Well good morning, I’m suffering from WAKE UP EARLY issues at the minute, so I thought I’d bang out ANOTHER post for you because I am on a streak.
Arsenal has offered the role of technical director to Invincible, Eduardo César Daude Gaspar. I’d heard rumblings we were doing a deal, but my info was that the offer hadn’t been accepted yet, though the club were confident he’d do so.
So what to make of this hire… at the second attempt?
In short, it’s a real, ‘who the fuck knows’ moment.
His experience sits outside of the Premier League and outside of Europe. He’s currently the technical director of Brazil, and I’m not really sure what that entails. Their national team hasn’t exactly been a box of dreams over the past 5 years, and even if it had been, how do you affect a nation of players?
I’ll bang through some topline thoughts.
What experience does he have?
He’s 40 years old. He played up until he was 32 years old. He was then given a Director of Football role at Corinthians. He had a good run there, the club won the South American equivalent of the Champions League.
He had a stint as the Iranian assistant coach, who hasn’t, right?
He then took the role at Brazil in 2016. This is where some of his comments started to get me a little excited. As I pointed out in the post earlier this morning, I want someone to come to Arsenal that looks at the club from a holistic perspective, capturing the true essence of our being. First and foremost, they need to understand the culture, the heritage and the prestige. If you don’t understand the basics, you can never be a good long term fit.
This is what Edu had to say about taking on the role at Brazil.
‘Tite and I worried about the mentality,’
‘People were thinking about Brazil in a way we didn’t like. When people look at Brazil, they should respect us for our present and for our history. We were missing that. The team were not close enough to the people.
‘With all due respect, I don’t want to be the way English guys are. We are Brazilians. So let’s be Brazilians: friendly, laughing, talking. Some people cannot afford tickets for a game. So sometimes we open up training and let 50,000 people in for free.
‘Before, Brazilian players would not go into a hotel through the main doors. Why? Why do you want to go through the back door? People just want to see us. Now we go through the main doors.
‘A kid breaks through and wants to see his hero. Let him do that. As a player, I tried to be nice to people. Say “hello”, it’s not hard. We are bringing this back.’
Yes, yes and yes.
He is entitled. Brazil is an institution of football, that is how they should be respected and thought of. He’s thinking about the people of Brazil, their socio-economic situation and general perception. He is talking about exciting people, because at the core, that is what football is all about, right? He believes they should be at the top. All these folk that call Arsenal fans spoilt because ‘no one deserves to win trophies’ are not the types that drive things forward. Edu sounds like he understands that.
I hear that he’s an incredibly nice guy, I know that sometimes empathy can be seen as weak in football, but again, I think it’s an important trait. Especially if you’re looking at reengineering the focus around young players. Carlo, one of the great, was always accused of being too nice to his players. This is what Edu had to say on his experience of prime Wenger.
‘I was feeling sad. I lost my sister a week before I arrived. I was not in a good way. But I found a club and manager that worried about me as a person, rather than as a footballer.
‘Every day Arsene Wenger pulled me into his office. He wanted to check I was OK and check how my family were. He cared so much and it made me feel so good. He let my dad watch training. I come to London once a year and always go to see him.’
You might call the above snowflake millenial nonsense, but the reality is, the generation of kids coming through have different expectations. They demand more from the workplace and they expect to be treated well. You have to balance those needs, but someone with a human touch is important.
I also like the fact he’s fully aware of the talent in England and that he has ideas about unlocking it. This was 2017.
‘This is a big generation,’
‘But the Premier League is so rich. You have a fantastic young midfielder in Phil Foden at Manchester City but there are two or three fantastic ones in his position.”
‘So, how can you play? How can you develop these guys? You have good players but to get better, they need to play in the first team. Clubs don’t look to the Under 17 guy because they go to the market.’
Edu will have been in prime position to watch the best young kids from around the world. He’ll have met with the best coaches, seen setups from the major clubs, and had hands on experience with the biggest names to grace the yellow and green of Brazil.
Apparently, when he was at Corinthians, he did visiting tours of all the major European clubs to watch and hear how they did things. This is a guy that is hungry to lean into the experience of others, someone that is open enough to know he doesn’t have all the answers, with an Invincible attitude that means he’s a winner.
Are their worries about his hiring? For sure. He played under Unai Emery for a couple of seasons. That was over ten years ago, but he was operating under his management at Valencia. Will that cloud his judgement when he has to pull the trigger on his contract next year? Possibly. But I’d hope that he’s been around enough big decisions to not be influenced by matters like that.
There’s also the experience question. Going for explayers feels good, but is it always right? He’s being asked the run the operational side of the football at Arsenal. That requires a huge amount of skill and vision for someone that is basically only 8 years into working life. Risks are associated with that.
The big worry is that all his experience is based out of Brazil. However, that can also come as a blessing. Firstly, he knows England and Spain intimately because he spent a lot of time there. Also, something I’ve cried out for over the years is finding someone who can root out gems in markets that aren’t already saturated. We have an advantage here. It’ll be very interesting to see what sort of recruitment head he brings into the club.
Another concern is that the Copa America is in his home country. We literally don’t have a Technical Director until July 7th. That’s a long time to leave Unai and Raul at the wheel. A lot of bad pound notes can be spent in that time.
Everything is a risk, but ultimately, give me Edu over a hack like Monchi. He was yesterday’s man, Edu could be the future. He’s young, he seems of great temprement and hopefully he’s the sort of leader that wants to surround himself with the best people.
Also… how much sauce does the guy have?
Additionally, there can be no doubt whatsover as to the style of football he is going to enforce. He is Brazilian and he played under PEAK Wenger. Arsenal are going to have a clear vision when it comes to style and footballing philosophy.
I was a bit worried when I first heard this rumbling, but in the space of writing an article, I am now absolutely convinced this could be a very, very good move for Arsenal.
Fingers crossed he signs on and we can move on with the second reboot of Arsenal.
Domenech Torrent was Guardiola’s longest serving assistant. He took over Vierra’s job at NYC FC and is stinking out the place.
An assistant is an assistant…is an assistant.
Leno
Chambers/Wan Bissaka Maguire Holding Tierney
Fraser Torriera Xhaka Zaha
Maddinson
Wilson
I would cum
We’d also come about 6th place
There used to a time when Pedro would have binned this pathetic troll that is Ryan.
“I would cum”
I think we’d all prefer you to leave.
Pedro – for fuck sake this guy is either a troll (so should be banned) or a complete moron (should be banned anyway).
Wenger got rid Viera and Henry when they acted they were bigger than the club.
No they left him.
I would prefer you support another club
You have been bitching about Arsenal everyday on the club for the last 10 years?
Portugal is another country that is quietly churning out a golden generation of players.
Suddenly France aren’t clearly that much better than every one else.
To dissenter
You can’t tolerate Wenger loyalists mate?
U21 football can be very different than senior football: * A senior manager can withdraw a player from the U21 team very late. So sometimes U18 fills place and they are clearly not ready. * U21 are supposed to be developmental, so sometim s you can see that a decision has been made with that in mind rather than winning a game. * In order to acclimate players to the first team, U21 tries to replicate the tactic used by the senior team despite missing some fundamental element. * U21 rarely experiment with difficult or very out there tactical combination… Read more »
Marc
Don’t try to police the blog . Emery is a fraud deal with it.
To think we could have got Bruno Fernandes a couple years ago when there was problems at Sporting. Another blunder
Valentin don’t think I am gonna let you off the hook for spreading the wrong information (not for the first time) with regards to the ex Huddersfield manager being this same manager bringing Norwich up
And Frimpong, a die-hard Arsenal fan who came through the club’s academy, singled out Xhaka after yet another desperate performance.
The Swiss midfielder is often a source of Gunners fans’ frustration and his stats make for grim reading.
Arsenal have won 55% of the 38 games in which Xhaka has started this season – and 71% of the 17 he hasn’t.
I’ll rather have a one leg Ramsey than Xhaka,” Frimpong tweeted.
After two years of flirting with other clubs, Viera was kicked out of the club the summer he thought he was staying with us. From the interview he has since given, there is no love lost between Wenger and Viera. Respect but no warm love. Wenger even blocked a move by Arsenal to offer him a role as an ambassador or youth team coach after Viera retired playing from ManCity. This summer when Viera was candidate for the role, Wenger told Gazidis not to interview him. Gazidis made contact with him, but even Viera complained that it was a token… Read more »
@Receding,
If you can’t read my post, don’t answer them.
I said the same DoF, not the same manager!
Stuart Webber.
You will find on the Norwich bio page that he joined them from Huddersfield.
https://www.canaries.co.uk/Our-Club/Key-People/
So we are now to believe Wenger dictated who was to be interviewed after he was sacked
SMH
After two years of flirting with other clubs, Viera was kicked out of the club the summer he thought he was staying with us.
Valentin, you lovely sausage. Patrick Vieira wasn’t sold or binned or anything of the like by Wenger or anyone at the club. He was actively seeking a way out of the club for a couple years before leaving because he saw the writing on the wall and he knew he had to get away.
Valentin you said manager ….own up
Wenger did not dictated Gazidis, but if Wenger told Gazidis, that guy is a bad apple who will bring you trouble. Do you honestly believe that Gazidis would go out of his way to interview him?
Same thing with Arteta. Why do you think Arteta was so much talked about. He was well viewed inside the hierarchy.
“After nine years at Arsenal, I was 29/30-years-old and 30-years-old in football you start to get old,” he said during his time as the New York City FC coach. “You can see that the coach doesn’t trust you like he used to. That’s part of the game. It’s difficult and I accept it because we had a young player called (Cesc) Fabregas who was coming through the academy and he was doing really well. “So I was smelling that the time for me at Arsenal was over. “I had to accept it was over and I had to make a… Read more »
I said the guy who hired the two German managers.
Can hardly be the manager who hire himself.
Same thing I answered before and said that Wagner was the manager. I just could not remember the name of the DoF.
Like I said in my original post, Sky Sports made a big report on Norwich and him.
We were meant to understand Wenger was not a part of the decision making process for his replacement. Now we are supposed to believe he cancelled off certain names on the list… Any links to back this up?
I made the decision
So he made the decision to leave Arsenal. Wow after complaining about lack of transfer funds available and a lack ambition Vieira left Arsenal? My god it sounds like he was run out of the club
Ok Ryan, that’s enough. We don’t play those games here.
Ryan
Which ward are you on?
Actually, Henry and Vieira left the club because they knew nothing was going to change under your God. As did RVP/ Cesc/ Nasri etc.
Personally, I can’t tolerate blind stupidity. You know, those folk that stood idly by after the ship hit the iceberg and kept drinking the coffee.
Don’t forget your white stick.
Dissenter
“He took over Vierra’s job at NYC FC and is stinking out the place.”
I thought there was no such thing as good or bad managers?
Only good or bad players?
Torrent is a great manager, he just doesnt have the right players.
Vierra had been angling to leave until we sold him, I remember him giving interviews every summer to complain about the direction the club was turning towards.
He saw the hand writing on the wall.
Gambon except that was never the argument so nice try
Now drop the 0% line, its been a few hours
gambon
The same players that Vierra had drilled into a proper unit so it’s on Torrent who is the longest serving assistant to Guardiola
Torrent has inhaled enough of Pep’s flatus to become Pep-lite while Arteta is just getting started.
Wenger bought a pack of wierdos on major wages foe his predecessor to manage. You’re trying to connect two parallel lines merge without a bridge.
Receding,
I’m not gonna trawl through old news items, but from memory it was pretty clear that there was no love lost between Vieira and Wenger and that at various points Wenger vetoed opportunities for Vieira to have roles at Arsenal FC..
Whether he still had sway when a shortlist was being compiled for candidates to replace him as manager is anyone’s guess…..
Arteta famously bought Gazidis a gold watch with the team’s money without consulting his team mates.
That’s the level of dick-su*king that is ingrained in him
It’s no wonder that Wenger protected his job from potential competition.
He didn’t want a heir in waiting situation.
Wenger never really mentored anyone, what a selfish man he was.
Question to any of our wonderful posters, please
I sadly noted Sunday – Arsenal announcing departures to Ramsey/Cech/Welbeck but not Lichsteiner?
Please don’t tell me – that Lich was given a 2 year contract by Raul?
Are we honestly letting Ramsey go but keeping lich?
Yea Words no one is doubting the frosty relationship between the two ..but taking the leap to say Wenger basically decided who and who got interviewed is the bone of contention. The man was sacked, he didn’t honorably walk away. Left to Wenger he would still be manager of AFC.
Arsenal wanted to sell Viera to a second tier Spanish club, which would have been humiliating after refusing to join Real the previous summer because that would have meant taking a pay cut.
That summer the only decision he had to make was to choose which club to join. The option to stay at Arsenal was never offered to him.
Whichever way you want to look at it, he was kicked out of Arsenal.
CG,
Lich is on a one year contract, which expires at the end of the season.
Words
Thanks
Receding,
Fair enough – I think it’s a reasonable inference that Wenger had some residual sway to influence who was on the list, but unless and until an uncensored insider account is published I guess we’ll never know
From the interview Lichsteiner gave when on international duty, I believe that there is an option for another year. I don’t know who has the right to exercise the option or whether it is automatic after a certain number of appearances. However Lichsteiner was adamant that he needed to have a discussion with the coach, because at this stage of his career he did not want to sit on the bench. So at that time there was obviously the possibility that he would still be at Arsenal for the next season. I hope that it is not the case, but… Read more »
I sadly noted Sunday – Arsenal announcing departures to Ramsey/Cech/Welbeck but not Lichsteiner?Please don’t tell me – that Lich was given a 2 year contract by Raul
Eh no. Apparently we are not exercising the option of another year
Arsenal wanted to sell Viera to a second tier Spanish club, which would have been humiliating after refusing to join Real the previous summer because that would have meant taking a pay cut.
Sounds like bollox from you again unless you can prove otherwise. Also I don’t know how you can continue to say he was kicked out of the club when he was trying to leave every chance he got. It’s so stupid. Man who wanted to go to another club was kicked out. Genius. I suppose Henry, Fabregas and Van Persie were also kicked out too
Sanchez was kicked out as well most recently
Has it been officially confirmed that Arsenal is not exercising its option of an extra year for Lichsteiner?
Some UK newspapers seem to think that we in negotiations and the stumbling block on his side is the playing time and on Arsenal side the salary.
Valentin, I’ve heard he’s not been very pleasant at Arsenal. So doubt it
Viera tried to engineer a move to Real Madrid. That move fell through because Real refused to pay him the same amount than he was earning at Arsenal. The following year, Arsenal wanted him shot. They contacted teams all over Europe. Juventus bite. David Dein then told Viera that the decision was up to him, Arsenal were Neutral. The reality was that Arsenal had accepted the offer from Juventus. https://www.skysports.com/share/2354445 In his own biography he mentioned that Arsenal had instigated the transfer. He also said that Patrick Vieira has revealed that he would have been happy to finish his career… Read more »
If we keep Licht something is seriously wrong with the front office.
@Pedro,
Thanks.
Yes he does not have the reputation of Mr popular.
I was thinking that the way he was talking maybe he had a clause like after X appearance in the premiership, the contract is automatically extended by one year.
With Bellerin not available until later, that means that we will have to either hire a right-back (temporary or full term) or rely on the U21 player Jordan Osei-tutu.
Umtiti and Andre Gomes in a swap deal for Lacazzete ? Thanks but no thanks ! We will struggle to finish even 6th next season if we do such silly deals.
Dissenter
“Arteta famously bought Gazidis a gold watch with the team’s money without consulting his team mates.
That’s the level of dick-su*king that is ingrained in him”
Not a fan of arteta but that is obviously untrue how would he have access to yhe teams money.
Predictions for tonight’s game at Anfield.
“Not a fan of arteta but that is obviously untrue how would he have access to yhe teams money.”
London
Arteta was team captain and the team captain at Arsenal is in charge of fines collected from players for a range of offences not limited to lateness to trainings or breaking curfews.
Guy who tried to get out of the club for two summers on the trot was kicked out of the club. Sure mate sure.
Azed
Seems like using company pay/fines to buy a watch for the ceo would be gross misconduct. I just really don’t beleive it.
Graham
Liverpool are fucked that’s my prediction.
Graham62
Liverpool 3-2 Barcelona
You go from Suarez to Lacazette? Really? That’s the dumbest rumour going. Is Lacazette (that much) better than Alcacer on loan at Dortmund?
Dybala and Douglas Costa are potential bargain buys this summer we should be looking at.
Doucoure at Watford is good but might be too expensive, his teammates Hughes and the former Juve lad playing for them could be decent cheap replacements for Ramsey.
Ndidi at Leicester has improved a lot.
A lot of deserved hype about Havertz at Leverkusen which means he ends up at Bayern.
Umtiti and Andre Gomes in a swap deal for Lacazzete ? Thanks but no thanks ! We will struggle to finish even 6th next season if we do such silly deals.
I realize you’re a fan but replacing a one starter with two in very important positions is actually smart not silly. Keeping two 50 million strikers when we can only play one is silly. Also as good as Lacazette is replacing his 27 goals over two seasons shouldn’t be that hard.
Dybala a bargain buy give me strength lol 😂
The story goes it was Mertesacker who collected the fines and Arteta decided to spend it on a watch for Ivan. For some reason. Given that the club does charity work every season and the players give a days wages to a specific charity they probably would have been better off giving it to charity than a bald fuck who didn’t deserve it.
Vierrs wanted to leave Arsenal in 2001 complaining the club lacked ambition.
As frustrating as Auba and Laca are it is clear without their goals we finish outside the top 10 in the league. If we’re not signing Messi or Ronaldo then pointless selling either.
Sell one and bet the other gets injured. Where will the goals come from? Ramsey? Oh…
Vieira wanted to leave Arsenal in 2001 complaining the club lacked ambition.
How Wenger managed to cling on after going 3 seasons (98-02) without winning a trophy is beyond me.
Let Xaka take the next step in his career (lol )
buy an english player instd. Ramsey..
I like Martinelli with Willock and Saka
Buy a quality center back.
Kick Auba´s ass or else Eddie is in !!
Arsrnal have always been run on a shoestring budget way before Kroenke and the arrival of the new Stadium.
I still think Rebic improves our squad and shouldn’t be that expensive.
Misuse of funds (player wages, poor transfers) by Wenger has handicapped Emery’s plans..
Wenger (1996-2018)
Trophies (3)
Tin-pots (7)
I knew TR7 would reject the Gomez and Umtiti swap deal for Laca.I was smiling when I typed it.
The lad is too sentimental about Lacazette.
Liverpool really hit the lottery with that £144 million transfer of Coutinho to Barca.
What in the world were Barca thinking?
That’s why this “net” argument is misleading
Lacazette for Gomes and Umtiti not only gives us two much needed players without to dip into our own pockets but it then gives us the funds to bring in that necessary winger we so need. I think he’s great but we have to be smart about where we’re at with regards to the squad.
who opened the door for the Ryan??
“Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hinted he could leave the club if they win the Champions League this year.”
That’s from the BBC website.
Why would you make a comment like that the day before a CL semi final second leg away from home when you’re trailing a pretty good team one nil? It’s not productive in any way.
Am I the only one who thinks the Poch is trying to set the ground for him leaving the Spud’s soon?
Spurs have Son and Kane,
United have Rashford, Martial and Lukaku
City have Gabriel, Aguero, Sterlin and Sane
Liverpool have Mane, Salah and Firmino
Arsenal have just Aubameyang and Lacazeth yet fans want to sale one to buy Umtiti who can’t even displace Lenglet for 60m some even said he’s worth 70-80
the video of the week for me, was when I watched the emotional goodbye to lady Highbury… the emirates is the most expensive library in the world.
Marko
“Lacazette for Gomes and Umtiti not only gives us two much needed players without to dip into our own pockets but it then gives us the funds to bring in that necessary winger we so need. I think he’s great but we have to be smart about where we’re at with regards to the squad.”
what happens when Aubameyan gets injury?
zaco
Auba and Laca are the second highest pairing in the PL this season and Auba is joint second on top scorers.
Of all the issues we have and problems that need to be solved they are not one of them.
one question please….
who opened the door for mad king Ryan to burn us with his dragon fire(keyboard warrior)???
I guess its dissenter, because he was the last commenter before the mad king came in.
this video of the week for me, was when I watched the emotional goodbye to lady Highbury… the emirates is the most expensive library in the world.
dd
What’s the best stadium you’ve ever been to?
@Marko,
I gave you quotes from Viera own autobiography, that he wanted to finish his career at Arsenal but was not allowed because of David Dein. But still you know better.
That is exactly why I call you a flat Earther. Facts don’t matter for you.
what happens when Aubameyan gets injury?
What happens if Lacazette gets injured? What happens if no club is interested in any of our players except for Lacazette? I don’t know why we’re so afraid sometimes of making these types of decisions. It’s honestly not that difficult
Valentin
I’m not going to get caught up I an earlier argument but I’d always take something someone writes in their autobiography as being a little one sided.
Rather source for funds elsewhere than sell any of out strikers, nothing among the management team suggests that money will be spent wisely or on what we actually need, probably goes back into Kroenke’s wallet or something so no to selling the only players we have who are any good
Valentin respectfully you are a bullshitter and an occasional flat out liar so you saying that I can’t take a fact is hilarious honestly. You saying that Wenger kicked Vieira out of the club when he spent a couple of years trying to get out of Arsenal and away from Arsene is the type of dishonest rewriting of history that you get from a shameless Wengerite. He wanted to leave Arsenal this is not up for debate he then got his move to Juve and you try to make out it was against his wishes. It’s laughable. I’ll just add… Read more »
We’ve been crying of lack of proper strikers for eons and you want to sell of one of our most prized assets for whatever reason you tell yourself that is. Get the funds elsewhere, we’re not a Wigan or a Bolton and we are not stuck in the Wenger era of selling prized assets
Think tonight were in store for some classic glorious failure, we know it well.
Robertson rubs Messi’s head while he sat on the pitch.
Batistuta
Two quality strikers in this squad is like lip-stick on a pig
Every player has to be on the chopping block, that’s the ruthlessness we need.
Not swapping our player of the year for a journeyman like Andre Gomes and a decent center back has nothing to do with sentiments but everything to do with logic. If you were talking about offloading one trick pony pretender PEA, you would have a point.
Dissenter
You’re better than that.
Dissenter
There aren’t many strikers in world football comparable to to lacazette who would join arsenal
Pool scores
Yeeeeeah
Get in
Origi Iwobi does it again haha
Un na
It’s a difficult decision
If someone gave you a chance to get two starters for the price of one, wouldn’t you take it.
So Edu? Hmmm Brazil National team has been in turmoil for awhile. Not sure you can translate National team experience to Club experience though. Different deal.. because they aren’t there for the pay in theory, they are their for the love of their country and you aren’t building a team with pay constraints and the pool you are choosing from is limited. Although not so much in Brazil. Well anyhow my biggest concern is he isn’t available until July? say what? so basically we aren’t putting our best foot forward for another season is what your saying.. And Raul and… Read more »
Diss
He and Leno are the two most important players in our squad right now with holding probably added to that once he’s back.
Everyone has their price though. £80m upwards for lacazette
I think pool could do this
If you were talking about offloading one trick pony pretender PEA, you would have a point.
Yeah but Barcelona aren’t willing to give upwards of 50-60 million or two players who’d start for us for PEA. It’s not smart turning down that kind of money for a player who’s 28 this month and who’s scored 17 and then 18 goals in the two seasons he’s been here. It’s not like you couldn’t replace those goals.
Mane on fire
If Pool can go in 2-0 up at HT they’ll probably pull it off, Barca will be getting PTSD from Roma.