Toxic Arsenal

A million thoughts are flooding through my mind. Maybe I just need to put them all on paper and then cut them up and rearrange them into some sort of a coherence.

The first 20 minutes; organized, pressing working hard. The next 25 minutes; the team fell back into a familiar role, passive, sitting deep letting the opponent take control. The next 15 minutes; pashun, running around, yelling at each other, the edges start to fray. The final 30 minutes; chaos. Massive holes everywhere, players running into spaces they shouldn’t, the captain screaming at his teammate when he didn’t pass him the ball, the captain running off the pitch to use the loo. The players yelling at each other as they left the pitch. The fans booing.

The players have complete control and yet no control. Who would allow the captain of the club to stick up a middle-finger on their social media to anyone who disagrees with him? He gets away with it because we need him. Yesterday he savaged Willock on the pitch. Then he ran off to take a shit. And he gets away with it because he was our best player. No one even wants to criticize him for fear of him wanting to leave.

Willock had a bad game. As you do when the entire team is screaming at each other for 90 minutes and running around like a school of fish being chased by a barracuda. I’ve been saying this all season that Willock is not cut out to play the 10, he is just not a creative midfielder. We need to stop thinking that just because Torreira, Ramsey, or Willock arrive in the box late and score a cracking goal that that makes them a good creative midfielder. In a good team, that player is the point of the lance. They run the show. He made 12 passes. On a bad team, he just runs around a lot and doesn’t really do anything. I don’t blame him. He’s 20. He’s not ready to take the lead at Arsenal. And what would he lead? What was the organization???

Reports that players were openly mocking Emery for his accent at team functions. Emery wasn’t a great coach but he deserved better than that. When did we become so classless as a club?

Aubameyang is best friends with Troopz. The guy who goes on his social media site and tells players to f-off every week. Who questioned whether Bellerin was more interested in playing for a Spanish team (Atletico) than Arsenal. Who questioned whether Xhaka was even Albanian. I don’t get it. It’s one thing to secretly laugh at that stuff. Another thing to be in a whatsapp group with him. And yet an entirely different level to publicly be friends with such a hugely negative presence, someone who openly hates multiple teammates. And then to tell anyone who disagrees with you to f-off? That cannot be good in the dressing room.

We talk about “the toxic fanbase”. I hear it every day. And the toxic fanbase is friends with the captain of the team. But we need him. He’s the only one scoring us goals.

This is just one of the many things that happen when a club has no direction. When it has no leadership. Or when the leadership itself is also just a bunch of turbo dicks. No wonder Koscielny wanted out so bad. No wonder Monreal wanted to get away so bad. And look at Lucas Torreira – by all accounts Torreira is a well-mannered person, his dad supposedly checks in on his manners to this very day – no wonder he wants out. Why would he want to be part of this thing that’s turning into a shit show from top down?

Man, I thought it was bad when we had Alexis. Remember William Gallas?

This is beyond formations and starting XIs. This isn’t about tactics. This isn’t even about who our best players are. This is what happens when your owners completely abnegate responsibility. When they have no vision for the club. When their values are simply making money. In Wenger’s final speech, he warned us.

But above all, I am like you, I am an Arsenal fan. This is more than just watching football, it’s a way of life. It’s caring about the beautiful game, about the values we cherish, and as well, that something that goes for all our bodies in every cell of our bodies. We care, we worry, we are desperate, but when you come here, the theatre of dreams we realise what it means.

That’s it. What we saw yesterday is that the players are running the show. There’s no director at the helm. I don’t blame Freddie. He’s a nice enough guy but he can’t command this group and he can’t realistically bench all of the senior players. Or can he? Or can the next guy? Because as much as we need these players to score us goals we are just in 10th place. 10 points away from Chelsea in 4th, but 5 points away from Everton in 18th. If we are 5 points from the relegation zone in January, we are officially in the relegation zone. And can you see Arsenal winning any of the upcoming fixtures playing like we did yesterday? If we bench Auba, strip him of the captaincy will it really hurt us?

And yet, this is beyond the toxic relationships in the dressing room. The toxic fans. The toxic players. It’s not about whether Wenger should have stayed or should have gone. I’ve seen people asking for the Allfather to return and I get it. I get all of it.

It’s funny because one of the Everton writers I follow said something yesterday which I agree with:


I remember when Arsenal had Thierry Henry at captain. The greatest ever goalscorer I have seen at Arsenal. An imperious striker. Someone who could both score for himself, taking on an entire team of defenders, and set up his teammates. And I remember when Arsene Wenger had to sell him. He was always angry with his teammates. It was ugly at the end. But we moved on. We picked a new style to play. Wenger coached that style very well. We didn’t always do the best job of recruitment – which was the reason we didn’t win anything. And I don’t think we had the experts at all phases. But Wenger very much cleared the decks and started over. It was something he’d had to do twice before.

I get why people are praying to the Allfather now. We need someone like him, someone strong enough to clear the decks. Someone who can command the respect of the dressing room. Someone who can establish a vision and values for this club.

The problem is that Arsenal back then had a football guy at the helm and now are run by Raul, Josh, and their cronies. And a vision is not going to come from Raul Sanllehi, Josh Kroenke, or anyone else at the top. The Kroenkes aren’t going to authorize the firesale of the toxic players at Arsenal. They aren’t going to invest money in a big manager and new playing squad, they have already circulated the same old story that Arsenal are not only broke but up against FFP. Imagine that, FFP. A club owner that hasn’t put a ruddy dime into the club is pretending that FFP might bite them.

Half of me thinks yesterday was the worst we will see, the nadir. The other half of me thinks the worst is yet to come. But either way, this is it folks. This is what happens when your owners don’t care about the product they put out on the field. Maybe they do care. In which case, it’s worse. Because that means that they don’t understand. They don’t know what they’re doing.

Qq

106 comments

  1. Great post Tim

    The Kronke’s are not football people so we want them to appoint good football people to our front office and then get out of the way and stay silent. I think the biggest mistake they made was to hold on to the Arsene and give him total control of the team for way to long. I am not blaming Arsene because he was never going to give up the control that he had won over the years. Unfortunately, during the last decade, Arsene was the only football person in the clubs entire hierarchy and Arsene was clearly past his best years. Moving away from Arsene and rebuilding the front office was always going to be difficult and some mistakes were inevitable. Likewise, when Arsene left we had a poorly constructed squad which was aging and clearly on a fast decline. Rebuilding that squad was never going to be easy and mistakes were inevitable.

  2. I would argue that once the Kronke’s finally realized it was time to move on from the Wenger era they have been proactive and willing to spend money in an effort to try and successfully rebuild the front office structure. Again finding the exact right combination of people was never going to be easy and some mistakes were inevitable so I think its wrong to suggest they don’t care or haven’t been trying to reverse the decline. The decline has been in the making for this entire decade and you can’t reverse that instantly without making some mistakes. .

    1. I 100% disagree with you!

      I’ve seen Kroenke teams for decades. His teams are always the following:

      1) built around real estate development as the main goal
      2) self-sustaining – this means that they need to get lucky in either the draft or in the coaching to get out of mid-table
      3) constructed to be mid-table
      4) allowed to rot for long periods without investment and with dwindling fan involvement so long at they are self-sustaining

  3. I think we have to accept this is a Europa league level squad in terms of talent and the current malaise not as related to managerial tactics or language skills or coaching ability as we want to believe. Its much more a squad which is in a bad place mentally and in a terrible run of form. Form is cyclical and and tends to even out over the course of a 38 game season. I think we are scheduled to hit a run of good form at some point no matter who is the manager. I believe by the end of the year we will finish in the semifinals of the Europa league and finish 5th or 6th in the league and we end up in the Europa league again next year which is where we belong in terms of squad talent.

  4. With regard to Auba, I agree his attitude has been degrading and he is not the example for other players on the squad. Fortunately or unfortunately we can’t drop him for his because he has been performing when he is on the pitch. I think the same situation was playing out for Emery with Ozil. From what we heard Ozil was not working hard in training and was calling in sick a lot and not providing the type of attitude we need from our biggest reputation and highest paid player. However, in the Ozil case he was not performing on the pitch for Emery so I understand why a manager would drop him. Dropping Ozil angered a segment of the fan base but based on the fact that Ozil has not given us anything positive since he has been reinstated is strong evidence while dropping him and using players who were working harder was not a major mistake from a football standpoint.

  5. I’m not sure the Everton writer has it exactly right. That is one way of doing it. When Liverpool hired Klopp, I’m not sure they had gegenpressing on their style wish-list. But they hired him and then let him dictate the coaching philosophy all the way down to the junior academy teams. They let him clear out the players he didn’t want, and bring in the players he did. He was allowed to bench Daniel Sturridge, who looked all world under Rodgers but Klopp didn’t rate him. When he said he wanted VVD, they waited 6 months to get him, they didn’t get distracted by Plan B. When Mignolet was identified as a weakness, they went out and paid what they need to in order to get Alison.

    Then you have Spurs, who probably didn’t care about style either, but they gambled with a young highly regarded coach and like Klopp, let him dictate to the academy the style of play so that when young players got promoted, they were ready. But there’s a lesson at Spurs – great manager, but not allowed to control the recruitment and voila – they’ve fallen too.

    I think you can, and should bench the senior players and consign them to Europa League and FA Cup. I think some kind of reset needs to be hit; and when senior players are yelling at junior players and each other, lifting their arms in exasperation whenever any little thing goes wrong, when they start walking (as I saw Lacazette do in the first half) – then I would just as soon watch Robbie Burton instead of Ozil, AMN instead of Xhaka, Pleguezuelo instead of Luis, Nketiah instead of Lacazette, Martinelli instead of Auba.

  6. United fired Mourinho because he was the reason for the toxic environment ( and the results were poor obviously) around the club. OGS came in and adopted basically an identical Jose’s low block style of defending but with more freedom for Pogba and sending more attackers forward on counters.
    It worked, sort of.

    What Freddie’s trying to do is way harder though.
    First of, the toxicity around Arsenal didn’t come from Emery who was as polite as they come, so replacing him didn’t solve that problem.
    Secondly, he’s trying to alter Emery’s style of play on the fly and install a more intricate offensive system with this indisciplined rabble of a squad that is Arsenal.
    Good luck.

    1. I think first and foremost he has to restore a sense of togetherness and confidence in the squad. Human beings cannot execute intricate plans or work together effectively if they are mentally fatigued, lack belief in themselves and in their teammates, or lack hope that it can improve. That’s a larger hurdle for Freddie than anything else in my view. It may not be fixable this season, but maybe it can improve.

      1. Completely agree with this.
        Also saw the bewildered frustration in Bellerin’s post-match interview, as well as the on-pitch frustration of Auba over a misplaced pass (and all the sadly usual hand-waving from many others).

        I can only imagine Freddie will:
        – emphasise the small good things each player does (in practice and in video reviews etc);
        – assign players to their best natural position so they can fall back on known good habits;
        – drill the f*ck out of them in simple things (even just one thing) so they can do ‘something’ right.

        I also think it will get worse (happy holidays!) before it gets better and we may end around 55-60pts

        1. Was with you– right up and until the last line.
          I don’t feel Arsenal will approach 60 pts. Because– I agree it will get darker before the dawn.

          We’ll sell Auba in January. Mostly for the things Tim expressed about his attitude– but also that he’s at his most saleable now. Admit it, that Auba is not going to win us anything in the short-term. He’s a horrible example as a captain. It’s hard to be as superficial as Auba– and be expected to lead others. At 30-31 his value while at it’s height at this moment– is fragile. Sell him on now– strike while hot.

          We can make do with Laca (or even Martinelli) at CF full-time. Martinelli needs to be on the pitch now. As does Pepe. Recall Nketiah from Leeds in January.

          Shed Xhaka too in January. Fire sale him if we must. I’m almost teetering on doing so with Guendouzi (love his passion, his hare-brain not-so-much). Bring me in a Todd Cantwell or a Jack Grealish– someone with some dynamism who can create– and put the ball back-of-net on occasion.

          We have the pieces (next season) to have a decent defense. Holding and Saliba. Chambers, Pleguezuelo impressed in his stints. Luiz is not a bad influence in a better situation.

          *sigh*
          Wish I were king-for-a-day– in January.

  7. Yesterday was harrowing. It raised a weird type of feeling inside me. I still feel it now. Last time i felt like this was when Liverpool knocked us out of the Champions league.

    Fu*k them all. Write off this season, sell what ever senior “stars” we can in January and strangle the rest in the summer window.

    Scorched team theory. Burn down and restart.

    1. We can’t scorch the earth every time results are poor. It just gets worse with every reboot. Successful teams are built on trust and continuity throughout the organization.

      1. I understand what your saying but personally speaking, this is the first time iv’e called upon the napalm.

        I’m usually of the same thought as you in the sense of trust and continuity. But not with this bunch of players buddy.

        Most of them have flattered to deceive for a good few seasons now and i’m starting to feel foolish in supporting most of these players now. They can’t even be bothered to track runners or close down space!

        I’d just want players committed and proud to represent the team we all love

        1. When you break your word and force out your longest serving player, when you don’t care about the health and future career of your club captain, when you try to break a contract of a talented player through destroying his career, you break the bonds of loyalty that you demand from players.

          This malaise, mocking Emery’s English, the complete disarray over captains, it stems not from the players, not even entirely the coach, but the club management who set the tone for it.

  8. We felt invincible under Arsene Wenger because no matter how bad it seemed, he always found a way to keep us at a certain level and playing a certain style, even if in the end it was “only good enough” for 4th place. In other words, he ensured our floor would never be too low, and in hindsight maybe we are realizing we took him for granted towards the end, perhaps only seeing his faults at times. Our overarching problem with him was that his ceiling wasn’t high enough for where we felt the club should be given its global stature and financial resources. He built teams that could reliably beat who they were supposed to beat, but routinely struggled against teams with equal or greater talent. We got sick of that as a fanbase. Now though that Wenger security blanket has been yanked away, we are seeing what it looks like when you don’t even have the ability to beat the teams below you in every sense in the football hierarchy. We find ourselves staring into the abyss and wondering how deep it can go for a club of this size (Hint: not that deep.). We were sick of stolid stability and wanted to roll the dice, increase the variance and see where we land. Now we are seeing what that strategy brings: chaos and uncertainty, but also hope that things could suddenly turn in a positive direction and take us to a level of football we haven’t seen in over a decade. Let’s not lose that hope. It’s the one positive thing we have and the one thing we were desperate for under Wenger, the one thing we felt he could not give us.

        1. Still. Lumping in a likely majority of fans who opposed his leaving– with that ‘we’.

          Will continue to believe it was a minority that orchestrated the putsch over a very long-haul.

          The foolish. Convincing the gullible. With propaganda.

          1. That’s full scale revisionism from my perspective. In his final season you couldn’t find anyone to support him staying, and that includes me. I stand by the wisdom of moving on from him and I don’t blame “the fans” collectively or anyone on this forum for supporting a change in manager. It was overdue. My point is simply that we were wrong to expect that a more modern manager would come in and immediately do better in the same situation Wenger was in. There was a lot of support going around for the “anything is better than this” school of thought which was always misguided. Now, we can see clearly: we have something different and it’s not better. Change needs to happen slowly if it’s going to be sustainable and this club has undergone too much of it in recent years on every level. Now people want more change. My prediction, once again, is that it’s not going to help. We need to give these players a chance to grow into their roles, to get accustomed to a style of play, to their teammates, their coach and their surroundings. There are the seeds of something really special in this group but it’s going to take a lot of time for it to blossom from where we are right now, and if we start selling low on good players who are out of form right now, or panic buy someone who’s not significantly better than what we already have, that will only make things worse. What we need right now is solidarity, consistency, commitment, togetherness. Not change.

        2. Your claiming knowledge of ‘who’ and ‘everyone’ wanting Wenger gone discounts– what insight comes after in your post. You ‘know’ no such thing. It’s what you may have thought from what you read or discussed with the like-minded in your circles– what amounts to a small sample of actual opinions. This snowballing of outrage ‘where you read’ or ‘listened’ ? Was in media that became a perpetuating echo chamber of bias bordering on hatred. Pervasive, and malignant.

          I’m cautious to use the term ‘lynching’ in any public sphere. And certainly, there’s was no violence involved. But whatever other descriptor I try to conjure here? Lacks the shock-value necessary to parallel what was done in the media and online– to force a resignation as prematurely as possible.

          Had the target of this abuse been despicable– it still would be an outrage. But these tactics– scapegoated a great man.

          I’ll contend the Club/Board/Execs were in process of creating a handoff of Wenger’s torch– as early as that December 2017 timeframe. Raul and Sven were brought aboard. That January transfer window brought us Auba and Mkhi– while shedding Alexis. Heady stuff.

          Then came losses in February and March to Swansea, Spurs, City (2), Ostersunds, Brighton, Watford– and Stoke on April Fools Day.

          During those 60 days? Hated for Arsene Wenger was ginned-up to epic proportion online and in media. Maybe those were times where you felt you ‘knew’ that ‘everyone’ wanted him gone?

          Had ‘we’ had the courage to allow Wenger to guide the club through the untangling of his stewardship– into the following season? I can foresee Gazidis staying on until the next January. Keeping a leash on Sanllehi. Allowing Mislintat to develop his scouting and data-analysis infrastructure. The bringing-into-the-fold of Mikel Arteta as an Arsenal-DNA’d successor to take the torch from AW– whenever the timing might have been right.

          All of that was possible. The way I’d have expected a club of Arsenal’s stature to proceed.

          But then. The unnecessarily-manufactured online/media rage against Arsene Wenger pegged the needle.
          And the pot boiled over. And Gazidis relented to a vote to eschew Arteta. And hire Emery as ‘a conservative’ choice. Sanllehi, realizing Gazidis relinquished his power– took it. Forced the club to go his route.

          As a fan? I’d have been patient enough– to give Wenger another season to hand it all off.
          There was no real possibility of Unai Emery making this work. Unai Emery only managed to make things at the club– so much worse. Literally, he got almost nothing right.

          So then. If I’m in the ‘small majority’ of those who felt the timing wasn’t right?
          Maybe it was ‘we’ who ‘knew’ better.

          1. I’ve read this post a couple of times and I’m still not totally sure what you’re trying to say other than that you don’t feel like there was a real majority out there who was “Wenger out.” Of course I don’t agree, but I certainly don’t mind if you see it differently, and we can leave it at that if it’s all the same to you.

          2. If Wenger had left earlier, why should we believe it would be any different? You’d still have the same people calling the shots ultimately. About the only thing I can be certain of is we would have 2 fewer FA Cups.

  9. Fixing confidence is tricky, and I have no idea how anyone can balance our midfield right now, but one solution elsewhere that seems fairly obvious right now is to stop playing Auba and Laca as a partnership. It’s not working. Play Auba centrally with two wide players in support, like Pepe and Martinelli. Bring on Laca as a sub and keep him for Europa, etc. I love Lacazette for his hard work last year, but he is out of form and frustrated, and his presence is pushing Auba out wide, where he doesn’t want to be, and, if I’m favoring form this season, I’d rather frustrate Laca than Auba in terms of first eleven exclusion.

    A word on our defense: I get that defensive work is something the team does, not just the players at the back, but Mustafi, Sokratis, and Luis — three experienced players who should be leaders at the club — are liabilities such that I would rather see Chambers and Holding in the center. I would fully expect those two to make just as many mistakes as the aforementioned clowns, but I’d play them there in the hopes that the experience over the rest of this write-off season would stand them in good stead for the next campaign (one for which the names of Mustafi, Sokratis, and Luiz would never be seen in a starting eleven, nor perhaps even a squad roster).

    As for our full backs, we have a real problem on the right, once again. Bellerin is really struggling with fitness and sharpness, as we might expect after such a lengthy layoff, but I also wonder whether we (I) might have overhyped him a little in his absence. Worrying. On the left, Kolasinac hasn’t been bad the last two games, but I still think we ought to start Tierney.

    1. I take it you didn’t appreciate the tackle Sokratis made at the corner flag when he slid in on the Brighton player from behind, ripping up chunks of Emirate’s turf in the process. And then argued ( with hands mostly)his case with the ref for 30 seconds.
      Someone should make a video slapstick of Mustafi and Sokratis’ hand gestures when called for fouls.
      Or better yet, make them wear Luiz style wigs to confuse opponents ,just to even out the odds.

  10. As with most of you, yesterday was an extremely discouraging exclamation point on top of a frustrating run. While we’ve been playing poorly, I did expect at least a little boost from being at home with a former key Arsenal player managing. The fact that we didn’t even get that, and that the current run of poor form includes a lot of bad results against teams below us in the table is extremely worrying.
    And this is not all on KSE. Yes, they hired Sanhelli and Edu, kept Wenger perhaps longer than they should have, and let Gazidis do some things they probably shouldn’t have. But all of those people are experienced football people. They made the mistakes.
    Recruitment has been terrible, and recent coaching not any better. And I can’t see any easy fixes. We have a lot of expensive attackers that can’t be played together. We have a lack of creativity, linkage, and experience in the midfield(if Ozil was the Ozil of 5 years ago, this wouldn’t be such a problem, but it’s increasingly apparent he’s not). And the defense is a mess for a whole lot of reasons. At this point I’d be inclined to sell Lacazette in January and try to get a good mid-fielder and/or another defender.
    Dropping most of the senior players is not the answer. That will get us relegated. We have a lot of promising younger players, but they are not ready to compete as a group against the experienced, well-coached teams in the PL.

  11. We are seeing the fall out from several years of management failings. The most important of which was the summer of 2017 when Alexis and Ox wanted out with Ozil holding up his extension for extortionate wages. This was the best opportunity to rebuild, reclaiming top 4 was a long shot and our squad was thin and aging. Likewise Wenger was clearly not going to be the manager much longer.

    Instead, Wenger convinced the board
    to go all-in on getting CL. We signed Laca, despite having major holes at midfield and CB, and did not sell Alexis in the summer. We got thrashed at Liverpool to start the year playing players who told the club they wanted out (Ox). Then the hilarious Lamar goose chase and Ox being sold to a rival. Then swapping Alexis for Miki in January, adding massive wages to our squad rather than getting a 30-40 million fee a few months prior. Then signing Ozil to a hilarious extension and bringing on Aubameyang even though midfield and defense continued to be trash. I believe Kola was brought in that summer too, so we effectively blew up our wage bill that year and got absolutely nothing in return.

    Rebuilds are way more painful the longer you wait. Hopefully it’s obvious enough now that a rebuild is inevitable and we clear the decks starting in January for the new manager.

    1. This is a nice recap.

      Yes, we never went for the rebuild – we went for the quick renos.

  12. These are the fruits of the seeds sown by Wenger and Gazidis over the last ten years. The culture of these Arsenal players is still their culture. Who signed Xhaka? Or Mustafi? Or Kolasinac? Who signed Ozil to a new contract? Who let Alexis and Ramsey run down their deals? Who sold Serge Gnabry?

    It was tawdry to see Arsenal blogdom hounding Emery out of a job, and now it’s clear for everyone to see. He was the only thing holding this mess together. It’s utterly toxic now, and Arsenal arguably need a Benitez, Allardyce or Hodgson figure to come in and stop this turning into a relegation battle.

    That’s right. That’s our level right now. And the responsibility lies with Wenger and Gazidis. Not Emery. Not Sanlehhi. Not the owners.

    It makes me cringe to see people blame the Kroenkes for this. Their mistake was letting Wenger run the show for so long.

    1. Whoa. Wenger was obviously never thrilled about signing StatsDNA players like Xhaka, Mustafi and Elneny. There are quotes after signing Xhaka that reveal he barely knew anything about the player.

      The Alexis/Ozil/Ox/Wilshere contract debacles was perhaps on Wenger, but almost as much on Gazidis. Players should never be allowed to run down their contracts, even if that means selling them for a pittance – at least you get something in return vs. zero. But they were open to selling Sanchez at the last minute, only it’s City that came in at the 11th hour and didn’t give Wenger time to sign Lemar (which was silly, we didn’t need to replace him immediately). Then we lose Ox and it became a Theo thing where we couldn’t afford to let Ozil go for nothing and got ransomed.

      Wenger is guilty for some of what’s going on. But to absolve Sanllehi (a Mendes sycophant) or Edu (a Joorabchian sycophant) or the Kroenkes (clueless) or Emery (a lousy communicator) is unfair.

      1. I hate to imagine how much better things would have been by signing Kante- the player who won Leicester the league over Arsenal- instead of Xhaka. It’s not as if Xhaka’s fee was a bargain price. That would have papered over so many cracks…

      2. £200m and 18 months later it’s still all Wenger’s fault.

        Is it Wenger’s fault we didn’t sell Xhaka? Is it Wenger’s fault we didn’t sell Mustafi? Is it Wenger’s fault we didn’t sell Kolasinac? Is it Wenger’s fault the DM we bought is 5’2″? Is it Wenger’s fault the club picked a fight with Ozil? Is it Wenger’s fault that we bought Sokratis? Is it Wenger’s fault that we didn’t buy a RB? Is it Wenger’s fault that Emery’s training sessions were so ludicrously jumbled that no one knew what they were doing? Is it Wenger’s fault that Gazidis TURNED DOWN ALLEGRI AND ARTETA TO HIRE THE FRAUD EMERY???

        I get that you want to keep grinding this axe but it takes some serious delusion to still blame Wenger for this mess.

        And of course, it’s not at all to Wenger’s credit that the club had £231m cash on hand this summer.

        I’m banning anyone who blames Wenger from here on out. Honestly, just check yourself and your entire god damn way of life if you think this is Wenger’s fault.

        1. It didn’t work out for Emery. He didn’t get the job done. No need to call him a fraud. He doesn’t deserve that, nor is it true.

          1. Professed he had developed dossiers on all players (skeptical).
            Promised to develop youth players (minimally).
            Expressed we would be a pressing team (never).
            Arsenal would attack with prowess (winning by 5-4 scores!).

            Given the job under the pretenses above.
            Delivered on almost none of it.

            Fraud? Some validity by definition.

      3. Mustafi was a day-before-deadline day (desperation) buy (Aug 30th 2016).
        He may have ticked the requisite boxes for StatDNA– but I’d never gotten the impression he was pursued due to those aspects.

        I’d been critical of Mustafi for longer than most– but he had a good run for his first season-plus. Then his wiring got crossed. The drop-off occurred after he arrived– by a good margin/number of starts.

    2. I *think* I agree with you, but would suggest that most of the ire should be directed at Gazidis.

      Wenger (like most people) would rarely retire when they should. Gazidis was also ultimately responsible for contracts.

      I think that if Gazidis had been a better manager, he’d have eased Wenger out 3 or more years prior and a lot more people* would be misty eyed at Wenger’s tenure, rather than bitter at him for the team (and lack of success) we have now.

      *not necessarily saying you are bitter at Wenger – just trying to reply in-thread.

  13. I don’t have a problem with Aubameyang giving Willock a bollocking. He needs to get his head in the game. Of late, his play has been dozy. Jumping in front of his skipper to deny him a clear headed chance in a previous game, lazy play, losing the ball and not tracking back, at fault to varying degrees for both goals the previous game. Look, I dont like Auba out wide left (and in my view Lacazette is not good or consistent enough to sacrifice him for), but he’s been working his socks off for the team in a position that doesn’t suit him. It’s a man’s game… Willock has to man up. He’s playing in a high pressure, high stakes league game, not a casual Sunday afternoon kickabout. Deservedly yanked at halftime, even though Freddie, in his first game, seemed to signal an aversion to halftime changes

    I agree with you most of the time, Tim, but this piece is unfair to Aubameyang. Auba is the guy who gave his penalties to Laca and Pape (try getting the ballk off Harry Kane) at a moment their confidence was low, so he’s not lacking in team spirit. He has had a noticeably sunny disposition around the club since joining, and has been a positive dressing room influence. Instead of kicking Aubameyang, you should be asking what has soured. Someone briefed against him to David Ornstein about his relationship with a fan, and he read about it (seemingly hearing about the concern for the first time) when he got back home to Libreville during the international break. Why? They’re preparing the ground for selling him for not signing a contract extension.

    However, you’re correct about the place being toxic. We’ll get the usual unanalytical nonsense about coaching not being responsible from the usual quarters, but don’t tell me that, man for man, Arsenal isnt far better than Brighton. They didnt get lucky yesterday… they simply played better.

    Oh, and Ive said it many times before and will say it again… with Hector Bellerin, you gain offence and lose defence. He is not a natural defender and is simply not good at the latter. That attempt to stop a cross into the box was woeful (Luiz was at fault too), but not untypical. Hector is more suited to a back five.

    You suggest hard decisions are needed, but for me, not where you may be looking. Play Auba at the tip of the spear, Martinelli/Saka wide left, Pepe wide right, Ozil in the 10. Have Laca and Auba compete for the spearhead role. Easy peasy, no?

    1. Aubameyang was well known as a toxic player at BvB. They were happy to move him on. His friendship with Troopz is very clearly not a positive influence in the dressing room. Troopz racially abused Bellerin and Xhaka.

      I am astonished that more people aren’t more upset with his behavior. If this was Xhaka, they would have firebombed his house. But because Auba scores goals he gets away with literally telling people to fuck off.

      I am 100% behind selling him.

      1. “His friendship with Troopz is very clearly not a positive influence in the dressing room”

        Very clearly to whom? Based on what, Tim? The Troopz thing has absolutely nothing to do with Arsenal’s form. And laying so much of it at the foot of the guy whose goals are the reason we are not near the relegation zone is less than fair, dont you think?

        Again, I cite as evidence (not refuted by you), Auba throwing an arm around Pepe and Lacazette for the team. Playing wide left for the team.

        1. Pepe, Lacazette and Guendouzi are his boys. I get the distinct feeling the dressing room is divided into strong cliques. When that happens it’s usually a good practice to break them up. I think Auba fetches an easy 70-80M from someone dumb like Man Ure who need a striker – we should take it and not pull another Alexis.

          1. That’s a barmy suggestion, but it’s out of Arsenal’s hands, anyway. He’s not extending. He’s doing his job, others aren’t. Solution? Sell the guy who’s producing. To Manchester United. That’d be such an Arsenal thing to do. And you know what, they’d probably be stupid enough to do that. The guy is acutely aware that he’s wasting his prime years in the Europa League, and part of the dynamic is that he has made it plain that he is not staying if Arsenal doesn’t play CL football.

            I get Tim’s frustrated, but the Troopz thing is not worth serious analysis of our plight, and a diversion. Somewhere around 75 minutes, a single Brighton player strode unchallenged, box to box, through central midfield. Torreira had just been fouled in their third and Xhaka was nowhere to be seen.

            If anyone in the forward line is the problem, it’s Lacazette. We’re asking our golden boot winner to play wide to accommodate him. Not only that… our central striker offers fitful production, and none of his hold up play or front pressing of the past. Is it too much to ask to play players in their natural positions? Or is that too 1990s?

            By the way, the best defender on show yesterday was Lewis Dunk, Brighton’s No 5. Our exotically flavoured back line was nowhere near his class. How ’bout we put in a bid?

        2. Every report? The results since this all went public? The players screaming at each other on the pitch?

          Yes, you gave some examples of what a magnanimous guy Auba is. And you didn’t seem to miss the part where he savaged publicly a 20 year old who is being put into a position that he shouldn’t be asked to do with almost no training.

          1. Sorry, Tim. I don’t see a ton of credible reporting that a mouthy Jamaican (who said a stupid thing about Bellerin that is pretty long stretch to label racist) is responsible (even partially) for dressing room strife at Arsenal. You’re not going to like this (lol), but you and Troopz say pretty much the same thing about Arsenal’s play 99% of the time.

            How quickly we’ve turned on Aubameyang, the number one reason that Arsenal isn’t floating above the relegation spaces. In fact, there’s far more reportage of his positive influence. Repeat… it is not by accident that the players made him vice-captain. Some evidence of being a dressing room disruptor there.

            The captaincy thing means as much in modern football as the positional 1 to 5 means in modern basketball. Nada. So as much as you didnt like Thierry or dont like Aubameyang in the role, it is something we will see more of. Jordan Henderson, a midfielder, and David Silva, a forward, captain Liverpool and City. A centre-forward as captain today is a totally normal occurrence. Ask Raul. Or Messi, Auba’s fellow nominee for Ballon D’Or.

      2. I love your writing. Your stance on race reeks of white guilt. There’s no nuance. Speech policing is what it comes down to.

        1. I think saying “did he not play as hard for Arsenal because he’s Spanish?” is racist and should be called out.

          He’s free to say what he wants, I’m free to call it out, you’re free to parrot right-wing “the real racists are the people calling out racism” talking points.

          1. What a leap. Im not right wing, very very far from it. In fact, you have to look at a global, non -US political spectrum to place me. Don’t shout, I really appreciate you. And I’m definitely more on your side than your response makes it appear you think. In fact, most of my argument is with progressive people whose side I’m on- they listen and are willing to exchange. I think you’re a progressive person and I’m left of that in a friendly and solidarity way.

    2. I didn’t see that incident with Aubameyang as being necessarily Willock’s fault. He had a choice. He could have played it to his feet, which was the safe thing to do. There was also space behind the defender, which PEA could have run into, but elected not to. Riskier, but more attacking. Either way, Aubameyang was wrong to bollock him. How is Willock going to feel the next time he gets the ball? Confident?

      1. It’s absolutely wrong to do that to Willock, that has nothing to do with me being soft on players. It’s wrong of Freddie to play him there as well.

      2. This is what I saw too.
        Give Willock some direction. Don’t embarrass him in front of 60,000 for a decision– which wasn’t an error.

        1. Professional athlete becomes angered by miscommunication in crucial in-game situation. Storm in a teacup. Next item, please.

          1. Unqualified individual tapped to lead– demonstrably calls out one of his charges in an extended fashion– broadcast worldwide.

            Next captain, please.

          2. Give Willock some direction? 😫

            wtf do you think a white-hot sporting contest is? A Scouts’ jamboree?

            At the very least you’re confusing the field of play with the training pitch. And he probably got bawled out because he failed to do what they practiced on the latter.

          3. ‘White-hot’? White. Hot.
            Which match were you watching?
            It wasn’t Brighton at Arsenal. Very little hot at all.

            Willock made a choice– not a mistake– and Auba reamed him at length for it.
            Captained enough teams in enough sports to know what he did.

            I get you’re Auba-defensive on this particular thread.
            But you are just plain wrong.

          4. So, in missing the point by a mile, you take issue with the description of premier league game as “white hot.”

            Would “intense” or “high stakes” be Ok with you?

            Here’s the point, and a newsflash. Willock is not the first footballer or professional athlete to be berated by a teammate for dozy play. He’ll get over it. So should you.

            And oh Auba, our MVP these past 2 seasons, is as unqualified to lead Arsenal as Kawhi is to lead the Clippers. You might want to look up the meaning of that word.

          5. Im not ‘Aubameyang defensive”. The guy’s contribution to Arsenal speaks for itself. You state that he’s “unqualified” to be captain on some basis you haven’t defined. And you seek to reduce his contribution to the club to one minute of berating Willock. How plastic is that?

            Doc is right. This is professional sport. It happens. I refer you to the end of game 1 of the NBA finals last year, and Messrs JR Smith and leBron James. I suppose you’ll say next that LBJ wasn’t “qualified” to lead the Cavs.

          6. Good one. ‘Plastic’.
            What? Am I a ‘tourist fan’ next?

            Comparing LBJ berating JR for a clear error in judgement costing the Cavs an NBA Final game– to Auba flailing his arms at a 20-year-old in a loss to then-Relegation Zoned Brighton? Wow. You need a tad moe perspective sir.

            Willock wasn’t even in error. Auba had some notion that this is how a captain is supposed to act. And it was noticed by more than just myself– half the world away. He tried to humiliate a 20-year-old in-game. He embarrassed himself. As you are now. Have you ever captained anything Claude? Or do you just type about what you think it’s like?

            Keep reaching. I’m not the one whose digging a deeper hole on this one.

            And please? Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of everything Auba provides as a player. But he was the second-worst choice as captain of the club. Even you should see that.

            Let it go.

          7. It doesn’t matter whether you think Willock is not in error. Aubameyang did. And as has happened on the field of play a million times before, he gave him an earful. New to sport, chief?

            Give it a rest.

  14. Has anyone heard anything from Edu?

    I may have this wrong, but I thought that Tech Director was responsible for defining the ‘style’ that Arsenal want to play (then Coaches hired to deliver that and Raul gets players best suited for that system; Vinai to make sure there’s enough revenue and all working together to ensure plan has a single path).

    If this is roughly right, then Edu is also responsible for ensuring ‘Arsenal Principles’ are embedded and lived up to.
    And Freddie needs support.

    1. I’m extremely here for Freddie. My only fear is that yesterday the players gave up on him or let out all of their frustrations and also fear that they aren’t going to give 100% for him because maybe they don’t respect him.

      1. The only option Freddie now has, is to go “nuclear”. The senior players ie Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi etc etc all have to go. Its been obvious for a long while that they are not going to perform for a whole variety of reasons. Attitude being the main one. We will never be a half way decent team, with them in it. Not in a million years. The only matches where we’ve looked half way decent have been the midweek ones. Go with those players and see what develops. He will need to be brave, but what have we got to lose? Very reminiscent of when George Graham took over. Hosed out Mariner, Woodcock, Nicholas etc. All the playboys. Brought in Hayes, Quinn and Groves. Nobodies, but we played better. Freddie would get everybody’s respect, in particular the crowd.

      2. I think they know Freddie is not going to be the manager next year. No matter how much you like the substitute teacher, you know she ain’t the real deal and you’re not going out of your way to do your homework.

        So, unless they find someone stellar to hire this season (I put the odds extremely low), then this will be the level of effort we see from the team until next pre-season. I think most of them – except maybe the younger players who seem to genuinely love Freddie – are just going through the motions.

        1. I agree with both Tim and JackActon on this.
          Freddie needs someone like Edu to say “these are values and levels of effort we demand. We’ll demand them whichever Head Coach we have. ”
          Also coaching support as I assume Emery took his staff with him so lots of coaches are ‘stepping up’/ filling gaps/ doing two jobs.

          On the Amazon broadcast I saw Alan Pardew was in post-analysis and looked almost sorry for Freddie shaking his head and saying “this team need drilling so much…”. Not saying we need Pardew, just struck me as another professional knowing what’s needed.

          Sadly I think whatever happens this will be the last we see of Freddie at Arsenal.
          He’s unlikely to go back to Youth level (Bould’s there). The next guy will have his own team and Freddie will seem like ‘the old coach’ even though he was caretaker.

          Ah well, maybe he’ll be back in 10 years after some more experience(s).

  15. Always appreciate reading your thoughts Tim. Damn where to begin? We haven’t reached the bottom. A tough run coming up and holiday season when folks typically look forward to attending games. I predict it will become even more toxic.

    I’ve friends and family who support Pool and ManUre and there just isn’t the fan toxicity you see at Arsenal. There’s been a huge disenfranchisement of fans since the Kroenke’s took over. Fans feel powerless so holding #out placards or setting up their own broadcasts is perhaps the only way they feel they have a voice. Not that I agree with either.

    I’m conflicted about the future. On the one hand I see a squad which is many degrees better than some of Wenger’s and one which should have finished in the Champions League spots last season. So however bad it is currently, it only got really bad this season. But, to course correct will require a new coach, a firm hand with the squad plus some considerable squad surgery. And when I look at the exec team and the fact they should have dispatched Emery in May and here we are in December without a coach… I have zero confidence they’ll get it right.

    The perfect replacement for Wenger was Simeone (I said this at the time). Someone who would install discipline, remove deadwood and slackers and would set up Arsenal as a defence-first team. Yes, it would have been a massive culture shock and the football could be dull but it was the antidote to Wenger’s blind-spots. I’m not sure there’s another throwback like Simeone out there.

    1. I think the perfect replacement would have been Klopp, but Wenger would have had to go earlier.
      And things at Pool were pretty bad in the Hicks/Gilette years.

      1. Klopp wouldn’t have been appointed by this post Wenger modern football structure. Even if he did sign, he wouldn’t be given the freedom and financial backing he’s had at Liverpool, and our fanbase would be using his last season at Dortmund as proof he’s finished and can never win us anything.

  16. Some may disagree but I would be happy if an oil rich nation bought the club and spent whatever it takes to get us back to the top of world football. However, the vast majority of owners want to make money and see the club grow in value. Once they finally made the decision to move on from Arsene they have been aggressive with trying to rebuild our front office. While they have allowed the football people with Arsene and the new post Wenger front office to spend reasonable amounts of money to try and build the squad and I don’t think they have interfered with the football people making decisions. I agree 100% that the Kronke’s are not ideal owners but they have not been as bad as everyone wants to believe at least in my opinion.

    1. I think the issue is whether people are doing things with class and values. Maybe you don’t hit championship gold with these, but relationships don’t turn toxic and there will always be a standard below which nobody falls out of pure respect.

    2. I agree, Bill. Hands off, yes. Passive, yes. Using the club as an investment vehicle, yes. Toxic? No. We’re not significantly worse off in terms of ownership structure than any other club out there.

      The point you bring up was, by some accounts, hotly debated in the pre-Emirates era of Arsenal. Big investment was coming and David Dein wanted us to jump on board. The Arsenal board, the same dudes who showed incredibly forward thinking for their time by building a new stadium and appointing Arsene Wenger and supporting him in buying French players of African descent, etc., said no, we are not going to become the puppets of some foreign billionaire and we’re not making this club the plaything of some unscrupulous oil baron. In doing so they also said no to staying financially competitive with other top clubs. That decision can be judged in sharp hindsight in 2019, 15 years on. It caused a schism in the ranks that led to uncertainty and acrimony for the best part of a decade as two such individuals battled for control, and we were bought out by one of them in the end regardless. I’m not saying these things because I’m trying to identify someone to blame for the situation we are in. They made a call that seemed wise at the time and most fans were in support of it. Now, I almost think some of us might talk ourselves into being owned by Kim Jung Un and managed by Frankenstein stepchild of Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy if it meant competing for the title on a regular basis. How much do we want to sell our souls in order to stay competitive? And how much is it going to happen regardless of what we want? And are we ok with not being competitive if it means retaining our club’s identity and dignity? Questions from 2004 that are still relevant today. I don’t have the answers.

  17. I would like Freddie to stop being Mr. Nice Guy, laid back, club legend and say f**k it, bench the whole first team and start one of our early Europa League teams.

  18. He is 2 games in, lets give him some time. This is put up or shut up time for actually supporting the team. We have whom we have until end January, at least.

    1. Damn right! Don’t wait for salvation from the transfer market either. It’s not coming.

  19. LEEDS 2.0.
    We are not too big to go down from a myriad of problems starting with piss poor overpaid players, a management that failed to jettison Emery after he failed to accomplish what his reputation is based on and that’s win the Europa League. We are so f**ked that we are beyond being tragic and have devolved into pathos.

    Łukasz Bączek

    @Lu_Class_
    Follow Follow @Lu_Class_
    More
    #Arsenal publish 18/19 accounts and move from a £97m profit to a £23m loss due to lower revenue and profits on player sales. Revenue for the year was £367.5m (18 – £388.6m). #AFC spent £230.5m on wages. Matchday income down ca £30m to £69.3m, TV rights £182.9m, commercial £110.

    KSE do you finally hear the sounds of silence at the Emirates.

  20. You wear suit and tie to your interim managerial debut and you beat Chelsea 3:1
    That’s settled then . Freddie cost us the Brighton game.

    Martial was said to be the next Henry upon arriving in the PL.
    He’s not.
    It’s Rashford.

        1. I don’t know Doc, I’ve learn my lesson on Pepe’s struggling to adapt to the Prem to give that high a praise to anyone plying his trade in the French league.

          Rashford is here and now and at 22 he’s almost unplayable already.

          There will never be another Henry, like there will never be another Bergkamp, or even Santi for that matter, but I think in a year or two he’ll be leagues MVP.

  21. I really think we will reverse the free fall find a good run of form sometime and end up finishing in the top half of the table. However, the table looks rather daunting in terms of climbing back into a Europa League spot. I think Liverpool, Man City and Leicester will be the top 3. That leaves Chelsea, ManU and Spurs fighting for 4th-6th place and Wolves have a chance to stick in the top 6. That leaves us on the outside looking in in terms of one of the Europa league spots. Its certainly not impossible but we will need every point we can muster from now until the end of the season.

    1. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t qualify for Europa either. Liverpool and Chelsea both had seasons where they failed to finish in the top 6 in recent memory. If it’s our turn, so be it. Sure, the revenue it brings is good, but it’s no Champions’ league and the extra matches and screwed up league schedule that comes with it is not helpful for the league campaign. I think we’ll be a better team next season without that distraction.

  22. People oohing and aahing Son’s goal for the goal of the season already – really?

    He ran 90 yards with the ball almost in a straight line evading one would be tackler while the rest of the Burnley players did what Arsenal players usually do in these moments.

  23. well…i haven’t posted since before the brighton game so here goes. let’s start at the back.

    leno has been superb, full stop.

    hector allowing mooy to put the ball on his stronger foot to cross a 15 meter ball in is foolish. that’s not hard for a professional. i don’t even play anymore and have never been a professional but i can do that. likewise, the finish was lovely but, easy. the biggest problem, neither player had any pressure. dillon talked about how pressure was the most important principle of defending.

    as for the center backs, i talked the other day about working on their 2v2 and even 3v2 defending. pardew is right, those boys need to be re-trained on what right looks like. also, there’s no where to hide in a 2v2 so we get defenders out of the habit of looking to blame others.

    in midfield, they don’t defend so the backline is always going to be overrun. i’ve never taken to xhaka and i told you guys during the world cup that torreira would fail for all of the reasons he has. time always tells.

    for all saying arsenal should sell aubameyang and lacazette, i’ve got one word for you; nuts! these are arsenal’s best players besides leno. you guys have short memories. also, i told you guys lacazette would be a step-down to giroud but he’s a lyon product so that means he’s a winner.

    likewise, lacazette is miles better at center forward than aubameyang. for anyone saying lacazette should sit for aubameyang, can you say why? auba won the golden boot last season playing out wide of lacazette. not only him, but his two joint-top scorers, salah and mane, also played out wide. there is no way that either of those players would have had as many chances without the competent center forward play of firmino. same for the two top scorers in world football over the past decade, cristiano and messi, who have routinely been deployed out wide and benefited from good center forward play. playing wide in a front three doesn’t diminish your opportunity to score goals. what aubameyang can’t do is keep the ball anywhere as well as lacazette so that should be settled. somehow, there’s confusion. i don’t get it.

    lastly, in 8 league starts, lacazette has 5 goals…and you guys want to sell him? nuts!

  24. as for aubameyang being named captain, i spoke in opposition to it as i’ve always been opposed. bottom line, goal scorers are weird. they need to have the freedom to be weird so that they may be at their brilliant best. that means sometimes telling people to f-off.

    van persie simply didn’t lead but focused on scoring, adebayor did silly dances, henry was moody, anelka sulked, etc. as long as the ball is in the net, let them do what they do. his fake-friendship with troopz doesn’t bother me. he’s putting food on the table.

    as for yelling at willock for attempting that pass, it was never on. willock had no passing option and no pressure; he should have taken the shot.

    1. i’ve talked at length about leadership at the club. folks like doc have argued that leadership doesn’t matter…WRONG!!!

      …and aubameyang is not best friends with troopz, tim. don’t spread that untruth.

      when henry was captain, i immediately screamed for two things, rescind his captaincy or sell him. it was clear that he inhibited the talents of the rest of the team when he was on the pitch…all except for van persie who didn’t give two sh*ts about henry’s moods. when henry was injured, arsenal played better but as soon as that huge shadow of his began to loom, the arsenal play was diminished by players all trying to stay on henry’s good side instead of playing good football. it wasn’t wenger, the potential for that team to play well was always there; arsenal nearly won the league when henry left. also, aubameyang’s shadow pales in comparison to thierry henry.

      1. Why even bring Troopz into this cluster f**k of a situation. Troopz did not buy Pepe, he did not hire Emery and until recently he was supportive of Emery and Troopz does not play in the Arsenal backline but he does have a platform where he expresses his displeasure with Arsenal’s performances. Just like many of us do as well. Arsenal management and the jealous British media no longer being the only information source for supporters(including Talksport with failed owner Simon Jordan) have to attack AFTV as a distraction. Skysports, on the other hand, is getting on the AFTV train before they get run over by it.

        1. tim mentioned troopz saying he and aubameyang were “best friends“ which i don’t believe. that is why i mentioned troopz. while i clearly remember him telling xhaka to “f*ck off”, that was in response to when xhaka said it to the fans and i don’t recall any racism from the guy.

          for me, he’s an arsenal fan who wears his heart on his sleeve and happens to have an internet buzz about him, however i don’t know the guy and i’ve never heard anything racist from him; in fact, he appears to be bi-racial so while it’s possible that he’s racist, that seems weird.

        1. yes, or perhaps you implied who the captain is doesn’t matter.

          it was along the lines of leadership not being significant to how a team plays.

  25. I agree with Josh @ 12:13

    My only concern is our CB’s, MF and fullbacks should know and understand the fundamentals of defending by now and they have a whole room full of assistant coaches some of whom are position specific who can help refresh their memories. Players should know what they are doing wrong and if the player does not want to admit his problem then we have plenty of coaches to tell him what he should be doing. In the end its up to each an individual player to fix specific holes in his game and if he has not done that by now then either he does not care or he is not capable of fixing the problem

    1. it’s not enough to simply tell them, bill. they have to train. they have to see the countless errors in multiple iterations in training in order to develop/retain that sound tactical skill. by virtue of the fact that they’re all professional, i’d wager a bet that they can all perfect these skills.

      1. Center backs lol good when you don’t give them much to do. Ours have always had to put out fires and to do that takes exceptional talent.

  26. There are some players who in theory have plenty of physical ability are not good defenders. Guys like Senderos, Squillaci Vermaelen Mustafi who try their best but just can’t do a good job of playing defense.

    1. have you ever asked why these professional players don’t seem capable of doing a job in defense? squillaci was a beast at lyon for many years. likewise, i believe vermaelen is the most technically gifted defender arsenal have ever had. why do you think they “can’t do a good job of playing defense”?

  27. Beg him to come back and appoint Wenger as Head of Football. He’d said himself he’ll stay away from Arsenal so the next guy can has freedom to operate. But it seems we’re incapable of upholding the Arsenal identity and sense of self without Wenger. Not while Raul Sanllehi brings his brand of ‘leadership’ to the executive position.

    I absolutely agree with you that it stems from Kroenke. But actually I think the problem here is Josh Kroenke trying to get too involved, believing himself to be a genius executive. In a Press Conference Wenger said the club is getting too political. That was right after Josh took a more proactive role. I get the feeling executives who are more interested in currying favour and pulling others down are given responsibility.

  28. sky news say Everton have held talks with Unai Emery.. well sort of talks if they understand him.

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