When he first arrived at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta spoke at length about the kind of culture change he felt was important for the club to make progress.
He referenced ‘non-negotiables’ in terms of how he expected players to work and behave, and during this period there have been some high profile casualties of the manager’s approach.
However, heading into the new season with an opening day win under our belts, Arteta is pleased with the way things are going, and insists that it’s why everything feels so different than it did in the very recent past.
“I’m really happy with where we are, with the people we have at the club, with the professionals we have at the club and what we are building,” he said.
“I could not be happier with that. It was the club’s main objective at the beginning to try and completely change that.
“You can see that level of commitment and passion transmitted to our supporters. That’s why, at the moment, there is such unity at the club.”
New signings are brought on board with full knowledge of what is expected, as Arteta continued, “The first thing we talk about is what we’re going to expect from them, what they’re going to expect from the club, what our values are, how we like to behave and be perceived and that we’re here to have enjoyment.
“It’s our passion – it’s what we love doing and in order to do that, we have to get on well.
“There are a lot of people – the club is getting bigger and bigger every day and you have to have that respect in order to have enjoyment together.”
One of the aforementioned casualties was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was excluded from the squad, stripped of the captaincy and moved to Barcelona last January.
With the recent release of the All Or Nothing series, and episodes featuring that saga this week, it was inevitable the manager would be quizzed about it at his press conference today in the hope of producing some juicy headlines.
As you might expect, he wasn’t falling for that, saying, “It’s a long time since that happened. I cannot go back every time there is another series. I have made my comments on that.
“I was really clear and honest with my opinion and what has been done has only been done to defend our club and put the club in the best possible position while being as clear, as honest and as consistent as we can be.”
And with Aubameyang linked with a move to Chelsea, Arteta made it clear he’d expect the former skipper to get a good reception even if he was wearing that evil blue shirt.
“Auba is an exceptional player,” he said.
“He did so much for us – he was our captain and we have to be very grateful for what he did for this club.
“I’d hope he does [get a good reception] because I think he deserves that. There are moments in life and there are moments in your career – sometimes the trajectory and objectives of each individual are different to the club’s.
“We have to respect that.”
Having watched the first 2 episodes this morning of all or nothing before heading to work on the back off a double espresso ☕️ I am fully on board. I’m in.
Right then, gather around….
Now rub your hands together. .
👐
I have been on the boat all along – with an admitted shiver of doubt after the first City loss last season – but this show has taken things to a new level. We simply can’t lose Mikel. And a few players have moved up a notch in my book as well. Even players I already loved, such as Tierney, I now love even more. Xhaka is all the way back for me after the armband incident, which I NEVER thought I’d say. As an American whose support began with watching live blogs of most games in the late 90’s,… Read more »
Seconded. Almost exactly the same circumstances for me. Except I began my affair with Arsenal from watching late-might replays on ESPN in the erly-00s.
I may never have the chance to set foot in The Emirates (at my age)– but I’ll make every damn 6:30am kickoff on the TV until I can’t.
It’s 1988 all over again. One trophy in the bag, a change in club culture – and the sights firmly fixed on the top prizes.
Bring it on! 😊👍🍺
Blogs, your podcast is featuring quite regularly in the all or nothing series which must be pretty cool for you. Were you aware that snipets were going to be featured?
Yes, they asked permission
Brilliant comment about Auba. I love what MA is trying to do.
In All Or Nothing he doesn’t explicitly say it but basically his underlying message to players is “If you are coming to Arsenal to enjoy London life and big wages, please f*ck off”.
He wants them to come for the badge and to be proper ballers.
‘Ballers’ is such a rubbish American phrase, never used for football (as soccer should be called, given the amount of times foot hits ball in compasison to American “football”) until the last couple of years.
Sounds like people that cry…
I hate that word too. Sounds too Dwayne The Cock Johnson.
Cultural cross-references happen all the time but anything related to USA always seems to get criticized.
A bit petty don’t you think?
(btw I have lived in the USA but I grew up in London)
If I was talking about American Football I’d take care to use the correct words that the sport uses, not add my own UK phrases into it (I went to an American school and played American Football).
Respect their sport.
You do realize that soccer was a word invested by English people, right?
Association football was where soccer came from. No problem with that as another name for football.
But why is a game played with hands most of the time called football? And one played with feet most of the time not called football by some?
But I do agree with you about baller. It’s ear-grating to hear that in the context of speaking about football.
That’s all I’m saying! I’m surprised you aren’t getting massively downvoted…
Oh dear. Can tell the Arseblog readers who live in a cocoon. Original poster probably using the term a bit more widely than it should be used, but a baller is basically a PLAYER. Someone who gets fans off their seats. Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Sanchez…. all examples of “ballers”
Hope that cleared it up
Exactly
Happy with the word ‘player’,why use anything else?
Because that’s what makes life interesting mate
I’ve heard it plenty referred to footballers. Gunner1971 just used it to refer to footballers… I guess “never” has a different meaning to you as well? Regardless, what’s the big deal? It’s not like it’s an offensive term.
Bawler (ie someone who cries) or baller.
Can you tell the difference when spoken?
So many better and relevant words than baller.
So your advice is don’t ever use any word that might sound like another word.
Ok.
The advice is to not use a word that sounds like another word that has negative connotations.
‘He is a bawler’….
Context matters.
If you are watching a game of football and a player does something brilliant, I think the majority of people watching would understand the reference.
Can you re-write my comment for me please?
And if it goes well are you available for hire? Might save me some time.
Here you go:
Brilliant comment about Auba. I love what MA is trying to do.
In All Or Nothing he doesn’t explicitly say it but basically his underlying message to players is “If you are coming to Arsenal to enjoy London life and big wages, please f*ck off”.
He wants them to come for the badge and to be top players.
You need to give your head a wobble mate
Eye do knot agree.
Don’t be so narrow. In the United States “autumn” is the fall. What’s wrong with that? There’s room for “ballers” and “players”. Let’s celebrate diversity.
Happy with appropriate diversity:
ace
expert
hotshot
demon
star
winner
pro
genius
striker
winger
defender
goalie
maestro
etc
are all better than bawler.
Please start using these diverse words rather than something that is a US baseball term.
You are wrong my friend.
I grew up in Shepherds Bush, West London in the 90’s and “baller” was used a lot on our playgrounds
I grew up in Bow, East London in the 80s and baller wasn’t used for footballers, even in the 90s…
I grew up in, oh wait no one gives a shit
Ballers used to refer to those who played B.ball primarily….“They/they’re balling out there” , “you balling later?”…
Diddy, Snipes and Harrelson made a lot of people want to be ballers. Increased usage. You won’t find many pre 80’s babies using this term. As a late 80’s baby, it’s a late (understood, but rarely uttered) adoption. Will not stand for the re-introduction of “banter” though.
On the street cages of NW and SE London, ballers was reserved for the few who could absolutely terrorise anyone. Martinelli, for example.
Footballers, volley ballers, they all ballers.
I’ve never heard it until very recently, it makes sense it is a baseball word ie US rather than UK. And that there has been more interest in UK football from the States in the last few years.
See above for a lot of better words to use.
“Sounds like people that cry…”
C.B., you are the ultimate baller 🙂
See above, lots of better words that you can use.
You can see how much it means to him.. Especially when watching the series all or nothing.. He wants the players to feel it like we the fans do when the team loses. Can’t fault the man’s attitude and now with big egos like auba out the team can play as a unit
The culture club at Arsenal has changed from ‘Do you really want to hurt me’ and ‘Church of the poisoned mind’ to ‘It’s a miracle’ and ‘I just want to be loved’…
Haha, that’s better 😊
“The victims, we know them so well…..”
for once chelsea are getting one of our old players
And may they reciprocate the form once showed by those we have purchased down the years.
Forgot Giroud mate?
giroud wasn’t old, he was fed up
Basically same age as Auba
Omari Hutchinson will never make it.
It was nice to hear an extract from an Arsecast with our very own Blogs used in the All or Nothing second week releases.
Have Amazon paid you for it?
Club culture cannot be changed if we still have GX here.
Blogs, why aren’t my comments not being published anymore? I’ve froze you after your vaccination propaganda on a football related blog, now they need to be approved and they never are. Is my view on xhaka that controversial, can’t I express my opinion?
I wholeheartedly disagree with you Domi. Yes Granit makes mistakes, who doesn’t? but he cares, he’s talented, he’s clearly the leader on and off the pitch and is highly respected by his teammates and managers alike. We are lucky to have him in such a young squad.
As for Mikel; the man has integrity, passion and a plan. I’m in!
I accept that, and hopefully I’ll be proven wrong and we’ll win with him in the squad. And yes, of course he makes mistakes, all players (humans) do, the thing with him is that I’ve never seen an ounce of humility and acceptance that he is at least a bit in the wrong. That level of arrogance is a big red flag for me, and it makes me fear he will never learn from his mistakes.
Considering the heads that have rolled over the last two years, are you seriously suggesting that Xhaka would still be at Arsenal if he stood in the way of the change in culture that Arteta is talking about?
Some heads that have rolled have done less than 10% that GX has done. Somehow the untouchables or however he called them didn’t apply to him and he’s been super immune to almost all punishment after each idiotic thing he did.
OK, so at a club where manager and management have gone to extremes to remove disruptive elements they have for some magic reason given Xhaka immunity to be an insulated destructive influence against the process that since last season has begun to bear fruit.
You know what? I call bullshit on that. You don’t have a clue and you’re talking out of your arse. If your flawed logic isn’t enough to prove it then Xhaka’s outstanding performance today does.
Again, if he has really turned things around, I’ll be happy to say I was wrong. But I still believe he will cost us dearly this season and bring more negative to the table than the positive. Let’s see by the end of the season.
Im nigerian living in nigeria and there’s no word we love better in qualifying an exceptional footballer than the word “baller”. Example, Kanu the king was a damn good baller, man! 👍🏾