Summer Transfer Shit and Everything Else

[Marc Overmars]

Agreed to disagree! Otherwise we will be going back and forth for hours

Yeah I agree regarding us aiming to win the title in the next two-three seasons. It will be difficult, but that should be the number one priority, especially given what happened last season.

Yeah you don’t sign players for 100m and not have designs to win the league. That must be the goal next season. It will be difficult as hell to dethrone City but that’s the pressure we’ve put on ourselves now. No excuses.

[mandela8]

On the face of it, 40m for Maddisson seems a better deal than 65m for Havertz, tbh.



I don't think Maddisson has that subservient attitude Arteta likes in his players though. Havertz does look a wee bit gormless.

[Mac76]

I don't think Maddisson has that subservient attitude Arteta likes in his players though. Havertz does look a wee bit gormless.

Nail hit firmly on head.

Arteta only signs 'yes sir' types - sure we don't want an unruly squad, but the opposite is having players all of a type who may not be best suited to being tough enough to win the league

It's what happens when a manager is clearly struggling with their own self-esteem and can't deal with anything which they interpret as dissent

[HCZ_Reborn]

Nail hit firmly on head.

Arteta only signs 'yes sir' types - sure we don't want an unruly squad, but the opposite is having players all of a type who may not be best suited to being tough enough to win the league

It's what happens when a manager is clearly struggling with their own self-esteem and can't deal with anything which they interpret as dissent

You’re doing that thing again


I do think Arteta has fallen out with players for being too willful. But I’m not buying this as an overarching explanation. First off, as I’ve said before he’d have sold Saliba, he’d have sold Xhaka long before now, and probably would have fallen out with the likes of Ramsdale as well.


Arteta has a hard on for utility players, he thinks he can play Donkey Boy in several different positions plus not sure Havertz is that meek either, he had the arse ache because his Arsenal interview had been linked before he had a chance to tweet the obligatory goodbye soapy tit wank to the Chelsea fans

I don’t think Arteta lacks confidence at all, actually has too much…a lot of his lack of social skills come down quite honestly to what I think is him being on the spectrum.

At the risk of actually making a serious argument, the issue with some of the statements you and 21 whatever the fuck make is that a lot of it is a clear extension of what you want to be true, and it often feels like you’re very keen to omit anything that doesn’t fall within the argument you’re trying to make.

Me? I’ve said for a while that Arteta has a tendency to fall out with players who might be outspoken, but I’m also mindful not to shoehorn that as this simple easy oven baked explanation.

I recognise the last player he fell out with was Auba but even with that there’s the caveat that I don’t think he’d have dropped him so readily if he had been scoring goals. A coach will give a player who is consistently producing more room to manoeuvre….but the tolerance for Auba went when the goals dried up

[HCZ_Reborn]

Liverpool and Newcastle after Dominik Copy and Paste from Leipzig, weren’t we after him at one point?

[Mac76]

You’re doing that thing again


I do think Arteta has fallen out with players for being too willful. But I’m not buying this as an overarching explanation. First off, as I’ve said before he’d have sold Saliba, he’d have sold Xhaka long before now, and probably would have fallen out with the likes of Ramsdale as well.

you've misread the Xhaka situation completely, he's clearly a teachers' pet who gets on the manager's good side by running around traffic cones endlessly and never questions anything, therefore gets away with being sent off and giving goals away ad infinitum

as for Saliba, we badly damaged our relationship with him through Arteta absurdly insisting he "wasn't ready" the season before last, only for him to be the best CB in the PL the very next season - no-one goes from 'not ready to the best in one season so Arteta made a fool of himself (though of course he claims the single season completely transformed Saliba from hopeless youngster to PL standout) and i think we very nearly lost Saliba at that point, without doubt we will have damaged any loyalty Saliba may have felt for the club, which could well cause us to lose him sooner rather than later

As for Ramsdale i see no sign of any insubordination so not sure what you're talking about

[HCZ_Reborn]

you've misread the Xhaka situation completely, he's clearly a teachers' pet who gets on the manager's good side by running around traffic cones endlessly and never questions anything, therefore gets away with being sent off and giving goals away ad infinitum

as for Saliba, we badly damaged our relationship with him through Arteta absurdly insisting he "wasn't ready" the season before last, only for him to be the best CB in the PL the very next season - no-one goes from 'not ready to the best in one season so Arteta made a fool of himself (though of course he claims the single season completely transformed Saliba from hopeless youngster to PL standout) and i think we very nearly lost Saliba at that point, without doubt we will have damaged any loyalty Saliba may have felt for the club, which could well cause us to lose him sooner rather than later

As for Ramsdale i see no sign of any insubordination so not sure what you're talking about

I misread him flipping off the fans before Arteta joined, or having to be dragged away by Arteta to prevent him from getting into a fracas with Richarlison in the North London Derby?


I wasn’t talking about straight up insubordination I don’t see why any coach should put up with that. But it’s abundantly clear Ramsdale is outspoken


Saliba has agreed a new contract, if the relationship between him and the club had been damaged that wouldn’t have happened.


Putting aside the silly insults I’ve thrown at you, come on now…read back what you’ve written and tell me you’re not reaching desperately to justify coming to a conclusion here. I’m not especially a fan of Maddison…basically little more than a dead ball specialist.

Would Arteta have signed Trossard if he had this pathological aversion to signing anyone who could potentially be a trouble maker?.

I think the fact is that Arteta rates players we don’t, and doesn’t rate players we do. And honestly? That’s a far simpler and likelier explanation.

I get it you don’t like Arteta and I don’t like him either, and I think he’s now at the precipice where he’s going to be made to produce after the money he’s been allowed to spend. But again this doubling down you’re doing lacks credibility.

The jock can do it because he never had any to begin with

[Mac76]

I misread him flipping off the fans before Arteta joined, or having to be dragged away by Arteta to prevent him from getting into a fracas with Richarlison in the North London Derby?


I wasn’t talking about straight up insubordination I don’t see why any coach should put up with that. But it’s abundantly clear Ramsdale is outspoken


Saliba has agreed a new contract, if the relationship between him and the club had been damaged that wouldn’t have happened.

fair dos, i'd missed that Saliba had definitely signed

but Xhaka being an arsehole on the pitch is exactly my point, he gets away with it because he's a teachers pet

Think about the harsh words Arteta had for Pepe the one time he was sent off, whereas with the multiple times Xhaka got sent off Arteta just brushed it off - it's favouritism pure and simple

And I've heard nothing about any insubordination from Ram at all

[HCZ_Reborn]

fair dos, i'd missed that Saliba had definitely signed

but Xhaka being an arsehole on the pitch is exactly my point, he gets away with it because he's a teachers pet

Think about the harsh words Arteta had for Pepe the one time he was sent off, whereas with the multiple times Xhaka got sent off Arteta just brushed it off - it's favouritism pure and simple

And I've heard nothing about any insubordination from Ram at all

Again it’s not about insubordination it’s about players having big personalities or being outspoken which of course may lead to insubordination or perceived insurbordination. I’m old fashioned enough to think that if you’re late for training or you call the manager a cunt you probably should be punished for it. With Xhaka it seems more likely that if he’s given more leeway because he’s a starter rather than he’s a starter because he’s obsequious (which I’ve not seen any evidence of)

I can only remember Pepe getting sent off once and it was for head butting someone. A lot of Xhaka’s sending offs have been for two yellow cards rather than outright violent conduct. The last time was against Man City and I think if VAR had checked would have been overturned.

Pepe often terrible first touch, very little in the way of work rate and doesn’t look like he’s done much to repair his reputation on loan at Nice.

The way I see it, the more time has gone on the more minded I am to think that if a player gets frozen out by Arteta it’s most likely because he doesn’t rate that player. Tierney…I think he’s wrong about him….but I can’t imagine him misbehaving same with Smith Rowe….guy seems painfully shy

[HCZ_Reborn]

Put it this way if Saka turns up late for training, and in response calls Arteta a bloodclat….likely to get a fine and maybe dropped for a game, but I don’t think that would be the end of his Arsenal career