Daily Bits and Bobs

A wind of change blowing through Arsenal?

Posted on by rico

One from AllezKev this morning.

 

During the long build up to Baku, there was a rumour doing the rounds which suggested there might be some changes made to our coaching staff in the summer. That rumour concerned Steve Bould. Is he staying or is he leaving and was it always his intention to do one more year and then leave at the end of his contract is the question. Or has Unai Emery himself decided that he wants take a different coaching direction and Bould isn’t part of it?

Whatever the truth, with Bould out of contract in the summer and nothing concerning a new deal for our ex-centre half in the offing, the rumours of his departure have gathered traction.

Emery has had a year to observe not only his playing staff but his support staff and what he has to work with. It’s been suggested that U23 coach Freddie Ljungberg has impressed Emery and as a result, has been earmarked to replace Bould.

The advantage of bringing Ljungberg into the first team set up would be that he has a deep knowledge of all of our young players at what is a vital time for the club and first team, with the prospect of the last vestiges of the Wenger regime being gradually moved onto pastures new.

This summer we will probably see an increasing number of those players not suited to Emeryball – whatever that is, moved on as the rebuild, such as it is, begins in earnest and our young players are the vital bridge between the old generation and the new.

We know that KSE isn’t truly invested, the no show of our Owner to the clubs biggest game in thirteen years showed that, so we just have to get on with it despite his nonchalance. Or find a new hobby. I’m too old to find a new hobby so I’ll ride out the storm and anyway, I always enjoy seeing players from our Academy making their way in the game, therefore I’ll be enthusiastic about the youth and patient.

Not all of our youngsters will develop into top quality footballers as that rarely happens. However, with some imaginative and intelligent work in the transfer market, shopping in affordable markets, developing players who aren’t well known, selling some to finance other new signings who have potential and importantly aren’t expensive in wage terms but are ambitious, hungry fighters, I think we can compete, just as Liverpool and Tottenham have shown.

Firstly Raul and co have to move on the coasters in the first team. Those who ghost through matches, who never turn up at away grounds, who can’t defend or who’ve been enjoying the cosy, easy life at London Colney in that pressure less atmosphere where defeat isn’t a disaster.

Emery may not be the long term answer, but he can do the hard yards now, change the mentality at London Colney, dig out the wasters, get rid of those on big Gazidis style salaries, wipe the slate clean and take a fresh approach.

Players not set in their ways like Holding, Iwobi, Bellerin, Guendouzi, Torrieira, Leno, Maitland Niles, who are open to a new direction can hopefully thrive once those too old and stubborn to change have moved on – see ya later ghosters.

Finally, I’m quite upbeat about the arrival of Edu, of course I’d like him to be at the club now, but he can still have an influence and I’m sure we’ll see that in some of the incoming business we do this summer.

Ljungberg and Edu were part of our Invincible team, both were double winners in 2002 as well so we can perhaps see a pattern emerging…

Rumour has it that Edu has already had an influence on our transfer window as it’s reported we’ve agreed a £6.5million move for Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli from Ituano. The 17 year old is on the verge of obtaining an Italian apparently passport so a work permit won’t be an issue.

Have a good Monday guys, let the transfer frenzy begin…

 

rico

30 thoughts on “A wind of change blowing through Arsenal?”

  1. sohara says:

    That’s a good post to read. We need a wind of change, and it makes me happy if we get some changes. I am glad Steve Bould is going his body language during the last few months sitting on the bench has been awful. When we have scored all the other coaches etc Jump up and celebrate while he just sits there with a long face. I loved him as a player, but it’s time for him to go.

    Spurs losing has lifted the mood a little for us. We were only a couple of points behind them last year, and doing OK in the Final until they scored , when our heads went down and we caved ( something for Emery to work on next year) All four finalists did not play well, I think the three week gap affected all the teams …another thing that we can work on for our next final

    I hope our management team and the new additions will be successful with transfers and sales , and I hope to see some of our young talented youngsters coming through next season.

  2. rico says:

    Excellent Kev, thank you.

    Morning to you, Sohara and all.

    We need a change. Freddie and Edu might not be Arsenal born and bred but they certainly knew what hard work meant. Good point about Freddie moving up together with the younger players, he knows them…

  5. allezkev says:

    Good Morning Gooners

    Morning Rico, thanks for the edit.

    We seem to be being linked with a lot of young South American players, it’s an avenue that many La Liga clubs go down and maybe the first indication of the influence of Edu?

  9. chris says:

    An important change Emery should make is to keep Steve Bould and stop confining him to the bench. He knows more about defending than any of them and has shown it not only as a player but as a coach. This until Wenger disliked the praise Bould got … and stopped him drilling the defence. Whoever has been coaching the defence …. he has not done a good enough job. Nor will Freddie nor will other ex forward players.

  12. Cicero says:

    If Bould knows a lot about defending he certainly can’t pass that knowledge on, one only has to look at the disaster area that has been the Arsenal defence for the last ten years to realise just what a poor coach he is. The sooner he goes the better.

    Thanks for the post Kev, I enjoyed reading it.

  14. allezkev says:

    Cheers Cicero, trying to find positives in a sea of gloom post Baku, is like looking for happy Spud…

    Yes Rico, who is Youssef what’s his name?

  18. Le Coq Monster says:

    The new Chamakh ?……………………….faster than greased lightning………………..or greased hair gel……………..

  20. Le Coq Monster says:

    As per normal there will be hundreds of rumoured players we will buy and I`ve yet to see one rumoured by Ornstein. So that means Dick is having his clearout first of out of contracts and players he wants out before he can see how much money he has to spend on top of the rumoured £40/£45M and how much wages he can pay .

  25. allezkev says:

    Rico, I used to check out News Now every single day, but not anymore, tbh I had a butchers on it today because of the Moroccan guy you mentioned but what a croc of shit…

    Is it any wonder that newspapers are dying when you read all that crap…

  26. Le Coq Monster says:

    £61M behind Spuds !………………….wonder if Levy will spend that extra money on players or will it go to help paying for 100% hike in stadium build !

  27. rico says:

    Same here Kev, took me a while to realise NN is just full of glamour headlines for money.. wouldn’t catch me doing anything like that.. 😉

  29. Wavy says:

    You can take a club to the CL finals but you can’t take it out of Tottenham High Road!

    I rest our case.

    Dark where I am now.

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