I am leaving emotion at the door. Yesterday was hard for me. Firstly, being taken down by the Emery Ultras over my love affair with Thomas Tuchel (‘Who lost worse?’ the shortest lived attack of all time), secondly, having to bear witness to another Arsenal away day disaster.
Here are some of my opinions dressed up as bona fied facts.
Arsenal will win the return leg
Don’t fall for the drossy idea that Rennes are some sort of secret team of elite mercenaries that were placed in France just to show Arsenal up for one game. They are 10th in an inferior league, their squad cost about 50 pence to put together, and they are more than capable of being beaten by two goals in the return leg.
Emery has to rally the troops, get a decent game plan together, and make the magic happen. I can tolerate exiting the last 16 in the Champions League. The Europa League? No flipping way. Winning Europa is literally Emery’s only speciality. Make it happen.
Relaxed Attitude
Emery needs to inject a bit of fear into the players. Our lads make so many dim mistakes game after game, and it’s starting to look like a focus issue. Sokratis was sent off for what looked like a clumsy error versus an intent-laden foul, but when you’re on a booking, don’t do something rash in the first half of leg one, away, in a cup competition.
Mustafi is a lost cause, so why do we continue to play him? Could a youth child do any worse? Xhaka, a serial offender of ‘WHY WHY WHY’ moments, tends to drop a terrible performance that usually coincides with a Four Four Two hot take patronisingly headlined ‘WHY XHAKA IS UNDERRATED AND ARSENAL FANS ARE DUNCE PERVERTS.’ Wake up chaps, he’s not underrated, he’s an error terrorist that earns a pass from the ‘I WORE COPA MUNDIALS TO MY WEDDING’ journo crowd because who the fuck would dare challenge a pass completion percentage on the Stats Zone app?
Guendouzi being outpaced by a player 10 years older who has signed a deal with another club… shocking, really shocking. I love him, but that sort of carry-on is a very new issue. What’s going on?
We are in March. It’s hard to say that focus is beyond these players because they went 22 games unbeaten and put in a brilliant performance away from home against Spurs. Whatever the mental block, it needs to be addressed by Sunday.
Bad Strategies
Emery once again went all guns blazing in a cup with a first team, once again coming up woefully short. Why did he pick such a strong side? One would assume to DESTROY Rennes in the first leg. So what happened? I can understand that a red card against Manchester City is likely a death sentence, but Rennes? Embarrassing. Did the changes Emery make look smart or feel ambitious? Not to me. Auba didn’t have a great game, but why take him off for a full back when you could do with a second goal on the counter?
Bad Vibes
I heard whispers that the manager dropping Auba and LT for the Spurs game wasn’t communicated optimally. Whatever is going on, both players were utterly miserable. Auba looked like he’d just been sent down by kangaroo court for whistling too loud in the toilets at a Mick Hucknall gig. So much anger in his benched face.
I hope that the training camp is strong because if there are fissures appearing at this stage of the season, we’re in trouble when United come to play this weekend.
Consistency
Tough to call last night a freak accident. We did almost exactly the same against BATE. We’ve come off the back of a fairly glorious run against teams that are in bad form or just, you know, poor. Rennes wasn’t even a test and we flunked it. We’re not doing well away from home. Now we’re in a situation where our best shot at CL football is… qualifying via the top 4.
Here is the absolute craziness about it all. Who would be surprised if we dropped an incredible performance on Sunday? I wouldn’t. There’s no consistency or rhythm to our season. Our mental strength is determined on a whim. Our tactics are either bang on or non-existent. Sometimes there’s a style formed, sometimes it looks like cat faeces on a lightly toasted cream cheese bagel.
Who knows what’s coming… but unpredictable it shall be.
Anyway, like I said. No emotion from me (ish). You know my opinion. He’s not going anywhere, just pray that better players solve issues like defensive solidity, on-field identity, and squad mentality.
HUGE game on Sunday.
Let me know YOUR thoughts below. x
P.S. Monchi is heading over… more on him tomorrow.
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Tro4phy
sorry boomslang
Missed most of the game as was with a mate who was not interested in watching game. I am going to have to watch a replay/highlights. But from what I have read it seems that UE has fucked things up. One has to really start questioning his abilities. After that sending off and certainly after the second goal we should have shut up shop to make things a little easier for us in the 2nd leg. As much as Rennes are a beatable team, we really need to be fully focused in the 2nd leg. Interesting to see what happens… Read more »
Well done Peter North
“I think we can do better.”
It’s not Unai, it’s Sherlock Holmes himself.
My guess is that we will explode on Sunday, simple as that.
But if that can accelerate the huge cleanup needed at the club…
It’s bona fide not bonified. Arsenal are neither.
just takes arsenal years to fix problems everybody can clearly see , I think most would agree Xhacka and Mustaffi should not be playing for Arsenal, Ozil ,Auba and Soc have lost that all important yard of pace .Soc is our best CD but he needs to be five years younger same goes for kos ….lets face it realistically we need atleast seven new players and we will really struggle on Sunday but I have a feeling the defense will be sitting a lot deeper than they were last night but we will still concede because both Xhacka and Mustaffi… Read more »
Legendarydb
Id save yourself the torture and not watch the highlights , it’s utterly depressing and downright embarrassing
The substitutions were poor last night but I believe managers on the whole take way to much of the blame. A manager can only do so much. The greatest tactics in the world still need to be carried out by the players.We have good players, not great ones. They are equally capable of putting in excellent performances as they are poor ones. And this has been going on for years. I don’t believe any manager could just come in and instantly transform this squad. A lot of the squad just aren’t good enough.
“Arsenal will win the return leg”
Never in doubt Pedro. Never in doubt. It wouldn’t ‘Arsenal’ like to win a tie clean.
be*
Mozil
It’ll be arsenal like to win the return leg but not by a big enough margin to go through . I think we’re out already
Every match is a cup final right?
Lolz. Arsenal are so shitttteeeeeee.
Peckobill
“It’ll be arsenal like to win the return leg but not by a big enough margin to go through . I think we’re out already”
Holy Fuck! That reminds me of Monaco in 2015. But its only Rennes mate, No one comes out of the the Mighty Emirates alive unless you are a club from Manchester.
Mozil
We’ll go 2-0 up early all the fans will get all excited and get hit by a sucker punch late on and go out
Kos and Mustafi will be our cbs next week . Let that sink in
Peckobill
Yikes! We were that bad? … Seems then that I have unwittingly saved myself from this in the first place.
Emery’s tactics yesterday left me confused and angry.
That’s all I’ve got to say on the subject.
Legdb10
Trust me it’ll ruin your day watching that sh*tfest . Spare yourself
Tottenham will win the CL and we’ll finish 6th.
Possible.
Pedro
The sending off was key.
We were one up and in control but then went down to ten men for most of game.
Yes, we should have defended better but I don’t think it’s fair to blame Emery.
You’re expecting him to win the the EL and/or finish top four with a squad that is clearly sub standard.
Any manager would struggle with that.
And yes Tuchel lost worse. He’s shopping with an amex platinum while Emery’s got a set of Smiths book tokens.
It was really puzzling and annoying to see Emery’s poor tactical game management after the Sokratis sending off
Graham
Please don’t, it’s friday
Hahaha tuchel got bent over by ole.
at least emery’s psg got undone by a messi lead Barcelona.
but really psg are an eternal ucl shit show.
“sometimes it looks like cat faeces on a lightly toasted cream cheese bagel.”
yes, exactly this, looks like we should be the part but what’s that on top….it stinks.
I’m personally not sure we’ll have enough next Thursday, without laca we have no obvious way of playing and we are so much worse without him.
We will either be trying to force it or we’ll play an open game and concede chances to a team with some ability.
Not to mention the CB pairing will be mustafi and kosc with fuck knows who at right back!
“Yikes! We were that bad? ”
Yep, indeed.
‘Why did he (Emery) play such a strong squad?’ This after telling us that Mustafi was too terrible, Xhaka too awful, Glendouzie too young (to whom we could add others, like Auba who was too uninterested). Okay, let’s remind ourselves that we once had the best defenders in PL, we had Ian Wright, Bergkamp, we had RVP, we had Cesc, and on and on, and that none of the current squad are knee-high to any of them. Strong squad? You must be joking. It was maybe our best squad currently, that’s all. Why did Emery do that? I guess because… Read more »
My biggest issue with Emery is his insistence on not playing some of our youngsters….Most of them can’t be that bad or as bad as Mustafi and Xhaka and Kolasinac… It’s a write off season so why not play the youngsters more? He’s maybe as stubborn as Wenger and that’s not a good thing at all
Rennes current League position is a false one. They sacked their previous coach in December. They were 14th going nowhere. They are now 10th with a Game in hand and only a few points from the podium. They are still in the French FA Cup.
They have been the form team for the last few months. We would do worse than looking at Julien Stephan as our coach for next year.
Bless the day we spent all that Money and wages on Mustafi and Xhaka though, bless that day, such utter tripe and at this point a Gary Cahill 6 month loan would make more sense than the whole Dennis Suarez thing, why’s he here? I swear beyond the manager, we have absolute clowns running this football club
Valentin
I’d rather just promote Freddie from the under 23s than another Frenchie manager and again if we don’t have a clear out of the playing personnel at this football club, it won’t matter who the manager is
Valentine
Ha ha. Rennes are actually an amazing side just having a bad season?
Goodness me.
Arsenal were pretty comfortable for the first 30 minutes. There were a few warning signs though. Sarr bullied Monreal a few times early on. As the game went on Arsenal just couldn’t handle Sarr. They couldn’t handle his pace, they couldn’t handle his direct running and they couldn’t handle the way he played which was without fear or restraint. Don’t underestimate this players influence on their win. He was a huge factor. In that first half an hour Xhaka actually played pretty well apart from being beaten too easily in the first few minutes. He looked quite sharp, alert, was… Read more »
No way to dress up that shit show last night. Emery’s subs were poor, tactics after going a player down were equally poor.
It’s not easy to mitigate against the idiots we have in the squad, but the team performances have to improve.
Anything short of a win against Utd and it should be curtains for Emery in the summer.
“Tottenham will win the CL and we’ll finish 6th.
Possible.”
If the above happens, I’m done with top flight football.
I am amazed that after the Tottenham game, Mustafi was ever allowed to wear an Arsenal shirt again. By the time he gave Tottenham that penalty, he had already given away the ball numerous times, often in comically awful ways. I cannot be convinced that any player, including from the Under-23s, wouldn’t be better.
I have noticed that players very rarely seem to communicate with each other, particularly when big mistakes are being made. And that is a fundamental problem in the team: We really are lacking big characters who are not afraid to speak up on the pitch. No one is taking the lead. This is something that needs to be addressed.
I don’t think Arsenal sign him for the 40m quoted here.
He may also lack a bit of finesse for some Arsenal fans but there is no disputing his effectiveness and the problems he causes teams which Arsenal found out last night
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/ismaila-sarr-arsenal-transfer-rennes-15940858
I realize that we have extended Monreal’s contract which is a very dumb move.
Monreal is finished at this level and we are repeating Wenger-era mistakes.
Is this the Spanish connection beginning to form already?
It’s been obvious from the start of the season that his form has take a plunge from steep cliff. He’s just turned 33 years old, why keep him around?
I blame Emery, Sokratis and the club.
We don’t have the ruthlessness needed to be a top club.
Is Eddie that bad that he can’t even get a game in the Europa League?
TheLegendaryDB10 “We really are lacking big characters who are not afraid to speak up on the pitch. No one is taking the lead. This is something that needs to be addressed.” There are some who like to shout on the pitch but they are pretenders. No names mentioned. They are embarrassing to watch in this regard when comparing to the likes of Vieira and such. Always said it is not enough just to shout on the pitch. The player has to show quality and effectiveness in his overall play consistently before he can be taken seriously in the shouting stakes.… Read more »
A lot of the players just aren’t good enough. And our so called top players aren’t even that good. I believe there needs to be a big turnover of players in the summer, whoever the manager is.
In the last 3 seasons, Arsenal are way clear of their top 6 rivals when it comes to errors leading to goals and penalties conceded.
One of the reasons I bashed Mislintat was his record at Arsenal was between low average and average.
When asked to find a central defender on a limited budget, why go for a 30 year old from your former club?
Westham got Fabian Balbuena (27 year old) from Corinthians for €3.5 million and Issa Diop (22 year old) from Toulouse for about €22.5 million.
Pedro
Please do a profile on the technical director atWestham. He bested Monchi and Sven combined together last summer.
I am more worry about Sunday’s game than the return leg. Manure is a fast countering team. With the heavy leg of our starting 11, Manure can take advantage of that easily. Emery prefers attack than defense. Yesterday’s game demonstrated exactly that. I still think that Rennes is not that good. They were well rested and was supported by a very noisy crowd, we still controlled the game until we lost one player. Their players couldn’t play with so much confidence at Emirate. Our team can overpowers them at home. The important thing for Emery is gain the trust of… Read more »
Dissenter
It’s about having the courage to sign these players you mentioned.
Most clubs know these players have merit but there is seen maybe a little gamble that they do not wish to take. Arsenal have shown very little courage in the transfer market now for many seasons.
I recommended Issa Diop on here summer just gone so you can be sure Arsenal knew about him and his merits. They just did not want to take the gamble.
Maybe a manager that has defensive pedigree was needed after all, ergo Emery wasn’t the best choice many claim he was.
We’re a team who didn’t care for the defensive side under Wenger, we’re one with apparently calamitous defensive players, why then was the right move to hire a coach who even by admission of his own followers isn’t remotely defensive minded?
One thing is for certain, we’re no better this season under Emery in defence, and our ambitions of CL frankly cannot be achieved with such an exposed Achilles heel.
There was no point getting rid of Wenger. None. Signing up a Spanish player (that’s why) for emery to have a buddy around is fucking stupid. Exactly the same thing Wenger did.
The club is a total disgrace.
Our ambitions cannot be met or matched by any manager if he’s not given better defenders to work with
Batistuta
Emery bought those defenders.
No team Arsenal included has a divine right to winning.The pr is oblem if you want to win,you must load your team with wc players. Here Arsenal are lacking compared to the top teams capable of winning trophies. Until this changes ,Arsenal will for the next 5 seasons at least play catch up even if you have an exceptional manager. As for MU,their winning run/perfect start has to come to an end sooner or later. Read they have won 6 in a row away . This kind of run cant be sustained, As for the NOtwegian he well bask in… Read more »
Guns
Agree on that aspect, the club is being run in the most embarrassing way for a supposed “top” club many like to think we are.
Guns
Emery only brought in Sokratis i believe and the Vastly better Leno…. The rest he met here
Where i blame Emery just like Wenger is his insistence on playing Mustafi, surely there’s someone in the under 23s who’d be better off in the team
Did anyone noticed Cech’s great performance yesterday ?? Without him, the score could have been much more heavier…
Defensively we continue to be utter shite.
Ok we were down to ten players but the number of times we were drawn out of position reminded me of kids football.
Mustafi is appalling. Looks like one of the Expendables but plays and acts like a fudging wimp. A total embarrassment.
Also, too much responsibility on Guendouzi.
Where’s the leadership?
Next season isn’t going to be more exciting, just more of the same
How do I know this?
We extended the contract of Montreal by one season. He can hardly run around as it is and turned 33 years old last month.
Raul is just as clueless as Wenger, utterly useless and missing a pair.
@Guns
I have never said that Rennes was an amazing club, just that they are currently in better form that their league place would suggest.
I also said when the draw was made that Rennes was tactically more astute than what we see in the premiership. They also have players who may not be household names but they are much better than some people were assuming.
I still think that we should have prevailed if we had been properly coached and had the right attitude.
Sokratis would have made sense had he come on a knocke-down price
Problem is we bought him at above average market value.
The goal should have been to get younger defenders who will still have transfer value wen it’s all said and done.
I like Sokratis for his tenacity and physicality but he has a defective circuit in his head. He showed it with his silly trip of Salah at Anfield and then yesterday.
Just angy this morning
@Batistuta,
Mavrapanos was removed from the Europa squad list to make way for Suarez.
The only U23 centre back who could play is Zech Medley and I am not sure that he is ready for regular first team football.
Rolling Stones fan ??
Chelsea would have beaten Rennes home and away.
We would have lost to any generic Europa league last-16 team yesterday We were just bad.
I’m hoping the Monreal contract extension is just so we can get a fee for him in the summer. We most certainly need an upgrade at lb this summer.
@Ishola,
I fully agree. I believe that with Sven we were aware of a lot of young, cheap, hungry, ready for first team players but we did not have the courage or the will to bring them.
We went after Sokratis when Issa Diop was available. Also Sokratis’s Dortmund younger Turkish teammate was available and is now at Leicester.
We went after Suarez like he was going to be the saviour of our season when we had a clear and obvious problem in defense.
Valentin
‘The only U23 centre back who could play is Zech Medley and I am not sure that he is ready for regular first team football’
Neither is Mavros
Stop puffing up one player with one competitive game record and putting down another with scanty competitive game record.
I hope Mavros isn’t the reason we keep extending the contract of these finished defenders. I hope we aren’t trying to build our future defence on hm.
” for whistling too loud in the toilets at a Mick Hucknall gig”
lol Pedro excellent.
(f*ck mick hucknall)
“We would do worse than looking at Julien Stephan as our coach for next year.”
Why?? Because he beat us 3-1? Should we take a look at the BATE coach too?
He has only been a coach since 2018 and all of a sudden he should be on the list for Arsenal manager. The fascination with the “unknown” continues i guess.
Building any team takes time, if you think taking a team from 14th to 10th in the French league with a game in hand qualifies a manager for the Arsenal job so be it.
Is Stephan a friend of Arteta ??
After getting the tactics more-or-less correct against the Spuds, how can Emery get it so horribly wrong in the space of four days ? So many tactical mistakes last night. Mhikki at right back when we have AMN on the bench. If AMN is fit enough for the bench he is fit enough to play, at least 45 mins. Ozil picks up 350k for not breaking sweat – did he touch the ball in the second half ? Why not play Ramsey or even Suarez – at least they run around ! Auba – clearly does not give a fuck.… Read more »
Everyone was on here stating how we should be prepared to suffer, how we will have highs and lows as we try to correct the mistake of the past decade, as we try to rid ourselves of players who continuously let us down. Everyone but the obvious Wenger apologists who do not believe he did anything wrong mind you. All very commendable until you decide you do not like the man in charge, then the players all become very good players, and suddenly we are making eyes at any young manager who happens to be the flavor of the month.… Read more »
Fans yelling abuse at team leaving Rennes Airport last night:
https://www.arsenalstation.com/2019/03/08/video-rubbish-arsenal-players-abused-by-their-own-fans-at-airport
Anyone still think this guy Monchi is going to come in and clean the club up?
Arsenal are finished as a top flight, competitive club and have been for a very long time.
The Monreal contract sums arsenal up. They are still doing the same things Wenger did. Kos will get one as well no doubt.
Arsenal are a mid table club.
Monchi + Arteta, or no Monchi at all.
(lol)
I wonder if the “be injured forever you c**t” was adressed to Ozil ?? lol
@Dissenter, I did not say that Mavrapanos was going to be our saviour. I said that he has already played first team football for us (he was good), and for his previous club. When we purchased him, Wenger was so impressed that he decided against loaning him out and made him part of the first team. On the other hand, Zech Medley has played only U23 football and even there he was not that impressive. I have already stated that in my view, two mistakes were made this winter transfer window. We needed a ready made CB and we did… Read more »
Monreal has been pretty good this season. So it make sense to extend his contract for one more year. If like it has been reported we are still in the market for a left back, that could only mean that we intend to sell Kolasinac.
Not necessarily a bad move as as good as he if going forward, he is a liability when defending.
GOH
I’m inclined to agree.
This summer be prepared for the usual PR crap from the club:
Arsenal’s ‘values’,
Complaints about other clubs spending and FFP being ignored,
More back room staff,
Project youth 2. 0
..etc etc
Considering that we put in an abject performance against BATE in the first leg… it’s inexcusable.
Why isn’t the team learning from their mistakes?
Why do we need to have our backs to the wall to get a response worthy of the Red and White Shirt?
Emery, when he came in was hailed as a master of preparation, tactics and student of the video replay to the point of obsession…
Where was all that last night.
Different person in the office but the same mistakes being made.
A Henry Exactly. You know it, I know it and everyone else knows it but they are afraid to admit it. There is no happy ending for this club, there really isn’t. After Wenger, we could have done anything we wanted and we basically replaced like for like and settled for the guy who is just happy to have a job. Emery comes across as a guy who talks a good game but actually has no idea how to execute it. So much has gone wrong over the years I don’t think anyone knows how to even start unravelling the… Read more »
Oof, huge typo at the start there. APOLOGIES PEOPLE. It’s fixed.
Extending monreals contract is a much better peace of business than letting him go to bring in a cheap awerage player with no real future at the club.
Especially if transfer funs are to be prioritized elsewhere.
Or if kola is sold and a new first choise left back is brought in.
Either way it is a solid decision.
GOH
Tend to agree.
I also lose little sleep over my beloved Arsenal these days.
Sign of the times.
GOH
There might be with a new owner.
Monchi has resigned from Roma.
… anyone else with me. I could see us doing something on Sunday.
Or getting an almighty correction slap.
Pedro
The home stats look positive but I fear we may struggle.
We’ve ridden our luck at home and having two very good, reasonably in form strikers – at the Emirates in particular – has bailed us out.
Problem is both Auba and Lacazette seem to be struggling at the moment so I’m worried.
Pedro
I also have a sneaky feeling we’ll get something on Sunday.
God knows why.
“Bit embarrassing, right?”
No, Pedro, it’s fucking pathetic.
Two mid table clubs scrapping it out in a game full of mistakes. Nothing to see here, move along. Gazidis must be laughing like Ben Arfa. He sold us a manager with a totally fictional PR tale about his ‘incredible’ knowledge of the players. So incredible that he doesn’t seem to have a clue who are his best players or what position to play them in. Emery is Arsenal’s very own Villa Boas. Says all the right thing at interviews and managerial discussions, has paperwork and analysis which appeals to the powerpoint obsessed suits, who all command huge wages, inside… Read more »
Upstate, that’s Emery for you. It might get marginally better, but Emery is nothing more than a caretaker manager.
Alex, you’re probably right. I think the momentum is with OGS big time.
Well, one thing is for sure… the Emery Ultras are fair-weather.
Dissenter, Marko, RH, DaniAltos, Azed, Mystic and a whole host of others who have been fiercely loyal… have gone from dominating the comments to hibernation?
Weak sauce.
Pedro
If Emery tries to use pressing as a main playmaker like we did against Chelsea, we will concede at least twice. Unlike the blues, Utd have threats to run in behind.
Joke Friday –
Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea… does that mean that one enjoys it?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.