Mikel Arteta, First-Team Manager

[Santi]

Yes and part of the reason we are 10th, as we were saying, is because of a bullshit red at Wolves. Without that we could easily have 3 more points than we have and would've been on a 5/6 game win streak by the time we played Villa. Our momentum got killed.

Yes I'd love to be good enough that we could regroup 2nd half and steal a 2-1 win but face it, could have Klopp managing this squad and we probs wouldn't win that game after the red. Shit happens but it seems to happen to us more than most atm and it's not helping us gain any momentum when we really need it.

No doubt you'll ignore all that and say he started Luiz so it's his fault, yawn.

Other teams could probably say exactly the same, if they’d not had this decision against them they’d have more points, works both ways.

Decisions aren’t the reason we are where we are, over a long period it’s performances that dictate position not the odd bad decision, we’ve been 10th or below all season and the reason Arteta, not because of a few decisions which would have also happened to other teams.

I agree with the bold. It's not the reason, it's one of many reasons. However, you choose to blame every single thing on Arteta and that's simply not fair.

All along I've acknowledged what his mistakes are and that he's far from perfect but i'm so bored of every single thing being 'Arteta's fault'. You even go on about Saliba who's just looked utter dogshit in a game in Ligue 1, no doubt if he did that for us...you'd blame Arteta despite him not signing him or seemingly wanting him lol. It's madness.

[Power n Glory]

David Moyes has West Ham in 4th and they were close to relegation last season. Same goes for Aston Villa.

Yep and both managers would've been sacked by GW.

Don't be silly. GW doesn't have that sort of authority.

I'm sure there would be a unanimous approval of those managers if we had those results but that's not the point.

Two teams with worse squads, have historically been worse and were in a relegation scraps last year but they're ahead of us this year.

Our squad isn't great but some poor decisions have been made and it reflects in our league position and record.

I was talking about last season, GW would've wanted both managers sacked who have since managed to turn it around.

Btw I have no doubt Villa will continue to fall off and likely end up below us, West Ham probably not. Agree with your last sentence.

Moyes took over last season when West Ham were in the relegation zone. He saved them from relegation and West Ham sacked Pellerini to appoint Moyes. There wasn’t a turnaround from the same manager.

Villa is a different story. They were playing Championship football the league before. I doubt there would have been a major outcry for him to be sacked if that were our position.

[Santi]

Think you underestimate the whinge level of this forum lol

[Power n Glory]

Think you underestimate the whinge level of this forum lol

Maybe but it's the performance of the team that bothers me most. I've said it before but too many play the man instead of the ball on here. Considering the circumstances, I'd say it's fair for fans criticise.

[DiamondGooner]

tired of u moaning about arteta as well buddy but hey

Not my fault he’s incompetent and can’t do better than midtable despite all that he has at his disposal.

West Ham are 4th, Leicester are 2nd

This is as damning as it gets, more so with West Ham, they were candidates for relegation not long ago, bottom 1/4 at least.

They just beat Spurs, we literally can't even beat Aston Villa and fkin Wolves for god sake.

There is no more defending this anyone who does has fkin lost it, being Arteta in / out is subjective opinion .......... but defending this season as a whole is ludicrous.

[DiamondGooner]

Think you underestimate the whinge level of this forum lol

We're fkin 10th, this is no position to be so "meh its not that bad" this could be a historic worse league position if it stays like this, how is that whinging, its facts.

[Marsbar100]

The whinging is warranted we are awful

[ag6789]

Another listless performance. We need to show uo against these opposition to show some progress. Seemed like we were glad to be beaten 0-1 and pack up and go home.
Perfect mid table mentality.
Must say Arteta needs to do more. There was no fight or bite.
Some players also should take the blame.
Odegaard, has promise but being on loan, is he the answer? Very mediocre today. If he doesn't feel one w/the gang, it is a wastage for us. Or, if he lacks match fitness shouldn't ESR have started?
Not terribly happy w/ Arteta at the moment.
I do wish to give him a fair chance, but overall we are heading for mid table mediocrity at this point. He needs to inspire the likes of Auba, Laca and the rest a bit more.
Next three games will be his Acid test. We need to beat the likes of Benefica, Licester or Spuds for any positive signs of getting forward

[Santi]

Think you underestimate the whinge level of this forum lol

Maybe but it's the performance of the team that bothers me most. I've said it before but too many play the man instead of the ball on here. Considering the circumstances, I'd say it's fair for fans criticise.

They can criticise all they like but don't tell me the shit decisions haven't have some impact as well, that's all.

As for DG, you can take this as your reply too, not sure what you're banging on about but hopefully the above helps.

[thebigbangtheo]

The history of Arsenal has often proven us to be innovators within the game as well as amongst the first for achievements. However, Mikel Arteta must surely be the first manager in the whole of the Premier and Football League to have employed a gynaecologist as part of his backroom staff.

[starmandb]

If reports are correct Mourinho had/has a game or 2 to keep his job.

Meanwhile Arteta who is doing even worse is under no pressure.

Remind me who is the bigger club?!

Us with the 31 trophies

[Salibatelli]

I agree with the bold. It's not the reason, it's one of many reasons. However, you choose to blame every single thing on Arteta and that's simply not fair.

All along I've acknowledged what his mistakes are and that he's far from perfect but i'm so bored of every single thing being 'Arteta's fault'. You even go on about Saliba who's just looked utter dogshit in a game in Ligue 1, no doubt if he did that for us...you'd blame Arteta despite him not signing him or seemingly wanting him lol. It's madness.

As I said it happens to every team, they could also say they should have won this and that if not for that decision, I don’t think that’s a valid argument.

Holding is pretty average and yet makes mistakes on a regular basis, Arteta plays him all the time, Saliba has been pretty decent throughout his career in France, what’s your point?

Arteta deserves the criticism, look at his performance.

[theHotHead]

The difference is in games like Wolves we were dominating only for horror decisions to completely gut us.

You're right it's easy to Wenger your way out of things and put losses down to bad luck, but this season I do feel we've had a lot more horror decisions from referees / players than usual. Often times just when we're building confidence. 5 red card and 3 own goals is ridiculous.

I'm all for criticism where it's due and a lot of it being directed at Mikel is fair but I do think some perspective is needed. As well as the above our best player has completely disappeared, our big signing is constantly injured and we've had to deal with the ongoing sagas around Ozil, Sokratis, Kola etc.

As Pep said in his presser, "what I see in the last two months every game Arsenal played is better than the opponent". Whilst I don't agree with that statement across every game for the most part it's true.

I still think we should give him until next season when he's had a full / normal pre-season and hasn't been restricted by having to offload players before signing new ones. I don't really see the benefit of changing the manager before that - especially considering the realistic options to replace him.

Are you actually being serious ???? Horror ref decisions ? Perspective ? The situation YOU describe is precisely because of decisions ARTETA made !

[KG3]

I think a decent manager elevates players performances rather than than makes them less effective.

Arteta has got most of our best players playing rubbish, that’s also on him, he’s in charge of training and motivating them, that’s his job.

This look at Bamford and DLC those two are nothing special really, the managers have made them look better than they’re.

I don’t rate Pepe but someone like Bielsa could probably get him firing, after all it was Bielsa who had him playing well at Lille.

[theHotHead]

Moyes took over last season when West Ham were in the relegation zone. He saved them from relegation and West Ham sacked Pellerini to appoint Moyes. There wasn’t a turnaround from the same manager.

Villa is a different story. They were playing Championship football the league before. I doubt there would have been a major outcry for him to be sacked if that were our position.

I agree with this, those are 2 entirely different scenarios to ours and Arteta's starting position. The only squads that are better than ours are Man City and Liverpool, I can't honestly say that Chelsea, Man U or Spurs have a better squad than us, Leicester, West Ham, Everton and Villa definitely don't have better squads than us. The fact that Arteta has got a decent team playing like chumps is not the fault of the players, especially when you consider that this squad is better thean emery's last squad and Emery's last squad is better than Wenger's last squad !

Who would I take from Chelsea ? Maybe Mount but I prefer ESR, Havertz doesn't get a game, Werner doesn't cut it for me and neither does Ziyech. Partey is better than Kante.

Who would I take from Man U ? Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford, Wan Bisaka. But at the same time I think Auba, Gabriel, Leno, Partey, Saka and ESR get into their team too.

Who would I take from Spurs ? Kane, Son, thats it, all their other players are no better than what we have.

If anyone tells me Leicester and Villa have better squads than us I know they are either wumming or just trying to stick to their argument and not give ground. The Leicester players I would take are Vardy, Barnes, Maddison and Perreira. Again I think Auba, Gabriel, Saka, Tierney and Partey get into their squad.