In 5 full seasons at Arsenal in his first managerial post Mikel Arteta has finished second in the Premier League three times, first once, reached a Champions League quarter final, a semi final and a final and won an FA Cup. What an utter failure!
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Ethan Ampadu 
Harry Wilson
Tarik Muharemovic
James Trafford
Looks like the goalie’s done (
I may need to eat my words of course). Mrs twofifty would confirm, should you ask her, that I’ve bleated on about signing the nearest thing to the best GK in the world the club can afford for more years than I care to remember. The best are worth many points over a season. There’s a reason Clough signed Shilton. Trafford is a genuinely exciting signing. May turn out to be the best in this window for any EPL club. And yes, it’s a bit of a gamble but it’s an ambitious gamble rather than just rolling the dice. In the end he simply can’t resist the opportunity to live in the Wharfe Valley 
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McMenemy reckoned Shilton was worth 10 points per season.
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Trafford is a decent keeper but I’d seriously question whether he’s next level on anything you have had recently. His distribution is good when it works. His speed of decision making is not. A number of high profile errors where he dawdled and was caught out or dawdled, panicked and gifted the ball. For someone of his height he lacks the strength to dominate and often gets targeted at set pieces. There’s a growing collection of awful punches to his name.
I believe somewhere there’s a really interesting Athletic analysis which covers all the above but adds in “happy feet” i.e. the inability to plant his feet correctly.
His shot stopping and the athleticism related to that is outstanding, amongst the very best, but I doubt he’s an upgrade in other respects.
Very much feels liked he ought to be a first choice somewhere but I’m not convinced it’s in the PL.
Jordan Henderson? Wha..?
Good luck with Trafford. Newcastle have been linked with him in the last 3 transfer windows. I’m pleased he’s not coming to us and think we may have dodged a bullet. Im unconvinced as to how good he really is, but time will tell.
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Liverpool fans will consider that worse than him taking the dirty deal in Saudi!
I make it 7 seasons worth of potential trophies. Two trophies is alright I suppose, not an utter failure. More a “that’s a relief” though. I don’t count second places etc.
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It’s a bit like the HiFi threads this - you buy an item of kit and other posters say they’re not convinced/you should have bought an XYZ model/there’s better value to be had/they had one and moved it on at a loss etc 
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Yep. Two trophies, seven seasons. One FA cup win with the team he inherited, and a league win when all other teams were past their sell-by date or in chaos.
And somehow he’s a messiah…
Cue Kev…
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If my HiFi system was Newcastle United, then all of my best separates would be putting themselves on eBay
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And does that mean SJP is the FRAIM?
If it is, it hasn’t got enough shelves!
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Downsizing is the new upgrading.
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Just a few fun facts Mikel Arteta has won the same amount of trophies as manager at Arsenal in six and a half years than all of the last 14 managers at the Spuds have won in the past 18 years and talking of 2nd places it has taken the Spuds 70 years and 40 managers to achieve three 2nd and one first league places the same as Mikel Arteta has managed in six and half.
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@Bobthebuilder I admire your perseverance and tenacity for the cause
@Andyblain ouch . It does seem very unfair
best wishes to you both
Ian
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Chelsea have won more trophies and Crystal Palace have won the same but in only two seasons. So Arsenal is London’s third best club over Arteta’s time.
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Fun fact.
Spurs have won more European trophies in the last 2 years than Arsenal have in the last 30.
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Yes , but then Spurs fired the manager…
Like certain other clubs , better fans and teams than management .
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Yes they are but would I swap a Premier League trophy for a Happy Shopper European cup or a World pre season friendly competition absolutely not.