Mikel Arteta treatment described as ‘bullying’ and ‘pure hate’ | OneFootball

Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool fans unite in saying that Mikel Arteta deserves more respect.

Basically, we are stuck on this narrative until after the Champions League. Send your mails to theeditor@football365.com

Does everyone have a podcast?

I’ve just discovered that Paul Scholes does a podcast with Paddy McGuinness. I can’t imagine how awful that must be.

Scholes trying to stay relevant by moaning about modern football or throwing out deliberately ridiculous takes in a Temu Roy Keane routine, while McGuinness reminds everyone he’s from Bolton and wheels out the same tired Peter Kay tribute act he’s been dining out on for years – which is ironic, because Peter Kay himself seems to have been doing exactly the same thing. Ant, MUFC (not from Bolton)

What happened to this Aaron Wan-Bissaka?

I just saw him win a header on tv. I sat there ant old Trafford for years and never saw him actually go all in for a header. He always stood off. That might have been the coaches instructions or just that players, at that era, couldn’t give a flying fuck, they just took the money. The team played like it. Tony Clarke

16 random thoughts from a Man City fan

1) Am I the only one thinking this is a genuinely awesome season? I support City, not Arsenal, but the league this season is nothing short of competitive. Wolves at the bottom were able to string a decent run against strong opponents, much to the dismay of their haters.

2) VAR is not the villain. It’s a tool. The villains are the English referees who can’t a) use it properly, b) keep nepotism and ego out of it, and c) just be competent at their job. A tool is only as good as the clowns operating it.

3) I love the shift away from “striker = pure goal machine.” Olivier Giroud for France was the blueprint: a 9 who links, occupies, creates space and lets the rest of the team share the goals around. That’s going to be the meta soon, if it isn’t already.

4) which is why it’s funny that we have sort of gone backwards into a “true 9” era. Haaland is incredible, obviously, but when he has an off‑day he can feel like a tactical handbrake, and we often look more fluid when he isn’t sulking around up top. Not a slight, just an observation – and if he ever properly blends “false 9” link play into his game, you’re all finished.

5) Tottenham look like they’re going down, and frankly I hope they stay down long enough to figure out what they actually are. This is what happens when a club loses its identity and plays manager roulette instead of having a plan.

6) there’s this bizarre idea that Arsenal are the only fans screaming “agenda.” Did everyone just forget Liverpool’s Suarez‑era persecution complex and the 24–25 VAR meltdown? And United fans’ constant bitching about the universe going against them all day all year ever since their messiah retired.

7) I don’t like Arteta, and I don’t hate him either. I have some respect for him. Even without a glittering trophy cabinet, what he’s built is scarily solid. A lot of the hate feels like people spooked by an apparently “unqualified” coach turning out to be very, very good indeed. Seems like some people take competence as an afront (looking at you, Johnny Nicholson), and can’t look past his own dislike and see noteworthy progress in a once flailing meme of a team.

8) just checking in on the multi‑million pound spending reigning champions and their blobfish on the touchline. I was constantly told they were on for a quad. How’s that working out?

9) when Clearlake finally sell Chelsea to the next numpty, there needs to be a serious post‑mortem on how you spend literal billions and end up with a squad that looks like it was assembled by a child on Football Manager random mode. It’s less a football club now and more a player‑laundering vehicle with a crest.

10) while we’re here: is Carrick still the second coming of Ferguson, or has he quietly been downgraded to OGS-lite? United fans I talk to don’t seem entirely sure which story they’re running with this week.

11) if Carrick doesn’t get the job permanently, can we have a public vote for Rooney, Van Persie, Neville or Van Nistelrooy? I personally want Gary Neville as manager with Wayne Rooney as his permanently annoyed assistant. Absolutely no to Roy Keane – he’d burn the whole club down before he finished picking his starting XI.

12) with everything happening in the Middle East, can we at least agree that the USA should not be hosting the World Cup this year? FIFA peace prize my dirty arse.

13) we drew Liverpool in the FA Cup: very much looking forward to smashing those imposters masquerading as reigning champions. Nothing personal, just reminding them 24-25 was a massive stroke of luck.

14) I’m also weirdly confident about the Real Madrid tie in the Champions League. I have a feeling if we beat them we will go on to win the tournament again. Fingers crossed.

15) on the subject of cup draws, can someone please take apart whatever machine is used to pull Arsenal’s FA Cup and Champions League knockout opponents? Their luck with draw is sus.

16) and finally: Arsenal won’t win the league. We will. Olawunde Ayeni (Man City)

Stop bullying Arsenal

It’s been a while since I’ve written in — mostly because my own team, Liverpool, have been a bit pants lately, led by the newly exposed fraud otherwise known as Arne Slot. But I’ve been compelled to write again, because the sheer amount of hate being directed at Arsenal this season is honestly bewildering.

I don’t even care about Arsenal. I’ve never cheered for them and I probably never will. But even from the outside, the level of vitriol they get is jarring. What exactly have they done to deserve this?

Let’s break down the “reasons” people give:

1) Their fans are insufferable. Really? No, that crown belongs solidly to us Liverpool fans — the “most insufferable fanbase in history.” Real Madrid fans come in a close second, and Barcelona fans a distant third. As for being smug and delusional? Please, that’s Manchester United’s entire brand. Defending the indefensible? Chelsea and City fans wrote that playbook. Arrogant? Fine, maybe a bit. But name one successful fanbase that isn’t. Real Madrid, anyone?

2) Their team are “cheating.” Cheating? What does that even mean? People preferred Arsenal when they were the soft-touch “also-rans” of the late Wenger years – easy on the eye, easy to beat. Now that they actually have bite and resilience, everyone cries foul. You can’t win, apparently – unless you’re not Arsenal.

3) Their style is sterile. Mate, I’d give a hand and a leg for Liverpool to be half as structured defensively right now. Arsenal’s defensive organisation should be studied, not sneered at.

4) Their games are boring. Maybe watch them properly? Arsenal are trying to play fluid football, but most opponents go deep and play rough. It takes two to tango. Being efficient — and winning — is a valid style, even if it doesn’t thrill you.

5) The real one: Everyone hates Arteta. And here’s my theory — as a South Asian migrant who works in a very white corner of Queensland — a lot of what I hear directed at Arteta sounds very familiar. It’s that same tone reserved for the “competent outsider.” You lot just don’t like that someone who seems “unqualified” has turned out to be really good, and it scares you proper.

Which brings me to Will Ford and Johnny Nicholson.

Will’s trolling is transparent — rage-bait for clicks, fair play, do your thing. But Johnny… that old man seems genuinely obsessed. He can’t write one piece without reminding us how much he despises Arteta. At this point, it’s not analysis, it’s personal. He’s weaponising his platform to turn dislike into public persecution. That’s not journalism; it’s discrimination dressed up as opinion. Own it, mate.

So yeah, now I feel a bit dirty defending Arsenal and Arteta. But someone needs to say it — the bullying has gotten weird and apparently, competence is now offensive to some people (always has been). Romulus Shani (LFC)

…The pure hate poured out over this man is astounding and shame on F365 writers like John Nicholson (I threw your books away John – not even calling you Johnny anymore – you have become part of the problem you perpetually bang on about in your boring diatribes) – but what amazing intelligent comments have been getting expressed by actual Arsenal supporters who have eloquently shown you all for what you are and the ridiculous level you have now dropped to – F365 never used to be like this!

And if you all think why, what and how you are expressing these awful opinions it’s just because your team has decided to mimic Arteta as they all know he saw what they didn’t – an extra 10 ways to win a game of football that’s within the rules (believe it or not he never wrote the rules and hasn’t rewritten them) and simply gave the referees the choice to make – happens a lot in football and Arteta didn’t invent it.

He didn’t invent the corner thing, the free kick time wasting thing, the injury thing and the rest of the sticks you beat him with – your team does it too just nowhere near as good – why not ask your own teams why are they playing those tactics when you say it’s diabolical to employ any of that stuff when talking about the Arsenal – but your team does them all – badly – but still does – go judge your own team and denegrate your manager for trying to employ the exact same tactics badly – thats not Arteta’s fault it’s your managers fault.

While your there could you also please ask the dullards your teams employ to try and play against us sometimes – but thats not happening cos all we do then is play the beautiful game and smash you all over the park – we get you either way – and thats what you don’t like.

Stop the deep defense and come and play – but no it’s easier to sit in your little ivory towers and cry! London Gooner – you all need to check yourselves as it’s getting very weird!

There’s football everywhere…

Reading John Nicholson’s last article got me thinking: if Premier League football is so vapid, and Arsenal are apparently the bane of the sport, why not just… watch something else?

I suspect many fans are so used to this particular spectacle that even when it gets stale, familiarity stops them from exploring beyond it.

It reminds me of my anime-obsessed cousin who insists that Naruto is the greatest anime of all time. Personally, I think Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has that title sewn up. As we’ve gotten older, I’ve tended to explore other shows, while he mostly rewatches Naruto or something that feels basically the same. I only just managed to convince him to watch Jujutsu Kaisen (real ones know).

The point of this long-winded analogy? There is f***ing football everywhere.

Germany. Italy. Spain. Scotland. Turkey. The Championship. Loads of it. Good football, chaotic football, weird football.

So, much like I told my cousin a few years ago: try something else. You might actually like it.

Because if the Premier League is really as joyless as some people make it out to be, there are entire leagues full of chaos, atmosphere and genuinely different styles waiting for you.

And who knows? You might even rediscover that football, in its many forms, is still pretty great. Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., New York (He also thinks Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the Marty Supreme of football)

This Arsenal fan is NOT having fun

Minty’s excellent mail struck a chord and I am am going to be 100% honest here and say no, I have not enjoyed too much of this league season as an Arsenal supporter. Right now it is torturous, anxiety-inducing, and genuinely awful. The games are tense, tight and we always live on the margins. But the reason they have not been enjoyable is nothing to do with the style of play, the set pieces or the timewasting – indeed, the pearl clutching and rage from all and sundry have made those aspects give our results a little layer of piss boiling fun.

The reason it has not been enjoyable is the level of expectation and the enormously high standards placed on this team and manager, combined with recent near misses and decades of underachievement. From the minute we went top in September, every podcast was saying it is Arsenal’s title. They are clearly the best team, with the deepest squad, and everyone else is rubbish this year. Only Arsenal fans were saying “let’s wait and see”. Three successive second place finishes will do that to you. Every week away fans chant second again ole ole. We are told we are insufferable. Every dropped point is a sure sign of a bottling. The players look shot, heavy legged, out of ideas. There is 22 years of banter, near misses, hilarity, and messing it all up when the going gets tough. And this year will be the worst yet because, frankly, we have had chances to extend the lead at the top, we have the players and no one else is quite as good as us.

We are so close, crawling to the promised land. But in every game the attention to detail is so fierce that any singular mistake could be the domino that sends the rest tumbling down. And that feeling of anxiety and fear and hope and dread is overpowering, which I think is understandable given the constant reminders from everywhere about how often Arsenal grab defeat and desolation from the jaws of victory and elation.

After the Chelsea game the immediate reaction was “Nine more to go.” After Brighton, “Eight more to go”. It is torture. But a good torture. We are all sadomasochists, clearly.

It might be naive to think but I genuinely couldn’t care less what happens next season if we win the league in May. Everything should be much more enjoyable and relaxed if we can finally get over the line and win this first title of the Emirates era. And there is absolutely no pressure on us in any of the cups, which have conversely been great fun – the wins against Bayern, Inter, Atletico and Chelsea in the Worthington were brilliant highlights of the season.

And, thankfully, there is another team in North London who are providing an enormous level of light relief and joy to this season, and long may that continue. John (It’s the hope that kills) Foster, Brighton

Tickers is Tottenham’s Stewie

Just a note to Sam from this morning’s mailbox regarding Spurs not actually being relegated yet.

Apparently it doesn’t matter how many games there are left, good old Tickers has decided that they are in fact down. Great news for Forest and West Ham in that presumably they can have the remaining games off because F365’s very own Stewie Griffin has declared that Spurs are already down and evidently he’s now in charge of things. Spurs are absolutely, unquestionably down. That fact that there’s 9 games left and they’re not actually in the relegation zone is irrelevant. Look, I know there are 2 teams below them but never mind about that, apparently you can now just decide who goes down with out the pesky football having to be played.

Just in case anyone wondered why the esteemed chap from the other day, ( Mike i think it might have been , a West Ham fan who F365 said was ‘obsessed’ with Tickers) felt the need to write in about him… after a weekend of FA Cup football and other highlights (2 teams can still do the quadruple, a great Milan derby, the awful Rangers/Celtic pitch invasion) We are “treated’ to yet another of Tickers rambling, hysterical therapy sessions masquerading as an article about Spurs and Igor Tudor.

Because of course we all need yet another therapy session about Spurs, when they didn’t play this weekend and in fact nothing at all has changed since his last meltdown dressed up as an article.

I think Dave’s confused because he doesn’t know who to be angry at. Last season we had weekly articles with increasingly desperate tone about how Ange needs to be sacked, and then Ange only went a bloody won a trophy didn’t he? Poor Dave probably didn’t know whether to celebrate or not. Then Ange went and Frank came in and everyone agreed that was a good thing. Then Levy went and now Dave can’t pin everything on him anymore. So Ange has gone, Levy has gone and yet still my beloved Spurs are utter shit, then Frank goes and Dave is now very, very confused because he can’t just shout Ange/Levy/Frank out anymore.

Tickers is F365’s very own Stewie (which i why I do believe Stewie is a genuine mailboxer- he’s Dave’s hero), Always slagging his own team off and putting us down and making jokes first before the other fans can because ‘banter’ – Maybe just give up watching football mate , you genuinely dont seem to enjoy it at all. Relax, life is too short, do something else instead.

Spurs are really in the shit – we may stay up purely because there’s *possibly* a team or two slightly less shit than we are, or we may well be doomed. Perhaps that’s for the best that we do go down, if only to spare us the weekly ranting from Dave. No chance of regular articles about anything outside the premier league from Premierleague365. Although he shoehorns Spurs into pretty much every single article he ever does regardless of topic so maybe we won’t make a difference.

If we go down then we go down, the world will still carry on regardless. But maybe wait til they actually go down before the constant handwringing? Jefferson

Where the Spurs disaster began

For an accurate answer to what has, or is happening at Spurs, we have to go back to summer 2018. With the club on a run of sustained champions league appearances, and a team, not a squad, of very good to excellent players, Levy and Enic opted to make not a single signing. This was at a time when the cracks were starting to emerge within that set up. Alderweireld had had injuries. Rose was on a downward trajectory. Even Lloris was far from infallible (some will tell you he was always distinctly overrated).

The moment that the club kept the cheque book closed was the moment when Kane will have thought ‘what the fuck this?’ more so given it was only two months earlier he’d penned a six year deal, which I can’t, for a heartbeat imagine wasn’t done so without promises – gentleman’s agreements aside – of the clubs ambitions.

There are others; Mane and Wijnaldum at Pochettino’s gaff but Spurs baulking at the asking prices, and instead buying Sissoko and Njie. Refusing to budge on the £25m for Grealish, a player who’d have fitted Spurs like a glove.

Awful, awful decisions that create a rot, that infests the foundations until eight years later, the evidence of the piss poor management are forcing their way to the surface.

It’s funny, Levy no longer at the club has seen many, I’m sure even on 365 pages, say “see…it’s not him after all” as though what’s happening only started in August 2025.

Levy and Enic are responsible for this mess. Dan Mallerman

Thoughts on VAR from the Championship

No VAR in the Championship.

It sucks – why?

On a regular enough basis, big game changing decisions are just wrong.

This week, Ipswich played Leicester, and Ipswich needed to win to keep in the automatic promotion places. 93rd minute in a tight game, the referee ignored what looked on the TV and after replays to be a stone cold penalty.

In reality, Ipswich had plenty of other chances to win, and we could have missed the penalty. It still sucks though.

if we miss out on automatic promotion to Middlesbrough by 2 points, we’d clearly be upset, and massively poorer (if we didn’t get promoted).

So, be careful what you wish for. VAR was brought in to remove this stuff from the game. It’s got a bit lost but the key point remains.

Personally, I would have a two challenge system like others have mentioned. This keeps the game flowing, but removes the clangers.