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The more I pondered where we are as a club, the clearer it became that we’ve made a total hash of the rebirth. A lot of that comes from Ivan Gazidis who has to be one of the worst decision makers in the world of football. Guided by ego and shite people getting in his ear, he’s overseen a transition that’ll likely go down in history as poorly as the one at Manchester United. The main difference being that Arsenal doesn’t have the same resources to claw their way out like our northern brethren.
I think a lot of the issues start with our identity problem. Arsenal never recovered from our delusions of grandeur after the incredible progress we made in the late nineties and early 2000s. We won three Premier League titles, we built a new stadium, we were promised riches beyond our wildest dreams, but then Chelsea and City came along with petrodollars and we didn’t adapt.
Think about this, Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger’s strategy for beating out the big spenders was to convince themselves that regulation would level the playing field. Guess what, it never happened. It was like the two of them had never watched megabrands like Starbucks and Amazon evade tax laws with armies of clever lawyers and influence purchase.
Instead of recalibrating for the modern era where we’d have to work out a strategy that went beyond pound note expenditure, we buried our heads in the sand and hoped. We effectively became a second tier club that believed it was top tier, and sadly, we’ve still not woken up to our place.
That’s why the club will still complain about money issues (despite being top 3 net spenders over 5 years). Our culture is built on excuses as to why we can’t, instead of how we can. As fans, we bemoan our lot in life while Spurs, Bournemouth and Wolves massively outperform expectations. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t be performing with the best teams in Europe. Our wage bill is 263m euros and it’s 55% of our turnover. That’s the 9th highest in Europe. Higher than Juve, Roma, Dortmund, Altelti and Inter. We’re a couple of players shy of Bayern. We’re the only club in the top 10 for wages not in the Champions League.
The reason we don’t compete is we haven’t accepted our reality.
There is no guiding philosophy at Arsenal. There is no identity. Our structure is not built on an idea, so we get by throwing shit at the wall, but the chances of succeeding are greatly diminished.
Just look at how we hired. Emery seems like a lovely guy who wants to do well, but he doesn’t have that special sauce you need to win at a club like Arsenal. Sure, give him PSG and he’ll drop a title at the second attempt, but moving Arsenal to the next level? How is that ever going to be on the cards in a league that has Pochettino, Klopp, Sarri and Pep Guardiola. You need to battle ideas with ideas. Arsenal took the safe option. Someone who will come in and upgrade the basics and bring a bit of intelligence to the setup. That’s table stakes though, and we really were in a situation with Wenger where basic competence was needed towards the end. That lowered our standards and we landed where we landed.
For me, there is no scenario or amount of money that is bringing us up to our rivals levels. We’re 6 months into this project and we still don’t have a defined style. There’s no excuse for that, just throw on a Leeds game and tell me 6 months is too little time. Our defence is worse than last season despite investing in it and making it a focal point. We have a DM we all adore, yet we’re still leaking goals like a Sunday league team. Halftime subs were our drug at the start of the reign, now they’re starting to look like a predictable panic ripcord. We’ve not led at halftime in 18 of 19 games. Injuries are piling up like we suspected they would. They’re so problematic, Hector Bellerin is out. Double sessions come at a cost. For all the tactical nous we hoped we’d hired in, we went to Anfield with a game plan that was so bad we conceded 5.
Doesn’t bode well, does it? However, I can see the flip side. We went on a terrific run, he is modernizing the club, we fight harder, run further and we’re in better shape than we were last year regardless of what the naysayers try and convince you of. That said, it’s not good enough and nor will it ever be.
We have a historical example of a very similar situation like this just before Wenger arrived. Bruce Rioch came in after we’d finished 12th in the league (6 points off relegation), he purchased Platt and Bergkamp, and moved us up to 5th. David Dein knew he wasn’t good enough and pulled the trigger on his tenure, replacing him with someone who did have the special sauce needed to find the next level.
To find that next level, we need to decide what our footballing philosophy is. How do we want to play, what do we need to play that way, and how do we achieve our objectives without Man City money.
Liverpool are heavy metal football and guess what, they hire for it. The players they bring in are fast, powerful, technically gifted and hugely resilient from a fitness standpoint.
R.B Leipzig has a stunning approach to growth that’s brought them huge success in a short space of time. They play high octane pressing football, they buy in young players under the age of 23 years old, they have a very smart youth academy, and they build feeder clubs that supply them with the players they need. This is the group that produced Keita and Mane (Salzburg just dropped an unbeaten season). They know who they are, and what they want to achieve.
What are we looking to do? Why the fuck are we binning off Aaron Ramsey for EVER BANEGA? What is the vision there? What are we planning for? If there were a clear strategy of who we wanted to be as a club, tell me why Mesut Ozil was allowed to stay on? There is no defined vision for what we’re about.
We’ve had different variations of a north star in the past. Originally, Wenger wanted to play the most technical football in the league with the fittest and most powerful players he could find in the then closed markets of Europe. Then he shifted gears to Project Youth, which was taking strategic punts on the best kids in the world and growing them into world-class players.
What exactly is our policy? Half-baked again. We buy in a little bit of everything and it all looks a touch meh. But then again, what are the parameters we’re working within? This is not the sharp player purchase strategy we’d hoped for. We have two great strikers who can’t really play together. We bought an aging right back who isn’t fit for purpose. The swap deal with Mikhi has tanked. Guendouzi and Torreira are great. Sokratis has done well, but again, he’s at the heart of a defence that’s failing. Leno was an expensive gamble that doesn’t look to have worked. What unites all of those purchases? Nothing.
The youth academy is another area where you fail if you don’t have a guiding principle or vision. It’s also an area you can win greatly. I love Per Mertesacker, but if you are a club that can’t compete, growing your own is a great way in, however, you don’t put generations of young footballers in the hands of someone who has no experience of developing kids. I am not for one minute saying Per can’t be great, I’m just saying it shows the lack of leadership at the club. Taking a punt on a young manager is very different to taking a punt on the Dean of a University.
So how do we move forward from here?
I think the club need to be brutally honest about where we’re going and whether the current approach is going to bear fruit. There’s no point in pissing around for 2 years to find out that the decision we made wasn’t the right one, or even worse, a stasis move. We need to make a bold decision about the future.
We need to be honest about who we are as a club. We then need to craft a plan around how we make it back to the top, or at least to a level where we’re building towards something. #Top4 is not a strategy, it’s a goal. We need to envision a style of fast, powerful technical football and then figure out exactly the type of players we need to deliver on that. That means the best coaches, the best young players from around the world and that means and investment of faith from the fans because we’re going in an exciting new direction.
At the moment, it looks like we’re just going to keep on investing in something that has little chance of succeeding. We can’t spend another 10 years in no man’s land, we just can’t.
Happy New Year, thanks for reading! x
@Batistuta ” no manager or tactics system or structure can stop stupid error prone players from making stupid mistakes, that’s the way i see it. Certain players can’t be coached to be better no matter how much we wish that to be true.”
It is true what you say. But the manager selects the team. If by now, he can’t see Licht is just there killing our team, then I am really worry.
“Patience is worthwhile if you are seeing progress” – geezus, I’m agreeing with Pedro again. Although I do know he has a hidden agenda and the manager with that special sauce that he wants is Arteta. In that case, I’m willing to stick with Emery for a little longer.
Nelson
Yea that’s one of the areas I’m fuming at Emery for but on the flip side, his other options are Jenkinson and the hugely overrated Maitland Niles
I think we will still be in this situation in two years time and i think a lot of people fear the same . The on e constant in all this shit is Kroenke, I know people say ‘we are the third highest spenders ‘ and ‘ Kroenke doesn’t pick the players ‘ etc etc but does anyone have any confidence in this club improving , I certainly don’t and my main reason for this is Kroenke, ‘ third highest spenders ‘ !! It just doesn’t feel like that to me, especially when we are chasing cahills and leichsteiners!! I… Read more »
Upstate
Just out of Curiosity, if it’s not Emery, who do you think realistically can come in and improve us at least defensively without throwing plenty of money at it
Dissenter
Emery was willing to take the job? Willing? Give me or anyone else half of what he’s making and I’d be willing too. Soton got Hasenhuttl, Hammers hired Pellegrini, PL winner, Newcastle have Rafa, CL winner. All are better coaches and I’m sure all of them would be willing to take the Arsenal job.
If Emery brings Banega in January, I will be majorly pissed. We all know what he is trying to do. It doesn’t matter if we need him, it’s just that he is Emery’s guy. Just like Sarri did when he brought in Jorginho when he already had Kante.
I would also like to know what certain people on here would do if they were in emerys shoes and was told that in jan you’ve 15 million to spend max , what the fuck would you do ?!?!
in other news, our lead on 6th has been cut to 3 points. We need to go on another winning run, before it is too late.
Just waiting for chelsea and spurs to break. Which I’m sure will happen sooner or later. I’m hoping it’s later though. 🙂
Sorry Pedro but I think you’ve been on the downer juice a little too much. You are also not looking at things with a level view. The Poch has taken the Spud’s to being a top 4 team – well done but this obsession with how good he is – he hasn’t won anything when does he become the bridesmaid never the bride. Sarri took over a time that won the PL season before last, Pep is another level but he’s also doing it at a club that gives him almost unlimited resources. As for Klopp this is his 4th… Read more »
Fucking hell Pedro what are you doing making me have a go like that.
I will thank you for your tireless work in running the site and putting up pieces worth reading every day. Have a happy New Year!
Pedro is to be congratulated for having this debate about the overall vision for the club. I totally agree, we have no vision and discussing individual players or tactics is like suggesting that Brexit is all about whether or not people can have a blue passport. For fucks sake, people, look at the bigger picture. The inescapable truth is that Kroenke is a very bad owner for our club. The vision, direction and dynamic of any business or institution comes from the top. Perdo, I am sure, sees the truth of that every day in his working life. But as… Read more »
People are saying that Emery didn’t buy the players and it was all Raul and Sven. I don’t believe that’s really the case but okay. Can someone then explain to me please why in the world they got Lichsteiner, and Sokratis? I was excited when we got Auba. I thought Mikhi swap deal was the right thing to do, even if it didn’t work out. But Sokratis? Is it because of the BvB connection? If that’s the case, then they are just as clueless as Emery is, and I fear for the worst when it comes to our future transfer… Read more »
CA It was arsen wenger wasn’t it?? He made us sign shit players He made kroenke come in and give us fuck all money He made Lichtsteiner and sokratis give Liverpool victory He may as well have scored every goal we’ve conceded this season the way you lot go on It’s ridiculous He’s gone. So who gives a fuck about it now?? You lot. Every time we lose it’s back to wenger. Grow up man. If emery isn’t making the transfer calls then it’s the club who are being tight cunts. We are spending the sort of money prompted teams… Read more »
70 mil spent, six months in the job and a squad steeped in Arsene’s mediocrity.
You have the temerity to question Emery’s elite credentials, fuck off with that bull shit.
Battygoal
Ancelotti or allegri certainly
We were paying £7m per year then we could afford either
Neither wants to be involved in our shit show of a club. KROENKE OUT!!!
It is a bit amusing to see people who never got tired of saying a new manager would extract 20 percent, 30 percent etc. more from the same squad than Wenger could are now pinning all the blame on our squad, the squad which has more depth than last year due to addition of 5 new players.
Can someone then explain to me please why in the world they got Lichsteiner, and Sokratis? I was excited when we got Auba. I thought Mikhi swap deal was the right thing to do, even if it didn’t work out. But Sokratis?
They needed bodies. Take away those two from our team and you only have Kolasinac as the fit defender.
Un Try to stay on topic. You said two things there, one about Nelson, one about why we aren’t signing great players. I said we’re a Europa League team, we’ve spent a lot net over the past few years and our wages bill is huge. Those are some reasons why we can’t compete in the transfer market, lack of pull and lack of funds. You’re arguments are sporadic, emotional and ill thought out, like a child. You’re sitting in the isolated Liverpool picture because that’s easier, but answer your own question, whose fault is it we don’t have a lot… Read more »
We’re a Europa League side who have wasted a massive amount of money on dross in fees and wages.
CA
So why didn’t the club sell Ramsey and ozil this summer then??
And Mustafi??
And why did they bring in worse dead wood than we already had???
I forget ars-en-wen-gaaaaa
It’s like a zombie chant now
Bwaaaaains
‘So why didn’t the club sell Ramsey and ozil this summer then??
And Mustafi??’
To who?
For how much?
Engage your brain.
Ramsey is the only one there we would have had a chance of selling for anything approaching a reasonable fee.
Seriously, stop living in a FIFA world.
Can someone tell me how much money the current owners of Liverpool have put into the club? Or how much Joe Lewis has put into the Spud’s?
Ozil, pulls a sicky every other week, doesn’t turn up against the big teams, sometimes literally, needs two week rest after a game, can only play against the dross at home and earns £350 000. Not wanted at the club.
Here’s £40 Million, said no one.
Mustafi, cost £35 Million, hugely error prone defender, goes to ground at every chance, lapses in concentration, gives away stupid fouls/penalties. Not wanted at the club.
Here’s your money back, said no one.
CA Haha. Ok. What exactly is I’ll thought out?? Why is it that we are spending the sort of money wolves are spending when we are a London based super club comparatively with a 60,000 seater stadium and two brand new sponsorship deals?? If it’s our wage bill then why didn’t we reduce it as soon as wenger went? We had a few months to plan this out before the World Cup started? We knew he was going. Emery said he wanted to keep them. Who’s decision was it to sign Leno Lichtsteiner and sokratis?? Because they are all worse… Read more »
Cesc
I’m sure that over the next two summers we will see a huge turnover of players at the club but anyone thinking the new management team were going to out half the squad in one summer has no clue.
Batistuta
Big Sam would do a better job no doubt, and I’m not even joking. But who would I rather have than Emery at this point and who would I think deliver an immediate improvement? Jardim was my personal number one choice. I think Rafa would be good too. And before you all start laughing, Frank de Boer. He was very unlucky at CP. Zaha was injured, and no one else could score goals. But with our offense, I think he would do much, much better. We wouldn’t be conceding as many goals, that’s for sure.
LETS GET IT CLEAR THERE NO WAY TO GET RID OF KROENKE.HE OWNS ALL THE AFC SHARES AND ITS JUST AN INVESTMENT FOR HIM THAT HAS DOUBLED IN VALUE.ALL HIS OTHER SPORT CLUBS ARE CRAP EXCEPT THE RAMS. HE WONT PUT ANY MONEY IN AND WE CANT GET HIM OUT. ITS A SAD SITUATION
Marc This is the point isn’t it? Chelsea can spend what they spend on Pulisic etc because they have UCL football but also bought young players to sell on and exploited the China market over the years. We’ve sat in 1999 up to April 2018 watching our cash devalue and FFP be shat on just twiddling our thumbs and people are confused as to why we can’t spend. It’s unbelievable. They are still trying to defend him, as we always said they would. We also always said they would be the first to turn on the new manager despite their… Read more »
CA
Who’s said we want £40m for ozil?? I’d take a free to clear the wage bill
We could have got £20m for Ramsey and £12 maybe £15m for Mustafi
That’s a good portion towards a good centre half there
I’m not saying those signings were not major mistakes. They clearly were. But now we’ve got rid of wenger aren’t we meant to be more decisive? Wasnt he the ditherer??
Seems like the same old shite to me Cesc Appeal
azed
They got another aging player in Sokratis past his prime just because they knew him. That’s bad business. Money could and should have been spent elsewhere.
Cesc
I’m happy to admit I was one of those who thought another coach would improve our defending with existing players, the fact it’s not happening makes me wonder what the issue really is. If all of the players are that poor whydo some think we can sell them for big money?
is no one listening to me ? replace ozil with cesc. free up 350k , and get a club legend back to teach xhaka and co how a midfielder really plays.
Marc I agree. There is going to be huge change in the squad and it is arguable that players like Mustafi, Xhaka, Iwobi have improved their value from last summer which was rock bottom at the time which will help. But we really don’t have a big asset to sell which will hamper us without UCL football. Sanllehi talked about asking Kroenke for a loan and that might be what has to happen. We’ve been left in an appalling position because we didn’t have the guts to fire Wenger years ago when we were still in the UCL and before… Read more »
Letting cazorla go was another major mistake. He was our best player. I won’t even bother about Wilshere as it’s done to death but if we went for ozil and Ramsey over those two then who called that?? If it was emery then why did he call it and then just drop them?? It’s on him Who signed 3 sub standard defensive recruits?? If it was emery then it’s on him Who has had the squad since June to work with and implement his defensive ideas?? If it was emery then it’s on him I want him to succeed but… Read more »
‘is no one listening to me ? replace ozil with cesc. free up 350k , and get a club legend back to teach xhaka and co how a midfielder really plays.’
How are you getting rid of Ozil though?
@Michael “But real change at AFC will only come when Kronke leaves.”
Not all hope is lost. In the past, all Kronke’s teams were very average. What they did for L.A. Rams gives me hope. They fired an experienced coach and hired a young coach and invested in a few players. Look what happens. L.A.Rams has triple its value.
Un na
“Who’s said we want £40m for ozil?? I’d take a free to clear the wage bill” Ozil we be on the accounts as an asset worth millions. If we just let him walk on a free it will restrict our spending as we will be showing a huge loss.
Liverpool and Tottenham are the current model clubs of the Premier league. they develop talent from within, sell them at a profit to their rivals, and then reinvest that money in assets that are set to accrue value. can we develop the likes of reiss nelson? first have to develop players before we talk about selling them for anything that could be considered value. we could have sold ramsay for profit and replaced with young talent, he isn’t getting any better for us and now we’re set to lose him on a free. But whatever, we’re out of form now… Read more »
Gonsterous
Yes!!!
I said that 2 months ago and was laughed at. Also mata is on a free too. Snap them up on a 1 year each and spend the money on defence. If we have none then sell Mustafi and Ramsey if we can and try to get someone in who emery really wants and trusts. No fucking Ever Banega
Marc
Nobody is going to pay that money for him and give him £350k per week
We need rid
He costs us £1.4m per month
CA
time to trick barca into buying him, like they did with song and vermealen
Pedro you are being disingenuous here. You keep harping about the so called miracle that Nagglesmann is performing at Hoffenheim. This is a team that has conceded 23 goals in 17 games while scoring 32 and they are languishing in 7th position. If what’s happening over there is what you call a miracle, then o don’t want that. Like others have said you are confusing being media savvy and talking the good talk to actual managerial competence. Nagglesmann is currently averaging 1.53 points per match in his managerial career, a little about what Emery averaged at Spartak Moscow (1.5) where… Read more »
@ Una na nai!? What? Didn’t you get the memo? For many on here – Its always going to be Wenger’s fault (its even better here, someone on Online Gooner said it will always be Wenger’s fault till we win the league again). Simple really, don’t fight it, just go with the flow. That way you live longer and think less. 22 unbeaten….Its all down to Emery… 1-1 against Brighton and then 5-1 against Pool and its on Wenger and the shyte players available. I pray we beat Fulham so we can get back to holding Emery up again. (All… Read more »
Fuck me – I loved Santi thought he was a great player for the club and always played with a smile on his face but the infection finished his career in the PL. He just isn’t up to the rigours of the PL any more.
I mean why don’t we just bring Adams, Dixon and Winterburn back. While we at it we could bring Mclintock back as well.
To highlight the stupidity of the decision making under the previous regime we are now told Wenger ‘really begrudged’ signing off on Ozil’s £350 000 a week. But, the stupid idiot was describing the Sanchez and Ozil situation as ‘ideal’ in August before that. We ended trading our superstar for another CAM we didn’t really want in January and ended up giving a CAM not really suited for the EPL and not really delivering what we want £350 000 a week which was apparently begrudged. Ideal. I will always say summer 2017 was the time everything that happened summer 2018… Read more »
‘time to trick barca into buying him, like they did with song and vermealen’
How though?
He earns £350 000 a week, that is some magic trick to make someone forget that.
gonsterous
Yes, no one is listening. The boy with Barca DNA can F off and rot in hell for all I care. What’s your next suggestion, bringing back Nasri, Cole, RvP, and Adebayor?
un nai
You still beating the wilshere, cazorla drum ? I wouldn’t mind having cazorla here even though he was crocked but Wilshire was really shit. Ramsey is better than him and ramsey is the goats bollocks.
And cesc
Nobody has turned on him. He’s just had a crushingly humiliating 5-1 drubbing and he’s getting criticized and his decisions are being questioned. Just like the previous manager did.
Happened to David Moyes too
And Kenny Dalglish when Benitez left.
Gons
I’m not getting into it
He’s not shit. Keep him fit and he a player
Meant to say “Folks will just stop turning up to games”
Emery was prob the only “ top manager” willing to undertake the rebuild of the shit show wenger\gazidis dumped on us without or accepting he wasn’t going to be gifted 2/3 00 million for a rebuild job ala scousers who had a host of saleable assets to generate funds I.e coutinho,Suarez etc.unlike us .but we know who’s fault that is hey?or petrodollars citeh & chavs or unlimited resources I.e Manure.would Maureen have taken it on ( afc job) under theses circs? Would he f** k!.it is ridiculous after just 6 months to start to question a manager with limited resources… Read more »
Cesc Appeal I have to say, you have become unbelievably agenda driven. Every argument you use to excuse, sorry I mean support Emery, were non existent when Wenger was around. You used to say daily Wenger didnt do tactics, and didnt know defence……now its the quality of players thats to blame. You used to say Wenger was reluctant to sell his babies, now we have players that are worthless. You used to say a new manager would get an immediate improvement out of this lot, not its 26 years and £2bn thats needed. You seem to get unbelievably angry when… Read more »
‘Wilshire was really shit’
Similar to us in the 14/15 season or whatever it was, first Puma kit season, when our results always took an upturn when he was not playing, West Ham have experienced the same.
upstate
I wouldn’t mind having that girl Nasri in the team actually. Never rated adebayor, even when he had that stellar season. RVP is too old and slow and I don’t know where cole plays anymore.
And I always say that cesc move as a loan to barca because I always felt he would fail there and would come back to England. Only at arsenal, we won’t bring a player back. All other clubs seem to have no problem in getting back quality players that left but were available again.
Cesc
I’m purely speculating here but I think the swap deal for Miki was Gazidis panicking. At the time it wasn’t a done deal that Wenger was out the door and I think Gazidis thought that if we took money Wenger would just refuse to spend it – usual lines about no one available etc etc so Gazidis tried to bring a player in who would be able to contribute.
It’s looking like Miki just can’t cut it in the PL. Real shame because he was a good player in Germany.
We have to get to the exciting talent early, not wait until they’ve broken out fully and now have huge transfer price tag. Which is why we shouldn’t be signing soon-to-be 30 year old players. Banega turns 30 next month. The club isn’t communicating the right expectations to the fans. Signing Banega just feeds the delusions of those who think there is a short term fix. We will be in worse shape in two seasons time because our squad will be filled with 32-33 year olds with no resale value. We wont have money to replace them properly. We need… Read more »
Un na naai
December 31, 2018 14:49:41
Gons
I’m not getting into it
He’s not shit. Keep him fit and he a player
exactly, and how do we keep him fit ? He goes missing more than ozil in a season.
But, the stupid idiot was describing the Sanchez and Ozil situation as ‘ideal’ in August before that. CA Yes. Wenger fucked yo royally before he went. Not denying it. Letting Ramsey ozil Wilshere sanchez and welbeck run their contracts down made me want to tear my left nut off and throw it at the wall. As did the rvp cesc and Nasir situations None of that is in dispute but we had a clean slate this summer to start afresh and we ballsed up again. We have now made our worst start defensively in the premier league era We have… Read more »
Sorry,Pedro, but this post is mostly nonsense. Gazidis got us a new chief scout, a DOF and a modern management structure. He filled these positions with smart, experienced, ambitious men. He is the reason we are starting the post-Wenger era with a rational, modern set-up. As for the new manager, his task isn’t to win the league, it’s to get us back into the top four and to help us rebuild the squad. No, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of genius who can out-think Klopp and Guardiola and transform us into world-beaters, but that isn’t his assignment. The… Read more »
If we get all these players in their 30s people are putting up it might be worth getting Gazidis to send us that fabled Milan lab . Then hire Allardyce to complete the ensemble as some are nostalgic of early 2000s Bolton.
gambon
There is a slight difference Wenger was at the club for over 20 years and had a squad of his own making. Emery has had 6 months, 1 transfer window and limited funds to fix a seriously fucked up squad.
Gambon I don’t care if Emery isn’t up to scratch, I get pissed off at people like you and the hyperbole and histrionics when we start losing. It’s beyond pathetic from a poster I used to rate but you’re just a whinger. If all this stuff is happening at the end of the season, by all means move on and find someone else who can do better. I’m maybe a bit more willing to allow a new manager time, as I always said I would, as you said you would but you live in a fantasy world where we need… Read more »
Gons
I’ve argued this so many times
Let’s just leave it and focus on cazorla. Nodby will ever see things my way on this one
Cazorla is playing very very well now at villareal and we could use him. He would still be our best player if he was here, he was that good. Saying that, it’s not like we are stacked with any competition in that regard any more
We went with Ramsey and ozzzzzil and now it’s back fired spectacularly on whoever made that call
Pardon the errors in my post.
CA
Why can’t Emery’s decisions be questioned until May? Especially after a 5-1 drubbing
IS anyone else happy that we are looking at banega when we had santi who was better??
Or that we are looking at Pepe when we have Nelson
All while our defence looks like a creaking barn door with one hinge!!
Is it wise to focus on attacking positions right now?
gonsterous
My point was that all those players were snakes. Would I love to have Cesc back? F yeah! But he’s a traitor, and I can’t and won’t stand up for that. Players come and go, it’s business, I get it. But all those mofos forced their way out for one reason or another. Ca$hley Cole, Barca DNA, the lost boy RvP who needed a father figure. F all of them. Someone mentioned Mata though, would take him in a heartbeat.
Un Of course they can. Question away. But it’s the extent of the criticism, statements of totality like he’s shit and always will be. I’m not arguing against that, I argued against an untouchable manager for years before it was trendy. He has to do better, he will know that, but I’m arguing for context and maybe a cap on the crying and screaming from some like little girls not getting their way. Guardiola spent £52 Million on a RB, taking over a team that were recent EPL winners and that was a season after struggling slightly, losing 4-0 at… Read more »
Dissenter
Spot on about aging players vs young talent.
Pedro quit acting like you were ever an Emery supporter. You’ve been against the appointment from the beginning. I can literally hear your teeth gritting every time you type out a compliment of the man. You said it yourself this was going to take time, but you’ve bailed at the first bump in the road. You wanted Arteta and were the biggest Gazidis fan on the web so your opinion means fuck all.
Kc
If peter’s opinion means fuck all…why all the hubbub?
So we sacking Emery or what? Maybe we originally jumped the gun with the whole time and a couple transfer windows to address a poor squad stuff. Who we thinking? Gambon just seems to be angry and isn’t offering up any solutions bar protest and sacking so he could like anyone really. Charlie’s offering up Rafa maybe? Pedro loves himself a young hipster name so that’s Arteta or flavor of the month Nagelsmann. Also the constant use of Leipzig as a point of reference to having a club strategy is a weird one considering they’re the most hated club in… Read more »
CA But I don’t think he is shit. At all. I’ve stated clearly that I want him backed financially. I’m just not sure that he is doing as well as he could. If it’s the players then -why didn’t he sell Ramsey and ozil in the summer and use the money to find better players? -why did we sign Leno Lichtsteiner and papa at all when they were sub par And with the whinging. We just got pasted 5-1. What fans of what club wouldn’t be pissed at that?? Factor in that we are THE whingiest fan base and this… Read more »
After match two…Pierre, myself and a couple of others said Emery was probably not the guy to push the club forward.
20 games later and there is a growing feeling that the above is true. There is little to no evidence that he could be ‘the guy’. Zero.
As for time? Why?
‘Let’s gauge if it’s something realistic or just some pissed off fans venting after a heavy defeat’
I know what my money’s on. He will go back to ‘looking like there’s a real future with him’ if we beat Chelsea at home.
You’ve only got to back and look at the admiration for Emery’s ‘ruthless’ management and tactics after the NLD.
Cesc
I don’t think some on here realise what’s going on. We are on a rebuild but we’re not a speedboat we’re a fucking oil tanker and it’s going to take time to make a turn.
If we finish outside of top 4 this season and next season is showing serious improvement then Emery will be replaced. What’s not going to happen is him being fired after a single season unless he completely collapses.
Kc
This is far from a bump and it’s not the first either
Funny how the terminology has changed since last season for 5-1 defeats at anfield
Guns
You can’t use Pierre as backup when he’s someone who thinks Wenger is the person to take the club forward.
Human nature is so great to watch. When we beat Spurs it was hailed as the 2nd coming by many on here and now Liverpool do us for 6 (well 5) and its “End Times!” by others. In reality its somewhere inbetween those 2 extremes. Just that the “Blame things on Wenger and the Players” mantra is growing thin and becoming boring. Hope by season’s end (regardless of how we do or where we end up on the EPL table) that mantra will begin to die a slow death and we can evaluate a Manager by the facts on ground/show… Read more »
Un Right you walk into a club that has slid to 6th, conceded 51 goals up from 44 the season before. You have Kozz (aging and broken), Mustafi, Holding and Chambers as your CBs. You have no CDM. You have a carthorse CM. You have a ‘star’ player who doesn’t want to play football anymore. You have no wingers. You have a £64 Million budget. Go. This is my whole point. I can understanding venting. I’m embarrassed and was pissed to no end, but I expected an up and down season where the new manager, whoever that was, would be… Read more »
So who’s the guy guns? Arteta? You giving him 6 months too?
Englandsbest
One, the self-sustaining model isn’t “Kroenke’s policy,” as you suggest; this policy was implemented by the board long before Stan Kroenke took control.
Two, you’re back to making wild claims re Kroenke saddling Arsenal with massive debts that do not belong to Arsenal. Would you please support these outlandish claims with a credible article or two? Thanks.
We ain’t beating chelsea.
Tonight, Arsenal’s social media heroes will be out rooting for babes, smoking hippy crack or a hookah and drinking until vomit or blackout.
Emery will be at home with his bloody stamp collection and choosing what hue of ‘bone cassian white’ he’s putting on his stamp room.
un nai
You do know that cazorla plays in the la liga right. who’s to say, he would have already been injured playing in the PL? past record, shows that he would have gotten injured.
That’s it really CA. A couple of January signings and home victories in the second half of the season against Chelsea and United will see certain people doing a 180. And then they’ll change their minds again when we lose away to Spurs and City.
Marc
I agree completely.
The stupidity for some has to be contrived to make a point about ‘look how clever I am’.
I actually think that Mislintat and Sanllehi are looking at it from a manager is irrelevant point of view to an extent, they want to drag this club into the 21st Century and that is not going to be easy, cheap or quick.
That is because we sat still for a decade and preached ‘Wenger knows’ all the while watching everyone else rush off into the distance and our money blow away in front of us.
Marc
Pierre is a legitimate poster. I don’t agree with the Wenger thing but I like his posts.
Marko
Not Arteta. Go back in for Allegri, Jardim, Nagglesmann, Vieria or quite literally give Pep a blank chequebook and tell him to fill it out.
Then Arteta. He wouldn’t need six months. 3 games in and you’d see a difference. (Wink).
‘So who’s the guy guns? Arteta? You giving him 6 months too?’
That’s a great point.
If it was Nagelsmann or Arteta or someone else others would be saying exactly what many of us are now.
‘give Pep a blank chequebook and tell him to fill it out’
Then back in reality, £64 Million budget.
Cesc
Sanllehi will be working on a no member of staff is irreplaceable and everyone works in a structure which means they can be replaced without things turning to shit.
Marc
And I think that is exactly right.
Lots of ideas, lots of voices and lots of accountability for those voices.
Un na
Santi’s averaging 60 minutes per La Liga appearance at the moment in a less physical league. He’d be eaten alive in the PL now, loved him as a player and the complications around his surgery were tragic but for fuck sake move on.
guns
hahaha blank cheque hahaha. Joke Friday came early this week… hahahaha
Just that the “Blame things on Wenger and the Players” mantra is growing thin and becoming boring. Thin I’m not sure about. Look at it from this point of view for the last two seasons we’ve seen players like Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Cech Chambers, Ramsey and Xhaka show that they’re not good enough on the defensive side of the game and have all made errors at various times that’s cost us. We have tried to remedy that slightly with taking Ramsey out of a midfield two and bringing in Torreira. We haven’t done nearly enough to address the defence… Read more »
gonsterous
The most outlandish comment of 2018 left it pretty late to come but it did finally make it.
Cesc
Arteta would have bought the unknown and a bit of pizazz.
Nagglesmann is the best young manager in the world.
Either one gives something that emery doesn’t.
Those who are concluding we are “worse” defensively than we were under Wenger or that Emery may be no better tactically than Wenger — an utter absurdity — because of our current GA and related stats are being incredibly simplistic. If Emery’s side is leaking more goals than it should, this is because of the difficulty of what he’s trying to accomplish — I.e., transition to pressing and playing out of the back — not because he is not putting them through their paces in training and in the classroom. It may turn out that Emery was wrong to try… Read more »
With our assists, funds and status we could afford pep and to fund him.
Perhaps Stan isn’t dumb after all and only game Emery a taste to see if he could do what he may have said he could…testing Emery’s bunny.
The scale of whimsical thinking reflected about our situation is alarming. People are underrating the scale of rebuild needed to get us back on track. The current backroom team has to drag us back from a decade of decay…and they don’t have the money to do it. We have a really poor squad; ageing defenders, very little bright young talent emerging, some good players who are too limited —–on a big wage bill. It’s going to take a lot of time to fix this malady without money, deal with it. I thought it was entrenched dogma here last season that… Read more »