The hardest part is yet to come
by vuyo mataka
Arteta and The Arsenal are on a good run. Four wins in a row, fourth in the league with three games in hand and a highly motivated squad, the team looks likely to finish in the Champions League positions. The season is not over, but if the team performs at this level for the rest of the season, Top Four will be ours. Arteta has done a good job with the squad, getting rid of the deadwood, establishing a starting 11 and improving the team’s performance. He is half-way through the rebuild and now the hard part comes. Now it is time for the team to change from top 4 contenders to title challengers and be a constant presence in the Champions League.
The summer window will be important for the team. Depending on where we finish, it will dictate the kind of players Arsenal will be able to bring in. Arsenal will have to part with most of our senior players, with the club lacking in experience, will we opt for experienced older players or continue signing you players that will grow with the team? The situation with William Saliba will be an interesting one. He has shone in Ligue 1 so far, proving he is ready to play in the Premier League. With Ben White and Gabriel Magalhães having a good partnership, which may limit his minutes, do we let him go for a good fee or let him stay and fight for his opportunity?
Arteta too has to improve on how he manages the squad throughout the season. When it comes to a competition like the FA Cup, it is more like a sprint, the goal is clear and doesn’t need as much motivation. With the Premier League it is more of a marathon, you know the goal, but the journey is long, and lack of focus can cause you to fall off the pace. He needs to be able to have good enough squad and is able to keep them motivated throughout the season, even through difficult stretches. With the team doing well, expectations are higher and so is the pressure. If he is unable to reach this expectation, eventually, support of the fans, and of the players ,will be lost and the man that has improved the club will be another failed manager.
Good luck Arteta, the hardest part is yet to come.
vuyo mataka
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Mikel Arteta’s not as happy as usual after Watford win –
Crunchy times ahead. Massive 4 games coming up. Need to get that defense back on track, only 1 clean sheet in the past 4 games!
Liverpool lost yesterday at home and play a tough away game against Brighton on Saturday. Lets hope these demoralize them a bit when we face them next week.
Leicester play Rennes at home on Thursday, 3 days before facing us. Let’s hope they fatigue themselves too!
Yes, the squad needs luck when playing against Liverpool and when paying Villa/ Palace a visit
Liverpool’s attackers would most likely score against us, so we have to produce more than one goal
As for Villa and Palace, Watkins and Zaha are in-form. If we can’t sign Watkins in the summer, hopefully we can get Karim Adeyemi
Yes Gai, Karim Adeyemi is good I preferred him to Watkins because of his pace and dribbling skills. Like I said before there are players we can buy at not too expensive prices without loaning. We just need a good scouting team. Many good CF needs opportunities. That’s what Wenger was good at in his days.. The likes of Thierry, Anelka, Van Percey Nastri etc were discovered by him. Hope Arteta can recognize good unpopular CF.
I watched Karim Adeyemi’s highlights and he looks like the left-footed version of Mbappe
for the love of God you two, get a room already
All the games starting from Leicester till the end will be tough and nothing can be taken for granted. I think the race for the top 4 will go down to the wire and the teams which are most consistent in their winning form, are injury free and use their squads to good effect will make it to the top 4. Given our current standing, we have the best chance of top 4 although we will have to maintain our consistency and play at a very high level throughout. We have to further improve both in our offence and defence because the matches upcoming are against strong teams. Having matches in hand doesnt in any way imply having points on the board and we will have to be playing well to earn them.
In my opinion the hardest part for Arteta has already been overcome. Arteta spent 3 years at Man City but probably learned nothing.
Then in Dec 2019 Arteta was appointed to his first Club, Premier league heavy weight Arsenal. There is no doubt Arteta struggled the first 18 months. After his 2nd 8th place in his first full season it was a miracle Arteta Mk1 was not sacked. But to kroenkes credit he persevered with Arteta and allocated another 150m to begin the process of buying a new team of younger disciplined players with higher resale value. Arsenal lost mega millions off loading the deadwood but most were pre Arteta. Then Arsenal suffered a 0-3 start to the season and 99% of the fan base simply gave up on Arteta, the club, the players the season. But since then results have improved markedly. While still not at the level of the top 3 Arsenal has risen from the ashes of 8th place to 4th and a real chance of CL football. So for me all the hard part is over for Arteta. After two traumatic covid seasons, and hitting 8th place rock bottom Artea has risen like the Phoenix. Arteta is now a battle hardened PL manager. I personally see top 6 as the pass mark for Arsenal now days. Top 4 and any cup runs are a bonus is a bonus. So Arteta is there already as far as I am concerned.
Fair reflection, FF
“MA spent 3 years at City and probably learned nothing”!
Utter nonsense!
That comment makes me think of your intellect in a much diminished fashion. Almost beyond belief!
Top 4 is not yet guaranteed. The next 13 fixtures are tough ones. We might even end up 6th or 7th if we don’t put out a solid performance.
Leicester (H) – Winnable but difficult.
Liverpool (H) – Extremely difficult. Need a miracle.
Aston Villa (A) – Winnable but difficult.
Crystal P. (A) – Winnable but difficult.
Brighton (H) – Winnable.
Southampton (A) – Winnable but difficult.
Man. United (H) – Winnable but difficult.
West Ham (A) – Winnable but difficult.
Leeds (H) – Winnable.
Tottenham (A) – Difficult.
Chelsea (A) – Difficult.
Newcastle (A) – Winnable.
Everton (H) – Winnable but difficult.
I don’t think Everton at home is difficult. They could very well be already relegated at that point. But we do have tough away games to play..
The most essential results IMO would be:
A) Winning United at home
B) Not losing away to Spurs
If we beat Spurs and United I’d say that almost guarantees us 4th spot but you can never be sure.
Everton could b e a very difficult game if it’s a fight to the last day for relegation, I guess it depends on where they are. If they are safe by that time, I predict a easy game.
I would suggest that ALL games are winnable. After the game has finished, then it can be judged as having been easy or difficult, not before.
Leicester (H) – Win
Liverpool (H) – Lose
Aston Villa (A) – Draw
Crystal P (A) – Draw
Brighton (H) – Win
Southampton (A) – Draw
Man. United (H) – Draw
West Ham (A) – Draw
Leeds (H) – Win
Tottenham (A) – Draw
Chelsea (A) – Lose
Newcastle (A) – Win
Everton (H) – Win
Dumb conclusion
@S.J.Why lose to Chelsea? We can surely beat them.
@gunnerforlife. Chelsea will be difficult to beat at home.
Anything can happen, though.
But I think the best we can get is a draw.
Fair to say that nobody KNOWS how results will fall. All we can do is make assumptions based on our and other teams’ current form and league placings, and base expected results on that. But in all likelihood we will lose or draw games we are expected to win, and hopefully win games we are expected to lose, as will other clubs. We SHOULD beat Man Utd, we SHOULD lose or draw to Liverpool, but it’s not just down to us – which Man Utd will turn up on the day, for example?
I see Spurs as our only threat for fourth. Perhaps their recent losing streak was there equivalent of our shocking first three games, when the team was adapting to a new system, and they too are at the start of something big? We just don’t know. But if they falter we will have to be seriously bad to blow fourth place.
I wonder why so many pundits like you are of the opinion that Arsenal should look to sell Saliba because of the current chemistry between Gabriel and White at the moment. It takes one serious injury or suspension and where is the quality replacement. Competition for places will bring out the best in the players, as every top team has at least two outstanding players for each position on the field of play. Why can’t Arsenal have the same in squad depth and quality? How many times has Gabriel or White made the team of the week this season? Saliba has done so nine times already this season. Keeping Saliba will only strengthen Arsenal, as he’s one of the best young talents in Europe. Check out the stats. Anyway, Arsenal should definitely bring in two quality midfielders this summer, attacking midfielder Lucas Paqueta and defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, while strikers Karim Adeyemi and Darwin Nunez should replace Aubameyang and Lacazette. These four players will surely help Arsenal to compete for silverware in all competitions next season. There’s no need to invest in defenders as Arsenal should recall Saliba (cb), Norton-Cuffy (rb) and promote left footed Mazeed Ogungbo (cb) to the senior squad.
Yes on Cuffy I am glad u said that, seems a very good young player for RB. Saliba returns with as u say 4 signings in 2 midfielders, DM & No8/creative box to box. That means Xhaka, AMN, Torreira, Elneny and already sold Matteo will all be gone.
If Pepe is to go then go try and get Serge Gnabry back at Arsenal & a quality striker. Keep Laca on a 2 year deal, let Balogun go on loan again as it will help him even more until Jan at least. Let Eddie & Pepe, maybe even Nelson all leave.
Tchuameni might be out of our reach cos more attractive clubs are chasing him so i suggest we sign tielemans instead since fabian ruiz is not interested in joining us.@wayne is spot on with other positions though.