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‘I have a massive problem’ – Piers Morgan would have preferred Tottenham manager Antonio Conte or Mauricio Pochettino as Arsenal manager instead of Mikel Arteta and is worried about top-six Premier League finish
Piers Morgan has suggested that Arsenal would be better served with either current Tottenham manager Antonio Conte or their former boss Mauricio Pochettino in charge.
The Talk TV host has been a critic of Mikel Arteta's performance as manager at the Emirates, suggesting the club could struggle to finish in the Premier League's top six this season under his stewardship.
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The Gunners missed out on a spot in this season's Champions League after Tottenham pipped them to the post with a fine run of form in the closing months of the season.
A huge part of Spurs' success was down to Conte's impact both on and off the pitch, with chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici conducting some shrewd transfer business to bolster the squad.
With Arsenal having to settle for life in the Europa League next term, Morgan believes the north London club will struggle to match the spending of others in the Premier League resulting in another disappointing campaign ahead.
Speaking to Andy Goldstein on talkSPORT Drive about the challenging of luring top players to the club, he said: “One wonders why they would [choose Arsenal] when they’ve got so many other options.
“Liverpool and City have already bought big and massively strengthened their squad, I mean the idea of City with Haaland up front is frankly terrifying, the only benefit to that is that we might get Gabriel Jesus which would be good.
“The problem is that Arsenal are no longer considered to be a world force where players want to go.
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“We’re not in the Champions League, we’ve really struggled for quite a long time now and this whole concept of Arteta’s process and ‘trust the process’, I’m not sure I do particularly.
“The process has lasted two and a half years so far and I’m not sure I’m seeing much improvement.
“How many league games did we lose last season? I think 13 in the end? That used to be resignation stuff for an Arsenal manager.
“I think Arteta’s very lucky to still be there and I have a massive problem with the board giving him a massive new three-year contract before the season ended, before we made the top four and off the back of three consecutive league defeats to lower end of the league teams.
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“Palace, Brighton and Southampton, why did you do that then? It made no sense to me in terms of motivating Arteta to make the top four.
“None of it at the moment makes me very happy and I know Arsenal fans will be saying ‘trust the process’, just like they told me to trust the process under the latter years under Wenger, and I think the jury’s out on Arteta.
“Personally, I’d have much preferred Conte.”
Asked if he would sack Arteta and replace him with Pochettino, Morgan said: “That’s a very interesting call and I wouldn’t be against that.
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“I think that Pochettino is probably a better manager.
“The problem with Arteta is that he’s a complete rookie.”
Asked again if he’d take Pochettino, Morgan said: “Probably. I think I would, yeah.
“I’ve always been a fan of Pochettino, I think he’s a really good manager, but honestly, I’d have preferred Conte.
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“I think that Tottenham, almost by default, have ended up with one of the greatest managers in the world.
“I love everything about Conte and Conte will bring top players to the club.
“Tottenham are obviously going to be a lot stronger, Chelsea will be spending big because the new owners will want to prove a point, I think you’re going to see Newcastle spending massively with all of their Saudi oil resources and I think you’ll see a couple of others doing the same.
“You look at Arsenal and I don’t even think the top four is likely, but I’m more worried about the top six.
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“What are we now? Are we a big club or are we consigned for the next few years to mid-table mediocrity.
“If you can’t get in the Champions League and can’t sign top players then I’m not sure how you change this rodeo, frankly.”
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