Dude, we were very shit this season before Arteta took over, that’s why Emery was sacked.Originally Posted by Chippy
You can argue that Arteta isn’t the right person to turn things around and that is getting harder to argue against, but you can’t blame Arteta for this awful season when he’s been in charge for less than half of it.
Wouldn't really matter who managed the club. The core problems would still be there. The squad has been allowed to go to ruin over many seasons. Sub-standard players who will always fall down when the major challenges arrive. Guaranteed. We've seen it for years, under 3 managers now.
Für eure Sicherheit
*sigh*
but you CAN blame him for all the mistakes I listed elsewhere, about playing the wrong players in the wrong positions
the Auba on the left thing is just the biggest example but there are others
and WHY do people like Ozil and Pepe get cold-shouldered? Ozil would have done a much better job of keeping the ball against Citeh
i'm convinced the reasons is this pathetic 'doesn't work hard in training' bullshit which small-dicked managers like Emery and Arteta obssess about because they know they're incompetent and so have to throw their weight around extra hard to compensate
Ozil has the ability we need but lets not pretend he wasn't rubbish when he was last playing regularly. Which seems like an age ago now.
We will not be able to even start thinking about moving forward as a club with him hemorrhaging us money with no return.
Yes, you can. No dispute there. But my original question was how did we manage to go from a squad which just last season got to the Europa League Final and finished 5th with 70 points - we were only 2 points off 3rd, the top 2 aside we were as good as anyone (or bad as anyone as the top 2 aside no-one looked much good). How did we go from that to the utter shit we are seeing this season? And the answer to that is not "Arteta". He took over a shit show and hasn't turned it into anything much better, admittedly, but he didn't cause this. MO alluded to this above but last season maybe our final position flattered us somewhat. They say the table never lies but if you remember we had that good run of wins at the start of the season and in many of those games we really weren't that good, a lot of those results could have been different. And Auba and Laca bailed us out a lot, Auba has continued to, mostly. Laca not so much.
I don't think our squad is that good but I don't think it's that bad either. We seem to be significantly less than the sum of our parts.
There are more extreme examples of teams dropping off a cliff the following year, like United in 2014 and Chelsea in 2016, after previously winning the title, it can happen for any number of reasons. Obviously we were never that good to begin with so it stands to reason that we probably hit our ceiling last season and our position now is more reflective of where we are as a team. We were also a distant 6th in Wenger’s last season so there’s more evidence of us being shit than there is any good over a 3 year span.
Last edited by Marc Overmars; 22-06-2020 at 09:22 AM.
i think Laca losing the plot has been a big factor but it's only accentuated the folly of not playing the one remaining in-form striker through the middle - it might sound like one small detail but to me it speaks volumes about Emery, then Freddie and now Arteta's ability to see what's going on in front of them and do something about it. It would have been such a quick win for him as manager but he's not done it
as for the wider picture, i've said elsewhere our transfer 'policy' is at least part-run by Raul's agent friends filling their pockets but for all that we are getting some good players - Teirney, Mari looks good and hopefully Saliba - plus Pepe showed on Saturday what he can do given the opportunity
I still think even now Arsenal has the standing, facilities and history to get good players, but every season we underperform it's pushing us further back and that's why Arteta was too big a gamble against getting an Ancelotti or similar
I agree our midfield is weak, not everyone will agree but i still think Ozil can play a role but you need a high-class well-organised enforcer in there to counter him roving around.
We've missed Torreira in these two games - Ceballos isn't substantial enough and Guendouzi is a very raw talent, and i can't stand Xhaka and won't be happy until he and Mustafi are gone
i can see it both ways on whether we keep Auba (although i think it's academic as he will surely leave) but in the very short-term, i.e. this season we should be making the best of him - whether he's played through the middle elsewhere or not, are you seriously saying Nketiah or Laca are a better shout than having Saka on the left and Auba in the middle? - that's the point, if Auba's on the left then Saka is not in what seems like his best position
Martinelli should definitely be getting more game time too but I'm not sure how you fit him, Pepe, Auba and Saka in - as you say if Auba goes then that will be solved for next season, i'd be perfectly happy to see Saka, Martinelli and Pepe line up
Auba through the middle is a myth we all seem so obsessed with. In none of his previous teams has he played as a central striker. In Dortmund as well as with Gabon. Besides there are no chains on him. He is a good striker no doubt but he is not a terrier in say the mould of jamie vardy. He wont fight to get goals. Its either perfectly placed for him to score or no dice. Dortmund got on fine without him. We do not play an effective system and we have a really really bad midfield. The centre mids are supposed to provide a bulwark against opposition attacks and generate potent offence. Do you think even this shit team would not be 3 levels better with peak Vieira and Petit?. We can rant and rave as much as we like but this team is structurally deficient. It is easier to coach defenders because the scenarios they have to deal with are more predictable so journeymen as we see in many teams like Sheff Utd and Burnley and the like can defend quite competently. But how are you going to coach competent midfielders who do not have it in their innate being to be both spatially aware and capable of feeding the front strikers.
Our delusion that Auba will save us is grossly misplaced. He is not van Persie, he is not even Alexis Sanchez. He is not that guy. We need badly to ditch our midfield pairing and get players that can do a proper job there. Look at Leicester's midfield. Head and shoulders above ours. Do you think Vardy would be that good with Xhaka and Ozil in his team?. We have the wing play sorted I think and Martinelli can deliver enough in place of Auba. There is absolutely no need to spend 300k to keep him while keeping Xhaka and Ozil to feed him. This is a club now in obvious financial peril. We need to be wiser both on the pitch and off it.
Make 2mrw better than 2day
Sorry i had to repost because i didnt want it to seem like a reply to your post with which i mostly agree
You are right, but Ozil is yesterdays news. If we had been strategic and wanted to keep him then we should have got an experienced manager like Ancelotti who may have found a better use for him albeit it was Ancelloti who dumped him at Madrid....because he has no character, no personality. Ozil is Ozil. i dont think anything can change him. He is a player in whose mind has soared above criticism. He wont stress himself in any game
We are a dumpster fire and we hire a kid down the road to put it out. crazy crazy management at the highest level
to my mind if we are going to play Auba central then we either have 5 at the back with overlapping wingbacks or 5 in midfield. Either way both Saka and Tierney must play together and both Bellerin and Pepe. Auba through the middle but i bet you ha and saka will be exchanging position simply because Auba always drifts to the wing
Last edited by Globalgunner; 22-06-2020 at 10:34 AM.
Make 2mrw better than 2day
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