MASTER VS APPRENTICE. WILL ARTETA SLAY HIS OG FOOTBALLING FATHER?

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BIG news for the Guendouzi fan club coming out of Germany. Bild, their version of The Sun, reckons there’s no chance of the loan renewing and they also state there won’t be a perm move. The article suggests his theatrics don’t work for the club. This story has come off the back of a 7 week period where the player has started one game, dived in his own box to gift a goal, and had his coach call him an ‘animal’ in relation to the way he learns.

Matteo is one of those boring stories that hangs in the air when people who have no clue about human dynamics whine on that his deeply negative attributes are exactly what is required for a team like Arsenal to progress. They mistake being a dickhead with being someone that cares. In Sunday League football, that might hold weight, but in elite team sport, being a supreme dickhead doesn’t wash anymore. It’s not just football that refuses to tolerate it, Reed Hastings, Netflix founder calls talents like Matteo G ‘brilliant jerks’. He doesn’t accept them at Netflix, a company that has changed the face of Hollywood by building a high-performance culture of dense talent that is highly collaborative.

Dickheads slow things down, which isn’t conducive to a time-poor environment when you’re playing three games a week. If everything is an argument, a mediation, or a spanner in the works… it can be a slow drain of energy. Leadership loses trust capital with the wider group because the player being indulged is being put above the rules. Teams don’t like working with dickheads, because it saps energy. You also lose collective focus, because the toxic tentacles of gossip grip the team. Kola and Mustafi had to go because they were fueling those sorts of problems, then they landed at Schalke and staged a coup immediately.

The Matteo Gs camel-back-breaking moment might have been Neil Maupay, but it certainly wasn’t the only issue. The two massive arguments in Dubai, plus plenty of problems back at Colney you don’t know about snowballed, and not even just with Arteta. Freddie had his issues as well, some mocking antics were caught on camera at a training session when the Swedish caretaker wasn’t looking last December.  Really not helpful, especially in a crisis with an Arsenal legend trying to help.

Hertha Berlin are coasting down shit creek, no paddle, head in the mess drowning. Matteo is one of the biggest talents in their squad, and even they don’t see the pay off being worth the hassle.

Dickheads are not good for culture.

We still have some of that dickhead behaviour that goes on at Arsenal. Auba has been guilty of it this season off-field, and in midweek, it looked like an example of him flexing his power muscles when he dropped a low energy disaster class. There are some people in life that have the unique gift of being able to lift a room with a smile… but also the ability to crater vibes without saying a word. Without meeting him, Auba seems to be that guy. He didn’t look interested in the week, it was a shocking performance… it could have been ‘one of those nights’ or it could be a sign that he hasn’t forgiven the system for slapping him for his timing transgression in the week.

“When you have clear ideas and principles, it’s about applying them,”

“There’s no point just telling people what we expect from them, then not making the decisions when those things are not accomplished.”

It’s always something, isn’t it? We should be going into this weekend feeling pretty positive. What we’re mostly thinking is how does Arteta manage the squad after a low-focus 90 in midweek? Do you start Auba after that? Or do you give minutes to Gabriel Martinelli who immediately lifted the game with a powerful 12 minutes? It’s tough, because really, you need your best player for the remainder of the season… what Arteta has to gauge is whether that Auba performance was a bad game, which players have, or a middle finger.

The most important thing this weekend is beating West Ham. We’re mid-March. They are in the top 4 because they absolutely deserve to be there. They are well organised, powerful, tactically astute… and they’ve been beating big teams all season.

You can be a ‘PREM TABLE IS ALL THAT MATTERS’ table banger… and live in a world of misery about Arsenal being in 10th place.

OR, you can say that the first half of the season was extremely shitty, but Arteta survived it and the gift he was given was a second chance.

Here’s the table since Christmas.

 

We’re now playing like a top 4 side. You see it on the pitch. You can see it with the performances we’re putting in. Cut the errors out of the above and we’d be 8 points better off at a minimum. Remember, we can control unforced errors. Our sustainable football model has us dominating games, defending well, and creating lots of high-quality chances. Errors can be tamed with coaching and better players this summer.

Arteta’s job until the end of the season is to prove that he can consistently deliver high-quality performances.

West Ham is going to be another opportunity to show he has the sauce to keep this half-season form going into next season.

The big challenge tomorrow is going to be fitness levels. West Ham are partly succeeding this season because they are rocking 1 game a week at the moment. Arteta has had a rocky time managing the fitness between Europa League games. He did it to perfection against Spurs last week. Can he manage it against a high flying team that doesn’t have a Europa game?

I think resting Partey and Odegaard was a smart move. Those two give us the control and forward momentum you simply don’t get with Dani or Mo. I’d like to see Pablo Mari in central defence, I think Cedric Soares is our best right back at the moment, and hopefully the resting of Bukayo will see him burst out of the traps.

Who knows what you do with the #9 position?

These are the big moments Arteta and his staff need to manage. In the grand scheme of things, the Premier League is finished, it’s all about beating Racist FC in the quarters of the Europa… but the fans are watching. West Ham is the Essex Gooners bragging rights derby. The Premier League will also be paying attention… can we give Moyes the same laser focus we gave Jose last week? Can Arteta slay his original footballing father again?

I hope so. Win tomorrow and we go into International week on a very sweet high. Let’s see what the boys have to offer!

P.S. I answered some questions for Arsenal Addict. David is a good friend of the blog, an OG blogger from back in the day, and he’s firing up his site again. Take a read here and give him a follow @ArsenalAddict.

ALSO, we just dropped a special podcast with @SVCarboholic from the Touchy Gooners podcast. We discuss the Arsenal project through the snobby lens of progressive football. It was great fun… how football chat should be imo. We’ll be doing a part 2 soon. Please check out their podcast, it’s excellent, here’s their Patreon for more elite content.

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China1

West ham haven’t even been particularly good and look like we could score every time we attack them

And we’re still 3-1 down

Wiglaf

Been sayin this shit about Aubameyang for 2 years.
While he was popular and scoring goals. He’s a lazy selfish cunt with a bad attitude
No coincidence we win more often when he doesn’t play

Danny

Has Auba touched the ball?

DUIFG

Auba has to come off, or. Move central, this is the last time I ever want to see him wide, this isn’t 2020 arteta

Useroz

Auba hasn’t done anything right the entire 1H…

sly

chambers, auba off
why isn’t cedric playing?

Nelson

We are missing one attacker.

Gazzap

What is Auba doing?? Get him off

Gonsterous

3-4. #progress. Make it happen mikeal

Mr Serge

West ham are basic the second goal was sloppy we need a couple of changes at hang time auba must come off

Jim Lahey

no way Aubameyang can stay on after that

Soham

Need Pepe ESR Martinelli on at half time and not at fucking 80 mins

Foxy

The one thing holding back Saka from being world class is his shooting. Often fails to hit it cleanly hopefully they can get it sorted on the training ground

WengerEagle

Been a bit disappointed and underwhelmed by Partey this season to be honest, has had injuries to be fair but was hoping for more of an impact for the 45m benjamins.

DUIFG

Lol partey is our most progressive passer, watch the game

Jim Lahey

“West ham are basic”

They’re twice the team we are

Chris

Yep I would sub Aubemyang at half time for sure.

Martinelli, surely he deserves a run out now.

Useroz

Oh….just wide

karim

Almost there

Zfree

Partey can only last 65 minutes so we got to save one of the substitutions for that. Ceballos to save the game?

JOEL

Slow…slow…slow…slow..in thought and deed…Completely Arteta’s fault!!…How often this Season have Arsenal been caught flat footed at the start of the game or the second half.
What on Earth does Arteta say to his team to demotivate them so much before they take the field?

Guns of Hackney

How is that £2m a month going?

Mb

Saka missed another one

Teddy

Aubameyang has been embarrassing

Useroz

FFS. Marinelli got to start the 2H, not a sub on 82″

DUIFG

This is on arteta, fucking awful start with that set up, now correct it, we can get something here, understand you did wrong and correct

Bergkamp63

Need to Xhaka & Auba off the pitch at half time

Useroz

Guns of HackneyMarch 21, 2021 15:47:59
How is that £2m a month going

……………
Drain, Ferrari, LV, etc.

Vickingz

Arteta will rather sub laca instead of Auba, he just can’t remove his captain. He will remove laca for Willian.

Jaroda

Nothing like coming on here to see the over reaction

Teddy

I’m no convinced at all about Arteta’s.
It’s so painfully slow.

West ham have a bunch of slow defenders and we’re not moving the ball quickly to try to isolate them

WengerEagle

3 goals without reply is too much of an ask.

Draw at best we’re looking at here. More points dropped.

TheLegendaryDB10

What a crap half.

There needs to be subs at half time: ESR in for Ø and Pepe for Auba.

karim

You just know Willian is gonna come in for Auba and we will all die inside.

Mb

Xhaka + Auba off, ESR + Martinelli on.. we need fighters there on the pitch, not a missing person and a back passer..

FFS what a disaster on a Sunday evening.

Zfree

Auba can’t play through the middle it just doesn’t work. He’s got to be on the left cutting in on his right. Why the manager would ever try him out on the right is beyond me. That first 20 minutes was absolutely disgraceful and a good portion of the blame can lie directly with arteta

MidwestGun

If we had started the match .. like this energy and with Saka on the right,,, might have been different. Arteta does some weird stuff .. ..no need to reinvent every player.. and try them at every position.

azed

We can score three goals in the 2nd half, we just need to be more precise and cut out the mistake.

I’ll take out Xhaka and Aubameyang for ESR and Pepe.

China1

The result doesn’t matter we’re not getting top 4 and probably not getting top 6. But what bothers me is how casual the team looked. Honestly you’d think we were winning not them. Absolutely minimal interest

3 subs please. The players need a hairdryer

raptora

Arteta played our best CB pair in an already won tie vs Olympiacos. David Luiz along with a several others like Leno, Tierney, Xhaka, Smith-Rowe deserved a bit of a rest in midweek so they could be fresh for today and beyond. We had capable players like Ryan and Martinelli ready to step up. But no. Arteta is a dumb fuck and decides to overplay his players and not have 2nd team players in form. Now he starts with Chambers when he rested Soares midweek, fresh and in form, he makes a weird move with Auba and Saka, he benches… Read more »

Radio Raheem

SAID IT AT THE TIME WE DID NOT NEED PARTEY!

Once again Radio Raheem calls it.

Guns of Hackney

Auba is a one trick shit bag. GOH knew this three years ago. Borissia knew it and so did the rest of Europe’s elite, hence why we were the only idiots to make a bid.

Arteta has to go.

Jamie

Willian isn’t on the bench.

Mb

+1 to China1

Players does need the hairdryer treatment.

TheLegendaryDB10

Karim

Willian is not on the bench. He still has a slight injury.

Vickingz

Auba’s contract should never have been renewed at the wages he’s on now, I called for it then, his only strength is pace, running in behind the defenders and tap in, once you allow him not to run, he becomes a vegetable. Never a fighter and definitely not at this age.

Bertfish

This is on Arteta!

Poor team selection & playing Auba wide is because he didn’t have the balls to leave him out after what happened last week. Weak management.

Should have been the same team as Spurs, why fuck around!

underrated Coq

How can anyone look at that game and think this team is going places next season?

Nelson

Our team is not ready to play in the initial 30 mins. We looks better in the last 15 mins.

Laca, Saka and Ode combined well. Auba doesn’t belong to this system. Chambers’s crosses are not good enough. Tierney plays OK.

MidwestGun

I’ll take a draw at this point.. that would be a small miracle. Definitely need to do something different with the forward line… and the back line is shaky as fuck too.

karim

Hallelujah

Vickingz

Leno is such a shitty goalkeeper but we ain’t ready to have this discussion yet

Radio Raheem

Think he played our tallest back 4 hence Chambers starting. Quite understandable in dealing with the aerial threat posed by West Ham. It mostly worked doing similar against Burnley.

Dissenter

Chambes is not a right back
He’s been at Arsenal for 5 years now and everyone had to know it.
What’t the point when we have TWO RBs in the club?

TheLegendaryDB10

Mid

Arteta does some weird stuff .. ..no need to reinvent every player.. and try them at every position.

Didn’t you get the memo?? MA is the 2nd coming of Pep. He will fuck up any chemistry in the team just to show what a genius he is.

Matt

Overreaction. What a prick!!

China1

Azed let me correct that for you!

We score the goals in the second half, —-* our players just need to give a fuck*

Habesha Gooner

Why play an off form auba that fluffed his line in midweek on the right? This stupid loyalty to senior players needs to stop. Take him off and Xhaka and Put ESR together with odegaard in the middle. And put one of Pepe 9r Martinelli on the left. That’s the only way I see us coming back from this. I am so mad because we are losing due to inept team selection. If he put out a team that made sense we wouldn’t be here.

S23

Auba looks tired,not sure why.
Chambers is not ready-both of them off at half time.
I am sick of Partey shooting from outside the box,always over,although one of our better players from a very short list.
Need some leaders for the 2nd half,although I am not sure with our fragile mentality.
Also is there anyway I can turn off commentary on sky?It used to be a feature,I just cannot stand to hear Tyler say Arsenal have been hammered at full time,he cant wait to say it.The dick.
Come on boys.
Hopeful,always hopeful

Batistuta

Lol doesn’t matter really, we will never go anywhere with the rookie manager in charge.

Doesn’t matter how many 4th since xmas posts you out up, to be double digits behind a David Moyes West Ham is such an embarrassment.

That’s why the NLD derby win was best looked at in isolation rather than part of any big picture with Mikel Arteta. He is not fit to be manager of Arsenal football club

raptora

3-0 to a Moyes managed West Ham. Generational on the chopping block.

Black+Snake

Im glad theyve woken up a bit but fucking hell, that second goal was pathetic. I expect to see that shit in kids football.

Cheney10

Our Arsenal are unbelievably unpredictable at the moment… We make two steps forward, three backwards then four steps forward e.g. there is progress but by no means is it linear. Some odd squad choices today have to admit, maybe over thought the game a little. However, let’s face it, Europa is all that really matters now, the league was long gone after the first 14 games.

raptora

We have Soares in top form and rested in midweek, Arteta plays Chambers RB? What a dumbass…

Rich

Aubameyang on the right has been tried a few times before, and has never worked

As soon as Saka moves over to the right, we start playing

Tom

Lay off Auba, after he checks on his £2m Ferrari in the car park — making sure nobody fuks with it— he’ll be a threat in second half in no time.

DUIFG

Poss poor selection piss poor performance, you are not pep arteta, playing a conventional team has worked for you, stick to it.

Auaba central or not at all, its that simple

China1

That second goal just wow. Watching that replay is like eating rat shit. Just wow what a horrible horrible goal. Find one player who was paying attention (outfield players) or who dies their job (Leno) and it’s like doing a where’s Wally book but they forgot to draw the fucking Wally

Every single player switched off outfield and Leno embarrasses himself. What in the name of fuck was that

Useroz

3 down in 30 min considered overreaction??? Has Arsenal sunk so low or its meant to be part of the process??

Wiglaf

VickingzMarch 21, 2021 15:54:03
Leno is such a shitty goalkeeper but we ain’t ready to have this discussion yet

Nope
It’s taken fucking abysmal form for anyone to begin to question how much auba impedes his team mates and yet asks so much of them to provide goals for him.
Said it for 3 years
The man is a selfish lazy egotistical tosser and as bad a worse captain than gallas, who I also detested as an arsenal player.

Batistuta

Poor rotation midweek especially in defense too

China1

Chambers playing today is maybe a sign we’re selling bellerin?

Or is he injured?

MidwestGun

Legend it’s strange .. I don’t get it.. Earlier in the season .. I can forgive rookie manager stuff.. but by now.. you should know what every player can do and where. on the pitch. Arteta has a stubborn streak.. a mile long. Might be his downfall.

Bertfish

How can everyone see that playing Auba right does not work ffs. Has to change this at half but dies he have the balls to!

DUIFG

This team had the hallmarks of playing the first 20 games with Willian despite being dreadful, picking names on a team sheet rather than form, it’s not good and had never worked. My issue is he won’t learn from this, he has a propensity to do it, like a dark fetish

sly

Arteta’s default if he anticipates he is playing an attacking team is to go into to defensive mode. I am not sure that he is an attack minded coach at baseline. I think he is conservative. This does not augur well or speak to a generational talent.
I hope he proves me wrong and the team comes out with an attacking fearless mindset in the second half. Doubtful tho

Batistuta

Just like Last season and the season before, I’m really hoping we find 5 good games in us somehow to win the Europa league, we’ve not had any manager that has shown he has a clue what he’s doing in the league

Bergkamp63

Has there ever been a more one footed player than Xhaka ?

Literally everting is going backwards with him.

Need to swap him for ESR at half time, Martinelli for Auba

Dissenter

Arteta is not playing to the strengths of his players
He’s playing to his massive ego.

It’s not hard to beat Arsenal. All teams do is to live off our mistakes.

Gonsterous

This is why you don’t omit willian from the squad. He is out and we lose 3-1. #progress

Gazza

Auba needs replacing as he has done absolutely nothing in that half!

DUIFG

We are going into an international break ffs, just pick your enst team, esr is in that team. If you just change put in players in form or have legs like martinelli, not people that are mid sulk

Bertfish

Yeah shocking that Soares did not start as he was on fire & fresh. Very negative going with Chambers & set the tone for how we started. Chalk & cheese to the Spurs game

China1

WE LUV U WILLIAN PLS COME BACK

Elmo

A power cut means I can’t watch the game, and checking the score, it’s probably a good thing!

Tom

Midwest
Arteta trying to reinvent the wheel is a trait he might’ve picked up from Pep.
City lost some important CL games due to unnecessary players reshuffle worthy of a major head shaking.

Kaz

Lol

Bergkamp63

Didn’t we go 4-0 down against Liverpool a few years ago in 30 mins ?

Vickingz

Told y’all, he’s not gonna sub Auba.

London gunner

why they playing some heavy death metal shit at West ham stadium

AL

Surely Nketia would have done more than Auba has in the first half and I consider Nketia to be average.

Useroz

If we don’t sharpen the shooting it ain’t going to change despite chances

LeMassiveCoq

It’s all good folks. I backed West Ham at 1-0 and I never win fuck all, so a draw or win is defo on the cards 😉

Aussie+Gooner

Shock horror! In the table since 22nd March 2021 we are currently bottom!!!!!

raptora

Luiz how many games in a row cause he didn’t rest him midweek? 8 games.

Xhaka how many games in a row? Over 20.

Leno how many games in a row? 1 game rest cause of a red card in the last 4 months.

Tierney how many games in a row? 8 games

Arteta masterclass.

DUIFG

Lol no changes

Mics_

Arteta’s stubbornness is a serious flaw, it is becoming evident. I’m not really pro or anti Arteta—some of the football we have played since the Chelsea game has been wonderful, no doubt. At the same time we constantly suffer from self inflicted errors, both managerial and from the players. That seems to be a persistent feature. It takes Arteta a long time to tweak things if things aren’t going how he envisions. And that has cost us points and will continue to cost us points. Pep is very similar, but Pep has a decade of top level experience and unlimited… Read more »

Zfree

Auba is a feel good type. If the moment calls for grit and a bit of anger, he ain’t it

MidwestGun

No changes I guess..

Samesong

Laca nearly

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