Morning all.
Thirty years! Thirty years of having to put up with Snickers when all the time I knew them as Marathons. No, not the 26 mile run around London or other cities but the chocolate bars which I love. Weird though as I have a allergy towards many nuts but not peanuts. Or cashews, but the rest I have to swerve. Now though, Snickers days are numbered as the Marathon bar is back! Hoorah!
Another piece of useless information for you today is supplied by one of my favourite television programs, A League Of Their Own, which last week was hilarious. One team had to answer who out of Pochettino, Unai Emery or Hazard has made a decision based on the throw of a dice. The answer was Emery and the decision he made was his team selection. Can you imagine that eh. I certainly can’t think there are many managers who’d do that although this happened a long time ago. Mind you… lol
The first real shock of the season came yesterday and for once, Arsenal weren’t part of it. Man City were though as they were beaten 3-2 at Carrow Road by newly promoted Norwich City. Great for Norwich and great for the Premier League too. I think that leaves just Liverpool as the only club left without a loss. It’ll come, I’m sure of of it.
The rest of the clubs expected to be in the top four mix come May 2020 all won so if we don’t want to start falling behind, we too need a win this afternoon. My brother kindly text me yesterday evening to tell me an 11-0 victory would see us jump into second place. I replied, 1-0 would do. And it will because away from home, any kind of victory will do, especially against a strong and physical side which Watford are. Strong and physical is something I wish we were, certainly in the way we defend. I don’t mean by playing dirty, reckless etc but just strong, disciplined and organised.
Despite still being listed as injured, Mavropanos has returned for the under 23’s, Holding got another game under his belt too as the two paired up in central defence to help beat Leicester 2-1 yesterday. John-Jules scored both goals and must be hoping to feature in the upcoming Europa and League Cup fixtures. The next step for Tierney and Bellerin is to play for the under 23’s. Perhaps that will be on Friday when Arsenal take on Wolves away from home just a day after our first Europa fixture of the season.
Alexander Lacazette, despite not being listed as injured has been ruled out for this afternoons fixture. No Deeney for them, or Capoue and Cathcart is a doubt too.
Deulofeu seems to have been around for years, yet he’s still only 25 years old. Gray has been around for years. He’s 28 years old and scored goals for fun at Wolves yet his move to Watford has not seen him replicate his form. Watford have other dangerous players though, Danny Welbeck for one if he plays that’s for sure. Playing against his old team will give him extra motivation. Doucoure and Hughes are good players too and I’m sure they’re not the only ones who’ll be out to impress Flores.
- Arsenal have kept just nine clean sheets in 42 Premier League matches under Unai Emery but two of those were against Watford last season.
- They have kept only one clean sheet in their last nine Premier League fixtures.
- Arsenal have conceded nine top-flight penalties since the start of last season, a total exceeded only by Brighton (10).
- Granit Xhaha has conceded five spot-kicks in the Premier League since his debut in 2016 – no player has given away more.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 12 goals in his last 13 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions.
- Aubameyang has scored 66% of his Premier League goals on a Sunday (23 of 35).
Regardless, Watford sit bottom of the table, their confidence can’t be at its highest. They’ve managed to score just two league goals in four games and conceded eight which for once, is more than we’ve let in. If a team full of the quality ours has, aren’t able to take all three points from this fixture, then there really isn’t much hope for a top four place.
And let’s be honest, top four is what this season is all about isn’t it?
See you in the comments guys..
Morning Rico, I reckon you’ve acquired a Degree in English, write for a magazine or newspaper, or something along those lines as you always amaze me with your fresh and so varied approach to your articles.
Keep it up.
Morning everyone.
16:30 today I’ll be watching, what I hope will be a better result than Cit’s yesterday.
Watford? Well…..you never know do you?
I’d forgotten about Welbeck – what irony if he scores the winner?
Morning Andorra, thank you, but no degree in anything and certainly not English. 😝
Didn’t Welbeck score for us on his first match against Utd? Could be a bad omen if I’ve got that right. Not sure how fit he is yet though..
Morning Rico. Yes, an excellent, well reasoned post this morning. Particularly the chocolate/ nut angle.
We have to win this afternoon. Anything else will be a minor disaster.
Morning/Afternoon Rico
399 should be enough, Smith can’t get all those runs on his own, even if he does get 150 his team mates, the dustbins, need to find another 250 between them. I wouldn’t put much dough on that!
Two poor sides have somehow made this an entertaining series, I wonder how many of the current England team will be touring Down Under in the return?
Denly is just coming into his prime Rico, you know that the England selectors are averse to picking anyone under 30…
Now I wonder what master plan Emery has cooked up for this afternoon?
He’s had two weeks to think about this game, he’s probably gone through half a dozen different systems and a dozen different XI’s – and he’ll still change it all at half time!
Aubameyang and Pepe up front as at Anfield I reckon, with 4 in midfield?
Or will the Great Mesut return to the team to display his array of talents, like a shrug of the shoulders or a face like a smacked arse and then there’s his ability to let his opponent run past him unchecked as he looks bored, yes, we’ve missed his moody influence…
Interesting to read Emery bigging up Xhaka this week.
I guess we’ve gotta play him in order to sell him?
Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician
The average opening partnership for both teams is 12.55 and that is the lowest in a five-Test series ever.
Says it all really…
Steve Smith has never scored a fourth innings century. Australia need him to do that and more.
He plays out his first two deliveries from Stuart Broad.
Loved the way that Broad ran past Harris and just gave him a look that said ‘ripper mate’ as he bowled him… 😄
Afternoon Adam, Kev.
Thanks Adam. If we lose fixtures like this one today, I can’t see Emery lasting until the end of the season..
Kev, perhaps that’s where England are going wrong. Select the younger players and stick with them. Help them through the tough times before sitting back and enjoying the good ones which follow..
David Warner ends the series with 95 runs at an average of 9.5.
Jack Leach averaged 13.5.
Warner went 35-7 against Stuart Broad.
David Warner finishes with 95 runs at 9.5. That is the lowest aggregate total opening the batting in a series of 10 innings ever. The previous lowest was 136.
Great stuff Rico,
Marathon bars back – that’s great news. I could never embrace Snickers, although the ice cream version was rather nice.
On a weekend when most of our rivals won, its just got to be 3points today.
Rico. Could be right there. I hope Unai does get it together, starting today.
He’s finished Kev and I’ll be glad to see the back of him.
Thanks Limey.
I do too Adam but I have a feeling he won’t. Not unless Xhaka morphs into a player before 4-30.
Owen Hargreaves:
‘‘I was speaking to Danny Welbeck, I saw him [just now], and he said what a brilliant coach Unai Emery is’. ‘He said he couldn’t believe how talented a coach he was.
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/15/owen-hargreaves-danny-welbeck-arsenal-unai-emery-10745501/?ito=cbshare
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/
Interesting if true, especially now that Welbeck has left the club and he’s not just sucking up to him for a new contract etc…
What an odd team to play a strong and physical side.
Leno
Maitland-Niles
Luiz
Sokratis
Kolasinac
Xhaka (c)
Guendouzi
Ceballos
Ozil
Pepe
Aubameyang
Substitutes
Martinez
Chambers
Torreira
Willock
Nelson
Martinelli
Saka
So The Great Mesut starts, his fan club will be beside themselves with excitement.
Personally I’d rather see Torrieira start, but El Prof maybe has a plan?
Gawd knows what that plan might be.. Ozil? Beggars belief him starting although I hope I’m eating humble pie in a couple of hours time…
Yes, I love humble pie 😄
No Welbeck is a surprise…
Our midfield is not strong enought…
I’m surprised too. He’s not even on the bench.
Jm, it hasn’t been for ten years, what did you expect? 😆
But we have a little terrier, and he’s not starting. Away match, Watford, I don’t get it. Same as against Liverpool.
As Souness just said, doubt we win many of the 50 50 challenges. Mind you, we seldom do.
His exclusion and Ozil starting doesn’t make sense Andrew. Or Willock.
Surprise surprise, 15 gone, no shots, Watford 4, outplayed and less possession
And we lead 🙂
😂
Nice bit of handbags at the end. 😆
May the coach be smarter!
Playing with Ceballos and Ozil at the same time, away, is a blunder!
We will have a hard time in the 2nd half.
Pathetic
ITS GOT TO STOP
Can’t say that wasn’t coming. Fifth time of cocking up playing out from the back?
How many f’ing times did it need before that happened. I’m sick of Emery if he can’t see that was waiting to happen. I was screaming at goalkick before and we just got away with it.
Schoolboy stuff from the Greek!
I cannot believe what Welbeck said re Emery. Top coach my a**e!
Emery out
We are so transparent
Ceballos? Why not Ozil….
Another cockup goalkick straight after. Sub and it’s not the player booked, the sub not Torreira on. Oh dear. Think it be easier watching the Cricket or Golf. Never thought I’d say it, but even stubborn Wenger couldn’t have been this daft on goal kicks.
Talk about gifting them back into it
Emery isn’t learning, 2-0 up and we’re hanging on, Guendouzi for all
His talent needs gripped and told to stop fucking about.
Totally agree. Wenger would have been slammed for this kind of defending. But I think we’re worse now.
Just ditch the system Kel, we can all see it’s failing.
Now given them two goals! Deserve nothing.
I gave up watching for ten minutes as we are playing like middle-of-the-table Championship teams. Came back for more of the same torture.
NOBODY marks or, gets close to opposition players when “defending” WHY is that?
MN was strolling around but never keeps close to any wide players and Delofeu, who is pretty talented and shouldn’t be given as much space as he is.
Oh, now THEY have a penalty. Gets worse doesn’t it?
Is very frustrating Rico, we clearly can’t play that system well yet we persist the writing was in the wall 4 or 5 times today…
Game management today utterly terrible From emery.
I really can’t begrudge Watford that goal they’re the better team today imo.
Watford 27 attempts. Arsenal 7.
Lucky to get a point
Appalling from Arsenal.
Admiration for Watford for keeping going and not giving up.
I’m done with Emery though. We’re not improving at all and our defending is as bad if not worse than it was under Wenger.
I believe that we have no alternative but to play Martinez .he stops penalties
The coach is a disgrace! Not every day with the team, I watch one game a week and I foresee everything so obviously wrong. For 1/10 of the money they pay, they paid me, and at least I got the same results.
It’s really naive of Emery to think he can make it work Kel. 14 months of trying, yet failing.
Hate to be the emery out guy, but his tactics and game management is utter shite.. imo we can do better.
Complete shite! We just give the ball away time after time.
Where did this short pass out of the penalty area come from?
We were under seige for most of the game and looked disjointed and overwhelmed.
When we finally get up the other end because Willock does a great dribble, but fails to pass to Auba who, is free to have a go on goal.
Top 4? I don’t think so, but we definitely need a better manager.
There’s no fight or spirit from the players who are supposed to be a team, and lots of the players just trot around and just don’t get involved. Ah, maybe they might get a bruised toe or break into a sweat!
We have got worse defensively and Xhaka and David Luis just aren’t up to the task.
If this is the sort of fare we are going to produce this season, I will give up watching and, at the end fo the season see where we are.
We gave a way a 2 goal lead!
Emery’s only hope this season is Holding, Tierney, Bellerin come back and perform like demons in defence..
Because imo that game today is what’s in store for away games the rest of the season.
Also yet again just like many yrs past lack of height, strength and power in the team. Can’t win 50/50s
Quite the worst performance by our team in a long while. I wonder if they set a record for interceptions. If not it must be close. Pissing with rain here. Does not help my mood.
Raul and the board are going to have to think carefully about what we’re seeing from Emery now.
Well, after all, Arsene Wenger isn’t too bad even at his lowest ebb in contrast to Unai Emery at his best, isn’t it?
Stating the obvious:
Arsenal manager Unai Emery to BBC Sport: “They pushed us, Watford last year played like today. We were up in the first half and we knew that we needed to score the third. They had the capacity to come back with the supporters and that’s what happened.
“We couldn’t break their pressing in the second half. They are physical, a very strong team. They pushed for our mistakes, they were playing for our mistakes.
“When you are trying to break their lines you can have chances. They won the second half and my summary is it is not a good point.
“We need to continue working. When we tried to play the long ball we lost the ball as well.”
Andorra, would Auba had been offside though if Willock passed to him?
Joint 3rd !…………………………………not bad !………………….thats the sort of game we would have lost last season, although we luckily won there last season ! hahaha
Time for a name change and historically we have done it 4 times ………Dial Square to Royal Arsenal to Woolwich Arsenal to Arsenal…………………………..giving our current squad list of 4 liability`s every time they play in Xhaka, Sok, Mustafi and Luiz, maybe we should become Liability United or City or Athletic or Rovers…………………………………blah blah blah
Rico needs to look back and see if anyone backed the signing of Luiz…………………….I know I didn`t !
😆
Not sure how Klop goes about his work, you know, whether he spends hours making the players watch videos like Dick does, but it`s a known fact that players or people in any walk of life do not process imformation from videos once they are get past the 15 minute mark after 15 minutes they fall asleep or their attention scan turns to something else like play acting of putting chewing gum in someones hair who is sitting in front or whatever………………..Ok this comment is probably going past 15 minutes ………………………………………………………………Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Will all be better when we have Lacca, Bellerin, Holding and Tierney back…………………..thats if no one else gets injured, whats the chances of that ?
Dick Out anyone ?
Not imo, he needs time as it`s only been 16 months !…………….altough with the same squad I think Wenger would have got something bettter out of this lot ! hahaha
Still wished we would have gone for Zorro though !🦸🏻♂️
What makes me laugh about that quote, Reg, is that Dick promised us a Liverpool style pressing game when he arrived and 16 months later it is still no where to be seen !………………….thank fcuk we have the best womans team to be proud of !
You know what !……………………………..not looking for a medal even though I deserve one ,but I have for ever and a day said that running your socks off (pressing) with 10 players is better than 10 gifted players admiring theirselves in a mirror.
Liverpools game is not rocket science and is no secret !…………anyone can just watch them on tv to see what they are doing, so call me thick but why cant play like it ?……………………a team of Georgie Armstrongs would always beat a team Ozils and I love Mesut ! 🙂
Good thing though is that in Raul we have someone who wont put up with any shit for too long and Dicks contract of two years means he needs to stop being stubborn and listen to all us no idea supporters who know fcuk all and ditch Xhaka and co !……………………………….we get rid of Wenger who was about as stubborn as stubborn can be and we get Wenger 2.0………………………..
Absolutely Rico, Auba WAS offside early in Willock’s run but, I thought there was a glimmer of an opportunity before Willock got tangled up, when Auba got back onside and. as we know he’s no slouch.
A replay, had there been one may have shown otherwise, but he never made the pass.
Such are the moments when victory might have been achieved late in the game – look at the Women in the Solheim Cup, victory on the 18th green with the last putt. Brilliant.
Because I’m an older fan, I enjoy watching videos of our more successful sides. Twinkle-toes Bergkamp, the stirring runs of Henry, Pires and the classy finishes, the ‘good old days’ of sublime football from our club, just to improve my mood.
We had a decent defence too, nothing like the wankers we have now, and, collectively the team played with much more fire, pace, and elegance, don’t you think?
Am SO disappointed.
On a cheerier note, I liked your “Liabilty United”, LCM.
Zorro does the movies unfortunately. Haha!
Le Coq,
I do agree that the women’s team is the bright spot. Quote from Xhaka : “We played terrified from the first second of the second half to the last”.
Not a top 10 comment let alone a top 4.
Perhaps we can play Holding with Sokratis and push Luiz forward so that he could do his tripping in the midfield.
We lost as soon as Ceballos and Ozil went off .Nelson although bright was muscled off the ball a lot and we invited them on to our already rickety defence
Nice stat ! hahaha
Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga. Some effort that.
Only Ben Foster, Craig Dawson and Etienne Capoue failed to have a shot for Watford today.
Totally predictable – that’s the most depressing thing.
And Watford deserved at least a point,we were hanging on.
We must be the ideal team to play for a team low on confidence,every attack, every ball into our box,we look like conceding.
I didn’t see the game today but I had already sat through the whole of the Newcastle and Liverpool games previously, so I’ve got a fairly good idea how it went.
Last season we had many games that left us scratching our heads and wondering what was going on? But I maintained throughout last season that we had to give Emery at the very least two seasons, mainly because of the abject mess Wenger had left us in…
So I gave him a lot of latitude as he gradually worked with a squad of new players and whilst Raul got rid of a lot of the poor players Wenger had left us.
Well he’s had some really good new players added to the squad and he’s had a year of work to look back on, so where is the improvement?
Our defence is definitely better than the shambles Wenger left behind and the midfield is also better, but the tactics are a worry.
I worry that the job is just too big for Unai, that the players just aren’t listening to him. It’s almost as if they’re trying to get him the sack.
I think that the fan base is turning already, all the AKB’s are coming out of the woodwork, blind to shitshow that Wenger left us in and those who supported Emery are losing faith in him.
I’m doubtful that he can get us top four this season and I’m doubtful that he’ll be Arsenal coach beyond this season.
I remember when Emery got appointed and someone commented on here that he’s a tactical genius; I posted that tactical geniuses do not lose CL when they are up 4-0. I watched Emery at PSG with a loaded team and he underachieved tremendously, much less the current Arsenal squad. Even with the Seville Europa winning teams, those teams I will argue should’ve been competing for CL because they were loaded.
I said it yesterday that the idea that Sokratis is better than Mustafi is laughable and we saw that several times today and all of last season. Even if we are targeting for top 4, why is Chambers sitting on the bench? Give him the necessary experience to make him better for now and in the future, because he’s young and is better than Sokratis. Emery’s selection is inexplicable, and for that we will not see the best of this team if he doesn’t change.
I said it the other week, it doesn`t matter if you have Messi, Ronaldo and Pele up front ………………with a shit defence you will get relegated !
It must be the tactics then, Kev , as I could swear that our defense is worst than ever, maybe it`s the playing out from the back tactic thats the reason for this stat…………Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga.
Kev @8:18, l can’t phantom that any Arsenal fan would think that Wenger, given his last years, would be better than Emery. Wenger left us in this debacle.
We have a dodgy defence, and to compound the problem; we play out from the back?
Nothing else law to say, really.
Obi, people forget how bad our defence was under Wenger, 8-2, 6-0 at the Bridge, 10-0 on aggregate to Bayern. I haven’t forgotten.
We drew 2-2, I remember us being 4-0 at St James’ and drawing 4-4
Cocker, if Emery fails, it’s doesn’t change the fact that sacking Wenger was the right thing to do…
You could say it`s idiotic, Scott ! hahaha
If you are going to play out from the back then you need players as gifted as Ozil, but who can also defend !……………………I like the state the blatantly obvious, it`s one of my intelligent features !……………..Dick states the blatantly obvious in his post match interviews but fails to act on them !
Seems to me the board after suffering the symptoms of .The Stockholm Syndrome under the Wenger years went and got the love child of Wenger and Gazidis !
I reckon we’re all on the same page here.
You’re right Potter, we don’t sit tight with any opposing players in our half (pressing?), so when they receive the ball on the wing, they run at the defence (who are still yards away) and we only engage them somewhere around the edge of the penalty area which is another reason why we give away free kicks and penalties. We should be harrying them when the ball is is coming to them.
But no, we give them yards of space and end up paying for that.
The coaching staff surely would see that, but they certainly haven’t up to now.
It’s not ‘effing rocket science.
Not disagreeing with that Kev………………………….I`m just not sure that Dick is any better, although I will contradict myself in saying that I dont see the point in sacking him when all the top managers are elsewhere and cant see anyone much better replacing Dick !……………………….just as history and Wenger will tell us he nearly bought all the best players, history will tell us we could have had the worlds best manager in Pep and should have also gone for Klopp, but we didn`t so who out there realistically is going to want to be our manager who is not already in a better job ?…………………….that`s why I wanted Arteta, a young unproven quantity, but who has the pickings of Pep brain !………………………………….or the no brainer to give us a tight defense in Simeone !.
LC, I’d happily put money on us doing better right now if Arteta was manager but obviously we will never know.
Emery persisting with this one single tactic tells me he is failing.
It’s ridiculous defending a lead by keeping the ball deep in our territory and surely it can’t be praised by anyone.
Not read the blog yet, BUT, what a lot of crap this afternoon was. We are rank bad, rank bad.
I didn’t see the game or hear a commentary, just the result and the fact we gave away a two goal lead and were lucky to get a draw.
Had a lovely day visiting Hever castle and walking around the grounds. Later went to a really nice pub for a meal, very good food and reasonable prices. The only drawback was forgetting to duck under the lintel on leaving the pub. Ostrich egg sized bump on my forehead. Well okay not quite ostrich egg size maybe walnut size.
We won the test and all in all a great day….except for the football. But then we have come to expect nothing else. Is Don Howe still alive? We should sign him up as our defence coach.
Oh, Rico sorry to rain on your parade but Marathon bars are only being sold by just one supermarket chain and only for a limited period. 😕
LC @ 8:54, I wanted Arteta too because even as a player his on the field acumen and coaching was above exceptional; but we can still get him and am quite sure another year with Pep doesn’t hurt. But as for available good managers, Allegri is still available.
I didn’t want Arteta because he had and still has zero managerial experience. Vieira perhaps might have been a better option, but then every manager seems to be a better option when things aren’t going right.
Apart from Mourinho.. lol
A trial maybe Cicero….
Rico, you’re right, some of this named when Wenger was flailing have fallen off the planet but I always say that people driving cars for 30 years can still be rubbish drivers, so is experience really such a necessity?
What experience can do is show whether the man can manage or not, so it’s a little each way.
Rico
If Emery went I would not be too surprised if Ljungberg were made manager.
Scott, but all drivers have to learn to drive and pass a test first.
Reg, me neither, even if only for the short term.
Well Cocker, even with some of his questionable tactics, I’d have to disagree, I think that Emery has been an improvement on how Wenger was running things. Or we certainly looked that way for periods last season, we wasn’t such a soft touch, and I know that’s hard to believe after today’s result, but we fought back against Tottenham and despite a mauling kept going against Liverpool, eventually pulling a goal back. Against Tottenham we almost snatched a win.
Those results would not have been achieved under Wenger in his last two years in charge.
So although I think there’s been a slight improvement, it’s clearly not enough.
Of course, you could argue that it’s Emery’s tactics that get us into a fix and requiring some kind of heroic fight back and I’d struggle to disagree.
Whether the inclusion of Holding, Bellerin and Tierney make a difference, I don’t know?
Chambers losing his place for Luiz certainly hasn’t been beneficial.
I know some on here have mentioned it, but I’ve been banging on about it since Mertesaker was our centre half and was on the end of some criticism that I didn’t think he deserved.
The problem lays with our midfield and has done so for a long long time.
The transfer guys still haven’t addressed it, but I won’t blame Emery for that, he isn’t responsible for our signings and we still need a proper defensive midfielder.
Mind you I blame Emery for not playing Torrieira as he’s the nearest we have to one.
Last season Sokratis was great, a master of the dark arts, this season in the VAR era, he can’t get away with it and he’s looking suspect. Is he better than Chambers? Is Luiz better than Chambers? Not on current form…
So yeah, you can blame Emery for some of his selections as there was a time when he first arrived that players got into the team on merit, not on reputation or their salary.
Is that still the case?
Wenger used to pick all the same old wankers and now Emery is showing signs of falling into that same old trap.
For me it’s all very disheartening as I liked the way he went about things when he arrived, but now I’m not sure he’s got it in him to be the Arsenal manager beyond next summer.
I like the German geezer, the bloke who recently moved from Hoffenheim to Leipzig (I think?), he has a reputation for bringing through the youth and that’s how I think KSE see Arsenal in the near future…
I think that the club will stick with Emery this season, as long as we hover around the top four.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Arsenal win in Frankfurt and then thrash Villa at home next weekend.
We’re that kind of team, a bit bi-polar, split personality, you never know what Arsenal will turn up or what team Unai will pick or what tactics he’ll employ?
When we’re winning that’s viewed as a strength, a positive, when we’re not playing so well it’s viewed as tinkering.
I don’t want us to be predictable, not as we were under Wenger in his latter years, I like a manager who studies the opposition and tries to counter their tactics, a manager who is flexible, who changes systems in a game, but does Unai overthink things? Does he overburden the players, because some of our players don’t seem smart enough to take it on board.
What is it? Have we conceded 10 penalties since Emery took over?
That’s not very smart is it….
Kev,
I like what you’ve written. But when Emery switches players around he’s tinkering. When he tries to have an established team he’s staid. Maybe he’s limited because of selection. Tierney hasn’t been fit to play. Monreal and Kos have gone. I am also mystified why Chambers hasn’t played.
Todays capitulation was the whole team. I watched the game with horror. The first half we were ahead against the run of play. No one distinguished themselves in the second half. The passing was awful unless you were a Watford player. The game was gifted to them. I know the 2 obvious errors cost us the win but after that it was carnage all around.
I think Emery will probably get this season to get it right but my earlier optimism about the team seems hard to justify right now. Actually I think we’ve made all five games a struggle so far.
Time will tell………..
Reg;
Yeah, I take your point, but surely Emery should tailor his tactics to the players he has, their abilities, their strengths and weaknesses rather than shoehorning them into a system they maybe aren’t capable of. He did it last season with Cech and made our reasonably stable goalkeeper look like a right wally. To me that was poor coaching…
When we have a pair of quality full backs and a capable centre half available it’s gonna be beneficial, but it won’t solve the issue with our midfield protecting the back four.
Reg, we scored four really good goals in our last two games vs Tottenham and Watford, but all four goals we conceded/gifted were down to rank poor play.
If we carry on like that we’ll finish 6th or 7th…
I agree with you, if things go badly wrong over the next few months then Ljungberg as temporary coach…
Nagelsmann, that’s the guy I was thinking of…
Rico, where’s the “learning to manage course”?
Unfortunately, there’s only one way to find out if their capable.
Tough call to bring in a newbie, but is it better to revive a dead career due to the fact the guy has experience?
Hard decision, no question.
Kev, I’ve been dying exactly that about Emery and Özil-why try to make a player into something he’s not?
It serves no purpose at all.
Kev,
I totally agree with you.
Shit Reg,
Last week you agreed with me.
You have dropped your standards 🙂
Morning mate.
Hello all.
Let’s hope Unai realises even City fail at times playing out from the back and they have a lot more talent than we do.
All this talk of replacing Emery, Mourinho is presently unemployed. Be careful what you wish for! 😉
Morning all,
Scott, Emery needed to learn DURING the game, it was obviously about to happen, I was screaming, my wife had to calm me down and tell me off for swearing, before the fatal goal-kick. I’ve not wanted to criticize Emery at all, he needed 2 years to put his own stamp on things. But leaving out Torreira, and persisting with a tactic that clearly isn’t working that 99% of people oppose (including I suspect the players), is plain daft.
Morning all.
Agree about shit drivers of years expoerience, Scott and to combat Rico`s reply…………….how some pass their test in the first place is bewildering !………….I can safely say as someone who a 1000 miles per week that I have some knowledge in this area, bet Kev does aswell hahaha
Yes Kev the defensive shield has not been adrressed for years.
One thing imo is that the first Watford goal was all about Dick`s philosophy of playing out from the back in ridiculous situations, the players may have been guilty for the act but from Dicks instructions………….one of the most comical goals we have conceeded in my years as a gooner….farcical !
Dick is saying that these things have to happen for players to learn ! hahaha…………………….lets hope he listens to hisowm advise and learns from the inept mistakes he is currently making whether from team selection or tactics.
It has become apparent that Emery is not the manager we really need. I see him as more if a trouble shooter stop gap to change certain things after the AW era. The strange thing is some of his blind spits are identical to AW’s so like Le Coq you start to feel we have AW mark 11.
I hope Emery can stabilise and improve us as the season progresses but even then I would be making a new appointment for next season. If it is going very badly by Christmas then make it then and allow the new guy half a season to start to shape the team before the summer TW.
Like Le Coq I go for Arteta because he ticks every box except direct 1st team management. But being number 2 to the best manager of this generation with a team that performs like City trumps being the 1st team coach in another league.
I loved the driving analysis so let’s base it on that. Take Vieira. He hasn’t even been in a car in England for 14 years and has only recently passed his test and has been driving on French B roads. But the English roads are far faster and more aggressive with their own style and nuances. He will need time to adjust from those French B roads.
Arteta hasn’t taken and passed his official test but has been driving daily at Silverstone with the best drivers out there. In addition he has been taken out onto the motorways and fast busy and aggressive roads of England with his L plate and the worlds best driving instructor alongside him. Passing the basic test should be more a formality than adjusting to the English roads with a French licence.
As for Dick saying the reason he took Ceballos off was because it was too hot ! hahahahahahaahha
He must be working for the British Tourist Industry trying to get under the weather Spaniards to holiday in flaming Britain ! 😎
Morning Rico and all. I am sure there was a collective scream when Sokratis did what Sokratis does and that people found themselves stalking around the house or the garden in a mixture of anger and frustration after our collective and pathetic capitulation yesterday.
Going through the team individually and awarding points or a thumbs up or down seems pointless to me. What happened yesterday has been going on for a long time now but it has been tempered by our desire and a genuine hope for Emery to be the modern manager that we have been screaming out for since the sad last years of Wenger.
Where is the plan? What are we trying to do out there? Will the team ever learn from their mistakes? I really have no idea and it seems, neither do the players. As Kev said to me before the game, Emery has had 2 weeks to think about this game and contemplate how he would both motivate and deploy the team.
If there is any development then it has eluded me. Can the club move forward under Unai? If so, where is the proof? We should be beating teams like Watford surely, but they really should have beaten us yesterday.
Where is the much touted pressing game from Emery? I remember glimmers of it after he first arrived but it has vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a turgid mix of lazy, uninspired plodding while making opponents look as if they have at least one more player on the pitch than us most of the time.
We can moan about the selection and the tactics and the players all we like, but what happened yesterday and what currently looks like happening for the rest of the season, is down to Unai who is looking more like a bang-average manager with every passing game.
Raul and Edu must surely be casting their gaze toward Italy and a manager currently on a sabbatical.
Morning Adam, all.
My thoughts are in today’s post which is now up.
Taking off Cebollas and Ozil was entirely down to Emery and any hope we had of getting a third goal went with them. Playing out from the back gave Watford a tactic which they exploited . That’s down to Emery as well.
Obviously Leno got fed up with it but unfortunately too late , he started playing long kicks which Emery was quite right we lost possesion 95% of the time but at least it was 60 yards from our goal not in the penalty area.
Without Lacazette we have no-one capable of fighting for an aerial ball , yesterday Giroud was the answer but he is no more . Nelson was proved to be too lightweight , he was eased off the ball too easily and the last twenty minutes became one way traffic ( if we are using driving analogies ).
We are not ready yet to go on the big stage , our position is scrapping for best of the rest.
Frankfurt are as bad as us , played 4 won 2 lost 2 scored 5 given away 5 . We could win but quite easily might not , Villa are close to where Watford were , it’s not a given . If we are to play this style of football then we have to up our scoring because we surely are going to let goals in . We have no player to organise on the pitch , as it went wrong they looked like lost rabbits in headlamps ,no leader. We need a captain on the pitch and Xhaka is not that man.
After the substitutions the midfield 4 had an average age of 21 and that’s with Xhaka at 26 . We have a young midfield that will make mistakes , it needs a vocal ringmaster to keep it on course just as Mertesacker did with Holding in that cup final.
Is Emery a deer in the headlights, or just too damn stubborn to even think about changing his line of thinking on how the game should be played?
He must change, or he won’t last long and I hope he does else we could head down the path of other clubs where they become a managerial revolving door.