Country: England
We finished above a Sp**s team that had Modric and Bale in it in 2010/2011
We finished above a Sp**s team that had Modric and Bale in it in 2010/2011
Maybe everytime I quote you with you can reply with a random piece of nostalgia.In the 00s...Arsenal won the title more times at Sp**s ground, than they lost league games to them...0 defeats in 20 games.
Wish we could go back to that decade, was fun back then.
Maybe everytime I quote you with you can reply with a random piece of nostalgia.
P!ss poor is what we have now.When talking about Wengers signings you need to split his years up. First half recruitment was excellent, second half was piss poor.
P!ss poor is what we have now.
I have been Arteta out for some time now but honestly I think what bothers me more is not necessarily the manager but just no clear vision, game plan or defined XI.
First, we have a good crop of young players: Martinelli, Saliba, Saka, ESR are probably the stand out ones. We should be embedding them in the core of our squad for the future. If Martinelli/Saliba are not given proper squad roles next year then that's just baffling (it already is this year).
Second, we need to have clearly defined plan - it seems like we're set with the 4231 now so I honestly hope we stick with it.
Third, we need to have a clearly defined XI (or near close to it) with less chopping and changing. This season for example has had us playing various CBs together (Holding/Gabriel for a while, then Holding/Mari, then Luiz/Mari and Luiz/Gabriel etc.) We've also blown hot and cold on Bellerin. Likewise, early on in the season it seemed Xhaka had fallen out of favour but now he seems to be our key player. Auba has played left, right and centre. Saka/Pepe/Willian have all switched wings etc. Arteta needs to just stick to players in a particular position and then work on improving our weaknesses. In line with that, next year we should have this squad:
Leno
Ryan
RB Saliba Gabriel Tierney
Soares Luiz Mari LB
Xhaka Partey
CM Elneny
Saka AM Pepe
Willian ESR Martinelli
Auba
CF
Then you probably keep around one of Chambers/Holding for additional depth (Chambers probably as he can also play RB) at the back. Then either promote one or two youth players (Azeez, Balogun etc.) or you keep Nketiah, Nelson, AMN around for the extra depth. In my view I'd go with the former as I think unless we give those three clear game time they will stagnate and lose value. Sell now and use the money to get the reinforcements we need.
Are we gonna repeat that for every remaining EL game?Biggest game of his stint here tonight? Has to be.
Yes.Are we gonna repeat that for every remaining EL game?
We didn't see that setup enough, even when he goes for it, it gets changed the moment some of his favorites are available.We found our best system and starting 11, but it has been broken by injuries.
Leno
Cedric - Luiz - Mari/Gabriel - Tierney
Partey - Xhaka
Saka - Ödegaard - ESR/Pepe
Laca
Is our best starting 11, those players are the ones that fit what Arteta wants/needs from his team the best, some of them still aren't good enough but they play the way Arteta wants. And we saw that multiple times with multiple top performances when they were able to play together.
However Tierney being in and out the squad for the entire season, Partey being injured a lot, just recently Xhaka getting injured and Ödegaard only coming in January has of course made it difficult to field a regular starting 11.
People also are quick to forget this season is a rare one where you need to rotate due to players playing twice a week pretty much since the start of the season.
On top of that Martinelli had a horrific injury and he's being wrapped in cotton wool. Nobody knows if Saliba is good enough for the PL yet so putting that on him is a bit ridiculous. And Bellerin is clearly not what Arteta wants, however on paper he was the best right back at the club at the start of the season, so why wouldn't you start him?
We didn't see that setup enough, even when he goes for it, it gets changed the moment some of his favorites are available.
I wouldn't mind Auba instead of Laca when ESR is on, but if Pepe plays I prefer Laca because Pepe can add some goals from the wide position. It's finding the balance, something Arteta struggles with big time
Still feels dead and bland. It is hard to find much excitement about us these days.Biggest game of his stint here tonight? Has to be.
Didn't we have a couple of really good attacking performances without Auba, and then he was back as a default starter without any reason for it, switching left, right, and center just so he can play somewhere?Who are Arteta's favourites exactly?
Didn't we have a couple of really good attacking performances without Auba, and then he was back as a default starter without any reason for it, switching left, right, and center just so he can play somewhere?
You can't tell me he doesn't have favorites because it's clear as day that certain players get dropped after one bad half while others can have a prolonged period of piss poor form and still get all the minutes. Martinelli was killed after one bad half against United when the whole team was rubbish, I don't even have to talk about Pepe who got benched even when he was in great form, but that stuff doesn't really apply to Auba and Laca, for example.
Sorry mate, can't accept what you're saying, it's simply not true