Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Lidl_Reed]

Weird how Moyes doesn't need 600 million on new players to play good football and finish ahead of Arsenal

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Though this has some truth in it, it's not like his first 60 games for us have instilled some sort of faith in Arteta.

It was crap before and it still is. When Partey and Auba did play in pre season it was crap. Why would it not be crap in 3 weeks time when Norwich comes?

Partey and Auba are much better than what they were replaced with though, with Partey Auba Laca Ødegaard and Gabriel/White instead of Mari we'd have a better chance.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Partey and Auba are much better than what they were replaced with though, with Partey Auba Laca Ødegaard and Gabriel/White instead of Mari we'd have a better chance.

Sure but we've played with a lot of those players for the last couple of years now. Two 8th place finishes tells me plenty.

 

[Sebastes]

If you get Conte his players, we will challenge for the PL title within 2 seasons.

Nothing aagainst Conte, but I'd rather we get a manager who doesn't need "his players" tbh.

 

[Trilly]

Nothing aagainst Conte, but I'd rather we get a manager who doesn't need "his players" tbh.

Every manager needs his players to an extent but what Tuchel did with Chelsea was amazing.

Conte did a great job at Chelsea with only one window I believe? Things actually got worse when he was allowed to sign his players

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Sure but we've played with a lot of those players for the last couple of years now. Two 8th place finishes tells me plenty.

I agree but you have to be fair, right now we're missing our best players. Even before Partey and Tierney are always injured and Özil never got to play cos of whatever reason. Our squad has been a shambles the last few years.

 

[Sebastes]

Every manager needs his players to an extent but what Tuchel did with Chelsea was amazing.

Conte did a great job at Chelsea with only one window I believe? Things actually got worse when he was allowed to sign his players

Yeah I know. Just want no excuses. A decent manager should get top 6 with this squad and then not hide behind any such narrative

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Every manager needs his players to an extent but what Tuchel did with Chelsea was amazing.

Conte did a great job at Chelsea with only one window I believe? Things actually got worse when he was allowed to sign his players

Was it under him they were signing guys like Morata, Drinkwater and Barkley? Chelsea lost it those couple transfer windows they were buying absolute bums.

 

[Camron]

ITS HAPPENING

Spoiler: FULL ARTICLE

Mikel Arteta is under pressure to turn around Arsenal’s dismal start to the new season in time for the second international break in October or face a fight to save his job.

Arsenal have lost both of their opening Premier League games without scoring a goal, despite the club spending around £125million on new signings this summer.

Head coach Arteta was confronted by a group of angry supporters, who called for him to ‘leave’, as he exited the Emirates in his car on Sunday night, having seen his team booed off at half-time and full-time against Chelsea.

The Spaniard thanked the Arsenal fans for their support immediately after the game, but some are losing patience with the absence of any consistent proof of improvement since Arteta succeeded Unai Emery in December 2019.

Arteta claimed he was without nine players after the defeat to Chelsea, with £50m new signing Ben White ruled out with Covid, and there is acknowledgment within the club that he has been working under difficult circumstances.

Arteta also promised that results and performances will improve once players start to return and his new signings find their feet, but things could get worse before they get better with a trip to champions Manchester City to come.

But, following the City game and the first international break in September, Arsenal have games against newly-promoted Norwich City, Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton, before the Premier League breaks again in October.

A failure to demonstrate a significant improvement in those games would see Arteta fighting to save his job and would hugely increase the pressure on his position, particularly as Arsenal could spend more money before the transfer window closes.

It is understood that the Gunners would ideally like to sign a new right-back, which could be dependent on whether or not Hector Bellerin leaves, and that they have registered an interest in former Tottenham player Kieran Trippier.

Trippier is believed to favour the prospect of a return to England with Manchester United, who remain frontrunners for his signature, but that has not put Arsenal off trying - despite Atletico Madrid’s demand for the 30-year-old’s £51m release clause to be met. Neither the Gunners nor United are likely to agree to meet that request.

Should Arteta ultimately fail to turn Arsenal’s fortunes around, then the club are likely to make former Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte their first choice to replace him.

Conte is out of work after leaving Inter Milan during the summer and rejecting an approach from Tottenham to succeed Jose Mourinho.

Arsenal would need to convince Conte that he would be given the tools, and the money, with which to challenge for trophies at the Emirates and would reject any offer that he felt showed the Gunners are prepared to accept second best.

When you realize it’s five games Post Christmas.

 

[Trilly]

Was it under him they were signing guys like Morata, Drinkwater and Barkley? Chelsea lost it those couple transfer windows they were buying absolute bums.

All I remember was him signing Zappacosta

 

[TakeChillPill]

I have a feeling the kronkes are actually geniuses, they've bought Arteta in specifically to be so bad that our expectations will drop to a point where not getting relegated and 1/4 finals of the League cup will be seen as success.

 

[Xln]

Need a moderator to change @HairSprayGooners 's tag to "Antivaxer". Meltdown

 

[Riou]

It's scary how close he is to taking us, to being the worst London team in the Premier League

 

[Gunner D]

Was it under him they were signing guys like Morata, Drinkwater and Barkley? Chelsea lost it those couple transfer windows they were buying absolute bums.

Faaaam you just brought back the maddest memories.. remember when Conte wanted Peter Crouch and Ashley Barnes in the January transfer window? F*cking hell Don’t want him anymore.

 

[Blankety Blank]

Nightmare scenario; United sack Ole before we sack Arteta and appoint Conte.

It would be a nightmare due to the fact there would be 4 World level managers at massive clubs with better squads than we have.
If you think he would come here & take on a long term project to try & compete against the current top 4 you may be even more disappointed.

 

[Blankety Blank]

I think even Lacazette's biggest haters (myself) would prefer to see him upfront over Balogun, I think the Martinelli hype has died now so everyone knows it could get way worse than Laca.

AM think the manager holds us back by not having shiny Balogun, Martinelli & Azeez in the team
The actual knowledge on the genuine realities of top level football by many on here is so embarrassing, frankly its beyond a joke.
Im no laca fanboy & think ideally we need a taller more mobile taller front man.

 

[APierre]

It's scary how close he is to taking us, to being the worst team in the Premier League

Fixed.

 

[A_G]

A couple of interesting notes from Sami Mokbel:

Zero points. Zero goals. This wasn’t the start to the season Mikel Arteta had envisaged.

But there are many mitigating factors for Arsenal’s poor start to the season; some out of Arteta’s control, some he may have been able to prevent.

Here Sportsmail looks at why the Gunners aren’t firing and what can be done to resolve their worrying plight.

Arsenal were without vital front pairing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette for their Premier League curtain-raiser against Brentford because they had contracted Covid.

They were without £50million summer signing Ben White for Sunday’s loss to Chelsea for the same reason. Willian and third-choice keeper Alex Runarsson have also tested positive.

The club were forced to cancel their pre-season tour to the USA due to an outbreak at their London Colney training ground in July.

Arteta — who in March 2020 was one of the first Premier League figures to confirm he had tested positive — is sick to the back teeth of coronavirus. Opinions will vary on whether Arsenal’s difficulties with Covid are a valid excuse for their poor start to the season.

Unquestionably, however, it has had a detrimental impact. Their trip to Brentford was close to being called off hours before kick-off after all players and staff were forced to take emergency Covid tests on the day of the game.

The game went ahead, but a number of players were worried they had already caught the virus. Indeed, members of staff had to report back to their Hertfordshire HQ the day after the defeat — a designated day off — for another round of tests. Hardly ideal.

To their credit, Arsenal have been decisive in securing their transfer targets. But their work with outgoing players has been far less impressive. Joe Willock — who joined Newcastle for £25m — is the only player of any note to have departed the Emirates.

For a while it looked as if Granit Xhaka would join Roma. Both clubs were understood to be keen to conclude a £17m deal for the Swiss midfielder. Arteta was, in fact, happy to keep Xhaka, who, equally, preferred to stay. He has since signed a new contract under Arteta’s recommendation.

Hector Bellerin is keen to leave... again. Inter Milan want the right back but they have no money.

Lacazette has less than a year left on his contract. Monaco have shown an interest but Arsenal face the possibility of losing the Frenchman for nothing next year.

Sead Kolasinac and Lucas Torreira, both of whom have no future under Arteta, are twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what happens. Willian had been in limbo, his positive Covid test complicating any potential exit, but he is at least now bound for Brazil. There is still a lot of business to execute in the final week of the window.

Even the biggest Aubameyang supporter would be hard pushed to say he is a natural leader. His goalscoring abilities are undoubted, but is he a born captain? Some of his behaviour during the Arteta era has raised red flags.

Last season he was dropped for a game against Tottenham after reporting late for duty on match day. Time-keeping isn’t one of his strong points, by all accounts.

Fans may need to be patient to see Aubameyang back up to speed again following his bout of Covid. But there have even been questions over the striker’s conduct in the lead-up to his positive test after wife Alysha posted pictures on social media of a family birthday party, although such functions are now permitted under Government rules.

Truth be told, the Gunners would think seriously about selling Aubameyang if the right offer came along. But with the striker earning £350,000 a week, interest is likely to be limited.

Sources claim Arteta and Aubameyang haven’t always seen eye to eye, though that’s not to say they have a dysfunctional relationship. There are other senior players who have a complex dynamic with the head coach. But when your leader can’t turn up on time for work, then it’s right that questions are asked.

In many ways, Arteta has already started putting the ‘us versus them’ method into practice; calling out his team’s critics ahead of Sunday’s loss to Chelsea.

Xhaka echoed those sentiments after the game, saying: ‘A lot of people try to speak and to kill a little bit the players and the team but the strongest thing to do at the moment is to be together.’

However, Arteta could find difficulty in trying to get his entire squad pulling in the same direction.
Some players find Arteta introverted, privately complaining that he offers more attention to select players in his squad. It’s left many confused about where they stand with the Spaniard.

One source said: ‘Once you’ve lost him it’s hard to win him back round. He can be distant with certain players.’

It could certainly make creating a siege mentality tricky.

Arsenal were booed off twice on Sunday and Arteta was confronted by irate supporters as he drove away from the game.

The only way of resolving that is by winning football matches. Do that, and the tide will quickly turn the other way.

Arteta should be afforded time for the club’s Covid crisis and injury problems to clear up. The supporters — and more pertinently the board — should judge Arteta when he has a full quota of players and the club’s new signings have bedded in. But if there are then no signs of improvement, something will have to give.

 

[DUFFMAN]

I've been trying to stay supportive but this Xhaka extension really has me questioning Arteta.

****er threw the armband on the Emirates ground.

Openly spoke about wanting to work with Mourinho this year.

We extend his contract and make him captain.

**** off Arteta.

 

[Alexs]

A couple of interesting notes from Sami Mokbel:

Makes perfect sense if he’d just taken the job. Undone somewhat by finishing 8th in the last two seasons.