Flogging a dead horse comes to mind when you say the first highlighted part Nos. This club is beyond saving just from a change of manager.Nos89 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 2:31 pmAfter watching a couple of interviews with Arteta from 2014, 2015 I'm slowly coming round to idea of him being a manager that will breath some life into the club.
In both interviews he's still a player but was very clear about his management style and the expectation as a manager he's have of his players. It was refreshing to hear and hopefully he can step up to his own expectation. I liked the way he spoke about what it takes to be a player at Arsenal, whilst still a player.
Maybe, coming from the generation of supporters who witnessed our greatest period in our modern history, wanting players from that period to be back at the club is a bit rose-tinted. Arteta is a post-Highbury player who I enjoyed watching play for us and he knows the stadium and training set-up well. It's only 3 years since he left. Maybe, just maybe he will bring back to the club an identity we lost after he left. The fact his hair has not changed in 20 years scares me, Hopefully, he'll do the same to a few lightweights in the squad. I bet he makes Xhaka cry in the first month.
And the other highlighted part is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. We lost our identity long before Arteta joined, never mind when he left!
I am done with the horse stuff but your mention of Arteta's hair reminded me of my cousin, a former hairdresser. She would often have requests from customers who wanted whatever bullshit thing was in vogue at the time (Lisa Stansfield, Princess Diana, Jennifer Aniston ) . I remember she once said no matter how skilled a hairdresser you are, sometimes people just had to learn to accept that they did not have the right head shape for the haircut they were asking for. And it was no use blaming them when it didnt work. Coming out of the salon looking more like Pat Butcher than Joanna Lumley (she didnt say that bit ) shouldn't necessarily reflect on the ability of the hairdresser if that is what nature has dictated.
And so it sometimes is with management. If you are asked to coach a squad full of brainless imbeciles who are beyond reach, then it doesn't matter how good a coach you are, you will fail. It will be absolutely futile trying to mould them into anything but the rabble of cowardly headless chickens that they are.