Morning all.
An odd match I thought. Our groups whipping boys turned up with a plan, a plan which as it turned out, didn’t succeed. Not for the want of trying though.
Our young, fearless and quick players many of us were looking forward to watching, weren’t really at the races. Either that or plan was confusing, lost in translation or just poor. Take your pick.
Having dispatched the previous two opponents in this competition with relative ease, VSC caused us problems. One might be tempted to suggest that we played a big part in them. Arsenal were playing the Unai Emery way we’ve become used to watching and it wasn’t particularly good. 0-1, 1-1, 1-2 – no surprises really because they were threatening our defence before the first goal went in. I doubt anyone was shocked when we conceded again so soon after drawing level.
Anyway, Emery made two changes at halftime with Ceballos and Guendouzi replacing Willock and AMN and things looked a little better. Guendouzi offered us more in midfield with his energy. Smith Rowe showed some lovely touches, Martinelli too but Lacazette, well he seemed to be boiling over with frustration. I didn’t like the way he went to ground after his little incident with the VSC player, not at all.
VSC created further opportunities to increase their lead, we too had chances to equalise but time was getting on. Emery made his final change with Pepe replacing Lacazette. Arsenal seemed to suddenly come alive. Within five minutes of being on the pitch, Lucas Torreira was fouled outside the box on our right. Up stepped Pepe to bend a lovely free kick into the top left corner of the net. The VSC keeper denied Martinelli, then Holding and it looked like the points would be shared but then another free kick for us in a similar place as before and who’d have thought Pepe would try again. He did and he scored.
We won and that’s about it really. The performance seemed to replicate that of our first team. Disorganised is the best word I can come up with. This is Arsenal under Unai Emery in my opinion and it looks unlikely to change. He looks lost on the sidelines, the constant waving of hands meaning little. When Pepe scored our winner, the players were happy, Emery however sat unmoved. The body language of a man who knows his time at the club is coming to an end perhaps.
He had to call on Ceballos, Guendouzi and Pepe to beat VSC when really, all three should have enjoyed a week off. Pepe’s two goals were excellent, as was Martinelli’s but it was the introduction of Guendouzi which brought more energy and directness to our play. He changed the game in my opinion.
Unai Emery got away with it last night, just as he has throughout this season so far. If the Arsenal board want a top four finish, I don’t think they can afford to let the Spaniard carry on for much longer…
Catch up in the comments guys…
Good morning all,
Here I’ve taken the liberty of re submitting a comment I made earlier this morning on yesterday’s post.
Good morning all.
I watched the game around midnight (recorded) the only thing that kept me awake was trying to work out just what we were supposed to be doing. The usual turgid, aimless attempting to play out from the back. An entirely disjointed and ineffective midfield and anonymous attack.
Victoria showed how we should be playing by pressing (encouraged by our dim-witted defensive tactic) and swift counterattack when our hopeless midfielders presented them with the ball at every possible opportunity.
Lacazette looked more than a bit rusty and I was not impressed by his stupid attempt to get a player sent off by pretending to have been butted.
A stupid moment from Mustafi rightly earned him a yellow card, is he returning to type? Tierney was badly at fault for one goal and needs to work much harder on his defensive positioning.
Although Pepe will grab the headlines with two superb free-kicks, it was Guendouzi who turned the game round with his aggressive running with the ball, which panicked the Vitoria defenders into committing fouls, as well as his defensive work too.
We need more defensive nous, at one corner the smallest player on the pitch, Torreira, was left to mark an opponent who appeared to be about two foot taller than him.
The headline for a match report should be “Pepe free-kicks paper over the cracks”
Hi Rico
Your word ‘disorganised’ is spot on – this has got to be Emery’s responsibility. We all wanted him to playTerriera, when he did he stuck him somewhere on the right with Willock and A M-N somewhere in the middle and they all looked totally lost. I’m not surprised Laca was frustrated, there was no link at all to the front three. It was a lot better when Danny came on with Guendo playing no 10s, but he still didn’t put Terrera back to defensive midfield.
Pepe has just needed confidence, he should have it now but the ball has still got to get to him quickly.
Don’t mention Ozil, he would have played as bad if not worse than all of them.
I think Emery will have to go at the end of the season whatever happens but it would be too risky to sack him before that, although Crystal Palace on Sunday looks like more trouble.
Brian
Hi Brian,
Torreira is an odd one. I’ve no idea what he’s done to deserve being treated as he is. It’s not like he isn’t a great little player.
Cicero, the little v large marking sums us up. Ridiculous really.
Morning Rico. It’s odd when the team win a home European game and our most expensive player finally arrives with two great free-kicks and yet the underlying theme is all about the manager. I agree with you Rico. Emery looks shot. It’s hardly worth singling out some of the more mysterious and odd positions that our players found themselves in but, Torreira on the wing? Not really. Stretched defensively, awful passing, irresponsible possession and a general atmosphere of frustration on and off the pitch. They were and are all there with the club at the moment and it’s a simmering pot that just seems as if it’s going to boil over very soon.
I can only imagine that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that he realises isn’t going to end well.
What I find concerning is that, with every game, we seem to be losing our identity and I’m not sure if Emery has ever really understood what Arsenal is all about. He seems to have bleached the character out of the team. I see very little expression or collective joy within this squad, perhaps due to Unai’s seemingly muddled message. Even RVP picked up on the difficulties in actually understanding what Unai is saying so how that comes across to the players working to his master plan is anyone’s guess.
It’s going to be a bit bumpy for a while but, if the board do their jobs with proper diligence then we could be ok and even revitalised.
Why would it be too risky to get rid of him before the end of the season? The teams going backwards, the players don’t seem to know what they are supposed to be doing and the football is worse than I can even remember. Getting rid of Emery now may not fix all our problems but it would at least give us a chance of getting some form of cohesion back.
There are plenty of managers capable of installing some kind of organisation back to the team. Freddie as caretaker would at least help stop the rot setting further.
Thanks for the post Rico.
I saw the briefest of highlights, about 6 minutes, so it’s impossible for me to really comment on the game, but I listened on Arsenal Player and it didn’t sound great.
According to Charles Watt, he’s heard that Raul, Edu and Vinai are content to continue with Emery in charge and have no plans to remove him from his post.
So there you have it, we’re soldiering on with a Unai for now and probably until the summer.
Could be that they have another manager in mind to replace him but know that the new man won’t be available yet?
I think that Charlie Nicholas was the last Arsenal player to score two free kicks in the same game vs Grimsby in the FACup.
Morning Adam.
I think you nailed it in one comment. There’s much talk from Emery about how Arsenal play and their footballing identity but it’s bull, he’s no idea it seems because there is nothing about the way his Arsenal teams play which suggest he’s about playing a fluid game. Every unit within the team looks lost.
I hope the board react sooner than later and before players start wondering why they signed for us.
I agree. The risk imo would be to stick with Emery because very soon, our better players will be looking to leave and we have a lot of those now.
Is he reliable Kev?
I can’t think why Raul and co would be content with what they’re witnessing.
Rico. I think the board will have to act because they too are responsible to the owners. Unai has shown us what he’s all about. The questions would surely be, what has he shown us that convinces he’s going to finish in the top 4 this season? What are the reasons he should stay and what thinking supports the idea that he should go?
We know that the owners see the club as being in the CL year after year, reaping the financial rewards, buying quality new players with the revenue and filling the stadium for every game plus collecting new mega-sponsorship deals along the way. It’s what big, successful clubs do. Arsenal used to be the team that everyone wanted to watch because of the quality of their football. Even their own most ardent fans find watching Emery’s Arsenal less than enticing these days. I don’t believe that the board can sit back and surely Raul, Edu and Vinai don’t want to be associated with the kind of failure that we are probably heading toward. I can’t believe that they think Unai is suddenly going to change spots and find a winning formula that will propel us up the table. Their positions within the club are ultimately temporary and they will be looking for big new appointments at sometime in the future. Do they want to be the men that stood by as Arsenal dropped out of the reckoning and became a club that big players left because of poor management? I doubt it. Let’s not forget that they can be sacked too and they all have big egos I reckon.
There’s an atmosphere around this team. You can sense it on the field and even in training clips on You Tube. It’s a kind of disconnect. It’s not hard to imagine that the players either don’t get it or are bored with the general conservatism and ultimately the negativity of Unai’s football. Watching the body language of the conversation between Emery and Ozil from the training yesterday says a lot. Emery’s shrugs and demeanour speak volumes.
As the season progresses and if no changes are made, what happens if Auba and Laca refuse to sign new deals and Torreira asks to move on and Guendouzi hears that bigger European clubs are interested? Without the road to success being brightly lit before them, who could blame any of them for going? If that happens, it’s all back to square one, with or without Unai.
The future doesn’t have to be bleak though but it does need some progressive action before it’s too late as it became with Arsene.
Is he reliable?
I guess he’s as reliable as anyone who writes for a living Rico… 😉
As I wrote, maybe the guy they want isn’t available,
or, maybe they actually believe in him… 😐
If the crowds start falling away then I reckon we’ll see some action, until then he’s just hanging on.
I moaned last Monday night that he hadn’t played Tierney & Holding V Sheffield U, but last night I could see why, as neither of them are quite up to speed yet. I agree with you all though, Emery’s tactics are not working . I thought he looked promising when he first came & was excited by him ‘we’ve got our Arsenal back’ but this year he seems to have regressed . Well actually from the last 6 games of the PL last season, we had 3rd place in our hands, as I walked home from the CP HOME!!! game last year that we lost !!( this weekends game) I was double worrying about Emery & his tactics & team selections . My biggest complaint is I thought he would IMPROVE our players , I cannot see any evidence of that , rumours that players don’t understand him, that his training is boring & repetitive, he makes them look at video’s but cannot understand what he is saying about them . This wasn’t what he promised at his interview we were led to believe
If Raul & the others do keep him until June I hope Emery bucks his idea’s up, as we have a GOOD team a top 4 team. I really believe that. so with a reasonably good manager we should still make it , but Emery needs to up his game , or we won’t . That team that played last night or that team that played on Monday night will not win the Europa cup Final playing the system they played
My thoughts too Adam. There is nothing positive in terms of our football, nothing at all and yet we have one of the best squads we’ve had in years.
Imo, Raul and co might back Emery publicly but I just don’t see how a guy from Barca would accept such mediocrity, I really don’t. Edu neither as he will remember how it used to be.
I think he’ll be gone before Christmas unless some miracle occurs which it won’t if his team selection and ‘tactics’ remain the same.
Morning all.
Emery jumping around and waving his arms about us the exact opposite to Wengers behaviour during games.
Passion, or seeming showing passion means stuff all when the end product is so average and that’s the kindest I can be about Emery now.
Still, some positives to be had-mainly Pepe breaking through with two superb strikes.
When I saw the first one, it looked more like the keeper took ages to react but then I watched a different angle and the swerve he imitated was phenomenal.
More of the same, his confidence should get a boost and we will see the real player.
Thanks Rico , Hello everyone.
Well , after watching last night , I’m convinced that our midfielders don’t really know what is being asked of them.
Brian was right , AMN and Willock looked totally lost. Everybody and his uncle knows that Torriera is a defensive midfielder, and a bloody good one, so why not let him be one!
Adam, yes funny that RVP should mention Emery’s Spanglish last night. I lose the will to breathe when watching his interviews. What must it be like in a session with him.
Morning all. Another wet one!!
Good summary Rico, of what was a miserable game. It was just a repeat of Monday’s performance with a slightly different outcome, and using ten different players! Similar turgid no nothing passing and watching, and standing still, not moving, often giving the ball away, chasing shadows and having about as much incisiveness of a dead frog.
A performance of last night’s lack of quality has to be down to the manager/coach. He needs to get a grip and very quickly. Several people have commented on his lack of reactions while spectating! There seems to be a disconnect between him and the players. There doesn’t appear to be any kind of warmth or respect shown between them and him. Think how Kopp reacts when his team scores or he subs a player off, he’s all over them. Silly phrase but, he’s showing his appreciation and publicly displaying his ‘love’, respect and gratitude for their performances. Not so with Dick, he sits and watches them pass him by. Has he lost the dressing room? I think it may be likely. It happened at PSG and I think that is the problem here. He hasn’t the ability to embrace and warm to his players and they respond in kind. They have ‘dismissed’ him both literally and metaphorically.
If I’m right, he’s shot it at the Arsenal. The chances of the club renewing his contract is nil perhaps even less that nil. However, he probably won’t be given his P45 until the end of the season as a sort of cost cutting exercise. A new manager/coach may well already have been tapped up. Time will tell…….the story continues.. Sunday’s result may prove to be a turning point, one way or the other. But sadly I think this particular saga still has a good few months to run.
Ha ha Kev. Unreliable then… lol
They’re all dodgy Rico…. 🙂
I’ve just worked out the formation we used in the first half: 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1
Brian
To be honest Rico, Raul and Edu have not got involved, it’s not really their place to do so, but I’m sure that they’re aware of the situation and as Adam wrote, Raul has worked for Barcelona and Edu for Brazil, so they’ve both been involved at the very top level, in a pressure cooker environment and they’ll know that Emery is struggling.
If Emery goes it’s likey that his assistant Juan Carlos Cacedo will leave with him, another Emery appointee is Pablo Villanueva and it’s likely that he could go as well.
Juan Garcia the goalkeeping coach would probably depart the scene with his buddies during the change and there’s two more people who Emery brought to the club, Julien Masach (strength and conditioning) and Victor Manas (data/video analyst) whose positions would come under question. That’s six staff possibly leaving…
Sal Bibbo would take over Garcia’s goalkeeping duties and Uncle Bouldy could assist Freddie until the summer I guess. But it leaves our coaching staff a bit thin on the ground.
Bobby Pires could help out I suppose?
The rest of the staff were club appointees…
Sohara, looking at the struggles other clubs are having, this squad should be looking at 3rd. Not a hope in heck though..
Thanks Wavy, I hope you didn’t miss the final ten minutes in the pub.. lol
Kev, re Raul and Edu, not involved with the Emery decision! If so, that’s their job isn’t it? They are the ones to instigate his removal/replacement surely…
That is what is SO disappointing Rico, this should be a great year to get back into CL places , but Lampard seems to be getting his team together ( actually makes me a bit jealous seeing how he has got them playing SO QUICKLY ) leics are going great guns under Rogers & even Spurs are pulling it back a bit. We need to get it right & get it right NOW to stay with them .
There does seem to be a bit of a shift to young managers , in the US several clubs ( not necessarily Soccer teams) are employing very young inexperienced managers . The Chicago Cubs for example. I wouldn’t mind to see Freddie given a go if Emery goes at Christmas, perhaps Pires could help him he is ALWAYS at the club. The only problem with that is that if that doesn’t work out we lose Freddie as assistant coach which I wouldn’t like to do
As you said earlier, I never see any interaction between Emery & the players when they come off , I do think he is losing or has lost the dressing room
Considering their transfer ban too Sohara, Lampard is doing very well. So far anyway.
No Rico. I recorded the last 30 minutes and watched it when I eventually came home! Saw the goals and to be fair, we were all over them for most of the second half but, there was very little penetration. I don’t know what the shots on or off target were but I suspect it was not very many! Two goals from set pieces were good enough but, coming from what is considered to be one of the most gifted attacking forces in the league we seemed pretty toothless…..again! Faults from midfield? Yes probably. Tierney with the proper goal assist, a full back, nothing wrong with that, in fact it’s a genuine positive. And, grudgingly two other midfielders ‘won’ the fouls that led to Pepe’s two goals. So perhaps I’m exaggerating ………a bit?
It was still a very poor ‘team’ performance.
Wavy, very reminiscent of Monday’s game I thought. The common denominator being Unai Emery.
Karen Carney made me laugh during commentary when she said Mesut Ozil was the best creative player in Arsenal’s history. Er, I think not…
Both Willock and Maitland-Niles were, rightly in my opinion, subbed at half-time. I feel sorry for both players. AMN because he has been used as left fullback, a right fullback, an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder, the poor kid must be totally bewildered. Willock deserves some sympathy for being partnered with such a confused AMN. I am sure that given some decent coaching and a regular position to play in they both have a great deal of potential.
Yeah, I get that Rico, I guess what I meant is that Raul and Edu aren’t gonna make any public statements other than ones of support.
So they won’t get involved with the media and if they do they’ll say everything is cool and Emery is doing a great job, etc..,
Agree Kev, they’re hardly likely to hang him out to dry. Hopefully their next words of support will be just before he goes.. it seems to happen that way with other clubs.
Am I the only one on here who thinks with a 100% record in Europe this season it’s ours to throw away again !
Raul was sitting in the stands with Mourinho
Yes Micko.. lol
That’ll get the tongues wagging re Mourinho..
Good ebening and thanks Rico.
I think Emery has been pants from the start !…………..that 20+ unbeaten run was full of crap displays and lucky wins and I laughed at all that….”we`ve got our Arsenal back” stuff.
On Cornwall and Devon Arsenal Supporters Club facebook is a photo of Mourinho watching the game last night as a guest of Raul !………interesting is an understatement ! hahaha
I think you said it or someone else did and it is spot on………………we have an improved squad, but no improvement in performances !…………………..I genuinely believe even though I dont want him back and it wont happen anyway, that Wenger would get more out of this “new” squad.
Emery is so way out of his depth he will grow gills.
Potter beat me to it ! 😆
There was a new found doggedness through that unbeaten run though Lc, but it disappeared quite quickly.. lol
Perhaps mourinho wants to manage Vitoria, they are Portuguese after all. Lol
Raul obviously knows Mourinho from his time in Spain, therefore he’s gonna get the Arsenal job… lol
Mourinho is from Setubal he supports Vitoria from Setubal. This Vitoria is from Guimarães in the north.
Leicester is much srtonger then us.
Leicester beat Southampton 9-0 – we play them soon…. 😮😮
Leicester have a lot of lung…
And goals in them….
New post up now