by Scott Willis
The second update to how you all as fans are feeling about Arsenal are ready to go. We got a few less responses but still have a sample of over 500 respondents, which while not a perfect sample is better than nothing and hopefully it will grow as time goes on.
With this being the second version we also have a baseline from two weeks ago to compare to, so that will be interesting to add as well. Without further bloviating lets get into the numbers.
General Arsenal Approval Rating:
The plurality of respondents still feel positive about Arsenal however there is a significant drop from 67% approval to just 41%. In the intervening time Arsenal collected 3 draws, haven't really done much in the transfer window (not even really any sexy transfer rumors) and perhaps some of the honeymoon period of a new coach is wearing off (but perhaps not looking at Arteta's approval rating).
Arteta Approval Rating:
Arteta is still very popular with the Arsenal fans. He too has seen some decline with his approve a great deal declining from 86% to 61% but overall he is still at 98% approval which is still about as good as is possible from a head coach.
The Management Duo:
Raul and Edu have both seen their numbers drop quite a bit since the last survey. Raul has gone from a plurality approving of the job he is doing to a majority disapproving of the work that he is doing. I can't exactly point to a reason why things turned so much in the last couple of weeks (maybe transfers?, general lack of a team building plan?, he's the face of the management team and getting the blame going towards the Kroenke's?) but Raul now has more people that "Dispprove a great deal" than he has in the combined "Approve a great deal" and "Approve a moderate amount". This will be an interesting one to watch as time goes on.
Edu still is overall neutral, but as people form an opinion people are breaking towards disapproving. He still seems to have a secondary role on things to Raul and maybe that is why he isn't getting quite as much blame.
The Phases of Play:
The approval of either the players or the style (I don't specify in the question) is another area where things have gone south quickly. The Attack went from wildly popular to just a plurality approving. The negative feelings have gone from just 3% to 24% in the space of two weeks. Maybe people had different expectations for what Arteta would be able to do with the Arsenal attack but whatever it is, people have turned pretty quickly on it.
In midfield it is more of the same. I am pretty confused about this one as well as things haven't really changed much and honestly I think that you can see much better structure in the way that the team sets up and while there hasn't been massive improvement in the attack, there has been noticeable improvements in midfield control turning into less shots allowed.
The defense, well everyone knows that is a problem and there isn't really much change since the last time.
That's it for this time. After the next set in a couple weeks we can start to see if some trends emerge!