A case not ready for court… [ARS (3) 1 – 1 (5) MUN]

Credit: Arsenal.com

‘A case not ready for court’

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

By Mike McDonald

Over the last 40 years I have become a big fan of true crime TV. I’ve wondered for a while as to why I like it. Should I be worried? It all started with Miss Marple. Still in my mind the single best TV show ever. Then due to my admiration for Joan Hickson I started watching Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote. When I moved to the US, Criminal Minds and Shetland are my addiction and then as soon as streaming took over, documentaries about real crimes became my fascination.

I’ve learnt much about the world of crime. One of my most interesting learnings is how a (often corrupt) District Attorney can refuse a case because of lack of evidence. This must be so very frustrating for those wanting justice.

I then (briefly) dove into social media after the game and then dove back out. I read those that don’t post without thinking and left the angry heads to shout at each other. I see my writing as an opportunity to fill a gap in the industry where common sense was replaced by sensationalism. Perhaps I take social media too seriously. It’s likely a way for those who are upset to get their anger out by interacting with others. Not a bad thing really. Sometimes better than keeping it in. Also understandable in a world where we now share more with our fingers than our mouths. Many simply don’t have the social skills or confidence in their opinion to go to the pub and argue or pick up the phone. It’s also cowardly to only opine from a keyboard.

The way I see it is that the case against Arteta and the club isn’t ready to go to court. Not even close, especially in Mikel’s case.

Why? Because we don’t have the critical evidence. As I’ve learnt with true crime, the DA won’t even take the case if you have no physical evidence regardless of how loud the victims shout and how much it looks like they might be right.

What’s the physical evidence? Well, we have to look at the accusations.

1. Arteta didn’t buy a striker

Was it Arteta though? Personally, I don’t think so. What’s the evidence? Well, we seem to all agree that the players that come in are Arteta’s picks. If that’s true then his first pick in the summer was a striker. Sesko. I’m sure Arteta wasn’t the reason that Sesko didn’t come as most that arrive state that they were blown away after talking to the coach.

So, why didn’t we go back for another striker? Don’t know but perhaps they want to wait for Sesko. We can only guess. The DA would say that we scored more goals than anyone else last season so close the door behind you when you go. I put my head back in the DA’s office and ask, ‘did we need another attacker, a winger perhaps?’ I think so but I don’t know how hard we tried so again, I can only guess. He tells me again to stop pointing fingers because we don’t know. Eventually we got Sterling and I remember thinking that this could end up being genius. It was low risk and he should’ve been highly motivated. Should we be mad at Arteta for not really playing him? Don’t know because I don’t know what’s happened. I’m tempted to go back into the District Attorney’s office but I know he’s going to wave me away.

I go back to my desk and think about what else are the complaints against Mikel. It’s the finishing of course. So I go back to the District Attorney all fired up about Mikel and he shows me this ….

Then this.

This.

And….

And finally these two…

Then he asks me to tell him how my prosecution has any chance whatsoever against this defence. And he is right. He is right because most all of our shouting at Arteta is guesswork. The problem with transfers could be Tim Lewis. He could be petrified to make another Pepe signing and has convinced the owners not to splurge. They may not be involved at all as these decisions are what you employ an executive like Tim Lewis for.

2. The finishing

Perhaps on the training field, Arteta has spent most of his time working on finishing but the pressure of Saka missing is too big of a burden on game days for the players. Could be individual confidence. Whilst Arsenal are struggling in front of goal (sometimes) they certainly aren’t struggling to create opportunities to score enough of them. I’d say that our opponents would walk from Manchester to North London to get Arteta as a coach because his healing touch has taken us to where we wanted to be. Exactly what they want.

All of these issues aren’t any different if we sit at our detective desk and decide to go take a different approach and head back to the DA’s office to point the fingers at the club or the owners. The DA is just going to say, ‘again, you are guessing.’

The DA then sits me down and gives me a speech.

” Listen son, you have to wait. I know you don’t want to wait because you are angry but you are relying on guesswork to blame people and if I was to use your strategy then there would be slews of innocent people in jail. Arteta has had injuries all season long. One back, two out. In the worst areas too. You are asking him to go from very good to great and you are acting entitled. If you want to make a case against whether Arsenal are a little dull to watch, we can do that because the evidence is 100% available. His substitutions on occasions, sure. Not always great so we could put that on the list because that is available evidence too. Being too predictable? There is a case there too, but you are shouting at the wrong things and possibly the wrong people. You would have a better case if you wanted to take your anger out and prosecute based on dodgy referees or lack of luck. For example, if there was VAR today then Ugarte and Garnacho would both be sent off for a headbutt and pushing to the ground.

Listen, come back to my office in February and we can reopen the case if we haven’t signed anyone because that would be negligent as we don’t even have enough attacking numbers. But before we choose who to accuse, remember that you get evidence because you might be punishing the wrong man. The man that has taken you from not being in the top 50 teams in Europe to the top 5.”

So, what is the fix if the darts can’t yet be thrown at Arteta or the club? There’s no point sitting here waiting for our anger to be justified. We fix it.

Firstly, The club have to get in bodies. The investigation most certainly gets re-opened if they don’t because regardless of Arteta wanting quality over quantity, we are still in 3 competitions and have a real chance in the CL. We are currently 3rd favourites. Last season we went out in Germany with more attacking options because of fatigue. You simply can’t repeat that.

Secondly, if you can get a player you actually want you have to get one whose number one or two quality is finishing. If there is any legitimate complaints against whoever at the club, it is this….

These are Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz’s top qualities;

Havertz

1. all around very good footballer
2. consistent effort
3. positional flexibility
4. game understanding
5. link play
6. aggression
7. movement
8. aerial target
9. skill
10. pressing
11. finishing

Jesus

1. skill
2. positional flexibility
3. creativity
4. pressing
5. experience
6. unpredictability
7. movement
8. shooting
9. agility
10. finishing

Even though we had a very impressive scoring record last season we took a risk with two strikers who don’t have ‘finishing’ in their top 9 best qualities. This reminds me of the later Wenger years where we ‘made do,’ rather than pushed the boat out. If for example, we sign Gyokeres, we don’t have to play him every week as Havertz and Jesus and others have proven in half the games this season that they are more than enough. It’s just a big risk to not have a profile in your squad whose list of qualities aren’t a list that is like the ones above, but flipped upside down. 

There are other things to point at like the reliance on Odegaard, in particular, but again the evidence is pointing firmly at finishing being the short term issue even though there are long term improvements needed.

Arteta can’t make us feel better by talking. Not really. I feel for him in this. He has to defend his players at a time where they are more at fault than him. Because he is the face and the voice, we shout at him. If he gets defensive and starts throwing the facts and argument that I am, then we will say that he is losing it. I also understand that the anger from the British fans comes from perhaps a different place. Many are living with little hope as their lives are being screwed up by those in charge of the country. Arsenal are their happiness and they really don’t need their happy place to compound their mental state.

Football changes so fast and my footballing hope is in a coach that entirely changed our culture, attitude and opportunities. I watched United breaking forward in extra time and five of our players sprinting (not jogging) back to help. I love that. I compare that to a team that many think we are inferior to, in Real Madrid. I sit here watching Barcelona thrashing them and they are giving less than 50% of what Arsenal give defensively. For the effort alone I will never turn on an Arteta team because they are trying harder than any Arsenal team in my lifetime. I am perfectly aware that these players wouldn’t necessarily do this for just anybody. Because they are so willing to bleed for the club we love I would raise my voice louder on Wednesday as my support could directly affect the one thing that all of them are probably lacking, in confidence.

Prayers for Gabriel Jesus who may have played his last game for Arsenal.

Be a help, not a hindrance…… Mike

Mike McDonald

Former Highbury regular. Moved to TN, USA in ’99. Married with 3 kids. Coached in UK and US for 27 years.
Mike McDonald Soccer Academy in Morristown TN, Olympic Development coach, Regional Premier League Champion.