It’s been a bit of a rocky road for Unai Emery and his first ever Christmas crush. Dropping two points against Brighton felt like a bit of a disaster considering the defeat of City. The result also ruined the Spurs three points, and it’ll certainly take the edge off of any treasure we take from Liverpool tomorrow.
There are a number of things going at the moment that don’t look great.
Firstly, our starting 11s are being constantly challenged by the fact two of our potentially most effective players are either leaving or the club want them gone. The Brighton game was a prime example where you really could see a need for both players. Aaron Ramsey should have started, instead we rolled out with three defensive midfielders and the game was suitably uncreative. We dropped over 600 passes and managed only 4 shots on target. That’s not decisive, that’s an orgie of sideways passing.
Then you have the enigma of Mesut Ozil, the manager once again opted to start him, only to yank him at halftime for Alex Iwobi of all people. To me, it felt like Emery was making a statement to the board with this move. I felt like he was telling them he needed shot of both of them and he needed a replacement if he’s going to make a charge at top 4.
Our defence is absolutely atrocious. We’ve all witnessed it this season, but kind of let it slide because the results have looked good. However, after watching Brighton cut through us and have the better chances, it’s time to hold our hands up and say we have a really troubling problem here. Which is odd, because we finally solved the defensive midfield issue and everyone like Sokratis. So what is the challenge? Why can’t we deal with simple balls over the top? Why is it so easy to get in behind us?
We’re by no means in a crisis, and we’re sitting roughly where we’d expect to be. We’re the 5th best team in the country and I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I just think a lot of our issues are of our own making. Arguably two of our best players are unusable and defending is a coaching issue.
I know this final point might not sit well with people, but I do think the team are struggling to craft out a defined style of play. It’s very robotic to watch and I think some of the joy we’ve had in the past playing through defensive blockages has gone. I don’t know whether there’s a phased approach to what Emery is trying to do, or whether it just needs better players, but it’s a lot of possession without an awful lot of output. You kind of hope if your defence is struggling, then maybe that’s because of expansive attacking football, but it’s not.
The Liverpool game is going to be interesting, because if we play like we did at Brighton, we’ll be chopped to pieces. I’m hoping there’s a big game mindset and that the adrenaline takes over, because we’re going to need to be on fire if we have a chance at winning that game.
Onwards and upwards.
Hi
2nd
3rd and…
4th
Suckers!
Stick that up your arse.
Afternoon LT!!
Am I the only one left on the planet?
It looks like it’s just me and you Kay!
Enough chaps. I have come to end your joint tyranny
Xhaka,sideways backwards so boring.
The Liverpool game is terrifying for me I can see us being mauled
Yeah LT and Global.. Regular toppers not to be seen.
Regarding the performance- we always struggle to create against teams that put in 9 or 8 players to defend.
Reason is simple, we dont have any dribblers who can stretch or run at defenders.
We very badly need a tricky winger.
Odd that an “inadequate squad” can’t be levelled at the feet of Emery or Stan. Who takes the cake with that one? Who do you think dumbo. Error prone players lack of creativity no DM’s shit goalkeepers and a whole defence that needed replacing. Emery inherited a squad that needed a lot of work. One could say inadequate I’d say it’s a mess and until the core group gets replaced we were always going to struggle at times. But of course the second someone else takes over the buck stops with you know who and starts with who’s it? Stan… Read more »
Testicles of fire. Keep it up buddy.
I think Liverpool game would be different though. They are an attacking team. However we need to be at our absolute best to get a result against them.
Emery needs a proper box to box midfielder. Banega is the perfect fit. Get it done Sanllehi.
Our defence sucks because of 2 thing’s. We Constantly play Xhaka who has the defensive nous of a Gerbil and most time play just goes through him like a breeze . The worst DM in world football. Secondly, our defenders are all 2nd or 3rd tier. The best of them is Sokratis who has too much to do. We need to get rid of Kos and Mustafi and the Swiss guy needs to be used only in emergencies. So we need 2 maybe 3 CBs all at the same time. We go to pieces evverytime we are under the fish.… Read more »
Under the cosh. Damn auto correct!
1. Shit players
2. Coaching issues
3. Poor mindset
All of the above. If Liverpool are on it, this could be a premier league goals conceded record.
Man yoo v Ipswich was 9-0 I think?
We need a winger a creative midfielder s CB ASAP benaga would be amazing. If only we kept Sanchez and sold ozil he would have been perfecr. Even Theo would be good about now
GOH doubt that but we could get drubbing. Or we could do a game like we did against Chelsea I’m the cup final
@ Bam Pray tell, how exactly will we know that the so called “Football Men” will ask for money and Stan will refuse? What…they will hold a press conference to let the world know they asked for such and such and the owner said “Fcuk Off!!” You think Emery has a bit of “Conte” or Jose in him to do that? You keep making excuses for Stan K. As if he is some Deity that can’t be blamed for how the club is run? Are the Glazers more into Football/Soccer than he is? Oh well, his Son is fully involved… Read more »
Looking forward to the Liverpool game tbh. I thought we’d get spanked in November and was wrong about that… But there are some seriously weird in-game decisions going on. Guendouzi seemed to be the last man when we had corners against Brighton. Talented he may be, but he has neither the maturity or experience for that role as we all saw.
GoH,
I know you are the resident troll but saying stuff like “If Liverpool are on it, this could be a premier league goals conceded record” is very annoying to read. It’s supposed to be a blog for Arsenal fans.
“You keep making excuses for Stan K. As if he is some Deity that can’t be blamed for how the club is run?”
Bamf = American. Kroenke = American. Result = unhappiness.
Mr Serge
I don’t think so either but if anyone in the league could inflict that sort of loss, it’s liverpool. Tight at the back and with Salah etc, they are pretty awesome up front.
Against our creaking defence…sheesh.
GOH yeah not looking forward to the game most of my mates are Liverpool plastics I may have to go into hiding
I still need to watch the Brighton second half, but I think some people are overreacting a little regarding where we are and what Emery has (or has not) accomplished thus far. Yes, we have a long ways to go, but we are stuttering at the moment because of injuries and an inadequate squad, not because of Unai Emery or Stan Kroenke. Replace Lichtensteiner, Koscielny and Ozil in the XI on Wednesday and we win that match easily, IMO. That said, tomorrow could get very ugly if Emery does not get his selection right. Liverpool are quick, and they pass… Read more »
Dissenter “I thought paying 55 million for him was rather silly considering we had Laca who was scoring goals for fun in Ligue un.” Right, but Lacazette was in the middle of an eight game drought (in which he had a total of seven shots and no goals) when we signed Aubameyang, so the latter’s signing actually did make sense at that time, which is why there was no massive outcry here against his signing. I agree with those who think it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to have both Laca and Auba, and I agree that… Read more »
Charlie The principal blame for the state of the squad lies with Arsene Wenger. If we needed to spend more (or differently) this summer, then some blame also lies with Emery, Mislintat and Sanllehi for thinking too highly of the existing players or some of the players we signed. As for Stan Kroenke, he’s not a football guy, so unless the men above come to him and say, “Stan, we need to spend £100m more than our revenues allow for,” I don’t see how he can be expected to determine this himself. Not to mention he purchased a club that… Read more »
Its pretty obvious that the Wengerites (note: I didnt use the far more extreme AKB) on this blog are pretty quick to have a pop at Emery when its clear to see that the issue is one of useless and inadequate personnel. Take Koscielny for example, has he ever had an outstanding MoTM defensive performance since he joined us? No. Same goes for Mkhytarian – no game defining performance or credible contribution to an emphatic Arsenal victory. I coluld also add to that list players like Iwobi, Xhaka, Mustafi etc and eventually the only player to come out of this… Read more »
I don’t get the Ozil issue, when we bought him I can’t remember many other teams clamouring for him and his performances for us show why , he’s not going to change , he’s not a player to take control of a game , he will pull off a quality pass now and again , the rare goal but we got exactly what we paid for , it’s up to our management to make a decision on him now. I think he can be upgraded as a lot of our players can , do we have any players that can… Read more »
“The principal blame for the state of the squad lies with Arsene Wenger. Secondly, if we needed to spend more (or differently) this summer, then some blame also lies with Emery, Mislintat and Sanllehi for thinking too highly of the existing players or some of the players we signed. As for Stan Kroenke, he’s not a football guy,“ Just have a look at the sequence of blame/deflection you take for those mentioned. “Principal blame”:Wenger “IF we needed to spend more”: Sven, Emery etc “He’s not a football guy”: Stan Really hard to take what you say seriously at all. How… Read more »
Seen a few fans turning up their noses at Banega but think if we do get him he’ll surprise people how good he is. He’d instantly be our best midfielder(even over Torreira) and would help bring a better balance between possession and chance creation. I can really see why Emery wants him. If we play this variation of a 4-3-1-2 he and Ozil would create a shitload of chances as we wait for the summer to hopefully get proper wide forwards who can beat their man. A bit of a surprise Emery didn’t go for Lo Celso who is kinda… Read more »
GoH We will draw or beat Liverpool. Charlie It’s the wenger era players who have let us down. Iwobi. Mkhit. Kos. Ozil. Have all been shit. Emery neeeds another 2 TWs to form his team. Then we can truly judge what difference he has made I’m happy with where we are now. We’d be much better off as well if it wasn’t for individual errors. Glaring misses for goals or defensive fuck ups. Mkhit alone has cost us 5-6 points. Kos in 3 matches has cost us 3 points and possible spot in a s/f Aubu has missed god knows… Read more »
The jury is still out on Emery. The club shouldn’t allow him to buy a 30 yr old player like Banega who is specific only to his system. He doesn’t want to use Banega as #6 or #8, he wants to use him as a #10. That will leave Aubameyang or Lacazette even more isolated. Emery’s XI for tmrw imo Leno Sokratis Koscielny Lichtsteiner AMN Torreira Xhaka Guendouzi Kolasinac Lacazette Aubameyang Fabinho and Keita were rested, so both along with Milner will be pressing for at least 60 minutes. Individual brilliance of Laca and Auba needed to save us. We’re… Read more »
Find it very hard to blame Stan for our current squad. We have spent a lot of money in recent years, more than Liverpool and Chelsea and much much more than Spurs on a net basis. Like with UTD, our issue is absolutely awful recruitment. Really, terrible recruitment. Stan didnt tell Wenger to spend £30m on Gabriel and Chambers when we could have spent £22m on Alderweireld and VanDijk. Stan didnt tell Wenger to spend £12m on Debuchy, who we had t give away for free, when Trippier cost £4m. Stan didnt tell Wenger to spend £16m on the useless… Read more »
Emery is overrated. Isn’t he the guy who lost to Barcelona having won the first leg 4 – 0 away. Unay is a small club guy…….he will excel in clubs like Watford, Seville, West Ham, Parma and such. He is not good for Arsenal. Those defending him, kindly explain to me why a manager would field 3 defensive midfielders when playing Brighton? Other than that, he panics a lot too. His dislike of Ozil and Lacazette is sickening. He will soon realize that Arsenal is a bigger club than PSG and Seville and will resign due to fans pressure. Other… Read more »
Gambon spot on with your last post
Wenger wasted so much money and totally hamstrung emery for this season.
You can add swapping mkhit for Sanchez instead of taking 60m in summer or 25m in Jan.
Only buying Cech that summer.
The list is endless the blunders he made
Emery needs the next 2 TWs to clean up the mess
Excellent post, Pedro. For the first time in a long time I agree with pretty much everything you said. One small correction though. You say that two of our best players are unusable and defense is a coaching issue. I see both of these as a manager/coaching issue. The players you refer to (I assume Ozil and Ramsey) are totally usable. It’s just that Emery either doesn’t fancy them or has no clue how to use them properly, or most likely both.
“We have spent a lot of money in recent years, more than Liverpool and Chelsea and much much more than Spurs on a net basis.”
I don’t believe in Net. Arsenal had nothing to sell over the past 5-6 years. When they sold Kolo Toure, Adebayor, Nasri to Man City, Vermaelen, Song and Fabregas to Barcelona…we hardly invested back to the team but in the stadium. We only bought Ozil then. I don’t believe in this net spend.
Its not that Emery doesnt know how to use Ramsey or Ozil. I think its more that he wants to sell them in January. The less involved they are, the greater chance they ask to go in January. If they are playing every week, Ozil will go nowhere, and Ramsey will wait until summer to leave for free. Even if we just get £30m for them, that allows us to buy a CAM and make the best of a bad situation. For the last few years, our handling of transfers and contracts has been absolutely diabolical, and we’re still paying… Read more »
Champagne charlie and Kaysiey
Spot on about Emery
It’s just that Emery either doesn’t fancy them or has no clue how to use them properly, or most likely both.
Hahahaha
Where to even begin …
Kayciey We’ve sold £156m of players in the last 3 seasons The reason we havent sold more, is once again due to awful transfer business. We bought Perez for £17m, sold for £4m We bought Gabriel for £14m, sold for £11m We bought Podolski for £11m, sold for £2m We bought Debuchy for £12m, gave away for free We bought Asano for £5m, are now loaning him out until his contract runs out In the most inflationary transfer market in football history we done mostly horrible business. I dont blame Stan for investing cautiously. If your mate asked to borrow… Read more »
Kayciey
A couple of factual things.
PSG won 4-0 at home to Barcelona and then lost 6-1 away.
Arsenal may be a big club but, under Wenger over the past decade, we fell a long way down the pecking order.
Not defending Emery, just giving him a chance.
14/16 players you highlight were purchased/ moved through the system under Wenger.
I agree regarding his dislike of Lacazette but as far as Ozil is concerned……Good riddance!
This was never going to be a quick fix.
Dream10
I think it would be a mistake to include Lichtsteiner in the XI tomorrow. He’s been terrible of late. That header against Brighton was shocking. I’d field any number of players at CB or fullback before I put him out there.
Bamford
Agree with you there. Just feel that Emery is preparing to face an onslaught from the wide areas. Mané is often Liverpool’s best player against us, so can see us playing extra numbers at the back (even though we can’t defend properly with a GK, four defenders & three DMs on the pitch). If Lichtsteiner doesn’t start I think Iwobi will get the nod.
How do you feel about tmrws match?
If it was up to me, I’d let Ozil go for a pittance or on a free, just to get him out of the club.
Who though would take him?
Answers on a postcard please.
Gambon Absolutely spot on. People do not realise the position of total weakness and appalling mismanagement we’re trying to recover from on and off the field. Arsenal are a club that were still living in 1999 up until April on the training ground, pitch and in terms of infrastructure. That is going to take years to turnaround. Exactly as everyone arguing against Wenger for years was telling everyone, the longer we hold onto him the more damage he will do. ‘He’s left us in a great position’ is the biggest load of bollocks in the world. We don’t have £400… Read more »
I’d like to add a few things myself to what CC and Kaysiey already said about Emery. First of, to say that he inherited a mess and needs time (2-3 years for some), money, good players, etc. is ridiculous. As CC pointed out, he came into the club with “intimate knowledge” of all the players. He already had one transfer window, spent 70mil. and has been at the club for half a season now. I think it’s fair to assess him at this point. All 5 players that he bought in the summer (Leno, Lichsteiner, Sokratis, Guendouzi, and Torreira) were… Read more »
Graham62 Emery knew the players very well. While Arteta wanted an overhaul of the entire team, the former was obliged to work with the team and asked for 4 signings which were all defensive. He flogged Jack and brought in Lichtsteiner. He fields 3 defensive midfielders when we got Ramsey and Ozil on bench. He fields a 50 year old who can’t defend and cant cross when he got Carl Jenkinson. For me and many of us, Arsenal is only rivaled by Manchester United on fan base. Bigness of a club is known by its fan base. Arsenal is second… Read more »
Stan didnt tell Wenger to spend £87m on Xhaka, Mustafi and Perez in the same year that Kante and Sane or Mane couldve been bought for £70m. I mean we know this but do other people? Could also say Stan didn’t tell Wenger to buy Gervinho instead of Hazard, Chambers instead of VVD or Alderweirald or Stan didn’t force Wenger into spending just 10 million and no outfield player in the summer of 15 when Son and other players were available for fees we could have afforded. No players that summer who were better than what we had he said… Read more »
Bit hard to not feel like Kroenke can do more as an owner though, so much more especially in terms of injecting more cash into the club, can’t keep us this whole self sustainable model and complain that we’re not at the level of those above us. Football is a cash business and it’s always going to be the team that spends more that wins the most.
I think the whole team is lacking something – if i was to pick out a starting 11 – Bellerin Sokratis Kolasinac Ramsey Torreira Aubamayang Lacazette Those are the only starters for me – the rest are shit/lack belief/are a liability. We don’t even have a proper starting 11 lads – wtf is going on? Leno has made mistakes that has cost us points and ozil is well enough said about him already. I don’t want to be too negative because we are 5th after all but this pool game tomorrow is make or break in terms of realising the… Read more »
Reyes coming back to Arsenal apparently
Two posts running simultaneously.
What’s going on?
From the transfer links and now with Reyes joining the coaching staff it seems like the club is doing everything possible to give Emery the environment he needs.
Seems like the club are giving Emery the thumbs up but are recognising they need to clear up the mess left to him and give him what he needs.
Any word on sarabia?
We need more than just Banega
Upstate
You’re obviously a butt hurt Wengerite.
Lots of people have been accountable for the complacency and malaise at this club, thankfully, some of the worst have gone, we shall see what the Kroenkes do. Maybe they will have a Super Bowl which will ignite their sporting ambition,who knows Whatever the blame on whoever, it will take Emery or anyone else a couple years at least, Emery is clearly just trying to speed things up, whether RS , SM and the board will play ball in jan is anyone’s guess. Emery deserves especially when you consider what he has inherited , I would imagine JK on his… Read more »
bennydevito
I’ve been reading this blog for quite some time but only recently started posting. What I’ve noticed is that when people on here don’t have a good argument they resort to insults. With all due respect, you’re an idiot. So do me and the rest a favor and F off… respectfully, of course.