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OUR CURRENT TEAM
1. Can't Pass
2. Can't Tackle
3. Can't Create
4. Can't Shoot
5. Can't Take Set-Pieces Properly
6. Lose every week.
Make that of what you will?
P.S. Since October, Arsenal have more foul throws (5) than goals (4). How is that even possible? Arteta is doing what exactly on the training ground?!?!
We all accepted there would be ups and downs and Arteta needed time, however its safe to say no one expected things to go this bad. The team is dreadful and has no redeeming features, Artetaball is sunday league football and if we persist with it there's a good chance we'll be finishing in the bottom half.
The signs were there last season, the play hasn't changed, it is still the same basic rubbish we've been watching for a year. The only difference now is that Auba isn't scoring from the scraps sent his way. Without him, no one else is fit for purpose to make up for that shortfall. Also another difference is that other coaches have sussed Arteta out so the unknown factor has gone.
It's the worst Arsenal team I've ever seen. A team who cannot play football through the centre anymore, everything must be sent wide and the hope is one of the million crosses we make is on the money. Arteta said we dominated the game yesteday, what planet is he living on? It was the easiest 3 points Spurs will take all season.
When I started this thread, we had just drawn with Leeds, and I genuinely wondered whether Arteta had made some wrong turns, but needed a bit of patience while he worked through our problems. I accepted the appointment of an inexperienced manager as a fait accompli, and was still of the opinion that short term pain might be worth it for long term gain.
It's astonishing how quickly the manager's shortcomings have since been laid bare; and how profound they seem to be.
I admit to believing that Arteta had, and was working to a long term plan. I thought also that he had good tactical skills and an understanding of what was needed on the pitch - albeit that he had sacrificed attacking endeavour for good defensive structure.
What has me really worried though is
- That fact that he has abandoned whatever plan he once had and is now clearly in Emery territory, apparently employing random 'tactics' on a trial and error basis while the players neither seem to understand or believe in what they are being asked to do
- His total inconsistency in his treatement of players, and seeming abandonment of any kind of meritocracy
- The fact that he seems to have lost his 'bottle' and looks to me like he is being dictated to by senior players
- The glaring absence of man- management skills
There seemed to be a consensus on here 3 weeks ago that Arteta had not lost the dressing room. How many people believe that now, I wonder?
This situation is now officially every bit as bad as it got under Emery, and frankly I can't see how the rot stops. We are indeed looking every bit as bad an Arsenal team as I have seen, and way under-performing given the ability of most of our players.
The more I think about it and the more you read about how he's dealt with certain players, I can't imagine it has gone down well within the squad. I would bet my house they feel like Ozil still is their best player but he's been bullied out of the club. No creativity in the team and they're all scratching their head as to why he's not available to help them.
It's all well and good ruling with an iron fist but you live and die by those decisions and I don't see any player that has flourished under him. He got a bit of a tune out of them at the start but whatever goodwill he had built up has gone.
Now we're hearing about a falling out with Luiz. Doesn't sound great for him to be honest, you can't keep on ostracizing players and not expect some kind of backlash. End of the day he is a rookie and the players know that and will inevitably band together if they feel he isn't worthy of their respect anymore.
Hmmm. The general point I agree with. He has tried to establish his authority by freezing out certain players and while this is fine while you are getting results, Arteta has unnecessarily made a rod for his own back and when you take such a stance against your highest paid player it will inevitably come back to bite you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
But while Ozil is the obvious point of reference, I would wager that his refusal to pick on form players; his perseverance with the likes of the excrable Willian and Xhaka; and his public shaming of Pepe and Partey, when he was astonishingly lenient on Xhaka yesterday is having as great an effect on team morale. His seeming inability to arrest our current form even more so.
IMO there must be more to the Ozil situation than meets the eye. IIRC 3 managers - Emery; Ljungberg and Arteta have now dropped Ozil, and Emery's later U turn on him was damaging. Even Wenger was under pressure to drop Ozil due to him under performing on the pitch. This cannot be coincidence. The smart money says that despite his carefully cultivated public face, Ozil is a corrosive influence on this team.
The mistake the manager has made, in my opinion, is not necessarily dropping Ozil; its the contrast between this and his treatment of others. Its easy to see Ozil as the solution to our problems when he is not playing. Whether this would be borne out in practice we will probably never know.
Ozil is far from a solution but I don’t doubt he his a popular and influential member of the squad. So sending him packing probably hasn’t gone down well, on a human level.
Agree with his favouritism and public shaming of players. It’s all conducive of a unhappy squad.
I feel like he’s tried to lay down the law but is failing miserably now to connect with these players. Once you stop getting a tune out of them then the writing is on the wall I’m afraid.
He isn’t someone who commands a great deal of respect in the game, so coming in wielding his iron fist wouldn’t have gone down well, in hindsight.
Pretty much, yes. The pity is that Arteta talked a good game, so we all thought that despite his inexperience, he possessed the intelligence to learn on the job, having had a good grounding as Guardiola's understudy. Attributes such as inter-personal skills; man management and clarity of vision are as much innate as they can be learned, and the early indications were that Arteta had these. He brought players such as AMN and Xhaka in from the cold; brought on Saka, and seemed to be getting places with Pepe, as well as arresting our defensive decline and building team shape. Until this season he was getting a tune out of his players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
But lately, it is becoming apparent that he lacks either the personality or the maturity to deal with certain players, and our awful form has put pressure on aspects of his personality that appear lacking. He has shot himself in the foot by recruiting Willian who is clearly only here to pick up his pay cheque, and is IMO showing a streak of egotism in trying to justify this decision by continuing to start him, and Xhaka when it is clear to all concerned that they are not up to it. He has shown Guendouzi the door, and frozen out Ozil - seemingly blind to the fact that both players are in areas of the pitch where we are most lacking. He appears to ignore good performances by the likes of Elneny; AMN and Emile Smith Rowe displaying a blind and misplaced trust in more senior players. he gambled stupidly on Partey.
All these decisions suggest a mixture of naivity and high-handedness, and I'll grant you that this combination will be seen and affect his squad.
Arteta still has the opportunity to bench all the overpaid trash and try to build a team with the younger players who still seem to give a damn. But that option will recede if this shite is allowed to carry on much longer. At this point I can't see what there is to lose, considering he'll lose his job anyway of he loses a few more games. At least he'd buy some time if he put the youngsters in. And if he really does have anything in his locker that he's failed to get through to the overpaid trash, maybe he'll have better luck with the kids.
Or, he could just keep doing the same thing over and over and hope for a different outcome.
Pretty much agree with that. Wholesale changes aren't really an option, IMO, but for sure I think he needs to shake things up with some younger players who have shown promise rather than stinking the place up. My fear is, however, that Arteta is now in Emery territory and has lost whatever plan he had in place. Personnel, tactics and vision are in a total mess, and I think the manager's lost his bottle and is now afraid of losing...he seesm to be wedded to the idea that only experience will get him out of this when the opposite is probably true..Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
If he could give the younger players a go. Smith rowe. Neilson amn etc then perhaps the fans could see there is a plan. Give the kids a go. Its the only way to save his job.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
The problem as mentioned before is that we have been so poor that its got to must not lose territory.