You could argue that Kieran Tierney’s inclusion on Saturday highlighted just how much Wednesday night’s fixture is the priority.
The 27-year-old is not starting his first Premiership match in nearly two years if Arsenal were still in the title race. Yet, this reflects a change in Mikel Arteta’s policy, and I hope it is not a one-off.
I believe our manager’s biggest weakness has been his man management. He has been allowed to believe by his employers that it is standard practice for a manager to wash his hands of talent the moment they no longer align with his philosophy. The job specification should have explicitly stated that part of his responsibility is to maximise the potential of the resources available to him, rather than simply giving up on them.
Ozil, Aubameyang, and Sokratis were all paid to sit at home before having their contracts terminated. Mustafi, Willian, and Kolasinac also agreed to have their deals terminated early. Bellerín, Maitland-Niles, and Pepe were loaned out to reduce the wage bill before being released. Lacazette and Elneny left as free agents. Guendouzi and Torreira’s values were reduced due to being loaned out, and the same is likely to happen with Lokonga and Tavares.
When you start naming a whole team frozen out by the same individual, it cannot be a coincidence.
The truth is, the same methods were applied to Tierney, who was fully aware that, had the decision been left to those paying his salary, he would have left North London some time ago. He was sent to Real Sociedad last season not as part of his development, but to reduce the wage bill. It mattered little that he proved his fitness in Spain, and the irony is that the injuries which have plagued his career are the reason he is still an Arsenal player. A hamstring injury during the Euros meant he essentially became available in the Summer Transfer Window.
In the first half of the campaign, it seemed he would be relegated to an unused substitute, which, as already mentioned, is typical treatment when the manager deems you unsuitable. From a business perspective, it seemed risky even to allow the defender to feature in the Carabao Cup. With the player free to speak to foreign suitors from January, why risk another injury that could jeopardise any potential deal, especially with the club’s reported preference for a compromise where the Scot could return to Celtic early?
The player’s agent disagreed, insisting their client be paid the sum he’s entitled to. Contractually forced to pay him until June, it makes sense to utilise him. To me, it’s common sense: if you’re paying someone thousands of pounds a week, you might as well get some value from him rather than just having him as a body in training. This may seem obvious, but it’s not something Arteta has always done.
It says a lot about Tierney’s character that he has changed the Spaniard’s thinking. It also highlights his professionalism that he is trusted, despite knowing he will likely return to Glasgow next year. To not have a long-term future at the Emirates yet still be able to win back the faith of a stubborn manager is a testament to his personality and popularity with his peers.
He’s also very good at what he does. If we are defending a lead in the closing moments in Madrid, I still trust Tierney more than the other options on that side. The ability has never been the question—just his fitness. His career risks being remembered for how long he has spent on the sidelines. That’s why, at an age when he should be reaching his peak, he is heading back to the SPL. Perhaps this is a sign that he feels his body cannot handle starting at his level every few days, because, make no mistake, if fully healthy, he is too good for that league.
For all the time spent on the treatment table and the physical and mental resilience he has shown, he deserves an unlikely Champions League medal. What a story that would be!
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In all honesty Tierney looks solid in his little cameo.
Surely he could figure prominently since all we need is to keep the cemetery of talents at bay
Not to me he didn’t. He gave away a free kick just about every time the ball came near him.
One that stood out was when he fouled a guy in the middle of the semicircle of their penalty area as RM broke. Tierney was coming back from the right corner of the field(!) – when he was playing LB.
He was so far out of position he fouled the guy after the ball was gone and presumably hoped the ref would stop RM breaking and let him off the hook. He got lucky when the ref stopped play and awarded a foul.
I couldn’t help but notice that every time the ball came near Tierney, RM ended up with possession, often by getting a free kick.
I have no agenda for or against Tierney but I noticed how poor he was in that match.
What a load of tosh!
Watch the game again from when he came on.
Count the number of times Tierney challenged for the ball and note the outcome each time.
You need to go to specsavers!
There was also a moment he was easily bypassed and Raya had to make a save with his leg. I feel like sometimes,him being a fan favourite, people tend to ignore the errors he makes,for which the likes of MLS,Zinchenko or Calafiori will be called out for. While I admire his dedication, I don’t think he’s as defensively solid as he was once. His crossing is still top notch though.
But Brentford didn’t score while he was on the pitch. As soon as he left, that left side opened up like the grand canyon. Not because of MLS but the way he is told to play, difto Tierney. And it cost us.
Did he prove his fitness in Spain? I thought he had difficulties there as well?
Regardless, I have recently changed my view in that I do think we should be keeping him if we can. I don’t agree with those that think the inverted fullback system is worthless, but I do think having him gives us more flexibility and means we wouldn’t have to play two “inverted” specialists on either side (which I certainly don’t think can work). I do think he’s good enough to start (at least within the rotation of those “trusted” by arteta – timber, white, MLS, calafiori and, when fit, Tomi, it seems), and his recent spell of fitness has given me enough confidence that he could be relied upon if needed. I would call it a bit of a risk, but one worth taking – not least because of his professionalism and resilience, as was rightly highlighted in the article.
Played 26 times
“Interrupted by two hamstring injuries in September and January” then another one at euro 2024 which kept him out until November
26 times? Where are you seeing that?
The sources I use say:
Real Sociedad played 38 La Liga matches (full season), 8 UEFA Champions League matches (group stage + round of 16), and 2 Copa del Rey games, totaling 48 matches across all competitions in 2023–24. Kieran Tierney participated in 20 La Liga games, 4 Champions League appearances, and 1 Copa del Rey match, totaling 25 appearances.
Calculation: 25/48×100 = 52.08% availability
I got 20 La Liga games
4 domestic cups
2 Europe
But why are we debating over one game lol
Largely the poit is about his 52% availability.
26 times” makes it sound as if he was available for most matches – the details are noise, I agree, the idea was to get a correct % figure.
The only issue is with the amount of options we currently have. Would he get the amount of game time he wants? I honestly don’t think so. I think he wants to play week in week out.
I honestly think his mind is set on a Celtic return.
Martinez, Tierney, Socrates, Mustafi, Belerin, Torrera, Guendozi, Ozil, PEA, Lacazette, Pepe;
all cannot be wrong and one man is right all the time when he gave us players such as Runar, Tawares, Kiwor, Luiz, Tomiyasu, Lokonga, Jorginho, Zinchenko, Willian, Gab J, Sterling. One full team of internationals written off and another team of failed talent (either in injury or skill sets). Tierney was always a top player, captain material had he been used well through rotation. All his successors – Zinny, Calaufori, Tomi have had more worse injury record. Something the new Sporting Director needs to ponder and take corrective action, sooner the better.
I personally would be sad to see him go. As he’s a very good left back, who can actually defend. And the fact he may struggle with this inverted nonsense as far as I’m concerned, to ignore a player of his quality, was bad management.
It seems that Arteta would play anyone but Tierney there, unless his hand was forced by circumstance.
But throughout it all, Tierney has remained the consummate professional. When called upon, he does his job without any fuss.
And then more often than not finds himself benched game after game, no matter his performance. But still no complaints from the man himself.
So although I’ll be sad to see him go, good luck back at Celtic Mr Tierney. And at least there you’ll have a very good chance of picking up silverware, now there’s a thought.
While I agree that Arteta’s man management needs work, I think you’ve been overly harsh with the total assessment. It takes 3 sides to reach an agreement for a transfer: the buying club, the selling club and the player. You suggest the loans have reduced players’ values, but no one was coming in with higher offers to buy them.
Players come in and out of favour under every manager at every club. And why I still don’t understand why Tierney couldn’t do the inverted wing-back role (given he has experience playing inside at LCB) there is no point keeping him on the wage bill if he’s not a tactical fit. We have more players at LB than any other position, so wouldn’t expect to get much game time. Arguably, he’d have been loaned out if he wasn’t injured last summer.
But Tierney has always been a model professional, despite the challenges he’s faced. That’s in stark contrast to some of the names mentioned.
Remember, this team was languishing in mid-table. No energy, no motivation. Arteta has reshaped the team, changed the culture, and that made for some harsh decisions. Could he rotate more so that Saka is not exhausted? Absolutely. But he’s not been as bad as this article sets out.
Arteta was the one who took us 8th though ?
Never said he was bad period
Every manager has pros and cons
Just think his man management has been poor but hopefully he learns from it
Yes Dan, he took us to 8th from, iirc, 13th.
And in his first full season ?
Finished 8th. You really should take into consideration the massive job he had to do to turn the club around.
Many fans are not interested in the context. They are just interested in sound bites and certain narratives to make Arteta look bad.
If one considers how so many big clubs have struggled over the past 5 years I find it quite remarkable that some fans still have the gall to question Arteta’s man management. Although, it’s easy to do when all you have to do is sit down and write whatever you like.
Arteta is not simply a manager in the sense of the type of middle management that this author seems to be alluding to. He is not a middle manager at a supermarket. The manager has to set the tone and vision of the club. Players who don’t fit have to go if he and the club determine that they will not be able to align with future of the club.
What this author keeps advocating for made no sense for the vision of a club that wants to challenge the best in the world unless you are looking at a very long time frame. It is also very difficult to argue with any honesty that those players highlighted in the article would be the foundation of a team challenging for the PL.
But the lowest we finished was because of him lol
I’m not going to say well done for doing better then 8th when he was the man who took is us to 8th
Turned the club around ?
Fans used to complain under Mr Wenger that we were a club who only finished top 4 …….7 years later we are a club who finish top 4
That’s not turning the club around
He might do that don’t get me wrong but not yet
I see no value in keeping on with that old trope about finishing in 8th. As always, there is no way of knowing what would have happened if the club had kept Wenger on. Equally, finishing out of the CL places when it was easier to get back in again, and the spiralling downward trend in Emery’s second year hardly set Arteta up with an easy shoo in for his first management role.
To suggest that he hasn’t turned the club around from the place that it was heading to is like burying your head in the sand. Yes, it was half a season and a full season in 8th, but it is easy to make light of, or totally ignore the improvements that have been made since.
No Sue I only mentioned 8th because someone he took us back from mid table
I simply was pointing out he took us low before taking us back to our usual level
You are still choosing to avoid the obvious. No mention of what he was left with – that is glossed over as I am sure I have read on JA that you were convinced that AW could have reversed the downward trend.
What he was left with? He won an FA cup with ” what we were left with” then split it up. What we are left with now, have not won anything. He has spent 800 mil since getting rid of an FA cup winning squad and achieved nothing as far as winning. So Far.
Yeah you asked me before and yes Mr Wenger would have done better then 8th in my opinion because he wouldn’t have dropped the likes of Ozil and Aubameuang and would have got us back into the top 4 and guess what ?
He would have been told that
8th ,5th , 2nd , 2nd and 2 were not great
In reply to Reggie
It’s clear from early on that you have had little or no faith in Arteta being able to deliver a trophy ‘with his own players’
I have no doubt in my mind that AW would not have been able to reproduce anything more than top4 at best, even though Dan thinks he would have. He had been a very fine manager but his time was up. Numerous posters still sing Emery’s praises and find as many excuses for him as I do for Arteta😊. The reality was a poorly performing team with disruptive players at the heart of it so I’m not surprised the board and coach as Arteta was then, took a different course.
I clearly remember you writing that you expected a title challenge and a win to take no more than 2 years. What strikes me is that having had one manager for over 2 decades – like Utd, getting a change of culture is no easy task and in fact, Arsenal have turned their fortunes around far more quickly than them. The players revolted or lacked respect for Emery which was shocking. Apart from that, can you really name more than 4/5 of that team who were worth keeping?
Sue as you know I like Arteta and don’t think his job should be on the line but this is my point …..you make out he’s changed the world
You just wrote
I have no doubt in my mind that AW would not have been able to reproduce anything more than top4 at best…… that’s the best Arteta has done
Allot of managers could have done the same
If he left tomorrow he hasn’t been a great manager
Good but not great
Yes, Dan. You think he could have brought back CL football, and I thought top4 at best. That suggested to me at least, that being away from the CL for 2 years would make a return under his stewardship less likely or even remote, hence my viewpoint.
I certainly don’t think that Arteta is the second coming but I don’t think its a foregone conclusion that there are lots of managers who could have brought back the heart of the club as well as he has done overall. The sh*t show that is ManU is testament to that. They have tried an army of managers and none has brought the necessary stability which is the foundation to future success.
“But the lowest we finished was because of him”. I’m not sure it would even be fair to heap that amount of responsibility on a god. To say he was solely responsible is ridiculous and sounds more like a scapegoat. What was the quality of squad like relative to other squads in the league ? What was the environment/culture like? Had the board and owners invested enough? What position did the previous manager leave us in?
This culture of scapegoating always seems to me like looking for that one person we dislike whom we can projecting our frustrations on, rather than doing a balanced and rational analysis. There have always been scapegoats – Wenger,Giroud,Xhaka, Arteta and others. And rarely will you see individuals scapegoating their favourite players/managers even when they make mistakes.
It’s always a managers responsibility?
If we win the CL he will get credit won’t he ?
You will say he’s done s great job , he’s won the CL ?
You wouldn’t say but I’m not giving him all the credit would you ?
So yes when he finished 8th that’s his responsibility
If we win the CL Dan, I won’t solely give credit to him. As a matter of fact,players generally get more credit than the managers. Whenever the miracle of Istanbul is talked about,people think of Steven Gerrard. Hardly anyone even cares who the manager was.
Players have to take responsibility just as well. They are paid too much not. Owners too, and the other administrators who work away from the cameras. Even fans have a responsibility. Think of the performance against Madrid. Fans,players and coaching staff all contributed.
Disagree mate
Most of the time when you name if a manager is great or rubbish you refer to what they won , where they finished
It’s collective effort Omera. That’s why it’s called team: teammates, team work, team play…
If he wins the CL,the narrative changes. He would have actually won something with his team as a manager.
Do people know what great job means in terms of football achievements.
Finishing second in three consecutive seasons with the amount of money spent is good but great is not.
Yes, turned the club around. Have you not noticed that for the last few years we’ve actually been challenging for the PL ? Ok this year we aren’t, but then we’ve got a great chance of making the semi finals of the CL.
Mikel has had to rebuild the squad, as the players weren’t good enough to challenge for the PL or the CL, as the results proved in the last two years under Wenger.
There’s also been big changes in the scouting system and positions above the manager, which was the reason Wenger got the tin tack.
Even Stevie Wonder could see how Mikel has changed it around at The Arsenal.
I didn’t say he hadn’t done well but wouldn’t say he’s turned if around until he wins the Prem
Remember top 4 was not good enough for Mr Wenger so why would it be years later
So from having a squad of players that couldn’t challenge for the PL to having a squad that can and have, isn’t turning the club around in you opinion 🙄😂😂.
Massive difference between finishing 3rd and 4th, compared to fighting for the PL and ending up 2nd !
Not if you don’t win it no
Arsenal have not challenged for the title this season making the last 2 seasons means what ?
Go back when Mr Wenger finished 2nd and see what was said
If he left tomorrow as he done a great job ?
Nope
So you’re only satisfied if we win a PL title then 🙄.
The previous two season means we progressed from finishing 5th, when we didn’t challenge for the title, duh.
The last time we finished 2nd
under Wenger (2016), we were the only one of the big clubs to at one point challenge for the PL. Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City were nowhere to be seen. That was the year that Leicester won their one and only top division title. That was the season our then CF (Giroud) failed to score for 3 months 🙄
Am I only satisfied if we win a PL title?
That’s the only way I would say Arteta has done a great job or turned us around
For example this season hasn’t been great in the league
In Arteta’s own words
Don’t settle and demand more
If Amiron in 4 years time is 2nd , 13 points behind Liverpool I wouldn’t say he’s turned around Man United
What a crumby analogy. ManU are currently in 14th place and 25 points behind Arsenal with only 18 points to play for. I can’t for the life of me think that they could come close to finishing even 8th
Fast forward 3 more years and do you expect that Amorim will still be in charge, let alone challenge? ManU have been trying for years for a modicum of stability and here we are with Arteta who has served that up as a minimum.
What’s that old saying: “there’s none so blind as those that will not see”
Fits you to a T.
‘ dont stop , don’t accept this ‘
Who came up that saying ….oh yeah our own manager lol
Who is accepting it ?
You can’t accept that we have made progress under Mikel. We now have a united club 😁
So you have said before Dan
I wouldn’t expect Arteta to say anything different either. I’d be mortified if he didn’t.
No I simply think we have a different opinion on what turning around the club means
I said hes done a good job but hes asked us as fans to demand the very best
We are told the ambition is to win major honors
So no I don’t think he’s yet to turn around the club
Day Mr Wenger left
If someone said to me in 7 years time you still would not have won the title , won 1 FA Cup and 13 points behind Liverpool I would not say …….wow I’ll take that
Let me stress he’s done a good job but just I don’t see it maybe as amazing as you make out
Certainly do have a different view on what “turning around” a club means!
When people use that phrase when talking about Arsenal they are talking about doing these things:
1. Stop getting beat 8-2 and similar.
2. Get a squad with team spirit who want to play for the club.
3. The above includes: stop having primadonnas wrecking dressing room harmony.
4. get the team playing well enough to *challenge* to win things and…
5. Achieve the things needed in business terms (e.g. qualify for CL – massively important from a money perspective).
All you keep wittering on about is achievements that have shiny pots attached to them. There’s more to it than that nowadays.
If you’re consistently in a position to challenge, the wins will come (partly because the money will come).
Yes mate it’s sport … Winning is what matters
We have not won a title in 21 years !
Your only saying trophies don’t matter because .. we dont win them lol
Trust me if we win CL all Gooners will ( understandably ) mention it when praising Arteta.
Certain fans want it both ways …..
They want to say we are winning monsters and have a great manager who has changed the landscape but can the likes of me just not mention that we don’t win trophies because they doesn’t suit the narrative
The longer we don’t win things the more chance this squad breaks up and then this progress means nothing
Under the Koronke Family we need to change the cycle
Just more assertions. The squad won’t “break up becasue they don’t win things”.
They will see how close they are, keep improving the squad and winning will come – as I’ve said before, by being in contention all or most of the time.
It’s a model that’s worked well for Liverpool. I don’t include the likes of Barcelona, RM because their domestic trophies are a two-horse race. But by being constantly at the sharp end of the CL, they keep the prize money coming in and improve their squad year on year, keeping them constantly in the hunt.
That it’s prize money is important because FFP lets you spend it on players.
Disagree mate
A Saliba won’t wait for ever
5 years without a trophy is not being in contention
Title race could be over this Sunday
That’s not being in contention
These owners have had CL money and yet net spend has been like 25 million in last 3 windows
My issue was, he started Tierney and Zinchenko in their best positions, they were playing well and he subbed tgem for no apparent reason but to get HIS players on. He changed a regular LB for an inverted system and it cost us. Not for the first time. Tierneys treatment has been awful.
You are correct Reggie and what happened when he subbed them, we conceded a soft goal and dropped two points which could cost us second place at the end of the season
It did Grandad and many will still blame something else. Head, bury and sand.
The inverted LB system being blamed for everything is ridiculous. Where were the complaints about the inverted LB against Madrid. Isn’t it one of the reasons we dominated the midfield with a brilliant performance from MLS? We conceded from a corner and lots of players should have done better in defending that corner. Martinelli and Trossard particularly didn’t do enough to cut out the crucial cross to the back post.
But no,instead of asking why these two players didn’t put more effort,let’s blame the inverted LB when it’s not even applied when defending corners. They won the header in the box and Wissa showed great technique and composure to score. Saliba too at the far post was easily beaten in the air by the Brentford player who assisted Wissa. These are probably the kinds of goals we wouldn’t concede with Gabriel and Havertz defending corners because of their aerial dominance.
Finally, the players who were subbed on needed the minutes,to get practice in their legs ahead of Madrid. This is something that was probably decided on before the game. There’s no better way to prepare these guys for the game of their lives than in a competitive match-this is something all coaches do. Sure, the many subs affected the rhythm of the game and had a negative impact but it’s worth it if it means getting Saka and the others match fit.
Spot on with that post Onyango 👏👏👍
Onyango,
Particularly referring to your last paragraph, this is exactly what I put forward in an earlier article and was roundly dismissed. Brentford was a dead rubber and absolutely necessary to give everyone going to Madrid a run out.
A DEAD RUBBER? Were the west ham, Forest, utd, everton and Brentford games we failed to win dead rubbers in the last 8 weeks. Because we didn’t win them, we failed to pressure Liverpool. So we have officially given up the league?
When did we do that?
🙄
Your opinion
Mine worked out ,disappointingly that the point of no return had been reached. Any other losses or draws were what they were by then. I don’t know why you are so uppity
“I believe our manager’s biggest weakness has been his man management”.
My word, rarely have I seen a nail hit as squarely on its head.
If the gaffer improves his man management craft by thirty percent, he win the league on a canter two to three seasons in a row.
Had to see who is the writer, only to realize it’s Dan, just wondering how long it took the author to come to his conclusion.
The Gwedouzi
The Saliba
The Nwaneri kid
It still baffles me up to this day, how did Mustafi play ahead of Saliba
Well well well
When he treated Ozil the way he did I reached that conclusion
Think Ozil was a different kettle of fish, but would have preferred the situation handled a little better.
You asked mate when I first questioned his man management skills
That was it
Although I think the club were behind that as well
Deserved imo. He thought he was bigger than the club.
Yeah pay him to sit at home while we finish 8th
Great management
Disruptor. Bad for morale. Arteta got rid the hard way. Ozil got his money and Arsenal regained what was missing. Pride in the badge.
Means nothing if your then finishing in our worst league position for quarter of a century ( twice )while the team needs creativity
Funny how other managers played Ozil and managed to not finish 8th and win things with him ?
Those other managers are AW and Emery and neither won the league with him.
What is the big deal about 8th? As first is what you are after then every other lower place is irrelevant.
No but Mr Wenger managed to play in the CL and win 3 FA Cups with him
What’s the big deal about 8th ?
It’s a terrible finish
Do you think it’s good ?
I thought he won 4, but that is not the league which is your yardstick for success
Anyway, zero chance that you will ever respect that the club was not in the best shape when Arteta took over as everything always references what Wenger achieved even if has not one iota of relevance to 2025. You need to let go. He was a great manager but harping on about the past is borderline unhealthy. I could bang on about George Graham winning a European trophy, but what is the point?
He won 3 with Wenger
I didn’t bring Mr Wenger up
I simply corrected someone who said Arteta turned us around from midtable and pointed out that he in fact first took us backwards
And I his 8th and ,5th place finishes were down to his failures
Arteta has done a good job but he hasn’t changed the wheel lol
He’s 13 points behind Liverpool in the league
That’s not great
I stand corrected, because he won with Arteta
On no other point in our to and for can I agree that Arteta is to blame for finishing in 8th. You have no way of knowing where we could/would have finished if Emery was not relieved of his duties but 8th was doubtful at best.
Never said you did
I was simply pointing out this idea he took us from midtable to 2nd isn’t quite true
He took us out of Europe because of his poor man management
Hopefully hes learnt
Dan, I admire the way you compare how Mikel is being judged compared to Arsene.
Let me gjve my twopenneth please :
We are currently riding the crest of the wave with our fantastic CL performance – it reminds me of our performance in the same competition under Arsene, where we got to two semi finals and one final.
Let’s look at the PL and your correct in saying we never finished lower than 6th under Arsene and the penultimate season, we finished just one point outside the CL spot for the 17th consecutive season (a record for any single manager) while winning the fa cup.
Mention of the fa cup, brings me nicely to the fact that Arsene also holds the record for an individual manager, having won the competition seven times and only getting knocked out in the third round once.
Mikel, on the other hand, has not progressed past the fourth round once, except when he inherited the players that, it seems, were ruining the club.
Let’s look at our European history since Mr Wenger took over and including the eighteen months of Mr Emery.
We were in a European competition every one of those seasons.
Under Mikel, we were out of any European competition for the first time in over two decades.
I also look at the amount of money Mikel has spent in his four and a half seasons, compared to any equivalent period by Arsene and there is no comparison whatsoever.
As for the toxicity when Mikel took over, there can be no doubt that there was a split in the fanbase and one of Mikel’s most brilliant success stories, was to bring the club (owner, players, manager and fans) together – but it took him two and a half years to do it…. while it took Arsene and Unia twice that time to bring about that situation.
I know, Dan, you emphasise that you think he’s done a good job, but not a great job…. because we have no trophies with his own group of players.
But these last two and a half seasons have seen the kind of football that has challenged the might of city115 and into the semi final of the CL.
No, he cannot be compared to Arsene, but that achieves nothing does it.
All I know is that I’m enjoying going to the Emirates once again, something that I honestly couldn’t say for the past six seasons and I’m sure there are even better times ahead.
End of this tirade and sorry if I’ve bored the pants of everyone!!
I don’t compare mate
I just defend Mr Wenger when the comparisons are made lol
Just my opinion , the greats win things
If he left tomorrow he wouldn’t be an Arsenal great
Just for the record I’m.not one of these who discredits his FA Cup
🤙🤙
Tierney’s situation is unfortunate with his injuries, he is a good defensive LB and his overlapping offers something different.
Curious how Jesus remains on the team though; can’t play striker position, struggles with hold up play, struggles to score, injured as often if not more than Tierney, and over twice the wages.
Wish him the best of luck at Celtic, meanwhile we have Calafiori to take his spot in physio, so we don’t need coverage in physio area.
Durand,
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣👏😉👍
Tierney has admitted that he can’t learn the role LB plays in Arteta’s system.
He’s injured too much, often at key times in the season. Even when he was on loan.
I personally don’t care if Arsenal is managed by Arteta or anyone else, if they’re right for the job. Arteta’s man management is not something anyone here can comment on, unless they work at Arsenal FC and saw what happened personally.
From what we could see from the outside, many of the players supposedly “frozen out” needed to be – Ozil and Aubameyang were toxic and were crushing morale in the club. Examples needed to be set – showing the dressing room that primadonnas would not be tolerated. There can be only one manager.
Arteta says that team selection is based on performance in training. Presumably that’s more about getting it right within the team structure, tactics etc than just individual performance. We see players like Nwaneri and MLS coming through and doing well, so it seems that it’s true.
Imagine Tierney being asked to play inverted LB in training and… not doing it very well. Now what? Arteta should pick him because some fans like him? Personally, I don’t think so. Clearly, Arteta doesn’t think so either.
I get the impression that Tierney only gets brought on when Arsenal are trying to shut up shop and need another defensive body on the field. That’s the only role he’s trusted in for important games. His performance in that narrow role doesn’t equate to a starting role when the team is playing to a different strategy.
Until you see how he performs in training versus – and compare it to what was expected – you’re not in a position to comment.
Even if you could do the first part and see all of training, you won’t know what the coaches expected him to do. So why not leave it to the professionals, eh? They got the club to the brink of a CL SF and 2nd in the PL for 2 seasons, they seem to be doing ok to me, but then I’m not in the Gollum camp – Must win the precioussss. Must win now. Need shiny pot to gloat over.
Arteta uses Tierney sparingly and keeps him injury free. Two seasons ago at Arsenal he was mainly used as sub but was available throughout the campaign inline in previous seasons. Inevitably this brings complaints from people who think he should be played more but he played more at Sociedad and picked up an injury. The injury before that he picked up when he as with Scotland.
It is not Arteta the mismanages him but other managers who over play him.
Tierney is just one of those that didn’t workout, the injuries, the tactics, others preferred ahead of him etc. Nothing against him, but we need to accept and move on. I think Arsenal is in good hands at LB position, Skelly-Lewis and Calafiori are very much capable and still have age on their side to improve their games.
My last word on Tierney and this article.Until he was subbed, did the much vaunted Mbeumo cause us a problem?
No!!!!!
Your article, Dan, covers an absolutely massive amount of material and because it does that, there are times when Tierney ceases to be the subject and instead, it becomes about Arteta paying people to sit it out or reduce their value as a result of being loaned out which then becomes poor man management. I can hardly see how Ozil et al – amounting to a full team – has much relevance to why Tierney hasn’t featured as much as some would want.
Personally, I have much admiration for him and his professionalism under difficult
circumstances. However, if you are unable to play for long periods of time, there is a fair chance the manager will seek out other options. I wonder if Tomi will return in any meaningful way when he eventually gets fit? It is very difficult not to look for alternatives. I don’t think on that basis, that Arteta has washed his hands of TIerney, but as the club parted with millions of pounds for Calafiori and then used MLS when he got injured – again – Tierney was going to be lower down the pecking order in terms of opportunity particularly as he has past history of fragility.
So far, KT has maintained his fitness and as much as keeping him as part of the squad is concerned, others have mentioned that regular game time seems to be an overriding factor in what he wants out of the remaining years of his career.
Because it’s hopefully an example of Arteta getting better
A few years ago knowing Tierney was leaving he wouldn’t have played him so hopefully he’s getting better
This is not true. There is no evidence that Arteta has ever decided not to play anyone just because they are leaving.
Well yes
All the players he suddenly stopped playing the club wanted out of the club we know that because they stopped playing and left the club lol
The subject is Tierney and not the others. The fact that he is getting game time could quite easily reflect Arteta’s confidence that KT has improved, or is fully fit.
Well no the subject is what I want as I wrote it lol
Therefore it’s nice that Arteta has changed as his previous man management (lack of).cost us allot
This is not true. The circumstances of Tierney is quite different from that of the other players who were left out.
Sue’s post was about Tierney. Sue wrote that. So Sue is entitled to tell others to address her point and stop the misdirection tactics.
People are assuming from the content of your post that you were replying to Sue’s post directly above – we have make an assumption because it seems you missed the Reply button again.
Man management basically is what is left for Mikel Arteta to learn in order to rank among the best managers around. You can see with Kiwior that he should have been relieving Gabriel in the course of the season and not wait until Gabriel suffered a season ending injury. I think ESR and Reiss Nelson would have served the club better with good rotation in previous seasons and be sold for much higher if need be.
I remember Tierney with his recurring injuries and loan spells. Arteta is smart if he sees something special from Tierney he would not have loaned him out. Skelly and Calafiori came after Tierney. Came with overhype and will leave with no special memories bar the remaining matches in UCL which he can use to redeem his Arsenal career.
Keep him, off load jorginho, trossard, zhelensky.. keep the others n the young gun in the academy grown up.. cheers.
Tierney is likely getting minutes for two reasons.Firstly there’s more rotation because there’s realistically nothing to fight for in the Prem.
Secondly,injuries. I very much doubt if Tierney would be playing if Calafiori and Tomiyasu were fit. The way we play has simply evolved past him as it did Zinchenko and Ramsdale.It’s a cruel sport like that sometimes.I have a feeling next season we’ll see at least one key player in the current squad become peripheral as we continue to evolve.
It’s difficult to pinpoint whether Arteta’s reluctance to rotate in the past was because that’s just who he is or that he didn’t have quality players on the bench he could trust. I suppose we’ll find out next season when he’s likely to have the biggest group of quality players since he became our manager.
I totally agree Onyango that evolution is key as the often mentioned $800m/£650m involves evolution.
My view has been up until recently, the bench was the issue and there were still players sitting on it that were not good enough to rotate on a regular basis, hence the overplaying of the preferred 11 or so. However, it is only fair to consider the necessity to blood Nwaneri and MLS which has produced dividends
Your suggestion that a senior player may find game time lacking next season is an interesting point
🤙🤙
Dan Smith recent article on how good Tierney is & unfair treatment by Arteta’s whose weakness is …is so spot on👌 l believe this managers attitude will continue to stall Arsenal progress – poor man management & stubborness 😔