After Arsenal’s first game of the season against Fulham, all our fans were lauding Willian as a brilliant addition to our attack, but his game seemed to go downhill after that and he hardly had another good game until we faced Man United last week.
But now Mikel Arteta has come out in defence of the 32 year-old Brazilian and has given reasons for Willian’s drop in form. He told Goal: “I think he started really well with his first game against Fulham, then he had an injury and he didn’t have any time to train, he didn’t have any pre-season and he was later than the others,”
“Then we’ve been changing the front three and they need to generate that cohesion, that understanding and those relationships on the pitch between the front players in order for things to work better.
“I can see a development in the last two games and the understanding of things that we do but he’s not used to. He’s getting better and better and we all know the quality that he has and he’s a great option to have on the pitch.”
“He’s a player who can make a difference, he’s got the ability to find that last action to open the door when everything is really tight.
“To score a goal, create an assist and the personality and understanding that he has on the pitch to manage the game we need in certain moments. At Old Trafford, I think he did that really well.”
So, now that we know the reasons why Willian has not been performing so well, we can stop insulting him for a whileand calling him names like “Chelsea reject” and other choice insults. Let’s listen to our manager and cut him some slack, shall we?
Ive been totally underwhelmed with Willian so far and disappointed. I need and Arsenal need a massive improvement from him. Not impressed.
You are not going to be patient then, Reggie? lol
Pat, can we afford to be patient with him, he is 32, experienced and has obvious abilty. We can only be patient so long. Pepe is a disappointment but he is out producing willian.
How can you be patient with a 32 year old semi retiree?
He is no 21 year old promising spring chicken.
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You people have the brain the size of a pea!
We are lucky to have such a talent at Arsenal, you will all change your tune soon! Neanderthals ! call yourselves supporters.😡
And you don’t have a Brian at all, oh wait are you Edu in disguise? Hahaha. Your such a good talent and saviour was not offered a 3 year deal by a club where he spent so many years who know him way better then us, even their supporters didn’t seem to care about Willian going. Also his best season every with Chelsea yeilded 9 goals and 8 assist that too when he was in his prime now he is in decline. I think you probably are confused with names, you think hazard is Willian ?? Dude the white short guy who gets over weight start of every season and is amazing that is hazard not Willian…😂
Willian had his best goal / assist tally LAST YEAR so hardly gone into rapid decline in like 6 months lol ‘even there supporters didnt seem to care about willian going’ and that’s just an outright lie, you know all the chelsea fans? Obviously William hasn’t done well but to say these things as fact when there not just makes you sound like a bitter secret spud… what kind of fan relishes one of our players not performing just to feel vindicated SMH.
Here we go again another delusional fan. Well I don’t know all the Chelsea fans but you can see not too many came out on forms or in media to show displeasure about him leaving not like they did about hazard. Go and check his EPL stats since he played for Chelsea he was never prolific and to think he will be now when he age is declining is just being stupid after all is just common sense with age everyone declines. we have players who have constantly out performed him at Arsenal but you guys don’t rate them so who is being hypocrite here. Coming to fan relishes his own player well what you think what you guys say about ozil and use to about Mustafi. Fans like you are the biggest hypocrites when it suits you you take morally high ground, no wonder why Arsenal as a club is lossing it’s values.
As if he is new to the league and is a promising youngster. I said it at that time we signed him that we are making a big mistake of signing a Chelsea discard and that too on 3 year long deal. We keep dishing out absurd contracts to players then club does not want to honour them and starts to moan about them. Some of the fans did voice their concern of adding yet another dead wood to the squad but were dismissed and called all sort of things to point out what was obvious. Now I see all Chelsea fans laughing on us….way to go Arsneal you made us proud by doing another dum deal. Edu is hell bent on bringing all his old Brazilian pals to Emirates there was even talk of Oscar retiring to EPL with us lol! That would have been cherry on cake for Edu.
I much agree with MA and therefore disagree with those on here who are too impatient to wait for the development our manager says is happening . It must therefore be reasonable to conclude that those fans believe they know better than MA. NO OTHER REASONABLE CONCLUSION IS POSSIBLE.
Well you seem to think you know more then any one else even Wenger right? Truth is all managers now more then the fans bec they work day in day out with the players and have done badges to qualify for the job. I bet this only applies when it’s you favourite MA we are taking about. Where was your same logic and support when Wenger and then UE was incharge.
Really don’t know what we expect with Willian at 32. Even watching him at Chelsea, I get frustrated on their behalf. Willian will give us occasionally good performance, but overall he is hard to watch, especially with his final ball and constant loss of possessions.
Mohsan,criticism is good but only when it is constructive. The problem is you censure MA at any given opportunity without taking into consideration he has barely stayed a year at Arsenal.
What MA said about Williams is worth considering. It is pertinent you exercise a little patience and watch for sometime before you go on with your criticism .
@Buchi, if you read my comments I also praise him when he does something right and support him but I do not support him blindly. PPL form realise MA is doing his job and he is paid to do his job right. He is not doing charity by managing Arsenal. Look what Morinihio and Ancelloti have done in around same time as MA probably better then MA but some of our fans have so much blind faith that they think he is better then klopp and Pep. Critising some one so much and only seeing negative is wrong but also praising some so much and overlooking their short coming as well.
I don’t think the critics read the article properly it stated the reasons for Willians dodgy start, he’s 35 not 25 he needs a few more games to get going, every Chelsea fan I know didn’t want to lose him and if you give him a chance you’ll se why ,he is still a good player who has won trophies and has great experience.
We can’t be patient with Willian because he’s been playing in EPL for ages. Arteta is the one who created this scenario, by buying a 32yr old with high wages. We still gonna encounter the same scenario as Ozil’s. Willian is gonna sit on the bench whilst milking Arsenal some exorbitant wages
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Pure hypocrisy at play . Signing Willian to begin with was dumb and asking fans to give him time is dumber.
Exactly. We just deceiving ourselves. This has been Willian’s summary all his Chelsea career. We will support him as an Arsenal but the truth has to be said.
@ ayo Yeah that’s why he had 7 years at chelsea winning PL titles and like 3 player of the season awards, I mean jesus christ yes hes not playing well for us but to diminish his whole career is a f$%king disgrace. That’s not support where I come from.
Love how the articles that have the most comments on the ‘latest news’ section are nearly always articles to criticize one of our own players SMFH.
What’s the betting he scores tomorrow now, Rory 🙂
Haha I hope so sue! Although he could score ten it wont matter lol
I’ll drink to that.
I criticised it even during the process of acquisition. Most of the fans nearly bit my head off. Willian is giving you the taste of your own medicine. Lets just budget for Willian as we gonna pay him like Ozil until his contract runs out
Top Troller good to see you mate you have been gone a while! Hows life with the spuds treating you? Gotta respect your consistency, only here to criticise!! Keep it up bro 👍
Haha good old Topgunner
Some of you guys comments are completely out of whack.
Pepe is only out performing willian on goals and assists, but that is not all our game is based on.
Willian works extremely hard for the team, he presses well, isnt shrugged off the ball like a weak baby, he has the nous to be efficient, know how to give width and also tracks back and defends.
We signed him injured, he didnt have a pre season at all, then got a knock so he needs time to get back up to speed and form.
BLIND FICKLE PEOPLE WHO ONLY SEE WHAT THEY WANT TO
You have no scope to see other things that are happening on the pitch or what is actually needed in a squad to play the way MA wants
Here here val! There honestly not fans in my book, only come on here to criticise, never comment on positive articles, and would rather willian not perform well to vindicate there opinions, it’s sad AF.
cheers, its what i believe is true.
Now im not putting any disrespect here when i say this but it seems that like 80% of the people who come on this site and say they are Arsenal fans have never been to a game in their lives, live in Africa and watch highlights and have never played the game at any level.
there sonly so much you can take from a 4 min highlight reel ya know!
Couldnt agree more mate, casting judgement from a place of pure ignorance and the vast majority of them have all crept on here in the last two years, never used to be anywhere near as bad on here, team support is suppost to be unconditional and of course you can criticize, but to come on here week after week parroting the same garbage over and over, insulting fellow fans and never saying anything positive, people were saying MA HAS TO GO a couple of weeks back before we beat utd, its disgraceful. 🤦♂️
Pat, your pleas for reason and patience will fall on deaf ears as the anti Willian brigade are incapable of crediting our Manager with intelligence and professional knowledge .Many, or indeed most, have never played the game at even a semi professional level, yet they know better than an ex professional, who has served his apprenticeship at the highest level and, in his short time with Arsenal has improved the team to the extent that we are resilient, and no longer a soft touch.Please do not let the critics get you down Pat as rational Arsenal fans are happy to listen to our Manager and believe in him.
I must admit I was not too happy when we signed William, but his overall contribution so far should not go unnoticed – especially by the fanbase. First of all, he takes care of the ball, he provides width to our attack on the right side, he has the skills to constantly beat defenders and supply good crosses from the goal line. In spite of age or time in the league, every player needs time to adapt to a new team. Expecting anything less would be foolish.
Willian is not bad in anyway n would come good