Dear Santa, this Christmas I wish for a new manager! by Konstantin Mitov
It’s really difficult, fellow Arsenal fans. There isn’t much to say about that which doesn’t exist – like our style of play. Honestly, at this point, I’d prefer watching paint dry, than Arsenal. Why on earth did I turn on the TV for the second half? Am I just like Arsenal, never learning my lesson?
You can try and have sympathy with Arteta, because their second goal came from flappy hands from Runarsson, but who picked him? A one-million-pound keeper against the second-best team in England. Surely Arteta was asked if Leno or Martinez would’ve been number one, and he chose to cash in on the better keeper.
At this point sticking with Arteta is just plain stupid. His decision making is terrible from the starting 11 to the substitutions and the half time talks, because we can’t seem to go out after the break with any purpose. But the decision to risk Martinelli’s health today was the icing on the cake. We didn’t take him off, because he is one of the very few players with energy, who can actually create something. This move showed lack of belief in the other players to deliver. It risked the player’s health and showed weakness.
What do you think if you are a player on that bench and you can’t come in for an obviously injured player? Arteta’s man management is extremely poor and when your job title says “manager” that is as important as coaching if not more. This is by far not the first example of poor decisions though. We’ve been playing Willian week in, week out in the league even though he’s been atrocious.
What about Laca, who scored 3 goals in the first 3 games and one miss at Liverpool got him benched and made him second fiddle to Eddie? Great way to support a 50-million-pound striker. I look at the players and I see glimpses of what they can do, but it’s like an invisible force is stopping them from playing what they actually can. Are they top 4 material, probably not, but they are better than 15th place of that I’m sure?
Mikel can talk about fine margins, but there is nothing to compare again. The best team, with the more shots and better chances won comfortably 4-1 at our ground. For as bad as Emery was, he never went on to be beaten by the likes of Burnley at home.
You must have a serious fountain that pumps up optimism cocktails to think that we’re going to get a result playing Chelsea next weekend. What backing will be enough in January? We need like 5 out-field players at least and a keeper if we think of sticking with Arteta, and we couldn’t even sign Szoszoblai. At this point, I’m not sure signing Messi would make a difference. There is Zero chemistry up front and a lack of transition from midfield to attack.
We can’t even keep the ball from a throw in. Our players don’t know how to find space. You would think a coach so lauded would teach the players such things, right? We really need a Christmas miracle to get a new manager, but if we do… Oh my God, I’m going to scream like I just got a new Nintendo 64!
I doubt this will happen right now though, after all this is Arsenal where actions are taken always too late, but I must dream of something to keep my spirits up. Hopefully, you have something going for you, because Arsenal is the most depressing it’s ever been, and the last few year’s haven’t exactly been easy. That says something.
Konstantin
The goalkeeper situation is my biggest worry. If Leno gets injured we are in real trouble. Don’t know why Macey is overlooked. And Pepe’s impersonation of the invisible man when he came on again shows we massively overpaid for him.
I agree, how hard was it to find a decent substitute GK? We let go David Ospina for peanuts, and now he is the 1st GK at Napoli. People complain about letting Emi go for some decent cash, but never said a thing about Ospina, yeah he didn’t have his best days with us but still was a good 2nd GK and didn’t ask to leave like Emi. Last 2 years of signings have been abysmal, if we ask for Arteta’s head we should also be asking for Edu’s and Vinai’s or whoever sanctioned these moves.
Perhaps now Konstantin will reflect on the folly of his continual criticism of Arsene who played attractive football and kept us in the top four for 20years.
But wenger started this steady decline. He kept us fighting for 4th for so long. Absolutely lowered our expectations. Players became comfortable with just finishing 4th. Many of you became comfortable with just about making it into 4th.
But even that had come to an end. Remember in his last 2 seasons he finished 5th and 6th consecutively. Went from fighting for titles / 1st place in his first 8 years to hoping for 2nd place, to hoping for 3rd place, to struggling to make 4th place for 10 years to then finally dropping out of the Top 4. To then finishing 5th, to finally finishing 6th..
In between there he flattered to deceive by finishing 2nd or 3rd, all because the other big teams were self destructing or having a bad season. But every time those teams got their sh!t together they always came back to reclaim their Top 3 place the next season.
City, Chelsea, Liverpool, United all got their crap together and always were favourite to finish above us. We were left with average Spurs to fight for 4th. But in time once they themselves got their crap together they automatically took that final 4th place away from us.
There is a trend here. We had become a weak and stagnant club that was there for the taking if any other club got their crap together. We were just warming up that 4th place because we were the 4th best. But once any other club got it together we were always the club everyone predicted would give way in that Top 4. And so it was proven.
Wenger lowered our expectations so low that now people still think 4th is some sort of trophy. With wenger we knew his ceiling, 4th place or an unexpected / anomaly 3rd place once in every 5 years etc. But even that had stopped and we dropped to 5th and 6ths.
The downward or stagnant foundation was evident.
That’s what the evidence shows in my opinion. We can all try to reminisce about when we were fighting for 4th place nearly every season for 10 years. But the reality is Wenger himself had started failing to guarantee 4th place. Had reached his ceilig in modern times (4th-6th…..place).
Lets move on. Wenger had more than 20 years and look at the mess he left us in. It’s gonna take a lot of effort, chopping and changing to get us back to a serious club.
Every word written is the correct analysis of Wenger planted the seeds of doom, flowers blossomed in the Emery era and Arteta has to taste the bitter fruits.We should just erase Wenger from the memory, 3 titles in 22 years, no UCL in 20 attempts, 7 FA cups in 22 years. These figures are okay for a small club, not for a power house if you call yourself a big club like RM or Barca or BM or even ManU. Liverpool too changed managers when they were not winning. We lost everything as we did not fire Arsene when Klopp was available.
You absolutely right,, I don’t rate Wenger that much if I am to compares the trophies and the years he spent managing arsenal, a manager for almost 9yrs no trophy let alone trophies but refuses to resign and the board refuse to sack him,,we reaping what we sow
Konstantin, you are man after my heart. You plainly said my mind. ‘Sticking with Arteta now is just plain stupid. The Guy has lost the plot, being a novice that he is: the dressing room, the pattern of play, team selection, man management and the rest. Arsenal is now a laughing stock, and the fans are the ones suffering the most. Defeat, upon defeat, upon defeats and some jokers are asking for time for Arteta, that they should back him up. Look at last night, starting a smallish, untested one million pounds goal keeper against on of the best teams in Europe after Selling our best Keeper that gave him his only piece of Silver ware….Infact keeping Arteta now as our coach is asking for real, real trouble cos another defeat awaits us on Saturday against Chelsea. They must be licking their lips now in anticipation of three solid points in their bag.The Arsenal board should not mind what any body says. They should sack Arteta now. Tomorrow might be too late.
I think Arteta would have liked to have won but that was not his overriding plan. Why would you play Runarsson or Kola and Mustafi if the game was that important?. Martinelli was there to get match practice and more youth were given their chance. They may well get more chances now.
The question was asked by Dan about Arteta targeting the Carabao cup but the league is much more important and his line up showed that to me You may all beg to differ but it’s all about opinions
That was not meant to be a reply to CG
I think this is just an excuse SueP. When the coach said himself that he was going to be very competitive against city. If he wasn’t, why didn’t ESR start, why did Laca start, did you see city’s lineup too, they were there for the taking. Why couldn’t saliba get game time if the game wasn’t so important.
I think SueP, you’re grasping at straws tbh and I know you’re an Arteta supporter and respect that you are but there has to be a point where you say to yourself enough is enough. He has to go, he never ever learns from his mistakes, that’s the only issue I have with him. A person who doesn’t learn from his mistakes will never be great. Maybe he should go coach a championship team which seems to be his level, not Arsenal.
I’ve personally stopped watching games since the Burnley defeat, I wonder how much Losses we can take before everyone still holding on to him say enough is enough. And I don’t want him out just because we’re losing, he never learns from his mistakes, he’s very egocentric. That’s the issue I have with him. Selecting favourites who keep messing up game after game. Wait till xhaka comes back and he’ll be slotted right back into the starting 11.
I say Arteta needed to win this game so badly because right now he will take a win even if it came from a friendly. So no excuses of he wasn’t taking the game seriously.
Kstix
I have been a supporter but nobody- apart from Reggie with his Benitez suggestion- has come close to coming up with a solution for a new manager
Looking at the lineup it stood a chance but not much more. Words by Arteta mean what in those circumstances? Nothing as as far as I could see. It would never be a first choice lineup so it meant to me that the league is a priority
As for not watching it yourself Kstix then you wouldn’t have seen Mustafi stand still, or Runarsson make a blunder or the non VAR moment.
So far a near unanimous number of comments made have blamed Arteta for not playing their player of choice. Well is there anyone left that he hasn’t tried?
Quite alot SueP, is mustafi better than saliba, why can’t ESR get a start when he obviously plays better, is nkethia better than Balogun who in the few games he’s come on as a sub as shown he’s better than nkethia. Even Nkethia was ahead of martinelli before his injury. And even if martinelli was fit, Arteta will still pick Eddie in front of him in the league game against Chelsea. I will have preferred for Arteta to have had a go at all his options before deciding for myself but he’s limited that by not playing or starting some players who seem to be in better form. Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result SueP. That is what I see with mikel as much as I wanted him to succeed, he’s just too stubborn for his own good.
Each to their own Kstix
Seasons greetings by the way🎄🎄
Merry Christmas SueP
arteta is the false messiah
Runarsson look abit shaky and nervy
that is possible due to lack of games and confidence
how do gk build up their evidence and confidence?
by warming the bench regularly?
we did ok but unlucky due to gk and referee decisions
fans always think by sacking the manager we are guarantee to win games…..
we are currently rebuilding the team with a blend of youth and experience players
we do not even have a proper spine/backbone of the team yet fans expect us to win games
I’m not so concerned in Arteta’s decision to rest Leno last night. The Martinez boat has sailed and we need a reliable back-up if, god forgive, anything happens to Leno.
I’m more concerned that Runnarson is number two. He must be fantastic on the training pitches at Colney. Surely one of our other keepers from U18 to U23 would be more convincing right now.
I wouldn’t be to harsh on the young keeper,he had to deal with blindness in the match ,having to deal with Jesus teeth .
He may have been blinded by Gabriel’s teeth 😂
I don’t think Arteta is a bad coach, but at this difficult circumstance, it is hard for Arteta to bring back Arsenal on course. Arsenal need new coach
Maybe if the players stopped modelling retro tracksuits and got their heads down and played as we know they can we wouldn’t be in this situation.
Something as to give ,for me Arteta needs to be given the next 6 league games to see where we are at ,we should be getting 12-15 points from that run of games ,anthing less is unacceptable.and that would take us upto the end of January,when Ozil should be bought back into the team ,What I do know is if he doesn’t turn games into points in January he won’t be in charge come the end of it .
We were all happy to see GM back in the starting line up, so how can we suddenly start blaming Arteta after GM got injured for playing him in the first place. Arteta has a large squad with so much unrest because many are not getting game time. For sure, we do not know who are the agents of unrest in the squad. Arteta decides to give some of them game time and yet again they let him down. If he plays his strongest team and comes up against Chelsea and they are unable to perform, we would again come complaining about Arteta for playing them and not resting them. We are blaming every decision of Arteta and I feel he should not take the entire blame. Can’t we all see how bad these players are! There is no coach out there that can help these players. For God’s sake, how can a coach like Unai or Arteta begin to teach professionals how to be confident on the ball, how to pass, how to press, how to control!! These players can’t even do a half-turn on the ball and run! This shows how poor our players are! I am a teacher and I know what it takes to teach and train poor students to make them the best. It’s frustrating when these poor students cannot just learn new knowledge! The problem now is that these players cannot adapt to the new levels required of them and they want the coach out. It will only get worse if a new coach comes in! It will only get worse! These players are horrible! For me, they are traitors! I don’t care, we must not allow these players succeed with their agenda! At this moment, we must offload them, as many as possible! Offload half the squad! They are traitors! Not running enough on the pitch is criminal! Can’t we all see what GM brought in yesterday, one single player could influence such a high profile game! Then it shows the rest are traitors! Simple!
Players on probably the fourth highest wages in the league and still Arsenal is languishing in 15th, what a shame, there must be something very wrong, but the manager should be answerable for this slump, he made some key decisions regarding who to keep especially in the midfield and this has backfired on him, let him carry the can of worms.
List of mistakes by Arsenal and MA below:-
a) Goalkeeper. Martinez should have been No. 1. If not he should have been loaned out to Aston Villa. If you really needed to seel Macey should have been promoted. Home grown quota lost.
b) Defenders. There are 13 defenders on our books including one on loan. What is the point of putting injured defenders like Mari & Soares in the squad and then having people like Saliba in the reserves (instead of on loan) and Sokratis being shelved when he is fit and is a fighter. The number of defenders need trimming.
c) Midfielders. There are 11 midfielders including two on loan. MG and LT are better than what we have currently and would have been perfect for yesterday’s game. Plus the loss of homegrown quota with GK meant there is no room for Ozil (creativity) or MG (for fight). Why did we convince Xhaka to stay when he wanted to leave. This needs trimming otherwise the talented youngsters would not want to stay at my beloved AFC.
d) Forwards. There are 7 forwards. Many of them would need to go out on loan. When someone like Balogun sees this why would he want to sign an extension at Arsenal. The path to first team is so narrow as we remember Martinez saying there were 8 Keepers in front of him. This needs trimming.
e) Mis-Management of injured players. I was shocked to see TP in the starting line up against Spurs. May be on the bench with 10 mins as Sub. The same goes for Martinelli yesterday. He is more than just a squad player.
f) Tactics. Normally, footballers like to have clear designed roles. With the constant change of tactics from 343 to 4213 to 42 diamond. The players are confused. Remember the KISS principle: Keep it Simple Stupid.
g) The system is very rigid. This is very similar to Unai Emery. He is making them robotical and do something they do not want to do.
h) Motivation. As a result of over tactics and rigid structure of play what is served is awful to watch and equally killing the passion for players to express themselves.
i) Communication. There is no communication with the rigidity of play. Simple things: Forwards demanding whipped crosses into the corridor of uncertainty rather than lofted crosses. Wingers and inside forwards demading balls played inside full-backs by making runs and asking to be played in. Defenders demanding holding midfielders cover them if they go forward and midfielders demanding the same of full backs.
j) Leadership and characters. Not picking a mix of fighters and artists to form a unit working together. At times like this I would have preferred Sokratis (even though he is not a great player).
k) Substitutions. A lot of improvements need to be made here.
In short there is just too much wrong at Arsenal for a very experienced manager to sort out let alone a rookie manager.
I can only think of one solution IF THE BOARD DO NOT WANT TO SACK MA. Give him a 6 month gardening leave situation. Then bring in a firefighter to save the situation of relegation. Then go back to him once the season concludes.
Only person I can think of is Rafa Benitez not Allegri as he does not have this experience of firefighting or the premier league.
Sorry for the long comments post.
Wish all at JA and all AFC supporters a merry Xmas.
@IndianGunnerLondon, I do not agree with all your points:
a) Thats the problem of the board. They did not back Arteta up and insist the club must be self-running. Consequently, the only way to raise funds for the purchase of Thomas Partey was to cash in on Martinez. It was the best option at the moment and we cannot all say purchasing Thomas wasn’t a worthy effort!
b)Mari and Soares were bought at a time when we had all our defenders practically injured and Saka had to be playing in the defence. How do you return to blame Arteta for that! Instead, your argument should be about trimming them now! I cannot blame Arteta for that.
c) So you say MG and LT are now better, arent these the same core group that got Unai sacked! So if Partey was fit, would you say MG or LT is better than him? Now, can LT secure a position in Athletico MAdrid? MG went to a weaker club and he is excelling, can he secure a position in Athletico Madrid? Things are going bad and we are now settling back for mediocrity.
d) Auba, Laca, Martinelli, are all ahead of Balogun on a good day. We are now talking because these guys are underperforming. Who would have thought these top players will underperform when not long ago they won a trophy. You talk of trimming, but who do you trim? And can you say for certain that they would perform?
e) You can say you were shocked now, but assuming they played well and weren’t injured, then you wouldn’t talk! We all talk now because things arent going our way. Partey was fine but only got injured when he jumped into that tackle….Martinelli was fine and only got injured when the keeper tackled him terribly! So why come now and say poor management! It could have been anybody.
f) Changing tactics to find what suits a bunch of crappy players is normally! He has to continue tinkering until he gets what works! And till nothing works because these are the worst combination of traitors you can ever have.
g) Rigidity? How? The same rigidity save us after Unai left! Same rigidity helped us win a trophy and get back to the Europa! If you want to learn, then as a player you learn!!! Simple! You don’t make up excuses if you are a true champion! These are toddlers who want things to suite them before they perform!
h)Motivation? You are playing for Arsenal and yet you need motivation? You earn the highest wages and can even brag to other players (see MG) and yet you need motivation? Are they kids?
i)Communication? We used that excuse against Unai and now against Arteta? Players who arent good enough will want to blame others on the pitch! Players who are crap will think others are to be blamed! Communication is only a cheap excuse!
j) I totally agree! Now you are talking! There are no leaders because we have been purchasing craps over the years!!! How can you begin to prefer Sokratis!!! It shows we are not different from these players.
k) Substitution? Bring in who? Crap?
Merry Xmas Indian Gunner London! But the bottom line is these players are crap and no coach can help them! We may want Arteta changed but that means we don’t know the true problem! The board must back Arteta in funds and free will to bring in his players! They must offload these craps! I called them craps! And I am now convinced they are traitors! Simple!
@Dickson, the manager is not the problem. Can’t we all see that no matter who he selects, they are not good enough and will let him down. Can’t we see that no high profile coach will take the Arsenal job, or else they would tarnish and destroy their image. Can’t we all now see why Lungberg resorted to using the youth players instead of the senior players! Can’t we all see that when Arteta took strong decisions against their poor culture and attitude they started revolting! Can’t we all see that there are cabals amongst them! Can’t we all see that the squad is overbloated with crap and yet every player wants to play! Can’t we see the mediocrity of the entire squad is now smearing on the few good players! Arteta has changed the players so much now to get the best combination and yet all have failed! It’s not his fault! These players are on an agenda and we should not allow them succeed! We must back Arteta and let those players know we won’t allow them succeed! Once Arteta is confident about both the board and the backing of the fan base, then he will be stronger in axing many of these players. Atleast, he didn’t play Eddie and played Laca and Balogun but all to no avail. Please look at Pepe! How rubbish can he be! Yet he complains Arteta wasn’t giving him game time, and we all bought into his feign campaign! Let us stand by Arteta! These players are the problem! And the board must back Arteta! Give him the funds and free will to choose his players! Edu should not influence anything! We need a total overhaul! No coach can save these useless bunch of players!!
Let’s face it, we need a bleedin’ miracle
Amen to that Sue. And for people saying we can’t be relegated, let’s face it, we actually can be relegated realistically. I’ve stopped watching our games since the Burnley match, can’t put myself under that type of depression even though I still feel depressed without watching the games. Won’t start watching till we start winning again.
It’s been awful, Kstix, you haven’t missed anything, just saved yourself a great deal of pain!!
It really is that bad… losing to the spuds was bad enough, but Burnley!! Sheesh…
Well, that could be a while, prob won’t be tuning in again until 2022 😂😂
Like you said a while back, not going to let it ruin Christmas… so I hope you have a stress-free and a very happy Christmas.. watching every other team, bar our own, to see what a decent game is like 🤣 And I wonder what you’ll do if any of your presents turn out to be Arsenal merch 😜
🎄🎁⛄ Merry Christmas!! 🍻
😂😂😂Sue, I’ll probably return it back to the sender with a thank you note because it’s bound to give me Christmas nightmares and 2022 sounds about right. Told my pals, I’m not seeing anymore Arsenal game for the foreseeable future till we at least win 3 games in a row. Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday BTW regardless. Chelsea is next for us. For the first time in 4 years, I’m not looking forward to us playing Chelsea. It’s that bad.
Have yourself a Merry Christmas with your family Sue.
😂 I’ll probably do the same – thanks but no thanks haha!!
At least 3 in a row?! Woah, Kstix, now that is pushing it!!
I can’t remember the last time I looked forward to a PL game, I really can’t.. and reading what Big Sam had to say about us, I’m dreading playing them also (& I can’t stand West Brom!!)
And I’m totally with everything you said about MA being stubborn 👍
Back Arteta LOL, based on what, please list all the reasons why he must stay.,clearly he has no clue about coaching or managing a Premier league team.
@Mike, so what, bring in Allegri so he can make these bunches superheroes?
It is so easy to say Mike and you gave me your reply the other day which was fine but did not come up with the answer. In theory it was great but in practical terms it didn’t and can’t change the mindset of the owner, the gross incompetence at executive level and the attitude of some of the senior players.
For all the bring in Allegri/Vieira/etc that people spout, do you really think that they will make a scrap of difference in the short term? The rebuild- not transition- will take longer than we all thought. With all the money that ManU executives have thrown at the post Fergie era they still are not back yet. And on that subject, the only thing that Woodward did recently was to give OGS longer than the other well known managers and that at last for them seems to be showing dividends
Thank you so much SueP! God bless you! I know Arteta has made some wrong decisions but it isn’t his fault entirely! Why do people think Allegri and the likes will perform a miracle?
A big name that’s all!
A lot of the players’ behaviour is atrocious and like you Arteta is not blameless but there is something pretty rank going on. The sooner those ones leave the more chance the club has of reviving. Of course this depends on the top brass too
Sue P , You know I am totally with MA and applaud your efforts to knock some sense into those “children” debating the MA issue with you. Of course it is noticeable that most of those who remain staunch behind MA are older fans and also REAL supporters who believe in SUPPORTING and not, in childlike fashion, in throwing their toys out of the pram because of an inate and generation driven sense of self entitlement.
Frankly I am appalled at their shallowness and claim to be supporters at all as theyare NOT supporting but quite the opposite.
Being a 70 year old manof the world and of business , albeit in the arts sector, I know how true business people think and how they act. They rarely take the slightest notice of “outside the facts hysteria” driven by what they see as little people and know nothings. That is not kind, nor nice but it is true in the REAL top level business world.
I say this to illustrate the obvious point that Kroenke cares not a jot for the thoughts or feelings of any Arsenel fans. He does not even care for our club, except its financial value to him and he has no liking let alone love for the sport we play.
The ludicrous thoughtbthat fans will persuade Kroenke to act is fantasy. All that could persuade him is IF we were seriously in danger of relegation and he will take those soundings from professional people in the know and NOT AND NEVER from hysterical fans that he has no time for.
Anyone with the reasoning ability to be able to see beyond step one – which many cannot do, clearly – will see that Kroenke is several steps ahead and has plans for step two three, four and so on but he will keep those to himself alone, as billionaires do. The board are well aware of that , as they are also aware that Kroenke has never adequately backed any manager since he came in 2007. Not AW, nor Emery, nor MA, nor any othe theoretical future manager. It is not going to hapen and the board know that as much as KROENKE KNOWS THAT AND MOST REALISTIC FANS KNOW IT TOO.
That being the case, all in the know realise it is pointless sacking yet another manager, as they would be costly and involve countless millions.
Kroenke fought for years NOT to have to sack WENGER and only finally did so when regular empty seats made him realise it would be cheaper to sack than to keep AW. The board and Kroenke will stand firm behind MA, for once correctly, and will have patience while the many deadbeats and coasters like Xhaka Ozil, the three clown CB’s, Kolas, Bellerin, Pepe, Laca , Auba and Willian (the last four of whom havegone on holiday for weeks past)andothers too are offloaded and to buy time while our many good younger players take over.
In my considered opinion , that is the plan by those above MA and no amount of “fan” hysteria will make a jot of difference. Nor should it!
I thought being 70 you maybe would have learnt some manners .
Obviously not .
I agree Jon that sacking yet another manager is counterproductive. Time will tell if Arteta can reverse the club’s fortunes, but the constant trill of complaints and quick fixes without a thought of how it actually works only undermines the tightrope that Arteta is walking. I don’t deny I had expected results to go better, but such was the capitulation against Villa, that I wondered what was going on. Arteta was shell shocked by that abject display as were we all. The players were culpable and it appears to me that there is something unpleasant going on in that dressing room.
It will be a long haul.
Agree with everything you say SueP. I tried to point out that sacking Unai Emery would not solve the problems infecting the players, many of whom have now let down four managers/head coaches. The underlying problems with scouting and recruitment still exist, as does the over payment of pampered, entitled under performing mentally and physically weak players with no internal leadership.
Unai Emery has proved previously and now currently with Villarreal, that he is no mug. Although his communication was a major issue, his overall game record with Arsenal is superior to Mikel Arteta, notwithstanding Arteta’s effort in winning the FA Cup. Arsenal’s achievements in the Europa League were excellent, including wins against Sevilla and Napoli, until the players downed tools in the final against Chelsea. Similarly Arsenal looked like making the Champions League places until the players downed tools in the last 6 games, with Arsenal falling short by 1 point.
I was always worried that it was simplistic to keep changing managers, without supporting that manager in the transfer market to get the players they want. Wenger, Emery and now Arteta have not been supported in the market and the money which has been provided has often not been spent wisely.
Unfortunately it appears that at Arsenal it is easier to change managers than discipline, move on and replace underperforming players. The Club has become a poisoned challis, which requires a major reorganisation and rebuild from top to bottom.
Ozziegunner
I always thought you over protected Emery but I’m ready to admit I was wrong
I thought they had downed tools because of Emery but the reality is that it is the players who behaved shamelessly
For Indeed
If you read the Ist line, I said Arsenal and Arteta.
Blame is not fully on him.
However, he has a major share of this.
Mari & Soares in the squad as against fit players. I do not think so.
TP against Spurs is a short sighted decision as is Martinelli. They should be gradually brought back in after long lay-offs. They are too important. If Martinez is to be sold then Macey should have been promoted but bring in Runnarson: Really! LT & MG are better than most of the midfield we have ATM with the exception of TP whose injury is mismanaged. Too much experimentation wit tactics is a bad idea as it is a lack of clarity. This should be done once they understand how to use at best 2 formations. If the original ones is OK, stick with it and work on it in the training ground.
Hey: It is all about opinions. I respect all opinions and wish you a merry Xmas.
Sure IGL! It’s always about our differing opinions! I wish you same! Do have a blessed season!
I totally agree with you! I feel sad that players playing for Arsenal would stoop so low to make the fans suffer all in a bid to get the coach sacked. Simply because they do not agree with the coach, then they refuse to play and don’t care if the fans are pained or even if the club gets relegated. And then we give excuses for them, professionals who earn outrageous amounts? And then all we can think of is sack the coach so these spoilt brats can have their way! Sad!
You tell me get rid of all the players and bring in Messi and Ronaldo, 🤔🤔 I would like to know why everyone is so infatuated with Arteta is it because he says all the right things all the time, just a pity it leads to nothing on the pitch, Arteta is a brilliant public speaker but that is where it ends, he would make a brilliant pundit, but I am afraid his management, coaching and tactical knowledge leaves much to be desired. Like I explained in another post I support Arsenal Fc not Arteta Fc and to answer your question the right coach is the one that takes us to the top, if it is Allegri so be it but it sure is not Arteta, even if we give him another year and millions to spend, it’s his tactics and brand of football that sucks, coupled with zero man management skills.
Well said as usual SueP. A voice of reasoned argument.On the subject of Runnarson, I feel really sorry for the lad who is clearly out of his depth.Yet another example of poor recruitment which is the fundamental reason we are in the mess we are.Rather than calling for the sacking of Arteta who was right to rotate against Man City in my opinion, the guy who needs to leave without delay is Edu who I believe has been instrumental in all signings since he reappeared on the scene.Evident ly he is oblivious to the fact that there are literally dozens of good goalkeepers in the English Leagues who could provide back up for Leno.Our recruitment team needs to be overhauled before the Board sanctions any expenditure in the January transfer window.This may sound rather drastic but I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in Edu.
Grandad, with out elaborating, what highlights last night Artetas weakness in a nutshell was to even play Runarson. If he picks players for lambs to the slaughter and with as little ability as him, he is not a winner or capable as a manager. He doesn’t rate Saliba so isn’t playing him, is Saliba really worse Quality than Runarson. Arteta should not be playing anyone with the lack of abilty that lad clearly has. He clearly is not up to standard.
Exactly Reggie, please pro Arteta fans tell us why we should keep and support him,
This gay has more then enough ability to play this role – world class save few minutes before second goal tells it all. With decent confident this gay is very good. MOM in national game vs France last year is appropriate for this standard thats for sure.
Jon,
He is a guy. No doubt! I doubt very much though that he is also a “gay”, as you twice called him! Perhaps you know something no one else knows though!
When is it enough, when will you actually throw in the towel, when will you stop making excuses for Arteta, or are you so fed up with the owner, you actually want us to be relegated.
@Mike, it’s fine! Enough is enough! No more excuses for Arteta. So if he is sacked, who do you know for certain that will get the job? And please give me three reasons (only) why such a coach will turn things around and make us great again.
I have no idea who will get the job indeed I don’t have a crystal ball but we need a coach who has Premier League experience even if it’s only for this season I would suggest Roberto Martinez, Brendon Roger’s, Rafa Benitez and if you really want to keep Arteta get Wenger in to show him the ropes but I doubt that will ever happen.
Do you honestly think that Martinez would leave the Belgian job before the Euros or Brendan Rodgers Chuck in the Leicester job?
By all means have an opinion but Benitez is the only runner in that list and even he may struggle but is at least credible
Better than keeping Arteta, with him we going to the championship
@Mike, I do understand that you want Arteta out, and that’s fine, but please give me three reasons why such a new coach will turn things around. And as long as we don’t know who will take the job, then we all are caught up in a hope game, which for me is as good as hoping Arteta will also change things around.
Indeed if I understand you correctly you believe we can’t find a better coach or manager than Arteta, the reasons you looking for has been debated at length on JA, have a read in the archives son, cause we are clearly on two different planets
We are on different planets because you think the problem is the coach whereas I think the problem stems majorly from the players. Directing me to archives simply says a lot about the two different planets we are on.
My comments still remain from earlier to other articles. I RELUCTANTLY give Arteta till Jan (one more window) to sort out the problems. But the results have not been good enough and now I am more reluctant than I was before.
We need results. We need to get a draw against Chelsea. We then really have to beat Brighton and West Brom.
Otherwise my faith would be severely tested. As an Arsenal fan I want to be proved wrong. I want Arteta to succeed.
If not we need a firefighter for a short while and give gardening leave to Arteta and then take him back after the end of the season with targets attached as this would be reasonable with a rookie manager.
I am amazed by the lack of logic in this position to let the past go. So let’s say you got an STI from a sexual act as a young person. Do you reflect on it or do you just let it go and move on and then contract a worse STI – now you upgrade to HIV because you remain careless, uninformed, and lack the capacity to reflect. This is not far fetched. This is how I see Arsenal and the apologists for MA and the madness he is doing. Arsenal is his practicing camp. I am still awaiting a mature decision since Freddie left him alone. The chap confuses me on all principles of logic. Wenger never respected this cup. His actions were clear. He would send out the U23 to go and have fun. OK so what did MA do? Was it for fun, injury, a chance, hoping MCI faint? I cannot get him. He is now beginning to confuse me more than Good Ebing. I have no problem being loyal to my friends, including even the ones who my mother would describe as bad company. But I need something to believe in. MA has nothing to point to as a direction – no style, no consistency, no dream, no hope. What kind of manager says he expected to be sacked the day he started? I do not want to let go of this rope; but I am not convinced that falling is not better. Goodbye Arteta!
Runarrson made terrible mistake in second goal – hes saving in first half from Gabriel was world class and hes by far best goalkeeper with hes feet that i have ever seen. Lack of minutes has brake hes confident – with good confident Runarrson is quality keeper.
Only if Unai Emery was given the same support Arteta fans are giving Arteta, and Emery wasn’t even this bad tbh.
I know the problem we have at Arsenal is systemic but it doesn’t help when the coach digs up his own pit tbh does it. I would understand if he tried every player and every combination possible and still not getting the results but his stubbornness to stick to non performing players like willian and xhaka who keep letting him down every week hoping that an iniesta nd Messi will come out of them some day with the insistence on keeping saliba out, not giving ESR or balogun starts to show they can do better than what we have. This is how he’s digging his pit and the fact that he never seems interested in learning from his mistakes is enough reason to kick him out the door regardless of the gross incompetence of the board and owner. In fact it is incompetent of the board to not have kicked him out by now.
There is no top club in the world that would have had 8 premiere league defeats in 14 games that will not have sacked the head coach. Man Utd gave OGS time, Liverpool gave klopp time. But these two managers were never as dreadful as this.
I know the players share in the blame, but a coach who is not confident enough to drop them, now that’s not a coach for a top football club like Arsenal unless we all agree now that Arsenal is no longer a top club. We should just accept we are Brighton or something which makes it hard considering we effing won the league unbeaten in 2004. We have 13 league titles, Or have we forgotten? How have we lowered our standards?
I bet UE is watching with a smile on his face, Kstix!
But hey it’s ok, we’re heading to the championship in spectacular style, but what’s all the fuss about? Mikel’s the man…
In spectacular style sounds about RIGHT Sue and people are still asking for time, I would accept the losses if he’s tried everything possible but he hasn’t, which means in that team especially with those he’s refusing to start or those he forced out might lie the key to getting us back to winning ways again, but his blunt refusal to even try that is the sole reason I want him gone tbh.
Emery is doing great where he is, I bet alot of fans will have their eyes open when it’s a little too late for us. People don’t know it’s absolutely possible Arsenal football club starts playing in the championship next season. Certainly looks like we have the coach to get us there.
Time!! Give them all time.. MA, Willian and even Pepe still!! Omg come on!
Even if he had tried everything possible and they were all fruitless then fine, at least he gave it a go, but all this favouritism and zero trust in others is so frustrating..
Things aren’t working… be brave and mix it up some!!
Spot on Sue, spot on. That’s what pisses me off about MA. Ii used to back him 100% but boy did he make a hard job of doing that.
Too right 👍👍
Kstix and Sue, if Arsenal happen to progress in the Europa League and meet Villarreal (only one loss and in 4th place in LA Liga) given the way the respective teams are playing, it could get very ugly.
The way things are going, Ozzie, that wouldn’t surprise me one bit! And we’d get battered!! It’s been one of those seasons where whatever could go wrong, does go wrong ☹
Anyway I hope you’re refreshed after your break.. and wish you a very Merry Christmas ⛄
Ozzie gunner, it is good to have you back man. Like Sue, I’m not even going to put my hopes up should we face villa real at this rate or any other in form opposition for that matter. We are dreadful and like I’ve told Sue, won’t start seeing games till we’ve won 3 games in a row. Sue thinks it might be 2022 at the rate we’re going. The funny thing is I totally believe her.
Anybody Thant thinks that Arteta will get us out of this mess is a wishful thinker. From day one after watching some of our games under Arteta I said that he is taking us nowhere, because I didn’t see anything that encourages me. Have we all taken time to watch and analyze arsenal games under Arteta?. Yes we can say that we have bad players, but are our players worse than that of Brighten, Villa, wolves, Southampton? But these clubs are doing fine with out so much investment. The way arsenal plays is pathetic. The team is too rigid, no off the ball movements, they all expect the player with the ball to perform magic to get the ball to them instead of making runs to create space for themselves. Let’s look at the way Leeds play despite not having much quality. Please let’s stop making these unfounded excuses for Arteta, he has failed and sticking with him can only drag us down the ladder. Merry Xmas to all gunner fans .