Arsenal’s Technical Director, Edu, has strongly backed Mikel Arteta, and call for fans to have patience as the team endures its worst run of form under the Spaniard.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley was our fourth successive loss at home, and after twelve games the Gunners have just thirteen Premier League points.
It’s leaves the team in desperate need of a win, but with high-flying Southampton visiting on Wednesday, it’s going to take something big to dig ourselves out of this rut.
Obviously, when results are poor, people talk about the position of the manager, but as far as the former Invincible is concerned, Arteta needs time and patience
“If we’re not talking about patience with Mikel it would be very unfair to him. Because what a year we have faced,” he told Sky Sports in an interview recorded before Sunday’s loss.
“Pre-season challenges, three months without any football matches, a lot of things changing in the club. He started, and stopped, and when he started to get an understanding of all the squad he stopped again.
“He didn’t get a sequence to know everyone properly. It would be really unfair to Mikel to say something about that because the year was so challenging for everyone but even more for Mikel, who’d just arrived at the club.
“Because if you have a manager who was at the club for two, three, five years, it makes that situation easier.
“That’s why Mikel needs always, from my side, good words.”
The Brazilian did acknowledge that results have been poor, but insisted that what is going on behind the scenes gives him faith that it will improve.
“The way I see things is very simple,” he continued.
“It’s normal and easy to be driven by the results. But for me, the main point is when I see something in which I can see the future, see where we go, the way we’re building things, starting to see it on a daily basis.
“So the way we work, the way we train, the way we behave internally, if you see the quality of the work, if you see the quality of the people, if you see properly what’s happening here on a daily basis, it’s nothing to compare with the results.”
Arteta also received the backing of Pep Guardiola, who he understudied at Man City for three years.
“Arsenal doesn’t have a better manager that leads this club, in this year and the next, that is better than him,” said Guardiola.
“I would say if I was part of the board at Arsenal, I will not have any doubts about his quality and capacity to put Arsenal in the place like Arsenal deserves to be.”
Arteta will be without suspended duo Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin for the Southampton game, and it remains to be seen which further changes he might make to try and get his side firing again.
The manager will meet the press this morning, and we’ll have all the stories throughout the day here.
The problem is: who is going to get Arteta the tools he needs?
He’s sadly not even getting the most out of the tools he has.
Yep unfortunately, he’s not. And if we lose the next three league games, which we will, it will be in a life and death relegation fight and he’ll be fired. But I still think the major problem with the club is off the field.
The major problem is the way we play football, and continuing poor recruitment.
He says later in the interview as well that we shouldn’t expect to fix our problems in th transfer window in January but should be looking to fix them with what we have. Worrying comments
I don’t agree. Find a way to play that works with the players we have. Show the door to those who need to be moved on and plan for the summer. One of our problems is actually having too many players, mostly of the same mediocre standard. Ship 5 or 6 out in January and there will be more opportunities for everyone and less moping faces around the place
We had the summer to ship them out. Nobody wanted them. Because of our terrible recruitment which sees perennial underachievers given inflated wages.
I would say to that – we should have tried to sell players there actually was interest in. For example, Laca and Nketiah.
this squad and this coach are good enough to finish top 7 or 8 this season as well as having a cup run, even from where we are now. a couple of wins and we are close to top 4. we are not in a relegation dogfight and won’t be. look at the quality in the squad compared to what is below us. this is not leeds or notts forest. arteta has put himself in a difficult position – he was over ambitious and likely bit off more than he can chew too early. he is a rookie. this is… Read more »
I broadly agree with that. I wouldn’t sack Arteta, I’d sack Edu. Not particularly through any fault of his own. We just need someone experienced and exceptional in that role. And Arteta needs a mentor.
However, if we lose the next three games, Arteta’s position may become untenable.
His magic is making a lot of true fans like you believe that with more money he can do better. But if the club have money I think they should go for Pep instead.
I don’t believe that a guy who can’t get the best out from this squads can make any different with a better group of players. He will just damage them more like Saliba and Guendouzi.
His magic is making a lot of true fans like you believe that with more money he can do better.
But, I don’t think we should throw money at it. I actually think we should use the resources we have more effectively. And much better than we have in the past 5 years or so.
Is the guy who wasted the entire summer transfer window the guy to do it? Doubt it. We desperately needed churn and a squad rebalancing. He waited until the 11th hour and then begged Stan to let us spend the entire budget on one player.
The biggest tool he could ask for just gave this interview
Heh
What…….?!! The man dropped our best creative midfielder – and you’re wondering whose going to give him the ‘tools’ he needs…?! Listen, I hate the Kroenkes as much as the next Gooner. Probably more. But we are paying £250k a week for a 33 year old Chelsea has-been on a three year contract who is currently stinking the place out, we broke the bank to sign Thomas Partey and then there’s the small matter of shelling out £350k a week for the club’s best creative midfielder to cheer us on from his Twitter account. And you’re wondering who’s going to… Read more »
Ozil hasn’t played well in years mate. Let it go.
If they are talking patience then they better be prepared for a lot more losses if they happen. No walk back on this no matter what happens this season.
I’m actually surprised that in all his money grabbing, greedy wisdom, Stan is happy to give the keys of a £700m empire to his son and a few of his mates, none of whom have done the job they are doing before.
Is this how he runs all his businesses and, if so, how the fuck is he a billionaire?
He married rich
This comes up a lot. Not saying I know his life story, but how does someone who’s not that rich in the first place meet the daughter of a billionaire? Was he the waiter at some reception her family was holding or something? Or could it be that he was mixing in those circles cos he was already rich?
Ann wasn’t all that rich when he met her. Walmart launched in 1962 and only listed as a public company in 1972 to get money to expand. Stan made his money in strip malls (his dad owned a small lumber yard). His wife’s fortune definitely helps but I believe a decent amount of their money is from his investments. His wife inherited roughly $4 billion in the mid 90s. Stan /wife are worth 10 b plus. He isn’t simply rich because he married Anne
Stan and his wife Ann are both silent billionaires by their rights. According to Forbes, Stan Kroenke has accumulated a fortune of $8.5 billion as of 2018. But by 2020, he has seen his fortune rise to a massive net worth of $10 billion. His wife also had a mouth-watering fortune of $6.1 billion in 2018 but by 2020, her net worth had moved higher to $8.1 billion. While most of the wealth of Ann came from the inheritance of her father’s fortune in Walmart after he died, Kroenke made his wealth from real estate developments, retail, and residential developments;… Read more »
Stan and his wife Ann are both silent billionaires by their rights. According to Forbes, Stan Kroenke has accumulated a fortune of $8.5 billion as of 2018. But by 2020, he has seen his fortune rise to a massive net worth of $10 billion. His wife also had a mouth-watering fortune of $6.1 billion in 2018 but by 2020, her net worth had moved higher to $8.1 billion. While most of the wealth of Ann came from the inheritance of her father’s fortune in Walmart after he died, Kroenke made his wealth from real estate developments, retail, and residential developments;… Read more »
Lmao imagine defending billionaires. Hope she sees this bro.
This is cool and all but until I see a style of play, identity and improved attitude from the team, it’s hard to get behind them. I genuinely feel like I am wasting 90mins of my life watching this team at the moment and that’s never a good feeling.
Not cool, Edu sounds a lot like Mikel here and this is a very political sounding move and statement.
Actually Mikel is Peps evil twin, he knows better than most Mikels natural weaknesses (granted he hasn’t seen them in such a stressed environment).
Everyone should relax. Yes we are not doing fine right now but every coach or team goes through that. The problem is strictly the older players not doing too well despite trusting them to produce the result. There are still many more games to play and the opportunity to try hungrier players to get us out of this bad funk. The players in the Europa league should give us some hope that he is on the right track. Give him time and patience to bring in his own players. He bought Partey and Gabriel. Let us see him bring in… Read more »
Relax,…?!
Frankie Say Relegation Dogfight.
We’ll end like 7th or 8th people need to chill out. People are reacting to this season like a load of housebound nans watching local news.
Are they? Our worst start to a season since the 1950’s….?
15th in the table, no creativity, no goals, seven defeats in twelve games and football that should be patented as a cure for insomnia….?
I bet you wanted Ozil dropped too, didn’t you?
Yeah of course. I’d be happy if we shipped him out in January, we should have done it 2 years ago at least.
And yeah, people are overreacting. “Waah waah waah the manager isn’t doing exactly what I want him to do having had the gift of hindsight waah waah waah I demand outrage waah waah” just chill out you absolute melons.
While I understand fans being worried about our form. I am worried too but I also don’t think sacking Arteta is the way to go. In most of these games we’ve lost, we’ve played very well, and had most possession. The problem has been scoring goals. At least the signs are there he’s doing something right. A whole lot of the senior players don’t have to be here. It’s baffling how Xhaka decided to ruin that Burnley game. Arteta needs to stop backing and giving these spoilt players chances upon chances. Well, what better time to judge him than next… Read more »
Arteta is using our club as an experiment to gain experience. He will end up getting us blow up and leaving a big mess behind.
I hope I am wrong but at the moment, it looks like I am right.
I really am not sure the signs are there. Every team dominates possession against spurs and Burnley, it’s how they play. I dont see encouraging signs from our play at all. So much back passing, so slow at getting the ball forward. Of course we end up lumping crosses in, because were so slow in progressing the ball that by the time we’ve got it to the attacking third the opposition have had time to get back, set themselves and crowd the middle of the pitch, and then we dont have intricate enough play to break them down. What’s encouraging… Read more »
Not sure what Edu is seeing on the training ground, but it doesn’t seem to be translating itself to actual football matches.
I think what they actually see and think is good football at our training grounds is actually not up to standards when put out there against other teams.
Is it, the …the “Vote Of Confidence ?!!!”
Edu sounds like he knows he needs a vote of confidence
“So the way we work, the way we train, the way we behave internally, if you see the quality of the work, if you see the quality of the people, if you see properly what’s happening here on a daily basis, it’s nothing to compare with the results.”
Nothing to compare with the result? So you’re saying the team does better in training than they do on match days?
Edu you just might have to leave with Arteta (if you guys don’t turn this around ASAP) because there have been too many questionable decisons on your end too.
His statement you reference is irrelevant, anyway. He doesn’t see what other teams are doing on the training ground. Maybe he’d be pissing his pants if he did.
It would stand to reason that they would look better/look like they were working harder, seeing as how everyone looks better than us when it comes to actual matches.
edu didnt walk into this job from the street.
he was an ex pro and technical director at corinthians(i think/)
so he is comparing us in training to those.
at least were training better than a team in the 90s and a team from the south american leagues. great high bar that.
Patience for losing again, with a shit forward like Aubameyang.
Aubameyang is not a shit forward. He’s not in form and low on morale. It’s very difficult to lead from the front when what happens behind you is substandard.
I do think he should be doing better but he’s not the biggest problem.
Out of form, lost for ideas, yes. Shit? No, he’s been our best player for two seasons and has scored a bucket load of goals with an inept lot behind him. If anything, I think his goals saved us from being here sooner.
He’s not shit. He should be doing much better, even with the poor quality around him, and we are perhaps witnessing his limitations as a player. But clearly, he’s obviously not shit, that’s a terrible take.
He also said “How many young players have started to get opportunities and perform quite well in the first team?
“I can see a big and beautiful future. It’s very strange to say that in this moment, but I have to be fair – that’s the way I see the photo.”
There’s something a bit Trump like about that last paragraph. also there would be more talented youngsters in the team if we weren’t playing an overpaid freeloader from Chelskie
It’s all low-handed politics this shit.
Be patient until we relegated. At least next year we will get to win the championship.
I’d look to Leeds it took them 10 years to come back, i also expect we’d lose quite a few players and some of our exciting youth. We definitely do not want to get relegated. I expect you are saying that a little tongue in cheek?
I don’t see us getting relegated, but if we did, I’d not be confident of us having to play against Championship teams for 46 games. We’d get bullied every game.
There are alot of problems in this club at the moment and I don’t know where to begin with. Players selection is one of the many i feel. we should hv let xhaka go and kept torreira and guendouzi. Dont tell me xhaka is better than both. Definitely not in the work rate and skills. And leaving ozil out completely has left arteta expose to all the criticism. And he can’t dodge it anymore. Fine if the results goes our way but it’s not… At least if ozil plays and he was shit, there’s some excuses, now there’s nthn at… Read more »
Funny how you can say this stuff now and get majority up-voted. Six months ago I bet you’d have had the opposite result.
My stance has been the same about xhaka. That nvr changed. i much prefer torreira due to his work rate. And ozil situation still baffles me until today. Leaving him out completely just expose Arteta. And he has nowhere to run but bite the bullets. My comment was fair and it has valid points.
Would anyone like to see a Partey (when fit), Willock and Maitland-Niles midfield this season in the Prem? Surely getting the 3 of them on the pitch would add a bit more energy and dynamism to this team?
I’d prefer Partey, AMN and ESR. I still feel like Willock hasn’t got the technical ability and speed if thought to play as an attacking mid in a prem game where spaces are tighter
I’d prefer Elneny, Party and AMN
Play 2 German Shepherds and a tortoise in midfield. I don’t care. As long as it’s not Xhaka/Ceballos combo
I’d like to see AMN given a run in midfield as well. He seems to have the attributes we are missing. I also noticed how much more technically secure he is than bellerin, when he came on in the last game. Admittedly I was looking for it as I’ve heard it mentioned a few times. But it is very noticeable.
AMN alluded to it in his post-match interview against Rapid Vienna. He provides ‘ legs in the midfield’. The hint was right there. We are getting demolished with our current midfield with xhaka/ceballos + Elneny. Unfortunately, Mikel keeps insisting on playing them, so thats on him.
I dont want Mikel sacked, but there is no defense for him if he keeps choosing the same players with the same results
Im going to make an experiment. For the past eight games I have always had this sneaky feeling that if I gave in to the temptation of not watching Arsenals PL-matches it would be that one game where it all was turned around. And I didn’t want to miss that. I can’t see the EL-games and look how well that went. So tomorrow I will resist the temptation and not watch. Imagine if this was what was wrong the whole time…
Please don’t watch the Benfica EL game.
Patience needed , ok , but he also watches how we play in the Europa which is far better , albeit against inferior opposition to the prem , but why wouldn’t you want to transfer that style of play to your first team , instead of churning out the same shit loss after loss , I’d have more patience if dropped the repeating underperformers
Patience… yeah.. but he’s been here for one full year now and it’s getting worse and worse…
Cannot believe people are thumbing this down.
Must be the Anti Ozil Brigade playing pass the brain cell again.
Arteta could easily buy himself more patience by dropping players who consistently have let him down.
When I saw Xhaka and Willian were in the starting line up again for the Burnley game it put a serious dent in the amount of goodwill I have for Arteta.
I can see a lot of parallels between Willian this season under Arteta and Xhaka last season under Emery. As poor as both players were and are, they also almost become scapegoats for their flailing managers. They are conduits through which fans could and can channel their frustration without actually calling for the manager’s head. Not saying a new manager will get the best out of them of course, quite the opposite actually. It’s just interesting how these managers come to rely upon and lean on seemingly experienced but actually very flakey players. And how it’s that reliance that kills… Read more »
This exactly. I felt the same. It’s incredible that AMN cannot get a game ahead of Xhaka
I almost did an henry with evra!
The Arteta saga reminded me again that don’t ever look at something with shiny outlook and shiny words and completely believe that it is god. The guy is messing everything yet Edu is still keeping the faith in him. Just look at the man management side, Ozil – f*ckup, Saliba – f*ckup, Willian – f*ckup, and so on. I don’t even need to mention on-field performance.
Arteta need to go the sooner the better.
Emiliano Martinez for 20million is like when you put a gold nosepiece on the snout of a pig…
Pretty much every manager at every club has had to face the same difficulties, so we can’t use that as an excuse. Only seems to be us and Sheffield United who are worse since the resumption. Every other team has improved. Everton, Southampton, Aston Villa, Wolves, Leicester, West Ham……We’ve not just fallen behind the top four chasing teams we’ve fallen behind the mid table pack. Sad times indeed.
Edu has zero credibility in my eyes.
(my eyes are close to tears actually)
I believe there should also be greater scrutiny on just what Edu brings to the table.
Can we also fire Edu?
“ I will not have any doubts about his quality and capacity to put Arsenal in the place like Arsenal deserves to be.”
But where is that place we “deserve” to be Pep? Relegation battlers…..?
The entitlement is sickening.
“We deserve”. What “we” deserve playing like we do is to be exactly where we are.
Just because “we” were great 20 years ago doesn’t entitle us to diddly squat!
Also, sorry I kind of get the impression with Edu that he’s here for a bit until he gets binned off, then he’ll trundle back to Brazil or some other random place. The equivalent of hiding on the pitch.
At least Arteta believably actually really really cares (about his work, and most importantly about Arsenal specifically).
He should be given plenty more time for that alone
Arteta needs a number 2. It’s all gone south since Freddie left. Mikel is surrounded by technicians and analysts. He is all intensity and ferocious charisma. The players are bought in but paralysed by fear of displeasing him
Get Freddie back or hire Ian Wright or move Steve bould or Per Mertesacker.
We need someone to soften the non negotiables for the players and hold the manager back.
We need somebody to motivate players to adopt the non-negotiable for theirselves and assimilate it
So this was before the Burnley game, we now have Southampton, Everton and Chelsea to come and we know what form these clubs are in now. If we don’t pick up more than 3 points from those games it’ll be very interesting to hear what Edu will have to say then.
Our most talented group of youngsters for years , looks like they will need the most patience , how must they feel when they see who’s picked ahead of them and their constant underperforming
No! What id want from Senior Management is to come out clearly stating that the performances and results are unacceptable and that Mikel is fully accountable and now responsible to turn it around, followed by an “however” then stating that they back Mikel showing their public support. Both Edu and Vinai have been too nice about the situation with their comments, we’re not behaving like a big club right now and its really concerning. For the record i back Mikel but feel there shouldn’t be any sugar coating of his current failures. We the fans are hurting right now and… Read more »
ARTETA IN
A “Mikel” is actually the ‘evil twin’ of a “Blogs”, so in response to the below from blogs on the website I’ll say Well what if Mikel has grown a bad attitude (it’s actually only worsened in a stressed out period) and now he’s blaming/abusing already fragile players for his woes ? Mikel already shows his immaturity by looking down on certain type players with a languid dreamy style who don’t burst a lung the way he likes (a la grabbing a throat or head butting or Giendouzis imbalanced fiery responses in hindsight) and that behavior is seen as passive… Read more »
Edu also made comments basically saying that the route to turnaround is for William, Lacazette and Auba to start performing, which is pretty concerning. Don’t think they realise that at least two of those are over the hill. Here’s Edu’s comments: “People might start to ask: ‘what are you going to do in the winter window?’ Of course we will try to do something but, listen, we have the responsibility to change it. Don’t wait for someone outside to come inside and be a magician because that’s not going to happen. Or if you can sign 20 players – which… Read more »
you named a big problem mikel, its willian.
I honestly believe that saka on that right hand side, given the minutes willi has been given, creates at least one unmissable chance for auba or laca.
ESR or AMN would be just as good as willian, except they are alot younger and less experienced.
edu*
Edu, likely being the one who engineered the dodgy Willian signing, should be sacked.
Me, I give Arteta time. I think there are senior players pushing him, after all he’s practically agemates and they might feel he wasn’t exactly Johan Cruyff as a player. I believe Arteta has a plan, but now he’s been punched in the face, how will he respond? #TrustArteta
I meant “pushing back at him”
What Arteta needs, Mr Edu, is a boot up his arse, after signing Willian, ostracising our best creative midfielder and consigning us to our worst league run since the 1950’s.
And you need a boot up your arse for not having the balls to axe him.
A club owned by an idiot, run by and idiot and managed by an idiot. What an utter fucking mess.
Dont know what Edu was drinking…
But he could Fuck Off too.
Incompetent Manager & Technical Director.
All class.
Shut the fuck up and do your job Edu. We gave up Mislintat so you could hold this position, you fraud.
Not much of an excuse. All teams have had a challenging year. We should be gunning above midtable at very least with this squad. Its on the onus of the gaffer to motivate and get the best out of his players. As much as there are deficiencies, there are still a lot of great qualities in the squad. Even granit who deservedly can be called out last match for being idiotic had some good moments before his red mist. He set off two of our best attacks by playing positive and accurate forward passes which he has in his locker.… Read more »
The other side of the coin is in player recruitment (and sales) Some daft moves over the years from Mslintat to Sanlehi and now Edu. We mucked it up for Wenger with an over complicated structure having BOTH Mslintat and Sanlehi. It became political and allowed one or the other to hide and shift blame. Neither sem to have a full picture of what arsene needed. Rather than resolve the issue at Rwing with Mahrez (Then available early in window before City swept in late on and jacked up his price bc of an injury crisis), Mslintat bought bargain basement… Read more »
George Graham’s success was founded on a clear out of experienced high-earning internationals (Rix, Woodcock, Caton, Sansom and Charlie Nicholas) and replacing them with hungrier youngsters.
The results were instant with the 87 league cup and then Anfield 89.
Right now instead of Rocastle, Thomas, Adams and Merson we’ve got Martinelli, AMN, Saka and Eddie.