Arsenal’s entire season is on the line. by Konstantin Mitov
Well lovely Arsenal people, it’s Thursday and that means European football. I never thought I might miss the Europa league, but here we are. Unless we win it, we most likely won’t play in Europe next season for the first time in 26 years!
Arteta’s job surely must be on the line too. There are no two ways around it. Our wage bill is really high and our budget is tight. If we don’t get European money, the guy who will be left in charge of this squad has a very hard job of balancing the books and meeting the expectations to return to the top 6 at least.
Squad selection will be key. Arteta trusted senior players and they failed him multiple times. I don’t wanna hear about the “potential” of William at 32. I want Gabi M and Pepe terrorizing Slavia Prague with Saka as no 10.
Sure Willian impacted the game against Benfica and helped us win, and sure Auba scored the vital goals, but football is about who’s on best form right now and who has the best attitude, and the youngsters have done better with both in recent times.
Hopefully Laca will lead the line as he’s got some good form. Unfortunately I can see Xhaka at left back and that hurts. More so when I know Ceballos will be in the midfield. You see, Arsenal scare me more than Slavia Prague, because if someone can ruin us the game it’s only ourselves.
Despite that disappointing late equalizer last time, I think it’s good in a way for us. We know that we have to score. If we had a lead, we might’ve gone to Prague with the wrong attitude like we have done before.
We have the quality to dominate them and beat them, no matter of their incredible run in a pretty poor league. Score quick and then make them work for it, hit em on the break and finish the job. We aren’t a solid team, we’ll need more than 1 goal, and we’re well capable of doing it.
This season has been extremely poor on many levels, but going out to Slavia Prague would be a new low even for our standards. At least let’s book a meeting with Emery and get two more spicy games.
Which Arsenal will turn up though?
Konstantin
A quarter final European exit is not a sackable offense on it’s own.
Because 8th in the League will be enough to secure the new Conference League place.
However following on from the early EL exit and the lowly 8th league position last season would indicate Arteta is struggling to keep Arsenal relevant in the English top flight.
So a place in the semis will definitely tilt the pendulum in favour of Arteta remaining in the job. And once the semi – final berth is confirmed Gooners can start dreaming of an early return to the holy grail of the CL.
ok, but we need to score a goal today…
If we don’t win EL, I believe Arteta will still be given a chance to show a progress till December. However, I don’t think he’d get a big transfer budget if we don’t get a CL ticket
Hi GAI.
My opinion of what we should do in the summer are listed below:
1. Signings we need: Odegaard and Jack Grealish
2. Players to sell: Aubameyang(Real Madrid), Guendouzi(Hertha Berlin), Nketiah(Any English club), AMN(Any English Club), Torrera(Italian club), Bellerin(PSG), Reis Nelson(Any english club with an option to buy back).
Our next season squad should look like this
Strikers : Martinelli, Lacazette, Balogun and Pepe (We will get the best out of him as a number 10 or as a striker)
Attacking Midfielders: Grealish, ESR, Saka, Odegaard, Willian
Central midfielders: Xhaka, Partey, Elneny, Willock, Ceballos
Defenders: Mari, Holding, Cedric, Tierney, Chambers, Gabriel
We should go for a 433 formation next season
Cedric Holdiing Mari Tierney
Partey Saka Xhaka
Odegaard Martinelli Grealish
Pepe is a waste on the flanks. We need creative players with a skill set. Midfielders who can dribble and move with the ball. Players like Nasri, Arshavin and Cazorla.
Pepe, Martinelli and Lacazette should rotate as a 9.
We have to sell Aubameyang to fund the move for Odegaard and Grealish(This signing is a must).
We wont make any progress if we keep both Auba and Lacazette. it creates inbalance in the team. we can even sell them both if it means getting Grealish and Odegaard.
I also prefer 4-3-3 and Arteta has shown a form of it in Sheffield
About Odegaard, I don’t think we’d have enough budget to buy him unless Real Madrid give us a big discount. We’d likely loan him again and Grealish will be out of our budget
About Aubameyang, his wage makes him almost unsellable. The other players are still sellable though
i agree with you. I just feel that in this modern era, you have to spend big to win trophies. A player plus cash deal can get us Odegaard(30m pounds+Aubameyang) will be enough.
As per Grealish, this guy is top quality. that game against us at the emirates, he was a beauty. very skillful, strong on the ball and gave our defenders problems. 65m pound bid should work. if it means selling Torrera, Aubameyang, Guendouzi, Reis Nelson, Bellein just to make this 2 deals work, we will be in a better position next season.
Something has to change. and that is getting quality players in and sell the fringe players.
Trusting on Arteta coaching alone will not take us far next season. All top coaches need top players to perform. that is the reality.
Pep has KDB, mayrez and Sterling.
Zidane had Ronaldo, benzema, Kroos, Modric and Casemiro.
Klopp had Salah, Mane VVD
If arsenal fans think that we will make any progress next season with the present players and setup, then we will be disappointed again.
We should sell 7 or 8 players and bring in 2 players (Odegaard and Grealish)
So, Saliba has no chance at Arsenal next season?
Grealish is never going to happen.
Odegaard possibly on loan, Caballos is a potential signing, but has he done enough to deserve a fee?
Aubameyang should have left last season.
Lacazzete is consistent, and brings more to the team (if Aubameyang isn’t in form)
We need a new left back.
Bellerin has been bang average – sell and replace.
I don’t know what to expect next season, but I don’t expect us to suddenly start challenging for the top 4 .
The next few years are likely to be hard to watch, but the show must go on. Trust in youth, and cross those fingers!
Did i see sell Auba? Hahaha very funny. Thank you for telling us nothing, Judge who can’t kick a ball.
This is probably what will happen. I dont think he’ll make it past December. And unlikely the club has anyone in mind, just like they scrambled to get something together when Emery got sacked, which was something they were very reluctant to even do in the first place.
How many times can you re-jig the same question.
Poll –
SHOULD MIKEL ARTETA BE SACKED WITHOUT HAVING SERVED THE FULL TERM OF HIS CURRENT CONTRACT ?
____________________________________________
NO.
Poll results;
100% – No
0% – Yes
Votes cast – 1
We need as much goals as possible
Will the real Arsenal please stand up?!
They better tonight Sue.
Please not another “Baku” !
Nah, we’ll win through.
Arteta can’t do anything right. When Auba was not scoring people said Auba was a passenger and Arteta should bench him. When Arteta benched him (other?) people said it was unfair treatment of Auba.
Parsonally, I would like to see Arteta get an other season or until December as long as he doesn’t lose the dressing room.
I imagine I see signs of improvement despite being dissapointed with the way this season has developed. I expected us to be in the top 6 and become better as the season developed.
Easy win tonight, despite the fact that at this stage of the EL there are no easy games.
I really admire Konstantins passion and his urge to contribute articles. I also think he does not often think his statements through properly.
To my mind there is zero chance of our club sacking Arteta in the foreseeable future, quite irrespective of tonights result. I expect us to, PROBABLY, go through tonight but not to win this competition. Particularly so as Man Utd remain and are likely to reach the final and thus prevent us winning it. Just my unbiased sober minded view.
That is irrelevant to MA’s future here though. It is evident to me that the club has decided to properly back its judgement that Arteta will come good. I am the first to agree that so far results have been not good enough.
BUT I also see, as SOME other Gooners do, that he has made progress and that turning the sinking ship around that he inherited was always going to take real time.
Real time is what SOME fans will give NO manager we ever have and I am certain the club has decided to disregard this foolish cry from the self entitled SOME, who are so spoilt by Wengers glory decade, (even if they are too young to be around personally at that time, as some will be) and who demand this for ever more as the norm.
That is not how life and how football works. We have good, average and bad times in life, as any older person knows. To expect the best all the time is immature and plain wrong. Shoot me down for being the messenger as much as you like; it is water off a ducks back to me.
But what I say remains how life and football, including our beloved club just is and always WILL be (taken over the LONG term to come). At some stage in the future Kroenke will not be our owner and the sooner we can force this damaging man out, the better.
GOOD TIMES WILL COME AGAIN BUT NONE OF US PERSONALLY HAS ANY CONTROL WHATEVER OVER THE TIIMING OF THAT AND ITS FOOLISH TO CONSTANTLY TRY TO HURRY UP WHAT WILL ALWAYS TAKE ITS OWN TIME.
TRUE supporters still support, in the meantime. Consider that last staement, even if you take nothing else I say on board.
If Konstantin had read the recent comments from the Kroenke he would know that MA’s job is safe for the foreseeable future they believe that he is the right man and mentioned that he needs several transfer windows.
Very Well said Mr Fox. I believe the faster we try to fix it, the longer it takes. We just have to support the team, COYG.
Arsenals season is on tge line but not MAs job according to trustable reports.
And about todays match,i think MA will go with a back 3 as there is no recognised LB to play and playing saka in LB will make it easy for slavia prague to defend and attack.
I woukd like a 3412 system with laca dropping to feed martinelli and saka in the wings cuz those 2 have good pace pretty much what jose did with kane to counter attack.But this wont work if slavia praha decide to sit deep which i thhink wont happen.
Only problem would be we will have to play out from the back and as this a season defining match,pressure can get into players which can lead to mistakes…..
COYG
Look tbh at this point arteta is safe in his job. The time to sack him was January.
Whilst I dont think he is the correct man for the job I think it would be foolish not to give him another season unless we have a proven super manager lined up. Even then that manager would need about 2 years for a proper rebuild as well.
If we win today and even go on to win in the semis its likley man utd will be waiting to slap us back to reality in the finals meaning guess what no CL.
The reality is we are hanging on by a thread and its due to snap. We already fell from grace and until we put some serious though and investment into the situation its going to change.
Buying “experience players” like willian and luiz is code for buying g has beens. City, Chelsea, United, none of the teams who have one the league in the past 10 year have brought old players who have been released by their rivals and won anything.
U have few exceptions like tvez and van persi where these players have been in their prime and poached from the opposing clubs. Not guys who have been released or are surplus.
Until all this changes we will be finishing 10th and getting to europa league finals as if we are Everton.
Rightly so. The decline in this club is based on Kroenke, Arteta. If mediocrity keeps Arteta’s job, then we are in the saddest time in Arsenal’s history. Stand up to this mediocrity…..it’s unnecessary. A great manager could make us great again. Both Kroenke and Arteta are deluded in what they will accept as what stands as ‘ARSENAL’. Pay BIG money and give a big project to Brendan Rogers, big enough to bring him here.. The money will be recouped in a season. Lets get our football and pride in our club back.
The problem is Kroenke is here for the foreseeable future so all the posts on here saying we need to spend big and get Brendan Rogers etc is just not going to happen however much we would like it to. As Jon Fox has said periods of success comes in cycles and it will be our turn again to be right at the top when Kroenke leaves us and a proper owner comes in. Until that time comes we should all get behind Arteta and the team.
Marty
We are behind the team. The wisdom of life comes in cycles applies to everything. All things are impermanent and change…..yet still we all try to intervene to make the world a better place and stop suffering. Do we just leave things because magically the cycle will change? Of course not….we know that we/people can have an impact. Arteta’s impact is negative. You think we should all be behind Arteta despite our better judgement that it is negative. That is not, and should never be the way it is. That is how everything in this country or the world will go downhill. For example if we don’t challenge Boris Johnson et al. I retain my right to say Arteta is not up to the qualities of the job, whilst full supporting the team I have watched and supported since 1958.
Sean,
I wasn’t criticising you, I just think that while Kroenke is the owner we are not going to get the big manager or pay out £100’s of millions on players that we need to take us back to the top. However much we complain that we want Kroenke to go he will only go when he thinks it’s right for him to go and he can make money out of it( hopefully sooner than later ). Meanwhile, you have every right to say Arteta is not up for the job. I haven’t supported The Arsenal as long as you ( 1969 I started going when I left school ) so we have both seen the bad and good times here. Let’s hope the good times aren’t too far away.
OT
“Bad Apples” and “Disruptive Influences” in our dressing room over the past seasons, not helping the cause of Arteta, and Emery before him.
Rubbish, Conspiracy theories came the cry – the manager(s) are crap, Carragher does not know what he’s talking about etc.
Hmmnn.
Seems to be are reoccurring theme with our ex’s.
“Arsenal flop Shkodran Mustafi looks to be headed for football limbo after claims he has no future at Schalke.
The defender has been dropped from the starting line-up at the Bundesliga side after reportedly blaming team-mates for mistakes and annoying manager Dimitrios Grammozis in training”.
Guendouzi (Berlin), Mustafi (Schalke) – two and counting.
AJ Spot on about “bad apples etc”. Bad apples also include those who refuse to give 100% effort, like Ozil, Auba(esp this season) Walcott, Mykitaryan etc. Bad apples stir up trouble within and/or without the club, lIke Guendouzi.
ALL BAD APPLES ARE POISON AND NEED MOVING OUT ASAP. JUST AS I CONSTANTLY ADVISE ON HERE. As MA has done!
Regardless of personal preferences, we all know that Arteta will not be sacked, either now or in the near future.
Criticise him by all means, but continuously asking for him to be sacked is a waste of your time in writing it, and mine in reading it.
Better to write how things can be improved with him here, which is both more productive and realistic.
Excellent Guy.
So, so bored with the “sack Arteta now” rhetoric.
As near as one can get to an INFORMED insight regarding Arsenals forward plan has been posted on here twice now, and I will continue to do so.
The club have made their position clear – or at least as near as us JA users (or most Gooners) can get to the “truth”.
If your position is Arteta out – the report is garbage.
If you happen to be Arteta in – the report holds some weight.
Human nature.
However, said insight is written from KROENKE’S perspective.
The report clearly states Mikel Arteta is central to the clubs plans going forward for the foreseeable future.
Of course (as one would hope and expect) drastic improvement regarding first team performances and resulting successes is a pre-requisite.
If completely opposed to the above as reported, your opposition should be directed at the OWNER, as it is he who employs and has complete faith in Mikel Arteta now and going forward.
If he does not win us the EL then he must be sacked if he’s not then he should do the right thing and resign ,this season as been a complete disaster and is below the standard all Arsenal fans should be happy about .
Any fan with a Brain can see he’s lost the dressing room and the majority of the fans and I thought the EL trophy there is no where back .
I expect us to win tonight then but that will just be papering over the massive cracks that have appeared.
And without the EL trophy *
Spot on Guy.Constructive comments on how we can improve is what I want to hear whether it’s from pro Arteta or anti Arteta corners.I advocated Brendan Rogers as the best replacement for Arsene Wenger some time ago only to be shot down by contributors who are now suggesting him to replace Arteta!
I think he will be sacked in the middle of next season when kroenke&the board finally realises that arteta is a confused man with a confused philosophy.as for the europa league,its a matter of when¬ if we’ll crash out.i predicted earlier on that we’ll win the europa league but having seen arteta’s method of selecting his favoured players&the form of other remaining teams,i gave up
Matthew, So you admit having been wrong on one of your predictions, as to winning the EL! I say you are definitely WRONG on your sacking prediction too. I am prepared to have a substantial private bet with you on that very subject . You may choose the stake, should you accept that bet.
If you were by any chance trying to win a neutral fan round to your way of thinking on Arteta, admitting an existing bad mistake is not a good way to go about it, even though I do not doubt your admission is true!
Don’t try politics ; you are too honest, or too naive. Both amount to much the same thing in that murky world!
Didn’t you say the same about Emery Jon ?
How he would be here for years ,how did that pan out buddy ?
The day I ever become truly a “buddy” of yours, DAN KIT , is the day I give up being interested in our club. And THAT is not going to happen this side of my grave, danny boy! While you regularly disagree with all I write, I remain unworried.
The time to worry is when someone like you ever agrees with me. Fortunately, I predict that will not happen. Hope not anyway!
And you and your sad ilk will be the ones worrying when it becomes clear, even to you all – at the start of next season- that MA IS GOING NOWHERE.
Oh Jonny boy, oh Jonny boy saying same for Arteta as Emery. Take what you say with a pich of salt.
Alright jon no need to get touchy .
It was a simple question ,one I may add you skipped around once again
Arteta selecting his favoured players? That makes no sense. He should select his least favoured players.
I don’t know too many managers who don’t select their favourite players. What Arteta has proven is that he doesn’t keep selecting players that don’t perform to his standard.
He gives them a solid chance but then drops them. He gave Willian many chances but showed he was willing to drop him, he even was willing to drop his best striker in Auba when he stopped scoring freely.
Say what you want about Arteta but he has shown to have no problem benching players he has spoken highly of and could have been considered his favourite players.
Question his tactics or playing style, question his team selection, question his ability to motivate his squad, but don’t question his willingness to make the tough decisions and his insistence on discipline.
That means you havn’t been watching much of arsenal games&on that ground,we are going nowhere with arteta in charge