The real season starts here people. We had a nightmare opener, the worst in 20 years, and don’t kid yourself, Wenger wouldn’t have come away with anything more impressive than Emery.
We now have 8 games to find our stride. Work out who can do what. Find the best 11. Search out missing form. Rack up 24 points. Go into the Liverpool game living our best damn lives.
Well, that’s the plan. If we can achieve 21-24 points, that’ll have us within spitting distance of the top 2 or 3 teams and it’ll give us a tremendous platform to push through into the dark months of November and December.
Emery has a few very important jobs to do in the next few months.
Firstly, he needs to establish who is first choice centre midfield. I appreciate he’s mixing up his formations, but I feel like we need to find a bit of consistency. If the problem you’re seeing is the problem that’s been at Arsenal for the last 3 years, just nix it. I think LT and MG are going to be a solid choice. I also think Emery has to give up the idea that Ozil is going to be able to do the defensive side of playing as a modern #10. He can’t do it for Germany, he won’t be able to do it for Arsenal. Put him out on the right.
Up front, it seems like he’s settled on Auba. Lacazette is a lethal finisher, but he doesn’t allow us to stretch teams because of his lack of pace.
I’d imagine he’ll continue to play Petr Cech who has done nothing to suggest he’d be dropped tomorrow. I also think the defence is settled until Koscielny comes back. Under any normal circumstances, Bellerin would be dropped, but I struggle to see how the manager can roll with a 34-year-old in the Premier League. We’ll see though.
It’s a big game tomorrow. West Ham have a very good manager, he’ll have made the right changes in the week and they’ll come all guns blazing tomorrow.
Hopefully we tear them a new one!
Right, last chance on the podcast. See you on the other side.
Ozil gets I’ll a lot
20th April 18. illness misses 3 games before the club decide he now has a back injury misses a further 3.
18th Feb 2018. 2 weeks off,ill again
25th Nov 2017 rested from Europa league game has 11 days off ill too afterwards.
1st mar 2017 misses 2 games around Munich ties through “illness”
26th Dec 2016 misses 3 games,has 2 and a half weeks Xmas holidays, I mean he’s ill,very ill. Soooo sick.
Gave up looking after that.
Guess Loyika wants Wenger back
What a long post
Big rumours of a training ground bust up between ozil and Emery on MOTD – if it gets on the BBC there are probably legs on it.
Apparently ozil walked out of training when Emery told him he was dropping him.
‘Apparently ozil walked out of training when Emery told him he was dropping him’
Brat.
Ultimate show of disrespect to your manager and also your teammates, shows what you think of them. Especially bad considering he spent half of last season not showing up and may as well not have played the first two games.
I don’t get why he has supporters, he’s a stain.
If true then we should transfer list him immediately
He’s a problem player that’s for sure.
If it is true that is class of Emery to deny it without even hinting that there is a problem. Not all managers would do that, especially one who is new in the job and cannot have his authority undermined.
Good on Emery for dropping the little brat though.
Yeah totally agree. Hes a better man than me. I’d have pushed him under the bus mourinho stylee.
I hope it is true. Hard to believe that he is ill again.
Just a rumour but it’s MOTD not metro.
Pierre no doubt preparing a statement as we speak
Walcott scored a cracker today. I was kind of ambivalent to us selling him but we needed to replace with someone similar.
Same goes for Giroud.
Alex
Walcott could’ve been better at arsenal, but he lacked/s a lot. Whilst we miss his speed and ability to devastate, we need that but better.
Walcott is a counter attacking teams dream. Don’t forget how beyond useless he was with back to goal or even in one on ones. Shite in the air and one footed too. He is rapid but I really do not miss him.
CC
Agreed, but since losing him and oxlade our threat from wide is bellerin and monreal bombing forward. That’s it. It’s the old overlapping full back routine.
Certainly should have replaced his pace in attack but we could do better than Walcott
A win is a win but we got out of jail because West Ham had a forward line which were nowhere clinical enough and a back line who were even more disorganised than us.
Our fullbacks should hang their heads in shame. Honestly they left our centre backs so exposed!
It’s all well and good trying to press but we need a DM who will support the centre backs! Torreira is that guy… he should started in place of Xhaka.
There’s too much smoke around Ozil for there not to be fire.
He must be a weird one behind the scenes.
Alex
You’re not wrong, have found our lack of dynamic recruiting a little peculiar so far. Got my tongue wagging in Jan when we got Auba and were apparently a ball hair from Malcom.
We need a few types like that imo. Rapid off the mark and deadly. Douglas Costa types are sorely missed in our squad. Iwobi is the closest to it which basically says it all.
If Ozil walked out of training after finding he was being dropped, then the solution is simple.
Get rid asap.
Another great commentary from Graham the tactical genius.
https://youtu.be/CZwlToH7d4k
yaaawn
same old same old
@bamford 10
we should be using Laca as a focal 9 and Auba in the walcott role as a right forward/wing.
a better team would have put us to the sword.
@ Dissenter and Receding Unlike both of you I don’t suffer from “WDS!!” I work in a field where you are taught to first deal with “the situation” at hand and worry about the mitigating circumstances (or what led to that situation) afterwards and I take that same approach to life. I don’t blame past events or outside forces for my failures to adapt to any circumstance and if I fail I take full responsibility for my actions/work. Emery was hired to do a job, he had an idea of what he was walking into and as said the Squad… Read more »
This City documentary is really good. I really appreciate the little nuggets from txiki and AL Mubarak too. The Pep stuff is great too.
I’ve never been ill enough to miss 2 and a half weeks of work/school in my life.
Sounds like ozil had a serious bout of malaria or something. You know it goes around a lot around Christmas time,m. Doesn’t it?
Quite a lot of empty seats at game. First half was dreadful with usual schoolboy defending. The only player in that period who showed much “commitment and enthusiasm” was Guendouzi. Aubameyang like in previous games completely isolated up front. Dynamic of game changed slightly in second half when Emery replaced Iwobi with Lacazette. It is blindingly obvious that we need at least two forwards in team who offer a goal threat. Lacazette is an entirely different goal scorer to Aubameyang. He is much better at playing in tightly marked areas of pitch whilst Aubameyang needs space to play his runs.… Read more »
Leedsgunner
“Our fullbacks should hang their heads in shame. Honestly they left our centre backs so exposed!”
they’re obviously playing so high under orders from Emery. City’s FBs are the same. the difference is City press the ball far, far better than we do at the minute.
“Obviously we missed ozil today ,he brings a calmness to our play in these type of games…”
And what ‘type’ of game was this ?
Please , he would have been as ineffective as he was in the first 2 games
Loyika You are way wide of the mark comparing this squad with the squad inherited. You conveniently omitted, Parlour, Bergkamp, Wrighty and many others. None of this squad measures up to those guys. Before preaching about management try starting and building a successful business yourself first before speaking from just employee experience: I assure the difference is immeasurable, as is consulting to rebuild and repair various operational flaws with under performing management and their minions. Emery has a very flawed Squad of under performers with poor skill sets Wenger left us with who all lack leadership, which were the opposite… Read more »
The west ham game tells us a lot actually. * the season didn’t start yesterday -. No excuses yesterday; WHU isn’t city nor chelsea! But W played quite poorly. * our issues aren’t isolated; have glaring problems throughout – from defence, to MF, to our forwards * Emery hasn’t quality players to implement his ideas – assuming it’s not Emery being shit; can pity him who inherited so much poo and cleanup would take time * enough is enough – as experienced as Emery is, he must know some players ain’t going to/ cant change. So identify ’em asap and… Read more »
the squad’s not balanced, we need a dominating CB with good athleticism, and a genuine wide player, but there’s definitely enough talent for Emery to work with. far more than he had to work with in Valencia & Seville. I don’t think he’ll blame the tools if he can’t get the job done.
reading what emery said about ramsey after the game I think emerys picking order may just turn out to
mhiki
ramsey
ozil.
Also I think ozil is finished at Arsenal. Just a matter of if he goes to another club or he’s just going to sit here and collect his 300k a week…
Their fist goal was a pisstake Anderson was given the the freedom of North London.
Hands up who thought this would be a straightforward transition? Exactly! It is blindingly obvious that our “Wengerized” players need schooling in even the basics. They say a leopard can’t change it’s spots, but, in the case of these undrilled players, they have no choice. Licht/Torreira/Sokratis/ Guendouzi and even Leno, must be thinking ” Christ, we did this stuff in preschool” The problem is to change a philosophy and style of play affects all the teams, right down to academy and junior level. Coaches have to instill a way of playing that everyone can relate to. Of course, most of… Read more »
Our defending is shambolic. Personally I don’t think that Sokratis was a great buy on the evidence of what I have seen in first two games. Bellerin does not know how to defend. Maybe he would be better as a pure out and out winger. Also there has to be real concern how often both fullbacks were upfield at same time leaving centre backs exposed. This was a problem last season which remains unresolved. It was the same fault lines as we saw consistently last season. Finally Cech was at fault once again for goal conceded. We paid a lot… Read more »
ES
“Personally I don’t think that Sokratis was a great buy on the evidence of what I
have seen in first two games.”
nope, his purchase only made sense if we were selling Mustafi. I like the other signings, but we’re doing baffling things at CB right now.
well get this, in other news a couple in China tried getting pregnant for 4 years but failed and was later discovered by doctors to be having anal sex.. What the actual fuck ? Sex education needs to be a thing in China…
Wallace What do you like about the other signings bar rookie Guendouzi? Lict is about ready for his football pension and clearly Emery doesn’t fancy Leno other than for Europa and Sokratis is. MLS player at best not a top 4 side let alone title challenging club. The Sven and Raul show has been poor at best thus far. Maybe why Gazidis is fcuking off. His star team is made up of two people who were fired from their previous clubs and are living off their illustrious histories. In football and many businesses you are defined by present history not… Read more »
ES
What’s Bould doing at the club other than banking his salary each month?
Who do you want to replace Gazidis?
I have other questions for you as you have an in via your journalist friend, but I’m concerned about Pedro’s server space lol.
“‘s a much easier story to tell yourself that there’s simply nothing we could have done to compete against the riches of Chelsea etc, that fate was always set against us. It’s much harder to accept that in fact there was a window of opportunity in which we could have truly returned to the elite and cemented superclub status. We could have invested in top players, we could have won titles, we could have grown our finances with commercial deals as a result of those titles…and now that opportunity is gone. It’s not like we can’t ever win titles again,… Read more »