I don’t have much to say about the Arsenal today. Man U lost, Leicester got back to winning ways and the Premier League table looks much like it has looked for a few months now: Arsenal firmly ensconced in the Everton zone.
There is an odd symmetry about Arsenal’s record right now: 24 played, 6 won, 12 drawn, 6 lost. It’s actually kind of pleasing if you’re odd like me. I appreciate balance.
But I would love to start to see some asymmetry soon. Arteta knows that we need to start winning and I believe that we will, spurred on as it were by the comeback against Chelsea, and with absolute disregard for my obsession with “the data”. Arteta has promised us he will not let them take it easy after that result. Data be damned! We are turning around!
On reading that quote from him, plus all of the talk about hard work and expectations, my mind wanders to the future. How long will Arteta be able to inspire that hard work, that graft? My guess – based on previous managers like Mourinho, Guardiola, Poch, and the like – is around three years. Turnover will help prolong the “suffering” but it seems to me that after a relatively short period (what is three years?) there will need to be a change. My goal is to enjoy it for as long as it lasts. I love Arteta already. He has something of the Wenger about him. The young, hungry, more ruthless Wenger. The one who took away their Mars bars.
That’s yet another extraordinary fact about Wenger’s tenure (and Fergie) at Arsenal. How did he manage it for 20 years when so many others could not? Not just in terms of success/failure but Wenger was able to produce remarkable results with some rather unremarkable players. He wasn’t perfect of course but the list of players who excelled under Wenger and went on to rather mediocre careers is almost unbelievable, like we lived in a dream. Alex Song led this club in assists one season and where is he now? 2nd division Swiss League. Apparently being sued for breach of contract.
How did Wenger inspire players to be better than they would be otherwise? And keep inspiring them for years on end when other managers who maybe won a few trophies would crash and burn after just a few years. Or now just a few months, as is the case with Jose Mourinho who is already feeling the heat from the players at Spurs.
In my personal life I continue to plod through Moby Dick and continue to find every chapter fascinating in its complexity. Last night I read Queen Mab, just a few paragraphs about a dream that Ahab’s second mate Stubb relates to Flask. Stubb dreams of Ahab kicking him with his peg leg. At first the shame of being treated like a dog infuriates Stubb and he starts kicking Ahab (who has transformed into a pyramid – which I don’t get) but a hag appears and argues Ahab’s case: that being kicked wasn’t so bad because he’d been “kicked by a great man with a beautiful ivory leg.”
It’s an honor: I consider it an honor. Listen wise Stubb. In old England the greatest lords think it great glory to be slapped by a Queen and made garter-knights of; but, be your boast, Stubb, that ye were kicked by old Ahab, and made a wise man of.
Oh how great an honor to be kicked by a great man and made wise. But I think we should be wary of confusing a sad, self-destructive, old man bent on bloody vengeance for a great man. And perhaps it’s best to not be kicked by any man?
The title of the chapter “Queen Mab” comes from Shakespeare (of course). It’s from Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio’s speech in Act I, Scene IV. Queen Mab is the Queen of the dream fairies, and I want to share the entire speech with you because his description of the tiniest of fairies is one of Shakespeare’s greatest little bits of writing:
“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men’s noses as they lies asleep;
Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider’s web,
The collars of the moonshine’s wat’ry beams,
Her whip of cricket’s bone; the lash of film;
Her waggoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid:
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;
O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on court’sies straight,
O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees,
O’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:
Sometime she gallops o’er a courtier’s nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig’s tail
Tickling a parson’s nose as a’ lies asleep,
Then dreams, he of another benefice:
Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plaits the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage:
This is she—”
I was wondering the same, and I think while guardiola’s style wins titles, wenger’s style was more sustainable for the players.
Guessing pool will deflate soon, although winning things might prolong the momentum….
Pool have taken the foot off the gas a bit this season, that will help the burnout. But I do wonder how Klopp will motivate that team next season. Also, how will they keep the players? Surely Barcelona has to be in for Salah or Mane soon. They need to replace Messi/Suarez and can offer ridic wages.
Already, some are looking elsewhere– like Shaqiri. Betting Ox will too soon enough. This has been a special season for Liverpool– but once they’ve accomplished all that they will? Being on the bench for PL matches won’t– and shouldn’t– be enough for players like those above.
I’m sure Klopp is very happy knowing he has starting players 3-deep on his roster. Yet, Ox– is the one still being doled-out youth player minutes.
Jordan Henderson– is taking Ox’s playing time. Honestly? This is the sentiment that Klopp will be dealing with after this season. I get that he’s a ‘player’s manager’. And if Ox is good with spending his entire career doing as he’s done…
Klopp wins again.
The beauty of Liverpool, Tim, is that they know when to notch up it a bit. Some teams they see off at 60% (or so it seems to me), and then they go 75% when they need to. They press like hell, but they also conserve energy to later deploy a devastating burst of it. The aways look like they have another gear. A great Salah found in the 93rd minute against United.
I think that the fact that they know how to play within themselves when they have to, they will have some longevity in success. They have to do good succession planning. Some parts are already there… Oxlade-Chamberlain is ready to slot into that midfield when Henderson goes (although their skillsets are different). Origi is a beast. There may be more in the internal production line where Trent Alexander Arnold came from. He’s 21.
The players at the spine of the team except Henderson (Becker, VVD, Ox, all of the front 3… Salah, Firmino and Mane) are between 26 and 28
I think their shortish term outlook is good.
Yeah, but haven’t you read? They’re going to be making a January offer for Gabriel Martinelli!
I’d rather see Liverpool win that financially-doped City, but honestly, their fans can be a bit to take. They’ve acted like they were entitled to be a great team for 25 years now.
Salah – 27, Mane – 27, Firminio – 28, Henderson – 29, Ox- 26, Wijnaldum – 29, Fabinho – 26, Alisson – 27, van Dijk – 28…. their core has another 2 or 3 good years and then they’re into a MASSIVE rebuild.
But they have momentum – you have a Timo Werner (23) pining to join them. Their U23’s look pretty decent. And you have a generation of young players now idolizing Liverpool and dreaming of playing for Klopp. It’s reminiscent of Wenger’s Arsenal in their prime and the way we were the destination of choice for any young French player.
Really admire the culture that Klopp has installed there, though. It’s impressive. I never expected them to actually better last season, which really was an amazing season even though they finished second.
Reportedly as part of Coutinho’s transfer, Barca have agreed a huge premium (£89M?) to be levied on any future transfers.
Hence, I suppose Barca will do what Bayern did with Gnabry.
What a coincidence. I’m grappling with this motivation/persuasion issue in my professional life at the moment. Isn’t it about the ‘why’? People and organizations that come at ‘purpose’ from that angle generally have a strong belief in a way of doing things and values that doing it that way necessitates. Arteta has that. Wenger too. And it’s powerful, it attracts likeminded people and it endures. “I came to Arsenal because I love the way they play”. How often did we hear that under Wenger? I underestimated the simplicity of that at the time. I’ve come to wonder whether the miracle ingredient isn’t
this ‘why’. Not the ‘what’ and not the ‘how’. ‘Why’ is what makes the everyday dignified and heroic almost. Each player and each wave of new player does it for that, for themselves.
Apologies everyone. My only excuse for this drivel is to blame Tim. He started it!
I really like your point. I feel like Arsene found something that he truly believed in and was willing to lose everything to achieve, and in his pursuit of this, he found that his vision was shared by a very large number of people, let alone players.
Arsene’s outlook on football is shared by so many people out in the world and has created some incredible following because his football brought joy to those watching and even more for those playing. For example, I became an Arsenal fan during a barren spell, trophy-wise, and so did many young footballers that I encountered in Africa. Young players are scoring “Wengerball” goals in training with smiles on their faces, Kenya and Uganda loves Arsenal so much and yet haven’t had a single player play for the club.
The smiles that Arsene’s football brought to everyone and its focus on making his players better versions of themselves helped his tenure to endure for so long. His insistence on looking at the character of individuals before bringing them on also helped him keep too many bad influences out of his team, his reluctance to work with certain agents also helped squad harmony. Arsene found something special in his methods, and unfortunately failed to update them as time went, but his tenure was incredible.
Aretha has something similar and if he can win something with this side while playing football that not only satiates fans emotional investment and need to be entertained, but also focuses on the individual player’s own emotional satisfaction, he will thrive. Working hard isn’t something that top level players are against, to get to where they are, they have to love working hard. All of that is only fine if it either brings results, performances, individual improvement and the joy that Sokratis and Luis were going in about after the United game (not sure).
Klopp lost his Dortmund team when his tactics failed them and their hard work was not bringing them the results, performances, individual improvements or joy. Mourinho only brings results and if those results turn bad, then his team has nothing. Arsene might lose results, but his team always seemed to have individual improvements, players played with joy and we usually deserved to win majority of the games we played (which we did, and very well).
Arteta just needs to establish his tenure in the same way as Arsene, with trophies first. Earn the trust of the fans by showihg that he can win and then afterwards, he can go on his journey to find his perfect piece of art, his own invincibles, 97/98 or even his own 07/08 team.
I love long term projects and I feel like Arteta should be given the time to bring Arsenal to being competitive. I have faith in him to at least do that.
Oh Lord.
Tim, that’s not me, your regular commenter of many years who goes by that name. If you can access the email sign in info, you’ll be able to see for yourself.
You know my “speaking voice” anyway.
Someone’s dad left the laptop unattended. And before you ask, I live alone.
Claudevian
I see the person’s IP address, it’s DillonTheGoat.
I’ll send you a PM.
I appreciated your email response a lot, Tim.
The interwebs has all sorts.
**sigh
Me, too! I’m so upset, I want my money back. Alternatively, I should reread to ensure my money’s worth!
It seems to me that one of the mian ingredients of a title winning team is the baloity to keep injuries down and regularly play a settled team.
Liverpool have that.
Let them have van dijk, Alexander and Salah out for 6 months and I suspect they would be a different proposition.
All this is DillonTheGoat
I have his IP Address, his email address, and his real name. I’m reporting him to the police for hacking.
I see your IP address you fucking moron.
Can you use another name…
You can put whatever you want into the fields but I still see where the comment comes from and can block you. I can also report people to their ISP and the police if I think they are harassing my readers, me, or my family.
You mean there are actually two posters named Feng?
You should try something rare and unusual……like a Tom or something
And here I was– astounded by Claudeivan II yesterday…
Awesome post Tim
Kudos to you because I have never had the patience to read Moby Dick. I take my 2 dogs for a long walk every morning and perhaps I could get an audio book recording and listen to it. I know that seems a bit like cheating but there is no way I could get myself to read it the traditional way.
I doubt we will see many managers like Fergie or Arsene in the future. Even the best managers tend to lose their effectiveness with time and they need a change of scenery to revitalize themselves. Arsene and Arsenal both needed that fresh start around 2011 after the first project youth flamed out and Cesc left. It happened to Klopp in Dortmund and probably will happen again in a couple years at Liverpool. Poch faded rather quickly at Spurs and I believe Pep moves after about 3-4 years is because he understands this dynamic. Why else leave Barcelona which in theory should have been the best possible spot for any manager who wants to win lots of major trophies?
Perhaps the willingness to blood more and more young players and play the long game was part of the secret to Wenger and Ferguson’s longevity? Certainly, both had the wherewithal and patience to reinvent their teams when required, as opposed to Mourinho who, under pressure, will only rely on his trusted lieutenants, Pochettino who didn’t have the requisite transfer or wage budget to renew an overachieving squad and Pep who seems to get bored and just swaps country.
Seems I missed all the fun yesterday…
That was weird, man. Guy posting troll comments under the names of several regulars here. So if you logged on early enough, you’d have seen “ClaudeIvan” verbally abusing Tim.
Who is Pablo Mari and why is he at Arsenal?
I’m asking for a friend…
Defender to reinforce defence that’s short on quality and numbers. That was easy.
Just seen Riyad Marhez awarded a penalty in an exact replica of the situation in which Pepe was denied one. Sheffield United v City.