Morning all.
There are two ways of looking at the club right now I guess, one is to accept this is Arsenal under Unai Emery and until he’s gone just put up with it or two, moan. Moan at being third whilst playing 45 minutes a week. Lol
Ourselves,Toots and Utd are in a mess, there’s no doubt about that is there? Utd our still trying to sort life after Fergie out and it’s gone to rats poop. Toots have gone from being the ‘next League Champions’ to duffers quicker than Arsene Wenger took Arsenal downhill and Emery, well I think it’s a simple case of English football isn’t for him. I don’t blame him for taking the job, who wouldn’t have wanted to manage a club like ours but he, Raul and co need to accept that not all is rosy.
But hang on, we’re scrapping about playing some pretty average stuff yet we’re grinding out results. We’re third, not tenth and we’ve got Tierney, Holding, Bellerin and Lacazette to come back. Plus we’ve a plethora of younger players who once the Europa fixtures end for the year, can bring something new and energetic to the ‘first’ team.
That’s the thing though, there’s always something out there to help justify Unai Emery staying put, just like there was with Arsene Wenger. The ‘he’s not got any money’ view, ‘Until Kroenke shows some ambition……’ comments, and other stuff too but look where that all ended up.
There’s little to no chance in my opinion that Raul, Edu and co can be happy watching this style of football, ‘what style’ I hear you say. One was involved with Barca for years, the other Brazil where football is about entertainment. Arsenal, certainly the first team, are not entertaining. Unai Emery’s football is not often entertaining.
But as some smart arse pointed out to me the other day, I just write a blog, so what do I know? My answer is I know nothing about football management or coaching because that’s not my career but sometimes in life, one doesn’t need a qualification or certificate to see the bleedin obvious!
I don’t need to be a roofer by trade to know one of my roof tiles is broken, nor do I need to be Corgi registered plumber to know my boiler has broken down when there’s no hot water running through the tap. The boiler might need resetting of course, but I’ve tried that. After all, isn’t that what we do when something doesn’t work, try what we can before calling a professional?
Unai Emery is just that. He’s the professional, he’s the guy who’s got all the certificates and badges, he’s the guy who Arsenal employed to put right what was going wrong under the previous manager, just as Raul and co were employed to correct the errors the previous regime were making. Raul and co seem to be ticking along nicely, whilst Unai Emery appears to be having a tough time trying to get the team playing with rhythm, style and consistency.
Back at home, the plumber I called out is stood scratching his head, nodding from left to right whilst telling me he doesn’t know what’s wrong. He’s been here for an hour or more, but as yet, he’s been unable to come up with a solution to my problem. So what do I do? Let him carry on trying to work it out as time ticks by, or simply say, ‘ok, thanks for trying’ and call someone else?
That’s where Arsenal are right now in my opinion. Do Raul and co carry on backing Unai, hoping that one day very soon everything will click into place, or do they decide that enough is enough and try someone different?
Do Arsenal want style as well as results, or are results the more important I wonder. If it’s the latter then fine, Unai Emery is succeeding right now with us sitting third in the league and just one point off second spot.
We’ve found a way of coming back from a potential defeat to at least snatch a point instead of falling to pieces. Emery is putting trust in younger players, certainly more so than Arsene Wenger did in my opinion and injured players seem to be managed better too as they make their return to the first team.
There’s no doubting Rob Holding has improved his game under the Spaniard and the difference in Calum Chambers game is hard to believe too. Willock, Saka and Nelson are now players we simply have to keep instead of being just the next throw away youngster who didn’t quite make it.
Lastly, he’s still having to manage/play players who many of here on HH believe aren’t good enough or right for Arsenal. Players like Kolasinac, Mustafi, Ozil, Xhaka etc, all of whom this current regime didn’t sign, although they did extend Xhaka’s contract.
But if the level of performance together with entertainment value is at the top of the clubs agenda, then Unai Emery is not doing so well.
So often in football though, a clubs board/owner is reactive. They wait until things hit rock bottom before making a decision, within reason I hasten to add, after all you wouldn’t expect any manager to be sacked before being awarded a reasonable about of time to improve things would you just as you wouldn’t expect a temporary manager to be made permanent after half a dozen good performances either, well, unless that club is Utd, but what is a ‘reasonable’ amount of time? Six months, a year, two years?
I suppose what I’m asking is has Unai Emery had enough time or are we, or rather I, simply being impatient? After all, I’ve written about how long it took Klopp and Guardiola to sort their respective squads/performances out. But the difference with them was, I could kind of see where they were heading, whereas with Arsenal under Unai Emery, I’ve no idea but as a club, we’re far from being rock bottom in my opinion.
Watching Arsenal is frustrating, Emery’s team selection and persistence with Xhaka is frustrating too but perhaps I was hasty yesterday when suggesting I’d rather see good football than an ugly win if I had to choose one because of course, I’d rather see the team I love win.
Yep, even if it is ugly. How long Raul and co put up with ugly though remains to be seen, same goes for the fans who are hardly getting value for money. There’s an argument for striking whilst the iron is hot. Making the change whilst we’re still in with a chance of catching Liverpool albeit a slim one. After all, if the Toots and Utd react fast to their woes, this season might just run a similar course to the last…
See you in the comments…
Morning rico, House, good thought-provoking read. We rightfully IMO criticized the previous regime for sticking too long with Arsene, but not sure why you believe Raul and Co will act so proactively, if needed? I hope you are right and our owners, and those that pull the strings, have their pulse on the button, but time will tell. Not seen too much of Raul to share your confidence as of yet, it’s early days in their roles.
Morning Andrew, all.
To be fair, they only have to wait until May next year and Emery could be gone anyway. I like what Raul has done as far as signings go and seeing as it’s his work, it’s him who’ll be associated with the failings if it doesn’t work under Emery. I also believe the Kroenkes trust him and his team and will support any decision they choose to make.
Just a hunch though, nothing more.ll
Rico. I think Kev is good with boilers😀
A good post though. As long as the team is hanging on in there, hovering around the top 4 I imagine Unai will be safe-ish. But it’s not hard to see the limitations and wonder how long the luck will last. Bournemouth are a dire side but easily could have had a draw on Sunday. If a few of those results come thick and fast then who knows?
Arsenal certainly have CL wage bill but are getting away with playing some real rubbish that is decidedly mid-table.
I want to see us win with style and exciting football. Who doesn’t? But, from what I’ve seen over the past 50 odd games, Unai isn’t the man for that.
Surely we have the squad to do a lot better.
Morning Rico and all.
The analogy of the boiler is an excellent one! Take my not so old boiler, for example. When fitted a few yews ago it proved to be relatively cheap to run and heated water and house satisfactorily. All was good. Then, the troubles began. It all started with the ignition board. It kept on blowing up! Not once or twice but many many times. The gas man kept on returning, always a different one, each gas mechanic had a different theory and progressively replaced, over a period of about five years, every component of the boiler, both large and small. Still it kept on failing! During the last couple of months we had more of the same. An item was replaced, the boiler kept on failing, the gas man kept on coming. The ‘final’ visit he had discovered that the recently replaced item was one of a faulty batch that had arrived at gas board warehouse (eg Ozil). So, the original faulty part needed replacing, yet again. He got there in the end but the upheaval and the many set backs could have been avoided if only we’d had a better ‘fitter’. The moral I guess is, if we’d had the same fitter throughout our recent troubles, he may have resolved the problem faster, rather than having a succession of them popping up and each forming their own opinion but not finding the right solution! One man, one job, one resolution.
Emery, little Dick, needs a little longer yet. He knew what he was taking on and it’s his problem that he has to resolve. A multiple of new men arriving and leaving won’t necessarily get us to Nirvana any quicker. Also, his bag of spare parts that he has available, have not been fit for purpose. I think he has to introduce the likes of Bellerin and Tierney plus several others before we brand him utterly useless. (Although I think a lot of his selections are somewhat bizarre and muddle headed.) give him and his team until the end of the season and then presumably he’ll have his annual service review, and a decision will be made as to his future. Perhaps our team will need a new ignition board too, then again everything may be working satisfactorily.
So I’ve heard Adam. 😝
Agree really, I can’t see anything changing whilst we looking good for a top four spot. I think after the break when the likes of Bellerin etc return, we should be at our best.
Mind you, from what I saw, Chambers was excellent on Sunday.
If only there was an alternative to Xhaka…
Morning Wavy, love your story, although it must have been a nightmare to go through.
Maybe I’ve just been hard on Emery, because he does still have a number of players who if he had his way, would perhaps have gone by now although whose choice was it to extend Xhaka’s contract I wonder.
There is a lot to be positive about Arsenal that’s for sure but sadly, much of it is away from the pitch.
To be fair on “ dick” he’s had one hell of a mess to clear up( deadwood) & so far he’s almost achieved his remit- should have last year & may/ should do this year.Im guessing he was always just a temp appt hence the 2 yr contract.with an option to inc for the club if they wish.My take was that he was only manager willing to take on the task at hand without a shedload of money initially.a shrewd move by Raul & co.hell be gone in may.
Raul didn’t appoint him though..
Following on to yesterday’s post I posted this not realising that life had gone on.
Next year Aubameyang will be 31 , Lacazette 29 , Martinelli 19 , John Jules 19 , and Nketiah 21 . Too soon to write Eddie off . We need him back in January or else playing in a team struggling in the championship where he will get games and experience.
I did read somewhere that it was because his attitude suggested that he had already made it was why he was farmed out to learn a life lesson as far from London as possible . If that’s the case Middlesboro , Huddersfield , Wigan might be more suitable.
However on to today’s subject . There’s a few questions in there ,
If only there was an alternative to Xhaka… I see where you are going with this , I read that the reason Dick does not play Torriera is because he wants someone 6 foot plus in that position and oviously at 5 foot 4 ” he doesn’t fit the image . But once Bellerin is back and settled Chambers can move to where he was so succesful at Fulham as could Luiz .I think we will have to wait until after they get back and take it from there.
Has Unai Emery failed to fulfil his brief at Arsenal?
Before trying to answer that question, we need to know what exactly he was signed to do.
If it was to invigorate the squad, play attractive football and win trophies, then I suppose he has, to a certain extent, failed although to take us to a European Final is not something to be sniffed at. In fairness it would have taken a miracle to shake off the cloak of mediocrity left by Wenger’s last few seasons in just eighteen months.
If the brief was to maintain the status quo, while dumping the deadwood it would seem that he has, again to some extent, succeeded although we are still lumbered with a player or three who many see as surplus to requirements, but is the failure to complete the clear-out down to Emery or to our team of executives, they are after all responsible for contracts, negotiations etc. After a shaky start results are quite good, we are up to third in The Premiership and have safely negotiated our way through the group stage of the Europa League.
Personally, I can see no logical reason to dump the head coach at this stage of the season, to do so will move the whole club back to square one and create more confusion in the players.
I’d not read that about Emery wanting height in midfield Potter. I can understand why he’d prefer that option but I wonder if he realises that Xhaka seldom heads the ball.. lol
Evening All…
Yes Rico, Adam is right, I’m quite handy with an old boiler…
Superb post Rico……….I could have been reading from a top newspaper….quality !
As you point out in there, the Prince of Darkness hasn`t got long left on his 2 years, so I`d let it roll and see what happens.
As I`ve said before, I like his tactics and choices in the Carabao Cup and EL, but he mystifies me in the league and can only hope that he calls out a CORGI registered plumber for a diagnostic check on his pipe work as it seems entangled in Xhaka`s arse !
Thanks Lc. Nearly 24 hours later. 😉
It’s the interlull , it sucks out any thought about football and slows the pace of any discussions . I have said before that football will gorge on the money offered by the media and one day will eat itself. In the meantime waiting for the next game is just aoeriod of tedium and boredom.
Couldn’t agree more. Should have booked a couple of days away with Thomas Cook, would have got a fortnight at least. Lol
There’s a new post up now