It isn’t news that Arsenal is a team in crisis, Mirror Sport is reporting now that there might be an even bigger problem for Mikel Arteta to deal with, claiming that he has lost the dressing room.
The Spaniard became the club’s manager just a year ago, and he has helped them win the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
But their current form will see him get sacked without the club reminiscing about what he has achieved for them so far.
The report says that factions have developed in the dressing room due to some of his decisions.
One of the decision is the axing of Mesut Ozil and Sokratis from the first team set up this season.
It is a decision that he has taken in the best interest of the team, but as they suffer from creativity, the report says some of the club’s players don’t think that he has made the right decision in axing the German.
His decisions are being supported by a large group of players, but these players who doubt his decision to axe Ozil are making the dressing room hard for him to manage.
Arteta will be hopeful that the players who are supporting him can help the team start winning games, else he risks losing his job.
I posted this earlier in regards to an article about Auba’s absence yesterday, but it definitely applies to this article too…I’m more than a little skeptical about the timing of this injury…there’s no question in my mind that our struggles have severely strained the relationship between our Captain and his Manager…of course, nothing was publicly expressed until earlier this month when Auba’s agent took to social media to defend his client’s recent goal drought…this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, as agents are fast becoming the vehicle by which player’s can express their displeasure without having to take direct ownership of the message…it’s clear that Arteta’s negative tactics and his inability to make good on promises that were made at the time of his re-signing have made life increasingly more difficult for him, both professionally and publicly…as such, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if he might be hanging his manager out to dry…it’s not uncommon for a player to play through some minor nicks and bruises, especially when the games in question take on a greater significance…at no other time in Arteta’s brief professional career could he ill afford to lose the individual who has accounted for about 80% of the scoring since his arrival at the club, then seemingly out of the blue, with no timely public acknowledgement, even though he missed training the day prior, no Auba…it just sends up huge red flags for me…could this be why Holding was somehow our Captain yesterday…if this is the case, our locker room must be an incredibly toxic environment and if that’s the case, Arteta’s tenure is on life support
If Stan Kroenke happy with Arteta and the team there’s is nothing we can do about it. If we go down so the value of our club hopefully he will sell to someone who loves Arsenal
The one thing Wenger had was the ‘dressing room’. He was respected by the players. If a manager cannot gain the trust of the ‘dressing room’ the club is doomed. Whether one is pro Arteta, against Arteta or shades of grey….that is the ‘nail’ in the proverbial, for a manager.
You maybe right – I hope not. It doesn’t say much about the majority of that squad who downed tools on Emery as well
How did wenger have the dressing room when some of these same players kept underperforming? Didn’t they also down tools under his managership? We started steadly slidig down the table. Did they also get him SACKED?
These players did not respect wenger, they took advantage of the weak and loser mentality he had acquired in his later years. He has become a Grandad that let these primadonna get away with whatever. I love and respect wenger but let’s be honest, he and the board are individuals that led into this limbo as a club.
He Started off fighting for first place / Epl title.
To fighting to stay 3rd.
To struggling to make 4th place.
To dropping to 5th
To him finishing 6th..
The slide was obvious.
Wenger lost the dressing room, he was im afraid, no exception.
Wenger lost the dressing room right at the end of his career if overstay…..Arteta already at the beginning. It cost Wenger.
I detect some major rewriting of history here…After the impressive 3 titles from 1997-2004, Wenger kept us in 2nd/3rd/4th with a couple of decent title challenges along the way when being first handicapped by the financing of the stadium, then by the financial doping of the game by Chelsea and Man City…Yes, we had the odd marquee signings after the stadium debt was all but repaid, but that was compared to the oppositions doing it season after season.
If two seasons of finishing 5th and 6th after that were such major failures that Wenger was considered to have lost the dressing room, what about 15th in late December? It’s fans like you that give us a bad name by constantly moving the goalposts…
If we can guaranteed a 6th place finish this season, I would snap your hand off, despite your considering that it’s a major sign of failure.
Nick, once again a brilliant and perfectly true reply.
Re-writing Wenger’s time at our club seems to be a favourite past time for some and, by continually pointing out the truth, history will NOT be re-written.
I found it laughable when some on this forum were comparing Arteta with Wenger FFS! Some were going as far as suggesting Arteta would be managing a really big club after Arsenal!!! The hype machine was in full swing. In the meantime we had a coach who had only one game plan and once he has been figured out, he is clueless. To go from an institution called Wenger to a wannabe like Arteta is indeed a relegation!
Nick, well done. You speak the truth that so many on here work so hard to disregard.
Fire Kronke, fire Edu. These guys have no clue what it takes nowadays to run a top 4 club. We had the opportunity to get a world class coach, instead we got an amazing player with no direct coaching experience. Result: a B coach surrounded by B players recruited by an incompetent director who should have been fired with Emery. One of Wenger’s amazing talent was transforming ok players into world class stars. Fabregas, Sanchez all miserably failed after leaving the club. He was the reason Arsenal held in the top 4 despite a pitance budget to recruit top class players. The fans need to take the leadership of the club down. Stop watching game, buying merch and ger the sponsors to drop the club. Once Arsenal goes bust we will get the proper ownership and management team in place instead of sheer incompetence. Fans need to take charge.
Let us be very clear in our thoughts,, It is not the dressing room that the manager has lost.
The players fans commentators and pundits can all see the failings of a young inexperienced manager week in and week out. It is clear that he doesn’t have the knowledge or skills called for right now. Arsenal football club cannot afford to get relegated whilst Artetta is learning his trade on the job.
There is little point bringing new players into a toxic dressing room hoping that they can provide some magic that will turn the season around. There is only one solution to the current situation and that is to sack Artetta as quickly as possible, bring in a new manager tasked with changing the tactics and style of play, refocusing and motivating the squad.
The present manager failed we must accept that and move on. Oh Edu must also be shown the door, he’s been a total screwup.
Failure by the club to act now will worsen the damages already caused from the Artetta experiment.
Arteta should just do the Honourable thing and resign
David Luiz is a cruel idiot
Totally agree mate
If Arteta has lost the dressing room will the players change in their buses?
Things are all against Arteta, his inexperience, his ability, the players trust in him, the way we play, the fact he cant buy a win, players form, his knowledge and the way he has treated players as individuals. If he hasn’t got the support of the players (and im not sayingthat) he and Arsenal are in big trouble but then again when a manager gets the sack, it because he cant lift players. All i know is we are playing some of the worst football i have ever seen from an Arsenal team ever.
Many people/fans believed that sacking Arsene Wenger would solve all problems and make club bigger with more achievements. They have been wrong all. With very limited resources, AW had done a great job and staying on par with the biggest rivals. Now with much better resources, Arsenal is in free fall. Relegation zone may be good outcome for ingratitude fans.
I remember similar things being said about Emery. If true, and these reports need to be taken with a healthy pinch or two of salt, it points to something rotten in the player culture at Arsenal.
Time to put egos aside and play for the badge. If some players can’t do that then it’s on them and hopefully they are shipped out asap.
I say, find all these rotten eggs who think that their emotions and feelings about their friends being excluded from is excuse enough to not perform. Ask all of them to find other clubs that will give their exiled buddies more playing time.
If possible please tell this faction to pack their bags and move out of our club in January. They should all find another club that can indulge and massage their sensitive egos. Let them all join their other exiled teammates on the transfer list.
Thank you very much.
Yeah right..
So Wenger lost the dressing room because he exiled which players.
Emery lost the dressing room because he froze which players out?.
Ljumberg lost the dressing because he froze out which players?.
Now Arteta lost the dressing room because of freezing out who?
It’s all those managers fault for causing factions in the squad hence why players downed tools?
Or it’s because we have scrounging deadbeat players that keep being exposed as overrated and average?
I am not buying the dressing room factions nonsense as being the reason we are doing so poorly. It all down to our overly pampered primadonna players together with a manager that seems one dimensional. A number of these players have kept letting us down since the wenger era.
Average deadbeat players together the a rookie manager seems like a complete recipe for disaster right now. Seems like that’s how it’s turning out to be..
I hope the players don’t use stupid excuses about so and so player not being in the squad as being the reason they are not performing. All of them came to Arsenal not because of this and that player. They joined because we spend big money on them and handed them massive big money contracts.
Those that think that the likes of Sokratis and others being excluded from the squad is a reason and excuse enough for them to underperform , then I hope they also get quarantined away from the first team and asked to join their best buddies out of our club next month (January).
Using stupid excuses like “certain players not being in the team is the reason I can’t perform” would be so cringeworthy and laughable.
Hope this is all just gossip like most of it is usually is..
🤦♂️
It’s not the dressing room he’s lost,,, he’s lost the plot mate,, doesn’t know what he’s doing doesn’t know how he got into this mess and doesn’t know how what to do about fixing it
I wonder how the author knows that a large group of the players support Arteta?
Not saying it isn’t true, but when reporting something as serious as this potentially is, why not just report the claim from Mirror Sport?
It would be interesting to see if the players names who are, reportedly, against the Ozil decision, will become public knowledge via someone from the club?
I hope this isn’t true, because “player power” does not sit well with me – this is Arsenal Football Club, not tom, dick, and harry’s club!!!
It would also make it practically impossible for Mikel to reverse his Ozil decision, if he wanted too of course.
That would seen to be giving in to reported players demands…if it indeed true.
What on earth is there that can go further wrong? We are in such turmoil on the pitch, we do not need or want it off the pitch!!
The bottom line is that players stick together and maybe the perceived unfair treatment of certain players has rubbed off the players the wrong way. Imagine you are Auba and Laca and you know there’s a guy who is still not too shabby on the team and can help but is not even on the team. As long as things are going well, no problem. But when the shit hits the proverbial fans, then the frustration creeps in and in the end players lose faith in the system. Arteta said he failed to get the best out of Ozil. By the look of it, he has failed miserably to get the best out of his squad. I don’t know why he has not been kicked out yet.
Or has the dressing room lost him ?
Been saying it for weeks on here now , only to be met with “Hogwash” & “Utter Rubbish” , being just 2 of the stronger responses which is totally fair as everyone is entitled to an opinion.
But again I say, anyone who cannot see there are deep rooted problems off the park within this squad are ……… well let’s just leave it there shall we.
I said it’ll all “come out in the wash” – and it will.
No “conspiracy theory”, the facts will out.
Unai Emery the sequel unfolding.
I just hope whatever happens, we play well enough to survive and finish in the top half. We have had training ground bust-ups, leaks, clear the air talks, dressing room losing news and what not. And the constant factor is that performances are not improving consistently. At this point, I dont know if stability will help us or new dynamics. If we are having a clear out, then do it the correct way. Bring an experienced sporting director , manager, executives etc. If we plan to stick with MA, then also do it the proper way, get him help. An assistant manager for a start. He cant clean the mess alone because he is an inexperienced rookie, who has never seen such a state of a club, even during his playing times. Also dont hang him out to dry, if there is some problems with the players the executives should also try and talk with them. In the clash of egos all around, the only thing suffering is the dignity of Arsenal Football Club.
Well said Sid
First of all, let’s forget about this dressing room rubbish talk…. Let’s talk about on the pitch….. Why in God’s name is Arteta playing William, Nketiah and willock for??
William is totally useless….. Willock is another useless player…. Nketiah is a striker that doesn’t even know how to bag a goal….. Almost all the players at arsenal is below 50%
Even our overhyped Aubameyang is too lazy….. Bellerin can’t make a proper cross into the box…… And finally when games are going wrong… Arteta bring on players that will only add to the misfortune….. The only good players at arsenal are Saka and Gabriel meghalaes…..
Finally…. If arsenal doesn’t want to spend money to buy quality players… Then they should forget about top 4 talkless of playing in the champions league….
Edu and kroenke needs to be axed… Both of them are doing arsenal no good…..
I can’t imagine the way we will be thrashed by Manchester city and Chelsea in our upcoming matches…
Any player in their right senses will choose a transfer move to Everton or Newcastle than to arsenal….
When you lose games, it’s inevitable you’re going to lose the dressing room.
You’ll start being rude to players in thinking you’re imposing authority. You’ll force them to do things outside their ability. And so on.
I like your comment that rudeness is being confused with authority.
Like in any work place, respect has to be earned rather than self-asserted or imposed. A new manager of any work place is not likely to earn respect by blazing in telling the existing staff that they are crap, and then getting rid of the more popular members of staff because they new manager wants to assert authority.
MA might be a good/great coach, though I very much think that the jury is still out on that, given that he’s only had two years at the role. But leaving that aside for the sake of argument, and assume that he is, he also needs to learn that people management is a critical skillset if he wants to progress to the next level and become a successful head coach/manager.
Unfortunately, Arsenal is too big a club for him to learn on the job, and I hope it will be very soon that I will be able to wish him all the best in his future career, at somewhere more appropriate for his present skill level of management.