Today could mark the biggest week in the career of the mighty Unai Emery.
Spurs fans; fresh off petitioning the UK Government to make Top 4 an actual trophy so Pochettino can be reclassified as a proper coach, are nervously chewing their nails at the prospect of Arsenal fans gearing up their best #MINDTHEGAP memes.
They have to go away to Stamford Bridge to play a bruised and battered Chelsea. Spurs themselves are fresh off the back of a BREXIT beating from the LOCAL heroes of Burnley. They’ll likely be mentally fatigued and feeling symptoms of queasiness, fearing a giant bout of Spursy like behaviour is about the disrupt their GREATEST EVER SEASON.
I live for this. Remember back in the day when Arsenal would land in Februray, exactly this point in the season, bright eyed and bushy tailed because we were in three tournaments… only to get spanked by Monaco in the Champions League, lose to Blackburn in the FA Cup, then get slapped out of the league with three distressing defeats.
Could that be ‘plucky’ Spurs this evening?
Which Chelsea will show up? The team that rode Manchester City hard with a carefully crafted tactical plan that was both pragmatic and disciplined. Or will the players down tool, write their own team sheet and let the gods take care of the Sarri situation?
Who knows… but at the moment, I’m dreaming of a momentous collapse of the homeless ones.
Arsenal welcomes Bournemouth. They haven’t managed to build much consistency of late, but we know they can cause problems for us. They’ve scored 38 goals this season, which isn’t bad for a team that sits in 12th. However, their defence is shocking, especially on the road, so I’m hoping Emery stacks the team to break them early doors just like we’ve done in our last two games.
We really need fresh legs at the weekend. The quicker we can kill off the game and go into the energy conservation mode, the better… even more important because we know Spurs do not have that luxury.
In other news, Rob Holding is back in the training looking very pleased with himself on the Arsenal Twitter. Cannot wait for him to be back in the first team.
The 😋 is back!! pic.twitter.com/yzWN7cPXw2
— Rob Holding (@RobHolding95) February 27, 2019
Leicester have binned Puel and brought back Brendy Rodgers! Great news for the Premier League. The exLiverpool manager deserves to be in mix over here and hopefully he’ll have a successful return. We need more nutters in the league and I live for his prezzers. Leicester really don’t fuck around, do they?
In blander news, Arsenal apparently fancied Atlanta’s Almiron this January, but the club couldn’t pull together £16m for him. Quite unbelievable. It’s always tough to know if someone will adapt from MLS, but that’s not the point, the point is we wante him, but could only muster a loan ask. Rapha Honigstein noted that the same thing happened with Nkunku, a player I watched score at the weekend, a player who definitely isn’t going to be available this summer. He really could have been handy for the run-in.
Think about this situation. The tightest club in the league, with Mike Ashley at the helm, had more money to spend than Arsenal this window. How can we be pleading poverty with £400m revenue? The only thing I’m thankful is that Emery didn’t lead us on. It would appear that going private with Stan is like giving £100 to the guy in the white van at a petrol garage and hoping he comes back with a flatscreen TV.
Except the flatscreen was Denis Suarez… and there’s water leaking from the remote. Bad times.
Right, BIG game tonight, let’s hope for an easy win, no injuries and a big fat spanking for Spurs.
COME ON YOU GOONERS! x
Who is the better manager?
Poch or Emery
Champagne
Well, if you said XI, not squad, I guess I misremembered that. All the same: if Tottenham’s XI is as good as anyone’s save City’s, shouldn’t Pochettino be doing better? He had Kane and Alli until the second week in January, after all, yet they were 9 points off of Liverpool. Shouldn’t he be doing better than that? Shouldn’t he win something at some point if his XI is that good? He has the world’s greatest striker, no?
Poch will go on to win big things with a proper club which will make it even more tasty for us. Can’t see him staying on past this season once they get shitcanned from Europe. Could press into semi with a favorable draw and it will then become Poch saying i’ve taken them as far as I can.
Obviously i’d like to see Dortmund turn it around but that looks unlikely.
Probably the one with ten career trophies and a higher win percentage (minus PSG) but hey what do I know, I have a weak understanding of the game.
One is in his first season with a new club in a new league, one is a top draw manager 5 years into his project… Difference in points is 4. But again football is more than this.
Get out those net spend figures and rumored moves to “big clubs”.
CC
At the moment, based on previous trophies won and current league standings relative to the time they have had with their respective squads I’d say Emery.
Don’t get me wrong – Poch has done a very very good job with Spurs, but I just can’t help but feel he needs to win something with that team.
They have the players for sure but it is starting to feel like he hasn’t quite got that something extra that winning managers do.
Obviously I hope he continues to fail miserably for as long as he is managing in England!
I think Emery has already planned ahead how to rotate the squad for the next two games. He left Ozil in for the whole game but sub out Mikki and Auba. He played Iwobi and Laca only part of the game. He played Jen the whole game.
I think Ozil and Jen will not feature in the next game. Ramsey and Xhaka will start along with the other forwards who have played only part of today’s game.
The big worry is PapaSok. We have no one good enough to replace him.
Who is the better manager?
Poch or Emery
_________
God, I hope it’s Emery or it’s going to be a long 3 years.
Banford Would you like to make a point at some stage? No I don’t go along with the ABC logic you’re peddling, they’d like to be closer for sure but I could offer up a few “excuses” for their modest season to date. Half their squad reached the World Cup finals and came back dead, they didn’t buy anyone so their squad remained thin at best, they’ve lost big players at bad times with no cover (Kane, Alli, Son) etc. Probably better offerings than a -2 evening in Belarus. Also, City and Liverpool have been tremendously ruthless the first half… Read more »
Midwest, reckon most of that Spurs squad stays for him… and the new stadium.
Once they’ve made history opening that, I reckon there will be an exodus.
Well, I hope anyway!
Charlie we won tonight and everything was nice around here and you literally couldn’t stand that and had to start up unnecessary arguments because I assume that you’re bored as shit. How about you leave the Emery shit kicking and Poch rimming for Saturday afternoon yeah. Or for when Poch wins something yeah
Receding
Yea get out the net spend figures because they’re sort of relevant. Spurs haven’t spent 390 mil on player additions have they? It’s been funded by sales, turnover of talent, and impressive recruitment that’s allowed such.
Again, rattle off the rest of the top 6 and we’ll see how they fare. Until then I’ll continue to call them a poverty club, because it’s exactly the level they sit.
Marko
Get to bed, you’re up early with your black and white cat.
Poch is a potentially great manager, held back by the well known kryptonite of Spursiness.
He’ll never be great unless and until he leaves his current state of homelessness.
Pedro
Reckon you are right that they will probably all stay to see our their first season in the toilet bowl, but if they don’t see a return straight away I think that squad will get picked apart quite quickly.
Words, agree.
Watch the fucker go and win the Champions League somehow now we are all picking holes in him!
Very true words
Barking, I’m more worried about the reaction at the weekend.
Arsenal are everyone’s best friend when they’re in a crisis.
To that end Pedro.. I know the match was wide open.. not much defending by Bournemouth. But it was good to see the boys having fun again.. Nobody wanted to be subbed off.. Lacazette practically hurt himself running from the warmup area to the half line so he could get in and get his goal. Hopefully there is some momentum.. to be gained from it.. As compared to Spurs who looked like plodders… and Kane one of the worst..he may have rushed back a little too soon.
But as you say,.. probably means nothing when it comes to NLD.
Midwest, tonight was an actual performance.
We’re in good shape. Just hope it’s a game.
Tonight was a performance, Unai fielded a balanced side.
Interesting how those two seem to correlate.
Pedro
Never a truer word spoken.
We were made to fuck up this situation…
Any news on the Kane “headbutt”? Could do with him getting a ban!
When opponents give us time and space.
When Arsenal click and do their rapid interchanges
And the Emirates is buzzing, like tonight
And Ozil does his thing.
I discover my inner Pierre
Just for one night.
Suarez loves playing Madrid, always finds net in the Classico’s.
Brace tonight, Barca dishing out a spanking eliminating Madrid from the Copa.
For those who did not attend the game, there was a lot of cheers for Özil and a few boos to Emery tonight in the stadium. A few days ago I mention that we were ignoring a few avenues to score in our obsession to use our fullback to cutback. Tonight our midfielders Mhikitarian and Özil ran through the middleband score from there. We scored a goal via a quick counter-attack. Mhikitarianh ran from the fullback position and released Aubameyang via long through ball for a quick counter-attack. Lacazette should have scored via the the third avenue that I mentioned.… Read more »
Will Kane get a suspension is the question.
The argument about Pochettino is a little bias, because we do know that his objectives and financial constraints are different from Arsenal. Spurs management has clearly prioritise Top 4 and run in the Champion’s league above a trophy. Especially if the trophy is a domestic cup. They have a small squad and there is a massive drop in quality between their top 14 players and after. They consider that getting eliminated of domestic Cup at the first round is perfectly acceptable and in fact consider it a blessing as it allows them to rest their players on domestic Cup days.… Read more »
We’ve only faced dross but we’ve put in 3 of our cleanest performances of the season back to back That’s refreshing after we put some of our worst performances of the season back to back right before that lol At the start of the season even when we won the goal margins were relatively tight and the matches were far from free flowing. We’ve now laid down a market that with the right 11 and formation we CAN play nice attacking football, win the first half (lol) and put at least weak teams comfortably to the sword Now that emery… Read more »
It doesn’t matter if spurs don’t need to win a cup to appease their owners, poch is a bottler akin to 2012 arsenal.
His team are good enough to win something and I don’t agree that they can’t win a single trophy under him just because the league (which is the hardest to win) is the major priority.
Poch is a very talented coach but he doesn’t know how to get his team over the finish line. A major lack of mental strength at the business end of each season
Poch’s squad is at least as good, probably better than several of the wenger squads that got absolutely slaughtered for winning nothing and their mental weakness
He’s done great to establish spurs at this higher level than before he came, but he doesn’t have the answer to take them to the next level. His ceiling with this spurs squad appears to be only as good as wenger’s season with comparable squads during our banter years. Let that sink in
Poch can suck it
Valentin February 28, 2019 00:33:52 The argument about Pochettino is a little bias, because we do know that his objectives and financial constraints are different from Arsenal. Spurs management has clearly prioritise Top 4 and run in the Champion’s league above a trophy. Especially if the trophy is a domestic cup. They have a small squad and there is a massive drop in quality between their top 14 players and after. They consider that getting eliminated of domestic Cup at the first round is perfectly acceptable and in fact consider it a blessing as it allows them to rest their… Read more »
Since Our opening 2 matches in August , Mhkitaryan and Ozil have only started 4 matches together. Leicester. 3-1 victory Liverpool 1-1 draw Bate. 3-0 victory Bournemouth. 5-1 victory. I would say Ozil’s ( and possibly Mhkitaryan)best performances this season have been in these 4 games which is an inclination that they like playing together , they both have an understanding of how his team mate wants to receive the ball so consequently our forward play is much more convincing. Iwobi, Guendouzi and Ramsey tend to hold on to the ball that fraction too long leaving Ozil and Mhkitaryan( and… Read more »
Poch has certainly done enough to earn a call up to a bigger gig, but he has far from answered every question remaining about his ability He has demonstrated that he can work on a very tight budget, develop young players, instill player loyalty and play excellent football which are great qualities But he hasn’t demonstrated he can instill any form of mental strength in his very talented babies. Something which is key in any competitive league Secondly we don’t yet know how well he will be able to manage big personalities. Like wenger, he has a squad full of… Read more »
Spuds game will be as exciting as it gets. The opportunity to push them closer to the fourth place back door, maybe overtake them. Keep them on the downwards trajectory. Football is all about beating Our local rivals for me.
The game itself will be 50/50. They will be nervous for sure. Ramsey starts 100%. A strong game for him in the derby would be a great way to bow out.
don’t see what the fuss is about poch. He’s a good manager, I’ll give him that but Great? don’t think so, if he took over RM, do you see him winning multiple CLs ? him at utd, do you see them winning the PL? I don’t. But just like arteta, unless he moves from his current position, we will never know. I’m not a massive emery fan but what he has done so far is better than expected. Unless of course you expected him to win the league. Funny how arsenal fans hate every thing about arsenal but love everything… Read more »
An arsenal win would be massive. Absolutely massive. It’s only one game but this could ignite our season as we arrive at the business end. All the early season plaudits in the world for spurs will count for nothing if we can stop them getting any momentum and cut their season down If we win this we have an actual possibility of coming third – this could be the better late than never corner turning that emery needs to give the fans confidence in him. Come third, finish above spurs, win the EL. These are the three things we could… Read more »
valentin They have a small squad and there is a massive drop in quality between their top 14 players and after. what about our squad ? How many of our players can get into the spuds team at this moment ? maybe 4 or 5. yet you defend them for winning nothing and batter emery for anything you can find. We have a weaker squad with a worse manager yet we are just 4 points behind them. let that sink in. Of course the 4th place spot is so tight, we could be sitting at 6th at the end of… Read more »
I have a family celebration to attend on Saturday when the game is on so I think I have to try and get a stream on my phone and watch it secretly
At least Klopp has won major trophies at Dortmund. We’re still waiting on even a league cup for poch
This PL campaign is probably the best ever to date considering the quality of city and Liverpool contesting at the top and the huge scrap between Utd arsenal Chelsea and hopefully spurs for 3rd and 4th
gonsterous
Emery kind of mirror Potts in a way.
He and Potts make their name in mid-table clubs (Sevila and Spurs)
But Emery made his big move, tanked and is now back at a upper-middle class club.
Perhaps Potts look at Emery and wonder if the same is going to happen to him if he is to make that big move himself.
Also kind of poetic that Emery and Arsenal are such a good fit; both parties are looking to rebound after a breakup.
A great win against a very poor, depleted Bournemouth side at home who afforded Ozil all the space and time to show the skills none of us have ever doubted Ozil has. It’s always been Ozil’s attitude & mentality that’s been in question. That said, Ozil put in a reasonable defensive shift as well as his creativity. Also, has to be one of Mikhi’s better games. Will Mikhi and Ozil get the nod for the Spuds game? Can Emery trust them to turn up and not go missing once turned up? It’s a NLD ffs and the result has a… Read more »
Great performance by Mesut. I suspect that Emery will stick to his plans and play Ramsey in his place against Spurs. But I think that would be a mistake. Emery did the right thing in demanding more from Mesut and he finally delivered last night. He did what was asked of him and as long as he continues to do it, he should be given the opportunity to continue. Haven’t seen Mesut play that well for over a year. He is a quality player and by far the most outstanding creative player in our squad. Light years ahead of the… Read more »
QNA I agree with your thinking and Ozil should be given the chance to further prove himself and should start over Ramsey. For me that was the type of Ozil performance from when Ozil was playing for his new contract/deal. I’ve been saying that Emery should start Ozil in most games or as many as Ozil’s fitness can sustain for some time now. Emery has told Mesut what is required and Ozil has to deliver as any employee would when given tasks by a manager. A consistent delivery of quality performances from Ozil in the NLD, United game and away… Read more »
Tony. I haven’t really wanted Ozil to play in away games so far. As you say the player that was playing for a contract was virtually a completely different player than the guy who showed up after he signed that contract. But he has put in good performances the last few games, culminating to what was a superb man of the match performance last night. We have to say, it was a home game against an injury depleted side that we often put away at the Emirates. I accept that. But I would like us to take a leap of… Read more »
Hei emery has achieved much more than Poch, whether he’s doing well/is popular now or not
He has won trophies at average clubs and he has won a move to a big club and won more trophies (those ones were far easier to come by mind)
Poch hasn’t even got a big move yet and his trophy cabinet is dustier than Theresa may
The next two games against Spurs and Man Utd will define our season. Get at least 4 points from these two games and we have then a realistic chance of finishing in top 4. Spurs as suggested by me last week are now ‘vulnerable’ to finishing outside top 4. Were Arsenal to win on Saturday their lead over us would be just 1 point. Significantly Spurs have lost quite a few games at Wembley this season. Until now there away form was better. My two concerns remain our defence and away form. It should not be forgotten that apart from… Read more »
Our away form since November is:
P7 W1 D2 L4 GF9 GA16 PTS3
Christ that away form sucks
Let’s hope we’re over the hill now. Come on arsenal smash the scum
Qna The simple fact is, we are a better football team with Mesut Ozil in the team and that is the only criteria that he should be judged by. Whenever/if ever we are a better football team without Mesut Ozil then he should be left out of the side….it’s that simple really . We are also much more incisive offensively with both Ozil and Mhkitaryan in the side …they are not of the headless chicken brigade , they are intelligent footballers who have a football brain and they play football the Arsenal way and I would rather watch that ALL… Read more »
At the time I was not sure, but Gone and viewed Bournemouth goal and I still don’t understand how a foul was not given for the kick on Guendouzi.
Got kicked in full view of both referees, got nowhere near the ball, yet let play continue. Unbelievable.
This is exactly that kind of lax, lazy refereeing that is killing young English players. Why attempt to play under pressure when you can get kicked without any consequence? There is a reason why U21 flair players consider going to Germany or France a better choice than play for lower league.
Valentin
If you watch it closely , the attacker plays the ball first before there was any contact.
Some refs may have given a free kick but I thought the ref got it right on this occasion.
Fortunately it made no difference but hopefully Guendouzi will learn from it , he had a bit of a xhaka moment really.
For all of Liverpool’s supposedly world class attacking fervour, they’ve only scored 4 more goals than the “dross” Wenger left behind
Said dross is also outscoring every other side in the league apart from city.
The allegedly superior attacking talents of Chelsea united and city have scored less than our disjointed and dull attack
Pierre: The simple fact is, we are a better football team with Mesut Ozil in the team and that is the only criteria that he should be judged by. I dont agree that that is a fact at all. That is conditional on whether Mesut plays well. If he doesn’t play well, we are a much worse team with Mesut in the side than an alternative. If Ozil is denied time and space on the ball he often just isn’t up for the fight. Ozil isnt going to get it all his own way. Teams are going to try to… Read more »
@Pierre, The problem is that a lot of people form their opinion on the highlight show and on perception rather than reality. With uneducated pundits repeating lies and complete idiocies, those become the gospel. Sanchez was said to be a world class player long after he has ceased to play like one. Everybody who attended games saw that he kept losing the ball, attempting selfish shot when a teammate was better placed, blaming others for his shortcomings. However whenever somebody dared making those points he/she was ridiculed. Pundits had decided that he was an active world class player and no… Read more »
@Pierre,
I watched it again and there is absolutely no contact with the ball. He kicked through Guendouzi who then miskick the ball. Free-kick every day.
Even if he had touched the ball first, his follow through was a kick from behind which are banned as considered as dangerous.
Valentin
I no longer worry about set prices and corners as much as I used to. It’s the high line with slow defenders and route one counter attacks that have been our Achilles heel for some 4-5 years now or more.
@Un Battle
Yet if you listen to most pundits we are bad at set pieces. That is a lie that keep getting repeated despite evidence that this is a wrong.
Yes I agree our high defense line played without putting pressure is highly susceptible to ball over the top to onrushing attackers. That the case under Wenger and is still the case under Emery. Against Southampton with the score still at 0-0, Nathan Redmond should have scored.
Valentin: Özil style of play is languid, then he is said to be lazy. Even if the statistics show that he ran more than so called action man players. My opinion isnt based on that. I know that he covers distance. But the problem is he rarely puts in the effort needed either to make a challenge that will hold up the play or affect the play in anyway. It often makes no difference if Ozil was there or not to how the player plays. Also, he will often run into a good defensive position. Our team will also run… Read more »
Let’s get real, we would have dismantled Bournemouth without Ozil.
@qna, I think that the world has moved on from the gegen pressing. This year Liverpool does not play that system any more. There are multiple reasons why: 1) it is a very physically demanding system which means that you have to athletes playing football rather than athletic footballer. You cannot play it in England as we do not have a winter break. The result is that you need to a huge squad or accept that by February half your team is knackered. 2) Tactically, you just need one player to overcommit, and you may in trouble. Same thing if… Read more »
The NLD will,be a very physical nasty game because our smal neighbors age lost two consecutive games.
It’s not a game where anyone is carried defensively.
I wouldn’t start with Ozil. It doesn’t mean he woudn’t get minutes second half.
Ramsey’s style suits this game more.
@RedTruth,
I am assuming that you also think that we would have dismantled Southampton without Özil as well. Oh did we not lost at Southampton?
Valentin
‘I am assuming that you also think that we would have dismantled Southampton without Özil as well’
I’m not averse to Ozil playing every game if it helps the team..
Yes, we would have beaten Southampton at home, with or without Ozil
@Dissenter,
We did beat Southampton at home with Özil.
We got beaten by Southampton away without Özil.
What is the point you are trying to make?
Against Spurs, I would have Ramsey follow Christiansen like a over enthusiastic puppy and block all forward passes.
Start Lacazette Instead of Aubameyang.
Have Mhikitarian run directly at Tripper and Sanchez whenever possible. They will concede free kicks. I can even see one Spurs defenders getting sent off.