Arsenal and their ‘FAKE PULIS-BALL’ leaves Mikel Arteta as ‘fake Basque Moyes’

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta get a kicking in the Mailbox after a 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle that exposed their weaknessses.

We also have plenty on Liverpool and Trent. Send your mails to theeditor@football365.com

Oh dear oh dear Arsenal
What’s the latest excuse today? I did see that Elon Musk yet again said something racist and demented, perhaps the Arsenal players were affected by his tweets? Gregg Wallace was also cancelled from Masterchef on British TV, so it’s outrageous that the Deep State PGMOL asked Arteta’s lads to play.

Anyways. That Isak chap seems pretty handy eh? He’s scored goals in the last 12 months alone at Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, and against Liverpool and Citeh. He’s the same age as the £65m ashtray, but “only” earns £120k a week – aka less than half of the Ashtray’s £280k weekly wage, and less than half the wage of the Copacabana’s favourite Beach Bum, Gabriel Jesus (£260k a week)! 😳.

Oh Isak transfer fee? Also cost slightly less than the Ashtray. But Gooners, please tell us all again about Arsenal’s “sensible financial model”? You all had a lot to say about Chelsea, whilst overlooking the joker burning through cash like he was Chairman of the Federal Reserve lol.,

I won’t bother going into yet another match where FAKE PULIS-BALL bores the world to tears. Yet another match where the opposition score first and you already know Arsenal cannot win the fixture, switch the TV off🥱🥱 Another lower ranked team shows up, and immediately humiliates the shoddy attacking recruitment of Arteta, the Fake Basque Moyes with his cloggers like FAKE MERINO WOOL!

Arteta, who can only sign 946 defenders (outside the one attacking signing of any note he’s made, Odegaard). Arsenal fans can only dream of having a striker of Isak’s quality on a VR headset. Which is strange, because I coulda sworn the Arsenal manager spent £750m over five years or so? What has he done with that money, used it to burn fire for a paella?! Real question. How do Brentford, Brighton, Forest, Wolves and Spurs ALL have superior number 9s to Arsenal FC?

We are now at the stage where we are asking ourselves if Arteta will have the ability to match ETH’s legacy. Can you believe that! Yet ETH is unemployed, and Arteta out here, really earning £15m a season for this shitshow of a Dyche Burnley Tribute Act. Dear Lord 😂😂😂

Arsenal fans don’t learn from the past. They spent over a decade kissing Wenger’s ring when the rest of the world could see he was a busted flush. It’s been 19 years since Arsenal made the CL final v Barca, and we were told the dawn of a new era would usher Arsenal in. Fast forward to today, and even Leicester have superior PL and trophy pedigree than Arsenal over 20 years! Arteta is done, it was obvious when he bottled an odds-on title 2 seasons ago. But unlike eg Liverpool fans, who were mature enough to accept Rodgers was finito…many (not all) Arsenal fans are so demented and determined to double down on their ridiculous backing of a washed Arteta, that by the time this shitshow ends, we will honestly be talking about “30 years without a title”.

As I said, I am happy to retire Stewie the day Arsenal can win a league title. I really can’t be arsed doing this same shit I’ve been doing since 2006. Please Gooners. END this 21-year farcical humiliation!!!!
Stewie Griffin (Nuno taken a team that narrowly swerved relegation last season and is currently matching Arteta with nowhere near the budget, but crucially, the football at Forest is fae better to watch! Let me guess though Gooners, we “can’t compare”, cos when Nuno turned up at Forest he had a beard, Arteta did not. How is Arteta supposed to compete?! 😂😂😂)

What’s the conspiracy this time?
I’m curious. Just how many (corrupt) anti-Arsenal refereeing decisions ‘gifted’ Newcastle their 2-0 win last night?

Some Arsenal fans must know otherwise, how do you explain the number of empty seats in the home stands after 80 minutes?

Asking for a friend.
Mark (And his name’s not Stewie!) MCFC

Trent is not suddenly a poor defender…
The ‘his head is in Madrid’ stuff about Trent is pretty funny. It seems finding new reasons why Trent performed badly has become its own creative art within the Liverpool fanbase. It’s really not complicated, he’s just not a good defender, never has been and never will be.

That’s not a slight against the lad by the way, he’s objectively a very good football player, but he isn’t a very good right back. Trent is a right winger in the traditional sense which unfortunately for him doesn’t really exist in top-level football anymore though 25 years ago he would have rivalled the likes of Beckham for prominence in that position.

Nowadays however if you want the significant upside of a playmaking attacking Trent in your team then you have to also accommodate the downside of playing him out of position and this means making a sacrifice somewhere else.

Klopp did this very well for a few seasons by having an incredibly disciplined midfielder on the right of his midfield three who would cover the right flank when Trent pushed into the attacking third and continually run over to double up on whatever attacker he was facing.

Slot however doesn’t really seem to have as much of an organised plan. Earlier in the season Trent was basically kept further back and the switch to a higher possession more control system has limited Trent’s exposure. This has resulted in the ‘Trent has improved defensively this season’ opinion which isn’t really true, it’s just been less obvious how bad he is.

I think he should go to Madrid, he’ll suit that team more, be warmer, better paid, and likely have more chance of silverware. Liverpool generally recruit pretty well so I’m sure they’ll find a player more suited to Slot at right back.
Dave, Manchester

It’s Liverpool’s year!
After that hapless display against United, I just want to write to say how grateful I am to Anthony fking Taylor (yes, him) for preventing Arsenal from winning their game at Brighton. It’s quite comical that Arsenal seem to get these kinds of decisions more often than not this season, just like how it was for us in 2023-2024. Could this be PGMOL’s way of apologising to us for that atrocious officiating at Liverpool games last season?

I didn’t care if Arsenal dropped points or not at first (they still can’t catch us) but my god our performance at United absolutely reeked of arrogance. It was as though Salah, Trent et al thought they only needed to turn up to get all 3 points. This performance can’t be repeated or we’ll be in for a massive bottling at the end of the season.

I know, This Is Manchester United Football Club 2024-2025 We Are Talking About and all that, but come on! Outplayed, out-thought and out-muscled at every turn, it was an utter disgrace and Slot could have been sacked for that performance if not for our current position at the summit. Trent being on the pitch at all is a sackable offence.

Still, all things are still going in our favor (thank you Lady Luck, PGMOL and all the footballing gods) and I can’t see anything stopping us from winning the league this year! Fingers crossed!
Romulus Shani, LFC (Salah can sign da ting or not, VVD is a legend and Trent can fk off)

MORE LIVERPOOL V MAN UTD REACTION FROM F365
👉 16 Conclusions on Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United: Terrible TAA, frustrating Fernandes, silly Slot
👉 Liverpool should already be excited to target ‘soddy, lazy’ Trent down Real Madrid’s right
👉 Manchester United are ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ – Ferguson must hate how Liverpool are their cup final

Liverpool fans are the worst
If United can wish the Ballon D’or winner and world’s best player Ronaldo a happy farewell in 2008 because he wanted to go to Madrid, the amount of Trent hate is insane. Just be happy for him!

He was an integral part of the team that won you your first title in 30 years and may well win a 2nd. Add a CL to that, along with domestic cups, and you should be paying for his flight if he wants to try something new or do what he pleases. What more do you want from him! To stay at Liv till he is old and thrown out of the team and sold to West Ham?? Cause the club ain’t going to be showing any loyalty if he is 33 and useless. You lot are a shameless bunch! Yuck.

Entitled pieces of shits.
Aman

Nobody has to read about Trent
Peter Spiring is so sure “Everyone is fed up of reading about the situation day in day out!” I’ve not spent much time looking, admittedly, but as far as I’m aware Trent hasn’t set up daily press conferences.

If people like Peter are so goddamn sure that “everybody is fed up of reading” maybe they could demonstrate that by, I don’t know, not clicking the bloody articles in the first place. Football doesn’t have to have a media circus, and if people stopped bloody clicking the clickbait which is designed to generate feelings then maybe people would be happier in their lives.
Robert, Hove

If Bradley was better than Trent…
I like Conor Bradley, I really do. I like his energy and his surging attacking runs, his solidity in defence, the fact that he looks like a police artist had created a composite of all 20-year-old-footballers. I can watch his tackle on Kylian Mbappe again and again and again. I especially like that he comes from Castlederg, a town on the way from my house in Derry to my granny’s house in Belleek Co Fermanagh.

BUT I think my fellow Liverpool fans are maybe getting ahead of themselves by saying he’s better than Trent Alexander-Arnold. Professional sport, and football in particular, is perhaps the only truly meritocratic pursuit in world history, and if Conor was better than Trent, he’d likely be playing ahead of him.

He might one day be better than Trent, and might even be a more effective, more conventional right-back option than Trent, but right now Arne Slot, the only person whose opinion matters, is picking Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of Conor Bradley in important fixtures. Which admittedly didn’t go brilliantly on Sunday, but here we are.
Dara O’Reilly, London

Stronger leadership required at Liverpool
While I respect the views expressed by Culk, Peter, and others in Tuesday morning’s mailbox, I believe the main issue has been overlooked. The current situation with Salah and Trent would likely not have arisen if there were stronger leadership at the club.

Under the trifecta of Klopp, Gordon and Edwards, Liverpool enjoyed a level of stability and decisiveness that prevented situations like this. Much like the Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill era at Manchester United, these three held an iron grip over every aspect of the club.

The Edwards role has been filled by Richard Hughes, who, in my view, has been promoted to a level beyond his ability. Michael Edwards, despite a brilliant hatchet piece written about him, worked quickly, quietly, and effectively. Hughes, by contrast, has only been quiet.

A key example is how decisions on retaining players were handled under Edwards’ leadership. Players like Bobby Firmino, Gini Wijnaldum, and Naby Keïta were informed early that their contracts would not be renewed, providing clarity and finality. And players like Fabinhio, VVD, Sane and Salah brought in quickly.

Salah’s visible dissent toward Klopp in last season’s West Ham game is particularly telling. I doubt such behaviour would have occurred if the old guard of Klopp, Gordon and Edwards were still fully in charge.

The current management setup is less defined. Slot is a coach, not a manager. Hughes is sporting director but appears largely invisible, and the new CEO of football, Edwards, seems similarly silent. People may argue that contract negotiations are complex, but Hughes and his team are compensated to handle such complexities.

While Liverpool are six points clear with a game in hand, the “inmates aren’t running the prison,” however, these distractions may eventually take their toll.

Kindest regards
Ian H

Actually, Liverpool not to blame
Lots of nonsense in the comments on the morning mailbox about how the ‘debacle’ that is the contract stand-off between VVD, Salah, and Trent and Liverpool is the club’s fault. In normal circumstances, yes, the club would be at fault. But this contract situation is far from normal.

Most contracts for players under the age of 30 are renewed two years before their end. For players above the age of 30, it can drag on. In this case, let us assume VVD and Salah were around 30 years old two years ago (they were not, I know).

Klopp was signed on to stay as manager until mid-2026. But he told the club that he will leave two years early around November 2023 – roughly around the time VVD, Salah, and Trent should have been negotiating/announcing renewals. No half-sensible player would ever enter into contract talks when there is uncertainty over who the next manager will be. And Liverpool could not announce a new manager until the end of the season, i.e. May 2024.

An example of why the managerial uncertainty matters: back in December 2019, Klopp signed a new contract with Liverpool (until 2024) amid some speculation that he might be off to manage the German national team. Milner renewed his own contract immediately after that. Takumi Minamino was signed a week later. So players need clarity on the managerial front before agreeing to new contracts/transfers.

Players would also like to see how the team is performing under the new manager before signing up. Assuming 2-3 months to be sufficient for people to make this assessment, I would be surprised if VVD, Salah, and Trent’s agents entered into any serious talks with Liverpool over contract renewals before October 2024.

One thing Liverpool can be blamed for is three key players’ contracts ending in the same year. Maybe there is a case for staggered renewals. The problem with that is that some players will have to be offered either shorter or longer contracts than 5 years (unless you are Chelsea) when they are in their prime. While there may be a case for the latter, most top-class footballers in their prime will not be happy signing a three or four-year contract.

Yes, it looks like Liverpool got complacent and delayed contract renewals for their three most important players. However, this was not deliberate but the product of a legendary manager deciding to call it quits earlier than anticipated.
Siddharth (Can Liverpool try to get Alphonso Davies for free?)

Penalties for handball is too harsh
Thinking about the several handball decisions this weekend – only one of which was deemed a penalty – surely the real issue is that the punishment doesn’t remotely fit the crime? The vast majority of handball penalties – which as a reminder are goals 80% of the time – arise not from using a hand to deliberately stop a ball going into the net, but from a ball hitting an arm because there are a load of human beings doing athletic movements close together.

For me, one of the reasons VAR is ruining football is because of penalties, and how devastatingly ‘easy’ they are to score from. And VAR looovves to give a penalty. Freeze that frame, slow it right down and let’s get more pens! An attacker on the byline does a trick and gets his toe tapped? 80% goal chance! Hell, an attacker going away from goal feels some pressure and goes down? Sure, you get an 80% goal chance!

It’s absurd. The main job of a referee is to use judgement. So let them decide if a penalty is suitable or not. Almost all handballs should be indirect free kicks. A lot of non-goal-stopping fouls in the box should be too. It would improve the game so much, and is far more in the spirit which is supposed to be the whole point of rules (a sentiment the PGMOL do NOT abide by).
Ryan, Bermuda

Fixing Tottenham
The answer to Tottenham’s issues (aside from Levy and ENIC finally sodding off) are as follows: Sell Romero and Bissouma this January. The former has lived off a handful of very good matches which are at least equal to the poor matches, and the suspensions and injuries. The latter is 18 months being out of contract, and rarely has a player genuinely disappointed like Bissouma has.

This was the player who, it’s reasonable to say, most PL would have welcomed with open arms but don’t be fooled. Rash decision making, clumsy tackling and stupid bookings. That’s my take away from his time with us. Get shot of Bentancur in the summer. Another bonehead.

Bring in two centre backs, ideally we’d get a seasoned pro who can lead by example – we have far too few of those throughout the team…speaking of one though, put Archie Gray at the base of the midfield alongside Sarr and Bergvall, and have these three start a proper connection. The midfield has been our primary issue, as we can’t control matches and are so slow in transitioning from attack to defence.

I can see Sarr (Vieira) Gray (Carrick) and Bergvall (Alonso) as being an incredible midfield three for the best part of two seasons before all three realise that they can’t consider pre-season trophies as actual ones and leave….but for big transfer fees, and that, we all know, is what football is all about.
Dan Mallerman

READ: Postecoglou sack, ‘pragmatic’ Terzic in as Spurs reach sliding doors?

Terzic made for Tottenham
Terzic already has impeccable Spursy credentials -lost the Bundesliga from a winning position by drawing on the last day and then the club sold his best player to Real Madrid.
Andrew J. Morris

LOL at F365 race to the bottom
Every week in Mediawatch there is some form of F365 hypocrisy. The one mediawatch loves to hate the most is ‘How XXX could line up after dream transfer window.

Imagine my surprise at reading Will Ford’s article on how City could line up if they just happen to splurge £200m+ in January, successfully sell Grealish, De Bruyne and Walker – you can really see that happening! – and find replacements for no less than 5 first team starters.

Come on guys – either stop your criticism of all other media outlets, or stop publishing the same nonsense.
Tom (London)

Shall we finish with a song?
Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know, I can count on you.
Sometimes I feel like saying “Lord! I just don’t care”
But UGARTE the love I need to see me through.
Sesh Juan