I stated on here a few weeks ago that I felt Arsene’s future would be determined by the players.
Last season Chelsea finished outside the European places. The players ousted Maureen. They now lead the League with something to spare.
Last season’s Champions, Leicester, lost five on the trot, ousted Ranieiri, then promptly won the next five on the trot.
Like most, I watched the Arsenal Palace game, then very unusually for me, I sat with two Gunner chums who insisted on watching the post match analysis. There was a bloke with hair gel and a tight shiny suit and standing in front of a screen they kept touching were two foreign experts. Ranieiri and Carragher.
When I reviewed the full English translation of what they were saying, I understood that Carragher was implying that the Arsenal players were not trying. He was right.
In a proper leftie world of a Karl Marx, the real power rests with the workers. I’m not sure whether players on 50k+ a week qualify as the workers in a State such as The Arsenal, but they sure as heck hold the power.
Right or wrong?
MickyDidIt89
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Cheers, Micky.
Certainly if the players won’t play for a manager, then he’s shafted.
Throughout the last ten years the finger has always been pointed at the manager when performances have been under par.
Lack of coaching, lack of tactics, made in his own image, no thought as to how to combat the opposition, not being allowed to shoot if a billionth sideways pass is feasible etc etc.
What’s the truth?
Well, the current run of abysmal form does seem unusual.
I just can’t imagine what is said after performances like last Monday’s.
Do the players feel ashamed?
Does the manager have any valid explanation for the failure to carry out his instructions?
Or were his instructions carried out as per the usual mantra myth(?), just go out and express yourselves and we’ll overcome?
I realise I’m just asking more questions.
I’ve really no idea about any answers and am struggling to care that much about them either.
Good one, Mickish. 🙂
I ‘d like to know more about your Gunner chums.
We know one was a bloke with hair gel and a tight shiny but the other one??????
Other than that — I agree with Chas — we need answers! [Not really thought about those questions – but they’re good.]
I want to know why the Gooner chums kept touching the two foreign experts.
Good point, Chas, and we need to know if Micky was touching the foreign chaps too.
Thanks Micky. In my world .. and the world of business in general .. the manager’s job is to make everything work. It doesn’t necessarily need to be his fault, but if things are not working, he is the one marched into the chairman’s office and asked difficult questions.
The players have the simplest of jobs .. train hard, listen to the manager, and then perform on the pitch. If they’re not doing that then the manager has the tools to rectify the problem … unless it is a total team rebellion, in which case he is doomed.
I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen at The Arsenal. There seems to be little accountability. We are failing at every level, and everyone must bear a level of responsibility… but at the end of the day, it is the manager’s responsibility to get the players to perform on the pitch … and Arsene is failing at that.
None of us know what is said behind the scenes, but we have seen the team make fundamental defensive mistakes in the first half of games and then come out in the second half and repeat that same mistake. This is poor management. We have seen half decent first half performances and abject second half displays … Why? Surely what has been learned in the first half can be used to make changes to improve in the second.
That is just one of the ways in which the club is being mismanaged. The contracts situation, the clumsy PR and the disconnection between the owner, the Board and the manager are all of concern.
Gentlemen,
I share your total indifference to my question. Simply not bothered either way 🙂
On to the far more serious topic of men in tight shiny suits, I stand very firm on my dislike of the corporate suited tosspot, and on this, I shall not budge.
Or touch
Although I have Sky, I could not watch the game on Monday night, as it was the first night of Passover and will not be able to watch next Monday’s game either for the same reason.
I have chosen not to watch the highlights, but am mystified as everyone is as to how we could have suffered out heaviest league defeat in a game when we had more than 70% of possession.
Having watched Adrian Clarke’s breakdown on Arsenal.com, what I found even more extraordinary was that we have exceeded 70% of possession in 4 matches this season and have lost 3 of them.
I feel that this is symptomatic of the negativiy that is plaguing our game and will eventually destroy it.
I did also note from the way they showed the penalty incident, that, yet again, we have a penalty given when the player allegedly fouled is already on the way down before any contact.
So, what has happened to our defence and form?
It could be the players holding back before a semi final.
Perhaps it is player power and that they have decided to try to get rid of AW, which would be despite the fact that, under a new manager, a lot of them would be on their way out. Perhaps that is what some of them want.
Maybe the fact that so many of them are coming to the end of their contracts, is unsettling them, as we have seen so many times before.
Or, it could be a combination of all 3, or none of them.
I suspect that AW understand it either and is finding it difficult to work out how to deal with it.
His leaving may very well bring an instant short term solution, as we have seen at Leicester, but the long term does not look rosy without an orderly succession and takeover.
jjg,
Not having seen the game puts you at a disadvantage, but a quick response to your questions, from my perspective, is as follows;
Having 70% of possession is pointless if most of it is because the opposition are happy to see us pass across the pitch and back again, then pass back and repeat until possession is lost.
Proof of how pathetic that was can be seen from the statistic that we did not have a single shot on goal throughout the 2nd half.
The fault with the penalty lies with the referee, altho his angle was a contributory factor. The Palace player decided to go down, and the keeper did not touch him. Some ‘fans’ ever ready to blame Wenger, said the Keeper should have been taught not to give the ref a decision to make by coming out to block the shot.
It was the refs position that was at fault because he did not see the cheating dive.
I do not think for a second that the players were or are trying to get rid of Arsene – they were totally dispirited, clueless and rather gutless – and frankly many are simply not of the right quality.
PS,
In answer to Micky’s question in the Post, my answer is: Yes that’s right — or wrong. [I am of course hampered by the seeming lack of an actual question.] 🙂
Sorry Micky, to address your question directly:
For far too long the power was primarily in Arsene’s hands .. and that is not his fault, the Board and General Manager should not have allowed it to happen.
As it is now, I think there is a power vacuum Arsene is the one under pressure to go. He has influence in so many areas that he will leave holes in the management structure. I pray whoever we next employ as manager is restricted to team matters and play on the pitch only, and Gazidis runs everything else.
Last thought…..
It seems likely that the chelski players and the Leicester players got the manager sacked .. so player power is a problem in the modern game. It is an odd situation when players can be earning more than the man in charge of them.
Having said that, if the manager sees the situation developing, he should be able to nip it in the bud at an early stage rather than allow the discontent to escalate.
I am feeling a little re-miss that I have not given Micky enough of my attention recently — so without further ado :-
MICKY OUT OUT OUT
I think you’re spot on and the fault lies firmly with the players who are seemingly already giving up on “our” top 4 spot.
I think the protesting fans cost us the FA Cup last season and have probably cost us 3 or more games this season…
Supporters. The clue is in the word itself. A poisonous element is creeping into the stands, especially at the top end of the football hierarchy.
With a predatory culture of attacking public figures across Britain, footballers are increasingly treated as celebrities rather than sportsmen.
With the market making players increasingly interchangeable supporters might well feel that they have lost their solidarity with the players.
But footballers are human and they desperately want the support of their fans. And if they don’t get it they lose confidence and as any sportsman knows, the loss of confidence is everything.
(from an old newspaper article in 2008 about fans booing players which also happened against Crystal Palace…)
Morning all
Thanks micky for the post.
I believe that players hold the power BUT I’m not sure that our testosterone lacking players hold any power at all. They have hardly ever been able to dig deep and change the way a game is going by their own actions. You need strong characters on the pitch to do that and we don’t have any of those.
I’m so sad that the young men that currently play for Arsenal are so weak minded …………. what do they expect? How do they think other teams are going to set up? It’s all so ‘airy fairy’ in their minds, ‘we’re going to do this and the opposition are going to stand and watch’ ………… not going to happen guys!!!!!! Other teams want to win too.
It’s pathetic and it’s completely spoiling my love of watching football, any football 😦
And all this talk of the supporters being in some way to blame is just pathetic too ……………. I go to every home game, I trudge through the cold and rain, I sing and cheer my team on.
A bad result used to affect me for days but that hasn’t happened for a long time now, I’m hardened to the fact that ‘we don’t know what we’re doing’ and although I have loved Arsene Wenger for 20 years HE doesn’t know what HE’S doing now.
The biggest shock for me is that the club has done nothing (it seems) thus far to think about what happens next …….. a real dereliction of duty 😦
Morning all and thanks for the recent posts I have missed.
On the fans, I certainly don’t discount their negative state affecting the team, and don’t condone the behaviour of some of them, but to try and place the faults there as if it is the main problem that is undermining our ability to mount a serious challenge is a bit…..well…. I think Rasps 9.09 sums it up for me.
I saw an article from an ex pro (Trevor Steven I think) that talked about what it means to lose the dressing room. His main point is that it is rarely an open outright rebellion but more a subtle sub-conscious loss of faith in a manager which results in a break in the communication of manager to player and a slight drop in individual performances which collectively has a devastating effect.
Poor performances result, then loss of confidence and it then becomes a self perpetuating downward spiral. He stated that it is rarely a deliberate conscious action from the players rather something that creeps into them on a sub-conscious level.
I will certainly point a finger of blame at under-performing players, but a team performs and plays to a managers tune so Rasp is right in stating the buck does stop with the manager. If we are to absolve the manager of any fault and only feel that responsibility lies with players it kind of begs the question of what the purpose of a football manager is anyway. Why do we actually need them?
Off for a bit. See you all later
Peaches
Iit’s entirely Arsene’s fault. We have often seen players like Theo, Gabriel and Ransey clearly not trying, and then they get paid and played again
I’m amazed the home crowd have been so tolerant.
But……on a brighter note… 🙂
Theo was captain for the Palace game …. his job was to mark Sakho on corners …. I rest my case 😦
I am, despite all, in an exceedingly good mood.
Nine hours kip securely tucked away, fresh as a daisy and raring to go
Bloody shame they didn’t bring Tone back for the remaining games simply as a dressing room hot poker
This is how we used to play when we had real men in our team
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3574331.stm
Bloody hell Peaches, look at that team sheet. We did have an incredible side
Sure they all had bigger testicles than the present lot, Sanchez aside, but still wow
That game taught me something very important about being an Arsenal supporter. The team had gone out of both the Champions Lge and the FA cup in the week leading up to that game.
It was Good Friday and I was worried that no-one would turn up such was the disappointment and insisted that I had to be there to cheer the team on. The roar from the crowd when the team took to the pitch took my breath away and I found myself crying real tears as I looked around and saw everyone’s hearts bursting with pride as they cheered the team on to the pitch.
Ooh to be a Gooner
Well put Peaches
The longer the current malaise goes on, I have to say the more my anger moves from Arsene to Stan
As I mentioned previously, who the hell continues to pay players who don’t try?
Sorry, not players, employees
I wonder if Stan ever gets asked any uncomfortable questions about Arsenal?
I agree micky, whoever the buck stops with they’re not doing their job!!!!!!!!
Ok, late breakfast session over for me
Don’t let the bastards get you down 🙂
By who Peaches?
A ranch hand?
If he doesn’t do or say something, then the A4 paper wavers should re-direct their focus and I think they’d actually swell their numbers from three
Really off now. Enjoy the day all
Cheers Micky
I don’t think Arsene has lost the changing room and a lot of this debate is bordering on media driven hysteria.
The reality is that we are sixth, not sixth from bottom like Morinios Chelsea or this seasons Leicester. Now, they are examples of lost changing rooms.
However, the responsibility of our poor season falls primarily on Arsene, followed by the players and then everybody else including of course the owner and board.
When the going gets tough Arsenes players can’t respond to the fight. His squad is imbalanced, over loaded with technique and short of physicality.
As for the fans, what happened at Palace was a lack of emotional control. Driven by frustration and a constant barrage of, for the use of a better term,”brain washing” that something is disastrously wrong, they behaved like men who will feel the smooth body of a woman no more.
These emotional overreactions will only achieve a further alienation between players and supporters. It’s wrong, and like all of us have experienced the day after an overblown spat, im convinced that most who were caught up in the heat of the moment, to some extent at least, regret there actions.
Morning Terry, the problem is we only play well when we are winning … we are dreadful when we don’t have the ball … or the balls!
So yes, we can hope the players will show more fight, but they can’t do anything about their lack of power and stature. We don’t have any leaders in the side. Arsene doesn’t think the role of captain is important … he’s said that all 11 players should be captains. The last 2 seasons he’s appointed captains who he knew weren’t even going to play! We have zero captains. I can’t see any of the players doing a Tony Adams and giving them a bollocking in the changing room … Theo???
It’s not the done thing to bring in a player and make him captain, but the first new player I would try to sign would be a strong uncompromising leader and make him captain. If the other players don’t like it they can **** off
Morning Rasp
Yes, I agree with you. However, ones strengths can also be ones weaknesses.
When Arsenes modern teams are in full flow they are effective and good to watch. When they are nullified they look dreadful, weak, and defensively abysmal.
Change is needed, but that’s not unique to our season, growth is always a nessicity, if one remains still, one withers.
I agree Terry … and that is what we are witnessing … a ‘withering team’
I agree that a major problem is the way that the media appear to be gunning (no pun intended) for aw and the way it is affecting the perception of some supporters. I think that on turn is affecting the players and their attitude and concentration.
If so many players have in their mind what will happen with a new manager, who it might be and whether they have a future there, add to that possible uncertainty about a new contract and audible barracking from sections of the crowd that are supposed to be their supporters, is it surprising that their concentration levels are affected and they are distracted?
What those anti aw supporters think they are achieving?
If there was a risk that they were affecting the players they should be seriously considering their actions.
I think the reported comments by ozil are very welcome and useful.
Two classic lines from yesterday
When you have bingo at 1pm but have to Kill Bill at 2
they behaved like men who will feel the smooth body of a woman no more
Both superb 🙂
Brighton won away again yesterday, while Toon drew at home
Are we sure we don’t all want just one season based on the south coast? 🙂
Edddddieeeeeeeeeee
Look. Our dog Dotty yesterday in car with my daughter and her noise on full blast
Dotty is irrsistable 🙂 she looks like a teenager too 🙂
Yessssssssssssss
As soon as she gets a whiff of salty air, I have to close thhe back window a bit as she tries to leap out
like me, I love the sea. She has a great looking face, nice lab, make sure you keep her slim
So. Is Marc Overmars return just a rumour?
Get you, posting youtube vids. 🙂
Welcome back, Danny.
Don’t know, not heard it, but isn’t he sporting director, or whatever it’s called, at Ajax
So could be a “look we’re doing something positive and restructuring” move by the board to cushion the blow of AW renewing
Not 100% entirely all my own work all by myself without any help at all from my daughter kinda posting on youtube
we’ve put up another one on there of us in a canoe 🙂
I go look
Oh wait, hang on Eddie, isn’t Bergkamp at Ajax learning how to be a coach (not that anyone needs lessons, I mean really….)
I think any move to rejuvenate the top of the club is a good idea. Overmars has been a football director at Ajax for some time now, he loves Arsenal, kept in touch since he left, Ajax are unhappy about his potential move – all good.
Beach bum, disgusting man. Although it looks like it was staged.
micky – that’s even better. We need young blood and passion, get rid of old wood at the top. I never liked that Gazidis geezer
But what we really need is a revolution. New manager and new owner. Chavs had a bad season last year and bounced back with vengeance. I hate them, but have to admire the drive to win, no matter what it takes. 20 managers in 5 years – be it. In the end they got the right one.
Where do you hear/read this stuff?
Eddie
I don’t think the Gazidis fella has anything to do with football I believe he just sells advertising and shit like that
micky – well, perhaps he should do a bit more for the money he gets paid. Being in advertising doesn’t mean I like him a bit more. Nope.
Are you still here Micky??? After I insisted;
‘MICKLISH OUT OUT OUT.
Welcome back,
DannieEddie.Ajax fans, or so the rumour that I put out has it, have been upset that OverMarsBars is a tight git when it comes to buying players. Makes Arsene look like a skinny Father Christmas, without a beard.
Is it just me, or is the world becoming populated with ‘leaders’ who are frankly deranged?
If they do decide to blow us all up, I hope they agree a date sometime in September as I am going down to Rock in August for a holiday!
Here is the Wiki I did on the Arsenal Chief Executive (the boss).
— Ivan Gazidis (born 13 September 1964 in Johannesburg) is currently the chief executive of English Premier League club Arsenal Football Club.
Gazidis moved to Manchester in the United Kingdom at the age of 4 and attended Manchester Grammar School, where he excelled as a football player, and was also a gifted drummer playing in at least two school-based rock bands. Being an adopted Mancunian from a young age, he supported Manchester City.[1] Later he attended St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford, where he was twice awarded a blue playing football against the University of Cambridge in 1984 and 1985.[2][3] He graduated with a degree in law in 1986 and in 1992 he moved to the United States to work for Latham & Watkins.[4]
In 1994 he joined the founding management team of Major League Soccer, becoming in 2001 its deputy commissioner.[3] He oversaw MLS’s key strategic and business decisions and its marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, of which he was president.[5] He also helped promote the Mexican Football Federation and the CONCACAF Gold Cup.[5]
In November 2008 Gazidis accepted the post of chief executive of Arsenal, a post he has formally taken up from 1 January 2009.[6] He succeeds former managing director Keith Edelman and is expected to take over many of the roles formerly undertaken by ex-vice-chairman David Dein.
A Citeh fan — no wonder we are banjaxed!!
Don’t move More to say. Eggs on
RA
Very ok with The Didit OUT banner 🙂
Overmars is tight you say. Oh bloody cosmic
Morning all, I think you may be right about the thinking about bringing in Overmars to make it look like we have a plan for a succession. The first thing I’d do is to take the gag off Steve Bould, send Arsene for a Latte at half time and let Bouldie give them some serious shit in the dressing room 🙂
Rock, RA?
Did you attend either Eton or Cheltenham Ladies College by any chance? 🙂
Morning Rasp
Goodbye all, going out now
Evening all
Come on you blues tomorrow. Yuk. Apols.
Going to watch end of Saints City. 0-1 right now
Anyone here know about contemporary men’s fashion?
I’m not at all sure about the vertically striped blouses with the horizontally striped socks
Just seems wrong
Shame Kompany is back in time for the FAC game
Really helps their defence
Happy Easter all you AA’ers
So there you go then, it would appear the Arsene lovers will get their way again, while ‘ Rome burns’. You know who you are, I hope you are satisfied 😆
Micky
Winners get to afford smart fitting suits & the losers whinge about it 😆
GG
Are you saying you envy the tight shiny number? 🙂
To you too VP
Do you live near Margaret River and if so, did you take your children to watch the world surf tour?
Here it is live now from Aus in Victoria
http://www.worldsurfleague.com/events/2017/mct/1822/rip-curl-pro-bells-beach
Happy Easter to all!!!
about Gazidis again – we know what is the best form of advertising for a football club, don’t we. Start winning and sack Gazidis, another leech.
Chelsea are watching Spurs with discomfort. That’s all I want to hear
Morning Eddie und Chas
Chas, maybe you could work on such a routine on the next Lads ‘n Dads weekend
Eddie
Are you any closer to making the switch? What’s the atmosphere like in Cuffley with Spuds within touching distance?
Micky
If I was to drive down to Margaret River with the kids, it would take 37 hours over 3,576 km (or 2,222 miles).
On the other hand Bells Beach is an hours drive away, 107km (or 66 miles).
Not much news over here about the surfing at Margaret River, Melbourne is a Bells Beach town.
Ooops VP
Forgot. Thought you were over Perth way. Even better then as it’s on at Bells. Get on down there
Are the Aussie surfers like Fanning, Wright and Wilson household names?
Based on my limited knowledge, I would say the household names would be Fanning, Occhilupo, Petersen, Carroll, Richards. And on TV quite a bit is Stephanie Gilmore and Layne Beachley
Easter Sunday tulips.
I cannot bring myself to cheering for Chelsea, brrrrrrr….it is a no win situation – chavs lose = jose wins and Totts could win the league. What a horrible situation
There’s always a positive Eddie
Utd win, together with the earlier Pool win, and we can feet off the gas, play the 2nd XI tomorrow, focus on the Cup, and dump Maureen and Utd into the Europa.
See? 🙂
no, I don’t
When I said feet off the gas, I meant keep them off the gas 🙂
Eddie, we will not get 4th, so I reckon 6th or 7th clears the decks for next season
tulips in a Gunners garden
And don’t panic, I can’t see Spuds winning the league, they have some nasty looking away games and the odd tough home game as well
I like European football and it might be our only chance of winning something in Europe
Quite like the Chas tulips in the away colours as well
Tulips round my organ
We’ll get Europa for 6th
Every cloud……
mathematically we could still win the League ha ha ha ha what a joke
Must win game tomorrow then
Not really Eddie
In light of Chas’ bombshell that 7th still means Thursday football (and many more Monday games) tomorrow’s game really doesn’t matter at all
I think we’re about 10 bloody points away from 8th and complete safety
Am I right in thinking Thursday football rules out games on Saturdays?
well in that case I could do advanced beekeeping on Saturdays and pilates on Wednesday nights, terrific
See, you’re finding light where before there was only darkness
I, on the other hand, cannot think of one Thursday night positive
Mmmm, thinks
5.56
I did say 6th.
But I’m not sure.
The FA Cup with 3 out of the top 4 in the semis throws a spanner in the works.
If we win the damn thing we get Spursdays chucked in for free.
Or do we?
feck that, pilates are clearly not my thing
Pilates are now very much my thing
Sign me up right now and I don’t care which damn day of the week
Screw Arsenal
Chas
Your 3 from the top 4 in the semis does mean we’re buggered I’d think
Lose the semi. In it. Win the thing. In it.
I really will draw the line at watching us play Dynamo Whatever
Till sunrise
Tony’s first game in charge and Granada are 1-0 down at half time and with 3 bookings to nil.
Still time to turn it around.
so is there any truth in the rumours that we have signed Sead Kolasinac?
Granada unluckily lost 0-3.
This is what Big Tone said,
“Celta Vigo are a very good team, but I thought we created a lot of chances. They scored and we didn’t.
“We’re trying our best. We have limitations. We’re all aware of our limitations. We’re running out of forwards. I’m going to have to get my boots on. We’ve got a lot of injuries.”
Not a mention of a high press or an interior
Bless Tone for still calling the good players forwards 🙂
Are you going Chas?
No, not going.
Saving myself for the Semi.
Are you looking forward to tonight’s match, Micky?
Yip
Can’t help it.
Blimey, Erik’s on another well earned holiday. Do you think I ought to pen something?
What’s your prediction for the score?
it’s a half pug, he is not scared, look – he is going back for more 🙂
Excellent honest words from TA, no bullshit or buzz words, very refreshing
Micky
I can’t see anything in the loading bay.
I’ve sent the Viking a message to see what he’s planning.
Should get a response soon unless he’s without signal or sleeping off last night’s “first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox” celebrations session on Ethelred’s mead.
Score eh?
Well, assuming he picks some try’ers ie Iwobi, Ox and Danny, then I’d go for 0-2 and a completely useless three away points 🙂
I don’t think Danny trained yesterday.
But I think Kos and Petr did.
If you write a few lines in your amazingly speedy way, we can always add them to BR’s if he turns up.
micky – I had Escoffier in my kitchen yesterday 🙂 I prepared food, but I cannot dress it. Peaches Escoffier arrived with lots of bottles, pots of herbs etc and made my food tasting delicious 🙂
Conte on Chelsea’s defeat.
“They showed more desire, more ambition, more motivation. In this case the fault is of the coach.”
The Italian added he had not been able to “transfer the right concentration, desire, ambition to win this game”.
absolutely nothing to dislike about Tony Conte.
I doubt very much we will see our team in a fighting spirit. With the media. results and own fans all against them they are unlikely to show character. However, I would love them to prove me wrong.
What did you eat with Peaches Escoffier?
ooooh, toasted muffins with eggs and salmon, chicken and goose with 6 different salads and strawberry gateau. Peaches Escoffier did the magic on salads, amazing difference with some oriental thingies, no idea what they were 🙂
Ah, morning Eddie
Eddie
I’d have thought Carp would have been nailed on what with you being a bit Polish or Catholic or something and yesterday being a special occasion
don’t be silly micky, carp is for Xmas, honestly!!!
The rest of the family prefer smoked salmon, posh gits 🙂
No reply from BR as yet
Easter Sunday food sounds excellent.
I’m off out in a short while so can’t publish anything (if there’s anything to publish).
POST SENT
Although I’m afraid it’s little more than a chance for a new page
… New post …