Arteta finished 8th and 8th his first two seasons.
Haha yep
Is anyone here implying that Ten Hag will even bring a coherent team set up in the same universe as Arteta? I know no one is saying he is as good a coach as Arteta, but he doesn’t even seem to have much of a plan.
I saw that he had 29 different lineups for 34 games so far this year. Of course they have had injuries, but that is not all of it.
Their midfield is an enormous problem, Casemeiro is very old and slow, but he also is either being asked to be like 30-40 yards further up field than at Madrid or he has taken it upon himself. I think think based upon the runs McTominay was making when he was getting goals it is part of Ten Hag’s philosophy. But this indicates a complete unwillingness to compromise based upon his teams personnel.
They need a striker, they need at least one holding midfielder, they probably need another full back and possibly another central defender.
Wan Bissaka looks worse, Luke Shaw is great, but Dalot is terrible and they don’t have a center back pairing that has worked well at all (although having zero midfield protection doesn’t help). I think Martinez is very good, but he needs someone else that will cover his weaknesses. He can get caught out ball hunting and he’s small. Harry McGuire has looked the part recently, so maybe it is him?? Varane needs a rehab facility named after him. Lindelof is an ok utility man, but can’t be the answer to start week in week out at center back.
So besides the fact that they don’t have any coherent philosophy, they have a squad that conservatively has 2-3 gaping holes and while they are 6th they still have a negative goal differential and look miles off the top 4.
So other than all that, great comparison.
