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The original was posted on /r/gunners by /u/Domitiusvarus on 2024-11-08 06:04:51+00:00.

I’ve seen a lot of negativity lately towards Arteta and Arsenal and I just wanted to give my 2 cents on the issues I’ve been seeing people have here lately.

1. We haven’t or we “refuse” to invest in the offense:

Just this past summer we we’re trying to get Benjamin Sesko and HE chose to renew his contract and understandably build.on his great season. In 2023 we we’re trying to rebuild our midfield and Kai ended up as a forward signing anyways. We we’re interested in Gnonto as a depth signing and there were rumors Vlahovic wanted out of Juventus which would have been an opportunity signing from us. FFP and the right deal for the right player not being there led to a pass which is totally normal for a well run club. The last thing I’ll touch on is in 2022 we wanted Vlahovic and Raphinha more then anyone but Vlahovic ended up choosing Juventus and Raphinha was doing anything he could to go to Barcelona once they were in for him. We wanted Vlahovic so bad we even inquired in the winter window before 2022. So we settled for Jesus in the end. Not bad at all at the time.

So objectively it’s just not true that we’ve refused to invest in the offense. It’s about needing players that are either better than Martinelli, Saka and Jesus or are willing to be backups till they prove they are better. It’s a hard sell and I think even the most pessimistic fan will agree.

1. Boring, defense first Arsenal:

I dunno if the people complaining actually watched Arsenal before 2022/23 because it’s always been obvious Mikel wants to build on a solid foundation starting from the goalkeeper going forward. The squad he inherited already had Bernd Leno, who I loved. If he could have learned to play out from the back he’d still be here for sure but let’s take a look at Arteta’s summer signings for year 1 and 2 and I think it will show that Arteta has always made defense a priority.

Year 1:

-Partey -Big Gabi -Mari -Odegaard -Runnarson -Willian -Soares

Our major signings were a CB and two midfielders. Gabi being the bulldog with high potential with Luis/Mari being the more experienced passer to link with Partey and Odegaard in midfield, some depth in Willian and Soares and a young cheap goalkeeper who we could either sell on or best case scenario explode onto the scene.

Year 2:

-White -Ramsdale -Tomiyasu -Lokonga -Tavares

I intentionally didn’t mention Trusty even though he’s a CB because all Colorado rapids signings are purely so Kroenke can make money out of them a la Matt Turner. I honestly don’t even need to say anything else though because year 2 is more of the same. Believe in Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard and build around them. Though I will say the signing that impacted us the most, which I think Arteta knew as well, was Rambo. Being able to play out from the back with confidence was huge.

Arteta has always been aiming for dominance, those are his words and you can’t dominate if you get scored on. We played a back 5 when he first came in because it’s always been defense first. When we dominate, sometimes the games are boring. We’re not always doing what we did to Lens in the champions league. Sometimes we had 80 percent possession and we score 1 goal. The whole game was us passing around, getting a few good chances, burying one or two and dominating DEFENSIVELY. Don’t give the ball away, press hard and immediately win the ball back and then just go back to toying with them. Arteta is not Postecoglou, we’re not over here playing mate ball. Arteta will do whatever he thinks is right to win and I want that, different game plans for different teams is much smarter then sticking to your principals. As fans we may not always agree, especially when it’s not going our way but I’m with Arteta on building a squad that you can’t score on vs a team that could score 5 or let in 5.

1. It’s Arteta’s fault we’ve been poor this season

I can’t believe this is even being said and I just want to go game by game for all of you and I hope it starts to become clear that it isn’t even close to the truth.

MW1 Arsenal vs Wolves (2-0)

The possession stats don’t really tell you how the game went. Arsenal could have been 2-0 up after 20 minutes if we had been clinical. Wolves had 2-3 really good chances but Raya stood tall. In the end good result, good game from the Gunners but the quality of the chances from wolves was scary. Raya played a big part in keeping the game in control.

MW2 Villa vs Arsenal (0-2)

Ultimately we ended up dominating but the game could have been so different. Saka has an amazing shot saved by Martinez and then right after that Ollie Watkins misses a sitter. Morgan Rodgers danced through our defense a few times and Raya has makes an incredible save to keep it 0-0 from a Watkins header into an open net. This game also led to the rise of Trossard. He comes off the bench and immediately pulls a moment of magic and scores to give us the lead. This man surely can’t be kept on the bench he’s insane right!?!?

MW3 Arsenal vs Brighton (1-1)

I shouldn’t even need to say we we’re up 1-0 and looking good before the Rice red card which everyone with a brain knows you’re just ruining the game. For what too? It’s just a joke.

MW4 shit vs Arsenal (0-1)

No Odegaard, no Rice, forced to have 5 kids on the bench and we chose to counter mate ball with belief in our defense and it worked. Big Gabi is a god damn hero.

MW5 Man City vs Arsenal (2-2)

Arteta took the comments people we’re making about him not coming out to win vs city personally and came out guns blazing. Everyone said it was gonna be boring, turgid affair but we came out swinging and we’re about to go into half time up 1-2 at the emptyhad. Then it happens again. Red card. It sucks and honestly I wish trossard just didn’t give them a reason but he did. I think it’s stupid. I wonder if oil has anything to do with it but is what it is. We man up and hold on until the fucking end and then they scored a goal after injury time was technically over. It burns so bad but we’ve also had wins after injury time so you just gotta take it on the chin. Calafioris strike should still live in legend whether we win the league or not, never forgetti.

MW6 Arsenal vs Leicester (4-2)

What can you say other then we played well and the only thing that made this scary at all was a world class performance from the goalkeeper and James Justen scoring two worldies in one game. Albeit FK one was kind of a freak accident involving Havertz.

MW7 Arsenal vs Southampton (3-1)

Southampton take the lead against the run of form but Kai Havertz starts the comeback in early in the second half and we end up cruising to the win. Defense hasn’t looked as good as it was last year up to this point but you can definitely see the potential when everyone is fit.

MW8 Bournemouth vs Arsenal (2-0)

Saliba red card in the 30th minute and gabi getting injured would be alot for any team to deal with. Can you really blame Arteta for that? It’s around this time the calls for Ethan Nwaneri to start to get loud. Trossard has been inconsistent after earning a spot after Odegaards injury and his pass led to the red card on Saliba.

MW9 Arsenal vs Liverpool (2-2)

Alright here is where I’m gonna start talking about Arsenal’s injurys. Odegaard has been out most of the season, Rice has missed a crucial game, Calafiori has been injured, White has been hurt most of the season but has had to soldier through a game or two or more. Merino was out for like a month., I’ve shitted more bricks then i can count worrying Timber is injured again and now we gotta face a high flying Liverpool without Saliba? Saka still manages to score a contender for goal of the season off an amazing pass from Ben White filling in for Saliba. Liverpool respond from a set piece but Merino opens his account before half time. In the second half Liverpool played better and Gabriel came off hurt and we just couldn’t hold on. Salah does what Salah does when you give him too many chances. Tie game. Not a great second half but what if we had our starting 11 like Liverpool?

MW10 Newcastle vs Arsenal (1-0)

We go to St James park and have a pretty toothless game despite being able to hold possession and have some chances. Isaak scores an early goal and we just can’t find an equalizer. Poor game, too many crosses and just couldn’t find a way to break them down.

After going through the premier league fixtures with you guys I hope it’s enlightened you to just how unlucky we’ve been this season and that we are literally only at matchday 10 going on 11 as of this post. If anything the way we’ve handled the injuries and bad luck has been incredible. To still be able to draw with Brighton and almost beat man city a man down most of the game should be commended. If anything Arteta has given us a chance despite the odds. The only complaint I have Arteta wise is that Nwaneri should have had a start vs Southampton or Bournemouth or maybe a 30 minute cameo instead of an 8 minute one in certain games. It’s going to be a long season and people need to calm down. Arteta is the best thing for this club and we all still need to trust the process even though we’ve been ahead of schedule.