Morning all.
Let me begin by saying that this is not a article to suggest the club part ways with Mikel Arteta. I’ve said from the day he was appointed that he needs time. Time to make the squad his own. We all know what happened last summer and again in January. Players who he didn’t see fitting into his style of football were gone. In my opinion, January was a very successful month as far as moving players on goes.
What I find quite interesting is that the players who we here on HH continue to feel disappointed by are ones not signed whist he’s been the manager. They are all, bar Willian, either Raul, Gazidis or Arsene Wenger signings. I would add Unai Emery to that list but after what’s been said by him in the past, he didn’t really have a say in transfer dealings.
Xhaka, Aubameyang, Bellerin, Luiz, Elneny and Pepe.
Admittedly, there are one or two who the club got right like Tierney, Martinelli and perhaps Leno.
Edu, Arteta and the board have brought in Mari, Cedric, Partey and Gabriel. The loan of Ceballos was extended and both Ryan and Ødegaard joined us on loan in January. Willian remains a mystery.
Willian aside, my personal opinion is that the additions Arsenal have made during Arteta’s reign have been a success. I’m on the fence re Ødegaard and Ceballos as like Arsenal in general, their performances are up and down.
Mikel Arteta can’t be blamed for our players missing sitters, nor can he be blamed for schoolboy errors his players make. Every defender should know not to push, tug or shove a opponent in our own penalty area just as they know not to handle the ball. Until next season, handball is handball, accidental or otherwise although Kevin Friend has yet to receive that memo!
Team selection and substitutions we always be something many of us will possibly disagree on. Either that or we all disagree with Arteta. It’s what football fans do just as it’s easy to say what ‘should’ have happened long after the final whistle blows. What would we talk about otherwise?
‘Willian shouldn’t have started’ I read yesterday, not here I hasten to add but on social media, yet against Leicester, he was very good. Could Arteta have foreseen the change? No is the simple answer. Pepe was also very good against Leicester so I’d imagine Arteta thought he’d cause similar problems against Burnley when he brought him on from the bench. Had he not have goofed his sitter, he’d have been the hero. Instead, he’s the villain along with Xhaka of course.
The question I often ask myself is are we playing better than we did this time last year and I think we are. Just not in every game and funny enough, more often than not, the blame is aimed towards one of Pepe, Bellerin, Aubameyang, Xhaka, Elneny, Pepe and sometimes Lacazette and Leno too. Oh, and definitely Willian.
In case you’re wondering what I’m rambling on about, the Edu/Arteta signings aren’t really letting the team down. Ok, so don’t play them but that’s when it gets tricky because who replaces them? That question is yours to answer if you fancy.
I suppose when I wrote the title, the answer in my head was ‘one more summer transfer window’. Purely because Arsenal are in a negative catch 22 situation. We need European football for the money but we need money to sign the kind of players Arteta probably believes he needs to secure a place back in the top four.
My hope is that this summer, the Arsenal clear out continues. I think it has to in order to generate funds we need. Then, if the club continues to add players of quality rather than in quantity, then in all likelihood, we’ll become more consistent and chasing top four will be a reality more than blind hope. Maybe then, the question marks which I believe are currently hanging over Mikel Arteta, will be answered. One way or another anyway.
See you in the comments.
Thanks Rico, how long does an FACup win buy you these days?
I think it bought Terry Neill about 4 years back in the last century, it probably buys you 6 months at Chelsea and 6 months at Man City these days.
Winning the league didn’t save Ranieiri, winning the Champions League didn’t save Di Matteo either, Mancini won the league and he was out the door sharpish, then you get Rodgers who hasn’t won anything in England and he looks safe, if Mourinho wins nowt this season he’ll be safe at Tottenham unless he kicks off.
How long will it be before #KloppOut is trending or #GerrardforLFC, it’s laughable really, but such is the crazy social media world we inhabit…
Arteta should get until the end of his current contract imo, but let’s see how the crowds react when they return, gauging opinion from the online community is tricky and not an exact science.
We’re all pissed off after a disappointing result and comment accordingly.
Steady as she goes is how I see it even if we get tonked by the Scum.
Morning all.
Kev, yet so many fans blame Arteta for missing sitters and VAR 🙂
I don’t even use the FA cup final when gauging his success.
I just look at the changes being made.
He could’ve cruised along, or he could try and turn the club around.
Fans all knew it needed a massive change, yet many don’t want to wait for it.
Most realise how big a task it is, and it’ll take time but we are getting there.
I think you’re right about the fans Kev, in one way the team needs them but in another way, if they’re not happy, well….
Scott, that’s why I personally think he needs at least another summer. The signings so far have been extremely positive imo. I guess the summer activity depends on where we finish the season and who we can sell and for how much.
Rico, yep, lots of factors at play but January showed we mean business as a club.
Plenty of great signs off the pitch, I reckon.
As a legendary ex League coach once said, winning starts at the front office.
That’s pretty much what the post said Scott. I think Edu and Arteta etc have done a good job off the pitch.
Good afternoon Rico and everyone.
Good question posed Rico. And its not an easy one. If, as you pointed out, we are to go through the squad we would find the majority of players are not Arteta ones. They are players bought in before him by AW and Emery. And many supporters will have different opinions on who to keep and who to sell.
Currently, only a few players are deemed top quality by all supporters. Tierney, Partey Saka and ESR are the four that each and every supporter will deem to be unsalable. Its virtually impossible to sell or release all the others in order to buy new players. However the squad, although it has been trimmed really well last January, needs to sell/release in order to get new players in.
It depends how many players Arteta manages to sell, how much money he makes and how many quality players come in. Players like Guendouzi, Torreira, Kolasinac can fetch quite a few quid. They are on loan and with them sold and gone the present squad isn’t sort of affected in any way. So the money they fetch in does is sort of a bonus. Their sale will effectively buy two solid defenders in my opinion. all three can be sold for a combined 40-45 million.
Then there are the English players who are on loan…AMN and Willock. Will they be kept?? will they be sold?? I feel both of them will be gone next season. Both are English so, AMN is an international as well. However, I feel that unless he buckles down and plays the way Arteta wants him…probably at RB…but not in CDM, then I feel he will be sold. Willock as well…..he is playing well for NUFC and will develop in a good box to box midfielder, but if he was that good Arteta would have kept him. If he is kept it will be as a 2nd fiddle but not as first choice. Selling these two would get us a solid player in midfield or defence. Both can fetch up to 20-25 million between them imo.
Then there is the Nketiah and Nelson conundrum. Do we keep or sell?? In my opinion both are talented and they can become better especially Nelson. But both need game time and unless they are loaned out (and in Reiss’ case accept that he goes for a loan) to an EPL club which plays them I feel that both will be sold. Being English their sale could fund another good player. Both can go for 10-15 million I feel
So that is 7 players (only two of whom are with the club) out. And in their place maybe 4 good solid players. These 7 I feel could fund what is needed for the defence to improve….that is a RB, CB, cover for LB and a DM.
It is clear that one of Auba and Laca needs to go as well. With what I keep reading it seems that Laca will be sold but Auba will remain. Laca is still 29 and can fetch a tidy sum. 25-30 million imo.
Bellerin I have already discussed in the previous post. And since there are PSG, Barca and Juve in for him that is only good as they will increase his price.
The above two can get us a good player or two, especially in the forward positions.
I still have to discuss if Xhaka, Elneny and Chambers will be kept. Can we get better players in for them?? Maybe yes and maybe no. Chambers proved to be solid on his return and may be kept for another year, either as RB or CB cover. He is good enough to rotate with the other defenders.
As for Pepe and Willian….they will be here next season….no matter what many might say. Because I do not think Arteta will sell or release one of them.
Scott is right….many wanted change in the team, many realize that its needed but few are prepared to wait. Its a big ask but slowly the signs are that we are getting there. We cannot expect changes to occur overnight. A playing style and tactical evolution take time after long years playing in the same way.
My guess is that next season we will be a lot healthier than this season……and we will look back and say that this was the season it all started taking shape.
SAF took 4 years to make Man utd his own team and was on the verge of being sacked. I dont feel that Arteta can do miracles in just a season and a half….especially since he had to change the squad, playing style, mentality and everything at the club. We had stagnated and he should not bear the brunt of the choices and players bought by AW and Emery.
The rest of the squad I feel that Arteta will fill them with players from the academy. There are those who have been on loan this season, there will be others who will be used as well.
What I feel that Arteta should do is similar to what Potter has pointed out….use the league games remaining to play them….we would not know if they are good if we dont play them plus if we are not going to finish 4th, 5th and 6th there is no point finishing 8-11th place and still keep playing the same has beens.
And I also feel that the board will keep Arteta for next season and also the season after. The only way they will kick him out is if he does not improve next season……if the team shows signs of regressing then yes….but if we improve he will be kept.
Can’t believe the apologist comments! If we are striving to be the best, Arteta was and still is Pep’s bag boy. I despised him even in his playing days at the club.
One word summarizes Arteta … “USELESS.”
Afternoon Devil and thanks. Selling sounds easy doesn’t it but we still need s9me other club to want them.
Can’t see the youth/squad players playing the remaining League fixtures and in any case, I’m not overly confident we’ll progress in Europa.
Robin, I admire your honesty. I was surprised Arsenal appointed him in the first place with such a big job to do but I’m not sure he’s useless. Out of his depth perhaps as time will or will not prove.
I am not maintaining that they should all play together but Arteta seems to have caught the 70 minute bug and instead of going for his staples that’s when we need to see the hopefuls to guage what they can offer.
As said there is in footballing terms little difference between finishing 8th or 11th but financially there is the merit prize which decreases by about 1 million per position . That is obviously important for the balance sheet but if we can’t give them playing time as we play the teams below us then we are in a worse place than we think.
I would ask Robin who he would have appointed to the job once Wenger left. I am discounting the Emery period because we tried a manager that had a record of success at Europa League level but it did not work out .
There were many names in the papers but none of them wanted to work under the restraints that come with the Arsenal job.
I am not saying that Arteta was my absolute favourite but I am not sure that anyone from the premier league merry go round was the answer and picking foreign names from a hat probably wasn’t either.
G’day to you all.
Arteta has often said that playing out from the back is his favoured tactic and sees no reason to abandon it.
That said, there are times when it is not suited to the players actually on the pitch. The purpose is to draw the opposition forward thus leaving space behind them for our players to take advantage of. Our goal on Sunday was a case in point. I think it was Partey who got the ball to Willian who was free to run forward with it before laying it off for Aubameyang to put in the net. All well and good.
From that moment on, the Burnley players were expecting a repeat performance and so some stayed back and the three forwards with which finished the game, Aubameyang, Willian and Lacazette, just did not have the pace to get beyond the defenders.
The interaction between Leno, the centre backs, the fullbacks and Xhaka has become so sluggish that the rest of the team just stand and wait to see what’s going to happen. Our forwards should be constantly in motion. looking for space and making themselves available for the ball played up-field. Aubameyang, Willian and Lacazette become mere spectators.
My conclusion is, if we are to stick with Arteta’s tactic we need not Aubameyang, Willian and Lacazette up front but Martinelli, Saka and Pepe.
It must become the norm for our midfielders and forwards to give Leno better options than constantly passing sideways and short between our defenders.
Who’d have thought Arsenal and Liverpool would be fighting it out… for 9th place. Actually its about right for Arsenal but I didn’t see Liverpool imploding like this, funny though.
On the subject of Rico’s post, I firmly believe that Arteta deserves more time and am equally sure that the board will give him that time. Certainly for the remainder of his contract and probably beyond. Let’s not forget, and Silent Stan wont, it cost the club £10.4 million to ditch Emery.
Mind you, if Jurgen Klopp becomes available…….😉
Martinelli has played in the u-23? Did he unlearn playing football?
Personally, and it has been proven for a long time, the Laca-Auba duo does not work. It seems that the coach has already realized the same, after several of my comments.
Looking at the style of play we were having, it seems to me, from what I saw (that was very little) Balogun was the best solution; otherwise, the Laca-Martinelli duo is the best. Auba can only enter, having a player in the middle and having space on the left side to start. It’s his ADN in the pitch. Just like in the goal against Burnley. And many others.
That’s why Arteta is the right man for now.
1) no one of the so called Big Name managers will want the enormous rebuilding job. They will all steer clear of it
2) money is tight. So time is needed to make the team new. Arteta is patient for that.
3) we have so much deadwood to be cleared and on good wage bill that shifting them would be costly.
4) a whole mentality change is needed. Would big Name managers have stuck around to instill a new one?
A different manager often seems to be the answer, just as a different player wouldn’t have missed the latest goal scoring opportunity comes our way but in reality, until that person is in exactly the same position, we never know.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-9339027/Champions-League-clubs-BANNED-signing-players-plans-discussed.html
You despised him Robin, Arteta that is, well why was that, what did he do to upset you so?
You didn’t really explain yourself fully you just ranted about if ‘we are striving for the best’ and then nothing, well what best is that Robin, please enlighten me because you’ve just left it hanging there, I mean you obviously have a lot more to tell us before you scoot off back to Le Grove.
Rico, the problem with many on the fanbase is that they look at RM, Barca, Bayern where every position is filled with very good players, and they think that we are in that position. They do not really understand anything about Arsenal’s situation. I am tempted to say that they dont really understand anything about football but I must keep it into perspective. All they think is that a different manager will get us up an running. The truth is that in the last few seasons of AW he was failing but managing to paper over the cracks. Emery tried to turn it around but player power, or his loss of man management with OUR players led to him failing. The club knew and realized that we needed to change a whole mentality. Football today is run differently to football of nearly 30 years ago.
Certain supporters think that if they can do it on FIFA games, or football manager than it can be achieved.
A few days ago I sort of stated that the way Arsenal (under Arteta at least) are going is similar to the way AJAX and maybe also Barca have gone before…..that is, build a club with the structure in place from the academy upwards instead of vice versa. AW began it, Emery encouraged it but it will be Arteta who will eventually pick the fruit. We are embarking on a culture of passing from the back and I believe that that is here to stay. There will be teething problems because to get that right is very difficult. I have been through the process of building academies in clubs so know how it operates. And it takes more than 4-5 years to implement a whole philosophy through the club.
People like Robin have a right to their opinion and it should be respected. However, we should look at where we were against Burnley in the corresponding fixture last season and compare it to where we are right now with regards playing style, tactics etc. We are playing a lot different. True, the result did not go our way as shooting ourselves in the foot plus the VAR cock up saw us draw. but we were very different now to what we were last year.
Rico @ 4.28 I doubt that would materialize. It would be shot down I feel.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-9338779/UEFA-edging-closer-agreeing-plans-money-spinning-supersized-Champions-League.html
Devil, that’s what I mean in relation to Arsenal improving. There are many signs we are but as said, we’re inconsistent. Until Arteta has the right players to play his way, we’ll continue to be inconsistent imo.
yes we will remain inconsistent because it seems as if the players are like bunnies caught in the headlights. they are at crossroads between the old tactical methods against the new ones that Arteta is trying to implement.
Rico with regards the transfer between UCL clubs, I feel that Arsenal themselves should begin looking at the lower clubs much more. And not only lower clubs but also at clubs in Scotland and also Europe non UCL clubs.
Tierney came from Scotland. Right now…..is there any other LB anyone would exchange him for?? For me I would not change him for anything or anyone. Not even if they offered 200M+. And I bet that like him there are others.
Trying to log back in gain I have had to go back to yesterday’s post which opens when I click on my usual link.
I’m not sure that’s quite true Devil. I doubt fans here expect us to be Barcelona etc but instead look to clubs like Liverpool and Leicester and the way they do things. And I think that’s what Edu and Arteta are trying to do but of course, we don’t have a Maguire or Courtino (spelling) to sell. Instead we’ll need to sell in numbers.
yes we have a MAguire or Couthinho…..we have Saka and ESR. In two years time both of them can fetch 200M+ and that can fund a whole team.
Its that we fans will not consider selling them for any fee.
When I referred to Barca and Ajax I was referring to how many good players they produce which go on to play in their first team. We are slowly working towards that imo.
Some supporters (I did not say all – but ones like Robin) think that we have players of the calibre of these teams. We do not. We have Xhaka, Luiz, Willian, etc, And whilst they are not bad players, the EPL is simply a different kettle of fish to European leagues like la liga etc. For all I know, Lacazette might be average for us but a star for Barca. The league there is slower and more technical.
We have to buy players from the lower divisions and from other teams. But we need to produce our own as well. Much more than we have done in the last few years since we produced Cole.
Yes, a few of us here have been saying similar Devil. There has to be a lot of talent in the lower leagues.
Potter, did you refresh the link you ordinarily use, sometimes that works.
no just did it again and it just refreshed yesterdays. Keep posting the new links and I can follow that. But that doesn’t help anyone else that might be looking for you.
The NN link usually works but yes, it’s not ideal.
Morning all.
Robin, I just spoke to Arteta who had several words he’d use to describe you and funnily enough, none were very complimentary 🙂 🙂
Wow, the prime example of a fan who wants change and wants it now, along with a participation award lol
The Xbox generation.
As everyone knows I am not a big fan of Arteta and I am often called negative on this site and some don’t even answer or respond to what I say which is fine but I was all ways brought up to respect other people’s opinions even if you don’t agree with them.
personally I would have preferred that Arteta went and coached on his own for a year or two to learn without Pep in his corner.
As for but Emery I was hoping that we would improve but the club and certain fans never gave him a chance and now certain fans are doing the same thing to Arteta.
This season has been strange for all clubs and the last thing we need to do is panic and keep changing coaches. I would personally take Arteta to one side and simply say if we are not in the top 6 by the end of next season then thanks but good bye.
Until then weather we like / dislike Arteta and the players we have as fans we need to to back them all
Robin has no right to come on here for no doubt his one and only time and call people out and say they are using apologist comments just because he disagrees with them without backing it up, but if he’s free to do it then let us all pile in because to me his comments are borne out of his own personal dislike of Arteta and are baseless, ignorant nonsense.
So IFAB say players can be handed a yellow card for screaming out to loud and trying to con the ref when injured like Laca, may be IIFAB should start handing out yellow cards to ref’s in the VAR room for stuffing up but then I guess we would have no ref’s left in England after half a season
Kev, that’s a very polite way of saying he’s a dick.
Geoff, you know I disagree with you on Arteta but hey, that’s what makes this group brilliant.
We should be aiming for top 4 next season imo mate.
No club other than City are flying right now, so we are in a position where we should be aiming for a decent finishing position.
This next transfer window will be massive for us.
If we can sell some more players, top up with quality then we are 90% to having Artetas squad.
No excuses then, but again, he won’t need any.
Scott I would be more worried if I was a Liverpool fan at the moment as they have no excuse to be so low on the ladder
Geoff, in all fairness, they’ve had injury issues but then, while they were very lucky last season, their lack of squad depth is killing them.
Boo Fekken hoo bahahahaha
New post up now
https://highbury-house.com/2021/03/09/at-least-the-chances-are-there/
Rico, think you are pretty spot on.
He deserves more time to move players out and get more in. How much time is the question for me.
We need to get rid of 6-7 players from the squad at least, and they need to fund the rebuild. Unfortunately most of world football is broke. So getting decent money in is going to be tough.
So I’d like to say a couple of summers, but in reality we need Champions league football ASAP.
So my line in the sand is Champions league qualification next season.
I’m still clicking on your link Rico
That’s annoying Kev but thanks for letting me know.