Video: Auba Captaincy Issue and Southampton Rewatch

I think Laca must have read my response (shameless self-congratulatory post! 🤣)

Piss off

Some great replies here - reminds me what a great community we have 👍🏾

Yep there’s a lot of truth to that too. Clearly the position is an issue general.

Laca may be short on attacking threat and 2 shots in 6 starts is not great reading but creating chances is a problem for the team as a whole. We would create more if we could make the ball stick in the attacking 3rd for longer like we dud for a spell in the 2nd half of this game. Laca is a foil for other players to run off of and the eye test tells me that we keep ball better in the forward positions with him on the pitch. His physicality is vital in the PL. He holds it up, he wins fouls, he progresses the play which in turn relieves the pressure on the back line and helps us push up and close the spaces between our own lines. If he plays tonight, please watch for how he shows for the ball between the lines and how he communicates and directs the players around him. Auba doesn't do this. He has other qualities, but until we can get that toothpaste up the tube, he may as well not be there. Thanks for replying, it's all opinions at the end of the day

Maybe so. I’ll have another look at him. It’s just that I think he’s so short on attacking threat as a striker. Per Scott: Alex Lacazette has started 6 matches this season, he has taken 2 shots in those starts. That is 215 minutes per shot as a starter.

Great reply / opinion

I don't get how most persons take issue with Arteta making this public and the issue being about the man management and not THE BEHAVIOR of our captain. As our club captain Auba has the responsibility to lead and show example for the youngest team in the Premier league and he hasn't. It's hard for me to believe that after making Auba the captain, paying him all this money and sticking with his after he has fallen so far from form that Arteta would take this action if his hands weren't forced. We all know we lack leadership in the dressing room, we know Arteta was brought in to clean up this mess and set standards for one of the biggest clubs in the world. We as fans asked for transparency and now we're getting it we take issue with that now. You would think after the NLD situation Auba would nvr allow himself to be in this situation again. Some fans wanted the captaincy to be stripped even then and Arteta stuck with Auba. What is the manager to do? What kind of message would it send to keep turning a blind eye to a captain who can't hold up the club's standards.

Elliot seems less forgiving of Laca when he fails to execute, but there are others who are far more culpable in this half. Of the players available to us, I can't see anyone else keeping the ball as well as he did in certain moments in this game. How we retain and recycle the ball in the attacking third is so important for the progression of this team. We knock it around nicely at the back, but when it goes forward it breaks down far too easily. He's not perfect, but Laca is the best of a bad bunch when it comes to retention in that key area of the pitch.

I think Wenger and the club's lack of demand for success (due, in large part, to financial constraints) created a vacuum of accountability where success was never enforced and the culture and prestige of the club has suffered because of it. The best players would get disillusioned, frustrated and eventually want to leave because we didn't demand excellence. RVP chose to leave because he didn't believe he could win at this club, Sanchez became petulant and alienated himself from his teammates because the standard was beneath his aspirations, Ozil was indulged, and now Auba. We will never create a winning environment without demanding more and expecting the players that come to the club to have the mentality of a professional and winner. If Auba is scoring 25 goals in the league, Arteta would probably give him special treatment, but this version is not worth the baggage and locker room turmoil he creates. If he wants to create an environment that demand more from the players, the old guard that have developed in an environment where rules can be broken without repercussions, must either follow in line or be disciplined/replaced IMO. Auba is not the talisman of this club anymore. This is not about Arteta per se, the club have needed this change for a long time. Maybe the club recognizes this and are willing to put Arteta in a position to put this in place so that he, or another manager can come in without having to focus on setting another set of values and expectations of what it means to represent Arsenal Football Club. Arteta has been a part of this club and he sees a glaring problem with the way this great club has developed since he left. I see it too and have hoped for a culture and expectation shift for years. it may or may not improve results, but we can't continue the way we have. Look at the behaviour of the players, weak mentality and defeatist attitude, and it's clear we need to change off the pitch beyond improving the quality of manager and players we recruit. At least the club have recognized that we need to change, because we have become stagnant while the rest of the league is improving steadily.

Thanks and same 😃

this is great you guys - I'm a new member and first time watching an analysis video... Clive makes me realize that whenever I watch an Arsenal match, my brain is in full on reptilian mode.

A question : What does this whole culture war supposedly going on at Arsenal actually mean in a tangible , measurable and definable way? There is no way for any of us to confirm that it is having any effect on the success of this football club, it's all intangible soft factors that could have a million different ways to be considered successful. The football matters, the league matters, the results matter, the value of your players matter, all these are tangible, once we move into this weird culture speak of speculation, it doesn't serve a purpose for either the club or fans. There is a reason Wenger largely stayed away from this, and guess what? He had no problem getting results to get us into top four with players doing far worse things than Auba. Wanna know what the success factor is at Arsenal? Winning, that's it, win football games. Wenger realised he was a servant of the club and his job was to make sure we got points on the board, Arteta seems like the only thing he offers us is discipline, rules and falling out with many players at the club. Wanna know where that got us? 8th and 7th so far this season. There's a weird thing going on with Arteta, every excuse under the sun is made for him, it's honestly very very boring, much like his football for the past 2 years.

I think we need to get our head around the idea we can’t afford to keep writing off players and paying them off. Of course we can, if it’s disruptive it has to go and Josh will back it. His club has gone up in value far exceeding these ‘minor’ costs and it will continue to go up. Saka and Smith Rowe cost nothing and are now a £150m asset, and this will keep happening. However, there needs to be a realisation that winning takes a team and there is no room for carrying players who are not being part of that team or who are at least creating disharmony. Carrying them players can get you 5th or 4th even, but I don’t think either Mikel or Josh want 5th or 4th long term. Didn’t Pep leave Barca because Messi drank a can of coke in the dressing room and Pep realised there was no coming back for him from that? - Auba is hardly prime Messi.

I like the idea of the long edit rewatch (not whole half or just highlights.)

good question!

Looking at the press conference it sounds like Auba is done at Arsenal, which would be a shame….At this rate Amazon are going to need a Snyder Cut for this All or Nothing series 😂

Tom Laverick

He’s in the department lounge I reckon. Barca said to be sniffing. Pay off his contract and he’s theirs. A question though is who was a better signing for Arsenal overall . Oliver Giroud or Auba ?

This should be fun. Gabriel or Ramsdale for captain