Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[field442]

They had three weeks of proper training before the restart in June. He had a couple of weeks before the community shield. He had the Dubai trip over the winter. He has had prolonged periods of time with the players. If anything the earlier performances were more promising in terms of the way we played (going forward) compared to what we’re seeing now. The football has got worse the longer he has had with the players.

At the minute I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I feel like he fell into this system and has been reluctant to leave it behind because it has served him well in the big games, but he needs to show he can adapt and develop now.

 

[Rex Stone]

Definitely. Just came at a cost and its not the way we wanted.

Aspects of what we are seeing from Arteta is undeniably trash but it's a mistake to throw the whole thing away over a few broken eggs in my opinion.

This is what we signed up for when we took on such a manager, he needs to be given a chance to work it out.

I don’t go along with this, at the end of the day he’s managing Arsenal. Irrespective of experience he has to figure it out because he took the big job.

He’s been backed heavily in the market, two big name signings, a pretty key performer from a rival and a new contract for our star striker.

For me we look worse than last year, barely threatening from open play now but even with the turgid football we’re still easily got at defensively.

 

[Kav]

The question of him having enough time is debatable.

one one hand he literally had 2 months time to train and gel into the squad due to the lock down from March to June. So that was almost a preseason.

Then there was the break from August to September where the players got 3 weeks rest so he had them for another month. All said not ideal because it’s intermittent but still more time than he would have had under normal circumstances.

His difficulty appears to be caused by external factors that have constrained his ability to reshape the squad and internal club factors that impact on performances. The club or Arteta have not handled man management very well since he came in. There have been a number of high profile departures since he came in and these are rare considering that 2 of these were only acquired in 2018. Also two players have been publicly lambasted by the club. Not a good look.

As for the tactical side of things. He has to be given credit for the work done so far in terms of reducing our goals conceded and making the team more compact. We press more and higher and generally shift into a defensive block quicker than I have seen us do over the last 15 years.

However offensively we are abysmal and there seems to be no cure with Arteta in charge because he is risk averse. He is unwilling to make the changes necessary to allow us to be more expansive.

Arteta’s biggest problem is his inexperience. He doesn’t know how to manage players and different personalities and different situations and different problems all at the same time. He is learning and hopefully evolving with each situation. He will make some bad choices and mistakes as well. He will probably get as much wrong as he does right.

The question I have always asked is whether Arsenal should be the club that he gets his training experience? Should a club this big who is in such a precarious state financially be taking such a risk with a novice manager?

The club says it can’t afford another season without European football but then goes and hires an assistant manager with zero experience at all. That is the part that is comical about this.

If things go wrong the club can say well it didn’t work out. However the question should be asked, why hire someone without a track record that you can assess?

You have no idea if he will be an attacking or defensive coach, if he can get the best out of youngsters or stars, if he has any off the pitch skills that are useful to the club. So many unknowns, the club took a big risk in hiring him.

I say when because I know he won’t do well here. He will be gone sooner than most imagined.

 

[Macho]

I don’t go along with this, at the end of the day he’s managing Arsenal. Irrespective of experience he has to figure it out because he took the big job.

He’s been backed heavily in the market, two big name signings, a pretty key performer from a rival and a new contract for our star striker.

For me we look worse than last year, barely threatening from open play now but even with the turgid football we’re still easily got at defensively.

I feel like most of the issues fans are having issues with are preference things rather than genuine problems, apart from our chances created.

The rest is trivial stuff like style of play, not playing kids, formations, favourite players getting marginalised etc - stuff I am personally not too fussed about.

Results are topsy-turvy across the league and Villa approached that match like a training match. Think fans are going overboard and have been left to stew and imagine new issues the longer international break goes on.

I'm not even being bias as some of my favourite players have been dumped (Pepe, Özil).

 

[GDeep™]

This came on my recommendations and I clicked it, and the last 40 seconds were interesting actually.

 

[Rex Stone]

I feel like most of the problems are preference things tbh.

I feel like most of the issues fans are having issues with are preference things rather than genuine problems, apart from our chances created.

The rest is trivial stuff like style of play, not playing kids, favourite players getting marginalised etc - stuff I am personally not too fussed about.

Results are topsy-turvy across the league and Villa approached that match like a training match. Think fans are going overboard and have been left to stew and imagine new issues the longer international break goes on.

I'm not even being bias as some of my favourite players have been dumped (Pepe, Özil).

Primarily I don’t care about any of that if we win games. That’s the only thing I’m judging him on and I don’t think we’re in a good position to do that.

We’re negative without being solid defensively and can’t create from open play. We have a negative xG of 7 for and 11 against from open play. If that persists you’re usually on course for a bottom half finish.

I don’t know where the progress is from last year?

 

[Maybe]

This came on my recommendations and I clicked it, and the last 40 seconds were interesting actually.

Arteta is basically a coach, that's also what his role was at City. He has 0 management skills or talent for it

 

[GDeep™]

Arteta is basically a coach, that's also what his role was at City. He has 0 management skills or talent for it

We have to accept we’ve hired a potentially top coach, but somebody who is still learning management and will make mistakes.

Özil, Guendouzi, couple of other situations etc, are all managerial mistakes.

 

[Manberg]

Arteta is basically a coach, that's also what his role was at City. He has 0 management skills or talent for it

Someone with 0 management skills does not out-class Guardiola in an FA cup semi final and beat Klopp in 3 out of 4 games. All with an inferior squad.

 

[Macho]

I don’t know where the progress is from last year?

I think if Arteta finds a solution to the low block we often come across when we are not facing the top 6, we can't really fault him.

He's cracked half the code which we've struggled with for years, I feel like he is a few adjustments away from sorting out the other half.

Tbf he's not Wenger, he's not magically gonna start ESR and Willock or throw away leads for the sake of attacking football.

I've already accepted that whatever he does he's gonna have a similar problem to Ole and Lampard where he is never gonna totally convince and he will always be a couple of bad results from fans moaning again.

I'm not too invested in him myself for that reason but I definitely think he's capable for sure.

 

[GDeep™]

Ferguson is interesting and this is a different debate, he would bring in guys like McLaren, Carlos Queiroz etc, who the Utd players will tell you were top coaches.

Then you had Wenger who never done this and ran the whole ship himself, again interesting, because he was able to implement the most exciting football ever seen in England.

 

[Manberg]

We have to accept we’ve hired a potentially top coach, but somebody who is still learning management and will make mistakes.

Özil, Guendouzi, couple of other situations etc, are all managerial mistakes.

Other top managers have shut out players they don’t like. Mourinho did it countless times. Guardiola shut out Hart. Klopp had players he didn’t fancy.

 

[GDeep™]

Other top managers have shut out players they don’t like. Mourinho did it countless times. Guardiola shut out Hart. Klopp had players he didn’t fancy.

Hart was a normal footballing decision, he was dumped and replaced by a better keeper, I don’t see your point.

 

[Manberg]

Hart was a normal footballing decision, he was dumped and replaced by a better keeper, I don’t see your point.

He was a fan favourite at City who played every game.

 

[Maybe]

We have to accept we’ve hired a potentially top coach, but somebody who is still learning management and will make mistakes.

I've seen managers in my career who struggled to make sense of anything even after years of working as a manager and new managers who were so talented and organized their teams effortlessly within months. Experience may play a role sometimes, but the talent is the most important thing. If Arteta is talented as everyone thinks so, he should be able to adapt very quickly.
We pay premium salaries for our managers, I expect premium talent in return.

Everything else is a guessing game: needs more time, needs more money, needs needs needs, people without talent will always need something and complain. Top talent should be able to find a way in difficult situations

 

[Riou]

How Pep replaces Hart basically sums up his "management style."

Doesn't think Hart can play his way, so brings in a new starting keeper in Bravo...Bravo doesn't do to well in his first season, Pep brings in a new starting keeper in Ederson...and you know that if Ederson didn't look that good, Pep would have demanded a new keeper the year after too.

Guardiola would be so lost without loads and loads of money to spend

 

[Rex Stone]

I think if Arteta finds a solution to the low block we often come across when we are not facing the top 6, we can't really fault him.

He's cracked half the code which we've struggled with for years, I feel like he is a few adjustments away from sorting out the other half.

Tbf he's not Wenger, he's not magically gonna start ESR and Willock or throw away leads for the sake of attacking football.

I've already accepted that whatever he does he's gonna have a similar problem to Ole and Lampard where he is never gonna totally convince and he will always be a couple of bad results from fans moaning again.

I'm not too invested in him myself for that reason but I definitely think he's capable for sure.

I mean it’s not fun to bring up but Emery’s record in big games is pretty good. In his big games last season we drew with Sp*rs and Utd and lost to Liverpool away 3-1 just like we did this year.

I’m a lot more pessimistic because other teams still tend to get the better of the chances, be it in big games or small games. Over the course of a season the laws of averages will catch up to you.

In a way I’m not even bothered if we don’t get top four anymore. I’d want to see us have clear signs of progression which to my eyes aren’t there. We’re neither solid nor coherent right now.

 

[Rasmi]

Someone with 0 management skills does not out-class Guardiola in an FA cup semi final and beat Klopp in 3 out of 4 games. All with an inferior squad.

How the hell did he outclass Guardiola. With that logic every time a smaall team beats a big team their manager outclassed them. City had 71% possession and 16-4 in shots for them.

Against Liverpool it was 69% possession and 24-3 in shots for them. If this is outclassing another manager then I don’t know anything about football. This is your standard a lesser team playing a much better teams and defending for their lives and hit them on the counter. We needed huge luck both games and we got it. Let’s give 70% possession to every top team we play and 5-6 times more shots and see how well we do.

 

[Manberg]

How the hell did he outclass Guardiola. With that logic every time a smaall team beats a big team their manager outclassed them. City had 71% possession and 16-4 in shots for them.

Against Liverpool it was 69% possession and 24-3 in shots for them. If this is outclassing another manager then I don’t know anything about football. This is your standard a lesser team playing a much better teams and defending for their lives and hit them on the counter. We needed huge luck both games and we got it. Let’s give 70% possession to every top team we play and 5-6 times more shots and see how well we do.

That’s what you have to do in order to beat better teams. Wenger was guilty of never learning that, getting beat 6-0 etc.
There’s nothing simple about it. It requires a set of detailed instructions and execution. Pressing style, man marking, blocking passing lanes, offside trap, zones of play etc.

 

[Macho]

I mean it’s not fun to bring up but Emery’s record in big games is pretty good. In his big games last season we drew with Sp*rs and Utd and lost to Liverpool away 3-1 just like we did this year.

I’m a lot more pessimistic because other teams still tend to get the better of the chances, be it in big games or small games. Over the course of a season the laws of averages will catch up to you.

In a way I’m not even bothered if we don’t get top four anymore. I’d want to see us have clear signs of progression which to my eyes aren’t there. We’re neither solid nor coherent right now.

I personally don't see Arteta lasting beyond this season anyways.

Not cause he is not a capable coach but his decisions are just too grating on the fans. He's done away with a lot of the Wenger tropes that the fans are just used to and have come to expect which if we are honest, is the real problem.

We were losers under Wenger but it seems it was just easier to digest the way he was doing it.

If fans were allowed in the Emirates this guy would barely make it to January.