Apologies for the break between posts, the Everton game was so awful, I’m flying back to shoot an episode of AFTV outside the stadium.
‘COWARDS, THE LOT OF YOUS’
Martin Odegaard calling it a ‘mentality’ thing is honest, but I hope he’s not going to be the Johann Djourrou of the new era.
Mentality shouldn’t be an issue with a squad built of new ‘characters.’
The most impactful thing you can do with absolutely zero skill is fight for the cause and work harder than anyone else. Elon Musk works longer hours because he figures if he works 50% harder than everyone else, he’ll be 50% more productive. Pep Guardiola changed the game when he combined elite talent with the doggest work ethic of a team of cloggers. Jurgen Klopp’s rock ‘n roll football is nothing without work rate and beastly aggression.
In Premier League football, there’s no off-day with it comes to putting it all on the line. If you’re a coward on the pitch, that is absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, within your remit to change.
That’s why I’m so thrown by this game.
It is not on Arteta to show up on the pitch, that is the players, don’t let them off for that performance or the United one… but what is he doing with the players to elicit such a meek performance?
There are some managers you will die for, there are some you won’t. The difference between an elite or an average manager in business, for me, comes down to this x factor… the sauce. You can have a power suit, you can be real good at spreadsheets, you can be the type of weapon the puts your University qualifications on your Outlook signature… but at the end of the day, if your people won’t run through walls for you… you are generally consigned to averageness. Look at the difference between Roy Keane and Diego Simeone. Similar players, wildly different managers. Look at Thierry vs Zidane, similar talent, one has multiple CL medals, the other couldn’t even handle a press conference without humiliating a player over table manners. Look at Jose, he was a shite footballer, and his backroom job was as a translator… but he could make a player sell their own mother on Camden Market with a look.
It doesn’t help having Auba as your on-pitch leader. As I’ve said many times before, the man is a mood controller. Every office has one. When they are electric, that meeting about expenses is good times… when they are down, that meeting about an exceptional Christmas bonus can feel like you’ve just been given bad news about why the goldfish is swimming upside down.
He’s not a leader. We all know that. The captaincy went his way because he was a prestige player. His conversion rate under Emery and the first 6 months of Arteta was amongst the best in the world. When he’s scoring, he’s the man, everyone is the man because they are juicing up on his halo vibes. When he’s struggling, his issues are everyone’s. Clearly, Arteta dropped him because he’s not behaving right.
Not good.
That’s Arteta’s problem to deal with.
Give me Eddie, Martinelli and Saka at the weekend.
Yes, I said Eddie. The man has had no minutes and he looked better than Pepe and Auba. 3 chances and he hit the post from 1 yard (poor, but it’s not like Auba is doing any better). Give him a run, see what he can do, because it’ll likely deliver more than what we’ve seen from an old, out of form, now skulking Auba.
Take the pain.
I don’t even know what to do about Thomas Partey, he’s cost us 6 points, that is no an exaggeration. There needs to be consequences.
Same for Ben White, what he’s given us in the last two games is just not good enough. He hasn’t been brave enough, his decisions have been poor, his errors have cost us. Lean into the squad. That’s what it’s there for.
We’re on the precipice here. There’s no margin for error now. December is on the verge of fucking us unpleasantly. Southampton cannot be a slip at the weekend.
The goldilocks football needs to turn into something better. We can’t get into the rut of being bad winners. There needs to be more bang on that pitch. If Auba isn’t it, drop him. If Lacazette has mentally checked out, leave him out the squad. If Saka is out of form, he’s not beyond the bench.
Arsenal is still too fragile.
Defensively, we’ve gone from really sound, to quite poor, which unfortunately shines a horrible light on the attacking issues. Arsenal can be a low creativity team they are a big 1-0 to the Arsenal side.
I’ve been learning the drums for the last year. Playing through your errors is one of the ways you get better. An experienced drummer will fuck up a bar and fix it seamlessly in the next. A bad drummer (me), will miss a beat, stop, cry, then start again. Arsenal, right now, are like me on the drums. When the sound of the music deviates, we don’t have the skill to work through it.
Yes, that is part of the process. There’s no escaping that. Young players have to learn how to cope. The problem for me is that the team default when things aren’t going well is to hide. Saka is hiding at the moment. Partey hides. Auba runs around and hides. That is not what happens with Klopp sides, ever. Even when Dortmund went to shit, the players could never be accused of hiding, because it was simply not allowed.
You cannot advertise a cultural revamp, then have Odegaard in the media saying we’re sad boys when things go badly.
Aggression is a mindset. How you deal with adversity is a product of your environment. Never giving up should be the most important non-negotiable going.
If the players are having mentality issues, then that is on Arteta and his coaching staff to fix.
Are the players going to be warriors under pressure? Or are they going to be geeks trying to work out how best to counter-press when the wind is blowing from a northeastern front?
At the moment, we look like the geeks trying to use a Krav Maga finger jab to take down Mike Tyson in a bar brawl.
It’s not good enough.
I’m going to be at the game on Saturday, I know what everyone is going to be looking for… some fucking fighting spirit. Some directness. A bit of sexy creativity.
The players have it because we have seen it.
I need it injected right into my eyeballs this weekend.
There’s no other option. We cannot be a team that feels sorry for itself. That is not going to move us forward.
We still have everything to play for. What I’m saying about the players is true of the fans. Don’t be weak. The people that talk about being elite are always the folk that throw in the towel at the sign of any adversity. This is sport. Things go wrong. We are still in the mixer. Stop showing yourself up by giving up and framing that as ‘standards.’
Also, hello London. I’ve missed you. Xxx
Auba takes penalties as well which makes his goal tally even worse
30 mins
Without ESR on the field the only tactic Diet Pep will use is long balls from Xhakalson and Benny Bianco.
That suits Auba ( maybe Pepe) more tha Eddie.
I have a feeling that the AFCON may prove to be a godsend as it will give minutes to players like Eddie , Martinelli and lakonga.
Positive game time can only improve players confidence and will give us a chance to see which players can cut it in the premier league.
If they don’t take their chance to impress then the solution is easy…move them on.
Pierre I think Eddie is the nearest striker we have hich suits the way MA wants to play I will be at the game but my confidence is rather low at the moment.
Pierre
If ESR was allowed to play in his best position and Eddie was the striker I believe we would have seen a different outcome to some of our results to date.
The few positive changes that Arteta has made in his tenure have all happened as a result of his hand being forced. AFCON is a forcing mechanism that will make it very difficult for him to persist with the current tactics. It’ll either save his job or seal his fate.
Start the games fast man!! Set a tempo from the off. When we don’t do that from the start then you know exactly what Arsenal is turning up. We need to win tomorrow and if we do it proves nothing. West ham also need to be beaten as well as Leeds away , Norwich away and Wolves at home. Freshen the midfield up but you know it will be Partey and Xhaka. Yes they are our first choice but they need to justify the choice. Would love to see Lokonga and AMN together again. I think the last time was… Read more »
Pedro learning drums to drum up more Arteta support no doubt.
Arteta spent £100m to improve the third best defense but we’re on pace to concede more goals than last season’s 39.
And we are on pace to score less as well, even though Ramsdale and White were meant to kick start our offense with their unique passing abilities.
To borrow Denzel’s line from “Philadelphia” ……….explain it to me like I’m a four years old, but how exactly the needle has been moved, Pedro?
My longstuff has moves more than Diet Pep has moved the ‘needle’
Im telling you for free!
Arteta says that he is trying to convince Eddie to stay. Laca is leaving for sure. Auba will stay one more year. There is playing time available.
“The overriding issue for me seems that we are sleepwalking into wokery.” LMAO. Herbs, I am sure Stan Kroenke would agree. Considering he’s a Republican after all You even said it yourself, he doesn’t really believe in what fans have to say. This is the same man, whom nor him or KSE representatives even made a statement when two construction workers died (at separate times) constructing the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California. I don’t think he is the type for sensitivity. There are plenty of reasons to want better ownership than the Kroenkes, not sure them “being woke” is one… Read more »
Arteta is a false dawn. The OTT praise he gets is largely media-driven. But many of the same people who heap praise on him often have very harsh words to say about things that run contrary to the narrative. Just look at what Pedro thinks about Henry. Or what Arseblog thinks of Ozil. Or what the Athletic thought about Emery before the Villareal semi. It’s not that these people are “woke” (I hate that word😂), they are clearly capable of being harsh critics. They’ve just seemingly placed Arteta on a pedestal and are too prideful to take him down from… Read more »
Players’ meekness usually comes from poor tactics, or lack of belief in what they try to achieve. Go back to Klopp’s remarks after the City game, when one of the things he said was how Pool get dominated through the middle on both sides of the ball in the first half, and how the natural impulse was to kick it long aimlessly, and how their inability to deal with City’s dominance made the players not want to play football. Now, we could say Arsenal don’t have the players Liverpool have to turn a game around like they did in the… Read more »
Robbie I wasn’t accusing the Kroenke’s of wokery, their crime is greed, taking one of the biggest football clubs in England and across the world, and neutering them to the point where rival fans have become so exhausted at laughing at us, they just offer pity, or look at what Arsenal have become and shake their heads in derision and disbelief. I agree with you about Steve Bruce, a very low ceiling, never excelled at any club he’s managed, his level is Championship at best. That’s where Arteta should be learning his trade, but his limitations as a player makes… Read more »
*memory.
“Many of us want Arteta shot out of the Emirates from a human sized military cannon, but he’s earning £5m a year, why would he leave the best gig he’s ever likely to get?”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This line killed me. You’re spot on. He isn’t likely to get this much pay, budget and control anywhere else if he stepped down. Mikel will milk this gig until he can’t anymore. Arsenal needs to start behaving like a serious club again.
Buying CBs, RBs & LBs, goalkeepers will Not improve our defence,
a midfielder or 2 that can control tempo will Not only improve us offensively, it makes teams cautious Not attack us.
Bellerin is doing okay at Betis while Tierney seems to be headed where Bellerin was.
Herb
Don’t see how the Kroenke’s are at fault. through greed
They do not milk the Club, and provide plenty of cash for transfers
The fact that Arsenal pay way over the top for some players, whilst also being the very worst at selling is down to others.
If the K’s have a fault, it is appointing the wrong people, but certainly not greed
Josh Kroenke is incompetent, the mess has escalated since daddy Kroenke let him make decisions.
Stan, Wenger and Gazidis were Not this level of awful
FB Let’s be in no doubt, Stan bought Arsenal purely as an investment to add to his portfolio of sports enterprises, hence KSE. And the more time unfolds, the more it starts to look like daddy bought his son an expensive shiny new toy to play with. Stan is a capitalist, of course it’s a philosophy of greed, but putting that aside, as custodian of Arsenal Football Club, one of his most important priorities is to make sure the structure and foundations are solid, and that the right people are doing the right jobs. Neither he or son, Josh have… Read more »
Tony No I am not ill However, Have decided to confine my remarks to specific games rather the ongoing debate which blows with the wind dependent on how well or badly we play. That applies particularly to you. My viewpoint has not changed. 1. We have a young team and there is bound to be inconsistency in performance particularly when the small number of experienced players fail to perform or be dependable. 2. I am not personally a critic of Xhaka, but I have always argued that we need an upgrade in the next tranche of transfers. Obviously he struggled… Read more »