You can pinpoint the moment everything went to shit for Mikel Arteta. It was a couple of summers back when Vinai put Edu out on his lawn to tell the world he was over the moon that Arteta had been given a promotion after 6 months and that they had both been put on the same level.
Yep, only months after Vinai and Don Raul had been flagged internally for having a not-so-great power-sharing dynamic… Vinai demoted his technical director to power share with Arteta.
Why doesn’t powersharing work? It’s very simple. We’re not programmed to share. Shared leadership is usually built on the absurd notion of ‘we basically agree on everything’ or ‘we’re adults, we’re more than capable of hashing things out.’
No. No. No.
Power-sharing goes one of two ways. There’s an alpha and a beta in all but name or there is a massive fight to the death and nothing gets done. Power-sharing is the worst on many levels. It’s confusing for staff because no one knows who makes the decisions. It slows down decision making and reduces efficiency. It creates toxic cliques because the loudest voices usually win. It’s generally very ugly. When there are two cooks in the leadership kitchen, everyone thinks they are accountable, or no one does. Every good decision everyone wants to own, anything bad can be blamed on the other. Just look at the mess of Willian, has Arteta owned it? No. It’s better to let everyone blame Edu, who could just as easily have pushed it through with his agent.
The Story
News seeped out of the club yesterday that Edu’s job is under threat. Tony Banks at the Express say he could be on the chopping block and The Mirror are running hit pieces, a paper which John Cross looks after.
Now, I’ve told you from the start that Edu likely isn’t up to snuff. We’ve seen horrendous wastage under his ‘leadership,’ he was at the table for some of our worst deals under Raul, and his closeness with super-agents went from ‘Pete, you’re going overboard here’ to ‘OMFG he’s on a yacht with Kia and a disgraced exArsenal exec’ this summer. People keep on joking about the BBQ outrage, but the people doing that don’t work in jobs with leaders that care about optics. If your club is on fire, you don’t want your main man posting holiday pictures on his public IG stories all summer. It’s a small detail, but when you are being paid a million+ a year, those things matter.
Back to the leak
It’s going to very difficult to work out where the truth is on this matter because there is clearly a power struggle unfolding at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta’s opening press conference wasn’t aimed at you and I, it was aimed at Vinai and Josh K. Arteta didn’t have what he wanted for the start of the season and that was the fault of Edu. No two ways about it, that was a shot fired.
It is clear as day that Edu and Arteta have fallen out. I mean, let’s be real, who hasn’t Arteta fallen out with? Our manager is transactional, he’s the Donald Trump of football, if you do not serve a purpose for him, he’s not interested.
The challenge for Josh is that both of them are underperforming.
If I were to run the numbers on this sort of scenario, I would conclude that the weaker party is likely Edu.
Josh K is about to sign off a contract termination for Willian that will likely involve paying a hefty fee to the worst signing of all time. Arteta was no doubt there, hounding the club to do it, but so was Edu’s and his smug super agent.
Our right-back situation is shocking. Soares is sitting on 90k a week. He’s awful. Arteta is begging for a proper right back. Who suggested that player? Kia. Arteta put that player on the pitch against Chelsea, was he our best right back? Nope. Did the decision stick it to Edu? Maybe.
Who brought David Luiz to the club on £200k a week when we could have signed a 21 year old?
Pablo Mari, another super-agent recommendation, has been at the heart of our problems this season. Where did he come from? The same super-agent that recommended Unai Emery.
Arteta is costing us points at the moment, but they have seen what he is capable of… and they have experience of a young coach at The Rams who has good people around him. Edu has cost the club money. After watching KSE operate over the years, which do you think is of more concern, lost money or 6 points at the start of a season?
If I were Josh K, and I was seriously considering the future of Edu (not my view, just hypotheticalling on the paper), then I would be thinking this way.
- Arsenal made a shocking error promoting Mikel Arteta, it needs to be rectified
- Edu was not the level of leadership needed to drive us from a Technical perspective, which is why he was demoted
- Any new Technical Director will absolutely need to be positioned above Arteta so we can gain some control a maturity in the backroom
- If we move fast, this new Technical Director will have 3 months to assess what the fuck is going on behind the scenes, so if the worst happens, they can install a new coach that is tailored to the profile of the players we currently have
If, if, if we are going to make a leadership change, we cannot do it based on a name. We have to bring in a Technical Director that suits the squad of players we have just signed.
- We need a Technical Director we expertise in youth development, because we don’t have the money to compete at the highest level right now
- We need someone that has worked in Europe, a huge miss with Edu
- We need someone that can demonstrate a certain style of football that is pleasing to the fans. No point in hiring someone that doesn’t like the play posession based football, it won’t cut it with the fans
- We need someone that can make a little go a long way. No point in hiring someone from Barcelona or Manchester City, because the remit is different. We need someone that buys low and sells high consistently.
- We need someone with experience because there’s very little of that elsewhere in our football setup.
- We need someone that is connected with deal making experience. Marina at Chelsea moves players on. Zorc at Dortmund always sells. Edu is shocking at this part of the job.
- We need to find someone that isn’t drenched in dodgy stories of backroom deals and super agent boat trips
A battle between the Technical Director and a manager should only end one way, that’s with the manager exiting the club. The fact that there’s even a question over which struggling staffer should be exited is a massive red flag.
Arsenal shouldn’t waste the opportunity. Get someone in fast, get someone that can build around Arteta (or sack him), bring some control back to the club, shift out the dross that’s holding us back.
Now, all of the above is a bit of a guess, but I don’t think it’s far from the truth. We knew the Arteta/Edu story would end in tears, and we know the one things you don’t ever do with KSE is embarrass them, or waste there money. I think Edu has done both and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him shown the door.
The problem for Arteta is he might see that as a victory, but for me, he’s let a trojan horse in the back door… because no decent Technical Director will sit at the same level as Arteta, and if KSE have a single clue, they’ll make sure the wings of Arteta are well and truly clipped.
Interesting times ahead.
West Brom later. Must win. No excuses today. Let’s see what we have.
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this is weird
What a pass from Ode!!!
Ode to Saka…. More of that please. Real beauty.
We have our Wenger ball back!!!
Martin the back heel specialist lol
That is the goal of the month ,right there😄
You might be right G8
Surely time to make some subs?
Arsenal players will ask for a pay rise after this masterclass
Good save!
how much we want to bet lego starts Leno this weekend?
Found our level.
Bodes well for next season in the Championship 🙂
Now get Saka and Auba out of there to get some rest for City
Josh will be telling Stan how genius Arteta spanked the Championship leaders, just may not mention it was their C team.
At least it will help Auba etc get some confidence back.
Ramsdales just broke himself.
Ramsdale plays with far too much desire. He could get injured cause of his passion. GKs are more often stone cold killers, calm and collected.
not a good fall
Odegaard is such a classy player. That’s a great signing.
We need to take off Saka and Auba now, keep them fit for City.
The Ramsdale already hurt…. yep definitely an Arsenal player. then. hahah Seriously though… Shown some good reflexes. before that.
Ramsdale should be our #1 GK. He is a more complete GK than Leno.
tbf Ron seems like he would play with two broken arms
Ramsdale looks at the right place to keep facing as many shots as in his previous teams.
That is probably the plan as even A&E must know that Leno is not up to the Premiership
RAMSDALE looks good
Boys are delivering today. Was about time. I know it is just Carabao cup. I am loving it!
Kolasinac trying to scupper the match by pulling a Kane on Ramsdale lmao.
Let’s what AMN can do in the midfield.
Our defense is so shit!
Ramsdale – great!
Good Job… ODE. Looked a class above these fools.
I read that Leno’s decline is due to his work with the Spanish GK coach that Arteta brought. Same guy who brought Runarsson. If we want to have any success in that department we should sack the fker. Problem is he is very much Arteta’s bro. He’d be gone long time ago if it wasn’t for that.
Ode looks good indeed
Auba’s favorite shot.
Auba!!
Trademark Auba.
You can only beat whats in front of you even if its West brom
Good for players confidence.
Still Arteta out!!
Boom
PEA 3
WoW! Auba!
WOOF
What.a.finish
Maitland-Niles assist lol.
It’s WBA reserves ffs get a grip
let’s go Auba!!!
Nice!!! Hat-trick… and that was a sweet goal… now you can sub him off.. Confidence level higher.
Take Auba off now.
What a goal, fantastic.
It’s only WBA, but just a pleasure to see some from Arsenal fast breaking attacking football with excellent goals again!
OMG! Auba of old. That was one his old trademark finishes!!
WE’RE GONNA WIN THE LEAGUE!
Nice interception by Pepe there to get that attack rollin’.
short arse backlift
I like that form Ramsdale just then. Was getting closed down so hoofed it. Leno would have tried passing it across his own box.
This is how we should look in the EPL, not just versus a Championship club’s reserves.
Laca coming on.
Can we play you every week
Another contender for the GOM😎
He’s not taking Auba out. What a complete fkin idiot.
A.A.Ron Dalesram might be my most favourite player.
it’s sad when you find it difficult to be happy lol
why isnt he taking Auba off; – doesnt matter about Xhaka’s fitness
another ridiculous Arteta decision
Great attack. Almost 6.
woulda been some finish from Pepe there
Pepe is truly dogshit…….
Lol Artetasexuals out in full force. Arteta is always one win away to getting knobbed off by these weirdos.
Damn Pepe. Hit the post and the crossbar
This are the games Balogun should be playing.
Still making odd sub choices… can’t fix stupid, can ya?
Interesting AMN taking Xhaka’s spot.. I would be up for that.. Ohhh Pepe.
Lets hope arteta isnt a stubborn dick and sticks with Ramsdale between the sticks, this lad is already better than Leno
Honestly think we are contenders for the championship next season lads!
Cracking finish. Can we play you every week
unlucky Pepe
Laca!!!!
Pretty much everything you could ask for
There we go… now Laca has confidence.. Job done.
Can we save a few of these goals for another day………
LACABOOM!
WestBrom are piss poor
Ramsdale reactions are good.
“Can we save a few of these goals for another day…”
You wish 🙂
Our Ron gonna be the starter before the end of Sept……..
Kola got spun like a top.
This is amazing! I’ll become an AKB if we can do this regularly…
Not one West brom first team player on the pitch it should. Be this easy
Auba needs games same as saka, their fitness level is getting better as the match is progressing
Pepe`s creator obviously did not intend for him to become a footballer other wise he would have made a neural link between his eyes and his feet.
Shades of Gervinho about him
Tavares going to be a good signing
Global
More like Glenn helder
Pepe`s creator obviously did not intend for him to become a footballer other wise he would have made a neural link between his eyes and his feet.
Shades of Gervinho about him
Global, was just thinking that’s EXACTLY who he reminds me of…….
Definite thumbs up for Ramsdale. Whatever is thought of Edu, it does look like we’ve done some good Summer business. Now we just need to find out if Ben White is any good
Good job Auba… welcome back from Zombie land.
G
He’s got the name for it…
What music genre ?
His namesake had a hit in the 70s…
Of course it’s only Baggies Reserves, but please spare a thought for Mum’s the Bedwetters. A day of reassurance that “everything is ok Darling” lies ahead, quite apart from the sheet changing.
Enjoy the win everyone else.
Some typical Arsenal goals and football tonight from yesteryear
Is it a coincidence that 7 out of the 10 outfield players that started were wenger boys..with another couple coming on
Job done Auba!! Smile back on the face. Will help us so much if he can lead the line again and give Mart and Flo a chance to develop. Provided Lego Head will actually play him as a 9.
Delighted with the goals. Delighted for the players and the travelling fans.
Very pleasing win or not, nothing has changed for me. Arteta has to go. We need better.
This might be another season where we are flat track bullies, where we flatter to deceive and struggle against the better sides, so we can’t read much into a game like this. It’s still worrying how static the players are, not providing runners off the ball to give the player in possession an outlet. Don’t they do these basics in training?
Let’s see if there’s an improvement against Citeh.
Plus the coach pierre
This gives me some hope for when we get the new manager
Looking forward to a few hectoring from certain posters
My word did we need this… should have been like this in preseason.. but we were too busy playing fuckwits like Bellerin and Willian…
Oh no Saka looks hurt…. please no.
Newport 0 Southampton 8
Friggin get Saka off……..