Mikel Arteta Thread

[Letters]

While we're not that great we are still one of the best teams in the country, we're not that bad either.
Overly negative opinions of first team regulars are just obviously WUMmish. I think we can all agree that Gerhinho shouldn't be paid to play football but clearly most of our first choice players are pretty decent or we wouldn't be finishing in the top 4. Overly positive opinions can be annoying when people rave about a player no matter how they play

As for non-Arsenal fans' opinion of Arteta this seems like a fairly balanced, thought out piece, I don't think the bloke is an Arsenal fan (I may be wrong, if he is he's tried to be objective about things)

http://www.eplindex.com/32048/mikel-...sung-hero.html

[Özim]

While we're not that great we are still one of the best teams in the country, we're not that bad either.
Overly negative opinions of first team regulars are just obviously WUMmish. I think we can all agree that Gerhinho shouldn't be paid to play football but clearly most of our first choice players are pretty decent or we wouldn't be finishing in the top 4. Overly positive opinions can be annoying when people rave about a player no matter how they play

As for non-Arsenal fans' opinion of Arteta this seems like a fairly balanced, thought out piece, I don't think the bloke is an Arsenal fan (I may be wrong, if he is he's tried to be objective about things)

http://www.eplindex.com/32048/mikel-...sung-hero.html

One of the best teams in the country? I find using best strange, the reason being we're really were very average for large parts of last season and the season before, we did get results towards the end but the performances were dire to be honest.

We're an OK team in a rather average league these days, we're not really competing for trophies just for a top 4 place against teams who have been shown to lack something.

I think this is our worst team for many years, it lacks creativity, lacks real quality and doesn't have the fighting spirit or hunger for success either.

I saw that piece, I was really referring to the general view, barely anyone really ever mentions his contribution on TV or in the press, this usually points to a player with little influence.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

It's incredibly important to have a player that is always there to control the ball and pass it. It's not to say Arteta is the best at this because he isn't but the need for conventional DMs (as destroyers) I think is a bit antiquated.

spot on.

he's a controller, not a tackler. which is why when he's played in the DM role he's average. when he's playing next to a DM he's excellent i.e. the season before last. when he's the DM and expected to throw his body about, make tackles etc, he's useless. you might not need a destroyer but you need a level of aggression to ensure the midfield isn't overpowered. with arteta you dont get that feeling.

buy a DM, stick arteta next to him and watch him flourish again. but as the kingpin of our midfield? do me a favour.

[Cripps_orig]

Just want him to be more creative.

It's that simple.

[Letters]

One of the best teams in the country?

Yeah.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...e-2012-13.html



By definition we're one of the best teams in the country. It doesn't matter what the other teams are like, whether it's an average league or not, we finished 4th and haven't finished lower than that for yonks.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

we need denilson back tbf

we havent been competing for the title since he's been gone

[Power n Glory]

spot on.

he's a controller, not a tackler. which is why when he's played in the DM role he's average. when he's playing next to a DM he's excellent i.e. the season before last. when he's the DM and expected to throw his body about, make tackles etc, he's useless. you might not need a destroyer but you need a level of aggression to ensure the midfield isn't overpowered. with arteta you dont get that feeling.

buy a DM, stick arteta next to him and watch him flourish again. but as the kingpin of our midfield? do me a favour.

I disagree about him controlling the midfield. We've looked disjointed for the past two seasons and we're struggling to hold on to possession. It's not like before when we had long bouts of pointless possession, now it seems like we generally struggle to keep the ball moving.

[Cripps_orig]

we need denilson back tbf

we havent been competing for the title since he's been gone

The original Arteta

[Cripps_orig]

Midfield has been our weakest position for the last 2 seasons.

Arteta has been the major part of that.

[Özim]

Yeah.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...e-2012-13.html



By definition we're one of the best teams in the country. It doesn't matter what the other teams are like, whether it's an average league or not, we finished 4th and haven't finished lower than that for yonks.

Yes but 4th is hardly a great achievement, the way we are so proud to finish 4th is pretty sad to be honest.

Are the top 6 not all one of the best teams in the country as well? It's pretty meaningless, what would give this meaning is if we were competing with the top clubs or picking up trophies, without this being "one of the best teams in the country" is largely meaningless, who really cares about this?