Arsenal strategy speaks to a club that doesn’t like hard work (long read)

by .

Well, here we are my darlings, another day of planning our way out of this mess. This will be a joy-scroll, buckle up, it’ll be fun.

So, let’s get the bad news out of the way. It’s not good times on the injury front for Thomas Partey. If he’s fucked the same thing he fucked before, he’s going to be out of contention for maybe 8 weeks. That would be a huge blow to the project. You can understand why Mikel and his team took the chance. A willing player and a shit situation, but the reality is, they took a huge risk on a game we weren’t likely to win. Short term thinking to save a sinking season. Now the ship is sunk, then gamble looks a poor one.

The shame is that Gabriel M will be back early. He safely passed through 45 minutes of football and he’s well on his way to the first team. A huge moment for the team. He is the exact profile of player you want to see Arsenal stock up on going forward. He’s young, he’s hungry, he’s terrifying because he works like a dog, he wants to grow with the team.

As we move into December, Mikel Arteta needs to reshape the way he operates. He needs to bin the players who let him down, even if they’re the good guys behind the scenes. The fragility in this squad is both attitude, and sadly, functional purpose to the system.

Thomas Partey exiting the starting 11 should not be another opportunity for players that have been given countless chances under countless managers. It’s time to try something new.

The most obvious candidate for a run in the side is Ainsley Maitland-Niles. I can not longer tolerate the idea that he isn’t the correct choice for our midfield. I have seen the others fail, I know what the best is with them, it’s time to give someone a career here and coach the bad bits out.

Ainsley has the correct athletic profile. We’ve seen him pocket Traore. We’ve seen him control City attackers. When he is on, he is something we don’t have in the squad at Arsenal. He’s mobile, he’s dynamic, he has an underrated passing range and he should be developed.

The mistakes Arteta has made are clear. He wanted to shortcut to the Champions League and he made bum decisions that should have been rectified by a strong Technical Director. David Luiz, Auba, and Willian were not good decisions. Thinking he could take a squad where the senior players were either dreaming of their retirement or Bosman signings was fanciful.

The first stage of rectifying bad phase in the workplace is to identify the biggest problems you have. I don’t think Mikel has looked at himself, I don’t think he has people in his staff that are correcting him, but if he wants to escape this moment, it’s time to admit where it’s going wrong.

If you put 100 problems up on a wall at Arsenal and found the core patterns, you’d land on:

  • Senior players letting the club down because they don’t give a fuck on and off the pitch. Auba is in the mixer I’m afraid.
  • The wrong talent profile of players to operate a coherrant system so it’s functional
  • Young players not ready to hit the heights of the ambition the club promised in the summer

Now, clearly it’s an oversimplification, but I write a blog, I don’t run corporate workshops of beleaguered football clubs.

But solve those three problems and you steady the fanbase, you show true leadership by admitting your vision wasn’t right, and you give people a taste of where things are going in a lower pressure environment.

The young players aren’t ready.

That’s a major problem if you are kidding the world Arsenal will be more than a midtable side this season. If Arteta starts dealing in truth, namely, the squad he enabled for another season is not fit for purpose, we can move forward.

If he sets out a new plan, one that works to his strengths, the fans might buy it. Arteta is a great coach, he will work better with kids than senior players who don’t care for developing, so focus on the kids.

At this point, most of us would be over the moon if we shifted to a Hale-Enders project. Fuck the players that never change. Give me a kid that sees Arsenal as the biggest opportunity in their world. Fuck the players thinking about their retirement fund and unauthorised weekends away with Salt Bae. Fuck the player that think they are too good for Europa. We are tired of those that think their seniority and past achievements mean they don’t have to hit the required level.

Being honest gives Arteta permission to play the system he wants to play. Will it make top 4? No. Will we get spanked occasionally? Yes. Will there be days when we turn it on and everyone salivates? Absolutely. The mission here is to show the fans where the football could go when we bring in more quality players that can do the things required.

The Hale-Enders aren’t perfect, but they sure as hell give more of a shit than the preferred starting 11 on offer now. You think Balogun is going to fuck his chance to be a big player? You think ESR would be static when a midfielder breaks the lines from deep? You think Reiss Nelson isn’t going to bleed to be a part of Arsenal’s future?

I have consistently written about Arsenal not being honest about their situation over the years. We have constantly let our ‘rep’ get in the way of the rebuild. In messy business rebuild, you have to go to the bottom to build back up. The foundations need to be set properly. You need good process. Then you build the right talent density to move things up a level. You get some things right, some wrong, but if the mission is clear, your rectify mistakes early and move incrementally forward on a quarterly basis

Arsenal has been unwilling to do the hard work. So many of our decisions are half baked. Ivan goes? Give the job to two unqualified people. Sven Mislintat quits because he was horrified by the antics of a horror show of a Football Director. What do we do? We let that soiled director carry on and replace scouting expertise with a coterie of shite super agents. We then hire a Technical Director that arrived via a super agent. Hire an inexperienced manager, watch him do some great work, then PROMOTE HIM almost immediately to a manager on the same level as the Technical Director people don’t rate.

Wow… the banter of that paragraph was intense.

Arsenal do not like hard work. They do not like a plan. They cannot be honest about the path forward being hard, so they shortcut it over and over. The hardest thing to do in football is to admit to fans that things are going to be shit for a bit, to show patience, and commit to something that makes sense.

We should be re-upping Project Youth. Imagine that team with the spine we have now? We’d be a top 3 side.

Arsenal should move to a Dortmund+ model. Come to Arsenal, give us 3 seasons, we’ll give you game time at the best stadium in London, and we’ll make you famous. Then you can fuck off for £100m.

Sign athletes. Sign players that care more about self-improvement than money (Balogun is agitating for game time, not £90k a week). Sign players with high ceilings. Make Arsenal a destination for progressive football.

I would buy that vision. You would buy that vision. It’d be exciting. It’d allow us to get back to an identity. It’d bring in a new fanbase. It would mean when we do make the Champions League, we’d actually have a squad that could compete for it, not disintegrate because they were injecting themselves with horse placenta to make it to the team bus.

Strong leadership is needed to admit that what is going on right now is not taking us the promised land. We need a new direction. Tough decisions need to be made around staffing, players, and the hard work ahead. The only way Arteta gets back on track is to do something different. He fucked the summer, his ambitions were too big for his belly, his idea has no chance of success, he has to change that now and craft a path forward and save his career.

Time to roll up the sleeves. He can do it. Does he have the cajones to? Jury is out…

LISTEN TO OUR NEW PODCAST. Matt and I talk about the root cause of our issues. Leadership, hard work, and lack of strategy… still. We also talk some positives as well.

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Berg10kamp

I get that point China. But we need to build and the league Cup and fa cup are enough for one season of rebuilding. We will have a better chance of building a team that can challenge in a few years if we have one less competition to worry about. We will attract better players once we have built with what we have and actually know what we need. We have a decent young group of players and one season without Europe to develop them will be beneficial. But to each his own.

Berg10kamp

JP I would sell Auba in Jan. He looks like he doesnt want to be there. No drive

South African Gooner

Andy

*****Apart from which MA isn’t even doing that, Willian looks about as vigorous as an arthritic slug! And I’ve seen embalmed corpses move more quickly than Xhaka.*****

Burnley have had a week off, they will be sniffing blood. Dyche will want to show Arteta how real shithousing is done.

Arsenal will be in Dundalk. These crosses we keep doing might come in handy there.

salparadisenyc

Rambo was quite good last night, moved the ball really well in the final third made some great runs and nearly scored a blinder with Ter Stegan making a great diving save.

Exactly what we lack.

bacaryisgod

Just looked at the next manager odds. Some quick thoughts: 1) Of all the former Arsenal players listed, I would honestly take Sol Campbell over Vieira, Henry and Ljungberg 2) Of the Italian managers listed, I would take Gasperini over Allegri and Sarri, 3) Of the German managers listed, I would take Rose over Tuchel and Nagelsmann 4) The following are pipedreams-they are not coming: Rodgers, Pochettino, Simeone 5) Thanks, but no thanks category: Roberto Martinez, Eddie Howe and Arsene Wenger That just leaves Rafa of those I see odds posted for: Let’s throw him onto the shortlist with Rose,… Read more »

Guns of SF

Once Auba starts scoring again, I think the net effect is the team will feel better.
Right now, no one knows who will score or how to score.

We are dependent on one person mostly scoring our goals.

Moving forward, getting mids that can assist and score is imperative- for the 1938982304823x time…

I hope we get 2 of them in Jan.

Berg10kamp

Were those kane moves not penalised as fouls before? I mean if u challenge for the ball and your opponent does not but just nfl tackles u it should be a foul. Absolute crap

Berg10kamp

Wenger in!!!

WengerEagle

Sol Campbell???! Over Vieira, really? Based on what? At least Vieira has had some success managing a top level club even if his Nice stint ended badly.

I also like Rose but Nagelsmann has a far stronger body of work and is the more innovative and dynamic option of the two imo.

Le Sauce

Andy No matter how we try to adjust the narrative Arteta would soon be out the door unless he pulls a rabbit out of the hat. We don’t want nice speeches and ideas without seeing it on the field of play and daily running of the club. Arteta keeps talking about the process and its looking increasingly likely that the end result of this process would be a sack letter on his desk. Playing the kids isn’t the problem, what system are we gonna be playing them in?.. Are we gonna play them to their strengths? Would he get martinelli… Read more »

zacharse

being out of EL is DEFINITELY GOOD for AFC. a game every 3 days (with a squad that we all know isn’t good enough regardless of who blames who for it) leaves no time to train. work on offensive movement. bell can use that extra time to finally learn how to take a throw in. Worried about what kind of players AFC have been attracting? Worried that Arteta cant attract worthy quality? Then you shouldnt be worried about AFC dropping out of europe. Theres really no quicker route to xhaka and laca leaving. It is on them after all, especially… Read more »

salparadisenyc

Of all the managers on that list Bacary, Gasperini is the one i’d be the most interested in seeing what he’d do with this side, followed by Nagelsmann.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

Wasn’t Landon Donovan involved with something along those lines where a player broke his neck?

I wonder how other players can watch Kane do something like that and not crack him in the face for it?

bacaryisgod

WengerEagle- I can’t support my Sol preference with anything other than negative gut instinct about Vieira, Henty or Freddie managing us. Sol would be such an insane choice that it might actually work. I think he’s actually a little smarter than the other three, tbh. Of course, I don’t think any of them should be the next manager.

My personal choice would be Gasperini but only if we can be certain of avoiding communication problems. Get him on Duolingo now 🙂 That’s why Rodgers would still probably be the most logical choice.

EdTheRed

We lose crucial relegation six-pointer against Burnley, and Arteta will have to go.

News I’ve received from Italian Gooners is that Arsenal have approached Sari. Make of it what you want.

Up 4 grabs now

Sol is an intelligent guy, whose cut his teeth in the lower leagues.
as left field ideas go its out there, but sometimes they work.

when Wenger left i wanted don carlo but i wanted paddy V if we were going the young manager route.
i honestly think if we said to paddy come to arsenal for the rest of the season and show us what you can do, he would go for it.

cant do any worse, hell id register him to play again in January hes still faster than xhaka!

bacaryisgod

I would put my house on Arsenal not having approached any manager at this point.

Upstate Gooner

RockyRoeDecember 9, 2020 10:03:51

Do yourselves a favor, and read that post. Bravo!

bacaryisgod

Besides, we would be Sarri’s 21st club and his 8th since 2010!

Zfree

Pedro has spent a lot of time lately slating then squad. This squad was apparently easily capable of top 4 under Emery but Emery bottled it. There was plenty of hope about what this squad could be when Mikel came in. So what is it? I think the squad has always been at the core of the problem over the past years, plenty of that can and should be placed at the feet of Wenger, Gazidis, and more recently others. But Mikel has this squad greatly underperforming and probably shouldn’t get more than another month in charge if the results… Read more »

englandsbest

Andy 1886

You’d be hard put to find anything as unpredictable as football. As for your job, if you’ve been there three years, you’ve outlasted most football managers.

I am sure Arteta arrived with a plan, But it’s long-term, and far too soon to expect much.

Guns of SF

are we actually feeling the loss of Rambo and Iwobi and Mikki?
honestly, our mids are woeful, and not much better than these three. Bar Saka

The lack of a true 8 is killing us

WengerEagle

Jim Lahey

Kane is the English media darling that can do no wrong. World class CF, captain and to be fair seems a model pro off the pitch but he’s a cheating piece of shit between the diving and ‘tunneling’.

If it were anyone foreign they would be getting massacred. Can you imagine Gabriel pulling the same trick on Kane and him suffering a spinal fracture from the fall?

Same way they won’t call out Grealish’s diving. Or Dele Alli’s.

Receding Hairline

Arteta’s plan is simple and straight forward, he wants to buy himself to success Give experienced heads the best salaries and hope they pull something out from his limited game plans. Look out the amounts dolled out so far to Partey (i am still very much against what we offered him), Auba and Willian. Don’t even knw why he signed Soares cos he clearly does not rate him yet he is here for four years. Still waiting to see what Mari brings that’s different but i bet his salary took a major bum when he signed that deal. He isn’t… Read more »

Zfree

Receding

Are you feeling hopeful? I am not

Paulinho

are we actually feeling the loss of Rambo ”

Well I only warned we would screwed without him for at least two years about twenty times;) It’s all well and good saying the only problem was not replacing him, but the actual replacing bit is harder than the realising you need to replace him. Although people were fine with not replacing him until he played there for that spell, then all of a sudden a goal-scoring central midfielder became important.

Saka is nowhere near him ffs.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

I remember Alan Shearer getting away with kicking Neil Lennon in the face as he was England captain at the time!

raptora

The only young player Arteta that has progressed under is Saka but one could argue Saka was going to progress regardless of Arteta. Emery gave Bukayo his debut in 2018/19 and in 2019/20 he was starting games in the EPL under Emery. Arteta rightfully kept playing him. Re the other three top class prospects we have Arteta: – benched Martinelli – booted Guendouzi out – sent Saliba to the 2nd team. The other young players we have: – Maitland Niles played more minutes under Emery than under Arteta and this season has not even made matchday squads. It’s true he… Read more »

WengerEagle

BIG Never liked Big Sol off the pitch, always comes across as being incredibly arrogant and lacking in self awareness, two horrible traits for a manager. He’s intelligent sure but I don’t see him as being a great motivator of people. Too self-absorbed. Some very interesting murmurings coming out of Bergamo about Gasperini possibly resigning after the match tonight at Ajax. Apparently had a big dressing room fallout with Papu Gomez/Ilicic and has gone for the nuclear option. Guy makes Conte look like a choir boy in his demands of the players and harsh training routines. I agree though, he… Read more »

Zfree

I think there’s basically a top 3

Then a second tier with spurs, United, Leicester, Everton, arsenal, and a handful of other clubs competing well at whatever moment (Southampton Wolves and West Ham for example).

Anyway, if anyone still thinks there’s some stark separation between a “Big 6” and the rest, we’re not one of the six. Arsenal firmly in the camp of the rest.

WengerEagle

Jim

Wasn’t Keano’s biggest fan for obvious reasons but I sure did love when he twatted Bald Al’.

Ernest Reed

You will know unequivocally that Arsenal have completely lost all sense of reality when, wait for it, they actually consider bringing back Arsene Wenger to manage and worse, they act on that consideration.

For those of you even considering such a thing, slap your heads hard…now your being just damn idiots!

Zfree

Raptors

Spot on with your above post re Mikel not developing the youth

salparadisenyc

Eagle

Thought it was impossible for an Irishmen to not bend the knee to Keano?
Even if he fucked the National side.

Ernest Reed

It is rather puzzling Raptora, Arteta’s reluctance to start youth players in EPL matches. Given the abject performances of the clubs senior players, it asks far too many questions that otherwise should not have to be asked, let alone answered. Arteta has pretty much blown the season but good, so play the kids!

WengerEagle

Sal

Meh, wasn’t even too bothered about the whole Saipan fiasco.

More the fact that he was as Manc a twat as you could get back in the days when we were actually rivals. Grew up a Spurs fan too so he absolutely despised us.

Could care less about the Irish NT. Always Arsenal >>>>>>>.

Do like him as a pundit though. Man is a walking soundbite.

Ernest Reed

WOAB, thats a damn tragic statement. Thought provoking for certain, well articulated.

Receding Hairline

“Are you feeling hopeful?”

That we will do anything of note this season? Not really

salparadisenyc

“More the fact that he was as Manc a twat as you could get back in the days when we were actually rivals. Grew up a Spurs fan too so he absolutely despised us.”

Now thats a proper G people.

Receding Hairline

Pablo Mari: “I go with Mikel until the end of the world. He just needs time. Soccer is not always rosy. I am happy because, despite the situation, we are united.”

One of those players “forced” upon Mikel Arteta

Dissenter

“I am sure Arteta arrived with a plan, But it’s long-term, and far too soon to expect much.”

Mike Tyson; “Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth”

He has a 0% record of successfully executing a plan anywhere on the planet but you want to hang your hat on that plan.

Tom

I’m gonna channel my inner Pedro here and say, as clueless as Arteta and his players have been, we win against Burnley and Saints ( I know , I know) and we are back mid table and looking in. This will be a topsy- turvy season throughout and stranger things have happened before than a lousy team finding a bit of form and/or luck and going on a bit of a run. This isn’t to say I have any faith in Arteta long term but rather that making a managerial change this time around should be done even with more… Read more »

WengerEagle

Sal

Keane, Scholes (little sly hacking ginger fucker) and Evra were easily my most hated United players.

Ernest Reed

The more you would like to believe that Arteta is ridding the club of its Country Club atmosphere, the more you realize that its only getting worse.

I remain hopeful and patient that Arteta can turn things around, but my patience is not unlimited. Its time to begin turning the corner and he can start by not putting out the same lineup that clearly is not working, week in and week out.

Receding Hairline

Robert Pires on Arsenal: “I don’t understand why the club doesn’t rely on former players. I volunteered for a job at Arsenal & they told me that they were not interested.”

This guy has not had the PR Arteta did, Mikel Arteta cultivated the media so well and built up a reputation based on nothing but stories, stories he lived alone and had tactical diagrams covering his wall. stories he was responsible for the attacking play of Sterling and Sane at City, stories and stories

Dissenter

Receding
Mikel has his faction in the camp to keep everyone else in line.
He’s signed his onw players for sure but don’t say that too loud.

salparadisenyc

Eagle

Have to include RVN to that list, what an utter cunt he was.

WengerEagle

Rooney too but more because he used to molest us every time we played them.

Even when he went on one of his long goal droughts, the Granny shagger always snapped out of it as soon as he played us.

Ernest Reed

And before anyone again mentions that Arteta must be doing a good job because he won an FA Cup, Roberto Martinez won said cup with Wigan. Let that sink in for a while…

Receding Hairline

Tom i am not advocating an immediate change either, there is still all to play for this season so it was rather shocking Pedro suggesting we write off the season in December for Arteta is start his rebuild. There are enough bad teams in this league for us to go on a run if we sought ourselves out. Personally for me Arteta gets the rest of the season, then those making the decisions need to ask themselves if what they saw merits further investment We stupidly went down this unexperienced coach route based on nothing but strategically placed media stories,… Read more »

Paulinho

Rooney could occupy and destroy our entire back line by himself. Monster of a footballer at his best. They could put any old hack in midfield against us and it wouldn’t matter if he was up top.

Receding Hairline

*There are enough bad teams in this league for us to go on a run if we sort ourselves out.

salparadisenyc

Surely when big Weng awakes in the weird late hours its Rooney, Drogba and Mourinho that do the most damage.

They certainly haunt me.

Kaz

If we don’t get 3 points against Burnley, he has to he sacked. They’re absolutely shit right now.

He should already be sacked in all honesty.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City wouldn’t have kept someone taking them this low and playing so poorly.

Don’t even think Man Utd would.

Why should we? Absolutely pathetic.

Receding Hairline

Paulinho was is your overall take so far on Arteta

I remember you said during his appointment and sleek press conferences that he will soon realize that what he wants and what he will get will be very different

Ernest Reed

“*There are enough bad teams in this league for us to go on a run if we sort ourselves out.”

They cant play themselves, that would have produced some much needed points.

Pierre

Give me saka any day of the week over Ramsey. At the age of 19, he already has a much more mature football brain than Ramsey will ever have and, unlike Ramsey, is a team player. Ramsey is a decent player and yes we could do with him or similar at this present time, i put him in the Ozil category in that we haven’t replaced either of them as we are missing what they potentially could bring to the team …..creativity. Until we bring in sufficient quality or promote from the academy then fans will continue to compare Ramsey… Read more »

Paulinho

“There are enough bad teams in this league for us to go on a run if we sought ourselves out.” I just can’t see it happening. People were saying if we beat Spurs last week it could kickstart our season, but we have nothing to kickstart. The next week comes around and we have the same old systemic issues against a team licking their lips the prospect of taking us on, at least at home. The big U-shape we have waiting to be exploited time and time again through the middle defensively, and which leaves us totally predictable going forward,… Read more »

Receding Hairline

Walk by faith, not by sight. Folded handsSoccer ball
@Arsenal

Eddie Nketiah on twitter

We are now a religion not a sports club

Apparently Saliba had a good game yesterday even though he got a red. The report said he’s looking like a decent buy. Makes it even more strange that Arteta can’t find a place for him. Is he still our manager? Hasn’t the Spanish inspector Clousea been sacked yet? Then again with dumb and dumber running things, josh and edu , I’m not surprised he’s still in the job.

Ernest Reed

I am all for giving Arteta time, but how much longer does anyone want to realize that he’s basically bereft of any offensive nous? He can lock that defence down tight, but if all you can do is hope to poach a goal every now and then, thats going to be a tough sell even on the best of days.

I would suggest bringing in an offensive coach that specializes in the discipline?. Its obvious that the current setup has no awareness.

Receding Hairline

Paulinho if we fail to beat Burnley this weekend all bets are off

Paulinho

Receding – Yep, I said he can talk all he wants but unless we nail player recruitment then it’s all hot air. When/If we do bring in the right player he will get a lot of unwarranted praise when it’s simply player personnel making him look good. He’s at fault for not seeing the flaws though and not acting decisively and being more interested in zoom-charming irrelevant players to stay.

Ernest Reed

“Walk by faith, not by sight”

Translation: We don’t have a clue on how to sort this out!

Paulinho

Pierre – Saka is decent player with a good head on his shoulders. That’s it. He still plays in a straight line for the most part.and needs others to play him into space. He is nowhere near good enough to play as a foward either. Can’t turn in tight spaces, and ends up retreating to a point where he gets in Tierney’s way.

Tom

RH
I wouldn’t necessarily make any proclamations Arteta has till May to prove himself. That would depend on whether the players give up on him or not.
My guess is that they don’t, for the simple reason that he will continue to rely on his old and faithful, the ones he either signed or extended to huge deals.
Nothing buys loyalty like $$$$$ no matter how muddy and unattractive the “ process “ might be.

Pierre

Ern “And before anyone again mentions that Arteta must be doing a good job because he won an FA Cup, Roberto Martinez won said cup with Wigan. Let that sink in for a while” Old Etonians won the fa cup a couple of times but that shouldn’t diminish the achievement of winning it now.. Winning the FA cup was a fantastic achievement for Arteta in his first season, including beating city and chelsea . Many very good managers can go through their whole career without winning a trophy. Martinez is actually a very good manager and he did wonders at… Read more »

Marc

All I can say is it’s a really good job eb isn’t responsible for ST sales – we’d be bust 15 minutes after they went on sale.

Ernest Reed

Pierre, “on any given day” is the point. If the schedule works to your favour and Lady Luck smiles upon you, on any given day there can always be an unexpected outcome.

Not diminishing the accomplishment, but rather pointing out that sometimes life’s tumblers work in your favour.

The standings tell a much more pointed truth Im afraid.

Receding Hairline

“When/If we do bring in the right player he will get a lot of unwarranted praise when it’s simply player personnel making him look good” Paulinho the above is what he is banking on, he started preaching spending early last season after being battered by Liverpool and winning, he has never passed up an opportunity to ask for better players, where i see him as foolish is expecting the players who are not good enough to give their best for him while he openly preaches six new signings to play any semblance of attacking football. He is not a great… Read more »

Paulinho

Receding – Agree. I said a week or so back the challenge for him will be reining his ego and not throwing players under the bus, and a few days later he does exactly that more or less.

There is a clear narrative developing to justify his sacking and player glee as a result of it: Arrogance, over-bearing( getting players to do home work), and lack of loyalty. That’s worrying.

Snowkid

Arry redknapp won the fa cup with Portsmouth

Enough said

salparadisenyc

Snowkid

Correction Kanu won Harry Redknapp the FA cup in the dullest encounter the competition have witnessed.

Marc Faber

Asking the neophytes to fix the mistakes made by the very same neophytes is insane. You need folks with real experience. If the Kroenke’s had any smarts, they would: 1) Ditch Vinai and hire someone from the entertainment/sports industry who have actually built world class franchises before… I would do a left field hire, someone in movies, US sports, etc. who knows how to develop and build out the commercial part of the business and fast. European league is fast approaching and the grab for loyal life-long paying consumers, whoops I meant fans is critical to be a big player.… Read more »

Receding Hairline

“I said a week or so back the challenge for him will be reining his ego”

It seems to be getting out of control in truth, he was practically glaring at the post match interviewer after the match like can’t you see i am doing a good job

Marc Faber

BTW I am not blaming Arteta and the other neophytes . It is not their fault.

I do not blame my five year old for organising my fiftieth birthday party as I sit there in my pointy hat, eating jelly and ice cream whilst watching a demented clown blow up party balloons.

I blame myself for letting my five year old organise the party.

Snowkid

Van gaal won the fa cup and got sacked.

Arteta doesn’t deserve a stay of execution because he won the fa cup.

Luteo Guenreira

Sacking Arteta will do no good. I mean it might help a little I guess. In any case if things continue in this trajectory he will be sacked and deservedly so, but if everything else at Arsenal remains constant with just a new manager brought in, nothing is going to change. Arsenal during the tail end of Wenger, Emery, Arteta have all ultimately been disappointing and in all cases that disappointment was never strictly the responsibility of one person. The club has to do better from top to bottom, starting with the owners. It’s not just about injecting enough money… Read more »

Danny+S

Marc Faber

I take it you are American looking at your comment?

You need football people in charge of football clubs. That’s where success is built especially if the footballing person is affiliated with that club.

Danny+S

Luteo

At what point would you sack Arteta?

At what stage of the season and in what position do we need to be in for you to say fuck it and sack him?

Snowkid

Danny

Maybe we go the Ted lasso approach and bring in belicheck from NE.

He couldn’t do any worse than Arteta

Marc Faber

I am going all in: THIS IS AN EXISTENATIAL CRISIS FOR OUR CLUB…

If we do not fix this and fast, we could be left behind for a decade or more. The other clubs are not stupid. Investment is pouring into Villa, Leicester, Everton et al… The PL is the most Darwinian of systems and we have no right to expect a place at the watering hole.

The other clubs are sensing blood and they are going to stop at nothing to get our place at the toppest of top tables.

Danny+S

Snowkid

I’m not talking about a coach, I mean a CEO. You need an arsenal man in there, not an ex Tesco’s exec.

Mattb

This post is completely detached from reality. To operate a best-in-class youth policy you need to have a coach that 1) can coach and 2) is prepared to take the risks that players learning their trade will inevitably drop a bollock from time to time.

I’m all for Arsenal establishing as the best place for young talent to play but it ain’t ever happening with a risk averse control freak who couldn’t coach an under-11s side. Pure fantasy.

Marc Faber

@Danny+S : No, I am British. Londoner. ‘Born’ and bred within a stones throw of the Blackstock road. And I would respectfully disagree. Nationality does not matter anymore. Football is going to go parabolic in the next decade and it is an entertainment. Hence, we need someone who knows how to build a entertainment enterprise, and the best entertainment enterprises in the world right now are HBO, Disney, WB, Comcast, etc… Sure we can have ‘football’ men in and around the board to advise, but its primarily about building an entertainment business that can reach folks anywhere football is watched.… Read more »

Snowkid

Danny

Agree. Josh jr is useless He doesn’t the know the difference between a penalty kick and a field goal

Danny+S

Marc

I have no issues which whatever nationality the person is, I just would like them to have arsenal at heart. Not their own self interest.

We need a new David Dein backed by people who have a true interest in arsenal, but also in football itself.

Luteo Guenreira

Danny I’ve got no issue with sacking him now if a better replacement is available. But whether it’s Arteta in charge or someone else, this season is going to play out pretty much exactly the same: -we will win a few games here and there against teams we are expected to beat, maybe go on a decent run of a few unbeaten games around February to claw back to maybe 8th and within single digits of a CL place, then just go back to winning a few games here and there against teams we are expected to beat to finish… Read more »

South African Gooner

M.Faber

***?I am going all in: THIS IS AN EXISTENATIAL CRISIS FOR OUR CLUB…****

Arsenal are finished.We are washed up and withering away.
BUT ,my golly- we had a good innings’ and ‘ punched above our weight for so long and we still have The Memories.
They don’ t fade ( too much)

To use a topical analogy- AFC has dementia.
And its terminal.
The sooner we are carted off to a Switzerland Clinic,- the better we will all be.

Fishing , bridge and charades are just as good.(nearly)

Danny+S

It really doesn’t feel like football is Arsenals first interest. We are just a brand in someone’s portfolio that’s there to gain equity over time.
There has been very little heart in the club for a good decade.

Snowkid

Nationality doesn’t matter but being if football mind does

Being a football supporter matters.

Knowledge about football matters

Don’t care if you’re American African or British

Calypso

South African Gooner

If Arsenal were finished yiu wouldn’t be on this blog.

Danny+S

Luteo

I think a big name manager like Allegri could turn this season around. You need a big personality to be able to put Auba and the like in their place and get their respect.

Who’s going to respect Arteta now? After he has laid down so many non negotiables then continues to break them.

I think certain squad members have already downed tools.

Snowkid

Danny

It started with wenger. When he , as a football manager, started to care more about the money side of the football club than the the footballing side.

Danny+S

Snowkid

True. He didn’t have a lot of vision beyond the season he was currently in. Certainly didn’t have a future plan in any way concerning his succession considering he was 70.

Once he got full control, he didn’t excel at any part of his role. Coaching, transfers or driving fir success.

Valentin

Luteo, I recommended exactly that approach 2 years ago. The problem is that there is nobody now to take the decisive right action. Vinay is a nice commercial guy who got promoted to a position where he now has to make football decision. At ManUtd, Ed Woodward can afford to squander money but Arsenal can’t. What really grates menus the fact that Vinay allied himself with the wrong man Raul and still emerged unscathed and got a promotion out of it. If Vinay had taken Mislintat side, I am convinced that we would be much better off. With a much… Read more »

South African Gooner

Calypso

We are just a social media club at best with all that PC nonsense that goes with it or just another American corporation at worse.

Take your pick?

Have you ever heard from the owner?
He doesnt give 2 hoots.

Have you heard from Edu or Vinny?
Those 2 are just simply gutless.

I will never forget the unveling of Arteta.
All Alone. Because everyone was hiding.

Thats Arsenal, these days .

Luteo Guenreira

Arsenal will not pay for Allegri, nor will Allegri sign on to manage a team where he won’t be able to buy the players he wants. Even with the reputation he earned at City, Arteta was a hopeful hire. It started off great, looked to be a really slick move. But just like the issues he’s having at Arsenal would never have presented themselves while coaching at a place like City, his flaws have become that much more exacerbated and obvious because he’s at a club like Arsenal, where there’s not much stability around him, whether it’s players on the… Read more »

Snowkid

The biggest slap in the face is the way Spurs are dealing with the stadium move.

Some economist wenger is

Every one knows winning brings in more money.

Not top 4 is a trophy bullocks.

It was that mentality that has set us back and never recovered.

The transition to the new stadium was a complete failure led by wenger

Words on a Blog

Nketiah: “Walk by faith not by sight.”

Translation from faith-speak to normal football talk: “Arsenal lack vision.”