Clrnc Who knows what would have happened if we took Arteta back then

I think working under Pep for a bit longer didn't do Mikel any harm!

Also sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before tough decisions are made. We were at rock bottom and had big expensive decisions to make and the club backed him.

    Replacing an institution-defining leader is almost always an impossible task in the short term. We needed a transitional manager. I will always be fond of Emery for having filled that role honorably.

    Worth adding that the club's internal hierarchy was such a hot mess that any manager was set up to fail. Not sure Arteta would have been much more (if at all) successful at that point.

    The only thing in his favour is his more assertive force of will but not sure that would have been enough to wrangle things into place at that point.

      Don Pacifico I do think some of the things with Arteta which gave me hope was; he had a vision of how to bring us back; he could clearly articulate that vision (as he did at his first presser) and; perhaps most importantly, he understood how big Arsenal is and how far ouw standards done fell.

      I don't think Emery had any of that.

      Which isn't to say taking over from Arsene, especially with things as they were in the back office, wouldn't have been a hospital pass. I just think Arteta would have dealt with it better than Emery.

          Don Pacifico Worth adding that the club's internal hierarchy was such a hot mess that any manager was set up to fail.

          Definitely. You don't need to look longer than Pepe. He was our record signing at the time and the manager didn't even want him. 😆 This would never happen today.

            RocktheCasbah he could clearly articulate that vision

            Don't know what you're talking about...Unai made it very clear he wanted us to be protagonists! 😄

            I'm not sure it's necessarily quite what you meant but I agree the communication aspect (ie. Arteta's bilingual to Unai's 'good ebening') was important in terms or landing ideas with the players.

                Don Pacifico I'm not sure it's necessarily quite what you meant but I agree the communication aspect (ie. Arteta's bilingual to Unai's 'good ebening') was important in terms or landing ideas with the players.

                Oh, it's absolutely what I meant. 😉

                I also bear Emery no ill will, but even now I listen to his mangled English (albeit much improved from 2018) and wonder how the hell we were expecting this guy to lead Arsenal six years ago.

                  RocktheCasbah I just think Arteta would have dealt with it better than Emery.

                  Arteta's lucky he didn't have to deal with much of the crappy Sanllehi moment. One thing is however certain, Emery would not have had the patience and inclination to push through Arteta's holistic changes.

                  Remember when we were raising our eyebrows about Arteta's life-size cutouts of Wenger at Colney? That idiosyncratic stuff has ended up working.

                      HomeSteak With his girthy Rolodex. Was an idiotic appointment. We saw what a mug Gazidis really was over that year or two.

                        RocktheCasbah I doubt it. I think the owners needed Emery to realise how rotten things were. The dressing room had too much sway under Emery and I don't think Arteta gets the power to move on from that without it. Plus covid took some pressure off, etc Its all just lined up nicely in terms of timing. You need that luck sometimes.

                          18 days later

                          Kevin Campbell is seriously ill in hospital apparently, he's suffered kidney failure. Fingers crossed he can pull through but it doesn't sound good.

                          Just read that, hope he pulls through!

                          5 days later

                          Didn't Pep once say they had dozens like Wilshere in La Masia?

                          They clearly didn't.

                          JazzG Worth pointing out that was Petr Cech he did that to, not some no-mark celebrity keeper!

                          Never fails to amaze me just how young he still is.

                            5 days later

                            I wanted to be mad.

                            But I couldn't.

                            This motherfucker was class. Imagine a peak van Persie quality striker right now. We'd be mega

                              flobaba Two goals from December 2007 to August 2008 🥲

                              They oughta make fixture annotations like that mandatory for goal compilations.

                              If you're watching the brief snatches of the goal celebrations, you can feel his ego and standoffishness. But he was a stunningly good striker (in the most literal sense).