Aaaaahhhghgghggggggghhhhhhhh…
The Emery HOME WIN train derailed predictably yesterday.
Come on, be honest, you knew we’d tank against Palace, and you knew we’d tank against Wolves.
Am I going to sit here and lambast the coach today?
No. What’s the point. Those players should be fucking ashamed of themselves. They can get themselves up for the sexy games, then utterly melt when it matters against shite teams they should be dealing with.
Last night, there was no belief a win was coming. You can tell me Emery prepped the players on what Wolves are like, but I’m struggling to believe anyone was paying attention. Is it a boredom issue? A translation problem? Or the reality that the cancer in the squad is the ghost of Wenger?
Regardless, we don’t have the bottle. Players turning away from well-struck freekicks? Are you joking? FACE UP LADS, FACE UP. Sunday League basics. I never call out Steve Bould, but come on Steve, where are you on that one? Those players in that wall should be locked in medieval stocks and have 1966 leather balls fired at their faces until they scream maniaclly that they are enjoying the learning process.
You should not have to be teaching people like Xhaka not to turn away when they are in their mid-twenties. What a disaster. In fact, I vividly remember being told by a friends dad at 10 that bravery can’t be taught, you’re either going to put your body on the line for your team, or you’ll be a coward. Maybe this isn’t a Bouldy thing? Maybe it’s a rancid attitude to BRITISH FOOTBALLING VALUES. Fucking hell, get me HARD BREXIT on the phone, I have some additional LEAVE thoughts.
Additionally: Where are the, ‘we really missed Xhaka’ crowd today? He’s simply not good enough to be an elite footballer. The fact anyone missed him says a lot about the state of play.
I love Lacazette, he has more swag than MJ (before we knew he was a pedo), but he’s scored 6 goals away from home this year. He’s not a strong player and he gets eaten alive in those physical games.
In fact, it’s fair to say that the whole squad lacks physicality. Not an issue when you’re playing powder puff teams like Napoli. A huge problem when you’re playing a team that has been built on a brief of caps-locked ‘POWER AND PACE.’
I tell you who we did miss. Aaron Ramsey. A PROPER athlete.
I think Emery has done a tremendous job this season on the face of it, but for me, it’s tough to say he’s not a little culpable for the debacle of the last two games. He made a drunk gamble at the weekend when he played a pathetically weak side against a solid Palace that was always going to take advantage of any signs of weakness. That decision wasn’t an acceptable mistake after we paid the same price against Everton. Our biggest opportunity was to bag the home win with a big starting 11, then roll the dice on Wolves with a team that had momentum with it.
He gambled wrong. Hey, we’ve all been there at 3 in the morning, 10 beers deep, in our pants, staking the mortgage on black after we’ve broken into a friend’s Paddy Power account. Just a shame Emery had precedent for the Palace game, he should have played a smarter risk.
However, he’ll get by this season because there are so many drossy players on the outskirts of the 12-14 players that are good enough.
We are still in with a chance on top four, we’ve just multiplied the difficulty.
On a positive note, I think Emery will fancy his chances on the Europa League. Valencia will be an easy tie, and he knows he can get his players up for the big games… so Chelsea in the final will look appetising for him.
I just find it hard to compute what a disappointment this squad is, because yesterday wasn’t about ability, it was about focus, motivation and fight. We didn’t have any of that.
… let’s hope we can stretch that £45m this summer. There is a huge rebuild needed, if we don’t get it right, Arsenal will be an irrelevance for many years to come.
Welcome to what 10 years of neglect brings you… the real ‘careful what you wish for’ was always ‘careful what you stick with.’
What did YOU think? Share in the comments if you agree with me… x
DM
2
Bankz is here for the Tr4phy again
Tr4phy
Lol.
Nice one DM
Last night’s game was a disaster.
Emery and the team aren’t just ready
Calamitous describes last night.
Arsenal could have nailed down top four in last two games, but what we have is a malaise that is prevalent in football today, no one willing to lead or put themselves on the line, laziness, greed, celebrity before achievement, with a couple of exceptions this squad are guilty of all of the above
this team dont deserve to be in champions league
it feels like they dont want to be in the champions league
what difference would it make if we made it?
we were in it for 16 years straight and we still didnt spend much anyways
this team will still get smashed by the euro giants like barca, psg, bayern, like we did before
now man u look like they will be competing with similar players we want because they in a mess too
but they have got more money then us so they will have that advantage
Fine lines.
If Ramsey had stayed fit it’s fairly likely Emery would’ve been getting cyber pats on the back from all the fans again, just like he did after Newcastle, United, Napoli.
A manager is only as good as his players. In one-off games a manager can make a difference tactically, but long-term its impossible to turn water into wine.
BTW, that mistake Xhaka made for their third goal just sums up his chronic flaw as a player. Just cannot handle any type of pressing threat without cowardly relieving himself of possession.
I can still taste the stench of that performance.
the question is
are we a champions league level club or europa league level club??
from memory we only got through to semi’s of champions league twice in 16 years
2 years in a row with europa league
As I said in the previous, last night was on the poverty of our squad, not on the manager. This current set of players simply isn’t good enough.
Monreal – not good enough anymore
Sokratis – good not great
Koscielny – good but old
Maitland-Niles – not good enough
Xhaka – not good enough
Torreira – not good enough
Ozil – not good enough
Lacazette – good but not good enough
Iwobi – not good enough
Mkhitaryan – not good enough
Leno – good but poor last night
“Welcome to what 10 years of neglect brings you… the real ‘careful what you wish for’ was always ‘careful what you stick with.’” Which is why I’m always surprised you’re not more vociferously against Stan. We’re in this state because we didn’t address a decline, there’s no party or pat on the back because we finally welcomed change any number of years too late. If you can establish a blog of fans with varying degrees of appreciation that Wenger is past it, do you not think the guy with access to it all should be able to come to the… Read more »
Shabs
This current team is Europa League level; the club itself is Champions League level.
Charlie
You’d still get people who say Kroenke is a hands off owner and his only oversight was not sacking Wenger earlier like it’s the tea lady’s job o do that
“A manager is only as good as his players. In one-off games a manager can make a difference tactically, but long-term its impossible to turn water into wine.“ Guess Wenger was sacked because of his recruitment then. Guy had a worse squad and managed 5th then 6th., so same applies? Obviously not. Twist, twist, twist. How the season plays out is a reflection on managerial ability, you’re a staunch defender of Emery and no more. Seriously, a manager is only as good as his players? Good management is quite literally the antithesis of this, making good of average, great of… Read more »
Bamfprd
The club hasn’t been Champions league level for a while now because of bad investment and an uninterested owner
Champagne
Except that you yourself didn’t think Wenger was past it. “Last time he was held accountable,” you told Le Grove, “he was winning titles”. The real problem, you told Le Grove, was the owner.
Turns out the problem with the owner is that he continued to place faith in a manager that you yourself still had some faith in.
Bati
Ahh true, silly me. Idk what all the fuss was about with Wenger either frankly, I hear he was a hands off manager….
WORK RATE!!!
Where is it? I see B. Silva, Sterling, Mane , Salah etc All world class players absolutely work their arse off in a match week In week out.
While our average players seem to think they don’t have to put in the same effort and WORK RATE as those world class players.
I’d rather go into the game against Leicester with one or two of the impressive under 21 players who I know for sure will give it 200%.
Banford
You continue to spout that line despite it being dragged up more than once to show it for what it is. It’s not a measure of faith in Wenger you dim twat, it’s a measure of Wenger vs Kroenke.
One had won titles for us, the other hasn’t. I know who I’d have binned off first.
We are a Europa league level club and I fear our only interests will be the cup competitions, we are the West Ham of Europe.
I am not so sure about the tie against Valencia. Just watched the highlight of the game, Atletico Madrid vs Valencia playing at Madrid. Valencia lost 3 – 2. If they played like that against us, we’ll be in big trouble. We may even lose at home.
I have a feeling that Xhaka wants to leave. Not only he ducked that free kick, he played mostly back pass and sideways. The third goal was a clear example. What the fuck was that back pass to Mikki.
Charlie – Yep, Wenger was sacked in large part due to his shocking signings (ability/character) and inability to put together a coherant team to play his style effecitively. Again, this was expressed ad nauseum throughout his last few years yet you act like it’s some recent retrospective tool designed to absolve Emery.
Good management is getting the most out of what he has got,which is what Emery has done, how else you explain Newcastle under genius Wafa not being in the top ten?
Charlie
It’s late April and we still don’t even have someone in charge of the recruitment or whatever position has to be filled And considering whoever is in charge only brought in a player who’s barely played, i wouldn’t trust them to get it right.
We can heap blames at the manager all we want whoever they are and rightly so but the club is being run very very poorly from the top and it shows on the pitch with so many many average to very poor to way past it players
Also the tinkering by Unai needs to stop. These players are not good enough to constantly be playing in a number of different styles or tactics
Also you can see iwobi confidence is shot on top of the fact he is not a good player so why are we persisting with him?
@Champagne Charlie –
Wenger was a short term problem, Kroenke is a long term problem.
Sorry Pedro I’m not buying into it’s the weak players fault. We blow hot and cold trying to conform to an erratic manager’s moments of greatness and extreme poor judgement and a playing style of possession and half arsed pressing. Ramsey wouldn’t have won us the game last night. We had 71% possession and shipped 3 goals in the first half without a shot on goal in reply. You should stick to telling it like it is as you have been for some time now. ES “Let’s put aside the commentary about Emery for one moment, because at the start… Read more »
Pedro Both of us are on the same wavelength. Emery has made a few mistakes this season, but realistically the problem is not the head coach but the lack of depth in our squad and also as you have pointed out its lack of physicality. Realistically there are features in this squad which are not fit for purpose in playing two physically demanding games in a week. The one critique that I do have against Emery is that by now he knows that Arsenal are defensively weak. Our strength is playing on the offensive and yet he plays too many… Read more »
As for the it’s-the-owner’s-fault-we-don’t-have-a-good-squad line, this is simply not true. The club has spent plenty of money over the past five to six seasons, it just hasn’t spent that money well. This is largely if not entirely on Arsene Wenger.
Bamford
And who’s job was it to sack the manager who was spending poorly?
Jim Exactly as i see/saw it. Banford is talking of a discussion where the merits of Wenger vs Stan going we’re being discussed. I said I’d bin Kroenke and replace with someone competent because one of two things would happen: 1. Wenger would be put under scrutiny to win, and not continue simply the heavy rain of top 4. He’d sink or swim with this having previously swam. 2. If he sank, he’d get replaced, a new guy would come in, and the remit would be the same with the same accountability. This gash we have now is nonsense, it… Read more »
“Valencia will be an easy tie”
Not so sure about that…
“the real ‘careful what you wish for’ was always ‘careful what you stick with.’”
Very well said.
Tony
You can’t bang the drum that the manager is not good enough and neglect the fact that 5 maybe 6 wolves players would walk into our starting 11…. We have a painstakingly poor set of players bar 2 or 3
Tony
Spot on mate
What we are seeing is a result of Wenger and Gazidis’ incompetence. Wenger lovers that also didn’t want Unai will be enjoying this. Unai has taken over a bang average squad with some ability but absolutely 0 bottle. Whilst managing a club that has an ambitious fan base. We have fallen behind so drastically, we’re only in the race for top four because Chelsea and united are wank.
Nailed it Tony, christ you’re becoming more than tolerable…
I mean if i appointed a set of guys to run my business and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed and they kept churning out poor results every year, wouldn’t it be in my best interest to let that team go and get in more competent people
We don’t deserve Champion’s League football if we are going to fold like petunias if the pressure gets a little uncomfortable. The person sitting in the manager’s chair might be different but the mentality is the same if we can’t respond in the right way. Remember, on paper, our run in to the end of the season was considered one of the easiest. Ho hum, what car crash it has been. Instead of chasing a loan player who has been next to useless, we needed to bring in a winger and defender to replace the injured Welbeck and Holding. Even… Read more »
Tony “We had 71% possession and shipped 3 goals in the first half without a shot on goal in reply.” Because our attacking players and our attacking play is not good enough. To harken back to when we actually had a top four caliber squad, what would have happened if Van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky were out there last night? We would have scored goals. And if we had better and in some cases younger legs across the back four and in defensive midfield, we might have snuffed out some of their quick counterattacks. We lack quality all… Read more »
Batistuta
“let that team go and get in more competent people”
Ownership has done that.
Tony @0958
Nailed it. Well said sir!
* are not good enough
My AKB instincts are kicking in telling me to back Emery.
Lol!
I always back the incumbent.
Let’s put this season aside. I have always contended that this season is a giveaway and I am happy for just Europa League placing.
I am only disappointed because we could have lucked our way into the CL spots.
But honestly, I think it would not be right to behave like the hindsight guy.
So, I am sticking to my guns. Give Emery a “proper” transfer window in the summer and let him earn his contract extension.
Bamford
Yea ownership has done that what over 10 years too late….You can’t keep defending the indefensible, so yea we should cheer and clap for them because they finally sacked a manager a good 10 years too late and their investment has mose divided on the most important aspect
*there are still steps
Black hei
We’re about to give him 45 quid to work again, we’ll probably have whatever team is coming up from the championship spend more than us again
We’ve lost 3 out of the last 4 and the one that we didn’t lose was against 10 man Watford for 80 minutes. This is relegation standard not fuckin’ top 4.
Don’t worry lads, Emery will motivate the players to beat Valencia.
But but we have a super duper management team in place who for some reason took a full month to tie up a loan move for a player who has barely featured…Such a well run club we’ve got
I agree that a manager and his coach’s can only do so much. Pep, Klopp have spent big on their squads because they realise certain players just aren’t good enough and never will be.
This season has highlighted that last season wasn’t a one-off. A lot of the squad just don’t have the talent or fight.
Batistuta
“It’s late April and we still don’t even have someone in charge of the recruitment”
Except this isn’t true. Francis Cagigao, the longtime head of international recruitment, has been functioning as head of recruitment. He is highly respected.
For for sporting director, yes, that remains to be filled, but that is not an easy position to fill, and it should be noted that Cagigao has been sought for this role by clubs in Spain and that Arsenal are reportedly in discussions with Edu.
So in neither case is there negligence at work at the club.
Daily Cannon piece on Francis Cagigao, ‘the man tipped to fill the void left by Mislintat’s departure”‘.
http://dailycannon.com/2019/01/what-has-cagigao-done-at-arsenal/
lets face it guys, we have over achieved with this squad of players
all the pundits have said arsenal wont make top 4 even when it was in our hands
we had to chance to prove them wrong but its the same old story
i know we have a chance but it all depends on the man u and chelsea game
we just need man u to not lose but can we even take advantage by beating leicester, brighton and burnley
i dont think so
Football as a sport has developed a deep rooted disease… it’s called money. It’s barely about competition anymore, the players aren’t cut from the same cloth of old. It’s about celebrity and this is for the majority now, the minority care about legacy. Overpaid, over-pampered with all the player power in the world. You can perform averagely and walk away a millionaire (every month if you’re Ozil). Wenger isn’t at fault for it but he definitely facilitated this behaviour in the Arsenal squad. But it’s actually the state of the game and out metropolitan and modern (cannon wrong way round)… Read more »
Come on, be honest, we all know this squad wasn’t good enough. Even Pep would win nothing with them. So enough of the tactix, the ghost of Wenger, and all the other fake panaceas, and concentrate on the personnel. And while we’re at it, let’s not fool ourselves with the myth that Emery will be given a load of money to spend on transfers. And even if Stan ever had such a notion (and he didn’t) the dire Ozil affair would have deterred him – and who can blame him? So we have a sh*t squad and no money to… Read more »
Bamford – I remember before we signed Arshavin we had a run of four 0-0 draws (three at the Emirates) playing absolutely shocking football. This despite the supposed genius attacking manager in Wenger in the dug out.
I think we have over extended ourselves. We don’t have a squad deep enough to fight on both fronts. I am afraid it is too late now. Some players are not 100%. The others have heavy legs. It is really worrying.
“Except this isn’t true. Francis Cagigao, the longtime head of international recruitment, has been functioning as head of recruitment. He is highly respected.“
Because our international recruitment has been stellar in recent years?
If I read some of the stuff on here I’d have come to the conclusion it was Wenger that did all the scouting. This was was so highly respected we brought someone in externally, before he left and had as looking internally.
Bati has it right, we’re so well run.
Batistuta “ownership has done that over 10 years too late” Except this is isn’t accurate in the least bit. While a handful of guys here were calling for Wenger’s head in 2009, very few others were. In truth, as long as Wenger continued to finish top four — and let’s remember that he finished second in 15-16 and didn’t fall out of the top four until 2017 — Wenger had an argument that he was competing, that he should keep his job. Most of us here rejected this notion and saw his incompetence, but many did not. While ownership took… Read more »
basically i would put the whole first team squad for sale
see what offers we get for any of them
i do think some of the players have been told via the agent they listening to offers
xhaka
monreal
kos
ozil
mkhi
mustafi
elneny
kolanasic
Good stuff Tony.
Summed up Emery’s first season quite nicely there.
Think many of us have had suspicions Emery’s strength was cup managing. The history doesn’t lie and based on this seasons evidence that holds. Once Wenger was found out in the league he evolved into a cup manager and it all feels quite familiar pivoting to another. You cannot hide in the league.
Last night felt like the pinnacle of Wenger’s banter years, goals scored against could be carbon copied.
Valencia an easy tie – really? Won’t be easy to come back from 0:3 in the first leg, and why keep saying it will be Chelsea in the final? Ever watched frankfurt playing?
Still think there’s much to clear up before a penny is spent. Joe Hart said of City following the United win that they buy players to suit their needs, to fit the systems, not always the most lavish talent but talent that did what they needed them to. Arsenal can forget lavish talent imo, but what do we need to realise this Emery vision of how to play? That’s why people like myself have droned on about ethos and style, it’s important. The two best teams in the league have a specified way of playing, they recruit with that heavily… Read more »
Pedro Eh??? You’ve been saying all season that the squad is good enough and now you’ve done a complete 180?? You k ow full well this side can and have beaten all of the quality opposition that’s been put in front of us bar Liverpool and city. One of the Liverpool games they were lucky to get away with a point. Yes the squad’s quality has dipped unquestionably but that what happens when you ship off your goal scorers Many here might not like it but Sanchez groups and Walcott kept us in the top four with their goals. We’ve… Read more »
Valentin
“I clearly remember that when we beat Leicester on the last minute with a Welbeck goal, everybody thought that we were destined to win the league.”
One, I don’t know who you were talking to in those days, but I can tell you that no one here thought we “were destined” to win the league that season. No chance.
Two, that was in mid-February. By mid-March, we were 11 points back of Leicester City. To “contend” for a title, you need to be in contention in April and May, not out of contention in March.
I suspect the Kroenke debate will be put to bed one way or another this summer. If Emery (let’s take it as a given that he’ll be here for the start of next season) has a net spend of £40m (or less) this summer, in my view that’s wholly an ownership issue. We can afford to spend twice that amount, net. The stumbling block is our bloated wage bill. Ozil and Mkhi need to leave on July 1st, no ifs no buts. Cech, Mustafi, Elneny, Jenko, Ramsey, Welbeck (?) should all be off the books in the summer too. Frees… Read more »
its true, we need to buy players who want to play in emerys philosphy
agressive pressing and wide play
i do think we should buy doucoure of watford he should fit in well
i think he will cost £32m
At this stage of the season we have no clear way of playing under Emery.
However there were clear signs that he wanted to implement a real pressing style at the start of the season.
He can’t be expected to do this when he’s forced to play ozil, iwobi, mkhi, xhaka constantly.
Not to mention our ageing and below par defence.
“12-14 players that are good enough” Peter. No. At a push and I mean the kind of push you give to grandmama at the top of the stairs when you hear you’ve been removed from the inheritance…that kind of push…we have perhaps 2 players that are alright and one is off to Italy. And he’s not great. Three years ago when we were in the death throws of Arsene’s reign of terror I said we needed £300-£400m to start the rebuild and I was told to fuck off as we “had good players”…make that £500m now. The youth team isn’t… Read more »
@Champagne Charlie –
I may be incorrect here, but I heard recently that the only two clubs in the English football league whose owners haven’t contributed a penny to the club are Arsenal and Middlesbrough..
Mediocrity will always be allowed to reign when you have an absentee owner.
The main reason we lost to Wolves is the tactics. If you are lead by a donkey, it does not matter if you have lions on the pitch (which we do not). His tactics with two light midfield players (not very pacy) were perfect for Wolves. Every time Arsenal were put under pressure and lost the ball, their midfield immediately overrun ours. The choice of personnel was also ridiculous as our attack had no pace and no direct runner. Nobody who could run at their defense and create havoc in 1v1 situation. That was only corrected with the forced introduction… Read more »
When you think of our players, there’s not many players you would be bothered about losing to another club.
For me it’s only laca and torreira, possibly Leno who’s had a good first season imo.
@Valentin –
“His tactics with two light midfield players (not very pacy) were perfect for Wolves. ”
Out of interest, who would you have played instead?
By saying that this squad is not good enough, we’re giving Emery an easy way out. Regardless of transfer funds or lack of it, the role of a head coach is to make his players better under him.
On this front, I personally think Emery comes out well. Quite a number of the present squad have progressed, the real problem is that they are nowhere consistent enough.
Jamie I’m not disputing your estimate re what you think we can spend this summer, but I’m going to paste in a comment from TR7 from the other day, which provides a different view and some additional context. Don You should also take a look at what TR7 has to say below, as it makes mincemeat of your claim that we have “200m in cash” on hand. ___ TR7 April 24, 2019 14:33:03 As per my own analysis of our financials which I posted here a couple of months ago, we should have a cash balance of £100m if we… Read more »
All of those who are blaming Kroenke for all of ours issues are missing one point. How do we get rid of him? The most vocal anti Kroenke posters on here don’t attend matches (Most have never and will never go to a match) so they’ll mouth off about what everybody else should do whilst sitting on the sofa doing nothing themselves. Unless someone comes in with a huge too big to turn down bid for Arsenal he’s going no where. You really think he gives a fuck what a small click of posters who hide behind monikers on a… Read more »
There is a reason why Liverpool, Spurs and even Man City have dropped the very aggressive constant high pressing system in the premiership. Long term it does not work in the premiership. It work for the occasional games, but overall it has a ceiling. With no winter break, players arrive knacked by February, March. Just when the money time starts, the team faltered. Players just run out of juice. As a system, one player not pull his weight really leaves the team exposed. Also tactically more and more team have devised system to counter it: pull everybody back in a… Read more »
The palace game was the winnable one, should of got it won and then worried about resting players.
We would of been sitting pretty now with 3 extra points, that’s where we’ve fucked it. Last nights game was always going to be a struggle, wolves’ record against the big six is there for everyone to see.
But any people calling for the managers head need to stop and think. What managers are there out there that would realistically be doing a better job. It’s his first season, we need some stability otherwise we will end up like United post Ferguson.
England is best
We sell all of the players being mooted to leave this summer then we save just short of £30m per season in wages. It’s an astronomical figure we are wasting on
Cech
Welbeck
Lichtsteiner
Mustafi
Eleneny
Mkhitaryan
Ramsey
Ozil
Perez
lol GoH, welcome back mate!!
@JimLahey, Personally I would have bed the youth team much earlier and would have played them. I am going to give you two teams. My optimal team and the one that Emery could have selected based on the set of players he had. My team Osei-tutu Sokratis Koscielny Monreal AMN Torreira Willock Nkethia Lacazette Saka Team with players available Jenkinson Sokratis Koscielny Monreal AMN Torreira Xhaka Nkethia Lacazette Iwobi Both with instructions to shoot on sight at 75% to force corners and nick a goal from rebound. No playing from the back, long ball into channel for both wingers to… Read more »
Cech (retiring) and Lichsteiner (out of contract) are leaving and Ramsey is already out of the door. If we’re short on funds we can have Chamber’s fill Elneny’s place in the squad as he is capable on playing as a CB and a midfielder. We also have Nelson to come back in the wing position and Ospina/Martinez to slot in as the Number 2 GK. Before we do anything glamourous, we must rectify the defence namely CB (I’d say two but I’m being greedy) and LB, and also a midfielder for the outgoing Ramsey. If we are to make a… Read more »
Valentin “until Emery made the unexplainable decision to switch to a pure man marking system with our team of midgets against giants” Except that I’ve just re-watched highlights of Crystal Palace and it is not true that we’ve gone to “pure man marking”. He has shifted to more man marking and less zonal, but it isn’t pure man marking. Three defenders are still playing zonally — one on the near post, one on the six, and one assigned to attacking the ball — while everyone else is marking. This can be seen clearly beginning at 1:29 in the highlights below.… Read more »
Just checked UEFA rules and looks like an association can actually have 5 teams in the group stage!
“Both with instructions to shoot on sight at 75% to force corners and nick a goal from rebound. No playing from the back, long ball into channel for both wingers to chase and turn Wolves defense”
Sounds like the tactics from the football manager game.
We could do worse than play Nketiah and Saka against Leicester. The side that started yesterday will just surrender meekly away from home.
@Gbat,
Those were the tactics that beat Wolves. You can’t always play pretty football. Sometimes you have to choose a system that the opposition can’t handle. There is a reason why Wolves has a worst record against bottom teams than against the top 6.
They don’t like to have to play on the turn. Put them under pressure closer to their penalty box and they make mistakes that lesser teams have exploited.
Against Wolves, would play with a big Burly striker, but we don’t have Giroud anymore and nobody in the U23 has those physical characteristics.
“its true, we need to buy players who want to play in emerys philosphy agressive pressing and wide play”
Apparently some still can’t see that.
I would definitely play Nketiah. He’s the one youngster we have that has some substance.
Marc
By simply saying it should be about hiring the right people, you miss the wider point mainly, isn’t it the same Kroenke and sons we will be pinning the appointment on. Raul seems like he’s landed a cushy London job where he’ll make just enough to retire going by the debauchery that was the loan signing of Suarez in Jaunuary
Again, the likes of Willock, Saka and Nketiah should have been playing more considering how wank Iwobi and co have been all season. Don’t understand how or why Emery has persisted with under performing players all season
Paulinho
I agree the summer business needs to see us get 1 CB we don’t have the funds for more and also have Holding coming back, a LB Monreal is finished and Kolas is a wing back, CM replacement for Ramsey after that we are screaming out for a pacey winger. We literally don’t have a single senior wide player in the squad.
Still not all gloom though but we need the win the Europa league, of that’s the one then let’s focus on that, just one more away game to navigate there anyway.
Also City better not slip up between now and season’s end, can’t stand Liverpool
Batis
Well we didn’t have any money to spend in Jan so I ‘m not sure what he was supposed to do.
Personally I think last summers business was pretty good. My comment on right personal was about replacing Sven / getting the technical guy we keep hearing about so we getting the right players at a good price.
Batis
Er the final is effectively an away game should we get there – it’s in Baku for fucks sake.
The fact is a loss to Wolves is no surprise.
They are 7th. They are actually a better side than Arsenal. Tgey run further work harder.
I watch Citeh, expensive classy players but all have to work hard, chase press relentless. Arsenal rarely do that.
@Bamford, Nobody does 10 outfields players versus 10 players in man marking at corner. Normally the opposition keeps 2~3 players back. Those extra players are then placed at strategic places. The first at one of the post usually the firstb(usually decided by the goalkeeper if it is a in or an out corner). The second extra player is posted at the penalty point to help out/block any rebound second ball. If there is a third man free, he either sit at the base of the D or is sometimes posted as a first man attacking the ball. That is man… Read more »
Marc – Yeah we have so many areas to upgrade. Fundamentally we have to bring in midfielders and attackers that can bring on our possession game, so we go to the likes of Wolves and get them on the back foot instead of sitting deep with a cigar in their mouths.
Seems counter-intuitive but I would focus on that and I think defensively we would improve. Defend better with the ball.
Left sided defender a priority. Kola is infuriating at times but he is serviceable and not an urgent upgrade.
“”””What did YOU think? Share in the comments if you agree with me… x”””” I think you and many others on here are talking hogwash- and I certainly don’t agree with one snippet of todays post- but hogwash or not – I thank our conflicted PedRo for it. the reason – I say conflicted- is I really wish PedRo would nail his colours to the mast – and state what ANYONE with an iota of footballing intelligence knows- UNAI Emery and Raul are/will be a continued hideous blight on our great club. They know nothing about English football ,nor indeed… Read more »