Mikel Arteta: Fighting Until The End

[Gunnerineverylife]

Then knife him in the back

Proper game of thrones stuff.

 

[Haphazard]

The easy matches are over, now these set of fixtures will tell us a lot.

 

[Oxeki]

Arsène was obviously not a great tactician.

Arsène is not a great tactician but he won 3 PL title but your boy Arteta the greatest tactician ever has had back to back midtable finishes

 

[<<reed>>]

Why did Folarin sign that contract?

Least shocking trip to the Gulag ever.

Absolute mental decision considering there are 4 strikers ahead of him rn, but I guess the offer was too good and he didn't want to leave London. Still should have pushed for a loan this season though.
Might become another dusted youngster like Nelson.

 

[blrgooner]

I must say I don't really disagree all that much although I wouldn't be as harsh about our victories. Seldom is a win just because a team lucks out or the other team is utter rubbish. Still, our wins haven't been against top opposition, so whatever we have achieved in terms of 8 matches without a loss, has to been seen in that perspective. It's not like we have rolled over Chelsea, Liverpool and City.

I refuse to be too negative though. Simply nice to win games and pick up points! Arteta in or out, I am simply much happier when we win. Even if it is a bit scrappy and against not so good teams.

I actually disagree almost completely with the original post there. I think we got the results we deserved to get in almost all the games. I don`t think we lucked out in any of the games. If anything luck was against us in the Crystal Palace game with the red card and a clear foul in the goal scoring move for them but I won`t complain because our overall performance there did not deserve the win.
I do agree that mostly our opposition have been average and that should definitely be considered but the point is that in each of those games, we were not really lucky to get the results we got. Also, it was exactly against these kind of teams that we lost points to in the first half of last season in our horrid run.
Anyway I think the next set of fixtures will tell us where we are as a team now. I think the realistic aim this season is to finish with around 68 points. That translates to 34 points in the first half of the season and if we win the next game, we would be on 17 points from 10 games which I think is pretty much where we need to be.

 

[Sanchez11]

How many games is that now without a loss? Can this be described as a bit of a run?

I find it a bit frustrating. I had just settled in for being Arteta out and now he is winning games again and I start wavering. My problem is I like us winning games and as soon as we string a couple of wins together I am happy again. When people speak about fickle football fans, that is me 100%. ****ing pathetic!

This is what he does its just papering over the cracks!

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Does anyone else feel kind of ambivalent about Arsenal managers these days? I just can't bring myself to get strongly invested in them either way.

Arteta I kind of view as somewhere between a 3 to a 7 out of 10 manager depending on recent results and just my general mood at the time.

I was similar with Emery. Just can't really bring myself to feel strongly about them either way.

I think it's because I know I'll never be invested in another Arsenal manager to the degree I was with Arsène. Just makes me feel meh about whoever's in charge.

 

[razörist]

I would have hoped for Arteta to have learned more from Pep. Football looks stil very difficult. Either somebody needs to go past 4 guys or we work it to the leftback for a cross. Need to send Arteta back to school.

 

[blrgooner]

Does anyone else feel kind of ambivalent about Arsenal managers these days? I just can't bring myself to get strongly invested in them either way.

Arteta I kind of view as somewhere between a 3 to a 7 out of 10 manager depending on recent results and just my general mood at the time.

I was similar with Emery. Just can't really bring myself to feel strongly about them either way.

I think it's because I know I'll never be invested in another Arsenal manager to the degree I was with Arsène. Just makes me feel meh about whoever's in charge.

I completely agree. I think I feel the same.
I think I might have reached a stage of acceptance where I try to be as objective as possible because frankly, I don`t think there are many managers/coaches who can do what Arsène did for us.

 

[Makingtrax]

Arsène is not a great tactician but he won 3 PL title but your boy Arteta the greatest tactician ever has had back to back midtable finishes

Arsène’s not a great tactician but he got top 4 every year between 2004 and 2013 and spent nothing from the club on players, zero, zilch, nada, niets !! Every new player was generated from player sales. Yet he got those cheap players into the top 4 every year against City, Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Sp**s spending hundreds of millions given to them by their clubs.

Really hard to do for a poor tactician who just sent players out to do what they want. Maybe it was magic bro.

 

[El Duderino]

Does anyone else feel kind of ambivalent about Arsenal managers these days? I just can't bring myself to get strongly invested in them either way.

Arteta I kind of view as somewhere between a 3 to a 7 out of 10 manager depending on recent results and just my general mood at the time.

I was similar with Emery. Just can't really bring myself to feel strongly about them either way.

I think it's because I know I'll never be invested in another Arsenal manager to the degree I was with Arsène. Just makes me feel meh about whoever's in charge.

Just got to realise we got lightning in a bottle with him and enjoy it. He is one of a kind insofar what a manager is believed to be.

He's the French Ted Lasso. He really believes football is an art form and that he has a responsibility to players not just as footballers, but as human beings, which is why I get where you're coming from with the tactitician bit.

It was all in the background, for him it was about getting you to a level you thought you couldn't reach and give players the tools to succeed first and foremost.

Bar his last couple of years he did just that, much to his (and our teams) own detriment.

There's no passion in it anymore and I guess Arsenal finally fully moved into the "modern club" phase of its life.

 

[Makingtrax]

Arsène was obviously not a great tactician.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Arsène’s not a great tactician but he got top 4 every year between 2004 and 2013 and spent nothing from the club on players, zero, zilch, nada, niets !! Every new player was generated from player sales. Yet he got those cheap players into the top 4 every year against City, Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Sp**s spending hundreds of millions given to them by their clubs.

Really hard to do for a poor tactician who just sent players out to do what they want. Maybe it was magic bro.

No-ones saying Arsène was a poor tactician though. I started this thing of by saying I thought he was a good tactician but not great, while lauding him for getting more out of players than I think I've seen any other manager do.

It's no slight to say just one facet of Arsène's managerial game wasn't perfect. I'm not trying to assassinate his legacy

English football was not leading the footballing world tactically during most of Arsène's peak years. The lack of European success is the one mark on Arsène's C.V and I think one of the factors contributing to that, among many, was being out thought tactically at times.

Same can be said for Fergie I believe. 2 Champions Leagues was a sub par return for him considering how great he was domestically.

 

[Taxi Driver]

But remember, Arteta is obviously a great tactician, because *checks notes* The Athletic journalists say so.

He also has a huge upside to him, because *checks notes* his former boss and colleagues have said some nice things about him.

The above is completely rational and isn't, in any way, shape or form, wishful thinking.

 

[Riou]

Does anyone else feel kind of ambivalent about Arsenal managers these days? I just can't bring myself to get strongly invested in them either way.

How could you not love this guy though...

 

[Makingtrax]

No-ones saying Arsène was a poor tactician though. I started this thing of by saying I thought he was a good tactician but not great, while lauding him for getting more out of players than I think I've seen any other manager do.

It's no slight to say just one facet of Arsène's managerial game wasn't perfect. I'm not trying to assassinate his legacy

English football was not leading the footballing world tactically during most of Arsène's peak years. The lack of European success is the one mark on Arsène's C.V and I think one of the factors contributing to that, among many, was being out thought tactically at times.

Same can be said for Fergie I believe. 2 Champions Leagues was a sub par return for him considering how great he was domestically.

Arsène was an amazing tactitian, no manager has ever been a perfect tactitian. The beauty of his attacking football was legendary and he won over thousands of supporters worldwide because of his brand of football. The only non oil club manager to win 3 titles and 7 FA Cups and get 20 years of top 4, sometimes on a shoe string, in the premiership era.

The strengths of his tactics was always playing the same way no matter who your opposition is. By repetition and practise even cheaper players can buy into the process. If you’re good enough the odds will be with you unless you run up against a much richer club that has quality in every position.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

How could you not love this guy though...

Love Freddie as a player / person. Personally I thought he was way out of his depth during his caretaker spell though.

 

[Riou]

Love Freddie as a player / person. Personally I thought he was way out of his depth during his caretaker spell though.

He tried his best, but he was pretty terrible, as you say...but at least he only last like 5 games or something, so I didn't mind it.

Think his only win, was on my birthday too...endearing guy, if nothing else

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

He tried his best, but he was pretty terrible, as you say...but at least he only last like 5 games or something, so I didn't mind it.

Think his only win, was on my birthday too...endearing guy, if nothing else

That's why I'm scared of us ever appointing a legendary player as manager.

With Arteta I have positive feelings towards him as a player but I don't feel bad turning on him as a manager. He wasn't a legend here or anything.

It would break my heart to have to turn on a Henry or Vieira.

 

[Toby]

never a great tactician

What's that anyway? Someone who can give a team one successfull tactical setup? Someone who is good at adapting his teams to different opposition? Someone who is good at reacting tactically during a game? All of that combined? In those terms I'd also say "tactics" doesn't necessarilly equal "playing style" or "playing template" or whatever you want to call it, as imo the latter usually doesn't change fundamentally, while "tactics" might vary more or less from game to game or opposition to opposition.

I think it's over the top harsh to suggest Wenger or Fergie weren't great tacticians per se. What I'll give you though is that imo a lot of the 90s and 2000s managers seem to have struggled or are struggling with the rise of gegenpressing, the compression of time and space on the pitch, the importance of top notch athleticism as well as the greater focus on collective behaviour/movement. Think we've seen that with Wenger and Fergie but also to some extent with guys like e.g. Mourinho, Ancelotti, Benitez.