Auba exited the building yesterday, leaving Arsenal by mutual consent, on a free transfer.
There are suggestions he was paid £7m to go. If he was on Ozil money, which wouldn’t shock me, he’s saved us the best part of £20m in wages by taking the move.
I’ll always love the player we had at peak level. His finishing was exceptional, he showed up when we needed him, and he led a broken team of misfits with honour when the Arteta regime started.
We’ll always have the FA Cup run as well.
Things turned sour for a whole number of reasons, the main one, I think, was the painful reality that he couldn’t do the job needed of him. His game wasn’t about back-to-goal link play and leading the line, it was about counter-attacking football and elite box play. When you can’t do what is needed, confidence drops, and you look for an outlet for your anger. His outlet was switching off, losing his discipline, empty stat-padding, and eventually pushing the manager to exit him from the squad with poor behaviour behind the scenes.
When you challenge the culture of a club in transition, there’s only one choice for the manager, especially if you aren’t delivering. Arteta chose the culture and the decision was correct. We’ve seen what reconciliation does for managers. Unai Emery decided Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil weren’t right for the club, it was the right decision, then he reneged under fan pressure when his ideas bedded in and didn’t work. He never recovered from that because the players saw him as weak.
Auba missed covid tests, turned up late to training, showed up lated to the NLD, reneged on deals when he was given time off, he went against the wishes of the coaching staff at training and just stopped being an example to impressionable kids that looked up to him.
At a base level, a culture is a set of behaviors for everyone to abide by. People like structure, they like to know what is rewarded, and what is punished, and they like to know what the end goal is.
A culture only works if it’s for everyone. Your weakest talent and your best talent might get paid differently, have different perks, and be regarded higher in the business… but the rules have to be the same. Turning up on time is the biggest leveler in a culture, it’s a basic that shows respect, it’s an easy one at a football club for everyone to see actioned… in the army, it’s important because it’s life or death, at a football club, it’s just good manners. If you let Auba turn up late, he’s told everyone that he is better than them. Everyone that isn’t earning £350k is watching to see what happens. If you let it slide, then you’ve told everyone he is special, and you are weak.
Pep Guardiola doesn’t give a fuck who you are, what you cost, or how important you are to the starting 11. If your name is Jack Grealish and you cost £100m, you better not be going out when you should be staying in. Jack did go out, and he was punished with City Starboy Phil Foden.
‘Yeah, but Arteta hasn’t won it all like Pep’ is the worst of retorts. Arteta needs to work harder to show that means business because his job is harder than Pep’s because he’s establishing a reputation. Reality is, the standards he has learned come from the Manchester City setup, his passion to insert them into Arsenal probably comes from his experience working in a Wenger culture that was in terminal decline.
Standards are hard to enforce because sometimes your weakest link is the most important talent (see Reed Hastings talented dick head). Culture is fragile because one errant decision can unravel it. This sort of move should be commended because the slip of both of those elements is why we’ve been out in the wilderness for the best part of a decade.
Auba leaving is massive for the club in other ways as well. There’s a new order at the club. Big dressing room personalities have exited the building. A new hierachy is emerging. The financial freedom all these big names are giving us means we can offer better deals to the kids showing their hunger every single week. It means the striker we move for this summer can be grander. These exits oxygenate a squad that has choked on toxic fumes for far too long.
Don’t pay heed to anyone that says Arsenal aren’t an attractive proposition. Any agent worth his 10% fee will be looking at us as a prime destination for their young clients. The coaching is taking the best talents to the next level, the squad culling shows we have standards, and it also presents clear pathways to the first team.
Arteta needs to make the top 6 this season to prove that he can progress the club where it matters. If he can make top 4, even better, but that is still a stretch goal whether you like it or not.
The point of a slow build back to the top, as I’ve written before, is that you want to be able to compete when you get into the Champions League. The average age of the Liverpool / City squads is 27. Arsenal’s is 24, our starting 11 is closer to 23. Teams peak at 27. Arsenal can’t afford the best 27+ year olds, we’ve tried that approach to get into the CL with look-a-like talent, it didn’t work. Arsenal are trying the grow their talent by betting on the best 21-24 years olds in Europe developing into £70m players. The idea Arsenal have is that when we make the Champions League, we are ready to challenge for it with a young vibrant squad of hungry players that can compete there for years. The experience of this fight for top 4 this season will be new to most of the players, that’ll give the squad IP it didn’t have last year, it’ll make all of them better, and they are going to get better.
We started the cycle of improvement this year. Young players, 2 seasons of experience, ready to go. We’ve combined that with elite youth prospects. We’re trying to top up our academy chances with U23 prospects like Trusty, Akinola, and Rekik. This summer, we’ll likely go big on a striker that probably knows we’re in for them already, and we’ll scour value elsewhere by targetting players with 18 months left to go on their deal. This isn’t a million miles away from what the LA Rams have been doing. Go big on key players, moneyball the market for undervalued talent entering peak selling zone.
People ask me all the time why I back this idea more than I did Wenger or Unai Emery. It’s quite simple, this current approach is Arsenal being honest about who they are, it’s a strategy that leans into our strengths, it’s an idea we can win at.
Wenger became obsolete and was vehemently against changing his ways. He didn’t refresh his backroom. He didn’t reassess his scouts. He didn’t change his training, he even bragged about that once. He didn’t change his approach on the pitch. Now he can’t get a job.
Unai Emery was a nice chap, but a total mismatch to The Arsenal Way. He couldn’t speak English, he was brought in on a Don Raul wink-wink super-agent deal, and the players knew he was weak. I have nothing against him, but he was a car crash, statistically one of our luckiest ever managers, and we knew it was coming.
The approach we have going now has clarity. We know how we want to play, we know the standards that need to be hit, and we are building everything around that idea by working within our means (kind of). I like a good idea, this is a good idea, now we just have to see what the execution looks like, and that is still very much in motion.
But look at this way, if I told any of you day one of the season we’d be 2 points off top 4 with games in hand over our rivals, in February, what would you have said?
You’d have been very happy with that.
The squad has been transformed inside 2 years, the experience of Arsenal has changed for fans in the ground, expectations and hope is flooding back into the system so enjoy the ride, this is what football is all about, let’s see where it goes.
Right, listen to our podcast.
^ LOL
Beat me to it Diss…
ES – going back over the same old nonsense about Klopp when we’ve been round this loop several times before. I can only repeat: Pre-Klopp season 6th Pre-Arteta season 5th Klopp season 1 (part season) 8th LC Runner Up, Europa League Runner Up Arteta season 1 (part season) 8th, FAC Win Klopp season 2 4th Arteta season 2 8th Klopp season 3 4th, CL Runners Up Arteta season 3 ? (obviously not in any European competition) Klopp year 4 2nd (97 points), CL Winners Klopp year 5 1st (PL Winners) Super Cup Winners, World Club Champions. Nett spend last 5… Read more »
“But look at this way, if I told any of you day one of the season we’d be 2 points off top 4 with games in hand over our rivals, in February, what would you have said? “You’d have been very happy with that.” Not if you had gone on to say that it would only be used as a cushion to achieve 6th, rather than a springboard to achieve 4th. I get the strategy. There’s sense to parts of the strategy. But I come from a background where a business needs to be agile, not rigid, and prepared to… Read more »
What are the chances we’ll get two top class strikers and a quality MF replacement for Xhaka this summer? We’d pretty much have to smash it out of the park. More realistically we might get one striker and a CM and then have Balogun and Martinelli as back up strikers.
Expect to hear that ‘we can’t fix all our needs in one window’ again (the new mantra replacing that old favourite ‘like a new signing’ or ‘we only sign super super quality’).
Excellent points emirates.The Bedwetters have a an agenda habit of playing with the figures.Their favourite is the old ‘ net spend’ sleight of hand.Conveniently ignoring where a particular club sat prior to a new manager taking over or the mess inherited ( always ignored) or the GROSS spend which allows you to get world class players .Have to say by & large that despite Pedros positive post today there are still those determined to wet the bed no matter what.Sad.
Dissenter
Andy1886
Dumb and Dumber – a comical pair
EB putting dumb and dumber to the sword. Careful now eb, dumbest(raptora) will show up in a bit.
Pete
Here’s a figure for you. 420 minutes of playing football and not scoring a goal.
Oh yeah, EthelTheTeaLady send her regards.
EB – What a contribution, I see that you and your mate Positive Pete have little add other than insults and bluster. Factually bankrupt. Pete, do try to get over your fascination with bladder related activities, most of move on from talk of bodily fluids post-teen. If you actually read my comment then you’ll see that ‘where we were’ pre-Arteta was 5th, pre-Klopp Liverpool finished 6th. Doesn’t support your point does it? Economics may not be your strong point either but buying and selling effectively increases your spending power. Do I really have to re-write the list of players that… Read more »
Raulhuss chips in with another valuable contribution! Well done!
Andy We’re unlikely to fix all our needs in one window, but we can continue building towards success What we can do is secure the medium term futures of Saka, Martinelli, Saliba + Patino. Clear out what we can of our remaining excess, we’ve got 10 players out on loan, 8 of which who don’t have futures at the club. Free up some revenue, recoup what we can, then aim for quality over quantity. We’ve got the foundations of an exciting squad in place, what we can’t let happen is a repeat of 2011, where we sell off the Crown… Read more »
@Andy1886
You claimed they’d say we can’t get all the signings we want in one window……..then Rich turns up 3 minutes later with ” we’re unlikely to fix all our needs in one window 🤣. Tell you what, Arteta’s propaganda and excuse making department are top top notch.
andy1886
Boy, are you wearisome! Not a trace of zest, just a constant reiteration of hopelessness. Perk up a little., there’s plenty to cheer you up if you open that other eye of yours. You might even see what is good at the Club.
Aubameyang: “My last few months at Arsenal were complicated, that’s football sometimes. For my part, I never wanted to do anything wrong. My problem was only with Arteta. I can’t say much more, I wasn’t happy.” https://t.co/onZ1xXGgXL
What the F is going on?
@Mb
How bloody dare you criticize Arteta. He is aodern day MLK,Mother Theresa and Ghandi rolled into one
No EB, I’m fine really. I enjoy going to games, support the team vigorously and positively. I just have an allergy to vacuous preachy bullshit.
Positive Pete Excellent points emirates.The Bedwetters have a an agenda habit of playing with the figures.Their favourite is the old ‘ net spend’ sleight of hand.Conveniently ignoring where a particular club sat prior to a new manager taking over or the mess inherited ( always ignored) or the GROSS spend which allows you to get world class players .Have to say by & large that despite Pedros positive post today there are still those determined to wet the bed no matter what.Sad. Pedros post was yep positive but others , many others, me included are far from convinced the acid… Read more »
TYAG
Exactly how may players he has fallen out with now? Who’s next – Saka? ESR? Maetinelli – already done.
I will forget everything if he falls out with Xhaka someday I promise.
TYAG
If you look at our squad, then compare it with City, Chelsea + Liverpool’s, current squads, and even the quality of United’s.
Then take into account that this season we don’t have Europe, and the age + experience profile of the core of players we’re trying to build around
Then if you analyse all that, and still think we can realistically win the title, and simultaneously compete on other fronts next season.
Then you’re completely delusional , and have grandeur ideas about where we currently are as a club.
You wonder if the lack of Jan TW activity isn’t a sign of ruthlessness on part of the club. No doubt makes Arteta’s job harder heading towards May, assuming we have a hard goal of top 6. I know, optimistic on two fronts. You can’t say KSE hasn’t supported the manager up until this window. You also have to believe that they expect some ROI considering how much money has been spent over Arteta’s tenure. Rebuild or no, football is entertainment and 8th place finishes aren’t entertaining. Auba walking is the latest in a list of things that hint at… Read more »
Auba acted like a child and got punished but we should be condemning Arteta. He has been woeful this season. There seems like no middle ground with fans it’s either pro or anti Arteta. I do think we must have one of the most negative fan bases?
Some people’s understanding of the current state of affairs at Arsenal is far from reality. You may not like the manager or how things are run by tjr Arsenal hierarchy but to continously claim the earth is flat when there are facts to the contrary is simply delusional. Rich in his comments have expressed a quite balanced viewpoint which i’m in agreement with. We should look forward rather than preach doom and gloom. Make assessment with the current realities on ground. If reports about a 180M transfer kitty are correct then is room for improvement in the summer transfer window.… Read more »
All these falling out mantra are nothing but lazy thought of posters nursing some grudges against Arteta. If I may ask, who are these players he has wrongly chased out of the club? Auba? – no sane club should entertain a has-been too striker on that wage Saliba? – he is still ours Guen? – headless chicken Pierre? Oh! Sorry I mean Ozil? Kola? Auba can go on and on about Arteta but it still won’t change the fact he was punished for exhibiing the same attributes that sent him packing out Dortmund. I don’t expect him to say something… Read more »
Rich: “We’re unlikely to fix all our needs in one window” Mikel Arteta’s incredible Arsenal cull revealed with just SEVEN left of 28-man squad that boss inherited off Unai Emery And there could be be just TWO left at the start of next season. Lacazette, Leno, Elneny, Nketiah and Holding are expected to leave. Only Emile Smith Rowe and Granit Xhaka are almost certain to be part of Arteta’s merry band next season. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17506942/mikel-arteta-arsenal-transfer-news-emery-aubameyang/ The guy has literally moved on the whole team. So long with being a great coach. Wasn’t he supposed to improve the players already here, so… Read more »
We’re basically where we should be this season, we’re not overachieving, and we’re not underachieving, but with the current strength of the top 3, it’s very difficult to overachieve. Top 3 – would require us to finish above one of City, Chelsea, Liverpool, if you think we currently have the squad to do that in terms of quality + experience? Then I’ll have some of whatever you’re smoking… 4th – United are favourites, but with no European distractions, and if we can get lucky with injuries, we can edge in there. It would be a slight overachievement, it’s certainly possible,… Read more »
Ed the red.So glad to hear Ethel the trolley dolly is well & keeping her ear to the ground or men’s toilets( if need be) give her my best wishes & tell her I hope to pop around for a brew when COVID permits.Thankyou.
This mantra we can’t fix all our problems in 1 TW is wearing extremely thin. Artits was involved in 5 TWs and we still have problems. He had a few recognized strikers but bought 0 in the 5 TWs. Almost every manager will bring in a striker in the first 2 TWs. Now the generational one needs 2 in the next TW. That ia one hell of a shitty squad planning because every club on earth knows in the summer we are with 0 recognized strikers and there will be no favors on the table. I can see another season… Read more »
As we’ve managed 35 points over the first half of the season I’m unsure why people think we’re in such a bad place.
70 points would have made top 4 last season.
Every reports indicate that Arteta and Aubameyang fell out after he came back from visiting his sick mother in France. Some Twitter accounts have stated that when Aubameyang came back from France, new rules meant that he had to miss 1 training session. On his return to training Arteta tried to dress him down in front of his teammates but PEA answered with a joke that made Arteta look like an idiot and a jerk. After that Arteta decided to ostracise him. As reported by Ornstein, it was not tardiness that cause the fallout, so that story may well be… Read more »
Raptora Arteta spent £80 million in his first 3 windows. The big signings we’re Partey + Gabriel signed in his second window, Partey missed over half the season injured, and Gabriel was a 22yr old centre back who didn’t speak English, and is still learning the game. In his 4th window we spent £140-£150million on young players, all 23 and under, to replace previous mistakes like Ozil’s new contract, Sokratis, Mustafi, Ceballos going back from loan. We spent nothing in the recent 5th window. We’ve made some mistakes, but all clubs do. If we finish 5th like Emery did with… Read more »
There we go with 8th branded as “slight underachievement”.Can’t believe Rich has been posting the same thing for 1 or 2 years now. I understand that it’s not easy to finish ahead of the financially stronger clubs City, Chelsea and Manure. But imagine with what we have as a club to be behind clubs like Liverpool, Wolves, Leicester, West Ham, Spuds. 3 years in a row. We should be finishing ahead of Wolves, Leicester, West Ham and Spuds every single year. We can afford better players, higher salaries, better managers. Why should we finish behind Liverpool so many years in… Read more »
Falling out for what? Fighting for one of your team mate like Guen did? Or being late by a day?
Recent events concerning to Lukaku, Foden, Grealish would have seen them their contracts terminated, if Arteta was handling them.
It’s sports ffs, there will be high adrenaline situations. You can’t keep ostracizing players. It’s costing club on financial level too.
andy 1886
You miss completely the point I was making.
I was not making a comparison between Liverpool/Klopp and Arsenal/Arteta.
I did not discuss money in my post either.
The point I was making was that Man City under Guardiola are the most successful team
today in domestic football.
Liverpool may be a good team but their trophy cabinet is comparatively bare in last seven
years.
Rich, I agree third is unlikely even though Chelsea are in a poor run of form. Fourth is a distinct possibility though. For all their spending (worse than ours over the years IMO) United are a very average team. How many United players would you pick in a combined AFC/MU XI? Their defence is very average, their midfield is poor bordering on terrible, Rashford is out of form, Cavani is nowhere near his peak and everyone says Ronaldo is a problem. Maybe one in midfield (least worse option) and probably a striker or two (again whoever you deem to be… Read more »
Excellent points rich. It’s not like we’re at crisis point or anything but with people like rap,val etc its always about the negatives and pushing their fading agendas as much as they can. Val with another exclusive for us, funny he never gets the positives just the negatives as per
Stroller’s mental gymnastics trying to say he didn’t want to compare Liverpool to Arsenal yet said they’ve won 2 trophies and we’ve won 2 trophies.
With all due respect, when the day comes and a manager succeeds to deliver us our first Champions League trophy and next year he adds a Premier League title to it, that dude will forever be in our memory and songs.
How dare you minimize Klopp’s achievements at Liverpool lol??!
Andy were you saying how poor man u team was compared to ours in the summer? Imo man u are still the best placed team to finish 4th but us and spurs are definately going to push them to the max
ES, apologies if I misunderstood, I thought that you were comparing Klopp and Arteta given your opening line which was: “I know that it is fashionable to criticise Arteta on Le Grove particularly when you make a comparison with Guardiola and Klopp.” Actually given the obscene amount of money that Guardiola has spent on top of the squad that he inherited it’s no surprise that City have won so much. That’s why for me it’s difficult to judge Guardiola as a manager – he simply has never competed on a level playing field with his contemporaries. He’s certainly very good… Read more »
Raulhuss – actually yes I was saying that in the summer. In fact I said that although they finished second they really were a poor side and it was a false position. I named them as most likely to drop out of the top four. Bang average side with a poor manager.
I can’t wait to see a fully fit esr when play resumes. I think we actually missed him as he was starting to combine well with ode.
Good on you andy. I didnt think they would flop this hard but i’m glad they did.
Raulhuss, yes, if I were a United fan (God forbid) I’d be absolutely gutted about the way the club has performed post-Fergie. They should be challenging City but aren’t even close. Fergie left a mess, true, but they’ve been one of the worst run clubs in living memory (much as we’ve been poorly run in the past we pale behind the disaster that they’ve been).
I honestly think that without help from officials they will struggle to make top four, I’d be more worried about the Spuds given an even playing field.
Andy1886
What games? Tiddly winks?
Forgive me, but your comments are so dissimilar to what others who attend games say, and to what I see, that you must watch with both eyes closed.
EB – Do you attend games? Plenty on here that do seem to incur you wrath which seems to suggest that it’s you that are out of touch with fans in the ground.
Andy The other reason I’m more positive, is that Spurs are in the Emery zone of 2018/19 They’ll be in the mix for 4th this season, but they’ve got 2 ageing strikers, Son 30 and Kane 29 this summer Then they have a team relatively experienced, but who’s ceiling is unlikely to get much higher. By the time they develop the rest of their team, they’ll need to replace their 2 forwards, which is where we’re currently at with Aubameyang + Lacazette When you look at our team, it’s less experienced, but there’s plenty of room for further internal growth.… Read more »
This season with auba
23 points from 12 matches ( 1.94 ppg)
Without Auba
13 points from 9 matches (1.44 ppg)
So we are likely looking at 61-64 points from Lego hair, not looking good.
No, I no longer attend games. But, unlike you, I never claim to attend them
So, is it tiddly winks?
Or do you watch with both eyes closed?
EB, you know that I’m an ST holder.
I seem to recall that recently you commented on a match that you admitted you hadn’t even watched. Nice work.
Nothing pleased me more than the departure of Auba. A pain in the proverbial. At £350K/ week. Arteta was incredibly patient with him – I guess because nobody would take him off his hands. A flashy embarrassment to the Club. Bad for team morale.
Our gain. Barca’s loss
andy1886
A Serial Tiddly-winks holder?
Remind me of the comment I made on the match I didn’t watch.
EB
Arteta was so patient with him he renewed his contract and paid him a massive wage – much more than was required to keep him.
“ However, I would like to point out that Klopp has managed Liverpool since 2015 and in that time he has won just 2 trophies ie EPL in 2019-2020 and Champions League 2018-2019.”
ES, just 2 trophies ???? One that we have never won and is the premier trophy in club football across the planet and the other is one we haven’t won in 18 years…..and you’re trying to downplay that as “only 2” …… some manipulative shit right there.
Auba leaving was necessary. You can tolerate him when he is scoring goals but not when he is that bad out of form. The ultimate killer was that huge fat contract. We should have sold him with a year left. Anywhere between 150k and 300k money should be awarded to someone with in 25 to 27 age range. A huge summer is coming up. We need to convince great young players to join. Saliba will be a real headache. If he doesn’t sign a new contract then we need to sell in January. Have him as a backup and give… Read more »