Is sacking the manager the answer?

Morning all.

The above instagram post is from the agent of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. A not so subtle dig at Mikel Arteta for Arsenal’s style of football. It’s not his players fault of course, oh no, it’s ok for him to sign a new contract and then down tools. Aubameyang was happy enough to lift the FA Cup, take his whopper of a pay rise and commit to playing football under Mikel Arteta for the next three years. ‘He’s creating something nice’ our captain said not so long ago. Oh how things change is such a short space of time.

I’m not trying to suggest all is perfect in Mikel Arteta’s world of footballing manuals but just as fans expect him to change his ways, to take responsibility for the football we’re playing, surely the players have to take responsibility for themselves too. Aubameyang’s agent has done his client no favours at all.

Aubameyang isn’t getting particularly good service but there comes a time when instead of losing interest during a game, you make things work yourself. Like Thierry Henry used to. From nothing he’d make something happen and he’d win us a game. Robin van Persie was the same, Wrighty and Bergkamp too to name just the obvious. Remember the Kanu hat-trick?

Top quality footballers win matches by raising their own game and making magic happen. Our so called big players are not giving big performances and the majority are those who helped get Arsene Wenger the sack, Unai Emery the sack and didn’t seem to want to play for Freddie either.

Yet put Lacazette in with the younger players and he turns it on. Pepe too plays better on a Thursday night than he does in the League and Cedric looks like a right back the first team could really do with. I know, I keep rambling on about the Europa Cup team and I’m sure many people reading reading this will think I’m clutching at straws by expecting a second string group of players to be the answer to Mikel Arteta’s prayers but why not?

With just two goals scored in our last seven League fixtures, anything seems better than sticking with the players who week after week let the club, manager and fans down.

We’re going through a bit of a phase where luck isn’t really on our side. We maybe just need one to deflect off someone and trickle into the net to give the forwards the confidence again to score some goals. It’s frustrating watching from the back when we’re pushing up and trying to get as many chances as we can and we just need a bit of luck. We had so many chances second half and we just couldn’t put the ball in the net. It’s been a problem for a few games now.”

Rob Holding added that as long as the team stay together, our fortunes will soon improve.

We stayed together and kept pushing right to the final whistle. We got men in the box and we just need to stick together and not let anyone pull us apart. We need to keep going and hopefully, things will change for us.

Things will only change when changes are made and I can remember writing the very same words when Arsene Wenger was going through his troubled times as manager. We know what happened. He buried his head in the sand, ignored the need for change, ignored the teams needs and quite frankly, left the squad in a poor state. That’s not a dig at Arsene Wenger by the way. However, some of ‘his’ players are still at the club and that same sulky attitude and disinterested approach they showed him, has reared it’s ugly head again.

Not Holding though and not the younger players either as they are the ones who seem to be playing well, as are Partey and Gabriel who joined in the summer. Tierney is another who doesn’t seem to know what ‘giving up’ means. Elneny needs a mention too who despite being barely played by Arsene Wenger and then cast aside by Unai Emery, has come back to the club and showed his true ability under Mikel Arteta.

But as for a few of the rest, perhaps it’s best they went before the Arsenal board start thinking about sacking another manager.

See you in the comments guys.