Football is back (oh good)

Did you ever have a job where your boss would strictly enforce time limits on your breaks? I remember some places where I would be out smoking and the boss would come out and just randomly tell me to get back to work. I couldn’t really protest because if I did, he would make me clean the bathrooms or something else that I hated doing.

Anyway, international break is over, time for Arsenal to get back to work, and if we complain, we get to clean the toilets.

Arsenal play Southampton this weekend and Emery held a pre-match presser. Unlike our North London rivals there weren’t many huge surprises. Xhaka is ready to come back, maybe; Ceballos is out; Kolasinac is out, maybe; Pepe is out, maybe; Torreira is unhappy, maybe; Aubameyang is unhappy, maybe; and Emery has described the challenge ahead as one of trying to get back into the top four.

Starting with Xhaka, there are somewhat conflicting reports. Arseblog published some quotes which seem to suggest both that he’s still harboring frustration with what happened and that he’s trying to get back into the team.

“I have a clear idea as to how things should proceed, and Arsenal know this as well. Although I still have a contract with them, I will be glad to return to the club so we can finally sort matters out. There will surely be a solution, as I can’t accept what has happened with me.”

Emery was slightly softer in his presser but none-the-less sees this as a difficult road to hoe:

“My objective is going to be his comeback to help us and convince every supporter of his commitment with us and his performances will be better and they will be proud of him in the short or long future with us. That is my objective, and what I am working towards. He is feeling better and also feeling that his team is Arsenal now. He wants to come back with confidence with the supporters, and we are going to decide. But I think little by little we can help him come back and connect with us and our supporters.”

I don’t know how Xhaka can reconnect with the supporters. Scoring goals helps. Winning games helps. But reading the comments here and other places, I just don’t see it happening. Maybe if he apologizes? But it sounds like that won’t happen. Anyway, something to watch.

Ceballos is out with a hamstring injury. Many weeks. I hope he recovers quickly – his stats show that he’s important to the team’s buildup – but I’m ok with others getting a chance.

The club are going to do a scan on Kolasinac and his hammy. I hope he recovers quickly but Arsenal have excellent cover for him in Kieran Tierney – the Arsenal starting left back. I hope Kola recovers and also that we see Tierney start this weekend. No offense to the Bodyguard.

Unai thinks Pepe should be ready for Saturday. Cool. Because we need him. I was just checking out FBref.com and the stats aren’t going to settle anything. He’s 2nd in passes into the 18 yard box (with 20) but he takes a lot of corners. He leads Arsenal in assists (4), expected assists (2.0), Key Passes (22), 2nd in non-penalty xG (2.5), and leads Arsenal in dribbles (3.3). Southampton are the 2nd most-dribbled team in the League with 13.4 and most-dribbled on away days with 14.8.

Anyway, I think we need Pepe. You may not.

Torreira and Aubameyang… take this with a grain of salt but Torreira’s agent has been quoted in multiple places saying that he’s unhappy with his playing position at Arsenal. Not a surprise, really, since he’s mostly deployed as a weird number 10-ish player when he prefers to play deeper as a shield for the defense. Meanwhile, the Mirror (I know) is reporting that Auba isn’t going to renew his contract at Arsenal or is at least stalling the renewal. I wouldn’t normally put much into the Mirror reports but Aubameyang did recently just give everyone who disagrees with his choice of friends the one-finger salute.

What’s funny is that Emery could solve a lot of these minor problems fairly simply: play Ozil as the number 10. Then you slot Torreira in as a DM, Guendouzi as the B2B, Pepe wide right, Saka wide left, maybe play Auba as a CF, Tierney LB, Bellerin RB, Holding and Luiz as CBs. If you need additional firepower, you got Lacazette and Martinelli. If you want to change the midfield you have Willoc, Nelson, Smith-Rowe. I don’t know, am I being too simplistic? It just feels like a lot of Arsenal’s problems start and end with the manager refusing to play Ozil.

Anyway, Emery said that the objective is to little by little, chip away at top four and reconnect with the supporters, “for me and the players we are going to start again to achieve our objective, thinking how we can reduce the difference with the top four. It is nine points, but last year we had some experience in reducing the gap against important teams and now that’s our objective. We know it won’t take a short time but that’s our goal and our challenge now is to reduce the distance, little by little, and starting on Saturday and that match is very important. Getting three points is 100% our focus but above all we need to connect with our supporters while playing better and being in control of the games in 90 minutes with our personality and we need to do that at Emirates on Saturday, hopefully. I’ve been speaking with the players to change that and during the week it was very good in how they responded in the training sessions to achieve and start again a new situation for us.”

He’s 100% right here. If he can get the team back on track, which Holding says is down to confidence, which is something you build slowly, which is built by playing better, and which you achieve by being incontrol of games, which is a matter of asserting your personality, you will win the supporters over, and they will forget about all of the controversies and middle-fingers and everything else that’s been a bugbear on this team for the last 11 months.

On the flip side.. time is running out on Emery. If Arsenal play 19th place Southampton on Saturday at the Carpet, and do not look assured, do not assert our personality, and do not walk away with all three points, I feel like the place will boil over. Especially if Emery pulls out one of his now famous “wacky” lineups and is forced to change things at half time. Or worse, takes a 2-goal lead, tries to just sit back and soak up pressure, and lets Southampton have 31 shots.

Qq

16 comments

  1. The Granit Xhaka ordeal™ has played out in a way that’s been impossible to ignore.
    I didn’t have big thoughts on it originally, as he was never my favorite player and never truly saw him as a captain. I didn’t think we’d miss him much either. Reading the recent quotes, I start to wonder.. what’s he still so upset about still. He got booed. He brought it on himself. I’m not saying it’s fair, but what’s so hard to grasp, Granit??
    You play on one of the biggest stages in professional sports anywhere in the world, any sport. You play in London. In front of a dedicated and frustrated fan base. Times is tough.
    But the situation lingers and lingers. We get a break. It still lingers. Looks like he’s still got some feelings to work through.
    I wonder..
    Who is this guy? Born to refugees. His father was beaten and starved in prison. His ACE score is likely pretty high, or at least has some lingering trauma.
    We likely saw more than just a reaction to the situation, to the booing, to some articles written about him. A captain is asked to put all of themselves into a team, and we saw something we didn’t like. We were booing him. What’s so hard to grasp, fanbase?
    For the sake of the season, welcoming him back onto the field with love and support feels like a necessary and, most of all, decent thing to do.

    1. It’s pretty simple with xhaka. He just needs to learn and stop being a dumb ass. Gary Neville exaggerated his point but he never learns, he switches off all the time and is continually caught out of position. Sadly he isn’t mobile enough, that’s not his fault, Emery should recognise that and not play him as the dm.

      He was booed because he walked off when we needed to press for the win. It feels as though there is an attempt to change the narrative so he is the victim. As captain he should of sprinted off and encouraged his teammates, he didn’t and annoyed the fans by doing so.

      The issues with social media are there for everyone. There are alot of dicks in the world. You have to deal with it and detach, it’s not real. The keyboard warriors in person would ask for his autograph

  2. Maybe just too specific?

    “It just feels like a lot of Arsenal’s problems start and end with the manager refusing (you name it).”

    Was one thing to be stubborn– when considering having had the track record of Wenger over 20 years. Another– when you’ve barely tread water in the shallow end of the PL.

    Till Emery is gone then…

  3. Play players in their natural position. Don’t overthink or over-complicate things. Play to the team’s strengths. Hard to argue with you on any of that, Tim. Agree too that his blinkeredness over Ozil is counter productive (it will also trigger Bill, and I await his cute and paste with great anticipation 🙂 )

    We don’t need Xhaka to apologise. He still doesn’t get it.

    “I can’t accept what has happened with me” is the comment of a man who doesn’t have a clue. Was sending snarky Insta posts after a Switzerland game. He can keep the apology. Let’s move on. Come back, whatever. But not as a starter, and don’t disrupt the team, please.

    But nevertheless, when he appears, the fans should applaud him.

    The game? I have no idea how it will unfold. We are fully capable of making Southampton look like Barcelona.

  4. At this stage, I think everyone is probably tired of reading about how bad of a coach Emery is. I know I have written this before, but….

    I do not understand why the formation and squad selection seems to be people’s primary concern with Emery. These are important, but not as significant to good team performances as is being made out to seem.

    There really isn’t any formation that could be considered inherently attacking or defensive. Player selection is the same way too, there are no combinations of individuals that just define whether a team is attacking or defensive, as we have seen recently. It all boils down to the tactical setup of the team.

    I have said this before, but a formation is just the structure within which tactics take place. The right structure ensures the tactics are applied in the most effecitive way. The players chosen within that structure to apply those tactics will then affect the effectiveness of the tactics through their skill level and confidence.

    Right now the coach and the players have spoken out about how they just need to be confident again. This is ignoring every other issue that is plaguing the side, which comes way before confidence. I actually have no issues with Emery’s changes in formations or personnel. For me, he already failed in the first step of creating a tactical identity for his side which has made everything else so boringly predictable.

    Confidence, the one term that has been bandied around by so often recently as the reason why our form has dipped. This is ignoring those of us who had issues with this side during last year’s winning run and this year’s unbeaten start to the season. I am surprised and and somewhat concerned about how much confidence is attributed to our bad performances. It shows a clear lack of understanding of the situation and the supporters issues with the side, as well as a clear lack of awareness of what the supporters are seeing.

    If form was the issue, supporters (long time observers of the game) would show far less contempt for our performances and be a bit optimistic about our future. The whole “form is temporary, class is permanent” applies very well in the eyes of Arsenal fans who have stood by for close to 10 years without a trophy because there were signs of a bright future on the pitch. The football, as flawed as it was, shone a light and gave hope that all we needed was better quality in recruitment.

    Those same fans could see that Arsene wasn’t building anymore, but surviving and now Emery is doing the same. There is no future once that starts to happen. Surviving is all about getting back confidence and the constant tweaking of a failing tactical setup.

    I had hoped that our superior quality in players would make enough of a difference to push this failing tactical approach by Emery to a third placed finish, but just as I feared, the other sides in the league are more deliberate in how they play to get top four. They are playing to not only earn top four, but to deserve it.

    They are putting their destiny in their hands, while we are hoping for our rivals to stumble. The same way that in ever game we play, we do not take charge and try to determine the results off our own way. We are just hoping every opponent we face will have a bad game for us to win. It’s going to take far more than confidence to turn that around.

  5. On the Xhaka issue, which I missed due to writing exams, I have a few thoughts.

    When I was in high school, I was voted as the captain of the football team by the players. I was surprised by their choice because it was unexpected and they had never really shown to have seen a leader in me. I was also voted as the head boy of my school a few months later, but the focus on my school work and how I tried to behave in class and out of class made sure that this one wasn’t as much a surprise as being the team captain.

    As time went, I started getting very confident in myself as a captain. Since we had no coach in place, I took the lead in everything and put myself front and centre in taking over training sessions. I was the one who selected the team and the one who decided on how we would play.

    The following year, the school hired a qualified coach and the first thing that he did was to have a meeting with me. He sat me down and told me that I wasn’t captain material. I had led this team for an entire year, while fulfilling my duties as the head boy of my school. And here was a qualified coach, telling me that I wasn’t captain material and telling me that I had to trial to be part of the team. As a teenager, this was a big blow to my self esteem. But he did offer me hope. He told me that he needed me around the team no matter what, but my role wasn’t guaranteed.

    So he went about interviewing for my replacement, which everyone else had an issue with. He was perturbed and carried on. He conducted interviews with everyone and trials for a whole week. I made it onto the team, and at the first official session he announced a new captain, a boy we nicknamed “Marco”, which was short for Marco van Basten (he was a defender though).

    That year turned out to be my best footballing year ever. I ended up with the school’s league top goalscorer, best player and we won the league. The coach even took me with him to the academy he also ran, and I noticed something when I was there, I really wasn’t captain material.

    From there, I have travelled across Africa and been to South America, and through my time travelling the globe, there has been a constant in what kind of players are chosen by coaches as captains. I finally understood why I lost the captaincy.

    Marco wasn’t the best player at my school, I was. Marco was however more able to balance criticism and encouragement, he had stronger personality and stood up for himself and those around him, no matter what. He spoke up whenever he felt like it was required and never really backed down to anyone or anything. Marco had a shorter temper than myself and yet, wasn’t triggered into anger as easily. He commanded respect at such a young age from everyone, teammates and opponents. Xhaka fits that mould to a tee.

    I was too selfish and in it for my own glory. I even used my status to get girls, it worked too. But in the end it held me back and being freed from it helped my game.

    But my point from all of this is, the perfect captain isn’t what everyone seems to picture. The perfect captain isn’t politically correct, the best looking or merely the best player in a team. If Vieira and Tony showed us anything, they showed how strong will, selflessness and an ability galvanize their teammates through harsh words or aggressive actions are big characteristics of a captain. There are no great captains who were nice guys, had a spotless image and were the best players in their side, these played second fiddle.

    Captains cause confusion to those on the outside, but within the team, respect, consistency and accountability mean so much more. That’s why most captains are actually unlikeable but hugely respected/feared people. I was a leader, but not captain material. Xhaka is captain material and that’s why he will not back down on his stance or apologise, it is just not in their character to let what they consider as injustice to be forgiven or promoted. That’s why other players are coming out in support of him, and more will.

    Was he wrong? I guess it’s a matter of perspective.

    1. I have to say thank you for sharing your experiences. It does show that there are always different perspectives to a narrative.
      But I guess it is more of an issue of Xhaka the player than Xhaka the captain.
      Guess this has similar echoes to
      Vermaelen’s time as captain. He was a good leader but his defending left a lot to be desired.

  6. Was Xhaka really talking about coming back into the team? I pay no attention to Emery. He’s constantly confused about what he’s saying. The same instant he’s welcoming back Xhaka he’s also talking about his short…or long.. future with us.. Wtf man.

    Without Emery telling us Xhaka wants back in, I would read Xhaka’s comments as saying he’s going to come back and try to arrange a transfer. Btw, I think he’s more upset with the club than the fans at this point.

    Whatever be the rights or wrongs, that’s another player whose value has been destroyed during this New Arsenal era. It’s a ‘shambles’ as they used to say.

    Spurs did the right thing in sacking Poch, but wrong thing in hiring Mourinho. We should look at Poch, or just give it to Freddie. Honestly though, I can’t shake the feeling that Arteta would have been/would be special for us.

    Most of our immediate problems stem from the coach being a self absorbed weirdo who isn’t strong enough to take a stance he’s not quick to walk back from. eg. Even if he wanted to bench Ozil, he’s repeatedly turned to him when in trouble.

    Arteta wouldn’t have those problems. The fact that Per broke ranks to praise Kos and Wenger, and mentioned wanting to work with Arteta suggests that there is a chance. Maybe Jim Carrey dumb n dumber type chance but even that looks more appealing than Emery.

    We’re going to lose to Southampton I think. Emery drains confidence (watch his presser) The players will start off well, Southampton will stand back. We might even score. Then we’ll back off, they’ll score from nothing and/or the ref will gift them a pen, and we’ll spend the whole game scrambling to get back, like a cartoon dog running in the same spot.

  7. Thanks for the post Tim.

    I am usually 100% in favor of simplifying football analysis. The best example is how we over analyze some of the more esoteric stats and talk about formations and tactics. Forwards need to score goals and creative players need to create assists and defensive players need to prevent the opposition from scoring goals. The idea that putting the players we like in their best positions sounds simple but I don’t think there is a simple solution to fixing the problems we have seen this season. Torriera and Guendouzi have been with us for more then a year and played plenty of minutes but our defense has not improved even a tiny bit since they arrived. Ozil has played about 2500 minutes in our PL games since he signed the big contract and he has a grand total of 3 assists in almost 2 years. I fully expect us to go on a run of good form at some point this season and possibly even get back into contention for 4th place because that’s the way football works, however I think we need a new manager and some significant squad rebuilding and upgrading if we hope to be more then a team which competes for 4th place and expects to be in the later stages of the Europa league

  8. Talking about stats such as expected goals, expected assists, dribble percentages, chances created etc etc makes for great blog discussion fodder but I think those same stats can often be misleading. The eye ball test can also be misleading but the results should be the ultimate arbiter. IMO. If the stats say a player is creating a lot of chances and dribbling well but he does not look like he is all that effective and he isn’t creating assists then I think you have to be very skeptical about the chance crested stat. Iwobe was a good example. He could look good on paper but he was never very effective on the pitch. I still hope Pepe will live up to his expectations and justify his transfer fee for us but at least so far he is not really passing the eye ball test and he has not scored in our league games outside the penalty and at least to my eye has not really really looked that dangerous to the opposition. In that case you have to be skeptical about stats which suggest he has been playing well.

  9. Tim

    I was surprised you thought we should leave Lacazette out of the starting line ups. Auba has been great but without Lacazette he is the only player in the squad who has been a legitimate threat to score a goal. No matter how brilliant your buildup play and your passing stats if you don’t have someone you still need players who are good at scoring goals or else you are not going to win. We clearly need more firepower

  10. The Arsenal game can’t come fast enough if you’re Southampton.
    After their record loss to Leicester, they scored two goals from two half chances against City and Everton , in two games they also lost while creating next to nothing from open play.
    Perfect timing to reintroduce Xhaka to hang a leg out for Danny Ings to tumble over for a pen , and then blame Auba for not scoring enough , as any captain would ,naturally.

  11. I hope Xhaka can come back and prove a point to his detractor’s. He’s arrogant and lacks discipline but I believe there is a half decent footballer in there somewhere. As for the Spuds I hope they fall flat on their face. I believe Saturday’s game is one we will win. Just hope we don’t have to endure the usual squeeky bum time at the end.

    COYG

    1. There is a half decent footballer in there, also a half terrible footballer. He’s also not very smart as evidenced by everything happening with him. I wish him the best of luck in Italy.

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