Come in, sit down and listen in. I have a Theory.

If I was allowed to make only one criticism of Arsenal sides of recent seasons, it would be the lack of a stand out Leader. It strikes me that Arsene has a “we are all in it together” kind of approach, and that he believes in a collective sense of responsibility. Well, I don’t.

For me this “collective sense” might work if you have a red faced Ferguson type of Manager with bouts of extremely high blood pressure, but I have a feeling that Arsene is simply too nice, and that the worst that might happen on the back of a poor performance would be an extra long “chat” after the game.

Now, talking of “chats”, we all know that on the back of a recent poor performance, our Big F-F-F-Friendly German instigated a “chat” of his own. I imagine this included some defenders, and perhaps even the goalkeeper as well. In other words, those around him on the field of play.

It is easy to hide from a collective responsibility when at stake is the overall performance, whereas in reality, the game is made up of smaller elements. Usually groups of three.

Before anyone gets shirty, I’m not talking about the little footballing tippy-tappy triangles of three, I am talking about Triangles of Accountability. This is where an individual player can be held directly responsible for a defensive or offensive breakdown by two others, not some Winger lurking in some distant corner of the ground.

For example, if Arteta is playing on the left side of a two man midfield with Ramsey, then much of his work on his left, will be with Gerv and Nacho (subject to team selection) and then to his right, with Ramsey and Santi going forwards, or Ramsey and Kos when defending centrally.

Overall what I’m getting at is not some kind of localized blame culture, but a system of responsibility broken down into much smaller groups. Of course there is fluidity in any Arsene side, but there is also structure, and within that I see these little patterns. Each player is a part of a number of threes depending on the period of play.

As I said, this is not about the football itself, rather managing leadership.

I will now read this back to myself and see whether or not there is any mileage in what I’m saying.

Mmmm, not sure really, but you could have a “chat” of your own about Leadership and Accountability if you want.

Written by MickyDidIt89