Ivan Gazidis held an impromptu gathering at Arsenal yesterday to talk fans through plans with his brand spanking new modern team. It feels like the man who has been burdened with ‘what does he fucking do’ and ‘we need more footballing people at the club’ is truly enjoying the limelight as an actual CEO for the first time in 10 years.
I think the key message he’s trying to deliver is that Arsenal is run in a far more democratic way these days. Part of the messaging is we have something new, part of it his way of very publicly stating the old regime wasn’t him.
“We really have a collective effort now, in terms of how we identify players and then how we take forward our interest, and of course Unai is a huge part of that,”
“This is now a different way of doing things, one with a very, very accomplished team of professionals who we have spent time bedding into the club.”
This sort of model might read alien to some folk, but it’s been the one we’ve been pushing for over the past ten years on here. Arsene Wenger’s strength at the beginning of his career was consistently getting decisions right and doubling down on them with major trophies. He was the go-to guy for everything, from player wages, down to the crockery change outs in the training ground canteen.
That method of management only works when you’re winning. Wenger built out a team of psychophants around him that wouldn’t challenge his methodologies, and sadly, the manager truly believed there was a place in the game for a team that simply believed in expressing themselves in a socialist system of comfort would be enough.
Thankfully, we have a CEO who recognised there was a serious need for diverse, expert opinion at the highest level. We now have someone who specifically looks after contracts and finances, well, we have two in Raul and Huss. We have a chief scout who has a modern team of analysts crunching numbers and tracking squad needs. We have a manager who is happy to work in a system that decentralizes power and responsibility.
Some of Ivan’s comments read very much like he’d read Ed Catmull’s book Inc. If you haven’t jumped into it, it’s a fascinating read on how cartoon giant Pixar has maintained creative excellence over the years. One of the approaches is the Braintrust.
‘One of Pixar’s key mechanisms is the Braintrust, which we rely on to push us toward excellence and to root out mediocrity. It is our primary delivery system for straight talk. The Braintrust meets every few months or so to assess each movie we’re making. Its premise is simple: Put smart, passionate people in a room together, charge them with identifying and solving problems, and encourage them to be candid. The Braintrust is not foolproof, but when we get it right, the results are phenomenal.’
It appears Ivan has his Braintrust, and his task force has been going at mediocrity quite hard. It’s all very exciting, and I can’t tell you how much joy I’ve taken in watching the club go full steam into the changeover. I thought we might take it a little slower. Not a chance. We’re doing it all in one year, and it feels like there’s very much a plan.
Year -1: Employ backroom people to see what the mess looks like, start fixing the squad in January
Year 1: Fire the manager, rip out the backroom team, build the squad with top 4 in mind. That means prioritise experience over youth.
Year 2: Start rotating out the older players with younger folk, spend more on shiny objects
Year 3: We’re ready to challenge for the title. Everything is in place.
I mean, that’s just my topline guess. Top 4 seems like the real goal this season. What I do find tantalising is the fact we have Europa League. Now, I know that Emery is going to want to win that, but I think if we find the right balance with our squad early this season, we could challenge for the league. What we lack in quality, we can make up in with fresh legs. Emery can spend the first half of the season with a team that’ll only play once a week. That’s been a huge advantage to Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester over the years.
Can City maintain their focus? Will Chelsea manage to sort their mess of a summer in time for August? Will United collapse under the meanness of Mourinho? Can Spurs go another season without major injury to their big players?
Lots to consider.
Mesut Ozil will at least be fresh for the start of the season, his limp German side hobbled out of the World Cup after taking a beating from South Korea. The VAR came to rescue again and awarded the Koreans a late goal, an absolute masterpiece in my opinion. Germany suffered with a manager who has been on the job too long. They needed fresh ideas and they needed to take their best players. I mean, pretty average summation there, but on a another point, remember all the folk calmouring for Joachim Low to be our manager?
Imagine how flaccid you’d feel right now if he were coming back early…
‘At least he has time to focus on Arsenal, probably did it on purpose’
… would have been the quip.
ENGLAND are up today. The best result would be a loss, but let’s be real, there’s no way you’re going to keep our young lions from ripping Belgium a new one.
BRING IT ON!
Right, that’s me done. Listen to our ace podcast.
We talk:
- Granit Xhaka and Swiss thoughts
- Mesut Ozil and the Bling Bling gang
- Bernd Leno and the state of our exkeepers
- How Spurs make us feel about England
ENJOY!
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DM (not Pedro) 😀
2nd
Here
Tr4phy
Tr4phy
That one’s for Ashwin, who said he wonders if I’m Pedro trolling. Lol… I’m not, just good at this 😉
Ha ha… Good one DM
Impromptu? It was scheduled with some vetted questions
Today Pedro is back showering his love on Gazidis.
We heard the so-called advantage of not having CL football at the start of last season and it turned out bunkum.
I think talk of challenging for the title from the place where Wenger left the club is very high bar standard indeed.
OK onto the important stuff.
When does Ospina first need treatment.
I’m going with 34th minute.
In Emery’s first season that is.
I think talk of challenging for the title from the place where Wenger left the club is very high bar standard indeed.”
yes a tall order,unlikely but not impossible,i mean Conte met a more stinky chavs squad and swept aside the title just the next season
That’s a hell of a tackle there. VAR doing its job again.
We’re apparently putting a squad together that can at least put up a fight..on paper bar Oil money city strike force,we have a world-class striker and an altogether decent attack Torreira comes in and the midfield even becomes better,dude is a terrier,reminds me of Kante Leno comes in as undisputably number 1 and he’s decent enough,which is a major improvement on that area already major work is needed in defence,get that right and we’re good to go early fixtures are tough but should give the players an early reality check of what’s expected from them,our success next season basically just… Read more »
Have to say Ivan has impressed me recently. Remarkable to see just how much he was held back due to Wenger. It’s pretty clear that Wenger was the CEO and Ivan his deputy. We now have a structure in place that will allow us to replace any weak links. If we sign crap players Sven will go If we keep failing to sign players Raul will go If we can’t agree contract extensions Huss will go If our fitness is an issue Darren Burgess will go If the youth teams don’t develop the new Director of Development will go If… Read more »
going on as if Wenger left behind an irredeemable squad that can achieve squat all is the notion I tend to extinguish
Links of Monreal leaving won’t just go away,..seems a LB coming in.. but would rather keep Monreal and get rid of Kolasinac who reminds me of Santos.. I like Hector of FC.koln
Senegal really impressing me here.. even a draw will be enough I think
I haven’t seen any comments on here that indicated that Emery will do squat.
What I did see was a line that suggested a title challenge was possible this coming season which I find very high talk at this stage.
I don’t expect Emery to be able to compete for the title this season. He had no GK when he arrived, the defence was a total mess, the midfield was a total mess, the attack was okay but lacked any wingers and all the players had gone years without actual management or coaching. The club have wasted money under Wenger and are putting in place brand new structures. A top four finish and a trophy would be great for the first year, all I want to see is an idea starting to take shape at the club which you can… Read more »
I do like what’s happening at Arsenal (a lot), but a move for James or Brandt would make me seriously moist. One can dream.
“What I did see was a line that suggested a title challenge was possible this coming season which I find very high talk ”
Genuinely curious here: The summer that followed the season chavs finished 6th,did you find the idea of them cleaning the league the next season plausible? bet u also found it then a very ‘high talk’
“Wenger did a lot of damage, but the club really is putting in a shift to get to where they want to be.”
with risk of being accused of running interference here.. but I can’t seem to get my head around this statement
How is this ‘damage’ which you described as ‘alot’ any different to the shambles Mourinho left behind for Conte..?
enlighten me on the striking differences please.
There is a difference there.
Chelsea have been the classic yo-yo club.
Win the league next season disappoint.
The season prior to their stinky season which led to Conte taking over they won the league.
Arsenal haven’t won the league for 14 years.
Now tell me again with a straight face that Emery winning the title in his first season would be no different to Conte winning it with Chelsea in his first season.
If Emery won the title in his first season it would go down as one of the greatest managerial feats of modern times.
I’m really keen to see how the forthcoming season unfolds, unlike a bunch of ITK idiots who have already gone ahead to claim Emery would struggle if he persist with Xhaka.
What would be seen as Emery “struggling” in his first season?
with a club of arsenal’s stature I don’t think it’s beyond us making a title challenge even though it looks daunting. I believe we can if all structures become effective from the get go. irrespective of our position now, we’re no minnows.
Chelsea had a decent but underachieving squad before and after they won the league. The only parallels you could make between them and us is they had a great striker in Costa and we’ve got one in Auba and that’s absolutely it. We don’t have a good keeper a good defence and midfield whereas Chelsea did and that’s why a couple tweaks they were able to win the league. We need more than a couple tweaks but we’re trying at least
“Arsenal haven’t won the league for 14 years.”
sorry this has got fvck all to do with next season
..every new season starts with a new slate,there’s absolute no carry on from as you were the previous season
it’s a level playing ground, a tabula Rasa… my emphasis is rather how damaged people think the squad is that can’t be fine-tuned to be competitive next season…If Emery is really that a huge upgrade on Wenger,then a top 3 is at least achievable no?
Japan bottled this by playing for the draw and benching Kagawa, Inui, Osaka and Honda.
You were comparing Conte winning the league in his first season with Emery winning it in his first season.
They are not comparable.
Emery’s achievement would be far, far greater if he won it straight off in comparison to Conte.
“The only parallels you could make between them and us is they had a great striker in Costa and we’ve got one in Auba ”
oh look…
Marko seems to agree with me here that the ‘damage’ Wenger has left behind is no less of that mourinho left behind for conte..which was initially my interest
with a club of arsenal’s stature I don’t think it’s beyond us making a title challenge even though it looks daunting. I believe we can if all structures become effective from the get go. irrespective of our position now, we’re no minnows.
spot on, in which scenerio the squad wouldn’t appear that ‘damaged’ afterall
Pedro, your post is truly joyful. Out with the mystique of management, in with the common-sense. Nothing of importance has changed in football since Herbert Chapman, except some of the rules. It ain’t rocket science. I’d say that the rule that stopped passing back to the GK has had far more impact than Wenger, Mourinho, Pep, etc, etc, put together. Everything has been done before. All this current punditry on TV is ridiculous and boring. That’s why I loved Andy Gray, he used a few draughts pieces, and made Richard Key seem daft if he asked any questions. At any… Read more »
“How is this ‘damage’ which you described as ‘alot’ any different to the shambles Mourinho left behind for Conte..?”
Well it’s pretty simple the issues at Chelsea were about good players being unhappy and Mourinho basically being Mourinho and falling out with everyone. The issues at Arsenal are about player ability and lack of coaching.
Wenger left a total mess in defence, a total mess in midfield, a totally unbalanced squad, wages wasted, transfer budget wasted, there was no infrastructure either because of him and the players have gone years without modern management and coaching. Wenger is far more to blame than any manager at another club because he was more than a manager, he was the manager, CEO, DoF and CFO basically. You can say people at the club should have done more to stop him, but remember, a lot of people entered the club after him and he engineered the situation so he… Read more »
Sign him up.
ooooospina
That being said I am actually really positive about the club right now, I really like Emery and the more I listen to him the more I like him.
Gazidis as well, standing ovation.
oh look…
Marko seems to agree with me here that the ‘damage’ Wenger has left behind is no less of that mourinho left behind for conte..which was initially my interest
You conveniently left out the rest of my comment where Conte was left with a decent goalkeeper defence and midfield. Wenger left Emery with such a bad squad that we’re on course to sign at least 4 players with more likely.
“Year 1: Fire the manager, rip out the backroom team, build the squad with top 4 in mind. That means prioritise experience over youth”.-Pedro
It pleases me how nobody challenges this. The court of public opinion wins again.
He was fired!
sorry this has got fvck all to do with next season..every new season starts with a new slate,there’s absolute no carry on from as you were the previous season
I’m sorry but who’s more likely to win the league a club who won it last season or recently or a team who hasn’t won it in 10/20/30 years? Teams don’t start on equal footing
Senegal going out on yellow cards is painful
“there was no infrastructure either because of him and the players have gone years without modern management and coaching.” I’m afraid you’re confusing Wenger for Kroenke..one is a owner and the other a manager/coach Wenger is an employee,how can you blame him for the incompetency of Kroenke in doing the needful which was to establish a structure and make the manager work within it..and also this… ‘he was the manager, CEO, DoF and CFO basically.’ small surprise then he didn’t have the time focusing on his job then..which is to COACH your post seems to make Kroenke largely to blame… Read more »
Absolutely gutted for Senegal. Played well for most of this game and for the first game and a half. It was that second half against Japan that fucked them. Awful really. Best African team at the world cup
Welcome Papas……….
But can anyone say for certain that our new signing is £14m better than Jonny Evans? Same age.
Surprised Tadic has moved to Ajax, a top ten player in any of the top 5 leagues.
Let’s hold off the full blown sex with Gazides and co. until we see how Emery will actually pull these older gentlemen together.
Let’s not forget that two of our first three games are very losable (sic).
The top four has to be an absolute must this season.
Let’s remember…we do also have some really shit players still at the club. This is not a winning machine by any stretch of the imagination.
The last note. Let’s stop bigging up the African nations. They have been utter trash. However, a couple of those Senegalese players looked handy.
Senegal eliminated due to receiving more yellow cards than Japan? That is utterly ridiculous.
TR7
The rules were in place at the start. They weren’t good enough on the pitch to take the decision away from card count backs.
End of story.
TR7
“Senegal eliminated due to receiving more yellow cards than Japan? That is utterly ridiculous.”
What else could they go on? There is not time in the schedule for them to have a play-off match.
Identical points, identical GD and H2H a 2-2 draw.
Same amount of Goals Scored in the Group stage as well, which comes before H2H result.
It is ridiculous but what else could they go on? Not a rhetorical question, is there options for something else?
On hindsight, maybe not so ridiculous. Makes sense that teams that foul less would be rewarded over a team that fouls a lot.
Victorious
You do make me laugh.
Your continued love in with Wenger holds no bounds.
You never did answer my question from the other day.
When did you start supporting Arsenal?
Be honest now.
Senegal must feel like shit.
Funny because those games were a bit tight to call, imo.
So as it stands, winner Fromm England v Belgium play Japan. Should make for a good game now.
If sides are level on all stars etc, maybe they could do a 22 man brawl to the death in the stadium.
The side with most alive people wins.
Shots on target is surely a better parameter to judge everything else equal. At least it’s related to actual football ability.
Tough on Senegal.
Don’t like the fair play computation as that’s down to a referees interpretation.
What about shots on target/corners.
So it’s Columbia or Japan for England.
Bring it on!
TR7
I get the sentiment but actually teams could just start shooting from anywhere and everywhere just to get their stats up. It could be farcical.
Ultimately teams have three games to get enough points to qualify. Senegal failed.
Shots on target?
If a team shoots on goal but does not score is that necessarily seen as a positive?
It can be seen as failure/negative as well. That they did not convert more of those shots on target.
Lol. Conte had the spine of a title winning team. Though Chelsea finished 10th the previous season, he didn’t have to add a lot to the team. Costa, Hazard, Willian was a title winning attack. He added a decent Pedro to it. In the Midfield, he already had Matic and Fabregas. He added a fantastic albeit a cheap Kante to it. In defense, he added Luiz and retained an average Moses. So, all Conte had to do was buy one fantastic signing in Kante and a couple of half decent signings in Pedro & Luiz. Conte’s title winning team had… Read more »
I fully expect Japan/Colombia to comfortably dismiss the three cubs.
Nigeria and Sengal were unlucky not to go through
The north African teams; Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt were utterly disappointing.
GOH ‘I get the sentiment but actually teams could just start shooting from anywhere and everywhere just to get their stats up. It could be farcical’ Two teams being identical with each other on all other things – points, goal difference and head to head record – is a rarest of the rare situation. I don’t think players would play for such an unlikely scenario unless they are all clairvoyants. Ishola Not sure I buy that point. You take 100 random sample of drawn matches and in majority of those games the team with more shots on target is usually… Read more »
Conte just had to tweak the Chelsea that has won the league convincingly under Mourhino two seasons before.
Same as Guardiola.
It is not a clean slate
City are starting several steps ahead of us, the 37 point gap from last season doesn’t just vaporize.
Just let it be….always trying to mess with the game. This would of been thought of before the tournament started so why there got to be a debate?
Samesong
You give FIFA way too much credit.
Your Comment Here
Sancho
Na
Fouling and collecting yellow cards also depicts a lack of skill as it means you can’t tackle cleanly.
All Senegal had to do was avoid defeat and they failed to do that.
Personally I think the African teams have been poor.
‘Fouling and collecting yellow cards also depicts a lack of skill as it means you can’t tackle cleanly.’
The number of cards you get also depends on the man officiating the game. Some referees are lenient, some dish out cards even for minor fouls.
No one knows what will happen next season Will teams drop their pants like they did last season against Man City?? Will Spurs finally mount a decent title challenge and not wither and die under pressure?? How well will our players who are used to coasting react to a manager who keeps talking about working hard on the pitch?? Will Mourinho truly implode or bore his way to title contention?? Can Chelsea clear up their mess in time?? Will Liverpool truly live up to all the hype and actually challenge for the title/ , Something they haven’t even pretended to… Read more »
TR7
The refs this World Cup have been very lenient. Repeat offenders leaves them with no choice.
@TR7
What do you suggest should have been done to decide who progresses ??
Graham
‘Your continued love in with Wenger holds no bounds.’
how did you manage to deduce this from the exchanges I had with the rest posters…..
and that is why in a nutshell I can’t admit to u when I started supporting the club…
you have a very irritating habit of making shit up about what’s been said
How about a fight to the death – can’t wait for the England team to go through it. Will thoroughly fuck the Spud’s.
Tough luck for Nigeria and Senegal..better than most teams that have saild through…they could have defeated the likes of Switzerland,mexico and even England
@Vicuntious
So why didn’t they go through then?
England should go for the win tonight. Haven’t won a knock-out tie in years, so should try to win the group, to face Japan, rather than Colombia.
Actively looking to finish second only seemed rational if it would allow you to avoid both Colombia in the R16 and Brazil in the QF.
Receding
Any football related parameter should have been made a criterion – total shots on goal in 3 matches or goals scored in qualifiers or possession percentage etc.
@ TR7
Shots on target or simply hopeful wild shots on goal??
Possession in areas that trouble the opposition or simply an exchange of passes between defenders deep in their own half??
Goals scored in qualifiers?? Come on man
This is simply a case of the team with the best disciplinary record going through after both tied in most other stuffs
It’s not as if the yellow cards rule is new all of a sudden.
It falls under the fair play rule and plenty of other teams have been rewarded under this criteria in the past.
Steve
And that is why I said TOUGH LUCK..
even the best of teams needs it to be successful…
ffs Senegal is going out not for lack of quality but for highest number of yellows which could or couldn’t have actually been merited..hows that fair?
“Any football related parameter should have been made a criterion – total shots on goal in 3 matches or goals scored in qualifiers or possession percentage etc.”
agree with Tr7..this could say more about the qualities of a side than fair play BS.
The real problem was that TR7s boy Mane didn’t show up today lol
‘Tough luck for Nigeria and Senegal..better than most teams that have saild through…they could have defeated the likes of Switzerland,mexico and even England’
But we will never know. Because they’re out
Maybe Nigeria and Senegal can prove their worth by playing Germany or something? They all have a lot of time on their hands now
CA
haha or they could as well wait for England to drop out and then join the party..surely you know is
just a matter of when they’ll hit the proverbial wall
Great an Arsenal captain – Vermaelen!!!
history tells us England will be lucky to make the quarters
‘The real problem was that TR7s boy Mane didn’t show up today lol’
Yeah didn’t make any impact today. I was expecting Mane led Senegal to make it to the round of 16. Still a super quality player IMO 🙂
“history tells us England will be lucky to make the quarters”
Which is why England should go for the win tonight. 2 tournament knock-out game wins in the last 26 years, so Colombia would be a big test. I can’t see England losing to Japan, having seen how passive they’ve been so far. Need to win the group.
Read the Q&A with Ivan and Unai. Really liking the work being done behind the scenes. Whatever happens, I am really looking forward to next season.
On to England: it would be good to see an England win as this would genuinely give a boost to the team. A draw would be acceptable.
Who has been the most impressive player at the group stage thus far?
Christiano Ronaldo7 has to be that man
Modric and Isco for me
Messi’s goal still the most brilliant piece of magic in the tournament so far, wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being the best in the tournament. Only Messi himself can score a goal better than that.
Very bizarre scenario whereby finishing 2nd is much more advantageous than finishing top for a deep tournament run.
Sure you’d fancy Japan over Colombia but would you really back England to get past Brazil in the QF?
Other half of the draw you’re pretty much a banker for a SF spot if you beat Colombia who are vulnerable as Japan and Senegal showed.
Good shout..Rakitic and Coutinho
best goal thus far.. Ronaldo’s free kick against Spain,was a beauty Messi’s goal was nothing special,any player with good control scores that all day
Sad that no Arsenal players have figured for England.
Ronaldo has done very little besides the Spain game where he scored a penalty and had De Gea gift him a goal.
Also missed a penalty that could have cost Portugal a spot in the knockouts if that Iranian fella kept his cool with that chance at the end of the match.
Isco, Croatian pair of Modric/Rakitic and Hazard for me have been the stand puts so far performance wise.