LEFT BACK DEBRIEF
Don’t you dare criticize me for starting my post with a big dollop of Aussie Schadenfreude! We’re going all in. Ange P is losing his mind that he’s at a club where success is so infrequent, people genuinely think there’s a curse.
Today, we’re laughing at Spurs being outplayed by Rangers FC in a 1-1 draw. The post-game was focused on Ange being furious at Timo Werner for mailing it in. A day after saying he doesn’t gut and fillet his players in public, he did exactly that to Werner.
"When you've got 18-year-olds [in the squad], it [that performance] is not acceptable to me," said Postecoglou.
"I said that to Timo, he's a German international."
"In the moment we're in right now - it's not like we've got many options - I need everyone to at least be going out there and trying to give the best of themselves.
"His performance in the first half wasn't acceptable.
"We need everybody, including him, to be contributing because we don't have the depth to leave people out if they perform poorly. I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys, and tonight wasn't that."
What I love about this situ Spurs have found themselves in is that there is a direct correlation between their players tanking Champions League qualification to own the Gooners, to having to reloan Timo this season because their coffers weren’t Champions League fat.
Spurs are reaping what they sow right now and it is absolutely delicious.
Just to stay on Ange, this comment from Mark Bosnich was excellent.
“From my personal point of view, I have always had this debate with him, going back 10 to12 years when he first began over here, and I worked with him on television.
“I totally understood his points in terms of a manager or coach not changing their philosophy, and that’s understandable.
“But in terms of his tactics and the way you go about things, I think he is—he’s actually done that to an extent. He’s understood what I was trying to say to him all those years ago.
“I actually said to him all those years ago that there’d be one time when he’d be managing in the Premier League, playing three games a week, and he wouldn’t have all his players because of injury or suspensions.
“Sometimes he’d play well, other times he wouldn’t, and there’d come times when he’d have to tweak it. His stock reply was always—well, not always—but often, ‘My plan B is to do plan A better.’
“I think he’s finding out right now that, when you get to the very, very top level, you need to have the ability, when things aren’t going particularly well, to tweak things just a little bit.”
On the one hand, you have to give it to Ange, he believes in his principles whatever the cost. On the other, it’s all a bit Arsene Wenger in the wrong era for those sorts of principles.
Teams with managers that can’t balance attack and defense are not going to have sustainable futures in this age of managers who choke space and savage any sort of broad-based tactical weaknesses.
Ok… onto Arsenal.
Think we should be fairly positive we’ll see both Gabriel and Calafiori tomorrow. Arteta spoke about the issues with the Italian.
We're just respecting the times that the medical department has set and then we’ll just monitor his evolution every single day. We understand that he’s not fully ready yet but he's getting very close now.
This does bother me a little bit. We’ve invested in a big talent who seems to be broken more often than not. I’d like to think this is just part of adapting to the league, but a cursory glance at his past would indicate this might just be who he is. Great player, tough to rely on over a whole season. Nightmarish that we might have kept our winning streak of non-robust fullbacks going again.
The strong news out of all this is that we might have found a gem who can come in and do a job against light opposition. Arteta was full of praise for the boys good questions.
He certainly deserves to be in contention to be selected because he performed and competed really well. At his age, to show maturity on the pitch is strange and off the field is exactly the same. He is a person who continuously surprises all the staff with the kind of questions that keep all of us asking. A lot of times that shows you the intelligence of the person and Myles is a really bright boy.
Is there a more satisfying feeling than being in an interview or a sales pitch and someone compliments your question? There isn’t. It’s up there with meeting your firstborn or hitting an office bin with a screwed-up document.
Outside great questions, MLS looked the part against a very good Monaco side in the week. It’s clear he can do it against light technical players, what is not clear is how he’ll deal with the man who has spent the last 20 years of his life trying to dismantle woke football. MLS might be good on the ball, but can he deal with an Ashley Young reducer 12 minutes into a game?
The Merino, Rice, and Odegaard axis of greatness has had a few critics in the world of Arsenal fandom, Arteta took time out to explain why it’s a good combo.
They are intelligent and have football brains. They are three players that like to play for others especially. You have players that can hold the ball in tight spaces, they can run with the ball, they have threat in the box, you have creativity in tight spaces, you have a lot of the things that you want. In the defensive part as well, you have two players that are more are holding midfielders and Martin is exceptional in this timings and and aggression in the high press, so it’s very good.
I’m a big fan of Merino. Think there’s still a lot more to come from him. But he holds his own physically and I think he can be surprisingly lightfooted at times when he’s in tight spaces. That left 8 side still lacks someone who can work with the ball and create magic. Merino feels like he’s more about creating chances from quick shots and the fastest player to press in transition. But, look, we have what we have and you have to praise it when it works against good team in Champions League.
Arteta leant in and gave us a little hint on the Sporting Director search.
“We have one, Jason Ayto is our interim sporting director,”
“He has got the full capacity and support of the football club right now. He is doing really well with his team.
“The process is open, as you know. The club with the support of all of us will decide who is the best person to move us forward.
“I am sure there is progress, timing-wise it’s hard to understand. I’m not running the process so it’s more for the club to respond.”
You’d expect him to say this, but for me, this would make sense in the longterm. It’s always exciting to imagine a big name coming in and bringing us rarified wonders from around the world. It’s boring to promote from within. But Arteta will know full well that sometimes, you just need a chance to prove you have the minerals at the highest level. Ayto has been doing great work behind the scenes, the club knows how he operates, he will not disrupt the system.
Give him January… get him to solve our striker crisis… if he does, then we have a new Sporting Director on our hands. Can he BBQ though?
One last thing… Arsenal, linked to Alphonso Davies? The left back is apparently on the radar. I like the player, but wow, that would be quite the move considering the amount of names we have that play that position. Still, can’t deny his world class credentials. He’s also unavailable quite a lot. Arsenal moving towards a left back strategy of dividing a season between 5 left backs would be novel, but a sure bet.
Ok, that’s me done, I’ll drop a game day preview tomorrow and keep your eyes out for a Before the Whistle podcast.