Since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took over as the captain of Arsenal Football Club, the team has won an FA Cup and Community Shield.
The Gabon international will again be hoping to get his hands on a trophy this season. But there’s still a long way to go and lot of decisions to be made.
Since being handed the armband, Aubameyang’s captaincy style has been continuously discussed.
Speaking exclusively to Arsenal.com, the former Borussia Dortmund described his leadership style in his own words.
“I’m the coolest captain in the league, maybe in the world!” he said. “To tell the truth I try to be an example, I think that is the most important part of being a captain and trying to inspire the young people in the squad but also the older people as well. I try to give my best and give whatever I can for the club.”
This goal is actually so underrated 🤩
My captain, @Auba ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/074LYsBcEZ
— Av (@aviv_lavi) November 16, 2021
The striker, who has 92 goals in 159 appearances for the Gunners, continued, “It’s a nice job, it is the nicest job in football. Definitely.
“I think it’s really important [to speak to the team] and I think everyone is expecting me to communicate a lot but I’m a quiet guy, a shy guy, but that’s okay! I try to improve on that and I try to speak, most importantly in the dressing room, I think that is the biggest part for me. I try always to be positive and give support to the guys.”
The French-born striker then highlighted his strategy of picking his teammates up. “My door is always open,” he added.
https://twitter.com/Auba/status/1454463880986611713/photo/1
“When we struggle, I just like to say a few words to the guys and try to give them positive things in their mind. In my mind, even if it’s just two or three words, this can change something and maybe it’s a good thing.”
A lot of criticism has been thrown at Arsenal’s current captain for lacking a voice on the pitch. However, that duty can be done by other players on the pitch.
If Aubameyang can set up an example for the youngsters coming through, then his duty as a captain should be seen as a success.
The striker will now lead his team at Anfield, one of the most difficult places to play your football at.
Although you might not see him shouting on the pitch, he would certainly be getting his words across before the match.
And sometimes that’s all that you need.
Yash Bisht
But it’s during the match that Aubameyang should be communicating.
It’s not his job before a match, that’s where MA comes in and details what he wants…then Auba should be ensuring it happens on the field.
At the moment, it seems every player knows the is expected to be him, so being “cool” is fine – if we fall behind against pool, I expect a Adans/Vieria type approach and I’m not sure Aubameyang can do that.
At the moment every player knows what is expected of him
Being cool is good enough but when the going gets tough, he has to be expressive. I think Ramsdale, Tierney and Laca can do the vocal act and Auba leads by example in his game. The Liverpool match will be a real test for our men and hope they come out with full points.
I see this Auba “I believe in being cool” message as something of a cop out TBH.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE HE IS VERY UNSUITED TO CAPTAINCY and is imo almost the worst choice possible among all the senior(in age) players at our club.
I suggest that a manager coming in today would not even consider him as a captain and rightly so.
I think MA made a mistake actually, but now has to livewith it ,at least in thr short term , as it would be counter productive to take the captaincy away , having left it in the wrong hands.
But sometimes sin life you need to make thr best of a mistake at least in th short term, as changing what was a bad decison can cause more short term harm than it is worth.
I do not see Auba being captain next season and I can live with that. For I believe he will not be at Arsenal then and hope not too.
Just four simple questions Jon:
How many of our current players do you want to leave? Who are they?
Who will you replace them with?
What will it cost?
KEN YOU SEEM TO THINK I AM A FORTUNE TELLER, SO YOUR LAST TWO QUESTIONS I will ignore, as I am not a fortune teller.
I will however gladly give you my own opinion on who I WISH to let go.
As follows: Xhaka(first and most urgently), Kolas, Elneny, Soares, Chambers, Auba, Pepe. I also include all those who are still contracted to us but who are playing elsewhere and who will not again wear our shirt, like Guendouzi, Torreira, Bellerin etc.
Clearly adequate replacements will need to be brought in before letting all these substandard and/or ineffective and unreliably effective players go. There are some others whose future is clearly hanging by a thread, such as LENO, LACA etc., though I personally am not desperate to lose them, but would gladly do so but only IF better replacements can be found and afforded.
But how and why you imagine I know who the club will bring in is something only you can answer KEN. Perhaps you know and if so, please enlighten us all!
I must add that I retain faith in this manager to buy and sell wisely, esp after the success of this last summer in transforming the quality both in and out of our club.
I believe a lot of the anti MA Gooners are now looking more and more like fans with a huge amount of egg on their faces.
Prominent among them are Reggie, Dan Kit, Phil, Kev82 and several more well known on here for constant anti MA posts.
Some are now quickly repositioning themselves for fear of eggy faces. HH is one who comes to mind and there are many others.
Even you and I have harboured serious doubts but neither of us has been calling for his sacking. It seems we, who are much older than many, have far more tolerance and patience about changing managers like Chelsea do, practically every 18 months.
We oldies know that OUR multi bilionaire owner, unlike theirs, will not fund TOP new players every time he changes manager.
The reason I asked Jon, is that you state your wish and view that Aubameyang will be gone at the start of the season.
You then list Lacazette as another player you want to leave… so if your wish comes true, where do you think MA will get a proven goalscorer from and, taking Kane’s value of nigh on a £100 million (for example) do you expect kronkie to supply that kind of money?
With a further six players on your “hit list”, with some of them being reported as having their contracts cancelled, are you concerned that MA/EDU are not handling kronkie’s money in a sensible way?