Fulham vs Arsenal - 08/12/2024 - KO: 14:00 GMT

[IBK]

I think its unfair to take the view that Arteta should have achieved sucees in 3 years. He inherited a basket case of a club and needed to re-establish a team drifting below the CL places and beset by a lack of cohesion; strategy and mentality - the complete opposite of what Slot walked into at Liverpool.

But this should have been our year. 2 second places - the last season an improvement on the one before and a near perfect 2024, beaten to the title by a monster of a team by only 2 points.

Instead, in a season where Citeh are stuttering; having spent over £700m on players since he arrived, and being given huge latitude to build a team that can complete the 5th stage of the project, its obvious that Arsenal is regressing rather than pushing on.

I am not being knee jerk here, and I am not saying that Arteta has 'failed' or playing down what he has undoubtedly achieved, but (like HCZ says) simply acknowledging the evidence that suggests that Arteta has reached his ceiling. He has built a team that relies too much on the first 12/13 being fit and on form - while signing players with lamentable fitness records; is based on too often sterile possession; requires perfection to execute a game plan effectively (and is vulnerable to counter attcking when this doesn't happen as is inevitably the case); has neglected its attack and does not get the best out of key players.

This is all relative of course - we are 3rd in the league. But by his own objectives, the manager is falling short and our lack of cutting edge when faced with stubborn opponents is a strand that has run through the whole of his tenure.

Perhaps yesterday's game - more than any other this season, encapsulates our 'close but no cigar' character - and I have to say that I no longer really trust Arteta to buy the players we need.

[IBK]

Can I add that for different reasons the Jesus signing has been an abject failure as has Sterling. Both need to be exited ASAP.

[Marc Overmars]

Sterling doesn’t bother me because I think we knew what we were getting with him but Jesus, what a waste of 50m he has turned out to be. You can’t carry passengers like that if you’re trying to win a title. He’s senior player with bags of top level experience and medals to his name but you’d never know it. No striker of any substance goes on a barren spell like he has. Just one goal to his name since February, which was against Preston. Fucking dire.

[Letters]

No striker of any substance goes on a barren spell like he has. Just one goal to his name since February, which was against Preston.

Wow.

I've been a bit of an apologist for him because I've always felt that while he's not prolific, he adds something to us going forward.
But that's bloody awful

[HCZ_Reborn]

The thing is he was never prolific at Man City either, it felt to me that signing him was signalling that we don’t go in for the traditional centre forward. I think we have been more than patient with him and it’s time the club started leaving travel brochures for Saudi Arabia around the training ground

[IBK]

My issue with him is that he doen;t even look like he is busting a gut trying to change things any more. 1 completed pass of just 6 yesterday, and those are his only stats from 20 mins of play. Total Lacazette at the end vibes for me.

Sterling cannot even make it off the bench at the end of a game where we need a goal. I know we wondered whether his lack of tracking back had made Arteta anti him, but tracking back was not needed after 80 mins in this game.

[Letters]

The thing is he was never prolific at Man City either, it felt to me that signing him was signalling that we don’t go in for the traditional centre forward. I think we have been more than patient with him and it’s time the club started leaving travel brochures for Saudi Arabia around the training ground

[HCZ_Reborn]

My issue with him is that he doen;t even look like he is busting a gut trying to change things any more. 1 completed pass of just 6 yesterday, and those are his only stats from 20 mins of play. Total Lacazette at the end vibes for me.

Sterling cannot even make it off the bench at the end of a game where we need a goal. I know we wondered whether his lack of tracking back had made Arteta anti him, but tracking back was not needed after 80 mins in this game.

Sterling is a player who relied on pace, when you’re quick and technically good you don’t need to be strong as long as you’re short as the low centre of gravity helps you. Sterling’s pace has gone, it’s far far too easy to muscle him off the ball.

He’d be better off whittling down his career in a less physical league

[Mac76]

Can I add that for different reasons the Jesus signing has been an abject failure as has Sterling. Both need to be exited ASAP.

Jesus was excellent when he first came to the club, that great start to the season two years ago simply wouldn't have happened without him

but the injury he got at the World Cup seemed to affect him from then on and he's since regressed into a player who not only can't score but doesn't do much else of use either

A real shame but the point is, he is no longer the player we bought, it doesn't make it a bad signing

Zin on the other hand - I genuinely believe we would have won the title last year without him in the side

[HCZ_Reborn]

Jesus was excellent when he first came to the club, that great start to the season two years ago simply wouldn't have happened without him

but the injury he got at the World Cup seemed to affect him from then on and he's since regressed into a player who not only can't score but doesn't do much else of use either

A real shame but the point is, he is no longer the player we bought, it doesn't make it a bad signing

Zin on the other hand - I genuinely believe we would have won the title last year without him in the side

I have to say the whole Zinchenko thing is one of the biggest examples of a post hoc fallacy I can think of…unless you’re saying he was responsible for us losing to Villa at home as well (and whilst his casual meandering certainly didn’t help, that was a game we needed to win, not just not lose and we created shit). But if you want to attribute the dropped two points in August to us not winning the title, there’s a far more explicit culprit and that’s Arteta. The guy who dicked around with the lineup so we looked second best to Fulham for two thirds of that home game.

And Jesus was missing chances, right, left and centre even before he got injured at the World Cup. Yes his work rate was good but it was Saka, Odegaard and Martinelli creating space for him. I think apart from the fact that Arteta insists on playing him centrally which doesn’t work, he’s a lazy shit. Often just won’t make runs or make himself available for passing

For me you can tell the difference between a player who has lost something as a result of injury and a player who isn’t trying. Eduardo fell into the former category, I always think if you suffer an injury shocker like that it can stay in the back of your mind and it affects your reactions and instincts.

You’ve got to be prepared to do the leg work in the premier league even if things are not going for you. Trossard has been having a stinker at times this season, but what I will say for him is that the effort is always there