David Ornstein has dropped a bombshell. For Ainsley Maitland-Niles that is. Speaking on The Athletic’s ‘Ornstein and Chapman podcast’ he claimed that Mikel Arteta has dumped the Englishman from the team because of his attitude. Apparently Arteta walked into the club and laced down the law, shape up or you’re in the mire. Allegedly, AMN has whinged about being played at right back and has been turning up late for training.
Just a week or so ago, Mikel Arteta made clear what AMN needed to do in order to earn his place in the team:
Asked how the youngster could force his way back into the reckoning, Arteta said last week: ‘Ainsley needs to put his head down and work hard. ‘Show me every day in training that he wants it more than anyone else, he wants to play for this club and fight for his place.’
Advice which AMN has clearly ignored. If all this is true, what a plonker he is. With both Cedric and Bellerin out of the squad, he could have proved himself. Proved he’s Arsenal through and through and the teams needs are greater than him getting an extra twenty minutes in bed. Attitudes like his are not what any football club, let alone Arsenal. AMN has three months to prove he’s not a spoilt brat, otherwise I can’t see him being at the club next season. Mind you, his Arsenal career might already be over regardless and if it is, I won’t feel sorry for him.
I was looking forward to tonight fixture against Man City because playing against the best teams will tell us, or more importantly Mikel Arteta, just where his squad is in terms of progress. Whether his players can stand up against top quality ones and go toe to toe with a City side who regardless of being at their best, remain one of the best in this league.
However, it’s been postponed and by now, you’ll all know why. I’m surprised our match is the first. The trouble with this ghastly virus is that a) we don’t know if we have and b) by the time symptoms show themselves, others could have been infected. Which is why that poor guy who went skiing ended up being labelled the ‘super spreader.’ Cruel really because he had no idea.
Our weekend fixture is expected to go ahead, although that probably depends on the results of the tests carried out on our guys who’d been in contact with Evangelos Marinakis. Until then, they’ll remain in self isolation.
What do we all think of this?
Should the FA have already shut down football across the entire leagues just to protect players, staff and fans?
Should UEFA have done the same by now?
Playing behind closed doors protects the players, staff and officials to a degree but all the time fixtures are carrying on, fans can’t seem to stay away. Fools.
Anyway, we can discuss this further in the comments. As we will no doubt, chuckle over Toots ‘slipping out of the Champions League’ last night – Mail. More like well and truly thrashed and crashed out of Europe. That aside, I wish RB Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele well after he was hit in the face by the ball. He lost consciousness and swallowed his tongue. Scary….
Catch you guys in the comments.
Good morning Rico.
My wife, a lifelong Spurs supporter, on hearing last night’s result commented “serves them right for appointing Mourinho”. You may gather she’s not his number one fan.
Morning Cicero. And to think when they appointed Mourinho, ‘some’ Arsenal fans were spitting feathers.
I was ecstatic when they signed Joe-Say.
The club and him deserve each other.
Was only a few years back the odd Arsenal
Fans wanted him to replace Arsene though.
On the Corona Virus issue, it’s very hard for us to know the truth about quarantine time etc etc
I guess all we can do is trust the experts.
Morning all.
Nice one, Rico!
Well I’m disappointed there’s no news of Maureen’s sacking! It can’t be too far away surely….
Thanks Sue, I’d rather he stayed there for a few more years.
End of season I reckon,come back Poch all is forgiven.
As for the virus it is going to hurt us and you can’t help blaming the powers as we are an island ffs . Here in little old Norfolk in a village school 20 kids between 12 and 15 have just come back from Ski-OMG in Italy .So do we isolate them and what of their siblings at the primary school ? .
Just makes you shake your head .
As I said last night the Greek guy was at the match and met the players,so what of the board members with their advanced ages ? What about Notts Forest he was there too ? How far can it stretch .I see that there is a badminton competition in Birmingham and where do all the players come from?South Korea ,Singapore are a couple. Sometimes you do wonder ,if brains were dynamite they couldn’t blow their heads off
It’s ridiculous potter, whoever thought it was a good idea to let those children go skiing needs to question themselves as to why? It’s put them all at risk and now lots of other children
Apparently UEFA rejected Wolves request to postpone their match…
I have zero sympathy for AMN,but if the club want to sell him,you would expect Arsenal to talk him up,or at the least not mention these problems until sold.As it is aren’t we driving down his value ?
This spuds employed the poisoned dwarf in a panic, imo. They were desperate to get him before the Arsenal came a knocking! I do think our board were giving him the once over before they reluctantly appointed St Mikel! What a disaster that would have been. Universally loathed and now only has antiquated coaching skills to offer. Do you know they really deserve each other. As for sacking him, that is really unlikely. Levy is a tight wad he won’t want to pay the dwarf any severance pay, he’d rather his club suffered until they could oust him for nothing.
As for football and the virus. On balance the safety of the nation and its inhabitants has to come before any other considerations. I’d rather be in bed than dead! And so, I suspect would the rest of us.
I don’t think we’ve experienced anything like this in our life times. It is far more serious than we are being informed about. More lethal than we are being led to believe. The simple explanation for this is ‘thet’ don’t want to panic the people into a fear driven response, whether that may turn to violence or whatever, our resources have been so reduced the authorities would be unable to control any kind of major disturbances or disturbances. Imo.
Still if football is to display any kind of leadership they should cancel all games until such time as this emergency is over and that goes for most other activities too.
Sorry another bit of a rant and I didn’t mention old mother Wenger once! Oops, I have now.
Limey, I’d imagine Mike Arteta would rather he bucked his ideas up and fell into line because of our financial situation. To be fair to the club though, it’s Ornstein who has leaked this rather than the club, or at least that’s how it seems.
Totally agree there Wavy.
I admire Getafe FC as they have refused to play their Europa fixture in Italy tomorrow night regardless of any future action uefa might take. Wolves should follow suit imo.
Who leaked the story to Ornstein?
Influenza kills on average 5,000 people a year in Britain.
Britain has a resident population of around 64 million and so far Corvid 19 has contributed to the deaths of 8 people, almost all were elderly with underlying health problems.
However, the virus should not be allowed to spread and action must be taken to prevent foreign nationals from entering the country. UK Nationals returning to Britain should be quarantined on entry and held for a minimum of fourteen days.
Hasn’t AMN mum got history for speaking out?
Hopefully Rico, AMN will knuckle down and stay, he looked really good when Arteta first took over ironically.
You nailed it about Coronavirus wavy.
Afternoon Everyone, thanks Rico.
Sorry state of affairs at the moment. I’m all for the stiff upper lip and all that ,but people are actually dying from this thing !! And they won’t cancel a GAME of football. Christ!
Cicero , I agree with you re people entering the country, but I fear it’s already too late.
We live on an Island and maybe could have stopped it sooner had we had all the facts. Would an earlier Brexit have helped ? Who knows?
Nice one Rico.
I was at The Pirates of Penzance Pirate Fest and Jack Sparrow in his Sparrow Smugglers sneezed on my Parrott Smugglers in the next urinal in the toilets !………………I have now Self Isolated my Parrott!
I`m with you and anyone who thinks we should shut the borders and all stay at home, I would go as far as say a month. Mortgages can be deferred, all bills should be deferred, rates, water, electric etc etc as we are all in this together and it`s upto the government to impliment such drastic action. We didn`t start the virus, so we should not pay!
Italy are doing it and we should have done it from the start. A month should cover any period from infestation to recovery and we would know who was suffering. No one allowed to enter country.
It`s common sense to me. Without going over board I have enough rations to last a month and I`d even take a months holiday to cover it, but everyone else should do it.
My wife has already test driven being able to sit around doing nothing and watch all her soaps for years…………….a month will be a piece of piss!
If it gets to Italian proportions people will all be saying why did we not act earlier……………common sense is not what goes hand in hand with the people who run this country and I`ve no doubt that the reason common sense is not prevailing is down to……………money!………
In Italy it is possible that their footbal league could be abandoned with no winner, no trophy with the league starting from scratch again next season, how great would that be if it happened here with the Bindippers not winning the league because of the Corona Virus!
Leipzig has a better team than the Totts.
As a result, he played more in the 2 games, won the 2, was the best team in the 2, scored more goals and created more opportunities in the 2, was much superior in the 2.
What is the surprise?
Yes wouldn’t it be great to shut he country down for a month. Unfortunately people have to earn a living, people have to staff the hospitals, run the sewage treatment works, keep the emergency services running, operate the power stations. There are jobs where it’s possible to work at home but not everyone can have that luxury, just ask Kev.
There’s no point in playing matches behind closed doors if the match is shown live in pubs, the fans will congregate there instead, and be just as exposed to the virus if not more so. Either leave things as they are or terminate the leagues all together.
It’s being reported that all Olympiacos staff/players, as well as Forest’s have all been tested and are all negative.
What do we do? I mean back in the day, I thought sars was going to wipe us all out, but we’re still here..
Until this begins wiping us out at an alarming rate and we’re all on lockdown.. then I will begin to panic!
People are panic buying here, certain items. My place of work can’t close – a hospital for the elderly – we just carry on as normal. A colleague of mine says “this is all down to the Chinese and how evil they are to animals, I mean why eat a bloody bat”
Le Coq – Jack Sparrow 😂 and the bindippers not winning the league haha!! I don’t think we’ll be that lucky!
Rico.. I saw a picture of that defender you mentioned, smiling in his hospital bed.. at least he’s ok!
I didn’t watch the game last night, as for some reason I don’t always like watching the spuds, haha, but there’s a lot of talk today about their CB – Dayot Upamecano.. he was a beast apparently.. a lot of fans want him… he’s only 20… bet he’ll be way too expensive though and will end up going to City!!
Oops he’s 21
Would be best all round imo Limey..
Agree Mike, this virus isn’t a game, it’s a killer.
Thanks Lc.
That’s good Sue. Everyone is panic buying where I am too. Worryingly, purely because no specific reason has been given, my local doctors surgery has shut down. Telephone appointments only.
A few care homes are on lockdown according to Reports.
We could be in Italy’s situation in 2-3 weeks, lets hope with lower death rate.
AMN has always infuriated me, he’s just so laid back and even when he’s made a bad mistake (which I can accept being played OOP), he doesn’t look saddened or upset. Wasn’t it him who ducked from a header and it went in off him – may be wrong here but I was mad at the time!
I think he’s typical of a player who’s had things come early and too easy, and will one day look back and wonder if he’s made the most of his career. Bit like Jermaine Pennant. Of all our youngsters, he would be the one I will miss least if he goes. Many less talented would bust a gut to be in his shoes.
I reckon so too re us and Italy.
I’ve always liked AMN regardless of his nonchalant attitude but if these stories are true, then read what he sows I guess.
I don’t think we should be comparing this virus with flu and the numbers it kills. This is a virus on top of flu which we have no immunity to.
I may be overly worried about it because I have a family member who has a heart defect and elderly parents, but 800 odd people dead over a few weeks in Northern Italy are not good numbers. Let’s not be complacent.
On the AMN debate, I’ve never really liked his attitude very much. As Andrew has pointed out, things come too easy for these young lads and they start believing they are better than they really are.
It certainly does seem strange that with club matches being played behind closed doors and in our case and throughout Europe matches being cancelled , the international circus which entails more sometimes inter continental travel goes on unabated.
Sadly, I think this debate is going to run on for a few weeks/months yet..
Scousers 1 nil up half time
Liverpool dumped out of CL .
That is how you do the biz at Anfield 👍😁
Another quiet day at work tomorrow.. woohoo!!!
Oh how happy am I…… 😂 😂
Let’s all laugh at Liverpool…
Loved Simeone’s celebrations!! So used to seeing Klopp carry on like that, not tonight though haha…. bet he’s gutted, which makes it even sweeter!!
IS AMN showing no respect to Arteta in the hope that we will sell him because he feel he should be getting more game time or is he just a jerk, Either way If AMN does not get his act to together then Arteta must sell him, If he does not then other players will show Arteta no respect and do what they want
New post up now