This is a huge week for the Arsenal project because there are two very different games that are both very, very important.
Firstly, the kids have to put on a good show in the League Cup. There’s a huge reason for them to show up and make a show of it. This is the main opportunity Patino, Omari, Balogun, and Hein will get to impress the coaching staff. Win this and they are rolling like a peak-Wenger team, lose and they’ll be banking on an injury crisis or a late loan.
Arteta has to find a balance. We need to give minutes to periphery players that will be needed. Managing a squad requires that you make everyone feel included so if there’s an injury, they are motivated to jump in. So that means we’ll probably see Tavares, Holding, and Chambers. We’ll also need to see the kids, especially without the Europa League. The next generation needs a taste. It’s also a massive game because you want to go into the Spurs game on a high.
The North London Derby always has extra sauce on it. Nuno started well on paper, but the performances were never there. Now the results are matching the performances. Still, he’s a very, very capable manager as we’ve felt in years gone by. I still have no idea how he beat us with Wolves last season. The squad he has is very good, Harry Kane and Son LOVE playing against Arsenal, form absolutely means nothing in these games.
What do we want? An answer to their weaknesses. A plan to nullify their strengths. A powerhouse performance and some points.
Arsenal are upping their PR game. Better late than never. This week, they’ve rolled the MIGHTY Per Mertesacker out to the fans and they’ve done it in the shape of new media, allowing The Beautiful Game Podcast chaps to spend some time with the Academy Manager.
The interview is absolutely superb. It’ll do more to shape Arsenal fan expectations for the season than anything they could put on the dot com or via Sky Sports. TV runs a 10 minute segment and the expectation is a soundbite that can power a viral tweet or article. The Arsenal situation is complex. Complex ideas need time. An hour podcast is the perfect place to talk things over. Good intentioned hosts work well for this sort of thing.
Per comes across as relaxed, honest, and inspirational. I love his German/Hale-Ender accent.
Key points:
- He’s quite brutal about our reality: this is still a transition. Instant success is what everyone wants, but that’s not reality and people need to temper their rage
- He backs the vision the club is undertaking and trusts Arteta to deliver it
- He thinks he’s making a difference to the kids he’s bringing through
This is the sort of thing Arsenal should do more of. Tell it to the fans straight, let us digest it, and we’ll come around to it if the idea is good.
We can’t compete with mega signings the way City, Chelsea, and United operate. If you can’t outspend your rivals, you have to take a different strategy that works with your means (we are still a very rich club). The one we’ve adopted now is the best way for us to get back to the top. It’s basically the Dortmund model on steroids.
- Put strong emphasis on having an elite academy, because fans love their own, and it’s good for the story of the club
- Hoover up top youth talent from around Europe by offering them a path to the first team that is more rapid than our rivals
- Spend your big dollars on elite sub 23 years old players that know the league
- Build consistency of style top to bottom with your football by bringing through a future proof style of play
You can have all the above process, vision and ideas in place, but you work for Arsenal, so you have to win and show that the project has signs of life. I personally think we’re seeing that already, but the communications around the project are still extremely helpful because…
If fans don’t know what is going on, they fill the void themselves which leads to people getting angry we’re not in for Jack Grealish. There’s a weird subculture that is very vocal online that have clearly been influenced by FUT and Football Manager who get absolutely irate if the signings that are made don’t match exactly to what they think is elite. Look at the rage at Tomiyasu over Emerson Royal. Look at the behaviour around Aaron Ramsdale. Still, look at the lusting for Aouar over Odegaard. Every club in Europe passed on him, but still, people bang his drum after Odegaard wins the game at the weekend.
You can’t stop that, but you can tell fans what the thinking behind signings is and how you came to those decisions. Ramsdale made zero sense until Arsenal fans started speaking to rival fans about him. Then it became clear he’s an elite communicator, has outrageous energy, is superb at distribution, and he’s a towering figure in the box. Couldn’t Arsenal have been a bit more explicit about this?
If fans are brought into the mixer, mostly, they will shape the way they behave around what they hear. Prime example of this is how the fans home and away have reacted to the team this season. The fans know that they are dealing with a Project Youth of sorts, they know that young players need their support in the bad times, they know if the kids feel confident, they will give more on the pitch.
These types of comms humanise the project. When you work with talent in advertising, the normal folk see them as gods, and create ideas of what they are like, and they can be vicious when things go wrong. Arsenal do a poor job humanising what is going on at Arsenal, but it’s getting better. A fan Q&A on the Youtube made Mikel look less robotic. This Per Mertesacker podcast really brought you into the club and it felt personal and warm. Transition is painful, always, but communications can soften it.
So anyway, I loved the podcast. Arsenal are slowly getting their shit together and letting the vision architects talk about what they are doing. It’s a good thing, even if the message isn’t TOP 4 TODAY.
Right, on that note, take a watch of my video with Matt and maybe listen to the podcast.
My memory of Liverpool goes back further than yours. I remember when they were in the second division and Everton were the city’s numero uno Club. In fact, to me, they still are.
Liverpool lacks Everton’s class, always will.Their fans behaviour over the years speaks for itself. An observation, not a criticism. They got rid of the two carpetbaggers, something that we failed to do with Stan. And they made sure that Steve Gerrard stayed, something we didn’t do with Liam Brady.
Has Liverpool been relevant? Certainly. But so has Arsenal – and for much longer.
Englandsbest
Liverpool dominated English football from 1973-1990, Arsenal have the 1930’s, a long long time ago, and a time none of us can remember.
Liverpool strike genuine fear across world football because they have pedigree.
The football world looks at Arsenal and laughs.
So you haven’t dealt with the subject of the question, Englandsbest.
Eddie was a surprise package in preseason and whilst he didn’t have many minutes, he looked completely different from the passive kid we had last season. For the first time he looked like a man and looked like proactively involved and influential
His injury came at the worst time for him
Herbsarmy, you’re sounding like a bindipper not an Arsenal fan, why is that?
Bob N16
How’s it on that fence Bob?
Always sitting on top trying to keep your balance.
Must admit, your perceptions are quite therapeutic.
englandsbest
Something we do agree on.
Liam Brady, my favourite Arsenal player of all time.
Bob N16
The clue is in the moniker!
Arsenal are one of the ‘big six’, but if we’re not seeing that played out in real life, what is this elitism based on?
I use Liverpool as a guide with which to measure Arsenal as a comparison, which is better than measuring them against money clubs like United, City or Chelsea.
Don’t you think Arsenal could have done as well as Liverpool over the last 60 years?
Have to pinch myself that this is actually the comments section in an AFC supporting blog
There’s more respect given to the likes of Leicester, AV, Brighton and Liverpool, than there is to Arsenal
Matt maybe when we’re above said teams consistently we can look down on them…
Matt B
Why do you think that is Matt?
It’s explicitly because a large section of our fan base have over the last 10 years out their fingers in their ears, closed their eyes and been telling themselves that arsenal are still awesome that time has been allowed to burn
Instead of looking down on teams which are outperforming us relative to their resources, perhaps we should learn from how they do it instead?
Or you know we can just keeping chanting arsenal fc are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen and hope it magically comes true
Rome has been allowed to burn*
China1
There’s always history channel for them
Graham62, why do you say I’m sitting on the fence, care to elaborate?
I’ve on various occasions said I’d have sacked Arteta last season, before Xmas and then after the EL debacle. It shouldn’t need pointing out but I have no control over the appointments at Arsenal, so I’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold.
I don’t have any real confidence in Arteta but we’ve had a net spend of £150m so things should improve.
Not sure how that’s sitting on the fence.
Herbs, that is an interesting question, ‘ could Arsenal have done as well as Liverpool over the last 60 years’. The easy answer is yes, but parallel universes don’t to my mind exist.
Domestically only United and Liverpool, have done better than us, so it’s not all bad. We’ve certainly underachieved in Europe. We were banned for our two GG league wins but there were missed opportunities under AW.
China
When was the last time Villa or Brighton finished above us? Leicester have done 3/25 seasons maybe?
Not suggesting we look down on them but the constant love affair with teams like that is vomit inducing. Arsenal are far bigger and better with more resources and them being above us after 5 games will be corrected soon enough.
We’re at the beginning of a cycle now, let’s see where it can take us. My bet is it takes us far higher than those clubs.
At the start of the 1970’s Bob, Arsenal were ahead of both Liverpool and United in domestic titles won, the only thing United had over us was their ’68 European Cup.
Fast forward 50 years and we are miles behind both.
Arsenal have massively underachieved in every metric, even just compared to Liverpool.
Arsenal was a top 4 team a decade ago came down to top 6 recently but I’m not sure if we are still in the mix these days
People are beginning to look at Arsenal as one midtable team and it’s hurting knowing we can do better
Is young players the way to go,maybe they should mixed it with a few experience quality so it won’t end like Cesc’s era
Is Arteta the man to handle them,I do have my doubt but time will tell
Ustyno
In my opinion, we will comfortably be top 6 this season. If not, Arteta needs to go. If he finishes top 6 (preferably 5th), within touching distance of top 4, then he deserves another season.
I have to eat a lot of humble pie re Ramsdale. i know still early days but i was one of many who didn’t want him anywhere near Arsenal as he was crap….. His first few performances have been excellent. Very comfortable with the ball at this feet and love the way he comes for the ball and claims it. Also seems to have a great personality and authority about him compared to Leno. Hope he continues making me eat humble pie. I hope the rumours of Leno getting the spurs game are just that! Arteta would be an absolute… Read more »
Also loving the look of the new defence.
They must all play v Spurs.
Let them build an understanding and stop the chopping and changing.
I thought Per M interview was very good, he comes across very well. One question I would have liked to ask is, what kind of analysis goes on with the youth players in terms of their skeletal / physical health and their physical mechanics. I’ve heard stories that within baseball young players are scanned and it’s known they will need a certain time of elbow surgery very early in their career. I feel injury ruined Jack Wilshere; he was a great prospect but his playing style invited constant knocks and there was a lot of talk around his mechanics and… Read more »
Ollie
The next 5-6 games will determine if we aiming for that position,if we get 15 points then I will believe you but 10 or below then I doubt if top 5 is possible like you said
Oh, okay Positive Pete.
I recall the whole MotD team (including our legend Wrighty) in hysterics at Lacazette’s dramatic screaming just last year. Wrighty later apologised, but people always remember the initial response.
Instead of childish name-calling, because you’re a big hard keyboard warrior, why not put up an intelligent counter argument that everyone can debate the merits of.
Positive Pete
Your beautifully worded communication, directed at HerbsArmy, seems familiar rhetoric.
Another moniker one senses.
By the the way, Arsenal have been the joke of the town for over a decade.
Where have you been hiding all these years?
Passive Agressive Pete = PAP
The comedians on here ate the bedwetters Graham.I’m sure you’re aware of your status.
The comedians on here are the bedwetters Graham.I’m sure you’re aware of your status.nothing more to add.
Ollie Leicester have consistently finished above us the last couple of years. They’ve won a cup more recently than us. They’ve even won the league a handful of years back. They’ve done it playing decent football on a comparatively tiny net spend in a stadium a fraction of ours and with fans with no such expectations on their little club. Leicester is performing far and beyond us relative to their size, it’s not even funny As for villa, they finished not far behind us. How much did they spend to compete with us last season? Brighton are a tiny club… Read more »
Positive Pete, my younger son plays college ball and from the group of 25 players or so on his team.he’s the only Arsenal fan. His cousin also played college ball and likewise. He now coaches 2groups of kids u-10 and not a single Arsenal fan amongst them. The indoor/outdoor soccer complex I play is frequented by all nationalities and age groups and rarely will you see anyone wearing Arsenal shirt, and if you do, it’s always an older player like myself. They all watch the EPL and believe me when I tell you, Arsenal are considered the second tier club… Read more »
Fuck all your hopes and expectations the brainless idiot Xhaka will be straight back in.
No idea were all the positivity is summoned from with the “let’s be positive” while we’re actually regressing into nothingness.
Reality bites like a mothafucka! Still can’t score goals and we’ve played all the shit teams in Norwich and Burnley so here we go back to being overrun and Partey and Tierney getting injured. Arsenal sucks right now and telling us realists to be patient will see us playing Championship footy next season. Whatever enjoy while it lasts i guess.
Ustyno
I completely agree, next 5-6 games are huge for our season trajectory.
What are the odds for Positive Pete to go missing next time we lose ?
Positive Pete
Liverpool left Arsenal behind from 1973 onwards, or from when Arsenal appointed Terry Neill three years later, take your pick.
On the ten year anniversary of our Old Trafford humiliation, we visited their noisy neighbours, and only lost by a margin of five, not six.
How’s that for progress???
PP
So angry, you had to say it twice.
Never mind.
If Xhaka comes back into the fold, that’ll be another two to three years on top of what Mertesacker promoted.
China I accept they’re well run clubs, Leicester in particular have done brilliantly to compete at the top end of the table like they have. I commend them. Brighton right now are flying high, with Potter seemingly a brilliant manager and them playing a good brand of football. However, I feel you’re comparing them at their very best to us at our very worst and they still come off second best (except Leicester last 2 seasons and the freak title). As I said, we’re at the very beginning of a cycle coming out of our lowest possible ebb, whilst it… Read more »
Attack the current regime all you like.My gripe is the slagging off of the CLUB .The club had a history that should be respected.
Yes PP, but that history is so long ago none of us have witnessed it.
When was the last time you saw a modern day version of what Arsenal represented in the 1930’s?
Admittedly we’ve been run atrociously over the last few years, from the end of Wenger through Emery, with Mislintat, Sanllehi and the others making some shocking decisions. Edu also has made a couple of awful decisions which have contributed to where we are now. However, I think that the decisions now are actually progressing us as a club, and I don’t think it will be long until our current strategy yields success. That’s also completely disregarding Arteta’s future as well. Regardless of whether he proves a success or not (jury massively out), I think we’ve got a base for long… Read more »
Arsenal have been a proper midtable club for a while and yes, people do chuckle at many of the utterly stupid decisions we make at Arsenal.
Who lets a monster defender like Saliba repeatedly go out on loan?
Arsenal are fast declining as a global brand.
Get angry as much as you want, try eating your hat while you at it.
Positive Pete is a mega hypocrite
He has another alter called “Negative Nigel”, that’s what he used to post when we lose.
Talk about duplicity
*uses to post
Tom
There are, by all accounts, twenty million Arsenal supporters scattered across the globe. Just because only two (that you know of) happen to be in your neck of the woods doesn’t count for much.
Ollie I think the players we’ve got in this summer are good signings (even tho the transfer fees for ramsdale and much more so white were crazy) so I agree with you this is easily a top 6 squad and tbh if we had a genuinely good season and a couple of the other big 6 clubs have off years we should have an outside shot at 4th But I don’t share your confidence in us achieving it. I don’t think the first 3 games of the season were a blip and I fully expect us to encounter very familiar… Read more »
At my sons U7 team, the majority of kits are Chelsea, Liverpool,Man City and Man Utd (still). One kid supports Arsenal. In fact their are even more kids turning up in spud kits than Arsenal. When people say our popularity is sliding, it is! Even Brentford weren’t surprised they beat us, we’re no longer a ‘Big Team’ and in years to come when we’re talking about ‘ our way’ , that’s when the penny drops. Kroenke’s turning us into the spuds
I agree 100 percent with this. My son still follows Arsenal, even tho he knows of all the problems. He is a rarity, as most kids – his teammates or friends dont even know much about Arsenal or wear the shirts. He is like the only fan amongst them… Its all Chelsea, City, Madrid, Barca PSG with the kids now The indoor/outdoor soccer complex I play is frequented by all nationalities and age groups and rarely will you see anyone wearing Arsenal shirt, and if you do, it’s always an older player like myself. They all watch the EPL and… Read more »
Its like 10 years ago, everyone knew about us, shirts and all. You would see a Everton shirt or Newcastle worn by someone and go “huh, hmmm ok” …
Now that is us….
Curious the average of our fans…
No question its older… like 30’s and more like 40’s plus.
We are not building our fan base with the shit show on display for the last few years.
The only time I’ve ever knowingly met an arsenal fan in China was when I went to an arsenal preseason friendly in Beijing
I’ve met man city and man utd fans plenty but never arsenal
G of SF
“””We are not building our fan base with the shit show on display for the last few years”””
Our young fans will be geriatrics ( like me) when they see Arsenal win that 14th league title
Jam Tomorrow.
Always next season.
!Young players !( as if no other clubs have them)
All Codswallop off course and lapped up by the masses.
HerbsArmy: Are you seriously overlooking what AW achieved from the 98 to 04, including the invincibles?
I think Pete’s got your number mate — f*** right off and take your misery elsewhere
Pete
You reckon we are building our fan base right now? Like we get new fans daily?
Part of London I live I still see loads of people wearing Arsenal shirts, even the kids.
We have had little success in recent years but Herb did you not enjoy the early to mid Wenger years when we played a brand of football that was respected worldwide? Ollie made a very good point when he reminded us that these last two years we have been at our worst for over 20 years, 8th place! Of course kids will always start supporting the teams winning stuff. When we get back to the top, we’ll pick the up gain. Chelsea and Man City do have had a tremendous advantage over the last 10 years or so with their… Read more »
Pete
Read that Man Utd have sold £187 million worth of Ronaldo gear.
Our Dopes bought White, Ramsdale and TT for £100m AND DONT INTEND TO BE A CL SIDE FOR ANOTHER FEW SEASONS YET!!
You have no chance when you have this number of imbecilles in your org.
That most of you are wetting the bed because Pete has the temerity to stand up for the the club this website supports, whilst you continue to moan and bitch about it, is hysterical.
Relax, take a deep breath and reflect on the fact that you are commenting on an AFC website. Only then, might you get why some posters are a little upset about your relentless bashing of the club
Players like CR7 sell shirts – how many Xhaka replica shirts have you seen?
shirt sales make a difference man. Especially for a team that is trying to run a self sustaining model.
Anyone who disregards the profit from merchandise is clueless
“Read that Man Utd have sold £187 million worth of Ronaldo gear.”
If this makes sense to you, you’re very dumb.
‘ We have had little success in recent years but Herb did you not enjoy the early to mid Wenger years when we played a brand of football that was respected worldwide?’
That’s History channel settings
A kid could have been born the year of our Invincible season and be getting ready to attain adulthood next year. That’s how long ago it’s been.
That’s why Tom said unless you live in the shadow of the Emirates stadium or you have family who are passionate gooners, , Arsenal won’t appeal to you.
Distinguish between “slagging off the club” and slagging off those people who are running the club.
Arsenal have always been a great club but unfortunately, over the past decade or more, we have become a bit of a joke.
If criticising the current regime is seen as slagging off the club, then so be it.
In my eyes though, those that endorse visible regression are only supporting the regime.
Also, those that endorse this PR bandwagon are utter fools.
Nobody is slating the club however they are slating the people that run it. Since the departure of Dein the slide has been gradual but has gained momentum.
The name will live on but the clowns will soon be forgotten.
https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/cristiano-ronaldos-man-united-shirt-sales-hit-record-breaking-187-million-2882
As from next week Arsenal will be playing in an all purple home kit.
That’s alright, trust the process. It’s part of the project.
Gullible fools!
CG 1 Jamie 0.
Gazidis, “Trust me”
Wenger “Trust me”
Arteta “Trust me”
Kroenke (Jnr) “Trust me” etc etc.
Yeah right!
G62
They all watched Jungle book too many times. Perhaps we should cancel the Amazon filming and employ Disney instead.
Try clicking the link you posted.
You’re very dumb.
Arsenal will be a better place if every manager was treated like Unai Emery
Hire a manager to do a job, said manager falls short of his defined targets….the manager gets sacked with no emotions. No sentimental BS.
Excellent post Bankz I guess you didn’t want to be on Pedro’s Xmas card list.
Same Graham you put up some good doses of irony for Pedro to chew on..
It’s high time people stopped shoving it down our throat that Emery was sacked for missing out of top 4.
He would have been sacked immediately after the season ends if it was all about top 4.
Any manager signed to replace Arteta would still be the one that buys into the new idea and project.
Enough of this Conte nonsense, he ain’t interested in the project.
Graham62
We’re the Trust FC.
What will our lives be without a little trust?
https://twitter.com/cfbayern/status/1438046388152045570
Absolute shit management skills from Arteta if this is true.
I didnt want Ramsdale in the first place but fair play he has done well in the games he has played.
Is Arteta really that stupid to drop a keeper high on confidence and on form.
Jamie
“””Try clicking the link you posted.You’re very dumb.””””
I dont dispute that.
IT aint for me
https://www.sportbible.com/football/cristiano-ronaldos-man-united-shirt-sales-have-reached-187-million-20210910
Tony
Lol.
Pedro should keep his Xmas gifts.
I’m definitely not getting into his list.
Matt B I’m not miserable by nature, just extremely disappointed at the direction the club has taken for several decades. During his Highbury years, Arsene Wenger was imperious, a visionary with the advantage of knowing the French market when France were World Champions. Arsenal played beautiful, mesmeric football that was the envy of the PL. We were all happy and on the same page. We all recognised the financial restraints that came with the stadium move, and Wenger’s achievements bought him plenty of goodwill and time. But the stadium build was financed by incredibly wealthy Old Etonians who ran a… Read more »
Sportbible ffs.
The only ‘source’ for the £187m revenue claim comes from this site:
https://www.lovethesales.com/press/articles/football-shirt-sales
Scroll down, you’ll see some more elite reporting on that site – Kate vs Meghan: who was the bigger fashion influencer in lockdown?
Also, merchandise is licenced out. Utd haven’t made £187m from shirt sales from any player ever.
Tee “It’s high time people stopped shoving it down our throat that Emery was sacked for missing out of top 4.” That’s not what is being said. What is being said is that the toxicity against him was high after the end of his first season because he just missed out on top four and lost a european final which considering our position right now seems ridiculous. Why didn’t the fans at that time get behind him and say well that is not that bad an effort for a first season effort after replacing a manager that had been there… Read more »
People on here would be a lot happier in their lives if they just looked forward to the next game and when we’ve won enjoy the lingering thoughts of the last one.
This constant analysing of when Arteta should be sacked must be very stressful for you. You can’t change anything by moaning on a blog. If you’re that upset then start demonstrating outside the ground.
I’m more upset i can’t watch the game on TV tonight. I would have gone but for not wanting to risk a negative Covid test before i go on hol.
I’ll b gutted if I miss Patino’s first big game for the club.
I’m a childhood Arsenal supporter and I’m not 30 yet. I have some friends who started taking interest during college times and they would see me in Arsenal shirt often. They watched some matches because of me over beer, understood the game and Premier League and what it meant, and then decided to follow Chelsea, City and United. A club like Norwich dreams to be ‘not relegated’. Another one like Leicester celebrated FA cup win last year as if it was a treble. We would be celebrating a top 6 finish this year, and hoping for a top 4 next… Read more »
“That’s also completely disregarding Arteta’s future as well.” you cannot do that as the performance of the team is dictated by a man with 0 experience who is clearly way out of his depth and also making numerous wrong decisions .we have three complete novices in charge of one of the biggest football clubs in England .None of the three have ever had any experience in the job they are doing now before they came to Arsenal .That not just dumb , that is shocking recruitment .The CEO is an accountant , the owners are pig farmers , so where… Read more »