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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022:05:21:23:19:42 by Padre Pio.

We'll be top 6 whatever happens.

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."

Silent Stan will pay more attention (ie invest more) in his teams like the Rams, Avalanche and Nuggets, all of which had good seasons in 2022. Arsenal by comparison is the poor performer compared to the other 3 teams. Hopefully the red ink being bled by Arsenal will convince Silent Stan that it is time for him to sell.

In 3 years, what will be the verdict which ex-Arsenal player is the best manager to rebuild Arsenal FC?
#1 - Giovanni van Bronckhorst
#2 - Patrick Vieira
#3 - Mikel Arteta

Will this Curse strike Arteta in 2022/23?
"Staying on for a third consecutive season at the same club usually ends in disaster." Bela Guttmann

Patrick Vieira and van Bronckhorst suffering from "2nd Season Syndrome" an dnot able to match their 1st season expectation?

Quote:

Merlion96
In 3 years, what will be the verdict which ex-Arsenal player is the best manager to rebuild Arsenal FC?
#1 - Giovanni van Bronckhorst
#2 - Patrick Vieira
#3 - Mikel Arteta

Will this Curse strike Arteta in 2022/23?
"Staying on for a third consecutive season at the same club usually ends in disaster." Bela Guttmann

Patrick Vieira and van Bronckhorst suffering from "2nd Season Syndrome" an dnot able to match their 1st season expectation?

Hopefully none of them.

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."

At this point we need to see if the ownership is willing to invest or not. They have backed Arteta otherwise. Lets see if they will still back him in the summer

Arsenal will reportedly look to offload seven players in total in the summer transfer window to try and raise funds for their top targets. Mikel Arteta's side were in the driver's seat to finish inside the top four up until last week heading into the north London derby.

But defeats to both Tottenham and Newcastle mean Arsenal now face an outside chance of securing Champions League football heading into the final game of the season. Arsenal must now win against Everton to stand a chance of beating Tottenham to a top-four finish.

Failing to qualify for the Champions League may well force Arsenal to work on their targets for the summer transfer window. Gabriel Jesus remains a top priority with another attacker, full-back and midfielder also wanted.

But missing out on the money that comes with finishing inside the top four means Arsenal may have to raise funds through player sales. According to Goal, Arsenal already have £15million coming in with Matteo Guendouzi and Konstantinos Mavropanos joining Marseille and Stuttgart respectively.

But the report points out that five more players could be sold to help raise funds for the summer. Most of the players unlikely to be part of Arteta's plans are currently out on loan and look set to leave.

Hector Bellerin is said to be closing in on a move to Real Betis on a permanent basis while Udinese reportedly want to sign Pablo Mari. The report adds that Arsenal are set for talks with Fiorentina over Lucas Torreira, who has been a regular for the Serie A side this year.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles may not join Roma on a permanent basis, but Arsenal will 'look to find buyers' this summer. And there remains some doubt in Nicolas Pepe's future at Arsenal with the winger falling down the pecking order at the Emirates.

Pepe's sale will be dependent on the club finding a buyer willing to meet his huge wage demands as he currently earns £140,000 a week. Arsenal paid a club-record fee worth £72million to sign the Ivory Coast international back in 2019 after a stellar campaign with Lille.

But it's failed to work out for Pepe at the Emirates and he may be moved on having struggled for regular minutes under Arteta.

[www.express.co.uk]

#1 - Geundouzi - gone
#2 - Mavrospano - gone
#3 - Bellerin - gone
#4 - Torreira - gone
#5 - Mari - gone
#6 - AMN - mostly sold as he wanted regular playing time.
#7 - Pepe - will any club bid for him with his 140,000pw salary?

#8 - Reiss Nelson - most likely to sell
#9 - Xhaka - most likely sold to Roma if they come in with a bid
#10 - Saliba - most likely sold
#11 - Holding - most likely sold to make room for new CB
#12 - Cedric - he will refuse to leave and see out his contract

Look like we are a selling club this summer to generate funds by getting rid of deadwoods.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Of course we have to sell.

Reason,
Those players aren't good enough.

"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."

Varance-Maguire pairing was a disaster.

Not forgetting they have a double pivot "McTominay-Fred" with McTominay going around committing intelligent fouls and seldom booked.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Speaking to Sky Sports earlier this week, Villa boss Steven Gerrard revealed Chambers and his fellow January arrivals - Coutinho, Lucas Digne and Robin Olsen - were all targeted because they are "used to the responsibility of winning" after spending time at some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

It is a responsibility that Chambers - an Arsenal player for nearly eight years - embraces, saying: "I've sort of had it drilled into me that every game is a must-win game, so you can't get complacent. If you draw or lose a game, you're always disappointed and that's just now become part of me.

"I think just having that sort of culture and that winning mentality all the time is only going to benefit the squad and that's something we look to bring - to have that drive, every day wanting to improve yourself. There's a great bunch of lads here anyway who do that every day, but it's just getting as many players like that as you can."

[www.skysports.com]

Where the heck is our "winning mentality" for the last 2 games?

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Despite Arsenal spending a significant amount in the summers of 2020 and 2021, there has been a focus on also moving players on from the club deemed not good enough. Mikel Arteta has been ruthless with the squad and as a result cut the wage bill dramatically.

Arsenal have seen big earners such as Mesut Ozil, Willian, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sead Kolasinac, David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi all depart which has contributed to more than one million pounds per week saved according to Spotrac.

This is before further expected departures this summer. Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, Bernd Leno, Eddie Nketiah, Hector Bellerin, Pablo Mari, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Matteo Guendouzi and Runar Alex Runarsson could all be moving on and saving the Gunners even more.

The importance of this cost-cutting was highlighted by Mikel Arteta in his pre-match press conference ahead of the final match of the season against Everton. The Spaniard was asked about the expected spending but pointed toward the work done in reducing the expenditure on pay packets.

“It’s not only about the amount. You see the wages that we have and that we had is night and day. So, it’s not about what you’re spending, it’s about what you have sold, what you have added,” he said.


“We had 28 players and we then we end up with 19 players in the squad, so it is about the total overall expenditure because that figure if not is completely irrelevant because what is the total annual cost of the squad that you are building.”

This certainly, therefore, points towards an openness regarding the possibilities for the club in the market this summer. Especially when you see the number of players that have moved on and could still yet move on.

Were Arsenal to move on the ten aforementioned players whose futures remain unsure, this includes also six non-homegrown players. Reducing the number of these players in the squad opens up the possibility of signing talents from abroad.

[www.football.london]

Moving those players resulted in more than one million pounds per week.
First 2 seasons are for moving toxic players and to reduce the bloated salary bill is apparently Arteta priority when he took over.
Winning 2020 FA Cup is a happenstance and a bonus.

This cost reduction should be over and done by July/August 2022.

ArtetaBall Phase 2 comprises team-building starts in 2022/23 season.
Can the rebuild team gel immediately to fight and win Top-4 in the new season, the KPI for 2022/23 season?

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

When you have the best midfield in the country you can afford to "bottle" a top 4 race. Knowing you underperformed and it is a blip is enough to be confident going into the new season. But when you scrape wins and draws with a limited amount of players and resources you need to overachieve. Top 4 is not too much to ask if a chelsea team that dropped out of Europe became champions the following season. Getting 4th may have stopped the progression of Spurs. Getting 4th may have pushed Arsenal to a higher level so missing out when in the driving seat could be very costly.
Yes, many of us predicted 6th/7th was the highest we could get but many also predicted 5th was the highest spurs could get, have we improved much or did man utd Implode. The most worrying thing is Arteta's football is horrible. Partey hitting long balls to Saka and Martinelli after our CB's and GK dilly dally around our box isn't sustainable. Neither is getting goals from our center forwards closing down GK's. This summer has to be identical to last summer with a brand new midfield and attack.

Theodore roosevelt - In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Yes, that horrible U-shaped football comprises of meaningless slow-pace passes trying to pull opposition out of shape to create an opening for a swift through ball through the lines.

Arteta needed to update his "2010s Barcelona Pepe Lite" tactics for the next season.

Actually, it is not Partey who is spraying those long passes to the flanks.

It is Xhaka whose primary task is to spray accurate passes to the flanks to switch play from flank to flank; and Partey to breakup plays, win the ball and carried it forward.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

I prefer it to crab football.

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.