When will Arteta be sacked by

[KSE Comedy Club]

I don't think that follows. If a player buys into the vision of a team and wants to move to London and we pay the big bucks then I think we can attract top players.

I do agree, but only to a certain extent.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Definitely not saying he's above criticism, but I do think that your original critique of Arteta was a little unfair. Re last night - yes we can say that the players seemed totally undercooked, but you can't lay all of that on the manager - the players need to shoulder some blame. I wonder whether the 'telepathy' that our forwards can show requires a run of games, and the rustiness after the internantional break seemed palpable. Also, I think we missed Tierney for his application as well as his defending. It can't be a coincidence that he is regarded as the front runner for the captaincy. With Partey White and Gabriel having absoute shockers in terms of being switched on too that seemed to set the tone.

The manager did try to switch up in attack tactically in the second half, and we had a hatful more chances than we did in the Villa game. But basically mistakes and lack of focus killed us.

As for failure to invest in a striker in January, firstly I am not sure that would have made a difference last nigtht anyway with the whole team having 'one of those games' - just like Chelsea did 2 days beforehand. 'Mercenary striker' was my term - and intended to describe any striker bought simply to fill a gap rather than being a planned purchase. Clearly there were no target players available which would have meant taking a punt on a stop gap - with all the potential damage that this could have caused. Breaking the bank to prise a player away from another team would have been a different type of gamble with no guarantee of a CL place either but put the progress made with Arteta's developing team in jeaopardy.

Just saying that some things we are not happy with need to be placed in context, is all.

Absolutely agreed, but I did say it was the teams inefficiencies as well

It was a collective criticism, rather than an attack on Arteta.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Progress? What progress. Are we here believing the current top 3 wont get any better next year, that they will stagnate and wait for Arteta to get his shit together. Is the Arsenal project about getting Arteta to improve or Arsenal to improve?. Man United will get miles better with a competent manager. If the Spuds finish above us then they will get the pick of attacking players in the summer ahead of us unless Kane and Son drop off a cliff post 30. We delude ourselves if we think world class players are dying to play for Arteta. Dream on

This time next year we will have been in Arteta`s 4th season in charge and im sure we will still be talking about the project. Sometimes I wonder if we all believe we have an infinite amount of time to reach the pinnacle of football in our lifetimes. 26 years since " the greatest" Wenger took over and led us to the cusp of success but not its summit. 16 years since we left Highbury. For what exactly? Are we still a work in progress?. So even if we by some miracle edge our way into 4th (unlikely. I cant see us beating Spuds or United in later games). Are we seriously going to contend to win the CL with Arteta in charge, barging our way past the likes of Bayern, PSG and Madrid. Will Arteta suddenly come of age next season?. The guy cant even pilot his way past Nottingham Forest in an FA cup. Are we fans now only worried about the CL for its cash contributions. Does Kroenke even care about that?

The club has become the Arteta weaning academy, soon to lose 2 of the best prospects in football in Guendouzi and Saliba, just to salve our baby managers fragile ego. It would be nice to win the league again and maybe the CL in this lifetime, not my next.

Supporting this club is like having a slow acting poison lacing your daily cup of tea. Faint but inexorable demise.

We have made progress in that we are a far better and more cohesive team than we were when Arteta took over.
Defensively we have been more astute and we have looked sharp in plenty of games, which we have missed for a long time.

But other than that, most of what you say is quite true and quite sad to think about tbh

[Letters]

Progress? What progress.

This time last year we were:

P29 W12 D6 L11 F40 A32 Pts42

At this stage. Now we are:

P29 W17 D3 L9 F44 A34 Pts54

Are we here believing the current top 3 wont get any better next year, that they will stagnate and wait for Arteta to get his shit together.

Do you think all the top teams improve steadily year on year? That isn't how anything works. We have clearly improved since last year.
Whether we continue to will remain to be seen but Arteta has earned the right to try.

Are we seriously going to contend to win the CL with Arteta in charge, barging our way past the likes of Bayern, PSG and Madrid.

I don't think we are ready for the CL yet to be honest, but I think Arteta is taking us in the right direction and has thus earned the right to try and continue that.

Supporting this club is like having a slow acting poison lacing your daily cup of tea. Faint but inexorable demise.

Holy shit, dude. You understand that fans of most clubs don't get to see half the success we've seen? It's only 2 years since our last FA Cup. I've seen us win more trophies in my time than fans of many clubs have or will ever see.
The title has eluded us for a long time but we have no divine right to win it, and in an era where clubs are buying up titles left, right and centre it's not as easy as it used to be.
Right now I'm just looking for progress. And I'm seeing it. I don't think we will be sweeping all before us any time soon and I'm not sure Arteta is the right person to get us right to the top. But I do see progress and he's earning the right to continue that, for now.

[Bumble]

i do think we have progressed in the last year obviously need to see how the rest of the season pans out. but i think you can see a plan in the team. a plan with the players that remain. emphasis around younger developing players. getting rid of the old guard first to allow wages space to make a few signings. 1st team needs padding couple of forwards, another Centre mid and a defender who could play full back.

but we could actually pick our best side and without european football have been able to play more or less the same team most weeks. the worry is that we miss CL football and get stuck in Europa league. more games make things harder. Newcastle will invest now they are likely to stay in the division. So there target is Europa next season.

So miss CL this year and think no chance next season.

[Mac76]

Do you think all the top teams improve steadily year on year? That isn't how anything works. We have clearly improved since last year.
Whether we continue to will remain to be seen but Arteta has earned the right to try.



I don't think we are ready for the CL yet to be honest, but I think Arteta is taking us in the right direction and has thus earned the right to try and continue that.



Holy shit, dude. You understand that fans of most clubs don't get to see half the success we've seen? It's only 2 years since our last FA Cup. I've seen us win more trophies in my time than fans of many clubs have or will ever see.
The title has eluded us for a long time but we have no divine right to win it, and in an era where clubs are buying up titles left, right and centre it's not as easy as it used to be.
Right now I'm just looking for progress. And I'm seeing it. I don't think we will be sweeping all before us any time soon and I'm not sure Arteta is the right person to get us right to the top. But I do see progress and he's earning the right to continue that, for now.

[Globalgunner]

This is the same guy that used to cheerlead for Wenger well into his decline, till he hit his perigee. I dont take his opinions seriously

Progress is obvious. If the same teams have been on top for the last 5 seasons, interchanging places only how can you say they are not improving year on year.

We will see where we end up finally but if it isnt 4th then what is the tangible progress

If you are a rocket company say "SpaceArse" and you start off by having your rocket blow up on the launchpad, then a year later it blows up 5 miles in the sky. Is that progress?.
Meanwhile another company 200 miles away "SpaceCity" is launching vehicles which go round the Earth and land safely

Lets not delude ourselves. We are only in the Space race literally for the government grants...or shall we say in this case the suckers wallet grants.

[Letters]

I dont take his opinions seriously

I posted a league table comparison from last season and this. That isn't an opinion

Progress is obvious.

See the league table comparison. And just generally, look at the way we've been playing. If you don't value my opinion because I didn't buy in to the "Wenger is a bumbling idiot" nonsense, then you can look at lots of other posters on here who are seeing the same things I'm seeing. OK, Monday night was a car crash. But generally our performances have been good recently. It feels like a team more willing to fight for each other and for the fans. The team seems to be playing with more purpose. And they've reacted well to setbacks. We could yet collapse, you can only really judge progress at the end of the season, but right now things are looking better. Our reaction to Monday's mess will be another test.

We will see where we end up finally but if it isnt 4th then what is the tangible progress

Last season we finished 8th on 61 points. Top 4 isn't the only metric of progress. Last year we weren't even in the conversation for top 4

If you are a rocket company say "SpaceArse" and you start off by having your rocket blow up on the launchpad, then a year later it blows up 5 miles in the sky. Is that progress?.

Yes, that's progress. It's closer to what SpaceCity can do than you were. It tells you that you're still not where you need to be. But the important thing is you continue to progress with the aim of emulating what SpaceCity can do. At the same time one should be realistic. If SpaceCity have an Elon Musk backing them who can pump more money in to R&D than we ever can then that does rather affect our ability to do all the things they can do. We do have enough resources that we should be aiming to compete with them, but from the last couple of seasons we were never going to bridge that gap in one season. I'm not entirely convinced that Arteta is the right man to get us there, but for me he's earning the right to try.

[IBK]

Do you think all the top teams improve steadily year on year? That isn't how anything works. We have clearly improved since last year.
Whether we continue to will remain to be seen but Arteta has earned the right to try.



I don't think we are ready for the CL yet to be honest, but I think Arteta is taking us in the right direction and has thus earned the right to try and continue that.



Holy shit, dude. You understand that fans of most clubs don't get to see half the success we've seen? It's only 2 years since our last FA Cup. I've seen us win more trophies in my time than fans of many clubs have or will ever see.
The title has eluded us for a long time but we have no divine right to win it, and in an era where clubs are buying up titles left, right and centre it's not as easy as it used to be.
Right now I'm just looking for progress. And I'm seeing it. I don't think we will be sweeping all before us any time soon and I'm not sure Arteta is the right person to get us right to the top. But I do see progress and he's earning the right to continue that, for now.

As for Globalgunner's post - a dollop of reality is required here. This is that since Wenger's last years we have been a club in total drift. We failed to make CL - AW's benchmark - in his last 2 seasons, and have failed to do so since. More importantly we lost both our identity and our direction; underwent a shit show in terms of club leadership and saw the fracturing of a fan base that is an essential component of the togetherness that sustained success needs to be built on. Add to this the far more level playing field that TV money has brougth to the EPL and other clubs being bought by investors with deeper pockets than before and you have a near perfect storm for a club like ours. For an almost direct comparison for what happens to a club that loses its longest serving and most successful manager - and the fact that throwing money at a problem is not an automatic solution - just look at Manure since SAF. For an example of how a longer term approach that focusses on identity and canny investment in players who buy into a programme look at Liverpool (I am ignoring Citeh and Chelsea here as theirs is a model that is simply not available to us).

Its no surprise that Arteta has made mistakes and shown inexperience - this is his first managerial job - but Klopp took 3 years to win his first silverware (Arteta won his first major silverware in his first full season with us) and our manager is starting way behind where Klopp did in terms both of experience and players. What we fans have been sceptical about is what the manager's plan is, and signs of serious change in playing style; identity and 'DNA'. Arteta has delivered this this season no matter whether we now finish top 4 or top 7. As Letters says, the points total so far speaks for itself. The plan is clear for the first time in years.

The question of whether Arteta can win us the league or the CL is totally premature at this stage. We needed to get the basic building blocks in place and the fans behind the team before even thinking about sustained progress to that point.

Monday was a setback for sure, and a thin squad/injuries may yet leave us disappointed this season but to argue that there has been no progress is way far of the mark.

[Globalgunner]

When your reality is being 2nd class, accepting it and even justifying it well...thats the nub of the problem right there