This is going to be a very frustrating post. But a very happy new year to you and your family before I begin my rant!
We were calling for Arsene Wenger’s head for long. Emery came and though things looked better initially, it wasn’t. The management decided it’s time to switch to a new brand of football with new people and a complete new organisational set up and appointed a man who was learning from ‘the’ best – Mikel Arteta.
Mikel instilled the much needed discipline around the club. He replaced players that were not good enough and got some of the best in the markets. During all of these, KSE took over the club 100% and decided to loosen the fat pockets. Mikel thought the keepers at disposal are not good enough for the modern day football so we got Ramsdale. Soon enough, Ramsdale was thought of enough to qualify for Champions League and he needed competition in the GK department so we have David Raya too now.
We paid well for Ben White from Brighton, Saliba’s initial feud with Arteta somehow went away because he couldn’t sidelined him, Gabriel was a good improvement, Tierney played like he was playing for his boyhood club. Mikel realised we needed back ups, good solid back ups, so we got a very versatile player in Tomiyasu who can play at RB, CB, LB. We got Kiwior, who can do the same. Mikel again thought to bring the winning mentality in the team, so we raided Man City for Jesus and Zinchenko. At some point, he decided Zinchenko is too error prone and we need an upgrade so we have Timber in our colours now.
In the midfield, Torreira + Guendouzi was not enough – we could see that. So he upgraded Torreira with Partey but in that whole process, managed to bring down Torreira’s market price. Guendouzi under Emery was the next big thing, and there were talks of building a team around him but his hot attitude against Brighton cost him too much and cost the Arsenal too. He went and brought a like for like in Lokonga who has failed. Xhaka was re-instated in that role along side Partey which kind of worked in last season.
Ozil was his favorite. Everyone and their mum wanted him out long before Mikel took over. He decided to start things from scratch, gave him chances and realised he needs his own creator. So we went again in the market and got Martin Odegaard from Madrid. Saka is, well, Saka and no one can touch him because he keeps his head down and does what he asked for, and does that very well. Martinelli was ignored initially for Willian, so does ESR when a bad patch of runs mixed with lots of injuries forced Mikel to start both of them and things changed. Martinelli, since then, have managed to keep his place because he is a generational talent – the next Ronaldo to me if given the liberty and freedom he deserves. Mikel tried to back up that position Trossard which felt one of the good decisions of his career.
Up top, Auba was winning Golden boots scoring 20+ goals a season. Under Mikel, he won us a FA cup, got a contract renewal and things went very bad. We could have sold him at 50m easily but a season later he was let go, probably paid off. I remember Ian Wright interviewed Auba and told him how can be the next legend here, having his own statue outside Emirates alongside Henry. At that time, we all saw his output has gone and we blamed his fat new contract. Now, we understand it’s the system because none of the City title winning player or Eddie Nketiah are able to do anything like he did under a poor Emery reign.
Right, the current scenario is – Mikel has everything he wanted. Versatile players at the back, who can play at LB, RB, CB. Improvement to the LB position. Improvement in the midfield – 105 million pounds on Rice, 65 million pounds for Havertz. 2 world class GK who can walk in any team except may be City and Liverpool.
Mikel, for his Arsenal career, have demanded a lot of things, some of which turned out to be brilliant (Gabriel, White, Partey), and some of them were awful (reinstating Xhaka, playing Mustafi and sending Saliba on loan, ESR treatment, Willian over Martinelli etc). We, fans, had complained for some of them but mostly agreed with what he wanted. Even for the ones we didn’t want, we eventually accepted it.
Now I am not saying club should be run by the funs. That’s even worse. But after 4 years and 600m+ of pounds spend and another 300m of value destroyed (Auba, ESR, Guen, Torreira, Tierney, Lokonga etc), where we are at?
We are in the title race but deep down we know it would be either Liverpool or Man City. We are in the Champions League and I have my hope there but we have played some very bad football in initial games. We are playing like Sideways FC under Mikel with infinite passing among ourselves, from the RB to CB to DM to CAM to RB. We are not scoring enough from open play, opposition has to just man mark Saka and that’s a win for them these days. We have destroyed the talent in Martinelli because apparently him sticking to the line and trying to beat the 3 players on his own is what is demanded from him every week. Same for Saka. The CF is playing in defense these days, Martin Odegaard runs like a headless chicken but never winning a ball since I was born. Thomas Partey, who never got injured at Atletico, is constantly injured these days. Ben White, a fine fit individual looks knackered. Ramsdale is not happy because he has been replaced with someone who is not any better than him.
Comes April, Mikel will complete 4.5 years at Arsenal. That’s enough to deliver. If you still believe he needs positional improvements and changes to the team to deliver big, you are wrong. He has his toys, enough time to make the players understand his game and it’s high time now, we the fans, demand an improvement to the MANAGERIAL position. Other things looks just fine.
I am not even going in to the mishandling of academy products and the infamous Leno/Martinez debate. I am not even going into the selling of wrong CF in Balogun.
Right, time to move on to something better at Arsenal Football Club. From last 10 years, things are happening to us what would have happened to Spurs in 1960s. Lets not be another top 6 team with average managers and players. Things are not working out, shove up the ‘generational’ word up your arse and move on.
Feel free to correct me! I am open to your thoughts.
Brilliant insightful post. I endorse 💯. Didn’t MA8 say a couple of years ago “I haven’t asked my players to play this temperate way”. And last season he took the handbrake off and lo n behold save for injuries to key players we could’ve got over the line. Then, this season The AA who created the noise and atmosphere (remember when WS scored that own goal how the fans reacted? ) have been moved to various parts of the Emirates to accomodate ‘new’ fans so the atmosphere once again became sterile. And coupled with MA8 deciding to go from Jazz football to Geometry football, protractor n all, and the last few results have been plain to see by all. MA8, let these great boys play for God’s sake as well as us fans
What a perfect depiction of where Arsenal is at and what is needed.
Nice piece Ambarish.
What you left off is 3 of our 5 top players (I don’t include Partey because of the “issues” and its too early to comment on Timber) were here before Arteta so it’s over £600 million spent, £300 value destroyed and only a couple of players who he’s bought who can be described as long term first team.
The simple truth is Arteta was never experienced enough to take over at Arsenal and as some of us feared and had that horrible nagging feeling was never ever good enough.
The problem with going forward is his profligate attitude towards spending has left us in a position where we had FFP issues in the summer, add to that will the Kroenke’s having drunk the kool aid give another manager (however good) the same levels of financial support?
When Arteta is either sacked in disgrace or jumps ship for another job knowing he’s about to be found out a certain fan boy will write reams on why he left us in a better place than he found us.
The truth is Arteta might of caused almost permanent damage to the club and infrastructure.
Marc
I left off a lot of things, a lot of bad things. Remember 6 months of Saliba training with U19 or U23 while Mustafi / Kolasinac were playing at CB?
Martinez demanded to be in playing XI because he deserved it, but hey ego is not accepted at Arsenal – from then on, Arteta plays his favorites. 37 games for Willian for no end result was it?
I think it’s high time we move off this bollocks of JDP, strategy football, modern day football or whatever the crap it’s called now.
Pep is good at it, Pep gets what he wants, and Pep can play that shite at Man Shite.
Get me De Zerbi football here. If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.
–
Tell me how many goals you remember from last season that were extra ordinary? I tell you I still remember Ozil and Sanchez goals, I remember the Wilshere runs, I remember Auba’s curls that would 100% land into the nets. These days, Martinelli is not allowed that or has been asked to pass it backwards because hey let’s create some space, fuck the football.
“The truth is Arteta might of caused almost permanent damage to the club and infrastructure.”
I would disagree to that. We have some great players (800m spent + lost). Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel, Ramsdale, White, Rice – can be a core of a very good team who can win everything.
I doubt it was Arteta who did that, most likely Edu. Because Arteta wanted Pablo Mari, Willian and now Havertz.
We need a new manager. I am so frustrated with our last game display that I would even ask Graham Potter if wants a retry. Chelsea is shit, even Pochettino can’t sort that out so it wasn’t a great place to be judged.
The core is strong, the team is strong. The coaching/management is bollocks.
Ichele
Welcome to LiR. Hope to see you more often mate.
some mighty fine points Ambarish…sadly we’ve spent far too much time trying to get less pressing needs righted, yet failing, and not nearly enough time redressing our preeminent concerns in the midfield and up top…just look at the embarassing way MA has constantly tinkered with both the Keeper and backer positions, which based on what i’ve seen thus far was in much better stead prior to his hiring
Emi’s commanding presence, ball skills and shotstopping capabilities are on par with any Keeper in the footballing world, from a total package perspective…it certainly couldn’t have been just about giving him assurances, as he’s handed them out like fucking candy on Halloween to a whole host of far less deserving players, or playing out from the back, as this is the same manager who hired Leno, Turner and Runar, the first two of whom are tragically pathetic in this regards…so that leaves only one possible reason, MA’s fragile ego, in that he was unwilling to put the greater good ahead of his monopolistic managerial inklings, which was the very reason why Wenger’s second term was largely a failed experiment
as for our backers, Tierney, albeit injury-prone, made far more sense in wider spaces than an inverted Zinchenko…just ask Marts, who, for all intent and purposes, has been tactically ghosted by the manager…I get it that our one trick pony of a manager can’t seem to lineup without a GD inverted back anymore, but maybe just maybe when things aren’t going our way MA could make some in-game adjustments and deploy Zinchenko in wider spaces…even when Kiwor or Tomi are on the pitch at LB, they’re likewise tucking inside, even though there’s nothing within their respective CV’s which would suggest that this would be the best course of action…all in all, it’s been a 2 steps forward, 3 steps back shit show, with amateur hour tactics, ill-suited recruits and a whole heaping of misguided shoehorning
tbh we’ve even seen similar nonsense on the right, where we vastly overpaid for the 3rd best CB on BHA, who basically only sees the pitch as a RB; not to mention the early season inverted Partey debacle…now White has performed admirably out wide, but if MA really cared about getting it right, he would have agressively pursued top-shelf readymade specialists, not coin toss propositions…for the same price as Zinchenko and the featherweight Vieira we could have brought Davies to the Emirates, then we could have taken a fraction of the monies we spent on White and bought Dumfries, who was 24 at that time of White’s signing and only cost Inter 15M…btw both are positionally/tactically versatile and better defensively than Zinchenko
so if we somehow come out of this window with another half-measure acquisition, like last January, things will undoubtedly get messy around here…so buckle up, as I just can’t envision us getting a bonafide Striker, especially Toney…after witnessing what we paid for both Rice and Havertz last summer, there’s no way Brentford won’t demand a completely unreasonable amount for their presently suspended Striker…furthermore, he doesn’t fit MA’s desired script…so even though Pep changed his preferred tactics to accomodate Haaland, I just can’t see MA doing likewise for any of the potentially available Strikers…if I were you expect to be underwhelmed and suitably pissed
Damn I forgot about Vieira and Turner completely. Add those 2 to theist of failures.
TRVL
Agreed on all points there, White has been an exception and I’m sure Arteta thought he would do the same with Havertz but that’s not how it should work.
Versatility should be the fallback option. Have a player like Tomi on bench who can cover 2 places when needed? Fine. But don’t buy a CB and play him at RB. Don’t buy Havertz and experiment him to find out his best position. You needed someone to play with Rice/Partey, get a specialist for God sake.
And what’s this all meak but david-silva looking players recently? Vieira, Odegaard, Havertz, Zinchenko – they can’t intimidate anyone. Bring me some force, stop this nonsense of falling off every second with the slightest touch in the name of game plan, bring me someone in the old Vieira’s mode.
The fuck we are doing.
Ambarish
If you think you’re pissed off now imagine paying best part of £1500 a year (that’s without travel costs etc) to watch it and have fan boys tell you you’re either not a real supporter, don’t understand it or don’t know what you’re talking about.
Of course what happens is history will get rewritten and they always had their doubts / knew he was a fraud and so on.
Marc-I would be having an absolute shitfit if I were there in person week after week watching this rinse and repeat borefest, especially after finally witnessing an uptick in our output, goalscoring-wise, last season…even those wingnuts within the Kool-Aid brethren can’t ignore our clear and obvious regression, which must have seemed unimaginable on the heels of MA’s 200M+ shopping spree…I feel for you bud…only at Arsenal could we actually hire a paper Wenger, then fall victim to another cult of personality narrative…funny enough, many of the very people who railed so vehemently against Wenger, like LG’s resident Pied Piper, are now the one’s trying to silence anyone and everyone who holds a contrarian view about our current MIT…I guess we haven’t exorcised all of our post-Highbury demons quite yet
Marc has it right.
The next manager will be left with no fucking money, because this fraudulent cunt has spunked it all on dross.
What top sides wants Raya, Havertz, Jorginho, Zinchenko, Jesus etc?
All fucking rejects, taking the piss and the 200 grand a week.
And Vieira, another streak of cats piss.
Was he £40 million?
“Arteta is lauded for his coaching ability and his knack for developing players”
I still can’t fathom how these above sentiments ring true to seemingly so many, almost as if they’re a universally accepted given
(1) “coaching ability” — sorry, but when I think of great coaches, I don’t think of a one trick pony-type, who struggles mightily when it comes to making in-game adjustments…simply-put, there’s nothing innovative nor revelatory about his coaching mathodology or tactical approach…he’s just a poor man’s Pep, who’s likewise adopted some of the worst traits of his and our former manager
(2) “knack for developing players” — this one is even more baffling, as he’s never brought a single academy piece through to the first team, he’s absolutely atrocious when it comes to rotating players and not a single player he’s personally developed has been sold for a profit…in fact, one could quite logically suggest that he’s done a piss-poor job in this regards, in that he sent Saliba elsewhere for developmental purposes and I truly believe that he’s actually stymied the development of several of our blue-chippers, like Saka, Marts and ESR, due to his lack of tactical nous and acquisitional miscues…in fact, 2 of the aforementioned 3 have spent considerable time in MA’s doghouse when he’s favoured lesser options
simply put, can anyone honestly say that they think these 3 wouldn’t be further along under the tutelage of a truly great manager like Pep or Klopp, who would do everything in their power to put them in the best position possibe to maximize their respective potential…for me, a great developer of talent not only surrounds it’s best players with those who would allow them to shine, but likewise works tirelessly on their weakest aspects so that they can evolve into their best footballing selves
Ode is the perfect example of the somewhat disingenuous MA “success” story, in that the Ode we see now is quite similar to the one I witnessed when he was on loan in La Liga, except now he’s a more mature version who’s playing with considerably better talent, yet his most glaring weakness, his tendency to disappear in big games or against more physical opposition, still exists to this day…not to mention, none of the players previously mentioned are more clinical in front of goal, which is clearly something that can be developed with the appropriate amount of training and instruction
now I’m not saying he’s done functionally nothing, like some sort of spanish Ted Lasso, but I just don’t see what all the fuss is about…in fact, he should be thanking his lucky stars he arrived when he did…just think about it, we were rife with talented prospects, for the first time in ages, and so desperate for some semblance of stability that he was not only allowed to stay on after cocking things up, but likewise given the greatest backing this club has ever known…I dare someone to do less under those particular circumstances
“I would disagree to that. We have some great players (800m spent + lost). Saka, Martinelli, Saliba, Gabriel, Ramsdale, White, Rice – can be a core of a very good team who can win everything.”
Excellent post, Ambarish, where for me your best yet. Looking forward to future tell-it-like-it-is posts from you.
I’ll counter your disagree with another disagreement. Let’s set the bar to PL & CL winning capabilities and look at the players you’ve mentioned:
White – is a strange one; doesn’t like watching football and in reality can only play PL football effectively for around 60 minutes. Average at best and if sold we’d be lucky to get £40m for him. Back up RB and RCB only for £50+m – stunning business……..Not! We needed an 8, we still need an 8, three years later.
Saka – I’ve never been really impressed with Saka mainly because of Arteta’s tactics.
Ditto with Pepe where we are seeing Saka becoming more ineffective as players know how to defend against him. Arteta just can’t see the repetitiveness of his costly mistakes. Saka is worthy of his place, but needs competition to improve and quality recovery rest, as well as he should be playing on the left, as he would solidify the left midfield and defense where Saka first played.
Saka and ESR of the left 8 and RW and we’d get a lot of goals with that partnership as well as creativity. Saka and ESR have telepathy together from their years together as youth players.
Ramsdale – I really feel sorry for this lad.
Of course he’s not Allison or the shortlist of top keepers globally, but for the most part he’s solid. If Arteta gave the lad confidence instead of being a complete cunt to Ramsdale, he’d be much calmer between the sticks, and Raya will go the same way because Arteta sold our best keeper in Emi tells you everything.
Martinelli – Bit of a paradox this lad. Has it all, but can only do it when he has help because he’s triple and double teamed defensively. Martinelli can’t dribble effectively at pace. Good at shorts bursts into the penalty box, but a too overused tactic and becoming a one trick pony at Arteta’s direction. If Klopp were manager, I’m sure he’d have Martinelli as 9 and Jesus as false 9 or other options, such as Trossard or Havertz.
Saliba – Our problem with Saliba will be keeping him: in the top 5 LCB globally for me. Possibly the best in waiting.
Gabriel – Gabby needs his mum (Saliba) looking after him. A colossus of a man and solid defender prone to rashness at time. Arteta wanting to sell Gabby because he couldn’t play RB was priceless, and we’d have been completely screwed if we had. Saliba brings out the best in Gabby and helps to keep him calm in defense and Gabby has a knack of scoring more than Saliba.
Finally – Rice our solid anchor at 6 and mediocre in MF when pushing though the lines where he too often is dispossessed. In the final 3rd, Rice is average where it’s not his natural domain and it shows.
Rice is also not Partey. They are very different types of 6.
If we ever played Rice at 6 and Party at 7/8 we’d have an excellent and solid MF defensively, and with extremely quick movement of the ball from Raya to the front 3. Rice’s biggest problem is Arteta; the same for Partey and others. He’ll break soon enough.
Ambarish, if we are really honest with ourselves we only have a few really top ceiling players who are beginning to lose form through being overplayed with the wrong tactics.
Saliba – Timber – Saka? – Rice. ESR proved he could. Few others have who Arteta has personally assembled.
I’ve always maintained Arteta is not generational. He’s not experienced even after 4+ years because he makes the same mistakes over and over again. That’s Hackney marshes managerial level.
Sorry to be so harsh here, but it is what its is, Ambarish.
Where we are in 100% agreement is we need a new manager.
Anyone got names to trow into the hat?
Tony 2 good to see you posting here and welcome anytime. Great name by the way 🙂
In essence you were right, Ambarish, but people all too often lower the bar to a level that we should not be starting from: the bar should start at a much higher level with the base line, if we want to win the top trophies.
The way it looks now, 5th is a trophy this season. Arteta needs to manage another sport: Football management is not for him, as it wasn’t really as a player. Same manegerial levels as he was a player, and now Arteta can’t beat his mentor Moyes.
Saliba top 5 RCB*
Art F,
Any good manager will get results with the players we already have. We fans are so obsessed with transfers these days.
Defence? Saliba + Gabriel. Tierney / Timber at LB. Tomi / White at RB. — unless you are getting a VVD, there is hardly any room for improvement.
Midfield? Partey/Rice – two of the best DMs in the world currently. CAM is one problem but Vieira had shown some glimpse and we were singing songs of Patino/Azeez not so long back.
#10? Odegaard is fine most of the time. ESR is one of the hottest thing minus his injury records.
Wings is sorted with Martinelli and Saka.
CF – we need an upgrade here, the only place that we can upgrade and see some difference in the end result.
—
There is no way we should be playing bland football with the players we have. There is no way not to win anything in last 4 years with this set of players.
There is no need to upgrade anyone because a good manager can do much better that what Mikel is doing.
Tony
Lets agree to disagree because I have changed my opinions about White after his last season with us. Saka is one hell of a player who is going to shine at club and country level in next decade.
Martinelli was not a one trick pony when he joined, he was wrecking havoc, scoring brilliant goals. If I am not wrong, he scored in like 5/6 games on a run.
It’s the manager who run down Ben White last season. It’s the manager who is asking Saka to beat the 3 players marking him or just loft the ball in the box with no one to score from a header. It’s the manager who is keeping Martinelli on the sideline.
“The way it looks now, 5th is a trophy this season.”
Haha, I will burn this place down and retire if we finish 5th and Arteta stays for another season. That would be so spursy.
Let us not be precipitated
Send Arteta to a shrink in USA under the guise of managing the empire there. Arteta has Stanley close at hand to massage his…whatever …..ego…and Arsenal team has Arteta out of their hair. There are 20-22 players who can do justice to most teams not counting the Academy lads who most probably the caretaker coach Per Mertesaker would occasionally introduce as Arsenal win the EPL ( not the CL ,sure ).
Arteta is damaged goods with a superiority – inferiority complex . It gives him immense Pleasure to emasculate and grind others. Fortunately for Arteta he in in professional football with astrological wages and Omerta rules in place. In any other profession Arteta would have got several times bloodied nose.
“You can be very tempted to look at things with a microscope or take the telescope and look a little bit further ahead and treat things with a little bit more perspective”
How apropos that our cake and eat it too MF of a manager uttered the above words…just think about the nuanced nature of just such a statement, depending on how one might delineate between the microscopic and telescopic, as it could be wrongly used to justify many of his managerial missteps or, conversely, be seen as proof of his glaring lack of self-reflection…where was this “perspective” when he failed to keep Emi, which led to a whole host of expensive half-measure replacements, or when he mistakenly re-upped Auba, knowing full-well what his ultimate tactical pursuits were, or when he signed Willian, even though he had some blue-chippers waiting in the wings, or when he failed to sign anyone two winter’s ago when we needed reinforcements in order to push for CL spot, or when he settled last winter, which ultimately cost us a title etc, etc, etc…
TRVL
You’d think Arteta would have the awareness to realise that some of us have been looking at him with the fucking James Webb Space telescope since he took over and our perspective is being proved on a daily basis.
The good news is he’s squirming, he knows he’s way out of his depth and the self belief in his own bull shit he’s been peddling that was reinforced when the fan boys lapped it up is now nothing more than the Emperors new clothes.
If we’re lucky we’ll see a complete meltdown but I think he’s too controlled for that so we’ll see a slog to the end of the season with the noose ready for autumn.
Marc-you’re right regarding the unlikelihood of us actually witnessing a complete managerial meltdown, in fact, as we witnessed in the waning moments of our last match, when MA went into full deer in the headlights mode, it’s far more likely the exact opposite occurs…as you’ve suggested, he’s starting to give off some serious imposter syndrome vibes
I think we’re definitely going to win the FA Cup this year.
Why?
Well guess what’s on the TV in the UK right now…. That’s right, it’s that old John Wayne western, ‘she wore a yellow ribbon’. A great omen if ever there was one.
She wore
She wore
She wore a yellow ribbon
She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of May
And when I asked her why she wore that ribbon
She said it’s for the Arsenal and we’re going to Wemberlee
Wemberlee… Wemberlee… We’re the famous Arsenal and we’re going to Wemberlee
All we need is Tets in a 10 gallon hat and a cavalry uniform.
I’d prefer Arteta in a ten gallon drum and dropped a few miles out in the English channel.
A depth charge packed with explosive bullshit…
I think we’ll look back on this period and wonder what might have been given the farcical amounts of club money that have been given to Tets by the Kroenkes.
Hi Marc,
I know you’re ST doesn’t cover it but did you decide to get a ticket for tomorrow? I’m not certain by any means that we’ll come out on top but it should be an entertaining game.
You’re? 😝Your
A bulletin in the occasional RUNNARSSONWATCH series…this time from a Welsh newspaper
If Cardiff are looking at bringing players in on loan, then they have to free up a couple of spots. Alex Runarsson has been poor when afforded the opportunity between the sticks and it would not be a huge surprise if he was to go back to Arsenal
Who could have seen this coming? Maybe our twatty GK coach will say that RR coming back will allow us to sell Ramsdale. We really are cunts as a club when it comes to GK selection.
Kroenke
No I passed – tomorrow will be an A category match so you’re looking at best part of £90 for my ticket. Its a combination of the cost after Christmas (I don’t like the change in the ST’s which used to cover it even if you had to pay the extra at the end of the season for any A matches), cold weather, they usually carry out maintenance work on my local rail line during Jan making it a ball ache to get there and the simple fact that I don’t enjoy going like I used to – the social side is good but the football side is shit and spending over £100 to have a couple of beers and a chat isn’t something I can get excited about on a late Sunday afternoon especially when I think our chances of winning are low.
I’ll watch it on TV in the warm and cook a rather excellent Osso Bucco recipe I’ve come across.
“I think we’ll look back on this period and wonder what might have been given the farcical amounts of club money that have been given to Tets by the Kroenkes.”
I think it’ll be looked backed by future historians as an outbreak of conversion disorder and compared with the Salem Witch trials.