Arsenal must ‘bin’ five players including Odegaard for Arteta to take the final step
Arsenal have not shown the sort of ruthlessness needed to cross the finish line. It doesn’t even need to be Mikel Arteta who moves on either.
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The banter Europa final
Hi Ed,
Well, well well. Spurs vs United is going to be mental, considering the stakes involved. If I had to guess. United will win based on silverware collected, but if spurs do it Kane’s face will be a picture.
Rearguards.
Liam.
Was the last time a team in a relegation battle qualified for Europe Portsmouth 16 years ago?
Rearguards,
Liam.
MC – Absolutely not, friend. Teams have qualified for Europe while being relegated.
Who has had the better season?
Well done Liverpool for deserverdly winning the league. However when it comes to ManU, Spurs or Chelsea fans saying they potentialy have had a better season than Arsenal for winning a mini European trophy having got there by playing teams i’ve never heard of, well thats just laugable. Basically you’re saying you’re superior to Liverpool in Europe. Just laughable.
Chris Croydon
Failure?
I can’t believe I’m writing in to defend Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, who generally speaking I’m very happy to see knocked out of the CL and copping flak; but I can’t get out of my head this instance everyone had around marking every win/loss as success or failure.
I could write a huge missive on this, but actually, there’s a brilliant video of an NBA basketball player, Giannis Antetokounmpo articulating the point far better that I think everyone should watch, where he breaks it down for a journalist after his team has been knocked out of the playoffs a few years ago.
Steps towards a goal. They aren’t linear. There are ups and downs, good days, bad days. But this isn’t simply success/failure
Paul (Spurs), T.Wells
He’s over-performing actually
Despite the completely expected banter from rivals about poor trophyless Arsenal, Arteta is definitely and actually over-performing relative to Arsenal’s transfer spend (5th in the premier league since he started) and wage bill (5th in the league). These are the best measures, historically and consistently, over time, for success in football. He should be applauded for what he is doing, particularly since it is his first job.
Dylan, Seattle
MC – Arsenal are only fourth in the Premier League net spend table over the last five years too. Mikel is working miracles.
The narrative is getting out of hand
The narrative around Mikel Arteta is spiraling well beyond what’s fair or accurate. From rival fans, exaggeration is expected — it’s part of football culture. But what’s disappointing is how many Arsenal fans themselves are now echoing those same overblown takes. Arteta is being painted as tactically inept or incapable of taking the team forward, when the evidence tells a very different story.
This is a manager in his first ever job, who hasn’t lost a single PL match against the top six in the past two seasons, took Arsenal to their first Champions League semi-final in 15 years without a recognised striker, and has delivered one of the highest Premier League points totals in the club’s history. That isn’t the record of a fraud — it’s the record of a manager with real pedigree and room to grow. If he were available tomorrow, he’d be in contention for every top job in Europe.
He’s not without flaws. For me , he has two major flaws. First, he’s struggled to manage multiple competitions effectively — when the schedule gets intense, the performances often drop. Second, while our defence has become one of the best in Europe, we haven’t built a truly elite attacking unit. The recruitment over the last two years hasn’t prioritised the forward line, and our style of play can often lean too rigid or conservative, especially in big moments. There’s too much attacking responsibility on Saka, and not enough dynamism in our final third play. These are solvable issues, but they require the management team to take a more active and ruthless role in recruitment, and even overrule Arteta when necessary to create a more balanced squad.
We’re in a weird phase right now. Arsenal have spent a lot of money, have built a strong, coherent team playing great football — but with nothing tangible to show for it yet. Meanwhile, some of our rivals are having historically poor, banter-worthy seasons, and could still end up with a trophy. That disconnect creates frustration, and frustration fuels narrative. But letting that narrative derail a promising team would be a mistake.
This isn’t about misguided loyalty. It’s about keeping perspective and recognising that, despite flaws, Arsenal are in a much better place than what people give them credit for — and Arteta remains the best person to take them forward.
Arun (Toronto)
Trust the process but it has to restart
Modern football is cruel. We adore players and managers but are also quick to bin them as soon as they do not push us forward. Arsenal has not been quick enough on this front.
Our problem is not about signing a 20-goal centre forward alone. We need to move on plenty of top-six or even top-four players. Good players like Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu have done their part keeping us competitive in the past three seasons. They need to go for better players to join.
Martinelli is another obvious call to make. He’s reached his peak potential two seasons ago. Unless he can be converted to a central role scoring a lot of goals with his speed alone, his limited skill set is better suited for other top-six clubs.
Similarly for even Odegaard, who’s definitely top-four material but three seasons on and we are now clear that Saka and probably Rice is a notch above him. They are the only top-one players in the team.
That leaves us with the question about Arteta. The Club has really invested a lot of money. We are not frugal any more. One more season is the maximum.
Kia Nian, Singapore
The problem with Arteta
Hello everyone,
Hope you are all keeping well. Just thought I’d write in with my debut mail since I have retired from arguing with children dressed in Liverpool/Arsenal shirts here (so I won’t be taking any questions BTL on this mail FYI)
Firstly, another season, another no trophies for Ickle Mikel, but I didn’t come here to gloat.
If you weren’t already aware, I don’t rate Legohead at this rarified level. A decent enough manager, might even bludgeon himself a PL title after Berta takes spending past a round billy this summer, having had getting on for 8 years to “be in the right place at the right time”, but up against the likes of Enrique, Pep, Slot, etc, he is missing something. And I think I now know what this thing is.
I think he actually believes that there is a direct correlation between stats and results. It would explain why 9 times out of 10 he claims to have dominated matches he didn’t win, or – more worryingly – why he takes the PSG bench at face value. “Si Luis, tell him they were the better team”. Chortle.
The other big concern I would have if I were a gooner, is that having a process and a good culture is absolutely a good idea, but not if your manager is unwilling/unable to humour at least a couple of maverick players with some magic in their boots within that framework. He’s very lucky indeed that Saka toes the line in that regard (brace yourselves for bids from proper managers there though lads). Anyway, in happier news, the mighty Cobblers have beaten the drop, almost beat the filthy “Posh” too. Sooooooo close.
Ta
The Ghost of The Shoe/Richard Hill’s ‘Tache
There are two levels on which you can really hate a rival coach – because they’re good and how they conduct themselves. Arteta neatly ticks both boxes.
He has done a great job rebuilding what was an absolutely dreadful Arsenal squad and made them genuine challengers.
But I think one of the reasons he has become a bit of a figure of fun is that everybody has encountered an Arteta style boss: highly driven, very arrogant and generally a bit of a prick who everybody talks about when they leave the room.
You see it in every press conference, the bottom lip quivering as he lists absolutely ridiculous excuses – seemingly on the verge of either smashing something or crying. And yes the lightbulb and speakers at the training ground stunts adds a very Brentian air to his overall demeanor.
He is also acutely aware of his own failures having watched a novice Slot waltz in and comfortably win the league in his first season. Since Arteta joined Arsenal, Liverpool have won two league cups, an FA cup, the league (twice) and been to a Champions League Final (the same number as Arsenal have in their entire history).
You can’t do the whole ‘win at all costs’ schtick and then be surprised when people give you stick for not, you know…winning anything.
RH, NYC
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Pick one
Hello to all the Artera IN fans. One simple question, Carlo Ancelotti or Mikel Arteta ? If you had the choice, which you very much do as Ancelotti is leaving Madrid.
What do you choose ?
Regards
Aman
Some respect for Rafa, please
To Dan, Plastic LFC,
Fellow LFC fan here. Please, no disrespect to Benitez. He is way better than Netflix FC manager. Sure, he may be a defensive-minded coach. But that’s where the similarities end. The man came and won the UCL in his first season. Brought 2 UCL finals in 3 years. Won an FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup as well. I’ve not started what he won before joining LFC and after. The man has won trophies in his short time at LFC. Speaks volumes more when he is forever enshrined in the red banner of managers alongside Shankly, Paisley and Klopp.
What has Arteta won in comparison in pretty much the same number of years at Arsenal?
DJ (2nd time I managed to watch LFC be league champions in my lifetime and I am forever thankful for that…)
The 115
So, whatever happened to the Man City 115? Did they just drop it behind a cupboard or something? This was supposed to be such a big thing and it seems like it has just withered away.
GJ (I wish some of my past could just vanish like this)
