We give 90% but you have to give 120%

I was thinking back through all the players who have left Arsenal in my time as a supporter. Very few retired at the club and instead most left because they engineered a move, often stating that they needed to move because “guys,” they “wanted to win things.”

For some supporters and with certain players that logic worked. The majority of supporters understood when Fabregas forced a move to Barcelona. Even though he only won one La Liga title in his three seasons there it was his boyhood club and a chance to play for one of the greatest managers in the game.

And in a similar vein, most supporters understood when players like Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira left. Fans were perhaps a bit less understanding of Vieira, since he’d spent several seasons courting bigger paydays but overall I think fans felt like he’d been a legend at Arsenal and deserved his move. Winning trophies, especially winning them at the home of our most hated rivals, tends to give players a lot of latitude. Though it also helped that Arsenal had a ready-made replacement for Vieira in young Fabregas.

And then there are the simple mercenaries. Those players who use “winning things” as their excuse for moving on for bigger paydays and easier trophies. Guys like Nasri, Adebayor, Hleb, and van Persie all left the club right at their peak, going off to play for clubs that were ready to win. Instead of sticking with Arsenal through the lean times, instead of working harder to make Arsenal better, they were simple opportunists, leaving for bigger paydays and easier trophies. Modern fans value trophies over nearly everything, so their excuse of “wanting to win things” convinces some. But most see through it for what it is, opportunism.

Most players eventually leave the club. But what seems to matter most to the fans – what makes the difference between Henry and van Persie – is the timing, whether there is a replacement already at the club (or incoming), what the players have won, and whether their reasons for leaving ring true or hollow.

Enter reports today that Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Xhaka all want to leave the club. Reports released a day before the new manager is announced. The Independent (Miguel Delaney) reported 23 hours ago that not only are certain players agitating for a move “to join a club he feels can better challenge for the top trophies quickly” but “several sources say it is a feeling spreading among “half the squad”.”

I don’t feel any negative feelings toward Aubameyang. I don’t think he was a great captain but that’s just me being an old man, possibly. I know he put an arm around a player once, and he gave Pepe a spot kick to get him some confidence, but he also yelled at Willock – who is an incredibly soft-spoken young man – and gave critics like me the finger when we dared to question his relationship with the most toxic elements of the fanbase.

If he wants to leave, that’s fine. I won’t miss him. I won’t look back at his play with fondness or hatred. He scored some great goals but never won us anything. He never lifted the team, the team never lifted him. It was a wash. Just be a blip in Arsenal’s history.

Frankly the same goes for any of the players who need to leave to “win things.” Fair enough, go for it. I think they will find that most of the top clubs in Europe will expect a lot more from them than Arsenal have. That isn’t a threat, it’s me looking back at the time that guys like Xhaka have been at the club and decrying the complacency that the management, coaches, and owners have allowed to run through the squad. If any of them think they will have an easier time of it at any club challenging for a serious trophy, I can’t wait to read reports of how they are getting on in 6 months. Could you imagine Ozil at City or Liverpool? He certainly wouldn’t be allowed to jog around looking dejected when he misplaces a pass.

Modern football clubs are run like City. Players are expected to “give 120%” – which is a phrase that people dearly hate but which I don’t mind because it simply means “give more than you have been giving the last few years.”

Which is exactly what needs to happen at Arsenal. Delaney reported that “Ljungberg told the hierarchy that too many of the players didn’t care, and that was unlikely to change until a permanent appointment was made. Both the interim manager and key officials are said to have been taken aback by just how much the players have dropped off, and how slack some attitudes were. It has fired the mood for a clear-out.”

Fans rarely have to give 100% of our love to the players but the players are expected to give us 120%. Maybe that’s unfair but I think that’s what elevates them above us. If they just give the same as us fans, why root for them? If they mix it up with negative types, post crummy things on the internet, play lazy football, and complain at the first sign that things aren’t great, then how are they any different from us? Like it or not, they are heroes and heroes are expected to be better than us, in all ways. They need to give 120%. Or if you hate that I keep using that, then they have to give at least 100%! They certainly can’t give 50% and especially not give half-hearted performances and then complain that we aren’t winning them anything.

Arteta’s job is to come in and straighten out the players who still want to play for the club. And for the ones who do not, the ones who don’t want to contribute to the club, or don’t want to pull the club out of 10th and give the fans some pride back, this club is bigger than them and I wish them the best of luck.

Qq

76 comments

  1. A bit off the topic of the current post, but I just wanted to go on record for my own sake and admit that I was wrong. Couple of days ago, in a comment under another article here, I questioned Arteta’s motivation, even suggesting that he is a City-man now. But I watched today his first press conference, and I want to admit that he has convinced me. The words he say, the way he said them – I believe him now. I believe that he has love for Arsenal, that he was preparing himself to manage this club specifically.
    So that;s it. I still hope that he has a bit different vision for the game than Pep and he implements a little bit different stile, but he convinced me about his motivation. I wish him well and I cannot wait to see him in the dugout.
    COYG!

    1. The best press conference i ever seen. I had doubts but now am sold. I would run for this guy until I puked.

      1. I don’t have to run very far to puke for anybody but I too would do it for MA. My wish is that he’s such a great manager for Arsenal, he gets a statue before Wenger. Vamos, Mikel, Vamos!

  2. To become winners, then champions– everyone must pull in the same direction.
    Requiring individuals’ buy-in to a single-mindedness.
    Winners want to win no matter the cost.

    I’ll assume the above are not optional in Mikel Arteta’s grande scheme.
    No player can act bigger than the club. Those unwilling should start packing.

    Only way back. Only way forward.

    1. Yes, a great leader has to craft a vision and not waver from it. But a great leader is only as great as his followers. Any vision requires buy-in from the people who are asked to execute it day in and day out. In Arsenal’s case, that’s the players, in the main. Arteta cannot come in and throw his weight around too much right away. He has to toe the line between raising standards and improving cohesiveness, while simultaneously allowing individuality and self-expression to flourish. I think he’s equipped to do that and a jolt of that type of leadership will probably be enough for most of the malcontents in the squad to get back in line and start to enjoy their football again.

      Certain players may be too far gone to reclaim and unfortunately I’m thinking of Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka here. It may be best for all involved to remove these players and the drama circling around them from the clubhouse. The constant push and pull around Mesut Ozil, the will he play? won’t he play? why won’t he play? was bad enough. The fracturing of his relationship with the supporters made things worse, and the fracture of his relationship with the club hierarchy over his China comments was probably the last straw. I think he is leaving. As for Xhaka, there’s no way back after what he did and I don’t remember any Arsenal player who was booed off the pitch ever recovering to play for us. Regardless of how we might feel about who was in the wrong or right in either case is irrelevant to me; what matters is both players have become too much of a distraction to tolerate in what is supposed to be a high functioning unit. I believe removing them will be addition by subtraction.

      1. i appreciate your comment.

        as for xhaka, he’s simply not suitable for the premier league. if anyone could get him on board, it’s a manager like arteta; a coach who knows how to play xhaka’s very difficult position.

        the buy in isn’t about the player saying, “okay, boss”. it’s about they have to understand the why. if you understand the why, it’s easier to remember the what, especially in the fast-pace premier league. emery focused on the “what” nuances too much.

        as for mesut, the reason he was brought back into the team is plain for me to see; arsenal had lost lacazette to an ankle injury and couldn’t keep the ball. before the lacazette injury, arsenal were in the top 3 in the premier league. i don’t know how you guys can forget that so easily. those thinking aubameyang should be playing center forward just don’t get how important a good center forward is. it’s not about goals, it’s about establishing an attack in the final third and unsettling defenses. individuals scoring goals are nice but team goals are necessary as giroud proved for france last summer. auba is a great player but a weak center forward.

  3. it’s a shame that the motivation of arsenal’s top players has been allowed to fall off a cliff. i remember saying that arsenal should play to the strengths of aubameyang, ozil, and lacazette as they are not only the senior guys in the team, but the leaders of the team and the team’s best players, not to mention the most expensive players. these guys came to arsenal because arsenal played attacking football. then came unai emery; a jose mourinho wannabe who epitomized anti-football. there went those player’s motivation.

    all of this was plain to see. even when arsenal went on their unbeaten run early last season, i was already thinking this was going to be bad if arsenal didn’t get rid of unai emery in the summer. even after the end of season collapse, so many wanted to “give him more time”. for what? it doesn’t take long to recognize when it’s dark outside. for a team that plays so defensively, they’re no good at it.

    there wasn’t a lack of desire in the said players to to do well and play good football, it was a lack of courage and impetus to move the club forward from the former manager. it’s why i didn’t want him to stay. a coward can’t lead warriors and, say what you will, those players are all warriors who are used to winning. i said last season that emery is the most cowardly of managers.

    i’ve also said this: “there’s no such thing as bad players, only bad coaches”. if players have direction, purpose, and motivation, these guys will perform. they all left champions league teams to come to arsenal to compete at the highest level, not be a mid-table player. i hold no grudges towards any of the players you mention. if i were them, i’d feel the same way. this is on the board for hiring and persisting so long with emery. they’re all fully capable of contributing effectively at a top european team and are in their prime. why play for a mid-table english team? if you were as talented as aubameyang or lacazette, would you want to stay at arsenal?

    as i said before, it’s about the management providing direction for the team and a cdm who can control the flow of the game. xhaka is not and has never been that guy. even wenger recognized his mistake when he was forced to move cazorla to cdm. i said last season when arsenal allowed ramsey to leave, and extended xhaka that they hadn’t a clue. this is a damn shame. we’d better hope arteta can come in and convince those guys to stay, giving them a proper strategy. if not, it could take a decade or more for arsenal to even contend for the top 4; probably longer.

  4. I quite enjoyed Arteta’s first press conference. I was particularly impressed by his response to a question about what he learned from Pep, namely that he needs to be ruthless and consistent. The bit about players needing to buy into this project (or else leave) also seems pertinent to your post, Tim.

    Arteta did speak glowingly about Ozil (he had to, I suppose), so that’ll be one to watch. The report about Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Xhaka made me feel gross. Not so much with Xhaka, I guess, because I can understand his desire to leave after falling out so badly with the fans, but Aubameyang and Lacazette…ugh. That and Willy’s tweet about Arteta’s experience. Just such poor attitudes, such poor responses to adversity, and such entitlement. It’s not surprising, of course, given how Aubameyang left Dortmund, etc., but that doesn’t make it any better.

    Anyway, it speaks to the magnitude of what’s in front of Arteta, and therefore to the need for us fans to give him some time. He can’t do a January clear-out and squad transformation. And he’s not going to suddenly turn this ramshackle outfit into top four contenders between now and May, but he can set some standards of commitment and effort, and take those into a new season.

  5. the three things arteta can do to make an impact right away:

    1. play the experienced david luiz at cdm. is he the greatest? no, but he’s miles better than anyone else on the arsenal roster.

    2. re-insert lacazette at center forward. he’s only played half the league games and is still arsenal’s second leading scorer. he may not be the best but he’s clearly better suited to lead the line than most and clearly better than anyone else on the arsenal roster.

    3. provide defensive responsibilities to the strikers and midfielders while providing direction to their mobility in the attack.

    if arsenal signs no one in january and arteta does those things effectively, i believe arsenal can finish in the top 4.

    1. …and snake-charm lacazette into staying. i’d rather lose auba in the summer than laca as he has a replacement already in the team in martinelli.

    2. 1. He’s really unsuited to any type of possession game. He’s also slow and no longer a defensive stalwart.
      2. I’ll leave that up to Arteta but I’m sure that he’ll want t play quick, attacking football.
      3. Yes.

    3. Lacazeette, at the moment, doesnt deserve to start ahead of either Aubameyang or Martinelli, our two most effective strikers. And unless you play 442, Auba, one of the most clinical finishers in the game, is wasted out wide serving the wasteful Frenchman. Thankfully, Arteta doesnt seem like a football purist who pursues theory ahead of practical. Besides, a lot of good teams play without classic CFs… City, Liverpool, Leicester mostly. I could go on. Suarez is the more orthodox CF at Barcelona, but their best striker, Messi, plays centrally. Who would you want a chance to fall to?

      Im all for re-instating Luiz, but where he belongs at CB. I still think that he’s one of our smartest CBs. What he hasnt adjusted to is how utterly exposed the rest of the team leave their defenders. I mean the traffic is nonstop.

      Hell yes to 3.

  6. I wouldn’t believe everything you read in the press. In the case of our two strikers they’re both angling for their final big payday. There’s going to be all sorts of gamesmanship and bluster until we either renew or sell. My only hopes are that if we do have to sell there isn’t a repeat of the Alexis or Ramsey debacles. If they stay I think they’re both solid pros but likely feeling quite dejected about how Emery drove us from fighting for third in April to our current position. Everyone needs a lift and reassurance now and again, even heroes 😉

  7. What we DON’T do is let them go into the final year of their contracts, without them signing on the dotted line. No ifs, no buts.
    Madness otherwise. It never works. Ever.

  8. loved the arteta presser, but he need to back it up. we don’t want this to be another gary neville valencia clone.

  9. Except for his right to issue a mild criticism of China over its treatment of Muslims, I agree with Doc about Ozil seemingly have run his course at Arsenal.

    And yet, arteta said this when asked about him…
    “He (Ozil) is a massive player for this football club. I worked with him, I know when he ticks, what he can bring to the team. It’s my job to get the best out of him.”

    We will see what that means.

    Mikel just fits. It’s hard to explain that precisely, but he just fits. It reminds me of falling in love with someone special, knowing that you face some odds in making it work.

    1. He’s not going to alienate anyone before even playing his first game, especially a guy he played alongside. But certainly his challenge will be to accelerate the exits of those who played alongside him, since they’re less likely to respect his authority.

    2. he means just what he says about mesut.

      likewise, he won’t alienate anyone except to make a point to said player. that’s the difference between a leader and a boss.

  10. I hate that we’re talking clear out, because there’s a lot of talent at this club. But attitudes are hard to change. If this truly is a problem, then there’s no choice but to amputate. Having said that, I can’t help but feel reports are overblown. So let’s go through it. Here are the players that have been discussed:

    – Xhaka: look, let him go. He’s taken a lot of shit over the years for not being a great player. If he’s fed up, then let him go. It’s done. I’d take 25m and I don’t think that’s an unfair price for a player in his prime that everyone knows could excel in a different league.
    – Auba: I would make him see out his contract. He moved to us at, what, 28? He came from a crap situation at Dortmund to a project that everyone knew was a sinking ship. He is one of the players that was supposed to lead a revolution. He’s done his part with goals at least. He’s clearly very frustrated right now because he gets nothing from the system we’ve had going on. I get it. The challenge is to remotivate him, show him he can thrive here. That’s on Arteta, that’s his charge. I don’t think he’s a bad apple, but he needs to be a leader. I think there is hope here, but if not, I’m happy to let him leave on a free. The only caveat is that if we can somehow figure out how to get Laca to be the main man and regain his goalscoring touch by the end of the season. If so, Auba can go.
    – Laca: this guy has put in 120% since he joined, and it’s only recently he looks fed up. Can you blame him? Shunted out wide, sharing minuted with Auba, not appreciated. Have you seen his goal record in France? Machine. He’s been asked to adapt his game. I say keep. And he’s the right age profile. Make it work with him and Auba somehow.

    Now some others who probably should go:
    – Ozil: Pay half his wages to go elsewhere. It’s done, goodbye. Give him until May if you like, but I don’t see it working.
    – Sokratis: keep, but demote. We need another CB to partner Saliba, and it’s nobody currently at the club (unless holding can regain fitness and form)
    – Luiz: sell if you can, but keep otherwise
    – Mustafi: sell. he’s done.

    That’s it. The rest are fine. Really.

  11. When asked if Arsenal’s association with playing attractive football has been damaged, Arteta was very direct and simply said yes. If there ever was an answer where a lot was said by saying less, this was it. Reading in between the lines, as well as his facial expressions, it seemed to me Arteta is not happy about the way Emery’s management style has hurt the Arsenal brand. He showed the most emotion when talking about how much he needs the fans’ support. There were also several moments in the interview when his eyes would light up while talking about the club. It’s pretty clear that he feels deeply connected to the club and the fans. In this and in some of his thoughtful responses, I saw shades of Wenger during the interview. Not saying he is going to have the same management style but the influence is obvious and that’s a good thing.

  12. I hold two opinions that may seem contradictory but really aren’t:
    1) I think footballers should shut the f&$k up and do thier talking on the pitch, especially Ozil. F$#k him.
    2) I believe it’s completely unacceptable for the the Chinese government to use it’s economic and political clout to dissuade and punish public and private citizens and their nations whose free speech is protected by their domestic laws. “Reduction camps” my arse. What an evil joke that is. F*!?k the Chinese government.

  13. ‘I think footballers should shut the f&$k up and do thier talking on the pitch,……………’

    That’s just not reasonable.

    Footballers’ careers are short for sure, but that can still mean 20+ years. You can’t expect anyone to only be allowed to talk about their job for 20+ years just because they play football in front of a crowd 2 days a week.

  14. After MA presser yesterday no one should be in any doubts about the direction he will take us. Our players have been like sheep but you know what? An army of sheep led by a lion will defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. MA is our lion

  15. Halftime.

    Ragged, disjointed, lacking in quality, particularly in the middle of the park.

    Smith Rowe is showing so far that you’ve got to bring more to the game than pressing energy. He is all unproductive running and no knitting. Poor Aubameyang. He’s relying on service from a deer. Play the youngsters, you say? That depends on whether they are ready to play.

    Of the other youngsters, Nelson hasn’t had an impact on the game. Leno kicked it long a lot but he lacked the physical presence to win anything. Sound tactic by Everton in forcing Leno to kick it, and not letting Arsenal play it out. Saka and Martinelli have been their usual solid and hardworking selves.

    Xhaka on occasion has looked good… more progressive, even ferrying the ball sometimes; and on other occasions he cant beat a rudimentary midfield press, and Everton end up getting the ball back. It has been clear for sometime that the CBs rarely give him the ball when playing it out through the middle.

    Freddie’s tactic is letting Xhaka be the progressive midfielder. Sometimes it has worked. Sometimes it hasnt.

  16. It’s 70 minutes in, 0-0, and Freddie has made one sub, Willock for ESR . Reiss Nelson is totally ineffective out there, and Lacazette isnt even warming up.

    Bizarre.

    Cue Nelson making me look like a fool by scoring. I hope. Bizarre so far.

  17. This was Soo…bad. I support everyone’s right to speak as they please but I don’t have to like it, especially from footballers. I was harsh on Ozil in my previous comment perhaps because I want him to care about football and Arsenal as he cares about Uighar oppression. He didn’t even start today.

    But no one else seemed to care much either. Unwatchable and so, so disappointing.

  18. when lacazette came to the club, i was not unhappy for him to arrive but i said clearly that he’s not a center forward upgrade to giroud. it’s not because giroud was a better player but because giroud was a better center forward. he was a better center forward than theo, alexis, podolski, perez, and he was better than lacazette. just about everyone disagreed with me, but time has told that people, retrospectively, appreciated giroud’s contribution, despite the fact that he was notoriously slow. now, i’m saying this: lacazette is, categorically, a better center forward than aubameyang and again, no one believes me.

    there seems to be this belief that your best goal scorer should play center forward. that’s not necessarily true and wenger got that one wrong several times. who didn’t get it wrong was didier deschamps, who played the likes of mbappe and griezmann as strikers while giroud led the line. result, france won the world cup last year despite the fact that their center forward didn’t score a single goal in the tournament. what he did was provide penetration, impetus, and creativity for the french attack. arsenal don’t have that.

    not all strikers can play as center forwards. a striker is, primarily, a goal scorer. many of the world’s top strikers are not center forwards. messi, cristiano, salah, neymar, son, haaland, mbappe, mertens, timo werner, sterling, mane, marco reus, etc. are all strikers that score plenty of goals and are neither play center forward. likewise, know that a wide striker is not a winger. he’s still a striker.

    a center forward can be a great finisher too, but it’s not necessary. they score because they’re often closest to the opposition goal. there are a few players like benzema, kane, aguero, suarez, and lewandowski that can also score. the primary role of a center forward is to win and keep the ball high up the pitch, providing a platform for a team to establish an attack. this is arsenal’s problem with aubameyang leading the line. he can’t win and keep the ball high up the pitch, providing a platform for arsenal to establish an attack. this is why arsenal struggle to create chances, let alone score goals. consequently, arsenal are in the bottom half of the table with a negative goal differential for the first time that i can ever remember, and i’ve followed arsenal since 1995. it’s easy to blame the midfielders for not getting auba the ball, but he has to show for the ball and, when he’s played the ball, he has to win and keep the ball. auba makes runs like a striker, often back post. a center forward should be easy to find, especially at the front post.

    understand, if lewandowski couldn’t establish a platform for the bayern attack, he wouldn’t be a good center forward either. it’s also the difference between france and germany in the world cup last year. germany had a center forward on the bench because they played the young goal scorer, timo werner, at center forward. they didn’t advance out of the group stages and blamed mesut ozil. the one game the germans did win, they played their center forward and won despite being a man down…imagine that.

    1. caveat: ronaldo played quite a bit of center forward for real madrid but only when benzema was unavailable. if benzema was available, ronaldo took up his role as a striker and had no problem finding the back of the net.

    2. another exception: your team plays a counter-attacking system ala leicester city or atletico madrid. those teams often play a 4-4-2. remember, arsenal tried a 4-4-2 diamond when lacazette got injured and it was abysmal; both pepe and aubameyang struggled to get on the ball, let alone create chances and score goals. that’s why mesut came back into the team.

    3. Josh, if Giroud had contributed as he should, Arsenal would have beaten Leicester to the title the year they won. His long drought and or lack of alternatives cost us bigly.

      The issue with this consistently made argument is that you’re talking high theory. Many good teams dont play with a traditional or classic CF. Hold up play is great, but to be maximally effective you need to be a goalscorer or have goalscorers all over the park, like he does for France. France is ridiculously rich in attacking talent. They can afford a non-scoring CF. Other teams dont have that luxury.

      Also, international football is different. Giroud hasnt held down a starter spot at Chelsea either. Lewandowskis, Diego Costas and Cavanis are not in plentiful supply.

      You mention goalscorers who play wide. Earlier I inverted the argument by pointing out non-CF strikers who play centrally…. WHICH IS THE NORM. The norm, Josh.

      Freddie isnt wrong to make our striker spot truly competitive and to not shunt Auba out wide, but today a straight swap (and keeping on Nelson and Martinelli) when we needed a goal was baffling. And Auba did show for the ball, but his creative feeder was a young player, who, while talented, was a headless chicken on the day.

      1. it’s not high theory, it’s fundamental. the norm is teams that play with three up front have a center forward who may or may not be the leading scorer, based on their skill. this player facilitates the attack. auba does not facilitate the attack, he facilitates himself getting into position to score and that’s what drives his game. it’s not bad but your team won’t score many goals if your center forward plays this way.

        i completely concur with you saying high-scoring center forwards are damn few. lewandowski, cavanni, costa, kane, etc. are not in large supply. my point is the ability to lead the line is a very unique skill set that has little to do with how many goals you score. it’s about the number of goals a team scores.

        after euro 2000, bergkamp retired…and despite having the top goal scorers in the top domestic leagues all being dutch, there was no orange at the 2002 world cup. holland failed to qualify because they couldn’t score during world cup qualification. van nistlerooy led the bpl, van hooidonk led the eridivise, makaay led the bundesliga, and hasselbaink led la liga, and these guys couldn’t even qualify for the world cup because they couldn’t score goals. they didn’t have their facilitator in bergkamp and that’s my point. arsenal don’t have their facilitator in lacazette. this is not to mention the likes of huntelaar and kluivert who were available.

        this season, lacazette has played approximately 680 minutes of arsenal’s 1620+ stoppage time minutes. in that time, arsenal have scored 12 of their 24 goals.

      2. everton played like trash and arsenal couldn’t score a single goal. in fact, they’ve only mustered one shot on target in the last two games. who cares how clinical your strikers are if you can’t create chances.

  19. I won’t pretend to know what goes on behind the scenes but Freddies team selection and choice of subs seems to highlight the problems of unrest and disruption in the squad.
    Ozil injured and wouldn’t have been picked anyway. and only one of the best friend clique that is Aubamayang, Lacazette and the recently befriended Pepe.
    Freddie rewarded the players he may of felt he could trust and put in a shift.
    I hope he passes the problems on to Mikel in the meeting tomorrow.
    Then we need to set some examples in the transfer window and get rid of the hub that is causing the problems.

  20. As a teenager I was absolutely gutted when Liam Brady left to Italy, and then a year later Frank Stapleton to Man Utd. Ripped the heart out of that team, and certainly in the latter case just paying what he deserved would have kept him at Arsenal.

    Brady just knew he was good enough to play at elite level (which Italian football was then) so don’t resent his ambition.

    1. Good post Keef. I used to drink in a pub in Southgate Norf Laanden. Every Saturday night esp when playing at home the Gunners 1st team would pop in for a pint before they went off to a nightclub. ( man it was different times no social media and your hero’s would have a drink with you. It was all so normal) I became pally with the Irish contingent Brady, big Frank and Davy o’L. When rumours of Liam wanting away i asked him y. He loved The Arsenal and didn’t want to leave but was being paid 350 gbp a week and wanted a pay rise to 1000 a week. The board offered 700. He refused and went to Juve who met his requirements and he went on to win European player of the year THREE times. What a legend, what a wand of a left foot and as you say that team that could have done great things was split up and the rest, as they say, is history

  21. I appreciate all the nuanced discussion of player roles and tactics but quite simply and most paramount is the clubhouse culture and unity within the team and within the club. It is far gone at this point and may be beyond recompense with this group. Culling the right individuals for the right reasons might be a big part of the solution.

    Of course there are players we might like to sell but probably cannot because Of poor form, massive wages or both: Mustafi, Mkhitaryan, El-Neny, Ozil, Kolasinac come to mind. Xhaka is a player who would probably draw some interest but his departure has been discussed. I want to throw out three names whose sale I believe would generate the required funds this offseason for much needed injections in midfield and central defense.

    As painful as it is to countenance shedding more talent, Aubameyang is one of our saleable assets whose value is likely to depreciate as he approaches the end of his current contract and the farther he gets into his 30’s. Lacazette on the other hand is younger and a better fit with a hard-working culture, and I agree with Josh that his ability to link play and hold the ball up are under valued traits. I would try hard to hang on to him, especially if Auba is destined for the exit. We would be selling high on Aubameyang and have a chance to recoup most of what we paid for him as long as we are dealing from a position of strength. That would represent outstanding value on that particular investment considering the returns he has brought just in terms of goals scored if nothing else. The arrival of Pepe and the emergence of Martinelli also might make this more palatable than it would’ve seemed a year ago. I think I will remember Auba as a much flashier, much more productive Theo Walcott. Their games are otherwise eerily similar. Maybe that’s my way of disconnecting.

    Another player with saleable value who might be looking at a new club next season is Callum Chambers. He’s a solid player who will stick in the top flight. I could imagine hanging on to him as a utility Player or 3rd string CB, a bit of a Wes Brown type. However with the club short on funds and needing to fill gaps elsewhere, Chambers is one who perhaps should be sacrificed, particularly with Saliba waiting in the wings next season and Holding and Mavropanos in a similar age category as well, not to mention this is an area where the club will likely but next summer.

    Finally, also in the painful category because he is still young and improving, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles doesn’t look like he’s going to have the requisite quality to play for us, even as a Swiss Army knife type. He reminds me a bit of Justin Hoyte, a bonafide athlete who just didn’t really ever seem to get it at the toP level. He shows a worrying lack of progress despite a solid run of games in Bellerin’s absence, and by the end was basically asking to be taken out of the firing line. I don’t see him making it as a midfielder for us either but I’d wager though there would be interest in him from clubs who don’t require that much polish from their defensive minds and would value his size and motor.

    1. Theo has 109 goals for Arsenal, and was our leading goalscorer one season (with Giroud in the squad). Auba is quickest in history to goalscoring landmarks. I think that some respect may be due. Don’t succumb to narrativitis.

      Forget all the coach talk about hold up play, something Augero, Messi, Salah, Mane, Firmino, Vardy and many others do not do, at no cost to their or their team’s effectiveness. If you watch the games closely, the clear evidence of the past half season is that Aubameyang, or leading goalscorer by some, has improved his all-round play — under Emery of all people. — and works hard for the team. Some days his percentages suck, but Laca has not been effective for some time.

      Yesterday, Freddie had Xhaka operate as a sort of deepish playmaker, and ESR as a busy, non-creative 10 further forward. The studio analysts, including Ian Wright, showed that Auba’s movement was exemplary, but Xhaka and others were not on his wavelength. And he still worked hard.

      Sell Auba, and let’s say Ozil is done. Arsenal still needs quality in the 10 and the forward midfield to get the best out of Laca and whoever else remains. What Arsenal needs and does not have is a midfield and a tactical structure to feed and get the best out of its strikers. Laca is not productive enough for me to be this club’s leading striker, and as with France, he needs to fight for his spot, as he has not earned a guaranteed one in THIS squad.

      As for Auba, when you have a Ferrari, you dont give it 91 leaded gas. I agree that we should take good money for Auba if we get it, as we likely will if he does not re-sign. One of the games elite forwards is wasting his best years playing against clubs none of us had ever heard of, in a competition, Europa, that no one loves. He belongs in the elite, and who can blame him for leaving the sh**show that is Arsenal.

      I agree that neither Chambers nor AMN has top quality, but their versatility makes them really useful squad players. Every squad needs a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. I wouldnt sell either. Instead, I’d take a long, hard look at single skill players. Xhaka, a fairly good player in a league that does not suit his skillset would be top of my list. 27, Swiss captain, good player when given time on the ball. Kolasinac…. wages would be an issue, but he would also fetch good money because of age, etc.

      1. You bring up good counterpoints. Sounds like we all agree on a desperate need for quality and balance in midfield, regardless of who the striker is. Of course the strikers are part of that balance as well.

        Form the players we have right now, it’s probably Xhaka at the base with Torreira and Willock ahead of him as shuttlers. Seems like as good of a mix of ingredients as we have at the moment. Of course there are issues with all three of those guys as we know, and it assumes a 3 man midfield which is not a given. The biggest thing from this view is finding players with the skill and vision to beat a press. It’s not easy. Ceballos could help there, as he has shown in flashes. A Torreira-Willock-Ceballos midfield is intriguing but probably too raw overall.

  22. Ozil cut short his post World Cup holiday and came back early to pre-season. Lacazette was running hard and being a leader. Ramsey was the man leading the charge. Auba was contributing goals and spreading good cheer. Torreira was excited to join us. Koscielny came back early from a devastating injury.

    Joshua’s right. The players were motivated and hungry to achieve something with the club. But the squad moves by management, the horrendous man management, and Emery’s approach to games killed it all.

    What I loved about Arteta’s presser, aside from the way he talks which makes you want to believe him, is that he was forthright about Arsenal needing to have an established identity. I’m amazed even the Arsenal channel asked him the question about Arsenal having lost their way.

    I think there will need to be a clearout of sorts. I also believe Arteta will be up for giving youngsters the chance to stake their claim. He seemed genuinely excited about it.

    It will be interesting to watch how this develops. I have a feeling that some, like Auba, are determined to leave, bit others might just step up and surprise us. They need something to believe in. Arteta will give it to them. I was concerned about Freddie not getting the gig (I think he’s improved the team in a short space of time) But I think Arteta really is the right choice. Arsenal are going to rise up again because we’re going to be Arsenal again.

  23. I will always back Joshua’s comments on Giroud. I get why people laughed when I said that he may be slightly limited, mostly by speed, and his occasional cold spells, but that he is world class at what he does. But if he were still here, along with Ramsey, I would venture we’d be attacking a lot better and scoring more goals than with Auba up front.

    It’s also the case with Lacazette although when the team is struggling sometimes you need to take advantage of a hot streak, so I get why Auba has been preferred.

    Moving ahead though, presuming Auba is gone, and Laca wants out too. I’d guess Martinelli would get the nod, and at least one of Nketiah and Tyreese John-Jules will get their chance. I hope we add a target man Giroud type CF too.

    How we fix midfield will be the main issue. I’m guessing we use the funds from the sales of Auba, and maybe Xhaka and Laca to add a CM Arteta can build around.

  24. Thanks Tim.
    Steady as she goes! We all know this is possibly a medium- term job just to get back into the Champion League 4th place. Competing for the title will only begin then.
    None of the above will happen until and unless the owners and exec team fully, and perhaps even, unconditionally support Arteta. I sincerely hope that is what he has been making clear to them in him meetings in the last days. His acclaimed ruthlessness has to be targeted equally upward to them as much as to the players.
    The first act of support by the club should be quickly tying up his chosen support team. No quibbles beyond the reasonable. Get it done. I hope reports that he also wants a recruitment guy are accurate. That, and other comments tells us he has a good holistic understood of what it takes to culture change.

    Let’s all get behind him and his slow-project. It would be great if bloggers too understand the key interfaces in that transition and culture-change and write about what his moves mean, and constantly remind us of why he is doing it. In other words become change-agent communicators (it’s a perfect candidate for your positive project Tim,)

    Having said that, did anyone else find the interview with Edu and Raul cringeworthy? Edu made a very uncomfortable impression, his expression reminded me of an animal caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. It does not bode well. Raul can across as a control-freak, all of defensive (past process), manipulative (ensuring Edu stuck to the current process script) and eager to take credit for the decision just in case Edu got it right. I have come to dislike the word process in the mouth of Arsenal execs almost as much as my assessment of Raul himself. I’m hoping, though, that he has realized he has zilch understanding of the Arsenal culture, nor the English footballing culture, nor the English culture at large. Stand aside and let those that do get on with it emboldened by the club’s support.

  25. I agree with Claude regarding Giroud. Every team needs a critical mass of goal scorers on the pitch and a player like Giroud whose goal scoring ability has faded with age as your CF can only work if you have a wealth of firepower in the rest of the team. France is in a relatively unique position during the last World Cup because they have such a wealth of attacking talent. You can have a world class hold up player and facilitator as your CF but the team is not going to be successful if the players he passes the ball to are not able to turn the passes into goals scored. I suspect France would not be using Giroud as their CF if they didn’t have Mbappe and Griezman and their other talented goal scorers. Arsene let Giroud leave and Giroud has not been a regular player for 3 separate managers at Chelsea for the same reason. Those managers are not all numbskulls who don’t understand football tactics but they can’t afford to use Giroud in their lineup because they don’t have enough firepower to make using him feasible

  26. Joachim Low has won a World Cup with Germany and suggesting that he does not understand the tactical importance of a CF seems like a real stretch.

  27. Aguero is a goal scorer and not a facilitator type CF at Man City and Pep could buy almost whomever he wants to play that position.

  28. Pep used Messi as his CF in Barcelona and he has always made the choice to have his highest scoring player at that position.

  29. There is merit in both sides of the Lacazette vs. Aubameyang argument but it may just all be moot point if neither of them want to extend their contract. I can see a situation where both of them leave and we bring in someone new along with the returning Nketiah. Consider this along with the number of obvious players that needs to be replaced like Xhaka, Ozil and Mustafi along with our reinforcement needs in other areas (RB, MF), it’s a lot squad rebuilding that can’t all be realistically done in one summer.

  30. The problem with our attack is 2 fold. We don’t any midfield creativity and we don’t have anyone not named Auba or perhaps Lacazette who are capable of scoring double digits in league goals. The idea that we could drop Auba and put someone who is a better facilitator at CF and actually score more goals is a huge stretch of the imagination. We really need to find a way to use both Auba and Lacazette.

  31. Welcome the rare accord, Bill! 🙂

    The thing about Giroud is that some players improve with nostalgic memory, and Giroud and Coquelin are two of those here. I seem to recall immense frustration with Giroud’s productivity, and more gooners than not thinking — not that we need to get rid of him entirely — but we needed a more prolific starter at the tip of the spear. And contrary to what Shard asserts, we weren’t getting a ton of goals from elsewhere either, Ramsey excepted for a while. We even tried Sanchez and Walcott at CF! Giroud’s form hurt us the season that Leicester won. It’s wasn’t a cold streak — it was a whole damn winter.

    It was Giroud’s choice — when he fell down the list of preferred strikers — to ask to leave to protect his spot with France (and what a good move that turned out to be). I wanted him to stay, because (even with Welbeck) he was the only one equipped to play in that way, and we needed the option. As you said, Griezmann, Mbappe, Lemar, Coman and others too numerous to mention made France unique. Laca and Benzema (for very different reasons) are not even in the picture, so rich were the pickings. Giroud reminds me of Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, a big man with a deft touch who lets others play, but who is limited in other ways. We needed a Lacazette when we signed him. OG saw off Morata at Chelsea, but has not been able to hold down a regular starting place there.

    The CF debate seems a bit academic . Arsenal are not France. We were being held scoreless in games because the vaunted hold up play of our main man wasnt doing much for our offence. He was instrumental in one of our best goals ever — Wilshere against Norwich, and who can forget that scorpion kick?

    Anyone saw the goal that Vardy scored against City yesterday? Brendan Rodgers has the team set up to play to his strengths… fast, lethal movement and running into space, not ponderous ball to feet. There is not a hold up, classic CF in sight. Not at City either. Not at Liverpool either. Tammy Abraham, yes. Rashford is built for it, but does not play that way. Y ademas, we are not currently getting the best out of our elite striker. And sticking him on the wing is not the answer.

  32. Football, like basketball, has evolved. In both sports, the big pivot man is less important. It’s more Giannis, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant than Joel Embiid. The (non-center) big men have spread the floor, and are nailing baskets from well beyond the 3 point arc. They’re handling the basketball with the deftness of guards. Golden State dominated the 2010s with some pretty ordinary centers. The old 5 spots are being totally redefined.

    It’s the same in football. All of City’s forwards (Aguero, Sterling, Jesus, Silva and Silva) are small to not that big. Their CFs are Jesus and Aguero. It’s the midfield engine room, baby. Gundogan, Rodri, and the peerless Kevin De Bruyne, who hits the football like an elite striker. Not a classic 9 in sight.

    At Barcelona, Zlatan and Eto’o were classic 9s, but they did not have the impact of the smaller forwards. Suarez you can say is a classic 9, but his game is much, much more rounded than that. Remember we had a debate here several years ago (before we signed Auba), and I said that Morata was my dream signing? What did I know?

  33. Football has evolved but the midfield is still key and any successful club has a good one.
    Arsenal have neglected theirs since Fabregas years – might be a bit controversial opinion – but I stand by it.

    Chelsea are bossing Tottenham right now because of theirs .
    Kante , Kovacic , Willian – Arsenal can only dream of the quality theses three provide.

      1. A consummate professional with bags of skills, including league’s best step over and elastico.

        Only KDB is a more complete player than Willian.

        1. Pepe should be made to watch a tape of his play today. Offensive punch, and he defended like a demon. Ironically, that may have been honed by Jose. It was far more than about his goals.

          1. Yes, Jose brought him in and he’s been one of his best Chelsea signings.
            On relatively modest wages by today’s standards, with no obvious weakness to his game.

  34. not the best time to play chelsea.. the player mount looks a superstar in the making.
    Spurs need a 2 point deduction for racism and another 2 for throwing missiles on the pitch.

  35. I hate VAR but at least it keeps d#*c$head referees like anthony Taylor in some sort of check.
    what he saw today god knows?
    £100k a year we should be able get someone who can tell the difference betwwen a foul and a bag of cheese and onion crisps.

  36. the fact Taylor was giving a foul the other way in the penalty incident is beyond comical.
    Shades of 1982 Schumacher take down of Battiston where the ref saw nothing wrong but at least he didn’t call the foul on the French player.
    Absolutely embarrassing for Taylor.

  37. if I was the ref I would run over to the pitch side monitor and have a look at my own mistake or clarify my decision.
    Why accept it from someone else your in charge of the game take responsability?
    It’s as if they just say “oh well” they have no desire to improve.

  38. bill, i’ve never said in my entire life that auba should be dropped; merely deployed as a striker instead of center forward.

    as for joachim low winning a world cup, he simply kept the same strategy klinsmann employed. what low should really be credited for is germany going out in the group stages of the world cup last year. why? because his center forward, miroslav klose, retired and he didn’t know how to deal. if you’ve watched most of germany’s games since, he still doesn’t know how to deal. i’ve been plenty critical of low, although he has tried some new things with gnabry and sane before sane tore up his knee. however, deploying timo werner at center forward in the world cup was one of the dumbest coaching moves ever. why? because werner’s a striker, not a center forward. i said so last summer and i’ll always be critical of low’s performance last summer.

    ironically, in the same world cup last year, france started their first game versus australia with mbappe at center forward and produced little to nothing. it wasn’t until after giroud came on (not included due to a broken nose a week earlier in a friendly against the u.s.a.) when they finally began to look like a proper footballing team. see the difference? low was an idiot and kept trying to play an exciting young striker at center forward but deschamps recognized that his theoretical exercise wouldn’t work.

    messi was deployed, not as a center forward, but a false 9 by pep; a strategy introduced by the hungarians far before i was born and reintroduced by cruyff in the late 80’s when barca manager and again by guardiola about a decade ago with messi. even the spain national team did it with fabregas. bottom line, neither messi nor fabregas were center forwards, hence the term “false” in false 9.

    1. I’ll say it: Auba should be dropped if.. he either has a harmful attitude on the pitch, doesn’t train hard, or refuses to play football the way that the new manager wants.

  39. claude, my recollection of giroud and coquelin is not nostalgia. i said when they were here that they should be included because of their quality. your argument was they were limited because they lacked goals. fyi, giroud is also a centurion and scored more than 100 goals for arsenal as well as theo and did it in far less time.

    with coquelin, you talked the other day about a player who was good without the ball. other than arteta, coquelin was probably the best at arsenal over the past decade. how many times did teams attack arsenal and find coquelin in passing lanes? how many times did coquelin rotate over from one passing lane to intercept a ball in another one? who in the current arsenal side can produce what he did, include helping the team win 3 fa cups?

    wenger got it wrong with giroud and lacazette. my hope was that wenger would play the two together, giroud playing as a second striker behind giroud. the biggest problem with giroud is he needs someone to stay close to play with; griezmann with france or hazard with chelsea. he didn’t have that at arsenal as mesut likes to drift. i wanted alexis there and then lacazette but wenger decided to drop giroud. ironically, like you, i also thought morata would be an upgrade to giroud.

    it’s unfair to compare what arsenal do to what leicester city do. they play a 4-4-2 and counter with vardy. recall, they allowed the other team to have the ball to make space for vardy to counter into. arsenal tried that too but their players aren’t built to defend the way leicester city did so it won’t work.

  40. If players like ozil showed the professionalism of players like mustafi. We would be in a better place.

  41. 41 years ago today Brady scored THAT goal at white hart lane.
    silent spurs…
    born is the king of highbury.

  42. Josh

    Wenger dropped and then sold Giroud. Conte, Sarri and now Lampard have not used Giroud regularly when they had him on their squads. To suggest that none of those managers are smart enough to understand the tactical importance of a CF seems hard to accept. Same with Low and Guardiola. Many people consider pep the most tactically astute manager in the world and yet he always puts his top scorer at CF

    Giroud was never the right CF for us when he played for Arsenal. IMO. We had Ozil in his prime Cazorla, Wilshere and Ramsey on those squads and we had Giroud at CF. In theory our goal scorers received better service then almost any group of scorers in the world and yet Giroud could never score more then low to mid teens at his best. Despite all of that overwhelming creative talent and a top facilitator at CF those Arsenal teams were never high scoring teams. Many have said our 15/16 team when Leicester won the league played brilliant football and yet that season we had one of our lowest goal scoring outputs in this decade. Instead of Giroud what those Arsenal teams really needed from our CF was someone who was really good at turning that service and all of that creativity into goals scored and could compete for the golden boot.

    1. both conte and sarri used giroud. it was only 6 months ago when giroud played for sarri against arsenal and put on a show. hazard got the plaudits for the brace but giroud won the penalty hazard scored and assisted hazard’s other goal while also scoring. with that, i don’t want to talk about giroud; he’s not an arsenal player anymore. i simply used him as an example.

      arsenal need to score goals and that’s hard when the team only created one shot on target in the last two games. when you consider that arsenal scored as many goals in 1/3 of a season with lacazette at center forward as they did in the other 2/3 without him, the way forward seems pretty clear to me. you’re entitled to believe what you will.

  43. I don’t hate Robin van Persie for being a mercenary, but I hate the way he left (Arsenal had no leverage to sell him for a good price and he humiliated the club) and played for a rival. I thought he carried us through tough times and really, after all his injuries, only had 1 and a 1/2 seasons left at top flight. He got a single EPL trophy out of it before he was basically shot. The main differences between him and Kos was that he was still a top-tier player when he left and he went to rival. I don’t hate him like a Nasri or Cole.

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