I don’t know how this may sound, but having unhappy players in the team may not be what Arsenal needs at this moment. We find ourselves in a precarious position due to our poor form this season, and we need every player to be focused and highly motivated for the rest of this season. We need players who will be ready and willing to fight for the fans, fight for the manager and fight for the club. I don’t really know what happened in our training camp in Dubai between Arteta and Guendouzi, but no matter what may have happened, I am appealing to Arteta and the club to find a way of settling the issue and make everybody happy.
You may agree with me or not, but in the early days of this season Guendouzi was our most in form midfielder. He was the one running things from the midfield. There were games we played this season that we found it hard penetrating our opponents’ midfield, and Guendouzi would suddenly make a promising dashing run that would either lead to a goal or a set piece in a delicious spot for Arsenal.
Guendouzi was one of the shining stars we had last season. He may be young and raw in his style of game, but he is surely committed to the Arsenal’s cause, going by his body language. I see passion and determination in his game. I see him as one of the few Arsenal players who are ready to give anything to make Arsenal succeed.
I am not going to ask the club not to punish Guendouzi if he has done any wrong, but I will like to appeal to the club not to turn this case into a player versus manager case. We don’t need all the negative media attention at these trying times in the club.
When Emery was at Arsenal, he had to face the task of always explaining why he and Ozil never saw eye to eye. There was no press conference that took place without reporters asking him why Ozil was been left out of his team. Emery’s major undoing was his lack of a good relationships with his players. He had a fractured relationship with a lot of players, that several months after his sacking almost all his former players are taking turns to say unpleasant things about him.
Emery is long gone and now we have Arteta who is doing a good job. I believe if Arteta wants to build a united team, he should learn how to settle issues in ways that it won’t affect a player’s position in the team. I hopefully want to see Guendouzi in the travelling team to Athens, as this will prove to the world that we are not about to have another player versus manager saga.
Sylvester Kwentua