It’s really amusing to read the opinion police out in force when they read something they don’t like. I think the Unai Emery hire is bland, I laid out my reasons if you don’t like them, it’s really not a problem.
Here’s the thing, Emery is going to be far better than Arsene Wenger because anyone would bring improvements to us. I’ve been telling you for years that our ex-coach was dated and past it, so it’ll be really hard for anyone born of this era to not improve on 6th, no real analysis, no pressing system, and a poor grasp of coaching.
What I do find interesting is the lack of interrogation people are giving this signing. I mean, I guess people just want to feel safe knowing we’re going come out of hibernation as a club, which I’ve no doubt we will.
My issue is that Emery feels every inch the panic hire, namely, because he is.
Firstly, the reason no one had his name on their lips is that Arsenal was not interested in him until Emery’s agent took a punt on the job. The Spaniard has been in the consideration loop for about a week.
Mark Gonnella is feeding a narrative to the press that this was a well thought out and all part of a thorough process, but I’m struggling to see how you can claim that when your decision was to hire a manager who can barely muster a word of English.
It’s also being widely reported that Emery is planning on bringing at least 4 of his coaching staff and some analysts who also likely won’t be able to speak the language.
Think of the divide that causes from the off. English speaking players who can’t speak Spanish or French are on the back foot straight away, because all the comms will go through others.
For a man who is famed for his complex ideas and a rigid dedication to extensive video analysis, he certainly has his work cut out trying to educate players in an unfamiliar language. Neymar hated the 12 hours of analysis for every game, imagine how our players will feel having to do that through translators so early on? Also, you can’t take a translator into the dugout.
Carlo Ancelotti was very firm in his book about the importance of being able to speak in the native tongue. It’s an absolute basic of any job in a different culture. It’s also an impressive attribute that says you were focused on working in that country. If Emery was being considered properly, we’d have put the feelers out months ago when it was clear PSG were done with him, so he could start the English lessons.
People fob of the language as a footnote, but you only have to look at the good PR Pep got when he rolled out fluent German when he arrived in Munich. Scolari tanked at Chelsea having not mastered the language, legendary names like Neville and Moyes failed in Spain because they didn’t speeeeka da lingo. Bobby Robson had poor Spanish at Barca, and let Mourinho translate his tactics, rumour has it they used to reimagine the instructions in his own vision with Pep.
Explaining complex systems to players who have never worked in them, in Spanish, is going to be tough. Think back to what it was like being a kid in school learning how to say ‘my dog eats baked goods’ in German. Now imagine having a tactical masterclass explained to you in a foreign language?
Now multiply that challenge through the coaching staff he’s bringing and you can’t quite believe they’re doing this. If there is one unifyer at a club, it should, at the very least, be the language.
Who is vetting his coaching staff and analysts he’s bringing with him? Did we interview all of them in a week? Seems odd that the club went from wanting to own the infrastructure, to simply handing it back to the new manager by letting him replace the coaches we just fired. Also worth mentioning his assistant Carcedo wasn’t liked at PSG, Hatem Ben Arfa was caught shouting,
“You hurt my head. You are shouting too loudly. Let us play. Why do you shout like this?”
Old school journo’s and pundits will lap up that type of carry-on, but is that really the way to deal with players? Who knows. But our players are closer in persona to PSG than Sevilla or Almeria than they are to a tin-pot selling club in Spain. No one has mentioned that he also tanked at Spartak Moscow, getting fired in the dressing room. Did he know the language there? Notable that his main successes have come in La Liga, where he can quickly grasp the culture and express his ideas effectively.
It certainly didn’t work at PSG where they went backwards. The press bluster about this being a masterclass hire, or a coup seem self-aggrandizing.
‘Emery is meticulous’ they tell us, because apparently, he does 12 hours of video analysis before each game (try listening to an hour of a tactical podcast). Here’s the thing, all managers are meticulous at that level. It’s only exciting to Arsenal fans because Wenger wasn’t (despite furious denials when I told people that over the last ten years).
The club would have been prepared under Jardim, who bossed Emery in his first year at PSG with kids.
The club would have been well prepared under Antonio Conte, the so-called serial winner, who not only knows English, he’s won the Premier League.
For me, this signing is about Ivan protecting himself. It could be great, it could be terrible, my guess is it’ll be ok. A bit like Brexit will end up.
Regardless of what I think about the hire, ultimately, we’ll be seeing something very different this season. It sounds like the future is going to be built around Ramsey and Auba. I mean, I don’t know why people find this notion so groundbreaking… but what was interesting about the snippet of info that came from The Sun is it didn’t include Ozil.
We’ll see subs before 70minutes, we’ll see a change of tactics when we’re losing, we’ll see the ball played out of the back, we’ll learn how to press, we’ll be far more competitive, and I suspect we’ll probably win the Europa League in our first season.
Arsenal has hired a manager who, language skills pending (and the ability to adapt to the best league in the world), will be able to stabilise the decline. He’s going to coach players, they’ll learn under him, and they’ll have to work hard to survive. He’s a manager who makes players go to war for him, and I’m telling you, we’ll see a massive improvement in the effort, attitude, and footballing output.
Worst case scenario, the next manager will have a group of players who are far more prepared for the rigors of elite football than they are now. Manager who takeover after LVG usually succeed becasue they’re fiercely disciplined, and just need a bit of love and a warm heart (which is why United should have hired Poch, not Mourinho).
My critique of this whole scenario is really centred around the fact that we could have been more ambitious. This is a low-hanging fruit kind of job for anyone; we were ripe to take a chance on a young coach, and we’d have been even more ripe for an elite coach. We opted for a solid operator, the middle ground, a manager at the back end of the top 10 in Europe. If it goes well, we’ll be top 3. If it goes badly, we’ll have to hire a so-called big name to appease a rabid fan base.
I worry we did what’s best for Ivan’s job security because the move was nowhere near the ‘bold and brave’ he promised. My biggest fear? Ivan Gazidis is the new Arsene Wenger. He’ll just plod the club along, hoover up that fat paycheck, and always create as little risk on a new manager as possible so he can put his hands up and say ‘I tried’ if things go wrong. You don’t make it in this game without taking a risk, either financially, or with personnel. Pep G famously told the Barca hierarchy, ‘you don’t have the cajones to hire me’, and the rest is history. Can’t help but think we blew it with Arteta, and blew it on the experience card. We hired a safe pair of hands when we needed to take a strategically sound risk.
Nice to see that Arteta didn’t lose out after Arsenal shafted him late in the game. The owner of City and Pep called him after the news broke, that’s good leadership and constitutes bold and brave planning for the future. They want him takeover after Pep, that’s the exec team who ran Barca during the good years. I think we’ve made a mistake there, but it is what it is. Not like Arsenal haven’t made a living out of passing-by elite coaching talent over the last 5 years.
In other news, I am very excited about Per Mertesacker looking after the kids. He’s a really smart player, and I can’t get enough of reading about the way he thinks. A modern leader who understands that mental health is important, and understands deeply what it takes to maintain levels in the game. I love his incredulity about players not asking him for advice, bringing in kids who have a curiosity about what it takes to succeed will hopefully inform the recruitment process.
Right, that’s me done. See you in the comments.
1st game of the season is obviously going to be united or city away isn’t it !
Liked Emery’s English – pure scare mongering , acting like he was just going to smile and nod at anything you said to him
Very excited to see what he can do with the team – always thought with the right coaching we would be a completely different team
To just watch Arsenal with a bit of intensity is all am looking forward to at this stage.
I see some running drills coming lol
marc
Lacazette is also a possibility, not saying he’s a bad player but if we’re going to play one up front having a £50 million striker on the bench would be something. If Greizman leaves At Madrid they might have some cash to spend.
we have only 2 strikers in the club. why are we looking to sell our strikers ? welbz is a good third choice. we need to get rid of deadwood like, wilshere, elneny, mustafi, chambers.. basically get rid of players who won’t contribute to the first team..
Gotta give it to Pedro. Once he wants to sell an idea he goes all out.
Jesus. Emery was a panic hire but Arteta wasn’t?
Julian Laurens says Arsenal weren’t rejected by any candidate.
RH How does that reinforce what you were saying? You were lamenting the fact we had Giroud, I was pointing out that we also had Ozil and Sanchez who were two marquee signings while they had a geriatric Berbatov leading the line, not like we were playing a group of worldies. And yes, I would argue that Jardim has accomplished more than Emery has in their respective careers. Depends on how much you value the EL I suppose, have been on record on here as saying that I don’t overly value it, just look at the lack of fuss that… Read more »
I love Elneny. Hope Emery uses him to his strengths and he becomes a proper player for us. Not even joking, he’s not world class but he impresses me greatly almost every time I see him play,
gonsterous
Aubameyang averages 45+ matches a season, I’d prefer that we had a stronger CM even if it meant selling Laca and replacing him with a back-up CF option to Auba.
For the first time in years….im already looking forward to next season….wengers gone and the new boss is already more upbeat….
gonsterous
It’s only a thought but my reasoning is having a £50 million striker on the bench is a hell of a lot of money tied up and that’s without the players view, I very much doubt Lacazette joined to be back up. If we could get the money back on him spend £20 – £30 million on a replacement back up and put the rest towards other areas that need strengthening.
“To just watch Arsenal with a bit of intensity is all am looking forward to at this stage. ”
After all those years under wenger, we have become less demanding… lol
DM
I’ll have some of what you’re having.
Elneny literally does nothing but crab pass and jockey, guy cannot tackle, distance pass, shoot, dribble, intercept,etc.
He’s every bit as poor as Xhaka if not worse.
No doubt Emery will do a thorough assessment of our squad and players’ strengths. It could be that he decides Lacazette and Aubameyang can play together, either with 2 up front (I know people are hesitant to do this but even so) or with one as a winger.
DM
How dare you bring that train on thought on here. Didn’t you know that you have to have world class players even on the bench as back up, in fact you should have at least 3 or 4 who don’t even make the match day squad every week.
WTF Puma has done with this (very) ugly jersey ??
I could get behind selling Lacazette. Put it this way, If we had signed Auba last summer, no-one wouldve been calling for us to also go and sign Lacazette.
I want Auba starting up front, not wide. I just dont think any team can afford to have a £50m player as a back up.
If its a question of whether we have Laca on the bench, or a Martial/Malcom type player in the first team, i would rather the latter.
Highbury -Legend post 10.00.55.
Re Conte not speaking good english when joining
Chelsea.?
Well his English is still pretty rubbish?
He seems to know what he wants to say but it
does not quite come over that way.?
A bit like the the lights are on but there is no one in.?
I am 100% for seeing what the new guy brings
just hope language with him and his backroom team is not a problem.?
Perhaps the Arsenal of the future might be mainly Spanish players.?
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11382477/pep-guardiola-says-unai-emerys-career-speaks-for-itself
Talking about Arteta…
(lol)
Highbury
As I said yesterday they’re obviously getting their revenge for us dumping them.
And a free bonus…
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12087/11382599/new-arsenal-manager-unai-emery-can-bring-stability-and-a-new-voice-says-guillem-balague
Now there’s a surprise.
He’s conducted his first presser in ENGLISH!!
Please note Pedro.
Said all the right things, but I thought this stood out:
‘I can promise you that we will work hard, we will work together, we will work with emotion and be demanding.’
That last word…..
PEDRO the news conference should have brought you down to the earth. Please accept the fact that you got it wrong, and now go with the flow. This new management set up is the way of the future.
WengerEagle There seems to be this accepted view on Elneny, but I really wonder if people are paying attention to what he does when they say this stuff. One of my mates was the same, never rated Elneny at all, and since he told me that I’ve been whatsapping him every game Elneny has played and pointing out his crucial passes, blocks, etc., and he now accepts that he actually does a very decent job and always puts in a shift. Like I said, he’s not world class, but he’s a very useful squad player to have and, with some… Read more »
Wenger eagle
auba may average 45+ games, so we shouldn’t have any competition ? remind you of a certain bellerin ??
lol Marc, seems that they really don’t care at all anymore.
DM
How much of his movement has been either encouragement to do so or lack of instructions not to?
people complain about not having quality on the bench and then they complain of having too expensive a quality on the bench ? there is no pleasing some people.
our attack is fine. may be bring in a youngster to play the league cup games, keeping auba and laca fit for the EPL and the EL. we need to sort the defense asap, and I’m sure Emery would agree with me in his broken English…
DM
Sorry just not seeing it, he’s never really impressed me watching him barring a few EL performances against European minnows and that one match at the Nou Camp in 2014/15 where Barcelona had already beaten us and were playing in 2nd gear.
Every good player has tanglible qualities, not just abstract qualities like ‘movement’ or ‘intelligence’ which is what Elneny fans hold up as his overiding qualities.
gonsterous
We’re not Man City, we cannot afford to have a £50 million player sitting on the bench and as gambon points out, do we really want Aubameyang to play wide?
@ Wenger eagle “I just think that Jardim has bettered Emery’s domestic and CL outings.” AF Madiera cup in Portugal The secunda ligue title in Portugal Super league and Greek Football cup LIgue 1 Ligue 1 manager of the season Is there something about Leornado Jardim i am missing? And your slight against Emery’s Three straight Europa league title and European coach of the year award is laughable to say the least You like Jardim , there is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t go over the top with it. Let’s wait and see what Jardim’s next career move will… Read more »
elneny does bring stability to our midfield. he doesn’t lose the ball easily but he doesn’t do much for our attack, he’s just a DM and if we play to his strength we need someone like santi next to him…
Mohamed Elneny does absolutely nothing, certainly nothing that Maitland-Niles couldnt easily do.
As for DMs idea of ‘crucial blocks’ – in 870 mins of PL football last season he didnt once block the ball.
WengerEagle
I think Elneny is a good passer of the ball, and has good positional awareness. If he’s coached better defensively, he’d be a strong defensive-minded midfielder. Would like to see him improving and pushing for a starting spot next season.
A defensive midfielder that averages less than one tackle/one interception a match.
Wenger eagle
we can afford to have one 50 m player on the bench. a player that can start games if need be. I’m not asking for a star studded bench. but in terms of attack, we need a fox in the box who won’t let us down when he comes on. the problem we had with wenger was when we were 0-0 and looked to the bench, there was no one we could rely on to come on and make the difference…
Hey Pedro, thought he couldn’t speak English!
Not far off Klopp when he landed, possibly better than Poch.
What’s with the last minute thing Pedro? Interviewed on May 10th and unanimously recommended to the board on the 15th…
Man got the job on merit, preparation, and his vision for the club.
Ave it lad, suck it up!
RH
I wasn’t slighting it, I said that it was very impressive, it’s not a competition that we’re going to overly interested in winning if we want to be up there with Pep/Citeh, Jose/United, Poch/Spurs or Klopp/Liverpool though is it?
Jardim’s achieved more with his league success in France over a better squad in PSG and their CL run to the SF, something we haven’t managed in close to a decade.
“I’d sell him to brighton for £2”
With no “Thank you ” card attached? Really?
DM
He’s a good passer of the ball in the way that Arteta was a good passer of the ball.
We need a top notch passer of the ball if we want to compete with the big boys and Elneny’s range doesn’t extend beyond 10-15 yards, also crap with his left foot.
gonsterous
In an ideal world it would be great to have Laca as an option to come off the bench or play at times with Auba, but if we really do only have £50 million to spend and someone were to offer us that for Lacazette it would be difficult to turn down, given how atrocious our CM and defence is.
WengerEagle
I’m not suggesting he’s the man that’s gonna transform our club. Of course we need additions and we also need to see the existing players – Ramsey, Xhaka (!!), etc., – improve. I’m just saying I rate him, and I’d be interested to see how much more we can get out of him now that there’s a proper coach around. I liked his performances towards the end of last season. I really think he’ll surprise a few people next year, if he’s given a chance.
Sell Lacazette? Stop. Please.
Him and auba play very well together.
DM
Fair enough I just don’t see the potential, not even a Meyer fan but if he’s available for free clearing out Xhaka and Elneny for him and a marquee midfield signing makes sense.
Seri in? Xhaka out? Is he equal to the hype? Or is it more style over substance?
With no “Thank you ” card attached? Really?
Its called a joke Azed and no I dont rate Welbeck
“Talking about Arteta…”
Highbury
Did Emery pick cones for Pep or slice oranges at half time for Pep? You can be classed as a top manager this days if you haven’t done that.
gonsterous
Not complaining about having quality on the bench my original point was if we need to raise extra funds to improve the squad which players carry value or who are in areas of the squad that can be tweaked.
Based on that press conference, his English is MUCH better than we’d been led to believe. Already it’s functional, and with 3 months of full immersion he should be not far off fluency by the start of the season. Interesting to note that he said he travelled to Atlanta for meetings with both Stan and Josh Kroenke. Obviously it’s a relatively short trans-Atlantic hop, but it seems coherent that he was interviewed by the club on the 10th and was offered the job on the 18th, as has been suggested elsewhere, and he flew to the US and back at… Read more »
That Serri loves a back heel watching on youtube videos. He also likes that forward killer pass. But that must be well easy in that league.
“Sell Lacazette? Stop. Please.Him and auba play very well together.”
Only in Wengers horribly balanced, lets play all my favourites in the same team system.
I would much rather have Auba at CF than wide, and much rather have a proper wide player playing wide than Lacazette.
If we can afford to keep Lacazette AND buy someone like Martial/Malcom then fine, if we cant then i’d rather someone like Malcom than someone like Lacazette.
“Its called a joke Azed and no I dont rate Welbeck”
Samesong I know it was a joke. I meant you were going to take the money from Brighton without a card.
As I wrote yesterday Arsenal are more than capable of spending £100 million in this transfer window if required. Over past two years I have stated that Arsenal have had between £50-60 million to spend covered by our sponsorship with Emirates and Puma. That figure was covered with purchase of Lacazette in June. Since then we have received approximately £108 million on sales and made two purchases of just under £60 million on Aubameyang and Mavropanos. So even allowing for agents fees we have still got some unused budget in current financial year. When you analyse Arsenal’s annual net spending… Read more »
I wonder how the players are feeling. Any comments from the squad on Twitter?
It’ll be interesting to see if Ramsey extends and to see if players like Bellerin improve.
okay, we sell laca and start the PL with just auba and welbeck as our strikers ? that’s just being stupid. we want to buy a new striker. sure, sell one and get a second rate one. wenger eagle is wenger 2.0
Azed sorry my bad!
Some of the people on here not only don’t have a sense of humour but can’t even understand that others might.
Emirates
Was you impressed with Emery English. You’ve always made a thing about the manager having good english?
Leedsgunner
It is suggested that Emery wants to keep Ramsey. If that is the case then I am
sure that the club will make an offer to the player.
What will be more interesting is whether Wilshere will be staying. Somehow
I don’t think that the club plan to increase their offer to him.
we should not be giving Jack a contract.we should be looking for a replacement that doesn’t spend so much time in the physio room. also I don’t know who else we have in the squad cause wenger never used anyone outside his fav 15…
Samesong
English is adequate. Clearly better than has been suggested.
As I wrote both yesterday and today I know absolutely nothing about Emery
as I have not followed either PSG and Seville.
My concern was on basis of what others have said and posted.
Gambon,
There are other more pressing areas of urgent surgery needed ahead of whether auba plays wide (where it seems he enjoys the space and uses his pace more) with laca central…. the lack of balance is more evident in midfield which you have repeatedly pointed out. Auba/laca upfront isn’t broken whereas ozil/ Ramsey / xhaka is….
Some of the people on here not only don’t have a sense of humour but can’t even understand that others might.
Marc if you are addressing me which it looks like I misunderstood his comment that doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humour does it? for flips sake. If you aren’t addressing me then I will take that back.
Elneny is utterly hopeless at the top level. Sell. Lacazette is not a £50m player. It was a desperate signing. I will never believe that any other club would have paid more than £35m for him. We are also overpaying him and we would be better off selling him if we can replace him properly. Money aside, There is nothing wrong with him as a squad striker. He is the level of striker that a club like Arsenal should have on the bench. To me he is an identical level of player to Giroud. A different type of player and… Read more »
Emirates
My concern was on basis of what others have said and posted.
Fair enough
Aubameyang, since he moved into a central role, has averaged almost one goal per game.
To play him wide, especially at 29, as one of the worlds best CFs would be complete and utter madness.
We may as well sign Koulibaly and play him at right back.
With Colin Lewin and Wenger now out of the picture, I really really hope we can get to the bottom of our injury problems.
Sure bad luck and injuries happen everywhere but for some reason or another we always seemed to be hit for longer and more severely.
Has Wilshere signed his extension? If he hasn’t I wish him well, if he has I can’t wait to see what the new coach can do. He seems to be excellent in developing players… and to help them. Jack isn’t a kid anymore he needs to stop making excuses for himself.
Leeds, Colin Lewin deals with the injuries, he doesn’t prevent them
Does anyone know of Bould is out the door? Is Emery bringing in a whole new crew?
” I will never believe that any other club would have paid more than £35m for him. ”
Atletico madrid and Simeone will beg to differ
“We are also overpaying him and we would be better off selling him if we can replace him properly. ”
Sell him to replace him properly??? Now that’s a weird one, its either u need two good strikers or you don’t ..make up your mind already.
qna
Lacazette did struggle in first half of season, but anyone who has watched him recently will see an intelligent, hard working and very decent finisher.
I think that the combination of Aubameyang and Lacazette will score a lot of goals next season.
Arsenal’s problems are not goalscoring, but our defending. We leaked like a
sieve. That needs to be resolved.
Having that plan B will make a difference.
No more 67 minute subs. Well maybe sometimes.
Samesong
✌️
“Arsenal’s problems are not goalscoring, but our defending. We leaked like a sieve. That needs to be resolved.” We conceded 24 more goals than the champions……and scored 32 less. I would say our issues are at both ends of the pitch. I would say we need a top attacker, a top midfielder and a few top defenders (including a GK). There were way too many games where we completely struggled to get going offensively. Dont let a few hammerings fool you, we were not a good attacking unit last season. Take away the 19 we scored against Everton (x2), Burnley… Read more »
qna,
“Lacazette is not a £50m player. It was a desperate signing. I will never believe that any other club would have paid more than £35m for him”
Atletico were ready to pay more for him but for their transfer ban.
He’s easily worth 50 million. His record speaks for itself.
We need some of dem naturaaal wingers y all.
I would say Mahrez buh it ain’t 2016 no more
Lacazette is a class player and we should give him a season under this new manager before we deem him surplus. Welbeck, although clearly a hard worker, is clearly surplus, we need to get rid of him before we unload Lacazette. Other players like Campbell and Asano need to go too. Being the Europa League specialist I wonder if Emery will play first teamers a lot earlier in the competition than Wenger did. I wouldn’t be surprised if Emery restores Perez back into the fold. to add more firepower in the Europa League I’ve felt he wasn’t given a fair… Read more »
Gambon
We scored more goals than Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea.Please don’t compare
us with Man City, because their goalscoring this season was exceptional. I
don’t think that any team got close to their figures since the Premier League was established.
You should also factor in that Aubameyang and Lacazette played very few games together.
The real concern was our brittle defence and capitulation in far too many away games and the large number of silly mistakes made in midfield and
defence.
As Guns of Brixton says, we desperately need natural wide players.
We have Ozil who plays #10
We have Mykhitaryan who drifts inside to the #10 position
We have Iwobi who drifts inside to the #10 position
We have Ramsey who drifts forward to the #10 position
I think we need at least one, if not two natural wide players. We will have to sacrifice a few players to achieve more balance.
For posters who say Laca should be sold or benched because they don’t want Auba playing wide – have you seen Auba playing wide in the Prem last season.? The dude was being out muscled by defenders. Auba is simply not physically enough to lead the line on his own in the Prem. But with Laca in the side and him playing wide, he was stretching defences and still making his goalscoring numbers.
IMHO they should both play as Laca is crucial to the press/hold-up play and Auba will stretch and score
*playing central
Emirates. Lacazette has been exactly what I predicted. As I said from the beginning he is a good squad level striker. He will never ever be the main man to lead a team to a premier league. And that’s what we have always needed. Wenger or no Wenger you need at least a top level striker to win the league. My comment was actually a compliment. I pretty much want to clear out everyone on our squad, yet I would keep Lacazette for the bench. I predicted he would be at this level from the beginning too. I actually think… Read more »
I would say, sell like for like, you want a midfield, sell xhaka, el neny and Wilshire, buy in your proper replacement. want a third choice striker ? sell welbeck, promote a kid or get another.. want a defence, get rid of mustafi, chambers and debuchy (is he still here ?)
Dissenter that is media and agent bullshit to push up the price. If Athletico wanted him for 50m they can pay us 60m out of the Griezemann money. They won’t even offer the 50m that was being mentioned.
priority for this window in the following order :
1. central defence
2. wide players
3. cover for our defence
4. GK
5. strikers
I hear B. Leverkeusen is looking for strong central midfielders. Why don’t we offer Xhaka + cash for Leon Bailey?
I have confidence that Ainsley Maitland Niles could become a regular… and take Xhaka’s spot.
First team needs:
GK, CB, CM, LF/RF.
Bench: CF, CM, RB.
Big ask with only £50 million to spend, going to need to pick up some decent fees for players.
I would say a new GK is the major priority surely.
Didnt Cech make the most errors of any player in Europe last season?
Wenger eagle
we have more than 50m to spend.. people love to believe the negative press…
Would definitely sell Ozil, don’t see why you would need him when we have Mkhitaryan and Ramsey.
With Emery talking about intense pressing, Im not sure if I can see Xhaka & Wilshere being involved.
Xhaka covers a huge amount of ground, but very slowly. Wilshere is just a broken player.
Big question mark over Ozil as well. Lazy fucker would probably rather pick up £50k pw at Besiktas than work hard for £300k pw at Arsenal.
Yeah Cech is hopeless. As is Ospina.
Big mistake binning Shezzer.
Your CommentSeen press con on Sky,talks better English than led to believe.
priority for this window in the following order :1. central defence
2. wide players
3. cover for our defence
4. GK
5. strikers
I would disagree
priority would be
1 established DM and 1 up and coming DM
1 CB who is a leader
1 younger wide player with potential
1 GK
we need to sort out how we are going to be playing and get in the right players ready for august – assuming 4-2-3-1 – that Emery likes
after that we can bring in others as cover n replace the rest of the crap
Gambon Arsenal scored this season 74 goals despite all the disruption and the poor form of Sanchez. For interest Man Utd won their last 4 league titles under Fergie scoring 2006/7 83 goals 2007/8 80 goals 2008/9 68 goals 2010/11 78 goals We know that Arsenal are not good enough to win titles, but our goalscoring performance and potential is certainly good enough to get us in top four. However, not if we are losing matches the way we have done this season and conceding the number of goals we did. The priority of new Head Coach must be to… Read more »
Pedro
You do seem to be condemning Emery already which is the very thing that you were urging everyone not to do when Arteta was nailed on . I think that you will find that Emery will have a pretty decent command of English come mid July the Spanish earn English a lot quicker that vice versa, as the current Spanish PL players and coaches demonstrate.
I would do a direct swap Lacazette for Dembele
Barca take Griezemann and Athletico get Lacazette and some cash from Barca
“I would do a direct swap Lacazette for DembeleBarca take Griezemann and Athletico get Lacazette and some cash from Barca”
Back with your computer game scenarios i see
I would do a direct swap…….LOL…yea it all depends on what u would do
No chance Barca would accept that haha, didn’t Dembele cost more than twice the amount Lacazette went for last summer?
Lacazette is only worth 35m in your own words and is overpaid yet you will do a direct swap for him with a player that cost Barca 90m pounds last summer.
Lacazette is not good enough for Arsenal in your own words he is just a short Giroud, yet Athletico will part with Greizmann and cash to get him from Barca
You are all over the place QNA
WE. Yeah but it’s the Catalan media machine that are generating all of the Dembele to Arsenal stories. That scenario only works if Barca are looking to cut their losses on him. They bring in Griezemann and there is no place for Dembele. When I say direct swap, I obviously mean we don’t have a net cost on two seperate deals. Say we agree £55m for Laca to Athletico but only if we can buy Dembele for £55m. There is no way Barca are going to get more than that for him now. His value is probably much lower than… Read more »
Priorities?
1. CBs, at least 2 commanding centre backs.
2. GK. No use upgrading your CBs if you don’t upgrade your GK. For too long we’ve been too pick and mix with our defence and goalkeepers. As a team we need to learn to defend as a coherent unit.
3. A DM or two to shield the back four and to break up attacks. We haven’t had a genuine DM like this since G. Silva.
4. Wingers
It would be interesting to see if Emery makes more use of our outstanding youths like Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.