Mikel Arteta says Arsenal made the decision to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join up with Gabon earlier than expected because the player wasn’t in his plans for tomorrow’s match with Manchester City.
The Gunners’ deposed captain is understood to have flown to Dubai on Monday to meet up with his compatriots for a pre-AFCON training camp.
Having already missed five matches as a punishment for a disciplinary breach in early December, the striker will miss a further five as a result of international duty.
“We had a letter from the national team asking for permission to get the player,” explained Arteta.
“He wasn’t going to be involved tomorrow so for his fitness and to keep competing, it was the right thing to do.”
Asked if he’s been justified in his decision to leave Aubameyang out given his teammates have won five games in his absence, Arteta said: “For me, it’s not about being right or wrong it’s about making the decision that you believe and deal with the consequences of what you are asking to do and I made that decision and as I said, it will go game-by-game.”
He added: “At the moment, he’s gone. He needs to focus on the national team. We had a conversation and that was the best way to do it. As I said before, we’ll address it game by game.”
Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe and Mo Elneny – also AFCON bound – will join up with their respective countries on 3 January, a revised deadline that was agreed by clubs and CAF last week.
Is that the last we see of Auba?
Hopefully? (I can’t believe I’m typing that. What a fall from grace he’s had!)
Arteta is inexperienced and overdoes things in the displinary area. He bites way more than he can chew.
If he was Tuchel, Lukaku would train alone because of the interview he gave.
Had he not been so stubborn we could have picked up more points with Auba.
What’s that you say? Blimey!
I really really hope thats the last we see of him in an arsenal shirt…I also hope we can get Kolasinac out this January and if possible Cedric as well.. but I don’t see it happening maybe the likes of Cedric Elneny Xhaka etc can leave in the summer. I really want us arsenal to completely get rid of deadwood I dream of the day we don’t have any deadwood player in the squad. Is that too much to ask for?
Yes. We’ve always had deadwood.
I don’t think Xhaka’s leaving.
At this point, I feel like there is no saving Auba’s arsenal career.
I hope Auba has an amazing Afcon that will lead to a move this January because it will not be good for team morale to have another former captain training alone and sulking all season.
Maybe.
I wonder how the discussion is going
Arteta : Do you apologise for being late and beg for forgiveness?
Auba: No man, like I said it wasn’t my fault. My car can do 180 Mph easy. No way it should take over 20 minutes to get across London … Please stop looking at me like that – it’s making my head hurt. My hair is on fire! Arghhh..!!!
Generally, I think Mikel has handled this pretty well. This is not a first offense and Auba knows he needs to be better as the captain of the club. Part of me thinks his terrible form made the decision easier for Mikel, but either way this is the standards that the players at the club need to be held to, particularly the captain. I think the players at this club have had it far too easy for far too long. This is why I wanted Vieira to come in as manager cause no way he’d stand for such BS. Credit… Read more »
As I’ve said many times before, there are more options than 1) Do nothing and 2) End Aubameyang’s Arsenal career. I feel that punishment was necessary, but I don’t understand why he’s making such a big deal out of this. A specified number of games would be the best option. And I guess I will never understand this mysterious “game by game” nonsense. Just say if he’s getting back in the team or not. There very clearly isn’t a when. Oh, and this has 100% been made possible by Auba’s poor form. You can bet your ass most of the… Read more »
It’s game by game because if you say to auba/media you’ll be back for say Man City, then he isn’t selected due to form of others then there will be more hell to pay.
maybe Mikel has given auba a minimum number of games and challenged him to produce? Maybe Afcon was in Mikel mind and keeping him off the team sheet until after plays into Mikel plans, we simply don’t know.
Sure, but would he then be training alone? Wouldn’t he be on the bench?
He doesn’t need to start, just say when he’s going to start training with the team again.
If AFCON is the benchmark, wouldn’t it have been better to just say right away that he comes back to training after AFCON?
I seen no reason for keeping this so mysterious – other than Arteta has dropped him indefinitely and has no plans to bring him back.
Yes, you make a lot of good points. It certainly is easier to stick to one’s principles when the team plays well.
All the same, I can’t help but wonder if there is more to this situation than meets the eye. We just don’t know.
Of course there must be.
One thing that I find noteworthy is that Auba isn’t defending himself or whinging about Arteta on social media, which I think most would do if they felt they were in the wrong.
Sorry, …if they felt they were being wronged by the club
I hate this argument. It’s perfectly circular. – The manager is fair and just – The punishment seems excessive – There must be more to this which would make the punishment fair and just. Have there been *any* suggestions by even halfway reputable sources that there is more to this? I haven’t heard anything. For comparison’s sake, when it came to Guendouzi, there were rumors of a behind-the-scenes bust-up almost right away. Think about it. If Auba is such a terrible professional who’s done something beyond the pale, wouldn’t that make it MORE likely for him to go on a… Read more »
Your argument hardly holds water. If he were better behaved and more professional he might be in better form (not a fact though) but hell yeah, its way easier to leave him out when he’s in poor form and then not putting up a better attitude at least to help add some points of good behavior for him to remain in the team (like it does for Nketiah). As captain you can’t repeatedly exhibit poor professionalism at a time your team is performing poorly, more so when you’re an experienced player in the midst of such a young team still… Read more »
But he’s always been like this. Read Tuchel’s commenta re: his time at Dortmund. TL;DR everybody knew Auba had a punctuality problem, they tried to work around it (told him to show up 15 minutes early, etc.), but they ultimately didn’t think it was a big deal as he’d 1. always be sorry, 2. always perform in training. But my point is that this is not a pattern of behavior he’s only started exhibiting recently. Remember when his goals won us the FA Cup? He was already like this, didn’t seem to impact his form much. In fact, we’ve heard… Read more »
I get what you’re saying and I’m believing in the process Arteta has enforced, i hope he can succeed with it.
In this situation I’m reminded that our most successful and most loved captain went to prison and came back as captain. I know times have changed and I appreciate the love for TA and all he went through on a personal level.
However when you fail to fulfil obvious requests its maybe a step too far….I think too many players over invest their time in Amazon orders and Fortnite (We’ve seen this before).
I am on the fence on this one.
I love Auba; a more sanguine footballer you’ll never find.
But rules are rules.
If he is reinstated, I am okay with that. If he goes, no hard feelings. Only that a ready-made replacement has to be signed ASAP. We need all the firepower for the top 4 push (even though I’d be okay with the EL as we continue to build the team).
I trust Arteta and the board to do what they think is in the overall good of the club.
One of the marks of a great leader is being clear and decivise. The acting with authority and leaving no doubts as to your intentions. That said, many a leader have fallen for the exact reasons. I
It’s all falling apart! And the annual 5 nil drubbing to Man City is around the corner!! Happy New Year Gooners 🙂
North London is Red mate
The internet is for everyone. Personally I think it’s a great leveller that people with disabilities can go onto a rival’s blog to leave a comment
He should leave his comments on blogs for Paraguay and San Marino.
Been at the beer already Harry? Well you do get battered everywhere you go so just getting a head start I suppose?
Happy new year to you too, even if you are from the dark side.
For this season at least, losing (again) to City shouldn’t be the end of us. Just beat all the teams you would be expected to beat, which on our current form, should be everyone except City and possibly Liverpool.
Enjoy your celebrations this year – 30 years since winning the FA Cup, 60th since winning the league!!
Hope you drink enough to blank them out…
I mean… he must have done a little more then just arrive late a couple of times
Otherwise what?
“For me, it’s not about being right or wrong”
Does he rehearse?
Cos he’s quite good at handling tricky questions.
I’m a huge supporter of Auba, and was of Özil too. Looking at Mesut’s acrimonious end of his time at Arsenal, I can get behind this way of treating players who aren’t aligned to the manager’s stance. I’d rather have Mikel falling on his sword and the next guy being give a rebuild than have the latter era Emery’s vibe of “frantically backpeddling on decisions if it means we scrape a result in the next fixture” song and dance. I hope Auba gets involved again, his goals are invaluable, but rather have clear boundaries than a rerun of November 2019.
The manager has to be able to run the team, not the other way round.
This is the reason why Arsene only renew players who past 30 only on a yearly basis .. even the legend Dennis Bergkamp was on that yearly contract until he retired. Arsene knows.
Dusan Vlahovic
Jonathan David
Alexander Isak
Any of these STs, in this order, and I’ll be happy!
I also think that it was due to loss of form, missing sitters and chances plus the fact that the team is performing beyond everyone expectations. If the reverse was the case, the pressure would have been mounting on Arteta. We can conclude that his job is safe for now and the top four is like a trophy according to Arsene.
In 2001, NE Patriots veteran starting QB, Drew Bledsoe, left a game with a rib fracture. Enter unheralded rookie Tom Brady in his place. The rest is history.
Whenever sportsmen lose their place in the lineup, for whatever reason,, there is a risk they won’t get it back because the performances of others keep them out. So it goes…
he seems like the perfect fit for Barca under their current circumstances. Sell him to them, and apply any fee we get towards replacement in the summer. For now, live w Laca, Eddie and Balogan until summer, w Martinelli as central option too. And evaluate potential of a good loan for next six monts, based on who’s available.
PEA did the same thing to force a move from Dortmund.
It’s a shame but Arsenal will survive without him.
MØ is speaking to his best friend Erling!!
I actually can’t prevent myself to think about this scenario… there’s probably 0,01% chance this could happen, but what an enormous coup & statement it would be!
100% behind Arteta on his handling of Auba.
Haha. I assumed the headline was a release from the club and didn’t blink an eye.
Let’s be real if we’d lost the last 5 games Auba would be back playing by now and there’s still a lot of football to be played this season so I think he will be kept till the end of the season and I’ve no problem with that. His form has been poor but the way we’ve played this season and last has not been to his strengths he’s still a top drawer striker would have a market value when the summer comes.
Whilst our form has been much better since Auba was dropped I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the guy. The punishment seems extreme to me for looking after his family. While I get that this isn’t the first disciplinary breach and it’s right in that respect that he lose the captaincy, I suspect there’s much more to this that we don’t know. He and Laca dragged us into a European final and to an FA cup win. At one stage he had the best scoring rate of any player we’ve had. It would be a shame for… Read more »