He was a very mediocre player let’s be real. You don’t play for Everton still at age 28 if you’re above average.
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Keyword: slightly
Leighton Baines was a top top fullback who stayed at Everton. We were linked to Arteta for years befoe signing him.
Well he ended up being brought in when Fabregas left which obviously led people to be very aware of the fact he wasn’t Cesc when what we really needed was the two of them playing alongside each other.
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But we had an actual top midfielder in Cesc so didn’t need to sign him. Like I said signing Arteta was the confirmation of Arsenal stepping down a level.
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Cesc was world class, while Arteta wasn’t. But Arteta absolutely would of complementing Cesc over the midfielders we had alongside Cesc
Maybe. Doesn’t change the fact that the Arteta/Mertesacker/Giroud/Podolski generation was the definitive end of Arsenal as a top club. I hope he can turn that around as manager.
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I think the 8-2 defeat to Manchester United the weekend before we signed him did more to “confirm” that.
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I think United more often beat the breaks of Arsenal. Not a rare occurence 
. Didn’t they beat Arsenal 6-1 somewhere around 2000?
That loss probably was the precursor hehe.
No, Cesc leaving was the end of Arsenal as a top team, if we even were before that post invincibles.
You’re also forgeting how bad we were between Fabregas leaving and Arteta coming in. Arteta stopped the ship sinking that season
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Arsenal stepped down as soon as we got into debts and there were two(later three) financial giants to compete with.
Anyone thinking we were in it till Arteta signing is being delusional.
Wenger did well to keep us relevant with a bunch of average players.
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At least post-invincibles in the cesc era we could challenge in 07/08. So yeah we were a top club, but that broke down slowly and the signings of Arteta/Mertesacker/Giroud/Podolski were the final nails in the coffin.
With those signings we were 4 points off the 07/08 peak post invincibles season. So NO
You mean in 13/14? That was with Ozil. But that was the ceiling of that team. Who knew what could have happened if we kept the 07/08 team together. That was definitely not their ceiling. Fabregas was 20 and van Persie 24. That is most definitely a yes.
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We’d have still bottled it season after season
Agreed dude
This is right.
Rather than strengthening and buying top talent to play alongside the young, quality players we had, like Cesc, Nasri, RVP, Rosicky etc, we sold our best players and bought in adequate but inferior players.
I remember watching that.
Man U had two outstanding players in that game and were the reason they won by so many goals and they were Stepanovs and Luzhny.
Same.
Midday kick off on a Sunday. ManUre hadn’t beaten us at the Swamp since 1996.
They were due a win but I didn’t think they’d beat us like that.
We exacted sweet revenge a year later, though
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He’s just filled me with confidence has Arteta, and haven’t felt like this since Wenger’s first couple of years as Arsenal manager. I don’t think we will be winning a PL title for a few years but if the club back him and he get’s the players he want, Arsenal could become a force again I really do think that. For me the first thing he needs to do is turn us back into a top 4 side and get’s us back in the CL. Then start getting the top players to see us as serious contender and winning more trophies on the sides like FA or League Cup or Europa League and given the CL a go.
I think two more signings of quality this season and I believe we will get top 4.
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Very harsh and wrong.
If we get Arteta in 07/08 or 10/11 we win the league.
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