Morning all.
Interesting stuff doing the rounds about Pep Guardiola. He’s verbally agreed a four year deal with Juventus apparently. I can’t say I’d be surprised if it was true. He’s done Spain, Germany and England so there’s only really Italy and France to go. I reckon Italy might be his last job though as which club bar PSG would suit him, or rather his financial requirements? When he leaves City, if he does anytime soon, I’m sure many other club managers/coaches will be glad to see the back of him. His style of football will be missed in England though, as will his personality.
More importantly though, Arsenal need to sort themselves out. The club always seem to be on the edge of something good or a depression and have have been for at least ten years now. We witness a top notch performance one day and the next, we fail in spectacular fashion. We’re offered a little sniff of hope of improvement, only to have it all taken away soon afterwards. Of course, there is always a section of fans who refuse to be optimistic under this current owner, Unai Emery or both and appear to enjoy expressing such views after the team fail. That’s life I guess but I’d rather remain the optimist.
I think our collapse against Rennes was a bit of a freak. Up until Sokratis had been sent off we really were in total control of the match. The panic set in and before we knew it, they’d scored. Blame Emery all you like for that but I can’t see how he can be held responsible for players turning their back on a shot or misplacing passes. If the players who continue to let the team down are still at the club at the end of the summer transfer window, then Emery will deserve any criticism he gets.
I would imagine in hindsight, Emery would have done things differently at halftime on Thursday but I don’t think it’s unfair to say that he’s caused his own problems in Europa. Problems which began when he didn’t include Mavropanos in his Europa squad for the knockout stages. Big mistake in my opinion. A manager simply can’t go into any game without a central defender on the bench. I know people will say that Monreal or Xhaka can step in but that’s just making do and when he’s tried that before, it’s not worked very well. Another option was AMN coming on, not a natural right back I know but he’s played there many times and he knows what he’s doing. Mkhitaryan was needed further up the pitch, not back in defence.
If Unai Emery opts for the same back four who played against Toots, I really hope he has Mavropanos or another central defender on the bench because if not, we’re a defensive injury or sending off away from that Rennes scenario unfolding all over again. Rennes weren’t a team full of players willing to stay on their feet. Utd won’t be either.
I forgot to mention. Monchi has left Roma, he’s heading to north London apparently. He’s more frugal than Sven and he’s good at balancing the books without jeopardising the strength of a squad. Or that’s what’s been said about him. Ideal for us if he can, and does….
See you in the comments..
I know Pep is a media favourite, but he hasn’t really impressed me yet. He landed on his feet at a powerhouse like Barcelona and then has carefully chosen teams with huge financial advantages. Sure he plays attractive football but that’s not difficult to achieve if you have first pick of all the top players.
It’s not a feat of skill to get those sorts of teams to win. It’s difficult to stop them winning things.
Until he does the business for a team on a restricted budget he’ll just be another money manager like Mourinho.
So going to Juve who pay 1 player more than half of the teams in Serie A total wage budget isn’t a surprise. It’s an easy ride.
Do you think Pep could well with our squad Hobart?
Morning Rico and all. If the Pep thing is true then I wonder if he fancies Ramsey?As you know, I am a huge admirer of his while acknowledging all the usual criticisms usually levelled against him.
And if the Monchi thing is true and his reputation for frugality is deserved, then it seems as if our new management structure is going to shake the club up a bit. I am, as ever, enormously sceptical but at least there seems to be some sort of plan coming together. Question is whether the manager gets the time to implement it.
While I agree with the points Hobart makes, and I’ve said so previously, the fact is that plenty of managers have spent and failed yet Pep hasn’t, so that’s a massive plus.
It’d be an interesting excercise seeing him take a mid table squad and build it up but he doesn’t need to, as massive clubs are lining up for him.
Morning all.
Morning Adam.
Ditto re Pep. There’s no doubt he opts for clubs with vast financial clout but then they’d need to because he doesn’t come cheap in the first place.
Mind you, Pep is labelled a chequebook manager which I totally understand, yet on the other hand, he’s cited as being able to work miracles with our squad. The two don’t really go together.
Agree on Monchi if he arrives. Perhaps Sven didn’t work as well as the club hoped, at least something appears to be happening which certainly suggests there is a long term plan. Seeing as Emery was appointed by the last regime, it could be that he’s not part of that plan.
Exactly Scott which isn’t his own fault. Something similar might have happened with Arsene Wenger had he quit whilst he was ahead. Had he left after the invincible season, his career may have turned out very different to what it did.
I don’t think anyone could do well with our squad but I do feel that certain managers could improve some results.
I am not ready yet to kick Emery into touch but I have reservations about his ability to communicate his ideas but I do wonder if the continual changes to formation and players is a signal that he is trying to patch up problems or whether he just can’t work out exactly what is his best team.
I think the injuries to Holding and Bellerin unbalanced him as I think he was aiming for those two with Sokratis and Monreal as his preferred back four . Kos was injured and Mustafi ? well he’s a brain fart waiting to happen with Kolasinac as back ups . He has been forced to play people either out of position or just that are not good enough to start and probably not to come on as game changers.
The summer with or without Monchi will set the course for the next couple of years , who leaves and how they are replaced will dictate his legacy at the Arsenal and whether he stays or goes.
If he hangs onto European football it gives extra game income albeit I can’t see it being the money pot that is the CL.but I believe his job was to get us there in two years and we are still only in the first.
I understand that he’s still a winner, but he’s never tried to win with a disadvantage, he’s always had the advantage. Until he wins without that advantage he’ll never be a great for me, merely good.
As for Pep taking over from Wenger… I think his job would have been easier than Emery’s. However I wouldn’t expect anything more than maybe top 4 and a cup at best (which is my bar for any manager being successful with us).
Wengers team was already set up to be pass and move, heavily attacking and highly technical. All Pep would have needed to add would have been pressing and organisation. Emery on the other hand seems to want us to play almost the opposite sort of style to Wenger. So not only is he having to add the organisation and pressing he’s also trying to get players to do things that are alien to them.
I think that’s why it’s still falling over from time to time. Any sufficiently good player can do a job for a team, but playing against your natural style can only last so long before you tire mentally and retreat to what you know. Emery can get them to do a job for a few games but then they fall back on what they are which are Wenger type players not Emery types.
In truth Emery probably needs 3-4 summers and maybe another 10 players before the squad will be fully comfortable with his style. I don’t think he’ll get that long.
Morning all.
Of the Pep thing. Juve would be his next natural port of call, already successful, potentially a great squad, perhaps a few aging players will need replacing! But that would just about sort it or for the next four years, then he could pick the richest team in the MLS and complete his coaching c.v. In the USA, New York perhaps??
So, what happens to Allegri, the coach who should have come to us last summer? If he’s available will the Arsenal bring him in, he’ll only cost the price of a reserve goalkeeper! Can he tiny our green youngsters into a Europe conquering team to be frightened of?
Just a thought.
Tomorrow, we could and probably should win the match. Manure have been playing very poor football again, mostly. However, the footballing gods have smiled on them and conjured wins for them when they were just not deserved! Shall we see justice done? Shall we see the footballing gods smile on us, for a change. A win would be a season’s end game changer, imo. If we lose, well,a pretty much that will be our season over. At best our name will go into the Euro Cup hat again, not the best outcome for little Dick’s first season and probably 6th place in the EPL, again not the best. So, all to play for tomorrow in fact the result for us is everything. 1-0 will do nicely, very nicely.
I cant find a link at the moment but several years ago some people did a statistical analysis of net spend and wages spend and expected outcomes the English divisions.
So they could look at a clubs net spend and wages over a period of time and then predict where they would finish. The model they built stood up to proper statistical analysis as a predictor.
At the time only 4 managers were scoring significantly more than expected. In maths terms these 4 managers scored above the averag so highly that they it wasn’t a statistical fluke.
From memory number 1 was Ferguson very closely followed by Wenger. Alladyce was a long way back in 3rd. I can’t remember who was 4th (possibly Martinez). Mourinho was about 14th.
Potter. That’s pretty much what I think too. If he was seen as a long term solution, I think he’d have got three years rather than a third being an option.
Had Bellerin, Holding, Sokratis and Koscielny or Mavropanos been fit all season, I really believe top four would have been secured by now, if not third the way things have turned out.
No manager would cope well with so many injuries to key defenders, why we’ve suffered so many is another question. A big miss imo has been Welbeck. He was on form, scoring goals and what he brings to the team as far a work rate etc goes, only Ozil, Aubameyang etc can dream of.
Talking of Welbeck, strange we’ve not heard what’s happening with him..
Rico, I’ve never said Pep wasn’t a top manager, just that I believed that little question mark hung over him imo, but with the constant success he’s had, he can’t be criticised, but questioning and criticising are two very different things and I’m not saying you’ve accused me of either, just making a point.
I’ve got no doubt he’d do better with our squad now, and even the last few years of Wenger because he’d most definitely have us organised and playing for the cause and that lack of defensive organisation remains a massive issue.
Wenger stayed because he wanted to help build a super power in the world of football, imo.
Imagine we had the Qatari owners who paid for a new stadium, and we didn’t have to fund it ourselves?
I think we’d have seen a very, very different Wenger and indeed, Arsenal, over the last 10-15 years but that’s all ifs and buts.
Will Emery last?
At least until his 2 seasons are up because when a club employs a manager, they should give the man the length of the deal to get things right, imo.
It’d be nice to see a contract actually meaning something in today’s world.
@Wavy supposedly Allegri was on our list this summer but turned us down because of budget restrictions.
I disagree on the team Wenger left behind. It was static, missing players in key areas, low in confidence, soft, disorganised and under strength.
Emery’s job was massive, it still is imo.
A bit like the City squad he took over then Wavy.. lol
Scott, I didn’t for one minute suggest you did. I was agreeing with you. For once. Lol
One of us is slipping, Rico 🙂
Afternoon Rico, on the Pep subject, where he wins out in my mind is in his ability to motivate millionaires and to keep them motivated, Mourinho cannot do that, in fact he ends up fighting with everyone…
Arsenal will never be able to attract a manager like Pep or Allegri as we don’t have the requisite financial support or interest from our owner, that will leave us with a choice of good managers but obviously not the best.
Still, as long as the LA Rams are doing ok eh?
In general, the most successful teams and managers have the best players, it’s as simple as that and why I’ll probably never ever see Arsenal win the Champions League and possibly not see them win the Premier League again.
Monchi sounds like a chocolate bar, you know, only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before. 😉
Crumbliest and flakiest sounds like the Arsenal team…
I know which one Scott. 😉
Afternoon Kev, there’s hope for the Europa League, Fa Cup and League Cup then? 😜
There’s always the chance some multi billionaire will buy Kroenke out though. Then we can sign our own chequebook manager and buy all the best players… lol
@rico I’m not saying the quality of the players in the squad just the style. I agree with all of those descriptions of the squad when Wenger left the last couple of transfer windows were virtual suicide for a squad.
I just think that Pep would have got more out of the more attacking minded players in the squad. Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Bellerin, Aubameyang, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Welbeck and Kolasinac. All of these players think attack before defence and that’s what Pep likes. Emery seems more George Graham and defence first.
Either way I think Pep will have done well to have qualified for the champions league and that’s Emery’s target as well.
It’s strange Hobart because the last description I would use for Emery is defensive. It’s our defending which has caused us all sorts of issues.
I can see why you think Pep would get more out of our attacking players, but in all honesty, it’s highly likely that he’d get rid of many you mention. I don’t think Peps teams are the best at defending, its because of the way they attack that they are so good. Wenger tried to play the same way but didn’t have the luxury of huge finances.
When we played City on the opening day of the season, even though our defending was diabolical, we created enough chances to sneak a draw. Aubameyang had three golden opportunities to score I think, if not more.
@rico I think we’re circling the same theoretical drain.
Pep would never have taken us over without having the funds to make wholesale changes, which is why he went the Bayern Munich, Man City route.
I just think if you pointed a gun at both managers heads Pep would have got more out of this squad.
As for Emery I think he is a Defence first coach, he wants to build the club from a strong defence. However he’s doing it with a bunch of clowns who keep shooting themselves in the foot. Unfortunately he can’t changethat quickly enough.
Let’s face it no one would be able to turn Mustafi into a quality reliable defender.
If Emery is about defence first then he’s even worse than I thought.
The reason I disagree Hobart is because Emery has said he’d rather win 4-3 than 1-0 which suggests his focus isn’t on defence.
You’re right though, Mustafi is a hopeless cause and I think Xhaka is not far behind. Replacing those two has to be a must in the summer. Although I suspect Mavropanos will step up and Medley or someone else will become the backup to Koscielny. That’s if the latter stays.
Could be an interesting summer, whichever way it pans out.
😀 Adam
Rico. Given the option to stick or twist in the summer I think they’ll stick. Not a decision I would agree with myself but footballing folklore seems to dictate that each manager be allowed to spend / waste tens of millions over several transfer windows before the reset button is pushed.
A better word might be cautious ,
I think he knows that he has problems at the back and picks sides to try an bolster it . Trouble is that the players at his disposal are not inclined to do it. We have used Maitland Niles in defence , Mhkitarian too but both are attacking minded . Guendouzi gets plaudits for his first move which is usually forward and nobody apart from Torriera patrols in front of the back four or three and therefor our backs rarely get protection.
The whole squad lacks balance .
I was coached by a man that described midfield playing as being on a see – saw as you go up you have to realise that the next move is down . Emery has inherited a squad that likes to go forward but doesn’t care for the going back bit . We talk about buying/getting better defenders but I think the problem lies in the midfield .
Adam, I do to but I meant in the transfer window rather than Emery. I doubt they’ll opt to sack him because of the cost. He’s here for two years at least imo.
Again a Potter I agree. It’s Xhaka who needs replacing imo, and another defence minded midfielder added. With Ramsey going, Elneny too probably, there’s room. Not sure what’s happening with Bielik but the fact we don’t hear much about him suggests he’s either injured or not doing well.
Then again, we still have Chambers…
Rennes a bit of a freak rico, did we ever lose a game on French soil with Colmar’s most famous son at the helm, no wonder the usual suspects are still pining over him lol.
\the saints doing the bizz at the moment..
Hope i have not jinxed them..lol
Is there any chance that we may be celebrating St Totteringham’s Day this season
Southampton 2 Tottingnam 1 ……!!!😀
A win tomorrow and it’s one point , surely that’s incentive enough.
Ha ha Micko, we didn’t.
Great result for Southampton, that was one of the fixtures I thought Toots would drop points in. Didn’t expect it to be all three though… lol
If only we can beat the Mancs, or definitely not lose..
If it’s not, nothing will be.
After the last game with the MU that we dominated (in my opinion) and lost, I expect nothing more.
Moreover with the motivation that they have at the moment, more play with young people and win in Paris, more the “friends” of the whistle, plus the press always tendentious, everything is much more difficult.
Alexis Sanchez is in Barcelona to watch the match live now.
Jm, perhaps they’ll be hungover after their win in France. Our lot however should have had a rocket up their jacksies….
Well done to the England ladies rugby team.
They beat Italy 55-0. Simply smashed it.
If Emery is to be sacked, I hope the people that chose him fall on their swords, thus admitting they made the wrong choice 🙂 🙂 🙂
Has that EVER happened in sport?
Even when clubs like Spuds went through manager after manager, did anyone actually stand tall and say “I’m obviously not capable of choosing the right manager, so I resign”?
Bet your life they haven’t.
All the while, we fans aim up squarely at the manager.
Evening all and thanks Rico.
Since being converted from Budhism to Pephism by Dalai Adam, I have no doubt Pep would have made us CL, EPL Champions within a year of a Saudi/Qatar buy out of Kroenke, but without the buy out he would fail miserably, although he would have probably turned Mustafi into the new Ronaldo !.
Not to open a can of worms but seeing as I upset Rico (unintended) last post by commenting about idiots who claimed they got their Arsenal back (and not for one minute did I think anyone on here was one until Rico owned up, I personally would have not owned up ! hahahaha ), can someone or Rico please explain the feeling they got their Arsenal back meant ?
Was it Wenger`s removal ?………was it Kroenke`s complete takeover ?……………or was it the fortuous 20 game unbeaten run ?………..or something else ?………………….I honestly dont get it why people were saying such stuff.
I thought the main reason of joy for supporting the Arsenal was to compete to win trohies and hopefully be entertained in the process ………………………….anyone else think we got our Arsenal back (what ever that means……..and when did it go away ? )the way our season is panning ?
It could and probably means different things to different people.
One of the things that I miss is the ability to just turn up and pay at the turnstyle and I have no idea when that was last possible …………………anyone know ?
One thing that will never change though is being ridiculously happy when the spuds lose, I dont have to get anything back for that as it never went away!
England hand out a massive thrashing in the rugby, but does it mean much when we beat minnows like Italy and Australia? ………………evening Scott…………….. 😆
Great result Vcc.
Scott, they have already left the club haven’t they?
With Spurs losing that missed penalty looms even larger.
Reg
Sure does Reg as I have to ask what do Spurs have to do to get a man sent off
Good morning folks, 8 am here in Siem Reap, already 30 c with 95% humidity.
Moving on to Phnom Penh this morning five and a half to six hours by road. That’ll be fun. Almost time to leave, enjoy the match today. Up The Gunners.
Rico, Stan would’ve had a say, surely, as would the BOD I’d say, but I could be wrong.
LC, you poms only ever improve with Aussie coaching 🙂 🙂
On the “get our Arsenal back”, I think plenty believed it was Wenger and Wenger alone holding the club back.
New post up now.
Wenger was holding the club back, not solely I hasten to add.
Got to the hotel, Royal Frangipani, around three thirty, swim in the roof top pool then happy hour, four thirty to six, in the Sky Bar. Dinner soon and then a few beers before an earlyish night ready to leave for Saigon 7.30 in the morning. What a busy life! 😉