THE FATAL FLAW OF A BIG VISION (LONG READ)

by .

So bees vaccinate their youth? Unreal. Is there anything those guys can’t do? Actually, I was told they can’t count past 5… they use markers to navigate, once they go past 5, they get lost. Regardless, I’m impressed with bees.

What am I NOT impressed with? International break. Idle Arsenal fans festering is never a good blend.

The biggest concern most of us have is the return of Martin Odegaard next season. Honestly, I think the worry is a little bit overblown. Madrid are unlikely to be moved by his performances here. He’s played more minutes with Arsenal than he has in his entire career there. When he was sent to Sociedad, he was the 3rd most creative player in La Liga, Zidane was unmoved.

Madrid are £900m+ in the shit. They have no money. Their brand is built on superstars. It’s not really an option for them to double down on what they have, they have to brand their way back to the top. Martin Odegaard is an opportunity for some hard cash, I suspect we’ll try to buy him this summer, or more likely, we’ll loan him for another year with a purchase clause placed in the deal.

The most important thing is how the player feels at Arsenal. If he feels at home, loved, and sees there is a huge opportunity to be the focal point of a young and exciting team building towards greatness again… he might want to be a part of it.

His agent might also like that route as well. 4 seasons at Arsenal and he could have the pick of clubs to go to if we’re not to his fancy. Arsenal gives him space to grow, but not to the detriment of his brand. Arsenal is a big club. The Premier League is the grandest stage. He’ll do very well to stick it out with us.

I’m not really that worried about competition from the Premier League. Not sure the Carlo vibes are good. Liverpool don’t need him. City puts him in the same position he was in at Madrid. United have a #10. Spurs are shit. Chelsea are brimming with creators. He has a free run at Arsenal. At 22, what more can you hope for? He can be the new Cesc, but hopefully with a bit more success.

What else am I buzzing about today? Emile Smith Rowe. He needs a new deal and I’m already worried he might leave us. CAN YOU IMAGINE? When I was first in love, I struggled with jealousy so badly, I thought the person I was with was cheating on me in the bathroom… IN HER MUMS HOUSE. That’s the sort of panic I’m having over ESR. He’s so, so, so good… he needs the big deal. Someone get him it.

Also, Saka, can we give him a new deal? Just to be sure?

There’s been a lot of debate going off about whether there’s been real improvement at Arsenal this season.

Now, if you frame improvement by simply looking at the table, you could say: no… then bang the table and say, ‘TABLE DOESN’T LIE.’

Of course, this is factually correct, but it’s a bit reductive. There are many better ways to judge progress, the same way businesses are rarely judget simply on profit metrics, especially those in transformative moments.

On the grandest of scales, look at Jeff Bezos. It took 10 years for Amazon to turn a profit. They once went 17 quarters without making positive balance sheet impact. ‘TABLE DOESN’T LIE’ merchants were saying things like, ‘they don’t make profit, this isn’t a viable business, BEZOS is a fraud.’

Now look at them.

Arsenal isn’t Amazon, but currently, they’re asking people to buy into a vision in the same way. We’re closer to Apple before jobs went in the second time around. We had set the highest of standards once upon a time, but eventually lost our mojo, after giving the big job to a bum from Pepsico (Emery).

What did Jobs do? He slimmed down the organisation (Arsenal reorg’d). He streamlined the product line (slimmed the squad of duff products). He brought in his own people (new coaching staff). He set a lofty new vision (TO THE MOON).

Jobs new plans nearly took the company to insolvency, they were 90 days away from death. Michael Dell (Jose) told press Jobs should liquidate Apple and give the money back to the shareholders.

A year later, the company returned to profit. The rest is history.

‘TABLE DOESN’T LIE’ merchants can trumpet a truth and you can’t deny it. But what they can’t factor in is the context of vision. The easiest position is to be a naysayer, because it takes a leap of faith to believe in something better.

On the march to progress, things usually get a lot worse before they get better. That’s the nature of change in any business or team.

You have to accept that Wenger crashed our standards over 10 years. Don Raul crashed our class and our finances. Unai Emery crushed the good bits of the Wenger era and added even more indiscipline and confusion to the neglected areas. He left Arsenal worse than he picked it up, this isn’t up for debate, it’s straight facts.

The rebirth of Arsenal was never, ever going to be sorted in a year. Especially when at the same time you’re rebuilding the football you are reorging youth football, starting afresh with a sporting director, rebuilding our football transfer ecosystem, adapting to Europa… all while navigating the biggest shock to elite level sport since World War II (pandemic not being a mitigating circumstance for some is so, so beyond the pale).

So how should you be analysing our shitty season? Look for green shoots that the vision is coming to life. PreChristmas, it was hard to see that. The football was slow, we had no attacking flow, the results were absolutely miserable. At best, you could say we didn’t have the right players, at worse, you could say the taste in players of Arteta and Edu was shocking and we deserved what happened.

But it happened. The club didn’t sack anyone. They priced in the blip like Amazon and Apple shareholder priced in the short-term losses. As fans, we have to move forward from that moment in time.

Now where are we?

The linear progress is showing up if you rejigger where you look from.

PreChristmas, was shite.

PostChristmas, here is where we are.

We’ve played 15 games. We have 28 points. We are 4th. If we beat Liverpool, our game in hand over United, we are joint second.

We have scored 28 goals in one less game than United. We have scored the second-most goals.

Defensively, we’ve slacked off a bit. We’ve conceded 14 goals. The West Ham game took us from joint 2nd best defence, to 3rd best.

Those are hard numbers over a decent sample set.

Let’s get into eye test theory.

The football has a clear identity. We consistently dominate possession. We play good football. Sexy football. This has been a consistent theme since introducing modern numbers 10s. Pep said this explicitly about Arsenal.

The system is defensively stable, bore out by the numbers. Teams don’t walk through Arsenal these days. Our biggest weakness is unforced errors. Without those, we’d be 10 points better off right now. No team inflicts wounds on itself more than Arsenal. You could blame that on coaching, sure. But this is an issue we’ve suffered with for over 10 years. Most of our errors come from players we can lose this summer, or names that are Wenger signings. This is a very focused issue that will be addressed. Liverpool addressed similar flaws with VVD and Allison.

Our attacking system has moved to a new level in terms of production. We create a volume of high-quality chances in each game. We still haven’t landed the sauce needed to take those chances, but the point is, at some point, that begins to happen. Last season, we created few chances and took them at a higher rate, you’d much rather be creating more and scoring less… because great players take those chances in the end. Again, we’re bemoaning our efficiency in front of goal, when we’ve got the second best goalscoring record since Christmas. There’s a whole new level to reach and we’re doing well anyway.

We’re also tactically innovative. Bielsa, one of the greats, explicitly called out that he couldn’t deal with what Arteta had instructed Ceballos and Xhaka to do. Also, tell me the last time you were confident as an Arsenal fan that we’d compete in every game?

Again, these aren’t feelings… we’re dealing with facts here. Arteta has won 3 times as many games against Big 6 sides. We’ve conceded 19 less goals. Arsenal are a competitive outfit. We have beaten every major manager in the league.

Are there things that need to be fixed this summer? Absolutely.

The biggest chink in the armour of the coaching staff is their deference to older players that are never taking you back to promised land. Arteta seems to have quickly forgotten what saved his Arsenal career back in December. It wasn’t Auba and David Luiz, it was ESR, Martinelli, and Saka.

Hunger wins football games. Auba has not looked hungry for a while and he’s given a hall pass every time. David Luiz, throughout his career, has shown that he can’t be trusted over long stretches. When it’s West Ham, he’s not mentally there. That’s a massive blind spot. Hunger over talent, every single time…

Overall though, we’re getting to a good place when the best argument against the momentum is playing with data to show the worst possible outcome to appease the weird Emery Fan Club that exists.

Getting back to the top in the hardest league in the world requires vision, faith and time. You have to accept the choppy waters because it’s never plain sailing. Arsenal finally look like they’re taking the hard route. They’re doing the work, accepting the process, and delivering on a sustainable football future.

So in short, what is the fatal flaw of a big vision? Short termism. There are enough green shoots to show the direction Arsenal have taken is working… if you choose not to see it, you’re as bad as the table bangers that said Amazon would never succeed because the profit table doesn’t lie.

Right, listen to the podcast. Agree with me in the comments. See you later. x

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Champagne Charlie

Wiglaf You can disagree, but reality offers a strong case against your claims. If there’s no reason Pepe cant be our Sterling then why hasn’t come close to them in performances and output? I think that’s a classic case of dumbing down an opponent and elevating one of our own. Sterling lacks raw technical ability, but he’s a truly elite footballer because his performance levels are insanely good and his production and threat is constant. Pepe is a superior technician with a fraction of the constant threat Sterling possesses. I wont even touch mentality, because I don’t think it’s a… Read more »

Dissenter

emglandsbest,
“Okay, it was risky to sign a rookie. But in every other respect he seemed right for the job. I gave the pros long ago – an Arsenal man, intelligent, beautiful wife, etc ”

What does his wife have to do with it?
Weird one that is.

Bergkamp63

We don’t want any mingers hanging around the club !

Bergkamp63

Just seen a photo of Artetas wife, she looks like a younger version of mine,

She gets my vote !

Rich

Bergkamp63 Both clubs have elite scouts Leicester have a revenue of around £180 million Dortmund €370 million Both clubs have placed themselves as very attractive places for young players to go, earn good money, and use those clubs as springboards in their development, young players know they’ll get opportunities there With quality scouting, there’s no reason we couldn’t do what they do, but on steroids, buying players at the top of the market, and handing out £200k p/w wages isn’t sustainable The main issue for me would be too many fans don’t seem to understand the trajectory of young players,… Read more »

Wiglaf

Champagne CharlieMarch 24, 2021 15:55:02 WiglafYou can disagree, but reality offers a strong case against your claims. If there’s no reason Pepe cant be our Sterling then why hasn’t come close to them in performances and output? Charlie Really? Come on now!! You take Sterling from Liverpool (before city coached him) and drop him at arsenal at the start of last season and I doubt he’s offering Pepe numbers let alone coming close to his own city numbers “Sterling lacks raw technical ability, but he’s a truly elite footballer because his performance levels are insanely good and his production and… Read more »

Thorough

Rich. I’m with you. That we need to unearth gems. I’ll also add that we need to do the hardest job when unearthing gems – knowing which ones to keep. This is where we’ve faltered the most. It’s like we are specialists in letting the wrong players go. The list is endless. Kane is the biggest example. Donyen Malen another. I watched Jao Virginia for Everton against City and he almost look better than their first keeper. Gnabry still grates till tomorrow.. Josh DaSilva for Brendford was another player I loved before he slipped to brendford. Bennacer too an obvious… Read more »

Bergkamp63

Rich, I’m pretty sure every club in Europe and indeed South America believe they have very good / elite scouts, some are unquestionably better than others, there are far bigger clubs than Arsenal, BD & Leicester who are looking for the “next big thing” and none of them are excelling particularly well on that front. Even with budgets far bigger than ours to hire the best in the business, its still a crapshoot in terms of success. Can we do better, for sure, but I still maintain it’s way harder than it looks, if it was easy, RM, Barca, Man… Read more »

Wiglaf

Also charlie
I’m not sure the numbers do back up your argument
Pepe
19 starts, 1679 mins
8 goals and 4 assists or a goal every 2.37 games

Sterling
33 starts 2802 mins
14 goals and 7 assists or a goal every 2.35 games.

Champagne Charlie

Wiglaf See you’re doing what I just said, dumbing down an opponent and talking up someone here that you rate to achieve some ground in a debate. It’s simply not true, or particularly honest. Their respective *numbers* aren’t the basis of the comparison, it’s their lack of team play and ability to better a unit consistently that prevents Pepe being comparable to the best wide forwards in the Prem. Funny that you’ll disregard Sterling’s output down to the fact he plays with better players, but casually miss the fact he’s been a mainstay in the front three of a side… Read more »

Bergkamp63

Sid,

Thanks for that,

Time for your meds or it’s the genital cuff for you !

Kroenkephobe

Thorougb

Eberechi Eze was at Arsenal too. I rate him highly.

Wiglaf

See you’re doing what I just said, dumbing down an opponent and talking up someone here that you rate to achieve some ground in a debate. It’s simply not true, or particularly honest.

Charlie
You call it dumbing down but it’s not. You said that reality doesn’t agree with me and that Pepe doesn’t offer similar output but the stats show he actually does I terms of goals in a hugely inferior side

Rich

Bergkamp63 The difference between ourselves and Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus Is that managers at those clubs, don’t get the luxury of developing a young team, they’ll never be given the time to see the project through, and when fans are back-in the stadium, Arsenal fans may force a manager out before his young team has a chance to mature Fans wanted Erik Ten-Hag at Ajax out, Ajax stuck with him, and he produced one of Europe’s most exciting teams Now he didn’t develop those young players from scratch, but he was brave enough to put them in, and… Read more »

Wiglaf

Just doesn’t wash, at all. He’s not been more than a moments player and in reality he’s delivered massively under what his ability teases, so he’s reduced to cameos because the manager knows his performance levels aren’t good enough to warrant 90 minutes week after week. If they were then he’d be first on the team sheet

Charlie
What like Aubameyang and Willian? Running teams off the pitch those two.
Or could it be that maybe Arteta gets it wrong and doubles down sometimes?

Sean M

Lol we have rattled him! Big up the “TABLE DOESN’T LIE merchants”

Sean M

At the end of the day Arteta’s KPI after 38 games is to finish within the top 4 in the League table. You can have as much XG, XA, “be as high up in the from table since Christmas” as you want the most important thing is the table. Some food for thought. Last season since Arteta took over we were 5th on the “form table” missed top four by 1 point. You said we’re moving in the right direction, coming into this season and that this season we’d finish in the top four. We are now 9th. 29 games,… Read more »

Thorough

Kroenkephobe.
I love Eze too. And I think he’s just warming up to the EPl even.

Wiglaf

You can’t not love Eze
That kid was born to play for arsenal.

Champagne Charlie

Wiglaf You know fine well the whole discussion about Pepe is that he doesn’t offer enough outside of an end product, which itself is fleeting. You’re being densely superficial on comparing the two now to look for a point of comparison which frankly isn’t there. You’ve ignored all other points made and are trying to skew the discussion to a reductive ‘Pepe would produce what Sterling does if he played for Man City’. It’s fucking bogus at every level of scrutiny. Never mind the fact that of Pepe’s 12 goal involvements this season, literally half of them (6) have come… Read more »

Wiglaf

Charlie That’s my point. If you want to integrate a talented player into the team then give him a run. You can expect him to find form off the bench while seeing Willian and Aubameyang played while continually offering less. And Willian is of course a feature. He shouldn’t even be at the club. It’s a fucking disgrace that he’s getting minutes at the expense of any other player in our squad. It’s not like Arteta doesn’t make bad or incorrect choices. He’s been doing it since he took over. Yes he’s got plenty right. But continually overlooking Pepe for… Read more »

Wiglaf

I don’t like Sterling anyway. Bloke irritates me. Even the way he runs annoys me. You won’t get me praising that bell end.

AFC Forever

Pedro “There are the non-believers that point to the table because they have no vision. That is the case here. Emery vs Arteta points comparisons after West Ham highlight that.” There are some funny morons on here. You don’t need to explain how most Arsenal fans feel about things at the moment mate. To be honest, you are wasting your breath on the GroundHog Day types, they are too busy frantically sucking on the teet of negativity & misery. Calling you out because this is’t really about football, it’s a petty point-scoring game. I mean how agendarised do you have… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

There is one lesson to be learned by the Arsenal management before the transfer window opens in June and that is to be “decisive”. We need to generate a transfer budget this summer as will be the case with a lot of other clubs in EPL and Europe. I think that most posters on Le Grove know full well which players should leave or will be in departure lounge, because of the length of current contracts. Let’s start off with players who are currently out on loan. TORREIRA needs to be sold. A realistic transfer fee is £20 million. GUENDOUZI… Read more »

Cazorla

‘What does his wife have to do with it?
Weird one that is.’

It’s not really if you have some semblance of a sense of humour.

AFC Forever

Bergkamp “Can we do better, for sure, but I still maintain it’s way harder than it looks, if it was easy, RM, Barca, Man Utd, Man City, Juventus, PSG, Chelsea, Bayern M would all be churning out superstars for relatively peanuts.” Agree, it’s much tougher. It’s not easy with young players. It’s like an apprentice in any job, they are still learning and their bodies are often not in the right shape. The pressure on managers has never been higher so they can’t wait around for a kid to develop, they need success now. Kids make more mistakes, nothing wrong… Read more »

Wiglaf

Stroller

You do love a regular squad audit don’t you?

La croqueta

“Football is the same. Big clubs look 5 seasons out, not 1. If you have the right person in charge, you keep the faith.”

“you keep the faith.”

Or in other words. “Wenger knows best” or “In wenger we trust”

Also what’s hilarious about this marketing campaign in favour of Arteta is the irony. The irony and how oblivious you are to it. Literally every intangible argument you make for Arteta can be applied to Emery and Wenger. Try it out. Its a like a fun little game!

Cazorla

Where’s Brendford out of interest?

AFC Forever

Cazorla He said: ‘What does his wife have to do with it? Weird one that is”. You said; ’It’s not really if you have some semblance of a sense of humour” Didn’t Wenger once say that everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife? Serious thought, is having an attractive wife any reflection of whether or not you will be successful? I mean, if you’ve got a gorgeous wife at home waiting for you, will you really be putting in three hours of overtime & taking on evening classes to improve your chances of promotion? Or will you be leaving the… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Wiglaf

Yes I do. Arsenal need to offload the deadwood and also make decisions on those in final year of contract.

That means making early decisions and proper planning of transfer window.

Rich

AFC Forever Emery secured 70 points, and we scored 73 goals in his only full season, finishing 5th, and losing a coin toss final against Chelsea That wasn’t the disaster some made it out to be, he also got sacked when we were in 8th, just 5 points off fourth I’m completely onboard with giving managers time to work, and not having a complete meltdown every time we lose I really like Arteta, and want him to be given time, but none of us know if he’ll be given the time he needs, once fans are back in the stadium… Read more »

Cazorla

Haha you’re like Larry David very untrusting of men with hot wives!!

Graham62

AFC Forever

I don’t think there’s anyone on here pining for Emery.

We all knew he had to go.

AFC Forever

Graham62,

Not from what I’ve read mate. I’m not usually one to jump on Managers or players backs but I couldn’t wait to see the back of Emery. The football was so bad. Decent enough bloke, nothing personal.

AFC Forever

Rich, appreciate your comments but it was a disaster. The football was dire and it reminded me of that period in the late seventies early eighties when I stopped wanting to go to games. Terrible football, league position doesn’t show you that.

AFC Forever

Cazorla

“Haha you’re like Larry David very untrusting of men with hot wives!!”

We sat and watched a few of those the other night, Curb Your Enthusiasm, cringeworthy but funny.

Anyway, my wife was a bit of a looker when she was younger, luckily as her looks deteriorated her cooking and cleaning improved. Funny how things change. I still look forward to getting home from the office but nowadays the only thing I want to taste is the culinary delight that is going to be served in front of me, smothered in a hot sauce.

Wiglaf

I wouldn’t marry over cleaning ability

Champagne Charlie

“You can expect him to find form off the bench while seeing Willian and Aubameyang played while continually offering less.“

Aubameyang has played twice as much because he’s offered far, far more than that in his time at Arsenal. Pepe has played 143 minutes less than Willian in the league, 1.5 games. They’ve had the same output and you’re calling Willian a disgrace and Pepe better than Sterling, why? Because you think Sterling is a bellend.

Safe to say you’ve zero objectivity.

Wiglaf

Charlie

Doesn’t matter
He’s (auba) not suited to the system and offers fuck all off the ball. You say Pepe runs down blind alleys? I wish either Willian or auba could at least do that
Auba can’t seem to even trap the ball

Anyway
The point is that Arteta persists with players who are not suited to the system he plays yet benches players who are.

Rich

AFC Forever The football with Arteta was dire before Boxing Day But we rightly backed the manager through difficult times, because a different manager would have inherited the same problems I don’t think Arteta wanted to play with a back 3, neither did Emery, but with the players at their disposal, they both thought it was the best of the available options For all the talk about tactics and managers, it’s the quality of the players and balance of the squad at the managers disposal, who win and lose football games It’s all well and good fans demanding better football,… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Wiglaf

Auba has been our top goal scorer for two seasons, his limited offerings are met with a massively reliable goal scoring outlet.

Pepe isn’t suited to any system we have or he’d be playing, and playing well. He’s doing neither, and has done neither in two seasons. If only he was at City, he’d be rightfully lauded as one of the best in the league instead….

The Bard

I think the angst around Arteta is totally pointless. He needs time for sure but he will only get another season or. If he doesn’t get us into the top 4 he will be sacked. The club can’t afford to be out of contention for too long. The idea that he will be here for years without producing a top team is ludicrous.

Chris

Arteta needs to be backed in this upcoming transfer window. We don’t, and likely can’t, spend millions upon millions on huge names, but just need to make smart investments on 3-5 players in the positions we need strengthening. Cut out the Willian’s and bring in the Odegaard’s.

My main worry is this won’t happen, and that we won’t be able to play less of the mistake offenders because we won’t be able to move them on, or in some cases renew them due to a perceived lack of other options.

Wiglaf

Charlie

I disagree. You’ve not offered any statistical evidence to support your argument either.
Furthermore, amazing how you’ve totally changed tac as I distinctly remember you arguing Zaha’s inferior returns at palace were due to him being at a smaller club and playing with less talented team mates when compared with Pepe.
Anyway
This is going nowhere. You’re too stubborn and I disagree whole heartedly.
Tit tat bla bla bla. Potato, potato.
He’s out of the team. Arteta continues to shoot himself in the foot with alarming regularity and Aubameyang and Leno keep dropping stinkers.

AFC Forever

Rich “For all the talk about tactics and managers, it’s the quality of the players and balance of the squad at the managers disposal, who win and lose football games. It’s all well and good fans demanding better football, but without the players to implement that style, sometimes you need t be pragmatic” Yep agree. The point people often forget is that a Manager can’t always play the way he wants to because the players aren’t able to play that way. A good example was the overhaul Klopp made to play his pressing game and how losing players has resulted… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Where’s Brendford out of interest

Cazorla

It’s in wesd Lonton according to my adlas…

Kroenkephobe

I once went to Griffin Park in the 90s for fun to see their star centre back, a certain Gus Caesar. He had a mediocre game playing for Colchester Utd. which suggested he’d found his level. Great old ground and the four pubs at each corner provided a welcome pre match circuit. I think the Bees won. Looking forward to visiting the new ground when the unmentionable epidemic is over if only to wander down the road and give those pubs another try.

Rich

AFC Forever My point is….. You claim the football with Emery was drab, and I agree, but we still hit 70 points, scored 73 goals, and got to a European final Where we disagree is, I don’t think Emery wanted to play with a back 3 , he’d never done it anywhere else in his career, and was on record that he’d rather play with a back 4 Arteta also started with a back 4, but did the same as Emery, and decided pragmatism was better than trying to play a more expansive style, without the players to implement that… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Wiglaf I haven’t changed tact whatsoever, you’re desperate to make an argument for surface level g/a numbers when it was never the criticism laid at Pepe: “Pepe is latter stages Ozil II, going to have a tenure here that’s super reductive and all about moments.. ‘that pass vs whoever’, ‘he’s scored 3 in 4 starts’ etc. There’s nothing about his all-round game that screams mainstay, he shirks defensive actions, dribbles down blind alleys, loses the ball, takes bad touches, fails to release the pass. He’s the furthest thing from reliable and consistent, which beats unpredictable and flashy 9/10.“ Also, obviously… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Don’t forget saliba back next season … Lol

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Next season

New keeper
Emerson. Saliba. Gabb. Kt
Waste (party). Sander
Pepe. Ode ESR saka
BB Martinelli

Graham

I saw some news Odegard injured in match against Gibraltar?

Colney Gooner

Ødegaard subbed at half time due to ankle injury.

LoveSausage

Rich, To me the difference between the two is about the direction. You may be right that UE and MA have faced similar challenges but I always felt Unai had this small club mentality where we were always on the back foot, lacking ambition, lacking confidence to impose ourselves. And that matters when you’re looking for support. MA is better at those aspects. That’s why he’s been getting more backing. Now the proof will be in the pudding. He needs to start producing results next season. Whatever Pedro says, Amazon’s investors didn’t stick with Bezos because of the vision. They… Read more »

Tony

“Mikel Arteta ‘looking to activate Guido Rodriguez’s £68m release clause this summer’ after ‘closely monitoring’ the Real Betis midfielder in LaLiga Arsenal keen to activate Real Betis’ Guido Rodriguez’s £68million release clause Betis will reportedly retain 25 per cent of the player’s rights even if he leaves Gunners scouts have been ‘closely monitoring’ the player for several months Mikel Arteta will make a move for the 26-year-old when summer window opens” Whether click bait or not I don’t understand why why we’re looking at a 26 year old £68million player (RB bought for £2.5 million) and also wanting to sign… Read more »

Dark Hei

“He might have been the wrong guy for Arsenal, but he’s not the chump you make him out to be” I agree with this. “You’re rightly willing to cut Arteta some slack, but weren’t willing to cut Emery the same slack, even though he did a much better job in the league in his first season” Disagree. Emery lost the dressing room so bad there was no way back. In case you forgot, Emery threw his captain, Xhaka, under the bus. As bad as Xhaka is, you don’t do this to the guy you put in the firing line who… Read more »

Gonsterous

Tony

We really need mislintat 2.0, someone who can unearth gems. Though at the end of the day, it falls to the manager to give these talents the platform to perform in.

It’s not easy to unearth gems, even Wenger got a lot of it wrong. But with the right scouting and head of football, we should be able to get more right than wrong.

Is Rangnick still available?

Tony

“The Premier League’s space race: Man City hiring ROCKET SCIENTISTS to help get the edge over their rivals is just the latest move in a data war… Liverpool have a chess champion, Arsenal use missile tech – but Man United are lagging behind Clubs are developing their technology in a bid to find any marginal advantage Manchester City recently hired a group of astrophysicists to give them an edge Liverpool have recruited a chess champion and a rocket scientist of their own Arsenal are one of a number of clubs who are using missile tracking technology There is need for… Read more »

Tony

Gons We really seem to be on the same page these days with our thinking. If it were easy to find the potential elite players at a young age, every club would have their fill. Cesc was Wenger’s (Caggio) only real elite young find. Emery can’t be judged fairly because he never really got the players he asked for bar maybe KT & Martinelli, (Caggio) but had Pepe & Saliba bought for him and where all needed time to settle to the PL for differing reasons even after Emery was fired. Edu/Arteta? Well there the non negotiated deal with AM… Read more »

Sid

Someone should be sued heavilyif Odes injury vs Gibraltor stops him from playing for Arsenal.

Tony

Tom Bower has signed a 6 figure advance to write about Harry and Megan.

Should be an interesting read.

Bob Woodward and Bower are both excellent investigative writers.

I wondered who would get the deal out of those 2?

Tony
Nelson

I don’t like the way Arteta pushs “injured” players to play. It happened to Partey who hasn’t been 100% for awhile. Now it is happening to Saka also. First of all, he was overplayed. He hasn’t fully recovered and was asked to play the last game. Now he is again injured.

Tony

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/eddie-nketiah-reveals-next-move-23790066

Can’t fault his attitude and belief and maybe could be a late bloomer like Wrighty and Vardy.

Not ready yet and needs to add more to his all round game.

Martinelli should be given a run of games in the near future. He could be a real thorn for the bin dippers’ error prone defence.

Dark Hei

“Tom Bower has signed a 6 figure advance to write about Harry and Megan.”

Harry & Megan, the poor-me celebrity couple.

Modern society is full of entitled privileged broken butt hurt woke wannabes.

Sid

An injury playing against Turkey is acceptable, Gibraltar is not a real country, its a piece of rock

Sid

The Harry & megan drama is the usual bread and circus diversion used by imperialists

Moray

If Arsenal is Amazon, is Chelsea Alibaba?

Moray

@Tony, i heard Man Utd employ gynaecologists…

Sid

Who is toysRUs.com?

Kroenkephobe

Good to see Norway’s players wearing human rights t-shirts last night in protest at the dreadful decision to allow Qatar to host the world cup. Let’s hope there’s a domino effect and momentum gathers to take it away from them (some chance but there ought to be a boycott). International football at its worst. An abominable decision borne out of fifa’s corruption and sports washing. To others, it’ll be woke, virtue signalling, pc-snowflakes standing up to a regime whose only crime was to kill a few thousand migrant workers who were asking for it. There Rich – I got your… Read more »

Cazorla

‘Cesc was Wenger’s (Caggio) only real elite young find.‘

Try harder pleaser Tony.

Vieira, Anelka, Toure, Van Persie, Wilshere, Gnabry, Schezney to name a few of the top of my head.

Can you curb your nightly verbal diarrhea. It’s a nuisance to scroll past a DM dump. If people want to read the DM they’d be on their website, not listening to your misguided analysis of their stories.

Cazorla

Kronkephobe it is virtue signalling from Norway though isn’t it? I agree what’s happened over there with all the deaths and borderline slave labour is disgraceful and it should never have been awarded to them (a WC in a desert ffs), If they felt that strongly they wouldn’t take part and boycott it. So as you said it’s just a woke t shirt that won’t do anything. Should never even have got to building stadiums if they couldn’t comply with one of the most obvious stipulations in the bid…that it can be held in the summer. So corrupt it wasn’t… Read more »

Rich

Kroenkephobe You have no idea what my opinion are about this subject are, as per usual you’re just talking nonsense You’re just fuelled by hatred, have no sense of humour, and are running around the place looking for things to be outraged about, not because you’re really angry about the subject at hand, but because you love to express your virtuousness, whilst feeding the angry little man inside you at the same time Anyone who needs to go this far out of their way to express their virtuousness, and then makes up stories about what they think someone else’s opinion… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Cazorla Yes, of course it is but in some people’s eyes, the act of raising awareness of people who are suffering and who have no means of protesting themselves, is viewed by some on the right as the wrong thing to do. That leads to it being given a less than complimentary name, ie virtue signalling. I agree that t-shirt wearing is like pissing in the wind, but if its a start that leads to a cancellation of the whole sorry circus then it’ll have been worthwhile. Should Odegaard and his mates actually qualify, they’ll be in a pretty tight… Read more »

Captain Tierney

The problem with Auba is Arteta cannot afford to bench him. Reasons being 1- Auba is the captain and commands a lot of respect in the dressing room. If Arteta loses Auba’s respect, there’s a very good chance of a dressing room revolt against th manager. And when you lose the dressing room’s respect, its the same like losing your job. 2- Arteta has has given Auba a MASSIVE deal and he doesn’t wanna look like a fool to the fans and the Kroenkes. Auba is having a bad season. Last season he was finishing half chances at an inexplicable… Read more »

Hitman49

Interesting times ahead……..

These players take a knee every week for rights equality freedom……

Let’s see what they do about the world cup being held in a county that used uses and still does use slavery…! !

Hold on a minute it might hurt their branding…………..hypocrisy at its best…….. game on

Wiglaf

Tierney Auba has been world class at scoring goals for us. No question. Anyone who disputes that is either stupid or lying. My gripe is that his inclusion leaves us with 10 men. There’s no other way to put it. He literally offers nothing outside of goal scoring and he doesn’t do it when it really counts nearly enough. When it comes to the crunch and the pressure is on, this guy melts. He’s no captain. He’s no dressing room leader. And I really don’t think the dressing room would revolt. He was dropped before spurs and we pulled their… Read more »

Nelson

For the 4 forwards spots, Saka and Ode are sure starters. It comes down to ESR, Pepe Laca and Auba for the final two spots. For the Europa Cup game, I would select ESR and Laca. For EPL games, I would rotate in Pepe, Auba and Martinelli, depending on who is more tired or not 100%.

I won’t risk Saka playing those upcoming international games. He is surely not 100%.

Rich

Wearing T-Shirts and taking the knee really is just useless virtue signalling A chance for people to express to other people how virtuous they are, but with zero substance behind their gesture Anyone who was genuinely that outraged, would simply refuse to take part in Qatar, not just in the tournament, but also the qualifiers By wearing a T-Shirt, all they’re doing is showing people they’re completely aware of the human right violations, and that they’re against those human rights violations They’re just not against them enough to do anything but wear a T-Shirt, and definitely not against them enough… Read more »

Leedsgunner

“Auba has been world class at scoring goals for us. No question. Anyone who disputes that is either stupid or lying. My gripe is that his inclusion leaves us with 10 men. There’s no other way to put it. He literally offers nothing outside of goal scoring and he doesn’t do it when it really counts nearly enough. When it comes to the crunch and the pressure is on, this guy melts.” Replace the name Auba with Özil and the word “goals” with “assists” and you’re faced with the same problem. That is, a superstar who has inexplicably lost his… Read more »

Nelson

England U21 will play Switzerland at 10 EST. I am interested to see how Eddie and ESR play in another environment.

Leedsgunner

Nelson

Has Reiss Nelson part of the squad? If not, Arteta has done Reiss a disservice. Nelson should’ve been sent out on loan.

Leedsgunner

*Is

Nelson

“he was always putting the interest of the team first… often to his personal detriment.”

That’s the difference between Wenger and Raul. Raul has no love for the team. He mortgaged our future for his own good and his friends.

Nelson

Reiss Nelson is not selected.

England U21 Attackers:
Rhian Brewster (Sheffield United), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United), Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea), Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven), Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal)

Graham62

There is no way in a zillion years that the WC should have been given to Qatar.

I lived there for seven years from 91-98

Imo every single team/country participating should pull out of the event. It’s not too late.

By participating, your promoting hypocrisy to the extreme.

Leedsgunner

Very few players will put their principles into practice and boycott the World Cup. They will be afraid of being blacklisted for future tournaments.

Easy to wear T-shirts, wear rainbow laces, and bend the knee when virtually nothing is on the line… just jumping on the bandwagon to keep up with the latest trend.

Cazorla

Nelson apart from the start of season footballer are rarely ever 100% fit they will always carry knocks and niggles. Some players are more likely than others to want to play through the pain.

Partey wanted to play that isn’t on the manager if the medical team and player gave the green light.

Cazorla

‘ Say what you want about Wenger, but with the exception of the very last season, I respected Wenger so much because it was clear that he was always putting the interest of the team first… often to his personal detriment.’ Well well well. I have read this blog from afar and this certainly wasn’t your stand point when everything was Wenger’s fault and I mean everything was his fault on Le grove. Anyone could see he put the interests of the club before himself but that didn’t stop the abuse coming from all angles. Some of it justified but… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Cazorla

I was critical of Wenger and his decisions. I felt he overstayed his welcome.

However, I respected the fact that he was a man of conviction and principle.

In the latter years of his tenure I disagreed where his principles were taking the club.

You can do both in my opinion.

Rich

Leedsgunner

Pretty much agree with that, I thought Arsene did an amazing job between 2007-2013, and his work during those years was really underrated

Felt after the FA Cup win in 2017 he should have gone though, unfortunately he lost his magic powers in the transfer market in his latter years

Always respected him, just felt he went on a little bit too long, and the plan that Gazidis had for the post Wenger years was riddled with incompetence, Gazidis then decided to desert the ship he was about to sink, leaving Arsenal captainless, with a couple of pirates onboard

Bob N16

Excellent post Rich, much prefer reading your posts when you don’t stray into politics! Major problem with Wenger was not his footballing principles but his inability to delegate. If he’d had a No2 or dare I say a Director of football to help with contracts, acquisitions etc our eventual decline would probably have been avoided. That being said, there is no parallel universe. Mind you this talk of a player being ‘an Arteta signing’ shouldn’t be used in the same way we referred to ‘a Wenger signing’. Edu has to take responsibility for sales, contracts and acquisitions. There is no… Read more »

AFC Forever

Rich “Wearing T-Shirts and taking the knee really is just useless virtue signalling. A chance for people to express to other people how virtuous they are, but with zero substance behind their gesture. Anyone who was genuinely that outraged, would simply refuse to take part in Qatar, not just in the tournament, but also the qualifiers” Bang on. Knocked it out of the park. I don’t like getting political but this is so true. The Human Rights abuse in Qatar has been going on for years but the virtue signallers have never shown any interest in it. That’s because they… Read more »

Nelson

Cazorla

You are entitled to your opinion. For me, our team would be better off if we had a fit Partey for the past few months. Whatever the cause is, I was not satisfied.

Graham62

AFC Forever.

Spot on.

I’d vote for you.

AFC Forever

Cazorla “Anyone could see he put the interests of the club before himself but that didn’t stop the abuse coming from all angles. Some of it justified but most of it unnecessary and over the top” This is true. Sometimes you forget the good about people and over time they become unfairly demonised. Wenger was a brilliant manager and a class act who took on the antiquated British Football Culture and won. Once the Invincibles team broke up, the club became a top-four side and with the stadium and the Russian around the corner, things were about to change drastically.… Read more »

AFC Forever

Graham62

Thanks.

LoveSausage

AFC Forever,

Agreed re: Wenger. As much as the man frustrated me from 2010 onwards, he transformed us and English football. That said, I wish I hadn’t read his book. I was expecting a glimpse of that greatness from the good old days but it was the opposite. He came across as a supremely stubborn and entitled man with zero interest in how football has changed, why certain things played out the way they did etc. Sad, really.