Arteta has as good as claimed he didn't believe Aubameyang was training or playing for Arsenal with the proper commitment.
We will probably never know the full back story to their conflict. For me the situation reflected poorly on Arteta at first, because I see it as the manager's job to motivate players as a team and as individuals.
However, when the dust cleared and the rest of the squad responded strongly after Aubameyang got dropped, I felt doubtful that Arteta could have been perceived as unfair behind the scenes. And with many of our players showing a high level of commitment and motivation now, I am doubtful whether Arteta is really bad at managing people.
The fact Aubameyang immediately started scoring goals after he left for Barcelona can be interpreted any way you like. Maybe he wasn't properly motivated here, maybe he was lazy and rebellious. Or maybe he wasn't properly coached here. Will we ever know? I doubt it.
And as far as last season goes, missing out on the Champions League will always be a matter of those one or two results. Aubameyang could've won us a match or two more if he hadn't sucked. Xhaka could've saved us a point or three if he wasn't a dickhead. We could've been less feeble if we'd had an extra midfield player. Arteta could've extracted more from us during those terrible late season performances. We could have started the season without getting rolled three times in succession. When many circumstances could've been marginally different it becomes hard to lay blame on any one circumstance.
