When will Arteta be sacked by

[Mac76]

It is over. Had we won at Anfield we might have been slight favourites but we didn’t, and West Ham was a must win which we didn’t win. Plus it’s about form, you simply cannot carry the form and mentality into the City game and expect anything but a hard violent raping.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if we drop points against Southampton. Not because they are any good, but simply because we are in free fall

No I wouldn't be surprised either

[Letters]

Free fall?
2 games? Only one of which you’d expect us to win.
Calm down…

[HCZ_Reborn]

Free fall?
2 games? Only one of which you’d expect us to win.
Calm down…

It’s not the results it’s the performances, two games in a row where we’ve collapsed after having a two goal lead.

In the context of the season and the title hunt it is free fall

[Letters]

Convincing lead on paper, but we didn’t play City until mid Feb and still had/have some of the most difficult fixtures of the season to come. There was a reason why there was such caution even when we were 7 or 8 clear given the fixtures we still had to play. City’s most difficult games were arguably done and dusted after they came to the Emirates.

Right.

A mate has said a couple of times that us failing to win it would be the biggest capitulation since Newcastle. That is, as I’ve pointed out to him, complete bollox. I suspect he’s trolling, he’s a bit like that.

As I said to him, our run in is far harder. He responded “you all have to play all the same teams twice”. You do, but you don’t play them in the same order. We were in a bit of a false position with trips to Anfield, St James’ Park and The Ethiad in the last 10 games.

Plus we always knew that our squad was thin and injuries would hurt us more than City. And this is a young squad, we haven’t been there and done it year on year like City have.

Absolutely have to beat Southampton to put a bit of pressure on City for next Wednesday, but I’m not holding out too much hope

[fakeyank]

Wenger In

[Letters]

Wenger In

[selassie]

Some people seem to be saying the reason we won't win the title is down to City's consistency and dominance - yes that is a big factor but despite it, we have done enough to have had a convincing lead still, if Arteta had got more things right, that is what is frustrating.

And don't forget he didn't initially want to strengthen the squad with players like Jorginho and Trossard but get one super-player like Mudric or Felix - again the wrong approach in terms of what we needed to push on this season

This is just purely an assumption that if he would have done things differently the results would have been as we wished. We simply do not know, it's not like we have a squad full of world class players who are being denied playing time.

Arteta has his faults, but he can only work with the players he has at his disposal, yes it is his squad, pretty much one he entirely built but it still needs improvements.

I don't think if we fall short it's simply a case of City are dominant and relentless, yes that plays a big factor, the biggest one...but there are other factors that come into play, such as some of Arteta's decision making...though we really do not and will not ever know, also factors such as our squad is simply not strong enough, though we can discount that right now because the title is still technically in our hands even if the odds seem firmly stacked against us.

I know it seems like I am jumping all over the place here, but I actually look at this in simple terms, we are in position nobody thought we would be in and it is not by luck, our performances on the whole back up our league position by merit. Also I don't see enough negatives or faults from Arteta that lead me to believe if we don't win it we blame him. I am not really sure how much more we can ask of him right now, he isn't perfect, but he is getting a lot right.

[Mac76]

It’s not the results it’s the performances

Quite - some people seem incapable of being able to read anything into what to the rest of us are obvious 'tells', in terms of things like how players are or the tactics used (if any), instead they simply put results down to random factors

it's why I've never really believed very much that we'd win the league, because of the things Arteta does and the flaws in certain players

I probably believed we'd win the league for about 20 minutes during the Liverpool game, but once Xhaka reverted to type that was it, back to reality...

[HCZ_Reborn]

Quite - some people seem incapable of being able to read anything into what to the rest of us are obvious 'tells', in terms of things like how players are or the tactics used (if any), instead they simply put results down to random factors

it's why I've never really believed very much that we'd win the league, because of the things Arteta does and the flaws in certain players

I probably believed we'd win the league for about 20 minutes during the Liverpool game, but once Xhaka reverted to type that was it, back to reality...

I’ll also remind you that you spent a week getting tetchy with me because I didn’t think a lot of the performances were that marvellous against Leeds, demonstrating that such a performance against Liverpool would be punished.

A draw against Liverpool I still believe was a creditable result, but the way it came about being two nil up and holding on for a draw is not.

I also think the Xhaka over reaction is a nice flashpoint but ultimately when you have several outfield players who retreat within themselves, fuck up basic passes etc is that to be blamed on Xhaka or are all the players who shit the bed responsible? I have to say I think it’s the latter. If you can’t stand the Anfield cauldron that’s more about your lack of fortitude.

Same with the Partey dawdling against West Ham, yes his casualness led to the penalty that brought them back into the game but it didn’t directly cause the other players whether they started or were brought on to behave like frightened rabbits.

Far more egregious than Arteta’s substitutions was his body language and screaming at the players to “calm down” if he’s not behaving calmly than why on earth are they going to respond in a calm way

[Mac76]

Xhaka ceratinly wasn't the only reason and I'm aware that some people say Sky overplayed the effect of that, but tbh i think there's something about the effect it had not just on Liverpool and their crowd but also our own players, who up to that point had been supremely focussed on playing football, but had that focus interrupted by having to try to prevent a fucking psychotic moron from getting himself sent off (again)

It's proof if ever needed that Xhaka should have been binned a long time ago, no-one ever really loses that self-destructiveness and it's cost us time and time again, it's one of Arteta's biggest black marks that he just can't see it

yes, ok, Xhaka is better (for which you can read "not a total disaster area") this season but we could have got someone else to do what he does, it's not that unique and he's ceratinly not the best at it