Arsenal is still a massive club & it too big a jump too soon for Arteta. He's talented but to manage Arsenal, you need experience. His entire career is 3 yrs as an asst. Arsenal isn't where you learn management 101. The PR designed to give him confidence backfiring doesnt help.
The blame should fall as much on Arsenal as anyone else. They trusted him, built a narrative around him that they've found the next Pep, placed insane expectations on him to reinvent football and with no experience of handling such pressure, he's now understandably panicking.
It's clear Arteta is a good coach, but that's 10% of being a manager, especially at a big club. Can he handle the red tape above him, the politics beside him, can he handle the media narratives, the player expectations & pressure, the million other intangibles that he needs to?
It's always better to learn your craft at a smaller club, where you can start with a smaller set of responsibilities, master it and then move to a slightly bigger club to take on slightly more responsibilities and so on. Taking on 1000 responsibilities as your 1st job isn't wise.
Also Arsenal were planning for a massive rebuild, the job Arteta took on would have been difficult for most managers let alone inexperienced ones. It's poor planning.
Arsenal now have 2 options, stick with him & let him learn on the job or cut their losses — no easy choice.
This is where Ole's experience helps. He's taken a club to its 1st title in 100 years & faced relegation with another. He's seen the ups & downs of management. He's learned not to get carried away by success & not to crumble under pressure - two things Arteta is struggling with.
To wrap up, I feel for Arteta. Immature decisions abv him, insane expectations & the fan's need for a prophecy to come true has contributed to his situation more than his own 'inability'. Can still be good if given the time, but whether it should be Arsenal's remains to be seen.
PS: I dont usually talk abt other clubs bc I clearly wouldnt know them as well as I do mine. This is me elaborating on what we feel as outsiders — a good coach, rushed into a high pressure managers job unnecessarily early.
I could be missing things, so do keep that in mind.
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#mufc's squad has 2 primary issues that need solving
1. Midfield Balance 2. Depth vs Balance
Let's take a look at each:
Before I start — this is NOT an 'excuse'
1. Mufc ARE unbalanced 2. Mufc should STILL have won yday
BOTH of these can & is true
Now let's dive in:
1. Midfield Balance
A balanced midfield should:
- dictate play
- maintain tempo
- hold def shape
- press/counter press
- create
+ Lot more
Our options
Pogba, Bruno, VDB, Matic, Fred, McT
No 3 man combo from this can do all of that
Only a 4 man mid can but 💎 has flaws (FBs)
This is bc we've many mids who offer very similar or the same thing
The diff btwn Fred/Matic/McT are evident BUT for each of them to work, you need to start one of the other two at least. Exact same case with Pogba, Bruno, VDB.
Over the last few weeks, the constant chatter has been VDB's playing time.
United have played 8 games so far and Donny has featured in 7. Only Rashford has featured in more.
Either way let's dive in & tackle this non-issue👇
One of United's biggest issue last season was the lack of creativity on the bench. Ole was criticized for not making substitutions when the game wasn't going our way.
Against Seville in the EL Semi's we didn't make a sub until the 87th min - clear sign Ole didn't trust his bench
This season, the first thing he addressed was this issue
- Donny van de Beek for £35m
Donny has primarily played as an AM at Ajax but has also featured at CM and very rarely at DM too.
But Ole didn't sign him to be a CM/DM, Ole signed him to be a back up 10 as is clear below👇