Club confirm Sven Mislintat leaving Arsenal on February 8

[RacingPhoton]

Don't know who this guy is (except that he apparently writes for Bleacher Report and FanSided), but he makes sense. Personally, I might not frame it as "great news for Arsenal," but certainly if the major figures at the club don't share the same vision then it's better to move forward now rather than later. It can be good news in the sense that a potential developing problem might be avoided and the club can be unified. Anyway, here are some of the though of James Dudko:

Regarding Ornstein's report about Sven not being on the same page as Sanllehi and Emery:

It’s better for Arsenal to put an end to such squabbling rather than letting it fester. Protracted tension between the men charged with putting the club back among the elite would wreck not only this season but subsequent campaigns.

Mislintat’s own history shows how ugly things can get. He famously fell out with then-Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel over the proposed signing of Oliver Torres.

Mislintat pushed, Tuchel said no. Mislintat upped sticks and left, but only after being banned from the training ground.

Arsenal don’t need this kind of animosity between a director, manager and his chief scout distracting from the season.

By declaring a winner early, the Gunners can move toward the kind of clarity sorely lacking since Wenger left. One coherent message has to emerge, one voice articulating a unified strategy.

It was never going to happen with two of the big three becoming entrenched at opposite ends of the spectrum.

If Sanllehi has assumed control at the expense of Mislintat, Arsenal at least begin to have some much-needed clarity. Mislintat may have been the people’s choice because of his work at Dortmund, but the identity of the man in charge isn’t as important as merely having a sole figure of authority.

Sanllehi steering the ship gives Gunners supporters, understandably baffled by the raft of seismic changes taking place since 2017, some answers.

After that, it’s going to be on Sanllehi to prove he’s up to the task.

On backing Emery:

Mislintat moving on suggests Emery’s voice is being heard where it needs to be. It’s only right for Arsenal to back the man trusted to replace Wenger, with more than just words but also with intent.

No manager can function competently without being able to employ the methods he trusts. Those methods hinge on players he knows.

It’s irresponsible of any club to hire a manager and not give him what he wants and needs for the job. If a manager stands or falls by results, he has to be allowed to choose the players who will be most responsible for those results.

If Arsenal want a cautionary tale about the dangers of asking a manager to act out of character, they need only look at Manchester United. The Red Devils hired defensive-minded and big-spending Jose Mourinho, then complained when he didn’t play an attacking style and develop young players.

Go figure.

Emery needs support for his methods before he can be fairly judged. He needs support because he’s trying to engineer tricky squad changes, like a future without Mesut Özil.

What Emery needs is to work with players who will put his ideas into practice. He doesn’t need to be handed players by a sage guru and reassured things will work out if he simply reads the lines he’s given.

On bringing in a former player as technical director:

One of Mislintat’s biggest gripes concerns Arsenal’s plans to hire a technical director. The German either wanted the job himself or at least wanted to decide who would get it.

The London Evening Standard‘s James Olley described Mislintat as “dismayed” a new director “would have greater authority than he enjoys, including a bearing on the team’s style of play.”

The final part of the last sentence is why Arsenal should be giving the technical director role to a former player. Olley mentioned Edu, while German publication Kicker has put Marc Overmars’ name into the hat.

Both are connected by one thing. They’re Wenger signings who won Premier League titles and FA Cups on the Frenchman’s watch.

Just as important, both Edu and Overmars understand the stylistic revolution Wenger brought to Arsenal. The club’s longest-serving manager enjoyed notable successes, but so did George Graham, Bertie Mee and Herbert Chapman.

Wenger’s abiding legacy in north London wasn’t the trophies. It wasn’t even the “Invincibles” and the unbeaten season, of which Edu was a key part.

Instead, the standout achievement of the Wenger era was the transformation of Arsenal from defensive pragmatists to great entertainers.

Wenger didn’t just swap negative rearguards for expansive passing moves. He made an attractive game as much an expectation of Arsenal as it is of Barcelona and Ajax, two other clubs Overmars has roots in.

Adhering to the stylistic template left behind will provide Arsenal the clarity of purpose any true strategy needs. Signings and youth development can be made with the final, pleasing-on-the-eye end product in mind.

It should mean Arsenal having an identity sustainable from one regime to the next, in both lean times and halcyon days.

Arsenal won’t sink into the abyss without Mislintat. It’s more likely the clarity his departure can provide about what the post-Wenger era looks like will benefit the club in the long-term.

https://fansided.com/2019/01/16/sven-mislintat-pending-departure-great-news-arsenal/

Doesn't make any sense at all. He says that Arsenal had to let go of Sven so that Emery will have more control and power over the style of play and the players he wants. Then he says that we are hiring a technical director whose job is to influence our style of play and that is great? Two contradictory ideas.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Doesn't make any sense at all. He says that Arsenal had to let go of Sven so that Emery will have more control and power over the style of play and the players he wants. Then he says that we are hiring a technical director whose job is to influence our style of play and that is great? Two contradictory ideas.

Not if you read what he's saying in context. He's talking about having a unified vision. The technical director should ideally be someone who is not at odds with Sanllehi and Emery on matters of transfer philosophy, but someone such as Overmars who also has an understanding of the style that Wenger brought to the club can be a huge benefit as well by helping to focus the club's identity. These are not opposing ideas in any way.

 

[Toby]

As for Sven, I'm a fan. But if he doesn't share the same vision as Sanllehi and Emery, it's better to go their separate ways now rather than letting it fester.

Quality post and I rate what you are saying, although I mostly disagree but you probably know that already.

I just wanted to pick this bit out.
I generally agree that you should part ways if you're not seeing eye to eye in terms of how a club should operate. The problem is if you look at past pedigree and what's happening at the club people question whether the right guy is made to leave.

And that's exactly something I have a lot of experience with as a Stuttgart fan. That club has hounded out so many DoFs and managers because they apparently didn't see eye to eye with the upper echelons. Well, in most of those cases it has turned out the people let go were right in their analysis and better able to handle the club than their bosses.
DoFs, managers, assistants, scouts were let go because they wanted to change things, but the upper echelons filth was too established and powerful. Most of them went somewhere else and did a good job. What remained in Stuttgart was the boardroom filth and utter instability.

Mislintat and his modus operandi as a Chief Scout/Technical Director just seem much more fitting to what Arsenal should aim for as a renovation than Sanllehi's past and Emery's football. That's why there's a big fuss.

And just quickly re the monetary situation the club's in: It's also all fair and well we may don't have money down to Gazidis, but then back your squad and use what's at your disposal instead of being a nitpicky bully. That's what is expected of any coach.

 

[Toby]

The crazy thing is that last summer most fans expected the team to struggle to get into the top 4. There was a poll here where most didn't even think it was a realistic goal. They just wanted a different direction and some small sign that some progress was being made. Yet this team went 22 games unbeaten, hit a rough patch with an injury crisis during the busiest period of the year,

The different direction most could get behind is now in tatters because Sanllehi is making a power grab.

The 22 unbeaten run itself is a useless stat as I pointed out time and again. It has to be inspected more closely, in terms of pure results - you can go unbeaten 22 games but still draw every game which is the worst unbeaten run in time e.g. - and actual on pitch performance - and that has been lacking for some time even during the unbeaten run where we seemingly rode our luck. And that gets us to the point of progress: This team is regressing over the last two month. Anyone who sincerely watched every game and says over the span of the last 6 months Arsenal got better needs glasses. The injury crisis doesn't really count for me cause Emery would have had options that weren't as borderline manic as what he did - instead of e.g. filling the ranks with squad players and youths, he just shuffeled everything around to keep as many healthy starters as possible in the starting eleven, no matter how nonsensical that was and he persisted with that.

Right now he's trying to fix defensive deficiencies

By making us concede more and more goals and non-sensically using a back three the team obviously cannot play?

I'd be over the moon with a 6th place finish but a guy at the helm who has a clear vision, even if the team struggled to get it done consistently during this first season, where you could honestly say: ok. More time and a few additions is all this guy needs to make them play like this week in week out and then we're at it. But Emery is just looking ****ing clueless by now.

Mislintat’s own history shows how ugly things can get. He famously fell out with then-Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel over the proposed signing of Oliver Torres.

Mislintat pushed, Tuchel said no. Mislintat upped sticks and left, but only after being banned from the training ground.

I'm sorry, but anyone who is obviously misinformed on what has gone down at Dortmund at that time and bases his analysis on such misinformation probably won't make much sense down the line. Cannot take that man's words serious.

The London Evening Standard‘s James Olley described Mislintat as “dismayed” a new director “would have greater authority than he enjoys, including a bearing on the team’s style of play.”

The final part of the last sentence is why Arsenal should be giving the technical director role to a former player.

What kind of bonkers conclusion is that? Get the best man for the job. There's some well known examples of how ex-players or ex-assistants of certain coaches have famously gone against their mentors style of play. Just because someone played under Wenger doesn't mean he adheres to the same principals, values, ideas and play style. And it doesn't make much sense in regards to Mislintat, who for Dortmund has brought in players to fit Klopp's very modern style and a lot of relatively highly technical players like Lewandowski, Kagawa, Dembele, Gundogan, etc.

 

[Toby]

Why would there be room for only one of him and Sven?

Because we currently have a weird structure in place. Sanllehi is not CEO like Gazidis, he's a weird mix of CEO and DoF. That position takes capacity/authority away from any DoF/Technical Director. The next guy in line, Head of Recruitment or Chief Scout, was, as Mislintat filled that role, a mix of Technical Director and Chief Scout. I think that's a problem and it will be in recruiting possible Technical Directors. I don't think there's too many good DoFs with authority out there who want to basically demote themselves to work under a kind-of-CEO/DoF-himself like Sanllehi. That's actually another reason why just giving Sven that title would have been a neat solution.

Any proper DoF of a big club will have more authority and capacities at his current club than under quasi-CEO+DoF Sanllehi. It's hard to fathom why they would take a step down.

The club should have appointed a proper CEO or made Venketesham that to create a clear hierarchic structure and this could all have been prevented.

 

[MustOezil]

Because we currently have a weird structure in place. Sanllehi is not CEO like Gazidis, he's a weird mix of CEO and DoF. That position takes capacity/authority away from any DoF/Technical Director. The next guy in line, Head of Recruitment or Chief Scout, was, as Mislintat filled that role, a mix of Technical Director and Chief Scout. I think that's a problem and it will be in recruiting possible Technical Directors. I don't think there's too many good DoFs with authority out there who want to basically demote themselves to work under a kind-of-CEO/DoF-himself like Sanllehi. That's actually another reason why just giving Sven that title would have been a neat solution.

Any proper DoF of a big club will have more authority and capacities at his current club than under quasi-CEO+DoF Sanllehi. It's hard to fathom why they would take a step down.

The club should have appointed a proper CEO or made Venketesham that to create a clear hierarchic structure and this could all have been prevented.

Good series of replies. Nothing more we can do now.

One comfort of having Wenger at helm was that you knew the man loved the club and the team. He was here for so long, he strived to make this place better, gave it an identity and a pull for everyone to want Arsenal to succeed with his leadership. I miss that very much now.

Emery and Raul feel like strangers, who, like Gazidis, will jump at the first opportunity of higher pay or more power. The manager especially feels like a bully who is making up for his horrid time at PSG with mistreatment of Mesut Özil.

I hope he gets sacked.

 

[Toby]

Good series of replies. Nothing more we can do now.

One comfort of having Wenger at helm was that you knew the man loved the club and the team. He was here for so long, he strived to make this place better, gave it an identity and a pull for everyone to want Arsenal to succeed with his leadership. I miss that very much now.

Emery and Raul feel like strangers, who, like Gazidis, will jump at the first opportunity of higher pay or more power. The manager especially feels like a bully who is making up for his horrid time at PSG with mistreatment of Mesut Özil.

I hope he gets sacked.

I'm still very much open to Emery turning it around and coming good, which is something I have always maintainted for all my criticism. I'm just at a point where I can't really see that happening - and not for hierarchical problems, but because Emery and his view of football is a misfit for this club and he hasn't shown enough actual coaching skills to justify giving him credit for more than a season.

 

[Tosker]

if Veiria or Henry c

Good series of replies. Nothing more we can do now.

One comfort of having Wenger at helm was that you knew the man loved the club and the team. He was here for so long, he strived to make this place better, gave it an identity and a pull for everyone to want Arsenal to succeed with his leadership. I miss that very much now.

Emery and Raul feel like strangers, who, like Gazidis, will jump at the first opportunity of higher pay or more power. The manager especially feels like a bully who is making up for his horrid time at PSG with mistreatment of Mesut Özil.

I hope he gets sacked.

here's hoping

 

[Slartibartfast]

Quality post and I rate what you are saying, although I mostly disagree but you probably know that already.

I just wanted to pick this bit out.
I generally agree that you should part ways if you're not seeing eye to eye in terms of how a club should operate. The problem is if you look at past pedigree and what's happening at the club people question whether the right guy is made to leave.

And that's exactly something I have a lot of experience with as a Stuttgart fan. That club has hounded out so many DoFs and managers because they apparently didn't see eye to eye with the upper echelons. Well, in most of those cases it has turned out the people let go were right in their analysis and better able to handle the club than their bosses.
DoFs, managers, assistants, scouts were let go because they wanted to change things, but the upper echelons filth was too established and powerful. Most of them went somewhere else and did a good job. What remained in Stuttgart was the boardroom filth and utter instability.

Mislintat and his modus operandi as a Chief Scout/Technical Director just seem much more fitting to what Arsenal should aim for as a renovation than Sanllehi's past and Emery's football. That's why there's a big fuss.

And just quickly re the monetary situation the club's in: It's also all fair and well we may don't have money down to Gazidis, but then back your squad and use what's at your disposal instead of being a nitpicky bully. That's what is expected of any coach.

But on what would one base an opinion that the wrong guy is leaving? Our information is pretty much limited to what is publicly available (and by that I don't mean Twitter or fan forum speculation or claims). What we do know is that Sanllehi is the one who has the experience to actually run the club. He was sporting director at arguably the most successful club in the world for many years and has expertise in contract negotiations, player acquisition and commercial revenue. Sven, fine a one as he may be, is a scout and his areas of expertise are more limited. Maybe it would be better if Sven stayed and they found a new Director of Football and a new coach. But none of us are really qualified to say that.

So, speaking in general, it's better for the one guy who is out of step with the rest to move on than to have others who are on the same page leave for the sake of the guy who doesn't share the same vision. If the major players can't work together as a team, somebody has to go.

In this case, I think Arsenal fans have been seduced by Sven's image and reputation for uncovering gems on the cheap and have convinced themselves that he's the only one who can take the club forward. But this simply isn't the case. There are plenty of others who can do the same job just as well. So I just don't see any reason to be particularly concerned here. Let's wait and see how Sanllehi, Emery and whoever else comes on board do.

In any case, Emery or whoever is the coach or manager or whatever deserves to have the players he wants if he's going to be expected to succeed. This isn't a caretaker position where somebody just comes in and tries to stave off relegation or stop the bleeding. It's a vision for the future. We should at least give them time to structure the club in a manner that fits that vision. It's hardly bullying to move players out and others in. It happens all the time when new people take over a club. I find it astonishing that after all the howling over wanting change in recent years that now that it's come so many aren't willing to give it a fair chance.

 

[celestis]

if Veiria or Henry c

here's hoping

Think Sol will prove to be a better manager than either .

 

[Toby]

What we do know is that Sanllehi is the one who has the experience to actually run the club.

That's conjecture. As much as we doubt anyone we can doubt Sanllehi. If we question Mislintat we also have to question Raul.

 

[Batman]

Not if you read what he's saying in context. He's talking about having a unified vision. The technical director should ideally be someone who is not at odds with Sanllehi and Emery on matters of transfer philosophy, but someone such as Overmars who also has an understanding of the style that Wenger brought to the club can be a huge benefit as well by helping to focus the club's identity. These are not opposing ideas in any way.

I think Sven has done a better job at that than Emery and Raul (allegedly) are though. Sven has brought in Auba, Torreira and Guendouzi all players who have styles and traits reminiscent of players in the best squads we've seen under Wenger. Emery and Raul are trying (allegedly) to bring in washed up or questionable players that he had before at other clubs. One (Sven) is focusing on the club's identity as well as what generally wins you football matches and the others (allegedly) are trying to bring in players who cater to the manager's identity. I also have to seriously question any manager who needs to bring former players with him to execute his vision. I very much doubt his powerpoint presentation and those alleged dossiers on all of our players detailed that he'd need to go foraging back through old players to make his system work.

I just don't see the logic in casting aside a guy who has proven his worth immediately and consistently in a position with a longer shelf life in favor of someone who has been a very mixed bag, is doing his level best to alienate (and in turn devalue) a massive asset and appears incapable or unwilling to put his players in the best position to succeed. I felt like a broken record talking about Wenger putting square pegs in round holes and repeating mistakes as well as lamenting how much he needed David Dein. We appear finally to have found a worthy successor to David Dein but it's much more questionable if we've found a worthy successor to Arsène Wenger, who for all his flaws never brought the embarrassment of the absolute hash Emery is making of this Özil situation upon the club. It seems to me that the wrong guy is on his way out here. It would be a dreadful shame if Sven goes on to help some other club achieve great things and we're sat here in a couple of years looking for a new manager after this one fails. Of course all this is hypothetical. Things may work out but I don't have a good feeling about it based on what I've seen from all parties to this point.

 

[Batman]

Think Sol will prove to be a better manager than either .

He's so criminally underrated as a player and character. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did.

 

[Goonerozil33]

Who would have thought Gazidis leaving will derail us rather than Wenger leaving. Sven is a valuable asset and is at a guardiola/ Klopp levels when it comes to talent spotting. Emery is not a tier -1 manager yet. If we had Manchester City’s money I would have picked a man like Sanlehi. Rather we have a club without money and need to generate money by selling assets and developing players. I think we should keep Sven and fire Emery and Sanlehi. For our model it is the right choice

 

[Sniper Mik]

The entire organisational structure is incredibly muddled right now. I always had a feeling that we were making too many appointments left right and centre and creating new roles and slapping on fancy titles without properly defining their responsibilities and hierarchy. Does Raul and Vinai answer to anyone but Kroenke? Why is a Technical Director telling our Head of Recruitment what the recruitment policy should be? What is Vinai's role in the club? He is a finance guy with no real experience in football operations. What was the point of promoting him to a Managing Director when he's mostly going to be dealing with the commercial side?
This is what happens when you have an absentee owner who doesn't lay down a proper vision for the club.

 

[YeahBee]

Also the best player in the world by a mile.

Lots of randos would be if they are given growth hormones for years...

Cr9 over Messi anyway

 

[Mo Britain]

Who would have thought Gazidis leaving will derail us rather than Wenger leaving. Sven is a valuable asset and is at a guardiola/ Klopp levels when it comes to talent spotting. Emery is not a tier -1 manager yet. If we had Manchester City’s money I would have picked a man like Sanlehi. Rather we have a club without money and need to generate money by selling assets and developing players. I think we should keep Sven and fire Emery and Sanlehi. For our model it is the right choice

Gazidis leaving won't derail us. The mess he made whilst he was still here together with his toadying to Kronke might.

 

[Sanis]

The light at the end of the tunnel is fading away.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Lots of randos would be if they are given growth hormones for years...

Cr9 over Messi anyway

Weirdest argument ever. Didnt know getting growth hormones makes you the most talented, gifted football player to ever play the game. It also adds to your footballing IQ ?

 

[dashsnow17]

Don't know who this guy is (except that he apparently writes for Bleacher Report and FanSided), but he makes sense. Personally, I might not frame it as "great news for Arsenal," but certainly if the major figures at the club don't share the same vision then it's better to move forward now rather than later. It can be good news in the sense that a potential developing problem might be avoided and the club can be unified. Anyway, here are some of the though of James Dudko:

Regarding Ornstein's report about Sven not being on the same page as Sanllehi and Emery:

It’s better for Arsenal to put an end to such squabbling rather than letting it fester. Protracted tension between the men charged with putting the club back among the elite would wreck not only this season but subsequent campaigns.

Mislintat’s own history shows how ugly things can get. He famously fell out with then-Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel over the proposed signing of Oliver Torres.

Mislintat pushed, Tuchel said no. Mislintat upped sticks and left, but only after being banned from the training ground.

Arsenal don’t need this kind of animosity between a director, manager and his chief scout distracting from the season.

By declaring a winner early, the Gunners can move toward the kind of clarity sorely lacking since Wenger left. One coherent message has to emerge, one voice articulating a unified strategy.

It was never going to happen with two of the big three becoming entrenched at opposite ends of the spectrum.

If Sanllehi has assumed control at the expense of Mislintat, Arsenal at least begin to have some much-needed clarity. Mislintat may have been the people’s choice because of his work at Dortmund, but the identity of the man in charge isn’t as important as merely having a sole figure of authority.

Sanllehi steering the ship gives Gunners supporters, understandably baffled by the raft of seismic changes taking place since 2017, some answers.

After that, it’s going to be on Sanllehi to prove he’s up to the task.

On backing Emery:

Mislintat moving on suggests Emery’s voice is being heard where it needs to be. It’s only right for Arsenal to back the man trusted to replace Wenger, with more than just words but also with intent.

No manager can function competently without being able to employ the methods he trusts. Those methods hinge on players he knows.

It’s irresponsible of any club to hire a manager and not give him what he wants and needs for the job. If a manager stands or falls by results, he has to be allowed to choose the players who will be most responsible for those results.

If Arsenal want a cautionary tale about the dangers of asking a manager to act out of character, they need only look at Manchester United. The Red Devils hired defensive-minded and big-spending Jose Mourinho, then complained when he didn’t play an attacking style and develop young players.

Go figure.

Emery needs support for his methods before he can be fairly judged. He needs support because he’s trying to engineer tricky squad changes, like a future without Mesut Özil.

What Emery needs is to work with players who will put his ideas into practice. He doesn’t need to be handed players by a sage guru and reassured things will work out if he simply reads the lines he’s given.

On bringing in a former player as technical director:

One of Mislintat’s biggest gripes concerns Arsenal’s plans to hire a technical director. The German either wanted the job himself or at least wanted to decide who would get it.

The London Evening Standard‘s James Olley described Mislintat as “dismayed” a new director “would have greater authority than he enjoys, including a bearing on the team’s style of play.”

The final part of the last sentence is why Arsenal should be giving the technical director role to a former player. Olley mentioned Edu, while German publication Kicker has put Marc Overmars’ name into the hat.

Both are connected by one thing. They’re Wenger signings who won Premier League titles and FA Cups on the Frenchman’s watch.

Just as important, both Edu and Overmars understand the stylistic revolution Wenger brought to Arsenal. The club’s longest-serving manager enjoyed notable successes, but so did George Graham, Bertie Mee and Herbert Chapman.

Wenger’s abiding legacy in north London wasn’t the trophies. It wasn’t even the “Invincibles” and the unbeaten season, of which Edu was a key part.

Instead, the standout achievement of the Wenger era was the transformation of Arsenal from defensive pragmatists to great entertainers.

Wenger didn’t just swap negative rearguards for expansive passing moves. He made an attractive game as much an expectation of Arsenal as it is of Barcelona and Ajax, two other clubs Overmars has roots in.

Adhering to the stylistic template left behind will provide Arsenal the clarity of purpose any true strategy needs. Signings and youth development can be made with the final, pleasing-on-the-eye end product in mind.

It should mean Arsenal having an identity sustainable from one regime to the next, in both lean times and halcyon days.

Arsenal won’t sink into the abyss without Mislintat. It’s more likely the clarity his departure can provide about what the post-Wenger era looks like will benefit the club in the long-term.

https://fansided.com/2019/01/16/sven-mislintat-pending-departure-great-news-arsenal/

It’s correct that one unifying vision is better than two competing ones. It’s just that I think I’d much rather have Sven’s unifying vision than Raul’s.