Rotation is harder than you think. Back in the late seventies, Sussex CCC was blessed with four outstanding International cricketers: Imran Khan and Javed Miandad from Pakistan, Garth Le Roux and Kepler Wessels from South Africa. Two fine batters and two exceptionally quick bowlers, the quickest I ever kept to. The only problem anyone could see was that the cricketing rules at the time stated that only two “overseas” players could play at any one time, but that was felt to be easily overcome. Fitness levels, natural rotation and an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition would all come into play, and the management confidently expected to play every match that season with two top, top quality players ready to give their all for the club. Except it didn’t quite work out like that: in fact it didn’t work out at all. It soon became apparent that each of them needed to feel that they were the best at the club, that they would be the automatic choice for the most important games. Other issues came into it of course: exact contract details, personality clashes and political allegiances all had their part to play, not to mention the age old distrust of batters for bowlers and vice versa. However, at the heart of it, or so it seemed to me watching them on a daily basis, was the atavistic impulse to be the alpha male.
When I look back to those times and recall the bitter jealousies and furtive conversations I realise that it wasn’t a very happy club at all. And I go on to think about how hard it must be to manage young men not only in the prime of their life but also at their most aggressively competitive, and then I think of how easy it is for us Arsenal watchers to call for squad depth and regular rotation. But I also see that the whole notion of depth is perhaps fundamentally flawed, because you simply can’t have a squad of 24 players all good enough to be automatic first team choices, unless you have unlimited resources and extraordinary man-management skills. Imagine for a moment what would happen if everyone stayed fit, and how you would keep everyone at a peak of match-readiness, given that only 14 can be actively involved in any one match, only 18 chosen for the team. Think what would happen to those internationals who don’t quite make it onto the bench, and for how many matches they would stay happily involved with the project. I doubt it would be long before the whispers and the accusations of favouritism began to spread, and before you knew it you’d have a divided dressing-room and small groups playing for themselves rather than the club.
Injuries do happen, of course, and it is prudent not only to expect them but also to cover them. I do wonder though how many long-term injuries it is realistic to expect in a season, and I doubt if anyone would think it would have been as many as The Arsenal suffered in the season just gone. Peter Wood of Le Grove fame would argue that many of the injuries were caused by lack of rotation and the over-playing of key individuals, and to an extent I think he is probably right. However, that initial lack of rotation was caused by key injuries to Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski , Cazorla and Walcott, while Wilshere was also in the process of returning from long-term injury himself, and so was perhaps not the force he has been (and we very much hope will be) in that exciting yet ultimately damaging pre-Christmas period. To have adequately foreseen and covered for those absences before the season started would have required a crystal ball and huge spending: to have managed all of those players (and those covering for them) had no one been injured may well have been virtually impossible.
Before the Cup Final I did what many fans always do, and tried to pick the Starting XI and bench – and found it hard to do. It would have been that much harder, of course, had Walcott and Chamberlain both been fit, because that might have seen Podolski and Cazorla on the bench, and Rosicky and Wilshere not even in the squad. I am using these names as examples, rather than expressions of preference, but they do help make the point that once you have genuine squad depth and more than 17 fully fit outfield players you begin to run into real management problems. How long would any competitive player wish to stay at a club if he doesn’t even make the bench for the top games? We often hear the cry go up about some prospective fancy signing of “how would he cope with a wet January night in Stoke?” but of course the fancy players don’t have to cope with those sort of nights, because they are left to the journeyman squad members. The real question is “how would Podolski cope with those nights” if due to depth of squad they are the only ones he gets picked for? My guess is that while he would cope with them very well because he is a wonderful player, he is sufficiently competitive to be straight on the phone to his agent with instructions to find him a club where his talents would be showcased in the glamour fixtures.
And this is where I find transfer talk so hard, because I know that for every top, top player that comes in, one of my favourites will either become ever so slightly surplus to requirements, or will leave the club pretty quickly. And I think it is probably also true that given reasonable luck accompanied by top medical support you don’t need a squad of much more than two keepers and 20 outfield players who are genuine first team players. But even with those numbers you are going to have rivalries and disappointments unless you have an outstanding manager with a proven record of earning the loyalty of his players and inspiring them to impossible achievements, like, say, going through a whole League season unbeaten. We have that man, and I am thrilled that he has committed for a further three years. I know that he will add to this group of players, but I also know that he will do it in a way that somehow manages to keep all of them happy. They are going to be very good indeed.
Today’s post was by @foreverheady
Positively Arsenal 
NOTH, which squabble was that ? There were many.
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“Returning to the topic of the thread Gervais was an interesting case study: not the best or the worst player but with such negativity raining down upon his head there was no option but to let him go.”
Gervais tore the Serie A a new one. If he hadn’t already been at Arsenal, there would be a section of the support demanding he’d be brought here and calling Wenger a cheap bastard for not doing so.
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Excellent post FH and definitely some food for thought, but I’m sure Arsene would rather have too many players than too few (thanks to injuries). Had he a few more quality additions to the squad I believe we could have won a lot more than an FA cup last season. I think it’s about getting the right balance of ‘types’ of players. Too many Alpha male superstar types would not be good. But, Rosicky for example has been a key player for us in the second half of the last 2 seasons and he would have no expectations about playing week in and week out. Arteta has been a key player for the last couple of seasons, but he is getting older and will need to be rotated with his eventual replacement. Had Bac stayed with us, I could see Jenks and him sharing that RB position next season in the way that Gibbs/Monreal have. Flamini, for all his pointing and shouting can have no illusions that he is anything more than a squad player having asked to come back into the fold. I believe Ozil and Giroud were overplayed last season because AW had no reliable alternatives. This is where I think additions will come into the team for next season – a deep lying playmaker/DM to understudy Arteta, a Ramsey understudy (perhaps this will be AOC?) and another creator to give Ozil a breather from time to time as well as the second central striker we need to provide competition and share the load with OG. It’s not like Arsene didn’t try to get another forward last season, but it was not to be. Hopefully the stars will align this summer and he will get the right mix of players.
Who would be a football manager these days? It’s not quite as easy as some know-it-all bloggers would have us believe!
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Gains @ 9:40pm
Absolutely right.
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Northbank I think you want to be a happier gooner somehow, and that’s why you’re here. Thats good. But please don’t challenge me, I might be drunk right now but I seem to remember you used some explicit words about our manager in those posts. And it certainly didn’t seemed tongue in cheek to me. Please don’t make me look them up and repost it here. Nobody would win on that. As for age, I would like say it doesn’t matter at many times. But being middle age myself I would like to say I’ve had my fair share of women and not being fickle about it, I think I’m better than yesterday.
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Gains/DC, the grass is always greener elsewhere for many of our ‘fans’. Players are great until they start wearing the Arsenal shirt. Look at how excited they were about Ozil until he hit a bad patch then he was suddenly a ‘flop’. They always want what they haven’t got and then take for granted what they have. No matter who we buy, the minute they put on a red & white shirt and fail to win every game single-handed, they will never be good enough
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Apropos, some people just need to think before they post in the heat of the moment. Flip flopping from one extreme to the other does not reflect well on anyone. A mature individual should be able to roll with the punches, take the rough with the smooth and keep their toys in their pram. Unfortunately not everyone is like this, but the weak and immature only embarrass themselves ultimately.
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Sorry Gains about the quotation, but merely because I wanted to point out his argument was not complete and there was a proper reason why the rotation didn’t happen. I force myself to visit that site so I can see the way others are thinking, but it is not a fun thing to do.
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passenal at 11:00pm
“A mature individual should be able to roll with the punches, take the rough with the smooth and keep their toys in their pram. Unfortunately not everyone is like this, but the weak and immature only embarrass themselves ultimately.”
– Post of the day.
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Speaking of squad depth and rotation, I see the CF4 speculation is in full on overdrive on twitter. I will be interested to see what happens with that one. Is this just agent planted bs to get his current club to show how important he is to them, or is there substance to this story? Even though I was gutted when he wimped out on us, I acknowledge that he is a world class talent who would improve any team he joined. I would hate to see him in the shirt of one of our competitors, so if he is available and the buy out clause talk is for real, surely it would be a no brainer to add that kind of quality to our squad for a relatively small fee? Hopefully Arsene will make the right decision as he usually does.
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You beat me to it with the comment on Gervinho Gains – teaming back up with his manager from Lille has put a spring back in his step.Sometimes its just the way it works out. He has some fine players alongside him and I suspect they might be a bit a handful in the CL
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passenal at 11:00pm
“A mature individual should be able to roll with the punches, take the rough with the smooth and keep their toys in their pram. Unfortunately not everyone is like this, but the weak and immature only embarrass themselves ultimately.”
Perhaps that’s a philosophy that should be adopted by PA……
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Now that is snarky. I can play this lame and demeaning game too:
A mature individual would be honest enough to direct their misplaced immature and proven to be without any shadow of a doubt incorrect ire at a manager and not at his assistant.
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–
Good morning PA
It’s been two weeks since Arsenal won a trophy!
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PG,
Did you get my message? Acknowledgement please!
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I did , I’m formulating it and it will be posted tomorrow.. That way it will get a bigger audience.
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Nice of you to generalize there Northbank.Thanks for that.
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Come on northbank yet again you try to back track and ultimately when it doesn’t work lay blame at us for not being tolerant enough as some obscure entity. Just admit your bad form and stop undermining our manager at every turn of fortunes and everybody will be a little happier about it.
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I tend to agree wilting you passenal, no less so when it comes to fabregas. I would also hate to see him play for another team in premier league. I don’t think Wenger will be passive if he becomes available thou. Remember the reason he brought Freddie to the club.
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My pleasure George.
I very rarely try to undermine Wenger….. not that I could. You may find this difficult to believe, but I am a Wengerist.
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Northbank, my point is ,despite what other may think,the posters here do not think as a collective. Like minded? Yes, nothing more. The premise is simple, support the club and all its parts.
Anyway, why cant I access your artwork through your gravitar ,as I could before?
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George, I undestand that, however, like many football fans, I blow hot and cold, perhaps it’s because I’m a gemini…. two heads, two personalities and all that!
My avatat isn’t connected to my art blog anymore, that’s gone slightly upmarket. But it does connect to my new Arsenal blog….. if you want to have a read!!!!!
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It doesn’t seem too link. Can you post the link?
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Here you go George http://wp.me/p4FeF9-1f
I also think if you click on my name, it would take you to the blog. Anyway, enjoy, and no ‘snarky’ comments ok (banned smiley)
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HAHA Do you remember when Frank called me “Snarky George” during the RVP meltdown?
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I remember Frank calling people a lot of things…. me included.
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Yes, but he is the man.
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He could be funny on occasion that’s for sure. What happened to him? I thought I saw that he contributes to your blog?
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I am still in touch with him occasionally, but right now he has other business to attend to.
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I look forward to when he starts again on here! I’m getting some twitter views on my blog already, thanks George.
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Northbank1969
GunnerSoreArse! Brilliant……..
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Another FA Cup for Arsenal. Congratulations to the Ladies!
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An FA Cup double!
Worthy winners on the day.
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F.A. Cup double and the development trophy we really are the dogs bollocks!
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Really thoughtful article, foreverheady. The key as you rightly say is that you are dealing with people, not inanimate objects.
Just for the record, I think we won in 2004 using 15 or 16 players all season. I think we also need to realise that all managers have a few players who play pretty much every game. The difference with us is the number of injuries we get – and I am convinced a toxic combination of comparative lack of rest between games and lack of referee protection during games is the main cause of that. I await the result of AW’s investigation with great interest.
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And a standing ovation for Arsenal Ladies.
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much truth in this post which is why AW is not as quick to buy as the fans want cos after solving the immediate injury problem what next when the injured player does return fit and rearing to go.
For example, it keeps bothering me that if Cesc does come back and we win the PL next season as we are already on the verge of doing, many would attribute it to him rather than a build up of squad not disrupted too much which is just now happening for the 1st time over a3/4 yr period since the squad of 07/08 started to disband… we have lost 2 key players every year since that time till just last season and see the difference that a stable squad brings…
I do not particularly mind cesc coming back as far as he is able to humble himself and know that others are now ahead of him… If that is his present problem in Barca, then he better remain there cos he simply ought to have stayed earlier and only now be thinking of gong back after an illustrious arsenal career instead of this present move that may yet see him home sick in the next few years again!
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Once the injury thing is really sorted we will be in tract! And yes FG,,, Big shout out to the ladies… following the good example the men have laid!
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PG: sorry I forget you are a cantankerous sort!
A certain fella, July 2012, an end of an era???? He can be a plonker!! Both Northbank and HenryB do desert that site, to fraternise with the “unwashed” here and now!
Northbank, without his chorizo and a glass of wine, is unbearable. Northbank, can rip off the expat Brits in France, anyway which way?
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I totally agree, ts – while losing him and RvP in successive seasons was a massive blow, the lack of fit star players enable the nucleus of this side to harden, to become the grit in the oyster shell which is the basis of the pearl which we now have. So I wouldn’t want any further success to be attributed solely to the acquisition of any star player.
I’m re-posting something I wrote on another site:
Re Fabregas, I am very torn. If there was no question of him going to another PL side, I would be very against the idea. Apart from the way he left, we are not short of attacking midfielders. It’s been suggested he could play the Arteta role, which is true – he would be a younger upgrade – but he doesn’t have the main attributes MA lacks ie height, aerial dominance, power and speed. So definitely a luxury player in that sense. But if we can get him for a net outlay of £15m (apparently they still owe us money from his sale) and he doesn’t want silly wages, it could be worth it to keep him out of the clutches of another top side – I shudder to think how much he would strengthen ManUre, for example. And he can fight for his place with all our other talent. A reliable journo said that AW is interested but not as a priority – AW will try to sort out our requirements before considering Cesc. Hopefully that’s true. However, it’s not all in AW’s hands – if Cesc does not explicitly say he wants to come here, the buy-back clause doesn’t kick in. It’s possible he may prefer to join the Dutch skunk or play somewhere where there is a real and obvious need for his ablities.
I am so over him now. FA Cup has cured me! Ha.
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FG well written… he just has to be able to be willing to fight for his get and get it on merit. Humility on his part is key here
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@ ts
Mind you, listen to us – it might just be paper talk in the end!
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Good to see the ladies joining the FA cup party! Congratulations ladies.
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giroud and remy combination, who can beat that! wenger pls make it happen.
btw, giroud is playing as if possessed. benzema who?
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CONGRATULATIONS LADY GUNNERS!!!!
its a double year after all.
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If he wasn’t already our player layksite, the armchair experts would be clamouring for him! I’ve got a good feeling that he is really going to take off next season and there’ll be a few choking on humble pie.
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I’ve looked under his bed and I still can’t find Dexter,maybe he’s run off with Frank..
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Have a funny feeling Cesc will be going somewhere else in the EPL fungunner.. maybe even to the club where lots of ours end up…possibly joining Bac ?. Who knows..if so, don’t really know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but all I know if that does happen, indeed if he goes anywhere other than to us, yet another stick to beat wenger with, whether we actually need him or not. A stick that will be used by those who have spent their time telling anyone who would listen that wenger has to stop signing small technical players. That’s the beauty of hypocracy, you can have it both ways!
But not being an ITK or a member of her majestys media and punditry,I could be very very wrong!
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I really hope Arsene spends some of the money Gazidis says we have. We are very close to having a really competitive side. A GK back up, a RB, a proper athletic defence minded midfielder to cover our defence and at least one quality forward. We have the money , have worked hard to get it so now is the time to spend it when euphoria is high after the fa cup win.
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Just seen the French goal – good work by OG and Kos in the build up!
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