Mikel Arteta is ‘Tony Pulis in a Gunners jacket’ as Arsenal pilloried
Mikel Arteta gets a massive kicking for signing attacking players and then just not using them v Manchester City.
They then celebrated an equaliser at home like they had won the Premier League.
If you want mails on Liverpool, Aston Villa and more, go to the other Mailbox. And then send mails to theeditor@football365.com
One Arsenal v Man City conclusion
Glad I don’t have to write 16 conclusions on Arsenal v City unless the editor is okay with me writing ‘meh’ 16 times in a row.
Aidan, Lfc (meh)
The Arsenal mentality problem
After Martinelli scored the equaliser, a ponderous thing happened. He sprinted toward the corner and knee slid into a lengthy celebration of his (admittedly excellent) equaliser. His team mates followed him, and the crowd lapped it up. This was in the 93rd minute.
If it had been Liverpool or City in the same situation, I would bet one of my top-shelf cheese dips that the ball would have been scooped from the net immediately while every single player got themselves back for the restart.
There is a lack of serious winning mentality from top to bottom at Arsenal.
IJR (at least after Martinelli’s goal, Arsenal’s forwards have scored as many goals this season as their defensive players)
…So we are still waiting to play someone above us in the table a full season later….
We’ve managed to come away with wins against multiple teams who play conservatively (being polite) including Arsenal who again tried to bore their way to a nil all draw until robowegian said no.
I don’t get it? Arteta how has the players to take the game to teams and still he’s taking this mid table mentality to big games. Why? There’s no excuse now. Can an Arsenal fan explain or justify why he’s basically Pulis in a Gunners jacket? He bought Eze, Madueke and Gyokeres to have the firepower to attack the big rivals and instead….he’s riding the brake for 50 minutes.
This should really have been arsenal’s season. Fixed the weak spots, of all the big teams they’re the ones with the least disruption this season while their rivals replace half a defence and strike force (Liverpool) and a defence and a midfield (city). If Arteta can’t smell the blood in the water perhaps he’s just a goldfish and not the shark that they need.
Not too long ago I actually posted that I felt that after signing Eze arsenal would be real challenges. But signing player and being bold enough to play him are two different things.
Lee
…Will we also get mails on how negative Guardiola was today or does that happen only when Arteta plays 4 CBs?
Key takeaways for me:
Early balls, early balls, early balls. Still not playing the ball early enough into Gyokeres either in the box or through the lines. Look at the goal – one ball over the top from Eze and we are in. Funny thing is this goal game when City were already in a low block with 5 defenders and 3 DMs. Imagine what possibilities we had in the first half.
It was sad to see the celebrations at the equaliser. City were there for the taking. From the 70th minute, I just felt that if we scored one and we went for it, we would win the game. I was screaming at the TV. Get the ball back. Press!! City obviously had run out of ideas. This is where I maybe agree that sometimes we are too content with turning loses to draws rather than turning draws to wins.
Maybe Martinelli’s final form is not a winger but a striker? The goals he scored this week at least should make the manager think about giving him a few games as a CF.
Madueke’s ceiling is huge. Ultimately though, you can see why Saka stands out above the rest. Efficient and effective without being flashy. Every action is thought through and Madueke will return to the bench despite a great run of games.
You already see all of the comments on Arteta playing Merino and Saliba. Last week, Keys criticised Arteta for not playing Rice. Now it’s comments on he should have trusted Mosquera and not rushed Saliba. You can never please the crowd. Playing Merino was not the issue. Playing Merino and Trossard was through. Without Odegaard and Havertz, Arsenal loses too much technical control and discipline. Nwaneri is great but has positional and pressing issues. No matter what you say, Eze is new and is coming from a mid-table team. I was watching a video of Rice and Olivia Smith this week where he was telling her that it took him 3 months just to get used to the training system at Arsenal. There is a difference between Crystal Palace and Arsenal as there was between West Ham and Arsenal (no offence intended). This is not football manager. This is why Merino plays. So pipe down on the criticism. We know he is guaranteed starter with time.
This feels like two points lost.
Damola AFC, Berlin Germany
Mikel Arteta deserves to be pilloried
5 to go, utterly toothless. Arteta is going to get pilloried for this, and quite rightly.
His dull outlook is holding Arsenal back. If it isn’t a set piece, then there’s nothing. No invention, no guile, no energy in the attacks. He is squeezing the life out of talented footballers.
I’m a fan and hugely appreciate where he has taken Arsenal to this point, with not too little investment.
But he has to wake up now. He has a very expensively assembled squad of talented, talented footballers, but just a few games into the new season his ultra conservative approach has already left him with a (likely) 6 point deficit to Liverpool, and 2 damaging defeats to supposed direct rivals.
Have barely laid a glove on City today. They’ve been incredibly comfortable.
Really not good.
Blok
PS. Apart from Martinelli. But then he’s sent on as an impact sub, so my rant stands!
Pressure on Arteta now…
I’m writing this from the perspective of a Liverpool fan, so factor in some bias/wishful thinking in this – but the run to Christmas now could make or break Arteta.
I’m pretty sure I’ve written in before about how it was going to be a challenge for Arteta to get Arsenal going again after falling short, in the way Liverpool seemed to have an off season after going really pushing City – barring the season we had the consolation of winning the Champions League. I’d been impressed at how well Arsenal seemed to cut down the noise of that going into this season.
However, now with Liverpool already 5 points clear, should that gap grown or have stayed steady by Xmas it is very easy to see an emotional implosion as a worst case scenario or in the best an early switch (at least in the players’ minds) in focus to the champions league.
That’s not to say Arteta would be a failure based on letting that happen, but baring in mind this is the cycle that drove Klopp to retirement, it will be an incredible test of him as a manager.
Dan
Here’s your Stewie warning…
I’ll just reiterate what I said after the Anfield match: Arteta’s team selections are enough to let you know which way a match will swing. Yet another cowardly abomination of a team selection – more cowardly than Anfield to play 4 defenders and 3 DCMs at home, to a Citeh side vulnerable in defence. Playing FAKE MERINO WOOL!
Spurs and Brighton both sliced through Citeh – even though Thomas Frank hasn’t had 15 “phases” and a treasure chest that would make Captain Hook erect 😂 Nope, Frank went to Etihad, played attacking football and schooled Citeh.
Arteta is a small-time manager who should be managing (no disrespect intended) Burnley when Scott Parker leaves. That’s the mentality. But no Arsenal fan can ever claim they’re a “big club” because no Bayern, Citeh, Madrid, Barca or Liverpool manager is ever setting up with 7 defensive players, AT HOME, whilst he has several talented attackers on the bench?! You don’t survive at those clubs, let alone six trophyless seasons (lucky to get more than 1).
Imagine spending the GDP of Burundi to play stale, soporific shite that lacks zest and creativity. £15.6m a season for football that’s inferior to anything Sunderland will produce?
Nwaneri is clearly having his precocious talent stunted by this utter fraud of a Fake Basque Pulis. With Odegaard out, how on earth is Nwaneri not starting? It’s abundantly clear Eze was a Berta signing too, as Arteta is averse to mercurial talent 🙄.
How is this abysmal football acceptable after all the money spent? That “title race” is already dead lads. Hilarious as Liverpool are coasting in 2nd gear as things stand!
I can’t let this go without a shout-out to a couple of Legends of Medicority.
Viking clogger: wanna guess his stat-line for the first half? Clue: same as it was every single time he’s faced a competent side (+ ManYoo!): 0 goals, 0 shots, 0 chances created. Again! Same as at OT, same as at Anfield. It’s ok though folks, he stat-pads at home to the relegation candidates!!! 😂😂. Like I said, get Glenn Murray outta retirement and he’ll match that for 10% of Viking Clogger’s wages.
Madueke: Arsenal fans were holding street parties because he managed to not trip over his own feet, but at the end of the day, his performances and output read: Zero goals, Zero assists for all his impressive Fake Speedy Gonzales mazy runs. A £52m abyss, only surpassed by the £65m ashtray that once kept him company at the Stamford Bridge car boot sale!
Arteta is a fraudulent manager, who is incapable of coaching an attack and will NEVER get Arsenal over the line. The evidence is in abundance, and it’s only those sucking at the teet of the Emirates kool-aid who will try to persuade you otherwise. These people are hilarious!
Given the gargantuan sums Arteta has spent, not only should he have at least 1 PL title by now, but the football has to be far more enterprising. Unfortunately, it’s the equivalent of waiting for a constipated dog to release a giant turd: you wait…and wait…and when it finally arrives, it stinks of shit.
If you gave Glasner £1.2bn and £15m a season he would have delivered better football and probably more trophies. Ditto Luis Enrique. Ditto the host of managers who are currently paid far less in annual wages than Antonio El Pulizon.
More points dropped on LFC. Still. Get your excuses in Make Arteta Great Again MAGA Loons! Are we going with the DEEP STATE PGMOL yet? Is it that time of the season yet where obscure stats about “xG per minute spent on toilet seat” get wheeled out? Naturally, Arteta’s MAGA Fanboys won’t ever hold him to the same standards as every other elite manager is held to – aka the biggest trophies!
I once described El Pulizon as the “Spanish Brendan Rodgers” because it’s abundantly clear he’s never getting Arsenal over the line – but I’d like to extend my sincerest apologies to Señor Rodgers. At least his Celtic and Liverpool teams were brave, attacking and took the game to the opposition. What a time to be alive, seeing an overpaid El Fraudo with a £1.2bn spend, setting up AT HOME, like Almeria away in the Bernabeu. Oh Dear!
Yet his MAGA fanboys claim Henry, Carra etc are “jealous” of him?! Oh right, it’s a bit like when that Orange tango-faced criminal in Washington claims “Everybody envies the USA, we are the hottest country now”. Arteta did his own Trumpian rendition with his “more points than any PL team in the last three years” brazen lie and his adoring MAGA troupe lapped it all up!!! 😂😂😂
The f**kin twilight Zone these Arsenal MAGA Loons. El Fraudo continues to mouth off whilst delivering ever-diminishing returns. Art imitating life indeed.
Stewie Griffin (After the disgrace that was the handling of the Partey situation last season, delighted Liverpool are going to stroll to another title, unopposed. Now watch Arsenal fans pretend the Carabao cup is like the Eurovision, Nobel prize and Turner Prize all wrapped up in one LOL)
Arsenal are not contenders…
“With Liverpool looking much more vulnerable than they were last season” wrote Steven Chicken.
Checking notes….
Hold on…
Last season Liverpool had played 5 games and had 12 points. This season it’s 15 points.
Try harder please.
Love all the pundits desperately clinging onto “ Arsenal are contenders” lol lol. They simply are not. Average coach spends £974m
21 is coming.
Ade Guildford
What was that from Man City?
Not a team I usually write in about, but here goes.
Wasn’t it just plain weird to see City play like that at the Emirates?
I mean, I understand they have a lot of respect for Arsenal. I get that.
But only having about 25% of the ball? Thumping it up to Haaland and hoping it might stick? Bypassing Rodri?
Really? That is emphatically NOT City. Or Pep.
You can accuse them of many things last season – iffy signings, hiding behind injuries as an excuse, awful defending, Foden and Grealish having a year off, and so on – but they still, for the most part, looked like City should. Loads of the ball. Short sharp passing. Territorial advantage. Etc.
So what the hell was that all about? A 5-4-1, park the bus, hoof it under pressure with no real outlet, shithousing masterclass, that dare I say Arteta himself would be proud of?
What’s going on here? Why is it going on? Is Pep really in charge anymore, or is Ljinders’s influence coming to the fore? Is this the new normal? What is the new normal?
This is going to take some getting used to. It’s too weird, man. Too weird.
Andy H, Swansea
