This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Speaking on Sky Sports, former Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has slammed the club for becoming a “circus”.
What did he say?
After enduring a miserable start to the current campaign, the Gunners parted ways with Unai Emery a few weeks ago. Freddie Ljungberg was handed the reins on a temporary basis, but the Swede has failed to oversee an upturn in form – since taking over, his only win remains against West Ham, whilst the north London side were swept aside by Manchester City 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
And Sagna has criticised the lack of accountability and responsibility being taken by the club’s senior figures, and urged them to rectify it as soon as possible.
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He said (as quoted by The Daily Mail): “Well it seems like at the minute it’s a circus of a club. You don’t really know who is leading and who is taking the decisions and it seems like the players have a lack of confidence on the pitch. Then you don’t even know who is going to be the next manager and it’s a tricky, tricky situation for club.
“First of all they need to find a good manager stability in the club because in the past years you always have players leaving at the end of the season and it’s been a long time since they kept the same group of players. And once we have the manager in a few days I think they will start a new process and hopefully a good start to shine again.”
Beyond the manager
Make no mistake about it, Arsenal’s problems run far deeper than the man on the touch-line. The environment and mentality currently surrounding the club is not conducive to long-term success or winning trophies. Stan Kroenke’s ownership of the Gunners has made a mockery of the side, and it is for the precise reason of it being run as a business, that the footballing side of things has fallen by the wayside.
Trivia addicts will love this quiz: How much did Arsenal pay for each of these players?
Add to that this panel of people behind the scenes including Josh Kroenke, Raul Sanllehi, Edu, Vinai Venkatesham and Huss Fahmy all appear to be pulling in different directions – the fact they have a 12-man managerial shortlist underlines the lack of direction the club has at the moment. Even if they were to secure their top target to be the next boss, it wouldn’t solve all their problems.
Meanwhile, Freddie Ljungberg can leave a legacy behind as interim head coach by doing this one key thing.
