NARRATIVE REBOOT NEEDED

by .

A week off for the players? Wow. I nearly wrote ‘wowsers.’ Do you get to a certain age where twee words like that become attractive? A friend of mine said ‘aces’ the other day. I was shocked. Is language deterioration part of the ageing process?

I digress…

A week off.

Then Arsenal FC heads into another nightmare crush of fixtures that could open us up to death spiral number two of the season.

It won’t define whether he keeps his job, that seems assured, what it’ll define is how much fan capital he has going into next season.

Managers shouldn’t make decisions based on what the fans want, but they should be very aware of the role we play in their success. Jurgen Klopp is a charmer, everyone loves him, even when things are going off the rails, it’s hard to dislike him. Pochettino is another one, the deep love he commands from his players makes him hard to move on, even when results plummet. The decisions they make and the values they hold are part of the allure.

One of the worst leadership traits is being unable to admit you’ve made a mistake. Willian is becoming a lightning rod topic in the court of fan opinion. He’s shit. He doesn’t care. He has been given more than enough chances… yet he keeps playing. Arteta needs to do the right thing and move him away from the starting 11.

Fan capital is going to be hugely important as we head into next season, because fan dismay will be seen and heard beyond Twitter. That means Arteta needs to start getting his house in order now so his mistakes don’t light a fire with the fans he can’t put out.

You know what gets Arsenal fans in the mood?

Sexy football.

For me, our season keeps collapsing around senior players that were given massive new deals. If you took 4-5 players out of the mix we’d have more money, better results, and we’d likely not be asking these painful questions every 4 weeks.

The football is evolving in a direction that excites. There have been patches in the last two games where you felt like this was peak Wenger ball from back in the day. Intelligent players moving the ball at speed with attacking intent. This sort of football, played by young hungry players, is what will get fans to buy into the project next season.

Our problems are evolving in the right direction, I appreciate it isn’t fast enough for some, but let’s take it for what it is. When you have a young striker that’s not scoring, you generally want the one that’s missing lots of chances, versus the one that’s not in the game. Adebayor was like that when he joined, everyone hated him because he constantly fluffed his lines… but then it clicked and he turned into one of the best strikers in Europe for a brief moment.

That’s where this Arsenal side are at the moment. We’re moving the ball into the right areas, the attacking intent is correct, but we’re one pass and a decent shot away from it coming together nicely. If the players were shit, you’d accept that this was our lot, but they’re not. There is scope for the click to arrive.

I think there are some obvious moves that’ll help us find the click. Firstly, let’s get our best players on the pitch. If Tierney is out, bite the bullet and put Bukayo Saka in that position. He was a top 3 left-back in the country, having him there isn’t a punishment, it’ll help us open up teams because his delivery is so good.

Put Martin Odegaard in the side. We’ve only seen about 25 minutes of him but it’s clear he’s the real deal. He can open up the game from deep and he has really quality in tight spaces. We won’t have £100m to spend this summer, so convincing him to join us next year is going to be a huge win for us while we reshape our finances.

Then the big one… we have to work something out with our striking situation. Auba has been out of sorts all season, his family issues clearly haven’t helped, but we need to address it because we’ve gone from one of the most clinical sides in the league to a side that cannot hit the target for love nor money

Again, that can change very fast. Pepe isn’t going to keep skewing the ball over the bar. Odegaard had a great goal scoring record in Spain. Saka, Laca and Auba should all be doing better.

The key to all of this though is fitness… if Partey is badly damaged again, we are in trouble.

Good news for Arteta is the games coming up present a fresh chance to show he has what it takes.

Beat Leeds? That’ll feel like progress.

Beat Benfica? Feels like a proper team, it’ll count towards momentum for the first time this season.

Get anything from City? I mean, feels unlikely, but who knows.

Leicester? Burnley? Spurs? All winnable for me…

We absolutely have to get back on track this season. The green shoots need to turn into flowering trees. The vision must be crystal clear by the end of this season.

If it is, then we’re in great shape for a run at top 4 next year. If it’s not, well, I’ll be promoting the hashtag #GusHiddinkIn.

Just kidding, but something like that.

New podcast. A bit depressing. But it’s there. ENJOY.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play

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Olis

Guns of SFFebruary 8, 2021 03:41:15
I hate tom brady that cheating cunt.
Even though he is from around San mateo,. Rich white privileged cunt.
Cant stand Gronkowski too. A brain dead dumbo

Olis

Pedro this isn’t on.

Guns of sf
I don’t even follow American football but what sort of commentary is this? If someone mentioned black c@#t on any context you’d have something to say and would be crying your eyes out.
It’s disgraceful you bring colour into it. Why would you post something so unnecessary?

Speaks volumes about the person you are.

@TheArsenalTom

Willian-Gate is becoming an interesting saga. In a squad we’ve worked so hard to remove bloated wages and abject performances, he’s a stand out. Another question is the gaping CF shaped hole our squad seems to have. With Laca being the stand out performer in recent months, but still not looking like the ideal player in Arteta’s system. Auba adds little in build up playing as a centre forward, so who else? Only option can seem to be Martinelli who has the attributes to thrive there, yet his minutes are limited with Willian preferred. Surely Arteta must have an idea… Read more »

Upstate Gooner

Now

Upstate Gooner

Boom!

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy?

grooveydaddy

Damn you UG

Rich

Trophy

Upstate Gooner

Olis didn’t even go for the Tro4hy… like Mahomes and KC didn’t show up for the Super Bowl yesterday.

Upstate Gooner

Suck on it, groovey 🙂

CazOnARola

If Partey is injured for long, the season is done.

Foxy

What was depressing about Willian on Saturday is that he was pocketed by Cash who must have been pretty fatigued by the work he did in limiting Pepe’s impact the previous 70 minutes. Oh to again have an RB who can defend.

Martinelli really needs to have a few good games at CF in the under 23 before he gets a first team start in that position, Balogun is a better bet as CF at the moment.

grooveydaddy

Leicester, Burnley, & Spurs – all winnable?

Sure, but so were Crystal Palace, Wolves, United, and Villa…

David Boyle

This blog is getting boring now ,it’s the same everyday and nothing makes sense .you talk about sexy football, what game are you watching the footballs slow and predictable. You say we’re going in the right direction, l see us dropping further down the league.

Foxy

Good to see the Mason/Dean comedy show getting derailed on appeal by West Ham

Upstate Gooner

“… but we’re one pass and a decent shot away from it coming together nicely”

And a new manager

Upstate Gooner

I admire your optimism sometimes, Pedro, I really do… but I agree with some of the other comments, like what games have you been watching to call our football “sexy”? Soton is the only one that comes to mind. You talk about progress and vision but I fail to see it. It’s almost like we take a step forward one week/game, and then two steps backwards the next. Also, you keep hyping up Odegaard like he’s the new Messiah (you did the same with Arteta, btw). The kid played a few minutes of football for us, give it a rest.… Read more »

Biggles

Benfica should be a walkover. Rangers had them twice and only a few last gasp collapses saw them Benfica equalise.

An an aside, Borisic – Rangers and Croatia’s left back – would be a great signing if we needed cover for Tierney.

Matt

What is the point of talking about Willian being dropped when we all know full well (Pedro) included that it isn’t going to happen!!

Pierre

Tom
“The only communication should have been “away”……

What does that even mean?”

Can someone please explain to Tom what “AWAY” means when a team mate is receiving the ball with his back to goal on the the edge of his own area and an opposition player is a few yards away on his blind side…

The Bard

I agree Pedro. It’s going to be a lot tougher once fans are allowed back. Willian and others won’t get an easy ride if they continue to play like a dicks. The biggest things we need to see from Arteta are consistency and vision. He needs to stop indulging the deadweights.

Graham

One of the worst leadership traits is being unable to admit you’ve made a mistake.

Agreed – so when do you admit you made a rather large one when you told us Arteta was a generational coach

Pierre

Matt
“What is the point of talking about Willian being dropped when we all know full well (Pedro) included that it isn’t going to happen!!

willian is not a starter , so in effect , he has already been dropped..

Henry19

Smith Rowe needs to lose the flab and get in shape if he wants to be an elite footballer.

Pierre

“If Partey is injured for long, the season is done”

The season is done already in the league, it should be all about giving youth a chance,.

Get them all on the pitch at the same time and see if they can hack it….sink or swim time

Get Partey fit for latter europa games and wrap him in cotton wool for next season..
Sort out his muscle problems , sometimes rest is the cure .

Sid

‘Get Partey fit for latter europa games ‘

I’ve got news for you…..

Sid

‘Would love to see one of the young full backs given a run of games.’

Oh well, would love to see melania from the mirror in my bedroom ceiling

Chris

There was talk of giving decent game time to the younger players a few weeks back, and saving the strongest line ups for the cups. I still feel we made a slight error of judgement in choosing the FA cup game against Southampton to rotate, that could have been done in the league game a few days later, and there is a chance we would still have another trophy to fight for. It was always going to be a tall order to qualify for Europe via the league due to our start to the season, it likely would have needed… Read more »

Tom

Pierre, I certainly know now what you mean when you say “obsessive “ lol. It’s a new thread and you’re still on about this communication nonsense you cooked up in your head. Let me paint it for you in simple terms then , again. The only time you could blame Gabriel for not shouting “man on”to Cedric would be if he were dwelling on the ball which he didn’t. Case closed. Keepers shout “away” at corners for defenders to clear their lines to prevent easy tap ins from second balls , not to hoof the ball up the pitch Tony… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Our standards keep dropping. Under Wenger pre 2006 we were fighting for titles. After 2006-2018 we were told top 4 was a trophy. Wenger left us when we drop out of top 4 into top 5. Emery left us when he failed to win the Europa League… but still left us in top 6. Noe languishing in mid-table, we are being hoodwinked to believe that beating one of this year’s promoted sides Leeds, is progress. Really? Is this how far we have stooped to? We are going backwards people, and Arteta for all his polished press conferences and witty retorts… Read more »

Leedsgunner

*Now

MGooner

I remember the days when we used to be in top 4 with midfielders like Denilson and Song.

And Vermalen as defender.

Leedsgunner

*we dropped out of top 4

Henry19

Denilson and Song are better than Partey and Xhaka.

Chris

I’ll never forget the ref outpacing Denilson back towards our goal when Rooney scored against us at The Emirates.

Reading an article a while back, he suffered from home sickness and depression, had thoughts of quitting the game altogether. Think he ended back in Brazil playing again.

Abou Diaby had the highest ceiling out of that crop of young midfielders we had. I’m still convinced he could have been an absolute beast were it not for his serious injury and subsequent fitness issues following on from that.

Leedsgunner

Pedro When is enough… enough? It is very possible we will lose our next five games and we will be either hovering over the relegation zone or in the relegation fight. Do we fire Arteta then? Are you willing to see Arteta take the club down in flames just because you want to see him succeed? We’ll have agree to disagree but Arteta has done very little to convince me that if we were caught up in a relegation fight he would have the stomach for it. Goodness me, he couldn’t motivate the players to fight in the Aston Villa… Read more »

Chris

Pedro

Interesting, for me he could have been a monster box to box player. I recall his strengths being his fast turn and powerful strides forward with the ball, and a good eye for a quick, direct pass. He had goals in him too.

Sid

Theres one or two games Diaby played as a #10 and he was great around the time we had No strikers available and people were suggesting he should be played as a striker.
Denilson was much better than Xhakalson, between Song and Partey its a tough call.

Olis

‘ Goodness me, he couldn’t motivate the players to fight in the Aston Villa game after we were treated so unjustly in the Wolves game… so why do you think he’ll be able to motivate them now?’ Leeds did you even watch the game? Not just the highlights? Motivation or lack of fight wasn’t our issue it was the final ball or wrong decision on numerous occasions. Our football has improved and the players and manager deserve credit, if you actually watch the games it’s clear to see. Games being decided on fine margins isn’t an excuse it’s a legitimate… Read more »

Sid

‘Denilson won the ball more times than anyone else in the league. (254 to Barry’s 187). And just to top it all off, 60% of the time he wins it back with an interception’

Olis

Sid some supporters didn’t rate Gilberto so that tells you everything you need to know.

Sid

Theres acreason Barca came in for Song,
Song could shield the ball better than Partey, pass better. Partey is faster

Jim Lahey

“Partey is far, far superior.”

Yeah its not even close. The revisionism when it comes to Alex Song is unreal. Guy was an okay footballer. My main memory of Alex Song is watching him chase a player half way down the field only to foul him a yard or two from our box.

Dissenter

Pedro
You’re pretending that you know the Arteta project will eventually come good.
Truth is that if you assess him on the basis of what is already known, he’s as ordinary as they come.
Arteta’s judgment about players is completely off – he’s player quality dyslexic. The only way he gets anything right is it is read to him. He’s not even good from learning from mistakes.

Jim Lahey

“Theres acreason Barca came in for Song”

Was there a reason he only lasted two seasons before being loaned out?

Samir

Sid

You talk some real shit.

I’m telling you for free!
A tough call between Song and Partey?
Denilson was much terrible. Xhaka is much better all-round.

Next you’ll say Chamakh was as good as Henry?

Henry19

Gilberto was bambi on ice who he treated the ball like a hot potato.

Jamie

Just look at Song here. Thinks Puyol was waving him over to lift the trophy. Unreal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNKK4WLJqWY&ab_channel=AdamDavies

Samir

Song had RVP in the form of his life. He finished every 1/2 chance that season.

Henry19

Song was better than Partey and Denilson better than Xhaka

Globalgunner

Pedro would rather commit seppuku than admit Arteta is shit. Soon he will have no choice…..to admit Arteta is shit that is. Seppuku is rather grisly

Jamie

Seppuku brings great honour to shamed warriors.

Jim Lahey

@RedTruth –

I guess Almunia was better than Leno, or Gael Clichie was better than Tierney… or whatever player in the past is better than any player playing now?

Sid

‘Song got his final assist for Arsenal in their last game of the season, taking his tally for 2011-12 to 14 in all competitions.’

Henry19

https://youtu.be/AcDzV4ZI9yw

Song makes Ozil look like Frimpong.

SpanishDave

Why would Arteta get until December before he goes?
It’s not written in his contract. Long term project why.
Carry on this crap for two more years?
An inexperienced manager, making the same mistakes over and over again.
Crazy

Bergkamp63

Pedro,

Overmars leaving Ajax this summer and making overtures, anything in that ?

Jim Lahey

@Pedro –

“Jim, things got really bad when Wenger said he was a bit like Cesc. We were so exposed with him in the team.”

We really were he was so slow, that midfield pairing (Song and Denilson) was horrible. held together by the quality around them.

Sid

Partey has Auba a top EPL scorer for several seasons being assisted by the likes of Iwobi, Mikhi

Jamie

Jesus, Frimpong!

For all of 4 seconds, I genuinely thought he was going to be elite. Then he got sent off and that literally ended his career.

Hopefully the Dench trademark is still bringing in the readies.

SpanishDave

Overmars making overtures!
Interesting.
Edu and Arteta are nice and cozy in the Arsenal holiday camp

Sid

Partey stats at Athletico are inferior to Song at Arsenal, its telling they will win la liga without him
And no its not because of Suarez, last season Season Barca didnt win la liga with saurez

Im telling you for free!

Nelson

I still can’t get over the fact that the Glazer family has won the Super Bowl. I have heard a lot of abuses from the Manure fans on their owner, it seems that their owner is still better than our owner. smh!

Dissenter

How is Overmars going to save Arteta from himself?

Only a meek Edu would stay around after the power grab Arteta did in the summer.

Foxy

Would have liked to have seen Song and Fabregas together. Song like Ramsey suffered from a lack of tactical discipline no doubt due to Wengers laissez-faire approach to coaching players.

Dissenter

Winning the super bowl doesn’t make anyone a better owner and besides Tampa bay had won the super bow before.

Radio Raheem

For those who think Song wasn’t up to much I dare you to rewatch the matches. Not perfect by any means but stands comfortably heads and shoulders above our current iteration of central midfielders. The many e-battles I had on legrove on account of Song 😂😂😂😂 It’s clear some people just can’t watch football, they simply don’t see what’s in front of their eyes or choose to see what isn’t. Like I said at the time Partey was not the player we needed. There’s nothing he has done to prove me wrong. Quite the opposite. He may yet turn out… Read more »

Jim Lahey

“Would have liked to have seen Song and Fabregas together. ”

What….. They played like 3 seasons together…

Radio Raheem

Song played with Fabregas, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin, Denilson, Clichy, Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny and Fabianski. Think that was a typical starting 11 in 2010.

Sid

Athleticos xGA improved in 2021 season without partey compared to the previous season

Radio Raheem

Pedro

Song might have lost his way but he was a good player for Arsenal and very few succeed at Barca. Getting there is more of sign of quality than actually doing it there. Succeeding there is legendary status. Even Maradona didn’t quite make it at Barca.

Sid

Alex Song isnt 33 yrs old any Cameroonian will tell you for free!

Radio Raheem

Pedro

How did Hleb do?

Globalgunner

Song is as was still better than Xhaka. Him and Partey at the same age would have been a good combo. Partey would be the more DM of the duo

Dissenter

Pedro
There can’t be effective executive leadership so long as your man keeps hold of the powers he wrested for himself.
We hired a rookie as head coach but he metamorphosed into a tyrant who’s co-equal to the technical director very quickly.

The only way Overmars works is if the little tyrant will take a demotion back to head coach or if he’s fired.

Radio Raheem

Pedro

🤣🤣🤣🤣 you are funny. That actually made laugh. Both went to Barca and went downhill afterwards but I know you knew that

Crimson

Let’s get sid in midfield he knows everything! and he’s free.
The sad little goose is inane and has no personality. Which is like 69% of footballers.
Like the Charlie Austin or recent Maddison interview.
Just boring 😴

Samir

Song played when the league was much weaker. Lower teams were poor then. These days the PL is much stronger overall.
What did Song do in La Liga??? F all.

Sessègnon got 9 assists that season.
Kevin Doyle got 8 assists that season.
Matthew Etherington got 8 assists that season.
Wes Hoolahan got 8 assists that season.

So I’m guessing the players above are all better than Grealish who only got 5 assists last season?

redbro14

Dissenter……there is something of a psychopathic, tyrant behaviour in Arteta, no doubt in my mind. But, he did not ‘wrest’ it for himself. A rush of blood by the club after the euphoria of the Cup win gave it to him on a plate…..like other contracts that have been mentioned here on numerous occasions. This club will never learn….

Graham62

Willian is completely shot.

He’s lost a yard and a half of pace and a ton of self-belief.

He needs time away from the first team. Problem is, he comes across as being a shy and sensitive individual.

Whatever agreement was set up in respect to his playing time, it should not interfere with the team dynamics and progress.

Arteta can’t be that blind or that stupid.

Dissenter

redbro14
Arteta absolutely lobbied for the job
Why else do you think he got directly involved in the wage reduction negotiations after the league was stopped for COVID-19?

5am

Agree with Saka as left back until Tierney’s in the team again. That way Pepe can stay left wing, with Auba right wing and Laca or Martinelli/Balogun (to convince to stay, since it was noticed that Nketiah wasn’t in the subs list against AV) to fight it out as central striker for the rest of the season….

Foxy

Absolute negligence in not getting proper left back cover for Tierney having let AMN go. Cedric and Bellerin should be sharing the RB spot. Playing Saka there is just a recipe for burn out.

Leedsgunner

Pedro

You didn’t answer my question… when is enough… enough?

If you see Arteta as a long term project would you be willing to see Arsenal relegated? Or do you think we are too good to go down?

Northbanker

I want to see Saka stay at RW not LB, even though he plays well there. Happy to see Soares keep the role – he’s done ok despite the hospital pass on Saturday.

Dont think Pepe is good enough to be starter – lets give Martinelli a run out there. Laca will also need to be replaced – play Balogun there. Auba looks finished and joining the Willian Retirement Club

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