Quote Originally Posted by IBK View Post
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...
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?