Arsenal took 3 points.
That is basically the best way to frame the victory. We are chasing top 4, we need to win points, we delivered the goods.
There were some positive performances. Alex Iwobi had a very good game, he scored a deflected volley after watching a Kola cross find him at the back stick. He nearly had goal of the weekend when he ripped a screamer into the top corner, only for the ref to disallow it dubiously for offside.
AMN racked up stats galore that on paper looked great, even though there were groans about how he played in general, and unfortunately some absolute children abusing him in his Insta-comments. He created the most chances, had the most successful passes in the final 1/3, made the most ball recoveries, most tackles… he wasn’t perfect, but he gave it a damn good go yesterday. Good for him, he’s a confidence player, he’s trying to find his feet in a team that’s playing badly and he’s playing out of position. I like the cut of his jib, Arsenal fans should lay off him.
Matteo G had a mixed bag in midfield. He certainly didn’t allow himself to get pushed around, in fact, he was being pretty spiteful to the Huddersfield players. I think he was seeking revenge for the pre-Xmas scrap. We’re in a situation now where our best midfielder is a 19 years old, who is outshining Torriera who looks very tired.
Mustafi was a disaster all afternoon. When does it become a safer bet to give one of the younger players a go? Where is Mavrapanos? What about Zech Medley?
- Can you stay on your feet?
- Can you pass?
- Can you pay attention?
Meet those criteria and you have as good as chance as any at making that defence. Mustafi looks broken. Like a man who read his club wanted to sell him this summer. He’s done, pass the baton to someone who is focused.
Arsenal dropped another poor performance but won. The win is a great thing, but there does come a point when you have to start asking when the performances are going to land? People were saying that Ozil, Ramsey and Auba weren’t available… sure, not having Auba was a miss, but the other two? Please.
Unai Emery has vastly more resources available to him than the poor Huddersfield manager, yet it was they who seemed to play more interesting football for large chunks of yesterday. There was a point when they were absolutely hammering us for posession, maybe I could stretch that we were letting them play to conserve energy? Regardless, giving a bottom of the table team that much of the ball felt a touch emasculating. We’re 7 months into the campaign, we have no defined style of play, no preferred formation, our defence still hasn’t kept a clean sheet on the road and the football is dreadful.
I understand the arguments that it would be ideal to give the manager another £200m, I totally get that some people think there’s some miracle coming and that this all gets better after this summer, but I really have my doubts.
The team looks like it’s going backwards. We’re taking solace in the manager being within spitting distance of the top 4, but for me this is no different to the last 6 years of bumming around ‘nearly’ in contention without any visible direction of how we’re going to improve.
My big fear is that we’re going to give this man £100m in the summer. He’s going to likely spend that cash with no oversight from a sporting director. His taste in players at PSG outside the mega signings is pretty grim, his taste this January was Denis Suarez, Ever Banega, Ivan Perisic and Yannick Carrasco. That stinks as badly of Europa League as our football does on the pitch.
The warning signs are everywhere… we are not progressing by any success metric, the fans aren’t showing up in the ground, the players look lost, and the manager is eyeing up bland players to fix these issues in the summer. There are too many examples of managers turning things around in the first season to ignore. Lucian Favre has Dortmund top in February with the same amount of points accrued in the whole of last season. Leeds have dropped to second, but are 2 points off top after finishing 7th last season. Gerrard is closing the gap in Scotland in his rookie year with a squad that had huge turnover.
All of those managers are having an impact on the football and it’s fair to say are making big improvements under tougher conditions. This notion that is pushed around that Emery took over the worst squad of players since Harry left Pompey is not acceptable. There is plenty of talent in that squad, he has two of the most potent strikers in our history at his disposal, he’s elected to alienate Ramsey and Mesut, and he bolstered the defence with £70m worth of talent we’re largely happy with.
We can’t keep hiding behind Wenger for February performances when the whole point of Emery was that he was a world class coach who could pick up a depressed squad, develop our players and give it some serious style on the pitch.
3 points are a gift, but if ignore the consistent rank performances at your peril, they are an early warning siren that all is not well.
Things need to get better. We can’t keep getting outplayed by relegation fodder.
P.S. I see some people asking about Wenger and why he doesn’t have a job. I heard that he is having difficult time with some family issues, so it’s by choice he hasn’t rejoined the world of football.
First.
2nd
3rd
Tro4hy
4
I must say the AMN responses to criticism from fans on Instagram was classy as fuck if you ask me and makes me like the guy even more. From what I can tell nothing too bad or abusive and he responded in a way that acknowledged that he can do better and that’s admirable. Take the googly eyed fucker Ozil and any sort of criticism has him hiding in his bed and his agent doing all the bullshitting for him. Basically a coward
First?
Funny that we’re being written off, we are very much in there for a cl spot. Hopefully performances improve drastically.
The lack of shots in matches is concerning.
With the players we have I don’t understand why the football played is so poor. Still hoping for the tro4hy
Agreed Marko, thought AMN handled the comments well. Didnt get into a needless back and forth with fans just showed humility and willingness to learn/improve.
Top 4
The warning signs are everywhere… we are not progressing by any success metric, the fans aren’t showing up in the ground, the players look lost, and the manager is eyeing up bland players to fix these issues in the summer.
5 points better off than last season. Oh and bland players? Like who? I think the links to Grimaldo, Konate, Boubacar Kamara are exciting ones I think Raul is eyeing up (see what I did there) some decent young talent.
I will be interested to see the squad ahead of the BATE game because I get the feeling that Emery is going to be prioritising the Europa League. If he is being pragmatic I don’t think he will take chances with a mixture of youth and reserves, especially seeing as we have no weekend match in between both games.
Given his history in the competition Emery be naturally confident in our chances and may lean on it to achieve CL status.
Personally I’d love another season like 93/94 🙂
Leicester penalty.
Pedro
Unai will have “little to no oversight” from the director of football this summer? Huh? When did Raul Sanllehi become an absentee DoF? Didn’t you claim in a recent post that it was now Sanllehi’s show, that he had nearly complete control?
Seems to me you’re twisting the facts in order to build a stronger case against Emery.
Was waiting for the “5 points better off than last season” as the defiant stance against questions of a lack of progress.
We signed Auba in Jan last season, I’d venture a very conservative guess that if we started with Auba we’d have gotten more points in the first half as is the care this term.
Basically it’s ”we’re 5 points better off….cover your eyes to the rest”
Moonface with a bottle job
It’s daft to just run unto the field and take a penalty without kicking a ball before.
Maddison should have been taking that. Bad call.
I never thought I would lose hope in the the new manager taking over from Arsene as soon as I have. Every thing about Emery is bland beyond belief. Bland football, porous defense, random formations and substitutions, blind belief in absolutely hopeless players such as Mustafi and Licht at the cost of the likes of Mavrapanos. He has been extremely lucky to have the team pick up so many points. Leicester and Wolves have been more impressive than us.
Trash penalty from the redbull drinker
Was waiting for the “5 points better off than last season” as the defiant stance against questions of a lack of progress.
50 points as opposed to 45 points is literally progress. I mean I just gave you a fact not a defiant stance
We signed Auba in Jan last season, I’d venture a very conservative guess that if we started with Auba we’d have gotten more points in the first half as is the care this term. Basically it’s ”we’re 5 points better off….cover your eyes to the rest”
Eh good point
Barnes has got to be the Iwobi of Leicester everything but an end product.
Pedro “This notion that is pushed around that Emery took over the worst squad of players since Harry left Pompey is not acceptable.” Except that no one is saying that. What people are saying is that this squad isn’t very good — no wide players, poor defenders — and that Spurs, Chelsea and United all have better squads. And this is true. So, if we finish sixth, that’s pretty much our squad’s level. Now, if we finish sixth, that will mean that Emery doesn’t have us punching above our weight, and that may be a concern, but it won’t mean… Read more »
Leicester and Wolves have been more impressive than us.
This is what you’re dealing with unfortunately. Leicester? Sure fine for arguments sake yes I agree Leicester have been more impressive than us this season
That Barnes miss…
Haven’t seen the extended highlights or MOTD, so i can’t comment on performances.
Based on what I read in the comments yesterday and on twitter m, as well as this post, seems like it was typical Emery.
All I can say is that Emery isn’t doing himself any favours regarding his managerial career, post summer.
I wouldn’t be very confident in arming him with £100m if we don’t replace Sven. It’s that simple. And even then, it seems as though Emery literally can’t get convey his tactic properly.
Pedro
“he’s elected to alienate Ramsey and Mesut”
As I wrote on the previous, Ornstein said in a recent Arsecast that the decision to treat Ozil as surplus to requirements has come from above Emery, not from Emery himself. I don’t know if this is true, but it should be taken into account.
As for Ramsey, Emery hasn’t used him as much as I would have, but has he “alienated” him? Not so sure about that.
Seems to me, again, that you are trying to stack the deck against Emery.
The bland, unexciting football reflects a wider problem at AFC. The football lacks any identity or ambition and I feel the same can be said for the club overall. Pedro has highighted this weakness in the past and I share his concern. What is the plan, where are we going, where is the ambition ? (I will ignore Josh’s vaccuous PR job of an interview as providing any insight or clarity.) Does any one seriousy believe that if we grin and bear it through this muddle of a season, we will somehow emerge as a force at the start of… Read more »
Fantastic goal by Leicester there. How many passes?
Bamford, makes little sense. Wouldn’t it be better to make Ozil appealing to prospective buyers? Regardless, less worried about Ozil… bigger worry is Emery with £100m
Leicester a menace when the fancy it
Big Claude Puel has Leicester playing some quality football on the deck. Good combinations. Developing youngsters as well
The spuds will be lucky to draw this, Leicester have been the better side.
Marko
Leicester have been impressive this season. They have troubled most top teams in the league , dropped points only due to poor finishing. But in terms of performances they have been.more impressive than us.
Banford
With all due respect what do Arsenal/Emery stand to gain by alienating Ramsey and Ozil with no comparable talent to replace them with?
I’m all for ditching players that don’t pull their weight or “fit in”, but when you’re playing as shit as we have been for large periods it’s senseless to make such decisions.
Does any one seriousy believe that if we grin and bear it through this muddle of a season, we will somehow emerge as a force at the start of next season.
I’ve no doubt this worry of the club being so bland will be addressed with exciting signings. Pepe and/or Lozano for example would go someway towards addressing our bland football.
PedRo (another master piece) Nailed All the issues succinctly, concisely and clearly. Just where are we going with this Emery? What does Emery want Arsenal to be? Just expedient at best- I’m guessing. I have no idea if he likes fast football, slow football, counter attacking football, old players, young players, technical players or powerful athletes? I don’t know if he is a tactician,motivator, purist or even a man manager? This man is so out of his depth on all of these fronts- in addition to this ,his communication skills are non existent . We are just drowning in his… Read more »
Wouldn’t it be better to make Ozil appealing to prospective buyers?
He’s been playing plenty of football the last two plus seasons and declining I don’t think more games are going to address the problem.
bigger worry is Emery with £100m
Again I get what you’re trying to do but you gotta stop with the blatant falsehood Pedro you’re better than that. He doesn’t make the signings his input would be minimal it’s Raul who makes the signings and Sven/Sven’s replacement who identifies them.
But in terms of performances they have been.more impressive than us.
They’re 12th… but I was agreeing with you anyway. Leicester City more impressive than Arsenal
Marko
From the little I have seen of Lozano, I’m not a fan. He’s a workhorse wide forward. Aggressive, but limited technical ability. Doesn’t seem to be the type to combine with other attacking players. A much less talented Alexis. Not for me.
Pépé is the real deal. Can play across the front line, gets in behind consistently and creates his own shot.
BTW, I am not at all convinced by Emery, but I think the case against him — to the extent one is making one — should be fair-minded, reasonable, honest, etc.
That is, I am in no way making a case for Emery. In fact, I am so unimpressed by what he has done so far that I found myself voting for Arteta (!) in Benny’s Twitter poll this morning. (I’m not interested in defending or justifying this vote; it was something of a lark; but it does say something about how uninspiring I find Emery at the moment.)
Marko
My golly- you are a naive pup!
Marko, there’s no SD, you gotta pay attention.
Also the other day it was scaremongering with 40 million transfer budgets I mean make up your mind are we scared Emery is going to waste 40 million or 100 million? Consistent I’ll give you that
Bam,
Emery is bland on toast.
He’s our David Moyes.
Marko, there’s no SD, you gotta pay attention.
?
Never a doubt with Son is there? Bastard
Son is a demon in transition. Two footed finisher.
Marko, you’re being petty as usual.
45m or 100m… doesn’t really matter if it’s being wasted, does it?
Just as well the club is structured in such a way that our targets are our targets and a change in manager would have minimal effect on them
Son is so good. Slips under the radar. Should be at a bigger club.
Pedro we just can not compete financially or yes we can but we wont because of stanley.United are about to sign Koulibaly in the summer plus Pepe something we should at a bare minimum do but that will be an outlay off 150 mil and Stan will never in a million years sanction that.We will have to feed off cheap free agents and the riff raff and hope to find a gem here and there and make Emery do the rest it can be done just look at Dortmund.As long as the kroenke family own our asses we will never… Read more »
Champagne
One, we haven’t “alienated” Ramsey.
Two, that you think it would be unwise to alienate Ozil doesn’t mean that this is not what the men who run the club have decided to do. This is certainly what Ornstein is suggesting they’ve decided.
Why would they do this? Well, maybe they think this is the only way to get rid of a complacent guy on 350k a week. Make it clear that he is unwanted and might be happier elsewhere. I don’t have to agree with this approach to see why they might adopt it.
Danish, you find your own market and win there.
We can’t compete with United, but we can fish where they won’t and grow stars. We can be the biggest club in the world that gives high performance kids a chance.
Pedro
As I pointed out above, is it Unai alone spending the 100m this summer? Or is Unai, Raul and others working together? Seems you want it to be the former (in order to build your case against Emery) when in reality it’s the latter.
Danish Gooner
Stop whining and being defeatist -off course we can compete.
We do things probably. But in order to do it properly- we need an elite figurehead.
Not a doughnut!
Nothing to do with Kroenkes cash.!
We have more than enough- just need to be more lateral and aggressive in our thinking.
45m or 100m… doesn’t really matter if it’s being wasted, does it?
It does depending on your argument for the day. Also how am I being petty? I’m a dissenting voice against the blatant vendetta you got going on. I’m not going to agree with an agenda I disagree with I’m not going to keep quiet. So you’re left with either banning me or letting me voice my disagreements. There’s a huge difference with a 40 million scaremongering piece and another piece about the manager pissing away 100 million
It’s reasonable to expect more polished performances but we are largely where you would expect us to be with this squad. I’m not for or against Emery because I (ironically like a lot of his detractors) knew what he would be up against this season.
I’m willing to see how the summer unfolds. The bottom line is, this squad isn’t good enough and all things considered we aren’t doing too badly in a transitional season.
Bam, who knows. Currently it’s Raul and Emery.
Banega, Suarez, Perisic, Carrasco
We can be the biggest club in the world that gives high performance kids a chance
Easy peasy right. Only there’s so many clubs already doing it and we’re playing catch up. And we’ve also got an impatient fanbase too.
Marko, you are being petty.
Wasting money is never good. Pointless statement.
You’re martyrdom won’t be rewarded. Emery is a duff hire.
Banford
Yes we have alienated Ramsey, he’s been reduced to the odd game to prove he’s still alive and that’s it. You’re being pedantic with English as per usual, Ramsey hasn’t played nearly as much as he should’ve.
You dress that up in whatever coat you fancy, I’m calling it alienation. Again with Ozil, it’s senseless when making a decision like that has a genuine detriment to our top 4 ambitions.
I asked you what we stand to gain from doing it, forcing Ozil out at the expense of the seasons best possible finish isn’t just reward.
I ‘ll be on the cusp of having my 3rd heart attack- if that load of tripe land at The Arsenal Door!
Where is our son? That’s the player Iwobi should be aiming to become, the spurs match shows what we lack, dependable game changers, the Eriksens, sons , and to think all those players we could have signed for cheap . It makes you wonder what Wenger was doing, Bergkamp had recommended Eriksen Ajax, and looking at the current spurs squad, how many ex Ajax players are there? Our club has lost our focus and it doesn’t look like we are regaining it anytime soon.
Marko
Relax. Plenty of other posters are also pushing back against some of Pedro’s more unreasonable claims against Emery. You are not alone in this, and you don’t need to get yourself binned.
Dark cloud is coming over to the Emirates stadium. Not a good sign.
Marko, if the club laid out a strategy, fans would pay attention.
Nothing is easy. However, I tell something that really isn’t easy… trying to build a winning machine with no clear vision.
A beautiful “we miss you Arsène” post from pedro, very well disguised.
(I don’t give a shit about wenger’s personals problems, but maybe I’m the only one ??)
Well we won’t be spending 100M net for sure unless we miraculously make it to the CL. The farther away from top 4 we are come end of the season, the lesser should be our budget I reckon.
Pedro what do you think of the recent links to Konate Boubacar Kamara Grimaldo Trossard and the continued links to Pepe. You can nit pick links to suit any argument. For example links to Banega (totally gone now by the way) and loan links to Carrasco Suarez and Perisic not too great. Links to Grimaldo Konate Boubacar Kamara and Pepe are very much welcomed
‘The farther away from top 4 we are come end of the season, the lesser should be our budget I reckon.’
How will having less funds to improve the team help in any scenario?
Pedro
OK, so you concede that it won’t just be Emery in the summer, that it will be Emery and the DoF working together (with others as well, in all likelihood).
In your post, however, you implied that it would just be Emery calling the shots, unsupervised. Care to admit that that was you trying to (unfairly) strengthen your case against Emery?
Marko
If we had Lionel Messi- emery would wanna play him on the right wing….
If we had Ronaldo- emery would play him in defensive centre midfield..
If we had VVD – Emery would play left back.
Its irrelevant who we sign – Emery will over complicate….and mess it up!
Foxes have s good attack just unlucky today
H&L, I don’t miss Wenger.
I think emery is a poor hire, but no way i’d change this season.
Pedro those leagues do not have city spurs United chelsea Liverpool etc
Kinda comparing apples and oranges with the prem
CG
I think you’re confusing Emery and Wenger, who is he playing out of position exactly? Yeah, we don’t have wingers so some players will always have to play out of position there, and we don’t have good enough defenders or enough of them in some matches so he has to shuffle the deck sometimes, that’s out pf necessity though, not by choice.
“Marko, if the club laid out a strategy, fans would pay attention.“
According to Banford (stated yesterday), the club has been very clear with its strategy moving forward.
Must admit I’m at a loss to say what that strategy is, so obviously I’ve missed the memo too?
Bam, we don’t have an SD. Emery is the most experienced voice on players now. He drove through Suarez. He will lead this summer. He has already seen off Sven
I tell something that really isn’t easy… trying to build a winning machine with no clear vision. We don’t have a vision? I would assume that it’s hard to make out after one summer window and fuck all money but the signings of Torreira and Guendouzi the links to Konate and Kamara and the bringing forward/loans of Smith Rowe, Nelson and Saka suggest a youthful approach. Links to Pepe and others suggest that we finally want to bring in pacy wingers/attackers. Now these things are hardly revolutionary because other clubs have been doing it for years and really we should… Read more »
Additionally Bam, you’ve just admitted that the idea of Emery leading transfers strengthens the argument against him.
I thought you rated him?
If we had Lionel Messi- emery would wanna play him on the right wing….
Wow
‘He has already seen off Sven’
Emery or Raul?
Pedro
Not sure I get the whole “look at the crappy players we targeted in January” spiel as something to bash Emery with?
We had no money to sign anyone, do you seriously think we’re going to be in for the same kind of players in the summer?
Like Marko said earlier the recent links has been very promising, no 30 yo in sight and all names between 19-24, some of them with massive upside.
What’s the vision, Marko? Is the fact you can’t articulate it after a year not a bit worrying?
Pedro why you against emery?
Your posts have slowly taken that slant as we slipped in the table
We are improved from last season
Had injuries all over
Ozil sucks
And we are still eyeing 4th
Must admit I’m at a loss to say what that strategy is, so obviously I’ve missed the memo too?
You don’t think signing Mavropanos, Guendouzi and Torreira and loaning out Smith Rowe and Nelson as well as links to the likes of Grimaldo, Kamara and Konate is an obvious strategy for us going forward?
that the idea of Emery leading transfers strengthens the argument against him
Just as well he doesn’t make the signings
Pedro
Who should we have targeted in January?
TR7
You are spot on regarding Leicester ..The quality of their football is impressive.
Can see them challenging for a top 6 spot next season if they keep the team together .
Very impressed with their movement on and off the ball , their result do not match their performances this season….
Three of the worst players on the pitch yesterday were Iwobi, AMN, and Mustafi. Yet the first two somehow got praises from Pedro. Not sure what game you were watching, Peds, but they were woeful. If it wasn’t for Iwobi’s decision making or lack thereof I should say in the final third, we could have scored 2-3 more goals. Somebody made a comment about AMN yesterday that he was very calm on the ball while calmly passing it to the opponent. That was spot on. And Mustafi had another Mustafi game. The rest I agree with you for the most… Read more »
Marko, what is the strategy? Buying and loaning players isn’t a strategy.
Guns of SF Have you missed the last 6 months of posts? This started right away when Emery was appointed over special sauce lego hair and has only gotten worse since. Should be worrying for Pedro that the only ones that’s been in his camp from the start is AKBs and recently a couple of impatient sorts that are underestimating just how ill-fit for purpose this squad is. It’s not just the quality of the players (which in most cases is really bad) it’s that in some positions we don’t have anyone that can play there at all so we… Read more »
Marko
Is that a serious comment? Instead of pointing and giving the eyes why don’t you spell out the strategy of the club?
See if you can step outside of your fixation on transfers whilst doing that.
I’m asking what our vision/strategy is moving from the Wenger era into this new blank canvas of one. I’ve no idea who is driving matters, and what they imagine Arsenal of the next 3 years looking like. But you do you say, do share..
On a general note we’ve certainly got an interesting run in to the PL this season. Everyone below Leicester is in the relegation fight – 12th and down, the title looks like it’s going to go down to the wire and the fight for 3rd / 4th is going to be a tight one.
Bam, we don’t have an SD. Emery is the most experienced voice on players now. He drove through Suarez. He will lead this summer. He has already seen off Sven Whats SD stand for? The rest is totally unsubstantiated agenda driven bollox if you ask me. Most experienced voice on players? Not Raul? Or Sven? Drove through Suarez? We needed a player we had enough for a loan and it was as good as we could get a loan with an option to buy. He worked one season with Suarez meanwhile Raul had signed Suarez back in his Barcelona days.… Read more »
Upstate, I’m trying to be positive. Iwobi and AMN contributed positively.
Can someone tell me how they were informed of the clubs strategy in 1996?
How many other PL clubs have had 3 season ending injuries to either first choice players or senior squad players?