Mikel Arteta: All The President’s Men

[db10_therza]

It’s not as if FFP is a problem for the club.

It isn’t. Not right now anyway.

 

[Blankety Blank]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1877752887603859671

Not sure if those amounts are right. But we are still less than those teams (and no doubt less than the wrecks like utd and Chelsea)

But AM will continue to talk as if we are the only ones spending like 00s Chelsea or 10s City.

% correct
Although I'm sure wages have increased since.

Some people still fail to get their heads round the absolutely gargantuan task Arteta took on when he came here.

Totally rebuilt the squad from a poverty position and trimmed the wage bill
(All now taken for granted by some on here)

We had not been in the ECL for years but we're still paying wages like we were.

Major Surgery was needed.

Kronkes invested very good money in the team but it had to be a balance.

We basically had to give away or pay off most of the squad and imo we are still feeling the repercussions.

When you consider the situation inherited he has done amazingly well.

 

[TH14shahriar]

He’s not flawless, and much of what’s wrong with the squad should be blamed on Arteta. But the owners should also take responsibility for the situation we’re in. In the end, they are in charge of the club and have the final say.

If they don’t want us to make signings this window because they don’t want to support the him, (which I find hard to believe btw), then they should sack him and bring in another coach. The situation we’re in right now will only harm the club. Not signing players and risking failing to qualify for the Champions League is a real possibility. We can forget about winning any titles.

We also shouldn’t forget the signal this sends to our most important players. What reasons does Saliba have to stay here when he sees how the club is acting? If I were him, I’d pick up the phone and call my agent preparing for the summer window.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Saliba and Gabriel have kept Arsenal in the hunt, and are now probably the best central defensive pairing in the league. And Gabriel has been our set piece monster at the other end too, scoring as many goals as Jesus in the league. Between them they’re on £290K a week.

At the other end Havertz and Jesus are on £545K! Any sense to this?


View attachment 30943

Havertz, Jesus & Tomiyasu are stealing a f*cking living.

How the hell does Tomiyasu earn more than f*cking Trossard?!!!!

Gabriel Magalhães is criminally underpaid!!

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

I don't get some Arsenal fans honestly.

It doesn't matter what Arteta spend in the past or how well you think he's doing.
We are extremely light in attack and need a player and that's all you need to know and it's on the owners to fix this problem. Sp**s are probably going to sack Ange in a few months but they still got him a new goalkeeper.

Arsenal fans react the same way fast food employees do when I ask for extra ketchup packets. Like you’re stealing from their private stash.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

He’s not flawless, and much of what’s wrong with the squad should be blamed on Arteta. But the owners should also take responsibility for the situation we’re in. In the end, they are in charge of the club and have the final say.

The situation we’re in? We’re in second place lol
People act like the sky is falling because we didn’t rocket straight to number 1 and run away with the league…. Like all you need to do is spend some money and the league should be a sure thing. Even when many other clubs have done this and are still mid table or worse.

All we need is a few wins in a row and hopefully ya’ll doomsayers shut up. People freak out when we tie a few games. People think league leaders will just win every game. People’s’ view on this sport so delusional, emotional, and not the least based in reality. Only one team in history didn’t lose games and last year we won more games than they did….

 

[Blankety Blank]

Arsenal fans react the same way fast food employees do when I ask for extra ketchup packets. Like you’re stealing from their private stash.

this you bro?

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

View attachment 30951

this you bro?

Those are rookie numbers. This is me:

 

[TH14shahriar]

The situation we’re in? We’re in second place lol
People act like the sky is falling because we didn’t rocket straight to number 1 and run away with the league…. Like all you need to do is spend some money and the league should be a sure thing. Even when many other clubs have done this and are still mid table or worse.

All we need is a few wins in a row and hopefully ya’ll doomsayers shut up. People freak out when we tie a few games. People think league leaders will just win every game. People’s’ view on this sport so delusional, emotional, and not the least based in reality. Only one team in history didn’t lose games and last year we won more games than they did….

The situation is that we have an unbalanced squad that isn’t creating enough chances while also struggling to be effective in front of goal. This is a combination of Artetas tactics and the players we have, who simply aren’t good enough. We kept hearing about "x-factor" after the games against Bayern, and we got Sterling handed to us. Now we’ve dropped points this season because we’ve struggled to score one or more goals in many of those games.

What about the midfield? The club will need to renew and rejuvenate our midfield. We still don’t have a fixed option for LCM, as Havertz and Merino aren’t good enough, and we need to replace Jorginho/Partey. And we also need an backup to Ødegaard, but I'd trust Nwaneri there tbh.

This is the situation we’re in.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

We are now in exactly same position like last season, 40 points after 20 matches.
If we take into account match more injuries than last season, 3 red cards (due to stupidity of our players +bizarre penalty we conceded against Brighton), it's not disaster.
How many points have we lost due to these 3 red cards?
I'm certain that we would have more than 40 points and difference to Liverpool would be smaller.

The problem is that Saka is injured (unlike last season) and that we don't have trip to Dubai to refresh.
Last season we had run after match 20, 16 wins, 1 draw (City), 1 loss (Villa).
If we can repeat this run, we can be champions because Liverpool is not City from last season.
Unfortunately, I don't believe that we can repeat that run.
Because we don't look good this season and this is the main problem.
Too slow, too conservative, without resolve.
We don't play to win, we play not to lose.
And this is 100% Arteta's fault.
We will not win anything if we don't change this attitude.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

The situation is that we have an unbalanced squad that isn’t creating enough chances while also struggling to be effective in front of goal. This is a combination of Artetas tactics and the players we have, who simply aren’t good enough. We kept hearing about "x-factor" after the games against Bayern, and we got Sterling handed to us. Now we’ve dropped points this season because we’ve struggled to score one or more goals in many of those games.

What about the midfield? The club will need to renew and rejuvenate our midfield. We still don’t have a fixed option for LCM, as Havertz and Merino aren’t good enough, and we need to replace Jorginho/Partey. And we also need an backup to Ødegaard, but I'd trust Nwaneri there tbh.

This is the situation we’re in.

Did you know the invincibles had 1 or less goals in 9 matches by match week 20?
Did you know we have 8 after match week 20?
Football is typically a low scoring affair. People suddenly have this expectation of blowing every team away because then “the match officials won’t matter”… completely unreasonable.

And this is after being without our two best players for many of these games, Ødegaard and Saka. Ødegaard still isn’t back to his best. Look at what happened to Man City after losing Rodrigo. Even the best teams/managers can struggle with this. It’s unreasonable to expect a player as good as Ødegaard or Saka to come to Arsenal just to sit on the bench as a backup. Of course we need more depth, but we’ve largely been spending money on starters. And yes Arteta spent a lot on defense, probably because that’s what lost us the league 2 seasons ago. And guess what? We’ve ended up needing every one of those defenders he bought.

 

[TH14shahriar]

Did you know the invincibles had 1 or less goals in 9 matches by match week 20?
Did you know we have 8 after match week 20?
Football is typically a low scoring affair. People suddenly have this expectation of blowing every team away because then “the match officials won’t matter”… completely unreasonable.

And this is after being without our two best players for many of these games, Ødegaard and Saka. Ødegaard still isn’t back to his best. Look at what happened to Man City after losing Rodrigo. Even the best teams/managers can struggle with this. It’s unreasonable to expect a player as good as Ødegaard or Saka to come to Arsenal just to sit on the bench as a backup. Of course we need more depth, but we’ve largely been spending money on starters. And yes Arteta spent a lot on defense, probably because that’s what lost us the league 2 seasons ago. And guess what? We’ve ended up needing every one of those defenders he bought.

You can't compare how the Premier League was in 2004 to how it has been in recent years. Unfortunately, the situation now is that you basically need to reach close to 90 points to win the league because of City.

And I don't understand what you're trying to say. If you think Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli, and Jesus are good enough, then I won't bother arguing about it. The only player in our front three thats good enough to be a starter is Saka. Thats all you need to know.

 

[fute]

Havertz, Jesus & Tomiyasu are stealing a f*cking living.

How the hell does Tomiyasu earn more than f*cking Trossard?!!!!

Gabriel Magalhães is criminally underpaid!!

Timber too.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

You can't compare how the Premier League was in 2004 to how it has been in recent years. Unfortunately, the situation now is that you basically need to reach close to 90 points to win the league because of City.

And I don't understand what you're trying to say. If you think Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli, and Jesus are good enough, then I won't bother arguing about it. The only player in our front three thats good enough to be a starter is Saka. Thats all you need to know.

I don’t think Jesus is good enough (or Havertz as CF). I think Trossard is backup, not a starter. I think Havertz is a decent midfielder. And I think Martinelli can be good enough, but is in a bit of a slump which I think is related to Ødegaard’s absence/slump and the tactics we’ve adopted in his absence. I’d love to have a Saka on both sides, you guys make it sound like that’s an easy thing to do…

I think overall Arteta has put together a very good team that is capable of winning the league when fit. We still have work to do on our bench being more reliable and actually having some impact players we can sub on.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

You can't compare how the Premier League was in 2004 to how it has been in recent years. Unfortunately, the situation now is that you basically need to reach close to 90 points to win the league because of City.

And I don't understand what you're trying to say. If you think Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli, and Jesus are good enough, then I won't bother arguing about it. The only player in our front three thats good enough to be a starter is Saka. Thats all you need to know.

Invincibles wouldn't win the league last season.
They had 90 points, City had 91 points last season, we had 89.

 

[TH14shahriar]

I don’t think Jesus is good enough (or Havertz as CF). I think Trossard is backup, not a starter. I think Havertz is a decent midfielder. And I think Martinelli can be good enough, but is in a bit of a slump which I think is related to Ødegaard’s absence/slump and the tactics we’ve adopted in his absence. I’d love to have a Saka on both sides, you guys make it sound like that’s an easy thing to do…

I think overall Arteta has put together a very good team that is capable of winning the league when fit. We still have work to do on our bench being more reliable and actually having some impact players we can sub on.

Martinelli isn't good enough for the system and tactics Arteta wants to implement. The only elite attribute he has is his pace. He’s not good enough 1 on 1. He would thrive in a team that plays counter-attacking football tho.

I’m not saying we need a Saka copy on the left, but we do need someone who is more comfortable being isolated and creating something on their own. That’s a requirement.

I agree with you, Arteta has built a good squad, but it’s not flawless. It’s unbalanced, and we need to invest in the attack, from midfield to the front three. Starting in January. Thats all I'm saying. We can’t keep ignoring our attack and failing to invest and upgrade. Eventually, other teams will overtake us.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Martinelli isn't good enough for the system and tactics Arteta wants to implement. The only elite attribute he has is his pace. He’s not good enough 1 on 1. He would thrive in a team that plays counter-attacking football tho.

I’m not saying we need a Saka copy on the left, but we do need someone who is more comfortable being isolated and creating something on their own. That’s a requirement.

I agree with you, Arteta has built a good squad, but it’s not flawless. It’s unbalanced, and we need to invest in the attack, from midfield to the front three. Starting in January. Thats all I'm saying. We can’t keep ignoring our attack and failing to invest and upgrade. Eventually, other teams will overtake us.

I completely agree the squads not without flaws and should be improved upon upfront. But I just think just getting a good striker could make a huge difference. If only we can find someone worth being a starter for us. Some say Arteta should just take a gamble, but that will inevitably be the stick they beat him with if they don’t work out.

(Except I think Martinelli could still come good before the end of the season. If not, should be replaced in the summer)

 

[Heskey]

These guys are really sensitive about innocuous comments about their balls...

@albakos in honor of Mikel and the EFL, can we get an egg shaped ball?

Using it would be when people ie. make an argument that is poorly delivered but actually is correct.

 

[GoonerJay24]

Rice is considered a waste of money?

Havertz is so why not?

 

[shoot for the top]

The situation we’re in? We’re in second place lol
People act like the sky is falling because we didn’t rocket straight to number 1 and run away with the league…. Like all you need to do is spend some money and the league should be a sure thing. Even when many other clubs have done this and are still mid table or worse.

All we need is a few wins in a row and hopefully ya’ll doomsayers shut up. People freak out when we tie a few games. People think league leaders will just win every game. People’s’ view on this sport so delusional, emotional, and not the least based in reality. Only one team in history didn’t lose games and last year we won more games than they did….

You obviously don't understand why some fans are having issues with Arteta. It isn't about our falling behind in the race; there is a list of things people are complaining about. Look through the thread.