Is Arsenal’s cultural change under Arteta a truth or a Myth – By Ibrahim
What is culture change? According to Kellie Wong, a senior Content Marketing Manager at Achievers, Organizational culture is the collection of values, expectations, and practices that guide and inform the actions of all team members. Think of it as the collection of traits that make your company what it is. A great culture exemplifies positive traits that lead to improved performance, while a dysfunctional company culture brings out qualities that can hinder even the most successful organizations.
Don’t confuse culture with organizational goals or a mission statement, although both can help define it. Culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviors, not press releases or policy documents. You can watch company culture in action when you see how a CEO responds to a crisis, how a team adapts to new customer demands, or how a manager corrects an employee who makes a mistake.
I have seen on multiple JA’s articles and comments mentioning the culture change at Arsenal since Mikel Arteta took over, and it got me thinking if there is some truth to it or just a myth.
First, I would like to say that for most part culture change is very difficult to measure as in most of the organization the changes are internal and are only known by people with access to the inner workings of the organization. Since I have no inner working at Arsenal my opinion is solely based on the information already in the public domain
The most area mentioned in respect to the cultural change is our transfers, player relations, and our performance, and I want to focus my opinion on these areas.
Transfers – We have been told that our transfer method and handling have improved since Gazidis and Wenger’s era. I am still trying to figure out in what ways that our transfers have improved. We are still dithering and going after the players that have explicitly expressed no interest in coming to Arsenal. Yes, MA and Edu have changed their targets mostly by bringing in more Kids with potential and trying to unearth the unknowns, but how is that different from Wenger’s approach from 2005-2014? So now old is new? Recycling the same tested and unsuccessful tricks again. Are they going to allow the same thing that happened to Wenger’s too? You know where they will raise the boys into men until that time comes when the player’s “little boy” inside them wants to bolt out for a title winning team.
On the money side, we are now overpaying in incoming transfers while giving away our players for free or pocket change. At least, we used to sell for profit during Wenger’s time. The likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Adebayor and RVP were sold for a hefty fee (more than we paid for them) even when the club had no leverage, because it is well known the players forced the transfer.
Player relations – One of the biggest cultural changes mentioned around a lot and MA is applauded for is that he got rid of the players from the previous regime because they were troubled, lazy, over pampered, and overpaid. This is well and good only if players acquired by Arteta are any different from the ones he got rid of. Under MA big contracts were handed to the likes of Eddie, Willian, Partey and Auba; and above all some players were always in the lineup, even if it was pretty obvious that they were underperforming and at least could take a breather for a change.
Every manager at the highest level of football will always have to deal with difficult players. Players are humans and have varying range of difficulties. From wild characters like Ballotelli’s or Joe Buttons of the world to just normal in-game indiscipline. You think the likes of Zlatan, Rooney, RVP, Anelka, Keane, and Vieira were easy to manage? Great managers will always find a way to differentiate the toxicity from the cockiness. MA could be right by getting rid of them, but he must know that this is not the only solution.
Performance – Now with the change in culture, one would hope that it brings positive changes to the performance in the field. MA finished 8th twice in a row and the 5th when he had three chances to finish 4th. He won the FA and Community cup with the players from the previous manager. So, the previous culture helped him achieve the little achievement he has under his belt so far.
Can someone tell us what our style is? Our play is very rigid and very dull to say the least. We are not a pressing team, not a counter attacking team, not a passing team, and definitely not a defensive team. I doubt this team can beat the worst Wenger team or Emery’s team, but I digress.
So, the verdict is that I do not see any meaningful cultural shift at all.
Ibrahim
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What is this? lol.
The club gave Arteta the chance to create a whole new team last summer and so far he has delivered brilliantly. Many of the over paid under performers are gone or going shortly. 6 new quality recruits have been brought in. Magalhaes Tierney Partey Xhaka have performed well. Saka ESR and Martinelli have come on in leaps and bounds. So a top 13 is in place. A brilliant 5th place 11 points clear of Man U was achieved. There was a clear directive to the players that only total committment will do. Already this summer we have brought in Turner + Marquinos. Saliba has been enticed back. Nketiah looks close to extending. Fabio Vieira is apparently a Gunner. We are strongly looking for a new striker.
Niles and Nelson are likely returning. The transformation in just 12 months has been remarkable. We are buiding a younger far cheaper more balanced tougher and consistent squad. Arsenal is building slowly toward being a 4/5 team in the league and competitive in the cups squad. Half way throgh the process its been a great start.
@FF
6 new quality recruits that.
Lets be honest here. Tavares and Lokonga have been poor.. But let’s see what they can do this coming season..
MA cannot be credited for Tierney, Saka, ESR, Martinelli or Saliba all of whom emerged or were signed under Emery
Niles and Nelson won’t even get a sight of the first team.
The best players at the club came in before MA took post.
That is the reality of MA’s impact on the club.
Well said Leon!
Odegaard is pretty good though, but whoever thinks that last summer transfer window was a string of shrewd business is surely biased.
Ramsdale was decent at best (a few great games followed by dozens of average, mediocre or even worse), White didn’t live up to his price tag, and the jury is still out on Lokonga and Tavares.
Arteta made a hell lot of mistakes, for which a half-decent club would have sacked him. We did the opposite, so there is not much we can do but hope that he has learnt from his mistakes and won’t be repeating them.
Make no mistake: Arteta is the weakest manager among the top 6 clubs at the moment. If you challenge that you either don’t know anything about football or simply biased to the point where debate is meaningless. But probably he is also the cheapest, so Mikel could still be the right choice, but must improve significantly next season.
It’s a personal analysis by a fellow Gooner – can you not read?
A fellow gooner
Of course i can read clearly.This mate of your’s should not attend games with such a dismal mindset of his thinking we don’t know how to do anything yet we finished 5th on the log narrowly missing out on 4th place due to unfortunate circumstances,fellow gooner my foot.
No, we missed out on fourth due to our manager and players, so the question he was asking is quite a sensible one.
If anything has changed, tell me what it is.
So, where you the one that took the team all the way to narrowly missing 4th place? It was still MA. Give him the credit. If he got the team over the line, you’ll not have anything to say. The man is a far better manager and tactician than any of us here. There’s nothing you know about football management better than MA and Edu. If we hypothetically give the team to manage, we’ll be relegated. So stop being sour.
What changed is we used to fairly criticize managers, now it’s defend Arteta, forget the results you see.
It’s not his fault, bad players, covid, Kroenke not spending, VAR, refs, list goes on.
They take about “the future” in an effort to excuse the present, meanwhile still waiting for the CL trophy and responsibility the arrogant one promised when he took charge.
Unless he meant players and not himself.
Or we missed out because four other clubs were better. We punched above our weight with a paper thin squad related to our rebuilding process. I expected us to compete top six and we managed the fifth spot, which is documenting our current squad quality.
Brilliant write up here.
People will only believe in what they want to believe in even if they were not factual.
It’s fine not to believe in so call project and it’s fine if you choose to believe in it. We Will all support the team regardless.
Well the changing of culture is there to see for all. As nketia is reported to have been given No14 for next season.
That’s the culture right there.
“People will only believe in what they want to believe in even if they were not factual.”
Couldn’t agree more.
@HH
I 100% agree with you.
To this day we still have people claiming that Arsenal were Title challengers in 2015/16 because we finished 2nd, even if the objective evidence and FACTs suggest otherwis. Some people don’t want to believe / accept that we were not title challengers in 2015/16.
“People will only believe in what they want to believe in even if they were not factual.”
I think that statement absolutely encapsulates such people..
😊👍
You got me there but still it doesn’t make it any less true.
Hello, each one can defend their own opinions, and that is perfectly fine. However, ever since Mikel took over we are no longer getting spanked and skinned out by the big four as was the norm under the greatest (by a few minority readers) leader. We can go home after the match without hiding our faces in shame or meeting our colleagues on Monday morning after some horror shows. Well Mikel did chuck out Ozil, can someone explain why Kartal and Jorge have done same? Can someone explain why a “star” studded Arsenal lost the EL but Villareal won it with the same manger? Toxic culture is the answer. Culture cannot be changed overnight, hence the two 8th place finishes.
Big egos like Zlatan, Rooney, RVP, Anelka, Keane, and Vieira gave their 110% on the pitch, not 100% each time they walked onto, and not hop skip jump and wave their hands in the air as if they had some imaginary butterfly wings attached. These were/are die hard pros who want/ed to win and would never settle for some clumsy display on the pitch. So it becomes easier to manager them as they are focused on the pitch. Have you seen any training ground pictures of any of the above joking/laughing unlike Auba/Lacazette? Ask Reiss Nelson the difference at the AFC training ground and the one at Feyenord and the answer lies why we finished 8th twice and were going rock bottom under Emery.
Sorry folks, culture cannot be changed by an individual over a season. And that it the reason iconic clubs go down. Man Utd are undergoing the same crises due to the ugly player power which wants to get an honest manager sacked while they enjoy the luxurious wages and perks. We are lucky to have hired Mikel at the right time who took the correct decisions for sporting reasons and not financial reasons. Had we to stick with Ozil, Kolasinac, Socrates and company we would have been relegated this season for sure. But we finished 5th is a testament to the hard work of Mikel and his coaches.
So what you are saying is that you were ashamed of getting hammered by the likes of City, Chelsea….but you’re not when losing 3–1 against the likes of Newcastle,3-0 against Palace…🤔
Don’t forget spuds away, our biggest defeat there for how long?
Brighton come to mind?
What about Forest in the 3rd round of the cup?
Sitting watching the dire football served up last season, I certainly didn’t walk away with my head held high from quite a few games.
In fact, I just sat there remembering what it was like to think we would win a game with attacking football.
Thank you, the writer even mentioned players we sold and make profit like Fab, Vieira, Nasri etc. How is he comparing world class players to deadwood we are selling nowadays I can’t understand. If we sell Saka or Smith Rowe for nothing, then come let’s have that discussion because those are the only players we have now that come close to those names we mentioned. Today, all the players that he claim we are giving away for free nobody wants to buy them, but the ones he mentioned top teams in Europe were queuing up to buy them. They gave their all on the pitch. Once I see anti MA article I know. The writer can go and support Tottenham till MA leaves arsenal.
I thought it was a real shame that Emery didn’t work out at Arsenal, in every other role he seems to have what it takes.
But speaking English was a big factor with Emery.
At Villareal he can speak Spanish, so when he’s constantly waving his arms around on the touchline and shouting, the players just might be able to understand what he wants.
Your a perfect example of what you speak of…
Then I am In a good company. Care to give me a tangible evidence and not merely empty statements of any progress we have witness so far?
Or are you going to use the ever available get out of jail cards namely ghosting the topic card or can’t converse its beneath me card?
Take your pick.
In 2020 we finished with 56 points…..in 2021 we finished with 61 points…..in 2022 we finished with 69 points…
If you can’t see the progress there then I am sorry I can’t help you…
2014/15 75 points
2015/16. 71 points
2016/17 76 points
2017/18 63 points
2018/19 70 points
Sorry you were saying? Oh didn’t you read chapter one of this whole saga?
You said it all, this article is an example of the culture Arteta is trying to get rid off. We lost lots of matches last season but none can be attributed to the players not giving their best. That’s the culture that has changed.
How about the last game versus the spuds, or the Newcastle game after that?
Hardly “their best” as they looked weak while both opponents played attacking football comfortably.
Weak mentality under pressure and no plan B from Arteta when plan A fails.
Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton, Newcastle United.
The cultural, tactical, organizational, psychological etc changes under Arteta are all a big fat myth to everyone except an ardent Mikel supporter for a very simple reason that they can’t be backed up with data, facts and figures. No evidence whatsoever.
The great Arsene is criticised for transfers management when he bought and sold for profit and Arteta who is giving away world class players for free and keep on paying them is hailed?
We are overpaying for average players. Had we went for Bisouma they would have quoted us 60M and we would have paid it probably. No club will pay 50M for Jesus even if he was in a long term contract yet we are the only one who are going to pay it.
Anyone can see what they want to see and I have never seen that as I see in loyal Arteta supporters.
A tale of make believe if I have ever seen one.
We all want him to succeed because his success is Arsenal success but an apple is an apple calling it and believing it is an orange will never make it one.
I feel more of a team ethos in this squad now, players supporting each other and showing happiness when we win, even when they aren’t on the field themselves, more so than in the recent past, where I think we had a lot more self centred players, many of whom only seemed interested in themselves or just doing the minimum to get their pay. In that sense, I see a degree of improvement.
I don’t see a real winning mentality yet, I don’t see people getting angry when we aren’t playing well, or really trying to lift each other (except on odd occasions). That’s still not there – we’re still very prone to capitulating against the best teams.
In terms of achievement, the players aren’t as good/experienced as those we had under wenger and emery – I think that’s largely a bi product of actively trying to build up with a younger squad, I expect several of our players to be better next year than they were last year.
On the transfers – we’ve done some really good things, but dropped a lot of clangers. Not an improvement in the way we’ve done our business.
Nice article and a great idea for discussion btw, ibrahim
@Davi Your point are well reasonable.
In response to your first paragraph.
The reason is there for us to see.
Most of the players are young which means people are willing to overlook their mistakes and support them regardless.
We treat adults like adults and treat kids like kids.
Like you said many of the players he inherited were old, so people won’t give them any excuses. They have the experience, and they were supposed to be doing better.
In opposed to a young team, their mistakes can be overlooked simply because they are young, you will give them time hoping the become mature.
This is why we are celebrating their little achievement, which means they have done more than expected base on their age and experience.
But at the same time we are hiding behind the youth project so our progress won’t be question.
A quick reminder that we are not the only on youth project.
At this rate, Real Madrid have more youth in their first team squad than we do including those they loaned out.
It won’t be an excuse for any of the manager they appointed to finish 8th or 5th simply because they are youth.
What???
Having trouble reading again?
What is it with you?
Write an article yourself and let’s actually read what your thoughts are, instead of posting insults!!
He’s to busy playing fifa
Apparently he signed Jesus on there and put him in a front three and told Arteta to get the deal done because it worked out on a video game .
How can he compare our starting line up and real madrid reserve? That’s off topic to me.
Well said KEN!
Thanks Kaay – I do agree with what you said, there is definitely a lot of hiding behind the “youth project”.
It’s complicated, you could also see it as managing expectations, as when MA joined, we had a few overpaid players who weren’t cutting it, and replacing those with ready made, high quality players was always going to be difficult – on the other hand, difficult does not mean impossible, and the really top level managers/directors are able to identify and attract the up-and-coming best players with the right mentality. We may have had some success at that (to me it’s still not clear – ramsdale for example could go on to be a great, or end up being average), but we also made some less than stellar signings (Mari etc.) and shot ourselves in the foot with the willian signing and auba contract (although if we’re being fair, they both look a lot worse in hindsight than they did to most people at the time, especially the latter).
I think your Madrid comparison has merit, however they already had a culture of winning due to their longstanding success in the CL, and they’ve got ageing, yet bone fide legends still making a big difference in thir side (modric, benzema, casemiro(?)) so they had a different starting point compared to arteta. They’ve nonetheless done an amazing job to transition after losing Ronaldo and ramos, and maintain that culture and level of quality to a large degree.
It’s clear that this management had no plan untill this completed season. And 2 years wasted for experiment, and that same two years got the Liverpool they always compare the rebuilding to into champions league. In fact they compare the rebuilding to Liverpool, meanwhile at this stage when klopp was appointed, he was already a champion league finalist agaisnt all time best which they lost, fast forward to now, they are in the same position.
Reason why I said this management had no plan at the time was very clear with the transfer they made as well. Runnerson, Mari, Soares, Willian, both ceballos and Luiz were retained back into the team. Those are quite awful transfers. You could say it’s because of their lack of experience, but why are people always forgetting this part like it never happened.
Another excuses that would come up will be he went through the pandemic era, this affected everyone not just us.
Yeah we had so many underperforming squad which were on high wages.
Most of these high wages players earned their salary but along the way they fell off which wasn’t out fault.
You can’t fault the likes of Auba, Ozil, pepe, partey and many more even Willian with what they were awarded.
Was it way too much absolutely yes, but before they were awarded that contract check their performance, they were doing great, they only fell off after that contract.
We don’t have to sign kids just because we want to maintain the salary wages.
More than half of Liverpool squad are not kids and half are considered world class and they are on very low salary compare to what others club offer his players. We can emulate that as well instead, not signing unproven kids , unless we are planning to make profit out of them like we used to do under Wenger.
The excuses for this management is ridiculous.
He inherited deadwood.
Want to clear the wages
Clear egoistic and toxic players.
Transition.
Cultural changes.
Youth project.
Pandemic.
Too many excuses and it doesn’t stop.
Can’t disagree – the Liverpool example is spot on (really good point on the contacts – we always pay more to players at every level) and shows the impact a top manager, properly supported, can have. We can say for certain that we don’t have that with MA.
It’s possible for him to improve, but should he be improving himself at arsenal, or should we be getting the finished product wrt managers?
Regarding excuses, I said on another page that arsenal feels more like Disney than a football club now, and I think the PR spin we get is a part of that.
“So, the verdict is that I do not see any meaningful cultural shift at all.”
The verdict? The verdict or your verdict?
Can’t see how you guys make excuses for shít old players we let go and cry about having no style of play. Like clockwork, it’s always the Öutters like they call it on Twitter that have problem seeing the growth in the team and the style of play. We all know there’s a lot of Öutters on here now don’t we?
It’s laughable you’d compare the shit and toxic squad we had under Emery with this one.
Only one thing is certain, wether Arteta makes it at Arsenal or not. If he leaves at the end of the season, he’ll be leaving Arsena in a better shape than Wenger and Emery left it, leaving a squad full of very good players for whoever the next coach would be.
That alone, is from a result of the cultural change he brought.
Oh also let’s all just pretend the Kroenkes aren’t actually like an open cheque book for the manager now that they’ve found a manager they trust and believe in.
“Only one thing is certain, wether Arteta makes it at Arsenal or not. If he leaves at the end of the season, he’ll be leaving Arsena in a better shape than Wenger and Emery left it”
Despite all my grumblings during the season I do still believe this
There have been significant shifts since Arteta joined. After he joined there was an attempt to remain competitive by retaining the core of the players that had been there for a number of years. This approach obviously did not work and a different direction was clearly laid out and progressed from last summer.
Arteta laid out his expectations for the players; which he has restated a number of times. Those who do not conform, no matter how talented, will eventually get moved on.
He has now built a team that looks good for the future.
As for Arteta’s managerial ability my own view is that he has done well given the resources he has had available and remains a top manager.
Arsenal do not exist in a vacuum. We are competing against some of the best resourced teams in the world. Several of these teams have had a kind of head start in that they made key changes years ago and now they are maintaining or consolidating. The suggestion that any manager could have done a better job given the same resources does not stand up. When we have seen that in recent times Wenger and Emery have struggled at Arsenal and look at the situation at Man U, I think Arteta and Edu deserve more respect than they often get on this site.
An important consideration is that the top of the premier league is much stronger than it was just a few years ago which is generally overlooked by many.
Sorry – I thought Mikel won the fa cup and the CS with ALL the plaafter yers he inherited?
Let’s hope he has more success after he (quite rightly as manager) decided to give them away, pay them off or let them sit on the bench, while finishing 8th,8th, 5th and getting knocked out of the cup in the 4th and 3rd rounds.
What kind of change is that?
You mean top clubs were lining up with loads of money to buy these players and MA told them ‘hey don’t bother paying, take him for free ‘ don’t be ridiculous. Those your heros he let go for free where are they? Besides is it your money? If the owner sanctions it, what’s your stress? We can’t put gun on others clubs heads to buy our players. By the way it’s very ignorant to imply that it’s MA who is doing the business of buying and selling at arsenal. Don’t hate on the man.
A Culture change going from exciting Football with players able to express themselves to a team full of yes men playing awful football micro managed by someone who looks like a rabid dog screaming from the touch line .
And this is the The problem with having such an inexperienced manager is that he does not commend respect from bigger egotistical type players as we’ve seen with the likes of Auba , this is why we have had to go down this young route ,players that he can control .
The transfer side of things are quite frankly laughable to say the least the money lost this past 2-3 seasons is staggering form pay players to play somewhere else or just giving players away for a pittance ,I’m not sure who’s involved or in charge of that side of things but surely he’s overstayed his welcome by 12 months .
Give me wengers worst team over this ,whatever it is I’m witnessing .
Why are describing Our Coach as a “rabid dog” , what is wrong with you ?
*are*
I apologise
If I hurt your feelings
Dan, nothing to what Arsene and Unai were called though was it?
Part and parcel of being a a football manager Ken ,not sure why someone would get offended by what I said but that’s the world we live in now .
Sorry, but why did we sack Emery? Did we sack him solely for the results? Which status did he have among our senior players?
I thought we made a great appointment when we appointed Emery, but we went from bad to worse in the first half of the 2019 season. When he finally had to leave, we had a string of bad results, and some will say we had relegation form.
I wonder where we would have been in February if he still was our head coach/manager? In addition, how was the atmosphere in our stadium and around our club? It’s easy to forget, but Google can help us recall the situation.
Please compare the state of our club now with May 2018 and November 2019. From what I read, hear and understand, it’s pretty different and much more positive. And the change is not a result of coincidences
Didrik, I like you was positive about Unai Emery, a proven intelligent winning manager. However he was undermined from day one, in being appointed as “head coach”, not “manager” He was then not given the players he wanted, Torreira and Pepe instead of Partey and Zaha respectively being examples. Emery was expected to coach players bought by others, regardless of whether they suited his system of play or not. Finally he was not supported in disciplining the players like Ozil, who had let him down, particularly in the Euroa League final. When he dropped Ozil he was forced by the Board to reinstate him to the starting eleven. Positive changes in the culture were the appointment of Arteta as “manager”, having a say in transfers (no excuses now) and Board support in disciplining, incuding moving on players like Ozil. Jidgement of players and man management are still issues
Emery got probably appointed in the worst possible time.
I’m not saying that Arteta is perfect not at all, but I’m behind our manager and players because it’s more constructive than making conflicts.
In addition, I have never thought it was going to be easy to replace Wenger. Having a successful manager for so many years are making a tremendous vacuum when they are leaving. And we didn’t made it easier with a total shake-up in our organisation as well. Perhaps too many new people at the same time in club with great traditions.
From my point of view we have done a decent job and made a strong foundation for the future, I’m convinced we are going to be successful again.
I just care about our upward trajectory. We’ve made a good progress, from finishing eighth in 2021 to fifth in this year
You might find our playing style dull, but I actually enjoy watching our team play. None of our opinions will matter though, when we see our final position at the end of next season
But we regressed from 6th-5th-8th-8th
The progression is a bought about from the reason we regressed in the first place (awful management)
You talk of 5th but that’s Arsenal standard .
5th is below standard Dan hence the previous two managers departures.
Yea sorry my mistake .
This is why I laugh when I see fans calling this progression.
Sorry, but it’s pathetic to blame Arteta for our league position in his first season. He got appointed in November 2019 when Arsenal was below eight on the table.
The state of our club was terrible, and we had many internal and external problems. We had more or less a total shake-up in our organization when Wenger left. Shortly after we had got our new people on board, they were going, replaced, or sacked.
In this chaotic environment, a young manager was trying to work and reestablish a group of players with negative experiences, lacking confidence, and having all kinds of issues. Some had made subcultures unrelated to a performance culture and elite sports.
From my point of view, we needed to get things sorted out, and Arteta did it after trying other solutions first. If Emery had done it himself, he could still have been our head coach/manager. Not taking care of our fundamental problems hit him like a boomerang in October / November 2019. When it ‘hit’ him, there was no chance for him to keep his job.
2019/20 : 8th – Emery and Arteta shared the blame, because each of them just managed half a year
2020/21 : 8th – No progress
2021/22 : 5th – A good progress, so the trend is upward
🤔
Well supposedly it was so it would have been better.
So why did nobody point this out when they say klopp finished 8th when he was appointed too.
We always compare ourselves to Liverpool with the building.
Let me remind you, at this stage of klopp he was a Ucl finalist with Liverpool, fast forward to now, it’s the same thing.
We can’t even quality for that competition not to talk of getting to finals.
The second season of no progress shouldn’t be accountable for?? Or it should be acceptable for what reasons. As you clearly said there wasn’t any progress and he didn’t have anyone to share the blame with like the first.
Despite no progress for 2020/21 season, Kroenke allowed Arteta to continue. So we could only accept the owner’s decision, which was proven to be great since Arteta made a big improvement in his second full season
Next season hasn’t even started yet, but some fans have already been moaning. We should see our situation in December first, before crucifying the current regime
GAI most fans are upset at the fact we play some atrocious football and the fact we threw away 4th which is what is so frustrating. Let’s not forget that we only had 1 game a week due to no European football and 3/4 teams were awful last season. So most won’t take 5th as progress due to actual facts of last season
I found our playing style entertaining, but some fans can only find the entertainment from goals
We only played well in certain games held on in some and got battered in others
Are you making a copy and paste and believing our two clubs had a comparable situation? Do you think that Klopp would have been successful with Arsenal as well?
There’s no guarantee for anything; what works one plays doesn’t have to work another place. Liverpool’s success isn’t related to only one man, but Klopp is a crucial part of it.
I remember Liverpool being almost unstoppable for two decades, in the ’70s and ’80s. Liverpool has dominated English football on a level far better than ours. We had our time in the ’30s and during Wenger’s tenure.
Lies damned lies and statistics …
Leicester last four seasons 9th 5th 5th 8th …
Arsenal last four seasons 5th 8th 8th 5th
Which team has progressed ??
Sorry who mentioned leceister here ??
Even if they do, ok compare there transfer in that period and let see who is meant to have progress.
Rodgers have been there for 4 years, tell me which season he spent 100m on transfer to recruit players.
Just like we make more income than them respectfully, we are out to outspend them. And our position should be backing it up .
It actually is,mate.
I think RW1 was saying our record is about the same as Leicester if you zoom out a bit, so probably neither of us has made any progress? That’s how I read the respective finishing positions anyway
Even if that’s what he’s trying to say, but why should we compare ourselves to leceister??
Then maybe we can all agreed we don’t belong to the top anymore.
Our new rivals have been leceister, westham and wolves alike for the past few years.
If that’s the case we can argue those teams have progress because they don’t spend half of money we have spent so far, and we are challenging for similar position. That’s quite impressive to me if you ask me.
Non of those team got a player worth of 72m nor a milfieder of 45m nor a CB of 50m. One of them even managed to win the same trophy as this management with a less budget and squad players.
Yeah, I think that’s where we are – over the past few years we’ve regressed or stood still, whereas Leicester and whu have improved quite a bit, and they’ve done it impressively without spending huge amounts. Imo they’ve done what wenger did when he first joined (to a lesser extent) – made clever signings of players on the rise.
Leicester won the title 6 years ago now they are 8th. How is that improving? Rogers got 2nd with Liverpool in 2014 now 8 years later his team got 8th. Leicester and Rogers are clearly regressing. You say Leicester did brilliantly this season. They got 52 points so according to your narrative they are better than Arteta’s terrible Arsenal who only got 69 points. That’s fan logic for you.
Yes, well, this is that famous cherry picking. It depends how far you want to “zoom out”.
And I didn’t say they did brilliantly this season. They’ve done really well overall because they did regress after they won the title, and sort of rebuilt to something quite stable.
You have caught me out a bit though, I do agree it looks like they’re falling away under Rodgers now.
Davi
Fair fan constantly contradicts himself with the points he makes he did it yesterday regarding Tuchel
I know reading is a lost art … but you shoukd read Gai’s original definition of progress
It’s an “upward trajectory” from two data points by that definition, if that’s what you mean
If he has brought any cultural change to Arsenal, i believe it will only have bearing when and if he ever actually achieves anything. One cultural change that Arsenal can not change is the loser tag. I dont like the direction we are going in, it is very worrying that we are putting so much faith and energy into a person that so far has a pretty bad or non existent track record with what he is trying to do. He is trying to get rid of all the personality at Arsenal and we are going from Red to Grey (that may be a good colour for our second kit) if it works who are we to complain but until it does, we need to tell the truth and say you have no more lives Arteta, you have used them up. DELIVER!!!!!!!!
I DONT LIKE MEDIOCRE ARSENAL!!!!!!!
We would’nt have sold those players you guys claimed we sold for profit if they did’nt force their moves and the only reason they forced their moves then was because they ‘THINK’ the club was not ambitious which same cannot be said with arteta’s current squad who are willing to die for the cause and are definitely in transition.i agree with the writer saying ‘i doubt if this team can beat the worst wenger’s team’ for now though but ’emery’s team’? I’ll cut you some slack there cos i guess you did’nt witness the team’s performance b4 he got the sack.All that you’ve labelled us not to be would have seen us concede 50 goals per game without reply,mr.ibrahim.
They didn’t die for the cause when it mattered most against Brighton, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Tottenham. Gifting away 4th place in the process.
When you make such a bold claim you should have something to back it up.
HH, they cant back it up, there is nothing to back it up, except lame excuses and waffle.
We all know what happened then,don’t we and the way they responded against chelsea,utd and westham at the back of those defeats is what makes me have faith in what this young team is capable of doing in two years max to come.
I think those fixtures fell just right for us but ok you put those there as a reason. I will ask you what happened after that and before come to that against Southampton palace and Brighton, they were dire before and after your cherry picked fixtures.
Fk, so why have Aubameyang, Lacs, Martinez, Guendouzi and Chambers left the club?
Did they think the club wasn’t ambitious, or that the manager didn’t know what he was doing?
We (kronkie) have lost millions in the transfer market since 2018 (we lost money before as well of course but not to that extent) and have just awarded Nketiah a five year contract with a reported £100,000 a week salary – did you read of any other top club wanting him?
As I said before, the owner has backed Mikel for three more years, with a reported £8,000,000 plus salary… WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT?
Those you mentioned left because they can’t stand the managers’ new culture you lot are calling a ‘myth’.
What’s this new culture ?
Being keep in line ,say something out of place and you’re gone .
Dan, “victory through harmony” becomes “my way or the highway”?
Ken, and the #14 Arsenal shirt for Nketiah to live up to.
I think the loss of personality started long ago. To me it was more to do with moving to the Emirates and trying to be a “big club”, paying big money for big name players, and touring Asia and America in the summer.
We had more personality when we were at Highbury. Now we feel more like Disney than a traditional football club imo. It’s the same for many clubs I suppose and it’s inevitable when big money is involved.
@reggie
Davi, it is easy to blame the move and yes, it started around then but it is getting worse. We have no identity now at all.
It’s not the move itself, the move was symptomatic of a change in culture – we wanted to evolve into one of the biggest clubs but it came at the expense of the quality of the football team (which caused us to fail), and our soul.
As hated as he is, I think RVP may have been the last of the players with the older mentality that actually represented arsenal to me, and in some ways it was fitting that he left with a cloud. Maybe I’m wrong on that
There is definitely a culture change in many departments but not in others.. I think this os very obvious for all to see.
In terms of performances on the pitch it is 50/50, but I feel much more comfortable defensively against the other Top 4-6 teams.
Offensive play is still a bit poor.
Player discipline is absolutely different nowadays. No more overindulging our precious primadonnas. They don’t perform or try to pull PR social media stunts and they are out.
There is a culture change when it comes to being rutheless. The club is now more than happy to get rid of overpaid, underperforming and egotistical players at a loss. This shows they won’t let player power dictate. Many players thought that because they were in massive wages and very popular on social media they would dictate the situation. But the club was like “Hell No”.
Player discipline and cutting down on humiliating scorelines (conceding 5 or 6 goals against the other big teams). I hope we don’t ever see such scorelines, they demoralised me so much..
I like the new climate. The Emirates stadium seems loud and optimistic. Our last game against Everton at the emirates last season where we were hoping for a miracle to get into Top 4. People were constantly on their mobile devices for news on the Spurs vs Norwich game. By the time spurs went 2-0 up the fans in the stadium just forgot about that and enjoyed themselves in the beaming sunshine. People were smiling, singing, jumping up and down singing we have got Arteta, Europe here we come and that Spuds are “Shiiiittt” etc. lol
There is a feel good factor overall at the club / stadium. The majority of our fanbase seems very optimistic and hopeful nowadays.
I just hope Arteta can reward the fans patience by performing much better next season. The majority of the fanbase has afforded him so much leeway so far.
No more excuses for next season.
A Top 3 challenge, no more moral victories against the Top 2 teams. He 100% has to start taking points off the Top 2 teams. Better offensive/ entertaining football etc..
These are my expectations for next season. Need to see much more progress..
My view on the progress Arsenal have made.
1. We were still making the same mistakes we have been making for years.
2. Arsenal still have a habit of completely losing the plot in games or simply not turning up.
3. Arsenal’s improvement in league position is as much to do with the poor performance of United and Spurs as it was with our performance.
There were times in this season where it looked as if Arsenal had got their act together and that does bring some hope, but the inexperience of MA and failure to bring anyone in in the January window cost us a lot.
So, for me we haven’t progressed that much but little is better than nothing…
In many ways I much relished reading such a clear thinking and well expressed article.
However, I do have some disagreements and esp on ONE FUNDAMENTAL OMISSION from Ibrahim. IMO, he failed to distinguish between the welcome change of culture – from the lax old days of latter Wenger culture, to the more demanding one under MA and, ON THE OTHER AND POLAR HAND, the disappointingly same old culture from Kroenke.
As I have long maintained, the OWNER is ultimately the person who matters most in any attempt at REAL, long term culture change. To my mind this was a major omission error by Ibrahim which let down his otherwise well argued piece.
Some will argue that in very recent times Kroenke has loosened the transfer spending purse strings and I agree with that But I believe that is directly and ONLY because Kroenke sees in stark reality the steady and underestimated, by him, damage done by his own woeful refusal to have sacked AW many years earlier .
AND by Kroenkes stupid and unknowing appointments of esp Gazidis and also Sanllehi, both of whom did immense harm but Gazidis did the more harm , because he had far longer in the position, to wreak his damage.
To cut to the chase, Kroenke is VERY worried about the FINANCIAL VALUE of his asset and that is what is responsible for his recent larger spending.
It should go without saying – to those on JA who know my views- that I DISAGREE WITH iBRAHIM ON THE VALUE OF MA TO US.
It is also true that our club is still underselling outgoing players, not moving out, far sooner, clearly failing players AND paying too much for incomings and also on wages .
But , again IMO, these are being done to try to quickly make up the lost ground of the last decade or so and this is the price we are now paying and I DO NOT ONLY MEAN THE FINANCIAL PRICE either!
We have had to do things we would rather have avoided, in this respect, as not to have done so would have meant slipping further and further away from the top level.
I remind fans that the time in 1996 when AW came in was TOTALY DIFFERENT FROM NOW, in that now there are many more financial giants with huge spending power that have dwarfed our own; that is UNTIL these last two seasons or so, when we are playing “catch up” as best we can.
With the more and more unrealistic demands from mainly younger fans, in this age of “I DEMAND WHAT I WANT AND I DEMAND IT NOW”, we are in very different and more complicated and unfair times than way back when! That includes when AW came back in 1996, a full generation ago. A great deal has changed with how fans are FROM THEN TO NOW .
I have not even mentioned Covid as a further handicap and that burden, though affecting us all, has had a far greateR financial effecton us than on City and Chelsea , plus such as PSG and now Newcastle too, going forward. MANY FANS THINK IT IS SO EASY TO BUY AND SELL PLAYERS IN THIS DAY OF SUPER AGENT POWER(UGH!), but they are so very wrong.
Sigh!
Finally, though I have criticised Ibrahims fine article , where IMO, I deem it appropriate, I MUCH APPRECIATE ALL THINKING WRITERS such as he, who put much thought and ability into their writing and I HOPE iBRAHIM WILL CONTRIBUTE MORE REGULARLY.
well-reasoned and intelligently constructed article…unfortunately, you’ve challenged, albeit logically, the perceptions of those who’ve bought into this little experiment hook, line and sinker, which generally leads to a whole host of goal-post moving and cherry-picked responses…no one is saying that nothing whatsoever has changed, but there’s far more similarities to our previous failed projects, than fundamental differences, which speaks volumes about this largely plastic and PR-massaged regime
Don’t see much changed in areas where it counts.
1. Results on the pitch? 3 finishes outside top 4, just got back into European football, Europa not CL.
2. Playing style? Artetaball looks like Jose’, or a Spanish Tony Pulis of eye gouging, negative tactics polar opposite of what was known by Arsenal over Wenger’s 20 years when they changed English football.
3. Transfers and wages? Ozil and Auba outrageous salaries, now overpaying a one dimensional poacher, I’m sure that will go over well with better players contributing more and paid less.
If Arteta fails top 4 again, will his defenders admit time is up? Or run out youth excuses, VAR, refs, Covid, other clubs being more ambitious, anything to shield Arteta from Reality.
Wasn’t tolerated with Wenger or Emery, but now acceptable under Arteta. My my how things change so easily.
Opinion is perception.
Analysis is just an opinion with data. Data is used to justify opinion. And all of it is just history. I will just read anything from anyone about arsenal, if it bothers me then i just dump it. If it energize me, then i am lucky. IMHO. Arsenal is a big club. The history and stadium spoken it self. And big clubalways have complexity. Let them do their job and let’s do ours. Enjoy the ride guys!
The writer is talking about culture change, some people just jump in to make off point submissions. Anyone who has an intelligent brain will know that football has changed from 5- 6yrs now, but most of us here are stuck to the past. Before Pro. Wenger left coaching, he gave a prediction that most players would prefer to run down their contracts and leave for nothing, we have seen it in almost every football club. Prices has been inflated. Players of 15m 6 years ago are now going for 50m and collecting ridiculous money thanks to super agents and TV money. Players have much more power now than before.
Then enters the pandemic and wipes away most clubs income leaving them with huge wages on their hands they can’t afford. So most clubs had to restrategise, how to trim the wage bill and remain competitive. This resulted in wage cuts at many clubs and player unrest. Clubs like Arsenal got stuked with many players on huge wages, nobody wants them including arsenal so what do they do? Negotiate their free exit at a reduced cost so they can move on. Tell me how else MA could have done that, besides he’s not in charge of that anyway.
So I challenge anyone rubbishing the manager here to outline how he or she could have moved on these players and made huge profit for arsenal . Tell us how you would do it. Its not fifa 11. Real life. How would you convince a cash trapped barca to pay us £50m for Auba, in every player you feel arsenal gave away for free, tell us how you would have sold him for a huge profit or shut up.
Wouldn’t have put a 2.5 million option on Mavroporas, we can all agree that’s stupid.
Guendouzi was transfer market value 30 million or more before Arteta mishandled the situation.
Just bench the kid, stay quiet, and put him on the market. Instead, let’s publicly discuss the situation, make it known he’s not wanted, and kill off the increased valuation while he was at Arsenal.
Arteta isn’t at fault for everything that’s insane, but to deny or ignore his piss poor management of some player situations is delusional.
Xhaka can tell media on 2 separate occasions he won’t change his style (After Arteta said rashness has to stop), but Pepe perma-benched and Guendouzi shipped out?
Great man management there, love how there are different rules for different players. Lest we forget Willian’s Dubai trip after Arteta said no traveling, and Willian never punished.
You have singled out a couple of scenarios and provided some debatable options.
Who was lining up to buy Mavropanos? Or even Gouendouzi?
The market value quoted is only relevant if someone is willing to pay for these players.
If Arteta had gone down the route you are suggesting we would still be stuck with many underperforming players instead of rebuilding the squad which had clearly become necessary.
very amusing David
You have singled out a couple of scenarios and provided some debatable options.
Who was lining up to buy Mavropanos? Or even Gouendouzi?
The market value quoted is only relevant if someone is willing to pay for these players.
If Arteta had gone down the route you are suggesting we would still be stuck with many underperforming players instead of rebuilding the squad which had clearly become necessary.
I believed Wolves lined up to buy Niles for £20M but Arteta stop the deal.
Bayern Munich are talking about signing Mavro.
Marseille would have pay more than £8M if it wasn’t obvious we are letting him go.
I don’t think anyone can understand what goes on in the transfer market unless they’re part of the strategy team.
There’s a lot of false-flagging, going after a player because it will inflate the price for a rival, using the press to create rumours, all sorts of shenanigans like that.
When a club is interested in someone and the player wants to come – and at the right price – that can be done quickly.
There have been some seasons when Arsenal were still looking at the last minute, but they were times when there wasn’t much money to spend and there was already an over-inflated wage bill, so a lot of the activity was probably just gumming up the works for rival clubs while maybe hoping to pick up a bargain.
Also, in terms of having “a style” – Emery didn’t want to be so predictable as to have a rigid style/approach and that sounds about right.
Football is not overly graced with master strategists. The high press was an obvious development form the rule change stopping passing back to the keeper, but it took years before anyone seemed to risk playing a high press while Barcelona’s tiki-taka style was still winning the CL long after it should.
Those who worked out that the press was a better way in the modern rules succeeded – and are now seen as great managers. Hmmm I’m not convinced.
If Arteta plays personnel and a tactical approach that’s designed for each opponent, that’s not necessarily wrong. Or if he plays something between a high press and other tactics, well that could be right too.
5th in the EPL is not a disaster. It only seems a disaster in context of the last 3 games and having fate in our own hands.
Newcastle and Spurs away were terrible, but then… Newcastle away was an easy fixture for most of our rivals who played it under Steve Bruce’s tenure. To me, the thing was lost in the 1st 3 games of the season and the 3 games (Palace, Soton etc) just before beating WHU, MU and Chelsea.
P.S. Chelsea are not guaranteed to continue as before, with Abramovic gone. Nothing is guaranteed when there’s a change of owner, as Everton are finding out.