I don’t really want to talk about Spurs beating my German team, so let’s get knee deep in the Technical Director role that is open at Arsenal.
As I mentioned yesterday, I truly hope the execs approach this role with an open mind. We were supposed to move into a new era of smarts when Wenger left. Proper search and select, rigorous interview processes and smart decisions based on the needs of the club.
Arsenal did well at this with the vacant manager role, but I think they slipped at the last minute with Emery. Firstly, he was a late entrant, so the club wouldn’t have done due diligence. Secondly, I have my doubts we vetted his backroom team, and now we’re shipping in more of his mates. Great if he’s the next Arsene Wenger, not so great if things don’t evolve.
That’s why the idea of Monchi is a little worrying. Sure, he’s a sexy signing, but is he the best on offer? Who knows. I just hope Arsenal do a deeper dive than a browse of Emery’s WhatsApp contacts list before we invest in a hire that could change the face of the club for the next decade.
I don’t have the job spec for the technical director, but I assume it’s a powerful position that requires a broad understanding of many different disciplines that go into making a football club tick. It’s basically the Chief Operations Officer role of the football side of the business, with Raul as the CEO.
The name doesn’t have to be explayer, it doesn’t have to be a chief scout, but I don’t know the industry well enough to talk about non-footballing folk that could do it, so I’ll mostly be running profiles on people at clubs doing interesting things.
First stop:
Andrea Berta – Atletico Madrid
His start was at Parma, then Genoa where he gained an education in scouting. This area is the background of most of the names that would look to move into a technical role. He moved to Atletico in 2013 to look after international scouting, he then moved into the technical side of things before taking over the Sports Management role in 2017 where he looked after 5 groups: the first team’s coaching staff, assistants of the coaching staff, the first team’s area of coordination, Atlético de Madrid B and the scouting and analysis team (I think this is close to what the Arsenal role will look like).
He’s had quite a ride if you look at his numbers from 2013-14 season. The club has finished in the top 3 every season, finishing 2nd once and winning the league in 2013-14, they’ve averaged 84.2 points a season, conceding 24.2 (avg) goals, as well as dropping 67 goals (avg). They’ve been in 2 Champions League finals which they lost, won a UEFA Super Copa twice, and triumphed in the Europa League last season at our expense. Obviously, a lot of that goes to the managers credit, but the reason I mention this is because Atleti are not a big club and they’ve been brutalised in the transfer market with big names leaving on the regular.
From an outlay perspective, they have achieved all of the above on an average spend of 13m euros a season. Their total net spend since 2013 is 91m euros. They have spent 603m and recouped 512m. Think about that number for just a second…
Berta has spent net £79m since 2012.
Arsenal spent £73m in one summer.
Some highlights in that time are Mr Griezmann for 30m euros, Oblak for 16m euros from Benfica. Even the flops are good, Jackson Martinez for 37m, sold for 42m to China!
Think of the players they’ve had to deal with Losing. Falcao, Alderweirald, Diego Costa, Turan, Mandzukic… it never affects them. I mean, in the sense that they compete at the highest level. Hard to outmuscle Barca and Madrid every year.
Even their wage bill is low. In 2017 they were at £156m. Ours was £199m in the same year and we finished 5th. They finished 3rd and made the UCL semi-final.
Atleti are just a consistent flow of great players in and out. Every time you think it’s over, they pull in another gem. The Atleti story is all the more incredible because it all happened under the backdrop of them moving stadium for the 2017-18 season.
Back to Berta, the man knows how to work with a top manager. Apparently, Simeone was very upset when it was rumoured he was off to United. It’s a small thing, but remember Sven was banned from the training ground by the now PSG manager.
It hasn’t all been gravy, Atleti were dinged with a transfer ban for making illegal approaches for academy kids, but be real, we have Huss Fahmy from Team Sky and Raul wasn’t exactly nowhere near that Neymar deal. Also worth remembering a technical director sets the tone for theb football, and Atleti isn’t exactly joga bonito
Still, he’d suit Raul, he’s very chummy with the super agents, and interestingly for Arsenal, he has a real edge in the South American market. Somewhere we’ve struggled, and a market that will likely open up post-Brexit.
He’s hot property, but the sort of talent that can really change the mindset of the club. PSG, United, Milan and Inter have all tapped him for his services, but he’s resisted so far. At 47, he’s still very young, but there’s surely a move in him at some point. There are rumours that the salary to move him is £12.2m a year (£234k a week)… I know that’s PSG money, but it shows the value the footballing world thinks this man brings.
… and let’s be real, where better than London to test your mettle (and spend those pound notes)?
Arsenal truly would be remiss not to interview this man. He operates at an elite level on less than half the wage bill of Barca and Madrid. He turns a profit on terrible players. He has an incredible eye for talent. He can work with sauce drenched managers. He looks like he’d steal your girlfriend if you stepped away from the bar. He could take us back to the top.
Right, that’s me done.
Arsenal vs Bate this evening. No Ozil or Ramsey. Let’s talk about that tomorrow.
Happy Valentine’s day xxx
Total wank. Summer can’t get here soon enough for me. You want to spend 12-15 million getting rid of the manager so be it but we need a total squad redo. Absolutely shocking what passes for a professional footballer at Arsenal these days. Not a one of them worth a fuck. Go on and make excuses for whichever player you favor and whichever player you dislike while criticizing the manager it changes little. The squad is awful
Emery, sinking us to new lows. What a joke we are.
What is the point of Emery really? What does he bring to the squad, if he can’t make this team better than last year with 70 million why give him more?
Wenger’s rejects are letting Emery down.
Actually think Emery will be gone in the summer.
Rioch situation. Hes a good person, and he wont sink us, but we’re going nowhere with him.
Our main creator is a shit Bosnian full back.
Understand that. Ozil and Ramsey have been frozen out so we can rely on Kolasinac to be our playmaker.
It’s so obvious that emery is never the coach to take us anywhere but some funny folks think calling it the way it is against emery is some sorta agenda. Please how many world class players did bate borisov parade tonight? Not sure their entire squad is more than the cost of 2 of our players yet we registered a show of shame and you still think it’s about buying world class players. Emery is shit
Leftside
“We are pathetic, prideless and lack quality. I almost feel like loaning my ticket for the rest of the season.”
You’d have to pay someone to take it off your hands.
Well that was horrible.. Wonder if Pedro will finally admit this Squad is not top 4 quality …. not even close.. Emery seems lost for answers for sure and definitely won’t make it to next season if this continues until the end, . But special sauce or not Arteta, Stevie G/ whomever.. isn’t fixin this mess. Its going to take money.. and clearing out a lot of dross.
Just fucking shocking. That we fucking can’t beat this shower of shit who is still in pre-season mode is just mind boggling.
For me Emery is just a mid-table manager whose system fits a mid-table team more than a club who is supposed to have “elite” aspirations.
He just really doesn’t know what to do to get us playing well.
The field is horrible though…
Pedro
Sleep on it before you pen tomorrow’s piece. That was too much to comprehend
Marko
Emery added £70m of players to a squad that put 10 past Bate last year.
Emery just doesnt know what hes doing.
When the full back cut backs dont work, hes lost.
The players lack quality to implement Emery’s strategy.
Dale. No. I wanted us to go after Dybala when he was gettable. Or Marco Reus. I don’t mind Laca as a squad player but we could have better spent that 55m.
We actually should have landed Mbappe, I think it was that year. But we didn’t have anyone that could close those types of deals. I think the parents wanted some money or something.
I honestly don’t think it matters who is manager at this point. Whoever it is they’re still going to have to turn over that squad. Starting 11 needs at least 8 players
RedtruthFebruary 14, 2019 19:51:52
Wenger’s rejects are letting Emery down.
What rejects???
That the squad is shit seems to be a common narrative.
A shitter squad (without the Emery additions, so must’ve been shitter) won 3 FA cups in four years. Must’ve been the manager then ;).
Ozil’s fancy moves would have looked special against this shit side.
The is a new low.
Emery is wank but it’ll take a miracle for any manager to get this shower of shit of a squad to play better than they are
Anyone else struggle to watch that to the end?
I don’t mind seeing us lose as long as there’s energy and passion, but we were lacking in both of those tonight.
Some played better than others but overall that was the worst performance I have seen from us this season, even worse than our preseason efforts.
Seeing Lacazette throw that elbow actually helped me to calm down a bit… Laca you fucking legend lol and we’ll most likely go through next week.
People going on and on about the manager… Where is the pride as a professional footballer? There was nothing wrong with the starting eleven… Mkhi and Iwobi to support Lacazette. AMN whom most of you have spent time bigging up given license to go forward with the so called bundesliga whatever of the season against BATE. Yes the manager should take the blame but did you really see any player out there wear the shirt with pride? The manager should be sacked tonight. But whoever the dripping with sauce dude is should be made to do it with this squad,… Read more »
Marko. True. We need to turnover probably 8 players to compete with the big clubs. But the manager needs to be able to organise a team that probably has less quality than tonight’s (a pure second string team) and get a result in a game like tonight.
Emery get on the blower to Ozil and make up because you are losing this battle hands down, if the team was playing exciting football and we were winning you could afford to leave Ozil out but that’s not the case, the football has got worse since you decided to leave him outwhich could mean either one of two things, first that the team does miss his creativity , or worse psychologically the other players think without him the creativity is non existent, so they stop making those runs thinking theres no one in the team capable of finding them… Read more »
Guessing we don’t have the squad/players to compete with the likes of Bate, its not Emerys fault, bless him, or maybe it was the pitch? the ref? Definitely Ozil had something to do with it. Maybe someone snuck Ribena into the camp pre game? Still, least we have that extra 5 points
Hahaha 8 first XI players? You can tell Marko put his Xbox controller down to watch the game. Back to career mode on Fifa mate, get scouting.
You could utterly transform this team with 3 players and a coach with the Heinz.
Gambon I don’t think it matters at this stage does it. He should do better this person should be manager it’s all irrelevant when you got certain players still here after two years stinking up the place while others contribute fuck all. Worry thing for Emery is sometimes it looks like they’ve given up for him. But that’s not something that we’re surprised with some players have given up the last two seasons. I can see at the end of the season he goes if they don’t massively improve the squad. I can see how the next week is going… Read more »
Wenger out!
Mesut is shit. Get rid of him!
You could utterly transform this team with 3 players and a coach with the Heinz. Spoken like a true AKB. It was always one or two away eh Charles. Not this team needs CB’s it needs fullbacks it needs control and quality in midfield it needs pace and attack and actual wingers. So no not 3 signings. 3 signings still gets you Iwobi and Mhiki in attack it gets you Xhaka in midfield and it gets you Mustafi and Koscielny in CB. Grow up. Certain players have been dog shit for over two seasons now and you continue to give… Read more »
What an utter shambles and embarrassment!
How far does this club have to fall before something is done ffs?
Spurs beat Dortmund 3-0 in the Champions League, while Arsenal lose at Bate Borisov on a Spursday!!
Wenger, Gazidis, Kronke, Bould, Emery you should all be fucking ashamed of yourselves!!!
CC
What is understandable about Lacazette’s lashing out and stupid red card?
It seems anything is game for you to dig at the manager.
Laca was average in this game. He wasn’t great against Huddersfield too.
Iwobi gets rightly blamed but players like Laca get free passes way to much.
You can scroll through the top 9 sides in the league and I’d back them to come here and win.
Emery is wank but it’ll take a miracle for any manager to get this shower of shit of a squad to play better than they are
Pretty much yeah
Last seasons squad up until February at least had Ozil playing for a new contract, Ramsey more committed, Sanchez probably our best player post RVP, Monreal and Kos a year younger and the latter hadn’t suffered a career threatening injury, Welbeck without a broken leg, Giroud and Walcott who could both chip in with goals. Not saying we should’ve kept any of them, just that we’ve lost a lot of players in the last 18 months and the squad is looking paper thin right now both quality and depth wise. Not sure I agree with the idea that we currently… Read more »
We only have one move in attack , the ball inside the full back . If that doesn’t work then there is no other options. Look on the bright side ,we may get a chance to see some real quality with composure and intelligence on the pitch next week. Ozil will win see Arsenal through the tie with ease next week because his patience and guile will transmit to the rest of the side instead of this headless chicken Emery style of football . I thought Saurez looked lively when he came on, tried to make things happen , I… Read more »
I was kind of a pro emery and a bit even now.
But if we fail to win against Manu and Spuds (which I think is not likely looking at the current form), I would want Emery out this summer. No second thoughts on that.
Lacazette can fuck off too. I keep hearing about how he’s miles better than Auba centrally and he should be number one and how influential he’s been more shit than good this season. I don’t really care what his 12 goals say. Offer him and cash for Werner in the summer and be rid
Yet another dreadful away performance from a true devoid of craft, pace and skill.
Sorry, guys (Midwest, Batistuta, and the rest who are saying that the squad is shit) but today’s result is on Emery, and Emery alone. He’s the one who picked the starting XI. He’s the one who chose the formation. He’s one with tactics, substitutions, etc… We’re not playing this coming weekend so why are we resting the likes of Torreira? Why are we rolling again with 3 CB’s against the motherfucking BATE?! Yes, I know, 1-0 away result is not the end of the world and we might easily beat them in the return leg at the Emirates next week.… Read more »
Bate last played a competitive game in December.
from a team devoid of craft, pace and skill!!
At this point even I miss Ozil. We are dire going forward, for years I’ve seen Giroud miss sitters then stick out his tongue but now we’re not even creating.
If that fat controller Raul is behind getting rid of Sven and not playing Mesut then he’s going to make some decisions that will piss us off in the coming years.
Another masterclass from Unai.
Dissenter
It’s called frustration
The list is too long as to why Lacazette was so frustrated .
For me the problem has just got even more exacerbated. Along side having a new team, we also need a new manager.
Tonight was truly shocking. You would have thought that UE would have learnt a lesson vs playing against Huddersfield, the shittiest team in the league, but to cary on like this vs another crap team is unforgivable.
We only have one move in attack , the ball inside the full back .
If that doesn’t work then there is no other options
I agree with this bit it’s very true and speaks volumes of where we’re at because there’s little else we can do attacking wise. We lack wingers we have a lack of quality at CAM which begs the question where is our creativity coming from?
Marko You live in an Xbox world mate, you’re talking bollocks and then whine like a child about it. Change 8 players from the first XI? Man City or PSG couldn’t do such a thing and they have resources that embarrass us. No what this is from you is a classic diversion away from putting heat on the manager, ‘no manager could work with these players’. False, Emery can’t work with these players, a better manager could, and a then with a few more players we’d be a country mile better than what we are now. We’d be a different… Read more »
The team.is full of Wenger rejects bar one or two Emery signings.
Thinking of it I’m not even sure why we are down. Even if our defence was up to par helmet boy is still so far past it its unreal.
7 defeats(and counting) in 2 months without Ozil in the starting line up…
I’m not one to say I told you so but…………
(Didn’t watch it.)
Refuse to watch any Europa league football.
It’s all toilet.
Arsenal will still go through to the next round- that’s a given
But who is going to keep on paying to watch this footballing dirge Emery dishes up?
The crowds will be back to early 1980’s levels,soon
(Hitting revenues. )
That’s why in 2019 – you have to play an exciting brand of football.
No other way!
I agree with this bit it’s very true and speaks volumes of where we’re at because there’s little else we can do attacking wise. We lack wingers we have a lack of quality at CAM which begs the question where is our creativity coming from?
☝️☝️☝️👆👆👆
🤙🤙🤙
At this stage you might as well sack the manager. Bring in someone see what they can do with them until the end of the season and start again. Still won’t matter a jot unless you turnover that piece of shit squad we’ve assembled. Going to be tough though considering how utterly shit some of them are. We might have to give away Mustafi and Xhaka
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Emery needs to start putting the German on the pitch so we don’t keep being told how he holds the key to our creativity
He also needs to ask the camera man to quit taking training pics of rudderless young man laughing and hugging in training then later playing like total strangers in matches
Upstate
You’d see I’ve pretty much said he’s not exactly an inspiring manager up there but we would be deceiving ourselves if we think a vast majority of this squad is good enough.
Probably best if we played the kids and lost but those were basically the 1st team and most played true to their level
Arsenal 3 shots on target.
Majestic
“Emery get on the blower to Ozil and make up because you are losing this battle hands down”.
You know it, I know, and Emery probably knows it too. But he won’t do a damn thing because the man is a stubborn SOB. The only silver lining in this whole Ozil saga is that Emery is gonna get himself fired faster than he’s gonna get Mesut out of the club. Like you said yourself, if we were winning games, it’d be a different story… but we’re not.
Marko
“I agree with this bit it’s very true and speaks volumes of where we’re at because there’s little else we can do attacking wise. We lack wingers we have a lack of quality at CAM which begs the question where is our creativity coming from?”
Let me give you some help .
How about the 2nd most creative player in the league last season …that might work.
Still don’t understand why we bothered with Suarez. Looks hopeless. The decision to take off Kolasinac was poor. He was the only guy that was looking like cutting them open. Mkhi should be bossing that game. He’s on 200k ffs. Our problem is that we don’t have any goal scorers. No spread. We’ve got this far off the back of Auba and Laca. But these guys aren’t top level strikers. They won’t go the whole season like someone like Aguero. Where are our goals from midfield. That’s why Mkhi is paid the big bucks. We need to get him out… Read more »
For me, Emery is a one trick pony manager. He only knows how to work with one system and is incapable to adapt. The proof is clearly shown in how we played tonight.
Emery should eat some humble pie, get Özil back in the team, tell him he’s free of any defensive responsibility and task him with creating and orchestrating the attack.
It’s worth a shot as the team can’t play any worse than it is already.
Majority of the squad is good ENOUGH to beat bate borisov
Ozil is another Wenger reject.
Denisk Bergkampf
“Guessing we don’t have the squad/players to compete with the likes of Bate, its not Emerys fault, bless him, or maybe it was the pitch? the ref? Definitely Ozil had something to do with it. Maybe someone snuck Ribena into the camp pre game? Still, least we have that extra 5 points”.
LOL. Post of the day.
Upstate – I’m not saying the squad is sh.it. Im saying this notion that we somehow should be beating top 4 or 5 teams. because this squad is quality and all we need is a special sauce manager is false.. And I don’t give a fuk about Emery .. or whomever is the manager as long as we are moving in the right direction. I don’t think it’s so cut and dry as everyone tries to make. it.. Assigning blame is a pointless exercise basically.. So if you want to put the blame all on Emery for this.. ok.. I… Read more »
Wow that was fucking bad…..I mean Wenger like bad.
“Emery should eat some humble pie, get Özil back in the team, tell him he’s free of any defensive responsibility and task him with creating and orchestrating the attack.”
There were some rumors that Ozil is frozen out by people above Emery.
Ozil starts next week in the 2nd leg and the players and crowd will be buzzing from the off .
Ozil doesn’t start and this will immediately put the players and manager under pressure from the crowd if we don’t have a fast start.
Wenger has left us with Swindon in disguise.
TheLegendaryDB10
“Tonight was truly shocking. You would have thought that UE would have learnt a lesson vs playing against Huddersfield, the shittiest team in the league, but to cary on like this vs another crap team is unforgivable.”
Indeed.
Of course we have enough to beat them, but when there is little desire and lots of apathy this is what happens. Good players will struggle with that let alone our expensively assembled garbage.
Arsenal’s last nine away games across all competitions:
DLDLWLLWL
Those two wins came against Huddersfield and Blackpool.
Emery last European Knock out match
Barca 6 PSG 0*
His latest knock out one:
Batty 1 Arsenal 0
Does he not know – the whole idea of euro football is to get an away goal or 2??
(Maybe he does’ nt?.)
* if his richly assembled Psg scored 1 at The Nou Camp last year – Barcelona would have had to score 8( EIGHT)!!!
Pierre. Ozil has had 1 assist in 13 PL games this year. I’d have him in the team because of a lack of better options. But we need to move on from him. Replace him in the summer with a guy who creates, scores and puts in a shift.
CG
PSG did score at the Nou Camp.
It was 3-1 in the 88th min.
You live in an Xbox world mate, you’re talking bollocks and then whine like a child about it. Change 8 players from the first XI? Man City or PSG couldn’t do such a thing and they have resources that embarrass us. I live in the real world pal and you live up some 69 year old french man’s rectum still. I said this squad needs not necessarily is going to get certainly straight away. City and PSG had massive squad turnover back when they started out and continued that. This team needs significantly more than 3 players to compete. You’re… Read more »
Midwest “…but then again against Chelsea he got it spot on” No, he didn’t. It was more of a case of Chelsea losing to us than us beating them. They gifted us that game, just like they gifted it to Bournemouth (and I won’t even mention City… shit, I just did). Sarri might be even more stubborn and stupid than Emery is. He’s got Kante, yet he plays Jorginho. He’s got one of the best number 10’s in Hazard, yet he plays him as false 9. It’s ridiculous and he’s paying for it. Sarri won’t last long at Chelsea. And… Read more »
Emery’s record in Europe:
3 Europa league titles in a row.
Wenger’s record in Europe:
lol lol lol lol lol lol
How about the 2nd most creative player in the league last season …that might work.
Is that the same lad who’s assists have been declining the last two seasons? The same lad who has one or maybe two this season? And the same lad who calls in sick to work? Yeah no thanks
Losing patience with this.
Nobody can justify leaving Ozil and Ramsey out of our squad while playing maitland and iwobi.Guendouzi is knackered.Miki is a joke.Suarez is ANOTHER lightweight.
I think the manager is out of his depth.
Obviously our owner has responsibilities too.
I’ll say one thing about Ozil Pierre. He most probably hates UE. Which leaves him in a tough spot. He plays shit and he gets further ostracized by UE and Raul. He plays well and this will keep UE going on.
Apologies Chris
Just testing to see if you were paying attention.
Good knowledge….
Ozil doesn’t start and this will immediately put the players and manager under pressure from the crowd if we don’t have a fast start.
Probably count on one hand the amount of fans calling for Ozil
Feels like we are 1 point away from top 4, but a million miles from CL qualification. There is no chance that given the way we are playing we can keep up with United and Chelsea. We just don’t have the quality in the squad to get us there. Unless Laca and Auba start scoring again we just don’t have ANY goals in us.
Marko Weird, only person I see foaming about Wenger on here is you….oh and another on at the bottom of your comment. Anyone could’ve bought Salah, Pep too. Point is Salah took Liverpool up two levels on his own so your call for 8 players is juvenile noise to redirect relevant criticism of the manager. But if you want to harp open about Wenger be my guest, why not tie it in with tonight’s game along the lines of this: Last year under Wenger we beat BATE 6-0 and 4-2. Under Emery we’ve started with a 1-0 loss and you’re… Read more »
Hoeness summed up Ozil perfectly…shit player.
At this rate we won’t have to worry about playing in Europe as a distraction…
Just saw the result vs Bate… a fucking joke.
Wenger’s hidden son is about to crash much more faster than I thought.
You can’t have it both ways, though Upstate.. Some matches he got it right.. regardless… Like I said I don’t care.. so much about Emery.. wouldn’t have been my choice.. but still you know what… at least if he totally fuks it up .. I know we wont be stuck with him for 10 more years … so in a way that’s progress. As I said earlier I think he was hired as a transition manager in the first place because they weren’t ready to hand it over to a complete noob and all the other experienced managers turned us… Read more »
Historic win for the Belarus farmers.
Embarrassing defeat and we saw a few of those under Wenger.
Team will get through over two legs but any more of these type of ridiculing loses and Emery will be out the door sharpish.
Miki showing again what a flaky player he is. No influence at all against such opponents.
Whole team huffing and puffing without much of a clue between any of them.
Emery is such a disappointment.
We are playing the likes of BATE because we’re a piss poor team…no thanks to Wenger.
“I know we wont be stuck with him for 10 more years”
I’m sorry but you can’t be 100% sure about that.
You’d think that watching Chelsea have success for year upon year someone at Arsenal might notice the benefits of having top class wide players. Lovely ball from Pedro there. Instead of Auba and Laca we should have got Auba instead of Laca and a couple of quality wingers.
Seriously the hatred of Wenger is blinding some of you.
You can’t blame Wenger or the players for today’s shit show.
Last year, we played them, score 10 against them.
This year with everybody agreeing a better squad we could not even shoot on target never mind score against a team in pre season.
The tactics were wrong, the personnel was wrong.
For me lack is trying to do too much and as Pierre said a frustration. No way should packing being all that tracking back against this bate boy team.
I hate this phone.
It’s VERY hard to believe that Miki has more application, skill, effort, end product and threat than Ozil.
Same goes for Maitland and Iwobi.
Laca be doing*