ARTETA STAYING. WHAT IS VINAI DOING TO PROTECT HIM FROM FAILURE?

by .

Hard to go too deep on nothing games at this stage of the season, but downing Sam Allardyce to his first-ever relegation was certainly a little bit of sweetness after 9 months of mostly sour. Watching him take a back seat in the dugout chewing gum like he was Simon Cowell judging a string quartet of feral cats was quite amusing.

Additionally, it was a game of world-class goals. We largely controlled the game, key players stepped up like Smith Rowe and Saka, and there were some surprise star performances… namely from Willian, who created 4 chances and fizzed a stunning freekick in for our third.

There were frustrations with Arteta getting his line-up mostly correct. The biggest one being that Bukayo Saka unsurprisingly delivered a masterclass at left-back. He was a destroyer all game. His defending was sound, but his runs from deep were perfect, and his final balls deserved more than the return he managed. Arteta was pretty pissed after the game when he was asked if he regretted building a galaxy brain plan around Granit Xhaka these past few weeks, his answer was, NO. I’d be shocked if that were the truth behind closed doors, if it is, we have big, big problems.

There was also another sad reality. The midfield of Dani Ceballos and Mo Elneny, for a second week running, was far better than anything we put out against Villareal. You can laugh at that, but the lesson here is that we should have played a normal starting 11 without any LOOK AT ME ideas. Newcastle were totally nullified last week, sure, they’re not great, but they scored 4 past Leicester at the weekend and beat them. Against West Brom, it wasn’t exactly elite, but the basic structure allowed our forwards to be more involved in the game and create genuine chances.

Gabriel Martinelli started as a #9, he wasn’t that great, but you know what, I’ll take that from a player who hasn’t been given a run. We know he’s explosive on his day and I’d prefer to bet on potential than see Lacazette in a game like that.

There are still some oddities out there. Dani Ceballos, whilst not offensive today, is exiting the club at the end of the season. Did we need to see him playing again? I don’t understand why we didn’t use the dead nature of the season to have a go with someone else. Same with the bench. Flo Balogun was signed to be part of the first team next season, what does the guy have to do to get a place on the bench?

It’s also really interesting that Cedric has been moved so far down the pecking order. I have no problem with Cal Chambers, but it’s odd that he takes the place over a real right-back considering how sure Arteta was when we signed him.

Arteta’s press conference was revealing. I have watched every single piece of media of him over the last year, so I know the patterns. Firstly, his abrupt answer on the Xhaka/LB question set the tone for a conference that rapidly declined in mood. His dark eyes indicated a sleepless week. Then he was asked how good it was that ESR ‘scored the first of many Premier League goals,’ his answer was very familiar. He was agitate, he used the question to make a point about our season. He ran with the story about how he needed to be landing 15 goals and 15 assist to hit the top, and that his one goal is an indicator how messed up our squad is. It was an odd answer, made even worse by his praise of Willian who already ‘done it’ at the highest level.

People jumped to his defence because they read the quotes and didn’t hear the tone. It was a typical response where he uses the stick on young players. Arsene would have said ‘I’m happy, this is hopefully the start of many more.’ Arteta has a habit of not demanding the same standards of his senior players in press conferences. It’s a real weakness in his otherwise very honed PR skills. The issue is he doesn’t just talk like that, he manages that way. Gabriel has a bad half of football and he’s dropped for 3 months, other players are allowed to constantly stink out the starting 11.

That leads me to my next point. Mikel Arteta is here to stay, that is how it’s going to happen bar something very curveball. He said in the week he needs to be ruthless this summer. There is going to be a test of that very soon.

David Luiz.

This is the big one. The player is a mistake machine. He has been since he joined. On his day, he’s one of the best, but let’s be real, since he arrived, we have cratered as a football club. He has lost his pace, he is now picking up injuries, he wasn’t good enough for Chelsea, he makes mistakes, gives away penalties and has a collection of red cards that make him a hall of famer.

… what will Arteta do?

We know Edu is probably already lining up a new deal because he’s clueless. But in a ruthless high-performance environment, how can there be space for him? William Saliba is the future, he can move at speed, he’s great with the ball at his feet, do we honestly think he’d make more mistakes than a 34-year-old David Luiz who is racking them up for fun?

Ruthless is moving on the past even if there’s a short term bit of pain.

Ruthless is seeing beyond reputation.

Ruthless is doing things the hard way.

Now, of course, the bigger question is whether Vinai is going to go down the route of letting Edu decide the summer again. These decisions about the future of Arsenal should be made by someone who is going to be here for 5 years, I have my doubts Edu is that guy. Arteta shouldn’t have choice on Luiz, Edu should be the one making the big calls, but he was demoted.

That means Vinai needs to step up to the plate. We know he’s not been able to muster the courage to stop a lot of bad things happening to Arsenal over the past year. He made 50+ people redundant before signing Willian to a 3 year deal on £250k a week (double the amount he could get anywhere else). An exec that has lived through the Ozil debacle jumped right into another one without asking a single question. He then moved on the Gunnersaurus… breaching the biggest rule on redundancies, do them in one sweep so as not to appear cruel.

He needs to find some courage this summer and get his reputation back on track.

The biggest question that needs to be answered is this: What is the truth of the failings?

He cannot get to that by asking Edu and Arteta. He needs to do the hard work. Those two are in the gutter with regards to their efforts this season. The next 6 months are crucial, what is totally clear from a CEO perspective is that we need an intervention because the current track has tanked.

Some areas to ponder.

Is the management style of Arteta improving team spirit or cratering it?

The squad looked petrified against a bang average side last Thursday. Last year, we beat City and Chelsea to win the FA Cup. What happened to the fighting spirit? Things tend to get better as ideas settle, they have declined here. There must be a cause. What is it? Are we sharing that information with Arteta? I know not everything can be compared to corporate America, but generally, new leaders come with bad ideas of what leadership should be, why? Because no one is a natural. Everyone needs to work on it. People don’t know they are doing things wrong unless they are told. Football coaching is no different.

What value is the coaching staff delivering to the squad?

That question should be answered by speaking to the players, the analysts, the manager and the technical director. Because there is not a world where they are all hitting the mark, otherwise we’d be in better shape. Bernd Leno has been terrible, why? If he wants out, what can we do to change that? Who is challenging terrible ideas? Or worse, fully endorsing them. It’s important information because the only way rookie appointments work is if the teams around them counter the weaknesses. RB Leipzig know how to do that, we do not.

What could Arsenal be doing better?

We have seen some pretty horrendous ideas implemented at Arsenal that you and I could have stopped with just 5 years of watching Arsenal as our qualification. There is usually a reason bad ideas go to market. Vinai needs to find out why this keeps happening. He should be speaking to everyone at the club to find out what could be done better and see if there are consistent patterns. There ALWAYS are. Identify them, communicate them, implement better ways of working so the organisation improves.

What does the self-assessment reveal?

I would ask Arteta and Edu where it went wrong and what they think they need to be better at their jobs. Maybe it has happened, but I wouldn’t bet on it though, I’ve watched Arsenal leadership let failing staff decline in performance with zero intervention for years. It’s part of the KSE leadership training course, rule number one: Question nothing, never intervene, let talent see out their ideas until the death. It’s quite staggering how little action happens when things are going badly off the rails.

The reason we are failing, 100%, is not just a money issue. Better players always improve outcomes, but we have seen some really iffy stuff this season. Vinai should find out how aware the two most important football staff are of their failings and then decide if a bigger intervention is needed… because Arsenal simply cannot sanction a big summer without assurances on what went wrong and what needs to change to avoid a 3 months like the one Emery oversaw in year 2.

A football operation is a machine. There are things that make the machine tick. But like all machines, things break down and it impacts output. Arsenal is notorious at letting the machine fail. Vinai needs to be a more active CEO, a mechanic if you will, he needs to be nosier about what is going on, he needs to crack the spanner.

  • Find your 99 problems.
  • Distil them down to the 3-5 big themes. The truth of this season if you will.
  • Design ways out of the problems.
  • Implement them.
  • Check the ways are working
  • Repeat.

The idea that we’re going to roll into the summer and treat the devastation of the last 9 months as a blip is not wild assumption from me, it’s how we’ve operated for a decade. It needs to change. If heads aren’t going to roll, then truth needs to be found, rough edges need sanding, and a new way of working needs to happen right away.  If it doesn’t, we’ll be well on our way to replicating the last managerial exit and we’ll be welcoming Roberto Martinez and his ‘experience’ to the carpet.

Let’s hope change is coming, it’s needed.

P.S. Listen to my damn podcast with Johnny.

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Rich

Transfer window runs from 9th June to 31st of August this year, 12 weeks of everyone whipping themselves up into a frenzy

Season kicks off the weekend of Aug 14th

I’m taking a 10 week Arsenal break from May 24th until Aug 9th, we sign who we sign, and we sell who we sell, I’ll reserve my dissatisfaction and angst until I check our squad list

Pierre

How sad is it that it took an academy player to come in and show players like pepe, Aubamayang, Lacazette, ceballos and Partey how to play the game. Smith Rowe’s link up play with saka was/is a joy to see.. I have said all along that I don’t believe our academy players and Martinelli have an on field relationship with the experienced players. Saka has done his best but his game went up a level as soon as Smith Rowe arrived on the scene. For me , it has to be one or the other when we talk about keeping… Read more »

Ishola70

Almuniasaynomore
“Gunnersaurus saved from the breadline”

A truly beautiful moment.

Ishola70

Pierre

Tell us the really significant results we had and played really well in this period you keep rabbiting on about.

Marc

Pierre

And why don’t the academy players have an on field relationship with the senior players?

Could it have anything to do with the manager?

Habesha Gooner

I am hugely frustrated by the Arteta debate. And how much some fans defend him. Wenger for all his faults would get a better tune out of this team. Didn’t we get rid of Wenger to get better? Didn’t we want to get a manager who is a step up? We always knew replacing a legendary manager no matter how bad it got was going to be a tough task. And it would take a lot of trials to get a step up. And sadly we have hired two managers who ended up being worse than him. Now we need… Read more »

Samesong

Pierre used that players name so.much he’s actually censored it 😆 Why don’t you give us a future creative player that can fit into our squad now rather than being stuck in the past? And not ESR

Champagne Charlie

Being told I can’t debate anything properly from a guy that’s fresh back from his 8/9th ban for being argumentative and intolerant of others.

Wonders never cease. Oh sorry, you were banned for ‘nothing’ again I’m sure. Proper little victim.

Ishola70

I’m waiting for Pierre to tell us at least one or two matches where we not only won but played really well to go with it against a really significant opponent when it mattered in this period that was so good before covid struck and this over spilling creativity the team had but then missed later on.

Samesong

The good old le Grove. How you doing Marc? how was detention?

Ishola70

lol Pierre thinks we were golden before covid struck.

And we were golden due to high creativity just dripping from the team.

Marko

Just a constant struggle from you Charles it’s okay

Pierre

Ishola
“Please tell us one really significant result Arsenal had over this period you keep talking about and a breathtaking performance overall with your man Ozil involved and at the heart of it.”

United 2-0 springs to mind…a team that included AMN, Kolasinac, Sokratis, Torreira , Ozil , Guendouzi and Nelson…

I’m not sure if we have performed better in the 15 months since that fantastic night.
7 of the players who contributed to that superb performance are nowhere to be seen now.

Marc

Samesong

I’m good my friend – how’s life treating you?

Ishola70

Pierre

Man United were shit then and at one of their lowest ebbs although of course its always great to beat them.

That all you got?

Is this your golden period under Arteta that was dripping with creativity from the side before covid struck?

Not very convincing is it.

Marc

Pierre

You seem to put forward arguments that lead to Arteta’s terrible but I haven’t seen you call for him to be replaced.

Pierre

“That all you got?”

Ha, Ishola doing his very best impression of monty pythons”what have the Romans ever done for us”.

Almuniasaynomore

Some goal by soyuncu, proper defender’s header in the box.
Liverpool must be cracking up, utd playing the reserves tonight and will play first team against them on Thursday.

Ishola70

Of course our most significant results under Arteta to date beating Chelsea and Man City in the FA Cup had no Ozil involved and of course no significant standout creativity from Arsenal in those games either.

TR7

Fabrizio : Arsenal are still planning together with Arteta: Hector Bellerin has huge chances to leave the club in the summer, confirmed. Arsenal will sign a new right back. ⚪️🔴 #AFC

Lucas Torreira is expected to leave Arsenal too [no official proposals from Boca as of today]. 🇺🇾

Tom

People surprised Arteta isn’t going anywhere is the only surprise.
Kroenke might not know much about the EPL football but the loyalty to the cause, the cause in this instance being his bottom line, is something he’s an expert at assessing.
And nothing says to him Arteta is his guy like his advocating for players’ pay cut as well as taking one himself.

This Arteta move puts buying Gazidis a watch in its proper perspective.
He sure is a quick study how to advance up the ladder.

Marc

Tom

Small problem with your argument. Arteta might have saved the club a few million with the pay cut but his job was to get us back into the CL earning the club £80 million a year instead he’s dropped us out of the EL reducing our revenue by a further £30 odd million plus something like a 15% reduction in season ticket revenue etc.

Pierre

Marc I’m not very impressed with Arteta at all . Besides the obvious, he has made too many crap decisions(too many to name) and yes I do blame him for the lack of creativity. I think his decision to play Odegaard in the no.10 role ahead of Smith Rowe is poor and affected saka as well as Smith Rowe. I think his system/tactics for the 2 semi finals were head scratchers. Will he learn from his mistakes ..doubtful The club will move him on if the season starts poorly so no point in calling for him to be sacked At… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

I hope that new Right back is Max Aarons. He is English, young and good. We could do with him instead of Bellerin. I hope chambers is also being played to be in the shop window too. We need to balance the squad.

Marc

Pierre

I’ve got to agree on Arteta but it’s not just his tactics / teams selections etc. 2 of our players have a fight on the training ground – not good but they happen, Arteta’s response is to start an enquiry into who leaked it to the press and tells the press he’s doing it.

Compare that to Tuchel – 2 Chelsea players have a burst up and he draws a line under what happened with a joke.

It really isn’t a fun time at the moment.

Almuniasaynomore

Robbie Savage said Pep was the best manager in the premier lge ever, Ferdinand challenged him obviously, then Savage said he was taking into account his achievements at Barca! It hurts my brain to listen to him speak.

Ishola70

So Rod-gers has basically sealed his CL place for Leicester tonight. Congratulations to him and Leicester. Don’t know why he gets slagged on here by some really. May be to do with a bit of jealousy. Leicester have been in the CL places virtually all season and they played eight matches in this seasons Europa League and their best EPL form was when they were still in the Europa League participation so this notion that european football kills an EPL season specifically Europa League is shown to be the crock of shit that it always was. It’s about the managers… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

United lose to Leicester which puts a major dent in Liverpool’s CL hopes?

I’m shocked.

Tom

Marc
True, but only if you believe it was Arteta’s fault and we don’t know that that’s what Stan believes.
The loyalty part, however , is beyond reproach.

Globalgunner

Arsenal are loyal to managers the way flies are loyal to shit

Dela Mere

Tuchel was the obvious replacement but Arsenal have a joke board running this shitshow.

Dissenter

Leicester may break away from us if they make the type of signings that only CL clubs can makle
Soumare being a prime example.

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