Unpopular Opinion (Arsenal Edition)

[thebigbangtheo]

That abhorration masquerading as a Europa League semi-final last Thursday, properly knocked the stuffing out of me to the point of only now having picked up my jaw, heart and stomach from the floor and as the numbness dissipates be able to re-engage in all things football.

The cowardly and almost catatonic nature of such a display managed to achieve what the majority of us probably thought would be impossible, witnessing an even worse display in a high profile match than that against Chelsea in Baku 2019. I genuinely never thought I could be made to experience that feeling in the pit of your stomach you get at the onset of a bout of diahorrea ever again from a game of football. I was proven wrong on both counts and if anything I was left feeling even more unwell this time.

Yet here I am advocating that Arteta, the engineer-in-chief of our tribute to the Titanic, be retained for next season in order to gauge our transfer activity this summer. Don't get me wrong, buying the best 5 players in the world for an astronomical outlay would not appease me into turning a blind eye to his misdemeanors and that felony, but I do want to see if he indeed has his finger on the pulse no matter how faint the beat and prove that he does have a clue on how to build, manage and maintain a winning team, rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water.

And that's his saving grace for me, that rather than being Bob the builder who can fix it as in the problems he inherited on winning the tender for the job, he's actually been portraying fireman Sam extinguishing fires and damping down all over the place. So effectively, only at the end of the season will he then be at the point of transitioning from fireman to builder, incorporate his vision and innovative design solutions in revised plans to 4-3-3 from 4-2-3-1, and have full responsibility and sole ownership of what would now be what he has constructed rather than a team sheet and formation that has Unai Emery's name crossed out and his written underneath in pencil.

That I just about have an understanding of the chaos theory, plus the fact of having the nucleus of a formidable team in the making as well as a recognition that the exodus of players surplus to requirements is not yet complete, retains a slither of hope that my fanaticism is not misplaced. Add to that that I became a gooner under the stewardship of Terry Neill and Don Howe and can appreciate that support during the rough times tends to make being a gooner during the smooth so much sweeter.

Admittedly I have performed a bit of a U-turn from last week when I actually dreamt of a sky sports news report of Mikel Arteta being missing for 2 days, the camera panning to live pictures from the stadium when I noticed an odd rectangular patch on the pitch as though recently dug up.....

In mitigation, I liken the situation with him to one when my dog was a puppy and did a vomit inducing wet poo on the living room carpet which by sheer volume seemed bigger than she was and worse still, the missus was out with the girls at bingo!

[firfi]

Ljungberg would have been a better fit for us than Arteta, he knows the youth better and would have given them a proper chance.

Not saying he would have been good enough but at least Freddie had some sort of experience at managing at youth level, no different to what Pep/Zidane had before getting the big job.

Artetas only experience before us was putting out cones for pep

We didn't even get a bounce with Freddie sadly.Great player ,but shit coach.Even possibly worse than Arteta , but can never be sure.

[Phil71]

Anyone banking on either Kroenke or Arteta going anywhere is likely to be very disappointed.

[jayramfootball]

Arteta is doing a very good job this calendar year and there are clear signs of improvement.
Surprisingly, this is an unpopular opinion.

[Nuggets]

Arteta is doing a very good job this calendar year and there are clear signs of improvement.
Surprisingly, this is an unpopular opinion.

You must be on your own with that assessment J

[jayramfootball]

Arteta is doing a very good job this calendar year and there are clear signs of improvement.
Surprisingly, this is an unpopular opinion.

You must be on your own with that assessment J

Probably - I guess that is why it is so unpopular.
Just basing it on results.

[LMAO]

A CF who can go 90 minutes and isn't useless outside of scoring and a CM who can control the game will completely elevate this team like VVD and Alisson did for Liverpool.

[VCC]

A CF who can go 90 minutes and isn't useless outside of scoring and a CM who can control the game will completely elevate this team like VVD and Alisson did for Liverpool.

Thats hardly unpopular i would love to see us being elevated but as elevators go they go both directions

[Nuggets]

Arteta is going to win the CL next season lol (well that's what he told the Chelski reject anyway.)

[KG3]

Torreira is still the best CDM at this club

[KG3]

Thinking about it Podolski, Perez and Campbell were all better left footed wingers than Pepe

Especially Perez he was really underrated and underused here, Wenger just preferred to use Iwobi for possession purposes which is only so useful as he was useless in front of goal.

[theHotHead]

Perez could've done bits for us, agreed, no idea what Wenger was thinking by not playing him

[UFGN]

Overmars was as good as if not better than Pires

[Arsenal Tone]

Overmars was as good as if not better than Pires

I had a thread about that once.

[PairyGrows]

Our two best midfielders we've had at the Emirates - Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla - stand heads and shoulders above the rest of the midfielders we've had at that time.