Morning all.
That’s it then. Done, dusted and move on. Not all fans will be happy with Unai Emery, well tough I say, get over it. Many of us wanted change, we’ve got it. Many of us wanted someone younger, more dynamic yet experienced, we’ve got it. He’s many other qualities too which he and Ivan Gazidis talked about yesterday, qualities which no doubt will become more apparent as the new season plays out.
“I still haven’t had an opportunity to meet him, we didn’t have time to talk with each other. I hope he will bring new tactical ideas and spirit to Arsenal, and I hope he will succeed. I haven’t talked to my team-mates about him. I would like to meet him. Everyone at the club is a professional. Everyone knows what he should do and what he is expected to do.” – Mkhitaryan said in an interview with VivaroNews Sport.
I thought Ivan made a good introduction to Emery. In a subtle yet firm way, he dispelled all rumours about the Spaniard being a last minute option. He said that eight people had been considered and no one withdrew their interest. The work to get where the club is today has been going on for a while now with everything finally in place to move forward. Ivan, Sven and Raul had got the man they wanted. As if he’d dare say anything different with Emery sat by his side.
The language barrier was going to be a problem I read somewhere, well that too was proved to be inaccurate as the Spaniard addressed the media in English. Not perfectly I know but before knocking him for that, how good is your second language, if you can speak one?
So, onto the main man and this is what he had to say in answer to all the questions he had to face. Yes, I’ve stolen his comments from the official website because I was too lazy to keep pressing pause button during his interview.
On how he sold himself to the board…
All the meetings with the people, with Ivan, Raul and Sven, the first meeting, the most important thing to me was the connection. We spoke at this moment about how they want to work and how we have a responsibility at this club together. To know my ambition, to know my passion, to know how I want to improve this team in the project at Arsenal. It’s a big responsibility but I think this feeling is very important. And for them, as a big club, it is important and for me, all the conversations were very good with the same idea, the same way, to improve in the present and the future.
On why he wanted to come to Arsenal…
I had fantastic meetings, in terms of who was at them. Firstly I met with Ivan, Raul and Sven. They analysed me as a person and as a coach, and they thought I could be an option for this team. I have to say that, after a three-hour meeting, there was fantastic chemistry between us. To be honest, that chemistry came simply from the fact that it was Arsenal because they have a wonderful history. I hoped that there could be a new future for the club. The second meeting was with the chairman and owners. They are the heart of the club and they transmitted what the fans wanted. I really felt positive energy in terms of what they felt about Arsenal. My third meeting was with the owner in Atlanta. Again there, we had a fantastic feeling in terms of the way we spoke to each other about the project. I think every step leading up to today has been very positive in terms of what I want after Spain and France, in terms of Arsenal, in terms of the challenge of coming to Arsenal. It’s something that makes me very proud and it’s a great opportunity for me to grow.
On Ozil’s importance…
He’s one of the biggest talents at Arsenal and I want talented players here. I want to spend time with all of the players, I want to speak to them on a level about how inspired I am and how excited I am to be here. I want the players to feel that as well. Above all, I think this is a wonderful project and we all need to give 100 per cent. That’s what I’m looking for, from every player and myself.
On Jack Wilshere…
Today, I want to speak about the team collectively. I don’t want to speak about the players individually today. All the meetings with Ivan, Raul and Sven… this team is a big team, big players, good players and we think we need to change little things. A few players. Today, I want to work, I want to speak about the squad globally.
On his immediate priorities and targets…
Now it’s you! All the conversations and all the meetings with Ivan and the people who work here it was very important to give me all the information for the club. After, I want to know how we will [improve] this squad. I know all the players and I think all the players are very important. All the players, who I want, I will be with them this way, but I want to speak with all the players individually. I want to speak with them face to face.
On his aims and targets…
I believe the players who are here, the objective is to work together, to work hard with this talent. The target is to be a candidate and to challenge for the title. It is very important for the club after two years outside the Champions League to work this way, to be the best club, the best team in the Premier League and also in the world.
On how big this challenge is…
It’s a great challenge. In my career, every year I’ve grown up with a new challenge. For me, the challenge is a dream come true.
On what would be success for him this season…
Developing – but how do you develop? I think that’s about battling for every title. That’s something that’s in Arsenal’s history, it’s in my history as well and I want that to continue. Our objective is to be among the best in Europe, so those are the two objectives. I also want the team to make the fans proud. I know they are already but I want them to be even more so.
On his plan to bring the Premier League and the Champions League to the club…
We want to work to improve individually and collectively all we can. All the titles are important for us. I think we can, and we want to be candidates for them. I don’t promise today we will win, but I can promise you that we will work hard, we will together and we will work with emotion, with demands to find all the results.
On how much he relishes going up against Guardiola and Mourinho…
I’m thinking about the present and the future. In terms of my past experience, that makes me feel stronger and it also allows me to have a guide in terms of my future trajectory. I’m very excited to be here, very excited to compete against some top coaches and very excited to play against some top teams. I have to say that right now, the Premier League is right at the top. Everyone wants to be in the best leagues. I speak with a lot of coaches, those are private conversations, but now that I am here, all information is welcome.
On how hard Wenger is to follow…
It’s a big challenge for me but I’ve also worked with other big projects. For me, I am proud to be here, to work after Arsène Wenger.
I’m just glad he’s here instead of Arsene Wenger because this change has been long overdue. Although having listen to the full press conference yesterday, I kind of understood why it’s taken as long as it has.
None of us know how the season will play out and that alone is exciting. After all, being quietly confident we’d be out of the title race before Father Christmas comes down the chimney had become rather boring.
Anyway, I’m quite excited, optimistic and pleased with the appointment of Unai Emery and hope it won’t be long before he silences his critics.
Have a good Thursday guys…
Good morning Rico, and thanks for the post.
Reading the thought of Unai was informative and to a degree inspiring, I hope the fans will grant him the time necessary to get the squad working to his agenda.
It would seem from all that has happened since Gazidis made his “Catalyst for Change” speech the entire structure of the club has, for better or worse, been radically altered. We must now wait and see if this is a new dawn or a descent into chaos.
Morning Cicero and all.
I thought both came across very well. If they back everything up this summer and then on the pitch, then we might have a good season.. I don’t expect a league title tough.. 😉
Morning Rico. Good post.
Hard to understand how anybody could criticise Emery before he has established himself. But then it is amusing how some ITK’s have been left with egg on their faces after giving it large over the whole Arteta thing. Seems their inside knowledge has let them down on this occasion.
Next time perhaps. 🙂
Morning Adam, thanks.
Very true, the damage social media causes eh.. lol
Yes Rico. Seems as if it may be a consequence of Arsene’s later years. We all grew so used to disappointment, it bred a negative vibe throughout most of the Arsenal blogosphere. Every game was more or less predictable because nothing was really changing on the field. It may well have spread to the team too because they seemed weighed down by the tedium of it and even new arrivals, after briefly spreading their wings, settled into the rather negative, despondent collective that Arsenal had become.
Ivan’s grand plan at least offers a new way.
Exactly Adam. I was impressed with Ivan yesterday..
I bet he’s been waiting for this for a long long time..
Morning Gooners, morning Rico, morning Adam
I listened to Unai’s press conference twice online yesterday, gradually deciphering everything he was saying, then watched it on You Tube, understanding all the Emery was saying and ok, his pronunciation was not brilliant but his grammar was impressive and so was he, I liked what I heard and I like him.
I also liked what Ivan said and believe we are in safe hands.
It could be two or three years before we’re really competitive in the league, but I feel we’ve got a manager who, like Wenger who was 46 when he became Arsenal manager, is at a stage of his career where he’s experienced most things, has fully been through the mill, has made his mistakes and is ready now to become a Special One…
Morning Kev.
I’m on your hymn sheet there. I think this is the beginning of much better times. I could be wrong but….
Not a great start at Lords this morning. Same old problems.
Rain Adam? 😉
I think that what we’ve seen so far of Younee is all positive. A new man, a new broom, a new plan.
The transfer window should be quite interesting, both in and out. The buys and sells will be a good sign of what he aims to do and how he thinks he’s going to get there.
I’m relieved we’ve made an early appointment and that the new man has some sort of a successful CV. And I really do hope he delivers the goods albeit later rather than sooner. It took Pep a year plus oodles of cash and Klopp two years before they showed any consistent improvement. I suspect it’ll take our man at least a year and many personnel changes before we see any real improvements in the Arsenal fortunes. Or, not!
Anyhow, afternoon all. The sun has just put its hat on!
Dark clouds and stormy here Wavy, must have lifted from over London Colney and travelled down the M4… 😉
Just checked the England scorecard, whoever coaches the batsmen should seriously consider their position. Same old faces making the same old mistakes.
As usual, England underestimate Pakistan, we always seem to do this and then get our arses smacked. I was listening to the cricket pundits on the radio yesterday and they pretty much dismissed Pakistan and started waffling about India, typical arrogance that seems to permeate our game.
Our batsmen are a shambling wreck and our bowling attack is living on borrowed time.
Once Anderson goes, whose gonna replace him, where are all the young bowlers trying to take his place, what is he, 36?
It’s a joke, our cricket is a joke.
5 ball over? Do me a favour….
Very droll Rico your 3.20.
The old fates who used to run English rugby have morphed into the cricket selectors, coaches and blood sucking leeches who have little or no idea about the game of cricket or how to organise a pis sip in a club house. They were the same men when I was a kid. Promotion in playing status largely revolved around a players ability to ‘suck up’to the old school ties that ‘picked the teams’. No matter how good a player may have been or what his potential was, if he didn’t have the right school tie around his neck, largely he was dismissed as ‘not up to it’! It’s little wonder that we have oodles of not very good cricketers in our side, because they quite simply are not very good!!
Time for a change in the hierarchical structure……they need Ivan and hos great vision to sort them all out!!
Blue skies, sunshine and music here in the East Midlands.
Sorry….for fates read farts
And piss up pis sip!
Wavy, I can’t stand the old fates either…
Evening all and thank you Rico.
Not sure this is a beginning for better times, but it is the beginning of change and I`m excited by that. However I agree with The Romford Pele who says we will never win the league until we invest like Man City………….actually I said it first so he agrees with me …….hahaha…………………………Pep signing an extention and the money they have will imo with no doubt turn them into a bigger unstoppable juggernault than their Red neighbours used to be, they are the new dynasty, we (all the so called big clubs) are all playing for a CL place behind them !
Dick is promising a lot, lets see and hope he delivers. The tactic changes with the already decent squad quite a few have always said on here should mean a minimum CL qualification, anything less will be unacceptable after his interviews, he wants to win the EPL and everything he takes part in and thats right, so as I say……….minimum CL after the last two seasons of dire football and tactics etc`.
Will we sell any shirts this season ?………………the home one is shit, the third one will smell like mint and the away one rumoured look like comfy pyjamas !.
http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/05/24/arsenal-new-away-shirt-revealed-for-2018-19-season-photos/
I try Wavy. Lol
It’s not always about how much a club spends Lc, it’s who the club signs with the money they have and what the manager/coaches do with those players.
Personally, I think the whole money thing is a load of tosh, after all, Leicester didn’t spend much did they…?
A Done Deal. Emery sign this bloke and that bloke, €40m here and €27m there, ffs we must be spending an absolute fortune, or so says the even reliable NewsNow, in between the adverts for body armour!
I guess if you live on a London Housing estate, body armour comes in really handy?!
Anyway, when is Leno signing, I mean it’s on NewsNow and they told us that Arteta was a Done Deal….
I mean the Daily Cannon said so….
Ha ha Kev..
Clutching at straws bringing up the “anomaly” Leicester, Rico ! 🙂
Here`s what I will accept for a first season considering the last two…………………………being a place above The Spuds !.
1st choice we win the league.
2nd choice we come 17th.
3rd choice we come 4th.
Actually I`m torn between 1st and 2nd choice…………………..to see them come 18th and playing Championship football the season after next has just become 1st choice ! hahaha
Glad I dont give a toss ( should that be full toss ?) about cricket !………………………………….supporting Arsenal and “The MCC” must have been twice as disturbing for some on here ! ……………………………….add the Rugby team and you would have been on speedial to the Samaritans ! 🙂
rico 6.49, that’s a bit below the belt gal, can’t believe you’ve got the front to bring Leicester into the equation lol !
Loved all the Arteta rumours meself and how he was going to be the perfect fit for us with all his experience…..still can’t believe Terry Henry didn’t get the job !
Say what you want about the English batsman but they do have a habit of coming into their own during the tea sessions, I do think some people like to moan for the sake of it sometimes lol.
Emery is a man with above average integrity. Its been reported that the 3rd year at PSG was a manager’s option. So basically all he had to do was pick up the option and PSG would’ve paid him to leave. Instead he decided to walk away…..from 5.4 million euros, he’s a better man than me….lol. But it also says a lot about how he feels about his abilities…..
I know Micko. Anyone would think they fluked it rather than earned it. Still, sometimes I guess luck and the right manager can work eh..
Look at Liverpool, haven’t spent much really considering selling has balanced their books somewhat and here they are in a tiny cup final at the weekend..
It’s all about the money though….
Buying the correct players is important of course. The big question is whether we have them already or got to invest to get them . We have a new man with new ideas , can he squeeze the neccessary out of the current squad ?
My take is he will require time to complete his task , I hope to see an improvement in style and tactics this year which should identify those that can and those that can’t. Then I expect to see a gradual change in personell. To use a Wengerism :- Judge him in May 2020 or 21.
Morning Rico and all.
If it was a fluke it was a 38-game, 8 month fluke on their part, to say nothing of the 38 games played by all the other rightful contenders who weren’t good enough, including our team who beat them home and away that season in a cruel twist of fate. The fact is we weren’t good enough over a season and haven’t been for years. Leicester had a plan and stuck to it. They got lucky with penalties for sure, but they deserved it.
The sun is out and the sky is blue.
Morning Rico and all..
Morning Adam, Bt, Potter and all.
A fluke I wish we could find.. 😉
I still maintain it’s not all about the money a manager spends but who he spends it on and what he can do with those players…
………and not a cloud to spoil our view, except it’s overcast with a light drizzle here, but good morning Rico and all. Although for Rico, who was up and about at 4.29 this morning, it’s about lunchtime. ?
Rico. This season will be interesting for us. I doubt many Arsenal supporters expect huge success in terms of trophies but certainly we need to see the performances improve. I expect fitness levels to rise notably and for us to have a better shape defensively. Also, this pressing thing will be interesting to witness as will our whole set-up when we don’t have the ball.
I am interested in the character Unai instills within the team and our ability to both hang on to a lead and fight to turn draws into victory. There will be casualties along the way too I imagine but the way he addresses problems could be fascinating.
Morning Cicero, just had my lunch… 😉
Adam, that’s all I expect, improvement in the football. Not to fear every set piece, constant defensive muck ups, midfield holes all over the place and about 3 extra passes when a shot on goal is the best option…
Morning Rico and Gooners, I’m really looking forward to next season, it’s going to be different, everything is going to be different and different is definitely interesting.
The reason the crowds dropped off was boredom, the familiarity of knowing how our season would fade away and the knowledge that Wenger wasn’t capable of changing anything.
Aubameyang has been with us for no time at all and he’s sussed it.
Afternoon Kev. Spot on.
That’s Mikki and Abua ready for the new challenge, wonder how many others will be…
Good post Rico. So long as he let’s them shoot on sight I will be happy. It’s just too hot in Alicante where I live. It’s the swimming pool tomorrow I’m afraid.
Thanks Paddy, what, not the sea? Lol
Evening Rico and All
Well we done it at last..A new Manager.
What can we expect from Dicky Boy.
Hopefully a team thats hard to beat away
from home..For starters
Being a spanish lad he should
play a bit of football.
So how can he change it all with this squad.
He must insist on a strong defensive midfield player
and a brain at the back.
The rest is basic team organization most coaches
know that.
We have some decent players who just need telling
off or dragging off when the knees get a bit muddy
and the elbows start flying around.
I think he can hit the ground running..If not sack him.
It could take a few to find the right one..
Evening all, so having all the money to win titles is all tosh !…………hahaha
Forgetting about the anomaly of Leicester, because it will be an even bigger anomaly if another “Leicester” win it again……………………………….how many non rich clubs have won the title since we last won it ?…………………saying money doesn`t win titles is tosh ……………………………as for Liverpool, they are basically winning a cup which they seem to be good at, like we have been good at winning the FA Cup.
I have spoke to quite a few “Scouse Gits” and they all agree with me that they and their tactics somehow seem to be well suited to CL football, whenever they manage to get CL football and still without winning a title they do well !
Is it part to do with the atmosphere at Anfield that gets their players to raise their game ?…………..there`s definately something they have which we dont when it comes to CL.
It`s also bit of an false stat saying the bindippers dont spend, they do, but just happen to get a lot of money for one player in Coutinho to pay for a few !………………………if we could get £500M for Mustafi, we too could buy a few and look like we didn`t spend !
😆
Dick has upped the stakes already !………………………………according to Ornstein we are not just interested in a player, but a country, when did Wenger ever buy a country ?………………………….Lichtenstein !………………..I know it`s only small, but if it has oil under it then fcuk you Mansour !
You’re right there Le Coq. Wenger would never have signed a thirty-four year old right back. Experience? Yes! Captaincy material? Yes! A leader on the pitch? Yes! Are we selling Bellerin? I can’t see him being happy at the idea of being benched in fact our of some elderly Italian geezer.
Fact our??? No, no, no. FAVOUR!!!!!!
As the season comes to an end tonight all I have to say is Forza Real.
Amen to that Potter.
New post up now.