By Sir Hardly Anyone
This is a time when Arsenal need all the support they can get in order to recover some form and move up the table.
And it is good to see it coming from at least one quarter with Tony Adams saying that he was totally wrong in his assessment of Bernd Leno. He had said that when Martinez was sold to Villa Arsenal had sold the wrong man, but he admitted since then Leno has shown Arsenal got it right.
It is not a major piece – it turned up in Stadium Astro – but it stands out because it is so unusual.
Somewhat less positive but more in the weird realm is the notion in the Express that Arsenal will sign Jack Wilshere.
There is a lurking logic in it because as we know Arsenal don’t have a 25 man squad but have three vacancies in the home grown department. So while we left two experienced foreign players out of the squad totally, we couldn’t find the HG players to fill up that part of the squad.
Although to be fair we weren’t the only ones with this problem – Chelsea, Manchester City and Wolverhampton left themselves with four vacancies, but it seems a bit crazy to leave your squad short while having two players who are registered because of the imbalance of home and foreign players.
So yes, Jack could come straight into the 25 if we signed him and he doesn’t have a club at present. But really, would he make a difference? Come to that would he really take a “paid as you play” contract? Maybe.
Meanwhile Miguel Azeez has been spotted not just at the airport, but boarding the plane to go to Molde. Another youngster with the chance of stepping up. That is a positive sign.
But thereafter it is all downhill.
Norwegian website VG apparently says Arsenal are interested in signing Sander Berge from Sheffield United. But again we hit that snag. We have two players on our books who are not listed in the 25 and here we are with another non-England player coming our way. It must be true because it is in the Mail, the Bootroom, the Telegraph, Caught Offside and Football Fancast. But how does he get a space in the squad?
But beyond such chitter chatter it is problems all the way. HITC make a big thing of Arsenal needing a leader, and come up with yet another player who could not at the present time fit in the squad. This time it is Georginio Wijnaldum who is a 30 year old Dutchman. Again no mention of who drops out of the squad and joins the list of the unwanted. Nor what that list of unplaying players is doing to our reputation among players who might want to come to the club.
For there is a problem here. Players around the world see that Arsenal are willing to allow two players to rot with no chance of a game because of the 25 rules, and they know the government and FA is pressing for the 25 rule to get even narrower in terms of the number of foreign players allowed. And they think, “I could be one of those frozen players,” and they choose another team.
HITC also have the headline, “‘Are you kidding me?’: Some Arsenal fans aren’t happy with ‘ridiculous’ Arteta decision” which shows the anti-Arteta feeling is growing – it is a report that Arteta held a disciplinary meeting with Pepe after his sending off.
And they keep up the negativity with a further piece saying “6 goals in 3 games: Player released by Arsenal is far better than his replacement.” The player we should not have let go is, apparently Mkhitaryan.
Football London never ones to miss an opportunity to knock the Arsenal tell us that “Mikel Arteta urged to consider shock move to re-sign former Arsenal midfielder” and yes we are back to Jack.
And another: “Arteta reportedly told Arsenal not to sign £9m star who destroyed PSG; more goals than Lacazette.” This player is Kevin Vollan. That again is HITC with more of the same.
And the Daily Cannon is telling us how wonderfully well Theo Walcott is doing playing for Southampton.
So the theme is set. We’ve made endless mistakes in the transfer market, we have a bloated squad, and the blame is heading towards the manager, although Edu is getting some bad press too. In short we are one step away from the negativity the enveloped both Wenger and Emery. The club is a shambles and can’t make good decisions. Get a new manager.
If it is anything like the last two times, now it has started, most blogs and newspapers will jump on the wagon, and as if the situation were not bad enough we will soon see people calling for a new manager.
And each time that happens a bunch of managers who might think of Arsenal will look at the negativity and think, “no, not that club,” while yet more money is wasted, paying off the manager and his staff who have been chopped down before their time.
Modern journalism is lazy. 5 people in twitter being critical makes a headline for the likes of HITC. Negativity gets more clicks than positivity, and is easier to sustain.
You shouldn’t feed the problem by giving it oxygen. We have to learn to live in a world where there will always be ignorant dissent
Edsim, for many years we did ignore the raging negativity of journalists and bloggers, but all that happened was it got worse and worse. So now we are trying a different approach.
Trouble is that when you raise the squad size and foreign player allocation you are dealing in logic , which is something that is in short supply in the buy your way out of trouble world .
We have two on the sidelines already , adding more is illogical .
It has been the case since Arteta joined that the squad overhaul has had to wait until either those that are to leave run down their contracts and go or else are paid off to leave.
I feel for Sokratis , he may not be the archetypal ball playing centre back required by Arteta but he never took a step backward whilst playing .
Ozil’s situation is different . Personally I think it’s political , I believe his outspoken comments and his relationship with China has queered the pitch and I also think that possible reprisals on sponsor money is the reason that no-one else will take him . I would not be surprised to see him in Turkey next season to see out his playing days.
Should we now buy 1 player in it means 3 going out and that is unlikely in January . Patience is a virtue and we are going to need it until next season however the indians are definitely circling the Arsenal wagon train and the vultures are sharpening their claws and getting ready to pounce.
Porter
As you and others have suggested, this is still early days for Arteta. For people to be ‘circling the wagons’ already is ridiculous. As has been pointed out by Tony only yesterday, as well as myself, on many occasions, Klopp was given time and suffered zero abuse despite a rather inauspicious start.
Lets look at the media darling in the shape of Pochettino, another who was given time.
When he joined Spurs they had just finished 6th. In his first season they finished 1 place better in 5th, then 3rd, then 2nd then he hit reverse finishing 3rd then 4th then he was gone. But here’s the rub, he won zip, nada, nothing, yet he is still loved and adored by the media and is apparently one of the Heir apparents for the Man Utd job should Ole get the Old Heave Ho.
So at Spurs 5th, 3ed, 2nd, 3rd, 4th is an admirable achievement.
Meanwhile over much the same period Wenger finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th and 6th, but here’s the thing, Wenger WON 3 FA Cups, and yet despite that he was still portrayed as an abject failure.
As I said, the difference in the way Wenger was, and still is in retrospect judged, compared to others, is ridiculous.
But back to Arteta. To match Pochettino he needs to finish 7th this year, followed by 5th then up to the not a trophy trophy position of 4th, but one thing he mustn’t do at any cost is win a trophy !!
Oh dear, too late.
So in 6 months Arteta has already won more than Pochettino did in 5 years.
In Arsenals World that makes him nailed on for the sack !!
Pundits and ex footballer journalist all have one thing in common, they failed miserably at managing even a school team. They turn to punditry and jounnalism and again utterly useless. Of course a group of like minded fans follow them. Some of the worst examples of punditry: hitttong the target. These guys must have been playing in junior school teams, as if the goales at EPL level are that useless.
Coming back to Arteta, one must realize that he does not even have a summer training session with the team, unlike Kloop pot and the rest. It must be very difficult to build and crystalise one ideas and phylosophy with so litter time between games. Wenger build his team culture on summer training sessions in Austria.
Kc
Good point.
What you say is true. Arteta is trying to rebuild the team in his own image whilst under the pressure of a full on season that is even more intense than usual, and that began without having, as you say, even the ‘summer camp’ with which to at least lay some foundations.
I’m not here to bash Emery, after all, rightly or wrongly I advocated he himself should of been given more time, but never the less it is true that the teams form, results and confidence did all seem to be in decline, and to turn that around was always going to take time.
Even with a full pre season and a lighter work load, such as no European football or COVID pressures, it would of been tough, but what he is currently enduring has added enormously to the difficulty of his task.
Look, I’m not blind, I don’t think we’re playing great. Our defence looks better, at least the goals conceded, Villa accepted does, but we are still conceding too many shots on goal. Our offensive play is to be brutally honest, lamentable. So no not great.
But the attitude looks to of improved dramatically, again Villa accepted, and the spirit seems fine.
So WHAT IS WRONG ?
I don’t know. and that’s the truth. I don’t profess to be a manager, tactician or phycologist so I’ll defer, thoughts, judgements, and more importantly solutions, to those that are, and keep supporting the team I love no matter what, because that’s what I believe true supporters should always do.