Well, we dreamed for a few weeks, didn’t we?
Our hopeful bid for top three came crashing down like the career of an MJ wedding singer… deep down, just like with the man in the mirror, we all knew something wasn’t right.
We’ve picked up 2 away wins in 12 games. Huddersfield and Blackpool. We haven’t kept an away clean sheet all season, and we’re the only team carrying that record. This is a giant hangover from the Wenger era and it’s very difficult to work out what to do about it.
Emery certainly didn’t help himself with his team selection. When you’re struggling on the road, starting Mo Elneny and Matteo G at the base of midfield isn’t inspiring or confidence building. He also opted to play Mikhi and Ozil together, something that’s rarely a sure thing. Hard to critique rotation when we’ve seen the impact of doing it badly, but that starting 11 was saw dust on toast levels of tasty.
Nothing really clicked. There was no intensity to our play, we looked very short on ideas and we really struggled with their aggressive pressing which held up all game. One of my pals mentioned that we lacked athleticism, hard to disagree. We simply didn’t look like a force out there, and more worrying, Everton knew we’d be like that.
The only goal of the game was a hodgepodge of calamities. Mustafi let Jagielka take a run on him from a long throw, the exSheffield United defender nodded the ball into the box, it bounced off Sokratis, Mustafi forgot Jagielka was behind him and the loose tap-in was never in doubt.
Emery changed things up in the second half immediately, bringing on Rambo and Auba… losing Kola and Elneny. At kickoff the Welshman mouthed, ‘play it forward, play it forward’, clearly noting the lack of a shot on target in the opening 45.
The second half did see an improvement moving forward, but we fell to pieces in midfield and at the back, allowing Everton to box us in, with no real answers. Thankfully it was just Everton, on another day, they’d have made more out of their 23 attempts on goal.
As for us… it’s hard to know where to look. We go from some truly encouraging performances, and big game wins… to abject, listless poverty football.
Is it the preparation?
Is it a motivation issue?
Is the away form like a festering fungal infection that can only truly be addressed when we have a massive clear out? Those players shouldn’t be struggling with the intensity of Everton. This problem is not technical, it’s all in the mind. It’s obviously disappointing that Emery has managed to make such huge strides for the big games, but can’t suss out a plan for middling teams away from home. Both are essentially problems borne of the same factors, seems odd that as we solve one, we drop off somewhere else.
Part of that might come down to pure experience. Matteo is a talented young player, but to expect him to boss a game next to Elneny is ambitious. Next year though… well, it could be different.
I think we saw again what we’ll miss with Aaron. He might be ill-disciplined at times, but he is an engine of football zest. He’s always pushing the game forward and he seemed to be the only player with any spark yesterday. Replacing him goes far beyond his running stats, we need to find a heartbeat and a big footballing personality.
The manager gambled on resting big players, clearly in the name of preservation. I’m not sure I buy that it was about prioritizing the Europa League (though we might have to now). Laurent, Ramsey and Xhaka were all concerns and the manager rightly erred on the side of caution. However, I do think everyone looked at the lineup and knew we were in trouble.
Now we have a real uphill battle. Everton are the easiest of our away games, we have a rejuvenated Leicester, plus giant killers Wolves and Watford to deal with.
We also have to play a tough quarter-final against Napoli this week. No doubt the game with be high intensity and we’ll need to keep a clean sheet. That won’t happen with Mustafi in the side. The walking mistake seems to have ramped up his desire to give Arsenal fans heart palpitations at least 4 times a gameg. Sokratis also didn’t help himself picking up a two-gamet ban right at the wrong time.
It’s quite incredible how rollercoaster this season has been. It could still be absolutely epic… but it could also end up looking just as miserable as the year before.
… but at least it’ll be interesting.
Onwards and upwards!
Not so long ago there was endless debate on here about how shit Ramsey is. Day after day
Now he is deemed irreplaceable
It’s a funny old game
Rollen
I’m funny but I’m no Karl pilkington. The only reason I’m bothered is the rewards. They called me and we went through turnover and bla bla and they’ve worked out what I get. So even if it’s just a 12 day at any Hilton and free flights then great. I don’t see the down side to it.
Jamie is just bitter cos Dubai got blasted last night.
They say any marriot as well, not just Hilton and loads of other spas and hotels.
I don’t see a downside providing we pay off our materials and goods within 51 days
Gentleman and ladies. I am correct. You make not like it. Emery and Emery alone – pulled the Ramsey contract to facilitate the purchase of lesser players ( ex Seville players in particular) He also told fibs- at the job Arsenal interview – not the worst crime … But that is another truth. The only reason he got the Arsenal job- after all – was to improve the incumbent players- with his alleged coaching prowess. Not turn us into Seville lite – with too much emphasis on the Europa Cup Anyway up to The Kroenkes now- to upgrade us -in… Read more »
We don’t deserve neither CL participation or European trophy. Crap owner and management for about 10 year. Looser mentality rooted deep. Pedro and others claim our team is good. Why then there is absolutely no demand for any of our players? And if they go its for small fees? Decent players come here and quickly became worse. Young players go elsewhere and improve. Total shit show. Blame Emery lol
CG
Read Benny Devito previous post
Again
and
Again 😁
There is many great Hiltons worldwide. My wife works for Hilton part time mostly for travel benefits. While in London we visited most of Europe.
Pierre
“Dissenter, you have already been correctly outed earlier”
What are you talking about?
I tolerated a declining Wenger before turning my back on him when his arrogance made him think he was bigger than the club.
Emery is on a 2 year contract. No one is deifying him unlike how you and your ilk turned Wenger into a god.
I mean your so called criticism of Wenger was limited to blaming Ramsey for Wenger’s f*ckery.
CG,
What ex Seville players have we signed since Raul and Sven pulled Ramsey’s contract?
Bennydevito Let me get this right Are you saying that Emery had nothing to do with Arsenal withdrawing Ramsey’s contract offer . And you believe he was being honest in saying that he wanted Ramsey to be an integral part of the team . you obviously seem pretty certain of these events , what I will say is that it is a very strange way to run a club if the manager wants to build a team around a certain player and the people above the manager do not support him and goes against his wishes . I would have… Read more »
I think only changes in AFC can come with change of ownership. Not so elite purgatory.
Ericksen runs down his contract and some of the biggest clubs on the planet are lining up to bid for him.
Ozil runs down his contract and the demand is as quiet as a Crimean war graveyard.
Conspiracy Charlie should be your next avatar
Samesong,
Lol! He really is something else isn’t he? The utter fantasy and outright lies are astounding.
Samesong
Did you want Emery to replace Wenger?
And If you did not- why on earth are you backing him?
Why of all a sudden -Have you got faith in the judgement of Gazidas and Raul?
If they foistered upon us any manager -basically you are backing him.
Staggering- that I seem to be the odd one out.
Of course Emery was damn honest about building a team around Ramsey, same as he was honest about the clubs resources in the January window.
He came into a new club in June 2019. Surely he wouldn’t have acquired that much power without a ball being kicked to start dictating how the club manages player contracts.
This was above Emery’s pay grade. He wasn’t Arsene Wenger who had banked two decades of goodwill and could undercut or over-rule the BoD and CEO.
Pierre and CG, You know what you’re full of and it’s not Helium gas.
Wenger great economist cost arsenal $100s of millions in players deprecation and lost transfer fees. Remember star players in last year of their contracts is ideal situation. Blame new guy …oh wait.
Pierre,
Yes I am.
Emery started Ramsey and Ozil at the start of the season but both picked up injuries and Ozil wasn’t performing on the pitch or in training, it’s well documented and doesn’t need going over again.
And again
And again.
Once Ramsey recovered he was back in the side just like he is now and once Ozil started bucking his ideas up he too was back in the side.
It’s indisputable.
Btw what happened to Cesc ? Is he banned or just given up?
I keep saying Loftus cheek is quality.
“It was an opportunity to start Aubameyang, start Lacazette, get Ozil on the pitch, start with Ramsey – get your best players on the pitch and really have a go at Everton. I thought we missed a trick in that respect. In the end, Everton had the impetus…” – Ian Wright Think Wrighty summed it up nicely, as did E Stroller earlier. Said similar yesterday post match and some had a real crack at me before this place went full biblical. I find it hilarious those that ripped Wenger to shreds, give Emery the rub of the green when he… Read more »
Well said Pierre,
the only reason for the leftfield appointment of emery- was he stated that he was going to improve the incumbent players we have mentioned,
If we were going down the total rebuild and spend route he would never have got near the Arsenal Job.
Charlie George, I’ve said this umpteen times but I’ll say it again anyway; I didn’t want Emery or Arteta and was very disappointed as I wanted Ancelotti. But with a new Director of Football model and not much money to spend Emery made sense, especially as he had a much better CV than Wenger had when he first joined. Thing is, without a massive clear out of the Wenger leftovers and serious investment in top quality talent in the mould of VVD, I don’t believe even Jesus Guardiola would be doing much better than Emery is doing right now. The… Read more »
Charlie
So no judgment until May? Who was your choice?
Emery has improved the players and our league position from last season.
Samesong
emery would not have been in my first 50 picks as the replacement for Wenger.
he was the most underwhelming choice imaginable- we were all so enthused about who was going to be our new coach/manager- and we then we landed:
Unai Emery!
but he is here now,
And we need The Kroenkes to make amends at the end of the season- regardless- of how the season unravels- and give us the figurehead this club deserves.
If we are happy with Emery- gawd help us!
Btw what happened to Cesc ? Is he banned or just given up?
_________
I remember having a convo with him where he said he would be back this summer to discuss transfer stuff.. Real life most likely got in the way of commenting is my guess.
Yeah yeah, Don. Gone from 4 weeks 1st class holiday every year to 12 days in a Hilton somewhere [if you load 200k debt on a credit card] in just a few hrs of scrutiny.
Perhaps if you weren’t such a clown who has been banned from this site more than once, someone would believe you when you crow about how successful your plumbing business is. Stick to blasting immigrants, it’s all you know.
if red truth rates this emery so highly – that is a reason to be worried alone!
Samesongemery would not have been in my first 50 picks as the replacement for Wenger.
If Steve Mclaren in that 50 you’ve lost any credibility you may of had.
I wanted Allegri but we couldn’t get him.
Show my you 50 managers before emery list?
Midwest
I thing Cesc Appeal quit in a huff after a heated conversation with Pedro.
There was a mini insurrection here a while ago because Pedro came out of the closet with his Emery [-phobic] opinion.
Pedro has a right to his opinions of course- it’s his blog but it didn’t go well some posters like Cesc [ and I ]
Emery might have been underwhelming but he was basically the only one interested in the job who was even remotely qualified.. all the others said thanks but no thanks .. Look how hard it has been to signup a Dof. The extent to which the club had been run down by the previous administration continues to be underestimated even by Pedro. Pedro basically argues we should have went with a complete unknown quantity who might have been motivated to go for it.. maybe he is right but that would have been a huge gamble. He also argues we did not… Read more »
Ok… Diss.. I must have missed that part.. I wasn’t reading all the comments back then.. just the posts.
I think Ramsey profited from the uncertainties in the summer as to whether Gazidis wanted to stay or leave.
There would have been a leadership vacuum in some ways when the board were trying to work out an organized exit for Gazidis. I’m assuming that Ramsey was just leading them on and always wanted to leave to new pastures.
I would be tempted to do something different after 10 years too, moreover when my mentor of 10 years was departing the club.
Midwest nice post… some of us were happy about Emery, as the alternative was Arteta which is totally disdainful to me.
And the slide continues
From 3rd to 5th in a week.
Emery out.
Good Ebening everyone.
Dissenter, bitching out because you can’t handle the heat is weak sauce.
Bennydevito
“Once Ramsey recovered he was back in the side just like he is now and once Ozil started bucking his ideas up he too was back in the side.It’s indisputable.”
My take on it is more logical ….he wanted both Ramsey an Ozil out of the club in January but they didn’t want to leave and that is why he marginalised them up until the Bate defeat which happened to be the 7th defeat in 14 games.
Emery out lol
It wasn’t so long ago Spurs were double digits in front of Arsenal lol
Pierre,
You call it logic, I call it Emery out agenda driven spin.
Tomaytoes tomartoes.
None of us have a hidden camera in the boardroom or can read Emery’s mind so you’ve got your view and I’ve got mine.
Small $
Sven leaving
Ivan leaving
Injuries galore
Loan deal only in winter window- no on interested except Suarez
fighting for 4th place still- still in EL
Uphill all season long. Not bad if you ask me.. just take out the injuries and thats a major boost.Bell, Rob and Danny still fit? I dare say thats some additional points right there.
As Midwest said, named coaches came and went after the Arsenal project turned them off. It was down to Arteta and Emery and im glad we have him.
gambon, A bit dramatic there no? We’ve got a game in hand on Chelsea and are only a point behind Spurs. Chelsea’s next match is away to Liverpool, Spurs have to go away to City next week after Huddersfield. Chelsea also have to go to Man utd and Man utd still have to play City. I think we will bounce back and beat Watford who have nothing to play for in the league and will have one eye on the FA Cup final. Delefeu will more than likely miss the game with an ankle injury. It won’t be easy but… Read more »
Guns, completely delusional to think Arteta and Emery were the only two coaches we could have hired.
Pedro,
How is it? Allegri didn’t want the job and walked away. Who else? Vieira? Not qualified.
Maybe we could have gone for Ancelotti who was interested but I don’t see anyone else.
Who else was there? By all accounts it boiled down to Emery and Arteta and Emery was the best choice out of those two.
Not sure why he was chosen over Ancelotti though, maybe it came down to the fact Emery was the only idiot willing to work with the pittance that was available.
More fool him.
It’s hard to fancy us given we’ve won 5 out of 15 away matches in the PL this season and 4 of our last 6 matches are away from home, tough trips too to Watford, Wolves and Leicester in there all well capable of upsets as we’ve seen this season.
Still plenty of matches to play but yesterday could prove very costly as it’s going down to the wire given there’s 4 good teams scrapping for 2 spots.
The irony of all of this Its Aaron Ramsey who will decide Emery’s fate -and if he keeps his job. Ramsey will be pivotal in the games ahead . His goals and assists are the only hope for us. We witnessed our potency yesterday- in the first half without our Welsh maestro. His wonder goal against spurs- got our season back on track. Followed by a man of the match performance against Man Utd. Not forgetting his goal against Newcastle. There is no way – Emery can keep his job if we fail to reach Champions League next season. More… Read more »
“delusional to think Arteta and Emery were the only two coaches we could have hired.”
But maybe not so delusional to think that the others are not interested by the job.
Eh I think that Ancelotti has had his day as a top gaffer, I’m a believer that like a player eventually you lose certain qualities even as a non-playing professional, look at Wenger, Mourinho, Capello, Hiddink, list goes on. The lone exception to the rule really was Ferguson and that’s because he adapted to the environmental changes in the game and had really good people and players around him and even he went through a wobbly few years in those mid-noughties before Ronaldo and Rooney hit their stride. Not at all intimidated by Napoli this week, I’ll be disappointed if… Read more »
High leg
You do not seem to have a constructive thought in your head.
You seem rather gormless..
Are you like that – when you are not posting on here?
Ramsey has had all season to justify his grossly inflated wage packet move to Juventus, and he has failed miserably.
Dont forget to add to the list, Enrique as well. He was turned off by the lack of transfer funds
Ditto Ancelloti
Hard to see Arteta coming in and shaking anything around but the branches at the training ground
If Emery gets us CL, many of you on here will be eating crow
We are still in it, I get the feeling also we beat Watford
I believe the short list as reported by many was Vieira, Arteta, Emery, Allegri, Low and Jardim.
Allegri checked out pretty early though. So it wasn’t just 2 options by any means. But it wasn’t the greatest list either. The timing was pretty bad since as it turned out the person who was in charge of transition Gazidis checked out as well.
Kind of a Cluster F of a transition, pretty much, especially since Mislintat checks out too. Plenty of blame to go around everywhere including the Kroenke’s.
Pedro,
Yeah, we considered lots of managers.
But like the Technical Directors we also “considered”, most of them -barring Arteta and Emery- when they saw what we were offering them, in terms of targets and “war chests” the managers said thanks but no thanks.
The fact is, notwithstanding the attractions of London, the Premier League, and our venerable history as a club, it’s fair to say that premier managers and special sauce technical directors are not exactly beating down the door to join our club
I would say every Arsenal bad performances without Aaron Ramsey just reinforce Juventus view that they got an elite player on their book for zero transfer fee.
The reason so called top managers ducked out of a move to Arsenal was the fear of being found out working with a stringent budget.
In my opinion it should be possible to believe that Emery overall has still done well over the course of his first season, and simultaneously believe he got his selection wrong on Sunday. I don’t see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. Maybe too complicated a concept.
Emery won’t win us a title during his tenure, probably won’t be around long enough. But to say that will be only because he wasn’t a good enough coach would probably be inaccurate. Too many factors to consider.
Luteo,
Jesus, why do you have to be so damned logical and reasonable all the time?
If good renown people are interested in Arsenal DoF, but they keep rejecting it, then maybe there is something wrong in the job or the people who do the interview. If you hire Mislintat it is clearly not to go after expensive well known target. I doubt that Sevilla, or Ajax transfer budget will be greater than Arsenal. So any talk of the budget is too small being a reason why candidates rejected us can’t be true. Most people still consider Arsenal a dream job otherwise they would not be interested in the first place. The problem is that when… Read more »
Red truth
“”The reason so called top managers ducked out of a move to Arsenal was the fear of being found out working with a stringent budget.””””
So by that rational and as a pro Emery fan -you are accepting he is not a top manager…..and he was not fussed about budgetary concerns
He was just grateful – that we were stupid enough to offer him the job.
Valentin
it can also be that these top coaches want top players and know what they cost. Not some cheap ass team, trying to win the EPL and CL with finding gems.
that is what you call a project- ala Dortmund or Ajax.
So indeed, we can get a DOF from a club like that but not a top coach. Doesnt jibe.
CG,
So were we stupid at the time to hire Wenger who at the time had a vastly inferior CV to that of Emery?
@Luteo, I disagree. Do you honestly believe that he had done well in view of the resources he was given? The main questions when judging a manager are: 1) were the result and the quality of football the best that could be hope with this squad? 2) did he manage his resources properly in term of team selection, rotation? Introduce youth team, Make use of loan players? 3) did he improve players? 4) did he had a good relationship with the most prized assets? 5) is he respected by his players? 6) did he had a good relationship with the… Read more »
If we finish outside the top 4 and fail to win the EL, what will people make of the season as a whole regarding success/failure?
Honestly what is a top coach though? Take our same exact squad this year. Same injuries, same inconsistent players. How many “top” coaches in the world has us any closer to the title than where we are? Zidane gets this squad the championship? Pep gets this squad to a CL final? Please! I think fans lose sight of things, and that’s okay because it’s only because fans love the club so much. But this debate about the manager really has nothing to do with the club at this point, it’s simply agenda. What that agenda is depends on who you… Read more »
1.) Yes
2.) Yes and No… overall yes.
3.) Yes
4.)If you consider Ozil are most prized asset.. very debatable then no.
5.)Yes as far as I know.
6.)No idea.. what Emery does behind the scenes.
&.) No idea what his targets are for the summer. Torr and Matty G , Leno Sok.. better then what we had.. Lich nope. But also don’t know what the budget is.. makes a huge difference.
Valentin
1 – Yes
2 – No
3 – Yes
4 – Yes
5 – Yes
6 – Yes
7 – no way of knowing going by the press who know nothing.
I just watched the reply. I don’t like the tactic when we are playing away. When they have the ball in their half, our three attackers were pressing high up in their half. Our two midfielders were standing on the midfield line and our two wing backs were standing on the sideline (close to the midfield line). There was a big Gap between the midfielders and the CBs. What Everton did is that they either long ball to one of their strikers or a long pass to an attacker inside that Gap. With one pass they bypassed 5 players. We… Read more »
@Guns, You seem to mix confirmed successful coach with a good coach. Most coaches suffer burn out and need to reinvent themselves after a few years. Very few resists the test of time. So instead of hiring the coach who has the best CV, let’s hire the coach with the best chance of improving the club. If you want the coach with best CV, you would hire Mourinho, but most big clubs will not touch him with a barge pole. You need to define a strategy and hire a coach who can work within those parameters. Clearly Emery pretended during… Read more »
WengerEagle
It would be very, very disappointing…but not outside the realm of expectation at the start of the season. You get caught up in the season, we get to 3rd with 7 games remaining after an empty January window and some bad luck with injuries, same inconsistent players, Spuds collapsing and you get to hoping. But objectively speaking I think most saw a CL berth as a climb considering where we’ve been the last couple years.
Oh Valentin addressed me. I didn’t read it. I skimmed back and looks like he put up a list of arbitrary characteristics and questions he decided determines what makes a good manager, without any context or consideration beyond what he offers in his questions. Yeah I don’t play games of stupid with stupid people. Predictable though.
Valentin_
If you answer your questions without a preconceived opinion. then the yes outweigh the no’s sorry to tell you.. Also… I don’t think this is how you decide a manager is good to be honest. You have to determine if we are progressing.. and those questions don’t really answer that. If you aren’t progressing then you need to go a different direction.. come May.
LG Objectively we have had a better season than last season, proof is in the hard data unless we were inexplicably to lose all 6 of our last 6 PL matches. It’s worth pointing out though that last season was by far AW’s worst and the club’s worst domestic season in a very long time. So the bar wasn’t exactly set sky-high to start with. Chronic ailments of the club in recent seasons have been domestically our lack of ability to go toe to toe in the H2H with the better sides, our away record, failure to blood any new… Read more »
That’s the problem with engaging with people like Valentin. He offers up a question based on his conditions, you humour him and answer, then all of a sudden before you know it you’re caught in a debate wrought with unmerited liberties and backwards logic. And since you humoured him in the first place he actually thinks he made a legitimate point. Let the Valentins and Pierres of the world talk it out amongst themselves, I say.
Curious who Emery has improved for us?
Maybe Xhaka but the only way was up for that chap given how shocking he was in his two previous seasons.
WE-
Iwobi… better imo.
Lacazzette better imo.
Xhaka better imo.
Bellerin was until injury..
Holding was until injury.
Off the top. And maybe the bar was low.. on all of them Idk.
I guess you could add Kola to that too.. at least he is relevant. still shockingly bad defender.
WE I never thought Emery was going to be the one to take us to the next level. Emery was ultimately taking a job where he wasn’t going to “succeed” in the eyes of most fans, that is the state of Arsenal not only on their own but also in relation to other clubs in Europe. I honestly believe Arteta was going to be the choice, but the top brass smartened up. There is no fucking way Arteta was succeeding if he was hired. It would have ruined his prospects as a manager. I actually think they did him a… Read more »
However I don’t really disagree with anything in your last comment. My initial opinion of Emery was he is transitional manager who will last about 2 years and not get the 3rd year extension… so far my opinion on that hasn’t really changed.. Still an improvement on Wenger and basically the only real option I heard when we were hiring unless we wanted to go full on roll the dice. For awhile I thought we were gonna hire Loew.. and That was frightening.
MW We’ve seen it so often when a marquee foreign player comes to the PL in their debut season that they can struggle, Laca in the second half of 2017/18 was excellent as well and I put it more down to an adjustment period for him than the influence of Emery. I’ll give you Holding and Bellerin even though they were both apart of the defence that couldn’t keep a clean sheet for no love or money, but the part of this argument I don’t like is that it doesn’t acknowledge why we were shipping so many goals at a… Read more »
Iwobi
Bellerin
Holding
Xhaka
Kolasinac
Lacazette
AMN
Welbeck
All improved, some limited because of injury.
Not bad.
LG Yeah and look, I give Emery credit for improving our points total and having us at least well in the hunt for CL football with just 6 games to go. It’s hard to reconcile the feeling that this is a train that is chugging along to no real destination in kind or with a real purpose, let’s pretend that Emery gets us back in the CL this season, are we really going to part ways with him? Of course not. So he isn’t a caretaker gaffer by that definition. He’s managed at plenty of clubs in his career and… Read more »
Still too soon to tell. If you are judging Emery then I think he has improved the play of the team as a whole. I don’t think you can credit Emery for a bump in one player’s play, maybe the player just took it upon himself to get better. Away matches is still a large issue but maybe that will change over the next few matches, collectively team has shown more fight in my eyes, more grit. Making high quality chances and converting at a historic rate. Defense was getting better until Holding went down, which in my opinion was… Read more »
Kola has definitely not improved, he’s been horrific defensively,
Welbeck has just 14 apps this season, not nearly a large enough sample size.
There’s been little to no improvement with the rest benny, come on now.
MW
I’m not sure I buy the transitory period narrative, are we simply going to say cheers Unai for weathering the storm and getting us back in the CL and kick him into touch for a better gaffer who’s available?
We’ve never been a ruthless club and it doesn’t get much more cut-throat than that.
Well, well, well…
Read it and weep Emery haters… from Twitter:
“Unai Emery’s win percentage after 47 games stands at 61.7%
This is higher than any of Mauricio Pochettino’s, Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp’s 1st season in England
Unai Emery: 61.7%
Pep Guardiola: 58.9%
Mauricio Pochettino: 50.9%
Jurgen Klopp: 44.2%”
How’s that for special sauce?
Charlie George thinks Emery is awful. If he were a supporter of City, Spurs or Liverpool in their first season he would have said their managers were awful too. Just goes to show Emery should be given more time.
WE
I actually think that is exactly what is going to happen. That is the main thing I’m banking on in the post-Wenger era: we will not tolerate unnecessary mediocrity for longer than needed. If Emery becomes stagnant and someone better is there, there is no reason he shouldn’t be shown the door. Emery won’t have the clueless fan base to hide behind like Wenger did.
And just for Charlie George, from the same source (or sauce?)
“And finally…
I know it is early in Unai Emery’s career but:
Unai Emery: 61.7%
Arsene Wenger: 57.2%
Of course, a good win ratio is nothing if it does not lead to winning trophies”
Eagle-
I think it depends.. on results and what we do with transfers obviously.. I f we make CL and spend cash and crash out early.. Could see us making a change. Josh Kroenke I believe is more ruthless then Daddy toupee based on what I have seen with the Rams and Nuggets. Obviously it depends on what we do rest of this season too.. we could end up 5th no CL and obviously then that changes things too.
LG,
Absolutely; if Emery doesn’t start seriously challenging for the title within 3 – 4 seasons or get CL qualification within 2 then he should be shown the door no question.
Kind of a disingenuous stat there considering that Poch was at Southampton when he came to the PL who are a far inferior side to us.
And Pep was playing in the CL that season as opposed to the EL.
Longer than necessary- how do you define that LG? Everyone holds that to a different standard. I don’t rate Emery’s past recruitment too highly and we all know that we’re not really going anywhere with this group of players minus one of our best/better ones in Ramsey. We can’t affords to piss many more years away while our rivals capitalise, I mean even Spurs have narrowed the gap to the point that in recent seasons they’ve overtaken us, even have a bigger stadium than we do now. We haven’t the luxury to give it 2-3 seasons under Emery only to… Read more »
Middy If we do make the CL, how many players do you see Emery going out and getting? Let’s be honest, more often than not you get what you pay for and UE hasn’t pulled off too many transfer coups in his time as a gaffer. Not that I don’t like Leno or Sokratis butt hese are not guys that are going to take us to the next level or even have the potential to. At least LT and possibly Guendouzi have the potential too although I think that the latter is definitely overrated by our supporters. And more worryingly,… Read more »
Well it also depends on what the 5 – 10 year plan is.. is it trying to break into that top 2 EPL barrier or maintaining 3-6th place. This is why Pedro has been harping on a DOF with a vision along with a backroom staff that works well. It’s not easy to find a young fresh manager that can come in and be successful without any support. Future is pretty muddled right now.. but making CL is part of the puzzle. So if we fail on that .. pretty sure Emery will be gone quickly and I’m pretty sure… Read more »
Benny, to add to WE, Klopp took over a much worse team as well and didn’t get a summer or any money to fix the team.
WE
I agree with everything you said regarding our not having the luxury. I don’t really have an exact measurement but if we miss out on CL this year and suffer through a mediocre first half season in the fall, it’s either time to make a change around winter or to start making plans to find the next manager the following summer.
Again, I don’t like hard deadlines like that and it’ll be a constant reassessment considering contemporaneous factors but that’s the kind of trajectory that I don’t think is too unreasonable.
We are shitting ourselves appointing a DOF but apparent the line was a mile long when we were looking for a coach…..yes that makes perfect sense, afterall we are in fooking London and have a trippy stadium.
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CG
And rightly – it will cost him his job.
It certainly cost him the goodwill of some of the fanbase ( me)
Good thing no one gives a shit about you, so we are all good.
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Benny
But they had a philosophy, no?
Pedro,
No way did Klopp take over a much worse team, a team that nearly won the league the season before bar a Slippy G comedy gold moment, a team that had Milner, Gomez, Lovren, Lalana, Coutinho, Firmino & Sturridge in it.
Emery has come in and taken over the worst Arsenal team since George Graham was sacked with no premier league or English football experience and can barely speak the language.
Emery deserves credit in my opinion.
Average to above above average players at best. I am impressed with what Emery has done with the very very little he has to work with. You would have told me this squad would be in third with seven to play, everyone would have laughed you out the pub. We are just wasting our breath until the club matures enough for Kronke to get the return on his initial investment. No care for the sport, club, or trophies in this man what so ever.