Morning all.
Is Unai Emery was the right man to turn things around?
Kieran Tierney says he is:
“Yes, of course. It is up to us as players to correct it on the pitch. For me, he (Emery) has been brilliant since I’ve come in. I have learned a lot. I am learning a lot every day, playing with great players. Everybody in the changing room has got belief in each other and the manager.”
Does it matter who the Arsenal captain is?
“The captaincy or who has this on the pitch, I don’t think it’s very important. It’s important that all the team is good in the dressing room. We are like a family. In the end who brings the pitch the captaincy is the last thing.”
“I don’t know, I think it’s the first time he is a captain.
“For me it’s more important that Auba first has to score, he has to do his work. “He’s a very good guy. But I already said something – who has the captaincy is not very important.”
Sokratis was asked about tomorrow evenings fixture against Leicester:
”It’s a very big game, it’s a game we have to win. “Of course we have a lot of games in front and if we see last year we were there but in the last seven games, we didn’t win one.
I don’t know any other job where the person responsible for causing major problems is left to fix it, especially when that person has contributed to the mess in the first place. No one can lose sight of the state the squad was in when Unai Emery took over as head coach and perhaps that’s big factor in the decision the board have made to date to leave him alone but there’s not been even a hint of this now much changed squad improving. Can you imagine the “owners” of Marks and Spencer, Harrods, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis etc stand by their main man or woman if sales were dropping or a sudden foot fall drop took place? No, of course they wouldn’t. They’d be stuck on gardening leave, paid off or simply sacked and replaced sharpish. No with any Tom, Dick or Harriet either as they’d go and get the best they could to turn things around. M&S did just that not long ago when clothes sales dropped because the design wasn’t right for the customer and they were paying the price in sales.
Arsenal are on the cusp of something really bad in my opinion. Fans are frustrated, players are being booed as is the team in general and Unai Emery is getting hammered by the media. All justified in my opinion because what the Arsenal fans along with the rest of the world are watching, is nothing short of complete rubbish. The board are taking a big risk by allowing this to continue because it’ll only get worse if Arsenal don’t improve.
Tierney isn’t going to say anything bad about Emery to the media, he’d be a fool if he did but I bet in private he wonders why he switched life at Celtic for one at Arsenal. I very much doubt there is one player who is happy with the way things are going right now.
I’d have liked to have heard Sokratis say what he did rather than read it because all I felt in his words was negativity. But I think he’s wrong, the captain is important. He leads by example, he steady the ship on the pitch, he represents the club and on the pitch he’s a big figure. If you look back at Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira, he sets the tone in the tunnel too where a game can be won or lost before it even got going. Now all we see is hugs and kisses between players from both sides..
I know he’s made his own mistakes on more than one occasion since he’s been at Arsenal, who hasn’t mind you but I think the very man who says the captain doesn’t matter would have been the better choice. Or Luiz because neither are nice footballers. Lovely blokes I’m sure, but as a captain, I think a player needs a nasty streak. Adams had it, Vieira did too as did Keane. Even Henry had an edge to him..
Aubameyang though seems too nice, but we’ll see tomorrow if a change of captaincy brings a change in fortune. Perhaps he’s taken the players out ten pin bowling or something similar where afterwards they had a long chat and agreed to ignore everything Emery says, half of which they can’t understand anyway, and do it their own way.
They couldn’t do any worse could they?
Mornings Rico,
When the captain is part of a leadership/captaincy group, I’m not sure the title of captain means anywhere near as much as it used to.
I’m not a fan of the system, because it dilutes the aura a captain should have.
Morning Scott, all.
I agree, there should be two imo, captain and vice. Nothing more..
Morning All, thanks for the post Rico…
Players come, players go, I simply don’t get attached anymore.
I really like Torrieira, but if he goes and we double our money then c’est la vie, it happens,
I really liked Alexis Sanchez, I know that he wasn’t popular among other players, well some players, but he delivered. I was sad when he left, but I got over it…
I like Tierney, early days I know but I like his attitude, I like Bellerin, I like Holding, I like Guendouzi even though he’s a bit of a diva, but if any of them left I’d soon get over my disappointment because that’s football. And it’s changed. The one – club men are no more, not in these days of Super Agents, MLS, China, blah blah blah…
Emery isn’t going to last, he’ll be on his bike sooner than later, but maybe not soon enough for us to finish top four?
Well so be it, that’s down to KSE and Raul and Edu, it’s their decision.
I’m off to put the kettle on…
Kev, your last line says it all and I don’t mean that as a criticism.
It’s how so many feel at this point.
The optimism has been belted out of us lol
Agree Kev, long gone are the days I shed a tear over a player leaving. Pires maybe, just a tiny one..
Come on Rico,
You bawled when Aaron left hahahahaha
Money seems the killer of all things good in the game.
Player agents, brothers, cousins are all demanding more and more for their player!!!
It turns most of us off.
Ha ha Scott.
I was disappointed in a way though, in him more than anything else but we’ve done that one to death.
Whatever the case, it didn’t end the way any of us wanted, that’s for sure.
I’ve a feeling we could have him, Dennis and Thierry and still be a mess to be fair lol
No, I’m not comparing him to those legends 🙂
Xhaka was meant to replace Ramsey but he isn’t anything like as mobile , doesn’t have the nose for goals and the eye for positioning.
Other than that he’s fine.
Captaincy is important , people need leaders , someone to climb over the trench and get others to follow . I said recently that we rudderless and when it gets hard on the pitch , we start to panic and that’s where a captain comes in , steadies the ship and leads by example .
Currently I do not believe we have that player and that’s why I suggested buying experience to bring the young ones through.
Xhaka couldn’t replace Denilson…..
Thanks for the post Rico and afternoon all.
Bit boring I know , but I agree with all of you !
I think a captain is really important………All good teams in every sport have a good captain. It should be a real honour to be captain and it bugs me when the players make light of it.
It’s a shame that we all feel the same about players leaving the club. These days as long as the club gets a good price for a player we seem reasonably content. All clubs aren’t like that……….The Celtic fans are still gutted about losing Tierney, they regard him as one of their own and I kind of wish we had that.
Now, Who is out there that we can buy in January to be our midfield general and kick some arse!
We can’t all be wrong Mike…. lol
Hope you’re right about Emery being on his way soon Rico !
Yes Potter , who have we really got that can organise and drive the team on. Buying an experienced player is the way to go I think, until the youngsters can step up.
I’m only guessing Mike based on Raul not being a footballing idiot…
Afternoon all. Perhaps the dressing room is a bit too cosy, all mates together. What is needed is a bit of “wtf did you think you were doing giving the ball away like that? ” or “why did you duck out of the way of that shot on goal”? Maybe ” how in Hell’s name did you manage to put the over the bar from three yards out ffs?”
We need a captain on the pitch who will ensure everybody gives 100% regardless of the chance of upsetting his bestie.
Nice one Rico.
Proper Captains in the vein of Tony Adams are worth their weight in gold and cannot be under estimated. I`m afraid that no one fits that bill at Arsenal, they are Captains in name only.
In my house the manager is my wife and the Captain is the dog and the TV remote is the vice Captain.
The club thought they were buying a leader in Xhaka, though.
He was captain at a young age and was in the Bundesliga side of the season.
No question at all he’s been underwhelming, but at the time we signed him I doubt many of us were unhappy.
Xhaka quite obviously isn’t anywhere like the player that is required in England but succeeded in Germany and would probably do well in Italy.
If the fact he’s failed to produce in one country means he’s shit then Dennis must have been, using that logic lol
It hasn’t worked, we should have sold him but to then make him captain?????
One of the worst management decisions I’ve ever seen.
Yeah Scott, I must admit I was quite pleased when we signed him. I thought he was going to be the strong defensive player we needed.
Bloody Hell , how wrong was I !
You’re right , we should have sold him when we realized he wasn’t up to the Premier League, Not made him captain.
Cicero, we had one like that in Alexis, that’s why he didn’t easily fit in with the others in the squad, mainly because he demanded maximum effort all the time and they wanted to remain on easy street.
I actually think that Arsenal was good for him as well because he was the big cheese at the Emirates whilst at Old Toilet he was just a bit of a spare tool.
Maybe we got his best years?
Cocker, does that make you a bit of a utility player, you know something like Gus Ceasar?
I think that Arteta was a good captain, as I don’t think he was universally popular in the dressing room and didn’t give a toss if he was or not but focused instead on doing the job rather than winning a popularity contest – and that in a team sliding inexorably towards decline.
Scott, I think if someone had asked me who I’d rather have had the summer we signed Xhaka, you know, out of Granit and N’golo Kante, who was cheaper at the time he left Leicester, I think I would have gone with the Frenchman.
Kante is quick, reads the game brilliantly and can tackle, Xhaka does a great eagle with his hands when scoring against Serbia.
And that isn’t in retrospect Scott, because at the time one was totally adapted to the EPL and had won the title and the other wasn’t and hadn’t…
The really irritating thing is that Wenger knew all about Kante when he was still in France and could have signed him for a relative pittance before he came to England.
Morning all
New post up now