We should be letting this dude score and assist as much as possible. It's the only way we retain his value, and we have the added benefit of seeing an Arsenal player score and assist. I'm really confused by the managerial and coaching approaches we've seen from all of Wenger, Emery, Freddie, and now Arteta. What is it these guys want to see, exactly? I'm a bit fed up with coaches that have principles other than playing football, this disciplinary shit is tiresome.
I look at Dortmund and Atletico Madrid, for instance, and I see lower-tier CL teams that may or may not make it out of their group who give their few stars a platform to perform. They have almost entirely opposing football ideologies, but it's about the football in the end. Griezmann was given a platform to shine, Partey, Sancho, Dembele before him, etc. Even in Liverpool's shit period, they let Coutinho shoot on sight, drifting around looking to take potshots, not hustle back to cover a non-overlapping fullback. We need to sell Pepe for 120 million, not wait 3 years for him to come good, run down his contract, and leave on a free.
We're plagued by this Wengerist "long-termism" that doesn't really commit to the long term view. Long term doesn't mean we have a starting 11 made of kids from the academy, or that nonperforming players "learn their lesson", it means we keep players moving through the club until the cycle brings a title-winning team around. Without player turnover, you don't actually participate in the cycle, and you don't get that chance to buy the fabled "one or two players" to make a title-winning team.
Pepe should be starting every single game, not getting rotated with a couple of kids. If we're in a building phase, we need to build our assets, the coach can't just fuck them off if he doesn't like their style or whatever, it's ridiculous.
