Morning all.
Ruben Amorim is having a tough time at Man Utd which obviously I couldn’t give two hoots about but it’s quite amusing to see Jim Ratcliffe use Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s initial struggles to defend his manager and justify why he needs more time. A lot more time.
“Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years,” the Manchester United minority owner told The Business podcast. “Football is not overnight. It’s three years. You also look at Arteta. He had a miserable time over the first couple of years.”
One, possibly the only comparison between the two managers first season, is that they both reached a cup final. As the Sky Sports article goes on, “while Arteta guided Arsenal to FA Cup success, beating Chelsea in the final having overcome Manchester City in the last four, Amorim suffered Europa League disappointment against Spurs”.
Seriously though, the two managerial journeys are very very different. Amorim arrived at Utd with six years of managerial experience behind him him including four years at Sporting Lisbon while Mikel Arteta walked back I to Arsenal with zero managerial experience. Yes he’d coached players at City and he’d worked with Pep Guardiola but there’s a huge difference between that and managing your own staff and players.
Talk about lowering the bar to defend a manager who is clearly struggling to implement his style and tactics at his current club.
However, in some ways it’s refreshing for someone relevant at a club to come out in support of a struggling manager as far as “time” goes. Expecting a new manager to walk into a new club and immediately excel is foolish in my opinion. Any manager needs time and more importantly, he needs players. His players.
We have seen the change/improvement at Arsenal which has gone hand in hand with new players joining the club. Better players in some cases or in others, different kind of players. At the time, I didn’t think Mikel Arteta inherited a dreadful squad, not when one considers he had the likes of Tierney, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Ozil, Guendouzi, Leno, Pepe, Martinez and Torreira to name a few but they just weren’t who Arteta wanted or needed going forwards. For different reasons I’m sure, nearly all of the group of players he inherited have long gone and as harsh as it might sound, we’re better because of it. Personally, i couldn’t understand stand some of the decisions Arteta and the board made in relation to players who were sold/moved on but broadly speaking, they’ve proved to be right.
Similar could be said about players who have joined the club since December 2019 too, overall I mean. Yes, a few have come and soon gone but that’s something many clubs go through as not every transfer works out but I think the last two/three years have seen a number of quality players arrive at Arsenal. This summer was an excellent one in my opinion and we’re yet to really see just how good Piero Hincapie is.
Of course we all want jam today, but more often than not, it doesn’t arrive. Seldom does it arrive tomorrow either but as long as the recipe can be seen and the fruit is being picked, it will be made.
Perhaps that’s what Radcliffe is trying to say when he talks about Mikel Arteta. A rocky start he might have had but the Arsenal board/owners along with the manager knew time was needed. More time than me and other impatient fans expected I’m sure but I’m not sure there’s another manager out there who I’d prefer to see in the Arsenal dugout. Not unless we could go back in time to 1996.
Lastly, if you haven’t seen Bukayo Saka’s goal for England last night, check it out. Brilliant..
Catch up in the comments.
Afternoon Rico and all. Nice write up Rico
I have no idea how they can compare these 2 managers, When Arteta took over we had just started to rebuild from scratch, Man U had the money and the players to work with also Sir Alex was still coaching in the background were Wenger walked rite away from the club and had no say in who stayed and who went.
Afternoon Geoff, Arsene did the right thing to walk away imo. For himself as much as the club because after 22 years, it must have been heart wrenching for him to walk away.
The Professional Game Board (PGB) has sanctioned Arsenal FC for breaching the 2024-25 FA Cup Rule 192 in relation to its third round tie against Manchester United FC on Sunday 12 January 2025.
2024-25 FA Cup Rule 192
The home club shall comply with any request for tickets made in accordance with Rule 191.
2024-25 FA Cup Rule 191
For competition matches other than a semi-final or the Final, the away club shall have the right to claim either:
(a) up to 15% of the tickets issued (up to a maximum of 9,000); or
(b) if the Ground is not all ticketed, up to 15% the Ground’s maximum capacity, provided that:
191.1. the tickets are for admission to a fully segregated area; and
191.2. the request for the tickets is made within four days of the relevant draw.
It was alleged that Arsenal FC had breached the 2024-25 FA Cup Rule 192, and the matter was referred to the PGB for consideration.
The PGB concluded that Arsenal FC had failed to comply with the 2024-25 FA Cup Rule 192 and imposed a suspended £500,000 fine.
The fine is suspended pending Arsenal FC’s confirmation that it is able to comply with this requirement for the 2025-26 FA Cup third round and continued compliance for any further rounds of this season’s competition.
I think that’s fair providing the away club pay in full for the number of tickets they request whether they sell them all or not.
The rate at which United are dropping points the fans are going to be royally passed off to learn that it will be the best part of two years before the team can be considered competitive.
Arteta had a number of players that he considered incapable of playing his preferred system but, unlike Amorin, he didn’t freeze them out immediately but operated judicially in the transfer market to replace them and also promoted players from the club academy.
To compare the two is not so much chalk and cheese as cheese and the contents of the tray at the bottom of a parrots cage.
Their situations were completely different too, a novice v an experienced and successful manager, albeit in a less strong league.
I heard a rumour that Liverpool considered Amorim to replace Klopp but wouldn’t support his playing three at the back system so that’s why they went for Slot.
Morning Gooners, morning Rico, yes I saw that Jim Ratcliffe piece (didn’t watch it), that’s the sort of absolute garbage comparisons you get when the sports media keep on pumping out negative narratives on Arsenal and Arteta, people get groomed into thinking a certain way about a club and/or it’s manager.
So, of course Ratcliffe would use Arteta, after all he’s getting the sack this summer don’t you know, especially if Arsenal don’t win the Treble – because the Overlap said so!
The comparisons are tenuous, Amorim has been a league champion 3 times in Portugal with Sporting whilst Arteta was a new manager having to rebuild a squad of players who were overpaid and under-motivated whilst learning on the job, only Bernie Mee in recent years comes close to Arteta in it being his first job.
As for the tickets for away teams, somebody in the ticket office and the ground staff needs to grow a backbone, we shouldn’t be filling half the Clock End with away fans in cup ties, they should be squeezed into the corner and both upstairs and down regardless of security and control issues because it can be done if you’re determined and smart enough to do it, if you’re not then the club should hire someone who can do it. Newcastle have it right…
Also look at the two pictures Sky Sports used in the graphic, Amorim looks relaxed and in control, Arteta looks like a raving lunatic, that’s a choice Sky took in projecting their narrative of in particular Mikel.
Sky are insidious in their anti-Arteta and by extension anti-Arsenal theme. It might seem a small thing in itself and unimportant but it builds a picture that Sky editors want to propagate and how they influence people.
Morning Kev. I thought Amorim should be compared to Slot if at all anyone, afternoon, both had managed for a similar period and in what I would call weak leagues.
I’m not fussed what they write, they simply don’t like us..
Good point re the away fans by the way, give them the worst seats in the house..
Great point regarding comparison with Slot, but it came from Ratcliffe himself so it shows Rico that even business types are influenced by the media.
I’d stick them in a tent on Finsbury Park with a big screen ,
The manager comparisons are just a made up conversation piece following a marketing meeting at a failing company .
Who are the two clubs most likely to react to a story ? , which two clubs have the most volatile online sets of support ?, how can we manufacture a story to boost our ratings ?
Standard business meeting tactics.
Kev, I think in a roundabout way, Radcliffe was praising Arsenal and Arteta.
Better still, a small screen.
Jack Wilshire tipped to be next Luton manager.
‘morning all.
Arsenal vs Brighton in the WSL live on BBC2 kick-off 1430 today.
Make the most of it because our Women’s Champions League games will be shown on Disney + another rip off for hard up pensioner fans. 😕
Morning Cicero, all.
Nice job for Jack if he gets it. Local, league one and a good place to start imo. Can’t believe he’s just 33 years old. He should still be playing.
Arsenal need a win today to get out of this mini slump they are going through.
Woofa training, wish me luck 😜
Morning Gooners, I think that Wilshere comes from that part of Beds and Herts so it’ll be like a local job, Luton are in the midst of a crisis so he’ll have a big job on his hands, I wonder if he’ll look to take a player or two from the Arsenal Academy on loan or permanently in January?
Rico, good luck with Fido…
Owner training is the greater need, not in your case I hasten to add, Rico. 😉
Half-time one nil to the Arsenal, Smith with a big deflection gets the goal.
Plenty of possession but not much end product.
Hope for it bit more penetration in the second half.
All over even with 13 minutes added time we couldn’t get the second goal. Some good chances created but most were wasted.
One goal, clean sheet, three points. 🔔
As so often written at the bottom my school reports, “Could do better”.
Cicero, you are absolutely spot on, it’s the owners who need training, me included I can assure you. 😂
Kev, our academy players would surely jump at the chance to work with an Arsenal favourite. I hope Jack gets the job and does really well.
Mine too, could do better, disruptive but excels at sport 😂
I saw a discussion earlier where they said UEFA are looking at changing qualification for the World Cup/Euros so England for example would get some big games mixed in with the likes of San Marino/Gibraltar/Andorra/Albania.
A bit like the new Champions league,
makes sense,as long as they don’t have even more internationals.
Makes sense I suppose but yep, no additional fixtures, there are too many already.
Guys, anyone still having a problem when commenting?
After logging on I have to refresh the page to see new comments Rico.
When I logged on just now and went to the latest comment, it was my comment at 4.36 pm. I refreshed the page and the rest of the comments appeared.
Thanks Cicero.
Great news that the 20 surviving hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross.
Trump might be a few things but credit where it’s due eh. Excellent news.
Trump has been a breath of fresh air concerning the never ending procrastination dressed up as foreign affairs. The UN have again come out of all this as a total irrelevance. I guess we’d be a lot worse without it but the UN is full of grifters.
Still the peace deal wouldn’t have happened without the input of Kier Starmer or Macron.
Well Starmer got no nearer than a nice hotel in Sharma el sheikh and Macron is too busy at home in Paris sacking and re-hiring prime ministers.
Rumour has it that Stevie Bould is to join Jack at Luton.
Reports say Martin Odegaard will be out until mid – November. I think that’s good news in a way. We all feared he might be out until next year.
At least this means it’s not as serious as that,even so I’m sure he won’t be rushed back.
After the next international break for Odegaard then I guess. Could have been worse. At least we have Eze and Nwaneri.
New post up.