Arteta seeing lights. by Konstantin Mitov
Honestly, lovely Arsenal people, the interviews coming out of the club are getting more and more bizarre. First it was Edu kind of telling us there is no target for the club, and now it’s the manager saying this: “I can really see the light. I’m telling you I’m very positive most of the time. I’ve seen the light and I can see bright lights. There can be bumps in the road within that light, but I can see a lot of light.”
It’s been 20 months. Why are in such a dark place that we have to look for lights? Last week he said that the 2 weeks in which we were bottom of the league were the best in his career? Is he a professional Tottenham fan, to be this happy about it? Better than winning the FA Cup?
He also managed to say last week that he wanted to “blame the players”. We finished 1 point off the top 4 under Emery with Mustafi and Sokratis as our CB pairing. We also reached the Europa League final that season.
You cannot blame the players when you haven’t achieved anything as a manager. Besides, the squad is far better than the results it has. Thomas Partey is the kind of midfielder we haven’t had since Gilberto. Aubameyang and Lacazette cost us over 100 million and we’ve turned them into in 10 goals a season strikers.
Pepe is a player who can take players 1 on 1 and curl a shot. I remember times where we didn’t have one clear winger and played number 10s on the wing. Complaining about this squad, after being backed by 150 million pounds is weak.
I am so desperate to be passionate about Arsenal. I used to watch and read everything related to the club, but when the manager starts talking nonsense I just can’t be bothered.
I was actually impressed with Arteta’s first press conference. Then he looked calm and confident like a man in control. Now he looks desperate, talking in riddles.
I’ve worked for people and when they breed confidence and do things right it brings results, and people get on board and they follow, because they believe. When my bosses were chatting gibberish I stopped bothering, because I didn’t believe.
Exactly the same thing applied when I started managing people. I was trusted when what I said was followed by actions that produced results. Right now, hearing what Edu and Arteta say I wish they kept quiet. If you are a player at the club, how would you feel with such statements?
Is it really so hard to say, “we have no excuses, we need to get the results now”? Or just say “we need to do our talking on the football pitch”. Or just admit “we made mistakes, but we’ve changed some things on the training ground to get the results”.
We don’t need to be sold more projects. We tried project youth before, then tried the “British” core, we tried buying old and “experienced” players and look at where we are now. Arsenal fans have been extremely patient.
The sad thing is we don’t sack managers because our results are poor, we do it because the atmosphere gets toxic. It got such under Wenger, then Emery and now Arteta is just one defeat from everything falling apart again.
Everyone wants Conte, but be honest, would he behave so cowardly and tolerate such cowardly behaviour? I doubt it. And would the people who hired Arteta and Edu do such a bold move? It’s the Kroenkes who are the bottom-line issue, and I guarantee you that suitors won’t be missing should the club be put up for sale. But that is a topic for another time…
Konstantin