Wow that took me back, remember it well 
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I don’t see the point of drawing any particular line in the sand regarding our league placement or Europa League fortunes. For me, the key thing is really how we play, the trajectory of our performances, and the overall development of our young players. I would rather give him another year if we finish 7th and go out unluckily in the Euro semis, but the team is playing great in the spring, our play style is really being developed, and our young players are really blossoming, than if we manage 5th or happen to fluke the Europa League but our play is shit and its unclear what kind of team he is building.
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Pretty much agree exactly with this - need to see progression and cause for optimism more than anything… we aren’t challenging for title next couple of years so at least let’s show that are on the right path. ATM to me Arteta doesn’t look at all like the right man, but I’d be more than happy if I am completely wrong on that.
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I’ll give the bloke credit for pulling us back from the brink. Didn’t think the team were playing for him anymore. Never saw us taking 9 from 9.
I’m still holding out hope that he mends broken bridges with Saliba and Guendouzi. That’s £60m+ worth of young talent being pissed away. We need to get them involved in the squad again.
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Imagine if he did that and ended up top 4 ?
If we had won the games we should have (Burnley, Wolves, Southhampton) we would be talked about as potential title contender, as ridiculous as that sounds.
The recent run of form was forced on Arteta for various reasons—player suspensions, senior players stinking up the place, covid. I fully expect him to go back to his shit tactics and decision making soon.
I look at him as a caretaker who should be sacked as soon as his crap management rears it’s ugly head again.
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Not arguing your overall point, but lots of teams this season more than most have dropped more points than usual and could be in better positions.
Liverpool away form. United home form. City slow start. Spuds just coming off a bad run etc.
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If he does revert back to picking the players that let him down and drop the younger players that have saved his job, then he should definitely go.
But if he continues the recent good form against tougher opposition and at least challenges for a top four place with continued better attacking performances, then he should get another season to see what he can do.
Getting three wins from as many games, playing decent football, was great and exactly what we needed but I’m not sure how much of that was by having a plan or just a series of events that forced his hand.
We have a couple of winnable games against Newcastle and Crystal Palace so It will be interesting to see what team selection he has in the games after that, against Man U, Southampton and Wolves.
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Was it really decent football other than that last game? I think it was decent for periods, or even a half… we haven’t had a single game where you felt end to end we were really playing well and with some sort of plan and coherence other than the WBA game for me…
That is some indictment honestly.
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Tbh after 25 minutes of Chelsea you knew we where winning the game.
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I agree.
Apart from the Fulham game, West Brom was the only game where it looked like we really outplayed the opposition and looked likely to win.
But the performances have been slightly better than before, although that’s not difficult, and at least we looked like we were trying and showed a bit of urgency.
Although against Brighton, a side that hadn’t won at home all season, it wasn’t that convincing and, although we beat West Brom comprehensively, so did their two previous opponents.
We’ve got two relatively easy games against Crystal Palace and Newcastle but then we have Man U, Southampton, Wolves and Aston Villa so after that we will have some idea of how much Arteta has been responsible for this mini turnaround and if he can continue it.
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Yeah we did well that game, but there were still stretches we were all over the shop… and Chelsea have been diabolical in the past few weeks too - they look lost atm.
I agree with this. I can have some sympathy to the idea that maybe there are squads better than us that make top 4 difficult but at the end of the day for the Arteta appointment to be “worth it” he has to essentially overachieve anyway. Can argue he’s already done it with the cup with but he needs to do it again basically.
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Arteta on critics saying Arsenal ‘are crying out for a player like Mesut Ozil’ in the team:
“I respect every opinion. But obviously if I believed that he would be in the squad and playing.”
It seems to go over his head what is meant by this…
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Isn’t it just a diplomatic answer. He clearly knows Ozil merits as a player. The rest is open to why he’s not selected and we choose our own theory on that.
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I think the point Arteta’s making has gone over your head
I meant more in the sense that this team needs an attacking midfielder. That the question wasn’t about Ozil himself, but the number 10 position. It happens Ozil was available.
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I see what you mean. Tbf, Arteta is fed up being asked about Ozil or Ozil being mentioned. His last presser was 80% was directly or indirectly related to Ozil and the guy hasn’t played since the first lockdown.
Hopefully, there’s no more of this.
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Team needs a number of different things. Creativity being one but there’s more than one way of creating .
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Ultimately Arteta can pick who he likes but he will also be judged by results, currently we’ve only scored 20 goals and are in 11th position so he’s failing as we speak.
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