Finally, we have something more to talk about than the golden 4-5 managers I’ve been tracking these past few weeks. Spanish media has linked us with the Basque manager Unai Emery, who has departed PSG after failing to move them to the next level in the Champions League.
Arsenal fans are starting to come to terms with the reality that Allegri is a dream that might not have much reality to it. I have no basis for saying that deal is dead outside the fact he still has unfinished business with Juventus, his press mutterings indicate he’ll be there next season, and his sporting director saying he thinks Juve will come to a solid agreement when they speak this summer.
FOOTBALL IS MAD FAM, so don’t rule anything out, but I think he’s a sexy damp dream too far this season…
That means we have to be real with what’s available on the market, and also start to tune ourselves into the brief that Ivan’s hawking around Europe…
- Rejuvenate a club that’s lost its way
- Bring a broken squad together around a new footballing philosophy
- Be an actual coach: instilling discipline, tactical awareness plus out and out winnertivity™
- Do a lot with a little: purse strings will be tight blud
- Suck it up in a management structure where you’ll not have full control
- Sell Ospina
That’s why Emery is interesting. The man beat Madrid with Almeria (more here) leading them to a top half of the table finish. He consistently took Valencia to 3rd place. No one talks about Spartak Moscow. Then he took Sevilla, a selling club, won 3 Europa League titles in a row, the last one beating Liverpool in Klopp’s first half season. He’s a deep thinker, super pragmatic and his best work has been with teams that are in the shitter, or just skint.
One of the big critiques of him at PSG is the players didn’t care for him. He was deemed passive.
‘There is no fear of rebuke for poor displays or selfishness as a significant chunk of the first team will be picked no matter what. As a result PSG lack any semblance of rigour or discipline and players dally in possession and struggle to find any intensity.’
Arsenal is a mess, but we’re still bigger than Sevilla. Could Emery manage man-monsters like Ozil?
Or, do issues like this sit at the owner’s feet? PSG pride mega names over the proper casting of personalities. Remember, not even Carlo – the master of egos – could manage effectively there.
The other question is: if he can’t make PSG European Champions, how is he going to make us special?
This is something I think about a lot (twice a day at least), management is a flip of a coin at the highest level. Pep G has fucked the Champions League twice in a row for City, and he never made a final with Bayern Munich. Does that make him a bad manager, or just unlucky? I also think there’s something in the idea that PSG might be so dominant in Ligue 1, they lose their edge when they play a proper team because they’re coasting most of the season.
This is the madness of football, because he failed badly at PSG, fans won’t want him. Though take a moment to look back on PSGs style of play this season, it’s hard not to be impressed, until you realise they dropped £300m on talent to win a league and a cup.
Anyway, back to the list of items CEOs look for in a modern manager:
- A footballing philosophy the CEO and the fans can buy into (which is why I’m amazed Mourinho is still at United)
- A coach who has the charisma and passion to transmit that vision to the players (which is why all the Twitter muppets who used ‘pashun’ as a derogatory snipe at English fans are eating their hat now every hipster manager is a touchline gangster)
- A leader who can make the players better, get bums on seats and elevate the club in a saturated global football market (which is why you’re increasingly seeing stable managers who win ugly moved on for the folk who are a little bit more ambitious about putting on a show)
You’ll have to let me know whether you think Emery can deliver on the above.
Finally, before I go. There was a lot of debate yesterday after I gave Mesut a roasting online. My take on his agent’s comments are as followed.
Keown has won 3 PL titles. 3 FA Cups. A Euro trophy. He’s an Invincible.
Who the f*ck is his agent to plough into an actual legend of the club?
Mesut Ozil isn’t a legend. I don’t care about his POTY with Germany. I don’t care about his chances created record. I don’t care about his World Cup win.
He’ll always be a luxury player who never really delivered on what we wanted. He’s not a warrior. He’s rarely been a leader (though he’s shown he can be both the latter when he fancies is). He almost never shows up in the big games. He disappears in the second half of every season, even when he’s rested.
I find it amazing that on the one hand, we’re complaining that our strikers don’t get any service, and on the other hero-ing Mesut as a chance creator. We literally have two of the most potent strikers in Europe lining up for us and we’ve lost all our away games this year. Which is it? A lack of finishers? Or a lack of service?
Back to Mesut, he has no right to pop off at Martin Keown, who certainly doesn’t have had the talent of the German, but he had 10x the heart, 10x the commitment, and the trophies to back it.
There has never been a question around Martin’s dedication, the man has never taken a day off before the season was out for a sore back, he’s never ducked an away leg at a team that might kick him, and though he may have kissed the ring of Wenger over the years and been an enabler, it’s mostly because he’s so desperate to impact the team he loves.
If you don’t quite comprehend why Martin Keown is a more important player than Mesut Ozil, you never watched him.
Keown is a legend. Also worth noting that even when his career was coming to an end, he’d have been working with the younger defender, passing on the knowledge, helping them through the Invincibles season.
Ozil doesn’t measure up for Arsenal. World Cups don’t matter in the debate about Ozil. Messi and Ronaldo, two of the GOATs, have never won the World Cup.
Too many people just don’t get it… Mesut doesn’t care about Arsenal. Europe knows it, that’s why no one bar Arsenal made an offer for his services.
He’ll always be remembered as a supremely gifted talent that didn’t have the stomach to elevate Arsenal.
That’s me done, see you in the comments.
I really find this idea of appointing a manager because he’s shifted the fine aromas of Guardiola’s bum for two seasons revolting.
Guardiola proved his mettle to Barca by excelling in the Barca B team. Even Zidane who was appointed fo finish the season after raga was sacked had 1.5 seasons with the Real Madrid Catila team.
City will have Pep wile Arsenal have a zero- experience and low cost Pep-lite
*Rafa was sacked
‘Yeah, except that that wouldn’t prove what you think it proves.’
The club going for the cheap option, a novice, when situation calls for a strong, experienced man?
It would prove me right and you wrong- Arsenal under Kroenke put money over everything else. Kroenke is a money whoring sob that cares little about what Arsenal achieve.
Bam Arteta is plan B if Allegri says no or plays hardball on transfer funds.
The reality is that Ktonke has given zilch. We survived from our own resources. So Kronke is a non entity who did some kind of disguised LBO.
In the next 5 years he will be found out.
Rambo Ramsey
People like Alexander Henry have been saying precisely that
Bamford
Dont you think you owe Alexander an apology or at least a retraction because he’s been saying the club will go for cheap after Wenger leaves.
Everyone knows this is really about saving money because we have to make big payments to Wenger and the outgoing assistant manager’s. Besides the Gazidis/Mislintat/Sanlehi team can’t hoodwink a proper manager who’s been around the block for a while.
Meantime, back on the football pitch….
Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ramsey, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: macey, Maitland-Niles, Mertesacker, Monreal, Willock, Welbeck, Nketiah
I can understand Allegri might not be so keen to leave serial Champions Juve for a Europa club. But you have Ancelloti free, even Benitez, these guys have buckets of experience steadying clubs in free-fall.
Reject them all and go for the massive gamble Arteta? What happens if he bombs and we fall further behind? Who will cough up the money to clean up the bigger mess? Is the bald cunt Gazidis qualified to take the wheels in the chaos?
@ Bam, all that money has been spent.
Not really, as our net spend over the past 5 season is 36M. During the Laca window, we had a negative net spend.
We then made 44M in profits, enough to fund the Auba deal.
So since the club said there is a warchest to expend on transfers, I am baffled as to why they would not support Allegri with 200 at least to rebuild.
It would prove me right and you wrong- Arsenal under Kroenke put money over everything else. Kroenke is a money whoring sob that cares little about what Arsenal achieve.
Yep the appointment will in fact say a lot about Ivan and Stan.
Worth noting though the papers haven’t got a fucking clue. One paper says Allegri one says Arteta one says Emery is favourite one says Vieira and Arteta with Nagelsmann one alludes to Jardim. They just don’t know
Let’s be honest here, Arsenal FC have always been very good at keeping secrets. It’s all guesswork at the moment so rather than getting our nickers in a twist, let’s wait for the announcement before we make judgement.
I also don’t get the criticism for example from Gary Neville about the process that we’re doing this idea that we’re a mess since it was announced he was leaving I mean all the uncertainty is annoying but nothing’s going to be announced straight away it’s pretty obvious since nothing’s been announced that its a prominent manager still in a job and we’re waiting. That to me suggests one of Allegri, Jardim or Nagelsmann. If it was Enrique or Carlo there wouldn’t be an issue if it was Arteta it would have been announced cause announcing a coach wouldn’t destabilise… Read more »
Even if Allegri says no, we have Zardim, Sarri, Nagellsman etc. available. Arsenal PR department is at work trying to aggarandize Arteta, projecting him to be the next best thing since sliced bread.
Dissenter No, I would not owe Alexander an apology, because he wouldn’t have been proven right. One, if they were to go with Arteta (in part) because he is relatively inexpensive, they would only be doing so because they are also spending 10m on Wenger next season. If they were to pay Arteta 750k, they’d be spending 10.75m along the manager budgetary line, which is far from “penny-pinching.” If they decide to go with an Arteta, that wouldn’t be “penny-pinching,” it would be holding to a reasonable budget for a manager. Two, for Alexander to be proven right, they’d have… Read more »
Rambo
No, it wouldn’t prove any of that. It would prove only that in a financial year in which they were already spending 10m on the previous manager, they decided to go with a young, relatively inexpensive Guardiola-acolyte.
So, no.
UTarse
Couldn’t agree more. I think an announcement will be made by the end of the month lets give it a couple of weeks and see.
Marko
It’s possible the uncertainty is all deliberate and is because the process is rightly secretive.
However there is a distinct possibility that we are in over our heads. Do not forget we haven’t hired a manager in the last 22 years. Gazidis has zeroing experience at hiring managers; Mislintat wasn’t charged with hiring managers at Dortmund and the Barca president [elected] is the one that hires managers at Barcelona.
We really may be in some chaos
Just to confuse matters on the “penny pinching issue” what happens if we appoint Allegri and only give him £50 million vs appointing Arteta and giving him £150 million?
*zero experience*
Didn’t Sanllehi help to bring in Enrique at Barca? Is hiring a manager really all that complicated? Afraid I’m skeptical of the “they’re in over their heads” thesis.
Dissenter
Always good to see you go positive or it will be if you ever manage to be.
Bamford
So not only does Dissenter have an “in” on what’s going on at Arsenal he’s also intimate with the inner workings of Barca – What I want to know is why we didn’t give him the DOF job?
Bamford
At Barca, the day-to-day decisions are made by the president who is elected for the job. The president calls all the shots, they don’t have all this show.
Smart and nice move of AW to have thanked the away boys!
I should have added: to have done so at the start of the game.
Marko and Bamford
Lets wait and see.
I suspect this is all going to end up with the board going the “Arsenal way”.
Arteta will be appointed come June 1st 2018.
Any streams, please ?
Huddersfield are done partying for now. They will resume after they give Wenger a good departure.
You wouldn’t be able to tell which team has a wage bill of £36.5 million and the players spent two days boozing midweek.
So the final three PL games of Wenger’s 22 year Arsenal career: none of them televised in the UK. It really is just so lame in 2018 that you can be a fan of a major team and the only legitimate way to watch the game is to be one of the couple of thousand with away tickets. Been banging on about this all season. We played Burnley earlier in the year when the winner of the match would go into the top 4; not televised. Wenger’s final home game; not televised. Wenger’s final game; not televised. How long can… Read more »
Arsenal are dropping the famous red shirts with white sleeves for the 2018/19 season as we don’t wear them any more.
Michael
Google ronaldo7.net and the game itself.
Bookmark that website. Massive choice of links once you scroll way down the page for the game.
Elmo
“There’s not even an Acestream of today’s game.”
That’s what fans of minor clubs have been experiencing forever. We are being relegated from the elite right before our very eyes.
Dissenter
Right. I get that. But we still have the large fanbase that represents demand and willingness to pay to watch our games. It’s just strange in 2018 to be scrambling around so often to find a Russian pirated stream because there’s literally no way to legitimately watch a major team play.
Found a decent Acestream.
acestream://2027ac4d9001d99b66389e290a816a5c783b13c4
Elmo
The argument is that if every PL match is available on TV it could hurt attendances at lower division matches.
“The argument is that if every PL match is available on TV it could hurt attendances at lower division matches.”
Yes
It is ion the interest of the broadcasters to show the games that can get them the highest ratings for advertisements.
*in the interest of
Dissenter
Of course but that isn’t why the number of matches has been limited I refer to my previous comment.
22 MINUTES…classy from Huddersfield
….during a freaking game
Found a stream, though it’s not great.
https://www.newgersy.com/2018/04/arsenal-vs-cska-moscow-tv-and-live.html
Huddersfield pressing high; Arsenal struggling to play out of the back, break through the press.
30min into the game and it looks like arsenal is officially mid table team
Such a poor team, it never ceases to amaze me what a crock of shite the former manager has built here
33 minutes in. Starting to break them down, they’re getting a little leggy.
http://www.easysport.tv/games/arsenal-vs-huddersfield/
decent stream if anyone needs one
Bamford
NBC has all the games streaming
Marc Yep, but aren’t we heading towards a situation where maintaining the current situation seems completely backwards in light of expectations with modern technology (everything is on-demand) and changes in working practises (not everyone works a 9-5 Monday to Friday in a factory or pit anymore; people are free at different times and dates and hope to catch their team playing when they have that free time). I do get the blackout on Saturday 3PM to protect attendances in the lower divisions, but surely the PL should be able to stream their official feed to every other match which is… Read more »
Wenger’s legacy on full display here. You won’t be missed
Mertasacker is siting on the bench as a substitute FFS
PEA again.
Even in the UK all games should stream for free on the last day of the season. The games have to be played concurrently.
Whelp, soon as I said that, they walk one into the net. Wenger is half chubbed now
1-0.
Good passing series, Ramsey assist to a sliding Aubameyang for the put-away.
Auba’s anticipation is very good.
Great goal
Lacazettes link up play is superb.
The perfect foil for Auba. I cannot wait until next season with a proper manager.
Booooooooo hopefully Huddersfield can turn this around. That cunt Wenger doesn’t deserve to sign off with a win.
Nice bit of play for the goal. We do OK when we stop the tippy tappy sideways stuff.
aubameyang with the poke
Aubameyang, 10 PL goals in 13 PL games.
45 mins until the dictators regin of terror is finally over.
Steve
Didn’t you get the memo?
Play nice
Auba, Ozil, Mkih, Ramsey…our attacking unit is tailor made for counter-attacking football. I pray we don’t go for a tippi-tappi coach, all these talent would be a waste.
Auba’s been excellent since he’s joined. On 30+ goals for the season. I just can’t wait until the new manager gets his hands on him. The whole Arsene shoehorning players into unnatural positions is frustrating. Auba isn’t a winger he’s more effective centrally and playing WITH natural wingers. Build the attack around him and he’ll flourish next season
Ramsey joint-top for our top chance creationist assister.
Bamford
Do you have MSNBC?
The game is on there.
I know Auba started out as a winger but looking forward to a manager utilising him uptop next season.
Le grove blogger is full of shit
Auba is good
“Ramsey joint-top for our top chance creationist assister.”
He believes the Earth is only 8,000 years old…??
@marco
And then what becomes of Lacca? Surely you don’t have a 50mil player sitting on the bench!
Natural winger___ Auba (Lacca sub)___Natural winger
Who plays the 10 role? Ozil, Ramsey, Mihki, Iwobi and Wilshere
Then you have Xhaka and Elneny as the holding players, absolutely not ..
That midfield is shocking and is a credit to the former manager.
Jasongms
Lacazette may been to be sold
Marko What are you talking about? Auba has arguably had his most potent form playing the wing with Lacazette through the middle. Lacazette does the link up in the middle Giroud style and Lacazette comes off the wings and runs the channels. Then again a dif approach could change this completely. But I’d rather have auba and Laca in the team rather than sacrificing Laca to have both Mikki and Ozil on the field… on current showing and form anyway… this despite Rambo Ramsey whimsical take on things, somehow managing to make sure Ramsey keeps a placed unchallenged… hmm I… Read more »
An attacking line with Auba, Ramsey, Ozil and Mikki just means all the pressure is on Auba to score every game.
Would much rather have Laca replace one of the other three.
Ospina is weak af, gets semi injured every game.
Can’t believe these lot that want to put a 30+ goals a season Worldclass predator out wide. Hopefully the next manager isn’t as thick.
Bonkers the Spud-Leicester game
Ospina is Arsene’s gift to the rest of the league, his generosity never quits not unlike the man himself 😉
Hopefully this is the last we’ll see of Iwobi.
Mikki should make way for either Eddie, or AMN and move iwobi up
‘this despite Rambo Ramsey whimsical take on things, somehow managing to make sure Ramsey keeps a placed unchallenged… hmm I wonder why.’
Or maybe Rambo Ramsey was just listing out players who would excel in a direct attacking style of play. None of Auba, Ozil, Mkh, Ramsey are suited for tippi-tappi
Lol Benitez exacting revenge on Chelsea fans/planks.
Does Ospina have a clause in his contract that he must play dead at least once every match?
Ospina is a very brave goalie
I just read someone diss him because hje tends to get too injured.
The very last 68 minute substitution. Like clockwork till the end.
Chelc really don’t care
Those subs make no sense either
No disrespect to Ospina, but one would have thought it wasn’t the best career move to play in goal when you’re a f’king midget.
Bye fuckin’ bye Iwobi
Iwobi was very good today. Had to be disciplined and play CM because Ramsey clearly wasn’t going to today. Probably too much to ask him to play CM these days
I really hope this is the last time we ever see Iwobi and Welbeck.
I really hope this is the last time we ever see Iwobi and Welbeck.
————————–
Add Bellerin
#WengerOUT for the last time
9 goals scored at Wembley.
Sell Ramsey, Bellerin, Welbeck, Ospina. Loan out holding and maybe Reiss Nelson.
Bring in:
Mahrez
New RB who can cross
DM
Keeper
CB
Tottencunts will be back where they belong next season-7th place.
What are you talking about? Auba has arguably had his most potent form playing the wing with Lacazette through the middle.
Yeah but he scores when he takes it upon himself to go centrally. Fact is he’s better as the CF. Has to be a rotation next season can’t play them together all the time (because then you’re left with Neketiah cause hopefully Welbeck is gone) and cause Aubameyang isn’t a winger he’s a 29 year old striker
Iwobi goes off and we start to create loads of chances.
@Rambo Ramsey
Tottencunts will be back where they belong next season-7th place.
___
You probably said the same thing last season.
So once again, the going rate for 4th place is 2 points from 3 (i.e c. 76 points). Interestingly, Liverpool are finishing this season in 4th with one fewer point than last season.
The new manager has to be worth 13 points over a season to get us back into contention for CL qualification. That’s a lot, but if the away form can be improved to average from terrible, then it’s possible. Get the manager in quickly and get down to work drilling those not going to the WC in how to defend!
“He believes the Earth is only 8,000 years old…??“
Jim I tip my cap, had me creased. 😀
–
Really not sure the fascination with Auba being played “out wide”. We don’t play a rigid 4-4-2, he’s a wide striker who has every freedom to interchange with the the CF and RF.
He’s much better suited out there, because he can’t be marked tight and that few yards of space makes him unplayable in certain situations. He’s got 10 in 13 and people still think he’s being fucked about with, get a grip.