Arteta - one more year and that’s it: Page 5 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Arteta - one more year and that’s it

Claudius

tazmania
Two stage gates for me. First is August. Have we signed a top CM and one outstanding forward? That tells me then that we are prepared to fight for the 2 big trophies.

Second is December. Are we making progress in terms of our league position. If we are sitting within 2-3 points of the league lead when the year ends, I’ll be absolutely fine.

Gazza M

Claudius I'd add a third, and that's tangible evolution in how we play, which results in more chances and more goals

Bernard Woolley

Claudius Fully agree with this. The 3rd gate of course is a meaningful trophy (PL/CL) come end of year.

Claudius

One additional thing. I know it’s not what a lot of fans want to hear in a moment of disappointment, angst and anger. But there are different responsibilities here, and we need to split out what’s required to win.

1) transfer business. We did well bringing in Merino and Calafiorii, but it was always abundantly clear that we needed a star forward to balance Saka. And the Sterling deal is a crime against football. This recruitment issue is probably the biggest contributor to our low overall xG of 68 vs 85 for Pool. I do however want to point out he did want forwards, so the club failed him here: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0rqvpgkylno?utm_source=chatgpt.com 2/5

2) prepping the team. We were leggy getting into the season. Many of our players just looked spent from summer tournaments. We should’ve found a way to get players ramped up faster. 3/5

3) prepping for games: I thought Arteta was fantastic at this. He constantly makes small adjustments in terms of how we play - the pressing, role of fullbacks, defensive line, set piece modifications etc. lots of specific examples we can point to, like using mid-low block versus Real and keeping Timber on Vini to neutralise their attack; hybrid pressing systems with Rice and Havertz. Etc., , 5/5

4) Squad use: overall, used his squad well and showed faith in both MLS and Nwaneri despite claims he hates youth. Again, point 1 plus injuries impacted this badly - especially by PSG when we had no bench first leg. 4/5

5) in game adjustments: again, good overall. However as the season wore on, we had limited flexibility due to all the key injuries we had, which is covered above. Some nice examples like trialing Merino as forward versus Leicester. I am most interested in adjustments with forwards. But we just didn’t have the depth to do this well. 3/5

So overall he’s performed around a 3 to 3.5. But the obvious fix is squad building.

tazmania

I think he can rotate more. He starts running players dry in March. Why bother starting your whole team 4 days before your biggest match of the season for example.

I agree with everything else

Burnwinter

Coombs Good for you too 😘

Mirth

Is this the longest spell we’ve had without even reaching a final?

Even in the banter years we reached a couple of league cup finals

Gurgen

Sicario2 There is no “point” to football just like there’s no point to art, music and literature. It’s a game people watch to enjoy themselves. The point is whatever you want it to be.

Sicario2

Gurgen what you on about bro. Football is elite sports, man comparing it to arts and literature 🤣

Football is competition. The aim of a competition is to win. Do you have jeopardy watching a live music band?

I don’t pay for a season to ticket just to ‘have something to watch’ otherwise I can go to the opera. I want to win. Don’t you?

RowJimmy

Sicario2 Football is elite sports, man comparing it to arts and literature

It's true that football is significantly less important than art and literature.

USArsenal

Sicario2 Do you have jeopardy watching a live music band?

Is there true 'jeopardy' in sports? this isn't life or death, mate. It may feel like it to us sometimes, but it's just a sport. A great one, obviously, but its still just a sport. Entertainment.

Sicario2

USArsenal just imagine how much better your summer would have been if Arsenal won the CL.

USArsenal

Sicario2

Would be have been nice for sure, but like i said, its not life or death. There is no actual 'jeopardy' with it. It is not going to ruin my summer.

Don Pacifico

USArsenal Sicario bet his home, his family and his life savings on us winning a trophy, that's why it matters.

Sicario2

SimplyThePest

Sicario2 Or, as the great Carlo Ancelotti once said, "football is the most important of the least important things in life"...

Sicario2

It’s all semantics. It’s important enough for a bunch of grown ass men who are effectively strangers discussing all things Arsenal on an on-line chat forum, let’s be real.

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 we're all just killing time till we die mate, that's all it is.

awooga83

Most of what I think will have been covered here but I do believe we have to deliver next season or we should be looking at another option. It's not that Arteta is bad but he's taken us to the edge of being able to win and the next step may be beyond him. We are a team that struggle when we go behind, we don't score enough and we can't take advantage and deliver in the big defining moments, Bayern, PSG and Villa last year. We are hard to beat but we need to improve on those aspects to make the next level.

USArsenal

Can I ask a serious question. What manager out there had won major trophies within their first 5 seasons of their managerial career? I mean, i know Pep did, but how many have their been? And I am not talking farmers leagues, but major European leagues. There really have not been all that many, have there? I mean, Arteta won the FA Cup in his first year, which afforded him time to get the Arsenal management to back his vision. He is building the team from the back forward and we are getting toward the (hopefully) final stages of that squad build. We are only a couple pieces away from challenging on multiple fronts, and we have progressed the entire time. I know we're a lot of points behind last years pace but we're still (theoretically) coming in second again, and we went one step further in the CL, losing to a pretty damn good PSG team that has cost way more than our team has. (and it took them a while to figure it out too).

I do think this upcoming season is important, we need to continue progressing, and really challenging for those major titles is a big thing. One good thing is that we will have a summer of rest. The Club World Cup is this summer, and we are not participating, but the likes of Chelsea and City are, so that could be a bad thing for them in terms of energy drain (again). We were hampered by too many games for a lot of our players last season and this past summer. We saw it with the England players (Rice, Saka) and it was a knock on effect that ultimately created a lot of injuries. Overplaying our players derailed the season. A summer of rest and preparation is important.

I know i ramble a lot when i do this, but Arteta is only 5 years into his career, and he's already got us back to being one of the strongest teams in Europe.

MistaT

USArsenal — Di Matteo and Roberto Martinez come to mind.

Sicario2

USArsenal yes but we are not Arteta’s pet project. He’s had enough money to spend and made enough mistakes to learn from. He’s had 5 years with us and more than enough stability.

If he doesn’t win anything next year you can’t turn around and say ‘well, hes only in his 6th year of management’. That’s not our problem.

Burnwinter

USArsenal Arteta is only 5 years into his career, and he's already got us back to being one of the strongest teams in Europe.

I understand what you're saying and I'm not normally a fan of paradoxical reasoning, but I think it's Arteta's success that means his days must be numbered.

23–24 was Arsenal playing ultra consistent, high results football and falling a tiny bit short. That wasn't just Arteta's success it was this squad's success. 24–25 we've had bad luck but we've also had the morale and confidence hangover from hell.

It's not given to all leaders to pull a group back up to its best after a major setback. If we're maximising performances and results, the trophies follow. We're not doing that. We haven't had any dominant stretches this season. We've only had scraps of our best.

So far we can maybe see this dip is in some sense a case of bad luck, but only so far: if we are still at loggerheads with PGMOL and snapping our hamstrings in the English autumn, that's on Arteta. And that's why Arteta must go if we don't make all necessary signings in summer and fire all the way up in the first six months of 25–26.

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