Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[HairSprayGooners]

To be fair the club were actively shopping Sokratis and Mustafi, so neither were in their plans. Agree Luiz and either of those two is a bad partnership for the reasons you mention. Why I'm optimistic about Mari despite his obvious limitations.

I like Mari. I think people are writing him off way too soon, he's hardly played. As a third choice CB you cant go wrong.

 

[lomekian]

Apparently Emery also wanted N'Zonzi in his first summmer and had to be convinced to get Torreira instead. Wonder what impact that would've had, if any.

Given how N'zonzi seems to have fallen off a cliff, the board got that one right. At least Torreira has re-sale value

 

[EinmalImmerEwig]

hey Babu! The alpine master blaster is back! Whatever happened to SGF? It just stopped working pretty suddenly for me. You well?

Re Luiz, I was 'happy enough'. I knew with the summer spend we had and with Saliba lined up we were going to pick up a cheap experienced defender, and for the fee and the timescale, Luiz was probably as good as we were going to get. Likewise I'm fine him getting renewed for a year on less money. If he's here in 21/22, he better have had an epiphany that turns him into a latter day Baresi, or I'll be rather displeased!

Ultimately he's here because we needed a defender who could pass, and at that point Mari was in Brazil proving himself a player and Mustafi was peak Mustafi. Now he's back to being a timebomb. Then he was footballing Napalm.

I am as happy as can be, Mrs. is fine too. Thanks.
I was banned from the SGF, then came back, got banned again, then when I tried to go back it didn't work. I thought it was a cunning plan to stop me permanently, but seems not.
My other team just had the whole first XI in quarantine for 10 days, had to play the U21 team in Basel, got a 4-0 tonking, the Owner also in isolation, so no news at the moment is good news.

Re Luiz, I take your point, and I'm not going to argue. It's well thought-out and appreciated.
I'm also very hopeful/confident of Saliba, he'll come good.

Whisper it, but I quite like Mustafi.

Onwards and upwards though. Going into the game tonight with no expectations, exactly like v. Liverpool, and that worked out OK

COYG!

 

[lomekian]

@bingobob

Great post, shows that our main anger should be aimed at Gazidis and then Raul for our terrible transfer business. Too easy to ask Kroenke to invest, he’s allowed those who are hired to run the club to spend.

Gazidis and **** Law and Arsène had got so used to having to outsmart the market that when they didn't need to anymore they were like Supermarket Sweep, or Covid panic buyers. All except for the one summer when they only signed Cech and had they invested would have won the league.

The biggest issue is they started buying players that didn't fit together and relying on those with injury issues to be the glue. They get injured and the whole thing falls apart.

Also, as has been said by so many, if Mustafi is the only defender you spend more on than a newly promoted side does on its bench players, you are asking for a crap defence.

 

[Hunta]

Gazidis and **** Law and Arsène had got so used to having to outsmart the market that when they didn't need to anymore they were like Supermarket Sweep, or Covid panic buyers. All except for the one summer when they only signed Cech and had they invested would have won the league.

The biggest issue is they started buying players that didn't fit together and relying on those with injury issues to be the glue. They get injured and the whole thing falls apart.

Also, as has been said by so many, if Mustafi is the only defender you spend more on than a newly promoted side does on its bench players, you are asking for a crap defence.

I refuse to believe that Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Lacazette, Elneny etc were Wenger buys. The more I think of it the more I think that the summer we only bought Cech must have been down to Wenger refusing players being suggested to him by Gazidis and co.

No way a coach with the philosophy or history of Wenger buys such limited, one dimensional footballers for big money. I remember reading at the time how Wenger lost some control in return for his new contract in 2014, plus you have stat DNA getting more attention and I think Gazidis started having the final say which explains a lot.

Xhaka was benched when he first signed, Kolasinac was back up to Monreal, he kept replacing Lacazette early in games, never played Lucas Perez, Elneny was a squad player. It all points to them not being his signings.

 

[Hunta]

It’s well known that we wanted Kante, wouldn’t pay the agent fees. Mahrez has come out and said he was so close to joining us, Vardy we all know what happened there.

Xhaka and Lucas were bought instead of Wenger’s first choices. No doubt in my mind.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

It’s well known that we wanted Kante, wouldn’t pay the agent fees. Mahrez has come out and said he was so close to joining us, Vardy we all know what happened there.

Xhaka and Lucas were bought instead of Wenger’s first choices. No doubt in my mind.

I remember Piers Morgan came out saying Xhaka wasn't wanted by Wenger when he was signed. But he was using it as a way of criticising Wenger as everyone was pretty high on Xhaka at the time.

He didn't even play him that much until Cazorlas injury forced his hand.

For me it was that summer where Wenger stopped having total control over transfers. Not that he can't be criticised for the windows prior to that mind.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

It’s well known that we wanted Kante, wouldn’t pay the agent fees. Mahrez has come out and said he was so close to joining us, Vardy we all know what happened there.

Xhaka and Lucas were bought instead of Wenger’s first choices. No doubt in my mind.

We refused to pay the agent fees because Wenger was stubborn as hell.

If Raul was in we would have got Kante.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

For me it was that summer where Wenger stopped having total control over transfers. Not that he can't be criticised for the windows prior to that mind.

It is so obvious and most would admit it but because of some mods hating Wenger some think hating him will get them trusted status. Very sad state of affairs really.

 

[Makingtrax]

I refuse to believe that Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Lacazette, Elneny etc were Wenger buys. The more I think of it the more I think that the summer we only bought Cech must have been down to Wenger refusing players being suggested to him by Gazidis and co.

No way a coach with the philosophy or history of Wenger buys such limited, one dimensional footballers for big money. I remember reading at the time how Wenger lost some control in return for his new contract in 2014, plus you have stat DNA getting more attention and I think Gazidis started having the final say which explains a lot.

Xhaka was benched when he first signed, Kolasinac was back up to Monreal, he kept replacing Lacazette early in games, never played Lucas Perez, Elneny was a squad player. It all points to them not being his signings.

Hoping his book will explain a lot. We do know when Arsène wanted Griezmann from Sociedad, Gazidis said StatDNA showed he wasn't worth it ffs.

 

[Makingtrax]

It’s well known that we wanted Kante, wouldn’t pay the agent fees. Mahrez has come out and said he was so close to joining us, Vardy we all know what happened there.

Xhaka and Lucas were bought instead of Wenger’s first choices. No doubt in my mind.

You've had an epiphany, amazing what 5 Doombar's will do.

 

[Hunta]

You've had an epiphany, amazing what 5 Doombar's will do.

I think most know Gazidis ****ed us up. Wenger’s biggest mistake was allowing it to happen. He should have walked.

 

[Makingtrax]

I think most know Gazidis ****ed us up. Wenger’s biggest mistake was allowing it to happen. He should have walked.

Yeah, he should have, but that wasn't in his DNA. Honour, loyalty and love for the club turned out be the flaw in his character.

 

[lomekian]

We know that Wenger was compromised scouting wise and had to be more collegiate in his decision making, but I suspect his book won't clarify exactly where the balance shifted too. We can be sure Wenger was at fault for some of the poor sales though because of all that he said on the subject.

 

[Rosso]

Arteta talks and gestures to his players. “He must have learnt that from Pep, the person who invented it!”

 

[OnlyOne]

Where's that gimp @KrissKringle who was chatting sh*t about my don Arteta?

Liverpool and City defeated in one week. You stay off AM for a while. Coward.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

Huge ****ing credit. This is a team ****ing transformed. Give him what he wants

 

[ChefMan21]

Arteta was Simeone and the side was Atletico in disguise. Discuss.

 

[A_G]

The Arteta Effect

 

[Notorious Big]

Simeone from Spain.