Friday, August 9, 2019

Arsenal Are In Big, Big Trouble, and You Don't Care

Today, the 2019-20 Premier League season begins. Arsenal make their season debut on Sunday, away to Newcastle United.

Both teams' fans were angry at team management. Newcastle fans actually have a case. Arsenal fans do -- but not for the reason the loudest and dumbest among them thought.

These whining bastards demanded the sacking of the great manager Arsène Wenger, finally causing him to decide he didn't deserve the disgusting abuse he was getting and retire after the 2018 season. The man who won 3 Premier League titles, including the unbeaten League season of 2003-04, the "Invincibles"; and a record 7 FA Cups, including League and Cup "Doubles" in 1997-98 and 2001-02, was gone.

Wenger went from 2005 to 2014 without winning a single trophy, before winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years. But he didn't win the League again after 2004.

Somebody wrote to me on Twitter that the problem wasn't Wenger, it was the huge amounts of money spent on players by Manchester United, then Chelsea of West London, then Manchester City, and finally, once they were bought by the owners of the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool:

Going to throw something out: People talk like we declined from the Invincibles to mediocrity, and it was completely the club's fault. Yet my view, yes, we had constraints, but also the other clubs grew after money became so huge! So as they improved, it effected how we were perceived.

The explosion of these money clubs altered what we could do and what we couldn't. It affected how far we could progress. We should factor that in when discussing how Wenger performed and what players he didn't buy and did buy, etc.


He's right. But the problem isn't just that all that happened, but also that a small but very loud minority of Arsenal fans took the failure to prevent it as a personal betrayal by "my club," and wanted revenge, not on the real perpetrators (the oligarchs and the officials), but on the team itself.

In other words, they presumed that the team could overcome anything; and, when it didn't, they felt personally betrayed. So they made it personal against Wenger, then owner Stan Kroenke, and now against the remaining Wenger players.

Wenger ended up being replaced by 2 men: Unai Emery as head coach, and Raul Sanllehi as director of football -- in other words, what North American sports fans would call the general manager.

Last season, the 1st under Emery, was a disaster. It is true that the team finished 5th, one place higher than they did the season before. And that they amassed 7 points more than they had the previous season (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw). And that they came 11 points closer to qualifying for the next season's UEFA Champions League than they had before, missing it by only 1 point.

But the season before was the ugliest in Arsenal's modern history. It wasn't just the filthy, unwarranted abuse of Wenger. It was the performance and attitude of Alexis Sanchez, a once-great player whose constant giveaways of the ball had cost Arsenal enough games to miss winning the League title in 2016 and qualification for the CL in 2017-18.

Wenger finally had enough of him, and realized that addition by subtraction was necessary, and sold him to Manchester United in the January 201I transfer window. Between that and the other moves he then made, the team got better, and there was hope -- until Arsène left.

But Wenger kept making another mistake, starting a washed-up Petr Čech in goal. If dumping Alexis and acquiring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were his last gifts to Arsenal, starting Čech was his final undoing.

Sanllehi brought in a new goalie, Bernd Leno. But Emery continued the starting of Čech, until an injury forced his hand, and the team got better.

But then, he stopped starting the team's best player, Mesut Özil. Emery would, instead, start Alex Iwobi, once considered one of Wenger's prize prospects, but a player whose progress had stalled, as he kept making the same mistakes over and over again.

Conflicting reports came from the team's training ground at London Colney, suggesting that Özil was injured, and then that he actually wasn't, and nobody seemed to to know what the truth was.

Then there were games when Emery would start only Aubameyang, or only Alexandre Lacazette, but not both of his world-class forwards.  Then there were games when he would drop another world-class player, Aaron Ramsey. Eventually, the team won every game started by Özil, Ramsey, Aubameyang and Lacazette; but those games turned out to be few and far between.

Emery said he sometimes dropped players "for tactical reasons." Tactical reasons? Whatever those were, they failed.

Then came word (from where, I don't remember) that Özil "didn't fit his system."

This is Mesut Özil, one of the best players in the world, who has won trophies everywhere he's gone, including the World Cup. If he doesn't fit your system, you change your system. He has won trophies for Arsenal, Emery has not.

There must have been a dozen League games where making one change -- starting Leno instead of Čech, or Özil instead of Iwobi -- would have meant the difference between qualifying form the 2019-20 Champions League with a finish of 4th or higher, and the stubborn Emery refused to do it.

But, among Arsenal management, there marriage been a feeling that qualifying for the 1919-20 CL by finishing 4th or higher in the 2018-19 Premier League was a lost cause, no matter what -- which turned out to be very wrong.

Instead, they may have hired Emery specifically so that he could get Arsenal in the back door of qualifying for the CL, by winning the secondary European toornament, the UEFA Europa League.

Before the rules were changed so that winning that tournament meant CL qualification, he had won it 3 straight years managing Sevilla of Spain, so they he figured he could get Arsenal in that way. And that seemed to be working, as he got them into the Final.

Down the stretch, there were 5 separate games that, if Arsenal had won any one if them, they would have qualified for the CL. Four of them were Weeks 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the 38-week PL season.

But Arsenal lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace, a far weaker team from South London; lost 3-1 away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, a Birmingham-area team that was the surprise of the PL season, finishing 7th; lost 3-0 away to Midlands team Leicester City; and could only manage a 1-@ draw at home to Sussex team Brighton & Hove Albion, a team they should have beaten without much effort. A win in the season's last League game, away to Lancashire team Burnley, was meaningless.

Ramsey was injured, and Emery didn't have him available for any of those games. Also injured were rising young centreback Rob Holding and world-class right back Hector Bellerín. Nothing he could do about that. But he left Aubameyang off the team sheet completely against Wolves. And he left Özil off the team sheet against Leicester. "Tactical reasons"? "System"?

Emery had done this before. Although he had won the French League 1 by managing Paris Saint-Germain, he had so badly alienated his best player, the Brazilian forward Neymar, that AS Monaco -- a team in a tiny country with an 18,000-seat stadium (about half their population), and by coincidence the team where Wenger made his first mark as a manager -- pipped PSG for the league title in 2018, getting him fired as their manager, thus making him available to Arsenal.

Then came the 5th late-season game that, had Arsenal won it, would have made the difference, the Europa League Final in Baku, Azerbaijan, against Chelsea.

Because of the conflict between the host nation and Mkhitaryan's neighboring homeland of Armenia, he wasn't even allowed in the country. A stupid move by UEFA, putting this neutral-site game in a country where that was possible.

That's not on Emery, as he couldn't do anything about it. Nor could he play midfielder Ramsey or Bellerín, because of their injuries. Had Arsenal lost this game simply because Chelsea were better -- and they did finish 3rd, albeit only 2 points ahead of Arsenal, so they weren't obviously the better team -- it would have been understandable.

But Emery went with a 3-4-1-2 formation. Laurent Koscielny at centreback and Nacho Monreal at left back made sense. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, normally a centreback, at right back did not. Pushing Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Bellerín's backup as right back, and Sead Kolasinac, Monreal's backup as left back, up as wingbacks also made no sense. They flanked Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka in midfield, Özil was in front of them, and Aubameyang and Lacazette were up top.

The game reached halftime scoreless, but early in the 2nd half, former Arsenal star Olivier Giroud scored, and that began the collapse, as the Arsenal defense could stop nothing, and Chelsea won 4-1.

With that score already in place, Emery subbed Özil off for rookie Joe Willock, and lip-readers said that Özil, finally willing to fire back at Emery's disrespect for him in public, yelled, in English, "You are no coach!"

The Wenger Out Brigade (WOB), who had been wrong about everything, told those of us who had seen through Emery that one season was not enough to get out of "the mess Wenger left us in," and that we should give him time.

If 1 PL game would have made the difference between making the CL and not, then it is stupid and ignorant to say that Wenger left Arsenal in a mess. Give Emery time? At this rate, he could get Arsenal relegated.

*

But someone had to be blamed for Arsenal's failure to qualify for the CL. Since the WOB were so invested in the next manager, no matter who it turned out to be, it couldn't be him.

So they turned on certain players. Özil, for being "lazy" and "not helping on defence." Xhaka, for being bad defensively. For usual starting centreback Shkodran Mustafi, for letting players go right past him for easy goals.

Defense is not part of Özil's job. And the statistics show that Xhaka and Mustafi -- both part of Wenger's 2017 FA Cup winners, and the latter Özil's teammate on Germany's 2014 World Cup winners -- are among the best players in the PL at their positions.

Most of all, they blame the man who has been Arsenal's majority owner since 2010: Stan Kroenke. He is an American (that, alone, males him an object of hatred among some if these ignorant boobs) real estate tycoon who made even more money when he married into the Walton family of Walmart infamy, also owns the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and MLS' Colorado Rapids.

He's had some success: The Rams reached the Super Bowl last year, the Avs have won 2 Stanley Cups, and the Rapids an MLS Cup. The Nuggets haven't won anything under him, but they got much better this past season.

He is responsible for building the Pepsi Center, home to the Nugs and Avs; Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home to the Rapids; and the new stadium that, starting next September, will be home to both the Rams and the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.

He has been criticized for not spending enough money on bringing in world-class players to Arsenal (which is a flat-out lie), and for not caring enough to show up at big matches (which he is under absolutely no obligation to do, although it would be a courtesy).

A collection of fan groups got together to write a petition, and sent it to Kroenke, asking a big question that became a hashtag: #WeCareDoYou

The implication: "If you don't do what we want, which is spend lots and lots and lots of your own money on world-class players for Arsenal Football Club, and show up at the games, that will be proof that you do not care, and we will force you to sell the team to someone who does care."

It was an empty threat. They cannot force Kroenke to sell. What are they going to do? Not show up? Kroenke will still get the season-ticket money. Not renew their season tickets? There is a years-long waiting list for them, and the people on that list will simply move up, and those tickets will still be sold.

However, Stan's son Josh Kroenke, who is more involved in the running of Arsenal, answered the petition, essentially saying, "We do care, and if you'll stop being a bunch of entitled babies for one damned minute, the evidence will become obvious to you, you dumb schmucks!"

*

The Summer transfer window ended yesterday. Here is what Arsenal needed to do what it began:

* Find a centreback who will be an upgrade on Mustafi.
* Find an attacking midfielder who can properly replace Ramsey, whom the team refused to offer a new contract, and let it run out, and he signed with Juventus of Turin, Italy.

That's it. Two players. It should have been easy to get them, and still fall within the alleged Arsenal transfer budget of £45 million.

Then, Koscielny, the team Captain, demanded to be transferred. Now, the team needed 2 competent centrebacks, or else we'd be going into the season with the centrebacks being, in descending order of talent, Holding, Sokratis, the error-prone Mustafi, the prospect who never turned out Calum Chambers, and the still-prospect Konstantinos Mavropanos.

If Holding and Sokratis can start 32 out of 38 League games, Arsenal could be fine. But the team seems to have an injury crisis every season, especially among defenders: Last season, it should have been Bellerin - Koscielny - Holding - Monreal, but for most games it turned out to be Maitland-Niles - Sokratis - Mustafi - Kolasinac.

Sanllehi got 1 centreback, former Chelsea player David Luiz. Luiz is not an upgrade on Mustafi. He is a horrible player. What's more, he dives. He got away with that at Chelsea because team owner Roman Abramovich is a corrupt Russian energy mogul who bribes referees. Arsenal players don't cheat, not just because it's wrong, but because they wouldn't get away with it. One move by Luiz that even looks like a dive, and he will get sent off, leave us down to 10 men for the rest of the game, and get suspended for the next 3 domestic games.

The "replacement for Ramsey" is Dani Ceballos, on a 1-year loan from Real Madrid. Seriously? This is like getting George Lazenby to take over from Sean Connery as James Bond. He's not only not as good as Ramsey (few players are), but we'll have to replace him next Summer.

Iwobi was sold, and overrated forward Danny Welbeck was allowed to play out his contract. So that's some big wages off the books. Left back Kieran Tierney was bought from Glasgow team Celtic, for £25 million, or about 5 times what the best left back in Scotland's league would be worth in England's. He's not better than either Monreal or Kolasinac, nor is he likely to become better than either over the course of the next season.

Gabriel Martinelli was bought from Brazilian club Ituano. He's 18, and it will be a long time before he can be a suitable substitute in case Auba or Laca go down.

And Sanllehi broke Arsenal's transfer record -- previously £46.5 million for Lacazette -- by spending £72 million on Nicolas Pépé, a 24-year-old winger from the Ivory Coast and French team Lille, who has never won a trophy.

A lot of Arsenal fans were ecstatic: Not only had the team spent that much money on one player, something Wenger would never have done, but it was on a winger, something they wanted very badly.

They're idiots. Arsenal's tendency for the last 12 years or so, under both Wenger and Emery, is to make about 100 sideways passes before even attempting a shot, wasting time, and then not scoring anyway. The last thing Arsenal need is more width. But these people refuse to accept this obvious truth.

So the transfer window ended, and, instead of needing 2 players, Arsenal now need 3. They are worse off than before. And these #WeCareDoYou idiots are saying it's the team's best transfer window ever. They want a statue of Sanllehi.

Raul Sanllehi is a deadbeat dad: He bought all kinds of components for a great home entertainment system for his man cave, while the kids need food and new clothes.

And Unai Emery is a buffoon, who does not know how to manage players.

But, no, the idiots won't blame Emery or Sanllehi. They will blame Wenger, and whichever of his players are left. A player signed by Raul and managed by Unai couldn't possibly be at fault for any dropped points.

God help the last remaining Wenger player, whoever he turns out to be. He could score 3 goals in a game the team loses 4-3, but they will still blame him for "not tracking back" and helping with the defense.

So what are these alleged Arsenal fans going to do when the last remaining Wenger player has gone, and Kroenke has done what they demand, and spent £1 billion on new players, and Emery still hasn't gotten Arsenal back into the Champions League?

Will they blame Emery? Or Sanllehi? Or Kroenke, even after he's done what they demanded? Or will they still blame Wenger for "the mess" that "he put us in"?

Last season was a long season, with nothing to show for it. This season may be another. The next one may be another.

Did I say Emery might get us relegated? Suppose Arsenal bounce right back the next season. These fans will be happier with Emery's successor winning The Championship (English football's 2nd division) than they were with Wenger's last 3 FA Cups. "At least we won the League again!" No, finishing 21st among English teams is not "winning the League."

When I became an Arsenal fan, a big reason was that their fans seemed to be smart, and to take pride in being smart.

No one would make that mistake today. Today, the image of the Arsenal fan is of an ignorant, selfish boor.

I wouldn't advise anyone to become an Arsenal fan until this changes. And I don't think that it will change anytime soon.

Arsenal are in big, big trouble, and might be for a long time to come. And the people who claim they care not only don't care, they refuse to even see it.

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