I hear you about the apprehension regarding the Champions League but I feel that ignores how bad they've been. Albeit for good reason with the war in Ukraine. Not to mention the fact that we played three defensive midfielders against Bournemouth.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have the answers and I can't do Arteta's job. But I would like to see him answering questions as opposed to just digging his heels in on his favoured eleven. Gone are the days you can get away with 11 players winning you the league and every member of the squad is vital. We lost a title because Saliba got injured and I feel like we've not learned. Now we're backing ourselves into a corner because we don't have anyone that can do what Ødegaard does, except Nwaneri. Just to add to the Nwaneri thing. Yamal is his age. Wilshere was his age, as was Fabregas. In an ideal world we can ease him in but if we need him now, we need him.

You're absolutely right in saying we have high expectations but these are the expectations based on not only our history but on what Arteta has done. Now it's time for him to push on. We need to be better than last season, not worse. That means more goals scored and less goals conceded because this league is that competitive.

It's not even a question of Arteta being good enough or not, it's just a matter of wanting him to act. See the glaring issues and try and remedy them.

[–] Astrealix 5 points 1 month ago

Tbf, how many fucking defenders have we signed? It's not on Arteta with how many injuries we've had, lol. No Ødegaard cover is definitely on the club and Arteta, but like, at some point we just have to stop having our full backs keep getting injured.

[–] nuggsy 2 points 1 month ago

Of course! If anything it felt a little long winded xD. I don't feel like I'm concise enough to get my point across without a block of text.

Just to touch back on the Champions League, since I don't feel like I really said what I was trying to get at. Part of my point around Arteta not playing Nwaneri was Arteta potentially playing it safe due to the changes of the format, as well as Nwaneri's age and the responsibility that entails.

But, it is hard to argue against our recent results. It's disappointing to see how things have played out off the back of how well we ended last year. I can only look at the circumstances around those games and then wonder how things could have panned out. I also feel like International breaks every 3 games hasn't helped the team to find rhythm with all the other difficulties we've faced.

It does feel like Arteta needs to do something, but he and the staff may be struggling just as much as we are to point to a definite answer. Nwaneri seems like he could be it, but maybe that's too much to ask, or he's not ready? I don't know. I do take your point on Fabregas and others and it's hard for us to gauge how good he can be when we haven't really seen him. But, I also want to see what Nwaneri can do, I'm just trying to see things from a different perspective I guess.

It feels like we've been absolutely railed by our fixture list and we still have a few tough games ahead.