Originally Posted by
HCZ_Reborn
As for who could replace Arteta. Outside of Pep and Klopp (neither of whom we would get in a million years) there isn’t an obvious candidate who you could say with certainty would do better. But it’s always a gamble, I don’t think we quite want to be as heedless as Chelsea or United are with coaches, but I do think it’s reasonable with any coach to say you get a three year contract and unless something goes disastrously wrong you get the whole three years to build something but if either we haven’t won something substantive or look like we might do so in the next season or two you move them on at the end of that time.
I’m more cautious than I was previously over flavour of the month coaches. I think it’s unquestionable that Xabi Alonso has done a stellar job with Leverkusen. At the risk of being harsh, that Leverkusen team is dog shit….if a premier league team had the same squad Alonso had to work with, they’d be battling relegation.
I’d say Forest in 17th has a better squad than Leverkusen….so it’s exceptional what he’s achieving. However that comes with the caveat that Bayern’s 11 titles is reflective of what has become the dirge of depth of quality in the Bundesliga. There’s quite a few Bundesliga teams that for me would struggle in the championship let alone the Premier league. Also Bayern themselves are simply not the same team they were 3-4 years ago, there’s five players Kane, Musiala, Upemecano, Davies and Gnabry that id probably take at Arsenal. This compared to 2020 when that team was up there with Liverpool and City in terms of quality.
That’s not to say Xabi Alonso wouldn’t be able to do a good job in the premier league, but at the same time I’m not sure even if Arteta was to go that he’d be a great fit for us. He’s more like Diego Simeone in style (although maybe a bit unfair, Simeone is a cunt who gets Atleti to play the most atrociously negative tactics), in that they are far more of a counter attacking team…although that could be a reflection more on the players he has to work with.
Temperament wise, he’s far more like Arteta than Klopp (by that I mean more of an introvert)
So the answer is, I fully accept there isn’t an obvious replacement. But my feeling is that I think to stick indefinitely if I’m right about Arteta because of the fear of “be careful what you wish for” which froze us into inaction with AW, would be an equally regressive move