Three important games and everyone’s fit

All this Martinez revisionism. He’s a good keeper no question but he left us to treble his salary. No other reason. We ought to move on given in 2024 given Villa have won nothing yet.

If we’d offered the same salary he’s on now back in 2020 I have no doubt people would have lost their minds. Rightly so. I see the constant Wenger era legacy obsessing over wages. It was a good sale for us. Keeping him on the wages he wanted would have been foolish for a second choice

Sometimes with footballers, it’s just about money and no more complicated than that.

Tony, I also prefer winning without cheating. It looks like 10 or so years the league’s been won by cheats.

Aitcho
Longer if you add the Fergie years of having his way.

We will just have to agree to disagree with Emi, Aitcho. He has won nothing at Villa and precisely that same amount as Arteta since he’s left.

Just pointing it out for a friend.

Aitcho
Wages were not the issue – being Number 1 was. There was conflict between Manager and player – Emi is difficult and Unai has found him to be a ‘pest’ at times but has now full control and the player is happy.

We agree on Emi. He’s a good keeper. But his agent got him a deal at Villa that would have been foolish for us to match at the time. I’m not even sure we would have been in a position to do so but that’s me speculating. Covid, no live games, bank loans, sacking gunnersaurus.

We still had dross to clear, some on big contracts. I think where we disagree is making this personal between Emi and Tets. It was simply sound business for both parties. Neither ever expressed animosity towards each other.

It happens in football.

NORG, knowing what we know about footballers, I’m sure if we’d trebled his wages he’d have been more relaxed at staying and fighting for his place. But I can’t say for sure if moving to a relegation candidate to treble his salary was a factor in the move. It’s of note, no big teams came for him at the time. He wasn’t proven.

I’m not aware of any particular conflict although we know Emi can be a pest. And while Emi wanted to be no1, it would seem odd to move to a lesser team without some additional salary related sweetener

update from the facts desk…Emi makes 5 grand more per week than Ramsdale, who spends most of his days picking splinters out of his ass…this was about assurances and monopolizing the locker room…sadly, after Emi was ushered out, MA gave assurances like Oprah gave gifts to her former audience members…simply put, this was a case of a novice manager with poor man management skills and an inflated ego shipping out our best Keeper in decades for purely self-serving reasons, without care or concern for the greater good…since that time he has tried to rectify that situation by purchasing upwards of a half dozen failed replacements, in that not a single one was or are anywhere near as talented

BBC Sport’s chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering your questions on all things Premier League.

Vijay asked: Arsenal missed out on the league last season due to a poor run of form. If they miss out again this year, is it just sheer bad luck due to Manchester City’s strength? In what areas do you think they should improve next year to win the league next season?

Phil answered: I think they have shown great improvement this season, with so many top-class individual campaigns from players like Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.

If there was one area they really need to improve, I still think they need a high-class, reliable central striker. That could make a huge difference.

(please make note that there was no mention of Havertz, but a direct call, for the 3rd season running, to get bona fide Striker—clearly he hasn’t been convinced by the Artetite-inspired Havertz PR campaign)

Trvl.
I’ve not checked what Ramsdale is on. He wasn’t part of the squad when Emi left. A red herring.

In a nutshell,Arteta wasnt going to sign off making our no2 keeper at the time one of our highest earners. No matter how things panned out, nobody else apart from relegation fodder was biting our hands off for him. Villa was seen as his level back then and they weren’t special. Before Emery came in they were looking at a drop.

And Emi wasn’t going to a relegation bound team unless they made it worth his while financially. They did. A bumper increase only the desperate or stupid would match.

Hindsight is wonderful.but in 2020 nobody not a soul, was saying “mark my words, this guy will win a world cup and take previously relegation fodder teams into the top four”.

That’s what I mean by Emi revisionism. Tets management is neither here nor there. The only people complaining about that are wasters who we wanted and needed out anyway.

Tony.
Tets might be a xnut. Might not. I’m sure it’s often all a question of personal taste. I can’t think of anything particularly xunt’ish that he’s done. Sell Emi, sell Auba, Sell ozil?

Georgie Graham by all accounts was. And he ripped the club off. All the same he gave us 89 and that makes him a legend in my eyes regardless of how he treated Charlie N.

It’s team management, not a battle for the love of fans.

As you said, lady luck often plays a part in success, let’s hope we get some our way.

Trvl

Your 8th post in a row about Harvetz.

McNulty says “a high class reliable central striker could* make a difference”

Not quite the same energyas “if not for Harvetz they wouldn’t have come second to Man City”

Trvl, “I told you I was right about Havertz, see?”
Hilarious

You could just move on. Or try enjoying games instead of being some angry div on the Internet because you keep getting things wrong

Trvl
Let me let you into a not so secret piece of football wisdom;

A high class reliable central striker could make a difference to most teams.

No need to thank me. Pass it on next time you pretend to be a coach with strangers.

Haven’t you suffered enough in this one-sided battle of words…of course, a reliable central Striker would help most teams you sad, stunted fuck, but not all teams have either the financial wherewithal and/or the requisite landing spot appeal to pursue just such a player, whereas our manager has gone way out of his way to not get a readymade Striker with goals in his boots…please think twice before you enter the fray with your weak-ass nothing burger responses…sleep tight little guy

Aitcho
You have that pit bull way about; once latched on, won’t let go. It’s no doubt what has given you success in your life.

Emi is a “what if” we can’t be sure about, but I think most would agree that Emi would have made up the 5 points we lost the PL by last season. There is no conclusive evidence, of course, but when you consider the Ramsdale bloopers for last season and that Emi commands his box like the elite in his class.

Our GD was better with 43 vs City’s 33. Again is testament to Emi’s keeping ability.

It’s not a stretch to say Emi would have won us the PL last season. Look at the games we lost and drew and the manner in which we lost and drew is more important.

We can argue the point and throw facts at each other until the end of time, so, as I said it’s best to move on to more interesting POVs.

Aitcho, I assume you are in senior 2nd tier management or master of your own empire. Either way, you understand man management. If you feel El B’s man management is good with noting wrong, then I assume you work similarly in your own management fiefdom.

If it works for you, then good, but I’d hate to be in your employ.

My company employs 92 engineers and office staff most who have been with us for 15+ years and love their work and company to work for. Probably, nowhere near your company’s employees’ numbers, but our principle is clear, if you have a problem come to us with a solution and we can discuss. Did the same with my aerospace engineer daughter and junior now studying Mathematical sciences to be a robotic architecture engineer. They can think outside the box really well and are learning at improving their critical thinking all the time

We area happy company where we deem all of our employees of equal importance to have a voice as should be in horizontal management I help govt agencies change to in 1999 onwards. We welcome our employees to have voices if they have ideas to improve their work solo and in a team. We listen.

No one oversteps and everyone works together in harmony. We may the highest and give health care to employees and their immediate families.

That is how I’d like to see us run from top to bottom with a new manager of Klopp’s or Pep’s level/potential where good connections with ALL their players is good and healthy. You can’t help prima donnas like Salah who thinks he’s bigger than the club. There will always be the anomalies.

Not so with El B, but you seem to overlook.

Up to you, as we all have our own POVs, Aitcho, so again I’ll agree to disagree on this subject, and just say these names: ESR, Partey, Ozil (failed to make him work) Willian )played to death at other’s careers expense) and then buying 18 players of which 12 were crap and need moving on – leaving 6 good players.

Emi and Willock would have allowed us to spend out money more wisely. We still don’t have an 8.

El B has won nothing he’s the “nearly but not quite manager”

Why? Because he repeats his mistakes and as TRVL says trips over successes.

Time will tell who is right, Aitcho, not that it really matters as this is a blog or opinions and we all want to win the top trophies.

I just don’t see it with El B. Never have, so have been right for nearly five years as have the rest here at LIR. It’s a case where we hate being right, but don’t make excuses or turn the proverbial blind eye to El B as a person and manager.

If we win the PL this season, it’s because City failed not because we won; that’s the difference between El B and Pep.

AITCHO/Norg?TRVL
After palace got their just desserts last night at Palace as I thought they might but not by such a big such a big margin.

First, let me say I’d love Eze at 8/false 9. Have wanted him for 3 seasons now. It would make sense to have Elise as our 9. He has such a good understanding

I apologize to anyone who might have been affended by my choice of words in the above post…I could have gotten my point across without being so blunt…I guess I just felt it was less painful for all involved than posting a lengthy response where I systematically ripped every one of his blunt instrument arguments to shreds…my bad…I’ll do better next time

pay*

Aitcho

“In a nutshell,Arteta wasnt going to sign off making our no2 keeper at the time one of our highest earners”

Martinez is on £120,000 per week that’s not even close to one of our highest earners – Nketiah’s on £100k per week and isn’t even first choice backup.

Martinez leaving had zero to do with salary.

Marc, Eddie’s overpaid in my view although I’m not sure it’s just where the market is salarywise these days and it might just be me being an old man about things.

My simple point is that nobody else was going to stump up £120k a week in 2020 off the back of 10 or so games. He didn’t have the giants of the game beating down our door. Not to say he wouldn’t have made a difference last season. He may well have. But he’d have been a higher earner in 2020.

Calling what seemed a sensible move for all parties, except perhaps Villa, in 2020 a mistake in 2024 or even 2023 suggests revisionism.

I don’t take Aubas record since leaving us, both good and bad, as factor in why he should have stayed or left. He wasn’t right for us at the time and it was right he went. Emi was the same.

Same with Ozil. Willock, one I wasn’t sure about t the time brought in a nice fee and homegrown bonus and, on balance, probably wasn’t going to move us forward the way the options we have now. He’d have been a slight upgrade on Mo Elneny perhaps and itching for a pay increase. We can argue lots of “what ifs”, the obsessing with Willian obstructing Pepe’s development. Could we have got more out of Pepe?

Since those days of hit and miss, I think the recruitment has improved and the players we let go, bar Emi have done little to show those moves were wrong.

What we want to see is progress. We haven’t bought many duds and the last four windows have been upgrades on what we had. My needs are simple. I prefer improvements.

Maybe time to move on now. We’re not really all that far apart with our thinking in general terms.

Time to look forward now and what El B does next. Timber will prove to be an excellent buy as has Rice been. Let’s see what incomings we have, and hope we get rid of Zinchenko, Jesus, ESR (don’t want him to leave, but pointless just sitting on the bench. Might as well make room for another pet.

Havertz won’t be going anywhere so hopefully he’ll improve on this season and people will forget his price tag and wages.

Vieira, Lakonga and Tavareas, with Elneny all should be shown the door. We have better youth potential who probably won’t see many minutes anyway, so why keep them?

Surely next season has got to be shit or bust for Arteta?

Will the pressure get to him?

Ambarish
My details keep going blank even when the save box is checked.

By the time 2020 had arrived Emi had spent years on the books of one team. He was a good goalie and confidence and experience had improved. He stepped up when required and proved to be a valuable asset.
His demands were not way out of line as it included a sign on fee. He was eventually replaced with Ramsdale – sign on fee / purchase price £50M – salary £60K per week.
I know who I prefer – but hey what do I know.

Tony – you mentioned El Neny – why is that guy still here.

Tony
It’s interesting to apply styles of management football. My early adult years were the era of Wenger and Fergie and perhaps the early days of management theories being applied to and informed by football. I’ll defer to you as I never managed at your scale and eventually ducked out of it for quality of life reasons. But I still like to keep informed of the new ideas, in case.

Wenger and his style of management and influenced mine to a degree, he called organisations ‘communities of practice’ and leaned heavily into ideas of cohesion. But he had obvious flaws, his loyalty, over reliance on player autonomy, loyalty, ideas about heirarchy. All easy to advocate if we have a team full of strong players and characters. Perhaps it was after the fact rationalisation on his part. You can give Veiera and Henry autonomy or allow them to work things our more than you can Denilson or Chamakh.

Fergie was a lot less loyal, socialist, egalitarian. More of a bastard. But he got the job done. My days of management are done for now but it’s a tricky balancing act. Laying down the law, providing clear direction and leadership and allowing staff to develop and learn as they go along. It depends to a degree on priorities. I could squeeze more out my staff, pay what I could get away with, or pay fairly, maintain the perks and make my organisation a place where staff retention was high and struck that balance on my staff’s hierarchy of needs. But I know others in my industry would end up being more profitable because if you take the piss out your staff you can make more profits. You can micromanage but staff learn less quickly. Sometimes it’s about setting expectations and clear pathways to achieve them.

Now as far as Arteta goes. So far I think he’s been less loyal than Wenger, Ozil certainly thought so. But that’s been to the team’s benefit. And he also seems to have brought greater cohesion. Much in the vein of Graham “no superstars here”. And I think the Graham project was similar to what Arteta faced. We were a basket case before Graham joined and he wasn’t averse to putting noses out of joint and making hard decisions. We all loved Charlie Nicholas but he was bad for the team as a whole. Graham wouldn’t indulge him. Same with Limpar. Wouldn’t do as he was told, off you trot. Adams was a soldier on the field so Graham would indulge his off the field madness as the team came first. In fact Graham was loyal to the detriment of his player’s personal growth. He still perhaps had the old view of players as mere commodities. Although there’s no doubting the esprit de corps built up in those drinking sessions.

Arteta inherited a similar basket case. Players like Ozil playing when they wanted, Auba strolling in to training and games as he liked. That was a legacy of Wenger and his indulgence. First the culture had to change, “no superstars here”. I think we’re close to that now.

Emery came in saying he’d coach more out the players he had. He acted in good faith. It was idealistic given where we were. He binned off Ozil too eventually.

Tets saw that some of the players we had weren’t going to deliver or buy in to his structure. I think that’s part of being a new manager, imposing your style. I’ve never had to come in to a business structure I didn’t create. Arteta had to sweep up.

We all want Tets to win. If we do, I praise him and not faintly. When we won the FA Cup, he bought time with me even if I wasn’t convinced then. If he kept making the same mistakes or continued to buy duds or had players not buying in like with Emery or late Wenger, I’d still want him out. I see little in the way of dissent, that may be coercion or it might be an actual belief in the ‘project’. I’ve had to check my initial dissatisfaction with his appointment with consideration of what I see on the pitch. There’s very little evidence of Tets creating conflict with players. We’ll see how he handles players adjusting pre season to more change.

Klopp came to Liverpool a proven winner and he found it hard. It always will be with ManC about but even he’s had to take some knocks.

We don’t come runners up twice because our manger is a a fool. Much like Wenger wasn’t a senile old xunt because he only ever came fourth. I’m not sure Tets keeps repeating mistakes. I think he makes mistakes. I also think he learns from them as this season has shown. The reason our title challenge was better than Liverpool’s was because we adjusted and changed from last season. And here’s the thing, start of the season we were unconvincing but it makes sense now. We’re not scrambling wild late wins. We’re doing what needs to be done game by game. 72% possession to Spurs, all good, 70 to ManC, fine, 2-0 to Luton and chill, nice. Control has been our watchword. Something ManC have in bags year on year. Getting the job done.

It can’t be the case that we’ve come runners up twice because everyone else is shit. They’re just not managed as well. Chelsea have players we would have taken, they’re not shit. Same with ManU. Both are basket cases. That’s management and the structures in place. It takes time but the last four years have been part of a process. Any manager will agree, implementing change, setting clear goals, project management in short, goes through phases. Any manager who walks in and says “let it be so” is doomed.

There’s nothing in what I see in the team to suggest Tets is a bastard of a manager and I think he recognises, as young as he is that there’s only so much mileage in bastard styles of management as dinosaurs like Mourinho show these days. Where he’s been tough, I think it’s been justifiable.

Tiny
Mostly agree on the outgoings although I think ESR would be a shame given his age and potential.
Elneny is out of contract.

Eddie definitely before he totally tanks his value for us. Nelson if we can, we know his ceiling now. Jesus if we can find a suitable replacement otherwise he’s a decent back up. Same for Zinny although Timber may push him down the pecking order and make it a sensible move for all.

Jorginho looks to be extending so while there’s value in Partey let him go. I don’t question his talent but he won’t play enough to make it worthwhile.

If we’re smart, with some good sales, this might be the first time in a while we don’t have to flog players undervalue or dump for the sake of a non negotiable, we can pick up some smart buys. Chelsea are ripe for carpet bagging and their players will want to come. Olise is a great option, it’s just if his injuries are persistent or he’s had a bad season. I haven’t looked at his history. Newcastle also appear to be in PSR problems. Cheeky bid for Isak, Guimares, Willock, Gordon? All will address our likely needs.

Ramsdale as well. That may be a loss as we paid proper money for him but he’s still in contract. We do need a sensible back up however. Okonkwo by all accounts has done very well at Wrexham but I’d be unsure about him or Hein backing up in the Champs league. Ramsdale staying and having a crack at winning back his place would suit me although I recognise unrealistic.

I’d like to see Tets place a bit more faith in Nwaneri. He obviously thinks he’s prem ready or wouldn’t have played him, so hopefully he’ll find space to trust him a little more.

I’m not against a striker upgrade but Havertz at nine has done well and suits the way we play. It’ll be interesting to see how Tets manages the squad and his thought processes for next season regardless of how this one pans out. The thing with a straight nine is how to integrate.

The positive thing is we the drop off in quality isn’t as sharp as it was not so long ago and Tets has to improve his rotation and use of back ups. Aside from Eddie coming on, I no longer groan at the subs.

“Auba strolling in to training and games as he liked”

Arteta being a bastard and getting rid of Auba for disciplinary issues wouldn’t be an issue if he hadn’t given him a huge new contract 6 months earlier and then paid him to leave.

Achoo-I wanted so badly to take credit for what can only be decribed as your first attempt to put on your big boy pants and actually provide something substantive to the conversation..instead of bloviating in my general direction, you appeared dead set on reinventing your tired troll-like narrative, which up until now had placed you squarely within the same camp as those passive-aggressive fucks on LG who feign interest in other’s opinions and engage in anecdotal club-related banter simply as a means to disarm those who might come to the defence of your intended prey….unfortunately, before I even had a chance to pat myself on the back, which is undoubtedly an act you’re all-too-familiar with, I discovered several nonsensical nuggets that once again revealed your true intentions, to constantly prepetuate the delusional notion that you’re a well-balanced and objective observer with no axe to grind…once you strip away all the obvious pretension and baseless nonsense, what you’re left with is an ode to Arteta that predominantly ignores all the prevailing facts…here are but a few little gems that highlight your Artetite predilictions:

“You can micromanage but staff learn less quickly. Sometimes it’s about setting expectations and clear pathways to achieve them”

“if he kept making the same mistakes or continued to buy duds or had players not buying in like with Emery or late Wenger, I’d still want him out”

“I’m not sure Tets keeps repeating mistakes. I think he makes mistakes. I also think he learns from them as this season has shown”

originially I was going to individually address each of the above quotes directly, but considering how overtly delusional each one of them was, I felt that it might be a tad overkill…I feel so sorry for your cellmates

The end of season is upon us and scribbled at the back of some of our heads are the players we would like, dislike or couldn’t care less as long as they provide the necessary ingredient to make the team function well and perhaps even end up a point above the benchmark team – City. We might even do it this season but I think the Tiny Totts do not have it in them to cause an upset.
The manager, El B has the ultimate decision who we buy, sell – he consults with Gasper but now has his way. El B is very similar to Wenger – he finds it hard to decide. Guimares was almost an Arsenal player before he signed for Newcastle. The pen was in his hand, Gasper and three other AFC representatives were all smiling when Gasper’s phone rang – deal off. Will he want to join us – if the deal is a good one then probably – football players have a short career unless your name is Matthews.

“The report suggests that the Slovenia international, who has scored in each of his last five Bundesliga outings to take his tally up to 16 goals for the season, has been pinpointed as an attractive alternative as pouncing for his services would allow the Gunners to allocate more funds for bolstering other positions.

Sesko’s arrival would provide Kai Havertz with further competition after he has been deployed in the false nine position for large spells of the campaign, but sources recently revealed that the marksman may need convincing to embark on a fresh challenge as he is increasingly tempted to remain on Leipzig’s books”

now of course this is just a speculative report, but even when taken with an exceptionally large grain of salt, it does make one think, as it has all the markings of an Arteta half-measure maneuver; from the allocating of funds elsewhere, instead of finally getting it right, to the whole Kai competition blinders narrative, enough said, plus the reading between the lines implication regarding MA’s inability to lure anyone of consequence here without ironclad assurances…furthermore, would it really surprise anyone if MA targeted a poor man’s Haaland, who likewise went from Salzburg to the Bundesliga before landing in Pep’s lap…the very fact that Sesko has some very similar physical traits to our German Bambi, in that he’s 6’4 but not quite as spindly, likewise speaks to MA’s inability to have more than one viable tactical plan in the chamber…in the end, I can only hope that we finally take this positional recruitment seriously and land a clinical finisher who can lead the line for the next half decade or so

Vera
You don’t half waffle

‘Pull on big boy pants” “grow some balls”. This isn’t management, it’s no less vacuous than people who believe that “pashun” wins games.

Putting on big boy pants or growing balls isn’t a substitute for tactics and strategy. As you know about neither you resort to cliche. It’s a good thing you only pretended to be a coach, you’d be God awful in real life.

Don’t let me traumatise you like this. It’s a football blog, watch a learn from me because up til know all you done is get angry and waffle.

I can see why you’re upset. You’ve spent spent lat three transfer windows having shitty opinions.

Still pining for Auba amd Emi in 2024. Move on wally, Your waffle adds nothing here..

Precisely Marc., Auba’s contract turned out to be an error in hindsight. So it was rectified. That’s what a good manager should do if he wants to improve the culture in an organisation.

At the time, the general consensus was that him signing was a positive. And when he was bumped out, the consensus was that was the right thing to do. Both can be true..

Who’s to say if him staying would have been better or worse but the fans were getting fed up of his half baked performances by the time he left

I don’t do revisionism and while we can evaluate decisions in hindsight, they can’t be divorced from the context in which they took place.

Let me tell you this Vera, we both know this Slovenian isn’t coming.

You just did your favourite trick of making up a scenario then using your made up scenario to get annoyed at Arteta.

“Vera getting mad at stuff he made up himself”; episode 38