The Arteta Thread

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Good points there - and food for thought. Thank you.

No doubt Arteta is feeling the pressure - and he should be in terms of our performances/results on the pitch. Part of me would think that (in circumstances where we know he isn't going to be sacked) this is a good thing - he knows results are not good enough. However, I think I agree that he is beginning to become unstuck under the pressure - both football wise, and in terms of the massive issues at our club that are effectively being laid at his door as a resut of the administrative vaccum above him. It's as though the club knows no other way than the Wenger way - in which the coach is also manager; football director; chief scout; club administrator and mouthpiece. A combination that is obviously too much for anyone - let alone a rookie.

Given that the club is going to persevere with Arteta - what this situation is crying out for is someone in a kind of football director role (although probably not in name, given the unwise decision to make Arteta manager). It's a sign of his inexperience that Arteta has failed to bring in a wise head as assistant coach - who could take some of the decision-making strain off him, and act as a mentor. It's also a sign of hubris - but I suppose understandable in the circumstances. A solution is not going to come from the manager, though, and Edu - from what we have seen - is not the man to do this either. So we are loking at a real risk that the Arteta project will go down in flames for lack of support - as well as his own pride and inflexibility.

I suppose I grouped the ESR and Willian comments in with his savaging of Pepe and the Saliba situation, and maybe you are right and this is unfair. The problem is that while some of Arteta's unpopular judgments - eg our baying to see Martinelli up front where clearly he is not ready for this, or his reticence to use Pepe at times when there is some substance in the fact that he can't retain possession are justified to a degree, his favouritism of certain other players and his constant chopping and changing tends to drown this out.

A genuine DoF is exactly we need. Let's be clear on this, promoting Arteta to club Manager wasn't a reward for steadying the ship and winning us an FA Cup - it was a cowardly decision made by owners and a CEO who bottled a decision that needed to be made on Edu, and who were more than happy to shift all of the responsibility onto an inexperienced rookie. They basically took advantage of a good PR moment and used it to lessen their own load.

It's not the first time they've hidden behind him either - remember when they sent him in to negotiate a 12.5% pay cut with the squad after just 3 or 4 months in the job? Cowardly, unnecessary given that we have billionaire owners, and utterly deceitful now we know about their ESL scheming, and how much extra they assumed they'd be making from it.

Making Arteta manager was a disastrous decision for the playing side of things, too - straightaway it would have created a rift between him and a significant portion of the squad. Think about the sheer number of players we had last summer (and still have now) who know that their Arsenal futures are uncertain: as Head Coach, new contracts aren't really Arteta's call - he can put in a good word, but he's basically in the same boat as them, with the TD / DoF deciding his future as well as theirs (the players may even see him as an ally in that role, if he makes them look good); as Manager, though, he's the guy who has final say on whether they get a new contract or get sold. How can that not be a problem? How can you possibly ask a player to perform for you after it becomes abundantly clear that you have no plans to keep them? And this is the problem we've had all year, mostly with the senior players who know that they're living off unsustainable CL-level contracts that can't continue - the closer they come to the end of their deals, the less they give a shit and the more unmanageable they become.

This is actually one of the things I've found really interesting - the younger part of the squad still seems to be massively behind him. Players like KT and Ødegaard have waxed lyrical about his ideas and methods. ESR and KT have also recently said that they're willing to sign new deals, but they want assurances over his future from the owners first. There's been a lot of talk about the treatment of Martinelli and Balogun not getting minutes, but neither of them are causing problems or making noise through their agents? Balogun could have easily walked this sumemr, but he chose to stay. I couldn't tell you why that is exactly, but I wouldn't mind betting that they've been given assurances about next season, and maybe been told in confidence that the club is going to clean house this summer and pave the way for them. Whatever the reason, he still seems to command significant loyalty and respect from the younger players, and that includes guys we have on loan from Real Madrid.