Afternoon all.
A lot of fuss is being made of the spat between Sterling and the bloke from Liverpool which apparently spilled over from Anfield into the England dressing room. I’m not entirely sure Southgate was right to drop Sterling because of it because all he’s done is stoke a simmering fire which the England fans latched onto the other night. Still, Pep will be pleased because his player had a night off and his player was the one fans supported. I’d have played them both after banging their heads together. The longer this kind of thing is allowed to fester, the worse it gets. Look at Xhaka’s situation now. It’s irreparable in my opinion. There’s talk of him leaving in January on loan. Milan or Newcastle apparently. Only one winner there I reckon.
Interestingly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has spoken out about why he left. Talking to FourFourTwo he said:
“He (Emery) paid more attention to tactics, so my role changed. “I was starting as a winger, but had to build play with the defensive midfielder.
I like to play more freely and move wherever there’s space, but you have to do the job that the manager asks.”
Yes, otherwise you’re out it seems but it’s not only Mkhitaryan who has struggled to adapt to Emery’s tactics. I was never a huge fan of Mkhitaryan but even so, it must be difficult when you’ve been playing in a certain way for years or in one particular position and then suddenly, late in football life, you’re asked/expected to change. Arsene Wenger was lambasted during his last few years at the club for making players fit rather than adjust his ways in order to get the best from his players but this was a guy who’d been in his job for years and still believed in his own ideas. He couldn’t change because he’d been doing things his way for so long. Isn’t it the same now for the likes of Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Luiz to an extent, Sokratis, Aubameyang, Lacazette etc – all mature and experienced players who have their own style.
I get that a new manager will have his own style of playing but surely there has to come a time when having tried and been unsuccessful in implementing that style, that manager accepts he/she has hit a brick wall and instead of the players changing, it’s he/she who needs to change. Not drastically but just a little in order to improve things. Like playing players in their best position, not expecting them to do something they can’t or simply can’t master, having a settled back line, midfield and attacking unit.
I’m no expert but I’d have ditched the playing out from the back ages ago. Not because it’s rubbish but because we’re rubbish at it. I wouldn’t be playing Torreira in any other position than in the centre of midfield either because he’s a tiger first and foremost and has the engine to get back and forward when required. Ozil hasn’t so don’t expect him to but just ask him to put more effort into what he can. And certainly don’t bleat to the press about him and how he doesn’t work hard enough etc because when he has to back down and bring him back into the team, he looks a bit of a twit.
Arsene Wenger got a few things wrong as we’ve all said but I don’t recall him ever justifying his team selection to the gutter press. Actually, I don’t recall him ever being critical about a player in public. What went on inside the club, stayed inside the club as far as players go. At least as far as I recall anyway.
Ray Parlour is the latest ex player to comment on his old club and it’s head coach:
Emery doesn’t know his best team and he doesn’t know his best formation, but he should know! You’ve got to work on these formations. Do they work on them?
“[Mesut] Ozil was frozen out and now he’s back in favour, and defensively they’re still not solid enough. All these things are not in the right direction for Arsenal at the moment.
“I don’t mind three at the back, but you’ve got to work on it week in, week out in training, so the players know exactly what their jobs are as a team and then we can maybe move up the league.
Chopping and changing on a on a weekly basis doesn’t work, neither does switching players around or selecting a different team each week. Expecting these players to play a new way is a challenge in itself but expecting them to change every week is near to impossible I’d have thought…
Stability, that’s what this group of players need…
Evening Rico and all. What stands out when talking about Arsenal with any number of people these days is there’s very little about the future anymore. I think everyone knows that Unai isn’t the one to take us forward so whoever is up next and whenever the change is made, it looks like a reset to me. If Emery clings on Auba and Laca go and Torreira and Granit are out too, we should get good money for them. The central defence and midfield is pretty awful but there’s not much resale value there. Add some strikers and all the bedding in problems that a new manager and players will need and things are looking a bit up in the air.
I have to believe that all these things are being discussed at the club right now. We’re about to see how good this bloke Raul really is.
Evening Adam, I thought I was on my own here..
I think we’d get good money for Guendouzi but he’s a keeper I think in any case, the way forward isn’t with Emery as you and nearly everyone agrees so it’d be a shame to lose players because of him.
Right now I’m feeling disappointed in Raul because I thought he’d have ended this tedious affair with Emery. If we were where we are but could see improvement or some kind of plan unfolding, or just rotten fortune was much to blame then yes, I could see justification in sticking with him but, and I know I’m already sounding like a broken record, we’re regressing further under his coaching.
Reading your post ,makes me even more concerned about Emery than I already was. Before I ‘felt ‘ that some of the players were not happy with his coaching & his tactics. Saka had come out & said he couldn’t understand Emery & he went to Freddie for his coaching. Some players had let it be known that they found his training methods boring , having to watch LOADS of videos, but no one had come out & said like Miki has here about being played out of position. If I felt that Emery had a great fresh approach to football, that would work brilliantly if he had ALL new players that were tailor made for his system. Then I would say give him more transfer windows to get HIS players in, but I have seen NO signs that he does have a brilliant way of playing football & in fact we look like losing a lot of players because he is alienating them . Auba, Laca, Torreira , and who knows there may be many more. He is obviously floundering , but he does not have the finesse or language skills to get the disaffected players back onside. I think we are stuck with him until next summer as even if we change managers now I don’t think we can get top 4 still & I believe the Europa will be even harder this year as there are some strong teams that will drop down from the CL , & watching us play V Vitoria AT HOME I was thinking ‘There is NO way we will win the Europa this year
I can’t see us winning Europa either, I’d fear drawing Utd let alone a better team which could come out of the CL.
Good evening Rico and all.
The longer the present fiasco is allowed to continue the worst Raul and his mates look. Having made the wrong choice in the first place to stick with Emery only heightens my belief that our shiny new regime are seriously holed below the water line.
The early optimism that accompanied Emery into the Arsenal hierarchy has turned out to be a dead cat bounce.
Hi All Just wondering if Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery Keep selecting players to play out of the comfort zone it makes you wonder if the coaches are being over ruled by the recruiting staff on who plays were.
Thinks that a good suggestion Geoff. I don;t think you are right re: Arsene cannot imagine him taking any advice from above, also Gazidis etc were not football men. It may be the case with Unai ,lately , as we all know he didn’t want Ozil or Torreira but he is playing them, may be EDU’s influence. Actually this is a worry for me about Freddie when some call for him to be interim manager. How much influence does he have on team selection & tactics with Unai? I do see him getting up & coaching players when the game is going on ( something Arsene would never have allowed) Don’t suppose we can ever really know what is going on at The Emirates, all I know is that in some LARGE Companies, the ‘top’ men are often more interested in their own career & bonuses etc instead of just the good of the Company they work for
I very much doubt anyone overruled Arsene Wenger on anything, certainly not how he selected a team. Same for Emery imo, Raul and co wouldn’t tell him who to play where. Mind you, if they did, we might be better than we are. Lol
Morning all
Morning all,
We can nominate who we think should be short term interim or a bigger profile manager probably in the Summer but what will Kroenke make of it. I will tell you, falling revenue and empty seats and not getting CL football which seems likely. Hopefully this will be resolved by the end of this year.
The media are havinf a field day.One say Xhaka who IMO can never play for us again in linked to a £50 million move to Milan then the next day a LOAN to Newcastle
I think Geoff make a good point that there isn’t harmony on or off the field and that is a terrible sign..Emery has his favourites and our midfield could be decimated for next weekend with Xhaka left out,Dani has a hamstring injury, Ozil is Ozil and Torreira wants away and I am sure he has been ruined by Emery and Torreira wants to play in Italy again.
Tierney nor Bellerin aren’t100% fit, AMN just isn’t good enough at the level required,Luiz was a bad buy as again Chelsea knew they had had the best of him, Mustafi is well Mustafi and even Martinez wants away. Pepe doen’t look anything like a £72 million player and gets restricted playing time and I know why,it’s like Mutiny on the Bounty. Auba will go and we have an exciting prospect in Martinelli but if Emery was sacked very soon things could change.
Worst start since 1982 is the pits. Why didn’t we sell to Usmanov and keep Dein at the time.
I now wish we had sold to Usmanov & kept Dein,( at least they are both BIG Arsenal fans) but at the time people everyone was worried that his money was ‘suspicious ‘ to say the least, but as time has gone on, that doesn’t seem as if that would have been a problem . he would have spent some of his own money, in fact he offered to give £40 million to buy a player even though he did not have the club & the Board refused , they always blanked him & Dein out, no wonder Usmanov gave up in the end & sold . Still not us look back, unless it is to learn by our mistakes, but look forward ( although looking back is definitely more pleasurable at the moment )
That’s cheered me up Kelsey… 😂
I don’t think you’re far wrong though. Equally, the board might grow a pair before Christmas at the latest if things don’t improve and harmony might be restored. If the players who are unhappy under Emery see a new opportunity under a different guy, they could so easily stay.
Just as Wrighty did when the board reacted and Bergkamp did after Rioch was sacked because he too wanted out, but then Wenger was appointed and the rest as they say, is history.
Re Usmanov. Let’s not forget his partner at R&W bought out Everton and despite all the money spent, Silva is doing a dreadful job up there yet they too are sticking with him. That could have been us.
I have to admit, I got it very wrong when I thought Silva would be good for Arsenal.
Hansi Flick Is one to keep an eye on if Bayern don’t make his appointment permanent. I quite fancy seeing a German manager at Arsenal, especially if he can knock Klopp down a peg or two.
Sorry Rico but that’s the realty as I see it.
Hi All I wish the captain and all the players together would get in front of the media and stand up as one and say sorry to the fans for the way we have played and also for what has been said and done on social media this season and promise less personal media and show us the fans that they are committed to the badge. Then ask the fans to join the players at the next home match as one and give the media nothing to feed off but I guess I am still dreaming
And I get why Kelsey.
It will never happen Geoff. It’s money more money and agents and loyalty goes out of the window.
Footballeres used to be ordinary guys one could talk to without any problem but now they are celebrities earning far too much.
TV rights is killing the game and IMO every player should be on a fixed much lower wage with the incentive to a bonus if they have collectively a good season.
Abramovich killed football as we knew it and City just pump the oil into the club.
I long for the days back at Highbury but that’s just a memory.
Afternoon Rico. To think that HH used to be a reasonably positive blog.
I’m giving up for a while.
Afternoon Adam, I’m still very positive. Emery will be gone soon I’m convinced.l
Re the players Geoff, why should they? It’s not their responsibility to address the media or fans. That’s down to the manager which to be fair he’s tried to do albeit with difficulty because of his broken English.
In my opinion, instead of talking, starting doing and that goes for all of them.
Herr Flick of Allo Allo Fame 😉
Adam, most blogs were positive as we came to an end of an era but no one expected this shite as opposed to a transition period. Emery is clearly out of his depth and player power to an extent rules/ It’s hard to be positive at the moment.
Over Emery I agree Kelsey but not the club in general. One change and it could all change
Hi Kelsey. Totally agree re Emery.
I think everyone agrees re Emery…
afternoon all!
Apparently, Emery will still spend Christmas in London.
From 1 January onwards, I think 17 games are missing, corresponding to 51 points. As I do not foresee anything good until the end of this year, if disbelief, lack of confidence, disunity, lack of passion in playing for Arsenal, etc., overlap, Arsenal will be in a very delicate position. It is believed that, in my view, qualification for the next round of the Europa League is far from being achieved. Dark days on the horizon …
We all have our fits of depression Adam but we have to look to the future.On paper our next run of games are not too difficult, so at Christmas things may look different.
Now All together :- Always look on the bright side of life ……………
Our past run didn’t look too bad on paper either, however….
This is quite a bright suggestion:
Some politico was wondering what Corbyn would like to nationalise next. At the top of the ‘new’ list was the Arsenal. We were all invited to vote, I don’t know the result but it got an awful lot of favourable tweets!
Just think, no more Kronkes. There is always a silver lining😀
As Rico says – things could change very quickly when they do,so it’s not all doom and gloom.
Trying to think positively, I was looking at the Champions league third place teams, not one out of the eight are to be feared. Inter Milan are better than the last time we played them, but nothing scary at all. Mind you we were very lucky to be unbeaten against Victoria, so we will have to improve a tad!
I see Santi Cazorla scored for Spain last night.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1192676/jeremy-corbyn-news-labour-party-general-election-nationalisation-football-clubs-liverpool
I find Corbyn interesting, I like his polices, but like I said previously we cant trust the lying bastards.
If he was as good as his word and delivered then I would probably vote for Labour for as a low paid person with hardly any benefits from this current government I always hoped for a Labour party who will go back to their old principles of looking after the low paid working class and elderly.
He promises £10 per hour minimum wage as from 2020 👍
He promises free broadband 👍
He promises the party would consider pledging additional support for women affected when the government in 2011 sped up plans to raise the age at which women could claim the state pension from 60 to 66. 👍
If all the clubs were to be run like German clubs with fans owning the majority share making it a level playing field again then 👍
The above are all strong points on why I should vote, but do I believe the lying toerags ?
There’s not many Saturdays when I haven’t got the football on, on the radio, but today is one of those rare days when I can’t face all the ‘noise’…
LBC is the background noise for moi today and it’s all politics (ugh) which is as equally depressing as the bloody Arsenal, ffs, I might find myself at this rate watching Ian Wright in the jungle this evening, just for a bit of light entertainment. It’s getting that desperate!
Working the West End last night and the amount of touts out in their Toyota Prius’ was sickening. Meanwhile TfL, Westminster and Camden continue to dig up half of London’s roads for their crackpot cycle schemes, whilst blaming everyone else for the congestion and poor air quality whilst Central Government sits on its hands wondering instead what else it can sell off to the Russians and Chinese.
We are royally fcuked in this country, but the Millennials are too damned thick to realise what they’re sleepwalking into…
Have a good day everyone 😃
Limey, there’s one group which Toots are in I think which could see us face a tough opponent and there’s Utd too who seem to be picking up a bit..
I’m staying positive because I can’t see a bloke like Raul letting things drift for too long because we need top four..
It doesn’t start until tomorrow Kev. I’ll be glued to Wrighty… lol
Btw, still no news concerning the MI5 and MI6 cleared dossier about Russian donations to the Conservative Party.
Are we voting for Johnson or Putin?
Meanwhile no developments re anti-semitism from Comrade Corbyn, how does it go ?
Arbeit Macht Frei…
Ah Rico, I’ll be at work…
Looks like it’ll be BBC Player this evening… 😐
https://www.goal.com/en-gb/amp/news/it-was-a-dream-the-story-of-paulinho-arsenals-mystery/ishb3z53cz771j97x42padh5p?__twitter_impression=true
I will be watching for Wrighty tomorrow night and Roman Kemp who is Gooner like his dad Martin Kemp……………plus they have stopped the eating of live bugs !
What’s on Kev, bar Strictly? Lol
Our PL fixtures up to 1/1/20 when The Window opens, How many points do we need to bridge the gap to top 4.
Southamton H 23/11, Norwich A 1/12, Brighton H 5/12,W.Ham A 9/12,Man City H 15/12, Everton A 21/12, Bournemouth A 26/12, Chelsea H 29/12, Man U H 1/1/20.
It won;t be easy.Cebellos is injured with hamstring problems, Xhaka won’t be around, Tierney,Holding and bellerin aren’t100% fit and then there is Ozil.
I’m watching the BBC New channel Rico, desperate times…. 😀
Torreira’s agent: “Napoli’s interest? I can say with absolute certainty that had the negotiations with Arsenal not come to fruition, he would be playing for Napoli now. The change of Lucas’ role doesn’t make him happy. He is not at ease.”
Torreira’s agent: “We respect the coach’s decisions but then we will see what happens [regarding Lucas’ future].”
Torreira’s agent: “Lucas wants to end his career at Boca. Napoli’s environment is similar to Boca. The shirts of those clubs are heavy for other players…but not for Lucas.”
Torreira’s agent: “Napoli as a future club? Anything can happen in football.”
Morning all.
It’s really quite depressing discussing the Arsenal atm.
Even amongst non-Arsenal fans, the feeling is we are just a club now, no threat to the big guns at all and that’s sad.
The club’s future off the pitch is similar to that on it as we have no clear direction ahead.
Nothing we can hang our hats on.
Seems things are just meandering along and the little burst of enthusiasm we all received with our off season signings is well and truly gone now.
Hi Reco the reason why I say the players. Just about ever week the coach say’s sorry but the players all ways get away with it, especially if you are a fan favourite, In Australia we had a simular problem with one of our Aussie rules clubs and the captain made the players take some responsibility and stand as a group and say sorry for there performance on and off the field the next 6 or so matches they won and went from second bottom to fighting for the finals. I just think it is time we stop making excuses for the players like our coach does not speak English good or I don’t know how to play in this position, these players are not kids they get paid excellent money a lot more than most of us would ever see in a life time, and I feel it is about time the players stop worrying about there ego and money after all if we keep loosing like we are then the players should start thinking about their career if they want big money they should take a look at them self. Every time I read some thing from England it is all ways fans making excuses for the players. the player never except responsibilities for their own bad performance.
Geoff, I can’t agree with you when you say players aren’t kids. They may be adults by age but they are children by experience.
Many have no conception of life outside of the football bubble that they live in. They are pampered, over paid, over protected and have little or no respect for anyone or anything beyond that warm, cosy environment created by their clubs and agents. Watch the way they act when admonished by a referee, “It wasn’t me ref, I got the ball!” As petulant as five year-olds in the school playground.
Just last week two England players had a spat on the pitch and continued it when they met in the England camp a couple of days later. One of them finished up with a scratched face. Southgate the headmaster, sorry England manager, put one of them on the naughty step and offered the other counselling.
They are obsessed with their Ferraris, their Range Rovers, their expensive watches, their twatter accounts and instagram. They do not learn the social skills such as talking face to face they prefer to do it with a keyboard.
Once a year, at Christmas, a few of them are walked around the children’s ward of a local hospital to dish out a few presents and earn brownie points for themselves and their agents. They would be better occupied if they actually worked a couple of shifts a week on a regular basis helping out in those wards. It might give them some insight into life as it really is, life in the real world.
Rant over, time to try for a couple more hours sleep. 😴
Geoff, I just don’t think players should speak in public other than during a pre match press conference as they sometimes do already.
I don’t think anyone here excuses the players for their performances, or anywhere else really, after all, look what happened with Xhaka and those before him.
The football we play is down to the coach. He’s not at fault for the silly fouls we give away, or penalties etc, but our style of football is down to him alone.
Graham was praised for his defensive work, Wenger for his almost perfect football from 1996-2004 but what is there we can say about Emery which is positive?
I can’t think of anything yet he has on paper, the strongest squad the club has had in years. Give this squad to Arsene Wenger and I’m sure he’d have achieved better results and performances over his last few years. No, that’s not me wishing his return.
Every other club sacks a manager when very good players can’t perform as a team, Arsenal are no different imo.
Not Alex Scott on Strictly then Kev. I’m disappointed in you. 😂
Torreira’s agent is stirring the pot then.
Scott, what is it which makes you think the club off the pitch has no direction?
Just because they haven’t sacked Emery yet?
Rico,
I believe the club shy away from hard decisions.
They’re silent when they should be vocal.
We never hear from Stan, and when Hish speaks, we all get a little excited but then it’s back to normal.
The fact Emery is still at the club adds weight to my point, imo, but it’s not the only reason I say this.
Morning all.
Rico I know fans booed Xhaka and the next week the booed Guendouzi but I never hear them boo Aubameyang when he does not score or misses a simple goal and we loose by one goal, what happens if we get a new coach and we keep loosing do we get another coach then another coach again All I am saying is the players have too much say and if the fans boo one player they should boo all players after all are the not meant to be a team as for the players not commenting just check face book they are all ways on there back stabbing their our team mates and the coach then claim their face book page was hacked. If I was the coach any player that goes on any social site and rubbishes his team mates or coaching staff would be suspended for 2 weeks and fined match fees. its time to remove the cotton wool and give the players concrete to eat so they can harden up and become men not the babies they are know. At the end of the day I can not see this board sacking Emery before the end of the year.
Fair enough re the Emery situation but as you, i and others said, he deserved 2-3 years. Although like you and others, I’ve changed my opinion on that one.
Re the Kroenke family, didn’t we hear from Josh not so long ago? But, when do other club owners speak out? We don’t hear from the Glazers or the Toots owners through their troubles or many other owners who sit firmly in the relegation zone etc.
In general Geoff, I’d say the fans boo either the team, rarely though imo, or the manager. Xhaka was an exception the rule in my opinion.
New post up now