Players always win in game of blame
A HEARTY ‘well done’ to Arsenal’s first-team squad this week for debunking the biggest myth in football.
No, seriously, the news that the Gunners have got their campaign back on track with a much-needed victory against Manchester United exposed one of the great lies in the game.
How many times have the paying public heard the words, ‘Players need to take responsibility’ as justification that a rotten set of recent results needs to be replaced by an upwards shift in momentum?
And Arsenal... well, if there’s a more blatant example of players failing to take their share of the blame for anything, ever, then it’s been highlighted since Mikel Arteta took over.
First off, a genuine pat-on-the-back to the Spaniard for at least instilling a sense of desire, a willingness to work and some semblance of a system and plan to win a football match.
Whatever his predecessor Unai Emery was looking to achieve was communicated to Gunners’ fans in an increasingly-confused fashion.
Chopping, changing, switching personnel... it really hit the depths of despair when Alexandre Lacazette equalised in the dying seconds against Southampton earlier this season and Arsenal’s players were almost apologetic at the thought they had maintained the manager in a job for another week.
Now, at this point, you might think that someone in the corridors of power at the Emirates should have been taking a closer look at the situation. If the first requirement of a chief executive or director of football is to recognise they need a successful football team, then surely they should have realised something was wrong.
Like when Mesut Ozil looks like he cannot be bothered to tie his laces.
Or when David Luiz is playing more regularly like the crazed bloke who wore that famous yellow Brazil shirt in the 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinal of the World Cup in 2014 than the tyro who charged about for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
You might think – with unfettered access to the training ground – that these people in positions of power might be able to stop a potential car crash.
But no, it’s left to the players who stink out the place before they get their own way and the clear object of their dissatisfaction – the manager – is shifted from office.
Please don’t think it’s just Arsenal, either, folks. Exactly the same has been happening with Watford at Vicarage Road. It takes three weeks, a new voice and the suggestion of some order before a group who couldn’t appear more disinterested are now racing around like their lives depend upon it.
And yet, when Arsenal’s Emery or Quique Sanchez Flores is booted out, we are told by a stream of pundits that ‘players need to take responsibility’. Fact is, they don’t take responsibility for anything they can blame upon anyone else. Contract neatly tucked away in their back pockets, clubs tip-toe around them, failing to censure them to any real extent.
Upset one of the superstars? You must be joking.
Players will only take responsibility when they get their way – a manager they clearly don’t like gets the chop – and one they want to work with takes his
place. Just don’t fall for the line. Please don’t use it. It’s the biggest lie in the game.
And, believe me, it’s up against some pretty stiff opposition.