A. Siddique Adamu

Paramilitary. Sunni. Arsenal. Buharist. El-Rufaist. Putinist.

[Sami Mokbel @SamiMokbel_BBC]

Arsenal’s transfer window unpacked: the targets, self-sustainability, financial compliance and the future. https://t.co/qwLZcOJuzQ

[Hassan AFC @HassanGooner10]

في لقطة البلنتي هذه اكيد مايك دين وقتها كان في تحدي او بمعنى آخر رهان مع زملاؤه إنه ما يصفر !

[Duncan Alexander @oilysailor]

with Mike Dean in the news, a reminder I assessed all 114 of his PL red cards, in chronological order

https://t.co/D47Pccwwt4

[ESPN UK @ESPNUK]

Arsene Wenger was banned for three games and fined £40k after this confrontation with Mike Dean in 2017 👀:

🗣️ Wenger: "You're not honest"

🗣️ Dean: "So you're calling me a cheat?"

🗣️ Wenger: "I maintain what I say; you're not honest. You've done this to us many times before. You're supposed to be professional; you're a disgrace!"

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

😡 Atletico Madrid’s anger at Barcelona
❓ Real Madrid’s €150m ‘offer’
🔴 How close did Arsenal come?
🤨 Were Manchester City an option?

The Julian Alvarez saga was the summer window’s most bitter transfer story.

Here is the full picture of how it unfolded — and what to expect next.

Free to read: https://t.co/vUatMVpLE2

[Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. @batten_von]

We have learned that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu (@officialABAT), Dr. Sunday Dare (@SundayDareSD), Special Adviser to President #Tinubu, and their supporters are deeply unhappy with us, particularly with our founder, Dr. Von Batten, over our work destroying their reported $9 million lobbying campaign to win over President @realDonaldTrump.

We understand their frustration, and we would like to play the world’s smallest violin for their sorrows.

Here are the facts: President #Tinubu’s planned @UN meeting with President #Trump is dead. The effort to secure President Trump’s support for #Tinubu has failed. The pushed White House meeting is not going to happen. The effort to secure U.S. support for #Tinubu’s presidential campaign has failed.

You spent millions of dollars and countless hours trying to shape Washington’s perception of President #Tinubu. If your response to failure is to invent false stories about our work and Dr. Von Batten, then you have learned nothing from that failure. We are just a lobbying firm. You are the Federal Government of Nigeria. Show some dignity when you lose.

[Mukhtar Ibrahim Shelby @IMUKHTY]

Sheikh Albani May Allah Be Pleased With Him

[A. Siddique Adamu @SiddiquePutin]

@AbduljalaalMusa @salimpotter @abdulljalo 😄😄😄

[A. Siddique Adamu @SiddiquePutin]

@AbduljalaalMusa AJ ka kira @salimpotter da @abdulljalo su siya mata mana😂

[David Garcia @IJaSport]

Arteta keeps changing Arsenal without really changing what he believes about football.

And I think that’s a much better way to understand coaching evolution than this idea that a coach either “sticks to their philosophy” or abandons it.

I read a new paper this week that separates coaching philosophy, game idea, game model and playing style, and I think that distinction helps explain Arteta really well.

His philosophy is the deeper stuff, how he sees football, learning, control, autonomy, what he values. His game idea is the broad strategic intention, dominate territory, pin teams back, recover the ball quickly, be proactive. His game model is the evolving set of principles that helps organize that. And the playing style is what we actually see on the pitch at a particular moment, which is always going to be shaped by the players available, the opposition, injuries, the competition, the rules, all of it.

That matters because coaches often confuse the method with the belief.

“We build like this.” “Our full-back goes here.” “Our winger does this.” “We press in this shape.”

Those are not really your philosophy. They are solutions.

And solutions expire.

Arteta is a really good example of that. When he first arrived, he used a back three because Arsenal needed stability. Then the team became much more expansive. Then after getting absolutely battered by City in 2023, he clearly felt they needed to become more robust, so in came Rice, Havertz, Timber, Raya etc. Then opponents changed too, more man-to-man marking, deeper blocks, teams getting better at stopping the things Arsenal wanted to do, so Arsenal adapted again.

The underlying intention stayed pretty consistent.

The HOW changed because the reality changed.

That is basically RIDE (one of my frameworks)

Reality changes, so the decisions and execution should change too, even if the wider intention remains stable.

And I think coaches get into trouble when they take one successful solution and turn it into an identity. (*cough cough* RDZ)

An inverted full-back isn’t a philosophy. A 3-2 build-up isn’t a philosophy. A particular pressing shape isn’t a philosophy. They are possible answers to particular football problems.

The clearer you are about what you believe, the less attached you should need to be to exactly how it looks.

That’s why I found Arteta’s comments earlier this year about football becoming less like a chess match so interesting. He talked about inspiration, daring, fluidity, players creating chaos, basically recognizing that once everyone knows the next move, the advantage starts disappearing.

That feels pretty significant coming from a coach whose teams have often been described as highly structured.

And it connects with what he said recently about wanting to lead his players less. After six and a half years of giving them a lot of direction, he now believes they’ve reached a point where they have the understanding and capacity to do more themselves.

Again, that doesn’t mean structure was wrong. It probably means the structure helped get them here.

But if the players have actually developed, the coaching should evolve too.

More responsibility, more ownership, less HOW, more WHAT.

And this is where I think the paper’s distinction is useful again. A game model should provide shared references, enough organization for players to recognize situations together, but it should not become a rigid blueprint that prescribes every action.

Because structure can get you access.

It can help you arrive in useful areas, create numerical advantages, occupy the opponent, control the game.

But somebody still has to damage the opponent.

Somebody has to dribble, disguise a pass, make a blindside run, change the rhythm, combine in a way nobody expected, do something the opponent hasn’t already prepared for.

You cannot script every game-defining action.

And if you try, eventually the opposition learns the script anyway.

That is probably why this article makes so much sense to me. A lot of people looked at Arsenal over the last couple of years and basically decided the football had become boring. Maybe it had at times. But maybe what we were also seeing was a team dealing with injuries, opponents who had adapted to them and the completely different demands of actually trying to win the league.

That doesn’t mean every solution Arteta chose was right.

But “this looks boring” probably isn’t enough analysis.

The better question is: what problem are they trying to solve?

And I think that’s the real coaching lesson in Arteta’s evolution.

A strong identity should give you direction, not trap you.

Your philosophy can stay stable.
Your game idea can stay stable.
Your game model can evolve.
Your playing style can change.

And none of that means you have abandoned who you are.

If anything, it might mean you understand who you are well enough not to confuse your beliefs with one preferred solution.

Article:
https://t.co/Ps2K3yvWWJ

[𝐃𝐫 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐚 @Realoilsheikh]

Listen to this meaningful analysis. One Femi would come out from nowhere and say all form of rubbish without any single concern for the hardship Nigerians are in.

Please listen.

[Daily Trust @daily_trust]

FG Begins Rehabilitation Of 13 Police Training Schools
https://t.co/pT2aqVI6Zh

[Tom Canton @TomCantonMedia]

Chelsea and Manchester City have sold a combined £342m worth of players to six specific clubs from just six deals.

The question many are asking is, why are Arsenal just not able to do the same?

Below I've dived into the reasons behind it 👇

https://t.co/0ixZm9O0bg

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

Convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Mladić dies aged 84 https://t.co/T7EAvAovcS

[National Population Commission @natpopcom]

How to Register and Get a Digital Birth Certificate --- Step by Step.

To get started, visit https://t.co/6V2r1W53YH or any NPC Registration Centre near you

#BirthCertificate #NPCNigeria #DigitalBirthCertificate
#NationalPopulationCommission
#CivilRegistration

[A. Siddique Adamu @SiddiquePutin]

@Realoilsheikh Dakta na mu. Allah ya karbi ibada

[A. Siddique Adamu @SiddiquePutin]

@Abdulrah_maan Allah ya gafarta ma Baba Mahmoon. Allah ya sa Aljannah Firdausi, makomar shi. Amin

[Tolu Ogunlesi @toluogunlesi]

"PR is about how organizations behave, not what they say." ~ Paul Holmes

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

We’re not ones for hyperbole here at The Athletic, nor do we like to make sweeping conclusions after just one weekend of the 2026-27 season.

That said, we can confidently say that Arsenal are going to win the title by about a billion points.

Mikel Arteta’s side have been pretty clear favourites to retain their title since well before the opening games.

But with the significant caveat that we have only seen 90 minutes, the reasons for their status as favourites were emphasised this weekend — perhaps less by how they played, and more by the inconsistencies of their challengers.

Is anyone going to challenge Arsenal in any serious way? Not on the evidence of this weekend.

@NickMiller79 tackles the key talking points after the opening weekend of the Premier League season

🔗 https://t.co/lUITk0zJ1W

[A. Siddique Adamu @SiddiquePutin]

@Waspapping_ @IsaAshiruKudan What are you afraid of? Tell me your fears😀