If Arsenal had sacked Mikel Arteta after the embarrassing defeat to Everton in mid-December, which left them at 15 position, the new manager would have been praised for their upturn in fortunes.
However, the Gunners did not sack their former captain. Instead Arsenal’s performances improved and their results prove that.
Now we are in May, and Arsenal are just behind the two Manchester clubs in the league table since Christmas. They have been actually better than Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea by two points, Leicester City by five points and Liverpool by nine points.
And if you consider the matches the Gunners should have won, like the Wolves away, Fulham and Everton both at home, it could have looked even better.
Just imagine if we had a firing Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and a good number 10 since day one of the 2020/21 campaign. Guess who played their first game for us against Chelsea…
The importance of a No.1️⃣0️⃣ is crucial to the team! 🔥🤯 pic.twitter.com/OWEzaJhWqQ
— Arsenal Inside (@arsenalinside_) May 21, 2021
This team would have been way up the league table. Although these are mere assumptions, it shows that not everything is going out of plan under Mikel Arteta.
Do a bit of maths you will come to the conclusion that Arsenal have amassed 1.91 points per game(PPG) since Christmas. Extrapolate the number, and you will find out that the Gunners would still have just 73 points in a 38 game season.
Although that’s not an exceptional number, the London side would probably finish second this season with that points tally. In the previous three seasons, that would guarantee them a third place. Which means Champions League football.
But a season is not played from Christmas. It is played from August. Mikel Arteta’s squad must show consistency and quality from day one if they have any ambition to be back among the big boys.
And a lot will be down to the time on the training pitch and the resources the Arsenal manager will have on his hands.
…
After the loss to Everton, if you had told an Arsenal fan that they would have a chance of playing European football next season with a game left, they would have laughed at your face.
But here they are.
Arsenal currently lie at ninth position, just a point behind seventh and eighth placed Tottenham and Everton respectively.
While Sp*rs play Leicester, who desperately need a win to have any chance of playing Champions League football next season, the Toffees entertain league champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal on the other hand have a tricky fixture but easier on paper at home against Brighton and Hove Albion. On any normal day, Sp*rs and Everton will end up losing. And so will Arsenal.
But there is optimism among Arsenal fans that Arsenal can overtake the duo. Will the Gunners’ faithful celebrate St Totteringham’s Day come May 23rd in front of their fans?
After a dismal season, achieving that would make this season slightly sweeter. But it is not in Arsenal’s hands. Both Totten*am and Everton have to lose, and Arsenal have to win to make that happen.
And even if it does not happen, Arsenal supporters would hope that their league form of the second half of this campaign is carried onto next season.
I do feel confident, but not sure why, perhaps just wishful thinking.
I’m those 23 games I’ve seen a few occasions where we’ve truly played brilliant football, so I think the potential is there, however we’ve also seen some awful football which didn’t always match the results (you say there were games we “should” have won but didn’t, but there’s also a few games were should have lost but didn’t, some we even managed to win!)
Nevertheless my optimism is premised on seeing that we have a good platform, but we desperately need to build on that this summer – CM and CF positions are critical because if we get those right I really believe we will see Pepe show his true self more consistently and we’ll see even more output from the brilliant Saka, Martinelli and ESR.
Who knows, maybe willock and azeez could make an enormous difference in those CM positions next season?
Would MA play Willock and Azeez regularly though? From what I’ve seen that’s a big no!
Who would they replace? Xhaka, definitely not while he’s at the club. Partey highly unlikely and ESR no chance.
No chance either of them starts the season as first choice, but If they are given opportunities and take them, like Saka and ESR have, then it would be hard to justify not playing them, at least on a rotational basis. It’s on Arteta to give them the right opportunities and it’s up to them to take them and thereby pressure Arteta to give them more
Xhaka needs to be replaced in my opinion, I don’t see what he is actually good at. Even his long shots he doesn’t do them, and how he became the core of artetas tactics is an apalling mystery to me and shows d current state of the squad. Should just get bissouma or berge of sanitizer and rotate with both azeez and willock
Did you actually watch the game yesterday? Xhaka played well and made a few defense opening passes.
Brilliant football !
I can’t remember one game this season where we have played brilliant football ,bloody hell our standards really have dropped .
There have been games where the players have all been on it, and we’ve looked like arsenal, just nowhere near often enough.
Dan, I’m with you on this one; I too need reminding of the brilliant games.
Fair enough, maybe I’m overstating the quality of the games – can’t think of specific matches to cite – I do remember us having excellent periods in games and wouldn’t expect us to dominate the entire game in most cases – only city is doing that currently
Arsenal have become Nigeria that will be relying on other teams to loose and pray for themselves to win before they can qualify. Anyways, they (Arsenal) tried if you look how they started the campaign till Christmas time, plus loss of form of some players. I hope for better next season. Coyg
😂😆🤣
Quite the opposite for me personally ,the club is at an all time low and being 9th in the league proves this ,not sure why fans keep coming up with these silly stats since Xmas ,i thought the season was from September not December ,I won’t be falling for any talk over the summer about how the club is moving forward I’ve seen enough from this fraud and his side kick ,but it looks like some fans have already forgotten about this season and it’s not even over yet .
September to December was trash – didn’t look like a side capable of anything – but we have improved since the Chelsea game. Yes, it largely ruined our season and we still haven’t been fantastic since then, but my judgment of the season really begins from there. Holding onto the first few months doesn’t seem right, makes more sense to judge the team as it is now (and I know we’ll disagree on the outlook, still, but at least it’s on the same level).
I have to tell you, I was the same with Wenger right up until the last couple of seasons, always believing he could pull a rabbit out and create another quality side – I know Arteta doesn’t have Wenger’s track record (obviously), but I look for positive signs and tend towards optimism with arsenal.
@Dan Kit
We had fans cherry picking stats as an excuse for failure for a decade with Wenger, so I agree with you that it’s nothing new when fans do this. Big difference I guess with Arteta is that we’re only talking about one season, as opposed to over 10 seasons.
Second half of seasons stats do give us hope going into next season, including Arteta’s excellent record against the top 6.
Omg stop with the Wenger posts mate ,we are talking about Arteta .
He has to defend Arteta (I don’t know why? ) but what can he defend him with? Especially after the failure of a season he has had. Wenger is all he has left.
Oh, just pointing out the hypocrisy of fans like yourself Dan, and why you shouldn’t be taken seriously in anything you say. Classic flip flop when it suits your agendas!
🥴
Hypocrisy from whom? If Wenger’s last decade was consider a failure in your eyes, in which the worst position we finished was 6th, along with 3 FA cups, then how can you now support Arteta, in which the absolute best, if all the results go our way, we could finish is 7th place?
Remember, Wenger was pushed out when the team finished in 6th place. So why not the same standard for Arteta? Even before the last two seasons, when we were finishing in 4th place at worst, it was never good enough for some of the ‘fans’, as 4th is not a trophy. Why the difference now, and what would we give for the ‘non-trophy 4th place’ now?
Some fans! Hanging is too good for some of them.
Put them up against the wall!!!!
ThirdmanJW, where we are is enough of an evidence who’s era was better so your comment about Wenger is pointless. Second could you imagine if Arteta was the manager when we moved from Highbury to Emirtaes we would be fighting to stay in championship let alone EPL hahaha. Also Dan is right we are taking about Arteta why bring Wenger in it even hypothetically we assume that Wenger was the worst ever manager then using him as a scale to compare and show progression does not make sense. In your mind you is Wenger as worst standard then comparing Arteta to him to satisfy yourself.
He likes to play one upmanship games @logic ,as proven on his above posts ,he’s a good lad really but I think he might be abit of a nutter .
No, just pointing out the utter hypocrisy whenever you open your mouth Dan!
Just annoying having trolls like yourself on here, shame for real fans.
I’m a troll because I have an opinion about Arteta ,you son are a nutter plain and simple .
You have this weird fascination with Wenger and bring him into all of your posts then for some strange reason start calling people trolls ,maybe you need to look up the word and have a look at yourself .
You obviously jump on my posts hoping for a reaction then act like a little bitch when you can’t take the come backs .
Just look up on this tread from where I posted and just have a look at ho the troll is .
Like I’ve said before stick to your Roswell landing and flat earther forums because you make yourself look a moron on football matters .
It’s nothing to do with Arteta Dan, you have been trolling myself and many others for years, and when confronted with facts and your own hypocrisy, you either avoid answering, or just insult.
Some of us have been communicating about you for a while now, and we’re all in agreement that hopefully you’ll get banned in the not to distant future, so REAL Arsenal fans can then enjoy this great site, without fear of your constant attacks.
Haha
Some of us have been communicating about you for a while now, and we’re all in agreement that hopefully you’ll get banned in the not to distant future.
Do you mean just you hope that I get banned ,because I’ve not seen any talk about this whatsoever.
Constant attacks !!
Where is ?this I stay away from you and only respond when you think your being clever ,and the only other persons I won’t talk to is your buddy Jon and his sidekick Grandma so again you full of it .
I see what you did here ,posted on my post started an argument and then try and turn it and acting like a victim .
Your a clown and you’ve been called out constantly on here daily for being an idiot and your stupid little agendas ,have the brain power not to respond to my posts and we wouldn’t have to have these silly little childish back and forths .
Some fool wrote about it one-two weeks ago, that Arsenal were in position 15 after twelve rounds last December (12 4 1 7 10-15 13p), with Tottenham Hotspurs at the top of the table (25p).
And, of course, if Gunners were 15 then and 9 now, they must have done better since X-mas. A brilliant conclusion.
Maybe that’s why this nonsense of a fantastic second half of season 2020-21 and a glorious future started. But there are no such future. With Arteta the next season will be as dreadful as this one (hopefully soon gone and forgotten).
Arsenal can still finish at 7th, so it’ll be a little progress. However, if we still make Aubameyang and Lacazette start together next season, we’d likely have more losses and draws
I am with you regarding Auba and Laca. We should offload at least one if not both if at all possible. The only downside to this argument is that I have no confidence whatsoever that Edu or Arteta will bring the right replacement. I am necessarily asking for the next Henry. The 2007 Adebayor will do just fine.
Arsenal must be willing to sell Lacazette with a big price cut, because Aubameyang is more difficult to sell
This is going to be a big challenge for Vinai and Garlick, because they have to find the suitors as soon as possible. We could miss some hot prospects like Odsonne Edouard, if we’re too slow in player sales
Your headline disappoints me. The one undeniable factor between pro and anti Arteta, Arsenal supporters, is clear acceptance that we have generally performed very poorly this season. Except for the younger players, who have excited us, our established players have shrunk performance wise, and we have played poor, erratic, football . I apologise that I am going to berate you to you in advance, but many of your articles do add up to me. You seem satisfied with the unacceptable and seem to accept the unacceptable. We are at the lowest ebb I have seen in over 25 years and playing the worst football for even longer. This season should simply be defined as totally unacceptable.
But surely being in 2nd place in the last 23 games is signs of progress? I wouldn’t call that unacceptable personally…
I’d call winning the FA Cup a sign of progess as well to be fair but look at our following months after that.
2nd place is good after 23 games I agree but the fact that we are using 23 games as our metric proves we are cherry picking a number of games that flatters us.
Even in those 23 games, we have looked a bit lost in the majority. I’d say we looked like a team with a proper plan in maybe 5 games this entire season.
I agree with what you said, but it’s not cherry picking because it’s a more accurate reflection of the team now, even if, as you say, the points don’t necessarily match the performances
Im actually ok with dropping points if we are building something sustainable like a solid style of play and an effective game plan.
I think a lot of fans aren’t seeing this, myself included, and that’s where the concern is. We’ve done well but is what we doing sustainable repeatable and are we able to build on it? From what I’ve seen in games I’d honestly say no unfortunately.
Totally fair as usual PJ-SA – I might be clutching at straws but still think there’s something there
Pat
Our eyes see the truth. The football has been atrocious. I find it hard to stomach that and as you surely can see, I hold Arteta responsible….because it is his job to make us better. So many mistakes by him that I cannot see him as a long term successful manager. The football has been overwhelmingly bad, including since Christmas
I am with you Ad PAT. Over reacting is what fans from all top clubs do most of the time. Perspective is not a popular word or even concept with many on here. But the wiser ones value and respect perspective. This is what I mean when I speak of thinking fans or unthinking ones. I see definite progress and though I am still torn on whether MA should stay or leave, I am content to wait to see how things go.
Little point beating oneself up about something over which none of us has any control. THAT is life perspective!
Jon Fox May 8 2021 at 1:26 pm
After much deep thought over the last few months I have to conclude that my initial hopes and expectations for Arteta have been wrong!
I allowed for the exected mistakes as a rookie but I also thought he would set a more marked sense of direction. The truth is that he has allowed himself to be blown off course in various directions.
Unlike many on here, I was determined to givehim a proper chance and not panic over a mid table position , UNTIL he could get his own players in, which as yet is only part way through. BUT his constant mistakes in shape, selection, subs and lack of a proper direction of regular style have forced me, as an honest and self appraising fan, to change my mind.
I have to accept that I was wrong and so do so now humbly and sincerely with egg on my face. Some on here will be glad, as I am not liked by some for my forthright views but above all I will always be honest with myself and say as I think,
In life, only a fool does not change his mind when evidence mounts that he was wrong. I am not a fool , so have done so with humility and sadness. I do still see potential great qualities in MA but what matters to us as a club is now , NOT some time in the future.
Right NOW, we are falling and failing and the Villareal shambles was the last straw. Whatever relse happens NO Arsenal team should ever meekly stroll through a vital semi final with such acceptance and lack of fight. It wa the sheer lack of fight that hurts so much! Most of us can accept an honest defeat by a better team. But when OUR team is not prepeared to give its utmost that is not and NEVER WILL BE ACCEPTABLE.
It is now clear that this team taken, as a whole is not being inspired by MA. I do not think – as some say- that he has lost the dressing room . BUT too many players are not busting a gut and that is UNACCEPTABLE.
I called out Walcott, and Ozil, plus Mkhi(for a lesser time) for years for lack of effort. It would be dishonest of me to allow such as Auba to get away with similar coasting and not call him out too. So I do so now!
But the buck for lack of effort stops with the manager. THAT is not Kroenkes fault- even though he is a poisonous snake we need out RIGHT NOW. This side is not , regularly putting in enough effort and that comes dowm to motivation. ANY manager who cannot motivate his team to give its utmost effort has failed in my book. And THAT my fellow Gooners is where I am now. I now want MA to go .
But I see no real possibility of Kroenke acting this summer, simply because a new manager would involve him in extra expense and we all know how he looks at life through his pocket with all other human and team considerations coming nowhere!
What I believe WILL happen is that MA will get til next Christmas and IF we are in, or VERY close to top four, he will be allowed til seasons end and then reviewd by what happens in early 2022.
What could change this is IF kROENKE sells up. I very much doubt Daniel Ek will ever own us though,as I distrust his advertising his intentions prior. I believe that IF any serious bidder comes forward, the first we will know about it is when its done.
THAT is how multi billionaires work. Why else do you think Kroenke is called Silent Stan! Glazers and other top rival owners are the same. Silent!! Those who talk first rarely act and those who act rarely speak first. Life has taught me that! For now I will continue eating my humble pie and hope to soon recover from my broken ribs hurt in a reacnrt fall. This season is effectively now over and I hope you all have a peaceful, safe and fulfilling summer til next season.
Finally, I apologise SINCERELY to allthose fans who have wanted MA out who I have called “hasty”! It seems you were far ahead of me in SEEING the truth.
Well Jon?????
It deserves an answer simply because yet again you have been caught out changing your mind far too often, especially when you preach as you do.
I clearly recall you abandoning Arteta with this post of yours, after months of defending a manager who was clearly proving himself to be out of his depth, unable to bring a consistent system of play to the team, and who unforgivably refused to play certain players in preference to others who were clearly failing.
I will happily await the response @Highbury Hero expects and deserves.
Well done, HH!! I actually took a screenshot of that comment [when first posted] for future reference, haha!!
HH You are really a very silly young person. I see absolutely NO contradiction between my two posts. It was clear from my first post that I still hoped MA would come through though I was doubtful that he would . That remains my position. Are you totally incapable of seeing shades of grey in debate?
I suppose I ought to be flattered that you have chosen to try- though fail – to make your point, as you see it, by quoting my long post in full. It says a great deal about how you think and are, if you but realised it.
It seems most saw this coming Sue & Phil except Jon himself of course.
@Jon
“After much deep thought over the last few months I have to conclude that my initial hopes and expectations for Arteta have been wrong!”
Are these words of a person who still has hopes in Arteta?
“BUT his constant mistakes in shape, selection, subs and lack of a proper direction of regular style have forced me, as an honest and self appraising fan, to change my mind.”
It seems you change your mind on a regular basis. Are those words of a person who still have hopes for Arteta?
” I do still see potential great qualities in MA but what matters to us as a club is now , NOT some time in the future.”
Is this not a contradiction of what you have posted today?
“And THAT my fellow Gooners is where I am now. I now want MA to go”
Do I have to go further?
I have been wrong about you Jon. I genuinely believed you were a man of your word. Now I have egg on my face. Or is it a tomato?
HH I gave you a full answer but you chose to ignore the points I made and still berate me again. Therefore I will now no longer engage with you on this site. It is pointless given your intentioin never to take on board what I write.
@Jon
I am very sad to see a self proclaimed intellectual taking the easy way out. I said I had buried the hatchet with you and I stand by my words.
Today I was merely reminding you of your own words. You may have forgotten them but the North remembers Jon.
I don’t think you should boast about your intellectual powers if when cornered you take the easy way out of not engaging. Adios Sayonara mellon!
HH, snakes are “venomous”, not “poisoness”, as they are actually quite good to eat! As I have pointed out to jon fox previously, they are very offended to be associated with such low lifes as the Kroenkes.
An Australian expression comes to mind:
They are “lower than a snake’s duodenum.”
er…if we go by your metric, sort of arbitrary using different parts of the season to justify how ‘good’ we are, then surely that lot up the road should be presented with the Premiership trophy. Didn’t they win the league in December or something?
2nd since Christmas! Damn, are we really getting so low that we need to resort torturing data like that? On reflection, I think I know the answer to that. We are! I blame the clueless board who appointed a clueless manager.
I am open-minded and will see what next season brings.
We had good momentum at the end of last season and it didn’t do us much good. I will decide after 10 or so games in the new season. And I will look at our transfer activities.
Arteta lost a bit of his hallow for me during the two Vliiareal games. having said that, I want to be big enough to give the guy room to grow. He is not stupid.
If we sign players like Willian (Bertrand, Julian Brandt, or other injury-prone players) I will lose more confidence.
If we sign Bissouma as DM partner for Partey and Beundia as a creative spark to compete with ESR, I will gain confidence.
Overall, the gap to the teams above us is not massive in terms of points and a few errors less, and this same squad would be in the top 6.
I say wait and see and be hopeful. Do we have another choice?
@Sean Williams.
Yes this season has been unacceptable but not totally, if we think totally unacceptable then we are ruling out the gaint strides our youngstars have taken and that’s truly something to build on, and many other things(like defensively we’ve improved, not title worthy but major improvement), lets not think as if there is magic that can be done. We pick out the positives and work on the negatives for next season.
Mind you, there’s a reason why the youngstars have shone this season, it’s because they are in thier development phase and are quick to understand the managers instruction and are more hungry to play for the badge they are wearing, and thats not what you could say about the older players who for me are bang average with little or no room for development.
Since Xmas lost To Everton , City , Liverpool , Villa and Wolves in the Prem
Saints in the Cup and got knocked out in Europe
So lets not get carried away
if teams happened to do worse during that spell , that doesn’t make our form acceptable
This is a point those who cherry pick seems not to be aware (I doubt it) or consciously ignoring because it will make the form after Christmas not all that impressive. We are 3rd since that time not because we have been flying but other teams have had terrible results as well.
I would like to know are we still 3rd from the time Tuchel took over Chelsea?
You are also cherry picking. Is winning against big teams win us a trophy? Let’s say we beat all the big teams home and away by 5 goals or more every game and we lose all the games against small teams. Will we win the league or get relegated?
Reply to Adajim
Can you also mention we reach semi of uel and won against big teams too. We should access both sides when considering the whole picture. The article is talking about how consistent could spur us to where we want to be, the writer lamented about our poor start and opine if we could have performed in the whole season just like we didn’t in the last 23 games we could have make top 4. He isn’t cherry picking. It’s a fact we cannot deny. If we blame the team for poor 1st half, we should praise them for better second half and encourage them to be consistent
Still 9th though .
No because second half hasnt been impressive
Your making out we lost one game since xmas we lost 5 prem games ?
Don’t get what we are boasting about ?
BUT WHERE ARE WE IN THE LEAGUE THIS SEASON. Because thats what we play for, not micro choices.
I would suggest also, we haven’t improved second half of season, far from it, others have got worse, we lost 6 games second half, thats not good form.
The writer had put all points into consideration, he talk about how the season is accessed over 38games and not 23 games , it’s just a perspective. So chill
Its just an opinion, so just chill!
I wouldn’t raise my hope too high, am not expecting us to finish 7th but overall I feel Arteta improved from last season.
The FA trophy was one off luck and his performance in Europe and epl was just average performance wise , with a better performance this season, an uel semi and a likely 7/8 is an improvement.
I understand he trusted the old guys too much and gave them too many chances, that led to his awful October/ November couple with his efforts to change our tactics and formation from the negative 3-4-3 to a more attractive style. I believe he has learnt and should performance better next season. Am giving him just next season.
What will you guys blame Arteta for if Salina is back at the club this season.
@ozziegunner I think it’s high time you get over Unai sack, you probably feel his sack wasn’t justified and aim dig at MA at every opportunity as well giving why UE is better. I had mix emotions too but I support Arsenal and now am rooting for Arteta, I hope you do same because it’s getting too obvious that you still hanging over UE
Adajim, I haven’t mentioned Unai Emery with regard to this subject. He is no longer part of Arsenal and I continue to support Arsenal, regardless of who the manager is, as I have for 59 of my 69 years.
I always believed, probably misguidedly, that Arsenal treated people equitably and fairly and I don’t believe this was the case with Emery.
I hope Mikel Arteta is able to lead Arsenal back, but I have my misgivings. Thankfully the Board has been strengthened in football knowledge to lend him support.
OG- you have always had this opinion on Emery and I know how you defended his record after he was sacked. Compared to Arteta, there is no doubt that Emery was at least keeping us in the Top 4/6 mix, which Arteta has been unable to do. It’s only now, when Arteta is rightly in the firing line and being asked some serious questions, that Emery clearly was not treated as leniently, and given at least until the end of the 2019-20 season. To be fair, I was glad he was dismissed. But you are therefore divert correct in what you have always said. Which is simply “ Why is Arteta being given the time denied to Emery”. If the Board felt Emery managing a side hovering around Top 4/6 was not good enough, why is Arteta still in a job?
It seems as though the Board are a lot more convinced of Arteta’s management and coaching abilities than the vast majority of the fanbase.
👍 Thanks Phil, I only ask for consistency and fairness.
I’m with you Davi, it’s obviously not been a good season for us overall but I have seen some positive things during it and personally have reasons to be optimistic for next season
As always we will have to wait and see
I would be optimistic if there were any signs of quality football being sustained over 90 minutes .. I simply can’t remember one game where that has been the case … so like any mid table team we have had our moments … and like any mid table team not enough .., no one is talking about being enjoyable to watch as for example is case with Leeds or being difficult to breakdown as with west ham or Leicester .or even enthusing about a couple of players like Spurs… basically we are left clinging on to hope about youngsters where other than saka the jury is still out … arteta continues to tinker continues to stick to reliable has beens continues to resort to negative footballing tactics etc … so if he stays in charge … which would be a massive mistake imo .. I don’t see anything but continued mediocrity unless kroenke pulls out the wallet which seems unlikely
‘Surely Arsenal fans should be feeling confident ahead of next season’
Exactly what was said after the cup win….
You know Sue in the NFL when a (losing) team scores touchdowns when the game is already lost; it’s called garbage time TDs. Meaning they have no impact on the outcome of the game, they just pad the stats of the QB of the losing team etc… The same thing here. When everything is lost and when there is no pressure of expectation Arsenal go on a mini run. Ultimately the outcome was a foregone conclusion long before this run of ‘form’ started. Arteta out!
Spot on, ahmad 👍
yeah Sue i’m lost
I remember a team not showing up against Liverpool and in Europa semi Final
Everton winning at the Emirates for the first time.
Players celebrating a draw at home to Fulham, etc
It was Burnley that really got me, Dan!
I won’t be sorry to see the back of this season, it’s been horrendous..
Today might be Zidane’s last match for Madrid, I say opportunity has presented itself again. Sack Mr Arteta and go grab Zidane asap. Before anyone can say he is not a good manager look at his record he has won 11 trophies which include 3 champions League, 2 league titles and if Atheletico slip then 3 league title. All his trophies are big ones. Biggest proof for quality of any manager is winning the league. When he left Madrid they went through cycle of managers with no one could steddy the ship. He came back and steaded the ship not only that won league title next year with a player like Renoldo not in team. This season Madrid second nothing and with ageing players old grandpa squad he reached champions League semi final and now might win the league as well. I rate him same as pep and klopp let’s get the guy before he signs for Juventus.
Logic
Would agree, but the Kroenke’s probably don’t know who Zidane is. They know nothing about English, European or even South American Football. What chance do we have. Arteta + Board + Kroenkes = Failure.
👍
You show incredible naivety to belive that, even if offered, Zidane would ever accpt our job under KROENKE ! Use your brain!
Without evidence and proof if people can see Arteta doing wonders and being a legendary manager in future then my wish seems pretty small and achievable 😜
Are you serious, Zidane he spends silly money every year and failed to win anything when the rest of the league fucked up all season. He’s nothing special just has alot of very expensive players in a farmers league.
I have been disappointed so often over so many years, that I now start each season without any expections. It will be what it will be; que sera sera.
I now don’t believe anything I hear from the mouth pieces and spin doctors from the Arsenal. It all started with selling the Club’s best players in breaking up “the Invincibles” and failure to replace, moving from Highbury after spending the Club’s treasure on building the Emirates and the statements (“promises”?) made by the owners of their expectations to compete with the best clubs in Europe.
Arsenal no longer compete with the best clubs in Europe; they can’t compete not only against the best EPL clubs, but also middling clubs. Out of Europe, both Champions and Europa Leagues and competing in the middle third of the table.
The “treasure” accumulated from all those years of playing in Europe has been squandered by abject management of the financial and player assets of this Club. It is now a long way back!
Ozziegunner, I might do the same as well. Its better to lower your expectations then get heart broken. This Arsenal mess is driving me away from football, I started watching football for fun, entertainment and joy not depression and sense of frustration everytime I turn on the match. I think time has come to slowly detach your emotions from the game until we get passionate people running the club.
The problem is 90% of the Arsenal fanbase have overly unrealistic expectations for the last 10 seasons. Our fans are entitled morons who think we should be competing with Utds Chelseas and City’s of the world based on an invincible side 14 years ago. Everyone needs to wipe the shit from their eyes and see this season is the making of 10 years not just because of a rookie manager
You wrong James, system needed a bit of tweak and some quality player addition to push us a bit further as title contenders because we have been in top 4 for a while but what do we do tried a new approach completely and tried to kick start a new project which has lead us to failure. Problem is we have gone back since Wenger left where as we should have at worst stayed static or progressed.
James, I am not an “entitled moron”, having supported Arsenal for 59 years of my 69 years, through good seasons and bad, some even worse than season 2020/21.
What I can not tolerate is the ownership and management admitting that Arsenal are not in competitions to compete and try and win trophies. I see players who are overpaid, pampered prima donnas, who cannot execute the basic skills of football and do not give their best for their own professional pride or pride in the club they are supposed to represent.
Even in the Arsenal’s darkest days no supporter, pundit or opposition ever accused Arsenal of being a soft touch. If they lost a game, it was because the opposition was better, not because Arsenal players didn’t turn up to the fight.
I refuse to give Arteta too much stick. He inherited a poor squad with deadwood affecting training etc.
Seasoned managers like Wenger & Emery couldn’t steer those players to the top 4, so expecting a complete novice to do it was insane. We all knew what we were getting. A cheap untested manager, learning on the job.
I’m glad he’s held his hands up last week and admitted to making mistakes, I only hope he learns from them. If we’re still hanging around mid table come Christmas, even Arteta should admit it’s not working. People look at our team, and suggest that only a handful of the players are good enough, that we need another overhaul from our first team squad, and additional transfers to add to our core. These same people then blame Arteta for not being up to the task at hand. Expecting Saka, ESR, Tierney, to perform miracles is nonsense. Aubameyang, hit the ground running, and had crazy figures when you look at his goals scored against his expected goals. It was never sustainable and here we are.
Arteta has worked wonders with our defence. Of course the individual errors are still there, but our soft underbelly seems to be toughened.
If we can add to our midfield, and find a partner for Partey, hopefully this will turn around his fortunes.
Pepe looks to be developing, and Martinelli, should also improve next season.
I don’t expect too much next season, even if our form since Chelsea is decent. As long as we improve our consistency, and do well against the top 6, the table should look better soon.
No point dreaming of instant success, after a couple more windows, hopefully Arteta will have the players available to do what he asks.
Fingers crossed.
Tommygun
Great post TG. Sums up my thoughts almost perfectly.
No one is saying this season has been good enough. No one is cherry picking stats – second place since the 1 nil Chelsea win is an reflection of our current form albeit tarnished by some atrocious performances and results. Get comfortable living with shades of grey people.
Agreed Tommy
From my observation there is few fans on here who would like to see arsenal get regulated just so they can turn around and say ” i told you so” i think they knew who they are.
Laurie, Arsenal certainly do need to be “regulated”. 😁
As for “relegation”, don’t give Kroenke any ideas. Arsenal has a proud record of maintaining a place in the top division of English football; however Kroenke is looking with envious eyes at the funding Norwich City received from relegation to and promotion from the Championship.
Ozziegunner
You know what i mean😜
Laurie, “Pale Rider” was a great Western, where he takes on and kills “the regulators.” 😉
Ozziegunner
I’d better change that to relegation i don’t want anyone getting killed
Honestly, I can’t see us doing a lot better next season. The teams ahead of us are probably going to strengthen their squads – Man C, Man U, Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, Spuds, Everton. I haven’t included the Hammers because I think they overachieved this season but did include Everton because of Moshiri’s friend Usmanov who could come back to bite us. The only chance we have is if the Kroenke’s cough up a bit of cash to regenerate the squad. Fat chance!!!
Arteta deserves any and all criticism he currently faces, as it was on him and the rest of our administrative hierarchy to put on their respective big boy pants and make the tough decisions…this isn’t about the manipulating of stats or the massaging of a newfound narrative simply because it’s fits the increasingly desperate script, this is about what my eyes have seen and about the actual actions of our manager, when left to his own devices
when he first arrived there was some obvious trepidation about handing the reigns to someone who had no previous managerial experience, but the potential saving graces provided by the powers that be were that he was a former player, who had mentored under one for the very best and that he would be given sufficient time and the necessary support to root out the undesirables and rebuild the squad, based on a mixture of predominantly younger players and a smattering of more polished professionals
had he chosen this preferred course of action, he would have undoubtedly had his critics, as even knowing the mandate many within the fanbase would have remained justifiably restless for success sooner rather than later, but that would have been on them not him, as most would have understood the implied logistics of such an massive undertaking
unfortunately, this wasn’t what transpired, as he chose to read his own headlines and pursue an ill-advised shortcut, as such, he certainly doesn’t deserve the courtesy of patience or the benefit of a largely muted and supportive fanbase…that was a luxury he was afforded in those early days, when his supporters clearly outweighed his distractors, but this started to wane when he took advantage of that situation and chose to place his own self-interests over the betterment of the club as a whole…now he must earn that trust again, which might be a bridge too far for those, like myself, who are continually sickened by the glaring lack of accountability at this club at all levels
I think perspective is needed here, as I said above. All of our faults have been developed over the last 10 years and during our ownership by KSE. As someone said in the thread Wenger and Emery couldn’t get this squad into the top four. Emery put our squad two steps back and managed to oversee an embarrassing defeat to Chelski in a European final.
Some moron suggested we should boot Arteta out and get Zidane, lmfao, what an idiot. Zidane spends obscene sums of money every year and already has one of the best squads in the world. The Spanish league is dire and over no standard anymore plus he’s nothing without prime Ronaldo in his team. Then if we shot Arteta, who would we get in then, Alegri. Give the Arsenal morons brigade 6 months of boring defensive football and they’ll be on his back. Just like they were with Wenger, Emery and now Arteta.
The only managers I would have liked would who would suit and bring back our DNA is Tuchel and Juilian Neiglesman but Beyern have snared Julian him from one of their 23 feeder clubs and Tuchel went to our rivals.
We have improved with in the last 23 games with a bang average squad. As last season when we won 2 trophies with the same bang average squad. We know we have players who will brain fatt often and we managed to get 4 out in Sokratis, Mustafi, Kola and a lazy Ozil and Now Luiz is gone.
Saliba has his chance to get a good preseason to prove himself. Willock has been exceptionally good on loan should he be in the starting 11 by no means he has to do that for us when given a chance. Balogun has now signed on and I’m looking forward to seeing him fulfil his potential. Partey will be better, Pepe has improved, Saka Ive seen is now rated as a 90mil player, ESR is going to hit his stride next season too.
I see us signing 5 players this summer. Lets sign a back up LB, RB, 2 CM and a 10 to take the pressure off ESR. Then get a good pre season under our belts and hope the fixture list is kind to us for the first 6 games unlike last season where we played Chelsea, City Utd, Liverpool and Spurs in the first 2 months of the season.
James, how does Emery’s 5th place by 1 point and a Europa League final, compared to Arsene Wenger’s 6th place and a Europa League semi final put Arsenal “two steps back”?
Amazing how the odd person on this thread holds two opposing points of view at the same time. Good way to get a winner, not a good way to get respect.
I can’t wait for tonight’s nothing game to be over. Won’t even be able to watch because of starting time and travelling. Hibernation from Arsenal football is good for the soul and helps to wipe the slate clean. Switching back on in the middle of July is always an exciting time because you hope to see fresh faces and weaknesses addressed. It was damned frustrating during Wegner’s later years because he always promised only top top players and then gave us Xhaka, Giroud, Kolasinac and Mustafi. Like most of you above, I’ll start with fresh optimism, without forgetting that Arsenal are a Kroenke franchise. Lest we forget.