Bad management from Arteta and Edu by Vinod
What a start to the season. What great signings we made and the performances showed. Finally we got all the pieces of the jigsaw right and we just need a few minor signings to complete a perfect transfer window. And we blew it. Minor things that everyone expects have not been done. It’s like we created a world class car with a great engine and interior and neglected the paint shop, hence our car sells for half the price.
We needed back up for Saka, we did not need a Raphinha, we just needed someone to ease the pressure and fatigue out of Saka. We could not buy anyone there. Ultimately it will show, his performances will dip and we have no cover for him. Ok, fine, we have Vieira who can play there,but we are really short on numbers. We need 2 players in each position at least, not an attacking mid whose versatility can be used. Ultimately, in the long run if Ødegaard gets injured or needs rest and Saka needs rest too we have no one to play there and players need to run an extra yard.
We needed a decent extra man in midfield just in case Partey gets injured which he did. We had Torriera,what’s wrong in playing him in the Europa league? Is he so bad. Is he so bad that he went for just 7 million euros. He is a quality player, we never gave him a chance, hence we did not improve his market value nor did we keep our squad depth for the Europa. We sold him for 7 million euros. At this rate clubs are going to happily steal players from us. “We need a bargain, let’s contact Arsenal…”
Ok fine, Torriera is gone. At least keep Maitland Niles for Europa, who knows, he may come in handy? But no, we had to loan him and squeeze every ounce of energy from Xhaka and Sambi, which are the only midfield options left now.
Leno gone for 3.5 million euros.The man is worth 20 million easily. But we sold him for 3.5 million. Just great business…
The root cause for all our players being sold for peanuts is lack of game time given to them by Arteta. Ok, winning is the most important thing in football. But when you are 2-0 up in the 70th minute, why not bring in AMN and let him show what he’s got. Maybe he will surprise Arteta. Maybe he will earn some game time. Thus increasing his market value and his value to the club.
I am a fan of Arteta and I love the way we are progressing. But these silly little things are going to make us pay in the long run. Just when we thought we have a squad to at least run 3 quarters at the same pace with the champions, we shot ourselves in the foot with a gun and are one injury away from a dip in form.
Vinod (GreenLantern67)
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Absolutely a marmite subject. Going to go back and forth but as ever proof will be in the pudding.
On the article itself.
I’ve got an article coming later that shows we have 2 players for every position and touches on Partey as well so don’t want to spoil that.
Torriera did not want to stay with us before Arteta turned up, without the pandemic he’d of gone for 20-30 mil at least before Arteta’s 1st full season and we could of reinvested the money but as much as some try to ignore it the pandemic did happen. His value value went down with his contract and the pandemic reduction in money outside the prem. Look at Barca seriously, their selling assets left, right and centre so they can pretend they are still a rich club.
Leno I think was let go cheap but nobody else in the Prem wanted him and thus nobody could offer him the wages Fulham can not to mention getting to stay in London with his family. At most he was worth 10 mil though, in the current market a GK that can not play out from the back that well who he 30 is not fetching 20 mil not happening. We him picked up for 22.5 mil at 26 when he was once watched by every big club in the world but a few mistakes in his games made people question him so we swooped for the bargain. Decent keeper but he couldn’t play the way Arteta wanted as well as Ramsdale and frankly the distribution is more important than shot stopping (not that Ramsdale can’t shot stop) it happens way more often whereas a good defence is team wide, Cech as good as he was benefitted from Chelsea’s defensive structure especially under Mourinho. Wish luck to him at Fulham, think he will impress with his shot stopping and there is no pressure to not make a mistake or play out from the back constantly.
AMN insisted on leaving in Jan, he went to Roma and didn’t play there either. I’d much rather have Lokonga/Zinchenko/White/Xhaka playing there and there is enough cover this year for any to play there. No point extending his contract as we have by a year and then keeping him to play bits parts, we’d have to give him away after that. Far better take our option of a 1 year extension send him on loan where they pay his wages and then we can sell him.
I agree with you once you write the squad down you can see we have cover in depth for most positions with three to four players being able to play numerous positions.
The root cause of these players being sold for “peanuts” is limited quality.
Sorry V but amn seems to have gone backwards in his development
He hardly got a touch at roma and was sent swiftly back at the end of the season
Torriera mad it clear he never wants to at for us again so why keep deadwood sound
The squad is not perfect but a lot stronger then last season
Even Liverpool have problems and they were said to have quality in depth last season
Let’s stop complaining about what we could or should have done and concentrate on what we have and giving the club manager and players we currently have our full support
Big game Sunday, win lose or draw and if the boys put in a shift we will stand by them all
Ps
Only see a 1-3 win outcome
AMN was doing well before being sent out on loan last season. He was even playing better than Lokonga and I remember one match against Watford where they both balled out. When you think about it at his best he’s a very good backup and can even challenge for a starting position at fullback. He should’ve been kept.
Before being sent out last season to Roma, he was on loan at West Brom, and couldnt even make it work there.
You are right. He had his moments in an Arsenal shirt … and he WAS good backup. He could have challenged for a starting RB spot …
But therein lies the problem.
He went public about his desire to play ONLY in central midfield. Didn’t like being played at full-back.
AND
He got the England call-up which inflated his ego far too much.
What’s a manager to do?
Had he allowed the team to benefit from his versatility, he could have been a decent core player within the squad … but he talked his way off the pitch.
Instead of playing out-of-position, he stopped playing, period.
I disagree, don’t compare us with Liverpool, they have more options than us, yes they have injuries but still have options and they had to bring in Arthur on deadline day coz it’s a long way to go, injures gonna happens and you need backup to adjust, we can’t avoid talking about the problem, I think he let players too easy, as a manager you have to able to convince and encourage players to work hard and fight, what is bad about Nicolas Pepe to be a backup?
You say you are a fan of Arteta as an afterthought by the looks of things and I’m hardly convinced that you are by what I have just read
He does not have to be an Arteta fan, this is Arsenal and that is what matters.
If I read between the lines you support Arteta and not Arsenal? I know the answer but thatbis a perfectly logical assumption.
I’ve been following Arsenal for nearly 60 years
Spot On👍
So you are saying he shouldn’t outline the fact even though he’s Arteta fan? Cmon man this is Arsenal, we have to see the problem also, the league is a very competitive one and have the Europa league and other domestic cups to play for
Martinelli,Jesus, Nketiah,Marquinhos, Nelson , ESR and Vieira can all play on the right wing or the left wing.Including Saka, that means we currently have 8 players vying for the 3 main attacking positions, and yet,the writer considers we needed a back up for Saka?
Better not to buy than to buy average or overrated. These days people are moved by YouTube and fan hype than actually watching players on the pitch and judging from the eye test. Look at a player like Cody Gakpo, you’d think he’s all that until you actually watch him. Same thing many did with Pepe when we told them he was overrated. Today we don’t hear Pepe vs Zaha debates no more.
We needed a DM backup. Everybody knew that from day 1
Hopefully our season won’t be like Nintendo. I mean they actually shook the game ‘whew’, and blew it!
Lol. That brings back memories of megadrive cartridges for me 🙂
Hahaha you actually caught that bar and it’s an entendre too because Nintendo were legendary but blew it in the end.
The root problem is Edu. He might have been a good footballer but a businessman/negotiator he is not!
KSE need their heads examined to let him and RG run a multi billion pound enterprise! They messed up in Jan. and again have done the same thing. Fire them both
What a depressing downbeat offering.
Top of table 5 wins great feel good factor at Emirates.
We all know tougher times ahead but great start.
I think Arsenal had shown restraint. Why would they overpay for pending free agents? I think that’s good business sense.
Yeah, the unfortunate injuries are a stroke of bad luck, but it’s not like we are in a desperate need of any players that would justify overpaying for one.
Yeah, would be nice to get one or the other, but it’s not a terrible window that some deems it to be because we missed out on a target.
Whilst I would have liked a signing following the recent injuries, I am pleased they did not panic buy and I am pleased with the window, overall.
My biggest concern is not the lack of an extra midfielder. My concern is that the lack of a deadline day signing will be used as an excuse to inject some negativity into the positivity currently surrounding the club. Sadly, there are lots of people that would love this to happen.
Absolute nonsense, I’m sorry.
We have not “blown it”, how? We have got rid of deadwood draining wages, i.e. costing money.
On the point of us not getting backup to Saka because he, as you put it, is suffering from pressure and fatigue, look at the stats. He is contributing to our goals and when teams need to overloadamd put two players on him to keep him in check, it is giving space to the rest of our frontline to cause havoc. Also, we actually have provided back up to Saka with our new signings; Viera and Marquinos. How can you say with such surety that Saka’s performance will dip? Last season was exactly the opposite and his performances grew in stature as the season progressed, game by game. There is more likelyhood that will happen again this season than not.
You say we need a decent extra man in midfield, in case Partey is injured. Guess what, we have Lokonga, I reference our last game. He more than comfortably deputised for Partey. We also have Zinchenko, Xhaka and White that can play DM with strong replacements in their respective positions, i.e. Viera where Xhaka plays now and Tierney at left back for Zinchenko. Why do we need Torreira? Deadwood, killing our club that’s what he is because he is on too high wages for any club in Europe to afford him and comfortable sitting and drawing wages but not performing to the standard required to win this league. As for Maitland-Niles, wtf? Do you not remember he tried forcing a move to Everton, “I wanna go where I’ll be loved”? Good luck to him, he is a premadonna that is not up to the level of being a starter and thinks he is too good to be a utility player. Well guess what, tear it up at Southampton (2nd chance after Roma)and then we can have the conversation. For now, we have more than enough cover at right back, i.e. Tomayisu, White, Soares or even Saliba. In midfield we have Xhaka, Lokonga, Zinchenko, also White has DM experience. Why keep AMN? Deadwood, drawing wages and blocking the position of one of our other starlets from the academy, thinking Patino.
Leno, more deadwood killing us financially. When he plays our whole system looks shakey because he has no ball control and can’t pick out a pass. If our goalie isn’t comfortable in playing out from the back, then our defenders and our midfield have to compensate and drop deeper into positions that otherwise they wouldn’t need to, thus losing spacial advantage from being further up the pitch which in turn means there is more pressure from the opposition being behind the ball. Ramsdale is more comfortable on the ball, so defenders and midfield trust him to give them a pass further upfield and won’t need to drop back because he is shakey. Leno, deadwood. and drawing on our resources, i.e. wages and filling a position that would be otherwise available to a more hungry, younger player. Deadwood cannot be sold as their wages are too high for most European teams to afford and are not motivated enough to perform to the standard required to win the Premier League. Sometimes it’s better to make a financial loss in the short term to increase revenue and profit in the long term. We will fill our 2nd 11 positions with young, hungry quality players that we could easily sacrifice and sell one of them (asset) here and there for a hefty sum. Now we (Josh, Edu, Arteta) are thinking long term.
As for shooting ourselves in the foot and having to pay for these fictional and nonsensical mistakes, you sir will eat your words at the end of the season. We are are solidly run club financially, we have a board and management team that all have each others back, that togetherness has transmitted to our whole squad and that, is what will win us the league. We have become a team, with individually different strengths and weaknesses but foremost a team. Each and everyone of them is happy to be playing 90 minutes or 5 minutes or not at all, all required components of a successful team. This togetherness I have not seen for many years but I s3 now and I’m very excited. I believe, deep down inside, that this is our year. We will win the Premier League. I not only believe, I know it will happen.
You choose what you believe and at the end of the season, let’s talk.
Come on Arsenal! 💪
❤️🤍
I agree with most of what you said. I hope we are learning even as we move forward. On whether we win the league or not this year, time will surely tell.
I believe we have got right this time.
I agree with the first part of the article, our summer signings have been tremendous… the only downside being Vieira (once again, no mention of buying a crocked player as a previous manager was lambasted for) who we can only hope is worth the money.
The second part is harsh, when one considers that three bids were rejected by villa, while leicester were asking silly money for a player with just one year left on his contract.
Yes, we should have acted earlier and we are in danger of burning Saka out. Letting AMN go seems a strange decision, especially with the injury prone Partey once again unavailable (is he another injury prone player we should be shipping out as per the claim regarding Cazorla, Rosicky and Diaby, which a previous manager was lambasted for once again).
However, if we are to support Mikel 100% then we must also trust in his wisdom and I’m looking forward to see us going out and attacking manure from the off, whatever squad we have.
*overload and
Sorry for the long response and typo
Woeful article!
Finally some buying discipline, if the right player are not available, they simply reject second best options.
Arsenal now have a playing system in place, They also have a good crop of youngsters, Marquinhos will get his chance and he will be raved about.
I am now excited about this team, more so than any of the last 6 or 7 years.
Credit to Arteta for using his links with City to sign Jesus and Zinchenko.
As far as Edu is concerned, I think his contribution to the club since he joined as technical director has been a complete and utter disaster. Apart from Gabriel, and he is yet to deliver a single premier-league-ready Brazilian player to the club. Getting a reasonable market value for our players is another stripe against him. Edu has to go.
You are very wrong about edu, because, Gabriel Jesus not only have arteta’s connection, he once work with edu in the Brazilian national team, and if u listen to Jesus interview during his unveiling you will knw, edu and arteta work hand in hand to get all our buys, edu is never a disaster, this is actually not the time to point fingers at anybody cos the team is in an upward trajectory, let’s just keep being the loyal fans we are and enjoy the moment while it last, and long may it continue…
Martinelli you donut
Not getting good money for our fringe players is also partly Arteta’s fault. I think there is a disconnect between Arteta and Edu on this aspect, and this is actually disappointing as Arteta is now a manager rather than just a coach. He needs to always make a conscious effort to preserve the value of our asset (players) whether they are in his plans or not. We all know the only way to do this is to give them game time in some matches. No club will pay good money for a player that is perceived worthless by the selling club.
Now, what are you on about?
Ramsdale, Turner, Tomiyasu, Cedric, Saliba, Gabriel, White, Tierney, Zinchenko, Partey, Lokonga, Odegaard, Vieira, Marquinhos, and Jesus.
Those are 15 of your first-team squad players this season, all signed by Edu.
How have his contributions been a disaster?
I rather think he’s formed a brilliant partnership with Arteta which has transformed not only our squad–made it younger, hungrier, exciting, and capable–but also reignited connection, love, and hope for most Arsenal fans.
If he doesn’t have a personal link with a player (him or Arteta) he seems incapable of signing him
Same depressing old subject. I’m afraid I could only bring myself to speed-read it and the responses.
I don’t have the energy to begin responding to so much tripe, fortunately others have done a good job of dismantling it at length already.
Someone post the Samaritans’ number – we seem to have a few fans on JA who might slit their wrists before morning.
When peasant players, like the Villa villains, have bin ridiculed for about an hour they get mad and kick you. There’s nothing to say about that. But the injury on Arsenal’s number one star player Martin Ödegård can be devastating on Sunday. If Fabio Vieira had been at hand (or foot rather) as a substitute, the problem wouldn’t be so big. Now he isn’t. I think he have 45 mins with the U-21s under his vest.
Anyway, Man Uniteds match against team number 20, Leicester City, wasn’t that frightening.
LFC had more of the ball, more passes, higher pass percetage, shots on and off goal were the same, corners etc. We are going to Old Toilet, not Ethiad. If Arsenal can’t beat Man United, then all of the first weeks of lovely reminiscenes of the past has just been illusions. Beat the b*st*rds!
I disagree with you entirely. You say we should have two players for every position, and we do. So, how did Arteta “blow it”, exactly?
GK: Ramsdale + Turner
RB: Tomiyasu + Cedric
LB: Tierney + Zinchenko
CB: Gabriel + Saliba + White + Holding
DM: Partey + Elneny
CM: Xhaka + Lokonga
AM: Odegaard + Vieira/Smith-Rowe
LW: Martinelli + Vieira/Smith-Rowe
RW: Saka + Nelson/Marquinhos/Vieira
ST: Jesus + Nketiah
Also, White and Zinchenko can both slot into midfield. Jesus and Vieira can both play on either wing.
The injuries are unfortunate … but Arteta does have 2 players in every position! You can’t blame him if one position picks up all the injuries, all at the same time.
You talk about keeping Torreira and AMN … but what if tomorrow both Jesus and Nketiah get injured?
Should we have kept Laca around, just in case?
Or Bellerin, in case Tomi and Cedric both break?
What if Liverpool happens to us, and we lose 3 senior CBs all at once?
You’d need a squad of 99 players to manage depth if you think like that!
You certainly do not come across as a fan of Arteta …
Still, you say we blew it. How? What match have we lost? Which competition have we got knocked out of?
Yes, we have some injuries … and that makes all fans nervous but it could happen to any club, at any time. What if Rodri and Kalvin Phillips both got injured at once? Who will ManC play there?
You seem to think keeping a player is as simple as the manager wanting to keep him but …
Leno spent one whole season on the bench as backup. He wouldn’t stay another. He’s too good a keeper for it.
Torriera stopped being an Arsenal player before Arteta was hired. We simply couldnt sell him until this window.
AMN got too big-headed since his England call-up, and didnt want to be played anywhere but center-mid. Basically, he’s an idiot. He would not have stayed to be brought on at 70 min played.
And, if you want to see what happens when a club keeps players around by force … or tries to … look at the messes created at ManU by Ronaldo, Fofana at Leicester, and Antony at Ajax.
It never works out!
What is happening is that the naysayers are getting in their “I told you so” arguments in early so that they can reference them if we lose our next game or have any kind of set back.
Players such as AMN and Torreira have not proven to be up to the job over a sustained period but their names will pop up again if we lose at Man Utd.
Lol as if they were ever given a chance under Arteta. He has his favorites and if you can’t see that I’m sorry. Yet underperforming players like Holding are kept around
He’s right to have his prefrence as a coach everyone does, I remembered reading about toreria not settling into the squad even before the emergence of arteta, how is that his fault, mind you I feel every player we have in that department (save eleny) are way ahead of him, lokonga is still very young and formidable, so why keep a player who doesn’t, want to stay in the first place, I hope we all let go of arteta and let him do his job in peace….
I’m sorry … but AMN was given his chance. He played nearly every game in Arteta’s first half-season, including the FA Cup win.
Then, it was AMN who made the fuss about his position, then tried to force a move to Everton through social media, and then again forced the loan to Roma.
Torreira had felt unsettled in England before Arteta came in, and did not want to continue playing for the club.
Every manager has their favourites. Why do you think ManU spent 90 mill on Antony? Why do you thnk they spent 3 mnths chasing De Jong? Why drop 50 mill on Martinez? They are all Ten Hag favs.
Klopp loves Firmino, Henderson, and Alexander-Arnold. Even Milner still, who is 36 or 37 now.
Pep has his favs. Wenger had his. Ferguson had his.
Holding is kept around because he does what the boss asks him to do, fills his role, and doesnt create a mess in the dressing room.
Nothing he has said is a lie. Unfortunately you will be labeled an ‘Arteta hater’ for speaking facts. As with all other seasons under the Kroenke regime we are always one or two players from real success. Everyone and their pet knows Partey is an injury liability. The fact that we had to wait till the last day to sign but decided not to was utter tosh. Us ‘haters’ said it in January and it came to pass as so as it will now. All the goodwill that 5 wins in a row has provided doesn’t mean that we just have to blindly support the regime and not critique something that is just honestly common sense that i would think most fans could see for themselves. Happy to be proven wrong but this just reeks of mismanagement.
Now, it’s very obvious you have a problem with arteta being the coach, because there are no fact in all your point, arsenal have a principle the follow, they have a model about the kind of signings they are going for, would you have compared this transfer window to when Raul sanlehi was running the show, when those running things in the background are making us settle for players on the downward movement in their career, tell me, who among David Luiz, sokratis, lichenstiner, Pepe, can boldly own a space in our present team, yes partey is injury prone, but whose fault should that be, yes they left everything to the last day of the window to decide, and that’s partly down to the fact that they are not trying to over pay on players on their last year’s, how on Earth should we pay 30million for Douglas who is more or less like party( injury prone though with quality), there’s no point in you mentioning the winter transfer window, coz theres no way any team will over spend on players, so it’s very good they leave it out to the Summer, and trust me, all our buys has bn spot on… I think it’s high time you let the sleeping dog lies coz you pple are not seeing the long term vision, Rome was never built in a day, so they say, as long as there’s a shift in performance compared to where we are a year ago, I will gladly TRUST THE PROCESS, HATERS OUT……
My friend i will still be here when you come to realise that we needed to sign. My issue with ateta is his stubborness and boggling decisions when it comes to his favourite players. We could have used Pepe and Niles for the run in to the world cup. Why weaken our team? Then Edu and arteta saying That there was no player out there for us. Reeks of serious waffle. Do you seriously think we can compete with the size of this squad?? El Neny out for months, Partey weeks. Only Lokonga and Xhaka in the midfield. This is mismanagement of the highest degree
People seem to have forgotten emery’s winning streak and run of unbeaten games … good times were back at the emirates youngsters performing 2 players for each position (not sure why this is important when we are still playing Ben white as RB) …. And then???
Let everyone have their say..We knew what is happening to the team especially the midfield was coming for us and we needed to get our business done on time…If any fans should keep on supporting Arteta n edu if this team start failing again by losing out on top 4 or not winning the Europa league or even start going down the table before the world cup, then a SACK should be their reward for their series of failures these past seasons..So I won’t judge them so I don’t sound negative but if the club n those Arteta fans still believe his the man for the job if we start going down the table n giving excuses for him then it will show why arsenal got to this point all these yrs because both the owners n some fans chose mediocrity & persistent failure over the future of Arsenal FC… But for now the bets are locked in for Arteta n edu , so let’s all support the process and see where it leads us to… thanks
Well let that opportunity present itself first( sacking arteta) but before then let him do his work… Since the emergence of arteta, man United had made do wit two main coaches, and 3 interims, and I could remembered people saying arteta will not last 6 month in the job, here we are celebrating 100 games with high winning rate compare to our legendary coach, so till the opportunity present itself let him be…
This article and writer forgets that Reiss Nelson is still with us once he recovers from injury.
I heard his injury was long term. Plus i dont think the manager rates him
Well the manager said he is in his plan, once he’s back from injury
I find the problem with Arteta is, he is simply too arrogant and portraits he knows it all.
I watch him on the touch line as well, he complains all the time.
Please take note of the other managers, they do complain too but unlike Arteta.
Its rather irritating
He said Pepe was a different player that had come back from the afcon than the one that went out and didn’t play him. Just words Dunmanuel.
Same same mistakes, we luck depth in the midfield, arteta makes lots of mistakes forcing players to leave minus signing player AMN was not for sale, toreira would have covered the now injured partey but I gave him out, the same mistake he made with Guedouzi, give players playing time, we will loose games because of injuries just like last season, am disappointed in arteta.
Vinod, I think in the midfield we are covered enough. Remember M. Elneny is a bit Part player and so is Sambi Lokonga. We should guard against having too many in one position and they do not get game time.
I would agree with a relief for Saka but where does Marquinos and Vieira play.
This squad can be juggled around while we wait for reinforcements in January after seeing how the team performs and any short falls.
You are absolutely correct. Lack of game time makes these players keep leaving on the cheap. Plus, there’s lack of depth in midfield. Totally agree.