I am conflicted on this.
In general, I think that Mickey and Rixon have been absolutely terrific - modern coaches with commonsense attitudes.
I fully accept that the ridiculous field placings which ruined the bowling attack in Australia and the horrendous overuse of Yasir Shah and Mohammad Amir were mainly Misbah's fault and certainly his responsibility. The warning signs were already on display in England, and the likes of Michael Vaughan and Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain commented then that the bowling strategies were poor: who benefits at Old Trafford / Edgbaston / Melbourne / Sydney from Yasir Shah bowling 45-5-180-1?
But here in Australia people are less diplomatic and more truthful. And the unanimous perception in Australia is that as a bowling captain Misbah-ul-Haq is a blithering idiot, indeed the most incompetent bowling captain to have visited Australia for at least a century.
So while it is Misbah's fault, and Misbah's responsibility, I think that Mickey Arthur should take some of the responsibility for the debacle too.
Pakistan chose not to take Mohammad Asif to England, Australia and New Zealand. They chose not to let him work intensively on his fitness for the July to December period with the senior coaches.
It was a catastrophic decision, because those of us who follow Pakistan cricket closely knew that Sohail Khan and Imran Khan lack the fitness, speed and control of line but especially length to survive in Australia.
Mickey Arthur has obviously had split priorities in recent months. He needed the team to do well enough that he would survive in his job. But he also needed Misbah, Younis, Hafeez, Imran, Zulfiqar and Sohail out of the team ASAP to allow him to build a superior team of younger, fitter players.
So on the one hand the implosion of all of those players has helped. But on the other hand, shouldn't he have stepped in and pleaded with Misbah to stop relying on Yasir Shah outside Asia? And shouldn't he have argued with Misbah for Mohammad Amir not to bowl so wide?
im afraid as is very usual, this post is jam packed full of abject error.
mickey and rixon have been thoroughly unimpressive to date. the only real input visible from rixon's tenure is the idiotic idea to field sami in slip when it is very obvious even to the gullible children of pp that he does not have the ability. mickey has excelled at media fluffing, comparing mediocre players to the worlds best, and talking about his own issues with cricket australia. that said, its always difficult to assertain the exact influence of a coach on a side, but there are certainly no clear indications of anything positive he has brought to the table at all so far, and instead, plenty of disappointment.
you can accept misbah is to blame for all that you want to place at his feet; on the other hand i fully suspect that this uncharacteristic display by him was a result of influence, most likely mickey trying to build a brand of innovation, and to a lesser extent yasir himself - as he has publicly admitted. with regards to overbowling his pacers, or spinners ie his bowlers - when your bowlers are all underperforming, there is no choice. the lack of options is a direct result of not having developed all rounders by previous teams of selectors. so i dont at all accept that the blame for two small things amongst a litany of talking points on this series are solely due to misbahs captaincy. have yo already forgotten how unanimous was the criticism on team management when they left yasir out for a match in new zealand?
im not sure what warning signs you were watching in england - vaughn in his typically puerile attempts at controversy and attention is known pretty much only for voicing extreme opinoins, and was full of praise for misbah certain;ly during some of his commentary stints this series. nasser, in a pp interview quoted by another site had this to say about misbah's captaincy:
"PP: Forty-two-years-old and he’s still going strong. How long do you expect Misbah to carry on playing for Pakistan?
NH: I’d like him to carry on playing as long as possible. I spoke to him the other day at The Oval and I said you are a long time retired. I suppose if the result with India and West Indies goes in Pakistan’s favour and they go to number one in the world, then there is a good opportunity for him to go out right at the top; winning his last Test as captain, captaining well and taking Pakistan to number one. That would be an ideal opportunity for him to go out at the top, but I would like him to carry on for a long time. I think he has been a calming influence on the team
and his captaincy has been excellent"
http://www.cricketcountry.com/artic...et-is-amazing-and-long-may-it-continue-518760
so im afraid that comment about warning signs is utterly false and dishonest.
in australia, people are not less diplomatic and more truthful, they are less diplomatic and less tactful. stating your opinion honestly, does not make it more truthful. whether the aussie commentators, renowned the world over for being whiny, self serving, poor losers and poor winners, think that misbahs bowling captaincy - whatever that is - is horrendous or not is neither here nor there. who cares? heres what the established media thinks of it:
1. nasser as quoted above
2. the telegraph: ranked and rated as best test captain
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cr...-captains-ranked-and-rated.html?frame=3405357
3. the spectator (oborne): "Why Misbah ul-Haq is Pakistan’s greatest Test captain"
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/07/why-misbah-ul-haq-is-pakistans-greatest-test-captain/
and the list goes on. the topic is so heavily misrepresented in your post that even obscure sites rank him amongst the top ten test captains ever:
http://sporteology.com/top-10-successful-cricket-captains-time/
im not making the point that misbahs captaincy is amazing, i dont have an opinion on that myself. im making the point that its dishonest to represent the opinion on it as being a consensus of negativity, its not.
im not sure where you get your inside information on what mickey "needs to do" in terms of ridding the team of certain players. you can suspect it all you like, but you state it like its fact. is it in fact rank speculation you are characteristically misrepresnting in your trolling on these boards, or do you have some source? ive seen no such evidence to suggest that mickey "needs" to be rid of misbah, younis, hafeez etc etc.
if he is a control freak as his reputation would indicate, there is a case to be made for his influence in game strategy - in which case there needs to be some questions asked of mickey. neither he nor misbah is a selector, so despite their opinions carrying weight, they cant be held accountable for a poor bench facilitated by previous inept selectors. so i dont hold either accountable for the squad and lack of all rounder, but what signs are there thaht other than mouthing off, mickey has done anything at all?
Same thing happened with Waqar a couple of times as well 
I was waiting for that.
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