The title of this headline is exactly what is wrong at Arsenal FC. Nothing sums up the imbalance of power or the lack of leadership and vision quite like the flow of people telling you that this ‘Mini Arsene’ term is bandied around in the unkindest of ways.
Arsene Wenger was a monster of a leader for the first 14 years of his tenure. He controlled the club with an iron fist because he had deep battle scars and a tremendous body of victories under his belt. When David Dein left the club, he took control because he could, and the club wanted him to.
That was a dangerous model to embrace regardless of his talents. The power of ‘one man’ control is only good for as long as the talent is fresh. If the person has a decline in ideas or starts to lose the curiosity that drove them to success, your system fails, and usually… dictators surround themselves with sycophants, so you end up being the emperor with no clothes on, with no one to tell you your saggy backside in the kitchen is unacceptable.
Usually, good businesses learn and put systems in place to avoid history repeating. Lots of businesses don’t have succession plans, then a CEO dies, and all hell breaks loose. That mistake happens once. I suspect Steve Jobs death inspired a whole industry of consultants to help mega-corps with that issue. Countries elect flamboyant charismatic leaders who promise the world, then fail to deliver, so the next few times they opt for something far more boring and bureaucratic. Wall Street had a moment after Adam Neuman convinced the world his office rental firm was not a technology company worth £49b. Big tech stocks tanked, it was harder to raise capital, and the books were scrutinized for real numbers. There are always lessons to be learned… unless you are Arsenal FC.
No club makes more consistent mistakes in leadership than Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta is a persuasive man and transactional in the extreme. He is the Donald Trump of football management. That doesn’t mean he isn’t talented on the coaching field, despite what we’ve seen this season, most will tell you his ideas are compelling. The club knew Arteta was a pain when he was at Arsenal the first time around, he was aggressive and fought hard for his teammates and himself. I was very pointedly told at the time he was ‘a bit of a shit’ when he was a player, and there was a worry his nasty side would carry through.
Now, the player and the coach can be different. People can change and often do. Arsene Wenger in his book admits his authoritarian stage at Monaco softened in Japan as he learned to deal with different cultures. However, what you do with young leaders in big jobs is you surround them with an infrastructure that softens their sharp weaknesses.
There are some really simple things you can do in football and any business to make that transition easier and ensure the club always has control.
- Limit power to the specifics of the job. Arteta was hired as a coach, he should have remained a coach. ‘Manager’ should never have been put on the table. My last boss was obsessed with balancing the power of departments in our agency because if the power dynamic is off, bad decisions are made, morale is shaken, and the work suffers. It’s a simple notion, ‘do what you are good at/paid to do’ but we have all worked in businesses where others encroach on territory that is not theirs because it’s nice to have power. Just look at Don Raul thinking he knew better than Sven Mislintat. The better talent left, we are left with the wreckage of that departmental power imbalance.
- Create a simple hierarchy that empowers experienced leaders to manage, coach, and overrule if necessary. If you go for a young tyrant, you absolutely have to have an experienced Technical Director ruling over them. I tell this story every time: after Nagelsmann lost the Champions League semi with Leipzig, he jokingly complained he wanted an older profile of player, but ‘Ralph says no.’ The best young manager in the world was about 30 years old, to succeed, he needed a wiser head to tell him no and to work within the structure he had been given. Now that manager is at Bayern. Do you think he’d be at Bayern if he’d taken the job at Arsenal? No chance.
- Limit the hires and control the important ones to avoid echo chambers and fiefdom building. Someone tweeted a picture of about 62 (exaggeration) coaches coming out of the tunnel yesterday. A striking image. 62 people watched Arteta put Kolasinac into central defence and no one suggested an intervention. No one questioned a rejected players mental state, no one questioned his commitment, no one spoke about the implications for the fans, they just let it happen. The equivalent of seeing a plane engine on fire and assuming someone else will flag it. Young managers don’t know what’s best. Arsenal should have controlled who Arteta was allowed to hire and they should have brought in someone who had a reputation that wasn’t dependent on Arteta himself. What have we got now? A mix of journeymen and kids who are dependent. That’s how you get to sycophancy and a one voice top down culture. That’s not good in football or any business.
- Do as Netflix does. Build-in feedback loops. The basic premise of always-on feedback is that you create a culture of honesty. The quicker the feedback comes into you, the quicker you can rectify erroneous behavior. Has anyone sat down with Arteta and told him how his behaviour impacts players, staff, and fans? No one is born a good leader. You learn through experience. Hearing harsh truths is painful, but it allows you to grow. Does it look like Arteta is growing into the role, or regressing into something different?
If people are leaking against you and calling you a Mini-Arsene, it means you have too much power, with too little credit to back that power.
What does all of this tell you?
There’s no leadership at Arsenal. There are no consequences for failure, incoherrance, or wastage.
It is 100% clear that Vinai has no feel for the football side of things, no understanding when it comes to staff morale at Arsenal, and no guts for making tough decisions.
Let’s look at some of the decisions that have been made over the last two years.
Vinai fired 50 staff at Arsenal, pleading poverty. Then signed Willian for £250k a week. Then held back a few weeks until the story died down, then he sacked the club mascot. The story was so bad, Mesut Ozil ran with it to bury the club even harder.
Let’s talk about Willian. Vinai was at the club when we dished out a £350k a week contract for Mesut Ozil. He saw the decline in performance, he saw the fan angst over the deal, he saw the bottom line cost. Just as we were moving him out the door, what did he sign off on? Willian on £250k a week for 3 years. He did this deal with an agent that was toxicly involved in club affairs, had already started loading us up with shite players, and had ties to an exec we had moved on. In fact, I think the contract announcement was photographed at the house of the said agent.
He was also at the table when Arsene was fussing over the wattage of bulbs in the Arsenal canteen. He saw what an all-powerful coach could do to a club. So after it looked like he’d made a sharp decision with Arteta, what did he do? Let a 37-year-old launch a land grab for a promotion. He made Arteta the manager, then demoted Edu, and worse… he made Edu sit on his lawn and tell the world he was happy to be demoted.
What makes this even worse? He was basically co-CEO with Raul who ran the club so badly, he was fired 5 weeks into an audit by Tim Lewis. Vinai literally experienced the nightmare that is co-leadership, yet he bestowed it on the two most important people on the football side of things, after years of average structure.
Then we roll into this summer after our worst season in living memory… and what changed?
Nothing.
Arteta kept his coaching staff largely intact, despite big problems in the keeping department. He kept Edu in his job, despite overseeing a vast amount of wastage in the system. He didn’t change a single thing. We are in ‘let’s have another go’ territory.
Name a CEO at a major club that would operate that way? That is rudderless leadership.
Then let’s move onto the Technical Director. If I were him, I’d smell blood in the water with Arteta, I’d be in the press setting expectations, I’d be talking up the player recruitment vision, I’d be trying to connect with the fans.
What is he doing?
He’s spent the summer sharing his vacations like he’s a 22-year-old on a trust fund gap year.
People call this line of attack petty, but I guarantee you that those views never come from people that work in serious jobs where optics are important. When you ‘lead’ a department, how you are perceived with your customers is of the highest importance, especially in an industry where your customers are very emotional. Vacation snaps are for private, it’s bad judgement to be having fun when your club is burning. If you are going on a yacht trip, do not share pictures of the agent that lumped the club with Willian and Soares in the picture, and for god’s sake, do not share with the world that you are still in contact with a grim ex-exec that was sacked for grim things. BBQ post-Brentford? I mean, come on. This is the level of acumen we are dealing with, but my question, once again, is where is Vinai in all of this?
When I worked for an American agency, one of my pals I worked with slandered a jewellery brand at 9pm London time. The New York CEO shot her a text almost instantly and told her the jewellry brand was a client, to take it down, and to never do something so stupid again. You shouldn’t have to be told at Edu’s level, but the fact Vinai has no control over it tells a story.
Then you move onto Mikel Arteta. The concept of a young manager was an interesting one, but now, I have to accept, one that has failed miserably on many levels. The problem now is the metaphorical fuse has been lit, his rep with the fans is dead because of his arrogance, and let’s be real… the way he treats people has left a bitter taste in the mouth.
… but it didn’t need to be that way and good leadership could have averted the disaster unfolding now.
Just look at the behaviours that have been allowed to pass. The Brentford press conference was a disgrace and it set the tone for a dismal game. Win that, we’re 4 points off the top of the league after playing the two best teams. He sunk that game with his attitude.
Look at what happened at Manchester City. He rolled out a Kia right back who dropped a 40% pass completion rate and contribute almost nothing defensively a week after we saw him drop a stinker against Chelsea. He was allowed to galaxy brain the central defence with a player he has absolutely humiliated with average loan spells and a summer of ‘we would like you to do one’ talks over deal termination.
You earn the right to galaxy brain. He has not earned the right to do things like that. Where was his team? Where was the Technical Director? Where is Vinai now?
Mikel Arteta doesn’t have a feel for the fans and he doesn’t have a feel for people in general. But that’s ok, lots of talented people have weaknesses. But who is there to help him? Steve Round? Clearly not. If you or I were at the club we could explain to him how his decisions affect the fanbase.
If you are going to bomb Saliba off on loan without looking at him again, you have to be sure that Pablo Mari, a man who couldn’t get a deal in Europe before Brazil, is at the right level.
If we are going to lose the City game, you absolutely have to put a likeable team out there, because Soares is going to make distrust you even more. Kolasinac is a direct hit to your non-negotiables. Xhaka pining a midfield on his own despite the fans watching him struggle with speed for 5 years is going to be a problem.
No one is there to stop a tyrant from behaving like a brat, so he keeps on doing the same thing.
There is no more than 10 games to save this disaster of a season and if he gets the sack, it is more than deserved. But what I cannot emphasize enough is the silver bullet we are looking for does not exist in a system this broken. Great managers need controls, why do you think Conte never lasts more than 3 years? He tries to make a play for the steering wheel and he’s told no. BIg clubs need vision, structure, and someone who can make the big calls. Technical Directors need a level of maturity we lack, and if they have no power, why do you have one at all?
Big changes needs to happen. There needs to be consequences for the start to season we’ve had and how last season rolled out. But it can’t be token, it needs to be a change that has a strategic lens over it. What we have doesn’t work. What we have won’t work for anyone. If Wenger, Emery, Sven and Arteta can’t survive this system… no one can.
Before I leave, I want to point to some positives. We’re not in a relegation fight this season. We have not signed 6 bums this window. When our best players come back after the break, there will be a big improvement in the football. We’ll get a right back, we’ll move on a bunch of players, and the spine of our team will repair. This squad is not a bag of mess, the right coach will take it to higher levels, the strategy of this summer might look odd now, but it was mostly done properly. You might read this line and say ‘but you just hammered the club’… yes, I did, a functional club goes so much deeper than the squad… 5 wins on the bounce won’t change the truth. Nor would 10. The club lacks leadership and until that’s fixed, we’ll always be searching for the silver bullet that doesn’t exist, and we’ll always feel like there’s no stability.
Tune in for our podcast and check out the video that went with it.
Why are people expecting new buys between now and Tuesday to rescue our season? New transfers can’t remedy what is going on right now. Brentford EASILY beat us, bullied us off the field, it could easily have been 4 or 5 Chelsea played us as though we were non-existent, could easily have been q0, if they bothered. City easily beat us, they didn’t even break a sweat. Their fans chanted ‘it should have been ten”…and they were right. What we have here is a managerial,failure. A manager that can’t suss out the oppo, can’t set up a team right and… Read more »
“Bruno Guimarães: “#Arsenal approached my agent, but there was no offer.” Arteta decided that CM and attack is not a priority in this Summer unlike our defence and goalkeeper. It’s what happened. Obvious as shit he was more than happy to keep Xhaka and not buy anyone. If he wasn’t so happy about it he could have kept Saliba, not buy White and Ramsdale, sell Xhaka and upgrade our CM, RB and attack (Lacazette). It was so fkin stupid, I can’t even process it in my head how stupid it was, when European clubs have sold excellent players for half… Read more »
TR7 it will take a catastrophe for them to act, something like a bottom half of the table finish.
They didn’t act after a season where we lost 13 league games and finished 8th. They are not going to act now unless we are facing a situation where even Arteta’s own Dad has no option but to sack him.
They are so taken by his words its unbelievable
Graham
“”””Great shame if this happens because I feel he’ll get you goals.”””
like J.Willock, steady Eddie not a spectacular player but will weigh in with 8-12 goals a season- so theres x 20 potential goals gone this season.
Goals ? What are they with Arteta and Round ball?
Arteta has this annoying habit of favouring and putting in players that are simply not good enough. What does he see that nobody else does?
Chambers.
Kolasinac.
Leno.
Xhaka
If you include the likes of Willian, Luiz, Bellerin from last season, it goes to show just how poor a coach he is.
Incompetence by taking a boat ride….lol
But the man whose job it is to pick a team on match days has not scored a goal this season or earned a point but I have never read you call him incompetent.
Wonder why
Yea let’s wait for game 69 then shall we,this easy run of games you guys have placed your hopes on, e go shock una.
He has lost 21 of his 61 games in charge, winning only 27. But the next 8 games,that’s where it gets real apparently
Hell, I would be happy to get at least 5 shots on target in a match, that is how low I think of this side when coached by that megalomaniac.
KSE have to be some of the dumbest billionaires the world has ever endured.
Receding
You don’t listen to a word that’s said and ramble on with nothing but nonsense that nobody is offering. Keep to yourself you halfwit.
Prick, retard, halfwit… All in the space of a few posts. This from a man who “couldn’t care less” Edu is incompetent and can’t be trusted to pick a new manager. But the man whose primary job it is to win football matches, develop a style of play, develop our players or at least protect their value, this man has failed in every singly metric he is measured by but has never once been called incompetent by Charlie, maybe because he hasn’t been snapped on a boat. If anything Charles has advocated a demotion, point me any football club where… Read more »
The classic name-calling. One never fails to deliver.
Last seasons the freshness of our youth saved our season
This season, I’m not expecting Saka, ESR et all to have the same role.
If we stumble against Norwich and Burnley then the relegation worries have to become front and center.
We will need an experienced caretaker similar to what Harry Redknapp did for Spurs in 2008 after Juan Ramos was fired with 2 pints from eight games.
No fancy youngish talented manager for 1.5 seasons, look for that pragmatic Roy Hodgkin type character to calm the waters.
Excl: Reiss Nelson is joining Feyenoord on a season-long loan 🔴 #AFC
Tottenham and Barcelona are now close to reach an agreement for Emerson, as per @gbsans. Fee will be around €30m but negotiations are not completed yet ⚪️ #THFC #FCB
Serge Aurier won’t be involved in the deal. Personal terms still to be agreed. NO negotiations for Moriba-Spurs.
Now here is a player we should have gone for to replace Bellerin. Guys don’t call me a Spud lover for sharing the info.
No longer surprised the board quickly jumped unto the ESL. Based on what is going on in Arsenal, it will take us donkey years to get back into Europe and to challenge for any title
I believe the most important factor Arteta looks for in a signing is obedience If the player won’t be a supplicant on the alter of Arteta-the great, he;s off. All those that went after Guendouzi because of what presumably happend7 behind the scenes, aren’t you embarrassed not watching the way Arteta handles Xhaka’s public failings. The player got sent off against Burnley – manager swallows his tongue We were down 2-0 at city, heads dropped and the younger players are looking up to the Arteta-appointed seniors for guidance. What does Xhaka do? He makes a two footed lunge, studs up,… Read more »
How many years does Nelson have on his contract? 2 I guess?
Einstein called it the definition of insanity, I preferred the definition of stupidity. Do the same thing and expect different results. Give Arteta more time and expect different results. In the premiership, under Arteta Arsenal has been behind at half time 17 times. Not a single victory. 4 or 5 draws, the rest defeats. He has never been able to turn thing around. Why people believe that he will suddenly develop into a great master tacticians who can affect games? That complete irrational belief that somehow he will come good is not based on any fact. The latest argument suggested… Read more »
No need to imagine dissenter as guen left and just had a great game at marseille
TR7
Our gun powder is empty mate
The market is a it like dominoes, once we splurged out 50 million on the junior defender from Brighton, our transfer window was gone.
Remember the sequence of transfers does not matter.
Take your eyes away you Spurs lover.
“Receding HairlineAugust 30, 2021 00:10:05 CC I couldn’t care less about your views, you can keep spouting them.” Pot, kettle… from a guy that’s been desperate to offer an alternative view to the painstakingly clear opinions I’ve shared on how the club should handle its current issues. Nobody asked for your input, but here it is full of trivial nonsense and ‘truths’ that are established on your say so and no more. You don’t respect what’s written so why on earth would I begin to respect you? Like I say, plenty of differences in opinion yesterday, but everyone appreciated where… Read more »
Valentin
The entire talk about letting a new DoF decide the fate of Arteta was always cowardice and Arteta-favoritism.
Rich had been peddling it before Charlie and Pedro jumped into it.
You have to let a new DoF start afresh with a fresh plate, not have to engage in passive aggressive fights with a manager who just got effectively demoted.
Keeping him sends a message to any incoming DoF that this guy is untouchable because why else would you keep a failed employee?
“How many years does Nelson have on his contract? 2 I guess?”
Nelson will be extending his contract with Arsenal for further 2 years before going on loan.
Agree Valentin.
CC: “Obvious you’re an online gamer from that alone.”
Hahahaha
The sequence of transfers doesn’t matter as long as by the end of the TW all necessary business has been done. That was always the proviso on announcing of White for example.
What’s wrong with online gamers?
Are offline gamers any better than online gamers? Asking for a friend!
What sort of c***s have we got playing for us. They have no embarrassment or shame that the football world is laughing at them because they keep making the same mistakes week after week and never seem to improve or care. Banter Arsenal
Respect me? I couldn’t care less. Anyone reading my posts and yours can easily make up their minds who the retard is. Nothing you write on here is worthy of respect. Why have you never called Arteta incompetent? You have no problem throwing that word around for practically everyone else at the club, why not him? That means you believe he is competent and all he needs is a strong TD and a demotion and his competence shines though. The we cannot go through a managerial merry go round line is nonsense, organizations sack underperforming employees until they find the… Read more »
Good loan for Nelson ( and Arsenal) if he gets enough game time.
How hard it is to fire a novice manager who hasn’t managed to deliver? As incompetent as Vinai could do it.
Sacking Arteta has little to do with moving on Edu… they just happen to have been made peers due to naive management, decision by Josh or Vinai.
Bob
If you’re spending £50 million to get a player who’s number 6 on your list of priorities
Then you have to “sell-to-buy” a central midfielder [priority #1] to replace a departing MF, when that deal falls apart of a measly £5 million valuation difference, you have to recall Xhaka back..
When you have a limited budget, you prioritize your most pressing needs, if there;s money left over then you can go after your vanity projects like, getting pink faucets for your bathroom.
Ben White is like that pink faucet.
That’s why the ‘sequence matters.
The order you buy doesn’t matter
Even if it means you can’t buy who you want
Aha, china1 is an online gamer too, loooool
Receding Again, the fact you like to console yourself in shit conclusions and frame them as smart assessments is your folly, not mine. “no one ever goes “this employee is so good all he needs to get going is a demotion” that’s the sought of logic you are asking me to respect?” No, which is the fucking point. You fail to grasp what’s said even when it’s slowed right down and written in plain English. I don’t need my views validated by anyone on here, certainly not someone as lowly as you. But I won’t sit and listen to them… Read more »
I WAS ASKING FIR A FRIEND FUCK OFF
“””””I WAS ASKING FIR A FRIEND FUCK OFF”””””
Ozil? I have always suspected china1 is Kolasinac
All the best ever games are better played (or only played) offline
In no particular order
Street fighter 3 3rd strike (1999)
Street fighter two (any version) (1992)
Final Fantasy 7 (PS1 original) (1997)
Civilization 2 gold edition (1996)
Resident Evil Directions Cut (ps1) (1997)
Anyone who disagrees with this list is a STUPID FUCKING ONLINE GAMER CUNT
That Arteta has established himself as an incompetent, very poor at man management, an arrogant prick, perverse bully, etc. So the Emperor of the fan boys is standing with a saggy bottom and a soiled reputation. So fan boys of the naked quixotic emperor , start throwing mud around towards the alter autrem, so as to make their object of undying unedifying love object look cleaner. Of course Edu and Vinay are the other rotten things the cat has brought in along with Arteta ,being the entrails. In a nutshell, Arteta needs to go first, notwithstanding the whataboutery by the… Read more »
Please do no hyphenate Arteta with Arsene, Pedro. That’s blasphemy.
“ In the premiership, under Arteta Arsenal has been behind at half time 17 times. Not a single victory. 4 or 5 draws, the rest defeats.” Yes there’s no better stat to highlight how poor arteta’s in game management is , not a single game with a change of tactics / subs could be turn a game around . His ineptness even defies the laws of averages . In saying that you don’t really need to see stats , how often just watching the games when the opposition scores first under arteta do you just have a feeling of resignation… Read more »
“I don’t need my views validated by anyone on here, certainly not someone as lowly as you.” Commoners and Royalty now on le grove. CC is royalty, he doesn’t mix with the commoners . I an not of the status to validate his views, like if anyone here sits anxiously waiting for their views to be validated. You hounded Bamford off these pages just to be far worse than he ever was. “But I won’t sit and listen to them get twisted into something else entirely.” You are shameless sir Did you not advocate for a new TD and demotion… Read more »
Very honourable mentions:
Resident evil 2-3 (ps1 originals)
Metal gear Solid 1-3 (ps1-ps2)
GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas (ps2)
Gran turismo 2 (PS1)
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
The Sims 1
You bloody online gamers can suck my low res offline balls
Out of curiosity, which one of the infamous 5 is Timmy?
Ramsdale “The Relegator” (thanks CG), Mari, Chambers, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Soares, Runarrson, are firmly Championship quality or even worse. Combine that with the mental midgets Auba and Pepe who are allegedly the players in the team with a bit of quality on whom we rely for goals. There is the ever crocked pair of Tierney and Partey who have a hint of quality as well. The squad has a number of players who currently appear mid to bottom table quality in Bellerin, Leno, Laca, White, Holding, and Gabriel. Plus a bunch of youngsters who cannot be relied on at this moment… Read more »
With all due respect Charlie, you trying too hard to defend Arterta. Jeez, the guy is completely suite and yo get his flag bearers wanting Edu out when he Edu didn’t pick the crap as players and the catastrophe as tactics. If Tets isn’t off, we will be with 0 points by end of October. Let no one think Norwich, Burnley and BHA will be easy picking. Not to mention the spurs. Edu has done his part as a TD, Arterta got almost all he wanted and yet has failed abysmally. I wonder what Energy will have done had he… Read more »
*shite not suite
However illogical or overpriced white and rams were let’s see how they do before we write them off as players
Emery nor Energy oh this typo!
Receding – let it go mate. Some people will not see reason.
Charlie never admits when he is wrong. That’s my view. Anyway Nelson extending and going on loan is great news. If he smashes it then we might get another chance to use him. And his value would be higher than selling him this window. Emerson royal is a great addition for spurs. He is much better defensively than all their other fullbacks. We actually needed him. It’s very annoying watching other teams fix their problematic positions. Ilaix Moriba and Anguissa are a miss. We could have signed one of them to relegate Elneny in to a league cup player at… Read more »
Can’t even mention Arteta’s name and best path to exit him without triggering some in this space.
And this has been a very poor TW. I don’t believe any other team in the PL could spend 130 million and lose to Brentford. We could even have bought two players and a manager thus improving immensely in one swoop. For instance, Hakimi and Locatelli with the rest of the money going to recruiting a top class manager and their staff. The business done this TW looks odd because it is odd. Fast forward a few years and we will be trying to give away Ben White. We are at a point where players joining Arsenal just get worse… Read more »
Nelson loan is a back up because of injury to a Man Utd player. If he doesn’t take this opportunity to shine. Then I can’t ever see him being that great a player, he’ll be 22 come next year.
He should be in Feynoord first team week in week out.
Can’t even mention Arteta’s name and best path to exit him without triggering some in this space.
—————–
So true Sal 😂😂😂😂
And I’m guilty as charged.
The big laugh was that we would be better this season without Europe because the manager will have more time to prepare the squad.
I believe Arteta has dispensed his meagre knowledge already and there’s nothing new to offer. That’s one reason managers need to be changed often- when the players have heard it all. He could have surrounded himself with good assistants but he picked yes-men. He could have been “ruthless” and changed coaches but that’s his choice.
Ok let’s put it to a test , can anyone do a list of clubs in the history of football that when a team does so badly in that 2 seasons in a row finished in league positions well below its target , plays atrocious boring football which is probably the worst in the league , sets a record number of negative records , can’t fashion any sort of attack , falls out with so many players (assets) , terrible man management, team selection , in game management, tactics . Has us bottom of the league at the start of… Read more »
Every day Arteta is still here is another day wasted. Just get rid of him, get rid of the management paraphernalia that is Edu and his role and appoint an experienced manager. All this convoluted managerial architecture is stopping us from moving swiftly and adroitly to turn our season around. We should have 5 points by now. We have 0 and a broken spirit after some harrowing football experiences. We should be in casualty but instead the owners are umming and arring over calling an ambulance.
Great link Radio R posted last night to the the Athletic pod, was pre City recording and very cutting. Essentially stating Arsenal aren’t good at anything at moment, not buying, selling of players, on pitch since winning FA cup we attempted multiple identity’s none of which has stuck. Can’t score or defend and players all look confused. Emerson Royal to Spurs exactly type of opportunistic buy Arsenal should be invested in. Guess were rolling thru with Chambers and either Bellerin or AMN whichever doesn’t leave. To quiet out there at this stage to hope for anything of note, to be… Read more »
China1
We have seen Ramsdale relegate two teams. Why would you expect anything different unless he had a Damascus moment on his way to Arsenal? He is way below good enough for a starting goalkeeper. As for Ben White, he was not the best defender at a team that finished around the relegation places. He is not going to become a good defender just because he is wearing an Arsenal Jersey.
I don’t get these ‘Clashes’ on Le-grove. Been following this blog for years now and am well aware of how the Champagne Charlie (as an example) operates. Strong, eyebrow-raising views, very rarely ever rooted in reality and defended till the bitter end, often with a boisterous tone and defiant attitude. So what do the folks who are drawn to him like a moth to a flame hope to achieve, I wonder. Make him feel foolish, silence him or get him change his stance? Knowing the character, is that ever likely to happen. Maybe ask yourself the question before wasting your… Read more »
Arteta changed Guen, Saliba, Torreira, AMN, Mavro, Sokratis, Ozil, Mikki, Willock, Nketiah
for Mari, Cedric, Luiz, Runarsson, Willian, Partey, Gabriel, Odegaard, White, Lokonga, Tavares, Ramsdale.
And is failing still.
That’s a whole team of 11.
Can we actually blame the players? Who’s fault is it if not Arteta’s? He’s changed the whole team to end up where we are.
Sal
“Essentially stating Arsenal aren’t good at anything at moment, not buying, selling of players, on pitch since winning FA cup we attempted multiple identity’s none of which has stuck. Can’t score or defend and players all look confused.”
Do you understand why anyone will get triggered at the suggestion that you’ll keep the manager responsible for that and let the new DoF assess him, which is effectively the grenade pin being poulled.
Cretinous basque blagger still in a job I see
It takes a dim coach to play one defensive minded midfielder against a team that has a great set of attacking midfielders/talents and you know you’ll be defending for the better part of the match.
It takes a madman to decide the lone midfielder worthy of fulfilling suxh herculean task is Xhaka.
Niles on Insta : All I want to do is go where I am wanted and can play some football.
Got to feel for the guy. Easily more talented than Cedric, Chambers, Elneny, Xhaka etc. but still rarely gets any chance to play. No wonder most of the squad doesn’t like Arteta. He really is very dictatorial.
Sal, Yeah hard to argue against the points raised. It’s really sad to see. A club that was seen as cutting edge as one point within our lifetime has become crap at everything. We’ve become Everton heading to being Newcastle haha. I heard in the commentary a couple of days ago Betis are working on a deal to take Bellerin on loan. Might be the change he needs. Pellegrini is doing a good job at Betis. Emerson Royal is a good shout. I’m a bit surprised Barca have let him go again. We should save whatever money Stan wants to… Read more »
Mee
Some will tell you to shut up support the team and that you’re too negative
Ben White was the most junior, least experienced and diminutive central defender that Brighton has last season. They miss him so damn much that didn’t commit a single penny towards buying a replacement.
Pedro sold him as buying “experience and leadership”
^^ That after Arsenal rejected Everton’s loan offer for AMN. Arteta better give the guy some game time if he wants to keep him.
We need to use perspective before going after the players.
Bellerin wanted out last summer, Arteta blocked his exit- his anyone supposed that his head has been everywhere but Arsenal.
Xhaka was already taking Italian lessons until Arteta decided he needed his dressing room champion back.
Same as AMN
^^ That after Arsenal rejected Everton’s loan offer for AMN. Arteta better give the guy some game time if he wants to keep him.
Yeah against Norwich as a start!
“Can’t even mention Arteta’s name and best path to exit him without triggering some in this space.“
Quite something isn’t it. Don’t suggest we need a new DoF to gain some confidence in replacing Arteta whatever you do.
AMN has to take some blame for what’s happened to him. I can remember some his excellent performances at RB as well as some dopey ones. I can’t remember any good performance in central midfield against any half decent opposition. Yet he has gone on record to claim he is best suited to playing in central midfield. Went out on loan to West Brom, and from what I saw, bombed.
Compare him to Willock, see the difference?
Ben White we will be the next problem at Arsenal. not good enough to start but started anyway at the expense of points. He is currently being treated for trauma after an encounter with one of the mediocre EPL strikers in Toney. The likes of Antonio, Lukaku, CR7 would leave him questioning his decision to play professional football.
Scanning the soundbytes coming from the Board, looks like Arteta will be backed with a long-term vision in place. Basically Arsenal will be the playground for the guy to make mistakes, learn, improve.
Sigh, gonna be a long, long time before Arsenal become competitive again, forget winning the big ones.
Time to evaluate whether its worth following such an ambitionless entity. I know a lot of the kids and next gens will decide they’re better off with another team
What’s AMN’s market value now?
He’s like one of the FOUR RBs in the club?
Or back up to the back-up CMF?
I hope the only reason we blocked AMN’s exit is to insist on an outright transfer
China, The first games I remember I played a lot of were Prince of Persia (1989), Lemmings (1991) and Duke Nukem (1991) on PC. I remember my folks bought me a SEGA extension to be able to play Doom (1993) because the SEGA as it was couldn’t handle the advance graphics. Almost 3 decades later I’m still playing and I will probably keep playing games till the day I can’t physically do it. I’ll never be ashamed of it let alone be upset that someone wanted to insult me by calling me an “online gamer”. I was playing computer/console games… Read more »
Radio Barca need cash this is what the crack crew who spent £100m on a defender and depth should of been investigating. Rumors AMN going to Everton on loan and Bellerin to Betis which is a bizarre one for me. He must truly want away from this mess. Please cancel your social media Hector 😂 as a caveat to signing. Dissenter Look if you can’t wrap your head around discussing multiple paths to exit Arteta and understanding that one of the several options discussed might entail putting the structure in place to first to replace him as these dudes aren’t… Read more »
China1
Nice games list!
For my money the Mass Effect trilogy is predominantly story and offline based and would be the games series I would take to a desert island.
I know you are only saying it tongue in cheek (I hope!) but there are so many great online games, there are also some atrocious ones either unplayable due to the game itself or the community of people who play them.
If I was an opposition striker and the teamsheet having names like Ramsdale, White and Mari, I would be so stoked
Receding
I hounded Banford out by hacking his account and insulting Pedro across various social platforms did I? Sounds legit.
Twisting what I’ve said yet again, can’t help yourself. It’s you I have a little opinion of, not everyone else. Hope that helps in your royal vs commoners routine.
KAY
Fact you see an Arteta defence anywhere in the last 24 hours is quite something.
Habesha
You’ve already had that myth busted, but doesn’t stop you piping up opportunistically. Not even a matter of right or wrong, but that inevitably sailed over your head.
With Spurs signing Emerson, surely the path to signing Auoar is clear
Assuming the payer will still want to come.
“ Lemmings (1991) and Duke Nukem (1991) on PC. I remember my folks bought me a SEGA extension to be able to play Doom (1993)” Absolute classics there. Always remember playing Duke Nukem and killing the baddie in the toilet reading a porno mag. In Doom if you were clever enough you could get the baddies diving amongst each other if one hit the other and walk right past them at times. I have tried looking for the classic Lemmings game on App Store but can’t find anything that is true to the original. I wish more developers would consider… Read more »
“ It takes a dim coach to play one defensive minded midfielder against a team that has a great set of attacking midfielders/talents and you know you’ll be defending for the better part of the match.It takes a madman to decide the lone midfielder worthy of fulfilling suxh herculean task is Xhaka”
To even think of doing that let alone actually doing it against a team like city should have arteta stripped of his coaching badges
Sal
You’re right, we won’t come to an agreement.
Have a good one.
Rap
Did you ever play Summer and Winter games on C64 (1985)?
Used to love Shinobi also
Zelda:Ocarina of Time also an all time classic.
I see comments such as… “If The Club supported the manager over the summer, they are not going to sack him after three games” The results were poor but the performances were dire…they weren’t “heroic defeats” they were hope-killingly bad With the players available, the performances could and should have been so much better — the results against Chelsea & City may have been the same but there would be a sense of, “with better luck and the return of the injured, we will start to pull a run [of wins] together” Looking at the relative performance of our team… Read more »
“Did you not advocate for a new TD and demotion of Arteta to coach as a means to correct the structure? Yes or no.”
Answer that simple question first before anything else, you can shove your opinion of me. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, two faceless individual on a football blog.
You are a liar though,that much is clear. If you lie so desperately to total strangers with nothing at stake I shudder to think what you will do when your thought and opinions actually carry any weight
Chelsea play wing backs and overload out wide so Arteta plays a narrow back 4. City overload Central areas so he plays a back 5 with Xhaka as our Def MF on his own. Generational stuff
“Look if you can’t wrap your head around discussing multiple paths to exit”
First off Sal explain why the club needs multiple exit paths for a former assistant coach. A man whose first team management experience starts and ends with us.
Listening to some of you one might think we are planning to sack a legend of the managerial world
AMN is a peculiar case as if he wanted to play as a FB I assume he would have played. Arteta was happy to play him there and it was never in doubt if he values the player or not at the time of our FAC and Community Shield wins. Thing is that I am more than sure that Arteta was aware of AMN’s desire to play as a midfielder during last Summer when we got the official offer him from Wolves. It was the easiest deal in the world as we couldn’t give what AMN wanted, and we were… Read more »
Remembering
Le Alamo. and William Saliba
William Saliba vs Saint-Étienne
97 passes
96% pass accuracy
6/6 successful dribbles
2/2 accurate long balls
1 tackle won
1 interception
5 clearances
8/10 duels won
What a player he is. Enormous talent and a pure joy to watch.
We all know that the Granit Xhaka debacle has shown Arteta up for what he is.
An incredibly poor judge of character.
By showing loyalty to someone who disrespected the club and should have been discarded, Arteta has made a fool of himself.
Add to that the Leno/ Martinez saga and you have to question anyone that trusts in the process.
I remember the good old days, watching Arsenal get thrashed 3-1, 5-1 in the Champs League and my brother would ask me why do I bother watching? My answer was always around how old and outdated Wenger was the principal architect of the losses and it would improve post his time.
Or so we believed.
Now three years on post Wenger, we get routinely outplayed at home by midtable clubs in the Premier League. And my brother doesn’t bother asking me the same questions.
raptora
I’ll also include that one in my book.
“You are a liar though,that much is clear“
Quote where I’ve lied or keep your bullshit to yourself. It’s very easy to discern the difference, but let’s not pretend your ‘take’ on what’s said is the objective truth and remark from there.
For you to claim dishonesty on anyone’s part is really quite the ticket. Barely taken a breath from talking out your arse about what I’ve said.
Foxy
It’s almost a fucking parody , even more shocking he’d know peps tactics inside out and played the formation which would be the easiest for city to play against .
This writing off of White after one appearance is ridiculous. Not his fault that we paid through the nose for him. ‘He’s not even the best defender at Brighton’ ‘ He can’t head the ball’ ‘ He’s a midget’ ‘ Got bullied by a Championship player’ Embarrassing.
Underrated Coq. ‘The rumours are that the board will back Arteta’. Of course they will until they don’t. Whatever the rumours they mean nothing. The problem they have now is finding the next muppet to take over. This is Arsenal so we could limp along for a bit to see if he can turn it around.