Are Arsenal’s problems due to the coach or the management?

When signing a new coach may not solve Arsenal’s problems. by Lagos Gooner

Hello family; why is it taking this long for Arsenal to get a new coach? What is delaying the appointment? Money? New signings or control of the team?

Last weekend, while watching our game against Norwich, I overheard two passionate Arsenal fans discussing Arsenal and what they felt the problem was. While one posited that Arsenal’s problem was that of a good coach; the other felt getting a new coach would not solve our problems. According to him, Arsenal’s problems can be addressed with the transfer window. He strongly felt Arsenal knew how to solve the problems but they are refusing to do just that, for reasons best known to them.

Now, let us analyze it this way; why would a fan feel the board of directors at Arsenal are intentionally refusing to solve the very visible problems at the club? Is it a case of trying to be financially prudent at the expense of building a title winning team? Or is it just a case of the board of directors being too scared of Arsenal’s success and losing the team to a richer investor?

When Wenger was coach of Arsenal, every transfer window was not adequately utilized; we were either over-strengthening a part of the team at the expense of other departments, or we ended up not signing any player at all. We have had press conferences in the past where Arsene Wenger would say we had the money to buy players but could not find the quality needed to improve the team. What an excuse! Funny!!!

Fast forward to when Emery was coach of Arsenal; Emery was still in charge of coaching Arsenal at last transfer window but we never signed the quality defender we needed. Was this a fault of Emery, or the board of directors not just supporting the coach enough? Your guess is as good a guess as mine.

Now, let us face the truth. Nobody wants to be restricted in his or her discharge of duties and that includes football coaches. When you employ somebody, you give the person the necessary tools needed to work. Fine, clubs are taking transfer decisions away from the coaches; but even at that, the coaches should be considered, when signing or buying players. We don’t want a case whereby a coach may refuse to work with certain players because he didn’t sign them.

While searching for a good coach to train our players, let us also be ready to support our coach with the right set of players needed to succeed. Is this too much for the board to do?

Sylvester Kwentua

25 Comments

  1. Diego Simone potentially facing the sack at Athletico.
    If true Xmas has come early and we must make him priority one.
    Ticks every box

    1. That would spell doom and more gloom for our crop of sweetie pies masquerading as footballers at AFC. If they could not survive the rigors of Emery, will they be able to stand up to Diego? Watch out for another player revolt/backlash.
      The only reason why we are failing in the second half is due to fatigue, whereby the midfield caves in leading to waves of attach and some defender gets a short circuit in his brain leading to an error / goal. How can we draw games against the relegation bound all three teams? It boils down to the lack of concentration and fatigue which reflects on the training ground methods and personal fitness levels achieved in the gym. That is the reason for the longevity of the pros – Zaltan, Christian, Lionel, just to mention a few.
      Hope I am proved wrong for the Brighton game

      1. The Arsenal DNA is well and truly gone. When was the last time we played exciting football?
        Simone is a winner who can work on a budget.

        1. is this not the same Simone who is struggling without Godin, Rodgr and Griezman? And you expect him to work wonders with our boys?and those wanting Carlo Anchelloti, he is winless in 8 games, we are in 7!Player turmoil at Napoli, not good news for us.No thank you gentlemen

    2. Very well said Asd.I could not have put it better.Our Club has been mismanaged for years and I very much doubt if the current hierarchy are the right people for the job.Apart from Tierney and Martinelli our recruitment has been shocking.

    3. Not even in a dream, AM won’t let him go, if they make such a mistake, he will certainly go to Bayern.

      David Moyes soon back at Everton, like zidand Madrid, only chance to save this boat is to bring back it’s Captain Wenger! We have no coach nor manager he was both.

      Kroenke sucked all he could from Wenger with no money to compete for a decade, securing CL to pay Emirates, and had fans kick him out from his home like a nobody. With no honor no respect for legacy he built, nor for football and EPL. All for money only!

      If Wenger doesnt come back, no one will be able to manage this mess.

      Arsenal will fall appart completly if Wenger is not brought back, one of his player to assist the Prof as coach this season and next one make full transition to coach while Wenger stays of course as GM. Like Rumenigue at Bayern! In stadium as we love to see Sir Alex at MU, common sense Wenger should be treated same,stadium he builtshouod beactualky named Wenger Emirates, then He ry statue has more shine and sense! Football values is what we have lost, our idenity as well.

  2. We should give Freddie chance and time and see how it goes. If he improves the defence either by buying in the transfer window or by changing tactical formation than Arsenal will again be a genuine force to be reckoned with. Our midfield is ok and the attack is perfect. Only the defence has to be improved. Let us see what Freddie does and wait for the results.

  3. The real issue has become identifying talent that fits our system, whatever that may be, then having the wherewithal to go and get said talent…during Wenger’s first 10 years, with Dein working diligently behind the scenes, Arsenal developed a blueprint for building a championship calibre team, yet for some reason we deviated from this model…some will say that this all changed when our frugal overlord restructured our business model as part of the great Emirates long-con…during that period we struggled to maintain our high standards as wages rose and those with “supposed” deeper pockets starting buying up teams left, right and center…then our story took an even more tragic turn, once Dein had left the building…of course we certainly weren’t out of the mix, we continued to qualify for the Champions League while likewise competing for trophies domestically, but things were definitely trending in a downward trajectory…we started to sell our talent, even to some of our once closest rivals, our record against the best clubs started to suffer, Wenger started spending more time complaining about the officiating and waxing on about who we could have brought in but for some unknown reason didn’t, neither Wenger nor Gazidis were willing to taking any ownership for our questionable transfer decisions and on-field tactics, then we started to suffer some unprecedented defeats to our longtime rivals and above all else we let a man with no love of the game to weasel his way on to the Iron throne…let’s face it we were catfished by this whole organization, who cared infinitely more about making money than winning at the highest levels…charging the highest prices in Europe, having your muppet Gazidis making ridiculous public claims about how we could and would compete with the best and using the love between the fans and their once vaunted Professor by having him make ludicrous claims about how we were constantly looking for the best and brightest but we just couldn’t seem to find anyone of quality, yet we were constantly settling for also-rans and oft-injured pipe dreams…to be honest I’m afraid we might never see that old Arsenal team of years past on the pitch again, in any incarnation…maybe we’ve simply become exactly what our Billionaire landlord always envisioned…to him it’s always about getting the most for the least…in reality, he has no skin in the game…his original investment has quadrupled without him risking a single thing…he has no motivation whatsoever to extend himself or his bank account considering the risks associated with trying and not succeeding…being a perennial winner requires an incredibly amount of commitment and sacrifice from everyone within the organization, not just the fans…maybe the problem with the players is that they have simply become to complacent and pragmatic, just like their absentee owner…if this pattern continues it won’t matter who we bring in as manager because the current system is, in a sense, designed for failure, or at the very least mediocrity…we need a major cultural shift or this paper Lion will continue to slowly die from the inside out

  4. I believe game philosophy and team selection are the problem. Dont forget that attack is the best defense. We have the best attackers in the league. But we are not utilising them. Good coach will find and execute a game plan to suit our squad and will never try to impose and experiment his utopian ideas. So who ever comes and coach Arsenal should implement a game to suite available strength …especially never a diamond formation to invite vultures to eat our flesh…
    Always counter attack fast with all strength without giving time for the opposition team to get back and protect their goal post. Sad part is we always slow down game for ball possession and finally we lose possession and get punished. Even the throw in are poor to watch. Train the squad for swift one touch forward pass and rush to goal ..
    This squad can still do wonders…I believe..Keep on changing managers and players are not a solution. Utilise the available resources to deliver result. For which a suitable game plan is the only solution.
    Opposition attacks have to be neutralized at the midfield itself for which we need to deploy physically strong midfield players and not the young kids.

    1. SadGunner. You cannot teach old dogs new tricks we need a good clearout and quickly then start again with a good top coach

  5. Arsenal’s problems stem from the power struggle we have seen in the last two years. The current board of directors especially raul dont have anyone to question them.

    Under Emery it was poorly run on the pitch but he didnt care about transfers etc he wanted the job where as the favourite at the time arteta wanted players sold and a say in transfers . The decision opted for Emery for that reason.

    The summer trasnfer window when everyone was excited – in reality it was diabolical. I have full confidence in pepe, but was he needed when you have nelson and saka emerging, ceballos – was he needed ? We have willock and smith rowe who need game time , luiz was he needed – no? Because from the money mentioned with pepe, ceballos and luiz we could have actually bought a defender or taken smalling on loan

    Apart from tierney and martinelli the rest were not required.

    It was a similar disaster the year before – opting for sokratis instead of johnny evans

    There is a complete mismanagement at the club until the power struggle is solved, harmony is restored and someone even like o’leary to observe sanhelli – then this issue will continue

    Pochettino, allegri , simeone etc will not wish to work under these guys

    Ljungberg can hopefully make the team play better and given an extended run to stamp his authority

    Players like xhaka, mustafi and socrates need to be sold in January its that simple – with a defender and cover for right back a priority

    Also the club shouldnt prioritise the Europa league. Not like last year, this chopping and changing of the team creates an imbalance and no cohesion for the team to grow

    1. Arsenal’s problems go back much further than two years! The loss of David Dein is a critical marker in the demise of Arsenal FC.

      1. The demise of Arsenal started when Dein introduced Kroenke to the club and suggested he should join the board.

        1. That was only to get the ball rolling, he didn’t say this is the only guy we should look into, he also brought Usmanov over after that and they said no because he sold his shares to Usmanov. He didn’t sell them to Kroenke, so why are you pinning it on him when it was everyone else who sold to Kroenke. I’d love to know why all these guys really fell out, it can’t be because of Kroenke when they all sold out and went with him in the end. There’s something they aren’t telling us, maybe they never liked the amount of credit Dein was given by AFC fans when they were all bigger decision makers than Dein, he had to run things by them, probably envy is where the root of it lays.

  6. I don’t think Pepe is done at this club. He is still a great player only needs to regain his confidence and with the right moulding he will shine for Arsenal. Also Torreira is a must for the DM position as he excels in this position for Uruguay and was doing well for us before Emery decided for no reason to shift him. He can also make deep runs and almost got us the winner at Noridge. Xhaka also played well and made forays into the opposition half. All in all we saw a different Arsenal trying to create and trying to score. Also I think FL should include Martinelli at the expense of Laca for the Brighton game and Laca can come on later as a sub. The kid is doing excellent in the EUL and it is high time he is given his PL debut. Also with Martinelli in, Auba can move back in his favoured CF position.

  7. The problem lies the coach, the current squad has a lot of ability and even more potential with the young ones coming through. I think Freddie is absolutely correct in that our transition play is extremely poor, when we lose the ball we retreat to our goal like headless chickens.
    I honestly dont think we need to go out and buy players in the transfer market we need to address our tactical problems and look to get the best out of the players we have with developing the younger ones also

  8. While i like what Simeoni has done at Athletico,I would much prefer to have a coach that has a proven experience of the premiership,this is a different ball game to Serie A and La LIGA etc the game here is more demanding and most teams here are liable to turn anybody over on their day,it is more physical and players need to be super fit to compete,to keep mentioning the likes of Allegri,Simeoni is much the same as appointing Emery, with no experience of our league they would more than likely struggle, Yes Wenger did it but once in a while that will happen to find another Wenger would be extremely difficult now,I know there is a doubt about Arteta, Veierra Howe and Dyche etc but these people have proven experience of this league and know what is needed to first steady the ship then build from that,we have too many experienced foreign pros that are not comfortable playing here and those that are we are in danger of losing if the right appointment is not made soon,Yes Ancellotti is not having a great time of it at the moment but he has won titles here and knows what it takes I am not saying I want just using his experience as an example Freddie may turn out to be the one,lets hope so because I cannot for the life of me see this board or management team appointing somebody soon.

  9. Arsenal who have just within the last one week or so have changed their head coach should not bother themselves to employ another new one so urgently soon without first wait to see how Freddie Ljungberg, whom they’ve recently appointed as interim head coach for the club will lead the Gunners to the club’s desired ambitions or not in the 3 competitions of the PL, ELC and the FA Cup in which the Gunners are still an will be competing for honours for the club this season’s campaign before the glamour for another new head coach for the club if need be could be made by us Gooners for consideration. But for now, no such demand should be advanced by the Gooners.

    I think what should be the serious concern and focus for Arsenal and us the club supporters to concern ourselves with at this juncture in time in the campaign and make it our primary focus for now should be our home match this evening at the Ems against Brighton in the PL on which I think all hands at the club and from us Gooners should be on deck working assiduously to see that Arsenal collect the full 3 points at stake in the match unfailingly.

  10. You missed what Arsene done at times. Rather than plead poverty and admit to failings in the squad, lessening their confidence, he would instead say that I believe in these players and only if something very special presents itself we will act on it. He turned a con into a pro in the best way he knew how. Only the best of us can do that, I couldn’t do that, everyone I know can’t do that, it wouldn’t even occur to us. D Trump can do it, he knows how to manage people/or at the least he hires people who can, all the best businessmen can do it, and only the best managers in sport can do it. While he was doing this he was after being told to sell off a piece of the team to find funds/pay debts, they got too comfortable with how good Arsene was at this stuff.

  11. I really don’t understand for the life of me how anyone thinks the solution is going into the transfer market and buying more players?

    Its like buying more tools for the mechanic who isn’t good enough to fix your car, whereas its a better decision to get a better mechanic, who can even advise you on what exact tools he needs to do the job to your specifications.

    Season after season we’ve chopped and changed defenders(some were part of their league’s squad of the season, others won a world cup) and we still have the same issues.

    I’ll go back to my same old example, a few seasons ago we wouldn’t have touched Jonny Evans with a ten foot pole, now he’s at Leicester under a proper coach managing them correctly (playing to their strengths) and he part of the league’s best defense so far.

    No amount of players will solve any TEAM issue, those need to be addressed by a coach/manager, which they will either address them by trying different approaches, tactics, strategies or deciding which type of players the club needs to buy to fit in his philosophy.

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