@foreverheady ponders the rippling pool
Managers come and managers go, but the Arsenal dance goes on forever, as Pete Brown almost said back in 1970. By and large though, our managers spend longer looking good on the dance floor than most, with just four men, Chapman, Allison, Graham and Wenger setting the playing style of the club for over half its long history.
Can we expect a similar length of tenure for Unai Emery, or will Arsenal now follow the example of most other top clubs and change the boss every few years or so? Most commentators seem to think that the latter course is more likely, although should our new man prove a reasonable success history suggests that he too might be in for the long haul. We’ll have to wait and see, and one day no doubt time will say nothing but I told you so.
The last few weeks have been interesting ones for Arsenal fans: whether you were Wenger in or Wenger out his resignation came as a shock, greeted triumphantly by some, occasioning grief for others. But whatever camp you were in and however you reacted to the emotional final goodbyes it soon came down to the king being dead, long live the king.
As Robert Frost so succinctly observed, “they, not being the ones dead, turned to their affairs.” and so it is with us as we debate the style the new man will adopt, predict the players he will move on, the ones he will keep, and the ones he will usher in. There is a delicious sense of being confronted by a whole series of known unknowns, and Tom Stoppard gets it about right in his play Arcadia: “It makes me so happy. To be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing…. A door like this has cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. It’s the best possible time of being alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”
Arcadia of course promises us a blissful release from the labours of the day, a promised land where we may rest a while, and this to me is what Saturday afternoons bring (OK, I know that most matches don’t happen on Saturday afternoons any longer, but you get what I mean) and the thought of a new side playing in a new way with a new man in the dugout has certainly piqued my interest.
But as Shotta warned us last week, perhaps remembering Poussin’s shepherds, however luxurious the promise of paradise, disappointment is also an ever present in Arcady.
Who knows, but what might be interesting is to pause for a moment and think about what a manager – or Head Coach as they are more fashionably known these days – actually does. And this is another thing that most of us who have never managed a Premier League team don’t know – but it certainly doesn’t seem to stop people from having very strong views as to just what the manager should be doing. Actually I think I am a very good manager: I watch most of the European Leagues, scout extensively on YouTube and pay great attention to the tactical breakdowns on Monday Night Football. I know just when to bring on my subs and have no truck with players who give less than a 100% for the shirt, knowing as I do just how heavy the cannon is.
What perhaps I am less good at is getting my ideas across to players who do not speak English as well as I do, given that my grasp of French, German, Italian and Spanish is sketchy, whilst my Dutch, Russian and Swedish is non-existent. I find it hard to know just when and how my tactics need changing because the opposition manager has altered his in an unforeseen way. I am not always at my most confident when I need to factor in the risk/reward quotient of making substitutions before the 70th minute given the medical advice I have received that two of my players are likely to tire in the last quarter, or when a substitution has been forced on me in the first half and three of my players are already on Yellows. I am not very good at keeping the right balance between stick and carrot when dealing with a player who has just discovered that his Mother has cancer, and despite plenty of experience still find it tricky to keep the egos of 20 young alpha males appropriately in check and balanced, especially when the agent of one of them finds out that another player is on more money than his. Or that a rumoured new signing is likely to see a regular starter move on to the bench.
And I have still not quite worked out why players have good days and less good ones, or why a player won’t pass to another one, or why the presence of the most obviously talented member of the group seems to inhibit the form of the rest of the midfield unit. So maybe this managing business isn’t quite so easy after all, and a bit of me feels for Unai who I see is already being criticised on account of various transfer rumours that fans either approve or disapprove of. It seems that whoever we buy is either too young or too old, too expensive or too cheap, too little or large. He is not as good as Arsene or is much better. He has too much authority, or not enough; he is a maverick and doesn’t understand the Arsenal way, or is an embarrassing yes man only too willing to bed down with mediocrity. Who knows? I certainly don’t, but find myself already wishing away the summer that I have been looking forward to for so long. And it’s a china orange to the whole of Lombard Street that just about every true Arsenal fan is feeling just the same way as the long countdown to early August begins.
Positively Arsenal 
[Never post comment again from last post but Anicoll has done a number on me by unexpectedly putting this new one up so what the hell]
Happy with Lichtsteiner signing.
Just seen Uefa have had a rejig of their prize money and introduced a brand new feature: (highest) ten clubs will be paid according to their co-efficient ranking of last ten years.
Bottom place gets a million, top 35 million. So a nice guaranteed extra 35 mill for Madrid for quite a few years, and 3 in a row should see them near the top of the payouts for about a decade.
I’d guess that until recently we’d have been in that top ten, maybe about 7th or 8th.
Anyway, not sure football was exactly crying out for the mega clubs to get some extra dosh but there it is.
Other figures are something like 13-15 mill for being in groups, and nearly three million for each win in group stage, which is a very surprising figure to me and I’m guessing something new (at that level). Massively incentivises going all out for wins.
We need to get back in there asap.
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The revisions to the prize money by Uefa is just an attempt to ensure the “big clubs” don’t jump ship and run off with Google or Facebook to form a different competition Rich, or at least Uefa is not trampled in the rush when it does happen.
Interesting times.
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The new coach/manager said:
“Thank you Mr.Wenger for everything you have taught me”
And also has previously said something along the lines of:
“Xavi Alonso this, Toni Kroos that”
(Nzonzi as he showed two summers ago in N5 with a sumptuous finish is no Scotty Parker, luckily for him!)
He’s Spanish. He’d have been as big a fan of Spain’s most admired midfielder from their golden generation after Xavi and Iniesta as the coach who once said: “who is Cazorla?”
Yep. The new boss is not going to be so very different to the old boss. A little bit, yes. Heh.
I wonder if three cups and a runners up in the league and on every or two other cups in four or five seasons will earn him the same ire as the previous boss from the Circus clowns/PR Experts? I suppose that everyone’s gotta eat!
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With the loss of so much experience, Per (retirement) and Kos (injury) the Lichtsteiner signing makes sense. I hope he adjusts quickly to the PL and can really help the team next season.
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Re the new guy Lichisten signing. Isn’t it a joke signing a 34 year old?
All the years the Wobs criticized Wenger for non elite signings and look what they are getting a 34 year old crooked player.
Is the club moving forward with such kind of signings. If so then why was Wenger criticized for keeping Per Chec Arteta Rosicky beyond there 30s?
We we’re told all those years that once Wenger leaves we will be getting elite players and will win the league on a canter.
If the malcontents have any answer to this one please enlighten me.
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Oh that was a lovely blog.
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It’ll all quieten down once the World Cup starts.
Also I’m being flippant because that blog was too eloquent and too good to follow up on.
Can we get back to talking about Lichtsteiner and Fellaini and Sokratis..Oh no. That guy will lead to a philosophical discussion.
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great comment too andy. The Juventus president was campaigning for the Super League last year. So this must be Uefa’s sweetener to the bigger clubs to stay
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Was crowing earlier about Toure making the point the newspapers won’t about Pep having access to ‘almost unlimited means’ and, what do you know, the two page spread i just read in The Mail (don’t ask, don’t judge) carried plenty of Toure’s quotes…. but omitted any mention of that, avoiding any word, from Toure or his agent, of Pep working only with mega budget teams.
Weird. It’s such an important part of Toure’s broadside, and the only part,really, which questions Pep’s managerial quality, as opposed to integrity, morality,etc.
I knew you’d never see a journalist offering something like that as their own opinion- aside from when they want to praise Liverpool or Spurs as overachieving on their budget- but to excise direct quotes, juicy ones at that, it firmly suggests a strict editorial policy to avoid the subject.
Such unnewspaperish behavior- juicy, sensational, free; ignored- but it is totally consistent with their normal approach to the topic of money in football/ the prem and whether or not it distorts the competition and makes measuring merit, between rivals with vastly different budgets, a difficult task.
They even knit together the start of Toure’s sentence leading into the relevant passage with the end of a different one, even though it doesn’t fit particularly well and isn’t a quarter as interesting as the bit left out. Bums
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Also, feel rude not to mention it – very enjoyable article.
Before laziness struck me a couple years back, I’d have been inspired to look up some of the quoted material.
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You have beautifully articulated what I imagine are the sentiments of many in this lead article.
Hopefully, a long hot summer then we take a step into the unknown. from what I have seen, UE at PSG had some similar patterns of play to wengers Arsenal, though I suspect without the wealth of a nation behind him, and maybe burdened with expectations, and maybe even requests from,the holy trinity, Emery might go back to a slightly more pragmatic style, without going all Jose on us. Who knows, exciting isn’t it! But I back him all the way, just hope Robbie and co do as well.
Welcome SL, and who knows, the second long name that Alan Brazil will not be able to pronounce , perhaps arriving later this week.
Interesting the press spewing wonder at Poch for allegedly turning down Royal Madrid, cannot think of another manager who has done that, surely if one ever had, he would have received equal bigging up?
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I tried to dig out the original and hopefully full YaYa interview earlier but was not able to find it – although the excerpts referring to Guardiola are 1-20 in Google
Interesting the criticism, if that is really what it is of Guardiola of managing and coaching very rich and well resourced teams. Fair enough. Doesn’t YaYa see his career, and his medals and achievements in the same light though ?
Did YaYa ever achieve much if anything with Donetsk, Monaco or Olympiacos? Or was it only with Barcelona and later Citeh that he earned the vast sums and collected the mound of medals that he (apparently) indicates he is an exceptional football player ?
Pep is a mercenary- and so are you YaYa – so no difference other than one of you seems to have a problem with perceived lower status – perhaps
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anicoll
Yeah, that was probably first thing I thought.
Also, despite the story being that Pep didn’t treat him great first year, then managed to reassure him before this year, before going on to treat him terribly this season…it still hurts Toure’s credibility that he stayed this extra year on his giant wages.
I merely liked it that anyone prominent was mentioning the truth about City’s finances and their influence, even if that person undermined himself in the process somewhat.
Moreover, it’s about degrees. There’ve always been richer clubs, but the degree has altered dramatically. His phrase ‘almost unlimited means’ gets at that perfectly. Budgetless: A nightmare (and made up word) for any club living on their own means, even rich ones like us.
Must admit, his argument failed badly on what he seemed to believe was his killer point : he says he’d buy Guardiola a cake if he ever fields five African players, implying something like that is the measure of a definitely not prejudiced manager, much below is therefore suspect, but I don’t know a single large European club who have ever fielded five African players.
Someone in France, maybe?
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Suggestion Chelsea in advanced talks with Seri, and a personal Ambramovich pick at that.
I thought the glee over their supposed demise was far too hasty myself. Maybe because i’m just not optimistic enough, but I think more because it was too early to get carried away, and there is nowhere near enough evidence to suggest he is turning off the taps yet.
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Stephan Lichtsteiner, our modern day John Hollins,
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A delightful blog by our man of letters. Thanks Heady.
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Andy, is the photograph one of your own? From North Africa?
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Or even one of Tim’s photos?
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Stolen Fins – I liked the light “ripples” although I have a few of Casablanca souk which I rather like – but not quite right
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Did you also find the cartoon Andy, because I’ve just stopped laughing at that.
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That cartoon is damn funny. Something about not knowing the difference between one’s arse and a carrot.
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Shotts
The new signing is certainly no “panic buy” hehe. As Per the German captain arriving in his late twenties with record of having led his team to two tournamaent finals. Who like Ozil and Sanchez and even Cazorla, Arteta etc. would reach their peak in their careers for club and country at the Arsenal. Apparently at the same time that AW was losing his touch, making panic buys etc you can all easily read this pattern that tells us more about those writers then it does about the footy:
On which the new RB fills the immediate Mertesacker sized whole in the dressing room and camp for the short term. And the Debuchy divot upon the bench and more occasionly for Hector’s sake on the pitch. A little bit of mentoring and coaching for the younger player.
But no not a signing comparable to the legendary signing of the legendary German.
Would it be unreasonable to expect Ivan to pull off signings like Ozil and Sanchez without the aid of the old gaffer?
I’m not going to start clucking unless they copy the wisdom of that insane CEO at Utd and clear out the entire previous coaching staff with no crossovers being retained. That would be a huge error, no need to explain why. Unless it’s Pires who is coming in!
–
Fellaini must have the same agent as £30M benchwarmer in Middlesex? At the club that have according to the Sado-masochistic lunatics calling the memes in the Arsenal world spent less money then the Arsenal. Funny, yet true! If anyone believed that they must also have believed that the BFG was a “panic buy”. I have a bridge in my back garden called London Bridge for sale: any takers?
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On that last note I see that Liverpool are continuing their trend and habit of spending less money then the Arsenal. What! they’ve done well with the FBs…and that’s about it. For the rest they’ve been flashing their check book non-stop! (Flogging their stars to FC Qatar did not earn them the same level of protection on the pitch – a simple yellow for Ramos is all it was yet therefore the lack of such is also worthy of remark)
What is the active ingredient in the powdered mushrooms being snorted up by the great and the good in the world of the Arsenal blagger? Is it prime and pristine Grit? Pure unrefined Gibberish? I don’t know, but I hope that you all remember the rule here:
Just say no!
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Mandy
The new manager has spoken in the past about admiring Xabi Alonso and Kroos
Etc.
In addition to his comments about AW directly, this is a very strong indication that he is one of the younger generation of coaches inspired by what AW and one or two others havebeen up to in midfield since 2007 odd.
He’s not like the new Brazilian coach, who is trying to copy the German coach but has failed to have an older converted attacking midfielder as a CM in there, so they won’t be as good to watch as Germany in 2014 etc. This Brazil are too dull for me.
UE might make adjustments if he can’t get the right technical quality in the future (Veratti would be nice! If unlikely), but I don’t see a huge difference there. AW was already playing Ozil further upfield on many occasions, depending upon context and opposition, and we’ll likely see the same from UE: against teams that will attack Ozil may be in the front three etc.
The big issue for me is how UE will manage the fitness of his players in the PL, this will be his big test, one Klopp has failed on to date.
He’ll also have to follow his physios advice and calls on Ramsey etc.
Miki not starting the second leg against Madrid was AW following the physio’s advice? A good guess I think. And a huge call! Five years ago it’d have been a different decision. Fortunately AW was constantly evolving hehe!
I hope the new coach will not treat his players like mules, I don’t think he will.
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Good piece although it’s difficult to put style down to just four managers. Allison’s style was still counter attack which was inherited from Chapman, as was Whittaker later on.
You have not mentioned Mee which laid the foundation for George Graham to copy and obviously Don Howe who had influenced both and even provided the youth players for GG.
I would imagine the club as a whole tried to go with more flair Inbetween Mee and GG judging by the youth players coming through in the late 70’s which provided Terry Neil with a near miss at both league and European glory.
The new first team coach (which is a first since Henry Norris was Chairman) has a brief to play good football and promote youth so although the king maybe dead alot of his rules still apply.
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Don Howe’s stamp was on Arsenal football between the late 60s and the early 90s as surely as Arsene’s has been on it since 1996 Ian, even for the years he was off doing other things at other clubs. He was one of the first identifiable coaches who operated as No2 to a manager. Don’s reverence was for function above all things.
Probably another man who deserves a statue.
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Marvellous Heady.
I think why so many look up to Arsène Wenger is because he epitimizes and brought a certain purity to the game, and for me that will be lasting legacy of the man.
Emery comes across as very astute and I can definitely see him sampling Arsène to channel into that virtue to enhance his own perspectives on this great team he inherited.
On our new RB I was Initially a bit meh, but after 5 or so minutes I got over myself because it made sense. Fins [at 11:09 am] explains it best.
Our attack were 3rd best in the PL last season, considering so many others spend more that’s as well as can be expected. We just needs tightening up at the back and the players’ heads in the game when on the road. The immediate aim I guess is getting back in the lucrative CL spots and I trust Emery will get us back there.
Now just for Sokratis and Ramsey’s contract extension and this team is battle ready for 2018/19
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Fair to say AW didn’t just leave his mark on English Football or just the Arsenal, as Uncle Bob kindly reminded the Malcontent, but also upon European Football too. As explained by the new manager or head coach in his own words. Words that are repeated by the new signing:
“I’ve never played against Arsenal, but of course there was the big era of Wenger. He won a lot of titles with Arsenal and [made them] a big team.”
Hunter would approve.
Please don’t shoot the messenger for repeating their words!
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anicol you will find that Howe had a big impact on AFC well after Wenger arrived, as he was our youth coach from 97 to 2003, helping us win 2 FA Youth Cups, Steve Bould replaced him as the main U18 Coach
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Arsenal will be launching the second kit tomorrow in Leicester Square, maybe we might see a new signing as part of the launch, Sokratis Papastathopoulos maybe, if the rumors are true.
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He did eddy that is right with the youngsters – as I say though the Way of the Don that ran through AFC like a stick of rock was replaced by Wengerball pretty soon
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oddly enough Anicol, the players in the late 70’s and early 80’s when Howe was coach to Neill, and then manager himself, said that Howe was very attack minded, and wanted the game played on the ground and through midfield.
Oddly enough, Charlie Nicholas said that they would train all week playing beautiful football through midfield up to him and Woodcock, and then come game time at the weekend the players would revert to type all too often and just play hoof ball. He said we had many great bits of play, a match for any side, but when pressure was on the team was not confident enough to keep playing the stylish game, and it was a real waste of his and Woodcock’s talents, and others like Steve Williams and Paul Davis, and the emerging David Rocastle
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Johnny Evans is set to join Leicester City for £3M
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England U21’s are currently playing Scotland U21’s in the semi final of the Toulon Tournament, Scotland took a first half lead, but Nketiah assisted for an equalizer and has now bagged 2 goals to put England 3-1 up with 20 minutes to go.
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Yep. The old gaffer/ set up have left some gems for the new team to polish off. A sure touch there.
There’s the smooth cruise control of Maitland-Niles which has everyone as in everyone from the likeable/admirable McCarthy to the detestable cheat Neville drooling.
And Nketiah has looked exciting in the short and limited moments in the first team.
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Eds now that Sterling has received the old “John Barnes treatment” from Henry Winter and his stand up chums, safe to say that he has as the German manager might say “arrived” in English football.
What I’d tried to and hopefully expressed in our musings last summer was that I felt that original knee knack had set Chamberlain back in his development, his technique took a little while to regain the conisistency IMO.
Watching back through the videos of the cup runs, the community shields, he made a contribution during his time at the Arsenal. To each of those cup runs. Which is more then many others. I hope it wasn’t the same knee that was recently injured. Although he left the old gaffer in the lurch (& weakened the already weakening squad with his late departure) he did contribute and I still wish him well in his recovery and career, save for when he’s up against the Gunners.
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well Nketiah got in the England U21 team ahead of the much vaunted tammy abrahams
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Not sure about the sky blue colours for an away kit unless you’re talking about the sky blue shorts with a yellow top.
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Foooook me Eds when some dickhead (apologies for cursing but it is an accurate term in this instance) on a podcast started lauding Tammy as the kind of player the Arsenal should be signing I almost threw the internet into the bin. Alongside the rest of their Opinions.
What a load of bollocks.
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I saw Tammy play in N5, and sure he could play football, better then me, but….
…
…You all saw it too!
With “super fans” like these, I need to mine some kryptonite.
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I like the sky blue kit. At least for now. Maybe it won’t look as good during the match. The Home kit which led to such moaning seems good to me. Not sure about the away kit. It’s a bit weird.. Ok so is this where I shout PumaOut?
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These podcastateers surrounding this great club, they may be cunning linguists but they’ve shown alongside the distinct lack of class on display for a few years, that they don’t really know that much about the footy!
Tammy will possibly go on to have a better career then any English forward in the last thirty years now that I’ve written that. But given the track record of these experts I am happy to push the “post” button here.
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Nice article Foreverheady,
I’m settling down to the prospect of a new regime. I’m getting excited…
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Shard.
Did you not get the memo?
Repeat after me on the count of three:
Ivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
Kronkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….
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Was this memo printed on A4 sheets I can carry to the match with the cameras pointing at MEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee??
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Rich
I like you found YaYa’s comments confusing, correct in many of it glaring points but tinged with annoyance that YT felt he their personal attacks (Which started in Barca) Allegedly with defiance of Samuel Eto’o which irked PG, Pep a super player, proud Catalan, very proud man, proud Blaugrana. SE during what was a supposed discussion about tactics, turned into a dick off between the two.
The upshot was Eto’o had the bigger dick as he flashed the, ‘I scored the goal’, ‘They sang my name’, ‘Not no water carrier’ combination punch. All players in that group who (Outside Messi, Andres and the Catalan Crew) showed allegiance to SE including the Brazilians were in trouble.
The younger players all loved ‘Ronnie’ but PG could see he was not focused enough to try and go further so he tried to set it up to get ‘Ronnie’ out. All the players could see is the fresh coach trying to move their friend and one of the best players in the world, a guy who can change the game at ‘ En algun momento dado’. So all these are thoughts in YT mind when he talks about Pep now.
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Revealing interview with Danny Rose.
Never liked him on pitch, but has my sympathy for personal troubles he has evidently been through last couple of years.
I’m quite grateful for potent reminders footballers, even Tottenham players, are- cliche, I know- ‘real human beings’, and that their football can be affected by personal matters.
Won’t change my typical supporting life, right down to loathing the actions of Rose- diving, nasty challenges- that I’m sure he’ll stick with, but i think in some hard-to-explain way it can deepen an appreciation for the sport; should keep a person from lots of the worse nonsense; and sure a shell should lead to supporting your own players better.
And for anyone who can’t abide anything resembling sympathy of the like for Tottenham, the little gift of his interview making clear he was very unhappy with them during the course of his injury and has pretty much made clear they didn’t do right by him- forcing him to play on when he shouldn’t have.
Oh yeah, and he also confirmed that as well as injections of cortisone, he had PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections. What the ‘tablets’ were he doesn’t specify :
———————— ————————————
‘It all stemmed from my injury in January last year when I was advised I didn’t need an operation. I don’t know how many tablets I took to try to get fit for Tottenham, how many injections trying to get fit for Tottenham.’
‘Cortisone injections?’
‘I had cortisone, PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections, trying to get fit for my club, and I had to have an op four months down the line.
———————————————————
I’d say his issues with the club are not over.
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Nketiah has 15 goals in 15 games for England at under-18, under-19 and under-21 level.
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When we were boring,
Yes, found Yaya’ s comments a mixed bag.
I couldn’t wrap my head around that Ronaldinho situation for some time.
How a guy could go from the world’s most gifted player, at about 25/26 (can’t remember exactly), to being shown the door at his club within a year or so, and then never get close to recapturing best form, without, I don’t think, any major injury- I couldn’t believe it. Love of nightclubs only explanation I’ve seen. May be the main thing but doesn’t satisfy me as an explanation.
I think maybe his dreams came true at Barca, and he realised he could express all his talent fully, while playing winning football with top players…best in the world for a time…and still enjoy a lively nightlife…and then didn’t have it in him to adapt when that was threatened and he had to change.
I’ve always wondered what would Barca have been like if Ronaldinho had stayed at his top level for 4 or 5 years with Messi in team with him!
Should be a few chapters on him if ever anyone writes a book about the conditions players need to thrive, how some players are more reliant on a ‘just right’ formula than others,etc; what it takes to get to the top, stay at the top.
——————–
I did enjoy Toure’s suggestion that Pep hams it up on the touchline- part of the salvo which went something a bit like ‘he’s only honest when he’s joking; when he’s serious, he’s lying’- especially the head-scratching bit.
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