We have got 3 games left and City have 4. We play against Bournemouth tomorrow, Man United Away and Everton on the last day of the season. City have Wolves, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham to play. There is only one outcome of this… unless the gods decide to do us a favor.
The only way we can win the title this season is that City drop points (a loss, even a draw would do), and we win all of ours. We don’t need god for the latter.
Everyone’s fit, even Jurrien Timber. But if you are thinking that Mikel will start him in last 3 games of the season when there’s still some hope left for winning the title, and when he has played only a U-21 game in almost a year, then you are wrong. He can turn out to be a better player than Zinchenko and Kiwior combined in that LB position but now is not the time to test it. Lets stick to what’s working.
Chelsea schooled Tottenham last night and Spurs have to play Liverpool next. And I’m sure by the time they play City, they will be out of top 4 fight and hopeless. That’s not a good thing for us, because we needed them to put up a fight against City. However, looking at the sad state and misery they are in, makes me happy. There’s only 1 big club in London and the boys there wear red and white.
2 more weeks left for the season to end, and we are already hearing transfer rumours. It seems like we are open to selling Gabriel Jesus, and Zinchenko. Thomas Partey could leave too. There will a bunch of clearance to fund the CF and a Saka’s back up. Nketiah, Nelson, ESR, Vieira, Ramsdale might be in that list.
Going till the end for two consecutive seasons and falling short by a game, highlights how difficult Pep has made everyone’s life. Frankly, after last season’s collapse towards the end, I thought we would sulk and the players that gave everything would lose the motivation to try again (similar to Leicester’s winning season) but I was wrong. All of them stood up, and played even better. We lost few games that we should have won and those points could have been very crucial now, but that’s not the talk today. Two seasons, neck to neck against the 115 charges and Pep and we are still in the fight is an improvement to our last 10-15 years of football.
If we don’t make this season, we will do in the next. I don’t have any agenda as such for today, I will be back with the match day blog tomorrow.
Note : londonisred.com remains free and we will never go behind a paywall. Adblockers have killed the Ads revenue and we are running on the coffee you guys buy. Every help motivates me to keep it fun here.
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
Vera
You don’t address my points because you’re too emotional.
“Getting upset over some shit that happened on a defunct blog years ago”; episode 138
I was booted for a couple of smart arse comments at a bad time. I expect you were booted for being a know nothing blowhard who added nothing but wind, pretence and pretension while LARPing as a coach.
If you don’t know anything about the club’s history, listen and learn. Div
Norg,
I’d say tets has been a lot more decisive than Wenger. Wenger’s transfer dealings became infuriating once Dein left
Arteta seems to have identified targets and moved on them, to the point of sometimes, in my view, overpaying to get the deal over the line. It was rumoured we were in for Guimares, I don’t know why it fell through. Maybe it was never really on and at that time Newcs were riding the wave of anticipated Saudi money coming in from the sale a few months before.
Guimares came in to a relegation threatened team talking about his excitement of challenging for the UCL. That would be odd unless the thought of PIF splurging the petrodollars was a bigger draw then coming to Arsenal who at the time weren’t pulling up trees. Our window that month was more notable for who we dumped than any purchases.
His sell on clause only seems to apply to foreign clubs so we could get him for less than that. Now FFP seems to be real, his anticipation of CL with Newcs might be dampened. I think we’re in a strong position for domestic purchases, players in every team bar City would prefer us, and as that’s where Tets seems to be focused I’m casting my eyes on prem ready targets as opposed to Slovenian nobodies.
Morning all.
For me management was always about delegation. Appoint the best 1st tier managers/supervisors who are respected/liked/accepted by their fellow workers, and generally harmony will prevail and production will be where you want it. It’s knowing how to match personalities and understanding mental health these days, because most of the best employees or successful managers entrepreneurs are spectrum based.
They are able to think outside the box the best. They see what others don’t.
Managing by numbers or straight from books simply doesn’t work. The best managers need to be very psychological with understanding of personalities and what drives each individual to get the best performances. In interviews we make evals of each potential employee where HR adds to during their employ with us.
Thailand is different because of the culture, such as Greng Jai. One of the most complex I’m-higher-than-you because of age or family or both. Top down suits Greng Jai, horizontal management is Greng Jai’s nemesis. If a young manager tells an older worker to do something the older worker can just evoke Greng Jai and not do what was asked.
Thais can’t say no in their culture. Can you do this by this time and the Thai will altermatically say yes regardless of the real answer.
Aitcho it would have driven you mad judging by your wanting a quieter life out of the ‘bottom line’ driven management set by bean counters (accountants) who generally run companies these days with complete disregard for the management who have to implement often what seems to be the impossible.
In the end, in the west I got fed up of consulting to improve companies and much preferred start ups, for being far more challenging and rewarding financially. My last UK start up I took an empty building with £500K start up capital and had £2m+ turnover in 6 months from ground zero, in renewable energy.
Generally, these days, senior management are playing musical chairs rarely lasting more than 3 years where worked into the ground they need the mental health burn out treatments at places like these starting at about £20K+ a week: https://www.mypremiumeurope.com/top-private-hospitals/psychiatry.htm
I have to admit the private villa on a Swiss lake with butler and private live in psychiatrist does appeal even if £30K a week when we sell our company. Of course, 4 weeks is the minimum they recommend. ^ months ago I would have gone, but today life is changing for the better.
I started in management at 23, in the music business in tour/personal management and sound engineering. Combining both got me more work.
On a tour I would have 3 to 6 arctic trucks, caterers, security, 2 bands, PA and lighting crews and often a Hells Angel club doing the humping (loading and unloading) at around £100K a month budgets for UK & Europe double for America and Canada back in 1980 for a decade. I guess would be £million+ a month in today’s money.
I learnt how to deal with the most difficult and often drug/alcohol addled, pampered, musicians at a young age that set me up well for my very unconventional career driven by ADHD with a smattering of autism and a mild dose of OCD.
It’s creative and intellectual/ critical thinking induced data gathering my brain is always doing unless I apply a handbrake. It was a curse growing up that with help I turned into a gift in my late teens but there was no mental health awareness in my lifetime. I’m fortunate my uniqueness has been appreciated by many where I’ve been able to chat with various doctors as friends that has led to some extremely interesting conversations about me and others in spectrum.
As an example when I look through a view finder of a camera my brain starts at such speeds checking every aspect of the frame in minute detail. If you saw my pictures, you’d agree I see what others don’t. I get emotive shots of people when they have no idea I’m shooting from distance. We have 150 posters of my pics printed in Gic-Lee around our house denoting our family story of almost 20 years.
TRVL/Aitcho keep the fun going it’s enjoyable reading and no one is hurt or even bruised. I’ll keep to a more laissez faire approach, as I have deep respect for you both and enjoy the intellectual writing/jousting.
I would only kick off on LG because I had no respect for the majority of posters. Once I’d worked out CC was Pedro (carbon copy) and where Pedro withdrew CC immediately. After that,` I just went to LG to take the piss out of Pedro and his army of sycophants or alter egos.
Back to football Manure are imploding where the dressing room are not happy. We are playing them at the right time where we should take the 3 points adding to our +GD.
I have no idea what’s going to happen in the summer TW. El B is not one to 2nd guess or try to work out his galaxy brain. Rice well all knew was a winner and what we needed and has proven to be so, but at his best when playing with Partey.
If we can find a better replacement than Lakonga, then Partey’s lack of fitness each season is of little use to us. If there is a market for him then sell tout suite. He’ll want to sit out his high wages first, then look for a club who wants a 45 year old 6 who is always on the treatment table.
So replace Partey, get an elite specialist 8 to pair with Ode’s levels. A LB with Branthwaite’s levels and future abilities and a proven 20+ goal a season striker.
I don’t want ESR to go and never have and we should leave the back four as it is with Zinchenko gone.
The shopping list is a simple one for all of us here, but what will El B do?
Anyone got any ideas as I have none when it comes to El B and TWs other than the obvious.
Norg
Who would you like brought in in the summer TW?
Achoo–no wonder you aspire to kiss the ring, as your one trick pony attacks are straight out of the rinse and repeat handbook…contrary to what you want others to believe, I’ve devoted a significant amount of time debunking your elementary level “insights” and your repeated attempts to misrepresent what has transpired under MA’s watch…if you actually read the full posts, instead of simply skimming the surface for anything that might ruffle your easily triggered self, you might actually learn something, although based on your responses one can only assume it’s been a long fucking time since “learning” was on your to-do list
oft-times you’re so discombobulated that you actually attribute comments about particular former players, such as Auba and Emi, to the wrong posters, like myself…now if I considered you to be an astute individual, which couldn’t be further from the truth, I might see these seemingly inexplicable brain farts as a more nuanced component of a much more elaborate trolling scheme, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned along the way you despise nuance almost as much as you detest reality…so you can keep flapping your gums about what I have and haven’t done in this life, but that will never change the facts….just imagine how sad this world would be if I gave a flying fuck about your thoughts on the matter…so bluster away to your hearts content and I will continue, when I feel the urge, to toy with you like my little bit**
btw Achole, I’ve never once spoke to you about my specific sports-related history, whether that be from a playing or coaching perspective, so the fact that you keep harping on it means it’s a you problem, not a me problem…I made note of the fact that I took a coaching certification course during my university days, but I’ve never held that fact over your’s or anybody else’s head, like I was some sort of gift to the profession…all I’ve done is used my experiences to inform my opinions/assessments regarding a variety of managerial and player-related situations…you on the other hand have tried to knock me down a peg at every turn in the hopes of propping yourself up, which makes me feel sad for you…at the end of the day, you will forever remain the little train that couldn’t…sucks being you bro, albeit I’m fairly certain that’s not the first time you’ve felt the sting of those words
Aitcho
The Guimares deal was as close as I said. There were a few similar cases under Wenger.
Tony
Reading your post reminds me of one night I became a roadie. I was 21 and shared a flat with a Canadian in Muswell Hill. Next door lived Ray – who worked as roadie (plus 2 others) for the Edgar Broughton Band. We knew Ray well and also the drummer (Brian?) and Broughton’s brother who was lead guitar. Robbie Broughton himself was a real arsehole and wife beater (he and his first wife lived above the ABC bakers on Muswell Hill Broadway. One day Ray phoned Riff (Canadian) in a panic – the other two road crewl had an issue leaving Ray to unload and set up etc at the gig that night in Central Hall, Chatham. I was able to leave work early, Riff and I were collected from Frinsbury Square by Ray and his flat fronted Ford truck.
We managed to get to Chatham and set up in time – Riff & I lugging – Ray setting up. Not a word of thanks from Robbie though he did give us tickets to probably their largest gig at the Rainbow.
Tony
My wish list is similar to yours – a good left back, a Partey replacement that is his equal and a striker. Not sure if Stan will dig into his pockets again – no feedback from Columbus at the moment.
Tiny
Branthwaite is a good shout. As I said, Tets and Edu seem to have an eye on the prem proven. When my carpet bagging eyes look at Everton, Pickford as a useful no2, Onana and Branthwaite pique my interest