Sorry, I meant Poch.Originally Posted by Globalgunner
But, yeah, that will 100% happen with us - let’s wait until the budget’s been spent and there’s no candidates left before we do anything.
Sorry, I meant Poch.
But, yeah, that will 100% happen with us - let’s wait until the budget’s been spent and there’s no candidates left before we do anything.
https://arseblog.news/2021/05/arteta...or-the-summer/
Hmmm... never a good sign when the manager starts throwing players under the bus. Hasn’t quite gone full-Mourinho and started naming names yet, but the deflection, martyrdom and self-preservation has started.
No choice but to follow through with the “ruthless” summer now - can’t publicly trash a section of the squad like that and then roll into the season with them. They’ll down you the first opportunity they get now.
Yes I saw this. It's a further worry, along with his comments re ESR and Willian, and ironically had he been referring to the latter in his press conference (he wasn't), then I don't think anyone would disagree - although it is never a good sign when players are being outed by a manager - even obliquely.
What I'm afraid these comments - and the decision making in relation to the team - point to is a narcissistic manager who is not alive to his own faults. It is down to Arteta, not the players, that he has f*cked about with his system and playing positions so much that his players often look like they have no clue what they are doing; who has picked fights with some players and shown blatant favouritsm to others - destroying team unity - and who has rewarded underperformance by continuing to favour certain players over mostly younger players who deserve better.
All managers need a streak of narcissism - but Arteta's seems increasingly off the scale and the real problem is that he is surrounded by yes men who wonlt reign this in. It's a really concerning situation now, going into a Summer that could be a car crash transfer wise...
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
i'm willing to bet in his haste to look 'ruthless' he'll get rid of some quite useful players like Chambers who for me is a 'must keep' as he's good and also can play in two or three positions
but he'll keep Xhaka and Willian who can't play well in any position at all
He looks like a guy who's incredibly stressed to me and is starting to crack under the pressure of the job - hardly surprising given his inexperience, the sheer volume and scale of the problems at the club, and the lack of any real support or structure around him. Whether he'll admit it or not, he's bitten off way more than he can chew here - the guy who we brought in last year looked cool, calm, articulate, could see the problems clearly and was making the right calls, but the man I see on the touchline now looks frantic, and the guy who sits there in press conferences looks like he's simmering with rage and spoiling for a fight. He's making panicky, flustered decisions and he's overcomplicating things that really don't need that much thought, probably because he's looking in so many different directions that he can't see what's right in front of him any more. Whether he realises it or not, these statements and outbursts of his are basically a cry for help.
The ESR / Willian comments were actually one of the things I'm least concerned about. I think there's an element of different strokes for different folks going on here: on the one hand you have a kid who is just starting his career and is gunning for his first big contract, so you kind of want to throw the guantlet down to him to see how he responds - if he accepts the challenge with humility and eagerness then you know you've got a proper player there; on the other you have a guy who is close to the end of his career and who has just signed a 3-year, quarter-of-a-million-pound-a-week contract, and when a player is that safe and secure, you can't threaten and shame them into performing - they'll just give you the big FU and enjoy an early retirement - so you do a lot more ego-fluffing. It comes across as massively unfair when you hear the two comments about the two players made one after the other like that, but in this instance I think (hope) that actions speak louder than words -despite what's been said, who has been the regular starter since Boxing Day and who has mostly been relegated to the bench and meaningless games?
Apparently there is something called the UEFA Conference League starting next season, which we can qualify for if we finish 7th.
No European football or playing in some tin pot competition created specifically for farmers?
I’ll take the former. Thanks.
Tbh, a lot of it might simply come down to who we actually get an offer for - in an ideal world we keep Chambers and sell Willian, but in reality who the fuck wants Willian? If we need money and the offer comes in for Chambers then Chambers gets sold.
(Fwiw, I'd also keep Chambers - we can't even consider renewing Luiz again, and I actually think he'll be a better fit for the way Arteta wants to play out from the back than Holding at RCB.)
Oh God no. Seriously, the new lows just keep on coming...
Good points there - and food for thought. Thank you.
No doubt Arteta is feeling the pressure - and he should be in terms of our performances/results on the pitch. Part of me would think that (in circumstances where we know he isn't going to be sacked) this is a good thing - he knows results are not good enough. However, I think I agree that he is beginning to become unstuck under the pressure - both football wise, and in terms of the massive issues at our club that are effectively being laid at his door as a resut of the administrative vaccum above him. It's as though the club knows no other way than the Wenger way - in which the coach is also manager; football director; chief scout; club administrator and mouthpiece. A combination that is obviously too much for anyone - let alone a rookie.
Given that the club is going to persevere with Arteta - what this situation is crying out for is someone in a kind of football director role (although probably not in name, given the unwise decision to make Arteta manager). It's a sign of his inexperience that Arteta has failed to bring in a wise head as assistant coach - who could take some of the decision-making strain off him, and act as a mentor. It's also a sign of hubris - but I suppose understandable in the circumstances. A solution is not going to come from the manager, though, and Edu - from what we have seen - is not the man to do this either. So we are loking at a real risk that the Arteta project will go down in flames for lack of support - as well as his own pride and inflexibility.
I suppose I grouped the ESR and Willian comments in with his savaging of Pepe and the Saliba situation, and maybe you are right and this is unfair. The problem is that while some of Arteta's unpopular judgments - eg our baying to see Martinelli up front where clearly he is not ready for this, or his reticence to use Pepe at times when there is some substance in the fact that he can't retain possession are justified to a degree, his favouritism of certain other players and his constant chopping and changing tends to drown this out.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
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