PL: Arsenal vs Aston Villa | Sunday 8th November| 19:15 GMT| Illegal Streams

[HairSprayGooners]

It's not just about the 6 points (which are hugely important). Emery with 6 points more in his first season would have been regarded as a success. However his football was brutal and we were not really improving the longer he was there.

Mikel in the PL has not been great. We havent seen anything better than Emery. This isnt just from this season but last season.

We lost "easy" games last season under Mikel. We got dumped out of the Europa League under Mikel. Performances have been poor and there doesnt seem to be any proactive style of play. Long and short is his football is terrible. Both results wise and on the eye.

People are unhappy with the club for a number of reasons. Such as

- Özil deemed not good enough for bench (we know it's not football reasons)
- 30m Saliba deemed not good enough
-paying 250k+ for our starman who's hugging the touch line and cant utilize his strong points
- changing formations with no clear idea as focusing too much on stopping opponent
- not rewarding good performances with starts ie Willock playing well EL and cant make the bench. You've banged the drum for Pepe and il admit after watching the Villa game we may as well give Pepe a go just to see if he can do something despite my reservations.

Bottom line we are sitting mid-table with no real look that we are going to be challenging for top 4 not based on Villa but based overall from league performances and results since Mikel took over.

We have watched Chelsea strengthen and improve. Sp**s strengthen and improve. We have watched so called inferior teams (Soton/Villa) coached to perform better than in all honesty they probably should based on players and budgets etc.

People say Arteta needs time. But hes been there guts of a year. Liverpool with Klopp after a year had a clear identity albeit not the players. But there was improvements. Brendan Rodgers after a year improved Leicester. Ole had United third last year. Mourinho after not much more than a year looks like hes getting a tune out of Sp**s. Us. We are regressing and that is why fans are starting to become anxious. Not just 6 points.

• I wouldn't be including Özil either, he isn't going to be here in 8 months time, not part of the long term plan and doesn't give 100% on the pitch. Quality wise he's obviously brilliant and I get why some people would be frustrated with that situation. May not even be down to Arteta.
• Who says Saliba isn't good enough? Nobody actually knows what's going on with that situation.
• Under Arteta towards the back end of last season Auba was the star man from the left. Auba has been awful this season, his touch has been horrendous and it isn't just down to the manager on that one.
• All I've seen is a regular 343 which switches into a 433 when necessary, not like he's going from 343 to 442 and then a diamond.
• You say about rewarding good performances with starts, but after the fantastic display at Old Trafford you cannot drop Saka, Partey or Elneny for Willock. Willock deserves chances, but he didn't deserve a start against Villa. I'd start him soon mind you.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

It's not just about the 6 points (which are hugely important).

We lost "easy" games last season under Mikel. We got dumped out of the Europa League under Mikel.

People are unhappy with the club for a number of reasons. Such as

- Özil deemed not good enough for bench (we know it's not football reasons)
- 30m Saliba deemed not good enough
-paying 250k+ for our starman who's hugging the touch line and cant utilize his strong points

-
People say Arteta needs time. But hes been there guts of a year. Liverpool with Klopp after a year had a clear identity albeit not the players. But there was improvements.

• We got dumped out of Europa League with Özil front and center. In fact it may well have been the moment Arteta decided to ditch him.
• Saliba has had personal issues
• Our "starman" gets knocked over by a gust of wind, but TBF I do like the fella.
• Klopp was being savaged after being at Liverpool after the same period of time, certain pundits were saying there is no improvement.

 

[14Henry]

• I wouldn't be including Özil either, he isn't going to be here in 8 months time, not part of the long term plan and doesn't give 100% on the pitch. Quality wise he's obviously brilliant and I get why some people would be frustrated with that situation. May not even be down to Arteta.
• Who says Saliba isn't good enough? Nobody actually knows what's going on with that situation.
• Under Arteta towards the back end of last season Auba was the star man from the left. Auba has been awful this season, his touch has been horrendous and it isn't just down to the manager on that one.
• All I've seen is a regular 343 which switches into a 433 when necessary, not like he's going from 343 to 442 and then a diamond.
• You say about rewarding good performances with starts, but after the fantastic display at Old Trafford you cannot drop Saka, Partey or Elneny for Willock. Willock deserves chances, but he didn't deserve a start against Villa. I'd start him soon mind you.

Your paying a playing 350k and you arent creating. If you've got an option short term that can help you why not use it. I'm not Ozils biggest fan but is he good enough to come on last 15 mins against Leciester to try pick a pass against a low block? Yes.

Willocks performance deserves at least a place on the bench. Again your not dropping anyone but giving someone a chance who has played well when given the chance. But Arteta wouldn't drop Xhaka or Ceballos out of the squad. Again weak management.

Yeah hes switching 4 3 3 and 3 4 3. Doesnt know his best formation and if he does and hes adjusting constantly to his opponent hes playing more to stop them than to do something ourselves. Sometimes you have to but not every week.

If Saliba was good enough he would be playing. He has said he wants to play. He wanted to play in the final. Puel wanted him to play in the final. If he was mentally ready a month or two after the loss 6 months on surely he can at least play against Dundalk. We have seen his partner seamlessly fit in at Leciester. He hasnt even made the EL squad and Arteta can say about loans all he wants and make excuses. If he had 0 intention to play Saliba which is clear he could have sent him to the championship. Playing 20-30 games for Brentford will do him more good than harm.

What I'm saying is that it isnt just 6 points which is the difference in opinions. Its everything that is unfolding. We had hope this season and already that hope is gone. And an FA cup win along with 8th place this season wont be good enough.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Your paying a playing 350k and you arent creating. If you've got an option short term that can help you why not use it. I'm not Ozils biggest fan but is he good enough to come on last 15 mins against Leciester to try pick a pass against a low block? Yes.

Willocks performance deserves at least a place on the bench. Again your not dropping anyone but giving someone a chance who has played well when given the chance. But Arteta wouldn't drop Xhaka or Ceballos out of the squad. Again weak management.

Yeah hes switching 4 3 3 and 3 4 3. Doesnt know his best formation and if he does and hes adjusting constantly to his opponent hes playing more to stop them than to do something ourselves. Sometimes you have to but not every week.

If Saliba was good enough he would be playing. He has said he wants to play. He wanted to play in the final. Puel wanted him to play in the final. If he was mentally ready a month or two after the loss 6 months on surely he can at least play against Dundalk. We have seen his partner seamlessly fit in at Leciester. He hasnt even made the EL squad and Arteta can say about loans all he wants and make excuses. If he had 0 intention to play Saliba which is clear he could have sent him to the championship. Playing 20-30 games for Brentford will do him more good than harm.

What I'm saying is that it isnt just 6 points which is the difference in opinions. Its everything that is unfolding. We had hope this season and already that hope is gone. And an FA cup win along with 8th place this season wont be good enough.

Hope is only gone from fickle fans in my opinion. We are 3 points behind Chelsea despite having gone to Old Trafford, City and Liverpool. How can you lose hope this season already?

 

[14Henry]

Hope is only gone from fickle fans in my opinion. We are 3 points behind Chelsea despite having gone to Old Trafford, City and Liverpool. How can you lose hope this season already?

Because Villa beat Liverpool, Palace and Sp**s have thumped United, west ham have taken points of City and Leciester have thumped them.

We on the other had lost easily to both Liverpool and City, say what you like but those teams never got out of 2nd gear. We lost to Leciester. Lost to Villa and the games we did win we won by very narrow margins and lucky to win against United and West Ham.

Our football is terrible and we arent creating anything hence there is very little hope that all of a sudden that's gonna change. Plus playing away from home isnt even a big disadvantage now. Stats prove that.

I'm not gonna trick myself and lie to myself that something can happen when it cant. When it's so obvious and theres no signs of it happening.

 

[kash2]

People will naturally fire shots at whatever they can when the team is losing. But at the end of the day we should be beating Villa at home with this squad. If we had rightly beaten Leicester and Villa in the home games then nobody would be taking shots right now.

Those fine margins, 6 points, shouldn't be the difference between people lauding things at the club and abusing things the club do. I mean just take that in for a minute. The difference between someone like yourself saying we're doing well and then going on to abuse anyone they can within the club and find a scapegoat is probably 6 points.

And for the record they didn't fire the mascot, they said he's coming back when football is back. Which will happen to most of the match day staff who were let go.

ok stan

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Because Villa beat Liverpool, Palace and Sp**s have thumped United, west ham have taken points of City and Leciester have thumped them.

We on the other had lost easily to both Liverpool and City, say what you like but those teams never got out of 2nd gear. We lost to Leciester. Lost to Villa and the games we did win we won by very narrow margins and lucky to win against United and West Ham.

Our football is terrible and we arent creating anything hence there is very little hope that all of a sudden that's gonna change. Plus playing away from home isnt even a big disadvantage now. Stats prove that.

I'm not gonna trick myself and lie to myself that something can happen when it cant. When it's so obvious and theres no signs of it happening.

Are you saying you want our new manager sacked 1/3 of the way into his first full season?

What are you looking for here?

 

[14Henry]

Are you saying you want our new manager sacked 1/3 of the way into his first full season?

What are you looking for here?

No and never once did I say that. What I am explaining is why (unlike some fans) I dont see a reason to expect top 4. Arteta needs this full season to show what hes got.

If he finishes 8th/9th/10th he needs shown the door.

Some progression and maybe a top 6 finish would just about keep him in a job.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

No and never once did I say that. What I am explaining is why (unlike some fans) I dont see a reason to expect top 4. Arteta needs this full season to show what hes got.

If he finishes 8th/9th/10th he needs shown the door.

Some progression and maybe a top 6 finish would just about keep him in a job.

C’mon fella, you seem like a reasonable chap. Surely a new manager has got to be given two full seasons, unless he gets into a relegation dogfight. We’re not chel$ki.

I bet yer bottom dollar Arteta would like at least one full season without someone asking him about Özil every 24hrs :rofl:

 

[littleboysilva]

A little off topic but I feel like an arsenal forum should also be accompanied by a mental health thread. Seems necessary somehow.

 

[A_G]

A little off topic but I feel like an arsenal forum should also be accompanied by a mental health thread. Seems necessary somehow.

https://arsenal-mania.com/forum/threads/dr-rich-1990s-medical-corner.34184/

 

[14Henry]

C’mon fella, you seem like a reasonable chap. Surely a new manager has got to be given two full seasons, unless he gets into a relegation dogfight. We’re not chel$ki.

I bet yer bottom dollar Arteta would like at least one full season without someone asking him about Özil every 24hrs :rofl:

If he finishes the same or worse than last season not for me. Get someone else. That would indicate 0 progression. And 0 progression isnt acceptable after 18-20 months.

6th and some improvement and progression no problem another year. But lingering mid table and no european football. Not for me. The doers dont take 2 years to make improvements.

 

[The White Pelè]

If you play with basically a 5-man defence and you still concede 3 goals at home against Aston Villa something is seriously wrong. So much for the "best defence in the league".
Arteta is overthinking, imo. Football is a very simple thing: put the players in their best position and let them play. Don't try to be a football genius.

 

[Batman]

• We got dumped out of Europa League with Özil front and center. In fact it may well have been the moment Arteta decided to ditch him.
• Saliba has had personal issues
• Our "starman" gets knocked over by a gust of wind, but TBF I do like the fella.
• Klopp was being savaged after being at Liverpool after the same period of time, certain pundits were saying there is no improvement.

The 3rd point is important. Klopp inherited a team that should have won the PL and had an outstanding attack. His issue was that he couldn't sort the defense through tactics alone. He needed a top class CB, DM and GK. Once he got those, funded by an intelligent reinvestment of the Coutinho money, the narrative and their fortunes changed entirely. But it's also worth mentioning that Klopp was already an elite manager who had been to 2 CL finals and beaten Bayern to the league twice. Obviously Arteta's blank managerial CV is not the same is what Klopp had when he arrived at Liverpool. I feel you can be critical of Arteta without going off the deep end. Yeah, his man management looks as if it has real room for improvement in cases like Pepe and Saliba but it's been very good with someone like Xhaka.

Our style of play is disgusting to watch except for the rare instances when it delivers a big result. I do feel that his coming in with no experience and the ramifications of covid on training have hurt him quite a bit. I also think he needs to show that he's not too stubborn to make some changes in his own behavior. This is now the 3rd manger in the row here who has burned himself trying to shoehorn players into positions that don't play to their strengths. A player might be able to do a job for you like that but he needs to be looking to get the best out of the players individually so that they can win individual battles against the opposition. You don't need to reinvent the wheel when you have quality players. There are some holes still in this squad to be sure but there is enough talent for us to attack competently which is basically impossible in his cowardly system he has us playing against teams that we should be taking the match to.

 

[Manberg]

If you play with basically a 5-man defence and you still concede 3 goals at home against Aston Villa something is seriously wrong. So much for the "best defence in the league".
Arteta is overthinking, imo. Football is a very simple thing: put the players in their best position and let them play. Don't try to be a football genius.

If we play with a 4 man defence we’d concede 7 against Aston Villa.

 

[MartiSaka]

We have bought Partey and Gabriel - we have Tierney and Bellerin/AMN also. Some might say we lack a good CB to partner Gabriel - but surely we can move to a back 4 in games at home. What I don't understand is we have resigned Luiz, try to resign Mustafi, signed Mari (who is obv injured) so Arteta has 5-6 defensive recruitment decisions - but still he believes we don't have the personnel to play a back 4. Why resign/sign these players then if they are not going to allow you to play in the way I would think he wants to play

 

[kash2]

Like a Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime
Didn't you?

People call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all
Kidding' you?

You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging
Your next meal

How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?

 

[BigPoppaPump]

https://arsenal-mania.com/forum/threads/dr-rich-1990s-medical-corner.34184/

Imagine feeling sick or some sort of pain in your body and instead of looking up your symptoms online or going to the GP you ask @rich 1990 for help on Arsenalmania.

 

[Riou]