rodders999 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 10, 2022 10:44 amWell what a fucking catastrophic week that was and as terrible as the results were (and they were absolutely horrific) they weren’t actually the worst thing about the two games for me.
What was actually worse was the complete non performance by any player in both games. It’s like they’ve seen the finish line on the horizon and with the pressure of 4th spot on the line have all become absolutely paralysed with the fear of having to produce performances and results in order to go and achieve it.
I’ve actually seen that happen in teams I’ve been involved with (at a much much lower level obviously!) when they’re in contention towards the end of the season and even though they’d easily beat an opposition team they were playing in a one off game with nothing riding on it end up losing by becoming so weighed down by the pressure of the season that they’re complete unable to perform - especially the younger players.
As was said yesterday what’s needed in those circumstances is a few seasoned guys with the battle scars to prove it to take ownership of the situation and drag the rest over the finish line.
Unfortunately there’s no such players in this squad and pressure of the situation and lack of experience from the manager has our confidence at rock bottom with the whole team playing with the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Rodders the type of players you talk about come with a bit of an edge to them, and pep's cone boy has got rid of all of them - we have a manager at our local club who does not allow his players to talk when the motivational and tactical chat is going on pre game or at half time, and for me that mirrors what is going on at AFC under this fool. I played in an era when players used to gee each other up and held each other accountable, but those type of players had real character and those type of players are not willing to sit quietly in the corner saying nothing when things are going tits up, and pep's cone boy wants to be the sole voice in the group.
I have disagreed with some on here about the talents of guendouzi and I dont mind that, but it really pisses me off when I read/hear comments about how he had to leave the club because of his attitude/arrogance - the good/ambitious players will always have that edge to them cos that is what drives them. GG's teams were full of players with character - getting into on pitch battles were par for the course, and we had our share of off field issues too. Would GG have had a mickey fit over guendouzi's petulance when he felt maupey done leno ? Would GG have got rid of auba without bringing in another goal scorer to fill the void ? No chance. Arteta expels those players with character who might question him, and now we have a team full of choirboys with no backbone and no-one to drive them along - I can understand pep's cone boy being happy with those decisions, but the fans should know better