Morning all.
We scraped a draw, just. The performance was abysmal yet again. The board need to act as Unai Emery has been living on borrowed time for far too long.
We haven’t just grafted long a hard for a point away from home against Liverpool, Man City or even a rejuvenated Chelsea side under Frank Lampard, we’ve huffed and puffed our way to earn a point in the 6th minute of added time against a very poor Southampton team at The Emirates. No disrespect to Southampton meant. Ings hasn’t been able to score for weeks yet today, yep, he did. Our performance was awful and yet it’d be hard to select a stronger team than the one Unai Emery fielded.
Southampton might have taken a point before kickoff but in all fairness, they should feel disappointed right now. They could and should have made things a lot worse for us and in some ways, it might have been better in the long term if they had. Darn you Lacazette, although he thoroughly deserved both of his goals.
- Possession
- Arsenal 61%
- Southampton 39%
- Shots
- Arsenal 12
- Southampton 21
We managed FIVE shots on target, that’s all. Southampton, six.
As the final whistle blew, the players and Emery left the pitch to boos.
I’m not going to bother going into the game because there’s no point. Today was just a replay of the last six months including the end of last season.
We can hope and pray all we like that Unai Emery can turn things around but he clearly can’t. This was the game to end the rot and start a better run. A game when our multi million pound attacking unit should have had a field day against the worst defence in the league. No. Our midfield was yet again all over the place, the defenders error prone. Luiz at one stage nearly gifted Southampton a third by taking too many touches in front of Leno. Singling him out though would be unfair, as it would be any of them.
This group might be together as a team off the pitch, but on it, they are miles apart. Literally. There’s absolutely no understanding between them in my opinion. Arsenal’s problems run far deeper than individual errors. It’s a team thing, a group thing, a group which lacks a plan, guidance and the motivation to deliver. This is a coach player relationship which isn’t working and there’s no way the board can’t see it.
There are headlines on NN which suggest Raul and Edu were furious after the game, that Sir Chips is considering retiring because of what’s happening on the pitch so if no one is happy, make a bleedin decision!!
I started by saying Unai Emery has been living on borrowed time. Surely that time is up. Now, today, just sack him and move on.
Why do Arsenal make things so difficult for themselves?
Have a good Sunday guys..
Thanks Rico,
The match report on the BBC website is hilarious – the disjointed performance suggests Arsenal might struggle to make the top 4 – talk about an understatement.
Emery just has to go now. The argument we would have to pay £10m or thereabouts is irrelevant, we still have to pay that money whatever. It’s not like he’s adding value in any way, quite the opposite.
I’m not saying he is a buffoon, or a bad coach, this is just not the job for him. Also the players shouldn’t escape blame.
I even feel a bit sorry for Emery at this point, he’s a dead man walking.
Someone put us all out our misery.
I reckon we’ll struggle to finish in the top half of the table Limey, I really do.
Hi All great heart felt story Rico, yes it is time to go. But I am just playing devils advocate here, so don’t hang me I have trying to think of some positive reasons why they will not sack him.
(1) The don’t know who to replace him with or (2) The board hope that we finish down near the bottom so Kroenke will either put money into the club or best yet sell Arsenal to some one who cares about our club and wants to win trophy’s
The media are writing that Raul and Edu looked furious as you mentioned Rico but as we all know looking furious is one thing doing some thing is another thing.
As one of our great ex Aussie rules coach once said to his players when they were getting thrashed and gave up ( I don’t care what you do but do something ) I recon it’s one of the best statements I have heard after all it can apply to both player and board.
Morning all!
Have you ever thought about Jorge Jesus (Flamengo)?
Somebody asked me yesterday evening why I still bothered watching Arsenal. It was a few hours after the latest horror-show performance from Unai Emery and his team. I realised that the reasons that I still put myself through such purgatory on what has become a weekly basis, are complex and personally deep. It has to do with family, history, friends plus an accident of birth that saw me spring to life all those years ago within walking distance of the old ground. It has to do with playing football on a daily basis on Highbury Fields and of stacks of old programmes accumulated by my dad and older brother that I would pore over when I was a kid.
But, thinking further than that, I could come up with no rational reason why, given the mess the club finds itself in, to bother at all. Arsenal of today shares the name of the Arsenal of yesteryear but that’s about it really. Looking around the PL and its avarice it’s hard to see how it could be anything else really. The Arsenal of my boyhood never won much either. It languished around mid-table which is where this Arsenal could well end up unless the powers that be start to face up to some stark realities. I doubt they will actually do that until it starts to hit them in the pocket, unless..
Unless they have in Raul and Edu (the accepted men on the ground with some clout) start to display awareness, leadership and power. These are traits, rare enough in themselves, (but pitifully scarce together) that must be wielded now, as a matter of urgency to halt this nightmare descent path that Unai Emery has become associated with and seemingly fixed upon. Like a nutter at the controls of an aeroplane with the stick thrust forward and a maniacal look on his face, the situation and the reasons are far, far more nuanced than that, as we realise. But the the stark reality is that they rolled the dice with Emery hoping for a pair of sixes and they ended up with a one and a two.
Most of us could see it last season where he blew a top 4 opportunity that almost any other manager would have gobbled up and then topped it off with a defeat in the Europa League final that has become the dictionary definition of the word Humiliating. It was dreadful, the players were dreadful but it gave, or should have given, the board all the information they needed for this season. He should have been sacked. Before any of you start on the tedious road of the club not wanting to pay the money for the remainder of his contract, let me say that I think this is nonsense and little more than a stick to beat the Kroenkes with. If you’re paying Ozil £36 million for the remaining 2 years of his contract and leaving him out of the squad so the manager can flex his non-existent muscles, then a few million to get Emery out, is inconsequential.
Wenger shielded the Kroenke’s from the harsh realities of the PL in so many ways and Emery has bought them vividly face to face with them. He had an OK period last season but has shown virtually zero since then. He has done nothing to sort the defence, has alienated his midfield and his strikers seem all at sea. He has some good players and some average to decent ones but, critically, he has no team. There is so little joined-up play that Unai’s Arsenal are frightful to behold. They have been known to reduce supporters to tears with the wretchedness of their displays and their lack of interest in the badge they wear on their chests.
What happens next is anyone’s guess but I imagine the big sponsors are on the phone as I write. If it is Josh’s baby’s then he must act to remove Emery now and if Raul and/or Edu can’t plot a forward course, then they should go too. There’s no shame in appointing the wrong man after the length of Arsene’s tenure. It’s much easier to appoint the wrong man I would say. But what the fans won’t forgive and what will drive them away in their thousands, is this crass period of inactivity that the club seem prepared to indulge while Unai spouts his usual stuff.
I don’t know who the next manager should be. I don’t necessarily think it needs to be an Arsenal man either. All I know is that it cannot be Unai Emery because I have seen what he can do.
Morning all.
I genuinely think the players are hating their football and that’s down to the manager.
Seems he treats them like school kids and they’re not, they’re footballers.
Deep inside most players, there is still a kid who just wants to play the damn game so let them!!!
He’s killed their spirit, albeit inadvertently.
I don’t think he’s a bad guy at all.
Hi Rico and everyone on HH,
Great post and I believe that Adam sums it all up in his reply. Alan Shearer did not hold back in his summing up of performances from Arsenal on MOTD. It’s there for all to see. There is a disconnect between Emery and the players. Some look like they are just going through the motions, no picking up spare players, no tracking back etc. It’s got to a point where it’s becoming embarrassing watching the team. Without the likes of Lacazette, Aubermayang plus one or two others, we could be sitting much further down the table. Many players are being carried in games and Edu and Raul must see this and do what needs to be done, and that is part company with Emery and then start to offload the players who are just not Good enough to play in this league.
I wish you’d emailed me your comment Adam. So very well put an absolutely spot on. I share your thoughts on the club and it’s future etc but of course, I can’t share your history of how Arsenal became your life. To be born and bred into Arsenal must on one hand be great, yet on the other hand hurt so much when what you and we all see, but no one seems to care enough about rectifying.
Josh has always maintained that decisions are left to the board but ultimately, it’s their name which will be dragged through the mire. If Raul and co lack the balls to oust Emery, then Josh needs to get his nose stuck in.
The reaction of Lacazette at the end spoke volumes imo.
From this mornings Arseblog
:- The ‘traditional’ board, those upstairs, are really nothing more than ceremonial figureheads following KSE’s takeover last year. Last night, via an Amy Lawrence piece in The Athletic (£), we learned that Sir Chips Keswick, Arsenal’s chairman, is considering resigning because he doesn’t want to ‘carry the can’ for what’s going on right. He’s someone who has been criticised – and rightly so – and obviously he’s not the man to lead this football club into the future or anything like it, but leave that aside to recognise what he’s saying: the ‘board’ –as we knew it – are powerless to do anything about the Emery situation even if they wanted to.
The buck stops elsewhere now , with Wenger it was our board but they have been usurped . The club are in turmoil whilst Stan ploughs his money into the New Los Angeles vanity project.
Hi Marinello and thanks.
I agree, there appears to be no bond between the players and Emery and imo, they simply don’t want to play for him at all. The PL and Emery are gulfs apart I think.
Isn’t that just her opinion though Potter?
If it’s true and Raul etc have no control over removing Emery then why don’t they pack their bags and leave? Tell the fans why and drop the owners in it big time because all the time they go with the flow, if that’s what they’re doing, they are ruining the club.
If the Kroenke family are there to be exposed, then do so. That’s the only way they’ll sell up imo.
Jm, that’s a question for the Arsenal board..
Good morning Rico, I cannot begin to elaborate just how I and many true fans feel. The truth is when you watch us now you know the outcome. We are predictable, have zero confidence, lack ideas and worst of all seem to have no real plan. Stories have circulated that the players do not understand him, he is obsessed with ‘tactics’ that are baffling and clearly he has a weird idea of selection.
Let’s face the facts. We are not good enough for top four or UCL. We have fallen way below that standard. There is no feel good factor, no passion, no pride and we are now a team who have lost the fans. Just look at Lacazzette’s reaction to the equaliser – for me he was embarrassed.
Emery HAS to go. The board need to grow a pair and sack him. Get Nagelsman, get Arteta, get Allegri, get Rafa – I don’t really mind, but GET RID OF EMERY before my beautiful club just fades away.
So Chips is “thinking” of retiring. While there are still several bottles of the Taylors ‘47 left? I think not.
Morning DD.
I’m at the point of feeling any change is better than Emery too certainly in the interim because if we’re right and Emery is the problem, the removal of him will give everyone a big lift and that’s before any change of coaching style/tactics etc begin.
Just let Freddie take over and go from there.
I doubt he’ll be missed Adam but I guess the bigger picture is why.
I’d like to say that things can’t get any worse but Unai doesn’t believe in that narrative.
Sadly I think it’ll get a lot worse yet if he stays.
Funny how this time last week Tony Adams suggested Emery needs more time, yet now he says he should go…
DoubleDutch 10.33, “tactic’s” might sound daft but I believe they’re something Emery scribbles on a match box 5 minutes before kick off every week !
Morning all and you rico.
Morning micko, tactics are up there with the pressing game. We see little of either.
Morning, great post Adam, Rico you should use it as the basis of tomorrow’s post.
Can’t really add anything, although I still think that saving money is an issue.
I’m not saying that I agree with that policy, but I feel that it does have an influence.
I have no idea, but surely, surely the club have a plan of succession, a manager lined up to replace Emery next summer – they’ve had since May to decide, 6 months to date!
And if that is so, that we have a manager to come in next summer who possibly wants to finish what he started at his present club, then the options are stick with Emery and all that that entails or go with Freddie Ljungberg, which must be a decision that Raul and Co are unsure about.
Could it get worse under Freddie?
Damned right it could with our present set of players!
Could it get worse under an alternate temporary coach?
Yep, for sure, but at least it would give us all a lift and maybe the players too?
This season has gone, yet another season of gradual decline under the auspices of KSE, the focus of disenchantment will increasing switch from Unai to Raul and then to our American owners.
Maybe that’s why Sir Chips is thinking of cashing in his chips?
The amount they’d have to pay Emery off though Kev is a pittance in comparison to what we’d lose on not securing top four.
G’day to you all.
I’m with Adam on Arsenal Football Club. It’s not the club that I started supporting sixty-nine years ago and it’s not the club my dad walked from Paddington Green to The Valley, with two of his brothers in the early 1920s, to watchl play Charlton, and then walked home again.
The game today is knee deep in money, the players and coaches are grossly over-paid and have little or no loyalty to the clubs and no rapport with or understanding of the fans.
The Kroenkes have torn the heart and soul out of Arsenal and put in a bunch of money grabbing mercenaries to fill the void.
I know it’s not a lot in terms of severance Rico, compared with what we will lose for missing out on top four, so if it’s not financial what is it?
Could it be that Raul and Co really do see Unai as a safe pair of hands after Wenger?
Is it their ego?
Josh, Vinai and Raul we’re part of the consortium who choose Emery?
Or is it just a lack of involvement by KSE, whose focus is firmly on LA
I mean Josh routinely turned up to Arsenal training sessions and games wearing an LA Rams baseball cap during our North America tour. A small thing maybe but an insight into his priorities perhaps?
Without trying to sound argumentative, I doubt many clubs are the same as they used to be. The fans have changed through age and money has seen the heart and soul be replaced by pounds shillings and pence. Imo, it’s blokes like Roman, owners like the Glazers etc etc who have ruined the game, whereas the Kroenkes are sticking to the rules.
Step 8n and remove Emery and I’m sure they’ll be forgotten. Until the next time.
I really don’t know Kev, I sure wish I did though.
Don’t forget Josh Kroenke promised us fans some thing was going to happy and we would start winning trophy’s again, know I have worked it out the big new we are getting relegated to first division and the trophy’s will be us getting back into the premier league again. This way Arsenal can sell all our top players and make KSE money from there sales and we get all new young players on cheap wages for footballers Hope I wrong. our am I just s..t stirring
Just being negative imo Geoff. Admittedly, we run the risk of losing our better players if Emery stays and can’t turn things around but considering the club committed to a £75 m signing of Pepe, let Ramsey walk away for free and others before him, money doesn’t really appear to be an issue.
Rico. I agree. All clubs are different these days and I get that. But, if it really is all about the money then the owners must move with the times. Short managerial contracts, extendable by mutual consent, incentive-based wages all round and much, much, much better and more refined relationships with the fans who are so important. Arsenal have been singularly bad in this respect and have let hordes of original supporters walk away because they know that tourists will replace them and probably buy more merchandise. They missed a golden opportunity to retain the feel and ambience of the club.
Early Wenger gave the players something to believe in because he bought into the ethos of the club and sold it to the players. Does the Arsenal of today have any real values or do those in charge just see it as another job? It’s probably the latter. But, whatever, Emery isn’t the man to take it forward.
Flamengo (like -Liverpool) will play the Club World Cup in December. Jorge Jesus has a contract with Flamengo until April or May. The Championship ends in November / December. It’s time for Arsenal to start thinking that in terms of proportion, Portugal have some of the best coaches in the world who are reflected in their national teams and the countries / clubs where they go.
Adam, by giving Emery a two year contract I guess Raul has gone down the short contract route but I couldn’t agree more about the fans because the relationship has gone yet it’s one of the things the club and Emery talk about though seem to do little to mend.
I’d love to know what/how other club fans think of how their clubs are being run and how they compare to 10/15 years ago.
Did you read Aubameyang comments after the game?
Great post and great comments………….does Adam work in media ?……..he writes so smoothly.
We are not alone as fans, all clubs are the same nowadays, it`s all about the money money.
If we want our clubs back then we have to vote for Corbyn and his idea of giving football back to the fans and for my own personal circumstances I will vote for him as if he is not a liar then I will be upto £200 per week better off ! ……………………my wife would get the pension she was robbed of !………………obviously that`s if he is not telling porkies, he wouldn`t do that would he ? hahaha
I expect to wake up one day very soon, hopefully this week and find Emery departing to Transylvania for some castle hunting !………………….it is only a matter of time !
Thanks Lc. I too expect his sacking to be announced any day soon.
Rico. I’m looking for his comments now
He seemed genuinely lost of ideas as to why were so bad Adam. Without blaming Emery.. lol
Sorry Rico but you misunderstood what I meant , In my opinion Chips and the other members of the old board may have just woken up to what they started when they let Kroenke into the club .
Many of us warned of the mediocrity of their other teams and highlighted the opinions of their American fans . They told of clubs that rarely challenged for titles let alone won things but in the main were stable and financially sound .
They now know that they only have a symbolic position and that following Fiszman’s advice to oust Dein is now costing us dear .
I did misunderstand then Potter. Plus, having reread your earlier comment, I think I read it wrong in the first place…
An Englishman beat an Aussie in the World Scrabble Championships !
I thought that would cheer you all up !………………………apart from Geoff and Scott !
LC, I’m happy.
My money was on your bloke once I knew he had an Aussie coach 🙂
Morning all.
Another day rolls on, as do the woes of the club.
https://arseblog.news/2019/11/report-arteta-and-allegri-in-the-frame-as-potential-emery-replacements/
And so it begins…
Have you seen the ‘we care, do you’ updates Kev?
Yes Rico, I’ve just read it, what do you think?
https://arseblog.news/2019/11/wecaredoyou-issue-new-statement-as-arsenal-crisis-deepens/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50536901
It’s a start Kev. People generally seem to be against booing so it’s the only other way I’d have thought. There are so many blogs in existence though, it a shame we can’t all come together and do more.
LCM That’s fine after all we are still celebrating The Ashes win
I’ve just read that betting on Emery being sacked in the morning has been suspended..
Please be right for once…
A vote in silent has more impact than a fool who talks too much and forgets what he his talking about in the first place.
Can you imagine if the fans went quiet for 5 minutes while the match is in play no matter what is happening on the field and just stand up as one and all hold up a sign we want our club back then straight after the 5 minutes sing an Arsenal song a one the impact would be a lot better than just booing like we do every week
Who said that the fans were powerless, the Kroenkes are very sensitive to this kind of adverse publicity Rico, if the fans use it sensibly they can really turn the screw when need be…
The shame is that it takes a fans group to make these people wake up and get their arses in gear…
The cricket is a shambles, again!
It was a draw Geoff….
Hi Rico a draw or win they still come back to Australia now back to the football can any one remember the last time we played 13 matches , 8th on the ladder and -1 goal
Agreed Kev, bad press is the only way to get their attention. Shouldn’t be that way though as the board, ie Raul and co should be banging their door down telling stan and Josh they want him out.
Apparently this is our worst start to a season since 1982/83, 37 years ago!
Unfortunately I can remember that season, Tommy Caton in defence, Tony Woodcock, Kenny Sansom, to name but a few. And that horrible green & blue away strip. I think it was the season we had Vladimir Petrovic…
Desperate times long ago Kev but we seem to be heading back there. But you have to ask whether Talbot , Robson , Rix and Hollins would get a game in our present midfield
Hi everyone, looks as though I’m late to the party?
Sister-in-Law moving to Spain so have been otherwise occupied helping her pack…hey-ho!
Very good comments all round, as usual, and for me, I would give Poch a try. So what if he was the Spurs coach, he’s free and a far better bet than Emery. He was stifled because of Levy not wishing to buy new players and, was far more successful than Emery.
He ALSO has Premier League managerial experience for 5 years with Spurs
I reckon, like all of you (?), that we need someone NOW, because, if we wait until the end of the season, we will (on current evidence)
hemorrhage too many points and end up as a mid-table has been. Or worse still, in the lower half.
On another controversial matter – VAR.
Would it not be better if offsides are judged on whether the offending player has SPACE between him (her) and the last defender?
I have watched countless decisions made on half a boot length or similar which is patently absurd!
WE need fluidity to matches and surely we must take out decimal points in distance and make it blatantly obvious that the attacker has an easily identifiable gap with the defender?
Test
Test
Good to have you back Rico
Thanks Rick, morning all.
No idea what happened to HH, sorry guys.
New post up now, hope it works…