Arsenal

[Tucker]

I'm genuinely struggling to think of a top manager who would go there. They seem to think Poch would but I'd be astounded if he even considered it. They really are sinking fast now and the job looks like a proper poisoned chalice. I think they'll stick with Arteta, hopefully until it's too late. The only one I can think of is Eddie Howe, but he just took Bournemoth down to the Championship - he does however play some decent football, but I don't see him turning that dressing room round. Delicious.

Their next appointment is pivotal. Get it wrong and they’ll be stuck in a cycle of mediocrity for a decade. Like when Sugar appointed Gerry Francis and followed it up by bringing in Gross and then Graham. One bad appointment after the other after the other.

Emery was a mistake, Arteta has compounded that.

If they aren’t careful they’ll end up having to get in an escape artist like Warnock or Pullis, just to keep them in the league. They might even fuck that up by going for someone like Howe who hasn’t really got the grit for such a fight. It’ll could be glorious.

 

[olliec]

The only manager I feared coming in to save
Them was big Sam but now WBA have him they really could sink and get relegated.

 

[rossdapep]

20 years ago Leeds were 'too good' to go down.
20 years ago Forest were 'too good' to go down.

It can happen.

Add in Newcastle and Blackburn

 

[Chris Finch]

Add in Newcastle and Blackburn

And the West Ham team with Defoe, Cole, Carrick

 

[Japhet]

Their next appointment is pivotal. Get it wrong and they’ll be stuck in a cycle of mediocrity for a decade. Like when Sugar appointed Gerry Francis and followed it up by bringing in Gross and then Graham. One bad appointment after the other after the other.

Emery was a mistake, Arteta has compounded that.

If they aren’t careful they’ll end up having to get in an escape artist like Warnock or Pullis, just to keep them in the league. They might even fuck that up by going for someone like Howe who hasn’t really got the grit for such a fight. It’ll could be glorious.

They need, as you say, an escape artist now, but that person would be pretty sure he wasn't in the long term thinking, so they'd probably have to offer top money on a short contract. Don't know who'd want that. I think Howe might have been a better option than Arteta though, but they presumably backed away from the stigma of relegation and were attracted by the reflected glory Arteta was basking in at City. Their recruitment on all fronts has been utterly appalling though, although I think Partey and Gabriel might be good players eventually. Edu's got a lot to answer for.

 

[rossdapep]

Unless they go for Benitez (and some of their fans would still scoff at that), I don't really see who they could get in that would make them more of a functional team.

 

[mark87]

 

[HildoSpur]

I almost feel sorry for the Arsenal fans... almost..

 

[mark87]

I almost feel sorry for the Arsenal fans... almost..

I'm not anywhere near almost, they deserve every last bit of the shambles they have become

 

[HildoSpur]

I'm not anywhere near almost, they deserve every last bit of the shambles they have become

Obviously when I say almost... I mean not at all..

 

[King of Otters]

Probably bullshit but I hope it's true

View attachment 79350

He was an Emery signing wasn’t he. Another sign of Arteta’s stubbornness.

 

[slartibartfast]

Almost as if its sponsored by their sponsors or something.

No no no. I'm sure them winning it 10 times in 114years and then suddenly 4 times in the last 7, 6years since the sponsorship started, is purely coincidental. As is all their draws being at home. Sometimes things just happen. After all they've been a real top top team in the last 6 years.

Edit. But like my Murphys, I'm not bitter.


No I am. Fkin bitter. Wankers.

 

[E17yid]

Unless they go for Benitez (and some of their fans would still scoff at that), I don't really see who they could get in that would make them more of a functional team.

I would be praying for Benitez if I was an Arsenal fan. They’d be fine if he took over tomorrow. Would probably finish in the top half.

 

[VegasII]

Benítez would sort them out pretty quickly, so I hope he stays in China.

 

[Bobbins]

I don’t think they’ll appoint Howe - they’ve got too much arrogance about them to appoint an English manager and most of their squad probably wouldn’t react positively to it.

Would Keegan love it if they got Ljungberg back as he was absolutely full of himself when he was caretaker, and he was also absolutely shite.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Well at least the stadium is bought and paid for ...

Oh wait....
.
Oh no it isn't..
KSE restructure stadium debt: Analysis and opportunity | Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog

 

[PLTuck]

In such a shit year watching those lot hover above the bye bye zone is a beacon of light. A point a game average is relegation form.
Long may it continue ?

My previously rabid Arsenal fan mates all say they've fallen out of love with football because of VAR. Yeah, of course you have. Nothing to do with being dogshit.

 

[dontcallme]

Someone asked about Leeds, their downfall was quite meteoric as I recall. They had assembled a great team, had been challenging for titles, got to the semi’s of the champions league, played great football etc. But they had spent far more than they could sustain, and had to start selling their best players to balance the books. That’s how we got the likes of Robbie Keane and Paul Robinson so cheaply. The likes of Kewell and Viduka (and Bowyer) went to Liverpool and Newcastle respectively.

Arsenal are unfortunately in a much healthier position than that Leeds team that went down. The problem that they could have is if they keep Arteta and he keeps playing this turgid “all foreplay and no fuck” football.

If they see the threat of relegation between now and the 31st of January, then they have the opportunity and the finances to pull the trigger and get a proper manager in and let him buy a couple of players.

If Arteta stays, and they don’t address the issues between the various factions in the squad, or start putting goals away then they could get sucked in. No one is “too good” to go down if they are a badly run club. And when a big club gets relegated, like Newcastle, Leeds, Blackburn, Forest etc. It’s because they were badly run from top to bottom.

This is an interesting one.

Leeds were the big one to massively overspend and bankrupt themselves by trying to buy success. On a lesser scale Villa, Portsmouth and a few others did similar.

The top clubs can buy the best players because they can afford to. Their wage bills are massive compared to the teams at the bottom and it isn't unusual for young players, who haven't achieved anything, at the notional top 6 getting paid more than experienced professionals at other Prem clubs.

For a while now there has been a thought that the potential downside of this is young and experienced players alike getting paid too much that they stop really caring about the game. Make a teenager a millionaire footballer and he might enjoy being a millionaire over being a footballer.

Arsenal might be the first side to really feel this. My Arsenal fan mate is a coach who goes into the club and has said the relaxed atmosphere there has been apparent for over a decade.

Arsenal won't do a Leeds. They are not going to go bankrupt. They are going to massively struggle to sell a squad full of players who are on high wages and don't give a shit.

They have 4 first team squad player out of contract this summer plus Ceballos' loan ending. Releasing those players is a start but there is much work to do there now.

 

[Marty]

Someone asked about Leeds, their downfall was quite meteoric as I recall. They had assembled a great team, had been challenging for titles, got to the semi’s of the champions league, played great football etc. But they had spent far more than they could sustain, and had to start selling their best players to balance the books. That’s how we got the likes of Robbie Keane and Paul Robinson so cheaply. The likes of Kewell and Viduka (and Bowyer) went to Liverpool and Newcastle respectively.

I just had a look at that Leeds squad that season. Look at all of those really good players that went down with them. Robbo was England Number One within a year of being relegated, Kelly, Harte, Radebe, Viduka, Bakke and Smith had all played CL semi finals three season before. They were well on the way down and had sold off some good players but the squad they had should in a normal season with a normal club/board level situation been solidly mid table.

A combination of everything sent them down, and honestly Arsenal while not in the same financial situation have a very similar feeling of turmoil and discord running through the whole club.

 

[Timberwolf]

Probably bullshit but I hope it's true

View attachment 79350

The whole treatment of Saliba just seems very strange.

Apparently he was really impressive in Ligue 1 and from his highlight reels looks he like the next coming of Van Dijk. I was actually really gutted when they signed him over us as I thought we'd missed a trick.

Now maybe he's not all that and is still very raw, but given how bad some of their defenders are and the fact they're in a piss easy Europa League group, the treatment of him seems so odd. Surely a 27 million pound player is worthy of a start in a dead rubber against Dundalk FFS, even if he is young and a bit raw.

I mean, we've handled some signings fairly poorly ourselves (i.e. Sessegnon) but at least we gave him some matches and tried to make it work rather than completely freezing him out and ruining his confidence from day 1.