Mikel Arteta, First-Team Manager

[NovaGB]

You don't make progress as a big club aiming for 5th.

This sounds like West Ham mentality or something.

If you go from 8th to 5th or 6th then it's progress.
Seems fairly uncontroversial.

Might not be enough for some - I understand fans who want top 4. Fine.
But for me 5th/6th represents enough of a sign that we are on the right track.

Got to agree with this, its realistic.

[DiamondGooner]

Dude.
I will say again.
5th/6th represents progress for the club. That is a fact.
IMO that means it's a good season.
Others think top 4. Fine.
..and yes, someone DID claim that anything but a title challenge is failure. Crazy talk.

Not being in the EL this season makes the job of getting 5th / 6th easier this season.

As for your comment of 'we might be 7th the following year' Yeah, sure... but that does not mean finishing 5th or 6th this year is not progress.
If you are running a business and your profit goes up by 20% you don't call it a failure because you might have a bad year in the future! You call it progress and a good year.

Doesn't matter it's not real progress for a club like Arsenal and it puts back at square one in the Europa, that is all.

It doesn't get us top 4 the season after, it doesn't get us CL money and it doesn't put us back in the CL competition.

So no your "business" comparision is ridiculous because we're not going to make anything more money wise or progress wise, making 20% isn't a failure because you're made more money ............. 6th gives us nothing you dummy.

In all fairness you lost this argument pages ago, all your doing now is answering back to save face so I'm out, no point carrying on when the discussion has already been won.

[NovaGB]

Dude.
I will say again.
5th/6th represents progress for the club. That is a fact.
IMO that means it's a good season.
Others think top 4. Fine.
..and yes, someone DID claim that anything but a title challenge is failure. Crazy talk.

Not being in the EL this season makes the job of getting 5th / 6th easier this season.

As for your comment of 'we might be 7th the following year' Yeah, sure... but that does not mean finishing 5th or 6th this year is not progress.
If you are running a business and your profit goes up by 20% you don't call it a failure because you might have a bad year in the future! You call it progress and a good year.

Doesn't matter it's not real progress for a club like Arsenal and it puts back at square one in the Europa, that is all.

It doesn't get us top 4 the season after, it doesn't get us CL money and it doesn't put us back in the CL competition.

So no your "business" comparision is ridiculous because we're not going to make anything more money wise or progress wise, making 20% isn't a failure because you're made more money ............. 6th gives us nothing you dummy.

In all fairness you lost this argument pages ago, all your doing now is answering back to save face so I'm out, no point carrying on when the discussion has already been won.

We'd take 5th though wouldnt we?, i'd be over the moon if we were back pushing City, Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool overtaking Leicester and the Spuds, i know we deserve better, but i'd still be happy for us to be back up there in the mix again, if we pull off said targets we would have a very young team also so plenty of development room or chances to make profit.

[DiamondGooner]

We'd take 5th though wouldnt we?, i'd be over the moon if we were back pushing City, Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool overtaking Leicester and the Spuds, i know we deserve better, but i'd still be happy for us to be back up there in the mix again, if we pull off said targets we would have a very young team also so plenty of development room or chances to make profit.

Personally I'd accept going into the EL compared to not being in Europe at all.

However the issue here is that the case was made by JayRam that the EL is sht and not worth our time so us not being in it this year was a good thing so we can progress in the league with no distractions ........... for that then to be a success you need to achieve top 4, simple as that otherwise you achieve nothing.

Moving up a PL spot or two to 6th place gets us nothing, the progress must be tangible if we're only playing domestically because who's to say if we finish 6th that the season after we won't drop back to 7th or only achieve 6th again?

Making top 4 is the only way to get tangible progress, CL qualification and CL money plus back in the mix of the top 4 best clubs.

I mean really ......... we should be starting every season wanting to win the League.

Whens the last time AFC fans have gone into a season expecting to win the league? that's how far we've fallen as a club, even Leicester managed it, our players mentallity is so weak they don't even have that as an aim and that all stems from the manager.

If Klopp were here .................

[swipe right]

You don't make progress as a big club aiming for 5th.

This sounds like West Ham mentality or something.

If you go from 8th to 5th or 6th then it's progress.
Seems fairly uncontroversial.

Might not be enough for some - I understand fans who want top 4. Fine.
But for me 5th/6th represents enough of a sign that we are on the right track.

Got to agree with this, its realistic.

We were getting top four season after season under Wenger. But that wasn’t good enough. Now we’re saying 5th or 6th is progress. Jesus wept.

[jayramfootball]

You don't make progress as a big club aiming for 5th.

This sounds like West Ham mentality or something.

If you go from 8th to 5th or 6th then it's progress.
Seems fairly uncontroversial.

Might not be enough for some - I understand fans who want top 4. Fine.
But for me 5th/6th represents enough of a sign that we are on the right track.

Got to agree with this, its realistic.

We were getting top four season after season under Wenger. But that wasn’t good enough. Now we’re saying 5th or 6th is progress. Jesus wept.

We'd fallen out of the top 4 and had dipped significantly by the time Emery was sacked
We haven't been in the top 4 for 5 years.

Heading back in an upwards direction is what we need to see - that the decline has been arrested.
What we were doing 5 years ago is irrelevant.

[jayramfootball]

We'd take 5th though wouldnt we?, i'd be over the moon if we were back pushing City, Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool overtaking Leicester and the Spuds, i know we deserve better, but i'd still be happy for us to be back up there in the mix again, if we pull off said targets we would have a very young team also so plenty of development room or chances to make profit.

Personally I'd accept going into the EL compared to not being in Europe at all.

However the issue here is that the case was made by JayRam that the EL is sht and not worth our time so us not being in it this year was a good thing so we can progress in the league with no distractions ........... for that then to be a success you need to achieve top 4, simple as that otherwise you achieve nothing.

Moving up a PL spot or two to 6th place gets us nothing, the progress must be tangible if we're only playing domestically because who's to say if we finish 6th that the season after we won't drop back to 7th or only achieve 6th again?

Making top 4 is the only way to get tangible progress, CL qualification and CL money plus back in the mix of the top 4 best clubs.

I mean really ......... we should be starting every season wanting to win the League.

Whens the last time AFC fans have gone into a season expecting to win the league? that's how far we've fallen as a club, even Leicester managed it, our players mentallity is so weak they don't even have that as an aim and that all stems from the manager.

If Klopp were here .................

We do start every season hoping to win the league.
It's just not realistic to expect to win the league.
Same with top 4 - more realistic than winning the league and I accept that will be the expectation of some fans. But finishing 5th/6th will still be progress and a good season IMO.
I retain the view that not being in the EL this year is a good thing because it will help us do better in the league and that is where our focus should be 100% right now.

[theHotHead]

All big clubs go through doldrums and we seem to be coming out of one.

How?? Coming out of the doldrum how?? What have you seen to suggest this???

[theHotHead]

Last season, Europa league is a distraction. Not worth it

This season, moving up 2 to 3 places in the league is progress.

Obviously

Fixed.

No its not, because we shouldn't have finished 8th in the first bloody place Jay!!

Thats like losing half your money gambling then spending the rest of the night trying to win it back, leaving the casino even and saying coming out even is improvement from when you went in.

[theHotHead]

The sooner this half wit leaves us the better. I saw Xhaka and Elneny on the pitch and I lost my shit!!!

[Salibatelli]

When Arteta arrived the previous season we were 5th.

He then got us 8th, personally I think he’s responsible but I’ll accept he wasn’t in charge all season.

However last season he got 8th again, this guy has made us go backwards and now 5th which is where we were when he arrived is progress?

No top 4 should be the aim, as is better football and more goals, 5th is essentially where we started, Arteta has lowered the bar and now we’re saying bar if he gets us back to where we were that’s progress.

Well not it isn’t, just because he’s been rubbish and the club has supported this rubbish he’s churned out, it doesn’t mean it acceptable for a club like Arsenal, especially with no Europe.

I’m sorry but everything being said here points to a man who just isn’t performed, not only has he been awful, but somehow he’s now lowered standards to the point that we’re aiming to achieve what clubs like West Ham are trying to do.

Even Everton are aiming to get top 4. For me the last 18 months under Arteta has been the worst period I’ve experienced as an Arsenal fan who has supported them since the early 90s.

I really don’t like what he’s done with the club the last
18 months, in my eyes his appointment has been a disaster and the excuses for his poor performance are shocking, this guy isn’t the new Klopp, why are we wasting our time with him, so that we can hopefully get 5th? (Something he most likely won’t achieve anyway)

[Salibatelli]

Last season, Europa league is a distraction. Not worth it

This season, moving up 2 to 3 places in the league is progress.

Obviously

Fixed.

No its not, because we shouldn't have finished 8th in the first bloody place Jay!!

Thats like losing half your money gambling then spending the rest of the night trying to win it back, leaving the casino even and saying coming out even is improvement from when you went in.

Spot on although technically we’d be down because the season before he took over we were 5th and very close to 4th.

[Salibatelli]

The sooner this half wit leaves us the better. I saw Xhaka and Elneny on the pitch and I lost my shit!!!

Yeah for me another example of incompetence keeping Xhaka around, we thought he was off and everyone was happy, suddenly he’s here, playing and possibly getting a new contract, don’t forget Arteta offered Mustafi a new contract as well, thankfully he rejected it.

This guy does not have a clue!

[jayramfootball]

Last season, Europa league is a distraction. Not worth it

This season, moving up 2 to 3 places in the league is progress.

Obviously

Fixed.

No its not, because we shouldn't have finished 8th in the first bloody place Jay!!

Thats like losing half your money gambling then spending the rest of the night trying to win it back, leaving the casino even and saying coming out even is improvement from when you went in.

Arteta can only be judged on what he took over.
In your analogy it wasn't him that lost the money at the casino, so he is not just even if he gets us to 5th/6th this year, he's ahead.
So far in his first 18 months he's improved us - but not enough.
This season a move up to 5th/6th would be significant.

[Nuggets]

Last season, Europa league is a distraction. Not worth it

This season, moving up 2 to 3 places in the league is progress.

Obviously

Fixed.

No its not, because we shouldn't have finished 8th in the first bloody place Jay!!

Thats like losing half your money gambling then spending the rest of the night trying to win it back, leaving the casino even and saying coming out even is improvement from when you went in.

Arteta can only be judged on what he took over.
In your analogy it wasn't him that lost the money at the casino, so he is not just even if he gets us to 5th/6th this year, he's ahead.
So far in his first 18 months he's improved us - but not enough.
This season a move up to 5th/6th would be significant.

Feck J you are taking wuming to the next level, HTF has he improved us at all ? we missed out on Europe because of this fecking clown.