Today @shotta_gooner and I wallow in the misery of yet another disappointment. We know the questions but have no answers. The future looks bleak and Arteta is a big part of the problem.
42 comments on “Arteta Didn’t Work, So What Now?”
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Positively Arsenal 
Bruce Rioch didn’t work also, but Arsenal appointed Arsene wenger which heralded a golden era. Hopefully history repeats itself
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anyone like to hazard a guess at how many of the players who started Arsene Wenger’s last home game as manager of AFC, v Burnley in 2018, a 5-0 win, started last nights game
that day it was an 18 man squad, last night it was a 23 man squad, so I will give you a clue, 5 of the 23 last night were in our 18 man squad 3 years ago. So that means 18 of last nights squad were not in our 18 man squad 3 years ago to the day. But its all Arsene Wenger’s fault, not our lego haired manager now.
The answer to the question is that 2 of last nights starting 11, Bellerin and Aubameyang, started Wenger’s last game, yes Xhaka started 3 years ago too, and was due to start last night, the other two still in the squad, Chambers and Lacazette.
Trust the process, give Arteta his own players, ha ha ha, fucking muppets.
by the way 2 of the players who started that game 3 years ago are out on loan, Mavropanos and kolasinac, as is sub that day Maitland-Niles.
2 retired, Cech who started and Mertesacker who was a sub.
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Mikel Arteta was back in front of the media on Friday morning, just hours after our European exit at the hands of Villarreal.
Our manager discussed the pain and responsibility he feels, what he wants from his players before the end of the season, Emile Smith Rowe, and more.
Read on for a full transcript:
on keeping the players motivated now…
Well, first of all you have to go through the pain that caused last night’s disappointment. After that, we have a responsibility and we have to be professional. We know that we have four games to play, which still have things to define, and the best way to do that is on Sunday go out there and show how much we care, how painful that and win the football match.
on how much the players feel that responsibility…
They do feel the pain when you look at the state of that dressing room. It was sad because they put so much into it. They tried to go through every obstacle that we had in the competition and around. This is a results based sport and an inch can define success or failure, and it happened. If that ball goes in from Auba yesterday – or the other two big chances that we had – we are talking about something different. But unfortunately you are not. And with the same context, with the same conditions, with the same game, but a different result. This is what we have to accept, because unfortunately that’s the beauty, and as well the difficulties, of this sport.
on the concerns of the fans at being out of Europe…
I understand those concerns because when you are out of the Champions League for five years it is not just a casualty, it’s a trend. There are facts to support that trend and as well defined years how it was achieved the Champions League as well. So, there are things to change, that’s for sure because you no one is going to accept that at this football club. I am not going to accept that and the fans are not going to accept that. So we all have to push together to achieve something very different.
on why the trend is going as it is…
They are things to analyse more internally, I am sorry. We have done that. There are things that we cannot discuss here. I take full responsibility for my part, for sure, since I arrived here what I have tried to do, giving my life, my best ability, investing every drop of energy that I have emotionally to support everything that has been going around with my knowledge, with staff, with all the players that are trying to contribute with all the club to give our best. But so far it has not been enough and this when the question mark comes, why it is not enough? Is it just a thing? Is it the manger? Is it many other stuff? What is it? And then this is football. Again, I repeat myself, last night that ball goes in we win 1-0. You are in the final and it is a different world. But today that world doesn’t look very nice.
on getting his ideas over to this group of players…
It takes time and it takes a lot of specificity in what you want. I said many times, we are not there, we are not able to execute it consistently enough throughout games or consistent enough in consecutive games. That comes with practice, that comes with recruitment, that comes with changing some mentality, a lot of things that have to be in place. As well the level in the league has excelled to a level that didn’t exist in the past. They have done so well with time and resources and obviously with a lot of clever people making big decisions.
on whether he questions himself…
What I felt last night was a deep pain because the moment the club is in at the moment, with everything it has been through over the last months, I had a feeling that if we could take the team to the final, it could be a great turning point. I felt that responsibility and I was so eager to achieve that because I knew it could be a defining moment. Not being able to achieve it, has been really tough personally obviously. I know that we have disappointed a lot of people as well, and that really hurts because we want to give the best to everybody but one thing I made clear is that to do what we want to do, I have no doubts that we are going to achieve it. If not, I wouldn’t be sat here.
on whether the team can harness the pain they feel…
We have no time because we have a game on Sunday, we have a training session this morning and it has to be by today when you leave the training ground, most of it has to be out of the system. I think you have to leave some of it in some of your system, and use some of it in the right way as an energy driver in the game on Sunday.
on Emile Smith Rowe taking responsibility…
He took responsibility in the second half, he really tried. He had a big chance to score and I think he was feeling responsible, which is a good reaction from him but we have to bear in mind that those players have never played a game like that, it was their first experience and they have to go through that – and they will learn.
on Smith Rowe’s bravery on the ball…
Yes, because if you don’t have this quality you can’t play at the highest level. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it has to be in your system and part of you that you want to be able to take the ball anywhere, under any conditions and any kind of pressure.
on the young players offering hope for the future…
It gives me a lot of confidence because they have shown what they can do. It’s true that playing in a semi-final at this level is a different story, but as well they need the right surroundings around them to grow, without putting too much pressure on them.
Copyright 2021 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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Arsenal U23’s play West Ham U23’s this evening, Kick off is at 7pm. we need one point to guarantee safety.
team:
Smith
Norton-Cuffy, Kirk, Manlouis, Bola
Henry-Francis, Azeez
Taylor-Hart, Flores, Balogun
Moller
subs:Ejeher, Dinzeyi, Rekik, Lewis, Butler-Oyedji
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Azeez and Balogun start for the U23’s tonight, so highly unlikely either will be in the first team squad for Sunday’s game v WBA.
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PB
@OliPriceBates
Replying to
@OliPriceBates
– Arsenal have used 29 players in PL, second only to WBA who have had two managers
– Bellerin has 24 PL starts, Holding 24, Ceballos 16, Willian 15, Elneny 14
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half time in the U23 game, 0-0
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west ham take the lead
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moller scores AFC penalty after balogun is brought down. 1-1, Rikik comes on for his AFC debut
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fuck it, with only 3 minutes to go West Ham take the lead again
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afc miss a great chance to level
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1-1, right at the death Taylor-Hart scores
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sorry 2-2
AFC get the result the needed to avoid relegation,
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OptaJoe
@OptaJoe
·
32m
4 – Joe Willock is the first Newcastle player to score in four consecutive Premier League matches since Papiss Cissé in April 2012 (6 games), while at 21 years of age he’s overtaken Andy Cole as the youngest player to do so for the club. Streak.
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bring back Arsene Wenger to run all football operations ASAP.
as the song goes, you don’t know what you got till its gone.
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FT: Leicester 2-4 Newcastle
are LCFC imploding like last season
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seemingly the ESL clubs will each pay a £13M fine to UEFA to be used at grassroots level, KSE are to pay the fine for Arsenal.
some reports suggest that the EPL are to give big fines to each of the 6 clubs as well
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Arteta in full on PR mode with the media, Arsenal’s troubles are 5 years in the making, he is putting things right and has us in a much better position to get us to where we want to be, but we have to be ruthless now to get there. Isn’t it great to know that its all someone else’s fault and he is our savior, oh I feel so embarrassed now, how could I have ever doubted him.
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really have to laugh at the Arteta PR piece, the 5 years in the making part, that just happens to be when Arteta finished as a player here. A Pontius Pilate moment from our manager
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one of the AST guys just told me
“We don’t even have to have fans owning shares. Just having majority voting rights is enough.”
now there is some fucked up self entitlement right there.
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great news lads, the PR machine is in full overdrive and have let it be known that Arsenal are going on a spending spree this summer we are getting
a new goalie – maybe that african goalie at ajax that is banned for the next six months, although he is appealing it, of course it could be the brentford guy
a new right back – maybe that young lad at norwich
a new back up left back – maybe that lad that has turned down a new deal with Southampton, or it could be a young kid from Derby
a new central midfielder- maybe that big african guy at Brighton
a new attacking midfielder – maybe the guy we have on loan from Real, or the argie guy at norwich
a new striker – maybe that french guy at celtic, or that guy from brentford
that would be four or five starters and one or two back up guys, not including the integrating of the likes of Saliba, Mavropanos, Azeez and Balogun into the squad too.
just the one thing, two of those signings would be away at the ACN midseason, along with a few we have here at the moment, of course we might move some of them out.
on that note, Bellerin, David Luiz, Kolasinac, Elneny, Lacazette, Nketiah, Nelson, AMN and one or two more could all leave, as of course could the 3 guys here on loan, although i’d expect Ryan will sign up
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They’re rolling out the heavy artillery from the PR Arsenal Eds to defend Edu & Josh’s man and it is remarkable how shrill many of these now zen plundits were 2010-18.
Almost as if they are nothing but PR lickspittles.
–
Steve Bruce?
If Rafa Benitez, Brendan Rodgers or Tuchel etc. were all too good for the Kronke’s then is The Bruce is the way forward?
Not sure even joking anymore.
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Shotts you are correct,
The click bait crew have suddenly performed a graceless pirouette. This is not like watching Cazorla in the midfield. Think of a stinging bellyflop that lands upon a Man-O-War. And after that smooth manoeuvre they have belatedly began their post mortem upon a rotten corpse. All that stink and stinging pain to hide from their gullible listeners that they are now just idiotically repeating what you and George have been saying for ten months. Idiots.
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Only one man can save this club, that is Owen Coyle
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Crazy that if prem issue fine like Uefa it would basically eat money of sale of Willock, Ainsley or even Bellerin. Painful.
City meanwhile can just fart it out.
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On City, noticed that in last couple of years they’ve been signing lots of young South Americans, Serbians, Croatians,etc, not chump change either- plenty of them more than we paid for Martinelli for instance.
I’m guessing they are mostly left out when journo’s tally up what they spend, and if ffp is still a thing will make it very difficult to track, especially with complications of all their sister clubs.
Then, no doubt, they are also aggressive in British youth market, probably exceeding what’s allowed there in incentives etc.
Just doing everything on every level with their money. Suppose that’s what most clubs do, but when unlimited, and don’t give a damn about rules..
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No different to what Slurgason did at Utd, Chelsea have been doing for ages, Liverpool getting up to naughty stuff too.
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Leeds would have scored on Thursday!
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I would have score in Thursday…..against that keeper
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well we have to give Arteta his own players, after all a whole 2 of the starting 11 on Thursday night, played in Wenger’s last home game 3 years ago, Bellerin and Aubameyang. So not till we get rid of every last Wenger player and give Arteta a 25 man squad of all his own players can we progress
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The keeper did look dodgy Thursday but he looked much better the previous Thursday.
The other thing was he came through crowds to get at least something on anything entering the six yard box as opposed to our keeper who just sits on his line and then looks surprised when the ball is in the back of the net.
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David Luiz, Mari and Xhaka all out of tomorrow’s game with injuries.
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FT: Man City 1-2 Chelsea
CFC now up to 3rd, city will be champions if utd lose this weekend
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I fear that the Arteta experiment is here to stay with blame for the awful season and many dreadful performances having nothing whatsoever with Aretat’s coaching, man-management or tactics, but to do with the facts that he does not have an entire tea,m of “his” players, and Wenger’s bad management
The wishful thinking and blind vision which has afflicted so many fans over the last 18 months now seem to have afflicted the powers that be, and no doubt much of the media, as well.
In 60 years of supporting Arsenal, I have never felt as much ambivalence to a defeat as I felt on Thursday night.
In the most, most important game of the season our players could manage one shot on target against a mediocre team, which emphasized how we have become mediocre ourselves and are getting worse.
Arteta is incapable of encouraging or motivating the players, let alone exercise even the most modest of tactical ability.
I dare say the many players who it seems are likely to leave this summer will be delighted to do so to get away from the stifling and negative atmosphere at the club.
Good luck to them.
I doubt if we will see any of the loanees back at the club, no matter how well they have performed at their loan clubs.
They were only sent out because Arteta does not want them and they do not fit into the category of “his” players.
I can see a time in the near future when I will not be bothered even to check the results any more.
That Arteta cannot accept that he must accept a large chunk of the blame, is the worst part.
Friends, I wish you all well, but anticipate a very disappointing and upsetting time for you all for the time being.
I wish I was wrong, but do not think so, as I have not been wrong until now.
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Seems a pretty widespread consensus Arteta will get the summer, and for a while at the start of next season, but will be fired if things don’t improve fairly quickly. This basically means Arteta is a dead man walking, if changes are made that some are implying this summer, the new players will need a bedding in period, Arteta might not last that. He has put huge pressure on himself with the performance this season, culminating in a desperate, and frankly, unforgivable performance against a limited Villareal in a semi, that will likely be impossible to overcome in the time he will be given. That performance will stick with Arteta, he knows it as well. Barring a spectacular start to the season, and we know the chances of that, Arsenal will have a new manager by 2022 or earlier.
Trouble is, whatever you think of Arteta, there are big problems above him at the club, one of the biggest is key design making, with recruitment perhaps a close second.
I dread to think who they will replace Arteta with. Vieira and Henry have aligned to a KSE rival putting themselves out of the picture, just hope they don’t pick the wolves manager, and allow mendes a foothold into the club, but this ownership are out of touch enough to do just that, they have done very similar in the recent past.
Those running the club are going to have to up their game, and I don’t mean by spending huge money on incomings either
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Good critical comments from you and George. I believe we at Positively and Uncensored are the only blog who predicted very early this season that Arteta project will fail. Sadly but atleast we are exonerated and vindicated once again.
The idiot bloggers and their blind followers have lost again and their foolish agenda that any modern manager can run the club better than Arsene Wenger has failed miserably.
Now what next .
I would disagree with you Shotta on the idea to bring Graham Potter as the coach I would rather like to have Marcelo Bielsa at the touchline.
But I believe the problem at Arsenal is not Arteta only. I believe the whole management including Vinai and Edu are not capable to carry Arsenal.
Probably we need to have Arsene Wenger back at the club in some capacity to steady the ship. It is the only way forward.
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It will need a lot of grovelling from KSE to bring Wenger back, and suspect Stan is too stubborn from all I have read of him, but Wenger could certainly help. Absolutely stupid to lose him in the first place .
I am sure things are going on behind the scenes we don’t know about, so someone trusted and senior is needed to sort them, Artetas MO just seems to be freeze out any player who doesn’t exactly fit his template, whatever the cost to the team, unless of course that player happens to be one of his favourites. We don’t know all behind the scenes, but He has made disaster out decisions on certain MFs I can think of, including one young player very much flavour of the month, perhaps with a GK as well, it almost seems like a scorched earth policy at times. AMN, Willock departed, Xhaka pencilled in at LB , and a new player who is out of form who had no proper pre season left on his own in MF, I am not sure a manager would survive that in a European semi at most clubs.
If KSE keep on making mistakes, relegation , once unthinkable, becomes a possibility, I hope they factor that in with their risk analysis .
Letting a huge club be run by a lab of a bunch of rookies , bizarre
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There are coaches and football execs out there who can improve this squad and team etc.
But
I wouldn’t punt on the Kronke’s appointing anyone who can help the club anytime soon. That hasn’t happened in a decade! None of their appointments have worked. We are looking at /witnessing Total Failure here.
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Nor would I, and even if they made a decision, they seem to move at the pace of a glacier in the days before global warming when glaciers didn’t do very much.
It won’t happen, but wish Stan would just sell ( with the caveat a future owner isn’t guaranteed to be better, and could turn out worse), Not because of a lack of spending etc, I just don’t think they are dynamic enough, experienced enough, or ,as you say, willing to appoint those who are. And that is something I completely fail to understand, if I had something worth two billion, I would want only the very best running it.
They relied on Wenger for everything, then they relied on Ivan, then they put their trust in basically, a crook, now, they rely on those with little to no experience. JK might be genuinely trying, but he lacks experience, and has lots of other clubs and other concerns on his mind. This club must be becoming a headache for them with their brand of ownership.
It’s a mess , and one that goes way beyond a coach or manager.
If Stan keeps the club, and they keep getting things wrong, this club could easily repeat the former misadventures of Leeds, but in our case, on steroids, and that would cost
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On a manager shout, really struggle to think of anyone inspiring, but Lille boss seems to make some practical sense.
Great achievement to even get close to winning Ligue 1 ahead of PSG, which they’ve an excellent chance of doing now, but he’s also the guy who got Pepe into the form of his career, same with Gabriel, and he’d obviously be a good bet for his countryman Saliba. To boot, he’s the coach who catapulted Auba to stardom at St Ettiene.
Despite current success with Lille there was a lot of talk of him leaving recently for another French club. Not sure how his English is and also have impression he’s a defend and counter coach.
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A good coach would not go amiss, but Arteta has forged a reputation as a decent coach, but as Arsenal manager, you get sucked into all the shite that goes with it, just get the impression it is a very difficult job and getting worse.
This job would be a bit gamble for a coach from another league gaining a great reputation for himself….or maybe one day, herself! If I were the Lille manager, I wouldn’t go near Arsenal at the moment, and perhaps wait for a great opportunity in a more stable environment where he stands a chance to build succeed without all the BS
Trouble is, if or when Arteta goes, and presumably Edu goes as well? not sure who a new manager would have to help him out, Per has another job, Vinai is too far upstairs and not a football man . Wenger would be good, but can’t see it
I think they are going to Need a very experienced manager, with his hand picked team who may possibly both cost and demand, But , the key question, does Stan want that?
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There is a new post up btw.
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