Quote Originally Posted by Marc Overmars View Post
He has always been risk averse coach which has plagued us since the start. I’d love to know how many games we’ve lost without scoring because it feels like a lot under Arteta. I appreciate the fact that you need defensive stability and control to compete but goals and only goals are going to actually get you over the line when it matters. Even someone like Mourinho at his defensive peak often had world class forwards who would deliver consistently.

I don’t believe that he can’t coach forwards, I think it’s more that he doesn’t feel like they’re absolutely essential. Which is something from the Pep playbook that he probably observed at City.

I think we are a team of substance but no style. Which is a complete 180 to what we used to be. I think Arteta has over complicated things, we take too much touches and cannot seem to penetrate defences with any pace because of the sideways nature of our football. Any forward will probably suffer in our current system.


I agree with everything you said except your partial defence of him on the forwards thing. Their I'm with IBK.

I mean he's been a coach for five years and has failed to nuture or spot on his own a quality forward. I also believe he's added very little to Saka and Odegaard's game and clearly Martinelli has regressed. Trossard is also regressing though TBF he was one of the first to identify his killer instinct and that he was better as a forward than a winger.

TBF, it's probably difficult for a coach to be an expert in all areas. I also think his mentor isn't that great in spotting strikers despite Haaland's obvious success (which face it, all the stats from his previous clubs meant was likely anyway). AW wasn't great in building defences or spotting out quality defenders either and like I've said many times owed his early successes to the culture and foundation he found at the club.

Maybe the sooner he recognises his weakness, the more likely he does something about it. I really want the guy who comes and takes Edu's job to be someone Arteta (or whoever the coach is) can bounce footballing ideas off, just like the way AW was able to do with Dein.