goon wrote:
I think far too many clubs look to CVs and reputation without actually looking at whether or not someone is a good fit - whether they're rookies or seasoned pros.
It's about the manager's relationship with the club too. Take Conte at Spurs, he's improving them fast relative to Nuno, but he won't stay at Spurs over time. Spurs are Spurs, Levy is canny in the market, but also impatient and self-sabotaging.
The two strongest clubs in this league have established technical continuity.
I had very low expectations coming into this season that we're currently exceeding, and a view that something bigger than the technical roles would have to shift at the club to change things.
Watching Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard and Smith Rowe combining on the weekend, watching Tomiyasu mow down challenges or Ramsdale winding up the opposition fans is what I'm talking about—it's a mixture of good luck, prudent investment and commitment to youth that's bringing us that and flushing out a lot of dirty memories.
I have serious doubts about Arteta but his freshness, Arsenal history, and lack of a celebrity manager profile are perhaps pretty well suited to this squad at this formative stage, where we can see many of these guys have another level to find. It would arguably be better still if we had a more unifying figure like Potter running the show.
It's actually not a similar situation to Solskjaer because Arteta is not an approval seeker and is not herding a flock of unruly celebrities and overpriced farmers.
With respect to top four, I'm feeling pretty philosophical about it. If we get in there it'll strengthen our hand on recruitment but also lead to a lot more pressure and fatigue in the new season, so it might well not be sustained.
With a bit of positive momentum emerging independently among the playing group, the questions of whether KSE will realise the importance of continuing to invest, and whether Arteta will stop burning valuable assets and learn to integrate the diversity we've got with greater flexibility and confidence obtain a greater emphasis.
If we fall badly short at any level of this project we're probably going to need to forget the current trajectory and endure a setback.
The current dream for me is that our form and confidence improve over the winter, we start to achieve a few milestones, let's say we earn a result against City after Christmas for example, KSE stump up for a young, mobile striker who can be a focal point as well as a threat—and a midfielder—and Arteta either pulls his head slightly out of his own arse or the club finds a way to upgrade him without sending everything else into turmoil. If all that happens at the same time as we qualify for the Champions League, this will have been a watershed season.
It's a fragile and contingent state of affairs, some good things appear to be happening but a serious injury, a few destructive losses, a bad signing or a whiplash from the pandemic could be very damaging.
If things don't work out this season, the most vital objective is to keep this squad together and settled so we get another run at it.
