Yeah I got that thanks Kiwi, it was more the Clough/Redknapp comparison that caught my attention like a rabid ferret dropped in the bathwater.

I too would be more excited by Vieira, though I wouldn't draw the same conclusion you have from him (presumably) not getting the job. Plus as Hazuku pointed out, that Sky sports piece about him feeling miffed is the sort of lazy excuse for journalism that would be considered shocking in a world with any kind of professional standards.

What does encourage me about Arteta - aside from it being change at last, an interesting choice, and the fact that characters as unlikely as mild-mannered physio Bertie Mee and obnoxious interpreter Jose Mourinho have become such successful managers - is that he was the personal choice of Pep Guardiola to be his number two at City.

Much as I love him, I am not so impressed by Henry being the personal choice of Roberto Martinez.

I'd make exactly the same point about Arteta, Niall. You call Henry tedious. Ye Gods, if Henry is tedious I'd say Arteta is extreme boredom x 10. But more important than that, I think the club needs a manager who will go in and 'kick arse' to rid the squad of the complacency that often seems to strangle our performances. From what I've seen of Arteta, that isn't him.

He appears intelligent, which is a positive. But also too reserved, introverted, quiet and a bit of a risk avoider for what I think we now need. For that reason I'd say Arteta is at the wrong place at the wrong time for the current Arsenal. At a worst case scenario I think we could even be moving from the Wenger frying pan into the Ar,teta fire.

Quite a clear out of Wenger's back room team. So far I've seen Primoric, Banfield, Colbert, Peyton, Bibbo, Lewin, Johnson and through retirement Akers reported as going. From the youth set'up it looks a fairly safe bet that Gatting and Laraman will soon be looking for work.

So Jack misses out on World Cup week. Not that I care too much but he’s played a lot this season and he’s played pretty well, so I don’t see either as a reason for his omission. I’m actually quite pleased that he can have a proper break – sounds like Lacazette, PEA, Ramsey and a few others will be similarly rested. I rather hope they’ll all still be with us so they can hit the ground running for the new coach.

Back to Jack though, that moment against Burnley when he dropped a shoulder, beat his opponent and surged forward to set up a goal - that’s just the sort of skill that’s needed to lift a pretty pedestrian England mf.

Jack’s one of the few players around who can keep the ball moving, can beat a man in mf and can spot a killer pass; I think England are daft not to take him. I also think we’ll miss him if he goes.

Agree completely about Wilshere and England. Fair enough if Southgate didn't plan to start him after all the injury problems he's had. But after a healthy season where he's put in some fine performances surely there must be room for him in the 23 man squad? The players that were selected are not bad by any means, but very few of them brings the ability to do something unexpected to the table.

Ray Wilson RIP happy memories of you holding the World Cup trophy in '66.

Vince ...... I can't see why Clough / Redknapp produced the 'wolverine in the tub '.... at the time Clough was punching well above his weight in the league , and Harry's Spurs WERE playing excellent football .

Agree on Arteta ... if the watch story is true it is a bit of a kiss arse which I don't agree with .....but shows as manager with even more power he wont worry about ruffling a few feathers and let's face it there are a few that need a large rocket up their backside to produce better results.

I'm not keen on Thierry because the few times I've seen him on the Sky Pundits show , he hogs the limelight , rabbits on far too long .... get your point across then shut up .

Yes but I think you make the mistake thinking Arteta has to be the complete package , a good right hand man can cover any areas he might be lacking in .

Talking of tedium ....watching the Europa final ..... Mama Mia the co commentator providing riveting insights is none other than that dribbling d***stop from the Anfield '89 ....... David Pleat .

Second point ....why do morons let off flares ...you can hardly see the players or the pitch now . Can't do your lungs a hell of lot of good either .

The Guardian's view on each Premier League team's best player this season. I agree with them about Arsenal's. He had some poor games but Monreal gets my vote as our player of the season.

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/wh ... ubs-season

If wondering about what kind of playing philosophy Arteta might have there are some interesting quotes here...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cybrown/20 ... 8893ce285c

If the truth's known you probably don't even work there you poser , probably sort out the brass , copper and ali from the ferrous metals down at the local breakers yard .... and make the teas .

All this shady 'Martin Bormann' stuff behind the scenes , Socrates comes up with more scoops than you .

Atletico gets the cup we could have won if we hadn't have messed it up in the first leg.
Anyway, a new era is upon us. I don't care who is going to be the manager (fat Sam excepted). Its not Wenger and very few people saw that coming.

We will probably mess up the process of finding a manger. Not coordinate the window with a new manger, etc but its a change and even if it gets worse before it gets better, I'll still take that instead of Wenger.

Since we’ve moved to the emirates there are two clear eras, the first when the budget was restricted and we made an estimated £40m profit in transfers from 2006-2013. The second when the shackles were released and we’ve spent £200m net between 2014-2018.

So even in the ‘spending years’ we’re hitting a transfer budget of roughly £50m per season. In the frugal years the budget was more like minus £7m per season.

What I never understand is right now we are hearing talk of a restricted budget of £50m for new players. I can see that because we don’t have CL football and that we’ve invested quite heavily (badly) in the last few years why we might have to watch the pennies but how with our vast resources even having to pay off the stadium are we so far behind thee net spend of so many prem clubs? I’m ignoring city, Chelsea, Man U. And I’m not even thinking that much about Liverpool and spurs. I’m looking at clubs like stoke, palace etc.

We’ve potentially ‘lost’ allegri because he wants too much of a transfer budget and too much pay. The pay part is ridiculous as that would be the equivalent of a couple of million per season which to get a manager of that ilk is worth paying.

I’m glad the wenger years are over but I’m so fed up with the club being so obviously reluctant to put their hand in their pocket. How can a club like Everton drop £150m in a single window and not have to worry about financial fair play whilst we scrabble around trying to make a profit each window?

Didn't mean to give that impression. But anyway, couldn't one offer your argument for anyone, maybe apart from Wenger? Including Henry, who I was responding to Niall's comments on?

Says something about the season we had, because I don’t think Monreal was particularly great but I struggle to think of someone who had a better season.

Who rattled your mobility scooter.

I will have you know that Gazidis contacted me to ask if I was interested in taking the manager's job. He said he and the board had been reading my posts on here for years and it was quite clear that if I took the job I would win the quadruple in my first season.

I think this is what we’ll see going forward, no matter who the new manager is. There are some reports in Germany that we’re in advanced talks with Dortmund about their central defender Sokratis, and this is with us not having appointed a new manager. A clear indication that the manager is not expected to be primarily responsible for player recruitment the way Wenger was.

I thought you were supposed to be our new central defender.

Player manager. I am the new libero.

Whether it's true or not the firm impression I'm getting is that Mislintat has a lot of power on the players being signed. Not that surprising if he's head of recruitment. His primary focus does seem to be players he knows from Dortmund, where obviously he came from. On Talksport I heard someone crack a light-hearted jibe that he's trying to turn Arsenal into Dortmund. My guess would be that it was Andy Jacobs, though I'm not sure.

If that is what he's trying to do, I'd prefer him to turn Arsenal into Bayern.

Seems easy enough. Stay behind Mustafi, if the ball is coming towards him it’ll probably end up with you.

Just don't see how anybody can have much of an opinion on Arteta. We don't know just like we wouldn't know about the impact of any other manager experienced or otherwise. Mourinho is experienced - also a *%^@ who plays boring football. I thought we WANTED some fun and uncertainty?

By the way he was a much better player than some are suggesting especially at Everton. If he's smart, if Pep's opinion of him is warranted, if he builds a good connection with the fans then it could be a really interesting appointment. We don't know - and that's a factor that's been missing so long that I would be grateful for it.

The case againest Arteta outlined perfectly

http://onlinegooner.com/article.php?sec ... v0-y9HTWhA

Won't write him off and he gets my full support but I fear the worst. What if he loses his first 4 games and people start doubting his experience.

Also I'm not in any way religious but if he did genuinely use charity money that was collected from fines due to be sent to the lung function unit at great ormond street children's hospital to buy his boss a Patek Phillipe then he is a pagan and deserves to go to hell when judgement comes.

Cheers

Quite right. And contrary to what many think, I see this as a football decision. If it was just about saving money they wouldn’t have extended Wenger with his huge salary. If it was a pr exercise they could’ve appointed Vieira and gotten ten times the amount of goodwill. I think they have a type of football in mind for the team, and they see Arteta as someone who can execute it. They could've made this a lot easier for themselves, but their job is not to make easy decisions.

That long?

I was definitely in the Wenger Out camp by the end but Arsenal fans really are a bunch of spineless ninnies sometimes who deserve much of the ridicule they receive. Never *%^@*** happy, always with the negative Cuffley whine.

You said it was boring. You wanted him out.

Now get on with enjoying the uncertain times.

Stay true to yourself though and denounce yourself online afterwards.

Where/who is this story coming from?

Actually Haz I reckon Arteta will be a great appointment ..... TG's posting further down , written by the bloke who styles himself the Bard is way off the mark .

" he has no experience " ... matters little in my opinion . All he has to have is a system he wants to play and implement it .

He's seen the set ups at Barcelona , PSG , Rangers , Everton , Arsenal and Man City must know what does and doesn't work .

I read an article today where Guardiola says to Mikel ... "Okay it's your team this week " and let him have the reins for three games in a row .
Arteta stayed back one on one for several hours each day with Sterling to improve his game .

"Have to say I was very disappointed with myself today. I made Mertesacker look like Usain Bolt. Plus as manager I was completely clueless tactically and got trapped in an endless cycle of futile tippy-happy. Cannot wait for the day I leave the club. Socrates Out."

Are you faster than the BFG?

I'd be willing to accept Arteta simply because he's an unknown. Hungry, with a point to prove. Better than a dinosaur like Ancelotti anyway.

Like you, and I'm sure lots of others, I want some fun and uncertainty. Better than groundhog day any time.

(And a little part of me will miss Wenger.)

You know what I disagree we aren't a whiny bunch generally but 10 years of Wenger past his best has created an unfair portrayal as the anguish increased. Also social media hasn't helped.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to the new era and plan on taking my kids to a shedload of Arsenal games next season. Also as I said previously if any Arsenal fan is being critical of the next manager be it Arteta or whoever over the next couple of years then that's bang out of order considering the mess Wenger has left. The whole fan base needs to unify and get behind the new regime (who are probably on a hiding to nothing)

All of that said it doesn't make me a less of a fan to have certain doubts about Artetas credentials for the job, which I certainly do.

I think you have just summed up what the author was trying to get across. In essence it's a blind appointment, there is no evidence to suggest he's good enough for the job or not good enough. It's just blind and selection is based on strength of character. Must be brilliant to work in professional football, just get a stack of money every which way you look regardless of achievement

Whoever is the new manager, it would be great if he won the first 4 games, but my goodness, what pressure he will put on himself doing so.

I reckon this team is capable of much more that they showed under Wenger; hopefully the new manager will give them some structure and confidence, and also a little bit of fear.

Losing the first 4 games wouldn't be a massive problem for me, IF there was evidence that something new was being tried and there was less tippy tappy and more aggressive directness. Oh and a couple of shots on target from outside the box every 15 mins or so would keep me happy even if results weren't going well.

And, for that matter, who is he talking about? Other than that - great post.

I am very disappointed already. Arteta Out.

My list to replace Arteta.

Socrates.

Owen Coyle.

Wenger.

Agree with this. Top four is a reasonable target next season, but I will be looking more at how we actually play. If there seems to be better defensive organization, if our attacking football is played with more pace and directness. If we get those things going in the right direction good results will follow.

Or to put it another way: are you a functioning biped?