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
Pedro. The state your mate Ivan left this club in top 4 would be a genuine achievement rather than an expectation. To do that while suffering three ACLs would be a fantastic result.
No matter which way you slice it, any reasonable, knowledgeable person would say that where Emery has this club after 27 games is a good effort.
If you want to talk about how pretty the football is, etc etc, then you may have a point. But 53 points from 27 games is mission accomplished so far.
Those point totals tell you Emery has done 8 points better than last season (with arguably a worse squad).
I say arguably a worse squad, because if your squad is what is actually available to you, Emery doesn’t have Bellerin, Holding or Welbeck, and he was without Koscielny and Monreal the first half of the season.
He’s also had a mopey, depressed, post-WC Ozil and an unsettled Ramsey.
8 points better, nonetheless. That’s not terrible.
QNA, Emery has us in the top 4 in mid feb. He started the season with an unbeaten 22 game run with everyone celebrating the winning mentality he’d instilled.
You gotta stop hammering Big G.
Also, I’m on your team now.
3.75 points better off has me calling for a new deal. #ThankyouEmery
Puel was sacked today. Great football and all that
Pedro – total points, where we finish in table are the metrics that count, if we do better than last season that is all that matters and no one gives a flying f*ck about xG numbers or whatever nonsense stats people use to disparage Emery.
And that our season has not been catastrophic means Emery is doing something right because normally when long term influential boss quits there are a few dodgy years before equilibrium is reached again.
Bamford, great point.
After adding £70m worth of talent to the squad, mostly defensive, the squad did get worse.
I like how Pedro interpreted the 5 year stats as a mean difference in points rather than say that we are 8 points better off compared to last season.
Some of our best players are returning back to fitness so things ought to get better.
Hopefully Ozil too finds a good run of form to help the team. He showed his feeble side today and wouldn’t even contest some balls.
DB10
Weird comment. I want us to be great again, so what we are seeing at the moment isn’t even close to good enough for me. However, if the question is whether Emery is improving our results and making a go at top four — his task this season — the answer is yes, he is doing that.
JWL, I agree. It’s logical to assess a season on one metric.
First rule of data analysis… use one metric.
Anyone knows if Napoli have agreed to make permanent the Ospina transfer
We need a very good number two keeper to push or replace Leno.
Dissenter, I broke JWLs rule.
Use one data point.
Wenger added how much and it got worse? Also it can’t have gotten worse if we’re ever so slightly better off. If we end up nicking 4th would that 70 million be all of a sudden well spent? The question then becomes do we secretly hope we don’t finish 4th that way we can appear correct all along.
Banford
Amazing, that might be the most contrived post I’ve seen on here which says a lot.
How about having Aubameyang for an entire season and not since January? Torreira? Guendouzi? Sokratis? Leno? Not having the ridiculous cloud of negativity at every game?
Or are we just trying to desperately reach (and change the tune on more than a couple) of references? Koscielny has been absolutely gutted by you and others since returning and now poor Emery has missed him most of the season? Take a bow.
Pedro
Well, if we’re weaker defensively, it’s certainly not because we signed Leno or Sokratis. While neither is world class, both have improved us a little (relative to Cech and Mustafi).
The problem has been injuries to Bellerin, Holding, Koscielny and Monreal, something Emery can’t be held responsible for.
So I guess I’m not sure what your point is. Emery is working with an equal or weaker squad and is 8 points better.
That’s something, yes?
Those point totals tell you Emery has done 8 points better than last season (with arguably a worse squad”
A WORSE squad? I mean how?
You must be taking the piss
Milk cup final has been good so far.
Our first choice defence hasn’t played together all season.
When the winning run stopped we had hit a patch of losing holding, bellerin, had koz coming back from a six month injury, papa was suspended and injured.
Throw in ozil with the sniffles and min I out injured, we hit a bad patch.
We’re still in the Europa and back in the Chase for top four/maybe 3rd if spurs go all spursey!
Receding
How about making a case against the fact I pointed out instead of attributing motive. All of us here are biased in some way or the other, nothing wrong in I being negatively biased against Emery. Is it not true that cumulative point total of top teams this season has been more than ever before ?
MC scores but upside
Victorious
“I mean how?”
Ummm, I made the argument above, guy.
Dissenter,
I think ancellotti wants ospina and confirmed he’s there next season?
The buy out price is 3.5 million even broke Italian clubs can afford that!
> added a keeper, CB, DM, CM for £70m >>> this made us worse for sure > didn’t lose anyone major >>> can be very disruptive for a new manager > added a coach who was going to make us tactically smarter, mentally strong, and better in defence >>> stupid players a logical explanation for this not working out (second half of the season only, because obviously ideas settle and then unsettle after 6 months) … and it all worked because we are 3.75 points off than Wenger was in his last 4 seasons. I’m with you guys, I totally… Read more »
Two solid midfielders, one young bright keeper and a reasonably handy center back added to last year squad, PEA available right from beginning of the season, Laca more settled now ….weaker squad ? Disingenuous stuff. As for injuries, not the first time we have had players out due to long term injuries.
Emery out
Mourinho in
And at least a £300m war chest
TR7
Not disingenuous at all. If you look at last season’s squad and this season’s squad adjusted for injury, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to think this season’s is no better than last. Defensively, it might be worse.
Has a comparison been made to last seasons injuries? Or is Banford peddling this seasons as if it’s the only time we’ve ever seen a player miss games.
Could of sworn Lacazette had surgery last term..
Dissenter
The Suarez deal is looking another clusterfuck of a decision by the current management.you know it’s alright to appropriately lay blames at the feet of those who makes these decisions
Emery wants the player,the negotiating team
goes to bat to bring him in and now he can barely get a look in
At least it doesn’t look worse than the ozil’s deal
Say what you like about Iwobi, but so far, he has proven to be one of Arsenal’s best performers. He had a good game today and was involved in the two goals.
Charlie
It should be “could have,” and you’re welcome to do a side-by-side analysis of injuries or of injury-adjusted-squads, 17-18 versus 18-19. If I have time later, maybe I’ll do it, but there’s no question we’ve been badly hurt defensively by injuries this season.
Sarri knows how to organize a defense.
> added a keeper, CB, DM, CM for £70m >>> this made us worse for sure Not so sure about this. If anything it highlights the state of the squad he inherited where 70 million doesn’t even come close to addressing the squad. But the midfield this season compared to the last two seasons is an upgrade though still a long way from being good enough. The keeper situation imo has been improved and really that’s it. A 15 million CB doesn’t address our defence problems and a 34 year old back up RB doesn’t improve us in any way.… Read more »
Points tally is not the only measurement guide to see whether a side has improved.
Performances matter too:
In 2013-14 season Arsenal after 27 games: 59 points.
2013-14 season 6-3, 5-1, 6-0
Red your on fire keep um coming mate.
Spuds have messed up the mystique of Wembley. Their stench will linger for long here after they leave.
People should lay off Suarez. It will take time to adjust to a new team and a new league. Chelsea is not playing Higuain also.
I can understand if emery was at the end of season two or in season 3 but the guy has had 7 months.
Surely give him till the end of the season before you grab the pitchfork and flames!
Kante and now Pedro missing great chances, Hazard on a roll
Emery did not hire Monchi.
Pedro Fascinating reading the cut and thrust on here I have to say. I’m intrigued by your theory that Raul and Emery are plotting to take over the running of arsenal. You might be right but they’re still employees of the club after all. The article is interesting and well researched, but you fail to name the owner even once. Doesn’t he have a say in all of this? If the type of management set up arsenal is putting in place is as bad as you say, wouldn’t stan or even josh red flag it? They own a lot of… Read more »
We’re home to Bournemouth Wednesday while United are away to Palace and Chelsea play Spurs. Ooooo here’s hoping for a good Wednesday
Lol. Pedro. Nice of you to use 3.75 point average rather than the 8 points we are actually better off. How very fake news of you. For the record, you would not be on my side if you did want to give Emery a new contract. My side has Emery for now if the other choices were Arteta and Viera. But mostly my side wants us to upgrade 15 players on our squad over the next 3-4 years in favour of young but talented replacements. My side would only have 3 or 4 of the players that played today. At… Read more »
I can understand if emery was at the end of season two or in season 3 but the guy has had 7 months.
He is either the manager to take us back to the top or not,no middle ground or anything
He looks a middling coach with no particular pattern of play which is worrying
I’m intrigued by your theory that Raul and Emery are plotting to take over the running of arsenal. You might be right
He’s not. Respectfully in no way shape or form is Emery in particular taking over anything. No consolidation of power or nothing. It’s the Raul and soon to be Monchi show and that’s it really
Dissenter
“Hopefully Ozil too finds a good run of form to help the team. He showed his feeble side today and wouldn’t even contest some balls.”
His touches were way too sublime for you to understand .
I don’t know why Pep doesn’t use Sane. Now he is coming in.
Lets hope this crap final goes to extra time, these Chelsea players need to suffer!
Iwobi’s energy and often flailing industriousness will be crucial to where we finish this season.
He’s far from the.finished article and may never be good enough but he brings something that is lacking; taking in players and direct running at the opposition
Jorginho is the last man back. Should it be a red???
Banford
No the onus is on you to prove if you’re offering injuries this season, compared to last, as a point of reference.
But thanks for confirming your premise is based on something you’ve not put any reasonable thought into. Just churning out as many desperate “reasons” you can to validate your queer POV.
I noticed you didn’t care to respond to any of the counter points I made concerning all the additions, and the improved atmosphere we’re operating under. Just shallow nonsense to prop up your point instead. Stellar
Pretty much how I feel qna. I’m all for time so he can address the squad and the culture of Arsenal the stagnation and then I’m all for someone like Vieira or Nagelsmann (assuming both continue to improve) or Jardim to take over and take us to the next level. Emery’s not long term he’s never been at a club for more than 4 seasons and I don’t expect that to change here. In fact I hope that we’re done with the days of long term managers
Victorious, He’s the manager that stops the rot. He might be here till the end of the season or here for five years. Rioch did a great job steadying the ship for a season till Arsene turned up. Maybe in a year or two pep decides he fancies a challenge in London and we upgrade. Maybe zidane fancys a go? Maybe paddy will return to take us to the promised land? All I know is Arsene had to go, emery and arteta were the only two affordable options that would work with this budget. Out of the two I wouldn’t… Read more »
Marko, yep yep, no CEO and Raul, a seasoned corporate politician, isn’t making a power-play.
Human nature to not take advantage of a power vacuum and there’s a history of shared power working out.
Pierre
Like clockwork you’re on the scent to extinguish the fire and defend Ozil.
Ozil’s touches were too sublime you say?
He didn’t elevate our game in the lat 30 minutes. We were even more disjointed when he came on.
Like I said; I hope he gets his mojo back and really starts earning his wages. I’m wishing him all the best if you missed that bit.
Up4grabs
Thanks for that insightful post about states your pragmatism about the basis of supporting Emery.
Not to sure about Chelsea playing extra time. There playing the spuds on Wednesday, I want them fresh for that, I still haven’t given up on celebrating st totteringhams day this season!
Pedro
Snark is only reserved for your exclusive usage here.
Dissenter,
Don’t be using long words like pragmatism, they confuse me!
Fresh for Spurs, why? We want Spurs to beat them?
Dissenter, you pay the server bill and you can reserve the right as well
Pep couldn’t even bring on Foden in MF but instead opted for Danilo
Up 4 grabs now
—————
It’s a problem that’s for sure but I can’t see us catching them therefore its better if Chelsea lose.
Don’t worry I googled it, cheers!
Higuain is getting ready to come in. They need him for the penalty shootout.
Think Chelsea will pinch this game. Fresh attacking imputus of CHO and Higuain should be the difference
I got dinged there
That said, Pedro has ended the right to be wrong and still respected
Pedro,
Thanks for all the good work you do.
Charlie No, I think pointing out that we’re currently without Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck and that we were without Koscielny and Monreal for the first half of the season is quite enough, actually. After all, I only said that it is “arguable” that Emery has been afforded a weaker squad (when you adjust for injuries); it’s not like I took some strong or absolute stand on the matter. Maybe the squad is slightly worse, maybe it is slightly better, maybe it is about the same. One thing we know for sure, though: Emery is 8 points better at this point… Read more »
Pedro, Danny,
I don’t know, just have a funny feeling about the rest of the season.
We bit Bournemouth on Wednesday and Chelsea beat spurs at the bridge.
It’s a 4 point gap to spurs who we play Saturday.
It’s a long shot but win that and were a point behind.
And they have some tough games still.
We Probably lose Saturday but it wouldn’t surprise me if spurs spursditup! (I’m trademarking that by the way)
Chelsea have so many good players that can play the wings…and we don’t even have one
Marko, yep yep, no CEO and Raul, a seasoned corporate politician, isn’t making a power-play. Raul maybe but not Emery no. You have this recurring theme going on where you imply Emery and interchange it with Raul whenever you get challenged on it. No one’s saying that Raul isn’t making a power play that much is obvious (though Vinai Venkatesham is sharing some of the power I think he tends to get overlooked a lot it’s probably the name) but Emery is a head coach and nothing more. He’s not making signings he isn’t the cause of Sven leaving and… Read more »
Marko, QNA
Agreed. Emery will hopefully be good enough to get us back into the CL. We can hire someone even better to move us upwards from there.
Today was a good reminder for those that needed one why we can’t keep Xhaka if we want to be a serious team again. Great first half when he gets time and space to play, nearly gifted a goal second half under no pressure. This happens almost every game. Iwobi had a good game. How anyone can look at the Chelsea lineup today and their bench and think our squad is comparable is beyond me. We’re only where we are because Emery has slightly overperformed and Sarri is clueless. Oh and because Mourinhos predictable 3rd season meltdown. Still have a… Read more »
Also that whole fitness coach stuff was honestly embarrassing. Literally every manager brings there own fitness coach with them. Everyone. Wenger had Tony Colbert Klopp has Andreas Kornmayer and Pep has Lorenzo Buenaventura since his Barca days.
Sarri is about to win his first ever trophy
Iwobi had a good game
———————–
He was complete shit.
*their
BVB x Leverkusen has been a good game
BVB’s shite defending will be the reason Bayern will retain the title
Marko,
Sure. Totally normal to bring your own fitness coach.
Why wouldn’t Arsenal welcome Emery’s S&C coach over the one they already have.
Makes sense. Fight them off against each other. Emery clearly more attuned to what good is in that area, more so than the head of performance who was likely thankful.
You are taking me down with all the smarts today.
I’m gonna need to shut down at this rate.
Danny
Take a run around the block will ya. You need to calm down.
I’m not saying he’s Messi obviously but with the lack of wingers we have he’s our best choice atm, which is an indication how poor our squad is, he should be a bench player.
Here comes Danny to quickly slam the faint Iwobi praise.
The poster who thinks it’s a good thing that Iwobi got injured.
Bernardo Silva is perhaps the most delightful player to watch in the league.
Is it fair to say Sarri was tactically more flexible today?
Marko
in no way shape or form is Emery in particular taking over anything
Emery definitively isn’t but this doesn’t stop Raul doing so.
There is such a power vacuum created by Kroenke and his top 4 minimum achievement. To reach the elite one has to aspire to more than just top 4. The recent appointments are not pointing in this direction.
TR7
Bernardo Silva has so much energy and raw physical strength packed in that small frame
Take a run around the block will ya. You need to calm down.
———————-
You need to watch the match again and then you’re realise how awful he was. Imagine playing in a team with Iwobi, game after game he does nothing that helps the cause, so frustrating, you’d just go mad inside but the manager keeps on playing him.
To bad we can’t watch it together with Dissenter, maybe the 2 of you could point out what I’m not seeing…..
Banford
Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle.
If you offer a premise comparing one event to another, then you need to include the metric for both and not simply the one you’re using to attempt to leverage an opinion. Pretty basic
It’s not hard to see why Bayern were ready to pay a kings ransom for Hudson-Adoi
Chelsea’s goalie is finished. Can he play in the penalty shootout?
DB10 One, Sanllehi will share decision-making power with the manager, with the technical director, with Venkatesham, and ultimately with Kroenke Jr. and Sr. This is nothing like when Wenger had power over everything. Nothing. Two, ownership has never said that top four is good enough for them. You keep saying this, but this is just an invention on your part. As I said earlier — and as you full well know — Sanllehi and Venkatesham have publicly stated that the goal is top four, then competing for PL and CL titles. You’re free to dismiss this as nothing more than… Read more »
WTF is wrong with Kepa?
Turning it into a circus
Chelsea players have finally put aside their issues with Sarri and have put in a hell of a performance.
The quality of Players in Chelsea side is a smack in the face when we look at Arsenal. Their youngsters could easily get into our starting eleven.
LoL. Kepa having a go at Sarri !! Classic stuff…
DannyFebruary 24, 2019 18:46:48
Iwobi had a good game
———————–
He was complete shit
Yeah, right. What a shitty pass to Mikhi for the second goal. Long may this shittiness continue.
Chelsea goalkeepers – fuckin’ great!
Sarri’s gone home!!
Comic scenes, the Chelsea keeper refuses to come off. Sarri throwing tantrums on the sidelines
The Chelsea coach got over ruled by his goalie.
Kepa needs too be fined heavily by the club, not even if they win the game.
His hamstrings are gone and he won’t be able to feint and dive properly.
I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.
Pure comedy in this Final
Sarri is absolutely losing it! Your team is minutes away from penalty shoot out FFS
I’d be dining Kepa 2 weeks wages and making him train with the youths for a week. Insubordinate little scrote!
He’s come back……shame!