In my last article on here, many moons ago, I absolutely crucified Arteta. I was ready to see him leave. Fast forward to now and it seems I've been proven very wrong.
We've had an excellent start to the season, including what I consider to be a valuable scalp yesterday, where we rode a little luck but showed a lot of guts - something we haven't always done. Whether we're in the top slot at the end of the season or not, for the first time in forever there's real belief.
I think this is down to a few things:
- Having not necessarily the best players in the league, but the best unit of players.
- Young players maturing quickly and well.
- Goals coming from multiple sources.
That last part is particularly important. In past seasons we'd rely on a main striker who would at some point get injured, and then we'd flounder because of a lack of goals. Think the Van Persie era. But now we have several capable scoring outlets - Jesus, Saka, Martinelli - as well as those who chip in, and options off the bench. Depth and sharing of responsibilities makes a huge difference.
For the first time in a long time, come what may, I don't feel bleak about this season.
Happy to be wrong
posted on 10/10/22
Arteta's moment of change came last year around December when he finally decided to go for it. He changed formation and you could immediately see the results. Thats been enhanced by buying Jesus and Zinchenko.
Even now Arteta sometimes sits back in a counter formation with not so great outcomes but at least he now limits it to portions of the game rather than the entire game.
posted on 10/10/22
Well done to Edu and Josh as well for sticking to their belief in Arteta.
posted on 10/10/22
Yesterday’s match was a microcosm of the positive change Arteta has brought to Arsenal, and shows why the club were right to show patience with him.
MotM performance from a young player he has personally nurtured ✅
Tactical improvement - Tomi at LB completely nullified Liverpool’s biggest attacking threat ✅
Players playing as a coherent collective, rather than what we’ve seen in previous seasons ✅
Another great performance from Granit Xhaka - a continuation of his transformation from liability to key player/figure for us ✅
Subs/improved squad depth - well timed, and no worries about the quality of the players being brought on ✅
Outthinking a rival manager most commentators recognise as being top level (for a second weekend in a row too) ✅
The buy-in from the fans - the atmosphere at the stadium was great again ✅
Of course some will say it wasn’t a great Liverpool side we beat yesterday. What people conveniently forget is Liverpool have been beating not great Arsenal teams for the last 10 or so years, so... you know.
‘We’ve got super Mik Arteta!’
posted on 10/10/22
Liverpool's performance yesterday was probably the best they played so far this season. We knew it would be difficult and yes we had also luck on our side.
That's being said I think Liverpool fans admit that this Arsenal team is difficult to beat. We closed the gap to them.
But let's not carried away with it. There will be setbacks especially when we have injuries.
As Lex said the quality also with the guys we can bring in has improved. Edu and Arteta made the right choices.
Arsenal is back for sure but it's a long way to go.
posted on 10/10/22
Is Arteta the next Pep?
posted on 10/10/22
comment by Christ We Won (TENƎꓕ) (U17162)
posted 47 minutes ago
Is Arteta the next Pep?
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That was the hope!
posted on 10/10/22
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12717169/ref-watch-was-arsenals-winning-penalty-against-liverpool-soft-and-what-is-the-handball-law
Noticed this for months now Arsenal getting away with wrong decisions in there favour. Arteta has been insanely lucky for months now. They win games they should lose. The 3-1 win against Man Utd at the Emirates VAR and ref made 5 wrong errors in Arsenals favour. Even ex refs have no idea how they ignored so many easy calls. Arteta should have lost a few more times in last 6 or 7 months but ref poor calls have saved his job.
posted on 10/10/22
Man Utd having to play against refs. Ref disallows our goal yet West Ham goal stands for like playing Rugby with the ball.😂