From Ariel Klein : the paralysis of seeing the emperor has no clothes
Hi Myles,
Here’s something that I felt compelled to send you today.
I know that you (and many others since) have long pin-pointed the source of the Arsenal maladies but a theory only just landed on me this morning as I was enjoying a rare chance to procrastinate whilst ‘working from home’:
I think that most of the players love and deeply respect Arsene. BUT, equally, they probably all know that as long as he remains in charge they will be treading water, at best, or going backwards.
The longer this continues, the more this internal conflict deepens manifesting in abject team performances. I’m no sports psychologist but I can understand how being torn in this way (essentially being pulled in opposite directions) can lead to the type of spiritless performance(s) we saw at Wembley.
Without a Tony Adams or a Patrick Vieira on the field to force the players to focus on the game in the here and now (and basically to power through), too many players let this mental and emotional conflict create a paralysis that runs through virtually the whole team.
This fragility within the team is exposed time and again and now it’s not only against the top teams but even against some of the minnows.The manager is clearly unable to address this and I would assert that Arsene, himself, is suffering from a similar conflict and paralysis; his famed transfer dithering now dominating his day-to-day managerial role(s) as he struggles between desperately wanting to stay in the job (to which he has been so incredibly dedicated) and knowing deep down that the time has come to step aside.
For a decade, Arsene was the most magical manager Arsenal ever had, trail-blazing as he led us to many of our greatest ever glories.
For the next decade he perfected the art of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, whether to scrape into the top 4 or to win the FA cup a record number of times (and then to have his contract renewed!!).
Unfortunately, focussing so much on this one trick (ok, largely brought on by the Emirates move and the resulting restricted finances) has meant that the balance of the magic show has shifted from mesmerising to mundane and mediocre.
With too many basic other tricks failing altogether, the magician has morphed into the naked Emperor so desperate for everyone (his players, Arsenal supporters and pundits) to continue to admire his ever so wonderful clothes.
I’d dearly love to see Arsene pull one final rabbit of the hat and win the Europa League but, unless the players are all told that he will be retiring at the end of the season, I can’t see them managing to overcome the paralysis brought on by their conflicted loyalty and ambition.
I’m looking forward to a re-invigorated ANR (which will mirror both the team and the fans) as you assess the new man* in charge next season!!
Take good care, Ariel
*PS: Why is the hugely impressive PV4 not being leaked by ‘club insiders’ as a possible candidate?
Myles says:
Spurs could fall apart, Ariel, and I would hate to see that.
As I often used to say (and I wasn’t joking) failure is more interesting that success.
Patrick might be ready for that kind of pressure. Or he might not. I reckon it’s too soon for him to manage Arsenal.
From Ariel Klein:
Hi Myles,
I completely agree. There’s certainly more to be learnt from defeat and failure if you’re willing to confront what went wrong.
It’s a fine balance though and we’ve seen the cost of getting it wrong by both over- and under-analysing things:
You’ve highlighted several times how this introspection was counter-productive when Vieira, Pires, Henry and co. sat in what was Café Base in Hampstead after costly defeats only for the next game to end in defeat as well.
At the other end, Arsene’s apparent stubbornness may well have gotten in the way of this type of soul searching (except when he had no choice if he wanted to pull another rabbit out of the hat) consigning us to Groundhog Day season after season.*
It will be interesting to see if Pochettino finds the right balance, assuming he doesn’t leave prematurely from Spurs’ perspective.
Should Gazidis tap him up do you think? Now that would be interesting!!
Cheers,
Ariel
* Probably worth watching the film one day, even if just in preparation for a new epilogue of The Professor.
Myles says:
Gazidis now has protect his own job.
He is now a proper Chief Executive because Wenger has gone and an appointment has to be made soon.
Next season started today.
I’M SERIOUS: Next season started today.
And Ivan will NOT be making any mischievous phone calls to Mauricio Pochettino.