Arsenal manager - Is Mikel Arteta the right choice?

[Amjid Javed]

Hilarious how many people have made excuses for Arteta for the 3 games lost at start of season and he shouldnt be judged by that )

Reality - we have lost 11 games this season.

We lost 3 in a row at start of season. We then lost 3 out 4 games again in another period in the season. Then again we lost 4 out 5 games just recently including 3 in a row again.

If any of the so called Arsenal fans actually watched football you would know fixture wise we nearly always get one of man city / chelsea / liverpool united early on in 1st 3 games.

Emerys 1st 2 games were man city and chelsea.

People making excuses we were missing players, reality again, a lot of teams were missing players due to covid at diff parts of start of season.

Brentford (away) none of top teams have found it easy going there, so stop being disrespectful to them.

Chelsea up until jan were very strong so again quit with pathetic excuses

Man city (away) we lose to them all the time now.

so if those fixtures were played any other time we would have still probably lost.

blame EDU for the usual slow recruitment in summer and no recruitment in jan, Arsenals self inflicted issues not being prepared which shows poor squad mangement.

Then we here about how we have a small squad and manager has worked miracles, everyone knew this year was Afcons, so we deliberately weakened squad and had 2 pathetic cup exits. Just bout scrap results because Arteta /edu chose to let players go.

Stop making excuse and over hyping an average manager and DOF making out they are working miracles on a team which had an advantage of not playing in europe this season.

Top 4 should have been bare minimum requirement this season.

 

[hitthestump]

The thing about Arteta is that he clearly has a plan and in this regard he is way better than Wenger.

Arteta surely knows which players he wants this summer and his back up plans if they don't come through. Already moves for Jesus, Tielemans and the wing back from Bologna appear to be in the works. Using Maddison as a smoke screen was genius, as was the deadline day release clause move for Partey.

Under Wenger it was so different, the dithering and uncertainty drove fans absolutely wild every summer.

 

[Kianig89]

Big test ahead up against the shrewd Conte for a UCL play off literally Spurs are favourites back to Thursday night footy for Gooners

 

[James]

Can’t wait for Conte v Arteta tomorrow.

 

[MenInG]

One of the things Mikel Arteta has done while in charge of Arsenal is plant an olive tree in the grounds outside his office.

He bought it not just as a reflection of his Spanish culture but also as a metaphor for Arsenal Football Club. While the fruit and leaves are the showpiece of the tree - the top players if you like - they are no more vital to its flourishing than the branches that hold them and the roots that grow beneath it.

For Arteta, those roots are the people who help the first team flourish and embody the core values that will make the club bigger and richer - such as respect, humility, a willingness to suffer and a no-blame culture.

Without these roots, the top of the tree would wither and die.

In April, after a run of three defeats against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton, Arteta held a team meeting around that olive tree, where he talked them through this philosophy.

It might well be a coincidence but Arsenal have won four straight games since that meeting and are a win against Tottenham on Thursday away from qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2015-16.

The thinking that shapes Arteta's vision

The injuries Arteta, now 40, suffered at the end of his playing career made him think long and hard about his profession. He would spend up to 12 hours a day attached to scanners, speaking to doctors, being treated by physios and so on.

He tried everything he could to recover - a battle he was destined to lose - and gradually he had to accept his playing time was at an end. He has never forgotten that something he loved so dearly was taken away from him, a feeling that still drives him.

His playing CV boasted 14 years in the top flight of English and Scottish football, having grown up in the Barcelona youth system and also played at Paris St-Germain, where he crossed paths with Mauricio Pochettino, then a player at the team he now manages.

His career has also been touched by managers like David Moyes at Everton and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, and he later drew on that experience to build a working relationship with Pep Guardiola, spending plenty of their time together on the Manchester City coaching staff asking questions in his quest to improve.

The experience he gained working with Guardiola was priceless, not least because it helped him to refine his thinking process and establish his own philosophy.

He has always been a student of the game and, after looking deeply into the Premier League, now understands every aspect of it, from the interaction needed with the media, referees and fans, to knowing all about other teams.

In the last year of his coaching apprenticeship at City, he knew he was ready to take on a big job.

He was interviewed by Arsenal before they appointed Unai Emery in 2018, while other clubs such as Lyon and Newcastle were also interested in signing him.

Style-wise he is similar to his mentor Guardiola, although more along the lines of Premier League Pep - circa 2020 - rather than the Barcelona or Bayern Munich Pep of 2008 or 2012.

But in terms of his leadership, he is totally different to his great friend and former colleague. We will get to that.

Having been an assistant, one of his primary aims on joining Arsenal was to make sure he had the right coaching staff around him.

Arriving with him was assistant manager Steve Round, who brought with him a wealth of experience from working at clubs including Everton, Manchester United, Derby and Aston Villa. There was also Albert Stuivenberg, the former coach at Belgium club Genk and former assistant manager of Manchester United and Wales.

He brought them in because he trusted them to ask the right questions, to have similar expectations, the same standards and integrity, and the necessary understanding of leadership, tactics and gameplans that could help Arsenal to win at this level.

They also had to ask themselves whether they had a synergy with Arteta that would help him succeed at the start of his coaching journey. The answer was positive and they all came to north London to win.

But first came the necessary step of changing the culture of a club that has not qualified for the Champions League since Wenger was in charge.

Working with Arteta on a daily basis is never going to be easy because he expects from those around him the kind of energy, passion and drive he expects from himself.

Most days he arrives at the training ground at around 8am and he ensures everyone is on their toes from the very start. I have heard people compare him to their favourite schoolteacher, someone whose expectations of you can be intimidating but similarly someone who you are genuinely fond of and who you know can bring the very best out of you.

He is a non-stop, perpetually driven ball of energy - but also fundamentally a man of compassion, a caring person with a natural sense of justice and someone whose main aim is to seek happiness and harmony in the dressing room.

It means he has to build and design a group that can create that required dynamic. That meant players like Shkodran Mustafi, Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac and most recently Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were never going to last too long with Arteta at the helm.

Once he makes his mind up about the way he wants to go, he is unmovable. The pressure on all fronts for him to make peace with Ozil was as pointless as it was remorseless. Once he decided the German was surplus to requirements - a football decision based on his performance and attitude - his judgement was backed by the board and the German's stay at the club was over.

How he set about making a first impression
In his first club-wide meetings at Arsenal, Arteta spoke to the first team and all the staff about how lucky and privileged he was to have been given one of the great jobs in football at one of its top clubs in one of the greatest cities in the world.

But the fine words came with a caveat - namely that while they should all enjoy every privileged minute they had, they were all still going to have to work hard and to suffer. But they should enjoy the hard work that lay ahead.

It is said that one of Wenger's obsessions was loyalty to all those around him, which in the end made it difficult for him to implement much-needed changes. Also everything went through him, and in a modern club that is no longer an efficient way to run things.

Arteta is much more ruthless than Wenger, especially when working out just what somebody can bring to the club. He will not hesitate to grasp the nettle when it comes to making career-defining decisions regarding players.

Wenger's loyalty frequently clouded his judgement and the unwillingness of those close to him to change or adapt helped create the malaise that affected the club by the time of his departure.

Under Arteta there are new methods in place, creating a new energy. Emery helped by instilling a competitiveness at all levels but Arteta, considered more empathetic by the people who have known both regimes, has taken that to another level.

Gradually the message is coming across and the culture is being transformed.

The players are now finding themselves constantly challenged; competitiveness rather than a comfort blanket of mediocrity is now everywhere at the club. He has introduced maths and mind games, competitions among players and, above all, he and his staff spend much of the time noticing who leads the discussions, who is the most proactive and who consistently fails to join in. He realises the devil is always in the minor details.

It is for that reason he loves the contribution now being made by Martin Odegaard - intelligent, intuitive, empathetic, always willing to put the team first, constantly looking to improve.

Gone are the 'sick note' excuses that used to exist at Arsenal, with players looking for reasons not to play. That has been replaced with a desire from everyone to play every game, or at least do whatever is needed to put themselves in contention.

Arteta and his team will always look to those players who will go that extra mile not for themselves but for the team.

He also makes a point of getting close to the players and all their families. When a key member of staff was considering another job offer, Arteta made it his business to contact his wife directly and ask her what she needed to make sure both she and her husband were happy at the club.

It is that attention to detail that marks much of the difference in this new regime.

His match talks - be they pre-match, half-time or full-time - are genuinely inspirational and he always somehow seems to get the right tone with an intensity I am reliably informed brings out goose bumps on the most seasoned professionals.

He is not the quickest to admit when he has made a mistake, although he invariably knows when he has done so. He is also not averse to taking risks if he feels that is the right thing to do, even against the judgement sometimes of those close to him. That means sometimes he probably feels a bit isolated, with his mind constantly looking forward, always a step ahead.

How are things working with the board?
At the moment the relationship is very good with owner Stan Kroenke and his son Josh, with whom Arteta has the most interaction. His message to them has always been that the most important thing at the club is its structure, and while he continually tries to get the best players to the club, equally important to him is striving to be - and be seen to be - the best at getting those players to climb aboard the Arsenal train.

Sometimes it means there are difficult conversations. He has had meetings with the club owners where, pen in hand, he has defined what his vision for the club is in the short, medium and long term. Things like this would suggest he already carries the club on his shoulders.

His relationship with technical director Edu is so close that many assume they have known each other for years. The reality is the two men's paths never crossed in their Arsenal playing days and they only met for the first time shortly before the interview stage for the manager's job - although the bond is now so strong that they are helping each other to create that competitive culture.

The first time they ever spoke was on the phone and they spent the first hour talking about everything other than football. The connection that existed between the two was palpable from the outset and has gone from strength to strength in some darkish moments.

When Edu arrived at the club, there were things that were missing - it certainly wasn't the club he had left as a player in 2005 - so he needed little persuading in trying to create the new culture Arteta was looking for. He saw in Arteta a well-prepared coach with the style and clear ideology to take the club forward and a man who wanted the same as he did for the club.

Edu also knew it would take a while to put in place that style and structure, and Arteta knows it is still a work in progress and that he has to build it day in, day out. The Spaniard is not averse to taking advice from those in power at the club and even from those around him but he is fundamentally his own man, one who knows his own mind and is definitely not for turning. He is well aware the buck stops with him.

Arteta can be found on the training pitch every day but he also delegates to his extensive coaching staff when work is needed in specific areas.

He will also get involved even if, for whatever reason, there are only a few of the senior players present, because he believes it is his duty to be seen to be doing his work.

Like so many of those in his pressured profession, he does not deal particularly well with defeat and will spend hours looking at the mistakes his team have made - but also ones he might have made himself.

The woeful performance that led to a 3-0 loss at Crystal Palace at the start of April came out of the blue and was then compounded by an arguably worse one in their home defeat by Brighton.

To say it shocked Arteta would be an understatement, although he dealt with it by telling his players he was going to go home and take a long hard look at himself and then try to work out what the mistakes were. He told them it would make him suffer and that if he was prepared to do that then he expected his players to be big enough to do the same thing.

He realises he can only pick 11 starters and use three substitutes per game and, to that end, he goes out of his way to connect with those players who do not make the cut for the big games, emphasising to them that it is not personal and stressing just how important and integral a part they are of the whole project.

At the start of the season when things were not looking rosy and they lost their first three games, he never lost the dressing room and not a single player or member of his coaching team said a bad word about him. That is certainly something that was not always true during the reigns of Wenger or Emery.

How is he away from the pitch and the training ground?
Arteta is not renowned for being a joker and his way of thanking people and getting closer to them is to spend time with them. He is not totally divorced from the British sense of humour but prefers to build relationships via events like barbecues and other informal gatherings.

He frequently invites his friends and colleagues to his house to break bread and display his culinary skills.

Many clubs take their teams to places like Dubai during international breaks but not all of them do as Arsenal did recently and take all the families with them. It was a chance for the manager to show his more relaxed side, surrounded by his nearest and dearest.

If there is a bereavement at the club he will always send flowers. He always celebrates Christmas, which includes a huge Iberico ham from his Spanish home of San Sebastian, of which he is so proud.

And what happens when he needs help?
His family is his rock, especially his best friend and wife, Lorena Bernal, who has temporarily parked her career as a model and actress to help her husband settle in his new professional role.

He is also a frequent visitor to the home of Edu. The Brazilian has become someone he can turn to during the most difficult and trying times, as at the beginning of the season or during their bad run in early April, someone who will pat him on the back, tell him to relax and reassure him that things are going in the right direction.

Fundamentally everyone at the club, including Edu, recognises how good a coach he is and how potentially great he could become. He obviously can't do it on his own and they are clearly not yet where they want to be.

He realises his own limitations and knows perhaps he needs to address such things as his behaviour on the touchline, or an excess of meetings and the length of them - but much of it is caused by the fact he is so intense, so involved. With time a more balanced approach will appear.

With a top-four finish still not assured, the Arsenal board have shown their faith in him with a contract extension that could see him at the club until at least the end of the 2024-25 season.

But before then there is much work to be done, which will probably include three or four squad changes before he genuinely feels he has under his control a dressing room he can call his own.

The fear of course is that the intensity that is his calling card will lead to eventual burnout. But we are a million miles away from that and for the time being he has the passion, energy and dedication to ensure he takes this Arsenal side back to where their supporters feel they belong.

Guillem Balague writes a regular column throughout the season and also appears every Thursday on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, when the focus is on European football.

BBC

 

[Firebat]

Tottenham 3-0 Arsenal: Spurs increase top-four pressure on Gunners with victory

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said "a beautiful game was destroyed" as his side suffered a damaging blow in their top-four hopes with a north London derby defeat at Tottenham.

Spurs won 3-0 to move within a point of their rivals with two games remaining.

Tottenham's opener came from the penalty spot before Arsenal had Rob Holding sent off.

"If I say what I think I am suspended for six months," said Arteta when asked about the officiating.

"I don't know how to lie so I prefer not to say what I think. I cannot say what I think.

"I am not unhappy with my players. I am proud of my players. I want the referee to come in front of the camera and explain his decisions. It's a shame because such a beautiful game was destroyed.

"The decision was made. We can't change it. The referee has to make a decision in football."

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte declined to add his opinion on the decisions but didn't hold back on his opposite number.

"He complains a lot," the Italian said of Arteta. "He has to focus more on his team. He has to focus more on his work.

"He has to continue to work because he's a very good [coach]. To hear someone complain all the time is not so good.

"At Liverpool [on Saturday] do you hear me complain about Fabinho and all the fouls? No. He can take my advice if he wants, but if not I don't care.

"I listen and he complains a lot. I think that he has to be more focused on his team and not to complain because he has just started his work. He has to be calm and try to continue to work. To listen to a coach complain a lot of the time is not good."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61431507

 

[James]

Not Arteta’s best night.

 

[MenInG]

Despite defeat against Tottenham on Thursday, Champions League qualification is still in our hands, and the manager said planning for the Newcastle game has already begun.

We know that two wins from our last two games will be enough – whatever Spurs do – and our trip to St James’ Park on Monday night has taken on huge importance.

Speaking after the game, the boss said that he has already trained his players’ minds on that fixture.

“I have already done that. This game is now history. We have to play on Monday, and we have to start to win the game now.

He also added that his focus switched to the next game during the second half of the derby defeat, when the points looked to be beyond us.

“Absolutely because we have to manage the frustration, and I know how they were feeling about a few things. I didn’t want that frustration to take over us, because then we were going to lose more players.”

As for the latest on Gabriel, who went off injured late on, the boss added: “He felt something, so we will have to wait and assess him, but yeah it’s a real issue because now Rob is out as well and Ben is just coming (back) from injury.”

https://www.arsenal.com/news/arteta-next-game-starts-now

 

[Amjid Javed]

13 loses last season, 13 this season in PL. pathetic stuff from a clown novice manager, yet the club give him a new contract. Arteta already shown he cant handle europa and PL in his 1st 18 months in charge. Should have sacked if he was actually at a club with an standards.

 

[IMMY69]

13 loses last season, 13 this season in PL. pathetic stuff from a clown novice manager, yet the club give him a new contract. Arteta already shown he cant handle europa and PL in his 1st 18 months in charge. Should have sacked if he was actually at a club with an standards.

I can't argue with this

 

[OldWarHorse]

Does anyone even rate him?

 

[IMMY69]

Does anyone even rate him?

Yes and he needs his head examined.

 

[Saj]

Europa League next season.

Awful again tonight against Newcastle and could have been hammered 4 or 5-0.

The players look disinterested!

 

[Amjid Javed]

Europa League next season.

Awful again tonight against Newcastle and could have been hammered 4 or 5-0.

The players look disinterested!

This is what happens when you have a ball boy for a manager, well done to him and Edu for not strengthening in January.

6 defeats and 5 wins in last 11 games, trust the process

Worst manager ive ever seen at the club.

 

[IMMY69]

No leaders on the park.
Moving on Auby for free and not replacing him in January

We played 20 games less then Chelsea..
So no excuses about too many games...

 

[Amjid Javed]

Last season: Lost 13, scored 55 and conceded 39

This season: lost 13, scored 56 and conceded 47

Supposedly Arsenal have a style of play and have got better defensively under arteta

 

[James]

How on earth did he get that new contract.

Lol

An embarrassing collapse out of the top four and a pathetic performance tonight, his team have completely crumbled under pressure.

 

[Firebat]

Devastated.

I pushed his merits based on the squad building he had done, but I really don't think he could argue if he got the sack. To bottle this top 4 race in the way we have done is utterly, utterly pathetic.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Complete bottle job. Kroenke gonna leave the club in a worse state than Everton

 

[Amjid Javed]

How on earth did he get that new contract.

Lol

An embarrassing collapse out of the top four and a pathetic performance tonight, his team have completely crumbled under pressure.

Because the owners want a puppet manager and Yes man to hide behind.

Any new manager coming in wont get same backing like this novice clown.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Devastated.

I pushed his merits based on the squad building he had done, but I really don't think he could argue if he got the sack. To bottle this top 4 race in the way we have done is utterly, utterly pathetic.

Told you he was out of his depth. We have conceeded more goals this season with players hes bought in. At other end we still struggle for goal. 7 defeats in league since jan and we have failed to score in 5 of those games and scored 1 goal a piece in the other 2. But hey we play better with players like Auba who supposedly wasnt making an effort

 

[Rana]

The Crystal Palace and the Newcastle performance have been devastating to watch. We are not ready for CL anyways! We won’t win the Europa League with our attitude, squad and style of play.

Arsenal are £500-700M in first team player quality behind the likes of City, Liverpool and Chelsea who know how to compete in Europe!

 

[in_cutter]

It’s not over yet….

 

[Rana]

It’s not over yet….

It almost certainly is. Tottenham just need a draw

Arsenal cannot gaurentee a win against anyone even at home

 

[silentkiller187]

It’s not over yet….

If Tottenham could chose 1 team to play on the last game of the season, it would be Norwich,Everton will probabaly beat Arsenal aswel

 

[silentkiller187]

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal had "nothing in the game" as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle that could prove terminal for their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

The Gunners knew a win at St James' Park followed by victory at home to Everton on Sunday would secure their return to Europe's top club competition for the first time since the 2016/17 season, but were second-best throughout as Ben White's own goal and Bruno Guimaraes' late strike saw the Magpies earn a deserved win.

Arsenal's defeat came on the back of their 3-0 loss at north London rivals Tottenham, who will guarantee a place in the top four at the Gunners' expense if they avoid defeat at Norwich on the final day of the Premier League season.

Arteta's side had a four-point lead over Spurs with just three matches to play, but now face missing out on the top four for a sixth successive season, and the manager said he was "extremely disappointed" after witnessing a performance he admitted was "nowhere near the level if we want to play Champions League football".

"It was a really difficult night to swallow," Arteta told Sky Sports. "Newcastle deserved to win the match comfortably, they were much better than us from the beginning to the last minute. We had nothing in the game.

"They were much better in every department. We were poor with the ball. A lot of things happened during the night, with the substitutions we had to make through injuries, but it's not an excuse. Newcastle deserved to win the match."

Asked what he told his players in the dressing room following their damaging defeat, Arteta said: "I'm extremely disappointed. That Newcastle were 10 times better than us and fully deserved the match.

"The performance was nowhere near the level if we want to play in the Champions League.

"When you see the team we have at the moment there are a lot of question marks in a lot of different positions, because of the injuries and suspensions we had. But it is not an excuse. Today we weren't at the races."

Arteta admitted he was concerned as soon as the game began with his side's performance, adding: "We tried to change some things, but the execution was so poor and the goals we gave away were extremely poor."

The manager also conceded the side he put out at Newcastle, which featured just two players over the age of 24, may have lacked the necessary experience for such a crucial fixture in front of 50,000 raucous Newcastle supporters.

"That's what we have to think about," he said. "It's true that we could not cope with the game we had to play here."

But despite his obvious frustration at the way Champions League football has slipped from his side's grasp, Arteta urged his side not to give up ahead of their final game of the season at home to Everton on Sunday.

"There is always a chance in football and you have to be there just in case that chance appears," Arteta said.

Xhaka: If you're not ready, stay at home

Granit Xhaka was one of just two players aged over 24 to start for Arsenal at Newcastle, and he did not hold back in his assessment of his team-mates' performance when asked why they had failed to step up in such a pivotal match.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "If someone isn't ready for this game, stay at home, as simple as that. It doesn't matter your age, you can be 30, 35, 10, 18 - if you're not ready for that, stay on the bench, stay at home, don't come here.

"We need people to have the balls to come here and play because we knew this game is one of the most important for us. To perform like this is not acceptable. It's very, very sad for us, very disappointing and I feel very sorry for the people who came here to support us.

"This is not the way we wanted to go. This is all I can say, to say sorry to them. I don't have any other words."

Xhaka admitted he was unsure why his team failed to match a Newcastle side who have nothing to play for other than their final placing, adding he and his team-mates had failed to carry out Arteta's instructions as St James' Park.

"We didn't do what the game plan was, not listening to the coach and doing our own things and these games happen," he said.

"What happened was a disaster performance and like this you don't deserve to play Champions League, don't deserve to even play Europa League and it's very hard to take it at the moment.

"I don't know why we are not doing what the coach is asking of us."

Carra: Xhaka criticising youngsters | Neville: He's been a disgrace

Jamie Carragher questioned what he saw as Granit Xhaka's criticism of the young players in Arsenal's team after their damaging loss at Newcastle, while Gary Neville highlighted the lack of discipline the midfielder has shown at various points during his time in north London.

Carragher told Monday Night Football: "He's come out really strong and we like players to be honest. He's having a go at his own team-mates really and saying they weren't ready.

"But I know from my own experience it's easy to come out and be really strong with your words at a time like that, and maybe he'll get a little bit of credit for it. But do it on the pitch.

"I think he's putting it on some of the younger players - maybe he didn't feel they were ready or maybe I've got the wrong gist of the interview. But it was almost like an experienced player saying, 'some of these people weren't ready, they weren't up for the fight'.

"I love players being honest and straight, but he was part of that. It's not like two or three players have let them down. That was everybody."

Neville appeared shocked at Xhaka's comments, initially stating he didn't "know what to make of that interview", but later added: "He's obviously having a right dig at people in his dressing room.

"I don't know who he's having a go at there. I hope he wasn't having a go at those young players."

Neville then pointed to the track record of Xhaka, who has four straight red cards with Arsenal and was stripped of the captaincy after clashing with supporters, saying: "He's been a disgrace at times over the last four or five years, getting sent off recklessly."

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-nothing-as-granit-xhaka-questions-team-mates

 

[topspin]

We're a top 4 team with our first XI but our reserves (Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Laca, Pepe etc) are so poor and that showed last night.

You can see there is immense potential in this young team, who'll be hitting their peaks in 2-3 years time. Arteta needs 2 x new strikers and build up on the bench strength. We need another big summer of spending to secure top 4 next season.

 

[IMMY69]

We're a top 4 team with our first XI but our reserves (Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Laca, Pepe etc) are so poor and that showed last night.

You can see there is immense potential in this young team, who'll be hitting their peaks in 2-3 years time. Arteta needs 2 x new strikers and build up on the bench strength. We need another big summer of spending to secure top 4 next season.

This issue will be that Newcastle, Man United and even possibly Tottenham, will invest in new players.
Everton (they should survive), and Leicester will be stronger too.
The competition will only get bigger and we will have to pay over the top to attract world class players.
This is why getting in to top 4 this season was crucial.

 

[topspin]

This issue will be that Newcastle, Man United and even possibly Tottenham, will invest in new players.
Everton (they should survive), and Leicester will be stronger too.
The competition will only get bigger and we will have to pay over the top to attract world class players.
This is why getting in to top 4 this season was crucial.

Honestly bro I'm so depressed about what happened last night. This is the biggest disappointment I've experienced as a Gunner since the 2006 UCL final.

I agree other teams will bolster however Man U are still far behind Arsenal, I can only name 3 players in their squad which would get into our first XI. Newcastle won't be competing with Arsenal just yet.

I do worry about Tottenham but also remember Son and Kane are also getting older. Also, we don't know about Conte's future. If he doesn't get funds in the summer I'm sure he'll leave.

Arteta has one more season to secure top 4 or win Europa. If he can't accomplish this then he needs to be sacked.

 

[Amjid Javed]

We're a top 4 team with our first XI but our reserves (Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Laca, Pepe etc) are so poor and that showed last night.

You can see there is immense potential in this young team, who'll be hitting their peaks in 2-3 years time. Arteta needs 2 x new strikers and build up on the bench strength. We need another big summer of spending to secure top 4 next season.

Sorry but our starting X1 is not top 4 material and fans need to stop deluded

Ramsdale - excellent signing, but we had leno so why pay 25M for another keeper when we had 1 good one, money could have been spent elsewhere
Tomi - good player (cant stay fit or depend upon all season)
Tierney (made out of glass, cant stay fit)
Gabriel - good
White - 50M for a new CB when we had saliba, (young player of year in france), again why waste 50M on a player when we are promoting youth
Partey - no way near as good as he was at A madrid (cant stay fit)
Xhaka decent (liability with mistakes and red cards)
Oddegard - Decent but also goes missing in alot of games away from home
ESR / Saka / Martinelli - good and have carried team all season

half of that 1st team cant even stay fit for a full season which is a huge issue, unless one of our 3 young forwards score we dont win games.

 

[topspin]

Sorry but our starting X1 is not top 4 material and fans need to stop deluded

Ramsdale - excellent signing, but we had leno so why pay 25M for another keeper when we had 1 good one, money could have been spent elsewhere
Tomi - good player (cant stay fit or depend upon all season)
Tierney (made out of glass, cant stay fit)
Gabriel - good
White - 50M for a new CB when we had saliba, (young player of year in france), again why waste 50M on a player when we are promoting youth
Partey - no way near as good as he was at A madrid (cant stay fit)
Xhaka decent (liability with mistakes and red cards)
Oddegard - Decent but also goes missing in alot of games away from home
ESR / Saka / Martinelli - good and have carried team all season

half of that 1st team cant even stay fit for a full season which is a huge issue, unless one of our 3 young forwards score we dont win games.

Our first XI are certainly a top 4 side. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Injuries have cost us a place in the top 4.

Tavares, Cedric, Holding and Lacazette are to blame for Arsenal missing out on top 4. These players are so bad, they wouldn't make the first XI of any of the non-relegated sides in the PL.

You can't use injuries for this season alone as an argument for why a player is or isn't top 4 material.

Also, I don't agree with your assessment on Ramsdale and Ben White. The new keeper is an upgrade over Leno. Ben White has had a fantastic season.

We need to buy 2 x strikers. I'd take Jesus and Dybala. We can get both of them for less than £50m. Dybala is a free agent and Jesus wouldn't cost more than £45m.

We need to ship out Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Laca + Pepe and acquire their replacements. We've already found a replacement for Tavares in Hickey.

If we can accomplish these signings, I'm confident we'll secure top 4 next season and perhaps win Europa.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Our first XI are certainly a top 4 side. There's absolutely no doubt about that.

I think there's plenty of doubt about it. You have some promising youngsters in Saka and Nketiah, but if you are talking Champion's league, you need far more physical presence and top level pedigree. Even in the tunnel waiting to walk out, they looked fearful at a stadium which was like a bear pit on the night.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Our first XI are certainly a top 4 side. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Injuries have cost us a place in the top 4.

Tavares, Cedric, Holding and Lacazette are to blame for Arsenal missing out on top 4. These players are so bad, they wouldn't make the first XI of any of the non-relegated sides in the PL.

You can't use injuries for this season alone as an argument for why a player is or isn't top 4 material.

Also, I don't agree with your assessment on Ramsdale and Ben White. The new keeper is an upgrade over Leno. Ben White has had a fantastic season.

We need to buy 2 x strikers. I'd take Jesus and Dybala. We can get both of them for less than £50m. Dybala is a free agent and Jesus wouldn't cost more than £45m.

We need to ship out Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Laca + Pepe and acquire their replacements. We've already found a replacement for Tavares in Hickey.

If we can accomplish these signings, I'm confident we'll secure top 4 next season and perhaps win Europa.

Your completely missing point on ramsdale and white. We spent 75M on positions which werent critical and had quality players in place.

Also you think jesus and dybala or any other players like tielemens etc.. are going to join us in the europa league? )

Facts are Tomi; tierney and partey will not stay fit at arsenal for a full season. we can afford sick bed type players at the club right now.

 

[topspin]

I think there's plenty of doubt about it. You have some promising youngsters in Saka and Nketiah, but if you are talking Champion's league, you need far more physical presence and top level pedigree. Even in the tunnel waiting to walk out, they looked fearful at a stadium which was like a bear pit on the night.

If you asked me to choose between the first XI of Arsenal, Man Utd and Spurs. I would take Arsenal's any day of the week.

Only 3 of Man U's players (Ronaldo, Fernandes and De Gea) would break into Arsenal's first XI. Arsenal's first XI is also superior to Spurs as it's more balanced however our reserve players (Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Pepe and Lacazette) are so substandard our team becomes more mid-table like.

 

[topspin]

Your completely missing point on ramsdale and white. We spent 75M on positions which werent critical and had quality players in place.

Also you think jesus and dybala or any other players like tielemens etc.. are going to join us in the europa league? )

Facts are Tomi; tierney and partey will not stay fit at arsenal for a full season. we can afford sick bed type players at the club right now.

We didn't go out and buy a striker last summer because Aubameyang was still with us. He was fully backed but he was poor before he had his bust up with Arteta.

We'll definitely miss out on Tielemens as he's looking for UCL but I'm still quite optimistic about Jesus. Dybala will be tougher to secure now but I back us to buy 2 better strikers than Lacazette and Nketiah.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

If you asked me to choose between the first XI of Arsenal, Man Utd and Spurs. I would take Arsenal's any day of the week.

Only 3 of Man U's players (Ronaldo, Fernandes and De Gea) would break into Arsenal's first XI. Arsenal's first XI is also superior to Spurs as it's more balanced however our reserve players (Tavares, Cedric, Holding, Pepe and Lacazette) are so substandard our team becomes more mid-table like.

Problem is, Spurs front two of Son and Kane are worth five of your players. Man U are rubbish at the moment as well so won't argue on that. Arsenal might have superior first XI, I'll take your word for it, but none of them are match winners. You have some promising youngsters, but no galacticos. In truth you have probably done well to get this close to a top 4 finish.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Emphatically no

 

[Amjid Javed]

We didn't go out and buy a striker last summer because Aubameyang was still with us. He was fully backed but he was poor before he had his bust up with Arteta.

We'll definitely miss out on Tielemens as he's looking for UCL but I'm still quite optimistic about Jesus. Dybala will be tougher to secure now but I back us to buy 2 better strikers than Lacazette and Nketiah.

When Auba signed his new contract it was for 3 years (running out end of next season), plus we knew laca and eddie were out of contract this summer, so the club should have actually bought a striker at start of season and then another this summer and phased Auba out. instead we get Arteta falling out with Auba not replacing him. Hes under used Pepe deliberately so he can get him off wage bill in summer as well. Arsenal are more worried about clubs wage bill then success.

You could look at league 2 or sunday league in england and ul find better strikers then eddie and laca. Spurs may have an ageing team but with CL money and conte they can easily strengthen and rebuild.

 

[shaz619]

#WengerOut The fans knew it all along. Well done arsenal on your recent success

 

[Saj]

To me Arteta in the key matches bottles it.

His selections are weak and his tactics strange.

There are too many players at the club who do not want to play for him.

 

[PetroDollars]

Not sure why Arsenal fans are in a tail spin, this was always on the card, Arteta had taken a top 4 side to a midtable team and then a bout of instability at MU, spurs and Leic made him look good. when all those teams are back. arsenal will go back to competing for a top 10 finish.

deluided fans like mamoo will alway come out after every win and act like Arsenal have won the CL then go into hiding, its these fans the owners cash in on.

Arteta has been the worse manager ive ever seen and i have been watching football since 1995 and i highly doubt there was anyone worse then him before that, he had the most stable and most expensive arsenal team in years and struggled to take MU on in our worse season ever, aswell as spurs whos manager crashed up with the board and team.

Your board is clueless giving him an extension, even if he got top 4,
the damage at MU, spurs and leic, did more to ruin arsenal then there own clubs. They will be back, Arsenal will not.

 

[Amjid Javed]

To me Arteta in the key matches bottles it.

His selections are weak and his tactics strange.

There are too many players at the club who do not want to play for him.

He bottles it in most matches, apart from FA cup win, all other cups exits have been embarrassing. The villareal one last season was beyond pathetic as was notts Forrest cup defeat.

This is what happens when you have a novice in charge and he knows no one will respect him in changing room so hes tried to act as a dictator to earn respect.

 

[IMMY69]

We have dug ourselves a massive hole.

Should have hired Conte but let him go to Spurs.

Who is out there that can take us forward?
Maybe Viera?

 

[Rana]

We have dug ourselves a massive hole.

Should have hired Conte but let him go to Spurs.

Who is out there that can take us forward?
Maybe Viera?

We should have hired Ancelotti but we went with Emery.

The board will never sign an elite manager because the elite managers want the budget and star quality that will get the job done for them. Guys like Emery, Arteta, Viera or whoever AFC want to hire in that range will just be quiet and put up with the best their paltry funds can offer

 

[Amjid Javed]

No striker signed in jan

Since January 1st:

Gabriel Martinelli 1 goal in 19 apps.
ESR 2 goals in 18 apps.
Lacazette 1 penalty in 18 apps.
Saka 6 goals in 20 apps.
Nketiah 4 goals in 20 apps.

All blame on Arteta and Edu.

 

[silentkiller187]

The typical Arsenal fans cycle, win a few games, we are back we are getting top 4 save this tweet bla bla, the truth is this Arsenal team is not ready or good enough for Champions League. Arteta is basically Ole 2.0, Man Utd, Leicseter, Tottenham (start of season) all had rubbish seasons which overinflated Arsenals league standing in the first place.

 

[IMMY69]

The typical Arsenal fans cycle, win a few games, we are back we are getting top 4 save this tweet bla bla, the truth is this Arsenal team is not ready or good enough for Champions League. Arteta is basically Ole 2.0, Man Utd, Leicseter, Tottenham (start of season) all had rubbish seasons which overinflated Arsenals league standing in the first place.

It's been like groundhog's day for the last god knows how many years.

We go on a little run every season which gives people false expectation... then lose to a team we're expected to beat, followed by looses against other top four contenders... then we go on another run of wins against lesser teams...

This happens each and every single season and won't change because the owners are more then happy with this scenario.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

We should have hired Ancelotti but we went with Emery.

The board will never sign an elite manager because the elite managers want the budget and star quality that will get the job done for them. Guys like Emery, Arteta, Viera or whoever AFC want to hire in that range will just be quiet and put up with the best their paltry funds can offer

This is actually strikes at the heart of the matter in my opinion. Arsenal have been penny pinching since the Wenger days, they rode the wave back then because he kept pulling out fantastic signings from the French league and getting them into the Champions League year after year.

Arteta might be a rotten manager, or he might just be trying to turn donkeys into horses. He's got some really talented younger players, but they aren't title winning players, you have to pay top dollar for those, and then you have to offer them eye-watering salaries. Even Liverpool are riding the Klopp wave, the time might come when he leaves, they also struggle to maintain their superiority on a budget. Only Man City and Chelsea could buy trophies, and now Chelsea have come crashing down as well.

 

[ssuhaide]

Nketiah looks good. I hope Arsenal give him the chance the flourish, they will probably need another striker but Nketiah should get more chances. Smith-Rowe is excellent too and should play more in the first team next season. A crop of decent young talent. Arteta should get the funds to invest but no more excuses. Fail to make the top 4 next season he should be fired. 3 seasons should be enough to progress.

 

[topspin]

When Auba signed his new contract it was for 3 years (running out end of next season), plus we knew laca and eddie were out of contract this summer, so the club should have actually bought a striker at start of season and then another this summer and phased Auba out. instead we get Arteta falling out with Auba not replacing him. Hes under used Pepe deliberately so he can get him off wage bill in summer as well. Arsenal are more worried about clubs wage bill then success.

You could look at league 2 or sunday league in england and ul find better strikers then eddie and laca. Spurs may have an ageing team but with CL money and conte they can easily strengthen and rebuild.

I'm with you on Laca. He's a Championship standard striker (at best) but you must be watching a different game to me if you think Nketiah is same calibre let alone comparable to him. Why so much disrespect for Eddie?

I'm not saying he's world class but he'd start for most PL sides. Out of the "big 6", he's good enough to start for us and also for Chelsea as he's a better finisher than Lukaku and Werner.

Did you not see Nketiah against Chelsea and in the other games? or shall I ask have you even watched Arsenal this season?

 

[topspin]

Nketiah looks good. I hope Arsenal give him the chance the flourish, they will probably need another striker but Nketiah should get more chances. Smith-Rowe is excellent too and should play more in the first team next season. A crop of decent young talent. Arteta should get the funds to invest but no more excuses. Fail to make the top 4 next season he should be fired. 3 seasons should be enough to progress.

I'm glad someone is watching the same league as me.

I fully agree. We need to do everything to keep hold of Nketiah. If we can't pull off Jesus, I'm not sure we'll be able to find a better striker than him. I rate Eddie high and he's got a very high ceiling.

His finishing, intelligent runs and pace makes him a dangerous attacker.

 

[topspin]

Problem is, Spurs front two of Son and Kane are worth five of your players. Man U are rubbish at the moment as well so won't argue on that. Arsenal might have superior first XI, I'll take your word for it, but none of them are match winners. You have some promising youngsters, but no galacticos. In truth you have probably done well to get this close to a top 4 finish.

Fully agree. Also, along with Salah they would feature in any best Premership XI in respect of this season.

I would say Son has been the best player in this calendar year as Salah has dipped ever since he left for the AFCON tournament.

But Spurs' side is an ageing one and I strongly believe their success will be short lived as we'll have our noses in front of them from 2023 onwards.

 

[Amjid Javed]

I'm with you on Laca. He's a Championship standard striker (at best) but you must be watching a different game to me if you think Nketiah is same calibre let alone comparable to him. Why so much disrespect for Eddie?

I'm not saying he's world class but he'd start for most PL sides. Out of the "big 6", he's good enough to start for us and also for Chelsea as he's a better finisher than Lukaku and Werner.

Did you not see Nketiah against Chelsea and in the other games? or shall I ask have you even watched Arsenal this season?

Eddie was given plenty of chances last season and failed, 2 goals agsinst chelsea 2nd team and the worse defensive team in league in leeds dont change that. I dont rate lukaku or werner both are rubbish players so making such a comparison makes no difference.

ive supported Arsenal since 1987 and we have had goal scorers like nicholas, Smith, wright, anelka, Henry, RVP, Sanchez, Auba who have all be amazing.

We have then had kanu, wiltord, eduardo, Adebayor, Giroud who are below the top level

Then we have the podolskis, chamakhs, sanagos, K campbells, john hartson, lacs type players who were mediocre.

Eddie is not Arsenal standard, he is not good enough to be our 2nd striker either, if this club wants to make Top 4 then we need top clasd strikers.

Yes Eddie is young and he might do well at west ham or a C Palace thats his level

Time to move on from laca; eddie, holding, cedric, tavares, xhaka type players these guys are 6/7th place standard players at best and main reason we are in mess in 1st place.

 

[topspin]

Eddie was given plenty of chances last season and failed, 2 goals agsinst chelsea 2nd team and the worse defensive team in league in leeds dont change that. I dont rate lukaku or werner both are rubbish players so making such a comparison makes no difference.

ive supported Arsenal since 1987 and we have had goal scorers like nicholas, Smith, wright, anelka, Henry, RVP, Sanchez, Auba who have all be amazing.

We have then had kanu, wiltord, eduardo, Adebayor, Giroud who are below the top level

Then we have the podolskis, chamakhs, sanagos, K campbells, john hartson, lacs type players who were mediocre.

Eddie is not Arsenal standard, he is not good enough to be our 2nd striker either, if this club wants to make Top 4 then we need top clasd strikers.

Yes Eddie is young and he might do well at west ham or a C Palace thats his level

Time to move on from laca; eddie, holding, cedric, tavares, xhaka type players these guys are 6/7th place standard players at best and main reason we are in mess in 1st place.

Eddie is a much better player than what he was in previous seasons. I think you're being really harsh.

I've supported Arsenal since 2000 so I also have fond memories of our greats but it's very unfair to compare him to our legends.

Eddie should at the least be Arsenal's 3rd best striker after hopefully having clinched 2 x new attackers. We'll need to rotate the squad and he should start all of our FA Cup, League Cup and most of our Europa fixtures next season.

I know Xhaka has let Arsenal down so many times but this season he's been very good. He deserves to be retained and to keep his place in the first team.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Eddie is a much better player than what he was in previous seasons. I think you're being really harsh.

I've supported Arsenal since 2000 so I also have fond memories of our greats but it's very unfair to compare him to our legends.

Eddie should at the least be Arsenal's 3rd best striker after hopefully having clinched 2 x new attackers. We'll need to rotate the squad and he should start all of our FA Cup, League Cup and most of our Europa fixtures next season.

I know Xhaka has let Arsenal down so many times but this season he's been very good. He deserves to be retained and to keep his place in the first team.

Eddie wont want to stay and be 3rd striker, also if thats the case the club shouldnt have wasted time giving Balogun a new contract if the intention wasnt to keep him longterm.

Xhaka is a decent player at best, but arteta wants to play a progressive ball carrying and passing style, xhaka isnt a great ball carrier and lacks mobility. he is slow and more suited to leagues like italy. control of games has to be done in midfield and we are currently weak there. we need atleast 2 new quality CM players.

 

[Kianig89]

With the resources he had its a decent job a top 5 finish Arsenal squad is on par with Aston Villa and a degree below Wolves so not Arteta's fault

 

[Kianig89]

Eddie was given plenty of chances last season and failed, 2 goals agsinst chelsea 2nd team and the worse defensive team in league in leeds dont change that. I dont rate lukaku or werner both are rubbish players so making such a comparison makes no difference.

ive supported Arsenal since 1987 and we have had goal scorers like nicholas, Smith, wright, anelka, Henry, RVP, Sanchez, Auba who have all be amazing.

We have then had kanu, wiltord, eduardo, Adebayor, Giroud who are below the top level

Then we have the podolskis, chamakhs, sanagos, K campbells, john hartson, lacs type players who were mediocre.

Eddie is not Arsenal standard, he is not good enough to be our 2nd striker either, if this club wants to make Top 4 then we need top clasd strikers.

Yes Eddie is young and he might do well at west ham or a C Palace thats his level

Time to move on from laca; eddie, holding, cedric, tavares, xhaka type players these guys are 6/7th place standard players at best and main reason we are in mess in 1st place.

Arsenal of early 2000s have no comparison with this midtable Arsenal that time they have personalities not just numbers to show up

Lehmann
Lauren Campbell Toure/Senderos/Cygan Cole/Clichy
Reyes Gilberto Vieira Ljunberg Pires
Bergkamp/ Henry
They were all top players

 

[PetroDollars]

With the resources he had its a decent job a top 5 finish Arsenal squad is on par with Aston Villa and a degree below Wolves so not Arteta's fault

Highest spending manager in europe last summer
Probably highest spending manager at Arsenal
Has been given way more support and funds then emery, yet emery was constantly competing for top 4 and arteta has taken them to a top 10 side
Auba was a golden boot world class striker under emery, under arteta he wasnt even in top 10 goal scoreers lol
He has been given all support a manager can get, yet you call it a decent job, worst manager ever.

Like i said, Arteta was a con job Pep did to get rid of him from City,

 

[Abdullah]

Genuinely think arteta will be good for arsenal given time. He certainly knows what he is doing and what he wants his players to do.
Arsenal will do well to stick with him.
Hopefully he doesn't get backed as requested in the summer, has a slow start and is up against it early and sacked by November.
And then the cycle starts again

 

[MenInG]

Will Arteta keep his job after what has happened this season?

 

[James]

Think he keeps his job but is running out of rope.

 

[Mamoon]

Arteta has done an excellent. The team is heading in the right direction and that is all that matters.

8 points more than last season, and as many points as Liverpool had last season and this is supposed to be Liverpool’s greatest ever team.

I’m convinced that Arsenal will have 80+ points next season and will secure a top 4 position.

 

[topspin]

Arteta has done an excellent. The team is heading in the right direction and that is all that matters.

8 points more than last season, and as many points as Liverpool had last season and this is supposed to be Liverpool’s greatest ever team.

I’m convinced that Arsenal will have 80+ points next season and will secure a top 4 position.

I agree, as hard as it is to take and to process what happened on Monday against Newcastle, we've genuinely come leaps and bounds since last season.

The difference between Spurs and Arsenal isn't the previous two games but actually how they fared against the top two. Spurs won both of their games against City and clinched two draws against Liverpool.

Arsenal lose all their games against City and Liverpool. As a result Spurs gained 8 points across these 4 matches.

We're heading the right way and I'm confident Spurs' success will be short lived as they have an ageing squad.

I hope Arteta is backed in the summer. We need 2 x strikers and replace the deadwood (Tavares, Holding, Cedric, Pepe and Lacazette) with superior players.

Arsenal's first team is clearly top 4 material and better balanced than Spurs but our bench strength is absymal and that is what's let us down so bad.

 

[Firebat]

As much as it hurts to bottle that Champions League spot like we did (and it hurt me quite a lot), read the previous page of this thread or the 1st page Arsenal season thread. Read all the pundit and fan pre-season predictions. No one had Arsenal anywhere close to top 4. Everyone was cackling at our summer transfer business.

The same people who said we'd be fighting for a Conference League place under Arteta this season are the same people saying it's a huge failure that we missed out on UCL on the last day with injuries to 3 key players.

We were the 4th best team for 90% of the season, but these 21-24 year old players totally bottled it in the 2 games when it really mattered in hostile away atmospheres. The mentality to keep your head and play under elite-level pressure is something they clearly were not ready for and it cost us. I believe that will come with time. Very few of them have ever played a minute of Champions League football.

Obviously the end result is all that matters, which wasn't good enough considering where we were at one point, but I do think we've progressed, if you took a step back to look at the big picture. Now we need recruitment.

 

[MenInG]

As much as it hurts to bottle that Champions League spot like we did (and it hurt me quite a lot), read the previous page of this thread or the 1st page Arsenal season thread. Read all the pundit and fan pre-season predictions. No one had Arsenal anywhere close to top 4. Everyone was cackling at our summer transfer business.

The same people who said we'd be fighting for a Conference League place under Arteta this season are the same people saying it's a huge failure that we missed out on UCL on the last day with injuries to 3 key players.

We were the 4th best team for 90% of the season, but these 21-24 year old players totally bottled it in the 2 games when it really mattered in hostile away atmospheres. The mentality to keep your head and play under elite-level pressure is something they clearly were not ready for and it cost us. I believe that will come with time. Very few of them have ever played a minute of Champions League football.

Obviously the end result is all that matters, which wasn't good enough considering where we were at one point, but I do think we've progressed, if you took a step back to look at the big picture. Now we need recruitment.

Success breeds success - which big name player would come to Arsenal now?

At least Wenger had his reputation to convince good players to come over.

All we can hope for is some wunderkid to be found by chance and for him to take the EPL by storm.

 

[in_cutter]

Arsenal fans hounded out Wenger. Today they are accepting Europa League Qualification under Arteta
.

 

[IMMY69]

As much as it hurts to bottle that Champions League spot like we did (and it hurt me quite a lot), read the previous page of this thread or the 1st page Arsenal season thread. Read all the pundit and fan pre-season predictions. No one had Arsenal anywhere close to top 4. Everyone was cackling at our summer transfer business.

It's all about context.
The same people who said we'd be fighting for a Conference League place under Arteta this season are the same people saying it's a huge failure that we missed out on UCL on the last day with injuries to 3 key players.

We were the 4th best team for 90% of the season, but these 21-24 year old players totally bottled it in the 2 games when it really mattered in hostile away atmospheres. The mentality to keep your head and play under elite-level pressure is something they clearly were not ready for and it cost us. I believe that will come with time. Very few of them have ever played a minute of Champions League football.

Obviously the end result is all that matters, which wasn't good enough considering where we were at one point, but I do think we've progressed, if you took a step back to look at the big picture. Now we need recruitment.

The pre season predictions went out of the window for the simple reason that Everton, Leicester and Man United imploded big time. Even Spurs we're all over the place and had to sack Nuno.
All our competition for top 4 were in disarray and we had no Thursday night games and went out early to lesser sides in the two cup competitions.

So when we were something like 6 points ahead with a game or two in hand we ought to have clinched top 4 as the bare minimum but went onto lose three games in a row to teams we should be be beating day in day out.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Highest spending manager in europe last summer
Probably highest spending manager at Arsenal
Has been given way more support and funds then emery, yet emery was constantly competing for top 4 and arteta has taken them to a top 10 side
Auba was a golden boot world class striker under emery, under arteta he wasnt even in top 10 goal scoreers lol
He has been given all support a manager can get, yet you call it a decent job, worst manager ever.

Like i said, Arteta was a con job Pep did to get rid of him from City,

100% spot on. Arteta is just a ball boy parading as a manager. Absolute fraud of a manager.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Arteta has done an excellent. The team is heading in the right direction and that is all that matters.

8 points more than last season, and as many points as Liverpool had last season and this is supposed to be Liverpool’s greatest ever team.

I’m convinced that Arsenal will have 80+ points next season and will secure a top 4 position.

) comedy post of 2022 - even funnier then your pakistan cricket posts.

 

[Firebat]

The pre season predictions went out of the window for the simple reason that Everton, Leicester and Man United imploded big time. Even Spurs we're all over the place and had to sack Nuno.
All our competition for top 4 were in disarray and we had no Thursday night games and went out early to lesser sides in the two cup competitions.

So when we were something like 6 points ahead with a game or two in hand we ought to have clinched top 4 as the bare minimum but went onto lose three games in a row to teams we should be be beating day in day out.

Even with other teams in disarray, an XI with Cedric, Nuno, Holding, Xhaka, Elneny, Nketiah, Lacazette etc is not the 4th best side in this league. We were pipped at the last moment by a side that has statistically the most successful duo in the history of the Premier League, meanwhile our front 4 were average age 21.

Yes we lost those 3 winnable games, after Partey and Tierney both went out in the Palace game, and Arteta perhaps didn't react quick enough in subsequent losses to adjust to the mediocre backups. Yet we were hardly outplayed by Brighton nor Southampton, in fact we battered them and created bucketloads of chances but couldn't finish them off, but ended up losing to some dodgy VAR decisions and silly errors. What more should the manager have done?

We then, with those same mediocre players, won 4 in a row against Chelsea away, Man United, West Ham away then Leeds.

We won 22 games this season, joint 3rd most in the league. That's fantastic. We lost 13 league games. That's terrible. Such is the inconsistency of the most inexperienced squad in the league. A squad that will improve as they play more and gain more... experience.

Arteta had this team comfortably 4th best for the vast majority of the season, then we lost 2 key players, one that the system was built around, in one night. We regrouped, punched above our weight with the XI we had to stay 4th best until the last 3 games of the 38-game season, when the players collectively bottled it because they weren't ready for the big stage yet.

Idiocy from Cedric and Holding killed the NLD before it even properly began, then they forgot how to play the football out from the back they'd been playing all season in the pressure at a hostile Newcastle. First thing Xhaka said in the interview is they utterly failed the manager's plan and questioned his teammates' mentalities.

No one is celebrating or accepting EL as success, I agree it is a failure to lose it from the position we were in. But there are logical explanations (not excuses) to the failures and clear trajectories and plans to the future, beyond "let's just keep sacking managers until we get somewhere".

 

[Firebat]

Success breeds success - which big name player would come to Arsenal now?

At least Wenger had his reputation to convince good players to come over.

All we can hope for is some wunderkid to be found by chance and for him to take the EPL by storm.

The player with the most chances created since November (when he came into the team fully), Odegaard, came from Real Madrid on the back of an 8th placed finish. What must have been one of the best 1-on-1 defenders in Serie A did too.

Thomas Partey was not a nobody, frankly Arsenal punched way above their recruitment weight convincing him to come.

There is business to be done.

 

[Technics 1210]

Arteta has done an excellent. The team is heading in the right direction and that is all that matters.

8 points more than last season, and as many points as Liverpool had last season and this is supposed to be Liverpool’s greatest ever team.

I’m convinced that Arsenal will have 80+ points next season and will secure a top 4 position.

You were also convinced that Messi would score at least 25 goals in L1 season.

While your attempt to diss Liverpool is futile, for obvious reasons, Liverpool had 23 more points compared to last season, while you cling to 8 more points.

Arsenal are not even within the point ratios of progression.

No season ticket for you.

 

[Technics 1210]

The only reason why Mamoon believes Arteta is the second coming of Wenger and the reincarnation of SAF, is because he was hand picked by Pep to be his right hand man. There is no other reason.

Another case of relying on averages and second opinions.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

With Newcastle entering the fray, arsenal have suffered big time and set back a few more years without a proper manager

 

[IMMY69]

Even with other teams in disarray, an XI with Cedric, Nuno, Holding, Xhaka, Elneny, Nketiah, Lacazette etc is not the 4th best side in this league. We were pipped at the last moment by a side that has statistically the most successful duo in the history of the Premier League, meanwhile our front 4 were average age 21.

Yes we lost those 3 winnable games, after Partey and Tierney both went out in the Palace game, and Arteta perhaps didn't react quick enough in subsequent losses to adjust to the mediocre backups. Yet we were hardly outplayed by Brighton nor Southampton, in fact we battered them and created bucketloads of chances but couldn't finish them off, but ended up losing to some dodgy VAR decisions and silly errors. What more should the manager have done?

We then, with those same mediocre players, won 4 in a row against Chelsea away, Man United, West Ham away then Leeds.

We won 22 games this season, joint 3rd most in the league. That's fantastic. We lost 13 league games. That's terrible. Such is the inconsistency of the most inexperienced squad in the league. A squad that will improve as they play more and gain more... experience.

Arteta had this team comfortably 4th best for the vast majority of the season, then we lost 2 key players, one that the system was built around, in one night. We regrouped, punched above our weight with the XI we had to stay 4th best until the last 3 games of the 38-game season, when the players collectively bottled it because they weren't ready for the big stage yet.

Idiocy from Cedric and Holding killed the NLD before it even properly began, then they forgot how to play the football out from the back they'd been playing all season in the pressure at a hostile Newcastle. First thing Xhaka said in the interview is they utterly failed the manager's plan and questioned his teammates' mentalities.

No one is celebrating or accepting EL as success, I agree it is a failure to lose it from the position we were in. But there are logical explanations (not excuses) to the failures and clear trajectories and plans to the future, beyond "let's just keep sacking managers until we get somewhere".

Nice reply

My issue is that we've been here at the exact same point over the last several years.
History just repeats itself and the Owners take as much of the blame as Arteta.

The issues I have with Arteta is that he kept the very same players you mentioned above last summer and didn't buy adequate replacements / back ups. The three games which we lost could have been very different had we had even one world class, experienced striker. For me the blame for this goes to Arteta because he firstly marginalised Auby and then moved him on for free without replacing him.

It's the managers job to manage his players and to get the best out of them, especially mid season when you're relying on that player to get you over the line.

So although we were dealt a poor hand in the last 6-8 games with respect to injuries, this could have been avoided had we been smarter in January.

I agree that we should steer clear of sacking managers until we get somewhere but I'm also not convinced Arteta has the experience to take us forward. He seems to be ok with managing young players but not so much when it comes to handling senior ones but I am convinced that, had the other top 4 contenders not collapsed in a heap, we probably would have ended at the same position as last year. So we missed a golden opportunity this season, with no Thursday night football or cup competitions. CL attracts the best players, the EL I'm afraid does not, unless you pay over the top and with high salaries.

 

[Rana]

Arsenal fans hounded out Wenger. Today they are accepting Europa League Qualification under Arteta
.

Wenger was terrible in the transfer market. He was proud of saving the club’s money, but was not getting deals done that could have ensured some silverware.

The biggest example of this is how he bid £40,000,001 for Luis Suarez and peeved off the bosses at Anfield. That was Suarez’s prime 2-3 years to come as a striker scoring 30-40 goals a season and winning games for his team. Liverpool would have sold Suarez to us had Arsene Wenger been respectful and made a decent bid of £45-50m.

He panicked knowing the Arsenal fans are baying for his blood in not getting the deal done for a top quality player, whilst all of his world class players were abandoning the ship one by one. He eventually settled for Mesut Ozil who basically had been written off by a top champion’s league contender club such as Real Madrid. Ozil did have a massive impact on Arsenal as a club in his first 2-3 years but looking back at it now, all Arsenal fans must be regretting not signing Luiz Suarez when he was dying to come to the club!

Wenger had made huge blunders unnecessarily. The club’s money wasn’t his, he doesn’t have a piece of it anymore and no way on how it’s spent now. What was the need to nearly 2 decades of pointless penny pinching?

 

[Firebat]

Nice reply

My issue is that we've been here at the exact same point over the last several years.
History just repeats itself and the Owners take as much of the blame as Arteta.

That's the thing, I don't think we are at the same point. Emery's first game in charge was a 2-0 home loss to Man City (which I went to funnily enough). The XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ozil, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.

4 years on, where are these lot? Only Xhaka, Guendouzi and Auba are still doing anything of note. Compare that to what our current best XI will look like in 4 years, it's night and day. If Arteta was to be sacked today, he will have left the squad in far better shape than both Emery and Wenger did.

Emery's Arsenal bottled top 4 very similarly to how Arteta's Arsenal did, despite the benefit of a couple of world class, experienced players, but that's not what got him the sack. They actually gave him 150m to spend after that. The problem is those same players downed tools, on a manager that just took Villarreal to the UCL semis, at the first sign of trouble 3 months later. Arteta overhauled that squad with determined, hungry youth, just to ensure history does not repeat itself.

The issues I have with Arteta is that he kept the very same players you mentioned above last summer and didn't buy adequate replacements / back ups. The three games which we lost could have been very different had we had even one world class, experienced striker. For me the blame for this goes to Arteta because he firstly marginalised Auby and then moved him on for free without replacing him.

It's the managers job to manage his players and to get the best out of them, especially mid season when you're relying on that player to get you over the line.

So although we were dealt a poor hand in the last 6-8 games with respect to injuries, this could have been avoided had we been smarter in January.

I agree that we should steer clear of sacking managers until we get somewhere but I'm also not convinced Arteta has the experience to take us forward. He seems to be ok with managing young players but not so much when it comes to handling senior ones

We can't have achieved all we wanted in one window. We spent 150m across 6 players last summer, and it's hard to argue most of that was wasted. We're not Man City that we can have £50m backups, that was the extent of our monetary powers and, looking at the main acquisitions, we recruited very well with it. We just have to accept it's a big job and requires more windows.

Regarding senior players, it's certainly a question mark on Arteta. Personally, I think it's more a personality issue than age issue. He wants certain types of players, ones that work their socks off for the team and follow instructions to the T. The young players all do that, but the resurgences of senior players Xhaka and Elneny in the latter part of the season illustrates the point too.

This is not a rare trend around the league. How many Cantona, Ronaldo, Aubameyang type star personalities do Liverpool and City have? They of course have elite, world-class players, but ones that die for the manager and run themselves into the ground week in week out. Not ones that show up late to a derby in their gold Lamborghini the week after missing an open goal. That's slightly reductive but you get my point. That's why I don't think it would have worked out long-term for Auba under Arteta.

Having said that, I do concede the point about his exit in January. He should have stuck around, Arteta should have made it work. Given his form for us and the system we play with more link-up play from the ST, I'm not 100% convinced he would have made the difference, but he should have been there to give us a bigger chance. Definitely an Arteta blunder.

I am convinced that, had the other top 4 contenders not collapsed in a heap, we probably would have ended at the same position as last year. So we missed a golden opportunity this season, with no Thursday night football or cup competitions. CL attracts the best players, the EL I'm afraid does not, unless you pay over the top and with high salaries.

I disagree. 69 points last year would have had us joint 3rd, and the year before 3 points clear in 3rd. It was a high bar to get top 4, we won 22 games and still missed out. We won and lost against MU, that's a fair balance even if they didn't implode. We fended off West Ham who went on a brilliant run this year.

We didn't go out early in the Carabao Cup by the way, we lost across 2 legs in the semi-finals against Liverpool, picking up a couple of stupid suspensions too and overstraining the squad in a January where the African players went to AFCON. We went that month winless.

I enjoy these debates as you can tell by these page long replies

 

[Amjid Javed]

The player with the most chances created since November (when he came into the team fully), Odegaard, came from Real Madrid on the back of an 8th placed finish. What must have been one of the best 1-on-1 defenders in Serie A did too.

Thomas Partey was not a nobody, frankly Arsenal punched way above their recruitment weight convincing him to come.

There is business to be done.

Oddegaard was never going to get game time at real Madrid, to many good players ahead of him plus they signed camavinga who is a better player. Reason he joined was game time he would get in madrid.

Oddeagaard has been good in some games but he shouldnt be an autopick for the number 8 position in the team every game. i hear he might be made captain, again stupid move.

Most away games this season hes gone missing or got bullied in midfield, no different to when ozil was in the team.

We should have signed Maddision instead.

Partey - we paid a release clause, any club paying a release clause gets the player. so again i dont think that indicates Arsenals pull as a club.

 

[Firebat]

Oddegaard was never going to get game time at real Madrid, to many good players ahead of him plus they signed camavinga who is a better player. Reason he joined was game time he would get in madrid.

Oddeagaard has been good in some games but he shouldnt be an autopick for the number 8 position in the team every game. i hear he might be made captain, again stupid move.

Most away games this season hes gone missing or got bullied in midfield, no different to when ozil was in the team.

We should have signed Maddision instead.

£30m for 22 year old Odegaard vs £70m+ for 24 year old Maddison? Odegaard was clearly the right decision.

You have massively undersold his performances this season. He runs our creative presence and he leads the press almost single-handedly. Everything offensive runs through him.

The most chances created in the league since November, with an Expected Assists of 5.4, while Maddison has had 3.9. In other words, not only did he create far more chances than Maddison, but he created higher quality ones too. Odegaard's a younger, cheaper player who's been in the league a lot less time than Maddison, yet by all measures has been creatively superior in his first full PL season.

Goes missing and gets bullied in away games? 4 of his 7 goals have come away from home, as did all 4 of his assists. He's the one with the mentality and experience playing at the elite profile clubs, he's been in the limelight since he's 16 years old and he's captain of his national team at 23.

When the chances fall to Jesus instead of Lacazette, you'll realise he was never going missing. He's only going to get better too.

Blowing half the budget on Maddison was not the right move.

Partey - we paid a release clause, any club paying a release clause gets the player. so again i dont think that indicates Arsenals pull as a club.

Just plainly wrong. The release clause pertains to the transfer fee with the club. Just like any other transfer, the negotiation of a contract and convincing the player to sign it is a separate matter altogether. Partey could have easily rejected the contract and stayed put, a starting midfielder for a club that won the league that year.

Wenger famously failed to convince Vardy to sign in 2016, after activating his £20m release clause.

 

[MenInG]

The new Amazon documentary series, All or Nothing: Arsenal, paints a picture of manager Mikel Arteta as a complex, intense deep-thinker with some very interesting man-management tactics.

We also get a closer look at some of the younger personalities in the Arsenal dressing room, such as Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.

The series goes behind the scenes of Arsenal's 2021-22 campaign. It was a particularly dramatic season for the Gunners, who started with three straight losses, got themselves into the Champions League places and then capitulated spectacularly to hand fourth place to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Lots to unpack then. Here are three things we learned from episodes 1-3, which are released today.

Episodes 4-6 are released Thursday, 11 August and episodes 7-8 are released on Thursday, 18 August.

Many fans will be intrigued to have a glimpse into the mind and methods of Arteta, the Premier League's youngest manager and someone who learnt under the great Pep Guardiola.

The impression we get from this series is of someone who is obsessive, rigorous and tactically astute. In the first episode, midfielder Granit Xhaka calls him "a freak, but in a positive way".

We also, however, get an impression from the series of a manager who wants to bring a personal touch.

Arteta tells the camera: "I cannot treat players as numbers. They are people."

He certainly employs some unique methods to motivate his young squad.

They involve things like getting his players to hold hands, in order to create "energy".

Arteta loves a diagram too. Ahead of a match against bitter rivals Tottenham, the 40-year-old Spaniard sketches out cartoons of a heart, a brain and an Arsenal fan, with the word "energy" connecting them all.

Some viewers may be sceptical, but Arsenal went on to beat Spurs 3-1 that day.

Speaking to BBC Sport this week, Arteta said: "You win the game it works, you don't win the game, it doesn't work. The players responded to it. Then I had to hear them making jokes. In the moment it helped - they didn't expect it."

There is another interesting scene in the first episode when Arteta addresses his squad ahead of a match against Norwich. They have just lost their last three games and failed to score in each.

The Arsenal boss attempts to lift morale by connecting with a personal story about a heart condition he suffered as a child.

He tells his players: "In a difficult moment, you made the best week of my football career."

Again, there is a diagram - showing his fluctuating emotional states during the week, from bereft to back in love with the game.

Arsenal go on to get their first win of the season, against Norwich.

In one scene, he asks team photographer and lifelong fan Stuart MacFarlane to deliver a speech.

Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale spoke to BBC Sport, saying: "Arteta's team talks are definitely different. I think he keeps it fresh because sometimes he is writing, sometimes he talks, sometimes he lets some of the lads talk and what not. It keeps you engaged and lets you into his life as well. He is probably the most approachable manager I've had."

Perhaps the most interesting innovation, though, is when Arteta makes his players train to the soundtrack of Liverpool's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone in order to prepare for a match at Anfield - one which they lose 4-0.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62408920