Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

UNITED ACADEMY

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It's skewing the stats. Emery had a strong win 55% win percentage for Arsenal but was far from good enough in the league. It was propped up by 70% win % in Europa League, which he's known for. He was the same with Sevilla, good in Europa League but terribly underperforming domestically.

Arteta scores less and is more passive, but he has turned Arsenal into a far more resolute side than Emery did. As I said Arteta is building foundations at the club and you can see the progress in how much trickier it is to score against them, how more aggressive they are and so on. He walked in and saw what a sorry pile of shit they are by way of aggression, application and set pieces. He's organized them and brought in set piece specialists to work on their defending and offensive returns from those areas (and it shows in the stats too). But to suggest that's all they are when he's barely 1 year into the role is a bit primitive, especially considering he's had little in the way of a budget relative to Ole or Lampard.

I think one seriously odd move he made was insisting on Aubameyang wide. But as I say the level of criticism his way is overcooked.

Amazing how you don't see why that's the case. Ole spent almost 200m in year 1, and then another 50-70m in season 2. He also has 2 years completed in the role compared to just 1 with Arteta. Jesus christ.
Are you finally awake and able to see the difference now? Are you finally able to see that there is no improvement?

Arteta turned Arsenal into a far more resolute side than Emery you said? :lol: The 5 at the back really played a good trick on you.
 

Withnail

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Without defending Arteta to much, but you can't expect results with poor squad and averages players. Arsenal have just brought this upon themself. Edu have done terrible job. We know Arteta want to play Guardiola style of football but with current players it is like asking Burnley play tiki-taka.

With that said, some of the results are not good enough and he is walking on a thin ice. Sacking is not far away, but that will not solve problems they have. So you either let him have time to build something over 2-3 years time where position is not important or you sack him this week and hope for some reaction.
Give over.

The squad finished mid table last year and 5th the season before. They are plummetting towards relegation.

Mid-table mediocrity was the worst they could have expected this season.
 

Guy Incognito

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Pretty much, their squad is not great, but should be around top half easily. And a lot of the mess is his own making, a player like Ozil would make a big difference, Saliba is a good talent but does not get a chance. Players that should have been sold were not only kept, but are his preferred choice.

Also, his tactics do not suit the players he has got.
There is probably a decent 'coach' in him, but manager he ain't. His tactics in the league don't suit the players he has.

The real problem with Arsenal is the recruitment and absentee owner.
 

Okey

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I remember discussing with friends about Arteta and wondering just where his hype was coming from. No CV to speak of. Assistant to Pep yeah but since when was that ever an indicator of acumen? I couldn't see anything that made me think this was an elite manager in the making. Not even when they beat us or won those cups. He had the usual new manager bounce, which wasn't even as good as Ole's. Since then, it's been a regression to the mean. He might yet make a decent manager, but so far, I see nothing to be impressed by.
 

Okey

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We know Arteta want to play Guardiola style of football but with current players it is like asking Burnley play tiki-taka.
Do we really know that? Nothing in their play, even last season, suggests this. It's just an assumption cos he was with Pep. Look at Southampton and you'll see a coach in Pep's mould. They went toe to toe with Citeh today. I'm not sure what Arteta wants but there's no evidence he's able to coach Pep style.
 

Pretzels81

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Ffs, they should sack him right now; tonight.

From now on, it would be a race to avoid finishing 17th or even 18th. Sack him and let the new manager prepare the winter window.
 

90 + 5min

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Give over.

The squad finished mid table last year and 5th the season before. They are plummetting towards relegation.

Mid-table mediocrity was the worst they could have expected this season.
A downward trajectory began before Arteta came. I don't blame him for this mess. I would point that problems are above him. But as a manager he will have to take concenquence of poor league position. If they sack him, the problems will still be there.
 

Amarsdd

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Do we really know that? Nothing in their play, even last season, suggests this. It's just an assumption cos he was with Pep. Look at Southampton and you'll see a coach in Pep's mould. They went toe to toe with Citeh today. I'm not sure what Arteta wants but there's no evidence he's able to coach Pep style.
I know. Everyone keeps saying that but I haven't seen an inkling of that even during their best form.
 

Zen

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Everyone is saying that in hindsight now. At the beginning of 2019/20 season, they were a shoe-in for top 4 for almost all pundits, journos and people here. Even at the beginning of this season, many thought they would make top 4, or at least top 6.
Well a quick search would suggest your "almost all".... is basically well 50% or below.

Premier League 2019-20 review: our predictions versus reality | Premier League | The Guardian
Your Premier League predictions: How your table for 2019-20 looks - BBC Sport
Premier League 2019/20 predictions: Champions, top four, bottom three, best signing, biggest flop, VAR and more | The Independent | The Independent (8 people of which 3 have Arsenal top 4)
Extremely early Premier League 2019/20 season predictions: Title, top four, relegation and more - football.london (13 of which 7 have them 4th and no higher)
Predictions for 2019-20 Premier League table - ProSoccerTalk | NBC Sports (3 out of 6)

Not to be pedantic and all..... and also looking at these, kudos to United to truly outperforming their general consensus prediction. Because generally I don't read pre-season predictions.
 

90 + 5min

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Do we really know that? Nothing in their play, even last season, suggests this. It's just an assumption cos he was with Pep. Look at Southampton and you'll see a coach in Pep's mould. They went toe to toe with Citeh today. I'm not sure what Arteta wants but there's no evidence he's able to coach Pep style.
I agree that it is hard to see that in their play. But I think it is more down to what players they have for that kind of football. Or I should say, lack of it. Arsenal have big, big decision to make. You either give him 2-3 years to completly change the squad meaning at least 10 - 15 players out. Or you sack him this week and get some manager that will be there to try to get some reaction from players with different style of football.
 

Amarsdd

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Well a quick search would suggest your "almost all".... is basically well 50% or below.

Premier League 2019-20 review: our predictions versus reality | Premier League | The Guardian
Your Premier League predictions: How your table for 2019-20 looks - BBC Sport
Premier League 2019/20 predictions: Champions, top four, bottom three, best signing, biggest flop, VAR and more | The Independent | The Independent (8 people of which 3 have Arsenal top 4)
Extremely early Premier League 2019/20 season predictions: Title, top four, relegation and more - football.london (13 of which 7 have them 4th and no higher)
Predictions for 2019-20 Premier League table - ProSoccerTalk | NBC Sports (3 out of 6)

Not to be pedantic and all..... and also looking at these, kudos to United to truly outperforming their general consensus prediction. Because generally I don't read pre-season predictions.
Yes, you are being pedantic .... and I'll take 50% :lol:
 

B20

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Do we really know that? Nothing in their play, even last season, suggests this. It's just an assumption cos he was with Pep. Look at Southampton and you'll see a coach in Pep's mould. They went toe to toe with Citeh today. I'm not sure what Arteta wants but there's no evidence he's able to coach Pep style.
The manager he reminds me most of is Houllier.
Both came with a background of sophisticated continental attacking football. Given a missive to rebuild a faltering and porous top side with a weak mentality.
Does so with a fearful defensive approach, freezing out good players who could be an asset in a more expansive side, overly reliant on a pacey goalscorer for points. Spent biggest in their first summer to get a top defensive midfielder in. Heart in the right place though.

Houllier had more tricks up his sleeve tactically though and a much better squad to work with.
 

Spiersey

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Don’t understand the narrative that their team is poor. It’s short term bias. Team was fine when they were beating Liverpool and city last year with good performances.

They’ve got injuries but Arteta getting rid of Ozil, Torreira and Guendouzi who would all add to this team is costing them.
Auba and Laca are good, Tierney is decent and Gabriel looks a good signing. Arteta has absolutely killed all their creativity, every attacking player has went backwards under him now as it stands. They’ll be fine under another manager, will finish top half.
 

Ace of Spades

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I don't like kicking someone when they are down, but the situation is not good for Arsenal fans. Their coach is not getting a tune of his players, but they also are a mess off the pitch with some awful owners.

Still, think the kids showed some decent grit. Too bad he fecked off some of their better older players and kept the shit ones.
 

Withnail

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A downward trajectory began before Arteta came. I don't blame him for this mess. I would point that problems are above him. But as a manager he will have to take concenquence of poor league position. If they sack him, the problems will still be there.
That is a bizarre take.

Arsenal are easily a mid-table side. They were 8th when Emery was let go.
Arteta is in danger of relegating them. They'd really be fecked if we hadn't have shit the bed against them.
 

VP89

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Are you finally awake and able to see the difference now? Are you finally able to see that there is no improvement?

Arteta turned Arsenal into a far more resolute side than Emery you said? :lol: The 5 at the back really played a good trick on you.
There's no denying there were various improvements initially when he took over.

I said in quite a few subsequent posts that he's failing to get the best out of the team this season and will rightly be sacked if he continues to be so passive.

It's not just about formation in the initial "bounce" with Arsenal - they looked like they were overcoming a mental block with big results and ended up winning a cup. So it's not exactly a crime to conclude Arteta looked like he was building something at that stage.
 

Tom Cato

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Can any Arsenal fans chime into as WHY Ozil is not even in the squad? Has he been so poor at football he's not worthy of a shirt in the PL season? He's lightyears better than some of the players there. On his day he's a gamebreaker.

Is it because he would't take a paycut? Ozil donates more money to charity than the entire Arsenal squad combined. I just don't get it.

If the teams behind Arsenal pick 3 points in their game in hand, Arsenal are 1 point from direct relegation after 40% of the season is played. That's insane.
 

el_loco_bielsa

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The manager he reminds me most of is Houllier.
Both came with a background of sophisticated continental attacking football. Given a missive to rebuild a faltering and porous top side with a weak mentality.
Does so with a fearful defensive approach, freezing out good players who could be an asset in a more expansive side, overly reliant on a pacey goalscorer for points. Spent biggest in their first summer to get a top defensive midfielder in. Heart in the right place though.

Houllier had more tricks up his sleeve tactically though and a much better squad to work with.
Houllier was a lot more experienced by the time he landed at Liverpool though. He’d already taken Lens from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1 and into the European places then won Ligue 1 with PSG prior to his jobs as technical director and subsequently manager of the french national team. He had a lot more in the memory bank to draw on to rectify issues as they arose.

Arteta is a complete greenhorn, and looking grossly inexperienced and out of his depth every passing day. He actually reminds me of AVB at Chelsea - someone who has been over promoted and now finds themselves out of their depth, and doesn’t know what to do to put out the fire.
 

anant

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Can any Arsenal fans chime into as WHY Ozil is not even in the squad? Has he been so poor at football he's not worthy of a shirt in the PL season? He's lightyears better than some of the players there. On his day he's a gamebreaker.

Is it because he would't take a paycut? Ozil donates more money to charity than the entire Arsenal squad combined. I just don't get it.
Think it had something to do with his comment calling out the Chinese on their oppression of Uighur Muslims
 

B20

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Houllier was a lot more experienced by the time he landed at Liverpool though. He’d already taken Lens from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1 and into the European places then won Ligue 1 with PSG prior to his jobs as technical director and subsequently manager of the french national team. He had a lot more in the memory bank to draw on to rectify issues as they arose.

Arteta is a complete greenhorn, and looking grossly inexperienced and out of his depth every passing day. He actually reminds me of AVB at Chelsea - someone who has been over promoted and now finds themselves out of their depth, and doesn’t know what to do to put out the fire.
That sounds about right.

They should flip ahead in the play book and hire Rafa now.
 

Dancfc

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I genuinely think when he came in, their form was merely what they call ‘new manager bounce’. That’s now over. Is Arteta really good enough for Arsenal? The guy laid out the cones for Pep. We all know Pep is heavily involved in coaching as well. Arteta is way out of his depth and 15th in the PL after 14 games for a club like Arsenal is unacceptable.
They didn't even get a new manager bounce! They were this shit last season aswell they just had Auba and Leno/Emi performing miracles to get them results against the balance of play.
 

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As underwhelming as I think the Arsenal squad is he's about to get sacked if results don't improve soon.
 

anant

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If that's the case Arteta should have commended Ozil for having a spine.
It's Arsenal who've distanced themselves. And that's where it gets stupider when you look from their POV.

Here you have a player at 350k or so, and you dont want to play him because of the backlash.

The plan of action is pretty simple- buy a replacement and sell him (at the very least do the 1st one), and they've done neither
 

B20

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Think it had something to do with his comment calling out the Chinese on their oppression of Uighur Muslims
If that really is true that is despicable from arsenal.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Is Arteta under any media pressure at all? As an outsider, it feels like the media is still treating him like a promising up-and-comer.
 

GMok

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This is simply relegation form. And I see no clear signs that Arteta will turn it around. Has to be sacked by now.

Although Arsenal won't be relegated as Sheffield United, West Brom and Fulham are considerably worse. Brighton play much better football, but can't score anything.

I wonder why he doesn't play his Europa league team in the PL, as they seem to be doing quite well and has the winning momentum.
 

mu4c_20le

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Think it had something to do with his comment calling out the Chinese on their oppression of Uighur Muslims
He was already in a steep decline before he did that, it was simply the final nail in the coffin. Guy can't even finish the full 90 anymore.
 

JPRouve

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The manager he reminds me most of is Houllier.
Both came with a background of sophisticated continental attacking football. Given a missive to rebuild a faltering and porous top side with a weak mentality.
Does so with a fearful defensive approach, freezing out good players who could be an asset in a more expansive side, overly reliant on a pacey goalscorer for points. Spent biggest in their first summer to get a top defensive midfielder in. Heart in the right place though.

Houllier had more tricks up his sleeve tactically though and a much better squad to work with.
What an insult. I don't know what Houllier did to you. :eek: