I knew he would be too proud to take back what he said on Wednesday night but I wanted to wait till after Mikel Arteta’s Friday Press Conference, to see if he could clarify further on how you can lose two games in a week, to the same opposition, yet be the ‘best team in Europe’?
As a former player himself Arteta surely knows that scoring goals is a huge part of the sport, you can’t win without doing that. Having captained the club in the Champions League he is qualified to know at this level that success and failure is decided by the smallest details, individual moments.
In North London, PSG scored after their quick start. In the Capital of France, Arsenal equally flew out of the traps but couldn’t break the deadlock. That’s the difference.
Yet you can’t pick and choose which aspect of football you care about. After over 170 minutes of action we hadn’t scored. Being kind you could say our opponents were more clinical. Being harsh you could say the Gunners have had issues in the final third for a while now. Either way you can’t be 3-0 down having played that long and suggest ‘you have been the best in the competition’.
Involved in the industry for decades, Arteta must be well aware you can’t make such a claim while ignoring the most important part of the game – putting the ball in the back of the net.
Whatever your opinions of our manager he deserves respect. He took the title race to the final day last season. This campaign saw us in only our third ever CL Semi Final. His body of work shouldn’t be mocked or laughed at. Unless, of course, you are giving reason for others to laugh?
The 43 year old might not care what those outside of his bubble think. His comments may have been designed to convince his squad to believe that’s how good they could be and maybe to avoid a hangover for this weekend? It simply could also be a man hurt and speaking with emotion so soon after disappointment? Any of those are fine. In truth Gooners will be relieved if any scenario (or both ) are the reality. The fear is, what if he believes what he’s saying? Because if he truly thinks he’s managing the best team in Europe then long term we have issues. If he thinks that, then he is not good enough to be coaching at this level.
Unfortunately this is not the first time the Spaniard’s assessment of a match has contradicted my eyes. Is it a self protective measure? Brilliant. Yet the third highest paid manager in the world needs to have the ability to self evaluate.
Every Summer Arsene Wenger would take his staff to either Switzerland or France and they would review the whole year, making an action plan for every department of the club.
What did they do well?
What could they have done better?
What could be changed?
It’s counter productive if the current regime have the same meeting and conclude everything is rainbow and unicorns. That’s how you stand still. It would highlight those at that meeting don’t have the character for such a position.
Because we are all the narrators of our own story. We tell the narrative from our perspective.
The easiest thing in the world is to tell the tale with you in the role of the victim or even the hero of the hour.
The hardest thing to do?
To admit you were not perfect.
To acknowledge your flaws.
To be self critical of your own performance?
Should I have sold Smith Rowe or would he have been a decent squad player?
Was there a reason Chelsea were not going to register Sterling?
Has the quality of the football regressed?
Am I too defensive?
Is that that why the Emirates is quiet yet again?
Have I micro managed Martinelli too much?
What is Rice’s best position?
Is Skelly better off in midfield?
Does Partey need to be playing RB ever again?
Were my subs against PSG brave enough?
Do I trust Nwaneri or not?
Did the Koronke Family help me in January?
Do I need to explain how damaging that was and that can never happen again?
That takes class and honour.
Some of the most successful people in the universe, millionaires, owners of billionaire corporations have that ability to recognize what’s not working.
To succeed, many had to fail because they couldn’t learn. To learn though you have to be open to failure as a possiblity and open your eyes and ears.
There’re a lot of positives from the experience of getting to the last 4 of UEFA’S premiere competition. Don’t waste it by being stubborn.
First of all you’re a representative of an institution who prides itself on class and doing things the right way. Shake Enrique’s hand, admit he was the better man, stress how proud you are of your players and tell the fans let’s stick together to return to this stage again.
The irony being Arteta is the apprentice of Pep Guardiola. His mentor could still end up with a trophy yet when talking to the media he is direct and to the point, these are the standards we set at Man City and we have failed this time to match those…. end of discussion.
To find a solution you have to admit there is a problem.
That’s what the best in Europe would do.
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Dan Smith
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You are looking it from a footballing view but it’s all about the business value for the Kroenkes. As long as the revenue rolls in with qualification in the CL league and the Emirates is full of paying punters, then there won’t be any significant change. Arteta has achieved this, so footballing discussions by fans are nice but pretty irrelevant.
We have not been good enough all season to be fair,we are not as good as he thinks,no out and out striker for nearly 2 years and probably the worst bench in the league shocking.
To be fair if Tomiyasu, White, Saka, Gabriel, Havertz et al had not been long term injured our bench would be looking almost up to scratch. However, what idiot did not know that Sterling is last his best, sadly? Who on earth has allowed an almost top side to have no game changing forwards on the bench? Not to mention our completely invisible centre forward. Let us hope Berta knows what he is up to, and quickly. I am getting old watching this predictable toothless football.
Just borrow the word from someone on here, and say, Delusional
A thought provoking article but again Dan being Dan. Toying with narrative.
His claim of being the best team is regarding the 4 teams that played in the semis. Stats shows that Arsenal had the highest goal XG over the others by some distance but could only score one goal. Deductively, he’s admitting to lack of killer instinct in his team which goes against your narration. He’s admitting that there’s a problem in the team to fix which he also reinforced in his press over the weekend. So stop twisting the narrative. He also admitted that PSG is currently one of the best team in Europe he just think his team performed better than the result.
That’s what I found troubling. I think we’re outplayed in both legs and don’t how they work out that XG.
The focus should be the performance we saw on the field which is not good enough as the team can do better. I don’t think PSG is better than us we just didn’t perform to our best. More concerning is the performance has been like that for some games.
Well not really mate I kind of admit that …..
As long as in his private moments he’s aware that not having a killing instinct and other issues need fixing .
My point was he needs to focus on that and that it would be dangerous to think we are the best In the competition based on stats
Only stats that matter were PSG 3-1 Arsenal
Dan,
Totally agree. I mentioned in earlier post about stats hiding the truth, and you did comment on my post.
I would suggest that you review both games. PSG had some good chances but none of the chances were actually straightforward. The goals they actually scored from had quite low xGs. You need players of high quality to score such goals. Even then there is an element of chance.
In the first leg PSG dominated for the first 20-25 minutes after that the game was fairly balanced.
In the second game, PSG were dangerous in short spells and in transition. Overall we still had more chances but didn’t score.
Dan, here is progressing his own narratives, which is now to be expected given that we have ended up without a trophy.
Anyone who has listened to Arteta’s interview can see that he understands where the limitations in the team remain.
Now remember mate just because we are missing chances against Liverpool but losing does not mean we are the better team lol
It means they are better in the final third and in defense
You seem to be comparing apples and oranges. There is a difference between xG and chances and these were two quite different games.
There is also a difference between XG and Goals lol
That factually means they were better at finishing and in goal
So how could we be better ?
Why are you asking me this question? See what I have actually said not what you seem to have assumed.
I wasn’t literally asking you
More the point of at article that Arteta thinks we were better but how could we be if their strikers and defense were better
David, when the PSG goalkeeper is awarded the MoM in both games it says it all really.
When PSG win both games and after 170 mins are 3-0 up that says it all really
Goalkeeper or not. We lost home and away and it is disrespectful of Arteta to say we were the best team in the competition. And dillusiional. Whatever xg, ko, ab or any formula says.
What he says to the media and how he truly feels may well differ much in the same way as politicians distort the truth from the public at large.As to comparisons with Pep, personally i find him far from straightforward in his dialogue with the Press and i am less than impressed with his disgusting habit of spitting.
He refuses to admit his faults and I said it before and it made people angry, but this guy ALWAYS has an excuse up his sleeve! Who decides to overplay Saka though, who decides to rarely ever use subs, who worked alongside Edu and helped build this squad? And let’s also just be honest, Luis Enrique is a fantastic manager and the first leg especially outcoached Arteta tactically. Why’s that so hard for people to admit. I still back Mikel but this is getting very old.
@RSH
I wonder if there is a conspiracy of silence about Enrique really. He has been taken out of the context completely, whereas he was the manager who devised his own Barcelona attack option of the famous MSN, and was past Uefa CL winner. He has had more tests and developed expertise.
Arteta: “The injuries I think have been a nightmare in terms of selecting line-ups, substitutions, how we change training sessions – because we have had times without a lot of players available.
“That’s when you want to really raise the standards, win and be much better than the opposition in this league, in this context. It’s very demanding and very tricky.
“We had three or four big injuries, and it’s very difficult to prevent them all. Can we do something different? The luck could have been different, the training could have been different, the gym could have been different, prevention can be different.
“We will look at all those things to try to be better and the reality is that the starting point and the numbers that we had in the beginning to start the season were very, very low and we accepted the challenge because it’s what we could do at that moment.”
This is what Arteta said regarding the topic. To be fair, if you look at the last two paragraphs, he’s admitting that perhaps there are things they could have done differently in terms of training to prevent the injuries. Next season will tell us a lot if he has learnt from this. My major criticism of Arteta has always been about the reluctance to rotate. I hope he’ll be a lot more proactive with rotation next season.
MA’s reluctance to rotate and give youngsters a chance is my main gripe with him. That together with his tendency to only bring on subs rather late in the game, give people the impression that he’s not doing enough to keep the players fresh.
Last season we had an irrelevant CL group stage game after already topping the group, yet MA still chose to field more first team regulars than necessary, instead of giving youngsters a chance. This season, we had a 6 goal lead over PSV in the return leg, a great opportunity to introduce more youngsters but wasn’t fully utilized by him.
Our injuries this season forced MA’s hand to give EN and MLS more game time and thankfully they became good additions to our squad. It saves the club precious transfer funds when academy players can bolster our squad depth, instead of having to keep buying
My view has been that Arteta is now really only coming into his own as a more established manager, hence relying heavily on players that had performed for him regularly during his early years with the inherent likelihood of fatigue and injury coming into play .
I think he is gradually becoming more able to perhaps trust his instincts and substitutions happen earlier these days than in the past overall
I really hope that you are correct in your assessment Sue! I will be pleased to be proven wrong!!
Arteta was just doing a public-relation speech for his employer, but we all know PSG are currently the best team in Europe
If Kroenke sacks Arteta in summer 2026, I hope he’ll hire Enrique because he beat all English teams in UCL this season
On that subject GAI i would not be averse to Eddie Howe or Thomas Frank.
I think Howe is more battle-tested than Frank
@Gai Arteta’s statement not absolutely false. Can most fans boldly say Luise Enreque would get to a semi in Arsenal team condition? Eddie Howe or TFrank imo are no better than Arteta.
Let’s see New Castle play UCL back to back and reach a semi first.
I can be critical of Arteta as he is no perfect coach and non truly exist.
But really, not up to 4 imo, are better than him coaching in a big club
Grandad,
I am not against either manager, per se, however would you be willing to put your faith in either of them to take Arsenal to the next level? Neither Howe or Frank have won at the highest level in their careers so far, so what is it about both men that makes you think they have the edge over Arteta? In terms of what all 3 have achieved in the premier league as managers, there is little to chose between them
SueP,
And neither has Arteta, just saying. 😉👍
If you have doubts over Howe and T.Frank because they haven’t won at the highest level, that means you would probably have doubts over managers like Slot and Wenger as pre-Liverpool Slot and pre-Arsenal Wenger also didn’t win at the highest level.
The other day someone in another article questioned if Alonso would be a good choice because he had only won the Bundesliga and that is not at the level of the EPL. That kind of thinking mean pre-Liverpool Klopp would also be a questionable choice since he had only won the Bundesliga and German cups before Liverpool.
If you would only accept safe choices with proven track records at the highest level, that leaves us with almost no one because the likes of Pep and Klopp are out of reach even if they are jobless as I can’t see why they would risk ruining their legendary status at City and Liverpool by going to a direct rival like Arsenal when they are not short of suitors elsewhere.
I have always found the “who else is there” question to be a rhetorical one because while it seems like a sensible question, there’s not going to be a sensible answer if most people asking that question know that we can’t get the best and yet are not willing to accept candidates with credentials like pre-Liverpool Slot, pre-Liverpool Klopp or pre-Arsenal Wenger. In the end, their criteria usually leaves us with no one and we are back to square one with MA
A very insightful comment. I feel the same way about the “who else” discussion being restricted by narrow-minded thinking
Why is it so difficult to admit a glaring truth? You can not win CL or PL or any major trophy without a top top striker. Know this and know peace.
Man city literally won the league the season before they bought Halland
As a student of human nature, I know people say things they don’t mean after emotionally charged events. If Arteta really meant that, he wouldn’t at the same time be talking about the need to strengthen the squad.
Other managers are also people and they lose too yet they don’t come out with ridiculous and embarassing statements and excuses Arteta always give.
Really HH ? I can remember a certain manager blaming pitches and referees for defeats.
Arteta is a lier.
We are the best team in europe for two years in a row.
Thanx to him,even if he has a lot to learn
No Rice today so no chance of a win it’s embarrassing how many players we get injured and there has to be something wrong somewhere
Today we will lose and probably also against Newcastle.If Southampton play defence only game against us the draw is likely .So 68 points will not be enough for Champions league place.If this happens the club should sack Arteta on the spot.
I ask why do you wait for all this to happen, you can sack yourself from the club 😂.
Whatever Madrid off for saliba, take it we are useless
As I said in an earlier post this will be embarrassing
Whatever Madrid offer for saliba, take it we are useless
When Gabrielle is out Saliba looks very unassured. He’s not world class really.
they are a really strong pair. Saliba just isn’t as good without him.
Embarrassing
And I’ve said it for months Saliba isn’t what he’s made out to be
Pool fans singing best team in Europe your having a laugh. Nobody apart from our deluded manager thought that. How embarrassing for Arteta.
Another goal with Skelley out of position and targeted ?
Arteta should play him in Midfield
He is better suited there
I wrote that mate
With a list of his mistakes since December
Was accused of having an agenda
Some say he’s been our player of the season
Given his first start was in December and we have regressed since , I fear they have the agenda lol
So all our problems now are because MLS starts at LB.
We need a restart button
It’s good season is ending soon
Hopefully we will have a restart button
But there are so many things needs to be sorted out in summer
Good season
Unfortunately we will have to stick with Arteta because I don’t see any possible upgrade on him in the Manager Market
And Arteta will be at helm next season because Zubimendi signing confirms that
@Kedar I watch Fabregas at Como; one thing is for sure: he is more exciting and less delusional as a coach and more of a club legend. The myth of Arteta needs to be broken.
gizzle, no way a rat that goes on strike to force a move should be allowed to come back to The Arsenal !
He is deluded. But the ownership will be fine as he will keep us qualified for the European cash cow.
With him as manager we will do okay, he is not a bad manager. It is just that he cannot adapt based on tactics or personnel. If he has been the architect for recruitment he is iffy at best.
We may get a domestic cup every once and awhile and we will be competitive but that is the ceiling.
We won’t win the big prizes and we will start to see our best talent voting with their feet in the coming years.
One thing any Arsenal observer has learned this season is that Mikel Arteta does not learn from his mistakes because he refused to acknowledge making mistakes.
Arsenal have made a bushel basket full of mistakes, both in terms of personnel, man management, and tactics over the season, but somehow the narrative is about the ‘progress’ he’s made.
Arsenal have needed a striker for three years. Gabriel Jesus was brought in as first choice #9, despite being injury prone and never scoring more than a dozen league goals. He proved to be exactly what he was at Man City. A hard working, inspirational player who fit in well when he was surrounded by world-class talent, but not someone to carry a team that needed goals.
Aubameyang was run out of town because he dared to have a personality, and the durable, professional Lacazette was let go for reasons unknown. A ready-made back up for Jesus, Folarin Balogun was sold to make room for the acquisition of Kai Havertz, an attacking midfielder who, like Jesus, has never been prolific as a center forward. The results were predictable. Havertz is good, not great, and he’s not a striker. He does not hold the ball up, cannot play with his back to goal, and he will never score 20+ goals a season.
Here the team sits, three years later, with the same problem, because Mikel Artetsa, who’s banishment of Aubameyang cost the team Champions League football, has not learned from his mistake.
Left back has been a revolving door in the Arteta era. Kieran Tierney came in with Unai Emery, and he’s a good player, who has proved fragile. Arteta recruited Oleksander Zinchenko, who is really a midfielder in left back boots. He was good, not great. He played in inverted fullback role well, but defending against quality wingers was a struggle. Arteta then signed Ricardo Calafiori, but the posiiton is still unatable. Arteta has played Partey, Kiwior, and now, Miles Lewis Skelly at left back, and the position remains unsettled and a weak spot.
Central midfield is also a recurring weakness in the team. The club need a central midfielder who scores goals. The club had Jorginho and Thomas Partey in the holding role, but signed Declan Rice, an outstanding player, whose best position is also defensive midfield. Arteta signed Mikel Merino, who is not a big scorer, to play central midfield, then moved Rice into that spot and played Partey, Rice, and Odegaard as his midfield 3.
Arsenal have needed a reserve right winger for three years, but rather than sign a qualified player, Arteta ran Saka into the ground. This season, he signed left winger Raheem Sterling to back up Saka. Sterling has never been effective from the right, and so it was for Arsenal. He was worth a gamble, at left wing. At right wing, it was a wasted effort.
At right back, Arsenal signed Takehiro Tomiyasu, who played well, when he plays; but like Tierney, he’s been fragile. Unlike Tierney, Arteta has given him every opportunity. Ben White looked like a revelation at right back, but he suffered an injury, and now Jurrien Timber is a right back.
At goal keeper, Arsenal had Emiliano Maritnez, who outplayed Bernd Leno when given opportunities, but Arsenal let him go then brought in Ramsdale to supplant Leno. Then Ramsdale, who led the team to a second place finish, was supplanted by Raya, for reasons no one at Arsenal could articulate. Raya has struggled at times, but overall, he’s played well. Even so, all the upheaval and money spent and careers damaged for no on-field improvement seems foolish.
This inconsistent, unbalanced approach to squad management, an incoherent recruitment strategy, and a repeated unwillingness to correct obvious errors in recruitment are a near-constant throughout Mikel Arteta’s time in charge. It will be nice to hear the end of the season press conference where Arteta again claims ‘progress’ and to trust the process.
If Arsenal are over taken by Newcastle or Man City, or both, to finish third or fourth, does finishing third instead of second still constitute progress?
.
No arguement Dan. We are not the best in europe or england. In football, what matters most is goal. We lost premiership and CL to lack of strikers who knows how to put ball inside the net. I am tired of watching soft players who passes ball left, right, backward and even in the six meter box rather than shooting. Odegaard is the worst culprit here.
Dan you always remind arteta foot soldiers that he is yet to give us a trophy with his players. I mean with his plàyers. You were right afterall, Dan.
Henson Gunner, it took Wenger 18 years to win a trophy with his players. Anything to say about that ?
HD, can you explain further?
Ken, the first trophy AW with just his players was the FA Cup in 2014.
I wouldn’t have brought it up if HG hadn’t have said that MA hasn’t given us a trophy with his players.
*won with