Mikel Arteta, success or failure? - Merged thread.

[Perryashburtongroves]

It was widely reported that the main reason for him being comfortable with ESR, Nelson and Vieira all going out in one window, was the huge promise of Rwanieri. Well nows the time to let the lad run loose because Martinelli and Trossard aren't cutting it. Could be season defining

The centre forward thing for me is the most baffling. Havertz had a fantastic 2nd half of the season but there literally is no plan B. Jesus is utterly hopeless and Eddie Lightweight has already gone. I know it isn't exactly the Kai fan club round here, but imagine if he is out for any period. Jesus? Martinelli? I mean we are royally fucked if he's out and that lack of CF option is definitely the biggest mistake he has made over this past 12 months

Havertz hitting a purple patch from January to May last season papered over the cracks which had appeared over the Christmas period. It is negligence of Wanker proportions to not get a striker in either last winter or at the very least, over the summer. Like I've said before, nobody wanted Merino, Sterling or more goalkeepers. The only thing we needed was a proper goalscorer who can score 20+ goals a season at a minimum. You can be an absolutely bang average team but a decent goalscorer will win you matches. You have a proper striker playing yesterday and he sticks away Saka's inch-perfect cross in the first-half and then heads in that cross right at the end that Rice did nothing with. That's the fucking difference, you can be shit and still win matches. You can be a shit manager and still win with a proper goalscorer and there are plenty of examples of it over the years. Arteta has made decisions, these are his choices and he's chosen not to buy someone who can score goals. These type of results and these performances are on him now. When it matters, we'll be found wanting because he's been negligent and ego-driven. Now, does that remind you of anyone?

[OneBardGooner]

Permanent Crocks & Sick Notes:

Tierney
Tomiyasu

Temporary Injuries(?)

Odegaard
Calafiori

Yet to prove their Worth:

Merino

Empty Shirts Who Should have been sold in the Summer:

Zinchenko
Jesus
sterling who should Never have been Bought

Players Currently Out Of Form:

White
Martinelli
Trossard


That's 11 Players Out of the 22 Squad.


We should have splashed out for a Top / Proper Striker in the Summer....

[augie]

It was widely reported that the main reason for him being comfortable with ESR, Nelson and Vieira all going out in one window, was the huge promise of Rwanieri. Well nows the time to let the lad run loose because Martinelli and Trossard aren't cutting it. Could be season defining

The centre forward thing for me is the most baffling. Havertz had a fantastic 2nd half of the season but there literally is no plan B. Jesus is utterly hopeless and Eddie Lightweight has already gone. I know it isn't exactly the Kai fan club round here, but imagine if he is out for any period. Jesus? Martinelli? I mean we are royally fucked if he's out and that lack of CF option is definitely the biggest mistake he has made over this past 12 months

Let's be honest here and admit that the cone boy would have been comfortable letting smith-rowe go if he had a pub team player as back up - the cone boy never rated smith-rowe and never gave him a proper chance to the point that he preferred the portugese lightweight pussy above him ffs. If the cone boy had his way smith-rowe would have been sold long before he was, but imo those above the cone boy either recognised smith-rowe's talent and blocked his sale, or they could see how popular he was with fans and blocked his sale, but by hook or by crook arteta was gonna push him out the door and that is what he eventually done

I still cant understand how the fans and media are not shining a great big spotlight on how a club can spend £800m and have such a paper thin squad My youngest lad tried to argue with me last night that he had to spend that 800m cos the team he inherited was that shite - I quickly pointed out that the cone boy won an fa cup with that "shite team" and has won fcuk all with the 800m team he built

[Retro Gunner]

It was widely reported that the main reason for him being comfortable with ESR, Nelson and Vieira all going out in one window, was the huge promise of Rwanieri. Well nows the time to let the lad run loose because Martinelli and Trossard aren't cutting it. Could be season defining

The centre forward thing for me is the most baffling. Havertz had a fantastic 2nd half of the season but there literally is no plan B. Jesus is utterly hopeless and Eddie Lightweight has already gone. I know it isn't exactly the Kai fan club round here, but imagine if he is out for any period. Jesus? Martinelli? I mean we are royally fucked if he's out and that lack of CF option is definitely the biggest mistake he has made over this past 12 months

Let's be honest here and admit that the cone boy would have been comfortable letting smith-rowe go if he had a pub team player as back up - the cone boy never rated smith-rowe and never gave him a proper chance to the point that he preferred the portugese lightweight pussy above him ffs. If the cone boy had his way smith-rowe would have been sold long before he was, but imo those above the cone boy either recognised smith-rowe's talent and blocked his sale, or they could see how popular he was with fans and blocked his sale, but by hook or by crook arteta was gonna push him out the door and that is what he eventually done

I still cant understand how the fans and media are not shining a great big spotlight on how a club can spend £800m and have such a paper thin squad My youngest lad tried to argue with me last night that he had to spend that 800m cos the team he inherited was that shite - I quickly pointed out that the cone boy won an fa cup with that "shite team" and has won fcuk all with the 800m team he built

While I think that most of us would agree with your boy augie, in as far as the team he inherited was poor and needed insignificant up-grading, the point is that he has been given £800 million for the upgrade, but we've got largely a bang average group of players and still some piss poor ones and they're all his.

Tellingly, the two jewels in an otherwise very everyday crown, are Saka and Saliba, both of whom were at the club before Arteta was appointed.

[SteveO 35]

It was widely reported that the main reason for him being comfortable with ESR, Nelson and Vieira all going out in one window, was the huge promise of Rwanieri. Well nows the time to let the lad run loose because Martinelli and Trossard aren't cutting it. Could be season defining

The centre forward thing for me is the most baffling. Havertz had a fantastic 2nd half of the season but there literally is no plan B. Jesus is utterly hopeless and Eddie Lightweight has already gone. I know it isn't exactly the Kai fan club round here, but imagine if he is out for any period. Jesus? Martinelli? I mean we are royally fucked if he's out and that lack of CF option is definitely the biggest mistake he has made over this past 12 months

Let's be honest here and admit that the cone boy would have been comfortable letting smith-rowe go if he had a pub team player as back up - the cone boy never rated smith-rowe and never gave him a proper chance to the point that he preferred the portugese lightweight pussy above him ffs. If the cone boy had his way smith-rowe would have been sold long before he was, but imo those above the cone boy either recognised smith-rowe's talent and blocked his sale, or they could see how popular he was with fans and blocked his sale, but by hook or by crook arteta was gonna push him out the door and that is what he eventually done

I still cant understand how the fans and media are not shining a great big spotlight on how a club can spend £800m and have such a paper thin squad My youngest lad tried to argue with me last night that he had to spend that 800m cos the team he inherited was that shite - I quickly pointed out that the cone boy won an fa cup with that "shite team" and has won fcuk all with the 800m team he built

There's no doubt he did inherit shit - and who is surprised at that. The other day I posted a list of the players Unai inherited and he was given less than 18 months to turn that around and one transfer window of £40m, plus Pepe who he absolutely didn't want (he himself mentioned Zaha both at the time and since) but our wonderful board insisted had a better resale value!

[augie]

I dont agree that the team he inherited were shite, but they were unprofessional and had lost their focus/motivation - I partially blame the people running the club cos they stood back and allowed the players to undermine the manager and then sided with the players by sacking the manager, but by same token we had some quality players in that team and actually had two strikers that would walk into the current team even if they had two broken legs I said at the time that getting rid of some of those ego's was 100% the right thing to do, BUT you have to then bring in quality to replace them and it is highly debatable that they did that. I would also argue that he got rid of some players he should have kept, and kept some (swiss turd) that he should have get rid of. The amount of money wasted in recent seasons has been a scandal though imo

[SteveO 35]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

[augie]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

Steve O your decent assesment list surprises me tbh -

1. Neither raya nor ramsdale were ever good enough for a title winning team

2. I will agree with your rating of trossard purely because of pound for pound he is a bargain - however using that same thought process, rice is not and never was a £105m player. He doesnt stand out in the top games imo, plus to me when you spend that type of money you are expecting the type of player who can open locked doors with vision and class, and those were never his traits tbf. He is industrious and hard working for sure, but £105m should be getting more imo

3. Havertz - I would say that you are in a TINY number that rates him

4. In the shitebag class you listed a few players that were never really given a chance under the cone boy - young players need a run of games and need the patience and belief of their manager, and that is something that they never got under el basque. Are we to write them off simply cos he decided that they were not good enough ? Personally I refuse to trust the judgement of a guy who rated smith-rowe so badly, and who rated fake vieira, jesus and zinchenko so highly

5. Timber I would have higher

[Gunner Rob]

I suppose I have got a bit of a love/hate relationship with Arteta.

I have never really rated him, think his in game management is terrible, do not understand why he can’t buy a goal scorer, and generally don’t think we have got a squad capable of winning the league….but, but, but you can’t deny he has got us challenging for the title in the past 2 seasons, and in another era we would have won one of those league titles.

So it’s a difficult one. I can’t help thinking he has taken us as far as he can, and if he left now then to be honest he would leave a pretty decent legacy (despite not really winning anything). However he is not going anywhere…so there might be problems ahead.

Oh and by the way augie I also rate Havertz (when he is on form, played in the right position and with the right players around him )

[SteveO 35]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

Steve O your decent assesment list surprises me tbh -

1. Neither raya nor ramsdale were ever good enough for a title winning team

2. I will agree with your rating of trossard purely because of pound for pound he is a bargain - however using that same thought process, rice is not and never was a £105m player. He doesnt stand out in the top games imo, plus to me when you spend that type of money you are expecting the type of player who can open locked doors with vision and class, and those were never his traits tbf. He is industrious and hard working for sure, but £105m should be getting more imo

3. Havertz - I would say that you are in a TINY number that rates him

4. In the shitebag class you listed a few players that were never really given a chance under the cone boy - young players need a run of games and need the patience and belief of their manager, and that is something that they never got under el basque. Are we to write them off simply cos he decided that they were not good enough ? Personally I refuse to trust the judgement of a guy who rated smith-rowe so badly, and who rated fake vieira, jesus and zinchenko so highly

5. Timber I would have higher

Not many better keepers around than Raya - yes, I never thought I would say that myself - so interested to see who you would have signed instead. Onana? Kepa? Just some of the shit clubs have wasted money on. The prick at PSG is shite too.

Rice was outstanding last season. Just because he didn't join Cascarino and Townsend on the Cockney Oirish boys list isn't a reason to hate him now mate He's the leader we missed in midfield for years. Now he's being fuck arsed around with a different partner every week. As soon as Partey went back into midfield on Saturday, he suddenly started breaking through and making stuff happen (terrible miss in the last minute granted)

Havertz was the whole reason we challenged for the title. Go back to Christmas last year when Nketiah and Jesus fluffed their lines and we dropped from the top spot in a week. Havertz going up top changed the course of the season and apart from the ugly shrek looking gimp at City, not many forwards had better goal involvement stats

Smith Rowe has gone mate! As people told me with Emery, you need to get over it! When he did play on occasion he looked unfit and off the pace. One half good game against shitty Luton doesn't change that. I really liked ESR too but he ain't coming back

Timber could well go higher, as could Califiori - they both look excellent but nowhere near enough games yet to justify that which is neither of their fault for differing reasons

[Retro Gunner]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

You mean there's two of you that rate Havertz?!!

Without going into detail over every selection, that's a reasonable analysis. So, SteveO, what judgement do you come to when at this stage you feel that only 50% of an £800 million spend can be deemed a success?

I know that Calafiori and Timber could well turn out to be good acquisitions, but if you look to include them then I'd have to remove the £65 million wasted on Havertz. In which case, we'd still be looking at about a 50% transfer success rate based on a reliable sample, given the 5 years and many transactions.

[SteveO 35]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

You mean there's two of you that rate Havertz?!!

Without going into detail over every selection, that's a reasonable analysis. So, SteveO, what judgement do you come to when at this stage you feel that only 50% of an £800 million spend can be deemed a success?

I know that Calafiori and Timber could well turn out to be good acquisitions, but if you look to include them then I'd have to remove the £65 million wasted on Havertz. In which case, we'd still be looking at about a 50% transfer success rate based on a reliable sample, given the 5 years and many transactions.

I guess its fair to say its in the balance isn't it. If Califiori, Timber and Merino all turn out to be the missing pieces of the puzzle then for my money that would make it over 500m of quality, and Partey (not Saturday) has actually been playing the best football of his time here in the past 12 months when fit....Jorginho hardly matters. So there's a 'best case' of c. 600m well spent, 200m wasted in my view. I guess that stands up to most top managers as even Pep and Klopp would have had big money signings that didn't work (Kalvin Phillips, Mendy, Danilo, Darwin, the Ox, to name but a few).

If however, those three in the balance turn out to be expensive turdbags, and Partey returns to the ponderous tool he was for a couple of years, then you'd have to say 50/50 isn't anywhere good enough.

In any event, there should be another option up front whether you like Havertz or not - you don't, I do - but I absolutely agree that having him as the only meaningful choice up front with Jesus is nothing short of scandalous when you're trying to take the ultimate step. If Havertz is injured and we have Jesus up top then start planning Thursday nights at best for next season

[Retro Gunner]

Lets have a look at the 'waste of money' £800m stuff. For my money his decent signings:

Rice, Havertz, White, Odegaard, Raya, Ramsdale, Gabriel, Trossard. Forget current form or how we felt about them personally, or the players they replaced, over the time they have been here they have more than justified their price tag (I know I'm in a small minority on Havertz). That lot allegedly cost 395m Euros according to that Transfermarkt site

Then we've got the shitebags:

Jesus, Vieira, Zinchenko. Kiwior, Tomyiasu, Lokonga, Mari, Nuno Tavares, Turner, Marquinhos, Runarsson, Trusty

207m Euros of utter garbage - either gone or I'd be holding a street party if they were all gone

Too early to tell category:

Calafiori, Timber, Merino, Sterling (loan)

117m Euros

Can't decide either way:

Partey (when fit half decent, often not fit and sluggish), Jorginho (solid enough for 11m and done a decent enough job at times but a bit 'meh')

So that's 62m Euros on them

If we want to split hairs then there's free transfer and loans of Cedric, Willian, Matt Ryan and Neto who are either forgettable or long since forgotten and utter gash

So at the moment for me based on that its 400m decent, 200m shite, 100m tbc, 100m meh - well roughly anyway!

You mean there's two of you that rate Havertz?!!

Without going into detail over every selection, that's a reasonable analysis. So, SteveO, what judgement do you come to when at this stage you feel that only 50% of an £800 million spend can be deemed a success?

I know that Calafiori and Timber could well turn out to be good acquisitions, but if you look to include them then I'd have to remove the £65 million wasted on Havertz. In which case, we'd still be looking at about a 50% transfer success rate based on a reliable sample, given the 5 years and many transactions.

I guess its fair to say its in the balance isn't it. If Califiori, Timber and Merino all turn out to be the missing pieces of the puzzle then for my money that would make it over 500m of quality, and Partey (not Saturday) has actually been playing the best football of his time here in the past 12 months when fit....Jorginho hardly matters. So there's a 'best case' of c. 600m well spent, 200m wasted in my view. I guess that stands up to most top managers as even Pep and Klopp would have had big money signings that didn't work (Kalvin Phillips, Mendy, Danilo, Darwin, the Ox, to name but a few).

If however, those three in the balance turn out to be expensive turdbags, and Partey returns to the ponderous tool he was for a couple of years, then you'd have to say 50/50 isn't anywhere good enough.

In any event, there should be another option up front whether you like Havertz or not - you don't, I do - but I absolutely agree that having him as the only meaningful choice up front with Jesus is nothing short of scandalous when you're trying to take the ultimate step. If Havertz is injured and we have Jesus up top then start planning Thursday nights at best for next season

I think Calafiori and Timber will be useful additions, but although it's very early days, I think Merino is going to be "meh" at best. I very much doubt that he'll make any significant improvement to the team, certainly not to the degree we required from a centre mid.

Leaving Havertz aside, we'll also part company on Partey, who for me, has been a big disappointment from day one. I knew nothing about him before our interest, but many gooners were cock-a-hoop that we'd got him...I suspect on the back of his size (maybe the new Vieira at last?!!) and some YouTube clips. I have been underwhelmed right from the start and he ought to have been gone during the summer of last year. Fuck knows how's he's still hanging about, but that's further evidence that Arteta is the Old Fraud's protege.

The fact that we are discussing Jorginho says it all really. Another chav cast off who we bought when he should have been retiring. I didn't rate him at the chavs...slow and too often caught in possession or giving the ball away...and he certainly isn't improving in old age. Another Lego Head signing that I'll never understand.

The failure to add a goal scoring striker (it's been necessary for at least 3 years) will scupper any chance we had of success and ought to scupper Arteta's time at the club. Unfortunately, unless the wheels come off very seriously, he's probably here for at least another 2-3 yrs.

Anyway, in my opinion, a 60% transfer success rate is the very best he could claim, as opposed to your 80%. While you're right that an 80/20 ratio would be where most top managers probably reside, there's a major difference. Amongst their successes there will be some truly world class players, whereas we would probably only pick Odegaard and Rice as above average signings. Neither is anywhere near world class and probably only Odegaard, at his best, could get to the fringes of top quality. I'd actually accept a 60-70% transfer success rate if there was real class amongst the successes.

[DB10GOONER]

I think the upcoming chav game might be a turning point for Arteta. If we take a hiding off those rent boy cùnts I think alot of the less vocal on the fence fans will start to call for his head. And unfortunately we might see the return of the sad split in the fan base that Wengers later tenure caused.

As for me, I'm done with him. He has improved us from where we were when he took over, only a moron would say he hasn't. But that is all he has done. Improved us. We are less shit than we were. Almost any half intelligent manager could do that with 800 million quid.

For 5 years and 800 million quid we should be seeing trophies, even if they are only cups. We should be seeing sustained challenges for the title. We should be seeing an ever improving squad. What we have is one, maybe two half decent pushes for the title that both collapsed when the pressure was on and a paper thin squad with no actual goal scoring striker to speak of.

His ego is his weakness. That and his inexperience of managing a top club that is expected to challenge for silverware.

Unfortunately I don't think he will be going anywhere soon and I fear we will now slowly plunge into the terrible half decade death dive that we saw with Wenger before empty seats and fan disinterest finally push the kroenkes to pull the trigger, far too late.

[SteveO 35]

I think the upcoming chav game might be a turning point for Arteta. If we take a hiding off those rent boy cùnts I think alot of the less vocal on the fence fans will start to call for his head. And unfortunately we might see the return of the sad split in the fan base that Wengers later tenure caused.

As for me, I'm done with him. He has improved us from where we were when he took over, only a moron would say he hasn't. But that is all he has done. Improved us. We are less shit than we were. Almost any half intelligent manager could do that with 800 million quid.

For 5 years and 800 million quid we should be seeing trophies, even if they are only cups. We should be seeing sustained challenges for the title. We should be seeing an ever improving squad. What we have is one, maybe two half decent pushes for the title that both collapsed when the pressure was on and a paper thin squad with no actual goal scoring striker to speak of.

His ego is his weakness. That and his inexperience of managing a top club that is expected to challenge for silverware.

Unfortunately I don't think he will be going anywhere soon and I fear we will now slowly plunge into the terrible half decade death dive that we saw with Wenger before empty seats and fan disinterest finally push the kroenkes to pull the trigger, far too late.

You generally look for continual progress don't you, and can anyone say this year that has been the case? The team haven't been playing anywhere near the levels they did for most of last season and three quarters of the previous one. I wasn't joking when I said how boring this team is to watch. Everyone forgives success - when Maureen was grinding out 1-0 wins and winning titles nobody from those clubs cared. We didn't care when we were doing it to the Spuds. But in amongst that is a shit boring product that as soon as the results stop, the style (or lack of) becomes an issue. Moyes, Fat Sam, Pulis - on a lesser scale than Maureen, elevated their clubs and people bought into it, but as soon as results turned then that awful, dull as fuck football became a serious issue. What we're seeing now is the same performances that ground out shithouse boring 1-0 wins, becoming 1-0 defeats. Score first, ok. Don't score first, not ok.

He's won an FA Cup with Emery's team during COVID and taken the team to a final day title challenge. Apart from that we've been god awful in Europe and the domestic cups, and our title challenge at best the previous season fell apart in April.