courtesy @allthatchas
Arsenal under new leadership looks exactly the same as the old Arsenal we thought we’d left behind. The sum total of what we delivered in a 3-1 loss was 15 minutes of football that looked interesting. The main celebration of Arsenal fans post-game centred around not losing by 8 goals, as many feared we’d be revisiting that fateful Manchester disasterclass of 2011.
That’s a depressing new low 9 months into a new regime.
I don’t think anyone was really expecting Emery to deliver a blistering win, but I also don’t think anyone expected Arsenal to go down so meekly. Emery was pitched as a master tactician, a man who had a plan for every player, an energetic motivator who was furious at the fitness levels of the players, and on a mission to hold players accountable for their pitiful attitude towards winning. What he delivered yesterday was another shambles shielded by the fact that he has a free season pass with a huge group of the fans who seem to believe that patience and money will iron out the kinks in a body of issues that looks more like coaching issues.
The starting 11 was odd. Emery opted for 4-4-2. He chose to play Iwobi, he once again picked Lichtsteiner, and he left Suarez, Ramsey and Ozil on the bench.
We paid the price within 50 seconds. Guendouzi had tried to move the ball out of our box, he played into Iwobi who dithered and lost the ball, Lichtsteiner was too slow to realize what was going on, Mustafi played everyone onside, and Aguero was found with a diving header he easily put past Leno who jumped the wrong way. We were so stretched early on it was hard to work out what the formation was at times, but what was clear is the defence was shell shocked and hadn’t a clue how to settle.
Arsenal did come back into the game with a great set piece goal from Laurent Koscielny. Torriera found Monreal at the front post, the ball was knocked on for a simple headed goal. We had City rattled for a good 15 minutes, Guendouzi and Torriera were doing as solid a job in midfield as they could considering how outnumbered they were and we nearly took advantage of a few pieces of shoddy defending. But ultimately, we weren’t set up to take advantage of the weaknesses in City’s armour. Our strikers were playing too deep, Auba is ineffective against great sides that control the midfield, we had no width, and our creativity was limited to Iwobi.
To make matters worse, as always with this Emery side, we didn’t have the maturity to see out an advantage into half time, a now chronic issue almost as debilitating to our progress as not winning away from home last season.
Fernandinho had time to pick out Sterling on the right, Lichtsteiner pottered over, the ball was cut back to Gundogan who clipped a ball back over the defence first time, our right back had lost Sterling trying to clear his lines, the ball was volleyed across goal where Aguero was on hand to finish unmarked for the second time.
Emery didn’t do anything to change things at halftime, I thought he might switch to three at the back and introduce some creative talent. We’d not given Lacazette or Auba a single chance the whole half, you felt if we addressed that, we might have made things more interesting.
As it happened, City came gunning for us in the second 45, and we were finished by 60 minutes. Aguerro found Sterling out on the right, Iwobi wasn’t covering, Lichtsteiner couldn’t deal with the pace, a simple cross found Aguero for his third tap-in of the night.
The manager tried to chase the game after that by introducing Denis Suarez for his debut and giving Rambo a run-out, but the players had essentially given up. They knew it was over and they didn’t want to go down fighting. Emery himself seemed to follow their lead offering up Mavrapanos as a 79th-minute sub.
Worth noting that Suarez dropped a debut so bad, there’s a compilation of it. It’s only one game, but I’ve seen him plenty of times before, I’m really struggling to see what he’s brought to the table that we don’t already have at the club. He doesn’t give us width, he’s not physical and he’s slow.
Arsenal were chasing a game in the second half and we managed to register ZERO attempts at the City goal. We couldn’t even provide a wild shot at goal from 40 yards (miss u, Xhaka).
The two bright spots for me were Matty G and Lucas T. Those two worked tirelessly and deserved more out of the game. Matty G is such a great player, I love his ferocity and work ethic, his lanes of passing and his growing confidence. What a star we have there. It’s telling that he’s our most important player at the minute, this reminds me of Jack in his breakthrough year. Let’s hope we take care of MGs body a little better.
So in conclusion, it was 3 points we were all expecting to drop, but a match that once again exposed the manager as lukewarm at the highest level. He made a lot of mistakes yesterday and I think that’s 13 games he’s failed to best Pep. I think this comment after the game was very telling.
“Our players have the mentality that when we are worse than the opposition we feel that.’’
Apparently, that line isn’t a translation issue, he said it over and over again. Though it might be true, you do wonder if Emery was wise to say it? The team are clearly struggling with inconsistent ideas, indecision with team selection and interchanging tactics. I’m not sure throwing stones is smart when you opt to play two strikers and leave all your creativity on the bench. Is Emery really surprised the players didn’t believe when he started Lichtsteiner despite knowing he’s finished at the highest level?
Inferiority issues usually stem from the leader. You’ll always come up against bigger and better-equipped opponents, the key is to find stratagems that convince your soldiers the fight is winnable.
Whatever the reason, Emery’s observation was correct, you absolutely knew that when Arsenal walked out on that pitch they had no hope of winning that game. The players didn’t look like they knew what they were doing and there was the same lack of belief we’d have under Wenger. The interesting thing about the comment is earlier in the season, we were celebrating the shift in mentality under Emery, a manager who said he refused to let his players play like cowards, a manager who had reinvigorated the dressing room with a winning mentality. The proof points were a succession of late winners, games turned around at half time, and 22 games unbeaten (I was saying it too!).
What are we saying now? Was that a mirage? Is it now back to Wenger’s team after 9 months? Do we have to go on a Stalinist purge to rid every single player that had a word whispered to him by our ex-manager before we can be fully satisfied that the new coach has been given the best possible chance?
We are 9 months into this project and we’re on course to concede 57 goals this season. We’ve shipped 13 goals in our 4 big away games so far this season. We look an absolute mess. There was no organisation yesterday, senior players were making basic mistakes (players that have been making mistakes all season), and the tactical hypothesis we went for in leaving our creative players on the bench ended up punishing us because the pragmatism didn’t equate to better defending.
Arsenal didn’t have to travel this week, so they’ve had time to prepare for this game. We conceded 12 shots on target from 19 attempts. That is miserable, but we did the same away at Chelsea (13) and Liverpool (10). Just to put it in perspective because I know we had injuries, Newcastle limited City to 4 shots on target the week before. Even Huddersfield, a team in a terrible state, managed to reduce City to 4 shots on target. Defending is a team game, and we’re not doing it well. Even worse, both the aforementioned sides registered the same number of shots on target as us (2), both had more attempts.
If there is such thing as winning ugly, then yesterday was an example of Arsenal losing ugly. City were average, but as always, we are exactly the team you want to play when you’ve hit a bumpy patch. We’ll always roll over and take it. I knew we’d have problems this season, but I thought we’d see a sharper vision of a new Arsenal sooner. I thought at the very least, if we went down, we’d go down fighting. I didn’t expect the coach to be slaying his player’s mentality in February, especially when 6 of the starting 11 were players bought in during the Sven era (the remaining 5 all capped at international level).
You can attribute yesterday to Wenger all you like, you can plead for more money and patience, but you cannot escape the reality that Emery was hired in as a prestigious head coach of Arsenal and he’s failing across the board. The video analysis hype doesn’t seem to be translating onto the pitch. Maybe players can’t concentrate for the hour or so he spends talking to them, maybe the ideas aren’t good? Whatever Emery and his team are doing defensively, we’re getting worse.
‘I like the possession with the ball, I like good pressing against the other team. I prefer to win 5-4 than win 1-0.’
Today we registered 2 shots on target both shots coming from defenders. The pressing game isn’t really there. The players are not getting better individually. Stylistically, we’re still awful to watch.
That’s on the coach.
Today’s result was expected, the question you have to ask yourself is whether that was the sort of loss that’s driving towards a better Arsenal. For me, all I could take out of that was the dread that we have a manager out of his comfort zone and as a result is shifting his own narrative from a power point mastermind who had a plan to coach us into the next level, to just another drab chequebook manager who needs two seasons to make improvements (remember the press defending Moyes in the same way?).
That’s not what we were sold people because if it were, you’d not have bought it.
Remember, there is nothing rational in calling for patience and investment in a person who isn’t delivering improvement. There is nothing sensible in taking a drab path if you don’t need to. Bruce Rioch hit his objectives in his first season at Arsenal and David Dein took the rational decision to dispense of his services for Arsene Wenger. That’s great leadership. Let’s hope Raul has that in him should the season continue to head south.
Would love to hear your thought in the comments.
x
Yeah spuds are looking relentless wouldn’t put it last them to sneak the title.
As much I hate them they are fabulous team far better than many give them credit.
Fact is they will have all their injured players like kane coming back sat the perfect time snd they lost 0 points with them out like many expected them to do.
That is a team with depth.
LG
They’re well overdue a draw, ridiculous how they’ve won 19 and lost 6 of 25.
Don’t see them going the distance, we’ve seen this before in seasons past and they always choke under the pressure. Citeh’s title to lose if Pool don’t shape up asap.
Spurs are riding their luck too, they can’t keep pulling late winners out of their arse.
They’re bound to turn into a few draws soon enough, that’s 3 matches on the bounce that they’ve nabbed a very late winner.
Wait a second……when did Wilshere play last for West Ham?
DaleDaGoonerFebruary 4, 2019 22:21:20 Wait a second……when did Wilshere play last for West Ham? – Yeah exactly. And check what Everton fans think of wally. How long has Ox been out? Any news on coqulien or gabriel? All these Wenger players do is stink up the place. He found a few gems over the years, but the duds far out number the gems. Now Emery is stuck with a few more duds holding the club hostage because 1. They’re not looking for 1st team football elsewhere. 2.They refuse to take pay cuts at other clubs. So Arsenal can’t sell them.… Read more »
The only positive thing from yesterdays debacle is that city’s only 3 points off the dippers!
Versus, Coquelin and Gabriel play fairly regularly for their clubs
Coquelin and Gabriel have been outstanding for Valencia, maybe watch some more footy before throwing out random statements
What is with all the spud love. As much as I hate it when Arsenal lose I would gladly take yesterday’s loss if it meant that city beat the scum to the title. Ideally spurs will be humiliated at Dortmund the team will break up as they realise they are more likely to tread in rocking horse shit than win a trophy and that fucktard Pochettino will bugger off to madrid
DaleDaGooner “More i see, more i agree with Pedro that 1 out of 2 league title in Ligue 1 means we are not getting that elite manager we so desperately need.” I’m not pretending to have any special talent to spot elite managers, but for what it’s worth, I never for a second envisaged Emery coming in to replace Wenger. I thought that like me the club has discounted him as the kind of manager we needed because he isn’t a CL level manager, has been on the receiving end of some embarrassing good hidings and his tenure at PSG… Read more »
How do you expect any team to be defensively stable (not even solid) if you can’t pick a regular 4 because of injuries? How many times we had to chop and change formation and players because of injuries? All started at Southampton Yesterday was always going to be difficult task, we made it impossible by conceding a silly goal in the first minute.. Think Emery’s mistake was playing iowbe on the right, where he could have done much better on the left inplace of kolasniac who was static and useless. I can see why Emery did that though, clearly he… Read more »
Which games has Emery been on the end of some embarrassing hidings ?
Yes it’s a shame we couldn’t have kept Coquelin and got rid of the useless wage stealing Ozil.
6-1 to Barcelona springs to mind when they were 3 goals up in agg in the 88th minute of the 2nd leg.
5-1 to Liverpool.
Plenty from his time in Seville and Valencia.
The comment was referring to pre-Arsenal
One fuckin game lol
Real Madrid have been on the end of many Barcelona drubbings
I’ll absolutely love it if Liverpool throw it all away again, this is Klopp’s Brendan Rodgers season and if he fucks it this season they won’t win it next season that’s for sure.
After spending around £400m in Klopp’s tenure and winning zilch so far, how long will it be before the fans start getting on his back and calling him Klopp the flop? I can see Liverpool sacking him and maybe even bring back Benitez seeing how amazingly he’s doing at Newcastle.
Funny that Red given how overrated the midget fraud Messi is.
Ancelotti’s AC Milan 4-1 up from the 1st leg lose 4-0 in 2nd leg to DEPORTIVO!!!
Champions league Final lose to Liverpool after being 3-0 up at half time lol lol lol
Imagine the headlines after Liverpool lose at old toilet:
“Klopp the flop plops the kop and their title bid down rhe toilet!”
I can totally see the Sun running with that headline, would be brilliant!
Yeah Ancelotti’s Milan were a joke, only won the CL twice the losers.
One on.penalties and the other ?
Fergie has wo n the Champions league twice.
One was daylight robbery and the other was when John Terry lost a hoof just before miszing his penalty kick…
6-3 at Real Madrid
5-1 at Barca
4-0 at Espanyol
7-3 at Real Madrid
1-4 at home to Barca
4-0 at Atletico
5-1 at Barca
4-0 at Real Madrid
1-4 at home to Granada
6-1 at Barca
and most recently 5-1 at Liverpool
The problem with Emery is that it seems to happen a bit too often. This isn’t the record of an elite manager.
Klopps bloody useless, how long has he had and still struggling to win anything. I mean seriously can anyone see the difference between his side and Brendan rogers?😁
Fact
Arsenal conceded 34 in the first 25 league games last year and have let in 36 over the same number of top flight games with Emery this season.
Surely when Emery brought his little USB Stick to show Gazidis in his interview, he would have prioritised the defensive issues.
Yes Holding and Bellerin have been injuries, Koscielny as well for the majority.. but we were still conceding goals WITH them in the team.
Sevilla results since the departure of Emery:
Barcelona 3 Sevilla 0
Real Madrid 4 Sevilla 1
Valencia 4 Sevilla 0
Real Masrid 4 Sevilla 0
Eibar 5 Sevilla 1
Sevilla 3 Real Betis 5
Sevilla 2 Atletico Madrid 5
Celta Vigo 4 Sevilla 0
Tyag,
Yes, the only difference really is that Klopp’s got Salah, Mane & Firminho in place of Suarez, Sterling & Sturridge, but the rest of Klopp’s side is vastly more expensive than Brenda’s. One could argue that Brenda did a better job spending less money.
The pressure’s definitely on Klopp now.
And considering a lot on here are saying that Benitez us better than Emery because Newcastle beat City and we didn’t, seeing as Liverpool also lost to city that means Benitez is,also a better than Klopp.
Klopp out, Benitez in?
I mean, that goal Liverpool conceded tonight against West Ham – where was the defending? Klopp clearly can’t coach defending so Liverpool really should get Benitez back quick sharp.
“And considering a lot on here are saying that Benitez us better than Emery because Newcastle beat City and we didn’t, seeing as Liverpool also lost to city that means Benitez is,also a better than Klopp.“
I think I’m the only one that’s mentioned Rafa and I certainly didn’t do so on the strength of one victory.
But good try Benny, you almost managed to follow a train of thought from someone else.
As good as Salah is, Suarez of 2013/14 was a different kind of animal.
Better front 3 then I’d argue.
I’ve never heard a manager make so many excuses for a bad performance as Klopp does. He’s now blaming the missed offside causing the ref to not give anything to Liverpool in the 2nd half, citing rhythm breaking by West Ham and lots of strange decisions by the ref not going Liverpool’s way.
He’s cracking!
Over the last week or so lots of others have been chsmpioning Benitez not just you CC.
But considering the Emery out train of thought is so convoluted and contradictory and very hard to follow, thanks for crediting me on almost following it, as even Stephen Hawking would find it hard so I must be pretty smart to be able to make sense of it, cheers.
Benny
You waffle a lot mate, not really sure what you’re talking about with Hawking etc.
What’s clear is your complete defiance to accept any opinion on Benitez so you get awfully animated and sarcastic in defence of Emery. It’s a bit of a puzzle truth be told.
There’d be no talk of Rafa or any other manager if Emery was producing something notably better than the worst efforts of Wenger, let’s not lose sight of the actual topic.
The worst efforts of Wenger, ok. Let’s see where we finish the season before we start making outlandish statements like that shall we?
Finish 6rh with less points than last season then Emery should go, definitely.
Finish 6rh with the same points as last season then we have pariry and arguably Emery should still go.
Finish 6th with more points than last season then Emery should get the 2nd year of his contract.
Finish 5th then that will be definite progress and there’ll be no argument that Emery should get the 2nd year of his contract.
If Emery does get the chop I wouldn’t mind taking the Wolves manager on. Doing an excellent job with Wolves, has assembled a brilliant young dynamic team playing great attacking football.
Daily Mail and Mirror are suggesting that Arsenal’s net transfer budget in Summer will be just £45 Million. If that is true then club are in a real mess. That alone will not cover our defensive requirements let alone anything else.
The club’s owner will need to offer an explanation why he is not investing our
sponsorship packages in improving t he team. The Emirates, Adidas and Rwanda sponsors are paying the club over £100 million.
Watching the Monday night football on sky they showed how Emery left lichsteiner out to dry with his naive tactics against city. Ashley Cole was on talking about his tactics and said they should have known where the danger was going to come from in the form of de. Bruyne and David Silva playing as false no.8’s and continually getting in behind the full backs . They were amazed that Emery played a back 4 when a back 3 with wing backs was the obvious choice to cut down the space down the channels. They said Lichsteiner wasn’t to blame… Read more »
Benny
I can judge so far and that’s precisely my take. I’ll have to disagree with you that points total or finishing position is the ultimate measure.
There’s been seasons where 80 points has won the league and others where 100 has, it’s not that simple.
We’re 5 points better off after 25 games this season than last. Yes, we have Emery and not Wenger, but we also have Aubameyang, Torreira, Leno, Sokratis, and Guendouzi.
You think us finishing 5th instead of 6th is “better” no matter the context. Not for me
Pierre Emery may to be to blame for the tactics played on Sunday, but it does not change the overall opinion that Lichsteiner is an exceedingly poor player and not of EPL standard. The fact of matter is that our defence is awful not just in games against Liverpool and Man City. What concerns me if the Mail/Mirror articles are true is that we will go into next season with no improvement. I can understand having a limited net budget if you have players to sell, but that is not case with us. If you are lucky you might sell… Read more »
Taking the Mhik
The amazing thing is that we haven’t conceded from a corner this season so all the goals conceded have come from open play .
A team concedes more from open play when they are not composed in possession of the ball .
Continually giving the ball away in midfield and attack creates more pressure on the defence.
Until Arsenal rectify this part of their game they won’t improve defensively.
Stroller
I agree that he is not up to standard and we should look for a different option as he is a liability.
With regard to who we can bring in , 45 million won’t go far will it.
However, I personally have hope that we could have a back line next season consisting of bellerin, mavropanos and holding with at least one more addition.
I still do think that the managers tactics are not helping us defensively at all .
Stroller
Mustafi,elneny and Kolasinac are probably favourites to go but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Mhkitaryan, iwobi or Lacazette leave as we could still receive a decent fee for them.
Pierre It would be utter madness selling Lacazette. He is an excellent player who works extremely hard for team. Somehow I don’t see Emery selling Iwobi even if he is a headless chicken. The players seems to start in a lot of games. As I see matters we can generate transfer fees for Ospina, Chambers,Elneny and possibly Kolasinac. Can you see truthfully these players generating collectively £40 million. Personally I doubt it. Mkhitaryan will be 31 next season and his wage bill will be an impediment to any significant transfer fee being paid for him. We are going to need… Read more »
Stroller
Personally I wouldn’t sell Lacazette or Mhkitaryan .
It may be down to bringing the kids in and see if they have what it takes.
I feel the fans would be more patient if we did go down that route.
We could have a very young team
Bellerin
Holding
Maitland Niles
Mavropanos
Guendouzi
Torreira
Smith rowe
Saka
Willock
Nketiah
Nelson
Iwobi
That lot with a few experience heads may be the way forward it the club won’t spend.
A owner who has zero love for the game or aspirations to be the best. All the club is to this man is a money investment and that is it top to bottom. He purchased Arsenal for a steal and manipulated the board like a bunch of muppets with his hand up their ass. By not being present and giving them a false sense of security they felt it was their club to run, while looking to purchase more and more percentage around every corner. The return on this club for the money invested is by far a financial forecasters… Read more »
Where is this £45m figure coming from? What about our cash reserves and new revenues? We should be able to spend £150m let alone £100m. If this transpires to be the case then the board need to explain what the hell is going on?
Also if true we will have to sell Ozil and I would suggest selling Aubameyang too as he’s already 30 and will lose some pace within 2 seasons.
Worrying times if this is true.
Sell Mustafi and Mikhitaryan as well.
Keep Chambers as he’s proving a good player at Fulham. Keep Kolasinac but sell Elneny. We need Ospina as we have no back up as Cech is retiring.
With Ramsey leaving and Lichsteiner and Welbeck’s contracts expiring, as long as we sell Ozil too our wage bill should be back under control.
The Daily Mail piece says nothing whatsoever about why Emery would only have £45 million this summer and is completely unsourced. I don’t think much credence should be given to it. We spent £70 million last summer and barely even mentioned it. According to gambon’s back-of-the-napkin calculations, we should have around £100 million in revenue just for signings, and according to TR7’s numbers, we have another £100 million or so in cash reserves. If the club says we only have £45 million to spend this summer, they will have much explaining to do. There has been some mention of how… Read more »
If we finish 5th then that absolutely is progress from finishing 6th. To say it isn’t is just bizarre. To be honest though I’d rather Emery just goes in the summer and Benitez or Arteta get the job. Hopefully that will shut everyone up and we should end up winning the league easily, even if we do only get £45m and Liverpool, Chelsea, City and Utd spend £1bn between them, because afterall, a good coach should be able to drill a team of pub players into a better team than money can buy. Everybody will be happy except Charlie George… Read more »
If all the players that played two seasons or more under AW is replaced during Emery tenure, his time at the club would be a success. It doesn’t matter who the manager is, what tactics or which player is bought to improve the group we will always fail because AW players are mentally damaged. They know to keep the fans onside when they play crap. Its a holiday camp for Ozil and his friends. Its laughable seeing fans reaction to yesterdays game, if you noticed the best players on the pitch was LT, MG and BL. All the others couldn’t… Read more »
“However, I personally have hope that we could have a back line next season consisting of bellerin, mavropanos and holding with at least one more addition.”
Are you sure you are not a spurs fan?
You are hoping two of our back 4 will consist of players recovering from ACLs?
I have noting against Holding and Mavropanos but I’ll prefer then learn from an experienced pro, someone between the ages 27-29 so that they can take over when the pro enters his 30’s.
GunnerDNA,
Yep. Our best players now are without doubt Emery era players yet Emery isn’t good enough. This is what I mean by convoluted, contradictory Emery out logic that Stephen Hawking would have trouble understanding, and because of that like a Dragon in his den,
I’m out.
If for some reason we do have limited funds this summer — and again, I have yet to see any good explanation for why this would be so — then we really should consider selling either Aubameyang or Lacazette. Given that the former will be 30 this summer and has the more limited skillset, I can see the argument for him being the one to go. However, given his greater length and pace, and given his better goalscoring record, I could also see some arguing that he should be the one we keep. Regardless, we don’t need two £55m center-forwards… Read more »
Add “and have many holes to fill in the first XI” to the last sentence of the above.
“Unai Emery to have a transfer budget of just £45million this summer as Arsenal boss continues to work with stringent financial boundaries” Unai Emery was told that he could only make loan signings during January He is keen to sign at least three players including a new left back this summer Selling players would enable the Spaniard to supplement his transfer budget https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6667421/Arsenal-boss-Unai-Emery-transfer-budget-just-45m-summer.html So Pedro was right. Looks like Josh K was just giving us the usual AFC lip service we got used to from Gazidis and Wenger. It’s not about whether we have £200 million to spend it’s about… Read more »
Tony
That number is not verified or sourced at all.
its going to be higher… with players sales. Adidas, Rwanda, etc
Guns of SF
Is it? I hope you’re correct because the press were right for the last 2 windows.
Don’t we have over £200 million in the bank?
What happened to Unai Emery’s Arsenal captains? Gunners boss named five skippers for his first season but Manchester City defeat exposed their alarming lack of real leadership
Unai Emery named five Arsenal captains before the 2018-19 season started
The Gunners boss wanted a squad littered with leaders and potential captains
But a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City exposed a real lack of leadership in the side
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6665251/Unai-Emery-named-five-skippers-season-Man-City-defeat-exposed-lack-leadership.html
5 captains indeed !
Tony
No, we don’t have £200m in the bank. We had that as of June 1, 2018, but according to TR7’s comment/analysis of a few days ago, our cash reserves are probably now more in the £100m range.
And I’m with SF: the Daily Mail has said nothing about where their number is coming from or why the club would only have that much to spend.
we def have a lack of leaders. Xhaka looked the part earlier on, and Kos always looks like one, but he is not.
We have no Cesc… Vieira, RVP etc
Rambo, perhaps, but def not Ozil
Times have changed. Not sure there needs to be one leader anymore TBH
Anyhow, what we DO NEED right now is a head scout.
As much as I hated him when this happened, its nice to see he does have some sense in his head….
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11628406/ashley-cole-says-arsenal-fans-backlash-over-his-chelsea-move-still-affects-him
We could see big change in the team next season, with a lot of wages freed up: Cech – free Chambers – 15 to 20m Elneny – 10 to 15m Jenkinson – free Lichsteiner – free Welbeck – free Koscielny – 5m Mustafi – 20 to 25m Ramsey – free Ozil (If Unai doesn’t fancy him) – 30m Xhaka I would sell – 25 to 30m Ospina – free I’d bring in a bunch of quality young players such as Chilwell, Pepe, Nkunku, Rabiot, a top class centre half… Suarez if he’s good enough this season too Promote Smith-Rowe, Saka,… Read more »
Rabiot and Pepe will cost a lot.
We still need a proper bench
4-5 starters
This outlay will be easily over 100M
If we can do half this summer, fair enough.
We can start with 2 CB and a LB
Then a Winger and CAM
Thats 5 right there.
We do need to identify who we want and get them in soon. Bleed them all in the Emery ball way
SF
https://www.sport-english.com/en/news/barca/unai-emery-asks-arsenal-to-make-an-effort-to-sign-adrien-rabiot-7283603
Rabiot is available on a free in the summer. And arsenal love a free player.
If we have around 50m available to spend in the summer before player sales, we could spend around 100m easily.
We’ll see, as we all know what Arsenal are like.
Nicholas Pepe is reported to have a buy out clause of £45m. Which is around what Arsenal can afford to say.
Mikh
Would also depend on his wages if he is on a free and that is what has killed us.
Dont mind paying him, but if someone else offers more, then its likely he goes there. City, Barca etc
Besides, he is likely on high wages now at PSG
I would add Lozano to the list – tough gritty quick winger.
Pepe and Lozao with Rabiot. OMG!
SF
With Cech, Lichsteiner, Ramsey, Welbeck, Ospina and Jenkinson leaving at the end of the season, that should save nearly half a million pound a week right there.
This summer is the summer to recoup some big wages on underperforming and unwanted players I hope.
I hope we do let them go, sell em fast.
Need to clear out asap.
Xhaka and Ozil would be top of the sell list
Takin the Mhik @ February 5, 2019 04:29:25 Great post. I think that is spot on the money. Unfortunately I can’t see the club doing that. We shouldnt be spending any money on anyone over 27. This rebuild will take several years. I would try to sell Mkhitariyan as well. Surely if he is good enough to keep then at 30 he has some transfer value. I just dont think he is good enough. With all of the changes needed, we need to hold on to players like Iwobi and Kolasinac. But neither of these guys look up to it.… Read more »
If I’m not mistaken, poool had a massive 7 points lead. now it’s cut to 3. another Gerrard slip away from losing the title race. goes to show, how hard the league is, and also doesn’t look too good for klopp. All he has to show for is a CL final.
Qna
I don’t think we sell both Mhki and Ozil, as then we’ll be majorly lacking in creativity. Personally I’d keep Ozil, but obviously unai doesn’t fancy him so I think he’ll be gone
Takin. I think we have to sell Ozil no matter what. Unless Emery starts to use him its just ridiculous to keep him in our squad. With Mkhi I dont think he even gives us that creativity that we need. We do need to add some creative midfeilders. Some goal scoring midfeilders. But Mkhi doesn’t give us that. I don’t mind him as a squad player either. But he is a player that should be able to generate some transfer fees that we could reinvest into that position. My feeling is that we need to accept that we aren’t going… Read more »
Who actually agrees with this Emery matching Wenger’s worst season nonsense?
Receding
Out of 2 cups, and 6th. The league table doesn’t lie.
I don’t mind Emery, I actually think he’s the best available manager to get us back in the top 4 within the next 2 year’s. But hes not a league winning manager. And his tactics are worrying
Imagine we did make the champions league I wonder what our “fans” would say then
Imo I think Auba should be dropped and Laca Suárez given a start against Huddersfield.
Champagne charlie
“Receding
You’re alone in being petty, it’s you that’s wedded to a manager and pov to the point you dismiss and mock others at every juncture”.
Hahahahaha champagne you do make me laugh. If it came from anyone else, apart from a select few, that wouldn’t have been funny at all. The irony is rife in here that’s for sure.
Keep doing what you’re doing mate.
Takin: Out of 2 cups, and 6th. The league table doesn’t lie. As you have pointed out, the list of players that need to be sold/released at the end of this year is massive. The squad Emery has inherited is basically the same team that Wenger had last season. Is it really surprising that the new manager is having a similar season to Wenger’s last? Does Torreria, Guendouzi, Leno and Sokratis make that much of a difference. These are players that are still adjusting to the league and we are expecting them to lead the team to a better result… Read more »
From Emery is the best coach to Emery is the best coach we can afford. How things changes in six months. No he is a mediocre coach with poor management skill and a petty mentality. I said so in July (I was considered a Wenger apologist for stating that fact) and the current showing and news leaking from Arsenal have just confirmed my opinion. BTW he and PSG are now sued by Hatem Ben Arfa for deliberately ostracizing him. According to lawyers, Ben Arfa is unlikely to get the payoff he is after, but is likely to win on the… Read more »
Rabiot is definitely not the right answer for our midfield woes. He is slow, he tends to Hogg the ball.
He wants to play as 8 or 10, when we have too many of that type of players. We need a proper 6. Torreira can’t be the only one.
If you think that Özil is moody and temperamental, you have not seen anything. Rabiot and his mother are on another level.
valentin
I agree, rabiot isn’t the next level. He just looks good in the French league. I would rather use the money to fuel the world class winger that we need.
Nzonzi, although he’s older, would compliment Torreria perfectly.
takin the mikh
the nzonzi talk coming back out, I see.
why are we discussing paying 15m or more for a player above 30 ??
give guendouzi time and he and torr can dominate that mid together.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ashley-cole-admits-being-naive-13953654.amp
Fuck off you sneaky little rat, it wasn’t that you left it was that you met with the chavs behind our back and that we never didn’t have the balls to fuck you off into the reserves for your actions
Wenger didn’t have
Valentin is Rabiot a good replacement for Ramsey though? I think a midfield of Guendouzi, Torreira and Rabiot would work. I didnt think he was slow. At least not Xhaka slow. Given the options that we will have available to us in the summer, I think Rabiot is perfect. He wont cost a transfer fee. We will free up a lot of wages. Dont forget that he is only 23. I’d say he is a high priority despite the fact that he might be a bit harder to manage. Emery already knows him, so it wont be as if we… Read more »
Nzonzi is 30. No thanks.
Who actually agrees with this Emery matching Wenger’s worst season nonsense?
Receding
So far it’s true
A midfield of Guendouzi Torrieria and Rabiot would work
Pepe Lacazette and Aubameyang in front.
I would take that
BTW he and PSG are now sued by Hatem Ben Arfa for deliberately ostracizing him. According to lawyers, Ben Arfa is unlikely to get the payoff he is after, but is likely to win on the personal feeling injury. That would mean that Emery would find near impossible to find a job in France as no insurer would accept the risk. No insurer means no sensible club president will accept the liability hence no job.
What a load of waffle
Un Na. Didn’t somebody also post that Emery is just 3 points lower than Pep in his first season after the same number of games with City?
Nicholas Pepe is reported to have a buy out clause of £45m. Which is around what Arsenal can afford to say.
Taking the mikh
We have only £45m to spend and desperately need defenders.
Pedro was right too. He posted the £40m first
Why do we only have £40m to spend when we have £120m per season in sponsorship coming in? It doesn’t make sense
Kroenke must be taking money out of the club
Kroenke must be paying his loan off with club money
Receding. Is he going to have to pay out Ozil as well 🙂
Pedro may get his wish and Stan might sack Emery on the spot so they avoid the lawsuit. Haha.
Personal feeling injury for not being picked for games yet receiving your weekly pay check. You talk a lot of nonsense Valentin but that takes the trophy. It’s almost like you have a personal grudge with Emery the way you carry on smearing him.
But it’s okay i guess, it’s legit because your brother in-law’s cousin lives in Paris and supports PSG.