It’s hard being a contrarian on Arsenal Twitter these days. Like any strict, self-regulated community, there is a stridency among a majority of posters that demands and enforces conformity. It punishes dissent via the block, unfollow and mute buttons for committing any of the following heresies:
- Not vocally supporting the new manager
- Criticizing any of the mooted new signings
Instead of summer hostilities between the former WOBs and AKBs, which usually reach boiling point during transfer season, both sides for their own reasons are currently wishing and hoping for the new manager, Unai Emery, to succeed, bigly. Obviously the ex-WOBs are delighted that their bête noir, the cheapskate, deluded, out of touch, omnipotent (choose your epithet) Arsene Wenger is now gone. Should Emery succeed, it will be a ringing endorsement of their long-held claim that the club was being held back by the former manager.
On the other hand, it seems to me, the so-called AKBs are on the defensive, not wanting to be seen as mindless acolytes of the old gaffer, fearing they will give credence to the years of repeated taunts by the anti-Wenger crowd that they support Arsene FC rather than Arsenal FC. They too are just as wishful and hopeful that the new manager, who seems to be as modern and progressive as the old, will be able to overcome all the external and internal obstacles that held the club back.
WOBs, AKBs and the Middle-Of-the-Roaders
Strange and as incongruous as it may seem, former WOBs and AKBs are now locked together, singing the same tune; leave Emery alone and he will succeed.
Let us not fool ourselves. While there appears to be two extremist camps in the Arsenal fanbase, there is definitely a large, if not larger, middle-of-the-road contingent which often takes one side or the other depending on results. It wasn’t that long ago, for example, we had the experience on the opening day of a new season at the Arsenal stadium, with the transfer window still open, that a majority were in uproar demanding the club spend some “facking” money as the club was losing to Aston Villa. The fact that Arsenal eventually came 3rd or 4th that year, qualifying for the Champion’s League, at a time when it was still struggling under the stadium-related austerity, stands in sharp contrast to the £200 million spent on transfers these past two years while coming 5th and lately 6th in the Premier League.
So conventional thinking has concluded that leaving Emery alone, rather than the relentless attention to the every move and statement made by Arsene Wenger, is now a guarantor of success. The underlying assumption is the belief that the Wenger years, particularly the most recent, were a failure which Emery must avoid. The problem is this hypothesis is not fully supported by the facts.
Note the “unbiased data”, on which we should rely, is diligently avoided by the mainstream media and most of its cohorts on twitter and in the blogsphere, who are now bloviating with optimism and goodwill towards Emery.
Take a gander, below, on some key performance metrics for the last 11 years of the Wenger era.
| Year | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Win % | Loss % |
| 07/08 | 58 | 36 | 15 | 7 | 113 | 52 | 62.1% | 12% |
| 08/09 | 61 | 33 | 16 | 12 | 113 | 55 | 54.1% | 20% |
| 09/10 | 55 | 33 | 8 | 14 | 116 | 63 | 60.0% | 25% |
| 10/11 | 58 | 31 | 13 | 14 | 113 | 55 | 53.5% | 24% |
| 11/12 | 54 | 31 | 9 | 14 | 96 | 67 | 57.4% | 26% |
| 12/13 | 53 | 29 | 12 | 12 | 105 | 60 | 54.7% | 23% |
| 13/14 | 56 | 37 | 8 | 11 | 99 | 57 | 66.1% | 20% |
| 14/15 | 56 | 35 | 11 | 10 | 109 | 53 | 62.5% | 18% |
| 15/16 | 54 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 91 | 59 | 51.9% | 26% |
| 16/17 | 55 | 35 | 8 | 12 | 121 | 65 | 63.4% | 22% |
| 17/18 | 57 | 30 | 10 | 17 | 108 | 70 | 52.6% | 30% |
| Mean | 56 | 33 | 11 | 12 | 108 | 60 | 58.0% | 22% |
Main points:
- Wenger achieved an average win percentage of 58% across all competitions never falling below 51.9% and going as high as 66.1%.
- 52% was good enough to qualify for the champions league up to 15/16. But in 16-17 a 63.4% win rate and a FA cup was apparently not good enough for some in the club hierarchy as evident in Wenger’s 2-year contract, which in retrospect was putting him on notice.
- In 17-18, the win percentage was 52.6, not the lowest historically, but it was marked by the highest ever GA, a total of 70, compared to an average of 60 GA over the 11-year period.
- Wenger’s loss percentage while averaging 22% increased by a dramatic 8 percentage points between 16-17 and 17-18 coinciding with the highest ever GA of 70 in the latter year.
The GA seems to be the key. As Finsbury, a long-standing and frequent contributor to Positively Arsenal has repeatedly argued, Wenger’s biggest challenge in 17/18 was maintaining or recreating the defensive stability he had achieved during the four year reign of Mertsacker-Koscielny, which was one of the premier central defensive partnerships in club football. The 2016-17 season-long loss of the BFG and his subsequent relegation in 17-18 to a mere squad player combined with Koscielny’s well publicized chronic Achilles injury coincided with a growth in GAs from 59 in 15-16 to an unheard of 70 last season and the dramatic increase in losses from the average of 22% to 30% over the last two seasons.
Based on the facts as presented, surely it is reasonable and necessary for us to ask Mr. Gazidis and his rising number of busy-bodies (Mislintat, Sanllehi and a Marcel Lucassen who is to become Director of Football Operations on August 1st) the following questions:
- How will the signing of Lichsteiner, a 34 year-old injury-prone right back, improve and stabilize Arsenal’s central defensive partnership?
- In a world where a Virgil Van Dijk costs £70 million, how do Arsenal plan to replace the retired Mertsacker and an ageing injury-prone Koscielny?
At a time when mainstream media, Twitter, Facebook and Google are doing their best to censor and block non-conforming points of view, it is frightening the level to which Arsenal-twitter has engaged in self-censorship to not rock the boat during this transition to new management. Apparently Ivan and his team are now omniscient and omnipotent. They have free reign, without any challenge by fans, to give Emery any players they deem necessary, because, to paraphrase managerial genius Tony Adams, coaching is over-rated, what matters is the director of football and those who do player recruitment.
So “keep schtum”. Don’t rock the boat. It will all work out in the end. Hmm.
Positively Arsenal 
It was not just the number of goals against last season, it was the ‘type’ of goals, self inflicted in far too many instances, and the location of the goals – on the road.
Interesting point about Kosc – although probably more interesting to see how Emery deals with the situation of a missing centre back. As you say he has an important job. He will certainly receive my support, whatever he chooses.
As for blocking, muting and unfollowing people on Twitter I have reached digital nirvana – you would barely know a game is in progress on my timeline. I guess I have probably blocked 3,500-4,000 on Twitter – I don’t bother with unfollowing or muting. When it is over it is over.
It is a fan thing suppose.
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We will have to see what happens in the future, no point in navel gazing before pre-season starts.
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One thing we will probably see early is if UE allows players who have been involved the World Cup a loooooong recovery period before getting back to work/appearing in the first team ? We don’t have that many in Russia but Ozil’s early availability and perhaps Xhaka too will be important if we want to get off on the right foot.
PL fixtures are out on Thursday so our openers will be set up.
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Marcel Lucassen and Lee Herron join academy
09 Jun 2018
Arsenal Training Centre
We have made two important new additions to our academy team.
Marcel Lucassen joins us as head of coach and player development, responsible for all coaches and teams from under-9s to under-23s.
He joins from Al-Nasr FC in Dubai where, as technical director for the past three years, he has overseen the club’s youth academy and supported the UAE Federation in the development of their national coach education programme.
Prior to Al-Nasr FC, Marcel held positions with the German FA, where he had responsibility for the individual technical and tactical development of the German national youth teams, and 1899 TSG Hoffenheim, where he was assistant coach. At the German FA he was one of the key people who developed and improved the DFB playing style.
Marcel is a UEFA Pro Licence Instructor and a Lecturer and Consultant at the World Football Academy.
We also welcome Lee Herron to the academy as our head of academy football operations. Lee joins us after 17 years at Championship club Reading, where he has been a key figure in making their academy one of the most effective in the game. He has been Reading’s academy manager since 2016.
Copyright 2018 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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There is another 3 months of transfer window. Lichsteiner is still the starting right back on a title-winning team, and the captain of a World Cup side. It’s not only helpful to have a backup to Bellerin, but more importantly to have someone to give him advice. (If you watched the NBA Finals, you would have seen the 34 year old player of GSW giving advice to the younger players.)
But Lichsteiner has appeared first because – there was no other team to negotiate with and to wait for their bureaucracy to approve. I expect to hear more next week before June 14.
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Shotts
As our good friend Zimpaul once. simply highlighted, there is some data that you can run from but you ant hide, in cricket that’s a player’s career average (bowling or batting test averages) and in the football league table alongside the all important points tally are the old goals for and goals against columns.
It wasn’t just that those two grea European CBs were at the peak of their powers, but they had good back up, and lots of it too (more then one!). Which was a huge variation to the squad as it stood at the start of last season. And of course they didn’t just lead on the pitch but inthe dressing room too, relying on the. BFG for another season after his lack of appearances the season before was asking for trouble, and that’s ignoring Kozza’s ankle which I was clucking about this time last season.
If that was the first season for two out of the three in the trinity, then it’s a simple and reasonable comment to state that they’re going to need to do better! And have more then one experienced CB leading the team and the dressing room, for starters.
Last time there was a drop in the GA ratios was when they brought in the blaggers ideal CB, a close to retirement squillachi. And Sol Campbell was getting upset at the drop in quality of the new recruits.
We can all understand why a disingenuous twerp would need to refer to Squillachi and not the much younger Gabriel (one of those aforementioned back ups who did fine on the pitch) in order to support such Opinion, yes, we know what their game is.
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< Oops: 'last time the GA column was higher, no dropping!'
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Interesting article Shotta.
Emery is clearly still in his honeymoon phase at Arsenal.
Even Arsene had one of those (before the majority of the idiot brigade of Wenger Outs were born).
The main feature of a honeymoon phase is surely the tolerance of events that would otherwise attract more critical comment. I get the impression that Emery & Co are picking up experienced players at low cost in the bargain bins of Europe with a view to shoring up our defence as a Stage 1 activity.
I have no problem with that as I’m confident it is but one of a series of measures being taken by the new management team.
As to self-censorship – well this may in part be down to a certain ‘war-weariness’ amongst two sets of bickering fans happy-ish to give it a rest for a while.That said, I still see comments about new recruits that I wonder is merely intended as post-Wenger irony. It’s not easy to tell, sometimes.
And I think there is an element of 2+2=5 as demonstrated by the rumours around Fellaini – the assumption that were he to be acquired, our entire footballing style is likely to be jettisoned in favour of Route 1.
But would a more violently robust Arsenal be such an awful thing, given our treatment at the hands of the officials and opponents in recent years?
As others have said, we really will just have to wait and see.
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Arsene was a great manager until the end. He asked that we uphold the values of the club. That those values were not being upheld by many, was ultimately the reason he left (if pushed or not), so I will be trying to do just that. Which means being accepting of things I do not have enough information about to judge.
I will not become that which I have fought against for years.
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shotta I don’t really know what your point is. Cautioning against high expectations? To what end? That it might/will lead to disappointment? So what? Those that are going to react like spoilt children to such disappointment will do it anyway under any excuse, because it gets them attention. The rest of us will carry on hoping for better.
Why should we ask Gazidis and his ‘busybodies’ anything about transfer strategy? We can either see the logic in it or we can’t. Asking will not change anything. Besides, we’re still 2 months away from the close of the transfer window. Sorry shotts but it is neither reasonable nor necessary to act like the perpetual moaners did with Arsene.
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All still new and strange to me. I’ll miss Wenger and I firmly believe football will, too.
Also have no idea how I’ll feel once the games start with a new man in charge.
That said, feel like i went through a lot of my sadness while he was in charge, as basically I wanted so badly for him to defeat, in clear resounding fashion, his nemeses Ferguson and Mourinho, to see us back, with Wenger, as good as anyone in CL and actually win the damn thing.
So it was a long drawn out process, starting way back when it was obvious the title record against Ferguson would not reflect what I feel is the quality of the two men. I hate that. Ditto no title win since Invincibles, and then the final pain of not getting a European trophy this year.
Still, I’ve mostly adjusted. A great man and manager has left the club. Conditions are much tougher now for us in terms of league and CL than they were during the first half of Wenger’s reign and, I think, the time- decades- before that, because of money.
I am looking forward to the new season though- mostly because why not, but also because I’m intrigued by what’s ahead, and I am pretty eager to see what ideas Emery has, particularly in defence.
I want to see if goals like that hideous one, for me, against Bournemouth- ahead, away, caught badly out of position by some routine pressing, in on us instantly- can become a real rarity instead of horribly familiar.
It could well be that I discover that’s largely the cost of having an attacking identity, or (slightly different) not having a defensive one. We’ll see anyway.
I came to see the main fact about proper WOB’s is nothing to do with Wenger, it’s about them being wankers. 10 managerial changes won’t alter that, winning titles won’t alter that.
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Rich
For that goal against bournmouth Mertesacker, who didn’t really have the desire to be there, he shouldn’t have been there. It was sad to see him in that moment, and a result of not having the right combos available at CB and that’s why I was asking the question on CB composition last summer.
Doesn’t really matter what the “coaching” was or is when you’ve got a captain whose heart and belief in his ability to be on that pitch isn’t there. This is not speculation as the words to support what we saw on the pitch that day were published in the form of a refreshing and open interview with the forthright German. it’s hard not to admire the the former skipper, even in his difficult moments he carried himself with those values on and off the pitch. If he can say it then I can repeat his comments and understandings.
That is a reasonable assessment and understanding of that particular goal, and match. The BFG shouldn’t have been on the pitch!
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Likewise it was amazing to see Rosicky yesterday, and to see him again to speak of these:
“Values”.
Few actually discuss what these values are. Not the blaggers. Not the podcastateers. Nope! Maybe it’s in their contracts? They can’t go there?
But the manner in which the BFG spoke publicly after any big defeats, after his own disappointments, fair to say he ticked all the boxes. Which is why the moment when he found himself on the pitch and full of self doubt (the inverse opposite of his season long training session for an FA cup final the year before, dropping in cold into a cold away contest in the league with barely a training session with teammates before the match)m that was a bad moment for the team and the defence that he’d been leading these past few seasons.
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Fins had it right all along. Like Arthur Conan Doyle, being the detective, I started with the evidence, i.e. the data, and it led me to the true culprit, the central defenders. Yes I know there were other accessories-to-the fact. But the statistics and the raw numbers for both Goals Allowed and Losses were very telling. Finsbury knows!
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It was hard for the BFG to step down mid-World Cup when the Algerian pharmacists cleared the way for the slightly younger leading German CBs to take up his amazing legacy to his national team alone (two tournament finals before they won the last). Given that he was struggling against blood spinning opponents playing at the top level in 2014, in the opinion of t Cech who made him German Captian, then it’s not fair or smart to have asked him to compete against the likes of blood spinning opponents in 2018 (ok not bournmouth but I’m sure you’ll all forgive this hilarious pun).
This is not a critique of then and now, just a reading of what was happening. I sang the praises on these pages of the deep squad at CB at the time it was there as I appreciated the value. The agreement between Wenger and Gazidis and the evolving staff to transition that cup winning squad was (losing the leadership of Arteta, Cazorla, means you had to! Then there was the loss of Giroud and others this season too) has led to a big turnaround in players.
I had a chat with hunter and he was worried about the quality of the incomings these past eighteen months, and who was making those decisions. But I’ve been impressed, who wouldn’t be, by Aubamayang and Miki.
What I’m trying to articulate is that they’ve done a good rebuild up top, albeit to the detriment of the Europa league campaign, now it’s time to focus on the back.
Unlike Shotts I’m not concerned by the signing of the back up reserve RB, he ticks the boxes required. So it is encouraging.
I’m hoping that the two of the three involved in the process don’t repeat the mistakes of last summer and leave the squad light at the back again. No blaming, no demands, just hope for the future.
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My reasonable concern which I am happy to share is that if they don’t retain some of the old coaches that it will be a process that resembles what happened at Utd.
And being seen to mimic the clown running Utd is not the way to go.
Bould?
Lehman?
Pires!!! heheh!
These are the most important transfers IMO, and i’ll be following what happens there with interest. Give them all the chop and yep I will be questioning the ‘Values’ behind such a call: and therefore I’d be surprised if that happens as I have higher expectations from Ivan.
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Will always retain an element of sadness that Wenger didn’t finish off his last contract, though if that really was his choice,can only respect that.
I spent much of this past season, and the one before practically begging Wenger to sort out , or at least improve defending as a team, fearing failure to do so could prove costly for the great man, just how costly I suspect we may never know.
Can only agree with the points on Per and the the quite wonderful Kos, any team would suffer losing those two, no matter how gradual the process. But equally, at times we just looked way too open, full backs and MFs in an advanced position, the defence isolated with the inevitable ensuing counter attacks, we were done on a regular basis by some serious journeymen strikers, that sucked at times. I love all, or at least most who wear the shirt, and was sad, and worried to see Gabriel and Coq depart, rated both, I am sure there are very good reasons , perhaps even humane reasons for players who deserved more game time, but losing them may not have helped in certain games. Easy being an armchair fan with the gift of hindsight isn’t it.
But we have now moved on, welcomed a new man who deserves our backing, he is taking on a difficult task, it seems the club will provide a lot of supporting structure. If reports of transfer targets via the media, so called ITKs, players fathers prove to be correct, it looks like UE will attempt to make us more robust in certain situations, without the ball, and away from home maybe Nobody should blame him if he does, he needs to get results and fast, a season of away losses to relegation candidates and being picked off by the likes of Austin Long Deeney Ritchie et al on a depressingly regular basis is going to help nobody .
UE sounds pretty versatile, some of his teams have been dogged, and others expansive as far as my limited observations can see. By whatever means i expect defending as a team to ultimately improve on last season, but just hope it is not at the cost of a little residual Wenger magic with the forwards and creatives.
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Whatever happened in a couple of ensuing games, will always see that wonderful day at Wembley as BFGs true farewell as an Arsenal player, he deserves no less. Hope he does great things in his new role and very glad such a man is on board.
All gone a bit quiet on Bould Jens, have read reports they have been offered roles, which may, or may not be to their liking.
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Absolutely agree with fins on the necessity of retaining some of the coaches who were there in the organisation. I am sad that this has come down to just Bould and Jens, and that even they may leave. Especially Bould because he’s got greater experience of the players in the squad (Jens just joined us last season)
Wenger talked about the first job of a manager being the human aspect of winning people over. Yes the players are professionals who should and likely will want to do well regardless of who the guy in charge is. But of course they are humans and feelings come into it as well.
At a mercenary club like Chelsea this may not matter too much. At a club which prides itself on its history, culture, values and family environment, this is a must. Hopefully Emery reflects and respects those values (I think he does) But having some familiar faces around is important in terms of reinforcing it and getting the best out of the players. More important now when there is more upheaval both in the coaching and playing personnel.
I also agree with fins that we should expect that Ivan upholds those values. Should it come to pass that we’re not retaining any of ‘Wenger’s coaches’, I will be deem it necessary to question the club on that.
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Some of those coaches have been there a very long time and were intrinsically linked to Wenger, so a new man would naturally want to change things, even though the bulk were let go before the UE was announced.
But Bould and Jens could be a step too far, unless of course they have other jobs they may want to take.
I suspect either Arteta or Vieira would have been the man for retaining Arsenal linked backroom staff for the first team at least, but we shall see.
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Mandy
Stones only started a handful of matches for City in their closing run/second half of the season.
Not because Guardiola couldn’t coach him ‘defence’, but because he needs more time. And experience. Same as Holding and Chambers, who might be better players then Stones.
Having Mustafi as the only fit CB leading the defence on the pitch and in the dressing room would not have helped the “defending”relative to the period two seasons earlier when a dressing room and defence led by the trio of BF, Koscielny and Arteta could close and control matches so often that the 2-0/2-1 scoreline became predictable in most games for two whole seasons. This is not an opinion, but it is the record.
Therefore I don’t agree with your assesment of the coaching. You may querie the positions of the FBs, I am querying what Mertesacker was doing on the pitch that day in Bournmouth, the impact on the spirit and confidence as well upon the pitch, whilst being able to explain why the ‘defensive coaching’ appeared to be better when the had better and fitter players available leading the defence. It’s not cruel to say 25 year old Mustafi does not have the same rep in European football at that age as the 25 year old Mertesacker did, I’m just grateful the club snagged such a player or two as it helped construct a great team who had some great moments during what the back slapping blaggers describe as “Wenger’s decline” lol, and what I am trying to articulate is that if they get an equivalent talent in again sometime in the future it will be an equal cause for celebration as the signing of that, and I quote: “Panic Buy”.
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Panic buy because we lost 8-2. None of these professional bloggers noticed that the club did something else a few days prior. Qualify for the CL against Udinese (despite a questionable penalty awarded against us) Meaning we had some 30m more in the budget. Guess who we did buy before? Ox. (‘WE ONLY BUY KIDS! HUrrr Duurrr’) Because we were buying potential which offered resale value (40m and he’s now ‘world class’)
But did the signing of the mid to late twenties players change the narrative of ‘we only buy kids’? Yes. Only to say they were ‘panic buys’. As a well-wisher of the club, may we have lots of more such panic buys. Even if that includes a few like Park or Andre Santos.
The other that does my head in is the narrative on the Kallstrom loan signing. A good deal under the circumstances. The deliberately uncharitable view of every dealing of the club. These cannot be professional bloggers as much as professional trolls. To be fair that’s true of most of the media these days as well. Hey, maybe that’s what it means to be professional.
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Rob Holding played in 10 PL matches last season. It’s not like he’s not getting game time. But some would have you believe he’s not progressing because he’s not a first team regular. These same guys said Chambers was on his way out when he was sent on loan (oh to have such defensive riches again) and even when he came back, because Wenger clearly doesn’t rate him. He signed a contract extension shortly after.
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Finsbury, don’t dispute that on BFG at Bournmouth, nor am I suggesting the defenders are not coached, or badly coached, but we were playing an incredibly open system in play. I don’t doubt the likes of per, kos, and as you mention, Arteta had the experience and guile to offset some of the vulnerabilities in the system Wenger is on record as wanting to play, but at times, the way our players were set up, or at least they way they managed themselves in certain games just left the defence too vulnerable. I am sure it hit the confidence of certain players, made keepers more nervous,. Kos and Per are one thing, but far lesser defenders and teams seemed a lot more organised than we did at times, at the risk of sounding disrespectful to others , our thoroughbreds were too often caught sucker punched by relative cart horses, frustrating and ultimately costly. Of course there were some games, in fact quite a few of those games where the PGMOL certainly played their part as well, Stoke, Watford and Mike Dean with west brom for starters. Will be very interesting to see if such issues occur unabated under UE.
I do not know how UEs defensive coaching measures up against wengers, though I do know Arsenal defenders past have gone on record on how difficult it is playing in a system so geared to attacking play. It all remains to be seen, but I will be amazed if at times, UE doesn’t put more protection in front of the defence , I just don’t think he can afford some of last seasons continued mishaps with the pressure he will inevitably be under. But good luck to him if he needs to find another Kos or Per
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It’s the Upside Down world of the Arseblagger.
– Mertesacker was a panic buy
– The Arsenel squad that won three cups and made a final or semi final or two lacked Leaders
– A team led by experienced top class pros at the back in CM went from predictably controlling most of their games in the league to more erratic patterns when those players transitioned because of bad coaching and nothing more. And Guardiola dropped Stones because he can’t coach him?
– Red is Blue.
– Night is Day.
-English football and the FA is free of the kind of bigotry seen everywhere else, look at how poor Rose is looked after (what’s he doing in the. Squad whe he’s not even the best LB at his club?) by the kind journalists! Who is Aluko?
– Vengarrghhh was a Scrooge and that’s why the new gaffer’s first signing was made on a free.
Etc.
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Kallestrom ended up helping us win the FA Cup, back in the days before wengers continued latter day success led the media to declare it a non trophy
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Which defenders Mandy?
Are you quoting someone quoting Squillachi?
I believe I’ve shared my opinion on that one!
Of course Arsenal play attacking football.
And it’s not just the defenders who say it.
There’s a recent interview where Jack Wilshere expressed that same understanding. When he said so there were no tears in his eyes. He was not shaking with fear. He said it with: pride. In values?
The reason why an attacking team like City dropped Stones in favour of more experienced older players is that it is easier for players at their peak to play in such a system.
I don’t think you’ll find many people of football who would disagree with this understanding.
I do not disagree either.
Therefore everyone can understand why having one fit senior CB in your squad was leaving the armoury a little bit bare. Not a controversial understanding. I would hope!
UE is not arriving from an unknown league in Japan, he’s on record saying he wants to pay like the leading attacking football teams, therefore I imagine he’d be talking to people about CBs as well, and I wish him well in his efforts to find the right people to join his squad.
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I think Conan-Doyle started with an even more fundamental premise than the data/evidence Shotta – that a crime had been committed.
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And when is certain a crime has been committed?
Well it is a duty to identify the guilty and pursue them toward just punishment.
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Carl Jenkinson made his first team debut that night in Udine and did really well. Is he still at the Ammers or has he moved on ?
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I am in general agreement with Fins and his analysis of the defensive failings over the past two years. A trio of Mustafi plus (an ailing Koscielny or Chambers) with Xhaka as CM is far cry from prime BFG, Kosc and Arteta and never forget the unique CM role of Santi as a successor to Mikel. Arsene was never going Mourinho-like; playing a low-block with two DMs, focussing on negative football. He would rather see players like Xhaka and Mustafi grow and develop playing his fluid system and learn from their mistakes. And both have.
Where Fins and I disagree is in the trust he has bestowed on Ivan. I have gone on record and the only blogger to do so, to describe what happened at Arsenal over the past two years as an evolving corporate coup by Ivan, The Terrible. Most of what is in the public domain, including the struggle over the role of StatDNA (Wenger was right by the way, its only a tool, not the solution to talent selection) , the desire to place a Director of Football reporting to Ivan as Wenger’s boss, Gazidis moving his office to Colney and finally that valedictory by Hynter in the Guardian praising Ivan for the overthrow of his nemesis convinced me there is more in the mortar than the pestle.
Fortunately it is now Ivan’s team. It is his Arsenal. All the footballing busy-bodies now report to him. He cannot hide from the accountability. He made the declaration some years ago that Arsenal can become the Bayern Munich of England. Really? The last time I checked United, City and Chelsea not only have greater spending power than Arsenal but as much if not more than Bayern. You may have noted I have not criticized Emery. He deserves his honeymoon. Unfortunately he is the chump in the big con whom Ivan, The Terrible, will be quick to blame when things go wrong. Watch this space.
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He’s on loan at Birmingham. Not getting game time at all now apparently.
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Crime and punishment? I thought the Russians were not the flavour of the month?
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The short version of my comment above at 2.47
If your identity and values are for attacking football (which obviously has variations but there’s an overall trend at clubs especially inmidfield since oh about 07/08 that can’t e ignored) then:
Leaving your squad short of experienced and proven cover at CB is or was not smart.
Stones knows.
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Oh good – we have the culprit – string him up string him up
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Shotts,
I wouldn’t call Ivan terrible but I hope that I can freely confess that if he cleans out all the old the coaching staff that it would be: a little bit of a worry. I’m watching that space.
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It’s World Cup month fins. Russia is the flavour of the month
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shotta
I agree with you that Emery will be the fall guy. I disagree that this makes Ivan terrible. It is the normal way of things where the manager gets the blame, until serial failures show that the problem lies higher up. (In the case of Spurs even that doesn’t matter I guess)I don’t really like Ivan Gazidis by the way. I find it hard to trust him because of his PR antics. This was even on display with the Emery video and Ivan’s photo or presence in almost all the promotional material. So yeah, he wants good PR, he wants control and visibility. I dislike it on a personal level, but I don’t see why this should be seen as a bad thing for the club.
You’re not the only blogger to call it a coup by the way. You’re just the only one not relishing it because you didn’t turn on Wenger. Of course there were differences behind the scenes. This is normal. But unless you can point to something Gazidis did to sabotage Wenger, I’m afraid I don’t see the problem.
The decision to change the structure at the club has obviously been taken at a level higher than Gazidis and has been in the pipeline for years. It is the modern way and frankly, I have advocated for it in the past. Not with Wenger there, but after him. Because it, in theory at least, makes it harder for a manager to do a Mourinho. Build up the team to its peak for 3 years, add to his personal CV and then eff off, leaving the club to rebuild. Ok if you run on petrol, not ok if you run on sweat. So Emery can’t come in and just give the keys to the club to his special agents a la Mourinho. (Not saying Emery specifically would want to) He would need to have Sven and Raul (and maybe even Per) recommend the course of action to Gazidis who would then have some justification for his actions to the board. This ensures that the club’s medium to long term health is adequately protected.
As for StatsDNA, Wenger was right, and yet I don’t think he was dismissing its potential. Just its readiness. To crack the ‘Moneyball’ version of football stats is sort of a holy grail, and I reckon Arsenal are ahead of the curve here. Just because the system isn’t ready, and has had some failures, doesn’t mean its not worth pursuing. I also personally believe that Wenger’s concerns on it led to us recruiting Mislintat because he supposedly bridges traditional and stats based scouting well.
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“that a crime had been committed” ………………..allegedly..
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What Ivan did to Arsene over the past 2 years is typical corporate deviousness which I deplore it. It is contrary to the values of Arsenals to patiently support the manager in contrast to the hire and fire strategy of most other clubs.
There were rumblings last year on the usual anti-Wenger blogs that the gradual integration of Josh Kroenke into the day-to-day running of the club was an ominous sign for Wenger as the young man was allying with Gazidis for a quick fix to our failure to compete for the title. It was well known Josh’s modus operandi with the other sports franchises owned by the family was, as soon as he took charge, to reorganize and inject new blood by throwing older managers to the curb. I dismissed it then but no more. Young Josh and Ivan are going to learn sooner or later, club football in England is not like those financially protected franchises in America. It is a dog-eat-dog world which is dominated by those with greater spending power. As Aston Villa can testify, strategic mistakes by the owners can easily result in the eventual death of a club.
Well its all up to Ivan, The Terrible, from here on.
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Yeah right
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As though I’ve got a clue what has been going on at the centre of Arsenal Football club in the past two years, or ever.
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But so far shotta, what have they done that shows a change in strategic direction? Wenger would have left soon enough anyway. And in the post-Wenger world, would you rather they not create an organisational structure that they have? Emery also represents the right sort of manager or coach, to take over from Wenger.
And I think whatever else Josh Kroenke may or may not know, the financial aspect of running the club is sure to be burnt into his brain right from the start. No way is he confused about that.
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Shard, my man:
Reorganization, New structures. New vision.
Have you ever worked in a bureaucracy? Its management’s favorite method of concentrating power and diluting that of a rival or adversary. They then dress it up in new speak for the idealistic, inexperienced plebs.
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A5: Your sarcasm is charming. I can count on you to challenge my interpretation of the the evidence. It forces me to test and retest my hypothesis. Unlike most people I don’t mind being the minority view, at least initially. In time I am confident my conclusions, which are based on the facts, will be validated. Unlike the self-censored eunuchs on twitter and elsewhere, I have no doubt that Ivan, The Terrible, had support from the Board in undermining Wenger. He however is now accountable for not only the administrative but also the footballing side of the club. From hereon the buck stops at his desk. I hope my readers will be empowered by my blog and the discussion in the comments section to not let him get away with hiding behind Emery if and when things go south.
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shard the whole “panic buys due to losing 8-2” soundbite is based on nothing but stupidity, agenda, and lack of interest in the truth, as some of the deals had been agreed fully before the OT game, for example it was known that Santos deal was done, we had even agreed to sell Traore, who played in the OT game, on the Thursday, but delayed its completion cos we needed him for the game, his sale was agreed when we agreed the Santos deal. Per deal was done before the OT game too, confirmed by him, AW and his old club. We’d been in for Arteta for a couple of weeks, according to Moyes, the deal got done, not cos AFC lost at OT, but cos Arteta begged Everton to let him join AFC, and again according to Moyes the deal was agreed pre the Man UTd game. The only deal not already in the public domain was the loan of Benayoun from CFC.
But soundbites rule the waves now, and a lie repeated often enough some how is now regarded as fact, regardless of it being disproved many times.
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Shotta
“Reorganization, New structures. New vision.”
But I think it’s the same vision. (Until proven/suggested otherwise) I also think that reorganization and new structures are necessary in an Arsenal without Wenger. Even with Wenger he said that the amount of information and people who worked under him grew enormously in his time here. Do you think the same structure could or should continue? I explained why I think the structure had to change. Do you think it shouldn’t have changed?
I’m not getting carried away by the PR aspect of it. I’m excited because I’m always excited about Arsenal. Not because I think they’re going to suddenly ‘change’ things. In fact, I am less than enthused by all the personnel changes, though no doubt some had to happen and were planned for.
But as far as the organisation goes, I think it has advantages. As you say, it makes Gazidis accountable. However, you are jumping right to him. There’s still some overlap, but we also have more clearly defined roles. Player recruitment is Sven’s job. So if we’re not identifying adequate talent, that’s on him. Negotiations or contracts botched, at least as far as we can know, Sanhelli and Fahmy what are you doing. Players not able to stay fit, Burgess needs to step up his game. First team collapsing, not playing well enough, not getting results, that’s Emery’s job.
Gazidis is only indirectly responsible for all those things. I’d say I would like to assign one role to Gazidis directly, now that he’s taken up as leader of the club in the media’s eye. Get the media to depict the club more fairly and in a better light, without compromising on Arsenal’s values. If he can do that, I’m willing to overlook my distaste for the way he positioned himself front and centre as the face of the club.
So, yes, I agree with you. He should not hide behind Emery. But that is outside of results and performances where Emery is the one in charge and hence, responsible.
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ed
Exactly. I think those deals were being negotiated and even agreed to. I also think there likely were other deals we had agreed to which we would have completed instead of these if we didn’t make the CL.
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Interesting point of view from Shotta!
BUT, but, back in 2012, and I quote IG:
I believe that we as a club know what our fans are thinking very well and follow closely across all of those fan groups. That doesn’t mean that fan sentiment dominates that decision but if you are seeing that the relationship between the fans and the manager breaks down over time, that is of course unsustainable. I don’t think we’re anywhere near that.
“If the question is who makes that decision. It’s clearly the board of Arsenal Football Club.”
No coup, the economy, Shotta!
As for StatDNA, it cannot decide if a player will settle in England, never mind London.
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IMO the club Wenger proofed itself because I think they realised no one man ,other than the great man, could do the job.
I agree with that conclusion.
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