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Mikel Arteta: Top Of The Klopps

Moah

Well-Known Member
I can't see why Martinelli isn't at least playing some minutes here and there. I don't buy the argument that he may not be training well. From what we saw on the pitch he's the most determined and tireless player in the team.

Footballing brain or talent can't be a reason too, because I don't see Nketiah making a five yard pass properly. And if its goal scoring instinct Martinelli seemed much better.
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Arteta had the principle of train hard and you play. However isn't it counter productive if you train hard and you do not perform? He said everyone needs to be accountable and we need a new culture. Well the culture of someone making a mistake and then the team supporting that player only leads to more mistakes. If you play poorly you should be dropped. You do not then train hard and get your place back instantly, otherwise how are you accountable for your poor performance?

This is what I would do. Look at the performances that were positive.

-Holding got through 90 minutes.
- Bellerin also. With Bellerin he looks good in straight lines but lacks turning speed and agility. He just needs time. So I would keep playing him, but he needs to share the game with someone which I will come to later.
- Pepe. Not good when on the touchline and ha 3 players to beat. Dangerous when one on one closer to the box. Worked hard also.
- Auba, looks sharp in movement but kept having to shoot off his weaker foot.
-Saka, the playmaker. He makes things happen. LCM allows him move hide and come inside. It allows him to cross and also to shoot. Keep him there. Don't then shift him again.

That's it for the positives I'm afraid. When it comes to a manager you need to know when to keep playing someone out of form, when to drop them, when to basically say you are not good enough. CEBALLOS and lacazette need to go down the pecking order. Guendouzi didn't make one tackle yesterday as a DM. That shows you he is incapable of protecting the defence. It's not a case of, he trains well and therefore needs to keep playing. Play someone who can tackle because Guendouzi literally offers nothing in passing either.

So Arteta needs to look at getting Auba on his right foot, Pepe closer to goal, keeping Saka where he is, covering Holding, covering Bellerin and protecting a large central space. Here is what I would do and it isn't far fetched because he has already done it.

We need to accept the mainstays. Mustafi, Xhaka, Auba and now Saka. I think everyone else is interchangeable. Personally I would use this opportunity to make Pepe a mainstay. Özil has not delivered. He is an issue off the pitch, just because he works hard should not see him get his place back. He needs to work hard, make an impact from the bench, that's what leads to a start.

I would decide who my 5 pre planned subs are. The players who are sharing games. The tactical subs and injury enforced subs are part of the manager. However the pre planned should be simple enough with 5 available. Kolasinac and Tierney should be sharing games. As should Saka and Willock.

I would go 4 -3 - 3 with Saka and AMN as 8's. The formation is only important off the ball. They need to recover to the right area. Narrow, to protect the holder, which in theory should be Torreira, but we all know will be Xhaka. Torreira needs to win his place back. Martinelli left,Auba central and Pepe right.

Invert the left side and push the right back forward. I think Arteta should do what he did with Saka. Play Nelson right back and push him to right wing so he can share game time with Bellerin.

In possession:

Martinelli----------Auba-----------------------Nelson
------------------------------------------Pepe
-------------Saka-----------------------------
-------------------------------------------AMN
---------Tierney-------Xhaka--------------

-----------------Holding------------Mustafi
---------------------------Martinez

This set of players allow flexibility and it's the exchanging of positions that creates the space and makes players difficult to pick up.

Auba - more freedom to drift wide to right or left. This allows Pepe or Martinelli to move inside. If it breaks down Auba is tracking back and they take up the central space, which is no bad thing as he can do that.

Pepe moves inside closer to goal as Nelson is good enough to hold the flank and will attract defenders as he can beat players 1v1. Bellerin can only beat players with a 1,2. Nelson is a whole different proposition.

With Nelson pushed forward you have AMN who can cover the right hand space. And also tuck in quickly to protect Xhaka.

Xhaka is there to distribute. He has Tierney left of him, two behind him and AMN next to him. He is protected and his job is to find Saka, Pepe, Martinelli and Nelson on the switch. Minimal touches. I'd prefer Torreira has its natural position. Guendouzi still Xhaka is fit, Torreira can hopefully get his space back after.

Saka can drift left as he has Tierney behind him. That would allow Martinelli to move central and aid Auba in the box with Pepe arriving on the edge and Nelson at the far post. Tierney, Xhaka, AMN remain back. Just as easily Tierney can push up with Saka covering.

The principle is that they simply know where they need to be when we lose the ball.

Arteta needs to lean into attacking players and pay close attention to physical levels.
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
All I want is the same level of intensity and desire we seen in Arteta first 3 games.

The way we played against united when we bet them.

Show me that again and I'll give him more time.
Things different now we been 3 month with no football and little training we won't see the same intensity ubtil next season when there pre season.
 

GunnerShy

Well-Known Member
There's a lot of players just going through the motions out there. Club needs a cultural reset.

He's played arguably the best side we had available against Brighton yesterday. If they're a quality side they would go out there and get a result.

People talk about game management, subs etc but the buck stops with the players. They're not good enough. We shouldn't fear gutting this side as it's full of mid table footballers.
Thats what you get from mediocre management spending mediocre money for 10 years.

Chambers, Holding, Luiz, Kolasinac, Mari, Mavraponas etc etc etc. Let alone those out on loan not good enough like Mkhitaryan & El-neny

We spent mediocre money buying mediocrity. Anytime we got value they've been allowed to run contracts down and leave for brighter lights.

The only way out I see is selling Lacazette, Aubameyang and some deadwood and reinvesting that money plus an equal sum from the owners onto the squad. Buying quality and using the younger players as the squad players.

No more bargain basement players we've got an academy for that. Established players with resale value and potential gems like Martinelli

I'm obviously really sceptical about the owners willingness to tip in, bit this is the market to double down in. It'll be a long way back otherwise. The players opted for a cut, time to dip in.

We are fans, we are furious and disgusted and dispairing about this squad. - you know Arteta will be too. He was a long time football pro and spend 3.5 years at the currently best ran fc in the world. If we can see it he can see it. Same for Edu and those above. We will soon see if the owners care enough to try to fix things quickly
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
Also something when you spend 17 years straight in CL and didn't do nothing to improve it and make yourself more competitive it'll caught up on you quick that what happened last 3 years teams below us got more competitive and we couldn't handle it and slip down
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
Intrigued in both cases why we were targeting such expensive options & who made the decision. Just seems odd as the January window before & after the likes of Orny say we are restricted to only loan deals.

We have seen wide attackers like Gucci, Felipe, Lozano, Bergwijn etc move at a fraction of the price... was that not a more sensible level for us? Use the other 40m /50m on the midfield or defence.

But how would Raul feel then? Pepe was a good buy, but it was also supposed to be a statement a la Özil, for the new regime.

It's not really what was needed.
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
I wasn't fond of Arteta at the start, wanted a more experienced manager with a proven track record. But people need to understand he came to to Club in the middle of a season with a squad that is unbalanced with core structural issues and low on confidence. He managed to turn some things around and just when it started to show on the pitch the lock down happened. So now he's basically starting from scratch again with no pre-season and out of shape squad (we were finished physically in the last 20min).

I'll give Arteta the benefit of doubt for now, lets see what he can do with a proper pre-season and a couple of additions tailored for what he wants to do on the pitch.

The club has also put itself on a tight spot, because we kinda have to back Arteta for about two seasons and a half now (unless it gets really bad, of course).

Can't be start-stoping the rebuilding process. At least Arteta seems to have the ethos for it, let's hope he picks up the know how to go with it quickly.
 

Dennis_Bergkamp_10

Established Member
Arteta has made mistakes but people in here expect a new manager to come in and turn this **** team into the Invincibles. You hear that idiot Claude saying that we haven't improved.. nobody is looking at the big picture.

Had we gotten a penalty at the Kolasinac tackle and win the game they'd be praising the manager and players. Result based emotions is almost all I see.

If we bring in another manager now, how long do we give him? Do we expect to be defensively solid in a few months with the same **** team and mediocre players? Or do we let our emotions go and judge Arteta i.e. in May 2022.

If he still makes strange lineups, strange subs and have us in 10th place at least we can judge over time that he won't improve us. Stop ranting, the season is lost anyway.

Oh and a little heads up: no matter who the manager is next year, it will be another ****storm of a season bar a miracle.
 

Tom349

Active Member
\
People talk about game management, subs etc but the buck stops with the players. They're not good enough. We shouldn't fear gutting this side as it's full of mid table footballers.
Thats what you get from mediocre management spending mediocre money for 10 years.

Part of me thinks Arteta wanted to see how his players reacted yesterday rather than giving them an easy out and substituting them. Might have just been where the mic was but he didn't seem anywhere as vocal or engaged with his players from the touchline yesterday compared to before the break. Kind of their sink or swim moment, can they do the right thing without having to be instructed to do it. Will they push hard without the fans or Arteta screaming at them. I know its hard for the players without the fans and having come off a long break without much training but the players who need fans and the manager screaming at them to work hard stick out in games like this. Case in point Guendouzi and his tracking of his opponents yesterday, just allowed to them waltz by him.
 

Dennis_Bergkamp_10

Established Member
Also going on about his subs: like Wenger he has a lot faith in his plan A. Of course all the keyboard managers know better, but when Emery substituted very soon people argued that he didn't know our best team, which again wasn't a good sign.

There's always a stick to beat them with.
 

Tom349

Active Member
Start to think that actually emery over achieved with these c**ts and could have qualified to CL if he didn't f**k up against Brighton and Crystal Palace. Alot of these players won't improve under any manager i been that since emery last days they all average error prone injury prone most of them take out auba and Leno and we bottom 10 team.

This current team is a lot different to the team we had last season. The biggest and most noticeable difference is no Ramsey but beyond that we still had far better leaders in Koscienly and Monreal than we do now. In fact losing those three is massive considering they were key players for Arsenal for a long time and are the type of guys our younger players would look to guidance.

That doesn't include the likes of Iwobi, Mykhi and El Neny leaving and although I couldn't stand those players for their wastefulness at the very least they could retain possession better than our current options and in El Nenys case not allow his opponent to constantly get in behind him.

Factor in players losing confidence (Lacazette/Torreira) or returning poorly from injury (Holding/Bellerin) or signings not hitting the ground running (Tierney/Pepe) and there is very few players left in the squad that are good options for Arteta.

Of course Emery had to deal these issues too but he played his part in players losing confidence and could have pushed harder to get the likes fo Monreal, Ramsey and Koscinely to hang around.
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
This current team is a lot different to the team we had last season. The biggest and most noticeable difference is no Ramsey but beyond that we still had far better leaders in Koscienly and Monreal than we do now. In fact losing those three is massive considering they were key players for Arsenal for a long time and are the type of guys our younger players would look to guidance.

That doesn't include the likes of Iwobi, Mykhi and El Neny leaving and although I couldn't stand those players for their wastefulness at the very least they could retain possession better than our current options and in El Nenys case not allow his opponent to constantly get in behind him.

Factor in players losing confidence (Lacazette/Torreira) or returning poorly from injury (Holding/Bellerin) or signings not hitting the ground running (Tierney/Pepe) and there is very few players left in the squad that are good options for Arteta.

Of course Emery had to deal these issues too but he played his part in players losing confidence and could have pushed harder to get the likes fo Monreal, Ramsey and Koscinely to hang around.
Kosh Monreal and Ramsey are important players i agree but they all wanted tl leave we can't do anything about it also kosh and Monreal were in decline
 

Wiltord's left boot

Active Member
Who cares about Emery ffs? Got spanked by Sarri in a cup final, the only cup final Sarri has ever won, he’s lost 5 others.

Played dead football for 18 months, we couldn’t attack or defend. But now you have the Emery pity party, **** off.

Yeah exactly. He relied on Auba and Laca bailing us out most of them time. We were just as incohesive and unbalanced as we are now.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
Imagine losing Ramsey and not signing a midfielder? ****. You sign a washed up dead CB like Luiz only because your criminal friend is his agent, to go alongside Sok/Mustafi. 3 months later when the world is pulling down statutes, you buy your own statue in Mari.

Let Iwobi leave with no replacement. Let’s not even start with how they’ve behaved with Özil.

Shambolic.

Mod Edit: that last line was unnecessary
 
Last edited by a moderator:

dbig

Well-Known Member
I'd accept a complete clear out and rebuild from scratch for a few years. Most of the players look like they don't want to be here, and they don't have the mentality to be top players.

Arsène's team was in decline but his successors (Raul and team and Emery) really exacerbated the situation.
 

krengon

One Arsène Wenger
Trusted ⭐
This current team is a lot different to the team we had last season. The biggest and most noticeable difference is no Ramsey but beyond that we still had far better leaders in Koscienly and Monreal than we do now. In fact losing those three is massive considering they were key players for Arsenal for a long time and are the type of guys our younger players would look to guidance.

makes you think, is the squad worse now than it was when Emery took over?
 

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