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.
Dissenter, if I couldn’t take the blows I wouldn’t have a comments section.
I’m sorry but a lot of people here grossly overestimate the worth of a manager. Like any line of profession, the guy is only as good as his tools allow him to be.
What tools does an Arsenal manager get?
Second rate transfer allowance and second rate players.
Rambo, I think the biggest worry is that a year after Raul and co joined, Ornstein still says there’s no winning vibe at the club
CC
You think other teams didn’t buy players? We spent what , 7th most in the PL? That was just to not slip further down the table, we need a lot more upgrades to see improvements
Emery’s player suggestions are bound do be bland seeing as his transfer kitty is 40m and he is not a scout.
He will do what sarri has done and what many managers do.. Fall back on players he knows and trusts.
Its up to the club to bring in a technical director and relieve him of that responsibility. You had money to pay measly loan fees and he suggested Suarez,maybe if the club had more than 2.4m his suggestions will be more exciting
And kudos to PedRo with his fair critisicism of Torreira.
I think he needs a blood test – or increase his vitamins .
His endurance levels are very concerning.
He seems to be jet lagged when he plays..
No Rambo,
Emery must have us comfortably in the top 4, fuck it..competing for the title or he shouldn’t be here. This is all because he added Leno, Guen and Torreira to a subpar squad that still needed a lot more surgery.
Man
Loftus cheek is good.
Would love him here at Arsenal
Pedro
Hahha= yes im in hipster land
Just couldnt see beyond the bubble
Yes we got 5th!
Marko better is better. You can’t have a better squad, serve up the same shit, and say but “investment needed”.
Are you for real of course I can. If I tell you that we have squad issues in every department bar one and you give me a keeper and Torreira to address two areas (not that significantly btw) then we still have to address the other areas no? It’s like if I have a car that’s a total write off and you just give me a radio and some wheels you think that’s enough? I got no engine ffs
First time Chelsea have lost by more than 4 goals since 1992.
Arsenal lose by that margin every 3 months…lol
Yes we got 5th!
——————
10 minutes to go…….
Embarrassing. Six ??
Damn homie, in high school you was the man homie (Chelsea)
our 3 0 to man city with 2 fake goals doesn’t look that bad now lol
6-0 an Arteta masterclass. Zola meanwhile is having a mare
We are 5th
just need fucking manure to slip up
I think they have a tough run too
Ornstein still says there’s no winning vibe at the club
???
Says there’s a 100 million though
Marko, yes yes, the man sitting next to the manager has never been important.
Pedro,
I don’t like Raul. I don’t see what he brings. I think he came to England because he wanted the life Wenger was enjoying. And looking at how he’s seen off a challenger in Sven, I fear the worst.
Freddie
Yea other sides did (spurs didn’t) how much improvement did they all make with the respective moves?
Did Chelsea and United get better from their summer activity? Who are the standouts?
Also, to what end does Emery improve upon Wenger? Because the squad is better than last term and I don’t recall too many offering up the need for us to simply spend to get better.
I’m wsiting for Pierre to defend Arsenal’s result against City like he would when Wenger was in charge.
Pedro: Rambo, I think the biggest worry is that a year after Raul and co joined, Ornstein still says there’s no winning vibe at the club
Exactly. What is not clear how you’re putting all this on the manager. We were always much further away than a year from fixing the mess. It’s on you if you expected any different. You’re just taking out your own lack of judgement of where we were at and how much work it would take on emery.
SF
It’s going to be tight but there’s a chance. If we can beat ManU at home then our run in isn’t too bad, ManU have a greater number of difficult fixtures.
Never seen Chelsea lose 6-0 before. But that’s okay as we can see the foundations of what Sarri is trying to do.
Rambo
You are right to be fearful.
Emery is here to stop the rot. This team was finished last year. Wenger would have us in bottom half 100%. And relegation battle in 2020. If our players are good why no one wants them, or if thay somehow go its very sad like ox theo and jack
Rambo, that is exactly what I’m told. He is about survival. Get 4 years of the easy life then go back home and retire
City spend 68m for mahrez to sit on the bench.
The bindippers spend 75m on a keeper and before that 75m on a centreback.
Chelsea 71m on a keeper.
Utd spent 55m on a midfielder.
And apart from the spuds who spent nothing.
These are the team’s we are supposed to be competing with.
But off you go Emery here’s 70m to rebuild your team.
You need 8-9 players Good luck!
“I got no engine ffs“
No you got no argument.
If we’ve a better squad this season and a better manager I think it’s reasonable to see a better return than last season no?
RH, CFC will sack Sarri and he’s on the same points as AFC.
If Emery to make CL that would be huge achievement.
So are we going to get another Sarri rant in the post match interview? If not does that mean he’s either given up or expecting the sack?
CC, better facilities as well. Moved that gym outside
yea Pedro but look at teams. No question which is better.
Chelsea’s biggest defeat since Nottingham Forest beat them 7-0 in 1991.
City will dominate this league for years to come and i feel sorry for Pool.
Pedro
Thats what chelsea do. Sack and get another in.
Commentators just said that the players dont put in the extra work knowing there will be new manager anyhow
Higuain is missing.
They have a lot of problems too
Hazard leaving.
Our chances next season will be better. I dare say Chelsea worse
Think we all know here Sarri is not staying at chelsea long peeps.
please give us a lucky 7th goal city.
we can use any help!
What was our points tally this time last season???
Where we this close to the top four?
Maybe just maybe this is a badly assembled squad incapable of playing the way the horrible manager wants them to but yet a few months to the end of the season the said manager still has his season objective clearly in sight. The same cannot be said for the man who assembled 90% of this squad prior to his sacking.
Pedro
For fuck sake give it a rest. How can you compare Sarri’s inherited position with Emery’s. Sarri started with a squad that had walked the league a couple of season’s before that switched off under the previous manager. Emery inherited a squad so unbalanced it’s almost upside down.
For Unai with this competition it will be like climbing the Everest without adding extra oxygen and with one hand tied to his back to get us winning again.
Pedro Sarri was never going to last at Chelsea yet you hailed his appointment. Are you suggesting he would be doing better with us?
Pedro
Pretty clear what’s happened this season, the players stopped sipping the OJ all through our good run, but we’ve been at the Tropicana like an investment banker on coke since Xmas. Simple really
our 3 0 to man city
———————-
Taking away Koscielny’s goal? Not very nice!
love seeing chelsea take a beating I hate them and Manure like you have no idea
“RH, CFC will sack Sarri and he’s on the same points as AFC.”
Chelsea have sacked 10 managers who have outperformed Wenger during a season.
CC, question.
Emery will spend £100m minimum this summer, that’s before sales.
What should expectations be for next year if he gets what he needs? What would convince you he’s the man to take us to the promised land?
Sarri not shaking peps hand.
Wengeresque!
Marc, I think having clinical strikers is incredibly important. Chelsea haven’t had that. We have two. Massive advantage even without width.
City played Chelseas victory song after the game and the fat version of 2018 Wenger (Sarri) walked straight down the tunnel.
Emery did produce some sizzling football at the start of the season it fell apart with occuring injuries sadly but still have great belief in him think we came a step closer to winning the EL and as i stated Gonzalo isnt fit for the PL.
Aguero is a special player and we had several chances to sign him according to wenger.
Pedro,
Unless we dig up some gems that 100m won’t go far.
Two centrebacks a left back. Two wingers and a Santi replacement is required.
Six players just to get us competing.
Get those players and expectations are top three minimum, a cup and if we’ve qualified last 16 champions league.
I don’t know why so many on here are so critical of Sarri, he has only been at Chelsea since the summer , how can he put his philosophy into effect in such a short time .. He needs time to get it right..😇
Losing Sven over Raul is a massive mistake, especially considering how we operate the finances. How exactly will the ex-Barca bureaucrat help this club?
Another trophy to hand out to the Kroenke-family and their weak-ass leadership. The tone-setters. No vision, no mission, no ambition.
lol Sari as sour looser like Wenga
Sarri ignoring Pep there is childish
Rambo, that is exactly what I’m told.
You said Emery ousted Sven.
CC, better facilities as well. Moved that gym outside
Talk about petty. That was preseason. Bring up the fruit juice as well that’s always a good one
Pedro
“Marc, I think having clinical strikers is incredibly important. Chelsea haven’t had that. We have two. Massive advantage even without width.”
Well I think having a defence that doesn’t have it’s head stuck up it’s arse is incredibly important – so it’s six of one half a dozen of the other.
Everyone knew Chelsea were missing a striker why didn’t they sign one?
If Raul really is just here to bolster hit retirement fund, that is a damning indictment on the Kroenkes , if it. happens once could be put down to a mistake, twice and it becomes comes something else, stupidity, naivity or just do t give a shit. If true, the Kroenkes really need to see what’s going on early for once and get a grip
If we’ve a better squad this season and a better manager I think it’s reasonable to see a better return than last season no?
5 points better off. It’s not much but better than nothing
I am not exactly sure what Ornstein’s word on winning vibe has to do with Raul’s role. His immediate job is to fix up the wage structure and recruit the right players. I would imagine any guy who comes in and has to tell 25 players they are all being overpaid and this is what your worth under our new structure will be met with resistance. He refused to pay Ramsey 200k. Is that not the perfect start to drawing a line on what a healthy wage for a player of that ability? It’s pretty clear Ozil will be moved… Read more »
“What should expectations be for next year if he gets what he needs? What would convince you he’s the man to take us to the promised land?“ Well this season what I hoped to see was a new brand of Arsenal football, clear tactical evolution, improvements in the areas so obviously lacking (defence, away from home against good teams), and a pattern of progress that made it exciting to follow our journey. Where we finished and the like wasn’t a priority to me, though I’d obviously love to be back in the CL places for all it brings the club… Read more »
Marko
Points don’t count – it’s all about style over substance on here.
CC Spurs already had a much better squad than us and the others in the top 6 did as well. They can afford to blow their budget on 1-2 players while we have to spend the same on 5 when we actually need 10. Some of the other teams below us has also improved like Wolves, west ham and Leicester. So yeah, we needed to spend that much just to keep us in the top 6. What’s improved? Well for one he has stopped the slide down the table, we’ll see how it goes from here, I’m not expecting much… Read more »
Pedro
Only threat i see in the Europa league is Napoli…Inter are shit and we should be able to perform against Chelsea because they’re well….shit too and we seem to always do well against them
” I am not at all happy about us signing of mature players – Mkhi, Sokratis, Auba (not even sure if they were all a him). That actually supports what you have said about him.”
Two of those were signed before Raul joined us and you yourself say you can’t argue with the signing of Sok so a pretty meaningless point.
what I hoped to see was a new brand of Arsenal football, clear tactical evolution, improvements in the areas so obviously lacking (defence, away from home against good teams), and a pattern of progress that made it exciting to follow our journey. Inside the first 6-8 months with our squad issues and fuck all investment? Fuck me that’s some ask. It’s weird though how much you’re demanding of him over the previous manager. I know I know you don’t like him brought up but you were certainly a wait until the end of a transfer window before criticizing him/judge him… Read more »
Where we finished and the like wasn’t a priority to me
You’re not the only one. Style it seems is the most important thing. Take Leicester for example they sit 12th with a minus goal difference but they play much better football than us and that’s important
Marko
What some of the clowns on here don’t’ realise is that if Wenger had stayed and been given the same new players we’d be finishing at least 10 points further down than last season, so Emery’s best achievement is stopping the slide let alone improving our points tally.
I’m not buying the statistical savior or positional change for AMN’s performance. He was terrible. He lost the ball SO many times. Often without any pressure in him and often putting us under pressure. He was a big reason the posession stats were against us.
Others were just as wasteful, including Iwobi – not sure how you say he had a great game, bar the deflected goal. I am sure he would have blazed over if the whistle hadn’t gone and pressure was on.
Our play is so hard to watch at the moment.
A club revolutionized inside a matter of months… only are Arsenal fans this fickle
Pedro is God
Marko You’ve got a warped view if you think a manager is incapable of coming into a club (never mind one like Arsenal with our talent) and putting the team on a new path. I just said I wasn’t expectant of top 4 or the like, I would’ve been plenty happy finishing 6th with less points of it was obvious the manager had a plan that would work longer term with the right additions. Klopp came in and it was obvious his team would be mental with good widemen with that relentless press and harass style of turnover. Same with… Read more »
Anyone else notice that our record has deteriorated since Emery has played LT higher up the pitch where he is less effective at what he does best? He’s doing a Sari on Kante to LT.
We are 5th in the standing. Are we 5th best now? 😀
“What some of the clowns on here don’t’ realise is that if Wenger had stayed and been given the same new players we’d be finishing at least 10 points further down than last season“
Pure conjecture, it’s the same as forecasting how Arteta or Jardim or anyone else would’ve coped instead of Emery. Speculative rubbish and no fact.
Let’s not forget the atmosphere around the club last season too, it was a shambles and affected the teams ability to play without question. Not that it was unwarranted, it patently was because the club was adrift.
CC
Wenger was completely lost and getting worse. I wish him well for the future but anyone who doesn’t see his ever accelerating decline needs to admit to having an agenda.
Marc: Two of those were signed before Raul joined us and you yourself say you can’t argue with the signing of Sok so a pretty meaningless point. Thanks. Wasn’t sure. Happy to hear that. That will be the important thing for me moving forward. Do we have a long term plan or are we simply aiming for top 4. The thing that really pleases me about Raul is that he seems to be sorting out the wage structure. We need to move away from the socialist policy and make room for a best 11 and the rest structure. I understand… Read more »
There are no overnight fixes.
Pep couldn’t do it in his first year. Blew 200m plus to win.
Klopps on year four. Won nothing
Pochetino year four/ five. Won nothing.
All spent huge money and apart from pep nothing to show for it. And they all had good squads to start with.
Emery gets 70m and a omnishambles left behind and hasn’t done the quadruple in 6 months what’s going on?
CC
“(never mind one like Arsenal with our talent) ”
What fucking talent? Laca and Auba? Yeah great, 2 players, where only one should play at a time between 2 wingers we don’t have. Who else are these talents of whom you speak?
Torreira and Guen are the only other talents in the team and they are both young and new to the league.
Nelson. We’re not far off 5th best lol. Wonder if after today Chelsea and Arsenal fans will be arguing over who is worse….. “we are”, “ no we are”.
U4GN
Blasphemy blasphemy – how dare to criticise the almighty Klopp or Poch.
CC, spot on as usual.
‘We need more players and time’
What exactly are we plugging the new players into? What’s the style that’s nearly there but lacks XYZ?
The ‘shit players’ commentary falters under inspection as well.
There is no excuse at this point of the season to not see big strides being made with our style.
So many people lying to themselves about what they see.
Lol @ Charlie citing intangible bollocks as expectations so that he continue to stick the boot in on Emery regardless of points/position at season end.
As I said, a special kind of moron this one.
BTW Klopp’s first months at Pool were a comedy show.
Moment of truth for Emery and Raul is next Transfer window.
Need to see long standing problems resolved -better defenders, wingers, creative midfielder. Pace and power required.
Big disappointment this season is failure to make defence tighter, organised and harder to beat. That should have been minimum for any new manager given AW legacy. Emery is a failure for that reason alone.
Its a worry Emery doesn’t have that in his locker. But too soon to get rid.
Qna
Mikhi is on a lot more than 100k, think it’s 180k but could be more.
You’re right though, the wasters on high wages needs to be kicked out for us to move forward.
And England smashed Les Bleus
Upstate
Pedro
Bloody hell mate you need to get yourself back in a proper Arsenal pub so you can get your Arsenal goggles realigned.
Marc I agree, but to go further and suggest we were going to drop down and down is stretching it above and beyond. We dropped to a languishing 6th with unreal pressure on the manager, and a toxic match day stadium. Both of these were just for what was being served up, but it doesn’t mean we were destined for getting worse and worse. Last season was the sum of it all coming home to roost, fans not happy, pressure snapping the manager in half, club officials scrutinised daily etc. It’s why there’s a fair commentary against what Emery is… Read more »
(never mind one like Arsenal with our talent) and putting the team on a new path. We are on a new path. Also talent? It’s the significant lack of it that has the squad where it is in need of major work. If you expect him to work miracles defensively with error prone players in the defence or expect attacking flowing football from a team with no wingers or attackers who can beat a man and with poor performing CAM’s then you have unrealistic expectations. I would’ve been plenty happy finishing 6th with less points No you wouldn’t have. If… Read more »
Marc,
It makes me laugh, klopp might win the league this year?
But the form city are in I doubt it.
Pochetino won’t be winning a trophy with the spuds.
But there clubs going in the right direction, or playing fast flowing football.
So they should be worshipped!
While evil emery hasn’t won us the world cup in his first 26 games!
I don’t know if emery is the right man to get us competing,and winning trophys again, but he’s been here five minutes and been given a transfer budget from 22 years ago when Wenger took over.
Pedro
Was CC spot on all those years of defending Wenger too?
Because what he’s doing now is just a continuation of that, how can the squad be shit when it was the almighty Wenger that assembled it?
You should know better though.
In terms of the first season and judging a manager’s philosophy, it’s worth remembering Wenger played 3-5-2 for the whole of his first season, because he didn’t have a Marc Overmars to play 4-34-2 or a Petit to play a midfield two. He had to wait until the following season – when he had a chance to bring in the players he wanted – before we saw his true ‘vision’.
So remember that before coating Emery off.
We have plenty of data to back up claims we would be in a worse position had we kept Wenger.
But fact is Klopp and Pep play some magnificent football.
Lets not start the Wenger debate again has was washed up 8 years ago lets keep supporting Emery it is a mountain of a job he stepped into.