Just a quick post for you this morning as I showered you in two lots of content goodness yesterday.
A few things I wanted to add to the Monchi story.
A few people have rightly raised concerns about the nepotistic new look being sculpted at Raul’s Arsenal.
Firstly, the reason that’s a worry is the same reason it’s a worry at any organisation. You want to build a culture of excellence focused on performance, not who knows who. You don’t want to create dangerous power structures that make it hard for outside voices to be heard, whilst also muddying the waters of true performance accountability.
Arsene Wenger had a counterbalance when he started at Arsenal. David Dein was the more aggressive partner who pushed him to take chances on players. He could do this because he acted as/was seen as an equal. When Dein was pushed out of the club unceremoniously in his attempt to make Arsenal a super club, Wenger assumed full control and no one dared stop him.
He built out an untouchable backroom team that consisted of people who’d dare not challenge his authority, and he hired incompetent folk who were grateful for the underserved prestige job he’d handed out. He even had a say on who the CEO was. Imagine that, letting an underling yay or nay the person who could fire him? No coincidence the type of character he picked.
This approach works when judgment is sound, but it fails spectacularly when things go wrong. When the wheels came off Wenger’s approach and we started to sink, no one had the guts to tell him, and worse, Wenger didn’t have the quality around him to search out solutions even when he eventually wanted them.
Unai Emery has effectively brought in a partner who will make the decision to give him another 3 years, a pay rise, or sack him. Does that sound like history repeating itself? Maybe.
The big question everyone should be asking is this: how ruthless will Monchi be?
Who knows. Ultimately, this will only become a problem if things go wrong. The big hope is the reunion of the band will lead to better days on and off the pitch.
Following on from this, I totally forgot that Monchi hired in Sampaoli. The Argentine manager put on quite the show at Sevilla. He brought an aggressive brand of South American football to the club, he rejuvenated Samir Nasir, ended Zidane’s 40 game unbeaten run, and tapped out by qualifying Sevilla for the Champions League.
This is mostly interesting because it says Monchi is a man of exceptional taste when it comes to the sort of football he wants to see. Exactly what you want from the man hired to set the tone for the footballing style of Arsenal moving forward.
A Gooner friend of mine mentioned that Monchi will act as a counter to Emery’s impulse to purchase older players. I did some digging, overall, I’m not so sure.
I was going to pull the numbers for net spend, but overall, what’s the point? We know the guy is mustard at player churn.
Sifting through his last 6 seasons, it’s clear he’s a huge fan of the loan system. He likes to borrow players not landing minutes at big clubs, and he also likes young kids to get game time by sending them out on loan. Ben Knapper is going to be very busy.
The average age of a Monchi signing (purchases and important loans) over the last 6 season sits at 25.5. It’s clear the man is no Ralph Rangnick who believes players are untrainable after the age of 23 years old.
The coach says that he never signs a player the manager doesn’t want, so I thought it’d be interesting to see the average age of an Emery signing in the 3 successful years they worked together. It’s a little over 25.5, sitting at 25.8. So not quite Mourinho, but smack bang at the start of ‘prime’ football years. Key point here is if we’re looking to make money, utilising this approach means players will be here a maximum of two seasons before being sold on for profit (my thinking here is 28 is the cut-off point before sharp declines in value).
I think the middling twenties number stems from the strategy at Sevilla tending to be geared around players that had lost their way with bigger clubs. Sevilla acted as a second chance for a lot of players. Clearly, Monchi thinks there’s value in the scrap heap and he likes the idea of the ‘chip on the shoulder’ motivation that comes with being shunned.
Worth noting that Wenger also liked to do this when he was the king. He brought in names like Kanu, Overmars and Suker whilst also breathing new life into the clubs legends like Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Lee Dixon and Tony Adams. I mean, it’d be fair to say that Thierry and Vieira were also on a scrap heap of sorts, even if they were very young when they moved to us.
The Roma transfer policy has tended to follow a very similar pattern to Sevilla. His first act was to move on Paredes, Salah, Rudiger and Emerson from 135.8m euros. Quite an aggressive move considering their combined average age was only 23.75. He then added 13 players with an average age of 25.6.
The next summer he shifted Strootman, (28) Nainggolan (30), and Alisson (25) for 142m euros which was good business. However, he went full on Sevilla with the replacement signings bringing in Pastore (29) and Nzonzi (29) for 60m euros, not exactly value based signings if you’re thinking about the long-term resale value.
That said, they managed to nab Justin Kluivert (19) and Nicolo Zaniolo (19), who exciting bets for the future.
So in short, we’re hiring a Technical Director who likes to find value at the big clubs for experience, whilst taking chances on kids he can offer more playing time to than the big clubs.
Very, very Raul it would seem. Also very Emery if we think the Suarez deal was all his. Do not be shocked to see us raid Barcelona for Malcolm this summer. Just the right amount of broken if Monchi’s past signings are anything to go by.
Now, your past doesn’t always dictate your future. No one has a clue what the brief is at the minute. But one thing is for sure, I think this summer will be a whirlwind. Over 6 seasons, he’s averaged 13.6 new faces a season. That’s a far cry from Wenger’s mantra of ‘more than 3 signings and training ground will flood.’ Last season at Roma, including loans, 41 faces arrived and 44 left. The season before 52 arrived, 59 left. A lot of loans in that, but it gives you an idea about the amount of fucks given when it comes to shaking things up.
So what have we learned today? Well, I can’t write a short post when I’m interested in something. Whatever happens, this summer will be aggressive, fast-paced and exciting. Like it or lump it, we’ll be looking at a very different group of players when next season starts.
The next chapter begins… (hopefully)
Right, that’s me done, enjoy the Southampton game and we’ll talk more on Monday.
x
‘The class of Ozil shone through in the 25 minutes he was on the pitch , never wasted a ball .’
Hard to waste something you barely used
Job done. Now to celebrate with some tapas and San Miguel!
Dissenter
Agree, Ole battled the last 45 with zero sub ability and should of probably won that.
Klopp now under the cosh, nervy times ahead.
Love it, can’t have those bastards winning the title.
PhD
They’re playing a world golf championship (WGC) event in Mexico this week. All the top guys taking part. I played at Uni, always been keen.
Never played squash, and I hate running more than 100 yards. Swim like a fish though
Niang is their striker. Sarr plays right wing. No Hatem Ben Afra
Suarez loan move looking like a wasted fee as it stands.
Think it was a few hundred thousand and with the potential for an injury it’s hardly stupid
2 good things in the 2nd half – we didn’t concede and Iwobi got injured, besides that, fuck all.
Laca could easily haver been sent off again. He put his hands on another player’s face.
Man needs to watch his emotions.
Suarez loan move looking like a wasted fee as it stands.”
And who do suppose we’re to blame?
That Liverpool performance was shocking. I mean Salah is playing like guff at the moment
Damn Chris, that sounds ideal
Danny
You think Iwobi getting injured is one the good things in the game? Did read that wrong?
He and Leno were our best players.
Marko I read it was £2.17m for rest of season.
Vic
Who do you blame
Raul or Emery
Thats why it was a loan. Suarez is on extended trial till May, so far he’s failing the trial.
No biggie there man
Not understanding this Suarez loan move the guy has got a
mopey look about him ,as if he should not be here type.?
Surely our scouting team need to look closer at players before
laying out just a few hundred thousands.? On dross please prove me wrong.?
Marginally better stats against a very poor Southampton side.
12 shots -6 on target.
Rennes 1-0 will give us more problems than Bates.
Rennes scores. Up to now, their attack mainly goes through the right side with Sarr teaming up with Traore.
Danny
February 24, 2019 16:07:37
2 good things in the 2nd half – we didn’t concede and Iwobi got injured, besides that, fuck all.
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Christ, catch a grip will you.
Salah and luis Suarez have always been hit and miss for me. They never really seem to have the ball under control. Therefore they rely more on form, because their ability is not really precise, they just muddle play and because they are agile they hope to respond faster than the defender wherever the ball bounces to
I thought it was 500,000 sal. In all honesty he’s here as cover for 6 months with no obligation to buy. I personally can’t see any problem with that. Question marks over Ozil and Ramsey and Mhiki has been injured it would have been a risk not bringing in anyone.
Sal
That makes no sense
Are you suggesting that Suarez mason fee per season his 4 million?
It cannot be more than £1 million, some of it will depend on appearances.
There’s a reason Barca were trying to arm twist us into making an obligatory transfer.
Bamford
“I didn’t.”
Then what did you mean by the below?“I’ve long been at loggerheads with Pedro for some of his views about Wenger and Arsenal of the last decade.”
It wasn’t my statement. That was CC’s
Iwobi is our worst player, one of the shittiest to ever play for us, if some of you don’t see that then you’re lucky.
I hope he never plays for us again.
I would have been more angry if it was a permanent transfer to be honest. But it ain’t that
Our much vaunted strike force aren’t really that great.
There’s a reason we don’t blow out teams; our two strikers miss way too many chances.
Danny
C’mon you really think Iwobi getting inured is a good thing?
You’re better than that. What is wrong with you?
We have 5 games in 18 days and you’re happy that a key squad player is out injured?
Dissnter
I’m not suggesting anything, merely stating what I’ve read fee was.
Sal
I get you now. My point is that some things we read don’t pass the smell test.
Lol. People crying over Suarez. Lol. Were wasting that much on Jenkinson alone. Who cares. It’s the least of our problems. How about worrying why no actual funds were made available to buy a player for an injury ravaged team with 3 ACLs in the one season, who is supposed to be fighting for a CL spot. Lol. What a hilarious thing to be fixated on. Suarez. Shows that people are really running out of things to support their claims.
Iwobi is not injured, it’s a cramp.
And Iwobi has been part of our top 3 performer this season
These our players need some brain resetting slaps. I couldn’t almost differentiate them from lower table team players. Wa wa
Dissenter
—————
I can’t stand him, he brings the level of the whole team down. Why Emery keeps playing him is completely bizarre.
CC
Love watching the golf ..I wouldn’t write Mcilroy off tonight..
Johnson is capable of blowing his lead, a very dIfficult and dangerous course to hang on to a lead .
Dissenter
I blame both, they both make for a clueless bunch when it comes to players.. Raul accumulated alot of duds at Barça before leaving and Emery doesn’t seem to have anything to do with a player who hasn’t played for him before
Minslitat’s departure was a big blow that can only be swiftly remedied by a hire like Monchi
Emery’s refusal to give Suarez any playing time though makes you wonder what the fuss was about for the whole January transfer window
Nice cameo from Mesut
The team I expect on Wednesday
Leno
Mustafi Koscielny Sokratis
Jenks Guendouzi Torreira Xhaka Kolasinac
Mkhitaryan Auba
The Emery train chugs along. Despite all the flack he is getting, after 27 games we are on 53 points, last season we were on 45 points after 27 games. It took the messiah Wenger 32 games to get Arsenal’s 53rd point last season.
Denis Suarez looks like Ramsey, which is why he has been brought in
Danny. Because we don’t have any options. He gives us width, unlike if we were to play Ozil or Ramsey there. He performs that as good as, if not better than Mkhi.
That said, he has absolutely no end product. He is not alone though. We need to invest heavily in at least 2 starting 11 quality wide attacking players that can actually score goals. Most important position that we need to strengthen. But for the rest of this season Iwobi is as good as anyone we have for that wide right attacker role.
qna
Flip side is its a signals what some, particularly those in charge consider quality and worthy of putting assets into.
Forgive me if i’m not sold on Emery’s transfer targets thus far.
*wide left isn’t he
Iwobi is our only player that can actually beat his man. That’s why he’s played
We should not forget that Arsenal are playing 4 games in 10 days so I do think that it made sense distributing resources in first three games.
The game against Spurs on Saturday will be testing. We need to put out our best team in that game.
‘That Liverpool performance was shocking. I mean Salah is playing like guff at the moment’ City forward players- KDB, Bernardo, David Silva, Aguero and Sane – have much better first touch and ability with the ball. Better at both keeping the ball and passing it. Salah and Mane are dangerous players but they rely more on their persistence and pace than technical ability. Salah is too reliant on his left foot that makes his game a bit predictable. Mane is a more dangerous player than Salah in the sense he is reasonably good with both feet but he lacks composure… Read more »
Sokratis is a rock at the back , for the first time in a while I felt confident that we had the game under control for the 90 minutes .
Emery must keep to 4-2-3-1 …I know I have been saying it for the last 3 months but I just think we look a much more balanced team with the 2 sitting in midfield allowing us to have 4 offensive players on the pitch.
Sal. Suarez might not even be Emery’s choice? Raul is ex Barca. Suarez played for 6 months with Unai and now he is not even picking him. Just saying.
But like I said. Who cares. We waste that much on shit players for fun. The question is why couldn’t we actually spend and why is our available funds for this summer so low if reports are accurate. Emery/Allegri/whoever the manager is the least of our problems right now. We’ve got a terribly balanced, aging and overpaid squad and no money to spend.
omarFebruary 24, 2019 16:27:40
The Emery train chugs along. Despite all the flack he is getting, after 27 games we are on 53 points, last season we were on 45 points after 27 games. It took the messiah Wenger 32 games to get Arsenal’s 53rd point last season.
___
What’s your point? Last season was a disaster. Doesn’t mean Emery is the right man.
Dissenter
What I found ironic about your post regarding KO scheduling, Simon Jordan actually gave a good critique about the EPL maximising income by adopting a Netflix-like platform.
£10 p/m for access to all the games. Obviously that will have a massive impact on Sky’s as they’re the biggest payers for the domestic EPL rights, followed by BT , but I’m not an authority on how it’ll impact international buyers, if at all.
I am not sure what is wrong with Iwobi. Last season and this season he keep having cramp after 75 minutes.
Last season I blamed Wenger and his under training and players not being fit enough.
This season that still happen with Iwobi. Maybe that his due to his diet or not drinking enough before games.
A few people have rightly raised concerns about the nepotistic new look being sculpted at Raul’s Arsenal. Firstly, the reason that’s a worry is the same reason it’s a worry at any organisation. You want to build a culture of excellence focused on performance, not who knows who….A Gooner friend of mine mentioned that Monchi will act as a counter to Emery’s impulse to purchase older players. And the bullshit continues I see. Focused on performance? That’s Monchi then he’s highly regarded. Worth noting he was at Sevilla for 13 before Emery came along. They’ve only worked together for 3… Read more »
Dippers are fading, city will win the title comfortably
Pierre. I agree. Sokratis gives me some comfort. I also prefer Mustafi as RB over Licht and AMN. But it would be nerve wracking whichever way we go there.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/unai-emery/spielertransfers/trainer/5075
Not that it needs to be disproven as nothing more than unfounded worrying because he doesn’t really make the signings but here’s a list of players purchased under (by) Emery. No real worry of him buying geriatrics really.
Thomas: What’s your point? Last season was a disaster. Doesn’t mean Emery is the right man.
So was the season before that, and before that. We have been spiraling for a long time. What exactly is your basis for expecting more than we have achieved so far? How many points should we have right now to meet your expectations of the “right man”?
OK, I have enough from Rennes. They are no better than one of the bottom half team in the EPL.
Pierre
I agree with you on 4-2-3-1 formation but the only problem for me with this formation is that there is no place for Guendouzi in it.
Marko. You will have to separate that list into two. Good buys and shit buys. The good buys will be from a DOF and the shit ones would be Emery’s. I think that’s how this game is played.
Chuffed with the victory and with the clean sheet. …. we still need to learn how to control a game though. I can’t believe (but not surprised) how we were pegged back in our own half for most of the second half.
Qna
Amazing isn’t it. Newcastle sign Almiron, and he comes out the box flying, we sign Suarez and he sinks without a trace.
It’s weird but people were against signing Suarez are against signing him permanently but want him to play more? I mean there’s just no winning I guess. So that’s Suarez, Ozil, Ramsey, Mhiki and our youngsters who need more minutes oh and all while playing with our two strikers as well because he must find a way to play them together. The only player people aren’t calling for is Iwobi because he’s public enemy number one. Easy peasy
Monchi is the real sauce,dude has an excellent track record on players and hopefully would be tasked with the overturning of the squad
Wouldn’t touch any player Emery has recommended with a barge pole.
The man has as much of a eye for talent as Tony pulis
Qna I believe you’re right. Torreira and Guendouzi are obviously Sven signings but eh Lichtsteiner and Sokratis are Emery’s.
Valentin
I would recommend Iwobi drinks 5 pints of Guinness before matches
It won’t help his cramp but it might help him dribble
For those who say we don’t have clinical strikers, we have more goals than Chelsea and man utd, and on level with spurs. Think about that
For me our season starts now. Forget about form and this and that prior to now cause right now we’re 4th with a superior goal difference to United and Chelsea and with 11 games to go we’ll need damn near maximum points. The only game we can afford to lose is away to Spurs. We’ll need to beat United at home and Wolves away
@Marko,
The point people are making is why did we loan a player and then not use him.
A lot of people disagreed with the loan in the first place and now it looks like the manager does not trust him either.
The more you look at it, the more it looks like a mistake by whoever made the decision.
It took us 14 years to go from invincible champions to where we were last season. It seems like some of you Wengerites are expecting Emery to make us champions in his first season. Surely no one expects him to take 14 years to get us back to being champions but given that he is working predominantly with a Wenger team and is 8 points better off so far is a step in the right direction.
Breaking news…. Emery in discussions with Raul about taking the players out for dinner after their victory against Southampton……. at a Spanish restaurant. The players and fans around (one of them said to be named Charlie) protested and pointed out a lot of nice English restaurants with quality English food but the Spanish spivs reminded them who is boss. Emery could be heard saying, “who’s your daddy now?” in Spanish of course. Worrying signs for English club Arsenal. What to do CG, Pedro?? We must prevent this power grab and save the Arsenal from a group of buddies pretending to… Read more »
Thank you and goodnight
Auba, Guendouzi, Torreira, lacazette even ozil all played well from day one when we bought them. So I dint get your point
Arsrnal points after 27 Premier league games:
2014-15: 51 points
2015-16: 51 points
2016-17: 50 points
2017-18: 45 points
2018-19: 53 points
Thank you Emery for improving us.
mysticleaves, don’t give up your day job (unless you’re a comedian)
Cmon Danny! Our worst player by far is Mustafi and it isn’t close.
Valentin. We get the point that people are making. Why is it such a big deal? The money? Please. That he is clearly mediocre? Fine, let’s agree on that. But so what we add another mediocre player to our long list of mediocre players for 6 months.
Again, not the point. The real point of concern is that why didn’t the club make available funds to help the squad cover the loss of Welbeck, Holding and Bellerin who had all done ACLs.
Red –
Yeah, points shmoints. What about xG stats?
Redtruth, but he’s not the next level. Doesn’t have sauce and can’t properly speak English
Pierre
Spot on, Rory is swinging it amazingly well. Those poa annua greens are an absolute bitch and leave the tournament wide open until the last putt which is nice. Can’t be deaing with processions so let’s jope for a good final round.
–
Lol good grief, we don’t blow teams away because Aubameyang and Lacazette aren’t clinical enough strikers? 😂
There’s a fresh new twist on things. Not like they both have pedigree for scoring 25+ goals a season the last half dozen years or anything.
Pedro, I would say the same to you lately. Replacing comedy with writing but where will I get my daily fix? So keep em coming bud.
This game was supposed to end 4-0 at least.
Lacazette was rubbish in my opinion. Auba is too laid back, iwobi had a great game, Mkhi is done at this level.
Old man Lich did well before coming off. Much needed three points and we have our targets firmly in sight despite having the blandest manager in Europe
Redtruth celebrating Emery for bettering Wenger by an average of 3.75 points over 5 of his banter years seasons.
#ThankYouEmery!
Guru you’ve yet to respond to being wrong with saying that the Europa League isn’t a route to the Champions League and wasn’t when Emery won it though it was. Bullshit met with facts that’s how you get them.
Redtruth celebrating Emery for bettering Wenger by an average of 3 points over 5 of his banter years seasons.
Why would the other seasons be relevant? Given the state of the club all that matters is recently
Pedro
Red is simply saying Arsenal ain’t as bad as the story your lot are spinning in Emery’s first season.
That’s how I saw it anyways
5 very long banter years don’t get fixed in 1 season with 70m to spend. Emery by your own admission is having an extraordinary season.
Mystic
My sources tell me Emery and Raul have banned English at club. All communications must be done in Spanish.
@qna,
The point is independently of money being available if we can’t get the right player we will not move forward. Skint or not skint, you can still waste money and Time on the wrong target.
Looking at that deal as indication of the future, this summer we could well just spend a large amount of money for inadequate and average players.
QNA
Except that your implication — that the club penny-pinched for the sake of penny-pinching in January — isn’t warranted. There are any number of reasons why we might have only been interested in loan deals in January, none of which are penny-pinching for the sake of penny-pinching.
It’s weird but people were against signing Suarez are against signing him permanently but want him to play more Nah,what’s weird is the current horrible management of the player You don’t negotiate for a player for the best of a transfer window and finally gets a deal over the line but end up benching the player even against canon fodders The leadership of this football club doesn’t seem to have much of a vision going forward in what kind of players we need and what certain way we want to play and how we manage to achieve whatever the targets… Read more »
Red
You may point out that we are doing better under UE right now than with AW but it doesn’t mean much if we can’t punch above our weight. What i am watching now is not serious top 4 pedigree football.
Couple of good points one from red showing the highest points total in 5 years at this stage of the season. Also 8 better than this time last year.
But emery hasn’t improved things?
Also 3rd highest scorers in the league. Not to shabby, just need that defence tightened up.
Dissenter, let’s hope the 3.75 additional points fires us to 4th, because that’s about the only metric that looks like an improvement so far this season.
Red. Would be interesting to see the points tally after 27 games for all of Wenger’s seasons. Apples to oranges but I would guess his first season wouldn’t be much better than Emery’s first either.
Pedro why an average of five Wenger years. Emery took over a team that finished sixth on 63 points. That’s the only stat that matters.
I know some expect 63m spent should have us competing for the title but I do not agree
I heard Emery banned EastEnders and Top of the Pops too and only allows Days of our lives with Spanish dubbing and Shakira at Colney. But in all seriousness he’s a fan of Peaky Blinders so he can’t be that bad
Four games in 18 days I bet Suarez starts on Wednesday.
Pedro
3.75 points better, but with the equivalent of Wenger’s worst squad.
It’s not much improvement, but it’s not “no improvement” either.
Sum total of points won by top 6 teams this season has been more than ever before in PL history if your compare based on number of games played. I wouldn’t read too much in to Emery having more points in the same number of fixtures against last 5 seasons. It has been that kind of a season.
Azed, oh well, there goes our beloved English Arsenal
Bamford
3.75 points better,
Let’s scrape right at the bottom of the barrel. Suits you to a tee.
TR7
I can see Guendouzi rotating with Torreira in midfield for the remainder of the season if he sticks with 4-2-3-1…
Victorious You’re over-flogging this Suarez issue to the point that your ulterior motive is becoming more obvious. Even if it turns out to be a mistake [seeming like one] it will still be a careful managed circumscribed minor error, as it was intended to be. The idea of a 6 months loan/trial is to limit the chances of making a major error. That’s why we fought Barca until they backed off and removed the obligatory transfer clause. Suarez is what we call here a “hail Mary pass”; a very long forward pass in made in desperation, with only a small… Read more »
Funny how TR7 is going to great lengths to discredit Emery but thinks a manager in 12th place with a negative goal difference should be commended because his team can put two passes together and occasionally compete when playing the top six
“I know some expect 63m spent should have us competing for the title but I do not agree“
You don’t know that, because nobody has uttered anything close to such.