Southampton. I didn’t detect that level of ambition in Ozil’s decision to stay. It was more about raising the middle finger and he won through on that but his reputation was tarnished
Coaches have to be very ruthless sometimes. You could argue that it was one reason, among others, why Ferguson often got the better of Wenger, trophy-wise, in their great rivalry.
Ferguson was very ruthless indeed, even changing his most successful teams in order to keep everyone on their toes. Wenger tended to stick with the same players for longer, almost no matter what in some cases. He was still successful of course, but you can’t help thinking that a little more “steel” would have brought even more success.
” Wenger tended to stick with the same players for longer, almost no matter what in some cases’
It’s a sort of catch-22 situation, It is for that exact reason why Arsenal played the most beautiful and attractive football back then, the legendary Alex Ferguson did spoke about it in an interview
Gunsmoke, Fergie also said that the Invincible season topped anything he achieved at manure.
It’s so pleasing to know that the two of them have patched up their differences, as at that time, they were the two best managers around.
👍🏻👍🏻
Yes, they may have done so (but not all the time – Wenger’s later years were nothing to shout about on the whole) but we’re talking here about ruthlessness in coaches and the effects of that.
One of the reasons (not the only one) why Ferguson won much more than Wenger was exactly that – to continually “shake up the pack” of his successful sides. And guess what, it worked!
Yes Bertie, but Fergie and Arsene were in completely different situations once we moved to the Emirates.
Likewise, Mikel is in a different situation to Arsene and has been since the decision of the owner to back him to the hilt.
Being ruthless under those conditions is very easy to be, wouldn’t you say?
That’s not taking ANYTHING away from what he’s done these last two seasons of course.
Arteta is not ruthless as people may think and even if he is, his ruthless cannot win him a premier league trophy because of his refusal to bring in a potential striker. He’s stubborn and always thinking he’s better in everything.
Arteta may not be “better in everything”, but our recent league positions suggest that he’s better in most things.
After the apathetic malaise that the previous had allowed to fester in and around the club, I was ready for an Arteta “Less emotions and more rationality” type personality to come in burn everything down and build from scratch.
Arteta’s ruthlessness / cut throat approach is what made me give him a lot of leeway from the 2020/21 season. His authoritarian, non bullcrapping attitude towards the cesspool that had become of our club..
Poor player mentality and attitude had to be eradicated. No more pampering of some characters in the squad. Every single player had to start earning their wages and place in the team or be forced out and take their bad attitudes with them away from our club.
Each and every decision wasn’t going to be popular (I myself weren’t happy about some decisions he made at the time) but it had to be done if we wanted Arsenal to return to being taken seriously as a club.
Yes Arteta has been ruthless. Being allowed by the owner to just let players (with once high values)go for nothing and also pay them off. Something not afforded to previous managers. Previous managers had to work on a tight budget. Plus plus a net spend, only bettered by Chelsea has helped just a tiny bit. I suppose its very convenient to forget tge impact by the owner. The manager now has to reward and prove the faith by doing his bit. And actually win something. Then we can argue who has had the most impact.
Agreed Reggie.
It’s easy to be ruthless with the backing of the owner and MA had been assured his position was safe by Josh.
But don’t we have to agree that MA has come on leaps and bounds these last two seasons and repaid that backing?
I think it will be impossible to compare MA to any previous manager, as the circumstances would not be the same.
Ken, the team has come on leaps and bounds these last two sesson but it would be a bigger surprise or offence, with all the expenditure if they hadn’t. You invest to win trophies, not to come second. I would like to think Arteta has got better. But until he proves it, he has not won anything with “his” team. Ancelotti, who we could have got when we got Arteta has won both the league and CL since Artetas appointment. Yes he “failed” at Everton but who wouldn’t.
Again I agree with you, but we have come so close these last two seasons in the PL.
There is no doubt that MA must win SOMETHING this season as far as us fans are concerned, but what will the Kronkies do if we don’t?
Will they be ruthless?
What are these high value players that we had before Arteta took over?
And how many of them ever attracted any potential buyers?
Just saying high value players without backing it up becomes hollow. List the names of these high value players that had other Top clubs tripping themselves over to sign. The same players that got Wenger, Emery, Ljumberg sacked. And would have gotten Arteta sacked if the Kroenke’s and Edu did not come to their senses and clocked that may be it was not that wenger, Emery, Ljumberg and Arteta were the problem. And may be or just may be we had assembled a group of poor players that weren’t going to take us anywhere.
And what happened to these high value players once they got away from Arsenal? Did they regain their form and high value? If not then Arsenal did the right thing paying them off to leave. They were mostly overrated / overhyped mid table at best players. Isn’t it?
Ljungberg “sacked”? I.Don’t.Think.So. Arteta replaced him as head coach, which Freddie was acting up in until we got a permanent replacement for sacked Emery. Freddie left the club of his own accord to continue coaching.
I agree.
It’s really poor and disappointing that some of the same people are once again trotting out rubbish about players who were not up to the job and had to be moved on.
Also, whilst we would certainly want to win trophies it is quite unreasonable to sack a manager on this metric alone as some people seem to be suggesting.
@David.
I have been asking them these same questions for years now and zero serious answers have been provided.
And it can’t be a coincidence that it’s the exact same individuals all the time going back as far as 2020. They just spew out the same tired narratives when it’s convenient season after season.
🤦♂️
Reggie, you can’t be serious when you say no previous manager was allowed to let players go for nothing ? Sol Campbell, Wiltord, Edu, Pires, Arshavin ring any bells ?
HD, what previous manager was allowed to let players go for nothing while still under contract and pay their salaries as part of the deal when they found new clubs?
When a players contract run out, the club has no say on whether they stay or not – the only thing they can do, is offer them a new contract to try and persuade them to stay, yes?
Was that not the position with Sol, Wiltord, Edu, Pires, Arshavin etc?
The manager at that time certainly certainly didn’t pay them to sit at home did they?
Correct ken.
Surely an Arsenal fan would know they were at different end of careers and had mostly given the club something to show for their efforts
Correct, totally different scenarios and can not be compared.
Very well said Reggie. I personally think he is in deep waters if he doesn’t win anything this season. And I don’t think he is going to receive major investments going forward.
We will have to see the real ruthlessness then.
Hahaha.
You have been predicting doom and gloom for Arsenal under Arteata since 2020. You also made so many predictions about his abilities as a manager throughout the years now. So many wrong predictions throughout the years but I bet you forgot most of them.
Predicted how he will never be a Top 4 manager. How he will never make us a Title challenging club. That he won’t be able to attract any good players due to his personality. How he will make us a mid table club as that was his ceiling. How his personality / attitude will end up hurting Arsenal FC in the long run. How young players likes of Saka etc will not develop under him, And how he should have been sacked for the likes of Brendan Rogers etc…
Do you guys ever do any introspection about the sensationalistic comments you make on here consistently?? Or you just forget and move on to the next “Anti Arteta” agenda at any particular time / moment?
As I keep saying, You Anti Arteta bashers have been the “WRONGEST PEOPLE” in his tenure.
Like the foolyou are. What on earth has that got to do with the article. Getting personal and spouting childish claptrap is something we are coming to expect from you. It still spoils intelligent debate though. There is always one!!!!!!
You really don’t like it when someone has a different opinion than you. SAD!!!!
I said he will never win title
Never said he will never finish top 4 or develop players
I do think there are some players he could have done better with / not given up on
Too Goonster.
Reggie
I have realized it is best not to feed the troll, too late unfortunately. We all know the situation regarding Saliba and the GK situation, and what the truth is.
Rather than wasting any more of my time (even just 11 seconds), even proof, quotes, and direct comments from Arteta himself, won’t convince them of the truth.
Blindness is one thing, but willful blindness by burying your head in the sand is another.