Expect 3 at the back in the next 2. Arteta has 2 ideas, neither work but he'll flip to his other one now.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

ive been droning on and on about the lack of athleticism and power in our team so im not going to keep saying it. but we are absolutely shambolic in that department. teams just bully us and play us off the pitch. second best to every 50/50, no urgency in our play at all. did brentford have an easier game in the championship last season in that regard? doubtful.

its embarrassing.

IF we're going to stick with a 2 CM midfield under any shape or style, then we need to identify what the needs/roles are - do we look to regain possession or are we after someone able to progress with the ball at feet = Bissouma for the former and Anguissa for the latter.  IF you're concerned about them going to AFCON then sign their equivalent options that will not see the starting midfield depart mid-season at the same time, and/or change your shape if you need to sign more than 1 player to perform the role.

i hate the idea of playing a 2 man midfield. i want to see a dynamic, athletic, powerful CM in the middle of the midfield, and two workhorse box to box CMs on either side of him, with 3 attackers, either a 10 + 2 strikers or 3 traditional forwards (wings, one CF)

mdgoonah41 wrote:

i hate the idea of playing a 2 man midfield. i want to see a dynamic, athletic, powerful CM in the middle of the midfield, and two workhorse box to box CMs on either side of him, with 3 attackers, either a 10 + 2 strikers or 3 traditional forwards (wings, one CF)

As I said we never actually consider HOW it is all meant to work together rather than looking at each part in isolation (Defence, Midfield & Attack).  It's how we end up with a Frankenstein squad and the components don't fit.

RC8 wrote:

By all means sack Arteta, but it's silly to act all shocked when we field a midtable team, tell them to play like Man City, and they play like a midtable team.

I think it's the fact that no one is acting shocked (indeed, that most could see this coming) that is so damning. We've spent so much money and time on this midtable team, and the most obvious template is not Manchester City; it's very clearly David Moyes's Everton. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it. That's the manager who gave Arteta a chance, the side where he spent a decade of his career, it's where his football identity and a lot of his character as a person comes from. He might have played for Barca's youth team and Wenger's Arsenal and idolised Guardiola as a player, but his tactical ideas as a manager have clearly had Moyes written all over them in huge red letters since the first moment he stepped onto London Colney in a coaching capacity. He's even added Steve Round, Moyes's assistant at Everton and Manchester United, to his own backroom staff.

Predictably, he has done to us what Moyes did to United too. The only difference is we've had the poor judgement to stick with him when it was so clear that he's way out of his depth at this level.

Atmosphere is going to be toxic very soon unless we improve our play and get results.

Stop dicking about and get a powerful striker.

Klaus wrote:
RC8 wrote:

By all means sack Arteta, but it's silly to act all shocked when we field a midtable team, tell them to play like Man City, and they play like a midtable team.

I think it's the fact that no one is acting shocked (indeed, that most could see this coming) that is so damning. We've spent so much money and time on this midtable team, and the most obvious template is not Manchester City; it's very clearly David Moyes's Everton. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it. That's the manager who gave Arteta a chance, the side where he spent a decade of his career, it's where his football identity and a lot of his character as a person comes from. He might have played for Barca's youth team and idolised Guardiola as a player, but his tactical ideas as a manager have clearly had Moyes written all over them in huge red letters since the first moment he stepped onto London Colney in a coaching capacity.

So many pundits I heard this week were predicting a Brentford win. This isn't a shock at all.

How long before Partey asks to leave?
How long will Saka & Co resist the lure of CL football, let alone a club that is actually competent and has ambition to match?

Qwiss! wrote:

Expect 3 at the back in the next 2. Arteta has 2 ideas, neither work but he'll flip to his other one now.

Expect the expected. This will happen for sure. Probably sacrificing Pepe or our only forward

Just bring Wenger back as manager and DoF, then next season we can hire another manager with Wenger staying as DoF. I cannot see any other solution that would work rather quickly.

Yeah pretty much what Bayern did with Heckynes. Other than Conte all the other good managers aren't available anyway

AAStyle- wrote:

Just bring Wenger back as manager and DoF, then next season we can hire another manager with Wenger staying as DoF. I cannot see any other solution that would work rather quickly.

I suspect that would work out about as well as LvG as DoF at Ajax to Koeman as the manager, with the club being refurbished in AW's vision = no thank you.

I said he would be gone in November. I think I was wrong. It will be sooner than that.

Brentford result was unacceptable, he should be gone tomorrow.

Imagine being that bad in the first match of the season against a promoted team. Big fucking red flag there if you couldn't see all of them last season

Best we can hope for are big losses against Chelsea and City and a toxic booing Emirates against Norwich. Fail to win that and I don't think he'll be around after.

Klaus wrote:
RC8 wrote:

By all means sack Arteta, but it's silly to act all shocked when we field a midtable team, tell them to play like Man City, and they play like a midtable team.

I think it's the fact that no one is acting shocked (indeed, that most could see this coming) that is so damning. We've spent so much money and time on this midtable team, and the most obvious template is not Manchester City; it's very clearly David Moyes's Everton. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Nah. As a Spaniard I know perfectly well the type of football Arteta is trying to play. We saw glimpses of it when he first took over and players were overexerting themselves for the new boss. It's a very physically and technically demanding style that requires lots of running, positional awareness, and players to pass the ball quickly and precisely over long distances to stretch out the opposition. It's also one of the most painful things to watch when players are not technically gifted (or confident) enough to carry it out.

Arsenal seems to have been the wrong career move for Arteta. He was better off waiting it out at City to see if he'd be given a chance with a super squad. He might have had luck, then... but with this Arsenal squad I doubt even peak Wenger could get us into 4th without some substantial luck along the way.