Hi all,
Today Shotta and I muse about just how deep a mire Arteta finds himself in.
Pedantic George.
118 comments on “Is Arteta Really In Trouble?”
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Positively Arsenal 
markyb I remember going in the GG era and going to the box office the day before a game and getting tickets, had my pick of any part of the ground. Of course you could pay on the day at the turnstiles too, but as I was over for the games I thought it best to have the tickets the day before.
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seems Willian is set to join Corinthians on a free transfer, after coming to an agreement with AFC over termination of his contract.
we have less than 59 hours of the window left and by all reports Arsenal want a whole host of players out before it closes, even some who played yesterday, namely Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles. Its reported that we want rid of Bellerin, Nelson, Nketiah and Runarsson.
There is also another couple of players in the last year of their contracts, such as Lacazette who we might want to move along for a fee, and not risk losing them for free in ten months time.
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I was just interested in the time before me, 1974/5 and 1975/6 we were 16th and 17th at the end of the season. I wondered what it was like and how did it compare. I suppose your own pre history is very interesting. I have a load of programmes from those years. On the steam I did Ed, had some match day programmes for you and Mandy I brought up from the Keller but didnt have time to talk about them( I recall you once said you loved the 80s sides) and Mandy said she had started in the same season as me.
I recall going to games in the 80s and there were sometimes only 25,000-35,000 turning up. I did personally agree with Ian that in my time I always felt we might be competing in a game, even if I had not personal hope. But some gates were big ( I was at a a few 55,000). Personally to go to a game, however regularly I went it was always special, seems like a lot of people go for the ecstasy of winning now, and as an identity on social media? But there was less in the world in those days I suppose.
Looking at the squads of the 74-76 relegation flirt you would be quite surprised they did so badly, you can see the TN late 70s team emerging, and the old 71 winners falling away.
Funny how the Spuds got relegated in the 70s and its never mentioned!
I always felt sorry for Ritchie Powling. Ed did you think Rix was technically a better player than Brady? Liam would get endless stick these days as he often went missing too.
I agree about moving on to the next game more quickly in the old days, now things seem to fester until the next fix(win)?
Of course the best football Ive sen was Wengerball but I still like a lot of the old football fire and skill even if it was hard and could be dire, I liked the atmospheres in the old times more than now.
I saw Mesut stuck one on Arteta # trust the process.Had to smile at that, although the myopic vision of Arsenals worst manager in living memory is a joke on us all. And its not funny!
Thanks for your thoughts though Ed, I lke what people have to say about eras I didnt know.
Cheers!
COYG!
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well Mills as I said back in the mid 70’s we had some great players, but were always replacing the good ones with other good ones, instead of adding them, Brian kidd was a great striker, but we moved him out for Super Mac, imagine them together, Alan Ball out Alan Hudson in, again they should have been together. As for Rix and Brady, always found Rix better as a wide midfielder but he was very talented, he was very good with Sansom and Woodcock down the left. The late 70’s team only needed a few more quality players and it could have been title winners, but again it was replace and make do. We’d make moves for top players but not push the move through. We once went for Lawernson and Robinson from Brighton, and they wanted Nelson and Devine as part of the deal, but we didn’t do it, they went to Liverpool, ended up Nelson went to Brighton anyway. We also bid £2M for Steve Coppell, would have been new world record, but it was turned down, then he got injured and it was not an option, but we did not go out and spend that £2M on other players.
One aspect of the mid 70’s for us that was hard to take was seeing Charlie George and Ray Kennedy tear it up for Derby/Southampton and Liverpool, when they really should have still been with us doing their stuff. We even had Frank McLintock have one of his best ever seasons, but at QPR.
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I forget when Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch started but sense it was early 70s as his match day expereinces felt so similar to my memories of going to Porrtsmouth and then Brighton, especially the fans being escorted to the ground from the station, the trains themselves with wire mesh on the windows and broken lighting, the sheer feral terror of the Millwall skinheads. When Hornby wrote that he wasn’t the famous chap he is now, and it was a pretty ground-breaking genre he was creating, so even allowing for his awareness of how he wanted his readers to feel, and maybe deliberately overwriting the drudgery, his descritpions of endless seasons of hopelessness do have an air of truth about them.
And I think that is the essential difference between then and now. The Premier League is vey aware of its audience and they need the product to play out dramatically with big winners and even bigger losers: they need a narrative, and also ensure they have one that will play to the audience they have created. Those fans of a certain age who would put up with their team being pretty rubbish are literally a dying breed. I suspect it will not be long before this site would be better known as Geriatrically Arsenal..
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That sounds as if it was (or should have been) an Eric Morecombe joke:
Give me an example of a geriatric.
Gerd Müller
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last season Arteta loaned out Kolasinac, leaving us with no understudy for Tierney at left back, meaning Cedric and Xhaka were used there, but now that we have signed Tavares to be back up left back, Kolasinac is getting game time, wait for it, at CB, ahead of key Arteta signing Mari. Someone please make sense of it all. AMN situation something similar.
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BBC reporting that Arsenal and Willian closing on agreement for him to leave for free
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Thanks Ed, I recall well the Sansom/Rix /Woodcock connection, and Rix and Brady were very strong ( I recall old gaffers at Highbury grumbling about the play “always being down that left hand side”). Funny thing looking back is the games seem different than they did then. So the semi final v ManUre that we lost 4-2, (in 83)seems like we had a chance if you look at it now, but I recall well that at the time I didnt think we had a hope as we couldnt get up on to the next level. Hes unpopular for some reason but I liked Don Howe. We were spoilt by the Wenger years but I love all the times before, and Ive liked it when you mention players from the 80s that have slipped out of all mind like Rhys Wilmot etc ( you did a mini quiz years ago?) etc, and I recall you saying how much you liked and had a connection with the more earlier 80s sides
I like asking people about their memories as everyones visions and experiences are different, to me all are valid and interesting, as they are part of the big mosaic of things.
My favourite Ray Kennedy moment was in the third(?) sf replay in 1980 when a ghost/angel or St.Totteringham ( I know he wasnt around in those days)or somethng pushed him over, and the ball was pumped over and Talbot scored. What a bizzare moment!
“Those fans of a certain age who would put up with their team being pretty rubbish are literally a dying breed. I suspect it will not be long before this site would be better known as Geriatrically Arsenal..”
Could well be FH! I like it though that if they are blessed the yooves will also become geriatrics! Will they sell Arsenal Zimmer frames and walking stick at the Armoury?Arsenal pacemakers? Arsenal false teeth? Perhaps that will be for the younger generations as the get older? (LOL).
One thing was years ago even if we were kack it didnt seem so bad as it is now, either I wasnt investing as much or people took things in their stride a bit more. Emotions seems much more extreme now, although much of it seems as scripted as a Jerry Springer show?
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I see many say since wenger left, we have spent loads, but spent loads badly. I agree to a degree about that, but how much of that is Arteta’s fault, we have no defined style of play under MA, he doesn’t want some of his own signings, Runarsson and Willian, let alone the last man’s players, or Wenger’s. Its impossible to buy well if its not actually clear what style of play you are trying to play. Even what formation you want to play.
When Emery was appointed we were told he would play attacking football, in fact continue in the Wenger way, but improve it, then Arteta comes in and again we are told it would be Arsenal attacking football, and him being a great coach, we would need few signings to improve, but that has quickly become, he needs loads of his own players, but the one thing we are not told or is not mentioned now, is what sort of football are we trying to actually play. Maybe no one at the club knows.
So the biggest decision that the club has to make is not over keeping or sacking Arteta, its over what sort of football do we want to play, and what do we need to achieve that, then go and get the players needed and if it means getting a new manager or new coaches, then make those decisions.
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Interesting times ahead
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I don’t think it matters who goes or who comes in player wise now . This is a team with no direction,no leadership, no defined football philosophy, mentally weak, poorly coached, consistently making poor decision on & off the e field,and with no idea of how to turn things round.
Arteta has so far proven he is not up to the job,he will need a miracle to turn this round I reckon he won’t last the next couple of months.
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I am concerned that the powers that be will not take action swiftly but will prevaricate as they did with Emery unless they are already negotiating with the successor and are not yet ready to make the switch.
As it stands the longer this lasts the more damage will be done.
There are fans who criticise people like myself who are advocating SArteta’s immediate removal as not supporting the club.
How wrong they are.
We are supporting the club to the hilt, which is why we have been saying for so long that Arteta must lease asap, for the benefit of the club, as the longer this lingers on the club will suffer.
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just about 48 hours of the transfer window left, and Arsenal’s main priority seems to be to get rid of a whole host of players, here is how our squad looks at the moment
GK: Leno, Ramsdale, Runarsson, Okonkwo, Hein
RB: Bellerin, Chambers, Cedric
LB: Tierney, Tavares, Kolasinac
CB: White, Gabriel, Mari, Holding
CM: Xhaka, Partey, Eleney, Sambi, AMN
F: Saka, Pepe, ESR, Odegaard, Martinelli, Willian, Nelson
S: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah, Balogun
I’ve listed 31 players there, but that includes two U21 goalies in okonkwo and Hein, also U21 players in Tavares, ESR, Saka, Martinelli and Balogun, so that actually leaves us 1 place we can add to for the 25 man squad, even without any sales or loans out.
Its being reported today that Willian has an agreement to leave AFC on a free. Its been rumored all summer that Runarsson, Bellerin, Kolasinac, AMN, Nelson, and Nketiah are all surplus to requirements, and that we might be happy enough to sell Aubameyang, Lacazette and Elneny too
There are few rumors of any incoming, some links to a right back, so there could be a lot of transfer business in the next two days for Arsenal, but it is most likely to be mostly outgoings, that is if we can pay them enough to leave, well isn’t that how it works for us now, the precedent was set last year.
By the way Arsenal are looking to loan out 6 or so of our u23 players too, Azeez is close to a move to Portsmouth and Alebiosu is close to a move to Sunderland.
We also want to loan out Dinzeyi, Akinola, Olayinka, Cottrell, Lopez, Lewis and Swanson, but there are others that could be let out on loan if right move is offered
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reports form Holland suggest we might see Reiss Nelson to Feyenoord on loan
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See Pogba gets away with a rather interesting tackle today
Will Arsenal be the sacrificial club some would like to truly punished for the European Super league thing? Because let’s face it, they aren’t touching the beloved Utd, Liverpool, or Tottenham, and Chelsea and City’s lawyers would eat em alive.
Looking at some,of the decisions we get, makes you wonder , yes I know the team have played shit, and need to improve but….suspect we will be hot hardest when down, lots of Burley leg breakers coming our way with out players booked for breathing near opponents
I think this clubs situation is more serious than some realise, and some , but not all down to Arteta , I firmly believe the English football establishment would relegate Arsenal if they could , and they have got a head start this season. Hope Dicky Garlic is up to whatever job he has
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Mandy Agree that we have been the victim of Pigmob for over a decade.Despite being a team who don’t indulge In fowling opponents and play the game in a clean way. Infant we are the only top6 side with the negative Penalty stats during Wenger Era despite being an attacking team.The biasness was ominous during Wenger Era and let me say it had it not been for Atkinson Dean and Riley we would have won the leagues in 2008 and 2015 as well. The biasness was understandable against Arsene Wenger being French and his arrival in Epl marked a new dawn in English football which probably was a swipe at English footballing traditions.
But now as Wenger is gone I fail to understand why AFC are still treated differently by the pigmob and the English media.
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New Podcast is up
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