Morning all.
January has been disappointing for Mikel Arteta, his players and us, the fans. I would say disastrous and to be fair, I wouldn’t be far wrong. We started the New Year in 4th place and in both both domestic cups with one being a semi-final but we’ve finished it with one point added to our tally, knocked out of both cups and sitting 6th in the League.
As expected, Arsenal dominated the possession stats against Burnley but couldn’t find a way past the bus Sean Dych parked in defence. Sorry, there’s a new phrase isn’t there, the low-block.
Was this a missed opportunity to get into the top four…
It was a great chance and we wanted to take that opportunity after missing to get in that final, which was a disappointment because we really wanted to play there and today we had an opportunity to do it. I didn’t see that desire right from the beginning, but I certainly saw it in the second half, but we lack that quality that you need to put the games to bed and to have that knife when you are there to do it, like we missed against Liverpool as well when we had them.
Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard and Alex Lacazette all had chances to score but it was one of those days. There were boos at the end the end of the match, unsurprisingly really having drawn against injury hit, Covid hit and bottom of the League Burnley. I know they’ve not played many fixtures which is part of the reason they are where they are but their results have been poor ever since the season kicked off.
On a weekend when West Ham and Totts lost, it was a chance to gain 3 points on both but in typical Arsenal fashion, we cocked it up.
Why we struggled to break down the Burnley defence?
Well the way we started the game, it was slow and we didn’t play forward enough and didn’t have enough urgency. Probably because of Thursday, it could be one of the reasons. Afterwards we picked the game up and started to get better, and certainly the second half was completely different. We were much more dynamic, we had more penetration, we played forward and we had better positions to (threaten them) in behind and the width, in many situations. We created a number of situations, shots, crosses. But to win this match you need to have a different level of quality, and we lacked that today. With the amount of situations we generated, you need a spark, and someone has to win you the game, if you want to be on top.
So, what is Mikel Arteta saying in his post match interview, his players aren’t good enough or just not good enough on the day? You can draw your own conclusions after his comments about potential transfers:
It’s what we planned, but the market is difficult, it’s complicated. We knew that, but it’s a lot to manage and we have to make the right decisions with players that we believe are going to really help us and try to bring in ones that can take us to the next level. We are certainly trying (to sign players), but I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do it. Let’s see, it’s not only our intention, but a lot of facts that are needed to happen. Players that come here have to be able to take us to the next level. We already have a level, and we want to see much better standards than we already have, and that is how we’re going to recruit.
Interesting eh.
I know Mikel Arteta has said many things about the type of players he needs, numbers too and I’m sure every manager has his own wish list but other than at the obvious clubs, managers don’t always get what they want so they have to adjust and get the best out of who they have.
But why did his team start slowly and not push forward enough? Why did it take until after half-time to get going?
As said, January has been awful but we’ve seen the kind of performance Arsenal delivered yesterday before and many times. That concerns me.
I know Mikel Arteta, with the support of the board, has done a lot of good things, of that there’s no doubt. He’s totally changed the way the squad looks. We’re more organised in defence, with vulnerability to a quick break being mostly a distant memory. The Emirates certainly has a better atmosphere because of him, his ‘process’ and his words about the club. But when it comes to playing against teams who defend, we struggle. When we play against sides who press us high and hard, we struggle. When something isn’t working right on the pitch, Mikel Arteta appears devoid of ideas as the game plays out. His substitutions seldom seem tactical to me, but rather a case of throwing one player into the mix instead of another and usually at a set time in hope.
I know Arteta’s options from within the squad are limited and it doesn’t help when players stupidly get themselves sent off but even so, it doesn’t mean the team has to pass the ball a million times before getting into the opposition’s box does it? After all, isn’t the way to beat a defensive setup with speed, movement and a few quick passes?
Before anyone thinks I’m advocating for Mikel Arteta to be sacked, I’m absolutely not. I’m just disappointed after a month of football with nothing but a solitary point to show for it. The positive is that we still have games in hand over West Ham and Man Utd and by the time the next fixture arrives, players should be rested and refreshed.
My hope is that within the next week, the club can add a couple of players to the squad. One who knows that only finding the gap between the two goalposts matters and one who can and will make our midfield stronger and more efficient than it’s been for a long time but if we don’t, I just hope that after the break, Mikel Arteta and his players are ready and able to push hard for a European spot and get it.
See you in the comments.
Crossed over again.
Who is Biereth? .
Under 23 forward , aged 19 , stands 6 foot 1 ” signed from Fulham has played 15 games for our under 23 team and has scored 7 goals and credited with 3 assists.
Bit too soon for him , lets see what happens in the Papa John’s and decide on next year.
Morning all.
My argument in these instances remains that if we have 20 shots on goal, the tactics are obviously right, it’s down to the players who can’t put the chances away, and we did have the odd sitter so I just don’t see how the manager can be blamed for this one.
If we had 2-3 shots then yes, it’s probable that the tactics were wrong.
We do need strengthening and we all know that, so let’s hope it happens and soon.
Lacazette gets a wonderful chance to slot the ball into an open net. He kicks it wide. That was The Chance to win the game. That’s what he is paid big money to do. Those moments define a player. That is why we will not pay silly money to keep Lacazette.
A disappointing result, but not the end of the world. The rollercoaster season continues…
Morning Rico and all
Arteta has to take a lot of the blame, it’s his side, his game plan.
We kept passing the ball backwards so much that I nearly turned the game over,
Who has banned the players from taking a long shot every now and then even it is easily saved it still keeps there keeper wondering we’re the next shot it going to come from.
Sometimes I wonder if Arteta is putting these players off there game by running up and down the side line like he is getting ready to come on.
I think it’s too soon for him too Potter but he was on the bench.
Morning Geoff.
My gripe is not trying something different like moving Martinelli central and bring on Tavares to play in front of Tierney. Just try something. Chambers might have given us something different too, after all, he likes to pop up with a late goal.
Morning Rico et al,
I agree with ScottOz we had 20 shots on goal Laca missed an excellent opportunity and ESR just hit it hard in the hope it went in and it nearly did so you cannot say that wasn’t an excellent corner. So the tactics were right but I do agree we seemed to be playing at half pace for most of the first half almost a little fearful and way too many passes, very slow pace. I think this was down to tactics because of some makeshift positions and a weak midfield. I was watching Lakonga and thinking why is he not doing his usual running in attack top third he was stopping short and passing, and I realised he was playing the defensive role and was clearly under orders not to roam, his job was to defend and move the ball forwards and he didn’t look happy in that role.
I know he had to take ESR off because he’s only just back from injury and not match fit he was probably our best player and ran his socks off as usual, that run behind their defence was brilliant shame the shot didn’t end in the net. I thought maybe he could have introduced Charlie for the last 20 see if he could make one of those incisive passes to open them up, that would have shown intent to win. We will never know.
It’s the first game I can honestly say we missed Auba, we needed that scrappy box goal he can give us which is why it’s no surprise we are going all out to sign Vlahovic and I hope to god we do because we need him and dare I suggest he needs us. He will get all the game time and have world-class players around him who will create chances and he will put them away. We need the clinical end product and you have to pay big for it.
At what stage do guys earning 50-100-150k a week cop criticism for missing chances I’d put away?
Rollercoaster , Magic Roundabout or Treadmill ?
Seems like the latter to me .
We do need a more clinical forward and like many I thought that we had got one , his record was 1 goal in 2 matches throughout his Lyon career .However at Arsenal he has dropped to 1 in 3 .
Compare this with Nicola Pepe whose record at Lille was 1 in 2 and here is closer to 1 in 4 .
Perhaps we should stop looking to France in particular for goalscorers because they do seem to suffer when they hit the Low Block .
Then again Aubameyang was 1 goal in 1.4 games and here 1 in 2 .
So maybe we should try somewhere else because Germany’ doesn’t seem to be the answer either.
Or maybe we should look at ourselves and ask why ?
Are Premier league defenders better , or are they just better organised ?
Are some premier league managers better at nullifying attacking play afterall Dyche is bottom of the league having played 18 games but his team has only let in 27 goals . So we should not be surprised that they were hard to break down .
However at the other end they have only scored 16 goals so they are not particularly dangerous and even had we slipped up and they scored we should have fancied ourselves to score more.
Tactically we played into Dyche’s hands just as we did last season , we played in front of the back 10 kept possesion and passed it around side to side and middle to back. with the occasional long diagonal to the corners where we tried to centre to a loan striker in a forest of 6 footers with a 6 foot 4 keeper to back them up.
How do you set up to beat their system ? it’s not my job but surely quick passing , exposing players , running at them with speed forcing tackles and drawing fouls .
Not what we served up yesterday.
Morning Mig.
I don’t think anyone is blaming Arteta for players missing what might look to us like easy chances.
Auto correct changed lone to loan .
Maybe a premonition !
But Potter, 20 shots and we can’t put one away?
Is a managers job to ensure we set up concede none and create chances to score, or to put the ball in the net himself?
“How do you set up to beat their system ? it’s not my job but surely quick passing , exposing players , running at them with speed forcing tackles and drawing fouls”
Exactly. When we start slowly and negatively, we often struggle. Had we have come out of the blocks with more purpose, things might have been very different but we didn’t and Burnley settled into defensive mode. Scoring early goals against tactics which Dyche etc deploy is the only way to bring them out.
Yes Pete, Lacazette has only 5 goals this season, does he think that’s good enough, good enough to earn him a contract extension even on the same bloated salary?
We have to cut ourselves free of these guys, I like his spirit and his work rate but it isn’t what we pay him the big bucks for, he needs replacing either through the market or through the academy and youth is the way to go.
That’s it Kev,
If the players are given the tools and can’t produce, time for them to go.
Simple.
That’s how winning happens.
Morning Rico. With this Arsenal it is entirely possible to have two contrasting opinions as to where we are and see validity in both. Unfortunately for Mikel there’s only one that counts and whatever the tribulations of the transfer market or the rigours of his process, that is the points. Not chances created or any other spurious caveats. It’s where we finish this year. It’s the standard by which all managers are ultimately judged. How they get there, whether it be Mikel’s way of doing things or not, he has to get those points. He will rightly be deemed a failure if he doesn’t and that may seem harsh but the reality is there and he is only too aware of it.
We are all experts with the benefit of hindsight but very, very few of us are realists and there’s nothing like a disappointing result, like yesterday’s to flush those opinions out.
The only thing that really matters now is that we come back from this break and start a powerful winning run, preferably with some quality incomings.
Scott without re- running the game and counting the 20 shots my recall is that many of them were from desperation rather than clear cut clinical attempts.
Shots taken early are better than ones taken when you get to close to the defender
Goalkeeping coaches will always tell you that the hardest shots to stop are the mishit ones or deflections both are results of taking shots early rather than the placed curling to top corner ones that we seem to love when cutting in from the wings.
I saw very brief highlights and it looked a tired and dispirited performance although we still created enough chances to win, Smith Rowe was very unlucky with his shot, Lacazette’s misses didn’t surprise me, a lack of composure from a player desperately trying *to earn a new contract, and failing miserably. He’s brave and committed and plays like a captain, by example, but his best days are behind him and extending his contract would I feel be another expensive weight around our necks.
Scott, if others in the team were producing goals as they did so well in December, check out the results, then we could probably carry Lacazette because he has qualities we lack, he gets stuck in and creates situations, but Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe and Martinelli can’t buy a goal to save their lives and that all stems from our base, our centre midfield that has been decimated by red cards, ACoN, injuries and questionable decisions to loan out players we really couldn’t afford to do.
Odegaard is playing deeper, Smith Rowe was injures and over played, Saka is routinely kicked to pieces and overplayed and Martinelli is a scorer of great goals not a great goal scorer, but I love him.
We hardly ever score from corners or free kicks ie our defenders, Xhaka, Elneny (remember him?) and Partey couldn’t score in a house of ill repute and our strikers are a busted flush so that lumps everything* onto our attacking midfielders.
It’s just been a bad month in the office.
Our players need a rest.
Arteta needs a rest.
And Edu needs to earn his wages.
Potter, we had some clear cut chances and that’s the truth.
Even the young strikers that plenty on here have talked up the past few seasons haven’t lived up to expectations (yet), Auba has misfired for nearly 2 years and Laca never really has scored in big numbers.
As Devil said for a few years, we needed our midfielders scoring and that’s now happening but the strikers are letting us down.
Get a top striker in and everything changes.
If Laca finishes, yes, some would still moan because no matter what, Arteta will never be good enough but most would be saying it was a gutsy performance against a side that’s hard to break down and a valuable 3 points.
It was easier to score than not.
Small margins.
Kev your 11.12 is brilliant.
Edu-yep, targets have been identified, he really needs to nail them down.
Morning Adam, agree. The manager, regardless of what works or doesn’t, or who plays or doesn’t will only ever be judged by results because that’s the name of the game.
If players are tired, surely that’s down to being over played. In hindsight, neither Partey or Tomi should have played in the last game but hindsight is easy.
The AMN decision has proved to be a disaster which a few of us could foresee. If he had to go, why not go this week and not so soon.
We have to come back from this mini break stronger.
With the ACoN coming to an end is there still time to go in for Yves Bissouma?
Or Kalvin Phillips?
Lacazette isn’t any different now to how he’s always been, so why is he still at the club?
This might sound controversial but if Emery was still the Arsenal manager, we wouldn’t be blaming anyone but him for our team underperforming.
I think Villa will get Bissouma Kev.
Rico, plenty don’t agree for a second the club is underperforming.
Plenty recognise the rebuild continues.
Of course, some wouldn’t have had Ramsdale at the club so it’s fair to say we all get things wrong on occasions.
I still say we didn’t attack our goal hard enough we played too many backwards passes,
we needed a midfielder to sprint straight down the centre and someone lob the ball over everyone for our midfielder to run onto.
Also our squad is too thin that’s why our players are looking very tired.
It’s not about being right or wrong Scott, it’s just opinions.
Plenty, or some? Don’t understand that bit.
Fair call Rico.
I don’t think we do either Geoff. Plus, I do think that sometimes when it’s better to pass, we shoot and other times, when it’s better to shoot, we opt for another pass.
Scott it’s fine to keep saying we are rebuilding but the problem is we are still getting beat by clubs with less money and less quality players then us.
Geoff, So we keep losing against clubs with lesser quality players and less money?
Forest….ok, but a weakened side fielded by us though it’s a a fair example.
Liverpool.
City.
Yeah they’re struggling.
Oh and the fact is we are rebuilding, Geoff, so you can ignore it because you don’t like Arteta, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true, so you keep ignoring the truth all you like but don’t hold that against me please.
Scott we could loose every match and you would still support Arteta but we can’t keep using the excuse we are rebuilding Arteta has had enough time, money and support, it’s time now for him to prove he can do the job and as I have always said give him to the end of this season then make our mind up.
That’s utter garbage Geoff.
I’ve said plenty of times Arteta is making errors but is young and learning, and imo he’s made massive changes that have improved us but there is still a long way to go.
Don’t make crap up.
Well you lot can moan and argue as much as you like, I’m all in for the Papa Johns Trophy…
I think if we win the Papa Johns we qualify for the;
European Community Schengen Inter Cities Fairs Texaco Watney Cup. Hooray….
The final is in Kiev…
Kev in Kiev-go hard lad hahahaha
The final is in Kiev…
Only if Putin don’t get there first.
The time for decisions is not here yet but I wonder if that’s why we are going for loans rather than outright buys.
Albeit this mornings headlines suggesting that we have agreed an 18 month loan for Melo could solve one problem as he is described as a Yaya Toure type box to box player that can defend as well as attack .
If heis that good , why are Juventus happy to see him go for such a long period ?
Potter, yep, it is always a concern when clubs will let older, experienced players go out on loan.
There is no doubt that Arteta has improved things at Arsenal. The defence is much better due to the signings of Tomiyasu and White. We have a very good ‘keeper in Ramsdale but at a high cost, had we kept Martinez and made him our number one we could have saved a lot of money to put in the transfer pot and been no worse off.
We have two good attacking midfielders, ESR and Odegaard, but unfortunately, they just negate each other if played together. Partey has been a disappointment and Lokonga is a rookie in over his head in the Premiership. Elneny is no more than a journeyman bench warmer while Xhaka is Xhaka, an accident waiting to happen.
Two good wingers, Saka and Martinelli and Pepe, a one trick pony whose trick seldom comes off.
As far as strikers go right now we have two, yesterday’s man Lacazette and Nketiah who looks lightweight and out of his depth. Then of course there is the ever not present Aubameyang, out of form, out of favour and soon to be out of Arsenal.
We are still not competing with the big clubs and on yesterday’s performance are unable to take three points from the Premiership’s rock bottom club.
Has Arteta improved Arsenal as a club? Not so as you would notice!
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/mesut-ozil-fenerbahce-arsenal-b978437.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/mikel-arteta-arsenal-transfer-news-b1999251.html
Potter, so we didn’t “compete” with City a few weeks back?
You must have missed that game-worth finding a replay.
You honestly believe Martinez is as good as Ramsdale?
Fair enough, but you’d be about the only Arsenal fan alive that would say that lol
My apologies Potter, that comment was aimed at Cicero.
Has Arteta improved Arsenal as a club you ask Cicero?
What about has KSE improved Arsenal as a club?
Kev, he’s improved his net worth-does that count hahaha
We’re only 2 or 3 players away from becoming a force once again… [insert a number here _ for how many years we’ve been saying this!] Haha!
I found this rather interesting:
’40th home Premier League game for Arteta yesterday – 10th time we’ve failed to score – 20th time we’ve scored under 2 goals. #AFC (For context Unai Emery’s Arsenal failed to score at home just ONCE during his reign)’
So the defence has improved, but it seems at a cost!
Has Rico gone out? Have we signed anyone yet? 😆
Sue, I’m not sure one has much to do with the other.
We’ve totally rebuilt the backline, yet have the same strike force now that Arteta inherited.
@Kev Yves Bissouma is heading to court for sexual assault charges. We’d be wise to steer clear.
Whatever happened to Gylfi Siggurdson?
I’m with @Scott on this one. We had enough chances to win the game yesterday. Clinical finishing would have made the difference.
Praise has to go to Dyche for not conceding a goal. His tactics deliver, but aren’t fun to watch.
We’ve struggled for goals under MA, Scott – why is that? Only 1 goal this month..
I’m not trying to pick an argument by the way! I’ve just seen the stats over 79 games [ v Emery] and Emery was better off in GF, GA, W, D, L…
I had Sue but I’m back now. Disappointed to find we haven’t signed someone whilst I was on my travels. 😀
I’m not surprised by the goals stats. Even though we couldn’t defend very well under Emery, we knew where the goal was much of the time.
I still think it’s a shame he didn’t get the players he wanted.
Pete, every club can at some point say that clinical finishing would have made the difference. Leicester City, Brighton and Crystal Palace probably thought the same in the games we played against them.
That’s just it, Rico.. MA has been given time, money and his own players.. none of which Unai had the luxury of. He was obviously just a stopgap until someone better came along – but is that man MA? Hmmm, ask me again in May
I’m in the wait until May camp too Sue. I suppose if we don’t get into Europe, there’ll be questions asked.
Has he fared much better than Unai? He’s sorted out the defence and saved the club a helluva lot of money (😄) but going by those stats you’d suggest not..
And questions should be asked, Rico. I believe they should’ve been asked after being dumped out by Unai!!
On paper Sue, no. Apart from the FA Cup win.
I try hard to forget that day..
When I say we don’t compete against the top teams Scott to make my point I need only to direct you to the results against Manchester City in August 5 – 0, Liverpool in November 4 – 0, Chelsea in August 2 – 0, and Manchester City earlier this month1 – 2 when we matched them for maybe 45 minutes. To come away from those game with zero points and a goal difference of minus 12 should say enough to convince any right-minded person that we are far from competitive.
Incidentally I’ve just watched the extended highlights of yesterday’s horror show but switched off when Arteta subbed ESR, probably our best player, in favour of Nketiah. Nketiah up against Burnley’s back line? What a mis-match, it’s the sort of illogical change that our manager is all too fond of making.
I was surprised to see that change Cicero. Not so much Eddie coming on but ESR going off.
@C stats games…The Man City game earlier this month was heavily influenced by a referee who was way out of his depth. Dubious pen decisions and yellow cards handed to one side only. Up to the sending off there was only 1 team in the game.
@Rico Lacazette missed a sitter yesterday. He does it so regularly that I do wonder if it’s on purpose some times?
As for Nketiah he’s not Prem standard. Will be in the Championship in a few years.
It seems Auba isn’t the only one to miss sitters 😉
I doubt it’s on purpose Pete, he’s just not very prolific in front of goal. Hasn’t been since he stepped foot on English soil imo.
The only difference Sue is Auba doesn’t do much else either.
Ranieri has been sacked.
Fret not, Rico, he won’t be with us much longer!
Surprised it took this long.. maybe he’ll [Ranieri] call it quits now
I reckon he’ll go before the end of the month Sue. If he’s any sense he will.
Hope so re Ranieri, he should retire and enjoy it.
Youngest squad in the League and people don’t see the progress????
Well If they don’t now, they never will so no point trying to change minds of people who just can’t see, or refuse to.
If we wish to suggest Emery should’ve stayed then why not go a step further and ask why Arsene was ousted?
The term “paper over the cracks” got a run on here every day for years and now the cracks have been exposed, Arteta is actually filling those cracks in and still, the moaning continues.
That just tells me some will never, ever be happy.
Or that not everybody agrees with you Scott.
It’s not about changing minds, it’s about how we see things differently. Just because one person is happy with what’s going on at Arsenal, it doesn’t mean another has to be too.
Also, we all know we have a young squad but even so, most of them are international footballers.
No one has suggested Emery should have stayed by the way, we’re just making a comparison of points won, goals scored etc. Debating in a respectful way about how things were compared to now.
Karl Hein has gone to Reading on loan , no doubt they are hoping for another Martinez .
For that matter so are we.
I wonder if Partney has not played against Liverpool, otherwise we would have won against Burnley.
As for the most talked about signings(?): a) Melo has been in Europe for about 2 years. He was not happy in Madrid, nor is he happy at Juventus. Will it be in London? Is it not a case of inadequacy to Europe and European football? Isn’t it a big risk?
b)Vlahovic. I convince myself that he will go to Juventus. He plays in Italy, he’s adapted, he’s brilliant, will he risk going to a strange league, with more aggressive football? I doubt it.
c) My question is simple: why don’t you look at someone who plays in England and is already used to English football? Is Ruben Neves better than Melo and will it be more expensive? Have you seen Fabio Carvalho from Fulham play? Has anyone posted Carrick so why not look at Fulham’s Serbian forward?
Ruben Neves is actually quite a good call JM but the issue I can see with trying to sign him might well be his agent as doesn’t Neves share the same agent as Cristiano Ronaldo?
Now I don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t want to see Arsenal touch any players represented by that blood sucker…
Yes Rico I agree, I see absolutely no point in giving minutes to a player whose made it crystal clear that he wants out as seems the case with Nketiah…
Eddie isn’t going to come on and save our bacon as say Rashford has done recently for the Mancs or Moura has done for the Spuds. Biereth or Hutchinson are probably not going to save the day either but I’d rather see them given a run out and I’d guess the fans at the Emirates would be more invested in watching them than Nketiah as well?
Cicero, if we all agreed, there’s be no discussion.
You still banging on about getting Rambo back, I don’t think we should.
No dramas 🙂 🙂 🙂
19.00 kick off @ DW Stadium, Wigan… Commentary available on Arsenal.Com…
Hopefully the U23 coaching staff will select the strongest Arsenal team possible because on form Wigan Athletic are top of League One,
unbeaten in their last 5 league games, with a record that reads;
P24, W17, D3, L4, F47, A24, GD23, PTS 54.
So it’s going to be one hell of a difficult assignment to get a positive result…
Good luck to the lads anyway.
Rico, if we only look at results, Arsene compared favourably so that’s why I raise his name, but imo, it’s too obvious and simple to simply look at the ladder without taking other factors into the equation.
For years we complained top 4 wasn’t enough and yet now it’s the standard we’ve set.
Strange how time changes things but again, other factor are at play and imo must be considered.
Kev, seems Eddie is no better than 3-4 years ago.
It’s a shame.
I thought he’d make it.
Eddie may want to look at any of the teams getting promoted to the premier league next season. who knows a few games under his belt and a new club could help his career.
I still don’t understand why ESR was taken off, he was doing his job and lifting the team. lets hope there is not a hidden injury we don’t know about.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing Jm.
A number of us here, like you, wonder why we as a club don’t look to the Championship for players. I often wonder if the level of a number of footballers in the lower league is any worse than signing someone from a club abroad where it’s often said that their leagues aren’t that tough. I know there are exceptions on both sides but I’m not even sure if many PL clubs look.
I think so Kev. A player in Eddie’s position, is possibly thinking about not getting injured etc because it could scupper a nice deal somewhere else. Personally, I think a trick was missed with him when the season began and after he looked at it in the pre season fixtures. Had he played then, things might have turned out differently for him and the club. Hindsight eh…
I’m not Scott, a European spot is a must imo because that’s what progress is measured by, or it is by me. Along with football we are playing.
Rico, if we gain a spot in Europe, it’s clearly a progression but I’m sure plenty won’t think it’s enough, and that’s a shame.
Still, let’s get it done.
Some signings will help.
I’m sorry, Scott, MA hasn’t won me over yet. Maybe it was wrong of me to compare as UE’s long gone – I was just surprised by the results, seeing as MA’s been backed to the hilt with talk of a new contract, I expected more to be in MA’s favour!
We have to get back into Europe end of! Otherwise it’ll be a disaster – just like bowing out after donkey’s years!
Sue, fair enough, but did Emery rebuild a squad and have one full of 23 year olds?
Not even close.
Nor did Arsene in his last decade or so.
I mean, it’s obvious we are headed the right way after treading water for quite a long time, surely it’s plain to see.
A few more pieces added and we will have a ripper squad and then we will really see if Mikel is the man, or at least be able to judge the man fairly.
Writing him off before hand is ridiculous, imo and yet plenty have.
Why is it that in todays society, we just can not accept things take time?
We want it all, and we want it now, unfortunately.
Vlahovic is ‘expected’ to sign for Juventus…Isak now? Any others on the list?
We are fast approaching panic-buy time 😬
Vlahovic seems a damn pain in the arse, and while the finger is being pointed at his agent, he’s a grown man who employs the agent.
More trouble than he’s worth?
Scott.. I love some of our younger players and the fact that they’ll play together for 5+ years is great. We’ve seen glimpses of how well they can play together – why not more? I was led to believe once the likes of Ozil, Guendouzi, Leno and now Aubameyang were benched or sold all would be hunky-dory, yet we still struggle for goals, gift results, fail to turn up for one half of the match, bow out of cups embarrassingly, don’t even get me started on the red cards! Backwards/sideways passing to the max! Weird substitutions, matches played like training sessions!
After 2 years, I’m afraid to say I expected a little more on the pitch!
And to go out of the cups in the manner we did was unacceptable..and to think I had the ‘being out of Europe will do us good – to focus on the league/cups’ line rammed down my throat!! Only the league left.. and if he doesn’t achieve a spot in Europe, then as Rico rightly said questions should be asked!
Yes, a major pain in the arse.. I won’t be losing sleep over missing out on him, the greedy sod!
Sue, because if the wages Auba and Laca are on, they’re just not easy to move on and we can’t blame Arteta for that.
Equally, I can’t blame Stan for not having thrown 70 million to replace them when they’re on the books so it’s a stalemate atm.
Some of our red cards are a pisstake.
We get utterly ruined by the officials on the count, and we all know it.
But you don’t know “plenty” will think that Scott. Having read around many blog comments, the general opinion appears to be any European football will be fine.
It’s not wrong to compare Sue, not at all. It’s how we measure many things. The idea of changing is to improve on what went on before. Like you, I’ve not been won over by Arteta yet but I want him to succeed. I’m just not sure he’s experienced enough to do so.
How could Emery build a squad when Raul was signing the players? I read that not one of the players we signed were of his choice. Arteta is fortunate to have the backing of the board now because had he joined us under Ivan and Raul, he’d have found things more difficult imo.
It’s his job to motivate the team and get the best out of them – and I personally think we have a pretty decent squad [and should be doing better!] – he’s paid 5m for the privilege; hardly peanuts!
AW/UE were absolutely slaughtered on occasions, I don’t see how it should be any different for MA! He can’t rely on the rookie label any longer – 2 years, it’s hardly instant is it?!
Europe or bust!
Rico, I didn’t say Emery had the chance to build a squad.
As for the fans who are never happy, well, I’ve been on forums, FB pages and blogs long enough to state that with huge confidence.
Plenty will never be happy, no matter what, they never are.
Sue, the bulk of our best 11 have been at the club between 6 and 18 months.
Inexperience is a factor, for the players and manager.
Europe is a certainty and I’ll happily back that 🙂
I’m always happy when we play well, give our all and more importantly win, Scott!
CL or EL?
Ok Scott, I’m not getting picky, I can’t be bothered.
Totally agree Sue re 8.27.
Everton and Utd? That should have been six points with ease imo.
New post up now by the way.