Interlull has moved into true Interlullian territory now with little or no Arsenal news but the bits and bobs that emerge from the national training camps.
So far there have been no further complaints from fringe players. I have been expecting a few headlines to emerge from Costa Rica, like:
Campbell: I’m no nine-stone cowboy
or
Campbell discontented with Arsenal soup
or
Campell: I am not Superman’s dad, that’s Jor-el. Jeez.
However, I’m not ruling out anything at this point. If he takes his lead from Rosicky and Podolski there’s a salvo imminent. Unless, of course, he rather sensibly decides to keep his powder dry and seek for a January move behind the scenes. The other pair are too old to garner any kind of trouble-making reputation at this point, whereas JC is just 22 so might want to avoid that kind of baggage.
The only thing we got yesterday was some rather nice stuff from Alexis who told AS that he’s been really impressed with the quality of his teammates. Naturally, there were about 400 bazillion jokes to the headline of that when we posted it on Twitter – hive mind what? – but he seemed sincere. He said:
Now that I’m here, sometimes I stop to look my teammates in practice and I realize that I’m surrounded by a lot of quality. I have been impressed by the attitude and talent. I know that with this group we can win many titles in the coming years. I’m convinced.
Perhaps there is an element of a footballer saying what footballers say in interviews. He’s hardly going to lambast them, is he? But despite the fact many people seemed to think he was prepping for a career in stand-up (culminating in his own show and a HBO special), he seemed to be genuine and I think that’s understandable.
I’ve said before that I think we’ve got a really good group of players, the issue for me is – despite some areas being under-strength – the manager just hasn’t got the team to perform yet on any kind of consistent basis. Alexis is looking at a group of players like Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski. Even players who have struggled for form like Mertesacker, Arteta, Rosicky etc, are hugely experienced and their recent travails don’t alter the fact these guys have been solid, consistent pros for us over the last few seasons.
We’re far too quick, in general, to write off players as having no use whatsoever to a team when that’s simply not the case. And it appears that Alexis is one of life’s optimists. At the moment it’s hard to see us winning our next game, let alone ‘many titles’ but hey, let’s not criticise the man for his outlook.
What struck me most, however, was his desire to do more. Speaking about the challenge of adapting to a new league, new language and all the rest, he said:
It’s a struggle to adapt. Of all the leagues in which I have played, this is the most complicated. I like the challenge, but it’s not easy. Clearly I need to improve and that is what I say in the dressing room.
I think when your best player – a man who has scored more goals than Welbeck, Ramsey, Ozil, and Cazorla combined, and has more assists that any other Arsenal player – is talking about how he has to improve, there’s a salutary lesson there for the rest of them about their own attitude and how reassessing that might have a positive impact on what we’re doing this season. In short, he is a quite sensational player and, from the little we’ve seen of him to point as a person, he seems utterly driven and determined and hopefully that will rub off on others.
Meanwhile, and loath as I am to give one single shit about a footballer’s personal life, it seems Mesut Ozil has been embroiled in a dispute with his own father which has seen him make a pay out of close to £500,000. That can’t have been much fun. Bearing in mind that footballers are human, could this ongoing issue have been affecting him on the pitch before he got injured?
If you look at what’s gone on with him in the last few months he had this problem (his father was his agent and helped broker the move to Arsenal), apparently broken up with his missus, had the World Cup hangover, been asked to play in a position which doesn’t get the best out of him, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear that every time he plays FIFA online and is in a winning position the other person rage quits, thus driving him even more mad.
There was an interesting piece on Football 365 last week by Daniel Storey looking at Yaya Toure’s indifferent form this season and the response to that from media and Man City fans alike. From being probably their best player last year he was on the receiving end of some pretty nasty stuff from his own fans, unhappy at his attitude or apparent indifference.
It goes back to what I said above about the speed at which players are chucked into the bin of public opinion. Maybe some of that was going on this season with Ozil. Money does not make people robots capable of dealing with anything. It doesn’t rid you of emotion or feeling.
Now, it could be that he was just playing badly, often the most simple explanation is the most accurate, but perhaps there is a human element to it that we tend to forget rather too quickly in our desire to find reasons and/or scapegoats for when things go wrong. Something to think about anyway.
Finally for today, if you haven’t had a chance to vote for Arseblog as best blog in the FSF Awards, it’d be much appreciated. Click here to fill out the survey (you don’t necessarily have vote in other categories but you can if you wish). Thanks in advance.
More from me tomorrow.
