We’re throwing the season for nothing by Konstantin Mitov
Another demoralizing performance against Chelsea and I’m disappointed, but not really angry. On that pitch we saw the difference between ambition and what the Kroenkes called “be excited”.
We’ve spent 130 million and our squad doesn’t look any better that it did last season. Chelsea spent 97 million on 1 player and he immediately made the difference.
I’m sure all the missing players would be put as an excuse, but honestly would White handle Lukaku better than Mari? Would Laca have made a difference up top? We lack ideas how to attack or to defend for that matter.
The goals we conceded were too easy. It’s a joke how easy Chelsea had it on our left hand side, where Tierney was always missing. Is he really so bad or are those the managers instructions, because we lack players up front who can create a threat?
And why don’t we ever learn our lesson? If I was Arteta seing how much trouble Tierney has, why doesn’t he pull Xhaka and Saka and ask them to help him? What’s he even doing on the touchline?
What is our style, our identity? It’s been 18 months and I think we are actually worse than where Emery was and this is our highest ever spending and if rumours are to be believed, we’re not done yet.
Seeing how not one of 5 players we’ve signed with 130 million is a definite improvement on our side I’m worried. The results on the pitch are a reflection of how our club is ran. Even when the idea for something is good on paper, the execution is wrong.
First we wanted a young coach but made a mistake with Arteta, now we’re backing him, but with the wrong players. We are told youth is the future and I agree, but too much lies on their shoulders. Smith-Rowe and Saka were poor. Love em both, but they shouldn’t be carrying such a burden. Mason Mount is surrounded by quality players at Chelsea, but there is also a style of play which is clear, and it looks like players understand Tuchel’s instructions.
I’m struggling to see what our style is? Even Wengers famous “go out and express yourselves” would do better now. 10 years ago we didn’t compete for the title, but at least we played some really good football. Now there’s nothing to be positive about, apart from having a few good young players. Lokonga for example, looks good, but there’s only so much you can do with Xhaka as your partner.
And Granit was our captain. It’s like Arteta wants to be sacked. A player who wanted to leave, flipped off the fans and isn’t good enough for the club is the “leader” of this side?
I am disappointed that we lost, but I’m not angry. It’s hard to be when it’s so predictable what will happen. Not one fan I talked to before the game thought we had any chance to pick up even 1 point. Right now if I’m a PL manager I’m looking at 3 easy points against Arsenal.
I just wonder why nobody at Arsenal could forsee that? Why are we throwing another season down the drain? I thought Arteta will be sacked by Christmas, but at this point I’ll be surprised if he survives the end of October.
We’re getting destroyed at City. I know anything in football is possible, but I wonder with potentially 0 goals scored and 0 points what the mood will be after the international break?
I don’t think we’ll sack Arteta until he gets a run with the players fully back, but honestly that’s just wasting time and money. Cheap things almost always get more expensive at the end. We went cheap when we signed Arteta and now we’re trying to splash immense money to fix the problem, but we should start at the right place.
Even if we can’t get Conte, we should at least be trying. If you are willing to watch more of this, strap your seatbelts tight, because the season may have just started, but the worse is yet to come.
Konstantin
It’s simple. Arteta should leave the premises of the club en never to come back.
Arteta himself said he had a plan to beat Chelsea and he was looking forward to it. Well the “plan” lasted 15 minutes and failed badly. He stood there on the sidelines and did nothing to try to stop Chelsea dominance all over the pitch. All Arsenal did or do all game is try to get it wide and get crosses in to anyone who might get on the end, that was his plan.
I’m fed up with “fans” wanting Arteta axed just after a couple of matches. Give the man a fair chance ffs. Arsenal will come good, that’s for sure. Back the team, back the manager.
I dont know why you are fed up, its opinion and mine is different to yours, stop being dramatic.
I am one not for all the statistics that is in football,but if your ratio is that you will lose 1 in every 3 games it is fair to say you are no good manager. It also means you will draw 2 but always lose 1. Good manager grind out results even when it looks impossible. arteta dont know tactics he is a small potatoe to all these managers that have honed there craft years ago. Arsenal is too big a job for arteta.
Websurfer, he has been at the club for 1 n 1/2 season plus two games of this season, still you think he is not given fair chance? What do you want for him to be given 5 years so he can take us down to championship and then bring us back up so you guys can praise him for bringing us back into EPL 😂. I think the same stuff ppl smoked at Emirates when they made a £1 on top, bid for Suarez has some how found its way to some Arsenal fans 😜
Bring back Freddie!
Remember when we played Chelsea in the friendly? We pretty much fielded our best XI, and still got outplayed at home. People said “its only a friendly” and thought we would up our game in few days for Brentford. Well that turned out like any sany person thought it would.
Since last season, onto the pre-season, onto the new season. Nothing’s changed. One would expect improvement in any area, especially when you had 3 months and ~150 million to strengthen the team.
Arteta somehow hasn’t improved anything now that he had full preseason and more money than Emery or Wenger ever had.
And to those who say “but we were the best team since January”, we weren’t actually beautiful to watch during spring either. And being a top team means CONSISTENCY. You can’t go from 1st to 15th place, then to finish season 8th and call that improment. And then start the new season ending up to the relegation zone!! That’s what midtable clubs do!
Recap:
– If you play terribly week before season starts, you’re going to start the season terribly. Something has gone very wrong during preseason if this is the case.
The excuses are so tiresome. Not Arteta’s team, no money to spend, no preseason, no fans in the stadium, COVID, injuries..
Imagine in your head that it was Big Sam who replaced Emery, and that Big Sam had never managed in England and you didn’t know who he was. If he performed as badly as Arteta has performed, would you still believe in him or would you call him to be sacked?
Point being: Arteta just might be a bad manager and doesn’t know what it takes to manage a club of Arsenals stature. He just might be too inexperienced and clueless how to get the best out of players. These kind of people exist in real work life all the time, why couldn’t Arteta be one of them?
Thirdly, is the FA Cup win the reason some people still support Arteta?
I mean Lampard got Chelsea to top 4, and got the sack because the played badly the following season. Louis van Gaal won FA Cup for United before they decided to part ways. Ranieri won Leicester the friggin’ league title in 2016, and got fired 9 months later because they played so badly!
Tuchel came in, won the CL. Mourinho came in for LvG, won the Europa League, EFL and Community Shield. Rodgers eventually came in, took Leicester to top 4 consecutively and eventually won FA Cup.
Winning a trophy shouldn’t be some kind of a shield you’ll have to defend your abysmal performances in the future!
I have said it before, last December we had beaten Chelsea and we were in a pretty similar position. Chelsea changed their young struggling manager, we didnt and they won CL and got in top 4, Lampard wouldn’t have done that. They have spent 95 mil on one player, top the league and finished the jig saw. We kept our manager failed to qualifying for anything, spent 130 mil on nobody in particular, strengthening nothing in particlar and are bottom of the league.
Well said Reggie 👍
Come on dont be too harsh. We got ourselves Ben White, the best CB in the world.
DaJuhi
👍👍👍👍
Recently spending has not been Arsenal’s problem,save during the winger last 10 years and that is because winger was reluctant to overspend that was not his philosophy.In wenger last days he was backed by the board and broke the transfer record whe he signed aubameyang.Emery signed Pepe and others.But Ateta is the one who has been supported most by the board now we have spent the highest in epl.British fans will only want to blame kreonke because he is an American owning a British club simply put racism.You notice the campaign against the super league led by British media and fans as that would have weakened their domestic league.British players have the highest transfer fee and the homegrown crap.To put things into perspective the manager is the problem and not the owner no amount spending will improve this team managed by a clueless manager.Kreonke is not the issue protest against Arteta and kreonke will sack him tomorrow that what happened even with the might Arsene .
Lord Denning Emery did not sign Pepe the board did Emery did not want him Fact
Exactly. Emery wanted Zaha and he made it very clear
Try telling that to @jon fox!
This is ridiculous nonsense without perspective. Even when Wenger’s team’s were being battered almost routinely by rivals the vitriol was nothing like this.
This is one of the few serious matches Chelsea have won against Arsenal in recent times despite consistently having a much stronger squad for years.
Get a grip!
This is ridiculous nonsense without perspective. Even when Wenger’s team’s were being battered almost routinely by rivals the vitriol was nothing like this.
This is one of the few serious matches Chelsea have won against Arsenal in recent times despite consistently having a much stronger squad for years.
Get a grip!
I think fans need to calm down and get realistic.
(1) Chelsea bought a lot of very expensive players, then bought more very expensive players, are European Champions, and one of the 2 favorites to win the league this season. Next game is Man City, current League champion’s and other favorites to win the league this season. How are Arsenal expected to beat those with a team full of players that are ill / young / new?
(2) Yes the tactics could have been adapted to park the bus against Chelsea, but isn’t that what “Small” and “Boring” teams do? I thought fans wanted more exciting football ftom Arteta, and despite the failings against Chelsea they did trty to get the ball into the box faster and you can see some progress was made.
(3) How can people say that having your 1st choice CBs (White/Gabriel) MID (Partey) 2 FWDs (Laca/Auba) out in a team full of youngsters and newbies is just an “Excuse”?
Sounds harsh to me. I think things will get better after these first few very tough weeks.
And there’s your problem right there. Fans who are happy with this standard of football. Please tell me what style does Arteta play. Also would another PL club take Arteta? Not a chance! And if people are sick of Stan just stop buying his product’s. It got Wenger out. Edu is awful at his job. He just knows that dodge agent and lines pockets with gold by paying over the odds. William is a good example of that.
I don’t accept our club been dragged through the mud. Fans need to demand more.
So in your opinion, Burnley Norwich will be easier matches than Hibernian, Brentford….LOL
No matter all arteta supporters say, he will be sacked soon…he can’t or even know how to change anything and that’s a fact…
My only worry is that, these losses might haunt us come end of season
Nonsense….these days, i dont care about the style AS LONG as it gets us the points but this novice is doing neither. He micro manages the team as a true novice would do.
You are probably too young to know who George Graham was, it really was boring Arsenal BUT we got results
How can you call yourself a fan if you make excuses for this dud of a manager and SACK THE BOARD
P. doff, yes I well remember “boring” Arsenal’s two first divion titles, particularly 1990/91:
P38, W24, D13, L1, GF74, GA18, GD+56, 83 points
Lost only 1 game, scoring 74 goals, while conceding 18 goals.
We can only dream of bringing such “boring football” back to the Arsenal.
By the way “the Invincibles” scored 73 goals (1 less), conceded 26 (8 more) for a goal difference of +47 (9 less), yet they are praised for being an exciting team. Unfortunately people don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
WOAH THERE P.doff. Don’t bring strollers teams into this… I found us quite entertaining back in the day. He revolutionised championship football. Solid at the back with Limpar, Wright, Smudge, Merse, Thomas and Rocky as the entertainment. FFS we had Davis, Richardson, Shwartz and Jensen as our holding midfielders. Top bruised banana!! Yeah we had a couple of duds in McGoldrick, Carter, Helder and Kiwomya but I always say that GG’s teams were the Golden era which paved the way for AWs reign. If it wasn’t for GG recommending Gary Pallister to a certain fellow Scotsman then who knows where Manure would of ended up.
But fair point on Arteta.👍
I am sorry but I have to say that your first point which makes me not to bother reading the rest shows medeoracy. AW and UE has not been given the financial arsenal that is given to MA. Trust me, AW would have won big if he was given such support.
It still beats me how some people blame the board for not spending more money but praises the one spending the money with 0 result.
Truth be told and I don’t care if some people will call.me a plastic fan, ARSENAL FC can’t get anywhere with MA in charge.
To be fair Arsenal has been decimated by injuries covid and some players not yet ready to play.
We had to play Chelsea and City early .
We should not judge the team till game ten after having played Norwich Burnley Tottenham.
Brighton Palace Villa + Leicester.
By then Odegaard will be playing Gabriel and Party back from injury White Laca and Auba recovered from covid.
We may even have a new RB and another MF.
So be patient Gooners better days are coming.
fairfan, I love your profile, a name which is well deserved. I love fairness, perspective and rational thought. Apart from your post, that of Yossarian and my own below, the others are from self entitled non rational so called “fans”
THEY are the REAL reason to be ashamed of our club, NOT THE MANAGER!
jon fox you talk like a twat. We could have played all day and would not have scored this lot could not score in a brothel with a fistful of £50 notes and as for style what style. We were outplayed it was like a practice match for Chelsea
According to Jon Fox if your not in full support of Arteta you aren’t a real supporter, correct me if I’m wrong but I am almost certain you changed your tune on Arteta after a terrible run of form last season after previously calling him (our wonderful young manager or something along those lines, but it now appears you are back in full support of him ? Some may even call that fickle support but either way you can’t honestly say with a straight face that see you improvement, the team is still dire to watch and still create comical defensive moments almost every game.
Sorry Jon,
So what your saying is that for the past 10 or more years or so (since Kronke took over), you’ve been happy with the way the club has been run and that the fans have no right to be angry/annoyed at the dross we have seen and that our feeling don’t matter if they disagree with your own. I’m sorry but YOU are the problem to accept such mediocrity.
I can accept we can no longer compete with the top 4 or 6 for that matter. What I cannot accept are the insipid performances of the team, the lack of cohesion within the team (what is our style of play), a clueless manager . The fact is, the club has gradually lost it’s identity, from what made us ‘Arsenal’: strong defence, never give up attitude and football to be entertaining. Are we both watching the same games, as I see none of that???????
nonsense jon. this is about you wanting to stick up for arteta to come off as a better “fan” than other fans. give it a rest. Arteta has been a disaster for MONTHS and you only recently realized how quickly we were going nowhere.
Lol…. I think you have just been trolled.
That’s all JF does🤣🤣.
Just ignore his walliness but give him his due… he gets us all at one time😉
Oh Jon will you stop repeating the same rubbish every day.
Agree
I agree that we need to see how things go AFTER Man City. Having said that, the consistency in our play under Arteta is worrying to me.
We continue to make really stupid mistakes – different players make the mistakes on different games but there is a pattern that we seem to turn off a lot.
Even I could have done something out on the wing yesterday if I was playing in Blue. I don’t care who is responsible, the players don’t seem to be able to adjust or manage each other in a game. James being free once is one thing, being free all the time is altogether different.
I would say that if the first few games after MC are the same then a management change is needed.
Sadly, I thought that we were better against Chelsea than we were against Brentford.
Agree.
Hahaha..
Here comes ‘Mr Moaner and pessimist’.., according to some Fans here!!😏😏
When you tell them the Truth, they call you names!.. Will still blame some of our Fans!
Defending unproductive and Overhyped players..e.g Auba, Laca, Xhaka, Pepe, Saka, ESR..etc..
Our problems dis season simply boils down to our useless/unnecessary buys!..
Bissouma, Zaha and Andre Silva/Raul Jimenez would have made us Title Contenders!!
Conte was highly reliant on a strong dominant CF. So hiring him will only make us crash again after his honeymoon period, if we don’t have someone in the mold of Benzema, Kane or Lukaku:
– Mirko Vucinic at Juventus, 2011-2014
– Diego Costa at Chelsea, 2016-2017
– Romelu Lukaku at Inter Milan, 2020-2021
Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke should’ve realized about our unstable system, before signing Lacazette the diminutive CF and Aubameyang the speedster for their tiki-taka trademark or aspiration
We can sign fancy creative players like Aguero for a pretty tippy-tappy football if our system is stable like Guardiola’s or the prime Barcelona’s, but ours is still shaky
Look how Chelsea destabilize theirs by changing their manager and players every two years, but they work around it by having someone who can keep the ball and hold off the opposition’s CBs in the front line
Chelsea’s first goal replay didn’t show the whole process. Had Soares won the aerial duel against Alonso, they wouldn’t have gotten the throw-in and Kovacic wouldn’t have been able to distribute the ball to Lukaku
I am not impressed with Conte’s bought players as much as I am impressed how he works with the players he currently has!
Lukaku on Conte:
““You came at the right time and basically changed me as a player and made me even stronger mentally and more importantly we won together! Winning is and it’s all that matters to you and I’m glad that I have had you as a coach.”
Hakimi on Conte:
“Conte’s greatest strength is that he brings everything out of his players. He taught me to focus not just about attacking, but also defending, and I learned an aspect of the game that I didn’t really know very well. I have improved a great deal over the last year.
He works on the details and that makes it easier for us once we are in a match situation, knowing there are no surprises, because we prepared for every situation we might face.”
Lazaro on Conte:
“Conte’s the best coach I’ve ever had. He takes care of every detail, especially tactics.”
Just my opinion but this kind of approach we urgently need.
Most players need to say good things about their managers or ex-managers, for good public image. Saka also said he’s learned a lot from Arteta and even Ozil/ Mustafi praised Arteta
I just hear bad things about Guardiola from Ibrahimovic, but I guess he was pissed off at that time
True, however most players go into detail what Conte has made them better at.
Also, whatever was said about Conte, also has transmitted into results and onto player performances. Same can’t be said on our manager..
Wait until Arteta gets his own CF, because he inherited the current CFs from Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke
GAI Arteta could have a prime Didier Drogba with Xavi and iniesta in the middle of the park and we still wouldn’t hit a barn door! The man is out of his depth, you can give him a dominant CF a world class playmaker or Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard.. Cafu and Roberto Carlos at full back you can give him until December or the following December but the football will still be completely sh*t.. he should be collecting cones not managing any PL team.
@Kev82 : Some fans also said Emery was out of his depth, but he’s proven that the players’ attitudes were the main problems
GAI look at the squad Emery had to work with, with no say on transfers, a Europa League final, and one point off top 4, I for one wouldn’t say he was out of his depth and I wouldn’t compare Arteta with Emery as Emery is an experienced manager/ coach, if Arteta had to work with what Emery had we’d be in a relegation scrap and also Arteta has signed a lot of players since Emery has departed.. soon enough it will be completely Arteta’s team give or take a player or 2 so if it’s an attitude problem within the squad then that’s down to the manager and his signings
Emery wasn’t out of his depth!!!!!!!! It was a launguage barrier thing and in the end became a problem with the players who took the piss.
Compare the CV’s of Emery and Arteta and decide who should have received the patience and the disciplinary and player transfer support from the Board? Unfortunately Arsenal backed the wrong horse.
gotanidea your name is deceiving and at the same time controversial with what you say. How much has Arteta spent so far buying rubbish and mediocre players? Was he not there when Luis Suarez was advertised by Barcelona? Diego Costa and other excellent CF were there but he never went for them.
What am I even saying? No good player will come to arsenal now. Let’s just face it. Who will want to be rubbished by Arteta’s cluelessness?
Gai
I deeply feel you know certain truth but you are trying not to Foster negativity within fans concerning a manager that needs support until he leaves. But Arteta is not helping matters. However, I hope some senior players recovers in time so we can see what the coach has to offer with his full squard. But then, I just hope that wouldn’t be too late. Will be hopeful the team can do something within 6 matches. My take against Man City is if you can’t win the game don’t lose it.
The last thing a coach needs right now is a toxic atmosphere in Emirate Stadium and a demoralised players.
Confidence increases with winning more matches.
Fact: We won only 33% of aerial duels in the first 70 minutes
Arsenal’s systems, whether it is Wenger’s or Arteta’s, rely so much on high ball possession. So our small technical players can’t do much if we keep losing the ball in the first half
mirko vucinic? r u joking? he scored 20 goals total in 3 seasons!
its always someone else but your beloved arteta! you like so many on this site just keeping moving the posts.
our worst fans are the loudest and they are getting their way and we are all suffering for it.
Vucinic wasn’t productive in scoring. But he was good in holding up the ball with his back to goal and laying it off to his teammates, allowing him to retain possession under pressure
Kinda like Morata’s role in Euro
GAI, yet you criticize Lacazette and praise Vucinic for his hold up play?
Ozzie, I like Lacazette’s hold-up play, although I wish he’s a bit faster and more clinical. The main problem is he almost can’t win us the ball from aerial duels
I agree we have limitations and issues with our squad but in no way is it only the 8th best squad in the league.
A manager’s responsibility is to make best with what he has at his disposal as he builds his team over time.
Arteta has had a lot of time to mould the squad and change personnel, he’s been given a lot of money.
It started off promising, FA cup, but now it is nowhere good enough, and it’s been this way for sometime.
Sacking arteta is our best chance at playing to our potential
If Arteta & Edu want a quick fix.They need to go & out & buy Bissouma Sharpish.It will be a game changer.Won’t solve all the problems but will be a dramatic improvement.
Uwot if they want a quick fix they can take a very very long holiday and do us Arsenal fans a big favour
👍 To Yve Bissouma or Bruno Guimaraes.
Twenty six years ago Bruce Rioch was appointed as Arsenal manager and a year later he was gone.Thats because the Club’s hierarchy realised that the job was too big for him.Unfortunately the current owners don’t have the same understanding of what it means to manage a Club like Arsenal.
We as supporters don’t…for the most part…demand trophies…but we do have a strong belief that this Club should at least be competitive and play a clearly defined style of football.Unfortunately Arteta like Rioch is plainly out of his depth and needs to be removed.This needs to be done before he wastes any more money on signings and in conjunction with a plan that means bringing someone in to coach who knows how to get the most from the existing squad and then to build upon that squad of players.That said…David Dein is no longer a part of Arsenal’s hierarchy and those who are…dont seem to have any more of an idea than their inept Team Manager.
Arteta is the worst coach in this league the only reason he is still at Arsenal is because he is at Arsenal.
This is sooooooo pertinent!
It’s never gonna happen because we are Arsenal (under Stan) but thank MA for what he has done;) and get Zidane.
He will command instant respect from both players and other clubs and will at least enforce a system of play. Not saying he is the best coach ever but he has managed and win stuff at a big club. You could argue and I’m sure some will that it was at RM but he still needs to manage, train and dictate a system of play with players within that framework.
Man is a serial winner in both playing and managerial terms.
But as when Allegri was available and we opted for cheap and cheerful side passing old boy MA instead our owner will not take the risk as he is not in that business.
Even if Stan did grow a pair convincing him would be another thing entirely (in both wage and in remaining budget).
In other news, Willian liked Chelsea Instagram post celebrating their victory over arsenal.
Where are the arteta supporters in this forum? They should come out and defend the apprentice.
Shame you chose not to wait another three minutes, Mr Hot head! BTW, I defend our managers integrity and honesty and to call him an “apprentice” is a biased, unworthy and unintelligent comment .
If you are taking apprentice by it’s true meaning ..a.k.a learning a skill/craft on the job he is doing exactly that as last time I looked he hasn’t managed a team before?
After buying so much outlet product from CSKA London, it was a matter of time until an actual agent arrived.
If there’s still time to unregister this lazy fraud, it’d be great.
Fans will forever hate him for this.
A disgracegful article from a typically self entitled fan but NOT also a supporter . He completely ignores the massively relevant fact that our squad and some new signings have been overtakenand massively affected by Covid and a massively different starting team will be available to choose from very soon.
To choose to wilfully ignore those FACTS and then to put his own clearly biased view, which lacks intelligent perspectuive and truth, made this article a travesty.
That is my mature and deeply considered opinion.
I stand, as always, for fairness, context and rational thought, all of which were lacking in this shocking piece!
BTW, I am not a fan who wanted MA in the first place and nor do I expect him to be here for years, given the overwhelming disgraceful attitude of so many of our on line “fans”.
All those missing players were not an “excuse ” Konstantin, but a reason and a fact!
But the honourable and fairminded thing is to act as a supporter SHOULD DO and just play fair, considering all the injuries and illness we have. And none of those are his fault. Though to read this Konstantin tripe you would imagine they were !
It is now an insult to consider our game against the like of Chelsea, man United, Liverpool and Manchester city a big match.
We are now in the same level with Everton , West Ham, spurds, wolves and leciester city.
I don’t think we are even at that level.If you can’t score goals and can’t defend then you are at the level of a team fighting in the relegation zone
Exactly! We’re in the relegation zone mate. We have shipped in 4 already but registered none. From the look of it, city may ship in more just to add more salt to our injuries. What a nightmare to be an arsenal fan now! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Not even at Brentfords level at moment.
:))) but seriously it appears fluky wins are the only way out for Arsenal at this point.
We are all acting as supporters should do Jon…
we want him out of our club,
the experiment has failed and it’s clear for all to see….
other managers can see through his tactics,
he is also unable to change things up, and listening to him during his postmatch interview admit to his inability to tackle issues noticed during the match said it all…
Don’t worry Jon, he would be sacked soon cuz he lacks the skills to turnaround the current situation,and it’s a matter of time before the players down tools on him ….there’s the talk of willian liking a Chelsea post already.
Jon, I believe most fans reaction were brewed since last week and most are overreacting based on Brentford game but it’s just happen another defeat means more anger.
I totally agree any team will struggle with the kind of situation we have, even city as big as the squad is would have struggled because first team players are best team players nevertheless, and to have so many out at once is baffling.
It is what it is and MA should turn it over by Wednesday we have no excuse not to get a win over westbrom and am sure negativity will go after a good win
Adajim, remind me why weve spent over 130mill on new players then and where that moneys all gone? Was it just to have more excuses for losing against the better teams? Our best XI is no better than last seasons. Thats on Kroenke, Edu, Mikel and any other clown who signed off on some of these deals.
Agree with you, Adajim, regarding the Arsenal team’s problems.
Evidently, no-one can be happy with the weekend’s performance and result.
It is however really disappointing to see the overwhelming negativity of fans on this platform..
Some of the comments are downright disgraceful and completely devoid of class.
jon fox You can a team of class players but if you do not have TATICS and style of play you have Nothing
EXACTLY!!!! Two names for you; Brian Clough
“ During his 18 years as manager (with Peter Taylor as his assistant until 1982) he led Forest from 6th from the bottom of Division Two (January 1975) to winning the First Division Championship in 1978, followed by two consecutive European Cup wins in 1979 and 1980 and four League Cup victories.”
They didn’t have money, the best most sort after players but a team and a system that didn’t confuse the hell out of the players.
If responding to counter this argument Please don’t tell me it was a different time. Do you think kicking a ball around and putting it in a net has changed that drastically!
Dear Jon,
Please refer to the display picture above. That is me laughing on your face.
After my recent contract extension I can only imagine how happy you are to be blessed by my precence for a few years more.
The purpose of this letter is to remind you of your blatant hypocrisy when accusing other fans of not being true supporters because they think Arteta is not good enough. Why then don’t you support me and few other players and show your true support?
What is the difference my old chum, of you not supporting me because you think I am not good enough and others not supporting Arteta because they think he is not good enough? I am your captain after all.
Kind regards,
Man of Steel, Granit Xhaka.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And the award for “Post of the Year” goes to the one and only, Mr Highbury Hero!
Thank you, RFrancis!!! You’re my saviour!!!
Damn right it does! Brilliant, HH 😝
Hey Sue,
Won’t it be nicer if you choose “The Other Sue” as your display name??? 😜
Sue, now that Kola is leaving why don’t you keep his picture as your display?😂😂😂😂
Every time our ‘Rolls Royce’ gets a flat tire or our ‘future captain’ gets back on the treatment table, it would be funny to see Kola comment!
😂😂😂😂You made my day HH! And it was a bad day too and you brightened it up, lol. Many thanks for that😂😂
Sid,
We’ve got a new “virtual machine” debuting today in JA to supplement the already existing “artificial intelligence”. 😜
You are very strange Mr Vas….
😂😂😂
He did write earlier VasC. You may have missed those articles. Funny acronym Virtual Machine 😂😂😂
Vuyo’s article atleast did not contain any outright fallacy, and was just the right amount of optimism to blind hope ratio for me. I did not agree but it was good. I will eagerly await both sets of writers to then write articles so that we may have many more things like IOT, neural networks etc regarding Arsenal and MA 😂😂😂
And to think that at one time I was foolish enough to actually converse with you! I’ll not make that mistake again.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
jon, you have talked about realism on this forum for years. Let be REAL then. With a fully fit squad would we have done any better? Our attack has barley been able to put a dent on teams under Arteta. Wake up and get REAL, like you always want others to be.
Come on RSH! Give poor old Jon Fox a break. He has been an arsenal fan for donkey years and in his mind, he’s more of a fan than us.
I tell you what, I have never been a prophet nor a soothsayer before but I don’t need to be one to see Arsenal’s future under Arteta. It’s nothing but abysmal. Zero x zero = 0
Personally I don’t think Arteta can do the job. He hasn’t got the ability to motivate the players and they are clearly unable to synchronise with methods. He has no tactical nous, but that’s expected as he is a novice to management. I do think another manager would motivate the players better. What is wrong is there is NO playing style. All very erratic. I think we have good players who cannot, or even will not perform for Arteta. He seems to be quite morose and even sulky. His decision to give a long contract to Xhaka is hard to make sense of. Xhaka makes us visibly slow and predictable. Unless one recognises the illness how do you treat it. Our players would ‘play’ for a more integrated manager. Arteta just not have the psychological components that are needed to gel, synchronise and bond the players, plus he has bought players like Mari, Willian, Cedric who are just not up to it. He also got rid of Saliba and Torreira…..Saliba would be surely better than our present malingerers like Mari and better than Holding.
A better manager would make better choices, better tactics and gain the trust of the players. A new manager would get the best out of Auba and Laca.
If we want a manager to get us back on track, Antonio Conte, If we want a long term Arsenal style manager, Eddie Howe…..maybe in that order. Arteta must leave.
Cant Argue with that Sean, people may see it differently but there has been nothing that proves anything other than he is out of his depth along with Edu and an absent useless owner. But some will just lazily blame the owner and nothing else. Its sad but its the whole sorry club.
Can’t argue either Sean and well put, I think the preferences for manager would again divde the fanbase, but would like the players come down to who would accept the job rather than who we want!
Im not a huge fan of Konstantin as his articles are never balanced but always 100% critical. Regarding Arteta though, and whilst accepting the player shortages, there has been precious little to his 18 month tenure TO commend him. I see his primary roles to be training, tactics, motivation, performance, results. No plus marks at all.
I think both believers and critics are true supporters, and I would love ANYONE to succeed – by that I mean improve the team on the pitch in some way. I don’t expect miracles. I actually like the signings, but am fearful of the type of player they will be in 12 months, because I suspect Arteta’s coaching manual was stolen on the train from Manchester.
My aim is to support the club and still respect all other opinions one way or the other, regardless of where Arteta or more likely his replacement takes us.
erratic is the perfect word. i can hardly remember the last time we were in control of a game properly. It’s spurts of decent play at random times, and not down to anything Arteta has done. I’ve not got a single clue what he’s trying to do with this team and we are well over a year into his tenure and he has no identity and we are looking worse the longer this goes on. And nobody can say he hasn’t been backed. It’s just been very poorly spent!
Arsenal can be bullied. Why.?They dont have a Adams,Keown and Bould.
Thats the problem
Isn’t it too premature to declare that we’ve thrown away the season already?
We’re yet to enter the final 24 games of the league yet and there’s a long way to reach that starting point too. We’ll be 2nd in the league table, goals scored and goals conceded.
Trust the process!!! COYG!!!
Go Vasc! I am officially giving you the last bits of my optimism before it evaporates!
Try chillin’, guy.
Chillin’ prevents evaporation. Laws of nature. 😉
Not true. Liquid nitrogen evaporates. Chillin’ makes some people accept the unacceptable. It’s more often than not an escape from reality.
Eureka! Eureka! I’ve found the next Einstein in our midst!!!
“Liquid nitrogen evaporates” – The second greatest discovery in JA within a week after Onana’s qualification as a homegrown player if he joins Arsenal.
Hats off to you, Sean!!! 🎩
@johnfox Finally a great thoughtful reply. Fans are letting their despirations and hate for MA cloud their judgement. The boys were not a match for the blues but they gave their all despite the key players missing out. How many top teams could cope if five to seven of their first XI missed out due to unforseen circumstances; maybe a few. I’m not saying that we could match them outrightly but we would do better than how we performed. I’m not MA in or out dude but I support whomever Arsenal appoints and hope we got better.
This article is so biased and people are following it without even considering the pros and cons.
Dear ximplicity….excuse after excuse will not save him from the sack….he had 129m to play with and enough time to get in the transfers before season commenced….we had a lot to prove , only xhaka and saka were at the euros …a full pre season of losses with almost a full squad bar odegaard and the wasted funds white signing…
Y’all should stop twisting things to make excuses for the clueless rookie unfortunately learning his trade with us…
Lampards ,Rooney ,Gerard all started from small teams…we tried an experiment with a smooth talker and failed…time to reshuffle and move on…
HE WILL BE SACKED SOON. He would be out of excuses soon Period!!!
Talking about missing key player all the time, how many key players did we miss?
Aubameyang, Xhaka, Pepe, Holding, Sambi, Tavares, Holding, Mari, Tierney, Saka, Marteleni, Leno, Partey were all there. So who are the key players that we missed?
Some excuses doesn’t just add up. No disrespect though.
Cheap is expensive. These are the consequences of hiring an inexperienced Manager. It’s draining the purse of Arsenal, but there are no positive results
You cant argue with the article at all its all facts and damning on Arsenal at this moment. The truth is the longer Arteta stays the more damage is going to be done. He isnt upto the job, any fool can see that. He ia a complete novice doing a professional job and badly.
And the VAR, what is VAR doing these days?
Last week it was a foul on Leno in the build up to their 2nd goal and this week clear Penalty should have been given to us, this are decisions that could change the complexion of both games. It’s a shame it’s not given and we are once again at the receiving end.
Don’t get me wrong I hardly blame ref but this is VAR, and the main football allowed technology is to check human errors and correct them but what am seeing is so embarrassing
You cant have it both ways but looks like you do. VAR has been told to only get involved on completely wrong decisions. It isn’t being used every 5 minutes. Cant please some people though.
Penalty shout is one thing VAR need to get involved with. At least let us see why it wasn’t a penalty
No penalty ever, what are you whinging about?
Adajim Never in a month of Sundays was that a penalty I Love Arsenal but not a pen
Some other people here they saying to us we must support Mikel Arteta because he can still change fortune of our team as if have seen him coaching another team and doing well and please stop comparing Arteta situation with olijar gunnar solskjaer because his was already coaching in his native country team caaled Molde FC
He actually won the Norwegian league with an underperforming molde side….He is miles ahead of the confused pundit ….
He even lacks respect for his career, simply resign, go back to being an assistant like Henry… sometimes in life we think we’re ready when we not…it happens to players …why can’t it happen to managers??
He needs to leave for his own good, cuz when he’s eventually sacked his career might be in jeopardy
Arteta says to Arsenal fans judge me in 2 or 3 years is he joking or what
to be fair.. he might have won the EFL championship by then….
What I want to know is whether the club can fire a footballer for liking a rival’s social media post.
Because of it, Willian should get the Ozil treatment times a 1000. I’d go as far as to remove him from the official website.
Should this lazy Chelsea agent ever see the pitch in an Arsenal shirt again, I hope he gets booed by Arsenal fans each time he recieves the ball.
Officially the worst signing in the history of this club.
MA must leave us alone as soon as possible. Some of us are gonna get a heart attack one day
The club went cheap a long time ago, but as long as we clung to top4 all in the garden was rosy.
The fact that AW was unable to do so two years running showed that without a knowledgeable board and significant investment the future would be uncertain and uncomfortable. His departure brought in an experienced coach in Emery but he had little input into who was signed. 72 million on Pepe was a travesty and in Sanhelli there were alleged dodgy dealings. Emery’s experience wasn’t enough in itself to turn what should have been a top4 finish by Spring into a reality. Who was to blame for the power play by some of the players is not for me to argue, but it happened
To get back to Konstantin on the word cheap:
More than ever it was essential to bring in a top, top manager to row back on the slide. Instead they went down a different route and took a punt on Arteta when the club should have shown real intent with proper investment in the squad and a proven manager
During all this time other AMBITIOUS owners have come on the scene making top4 a very difficult club to get into. Even if you do there are no guarantees that it will continue on a regular basis
Arsenal have well and truly missed the boat and this malaise started longer ago than Arteta joining and at the moment I can’t see an easy return to the top. If Arteta goes – what then? It’s a pig’s ear
Hi SueP….If arteta goes, a top manager would get the first eleven sorted out, identify the weak areas and demand for funds for upgrade, then slowly blend the youngsters into the team, players around the world would want to play for him and all…
Arteta doesn’t know his strongest first eleven till now….., doesn’t know the strength and best positions of his players…….., doesn’t believe they can express themselves and get results so he micromanages……… doesn’t sit down to analyze the match and make meaningful subs, reasons we have no comeback wins……….the next match repeats the same thing expecting a different result…..there are matches where we need more defenders or more midfielders or two center forwards…
ARTETA DOESN’T KNOW ALL THESE, and needs to leave for his own good or move to the u-23 side cuz his career is on the line
Too many defeciencies on his part, so he needs to go back to a different manager to understudy and garner experience cuz guardiola depends on massive funds and that’s not a pattern to learn for an upcoming manager….cuz a lot of teams won’t give u millions to play with like pep enjoys…
You live in the clouds,, dont you???
Well what you are suggesting is correct, in that case lets go a little back into the gazidis era,,, Wenger had all the power, People or the so called arsenal fans who seemed to know more than actual people running the club wanted arsenal to be run like a “modern” club, gazidis saved face behind wenger, and when wenger went he put in a system of operation where Mislintat was to be promoted to the Director of football role but we all know what happened next,,,, Gazidis left for Milan and in came Vinai and Sanlehi, and how Sanllehi ruled the dealings is clear for all to see, (also how barcelona had been run as a club is clear to see-)
Anyways my point is, the total organizational management has been through constant change over the last 10 years. Inspite of all the above reasons, a rookie manager is hired as if this is like playing a computer simulator like FIFA or PES who will solve the issues,,,,, hiring arteta as the coach and getting on the bandwagon and making him the manager within the first year,…. well what can we expect, arteta is having too much on his plate already and the tactical side of his game is being exposed by every other manager in the game now…
The only way out as far as I see is to get a manager with a proven track record or even request Arsene wenger to come back for 02 seasons …
Sue P, You are right it’s a big mess. Unless Arteta goes this week which is not going to happen, no other top class manager is going to take the job. The transfer budget has probably already been spent and without guarantee of more funds, why would any class manager want to come. The soonest any change would likely to be made is just before the next transfer window when more money could be made available as an incentive for a new manager. What a mess we are in.
“Unless Arteta goes this week which is not going to happen, no other top class manager is going to take the job”
So you are already blaming Arteta just in case another coach comes in a fails…
No I am saying that if the club decides to replace Arteta then the club will find it difficult to find a top class manger to take the job. I can not predict if a new manager will fail or succeed neither can you.
Lots of fan blame Arsene Wenger for the state that the club finds itself in so why would it be a surprise if they blame Arteta. My concern is the position the club finds itself in, not who is to blame, but how to turn things around
👍 SueP, there are still a lot of points for Arsenal to play for.
Sue P, I was hoping Arteta would get the job first time round as Wegner’s immediate replacement. Mostly I was impressed by the amount of time he spent sitting next to Les Prof. as someone who thought about the game and wanted to learn Second time around I was naively optimistic believing we had got the best young manager of his generation,who was going to take us forward. However,what a disappointment. I’m not so much pissed off about consolidating eighth place but by his lack of judgement, fail safe football and not giving his players space to express themselves. And what was the Ben White transfer and Xhaka turnaround all about? He has to go because Arsenal need a clear vision. Why should he be rewarded with our patience because of 25 years of past failures by his predecessors?
Should be 15 years.
I fully agree with that Sue 👍 and to answer your rhetorical question I would say if he goes then bring in a manager of experience, steady the sinking ship and go from there, another 2 or 3 defeats and the players confidence might just hit an all time low and then the proverbial will truly hit the fan.
Spot on kev82…that’s why he needs to leave sooner than later….if I were him after man city, I wud resign with dignity and take up a job with smaller team to implement my ideas before returning to the big leagues……
I just laugh when i see a lot people say Norwich , Burnley games will be our bounce back games….
There are no easy games in the league for arsenal anymore….EPL managers know our weak points and ain’t scared of our team anymore (listen to the Brentford players and get the hint)
Instrooments his ego would never allow such a thing to happen.. Pep will big up his buddy after the game and say how he learnt his trade from Arteta and the board will be getting a new contract ready I mean it’s not inconceivable Captain Marvel Xhaka had one leg out the door and boom a new 4 year contract, you see we get told they do things differently at Arsenal in other words stupid things… And I agree mate if anyone thinks it’s going to be a stroll against them teams they will be in for a rude awakening, we saw it last season especially at home I could count the amount of wins we had in one hand 😆
Don’t underrate Brentford. Brentford are not going down. It’s a great team with a great manager. They are all hungry to prove themselves in the PL. A lot of teams will leave without points there.
As with the Emery tenure it is becoming a joke now, everyone knows arteta wont be able to make it through this season and the board will look silly after backing him publically for 2 seasons and letting him spend on his “own” team… (including deals like auba contract renewal,willian signing)… The decision makers need to take the decision as early as possible… Hire someone with a pedigree and a clear cut game plan that is already being shown somewhere at another club, dont need to do any magic trick of pulling a rabbit out of the hat,
Arteta has had one and a half year and still hasnt got us clicking specially in the attacking sense, i dont remember one attacking performances that has put me out of my seat and say “wow”…. but i can remember about 10 drab performances under arteta and at times the football is so friggin bad ive literally dozed off during our games…
So thats an honest opinion of a fan…. PS i condemn anyone bullying/abusing/physically or mentally attacking arteta whoever does that can never be a true gunner,,,,
We love arteta but he is ruining a big club currently so we should part ways asap
you said it well in first paragraph. Everyone and their mothers know Arteta is a deadman walking. but we wont see the sacking until the season is almost totally gone. Truth is that a proper club sacks mikel end of last season. instead this club gives him tons of money to buy future deadwood and extend contracts of poor players. disgraceful.
I am an Arteta fan. Really like the guy. Not surprised by the positive impact he has made on the game of so many youngsters. Saka and ESR in particular have come on big time since Arteta joined.
He knows a lot about football and knows a lot more than most on this board.
Sadly, knowing a lot about football and being a good manager doesn’t go hand in hand. Wenger knows more about football than most. Yet in his final years, he was no longer a great manager.
Being able to improve individual players is not the only task a manager has. Most importantly he has to improve the game of the whole team.
During the second half of last season, we saw signs of improvement. We had a poor start to this season and will most likely lose to City.
I am not convinced at all that Arteta will be able to turn it around. But he has my respect and my support.
After the club decided to keep him on for this season they were never likely to sack him after 2 results with many of the key players missing.
Give the guy respect whether you believe he is the man to do the job or not. If he has to go it is not for a lack of integrity or trying and it is not because he is a moron. Remember it is very possible to be a good guy, a smart football brain but not a good manager. Wenger was both a good manager at the beginning of his career and less so during his final years but he was always a stand-up guy.
Claudio Ranieri? Great guy with Leicester, moron the next year? Klopp, the best manager in the world two years ago almost useless last year when they nearly missed CL football?
In 10 games’ time, I might conclude it is time for Arteta to leave but I will not insult the guy or disrespect him. I would just say he gave his best but it is time the club relieves him from his commitment.
Well I give you the utmost respect for your post JanV
🙂
Ultimately, the mistake was sticking with Arteta this summer. Especially given we had 130 million to spend. We might well have gotten Conte if we gave him 130 to spend.
I believe it is so much harder to get a top manager during the season than during the summer break that we could not afford to gamble on Arteta. He still might put it together but if he fails we are much worse of than if Conte came in over the summer and doesn’t succeed.
By not replacing Arteta we put our whole season on the first 10 or so games and that is risky. Had we signed Conte or Brendan Rogers fans would have been willing to give them at least one season.
I never thought we would spend as much as we did. IMO this money could have attrackted a top manager.
No proven manager will be willing to work with / under Edu, no matter how huge the assured investments are. Except having contacts with super-agents, what other qualification or track record does Edu have to be the Technical Director at Arsenal? None.
Getting rid of MA at any point during this season will do more harm than good, if Edu doesn’t get the boot before MA.
How can you say it was a mistake just two games into the season?
In the same breadth you say if we sacked Arteta, brought in Conte and failed with him we would be better off. This is not a sound approach to running a club. The only top club that approaches things in this way is Chelsea. This is partly because they effectively have almost unlimited funds.
That’s it
Unlimited funds
So many forget that
“IMO this money could have attrackted a top manager”. But this top manager would then have no money to spend. Conte is only succesful when he has a lot of money to spend or have a lot of top players to work with. Conte would never be succesful at Arsenal.
I think it will be fair to judge Arteta when he has the strongest players at his disposal. We haven’t been able to play our best players at the same time.
I can’t see MA being sacked, even with how awful things are right now.
Tbh, I thought bowing out of Europe would’ve been enough to see his departure – wrong! He’s been backed and with a lot of money; the board seem content!
Think it’ll take relegation to see the back of MA…
@Sue
Arteta remains at Arsenal not because the board trusts in him but because the board is too embarrassed to admit they made a comical mistake hiring a rookie manager that most of us warned was not ready for the Arsenal job. How Arteta even became a Premier League coach with zero experience is beyond me. It’s quute funny @jon fox never misses an opportunity to remind us about his age and experience in life but it when it comes to assessing Arteta experience is suddenly irrelevant.
gunner1578, the Emery tenure became a joke, because he wasn’t supported and undermined from day one. Coming in as the first manager after the long tenure of Arsene Wenger was never going to be easy. Fancy an experienced manager like Emery having won 7 out of 8 available French trophies with PSG and 3 Europa League titles with Sevilla, being engaged as “head coach” and having no say in the transfer of players, bring expected to coach those scouted and contracted by others. Then not bring supported by the Board, when some players decided to down tools.
Arsenal didn’t support Emery, but have supported Arteta in discipline and transfers in and out. Arsenal has backed the wrong horse.
Oz Gunner, Emery was sacked because the club were in free fall. The previous season he missed top four by a point,but let’s not forget that his team blew chance after chance to get that point and didn’t have the character to clinch it. Then there was Baku. I do remember the golden run of 20+ unbeaten games. There were some miracle goals which often featured Ozil in the buildup. At the same time however, we rode our luck as opponents continued to miss chance after chance in front of our goal. Any realist would have noted that once those chances started to go in we would be in trouble.
Joe. S, my point is that Emery, a proven experienced manager was brought in to follow a manager, who had been at the Club for 22 years and not supported, if not undermined from day one. Appointed as “head coach”, not manager, didn’t get the players he wanted and expected to coach the players provided to him and when the players began their antics, he was not supported in discipline.
Mikel Arteta came in as “head coach”, was promoted to manager, given equality with Edu in transfers and able to move out the disruptive players at great cost to Arsenal. He has been supported to the tilt yet apart from the finals run to win the FA Cup, has failed to achieve anything like Emery’s first season. 55 goals scored in a season by Arsenal was an absolute disgrace.
My view is that Arsenal should have supported Emery to the same degree, because he was the better more experienced and proven horse to back.
Mh
The earlier the better. Arteta is taking us nowhere. Mark my words. City will give us a good number of goals. And no player will score for us. The pre-season said it all. Most of our fans thought pre-season is circus. Some of us said we are not ready others said its just pre season. See it now? Here is the solution don’t sack Arteta send him to the youth and cut his wages. Let him groom him own players and come after 3 years. Give us a coach with massive experience. Conte or zizou can help.
MA has lost more home league games in 20 months than Wenger did in his last 6 years apparently!!
Again, Setting records for all the wrong reasons.
They’re a good, (mostly) young squad that are learning by having their ‘feet put to the fire’ facing tough competition. Whether on purpose or accident, I dont know. Anyhow…
…Arteta needs to learn very quickly how to best utilize the players available, or get out of the way for someone that will! If you’re going to accept 35% possession, then set up the team in a manner to absorb the threat. Dont be arrogant bro.
Oh, and for God’s sake Mikel, sit down! Quit pacing the coach’s box barking orders and let the players play! It’s annoying to watch….cant imagine actually being a player.