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Last edited by 21_GOONER_SALUTE; 27-08-2023 at 06:20 PM.
Unusually for him an insightful post although I’m a bit confused as to the Pepe point. If he’s talking about the 21/22 season he has a point, less so for the 20/21 season where Pepe did play a lot of games and there were games where he was effective and scored goals and games where he was utterly shite.
Now I think that Arteta plays favourites is beyond doubt, where I disagree with other posters on here is why that is, but suffice to say I think it still is to our detriment. With Pepe ultimately i think he saw a player that didn’t put in the work. There’s a bit of hypocrisy there because Martinelli is also as lazy as Pepe in that he won’t drop deep to win the ball himself and expects our midfielders to find him in space. Although the difference is Martinelli is 50 times the player Pepe is (although he’s not showing it this season)
But the Scotsman is absolutely right that Arteta thinks he’s the smartest guy in coaching but even if that’s true he’s obviously not a great communicator as the players often look confused. I also agree with him that the players and performances especially last season improved despite Arteta not because of him. What is the hall mark of Arteta is patchy form, bungled line ups with experimental systems that only seem to make sense to him.
I genuinely feel sorry for Kai Havertz as I have for a few years thought him a talented player…more of a luxury player than anything but still very talented (he was for me exceptionally good in the 2021 champions league final) but I think the way Chelsea were run as a club didn’t help him, and a hair brained coach at Arsenal is not helping him. Fans will turn on him quickly and I think that’s unfair because the effort is there even if the execution isn’t. I will say again for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not defending us signing him it makes no more sense to me than any of you, where I differ is that I think ostensibly he is a player we could get something from…however with this coach he’s more likely to end up being a Willian.
All I can say is if yesterday is a sign of things to come this season, i hope it spells the end for Arteta…I always hated this trust the process crap and i think that this project that we are going for certainly doesn’t depend on him or Edu for that matter. I’m not for throwing the baby out with the bath water. I wouldn’t have signed Rice, I wouldn’t have signed Havertz but I absolutely think both of them can be used to good effect despite their obvious limitations.
However what frustrates me is that with the money we’ve spent, that preserving with this idiot means we are going to have to take a step back to make the necessary adjustments to become title challengers, and I don’t even know if we will have the money to spend to do that…things like signing proper full backs, a proper box to box midfielder and a proper striker.
A decent coach could come in now, stabilise things and easily get us into top four and then use that as a platform to challenge for the title next season and i fear the longer we leave it to make the change, the more we will have to contend with other teams that have got their act together. I said I thought it was fair and reasonable that Arteta got this full season to expand upon the unexpected title challenge last season, but fairness as a concept strikes me as one for losers the older I get. Doing what’s necessary is more important than doing what’s fair.
It's annoying to look at the league table right now, we'd be a clear second and level on points with Citeh if we only had a manager who made sensible decisions
Tbf I didn't think we'd be challenging this season, more trying to hold on to top four, but if we keep dropping silly points like this then given Chelsea, Liverpool and even dammit Spuds are starting fairly well I think we've a fight on our hands even for that.
I'm not looking forward to the CL at all, I think we'll be out at the first opportunity
The really depressing thing is the damage Arteta is doing, discarding players and dismantling the parts of the team and formation that worked.
Got to say, I think Arteta might be surprised by how quickly people become impatient, I could feel in the ground that expectations are really high
if he sticks with his bizarre lineups and with players like Havertz (which he's pretty much stuck with doing given it was his own big-money signing) and Zin, plus ostracising other players who could be making a real contribution, he might find the temperature going up more than he expected - maybe wishful thinking on my part but people aren't buying into what he's doing atm
I noticed Danny Murphy (not that I think he talks much sense) saying on MoTD that he thought Gabriel was on the way out, if that happens Arteta will habe a lot of explaining to do, while people could accept him driving out people lile Auba, Guendouzi etc, this one will be a lot harder to explain away, other than it being a result of his own managerial/personality defects
What’s more relevant is not how quickly idiot fans with more teeth than brain cells react negatively to Arteta, it’s how quickly Stanley and his idiot son do. Will they be influenced by a bad atmosphere at the Emirates? Possibly but less so than you’d imagine. It’s the results that will matter, Kroenke won’t like having spent out a lot of money for Arteta to be playing about like this.
I’d also strongly urge caution when it comes to Vieira, saying that he should be a starter because of one decent cameo against a side that will be battling relegation, at home…does not suddenly make him a decent player. Certainly not enough to risk starting him against United….too much underwhelming shit in the past to make that anything other than an absurd risk.
Gabriel going would be an absolute outrage, however I suspect he won’t be going. I think Galaxy brain is just trying to play some kind of “genius” line up rather than having fallen out with Gabriel M.
This appears to be the lineup people want us to play, and although for me it makes infinitely more sense than the one Arteta is choosing…it’s definitely for me not the right one
In the absence of Timber I think you have to have Tomoyasu there, in the absence of Tierney you play Kiwior at left back.
Rice and Partey must NOT play at the same time unless we are looking to defend first and foremost, it prevents the ball from getting forward quickly enough
Odegaard needs to be dropped for the foreseeable, and frankly at the moment I’d rather have Edward starting games than Jesus
Last edited by HCZ_Reborn; 28-08-2023 at 09:47 AM.
Vieira also had a very good game v Monaco, ok you will say 'only a friendly' but the point is he's contributing in a signoficant way, i e. his thinking and quality of play are very good
I guess if you drop Odegaard and Havertz, you can accomodate Vieira, Rice and Partey all in midfield, plus drop Zin and have Tomi at LB, given Tierney's been shipped out
Tomoyasu is right footed, absolutely no way he should be playing left back and who does that leave at right back Ben White? That’s something I’m not prepared to compromise on. Ben White must never be allowed to play at right back ever again.Originally Posted by Mac76
Tomoyasu is bad enough, another completely useless signing but he won’t get forward as much so he won’t leave space in behind.
As I say need to see far more from Vieira before I’d allow him to start games. Needs to go to the gym or start incorporating fish into his diet as well, as he has the upper body strength of a concentration camp inmate. Would have sold smith Rowe and had him as Odegaards back up option as don’t trust him in central midfield
Ultimately if we’d done the right business in the transfer window, we’d have bought Caicedo, and a box to box midfielder like Kessie or Fofana from Monaco (who we could have done a swap with over Balogun) and had more than enough money to buy a striker. Timber injury was unfortunate given he is far superior to White or Tomoyasu in the right back role and we could have sold the latter.
Not wasting money on overrated English players who strut around like they are Frank Lampard. But it is what it is.
I’d have signed an upgrade on Tierney as well potentially but I think ultimately that’s a luxury rather than a necessity
https://x.com/now_arsenai/status/169...k_DvSqUkaQFrjw
This is what we are dealing with at the moment, Kool Aid drinking morons. And it’s very fortunate that it’s not they who will ultimately decide Arteta’s fate. I’d like to say when he goes, he never gets a chance at coaching ever again. But I don’t know…would be hilarious if he ended up somewhere like Everton which is more his level and made things even worse for them. Four years ago, if I knew what I knew now…I’d have been very strongly opposed to us sacking Good Ebening and he was completely wrong for this club.
Try reading the comments not just the main post, there's a lot of scepticism there
As for the Kroenkes, i think you're a bit behind the curve there, they are more hands on than they used to be and if Arteta's not delivering and there is a lot of disquiet they will notice it
Havertz has the potential to quickly become the next Willian, only this one's more firmly in his court, he wanted him, he overpaid for him, meaning he has to play him, he's built a real rod for his back because the fans are already getting on Havertz' case
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