‘Toughness’ of Arteta called into question

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I am in LA this week. Outside my hotel? Drip Doctors. That weird little place Samir Nasri went to get an intravenous drip. I am going to head in their tomorrow and ask for whatever he had.

Back onto Arsenal. Arteta landed a vote of no-confidence from Henry Winter on the Sunday Supplement. He’s strongly against the Spaniard, citing Diego Simeone as the man we need to sort out the soft underbelly of the weak Arsenal stars.

“Arsenal need a complete clear out – they need a strong, experienced, individual to address the failings,”

“Someone needs to go in and sort out that dressing room, to get rid of Shkodran Mustafi and to coach Hector Bellerin.

“How many world class players are there in that squad? Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

“They need a Diego Simeone type. Someone who is tough and can get into that soft dressing room, that soft boardroom – there is a soft executive feel at that club. There is a malaise that runs right through the club, which won’t be solved by Wenger going – he was only partly the cause of it. They need stronger individuals in there.”

“Arteta was part of the problem with the Wenger era in terms of he was supposed to be a leader there when the club was drifting. He’s got to explain how he can break that.”

Aggressive words there, and I’m sure many Arsenal fans will buy into them. But for me, they’re off the mark.

The notion of a big scary coach is an old-fashioned one. You can’t shout your way to success these days, and I have my doubts that fear and intimidation is how Diego is extracting the most from his players so consistently.

I also don’t know where the notion that Arteta isn’t tough comes from? He left Spain to play in France, before taking his pretty boy looks up to Glasgow (which is a pretty brutal league and city). Then he played at Everton for years, before coming to a broken Arsenal that was replacing Cesc and Nasri. We didn’t drop out the top 4 under Arteta. In his last season, we made 2nd for the first time since 2005.

This piece out of Per’s book gives you a good idea of how bad things were under Wenger.

The youth players who were promoted to the first team smiled at these exercises. They thought we were meditating. They were happy with the ball at their feet but for everything else there was a lack of desire. “I play football and go to training. That’s enough.”

Footballers are used to working only three hours a day. And out of the three hours they are at the training ground they are on their mobiles for half of that.

A lot of players don’t even know what maximum is – for them it is about having fun on the pitch. But there is more to being a professional than that.

In the autumn of 2017 an under-18 player came and asked whether we could sit down for a chat. I nearly fell over, I was so surprised. That hadn’t happened in the six and a half years I had been there. He wanted to speak to me about leadership.

I used a lot of energy trying to convince team-mates they should do more for their bodies and try new things. But working long term to improve their weaknesses? Hardly anyone.

I just cannot imagine being a young pro and not wanting to leech the experience from a World Cup winner like Per! I told you the real story about how average Wenger was would  creep out once he retired, there’s a little snippet.

Malaise doesn’t come from the players, it comes from the manager. When you’re at Arsenal’s level, there isn’t really such thing as a lazy professional, just an unmotivated one.

Just look at how many players left Arsenal during the banter years and won major honours. Look at how many great players came in and went totally off the rails. It was never about the players, it was always about a bad manager who didn’t care about the details.

The weakness at the executive level that Henry mentioned appears to have been addressed. We’ve hired the exSporting Director of Barcelona. We’ve hired in the best scout in the world. We hired in an elite contracts guy. Stan has taken a back seat to Josh K, who knows if that’s a good move, all I know is Wenger is gone and Josh has been here 14minutes.

Ivan is making the right moves.

He’s also making an ambitious play with his manager. He’s ignoring calls for a big name… and remember, the same folk calling for a winner were probably celebrating LVG at United, and then his subsequent replacement in Mourinho.

No one guarantees success, and the people least likely to give you that are the ones that have already failed. Carlo doesn’t have the ideas to better Pep, especially at a team that doesn’t have anywhere near the resources he’s had at previous clubs. Enrique and Allegri have already thrown in the towel, both leaking that they’d need £200m to do the job. Arsenal need a coach who is ambitious to do great things with the tools he has at his disposal. Klopp is doing it at Liverpool at the moment, he didn’t bitch about money. He just cracked on.

Arteta is a risk, but for me, the rewards on offer are very exciting should it work out. Give me someone with desire over a hack just in it for the pay bump. Just look at Conte this season, all he wants is a payoff and a nice sabbatical. Chelsea means nothing to him.

If you’re going to write off Arteta, let’s make sure we’re slamming him for the right reasons. Critiquing him for not being a tough guy is a nonsense. Alluding to needing a strong manager to scare the exec suite is also a bit of a myth. I’ve read so many people say the club are only hiring Arteta because they can control him.

THINK ABOUT THAT

No club in the world wants to hire a manager they can’t control, because a business is a structure built on hierarchy, values and respect. Accepting an out of control manager shows you are weak and insecure about what you want. It’s certainly not something any club would actively seek out. We’ve literally just binned a manager who bossed the board, and that problem took 10 years to solve.

The main stick to beat Arteta with is experience. He hasn’t managed a top club, and that’s certainly an issue when it comes to optics. However, we’ve seen countless examples of rookies crushing it this season, so if his ideas and vision for the club were exciting in the interview and the references check out… then you have an exciting problem.

Hopefully we’ll find out the decision this week…

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Radio Raheem

Emery is free I suppose and Jardim isn’t.

WengerEagle

CC

Yeah wasn’t solely basing it on that match though.

Real Madrid also turned them over far too easily this season, especially in Paris where PSG didn’t offer up any resistance or fight at all.

I could give most managers the PSG reigns with Neymar and friends and they’re winning the title, it’s harsh but you have to weigh up CL performance too.

salpardisenyc

Nobody is criminally undervaluing Monaco, thinks a large swathe of this space are wonder why we didn’t get cozy with Jardim who i’d consider the best manager in Ligue 1. On the up.

champagne charlie

London Very adaptable, but plays 4-2-3-1 primarily and prefers to dictate the game if he has the players capable of doing so. If not (Sevilla) he is organised and likes to counter with a mobile front three. Honestly, after reading more and more about him he has a dedication and character thats admirable. I’m quietly confident he’s going to be a great fit, which is ultimately the most important aspect here. I wanted Allegri because he was peak, but Emery may well be the better candidate for the task at hand. Excited to see the club move forward though, fun… Read more »

TR7

Is it true Emery didn’t win a single away game with Seville in one of the seasons he was there? I don’t know whether it’s confirmation bias looking for negative bits of info about him but that’s a horrible record if true.

salpardisenyc

Radio RaheemMay 21, 2018 20:47:21
Emery is free I suppose and Jardim isn’t.

Oh ya, its Arsenal. Radio fucking nails it again, so true.

HighburyLegend

Strange that Farteta withdrew…

Reason 1 he wanted too much power and they said NO, which is a good thing.
Reason 2 he realized that he couldn’t have the right tools and all the guaranties to make a good job, and he said NO, which is probably not a good sign…

WengerEagle

New gaffer nearly always results in quite a bit of transfer activity in and out of a club, at least we’re in for an exciting if a potentially disappointing summer.

At least it’s interesting once again, things were so stale under Arsene I genuinely cannot remember the last TW that I was hyped for, possibly the 2006 one where we pinched Rosicky and Julio ‘The Beast’.

Leftsidesanch

Are we really going to persist with Cech as our no.1 next year??? I need a nap

Marko

Draxler, Rabiot and Meunier would be very nice, maybe even swing a Guedes deal?

Guedes would be a brilliant signing. Look I preferred Jardim all along and then I got my hopes up for Allegri (cheers Charles) but it seems with this board and owner any super ambitious appointment wasn’t likely. But between Emery and Arteta you take Emery all day long. Those two Henry and Vieira were the only ones to be interviewed and he was the stand out in that regard.

Akilan

I’m not against Emery at all, but I’d absolutely be gutted if spurs/chavs sign Jardim.

HighburyLegend

“Emery is free I suppose”
And he seems to be desperate for a job… hopefully this is not his only reason for wanting us to hire him.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

I would rather Arteta over emery I think,,,

WengerEagle

TR7

Just checked there, yes it is true and it was his last season there in 2015/16.

Played 19 away in La Liga- won 0, drew 9, lost 10.

Lost all 3 of their away CL group matches too.

Radio Raheem

TR7Just checked there, yes it is true and it was his last season there in 2015/16.Played 19 away in La Liga- won 0, drew 9, lost 10. Lost all 3 of their away CL group matches too.

Hahaha what better manager to take over from Wenger

alexanderhenry

So much for my tenner on Arteta. I’m very surprised with the appointment but happy with it. It’s far less of a risk than Arteta.

WengerEagle

Lol RR, when have we last won away in the league?

Match made in heaven.

WengerEagle

Besides Huddersfield.

Redtruth

Ancelotti blew a 4-1 lead with AC Milan losing the 2nd leg 4-0 against Deportivo.

And who was the mug Manager who lost a Champions league Final after being 3-0 up lol

Pierre

Nzonzi will be his first signing..

Marko

He was appointed PSG manager for a reason there’s clearly a talented manager there. Exciting summer awaits.

HighburyLegend

In Emery we trust!!
(never thought I would say something like that one day…)

I would have prefer Enrique tbh.

WengerEagle

Well they’ve just signed the hipster’s messiah Tuchel as his replacement…

Who has accomplished less than Emery it’s worth noting.

HighburyLegend

“He was appointed PSG manager for a reason”

Yep, for winning the CL… (lol)

qna

I don’t have an issue with Emery. We are not in a position to pick any manager we choose. Unlike Arteta this guy at least has a coaching resume that is not a blank page. It’s funny how some fans are so upset that we might have Emery instead of Arteta. Arteta could only dream of taking a mid-table team to 3 Europa league cups. Even Arteta may have won Ligue 1 with that PSG team, but Emery had them playing impressive football. It was not dissimilar to Pep failing to take Bayern to UCL glory imo. Welcome to Arsenal… Read more »

Marc

They need to amend the old saying about no guarantees in life but death and taxes to “no guarantees in life but death, taxes and Red being a negative cunt”

TR7

Arsene – Arsenal
Emery -Emirates

I can see what clinched the deal for Emery.

Redtruth

Guardiola hasn’t come close to winning the Champions league since his days with Barcelona lol

HighburyLegend

Lol

Guns of SF

Get Nzonzi
Bring Drax
Ill live with that!

TR7

Marc, you have got it wrong. Red is cheering Emery’s appointment.

Guns of SF

Spend the $$$ on Koulibaly
Bring Drax and Nzonzi

Ive been pining for Koulibaly and NZonzi
If Unai can use his pull to get them in, then great!

Radio Raheem

Arsene – Arsenal
Emery -Emirates I can see what clinched the deal for Emery.

BOOM!

champagne charlie

Emery called Maureen a crybaby. That’s good enough for me

😀

Guns of SF

Raheem nice one

HighburyLegend

“I’m not the kind of coach who says: “Let’s do a few piggy in the middle exercises and get home for lunch.” Emery once quipped.”

Lol Ozil likes that!!

Marc

Red

Seriously why do you have to end every comment with “lol”?

You just made a reasonable comment about Guardiola raising a question so why the need to add the lol as if it makes you some sort of mysterious guru.

It just makes you look like a prick.

HighburyLegend

@Guns : it’s not from Raheem but from TR7…

Dissenter

Boom
The news is spreading out on all media. Arsenal will dominate the news cycle until Trump tweets another round of crazy stuff.

HighburyLegend

I can only imagine how depressed Pedro will be…

Gooner63

In Andalucia, Emery developed a reputation as one of Europe’s most studious coaches. In Spain, he admitted to working until 2am most evenings before rising again within six hours to do it all over again. At the training ground, he is demanding of himself and the players. ‘I’m not the kind of coach who says: “Let’s do a few piggy in the middle exercises and get home for lunch.” Emery once quipped. As a one-on-one coach, he was respected by his players, lifting their performances even when supporters appeared to have turned against them. It may be a particularly useful… Read more »

Marc

TR7

Sorry but I don’t believe Red is capable of making either a positive comment or giving an alternative opinion.

It’s a bit like a Spud’s fan – incapable of rationalizing where they are.

Marc

Dissenter

So we have the news cycle for the next 10 minutes then!

Freddie Ljungberg

Napoli has gone crazy and wants something like a £100m for Koulibaly, obviously never going to happen. He would have been the perfect CB otherwise.

N”Zonzi is nearing 30, we can’t sign any more players like this, going to be a nightmare in a couple of seasons when Auba, Mikhi, Ozil are too old, and we get no money for them. Add Sokratis and N”Zonzi to the mix and we’re inviting disaster.

Would like to see a Rabiot + Doucoure CM pairing, but there are a lot more options in those positions.

Dissenter

Emery must be a slick son of a bit*h.
One meeting and he wows all of them. To think he doesn’t speak English. How did he impress them.
He probably had videos made of how he can improve the team and go through a list of all the players extempore, listing all their weaknesses.
The things that people do in interviews.

Redtruth

Pierre deep down must be gutted the Wenger clone was rejected…

gambon

Absolutely superb appointment IMO

SO glad the Arteta bullshit is over…

Guns of SF

Credit to TR7 then!

Dissenter

This is a short term appointment of a journey man coach.
Stability…unify the fan base and restore fourth place,

We are going back for Arteta in 2020.

Marc

Assuming the story is true I will promise you all one thing – the media that would’ve slaughtered us for signing Arteta (Henry Winter about to do a massive hand brake turn) will now slag us off for not getting our first choice.

Guns of SF

Dissenter
I can see him doing the video thing.
What a cool cat- likely last on the interview list and blows the rest away.
Would love to know who is assistants will be….

Guns of SF

Old Bobby P been pining for a job with the new coach… always sniffing around the club looking for something to do.
I would be very interested to see how he fixes the defense…

Gooner63

Well hes spanish – any chance hes on best buddies with the Atletico defence and they will all hand transfer requests in tomorrow

Guns of SF

I cant see us going back in for Arteta if Emery is successful. At that point Arteta will be old news.
If we can crack CL again, then hopefully we can attract a bigger and better coach but first lets see what Emery can do…..
Im excited about this pick… good experience, good tactician, does crazy prep, just won Ligue 1, seems to handle the pressure well, give the shit show at PSG- he will be much more relaxed with us… ill expect good things!

Dissenter

Pedro

Where are you ?? [echoing]

Negation

Look how happy the commenters are! Meanwhile, Pete is having an absolute meltdown on twitter….I don’t get it, did he invest his life savings in Arteta becoming manager??

Gunner2301

If it’s Emery I’m pleased

I’m more confident given our situation that he can do a decent job for us. Like some others have said I’d be happy to see Arteta as number 2, but it’s probably not gonna happen.

Marc

Guns of SF

You have to wonder how much internal politics were going on in the PSG dressing room. Always had the feeling it was going to be a repeating circus – the Neymar thing, in one summer for crazy money and looking to get out the following sums it all up.

Hopefully we can offer a little bit more stability and sanity.

Gunner2301

Not sure how Pedros gonna be able to spin this one. Creditbility on the line.

TR7

Looks like Pedro will run another OUT campaign

Marc

Negation

I don’t do twitter or face book – tell me Pete isn’t doing the equivalent of Untold when the Wenger news broke?

Guns of SF

Yes he will be much more relaxed here. I think he can do as good a job as most of the other names thrown out there. He is a sharp study, which will serve him well. How he handles Ozil, will be interesting to see play out. He is the closest thing to our Neymar. A Brat who is coddled too much.
Drax was on the chopping block a while back… perhaps he can finally come over. That would take care of winger

Gunner2301

I’m not worried about his English skills Conte did alright.

Guns of SF

Peter is in meltdown on twitter. Kinda funny.
I wish he had a more measured view of the new coach… seems he bet the wife and house on Arteta

Gunner2301

Tomorrow’s post will be a picture of tumbleweeds and nothing else as Pedro goes AWOL. 🙂

Leedsgunner

I heard Arteta wanted a final veto on transfers… I suspect that’s what did him in. They were never going to agree to that with Sven and Raul newly appointed to specifically handle transfer.

It might be me, but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted… we’re acting like a proper club again!

Emery sure wasn’t my first choice but with a decent track record he was ahead of Arteta!!!

Marc

I’d love to know who’s had how much influence on this – Sanllehi? Gazidis? Sven? etc etc.

Marko

Looks like Pedro will run another OUT campaign

Good luck with that he’ll have fuck all people behind him

Receding hairline

Unai Emery

I rate him…always have

Pedro called him a failure a few days back so his not being ecstatic is understandable

IMO he is a better choice than Arteta …I didn’t even know he was being considered. Sanhelli choice if u ask me

Leedsgunner

I wonder if the picture tomorrow gracing the blog will be a pair of fried eggs on Arteta’s handsome visage?!? lol.

Marko

Marc I’d be shocked if it wasn’t Raul and common sense that won out in the end

Uk bubbler

Apparently our new manager not keen on Mourinho, should be fireworks then.

Paulinho

Interesting stat on Emery, especially in light of our away form.

In 2015-16, his final season at Sevilla, he didn’t register one single away win all season.

Leedsgunner

*transfers

Gooner63

Wonder if Emery will bring Juan Carlos with him as assistant – total nutter

Marko

The end of the Arteta puff pieces. Thank fuck

Paulinho

Emery’s league record last five years:

Sevilla 13/14: 5th (7 points behind Bilbao for 4th spot)
Sevilla 14/15: 5th (3 points behind Valencia for 4th spot)
Sevilla 15/16: 5th (12 points behind Villarreal for 4th spot)
PSG 16/17: 2nd (8 points behind Monaco for 1st spot)
PSG 17/18: 1st

Pierre

Paulinho
“n 2015-16, his final season at Sevilla, he didn’t register one single away win all season.”

Really…

Sanmi

As usual, proves everyone claiming to be in the know actually know nothing

Elmo

@LeGrove Twitter
“I cannot believe Ivan bottle it. Signing a manager beaten by Monaco last season, the guy who gave up a 4 goal lead in the CL, someone who doesn’t speak English.

If you can’t do it with PSG, what hope does he have with Arsenal?

A staggering decision. So weak.”

Pedro isn’t happy.

Marc

Receding hairline

Pedro did a piece a couple of years ago talking about how “everyone fails” mentioned about Simone’s previous record not being perfect, but this wasn’t a bad thing. I enjoy the blog but he does have a habit of doing the “Gus Hedges” and signing onto the latest fashionable talk whether it be football or business talk.

Gunner2301

If it’s true Arteta walked because of veto on transfers then maybe Pep was advising him. He needs to understand he’s not Pep and doesn’t have Peps clout to be able to ask that. I’d prefer the head coach to have final veto actually because eventually it will become an excuse for the manager and a bone of contention if things aren’t going the managers way or players aren’t performing, but if that’s the new way forward let’s see how it goes.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

WHATS HAppening at the club….
Was Arteta offered the role ?
Why did he or the club change their mind ?
Will Arteta join as a coach ?

Gooner63

I reckon someone thought Arteta was Allegri – once they realised they went for Emery

Gunner2301

Paulinho

He knows how to get 4th so he should be right at home 🙂

Marko

A cheap hire that won’t come back on Gazidis if it goes wrong

Honestly what is going on between Pedro and Ivan. Yeah he’s fighting hard against the idea of Emery

Marc

Marko

If it was Raul I’d be thrilled – the guy’s been brought in as DOF, as the guy with the industry knowledge if you bring in talent and don’t listen to it what’s the fucking point.

TR7

It’s all guesswork but the sense is Ivan realized if he were to go with Arteta against the wishes of board members, his job would be on the line if Arteta flopped. Apparently Emery is a consensus choice, so Ivan won’t be the fall guy if Emery flops.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Why did Ivan blink first and choke

The clubs a shambles from top to bottom
Relegation battle for sure next season

Leftsidesanch

Imagine being upset because we didn’t sign Arteta but are at least going for a manager with proven managerial ability.

I see why other fans can’t stand us at times.

Bamford10

“Emery is a coach first and foremost. He adapts to teams and his players. He’s thorough/meticulous which by the way has been missing at AFC for a while. He’ll add structure/purpose, players will learn of their obligations and responsibilities, will have to come out of comfort zone.” “[Emery’s] English has to improve but he has been learning for years on and off. And it is important he improves it soon because part of his magic is the face to face with players. He has learnt to reduce the amount of tactical info he gives and training sessions are varied &… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

It all screams non sense to me

This will all end in tears

Receding hairline

@Marc

Every manager fails…failure is relative. I think Pedro overplayed his hand with regards to the Arteta thing while other went a bit over the top with their criticism of Arteta

Unai Emery’s record as a manager is nothing to be sniffed at. Pochettino will kill for a trophy collection like his.

Bamford10

I have just seen the news. Much reading to do, but I’m excited. Much better decision than Arteta; no idea why Pedro would be upset.

TR7

From Twitter -Emery does all his own video analysis and, during his time at Valencia, gave players USB sticks to watch tactical clips on. He suspected one player never watched them, so gave him a blank USB and then asked him what he’d make of the clips #afc

Guns of Brixton

EMREY !!!!
EMREY!!!

Negation

Marc

Lol, I wish I could tell you but I stay far away from Untold. But trust me, Pete is really frothing with his fingers. I would hate to be his source right now.

Wallace

finished 3rd three times in a row at Valencia. sounds like a guy who more often than not has gotten near enough the maximum out of his players the last 8-10yrs.

Marc

TR7

I’ve been saying for a couple of weeks that if Gazidis went left field it’d be his job on the line. Still love to know what’s really gone on behind the scenes, wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out the Arteta stories were just that all the time.