ARSENAL POWER STRUCTURE CAUSING HAVOC

by .

It’s depressing to be at the despair stage of the season after one game, but here we are, things are not looking particularly sharp at the club at the moment. The rumblings around the organisation aren’t positive, the players look unhappy on the pitch, and there are lots of rumours leaking out that indicating preseason has been a disaster.

The immediate concern is short-term. There are a number of things going on at the moment that need control if we’re going to have a better season.

Firstly, it feels like someone needs to pull Arteta and his crew to one side and talk a bit about accountability. There seems to be an almost Trumpian air about Mikel Arteta at the moment and it has to stop. I’ll cite three things that I’ve found disturbing over the past week.

That press conference. I’m sorry, unacceptable for a rookie manager to sulk in public. His behaviour sets the tone for how the fans feel, and more importantly, how the players feel. Complaining in public about the lack of movement with half-baked answers and a sullen vibe just won’t fly. It’s what children do and that’s how I felt seeing that carry-on.

Arteta needs to own the issues. This magical system he’s building cannot be two players away from banging. His right back problem is on him, he told us Cedric Soares has special qualities. His lack of cash for forwards is on him, he sanctioned Auba and Willian. This summer of dithering at least has to be partly on him. Odegaard is his choice, by opting for him, he accepted he wouldn’t have a #10 before the window. He’s got to own this versus finger-pointing about the things he doesn’t have. If your system is one injury away from hell, then maybe the system you are building isn’t very robust?

Can I do forthly? Let’s talk about leaks. Someone at the club is putting stories into the media that are very unhelpful. The latest is that the club has been underwhelmed with Auba’s preseason output. Sorry, cannot have that. This shows the naivety of operators we have at the club. No one is signing Auba on £350k a week, no one. So leaking he’s available is next to useless. All it does is depress the player and worse… it tells the squad, that like in a Trump cabinet position, once you are no longer useful to the manager, it’s the scrap heap for you. Think about the mindset of whoever shared that story… ‘Let’s tell the world Auba had a shite preseason and we want him out’… hardly an appetising advert for one of the best-paid players in the world.

Arteta played a role in this. When he was asked if Auba could get back to his best, he said he didn’t know. An embarrassing answer, that for me felt like he was preparing an excuse as to why the season might go off the rails. Wenger would have said, ‘this is one of the most clinical strikers in world football. He has had some problems, but I promise you, he will be back and prove the doubters wrong.’ Same thing with Willian. I get that he’s been appalling, but you know who pushed that deal? Arteta. Now he’s trying to reverse out of owning that decision, and once again, the player has been binned. 

Where is Josh K here? That’s £600k a week worth of investment in two players over 30 and the manager that went hard for both deals is walking away from the players. It is unacceptable and extremely immature. 

For me, this mess we’re in all stems from the promotion we gave Arteta last season. The Spaniard land grabbed because he knew Edu was weak, and Vinai caved. Now you have this dreadful structure where no one is accountable. When no one is accountable in an equal power structure, you invite cliques… because every decision becomes a power struggle where the loudest voices win.

Who is responsible for the lack of players this window? Is it Edu, who we know drives home deals even if they are shit? Or is it Arteta dithering over names in the hope that better ones come along? Who is the captain of the ship here?

Vinai has to shoulder a chunk of the blame here because it would appear that after a disaster of a season, no additional controls were put on Arteta and we’re careening into another nightmare scenario praying he can be the rockstar Wenger was. Wenger was 47 when he took over Arsenal, he’d gone through the authoritarian stage, he’d been sacked, he’d built a bottom of the table club back up to the top in Japan… Arteta cannot be expected to take over a more complex operation and do all the bits.

As any of you reading who work in big corporate business will know, things like over-promoting happen all the time. You put someone junior in control of too much, they panic under the stress, they kick out at the system, they blame people, and make the lives of their subordinates hell. When you see it happening, you don’t let it slide. You get to the truth of the problem, then you sit the person down, you tell them that you are going to take away some bits of the job and allow them to focus on a few key elements. It is not a tough conversation to have if you have evidence where the person is failing.

It was absolutely clear the ‘manager’ role ruined the progress we were making the season prior. Did Vinai scale back Arteta’s job? Did anyone look at the team that surrounds him and make suggestions of upgrades? Did anyone deep dive into the goalkeeping mess and ask him what he was doing about it? Did anyone suggest bringing in some fresh thinking?

No. It didn’t happen. It looks like gridlock in the backroom team and it sounds like Arteta is throwing Edu under the bus for not getting the deals done that he wanted. That does not feel like the sort of thing that goes on when there’s a tight working relationship.

If you and I can see backroom politics spilling out onto the shop floor, can you imagine what is actually going on behind the scenes?

The idea of hiring a young and innovative coach was an exciting one and it could have worked, but it was executed with naivety. If you take a punt on someone young, you control who is around them and you limit their power. Just like RB Leipzig did with Nagelsmann. You don’t promote a rookie after 6 months. Arsenal shouldn’t have put an inexperienced Technical Director above him and they certainly shouldn’t have downgraded the power of that role so soon. These are super simple things that should have been foreshadowed. When there’s a lack of leadership in an organization, power vacuums open up, and people that lack maturity run riot and the business lacks coherence.

Our keeper, central midfielder, and our right back all wanted out. We have been trying to find a buyer for Lacazette, someone at Arsenal is leaking that we are disappointed with our captain. Our big summer bet of last year has been binned off and told to find a new club. There are rumors flying around that there is unrest at the training ground. We can’t even handle the illness rumors properly, whatever it is, it’s better to be upfront about it rather than let it fester as something more nefarious. Leicester just came out and owned that Bertrand had covid, why haven’t we been given and update on Auba, Lacazette, and Runarsson? 

Good leadership would prevent things like the above from happening. The passivity and willful inaction is now part of our DNA. We didn’t manage Wenger properly and let him spend his way to mediocrity, no one in leadership paid a price for that. We didn’t manage the transfer of power from Ivan to the dual CEO model and let Raul take over and do some really bad things. Then when that all went to hell and we found what looked like a promising model, we crushed it by breaking the hierarchy and creating a dual power structure in the footballing backroom team. It beggars belief that we can’t do better than this, but until we stop hiring people based on convenience, and start hiring people with a vision and an iron fist to activate it, we’ll be here, swimming around in a messy unstructured model hoping something clicks by accident.

These next two games are going to be telling. If we lose both of them, we’re back to last seasons run of game, this time, it’ll end in a firing. Where do we go then? You think Arsenal are finding £15m a year for Conte, or that he’d be interested after turning down Spurs? No way. We’d be back to trusting a Technical Director whose best ideas come from his super agent buddies. 

It’s dark time ahead if Arteta really is causing as many problems as the rumours would suggest. Let’s pray to the footballing gods that the Brentford loss has inspired some action and some solves. Otherwise, this could be yet another messy year of painful transition football. It’s so disappointing because this whole situation could have been managed better if someone had the foresight to structure the right team and processes.

Right, see you in the comments.

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Mb

On a different note, how many of you think we will have at least a player scoring 10 goals? Who would it be?

I don’t think anyone except Laca would achieve it, if he plays long enough of the season.

Muppetman

There is no defending that xhaka extension. Bloke shouldn’t be in team let alone captain. That shows you everything about the ambition of the football club. So many games are won in midfield which is why we lose so many at the moment as it’s so weak

Matt

It’s like the club are actually going out of their way to mug off the fans. We are the complete and utter laughing stock of the league.

Everyone involved in decisions that have got us into this state should be absolutely embarrassed and sacked, but this is Arsenal so of course that wont happen.

I don’t think I ever felt this disillusioned with the club – even in the latter Wenger years.

China1

Yeah that sums it up perfectly that every loves xhaka except the fans

And why is that?

DigitalBob

I think something must be happening at the club. I’ve just been offered another season ticket? I’ve also been told tickets are on general sale for the Arsenal vs Chelsea game. I mean that’s normally one of the big home games that would have been sold out weeks in advance so the fact that tickets are still available shows where fan sentiment is at the moment,

Habesha Gooner

There goes a new contract for Xhaka. FFS. How much are we paying him? We already knew it was a 100k a week. Now with a slight increase? He was willing to be paid half when he went to Roma. WTF. Nobody pays absolutely average players like we do. United pay ridiculous wages but they pay it for classy players for example. Both one will pay Xhaka 100k+ wages anywhere. I am so pissed because Arteta isn’t going to stay that long and he is making long term decisions. This is the third stupid contract he has given that will… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

No one* both one

redbro14

It is now very very clear what needs to happen. An entire new management team with experience and cutting edge knowledge of how to get the best out of the team we have and project a healthy path towards our future. This regime has been nothing short of disaster. Just when we thought it could not get worse, it did. We can all see the ineptitude, in all departments, colossal mistakes that will haunt us for years to come. Change it now, get some proper football people in please. We are a complete joke now, you can’t treat this awesome… Read more »

Duzie

Please kindly fuck off with the Wenger suggestions. Stockholm syndrome vibes!

Danny

Years ago when a team would score/take the lead against us, I used to get so angry that once at Highbury I punched the sit in front of me (it was empty) and fucked up my hand really badly but nowadays e.g. when Brentford scored their first, it didn’t even move me, no emotion, nothing, just a numbness and it’s been like that for awhile now. We need an owner who gives a fuck. Kroenke does give us money but because he doesn’t understand anything connected with Arsenal, it’s wasted on cunts like Edu, Arteta, Raul, Gazidis, etc. I mentioned… Read more »

Moray

That Xhaka contract is the last straw.

The willock money spunked on a shit, slow player with a bad attitude.

And now he’s blocking our addition of speed, strength and goals in midfield.

And we dropped 50m on a small CB we don’t need.

Josh should sack himself if he isn’t ending this madness NOW. Otherwise this mess will get worse and more expensive before it ends. We also have Willian, Auba and Cedric ageing on long contracts. This is fuxking us till 2024-25 even if Tets does go now.

China1

Habesha just wait for bellerin to get a whopping new deal!

China1

Bellerin will no doubt be convinced to stay for an extra 30k a week for 3 more years. It’s a reward for his great service

Matt

I’ve just realised that in the two posts since the loss, Pedro has not mentioned the performance of White. I wonder if his opinion that he was the signing we needed is starting to waiver already.

Out of the three signings of Varane, Romero and White, who wants to wager on which one will be the least successful?

Moray

While the club implodes, 26m pound man, Lucas Torreira is on the log flume at Alton Torres…

DivineSherlock

I am taking a break from Arsenal and Legrove . This Granit Xhaka extension is the last straw for me sorry . I cannot fathom this apalling decision , a player who has been mediocre for us for years and you reward him and sell the player who grew up here was young and dedicated scored goals on a loan and proved himself , what more do you need to know about this pathetic group of charlatans at our club .

Matt

Divine

I think a lot of people feel like that at the moment. Very sad indeed and I can only see it getting worse!

Guernsey+gun

Dark times for arsenal, the willock money ploughed into a completely unnecessary contract extension for a guy who wanted out. The kroenkes are as thick as shit if they cant see the criminal mismanagement of resources at the club.

Leftside

Digitalbob, yes lots of people not taking up their season tickets. I renewed mine because I waited a long time to get one initially and I’m certain that Arteta will be shown the door soon and it can’t get much worse than this. The Arsenal v Chelsea game on general sale is beyond shocking though. That will definitely raise eyebrows and make these greedy liars take notice. We were told we would have a big clear out, with additions required and now when Arteta is questioned on that, he retorts that his focus is making the players he has better.… Read more »

Leedsgunner

Why has Arteta re-signed Xhaka?

He is dull, average, one dimensional and utterly predictable.

A bit like he was as an Arsenal player… and a yes man to the hilt.

It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if PEA is stripped of the captaincy and it’s given to Xhaka.

If it is, Arsenal under Arteta has surpassed even Wenger level of self paradox, self parody and disrespect to the shirt and the fans who love the club.

Paulie

Have to agree with the guy saying he’s taking a break over the xhaka extension. It’s just a step too far after they completly messed up the transfer window again. It hurts too much to watch these guys destroying the club, it’s beyond words now.

China1

Haha Moray the thought of it is hilarious and it’s worse that’s it’s even true 😂😂😂😂

The Bard

Leftside; A half empty, angry Emirates will force Kroenke’s hand one way or another. We may well be playing like a midtable side but Arsenal are a big club and the fans wont stand for it. The trouble is the club has sunk so far it needs huge investment to just stop the rot. Has Kroenke got the money and/or the will ? Im not too sure.

China1

Tbf if we didn’t offer xhaka a pay rise all those other teams battling for his signature might have offered him higher wages

🤣

China1

Thoughts and prayers for ishola when he gets the news

China1

Pub quiz: How many footballers in world professional football history have been captain of a major team, told their own fans to fuck off, been reinstated into the team, given the armband again and given a new contract and a pay rise?

Please don’t tell me there’s literally just one. Can someone please reassure me this isn’t a world first

China1

This scenario passes kallstrom levels of bants

Valentin

China,

You meant higher wage cut not higher wage!

The guy is willing to take a 40% wage cut to get away from Arteta, so we offer a small 30% increase to convince him to stay.
Somewhere A&E try very hard to up on Peter Risdale’s school of negotiation tactics.
Risdale: I was the best player contract negotiator in the premiership.
Edu: Hold my beer!

Arteta and Edu are really the real life dumb and dumber in charge at Arsenal.

China1

Val I was joking but yeah

Like I said this is the first time that kallstrom levels of bants have been surpassed

raptora

I’m 100% that Almunia’s top class sketch comedy is closer to the actual reality than not. No way there is anyone as dumb as the managing figures at the Arsenal. 100% Auba has sulked because he’s been stuffed with promises of UCL football, competing for trophies, and adding class players. Instead, we are playing as worse as we’ve ever have and no class additions but maybe White were brought. Of course that he will sulk. Yes, he wants to collect his insane salary, but he would also like to have some good last years in the game. Playing for Arteta… Read more »

Mee

Xhaka been given an extension is Arteta telling us “Fuck you!” He knows his time is up and he will go down spitting in our faces and flipping us.

China1

If we look past what a shite deal this is, most disappointingly it shows *again* how out of touch the club is when you see the reaction of the fan base

After the super league debacle one would’ve hope they had even a semblance of self awareness that pissing off the fans is a bad move. Since then they neither know nor care that they continue to do the same

Valentin

Most senior players want to leave because of their interaction with Arteta. They don’t believe whatever BS he is selling them and they have seen up close and personal how his meritocracy really works.

Do people really think that only players have been on the receiving end of Arteta temper? Clearly other members of the club staff must have been the victims of Arteta passive aggressive behaviour. I look forward when those shenanigans are publicly exposed.

Chris

Is this Xhaka extension actually signed, sealed and delivered?

Almuniasaynomore- How about a song about this of the same title by the great Stevie Wonder? Apt as even Stevie would see Xhaka is a one paced liability in our midfield.

The Xhaka extension – If this is true, my goodness. I’m lost for words. Why does this club do what it does?

China1

I actually feel a bit sorry for xhaka because if we tank the start of this season as expected the emirates is going to be toxic and I think he will be a target for the fans anger because he represents the club’s bs so aptly

But it’s not his fault the club are dumb enough to do this. Not sure the fans will care tho if we’re 2 goals down against Chelsea or city

raptora

Chris,
Yes.

@FabrizioRomano 3h
Granit Xhaka deal, completed and confirmed. Contract signed until June 2025 with increased salary after AS Roma talks collapsed weeks ago. 🔴 #AFC

salparadisenyc

Struggling to find many positives, is anything Arsenal doing making sense?

raptora

sal,
Nope. It’s a shitfest.

Rambo

“Struggling to find many positives”

Many? Surely you should be going for the word “any”

Gonsterous

I wonder what goes on inside the head of most arsenal fans. Why would conte join this shit show (fking don’t say we have history and sleeping giant and those other bs) We have no money to spend, we spent 50m this window and now we have to sell to buy. Conte left inter because he wasn’t backed financially, what makes you think he will be financially backed at arsenal? Conte is a serial winner, he doesn’t have time to come to arsenal and develop academy graduates and hope we win a title after 5 years. That’s not his MO.… Read more »

Zfree

The summer we brought in mustafi, xhaka and Perez seems like the point the slowly sinking ship really started to list heavily.

Can’t believe this bit of business. How is anything Arteta or Edu want being sanctioned right now? They are gone inside 3 months!!

curse

it’s so weird diet Pepsi and edu both being midfielders with emphasis on playing out from the back but to date only have one midfielder capable of beating a press.

Sambi can do it I think but he’s green, absolute madness, especially knowing Partey loves an injury. why they haven’t pushed the button on Aouar, an 8 that can beat a press is anyone’s guess.

till they fix the heartbeat the body will continue to get ill, like Auba.

Jim Lahey

Arteta will hold on for dear life, he has to know that once he is sacked by Arsenal he will never have another managerial job again, the man is nothing but a Spanish Garry Neville.

Also, the extension of Xhaka’s contract is a fucking joke. It is no coincidence that our meteoric downfall coincides with Xhaka’s time with the club.

Gonsterous

Curse

Yes I agree
Though he has his baggage, aouor seems to be the most logical step.
Technically good, and exactly what we are missing in the middle of the park.

Habesha Gooner

China
FFS. Don’t manifest a bellerin extension. Just let him walk out the door silently. There are rumors we are in talks with Barcelona for emerson royal. That would be a great deal even if we paid a bit of money on top of bellerin. But knowing this leadership, none of it will happen. The easiest and obvious deals have been shelved. Onana, Aouar were the cheapest most quality signings we could have done. But no, they have to be smart.

CG

Has Edu seriously been posting Sunday BBQ fotos again?

Or this just my imagination?

Matt

The fact that nobody has signed Aouar for the £20 million he is apparently available for tells you a lot about his baggage. I have no doubt he would improve us ability wise (not hard), but bringing someone with a questionable temperament into this current team is a recipe for disaster. He will be downing tools quicker than you can say ‘trust the process’.

Gonsterous

Matt

It’s a gamble that could back fire. If arteta can’t handle guebdouzi, I don’t think he can handle any player with character.

Lacaqualidie

Xhaka extension is the final straw. Spending 50m on a defender we don’t need and neglecting the midfield whilst paying the player Brentford targeted because he’s so crap is total negligence.

What the hell is going on at the club? It’s almost as if they are trying to fail. Personally I don’t see anything changing until the club is worth less than what the Kroenkes paid for it.

Negative Nigel

The Hacker extension if true has prob signed Artetas death warrant as a manager.Clueless as to how the fans feel.You’d be hard pressed in The Arsenal fandom world to find half a dozen who’d back that insane decision.Particularly after trying to offload him all summer.The midfield is on its knees.It’s common knowledge it needs 2/3 different type players to stand any chance of improvement.Yet this.Well be it on their heads.Just speeding up the sack “ process” I guess.

curse

Gonsterous

what’s more jarring is, if Aouar isn’t the primary target, who is? Manuel? really?
would it be worth losing the first three games if they got him?

massive if, but outside those two names and a sander berge, the most important position to this team is being given back to Xhaka while we all cross our fingers on Partey?

twilight zone stuff

raptora

Inter before Conte: 18/19 – 69 pts 17/18 – 72 pts 16/17 – 62 pts 15/16 – 67 pts 14/15 – 55 pts 13/14 – 60 pts 12/13 – 54 pts 11/12 – 58 pts Inter under Conte: 19/20 – 82 pts 20/21 – 91 pts He spent a total of £130m NET or an average of £65m per season. For a comparison – as things stand from last Summer to this, Arsenal is sitting on £120m NET spend, an average of £60m per season. Under Emery we had a total of £160m NET spend, an average of £80m per… Read more »

Negative Nigel

Habesha.You left out the one deal that might give us some hope if our transfer team had a brain.BISSOUMA!

curse

I’m on the conte train, too many obvious mistakes born out of ego for me.

intelligent guy, great, but it’s in a Sheldon Cooper type of way and I haven’t got time for that unless it’s a comedy…

raptora

I can’t believe people are talking how low Arteta’s salary is at £5m and thinking we got a bargain deal there. Even if Conte demands for £15m per year, there’s more than a good chance that he’ll bring us Champions League football in his first year and compete for the title in his 2nd or 3rd year. He’ll bring us tons of money from the UCL, from improved sponsorships for being a way more competitive team, from selling players if we decide to cash in on one of our stars like Inter just did. Inter was Arsenal! A sleeping giant… Read more »

DigitalBob

Leftside – Yes agreed, optimism is at an all time low with the fan base right now in my opinion. Worse than the civil war days of Arsene’s last couple of seasons. I say worse because should we lose to Chelsea next weekend and the fans chant Arteta out I don’t think we’ll see factions fighting to quiet the crowd. There will be those that boo and those that simply walk out the stadium.

raptora

Conte will probably not agree to come here at this moment, now that the season has started, but he left Inter on May 26. If Arsenal’s idiot directors decided that Arteta is not good enough, something that is super obvious, we would have been actively looking for a new manager. Who’s to say Conte would have said no? Before anyone brings Spuds in – WE ain’t Spuds!!! Ancelotti joined Everton, Klopp joined Liverpool. Why wouldn’t Conte join us if he’s promised some money – £65m NET spend per season at Inter and £50m NET at Chelsea. We have the history,… Read more »

gunnernet

attrocious stuff. Even if someone claims Xhaka has become more disciplined and he still passes well, he is top liability. Fully crowded Emirates, Xhaka makes a last minute mistake we lose to Chelsea. Totally disaster. One mistake away from total chaos. Calamity.

and you have just extended his contract..

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