Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

The Purley King

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Honestly after finishing literally mid table for a couple of seasons he’s turned them into exactly what they were before; a team who plays nice football but chokes in the big moments and gets out done in the big games. Yet the press make him about to be a genius? Even in a loss he gets praise. Arsenal are still a couple of levels below what they were under Wenger in 2015 - 2016 when he was hounded out because of games like today.
viewed through the lens of tenure in the role would have expected arsenal to be ahead of Utd and perhaps they were in general play.
there is still a weakness there on transitions and cutting edge.
If arsenal finish top 4 which I think they will that has to be viewed as progress
 

adexkola

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Honestly after finishing literally mid table for a couple of seasons he’s turned them into exactly what they were before; a team who plays nice football but chokes in the big moments and gets out done in the big games. Yet the press make him about to be a genius? Even in a loss he gets praise. Arsenal are still a couple of levels below what they were under Wenger in 2015 - 2016 when he was hounded out because of games like today.
Didn't they win an FA Cup by winning games against big teams?

So far, they still look to be serious contenders for top 4.
 

The Corinthian

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Would be hilarious if they finished outside the top 4 again.
 

Ludens the Red

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Those three subs were some of the worse subs I’ve seen in a game. They literally lost all function after that. Subbed off the left back and emptied out the midfield.
 

lex talionis

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I see lots of reactions to Arteta’s comments but no transcript of what he actually said? What exactly did Arteta blame the defeat on?

As for Arsenal fans, the only bitter comments I’m hearing and reading are about the disallowed goal. It was clearly a foul by Odegaard, but surely we can all understand their frustration. And misery that their streak has ended and dread at the prospect of being reeled back into a fourth place hunt.
 

BorisManUtd

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Think Arteta made them very good team but today was at fault for the loss with those subs.
 

redshaw

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I have never seen him give another team credit. Twat.
Yes he was like that when Arsenal were much poorer as well. Not a thing to say when his Arsenal team had 30-40% possession, playing counters and getting dominated by various teams further down the league yet the rare occasion they did control a game he was very quick to talk about possession, deserving the match and this that and the other.

Anyway, he's done a decent job from where they've come from and built a burgeoning side, it's been a very slow process but the test is can he keep it going.
 

CarbonStoolBites

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Incredibly unlikeable persona.
He looks weird too, I can’t wrap my head around it, maybe it’s something he ate, I don’t know.
 

Bogart-er

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Based on today's performance - I think Arsenal will definitely make top 4. They have enough structure and familiarity/confidence in their system + individual talent to win a majority of games against non top 4 rivals.
 

SinNombre

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Any half-decent manager with that much funding and support for that long should be competitive for a top-4 spot at some point.

Arsenal are a momentum team - 4 of their next 6 fixtures are against Brentford, Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea. A couple more losses and they can very quickly derail.

Their 5 wins were against teams currently in 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th and 20th spots.
 

Gasolin

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Those three subs were some of the worse subs I’ve seen in a game. They literally lost all function after that. Subbed off the left back and emptied out the midfield.
He subbed their best players at once, including Odegaard and Zinchenko. Maybe it was motivated by any kind of fitness issue, but it did destroy them structurally, and then they conceded a magnificent third goal.
 

DLE

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Have you watched the series on Prime? Arteta is a pretty solid guy. He has a clear vision, understands players needs, is a tactical strongman. Enjoyed watching that. But his players are young and easily broken probably.
 

The Mitcher

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Why is it that a much better manager in Emery got less backing and was sacked, but this guy has been given way more backing and actually had arsenal performing worse than Emery had and still survived the sack?
 

The Mitcher

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Have you watched the series on Prime? Arteta is a pretty solid guy. He has a clear vision, understands players needs, is a tactical strongman. Enjoyed watching that. But his players are young and easily broken probably.
Why would you trust anything that comes out of that documentary? They aren't exactly going to edit episodes of him looking incompetent are they?
 

amolbhatia50k

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The two managers changes after the hour mark couldn't have a more different impact. In our case Fred added so much in terms of ball winning and Ronaldo gave us presence upfront. Arsenals changes made them porus at the back and lose control in the middle.
 

Desert Eagle

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Will give him some credit. They look organized and clearly well coached. Still think his man management will let him down though.
 

HayabusaUtd

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Will give him some credit. They look organized and clearly well coached. Still think his man management will let him down though.
He's had 3 years and half a billion to spend. Any half decent coach could do what he's done.

8th 8th 5th.

Reckon if brendan Rodgers got the Arsenal job 3 years ago he'd have done the exact same thing probably gotten Top 4 in that time based on what he did with Leicester with a much worse squad.

Absolute Fraud of a Manager. Good coach? Sure, so is Potter, Eddie Howe and Rodgers himself and a bunch of other coaches in the league. Difference is they don't have the budget Mikel has had(up to now of course newcastle will have in the future) Nor do they get Charity offerings from the Best team in the League. Sick of the media acting like he's all that and giving him endless Praise forgetting this guy has spent a fortune and hasn't even finished Top 4 once.

Ole has had a much inferior group of players and finished 3rd and 2nd in both his full seasons but he gets absolutely trashed by the Media.

Its about being a company man and not speaking out in the media too much I reckon.
Being Peps Lapdog helps them buy Citys casts off for cheap.
 
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Desert Eagle

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He's had 3 years and half a billion to spend. Any half decent coach could do what he's done.

8th 8th 5th.

Reckon if brendan Rodgers got the Arsenal job 3 years ago he'd have done the exact same thing probably gotten Top 4 in that time based on what he did with Leicester with a much worse squad.

Absolute Fraud of a Manager. Good coach? Sure, so is Potter, Eddie Howe and Rodgers himself and a bunch of other coaches in the league. Difference is they don't have the budget Mikel has had(up to now of course newcastle will have in the future) Nor do they get Charity offerings from the Best team in the League. Sick of the media acting like he's all that and giving him endless Praise forgetting this guy has spent a fortune and hasn't even finished Top 4 once.

Ole has had a much inferior group of players and finished 3rd and 2nd in both his full seasons but he gets absolutely trashed by the Media.
I'm with you, I just didn't even think he was half decent but I'll grant him that now.
 

GoonerBear

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He's had 3 years and half a billion to spend. Any half decent coach could do what he's done.

8th 8th 5th.

Reckon if brendan Rodgers got the Arsenal job 3 years ago he'd have done the exact same thing probably gotten Top 4 in that time based on what he did with Leicester with a much worse squad.

Absolute Fraud of a Manager. Good coach? Sure, so is Potter, Eddie Howe and Rodgers himself and a bunch of other coaches in the league. Difference is they don't have the budget Mikel has had(up to now of course newcastle will have in the future) Nor do they get Charity offerings from the Best team in the League. Sick of the media acting like he's all that and giving him endless Praise forgetting this guy has spent a fortune and hasn't even finished Top 4 once.

Ole has had a much inferior group of players and finished 3rd and 2nd in both his full seasons but he gets absolutely trashed by the Media.



Being Peps Lapdog helps them buy Citys casts off for cheap.
Half a billion??? :lol: Only Chelsea have spent that in Arteta's time, and the next closest to that are Man Utd!
 

Adisa

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His game management after it went 2-1 was suicidal. Could have easily ended 5/6-1
 

Samid

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Hope he gets top 4 behind us. I’m worried that another finish outside of top 4 would mean they go after Potter. KAAA.

Best case they finish with a point more than last year but still outside top 4. Can’t sack him after making that kind of progress.
 

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He looks like he was drawn on Microsoft Paint. Incredibly annoying - it’ll be interesting to see how he does against other decent teams.
 

GoonerBear

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I think he even said "as we all are", to be fair.
Used to hate Keane as a rival fan. A Man Utd legend and Celtic fan.

I can't help but love him as a pundit though. Even his more light hearted interviews and things with the likes of Gary Neville.

Reminds me of Karl Pilkinton a bit moaning about everything that's wrong with modern football and players. He's brilliant. :D
 

Mike Smalling

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Used to hate Keane as a rival fan. A Man Utd legend and Celtic fan.

I can't help but love him as a pundit though. Even his more light hearted interviews and things with the likes of Gary Neville.

Reminds me of Karl Pilkinton a bit moaning about everything that's wrong with modern football and players. He's brilliant. :D
Yeah, this mellowed down version of him with his grumpy old man shtick is pretty endearing, in my opinion. He has a great sense of humor and his dry delivery is usually great. Loved his bit of banter with Eriksen about his goals vs. Ireland as well :D
As for him calling Arteta a sore loser, I didn't really understand it. Arteta rightly said that they lost the game, because they were not cynical enough and lost concentration in key moments. How often do you actually hear a manager praising the opposition after a high intensity rival game?
 

DLE

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Why would you trust anything that comes out of that documentary? They aren't exactly going to edit episodes of him looking incompetent are they?
You can tell what is genuine and what isn’t. Alo., hard to edit out a loss and his reaction, isn’t it?
 

eire-red

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Up until 70 minutes we were playing well and we were just less clinical with our chances, which isn’t really something you can blame Arteta for.

However, that triple substitution was poor in-game management. We were creating chances as it was, I don’t see why he deciding to rip up a game plan that was going ok.

Hopefully he’ll learn from it.
I don't really remember De Gea making many saves, just the one from Martinelli. That 15min spell after half time, I definitely thought we were gonna concede, but that was the only part of the match I truly thought Arsenal dominated and actually looked dangerous. I thought United looked dangerous every time they attacked and there were more goals for us if we wanted them.

As for Arteta, I remember Ole making similar substitutions at home against someone in the CL, PSG maybe. Completely derailed the balance and shape of the team. I always hated when managers throw the kitchen sink at it with 20 mins to go. Do it in added time, because it rarely works and more often than not upsets the balance of play.
 

sugar_kane

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The absolute desperation in the media to build this guy up as an elite manager continues, even when they've been beaten 3-1.

They played generally quite well yesterday, and are clearly improved from when he took over (although the Jesus signing is a big part of that) but the guy's team lost by a two goal margin for fecks sake, if you heard the post match chatter and hadn't seen the scoreline you'd have assumed they'd won convincingly.
 

romufc

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The absolute desperation in the media to build this guy up as an elite manager continues, even when they've been beaten 3-1.

They played generally quite well yesterday, and are clearly improved from when he took over (although the Jesus signing is a big part of that) but the guy's team lost by a two goal margin for fecks sake, if you heard the post match chatter and hadn't seen the scoreline you'd have assumed they'd won convincingly.
You know what I find funny, if Ten Hag played his football, out the back and build up and we lost, alot of Pundits would be saying, he is naïve, you cannot play that against a pressing team etc.

Yet, when a manager comes in and plays to United's strength, playing in behind, they clap the manager.

I remember Pep and Klopp coming to OT a few years ago under Ole and played differently because they didn;t want to get hurt on the counter.

Arteta came and played a high line against the pace, yet gets no criticism.