Arsenal, beware of the culture crusade

It’s happening again. There’s yet another crusade to change the culture at Arsenal football club, powered by words like “project,” “process” and “philosophy.”

Those words were trumpeted loudly and proudly by all connected with the Gunners — not least by head coach Mikel Arteta’s staff — in the build-up to the return of Premier League football on Wednesday, June 17. To say the game away to Manchester City proved an ill-fated welcome back would be a major understatement.

Three goals conceded, two players lost to injury and one sent off powered the Arsenal clown car through another carnival of horrors. Those who viewed the 3-0 defeat as anything other than the resumption of the same, tired and depressing cycle of ineptitude have been sold a bill of goods.

The bill of goods in question has been collected, bagged and delivered by the Arsenal PR machine. A rapid transformation from football club to consultancy firm is almost complete thanks to the increasing power wielded by super agent Kia Joorabchian, footballing (term applied loosely) Czar Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu. They are the three most prominent names among a cadre of executives sporting convoluted titles and spouting buzz words who now run things at Arsenal.

Their message is to trust the process, buy into the long-term project and wait for the culture to shift. Quite what any of this means is likely beyond the traditional football fan who merely longs to see improvement on the pitch.

Before the debacle in Manchester much was made of an in-depth take on life under Arteta from David Ornstein, Amy Lawrence and James McNicholas over at The Athletic. It’s typically well-researched and confidently written, but scratch beneath the surface and it also bears all the hallmarks of a puff piece.

There are no shortage of excerpts eulogising Arteta for sprinkling magic dust behind the scenes. His improvements are couched in verbiage straight out of a corporate handbook. Arteta has been busy “problem-solving,” “demanding” and presenting his vision.

Those words contain the promise of a brave and bright future. They appeal to those easily swayed by platitudes and soundbites. Nobody spins quite like Arsenal in today’s game, and the machine is working overdrive to convince us Arteta and the braintrust above him will inevitably push the club back into the land of milk and honey.

There’s a slight problem, though. Things on the pitch aren’t anywhere near as polished and precisely delivered as the PR slogans. It’s a pesky little detail, I know, but at some point Arsenal’s actions have to match the words.

Defeat to City was only Arteta’s second in the league since he took charge back in December. Not bad a record, right? Well, it would be if not for the five draws.

11 games broken down into four wins, five draws and two defeats translates into exactly what it looks like: average form. Throw in the embarrassing Europa League exit at the hands of Olympiacos, and Arteta has hardly been pulling up trees.

This is where a culture crusade comes in handy. It acts as a protective bubble to excuse mediocre performances and a difficulty solving long-standing problems.

Have no idea how to motivate and best-use Mesut Ozil? Simply bench him and refer all concerns to the offices of the need for cultural change.

Can’t sell Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette on the merits of your project? Freeze them out of the team in the names of accountability and culture. Replace them with academy graduates more malleable to talk of vision and philosophy so long as they get to play.

Talking up culture is an easy and emotive way to get a positive response from disgruntled fans. It’s the hipster equivalent of screaming “play for the shirt!”

Arteta likely accrued brownie points for leaving the club’s big-ticket items on the outside looking in against City. Take this tweet from Lawrence:

Arteta showing everyone who is "Mister" with that team selection. Seems he wants to reward the players who really want to listen to what he wants to do. Brave stuff. Who knows how it will go but the message is surely the right one.

— Amy Lawrence (@amylawrence71) June 17, 2020

The problem here is Arteta shouldn’t still be sending messages seven months into the job. His start has been truncated by the terrible impact of Covid-19, but Arteta still had almost three months under his belt before play was halted.

To some, the message to Lacazette and Pepe (on the bench vs. City), as well as Ozil (left out altogether), may be “the right one.” There is a flipside to the coin, though. One that shows an inexperienced gaffer struggling to get the few genuine match-winners in the squad on board the good ship culture.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe any manager must be judged by his ability to get the best from what he has. Setting Ozil up as a fall guy isn’t exactly, new, but while the part-time No. 10 frustrates, he’s hardly “uncoachable” Mario Balotelli, is he?

Arsene Wenger was too enamoured with the technical qualities of his players, but he still knew how to coax work-shy mercurials like Ozil into producing the goods on the pitch (most of the time, anyway).

Pepe and Lacazette may need to apply themselves more in training, and Arteta will rightly be wary about rewarding sub-par effort. Yet, it’s not unknown for marquee players to train with less effort than a mannequin but still deliver during matches.

Patrick Vieira, perhaps the greatest player in Arsenal’s history, barely qualified as scenery on the training pitch, but Wenger knew his midfield general would be in the mood once the real action began.

Not being able to tread this fine line is a fatal flaw for any coach in the modern era. Better to avoid it by making culture the primary focus.

The problem with a culture crusade is how it puts the cart before the horse. It’s a fallacy to believe culture comes before talent.

Manchester United didn’t win all those titles under Ferguson because the Scot had a seamless backroom machine that simply churned out a trophy every time he cranked a lever in his office.

United ran on the stockpiling of talent. Star signings were added to winning teams and new coaches offered fresh ideas in the dugout.

United’s culture came from gifted players forging success and becoming addicted to the feeling. Then the natural leaders who emerge in any group kept the levels high.

Players often set the culture at a club. Arteta knows this better than most, having seen how it worked at City. He and Pep Guardiola built on existing success by adding talent to a core of leaders, Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, who had become used to winning.

Guardiola made his own particular demands and tactical tweaks, but the basis for success came from the talent at his disposal. Bridging the talent gap should be Arsenal’s first priority, not painting word pictures for the corporate set.

Arsenal aren’t fighting a culture of mediocrity. The team is hampered more by a lack of balance and energy in midfield, as well as not enough intelligence and aggression in defence. Those problems can only be solved with bigger, smarter investment.

It’s here where Arteta can be excused. He’s a determined young coach and a commanding speaker, but Arteta can only work with what he’s given. Sadly, that’s meant trying to pry anything other than constant calamity out of David Luiz.

The latter’s disasterclass against City surprised absolutely nobody. What does still blindside me is how Luiz’s reps command so much of the agenda at Arsenal.

Here’s Joorabchian addressing the prospect of a contract extension for his client, who has managed to make me pine for the days of Sebastien Squillaci and and Mikael Silvestre:

Kia Joorabchian to TalkSport: "The situation from Arsenal's point of view will be resolved this week. Not just David Luiz's situation. There are several issues within the whole structure that will be resolved." #AFC

— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) June 18, 2020

Arsenal seemingly remain tethered to a super agent-type boffin Wenger would never have let through the door. Luiz has been a flop, while another Joorabchian-led deal, the acquisition of Cedric Soares in January, has elevated Kim Kallstrom’s signing in 2014 to Thierry Henry levels.

It’s worrying how a growing slew of shit decisions are explained away by talk of projects and changing cultures. Arsenal are becoming masters of spin, but you don’t change a cycle of poor league finishes by remaining mired in mid table. You don’t end a run of dismal defeats away to your closest rivals by continuing to be brushed aside by the City’s, Uniteds and Chelseas.

Those things only change when the obvious problems on the pitch are fixed. They can only be fixed by improving the options at key positions. Then winning will follow and those responsible will seek to keep it going by fostering their own maintenance of high standards.

Until Arsenal get serious about fixing football problems, the club’s soundbites will continue to ring hollow.