Didn’t he punch Roy Keane in the mouth once?

He did, Ash, not sure it was in the mouth I think it was the chest. Keane said he was so shocked he didn't go out clubbing that night!

https://twitter.com/afcamden/status/143 ... 94626?s=21

Just been reminded of the goal Man U scored vs Spurs last year which was ruled out for this flick in Son’s face being a foul.

The inconsistency is so bad and the new directive to ‘let games flow’ and a much more light touch VAR (which effectively means no over turns) has taken football back 5 years. Yes it might make the game faster but it’s highlighting the incompetence yet again.

Seal?

Honestly no. If a new manager comes in and still has to rely on the sub standard defenders we signed form Bolton, Schalke and saints like yesterday it will make no difference. No difference whatsofuckingever Appoint whoever you want, any manager will struggle.

Also the fans who want to debate wether we shouldn’t have signed players like white, Ramsdale, or Tavares so we could sign Bissouma ? Also pointless because as we know from Thomas Partey the player comes in, gets injured and then we are well short in several other areas.

There’s a strong element of difficulty in the Arsenal managers position that involves inheriting historical catastrophic problems from the previous regime.

Probably, yeh

Remember when i said Xhaka was our worst ever signing. I present exhibit A



Xhaka (CM) Minus -10: An utter disgrace to himself, his teammates, his manager, his club & fans. Lacks discipline to an almost cowardly extent. Failed to relish the battle & decided the afternoon would be far easier if he absented himself from the fray.

https://www.onlinegooner.com/articles/view/5779

Got it yet ? Still disagree. Yeah right Sure.

I think it’s hard to argue too strongly against that. Ive always thought this is something like the team would look if Pep took over. Man City were a shambles really when he first implemented his tactics but they weren’t stuck with players like we were with Özil and just kept throwing money at it til it stuck. At Arsenal he’d have had the same problems as Arteta, Emery, whoever have had, and it wouldn’t just not work, eventually the pressure would mean it would unravel. Right now we either get players back and we galavanise or we keep unraveling and Arteta is gone before November because we’ll be 18th going into December.

I’m not exactly buying into the Pep is a fraud stuff, but he wouldn’t have got close to what he’s achieved if the three clubs he’s managed weren’t Barca Bayern and City and also without one Seńor Messi.

He certainly wouldn’t have been able to achieve that at Arsenal. In 2 years time if White is actually any good, Gabriel keeps improving, Ødegaard settles in and Saka And Smith Rowe are 21/22 and tearing it up - different story. Course Xhaka will still be here...

Kroenke's LA Rams lost again Saturday against Denver Broncos in Denver, 12-17. Preseason game, but it is what it is.

Exactly how bad does it have to get before Arteta gets the heave-ho?

Wolves sign Hwang Hee-chan from Leipzig on a season long loan with an option to buy. This is the guy who did so well against van dijk in the champions league when can Dijk wasn’t giving anyone a kick.
Such a risk free deal and there are lots of teams doing these at the moment, we seem behind the times. Loan with option to buy. If the signing works you sign them permanently, if it doesn’t you hand them back.

Spurs top with an expected goal difference in minus figures. So basically their opponents should (with average level finishing) have scored more goals than spurs. This is why xG is such an interesting metric. It rates the likelihood the average player scores a goal in that situation. So naturally very good strikers over perform their xG. But if your opponent has a higher xG than you it’s either very good finishing by you or very bad finishing by your opponent, or both. One thing it isn’t is sustainable.

Look at the wolves v Man U first half today. Wolves should be ahead of they could finish their chances, that’s down to Wolves nothing Man U are doing.

The question making the rounds is if we sack Arteta, who do we bring in? Admittedly, I would have liked Emery to have more time. I'm not sure his success in Spain vindicates that opinion or not. Different clubs and different leagues.

I'm inclined to give Arteta more time. But that's my nature I guess.

https://blog.marathonbet.co.uk/football-managers-out-of-work/

I presume when the first team players are all back, within reason, and we’re still losing against teams we are expected to beat or at least compete with. I don’t think there’s an excuse or argument left at that point because we’ll be rock bottom or very close to it. Not changing that manager will be abdication of duty by the board at that point.

I could name a large part of the dressing room I'd like him to lose permanently. But they seem determined to hang on collecting their wages rather than getting lost.

Maybe Willian is an exception, but some have visibly been stirring things up for some time. And this goes back well before Arteta. Before Emery too tbh. Sometimes AW only seemed to get by by skating over the discord and paying higher wages than deserved.

There has clearly been a decision that the culture has to change - and about time too imo.
And it's not just signing young players. There will be a reason behind the targeting of British players despite the premium, and one of the articles over the weekend made a point of highlighting that Ødegaard was part of this culture in the dressing room.
Unfortunately there's no market for the players we'd like to move on and we don't have the money to do a wholesale replacement otherwise.

Fair enough. I would say, however, that a big part of good management is creating a collective will to fight for the team, and not to lie down and die as we do as soon as things turn against us in a match. Nobody expects the players available to beat Chelsea or City but the capitulation in both cases was pathetic. And best not to mention Brentford.

Cos all the other clubs see us as absolute mugs when it comes to negotiations.

And they could well be right.

You old softy.

I wasn’t sure how to read that.

Is Ødegaard a good guy or a bad guy with regards to culture?

Manure are jammy bastards. Wolves should be ahead.

The implication was that he socialised and fitted in with the British guys.

This is a yellow card tackle easily. Not called even as a foul and Man U score the winner immediately in the same move. Of course CAR doesn’t do anything.

So great to have football back

Couldn't you have removed Arsenal from the bottom of the table, while you were at it?

No no, Jamie Carragher said there was no contact, and he delayed going down my at least 0.3 of a second.

You just had a feeling it was going to be allowed. After that Dean seemed to go from “allowing the game to flow” back to giving every niggly foul in Utds favour, breaking up the last 7-8 minutes for Utd to see it out. Maybe it was my imagination but seeing Martial do the forwards flop with a defender behind him that Dean had ignored all game suddenly become a foul was eye rollingly annoying. Wolves must be fuming.

Told you Xhaka's wasn't a sending off, ask Dean if you don't believe me.

The FA have wrecked VAR from a positive imo I have decided that until the refs all think the same football will never be a fair game. The game needs consistent reffing and a fair play rule that works. Till then it'll never be a sport just a business which if we want to succeed we have to change our attitude to.

We may as well have fat Sam managing us and telling us how to cheat our way to a title otherwise we are and always will be no hopers.

He'll get more time, but every performance like the one yesterday (and calling it a performance is probably too kind) must put more and more doubt in the minds of the people running things. We'll improve once we get more starting players back, but at this point I'm not sure how anyone can have the belief that Arteta will suddenly turn things around and get us to play good football again. He's been here for two years soon, and we look worse than when he arrived. Certainly worse than we did at any point during the Wenger era. I'm now at the point where I see Arteta being sacked as inevitable, and I'm just hoping we get the next appointment right.

Less than 6 points from the next 9 if it’s not obvious to you unless our muggy fans object more to the one bloke trying to support the losers you think are ace.

Hi Pode,

I've enjoyed reading your posts today and yesterday.

Are you a newbie or have you re-registered under a different forum name?

Has anyone been keeping an eye on how Willock has played so far for Newcastle?
When we were considering selling him and when we sold him we had pundits lined up to tell us he’d scored 8 in 14 and we were mad. Makes me so frustrated that zero context is added. Keeping scoring at that rate would put Willock in the frame for the golden boot!

No idea what this sentence means.

Indeed. If Arteta comes across as arrogant, it is undoubtedly at least in part because someone needs to put a bit of stick about. He's definitely not putting up with players who don't toe the line.

Unfortunately we need results. Otherwise it won't matter who is to blame, and that we've had rotten luck so far this season. The pressure to change the coach will be too great, and we'll be back to square one.

Those games against Norwich and Burley are looking huge. I honestly think there is a core of a team there if we can only get going and get past the negativity.

Swapping places with Millwall In May...

Yeah right. You never know though, stranger than fiction.

Drop S-R down there, and play Elneny Xhaka and Lokonga in the holding areas against City.

Well unless he likes art galleries, museums and coffee shops to watch the world go by, then he will not fit in with my idea of culture. But that is my subjective view. Within the football club I have no idea because I no longer understand what culture we are promoting.

No real point going three at the back if two are clowns. Quantity < quality. Rather have Elneny sitting in front of the back 4.

Back in 2012-2013, Andre Villas Boas, while at Spurs, made the arrogant comment that Arsenal were in a downward spiral. Fans were outraged by that comment then. Downward spiral....now.

He will get more time but if we lose at home to Norwich I’m not sure how much time. Meaning not a lot. However, I think we will beat Norwich so there should be some time following that.

However, I agree with Hazuki that Arteta’s sacking is beginning to look inevitable. We all knew it was going to happen with Wenger and Emery. We just didn’t know when. The Arteta situation seems similar. Almost like it’s a question of when not if. That’s why Arteta is odds on favourite (4/6) to be the first Premier League manager sacked this season. See the link below.

I think another point raised by Hazuki is relevant. Arteta has been in post almost two years. That means he’s had four transfer windows, or will have done in a couple of days. In them a net £170m has been spent. That’s a significant outlay that I bet is not matched by many clubs above us. But despite that and regardless of the eleven players Arteta has signed on permanent transfers, as Hazuki implies we look worse now than when he first started, and our style of football is even more tedious.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/en ... leave-post

My suspicion and fear
How else can a player like Saliba not get in front of players like Chambers
How is Torrira any worse than Xhaka?
Quite clear who are those who "tried" his arrogance, and those who sucked up to him (whispering ... Xhaka ......... )