THOUGHTS ON MANAGING THE SQUAD AND PERSONAL FITNESS
Bukayo Saka, out on England duty, has been talking in the media ahead of a BIG game against Serbia. He was pushed on our title chances.
“We just have to win every game, that’s the mentality we go into the game with and see where it leaves us.”
“We cannot get carried away with what people are saying, because one day they say something and the next day they say something else.
“People’s opinion about us changes like the weather. The most important thing is our dressing room, and the foundation and the belief we have in ourselves.”
I do like the core of what he’s getting at here. We’re constantly being rattled in the media, and it’s dependent on what’s going on at a game-by-game level.
Liverpool spent better than us, they were nailed on.
Liverpool beat us, Arteta likely coming to the end of his tenure.
Arsenal go on a massive run, clearly the favourites, and it would be a horrendous bottle job if they failed.
City charging at Arsenal, they have the experience, Arsenal are CHOKERS.
No one can really pick a lane because so few of them are looking at the discourse over the long term, except maybe Gary Neville who has been strong for Arsenal over the past two seasons.
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It is, however, our fault that this discourse exists and flaps around like a bin bag on a building site. We feed into it, screeching at every opinion we don’t like, carrying it well beyond the confines it deserves because that is the beautiful game and we love it.
Arsenal players, in general, have been taking a more mature view of the media this year. It’s all quite funny to them. They’re not paying attention to the accusations, they’re not reacting, and they absolutely refuse to add fuel to the fire, particularly with the referees. They seem to have accepted that PGMOL is a living and breathing entity that is fragile and petty. If you poke them, they’ll retaliate in any number of soft and hard ways that can affect title standing. Over-reffing, selecting weak refs for strong games, outright horrible decisions. Whatever the boys are doing this season seems to be working because we’re getting the rub of the refs right now and our controversialities have been slim pickings.
You know who is not taking a mature approach to Arsenal right now? That pesky roaming full back, Ricky Calafiori. He’s hurt himself but has decided not to come home and rest up in the cryo chamber.
You might be thinking, oh, maybe it’s a tough game. No, it’s not.
‘Riccardo Calafiori has been following an individual training programme before Italy’s World Cup qualifying match against Moldova on Thursday.
The Arsenal defender has been one of the Gunners’ standout performers this season, starting all 11 of their Premier League games.’
They’re second in their table, three behind Norway, and he’s risking it all on a WC game that will not hit the sides. Why are international teams like this? Drives me absolutely nuts. Keeping Ricky fit and fresh should be the number one mission for them. They know what he can do, he’s one of the best at the moment, do they really need to be wasting his energy on a game like this? Beyond belief.
But good news for Myles and Hincapie who will be waiting in the wings if the worst happens. This upcoming glut of Block 5 fixtures is going to test Arteta in new ways.
When things get emotional, as a coach, you fall back on what you know.
You pick the players you love and err on the side of not rotating.
You take players out on the training pitch for one last extra session before a game. When you’re a guy like Arteta, being egged on by a crazy like Heinze, your comfort comes from feeling over-prepped. That can end up in silly situations like going on a training trip to Dubai and rolling Kai Havertz out multiple days in a row.
Arteta needs to be like Saka in those press conferences. Calm, trusting, with total faith in all that has been built for him. Rotation and freshness are more important to our title than anything else. We run on fumes most years and we never make it. We have the deepest squad now, and if we use it right this season, there’s a high chance we will be contending for the biggest trophies until the end.
If Arteta falls back on his comfort blanket of overplaying players and monstering them, we will end up Gyokeresless, playing Merino up top, falling against the very best teams, and losing in the margins again.
Let’s hope Arteta has his head screwed on right, and let us pray that Andrea Berta can show his value beyond just signings, and make sure that Mikel is on track with how he manages that squad. We have had a pretty unlucky run of injuries, and it’s a warning sign heading into a crucial period. Trust, rotate, think of the medium and long term.
Ok, that’s me done. We dropped a SPICY episode of member SPICY takes last night. If that’s your thing, please sign up for a subscription and enjoy the episode. This one was based off members of Le Grove commenting. Also, one final piece, please be good to each other in the comments. If I see abuse, trolling, or words that are not in keeping with the ‘blog of love’ approach, I will snipe people with bans. We’re in the form of our lives, no reason for the comments to be negative. x
Podcast## 🔥 AOP | AFTERMATH SESSION | SPICY TAKES FROM MEMBERS
Pedro
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3:22 AM
🔥 AOP | AFTERMATH SESSION | SPICY TAKES FROM MEMBERS
Pedro and Matt dive into your hottest takes in the latest Arsenal Opinion Podcast – Aftermath Edition.
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