Qwiss! wrote:

How many windows do people want to give Arteta before they accept that the squad is his? Almost no manager has a squad full of players they signed themselves but if its your 3rd season and you are keeping people, offering them new deals, etc then that's your squad.  The excuses are getting ridiculous at this stage.

Only if it is the manager making all those decisions AND he's not being told it's either/or due to financial restrictions as in you can only have 1 or we need to sell 2-3 before we can buy = then IMO they are not 'his players' other than being inherited.

Captain wrote:

Frankenstein squad or not, he has underperformed Wenger and emery, who both got dumped, but is still in a job.

There is no decent argument for it.

Qwiss! wrote:

How many windows do people want to give Arteta before they accept that the squad is his? Almost no manager has a squad full of players they signed themselves but if its your 3rd season and you are keeping people, offering them new deals, etc then that's your squad. The excuses are getting ridiculous at this stage.

These two posts sum it all up for me. Arteta is a rookie who has no business managing a club our size. He's way out of his depth.

Anzac wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

How many windows do people want to give Arteta before they accept that the squad is his? Almost no manager has a squad full of players they signed themselves but if its your 3rd season and you are keeping people, offering them new deals, etc then that's your squad.  The excuses are getting ridiculous at this stage.

Only if it is the manager making all those decisions AND he's not being told it's either/or due to financial restrictions as in you can only have 1 or we need to sell 2-3 before we can buy = then IMO they are not 'his players' other than being inherited.

Almost every manager works within a budget and has to make decisions within the confines of the clubs financial situation. Arteta has been given more freedom, backing and say on these things that most. How many players has he truly been stuck with from previous managers? Pepe, Laca, Holding, Bellerin are the only ones I can think of who he didn't sign, extend, turn down offers for or choose over other viable options. No one he wanted to keep has been sold out from under him either.

If he can't work effectively with this much backing from the club then he'll never be able to do well here.

£28m offer likely to be accepted.

This was always going to happen. I think we have gone in with a real determination. Arteta and Edu have been given a free hand and it's really dangerous. They could lead us into the absolute dark ages if these signings don't come off. We are spending now, not holding back. We have targeted certain players clearly and are getting our first / second choice.

I don't have an opinion on Ramsdale honestly but he better be good.

spending 80m on a GK and CB in this window is an utterly shambolic use of resources

Jesus I thought we'd dodged this bullet but somehow we're jumping back into the line of fire.

Gazza M wrote:

spending 80m on a GK and CB in this window is an utterly shambolic use of resources

Barring one of them turning out world class this season it's going to be another Pepé summer, except we didn't recently fall out of Champions League and are trying to get back in; we fell out of the Europa League.

It's some of the most dangerous spending I've ever seen from a club in our position. It could literally break us. Good thing we have a well-functioning team for them to settle in and an overperforming manager who is experienced in these matters.

At least Pepe looked world class. Ramsdale has never looked anything above average

absolutely disastrous stuff

what the hell has happened here? this guy has been trash for the last few seasons. and we're paying £28m for him? how? we will likely be selling leno for peanuts then on the other side of the transaction.

this club is broken

What can we do as fans?

We need to get organised.

This is utterly ridiculous, and I want edu and Arteta out of the club this fucking second! How in the world have we found £80 mil to throw away on two players who will not move the needle at all for us this season, and likely never.

Reckless spending like this has sunk clubs before.

An absolute disaster

I refuse to believe this isn't anything other than a massive wind up

Most reports around him, and especially from Sheffield fans, seem to be completely different from what Arsenal fans are saying.

Seems he is a good keeper who had a rough start.

Keepers do come good with time. Martinez looked as good/ as bad as he had done in the League Cup the same season he came through after Leno's injury. The problem is, he is an expensive project and the current regime's eye for talent can't be trusted.

Captain wrote:

Most reports around him, and especially from Sheffield fans, seem to be completely different from what Arsenal fans are saying.

Seems he is a good keeper who had a rough start.

Even if he were good, do you think a) he's 30m good and b) we should be spending 30m on a keeper while Leno is here?

Dear God no. Please, no.

jones wrote:

Captain wrote:

Most reports around him, and especially from Sheffield fans, seem to be completely different from what Arsenal fans are saying.

Seems he is a good keeper who had a rough start.

Even if he were good, do you think a) he's 30m good and b) we should be spending 30m on a keeper while Leno is here?

Not really fussed about the price at this point. Just want to know if he is good or crap and it's very difficult to find a definitive answer. Which probably means he is neither.

Sums it up really. Shambolic

None of it makes a lick of sense. Feel like I'm taking crazy pills. What's the endgame here?