Just a quick debrief for your wonderful eyes.
William Saliba surgery catastrophising on the internet is just for clicks, sure, he’ll be out, but don’t buy into random French accounts pretending they have the diagnosis and the name of the doctor he’s working with. It’s all nonsense. He’ll be out, no doubt, but talks of December are totally wrong.
The big decision is what the club does about the stand-in. Can we rely on Mosquera to take on that role? Ben White will probably not be here at the start of the season and even if he were, not exactly Mr Reliable from a physical perspective, is he? Jurrien Timber is an option; it might be better for him to ease himself in as a centre back… or the club could just go out and sign someone.
I’m not a fan of Konsa and I don’t like the idea of John Stones because his ligaments are made of lettuce. If we don’t make a move, it does leave us light, so one would imagine the club is going to have to find a value option. But, Mosquera, season 2… he SHOULD be the guy, right? If he’s not, what is going on here?
All of this speaks to the immense challenges we have going into season two. There are many layers to the problems ahead, physical, culture-related, staffing, and the overall cadence of the new season, which is not ideal.
I’m here to put a stake in the dusty ground of a summer-baked pitch… I think storm clouds could be gathering on the horizon, and I’m scared.
Let’s begin…
I’ve been here before on firings, but Arteta seems to have moved extremely aggressively against his backroom team, despite a lot of the issues probably being more closely tied to his belief systems and those of coaches like Gabriel Heinze who have a… let’s say, a more ‘traditional’ view on player fitness and what a gritty mentality is all about (always the ones you most suspect, right?). Here’s something Heinze-related for you to ponder when you’re hemming and hawing about how Arsenal land on diabolical fitness situations every April.
Also on Monday, Fox Sports reported some of the details of Heinze’s demands on the players, including that he and his staff denied them water during training and that the team’s medical staff had to step in. A club source said that Heinze and his staff were constantly at odds with the team’s trainers, sports science staff and medical personnel.
The Athletic was able to confirm that during pre-season training, Heinze and his staff sought to mimic the number of water breaks that the players would receive on a match day. Both the players and training staff requested to increase those breaks during practice. The matter was discussed internally and it did not occur again.
After midfielder Emerson Hyndman tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the international break earlier in June, one current Atlanta United player told The Athletic, “They broke him. They’re killing the guys with two practices a day. The staff haven’t given a day off in weeks.”
I’m not saying the above is going on at Arsenal, merely that it points to a machismo mindset that we’ve heard from Arteta when referencing fitness in the past. Remember, the man screaming all day long in his ear is the person he’s closest to at Arsenal both professionally and personally… and that chunk of text is said guy’s belief system — whether he’s tamed it or not. Let’s be honest, Heinze’s views aren’t a million miles away from this.
Look at the top players in the world, they play 70 matches every three days and you have to do that. If we put something different in their minds I think that would be a huge mistake.
Guess who said that 4 years ago and has had injury issues every season since?
When I read stuff like this, the part of my brain that forces me to ponder whether the chemtrails in the sky are part of a global conspiracy to control the weather starts to synthesise what has been going on at Arsenal with the firings…
… the firings that all came after a friend of Arteta came to town to run an impartial audit. I’m not implying there were no problems, but did this random consultant really come in, look at what was going on, and say… lose these guys, they’re holding you back? After we won the league? No improvements offered, no process adjustments, just fire a bunch of people? Seems crazy for a consultant and very unsophisticated. Things were so bad, the only solve on offer was… termination. Folk that had been at Arsenal years… gone? Was the intent to get better people in? Or to find people who would be more aligned with the machismo views that seem core to Arteta’s identity?
There are always consequences to this style of management style.
Sacrificing good people for very little reason strikes fear into an organisation. It can also weaken the commitment of folk who thought the ‘we are a big family’ chat meant something. If you know that one day, out of the blue, you could find your Achilles severed with a bag over your head, getting marched to the car park… and the rationale for said corporate execution is not something the shop floor believes was fair, how does it impact behaviour? Does it encourage a more open environment where experts challenge bullsh*t dogma? Does it lead to more blind obedience? Does it create cliques? Does it create hidden power structures that lead to inefficient decisions? What is the standard if the obedient people can lose their heads the same way terrible talent is axed? It’s very confusing and can have negative consequences for the culture. Just look at how Mourinho dressing rooms go when he pulls similar types of moves.
Also, do not exclude the players from this. They get very attached to backroom staff who cultivate close relations with them during some very dark times. They also gossip the same way we do. They have WhatsApp slander groups as well.
I know I’ve said this before, but losing your job in football is tougher than losing your typical corpo job in the city. There simply aren’t that many big jobs in England - sorry, in football, full stop. Even if there are jobs, you could end up having to move your family hundreds of miles away… or to another country entirely. James Ellis, exArsenal Technical Director, ended up at Bristol City. What a coup for them, but it isn’t out at Arsenal, into another Premier League club, even for the most experienced and talented people.
When you do chop talent that took you to a Premier League title and a Champions League final, you best believe you have to make sure that the next batch of people you bring in are at the very top of the game with lots of experience, plucked from the far reaches of the world based on insane recruitment stratagems (not concentrated in one country), with résumés dripping in whitepapers, awards, and plaudits from top-level managers and coaches. If they are not, you have a problem. You cannot fight it when someone lovely is fired for someone exceptional (Ramsdale > Raya). But if that is not the case, it can have terrible ramifications. If a system is not built on merit, it is built on something else. That something else is never good, and people always smell it.
Have Arsenal upgraded exceptionally? Do the résumés of all these new hires look like world-class moves? We just won the Premier League, are we picking off folk with 15 years of winning experience — or true innovators in the field with extensive records that make the firings look worthy? I don’t know. But the Arsenal shop floor will.
The final concern I have is that ripping out a huge chunk of institutional knowledge in one hit, bringing in a group of people, some with questionable experience levels… and hoping they can:
Tame a domineering manager.
Learn the business (tech, tools, politics).
Manage a horrible World Cup summer.
Deal with some chronic injury issues.
Gel with the players.
Gel with the interconnected nature of all the other new staff they need to work closely with.
Feels quite high risk, wouldn’t you say? New people come with new ideas. They fight to push new ideas to justify value. They suggest new technology, new processes, different ways of doing things… all of this can have disruptive consequences for a well-oiled factory machine. Also, think of the power vacuum and the bar fight to fill it.
Next concern is the players… the thing I will be watching for is how soon Arteta brings players back. August 16th in the Community Shield. If we see players like Declan Rice in that game, we are in trouble next season. These guys should be getting proper time off to recover. If we’re seeing a full team of World Cup heroes, that’ll set the tone for what’s coming next season and that’ll be trouble.
Regardless of what the coach wants, I do not expect players to play through chronic injuries again this season. At some point, they’ll listen to their bodies, and refuse to go along with it. Pain is your body saying NO… if you ignore it long enough, you get Saliba’d… my gut is that last season players like Big Gabi, Saliba, Timber, Odegaard, and Kai played through the pain to get the big trophy. I would be shocked if they’re as willing this season. There is going to be a blip with performances as there always is… but I think you’re more likely to see players just say, no, not this time.
Final worry… unless Arteta works some extreme magic with Stan K, I think we’re going to have to shift players this summer. Talk of £400m spend again feels a little bit off. Bruno, Tzolis, and Rogers… that seems more likely where we land. Is that enough muscle to work past the problems with the spin I talked about above? Maybe.
A big start is the great hope… momentum is a wonderful thing. If we start strong and never look back, we could defeat the monsters under the bed. But a lot has to go right there. New players have to settle, broken players need to mend well, and we have to hope that all my chatter is just a load of waffle.
I also have a tiny bit of hope that other clubs around us are going to have similar issues… but worse ones with new coaches, new players, and old problems they won’t have fully addressed.
This is a big season ahead for Mikel Arteta. He is now, officially, the King of Arsenal Football Club. How will he use the power? Who will check it? How do we make sure we don’t suffer the same fate we did last time we handed the keys to the kingdom to one man. Too much power can shift focus, push you into bad decisions, and make you forget what got you to the promised land. This is going to be a pivotal season for Arsenal, and I’m going on record, I am worried that it might be a bad one if things continue down the path they are right now.
Ok, get the latest podcast in your ears. x