Mikel Arteta | Lego Pep watch

[sglowrider]

I get what he means to a degree. The Ozil & Sanchez years were disappointing because they’re coloured by hindsight. They didn’t amount to anything. But at the time, it felt exciting, it felt like progress. Who’s to say in three, four, five years we’re not looking back at 2023 as another false dawn.

I can just about understand that viewpoint. But don’t agree with it. Arsenal feel different and one of the major differences I think is we have a modern manager now in Arteta who is tactically astute. I love Arsene, he’s our clubs greatest servant, I grew up under his stewardship and idolised the man. However, I do think little by little the game got away from him. Naivety crept into his set-up and we never really put ourselves in a position to challenge properly.

Arteta, love him or hate him, is a very intelligent manager and a product of the modern tactical approach. I have the utmost confidence Arteta can be adaptable and find ways to navigate superior teams or clever set-ups if necessary. Time will tell whether we'll kick on and properly challenge, or this will be another "almost" ignition.

I find the use of the term 'modern manager' odd. It should be contemporary or something that reflects cutting edge or something relative to its time.

'Modern' is relative.

Arsen was reputed to be a 'modern manager' when he came -- with all his 'modern' ideas etc. But as time went out he became more of a relic.

 

[MO_Football92]

If your talking about 15/16 when we also finished 2nd, we might have conceded less, but we also scored 23 goals less as well.

But that team didn't play with a front three plus Wilshere, Cazorla, Coquelin and Alexis missed large parts of the season. If they'd been fit, we'd of won the league.

 

[Powderfinger]

But that team didn't play with a front three plus Wilshere, Cazorla, Coquelin and Alexis missed large parts of the season. If they'd been fit, we'd of won the league.

Injuries hurt (esp Cazorla) but that team was just mentally weak and incapable of sustaining form.

We have a good early season run, get a huge win 2-1 against City in December...and follow that up by getting blasted 4-0 at Southampton.

We steady the ship with a couple wins...then blow a lead at Anfield to a 90th minute equalizer and fail to win the three following games, scoring zero goals.

We get a massive win against Leicester on the last minute Welbeck winner that brings us back into the title race...and immediately follow that up by losing to one of the worst United teams we've ever faced and then at home to Swansea.

That should have been our year but honestly it just wasn't a title winning team and not because of injuries.

 

[DJ_21]

Most refs are crap and deserve being mocked.

True but most people get punished for it… or maybe just our managers.

 

[MO_Football92]

Injuries hurt (esp Cazorla) but that team was just mentally weak and incapable of sustaining form.

We have a good early season run, get a huge win 2-1 against City in December...and follow that up by getting blasted 4-0 at Southampton.

We steady the ship with a couple wins...then blow a lead at Anfield to a 90th minute equalizer and fail to win the three following games, scoring zero goals.

We get a massive win against Leicester on the last minute Welbeck winner that brings us back into the title race...and immediately follow that up by losing to one of the worst United teams we've ever faced and then at home to Swansea.

That should have been our year but honestly it just wasn't a title winning team and not because of injuries.

It was because of injuries, come on. I know the team let themselves down in terms of mentality. But you can't tell me one team who've had that many injuries and won something.

Arteta our captain at the time, also injured for most of that season. Unlike this Arsenal side, we were in the CL and FA Cup till the quarter finals too.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

That should have been our year but honestly it just wasn't a title winning team and not because of injuries.

Sounds pretty much like your team last year

 

[RedC]

Sounds pretty much like your team last year

Ouch.

 

[The Mitcher]

Sounds pretty much like your team last year

Zing!

 

[Joel Miller]

Injuries hurt (esp Cazorla) but that team was just mentally weak and incapable of sustaining form.

We have a good early season run, get a huge win 2-1 against City in December...and follow that up by getting blasted 4-0 at Southampton.

We steady the ship with a couple wins...then blow a lead at Anfield to a 90th minute equalizer and fail to win the three following games, scoring zero goals.

We get a massive win against Leicester on the last minute Welbeck winner that brings us back into the title race...and immediately follow that up by losing to one of the worst United teams we've ever faced and then at home to Swansea.

That should have been our year but honestly it just wasn't a title winning team and not because of injuries.

Cazorla was a brilliant player to watch. One of the most two footed players I’ve ever seen. Really likeable guy too. The injury that nearly ended his career was absolutely brutal!

 

[Tom Cato]

Most refs are crap and deserve being mocked.

Its almost as if you deserve to not have refs and not be able to play games because of it.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Most refs are crap and deserve being mocked.

You clearly haven’t considered what the average IQ of a PL player is. Three inches smaller, they’d be digging ditches.

You're gonna be a great addition to the Caf.

 

[Halftrack]

...and immediately follow that up by losing to one of the worst United teams we've ever faced and then at home to Swansea.

Christ, that team. Rashford in his second ever professional game, Schneiderlin, Depay, Lingard, Rojo and Varela starting, Blind and Carrick at CB. Yeah, losing to that cobbled together "team" was definitely a sign of mental frailty.

Wasn't that the game where van Gaal took a dive on the sidelines?

 

[11101]

New 40m signing gets a knock before half time, you're in total control and have subs available, but you keep him on anyway and then he gets properly fecked 5 mins later and has to go off. Genius management.

 

[rimaldo]

New 40m signing gets a knock before half time, you're in total control and have subs available, but you keep him on anyway and then he gets properly fecked 5 mins later and has to go off. Genius management.

it shows every other player that no one is bigger than the club.

 

[Zoo]

Al these new directives but he’s he still allowed to continuously encroach on the pitch.

 

[Daydreamer]

New 40m signing gets a knock before half time, you're in total control and have subs available, but you keep him on anyway and then he gets properly fecked 5 mins later and has to go off. Genius management.

This was pretty mystifying. He was on a yellow as well.

Anyway, three points on the board.

 

[Garnacho's Shoelaces]

Al these new directives but he’s he still allowed to continuously encroach on the pitch.

Utterly frustrating when you look at the bans/fines Mourinho regularly collected for comments in post-match interviews throughout his career in the PL but Arteta is allowed to do a faux hardman act like while bouncing around like a kid on Haribo without any reprimand.

 

[GoonerGirly]

Weird formation from him. Just about worked but would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Johnson scored his chance.

 

[Donaldo]

He's going to go full Pep this season, isn't he.

 

[Amarsdd]

He's going to go full Pep this season, isn't he.

I wouldn't be surprised if he shaved off his hair at some point this season.

 

[Captmfla]

Arsenal has a bloated squad. It will be hard for Arteta to keep the players happy if they don't keep winning. Buying Havertz is ridiculous when the squad already has so many competent attackers and Havertz is just a 1 in 4 games scorer as forward (centre).

Defence is also bloated. No way Zinchenko or Tierney or Tomi wants to sit on the bench for long.

 

[Chief123]

Al these new directives but he’s he still allowed to continuously encroach on the pitch.

There’s nothing more annoying than seeing him bounce up and down the touch line. His actions probably offer very little value.

 

[Chief123]

Weird formation from him. Just about worked but would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Johnson scored his chance.

I’m guessing Arteta just thought rather than playing an inverted full back in a CDM position he might as well have a specialised player there. He probably assumed they would be in that shape most of the game as it’s Forest at home.

To be fair it should have been a lot more comfortable win than it ended up so I think the formation didn’t work too badly.

 

[Irrational.]

Still as irritating as ever.

 

[The Cat]

There’s nothing more annoying than seeing him bounce up and down the touch line. His actions probably offer very little value.

Very little if you are say behind him at 90 quid a ticket

 

[Rossa]

I wouldn't be surprised if he shaved off his hair at some point this season.

Not sure that would be possible. No way that hair comes off.

 

[OsloRed]

Not sure that would be possible. No way that hair comes off.

I thought it just pops off whenever he needs to dry clean it.

 

[RDCR07]

I dislike him so much. So hyper for no reason. fecking calm down mate. Hope he doesn’t win anything this year.

 

[Daydreamer]

I’m guessing Arteta just thought rather than playing an inverted full back in a CDM position he might as well have a specialised player there. He probably assumed they would be in that shape most of the game as it’s Forest at home.

To be fair it should have been a lot more comfortable win than it ended up so I think the formation didn’t work too badly.

This is exactly how it ended up in the second half. It went from Partey inverted from RB to us straight up playing a 3-2-4-1.

 

[Samid]

Fans aren't happy with Lego's formation change and tinkering.

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[Plastic Evra]

Guess we share more with the Fam than we thought.

 

[marktan]

Got lucky with not signing Mudryk and instead getting Trossard (who I rate highly). Decided to go undo that by spunking £170m on Rice and Havertz

 

[maniak]

feckin hell, a draw and people go crazy...

 

[awop]

I really hope Arteta's ego can allow him to quickly revert back this Havertz experiment.
He's a very expensive tall option up front to finish off games. Nothing else. Too slow, off tempo and is ruining Martinelli who is already showing signs of discontent with every missed pass. Our left side looks dead at the moment. Plus almost all our crosses are now aimed at him and he's not getting them. If you can't use your main attribute then what's the point.
Trossard wasn't great today but he must be livid to be taken off before him.

 

[sullydnl]

If Talksport, AFTV and Piers Morgan all think it's a bad idea, I'd stick with it.

 

[Herschel Krustofsky]

If Talksport, AFTV and Piers Morgan all think it's a bad idea, I'd stick with it.

Was thinking exactly the same!

Circle of clowns

 

[WeePat]

Every single Arsenal fan I know in real life have given up on Havertz 3 games in. Not a single ‘oh it’s early days let’s give him time’ amongst them. And honestly what I see online matches that sentiment. Didn’t think the fans would turn on him this quickly.

 

[sullydnl]

Interesting parallel between Havertz and Mount. Both AMs, both signed from Chelsea, both bought because their managers want to operate double AM systems, both prompting some heavy scepticism from some of their new club's fans on the merit of that tactical set-up and/or the player's innate quality.

 

[The Purley King]

I really hope Arteta's ego can allow him to quickly revert back this Havertz experiment.
He's a very expensive tall option up front to finish off games. Nothing else. Too slow, off tempo and is ruining Martinelli who is already showing signs of discontent with every missed pass. Our left side looks dead at the moment. Plus almost all our crosses are now aimed at him and he's not getting them. If you can't use your main attribute then what's the point.
Trossard wasn't great today but he must be livid to be taken off before him.

The transfer fee and £300k? Per week seems to me he won’t bail after 3 games.
If only based on observations of other managers, including ETH and Antony, it’ll take at least half a season for them to give up a busted flush and maybe not even then.
Klopp isn’t starting Nunez now, but that took a while as well.
I think ego prohibits what most of us can see immediately and in many cases before the transfer was made.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Interesting parallel between Havertz and Mount. Both AMs, both signed from Chelsea, both bought because their managers want to operate double AM systems, both prompting some heavy scepticism from some of their new club's fans on the merit of that tactical set-up and/or the player's innate quality.

Yup. Although, unlike Havertz, Mount has previously produced one or two good seasons of PL football.