Arteta Out

[DiamondGooner]

Ragnik comes in and instantly improves things. Meanwhile we are stuck discussing where we’ll be a Christmas.

Arteta came in and won the FA Cup.

Bro that was black and white tv era. What’s he done lately?

Took us out of Europe

[DiamondGooner]

Jay all your doing is making excuses for crap performances.

Why don't you just admit what the eyes see, we were on a 4x win streak since Arteta has been starting Lacazette, we got beat by Liverpool and Arteta has changed it to now starting Odegaard and we can't even beat an out of form Utd.

The last time he did that when he changed from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1 we went down to 15th.

Its Arteta's constant "Go to" system which concerns me, the set up he favors is the one where we always lose or struggle with and he justifies it by beating lower teams, then wonders why we struggle against any team with a pulse.

How is that sustainable in a manager?

Honestly not changing my view that I will wait until after the Christmas games to see if we are close enough to top 4 - i.e 3 or 4 points.
That was the bar I set for myself to judge Arteta at the next 'checkpoint'.
It's not changed.

Not going to go into a panic every time we lose.

The only thing I will say at this point is that I am worried about our away form.
I am not so much worried about the system, but am concerned that Laca was dropped again.
Laca should have been the starter last year, but was benched too often - he was one of the most prolific strikers in the league based on the minutes he got last year, but didn't get the game time he warranted. I don't know why he has been dropped again.

Other teams are showing levels that we have not shown, if we carry on like this we will finish 7th which would be a bloody disaster !!! Half the team is stuttering or under-performing. You even have to question our so-called defensive improvement. This season we are joint 13th for shots conceded in the league but we are joint 4th for shots we have taken.

In a nutshell that tells you what are problem is, we are too easy for teams to cut through and we are not converting chances. Not all of the chances fall to Auba so I'm not having any of this "its Auba's" fault nonsense. I think the quality of our shots are poor.

I agree our shooting / finishing is poor... that is something I have highlighted. It's actually a bigger issue than chance creation.
Auba is not the only player at fault - he's just the worst of the bunch.
Generally, our shooting is abysmal.
This is not a tactical or strategic issue, it's one of execution. Before every game at home I watch the training routine on the pitch... all our players practicing shooting. The shots are rarely if ever scuffed and the keeper often has little chance of keeping the shot out. It's always interesting to watch players like Auba find the top corner so often in those training routines. The same technique is not coming through during matches. It's chalk and cheese. Obviously you have the pressure of a game to account for when taking training to the pitch, but the is a player issue. You can train all you like, if you can not execute under game time pressure then what can be done?

The defence I am less worried about - it's true we've been cut open in some games. Again, it's something I have mentioned that derives, IMO, from the weakness of our midfield. Much of our season long numbers are also dictated by the first 3 matches too - when our defence was not in place... outside of that we have the 5th best xGA in the league (expected goals against) - and joint 4th on actual goals conceded... that includes the Liverpool and Utd games.

Those first 3 games- when our team was not even in place - has really messed up our season long stats.
For example, since this first 3 games we have a better record than WHU on expected goals conceded, goals conceded, expected goals, expected points and points... yet I read that apparently West Ham are 'way ahead of us'.

I agree about the defence, if teams actually feared our offence then that would alleviate the pressure in our defence to a point that they are good enough to handle.

But few defences are good enough to stop 70mins of rampaging teams who know your attackers are toothless.

[DiamondGooner]

That game is the epitome of why I don't, can't and won't support Arteta.

I said 7pts minimum from these last 4 games, even JayRam said 6pts.

We've scraped 3 pts.

Arteta is not good enough thats been clear for ages.

Disgraceful game

[Ach]

Just f**k off

[Santi]

Problem now is we already missed Conte

[Ach]

Worry about replacement later. He has to go

[dc16]

Yup.

See ya. The last two games have been pathetic.

[Marsbar100]

Could have had conte ffs

[Ach]

Can we hold eighth?

[Ach]

Could have had conte ffs

Board has a lot to answer for

[DiamondGooner]

Could have had conte ffs

Tuchel and Conte, missing all of them.

The owners are a fkin disgrace, i hope he's losing millions finishing 8th each year.

We're fkin 7th now.

[Goonerred]

We've missed a few good managers over the last 5 or 6 years.

[themessiah]

What is the point of persisting with him ffs? He isn’t gonna get us top 4 this season.

If he can’t get us top 4 in a season where we’ve spent 150 million and play once a week then he never will. Good riddance

[Santi]

I just don't see the plan. Everytime it seems like we find success through one method, Arteta abandons it at the smallest sign of conflict. The 442 was working just fine, then we get smashed by one of the world's best teams and he just scraps it altogether. We need someone who actually knows what they're doing, not winging it day by day.

This is the problem.

3-5-2 was abandoned after we got raped by Villa.
Laca behind Auba was abandoned after Liverpool despite doing well for the previous 3-4 games.

Because he hasn't settled on a style (due to being a rookie) he seems to shit himself everytime something goes wrong. Accept you will have off days and stick with what works ffs.

[Ach]

Will we?

Top 3 away and clear

West Ham, man utd and Tottenham above us for sure?

We better hope and pray Leicester don't fix up. Will seventh get us Europe?