Morning all.
There’s a whole lot of Granit Xhaka stuff doing the rounds this morning after he sat down with a variety of journalists on the Arsenal beat final week. A few of it we’ve heard earlier than, when it comes to how he views Mikel Arteta (extraordinarily favourably); what he thinks of his techniques (quite a bit); however I fairly favored this bit from Aaron Ramsdale who spoke in regards to the Swiss worldwide’s management qualities and presence within the dressing room (through CBS Sports):
“We’ve had a number of arguments on the pitch, me and Granit, however a sort of one that could be a nice chief is somebody who simply forgets about it while you get within the altering room. He’ll have alternative ways to talk to completely different individuals. It will get the perfect out of me and him collectively when now we have somewhat argument. We get again within the altering room and every part is ok.”
It was notable that when Martin Odegaard got here off towards Crystal Palace on Friday evening, the captain’s armband went to Xhaka. At that time Kieran Tierney was on the pitch, and whereas we haven’t had an announcement which explicitly says Xhaka is the vice-captain, it seems like that’s the pecking order now. There’s a ‘management group’, of which he was all the time going to be an element, however after every part that occurred beforehand there have been occasions when the armband very clearly didn’t go to him.
Maybe it’s only a query of time, sufficient water has gone underneath the bridge at this level, and Xhaka has spoken beforehand about how he feels his relationship with Arsenal followers has improved. To be honest, it’s most likely in the perfect place it’s been for fairly a very long time, though you’re all the time ready for the following second when persistence is examined. However, as everyone knows by now, he’s simply that type of participant, these moments are all the time going to happen, and never as soon as in his Arsenal profession has a pink card or the rest appeared to make any of his managers/head coaches revise their pondering with regards his significance to the workforce. He’s all the time picked.
Some will say that’s as a result of he hasn’t ever actually had anybody pushing him onerous for his place, and I do suppose there’s a component of reality to that. Midfielders have come and gone, and the concept of the ‘Xhaka improve’ is an interesting one when you think about how we are able to proceed to rebuild this workforce going ahead. For now although, that participant hasn’t arrived or emerged, and whereas his recreation has some limitations, he’s extra stable and dependable than he’s given credit score for for my part.
There’s additionally no query he’s an extremely well-liked man contained in the dressing room. Any time any of the opposite gamers talk about him, there’s little question they love his character and what he brings. And he was fairly considerate on stuff about how the relationships between players and fans can be improved:
“They see us solely within the 90 minutes. Everybody has and dangerous day. That’s the reason I spoke with the membership about it: ‘Why can’t we carry the followers, perhaps as soon as per week, to allow them to see us how we prepare?’. It’s not like we’re coming right here to waste our time and after that we don’t care in regards to the 90 minutes.
“We care greater than individuals suppose. Me and Aaron [Ramsdale] for instance can’t sleep after the sport after we lose, however nobody can see that.”
I doubt there’s any approach Arsenal are going to start out having open coaching classes for the good thing about fan engagement, however perhaps this type of entry to gamers is a part of how that may be managed. There is a little more openness and transparency across the membership as of late, with All Or Nothing, Inside Hale Finish (the place are the episodes although?), extra involvement from Josh Kroenke and so on, so maybe extra perception into gamers and the way they work behind the scenes will show useful within the wider context.
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Elsewhere, the membership have made an official comment about ‘licensed standing’ (beforehand generally known as ‘secure standing’), after a major majority of the 16,000 supporters who supplied suggestions to the membership stated they have been in favour of it. Additional discussions and consultations will happen, and the membership say:
We should be clear the introduction of licensed standing at Arsenal won’t end in an elevated capability at Emirates Stadium as there should be one seat / area per standing particular person. As a membership, we’d additionally incur vital prices to implement licensed standing.
You do really feel there’s nonetheless a reluctance to go down this highway, and whether or not these prices can be felt by a rise in ticket costs, or costlier tickets for the standing areas stays to be seen. I believe it’s worded in such a approach which leaves you in little doubt that this value isn’t one which can be swallowed 100% by the homeowners.
Nonetheless, it’s extra optimistic than it has been, and perhaps long-term the presence of a standing space, and what it does for the environment contained in the stadium, can pay for itself when it comes to the best way supporters can have an effect on the workforce. It’s one thing Mikel Arteta has constantly spoken about, and labored onerous to domesticate. Maybe it must be checked out as a part of that development, quite than merely a bricks and mortar operation.
Proper, that’s it for this morning. Have one.
