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 
Please no Fellaini!! Pleeeeeeasssseeee.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sorry to hear that Stew has been unwell. He is missed around here so I hope he is fit again soon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stew has moved on with his life,it’s most unlikely that he will be back on PA. When football takes more from you than it gives back, it’s best to step away.
LikeLiked by 4 people
‘And all replays have done is allow the refs to reassess what they (think they) saw.’
Shard, I love that line. Been trying to say something like that since start of tournament or even way before.
A simple, perfect description for me, with the key being the bracketed part. That references what an imperfect art refereeing (and human vision/cognition etc) understandably and inevitably is*, and why VAR is therefore so necessary and will deliver improved results.
Bravo.
Now I just need you to turn your attention to the bit with the middlemen (the VAR team) for a similarly good definition of their part.
*any analysis of VAR which doesn’t acknowledge that is surely doomed and bound to be erroneous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shard, with the LBW hawkeye has been calibrated so that there’s a zone within its measure’s where the onfield official’s judgement superceeds that of Hawkeye.
If you can have refined subjective decision making cutting out obvious errors picked up with the aid of Hawkeye on something as esoteric as the LBW Law, then you can do it with anything!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ozil doing his job and creating the chances. Beautifully.
Germany need to find a big finish from someone to beat the in form Korean ‘keeper.
LikeLiked by 1 person
stew please get well soonest nd come back to do what you love doing best.
LikeLiked by 2 people
germany doing its best to match the record set by france in 2002.
their undoing is the fact they underestimated the importance of strikers in their squad just as argentina didnt think good creative midfielders are important in football.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tottenham player booked in the WC for a dive*. BBC commentator claims he was obstructed though one and all can observe the diving player launching himself into orbit (yep you guessed it: Kilbane!)
That all came as big surprise I can tell you!
*a certain England player was lucky to avoid one in their first game. As least the dives were ignored.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Özil puts in on a plate for Hummels”
Screams Chris Sutton, very loudly!
Switched to radio commentary. Sutton much more enjoyable then the unbearable ear bleeder Kilbane.
But the tv plundits will probably be blaming Özil for Germany’s finishing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For anyone left confused
Mexico is in NORTH America
LikeLiked by 2 people
a strong favourite out already. argentina and portugal almost knocked out too. this is a world cup any country can win. you cant just win based on your pedegre or reputation. my tip is croatia because despite the fact that they are one with the strongest squad in the tournament, they remain humble with lots of hard work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting to see what talkshite and the dinosaurs like shearer are saying about VAR today. Germany could well still be in the world cup without it. Surely that’s the nail in the coffin for the naysayers
LikeLiked by 2 people
So how many Arsenal players are out in the group stages? Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil, Joel Campbell. That leaves Xhaka and Lichtsteiner, and Monreal with Spain. Anyone else?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh of course, Danny boy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is this the greatest upset ever? S. Korea over Germany. Anyone following me on twitter on Sunday will know I was not impressed by Germany’s tactics and I descrcibed Low as making the biggest strategic mistake of his life when he fell for the anti-Turk, anti-football musings of Lothar Matheus and company.
LikeLiked by 1 person
IanSpace: You are so right. If there was no VAR, I am sure the refs would have found a way to stitch up S. Korea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m at the ARSENAL supporters event at the Emirates. It will be interesting to see how the first one since Arsene’s departure goes. I wonder if there will be any snidy comments
LikeLiked by 2 people
Uni is here, he is the special guest
LikeLiked by 3 people
well ozil should be available for the start of the BPL, he should have at least 2 weeks full training under his belt, and some preseason game time too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Jeorge Bird
@jeorgebird
2h2 hours ago
First-team players due to start training next week: Leno, Cech, Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Chambers, Mavropanos, Kolasinac, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Maitland-Niles, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Martinez (already back), Jenkinson, Reine-Adelaide, Perez and Akpom (18/28 players)
LikeLiked by 1 person
AC Milan have been banned from UEFA club competitions for the next two seasons for breaking FFP rules
LikeLiked by 1 person
good start with AC Milan, let’s hope they also go for the bigger fish eventually
LikeLiked by 1 person
James Maw
Verified account @JamesMawFFT
2h2 hours ago
One of Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Senegal, Japan or Colombia will be in the World Cup semi-finals. Three semis between them in the last 50 years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shard @ 5.45, no longer an Arsenal player, but can Giroud count just this once? He loves our club, has done great things for us, helped deprive Jose of a trophy , and has worn the shirt with pride this season?
LikeLiked by 2 people
When they won the WC, Ozil had nothing to do with it, despite playing every minute yet when they go out, he has everything to do with it. The club he plays for , English press bias and his choice of being photographed with skews true performance levels, though Germany have been poor at times.
Germany just were not at the races, cannot blame an individual. Still, just as well Arsenal didn’t sign loew!
So far, seems the athletes and tacticians are outdoing the technicians, but that could change as it goes on , but VAR seems to be levelling the playing field in some instances, if not all
Please don’t let Portugal win
LikeLiked by 1 person
Largests National Newspaper. Article dedicated to VAR decisions
1st one.
‘Iran trailed Portugal 1-0 in stoppage time in their match on Monday night when Sardar Azmoun headed the ball onto the arm Cedric Soares at close quarters inside the penalty box. There were no Iranian appeals and Portugal cleared it away.’
Ok, but wait for it
‘To the surprise of everyone watching, Paraguayan referee Enrique Caceres decided to consult the video monitor by the side of the pitch. ‘
Seriously, they don’t get the bit that refs go to video monitor as a result of advice from their VAR colleagues! (who of course have watched numerous angles and replays remotely, in a manner an on-pitch ref obviously can’t first time around)
Maybe it’s simply abysmal writing, but it sure looks like they don’t understand the system at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rich
They understand one thing. That their job depends on saying what the big boss man wants you to say about the system. ie pull it down. Just like they understand that Harry Kane is a national treasure and no jokes must be made about his stealing goals by putting his daughter in the limelight.
Whether they understand the system or not makes no difference. In fact it might be preferable because if they don’t, most people reading them will not understand, and we fear or dislike what we don’t understand. Mission accomplished.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Shard
Sounds about right. Only flicked through rest of their examples without reading but they mentioned one I’m still not sure about.
They said that in Sweden Germany game ref decided not to have VAR look at the possible Boating red and pen. I’m fairly sure that’s not how that one went either and that VAR automatically would have checked…but don’t know what happened next.
Did they tell him no need to look or did they advise him to look and he declined? (apparently, according to one journalist who seems to have a greta understanding of it all, that is a possibility)
Anyway, i won’t find conclusive answer to that from media or pundits.
Fifa certainly won’t dare, and aren’t allowed, let us hear how it works in a live game but if they want VAR to work and want people to understand it they should put together a video pronto, showing the back and forth communications real time, and, crucially, with all the audio.
They can, obviously, leave out any examples which aren’t too impressive or where things go a bit wonky. That would at least provide opportunity for all within the game to understand it properly if they want to.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Supporters’ Club Q & A with Unai Emery and Ivan Gazidis
By
Tim Stillman –
June 28, 2018
28
Ivan Gazidis held the annual Supporters’ Club event in the Royal Oak suite of the Emirates Stadium Club Level facility. Tim Stillman was there to capture the evening for Arseblog News.
Ivan Gazidis trots to the stage and thanks supporters for coming out- particularly whilst we are still embroiled in the thick of the World Cup. The event is billed as ‘Ivan Gazidis + Special Guest’ and the guest is pretty special indeed. New manager Unai Emery is welcomed onto the stage resplendent in cherry red Arsenal polo shirt.
Compere Nigel Mitchell advises that Emery’s English is still not totally fluent, but from the audience, his diction seems a little clearer than his opening press conference back in May, in which the new boss showed extraordinary courage to conduct proceedings in a foreign tongue. Huss Fahmy, Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi were all in the audience for the evening. Emery fielded questions from Nigel Mitchell, after which Ivan fielded a few unvetted questions from the floor.
Unai: I can speak in English, not brilliantly yet, but I can speak with the players and with you, all the fans here tonight, in English and I will improve quickly [loud applause].
At this point, a short piece of VT was played that Unai was shown by various members of Arsenal staff during Wednesday afternoon when he met with them.
Ivan: We have entered a period of very dynamic change at the football club and all of those things have been happening for the last couple of months. But of course, the biggest transformation and the biggest challenge is on the football side, where we are making a lot of significant changes. We have said goodbye to some people who are really good people, who have made a huge contribution to this football club, in which we of course include Arsene but many others as well, who we have enormous gratitude and respect for and on whose shoulders we now stand.
But now we have the challenge of integrating an awful lot of new ideas and new people and new energy. I think everyone in this room can feel the new energy with the reception you gave Unai. But we have the same ambitions inside the football club and I assure you you have a football staff and an organisation that is going to take on this challenge and work tirelessly to deliver the success we all want for Arsenal.
Unai: Good evening everybody, I am very happy to be with you this evening.
[From the audience]: Buenos dias
Ivan: That’s Maria, you will get to know her very quickly!
Unai: I feel very good to be here and all of the people in the club have made me very welcome and so have you tonight. For me, it is a new possibility to work here and in this great, great stadium. If we have this ambience here, that we have tonight, it’s a small crowd, but if we can match that ambience in the stadium at the games then we can achieve a lot.
Ivan: We have brought in a new head of recruitment in Sven Mislintat [‘here Ivan!’ a slightly teutonic sounding voice calls from the audience] and alongside him is Huss Fahmy who has been involved with negotiating a lot of our player contracts and also we have Raul Sanllehi who joins us from Barcelona [Raul is stationed on the balcony above the audience].
So we really have a collective effort now, in terms of how we identify players and then how we take forward our interest and of course Unai is a huge part of that as well. This is now a different way of doing things, one with a very, very accomplished team of professionals who we have spent time bedding into the club.
Unai has been in the thick of that process in terms of what we need in the squad, we’ve signed two new players so far this summer and there will be more to come. At the same time we have to manage the squad that we have, but by the first game of the season, we hope that Unai has a squad that he has had time to work with and a balanced squad that addresses all of the needs that Unai has identified.
As I said, this is a challenge, but what I really hope for all of us as a club is for a feeling of unity and an uplifting atmosphere is something that we keep because anything that we achieve going forward will be done together. It’s so important for us to come together, to move forward together and accept there are going to be challenges and setbacks along the way, but if we stick together we can have a season that gives cause for excitement as our club progresses.
One of the interesting things about speaking with Unai in recent weeks is that he continually emphasises that he wants to understand the club and he wants to understand our values. We spent an hour earlier today just talking about values and what Arsenal represents. One of the long standing traditions at the club is in developing players and that’s one of the things Unai has done throughout his career.
We spent a lot of time behind the scenes over the last few years developing our academy, our academy at Hale End is unrecognisable from how it was a few years ago. We’ve got new leadership in the academy now with Per Mertesacker and Freddie Ljungberg managing the U-23s. So there is tremendous energy, not just in this room and with Unai, but right across the club.
Nigel Mitchell: Unai, what a way to kick off for you. Day number one, Manchester City at home. Welcome to the Premier League!
Unai: It’s a nice way for me to start, the first match is a very big match and it’s my first match with you [referring to the fans]. I think it helps us to start with a good energy and for us to start together like this and then we will work and work and work because I only promise you one thing, that we are going to work hard.
After that, we play against a very good team and I hope we have a good result together and our capacity for playing together as a team gives us a good chance to win. I want for this day for us to start in a really positive way.
Ivan: I’m excited about it, let’s go against the best. Of course it won’t be fully fledged Arsenal on day one, but we will be ready for that match. We will have a good pre-season, Unai is at Colney tomorrow putting those plans in place.
Unai: I want ambition from this team, I want them to be ambitious in every match. I want for 90 minutes in every match for them to be in the game and to be working hard. I want that every day, this is my ambition.
Nigel Mitchell: On your first day here, you said you would prefer to win 5-4 than 1-0. Now, quite a lot of us in the audience, we like 1-0! (Laughter).
Unai: First, we need to change the history! (Laughter). I said I prefer to win 5-4 than 1-0 because football is about emotion and what is the best feeling in football? When you score. So I want my team to score.
Ivan: So you prefer 5-0 to 5-4? (Laughter)
Unai: Yes! For me I want the supporters to feel every minute in the stadium, I want them to enjoy.
Nigel Mitchell: Ok, so we’ll change the song. [To the audience], no more ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’, we won’t sing that anymore.
How important are these fans to what you want to achieve?
Unai: For me it’s like a table, a table needs four legs. One leg is the organisation, two is the players, the third is the media- we all need to see the whole picture and how we communicate and the fourth is you- the supporters. And it’s very important that the four legs make a big, strong club together. If one leg doesn’t work, there is no table.
Nigel Mitchell: What is your view on the World Cup so far?
Unai: Today is a surprise with Germany going out. But for me, England is an interesting side, England didn’t have a good tournament in the last World Cup and the last Euros, but this World Cup I have watched their two matches and I have seen a change in them. They will play teams that are more difficult, but I liked what I saw in their matches.
At this point, Unai departs and questions are taken from the floor for Ivan.
Q: Ivan can you just clarify the player recruitment structure, who makes the final decision when you recruit players?
IG: We have two technical experts involved in the process and many more behind them helping them. The two technical experts would be Sven Mislintat, the Head of Recruitment and Raul Sanllehi, who works on the negotiation side and then Unai himself, who has a big say. I don’t believe in bringing a player in that the coach does not want individually and also positionally.
I am involved, in the connection between the financial side of the club and in certain player negotiations. That collective works very well, we all operate in a different way. There is an agreement between Sven and Unai and then the rest of the work is more technical, legal and financial side is done by Raul, Huss and myself. Ultimately those decisions culminate in my recommendation to the board for its approval.
I felt that when we decided to make the change on the football side, that we needed to come up with a new structure and one that involve world class people that would challenge each other and have that robust debate, but then get behind each other and the decisions that are made and execute them as well as we can. Everyone in this team has enormous experience.
This club deserves and needs the best in the world, we need to be the best in the world off the field in order to compete on it. One of the great things about that process has been finding out just how attractive this club is to people and we shouldn’t forget that. Everyone we approached immediately wanted to come here.
We should be proud of that. It’s easy to forget when you love a club the things that we do so incredibly well and our reputation is so good and I believe to the core of my being that we should be proud of that. That doesn’t mean that we’re perfect, but it does mean is that we have a great reputation.
Q: Last year I asked about the matchday experience at the Emirates, which was bad last year when you look at the vast empty spaces. I wondered if the Arsenal were going to do anything in terms of incentivising people that turn up at matches. Borussia Dortmund recently announced measures to suspend season tickets of people that don’t turn up for seven games or more. We need an atmosphere to support Unai and to do that, we need everyone turning up, what are Arsenal going to do to help that?
IG: There are a number of aspects to the answer to that question. The most important thing, is are we giving our fans something they are proud of, excited by and engaged with on the pitch. That’s the quickest way of creating a vibrant atmosphere in the stadium. If we don’t do that, the rest is just window dressing.
In terms of matchday credits, it’s an ongoing discussion and there are lots of challenges in implementing that. It’s on my radar, I get asked about it with pretty much every fans forum I do. It might sound like I am kicking it into the long grass, but I am not. It is something I think about and it may be something we are able to do in the future.
The other thing, which is very topical is safe standing. We’ve had a government debate on safe standing and it’s a debate which has moved forward in a way that has surprised many people. A few years ago there was no appetite to even look at this. The Premier League have begun to review this over the last couple of years and beginning to develop the ideas behind it.
Now I feel this is a time where we’re beginning to get some traction with government. So this might be an area where we can do something, I don’t think it will happen as quickly as people want, but my own view is that if our own fans want it, if it is safe, not just in the limited sense that it’s safe for those standing but that we’re keeping a good dynamic and keeping the good, diverse, positive aspects of the atmosphere in the stadium and not bringing back some of the more divisive aspects of the culture we had in the past, certainly when I went to football as a kid.
I don’t think it will do that either. If we can get through those types of questions, then I would be disposed to it. One of the things that will come through in the next phase of the debate is that people will be informed about what safe standing does do and what it doesn’t do. A lot of people think standing in stadiums is a return to the 1980s, I don’t think that.
I have spoken to people and some people in government who say, ‘well, if you have one part of the stadium standing, then we have to absolutely mandate that everyone else sit down.’ That is not really what safe standing is about, we’re not going to be able to achieve every other person sitting in the stadium at all times, it’s not realistic. So there are quite complicated, nuanced things we have to work on but I want everyone to understand what we are doing and what we’re not doing and understand the full implications. This is not only an issue for Arsenal, it is an issue for the whole game.
Q: I had an experience in Orlando last year safe standing. It was shortly after the shooting in the gay nightclub and there was a memorial for the victims right in the middle of the safe standing area. I had a perfect view of the pitch and the atmosphere was great, but it was inclusive and I thought ‘someone finally gets what inclusion means’ and I would be so proud to see that at Arsenal.
IG: I applaud with everyone else, because you are absolutely right, diversity and inclusion is absolutely fundamental in any football club, any organisation and there is so much that we have done in this area and we are leaders in this area right across the world of football. Last week I was at a forum in Brussels talking on this issue and I was invited because of the work Arsenal has done in diversity and inclusion.
We’ve done quite a lot in the stadium in recent years with regards to our disability access, I think we were probably one of the best in the world for that anyway, stadium wise. I want this club to be a club that continues to allow our fans of whatever gender, sexuality, religion, ethnic background, level of ability, to be able to participate in this game that we all love.
But also to participate in the way that they want to participate and that’s our challenge. We’re not perfect yet, but I know we can do it. There are ways we can work together so that each one of you feel like this club cares about you and provides you with the experience of the game in the way that you want it, that’s my aim.
Q: The U-18s play here, great. The U-23s play here, great. When are we going to see the women play here?
IG: We have seen it and we will see it. We have invested a lot of money in our women’s team over recent years, the women’s programme is now fully professional run by fully professional staff. They have their own facility at London Colney, which we refurbished for them and we have relayed the pitch at Boreham Wood.
I was talking with Alex Scott this morning and we were talking about how far the women’s game has come in recent years. I’m very proud of what we do with our women’s team, we had the biggest ever crowd at the Women’s FA Cup Final this year and we will have games here in the stadium, I promise you.
The reason I got into that conversation with Alex Scott, who is a great ambassador for this club and loves this club, because I sent her a message to say how proud I was of her. She is knocking spots off other pundits and commentators with her research, her intelligence, her enthusiasm. It’s not easy to be one of the first women through the door, demands placed on women that work in this environment are really quite extreme.
They are not only expected to be outstanding at their job, but they are expected to be a quasi-public figure. They go through all of the prejudices and take all of the comments and that is an awful lot to take on. So to see women like Alex going into that environment and doing it so well is such an inspiring sight.
One of the things we have to think about is not just how we introduce gender equality, but equality all across the board. If you could see the staff at the club, you would see that but you also see that on the playing side. We, along with other clubs, have a way to go there but we are very actively working in this area. What I want to move towards is a time where this is all so normal that it’s not even commented on.
Q: First of all, we’re all dying to know, what do you think of Tottenham, Ivan?
IG: There’s no good answer to this for me!
Q: Many of us fans feel quite attached to David Dein (he left eleven years ago ffs), do you feel under pressure with that legacy and do you aspire to that?
IG: I’ve known David for 20 years and I know him very well. I have massive respect for the people on whose shoulders we are standing. Football is very fast moving, it’s a very competitive landscape and it’s a very different world to the one that existed twenty years ago. It’s global now. Finding talent, coaching talent, developing talent, it has all changed beyond all recognition.
What that means is the old models of one individual are no longer sufficient. So if I think about myself, my job here, my objective is to deliver pride to the club and my belief is that the way I do that is by bringing in world class people and giving them the support they need to do their jobs. All of us together, it’s not a single entity.
The thing I am accused of a lot is not feeling this club, not caring in the way that you, the fans, do. That’s not the case, I live this football club. I will stand toe to toe with anybody and talk about my love for this football club and what it means to me and how much I put into it. If that’s not enough, then look, one day I will be gone, all of this is temporary.
But I care about it, I give everything I have every single day and I demand that of the people that work with this football club. Anybody that is at this club is in a privileged position and anybody that doesn’t feel that does not deserve to be part of this football club. I can’t guarantee we will win everything, but what I can guarantee you, if we embark on this journey together and stick together, we can achieve great things.
Let me tell you what I can guarantee you, anyone that does not put every ounce of their being, of their expertise into this club does not belong here. They wouldn’t get in the door and none of them feel like that when they walk through the doors and leave at the end of the day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Young Stillman has finally come down off that fence eh, a step that no doubt took a great deal of courage.
And blowing some heavy wind in IG’s favour. Wow that came as a surprise! Or maybe not. Safe to conclude he’s not that subtle or discreet a writer.
I think he was lauding the three man Brazilian midfield before the tournament began
The Brazil coach continuing with only two CMs in this tournament so far. Successfully…he didn’t have a Schweinsteiger (older AM now playing in CM) equivalent and has simply picked his best players?
The Brazilian coaches tactic of playing his best footballers (technicians some call them?) paying dividends so far. Helps that he didn’t leave any of them out of his squad! With the Liverpool striker now securing his spot up top, with their top class CB back in form, they look a good.
Some of the plundits may have mentioned the impact of Germany not having the BFG in the camp, but few have commented on the additional loss of Schweinsteiger and Lahm too. Of what happens to formerely restrained egos in a squad when a group of such leaders are lost (I’m ***** Tony Kroos!).
Such characters and players are not easily replaced.
LikeLiked by 2 people
finsburyp
June 28, 2018 at 10:36 am
Agreed
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fins: That report by Stillman, validates something I have said repeatedly; its now Ivan’s Arsenal. Don’t fool yourself; all those big shots on the football side making recruitment decisions (Mislintat, Fahmy, Sanllehi) report to the CEO as does Unai the manager. Rather than power being in the hands of the manager as it was under Wenger, it is now concentrated in a non-footballing man (despite the p.r. attempt by the Guardian to paint Ivan as some football guru).
The interesting thing is how Stillman does not share this fact with his audience. In the past he was quick to make some cute political points about Wenger after the Q & A. I look forward to the day when he and the usual suspects recognize that we now have a concentration of power in Ivan Gazidis. What could go wrong?
Interestingly enough, the Q&A revealed how concerned Ivan was about the empty seats in the stadium last year. NOTH explained to us, in his response to my previous blog, that this was a huge commercial factor behind the Board’s decision not to continue with Arsene. In my opinion this lack of fan support was partially due to years of constant, incessant negativity by the media echoed by the usual big bloggers-podcasters and tweeters who failed to recognize that Arsenal under Wenger was punching above its weight being 4th in spending power. As the data in my blog confirms, with the demise of Cazorla, Mertsacker and Koscielny over the past 2-3 seasons, our Goals Against made a sharp decline. To this day we haven’t seen their replacement by players of equivalent or superior quality. Frankly the prospects are not great.
In the race for proven talent Arsenal is falling behind to much bigger clubs. I posted on Twitter yesterday that compared to 1998 World Cup the Arsenal’s contingent of the French squad, Arsene’s primary market, has declined sharply. It is now zip, nada, zilch. Do you think Unai can get the best Spanish players compared to Wenger’s success with the French in the nineties?
Stay tuned for my next blog as more and more facts reveal themselves.
PS: My new handle on Twitter is “ReformThePGMO” for obvious reasons.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Shotts,
Some of these big blaggers and podcastateers have relationships with Agents that are just as important to them in the lives as their relationship with the club.
And they certainly would like to see AFC change it’s business model which predates AW and coincidentally see their friends prosper as a result. As per the earlier quote above.
Will Ivan be able to resist this barely disguised (there is no disguise!) pressure to change?
Will his new team be able to recruit talent like Ozil, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Cazorla and Alexis (sorry George) etc. within their budget restrictions or will they have to blow the Arsenal “Values” out the water and adopt the copious splurging of wonga with a hit and miss ratio beloved by the agent pals of our selfless blaggers, as seen at Liverpool (Markovic etc!)?
The signing and performance of Auba is promising, though it came at a great cost in losing the great Giroud from the Europa league campaign.
We’ve dismissed with the help of their own citations two of Mean Lean’s podcasters for the disingenuity and snide desire to see Arsenal change beyond just a change in manager, but there’s a third twerp who had waged a campaign against Giroud for years and years whilst eulogising Higuain. And I think it’s important to quantify how damaging their idiotic mantras have been for the club. Anyone watching recent tournaments can see which of the two Targetmen is performing at the top level. I have been mistaken, Giroud hasn’t been the best targetman in Europe of late, but on the planet! Though that Swedish striker might want to make a claim with his outrageous finish the other day hehe.
With “friends” like these…
LikeLiked by 2 people
WWB
No doubt the great German manager who has never failed to take his team to a tournament SF since 2008 did not forget how to coach a defence. Of course like all coaches in all matches he must’ve made mistakes, but I have no idea what they are!
Anyone suggesting he’s forgotton how to coach will be the kind and worthy recipient of a swift smack in the face with aid of this trusty, mouldy and smelly old kipper.
LikeLiked by 1 person
SG, AW came to Arsenal when clubs barely scouted beyond their towns, when they’d buy players like Amokachi, Dumitrescu and (sigh) John Jensen on the strength of a handful of tournament appearances – sometimes just a single action in a match.
He had in-depth knowledge about players of vast potential from Clairefontaine and Monaco (plus I assume the rest of the Riviera in Vieira’s case), of whom the rest of the world was ignorant. In autumn 1996, when horizons were narrower, he was in a unique position, and had a unique capacity, to exploit that. That god he did.
Twenty years, total media saturation and a globally connected computer network later, nothing about that situation can be copied, but you can approximate certain aspects in a more diffuse way with a far-reaching scouting system and people with a similar eye for potential.
If Torreira (big if) turns out as good as he looks then we’ll have found him at a similar time to Vieira, at that crucial moment just before word spreads.
If everything works out, and by that I mean marked improvement and a CL spot this season or next, you can be sure that Gazidis will bask in the acclaim, reluctantly of course. But every appearance he’s made since April suggests it will be as this mastermind facilitator, putting this structure together, rather than as a micro-manager.
At present he’s just working within his job description. AW is 69 this year and was signing two-year contracts. Some kind of succession plan was needed, and it was IG’s responsibility to put one in place. This isn’t Heynckes at Bayern; until very recently AW was the club’s load-bearing wall.
Saying that, I’ll be very happy if I don’t hear a word about Gazidis once Emery’s bedded in and the season starts, unless it’s shareholder or corporate stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
finsburyp
My assertions about Toni Kroos spoke about his undoubted and unquestionable talent. He has been schooled in the Bayern Munich ‘Hollywood’hothouse with great success, already won the world cup with German National team and now a multiple winner of the Champions League with the biggest club side in World Football, it is difficult for any Ref to impose any authority on him. It is a difficult for any coach to be over bearing with him, unless you are a Zidane.
LikeLiked by 2 people
While Tim’s report is quite good there are some bits missed out. Quite a major omission is the person who asked the safe standing question was the fans disability representative from AISA and the question was heavily weighted towards wheelchair access in the middle of fans rather than being stuck out somewhere. The question was about choice for all fans and the emotional way he described his experience was why he got such load applause.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The two polish keepers continuing their career long competition (not a duel!). An amazing story when you think about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
jack wilshere set to join Fenerbahçe
LikeLike
Loftus-Cheek is a not a poor footballer.
But he’s not a better footballer then Jack Wilshere.
He’s simply received less kicks in his career.
“When you play for the Arsenal, you expect to get kicked”
– Jack Wilshere (I can quote him on that!)
Bon Voyage & Merci Jack.
LikeLiked by 1 person
< When he sspoke it wasn't in the tone of a complaint.
It was a statement. (Which can be supported by data!). A matter of fact.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are there any positives regarding the decision to let Jack Wilshere go?
I guess it’s one way of scaring the bejuzus out of the upcoming academy players.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How is it possible to manage Fan expectation?
I have to say that Southgate has done a decent job of managing the fan and moreover the press assisted Fan expectation.
He has talked about making sure the players get as much of the Tournement experience as possible , with a view to integrating the New U20 World Champions and U17 World Champs down the line with some also very young current England Internationals. To target the World Cup in Four years time.
Like what the Spain and German National Teams have done in the recent past.
When England left these shores , NO ONE was saying England are going to win it , the expectation was perhaps the quarters with a following wind the Semi’s.
The only real dissapointment would be a failure to qualify out of a group with Tunisia and Panama. With the greatest respect in the world , the money spent on young players in their youth set-ups and the money spent in and on their leagues in total, does not equal what on club spends on youth players in the Premier League. You would expect the Premier League players to find a way to qualify for the Knock-Out stages.
Now after a difficult start against Tunisia the team worked out a puzzle and were able to come out with a creditable win. The next game against Panama with a Kane Hat-trick the tone of the country and the pudits has turned.
Fury at Southgate for changing the team,
“We could lose momentum”,
“We could have faced Japan,now because of this idiot we gonna have to face Colombia”
Remember at the start it was “Get out of the group, see what happens”
Heard a woman in the shops this morning bleating about how much of a Wanker Southgate is, fully fuelled by the talking heads on ITV .
I just shook my head and thought about the raw nuts and berries I was going to add to my Oatmeal .
Ahh beautiful sunny day in Londinium.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t know how I feel about Wilshere going there.
Think it supports idea we were right to offer terms we supposedly did, likewise not offering assurances of game time he was after.
There are things we obviously don’t know- principally what was available to him elsewhere- but it hints at answer to questions I had about his confidence in his own fitness, whether he can improve on last year, and whether there are underlying issues he has to manage.
It feels like he’d be going for the best financial package he can find, quite likely one which beats others comfortably.
Can he better adapt to life abroad than English footballer’s historically do? Could it be influenced by a belief it gives him a better chance of staying fit than prem football?
Who knows, can only wish him well and hope he stays fit and can show his quality.
LikeLiked by 1 person
WWB
Talking heads you must mean the true voice of the fans, men of the people, Robbie and his sidekick The Moron?
I discussed on these pages with our friend Ranty at the time why Robbie would choose to interview The Moron over say, Paul Davis. Everything that these hungry people do is calculated to make money. That is all. Next season watch the attacks on Bellerin, Ozil and AFC continue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shotta
The fact of the matter is that the John Jenson transfer had less to do with his goal at a tournament and more to do with:
“It was on 21 February 1995 that Graham, who had led Arsenal to six trophies in eight seasons, lost his job after a Premier League inquiry found he had received bungs totalling more than £400,000 from the transfers that took John Jensen and Pal Lydersen to Highbury.”
Poor GG, he was only trying to copy his mates.
Please note that this occurred before AW arrived at the club.
And Jenson was a favourite player of mine.
Gave hope to those of us who weren’t very good at the old football growing up when playing with better players…
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/how-george-graham-s-sacking-by-arsenal-20-years-ago-started-a-demise-in-the-art-of-defending-10060618.html
Fascinating headline almost as if a subsequent team never went unbeaten.
Methinks the writer protests too much, but what exactly is it that he is protesting against? “…lost his job after…received bungs…”
Not. A. Mystery.
LikeLiked by 1 person
fins
John Jensen, Phil Tuffnell. I’m seeing a pattern here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Croatia manager doesn’t have the same problems with his star players like Modric as seen with Germany etc.
Take out three big senior players from a squad, those who led a squad on and off a pitch, and they’ll be hard to replace. And that’s ignoring the loyalty conflict observed (not a critisim!) in WC winning coaches
e.g.: the venerable Marquis ignoring Arteta during his stellar 13/14 season, whilst Busquets was hobbling about and recovering from serious injuries…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. George Graham was single handedly holding up the famed art of defending apparently. And for this great feat, all he did was take just reward of more than his annual pittance of a salary. Hardly worthy of condemnation when on the other hand we have to deal with Carragher and Neville telling us how we can’t defend anymore.
LikeLiked by 2 people