Arsenal has allowed Mikel Arteta to turn them into an inconsistent team that only wins when you think a loss will cost him his job.
Mostly, in the very next game, they are back to being a poor team no matter who their opponents are.
We have accepted it because we think he is “rebuilding” our club. There is hardly a more romantic phrase than that.
We have suddenly turned a blind eye to the fact that Arteta is on his first managerial job and has never turned a poor team into a good one.
Even though we might not want to admit it, Arteta is using our club to learn how to manage.
Because he won the FA Cup it doesn’t mean that he knows what he is doing, he could have just ridden his luck.
In the long term, expertise counts more than luck and we are now seeing that he isn’t good enough.
But we would rather blame it on poor and inconsistent players alone, most of the time.
Next season presents Arteta with another chance to deliver. He would have had more time than Unai Emery if he finishes the coming campaign.
What would make that season a successful one? Will you accept less than a top-four finish because he is “rebuilding” the team?
Would you accept an FA Cup win and an 8th place finish again?
I want Arteta to be successful, but “rebuilding” this team has been overused with him at the helm just as I have done in this article.
An article from Ime
If Arteta can’t put us higher than the 7th position in EPL table in December, I believe Arsenal will replace him. Unless there’s a clause that require Arteta to stay till the end of his contract
Unlike Emery, Arteta had a stable job when Arsenal approached him. So he could’ve asked for some assurances before leaving his comfort zone at Man City
The great Arsene- 4th is not good enough we want the title.
Unay Emery- 5th is not good enough return us to the top 4.
Mikel Arteta- any position will do because we like your hair. We will slightly complain if you get us relegated but rest assured we have at least a century worth of uneprishable excuses to cover you until you get it right, AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR HAPPINESS!!
And when you get it right we are going to rain it on those who doubted it without considering the misery your training days cause them.
Never have I wished to post that Jackie Chan confused picture like I do now.
We’ve been lowering our standard, but I believe an overhaul in the summer could boost the team’s confidence
Yes but it is harder to get a manager mid season you might as well start the season with a new manager a GOOD one
Yeah that is a good argument to have let him the whole year in charge. But he would probably need to leave this summer. What signs of improvement ? Except playing ESR because he was forced through injuries, where is any process ???? He almost never played balogun or nelson and sent willock or AMN out. All that for a short term 9th place LOL. playing loanees or aged players… Playing guys out of position. Being outsmarted tactically here and there. Hard to be very optimistic for next year. Of course we should be within 5,6,7, but more than that it would be good to see a real process. They have to surround Saka Tierney esr of some more 19/20/21 and so players. Hopefully they will progress and peak together. We already have saliba and imo guendouzi that i would keep. Balogun, nelson. AMN. That seems a bright generation. Don’t say they will win UCL on their own but with some touches here and there (partey, Gabriel…) They can do well. Just i am not sure MA is that type of manager for this job.
That makes two of us!
Answer to the headline .
Absolutely not ,he shouldn’t even be our manager next season let alone having more excuses to come up with when it undoubtedly goes tits up(probably around November time )and we have nothing to play for come mid season .
Unfortunately we was sold a dud, I fell for it as did many other fans but most of us saw the light ages ago hopefully the board see sense and get a new manager in start of season or we will just waste another season with the tinker man in charge .
And to think some fans had the audacity to tell other fans to be patient and stop being childish all season .
8th place that’s where your patients as got you .
Dan kit, we have the same opinion here, you and I. Arteta shouldn’t have got the job in the first place, he isn’t qualified. Josep Guardiolas assistant isn’t man enough to lead an instituation like Arsenal. It’s far to big, and the fact that he got the job is hard to understand. How the H did it happen? It’s humiliating for us all. And to see Pep now defending his buddy boy is just embarrassing. I think he should shut up and mind his own business. Let’s hope Chelsea win the UCL.
@Dan Kit
And not challenging for a league title for 14 years straight was where patience from fans like you has got us.
Think you got the wrong fan buddy
I personally wanted Wenger gone in 2013 so not sure why your aiming that at me.
If you knew me personally you would know that I’m one of the most impatient people you could ever meet ,anyway I don’t want to get into one of your weird Wenger agenda debates ,this is about Arteta but once again you had to bring in Arsene.
Let it go buddy ,we’ve all moved on now maybe you should do the same .
I agree 100%
When you want to rebuild and you have money for it (like we do) you get the most reputable and experienced builder. You don’t go and get the person who have absolutely no idea about building anything.
HH, that’s if we ever see the money?
Arteta was the cheapest option available, he wanted it badly, we didnt really try for a better manager. Cheapest isnt bestest and he isnt upto doing the job, the longer we keep him the more in the mire we get. Kronk is ruining this club, please guys wake up and smell the coffee. Arteta isn’t the one.
Obviously wake up does not mean the guys who are smelling the coffee already.
Dan kit Stan told EK he doesn’t need the money so NO to the bid Stan said I have enough money thank you
Dan kit
Supposedly he turns it around next season and arsenal started challenging again, would you and all the other haters
Conveniently forget what you posted ?
There is nothing worse than a turn – coat
He could turn it thanks to some players exploding (balogun ? Saka/Esr progressing even more). Or some new addition thriving…. But i can’t see how on this big 1,5 years sample things would drastically change and we would start playing very exciting football. I doubt that. But as a fan i am waiting to be proven wrong.
Laurie, dont talk like a tit. If Arteta turned it around and there is no sign that he will then nobody would be a turncoat and everone would be happy. What if he doesn’t turn it round? There is more chance he wont.
Reggie
If i was throwing abuse at Arteta like so much fans on here and he did manage to turn it around i would feel like a tit, who would have thought Liverpool would be scraping for a top 4 finish after running away with the league last season nobody knows the feature anything can happen in ffootball.
You are missing the point laurie, nobody is a turncoat, that is an opinion of a manager who at this point is sinking in quicksand. If he did turn it round it would be akin to the second coming of jesus, nobody would be a turncoat.
Laurie, where were you when so many belittled Unai Emery, whose CV and performance at Arsenal was far better than Mikel Arteta’s, even with “his” FA Cup?
I will be very happy to be proven wrong! The flip side is true as well though if things continue to go sideways.
3rd in the league since Smith-Rowes return on Boxing day but apparently we are inconsistent and there have been no signs of progress according to our resident experts here. City tinkered more than us and won the title another nonsense claim, in a pandemic year were rotation was absolutely essential regardless of squad depth. Our rotation has also leaned heavily on our injuries and managing players coming back from injury not random tinkering as people keep suggesting. False nine in the semis was because Laca/Auba were out and Eddie didn’t kick on this year hardly a random tinker. Xhaka left back was because the pandemic destroyed us getting a replacement (no ones fault just unlucky.) AMN would of downed tools if he hadn’t been sent on loan or played at CM so was never an option as some suggest.
Lets pretend this wasn’t Artetas 1st year with a team emery had heading for a bottom half finish and a lost dressing room. Lets pretend Arteta didn’t have a pre-season, lets pretend the pandemic didn’t cost us well over 100mil in transfer fees (some of which we will get this summer another reason for optimism), lets pretend that losing out on over 100 mil in fees doesn’t hinder your ability to buy a creative player to start the season with instead of waiting for Smith-rowe to return on boxing day, lets pretend Partey didn’t still cost his release fee and arrive after the season started, lets pretend we didn’t start the season with 2 players out the squad because we didn’t have space because we couldn’t sell anyone, lets pretend Smith-Rowe, Martinelli, Chambers, Mari and more didn’t start the season injured and mostly long term injured.
Considering you can’t pretend all those things aren’t true then the fact we’ve been 3rd in the 2nd half of the season is a perfectly acceptable reason to see how Arteta does next season. That would be true in a normal 1st season it’s completely non negotiable in the pandemic season we just had (where we were by a significant margin the most affected team in the league in terms of the summer window.) We’re talking about since boxing day it’s not some small cherry picked sample it’s half a season.
Luckily this is irrelevant as the board have backed him and he hasn’t lost the dressing so I can get proved right next year 🙂
Congratulations
@Angus
Just sounds like more excuses buddy
We sit 8th playing worst football I’ve witnessed as a fan .
I would love to be proved wrong I really would ,but it’s not going to happen .
Objective reality is just that. We have been the 3rd best team in the league since Christmas that doesn’t care about your personal opinion. We have picked up more than Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester, Spurs, Everton, West Ham etc. It’s simply an inconvenient truth for you because it’s counters your narrative.
The fact it happens to precisely coincide with Smith-Rowes return, our only creative player, who was injured and who we couldn’t sign a back up for because the pandemic made that impossible is the icing on the cake. Why wouldn’t you be positive going forwards? We’ll have quite significant funds to invest in the summer to with all the exits and wages being made available.
Worth noting as well that despite everything (Auba got malaria, i mean seriously) we have the 3rd best defence in the league another undeniable objective sign of progress.
Angus, we can all pick one stat out but, we have the worst home record for years, we have scored less goals than we have for years, we have lost more games than we have for years and we are creating less chances than we have for years. We are where we are because of the fact we are not getting out of this team its potential.
Do you know the future
“Lets pretend this wasn’t Artetas 1st year with a team emery had heading for a bottom half finish and a lost dressing room”… Come on. Emery led this team to within a point out of 4th. He wanted zaha, the club forced him into pepe. Before being sacked he was 4W 6D 3D. He did not have the time and backing Arteta had after the terrible first 20-21 half season. And at the time he was sacked (facts), we were above spurs and united… So he seemed to lost the dressing room but that’s the same that seemed to happen this year. Emery just did not have proper backing. About saying we had an injury and all that stuff and he played xhaka LB because no choice. So why he then played Saka LB and he made one of his best performance ? Yes, it was a terrible season with pandemics and injuries, but for everybody. Wolves lost their best player for the season. Liv lost also some huge big names. Tottenham also had lot of injuries. And don’t forget that some of these injuries were beneficial. Arteta only started playing ESR in PL (you mentioned his impact) because of injuries LOL. So lot of facts can bee seen either way. But yes i agree that 3 Rd is not that bad. Even if it is within few points. We might be just ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool who were hitten so hardly by injuries but don’t forget that Chelsea were far better last week. Same with Liverpool who trashed us few weeks ago. So i agree that there is also some positive signs through this second part of year, but inconsistency/progress is not just a resident experts. Paul merson, keown, and ESPN made lot of precise analysis of datas (goals created chances created etc…) To highlight that we struggle even if we may sit 3rd on the last 20 games. We have the right to doubt. And you have the right to 100% believe in arteta too. You also cannot deny some mistakes in transfers and player choices. Yes we paid to get rid of ozil, Mustafa, papa. But could we have not give them for free last summer ??? Maybe not Ozil but others ? And as far as we got rid of them, we got replacement through expensive Willian and a probably too massive Auba contract. We sold the wrong GK, homegrown and on half the wages. We relied on Ceballos again. This is short term view. I know this is not only arteta but the whole club. We made this run with odegaard whose future with us is doubtful. I just hope if he is in charge that he will make the good choices on players this summer and that he will succeed. Also, along arteta or whatever future manager if that fails next year, i would get overmars or a proven team builder instead of edu.
I concur, Johnze.
Every manager from bilic to Lampard to mourinho claimed they were in rebuilding mode … none of them were doing any worse than arteta but were removed when it was obvious that the team was going backwards or sideways in terms of performance … aresenal owners are not focused on rebuilding the football team but preserving their financial asset … they are doing ok on the latter front and that’s all that matters to them … arteta is an unambitious front man for that game and they are happy with him … for the time being
I genuinely don’t think that Arteta isn’t ambitious. He may not be good enough but that is not the same thing as lacking ambition
To have ambitions and not the skill is my definition of a “wannabe”. You’re right, Mikel Arteta is a wannabe. And this ambitious man without the needed skills is ruining the club of our dreams. Yes, mam.
I’m ambitious for the club I’ve supported for over 30 years but if the owner isn’t , then the quality/experience and level of manager, supporting staff and players won’t be..
This has been proven for over a decade now.
Ambition would be nice from the owner but that alone from a manager or any other person is insufficient.
May 16, 2021 at 3:25 pm
I’m ambitious for the club I’ve supported for over 30 years but if the owner isn’t , then the quality/experience and level of manager, supporting staff and players won’t be..
This has been proven for over a decade now.
Ambition would be nice from the owner but that alone from a manager or any other person is insufficient.
Yes, Tuchel will likely get sacked after yesterday’s result and when they get their bums spanked by City in the CL😊
Getting back to a top 6 finish would be a good result.
City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man U have bigger budgets and better squads can we expect to finish ahead of them? Maybe possible but not a realistic goal.
How sad when supporters listen to words, but don’t listen to their own eyes, stats, and club status. It is clear that Arteta has not got the skills, experience, inner resources and player relationships to make a success. So many are being misled. Watching Brendan Rogers yesterday was inspiring. How generous and respectful he was to his players, and the owner. He is the Archetype that we need…..not the .wordsmith, talk the talk’, Arteta who seduces gullible supporters. We will waste another year and still some supporters, will grasp and cling to their mistaken views. It was good that recently there were a couple of this sites great supporters who started to question Arteta.
The fact that Arsenal have been declining over a number of years at every level will make any ‘rebuild’ more difficult to achieve. If 2 experienced winners in Wenger and Emery couldn’t find a way to stop the rot then the board’s decision to appoint Arteta to oversee the changes was extraordinarily risky. There must have been a better option then.
Higher up the food chain changes have been made which is a positive step and hopefully this will enable the club to be run properly at that level and better decision making will filter down
I’ve supported Arteta throughout, wavered a bit, although that is no longer unconditional. Villarreal saw to that. It appears that the club will be letting him continue. I’m ok with it on the basis that Edu gets the transfer window right and that Arteta hits the ground running next season. He should, by the early weeks of the new season have had sufficient time to show if he has gone to the next level. I don’t want to contemplate a bad start – it’s not good for my health and general well-being.
Watching Leicester yesterday and living in the region, the impact made by the owner has been immense. It just shows how important the person at the top of the pile really is
Sue P. I always look forward to your constant wise posts ! I am in the same mind as you, as I so often find we agree . Perhaps both being of a certain age helps us agree, as we both have a degree of patience denied to so many younger fans.
I loved watching that fabulous owner, Top, be included in LEICESTERS “GOOD FOR FOOTBALL” TRIUMPH YESTERDAY. Respect for Tuchel too for what he said about respecting the winners, WHICH WAS A WISE AND MATURE ATTITUDE.
“He should, by the early weeks of the new season have had sufficient time to show if he has gone to the next level”
Though I would like him gone as soon as the season ends and especially so after that dig to Arsene Wenger, I agree with what you have said there. If he fail at the beginning the season would be a waste because the next manager will need time to implement his vision.
No dig at all HH
I admired Wenger immensely but that doesn’t mean that his last 2 years were to his previous level
But Sue with respect are any managers at the beginning of teams seasons going to be available. Surely it is about getting the manager we want at a time that is the best and not just who we can get. We got Arteta on a whim after the start of a season and he wasn’t the right choice. Plus Surely if someone is picking up someone’s elses pieces, doesn’t that mean they are starting from a bad place.
Reggie
I’m in a position that I would not have hired Arteta based on his lack of experience.
When I asked the question about who could manage Arsenal you came up with Benitez who is at least available and has success behind him. Nagelsmann was going on to greater things and Tuchel later went to Chelsea. Rodgers who would be a cracking option isn’t going to leave a club that loves its entire fan base here in Leicestershire and unless the wheel falls off will be in the CL next season
Hence I’m hoping Arteta takes stock, has a few moments of self reflection and starts well next season. If not then Kroenke and his board have some very important decisions to make.
I accept what you are saying Sue but surely planning for a better manager is better than hoping, when/if Arteta fails 6 weeks into a new season.
Reggie
They may well be planning for the next manager
In recent times they have made an all gawd blimey balls up
Reggie, SueP, jon and others, one of the main reasons Arsenal is in this situation, is the abysmal lack of succession planning for a manager post Arsene Wenger.
Precisely Ozzie.
I couldn’t agree more on the succession issue. Disastrous
No! For me, if Arteta isn’t delivering within the first 3/4 months of next season, then he has to go.
That said, our fans need to be realistic for once. It will still be extremely tough to break into the top four.
You change your opinion more than you change you under garments .was goer say yfronts but you might wear thongs so the options there .
A childish and uncalled for comment that demeans you as a person. You should keep away from matters in bad taste OR lose credibility amoing thinkers and serious minded folk . I would have expected THAT sort of post from a nine year old!
Haha
Good one jonny boy 👍
Always look forward to your sense of humour or lack of , I bet your a right barrel of laughs ,sorry shouldn’t say bet with you around seeing your a pro better .
You chose to duck my point ACTUAL though, I notice! A shame but for you and your future, no one else. Pity you don’t have the nous to take this important point on board, Dan!
WHERE oh where are you going to get a top manager in mid season be bloody realistic
Rebuilding? How many years have we been rebuilding now? Since Wenger left
We are actually still busy collapsing in all honestyif you look at us over the last 2 years in an objective manner.
We are 9th place. We could finish 7th but it’s possible we could finish 10th place
I wasn’t expecting us to finish in the Top 4 but we are still a midtable team and our finish could be worse than last year. It probably won’t be better
There’s no sign of improvement and Arteta has shown that this job is too big for him
I’d prefer a new manager to come now so that he/she can have the summer to do transfer business to build his/her team
Hell no!! How long exactly does a rebuild last?? We’re worse off now than ever!! And the thought of more of the same next season… sigh!!
He’s been in the job long enough and is paid a considerable amount, no improvement after a couple of months or so = P45!!!
Yes Sue. It should really be considered how long he has already been on the job and what improvements however small there have been.
Sue
It took sir Alix fergeson 5/6years
Fergison wasn’t a nobody at that time.He won an European Cup with Dundee United defeating Real Madrid in the final.He had credentials at the highest level.To defeat Real Madrid in a final with a liliputan Scottish team-you need to be a hell of manager to steer that team.In contrast,Arteta was carrying the water bottles and arranging cones at Manchester City.Some kind of football janitor for Pep.
antonioro, also Ferguson had managed 4 teams, including Dundee United for 12 years and was the Scottish National team coach, when recruited by Manchester United. Unlike Arteta he was well off “L” plates.
NO as he will have a full pre-season unlike last time and the full backing of the owners. He’s been here for 1 1/2 years so it’s about damn time he shows some improvement in the league.
Inconsistency is down to the players who are highly paid professionals who need to turn up each and every game. For the badge they wear and the fans who make them stars. Why is it that some players can put in consistent performances week in and week out, and others just won’t.
I will reiterate once again. Some of these players were never up to it, especially after the disbanding of their dressing room Mafia. With a healthier atmosphere in the team we can get some good results next season.
Which is which then? From what we are constantly told the players are playing for him (God help us if they don’t)
Any proffesional player,no matter how good,need a direction coming from manager.Otherwise that team is a pub team,playing on inspiration.Arteta has no plan and no tactics to guide the players.He’s just riding his luck all the time.The man is selfish trying to demonstrate he’s a genius of football like Pep is.That’s why he’s tinkering so much,trying to be a pioneer of tactics.The result is horrible,complicating a game which should be simple.Arteta out,enough is enough.
Absolutely not…Any other Premier League Club with a modicum of ambition and respect for their fans would relieve Arteta of his job by the end of the Season..at least.
As far as I can see…Arsenal will now be losing at least seven players from their first team squad ( who all have a reasonable transfer value apart from Luiz)
Luiz ….already announced
Leno…heavily rumoured
Bellerin…no longer capable
AMN…fractured relationship with Arteta
Guendouzi…same as AMN
Neketiah..clearly not good enough even as bench warmer.
Torreira…has asked to return to South America for personal reasons
In addition Kolasinac will be in all liklihood be offered a free transfer…Willock and Nelson will also ask to be moved on…Xhaka and Willian rumours have recently sprung up… Cebellos and Odergaard return to Madrid…and Lacazette’s future is still uncertain.
All in all a massive restructuring is required for next Season and one that is most definitely beyond the joint capabilities of both Arteta and Edu.To some degree this re-structuring…or at least the need for it is down to a lack of faith that the players have in Arteta…himself!
It therefore makes no sense to keep Arteta whatsoever but rest assured…if he is retained and his mediocrity continues to undermine Arsenal’s results….then he will be quick to blame “extenuating circumstances” and the difficulty of fitting together a “new team” during a period of transition…
You don’t have to be a clairvoyant to be able to see the future in this instance!!
Joel What if the players say No we will run our contracts down and leave for nothing
Joel
Who would have thought Liverpool would be struggling to make top 4 after running away with the league last season ? Arsenal have struggling since 08 not since last season should we have a new manager every 18 months
Ask Unai Emery?
Joel
Also don’t listen to much to the media
KSE set their asking price for AFC, according to the jungle drum. Cry me a river.
Arteta is a rookie and to have expected him to perform miracles with a near average team like ours andto break into the top four would have been too irrational for us.
Arteta’s naivety was exposed when he decided to release two players who could provide adequate cover at left back and remained with a very good but injury prone Tieney as the only proven left back.this decision costed us atleast 6 points .
Arteta decided to loan out Guendouzi who had already proved to be very tenacious, mobile and creative in our central midfield, this was as a result of indiscipline by the young midfielder, i believe a more experienced manager would have handled the case better,this decision left as with an inept midfield and could have costed as another six points.
Let us hope with one year experience and the owner’s backing in the transfer market, Arteta will at least manage top six because even with the current squad Arsenal is not a mid table team, better manage the team and achieve better and consistent results.
There are signs of improvement. Look at our post-Christmas form and you see we are back in the top 4-6.
Keep banging the drum 👏. Ancelotti and Klopp haven’t been tearing down trees in this strangest of seasons
Arteta is not good enough, need to hire an experienced manager.
Yup, that P45 needs to be handed to him but again it was poor decision by board not to sack him in now or end of this season. The reason I called this a poor decision is because if we sack him next season for poor showing then we will run into same situation as before, the money would have been spent in summer, the players bought might be surplus to next manager requirement or does not fit his plan and last we will again be in situation where the new manager is trying to get the best possible position in league with not being accountable as his accountability will start from next season. I mean how long this is going to go on. We should sack Arteta now and get a new manager in. Buy players and sell players based on his desires or which fit in his plan. Then hold him accountable strat from next season.
I don’t think any manager would get this squad into the to 4 next season. We do not have a top 4 squad. The other top 4 clubs have bigger budgets and good managers. Neither Mourinho nor Ancelotti could get them below top 4 squads into the top 4. We could appoint Allegri or Sari and still not be in the top 4.
Top 6 as a first goal would be a decent beginning.
So Leicester has a top 4 squad and we don’t!!!
Well I didn’t think I would get to a point of hearing lame excuses from our so-called fans.
The only difference between our squad and Man City/ Chelsea is in the aggressiveness without the ball. That’s it.
Our players simply chase people aimlessly. It’s not about talent, as we have a squad capable of fighting for the top 3 positions.
First of all, I do think Leicester have a more balanced squad than we do, but second of all the wonderful thing about football is that teams can outperform their relative “status” on an occasional basis. That’s how Leicester won the PL. You have to love football for that. But you can not plan for that. This type of “event” or outperformance does not happen as a rule or frequently. And is not as predictable as predicting that the biggest budgets over time tend to finish highest in European football which includes the PL.
So Southampton could win the PL next season but it would be a less realistic goal for them than it would be for City, Man U and Chelsea. Measured over longer periods of time football teams as a collective tends to end up on the table where they belong based on their investment and strength of squad.
Managers have an impact but not as much as the budget does. Ranieri was not a better manager than Rogers but he did win the PL. Chelsea won many PL titles with a big budget and with many different managers. So did Real, Barca and Juve etc. In football, money wins more often than not but luckily for us fans, money does not always win.
👏👏
At last some common sense from a fan who is not submerged in the vitriol against Arteta.I entirely concur with your views JanV.Sir Alex Ferguson in his prime would fail to get out current squad into the top four.I am so glad Leicester won the Cup as it shows the importance of having a good recruitment team working with a fine Manager who I advocated as a replacement for Wenger 5 years ago.If we are unable to tempt Rodgers to move to Arsenal in the future,I suggest Graham Potter of Brighton would be a good alternative.He has done very well with limited resources in my o pinion.
“Rebuilding” is an inappropriate and misleading term to use. All clubs are constantly rebuilding all the time; at least if they are really trying to improve Does anyone think that eg MAN CITY ARE NOT REBUILDING TOO!
In order to seriously discuss the rights and wrongs of a topic you first need to agree with the premise of any ONE club being rebuilt.
ALL clubs are constantly being rebuilt, which renders this thread as rather meaningless, IMO.
I would put it this way: For many years past we have been insufficiently rebuilt and much of that is directly because of our owner, who withholds proper funds to do so. But awful choices of players are also a huge factor!
Try rebuilding a grand house that has been destroyed, when you cannot afford bricks and mortar but only straw. THAT is where we are ! Reality!
Well said Jon.
Jon fox
It took sir Alix fergeson 5/6 years to turn manu into champions
Arsen wenger was lucky he inherited a good defence klopp took 4 seasons at Liverpool why is everyone so impatient
With Arteta should we change maneger
Every 18 months?
Laurie, please go through the Invincible squad, then tell me AW was “lucky” – MA inherited a squad that finished 5th and played in a European final,,, since then, he has bought in seven new players and where are we today?
The squad Arteta has inherited was/is filled with relatively expensive “key” players who were never going to do better than top 4, never going to win the league, and was clearly on a downward trajectory, so it has to be gutted and almost completely refreshed. Their high wages relative to their performance levels, in many cases, makes in hard to move a lot of these players on (hence why Ozil and Mustafi were basically paid to leave!), so the task of refreshing this squad is incredibly difficult.
It’s an entirely different challenge to what Wenger had when he joined. He had a platform of winners and leaders to build on (not just a great defence, but some excellent midfielders like Parlour, Merson and Platt, plus Wright and Bergkamp), and largely just had to add to it. He made a tonne of great decisions, and was ahead of the game in his ability to identify talent and bring them in from obscurity for relatively little money, and unquestionably handled the squad incredibly well. It was an amazing achievement to win the double in his first full season, but those older players did give him a head start, certainly compared to Arteta.
This is entirely separate from the Invincibles, which was cultivated by Wenger over a period of around five years after he joined and I think only Bergkamp was still a definite starter during the Invincibles season who hadn’t been signed by Wenger. That was the culmination of all the work he had put into the squad up to that point.
the house building analogy a bit of a straw man jon!! we have spent a lot more on bricks and mortar than leeds leicester west ham and spurs in recent years and we are worse than all of them this season … arteta has brought in 9 or 10 labourers in his 18 months to no effect … any housebuilding project starts with a decent architect … we need one NOW
RW1. I suggest to you that the money we spent was largely on expensive and flaky straw, not bricks and mortar , which are solid. The last time we were properly solid was about a decade ago. Our rival clubs used their money to buy mainly bricks and mortar, esp Leiceter, but we do not seem able to find out where they are for sale. Our men of straw, metaphorically, are legion!
MA s difficult task is to rid us of straw and find out where the bricks and mortar are available.And to attempt to buy it with insufficient money.
When you have the players that Arsenal have, at your disposal, it cannot be called rebuilding. Arteta has failed miserably, because he himself does not know his best 11. This leaves these players cobfused, dissatisfied, disappointed and literally playing their wirst football in their careers bar a couple. Quite honestly, no one can tell me that Leicester has better players than Arsenal. No disrespect to Leicester, they deserve their glory. If Brandon Rodgers managed Arsenal, he would be higher up the table than he currently is with Leicester. That alone tells you that Arteta is not the man for this Arsenal team. The Arsenal players do not have drive and have lost their desire to perform consistently week in week out due to poor management nothing more.
Absolute nonsense.
Agreed. I find it very strange and hard to believe that some fans are saying this squad is a mid table squad. It defies all logic.
Great post Gooner-Kc
The problem is HH the fans that have constantly told us how great Arteta is and how non thinking fans have no idea about football or how they probably have never kicked a ball in their lives are now realising or they should be realising that their own football knowledge themselves is probably lacking ,real fans saw this coming it was just the slow thinking types of who didn’t
Thankfully they are the only ones believing their bs. Anyone can defend Arteta all they want but that does not give them a monopoly on opinions.
Some go around looking to be offended and when they do you will hear them saying the site is not what is used to be and the likes.
“are now realising or they should be realising that their own football knowledge themselves is probably lacking” – you are touching on deep fears there.
And if I may add, I have yet to see any of them with the exception of SueP who just sticks to her opinions, giving any compelling reasons of why Arteta should be given a chance.
If you one have such deep knowledge of football to see in Arteta what most don’t see it is just a matter of trying to convine others to subscribe to their views instead of disrespectful language.
*Convince
Was it from 2010 or 2019 you saw this coming
Obviously 2019, because up until 2018, we were in europe, winning cups and finishing in the top four year after year after year – there is, of course, an outside chance we might be playing in the conference league…. whatever that might mean!!
Yes, the glory days are on the way back!!!
2 fa cup in 14 years and 4th place trophy and you are happy with that?
Truth is the squad should be higher than we are. Its the style, the tactics and the managerial faux pas that is the reason we are battling it out below our level.
But you seem to be happy with 8th place Laurie .
The thing is dan kit I’ve been going to arsenal since 1972 and I’ve learnt to be patient
Or unambitious!
That word again ,Patient!
Hes had 18 months ,you can be as patient as you like but me I’ve seen enough thank you .
In a composite team selected by Alan Smith who of course played for Leicester and Arsenal, only 4 of our players made the side.Seems to contradict your assertion that we have better players than Leicester would you not agree?
Grandad, didnt that same Alan Smith a couple of years ago pick a spurs/arsenal team before we played them. He picked 10 spud players out and we tonked them!
I was not replying to you Reggie but was making a valid point to Gooner-KC .Did you have to show disrespect for Alan Smith who was a very fine player and is one of the more intelligent broadcasters around.
👍 Alan Smith was a great CF for the Arsenal, under George Graham.
Don’t think we need to get to top 4 for next season to be acceptable, but we do need to finish higher than this and show much more consistency. There have been games where things have clicked and we looked a proper team, just nowhere near often enough.
Realistically we should be looking at top 6 next year, but the summer is going to be a massive determining factor.
I agree
Reggie
If i was throwing abuse at Arteta like so much fans on here and he did manage to turn it around i would feel like a tit, who would have thought Liverpool would be scraping for a top 4 finish after running away with the league last season nobody knows the feature anything can happen in ffootball.
It is the 4th time you’re mentioning “ the scraping of Liverpool”.Who cares about Liverpool and their business?We care about our own backyard,others can do whatever they want.
Sorry…are you Stan Kroenke?
This lack of ambition and low bar setting is ridiculous for a club of AFCs stature, financial backing and history..
This is a direct result of years of medicrity. First with wenger when there was no money to do anything after the stadium build/move and it has snowballed since with expectation lowered further by the year..
From hanging on in to top four and champs league qualification to thinking 6th place when it’s the only thing we should be gunning for (we don’t have Europe quite possibly).
If SK remains we will be talking avoiding relegation as a bonus!
Dan kit so what are you going to do about it apart from just moaning and throwing insulates what other choice have you got ?maybe go and support
Chelsea or mancity like the other glory hunters
Ah yes Laurie is one of those who if can’t get his or her opinion across as to then tell me to go support another team ,originally buddy .
Where was the insults I throw also please ?