Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Football Manager]

It's easy to be an armchair pundit in hindsight and I'm as guilty as anyone else of it. Sure Arteta got it tactically wrong against Villa, no denying that. It happens, and it's cool to be critical of Arteta there. But if people want to batter him for that you have to give him credit for the tactical masterclass he put on against Man Utd a week or so before.

I'm not denying that Arteta had good will from most Arsenal fans at least initially, though it would be hard to argue he does now. He was a well liked player here, it's natural.

It always has to come back to Özil somehow You've just admitted you don't know what happened with Özil but apparently it's damning to Arteta irrespective. That's not fair, you have to be at least open to the possibility that Özil wasn't training well enough or didn't have a good enough attitude for Arteta to think he warranted a place in the squad. You may not think it's true, but it's a possibility.

From what I understand Saliba has had a family bereavement and there are personal issues around that. I think there are extenuating circumstances here and it's unfair to judge either Saliba or Arteta on him not being in the squad currently.

I'm not blaming Arsenal fans for making legitimate criticisms of Arteta, they are there to make. It's when it starts becoming a pile on and fans just go out their way to concoct reasons to have a go that I don't like. The reaction to Arteta being critical about Pepe head butting someone, for example. That's manufactured outrage, so is calling Arteta a stooge of the board. There's no evidence of that. Arteta has been much more outspoken and put more pressure on the board in the media than Wenger did when it comes to transfers etc. He's no yes man whatever else you may think of him.

It's not a possibility. It's a fact that Özil’s fangirl refused to believe in.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

It's obvious to anyone that Arteta is an amateur and a job like Arsenal is way over his level. We're trying to get back in the CL not a fcking tutorial for a new manager wtf.

I mean, if you don't want a manager that's learning on the job then you shouldn't appoint a manager who's never managed before.

Sounds like your gripe should be with the board more than Arteta if that's your line of thinking.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

I mean, if you don't want a manager that's learning on the job then you shouldn't appoint a manager who's never managed before.

You ever thought of becoming a detective? Your observation skills are so good.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

You ever thought of becoming a detective? Your observation skills are so good.

 

[Rimaal]

Can’t wait for the day Arsenal mania realises that a new manager can’t just fix everything overnight.

The attack is dire at the moment but it will improve.

We’re heading in the right direction, but the transition is tricky and Arteta is still a brand-new manager learning with every day. He’s going to make mistakes and their are going to be plenty more painful moments this season. Stop being babies.

How exactly are we heading in the right direction? Where's your evidence?
The only reason we drew that game is that Leeds couldn't find the net if it were laid down below their feet to walk on. They had plenty of chances. Any other team would have scored multiples, whilst we couldn't string two passes together.

So our defence is dire, our set-pieces are dire, our attack is dire. If that's what you call the right direction then I'm glad you live in the age of google maps.

 

[say yes]

How exactly are we heading in the right direction? Where's your evidence?
The only reason we drew that game is that Leeds couldn't find the net if it were laid down below their feet to walk on. They had plenty of chances. Any other team would have scored multiples, whilst we couldn't string two passes together.

So our defence is dire, our set-pieces are dire, our attack is dire. If that's what you call the right direction then I'm glad you live in the age of google maps.

Our defence clearly isn’t dire. This is the most solid defensively we’ve been in about 20 years. Calm down.

 

[Rimaal]

Our defence clearly isn’t dire. This is the most solid defensively we’ve been in about 20 years. Calm down.

Clearly? You need to go check the stats, mate.

 

[Red London]

Clearly? You need to go check the stats, mate.

We've learnt how to successfully execute a low block and have that in our arsenal now (pardon the pun). The clear component of this for me is we know how to protect the defensive line with our midfield. It used to be a mess back there organisation wise, and yes this has also been helped by us playing less attacking football.

 

[Red London]

I'd like to point out that Arteta inherited a scared team which was flakey in defence AND toothless in attack.

Do you remember Emery's second half of his first season? Or his last season? That last 12 months was dire in terms of creativity. Some people are assuming Arteta brought this issue with him. It was actually the exact same football we are we seeing now except we were clowns at defending. We were somehow getting goals through Aubameyang but its not like that was encouraging looking to the long term? Remember that we played some beautiful football in his first season like vs Leciester and Fulham but the rest of Emery's reign implies that it was just some residual Wenger ball magic from Wenger's time here.

The big issue with Emery was due to man management and not being self aware:

- His poor English (we were praising him for learning quickly at the start but then it just stayed the same for ages) meant that he didnt express his points clearly- to the press or his players. That lost him some slack and instantly made him look quite confused. He didnt seem to form a connection with his players, which is very important for managers these days especially at a club filled with quite soft players and a soft culture leading up to then.

- His self awareness was poor. It looks like he didnt have the ability to tae a step back and view his decisions from a 3rd person perspective- in a self reflective and objective way. This is something which is important in all walks of life but is especially important in the modern game of football. He didnt realise that Torreira at 10 was silly, or that what he was doing was failing and needed to change.

I think Arteta has man management skills and self awareness in his locker, albeit being quite stubborn and "non-negotiable". He said after the Villa game that a lot of rethinking will have to be done over the break and he did play two wingers into the side and played Auba up top... yes it didnt work out great but he is aware he needs to explore other options.

I think the key to being a top manager is being able to reinvent yourself and predict the future to an extent. In my opinion Arteta's big mistake this season was to look at the success we achieved playing a solid 3atb (FA cup) and assume that it will bring us glory. In that time last season we dropped a lot of points to some poor sides and most people assumed it was a fantastically put together stop gap for that time. I guess we didnt sign much creativity in the summer to change things but I thought Arteta would have been moving towards playing more expansive football in training.

Anyway, the mistake has been made now and hes new to management, he clearly didnt think ahead of the curve. At the end of the day though he is doing stuff we wanted. Hes making the club more tough, have more demands of its players and for them to work harder and give everything they can. I think thats more than Emery and even Wenger did. He played here and saw how soft the club is and how it has held us back over the years. He has a big hurdle ahead and I really hope he can solve it, I'm gonna reserve judgement for longer. He has some credit after that FA cup win.

 

[say yes]

Clearly? You need to go check the stats, mate.

Just checked. We’ve conceded the second fewest goals in the league despite having having played away at City, Liverpool and United already.

Blimey.

 

[Riou]

"These players failed under 3 managers"

Big Wengz even let Özil skip the Christmas party ffs!

Also, Sanchez looks so out of place in the back...you can tell he doesn't like anyone there and nobody likes him

 

[#254]

People here kid themselves that we have a good defence because ****ing Leeds got unlucky with double figures attempts

 

[novar]

I'd like to point out that Arteta inherited a scared team which was flakey in defence AND toothless in attack.

Not really

Arteta inherited a team that wasn't bothering to commit because they sided with the fans and wanted Emery out, and a team that was leaking goals for fun but at least was scoring, the complain during the run that got Emery sacked was feeling like we had to score more than 2 goals in order to win the game.

We knew the problem was with the players because Arteta didn't have to do a lot to have them start doing the basics properly again and putting out a bit more effort, but time has passed and if you don't believe what you're seeing is worse than the last days of Emery, a lot of people do and there are some nice stats to back it up (maybe the most relevant one being spending so much time without an open play goal despite having the resources we have).

 

[Rex Stone]

Just checked. We’ve conceded the second fewest goals in the league despite having having played away at City, Liverpool and United already.

Blimey.

Meanwhile Calvert-Lewin has scored more goals than our entire team.

Lovely stuff.

 

[Trilly]

"These players failed under 3 managers"

I miss them.

 

[A_G]

I miss them.

I swear in those days you said you disliked the players so much, you actually didn't want to win a trophy because you didn't want the players to be happy.

 

[roz]

Big Wengz even let Özil skip the Christmas party ffs!

Also, Sanchez looks so out of place in the back...you can tell he doesn't like anyone there and nobody likes him

How many players now get into that christmas past 11?

2?

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

People here kid themselves that we have a good defence because ****ing Leeds got unlucky with double figures attempts

Nah, people believe we have a good defence because we objectively have the second best defensive record in the league, after having a very difficult set of fixtures. Liverpool away. Man Utd away. Man City away. Leicester home.

How many shots Leeds had isn't a good barometer of our defensive capabilities anyway. We were down to 10 men for half of the game. How many chances did they have that you'd put money on them to score? Not many. A lot of their efforts on goal were pot shots from outside the box. A couple of their better chances would have been overturned by VAR for offside too.

 

[Trilly]

I swear in those days you said you disliked the players so much, you actually didn't want to win a trophy because you didn't want the players to be happy.

Rings a bell, thought I was rock bottom, guess I am now.

 

[oh to be a goon]

Big Wengz even let Özil skip the Christmas party ffs!

And Mustafi, and Kolasinac