There have been hundreds of posts written about how Arsenal have a distinct LACK of leaders on the pitch, especially the type that can take the players by the scruffs of their necks when are playing badly, or when we go behind to a scrappy goal.
We have the non-playing Per Mertesacker as our current captain, and the much less vocal Laurent Koscielny as the acting leader on the pitch, and this week even the mild-mannered Theo Walcott was given the armband against West Ham. I really can’t see eith Koscielny or Walcott leading from the front on the pitch.
Well, according to Hector Bellerin, the Gunners have lots of leaders in the dressing room, of which Alexis Sanchez is the one that shows his feelings the most. Hector said about Sanchez on Arsenal.com: “He wants to train hard every day, not just what we have to do on the pitch but outside of it,”
“Sometimes he’s the first one to tell other players when we’re not giving 100 per cent.
“He’s a leader, we have loads of leaders in the dressing room but he’s the first one to get frustrated. Everyone sees that when he’s not happy he’s very expressive. Some people don’t show it as much as him, but when we lose or things don’t go well everyone gets frustrated.
“I think the mentality in the team – even though some people don’t express it – it’s the same one. Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to do their best but sometimes things don’t work. But it’s true that Alexis is a true fighter, he’s got a great winning mentality and that’s why things are going so well for him.
“We have a great atmosphere inside the dressing room,” the defender added. “When you start losing, that’s when you realise how strong your dressing room is, but even when things are not going well we have people who lift us up from inside the dressing room and I think that’s really important.”
I can’t help but think that Bellerin keeps talking about how the players are in the dressing room but that is not where we need them. It’s on the pitch!
I don’t see anyone other than Alexis doing that job.
Darren
Our defence is the worst performing area of our team this season, and this is with Koscielny as acting captain, Super-experienced Cech in goal and the supposedly world-class Bellerin and Mustafi in the mix.
How come they can’t communicate and defend properly then?
Mustafi will be a beast next season. Remember this is his first season, same as Xhaka. More often than not it requires one season to adapt for players abroad.
If Arsenal got leaders in the dressing room, Wenger ain’t one of them.
I think the most important
leaders are the Club Owners
the Board, and the Manager.
The owners and the Board demand
a certain level of excellence.
The Manager implements their commands.
The success of Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern,
Juventus, PSG, Chelsea + Man City
starts at the top with the Owners and Board.
At Arsenal the Owner has no interest in winning big trophies.
The Manager is paid 8 mill per /year with no pressure to win anything.
The Board rubber stamps everything.
The players perform accordingly.
Should we be surprised?
can’t argue with that David. That’s why I start to realize that it is silly of me to hope this situation will change before Kroenke sells his stake. Having said that, I honestly think a different manager with this exact same squad could have gotten better results. Some managers make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Wenger used to be able to achieve that but not in recent years.
Sanchez is the only leader in our team. The rest are bottlers…
For me, Sanchez might well be one of the only winners in the team and that is part of leading but he does not appear to me to be the type of leader Adams or Vieira were. We need the type of leaders on the pitch who know which players need to be told to pick it up a bit and which players need a hug during a difficult game.
I also think it is hard to be a leader on the pitch for Arsenal. I have the unfounded suspicion that Wenger doesn’t like leaders on the pitch. He seems to prefer for the team to execute what was worked on during training. And if it didn’t work he seems to prefer to analyze why it didn’t work during the week. I don’t think he appreciates leaders on the pitch to dictate things to the rest of the squad and to make changes during a game when things are not working.
Hector “blah, blah, blah, well rehearsed and programmed response to criticism , blah, blah”
Tired of talk the talk – Walk the walk.
Yeah!…….. Hell Lotta Leaders *cough*
.
UNTIL THEY ALL FALL DOWN LIKE LONDON BRIDGE &/OR DISAPPEAR!
Koscienly always take a hike when the going gets tough
We do not have any