Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has claimed that Mikel Arteta is still the ‘right manager’ for the job, insisting that one look at ‘the bigger picture’ at Arsenal makes that clear.
The Spaniard took over the club in turmoil, and has been part of a major shake-up in North London, including Edu coming in to work closely behind the scenes, and others leaving also.
On the pitch, Arsenal made huge strides within a short space in time as Arteta brought a change in mentality, and the club ended up winning silverware in the FA Cup.
While the team is still undergoing changes, and with some very important signings having been brought in, Balague is of the belief that Arteta is still doing a good job, and says that he will need to be judged at some point, but it is too early to consider that currently.
“If you are the type of fan that judges after every game, then they lost, so he’s not,” Balague told his channel on YouTube. “But if you’re the kind of guy that sees the bigger picture, and sees what’s happening at the club, and what’s needed… of course he’s the right manager.”
“Give him time. You cannot judge him yet, but there will be a time where he will have to be judged. By that point, come back to me; and I think you will agree with me that Arteta will have done a good job at Arsenal,” he added.
While the majority of fans are under no illusion that Arteta still needs time to set things right, there is a growing number of people who are slowly turning on the boss as he struggles to turn our form around.
Which side of the fence are you on?
Patrick
Well obviously I am one who “sees the big picture”. Not being an intellectual pygmy, as so many “Arteta must go” dimwits are urging, I see the wider picture and the longer game ahead.
What I truly HATE is those fairweather fans who judge a manager by the last three or four results.
You can bet that should we win our next four games many of these pygmies would change camp, just like that. Then back again should we lose the next four after that. Sigh! Some “fans” disgust me!
I think its wrong to liable people as dim wits tbh. I think we all have different views and to me the arteta out camp has alot more valid reasons for out than the in camp that just say give him time.
As I have previously said give him the full year and judge. Over all. In the mean time it is fair to talk about each game on a game by game basis I think.
I would like guys like you JF to tell me honestly if arteta knows his best 11. If arteta knows his best formation. If you know artetas style of play. If you know his tactics. Then ask if the players know all of these things.
Let’s also ask if arteta has made any quality signings ? Granted it has knky been 1.5 windows the only player I would have picked for arsenal would be TP.
I think arteta has the talk and bags of potential. But honestly from what I have seen this season I cannot think of a game where I though yeah this looks like the right manager.
JF please tell me which game this season you have felt like this. You are more than entitled to your opinion but before you use certain language I think you should really provide some evidence and use that to argue your case instead.
End of last season I felt like wow arteta will be great but any real fan surley cN see that this has changed for both them selves and most other fans. Nkt because they are fake, dim wits or fair weather but because our football has been shocking !!!!
Shortboygooner, I do not label many fans as dimwits but I do not like half truths so I speak as I truly think and I am much aware of how social media in general does attract many non thinkers. Folks who write the first angry thing that comes into their head and who think not with their brains but with their boiling blood, so to speak.
No thinking and knowing person can rationally deny there are many idiots on all sites and we have our fair share. I like truth as I said, so I always speak it.
As to knowing your best eleven that is a constantly changing position at most clubs and certainly with ours. What you should say is what is the best team available at any one time , ie fit and not too knackered from playing every three days for a long time.
A thinking manager has to plan many imponderables in a constantly changing time and some fans think only in black or white, ie he is either right or wrong. Life does not work in that manner, nor does football and more life experienced fans know this as they have lived it too.
RATIONALITY usually comes with age and most of the fools on here are very young in age. That is fact and true of all social media sites, in case you have never noticed.
As to his buys, I am sure that currently our two best players at AFC are BOTH his buys GABRIEL, who you chose not to mention, oddly IMO and PARTEY who you did.
I do not judge a manager by ANY one game so reject your premise about “which game this season etc” as foolish talk. I prefer to look at the far longer and wider picture and I have seldom been so sure about any new manager anywhere, as I am about MA.
Like any other Arsenal fan, I’m not happy cos we are playing bad futbal but I’ll judge Arteta at the end of the season.
To all those who say give Arteta time question is what happens when we are in relegation zone which is where we are heading.
Well there are two opposing opinions above mine
I do support Arteta, and like Balague (and JF) believe he will come good.
It won’t be a quick process for numerous reasons but for me the problem of still having players on the payroll that are not good enough, who are eating into the clubs opportunity to reinvest in the squad, is a big part of the problem.
I could go on about the hierarchy but there are previous years of mismanagement/dodgy dealings that are still holding the club back even now. Raul was only found out in the summer!!
I doubt that 30 years ago I would be as patient as I am now. The world of instant gratification is the norm and for the likes of me it was a case of waiting.
I hope that he is given a chance. His 11 months in charge has involved the pandemic and massive financial uncertainty at the funding level of the club. I don’t think a change is in any way wise for the foreseeable future. I understand that if he really looks as if he can’t reverse the current situation then the future is bleak for Arteta but I am not going to add to any pressure he is under and continue to back him
Once again Jon, you brand fans who don’t agree with your opinions…the latest being “intellectual pygmies and dimwits.
You take my breathe away with your arrogance sometimes my friend, you really do!!
Patrick, every single fan, if that’s what he /she really are, all want Mikel to succeed – why wouldn’t we want him to become the most successful manager in our history?
He has brought, at least, a breathe of fresh air to the club and has tackled all the problems of the last two/three years head on and solved most of them with admirable skill and diplomacy.
That doesn’t mean we should not discuss what many see as his shortcomings though surely?
Where is the winning mentality, so prominent in the months before covid, disappeared too?
What are his tactics going forward?
Why has Aubameyang suddenly seem an older version of a sulking Nicolas Anelka?
When will he select players in from, rather than those he has personally brought to the club?
The four “W’s” above are legitimate questions for discussion and debate, otherwise how do we, as a fan base, express our concerns?
I would suggest that, far from being two sets of fans either for or against, there are two sets of fans…one who blindly believes everything will turn out fine, while the other set are asking the same questions that were used to judge UE and AW at the end of his career.
For the record, I am in the latter camp and see myself as a completely loyal fan to the club as those in the other.
I know your response post was to JF but is it fair to say that people like me who still support Arteta are doing so blindly, Ken? I haven’t questioned him so far so is that wrong? I’m obviously not happy with the turn of events but I’m being optimistic and open minded
As soon as I sent it SueP, I knew that I had used the wrong word – apologies to all for that.
What I should have said was “hopefully” or just left it as “one who believes everything will turn out fine”.
It wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular actually, just a general observation… but I was still thinking about Jon’s post I must admit!!!
No worries
I know we all want Mikel to succeed.
Oh dear dear dear KEN OLD CHUM! How very “WOKE” you seem to have become in your latter years. Neither you nor anyone will ever stop me using free speech and plain speaking. I truly think those adjectives I used are TRUE about certain fans on here, as with all clubs too. I write as I truly think and I use the correct words to describe my opinions, as is my right and anyones, apart from using filth .
On “FILTH”, just yesterday Phil used the phrase “bum chum” about me and I took offence at his disgusting and filthy language, so I emailed Admin Pat, who replied saying that in current parlance it means no more than two close chums and nothing homo about it at all. It is now ACCORDING TO PAT – a harmless phrase meaning two good chums and not more than that. Of course I reject that excuse as nonsense and emailed back to that effect.
AFC is not different from other clubs with dimwit fans. So my use of fools, dimwits etc is very mild compared to filth that is now allowed on this site, incredibly. But as a I noted in my second email to Pat , “what is sauce for the goose” etc!
So KEN, IF YOU DON’T WISH TO READ WHAT I WRITE THEN PLEASE FEEL FREE NOT TO. I WILL SURVIVE AND SO WILL YOU.
Personal freedom to choose, my old “bumchum!” And as you know, I remain liberal to my core, though I still do not approve of filth.
Fair enough Jon, but please don’t worry about get all upset when others use your “freedom of speech” quote to react in the exact same way to you
Past experience tells me that you are not the most “Liberal” person under those circumstances – so let the games begin.
Fans have every right to voice their concerns without the pathetic, tiresome name calling.
Don’t get me wrong I was chuffed to bits when we won the cup and shield, but that was then this is now and we look a completely different team. Why?
You can lose having played well, but we’re not even doing that!!
I am behind him and appreciate he has a mammoth task on his hands, but that’s what he signed up for and he’s paid handsomely for it…
Now come on MA, motivate the team and let’s put an end to this slump in the toilet bowl… COYG
👍Sue and it’s all so immature and needless.
Guillem is absolutely spot-on. In order to find the right solution, we must first identify the real problem. Here we could discuss the concept of root cause analysis but, for the moment, let’s look to medicine. If the doctor treats my fever without first identifying and treating my infection, should I expect to get better? This, in a nutshell, is our problem.
As a patient/fan, I am prepared to endure the fever and wait for the anti-biotics to take effect. Besides, I hate going to the doctor.
👍 Nice one… and if all else fails you could reach for the weed 😂
No doubt, Sue.
People can keep fooling themselves, being so calm, talking with almighty authority and making all sorts of unrealistic excuses …
But until the reality of fighting relegation dawns on us in a few weeks time, people will return to their senses.
Fact is WE’RE PLAYING CHAMPIONSHIP-LEVEL FOOTBALL!!!!
It’s good to imagine that Arteta ought to be doing a root cause analysis, but every game he comes out saying “WE MADE MISTAKES, BLAH BLAH.
But the next game, they make the same mistakes as if THEY’RE IN BETTING!!!!
Wenger was judged on results, Emery was judged on results and the way we played, why must Arteta be treated differently for doing a worse job than the two above coupled with a awful style of play, gone is the flair gone is the attacking threat, just slow static play, I will stand behind Arteta as long as he is still our coach but I don’t support what he is doing now I support my team the Arsenal, in conclusion the right manager is the one that stick to our club DNA which in part is attractive flowing football and I am not convinced as yet that Arteta is that manager
Arteta is trying to build a team
form the backbone/spine
we have a number of inexperience youngster coming through and some experience and talented foreign players
Arteta needs time and there will be losses for sure
Arteta may not have the luxury of time, the biggest worry is the body language of our team coupled with our non existent game plan, another lost now and I fear we might free fall.
I must admit that this is an era of instant gratification, so there are many fans who need instant improvement in the squad. But that does not mean that whoever is questioning the “process” is in that category. I have been a supporter of Arteta and still do want him to succeed. Being said that I am not just yet in the “Arteta out camp” (walking the thin line surely).
I am not frustrated with the results, we have seen our team loss to relegation fighting teams previously and have also seen beat Bayern at Allianz Arena (not just win but becoming the only team to stop them from scoring in their home ground for that season, anyone remember). So a loss I can take but the way we lose, the slump in performance is what raises the alarm bell. Last game we saw Auba’s body language, those are the cues I am taking for making my decisions.
From the dropped heads and stooped shoulders I am making these observations:
1. The “process” is too complicated and confuses the players and hence losing their confidence.
2. The “process” is missing some key pieces (read players) which is making it ineffective and is frustrating the players and they are losing confidence.
3. (The worst) The players have rejected the “process” and are frustrated and are not playing for the manager or badge.
If (that is a big if) any of these is the issue, who is responsible to identify it and rectify it? Can anyone come up with some other reasons for the current “performance”? I don’t buy to “Ozil-distraction” because we are talking about high-performing (or maybe above-average performing) “professionals” here – professionals being the operative word.
Now coming to the crux of the issue, when or how do we judge Arteta?
When?
1. End of 3 years
2. End of the season
3. End of December/January (next transfer window)
4. End of this week (after Spurs game)
How?
1. Points
2. Points against traditional Top – 6
3. Points against current Top – 6
4. Win Ratio
5. Goals Scored
6. Defensive Record
Retroscpection is a good thing but the real world does not work only on retrospections. The world move forward with what is called planning (or projections) and use retroscpections to evaluate our expectations and reality. Here are my projections and reality I am facing with this team.
Did we improve our squad this summer? Yes
Do I expect my team to improve this season? Yes
Do I expect it to be a walk-in-the-park? No
Do I expect roadblocks (read injuries (mainly)) in the path? Yes
What was our performance in the league last season? (Which was supposed to be our worst in recent times)
38 – 14 – 14 – 10 – 56 (8th)
Traditional Top 6 (One is Arsenal)
10 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 9
Outside Top 6
28 – 12 – 11 – 5 – 47
What was my expectations at the early days of the league (I had written this in a previous comment some time back)?
38 – 17 – 9 – 12 – 60 (6th – 8th)
How I reached this figure?
Top 6
10 – 1 – 1 – 8 – 4
Outside
28 – 16 – 8 – 4 – 56
Does anyone beleive that we have such a poor team that we cannot beat 8 teams in the league home and away to get 16 wins?
How are we performing now?
10 – 4 – 1 – 5 – 13 (14th)
Top 6
3 – 1 – 0 – 2 – 3
Outside
7 – 3 – 1 – 3 – 10
Projections
49pts from 38 (1.3 pts per game)
Top 6
10pts from 10
Outside
40pts from 28
Total: 50pts from 38
Both projections are pointing to around 50 points this season.
Now I am adding some gut feelings to the mix and try to come up with some other projections.
I am predicting the next 6 match results (which too I have already commented in another thread), taking into consideration the current form.
1. Spurs – L
2. Burnley – W
3. Southampton – L
4. Everton – D
5. Chelsea – L
6. Brighton – L
I believe most of the fans, regardless of the “camp” you are in, will agree to an extent to this (because of our current form).
Where will we stand at the end of December?
16 – 5 – 2 – 9 – 17 (15 – 17 or below?)
Top 6
5 – 1 – 0 – 4 – 3
Outside
11 – 4 – 2 – 5 – 14
Projections
40 from 38
Top 6
6 from 10
Outside
36 from 28
Total 42 from 38
I know stats or numbers does not show the whole picture in itself but they can be used as flashlights to shed some light to the path ahead rather than going into the dark unprepared. Another benefit of the number game is we can formulate an opinion without attaching too much feelings to it.
Recently I read an article here about thinking like a business owner, taking that analogy if you are the business owner and this is the current projection of your financial situation for the running financial year, would you keep or fire your CEO? The answer for me is depends on the relationship between CEO and owner.
To conclude, as long as we fans do not have a common notion about expectations, duration of “long” in long term plan and intermediate milestones in that plan we will be divided into different “camps” no matter how passionately we all love the club. I don’t think that division is because of hatred to certain individual players or anyone in management or someone (or a group) in this forum, it is just the culmination of different expectations each of us have in mind and the criteria we use to arrive at those expectations. All of us need to embrace that difference of opinion. The diversity is what makes a community flourish.
Start of the season I expected 60 points, current table suggests 50 points and adding some predictions gives 40 points.
Normally we can say that 36 is the magic number to avoid relegation (Outliers – 2010/11 – Birmingham (39 pts), 2002/03 – Westham (42 pts))
Am I happy with the projected points? – No.
Will I be surprised at the end of the season if Arsenal end up exactly in this region? – No
So what are our expectations for the season? What are we going to consider as improvement over last season?
Sorry for the long comment and thank you for reading.
Vinod,
Sorry I couldn’t follow the figures, but unless something goes really horribly wrong for Arteta, I would at the very least like to see him complete a summer transfer window and then get the chance to work with the new team. Even if it does go wrong sooner, what is the chance that Kroenke would sanction the employment of a so called top manager with a huge budget to work with? I could also ask would a new manager without the full financial backing be able to do any better than Arteta? My uneducated guess is that Arteta is safe even if the season is below par. The job of getting the club back to where it should be will be a test of anybody’s ability.
You mention Auba’s body language which was clearly noticeable. He is the club captain, and should be showing a united front on the field, and be talking to the manager on behalf of the team if there are issues that need facing up to.
SueP,
I get what you are saying and I respect your opinion and outlook. I have also said previously that I am waiting for Partey and Martinelli to come to the squad, which I belive will strengthen our squad a bit more. At that time I would like to evaluate Arteta’s gameplans. I also said there that if Arteta is sacked, I don’t fancy any top manager to replace him. I see Arsenal replacing Arteta with Eddie Howe (no disrespect to Howe though).
I think what I wanted to convey in the previous comment did not come out as I thought. Arsenal is going through a rough patch and as long as fans does not have a common rule to evaluate the performances of the team there is bound to be different camps no matter how much we all love the team. There will be difference of opinions and I don’t want anyone to dismiss another person’s opinion just because it does not match our own.
P.S: I was not judging anyone nor was I offended by any of the comments. I was trying to describe the path I took to reach my conclusions and how I was thinking about the current situation and what will happen in the future if the same continues without attaching any feelings, just like a neutral football lover.