I’m not saying we should have indulged him completelyOriginally Posted by Marc Overmars
Not exactly a fair comparison!
Haaland is the worlds best performing player right now, of course Pep would have to do some ego stroking to keep that going. Auba was not deserving of that treatment, his impact was on the slide as soon as he got his big deal.
I think stripping him of the captaincy and dropping him for a few games made sense
But you should give a player a way back, Arteta didn’t….
I can see how it would encourage that tendency, but not every top player becomes one. Certain personalities are more likely to succumb.
With Auba you could see from his car he wanted to be the "big man". There were, according to Arteta, a catalogue of misdemeanours.
It sounds like it was routinely late for training - he was the captain FFS, he should be setting the example. I can't believe that ostracising him and eventually getting rid of him was his first option.
You can see from the way he's chatting shit about us what a dick he is, not every ex player does that about us - most don't, in fact.
Not guesswork, but based on a highly edited TV show. You don't know Arteta, you know nothing about how the show was edited, what was shown, what wasn't.which already seems apparent to me given your insistence that quite obvious conclusions drawn about Arteta from his manner and his body language were guess work
And given you have drawn conclusions about his marriage from fleeting shots we got of his home life, the things you are asserting to be "obvious conclusions" cannot be taken seriously.
Sure, look at what is said. But who said it and the context is not irrelevant.If Ozil who is one of the worlds biggest cunts had said what Auba had said I’d still look at the content of what was said rather than dismiss it
EDIT: Oh, and this:
You once again overestimate your ability as the board's psychologist.
I've been critical of Arteta at times but I accept the evidence in front of me that he is moulding a side that is now able to take on the top six sides and win
I remain unhappy with some of the players he fielded on Thurs but certainly Martinelli didn't look like he was feeling the effects of it, so maybe it was what he needed to stay as sharp as he is
It depends what your priorities are. If you are building a team, then a 'bad apple' causes damage. It fosters disunity and discontent that other players feel that there is unequal treatment. This translates to the pitch where (as we have seen) players need to play for each other with no pecking order. It also sets a bad example - and this is particularly important when you are dealing with a young team and trying to change the culture at a club.
Dealing with Auba further sent a signal to other players thinking of joining Arsenal. If you come - you need to buy into the culture and the manager's non-negotiables. So you get players like Jesus and Zinchenko rather than Willian. We spent too many years indulging egos who did not return the faith shown in them.
So yes - if you are purely short termist, I can see that ignoring Auba's disciplinary issues may have been regarded as expedient (albeit that in hindsight CL football would IMO been too soon for our team). But longer term, yes it was worth getting rid of Auba while there was an opportunity to do so, and not being rushed into buying a replacement was also the right call.
As for your persisting views about Arteta. I am not buying that he cannot deal with 'big players'. He clearly (and rightly) does not want to deal with the wrong type of 'big players' - and this applies to players whose egos emerge over time as well as those who start off with the wrong attitude. Firstly, you don't persuade Jesus and Zinchenko - who both had years of experience under Arteta as assistant coach at Citeh - to join a team not in the CL if you can't handle top talent. Second, you don't have to be long in the tooth to have attitude. We have in our team 3 or 4 of the best young players in Europe (actually scratch that - some of the best players period) - who have all stated how happy they are at the club and are 100% committed to the cause. This shows good man management skills.
Finally - look at the evidence. Auba was by most accounts popular with his team mates. But what happened when he left? Was there dissention in the ranks? Did it harm our recruitment last Summer (after all players talk to each other)? No - quite the opposite in fact.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
In fairness, I was unhappy to see the subs last Thursday. But in hindsight, I can see method in this. We had dropped a level when they were made, and ensuring that we wrap up top place in our Europa League group as early as possible is absolutely vital because it allows us to rest players when they are nearer the red zone in a few weeks. Second, I have no doubt at all that sports science analysis will have shown show that keeping players at optimal performance in terms of match fitness was a factor here. Lastly - and as we saw with Tomiyasu changing to LB on Thursday, the manager clearly had Sunday in mind even making his subs.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Hopefully the big guns aren’t dragged out to the North Pole this week.
yes noted re Tomi, i thought so too when i saw he was playing on Sunday, good idea to give him some time there in the EL game
That would definitely be taking it too far, though i fear Arteta probably will, whatever the defence of last Thursday's subs, i still think he asks too much of (what he thinks is) his best 11
Once you see it, you can't unsee it...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d5nklg
Tony Adams is clearly unwell mentally, and shame on Strictly for exploiting this
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