Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

Watched this game from 30th minute or so and even though, given the chances, Arsenal should have won it 1-0, other than 10 minutes of intensity (60th to 70th minute), it was mostly boring and slow. Burnley can be tricky, away from home especially, we know that, but Arsenal should create more than they did today.

Arsenal's first 4 games after the break: Wolves (A), Chelsea (A), Brentford (H), Liverpool (H). Hugely important games.
 
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We are crap ourselves but at least we are not Arsenal. Imagine giving a new contract to a guy who finished 8th twice in a row and although Arsenal are doing tiny bit better this season so far, I would still expect them to finish 7th or 8th. He, very much like Ole, managed to lower the expectations so much that finishing 6th would probably be seen as a miraculous improvement on the last season.
 
Yeah but look how he handled Aubameyang. What a boss.
 
They'll finish sixth at best. Which is probably an improvement on last season's finishing.

When players like Xhaka are first names on the teamsheet you can rest assured they won't be finishing in the top four.
 
Couldn't believe they couldn't score against Burnley.
Marvellous bonus for us that one.
 
SuperiorXI said:
Such a poo manager that gets undeserved plaudits.
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I dont really get why he is given such a pass from the media while Wenger was declared past it 4 times a season in his final few years as manager and Ole was (imo correctly) seen as not being up to the job from his first match. They were practically fighting relegation a year ago and there wasn't much pressure on him. It's like being in the same frame as Pep confers immunity to criticism.

Guy Incognito said:
They'll finish sixth at best. Which is probably an improvement on last season's finishing.

When players like Xhaka are first names on the teamsheet you can rest assured they won't be finishing in the top four.
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Iirc, they finished 8th last year under Arteta in his first full season and 6th the two years previously were they started under Emery.
 
Poor day for us today. Think we are paying the price for the lack of options now in the forward areas, unable to change it or freshen things up when things aren't going our way.

We seem to have spent most of the window trying to get Vlahovic and it looks like an extremely fruitless chase.
 
Five times he's faced Burnley and the aggregate score is 2-2.
 
dove said:
We are crap ourselves but at least we are not Arsenal. Imagine giving a new contract to a guy who finished 8th twice in a row and although Arsenal are doing tiny bit better this season so far, I would still expect them to finish 7th or 8th. He, very much like Ole, managed to lower the expectations so much that finishing 6th would probably be seen as a miraculous improvement on the last season.
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He nothing like Ole in the league to be fair.
 
The Corinthian said:
@Nish115
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Just saw the tag, whats up??

Can't lie, looked poor this month, but think not having that midfield stability hinders us quite a bit. Ruins any structure the team has.

Tbh we had chances vs Burnley, just didn't take them. Lacazette is too hit and miss, and when he's miss it's bad.

Everyone can tell we need a new striker and midfielder, can't really blame Arteta for that tbh. That's the clubs job.
 
Well you could blame Arteta for not being able to work with the top striker you've got. In fact, you should.
 
Hansi Fick said:
Well you could blame Arteta for not being able to work with the top striker you've got. In fact, you should.
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You mean Auba or Laca?

Laca has always been hit or miss. And, he also has stamina issues, so playing him every match isn't help.

Auba hasn't been in form for 2 years. And it seems a big part of that is his own fault. Seems to be giving up on football.

Arteta is pretty clear, he'll give full energy and effort into players who will give it back. Anyone else can see the door. And I haven't got any big issues with that. For too long we've seen lazy players who have excuses left right and centre playing for us. Most the current crop aren't like that.
 
Nish115 said:
You mean Auba or Laca?

Laca has always been hit or miss. And, he also has stamina issues, so playing him every match isn't help.

Auba hasn't been in form for 2 years. And it seems a big part of that is his own fault. Seems to be giving up on football.

Arteta is pretty clear, he'll give full energy and effort into players who will give it back. Anyone else can see the door. And I haven't got any big issues with that. For too long we've seen lazy players who have excuses left right and centre playing for us. Most the current crop aren't like that.
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Don't talk of excuses while bigging up Arteta in the same sentence. You'll never be more than midtable with him in charge. Continues to boggle my mind how Arsenal fans are so complacent. Aubameyang will have his pick of clubs, and every single one is stronger than Arsenal.
 
Hansi Fick said:
Don't talk of excuses while bigging up Arteta in the same sentence. You'll never be more than midtable with him in charge. Continues to boggle my mind how Arsenal fans are so complacent. Aubameyang will have his pick of clubs, and every single one is stronger than Arsenal.
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We aren't midtable now, and we aren't far off the points total we set my friend?! ;-)
 
GoonerBear said:
We aren't midtable now, and we aren't far off the points total we set my friend?! ;-)
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We said 18 points from 10 as bare minimum, that's 1.8 per game. You're now on 36 points from 21 games, that's 1.7 points per game. Your on course for 65 points (you'll end up with less though), that's place 6 on average over the last 10 seasons (5x 6th, 3x 7th, 2x 5th). Arteta is failing the bare minimum goal, and yet everyone's acting like he's doing this amazing job. What he is amazing at, is lowering standards and getting away with it, somehow. Amazing.

Arsenal fans really need to snap out of this.
 
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Hansi Fick said:
Don't talk of excuses while bigging up Arteta in the same sentence. You'll never be more than midtable with him in charge. Continues to boggle my mind how Arsenal fans are so complacent. Aubameyang will have his pick of clubs, and every single one is stronger than Arsenal.
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We've literally averaged an above mid-table finish for the majority of his reign in charge. He had a terrible 5 months at the start of last season, but beyond that he's doing his job fine over the past 2 years.

Find it ironic, 3 weeks ago everyone was silent about Arteta, saying he's making good progress. A few games later, and oh it's panic stations already. Typical football fans who are so fickle tbh.

And no, he really wouldn't. Otherwise he'd be gone by now. His main option so far is a Saudi side. We've given Auba plenty of chances, but his head is gone.

I want us to finish above 8th this season. Then i'll give Arteta one more summer to get his squad together. After that, if we aren't competing for top 4, then i'll want a replacement.

But, I am fully aware he had a massive job to do when he came in, so i'm willing to give him some time to see it through.
 
Hansi Fick said:
We said 18 points from 10 as bare minimum, that's 1.8 per game. You're now on 36 points from 21 games, that's 1.7 points per game. Arteta is failing the bare minimum goal, and yet everyone's acting like he's doing this amazing job. What he is amazing at, is lowering standards and getting away with it, somehow. Amazing.
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I also said 70 points at end of season, and it's not end of season yet. Perhaps we shouldn't judge to soon. People are quick to judge when we go on a wee run, but the same token they are quick to judge when we have a bad run. It's all a bit too reactive considering all teams around us drop points.
 
Hansi Fick said:
We said 18 points from 10 as bare minimum, that's 1.8 per game. You're now on 36 points from 21 games, that's 1.7 points per game. Your on course for 65 points (you'll end up with less though), that's place 6 on average over the last 10 seasons. Arteta is failing the bare minimum goal, and yet everyone's acting like he's doing this amazing job. What he is amazing at, is lowering standards and getting away with it, somehow. Amazing.
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Rebuilding a club like Arsenal or United is clearly not that easy. See United. They thought they almost had it fixed for the past 5 years, and now it looks like their back to square one..

If you're going to give up on a manager after a season, and keep swapping, then you'll just end up doing the same thing.
 
Samid said:
How were they saying he was making good progress if they were silent?
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I mean silent in terms of throwing shade his way.

This thread is the exact example of it. Look at it in December, then look the past week. People change their opinions weekly depending on one bad game. And i'm talking about Arsenal fans too.
 
Nish115 said:
Rebuilding a club like Arsenal or United is clearly not that easy. See United. They thought they almost had it fixed for the past 5 years, and now it looks like their back to square one..

If you're going to give up on a manager after a season, and keep swapping, then you'll just end up doing the same thing.
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Wrong. If you keep a manager in the job season after season that has never shown he can deliver, then you'll end up doing the same thing. Which you are.

You finished 8th, then you finished 8th. This season, I guess you'll climb to 7th. What a project.
 
Hansi Fick said:
Wrong. If you keep a manager in the job season after season that has never shown he can deliver, then you'll end up doing the same thing. Which you are.

You finished 8th, then you finished 8th. This season, I guess you'll climb to 7th. What a project.
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Meh, I see that the simplistic way of looking at it. I'd rather look at what Arteta has actually done in his time in charge.

He started while we were 11th. In his spell in charge that season, he averaged 6th and won a cup. That's fine for a first season.
He then had a terrible 5 months at the start of his 2nd season. He played a load of old, unreliable players who didn't show any passion on the pitch. In December he changed that, went 4-2-3-1 and started playing more youth and a proper number 10. It transformed the side. Ever since that, we've been averaging 4th place in the league, which is the last 14 months.

I never expected Arteta to come in and be the saviour. He's young and inexperienced. He will have mistakes. The question to me is, will he learn from them. And so far, he is learning from most of them.

If any Arsenal fans just expected instant success with Arteta, they were kidding themselves. The competition is very high in the league, and the whole club needed a refresh, top to bottom. This takes time, not 1 season like you seem to be expecting..

This season I want us to be competing all the way for 4th place, but the reality is, 3-8 is going to be extremely compact and tbh probably the tightest it will ever be. I said 7th, but actually I take that back, 6th is the minimum i'd want to see this season. Equally, the club need to back Arteta in the next week. Artetas made it clear the squad isn't enough currently, let's see what they can do. We've lost: Mari, Kolasinac, Balogun, Auba, AMN since the start of the season. Granted each bit part players, but it adds up. We need 1 or 2 new players in to keep the numbers.
 
Nish115 said:
Rebuilding a club like Arsenal or United is clearly not that easy. See United. They thought they almost had it fixed for the past 5 years, and now it looks like their back to square one..

If you're going to give up on a manager after a season, and keep swapping, then you'll just end up doing the same thing.
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Hope you keep the good work with Arteta mate. It should not be easy. Maybe in 15 years you’ll get top 5.

Seriously, I just think this rebuilding stuff is bullsh*t.
You just need a great manager with a tone of cash.

What is wrong at United is that we didn’t have a good manager (let alone a great one) since Fergie left.
 
Redfrog said:
Hope you keep the good work with Arteta mate. It should not be easy. Maybe in 15 years you’ll get top 5.

Seriously, I just think this rebuilding stuff is bullsh*t.
You just need a great manager with a tone of cash.

What is wrong at United is that we didn’t have a good manager (let alone a great one) since Fergie left.
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Ok. How many great managers are out there?

If you're asking if i'd have preferred Klopp or Pep to Arteta, then my answer obviously is yes.

But.. there aren't many managers like that about, least of all many that would have taken the Arsenal job at that time..

United still can't get a great manager in, after spending boat loads, having Ronaldo in the squad, and finishing 2nd last year.

Ten Hag is maybe an option, even he has risks. Naglesmann is one, but why would he leave Bayern? Everyone was calling from Rodgers non stop at the time, but I don't see massive proof he'd be doing much better tbh
 
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Nish115 said:
I mean silent in terms of throwing shade his way.

This thread is the exact example of it. Look at it in December, then look the past week. People change their opinions weekly depending on one bad game. And i'm talking about Arsenal fans too.
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I'd imagine the people 'throwing shade' are different from the people talking about Arteta making progress. It's not the same people flipflopping on Arteta every week.
 
Nish115 said:
I mean silent in terms of throwing shade his way.

This thread is the exact example of it. Look at it in December, then look the past week. People change their opinions weekly depending on one bad game. And i'm talking about Arsenal fans too.
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Well, I've been saying Artetout consistently. I simply can't see this so called progress some fans are seeing.
 
GoonerBear said:
I also said 70 points at end of season, and it's not end of season yet. Perhaps we shouldn't judge to soon. People are quick to judge when we go on a wee run, but the same token they are quick to judge when we have a bad run. It's all a bit too reactive considering all teams around us drop points.
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From February till the end of the season you'll basically play 4 games a month. Think you'll do fine and finish season strongly. Will it be enough for top 4, don't know.
 
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