Lunatic
So here we are, preseason is done, next week we take on the champions as we kick off the new era of Unai Emery. I’m excited, you are excited, we’re all f**king excited.
There’s pause for concern. I think the reality of the new regime is you don’t quickly fix a house that’s been left neglected in woods for 14 years. There are so many agenda items the new backroom team need to address in a short period of time just to bring us to elite parity from a setup perspective. The dream that we’ll be chasing down Manchester City in season one are fanciful, if we’re totally honest, 5th is probably a fair expectation of where we’ll finish, 4th would be the stretch target.
Is that a negative way to look at things? Absolutely not. We have to be realistic. If it took Pep G a year to bed in his ideas, with a team that had won the league 3 seasons before he took over, you can imagine how hard it’s going to be to embed ideas into players who have no success anywhere near the bloodstream in over a decade. The closest most of them have come to a league title is watching 89 on Netflix. Even players like Ozil who had some success at Madrid were there when Mourinho was relevant.
Emery is having to teach a lot of the players how to exist in 2018. You can see that in the way we’re playing at the moment. Yesterday’s Lazio game was a comfortable win, but the Italians just aren’t in the same league as City and we simply won’t be given time or space like that over the next three months.
It’s fascinating to work out what the fuck Emery is going to do. Someone mentioned to me they were concerned that we hadn’t found a system yet. I’m not fussed about that, the best teams in Europe can dance between multiple ideas. Part of the new era of football is being tactically fluid, having players that are actually intelligent enough to change the way they play after 15minutes. Think American football playbooks in the Premier League.
We jumped between 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and what looked like 4-2-2-2 at one point yesterday. I absolutely love seeing us trying new things. My worry isn’t about the system, it’s knowing how to play it. We’re looking very sophisticated at the back at the moment, Calum Chambers and the players we’ve switched in are very comfortable moving the ball around. It’s quite incredible how much width and space we generate simply by having a keeper who is comfortable with the ball at his feet. Arsenal is opting for a slow, methodical approach to moving the ball out of the back. It’s a system of patience, maybe a little too patient at times. It’s certainly not the blitzkrieg style of Klopp, or the electric directness of Pep G.
I think the challenge we’ve had is transitioning the ball from midfield to attack. I don’t know if it’s just a tough adjustment, a lack of experience, or just preseason jitters… but there’s a lot of heavy touches and a bit of panic moving the ball forward. When it works, it’s great, when it doesn’t, there seem to be calamitous effects.
The positive for this season is I struggle to see past a Torreira and Guendouzi being the two midfielders at the base. Their movement, passing variety and mobility is going to put them in prime position to relegate Xhaka and Elneney to the bench. The difference those two are going to make this season could be immeasurable. Again, the big issue is there’s a whole team trying to learn on the job, and our two best deep-lying midfielders are new to the league.
Still, what a potential pairing, eh? Guendouzi makes some dumb decisions on the pitch, but he’ll stump that out and no doubt be a force by the end of the season. He’s so confident on the ball, demanding touches at all time. I also like that he’s an aggressor. Torreira had a solid game, tough to read too much into his performance, but I feel he’s likely going to be one of the shrewdest buys of the summer.
Our back 4 are going to cause us issues this season. We still lack quality. Lichtsteiner is an immense competitor, you just feel he’s 3 years too late to be a monster in our starting 11. That said, he was a beast all game. No one fucks with him. He’s dark arts shrewd. He looks fit. That ball he played to Lacazette was the next level Wenger was talking about.
Sokratis looks very slow. Mustafi just isn’t good enough. Jury is out on Mavrapanos and Holding. I love the idea of Vida, because he looks the sort of guy who’d cut your throat for talking too loud at a Tesco Express, but he’s 29 years old heading over from Besiktas. That move reeks of World Cup excitement. We need whoever the next Umtiti is coming in. Not sure we have the wedge to make that happen.
Our real strength this season is going to come from Auba and Lacazette. You can mop up a lot of mess having two deadly attackers there to finish off anyone’s long ball. It’s probably not a bad thing that they have a bit of a bromance going.
Overall, I’m very comfortable about next week. There’s only so much you can do in a summer, and if you count the revolution starting from January, it’s been a beast of a ride. I think the key for fans here is expectations. We have to go with the flow. You’ll have to ignore the bitter Wengerites who will jump on any loss as ‘UNACCEPTABLE IF THIS WERE WENGER’ because it’s irrelevant.
Everything that happens now is something new. If Emery wins an FA Cup, it will be bigger than Wenger’s. If he wins a league cup and takes it seriously, it’ll be more important than Wenger’s FA Cup. If he wins the Europa League, we’ll all celebrate it like it’s a World Cup, because it’s more important.
Everything positive that happened in the last 5 years was diminished when placed against the bigger picture of progress. That’s not me being miserable, that’s just giving you real talk. As we patted ourselves on the back for FA Cup wins, we slowly slipped out of the Champions League, we lost our identity, we shipped our best players, we became the go-to for meekness when describing a team. As we ignored jobless elite managers, dishing out a new deal to ‘the best in Europe’, inferior clubs built out exciting squads and rose from nothing to Champions League finalists.
Moving forward, everything that happens is a building block to something better. Even if things go to shit this season, at the very worst, we’ll have a club with upgraded thinking and players ready to move to the next level with a better manager.
Arsenal is making moves, whatever happens.
Enjoy the ride, keep the faith, and let’s have some good times this season.
Jim
Inflate to make it easier to sell.
Didn’t work for jenkinson who would not move to palace cos they wouldn’t pay his arsenal wage.
An he supports the club.,,,,!
I do think some of the contract renewals are strange but we do need a squad, not just a first 11 and we are doing that on a restricted budget compared to some teams.
We also need a certain amount of home grown players which wellbeck, Iwobi, holding etc contribute to.
Wouldn’t have renewed xhaka or elneney but at least they can be used in the league cup and Europa.
Cesc
Agree some people expectations on who we should bring in on a £70 million budget was crazy. Someone the other day was saying we need another CM and a winger – OK so that’s what? another £50 odd million.
The other thing with the centre of defence is we needed a personality / leader in there. I do not believe with Sven’s personal knowledge of the player he would have recommended him if there isn’t more to it than just pace.
Stroller
Accepted.
Think xhara will take on a fair bit of responsibility this season.. he may relish the opportunity to show his real self.
Agree we all need to be unified
Whatever happens this season let’s enjoy the different ride.
I enjoyed the game last night…
I point out to you again that neither myself nor anyone here was responsible for him spending 22 years here. Eh okay…I know that… very good. But yeah Emery should get 80 points and a win against City and any mere mention of Wenger and what he done shouldn’t be brought up. I mean it’s easy to see what you’re doing. All the traits of a certain type of Arsenal fan. You’ll be shocking no one if after a few defeats to be wondering out loud how things might have been had we appointed Arteta instead or given Wenger his… Read more »
David Smith You’re right to point out that arsenal are at a watershed . Once a club falls out of the top four it’s very difficult to get back in. Liverpool is a case in point. However, there are factors which may give arsenal a very good chance of top four. Spurs may struggle in their new stadium, on and off the field. I’ll be interested to see how they deal with the move. Chelsea are difficult to assess . They still have a good squad but the mega spending seems to have stopped and they’ve shown a lot of… Read more »
Emirates,
I’m quite willing to let emery assess the squad, all except Xhaka, he’s just a slow arsed dog that can’t tackle.
Even pep wouldn’t be able to change that.
Up4Grabs “Xhaka is a joke and was like playing with ten men every game he played, hopefully emery has sussed him out already.” Have to have a little comment regarding the bits of consternation on twitter regarding Xjaka having a word with Nelson after he scored his goal. We had comments like it’s great to see Xjaka pointing out to Nelson an earlier bit of play he wasn’t happy with. Fair enough Xjaka was captain for the day but it was for the cameras his little lecture to Nelson. And what makes it embarrassing is that Xjaka as usual got… Read more »
@R.S.P.C “Didn’t work for jenkinson who would not move to palace cos they wouldn’t pay his arsenal wage.” Carl Jenkinson is the living embodiment of everything that is wrong with footballers. No ambition, no love for the game, all that matters is sitting back on watching those cheques come in. He was handed a second chance by Palace to prove himself and he turned his back on the opportunity in pursuit of another year on a fat wage packet. He is so short sighted, sure he gets nicely paid for the next year or two, but what PL will touch… Read more »
Not sure Martial will be happy to play second fiddle to Kane,will spurs change systems to accommodate such a massive signing?
@Up 4 grabs now –
“We also need a certain amount of home grown players which wellbeck, Iwobi, holding etc contribute to.”
But we have those, Smith-Rowe, Nelson. Players on far less wages with far higher potential. Wasting 140k a week on Iwobi and Welbeck is madness!
We had comments like it’s great to see Xjaka pointing out to Nelson an earlier bit of play he wasn’t happy with
Perhaps the most ironic thing a person will read all week. If someone was to lecture him on his mistakes Xhaka would be going through 4 years of college crammed into a 38 game season every single season.
You are a very boring dude Marko not to mention miserable. What brought Arteta into this? You and your knowing type nonsense every time someone speaks…abeg shift let me talk to more reasonable people.
I expect 75-80 points to mark improvement deal with that or stay off my mentions. You are boring.
alexanderhenry
It wasn’t just 3rd season at Chelsea with Mourinho. It was Chelsea (first time as well), Real Madrid and Inter Milan. The only major difference with Utd is that he hasn’t won the league with them.
Can’t see him still being ManU manager on Jan 1st.
Seems i heard that Mr Wenger is sniffing at a job in Japan. I thought our Milan-bound guy said Wenger was the best in Europe!
For like ten years we had a manager whose other alternatives in those years was a job in Japan.
Tell them at untold!
Jim
Welbeck has not been given a new contract and according to reports has been told he can leave.
Just seeing that we cannot get rid of our dead woods because they don’t want to accept a paid cut…it shows how much damages Wenger did to the club. He overpaid player who are not good enough. He could not improve the quality of his players. He also kept defending that keeping Sanchez for the last year was a good idea. He talked shits to fool all the fans. I can see that we need at least two seasons to clean up this mess.
@Marc –
“Welbeck has not been given a new contract and according to reports has been told he can leave.”
Hopefully so
Am I the only one who thinks Chambers had several very, very decent games ?
We finished on 63 points in the worst season over two decades. Surely with the additions and the much celebrated attention to tactics a 12 point improvement is not asking too much
No one is demanding a league title or top two finish.
Ishola, Yeah definitely agree, xhaka put on a good show for the cameras, but you could see the same problems from last season were still there. Jim,the youngsters, there good players, but are they experienced enough to win Europa league games, or progress in the league cup against a strong side? Can they come in and play 10-12 games if we have an injury crisis? They looked good in preseason but when the real action starts I’m not so sure. I would get rid of wellbeck, Iwobi could be improved by emery. If he can’t he can be moved on,… Read more »
Cesc
One other thing re Alderweireld / Martial. One of the journo’s on Sunday Supplement made a good point – Mourinho has a bit of a habit of writing off young attacking talent that he doesn’t fancy who then go on to be top quality players. ManU with all the tensions going on must be worried about a) strengthening a top 4 rival with a player b) that player turns into the next De Bruyne or Salah.
Utd are still being linked with Maguire as well.
Thankfully it looks like our home grown quota will be filled by up and coming promise, Eddie, Smith Rowe etc so the need to keep Welbeck diminishes. I’ve defended him when I’ve felt his commitment and industry deserved praise but a striker who’s not a good finisher…not good enough.
Jim Would actually keep Welbeck. He is useful in difficult away matches. If Lacazette is not available, he’ll help open up space for Aubameyang. For all his gifts, the ball does not stick with Auba like a Giroud. He doesn’t have the ability to fashion a chance out of nothing like an RVP or Henry. He’s similar to Alexis in that aspect. Remember that Sanchez never had a good game at likes of Anfield, Stamford Bridge for us. Limited chances and difficult to find space as a striker. Welbeck has. Being a low touch player, Welbz/Lacazette are good foils for… Read more »
Top post, Pedro.
Georgi,
I think chambers has improved and the loan at Boro a few years back has helped him.
Given an experienced partner alongside him rather than bag of nerves mustafi, he may surprise a few people.
Receding you say something or make a statement on an open forum on the internet and people are going to comment on it if you didn’t want someone to comment on it keep it in your head. You say something stupid like we should beat City opening game of the season and Emery should be targeting 80 points minimum (now it’s 75-80 because you’ve been challenged) and someone’s going to call you up on it because it’s clear as day what you are doing. High expectations of a new manager in a tough job with a poor squad and when… Read more »
Surely with the additions and the much celebrated attention to tactics a 12 point improvement is not asking too much
You said minimum 80 points and should be beating Man City. Those were your words. You were challenged and are moving the goal posts. How about we just see what happens I mean it’s all very much a work in progress
Do we have enough pace in our CB options? One slower player with good awareness is ok but there has to be pace to compliment. Mustafi has pace but is impetuous, who else is quick?
Do we think Stavros has the necessary physicality but of course is inexperienced?
I hope Emery has a plan!
Receding
I’ve been saying picking up another twelve points against the teams we lost to in away matches last season is not beyond the realms of possibility. Last season we lost to:
Bournemouth
Brighton
Leicester
Newcastle
Stoke
Swansea
Watford
We also drew with
West Brom
West Ham
Southampton
Bearing in mind we had horrible records against 2 of the relegated teams anyway, if you put that list of fixtures up for us substituting Wolves, Fulham and Cardiff for Stoke, Swansea and West Brom I can’t believe any one would seriously expect us to only pick up 3 points.
Receding,
You’re either on cloud cuckoo land or utterly clueless if you “expect” a new manager to get this club to 80 points based on our current playing staff and financial state. I would expect 70 points and say anything above that is exceeding expectations. I can see what you’re doing in your comments tho…. you demonstrate sympathiser traits….. the “careful what you wish for” brigade.
At the end of the day, it comes down to personnel. There is only so much that a manager can do. That applied even under the arrogant you-know-who regime. When the team had a Cesc, an RVP, a Sanchez, there was still a chance of winning the PL title. A good manager gets the best out of his players. Tactics and style of play are a big part of that. But how much can a manager achieve without match-winners? Man C have several in that category, so too do Liverpool, Chelsea have fewer perhaps. and Spurs less. Does Emery have… Read more »
Marc…just by being better organised and having a recognised DM in Torreira, we must be 10-15 goals better off in the against column. This coupled with Mkhi, PEA and Laca in their second season with us and an Ozil with everything to prove, surely that equates to 10pts better off.
(Not to mention tactical flexibility, pragmatism when it comes to preparing for opponents and who knows maybe be even proactive substitutions)
If you didn’t have reading issues Marko you would have noticed my very first post on the subject was 75-80 and I added I would have said 80 but that is wanting too much. But of course like the punk u are u picked up the 80 and ran with it.
You are a boring miserable dude so I will just ignore you.
UTarse your name says it all.
Anyway you should read Marc’s post above to see why 75 points is not high ambition.
I assume you can read better than Marko.
I’ve been saying picking up another twelve points against the teams we lost to in away matches last season is not beyond the realms of possibility
Yeah but it’s not probably that we’ll keep the same positive results from last season I mean it’s not just a case of sorting out the 12 points we shouldn’t have dropped away from last season. It doesn’t work like that
By the way arse if you wanna call someone an AKB just man up and say it. Stop with the sympathizer traits nonsense
Bob N16
Remember that we won 15 at home with two draws last year. Very difficult to match that. Lots of room for improvement away from home. But, but we need to be direct away from home. A new wide player would be very useful for tough trips. There have too many matches over the last 18 months where we have scored less than two goals.
We averaged a goal a game away from the Emirates last season
If you didn’t have reading issues Marko
I would even say a minimum of 80 but I have already been accused of wanting too much too soon
Minimum. 80. Points. Your words. Do you have writing issues perhaps Receding
Ha ! Is that your intelligent response to a disagreement ? “Your name says it all”. Bless.
Haven’t you heard receding ? AKB is dead, gone forever with the senile fraud who instigated it.
Carry on as you were.
By the way arse if you wanna call someone an AKB just man up and say it. Stop with the sympathizer traits nonsense
Never really liked saying that term but I’ll continue to call you a certain type of Arsenal fan. Since Arsene has been sacked it’s a bit broader now. Not just super fans who criticise other fans and not just be careful what you wish for types a certain type encompasses a whole range now not just Arsene knows Best
Dream10…You’re right to mention our exceptional home record. Unlikely that we will get quite as many points at home but our away record was so shocking that tightening up our defence and playing with a coherent, match-by-match tailored plan gives the ‘realistic,optimists’ (is that a contradiction?) among us, reasons to aim high.
Enough points to finish fourth and real direction….realistic I would reckon.
Emery has a reputation of analysing his opponent and set up his team accordingly. I am looking forward to this game against MC. I prefer his plays a 4-3-3 instead of a 4-2-3-1. We’ll need two holding midfielders to help out the defense.
If city beat us, and I expect they will, does this team have the bollocks to come back and deal with Chelsea? Our start is terrible, especially for such a mentally weak team as ourselves. It is imperative we do not lose in the first three games. To drop 6 points against the top four could, even at this stage be us for another season. I know everyone says “oh but we’ll definitely pick up more points away than last season”. This, we do not know for sure. Sixth for sure…luck and maybe fifth…total meltdown at the top and possibly… Read more »
Aren’t we lowering the bar way too much for Emery, if we say that 75 points is wishful thinking.
We still have the fourth highest wage bill, don’t we?
We still have to of the top 20 strikers on the continent, don’t we?
We still have so every good players.
Receding wasn’t asking for too much.
If we get a season where city do not run up points, then 75 points could very well be enough for 4th/5th place finish.
****We still have two of the top 20 strikers on the continent, don’t we?****
@Receding
I point out to you again that neither myself nor anyone here was responsible for him spending 22 years here.
___
Akbs cramming into the stadium singing “there’s only one Arsene Wenger” certainly didn’t help get rid of him.
The whole point though is that our wage bill is not indicative of the talent we have, that has been the point for years this stupid socialist wage policy.
Do you think Mustafi looks a £90 000 a week player, or Kolasinac a £120 000 a week player, or Perez a £80 000 a week player?
The club is actually in a shit state and will take a number of years to put right.
We’ll have a lot of high scoring wins and sadly high scoring losses.
I don’t think we’ll have right controlled games this season, it’s going to take Thor Emery’s ideas to bed in properly.
We’ll be haphazard too often but maybe more fun to watch for neutrals.
It’s going to be a jolly ride.
Cesc Yes I agree that the wage bill is not wholly representative of the talent., especially when you compare it with say, Spurs. It does show that there are still some good material to work with, not that great I agree. I wouldn’t rule out anyone yet though, let’s see how these players respond to a different manager for the first half of the season.. 75 points is still a good floor/minimum to set. There may be extenuating circumstances why we don’t hit that target. 63 points last season was caused by a lot of crap, including a manager who… Read more »
As an exercise I’m going to do a running total during the season based on the result vs the fixture last season ie +3 points / -1 point and so on.
It will put to bed the argument on how we are doing compared to last season and give us a decent idea of where we are by Christmas.
Kolasinac a £120 000 a week player
Fuck me what a waste. He’s Andre Santos until otherwise
Dissenter,
So what do you “expect” for a points tally this season ?
We had the worst defence of the top 6. Hopefully our youngsters step up to the plate and really it is a hope for now. Our full backs / wing backs are poor. Hopefully Licht has one more top performing season in him and AMN seizes LB and makes it his own.
The above ,in short, are the reasons why I see an expectation of 75-80 points to be too wishful.
Marko
I guess that’s the risk with Bosman players. They can demand wages far higher than their talent level, and if they underwhelm, you have absolutely no chance of moving them on during the contract.
Hopefully with time he can become a contributor for us.
For me Lichtsteiner all day long.
Give him 60-70 mins and then being Bellerin on.
Bellerin needs a kick up the backside.
Forget the fact that Licht is 34.
He is the better option.
End of.
We finished on 75 points just two seasons ago. Last season should not serve as a benchmark for anything.
Kolasinac wages are so high because he signed on a free – that’s the way it works.
UTarse If Emery cannot get 75 points from this squad, regardless of whether it is enough for the CL qualification….then he’s a shit manager. There were several games that we lost last season due to Wenger’s utter incompetence and favoritism. There were games when Cech should have been benched for, same as Xhaka and Iwobi. I mean Wenger even played Iwobi when he had acted inappropriately, that’s how poorly we were managed last season. I don’t expect us to compete for the title. I don’t expect us to win a trophy. At the very least we have to beat the… Read more »
the first goal was excellent. he also provides an explanation for why Xhaka was lecturing Nelson…
https://twitter.com/ArsenalColumn/status/1026062850312286208
“the bitter Wengerites who will jump on any loss as ‘UNACCEPTABLE IF THIS WERE WENGER’…”
No needs to give a few names, you already know who they are lol
Michael
It’s strange how if you’re good enough you’re old enough doesn’t translate to the other way round.
I actually thought Bellerin looked more positive / direct last night – maybe the competition is making him realise he’s not guaranteed to start any more.
For goodness sake Xhaka only resumed training last week and already there are
posters who are slagging him for his performance yesterday.
Give it a break.
One thing I would like to see this season is accountability on the pitch. How many times throughout the last few years have we seen easy goals conceded and then watch as none of the back 4 would even look at each other!! There was no leadership.
Dissenter I don’t know why they keep making reference to last season. Nothing that happened at Arsenal last season was normal. This squad should not be judged by last season. Period.
75 points with the squad we have is not asking too much in any shape or form.
Marko
“Kolasinac a £120 000 a week player. Fuck me what a waste.
He’s Andre Santos until otherwise”
yeah, last season’s Guendouzi. embarrassing.
The 2016-2017 season was a.so a disaster that was somewhat salvaged with an exciting FA cup win.
We were abysmal for half of that season , the Wenger contract situation dominated the news cycle with vans figung on the terraces, planes flying banners and Wenger fighting the whole world.
Even then we made 75 points.
That’s the bar that should be set.
We’ve all been complaining that there aren’t any leaders on the team.
Wenger forbade that type of player dominance. He preferred a different way.
Now that he’s gone and players are calling each other out, why are people still angry.
I’m glad Xhaka spoke to a younger player on the field about certain aspects of his game. That’s how it should be . That’s part of accountability.
Emery’s inheriting some of the best attacking talent in the league. don’t think anyone should be feeling sorry for him. the areas where we’re weak are the areas where good coaching will have an impact.
There are angry because its Xhaka. This is a place where Xhaka is more hated than a serial killer.
For me, it’s not just about leadership, it’s about taking responsibility.
yeah, last season’s Guendouzi. embarrassing
Emmm okay
Wallace Your opinion will unfortunately fall on “deaf ears”. Far too many posters make up their minds in five minutes flat that most of our squad are rubbish and that they are incapable of improvement. When many of these players arrived at the club the same people raved about their potential. Marko has posted his disapproval about Kolasinac a player who came to us on a Bosman and if my memory serves me right was voted “player of the month” on two occasions in first three months. When Xhaka arrived at the club he was rated one of the best… Read more »
Now both these players are garbage according to some posters.
I mean I’m not just throwing out criticism willy nilly here Kolasinac was poor last season right? And Xhaka has been poor for two seasons? Could they improve sure but until they do they haven’t
Marko“Kolasinac a £120 000 a week player. Fuck me what a waste.
He’s Andre Santos until otherwise”yeah, last season’s Guendouzi. embarrassing.
__
Haha really? Pathetic comment.
What is extraordinary is how many players are slated for their rubbish performances at Arsenal and then moved on to other clubs where they have won league titles and other trophies.
Three defenders were acquired by Manchester City and went on to win league
titles with them.
Giroud was rubbished by many posters on Le Grove and yet went to Chelsea
in January and won FA Cup with them followed by World Cup with France.
the areas where we’re weak are the areas where good coaching will have an impact
Worth noting as I’ve said before Emery isn’t known for his great defences and the notion that just simply having a new manager will address this with tactics and training is a bit fanciful. I mean if it was Simeone okay fair enough but again Emery isn’t like Simeone
It’s going to take some time to recover from the mess that Wenger created. Especially with the inflated wages.
Why is the French super cup being played in Shenzhen.
I hope the community child will aways be played in England.
Giroud was rubbished by many posters on Le Grove and yet went to Chelsea
in January and won FA Cup with them followed by World Cup with France.
I’m sensing a theme here stroller. Let me guess it’s stop criticizing our own players and just shut up and be happy. I mean Giroud won an FA Cup with us and if he stayed (and we didn’t sign Aubameyang) he still would have won a world cup where he had zero shots on target the whole tournament so I don’t get your point
Marko
So you are now making a negative assessment on Emery before the season has started.
You are beginning to sound like RT.
If Emery cannot add at least 12 points to last season’s abysmal points haul then it;’s time for a rethink.
The people want to set the bar so low now were too happy to call Wenger out for slowly lowering the bar [rightfully so].
Some fans can’t realize that they are losing the big club mentality already.
Marko
No I am making a point that players who have played for us are perhaps better
than many posters think, but maybe the real problem was the management and
coaching structures at club rather than the players.
We have seen many players leave us and go onto to win trophies elsewhere.
Dissenter
It’s bonkers the people arguing against the idea of picking another 12 or so points are also the most critical of Wenger. It’s as if people have got caught in a spiral of such negativity for so long that they can’t actually comprehend the idea of not having it.
I notice a certain someone is not replying to Dissenter.
75 points and all of a sudden I am against Emery and want him to fail.
Marc and dissenter have already given reasons why this is no unrealistic target. All that has been offered as a retort is talking about last season as if last season was normal for Arsenal football club
Does anyone have a decent stream for the Charity Shield?
“yeah, last season’s Guendouzi. embarrassing”
Oh dear.
Marc
Yeah throw it in the Thames…
Receding “why this is no unrealistic target” I’ll go one step further – this is not an unreasonable expectation. I’m not saying it’ll be easy or everything will slot into place on day 1 but we have not brought in a new Manager, new Head of Scouting, new DOF and made huge changes to the backroom staff to get the same results as last season. The reason I’m confident on this is quite simple – we’ve seen that Emery is tactically flexible already, he also has a reputation for studying the opposition and preparing players with video analysis etc therefore… Read more »
RSPC
Sorry throw what in the Thames?
So you are now making a negative assessment on Emery before the season has started.
I’m not I’m merely pointing out that when he was at Sevilla he wasn’t known for being great defensively. At PSG even they blew a 4-1 lead against Barcelona in dramatic fashion. That’s not the type of manager he is. People expecting him to work wonders on a defence that shipped 60+ the last two seasons might be a little disappointed with the results. For me I always thought it’d be Sven and his recruitment that would sort out the defence not Emery
Emiratesstroller
“Far too many posters make up their minds in five minutes flat that most of our squad are rubbish and that they are incapable of improvement.”
It takes you 5 years before you even start to question a shit players worth to the club.
It takes you 5 years before you even start to question a shit players worth to the club.
I mean Red’s a numpty but he’s got a point here. We still hear about Xhaka being in the Bundesliga team of the year when talking about how poor he’s been the last two since he’s been at Arsenal.
Cmon next week
Marc
The match
dissenter
I think you are expecting too much too soon. we may make a couple points more than last season but this is a new team with a new manager. there is going to be some experimenting going to happen, and pre season isn’t enough to determine if said experiments will work…
RSPC
With you now – being a bit slow on that!
Emiratesstroller is the type who called for fan patience regarding Bendtner lol
To a point reds right
A player can sometimes be assessed early on.
Unless there’s a dramatic change in his play …. Jury ain’t out its 11_1
Look at that from the off Kyle Walker isn’t haven Odoi take liberties.
Having*