We all know Mikel Arteta is passionate about his “non-negotiables” so we’re always on the edge of our seat when anyone dares to question the way they are policed.
Yesterday, ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Norwich, it was the turn of The Sun’s Mark Irwin to probe the manner in which punishments are dished out to players who fall below his expected standards.
To be honest, while we’re hardly fans of the red top, his were a perfectly reasonable set of questions. What we got in return was the standout Arteta death stare of 2021; quite something given the Spaniard dishes them out on a near-weekly basis.
Given the gladiatorial drama of the situation, we felt a transcript was necessary.
“Without going into the Auba situation too much, do you think sometimes…we all know you’ve got your non-negotiables, but maybe you’re a bit too uncompromising, in terms of maybe, sticking to your principles too much?”
Arteta is already chewing the inside of his mouth, he’s given up blinking, the lips are pursed and he’s slowly shaking his head before the question is wrapped up.
More head shaking…and now, deathly silence.
Jeez, the silence is quite uncomfortable. It feels like we’ve been here two years before he musters a smirking half-smile.
“No, Mark,” he says in a tone reminiscent of T2 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. “I guarantee that’s not the case.”
Unperturbed (and seemingly not turned to ice by the White Witch he’s confronting), Mark tries again. Fair play.
“Obviously, you’re a young manager, it’s your first job, you’re sort of looking to establish your authority or is that not the case either?”
Arteta, maintaining a kind of irate ‘Blue Steel’ hold on the webcam, is a bit quicker to answer this time.
“I don’t establish my authority by being dictatorial or ruthless,” he says with all the calm of a Parisian guillotine operator in the 1790s.
“I just ask for one thing, respect and commitment, that’s all. If you don’t ask for that at this level, I think I pack my bags and I’ll go somewhere else because that’s the minimum you can ask for.”
Resisting the temptation to point out that ‘respect and commitment’ are actually two things, Mark presses on. You imagine him whispering to himself “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…”
He asks: “Is there a danger that this situation becomes a bit like the Ozil one where you’ve got this sort of disgruntled superstar becoming a distraction?”
Arteta can’t even look at him this time. He turns his head in disgust like he’s just been told his dog has taken a shit on the sofa. There’s a small shrug of the shoulders.
“I’m sorry but I’m going to expect that from everybody who works from the club. The first one, myself. The day I don’t do that [there’s a theatrical click of the fingers which is a nice touch at this point], I go through that door and I do something else. It’s as clear as that.
“To be successful, if you are passionate about something, you want to represent a club of this size with its history, that’s the minimum standards that you have to bring. I am not going to ask anybody to put the ball into the top corner every time they hit it, but I will ask them to do the right things every single day for this club. That’s for sure, Mark.”
I have to say, I really liked Mark’s casual response.
“Brilliant…just on a different one, the African Nations Cup, when do the players have to leave, is there any chance of you keeping them for January 1st.”
At this point, perhaps acknowledging the kill, the boss eased up a bit. Phew.
Anyway, after two minutes of tension worthy of an EastEnders Christmas special, we’ve realised we probably wouldn’t last long in an Arteta dressing room.
__
Fancy watching it for yourself? Here you go.
If you look around the top leagues I don’t think you find many top managers that aren’t dictatorial. In fact it’s part of the remit. I don’t think we’d mind if it was a lesser player. What Mark is essentially saying is ‘shouldn’t you be flexible with your own principles when considering one of our biggest players’. I think ‘no’ is a fair response.
I’m with Mikel on this. It’s like when you get a beautiful woman and treat her different from other women that are not as “beautiful.” They start misbehaving and you have two options: 1. Keep giving them special treatment, which would make them feel they’re better (and can do better) than you. 2. You treat them worse than you treat others… So they realise that they’re not special and they start craving something even close to the normal treatment you give others. It’s human nature 101… Treat everyone kind and good, and when they prove than they don’t deserve it,… Read more »
How on earth did we go from ‘manager talks about professional footballer’s need for discipline’ to weird misogynistic parable ?
I wish I could unread that and gain back some of the faith I had in humanity.
You’re funny, I like you. But you have to understand that human behaviour doesn’t care if you have faith in humanity or not. There are patterns that will always play out when certain conditions are met. For instance, if you give a child anything they want each time they throw tantrums, they’re likely going to repeat the behaviour when they want something and, in the long term, are more likely to end up being spoilt kids and entitled adults. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing it with the best intentions of being a “loving parent.” Same as if you give… Read more »
I wish I had figured out all human behaviour sooner. It’s great to know someone understands the way we all function and isn’t confused by the supposed complexities of culture, or nationality, age, gender, race, or class. It makes things so much more simple.
Paul, what you’ve just said is that with the women you “get” (like you might “get” a new car or a new hat) if they “misbehave” (as if there is some standard of behaviour that all women must abide by) then you should deliberately treat them with less kindness than you would with anyone else in order to manipulate their emotions. Apart from being “advice” that is more likely to result in your unfortunate partner thinking you’re a bit of a bellend and leaving you, it’s also tantamount to condoning emotional abuse. I’m sure you’re not one, but if you’re… Read more »
Merry Xmas to you too. What I said is… 1. Treat everyone with 100% kindness. 2. Some people will try to abuse it by misbehaving. 3. Scale back (the 100% kindness you give everyone to 90%), until you find a level that’s okay for them. You have a mate that you’d go out of your way to help him, but when you need help… He’s nowhere to be found, even if it’s something within their power. Scale back. That’s not emotional manipulation or whatever name you want to give it. It’s just you having self-respect. Pro-tip, ignore the red&green numbers… Read more »
Paul, I think you’re making some assumptions about human behaviour (perhaps based on person experience?) that aren’t actually universal. As you may know, in psychotherapy this is called “implicit relational knowing” or transference – basically how we generalise from our experiences with some people onto other people. I really agree with you about needing to scale back when our needs aren’t met in a relationship and we don’t feel valued or respected as we’d like. But like Tomaury, I definitely feel a bit shocked by the objectifying and dehumanising lens you, at least initially, took. One thing I’ve found is… Read more »
👍👍👍
I couldn’t help but think of Swiss Toni in the Fast Show.
Well Paul, thanks for making my comment section exciting at least. Not totally sure about the analysis but a someone’s gotta keep those bitches in check (don’t thumb me down guys, I’m bonding with Paul)
There is a world of difference between firm and dictatorial. I feel Arteta is the latter. Klopp didn’t have issues with Auba, Tuchel had a minor issue with Auba (but has publicly said Auba being a little late for training was no big deal), yet he’s already been made an example for what seem to be relatively minor infractions. Look at Guendouzi. Not defending what he did – he apparently crossed a line – but it is very telling that he’d had no issues with Emery for a year and a half yet two major fallings out in less than… Read more »
And Emery completely lost the dressing room.
Yes. And most of the players in that dressing room have been moved out. He’s also won multiple Europa Leagues.
Emery lost the fanbase before he did the dressing room. The fans made the atmosphere toxic and the players responded.
I very much doubt Mikel would still be manager if fans had been at stadiums last season, or if he’d lost that Chelsea game.
Tuchel and Klopp have won a Champions League each.
Being a tough disciplinarian doesn’t have to mean constantly freezing people out of the team.
Why are you rewriting Emery’s time at Arsenal? The team has long lost faith in him before the fans fully turned. I remember a game we drew in the last minute at home, Laca scored, but the team barely celebrated. No one cared much at that point.
As a minor correction, Guendouzi is not a good example of a player who had no problems until he was managed by Arteta. He is obviously doing much better now–plays regularly for Marseille and even sometimes for France–but he had a terrible history. Maybe, he’s grown up, and maybe his screwing up his Arsenal career made him grow up.
I’m not 100% convinced it’s just lateness. Photos emerged of Auba getting a tattoo prior to being sanctioned by the club, so there’s a suggestion that this played a part in him returning late – clearly wasn’t just a visit to assist his mother. Mikel talks about commitment and respect, it’s clear that the respect hasn’t been there, not just for Mikel, but towards team mates in Auba’s actions. Personally, I think Mikel is right to be firm here and not bend the rules he’s set out for one player based on their perceived status. I don’t think the situation… Read more »
Maybe I’m wrong but I thought the tattoo was well before this incident. The issue with the trip was he was supposed to return Wednesday night & he returned Thursday morning. No indication whether he missed the flight or deliberately booked a Thursday morning flight. It was reported that Arteta was previously ‘furious’ that Auba held a party for his child a week before the Brentford game, resulting in the spread of covid among some of the players. I’d hope that’s not true. It would reflect poorly on Arteta if it was. I won’t pretend to know what goes on… Read more »
Well spreading covid via a kids party ain’t clever!!!
There were no restrictions on gatherings & he was totally entitled to have a party & invite who he wanted. It’s unfortunate that covid spread but certainly doesn’t warrant being furious or count as an indiscretion. If Arteta was indeed furious with Auba as is claimed, I’d suggest that’s quite poor from the manager.
It has been mentioned by multiple sources that the tattoo had nothing to do with the infraction. If it did and Arteta is deliberately lying about it, he is making himself look worse and is a moron. Based on what we know, it seems like he was late. That’s a disciplinary infraction and should be punished. That does NOT mean a lack of respect. I feel like Mikel is making this personal, when it isn’t. For the thousandth time – punishment does not have to be all or nothing. If Auba came late, he should be dropped for a few… Read more »
And that’s exactly what Arteta is doing? He’s revoked the captaincy and dropped him for a few games. He’s not said Auba is no longer going to be in his plans, or that he’s being sold. The things we don’t know are what Auba’s reaction to losing the captaincy has been, or what else has come before the most recent infraction – were not privy to those conversations and I doubt it will be shown in ‘All or nothing’ As for Arteta refusing to discuss it in detail, why should he? It’s a closed doors issue. Why is every conference… Read more »
“Why is every conference about who is not playing?”
Precisely because Arteta has made it a “closed door issue” for no reason I can discern.
It’s not good for Auba, it’s not good for Arteta, it’s not good for the club.
Just say what the punishment is so everyone can move on.
Instead we get media questions and death stares.
Your opinion here seems based considerably on assumptions. With both Auba and Guendouzi, it seems pretty clear that there are things that have happened behind the scenes that we’re not privy to (including the actual conversations between them and Arteta) and those things could very well make Arteta’s responses seem much more reasonable. Two other things worth considering. One, Auba’s situation is different now because he’s the captain. Setting a positive example for all these young players feels awfully important. Second, with Guendouzi, we also know that the Brighton/post-Brighton stuff wasn’t his first trouble with the club, as he’d also… Read more »
That’s actually one of my main issues with how Arteta handles these issues. He makes it clear that someone did something wrong and he removes them from the squad indefinitely. Either come out and say what the person did and what the punishment is, or keep it under wraps (which might be impossible). The way he communicates, you get all the negatives and no positives. The player gets publicly shamed and their Arsenal career seems over, and nobody quite knows why, so they speculate what terrible thing the player must have done – or what a horrible despot the manager… Read more »
Not strictly true. When Arteta was asked about Auba’s lack of contribution in front of goal a few weeks back,he praised his work rate off the ball, and contributing to be the first or one of the first defensively.
Maybe Arteta is saving the explanation for the Amazon doc
Totally agree with your analysis. Arteta doesn’t have room to push other players out of the team anymore. He used up his opportunities to do that. Next time, players, fans and media will say he has a problem especially if he isn’t winning trophies.
Auba has always been poorly behaved in previous clubs, he didnt get much stick because he was a regular team member but now he’s captain. Much more is expected from him.
Guendouzzi was pampered by Emery who eventually lost the dressing room. Not very convincing examples for an argument to be honest.
Sure. I agree with the manager’s call here, but not for the reasons he seems to suggest. I think Auba can’t complain because Auba hasn’t been performing. If you’re performing, you can get away with things. When another player is able to do what you do without the sideshow, there isn’t much to defend. However, what’s good for the goose etc. As a fan, I also have standards for this club. We’ve fired two good managers for 5th place. “You want to represent a club of this size with its history, that’s the minimum standards that you have to bring.”… Read more »
I don’t think Klopp and Tuchel are dictators and Wenger wasn’t.
Generally concur. w/r/t auba specifically though, i feel like taking things this far when they let him go to bring his ill grandma back to london and he was back on time for the day’s training is just a bit too much. Whether he flew the night before or morning of doesn’t strike me as a point worthy of such total ostracism. I mean, if they know he used the night to take his mom to the strip club then maybe it fits, but absent something like that it just feels like overkill.
Loved that response, Arteta has always answered questions with utter class.
On a totally seperate note, and one I’ve thought on a few occasions – does anyone think Ben white could do a job alongside Partey in midfield next season when Saliba arrives? Feels like he has all the makings to replace Xhaka in CM with the ability to drop into the wholes left by the full back’s. Potentially expect this to get down votes for being totally irrelevant to the post.. but keen to get opinions haha!
I think he could do a job, although I don’t expect to see Arteta try it. He doesn’t seem one to shift players positions from where they do their best work, unless its an absolute necessity.
If you have a solid back line you dont really want to mess with that, regardless of a weak MF?
Chambers could also do a job for a game or two.
Yeah, thats true too. Must have been a few years ago now when Chambers played there on loan every week for Fulham and dropped a player of the season for them too?!
Genuinely interested to see how the set up changes – if of course they do choose to keep Saliba.
He might be okay, but… why? I really doubt he’d be better than Elneny, say.
Truthfully don’t understand the criticism of Arteta that he has hung auba out to dry and he is disgraceful for doing it so publicly. He decided to drop him for disciplinary reasons – fine – but in every interview he hasn’t said anything about details, or anything. Just the usual, he is out of the squad, that’s all I will say right now. Our captain being dropped for disciplinary reasons was never going to go under the radar, and I think Arteta is handling about as professionally as he could. He hasn’t made any snide remarks, or given a one… Read more »
Exactly. If he can keep results up, it’ll all blow over in a few weeks. And the fact that Auba hasn’t come out to moan or complain shows he accepts the situation is his own doing.
The media should calm down
Is there any truth to the rumour that Mark Irwin went down clutching his throat and struggling to breathe shortly afterwards while Arteta recited “The new formation will be quite operational by Boxing Day”.
“You have failed me for the last time captain”
Tbf, in the picture he looks like he’s coming up off a really good whoosher.
It’s possible that Mark’s lack of faith wasn’t as disturbing as it seems here.
Arteta would’ve been amazing as a character on that Celebrity Deathmatch show. Amazon will be missing a trick if they don’t make this into a solid feature
A bit off topic, but considering our striker dilemmas, if, just if, Neketiah and Balogun struck up a fabulous partnership and scored heaps of brilliant goals, wouldn’t it be fantastic to have Flo and Eddie leading the line! (This is for the older Gooner generation, by the way!) Merry Christmas everybody- time to get my coat..
Would absolutely love it, but somehow don’t think Balogun is ready just yet. He needs a run in a team, and not sure we have the capacity to allow him to have that responsibility just yet. Eddie is an interesting one.. he scores goals, but from poachers positions, it seems Arteta wants the wingers to be in spaces left by the striker, which means he occupies sake / martinellis spaces for runs behind. Can he adapt and play the ‘laca role’?
Do you think that Flo and Eddie would be Happy Together? Could they find new ways to attack (that would make them Mothers of Invention)?
What kind of weird character attack is this? All the theatrical comments by the author read like a partisan hit piece.
All good-natured. I can assure you.
Oh, maybe it’s a culture difference thing. I’ve always found your other articles to be great.
called sarcasm bud. It happens en angleterre beaucoup
It’s the Irish ☘️ British humour Medhi. It’s great if you are Irish or British 😂
I think its meant to be funny!
I think it is funny as well. Just in case that sounded rude.
Mikel made it very clear there was a problem at Arsenal and we all knew it. He has done so much to remove the serial under-achievers and finally when we see a chink of light, some are questioning his basic requirements. Auba could have made things a lot more difficult for him if he was playing well. Remember how Ferguson had to support players like Keane and Cantona on nine month bans. The reality is that Auba looks like he is ready to move on and Arteta has to keep the right mentality in this promising group. If he caves… Read more »
I love Arteta for his intentions
he’s learning but at this point ‘i’m trusting the process’
If we have to be more than sum of our parts. We have to think and act like one as a team. That requires some discipline and standards. I am glad that Arteta is there to keep those standards.
Principles arent principles if you only stick to them when its convieneant or easy.
You know its a slow news day when hack journos are dredging this issue up again.
What are the principles though?
Being on time?
Xhaka commits an act of ill discipline every single game yet he gets a pass because he comes to training early?
And why does the punishment have to be so theatrical?
Why not take Auba’s captaincy away and sit him for a few games?
And given how Auba’s been playing, this is nothing if not convenient and easy.
Let’s see if he drops Xhaka when he gets the inevitable unnecessary red.
I understand your frustration. I suppose it seems like double standards, especially as xhaka can be a liability in games.
But it seems the issue is attitude. If xhaka goes to ground for a bad tackle and gets send off, what sort of punishment does that warrant from the manager?
I recall last season Xhaka got sent off & Arteta sprung to his defence. A few games later Pepe got sent off and he was hung out to dry. It’s one thing to hold everyone to the same standards but another to treat them differently when they don’t adhere to them. You could also argue Xhaka not getting vaccinated, thereby increasing the likelihood of him contracting and passing on covid shows a deep lack of respect to his team mates. Thankfully in this instance it didn’t matter as he was on international duty and also suspended for the next 2… Read more »
“Xhaka not getting vaccinated, thereby increasing the likelihood of him contracting and passing on covid shows a deep lack of respect to his team mates.” Sooo Xhaka not getting vaccinated prevents other people’s vaccine from working? Me going to the gym and not working out prevents other people from gaining muscle? Everyone should go to sleep at 9pm so your sleep can work? I’m not wearing diapers because I have a 97+% chance of not shitting my pants, but somehow that prevents your diapers from working. 😂😂😂 It’s funny how your kind throw “lack of respect” and other shaming language… Read more »
Ok, I was duped before. You’re just a satirical caricature of a right-wing moron, aren’t you Paul?
Can’t say. Is there a self-evaluation test or something?
Lots of false equivalence arguments there fella. My kind? Arteta wants respect. Is he my kind? Or is that different. What do I want others to do? Time for you to retreat to your 4chan ‘safe space’ after that rant. Sounds like you’refeeling ‘triggered’ by my comments.
What’s theatrical about it?
The fact that he’s being all mysterious, making the journos ask him about it every. fucking. press conference.
If he wanted to keep this low profile, he would have said that Auba will be stripped of the captaincy and won’t be available for x games because he flew from France later than had been agreed, this causing an issue for the club regarding COVID protocol.
Staring down a journalist for asking a perfectly predictable and reasonable question is needlessly dramatic and something that prick Mourinho might do.
MA has said multiple times that he would rather talk about the games at hand than about this situation. I don’t think the alternative that you suggest is practical – he’s doing the one thing I suspect any player anywhere would wish from their manager, which is to keep conversations private and not divulge details about things you want to keep out of the media. He’s protecting Auba by not explicitly saying what happened. Clearly the whole situation is irritating parts of the media and some fans, by leaving some things unsaid, but I see that as MA essentially taking… Read more »
Not exactly charming but I think he’s exactly what’s needed. Colney crèche is over, Arteta is creating Boot camp Colney and “Anything goes at Arsenal” is now “fuck around and you’ll find out at Arsenal”. I’m all for it.
Did Xhaka show “respect and commitment” when he threw the captain’s armband on the ground and told the match going fans to fuck off? Was that doing the “right thing every single day for this club”? Did Willian ever show any “commitment” to the club? Did he show “respect” when he liked a post about Chelsea beating us? I like how everyone is missing the fact that this is 100% on Arteta. He knew what kind of character Auba was, but he kept him as captain and gave him a new contract. He also knew what kind of player he… Read more »
Fair point to an extent, but player attitude and indiscipline cannot be put on the manager. Willian didn’t work and has gone. Xhaka was under Emery, when he did it. But, the future is positive with the youngsters coming through.
You may be creating a circular logic to support a feeling. Is it possible that Arteta gave Auba a chance to step up? Read his language in the first interview about this incident. I think his exact words were ‘Im sad’ that Auba didn’t step up. Leadership 101, set a standard, make it known, give people every chance to meet the standard, have consequences when they don’t, be impartial in enacting those consequences. I personally do not believe its Arteta imposing his authority, rather he’s setting a standard that will be the floor of whats expected from professional athletes that… Read more »
Sure, that’s possible. Not sure it’s the best way to manage someone like Auba, but not altogether horrible.
I guess my issue is we simply don’t know, because Arteta isn’t saying anything.
Fair enough. These are players privileged to play for Arsenal football club. I’m sure Sir Alex, Jurgen Klopp were and are similar. The only thing I think would help is a strong no nonsense captain. Keane, Vieira, Adams, Henderson.
Brilliant! Good on Arteta, his communication is second to none
I think he’s done well with the situation. Auba has done something wrong, arteta has stuck to his rules regarding it but hasn’t thrown auba under the bus by saying he’s done this and that. That’s the respect he’s talking about. He obviously respects auba enough to not answer these questions, therefore not putting his name through the mud
every top club coaches gives a training and advise deserved to all the players in the club after that if any player fails to show the performance and result expected ,the coach will put them on bench for the sake of the result of the club and it is in such that they became top club and arteta is also doing the same for the sake of the result of the club that every arsenal fan is looking for.
Respect and commitment from everyone except Xhaka, who has a note from his mum.
I read the headline as “uses Death Star to emphasise point” and thought that must have been a very interesting argument.
Auba has not been fulfilling his roles. He has not led by example in pressing but rather improved. Being captain requires more. He has been failing to score enough, being captain requires more. He has seemingly not fully led by example behind the scenes, being captain requires more. I realize Arteta has a style of play that isn’t the best for Auba, I also realize Arteta watched this same type scenario at City between Aguero and Pep. Pep sat Aguero and demanded he adapt to the style of play….this is EXACTLY what most fans have been begging for…define who and… Read more »
Arteta is the manager and he has my full support
I’m sure Auba’s case is beyond what we are told
One aspect of these questions that Andrew chose not to emphasise (because he was making a point about Arteta, not The Sun) is that Mark was pretty clearly trying to generate a headline that would, in fact, been quite misleading.
“Arteta admits he had been too uncompromising” or, even worse, “Arteta admits Aubameyang situation is like Ozil’s.” So, apart from the actual substance, good on Arteta for refusing to give him that.
Late contender for Arseblog News Story of the Year 2021!
Do you not notice a pattern and trend of different situations with the former captain here?
He’s constantly involved with one issue or another. I doubt this is exemplary behavior from a captain. I mean i hardly heard or read about so much drama from Tony Adams or Patrick Viera or even Thomas Vermaelen.
So good mate. Had me laughing at T2 and the sofa
At this moment, Mikel probably is so happy that he doesn’t get “stuff” (being late and other discipline issues) from the young guys, Auba’s low quality level being “wrapped” by the off the field “non-negotiables” equals a probabil ejection, at least looks like…