Mikel Arteta sack calls get a massive kicking from Arsenal fans

Editor F365
Arsenal player Kai Havertz with manager Mikel Arteta
Can Kai Havertz fire Arsenal to a title?

All this talk of pressure on Mikel Arteta at Arsenal has seen true Gunners come out in their droves.

If you have anything to add on this or any other subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

Arteta out? Are you all going mental?
Not really frequented this pages lately, what with a newborn over Christmas, but given my almost self-destructive commitment to consuming Arsenal content when we’re terrible, here I am to retread exactly the same argument…

Arteta is a very good manager having a rough season. Yes we need a striker, it was now clearly a mistake to prioritise our left side in summer over one. And how we approach this transfer window and the back half of the season will inform what expectations Arteta faces next year – probably with less latitude than before.

But we’re still second in the Premier League table, with the best defence. We still dominate games and create chances – it took United having a back to the wall blinder (including an outstanding penalty save in the 90 mins). Newcastle are the form team in the league and executed an exceptional gameplan. It’s not the loveliest product to watch but in 25 odd years now, this is still a more competitive product than most, even after a tough week.

And as for Johnny, well it’s obvious he just despises the man. There’s no real interest in understanding why Arsenal fans like Arteta, just nonsense about demanding to win cups – a thing that we are constantly told we’re entitled for if any Arsenal fans ever voice.

There’s a good line in a new intro to Fever Pitch about how difficult it must be for fans of my generation to understand the stodge (sometimes very successful, sometimes very much not) that preceded the Wenger years.

That was written in the golden years. Before we spent a decade being pumped by every good side and fading into irrelevance. Four FA Cups in that decade and what did it get us? Constant derision and mockery.

I prefer us to be good, tough, win more games than we lose and beat our direct rivals. Arteta makes us all these things and even if releasing a degree of that control for more goals would be great, it’s clear a) none of the breaks are falling for us this season b) our most incisive attacker is out medium term, just as our best creator got fit (and he still looks a bit ropey), and c) adding a chaos factor without requisite depth up front may hurt more than it helps.

So yeh, as ever, everyone else is much more dramatic and Arteta-crazed than Arsenal fans could ever be. All this fraud stuff shouldn’t be indulged as it reduces any chance of a reasonable discussion to red-faced childish screaming.
Tom, Leyton

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…Wow. the vitriol towards a tough period for Arteta and Arsenal is off the charts. Clearly there are things the club and Arteta and the players could have done better but to paint him as finished after a few bad results is a bit knee jerk. As always too many are happy to ignore the context and as always the response shouldn’t swing so wildly to one side or the other and answer is somewhere in between and somewhere more moderated.

Lots of talk how Arteta has spent £700m, yes he has but from where he started and the number of players he had to sign it comes in at about £25m per permanent first-team signing. I’d challenge any failing club to turn themselves from 8th to 2nd and 86 points with just £25m per signing. The criticism seems to be louder for Arsenal managers because we tend to stick by our manager rather than sack them at the first sign of adversity – the latter approach certainly hasn’t worked out well for Chelsea, Spurs and Man U in the last 5 years.

Arsenal should have signed a better striker – yes sure, but we’re being told we must sign Isak for £150m! Arsenal not signing Isak right now is not a stick to beat Arteta with. Arsenal very obviously went for Sesko and Nico Williams in the summer but neither materialised, again is that Arteta’s fault or the club’s fault?

The idea that Arteta actively doesn’t want a new striker and attacking depth is farcical, about the same level of farce as those jumping on ‘Arteta blames the ball’ – I have to say that those who jump on the red top headlines such as this show your inability to question the guff you’re being served and do about 5 seconds working out what he actually said in response to the question about other managers complaining about the ball.

Since Arteta has been manager there have been 15 domestic trophies up for grabs – City and Liverpool have won 11 of them between them, both had established title and/or Champions League winning squads when Arteta joined Arsenal, and it would be a bit harsh to suggest that Arsenal SHOULD have won the title in any of the first 3 seasons as Arteta pieced the club back together.

We all know the goalposts just get moved to suit any potential agenda on trophies and managers but with the competitiveness of the league and the ability of top teams like Newcastle, Villa and maybe Forest to push traditional big 6 teams out of the top 6 continual finishes in the top 4 of the league is still massively important. No way would I swap our last 2 trophyless seasons for the League and FA Cup Man U have won along with their 8th and now 13th in the league. Arsenal cede over £100m in wages to 3-4 other clubs and have the 5th highest wage bill – a far better indicator of expected performance than total spend.

injuries happen but the injuries this season have been off the scale for Arsenal. The last two seasons were far from a clean bill of health rivals like to paint them as but key important players were generally kept fit albeit with a small squad without the depth to sustain trophy challenges with more serious injuries.

And so this season they have struck, and struck in clusters. In certain areas we’re far better stocked than some of our rivals but have had periods without all 3 of our right-backs, Odegaard out for 2 months, Saka with a devastating injury and now his back up and further back up for right wing are both injured. Injuries lead to a squad being stretched, players having to play every game and the injuries snowball. We’ve seen what happened to City as soon as they picked up a few key injuries, previously we saw what happened to Liverpool when they had cluster injuries in the centre of their defence.

We’ve lost to Newcastle who scored two chances and Arsenal couldn’t score any of the 4 or so goals the stats suggested should have been scored, similarly against Man U, 1 good chance and Man U score, Arsenal create more than enough to win the game twice over. It isn’t some tactical masterclass from Amorim, its a dogged performance that trusted to a huge amount of luck and prayer that the opponents fluffed their lines.

If Arteta can get 91 goals and 89 points without a proper striker is it not worth staying around to see what he can do with one? Anyone demanding a manager is sacked should have to name the replacement they consider will do better – and the idea that the flavour of the month manager from a trendy mid-table prem team doesn’t cut it. Has that ever been proven to be a successful approach for any big prem team?

To go back to the starting point of the mail, Arteta isn’t perfect, Arsenal aren’t perfect but both are and have been punching a decent way above their weight – only City and Liverpool are better having had a significant head start. Stick by your team, your manager and the players through the tougher times, and there have been hugely tougher times than this and Arteta has been responsible for dragging you out of the mire and back in to the ground to make you proud to support your team.
Rich, AFC

 

…Just writing in response to the hyperbolic mailbox over a very disappointing result against a lacklustre, scrappy Yanited side that are due some big changes very soon.

Kudos to them and Amorim though. They held their nerve until the very end and were lucky to scrape through against an Arsenal side, ravaged by injury and lack of ideas. What was it, 26 shots and 7 on target? Should have buried them.

But hey, it’s obviously a little blip in form coupled with the missing key players through injuries. Happens in football to the best of teams.
Now, I am being realistic. I would love Arteta to wave a magic wand and snap up some goal machine striker, but I fear this may not happen. Are his hands tied by FFP?

We play by the rules, unlike 130 Charges FC, in which last season we finished 2 points behind them equal on goal difference, only 5 goals scored less but 5 less conceded.

Missing world class Saka has been as huge as 130 charges missing Rodri, or Liverpool missing Salah. A team that is adjusting play without the man who’s always been there making things tick.

It is quite clear there are a couple of issues that Mikel will have to fix, he is quite a determined young coach and tends to solve things effectively. Yesterday’s result and performance should highlight what needs to be addressed.

And of course, the floodgates opened and the combined (tiresome, predictable) pile-on commences:

‘’Get in! Arsenal lost!’’ The mailbox was quite the horrendous slew of bilge, showing us exactly how this place likes to operate for engagement. It must be so painful for all these trolls and writers when normal service is resumed and we go back to winning and moving forward again.
This site has always been quite poor at hiding its inflammatory bias against Arsenal in general.

Nicolson’s hit piece on Arteta is just the latest, previously he’s wrote about his sheer dislike of Arsenal, years and years and years ago “Tottenham are a much more 70’s rock and roll team” blah blah (Funnily enough, the fact-free ‘S. Griffin’ persona, which only tends to climb out of the sewer after a defeat, has been around for almost as long, contributing similar hot takes, and it does make one wonder).

We’ve had two Ford clickbait articles on why he doesn’t like him in the past. We get it guys. Even down to the trolls in the comment section, that nothing better to do, comment on every single article #rentfree.

You are silent for ages, then a blip in form/injury crisis comes along and out from under the rocks you crawl with your smarmybants. Personally, I blame the clowns at AFTV, it aimed to monetise reactionary fans during the end of Wenger’s reign, thriving on the negativity which gave a green light for flame-stoking.

The cold hard facts are:

Arsenal are doing better than they previously were, they’re in the Champions League and earning revenue.

They are a top 3 side and Arteta has taken them there.

Top flight teams spend big (also see Chelsea, Liverpool, City).

The club will stick by him because he is a good coach, and this is proven by league positions since he has been in charge. It’s improvement over the latter Wenger and Emery years for sure, I’m sure none of us sane Gooners would have dreamed to be where we are now.

A trophy would be nice, but we’re doing alright and will get silverware again!

If this winds certain fans up, then good. I’m glad because it’s taking up so much of your time to bleat about it. Still a very well-run football club, not backed by a human-rights abusing oil state, that is sticking by their manager.

Deal with it.
Endless Mike

 

…I’m a bit embarrassed about the fickleness and niaivity of my fellow Arsenal fans. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as frustrated and upset about the two cup games as anyone else, but baying for the manager’s head?! Come off it. The irony is it’s fans like these who wont recognise their own part in sustaining the negativity rather than double down on supporting the team through a tough patch.

Arteta spent time building a decent team including one of the biggest clear outs ever seen, we’ve had two fantastic seasons in terms of the league that no one saw coming. We’ve also sustained our position at the top of the league even though our luck has finally run out in terms of injuries and that’s hit us hard. Don’t get me wrong, there are missed opportunities and some let downs in the transfer market, but there must be reasons behind that that we’re unaware of (money, availability etc).

I would say we’re in the third season of our new era. Are you really chopping the guy just because he’s got close but not defeated the City machine? Cup competitions have been a massive disappointment, true, and it’s clear we still don’t have a fully rounded squad despite all the business we’ve done. But Arteta clearly isn’t defeated, he looks as determined as ever, and that’s a positive thing in my eyes.

So, to all those who are done with him, let’s hear some actual realistic solutions. Who are you going to replace Arteta with? What realistic squad surgery are you doing? (And no, sorry I’m not accepting selling 8 players and buying 8 players in January, or spending 150m on Isak because it’s never happening in a million years).
Diaby, AFC

READ: Ten Arsenal moves for Mikel Arteta’s perfect January transfer window

 

…Arsenal are second in a league they’re unbeaten in since November. They’re cruising through the Champions League group stage which, despite the new format being absolutely sh*t, is a position most clubs below them would trade anything for. Oh, and they’re in the semi finals of the League Cup despite their prospects there looking pretty weak.

In the last week they’ve been extremely wasteful in front of goal – and it’d be interesting to know if Mediawatch wants to jump on whether or not you can miss ‘two chances from three yards against Man Utd through a lack of sheer determination’.

They’re playing boring, pragmatic football because their most exciting attacker is out until March and their most creative midfielder is having an off year. If you want to see what happens to teams when they lose their most important player have a look at the actual league champions who are currently in 6th.

This isn’t a crisis. This is just a team going through a bump in the road. Liverpool finished 5th 2 years ago after years of pushing Man City. They should win the league this year. And if they don’t the team best placed to beat them to it are the team currently in crisis who should apparently sack their manager.

This is the world’s most boring crisis.
Simon, London

 

The Nearly Man? Or still Nearly, The Man?
Not that anyone asked but I think the real issue for Arteta is, 10 months ago, I’m not sure it could be said that anything had yet stagnated, and that it felt with 23/24’s failures that this was still an immature and over-excitable squad that was learning (whether you believed it wasn’t fast enough or otherwise) and that this year, further learning would bring, if not trophies, more defined and solid challenges this year.

Ultimately this is proving not to be coming to pass at the moment and, while yes, the big loss of Odegaard in the first half of the season and the loss of Saka now would have a significant effect on any team but it’s not like this is a team that looked destructive in the periods where both were fit, so, following Johnny’s article this morning I do think it’s a fair question to ask. Can Arteta survive a touch of stagnation? Because these last 2 weeks, Arsenal have very much looked stagnant.

Now, again, it’s obviously unlikely they’ll overcome the 2 goal deficit Newcastle hold over them come February, but regardless, they have made it further in the League Cup than they did last year and, hey, there’s still well enough time in the League and Champions League to file it under “IF, things went their way, they still could y’know” but the problem is, this year, this no longer feels like a vibrant young team on the cusp of achievements that amount to more than just comparative stats, and instead, it feels (and looks) like heavy weighs the expectation.

A team that has lost its “sod it, we’re two down after 20 mins but we’ll just make sure we score the winner in the 88th minute” moments from 22/23 and 23/24, and replaced them with “if we don’t take the lead, I’m not sure we can do this”.

My gut feeling is that Arteta will be in the position in Mid-August regardless of this season, and that despite some more negative-leaning folk (both pro- and anti-Arsenal), he has enough in the bank with the fans and the board to warrant trying to turn the tide but, without the much needed trophy or two, he may not get to Christmas on the back of mostly-top-4 form next year because he is nearly approaching (spoken as a Gaz-apologist) Southgate-levels of “yes, he hasn’t won anything, but look! They’re competing!”.
The Much-Maligned Harold Emilio Hooler
P.S: file this under “we’ll see” and all holler at me when Arteta is sacked in March and replaced by Zinedine Zidane

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What Arsenal need is Raul Jimenez
Arsenal’s attackers are out of form, like all of them. Havertz is getting most of the blame which is both understandable given he’s the “9” and he’s missed some gilt-edged chances this week. However, looking at his stats his 7 goals in 17 matches is okay, if he gets 15 goals this season it’s fine. The problem is the other players are not chipping in, Martinelli, Trossard, Sterling and Odegaard in particular just never look like scoring. Jesus is inconsistent and can’t be relied on so the question is what can Arsenal do about it?

Nwaneri looked like he might be part of the solution but now with injuries Arsenal need to sign someone but who?

Yeah, it would be great to sign players in their peak such as Isak, Nico Williams and Osimhen but none seem remotely realistic. The only player I see making noises to leave that fits the bill would be Kvartakskhelia from Napoli, although not a prolific goal scorer I think he would be an upgrade on Martinelli who I love but maybe just is not good enough to be a regular first teamer at a title winning club.

As we bought him for £6m and he’s 23 surely we could sell him in the summer and get some money that could help fund the Kvartakskhelia deal? If we want him we’d need to be decisive and it maybe to late, but I would have thought we should be in contention for him.

However, the real issue is a number 9 finisher. There just aren’t many of them around that are reasonably priced or available. This time last year all the talk was about Ivan Toney, could you get him out of Saudi Arabia, similar to Henderson last year would he be happy to fall on his sword admit it was not the best move and agree to a lower salary to join Arsenal but get himself right back in contention for England and potentially become a legend at a legacy English club by finally delivering the title? Maybe, maybe not.

Personally, if a player is not angling for a transfer (a la Kvartakskhelia) then I think it would be unsettling and more of a challenge to move from abroad into the Premier League, surely you’d be better off going for Sesko or Gyokeres in the summer when they have time to settle into a new environment and do a pre-season, but I’m not convinced scoring tons of goals in the Portuguese league or for one of the lesser German clubs is a good barometer though, Darwin Nunez and Timo Werner can attest to this.

What I think Arsenal need to do is get a player that has already scored goals in the Premier League, is on form and could be bought.

Step forward Raul Jimenez.

Yes, he is 33 and has not got into double figures for goals since 2020 but that’s also when he picked up that awful head injury that put his career back a couple of years. You could argue that he’s not even a true number 9, but I think he’d be an upgrade on Havertz at the minute and if Havertz does find some form again you could bring him back in. Equally, he should only cost a few million based on age and contract and you would think be over the moon to finally get a chance at a large EPL club.

I’m sure Fulham would not want to sell him but equally if he handed in a transfer request he’d only be forfeiting his current contract that ends this summer (although there is a 12 month extension option) and I’m sure Fulham would prefer to get the £6m back that they paid on him then lose him for nothing in the summer while equally having a sulking player for the rest of the season. Oh and he can score penalties.

We only need Jimenez or equivalent to come in and score 8-12 goals this season to make a significant difference, you could give him an 18mth contract and if it doesn’t work out try and get rid of him in the summer.

The issue I have with Arteta signing a £100+ striker now is, if it does not work out and Arteta is gone in the summer/early next season then the next manager will be hampered with what I expect to be an expensive flop on massive wages.

Over recent times spending a lot of money on attacking players has not always worked out, for every Haaland and Isak there are many players that did not prove value like Grealish, Lukaku, Anthony, Nunez, Sancho and Pepe.

I’d rather take a smaller gamble on an aging player that could be moved on if the regime changes which it will need to if Arteta does not win something/very narrowly miss out this season. For those worried about life after Arteta I would look to Liverpool and how they moved on after Rodgers and now Klopp. Arteta and Rodgers is actually a very good comparison (Arteta to Rangers to win the SPL anyone?).
Paul K, London

 

Havertz abusers are not fans
Ok, we are all a bit upset. And frankly, bored of the do-we-need-a-striker debate. Only one thing to say, to the vile trolls who think it’s ok to post threats to Kai Havertz’s unborn child… you are not fans. You are not welcome at Arsenal Football Club. We don’t condone your actions, we don’t accept you. And here’s a call out to anyone who knows a troll: tell the police. Let the Met deal with these idiots. Get them banned.
AFTV… let’s get a statement out. Criticise the players, sure. But don’t abuse them. We are better than that
Exiled Gooner (Arteta out, Pulis in)

 

…Firstly, Havertz missing the penalty was absolute pure goldnee happiness and satisfaction that somewhere in this world, karma does exist. A terrible dive to go with a terrible performance meant that he was destined to miss that spot kick. I absolute loved it. And I detest Havertz. BUT ONLY AS A FOOTBALL PLAYER!

Social media yet again was abuzz with it’s toxic tweets including but not limited to, threatening and wishing ill upon his partner and their unborn child. I mean Jesus Christ!! What is wrong with some people! Do they not grasp the concept that once the final whistle goes, the game is over. Players are human! You are supposed to be human! Yet again missing a single penalty leads to such drastic and appealing behavior, reminder of the Euros.

Whoever these people are, hope they are arrested, shamed and lose their jobs. And a note to everyone of us including myself. Banter and sh*t-talking a club is ok. Threatening & getting personal is NOT. Talk sh*t about his game, or his attitude to the game, or his skills. Not his family or his personal life. Don’t do anything to anyone which you would not be ok if done to you.
Aman

 

…Apparently after the Cup tie, messages have been sent to Harvetz by scummy Arsenal and Utd ‘fans’ wishing death to his kids and a miscarriage to his wife (for being cack for Arsenal and supposedly cheating against Utd!).

We don’t need these scuzz buckets following the game.
Chris, Croydon

 

…A few years ago, I did what a lot of fans would assume unthinkable and stopped watching the football. I had recently moved to the US and was going through a lot of upheaval. I started watching again when Arteta took over, because I was excited to see where we would go under an exciting new manager.

And did we go! From a team that was (let’s face it) comfortably mid-table to a team challenging for the title and making the CL with ease.
What seemed clear to me was that Arteta and Edu had quickly brought peoples passion back for the club. It was obvious to even the most blinkered horse that the squad and fans were united. Then we bought my favorite player ever.

Yes, yes OK I admit it. I flipping adore Havertz. Always have. I love the man. Has anyone ever looked less like a professional footballer? Possible Kalvin Phillips.

It didn’t start well. Havertz is ungainly, laconic at times and definitely lanky. He’s also a lovely guy – see any video of him but specifically the one where he reads reddit comments about his performances. He also got better. Much better.

Yesterday we did one of two unthinkables in my book. We lost to United yes, but we also didn’t look up for a cup game against a team I think we should all despise.

Havertz played very poorly. He missed clear chances and a penalty (never mind that it was a superb save from a keeper having a worldie.)

According to some fans this means we can threaten his unborn child. Now forgive me if I step over the line here – I haven’t been to a game since 98 when we booed Beckham so badly that the seats of Wembley were vibrating – but I personally believe there are some things more important than the performance of a footballer. His wellbeing for example. His wife’s wellbeing.

So what can we do about this? Because the anonymity that the internet (and especially VPNs) afford is not going away any time soon. We all know what happens when a black guy has a stinker.

Well first off we can say this. Look at the reaction to these messages across social media, reddit etc. Condemnation. Disgust. Anger.

These are the emotions for 2025. Trust me, the people over here just voted for a rapist, and they did it because the opposing side showed zero of the above emotions.

So we’re doing that right. A tiny section of the fan-base acts like a prick. The rest of us rightly condemn them. But that doesn’t help Havertz and his wife from (I imagine) feeling like shit.

No other job comes with a near-guarantee of threats if you have a bad day. I’ve worked 100 hour weeks in intensely busy kitchens and to my knowledge nobody ever threatened me with a miscarriage because I overcooked their ham.

I’ve also heard plenty of ‘well they get paid well and can simply deactivate social media’. Right so we should just let these meat-sacks win should we?

The root of this issue lies within a deeper problem in our society in my opinion. I don’t know the person who sent those messages, but I used to be quite the internet troll in my days (not proud, disgusted in myself) and I can almost guarantee whoever sent that did it, showed his mates (it’s a he, let’s not even have that debate) and hopped on Call of Duty to call someone the hard R.

You could even argue it’s a form of para-social relationship similar to popstars. The internet has opened this amazing ability to interact with people you previously would only have idolized from afar. That means I can send you this email from 9000 miles away, but it also means kids can abuse footballers with anonymity.

There’s no real answer here by the way. Society sets itself up to make these kind of people. I feel terrible for Kai and his wife, and disgusted to be in any way associated with these twats.

Disappointed. But hardly surprised.

Do better.
Stu AFC Illinois

 

What have Stoke done to deserve this?
I don’t have skin in the game either way, but this thing about Arsenal being a posh Stoke has been needling me for a while. As there’s likely to be a lot more of it coming down the track, I thought I’d write in, even if it’s a bit old man yells at wind tunnel.

The Tim Lovejoy generation dictates that at least one premier league team from the north/midlands must always be patronised and demonised in equal parts. Be it Sheff Utd (Brian Deane scored the first prem goal! Lol!), Bolton (look at this cool African player playing for Sam Allardyce! LOL!), Middlesbrough (signing flash players lol), Sean Dyche (deep voice lol), Big Sam (pint of wine lol), West Brom (bottom at xmas and staying up lol), Burnley (wooden seats lol), or Stoke (long throw loooooool), the usual theme is, fine, get promoted, do something different we can laugh at, then f*** off back where you came from so we can get more Southern clubs in the big time.

Oh aren’t Brentford/ Brighton/ Fulham/ Bournemouth frightfully well managed, their scouting and tactics are very bougie darling. Portsmouth are bent but they won the cup! Goodo. This chap who used to run Southampton… he’s… well… interesting isn’t he?

PSR is stopping teams progressing despite being able to afford it, but West Ham get given a stadium for free is it? Oh Spurs have another English player who is useless and has played no football, let’s put him in the England squad immediately. I see Rory Smith’s manager of the year for 2024 – Rob Edwards – is having a fun time. Maybe praising Luton to the rafters for being awful last year was off the mark? Hearing Coventry City renamed unironically as Frank Lampard’s Coventry City is rank. Give it a f***ing rest.

The real tradition of Stoke City is Stanley Matthews – the very first Ballon d’or winner. It’s Lou Macari’s style of wing play drafted into his management spells that soared them up the divisions, and his contribution off the pitch to the community. Obviously Lovejoy, Rushden and their guffawing idiot coterie never cared about this stuff. Stoke are a big club in a proud part of the country hammered into the ground by London, same as – oh look! – the rest of the north and the midlands.

Obviously the few years where they came into the Prem under Tony Pulis stands out to younger neutrals because they kept annoying Arsenal and refusing to lose when they were supposed to. But just as Arsenafutbulclubblud is not Arteta’s cross-to-nobody strategy, Stoke City is not Tony Pulis and it is not long throws.

The BBC’s obsession with MAGIC!!!! on 3rd round weekend is excruciating, particularly for those of us old enough to remember when they just didn’t do this at all, we all knew it was important. Even Peter Drury doesn’t tell us about the magic of the World Cup final, for instance. But this is most insidious when it’s accompanied by the sort of Tony Wilson/Alan Partridge approach to anywhere that isn’t a sprawling metropolis, the sort of, oh wow people actually live here?

If you want to decry Arsenal’s football because it’s direct and unsophisticated, go ahead. But we have words that will help you do that. Arsenal do not have a divine right to be better than Stoke City or anyone else, and speaking as if they do is what brought the superleague to the horizon. So either get on with it and f*** off to Dubai/Rwanda with your billionaire closed shop, or shut up.
Neil Raines

 

Defending Zirkzee
I’m going to attempt a departure from group-think here. I really like Zirkzee and think he can be a good player for United.

I get that he’s huge and not the fastest. However, from what I’ve seen, his range of passing is fantastic. He’s also better on the ball than his heft would indicate.

Football fans have been quick to write him off for one of two reasons:

1 – They are United fans who are frustrated with how terrible the team has been for the past few years, and therefore have zero patience with new players who don’t instantly click. This is especially true for younger fans who seem to have no patience generally, and seem to believe that players are either ‘amazing’ or ‘flops’ based on their first 5 appearances.

2 – They are not United fans, and are just enjoying the feeding frenzy that United has become – welcoming any opportunity to label a United player as a flop as soon as they arrive.

The reality is that this is a young player, in his first season at a new club, in a new country. Some of you may be old enough to remember when received wisdom was that such players needed at least a season to bed in. I guess that’s out of the window now!

The problem is that Zirkzee has joined a team that has been playing very badly. If he had joined a good side, made a few appearances without shining, but scored and contributed to a few goals, then the footballing world would be saying that he was a good prospect that is developing into his role at the club. That would be an infinitely more sensible analysis, and one to which I would subscribe.

Obviously the anti-United brigade will say he’s terrible (likely in response to this email), but we United fans should show a bit more maturity than that. Zirkzee is working hard, and undoubtedly has talent. Let’s give him a chance. I, for one, like him.
RQT (MUFC)

 

Arsenal v Man Utd: Extra conclusions
1) Havertz dived twice. Once to win the penalty, and second the despicable throwing of himself to the ground when clearly both he and Ugarte were butting heads. Appalling.

2) There was some confusion re the offside rule, but it seemed obvious that when the initial pass was played, Havertz was offside. Before it touched Maguire. That should not need a rule clarification.

3) Not sure if it’s the Amorim influence, but over the 50+ minutes of playing with 10 men, I didn’t see any United player throw themselves to the ground and play act to waste time. Warmed my heart.

4) The Fernandes goal was a thing of beauty. Especially when you see the angle from behind him where he clearly has no clear line to goal but bends it around the defender. His technical competence is grossly still under appreciated.

5) Effort. That was the most amazing thing. United ran like dogs. And clearly the many acts of redemption – from Maguire, De Ligt, Zirkzee, and Bayandir.

6) Zirkzee is pretty good when he puts himself about. He’s good at shielding the ball, and it’s great to see him get the glory. There is a player in there.

7) Interesting that for this entire game, United completely eschewed passing out of the back. Presumably as a nod to Arsenal’s pressing, and also given Bayandir’s comfort. But the goal kicks were all high balls coming out of the sky, and harder to control. The Arsenal defenders don’t just head them back but often try to control them. More chance of a miscontrol and Garnacho or Hojlund getting in.

8) As Havertz was running up for his penalty, the one thought in my head was – he’s a German. They don’t miss pens. Glad to see that Havertz has managed to let both Arsenal and half a century of great German penalty takers down with one wave of his foot.

9) A big part of Arsenal’s schtick at their corner routines are the little nudges and pushes that don’t get caught by refs. It was refreshing to see the United defence consistently push them out of their comfort zone and get the ref engaged on multiple occasions.

10) Last night was a victory for VAR except for those people who like to see quick decisions rather than the right ones. It’s useful to keep in mind that if we run both scenarios forward another 10 years, VAR will get better and quicker, but there’s refs won’t necessarily get better.

11) Arteta isn’t as good as people thought he was, a year ago, but he isn’t the utter incompetent that people are making him out to be. He’s a young manager. A lot might boil down to whether he reflects, learns, and improves, or whether he stays bull headed and keeps trying the same things expecting different outcomes. As any Spurs fans will tell you though, be careful what you wish for.

12) Just in case we forgot, United’s 2 best games this season (the last 2) have been without one Marcus Rashford.
Ved Sen (MUFC)