THE TRUTH IS PAINFUL, WILL NEW REGIME ADDRESS IT?
Just a casual Saturday to throw down some thoughts on this next phase of the season. It’s a bit of a lame-duck run for Arsenal. The only thing keeping people on track right now is the extremely slim chance of us passing Real Madrid. The Champions League is for dreaming, and we’re all dreaming of Saka scoring a hat trick at one of the most famous spots in the world.
My gut says we’re absolutely getting beaten there, and it’ll be the final slap in the face before finishing the season behind a Liverpool side that looked dead and buried at the end of last season.
I was watching the Jürgen Klopp documentary last night. It was quite interesting to juxtapose his demeanour on that shoot with the one I’ve heard about behind the scenes. It was also very interesting to hear him talk about rock 'n' roll football in the context of fatigue… he basically said the style actually reduces running because there are fewer long runs back to goal if you can win the ball earlier.
Now think about how Liverpool finished last season—sputtering, broken, and fighting on the touchline.
There’s a level of delusion I think all great people have. If you don’t have grand ambitions, outrageous expectations of people, and an extremely myopic belief system, it’s hard to be truly great.
That is how I think of Mikel Arteta. Clearly, he’s one of the best coaches in the world, but he has blind spots when it comes to relationships, and he truly believes that fatigue is just a state of mind—which is what gets him into trouble. He needs to rely on more than 14 players, and when he has to reach into the rest of the squad, they’re quite often feeling left out in the cold.
I have wondered recently whether the shock of losing to Liverpool this season might be the wake-up call he needs to move to the next level. Going all out to bring in a Berta-style Sporting Director would indicate he knows that patience is running out in the dressing room, in the fanbase, and maybe even in the boardroom.