Can you blame Aubameyang if his mind really is still on the weekend?
Reports in the Sun today claim that Mikel Arteta has blasted our captain for his performance against Olympiakos in the latest round of Europa League fixtures.
Aubameyang missed several chances during the game, despite getting into good positions, he failed to find the finish to put the ball in to the back of the net. Had he done though we could have been three or even four nil up and won comfortably, but failure to do so meant we would go the whole game without scoring although he wasn’t the only striker on the pitch!
However, Arteta seems to think that Aubameyang played the way he did because his mind may possibly still be on the Spurs game Sunday where he was left out for disciplinary reasons.
Speaking on Aubameyang’s missed chances, Arteta stated: “I hope the weekend isn’t still on his mind. We moved on, he started, and we expect when he does play he performs at the level he can. We had a tough opponent, we knew that, we knew that they weren’t going to give up, so happy to be through. But at the same time we have to be fair with ourselves and today we were nowhere near the levels that we have to set ourselves. It has been a really demanding week but I don’t think we have to use any excuses. We have refreshed the team, we have players that they were fresh, and we know the importance of the competition.”
As I have said before, yes authority from a manager is a good thing, but if Aubameyang was late for a generally good reason then I don’t blame him for having it on his mind as he could feel that he was wrongly disciplined and disrespected. It could however be that it has genuinely been such a tough week and getting the job done in Greece then flying back and playing Spurs where we walked away with all three points and then playing another tough opponent in Olympiakos has taken its toll.
Let’s hope it is the second reasoning and that the boys and Aubameyang will be fully fit and fired up for the derby against West Ham on Sunday, where they will be looking to walk away with all three points.
Here’s hoping hey Gooners?
Shenel Osman