Arsenal ‘entitlement’ bites them again as Arteta told to learn from Ranieri and Mourinho | OneFootball

The ‘entitlement’ argument has reared its ugly head as Arsenal yet again, with Mikel Arteta told to ‘take a leaf out of’ one surprise title winner’s book.

There is also plenty about the Spurs manager situation.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

Mentality of North London

I don’t know what’s in the water in North London, but both Arsenal and Tottenham have, over the course of my lifetime, developed a psychology of becoming nearly-teams.

I’m an Arsenal fan, and this isn’t meant to be a rehash of the same old tropes about Spurs being “Spursy” or Arsenal being “bottle jobs”.  It’s more that one of the most underestimated skills in top‑level sport is mentality.  It’s often said in tennis, for example, that the difference between Federer, Djokovic and Nadal versus the rest wasn’t talent but mentality — or more broadly, psychology.  Similar to Real Madrid under Mourinho.

I feel Arsenal and Tottenham, perhaps because they are historically the biggest clubs in the country’s biggest city, have developed a mentality of entitlement.  The world around them also seems to hold the view that these teams should be winning things.  But in elite sport, no one is entitled to anything. No one has the right to win. Is this partly due to the London‑centric nature of the media and the extra scrutiny that comes with it?

People will rightly question why Chelsea can win, maybe because they are still seen as a smaller club in London (there are 10 clubs with larger stadiums) plus they often win as underdogs (Club World Cup and both Champions Leagues) etc., or maybe Mourinho somehow installed a winners mentality in the same way that Mancini did at City.  Liverpool only broke their Premier League duck when stadiums were empty.

On the same day that Big Ange comes out and gives the clearest statement yet from inside Spurs that they have a nearly‑men mentality, we also see Arsenal stumble again.

People have short memories. For all the talk of EVERYONE under the sun claiming Arsenal had already won the league, there were still 35–45 points left to play for.

Yes, Arsenal have finished second for three consecutive years, but on average over that time, with 12 games and a possible 36 points available, Arsenal have averaged 24 points.  People keep saying City need to win all of their remaining games, but historically that’s not the case.  City can probably afford to lose one and draw another couple and still win the title.

So, what could Arsenal do differently?

For a start, I think they need to take a leaf out of Ranieri’s Leicester title win.  All season, whenever Ranieri was asked about the title, he batted the question away.  Mourinho used to do the same — constantly playing down his chances of winning anything.

Arsenal and Arteta, on the other hand, always talk about “doing something beautiful” and “finishing the job.”  That’s entitlement talk.  You’ve won nothing.  Say that internally if you want, but to the outside world, play it down.

Look at Pep. He constantly showers praise on Arsenal while talking up the teams, players and coaches he’s about to face as if he’s preparing to face 1970s Brazil with Maradona, CR7 and Messi managed by Sir Alex.  Just this week he went on and on about how amazing Fulham are and what a great manager Marco Silva is.  This is even more comical when you realise Silva has lost all 14 Premier League meetings as a manager against City, and Fulham have lost 20 straight matches against them.

Am I saying City have won the league? No.  Arsenal are still slight favourites.  But to make this a proper title race, Arsenal need to win their next four or five games.  Otherwise, by the time the League Cup final comes around at the end of March, City could be three or four points clear, and another Arsenal title challenge may have faded away prematurely. Paul K, London

Will Ford fanmail

I do like Will’s analysis except for literally any opinion he has about Arsenal (except for that one time relatively recently he actually was objective in one of his articles about us – can’t remember which / what it was about).

And now that I think about it, I guess that is the point of having him on those assignments at times so he can rile up our eternally terminally online fanbase. MAW, LA Gooner (We’re going to win the league despite every single time we drop points and get questioned.)

Bit of both

A point gained or two points lost, a bit of both I think. Yes, Brentford are on a brilliant run and were playing at home but Arsenal lacked something.

Slightly worrying I cannot deny, however I do think this particular Arsenal team are made of sterner stuff than people think and usually bounce back.

I totally understand why lots of people dislike or even hate Arsenal, Im like that with other teams.

But what I cannot understand is why so many non city football fans would like City to win it.

With the financial fair play charges, a highly successful yet extremely dislikeable manager and being owned by country/government complicit in so much strife in the world. It just cannot be good for football unless football has long lost its soul, has it? JimmyB ( Irish Gooner)

You can just write about Brentford, you know

No shame in that Brentford game in my mind, that could be the toughest place to go at the moment in the league.

I appreciate everything has to be through the Arsenal lens to drive the click machine, but do we need the psycho-analysis/mockery of Arteta when it would reward your readers more to spend some time on Brentford and Andrews?

There hasn’t been a finer our of posession team I’ve seen this season than Brentford for my money (even better than Arsenal, at least this version shorn of Odegaard, Havertz and Saka driving a high press) and everything we’re accused of perjoritively at set pieces, Brentford do turned up to 11 (contrary to Will’s article, I think Raya did superbly given how he was constantly mobbed and manhandled) and I don’t see anyone complaining. Plus those long throws are lethal.

In past seasons, Newcastle have been the bogeyteam to outphysical us, but Brentford deserve credit for taking that mantle on (without the nastiness too). For my money, they’re now the face of the new PL paradigm – hard hitting, skillful in places, finding every angle/edge possible to take advantage of any opponent not at 100%.

So yeh, it would have been nice if Martinelli had snatched it at the end, but it wouldn’t have been deserved and I’m not certain Arsenal will face a tougher game in the PL until the end of the season tbh. Tom, Leyton

‘Arry ’til the end of the season

As my Spurs hysteria reaches fever point, I thought writing to the F365 mailbox might be therapeutic.

I debated sending probably my 99th Ange Postecoglou love letter into this fine forum, but I fear I’ve treaded that turf too often here. Put simply, Spurs had a manager who cared, a manager who had a vision for how they could be great, and a manager who could inspire the players to win a trophy for the first time in 20 years. And the club messed it up. Shameful.

Anyway, enough wallowing. So I’ve thought of a happier mail instead:

My dream is that Ange takes the wheel again, but that seems unlikely.

No, what about a man who can put his arm around the entire club, and make them feel 10 feet tall again, while also giving the players great tips in the 13.05 race at Aintree.

The answer is of course: ‘Arry Redknapp.

Give the old wheeler dealer another run. Bring the good times back: and line up like this for the North London Derby:

GK: Vicario. Tell him he reminds you of a young Gigi Buffon.

RB: Pedro Porro. (assuming he’s fit). This fella Porro… I’m outta breath just watching ‘im!

CB: Radu Dragusin. Big Radu can hold down the fort until Romero returns. ‘Arry’s charm will get the captain back on side for a crucial run in.

CB: Micky Van de Ven. “Bloody ‘ell, he’s like a race horse this fella!”

LB: Souza. ‘Arry would love Udogie, but let him fill the young brazilian with confidence for now instead.

CM: Conor Gallagher. Pure Barclays era all-action CM. Will compete with Bergvall when he’s back, who ‘Arry will love. He reminds me of our Frank Lampard. He’s going right to the top, that fella.”

CM: Joao Palhinha. A much needed b*stard who will drag Spurs away from relegation trouble. He’ll be ‘Arry’s new mix between Sandro and Scott Parker.

RW: Djed Spence. After a tough start, a full back with flair and physical gifts turns into a phenomenon. Can ‘Arry pull off another Gareth Bale transformation?

LW: Mathys Tel. “Lovely player, young Matty”. Young player with bundles of ability but lacking in form and confidence. Perfect project for ‘Arry.

SS: Xavi Simons. “He’s a little magician, this fella.” ‘Arry’s favourite: His new Niko Kranjcar. Although Dejan Kulusevski, and Maddison will contend for this honour soon too.

ST: Dom Solanke. Just a perfect ‘Arry Redknapp striker. He can do it all, as long as he stays fit. I feel like Richarlison will be his new Benjani or his new David Bentley: Love hate relationship.

Get ‘Arry back, and dial the good vibes back to up to 100.

COYS. Andy, Spurs, Eire

Just wanted to pop on here and put me and my best mate forward for the vacant Spurs job.

Ever since we were teenagers in the 90’s we reckoned that it would be a decent stepping stone before being beckoned by a truly mega team like Madrid, Milan (in the 90’s), Barca, Juve (again, in the 90’s) etc.

And now, as we stride through our forties with more life experience and general pessimism delivered through pure sarcasm – we feel it is the perfect time to take over at that absolute joke of a club. Also I like their stadium and I fancy a crack at a wobbling Arsenal in the north London derby coming up – and the opportunity to laugh at Lego Head Arteta from across the bow of the technical area feels like all my dreams come true at once.

Do we have the qualifications for it? Of course not, but even if we did have, we’d still be sacked in under two years, so why not just go for the giggles for a while and see if we can’t spice it up a bit until the inevitable meltdown? Jemes & Chres, HEAD COACHES IN WAITING

By my usual standards, I’ve been largely quiet over the last six months or so (in these hallowed pages, at least) on the subject of my beloved Spurs; preferring to peacefully enjoy the generational achievement of an actual real-life trophy and accepting that there is a resultant karmic payoff for the universe permitting such an anomaly. So I’ve just let the subsequent chaotic season wash over me in the vain hope that some injury-returnees might see the club through to the end of the season and a chance for Thomas Frank to build into a second season. At worst; a managerial change, a written-off season and the cycle starts again for the 427th time of the ENIC era. At best; all of the above but they also fluke their way to the Champions League final in the process, because that would absolutely defy any semblance of logic and that’s pretty much the hallmark of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

February came and, fair enough, it wasn’t getting any better. Fair enough, Thomas Frank was clearly out of his depth. The decision to give the unfortunate, Arsenal-worshipping Dane the old tin tack was the right decision in the end, even if it was too late to make any positive impact on 2025/6. I’ve been happy to wait and see what the end of the season brings. On past trends, I’d expect to see an undignified and protracted, scattergun chase for managers who are either plainly out of Spurs’ league or too smart to drink from the poisoned chalice at this particularly batshit crazy point in their recent history (Alonso, Poch, Maresca, Xavi) before settling for someone available but entirely unsuited, like Amorin or Glasner, some time in late August. The full Alanis-baiting irony of that last suggestion would come when Crystal Palace appoint Thomas Frank to lead them to finish eight points and three places above Spurs in the 26/27 league standings, while Spurs bin off Glasner before the clocks even go back!

But that’s a problem for another day and so I’ve spent the last couple of days bantering with mates about who Spurs could bring in as an interim appointment until the end of the season. Would it be a “Club-DNA” hire (Robbie Keane, Jurgen Klinsmann or maybe even Redders – presumably with Nico Krancjar in tow) or someone who has made their name in the substitute teacher / relegation firefighter mould (Solskjaer, Big Sam, Sean Dyche) or perhaps someone who ticks both of those boxes (Tactics Tim or Ryan Mason)? I even Googled whether David Pleat was still knocking about (and I’m pleased to report he turned 81 last month, for anyone interested, though I think I’d have to accept his top flight coaching days might be behind him at this point).

And then Igor Tudor happened.

A shiny penny awarded to anyone who can explain to me the logic in that move. Here comes the lengthy and cathartic missive.

Yadda yadda “reputation as a firefighter”. Whatever. How many of those reputation-forming managerial spells were proper relegation scraps? Most of his “successes” across his multitude of jobs in the last decade or so, involving getting a marginally underachieving club from mid-table to a slightly-more-respectable finish, or from fourth to fifth with very short-term boosts that provide no context for the form of the clubs above them. I’m clinging on to the couple of spells at Udinese for any hope that he has some sort of particular set of skills to Liam Neeson his way through the Spurs shitstorm that awaits him.

And do you know where those “rescue jobs” took place? That’s right: not England. Not to get too parochial about “our league”, but it’s stating the mind-blowingly obvious to anyone reading this website that football is culturally, tactically and stylistically very different in different countries. Tudor’s successes, such as they are, have either come in his native Croatia or Italy, where he spent the majority of his playing career. Early spells in Greece, Turkey and then latterly France ranged from disappointing to just-about-par-for-the-course. He has 12 games (if he lasts all of them) and absolutely no room for learning on the job. I f*****g hope he’s a quick study or the North London Derby is going to be a bloodbath.

I’m not saying that Spurs should be entitled to expect someone ‘better’ (and I’m old enough to remember Igor Tudor as a magnificent centre half for the Old Lady of Turin so I promise it’s nothing personal), I just can’t for the life of me fathom what he brings to a Premier League relegation battle in mid-February. I’d genuinely take any of the names I’ve mentioned above (including Redders, who I abused mercilessly on these pages throughout his tenure) at this point to mark a culture and mood shift big enough to avoid the unthinkable. Perversely, I think I’d be marginally happier if Tudor been announced either as the permanent manager or if he had been the big summer appointment after Spurs had secured safety. In that case, I’d have been happy to see him given the time that was needed to establish himself and his style. But that’s time that he simply doesn’t have now. Instead, they have a lame duck manager, who seems to have as much of a reputation for tetchiness with players, press and club hierarchy as he does for relegation-battles. Exactly what the club doesn’t need.

The club – the players in particular – need a boost; a change of vibe and a change of mood. The relationship with the fans is toxic. The club captain is at war with the boardroom. Strong characters and locker-room leaders have been sold and not replaced. And as a result, everyone seems to be playing with the handbrake on for fear of making a mistake and getting both barrels from the stands – a mindset that Frank really did nothing to help by small-timing his 8 months in charge. Thinking that Igor Tudor – he of zero premier league experience – is the man to fix this, isn’t the “roll of the dice” that Will Ford describes – this is throwing a dart at a dart board, blindfolded, while riding a horse and hoping you hit bullseye. Twice.

I want to be wrong, but the most worrying thing is that it’s such a bonkers appointment (and I can’t even bring myself to mention the Paratici nonsense), that it screams that the decision-makers don’t actually recognise how serious the threat of relegation really is. Not to go full Thomas Frank, but this is a side that finished 17th last season and has shown no signs in the league that it is equipped to do any better this year. Such a reckless managerial hire is professional negligence (were they blinded by the glow of the word “Juventus” on his CV?) and the decision suggests to me that the powers-that-be don’t recognise the seriousness of the issue. Either that or they genuinely believe West Ham will revert to being dogsh*t (currently fifth in the PL form table, aided by the recent visit of a certain Doctor) or Forest will be distracted by going deep enough into the Europa League that Spurs will once again be saved from relegation indignity by the inadequacies of three other Premier League teams. It’s shameful for a club with their resources.

This appointment has serious Jacques Santini vibes. In fact, I’ve not been this concerned with a managerial hire at WHL since Christian Gross and his London Underground ticket rocked up at a press conference. It’s all contactless on the tube now, so Tudor can’t even play that hand! I want to be wrong, but I think Spurs are sleepwalking into a relegation that could be catastrophic for the club. I reckon they need three wins to stay up. I look at the fixture list and I think they’re lucky if they can find two. If I were a gambling man, I’d back Tudor in the “next manager out” stakes because I genuinely see John Heitinger overseeing at least the last few games after Tudor’s spell turns to custard.

Please send reasons for optimism.

Special prize, though, for Matt Stead best line of 2026 “Quite fittingly for a club that has lost its entire head, Spurs have appointed a Tudor”. Well played, sir. Well played. Chris Bridgeman, Kingston upon Thames

The decline of the Premier League

Dear Ed,

I listened to a Mark Goldbridge podcast match review today, who I usually find really rather good and fair as a general rule. He was decrying the decreasing quality of the PL referencing stylistic changes, and time taken up by set pieces etc. It’s easy to say the league is poorer in quality than recent previous years, but I took a couple of his points and did some digging with OPTA looking back over roughly the last decade.

Goals per game are down significantly on two seasons ago and below the average of each of the last 8 seasons. More 0-0’s at this stage of the season than in all of last season. Fewer shots are being taken and unexpectedly lowest average number of shots on target on record. Fewer passes per match this year, but increase in long balls per match. Opportunities created from high-turnover pressing at a ten year low. Set-piece dependency at 10 year high with 26% of the goals in the league this year coming from set-pieces rather than open play – up from 18% last year – a 44% increse! Time the ball is in play at a ten year low at just under 55% of a 100min match. Eight managerial sackings (so far) point at systemic underperformance as much as lack of patience – the record is a frankly bonkers 14 from a few years ago, and figures of 10 are not unheard of, but 8 is more in total than the two previous seasons combined.

Finally, in terms of the top four and the rest – the top four have dropped further in terms of points won, than the teams in the middle have improved. There is an asymmetric decline. The table compression comes more from decline at the top than improvement from the chasers, the so called ‘strength of the league’. If you want to put it in terms of a 100 metre race, those in the middle of the pack have gotten only slightly faster, but those who take the medals have gotten noticeably slower. If the league had gotten stronger, the compression would be at the top, not the middle. JB (I just want to see more goals from open play and better free flowing football)

What club are you?

I recently caught “Big Ange” claiming that Spurs were not a big club. Reading between the lines, it was clear that he was saying a “Big Club” needed to sign and keep big players, which means big salaries, and of course, recruit a “Big” Manager to handle all the egos, of which I am assuming he thought of himself as one!

If a club cannot achieve or sustain that sort of revenue, they have to look at a different model. Hire Coaches and players that are both unknown and potential gems. No one is bigger than the Club but all see it as a stepping stone. Assuming these “Middle Clubs” do not have unrealistic expectations, they are consistently successful within their “ceiling” and their fans are relatively content, e.g. Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford, etc.

The challenge for the “Cusp Clubs” is, are they prepared to pay the big bucks for those elite players? Would MUFC, Newcastle, Villa or Spurs be willing to pay nine-figure sums for and Anderson or Baleba? What elite Manager would go to Spurs or MUFC with some assurances of quality players to compete with the likes of Arsenal or City. If not, the fans need to manage their expectations. Fans of MUFC have just gone through this painful process and we would all be astonished if we made Europe, let alone 4th. I am not sure that Spurs fans fully realize that staying up may be one of their greatest achievements.