THE PAST IS DONE > ARSENAL LOOK TO INVEST BIG IN THE FUTURE

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Auba is no longer an Arsenal player and it didn’t take long for him to point the finger of blame.

“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.”

I mean, it’s to be expected. He’s an electric personality, a relaxed captain, and everyone liked him at the club. Likability is not the issue here and if there is one person you don’t want issue with, it’s generally your manager.

There are two reasons for Auba’s exit.

He wasn’t able to the do the job asked of him.

He’s a counter-attacking striker that relied on pace and instinct in the box. That worked when he was younger in Germany playing for Dortmund, and it worked in our early system of pure shit-housery.

Then our game needed to evolve. The role that he needed to play changed. The players we signed in the summer were built around a different idea.

We needed a striker that would truly lead the press, not the half-hearted stuff Auba could offer.

Our system needs a striker that can play with his back to goal, we have all these fancy players that can ping balls from 60 yards into feet, but the ball comes right back. When players know their passes will come back, they don’t make them, they try other things, and the game becomes easier to manage for the opposition because it’s predictable.

We also need a striker that can feed off high balls into the box. There’s no threat there, from any of our strikers, in games like Burnley, a high cross into the box is not a tactic open to you. Even launch balls from Ramsdale are a waste because Auba had no real intention of competing for them.

Do not forget that the first chunk of the season was like playing with 10 men.

What compounded the issue was the scoring dried up. He was missing sitters. He was missing penalties. He just wasn’t the same player.

At core, whatever anyone tells you, he just wasn’t right for what we needed this season.

… but there’s more.

You cannot avoid the discipline issues. He missed COVID tests that stopped him traveling to rough away games, he caught COVID in August after a rumoured party, he was consistently late, he was problematic at training, then he reneged on his deal to get back on time in December.

Arteta might be unpopular with a certain section of the fanbase, but he has seen what an elite level culture has to be… and let’s be honest here, you don’t need to have worked at City to know that this is unacceptable in leadership. If you want further evidence, look no further than Gabon, who sent him packing under the guise of ‘heart lesions’ after he went partying, caught covid, and missed their opener, and reportedly had issues with hotel staff. If Gabon can’t deal with him, what makes you think Arsenal should?

The final part of this issue is the central idea at Arsenal changed. Arteta thought he could get a group of older players together and win the Champions League. It was naive and dumb. It didn’t work. So the club pivoted to an elite youth project. For that to work, older players need to be disciplined, they need to be mentors, they need to set an example.

Auba didn’t fancy that, so he’s off. That is a good thing. It frees up money, it gives the squad more focus, it oxygenates the dressing room, and it gives younger players the chance to assume more responsibility.

The news right now is focused the past. This story is an easy thing for people to get upset with. The same happened with Mesut Ozil. But this club is about the future now, because there’s a good plan in place.

Did everyone miss the good news? Arsenal are going to offer new deals to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and… WILLIAM SALIBA. Shock horror, the club isn’t going to let the most impressive young center-back in Europe go to Real Madrid this summer.

These are the players we should care about, modern, hungry, easy to work with, that can work in our system, that all want to die for the badge.

This summer, we’ll clear out more of the squad, we’ll target a striker, probably a goal-scoring wide player, a midfielder, and likely some squad players that have limited time on their deals.

The hope is we have Europe. The Athletic now reporting what I’ve been saying, top 6 is the target, top 4 is the stretch goal. If have some form of Europe, there will need to be extra additions because we are short of any sort of midweek campaign right now.

Young players get better, they improve faster, and this whole experience this season all starts to roll into the Arsenal IP. Everything is geared around the idea that when we get into the Champions League, which we will, we can compete to win it. No trying to shortcut success like Everton, Spurs, and Villa. We are out here trying to build a sustainable football club, just like Liverpool.

It also has to be noted that there are stories of a £180m summer, which I assume is predicated on Europe, but great to know there’s actual powder to keep dry.

Should be a fun 6 months.

Not as fun as the podcast below. Get on it.

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Chika

Decisiveness has now become a negative. No agendas though.

Graham62

When Wenger discarded Gilberto Silva the way he did, I sort of discarded Wenger. That and a few other things.

What a player by the way.

raptora

Not sure you are serious right now Tom. The Forest game was between our games vs City and Pool where he dominated the best full backs possibly in the world. Cancelo was absolutely roasted and Trent needed support of 1 or 2 more players. Tell me how good was Saka in those games? Did he even play vs Pool? Thought vs the championship team Saka will show his insane class but apparently we didn’t even score? Consistency is the problem, that should come with experience. Saka has more experience than Martinelli. So he is usually more consistent. Even though he’s… Read more »

Graham62

raptora

Your 17:15 should be the pasted, mounted and framed for Pedro’s next post.

They never mention this though do they.

Blinded by six languages and Grecian 2000.

Tom

Raptora, you keep missing my point.
Martinelli is more about trickery and speed but if you make it physical within the laws of the game, his game suffers.
Saka has all that plus the strength his relative small frame should probably never afford him, yet somehow it still does.

Not taking anything away from Martinelli but clubs have been paying special attention to one Arsenal winger and it ain’t the Brazilian one.

raptora

“Not taking anything away from Martinelli but clubs have been paying special attention to one Arsenal winger and it ain’t the Brazilian one.”

Like you or I could know.

Tom

hm, yea, we kinda know since clubs game plan around double teaming Saka 90% of the time and rumors of Liverpool interest have been flying around.

Chika

Balogun starts for Middlesbrough tonight against United.

Pierre

Pedro “You cannot avoid the discipline issues. He missed COVID tests that stopped him traveling to rough away games, he caught COVID in August after a rumoured party, he was consistently late, he was problematic at training, then he reneged on his deal to get back on time in December.” I feel that you have gone into jackanory mode in your attempt to discredit Aubamayang. “Missed covid tests” ..i can’t find any evidence of this. “he caught COVID in August after a rumoured party,”…Arteta caught covid twice , i heard he was partying, or was it just a rumour. “he… Read more »

Thorough

Whoever said Saliba may be our best defender may not be far from the truth. This is what cold hard facts say. ‘Saliba has made 21 appearances in Ligue 1 this season and appears to have a game that is perfectly suited to Arteta’s way of thinking. He is good on the ball, averaging 82.8 passes per 90 minutes – that’s far higher than White (52.8), Gabriel (57.5) and Rob Holding (52.2). His passing accuracy of 93.5 per cent also puts him clear of all three of Arsenal’s current centre-backs, as does his possession loss rate – which is just… Read more »

Graham62

Pedro

A reminder.

Two words that you got 100% wrong.

Ivan Gazidis.

Your discrediting Aubameyang just to suit your agenda.

You seriously think that Arteta has nothing to do with all of this?

Graham62

It really has become a cult mentality on here.

englandsbest

Tom It’s about money. For years Arsenal could cherry-pick the best of British players, with only a couple of Clubs – Man U, Everton – able to keep pace with us. That changed when the game became global,. We are now outgunned moneywise by a host of Clubs here and in Europe. Hence the Project, a process whereby we create our own stars – like Saka, Emile – and also cherry-pick talented youngsters from smaller Clubs. To do that effectively entails moving players out to make room for the emerging stars – otherwise they’ll go elsewhere. The key is to… Read more »

Pierre

Raptora Saka is more complete footballer than Martinelli, better technique , better final ball, better understanding of the game. Martinelli has more pace and will in all likelihood become a 15/20 goal a season player if his team mates and manager play to his strengths. In a way i feel sorry for Martinelli as he is often left stranded on the left edge of the penalty area waiting for the ball in good positions. Odegaard plays in the right channel and in my opinion has too much influence in how we play as he is more often than not looking… Read more »

Nelson

Pierre

I think when Xhaks is playing normally, he’ll feed the left side most of the time to Tierney. Martinelli can overlap with Tierney just like in those December days.

Nelson

One thing I like Arteta. He is a fighter. He openly said that he wants Top4. KSE will probably satisfied with a top6.