Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

GifLord said:
Why would you feel sorry for the media darling? Barely any criticism towards him from the pundits(his best friend Wrighty said a month ago we'd be title challengers with Arteta - he's gone silent since the shitshow), media... All the review shows MOTD, Weekend Review, Analysis show. No criticism whatsoever. One pundit actually said it's the players who let him down. He's gettng a free pass for taking Ars to 15th while Ole was beeing destroyed left and right.
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Ole absolutely gets the most criticism as he is not British, comes from a tiny country and oh you know he once relegated the mighty Cardiff.
But this is hardly Arteta’s fault, nor is the media love in for him his fault. He is very young / inexperienced and Arsenal was too big too soon for him. In such cases you need at least a couple of strong players and Arsenal just don’t have them. I don’t have any time for him and hated the way he celebrated their win against us (like he had just won the league title), but Arsenal are such a badly run club for such a long time now that I would probably feel sorry for anyone managing them.
 
united_99 said:
Ole absolutely gets the most criticism as he is not British, comes from a tiny country and oh you know he once relegated the mighty Cardiff.
But this is hardly Arteta’s fault, nor is the media love in for him his fault. He is very young / inexperienced and Arsenal was too big too soon for him. In such cases you need at least a couple of strong players and Arsenal just don’t have them. I don’t have any time for him and hated the way he celebrated their win against us (like he had just won the league title), but Arsenal are such a badly run club for such a long time now that I would probably feel sorry for anyone managing them.
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the obvious answer is often the one that’s often right.

Ole is at a far bigger club than Arsenal. Hence the greater focus.
 
RashyForPM said:
Right, if Pepe and Xhaka can’t take some harsh truths - actually no, ‘unacceptable’ isn’t a harsh truth when talking about what they did, ‘useless bellends’ would be more accurate, then they shouldn’t be footballers. They should be scapegoated, and they should take it well because they did cost Arsenal those games. About time the useless players at that club took public flak for their mindless actions. At least our players do most of the time, which I’m happy to say. I’ll give you Ozil. Freezing him out will cost Arteta his job.

Also, you have to look at other clubs. Mourinho threw Ndombele and Alli under the bus, and Ndombele has taken it well to come back firing into the XI, while Alli has just kept quiet. Shaw also came back well after Mourinho slammed and ostracised him throughout the 2016-17 season. Why can’t the brats at Arsenal like Saliba, Guendouzi and Pepe do the same?
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Maybe the way Mourinho works behind the scenes is not the same as the way Arteta does. Criticising a player publicly can work if reinforced properly but whatever Arteta is doing is clearly not working. I suppose you could also argue that Mourinho’s record gives him a bit more leeway where as Arteta has yet to earn that respect from his players and hasn’t been able to discipline from a position of strength.

To be honest, he should have bombed Xhaka out from day one. The guy is toxic, not particularly good and he was halfway out of the door already. I’ve no idea why he was so keen on reintegrating him. Though he’s been a bit of a dud signing so far, I can understand Pépé’s frustration in Willian continually being selected ahead of him no matter how badly he’s performed.


Crashoutcassius said:
'you can see what he's trying to do though'
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Relegate Arsenal?
 
GifLord said:
Why would you feel sorry for the media darling? Barely any criticism towards him from the pundits(his best friend Wrighty said a month ago we'd be title challengers with Arteta - he's gone silent since the shitshow), media... All the review shows MOTD, Weekend Review, Analysis show. No criticism whatsoever. One pundit actually said it's the players who let him down. He's gettng a free pass for taking Ars to 15th while Ole was beeing destroyed left and right.
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Just had a little gander at The Transfer Window podcast and they were basically talking of Arteta as if Arsenal were 7-8th in the table and had only lost the last couple of games, and basically blaming everything under the sun (lack of pre-season, player injury, out-of-form Auba etc) other than Arteta. And they even managed to talk about how even Pep is talking about how Arteta is the best manager he's worked with.

And btw just guess what the next topic of discussion was:
"Ferguson's legacy saving Solskjaer?"
 
GoonerBear said:
There is an actual base of some good young players. Tierney (23), Gabriel (22), Saliba (19), Maitland-Niles (23) Guendouzi (21) Saka (19) Martinelli (19) being the stand outs. Behind who have a bit more to prove are Nelson (21), Nketiah (21) Smith-Rowe (20) Balogun (19) Willock (21).

So it's not like there's no young talent there to work with. They are also obviously targeting a younger creative midfielder with the links to Aouar & Szoboszlai as well.

This summer sees Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis & Ozil out of contract, & they'll look to move on the likes of Kolasinac & Lacazette as well. As I have said a few times, it's a good chance to do a reset of the squad.
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I rate these three:
Tierney (23),
Gabriel (22),
Martinelli (19)

But maybe like Saka, who is having a 2nd season syndrome its too early to tell for the rest. Guendouzi is a Kenny G version of Xhaka.

I do really like Martinelli.

The Saliba mystery is the strange one. Last season he was supposed to be part of the re-boot and you have a Gabriel/Saliba centre back pairing. But Saliba can't even get a game in.
 
I don't know what the hipster journalists see in this guy. He seems to completely lack the ability to motivate his teams and especially to lift them up while in a bad situation. Most expensive front 3 in the league and they have 10 goals scored :wenger:
 
sglowrider said:
I rate these three:
Tierney (23),
Gabriel (22),
Martinelli (19)

But maybe like Saka, who is having a 2nd season syndrome its too early to tell for the rest. Guendouzi is a Kenny G version of Xhaka.

I do really like Martinelli.

The Saliba mystery is the strange one. Last season he was supposed to be part of the re-boot and you have a Gabriel/Saliba centre back pairing. But Saliba can't even get a game in.
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Saka, Tierney & Gabriel have easily been our best 3 outfield players this season. Even for England Saka has been 1 of the better performers when he's played. He needs to add a bit more end product but then no-one on our team has that just now.

Out of all them players, Smith-Rowe was probably seen as the best out of that academy age group. Leipzig wanted to sign him, he ended up on loan there, but niggling injuries have held him back. Needs to stay fit & play a proper run of games.

Probably agree with you about the rest. Will either end up as squad players or be used to raise transfer funds. Maitland-Niles is a full England International that Wolves tried to sign, Nketiah record U21 goal scorer, so they are good selling points there.

As for Saliba, just to let others know, he doesn't need registered on a squad list to play in the Premier league, just in the European squad list. The plan was obviously send him back on loan, but they fecked up the paperwork last minute, so he'll go out on loan in January. Its strange that Arteta doesn't seem to think he's ready, but St Etienne fans would disagree & Fofana is deemed ready.
Hopefully we'll see him next season when his path is clearer as well.
 
Bobcat said:
:lol: Yeah, i remember those

Two weeks in his tenure and we had many people talking confidently about his "style" and "patterns of play".

They are one of the most boring teams in the league right now
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Haha ah man. X has no philosophy at least you can see what arteta is trying to do. They were good times for the hipsters but it's gone south since
 
Cassidy said:
Was playing first team football in Ligue1 and bought for 27m and not registered even for Europa League?


Might only be 19 but he was playing top flight football already, whats the point of him being with u23s
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No I meant I don't think he needs to be registered as an "adult" player as I thought he'd be registered as a youth player?
 
United58 said:
No I meant I don't think he needs to be registered as an "adult" player as I thought he'd be registered as a youth player?
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True that makes sense
Edit: That may only apply to a player who has trained with the club for a certain amount of time
 
I do think the hype around him was ridiculous at the beginning but the one thing you have to say in his defence is they have a really bad midfield. There's no evidence that he can set up a good possession side but it'd be difficult for even Guardiola to get them flowing with Elneny and Xhaka in the middle. The team in general isn't in good shape but that's such a rubbish core to build the team around.
 
I know there’s half the match to go. But if they lose tonight, is that it for him?

Surely they would want to make a chance now, so you have a new man in time for the transfer window?
 
It’s the worst Arsenal team I’ve ever seen by some distance. I knew once they sacked Wenger it would all be down hill, he was constantly getting top 4 on a budget and still won the odd cup even towards the end.

Now they’ve got crap football, crap results and a crap squad.
 
They’ll regret not pulling the trigger sooner when big Sam was still available.
 
Brwned said:
I do think the hype around him was ridiculous at the beginning but the one thing you have to say in his defence is they have a really bad midfield. There's no evidence that he can set up a good possession side but it'd be difficult for even Guardiola to get them flowing with Elneny and Xhaka in the middle. The team in general isn't in good shape but that's such a rubbish core to build the team around.
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Emery did significantly better with roughly the same players. And he's no managerial genius either, needless to say.

Arteta turned this team into less than the sum of its parts - and that is a fecking magnificent achievement, as the parts are mostly ready for the scrapheap.
 
Arsenal should be tapping up Hasenhüttl right now. The job he's doing at Southampton is remarkable. If results stay the same at full time they'll be top of the league.

Done so well to turn the club around after losing 0-9 to Leicester last season.
 
Castia said:
It’s the worst Arsenal team I’ve ever seen by some distance. I knew once they sacked Wenger it would all be down hill, he was constantly getting top 4 on a budget and still won the odd cup even towards the end.

Now they’ve got crap football, crap results and a crap squad.
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Even the worst Wenger teams were able to fashion chances. One thing you couldn't accuse them of was a lack of creativity.

They'll probably be after Poch or Benitez now. Hasenhüttl wouldn't be a bad choice.
 
He had an initial spell where he looked like he might be able to do something there.
But this season has been a mess.

Just typical sod's law we're about the only team they've beaten.

But their team is so weak. Auba looks like an absolute myth. The 72m guy Pepe looks like a youth teamer who's getting a run out.
And the defence is like a meme with dodgy Luiz and Holding.

Why did they pay 27m for Saliba then not let him within a mile of the squad?!
 
Commentators acting shocked that Arsenal have had 7 rec cards in 12 months.

Am I the only one who remembers when that was every season for Arsenal under Wenger Vs. Ferguson?
 
The guy sold the wrong goal keeper and kept the worse one.

Played Aubameyang on the left with Lacazette in the middle.

Made some poor decisions and its obvious it's not just tactics - he just doesnt have the eye for it.
 
Cant make his team keep composure, can he? So many red cards.
 
They must be up there in terms of record red cards in a manager's first x amount of games. How many is that now?
 
10 men and 1-1 draw against a side thats currently at the top of the table surely is enough to keep him at the job until January, right?
 
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