Chink in the Arsenal armour exposed by leaks

by .

Welcome to Saturday my darlings, what have we on the frying plate today?

Well, we might as well continue talking about miserable things because why not.

I think one of the sub-narratives of the mess that we’re in at the moment is leadership at the very top of Arsenal.

We’re still in a very messy era. There are some very positive things going on at the club, but there a number of things that still don’t quite sit right.

The death of Don Raul last summer saw some pretty decisive moves. We used the cover of the pandemic to move on a lot of underperformers. Our scouting network was obliterated and we canned Huss Fahmy just a few weeks ago. Lots of positive moves, but we didn’t quite cut to the bone where we needed to, and I think the blunt knife we used in some areas might be problematic.

One of the least surgical decisions we made, almost immediately, was to promote Mikel Arteta to manager. The first sniff of ‘rock star’ and we caved.

On paper, it’s not a big deal. Coaches fuss about it. Pochettino went from wearing fancy threads to rolling with a tracksuit when he felt he wasn’t being listened to.

‘I might as well be coach’

It’s a power thing. When you are a coach, you take what you are given and you make it work. When you are a manager, you are in control of more things. Now, I don’t know what Arteta’s remit is inside the club, but it’s certainly not just coaching.

I would imagine on the face of it, the decision was the fairly logical view: Arteta knows what good looks like, let’s give him a bigger remit to make good elsewhere.

For me, this was a bad move. In advertising, if you are an elite creative, there’s making the work, then there’s everything else. You want your best creatives focused on making the work. Not fussing over structure, recruitment, and PDPs.

We promoted someone before they’d really done something. Arteta should be focused on the work, not the PDP for the new Gunnersaurus. This move set a tone we’ve seen before.

‘Trust in the manager’

We spend 10 years trying to escape the clutches of a manager that filled the power vacuum in the mightiest of ways. At least Wenger had won 3 league titles before things got out of hand.

The most worrying thing about the current structure is it was put in counter weaknesses we have elsewhere in our football leadership team.

This is Tony Adams last week.

“I think it got lost, this one, in the transition of the chief scout at Arsenal going out.

“He was spotted very early on, not by me, by the Arsenal recruitment office.

“The chief scout was absolutely bowled over by him and the great prospect that he is.

“He had more or less done the deal, but at that moment the new sporting director Edu came in from Brazil and had no European experience and no UK experience.

“I think it got lost in the transition, Edu didn’t know nothing about this player.”

Maybe we could give Edu a pass on Bellingham because of Raul. Maybe we could ignore our old scouts crying in the press because let’s be honest, their taste levels had been wide of the mark for about a decade (Park, Perez, Asana, Jenkinson, Yaya, Ryo, Campbell). What you can’t ignore is the fact Adams is being very pointed in his attack here.

He is saying these things because there’s weakness in the Arsenal armour and a lot of people know it and talk about it. Vinnai put Arteta on the same level as Edu, not because Arteta is a god, but because they are picking up slack for the questionable tenure of Edu so far. Expect more stories like the one from Adams to creep out of the next 6 months.

Leaks are always strategic. Follow the money. No one ever leaked against Arsene because he was literally seen as a god at Arsenal and player, agents, and coaches knew that there was no way to ever remove him. A direct attack from a legend is not good, especially when the same person was full of compliments for Arteta the week before. People know the regard Arteta is held in, they don’t fear ramifications of crossing the Technical Director.

That said. Arteta should not be on the same level as the Technical Director. That’s not how it works. Leadership structures are there for a reason. You need clarity when it comes to R&R. Someone always needs to be the boss. There has to be someone that makes tough decisions. Not every conversation can be a negotiation.

If we had Luis Campos or Ralph Rangnick running Arsenal, do you think either would have sanctioned the deal on Willian this summer? Absolutely not. Do you think Arteta would have lobbied for the deal? Absolutely. But strong leadership would have seen that sort of signing as unacceptable at a club that has haemorrhaged cash consistently over the last 5 years.

Arsenal should have stripped back this summer, made themselves lean at the cost of short term success, then built back better. We didn’t. We are still the same bloated monster we were last year. We simply prolonged the same failed football strategy we’ve been working to since 2017 when we chased Top 4 by topping up on expensive players that weren’t quite right.

A strong Technical Director would have said, ‘look, we have been hit hard by poor investments over the past 5 years. We’re going to fix it. We ripped out the scouting desk. We’re prioritising elite young players we can grow. If we’re buying senior players, they’ll need to have resale value. We installed a young developmental coach for the longterm, he will grow with the players.’

Instead, we’ve found that horrible half-space where we semi-go at being a big club. You sign a big player, but you only land one. You sign a player that does what you need… but probably way better 6 years ago. You miss out on a creative talent altogether.

None of this is to say that we haven’t made some good signings. Thomas Partey and Gabriel were laser-focused, elite, and they solved actual problems we’ve had for years. The point of the post is that if we truly believe in creating a high-performance culture, we have to make sure the leadership structure is correct. We cannot have precocious talent unfocused during the formative years. We cannot drag deadweight. We cannot shirk making difficult decisions.

I don’t have all the information on Saliba. I know mostly why he didn’t make the squad this year. What I don’t understand is why the situation has been so messy. The player has a good profile in Europe, he started training with Arsenal well before preseason started, it must have been clear that he wasn’t right this year. So where was the loan move? We have a loans manager? Now, it could have been many things. The player might not have wanted Brentford, West Ham, or whoever the club was. It might have been the club felt they needed to build him physically. It might have been a late problem with St Etienne. Whatever it was, it looks like a fuck up. Now the narrative has been lost to the fans and it’s an unwelcome grey cloud that is arguably more toxic than Ozil.

What I think you should watch for is whether Vinnai makes moves next summer. Is he a ruthless operator, or is he passive like Ivan Gazidis. The simple truth is this: If Edu were the Technical Director we believed he was, he wouldn’t have taken a demotion this summer. If I were Edu, I’d have resigned on the spot at the disrespect. Sadly, we live in a world where only the good people take news like that with a smile on their face.

Anyway, there’s not a lot that can be done right now. I still firmly believe we’ll fix the problems. There’s a way to unlock our attack and the sign of a good young coach is how they deal with adversity. The good thing is that we’re in our adverse moment now and we’re only 6 points off the top of the league. We either solve it like Wenger did in his early career, or we flunk, and we have an Emery moment. If we find a run like we did last year, all this drama will be forgotten… but we really need to fix up fast. Poor in attack, a press that has lost intensity, and boring football… a lot of fixing.

Over to you, Mikel.

297 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Champagne charlie

Pedro

It’s rampant. Not enough to be critical of a situation or pass judgement about what you’d prefer to see, instead there’s always some nefarious undertones.

Had it with Guendouzi, it’s clear now… Arteta hates young frenchman. He’s a bigot. Got there.

Tony

Looks like we’re being linked with another 5′ 9″ striker who likes to play left wing and cut in for his dominant right foot.

Anyone got more to offer on this guy.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8941753/Arsenal-battling-Europes-clubs-sign-Brazilian-forward-Brenner.html

Dissenter

Pedro
Arteta is a ditherer and the club fucked up by elevating him as co-equal to Edu.
We have an untenable situation at the club because we put too much on his plate.

For all the mistakes he’s making with team selection and tactics, his biggest flaws have been in the squad decisions he’s made.

Pedro

Dissenter, you are being a drama queen, again.

Moray

Good post, Pedro. We’ve gone from being helmed by Sonny Corleone to Fredo overnight. And just at the time we required strong and decisive leadership, clever PR and long-term thinking. It’s not about a race back to top four but about a strategy to get there and stay. We really needed to take every player sale offer we received in the summer. It looks like we kicked them all back. There are going to be bargains galore in January and next summer, where a long COViD tail, reduced or zero gate receipts and backlash on media such as Sky will… Read more »

Moray

“If Wenger does manage again he will be a lot better.”

Kaz, you think Wenger has suddenly discovered humility in his 70s? The most remarkable thing about him was that he had a winning formula and philosophy and spent the best part of decade deconstructing it (or arguably taking it to the extreme). And, unlike say Clough who was defeated by booze and time, Wenger was destroyed by hubris alone.

China1

Farage is an absolute cretin

The less limelight given to that guy the better

Aussie+Gooner

Overmars may be available as DoF! Time to move Edu on???? Utd are apparently interested.

China1

Farage is the sort of bellend who would fit right in in American politics. A single issue moron who peddles fear hate and lies to A marginalized base to try and get his five minutes of fame One of the biggest hypocrites of all. Who can forget his rambling about EU politicians taking money for nothing and being unaccountable whilst he frequently didn’t even show up in Brussels when representing us and funnily enough used to hire his wife on a tasty tax payer funded salary to be his ‘secretary’ He’s an Absolute scumbag Regardless of whether leaving the EU… Read more »

Sid

Diet Pep is a passive aggressive type(avoid them at all cost at work and relationships), already scheming behind Edu’s back,
This will not end well for Arsenal.

You heard it here 1st!

Sid

I know who should be moved it not the one that got us Martinelli and Magalhaes
its the one that worked with Mari and thought Soares was a great addition, objected the sale of AMN then does not play him because of AMNs thoughts on Ozil.

Graham62

China1

You are right about Farage.

Graham62

I see Pierre has been on his imaginary high horse yet again.

“Entitled ones”
“Obsessives”

My take on Pierre remains the same. He is a figment of his own imagination. Everything is a facade.

An 8 handicap golfer. No frigging chance.
A French moniker. That’s a piss take.
64 years of age. Pull the other one.

He admits his a troll.

Just accept that some folk are attention seekers.

NORG

Sid – you seem to have the situation summed up – interestingly it is Edu who makes frequent trips to Columbus.

Graham62

he’s

Pierre

Pedro “Pierre is/was a solo worker. An artist, actor, musician, or writer. Lives in a nice area, Crouch End or London Fields, surrounds himself with intellectual friends with trust funds… certainly not a pints man, but will have a story about an IPA he drinks occasionally. Has an Arsenal shirt, but it’s a replica from the seventies. Certainly has a story about meeting a player from the 71 cup team in a pub toilet in the 80s. Possibly attended Glastonbury before it went mainstream.” You’re confusing me with Nick Hornby … I just like watching quality players play quality football,… Read more »

Ernest Reed

You have absolutely no shame Pierre, none.

Sid

NORGNovember 15, 2020 08:01:35
Sid – you seem to have the situation summed up – interestingly it is Edu who makes frequent trips to Columbus.

I will be proven right,
You can take this to the bank!

Chris

I must admit, overall I was left underwhelmed by Wenger’s autobiography. He went into very little detail, even about the glory years. I found the chapter on his formative years interesting, clear how he developed his ideals. However a lot of seasons at Arsenal for example were mentioned only on passing and some glossed over completely. He likely has enough for 2 or 3 books, one could have been on Arsenal alone. I realise it isn’t his character to dish out the dirt but the book really was squeaky clean, and as a result, a little bit dull. It also… Read more »

Sid

Pierre is one of those upper management types that messed up and given the option of resigning ‘under mutual agreement’.
No way is he an actor, artist or musician.

Sid

Pierre is the antithesis to Tony

China1

Lol Sid

Pierre

Sid
“Pierre is the antithesis to Tony”

Thank you for the compliment..

Young Thai bride….slightly dodgy and embarrassing

Weight training and bragging of the size of his………gym. is a sign of a desperate man hanging on to his youth.

S Asoa

Wenger afiliados, afinados
That power hungry obsolescence was passe 5 -12 years back. The current warts can be removed ,but do you guys not see dense comments Wenger makes as soon as a vacancy crops up in a top Club ?
Wenger obsession with power will always make him undesirable

S Asoa

Pedro being roasted today. His mistake is keeping on turning up with retorts. That way gets baked crispy .
So listen. No point becoming a stick – in – the – mud like Valentin says Arteta is.

😀😂😂
Enjoying myself

Graham62

Chris

Agree.

Book was a borefest.

Graham62

From 2006 Arsenal FC lived off excuses. The Staduim. Financial restrictions. Chelski and MC. Refereeing conspiracies. Injuries to players. etc etc. It was just one excuse after the other. Agreed we had an excellent core of top players but we surrounded them with weak minded and make do players. Wenger never protected our technical magicians. Wenger could/should have acted on our frailties but he never did. Peak Cahill, peak Samba or peak Nzonzi are prime examples of what we could have had. Not surprising his book was so tame. What he considers to be important and interesting, is frustratingly unimportant… Read more »

Pierre

Graham

Out of interest…would you prefer to be watching Wenger’s football or Arteta/Emery’s football…

Football management is not quite as easy as it appears is it.

andy1886

Pierre, Ade, Nasri and Rosicky never played together, which team were you talking about? As Graham mentions we also had Almunia, Eboue, Denilson, Song and Gallas who I’m afraid were sub-standard or mentally weak.

We should have won the title in 2007/8 but Wenger declared in January that he was happy with the team and did not need to buy. We all know how that went. Downhill.

Sid

Had wenger not signed diet Pep(diet Xabi back then) we would not be here

Graham62

Pierre That’s not the point is it. What I do know is that Wenger and fans like you lived off excuses for over a decade. We had the resources and players but Wenger wasn’t prepared to adapt to all those things that changed the culture of the game. Yes the football could be exhilarating but more often than not, because he didn’t adapt, we failed when it really mattered. Are you telling me that players like Cahill/Samba/ Nzonzi would not have made a difference? Even you must have found it frustrating when all that great football went to waste. That’s… Read more »

Graham62

Oh that’s right, they left just for money.

Graham62

After Wenger we needed someone to come in and steady the ship.

That’s why I wanted Carlo Ancelotti.

Emery was not the answer.

As for Arteta, the jury is still out.

Herb'sArmy

Graham I understand where you’re coming from with Rangers, basically in the early 1900’s they saved us from extinction by buying some shares. A special bond was formed between the two clubs, and during the 1930’s when we ruled the waves, there were regular friendlies played at Highbury and Ibrox. To thank them for their generosity in our hour of need, we gave them a gift of a solid gold cannon. Arsenal has to be one of the strangest football stories ever, the club has had so many identities. The first incarnation from David Danskin and his fellow factory workers… Read more »

China1

Pierre is a 19 year old sex worker from Uzbekistan according to that guy i saw online once. Pierre say it ain’t so

Pierre

Andy
“Ade, Nasri and Rosicky never ayed together ”

They did, but that is irrelevant .

My point was that the football we played during the period after the invincibles was top quality and wenger built those sides and made a profit.

We would have competed for the league but heads were turned by clubs offering better wages…çesc the exception, i believe he would have stayed if wenger had kept that side together.

Cole
Ade
Nasri
Hleb
Toure
Cliche
Song
Rvp
Cesc

Gonsterous

Sid

I know who should be moved it not the one that got us Martinelli and Magalhaes
its the one that worked with Mari and thought Soares was a great addition, objected the sale of AMN then does not play him because of AMNs thoughts on Ozil.

Lmao, spitting truth here. Add in Willian and my man luiz for his extension though 😂😂

NORG

Pierre

In 2008 the AFC midfield were magnificent and the show was orchestrated by CESC. The dressing room was his and not Wengers. That was the problem. Cesc had planned to leave when he was 27 – that was his intention for years. I will not read Wengers book because the real stories do not appear in it.

Graham62

Pierre

Oops!

There you go again.

Yet another excuse.

We could argue all day long on this but, I think you’d agree, we have far more pressing issues to solve than look back at Wenger’s failings.

Namely, can Arteta adapt.

Gonsterous

Should have got cesc back from barca, picture him saying with a prime sanchez and ozil. That would have never got wenger the sack.

Sid

Pierre ‘Thank you for the compliment..Young Thai bride….slightly dodgy and embarrassing’

Everyone has their negatives, you are a slippery one. Theres a hint of spiv about you.

raptora

We didn’t bring back Cesc cause Ozil was like 1 year into his stay with us. Another reason to hate the Fortnite player. Cesc was going to be so much more important for us than this amoeba. I’m getting upset just thinking about it.

China1

A hint of spiv LOL

It’s also true that cesc with Sanchez and ozil would’ve done serious things

I don’t think Sanchez would’ve even left and his form wouldn’t have gone off as a cliff. Cesc begins ozil doing dirty work and dominating from deep would’ve been a game changer for us.

raptora

Really low of Pierre to say those things. I do not condone it.

Jamie

Pierre the snide attacking someone’s wife. Basement level commentary.

andy1886

Pierre: “Andy
“Ade, Nasri and Rosicky never played together ”They did, but that is irrelevant”

Actually you are wrong Pierre.

Nasri joined Arsenal in July 2008. Rosicky was injured for the entire 2008/9 season (played zero games) and Ade left Arsenal for City in July 2009.

So no, you’re wrong the three of them never played together.

As for Clichy the best thing about him was that he wasn’t Ashley Cole which is why AFC fans over rated him. Another error-prone player who was poor under pressure.

Graham62

Gael Clichy was in that list. Lol!!

Note Pierre, you also spell it Clichy not Cliche.

Sorry, I’m being pedantic.

China1

Don’t insult pierres commentary. Guy is classy as fook

67 year old guy who comes on here just to troll about ozil every day. Elite stuff

Herb'sArmy

Why am I still in moderation Pedro? I give up!

Jamie

Lewis Hamilton 7 times Formula 1 world champion. GOAT?

Chris

One football reason to be cheerful;

After this weekend, no more international breaks until March.

raptora

F1 is such a sport that drivers are never in equal terms. Because of it, you can never know with certainty who performed better than another. Car is probably more than half of the equation and Hamilton was lucky enough to drive for the team with consistently the best car in the competition for years running. When McLaren/Merdeces was shit Lewis could even make the podium of the year. It’s why I don’t watch F1 as much. Driver difference isn’t as big as car difference. I’d rather watch Tennis, Snooker, Golf, Boxing and obviously Football. In all of them skill… Read more »

Pierre

Jamie “Pierre the snide attacking someone’s wife. Basement level commentary” Raptora “Really low of Pierre to say those things. I do not condone” Sid “Everyone has their negatives, you are a slippery one. Theres a hint of spiv about you.” Double standards on here…..you all need to take a look at yourselves. This from Tony a few days ago and this is only the tip of the iceberg , smutty , schoolgirl humour at it’s best…with a derogatory mention of my wife for good measure. “TonyNovember 11, 2020 02:07:18 “pierre.. At least you have your monogramed, stained socks to keep… Read more »

Radio Raheem

Bravo Lewis.

I’ve got to agree with Rio, Lewis is the greatest ever British sportsman.

Bravo!

raptora

I mean if it’s between Andy fkin Murray and Lewis, then yes – Lewis by far.

Jamie

Raptora – For sure the car/team makes a huge difference to a driver’s success on the track. Hard to argue Hamilton isn’t a great driver, though. Bottas is nowhere near him and they drive the same car. Of all his former teammates, Fernando Alonso is the only one who comes close in terms of skill. For sure, all but 3 teams don’t have much of a chance of winning anything of note. But the same can be said for most team/league sports. A few dominant teams, but most of the others battle against themselves because they’ll never catch the big… Read more »

Graham62

Wonderful achievement by Lewis Hamilton.

Deserves all the accolades.

raptora

If we include red face Ferguson he wins it for me. By far the best manager in the EPL because of his adaptability and longevity. 2 UCLs too. I agree Manure were the refs team but he was still absolutely phenomenal for them.

Graham62

Jamie

Sorry, but he doesn’t need to win prove anything.

GOAT.

raptora

Jamie,
We know that teams have a #1 driver and #2. All the good stuff and the close decisions go in favor of the #1. Lewis is obviously a great driver, I just think that Mercedes’ domination in the last years has been disgusting. And that’s half the job done in motorsports.

Ishola70

Wenger is on Desert Island Discs next week.

That may be a bit more interesting rather than him talking complete football to see his taste in music.

The question would be can Wenger resist the temptation to be woke as we saw with Keir Starmer with his disc choice of Stormzy.

Mind you Wenger was woke a long time ago before it became politicised.

andy1886

Ishola, it’ll be another snooze fest for sure. Wenger stopped being interesting at least a decade ago (when he had that fling with the french rapper).

gunnerram

@Pedro
Over the last 2.5 years the biggest loss for Arsenal is just 1 thing – Identity. Whilst we previously moaned about finishing chances and conceding at the earliest oppty – we never had any complaints about out our superior style.

Now we only have a hope – punt the ball to Auba and hope he delivers.

Marc

I don’t understand some posters who seem to have this memory of Wenger’s latter years being some feats of amazing football that fell just short of glory.

We’d been on the slide for a long time.

SpanishDave

Wenger did manage to keep us in the top 4 each year, now we are further back than that.
We still have his players, on big wages and it’s a drag on the clubs finances.
What songs on desert Island Discs?

Marc

Dave

“Wenger did manage to keep us in the top 4 each year,”

Not quite – he missed out twice (not including his first season in charge) and was pushed out once it became clear he wasn’t going to make it that second season.

He did an amazing job after the stadium move in keeping us in the top 4 – strangely once he started spending more money is when it went to pot.

Kris

Pedro, “Biggest clue that the WOABs were right? Wenger still can’t get a job…” This is a fallacy you’ve repeated so many times now it’s really getting embarrassing. FYI. and I don’t know if you’ve heard of a country called France, but at least half the teams there would take Wenger as a coach. He’s that highly respected there still. Which means he either didn’t get offers for the top 4, 5 jobs there or like a typical addict who has finally gotten clean, he’s afraid of being immersed into his addictive managing world again. Seriously, man, if you think… Read more »

Sid

Lewis Hamilton formula 1 G.O.A.T.
Upnext fencing, dressage, figure skating

andy1886

Kris, shame you have zero evidence for that opinion. You have no information on what French or any other clubs may be looking for in a manager. Just opinion masquerading as fact. Pedro however is absolutely correct to say that Wenger hasn’t got a manager’s job since leaving Arsenal despite AKB’s claiming that top sides would be lining up to take him.

China1

You have to say for such a small nation, the Britain does phenomenally well at sports. Im not sure any country comes close for having so many elite competitors per capita across such a huge range of sports. Like after America and China (vastly larger populations) I suspect the UK is by far and away the most decorated nation across the full spectrum of sports. In the olympics we are competitive in a huge number of events and in non Olympic sports we have elite representation in the vast majority of sports outside of the American handful (basketball, baseball, NFL… Read more »

Marc

China

And yet with all that England is shit at football.

raptora

Russia and Germany are both far ahead of Britain. Double the amount of Olympic medals to be precise.
Russia is over twice Britain’s population which is a considerable amount, although not a gigantic difference, but Germany is a very comparable country. Far ahead of Britain in sport achievements in every way.

Marc

raptora

Yeah but we’ve got 2 World Wars!

Calypso

SpanishDave

We were a midtable team under Wenger who excelled in beating bottom teams which kept Arsenal in.the top 4

Marc

“We were a midtable team under Wenger who excelled in beating bottom teams which kept Arsenal in.the top 4”

Really stupid post. You get 3 points for a win and then they add all the points up.

Calypso

Marc

If it was a straight battle between Germany and Britsin, I think we’d know who would of won.

Calypso

Marc

Stupidity is your middle name,
Add up all the points Wenger accumulated against the teams in and around Arsenal plus the bottom sides and you’ll find more than enough points gained to earn a top 4 finish.

Marc

Calypso

Well the French surrendered 10 minutes in and the Yanks did join for over 2 years – Britain beat back the German invasion plan and was never under direct threat again.

If the US hasn’t have joined in we would’ve ended up suing for peace.

Marc

Calypso

Who were the teams that finished below Arsenal beating you moron? If they weren’t beating those same teams we were better than they were.

Calypso

Marc

You’re slow in mind.
Arsenal made top 4 through them being flat track bully masters
Now go and play with your toy .dolls.

Calypso

Marc

The Doviet Union won the War not the US

andy1886

Marc, suing for peace wasn’t an option, TBH the Russians would’ve kept the Germans occupied busy until Hitler was out of the equation (but 1945 he wasn’t a well bunny and was showing signs of dementia). Most likely the new Nazi leadership would have sought peace once they realised that they were in a stalemate.

So you could argue that the US helped win the war but the Germans were never likely to win after June 1941 regardless.

raptora

You just don’t invade Russia in the winter. People should have learned that hundreds of years ago.

Calypso

Germany fought on too many fronts to win the War.

grooveydaddy

Masters is tightening up…

DJ dropped two shots and only leads by one now.

Sid

Marc needs a Fraulein to keep him offline problem is he wont rise to the occassion

andy1886

Raptora, that certainly was the turning point. There’s also an argument that Stalin played a bit of a blinder ultimately even if the Russians were caught on the hop initially. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact from a Russian perspective guaranteed that the Germans would fight a war in Western Europe leaving the Russians the option to move in when the Western powers had fought themselves to a standstill and exhausted themselves. Of course it didn’t work that way as no-one thought that Hitler would be daft enough to fight a two-front war (overconfidence following successes in the previous two years). But the… Read more »

Tom

‘You just don’t invade Russia in the winter. People should have learned that hundreds of years ago.‘

raptora, Hitler didn’t invade Russia in the winter.

You just don’t invade Russia, period.
It’s impossible to conquer a nation with unlimited resources and total disregard for human life.

raptora

andy: “no-one thought that Hitler would be daft enough to fight a two-front war (overconfidence following successes in the previous two years)” That and the fact that Italy were a laughing stock and an unreliable partner. They lost in Africa and later in naval battles vs the British forces and they got annihilated and then when they tried to show they are not useless they even lost to Greece. If Germany had better allies, things might have been different. Anyway you spin it though, the attack on Pearl Harbor decided the war. If they were smart enough to not mess… Read more »

raptora

Anyway, new post.

wattsy

Watched the ladies this afternoon, nice to see that inability to score goals, and goalkeeping issues run right through the club

Sean+Mukiza

From a generational coach to a good young coach LMAO Pete. He got you excited with his all his PR.

MAXCAT

The past is deep..The future = Emma Hayes…..