“I totally agree with Mikel Arteta” Parlour says Arteta has sent the right message by benching Aubameyang

Ray Parlour has joined the many voices that have sided with Mikel Arteta after the Spaniard removed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from his team to face Tottenham yesterday.

The Gabon striker is Arsenal’s captain and arguably their best player, but he turned up late for a team meeting before the game.

This was the latest off-field problem he has had at the club this season and Arteta sent him and his other players a message.

Parlour says the Spaniard was right to have benched him and also lauded him for dealing with the matter internally.

He said the way Arteta handled the issue without bringing it out in the public will give other players confidence that their problems would be handled maturely.

“I totally agree with Mikel Arteta, nobody is bigger than the team,” Parlour told Talksport.

“I know Aubameyang is a very important player, captain as well, you’ve got to lead by example.

“There’s no excuse for being late. I think Arteta did a really good interview after the game, saying it’s dealt with and Aubameyang is available for Thursday. The matter’s closed.

“That’s what you’ve got to do, it stays in the dressing room.

“Why should Mikel Arteta start opening a can of worms? The public don’t need to know.

“Everyone will be a bit scared now, knowing they can’t be late. If he gets away with it and someone else is late, and they get dropped, then there’s a problem in the dressing room.

“I think it was the right thing to do. It could’ve gone wrong but you’ve stamp your authority and say you can’t do that.

“I think it’s disrespectful to the other players as well.”

Arteta is expected to bring the striker back into the team when Arsenal face Olympiacos in the Europa League on Thursday.

Aubagoal will be angry at being dropped and he can use that as a motivation to down the Greeks.

Tags Mikel Arteta Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Ray Parlour

11 Comments

  1. A rather peculiar and frankly naïve critique of the situation by Ray, as Arteta didn’t deal with this internally, which is why it’s being so widely discussed by pundits and fans alike in a myraid of public forums…if his real intention was to keep the matter in-house, he could have dealt with this situation in a completely different fashion…the way this was handled actually exacerbated the situation, as it resulted in a pseudo-referendum on Auba as a teammate and whether or not he was captain material

    how ironic considering the fact that the club had actually used the armband as a way to encourage Auba’s signature last summer…personally, I don’t think he ever really wanted that role, as he’s always been a march to the beat of his own drum kind of guy, but he certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth

    considering how Wenger had devalued this once honourable position during the revolving armband years, we shouldn’t get too high and mighty when discussing the matter…not to mention, think about who our last captain was and how that ended…that player returned to the team, without an ounce of contrition, even though he threw the armband onto the pitch then flipped off the fans, and now plays more than any other player on our roster regardless of his obvious foibles or follies

    1. It looks like it’s going to be a very tough, long and hard time for you my friend. You seem to be so dug in with your dislike of Arteta. You will use any given situation just to have a go at him it seems. You seem to have convinced yourself that Arteta is the worst thing that has ever happened in your life and there is not going to be any compromise for you. He has to go.😊

      You can create all kinds of scenarios to keep your crusade against Arteta going but I can only see more frustration for the likes of you. Arteta seems to be liked by the board and it looks like he will be here for at least another season. Your personal bias against him is only gonna cause more stress, depression and heartache for you for at least another season.

      I am just so happy with the way Arteta has handled our mature experienced players since he joined. Some of these pampered underperforming primadonnas needed a bit of this treatment. They have gotten away with it for far too long. Wenger bend over for them. They transpired to get Emery sacked, they basically downed tools, were undermining him in person and on their social media.

      Sorry but even if Arteta is not the best manager, he might not make it as our long term manager but I absolutely love the way he keeps calling some of our experienced players bluffs all the time. We needed someone like him to come in and sort out our underperforming players poor attitudes.

      The next manager will find a much better foundation that Arteta started. Then they can build on from that strong foundation.

      Go on Arteta. Do your thing.
      👍

      1. Whilst I won’t take a barb to TRVL I do agree that Arteta has taken on the senior players who you rightly describe as letting Emery down and with the slate wiped clean under Arteta they were gives second chance.

        What I have noticed since the January transfer window closed is that the over all atmosphere around the club has improved since the departure of a few of them.

      2. Goonster I applaud your mature and correct take on the obvious reason why TRVL, usually an intelligent man and clearly someone can make his point in good fashion, is however completely wrong on his take on Arteta being not a good manager.
        I take a polar opposite view and I flatter myself that those on JA who read my regular posts will know me as a thinker too. I back my judgement on MA above the wrong view of TRVL and I am willing to bet anyone on here that MA will be here far longer as our manager than many of his rather silly deniers imagine.

      3. Sounds like you have far more issues with Arteta than I do…”Sorry but even if Arteta is not the best manager, he might not make it as our long term manager…The next manager will find a much better foundation that Arteta started. Then they can build on from that strong foundation”…you seem far more convinced than I that Arteta might not be around too long

        I was simply discussing the circumstances surrounding one particular yet potentially important and seemingly calculated maneuver by our manager, whereas you obviously just wanted to vent, as most of the things you are ranting about have nothing to do with anything within the post you’re supposedly responding to

        as to your appreciation of the way Arteta has handled our mature experienced players, would you say that this would apply to the manner in which he dealt with, or didn’t deal with, Willian’s off-field indiscretions, or the lack of accountability regarding the on or off-field actions of Xhaka or even the myriad of mistakes by Luiz, which have cost us places in the table in two consecutive seasons…for them the punishment appears to be more and more and more starts, but certainly never public admonishments of this sort…guess it just depends who you are and based on recent actions Auba is clearly not on his list of favourites

        furthermore, and to your later post, the reason Auba got the armband in the first place was due to a calculated move on the part of the organization in the hopes that it would encourage him to re-sign last summer

  2. Whether internally or externally, the major thing here is that he dealt with it. We are in a world of social media so information dissemination is so easy. The fact is, Auba is the captain and should lead by example and not the other way round. It’s a great message to send to all the players especially the younger ones who looks up to the older ones. Let’s stop playing the ostrich.

  3. I don’t know why Auba was even given the Captaincy. He is not captain material whatsoever. He is an individualistic type of player.
    Can’t wait for Tierney to mature. That kid gives off this captain material aura.

      1. Age does not matter, Graeme smith was given captaincy of Proteas at age 20 and was arguably their beat captain in recent times.

        What matters is maturity and some develop that at a young age.

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