YES via @EditsByRonan
Well, might as well get the depressing news out the way first… The Rams are going to the Super Bowl.
It’s like 95% of Arsenal fans must have been real shitty things to puppies in another life, because this is just utterly depressing.
Still, on the flipside, maybe Stan will be so enthralled by actual sporting success he’s rarely tasted, he’ll chuck a couple hundred mill our way.
Hopeful and naive. I get it.
Or is it? At some point, he has to wonder whether it’d make good business sense to have two world class teams on his books? Maybe Josh will want to show he’s dad he’s well clever? Who knows… I’d just reccomend your read my blog post on how they made the magic happen (HERE).
In more positive news, Emery went and done a good this weekend.
I think a lot of Arsenal fans are prematurely blowing their ‘SEE HE’S AMAZING’ load on the curtains, but I can’t take away from the absolute destruction he dropped on Sarri’s Chelsea.
Alex went over the game in great detail, so I won’t rehash it. What I will say is that Emery pivoted this weekend and it paid off handsomely.
He put his best players on the pitch, he played them in a system that worked to their advantage, and he absolutely sussed out Sarri.
Many were saying that he axed Mesut Ozil, I’m not quite sure about that. He had a player on the bench who is supposedly coming back from injury, and whether you like it or not, that’ll have an impact on the squad psychologically. Interestingly, Jose Mourinho echoed some of the points I’ve been raising about Mesut.
Mourinho says the best way to get the best out of Özil is to how him ‘care and love’ pic.twitter.com/rEnfrki0N7
— Osman (@OsmanZtheGooner) January 19, 2019
Emery has yet to find the balance between tough love and empathy, something Jose said Ozil needs both sides of. If you can’t be bothered to watch the video, he says if you’re too soft, he goes limp, but if you’re too hard, he retracts into himself because he needs to feel the love. I heard a similar thing on The Totally Football show about De Gea, apparently, he’s always looking for reassurance from his keeping coach on the sideline at games. Weird as he’s so good, but just doubles down on the fact that players are people and all have different motivations. Anyway, good to see the coach move to repair bridges there.
Additionally, it was great to see the manager start with Aaron Ramsey. No one in the league is going to harass Jorginho like he did. He sat at the top of that diamond and shut down the Brazilian, whilst also doing a good job of putting their centre-backs under pressure. We’re just better with Aaron in the side.
Having two strikers in a 4-4-2 worked wonders, especially as both did such an incredible job of defending. Lacazette in particular impressed. He does so much dirty work for the team. Not just that, look at the flair for that goal, unreal control, spatial awareness and outright audacity to strike the ball at one of the few places he had access to that Kepa didn’t.
The front three allowed Emery to live out his dream of 3 defensive midfielders who all did a very good job. I have to hand it to Xhaka, when he’s not making stupid mistakes, he’s been good this season. He had a very good game, racking up ball recoveries like a hero (11). I have a lot of love for LT and MG. The Uruguayan pitbull made 9 tackles, with MG making 5 but having a go at 10. Both have real tenacity and it was a pleasure to watch. Honestly, fuck people who thin MG is anything outside a top tier youth talent who could take the world… NO… universe by storm if he continues his upward trajectory.
Then there’s the defence. Chelsea had nothing. Sokratis did a sterling job, but no one stood out more than Laurent K. When he’s playing in a defence that playing behind a system that is not trying to play a highline, he’s in his element. His experience, positioning and outright hunger to win was a joy to watch. He was our most potent attacker with 2 shots on target and a goal. He had a very important game.
I also liked that Arsenal let Chelsea have the ball in wide positions knowing they had no one to attack the ball in the box. We clogged up the middle of the pitch with a sea of red shirts. We also allowed them to have the ball, giving them 300 more passes than us over the 90. It was almost a reversal of the roles of the past 10 years. Chelsea were… a bit… you know… Arsenal like.
You do have to be honest about Chelsea. They were a fucking car crash. Sarri is a fanatic. He has his way of playing and he doesn’t give a fuck who his players are. Willian on the left, Hazard through the middle with no runners, Kante in a more advanced position, with Jorginho sideways passing like peak Denilson… it was really difficult viewing.
Chelsea had some bad luck, no doubt, but you felt the explosion Sarri had after the game, when he questioned his players’ mentality, is going to bite him. The manager doesn’t have the bodies to do what he wants.
If you’re honest, nor does Emery, but the whole point of us hiring in the Spaniard is we had a manager who’d dropped a powerpoint presentation for the ages on how he’d use the players we had.
For me, Emery has shown the way forward.
All the fans saying 4th place isn’t possible without a billion in January expenditure are out of excuses. We’ve already outperformed Wenger-2018 with points against the top 6 this season. We smashed Chelsea, beat Spurs, held our own in all the big games bar maybe City and Liverpool away. I don’t think it’ll happen, but that’s not because I think the players aren’t good enough. Points dropped at West Ham, Brighton and Southampton in such a short space of time shouldn’t have been part of the equation.
Emery has to shake of his PSG delusions of grandeur and get back to extracting more out of his squad. He needs to be better tactically, he needs to utilize his star names even if that hurts him personally, and he needs to make sure no one heard him say Arsenal was a distinct club because winning wasn’t that important.
Just a word to the injuries. I was devastated to see that Hector dropped an injury that has been a career ender in the past. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s very difficult to apportion blame in these incidences, but it’s hard not to have noticed that our players have looked leggy this past month, and the big injuries are coming in at a rate of knots. We’ve lost 3 players sub 30 to nasty 3 letter acronyms and had a lot of problems this season.
Emery brought in his own strength and conditioning coach, despite us having hired in Darren Burgess to huge fanfare and already having a World Cup winning S&C man in Shad Forsythe. I said at the time that was unbelievably weak from Ivan, as it essentially handed veto power to someone who had unlikely been vetted. Factor in that we know Emery was more than happy to let the press know that he was hitting his players with double sessions early in the season (and was horrified at the fitness of the squad), and the leaked story Mokbel had in the DM that said the club reduced the intensity of training to help the players. Whatever is going on, if we’re to have a good backend of the season, we need to have fresh players and we need to stop losing them to injury.
Right, seeing as you’re here, jump into a meaty podcast where we talk about additional details on Sven, Chelsea and how the season is going to pan out.
SPOTIFY | STITCHER | ITUNES | GOOGLE | POCKET CASTS
DM
2
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again
Tr4phy
4
fuck off DM.
Damn!
Bamford10January 20, 2019 22:36:32 Un NaOne, can you explain how you’ve determined that Wenger 08-18 is better than Sarri? I would love to hear this. Two, we were better than Chelsea, and we were better than Spurs on those particular days. So what? You have this incredibly simplistic view of things according to which if you manage to beat or draw this or that team on one day, you should be level with or above them in the table. It’s a lot more complicated than that. Bam NOT JUST this game or that game or that game though is it?… Read more »
Yes wenger failed to address three crucial positions in those years gk cb and dmf. No doubt. He also failed to install proper leadership but some of those sides were a thing of beauty and beat milan Barcelona Bayern chelsea untied Liverpool City Dortmund and spurs He gave us players like rvp, Sanchez, cesc, hleb, Wilshere, nasri who lit up the league with their football on a shoestring budget whilst paying for the stadium. Up agaisnt cash flush rivals. Maybe a director of football should have been installed back then to take the signing of players and use of funds… Read more »
Interestingly Jose echoed some of the points I made on ozil.
Pedro
Hahahahaha
The old narcissistic ego is alive and well!!!
Looks like Emery has at long last got the message and asked his full backs to play much more conservatively . Will be interesting to see if the manager keeps to this policy as it gives our defence a much better balance and we are not so open down the channels. It does take away part of our attacking potency but I believe the Arsenal fans are willing to accept this if it means we put in similar performances as the weekend. It s our away form which is concerning in the league , November 25th v Bournemouth is the… Read more »
Pedro
I find our views are becoming too similar for comfort (footballing wise)
Are you sure you aren’t just copying my posts from the weekend or are you becoming an ex AKB?
Having Torreira and guendouzi alongside xakha allows him to do what he does best.
As myself and CC have been arguing with anyone who doesn’t possess an eye for the game, if you put xakha in the right midfield then he’s quality at breaking the lines and moving the ball forward quickly.
Pedro I was like Alex at the game on Saturday and it was plain to see the difference between the team set-up for that game and against West Ham. For a start we played effectively with a 4-4-2 formation as Alex pointed out. This is not particularly fashionable in today’s game, but it provided us with a better balance than we have seen for some time. Playing a diamond in midfield is also the best option for Arsenal. For a start we know that Xhaka is more comfortable with Torreira in team and for the first 60 minutes Guendouzi was… Read more »
Stroller
The formation was effective but I think it was more about the intensity and attitude that made the formation work.
It also seems to me that we perform better when the Emirates crowd is up for the game …Tottenham(league) ,Liverpool and Chelsea were all games with a cracking atmosphere…
Somehow the manager needs to find a way of reproducing performances like these consistently, home and away.
Pierre
It was the formation as well pal
Xakha is a weak link in a two man midfield that doesn’t contain Torreira. This formations literally suits the entire team. It brings the best out of the personnel we have at our disposal
Our intensity should be there whatever formation we employ and whoever we are up agaisnt. It’s the least we should be able to expect form elite level sportsmen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46883617
Amazing… who is their best young player? Anyone we could snatch on the cheap?
I don’t doubt Lichtensteiner’s experience, but if we are hoping that he’s going to be solution whilst Bellerin is out we are deluding ourselves. He just doesn’t have the legs anymore. We will be exposed on that side if we place Lichtensteiner there.
AMN all the way for me… he has all the physical attributes to be a great wingback in this league. The question is does he possess the aptitude to learn and the mental toughness. In this the veteran Stephen could help in teaching him the tricks of the trade…
Un
“It was the formation as well pal”
If course it was that’s why I posted earlier
“Emery played a diamond midfield at the weekend and it worked well ,plus it allows us to play with 2 strikers..maybe that is the way forward as it gives us a much more solid look throughout the team .”
Good post Pedro, “I think a lot of Arsenal fans are prematurely blowing their ‘SEE HE’S AMAZING’ load on the curtains” Lol! At least it makes a change from those prematurely spewing their Emery out shit from their mouths onto the carpet. Forget all that – you can’t post a picture of a glorious modern rebirth of the best Arsenal away kit ever and not say a word about it!! Is that a concept shirt? A CGI impression or a real piece of majestic material? Please tell me it’s a leaked Adidas prototype for next season? I need this shirt… Read more »
Why anyone wants to get rid of Lacazette after a performance like that versus Chelsea is puzzling. He is turning into a big game player for us. We need more of these types of players not less.
Watching the game on Saturday, you have to wonder the sanity of Sarri for playing two world class players out of position.
Good for us but utter lunacy on the part of Sarri.
The Scum scoring with the last touch of the match ruined the weekend but at least Ali might be injured for awhile.
Pierre Arsenal have followed a similar pattern this season under Emery as they did last season under Wenger. The main difference between two is that Emery is at least attempting to experiment to find a solution. The club’s main problem is our AWAY FORM and that is in my view how we play in those games. Gaining just 2 points out of 15 in last 5 away matches is just not good enough. What I see is a set up which goes into defensive mode with very little midfield creativity and two strikers completely isolated and consequently ineffective. You are… Read more »
I don’t think anyone is saying we need to spend a billion, don’t make arguments easy for yourself by using hyperbole, people are saying this is the worst squad in the top 6 and needs money spent on it to seriously improve. Sarri inherited a team that were champions the season before last and he’s throwing his toys out of the pram massively even though Chelsea have spent £150 Million already with him. It’s fair to want to see more solid defensive displays out of Emery’s arsenal, similar to Saturday, but to expect him to march a 6th place team… Read more »
Several lazy narratives were destroyed yesterday;
-Kroenke’s American franchises are shit
-Arsenal is the biggest sporting organization in Kroenke’s stable.
Where did the concrete narrative that we have the ‘6th best squad in the league’ come from? That just seems like one for those professing ‘more players’ as the answer to everything, and the reason to give Emery more slack. We finished 5th and 6th the last two seasons is that why? If so are the majority of folk now deciding to change their tune on Wenger to suit another POV? Wenger was past his best and a hinderance to us which led to 5th and 6th, so that would suggest the squad is plenty capable of more. Especially with… Read more »
People are saying we have the 6th best squad (barely) because that’s how it is.
We have spent badly under Wenger and we have spent much less than our competition, (don’t give me any net bullshit, that links to the fact we spent badly) how many of our players would make the first XI of any of the other top 6 teams? Honestly, maybe 2 or 3, not more.
CA,
I have been saying that since Ozil arrived on day 1,
Saturday’s result just reiterates the fact and justifies Emery’s exclusion of him, something that seems lost on most.
Also dropping the awful Mustafi was another good decision by the manager.
Little credit still given to Emery, it seems he can do no right for some.
You known you’re reaching down the barrel when you’re supporting your POV with what Mourhino has to say.
Ozil could have had Arsenal insert into his mega contract; “ player is to be supplied with a bamboo pillow to keep him comfortable at all times to give him love and attention ”.
Instead he chose the money.
Nah, that bit isn’t on Emery. He’s a 30 year old WC winner for funk sake. He should be grooming younger players now.
The reason we’re doing better against top teams but struggle away or against “lesser” teams are partly injuries, our starters are barely up to the task and their replacements are even worse. Partly that we can raise the intensity in one off games but don’t have the personnel to do it consistently. Complaining about injuries and then complaining when we don’t put in such a high intensity performance as we did against Chelsea and spurs every week is a bit hypocritical imo, it’s clear our squad isn’t up for that. We also lack quality and creativity to overcome teams that… Read more »
I love the way Emery doesn’t lose his rag and go after his player after a bad loss.
I love the manner he handles the good victories
I like the way he doesn’t bow to crowd pressure. He still won’t play Ozil whe a lot is at stake and he won’t stop taking off Lacazette when he thinks it’s necessary.
He’s probably been the most even keeled person in the club for the last year.
‘Little credit still given to Emery, it seems he can do no right for some.’ He deserves stick for some things, I have been disappointed with the defence, from some the criticism is obviously agenda filled, but from others it’s a bit baffling. The level and intensity of it anyway. He has taken over the 6th best team in the top 6 and was given £64 Million to spend, when you contrast that with Sarri who isn’t doing that much better really I think Emery is at least doing alright right now. Arsenal were a complete mess last season and… Read more »
The jury is very much out on Emery.
Yes, he had a good result yesterday but even with Wenger, we have been here before. We would get a good result, followed by a series of bad ones usually against mid table (or even lower) sides.
The important question has to be — what is the trend? Was yesterday just a one off or is the team improving gradually under Unai?
I think I would take the bad results better if I understood what his grand plan was.
*on Saturday
The jury can’t come to a decision without all the facts so I don’t get all the “jury is still out” stuff.
It’s just 7 months into his tenure.
It’s like asking a jury to weigh in right after the defense and prosecution’s opening statements.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11613565/hector-bellerin-injury-will-not-affect-arsenals-transfer-plans
That becomes more and more annoying…
Do we have to wait that the whole squad injured to have a new player ??
“It’s just 7 months into his tenure.”
Many Grovers wants the PL title right here, right now.
(lolz)
Those Adidas new kits are great.
I am Legend. (movies)
Is there anybody there ??
(by The Scorpions, hard rock)
“Where is everybody ?”
(Nine Inch Nails, ffs!!)
Dissenter
Last week I asked Pedro some questions about LA Rams including details of their revenue.
His reply suggests that Arsenal’s current revenue is significantly larger than LA Rams.
If that is the case then Arsenal has to be considered an important investment.
It is clear that Kroenke trusted both Gazidis and Wenger to manage the business properly.
Clearly that has not been the case. Hopefully he will now be much more hands on.
People say we have the 6th best squad because we literally have the 6th best squad, it’s not rocket science. And there’s no pov change regarding Wenger b3cause it’s Wenger’s poor squad building that has left us with the 6th best squad. Having said that I still think we could have finished higher last season had a pep, Klopp or Fergie had been in charge over Wenger so Emery needs to finish higher than last season as a minimum, but we also need to factor in that the squads above us and utd have had additional investment so the bar… Read more »
The team needs more depth to succeed this season. We still have 3 competitions. Any responsible board should provide the team at least two more players in this transfer window.
Not only have the teams above us strengthened their already superior squads (except spurs) but we also spent less than some of the lower placed teams, it’s much harder to get points this season than last. The gap between top and middle isn’t that great anymore and we are on that line quality wise.
“The gap between top and middle isn’t that great anymore”
Well said.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11611672/arsenals-win-over-chelsea-shows-a-winning-formula-for-unai-emery
“the watching Mesut Ozil should be under no illusions about what it will take to work his way back into Emery’s plans. ”
I really doubt he cares a lot about that fact.
Before someone trots out the league table to point out the points gap between first and 7th (27 points) City and Liverpool are clearly on another level atm. The point is there are now 4-5 teams like Wolves, Leicester, West Ham, Watford and Everton that can keep pace somewhat where before there was only 1 or 2, we have also gone from a top 4 to a top 6 in the last couple of years so it’s definitely getting harder, we can’t expect Arsenal to get top 4 just on name alone when everyone else around us either spends more… Read more »
And the spuds are far too lucky so far to miss the top 3.
C*nts.
An excellent result and energetic performance over the weekend against a comically poor Chelsea. Huge kudos- for Emery in the motivational stakes, With the devastating injury to Hector Bellerin – surely the new regime (Raul/Emery) will have the chance to show if they are indeed fit for purpose- And change tact with the completely unneeded signing of Suarez (denis) and show they can think on their feet – and get the right back we NOW desperately require to go into the second half of the season Recalling Callum Chambers is clearly the right thing to do. Failing that Seamus Coleman… Read more »
Wenger’s speciality was beating run of the mill teams, when that failed we dropped out of the top 4, simple as.
Amen to that.
Lunch break. Pastie and chips. All healthy stuff. I’ve come to the conclusion that after so many years of frustration and inept leadership under Wenger and his crew, watching Arsenal these days still lacks something for me. Is it my steadfast philosophies and principles, or is the fact that Football has changed so much. Maybe. However, watching my beloved team these days no longer holds the same excitement it once did. The anger I have inside for the past regime, along with the feeling of disbelief at the way the club has treated it’s own fanbase, will never die. Doubts… Read more »
Many Grovers wants the PL title right here, right now
—————————
I see nothing wrong with that, I mean shit, look at bloody Leicester.
Even in the dark days between 71 – 89 there was always that feeling (and quite rightly so) that we are The Arsenal and we should be winning the league every season.
That’s what passion is all about.
Chelsea were not ‘comically poor”, this is just another passive aggressive dig at a great Arsenal performance from an Emery outer. Chelsea hit the post and Willian was very dangerous, Chelsea were below their usual standard but far from comically poor. Absolutely agree that the priorities considering our Oliver Twist finances and Bellerin’ s injury should be a right back and a WC centre back. We need better wingers but that should wait until the summer after we’ve had a clear out, and shouldn’t include the purchases of Suarez, Benega or Carsaco (sp). For the rest of the season we… Read more »
Arsenal depressing.
“I mean shit, look at bloody Leicester.”
Ah ah ah, you got a point!! 🙂
Graham62
You’re the yo-yo man here.
One day, Emery is not good enough…a good result and he’s okay.
There used to be a nursery rhyme to describe you.
@Guns of Brixton : did you mean Arsenal Ze pressing ??
https://www.arsenal.com/news/thank-you-sven
I give a bit more detail on Sven leaving in the podcast if you care to listen.
Not sure I buy into us having the 6th best squad, especially if you bring in Rambo and Ozil in from the cold / consider Spurs injuries / Chelsea’s reluctance to use players properly / United getting all the luck. We have two 25 goal a season strikers. Most of the defensive players are now Emery’s. The real issue for us is width. I wonder if Emery will give a kid a run out. See what Saka is made of. Gotta say, I’m with Un, we can mix it when we fancy it. It’s the cold trips down south against… Read more »
The dotcom have confirmed that Keith Lemon will be leaving on February 8th.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11613660/arsenal-confirm-sven-mislintat-departure
Yes, we have 2 great strikers, that’s our only saving grace. We can’t keep playing them together every match though. Ramsey is leaving and wasn’t worth the money he was asking for. Ozil has been on a downward spiral the last 2 seasons and are wildly inconsistent when he gets to play. 0 wingers. Most of the defensive players are now Emery’s? Are you kidding? The keeper, 1 defender and 1 DM is hardly most. (Discounting Licht because he’s hardly qualified as a backup and Guen because he shouldn’t be starting this many games at this stage but our options… Read more »
Fuck Stan Kroenk! You want to know why we dont have a dam dollar to spend in January?????The NFL and Refs from yesterdays game have it all. MAY HE BURN IN HELL!!!
https://www.arsenal.com/news/thank-you-sven
This is a short sighted political decision, not a decision that is based on footballing reasons.
Leeds
To be fair we have no idea why Sven is leaving.
i don’t see our drastic need for a CB after Kos finally getting up to speed and that young Greek guy (who many believe has the potential to be a world class CB) coming back from injury. +holding next season.
if emery were committed to playing 3cb, i might agree.
Leeds, listen to the pod. That gives a good overview. Not as cut and shut as it looks.
Worry is Emery and Raul are in lock step. Buying up bargains from big clubs.
“Worry is Emery and Raul are in lock step. Buying up bargains from big clubs.” You are not the only one! I thought in these post Wenger days this was the formula: a head coach – coaching the players- no real input in buying players DOF- conduit between money men and coach. Chief Scout- data base of YOUNG European talent. Scenario: Bellerins inury. DOF speaks to Chief Scout. He recommends him an affordable right back. Coach continues as before – with the NEW incoming right back, What I did not envisage- the model above breaking down so quickly And the… Read more »
Wonder how the team should field for the upcoming FA Cup game. At least I’ll give Kosc a rest seeing how Bellerin got injured. I think Mustafi will come in. Cross my finger that he’ll have one of his good day. I would like to see ESR and Willock playing. Maybe starts Eddie also.
Mislintat to leave on February 8th. I guess we’ll have a new chief scout sooner than I was thinking. Very important hire.
Too bad …fans were really taken with Sven. A lot of hope pinned on his shoulders when it shouldn’t really be the case, i buy Pedro’s idea that we should have a CEO who decides the path the club should take, has a vision, this power sharing arrangement can get messy
Nelson we are playing United at home after a good win against another rival Chelsea..i say play the strongest squad we can. It’s a Friday game, enough time to rest and train more smartly
Pedro
Buying bargains from big clubs will only be a part of the strategy. Buying young talent (before it gets too pricey) will also be a part of it. The former will get us quality players for today’s matches; the latter will get us quality players for tomorrow’s matches. Stop pretending we won’t be doing the latter. They have both near-term and longer-term goals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcGaph1XNPk I posted this the other day but in light of the formal announcement of Sven’s departure it’s worth posting again. Sven is a master in the new era of scouting. Absolutely cray that we are letting him go. No matter how good Raul’s contact book is, if our scouting is going to be centred around picking up rejects from Barcelona and Real Madrid and transforming them, we are always going to be behind them. Like I said the other day, why did the club feel that it had to choose between the two anyways? Why couldn’t we the best… Read more »
Raul knows the inner workings of one of the biggest clubs in th4 world. He’s the quintessential ‘football man’.
I’m optimistic about the near future.
We are better off now than we were in Jan 2017.
*crazy
Not often we agree RH-but am with you here.
Imperative a CEO is brought in.
And equally imperative that he is chosen by Kroenke!
Ideally that man – would be Josh!
for a multi millionaire organisation – we have the most incongruous, unsustainable and inept set up imaginable.
its doomed to fail .
Leeds, you’re not wrong.
We’re rejecting that stats nonsense like peak Harry Redknapp.
I don’t think Sven was perfect, but his methods should have been adopted and his vision was certainly a smarter way forward.
Arsenal should be a richer version of Dortmund, not a shit version of Barca.
To RH and CG, I don’t know what the deal is with Marotta, but we should be all over him like a cheap suit. We are desperate for his sort of leadership
Shit, he went to Inter Milan
People pinning their hopes on Raul- i am afraid will be disappointed.
His record at Barca – is patchy to say the least,
If he buys Denis Suarez for £16 million with Arsenal money and yet at Barca he paid £3.5 million= serious questions have to be asked about his acumen and competence.
Why has the players price increased FIVEFOLD – when he has not been able to cut the mustard it in La Liga?
No one know’s who couldn’t get on with who, or if the whole Spanish connection thing between Emery and Raul is being overplayed, Here are the things i do know though – Borrusia Dortmund have continued bringing in young exciting talents even after Sven – Arsenal football club has never been about who the scout is, Sven has only been here a year so some of the reactions to him leaving have been OTT -Athletic Madrid, Lyon, Napoli, Porto to name a few are all European clubs who keep bringing in talent year on year, Sven has never worked for… Read more »
i dont want Moratta,
i want a competent, instinctive British CEO.
I would make an offer for Richard Scudamore.
Now – he is good!
“His record at Barca – is patchy to say the least,”
Barca won 9 x La Ligas and 4 x CLs in his 15 years.
I cant wait for a patchy period at Arsenal.
Pedro
It sounds like we’re accepting Raul’s words like cure all.
Like you say, Arsenal should be a richer version of Dortmund, not a shit version of Barca… but that’s exactly where we are headed because Kronke is unwilling to invest in Arsenal so that the transformation into EPL version of Barca can work.
I hope I’m wrong, but my gut reaction says this is going to be a bad decision… I’m going to wince everytime Sven discovers the next big signing… and regretting that he isn’t at Arsenal.
Charlie
Denis Suarez is quality. Watch him play. That he doesn’t start at Barcelona doesn’t mean he’s not quality. FFS, Coutinho rarely starts for Barcelona. Your narrative is bogus.
Leeds
Do you call the acquisition of 30 year old Sokratis and 29 year old Auba for £80 million excellent Mislintat signings.
Like gambon stated, you have no clue why he is leaving.
His record at Arsenal is mixed, granted the time span was too short and we won’t ever know what really happened.
He’s not the only footballing mind on the planet so let’s relax on all the forced outrage.
Pedro does it mean that as things stand we do not have a CEO?? Or has the club simply done away with that job title?
RH, shared leadership. Raul is football, Vinai is commercial. Awful offering. Power shares never work. No one is accountable.
The next big force in football will be the team that can scout world class talents better, train existing talents so that they are fitter faster and stronger, rehab injured players quicker and more effectively than their rivals.
Sven should have been a big part of this.
Pedro Why are you suggesting that we will no longer be relying on a chief scout to find us talented youngsters? Because of course we will be doing this. If they are leaning more on Raul than on the chief scout in the present, this is likely because we need players who can improve us right now. Of course we should be a wealthier Dortmund; but there is no evidence that we’re not going to be that. We don’t know why Mislintat is leaving; but it’s far more likely on account of his being passed over for the technical director… Read more »
Leeds, agree.
Raul is a politician.
I’m happy to wait and see where he goes with his next hires… it’ll be interesting to see if he throws out the notion of data and science in pursuit of an old boys network hire.
We have a director of football, don’t we
We are a football club and there’s someone in charge of footballing affairs.
Did you expect a non-footballing person to run football or a non-business person to run the football?
What’s the moaning about?
The Kroenke’s have taken over. They are running the club with a two-chief officer model; a chief financial officer and a chief operations [football] officer.
Bamford, what we’re doing right now is not strategic or longterm. Buying in Banega , Carrasco, Suarez and James are all so so for me.
We should be investing in the future, reworking the wage bill and defining a style of football. Liverpool is the model for me. Spurs to a certain degree. But going for broken ok players seems like a poor model.
Dissenter, I don’t think Raul is a good director of football, is that ok with you?
Dissenter
Exactly. Sven Mislintat is not the only good scout on the planet.
“Denis Suarez is quality”- Bamford
he might well be!
My point is- we have quality in his area of the field.
We have little quality- as of today in the right back position.
We have thinning quality in the CH position.
We also have budgetary issues,
Its a vanity signing at best,
It will also probably mean AMN will be forced to go elsewhere.
Harry Winks aint as good as our lad (AMN)- yet Poch – sticks by his BRITS.
Because- he feels rightly ( they are important)
Emery clearly does not!
When Raul was in Barca, did Barcelona have a network of scouts?
Baracelona have led the way in showing how to run a club from down-up, from the grassroots up.
I’m not crediting everything to Raul but damn…the narrative is so wrong that every signing will be based on Raul’s contacts .
“No one is accountable.” Not sure about that. Although I do agree you really do need a unifying leader to set the vision. Rauls job is to make sure we have the best possible manager, best possible coaches, best possible backroom team, best scouts, best scouting systems, best transfer strategy, best youth development. Vinais job is to make sure we sell out the Emirates, particularly club level and boxes, make sure we are strong commercially (probably the biggest job at Arsenal right now). Both are more than qualified for their roles. Its just a question of whether they are actually… Read more »