After the disastrous last six months under Unai Emery, Arsenal fans are desperate for our new coach to return the Gunners to our former glory and put us back up with the elite of the Premier League. It is too early to tell if Mikel really can be our new messiah, but his first two games in charge have certainly shown a lot of promise.
One young Arsenal player that definitely has faith that we are going in the right direction with Arteta is our winger Bukayo Saka, who has been helping out as a wing-back during our injury crisis. The 18 year-old was full of praise for his new boss when he spoke to Arsenal.com. “He’s someone who understands the players, understands the club and all the ideas that he’s bringing in,” Saka said. “He has a clear strategy of how he wants us to play and we’re just really excited to work with him.
“He’s teaching us little things that we didn’t know before and just bringing in his own strategies, his own ways of playing. We can see that it’s going to work, we’re just looking forward to doing it.
“Maybe one thing that I’ve picked up straight away is that when nobody’s pressing you, you don’t need to pass the ball. What you can do is just get the ball, drive the ball forward a bit and wait for someone to come to you, commit a player, then pass it.
“Then that man will be free or that man will have less pressure on him. It’s just attracting players before you pass the ball off, which will help our team-mates a lot on the pitch.
“He has his own way, his own philosophy and he’s even talked about bringing his own philosophy to the club, to try to bring the club back to the direction we need to be in.
“We need to win games and win trophies, so I feel like he has that vision and that strategy. He knows how he wants us to get there. If we can be on board and do what he wants us to, we’ll do well.”
First and foremost a coach needs to be respected by his players, so listening to young Saka being so positive about Arteta can only give us hope that he has the charisma to stamp his authority and vision on his squad.
So far so good, now it’s time to start winning games on a regular basis…
Admin Pat
one of the reasons of our downfall has been too much talking by our players they
constantly talk about how they train or how they’ve improved yet we don’t see anything being implemented on the pitch
Ramterta I completely agree with you, all talk and no end product
And the comment made about drawing opposition players and committing them before passing should be learnt by a footballer by age 12, 14 at the latest. What have these players learnt or practiced prior to playing senior football, let alone for the Arsenal first team?
I really believe in Arteta and his philosophy, I just want the board to invest in his vision 100%.
We’re now masking the fact that the board are being cheap and don’t want to spend money to achieve real success by insisting on this youth vision. It’s far to early for us to be relying on young players who need a proper foundation to build their talent.
Plus we also need to keep in mind that Arteta will probably eventually revert us to a 4-3-3.so we need to keep that in mind when debating the types of players that may come in especially in midfield.
Arteta would have a heavy pressure if he loses again at the next EPL match. It’s not his fault he inherited some underperformers, but some people would doubt him and the media would attack him
All tactics will be useless if we can’t convert easy chances into goals and if we can’t maintain our lead. Emery also showed a lot of promise at the beginning by defeating some big teams, then some quitters started to doubt his tactics gradually
At some point, Arteta would be forced to bench some players and I don’t think those players would be happy about it. Arsenal should support Arteta by selling those rebels, as it is time for Arsenal to show some discipline at the club
Unfortunately the Mancs appear to have got their act together, so tomorrow will be tough! I expect Arteta will be slated, whatever the result!
I’ve seen an improvement since he’s taken over… am impressed actually. Don’t fancy losing tomorrow though – will the panic button be pressed if we do?!
I’m seeing improvements too Sue but we need to win a game and as you say, the mancs appear to be back on track.
I wonder when the last time was we lost five home games on the trot?😟
Not since I’ve been a gooner, I don’t think, GB!! 😬
Botanidea you took the words out of my mouth, I mean bringing in William in instead of pepe
Way too early to judge….
We’re playing like a team that’s expected to win the championship, not the champions League. We can play good for 89 minutes and fall apart after that. Plus our facilities have a poor track record of keeping players fit, I count at least ten ACL tears from our players since we moved out of Highbury
@S you are right, too many ACL’s for this club! Its down to the backroom staff who are simply not good enough in dealing with stuff like this! The whole club needs a shakedown and someone has to do it now or we will continue to struggle!
From his playing days I never thought of Arteta as a driving force,excellent team man and a hell of a nice guy but, I feel he lacks grit that important ingredient that both managers and players need a steady supply of.
The recipe for Arsenal`s recovery needs an owner or owners with a vested interest in the game of football (not baseball or other games…football as played in Europe) and a solid core of players who think as one and respect their owner and manager. Until we get this Arsenal is on the decline.
Plus like Wenger and Emery before him, Arteta can only coach the players provided to him. Improvement to the extent required by the expectent fanbase, is only possible if Arteta is supported in the transfer market to get the players he wants to address the known deficiencies in squad quality and depth.
MA has a vision.There are many positives that anyone can see in his first 2 games in charge.
The game against chelsea we showed that we can defend too atleast until those 2 errors.We absorbed the pressure and we fought like crazy.I think even mustafi did ok until the backing off from tammy abraham.
For the first time in this season i actually think we deserved to win in the last 2 games and starting tomorrow we are going to win on a regular basis.
Being positive and being hopeful and supporting the team is all we can do.
Stop having doubts.
Stop being negative.
It hurts when we lose but never give up.
Top 4 is possible.
TRUST THE PROCESS
COYG!!!
I totally agree with you Shakir.. if Laca had not been poor in the last two games Arsenal would have won so how is that Arteta’s fault?! We have seen the upturn in performance but players lacking quality cost us the last two games.. I am happy because I remember when klopp had Klavan and skrtl and so on and so forth.. he was doubted but today nobody can doubt him because he brought in quality and that is what Arteta should do.. no need to panic Gunners I think we got it right with MA.
The reality is his first two games in charge have been
disappointing with no discernible change.
Not bad but not good either certainly no better than Emery.
The fact that he wants reinforcements after just two games is scary.
Expectation is the key to managerial “success”
Wenger stayed a long time because he convinced fans top 4 was the goal
in what was essentially a four team league.
But when it became a 7 team league he “failed” so was sacked.
Unai was sacked for getting only 5th and not winning the EL final.
Too many clubs have unrealistic expectations so they sack managers at will.
Since the Premier league started there have been a total of 413 managerial appointments.
Bournemouth have been in the league 6 seasons and have only had one manager.
Because they have achieved the clubs expectation of merely staying up.
So Arteta and the club have to manage fan expectation..
What are Arteta’s expected targets?
So far just non specific feel good like “vision, commitment, spirit, style, courage”
I expect Arteta to make top 5 and make the EL final just like Unai did.
If not he should be sacked in May.
If he gets better players than Unai had then I will raise the bar accordingly…
No better than Emery?? Dude what game were you watching?? We played so much better against Chelsea and I have to say there’s been an obvious change in players attitudes since arrival of MA and it’s still early days.Just hope we can get a result to give everyone the lift we clearly need
Your expectations are not realistic. Not sure why you keep on making the same argument when it doesn’t make any sense? We had no chance of making the top 5 before the season started let alone now. Emery deserved to be sacked because the team were going backwards under his stewardship. It will take quite sometime before we can reverse the decline. I think top 6 this season and next is very unlikely. Top 4 equally unlikely for the next 3 years. Beyond that it is impossible to say. I think from Arteta And senior management we need to see evidence of improved recruitment, development of players, A willingness to sell players when they are at peak value and reinvesting all the funds from selling on young players to start that cycle again. From Arteta on the football side of things, I want to see attacking football where we take the game to our opponents. Also a Physically and Mentally tougher team. Our rivals currently have better teams/squads with highly rated managers such as Klopp, Guardiola, Rodgers, Mourinho etc. They also have more money to spend than us. They will also find it easier to attract the better quality players than we will. Assuming our rivals are not suddenly going to let us win games, Why do fans think we can reverse our decline and get back into the top 4 quickly?
Jimmy you hit the nail on the head , better recruitment is urgently needed I mean look at Sheffield United and wolves players physically strong and adaptable to premiership harsh conditions yet we producing meek and weak small frame individuals ,the whole culture of Wenger small nimble players is long gone ,good example is torrera but he is mentally strong none of our youths coming through the academy has the same qualities unfortunately.
Agreed, bingo for Jimmy! Anybody who really thinks that we have the parts now to make a run to the top four is not being objective when they watch this team. We have massive holes in key places and as I have said before – we may be even worse than we think depending on how Tierney, Holding and Bellerin actually play when healthy. We have a lot riding on those three…
If those three can play the way we hope then we still need another CB to have a good group that can be rotated around.
And this better back may help make the midfield and attack better, but I still think we need help in the middle as well.
A big win for me is if Arteta can stabilize the ship and instill a common purpose. If the management team backs him, I really do think that he can do the job.
So to make the long answer short – yes I think that Arteta can do the job!
Very rightly put Jimmy, could not have said it better. 👍
@Agu, basically All these lads are saying forget top 10 for 2-3 years. Lets just stay in this league, our expectations are we should match Bournemouth ambition lol.
Wow these fans are a bunch of fickle fake google searching puppets!
I am not in agreeance with any of you, we are The Arsenal and we want top 8 this season and top 4 the next. If it isn’t delivered then yes, Arteta comes under scrutiny in June 2021 and if it means he needs to be moved on then so be it. All of you stop being sentimental farts, this is football and results come first, the rest don’t matter! King Kenny was sacked by Liverpool and he was an actual legend for the club, Arteta played for 5 years out of a 15 year career and was no where near legend status!
Jim, I agree with the previous posers about the lack of physicality in the Arsenal squad since the latter Wenger years.
However I agree with you that this has to be addressed well before three years, with transfers in and out every window based on professional scouting and recruitment. Any coach can only do so much with the deficiencies in ability and depth in this Arsenal squad and should have a say in the players brought to the club for him to coach.
Only time will tell we have to see what happens in January. Will the owners stump up some cash for Arteta to buy if not we should do everything to get rid of the owners
It makes boring reading doesn’t it?! He keeps repeating himself
You made a lot of sense
I understand when AE says that a lot of clubs are unrealistic and sack their managers too quickly but in Emery’s case he should have gone before the international break. He lost the fans and the players and dragged as lower down the league. But that is the fault of the ‘top brass’
Agu let me make an illustration maybe it might help you get perspective.. imagine you start working in a company where all the staffs are expected to wear white shirts to give the company a look and feel.. and the last manager due to poor quality made everyone wear black shirts.. he gets sacked and you get employed.. all your staffs have black shirts and you have not had the chance to go shopping for whites.. and business must go on.. and your staffs wear the black shirts to work with you in charge.. how white can you make the black look white? If you keep removing your sense before you repeat a comment that didn’t make sense the first time you wrote it how do you think that makes us feel reading it.. chill out or take your negative vibe and go support the spuds.. we know where we are with the team.. the manager and the board.. and for the first time since I started following this website Arsenal has drawn one and lost one and yet the fans and some slanderous pundits are optimistic about our performance.. it hurts to lose but if you can’t handle losing you can’t handle Winning.. we know it will take time no one has ever won the prem in 10days.. coyg!!! Let’s stay positive and uplift the team they need us now more than ever.. all the negative preachers can go across the street and fellowship with the spuds!!!
@Quincy Okereke.
Your White shirts and black shirts story makes absolutely no sense at all
and does not in any way have any relevance to Arsenal FC fortunes on the field.
It’s not my fault I am super intelligent.
If you can’t keep up with my brilliant factual analysis keep believing
in black shirts and white shirts and other such mumbo jumbo.
This fellowship stuff sounds like a religious spiel.
Might be wise to leave the religious humbug out of it.
@agu Eman…what is ur obsession with UE?? He has left the club dude just move on and if you can’t then I suggest supporting the club UE is going to manage next.
Quincy, I applaud your appropriate white/ black shirts analogy that agu eman is mentally unable to understand , despite his self proclaimed “brilliant factual analysis”. This man is becoming thr best comic sensation any fan site could ever hope for. He really should take up work as a stand up comic – he would be a sensation and have all audiences laughing at him all the time. He wants Arteta sacked and he loves Unai Emery, which says it all about his comic “genius”. Everyone else, bar none, that I have read on here is optimistic about Arteta and with good reason. “REASON” TO AGU EMAN, IS A WORD HE WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND. We should all really be nicer and pity him but I cannot find it in my heart to pity such a burke!
Jon you do write such a load of drivel.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings but your comments are full
of wild inaccurate ravings of a mad man.
And those are your better comments.
Again I am sorry I am too intelligent for you.
Its just me you know.
You are out of your league sonny when you try to take me on. No one takes a word you say seriously and everyone regards you and your ludicrous comments as a laughing stock. Only a total idiot would be calling for the head of Arteta as you are doing just two weeks into his time And only a total idiot would want Emery back and think he did well, as you do. THAT is why we all laugh at you. You ask for it and you certainly get it. From many others besides me. ARE WE ALL WRONG AND ONLY YOU, WITH YOUR SELF PROCLAIMED “BRILLIANT FACTUAL ANALYSIS” RIGHT”! THERE IS ALWAYS ONE AND YOU ARE CERTAINLY THAT ONE, SONNY!
Calm gentlemen please
agu eman, happy new year to you sir. now, you are talking about intellegence, so, i decided to put my speak in . you are claiming to be super intellegent, okay . did you know that intellegence is a flower that does not grow in everybodys garden ?.i can inform you that upon checking your garden out, there is no flowers blooming there, alas.especially the variety known as intelegence.some of the ranting that you come up with on here is actually unbelievable you know, if you wanted to be a comedian , then, i suggest , that you are on the wrong page entirely.if intellegence was a large dog , and, it came up to you and began to lick your hand , i would doubt you would reckonise as such. please, for the new year, kindly deal in facts, if you are going to make wild accusations.your act is no longer funny, as far as i am concerned. perhaps, careful consideration to the pursuit of another endeavour should be given by you , again, for the new year. people are no longer laughing with you , but, instead, they are laughing AT you .!!!.
Guys get a room please, you will both feel better after it!
There are many variables to our downfall over the last decade or more, but fundamentally, it’s because Wenger abandoned the defensive side of the game so so long ago, that it became a cultural problem for us. As we all know, changing a cultural issue is extremely difficult.
Even though our defending is obviously our main issue every season, and we’re staring relegation in the face because of it, a large part of our fan base still do want a defensive coach. Attacking football has become so cultural within our club that it seems some would rather flirt with relegation, than address the issue with a defensive coach.
Third MAN JW, I am firmly with you on the clear fact of our long term defensive regression beginning with Wenger many years ago. In fact around the time GILBERTO AND CAMPBELL LEFT. Many forget, though I do not, that Wenger had a dreadful and long term problem with recognising and bringing in TOP QUALITY CB’s. There was only ONE undisputed TOP QUALITY , in CAMPBELL who Wenger brought in. PLUS a very few decent though generally overhyped ones, in Kos, Toure, Gallas and even ridiculously IMO Merts, who was snail slow and always an accident waiting to happen therefore , despite his good positional sense. Wengers first dreadful buy right at the start was Senderos. He also brought in duds like Djourou, Schillachi, Cygan, Silvestre, Mustafi and fill ins like Stepanovs. He also allowed the dreadful Almeria to keep goal for three whole seasons. Wenger had no aptitude for defence at all; he never coached it, never saw the vital need for power, mobility, speed and strength at CB, nor in DM after Gilberto left. To his credit , he DID extend the careers of the mighty George Graham defence but once they were gone and even while still there, his total inability to buy top CB’s, with the FEW exceptions, IN HIS 22 YEARS, that I mention, he did us ill! Ill over a long time too. I do NOT overlook that and am glad to see that you do not either.
Historical wisdom, rightly, tells us that ALL great teams are built from the back. Wenger ignored this wisdom and let us down defensively, long term too, once the GG defence retired. Reality!
Very well said TMJW.
Last season Arsenal got 5th and made the EL final playing Unai’s way.
It was a great season with a dud squad.
Unai knew our squad would struggle this season in a league which had
at least 11 sides competing for top 6.
Liverpool City Spurs Chelsea Leicester Wolves Sheff Utd Everton Arsenal Man U Palace.
He was told top 4 or sack. A next to impossible task with the dud squad.
He begged for Central defensive transfers but got only David Luiz.
He benched Ozil because Ozil is not a defender.
Unai’s critics conveniently forget that after 8 games
Arsenal was in 3rd place a point behind City.
But the fans demanded Ozil play. Emery was forced to play Ozil.
The sides balance was immediately severely affected and we spiraled
from 3rd to 6th = in a little over a month.
If Unai had been allowed to play his team his way we would now be comfortably top 4.
But no the fans know best.
Unai never lost a home league game this season
Emery and Ljungberg lost all 3 home league games yet the fans say everything is great!!!
Nothing stranger than folk.
But no the fans know best.
Unai never lost a home league game this season
Emery and Ljungberg lost all 3 home league games yet the fans say everything is great!!!
Nothing stranger than folk.
Says it all about your super intelligency
Yes TMJW and jon, every winning Arsenal squad I remember, had physicality, were combative and hard nosed. They were not bullied off the ball in attack, midfield or defense as often seen over the last 10 seasons or so.
Does anybody think that a McNab, Rice, Simpson, O’Leary, Adams, Keown, Bould et al would have backed off as Mustafi did and let the Chelsea player into the box; they would have put him in the stands and taken one for the team.
Wenger’s defense about the defence was: ‘we’ll always attack to outscore the opposition’. ‘We keep the ball and impose our patern of football, if the opposition don’t have the ball, they won’t score’.
From Bukayo’s testimony, the players didn’t know that when you get the ball you ought to drive forward with it!!! Nowonder the many sideways and backwards passing. It seems the former coaches instructed them to pass as soon as they received the ball. What gabage!! Arteta is on the right track. He will be the one to stop Klopps unbeaten run, to save Arsenal’s legacy
Its non negotiable, this guy has to be the mesiah, the second coming because if he cant get this team running, we can say goodbye to the big time and hello to mid table obscurity. Its no good having promising halves or unlucky games or if or buts, Arteta has got to start delivering and start quickly. A rocket needs putting under some of our players because if not there will be a bomb under Arsenal, this isn’t funny anymore.
Reggie you got a point it’s a crucial game on Wednesday because we need to get a result at least a draw otherwise we are in bottom 7 and everybody starts getting nervous and that feeds onto the players .arsenal having money to spend on players is a big problem and besides their are better defenders in england than what we have hence all those teams ahead of us in the table and they are not all foreigners
I think the early signs are great. I don’t remember the last time I felt we deserved to win a game we lost. For me, since Arteta came on board there has been a bit more promise in our game.
We always knew we have a squad with some severe limitations because of poor investments in players. So we need a rebuild across the squad. However, Arteta has already managed to improve some of the existing players which is crucial.
The fact we won’t play in Europe next season will give Arteta more time in training with the squad and fine-tune his vision by only having to focus on the PL.
Having said that, the fact we will miss out on EL revenue will likely mean Arteta has a zero budget or thereabouts. This means he will have to sell before he can buy. This makes our transfer activities going forward absolutely crucial. Transfer business has been our weak spot for years.
When we bought Chambers it was a big-money investment that did not pay-off the way it should have. Mustafi was another big-money purchase that failed. For a club with limited resources, Luiz at his age was expensive for what he brought. Early signs on Pepe are not the most promising although it is way too early to write him off. The millions spent on Ceballos have also disappointed.
So going forward we have to get each and every transaction right. We sell Xhaka, we need to bring someone in for the money we get for him but someone who brings more than Xhaka.
If Auba wants to go we have to get smart and get big money for him. Not settle for a player with cash type of swap that misfired when we traded Sanchez.
We can not let any players run their contracts into their final season.
Aretha might well be the right manager to get more out of the current squad but to rebuild midfield and our defense with virtually no budget we can not afford another lukewarm player transaction.
Forgot to mention Xhaka as a big-money purchase that did not payoff the way it should have.
@Truth yes you 100% correct. These players wont cut it and cant be coached to change!
Next week will be a big week for Arteta and Arsenal, they should sell Mustafi, Xhaka, Auba (contract), Lacazette (contract) and maybe even Kolasenic and Torriera who both seem to want out of the club as per the stories going around!
A good club is one that can have a revolving door for players, as one goes out another comes in. We should act much sooner when players are failing, they should be moved on the next available window and replacements sought prior to it happening!
I find it quite interesting that so many are having a go at Agu. I think his views should be respected. He is very results oriented and is clear what his expectations are.
Unfortunately, many fans are either unclear or dishonest. For example, people talk about “better” performances but at the end of the day if the manager does not get results many of these fans will call for his head.
What is quite clear is that the team is weaker at this point that it was at a similar stage last season. All the managers have struggled with this, but whilst people were quite happy to blame Emery they have been far less critical of FL and MA. The teams results have been worse since Emery left.
Last season Arsenal were 5th and got to the Europa final.
Arsenal have just lost to Chelsea, last season we beat them comfortably at the Emirates. A key reason for this was the presence of Ramsey (not Ozil) who effectively nullified Jorginho, our most recent tormentor-in-chief.
So either the current players improve dramatically or a major overhaul is necessary. The initial improvements we need are in midfield and defence not strikers. It’s getting tiresome reading that people want us to sell Aubameyang or Lacazette. As for Ozil, unless there is significant improvement (I don’t mean playing reasonably well for 45 minutes) he should become a bit part player or be sold.