“Flummoxed” Is it Arsene’s or Arsenal’s way
Ed Note: I’ve always said this place is more than just about towing the line. Every line of discussion is open. And it is why I bring you another well written ditty by one of our own regulars – CaribKid
It is now the off season of all off seasons, what with Arsenal under the guidance of Le Professor stumbling to a 4th place finish in the EPL, losing the CC to Birmingham, and was knocked out of the CL in the quarter finals by eventual winners Barcelona and exited the FA Cup via a 2-0 thumping by Manchester United in the quarter finals. To top it all, fans were then treated to a 6% rise in ticket prices and membership fees also escalated.
The team was booed off the pitch after their final home game during their lap of appreciation and Arsenal blogs worldwide verbally assailed Arsene, Arsenal, players, the Board and anything else associated with the club. In order to calm the storm Ivan Gazidis attempted to placate the masses at the AST event not too long ago by saying that they were aware of the failings and there would be substantial movement made during the transfer window to improve the club, notwithstanding that this must be done under the guidelines of their “extremely complicated “ self sustaining business model.
We have been linked to any and every player imaginable and rumors have been awash about players coming and going.
Our esteemed manager, Arsene Wenger, has said that we need a few things to complete the puzzle:
1) Keep the team together (stability)
2) More height in the squad
3) More experience (leadership)
4) EPL Experience
What complicates these salient points are firstly, Clichy and Nasri have contracts which expire next season, Denilson and Bendtner want out because of limited playing time and the ever growing saga of Cesc to Barcelona keeps rearing its ugly head with even our warrior at RB, Bacary Sagna acknowledging that Cesc wants to go home. Added to that is a host of underperformers who could be released, sold or sent out on loan. The likes of Vela, Arshavin, Eboue, Diaby, Squillaci, Traore and Rosicky all fall into this category, but outside of Vela and maybe Eboue, none really has much market value.
Personally, although I am a fervent admirer of Cesc I think he needs to go. 30-35M + Affelay would seal the deal and we solve the problem of lack of width with this one transaction. Cesc is honorable and will adhere to his contract, but his heart is at the Nous Camp with his best buddy Pique and his idol Pep G.uardiola. We all know if your heart is not in your job you can’t be the best you can be, and regardless of what anyone wants to say, as Captain this puts even further pressure on team unity in the dressing room. Who truly wants to play for a captain whom everyone knows wants to be somewhere else? The inherent problem is that Arsene built this team around Cesc and so will now have to go to Arsene MK 3 or is it MK 4, who the hell remembers at this point in time.
Is this stability? Absolutely not.
This leads us to points 2 – 4, height, experience and EPL experience. What we do know as fact is that we have signed a young, promising, versatile, 6’ 1”, RB who is British but plays for Finland because his mother was born there. My Grandmother was born of the family Clark in Northern Ireland, think I could get into the squad? Carl Jenkinson is a good signing with great potential and bleeds Arsenal due to his family ties. However, if he even has a minor positive impact on proceedings in the upcoming season we would all be pleasantly surprised. I surmise he passes two of the criteria but definitely fails the others.
Oxade-Chamberlain seems destined to be signed for somewhere in the region of 10-15M but fails most criteria and falls into that growing list of players with potential, most of whom, have failed to materialize their expectations. At that price tag he had better be the second coming of Thierry rather than the yet to come, coming of Theo.
After culling through all the crud from newspapers, bloggers, football and betting sites trying to capture headlines the consistent trend has more or less confirmed the following players are being pursued by Arsenal:
Defense: Sakho, Samba, Cahill, ******
Mid-Field/Forward: Gervinho, Hazzard, Willian and Alvarez from Velez
Striker: Benzema
The first three targets on defense makes a lot of sense and can find no fault with them although I would have to say only Samba and Cahill checks all the right boxes. After the defense, is where I become FLUMMOXED!
Bidding £16M on a short, young, inexperienced, unproven CB, Phil Jones?
Willing to spend £10M + on a young, inexperienced winger in Oxade-Chamberlain but quibbling about 12M for Samba.
Benzema is going nowhere under Mourinho and Hazzard has committed to stay with his current team. But, neither really checks all the boxes. Benzema has height, but then again not the experience, and Hazzard has neither. An unknown but versatile MF in Alvarez, a young but promising Brazilian MF in Willian and a upcoming star who plays in the French League, Gervinho, who would be going to the ANC along with Chamakh, Song and Eboue really doesn’t check the boxes specified by Arsene himself.
The question remains as to where the height, EPL experience and leadership is going to come from for the upcoming season. Excuse me if I am less than enthusiastic about what has transpired so far this off season, not so much in what we have not done, but more so in what the known intent appears to be.
After mulling through all these rumors I have yet to see a clear purpose and direction of where Arsene is looking to take this club next year in terms of football style and strategy in order to address our glaring weaknesses, and that is frightening. Granted, despite all these rumors nothing has been signed, sealed and delivered, so I may eventually end up having to eat my words.
Neither Gazidis or Arsene has shown any signs that they are willing to bring in additional coaching and tactical nous to assist the Emperor who personally supervises every training session, goes on scouting trips to Europe and South America, personally gives pep talks to the youth team, acts as custodian and financial advisor for the Arsenal budget, does commentary for French TV in the off season, watch other EPL teams during the season to ascertain tactics, give pre and post game interviews after games, consults with both the British and French FA regarding players and strategies, interviews the Physio’s for injury updates, consults with ground staff to ensure proper preparation of training and match day pitches, and conduct team meetings. Ooops, I forgot watching game film, directing the kitchen staff to ensure proper nutritional output. Ooops, slipped up again, forgot to mention that he is married and has a daughter.
What a lazy wanker!
On the flip side, looking at that work load makes me want to puke. Intrinsically I’m lazy and that’s why I have lived my professional career by two basic tenets, division of labor and delegation of authority. The saying “Jack of all trades and master of none” would seem to be applicable to the manner in which Arsene is trying to run the club and if this continues will surely run it into the ground.
What is even more surprising is that Kroenke does not see this. As an astute entrepreneur who has built himself up into a multi-billionaire, (and no, we are not talking about his wife’s billions), he must surely realize that Arsene has overextended himself and that the football staff needs to be shaken up a bit. Even if Arsene thinks he doesn’t need help, he really does, and Kroenke is the only one who can force that to happen.
Professional sport franchises have very narrow windows of opportunity to establish themselves as super clubs and must take advantage of the window if and when it comes, or fall from grace like Leeds, Juve and many others. Barca, Real, Manu, Milan,Yankees, Lakers and more recently the Red Sox and Chelsea have all utilized their opportunities and established their brand. Arsenal has had this window but it is now being closed very quickly.
Like it or not, advertisers only want one thing, WINNERS who attract attention from a large and expanding fan base. Having the greatest marketing team in place to create your brand is useless unless they have something to market. Arsenal is slowly falling out of that category and could easily end up being just another “good team”.
Yes, because of our prudent financial model, location in London, high capacity stadium and a captive fan base we should always be decent. If you can deal with those lowered expectations then you have no reason to complain and will want things to continue as they are. That’s not my style. As an ardent Arsenal fan I want the best for my team, I want Arsenal to be a “Super Club”, I want them to be the best of the best and not just pretentious challengers.
No, I’m not advocating Arsene be fired at this point. My advocacy is that unless he gets coaching assistance immediately, Arsenal will fail to win trophies next season and somewhere the uproar of fans and the inability to market a losing team, it will force Kroenke and the Board to send him packing in a rather undignified manner. I can’t imagine a single Arsenal fan would want to see Le Professor leave under those terms after all he has done for the club. Personally, I would prefer to see him leave in a blaze of glory astride a princely white stallion and head back to France as a regal but humble Saxon conqueror where he can become part owner of a Lique 1 team which has an excellent Academy and plays great football.
PLEASE ARSENE, wake up in time or your hard founded legacy will be forever tarnished.
