Mikel Arteta: Top Drawer
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MauveGunner
Well-Known Member
Country: Belgium
Player:Saka
Sapient Hawk
Hates sharing cyberspace with Tets' bootlickers
Country: Saudi Arabia
I have a recurring nightmare where I'm at the Emirates watching a match with Tets on the bench (if that wasn't your clue it's a nightmare, I don't know what is) wherein he has perfected Haramball to a degree it is now a science. Whilst being surrounded by 60,000 idiots like this prize cretin at the Emirates & I rise & vocally decry the state of our club, only for them to stare at me as if I'm the Elephant Man forcing me to utter the iconic line "I am not, an animal!!"
Taylor Gang Gunners
Say Yeh or You're Making The List
I don't know if it's been said, and tbh I can see some posters already frothing at the mouth.
But you see Uncle Mikel, tactically I don't really see any better manager.
Bare with me a sec.
I've seen us defeat teams by blowing them away with beautiful football. I've seen us nick a game on set pieces. I've seen us completely nullify the opposition and make a tricky game somewhat comfortable. I've seen us go ahead in games, sit in, and kill the game with counters. You get my point.
Watching PSG just lately, they've blown everyone away. Yes, they beat us twice but did they ever look like cooking us 4-0/5-0 like they have other teams? Hell no. The reason we conceded so early in the first leg, Unc recognised and that threat literally didn't exist for the rest of the tie. Had it not been for some wondersaves from Donnarumma, we could've gone through.
He's not without his flaws but I'm so confident with this man at the helm. I respect opposing views of course, but we're in good hands. You can't keep going close, without giving up, and not achieve your targets.
But you see Uncle Mikel, tactically I don't really see any better manager.
Bare with me a sec.
I've seen us defeat teams by blowing them away with beautiful football. I've seen us nick a game on set pieces. I've seen us completely nullify the opposition and make a tricky game somewhat comfortable. I've seen us go ahead in games, sit in, and kill the game with counters. You get my point.
Watching PSG just lately, they've blown everyone away. Yes, they beat us twice but did they ever look like cooking us 4-0/5-0 like they have other teams? Hell no. The reason we conceded so early in the first leg, Unc recognised and that threat literally didn't exist for the rest of the tie. Had it not been for some wondersaves from Donnarumma, we could've gone through.
He's not without his flaws but I'm so confident with this man at the helm. I respect opposing views of course, but we're in good hands. You can't keep going close, without giving up, and not achieve your targets.
Legend14
Established Member
Yes, we competed with them, but after watching PSG after our series I’ve concluded they are getting better. They are on a trajectory that we’ll need to match or exceed.
shoot for the top
Well-Known Member
Can you foresee us pulling a 5-0 against Inter?
Taylor Gang Gunners
Say Yeh or You're Making The List
Maybe not 5-0 but a 3-0 or something for sure. PSG have much better forward players than us sadly.
Batman
Hard on crime, soft on Stan
Country: USA
Player:Nwaneri
I broadly agree with this but I would give slight pushback on the first leg against PSG. They didn't cook us but anyone who is honest with themselves knows we were very lucky to escape that 1-0. We were wobbling after the first and it could easily have been 2 or 3 if not for Raya as well as them missing some very good chances. We were thoroughly outplayed in that first leg against them.
I agree with what you said about the variety of ways in which we can get a result. I just wish that he was more willing to take the necessary risks more often, particularly against teams we should really put to the sword so that we didn't drop so many points from winning positions. It's good that he has developed more tactical arrows for his quiver but he has fallen a bit too in love with the more conservative ones and that has hurt us in the games we should be rolling teams more than in the big matches.
The truth is that our brilliance against the big teams has still left us with nothing to show because we have been too conservative and risk averse against the teams we should beat and allowed them to stay in game that should have been over early. That is why we haven't won the title the last couple of seasons and my hope would be that he finds a better balance in those fixtures to get us to where we want to be. He has the tools but it's about continuing to grow as a manager and being comfortable being uncomfortable at times.
Yeah, the first time we faced them we won 2-0 with some Saka silly FK and spamming crosses at Havertz. Enrique acknowledged he needed a bit more time compared to the 5 years Arteta got for his ideas to gel.
That bit of time turned out to be months as they came and played us off the park, all we had was long throws and a defensive resilience that wasn't relevant because they scored with their first shot of the series.
And it was the same against "chaotic" Madrid tbh, without those Rice FKs that broke their spirit, we were setup to lose those games 1-0. If nullifying your own chances of winning games for fear of not getting a big result against means tactical brilliance to you then sure, whatever. Other people rightly calls it cowardice.
Mohamed7
Well-Known Member
Of course pick on one or two players the manager got them wrong but conveniently ignore the amazing 95% of the signings.
GDeep™
League is very weak
Which amazing players? I’ll give you Rice. He’s changing fullbacks and keepers every season, has never signed a top attacker.
Batman
Hard on crime, soft on Stan
Country: USA
Player:Nwaneri
Yes just months and not them adding Kvara while we added nobody, Dembele playing the best football of his career and our club playing a converted midfielder at striker and missing our defensive leader in Gabriel with only a gimpy Saka offering goal threat. None of that was a factor of course. Enrique just did it all with his mind.
Mohamed7
Well-Known Member
White
Timber
Partley
Jesus*
Zheny
Trossard
Calafiori*
Saka - Changed from LM/LWB to RW
* Extremely unlikely with the injuries.
These were all transformative signings. You have to take into account how bad we were before and these players changed from being just outside UCL positions to being almost title winners.
Now we desperately need to sign two elite attacking players to provide the “X factor” for league title and UCL trophy.
BergMan
Leverkusen Ultra
We used to be considered such a classy club under Wenger.
Arteta has completely tarnished that reputation in the time he’s been here, due to the way many things have been handled not just one.
Arteta has completely tarnished that reputation in the time he’s been here, due to the way many things have been handled not just one.
boonthegoon
Arteta In by November
Country: USA
Player:Saka
What about xhaka posting on social media high five-ing and holding hands with his midfield partner?
Or leave xhaka. What about all other players and staff at the club (higher than even arteta)? Why does only he get the blame?
BergMan
Leverkusen Ultra
Arteta's the one with all the authority. Any big decision at the club and you can bet Arteta is at the helm.
UnitedBeard
An annoying Manc
IMO It’s a cohesive decision. The manager, the board, and the owners have the power to make the big decision. Players also could take some action to go against this but they didn’t. Arsenal have lost some of their ethical value.
Clrnc
We need another CB
Country: Singapore
Player:Kepa
Rich to be blaming the players. At Arsenal Arteta makes most of the decisions and the board backs him up all the time.
Im pretty sure they knows about this, chose to ignore it, focus on sporting reasons to keep Partey. You can be sure if the player is not favoured by Arteta we will terminate him for any reason, but Arteta loves Partey and sees him as an integral part of our success. So he makes the decision to keep him, the rest of the board as just further dominoes supporting Tet.
Im pretty sure they knows about this, chose to ignore it, focus on sporting reasons to keep Partey. You can be sure if the player is not favoured by Arteta we will terminate him for any reason, but Arteta loves Partey and sees him as an integral part of our success. So he makes the decision to keep him, the rest of the board as just further dominoes supporting Tet.
BergMan
Leverkusen Ultra
100%
As was the case with Özil and Aubameyang. Arteta had a falling out with them and the board backed him to the hilt. Would never have happened under Wenger. In the case of Partey, Arteta decided that he needed him for footballing reasons and the board backed it despite everything happening. Arteta is behind any key decision at the club and so long as it’s within their means, the board are his yes men.
That’s why this model we have is doomed. You need a director above the manager that makes the key decisions and tells the man no. Berta will have to play the role of another of Arteta’s servants.
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