The Year 1930…. by Dan Smith
So here’s the issue. I like Mikel Arteta and want him to succeed but how I ask you am I meant to submit articles about Arsenal without pointing out things are not entirely groovy at the moment?
I often comment that we have gone backwards since Arsene Wenger left.
That’s not a reflection on my opinion of our current manager just a long-held belief that only when Mr Wenger left would we realise what a job he did, considering the lack of ambition from the person he worked for.
The classic ‘be careful what you ask for’ because now you’re going to get it.
Long term readers will know that was my point of view at the time and I see nothing since to change my mind. For example, the maximum points total we can get in the League Is now 61.
To put that in perspective Mr Wenger’s lowest was 63.
I’m not less of a fan just because I don’t predict the Gunners to challenge for titles, or compare our coach to Pep Guardiola.
As much as he bemoaned VAR on Friday night, I believe that was not the real reason Arteta seemed angry. He normally is able to compose himself and stay calm after defeats but that was the most wound up I have seen the Spaniard.
He had said the week before, Arsenal not being in Europe was unthinkable. Was reality setting in?
Has he looked at the League table and seen that we are 7 points behind 7th with 5 games to go (that’s even if that position is enough to qualify for Europe)?
He will surely know now that we have to win the Europa League to return to the Champions League, and based on the Everton game, we will most certainly have to play a lot better to beat Villarreal over two legs (and either Roma or Man United in the Final).
I’m hoping his claim that we played well enough to beat both the Toffees and Fulham was a method for the players benefit. He did the same when we lost the first North London Derby of the season. Because if he’s watching our last two performances and is happy with what he’s seeing then we are in serious trouble!
The reason I think he looked almost shell shocked on Friday was that he had just beaten an unwanted record. A stat that makes even the most optimistic Gooner unlikely to be able to see as progress.
We have just beaten a record that has lasted 90 years …….
Everton’s 1-0 win at the Emirates means we have lost 9 times at home this campaign, the most since 1930! We still have 3 games left to play in our stadium so one more defeat we take the honour outright.
Sticking up for the class of 1929/30 they could argue that they had to play 2 more League home games than the current version (well they can’t because none of them are alive anymore)
I will give the players the small benefit of the doubt that it can’t be a coincidence that we have our worst home form the year there are no fans inside venues, but equally that can’t be an excuse as everyone has had to adapt.
Ironically 1930 was the year we won our first ever official silverware, Herbert Chapman leading us to the FA Cup. No wonder Arteta looked a bit flustered.
For those of you who still think Arteta is tactically better than Mr Wenger and/or we have progressed, this is what was happening in the world the last time we were so poor at home ……
1930
Monarch – George 5th
UK Prime Minister -Ramsay McDonald
Herbert Hoover is the 31st President of the United States
The World are Dealing With what would be known as the Great Depression – starting in the US – It’s the most dramatic and longest economic decline in the 20th century.
Sheffield Wednesday Are English Champions
The First ever Mickey Mouse Comic was sold
Warner Brothers released its first cartoon
Uruguay Win the First Ever World Cup
Sean Connery was Born
The BBC broadcast the UK first ever drama production
America build the (at that point) biggest building in the world – 40 Wall Street
UK sells its first sliced bread
Pluto was discovered (the planet not the dog) and officially announced as the 9th planet from the Sun
So for those who predicted a title challenge in the summer and called me negative for questioning that stance?
For those who say I have an agenda against Stan Kroenke for thinking he could have done more in January then just slashing a wage bill.
For those who didn’t understand why the likes of myself were dismayed that we played a weak team in the Cup.
For those who until recently arrogantly envisaged we would go on a winning run when we haven’t all season….
Please look again at how long ago we were this bad.
Again, I want Arteta to succeed but how can you say we haven’t gone backwards?
Measured on any metric you want, those who thought the grass would be greener without Mr Wenger? You couldn’t have been more wrong!
Be kind in the comments
Dan
If we see the records, Arteta might be the worst Arsenal manager ever. But bringing them up won’t help the team out
We’re still in EL, so hold all your demoralizing comments until we get kicked out of it. Unless you prefer to see Arteta out, instead of winning EL
If the fans are so toxic, the team won’t be motivated to win the game in Spain
I see sense in your comment. I used to have an issue with your inverted left foot right foot talk two seasons be ago. It’s good to agree with you on something good.
If the players are to be thinking of this record, surely they’ll give up based on dear before even kicking the ball and only thing it’ll do for fans is to make us all give up before the whistle also
Some people prioritize site traffic and YouTube clicks than the squad’s morale. The others prefer to see the back of Arteta in this season than winning EL
Those kinds of “fans” had better follow their favorite ex-Gunners elsewhere
But we have just wanted a change
Sillly comment from you Gotanidea ,I take you are talking about Ozil ,if so what’s that got to do with how Arteta is performing .
Dan Kit how do you know he’s talking about ozil or can you read minds.
It does not matter who he was talking about ,it was a stupid comment not sure why you have had to make yourself look stupid also .
Why don’t you stick to trolling Leno Articles ,about the only time you bother posting anything .
I’m not acting as a little girl, as a matter of fact I’m standing up to you and I can’t stay off your post if you don’t want people replying you then maybe you should stop commenting.
PS: You can actually comment without using foul language.
Listen buddy
You are constantly having little digs because of my views about your best mate Iwobi and you can’t let it go I called you stupid (which by the way is not foul Language)and you try pull out the bully card ,your then one who made the comment before me so don’t excuse me to not post back ,like I said countless times before just stay off my posts if you want to act like a 10 year old
you jus likened Just Arsenal to AFTV
I don’t think I have any bearing on Arsenals results
Hence you said they challenge top.and that made zero change
Aha! New week, new round of inducing depression.
Definitely a bad record no doubt, tough pill to swallow. Not gonna change the fact that I was ready for so many ups and down this season as his first year.
I mean wait, did you all think we were just gonna stroll back to the top and the manager would not struggle in something that’ll be hi first season as a rookie manager?
Boy oh boy, am I glad I zeroed my mind last season that he’d definitely need two-three seasons? Yes I am.
All of this losing, the league position, the unwanted records, of cus they’re all bad, but I also know it could’ve been better and that we chose to give him the job.
Hey I mean, it’s basically what the club’s doing. If you chose to give him the job, then you bety be ready to give him the time to learn on it and have his growth process while supporting him to have a good growth.
That’s something a lot of you fans refuse to acknowledge.
Compare his records with Emery, Wenger n all that while ignoring the fact that both managers been managing for years and both managed super clubs already with shít tons of experience. Why expect a rookie to suddenly give you what you want in his first attempt?
Onto Thursday… Still behind my manager and my team. We have 3 more cup finals to play to ensure UCL. Let’s keep the focus and bright spirits.
COYG
Eddie
The points you make are fundamental to the reasons why I haven’t called time on Arteta. He will get till Xmas from me and if it hasn’t got any better then it will be thanks and goodbye. The rebuild or whatever name others choose to call it, in a club that has made a lot of loan signings was never going to be sensational
Eddie, why select a rookie manager? What was the Arsenal Board’s rationale behind this decision after sacking an experienced manager in Unai Emery, who himself had the pressure of following Arsene Wenger?
Its embarrassing to call wengers name when talking about emery or arteta. Lets call a spade a spade, wenger was what makes all of you support arsenal, one of the best the league has ever produced
Nope
It was family history. The same family history that follows on with my sons.
I chose Arsenal in 1962 (choice not accident of birth😁), well before Arsene Wenger came on the scene.
Nooope, i supported Arsenal a generation before wenger and will continue to do so regardess of manager. But the choosing of a novice has been poor. Regardless of result, the novice needs to go at the end of season.
Just hearing that Bergkamp, Henry and Vieira want to join Ek in buying Arsenal!
Yippee!!!
Sue, Kolasinac had plans of joining the four men, but apparently they need more than muscles and a ripped body to buy out SK🤭
I wonder why Flamini’s got no interest in any football club though.
He’s one of the richest footballer on the planet by eons. He could buy all of Kroenke’s assets easily, but I guess he’s more focused on his company instead.
Daniel Ek’s 4 billion net worth doesn’t look too inspiring. Henry, Bergkamp and Viera joining would mean he doesn’t get to own all of the club
maybe becuase half the fanbase spent years calling Flamini rubbish and trolling him?
Eddie, there is no reason other than not wanting to risk some of his fortune, that he wouldn’t join a consortium as a part owner.
As I have stated elsewhere the investigation by the UK Government is the “elephant in the room”.
@Declan- if any Buyer wanted to take over the Club and unite a very demoralised and divided Fanbase, bringing those Legends back to the Club will be the start.
BUT- coaching or Ambassador roles only for the Legends. Not one of them is capable of moving this Club on from where we are at the moment. Having a novice manager will not work, as Arteta is proving only too well unfortunately.
But with those names, and an owner who wants to see the club successful, it will attract all the Top Managers.
Phil, I think you under estimate the skill set of Dennis Bergkamp, compared to those who presently run the Arsenal.
Yet despite having the worst home record since 1930 Arsenal can still make the CL.
This just backs up my claim that Arsenal is benefiting from big club privilege where even if you fail you will still be rewarded.
The Arsenal fans protesting against the ESL which gives certain clubs the chance of CL football no matter how bad their league form is are very quiet about Arsenal getting the chance of Champions league football despite horrendous league form.
Apparently these self righteous gooners are of the opinion that privilege is bad except when it is good for us.
Hypocrisy comes to mind.
Would you me mind explaining how winning the EL and qualifying for the CL backs up your claim that “Arsenal benefit from big clubs privilege where even if you fail you’ll be rewarded..”?because unless I’m mistaken we had to win the FA cup to qualify for the EL and to qualify for CL we have to first win the EL so how winning a competition is rewarding failure?
Arsenal had a horrendous league season last year. Yet because we won a 6 game domestic cup beating two teams we made the EL. Now this season despite having another horrendous league season the club can still make the Champions league by essentially beating two teams Villareal and the other finalist. If that is not big team privilege I don’t know what is.
This logic here is stupid IMHO. How is it big team logic if they earned it by winning the other trophy?
Do you even understand what privilege means?
Is it that Arsenal got thrown the cup and qualification because they’re a big team or they had to start from the first game like every other club and fight for it?
So if Leicester were to win the FA cup final this season while not making Europe through the league. Would it still be big club privilege or small club privilege?
Don’t you think your logic is a joke?
Arsenal beat Leeds Bournrmouth Portsmouth and Sheffield United in the first four rounds of last seasons FA Cup. Hardly a fair fight was it.
In this seasons EL Arsenal has played nobody of any consequence.
We only have to beat 6th placed Villareal and either Roma or Man U to make the CL while Spurs Everton and Westham miss out.
Leicester is a big club and will make Europe through the league.
Every coach start their career with one team, same goes for MA. This is not the team Wenger managed. It’s a different team with a different mentality. For this reason MA was appointed to change the team. Yes under him we break negative records. They are meant to be broken. Kronke won’t spend. He make do with what he has. Yes we lose matches but to teams that we are better than. We still have EL, can we win? Yes we can and who says mathematically we can’t achieve top 4? Please support the team, be a surporter and not just a fan.
Wyoming
It’s called the luck of the draw
👍 exactly!
What?????? Dumb comment, what backs up your claim that we gave big club privilege? What has winning a trophy to do with privilege, the actual word is reward
I have to admit Wyoming you nearly had me doubting myself but then i read Eddie’s comment and i have to agree with him I don’t follow your reasoning!
👍 Makes a number of us, siamois.
Me too got lost. Thanks to Eddie, I am finding my way back.
Wyoming What are you smoking?
Whatever that is, it’s raw – unadulterated😂
@Wyoming- since when over the last 30 years has English Football been anything other than money motivated?
And what would you do if we won the EL and qualified for next seasons CL? Object? Protest? Refuse to watch? Of course you wouldn’t.
The prize of CL was motivational to win the EL. Just as a EL place is for winning the FA Cup. Which is why we are in the competition this year if you remember. Or are you so principled you refuse to watch any EL games?
Get real PAL.
He also inherited years of players and structure that had fallen apart.
If players cannot play his system due to this process, to undo and learn takes time and investment through various windows until it finally clicks.
Dan
I respectfully ask why you keep bringing up AW’s record?
He had a good innings and served the club with distinction but do you think he should still be in charge?
Thank You SueP for asking that, as I’ve faced considerable grief for suggesting that very fact on numerous occasions
two side notes…based on the facts provided we tied a record, but haven’t “broken” that record as of yet(typical clickbait maneuver) and I think it’s imperative that whenever discussing Wenger’s history at the club that we specify what decade we’re referring to, as Wenger was raked over the coals for his tactical naivety, and rightly so, for at least the last half decade of his tenure
I have a different interpretation of what you called”Wenger stagnated..,”like i always said even back then he was overachieving and because of that he was postponing the club’s regression and sadly i was proved right because since he’s left it’s been a continuous downfall and that’s a fact!
👌
🤘
Do you agree with that statement Gily?
I agree with you Siam.
Wenger delayed the inevitable because he was a top top manager.
100 percent Sue
That’s interesting Dan, because you obviously think that he could have turned around the disappointments of the previous 2 years. Emery who had a more than decent record failed in his attempt. I could mention Arteta but he is still in the first 18 months and has no previous behind him.
I was grateful for his achievements but I think there is a natural time to call it a day. New ideas and a different energy to the role was required. But you do stand by your man
Yeah I always felt koronke was problem and Wenger.did amazing to get us in top 4 as many times as he did
I don’t think we would been in 9th if Wenger was here
this must be a rather cathartic moment for you…no more ducking and dodging
in the real world though, Wenger enabled Kroenke, and visa versa, then Emery and a disjointed executive branch attempted to put lipstick on our pig of a club that was left in a state of disrepair by our stagnating and antiquated former manager, and finally Arteta, the young grasshopper, was left with an even more convoluted mess to clean up, which was going to be a tough ask for even the most experienced of managers…in the meantime, parity continued to increase substantially due to shared tv monies and the rise of the English League to the top of the footballing hierarchy
I would suspect if Wenger was still in North London, we would be a significantly older squad, with serious contractual issues, naïve tactically with greater defensive fragility and we would have sold at least one, if not two, of our up-and-coming “stars”(Saka, Martinelli and/or ESR)…as such, we would be 10th or 11th in the table and the environment would be so toxic that it would take upwards of a decade to repair the fractious relationship between those factions within the fanbase that were already at each other’s throats for several years
Interesting opinion s there VL.
All speculation regarding the situationif AW was still here….so llet’s look a the points you make with MA here.
Contractual problems?
Well, signing William on a three year deal would never have happened under AW -remember the clause he brought in regarding over 30’s?
Even Dennis Bergkamp was subject to that ruling.
Aubameyang’s three year reported£300,000 plus a week deal? Some one didn’t learn from the Ozil debacle and, as for as I’m aware, it’s was MA who rewarded this three year deal.
On to the younger players and it was UE who gave Saka his opportunity and it was only because he had injury problems (Ma that is) that he
introduced ESR.
What about the treatment of Martinelli, Mavs and Saliba, nothing to mention Balogun?
Defensive frailities? Please !!!!
We have failed to keep clean sheets in (as TMJW would say) so many games, I’ve lost count-despite spending millions on new defenders to shore upAW’s leaky defence – which of course, ffinished no lower than 6th -while we have just equalled a ninety year old record for the most home defeats….how come UE and AW didn’t manage to do that?
Naive tactics? We all knew Aw’s tactics…score more goals than the opponent, express yourselves and entertain.
Perhaps you could explain MA’s tactics to me and where he has improved on the records of AW and UE?
Finalky, the wonderful “significantly older squad” you suspect we would have…I’ve already mentioned Wilkian and Aubameyang, add Luiz and Mari to that list and you will see that we haven’t been signing spring chickens, rather a lot of old roosters!!!
Let’s also not forget when the likes of Saka, ESR, AMN, we’re signed.
Of course it was speculative Ken…I certainly wasn’t suggesting it was a forgone conclusion or I would take those predictive talents straight to Vegas…it would have been glorious considering that within a weeks time I would have won just enough to buy our struggling club…just imagine how ecstatic you would be if that occurred
my point was that if Wenger was kept on the pressure surely would have continued to mount with each successive year…that environment isn’t generally conducive to too much experimentation when it comes to inexperienced and/or unproven players…we likely would have still had Mustafi and Kols, with Tierney’s injury history, in the starting 11 and Xhaka would likely be the singular pivot man, which would have made us weaker going forward and more vulnerable defensively…likewise, Ozil would have probably seen far more playing time than ESR, so things would have surely been quite problematic by this juncture
please keep in mind that in the waning years we were far from an offensive juggernaut, in fact, if it wasn’t for Auba, a player Wenger had no interest in whatsoever, we would have been one of the more anemic clubs in the League…that said, I stick by my claim that we would be bang average mid-table squad with a far more troubling wage bill and a even dicier future to boot
Never his my opinion about Wenger
I agree as much as i loved AW i became a gunner in 96 when i move to the UK to join my then English GF who is now the mother of our son and daughter i remember picking up the Sun(didn’t know better at the time),in the staff room and saw his name i was already a fan of his going back to his days with AS Monaco then saw the names Grimanldi…but hid departure was badly handled they should have let him finish his contract which he deserved giving themselves zime to get a proper successor while keeping him at the club the board should stuck by him stood up to the fans instead of throwing him under the bus and lacking balls and respect for him!i also think that had they invested the same amount of money to UE with AW he would have brought us back in the Cl in his last season!
Every coach start their career with one team, same goes for MA. This is not the team Wenger managed. It’s a different team with a different mentality. For this reason MA was appointed to change the team. Yes under him we break negative records. They are meant to be broken. Kronke won’t spend. He make do with what he has. Yes we lose matches but to teams that we are better than. We still have EL, can we win? Yes we can and who says mathematically we can’t achieve top 4? Please support the team, be a surporter and not just a fan.
Felix, why are negative records meant to be broken?
Surely, a negative record is meant to inspire one to always ensure they are better than the worst?
At the moment, it doesn’t seem to matter that this is happening… and if we do fail to qualify for Europe this season (which we all wish doesn’t happen) another negative record will have been beaten under kronkie’s ownership.
I think Dan is pointing out, that under AW and UE, this wasn’t happening… so why is it now?
I would say it is happening due to an inexperienced coach. Constant changing of lineups breeds inconsistency, playing favorites that produce sweet FA, and lacking any discernable style of play.
Also the negative tactics and playing 10 men behind the ball far too often kills off most of our attacks from the start.
Also poor man management; AMN on loan so Xhaka playing as a LB, sent Torreira and Guendouzi on loan so he could bring in two midfielders Ceballos and Odegaard.
Martinelli sits on the bench in favor of Nketiah who predictably shows nothing yet again. Atrocious decision making that he still has not learned from, all while performances are steadily worse than previous years.
Yet some blame Wenger and Emery still, in spite of Arteta being solely in charge nearly 18 months.
Your so right Durand if the Arsenal trio and spotify takeover Arteta is History
Good observation Durand.. Sadly, lacking with many naive posters here.
Just a bit of fun guys
Nothing changes for me, win the EL and Arteta gets til December to sort this shizzle he has made out. If we dont win, the guy has to be given the boot for turning us into a mid table team in record time.
A fact is a fact is a fact… Whichever way you choose to look at it, Arsenal have gone backwards this season. Think of what our ambitions were at the start of this campaign, fans were optimistic if not confident of at least a top four finish… Heck others actually thought we would do even better than that, well the fact is that we have been shit this season and it’s pinning out to be the worst season for a very long time…
Just facts, Arteta for me doesn’t have what it takes though I was one of his biggest supporters at the start of the campaign… The FACTS have made me change my mind about him. Win or loose the Europa, he gats to go! FACT!
My thoughts recisely. To those you say I didnt want my team to be sucessful, i even put a few hundred for us to finish above the spuds as I liked our players BUT againstt my better judgement, went with heart not head even though I had huge reservations about MAs tactics. Thought he would change but proven well wrong, a leopard cant change his spots eh?
My only hooe is that the spuds are such chokers, I might still win
Well, ecky thump, is a swede our only hope for the future?
For sure Arteta is a Tactical Imbecile. Surely so many home defeats spell……shite tactics. Worse tactics than Wenger by far. At least Wengers teams played real football. Just watching the team you can see they are not happy with Arteta’s tactics.