All Managers Inherit Players – it’s not An Excuse to fail by Dan Smith
AFTV came up on my suggestions last night, and apart from referring to the obvious Runarsson mistake, I watched them blame everything on Mustafi. Seeing as Xhaka and Bellerin were not playing, of course Mustafi would be the latest scapegoat.
Common sense would suggest that if you are 15th in the League and just been humiliated 4-1 at home, that the majority of the squad have been poor. Yet again though, let’s blame only one of the centre backs because fans want to convince themselves that Gabriel is a world class signing?
Let’s also ignore the fact that this was another opportunity that Maitland Niles and Willock failed to embrace?
You see some Gooners have a list of players they pick on for their own agenda. That agenda being that some built a reputation on social media disrespecting the Greatest Manager in our history and feel they will hurt their credibility by admitting the grass hasn’t proven greener.
In terms of us going backwards since Arsene Wenger left, it couldn’t be more apparent that we have seriously declined. Be honest, if it were a rival fan who complained for years about only finishing in the top 4 you would now be telling them’ be careful what you asked for?’
So to save face, the narrative is now is that it’s still Mr Wenger’s fault because talent he signed are still at the club.
Of course when we won the FA Cup and some on JustArsenal were predicting in the summer a title challenge it wasn’t an issue.
I had readers tell me why Emery, and then Arteta, were better than Wenger, yet when they fail, that’s the fault of a man who left two and a half years ago?
I like Arteta and want him to succeed. I can though not want him sacked, but still acknowledge that the current results are not good enough.
You have to set certain standards. The Spaniard will put things right, but it would be wrong to blame previous coaches, he has to take responsibility.
Fans need to stop pretending we are unique.
Yes, Mr Wenger didn’t leave things perfect on or off the pitch, but he didn’t leave us as a club just above relegation in December either.
You will find that normally there is a reason why a club make a managerial change. Very rarely does a manager walk into a new job where everything is perfect.
Even Sir Alex Ferguson was accused of leaving an ageing Man United. David Moyes was given 6 months, very few said, ‘wait till he’s brought his own players.’
Unless you’re Man City or Chelsea the idea of having to work with individuals from a previous regime is fairly common. Part of any job criteria is getting the best out of the resources available to them. You can’t expect a free pass until you have had as many transfer windows as you want. Not that Arteta is asking for that.
To prove the myth, Carlo Ancelotti equally started work on Boxing Day last year with Everton 15th in the League. A year on they are 4th. Of the 14 players used to beat us, 12 he inherited.
Jose Mourinho has been at Spurs longer then Arteta at Arsenal by a few weeks. 10 players who featured at the weekend were part of the previous regime.
Even David Moyes in his year back at West Ham is 10th, yet is working with the majority of the same group who were near the bottom three. Nine players who started their last game were there before Moyes was.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been at Man United a year longer than Arteta. He’s finished 4th in his first full season and is currently 3rd, yet on Sunday he was working with a squad where 12 out of 19 were not his signings.
So other managers equally have had to work with players they inherited – but have managed to improve.
This idea that a manager gets a free pass because he doesn’t have ‘his’ players is just a concept that some of our fans have made up, either to make excuses for Arteta or because they can’t admit they were wrong; that the present is proving that maybe Mr Wenger did a better job than some think?
Dan Smith