Mikel Arteta says his best achievement of a difficult season has been maintaining unity within the Arsenal camp despite the efforts of others, both inside and outside the club, to ‘hurt’ his project.
Hopes were high coming into the campaign that the Gunners would be able to build on August’s FA Cup success and mount a serious challenge for the top four.
By Christmas, those hopes were in tatters and there were question marks over Arteta’s ability to do the job which was exacerbated by a series of leaks from the training ground.
After promising to weed out the offenders, the boss believes those responsible are now out of the club. Incidentally (or not), while our form has still been pretty patchy in the second half of the season, only champions Manchester City and second-place Manchester United have claimed more points since the 3-1 Boxing Day win over Chelsea.
Ahead of Sunday’s final game of the season, Arteta reflected on a roller coaster ride.
“The best thing [this season] has been to keep the team, the staff, the employees and everybody together in those circumstances when you’re not winning and there is so many people, some inside, some outside, that are trying to hurt,” he said.
“To keep them together, to block that and to be so strong, I think that’s some achievement. Normally when that happens, things crack and everything falls. And it didn’t.”
Asked if those trying to ‘hurt’ the unity were still at the club, he replied with an emphatic, “No.” Given the established names that were shuffled out of the door in January, it’s not hard to guess who he might be referring to.
After admitting the other day that he had “100 per cent” made mistakes this season, he was quizzed on what he’s learned from his first full season as a manager.
“That there are a lot of things that you cannot control,” he said.
“That, I am extremely proud to work with the people I have next to me. That this club is even bigger than I thought. And better than I thought.
“And that I am prepared to do anything that it takes to give the club the most success, joy and a feeling of pertinence and a feeling of being proud of what we’re trying to do. I won’t stop until I do that.”
Asked if the last 12 months have changed him – specifically if he’s become grumpier – he added: “I’ve always been and am very competitive. I just try to be facing the challenges as they come, you know, not hiding from it.
“I know how big the task is, I know how big and how good the level is in this league and what the expectations are with us. We have to manage that and managing it is the hardest thing. As well, it shows you that with the right determination, the right decisions, the potential that we have is huge.
“Then, the biggest question mark is the timeframe; how long does it take you to get what you want to do?”
For many Arsenal fans, the time it’s taking to undo the mistakes of the past, coupled with perceptions that some lessons haven’t been learned, means Arteta, for them, is skating on thin ice. He recognises that supporters are right to demand the best and insists his focus is on delivering the goods.
“Externally, I think every supporter should be hoping for us to be lifting trophies and when that’s not the case, because it’s the dream, they are not going to be happy and they will be disappointed,” he said.
“But I think they know what has been going on and it’s not today, it’s not yesterday or from last year. We know where we are. We know where we were. But that’s the past. Where we can be, that’s the future. And I will be focusing on that.”
Can’t believe Gunnersaurus wielded such influence in the dressing room. Glad we’ve managed to pay off his contract and get him out of the club.
I won’t if Ozil is still covering his salary? 🤷🏼♂️
Glad he has got rid of some bad apples. Good record from Christmas, second only to City in points per game. Willock should add some goals from midfield. Maybe we should give Arteta another summer and season.
Half the players that were the problem were players he bought or kept. Cedric, Willian, Holding, Ceballos, Bellerin. Even Xhaka and Leno to some extent.
1. Arteta did not say the people he referred to are players.
2. He said the people are no longer at the club.
3. However, I think this faintest reference to Ozil will get the Ozil boys hounding Arteta now.
I’m sure that he chose his words carefully. That said, he’ll be attacked by “the usual suspects” almost no matter what he says so he’s probably used to that now.
The Don, surely?
In your first point, you said Arteta did not say they were players.
He also said “people,’ meaning many.
How is it then reference to Ozil?
1. Ozil is a player.
2. Ozil is not people; he is one player.
True – but don’t expect the InstaGrat ArtetaOut boys to allow facts to get in the way of their witch-hunt
At which point he had been manager 8 months. Most of which had been under lockdown. What a ridiculous comment.
True, but long term are they his players? I think he looks for better
5 match days before Christmas we’re 6th on the table. 5 matchdays after Christmas we’re 5th on the form table. Christmas is just an arbitrary and meaningless point in time no more valid than any other matchday. A lot of the early season woes were due to no number 10. ESR working out was largely by accident but given the team the shape it needs to sometimes play cohesive football. He’s getting another season. Let’s hope he actually has learnt some lessons
I was curious about your stats so I checked them out. 5 match days before Christmas we were nowhere near 6th were 14th (we haven’t been top 6 since game week 5). Pre Christmas form; P6, W0, D1, L5. Post Christmas form; P6, W5, D1, L0. (We were probably higher than 5th on the form table with that run of results) On Christmas day we were 15th. We still haven’t been good enough since then but looking at the season as a whole it is absolutely fair to choose that as a point to divide our season in two. If… Read more »
I most certainly haven’t made up any stats. You have misunderstood. The argument is that based on form if you include games from boxing day until now then we have accumulated the second most points. This is true but my point is that if you looked at most points accumulated a few games before or after boxing day our form doesn’t place us 2nd based on form – not table position as you misunderstood. Hence the point about choosing a particular match day to argue that we’re in almost league best form. There’s plenty of if websites that allow you… Read more »
We can get as pedantic as we wish here – but the simple, underlying truth is that our form did turn a corner at some point.
We did have a disastrous start to the season.
We have finished it a lot better.
That’s is the key take-out – and its what matters going into next season – that we’re building on an uptrend, NOT seeking to reverse a downward slide, as was the case pre-Xmas
Whem there’s no pressure, we are winning. That’s our trait for 10+ years, arsene had his part in that. When the going gets tough, I want to see our players and manager fight, not play like bunch of wankers.
In other words, there was no pressure since December.
Why do we keep repeating these baseless cliches?
You mean like against West Ham, Chelsea, the away wins vs the big clubs?
When we make a come-backs in the last few minutes, too many on here say ‘we didnt deserve the win’… yet you want to see fight?
That’s the definition of it, right there.
Picking any six-match stretch can be deceptive, but that’s not what people are doing with the “post-Boxing Day” argument. They are saying (and I agree) that the results *since* Boxing Day–that is, for a very long part of the season–have been much better. In fact they have been very good. This argument includes matches where either our form or are results, or both, were awful, so it’s not cherry-picking the games we like and omitting the others. It does not prove what will happen next season, but it is better evidence than our results before Boxing Day.
Not bothering to look at the stats I’ve found Hank to be a reasonabke poster and if his stats are wrong (not saying they are or aren’t) I find it very disappointing to have accusations of making things up thrown at him. People make mistakes, get misunderstood, make stuff up but Hanks statement really didn’t come across as the latter.
I don’t think he’s citing a visit from Santa as the turning point. It’s more a convenient reference to the Chelsea game which was around that time.
Why was ESR working out largely by accident ? He wasn’t fit for most of the first half of the season & then when he was fit, he was put in the team.
ESR got picked out of the blue in the midst of an injury crisis. I doubt he was just waiting for him to recover from injury so he could slot him straight into the team. Is this what you think he did?
That’s just not true. He was being re-integrated after another injury (he’s had several, which is always something to treat delicately in young players) and into a team that was struggling quite badly. You don’t throw young players into a mess like that like dice in a gamble. ESR first appeared on the bench in late November, after the international break, got a start in early December, was on the bench and involved with the team, before take a starting role from Boxing Day on. I see caution in bringing a young player back to full fitness and rhythm.
I am aware of his injury issues. ESR came on as a sub against Rapid Vienna in early December & City a couple of weeks later in the league cup. Against Chelsea we were without Partey, Ceballos & Willian with the latter 2 having been rotated in the advanced midfield role. We had nobody available to play # 10 role except ESR & Willock with the latter having struggled there recently in the league. If Arteta’s preferred picks were available i think he’d have picked either of them ahead of ESR. Thankfully they were not.
Maybe, maybe not.
What we do know is that Arteta has been very focused on ESR’s development, especially while the youngster was on loan with Huddersfield playing in a central attacking midfield role. Someone on Arseblog wrote a nice piece about the video sessions the two were doing remotely, and ESR talked up Arteta’s faith in him and in the youth.
What we also know is that ESR has been a fixture in the team since regaining match fitness. You can only fault Arteta for that.
Now you’ve gone and ruined Hank’s ‘out of the blue’; ‘preferred players’ narrative with some hard facts.
I think he was probably waiting for him to recover from injury to give him a shot in the team He got his shot & took it. What’s the problem ?How exactly do you think Arteta could have got him into the team before then?
I’ve plenty of criticisms of Arteta but faulting him for everything that has happened is just daft.
Sadly it’s more than daft… it’s toxic.
Also going to add that ESR didn’t seem yet ready confidence-wise early-season. Saka was still at LW. Pepe started producing after his RC. Odd as it may seem– Arsenal also had a +18 GD since Christmas.
Disingenuous mate – Xmas handily marks the approximate half-way mark in the season, hence, an obvious place to divide for comparison’s sake?
It would be interesting to know what football club you support. Are you in fact one of the many journalist who enjoys fabricating and or twisting the truth just to spill bile on the good name of The Arsenal under the delusion that as Arsenal supporters we would not verify so called facts that are printed. Fact. 14 games in we were 15th. 14, won 4, drawn 3 and lost a big fat 8. From where we were to where we are, are there any positives moving forward. To the Arsenal supporters its a no brainer so I will not… Read more »
Perhaps a more appropriate word is ‘distort’, rather than ‘support’ ?
“Glad he has got rid of some bad apples“, Arteta even resorts to conspiracy theories to justify his own failure.
It’s not as if Ozil has pulled up any trees in Turkey is it? No, rather that he’s been doing more of the same. The good thing is I’m no longer paying for his lassitude.
Amazing. I’d completely forgotten about Ožil. It had gone so quieton that front! I just checked his stats for Fenerbach on trsnsfermarket and boy he looks rubbish. 1 assist and 0 goals in 11 games
Arsenal is still paying around 90% of his wages.
Whether you personally are is for you to decide.
Trust the PRocess!
If management doesn’t work out a career in PR awaits
This is definitely his biggest skill: bullshitting. Blame it on the guys who are no longer here is yet another of his passive-aggressive, subtle throw-under-the-bus moves. Look Arteta, take your nice hair and fuck off – you’re overrated as a coach, as a manager, and you were overrated as a player. With the quality of the players currently at this club, Arsenal could have finished where we did this year with just about any fool in charge. Even Fat Sam.
Hank – many of your comments on here are reasoned and eloquent… you really want to throw your hat in the ring with the above toxic ranting and personal attacks?
I reckon you have a lot more to offer mate.
Poundland Pep talks a good game. whats hos excuse for the Europa league performance?
“Poundland Pep” came within 1 goal of getting us to the final this year.
I’m beginning to suspect Arteta has hired some big time PR cyber troopers to down vote comments like this
I work for free, and I’m always here. Seriously.
Same. These comments are just banality of the highest order.
Me too. I will downvote this kind of fact-shy, reality-avoiding and personal attack all day long.
No need, we sensible fans are always here.
AFC Supporters vs AFC Distorters
Everything going on in there first half of e season was probably tougher than we recognized. But there has still been a lot of serious blunders in the second half of the season that we need to fix quickly. Being more of a realist than optimist these days. And the prospect of conference league is not helping…
… like Willian?
I swear, people are way too hard on this guy. We just love a scapegoat I guess. I mean, he did lead the team in assists. He couldn’t have been as horrible as people are leading on.
You must not watch the games
Ummmm, let’s see. He demanded a three year deal with a weekly salary putting him among the very top earners and bar one game, a couple of assists, a few decent passes and one goal he has been terrible and looks and moves like he gives less than shit for our team. All that in a season where we really needed an experienced player to provide some spark and quality. That was the whole point of signing him and all he’s done is slow us down, lose the ball and cost us lots of money for the insult. Any ideas… Read more »
He demanded?
He could’ve demanded the world, didn’t mean we had to give it to him
That’s right, we didn’t have to give him that, Chelsea certainly weren’t willing to, but we did and whoever that “we” is should be sacked.
Arguably Mustafi inflicted more damage on our club than Willian ever has but I don’t recall you or others baying for the blood of Wenger who originally bought the useless cnt. Double standards a little here mate…get some perspective. He’s one player who did not work out- it fucking happens.
Recently-cut-by-Schalke-#20 personally crapped away the club’s CL spots his last 2 of 3 seasons with points he handed to opposition.
Easily the most damaging player to the club since I’ve been a fan.
I think, that “we” has been sacked already. Not long after the Willian signing, a certain “Don” was shown the door. I’d say the same don was behind us signing Denis Suarez on loan.
You’re hard.
I remember thinking at the time how strange the atmosphere must have been with Ozil training and being with the team every day, while he was getting no playing time. That surely couldn’t have been healthy.
As someone who had been at Arsenal since 2013, he definitely had backers in the dressing room who would have been on his side. That animosity towards Arteta from some players would not have helped at all.
As a good manager, you integrate and use what you have, find a way with each person in the team. Guess we didn’t have good managers for some time.
I agree, as far as it goes. If his teammates thought Ozil would help them win on the pitch–and it seems like all of them thought that–then his exclusion would cause more and more bad dissension as the team struggled. So, the issue was why was he excluded? Which of the “non-negotiables” was Ozil’s problem? If it was the wage cut, or the China issue, then the dressing room could easily side with him. If it was a refusal to play the way Arteta wanted, to track back (etc.), then one would think the players would not support him. That… Read more »
I dislike the gist of what Arteta is doing here. Shifting the blame to someone else aka Ozil (allegedly) and a few others. For the record I’m not pro Ozil I’m just assessing whether Arteta is the right man for us. Ozil has no bearing whether he plays or makes the bench, that was purely Arteta. I remember #saveozil was trending on these pages yet people are quick to forget. Then Arteta is somewhat saying that it wasn’t his (mis)management of his players, but the players alone which let the team down pre Christmas. Putting Ozil aside (it’s tiring), we… Read more »
Point 1 – it may be that he wants fresh legs against tired players late in the game Point 2 – Martinelli is returning from a major injury and i think his integration has been handled perfectly. Willock, Nelson and saliba needed to go on loan. Nelson refused. The other two have progressed well Point 3 – Xhaka had one bad game at LB. It was a judgement call, based on wanting a left footed player in that position Point 4 – Cedric has performed well at RB when called upon. Willian has been a disappointment. It was a gamble… Read more »
Did you just say Xhaka had one bad game at left back? Just one?
Well, that’s definitely putting it mildly.
“If somebody were to say to us in November or December that we could be in the position that we’re in to have the chance in the last game to qualify for Europe, we’d have said you’re crazy, but we’ve done it”
“To keep them together, to block that and to be so strong, I think that’s some achievement. Normally when that happens, things crack and everything falls. And it didn’t.”
Well I guess the season was a success after all I stand corrected.
Trust the process
Almost rolled my eyes out of my head. Arteta was asked to describe a positive he’s taken from the season. He wasn’t saying this year has been a huge success, and said the fans are right to want trophies (btw, we won won last year).
At least try and offer intelligent criticism rather than twisting someone’s words, unless you’re a tabloid journo
Get rid of a few more, hopefully no europa conference cobblers, tighten the the squad, hoping for a better season.
About the only sensible comment on here, GG.
Arteta would have been wiser to have kept his counsel about those elements within the club that were allegedly trying to hurt Arsenal. He may regret going public on that, as time goes by. C’est la vie.
I see nothing to regret there. Some disgruntled players who weren’t working hard enough or learning what they had plenty of chances to learn, pissing and moaning that playing time wasn’t handed to them unearned.
I think this perfectly sets the standard.
What standard deemed willian starting ahead of better players when he was shit all season
Too true – Arteta may be many things but he does not peddle falsehoods or ignore issues. Not does he twist facts to his own narrative, unlike the many ArtetaOuters on here. He answers the questions asked of him – often by journos who’re simply looking to trap him into more clickbait. I would suggest that no-one commenting on this site has any real knowledge of what really went on in the first half of the season. Board issues, Management cock-ups, politics between Raul and whoever, inter-player friction, player manager confrontations… Yet that hasn’t stopped the stream of toxic assumptions… Read more »
go get em mikel. no more excuses.
“the boss believes those responsible are now out of the club”
I always thought there was more to Gunnersaurus than meets the eye.
Have you seen him in goal at half time? Definitely up to no good.
Whenever things aren’t going well its always the players, insiders, external factors… never Mikel
But that’s not what he says. He has always accepted responsibility for the issues at club. But unlike Wenger, he acknowledges that there were others and other factors.
But why drag Wenger in this discussion?
Man, that’s totally selective reading.
“ After admitting the other day that he had “100 per cent” made mistakes this season”
From this very article.
He regularly accepts and declares his responsibility.
And yet he also regularly throws players under the bus too….like he has done here
Doesn’t that suggest that when he thinks it his fault he says it and when he thinks it’s others he says that? Not saying that’s right, just saying
We don’t know who he’s referring to with this latest BS. Assuming it’s one or a number of Ozil, Papa, Mustafi. Let’s play devil’s advocate and assume it’s Ozil included. At the time he was saying he failed Ozil, felt bad that he couldn’t give him a game etc. Now this. Unless of course he’s referring to others (Papa seems least likely) to me this is a case of someone speaking enough shit that inconsistencies emerge in their narrative.
What a load of fucking gibberish. Ozil was a colossal waste of space, dressing room destroyer #1, “papa” a useless cnt, and mustafi the clown should never have been let near an Arsenal shirt ever…well shot of those wastrels and hopefully guendouzi, Torreira are next.
Comprehension not your strong suite I see. Let me break it down for you 1. Early in the season Arteta was rambling on about letting Ozil down and feeling bag about excluding him 2. Now he is saying there were people stirring up shit 3. Assuming Ozil is one of the guys he’s referring to NOW in these current PR deflection comments I am pointing out that when you talk enough shit like Arteta does, inconsistencies in your story emerge. You on the other hand have voiced your opinion on Ozil etc. You have completely missed the point. This is… Read more »
This is, indeed, about Arteta. Yet you are making it about a host of ‘players’, despite no mention being made of any!
Interested to hear which players he has – publicly – ‘rubbished’ (to use your overly emotive language)?
Having just admitted that you don’t know who he’s referring to – you nonetheless blunder merrily on with jaundiced assumptions: (a) assume he means players, when he specifically did NOT even use the term, but rather said ‘people inside and outside of the club’; (b) then go still further and assume it’s Ozil specifically, when he most certainly named no-one whatsoever. So… no – let’s NOT play devil’s advocate: let’s show some support for the manager of OUR club. let’s show some positive belief – based on how we’ve ended the season; let’s try to end this shocker of a… Read more »
Some people look through a negative lens in life and others look through a positive lens. Arsenal discussions magnify the lens view that you are predisposed to view all of life. You are either an optimist or a cynic in your approach. what will happen w Arteta and Arsenal has not been written yet. I hope he succeeds and returns Arsenal to glory, not that I care at all about Arteta’s success or failure, I want the club to succeed. To KSE Arteta is the project, this is where we are, so by supporting AFC, I support Arteta because he’s… Read more »
Allow me (and Blogs while we’re at it) to ‘blunder merrily on with my jaundiced assumptions’ and ask who else in the club would he be referring to if not players? Gunnersaurus perhaps? What other public departures of significance have there been at the club? Why come out and say this stuff and not name names? To deflect and divert attention perhaps? It didn’t need to be said & doing so only casts aspersions and unnecessary speculation. Between the blame shifting and claiming of total responsibility Arteta isn’t making a great deal of sense. He would be well advised to… Read more »
‘isn’t making a great deal of sense. He would be well advised to say a lot less than he does.…’
Sound advice mate – pots ‘n kettles?
Fat Raul perhaps? Once again, I’m not the one naming names and assuming facts. All I am trying to reason, is that in the absence of hard fact, it is hugely counter-productive to our club as a whole, to make such emotionally charged, personal attacks on our manager.
If you think he’s the world’s biggest twat, fair enough. But if you’re publishing that opinion (which is all is will ever be) here, then at least clothe it in a semblance of factual evidence.
I’d also suggest that Blogs, as admin, is more than capable of singing his own song here, without your unsolicited aid.
I think the salient point here is that when Arteta makes these statements everyone who recently left the club becomes a suspect. Its not necessary. Wenger once said something along the lines of you wouldn’t believe what I had to contend with this summer, but left it at that.
Sorry – I must have missed the players he named ‘n shamed?
Could you clarify please? I’ve reread and don’t see any specific mention of any names.. heck, he doesn’t even use the word ‘players’!!!
He says people inside and outside the club – you ArtetaOut boys really gotta regain some sense of rational argument, mate.
As Blogs said, you don’t have to be a genius to work out who it is.
And, as I say now – you just have to be extremely thick or a fucking troll to not work out who it is…….
Both can be true simultaneously.
If you have any information to suggest another narrative, do share? That’s besides baseless speculation based on tabloid drivel.
Its been two years and im just unsure of this guy. He seems to have done so much but so little.I will say he is a brand new manager and Arsenal have been one of the worst run big clubs in world football. While I miss the days of swashbuckling football we have also won some big games at big grounds under him something we were monumentally failing to do in Wengers last days and Emerys run. Alot of our dropped points have been from individual errors and VAR bullshit.
My take is Emery threw a couple bandages on, but Mikel is doing surgery. It’s sloppy work, but long past due.
To be fair to Emery, he was simply the coach and didn’t have nearly the responsibility that Arteta does. Emery didn’t really have input into signings or squad construction.
Oh what so now Emery was actually a half decent coach?! Fuck me how short some memories are…the worst defense in the history of Arsenal when that dude was “coaching”…
Yes. Emery actually is a very decent coach – just look at his overall record. If I remember correctly it’s his team in the Europa League final and not us. It didn’t work out for him here but that’s no reason to disparage him.
Blindfold, without any anaesthetic and rusty old tools. We’re currently haemorrhaging our good name and time is running out.
Still about a year and half but I know what you mean. I want to judge him on where we are in the league but at the same time, we’ve had a crazy disruptive 14 months with the pandemic. He’s just behind other managers who took up jobs in new clubs around the time Arteta walked in. Mourinho is sacked now, Ancelloti’s everton is a point in front of us and potentially finishing a point behind Moyes if results go our way tomorrow. This coupled with the fact he’s a novice coming in midseason and straight into lockdown, not having… Read more »
In 1/3 of that time, without any transfer windows or preaseason whatsoever, tuchel has taken Chelsea into top 3, fa cup final and potentially CL winners
Arteta actually won our FA Cup final. Over Chelsea. After we beat City. And then we beat Liverpool, again, for the shield. Those were good times.
Those wins made Arteta arrogant. This is why all his tactics were wrong and we are failing.
Aaaaand… then we did the double over, ermm… Chelsea!
Which only goes to show how hugely shite Frank was… with a squad worth more than triple ours!
Mikel is a novice. Tuchel started his coaching career in the early 2000s. Plus Chelsea has a very well built squad and in comparison we needed 3 loanees in our first team squad and even then there’s still a few gaps. I am not saying if we had a world class manager, we wouldn’t be higher up the table. We very well might be but the issue of our squad being incomplete is still there and we’ll still need to address that which is more concerning to me. This summer alone we need a RB, No.10/playmaker, backup LB and another… Read more »
There you go… advancing some reasoned argument and, dare we say, actual facts, to support a little patience amongst us fans.
Heartening to see the vast majority of us still favour that approach rather than the mouth-frothing witch-hunt.
It has been a year and a half.
18 months.
Not entirely sure I agree with the last point. Individual errors and VAR are amplified due to our inability to create and score. Arteta isn’t going anywhere so hopefully these mistakes he claims to be aware of and rectifying include playing players in their positions, better use of subs and not doing stupid shit like playing ESR as a false 9. Doing the obvious rather than trying to be too clever should help improve our fortunes
This is the important point, can Arteta learn or is his ego so big that it takes him longer than others to learn what seems obvious to the rest of us. We don’t know yet but initial results do not instill confidence. On one hand he can make quick decisions on players, Saliba and others it seems to take a lifetime, Willian. I hope he succeeds.
I think you’ll find that VAR is sometimes actually the cause of our inability to score, and not the other way round.
There are still those who have remained….let the club get rid of them as well….
1. Arteta..(what has he done to make Arsenal better?)
2. Keeper coach who recommended Runnarson (one of the worst deals to have ever happened…how much more hurt could one have done to a club?)
3. Kronke’s …Arsenal as a club has gone way below…look at it as awhole…how has the female team performed? What about the Under 21 (wasn’t this team fighting relegation?)
Re 2. – people like to complain about the GK coach, but don’t say that:
A – recommending players is not supposed to be the GK coach’s job
B – “somebody else” decided to pay over £1,000,000 for the goalie and give him wages of around £40,000 per week – which is far in excess of what the had been making or had a reasonable expectation of making.
TLDR; I don’t think Cana should have been put in the position where he’s selecting a backup for us, and the deal was too expensive anyway.
It is clear Mikel is going to be here at least part of next season, so let’s hope they don’t make more crazy signings on older players. In fairness, things have sort of picked up once the shifted the voices of dissent in January.
I just don’t want to see slow ponderous football and constant back passes next season.
So.full.of.shite.
Schalke FC manager Christian Gross got fired in early March and at that time it was reported that he faced a player revolt purportedly led by our very own Kolasinac and Mustafi. If true, it’s no minor achievement considering that they have been at the club for a cumulative 3 months at that point in time.
Make what you wish of that little tid bit but it’s fair to say that Arteta has better control of dressing room after January departures.
Well, I think Schalke had failed to win a single match before those two arrived and were already certain to be relegated. Not sure a big player revolt cost him his job.
Honestly, I don’t know – it’s all media speculations. The fired manager did say that he shouldn’t have hired the duo. After all, that’s what we Arsenal fans have been saying for some time. A decision has to be made regarding Kolasinac this summer.
If this really is an Arteta vs Ozil thing, in no way should Arteta be appointed judge. Ozil was here before him, and in my opinion is more an Arsenal man than him. If facts come out to indict Ozil fine but its weird they haven’t already and I’ll never turn against a Gooner on the basis of hints and whispers
And yet you just did; against an ex-player (like Ozil); an ex-captain; AND our current manager?
Oh the sanctimonious irony…
Erm I’ve never called for Arteta to go, my opinion that Ozil is more an Arsenal man was clearly labelled as an opinion and anyway isn’t turning against Arteta and bollocks will I turn against Ozil based on whispers. Twat.
Well said.
That he considers doing the obvious and easy thing a personal success is worrying considering how poorly we’ve performed this season.
Removing cancerous elements at the club shouldn’t be the job of the manager, it’s down to the execs not the person tasked with winning football matches.
What Arteta was able to do in his first season was nothing less than monumental. To navigate being a new manager at an elite club, dealing with Covid19, contracting Covid19, a lock-down, being able to move-on players such as Ozil (who I love by the way) and others, integrate our young stars (who will now be the foundation of the future) getting to a Europa semi, and finishing the season strongly. I for one am so happy that he has weathered the “scrutiny” storm and will be our manager for next season. I’m looking forward to a bright future for… Read more »
Its great to know that he has been able to get the inside in order. The results are looking better. It is not like we are two points behind Man City rather two points ahead of the rest of the pack. City are 13 or 14 points ahead of us. It is painful to watch Arsenal nowadays but atleast we are grinding out some points. So, I will keep him onboard. Even Arsene Wenger had to let go of Paul Merson because he didn’t comply with his requirements. I would give Arteta time to sort out the house. But this… Read more »
By people hurting the club, he’s referring to that corrupt former Barca guy who was in charge of contracts, right?
And arguably anyone else who left the club either in the January transfer window, or before, be that players, staff, and Gunnarsaurus.
No one has hurt us more this season than the person responsible for the “tactics”, preparation and substitutions in the Villareal games.
I wish that person was no longer at our club.
No one has hurt the club more in the past decade than Kroenke, who has overseen nothing but perpetual decline during his tenure either by means of total incompetence or ignorance or both.
The issues start right at the top – sort that out, and the rest will follow.
He’s talking about Raul Sanlehi surely??
Perhaps wrongly I was under the impression that he may have been referring to Raul Sanllehi when he said people inside were trying to hurt us but are no longer here