Bournemouth reaction and player ratings

I also think we’re making a lot of incorrect inferences about Pepe and Arteta’s relationship because of what happened with the likes of Özil, Guendouzi and Auba.

Those guys weren’t bombed out because of heat-of-the-moment, in-game mistakes - they went because they were disruptive influences who lacked professionalism and continually breached the code of conduct. As far as I know, Arteta has no personal issue with Pepe whatsoever - he seems like a good guy and a hard worker and decent professional - he’s just not cut out for how Arteta wants to play.

I really feel for him tbh - he was sold on a move that was never right for him, by a couple of dodgy DoFs and agents who were looking for a pay day, and it’s wrecked his career. The coach he was bought for didn’t want him, the coach who has inherited him doesn’t want him, and the deal he was signed on (and the pandemic) has made it almost impossible to move him on - he really is stuck in purgatory,

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Originally Posted by I am invisible

I also think we’re making a lot of incorrect inferences about Pepe and Arteta’s relationship because of what happened with the likes of Özil, Guendouzi and Auba.

Those guys weren’t bombed out because of heat-of-the-moment, in-game mistakes - they went because they were disruptive influences who lacked professionalism and continually breached the code of conduct. As far as I know, Arteta has no personal issue with Pepe whatsoever - he seems like a good guy and a hard worker and decent professional - he’s just not cut out for how Arteta wants to play.

I really feel for him tbh - he was sold on a move that was never right for him, by a couple of dodgy DoFs and agents who were looking for a pay day, and it’s wrecked his career. The coach he was bought for didn’t want him, the coach who has inherited him doesn’t want him, and the deal he was signed on (and the pandemic) has made it almost impossible to move him on - he really is stuck in purgatory,

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But Arteta has handled the situation badly because he has little or no personal skills. Just like he handled the Auba situational dreadfully. It’s like if you cross some invisible line, you can forget playing again and half the time you won’t even know what you’ve done wrong.

I think Arteta could have given Pepe a fairer crack of the whip but he wasn’t wanted and obviously didn’t do enough in training or the minutes he was given to impress. Simply put, Arteta pushed the reset button. Look at the squad he inherited and the squad now, the only player who is still involved to the same extent is Xhaka.

We all said our squad had too much deadweight and needed a cull and that’s exactly what’s happened. Not going to knock a new coach for doing things his way and with players of his choosing.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

the only player who is still involved to the same extent is Xhaka.

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Which is why i still don't trust Arteta's judgement

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Originally Posted by I am invisible

if he does something stupid again, and one of those guys makes a case for himself while he’s out, then he could find he has a wait before he gets back into the side.

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We can only hope

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

But Arteta has handled the situation badly because he has little or no personal skills. Just like he handled the Auba situational dreadfully. It’s like if you cross some invisible line, you can forget playing again and half the time you won’t even know what you’ve done wrong.

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Agree, you need to handle expensive investmemts better than that, he's wiped out Pepe's value for example when he could have given him more game time when it suited

Last season the only times he brought him on were defensive situations which weren't the best time

If Pepe had been on the bench last weekend he could have come on, got a goal and his value would have shot up

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

But Arteta has handled the situation badly because he has little or no personal skills. Just like he handled the Auba situational dreadfully. It’s like if you cross some invisible line, you can forget playing again and half the time you won’t even know what you’ve done wrong.

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I don’t think he handled the Auba situation badly at all - quite the opposite. That invisible line you talk about was perfectly visible to me - Arteta very clearly outlined his ‘non-negotiables’ when he took over and made it abundantly clear that his first job was to reset the broken culture at the club. That’s exactly what a working culture is: a set of clear standards and behaviours that you all agree to so everyone knows what is expected of them and everyone understands what falls short. No grey areas. We’re not talking about cutting Auba’s throat after one mistake here - a misunderstanding because the rules weren’t clear - we’re talking about persistent breaches of discipline and a lack of professionalism by our club captain and highest earner. He nearly missed a NLD derby ffs! Arteta fought for him to get that big new contract and he gave him the armband so you can’t tell me it was just a random personal dislike - Auba just took the piss, persistently and over a prolonged period, and it eventually got him removed from the group.

Totally disagree about Arteta lacking personal skills - listen to the younger players, the newer players, the guys at City, etc - basically all the players with high professional standards - and they all love him. The only players I know of who have had a problem with him are all the bums and piss-takers who had incredibly low professional standards - players with terminal bad attitudes or who had been coddled and babied for too many years under Wenger and didn’t like their comfortable social club being turned into a serious place of work again. Who are we talking about here anyway? Auba? Özil? Guendouzi? Kolasinac? Mustafi? Is there anyone on this list of mistreated, misunderstood players who weren’t warned numerous times about their effort, professionalism and/or conduct and who didn’t bring it in themselves, many, many times over?

Again, for me Pepe is something completely different - he’s just a signing who unfortunately hasn’t worked out, but I don’t see any issues between coach and player there around professionalism. The biggest problem for Pepe isn’t the coach - it’s that the market in Europe has collapsed since the pandemic and it’s trapped him here.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

I think Arteta could have given Pepe a fairer crack of the whip but he wasn’t wanted and obviously didn’t do enough in training or the minutes he was given to impress. Simply put, Arteta pushed the reset button. Look at the squad he inherited and the squad now, the only player who is still involved to the same extent is Xhaka.

We all said our squad had too much deadweight and needed a cull and that’s exactly what’s happened. Not going to knock a new coach for doing things his way and with players of his choosing.

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Yup - it hadn’t been pretty to watch at times, but, as the saying goes, this is how the sausage is made.

Tbh, I think the idea that Pepe hasn’t been given a fair go is something that only really exists from the fans’ POV. What we’re really saying here is that we, as fans, haven’t seen enough of him to make our minds up yet - that we would have liked him to have more minutes to satisfy our own curiosity because games are the only time we get to see him. Arteta has seen him every day in training for nearly 3 years - he’s probably seen everything he needs to by now, and I don’t think a few more starts would have revealed anything new to him.

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Originally Posted by I am invisible

I don’t think he handled the Auba situation badly at all - quite the opposite. That invisible line you talk about was perfectly visible to me - Arteta very clearly outlined his ‘non-negotiables’ when he took over and made it abundantly clear that his first job was to reset the broken culture at the club. That’s exactly what a working culture is: a set of clear standards and behaviours that you all agree to so everyone knows what is expected of them and everyone understands what falls short. No grey areas. We’re not talking about cutting Auba’s throat after one mistake here - a misunderstanding because the rules weren’t clear - we’re talking about persistent breaches of discipline and a lack of professionalism by our club captain and highest earner. He nearly missed a NLD derby ffs! Arteta fought for him to get that big new contract and he gave him the armband so you can’t tell me it was just a random personal dislike - Auba just took the piss, persistently and over a prolonged period, and it eventually got him removed from the group.

Totally disagree about Arteta lacking personal skills - listen to the younger players, the newer players, the guys at City, etc - basically all the players with high professional standards - and they all love him. The only players I know of who have had a problem with him are all the bums and piss-takers who had incredibly low professional standards - players with terminal bad attitudes or who had been coddled and babied for too many years under Wenger and didn’t like their comfortable social club being turned into a serious place of work again. Who are we talking about here anyway? Auba? Özil? Guendouzi? Kolasinac? Mustafi? Is there anyone on this list of mistreated, misunderstood players who weren’t warned numerous times about their effort, professionalism and/or conduct and who didn’t bring it in themselves, many, many times over?

Again, for me Pepe is something completely different - he’s just a signing who unfortunately hasn’t worked out, but I don’t see any issues between coach and player there around professionalism. The biggest problem for Pepe isn’t the coach - it’s that the market in Europe has collapsed since the pandemic and it’s trapped him here.

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So you think the best way to deal with someone is to use passive aggressive tactics to humiliate them by making them train by themselves?. What would have happened if we couldn’t have got the Barcelona deal over the line

And he doesn’t have personal skills. When you hear the players talk they talk about how impressed they are with him tactically and his understanding of the game. There’s almost no personal interaction with the players one on one throughout the entire eight episodes. He’s clearly someone who is so introverted he cannot handle that kind of interaction.

Confirmation bias :bow: