Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

The holy trinity 68

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That’s absolutely splendid news. 3 wins on the bounce, that will keep Lego Pep in the job until the end of the season.
My post was slightly tongue in cheek, but 3 wins in the bounce certainly beats 3 defeats on the bounce, so I'll take that I suppose.

It's 2 wins in a row not 3. And them wins have both been been close 1-0 wins against Burnley who wil be fighting relegation, and Norwich who are definitely getting relegated.
 

GoonerBear

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It's 2 wins in a row not 3. And them wins have both been been close 1-0 wins against Burnley who wil be fighting relegation, and Norwich who are definitely getting relegated.
I forgot West Brom in the cup was before Man City, apologies.
 

The holy trinity 68

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I forgot West Brom in the cup was before Man City, apologies.

Well even then, Arsenal have won them games because they are against teams fighting relegation or are in the division below.

We will know where Arsenal are at after another few weeks of fixtures.

At present the league is kind of evened out for them as they have had to play Chelsea and City and then easier teams. So it's probably unfair to judge them too harshly at present.

Aside from the Brentford game, every other result has been quite expected really.
 

GoonerBear

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Well even then, Arsenal have won them games because they are against teams fighting relegation or are in the division below.

We will know where Arsenal are at after another few weeks of fixtures.

At present the league is kind of evened out for them as they have had to play Chelsea and City and then easier teams. So it's probably unfair to judge them too harshly at present.

Aside from the Brentford game, every other result has been quite expected really.
Yep, totally agree. Spurs game on Sunday a big game for both teams, then Brighton, Palace, Villa & Leicester. Awkward games on paper, but will give a good indication of where we are. Good test for the new GK & defence as well.
 

Hansi Fick

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On reconsideration, 2 points per game over the season, 76 points, usually gets you into top 4 rather comfortably, so that might be a tad high as a bare minimum target.

Looking at those first 10 games, I do think that's the average you must get in those, there's a lot of lower table opponents = must win games in there, on top of big games of which a couple have a special relevance.
But I will maybe correct it down to 18 points. But then, there's no excuses.

Brentford (A) - 3
Chelsea (H) - 1
City (A) - 0
Norwich (H) - 3
Burnley (A) - 3
Spurs (H) - 1
Brighton (A) - 1
Palace (H) - 3
Villa (H) - 3
Leicester (A) - 0

or

Brentford (A) - 3
Chelsea (H) - 0
City (A) - 0
Norwich (H) - 3
Burnley (A) - 3
Spurs (H) - 3
Brighton (A) - 1
Palace (H) - 3
Villa (H) - 1
Leicester (A) - 1

Something like that. Anything worse, he should be sacked right away.

Palace at home I have as an absolute must win. There's a few things you cannot afford to have happen as a manager. Like Moyes could not afford to lose at home to Everton, Arteta certainly must beat a Vieira-coached Palace.
So he's got 6 points from the first 5 games, in order to reach the 18 points from 10 games benchmark we set as a bare minimum, he needs 12 points, or 4 wins from the next 5 games. It's not impossible..
 

GoonerBear

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So he's got 6 points from the first 5 games, in order to reach the 18 points from 10 games benchmark we set as a bare minimum, he needs 12 points, or 4 wins from the next 5 games. It's not impossible..
Yep, I've been keeping an eye on this as well. ;)
Don't like to look too far ahead mind you, Spurs is a big game for both clubs / managers you feel. Think it's been over 10 years since Spurs won at The Emirates in the league, so if we had to lose that 1 you would imagine the fans would not be happy at all.
 

Hansi Fick

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Yep, I've been keeping an eye on this as well. ;)
Don't like to look too far ahead mind you, Spurs is a big game for both clubs / managers you feel. Think it's been over 10 years since Spurs won at The Emirates in the league, so if we had to lose that 1 you would imagine the fans would not be happy at all.
Sure, losing the NLD at home would be very bad. And then you already lost to Chelsea at home.
I mean you don't have to convince me, I'd replace Arteta yesterday. But in terms of points, he could still reach our benchmark which with 1.8 points per game isn't actually very low. And ultimately, points matter most.

I don't think you'll lose against Spurs though. That game has draw written all over it. And then I don't see you beating all of Brighton, Palace, Villa and Leicester either.
 

GoonerBear

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Sure, losing the NLD at home would be very bad. And then you already lost to Chelsea at home.
I mean you don't have to convince me, I'd replace Arteta yesterday. But in terms of points, he could still reach our benchmark which with 1.8 points per game isn't actually very low. And ultimately, points matter most.

I don't think you'll lose against Spurs though. That game has draw written all over it. And then I don't see you beating all of Brighton, Palace, Villa and Leicester either.
I often play down our chances because I'm a bit of a pessimist but I'm fairly confident going into Spurs that we won't lose at least. Its very early days but I'm a bit happier with the personnel & make up of the defence + Partey currently. My worry is still that we don't have enough goals in the forward line, we really need that to start clicking soon, otherwise the games coming up will be more of a slog.
 

Dancfc

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I often play down our chances because I'm a bit of a pessimist but I'm fairly confident going into Spurs that we won't lose at least. Its very early days but I'm a bit happier with the personnel & make up of the defence + Partey currently. My worry is still that we don't have enough goals in the forward line, we really need that to start clicking soon, otherwise the games coming up will be more of a slog.
Even though it pretty much wrote them off as a threat I was pissed when Nuno went to Spurs.

He murdered almost every Wolves/Chelsea game with his tactics.
 

GoonerBear

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Even though it pretty much wrote them off as a threat I was pissed when Nuno went to Spurs.

He murdered almost every Wolves/Chelsea game with his tactics.
Yeah, he defo was a weird choice after Mourinho considering after Levy left he made a point of talking about Spurs finding their attacking identity again.

He got 6 points vs Arsenal last year so he'll be confident, the home game was part of that horrific run we had at the start of last season, & the away game we were playing well & winning until a Luiz blunder & red card swung the game.

Considering where both teams are a draw might be the most realistic score line but I'd be disappointed with that at home.
 

Tony247

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awop

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https://www.skysports.com/transfer/...ialists-like-aaron-ramsdale-and-thomas-partey

Sky’s latest piece on the best manager in the league.

Meanwhile I’ve lost count of how many negative articles ive seen about Solskjaer just because we are out of the Mickey Mouse cup.

Im not usually one for complaining about biased media and all that, but there really does seem to be some agenda here.
There's a NLD derby coming up, Arsenal won, Tottenham lost and you lost to West Ham. United underperformed, these "articles" just write themselves, what did you expect ?
So much doom and gloom about nothing journalism... You'll probably be fighting for the title until the end, just cheer up, stop being miserable :p
 

ThierryHenry14

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Or those are Arsenal promoted articles?
This is more like Arteta got the players he wanted and no more excuses. I think he will still have the whole season to implement his idea. Top 4 chance is slim this season. it is a work in progress. A top 6 finish would be a success for Arteta.
 

MO_Football92

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This is more like Arteta got the players he wanted and no more excuses. I think he will still have the whole season to implement his idea. Top 4 chance is slim this season. it is a work in progress. A top 6 finish would be a success for Arteta.
Top 6 should never be deemed success for this club. But given the managerial situation; your not wrong, unfortunately.

If we get top 6 and win the Fa Cup, I'll be very happy with that.
 

ThierryHenry14

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Top 6 should never be deemed success for this club. But given the managerial situation; your not wrong, unfortunately.

If we get top 6 and win the Fa Cup, I'll be very happy with that.
Arsenal's wage bill sits at 5th in EPL so in theory if arsenal finish the season below 5th it is a failure. In reality given where we were for the past 2 season a top 6 finish with european football qualification next season it is a success to me. We were spoiled by Wenger and took top 4 finished for granted.

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/
 

Rooney in Paris

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There's a NLD derby coming up, Arsenal won, Tottenham lost and you lost to West Ham. United underperformed, these "articles" just write themselves, what did you expect ?
So much doom and gloom about nothing journalism... You'll probably be fighting for the title until the end, just cheer up, stop being miserable :p
That's absolutely not the point though.
 

awop

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That's absolutely not the point though.
What is the point then ? Comparing the treatment of Arteta and Ole is dumb. They are in two completely different situations at two very different clubs. Plus that article is merely stating what everyone has been saying from day 1 and the shock defeat against Brentford. They're not calling him the best manager in the league, far from that. Every Sky pundits is taking their turn to mock Arsenal's start of the season when it's not the last 2 years. What's the point in getting mad about it, part of it is true, part of it is shite stirring to get everyone talking.
The same applies to United, you're only week 3 in the Ronaldo is coming home circus. If getting kicked out by Mark Noble's army is not enough to warrant a few bad articles about Ole, what is ?
 

MO_Football92

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Arsenal's wage bill sits at 5th in EPL so in theory if arsenal finish the season below 5th it is a failure. In reality given where we were for the past 2 season a top 6 finish with european football qualification next season it is a success to me. We were spoiled by Wenger and took top 4 finished for granted.

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/
You know I follow that logic but we really should be challenging for fourth with this squad. Apart from City, Liverpool and Chelsea I don't fear many of the other sides. Your bang on about Arsene; we had it too good under him
 

Hansi Fick

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I mean, it's fairly simply. As long he keeps winning, he can stay. Safe to say he won't though.
 

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They've made a good recovery from the terrible start. 9 points from that fixture list doesn't look bad now.
 

Zen86

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I’d love to know who his PR team are, they’re doing a sterling job of getting the media to undeservedly blow smoke up his arse at every opportunity.
 

Klopper76

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They lost three hard games and won three easier ones. Jury is still out.
 

tinfish

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Coincides with the fact our full squad is pretty much available and the team is gelling. Remember its one of the the youngest squads in the league.

Ramsdale - 23
Tomiyasu - 22
White - 23
Gabriel - 23
Tierney - 24
Xhaka - 28
Partey - 28
Saka - 20
Odegaard - 22
Smith Rowe - 21
Aubameyang - 32

That was our starting lineup today. Very young and inexperienced to be fair. Not the way I want Arsenal to go forward but it seems our status as a club has diminished to the point where we have to change tact.

Only point that took the polish off our win is that Arteta was too slow to make subs when we were clearly tiring. That enabled Son to grab the goal and ruin our clean sheet.

I'm still Arteta out if we can find a massive upgrade (Conte for example).
 

Dec9003

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Played some good stuff today, he’s got a few talented youngsters in that side
 

trims

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Didn’t outsmart him last season. A stupid penalty gave him a win and it was 0-0 in the return
He beat Ole the season before, in a comprehensive 2-0 win. He seems to have a hoodoo over Ole.

Can see a civil war erupting here if it happens again in a few weeks
 

AshRK

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So he took four points from us despite having a much weaker squad
Just like Ole took 4 points from Pep despite having a much weaker squad last season. Doesn't mean Ole is a better manager than Pep.