Arsenal’s PR nightmare tightly entwined with lack of vision at leadership level

by .

I posted a little later to see how the grim story of this week would pan out.

The movements that seemed most important were:

  1. The scouting realignment sits separately of the redundancies. Essentially, the scouts were terminated. Still not nice, but a fact of life at the elite level of the game. This is important because it means they can be replaced.
  2. The redundancies, which many found out about today, will be more on the non-playing side of the game.

This news, as expected, has generally gone down very badly with the fans, the players, and the coach. At a basic level, it looks like the leadership team doesn’t grasp what Arsenal has been or where they want it to be moving forward. We lack a vision. Decisions are short-term, they seem to be made in a vacuum, and there’s no one at the highest level who sees the bigger picture and how the pieces intertwine currently to tell an incoherent story about our values and wanted future state.

The club is a total contradiction.

THIS IS BUSINESS FAM

Yes, the pandemic is real. The lack of fans will be painful. Costs will need to be cut.

We all understand the business implications of the moment because we’re living in it. Most of us don’t need to be educated on what covid means for the bottom line.

However, there are some absolute basics that Arsenal seems to be getting wrong.

1. Be absolutely clear with your staff about what is happening.

Arsenal players were apparently shocked and horrified that the club were making aggressive redundancies at the club. Firstly, they’ll be upset because now it looks like their 12.5% pay cut (£29.5m per annum or £567k a week) was a wasted exercise. Now, you could say that things change, and I could agree, but the point is, the players thought their money was going towards keeping the normal staffers at the club.

Pay cuts should have been clearly explained. The ramifications of redundancies should have been known early. No one should be shocked further down the line when something like this happens. Get your bad news down in one sharp hit, trickle-down morale tremors put people on edge and reduce trust in leadership.

This isn’t a hindsight thing either, it’s business basics 101.

2. Don’t treat the people like fools

The all-in cost of losing 55 people was reportedly about £2.5m. That’s an average salary of about £45k a year. Not a lot of money for people living in or around London. 5 weeks collection of the 12.5% player pay cut. Also, a tiny amount in the grand scheme of football. That £2.5m is not helping Arsenal move from 8th to 2nd this season. It was a super grim way to frame redundancies.

‘I know we hurt a lot of people here, but hey, imagine how you’ll feel when you see Gabriel in central defence?’

If Arsenal were moving on people that now had nothing to do, they should have framed it that way. If they were getting leaner because the corporate team had bloated. Say so. The fact they wrapped the decision in the playing squad was because they knew a football club like Arsenal would look terrible making aggressive cuts to the workforce in a pandemic. The self-awareness of this makes it worse.

3. Live your values

If the club wants to position itself as cost-conscious, those values should be operationalised on every level. If you are concerned about £2.5m to the level where you’re happy to put good people out of work in a market with no jobs, then you should be looking to make savings elsewhere.

Dropping £130k a week 3 year deal for a 32-year-old does not look like a move a cost-conscious club would make. Paying a super-agent who was briefed on the clubs’ structural changes also doesn’t make sense. What value does Kia bring? He convinced Arsenal to sign an injured right-back for £5m with 6 months on his deal that no one at elite level wanted, he was behind a £24m deal for David Luiz on a one year deal, and he’s also pushing us to sign an out of favour Coutinho. What value is he bringing from a cost-conscious clubs perspective?

It’s like your company cutting salaries then throwing an away day in the Bahamas.

4. Communicate the plan

We’ve hacked out our scouting system as part of a reimagination by Edu. The Evening Standard hilariously indicated that the vision is that we move to a data-centric approach. I say hilarious because the values Edu and Raul have been living do not indicate that data has played a role at Arsenal very often. We binned Sven Mistlintat and Jason Rosenfeld for Kia, Arturo, Mendes, and Raul’s mate at Lille.

… snark aside. Why doesn’t Edu speak to the fans? If you don’t speak, the people will fill the gaps, that is sport I’m afraid. The gaps aren’t hard to fill, the Edu operation is backwards, unimaginative, and rife with conflicts. It is not data-driven unless data-driven means a USB stick with a spreadsheet of Kia’s players driven to Edu’s office. It is littered with unsavoury characters and weird backroom deals that make little sense if we’re a club looking to make future-facing decisions.

What’s the plan? Who are the hires? Who are the scouts? How are we modernising data? Why are we leaning on ways of the past? At which club does contacts scouting work at the highest level? What is the glorious future vision beyond throwing a hodgepodge of players and an elite young coach?

If the answers are good, surely it’d be a smart move to share them with the public? Liverpool people have been speaking on the record about what they do for years. Where is the Edu interview about what he’s been up to?

What I have found interesting is how many people defend what is going on at the club.

There’s a section of people in society that absolutely live for grift. They live in a fantasy world where being a bit wonky is some sort of attribute of greatness and that this turn south for Arsenal is what has been needed. Those people are fucking clueless. Do big clubs go to extremes? Yes, they do. The New England Patriots get up to some weird stuff, but you know what? They also do some incredible innovative smart things. They find value in places no others look. They use data. They have elite coaching. You can question decisions, not intentions. The sorts of things we’re doing have us in 8th.

Arsenal isn’t a beacon for anything interesting at the moment, the best thing we’ve done is hire a young manager at the second time of asking. We’re directionless at the top and lack leadership. Our decisions are made with the next week in mind, outside hiring a young manager, not a lot of what we do at the highest level has the future in sharp focus. We look like we’re being run by 1980s M&A consultants. The power has all been centralised in one place, dissent has been muzzled or moved on, the people being brought into the club are doing what works for their futures, then they’ll move onto the next shiny thing. The moves that are being made now look like the moves of people on the way out. It feels like we’re in zero fucks territory.

There needs to be a clearer articulation of what Arsenal is. The football lacked identity for years, I think we might be solving that on the pitch, but as great club of prestige, we’re lost. Who are we? What do we want to be? How are going to get there?

With great leadership, you can see it. You can feel it. It’s in the air. Every decision ladders back to the grand vision and as a result, it all makes sense. The fans, employees and stakeholders know where they stand because they’re all on the same journey. Arsenal needs some of that because the poor communication and the bad PR of this week stem from the lack of clarity around the direction. The fact that a 38-year-old rookie coach has given more clarity to what Arsenal is over the two leading the club tells you what a mess we’re in at the very top.

Your biggest weaknesses always shine through in the rough times and here we are. What are the club going to do about it?

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Habesha Gooner

In a different team with less creativity Sane and Mahrez will be better though.

Habesha Gooner

Juve getting kicked out as they should. PSG with mbappe is what is going to threaten city.

Little Mozart

To think that Pep didn’t need the services of B. Silva is just outrageous.

karim

City v Lyon

Sanmi

That tells you who the better player is. Sterling just fits more into pep’s plan

karim

Brilliant

london gunner

Sterling minutes played 2661 games played 30

Mahrez 1942 games played 21

Pep rates Sterling and starts him more that ususally an indicator

london gunner

Sanmi

The better plan being fielding the better players…

Habesha Gooner

Sanmi
No one looks at that though. when you compare players, You ask who is doing more. And sterling is making it work for him while Sane and Mahrez have been hit and Miss.

london gunner

Habesha

Forgot about PSG they might by rusty from lack of football.

Dream10

Great little cameo from JEFF for Lyon bu
Relieving pressure

london gunner

Sarri

Is out I think conte and ronaldo Juventus could have won the CL.

Sarri is a very good coach but he isn’t top mustard

Victorious

City has a good path carved for them to clinch the CL,Surely Pep has to prove he’s not a fraud by taking them all the way?

They’d be happy they’re facing Lyon and not Juve

Habesha Gooner

Bayern aren’t push overs either. Muller, Lewandowski, Goretzka and Kimmich all in great form. Gnabry steps up the higher the occasion too. I wouldn’t rule them out.

Buzzy

Juventus’s attack went to shit the moment they got in Aaron “I always take two touches” Ramsey lol…have never rated him and never will..zero techincality..i still live him for the FA cup goals though

london gunner

Vic right

City will destroy Leon. Think it will be 4/5-2 over two legs.

Buzzy

Also this defeat means it’s curtains for Ronaldo as far as CL goes…too slow now…I’m glad he wont ever catch up with Messis Ballondors

london gunner

Habesha

Muller hs just broken the bundesliga assist record crazy season from him after last season people said he was finished at the top.

Victorious

CR7 proving there’s so much a single player can do to lift a team, absolutely beast of a player who has taken an average Juv side as far as he can

Deserved more

Little Mozart

Dybala could have been the difference but Sari screwed that.

Habesha Gooner

London gunner
To be honest I wrote him off too. He looked clueless. Now he is back to his old self. Infact he has gotten better. He must really be tough mentally.

karim

Victorious

Not sure about that. Lyon already did great things against City in the recent past and they’re far younger than a very average Juve bar Ronaldo.

Should be a good game although City are favourites.

london gunner

Who was the best player of the year?

Radio Raheem

You can’t buy Ronaldo then follow that up with Sarri. Juve are also an aging squad and I’m not sure if they are capable of playing the Sarriball Napoli did.

Juve making weird moves culminating in their elimination tonight, quite rightly.

karim

LG

It will be a one game tie

Little Mozart

One of the reasons I wanted football to come back from the vivid lock downs was for Chelshit to complete there CL return leg to Bayern. I am praying for a football lesson for them. Something like 8-0

london gunner

Karim

Do you think Lyon can win and if so how do they do it?

What’s city’s weakness?

london gunner

Lil Mozart

They might do an Arsenal and have near-heroic comeback but then fall short by one goal wouldn’t be as good as seeing them thrashed but nice to give the pain of false hope lol

Little Mozart

London Gunner

I don’t want them to get anything like that. Saw somewhere Muller vowing not give them any false hope. Hope they get a pasting.

karim

LG

They beat them at the Etihad 2 years ago
It’s only one game
Absolutely no pressure

Not saying I can see them win but it’s doable imo.

Little Mozart

I don’t fancyPSG much. They always shoot themselves in the leg. Remember them against Barca or Manure??

Valentin

Lyon are a very fit team who ManCity may not be able to tire into submission. Also they will be a threat on set pieces which are ManCity weaknesses.

alex cutter

“One of the reasons I wanted football to come back from the vivid lock downs was for Chelshit to complete there CL return leg to Bayern. I am praying for a football lesson for them. Something like 8-0”

You must really hate them. To pray and all.

alex cutter

“Just shows what an effect top class coaching can have”

Or alternately, and more accurately, how stupid you are.

karim

Good to see Alex is still alive and kicking ha ha

Ashwin Gunner

What does non footballing staff even mean?

The girl at the gift shop, the tour guide (oh wait, we don’t have that), the security at the gates, the cleaning woman???

salparadisenyc

Have to think Sarri is getting the sack in the next couple days.

Jamie

“They beat them at the Etihad 2 years ago”

Arteta’s first game in charge, no?

karim

Exactly Jamie, poor Mikel got a lot of stick at the time

Bojangles

“Chelsea are reportedly set for a transfer battle with London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, while Manchester United are also in the race to sign Coutinho, according to Mundo Deportivo.”

May not be the slam dunk some think.

Nelson

Rumor is that Arteta wants Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey, Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos’ from Real Madrid (loan). To fund that, Arsenal is hoping to sell Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Shkodran Mustafi. If the pursuit of Magalhaes is successful, then centre-backs Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Rob Holding could also be up for grabs.

TheLegendaryDB10

Fantastic post Pedro. I love reading one of your fired up posts! “It feels like we’re in zero fucks territory. There needs to be a clearer articulation of what Arsenal is.” There is only one answer to this: Kroenke. As long as he gives 0 fucks about the footballing side, then whoever leads within the club will also give 0 fucks. I’ve said it before: Kroenke’s mantra is to be a top 4 club to keep its value up. That’s all he gives a fuck about and that shows with what Raul and Edu are doing: which is to go… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

ARSENAL’S TRANSFER BUDGET Last year it was suggested by many including Pedro that Arsenal would have limited budget to spend in the transfer market at around £40 million net spend. At the time I disagreed with that analysis and suggested that Arsenal’s net spend would be between £100-110 million in alignment with our commercial sponsorship with Adidas,Emirates and Rwanda Tourism. That is more or less what Arsenal committed to spend in the last financial accounting period albeit some of the deals included instalment planning like the deal with Pepe. Apart from the Luiz deal most of the other incoming transfers… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Pierre

There has not been a single £50 million transfer this summer apart from the
swap deal involving Arthur and Pjanic.

Frankly there are now very few players in the market likely to generate £50 million+.

Leedsgunner

I would hate City to win Champions League this year. It would be like the football gods were rewarding them for breaking FFP… I know, I know FFP was a pipe dream to begin with but still… it would bring out all the Pep worshippers en masse… Pep is the ultimate cheque book manager. I fail to see why this is special. At least Klopp had to build up to his league title… all Pep has done is move from one monied club to another, where he has never had to worry about not having the money to buy his… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Spot on post btw Pedro!

Leedsgunner

Has AMN asked to go?

If not, considering our Academy has failed to bring through defenders consistently, I think it’s a mistake for us to unload him. It’s clear that Arteta understands how to get the best out of him. He’s the best defender our academy has produced in a while. Solid useful player.

We brought in Kolasinac on a free and Elneny for £4m… surely we can raise the same amount selling them that we are hoping to raise through selling AMN? £30m seems cheap when Wan Bissaka went from Crystal Palace to Man Utd for £50m all in.

Obum

Emiratesstroller I sometimes wonder also why arsenal fans just moan for the sake. We bought 5 young players and replaced an experience defender with one with medals to show. We cant just keep thinking about resale values only, what about winning now. Arteta wants William, give him a break. That was arguably the best chelsea player this season. We can’t be putting pressure on a 18 yr old saka immediately. William can give a year of football and then be a backup for the next 2 years. We see nothing wrong in giving a 32yr old auba 250k a week… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Encouraging reports that we are in the market for Aouar… the talented playmaker over at Lyon. Much prefer him over Coutinho tbh… less baggage.

I hope Lacazette is working it on our behalf!!!

Sid

PierreAugust 8, 2020 05:09:30

Could it be possible that those 2 players were the product of good scouting…

There are better scouts than what we have at arsenal, red bull salzburg has produced haaland, szoboszlai, naby keita, upemecano, mane

I could go on and on while it would be a struggle to find any quality player scouted by arsenal

Guns of Hackney

Banter FC is back.

Arsenal are done at the highest level. Ironically, we have become the club that only a few years ago, we ridiculed: one that tried to buy their prizes with mercs.

To spend that money on Willian or sign Auba and sign up Luiz for another year is fucking embarrassing.

Shame on AFC and if anyone has the balls to say we’re ‘classy’ can go fuck themselves.

Pierre

Sid
“I could go on and on while it would be a struggle to find any quality player scouted by arsenal”

Make up your mind , half hour ago you said
“Gnabry and Jeff were sold for £5m combined and are now worth over £100m”

Sid

Un made the comment on Gnabry and Jeff

Sid

Un na nai the yin to my yang

Pierre

GOH We do appear to he putting youth on the back burner. Players like Saka, Martinelli and Guendouzi have fallen down the pecking order the last few months, and if we buy Willian and coutinho they will be relegated to europa and league cup appearances. Nelson, Willock, Nketiah and ESR are in the same boat. I can understand Arteta’s strategy to a point. Next season we do need to at least qualify for champions league and experience is probably the best way to achieve this. In a way I was hoping that Artera would go all guns blazing with youth… Read more »

Kenyangunner

AMN is an asset . Not many players can contain KDB, Mahrez, and Salah.
He is a player to have in the books though should not start every game.

Guns of Hackney

Pierre

Buying Overpaid and older mercs isn’t a strategy that has a long term future. He’s gambling the house on the CL and it won’t happen. Then we have ageing players running down long contracts doing FA.

Not for me. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Mikel.

DivineSherlock

Could it be that Arteta will replicate Wenger’s method of playing different teams in cup competitions and PL. ? A youthful team in FA Cup and Europa league group stages. A solid lineup for PL

Habesha Gooner

You can’t say you want arsenal to improve and at the same time want us to play all the youth players. Let them develop. If they take their chance they will replace the likes of Willian in the starting line up. Europa league+Fa Cup+ league cup means there are plenty of games for everyone. Willian Auba Pepe and possibly coutinho is a front line to fear in the league.
Saka Martinelli Nelson ESR/Willock needs some time.

Valentin

Jeff was sold in order to raise funds without the new coach Emery even assessing his quality. Compare Willian with what the Jeff bring on the pitch, his cost (including the salary, signing on fee and and agent fees) and his resale values, over 5 years, clearly Arsenal would have been better off keeping him.

Looking at the proposed sale of AMN, I believe that Arsenal is repeating the same mistake. Underselling an asset with long term value to finance an expensive asset for the short term.

DivineSherlock

Valentin

You say this stuff as if you know AMN wants to stay ? You do know he wanted out right ? No one would have said a word if that had happened before the restart . Same with Gnabry , he had decided to leave , nothing a club can do about that except sell.

Sid

Arteta isnt planning for the long term, he needs results to secure his career,
problem is if it doesnt work Arsenal will suffer
He can see top 4 will be difficult to get with the squad, winning the Europa is a safer bet

TT

I dont get this hysteria regarding the redundancies. s things stand there3 will be no fans at any stadium this year and most likely not until August next year. All around us companies are laying off staff as a last resort. Over 300 contract workers in the factory I work in out of 1200 people in total.. If the staff that are being laid off are in sales and catering then that makes perfect sense. The scouting department seems to be restructuring and improvement drive rather than layoffs. This was already done in the youth setup so was inevitable in… Read more »

Sid

A younger Guendozi is better quality than Jeff

TheLegendaryDB10

If we do win the PL (or CL dare I say!!) with Mikel (which I believe he has the ability to do, the joy he had when lifting the FA Cup trophy says it all) then it will be despite Raul and Edu. They only seem to interested in furthering their own interests.

Where I share Pedro’s concerns is that there appears to be a lack of planning and forward thinking which may cost us in the long run.

Emiratesstroller

Obum Arsenal started the process last season of rebuilding squad/team. We had in fact the second youngest squad in EPL based on average age. Clubs like Man City and Man Utd may have one or two outstanding youngsters such as Foden and Greenwood, but they were not reliant on a large group of such players as we were this season. The lack of experience of many of our youngsters did have an impact on the performance level of the team in EPL. Arsenal drew far too many games which we should have won particularly against lower teams and that was… Read more »

Bojangles

Going all guns blazing with youth in the PL is a long and painful way of committing suicide, as I am sure Arteta knows.

Bojangles

“The three main Arsenal assets tipped to be sold for fairly significant sums are Matteo Guendouzi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Lucas Torreira.

Arsenal value trio at £35m, £25m and £26m respectively”

Habesha Gooner

I like when people criticize the management they seem to omit Arteta out of it. “He will succeed despite Raul and Edu”. This is mental. No one forced him to approve these signings. Mari , Cedric and Willian all approved by him. Criticize the whole sum for their hand in it if you think it isn’t great. Arteta is as responsible as everyone of them. We are selling Guendouzi because he doesn’t fit Arteta’s plans. No way we were selling him before. As any manager he will have a say in who we sign.

Emiratesstroller

Bojangles

Arsenal may value those players at that level, but it does not mean that we are
going to generate those fees.

My guess is that Arsenal will use the fees generated by Torreira and Guendouzi to buy Partey.

Any other monies generated from transfers will be used to buy a new CB.

Buzzy

Willian will be an amazing signing., mark my words. Usually I don’t pay attention to Merson, but his opinion on Willian is spot on. Even I couldn’t believe Chelsea let him go. He’s a fantastic player. 31 might be a older age for a striker who needs a lot of intensity but not for a versatile winger/midfielder. Unlike other Arsenal fans, I’m absolutely ecstatic we are getting him. My brother is a Chelsea fan so I end up seeing a lot of their matches.and I can say without a shadow of doubt, he was their best player for more than… Read more »

CG

TT

“””””I dont get this hysteria regarding the redundancies. s things stand there will be no fans at any stadium this year and most likely not until August next year.'””””

Maybe the hysteria is – the exact time the lowest paid are being laid off Arsenal
(once a renowned famous classy outfit) and also owned by a multi billionaire are dropping millionaire pound contracts to very overrated and AGEING millionaire players.

£150 000 per week to Willian aged 32
£250 000 per week to PEA aged 31
Courtinhio next????

Absolutely abhorrent.

Bojangles

ES

That post was a cut and paste from “The Boot Room” and not my evaluation. I have little knowledge of a players worth on the tm.

Sid

By the time Artetas contract is up
Soares, Mari, and luiz whose contract was renewed with Artetas recomendation will have 0 tranfer value
If we sign Willian then add him to that list.

Sid

Willian has won everything with Chelsea, he will have little motivation
This is his retirement home

Im telling you for free!

CG

ES

“””””Arsenal started the process last season of rebuilding squad/team””‘

Well we must have employed Cowboys Builders as the club finished 8th just ahead of mighty Burnley.

Adding the likes of William , Cedric and Mari and PEA to the 1000 day club ain’t rebuilding.

What Monaco did a few seasons ago – was build something of substance and that should be our target with mainly young British /French talent.

#Cowboy Builders #
#BodgeJob#
#impostors #
#No more ageing Brazilians#
#Cronyism FC #
#Kia FC#

Bojangles

Auba voted player of the season. No surprise there.

CG

Sid

“””This is his retirement home”””””””

That big Emirates pitch will sort him out.
That ain’t a home for 32 year old’ s rapidly running down the wing.

The same pitch found out Little Legs and Cedric already looks exposed on it.
– William will find it out too.

Willain 1000 days of Arsenal £€¥£€.
This Kia is good.

Dream10

Good cameo from JEFF Reine Adelaide last night.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BnsComps/status/1292034589200916481

Nelson

Arteta has surprised us by defeating the Pools, MC and Chelsea in a roll. I know that we tried this quick fix before and failed. Let’s give Arteta a chance. Arteta said in an interview that there is a big gap in quality between the current squad and the other top EPL teams. He wants to compete next year. Playing all those youngsters won’t get us there.

What worries me is that he wants to keep AMN and was overruled by the board. Now the board has to give him at least Partey and Ceballos. Magalhaes would be a plus.

Marc

So the next agenda is being formed on here – It’s Arteta against Sanllehi and Edu. Anything good that happens will be because of Arteta and despite Sanllehi & Edu.

Idiotic and stupid.

Marko

Marc instances like these are why I’m glad that the final say on transfers isn’t left to the manager. Left to him he’d probably keep AMN around probably likes having him as a bit part player but the Edu is probably thinking 20 million for a squad player with questionable quality is good business especially in a summer where funds from player sales is a must. I for one am happy with the decision to sell him

Karsa

Arsenal may value those players at that level, but it does not mean that we are
going to generate those fees.

We’ll achieve those fees no worries.

Danny

Guendouzi booted out for having a go at a Brighton player who fucked up our goalkeeper but what about this? Only got a fine!
https://www.lolfootball.com/arsenal-star-happily-paid-40000-strangle-phil-neville/

Marc

Marko

We’ve basically got a situation on here like this:

Liverpool are amazing and have a “committee” approach to buying players – Arsenal being in a similar set up and we’re in bed with agents.

We buy players linked to agents and it’s the end of civilization – Liverpool’s spend on agents has been more than double ours in recent years.

Our scouting setup is shit – We sack some scouts and start a restructure – It’s a power grab to let agents run the club.

There seems to be a theme!

Marc

Marko

I do have a small concern with Arteta on the current squad players – I understand he’s needed time to get to know the players etc but he does seem to be a bit of a fat kid in a sweatshop at times. Players are out – then back in when they want to leave and we hold on to them.

Xhaka, Mustafi, AMN, Kolas, Torreira, Sok (there are others) need to be moved on.

All of that comes before the GK situation which needs to be handled properly or we’ll end up with both players disillusioned.

Marko

I’d say Kia blanked Pedro at some function he had no business being at. Maybe even accidentally bumped him causing Pedro to spill his daiquiri. Cause there’s no let up.

Emiratesstroller

CG When I read your posts it becomes crystal clear that you have very little knowledge either about business or for that matter football. When a club is in transition and making significant changes in personnel in management, coaching, scouting and playing staff it is inevitable that your performance level will drop. Every football club on the planet makes mistakes. The key is to minimise and learn from them. Arsenal’s major mistake was to hold onto Arsene Wenger for far too long. Too much power and decision making was vested in him and in the last 8 years it was… Read more »

Pierre

Marc
I have a feeling that you have an agenda about agendas.

Dream10

Catalan paper claiming Coutinho will move to Arsenal on loan this summer.

I think it will happen. Only way it doesn’t is if PSG come in for him (they haven’t in last three yrs) or Chelsea miss out on Havertz. Everton have the funds to do a permanent transfer and Carlo, but it’s probably a last resort

Marko

I agree. Still some worries about Mikel and his in game management and his apparent favoritism for certain players. But the positives outweigh the negatives and the hope is that with more experience and sooner rather than later he learns about these players who let’s be honest shouldn’t be here still. Like I’m at the stage where I just know that Xhaka’s going to be here next season and I’ve come to terms with it I don’t agree with it and I still think it was a significant blunder on our part not to sell him last January to Hertha… Read more »

Marc

Pierre

You caught me red handed!

DivineSherlock

I hundred per cent agree with what Emiratestroller is saying . Very well put . Nice reply to CG . CG you wanna talk about loan deals and dodgy signings why not enlighten us about how Kim Kallstrom or Park Chu Young were signed .

Marc

Emirates – the voice of moderation and common sense.

Henry Root

Guendouzi booted out for having a go at a Brighton player who fucked up our goalkeeper but what about this? Only got a fine!
https://www.lolfootball.com/arsenal-star-happily-paid-40000-strangle-phil-neville/

Danny,
You should be given £40000 for strangling Phil Neville !

karim

And long posts

Marc

Henry

I’m amazed there wasn’t a push to get him a Knighthood

Dream10

Arteta has shown he is an adept counter puncher. He has to build decent offensive patterns and incorporate Pépé, who I don’t think he’s the biggest fan of style wise. The lesser talented Willian and Nelson follow instructions to the letter, something Guardiola also values.

Arteta has credit in the bank right now, but overcoaching could be his undoing. He’s a really smart guy though

Moe

Keeping Xhaka, Mustafi and Kolasinac would be beyond terrible. We are stuck with Ozil, but not with these three.

Danny

Henry Root
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Good one!