Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Trilly]

Lol he’s not that smart.

Came back in February because he thought we’d turned the corner. Only for Mikel to pull off his greatest achievement and get knocked out of our only chance of CL football by Don Unai and had to disappear again.

Absolutely mugged himself off there big time

I know he’s still here, reading this post probably, maybe even posting as an alt.

Having to hold his tongue at the constant shots being taken at him, if you’re reading this it’s okay to come back. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind man.

 

[Garrincha]

Hard to blame Auba when we've created less than one big chance per game according to skysports stats.

imagine being a pure goalscorer, and having less than a big chance a gam. best strikers' conversion rate in the PL is around 30%. Of course if you're totally off rythm you're more prone to miss sitters. And then it ****s up your confidence, and you play even worse, being trapped in a negative loop.

I would gladly admit that Auba is washed if he was put into good situations where he used to be great at, and he was still ruining chances after chances.

Not surprising to see a goalscorer struggling in such a situation. Let's give him a break here.

if only we had a couple of midfielders that excelled at progressing and retaining the ball

 

[Trilly]

if only we had a couple of midfielders that excelled at progressing and retaining the ball

wow, don’t recall Douzi having that in his locker when he was here.

 

[Bloodbather]

wow, don’t recall Douzi having that in his locker when he was here.

He showed hints of it at Hertha. Wasn't at this level though, obviously.

 

[Kav]

Lol he’s not that smart.

Came back in February because he thought we’d turned the corner. Only for Mikel to pull off his greatest achievement and get knocked out of our only chance of CL football by Don Unai and had to disappear again.

Absolutely mugged himself off there big time

Dude was acting all smug too. Chatting all sorts with people who disagreed with him. Came at me like a clown talking about things he didn’t understand.

As for Mikel I said my bits already. I will speak at the end of the month. My stance is already clear on his capacity.

 

[Kav]

if only we had a couple of midfielders that excelled at progressing and retaining the ball

So we have one of the midfielders with the most progressive in Europe on loan elsewhere while we struggle to make 4 passes under Arteta. It’s almost comical. The same can be said for Saliba.

I wonder how many players here would look drastically better in other teams and under different managers. Pepe, Ødegaard, Partey, Auba, Lacazette, AMN?

 

[Haphazard]

Arteta probably doesn't believe stats are anything more than made up numbers either, so his method is purely based on his own flawless views.

Perhaps if he was a bit taller he'd get a better view of the pitch and make better decisions.

View attachment 5134

The Virgin Arteta vs the Chad Viera

 

[Tir Na Nog]

if only we had a couple of midfielders that excelled at progressing and retaining the ball

Douzi and Bennacer right beside each other while none of our current midfielders are anywhere near this. Man I ****ing despise the way this club does things.

Could've had midfield sorted for a decade at least for peanuts.

 

[Tourbillion]

Douzi and Bennacer right beside each other while none of our current midfielders are anywhere near this. Man I ****ing despise the way this club does things.

Could've had midfield sorted for a decade at least for peanuts.

Sickening. Why are we punished for so long?

 

[Haphazard]

Douzi and Bennacer right beside each other while none of our current midfielders are anywhere near this. Man I ****ing despise the way this club does things.

Could've had midfield sorted for a decade at least for peanuts.

I remember in a game against Villa was it when we were losing 2-1 with a man down and Guen said **** this ****, grabbed the match by the scruff and helped us win 3-2?

I would equate Arteta's management style to the Taliban because of how joyless it is but I think that is a bit insulting. The Taliban actually know how to attack.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

And btw if you wanna know how much of a joke this place is, I remember a time when folk were slagging off Kroos asking what he does.

Literally one of the all time great central midfielders

 

[2Smokeyy]

And btw if you wanna know how much of a joke this place is, I remember a time when folk were slagging off Kroos asking what he does.

Literally one of the all time great central midfielders

I also remember when Bayern won the CL and people were trying to say that Thiago was the best midfielder in the world lmao. I said Kroos was better than him and people laughed.

 

[Pyres7]

I voted he had to get top 4 to keep his job

Forget top four, I only voted for improvement in performances (because top 6 + improvement wasn't an option). But he hasn't even managed that!

 

[GoonerJay24]

I feel like we over-index the toxicity of fans and social media. No serious club lets their fans influence them. If that were the case, Ben White and Ramsdale wouldn't be here. We wouldn't have left Highbury. We wouldn't have sold RvP to United, Cesc to Barca, Nasri to City etc. I want to believe our voice is important, even if its toxic, but that is not the reality. And there are fans way more toxic than us and still get what they want. If you think we're trouble, imagine Real Madrid or Barca fans. Especially for Barca where the club has become the face of the Catalan people. Wenger left because we had one of the worst away records in the English football period. Our fans wanted Arteta because they fell for The Athletic's PR machine that convinced many he was the less focially challenged Pep.

Our issue has been the recruitment in key areas that have absolutely shafted us. Raul was a crook, Arteta/Unai were not the right men for the club and Edu has little experience in the European market (although Edu has signed some good players this summer). Another problem is our lack of aggression to move forward with key decisions. As much as we love Wenger, he should have left years before. Imagine if we got Klopp in 2014 after the FA Cup win? Think how much better we would have been as a club. That's what a smart club does. They move in quick and don't let things meander into mediocrity. Liverpool sacked Rodgers after bringing to 2nd place the season before. Chelsea sacked their best ever player and got Tuchel.

You underestimate the power of how continual fan and media negativity can impact team performance.

Wenger was still better than Klopp in 2014, although I agree that would have been a good time for him to step down.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

The media are slowly starting to turn

Trust me it is! That is how the world of football works. Good PR can win you only time. Arteta is running out of that after 2 years in the job.

Good PR will never eliminate the need for winning games and scoring goals. He needs results and he isn’t getting them, so the media starts focusing on that. He weathered the storm last year. It will be much more difficult to do so now.

 

[scytheavatar]

Douzi and Bennacer right beside each other while none of our current midfielders are anywhere near this. Man I ****ing despise the way this club does things.

Could've had midfield sorted for a decade at least for peanuts.

Douzi and Bennacer are both B tier midfielders and more or less on the level of Xhaka and Partey ................. they would have solved none of our problems. And fans would have been ****ting on them as being no better than Elneny if they are playing for us right now. If they were playing besides an A/S tier midfielder then things could be different.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

perhaps because we are trying to score every goal by design (not aesthetically, but in such a way that allows us to retain a defensive shape while attacking).

Think this is at the core of the problem and why we are so slow and predictable and why we create so little unless we are chasing games and really need a goal.

There has to be more of a middle ground here. Especially since our team has more offensive quality than defensive.

 

[Makingtrax]

if only we had a couple of midfielders that excelled at progressing and retaining the ball

Always been a big fan of Douzi even though A-M told me he was sh!t and a trouble maker. Still, A-M told me Wenger was sh!t and any manager could get top 4 with Arsenal. Nothing changes.

 

[The_Playmaker]

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Arsenal KPIs

Looking at what the stats say about how Arsenal are playing on the key performance indicators.

www.crabstats.xyz

This is a must read. It looks bad. Very very bad.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Arteta probably doesn't believe stats are anything more than made up numbers either, so his method is purely based on his own flawless views.

Perhaps if he was a bit taller he'd get a better view of the pitch and make better decisions.

View attachment 5134

LOL! That is a funny clip. Viera didn’t even notice it. As giant of a man and player!