goon wrote:
That's a classic Mourinho line.
Yep, this is what I was referring to the other day when I talked about his management style, although I did it in a slightly dismisisve way that lacked nuance. It's one thing to realise the team needs improvement, and part of it can only come through higher quality players. It's another to tell it not just to the face of the players but to telegraph it to the world in press conferences and media.
From the first press conference Arteta talked about how far behind we are. We went on to beat Liverpool as the second team to do it last season, and one of the points he made afterwards was how much higher their quality is. When we dipped so badly during the fall and winter he gave interviews saying the squad is full of people with the wrong mentality, whose reaction toward adversity is to feel defeated instead of magically improving their performances.
There has been no analysis or admission of his own responsibility in any of this. It's like he thinks he came in with a mandate to fix a broken club and that no changes he makes, no approach he takes, can therefore be in the wrong. Ultimately every manager's dream eleven consists of the best players on the planet, and unless you manage a Manchester City or a Real Madrid you will never be close to having it. Being a manager entails getting the most out of the players that you actually have, not just the ones you'd like to have.
Wenger had certain flaws but never did he use the fact that he had to show up to a clash with peak Barcelona with fucking Bendtner and Silvestre in the starting eleven as an excuse for losing. He would go to the supporter's trust meeting and personally and viciously defend Silvestre rather than leave him exposed to a wave of criticism. There was never any question in the players' minds whether he had their back or not.
You can't go around telling people that the collective failings of the team is their individual fault, that they are holding the vision back for not rising up to meet your standards... in an Arsenal team that at the same time struggles to execute basic attacking football on a level that is even comparable to tiny clubs like West Ham, Leicester and Everton, never mind the likes of Brighton & Hove.
Few of the players at the club today were here during Wenger's last season, that's the reality. And some of the few who were, like Aubameyang and Smith-Rowe, are generally among our best performers now. Others like Bellerin and Elneny are here because Arteta favoured them over giving younger players a chance. We can't keep talking about how "Wenger failed to get anything out of these players either" when it was a completely different team with a completely different approach back then. Arteta is failing at a level that goes beyond any dip Wenger ever experienced in a 22-year Arsenal career. We have scored 49 goals this season! These aren't just issues that relate to player quality but to a vision that is too narrow and a management style that is overly harsh and negative. This is all starting to feel very Mourinho-like, with the main difference being that we built a less sturdy bus before we tried to park it and eventually throw players under it.
