Mikel Arteta dropped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the bench against Tottenham yesterday after the Arsenal skipper reportedly showed up late to a team meeting.
It has been claimed that yesterday wasn’t the first time Auba was late. Arteta, a disciplinarian as we all know, was far from impressed and he made the bold decision of telling the world that his skipper was dropped for lack of discipline.
The Daily Mail reveal today that Auba was absolutely furious with the decision.
It is claimed that the Arsenal skipper did not take kindly to the embarrassment of being dropped just before one of the biggest games of the season.
He refused to take part in the warm-down along with the other unused substitutes and walked out of the Emirates immediately after the game.
Aubameyang is a very popular figure behind the scenes. He is loved by everyone, but the influential stars in the dressing room decided to back Arteta’s decision to punish him instead of taking their skipper’s side, according to the report.
Arsenal Insider’s view:
Both Arteta and the Arsenal stars in the dressing room have done the right thing.
No player is bigger than the team and Arteta could not have ignored indiscipline just because it was Aubameyang. He dropped him and that would have acted as a huge warning to everyone else in the squad.
There have been stories at clubs where the players turn on their manager for punishing one of the popular guys. Thankfully there’s none of that at Arsenal, and Arteta has everybody’s support – hopefully Auba’s too once he has cooled down.
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