Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[El Duderino]

A shattered dressing room and he can't find the right words to lift them. Says he'll stick by the players who have got us this far. He's pretty flat himself and seems devoid of belief.

Bayern into Villa into Bayern.

How we respond to Wolves probably determines where we finish this season.

 

[Trilly]

Captain ****ing hindsight’s everywhere tonight. Gonna roll out before I say something regrettable, ciao bellas.

Ooooh okay big man!

 

[Batman]

Never did this btw, don’t lie on my name please and thanks

It’s funny the lengths guys will go to discredit me on here, I don’t know it all but I keep my takes measured and tend to end up right more often than not.

FYI I trolled the forum during Rashford’s purple patch because I insisted he’s a better winger than Brazilian Kolasinac. Never said he was world class or that was his real level.

He was carrying an injury/recovering from surgery. Can’t remember the timelines.

But A-M experts who love making up excuses for our players don’t ever think they might apply to others.

If you check his career stats and ignore the span where he’s carrying an injury then this form isn’t that unexpected. He’s in very good form but this is not a purple patch.

 

[Riou]

When we won the FA cup in 2020, I never would have thought we would go 4 years without any trophies.

He looked a like a guy who wasn't afraid to make decisions and made his team tough to beat, while also developing a clear style...we bounced back from everything going wrong that season, to beat City and Chelsea and to win the trophy... thought we had a real winner in charge.

We have spent so much money since then, but come up short everytime...some of the defeats have been really embarrassing too.

Rate him as a manager still (always will to be honest) but have no belief in him (or the current players to be honest) to get us anymore silverware, how can I?

That Villa second half was really bad, and I am just gutted right now.

 

[Batman]

When we won the FA cup in 2020, I never would have thought we would go 4 years without any trophies.

He looked a like a guy who wasn't afraid to make decisions and made his team tough to beat, while also developing a clear style...we bounced back from everything going wrong that season, to beat City and Chelsea and to win the trophy... thought we had a real winner in charge.

We have spent so much money since then, but come up short everytime...some of the defeats have been really embarrassing too.

Rate him as a manager still (always will to be honest) but have no belief in him (or the current players to be honest) to get us anymore silverware, how can I?

That Villa second half was really bad, and I am just gutted right now.

We don't get hammered by big clubs anymore but we bottle against small ones or those that are woefully out of form. Not sure which is worse.

 

[Trilly]

Is that the same as saying he’s world class? You’re smarter than this.

 

[KarlAFC]

Btw if we full on collapse from here then I’d start to argue that he needs to go.

He’s had horrid Aprils so far in every season he’s been here. That cannot continue.

It’s do or die, you beat Wolves, Chelsea and Sp**s and either win the league or respectfully finish second. Or you flop, finish 3rd or even 4th and leave.

These six remaining league games will say a lot more about Arteta and this squad. I would say even if the capitulation continues to the end of the season and we finish in, worst case, a distant third, you give Mikel another year to prove he can bounce back (given the strides we've made under him recently). But that is also contingent on a few things...

Losing Timber this year was very unfortunate and so having him available next season is welcomed where I'm adamant he becomes a solid starter in our backline. But recruitment this summer has to be astute. We need a proper Saka back-up, a forward (for example Sesko) and a proper Partey replacement. It's on him and Edu to deliver a really strong summer transfer window.

He himself needs to wean off his draconian man and in-game management behaviour and allow our more skilled players to play with more freedom, especially when attacking. He needs to rotate players with considerable more frequency so that starting players don't feel heavy legged in crunch time and those coming off the substitute bench are not disadvantaged by lack of minutes.

If we're seeing much the same from him next season and go without any trophies again, it's fair to really ask questions and consider a new manager (should a good one shake loose).

And also, his cup competition record simply has to improve.

 

[Batman]

Is that the same as saying he’s world class? You’re smarter than this.

You also said that you didn't say that purple patch was his level. You quite clearly said back then it wasn't a purple patch and now you are calling it a purple patch so he is not at the level that you spent a full season appraising him to be. If you want to say you didn't say he was world class and you were trolling, that's cool. I'll accept that. But you absolutely did overhype him.

 

[fute]

When we won the FA cup in 2020, I never would have thought we would go 4 years without any trophies.

He looked a like a guy who wasn't afraid to make decisions and made his team tough to beat, while also developing a clear style...we bounced back from everything going wrong that season, to beat City and Chelsea and to win the trophy... thought we had a real winner in charge.

We have spent so much money since then, but come up short everytime...some of the defeats have been really embarrassing too.

Rate him as a manager still (always will to be honest) but have no belief in him (or the current players to be honest) to get us anymore silverware, how can I?

That Villa second half was really bad, and I am just gutted right now.

He had no pressure of expectation back then for the FA cup in 2020. He manages best that way, no pressure, no expectation.

Risk-aversive by nature, anytime there is something on the line, he'll find someway to trip over himself and the team follows suit. The higher the stakes or the closer the finish, the more dumbfounding the result.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

When we won the FA cup in 2020, I never would have thought we would go 4 years without any trophies.

He looked a like a guy who wasn't afraid to make decisions and made his team tough to beat, while also developing a clear style...we bounced back from everything going wrong that season, to beat City and Chelsea and to win the trophy... thought we had a real winner in charge.

We have spent so much money since then, but come up short everytime...some of the defeats have been really embarrassing too.

Rate him as a manager still (always will to be honest) but have no belief in him (or the current players to be honest) to get us anymore silverware, how can I?

That Villa second half was really bad, and I am just gutted right now.

Pure unadulterated drivel.

 

[Macho]

The one positive losing to Bayern for me is there is no 115 charges to blame this time round. Which people were bizarrely doing after the loss to Aston Villa.

The ceiling is clear to see and whilst it’s not a bad ceiling, we can’t point at charges. Those of you who want to pretend Arteta is pulling off miracles and berate some of us for not being into that need to get a grip.

 

[grange]

We cannot have another summer where we do puzzling buys like Havertz which left everybody scratching their heads. Next season, some type of expectation/pressure needs to be put on Arteta.

Edu is horrible. This guy couldn't even get a job at Tesco. Get him out of the club already.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Rate him as a manager still (always will to be honest) but have no belief in him (or the current players to be honest) to get us anymore silverware, how can I?

That Villa second half was really bad, and I am just gutted right now.

Ngl the way we lost tonight hurts. For me it wasn’t really about getting knocked out of the CL as it happens but the manner itself.

A few weeks back I did say on here that I would be happy regardless of the outcome of the tie but that performance tonight was unacceptable and it feels like we’ve seen that type of Arsenal under Arteta quite a few times in pressurised situations particularly at the business end of the season. Just to clarify, I’m not taking away anything from the job he’s done as there have been positives neither is this wanting him out off the back of that result however there are some red flags as we’ve seen that sort of performance in 21/22 away at Newcastle when we were going for top 4, 22/23 away at the Etihad and now 23/24 at the Allianz.

When you’ve seen it once or twice then it’s something that you may tend to turn a blind eye to but witnessing an identical, passive performance like that three seasons consecutively whereby we didn’t even dent the opponent’s armour or even cause them a concern is very worrying. Regardless of whether people want to push the experience, quality or tired narrative, we had a fully fit squad out there available so there really shouldn’t be any excuses for getting sent packing with a whimper tonight. We’ve also seen sides over the years with less quality than their opponents or experience at least put up a fight vs top class opposition, so I won’t be running with that too.

 

[GoonerJay24]

We cannot have another summer where we do puzzling buys like Havertz which left everybody scratching their heads. Next season, some type of expectation/pressure needs to be put on Arteta.

Edu is horrible. This guy couldn't even get a job at Tesco. Get him out of the club already.

Havertz wasn't the more expensive buy last summer, so not fair singling him out. But I agree, recruitment is key, especially in spotting profiles that fit your playing style.

I've held doubts about Mik for awhile, in terms of leading us to silverware consistently. This last fortnight has increased my skepticism of him. However, unless things get really bad; I don't think a new manager is the way forward. Like some of our players Artetas young and still learning at this level.

I'd give him one more season to see if he's learnt and evolved our play in certain phases.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

Lol. Add him in then if it gets you hot under the collar, it makes no difference to my analysis. City still haven’t spent as much as Chelsea, so it does not account for their ridiculous dominance. You’ll see when Pep goes there will be another small drop off like there was with United when Ferguson left. It won’t be massive because money will keep them in the running, but expect more 2nd, 3rd, 4th or worse placed finishes mixed in.

Didn't know you had a thing for redheads, but my point was that the SQUAD COST that you like to bloviate about must include the necessity to sign players - you don't need to sign KDB if he already plays for your football club. If your range is going from 2019 and doesn't include when City signed their most important player, you are surely being disingenuous.

There was far more work to be done to our squad in 2019 than City's, its flipping obvious just looking at the names on the team sheet and across the squad.

It didn't escape my notice that you didn't answer my question - what period is this table over?

 

[IrishGooner93]

The pattern is too intense and regular in these end of season games to believe it will ever change under this manager anyways. It's so infuriating seeing so called smaller clubs and smaller players like Leicester and Leverkusan hold there nerve at the end of their historic seasons and grasp the moment.
This is the case with most teams when they look strong and on course for success. With arsenal you totally expect it all to fall apart at the end and they never fail to disappoint.
Let's see how the team does with the remaining league games. If they can push city to the end and show villa was just a blip I'd personally be happy with one more season for arteta to get it right.
If we've a similar end to last year we really need a winner in the to take this team to the next level. Who that is no idea

 

[Paperino]

Proud? The group was pathetic and we needed a penalty shootout to get past Porto. There is nothing in our Champions League campaign to be proud of. It seems like our Twitter guy have the same mentality as Teta.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

He ain't him. Horrible mentality in the business end of the season every year. Team does be gassed. And when it goes bad the football is turgid. Really awful "attacking "football. Never been convinced in how the team attacks. Just doesn't have that inevitability and explosiveness of city and liverpool do. Very static and dull

We've scored the second most goals in the league tho? I don't get this criticism at all.

 

[Macho]

Edu is horrible. This guy couldn't even get a job at Tesco. Get him out of the club already.

I like Edu but it’s difficult to defend some aspects of his job, like the selling/moving on of players (or lack there of).

 

[IrishGooner93]

We've scored the second most goals in the league tho? I don't get this criticism at all.

Probably a bit ott from me but it's worth noting those stats are squewed by some of the hammerings the team gave out over a handful of games. Yet in many other matches the attack was kept incredibly quiet. Newcastle away, Liverpool away, city away, bayern away, villa, Fulham and I'm sure there's a few others when the attack was sterile.