The Arteta Thread

[Mac76]

I thought seeing as he is indeed the next manager we needed a thread about Arteta.

he's here now and he's made some good noises in public, but he has big challenges - he needs to try to keep Auba on side and quickly create a team dynamic that can give Auba much better service so he can start scoring again.

he also needs to work out that Xhaka is surplus to requirements - this is key to me - it annoys me that Freddie talks about leaving out certain players because they don't have the right attitude but he plays someone who when captain crawled off the pitch in a game that needed urgency and told the fans to fuck off.

Clearly Xhaka is good at getting up the manager's arse but on the pitch he's too slow and makes several dreadful passes and tackles during a game - btw if he'd made contact with one of his attempted tackles on Saturday he'd have been shown a straight red.

i'll be really disappointed if Arteta backs him tbh - i want Xhaka out and hope Arteta sees him for what he is


elsewhere Arteta needs to get the budget to buy a very good CB in the January window - the club may think we have a lot of CBs but the reality is:

Holding - excellent and first on the defensive teamsheet for me, but injured

Chambo - good defender but needs the right guy next to him to keep improving

Mavropanos - haven't seen enough of him to konw but as he can't get a game in the league despite our shortcomings, that seems to inditate he's maybe not ready

Sokratis - totally lost it

Luiz - absolutely dreadful defender and either needs to be used as a makeshifft DM or sold

Mustafi - appalling player with a dreadful attitude, must be got out of the club

at, RB Bellerin still looks rusty so needs more time. AMN has improved a little but we need better cover

at LB, Saka did a great job on Saturday and should continue to cover for Tierney and Kola - in fact i'd already think about playing him ahead of Kola


in front of defence, for me Torreira should play in alongside Guendouzi or (if we strengthen the CBs) Chambers or even Luiz

upfield i thought Freddie had hit upon the right combination with Martinelli, Auba and Pepe, and was surprised he left Pepe out but Freddie obviously wanted to give Nelson a go

i do think Nelson will in the long run turn out to be a very good player for us but in leaving Pepe out on Saturday, was Freddie saying he didn't have the right attitude? i'd be surprised if a player who was that new to the club still and quite young would be stepping out of line

and two other players to mention:

Laca remains imporant but needs to understand he may not start every game but will still be given enough games to merit being here

Ozil yes is expensive and clearly has attitude problems so ideally we sell him, but if not then we should try to take advantage of what to me is an improvement in his form recently, that's seen him play a good part in linking up play

Condemning him for maybe not taking training seriously is the flip side of thinking Xhaka's great because he does work hard in training- i want to see the better player on the pitch, not the teacher's pet


Overall Arteta needs to get some good drills in place for the defence which is more sophisticated than telling everyone to play out from the back all the time, and he needs to educate the back line in moving up in unison to give the goalie more space and push back the opposing team

Auba needs to be told to stay upfield for when we clear the ball from a defensive situation

and anyone taking a short corner should be told they will be shot...