Morning all.
I think it would be fair to say that many of us here looked at this season as being a write off before it begun. New manager and all that so peaks and troughs were inevitable as a different footballing philosophy was brought into the club. The high press, three/five at the back and playing out from the back are just a few visible changes Unai Emery has made. Well done o you if you’ve spotted any additional changes. Apart from personnel of course.
As a result, our performances at The Emirates have improved, certainly over the entire season and our results against the ‘top six’ were/are better than they have been for a number of years. Chelsea, Utd and Toots were sent packing with nothing. Our draw with Liverpool was a disappointment because on the day we had been far the better side. Again, an improvement on recent years.
It’s almost been like the players love to perform in front of their own fans, to entertain too but as soon as they get on a bus, they really do forget about us. (Dawn – Tie A Yellow Ribbon, if that left you scratching your head)
Everything the players have shown they can do at home goes out the window. The fear seems to set in, the level of football drops to depths as bad if not worse than the last few seasons and we collapse. The only thing missing from their kit is a white flag to wave in surrender. Any game plan they might have seems to go out the window as suddenly they look like a bunch of strangers rather than a group of grow men standing together with a common aim. Our so called big players, who in reality only have that label because of their transfer fee, wages and reputation pre Arsenal but I think we’d all agree that there’s no League like the English League. Certainly not as far as physicality goes and barring a few exceptions, nor weather wise. Not that that’s an excuse, after all, we didn’t mention such things during Arsene Wenger’s early successful years. Nor did we mention the officials. Portsmouth 2003/04 anyone?
But as much as we’re better off points wise, still in with a slim chance of securing Champions League by way of the Premier League or the Europa Cup, has this season been as productive as you hoped?
My snap answer is no and I base that purely on performances rather than what might happen over the next few weeks. My sensible head then takes over as I believe it’s a player problem and most of ours simply aren’t good enough believing that better, actually, not so much better but different ones, would give Unai Emery more chance of improving the performances. After all, we’re talking about a high percentage of players who were as bad under Arsene Wenger.
ThenI started to wonder if Emery is the right guy to take us forward, after all, just as many overseas players don’t suit the style of football in England, not all managers do either. If they did, there wouldn’t be so many sacked each season and certainly not the ones who’ve been successful around the world previously.
So, here’s the million dollar question.
Do the board stand by Unai Emery and give him the finances to improve the squad, stressing that sales are be made too and in large numbers? Academy players must be brought through too.
Tell Unai Emery it’s not working, part ways and see what a different manager/coach could do with this group of players with a few outs and ins during the summer?
Rip up whatever plan they had, whatever that is, new coach etc, sell every single player they can, especially those on large salaries and take a totally different direction. Sign British players, Championship players, a mix of young and experienced players who don’t have a chip on their shoulder or think they’re better than anyone else. Players who want to play, want to prove themselves and wear the Arsenal shirt with pride? Players who put the game and our club before their salary? Players like the ones we moan about when they play with attitude and a bit of physically?
Answers on a postcard, or in the comments section.
See you there…
We always knew there was a hell of a lot to do after the Wenger led decline. Emery has only had one season (with little money to spend). We need to keep Emery for the improvements he has made but change the defensive coach. It is not clear who the defensive coach is right now (it cannot be Steve Bould) but if it is a mate of Emery’s … well tough !!
Chris, you might have a point about Bould. I still think he stayed just for continuity, for Arsenal. Perhaps he’ll go this summer just as most of the others did…
Excellant post Rico.
A bit of a Johnny Nash…………………..more questions than answers ! 🙂
I haven`t a Scooby Doo !
Completely off track……………………anyone watch GoT last night ?………………..fcuking amazing !
Morning Rico and all. Arsenal are not a club one would normally associate with anything too radical. The classic Arsenal board member is an elderly, port-sodden bloke who was once on the board of a large city bank or some other institution and who fits very occasional meetings between golf-club lunches. But they are the tool of the owner and they essentially run the club with his guidance. You can only judge anybody’s competence in football through results and this being the case, I have to ask what are Raul and the MD, whose name escapes me, actually doing? The whole Dennis Suarez ‘thing’ I think, illustrates perfectly where we are and the general thinking that is powering the club right now. In other words it has become a complete shambles and the stench wafting downwards is surprisingly reminiscent of the Hicks and Gillette days of Liverpool.
Arsenal remain a sleeping giant but one with an unrealistic sense of entitlement based firmly on the past. It is most obviously, not the club that many of us have supported over the years. It’s a once-great institution that is now owned by some American billionaire who has his eyes turned perpetually away from us. This has lead to a complete disconnect between the club and the fans and that is dangerous. The club is floating in space and slowly sinking towards the earth. There is no identity these days and under the current structure, very little to look forward to. The football has become turgid and we are lurching from one disappointment to another with the very occasional high point. The squad is very, very poor, the tactics even poorer. One of Wenger’s legacies is the acceptance of the mediocre disguised as quality and this is an ongoing feature of Arsenal and their rather weird recruitment. I can see no plan other than trying to balance the simply obscene wages paid to a few players against filling the squad with average and even poor players.
How can we compete with Pep and Klopp? We can’t do that financially at the moment it seems. Do the club plough on regardless or do they tear it up, get the deadwood out and fill the team with young players with great promise and a young, adventurous manager who really wants to show what he and HIS team can do.
I imagine that rocking the boat and becoming aggressively ambitious is not within this board’s capability but the idea of sitting still is truly ghastly to me but I can’t shake the feeling that this is the course we have set. Whichever way the club turn there are huge risks but, with a realistic look at the challenges and some real flexibility perhaps we could turn the corner.
Nice post rico.
We are all in no doubt, that Mr. Wenger left us well and truly in the mire with the players he amassed by the end of his tenure. So much dross.
Unai Emery (or whoever took over) has had a monumental task on his hands to make something of a Sh1t squad, BUT, i’m now doubting his credibility to manage a once big club and get us back on the road to greatness again.
Why you may ask?
Just listen to his interviews these past few weeks “I’m pleased with my players” ??
If he is pleased with his players in the way they have performed the past three games then I’m watching the wrong matches or I have to stop going to specsavers.
Almost our entire playing staff are showing no fight, endeavour, cohonas, backbone, nous, heart, the list goes on and on. And, he is pleased with this?
We are showing no improvement in our defensive play whatsoever. How can everyone, and his dog, see what needs to be done, and UE is blind to it.
I’ll give you one simple example……….Jamie Vardy loves to play on the shoulder and run for balls played over the top of defenders……surely any manager worth his sorts would emphasise this fact to his defence. NO, big boot from Schmeical (?) to Vardy over the top of our static and parallel parked defenders and hey presto “A Goal” EVERY manager in the premier league and pundits know this tactic, except UE. crazy.
If it’s true, as reported in many circles, that we only have £40mil to spend in the summer we are in for a mid table team at best. This shower needs cleansing, and fast.
Already getting depressed and worried about Thursdays home leg versus Valencia. Not to mention that shower down the road playing in the Champions league semi-final tonight. If they win this competition we will never hear the last of it. AND UE is pleased with his players!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Todays rant over.
Anothet great comment Adam.
Personally I`d keep a few and do a Manu with the youngsters, the fans would be more forgiving of the youth giving their all for the club as remember a lot of these boys come from Hale End and are Arsenal fans………….they would run through a brick wall for The Arsenal.
And a fine one from Vics ! 🙂
Thanks LC. I think that VCC and myself are on a similar page where Arsenal are concerned.
Thanks Lc. I’m quite proud to say I’ve not ever watched it….
Morning Adam. Good comment.
With the younger appointments on the board together with kroenke jnr becoming more involved over the last twelve months hoping the days of the old fuddy duddy board are coming to an end. You’re right of course, we can’t compete with Pep financially and Klopp but for a different reason and that being having players to sell for a large fee. Without their sales, I doubt they would be where they are.
Over the last couple of seasons we’ve paid far too much for either average players or players who have no value once they’ve been signed.
We’re a mess, much of which was handed to Emery on a plate.
Good morning Rico, I’m still digesting the post, it fully deserves a second reading.
GoT? what’s that when it’s at home?
Thanks Vcc. Good comment by the way. I must admit that over the last few weeks I’ve really wondered about Emery and what he’s doing. Whatever happened to basic defending or pragmatic football away from home. Even Wenger managed that occasionally. Even if we’d have drawn our away matches by being boring and defensive, it would have been a huge step forward but no…
I’m all for ripping it up and starting again…
Lc, that’s what I’d do too. Get rid of all the high earners, keep the academy players and add a few proper footballers into the mix. Make it clear to the fans what the club is doing and then we’ll all support them.
Thanks Rico. If I could see any sort of plan to Emery’s work I might be more supportive. We may well need to take a leap into the unknown here. I imagine that, if Kroenke had put a block of Mesut’s ridiculous deal then there would be those who would see that as an indication of the the club’s lack of ambition too. Losing Sanchez and Ozil in one window would have confirmed their suspicions I imagine. But perhaps Arsenal need to swerve big names with monstrous fees and wages until they are standing on solid ground again. We have no Coutinho-type money to fall back on so our rebuild under Kroenke, will need to be carefully handled in terms of recruitment. But consider that Tielemans was available in January (or so I hear) and we chose Suarez, perhaps because of Raul’s desire to clear the Barca list of also-rans and you can see how really, really dumb the whole policy is.
Currently we are the envy of no club in the PL, we could be at the starting gate of our next period of achievement IF we make the right decisions.
I am, as ever, sceptical that we will.
Morning Cicero, thanks.
Not wishing to sound pompous Adam but I’ve never been a fan of big money players because of what they bring with them. I loved the days when we signed players like Bergkamp, Bobby, Freddie, etc etc. Players who struggling elsewhere or being written off but Wenger got them and helped make them into the players they became.
Players like Ozil, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan etc are just frustrating, annoying and a disgrace to the game and the club. That day when Aubameyang donned his hideous mask thing was the final straw. If only he thought about his game as much and prepared as much as he did that day in making sure his mask was to hand. Would he have tried so hard to score had it not been there? disgraceful I thought, disrespectful too.
Can’t spend much time here today, just received a fantastic holiday offer, Namibia tour with safari photo tours. Gotto book today. Laters.
Were in a pretty pickle, again, aren’t we?
Morning all.
If we are as poor as church mice, as has been suggested, all the suggestions above about selling or just getting rid of the high earners is a must do starting point. I feel we have a lot of potential ‘star’ players amongst the younger team groups. We should play them, give them a go, get them to fulfill their promise rather than selling them to the likes of Crystal Palace or Newcastle. Turn them into proper players, show some faith in them. Nelson, Smith Rowe et al are big enough and old enough to flourish in the EPL if given a chance. Why Suarez? What was he all about? Surely we had better players than him hiding under a bench down in Hale End! What a waste of money. Just a repeat of bad back Kalstrom, (perhaps Wenger was not responsible for his loan?) however, there’s nothing like pissing your money up a brick wall!
As a club I feel we are at turning point. If the right road is chosen we may well bloom and flourish but, if the wrong turning is taken we could sink like a stone. I think Adam and VCC are right in their belief that the club, off the field are being run very poorly. Somebody needs to be a grip and now or our future will be bleak indeed.
Is Emery the right fit for our club? I never was convinced, and he has not really done much to win me over. Having said that, another season may see some real improvement in the playing style,z defending, providing good chances for our wannabee successful strikers. For that scenario, I, we have to live in hope.
I feel a very big summer is approaching and someone has to grasp the metal and turn our distinctly average looking team into something admirable and successful, again.
It’s cheering up outside. It’s turning into a lovely day. I wonder if the club can make the same transition??
Good one Wavy.
‘Wengers players’ won FA Cups and got us UCL football for many years, we all knew it was our defending that let us down last season and for many, it was the defense which got under their skin/frustrated them.
No Wenger, we got a coach who teaches defenders how to defend… We spend about £70 million on def minded players. One would expect the team to perform better defensively, more so if we use the excuse that Wenger players are so bad.
This season we have conceded 49 so far with 2 games to go. If it was Wenger players then how are we 2 goals different than last season and we still have 2 games to play? Who honestly believes we can go through the next 2 games and concede less than 2?
How about attack?
Lacazette had that knee op last season and Auba joined in Jan, this season should see an improvement in our attack right? A pair of goalscoring CF who are now settled in the EPL…
We scored 74 last season and Wenger was bad… We must have at least 80 by now? Not doing worse at 69!!!! (although the kid in me giggles at that number, it isn’t funny!). Do people think we will score 5 goals in our next 2 EPL games? Our last 3 games seen us concede 9 and score only 1. Not exactly top teams either, no disrespect to them, it wasn’t like facing City or Liverpool.
If we want to move forward then we need a manager who didn’t go a whole season without winning away from home once, like Emery has done at Seville.
Wenger had a poor away form so we got a manager with a worse away record… People wonder why our away form is so bad?
We have some top players who can do much better if we had a manager who could adapt his style to the team and EPL, not be pig headed and sell our players short because he refused to accept their flaws in his gameplan.
GoT is Game of Thrones, if you haven`t seen it you have missed a treat, much more entertaining than The Arsenal of late.
Here`s one for the HH Anoraks !……………………..I`m not one although I do go out and hide behind bushes near train stations and bridges just to see how many Anoraks I can count …….my best is 17 in one day ! hahaha
A table to show who has the most points in top division history !
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/bi9sh6/alltime_premier_league_1st_division_table/
Morning all.
I remain of the belief that the culture of a business or club starts at the very top, and that’s our Stan.
I’ll continue to blame him for the decline of the club for a few reasons.
He didn’t and still doesn’t care about his clubs winning trophies and has stated so publicly.
Because of this, he puts absolutely no pressure on those directly below him to ensure the team is performing on the pitch, as he only cares how it performs off it.
This lack of winning culture and emphasis on actual performances flows down through the club, and it shows, quite clearly.
Ok, nearly everyone blames Arsene and that’s fine, but hey, pay me very, very well to cruise through my work week and guess what?
At some point, I’ll hit cruise control!
The 3rd from Beth Mead !
Scott…………………………………..As long as we are an EPL team and getting TV monies then Kroenke doesn`t care !…………………………only if we get relegated or the fans dont turn up will he may take notice !
Not quite us, but I did put up a link a while ago fromm BBC that said many EPL teams could play in empty stadiums and still survive because of the TV money !. I can well believe this as Bournemouth have a capacity of just over 11,000 !!!!…………………..even if they all paid £100 per ticket that`s just £1.1m per game!
LC, I wouldn’t doubt that stat.
TV and the money that comes with it dominates plenty of sports around the world nowadays.
Such a shame.
Emery definitely should stay another year,to weed out rubbish(start with Mustafi and Xhaka) and bring in more of his own players.Added to our own youngsters we could do well.
Arsenal seem to exist to provide funds for the LA Rams (whatever happened to our much talked about cash reserves ?) I’m still hoping money will be spent,KSE must realise higher spending means higher potential returns.
Feeling nervous about Valencia,in the meantime come on Ajax !
Afternoon everyone,
An on-the-money post Rico and so are many good comments too that you’ve covered all the issue, I wondered if I should bother adding to the prodigious comments BUT, that’s apparently what the first team do NOT do when playing away! Bother!
I think I made a similar comment some time ago Chris and every time I see the defence in disarray I frame freeze the action to see where the “defenders” are. It’s not pretty and it’s almost the same problem week in week out.
You’re right about Suarez, Wavy, (I was wrong) he didn’t contribute a lot but perhaps comparing playing with the overall quality of Bcn players and Arsenal part-timers might go some way to explaining that outcome?
UE? I have doubts too.
You’re right LCM, TOO much TV money.
We may not like them but Spurs have done better than us with players who I think may be on lower wages than their Arsenal counterparts.
EVERY Arsenal fan who goes to the home matches (and the AWAY matches, should boycott the games in an attempt to oust Kroenke.
I can’t remember the guys name but there’s an African Billionaire who IS an Arsenal fan. Perhaps we should ALL contact him on Twitter….and plead
for a huge takeover bid?
Yeah, right!
Good time to ask this question Rico. Going for Emery is the fact that we have recaptured Emirates. Teams big or small will dread playing us there. Also at home our then sleepy, backwards and side ways passing is reduced as we now play the press. Points wise, we overshot our total points haul last season with games to spare. Still going for Emery is the fact that he can rightly claim that he didn’t have the right tools for the job he was asked to do. False? With probably the worst squad of the top six, a depressing defence and light weight midfield, it was always going to be difficult.
But then, when you consider some of our games -Totts(home and away), chelsea, Liverpool, ManU – all home, you will wonder why he has not extracted that level of play from them even against the lower sides away. Is it tactics?, Poor team talk?, Poor selection? Poor communication? There is a big disconnect between this arsenal team home ad away.
We need to give Emery another chance and money to weed off players that do not fit his philosophy. Its obvious he needs a blend of physical and technical players as opposed to the soft but technical players that populate the club. But Suarez remains a question mark. Was he brought in on account of our lack of money or Emery was convinced he could fit in?
Lets support Emery, back him with funds and then dump him if HIS OWN TEAM fails.
Afternoon Gooner’s, from sunny St Pancras.
Afternoon Rico, great post, I don’t know how you keep on coming up with them.
The present management team have only been in place a matter of months following the desertion of Gazides, so I’m not sure whose responsible for the Adidas deal, but that was a good piece of business.
I don’t know who was behind the Denis Suarez loan, but that may have been our scouts allied to Emery knowing the player and Raul knowing Barcelona?
It’s not been a great deal (Suarez) and there must have been other players who we could have signed on loan instead, but maybe Suarez came within what we could afford, we don’t know?
There’s been a lot of money wasted over the previous 4 or 5 seasons, Wenger’s inertia in the transfer market is killing us now.
The £60m we could have got for Alexis.
The £50m we could have got for Ramsey if a decision had been made.
But it wasn’t and now we have Mkhitaryan on £200k per week and Ramsey leaving for nothing next summer, that isn’t Raul’s fault or Emery’s, it’s the fault of Gazides, Wenger and Kroenke and we’re gonna suffer for a long while yet because of it.
This is how I see it, whether it’s right or wrong I see Emery staying next season, especially if we win the Europa League.
I don’t see a lot of money being invested in our squad this summer and I don’t see a huge turnover in playing staff either.
I think we’ll go for young players with a good sell on value and promote young players from within.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Mustafi remain at the club, don’t get upset, it’s just how I see things. 🙂
Xhaka, Ozil, Kolasinac, they’ll all stay, mainly because we can’t sell them and to replace them is too expensive.
The transfer budget, as it is, will probably be spent on replacing Ramsey, Elneny, Lichtsteiner and Cech.
Chambers will either return to replace Elneny or be sold to generate funds.
Martinez will replace Cech, cost effective and he’s good enough to play as cover.
Stan Kroenke will continue to focus on the LA Rams.
Josh Kroenke will continue to give stupid interviews about Arsenal winning the CL. What a dork…
Thanks Andorra, Daniel.
One could ask the question why this group of players who can perform so well at times, certainly at home, can’t do the same away from home. Surely it can only be down to the individuals who can only seem to be motivated at The Emirates. When Wenger was manger it was often said on here that footballers who are paid vast amounts of money shouldn’t need motivating. That has changed has it.
As for Emery’s tactics, does anyone know what they are? What he says in his press conferences is very different to what we see on the pitch away from home.
Afternoon Kev, I had a sudden injection of inspiration yesterday. Thanks re the post.
I think Emery will stay, perhaps he deserves another summer and his second season, after all, he did take over a bloody mess. Also, if the board sack him, they’ll have to pay him off which I suspect they’d like to avoid..
Totally agree re the contracts etc, but then you know that… lol
I don’t blame Kroenke for the deals which should have been done like Alexis, Ramsey etc because from the horses mouth came the comment about how the Kroenke family leave such decisions with the board. Like many, I blame kroenke for a number of things but as Josh said, the board run the club. That’s what they get paid to do..
I`d be gobsmacked if Dick didn`t carry out his contract and extend further as he is what the board/Kroenke`s want.
He is challenging for top 4 and EL in first season, comes across well in interviews as polite for the club image and most of all he is unlikely to leave himself being on £6m pa………………………….as for me, I`d willing be shit at a spanish language, have a shit defense, a shit away record for half that wage in La Liga and I`ve got one thing that tops Dick !……………………………….blindfolded I know a better defender than Mustafi when I cant see ! hahaha
Rico,
I see your point about the lack of motivation being blamed on Emery, and it’s a fair call but the question could be asked why all of a sudden others aren’t criticising Emery for his failure to motivate his players when for years it was Wengers fault when the side didn’t show up.
Of course, I never blamed Wenger as I am not blaming Emery for failing motivate overpaid, under performing Prima donnas.
His crazy team selections, yes I blame him but then, Arsene is to blame for that as well, surely 🙂 🙂
One day, maybe in several years, things going wrong will not be blamed on Arsene, so hopefully we have a new whipping boy by then or even better, Stan leaves and we actually become the great club we should be.
Can we see him leaving?
Unfortunately,I can’t.
It’s too easy for him.
Totts 1 nil down at half time
I think you’ve summed up where a lot of peoples heads are at Rico.
Personally I’ve been fighting the urge to react all season, and am waiting until we either qualify for the champions league or don’t.
If we qualify this year has been a success. If we miss out I think it’s a failure. It’s a very fine line.
Either way though, Emery has a deal for next season and I imagine if we sack him it’ll cost us £6-7 million. So I’m guessing he’s got next season at least.
Also Midkemma your post is almost identical to a discussion I had yesterday. Emery is getting a relatively easy ride from the fans at the moment and some of his failings are being easily forgiven.
All I would ask is for people to imagine the stick Wenger would be getting if he was still boss and had thrown away a great opportunity of finishing in the top 4….
I’ii send a postcard tomorrow
Watching Ajax in first half is like watching our u18s
Rick, damn, I hope our U/18’s are that positive and classy.
You’ve just given us all hope!!!
On Emery, he must stay, imo.
Regardless of whether we have reservations on him, the contract should be honoured and he needs every opportunity to show us what he can do.
He deserves that, at least I reckon.
I really hope he’s given a decent transfer budget to pillage Ajax as from all reports, it’s one hell of a side and young!!
Surely there are one or two bargains to be had.
Perhaps we could become much better under Kroenke Scott. Surprises do happen…
Hobart, perhaps the difference is that Wenger was 22 years at Arsenal, Emery not even a full season. I’d imagine many are waiting to see what his second season is like.
Great result tonight, but I wont celebrate until they are dead and buried !
I know that with Thursday coming up and the real prospect of egg on my face, but I just can’t help it…
Let’s all laugh at Tottenham… 😆😆
Rico, I truly hope i am wrong and we thrive.
Now the Spuds are learning what it’s like when injuries and suspensions take effect. Their squad is looking just a bit threadbare, a goal down at home and the only change left to Potchetino when they needed to score was to take off both full backs and replace them with two more full backs.
The injury to Vertonghen makes it unlikely that he will be fit to play in the second leg, or in the remaining league games.
I’m smiling, quietly and inwardly… lol
Me too Scott. Watch this space I guess.
New post up now
Me too Scott.
I’m smiling, inwardly… lol
New post up now.
Good Cicero, there’s hope for us yet then…. 😝