Mikel Arteta insists that he was “the solution, not the problem” following Arsenal’s decision to terminate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s in January.
Dropped from the side in December due to a disciplinary breach, the 32-year-old was effectively paid to leave the Gunners before putting pen-to-paper on a transfer deadline day deal with Barcelona.
Facing the media for the first time in 18 days, the subject of Aubameyang’s departure was high on the agenda. First of all, the boss was asked whether he was disappointed with how the situation played out.
He said: “I’m extremely grateful for what Auba has done at the club, for his contribution since I’ve been here and the way I see myself in that relationship, is [as] the solution not the problem.”
Asked to expand on what the problem was, he continued: “What I’m saying is that I’ve been the solution, 100 per cent. I can look in the eye of anybody [and say that].
“Wrong? I do a lot of things wrong, for sure. But the intention all the time is the best for the club and the team.”
Arteta was also pressed on when the decision was made given the player was effectively exiled for seven weeks before his exit was confirmed and whether the resolution ended up suiting all parties.
“It ended up the best possible way for everybody when things changed and the context changed. This is part of football, what we did yesterday or a month ago, is not relevant. It’s what we do today and what we’re going to be able to do in the future.
“You have to make decisions, we all made the decision that the best thing to do was to move on and now he plays for Barca.”
The boss added: “We have had different kinds of meetings and it’s a decision that we obviously take collectively, with the club, with the player, with the agent.”
At his unveiling at Barcelona, Aubameyang hinted that his departure was solely down to Arteta and there weren’t issues elsewhere or with others.
“It’s his opinion, that’s his opinion, that’s what he said, you have to respect that,” said Arteta.
Arsenal’s main focus is finding an internal solution to the vacuum left by Aubameyang. The club opted not to buy a replacement in January heaping pressure on Alex Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah to come up with the goals needed to ensure European qualification. Arteta is confident his existing squad can do the job:
“Auba’s trajectory at the club and the importance of his goals is unquestionable,” he said, “but we have other players and other qualities in different ways to try to to accomplish the amount of goals we need in the team and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
“Auba’s trajectory at the club …[was]… unquestionable”. Think that explains everything
It explains nothing really. It’s his way… he says stuff without being specific. It leaves an impression but doesn’t actually say explicitly what he means.
Martin Keown, courtesy of TalkSport “What I wanted was for him [Arteta] to continue to get the best from a player, that’s the role of a manager isn’t it, win games and get the best from players?“Is this decision in the best interest of Arsenal football club? That’s all I’m looking at. There is no replacement that has come in for the striker. Arsenal are in a fight for fourth place and have an opportunity to do that”“What I don’t want also is the manager to get a reputation for falling out with players. I don’t know if another high… Read more »
“There have been one or two fall outs, and he may feel like he’s eradicating a culture that was allowed to grow under Arsene Wenger, and I understand that.“You could argue that it seems Arteta is saying to his players, ‘if you step out of line, you’re out’, but maybe not if you’re Xhaka,” he continued. “Xhaka has stepped out of line quite a few times and come straight back into the team.“So, this sort of policy of management, is it about building a culture? Or are there certain things he’s seeing in players where he’s saying, ‘I don’t want… Read more »
Saying the welcoming hand wasn’t show to Auba after the captaincy was stripped is speculation, maybe he turned it down.
Ljungberg was a lot closer to the current squad than Keown and he’s reported to have said the squad attitude was poor and needed culling
Ljungberg made those comments in December 2019 just before Arteta was appointed. He left in August 2020 and many of his comments since then have questioned Arteta’s decision-making. On Özil’s exclusion during our barren run: “When you have a player like that, and I don’t say he should play every week, but when you have possession and you need to find that cute pass, I don’t think there are any better players than Mesut to do that. Of course you lose a bit defensively, but it’s a decision they’ve made, I don’t know why the decision’s been made. But for… Read more »
Virtually every comment Keown made has already said here. To many downvotes might I add. It doesn’t matter if Arteta wants to keep deluding himself that this “Terminator” act is in the best interest of the club, there are others connected to football who think otherwise. Whether that be Keown, Henry or agents.
Don’t worry though. I am sure there will be another speech in the coming weeks about how the process will lead us to the promise land in 2029.
What your thread misses is how the respective behaviours of Auba and Xhaka differ off the pitch. While I am not defending Xhaka (I’ve wanted him gone for a few years), I am inclined to believe that off the pitch he is the model professional, whereas Auba is not. All we see is what goes on during a game and that’s where Xhaka’s flaws are most exposed. Up to Auba getting malaria, his match-day performance has helped managers’ overlook the off-field stuff. As that performance has dropped right off, what we were left with was a captain who flaunted the… Read more »
LoL. We only know about the “off-field stuff” because Arteta and the club wanted it that way. James McNicholas, wrote in The Athletic on July 2020 that “Arsenal staff consider Aubameyang a model professional”. Now the same author wrote that he has a long track record of poor discipline in December 2021. Auba had been at Arsenal for 2.5 years as of July 2020. He must have done very well to keep those bad habits hidden for so long😁. I can guarantee you, that were Xhaka to fallout with Arteta, you won’t be seeing him portrayed as a model professional… Read more »
LoL to you too. James only knows what the club feeds him. That’s the price for having that access. You seem to forget that back in July 2020 Auba was playing really well, and we were on a good run about to win the FA Cup. The club was looking to renew Auba’s contract, or would have to sell him for as much they we could get. They were hardly going to slag him off at that point. Since then, he got malaria and his performance fell off a cliff. His goal scoring (or lack of it) was hardly going… Read more »
Pépé, watch your back, you’re next.
Gotta give it to Arteta, no matter what. He has continuously stuck to his word putting the club and the team above all else, and for that, he deserves our respect.
Lets have a strong finish to the season and see if we land the coveted 4th now (Arsene said so!)
Lets start by thumping Wolves tomorrow.
I also like that he absolutely refuses to give even a tiny morsel of shit for the media or more importantly other clubs/fans to snack on. Decisions are made for what he believes is the best for the club (rightly or wrongly, some debate possible of course) but that unlike a Mourinho or a Conte he will not countenance the slightest comment to suggest a rift or an issue at the club to the outside world. If he has to eat rumours or judgements on himself that he feels (or knows) are inaccurate and unfair, he’ll do that if it… Read more »
Who told you he put the club first? For Arteta he js the club!! Ask yourself why was Ljunberg sent to sit in the stands by Arteta during games? The club wanted him and Arteta did not so he banished him. No who among the coaches sits in the stands??? Does he not need that view anymore??? You guys better get intelligent. Arteta is the problem.
I’ve read a lot of comments and I’m happy for everyone to have their opinion but this is so far from the truth it’s laughable.
Have you read what Albert Stuivenberg said about being the AirPod guy? It’s for having contact with 1 of the coaches in the stands, that’s the reason he wasn’t wearing them against city and Carlos Cuesta was waering them instead. Someone has to fulfill that role, but if that means banishing someone for you I guess almost any role within a company is hell for you.
“You guys better get intelligent.”
Thanks mate that’s great advice, would never have thought of that myself.
Artetasexual and proud
Disgusting
What’s this supposed to mean?
There is this horrible site called twitter dotcom. Any Arteta supporter there is labeled Artetasexual by Arteta-naysayers. It was a reference to that.
Thanks for the reminder to ban that particular phrase.
If Mourinho or Guardiola had taken this same decision, they would have been praised. I don’t understand why Arteta is always under scrutiny for every coughs he made as a coach… I am sure, he also have his career at stake, and he’s also interested in winning. The best we can do as fans is to support the team, and evaluate his performance at the end of the day… He’s the closest to the team, he knows the team more than anybody. We shouldn’t listen to the opinions of some press guys, if they think they can do better, let… Read more »
The next best decision is terminate Pepe’s contract/loan him. Never sign a player from Africa.
I suggest you rethink views like this…
I also hope I’m wrong on my opinion but not wrong to hold one. I have studied coaches, AF, AW, PG and now MA. When and not if he’s got to the end of 2023/24 season you will look back and know I was right.
This is my order in which these three players will leave the team/be loaned out/sold.
Pepe(already out of the team next is loan), Partey(benched come August), Xhaka(will play till end of contract) unless Roma can afford him.
Arteta will not be signing any player from Africa anytime soon.
I don’t und…hang on…so I think what you’re saying is…wait, what?!
Guys guys it’s okay, this guy has studied coaches, AF, AW, PG and MA! In fact he’s studying them so hard he doesn’t have time to write out their full names because he’s so busy! I wrote a comment below where I called you a moron but having read this I really don’t know if you have the self-awareness to understand why I called you a moron, and I would like you to know so here goes: No-one cares about your opinion on terminating Pepe’s contract (which is pretty fucking stupid but not actively pernicious). We think you’re a moron… Read more »
Thank you.
Very magnanimous. I as an African, Im happy with the relationship arsenal has with the continent. Inshallah
It would be terrible if we were forced to play Salah.
Lauren says hi.
And King Kanu
Wasn’t there someone from Senegal that we quite liked?
Imagine thinking like this though. Imagine seeing Mane and Salah tear up the Premier League week after week and still being such a moron that you would actually type these words, and post them where people can see them, and expect not to get absolutely fucking slaughtered. Okesano really plumbed hitherto unimagined depths of stupidity to bring us this, incredible.
Nicely Handel’d.
In my culture, we do not insult or be abusive or belittle anyone. We just make our opinions or observations known. Mane n Salah are great for Liverpool. I have no doubt on talent, ability and application of players from Africa.
As for arsenal, let’s see come the next 2yrs of Arteta’s reign.
“We don’t belittle anyone in my culture” said without a hint of irony by the person who just belittled the entire continent of Africa. “Making your opinions and observations and opinions known” and “not insulting, being abusive to or belittling people” are not mutually exclusive. In fact they are frequently the opposite of mutually exclusive, as in this example. You made your opinion known, and it was derogatory and racist. So don’t try to hide behind the old “oh I had a thought in my head so I had to share it” – no, you didn’t have to share it… Read more »
As the scriptures say, “Do not judge lest you be judged”.
So… Bye-bye Thomas Partey by that logic?
Kolo Toure and Lauren would like a word… Vieira came from Senegal, he played for Arsenal…. not to mention the countless African players who have made significant contributions to English football at other clubs.
I feel like your opinion is based solely on Gervinho and Pepe.
Kolo and Kanu also say hi
Yeah, Patrick Vieira was shit, wasn’t he?
Vieira played for France.
Played for. Not from.
Giving you my first thumbs down of the year
Don’t sign players from Africa! What are you on about?!
U smell like a sp*rs scum.
[Sarcasm Alert]
Yeah well said, Okesano, and while we’re here, let’s never sign East Asian players ever again after the failures of Park Chu-Young and Junichi Inamoto. We should have introduced this before the summer and avoided the abject failure that is Takehiro Tomiyasu. Oh wait…
I know right! Add Brazilians, or all South Americans to the Okesano’s No-sign list. Since William and David Luiz weren’t exactly stellar.
What a shit comment.
And everyone knows that Francis Jeffers was such a big disappointment. So let’s stop signing … oh, wait.
I smell sarcasm here – meant to further highlight Arteta’s uncompromising stance on issues, though I must agree it’s a sensitive issue.
African players are as good as any you’ll find at the moment.
Mendy, Salah and Mane are among the top 10 footballers in the world currently.
Kanu?
Where’s the moderator?
Kanu you believe this comment
I see what you did there. Bravo sir, bravo
I’m pretty sure Pepe was signed from France.
Chesos! Whatsapp my brother? Anything ailing u? No other premier league club has the hots 4 Africans like arsenal. Part of the reason I started supporting the club
Gamble but I think worth it. Just hope we move fast in the summer now we don’t need to get rid of loads of players first.
Auba has been in decline since he signed Da Ting…
Got his 350k a week and said “I’m good! You boys score the goals”
I don’t think that’s fair or accurate, while the decline in goals is evident to anyone, he’d been working his socks off, he had malaria, covid and family issues. I don’t like how it ended but do think parting ways was beyyer given the situation. But just don’t agree it was lack of effort or interest
Yeah, his xG has remained pretty much the same.
The real issue was that there was no one who noticed that he’d been massively overperforming his xG in the FA Cup season.
If anyone here wasn’t working hard enough, it was Mikel.
I’m greatfull for what Auba achieved with us in the last few yrs though I’m siding with Arteta and he has my full support. Auba is past his prime and we are not looking to extend contracts for 30+ yrs old players anymore. We are putting all our eggs on young hungry and future wclass players. We have 2 from academy, 3 from couple of yrs and 6 from last year. That’s 11 potential wclass players(well at least 6 will reach that level I believe). If we add 2/3 more of those next summer window then we have complete squad… Read more »
So you get rid of your best striker with no replacement when you’re not really getting goals elsewhere and when you really need those goals to secure top 4 which is a realistic target? Because he’s over 30 and is going through an admittedly extended bad patch? You’d want to secure European football (against teams equally motivated and on similar points) with a striker who doesn’t fit out system, a striker who plays more as an ACM and a young player with the potential to be a striker? You allow a player you bought £60 million who still has over… Read more »
Auba as best striker in Arsenal is more historical than the present.
Smith-Rowe has more goals than him in the EPL! and there was no evidence he would get better going forward.
For me, that boat has sailed; we have a forward line that can produce the goods for 17 games and deliver Champions’ League football.
Some are pointing to the solitary goal in January for the pessimism, but I look at the 14 goals in 5 games in December for my optimism.
COYG!!!
I think Pepe can get a few, so long as Arteta gives him some games. He has a knack of scoring goals. On the subject of strikers, I can’t help feeling that Moussa Dembélé, who used to play for Celtic, would have been worth a gamble (assuming he’s not injured).
Yeah right. Meanwhile Kroenkes moved his beloved LA Rams from st louis, agreed to pay the state 790million compensation, built them a new 6 billion dollar stadium and brought them to the super bowl in what 3 years? The club from top down dont give a toss about our success and Aubas departure was only about getting his wages off the books. Arteta as a fresh manager was the perfect scap goat to play the bad guy to freeze out players like ozil and auba knowing he doesnt have the experience and track record to go and get another top… Read more »
The LA Rams story is a good case study for how Kroeber operates his sport and real estate business in tandem. Despite the massive stadium investment, the Rams’ valuation is lesser than what the stadium cost to build (jumped up from less than a billion to now slightly shy of 5 billion). I think there is a bit of clever accounting and cross company transactions that we don’t have a view on. All things aside, Kroeber has invested in the club. We are 5th in Europe on transfer deficit in the past decade. Our league positions and revenue did not… Read more »
After the spending last summer (and previous years) it is pretty rich to say these decisions are being driven by financial concerns by the owners. The only concern with Auba’s high wages (and Ozil, for that matter) was the lack of performance to go along with them. That is an issue with the player or manager, or both. Considering Ozil was dropped by several managers and has failed to perform in Turkey, we know where the issue was. As for Auba, who knows. Personally, I think Arteta should have done everything possible to keep hold of Auba, and who knows,… Read more »
Ozil has 7 goals and 2 assists in 19 league games for Fenerbahce this season, which is their top goals plus assists tally, however the team aren’t doing all that well (thanks wikipedia)
Don’t understand – the club were prepared to offer £70M for Vlahovic but he decided to go to Juve instead. What are you getting upset about? Auba has been poor since he signed his huge new contract.
Compared talent wise and ability wise. The guys Arteta austracised out of the team were better players than he was. He cannot deal with top talents n not big enough to admit that and structure the team to benefit from such.
This manager said he was to improve the players we’ve got. Any proof? Instead he bleeds talent from the team.
When you fill the team with yes men, the results will expose you. Let’s start at Wolves tomorrow. #Comeonyegunners#
The players who have improved are the proof and the inability to connect those two things together proves even more.
The Rams’ strategy for recruitment has been to have a few bonafide players who they paid top dollar for and then pick from the draft some seemingly unremarkable players who end up becoming good. That is a numbers game of course, many in the draft don’t do well. But, they only need one or two good ones in a given year. I don’t know if the same strategy is coming to Arsenal, but if the current recruitment is any indication, it looks like they may be trying a similar approach, buy some players who are young and unremarkable but with… Read more »
You can’t really compare the two teams given the completely different ways the sports are governed. As much as I hate to say it, I’m prepared to cut the Kroenkes some slack. Since the whole European Super League became a non-starter (for now), I believe they have changed their approach. They are taking steps to repair the relationship with the fans and to get the club back into Champions League territory as that’s the only way to maintain or improve its value. That’s what we as fans have wanted all along. However, it won’t happen overnight. While the Kroenkes are… Read more »
Position your self as the solution will only make everybody focus even more on the results for the spring. One parameter that I think has been very much missing in the attacker discussion is the psychology part of being a player with only 6 months left of the contract. If Laca signs with Lyon tomorrow how will that effect him and his commitment to arsenal in the rest of the season?
Full respect for Arteta’s dedication and professionalism for the club and the team. Really believe that the club is heading to the right direction. Next stop, sign Haaland…
As soon as Arteta decided that he no longer wanted Auba then he absolutely had to make sure that a striker was bought in the January transfer window. Arteta has now made a huge, very stiff rod for his own back and I fear he’s going to be mercilessly beaten with it come the end of the season.
We desperately need goals and I can’t see Nketia or Laca providing them. We had a great chance of nicking fourth but that looks unlikely now.
If we finish outside the top six then Arteta must go.
It’s a really weird one. I just don’t get why we wouldn’t bring in a striker, and I can’t fathom why Arteta would make that decision – I find it impossible to believe that he didn’t want someone to come in. And given that I can’t bring myself to lay responsibility for our failed striker search at Arteta’ door, I can’t really get behind the idea of getting rid of him, because honestly I think any manager would struggle to get a young squad with no proven goalscorer to finish in the European places in a league that promises to… Read more »
Because we didn’t think Isak was worth £75m release clause. We think we can get him for £50-£60m in the summer….is that saving justified though? Surely getting top 4 was worth that gamble…
Isak is very raw, why would he help us in the next 17 games? In fact I think the opposite is more likely – if played, he would actively cock up our chances of winning games while he settles in. The only solution was to buy a world class striker, the only one available was Vlahovic, he didn’t want to come, end of story.
Isak is very raw, why would he help us in the next 17 games? In fact I think the opposite is more likely – if played, he would actively hinder our chances of winning games while he settles in. The only solution was to buy a world class striker, the only one available was Vlahovic, he didn’t want to come, end of story.
I like Isak, hope we get him but agree we probably need a reliable PL striker as well to partner him or to offer something different
Quite a gamble for a guy with 4 goals in half a season (full disclosure, I like Isak and he’s my first choice for long-term solution). Do we really think Laca and/or Nketiah can’t/won’t contribute 4 goals over the last 17 games?
Those stats are mis-leading Kane has only scored 5 league goals for Spuds in a similar amount of games. I just see a really talented striker that could do the business for us. He looks the real deal and can link play as well as create goals out of nothing…..but you already know all this !
He froze his best striker out in the first place. The club did not want to sign a striker in this window until Arteta made it a necessity!!! He is bigger than the club obviously.
And went public with it. Same pattern as MO.
On one hand is let’s get to summer card and on the other is Laca and Edi are capable. Why then think of getting a striker in the summer? If they are that good to lead us, why aren’t they signed or are we so below them a team that they’ll move on to better teams?.
He should but he won’t. Areteta is confident in pushing Auba out because he is secure in his job. He only has next season to worry about as only if next season sucks will fan grumbling reach a crescendo. Nothing will happen before then.
Have you ever heard of strategic planning or delayed gratification?, without a
doubt there is a plan in place but it will take time to move the club from where it was when Arteta took over to where it wants to be,
sometimes it takes short term pain for long term gain.
That’s fine but, much like with the loan of AMN, timing is key. AMN didn’t have to be loaned when he was and his availability could have seen us have the additional support before his loan. Same with Auba… plan for how you’re going to get to summer where you plan to spend big (because what you can spend and who you can attract depends on whether you’re in Europe – and which competition – or not). The club MAY have planned for the long game but their short term planning has been poor.
Players also have a say in transfers, especially long term well liked academy player’s publicly and professionally asking to leave.
Anyone can claim they’re following a long term plan to take the focus off their rubbish short term performance. It only works for so long before it starts to ring very hollow. We know from Wenger’s youth project of the late 00s that when short term results are underwhelming, the long term plan never comes to fruition. And Arteta’s results are far weaker than Wenger’s ever were. Without CL football or a realistic prospect of challenging for the title, sooner or later our best players will get impatient and leave and we’ll struggle to attract quality replacements. There always needs… Read more »
Mate, what are you on? Wenger’s youth project didn’t succeed???
By today’s standards consistent 3/4th league finishes, last 16 CL knockouts and no trophies would definitely be a success. But given that there was far less depth of quality in the PL back then, it was bare minimum We could never build on the previous season because our best player would inevitably get fed up of not truly competing and leave. And we couldn’t truly compete because we didn’t buy/keep enough reliable experienced players, and instead poured all our game time into young talents. Some of whom justified that faith, some didn’t. After Wenger realised the cycle we became stuck… Read more »
Yes indeed, thanks to Arteta the squad we have now is starting to look pretty good, and hopefully Arteta will persuade Kronke to continue the funding to finish a doing job that was badly needed, this time next season will be the time to start judging I think.
Usually when a manager has a lot of money spent on his squad, and results don’t significantly improve, it’s used as a stick to beat him with. Not as a reason to keep faith in him. Except Arteta, whose failures are just part of the process of course
And besides, isn’t Edu at the very least partially responsible for recruitment? Why does Arteta get full credit for transfers and squad building when that is only partly his responsibility, yet no judgement for results and performances which are 100% his?
And even if you do believe that Arteta, and his banal corporate vagueness, is the only man who can convince Kroenke to invest heaps into the club. Do you really want any potential success to be built on the generosity of a vile Trump supporting billionaire; rather than through good decision making, coaching, man management and tactics that don’t bore you to sleep?
How about both good coaching and investment happening simultaneously as seems to me to be the case?, also, I seem to remember the anguished howls of “spend some flucking money” from the mob not so long ago, the money has to come from somewhere and after all, (sadly), Kronke is the owner.
In the ideal world yes. Is football such a world?
Hypothetically speaking, if we give Arteta 4 or 5 years and his magical plan does not deliver then would you give the next manager (let’s say a highly experienced manager with a record of success) the same time to completely change the squad in his image? Giving a novice this much time and power is unprecedented and of questionable wisdom.
Totally agree with you. Arteta has been given enough time and if we finish outside top six he should go. The problem is some of the fans will back Arteta even if we go down to the championship or division two, and even if Arteta takes a sh*t in our stadium at the center circle in a sp*rs kit. They will say this is part of a process and they still see something in him.
Some of us back the club, players and manager because we like the current environment, style of play, players and improvements which form the current trajectory of AFC.
You lost me at ‘style of play’ hahaha. We play ponderous slow football under Arteta. Don’t let a little spell in December cloud your judgement
What striker?
I agree with the last two paragraphs
Hmm. Dunno about that. Given the past few (several) months, we’re challenging for 4th without Aubamayang contributing much anyway. No net loss, except the money, which we pay all of it if he’s here, less if he’s not, and we’re rid of the attitude of someone who’s checked out.
He did a bit of this at Dortmund too, so it should come as no surprise.
Thankful for his contributions, especially two seasons ago, but the jig was up.
I’ve got no issue with Aubameyang moving on, I have a slight issue with the fact that we let him go for nothing.
But we had issues in the attacker department at the start of this season with Laca’s contract up, Eddie likely to leave and Balogun not ready. That left us with Auba. Now he’s gone we’re going to end up with Balogun as our only striker in the summer. I hope Stan has deep pockets…
He is the main problem, and he will see the consequences soon. You cant manage a club like that. This anger you apply to players, turn it into victories and prove us wrong by finishing in the to 4.
Thought arteta handled the auba questions very well as for the African comment on players really???? We need to focus on the club going forward stop side tracking on other tosh!!! As for me can’t stop supporting the club although it does pain me at times
I love how Mikel gives absolutely nothing away in his media conferences, he’s like a clam and it must drive them crazy! I’m sure the club were after a striker but couldn’t get anyone suitable in the January window, top strikers are few and far between and cost stupid money. I’d rather we carried on the old Arsenal tradition of making our own instead of gambling on a transfer that wasn’t what we really wanted.
Then you swallow your pride, ask Auba to come back in and give his all until summer and get on with things with that support. Not double down and chuck a 60m buy…
At least that’s what I’d do.
Auba was finished at The Arsenal. He’s been rubbish for 18 months, and worse still had become a liability. If you keep players like him around it only goes one way. We’ve got shot of Ozil, Guendouzi, Willian and we’re in a better place. It was the right decision under difficult circumstances. Hats off to him for it.
The only player who was beyond redemption who you mentioned – purely because he spoke about wanting out shortly after he arrived – was Willian.
All of the others could have made a contribution and the only common denominator to their acrimonious exits is Arteta.
Yet some still find MA the angel in all these.
I honestly pray I’m wrong on my opinion.
I would give this comment multiple thumbs up I could.
I guess we’ll see whether he’s the solution.
Something to keep in mind though is that a lot of the problems we’ve had during his tenure were of his own making (Willian, Ceballos, Xhaka, Auba’s captaincy and contract, no midfielders in January, the horseshoe…).
Ozil.
“I’m the solution not the problem.”
I could have understood it if you’d told me that that was something Brian Clough had once said.
Or Mourinho.
“I’m the solution”
oof
Oof indeed.
Talk about putting your head on the block…..
Everyone that screws the pooch with some regularity says the what happened in the past doesn’t matter. Of course it does, and when you deny it you will never learn.