It's because the average consumer doesn't want to be told that. They want raw meat.

There are plenty of smart people with a great understanding of the game, but nuanced analysis would cause the average punter to fall asleep over his beer, or worse, change the channel.

Its the same as the rumour clickbait. It's purely demand driven.

Perish the thought that we'll do so badly, but I doubt that Arteta would get sack even if we only managed a few points in the next 3 games.

We've obviously got a long term strategy (as Pode says, the evidence is the signings), and it would be crazy to ditch it so soon.

Not much ambition behind this comment though from Edu...
Besides why wouldn't anyone not want to see the team playing together. And to say not wanting to go for top 4 finish in PL.

“I don’t want to go for numbers. Top four, top six, top eight, top ten. I’m really looking forward to seeing this team play together.”

What he meant is that we haven't seen the team playing together yet.

What he meant by the top 10 comment is that we are in transition. I don't see having a long term plan, and being realistic about what we can expect in the short term, as unambitious. What would be BS would be claiming we are going to crack the top 4 this season. That would just be setting us up to fail.

And I would also put up with another 7th or 8th place finish if there is a genuine sense of a long term strategy coming to fruition.

What alternative do you see?

What do you want? “We can compete with Bayern”?

Brazil vs Argentina has been stopped because the Brazilian Federal Police have walked onto the pitch to detain 4 Argentinian players (Romero, Lo Celso, Buendia and Emiliano Martinez) who lied to enter the country.

Game has been abandoned.

Changing the manager may not mean ditching the strategy though. It may be no more than keeping the strategy of buying younger players with potential to improve from other clubs, as we’ve seen this summer, mixing them with youngsters from our own youth academy, but finding a manager who is hopefully more capable of getting more out of the players we’ve got.

I’m not saying we should get rid of Arteta in saying that. To be honest I still haven’t made up my mind about him. But I’m not convinced we couldn’t find someone who could get more out of the players we have than him. Moreover I would hope that could be done while retaining the strategy.

What I’m suggesting is that if a decision is made to part ways with Arteta, that doesn’t mean we have to ditch the policy which I do support. If and when Arteta goes, it will be interesting to see who his successor is because that will be a critical appointment.

I thought that I had lost the ability to be surprised by just how much money is corrupting football and how anything is for sale.

I must have nodded off when all this Qatar stuff emerged.

The nonsense World Cup hosting and the slave labour is familiar to me.

But I hadn’t noticed that they bought their way into playing into the Gold Cup and the Copa America, neither of which they are qualified for. And they are playing in the World Cup qualifiers as a ‘shadow’ team just to gain experience even though they qualify as hosts.

If you give enough money to people eventually 9 out of ten people will compromise ANYTHING. I’m proud enough to say I’ve never compromised any of my personal beliefs or integrity for money.

Look at wenger and the World Cup thing. An utter joke. Do you think he believes a World Cup every 2 years will improve things. It’s utter nonsense, very few people can’t be bought.

The Copa America does invite two teams to each tournament. Japan have appeared recently and Australia were going to play in this version until covid hit.

Obviously doesn't change the fact that Qatar hosting the world cup is a joke.

Hey Pode,
Didn't see warrior's article and that appears clickbait. You are probably right, its a rumor started out of thin air to get people looking at articles. That said, I'd like to get Rodgers.

I think he could be persuaded. I think he feels wrongly done by at Liverpool and wants another crack at a big club. Just my supposition. The other managers named are 'doable'.

Martinez
"I never wanted to join Arsenal. Arsenal came to look for me & Pépé Santoro [a coach at Independiente] told me that the train only passes once in a lifetime. My family & my agents thought the same. So, the decision was more for them than anything else."

Does this guy ever stop talking about Arsenal? He must mention us in every single interview

Are we supposed to be City-lite in terms of tactics? That's what I presumed. Am I wrong in that assumption? Basically, the same type of game albeit with lesser skilled players obviously.

Or does Arteta have his own style that differs visibly than Pep's? So far, its hard to tell what it is.

Stayed rather a long time at a club that he didn’t want to join didn’t he?

Doesn’t that just mean that we did everything right and he was able to change his previous views. All good things in my view. Arsenal made him what he is. I struggle to see what is a problem with that. The media will continue to ask about his Arsenal time because it is a greater part of his history.

Rise of the premier league on bbc 2. Quite good, David Dein featuring

You forget Ferguson went 6 years before he even won the league. Yeah year and a half for Mikel isn’t really that long.

Actually scratch that it started off well and has turned into a man united title homage again. What is about that club that gets television producers going overboard.

A stomach-churning tribute to Manchester United, much of it provided by their own players and fans.

Clickbait in reverse mode, Roy Keane being sensible for once:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... a-24921617

I think the opportunity for Rodgers came and went. In many of the ways that matter Leicester are currently a bigger club than Arsenal (supportive and involved owners, functioning system in the club, won the FA Cup more recently, won the EPL more recently, above us in league and finished higher than us for the last two years).

It really did, the first 15 minutes were fine with context from Dein, analysis about the need for football to evolve and sky and then blam! A total non stop procession and homage of their title winning season that almost seemed to stick 2 fingers up at Alan Shearer. Bet it ends before covering any of our success

Suppose it depends how ‘bigness’ in football clubs is measured. I accept what you say about Leicester’s recent record and owners, in comparison to Arsenal. But does that really make them a bigger club than Arsenal? You could say Manchester City have outperformed Manchester United in recent years and have more supportive owners.

However, I believe worldwide fan base size is critical in judging the ‘bigness’ of football clubs and for me that still makes Arsenal bigger than Leicester and Manchester United bigger than Manchester City. I’m not saying we could get Rodgers. But I still think Arsenal are a bigger club than Leicester.

I think everyone has assumed he's following Pep, but that's probably a mistake. Everything I've heard via ex-teammates indicates that he always had his own ideas about football.
He started at Barca as a fifteen year old, but moved to PSG when he was 19 and never went back (Rangers, Real Sociedad, Everton, Arsenal - managers include McLeish, Moyes, Wenger) and never played for Spain's first team. So exposure to many managers and systems before he apprenticed himself to Pep.

We know he believes in playing from the back, likes the high press, and an asymmetric defensive setup. He also appears to like defensive players to be flexible and intelligent enough to change formation. It's not obvious that he has a fixed preference for a back four or a back five.

Very hard to read much into the offensive stuff because he's had to work with the players he has, most of whom have demonstrated limited flexibility. He might have a tendency to over-caution though it's possible that's a reaction to knowing the defence might float away if someone blows at it the wrong way. And it is hard to have a system when key players are prone to catastrophic errors (Luiz, Mustafi, Xhaka).

Was willing to give Eddie, AMN and Willock a run of games, though I was never clear what he was expecting from the last two. They didn't seem to fit. tbh, I'm not quite sure what type of systems the youth teams work to now.

Our potential is bigger, our fanbase is bigger, and we're one of the leading clubs in the world for people hating us and wanting to put the boot in. Annual income will usually be higher too, unless we're ever relegated (probably less likely to be relegated than Leicester too - they nearly managed that just before they won the league).

ManU have the income to succeed with the owners they have, and can afford to fritter it away on very expensive failed managers, poor signings and high wages. The financial and business management in ManU, Leicester and Chelsea has been way out of our league for over a decade. They might have a higher income than us, but they do much better than we do at maximising it.

In all sports, there seems to be 2 kinds of big clubs that are currenlty not doing well.
First, there's the "big club" that has not been doing well in recent years. I wasn't around then but I've always been led to believe, Man Utd were always seen as a big club between their '68 title and their '92 one, even when getting relegated in '74.

We were as well between '71 and '89 and there is nothing like a cup or two to remind everyone. ('79 for example).

There is the 'once big club'. I'd put Benfica in that category in terms of European fame. Domestically they are still a very big club but because the Portuguese league isn't a major league it doesn't matter to some extent. In terms of Europe they 'were' a big club.

Leicester is having its finest years ever but I think it will take some time to be seen more prominantly than us. Some clubs have a good run for a few years. Newcastle were appearing fairly regularly in cup finals, finishing top 4 or 5 when I got into football late '90s.

At some point (a few more titles, cups, regularly finishing in the top 4), Leicester could eclipse us. Chelsea is close if not there already perhaps. I don't know. I assume we are still the biggest club in London but I don't live there. I would also assume that they have more fans than us under 25 or 30..again just a guess. The Chelsea fans I know in the states almost always became fans 2004 and later.

Anyway, with regards to Rodgers, he has every reason to stay where he is except that I think we still have a bigger 'name' globally and being one of the 3 traditionally 'big English clubs' historically. Had Leeds not imploded I think they would be included in that as well since their prominance went back to the early '70s.

I still think Rodgers would find it very difficult to say no. I don't think it would an immediate no. I think he would ask about a variety of things first (budget, plans, how much time to set the ship right, etc.). Just my guess.

Agent responds to rumours Arsenal have agreement in place with Antonio Conte

Federico Pastorello, an agent close to Antonio Conte, has rubbished rumours that Arsenal have reached a pre-agreement with the manager.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/05/agent-re ... -15211001/

I would suggest, until we see the club winning consistently, do we really know what the final product is? In theory I guess his specific tactics could be employed but if we aren't winning, its hard to tell if its his tactics? If that makes sense.

He likes playing from the back and pressuring the opposition from their 18 yard box. A few clubs do that but still employing different ways.

His use of the full backs and wings are confusing to me. Granted, it could be apparant to others but I just don't know enough about football, but I don't see a consistent pattern. Sometimes the wings aren't tracking back and I'm not sure if its missed assignment or part of his tactics (it should be standard practice wings protect their full backs, no matter the set up).

So, is it fair to say the players just aren't doing the job he explains to them in training? Or not?

Since I stopped going to matches regularly I find it much more difficult to ascertain tactics and patterns of play. When you are there then you can see the whole pitch 100% of the time and see who is doing what. On television the camera generally chases the ball and for me at least it is a lot more difficult.

And I certainly don’t find that the ‘expert’ commentary helps at all.

At least someone is chasing it.

Boom boom.

https://twitter.com/scoutingindoors/sta ... 41440?s=21

Some nice clips here of Arsenal youngster Charlie Patino. Plays central midfield, left footed. Looks like he’s wonderfully balanced and has that skill of making the game look so simple. Some really nice ability to take the ball deep and beat the press

In the 'Harlow Steve' days, this was talked about a bit. Even I think as far back as when Chocolate Gooner was around. Maybe with the heightened excitement, I would say that I 'saw more' in live sports games than I do on TV.

But its never to the point that I can't get a good idea of what either teams tactics are. For me at least, individual performances are harder to suss out on TV.

Lastly, no one can truly say what our tactics are because we play differently almost each time. We try and press the opposition and begin from the back but after that...well.

Maybe the lack of an effective tactic is what I'm seeing more than not having one.

I see that Emile Smith Rowe has tonsillitis. If we didn’t have bad luck then we’d have no luck at all this season so far.

Plays like Liam Brady

gooner7, for me that’s the biggest compliment one can pay a youngster.

I'd heard about Patino but that's the first I've seen of him. Pretty impressive for such a young lad, and you're right, g7 - he does remind one of Liam Brady.

Totally left-footed but it's a bit of a wand, isn't it?

Norwich game is sold out.

Hope he gets his opportunity to display his panache in the EPL sooner rather than later

Liam Brady was a wizard then, we need another like him