Inspired by an off-the-cuff poll by Brad aka @ArsenalFCView on twitter, here’s a list of some baffling things Arsene has done.

To qualify, things have to be baffling at the time or be repeated or go on for a long time, so lots of suggestions I received on twitter to add to the first draft don’t really apply. Not re-signing Cesc? Not baffling, because of Cesc’s attitude (though personally I would have had him back rather than strengthen a rival). Various other players who were signed – Jeffers, Chamakh, Gervinho, etc – well they didn’t work out, but no one could know that at the time, so difficult to say they qualify. Whereas Sylvestre looked odd at the time… Making Gallas captain? Might have worked.

Not giving Tony Adams a coaching role? I wouldn’t give Tony Adams a coaching role. Not having Vieira or Henry coaching? These might be bad decisions, but they’re hardly proven coaches yet.

On the flipside, people claiming Kallstrom shouldn’t be on the list because he ‘won us a cup’ – well a) cups are won by teams, never by individuals, and b) signing a player with a broken back is baffling, full stop. What happens later does not change that fact.

So in no particular order, though number one is a lot of people’s favourite:

1. Selling RvP to Man Utd
2. Picking players who want to leave (eg Ox v Liverpool)
3. Not signing Yaya Toure when he had the chance
4. Having a non-playing captain
5. Signing Kallstrom with a broken back
6. Signing Sylvestre
7. Signing Park Chu Young, the only player ever whose value was written off in the club accounts while he was still there
8. Signing Igors Stepanovs because the squad were praising him to wind up Martin Keown
9. Persisting with Almunia as number one keeper for so long
10. Repeatedly overpaying squad players that then can’t be sold because no one will match their wages
11. Signing a contract extension in 2014 after winning the FA Cup
12. Signing a contract extension in 2017 after winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years
13. Not being flexible enough to go an extra £2m for Xabi Alonso (other examples of ‘seeking value’ are available, eg Mark Schwarzer)
14. Playing second string squad members in the 2007 League Cup final
15. Substituting Oxlade-Chamberlain (having a rare good game) for Arshavin in the infamous match where Van Persie decided he was off
16. Never doing subs before 68 minutes, except in cases of dire emergency (eg being completely outplayed at Liverpool)
17. Not changing his coaching team in 20 years
18. Persisting with duvet-style coats with very long zips
19. Buying no first team outfield players in 2015
20. Having any faith at all in Yaya Sanogo
21. Bidding £40m + £1 for Luis Suarez
22. Taking no notice of opposition tactics with his own set-up in 95% of fixtures
23. Staying glued to the bench during nearly every match
24. Dropping Arshavin for 2009 FA Cup semi-final
25. Benching fit players who you would expect to start (Lacazette last weekend v Liverpool, Sanchez v Liverpool in March 2017; other examples are available)
26. Playing most of the defence out of position this season
27. Giving new contracts to permanently injured players
28. Never seeming to be aware that the season starts mid-August, so being unprepared for it
29. The fashion shoot he did in 2015 (particularly the turned-up jeans)
30. Loaning players out while their contracts run down, then having to sell them cheaply
31. Playing Andre Santos, the only fit full back of 4 in the squad, in a CL dead rubber against Olympiakos while other first teamers were rested; Santos was injured and out for 3 months
32. Blaming fans for the team’s poor performances
33. Generally ignoring the role of captain and the importance of leaders on the pitch
34. Claiming Arsenal teams are stuffed with leaders when they’re clearly not
35. Having a blanket ban on contracts longer than a year for players 30 and over, instead of taking each case on its merits