Arsenal – A Worst Case Scenario Dilemma by Leke Osmani
It’s looking less and less likely that we will qualify for Europe let alone for the Champions League next season. Let’s take a look at the routes Arsenal can take to move forward if we don’t get Europe next season.
Route A – Arteta Out
We sack Arteta. Plain and simple. We get rid of the manager. We get another manager in and we get someone that can make these players perform. Most Arsenal fans will argue that we need an experienced manager, a manager that knows how to make decisions and how to make those crucial big decisions. A manager that gets the most out of Auba, Laca and Pepe. A manager that teaches the defence how not to concede late goals and teaches the whole team how to manage games. A manager that makes the midfield tick and effectively dictate games, week in week out. One man to change a whole football club, starting with the mentality of the players and playing the right players in the right games. To do this, we have to put the blame of this season on Arteta and get rid of him.
Potential Managers (in order of author’s preference):
- Allegri: 2.27 points per match with last club Juventus.
- Valverde: 2.23 points per match with last club Barcelona.
- Setien: 2.08 points per match with last club Barcelona.
- Sarri: 2.16 points per match with last club Juventus.
- Favre: 2.01 points per match with last club Borussia Dortmund.
Route B – Players Out
We suffer. We get rid of players that don’t have the determination and the drive to play for this football team. Pepe, Willian and Auba leave for not performing. Bellerin leaves for the club to get money in. Laca leaves as his contract is expiring and he turns 30 next month. Ceballos and Odegaard go back to Madrid. Ryan goes back to Brighton. Torreira gets sold to Boca due to difficult times. Kolasinac gets sold as he’s not good enough to fill in at left back. David Luiz doesn’t get his contract extended. Where do we go from here? So many big names, so many adored players leaving. We effectively put the blame on the players if we take this route.
Players Left Potential Line-Up:
GK: Leno (Runarsson*) (Ryan**)
RB: Soares (Maitland-Niles)
CB: Holding (Saliba)
CB: Gabriel (Chambers)
LB: Tierney (Lopez*)
RCM: Partey (Elneny)
LCM: Xhaka (Guendouzi)
AMR: Saka (Nelson)
CAM: Smith-Rowe (Willock) (Odegaard**)
AML: Martinelli (John-Jules*) (Pepe**)
CF: Nketiah* (Balogun*) (Aubameyang**)
Players marked with * signify potential lack of depth in their position.
Potential players to stay from overhaul due to financial reasons or performing well and marked with ** are:
-Aubameyang**
-Pepe**
-Odegaard**
-Ryan**
If these players stay the obvious weak point in the squad is in the left back position.
Final Thoughts
We have a huge dilemma on our hands. With some very difficult decisions to make, I believe I speak for all Arsenal fans when I say that we are hurting right now. I was disappointed with the continuous lack of league titles at the end of Wenger’s era and the Europa League final loss under Emery, but this right now is one of, if not, the lowest point as an Arsenal fan.
Optimism is abundant in my corner of the world but with the recent developments surrounding Arsenal I must say that even being optimistic seems optimistic at this point.
Prove me wrong Arsenal, I dare you.
Arteta has had 1.5 seasons. I’m still going to give him to the end of the season or earlier just in case we win Europa League. If we lose next game or later and don’t win then he has to go
You must be dreaming because Manchester United stands a better chance to win it.
With this Arsenal might be relegated. You want AMN to stay and Bellerin to go. You want Odegard to go and Wilnock to stay. I like our Academy player but truth be told many are/were overated. AMN, wilnock, Nketiah. Now see how those we sold like Chamberlain, Iwobi, Ramsey, Walcott are struggling after leaving arsenal. It is time we get ruthless with both our academy and senior players instead of allowing them drag the club forward. I will never forget the patience the club had with Senderous, sonogo and lord bentner even when they were clearly underperforming. We can’t continue in such manner. Loan these players for one season and if they don’t come back better then sell them.
I meant drag the club backward.
And how can we Sell pepe and leave Nelson. How successful was Nelson loan? Average at best
– Allegri: He managed big clubs with big resources in the last decade and I doubt his English skills, so he’d likely struggle with Arsenal’s low transfer budget and might be ridiculed like Emery due to his English skills
– Valverde: I also doubt his English skills and we know how our players/ fans ridiculed Emery because of the way he spoke
– Setien: Never got any honours as a manager and only lasted for eight months at Barcelona
– Sarri: Left Chelsea to be closer to his parents in Italy
– Favre: Only got one community shield cup in Germany and sacked in December 2020 after a string of poor results, including a 5–1 thumping at home against newly-promoted VfB Stuttgart
Conclusion: Keep Arteta no matter how this season will end, because Arsenal would likely replace Lacazette or Aubameyang with a new striker. Our attackers are the main problems and we can always fire Arteta in December if he can’t show any progress
GOT let’s keep Arteta even if we fail to win the europa league and not qualify for European football next season.
Yes. Because we concede fewer shots from the oppositions and make more clear-cut chances from open-play under Arteta, as compared to Wenger and Emery
I doubt yiu can back that up with stats.
I believe the exact opposite
More clear cut chances than under Wenger! Utter bullocks!
Yeah and arteta has taken us to 10th place where I have no doubt we’ll finish, so you can come out with all those irrelevant stats the only one of importance is where we finish
Gotanidea, sometimes I wonder if you say these things just to wind up fellow fans or you have lost the plot. You want to keep Arteta even with all the failures and actually rate him above Wenger where as all the other experienced managers mentioned in the post with proven track record will prove less successful than Arteta.
A look at the first 50 matches says otherwise.
Why not to poach Julian Nagelsmann or Brendon Rodgers
The big mistake was not getting Rogers when he was available and opting for Arteta. We’re stuck with him now for better or worse.
Not getting Ancellotti when he was available.
Arsenal would have to pay their clubs a lot of money, after paying millions to Arteta and his staffs. We could be left with a very low transfer budget afterwards
I like Nagelsmann, but I didn’t like how Rodgers make Leicester park the bus against us. We need a manager with attacking football style
Why would Rodgers leave Leicester to come to arsenal for christ sake
you’re correct Kedar, your choices are much more logical…as soon as I read the author’s managerial preferences, I knew they hadn’t done their due diligence, besides the basic facts, and were simply throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what would stick…Nagelsmann, Erik ten Hag and Gasperini would make far more sense both financially and tactically for us, at this juncture
Or May be Erik ten Hag
Folks calling for Mikel’s sack are actually in for a rude shock. Remember Mikel Arteta was 2nd on the list of managers after Unai Emery and that’s why the board when for him after Unai got the sack.
Lol….guess who’s 3rd the list😂😂😂.
Careful what uu wish for gooners.
One good point if we don’t qualify for the Europa cup at least we’ll not be playing on Thursdays and more likely playing on Saturday
My thoughts – if we sack Arteta, it will be history repeat itself – Wenger (last 2 seasons 6th), Unai, Freddie (caretaker) Mikel – all failed to grind results in the league with the core average/below average players – Leno, Bellerin, Xhaka/Elneny, Laca, Chambers, Holding.
Look at the players on the roster added after Wenger- Soares – S’ton outcast, Marri – never settled at any one club, Luiz – disaster lurking at the corner, Pepe – good but not great, Partey – don’t know how he went from top notch to the basement sump, Willian – too old to add something new to our attack, Gabriel
The players on loan – Kolasinac, Torrera, AMN, Willock, Mavro, Guendozi – would never walk into any top 4 side across Europe (Torrera cannot get game time)
That is a total of 20 useless under performing over paid players, even if you have issues with your manager – play for your pride and the pride of the club and not like some Bozo clones, to please the opposing team and make the opposing fans laugh at our cost.
So if one expects a new manager/coach to work wonders with the above 17 or so players, than that is insanity.
Believe me, we cannot rid ourselves of all 17 players at one go, so it would take 4 windows or two years to actually get the desired results,
However we did manage to get rid of Ozil, Socrates, Mustafi and Mkhitaryan to save some quid and bring in some new talent – but failed to work – Cabellos, Partey,
Our saving grace has been ESR, Willok, Tierney.
The way forward would be to terminate contracts, promote good talent from the reserves and add a good CAM, We might not be contenders in a season two, but we would not be wasting money on utter rubbish football every week.
Gd argument. The problem is with the players are just not gd partey overrated pepe waste of money these 2 players av never look fit abu looks as if he his not intresting the coachis also making a lot of bad selction y waste all that money on william he is done as player so many faults get rid of Edu buying a lot of as bn
If it’s not the champions league, then no Europe at all is actually good for us I think.
The trouble here is that many ”Arsenal” fans still believe we are a power house club and can attract big name managers and players, this sadly is not the case anymore and has been this way now since Wenger parted ways with the club.
Now, if we fail to qualify for a european competition for next season, its not going to be the end of the world – it may well be for MA and a few of our so called ” star players”
So if MA gets the boot, who realistically do we get in? There isn’t many managers out there that would swap their current success for the poisoned chalice we have at Arsenal, they wont get a budget they can work with, they probably wont be able to shift out players they want to due to excessive contracts and aging players dont have the pull anymore to move on.
Allegri – wouldnt consider us 100% and he would want a massive deal and well over 100m to spend
never going to happen.
The others on that list are, for me on par with MA, if not worse.
People saying about Brendan Rodgers, he would be my pick 100%, i wanted him way back when he was at Swansea and then went to Liverpool.
The trouble is, is that why would he want to leave a club that back him, accept his vision and he seems happy there?
The truth of the matter is we are stuck where we are until things change upstairs, which is not likely to happen anytime soon now is it?
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For us now it isn’t about league titles at all, its about standards and under wenger, Emery and now Arteta ours have slipped to levels that dont match this clubs levels. The spending, the size, the ambition should be matched better than midfield obscurity. Our style of football is of a standard not seen for many a year and not good enough at all for AFC. Fans that accept this situation have let their standards drop to low levels, it is not acceptable and i fear, we are at a point of no return with the current set up.
I sincerely hope that none of us have accepted mid table mediocrity – I haven’t.
My fear is that the chronic mismanagement at the very top levels of the club has created a perfect storm that sits over its head now.
Even before Arteta was appointed the trend was downwards and not getting a serial big time manager was massively damaging to our chances. AW was considered one and it ended up badly for him. That manager, if he failed to arrest the decline would have us all questioning the Arsenal top brass. The fact that a successful manager like Emery before couldn’t crack the nut speaks volumes.
I agree with Val in so many respects.
Sue, reading on here many fans standards have dropped and they seem content with what is going on.
I can only hope that deep down inside they don’t, Reggie. The awful thing is that there seems little way out and I fear a new man will not get the required backing or respect of some of the players unless he has a rock solid reputation
That’s rubbish Reggie and deep down you know it. Nobody is “content”. But the club is in a huge hole – almost EVERY SINGLE part of this club is way below where it should be – with the possible exception of the youth team. Ownership, board, upper management, playing management, player quality, available funds, income, wage costs and contracts, morale and confidence, playing record, league position . We all know that. You won’t cure that by saying it again and again. Or by talking about sacking an underperforming manager when no-one worthwhile wants to come here. So maybe those fans that think like you could come up with REALISTIC options?
No its not rubbish but you saying deep down i know it is, is rubbish. Reading many comments on here people are not to fussed and are accepting we are where we are and blindly think its all going to come right soon. No it isnt, some have let their standards drop including the club. What is going on, employing out of contract retirees, a rookie manager and people accepting that and after 18 months still think it is all right is wrong. They have let their standards drop, we shouldn’t accept mediocrity at all.
Reggie you are clearly confusing having patience – because we who have it know that turning this club around will be a long job NO MATTER WHO is manager- with being content. We ARE NOT CONTENT.
But we more mature fans know that merely changing managers every year or two will alter nothing. It would just put us back, leave us still less spending money(after paying off contracts for sacked managers and andunwanted staff) and regress the club still further. We need a new owner who cares and cherishes the club.
YOU AND YOUR “CHANGE MANAGER EVERY YEAR ILK” ARE ATTACKING THE WRONG TARGET.
No manager can get real success with the dross we have and who, incredibly, SOME THINK ARE EVEN DECENT PLAYERS; THE LIKES OF XHAKA , BELLERIN, ELNENY ETC.
None of these were brought in by MA, SO BLAME WENGER if you want the truth and reason for the existing dross.
Jon you are so wrong and as usual condescending. Top clubs who win leagues dont let managers fail for a whole year, city, chelsea, utd, Liverpool Real, Bayern, juventus, Barca and any team that has desire to win leagues dont wait two years. And guess what, they very often turn it round quickly. Chelsea is a prime example, wether you like it or not, Lampard was not doing the business and they get in a top manager and the same team of players turn it around. Those who standstill go backwards and we are going backwards. Patience drivel is absolute BS jon, what guarantees does Patience bring? None whatsoever, you act on what you see and i see mediocrity. I dont accept that.
No jon, those players you picked out were not bought by Arteta but he uses them and hasn’t sold them. He has a forward line that cost 72mil 52 mil and 46 mil and he brought in Willian, Mari, Cedric, Runarson and kept Leno over Martinez so i dont get your argument. If he cant motivate, coach or get a tune out of these players he is accountable to me. I think there are managers who could and would get more, thats my opinion and at least we would find out, with yours god knows where we could end up sticking with mediocrity.
And Partey 45.mil.
Why blame Wenger??????
Another emotional senior fan!!!!
1. Xhaka joined on 25 May 2016 for a fee of around £30–35 million.
2. Hector Bellerin moved to Arsenal in the summer of 2011 for less than €1 million, and signed his first professional contract the following year. Debut in senior team on 25 September 2013. Loan to Watford in December 2013 but he was recalled by Arsenal in February 2014.
3. Elneny joined on 13 January 2016 between £5 million and £7.4 million.
Arsenal’s league position in last 3 years of Arsene Wenger
2015/2016 2nd
2016/2017 5th
2017/2018 6th
With these players, Arsenal still finish top 6. These mean that these players are not excellent but not bad. The 3 players are still use by MA which means that they are good according to MA. Besides that, except Xhaka, they came cheap. Hence, there is no logic that these 3 players contribute to the poor results of 2019/2020 and current season 2020/2021.
Please also remember many players left together with Arsene Wenger.
Please comment with facts and not emotion.
Note: It is certain that Barcelona will not be happy with Arsenal signing two promising youngsters from their academy, but a €1 million compensation is the maximum that Arsenal would need to pay the Spanish club.
Source: bleacherreport.com/articles/713348-arsenal-transfer-news-gunners-sign-barcelonas-hector-bellerin-and-eye-downing
Why blame Wenger?????? Another emotional comment!!!!
1. Xhaka joined on 25 May 2016 for a fee of around £30–35 million.
2. Hector Bellerin moved to Arsenal in the summer of 2011 for less than €1 million, and signed his first professional contract the following year. Debut in senior team on 25 September 2013. Loan to Watford in December 2013 but he was recalled by Arsenal in February 2014.
3. Elneny joined on 13 January 2016 between £5 million and £7.4 million.
Arsenal’s league position in last 3 years of Arsene Wenger
2015/2016 2nd
2016/2017 5th
2017/2018 6th
With these players, Arsenal still finish top 6. These mean that these players are not excellent but not bad. The 3 players are still use by MA which means that they are good according to MA. Besides that, except Xhaka, they came cheap. Hence, there is no logic that these 3 players contribute to the poor results of 2019/2020 and current season 2020/2021.
Please also remember many players left together with Arsene Wenger.
Please comment with facts and not emotion.
Note: “It is certain that Barcelona will not be happy with Arsenal signing two promising youngsters from their academy, but a €1 million compensation is the maximum that Arsenal would need to pay the Spanish club.” — Source: bleacherreport.com/articles/713348-arsenal-transfer-news-gunners-sign-barcelonas-hector-bellerin-and-eye-downing
👍 Well said SueP, the financial and player asset management at Arsenal has been abysmal.
thanks Sue
Just to clarify one thing – I am not happy or content with our league position at all.
The issue i see is that the way we a re run, is abysmal, all of our ”competition” from the early 2000’s have all evolved and we have not.
We were once the forefront of of everything when Wenger took over, our scouting, training, recruitment was literally second to none, not even Real or Barca could match us at that time for what we did.
The trouble is everyone around us from that time has moved on and up a few levels while we stagnate on old and outdated regimes.
This self sustaining model that was introduced way back when we were building our stadium is now obsolete due to how the premier league has evolved with TV rights, new mega bucks owners taking over ”average” clubs.
But if we think we are up there with the likes of City, Liverpool, Manure and Chelski we should all look at ourselves long and hard and stop deluding ourselves of what we are.
There needs to be a massive change in our business model and how the club is run.
Since we threw the league away to Liecester ( it was ours to lose imho) we have been on a rapid decline, its like an elevators cables have been cut and the emergency breaks are failing.
We need change at board room level, otherwise we are all in for a tough time.
Absolutely right Val
It has been so demoralising to watch the decline of this great club. I used to go with my parents in the late 60’s and stand at the clock end and as a thrilled 14 year old went to Wembley in 71. My kids were brought up on Arsenal and they have seen the best of Arsenal under GG and AW and are shell shocked that we have fallen so low.
At the moment, I don’t know how the club can recover while the current regime have no clear ambition . Your ‘elevator cables’ sum up the situation perfectly
Reggie,
Whilst I don’t agree with everything Jon has posted, the main thread is absolutely valid.
I suggest, that you cannot honestly believe that the Chelsea scenario with Lampard is the same as the relationship between Arteta and the board. Abramovitch is a completely different animal, the finances are different, it is nothing like the situation that Arteta deals with at Arsenal.
I have no problem with you not rating Arteta but it is not fair to compare his situation with other clubs’ owners who have a totally different relationship to success as to one it is just a financial return, rather than to others it is an investment into what happens on the pitch
I believe Jon is right that Arsenal will struggle to compete meaningfully until Kroenke either sells up or has a change of heart. The club is already too far behind other clubs to retrieve our status in quick time
The point is Sue Lampard like Arteta was the next young thing, like Arteta, he was struggling with Chelsea and not achieving what was expected. Whilst Lampard had more experience than Arteta a new manager came in and improved their form, without spending money. My point is the coach is important to success, he makes players play, Lampard could not get the same results as Tuchel out of the same team. Plus as far as finance is concerned, we have a higher net spend than Chelsea over the last 5 years, many people don’t know that.
Tuchel will succeed or be out as well by the way. Success is needed for him to keep his job, Chelsea wont allow 2 years in mid table with Tuchel, they have ambition.
Chelsea with lower net spent you said, but they exchange quality with quality the old rear guards are champions, they shop at the top end of quality while Arsenal looks for bargain quality.
Lampard got exactly what he demanded for while Arteta had to do with loaned players and old rejects from rival clubs to make up, ask yourself which of the top teams has loan players and old rejects from rival clubs bcos they could not afford the desirable quality?
When Man City need a player they go and pay for it, same with Man u, Chelsea, while Liverpool are smart about their recruitment with all these clubs have a stable management up stairs. But Arsenal has had 3 football directors in 4 yrs, with different players profiles all still in this team with Arteta.
What i dont understand also Sue is we are on our worse run of form for many a year, Artetas record of 1.4 pounts a game is the worst for over a decade, we are losing more games this season for over a decade and even Emery had a better record than Arteta and people are not judging him the same. If Emery was no good for Arsenal then Arteta cant be. If he is give me facts why he is.
Reggie
Arsenal and Chelsea are run in completely different ways. I think we would agree that the squad at Chelsea is superior to ours for a start and the club is able to spend £200m in one season on Havertz and Werner. We probably had to sell the best GK to Villa in order to buy Partey.
I totally understand your points about Tuchel. The serial winner that is Abramovitch brought in a top man and with the advantage of a much better team to work with has improved them no end. I’d hope he would too. I thought Lampard would go as he was still finding his feet in the same way that Arteta is. Kroenke is prepared to wait.
The only comparison I can make is OGS who was amazing initially and then lost his way. For once , post Ferguson, having tried a couple of big names, they showed patience and the results for ManU have improved They are a wealthy club – spent fortunes on players and we are reduced to loan signings and free agents
You fanfare RB and others speak of Nagelsmann. If Benitez couldn’t really make a difference at Newcastle would he do any better with us?
I’m not saying It’s Arteta or nothing, but before I start calling for a replacement I’d like to know that the new man was given the necessary tools. It seems to me that we are playing catch up in almost every department due to bad decision making previously
Osg, i believe, never dropped to 10th, never lost as many games, never got utd on poor points in the league like us and i believe was one game away from the sack, results turned for him and they kicked on. He survived by the skin of his teeth, if he doesn’t win the EL, he will get CL football, we wont. I still think he will be under massive scrutiny next season and will be under massive pressure upto xmas.
Leno is good enough. All of our centre-backs are good enough, just pick three and stick with them (Chambers is also a good enough RB).
Play with left and right backs, most goals against us come down the flanks, or because a winger has pulled one of our CBs out to the flank to do the back’s job. Bellerin in particular is never there, he’s anywhere but where he should be. Mark closer. Take responsibility for an opponent and stop him, just standing in the box is not defending. Know what your job is on the day.
Change the mentality that allows our free kicks in an opponents half to go backwards.
People work out how to play us and we still fall for the sucker-punch too often, but we have a good team, most of our players are, or could be, good enough to play in a top-four side, and that’s our level for a few years yet.
I am fully behind arteta BUT if we get eliminated by slavia then he has to go at the end of the season. 10th and out in QF is enough reason. I hope we get rid of most of this squad with these wannabe strikers can’t hit a barn door and defenders who act more like opponent players than ours.
This glorious football club needs to be cleanse from top to bottom.
Crappy owner, board, scouting and contract management
Horrible financial management like WTF spurs get more commercial revenue than us )
Rookie coach
Lazy players with loser mentality
Toxic fans
Anyhow we look at it, MA for me stays to see out his project. Many of us expect magic and forgot the problems today started before MA came; for his efforts even the players are confirming it’s their fault: leno said it, they planned a strategy on training and on martch day they do the opposite on the pitch, the latest to exonerate the manager is belrin. Let’s accept the fact, we do not have the players to compete and no one will come until we are back to where we use to be even if we splash the cash, we won’t command any big name coach or player until we get the results of the project MA has started.
I like Arteta a lot as a person since his playing days. Prior to his appointment, I actually felt he would make a good coach and would implement a possession, passing and movement based approach. However, his 16 months in charge haven’t impressed me one bit. His coaching has overemphasised structure to the neglect of movement.
Just watching the first 20 minutes of City vs Leeds, you realise how important movement is (that’s if you didn’t watch Wenger’s Arsenal). Leeds are playing well against City because of Bielsa’s emphasis on movement and positional play.
I believe Arteta lost it when he went with the bandwagon media narrative that Arsenal’s defence has been poor for a decade. This was absolute rubbish talk lacking in evidence. Under Wenger Arsenal always were in the top 3 of clean sheets and being top in two seasons in the last 10 (Scezny and Cech both won golden gloves). Clean sheets show how good a team’s defence is more than goals conceded. A few heavy defeats do not mean a bad defence. Arsenal’s defence was built on possession and midfield play (City’s defence is same philosophy. Deny the opposition the ball and they are unlikely to hurt you). It was under Emery that Arsenal lost it in the midfield, selling and releasing all the tricky players. All Arteta needed to do was restore the midfield play but he rather chose to listen to Carragher and his co-travellers on Sky about “Arsenals decade bad defence” and rather went for structure.
This whole structure obsession has informed Arsenal’s transfer strategy, focusing excessively on defenders and DMs (Partey was never a priority. I said it then and many will only see it after 3 years). Arsenal needs all the Carzola’s, Ozils, Wilsheres, Rosickys, Hlebs and Iwobis (Yes, Iwobis. He is a very good ball carrier that Arsenal currently has no one like him). Without doing this, Arsenal will be stuck in the woods for many more years.
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Very factual comment! Not like many fans here who are emotional and commented without facts.
Peter Cech’s clean sheets
2015/2016 16 Golden Glove winner
2016/2017 12
2017/2018 11
Watching Man City vs. Leeds now and it it 1:2. That’s is GOOD DEFENCE.!!!
Premier League Club Clean Sheets Ranking
2015/2016 Arsene Wenger
1. Arsenal
2. Man U
3. Man City
2016/2017 Arsene Wenger
1. Man U
2. Tot
3. Chelsea
5. Arsenal
2017/2018 Arsene Wenger
1. Man U
2. Man City
3. Liverpool
6. Arsenal
2018/2019 Unai Emery
1. Liverpool
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
12. Arsenal
2019/2020 Unai Emery/Mikel Arteta
1. Man City
2. Burnley
3. Liverpool
9. Arsenal
2020/2021 Mikel Arteta
1. Man City
2. Chelsea
3. Aston Villa
15. Arsenal
The statements made by emotional and non-factual fans that Arsenal under Arsene Wenger have poor defence are SIMPLY LIES and UNFORGIVABLE ACCUSATIONS.
Perfectly obvious and slapping us in the face how bad we are under Arteta. But ive read the club believe we are on the right track, says it all really.
What with TH14 and your post Kenny, the REAL FACTS are starting to emerge.
I have long asked how a team with “no defence since 2008” can finish in the top four, progress to the q/f or k/o stages of the CL and win three fa cups…. it’s complete BS… yet all I got in answer, was the “numerous humiliations”.
We were spoilt by the Invincibles and before that – then presumed it would last forever.
Players were labelled dross and useless, while we were still in the top four and, as as the post above says, were told facts that, though untrue, ended up being believed.
Of course we weren’t the best defence, but some of us knew we were not the dross being pedalled around.
After the club has brought in six new defenders since UE’s first season, why have we not kept a clean sheet for, what is it, eight games.
So, Arteta was brought in to solve this defensive “issue” and he hasn’t.
Judge him then, as Wenger and Emery were judged.
The hard, cold fact is that we are where we are today, because we were told that things would get better and they haven’t.
Your criticism of Arteta lacks balance. Where is he going to get those technically proficient players from.?
And the arguments against a Partey type player are particularly poor. The arguments in the past were that if Arsenal had his type during Wenger’s later years we would have had a better chance at winning the league. And also not suffered regular beatings at the hands of supposed rivals.
Yes, Arsene’s team’s regularly did pretty well against most of the league, but the record against top sides became embarrassing. Looking at the mini-league results or a preview before any clash against another ‘big’ team was wince-inducing.
Of course, Arteta wants the technically proficient players you describe but can Arsenal pay for the equivalents of the Cazorlas today?
“And the arguments against a Partey type player are particularly poor. The arguments in the past were that if Arsenal had his type during Wenger’s later years we would have had a better chance at winning the league”
That was a result of the obsession with “a Patrick Viera” replacement that pervaded the media and it got more believable as Arsenal extended the trophy-less years after him. Arsenal didn’t really need that type of player but more quality options on the bench. What cost Arsenal was a thin bench which couldn’t cope with the many injuries to quality players. This was the case in seasons that Arsenal could have won 07/08, 13/14, and 15/16. These were all years Arsenal could have won if they could effectively replace injured players 07/08 (VanPersie, Eduardo and Rosciky); 13/14 (Walcott, Wilshere); 15/16 (Carzola, Coquelin, Ramsey, Walcott).
The idea that a single type of player solves your problem is laughable. There is no midfielder who alone “shields the defence”. Defending is a group art. Partey wasn’t going to do anything that the likes of Flamini, Song, and Coquelin did not do. What was needed were quality options when key players got injured.
Another fact by TH14-TW14 i.e. thin bench.
For fans who follow Arsenal and watch the games, have you never heard comments from commentators that our bench is thin?
May be most Arsenal fans are absent minded or forgetful.
Another myth is that Arsenal under Wenger (in the last decade) was so bad and “always drubbed” in the so-called big games. Arsenal had a pretty good home record in most of the games but poorer away. This is head-to-head in the last ten years of Wenger (2009 -2018) in the EPL.
Vs Liverpool: 6 wins; 5 defeats; 9 draws
Vs Man U: 3 wins; 12 defeats; 5 draws
Vs Man City: 5 Wins; 7 defeats; 12 draws
Vs Chelsea: 3 wins; 10 defeats; 7 draws
Vs Spurs: 6 wins; 7 defeats; 7 draws
While this record isn’t great (bad against Man U and Chelsea) it is was pretty even against the other 3. Leave what media fed you and actually look out for the facts. All of you moan about media bias against Arsenal but you use same bias to pursue personal agendas when they suit your narratives.
Th14-Tw14, it wasn’t “the Patrick Viera type” who wasn’t replaced (as he was the box to box midfield), but the DM Gilberto Silva. He was one of the most underrated of Arsenal’s great players.
You still don’t get it. I cited the nearly seasons Arsenal came close. The reason the team failed to win it was the absence of any type of player, be it Viera, Gilberto or Henry. It was basically lack of similar quality on the bench as the key first team players who Arsenal were unfortunate to have always injured.
10 man Leeds generate more energy than 11 man arsenal … need a manager who as a minimum can up the effort and improve the creativity level … otherwise we will be a mid table team for some time to come … arteta isn’t the man for the job period
What a smash & grab for Leeds!! They’ve been fantastic!! If only we played like that…
We actually have the personnel to adopt a 4-1-4-1. like Leeds, when healthy, we just don’t have a manager with the stomach and/or onions to pursue such a tactical course
I love watching Leeds as they rarely disappoint. Plus after Thursday night I’d been craving a decent game!! 80 minutes of horrible football and I’m still trying to work out what our gameplan was!!
I reckon you’re right, VL 👍
Another observation from recent Arsenal matches, the players are not motivated!!!
We should exchange Auba/Lacazette for S Dallas.
Well Emery had masses of experience, and players downed tools on him before he even completed his first season! It’s not the managers, it’s the players that need to go!
Emery couldn’t communicate with the players properly, that was a massive negative. And he was higher in the league than Arteta.
Well, since the days of UE, at least 17 players have gone, along with five players out on loan – meanwhile, about the same number have come in via gazidis and MA/Edu.
Let me also remind everyone who had the foresight to sign the younger players we are now calling the future of the club (except for Martinelli and Tierney)… it was AW and before anyone comes back at that statement, just remember how it has been said that AW had complete control at the club.
It was still right he left when he did, as was the case with UE, so when is it time to judge MA?… The end of the season, using exactly the same criteria.
@ken1945
Part of our problem is, despite we nett have spent plenty on over the pas ten years, we haven’t developed players and haven’t sold players at the right time. So the players, we have gotten rid of have had very little value, and not made it possible to raise extra money to buy the players we need. Bad management in this area, especially in the last 4-5 Wenger years.
If you compare with Liverpool in the same period, thay have managed to buy and sell Suarez and Coutinho, and through it raising cash for Van Dijk, who was exactly the player they needed. We have been outsmarted.
Sacking Arteta is not the solution.he needs financial backing and as long as kroenke is on the helm,we will never play in champions league.
brimzim, take a look at which clubs have the highest spending on transfers and wages and see where Kroenke’s Arsenal sits. It’s not how much is spent, but how it is spent.
Hi team.
How about we keep manager, get the board to sell up, but drop players & stop bonuses if they don’t perform. Also make them train harder with more discipline. Either way, I’m not happy with our mid table finishing. Teams that are above us have won nothing, & are laughing at us. We need a big bloody change & it needs to start from the top.