Two years of Arteta

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour ago
5/10.

Think we have to factor in the disasterous Raul era, and also consider the unique situation of last season.

This summer we have bought well, going on the evidence so far. He has integrated academy players into the team (or continued their development). The focus was on defence, and now he has to find a way to make us more of a threat going forward without losing the defensive strength. Some signs we are getting there.

He faces big challenges, in replacing Auba and Laca, finally fixing our midfield and developing Saliba, Balogun and others.

He is definitely in a far better place than a year ago.
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This is a good assessment, although I’d raise it to a 6 because he has brought silverware to the club. This could rise significantly if the general trajectory of this season continues.

Last season was tough to watch, but if he goes on to have real success in the coming years then I think it will be looked back on as a transitional season where the club was still working things out after several years of being mismanaged.

2/10

Back to back 8th place finishes
No european football
Humiliated in Europe by the manager her replaced
Knocked out of Europe by Olympiakos
Constant alienation, ostracism and fall outs with his players
Obsessed with playing Xhaka
And easily the worst football I have witnessed an Arsenal team play in a consistent period of time

Only reason he gets a 2 instead of a 0 is for the FA Cup

comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 30 minutes ago
Wait and see tbh. Start of the season I felt he should have been fired for our worst season for 25 years. But respect to Kroenke's for backing him with huge spending.

So I think CL qualification is a must for him. I suspect if just fails the club and ownership will be in a predicament on what to do.
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CL would be better but EL could be enough for them to justify him staying, if the squad just misses out finishing with a strong run in and the team playing for him. Dependant on how he has them playing and squad attitude toward him come the time, even I may not be averse to him keeping his job with just Europa (unlikely yet possible none the less).

The interesting thing here though is Arteta's particular flaws being as they are, I can potentially see a situation in which we do great with results on the pitch finishing 3rd. But despite that he ends up sacked because an almost full squad of players and coaches is sick of him being the root cause of drama and turmoil off the pitch. The man is indeed obnoxious enough that is own attitude and behaviour could see his position becoming untenable regardless of results. He wouldn't be the first it happened to.

5/10. Would've been 6 if the football wasn't so god-awful last year. Will up it to a 7 or an 8 if he can get top four, consistent good footie and/or another trophy.

comment by WB2 {Tackle Like Tierney} (U8276)
posted 2 hours, 47 minutes ago
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 30 minutes ago
Wait and see tbh. Start of the season I felt he should have been fired for our worst season for 25 years. But respect to Kroenke's for backing him with huge spending.

So I think CL qualification is a must for him. I suspect if just fails the club and ownership will be in a predicament on what to do.
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CL would be better but EL could be enough for them to justify him staying, if the squad just misses out finishing with a strong run in and the team playing for him. Dependant on how he has them playing and squad attitude toward him come the time, even I may not be averse to him keeping his job with just Europa (unlikely yet possible none the less).

The interesting thing here though is Arteta's particular flaws being as they are, I can potentially see a situation in which we do great with results on the pitch finishing 3rd. But despite that he ends up sacked because an almost full squad of players and coaches is sick of him being the root cause of drama and turmoil off the pitch. The man is indeed obnoxious enough that is own attitude and behaviour could see his position becoming untenable regardless of results. He wouldn't be the first it happened to.
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Arteta contract ends Jan 2023 so I don't see him getting a new contract based on Europa unless there are circumstances beyond his control.

World Cup next season and I see some quality managers coming onto the market at the same time Arteta's contract ends. I don't think that is a coincidence tbh.

Now if he does qualify for Champions League then I think its entirely fair to retain him. It would prove progress and more than that we would be able to buy better players for Arteta to make the next step. I do fear whether he will be able to manage those egos though. So far he has failed with Auba and Ozil.

1/10 but he has me daring to hope he's turned a corner and it's the hope that kills you!

His first two seasons were trash, yes we won an FA Cup but overall the side went backwards from an already low position.

The style of football being the worst part, it sucked all the joy out of watching the side and it did so while recording record brakingly poor results.

We've seen shoots of improvement lately which is good but let's see what happens when the tougher fixtures come and the side is under more pressure to hold onto fourth.

If it all starts to unravel, with that nonsense dognut of sadness football again he needs to be sacked before the chance of CL disappears altogether

It’s an interesting question, and one hard to answer without caveats.

Had this been his second, third, fourth managerial job it’d obviously be seen as a fairly disastrous appointment, and, even with the FA Cup win, he’d probably have been sacked by now.

However, as a complete newbie, coming in the steady a ship whose downward momentum had increased in velocity under the previous, very experienced, man - a point often forgotten here - having to deal with the Covid situation within weeks of his first ever appointment, and the immediate aftereffects of Raul’s dodgy dealings, the toxicity of a complacent dressing room, resistant to changing up from gently kicking around on easy street, all whilst under the intent microscopic gaze of the media, he’s also done well.

Players he’s ‘ostracised’ have shown nothing to suggest he was wrong to bin them, whilst he’s also helped convinced three of our brightest young stars - Saka, ESR and Balogun - to commit their futures to the club.

Prior to last summer, the transfers he’d overseen had been a mixed bag, putting it mildly. However, all of the players signed during the last window have surpassed expectation - a few of them now unquestionably mainstays of our first XI - so there’s now reason hope he’s also improving in that respect.

The subs are still an issue, and just because he’s Pep’s mate I’d don’t think he needs to follow suit and keep blabbing to the press about everything - doesn’t feel very ‘Arsenal’ to me.

So a fence sitting 5.5/10 from me.

Looking at a clear 7 though if he were to sell Xhaka.

comment by Lexington 125.2 (U8879)
posted 1 hour, 55 minutes ago
It’s an interesting question, and one hard to answer without caveats.

Had this been his second, third, fourth managerial job it’d obviously be seen as a fairly disastrous appointment, and, even with the FA Cup win, he’d probably have been sacked by now.

However, as a complete newbie, coming in the steady a ship whose downward momentum had increased in velocity under the previous, very experienced, man - a point often forgotten here - having to deal with the Covid situation within weeks of his first ever appointment, and the immediate aftereffects of Raul’s dodgy dealings, the toxicity of a complacent dressing room, resistant to changing up from gently kicking around on easy street, all whilst under the intent microscopic gaze of the media, he’s also done well.

Players he’s ‘ostracised’ have shown nothing to suggest he was wrong to bin them, whilst he’s also helped convinced three of our brightest young stars - Saka, ESR and Balogun - to commit their futures to the club.

Prior to last summer, the transfers he’d overseen had been a mixed bag, putting it mildly. However, all of the players signed during the last window have surpassed expectation - a few of them now unquestionably mainstays of our first XI - so there’s now reason hope he’s also improving in that respect.

The subs are still an issue, and just because he’s Pep’s mate I’d don’t think he needs to follow suit and keep blabbing to the press about everything - doesn’t feel very ‘Arsenal’ to me.

So a fence sitting 5.5/10 from me.

Looking at a clear 7 though if he were to sell Xhaka.
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Good comment, I'm going to disagree with it but it's pretty fair.

My issue is while the factors you mention could definitely disrupt the quality of management it will only be if and after he's successful that we can say they did

As of now you can only judge on performances and results in terms of how he's done, it's not like he's been starved of funds or has poor a side punching above it's weight (our squad is/was better than 8th)

The new transfers are looking good so far and maybe it's the beginning of something better, we can only that's the case.

Sadly Xhaka won't be going anywhere any time soon

I tend to judge managers on how well they have done with the squad/players available. On those grounds I have some big question marks about Arteta.

The first one is whether he gets the best performances possible from the players available. For most of his tenure I have felt he underperformed with the players available. A better manager would have done better with the squad at pretty much any time since he took charge.

Second, he seems to be a control freak. Hes always trying to dictate what he wants screaming at the players for the whole game.

Third he seems unable to deal with unhappy or more temperamental players. Over my years of being a football fan Ive heard loads of managers say some of the best players come with a lot of baggage but you've got to know how to handle them. I think Arteta just pushes them out the door. Auba being the most recent after a difficult year with covid around and his mum having health issues.

And finally, I find him very defensive in his set up. Playing Xhaka every game so we retain possession being a prime example

^I forgot to add my rating, 5/10