Daniel Ek

[Papa Wonga]

Kroenke will go on well into his 90s, Josh similar.

Talking another 50 years of KSE owning Arsenal, maybe more.

No worries, with Stan's new found love of the fans and the club, Quadruple winners in 2048.

Quite concerning we'll be going into the National Mars Vs Earth supercup with stan in charge down the line.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Chuffed seems a bit like a overstatement. I don't think even the most ardent Emery fans thought he was going to lead us back to the glory days. He was supposed to be a short term fix to steady the ship off the back of having just sacked our manager of 22 years and 2 seasons without CL football. His remit was to get CL football and he came within a whisker of doing that on two fronts.

Well it certainly wasn't a move that was opposed, aside from a few people who were familiar with his (underwhelming) work from Spain like myself, or a few others. The point is in general Arsenal fans were happy with the appointment, which was in reality a terrible, incompetent hire. The last sentence here is also a massively generous way of putting it, sure, he came within a whisker of those two things, but in doing so he just continued the decline of the club...there was never a moment when it was a good project under him, his good first half--which him coming a whisker from CL in the league was based upon--was built upon results far exceeding performance level. He got destroyed by a pretty mediocre Chelsea team in the final, meanwhile (Wenger's EL run, almost beating a superior Atlético to that Chelsea in semis, was a better one) Arteta couldn't have picked up the club in a worse place...he would've been far better off picking it up from Wenger.

He's yet to do a single thing better than Emery, in fact he's done a number of things worse than Emery. I'm always baffled when people slate Emery and then praise Arteta, at least be consistent. Either both are rubbish or both are a mixed bag or both are outright good. Because I've currentlyseen nothing at all tangibly to suggest Arteta is better than Emery.

Meh, this is only true if you're really ignoring everything interesting about football, all tactical detail, all analysis. Emery's "good" season he had 59 xPTs...Arteta currently in his first full season, in a harder league environment (in Em*ry's first season a team that is not close to our performance level this season, Wolves, was the closest competition and the team that overperformed us, Leicester and Everton were crap, the former battling relegation for much of the season, the latter managed by Marco Silva, and still came within 3 xPTS and 4 xPTS respectively...without mentioning Villa, West Ham, Leeds-- league environment is really important here, the league is similar at the top but the quality of the midtable teams has changed greatly), has 50.72 xPTS in 33 games, 1.53 xPTS a game to Em*ry's 1.55 in his """good""" season, in a less competitive league environment, picking up a team that even in a disaster season was getting 1.73 xPTS per game. Arteta picked up a team in absolute disarray and with a terrible performance level thanks to Em*ry's predictably terrible work since his hire, and instead of going from 1.73 xPTS/g to 1.55 went from 1.23 xPTS to 1.32 xPTS in that same season, and 1.23 xPTS to 1.45 xPTS in his full reign so far.

People have a way of removing all context from the Em*ry / Arteta debate. Order of events matters. Em*ry in no way should've been the hire after Wenger. If Arteta could've started off his project then, instead of picking up after the considerable damage Em*ry did, we'd have been much better off, and much more advanced in the project, and evolving with the league which is improving year after year instead of devolving as we did under Em*ry, only to play a game of catch up.

Now, onto the observable differences. Arteta has shown an ability to effectively change formation and adapt to personnel, from the first couple games we saw this when he had Xhaka drop often into a LB position to offer him more space and time on the ball, while placing Saka at LB to counteract Xhaka's lack of running higher up the pitch, from the clever 3-4-3 / 4-3-3 he designed to help us with our cup run, to now the use of Xhaka in an interesting sort of hybrid LCB/left biased DM/LB role. Em*ry's tactical adjustments were typically failed, he didn't succeed in transmitting the "ideas" (in quotes because I really don't think Em*ry has any ideas about football) to his players (the very definition of a manager's job), and were typically reversed with halftime substitutions because they didn't work.

Pressing, coherence of possession play and build-up, defensive organisation....it seems like people have quickly forgotten the days of Em*ry when we were constantly being outshot by relegation teams like Watford and Southampton by ridiculous amounts (what was it, 34 shots we received to our 9 or 11 against Watford, FFS?). Anyways, all those things have improved under Arteta. If you take away the first 14 games of the season before ESR, which was a major miscalculation on Arteta and Edu's part, going into the season with that personnel (personnel with limitations that Em*ry never experienced...he had a younger Özil and Ramsey available, we had literally not one chance creator / player capable of playing and operating in between lines, short of Saka, who is a wide player), the divide is even bigger...since then we are at 1.71 xPTS per game, a performance level we've never seen under Em*ry despite a more favourable league environment, and which is well off the 1.23 xPTS level he picked up at, or the 1.47 xPTS he achieved over the entirety of his reign. (This is relevant, of course, because, ahem, context: up until Arteta installed ESR in the lineup, and after the poor summer planning, I was very much doubting him too as manager; since then he has convinced me).

All this without mentioning Arteta's abilities to galvanise a group and keep the team motivated and on board with him...of course we know there that there is no comparison. Arteta has already had more games with the team than Em*ry, and Em*ry had lost the team about 10-15 games earlier than Arteta's current game total. Also convinced a few important players to sign contracts (Auba, Ødegaard, Luiz), as noted by other posters.

In short, let's not remove all context in the Arteta debate!!

 

[Beany]

Hilarious that CNBC ran a VT of our Australia trip back in 2017 - hardly a current player amongst them. To be fair, Laca looked a youthful 98 back then.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Ek talks the talk but can he walk the walk... time will tell. I like how he speaks about Arsenal and I think he'd be for the fans. But I don't think he quite realises how difficult it is.

If he's secured the funds then 2-2.5billion wouldn't be a problem. Like Cramer said in that video, Kroenkes saying we don't want to sell actually means make us an offer. Bring us to the table. Because realistically, if they get a big enough offer they will sell. I highly doubt they want to invest money during covid and I doubt they want to pump cash into the squad either.

But we will see, Ek's PR machine is insane. All of this will lead to fans protesting week in week out which is what he wants.

 

[Hunta]

What did he say @hydrofluoric acid. I remember you saying you work for Spotify.

 

[Brunos Beard]

As a swede I would love to see a swedish United fan as an owner. Can't speak for other countries, but we've had a love affair with english football since the 60's. Everyone who's interested in football up here has a favourite team in the PL... If Ek is sincere, you've got one hell of an owner if he was to take over...

Here's an article about the love affair: TV the key to Sweden's long love affair with English football

 

[SingmeasongSong]

He's at least trying, but in any case, he'll absolutely have to have the fans continue protesting againdt Kroenke for weeks onwards.
No way he does it without us.

 

[Gunners1616]

Can't wait for Ek to finally buy Arsenal just to have Henry or Vieira as a coach sending us further down...

If there is one thing that the "wenger out" protests teached us, it's that the people that were saying "be careful what you wish for" were right.

I don't think the Kroenkes will sell but even if they were i wouldn't trust this Ek guy until we know what type of structure/system, football and coaching staff we can expect with him knowing that he has never managed a sport team in his life unlike the Kroenkes who are at least decent on the business side (we have a nice stadium now and there is nothing wrong with our self-sustainable model).

 

[Beany]

What did he say @hydrofluoric acid. I remember you saying you work for Spotify.

@hydrofluoric acid ’s work for Spotify focuses on erotic ASMR for eskimos, so he’s unlikely to be of much help.

 

[Rimaal]

 

[OnlyOne]

This interview just confirms it's a load of rubbish.

I know English might not be his first language, but still, what a load of cods wallop.

 

[Rimaal]

Twitter football fans arsenal and non-Arsenal saying they will buy Spotify Premium to fund the purchase.
If this is a PR stunt is is genius.

I've a Spotify premium member since it came to my region, so at least It can't be said I was duped by a stunt.

 

[Rimaal]

 

[Rimaal]

 

[The_Playmaker]

He's at least trying, but in any case, he'll absolutely have to have the fans continue protesting againdt Kroenke for weeks onwards.
No way he does it without us.

The fans should be protesting though. The Kroenkes have been absentee owners for years. The club has fallen to where it is because of them. Nobody is at fault but them. Not the players. Not the fans. Not the managers. They decide who is hired and fired and they decide where the money is spent. They sign off on the deals.

They let money slide out the door on frees and they spend stupid money on players without even knowing about it.

Just because they come out and say they are prepared to invest, doesn't mean a single thing. The fans should protest every weekend and then do the biggest protest of all when they are allowed back in.

Ek can literally be no worse. He would have to be more absent and let leeches into the club and promote mediocrity while also knowing nothing about football for years to even be considered bad.

A fan, whether he has money to invest or not, owning the club is more than anyone of us could want. He may have the agenda of trying to make money out of it, but if he is trying to make the club better at the same time, what is wrong with that?

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

According to Forbes, as of this month we're valued at £2 billion on the nose.

Just as a point of comparison, a lot of people seem to think Kroenke's mismanagement of the club in terms of on field has harmed him financially. It hasn't. Arsenal are valued 23% higher than they were 2 years ago.

Kroenke obviously see's Arsenal as a long term, low risk investment. He clearly doesn't want to sell and doesn't care about fans or fan pressure unless it seriously affects his investment.

Yeah, you can make not for sale footballs clubs available for sale if you bid enough money. A £1.8 billion bid wouldn't even be looked at. You'd have to be bidding £3 billion + to get Stan thinking I believe.

I'd favour Ek over Kroenke but this bid is dream world stuff.

 

[Preacher]

If next season fans will be back at full capacity, they need to interrupt every match in the Emirates by some protesting act. It will be long battle of wills, I hope that fans wont give in to them eventually or become indifferent.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

There's absolutely nothing in this at all, the media are trying to make more out of it and give the fans false hope, they know any bid Ek could possibly make will be rejected because Kroenke will be looking to get much more than the actual valuation of the club if he's to tempted to sell and it's just not feasible for Ek. Stan is gonna have to offered something he simply cannot refuse, he's not gonna be pressured. Stan couldn't give a **** about the protests or his image in the media. From his perspective I can't really see a reason to sell at all. And it's certainly not gonna be to Ek.

 

[TimoJens]

If next season fans will be back at full capacity, they need to interrupt every match in the Emirates by some protesting act. It will be long battle of wills, I hope that fans wont give in to them eventually or become indifferent.

I think they should boycott.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

According to Forbes, as of this month we're valued at £2 billion on the nose.

Just as a point of comparison, a lot of people seem to think Kroenke's mismanagement of the club in terms of on field has harmed him financially. It hasn't. Arsenal are valued 23% higher than they were 2 years ago.

Kroenke obviously see's Arsenal as a long term, low risk investment. He clearly doesn't want to sell and doesn't care about fans or fan pressure unless it seriously affects his investment.

Yeah, you can make not for sale footballs clubs available for sale if you bid enough money. A £1.8 billion bid wouldn't even be looked at. You'd have to be bidding £3 billion + to get Stan thinking I believe.

I'd favour Ek over Kroenke but this bid is dream world stuff.

Fear so too, but I dont mind a try with fan upset for months - it's damn overdue and in the pipes for 10 years +.

It might at least strike a pathway for another guy in the not to distant future which might also embrace some of the proposed ideas of Ek with legends and fan involvement since it's already now up in the air.