Good morning people.
Today, I’m experimenting with ‘voice’ combined with the common blog format.
I’m working on the ‘voice-log’ with Dan Ahern from the Le Grove comments.
Would appreciate your ears and comments on whether you think this is a format worth continuing.
In the ‘voice-log’ we talk:
- Mesut being a piece of you-know-what
- We opine on Emery and his strategy
- We talk about how vision should be playing a bigger role in the future of the club
- We set the record straight on Ramsey
Go long and deep people.
See you on the other side.
SPOTIFY | STITCHER | ITUNES | GOOGLE | POCKET CASTS
P.S. I thought pop-sockets were the total shite until I saw these sweet offerings from the top melts over at SheWore.com. That Clockend looks real good to me. Right? Yes. Totally right.
I would have thought trying to talk sense or even engage constructively to someone with the title Dissenter -and who revels in Arsenal misery – would be a rather futile exercise.
Mission Impossible that one.
Dissenter,
You don’t really have an opinion on this do you? It’s defend Emery at all costs.
You either believe in comfort for a new manager and you all a non expert to hire in for expert positions
Or you believe in the modern way of structuring a club which is geared around expert departments being stocked with best in class talent that is allowed to thrive.
One decentralises power, favours excellence and gives transparency.
The other favours nepotism, entrenched power and expensive goodbyes.
You favour comfort. Not smart.
Charlie George
“Ploughing down the wrong path – is always worse in the long run than delaying harsh decisions.”
Says the man who supported Wenger til his last breath as arsenal manager.
You are the biggest hypocrite.
Where were these words when arsenal was ploughing down the wrong path with Wenger at the helm.
Id argue Wenger and gazidis’ last few seasons is hurting the club a lot more than one season of transition, that has come 5 seasons too late.
Get over yourself.
Charlie George
I reepectully decline the offer of sense” from anyone who seriously suggested that we bring Wenger back in as technical director
Freddie
Agreed 100%.
I want to see some serious moves this summer.
Arsenal are way off the pace. If the club is serious about competing, it will make extra funds available for whoever the manager is.
It’s the smart move. You speculate in football and it pays divends further down the line.
More spending means better players which leads to more success which leads to more commercial revenue.
Pedro It seems your way is always right. Even when faced with evidence that managers everywhere bring in their core staff, you continue to talk dogma about some mythical club that exist in the sky. Guardiola brought in his staff to add to an excellent staff that existed at city. The same staff that delivered two league titles in the four years that preceded Pep. I present it to you and you keep doing is to dig in further. I hope we do sack Emery I hope you get the special sauce manager that you’re asking for so the rest… Read more »
Arsenal have really become a tedious club. Same discussions over and over again.
Pep G is not a counterpoint.
You need to tell me why you think any manager should bring his doctor, S&C or physio person to a club.
If you can justify that, then we can talk. But it’s difficult to, because there is no logical reason why a manager should be dictating how other departments are staffed.
Emery needs to work out if it is a physical , mental or a tactical thing as to why we have struggled to make even the slightest impact on a game when we need to score a goal . Southampton,Tottenham, Brighton, West Ham , Liverpool , city , United and Bate Borisov were all games that we were chasing and desperately needed a goal and we failed to create a worthwhile chance in the last 20 minutes in any of those games . Personally , I don’t think it’s physical , I believe that it’s firstly a tactical problem and… Read more »
Pierre, the Huddersfield game i went to in December was painfully slow to watch.
But agree, the players look devoid of ideas.
If we’re trying to outscore opponents because we can’t defend, you’d hope for something a bit more interesting that the current tactics on offer.
Pedro “Pep G is not a counterpoint.” Yes Guardiola he is not. After all, he only came to city after city had won two league titles in the preceding five years before him. Guardiola was going a very good organization and even yet brought three assistant managers , a medical doctor, two physios and a personal assistant that the club pays for. Watch the city documentary and you’ll see that even his ‘personal assistant” isn’t just a coffee boy. Cue Emery, A manager coming into a transitional organization with a new “Director of performance” in Burgess amongst other new peoplemin… Read more »
Can somebody please for the love of god post something that proves we’ve been doing double training sessions? Intense training sessions does not equal double, and I can’t find anything online to verify this. We can’t accuse Emery of introducing double sessions at the expense of the squad and causing injuries and using that as a stick to beat Emery with to further a narrative if it’s a made up scenario, surely?
Every new manager brings a whole team of staff with them don’t they?
That’s just standard practice is it not?
Also I think you meant making the harsh decisions early rather than ploughing down the wrong path. I knew what you mean. And I agree.
But your outbursts are ironically late by many seasons.
Benny, double sessions / long sessions / repetitive training are an Emery staple.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/next-arsenal-manager-unai-emery-wont-copy-pep-guardiola-s-style-but-he-could-be-a-perfect-fit-says-a3845661.html
Benny, it’s a standard with mega-rich clubs, but it is not good practice and it’ll start to get phased out as clubs realise the problems it brings with transparency, quality and expense. Roy Keane had a part in his book where he said he stocked out his backroom team at Ipswich to make it hard to fire him. AVB did it at Chelsea, firing lots of much loved coaching staff. David Moyes made a huge mistake getting rid of all the old guard when he moved there. The manager should be able to bring two or three staff with him.… Read more »
Pedro
“:Benny, it’s a standard with mega-rich clubs, but it is not good practice and it’ll start to get phased out as clubs realise the problems it brings with transparency, quality and expense.”
So you’re bashing Emery for persisting with modern day norms and wrongly painting it as a power grab?
“It’ll start to be phased out”… until then don’t take cheap shots at him for living in the present. reality.
You’re arguing for some utopian club management state that does not exist in present day age.
Pedro “The other favours nepotism, entrenched power and expensive goodbyes.” If we sack Emery doesn’t that come under the above category. So in that scenario, some of the fans win but the club don’t get to even allow their methods to set in. Yeah we sacked Sven or he left or whatever. But we are hearing so much about a director replacement. I totally believe, with or without Emery, that the club is restructuring for the better. To move on from one mans input on the sporting side of things to a decentralised, expert group that you talk about. This… Read more »
Dissenter,
You’re really struggling today.
1. City allow Pep to do what he wants. United did the same with Mourinho. We are not City or United and Emery is not a manager who has the prestige to pack out the club with his mates.
2. This isn’t on Emery. This is on the club.
3. You still haven’t explained why you think this method of allowing Emery to hire in his mates is a good idea. ‘It’s just the way it is’ doesn’t cut it or marry up with how modern clubs structure.
Goober, we’re not sacking Emery.
I would like to think that if we’re going to hire in a technical director, we go beyond someone Emery is best mates with.
Or at least interview a list of excellent candidates who can move us to the next level.
Monchi as good credentials, but so do a lot of other folk.
Ralph Rangnick would be an unreal hire. I know we studied him and I think we interviewed him in the summer. Think his role is a little bigger than technical director… and obvs he sometimes gets his coaching boots on again.
Isn’t the Poch well known for his extensive intensive double training sessions? A few years ago I thought we were all jealous of the Spud’s having a modern manager who didn’t follow the same old tired out dated training methods.
Marc, Poch has one of the best approaches to fitness in the game… well, he doesn’t, his team do and he listens.
Spurs struggles this year stem from how many players they had at the world cup and their relatively small squad that has to deal with CL
Pedro
That wasn’t a “he said she said” comment, as you say the Poch seems to manage a small squad with minimal injuries. It was always going to catch up with them, my point was about his reported training methods. I thought I read he favours a high intensity approach including on occasions double sessions – if that’s wrong fine as I said I thought I read it some where.
Marc
“Isn’t the Poch well known for his extensive intensive double training sessions? A few years ago I thought we were all jealous of the Spud’s having a modern manager who didn’t follow the same old tired out dated training methods.”
That’s precisely true
Same as Klopp who did it the first season too.
Managers start a certain way and revise their approaches at time goes on.
Emery’s backroom staff is the latest stick to club the man over his head….
Dissenter
Thought I had seen / read that somewhere, now if other managers are finding that with the intensity and number of matches in England it’s too much then you’d hope Emery would learn from others mistakes but by the sounds of it he’s hardly alone in the approach.
Marc,
Exactly why you don’t let him bring his own fitness people. The knowledge is with the people already here, the actual experts.
Daily Mail from October 2018—
“Tottenham training ‘too hard’ but Mauricio Pochettino is unwilling to reduce the intensity of sessions’ ” – Sami Mokbel
– A host of Tottenham players have privately expressed concerns about training.
– Spurs sources claim the manager is unwilling to reduce training intensity.
– Tottenham’s season so far has been disrupted by a number of fitness concerns.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6245487/Spurs-training-hard-Mauricio-Pochettino-unwilling-relent.html
Clubs only play 40-45 games a season, the remaining fixtures are friendly run outs.
Well there it is Bam, can’t argue with Mokbel.
Spurs have traditionally had great fitness.
I mean, still hard to argue it’s wrong.
They’ve been immense this season. But Kane and Alli are our injured. But no one would say they lack intensity.
Seems like a bit of much ado about nothing this debate.
It does reveal a certain level of disappointment and confusion amongst arsenal fans.
Personally, I think we’ve gone from one extreme to another- from a dictatorship to a collective.
Are there too many cooks at Arsenal?
Are we going to end up with pizza and chocolate sauce for breakfast?
Red
Did you ever watch that Arsenal 89 DVD I told you about?
Pochettino had the same issue and he resolved it by doing the following: He gradually reduces the intensity of training from November and then increases it again in February. I think that last season He gave an interview explaining that by doing that he eradicated muscle injuries. This year because of the World Cup he has been unable to do so. The pre-season was truncated and by November some players were already tired. Also usually his team gets eliminated from domestic Cup at the first round. That did not happen this year. Being eliminated early in the FA Cup means… Read more »
Just heard that “Solskjaer’s 250 Million Sancho, Koulibaly, Verratti Swoop”
Here Arsenal fans are arguing about peanuts while Manure are making their big plans. How can we compete?
Pedro,
Good points. I absolutely do not want Emery packing out his position with a whole team of yes men around him like Wenger did, not healthy at all and something we definitely need to be moving away from.
I said months ago that the reason we look fatigued is partly to due to our failure to being ahead at half time .
Consequently this means that Arsenal had to play full throttle to get a result as we rarely , if ever , could coast home for the last half hour or make substitutions to rest players .
Teams like city or Liverpool probably have a quarter of their games where the game is over after an hour and so consequently can coast home.
Arsenal haven’t had that luxury all season .
It’s not fatigue but a weak mentality fostered by Wenger which plagues the team.
Emery openly admitted the team lacked belief against Man City., which kind of proves my point.
@redtruth,
How do you explain that during the first part of the season, we were winning second half. Since January we are not winning second half.
To me it is either tactical (teams have sussed the coach and his changes out), physical (the team cannot run the full 90 minutes like they did), but you think that it is psychological.
If this was psychological then that would mean that the more time they’ve spent under Emery, the weaker they became.
That really kills your own argument in favour of Emery.
Nelson,
How do Atleti compete on an average net spend of 13m over the past 5 seasons?
Total net spend under him has been £79m.
“How do you explain that during the first part of the season, we were winning second half. Since January we are not winning second half.”
Nothing new there, Arsenal always collapse after Christmas.
Remember, the club have been on loser mode for over a decade, it will take more than a season to get Arsenal.back to competing.
“How do Atleti compete on an average net spend of 13m over the past 5 seasons?Total net spend under him has been £79m”
Athletico are under praised for this. Keeping pace with Real and barca is no easy feat.
Them players would die for Simeone.
@redtruth, It is incorrect. We used to collapse in November and come back in February before collapsing in March. We used to have November during which we lost nearly all our games. The collapse in November was due to Wenger ‘s pre season training session. The last couple of years under Burgess we had started to rectify those well known timely collapse. It may be difficult to accept that the collapse is not due to psychological defect, but simply to bad conditioning. Under Wenger players were not fit enough compared to new fitness regimes used by Spurs, Burnley… . Emery… Read more »
Guns, yes they would.
They’ve seen 580m of player moving out the club during that period. Makes the feat even more spectacular
No wonder Stan is such a fan of old man Glazer (rip).The guy bought Man U with Man U’s own money. Wow! Then while still alive, he drew huge annual pay-outs . And to keep the machinery well-oiled and running, he issued bonds for which the Club is responsible, and with payment looming.
Sadly, the old man won’t be around for the master-stroke: walking off with 4 billion by selling the Club to a Saudi prince. I wonder if he was part of that ME consortium we heard about, trying to buy Arsenal
Unity Is fostered by belief in the players around you. When you look around and you see players hat you can depend on. They may not be the best in the world but you know hey will give 110% every game and not continuously make stupid decisions. When you are Laca or Torr and you see chumps like Iwobi AMN, Xhaka and esp Mustafi, you know that each game is going to be a long slog…all yr hard work can be undone by a moment of crass stupidity by any of the aforementioned. this is what they have at Athleti.… Read more »
You’re turning a sideshow (players fitness levels) into the main event.
The players mirror Wenger who was a spoilt pampered brat…
To me the players looked more mentally fatigued then physically. Probably understandable given that Wenger told them to go express themselves and Now Emery is changing the lineup, formations, tactics basically half to half.. Can’t believe I’m gonna agree with Keyser.. from long ago.. but you do need to have some cohesion and familiarity between players and we have added 5 or 6 new starters. More if you count players who are only starting due to injury. They need time to establish patterns that actually make sense rather then whatever it is we are doing now. You need a balance… Read more »
Got a banger of a post for you tomorrow
Ok.. Pedro.. Looking forward to it.. I don’t have to listen to it do I? lol I guess I’m old skool somewhat in regards to my blogs and music tastes. I like change but only if it makes my life better.
GunnerDna-
I thinks it’s ok if people say they are good at reading the tea leaves and interpreting what they are hearing and that they might hear more then the average person as long as they are clear that is what they are doing. I feel like Pedro has always tried to be credible in that regard and usually says so. I don’t feel like I’m being lied to sell anything..just sayin.
Midwest, it’s a cracker on Ralph Rangnick.
So Arsenal are a selling club.before the ES it was claimed it would allow the
gunners to compete . Alas its the same old story.
Arsenal have become uncompetitive and although they don’t have massive debt like MU .The latter have been the subject of a buy over.
With Arsenals diminishing value don’t be surprised they will be thrown out of group of top Euro teams.
wow the whole dissenter, pedro, valentin, freddie debate is the reason, I pay to be on this site (it’s not free for me, ask pedders)
Le grove and chill should be next New thing.
I stopped having those debates, because on here everyone is stubborn and will try to talk their way out of something rather than admit they are wrong. But that’s entertainment
G, you pay who?!
Check this out, so good.
https://youtu.be/D_VO6yH43_Q
@Marc Totally missed your comment from much earlier this morning where you were asking why Ramsey didn’t sign the deal. His last deal wasn’t sitting on the table for 4 months. He’d been asked to look over a final offer, and Arsenal yanked it (Mesut waited until Jan 31st to pen his deal in case you need precedent). Not sure how you landed on this being a fake news moment. That was the story that ran with all the mainstream journos. The only fake news seems to be the fans thinking that this was Ramsey’s decision. I’ve been told Emery… Read more »
Right, that’s me done for the night,
Tune in for the Ralph Rangnick banger tomorrow.
good all star game atm
Seems I’m late to the party lol For what it’s worth, I don’t necessarily support emery hiring any non-coaching related back room staff (though this is common practice anyway) I also don’t have any loyalty to emery and won’t shed a tear if he loses his job sooner or later if the club have a plan that’s better without him But Pedro, I think as much as anything people take issue with the double training sessions type comments because firstly they are unfounded and secondly they are patently just a stick to hit emery with. It’s entirely clear that you… Read more »
pedro
I was kidding about the paying thing, though I would pay to read the entertaining comment in here
@China1, The double session assertion is not unfounded. In November Arsenal PR machine was spinning the double session info against Wenger. “Now the players are fitter that’s why we are winning second halves.” Here are some extracts from the article. Arsenal play their 32nd game of the season against West Ham on Saturday and Emery has revealed he is making alterations to his squad’s training schedule. Emery admits it is important for his players to not be overworked Those are not my allegations, those are Emery words to the Daily mail. The article that was quoted by people against that… Read more »
Midwest
Good to see you back! 😉
Valentin
Still insisting on showing your reading comprehension is level -20?
Not overworking players and amending training sessions is ,again, not the same as double sessions.
Did Pedro remove some of his own snarkier comments from last night? Seems that way, maybe a self ban next, lol.
@Freddie, It say training schedule not just training sessions. What do you think that means? That instead of training in the morning now they train in the afternoon? The Gunners boss has admitted he has reduced the workload of some of his players to ensure they are in good shape going into the business end of the season. Instead of insulting my understanding of the article, ask yourself why was that article published? Why write a generic article about training at Arsenal? It was a piece of PR fluff by Arsenal. It has been leaked that half the team was… Read more »
Insulting? I thought that was pretty generous considering your actual ability to understand the written word.
So, still no proof of double sessions then? Just conjecture and make belief, ok.
MidwestGun
So true.
As I’ve highlighted on here on numerous occasions, the “paralysis by analysis” coaching methods can be a killer.
It is obvious that Emery is a very intense and passionate guy, which must have a massive affect in his communication to the players. From practically nothing over the past years, to this, can have a stagnating influence. Mental fatigue can cause physical fatigue, we all know this through our own work commitments.
My own perceptions of this are simple. If you’re going to have double training sessions, make them less intense and more enjoyable.
all these links to 19 and 20 year old, when we have a lot of youth talent just goes to show no one at arsenal know what’s going on. The fans seem to have more knowledge about how to run a football club than them.
Graham62
Please don’t perpetuate the lie (or feed the trolls anymore than I’m already doing:), the double sessions where in summer, no proof of anything else.
Wengers babies probably do need some extra double sessions to get into shape though so maybe they should start again.
Gonsterous The 19 and 20 year olds we’re linked with are on a different level though, this exactly the type of players we need to buy, no more 29 year olds. De Ligt and Konate has massive potential as CB ,both very experienced already, obviously De Ligt more so but he costs more than twice as much too. Havertz even though he’s only 19 would already be a clear upgrade on any CAM we have, and has the potential of becoming truly world class. If we don’t buy these kind of players early we’re never getting them, prices are just… Read more »
Well, I think fitness is not the issue why we aren’t winning games.
We aren’t winning games because we are not controlling the mid.
And we are not controlling the mid because the players don’t seem to know how to play his style.
That is the most basic explanation.
freddie
It’s good to buy those players, but it would be better if we can produce those players. I think we tend to over look our academy. They are some players that are very good, just need guidance and a chance in the first team.
I will be so angry if EMR doesn’t turn into a good player. He has all the ingredients to do sooo much.
Sorry Valentin, you are wrong. Where does it say double sessions anywhere other than pre season? It doesn’t.
You are making 2 + 2 = 5.
Show us a link that says double. Until then:
Bullshit!!
Anyone saw M’Bappe’s goal last night ?
Just wow !
New comer here. been reading this blog for a while. The difference 8n opinion make this blog great
Pedro I have not posted for several days because frankly there is very little to write positively about. The club is in a mess and there is very little progression since Wenger left Arsenal. On the contrary there seems to be a gradual decline under the current management including Emery. It is bad enough that Arsenal have struggled since November in any of the away games in EPL. This has been an ongoing problem since December 2017. We struggled even against Huddersefield a team who are rock bottom in League and have scored virtually no goals in recent games. The… Read more »