DID WE REALLY HAVE DEADWOOD PLAYERS? by dgr8xt
Hello all. From the title of this writeup, you would easily think that it will be full of statistics. But like I’ve said before, I’m not one given to much stats. Instead of saying that Aubameyang scored 22 goals, I prefer to say he won the golden boot. That’s a better read for me.
Now to the main thing. We have a group of players whom our esteemed fan base had classified as indisciplined, dross, toxic, useless, underperforming and deadwood. Tough words to describe the most despicable of persons.
But were/are these players actually deadwood? Generally, they are mostly players whom our manager met at the club when he arrived, though, not all of them. I will try not to mention our last FA cup win cos it’s been spoken of many times. Let’s take a quick look at some of these deadwood players and judge for ourselves. I will avoid statistics as much as possible. Trust me on that;
1. Granit Xhaka: Signed by Wenger. Why was he re-signed by our current manager if he was deadwood?
2. Mohammed Elneny: Signed by Wenger. Another to be re-signed by our current manager. He’s been one of the most derided and labelled as a complete deadwood. Why the sudden new contract by a management who once classified him as such? Am I missing something?
3. Sead Kolasinac: Signed by Wenger. This is the flag bearer of the deadwood label given by our fanbase. I wish to ask an important question here. It was very obvious that he wasn’t up to it at all… but this was when our current manager arrived. Was Kolasinac so bad under Wenger? How about under Emery? Did he play as bad for those two like he did under our current manager? What happened?
4. Mesut Özil: Signed by Wenger. Probably the most insulted ex-Arsenal player since Robin Van Persie. Let’s not pretend over the fact that his performances dropped after signing his huge contract under Wenger. Let’s not pretend over the fact that Emery had serious issues with him over his laziness and refusal to press and defend. Let’s not pretend over the fact that immediately our current manager arrived, he was one of the first names on the team sheet. Let’s not pretend over the fact that due to his work rate on the pitch from December 2019 till when COVID struck, he could not be dropped even without the assists. Let’s not pretend over the fact that he vanished off the face of the team immediately after the restart. Let’s not pretend over the fact that this was not the Manager’s fault. Let’s not pretend over the fact that this was a board decision due to his refusal to take a pay cut without assurances of where the money was going to. Let’s not pretend over the fact that he was later justified as the club sacked many workers. And finally, let’s not pretend over the fact that our midfield from then until when Smith Rowe began to play (about 8 months later) lacked organization, hence, fans were calling for his reinstatement. I also wanted him gone and I’m quite glad he’s gone. But was he deadwood to our current manager? Wasn’t it a board decision?
5. Shkodran Mustafi: Signed by Wenger. 85 mins of good performances always overshadowed by 5 mins of madness. But I wish to ask another question. How did Emery manage to use him to get fifth place and a European final? Remember the 22 matches unbeaten? Didn’t he play in these games? Is Emery a wizard or am I still missing something?
6. Alexander Lacazette: Signed by Wenger. Had a beaming on and off pitch relationship with Aubameyang under Emery which practically fell off the cliff (on pitch) when our current manager arrived. Why? Scored 17 goals last two seasons and was utterly atrocious last season (read the Kolasinac question above again). Why the sudden cliff fall in performance? Still missing something am I?
7. Calum Chambers: Signed by Wenger. In all honesty, would you choose to have a Cedric in your team or a Chambers? I know whom I’ll rather have. Went on loan to Fulham and was their player of the season. Returned and was good for us until injury struck. Wasn’t he useful? Why are fans complaining that his sale in January was part of the reasons for us missing out on the top four this season if he was deadwood? Deadwood shouldn’t have any uses right?
8. Kostantinos Mavropanos: Signed by Wenger. Fans being so livid by the atrocious £4m buyout fee put into his loan contract tells you all about his deadwood status.
9. Ainsley Maitland Niles: Signed by Wenger. Decent performances in the league and the FA Cup final don’t make him a world class midfielder or full back. But who would argue that his absence didn’t play a part in our top four loss? I’m not sure a £20m bid would have been rejected and much convincing and promises of playing time would have been given to a deadwood player. But he’s become deadwood now. How exciting.
10. Reiss Nelson: Signed by Wenger. Not sure why Feyenoord coach would complain about his fitness when he arrived, but he was surely correct as he got the best out of the player later on. We don’t seem to be able to get such from same players. Deadwood you say?
11. Hector Bellerin: Signed by Wenger. Wants to leave (I want that too) but surely better than Cedric. Has proved to be useful (very useful actually) on loan. Here, he seemed to be deadwood.
12. Guendouzi: Signed by Emery. Even with his perceived “attitude”, fans are still feeling upset that we got only £8m for him. This I would say is about one-sixth of his value. Deadwood?
13. Nicolas Pepe: Signed by Emery (The Arsenal board actually). His stats would not have been gotten by a deadwood player I’m quite sure. Playing excellently in one match only to be sent to the bench the next match doesn’t give much boost to a player, whatever their pedigree. Nketiah coming on to play as a winger when we’re chasing a goal at the dying stages against Everton at Goodison Park while Pepe watches on from the bench defies all natural, psychological, physical, spiritual and footballing logic. It isn’t a deadwood matter.
14. Sokratis Papastathopoulos: Signed by Emery. Again I will mention the 5th place finish, 22 matches unbeaten and the European final. Not too sure deadwood can do this, especially considering that we had Mustafi, Lichsteiner, regressing Koscielny and a slow & ageing Monreal in that defence. As a deadwood, he played in those games.
15. Bernd Leno: Signed by Emery. Not world class but certainly has world class reflexes. Kept us in matches along with Aubameyang’s goals throughout a season and missed out on the club’s player of the season award to same goal scorer Aubameyang. He was privileged to have the talents of Mustafi, Lichsteiner and Kolasinac in front of him. Not sure what level of deadwood he is.
16. Lucas Torreira. Signed by Emery. Man of the match awards in five games of the 22 matches unbeaten including the North London Derby. Upped his game when our manager arrived and like Özil, disappeared immediately after the restart, no explanations. I don’t think his displeasure with life in London explains the sudden disappearance from the pitch. Wants to leave, yes. But deadwood?
17. David Luiz: Signed by Emery. Had his contract extended immediately after the worst performance a player can have in human history (against Man City). Was a mainstay in the defence for another year. How dead is that wood? I’m not quite sure.
18. Edward Nketiah: Signed by Wenger. Like Elneny, was considered to be among the chief of the deadwood until suddenly, perception changes and he’s bagging a £100k p/w five year deal. Thought he was deadwood? What happened? Why the change in perception?
19. Pablo Mari: Signed by our current manager. Nothing more to be said.
20. Rúnar Alex Rúnnarson: Signed by our current manager. Nothing more to be said.
21. Cedric Soares: Signed by our current manager without even kicking a ball. Imagine if Wenger had signed Kim Källstrom
22. Nuno Tavares: Signed by our current manager. Very young but already classified as deadwood.
While I agree that most of these players weren’t world class when our current manager took over, I’m not quite sure of what makes most of them deadwood.
dgr8xt
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So what is your point? Just asking….
Surely his point is as plain as the nose on your face?
Why oh why do we, as a fanbase, continually devalue our own players, who, on closer inspection (as the author has done) are not “deadwood” as described in the dictionary.
What is the point of the exercise?
Every manager at our club has bought players who have not reached the expected level required, so they are moved on.
The problem is, our club has become synonymous with poor decision making – especially under the current management.
Giving away players and still paying their salaries is a current issue that seems to be hampering our dealings in the transfer market.
Great article that highlights, in detail, the shortcomings of our club and a section of our fan base.
Thanks for the proper reply.
Spot on.i made the same point yesterday about calling some of our(former) and players deadwood but was told that it’s a term widely used in many companies.anyway,no wonder that we can’t get any decent fees for them when they are treated like pariahs by their own club.
If you’ve missed the point, you just don’t want to know. It’s not exactly rocket science.
Do you blame our current management for sorting out the mess? From my point of view is should have been sorted out long time ago, to build a better environment for performance culture.
I don’t care which management have done this and that, all of them have made mistakes and we needed a total shake-up. To move players on we have paid parts of their salaries to make things happen, just like Man.United is doing with Pogba.
I’m not aware the we have such agreements with us when starting next season. It’s sad that our club have been left in such mess, but hopefully it will soon be over.
Basically, we shouldn’t have signed a player solely based on their past achievements. A player usually has a unique combination of skills, which could be suited to his new manager’s system or not
Motivation and the season phase could also determine a player’s productivity
Aubameyang and Nketiah scored plenty of goals in the second half of last season. But let’s see whether they could be as productive or not at the beginning of next season, when the opponents have already been familiar with their tendencies in the fields
That’s why among every other details to be considered in signing a player EPL players should be looked into because they are familiar with the league I saw Sander Berge play for Norway yesterday I wonder why Arteta is not not looking at such experienced player in EPL for DM. Signing outsiders like Artho M etc is not certain they will match up with EPL physicality except if the player is exceptional. Why look for replacement for Soars when we can maximize AMN next season with Tommy. We only need a good DM for injury prone Pathey, A RW to challenge Saka, a backup for Thieney and a very top CF.
Chambers could have done s job for us as a DM.when he was voted Fulham player of the season,this was as Not only that,we had the option of an extra year,so why not activate it and sell him on during the summer instead of giving him to Villa?
*This was as a DM
I think Arteta values a CDM’s first touches than his physical qualities, hence the rumors about Melo. If he doesn’t become more pragmatic next season, I’m afraid we’d have similar duel and second ball problems
I agree about Maitland-Niles as Tomiyasu’s main competitor
Yes, we need more Norwegians no doubt 🇳🇴
An article supposedly “not full of stats” but that is what, to some extent at least, we had.
We had however no finish to the article, which ended abruptly and had no conclusion at all.
I can see from the writers point of view, what he was trying to say, which(to sum up) means he wants our manager gone. That is overwhelmingly obvious, even though he did not say so directly(hence my comment about he failed to sum up his piece).
So he doctored his stats to include players that have never been describes as deadwood at all. Leno for just one. Leno is a fine shot stopper, though with holes in his allround game but in no way have I, nor anyone I have ever seen post on JA, ever called him “deadwood”!.
This is just one among a grreat deal of this article that I see in an almost polar opposite direction from the writer. But , as he is relentlessly attaccking the judgement of MA whereas I firmly support MA, that is no surprise.
Suffice to say this writer has style and can use words well to put his points across. That has to be said, for balance.
However, it is WHAT he thinks that I find, in the main, so utterly incredulous. But hey, only my opinion of course.
1. By stats, I mean the numbers. If saying that a player played well at certain time is statistic to you, then I don’t know what else to say
2. I deliberately didn’t conclude as I’ve done in other writeups so that the reader would conclude as they see fit. It’s a writing technique. You should try it someday
dgr8xt, You are a very impertinent young man. You seem not to knowI have long written and still do , professionally!
So I need no lectures about writing technique from you young man.
Mr Fox
As much as I have always stayed out of your posts, I do not want any insults from you. Many on here stated that they didn’t bother reading your last article, I remember very well. If you’re so talented at writing, then contact Admin Pat and stop insulting people’s work. If you have nothing to say, then don’t comment cos it’s not by force.
Calm down Jon. It’s not a big deal really
I agree with the basics of the article, but do you expect us to compete regularly top five with such players? Would Chelsea, Liverpool and Man.City signed them when we did, or would they have signed most of them at all?
I don’t care which management have done this and that, all of them have done mistakes. From my point of view it has been necessary to sort out the mess. I’m not in position to know all the details and I don’t support everything. But we had a lot of internal obstacles and they had to be solved to make Arsenal competitive again.
I would have supported this process if it was done by our former managements as well. The main thing is that it had to be done and it was necessary to do it. Which I also have red somewhere that Emery strongly have supported.
for Jon! statistics:the practice or science of collecting and analysing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample.
I wouldn’t say that @dgr8xt article was full or had much data.
You presume to try telling me what basic English words mean !! What arrogance! I specifically wrote “to some extent”! But you seem not to have seen that or elsedo not understood what it means !
Oh Jon Fox, a professional writer/gambler/businessman know all rather impertinent old geezer! Give it a rest. You sir are very arrogant and rather distasteful.
You should have written”self-called” professional.i’ve lost count of the number of times,he was ready to bet his house on certain players never to wear the Arsenal shirt!!
@Dennis
Be careful. Sherlock Holmes may be listening!!!!
Dennis I do not know your age but could probablyguess your generation at least.
I am almost 71 and I have lived a busy and verY varied life, meeting people from almost ALL walks of life along my way.
I do not go into too much specific detail but as most of we regulars do, fromtime to time, and no more than that, I give the odd hint as to what I have done or still do across thr decades. I do not seek to boast but simply toconverse and make ,when the occasion suits , some pleasantries , just as many others do too, from TIME TO TIME.
I plainly OUGHT to be flattered that someone as “distinguished” as you takes the constant trouble to notice and read my many posts and to comment on them, even though wrongly , in this instance.
I thank you again for your surprisingly intense interest in my life and posts, even though some, even I, might well think it somewhat unhealthy and rather sinister, to be so interested in someone you have not, nor ever will. meet in person!
Life is full of surprises, it seems. Even at almost 71, I CAN AND DO STILL LEARN.
That’s why I wrote”or had much data”.
Arrogant Jon?coming from you, how hypocritical? if only, you had taken the time to read my comment,you would have noticed that I wrote”or had much data”.
An excellent article like this is a thorn to some who are in denial like Jon above. So as expected he has come into full force to attack it.
He called Ozil a thief because he was paid more than he was delivering yet his dear manager has been awarded a new fat contract for basically underachieving and yet he applaud that decision. Doesn’t that make him a thief also?
As long as someone has double standards they can not say they are realist or defenders of free speech.
Very interesting hypothesis HH – awaiting the reply with interest.
Don’t hold your breath Ken. This is the third time I am asking him the same question but I have yet to get a reply.
Ken I ask you to read my long reply to your post on Lloyds deadwood article of yesterday. It will be worth reading. I believe.
Have just read and replied Jon – sorry that I didn’t refer back.
I have seen people asking what’s the point of this article, well, the point is, wenger has the most deadwood out of the list and after claiming this management took it upon himself to clear the deadwood, only to see some of the allegedly deadwood being resigned and given more contract.
So is the deadwood allegations really valid?? Or it just more of an excuses.
Cause the management before this didn’t cry of the deadwood and neither did this management when they were winning the FA cup with them..
Let me bring you to more revealing fact.
Those deadwood reached 4 finals in different competition before this management full seasons. They managed to win two and lost two.
Deadwood of players won’t reach final in four consecutive seasons. If there’s anything it was that , they didn’t deliver enough, but they are far from deadwood as claimed.
In case you want to know the four finals. Here are the list.
Fa cup the last Wenger won.
Caraboa cup agaisnt city. Wenger final season. Lost the cup to city.
Europa final by Emery. Lost to chealse.
Lastly FA cup by MA won against chealse.
All these were done by the allegedly deadwood.
All in all, I am among the few fans who have refused to label any player deadwood.
Average, not good enough are the words I use instead.
👍👍👍
Despite this the list of deadwood also reveals the state of paralysis and almost desperate mismanagement which began under Wegner. It’s a long way from signing a Thiery Henry to a Mustafi or Kolasinac. Panic lead to more panic with the Emery regime, hello Sokrates and now all the eggs are in the Arteta basket, for better or worse.
👏👏
Same with me. I’ve never called any player deadwood
👍👍👍
It’s an excuse then.
I don’t really understand the point of this? Half of them are no longer at the club.
Personally, I think the term deadwood is personal to everyone. For me deadwood is someone who is 1. no longer required by the manager or 2. The player has stated he wishes to leave the club. Just because a fan wants better does not put a player in either group.
I would say the players definitely sitting in groups 1 or 2 are
Bellerin, Mari, Torreira, Guendozi, Pepe.
There are other players that are very close to either or both groups, Leno, Runarrsson Cedric, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Nelson. I think new signings will probably make them join group 1 or 2.
I also believe that new signings could push some out on loan, Okonkwo, Tavares, Sambi, Balogun and even Nketiah if he has signed already.
Some players may be, and may have been, surplus to requirements, past their best, or just do not cut it, but describing them as deadwood is down right insulting and in my opinion, wrong. The term seems to have come into common parlance in more recent times as I never remember Charlie George being described as deadwood when transferred to Derby or Ray Kennedy and Michael Thomas when sold to Liverpool, along with others shipped out for various reasons.
Exactly Declan – this terminology is one that has taken root in the last few years – no real supporter would EVER class one of our players as “deadwood” – surplus to requirements or not in the managers plans, or just not good enough for The Arsenal would have been the terminology used.
Wrong KEN!
I AM A REAL SUPPORTER, AS ARE MANY OTHERS, WHO HAVE USED THE TERM DEADWOOD AND DROSS. So you are factually wrong.
Your post was , as ever , your personal opinion . But demonstrably, it was NOT factually correct.
Jon – it’s my OPINION – you and I have different OPINIONS on how a supporter / fan uses words to discuss their views and OPINIONS.
AS I obviously believe my OPINIONS are correct, unless by debate they are proven wrong, I am factually correct with my OPINION…. as you are with your OPINION, unless, of course, you are now saying that (as an example) Ozil being labelled as lazy by you, was not factual, but just your OPINION?
If that’s the case, then we can all move forward and give our own OPINIONS, without fear or trepidation with egards to being lectured on the English language and how to use it.
Of course, I wouldn’t presume that “many others” have the same OPINION as myself, as that couldn’t be proven as FACTUAL could it – unless “many” as a percentage of the Arsenal fanbase can be determined?
Ken, Congrats on a brilliantly lawyer like defence of your view. I agree it has merit. Had you stated in your original post that it was simply your OPINION , rather than the actual words used which were “no real supporter would EVER class … “etc, I would have agreed with your reply to my post etc.
I have now learned more and more to use “IMO” with my posts , as it changes so called facts into opinions, thus disarming conflict.
But, surely Jon, everything that we write is only an opinion, simply because we have no inside knowledge of what goes on at The Arsenal?. That’s what I’ve always understood anyway.
a
Come on Jon, how is it that your opinions are fact yet other’s opinions are factually wrong? It’s opinion and if you want to stop opinion which doesn’t quite correlate with your own then it’s something quite different, somewhat like a regime based in North Korea!
Declan, If what you allege were true instead of false , then I would have agreed with your post!
And there you go again…. Sigh……
🎯
I don’t like the word deadwood, but not not good enough. Secondly I don’t care who signed them, I just consider how they play, perform and what they offer to our team.
Mustafi – wasn’t particularly successful playing for us and he hasn’t been successful after he left us, relegated two times. First in Germany and last season with Levante in Spain (La Liga).
Sead Kolasinac – Arrived as one of the best left backs /wingbacks in Germany and played on a decent level for a while. He had two stand out qualities, strong and fast. He was lacking skills and struggled with positioning. After one season in France he has been told he can find a new club. From my point of view a primitive player with qualities belonging to the past.
Some of the mentioned players are still you and could be very good players in the future. When I’m judging the listed players , I ask my self do you find such players in the Chelsea, Liverpool or Man.City squad? Is it reasonable that we could compete against them with a much weaker squad? Are players not good enough for a top four squad, good enough for Arsenal?
We have had a lot of players which I consider not good enough for a top four squad. If you have too many of them at the same time you are definitely not competing regularly top four 🔴⚪️
*young*
I like this article a lot. I have been having similar questions in my mind. I speak with no regret that this management has made too much wrong decisions.
People actually tend to use the term deadwood very flippantly to denote players who they think should leave. It seems the term has just triggered some others.
A player can be “deadwood” to us because they’re not very useful here – either can’t find consistency, can’t handle the pressure, never find a niche in the squad, have a sudden drop in form due to age or loss of confidence, or don’t adapt well to the league. If they didn’t have something going for them, they’d never have been signed or never would have made their debuts. It’s not meant in a personal way (at least not by me) and doesn’t mean they aren’t good players who can’t do well elsewhere, at least in most cases.
OT.if true it is bad news.according to some reports, Crawley town have reached an agreement with Kevin Betsi our U23 manager.i have been following his career and had high hopes for him.
It’s not bad news and you can still have high hopes for him. He needs this for his development and I am sure some arsenal academy players will benefit by going to Crawley on loan.
Valid point!
Just like your reply Fk… some serious thinking went into that summary and I’m sure we all gained something from your summing up.
Suggest you read Jon Fox’s reply if you want to give an opposing view that’s worth reading.
Another good reply. Thank you
In other words the writer does not like the name deadwood given to some of our players current/ former. I think every player have have potential and room for improvement . Some may hit the heights while others may not depending on a number of factors. That Elneny and Nketiah renewed their contracts is as a result of their obvious improvement towards the end the season. Every manager wants players who are commited to the cause and Arteta is no different
Exactly. But the club has made them appear as deadwood by alienating them without a single thought for their transfer values and our fanbase has labelled them deadwood
Only a section of our fan base dgr8xt, let’s be clear, otherwise you will be dragged over the coals again!!!
Probably more than one reason why we have done it. First and foremost I believe they weren’t a positive energy in and around our dressing room. Kroenke love to make money but he has accepted to take a loss on several players, not done without considering other options.
There have been done many mistakes from our current and former managements. When some are starting to sort things out you can’t blame them what they have inherited, included our culture. I doubt business minded people are doing it if it’s not necessary. If they decide to take a loss they are doing it because it has a beneficial upside.
I’ll add my voice to the chorus above who don’t like the term deadwood.
The only players I would classify as no longer having value to Arsenal are those who (a) are no longer in the manager’s reckoning and (b) who cannot command a transfer fee. I’d say only 5 or 6 of the players on the article’s list meet both these conditions.
Both of these conditions are usually the product of bad management decisions which every team makes. As an Arsenal fan it feels like we make more mistakes then most, dating back a decade or so. But I suspect an objective review might show we are closer to the mean than it feels.
What an irony,a person who does’nt rate the manager,his signings and decision despite being of great improvement for a very young manager in a tough league like epl is here preaching against calling players dross or deadwood……HYPOCRICY AT IT’S PEAK.
Tbh I dont feel it as hypocrisy (my opinion ofc.) The thing is, dgr8xt is just expressing his opinion on the term deadwood generally being applied to players and whether its correct or not. Also in his opinion, he wants the manager gone as according to him, the reward of a new contract does not equal to achievements of MA.
This according to you is not correct as MA has significantly improved Arsenal despite being an inexperienced manager in his first job at Arsenal. Similarly, while some players may fail to perform adequately or according to fans expectations at Arsenal, people label them deadwood. Some players are young as noted by the author, like Tavares and may come good later but for some people he is already a deadwood.
I think its just opinions and if you still feel its hipocrisy then as Mr. Fox says, all humans are hipocrites.
Cheers!
The author has lumped together a range of players who have had a relatively limited or variable impact and reported that fans have labelled them as “deadwood” etc:
Players who certain fans do not like
Players who are not regularly used by the manager
Players who have left the club for various reasons
Players who have been identified as having certain weaknesses in their game
Players who Arsenal were criticised for signing because they were probably passed their best
Players whose performances have sometimes been subpar
Players on loan who are likely to leave
etc. etc.
Neither the manager nor anyone at Arsenal has ever been quoted as labelling the players in the manner to which he refers. It is also not the case that the general fan base has labelled all these players as deadwood.
It is mainly on sites such as this that such insulting language has been used in reference to the players, the manager and the owners.
The article’s subliminal message seems to be that these are all players who have played under Arteta and have had fluctuating fortunes. Which is hardly any kind of revelation. The article does not provide any kind of analysis or useful insights.
The article appears to be partly directed at a certain part of the fanbase and overgeneralizes their opinions and perspectives. As expected the author also includes a hatchet job on the manager.
DAVID i much endorse a great deal of you post, and esp the writers anti MA agenda, which was made abundantly clear, though artfully not actually stated in direct words.
I have personally used and will continue to use, if I think it appropriate, my right to use the term “deadwood”! I consider it simply fanspeak and as no player is made of wood, whether dead or otherwise, even a dull witted mind would surely realise that no player is LITERALLY DEADWOOD.
It is, as I say, simply fanspeak and if we are to be denied the human freedom of basic fanspeak because the new woke movement in the world,to which so many tyrannical anti liberal types are attracted, then count be as NOT being a woke warrior. I stand forcefully against illiberal and censor style woke! I STAND FOR FREEDOM OF ALLINDIVIDUALS TO USE NON FILTHY AND NON PERSONALLY ABUSIVELANGUAGE.
To describe someones lack of fooball skill, as “deadwood” is NOT, even remotely, “abuse. Were it not so dangerous and anti liberal, it would be laughable.
No one is saying it is dangerous Jon _what is being said is that it is disrespectful to professional players, who are employed by the club.
Free speech can be used the same way as physical, mental or sexual abuse can be and I give you the recent Heard versus Depp court case in the USA as a prime example.
I agree, we should be more respectful towards our players and also with each others.
I consider players not good enough for Chelsea, Liverpool and Man.City, to be not good enough for us either. You can always find exceptions but they are nothing but exceptions.
For many years Merci Wenger was able to make us competitive with all kind of players. I doubt he would have managed it nowadays, because the competition is stronger and involving more clubs.
But why should he fault the manager when some of these players fail to live up to his standards while other younger one’s are doing so brilliantly? which is always overlooked by he and his brigaders.i’m not the type who hate on arsenal players and managers rather i’ll always give them my support but he coming out to slate those refering to some players as deadwood while always critical and hating on the manager is hypocrisy……..And what do you think a top coach like guardiola or klopp will do with this squad?he’ll give em a chance to show their worth and buy into his philosophy before deciding on who will stay or leave,exactly what arteta is also doing atm which we’ve seen with elneny,holding and nketiah recently not to mention most of his recruitments in partey,gabriel,white,tomi and odegaard.
why are ppl acting like deadwood is a derogatory word lol. Majority of the playesr on the list are exactly that. blaming fans for the clubs inability to get good fees off of them is simply absurd. Arsenal are just poor negotiators and made a string of poor signings, which also reflected in our decline of performances on the pitch and in the league table.
also some of these players were okay at one and then became deadwood because their contracts didnt end for several more seasons. and some were just not good signings. Deadwood applies more to players that have nothing left to give to the team like Bellerin.
Dead wood or not it would be interesting to see if wenger had been given as much money as his successors would we be this bad , i doubt it . I have high hopes for arteta but every time i see light at the end of the tunnel , i get hit by a train.
Why don’t players perform for Arteta is maybe what you are asking? Because….obsessive micro-managing control freak who did not want to play Emery’s William Saliba (even though his understudy Wesley Fofana was first choice for Leicester City), who wants total control and who drains the creativity and spontaneity out of many players. Who freezes players out, as with Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi, and Aubameyang. Who fecks up the end of the season when we were virtually in the Champions League.