Crisis usually brings you closer to the truth in football. When shit hits the fan, people on the inside leak out the dirty secrets. Players bitch to agents. Coaches whine to journalists. Directors call up Arabic ITKs to brief against their staff.
Arsenal right now is in a crisis worthy of leaks.
Everyone is second-guessing the process, the recruitment, the moves we took to rocket launch back to the top. It’s all on the table right now because we have a brand new team of fairly junior players trying to rebirth Arsenal.
The leadership at Arsenal has been fumbling for the last 4 years to get a footing on a club in freefall. The Kroenke’s rested on their laurels and didn’t recognize that Wenger was past it and that investing in a busted coach would eventually lead to a very steep decline. We’re still at the mercy of some of his decisions, the remnants of his signings still haunting the setup. Arsenal has tried a host of ways to reimagine the post-Wenger Arsenal and they’ve all failed. The latest iteration showed early signs of promise, but the half-baked approach to summer, because of financial constraints, has left the club in shite football purgatory.
We’re trying to cycle out the deadwood, bed in new first-team talent, blood youth, reinvent scouting, cull the wage bill, survive the pandemic, and work towards an exciting brand of The Arsenal Way football.
It was always going to be tough this season. There’s no stability anywhere. Even our BoD has swirled.
Stories are now swirling around relationship strains.
I told you way back when that rumblings would start to happen around Edu. Those started yesterday when Kike Marin said the two of them are not getting along. He indicated that the stronger candidate normally survives those battles, alluding to that being Edu… I think he’s way off base here.
Now, I don’t know that the two of them have had a falling out. I do know that there have been question marks over Edu since he arrived. Let’s be honest, he was a curveball hire when he took the job after Monchi said ‘no thanks.’ His actions since he’s arrived don’t speak to a man of independence. He was on the books of Kia and he happily ate the slop he was fed at great expense to Arsenal. He was the right-hand man of Raul and happily gave the technical credibility to some of the worst transfers of the last 5 years.
Two contracts for Luiz. A 4 year deal for Soares. Pablo Mari. Willian on a 3-year deal at 32. All of the super-agent variety. That can of course be partly countered by bringing in both Gabriel’s and Thomas Partey. But overall, the picture looks grim. Made even grimmer when Vinnai sat him in a garden and made him tell the world he was happy about being demoted to the same level as a rookie manager with less than a year under his belt.
Hardly a lot of leverage going on there if you’re talking performance.
Then factor in Arteta going to town on DAZN. He basically went public to assure the fans he’s not a football terrorist, he’s just working with a busted squad. His latest PR tactical masterclass was to tell the media he wants an attacking 4-3-3, but he’s SIX players away from that. Holy mother of Jesus… what a thing to drop a few days out from a North London Derby. Peak Mourinho, except when Jose eviscerates his players, he’s usually got a billion-dollar squad to keep him going until the cash flows.
Now, the flip side of that sort of carry-on could be that he knows KSE is going to invest in January, so he’s keeping us tuned into his thinking, namely 1) he knows the squad is shit 2) they are fixing things. Either way, it seems a huge risk to take with a mentally weak squad of players known for downing tools.
He’s not wrong though. Think about the things he can’t say publicly.
He has 6 or 7 players in the squad, that are senior, that are not being offered new deals, that will be gone next summer. How fast was creepy Keith from accounts processing your expenses when he handed in his notice? Imagine his slowball mentality in elite level sport. The players going are BIG personalities as well. Have you ever been at a company with directors that are toxic? They can bring you down man. Players that know they are shit and know that their next deals will be half what they earn now. Ouch.
Arteta had a shite midfield when he picked up the squad last season, but he got a turn out of them. This season, it became pretty apparent, pretty fast that Xhaka was taking a backseat in the new world. He knows there’s no future, now he’s bumming around in the midfield like he was in the bad days. You think that’s a coincidence? He’s not the main man. He’s not interested again.
Arteta also made two huge bets last summer. He invested £500k a week in Willian and Auba. Both have been utterly shite. Conte and half the Chelsea fans could have told you Willian was a waste of money. A fair few of us wondered about re-signing Auba. But that’s what Arteta and Edu thought was right and so far it looks, so, so wrong. The on-paper logic was there, but Arsenal history was NEVER favouring those deals working out.
I was once told that if you really, really pursue an objective, like, live and breathe it – when you finally achieve it – the win can really impact you negatively. You can go into a deep depression. I don’t know what the psychological term for it is, but you are basically mourning the loss of an objective like you’d mourn the loss of a pet dog. There are a LOT of players that play well for the deal, sign it, then go off into a funk. Auba looks like he’s there. He looks shot. Lost. Without purpose. It’s sad, but maybe that’s it? Bale. Adebayor. Theo (lololol).
Whatever is happening, it’s all going wrong for Arteta at precisely the wrong time. He’s never dealt with pressure like this and he has to find a way out. I’m not sure shitting on his squad / the way the club has done business was the correct approach. Excuses are not cool.
… but at least he’s confident that something will happen in January. I just hope it’s not Christian Eriksen. That’s not how you get back to the top. Signing the blonde-haired version of Ozil would be criminal. Edu should not be allowed to keep investing in past-it players that other clubs don’t want. If there was true leadership at Arsenal, someone would just say, ‘guys, no fucking way. Mikel, here are some elite young players, go do some generational coaching.’
Shooting for Champions League football with bum signings in Jan is sooooooo 2017. If we’re spending, we should be spending on players that have a future. Players that will hit peak in 3 years time. Then we’ll be left with a squad that can compete for years, not 1 year, then everyone leaves and we go back into the same cycle.
Arteta and Edu need to get back to basics. Elite young talent. Tell the fans we’re clearing out the shit players and we’re starting again. Don’t tempt us with top 4 dreams then inform us in November you thought HALF the starting 11 wasn’t up to it.
The ride just got a little bit rougher people. The honesty should have come in the summer. All this moment shows is there’s no one at the club truly leading. The glow of the FA Cup final win should not have allowed so many players back into the mixer. We should have binned the deadwood at the peak of their powers, not indulged one last job for the boys. We rode into this season on emotion, not data and facts. That’s not good enough. That is the type of nonsense fans engage in, not handsomely paid execs.
What. A. Mess.
The banter years were never gone, they just waited in the wings, as always.
How very fucking Arsenal.
See you in the comments.
Graham ****Doctors are, for the most part, incapable of understanding the prerequisites of top level sport.**** We have now seen this Doctor in action and working under pressure , and he seems like most of the decision makers at the club these days -bloody useless,. lacklustre ,timid and out of his depth. Thanks heavens, R. Jimenez is a Wolves player and not an AFC one- as we would have bandaged him up , given him smelling salts and demanded he continued to play on until half time. The club did breach the medical protocols too, they also allowed Luiz to… Read more »
1. No of mismanaged players – Ozil, Socrates, Willian, Guendouzi, AMN, Cedric, Bellarin, Laca, Pepe …. (add Partey and Aouar sagas) 2. What if we don’t win any tournament this year (quite a possibility with this form) and don’t end up in the top 7 (also quite a possibility – tough to be ahead of Manu, Wolves, Leicester, Everton…. and we can forget Spuds, City, Chelsea, L’pool) 3. Ozil was dropped from the EPL 27 member team on the 20th of October. Check Arsenal results right after that ….. just saying … coincidence vs correlation vs causation … (Karma ?… Read more »
Arteta: “Even when we were winning, we were a long, long way from what I want. When we’re losing you see things even further, but margins between where we were losing & winning have sometimes been really, really small. There are reasons for it & its going to take time, I’m sorry” Arteta: “For me, the dream I have with the love that I have for this club, is to achieve the level that this club deserves & build a project, believe me it takes time & this is not a month or 3 months. This is time & time… Read more »
TR7 far too much talking from Arteta, dunno why you are still hanging on words when actions have been all over the place. If the process demands Auba on the left then you keep him on the left no matter the protests from fans that’s conviction. Fabregas said it all, he is compromising. He gave an example with José and Viera, he says José is pragmatic and remains so no matter where he manages. Viera likes his teams to play and no matter what he demands they play even when results are bad. Arteta has spoken of the process but… Read more »
Tr7
The only part of that statement that caught my eye is “a lot of good decisions”.. When he begins to make lots of good decisions then “a lot of support” will automatically follow. Decision making is always our Achilles heel
Graham 62 As a matter of interest who do you suggest can lead us forward as Manager with the current squad of players? It is very easy to blame Arteta for all the ills of the club, but he has to work with the resources that are available to him. In the present situation that we find ourselves in I doubt that there are many top class managers who will wish to take on the job without a mass clear out and a sizeable transfer budget. Then again you don’t know whether Arteta if offered those resources would not be… Read more »
Aptly put receding, judging by his press conferences we are peak Barcelona while judging by what our eyes tell us were Stoke (no disrespect to stoke). He needs action not words
“Luiz concussion gate”
Love it.
Emirates
Every manger has to work with resources available to them nothing special about Artetas situation. There is no footballing paradise anywhere, managers build their footballing paradise.
If all it takes is resources for Arteta to be successful then he is just like any other manager. Nothing generational about that
Not sure anyone is saying the manger should be a miracle worker but he definitely should have us playing so much better than we currently are. We’ve not looked anything resembling a good team since the season started. No excuses whatsoever to be doing so badly at the moment
Emirates makes it sound like Arteta is managing a Burnley as has so much inferior resources that he’s currently over achieving as it is.
ES Ideally I would have taken Carlo Ancelotti. He would have been a perfect fit for us. Those that say he’s struggling at Everton have to realise the dynamics of the environment he is working in. Everton are way behind us in respect to infrastructure and resources. Our problem remains are owners and board. Ancelotti would have had the experience and know how to deal with this aspect of the operation. In the current market it is difficult to look beyond someone like Allegri. Pochettino is a good shout but I doubt he’d come to Arsenal. As for British managers… Read more »
Mainstream media beginning to question Arteta’s methods:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/12149740/is-arteta-right-about-arsenals-crossing
Another load of hot air and no substance I’m afraid.
Maybe we could get behind his ‘project’ if we actually knew what it was. Not so much short on detail as no detail whatsoever. The ‘vision’ is play 433? Wow, deep stuff, groundbreaking.
Come on Mikel, explain what your ‘vision’ actually is. So far it reminds me of when Wenger was asked what the ‘next level’ meant and he replied ‘the next level is the next level’.
Graham
****“Luiz concussion gate”*****
he has fractured Jimenez’ skull.
he has put Martinelli out for 10 months in training.
he has collected red card after red card.
he has given away penalty after penalty.
he has mugged the club off to the tune of millions.
he has a restaurant business with Willian
And our yet our ‘progressive’ and ‘generational’ manager thinks the sun shines out of his curly -haired Brazilian Arse!
What can you say…..except Arteta Out!
Anymore news on Kane possibly being out injured for Sunday or is it all mind games by Mourinho?
Graham 62
Since 2009 Ancelotti has had 6 jobs. He has managed to last no more than 2 seasons in all of them and recently just one season in last two.
This is hardly a recommendation.
Poch is just waiting for Ole to finally crash the bus. Apparently United have been talking to him for a while.
I agree with you Graham, if Arsenal are serious about their CL aspirations and suddenly the manager who has won it the most becomes available (pre Zidane and Ronaldo), why wouldn’t you?
He won the ‘Double’ in his first season at Chelsea and they scored over 100 goals in the PL.
Some seriously regressive decions made by non-footballing people with too much power at Arsenal.
GC
You missed a valuable point – If Arteta’s management career goes ‘tits up’ his friends will look after him by giving him a job as a waiter in their Restaurant.
In any business operation, the employer, by law, has to ensure the health and safety of all its employees. If an employee fell at work and smacked their head against a desk or wall and suffered similar injuries to Luiz, I guarantee that most doctors would advise that employee to take temporary rest/leave from their duties. Most if not all competent supervisors/bosses, would also arrange for that employee be driven home. At Arsenal though not only did our incompetent doctor give him the go ahead to continue, our manager allowed it to happen. Did Luiz actually drive home? Can’t believe… Read more »
Arteta reminds me of Gary neville. Talked a lot before his managerial role and then crashed with valencia, since then, no one has offered him a job and it looks like he’s going have a career as a pundit.
Caraghar is next, acts very knowledgeable in the studio, but what’s he going to do when his ideas aren’t working?
Arteta can go be a pundit in Spain. His ego won’t allow him to take a championship job.
What’s up with ellen page coming out and telling the world she’s a trans and we have to refer to her as Elliot from now on and call him a he. What’s the world coming to?
SuperGob
Who gives a shite what you think.
NORG
*****You missed a valuable point – If Arteta’s management career goes ‘tits up’ his friends will look after him by giving him a job as a waiter in their Restaurant.******
Emery and Arteta as waiters
Edu front of house
Vinny – restaurants accountant
Raul- upselling VIP
Then we would have found The Dopes their proper jobs and levels,
I am consistent: I think they are all bloody useless.
ALL THIS ON KSE though. They allow it to go and on and on and on.
As I posted on Monday Football should follow the same rules as Professional Rugby when
investigating head injuries and concussion.
The player should leave the field of play and be examined properly in Medical Centre and allow at least 10 minutes after examination before being allowed to return if receiving clearance.
In the meantime the team can replace him with a substitute.
If a coach cannot pick the best team of his squad, he will NEVER succeed. Arteta is an awful coach. Putting 8 players in the box, playing Auba left back does not mean good defending. Arteta is toilet. Why won’t you admit that? Meanwhile Emery 3rd in La Liga
‘Infamously, Moyes’ Manchester United team once lobbed over 81 crosses in a 2-2 draw against Fulham’
Lmfaoooooo
The medical protocol in respect to head injuries is flawed.
Luiz was unable/ unwilling to get into any heading/ physical duels on returning to the pitch, Why do you think that was?
He knew he was hurting and not just physically.
Arteta’s job was to access the incident not only from his own perspective but also from that of David Luiz’s.
Everyone, except our resident super slob, saw the consequences of letting Luiz return to the field of play.
Will just point out that our most accurate crosser of a ball is not even in the squad . Ozil js not a player who will just fling the ball into the box for the sake of it. He will look up, assess the situation and if the percentage is heavily in the opposition favour, he will keep possession of the football . The thing is , crossing the ball into a crowded box will more often than not lose you possession of the football and also leave the team open to the counter.. I said at the time ,… Read more »
When the obvious happens guardiola will be waiting to welcome back arteta with open arms and continue eating oil money and buying tons of defenders
Guardiola is the one who encourages his supposed proteges not to bother working your way up and gaining experience, believing that if you can communicate great ideas about your ‘project,’ you should not accept lower status jobs and should expect nothing less than to walk into a top club, despite having no track record.
You get the impression he’s speaking from a very privileged and unique situation that few others will benefit from.
andy
“Maybe we could get behind his ‘project’ if we actually knew what it was. ”
I’ve already told you it’s a secret – in fact it’s so secret that Arteta can’t tell the players what the plan is.
So now our highly trained doctors and medical staff are incompetent and the manager shouldn’t listen to them?
“So we ostracise Özil and let Ramsey go.
And now Arteta says we need mids who can score. Oh the hypocrisy. Not to say the incompetence.”
Ramsey had gone long before Arteta arrived but true, we miss that goal Özil scored last year.
The two players you referred to
The reason to take Luiz off was due to the fact that he was struggling to head the ball….he obviously wasn’t concussed.
We started the game with 2 good headers of a ball and a keeper that doesn’t come for crosses.
With Luiz injured , we had one good header of a ball and a keeper who doesn’t come for crosses..
SuperR
****Our doctor is now incompetent according to you graham? ****
I would not let Doc O’ Driscoll anywhere near me when it comes to my annual prostate examination, that’s for sure.
.
The Arsenal malaise has even struck him.
Luiz* has very good ground to sue the club.-if they are in breach of H&S protocols and ignoring basic ‘duty of care’ responsibilities.( no one knows – the long term damage he may suffer from – after being told to carry on playing)
* which would be the final insult.
“
Emery and Arteta as waiters
Edu front of house
Vinny – restaurants accountant
Raul- upselling VIP
“
Kolac the head bouncer
Ivan roaming amongst tables selling snake oil
“Kolac the head bouncer
Ivan roaming amongst tables selling snake oil”
Pedro would be a great option to market all their special sauce!
The funniest part of the Luiz head injury debacle was a few minutes after he was briefly knowcked unconscious, he grabbed the ball, to take a free kick. There’s no way Luiz was a 100% after that head-to- head collision, so severe that the other guy had a skull fracture. The scalp laceration made it impossible for him to head the ball. Graham62 is right and there’s no tip-toeing around this one; Arteta was wrong. There’s a medical decision to be made and then a footballing decision. Arteta was wrong on the footballing decision because there’s no way you can… Read more »
Andy
***Pedro would be a great option to market all their special sauce!****
(he sure would,)
I have just googled the name of Willian’s and Luiz ‘s restaurant in plush Mayfair, (its amazing that they even have the time to play for us) .
And I thought Arteta was building an ‘elite culture’ in and around at the club.
‘Babbo’
Obviously named after what their manager spouts every week.
Considering how much time our injured players take to recover compared to similar injured players of other clubs , would say our medical team is inept. Of course constitution plays a role , but on law of averages it might imply we do not manage to keep our players in good condition, . Shudder every time our team of quacks attempt surgery. Recovery process so often involves opening up again. These repeated interventions are a sign of incompetence and also lead to the players ending up diminished.
A defender, who is unable to head the ball because it was “painful and uncomfortable”, remains on the field of play for the entirety of the first half.
Priceless!!
Never mind about playing sport, what about applying basic common sense.
Arteta likes to use the phase “ footballing reason ” to reject a player. Everybody knows that heading the ball is one of the important task of a CB. Any good coach would not play a CB with the head bleeding badly.
BTW, we gave up the first goal because of a header. Who knows what would be the case if Holding was there.
Dissenter
Try explaining that to SuperRob.
Sarri linked now – no thanks.
Superob must be Xhakalson
Im telling you for free!
Dissenter is correct. Quite how a seriously injured player can be expected to play on and at anywhere near the level required. Marginal gains and all that, post collision Luiz must have been operating at about 70% of full tilt. Even his 100% is not outstanding. Arteta should have replaced for footballing reasons regardless of the flawed medial protocol.
Receding ‘TR7 far too much talking from Arteta, dunno why you are still hanging on words when actions have been all over the place.’ No I am not latching on to what he is saying. Rather I am surprised that someone who has played for Arsenal and been our captain is talking as if he were managing Man City. Arteta’s remit was to extract more from the team than what Emery did and here he is waiting for wholesale changes in our squad ( ‘a lot of good decisions and a lot of support’. ). Really he needs to focus… Read more »
What worries me about arteta is that he has tried to build a hard man /disciplinarian style, but he has now descended into lying, which dictatorshios have shown, denying reality is demotivating and eventually breaks them up. Dckaiming David Luiz came off for blood was a patent lie to avoid the question why did you leave a concussed man on the field. Getting completely outplayed and saying if we took our chances we would win, no pal, the numbers show you got wins before as auba was outrageous with his meagre chances. The averages have reverted and what was clear… Read more »
SuperRob, see my point above regarding why Arteta was wrong for footballing reasons.
Luiz was in no fit state physically or mentally to compete in elite sport following the incident.
If you can call what we are playing at the moment ‘Elite sport’
If you have your head stuck up someone’s ass deep enough then it’s impossible for you to form your own fact based opinions, mostly for lack of oxygen amongst other things. If you still think Leaving Luiz in after his head injury was a good call , even after seeing him loose the plot for their first goal, bleed through his bandages, and ultimately subbed out at half time as per his request, then you can’t be helped. I had the same sort of debate with a poster, an ardent Wenger supporter to this day, when Arsenal played Sheffield in… Read more »
Jesus TR7, that’s a far too reasoned and well structured point.
Oh OK TR7
I am at a loss what he hopes to achieve with some of the stuff he has been saying. If his aim is to motivate I doubt it will work and its a funny way of going about it, he has basically been repeating in different forms “my players are rubbish”. If that motivates them then fair play, I have my doubts though
Spudnik: “It took Liverpool 4 years to sort it’s shit out under Klopp and win CL and 5 to win the league. ”
Well, Klopp took over mid-season 15/16 and finished eighth just as Mikel did. Second season he finished 4th for a CL place, then 4th again the following season.
I think we’d settle for that.
Then of course he made the CL final in 17/18, won the CL in 2018/19, and won the PL last season.
If I were you I wouldn’t use Klopp as an example as to why we should be patient with MA.
Someone made a comment in jest that Arteta would’ve allowed Jimenez play on if he asked for it, but the funny thing is , football reasons only, that would’ve been better than having your CB stay in not 100% fit.
The further away a player plays from his own goal the bigger the chances you can take with his fitnesses if you play small margins ball.
SuperRob
Plenty of doctors on here nowadays. And even people who know the players state of mind.
You can just tell that so many on here have never played football at a decent level. Or any level for that matter.
Tom
Benacer was quoting that incident , wherein he a midfielder , who never played as a winger was pushed by Wenger in that unfortunate position. Naturally he did badly , and never again played for Arsenal and was ultimately sold. Benacer is a star with AC Milan .
Slightly better than Arteta having a look at Salina and banishing him into nowhere ( no matter the explanations after it proved an embarrassing management )
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-ac-milan-ismael-bennacer-23109461
SuperRob
You come across as a bit of a wanker.
Not for the first time on here.
I’m sure you know that anyway.
Gbat
Wrong but what’s that got to do with it?
After telling every Arsenal player that they are good enough to play for this club, that they have a future here and that he wants them to fight, he is now basically telling you are not good enough to play for this club, if I have my way, you would have no future here and the only fight I want you to have is the race to the door. Great motivational speech. If he does not think that there will be some blowback on him, he is seriously deluded and showing a complete lack of self awareness and comprehension of… Read more »
Gbat
****Plenty of doctors on here nowadays. And even people who know the players state of mind.***
No, we may or may not be doctors- buy we can read the newspapers.
And every day now , I am reading about ex players suffering from dementia – supposedly from heading the ball and not taking ‘concussion’ seriously.
I would not be surprised one jot- if litigation follows with the Luiz and Martinez collision of heads,
Arteta, AFC and Doc O’Drsicoll better be ready……if they have erred.
Jimezez
Receding Hairline When Arteta was an Arsenal player, there were rumors that he was a difficult person who didn’t fear to ruffle feathers. And he’s brought that into management. I think his stubbornness is his biggest problem and will probably be his undoing. He signed Gabriel, Partey, & Willian (3 starters) this season and is now asking for 6 players to play attacking 4-3-3. Is he stupid? Even Klopp wasn’t making that type of demand after a year at Liverpool. You make demands when you’re already getting the best out of your squad. Not when they’re all shit because of… Read more »
SuperRob
Don’t worry, I will.
Olumide funny enough it was Pedro who pointed out Arteta was seen as a difficult personality during his time as captain. I look forward to the Spurs game, I want to see how the players react to his utterances since the last game, and also how he sets up against Spurs. The FA cup is largely to blame for his arrogance and unwillingness to take any blame for our results and timid playing style, he won a trophy unexpectedly early and believes that bought him time. Is he right? Probably But our results in the league have been nothing but… Read more »
Wenger has declined another job – this time managing Serbia.
I don’t think he’ll take another managing job. Well, unless a top European club came for him which is not going to happen. Or perhaps when Deschamps leaves, he might be tempted to manage France.
Arsenal attempted 35 crosses against Wolves – the most in any game they have played under Mikel Arteta, but completed just three. pic.twitter.com/lnCE4Tg18u
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) November 30, 2020
________________________________________________________________
Arteta: ” I’m telling you if we do that more consistently, we’re going to score more goals.”
Albert Einstein::” The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
My advice: replace Laca with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, then we are doing to score more goals.
When do the new Brexit rules kick in? Jan trf mkt? How do you spell screwed?
Quit blaming Wenger…EVERYTHING at Arsenal has been worst since he packed his bags and left.
The worst that you can say about him is that he made it look easy. Now you are learning, like your old mom used to tell you, money does not grow on trees and you had better learn to make use of what you have and quit talking about what your friends have.
Why did Arteta pull Luiz off at halftime?
Was it for reasons related to the head injury?
If so, it was 50 mins too late because an inability to head the ball had contributed to us conceding goals.
One can make a case that hindsight is always perfect, maybe he did get it wrong in the moment…teachable moment but you just can’t review it and still insist it was done right. We shouldn’t repeat that nonsense again. We need to learn from it. IO hope Arteta is humle enough to learn from his mistakes
S Asoa, ha, I actually forgot who replaced Walcott in that game but I do remember the whole team struggled and Sheffield were really up for it.
It was one of those game where you could see from the off no Arsenal player really wanted to be there, so losing two important players to preventable injuries was a blow.
I’m glad Bennacer is doing well, I don’t follow Italian league too much.
Pick the bones out of that
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9000909/Roy-Keane-says-Arsenals-players-arent-good-Gunners-best-worst-players.html
This issue of also hiding behind Gary O’Driscoll. is also wrong. Field concussion testing isn’t infallible. The specificity and sensitivity of these tests vary widely, they miss a lot of concussions, especially mild to moderate [Grade 1 or 2] concussions. Even when combined with a good clinical history and survey of the injury situation ,they still miss a lot. Gary O’Driscoll didn’t hear that crack of head and he properly was too focused on Luiz o realize that the owner of the other head was unconscious for about one hour and sustained a cracked skull. I bet he too is… Read more »
*I hope Arteta is humble enough to learn from his mistakes
*Gary O’Driscoll didn’t hear that crack of head and he properly was too focused on Luiz o realize that the owner of the other head was so badly hurt that he would be unconscious for about one hour and sustain a cracked skull.
Bit of a double whammy for poor old Dwanford last night.
OGS gets spanked and Neymar[#gate] was excellent. Oh dear.
I really do not see why anyone is surprised that this is descending into a shit-show of epic proportions. Lets do a quick review of the ‘brain trust’: 1) Josh Kroenke – claim to fame: my Daddy owns the club, but I have actually fuck all experience in doing anything substantial 2) Vinnai – have done a couple of low key posts, but now I find myself CEO of a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Fuck me, how did that happen? 3) Edu – I was a decent CM and did some part-time work for the Brazilian national team, but have zero… Read more »
Receding Hairline Look forward to the weekend. — I agree that the FA Cup came too early for him. Maybe the way Arsenal fans hyped the FA Cup win went into his head. Honestly, the weekend game could get ugly. I will be very surprised if Arsenal played a balanced and attacking game against Spurs. I mean, first, he threw Pepe under the bus. Then he threw all of them. You can’t ask these same players to go to war for you after that. When you see a player like Tierney look frustrated for 2 straight games, it’s a bad… Read more »
In the last 2 years, since the introduction of playing out of the back, most keepers around the world have been gifting goals to the opposition. Goes it show, not every team can do it. We have given a ton of goals through mistakes of our GK and CBs.
The sooner we scrap playing out the back, the better. Get the whole team playing higher up the pitch.
Dissenter
*****this issue of also hiding behind Gary O’Driscoll. is also wrong.****
Nonsense.
He is the bloody doctor,
Its his job is to protect and demand the player come off the pitch immediately.
(they normally wave the hands frantically and make the sign they can’t continue.
Well other clubs Docs and Gary Lewin used to,)
Doc O’ Driscoll froze and is definitely more culpable than Arteta.
100% Doc
75% Arteta on this debacle.
Arteta is clearly out of his depth but his doc and Edu sure do not help him!
Someone is morbidly obsessed with Bamford or just seeking cheap validation.
Has he been sacked yet?
CG
No one is infallible, not even the best doctors
That said, there’s a process of review or audit after a big decision like that is made.
My point, is knowing what we know now we can’t look back and still say it was the right decision.
For tonight’s game, this is how I see it playing out… If RV are smart, they will have studied the vids, and will adopt a defensive, counter-attacking approach. This means packed, organised trench lines which our plucky chaps will have to storm whilst being aware of the howitzers and charges into no-man’s land from their infantry runners. Luckily for us, we have General Arteta screaming micro-instructions from the side-line at each play. For some strange reason, most of the instructions seem to start ‘Eddie, Eddie!’ … perhaps it is too Nketiah, or perhaps he thinks everyone’s first name is Eddie.… Read more »
The process of getting sacked takes time
Dis
*****CG No one is infallible, not even the best doctors****
You stated , that the doctor DID not hear that crack,
EVERYONE heard that crack. I doubt they will ever forget it.
(The Wolves player is still in hospital.)
Have we now got a deaf doctor then to add all our other problems?
When Arsenal finally get around to culling the idiots that seem to be everywhere at the club.
We must not forget – we need a new Doctor too.
I personally dont mind him calling out a squad that is sitting in 14th. Thats just what you do when youre in charge of the squad
No one expected goals to be an issue after keeping laca and auba but here we are and ive always thought laca was french league garbage
Arsenal predicted starting XI: Runarsson; Cedric, Mustafi, Holding, Maitland-Niles; Xhaka, Elneny; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Nelson; Lacazette. Plus 5 goalkeepers on the bench! You never know some of them might be better outfield players!
Err pretty sure saka & auba aren’t playing tonight…
Dissenter works in healthcare, figure that one out.
AussieGooner
Shut up and respect the ‘process”
Did a kangaroo kick you in the wrong place?
CC
Oh yes, because field side concussion tests are always accurate. What exactly is your point, if you have any.
In American professional sports, they have to pull out the athlete and combine at least three types of concussion screenings to maximize the screening …and even then they still miss a good deal of concussions
We are talking about a sport where the doctor is time pressured with no opportunity for a temp sub so spare me your condescension.
Why don’t you come back at me with some real facts.
Faber ****Lets do a quick review of the ‘brain trust’: 1) Josh Kroenke – claim to fame: my Daddy owns the club, but I have actually fuck all experience in doing anything substantial 2) Vinnai – have done a couple of low key posts, but now I find myself CEO of a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Fuck me, how did that happen? 3) Edu – I was a decent CM and did some part-time work for the Brazilian national team, but have zero track record of actually finding, nurturing talent tbh 4) Arteta – Everyone says I am a great coach… Read more »
Dissenter Bemoaning the scope offered in football for concussion testing isn’t a relevant argument. If you want to echo Arteta in saying that we could improve protocols to offer greater protection to the players then by all means, I’d agree. But you’re attacking Gary O’Driscoll for abiding by the current rulings and dishonestly laying blame at his feet, and at Arteta’s. There’s no blame for anyone because the matter was dealt with entirely how you’d look to do so within the confines of the current rules. There was no concussion. The issue was soft tissue, and only Luiz could’ve provided… Read more »
Dissenter
I would love to be able to respect the ‘process’ if only I understood what the ‘process’ was! I am afraid that the Saucey One has lost me with that one! It is blindingly obvious that there is little ‘process’ in our current game play!
“or just seeking cheap validation”
You back in June:
“I get a lot right as well.”
Stonks.
I was watching the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra and half way through the bloke on the triangle disppareared!!!!
Bit like our attack
CC Did you even read the conversation I had with CG I was referring to a retrospective review of what happened on the field It may be understandable if things were missed on the field because football is behind the curve. The footballing decision was wrong, because those soft tissue injures you mentioned made it had for the central defender to head the ball. Going back to this idea that it was only a soft tissue injury…c’mon Charlie. You’re better that this. Knowing what you know about the incident, with the benefit of hindsight, do you still insist that it… Read more »
andy: “Sarri linked now – no thanks.”
Scared me for a second there. Thought about Jean Michael Seri, the £27m Fulham flop.
How do the French clubs do it?
Pepe 72m, Lemar 65m, Lacazette £50m, Malcom 37m, Bakayoko 36m, Kondogbia 33m, Gelson Martins 27m, Seri 27m.
A lot of dough for questionable talent. How do they do it?
Seri and Lemina made Arsenal fans wet at a point. Both turned out average players, Seri is available but not registered in Fulham’s squad, while Lemina is part time playing in Fulham. Hindsight is a beautiful thing.