Processed with VSCO with c1 preset
Well, the good news is no team in the top 6 really fancies the Champions League next season. United and Chelsea shared a point, leaving the run into Europe in the hands of someone else’s fuck up, but at least it’s not over for us.
Chelsea has to play Watford at home then Leicester away, apparently two VERY tough teams.
However, United has Cardiff and Huddersfield. 6 points even OGS shouldn’t struggle for.
We have to go away to Burnley and we have Brighton at home. Can you see us clocking in two wins? I’m struggling, but hey, crazier things have happened.
The reality is this: Emery always wanted to win the Europa League.
That’s his thing. He doesn’t seem to care much for the top 4 race. Maybe hard trophies mean more to him than faux ones. I honestly find it baffling, his best chance was winning at home to Palace… and by flunking that, he set the wheels in motion for a Premier League car crash.
What is totally amazing to me is that he came into Arsenal with a very aggressive PR push on his legendary video analysis. I’d like to know what’s going on in those sessions. We have played three different formations in three games. None has given us anything remotely interesting. We dominated possession against Wolves and played right into their counter-attacking hype. We gifted Leicester a whole games worth of space just in front of our box when they had Vardy’s pace to release, with Tielemans and Maddison free to pick us apart. He must have noticed that Palace are absolute beasts, so he opted for MG (19) and ME (not good) in the centre of midfield with Jenks and Mustafi in the same side.
We’ve lost 4 of the last 5 games… and we only beat Watford because Deeney took a card and Leno had a worldie.
The only game we’ve reserved any sauce for has been Napoli.
The trophy we’re most interested in is the Europa League where we’ll have to beat Chelsea in a coin toss of a match in Baku. I’m not sure whether I fancy us based on current form, I have to say. The only thing tipping it our way is Emery is a master of this cup and Sarri has never won a trophy. Chelsea have been getting better though, I don’t think it’ll be a cake walk.
This season is on a knife edge. It could go gloriously, and we could sneak into the Champions League and everyone will completely forget about the season we’ve just had. Or it could all go to shite and the narrative that will carry is that there was no way any other manager could have helped those players rise to the occasion.
I can’t have that, no one can say the team isn’t good enough for top 4 now. That is an unacceptable opinion. We are 4 points from 3rd with 2 games to go. We are 2 points from 4th. As I’ve maintained all season, we are more than good enough to make that position ours, and the reason we might not make it has a lot to do with poor judgment.
One clean sheet away from home in an entire season is an abomination. You are doing something wrong to carry a record like that. It’s also not the first time Emery has had an issue like this, he didn’t win a single game away from home in his final season at Sevilla.
I had people writing stories about my identity complaints back in October.
‘It’s too early, give him time’
We’re in April and the football is so drab. We have nice moments in spits and spurts, but there’s so little joy in the way we play, even when we have a good game.
We’re finishing the season in a bigger mess than we started. It is very difficult to explain that away. We should be watching a better brand of football. The defence should be much stronger. We should be pressing in a disciplined fashion. We should be fighting every minute of every game. His early season manifesto of ideas should be bearing fruit.
That’s not happening.
We’re scared. We give teams like Leicester so much respect that they savage us. We are not the protagonists. We’re not even being pragmatic. The Leicester game was just out and out fear. We couldn’t even park the bus. I will repeat this, I have never seen an Arsenal player point to the clock 1 minute before halftime to sooth his teammates… against Leicester! We are defending terribly, on for conceding 50+ goals. Everton, Leicester, Palace, Wolves and Newcastle have conceded less.
Factor in some of our baffling moves with rotation… like playing away at BATE and Rennes with very strong first teams and losing… and then opting for incredibly weak teams against Palace and Everton and losing. We even played Aaron Ramsey at Blackpool in the FA Cup away, and Vorskla, not great preservation for an injury prone player. None of these decisions sit particularly well with me.
The sad thing is I like Emery. I hear he’s incredibly focused on winning behind the scenes. He’s trying to be the fans manager. He’s trying to implement new ideas, flexible formations, and he wants to protect the players. He made us a force in some of the big games, but that underdog spirit he used to eek results out of those games seems to have crept into the mentality when we play midtable teams. Our away form has singled us out as weak and we’ve had no answer for it.
… but it’s all about Europa for the manager, and if he succeeds, we’ll forget the realities of what’s actually going on, but that won’t halt the march to mediocrity I’m afraid. The next level will not be found under this regime. Question is, how long will it take Raul to suss it out?
hey Bankz
here for ze trophy
4
DM please save this
4th
congrats, peter, too early to cum in the shower.
hahaha. sorry mick
Does Raul even know that much? He will just sit pretty on a big salary ivan style
Stan doesnt care, this club is screwed short to mid term at least
Wengemery out.
At the moment our attack is toothless and our defence is shambles.
Midfield is clueless and always stuck in reverse gear.
To me though the problem has always been our full backs . We have been exposed on that area for so long
it’s painful to watch the likes of Bellend lich, AMN ,Mustafi, jenko, kola and monereal fluffing up their lines.. yes they all had one or two solid games , but overall they had no consistency whatsoever at either defending or attacking .
It’s all Europa now or bust
https://arseblog.com/2019/04/leicester-3-0-arsenal-emerys-timid-approach-condemns-arsenal-to-third-successive-defeat/
This article on arseblog hits the nail on the head. Yes the squad needs improving but he’s got it wrong 3 times in a week against inferior opposition . Teams we should be beating. The tactics are rigid and one Dimensional
The defence is worse and the attack is worse. Nothing has improved. To compound this there are serious problems above emery’s pay grade.
Pedro: ” We are 4 points from 3rd with 2 games to go. We are 2 points from 4th. ” That’s not because our team is good enough for top4. Next year, Manure will not have Mou to destroy them. The last five games, we played like a bottom 3 team. Something is wrong some where. No top4 team would change system like we did. The players were confused, had no believe and no fight. You can’t blame Emery for putting more priority on the European cup. As you say (Emery is also fully aware), he is a transitional manger.… Read more »
If you set aside people who clearly have an agenda, one thing that separates reasonable Arsenal fans at the moment is how they rate the players Emery has available to him at present. In short, I’d say that some understand how inadequate our players are, while others do not. I’ll give you an example from Twitter of a guy who somehow seems to do both simultaneously. This is “GoonerDub” (@johnanthonyr4) after the match yesterday: “One thing we all loved about Emery at the start was if you weren’t performing you don’t play. He has now completely ignored this and poor… Read more »
Perfect post Pedro You should have stuck to your convictions on emery though. It looks like you’re flip flopping even though you were trying to see the positives in a 5 game car crash happening in front of us I won’t be forgetting this next season just because he’s snuck into the champions league through default. He won’t have deserved it and neither will many our players. I will of course cheer the team on next season in hope that he can pull a riabbit from the hag but I won’t hold my breath The writing is in the wall… Read more »
@Bamford
He hasn’t answered because he has none. To be honest Iwobi’s a squad player (at best) and Mhiki’s heads fell off in a big way since the turn of the year. I’d go as far to say he already knows he’s surplus to requirements for next season.
Emery did ask for two wide players and a CB at the start of the Jan TW so he does understand where most of our problems lie.
Don Except that Arseblog acknowledges that Emery got his selection right and that the decision to concede possession, sit deep so as to nullify Vardy’s pace, and try to hit on the counter would be regarded as “sensible” by most observers. His criticism — that this was a “timid” approach — completely overlooks the weakness of personnel Emery is playing with at moment. Sure, it’s a “timid” approach: look at how poor his XI is! Should he take a bold approach with the likes of Mustafi, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, AMN, Kolasinac? Should he have pressed? With slow midfielders and slow CBs… Read more »
Bamford Ok. The new regime are responsible for bringing lich and Suarez when tielemans was available They are responsible for not selling ozil when we had a chines buyer and not selling Ramsey in the summer rather than literally pulling a contract and letting hi. Walk for free!!! Who are they supposed to play? The youth. Willcok may not be ready but he won’t get any less ready by playing games for the first team Elneny and Ramsey are dead horses being clogged only for us to go sideways. Same as Lichtsteiner. Mkhitaryan could have been sold. These players are… Read more »
Bamford Don’t try to spin what arseblog said It’s all here Just over a week ago we had top four in our own hands, and on paper fixtures against Crystal Palace at home, then Wolves and Leicester away, were relatively kind when it comes to the Premier League. We lost all three games, we conceded three times in each one, and as I pointed out above I think Emery was the architect of those defeats. The approach for each fixture was wrong. Too conservative against Palace, too risky at Wolves, spineless and feeble at Leicester. We’ve now lost four of… Read more »
As I’ve said before it will be a herculean task for the management this summer to ship off players that are not good enough. The sad reality is that some of these players will be hard to shift (I’m looking at you mustafi) and with some we will have to bite the bullet and let them finish their contract (I’m looking at you Ozil). Add to this that the club has not appointed a DOF yet and it makes this quagmire doubly distressing. The priority this summer has to be to shift as many of these players as possible, the… Read more »
Things are indeed looking bleak. The Everton defeat has literally let us off on a slippery slope. It’s hard to see us getting a hold on ourselves now. Not one player looks happy to be on the field. Just look at Mikki, he appears to be on a funeral. The same with seniors like Auba, Laca, Ozil, Xhaka, Kos, Sok and Monreal. Something seems to have snapped. We all know that these players are not this bad. Even a relegated team like Huddersfield would have shown some effort and heart. Which brings up very disturbing questions. Have the players lost… Read more »
A scathing review of emery’s first season from a site that is normally quite respectful and positive.
You’re backing a one legged horse again Bamford and you’re going to have egg all over your face with this
You’d be better just admiring that emery was the wrong choice now.
The players are good enough to achieve top four. I know you are aware that they are, you’re just doubling down as usual.
“The next level will not be found under this regime. Question is, how long will it take Raul to suss it out?”
It seems the next level will not be found under Stan’s regime you mean?
£45m summer budgets (Rumored) for the 6th best squad in the EPL Unless we do a leicester we ain’t doing much with that budget regardless who the manager is.
Simple as.
Don
That’s not “spin”. That’s what Arseblog is saying. Correct selection and an approach most would regard as reasonable. His criticism is that this approach was “timid,” but as I’ve said, this criticism completely overlooks the weakness of the personnel Emery is working with.
“Most of Xhaka errors are due to playing him as part of a midfield two as he does not have the mobility and pace to face dynamic midfield 3 opposition. So that is on the coach who keep select him in that position against proponents of such systems. When Wenger was in charge, we criticised him for that. I can’t see a reason to give Emery a pass for the same mistake.”Cue when Emery plays him with torreira and guendouzi posters here will be the first ones to criticize him for playing with 3 ‘dms’…just as they criticized him for… Read more »
Un,
It’s quite hard to maintain your view when things are going well.
I had friends in London saying I should be nicer, because ultimately I’m a fan, not a journalist. You have to support.
So I write with more light with smatterings of what i think.
Emery still might make top 4, and i’ll be happy, but the reality is always going to be that this coach can’t move us to where we want to be.
The top 4 race in this thread showed 2 things
Peter raced on without scrubbing his hands
Mike Khartun takes longer to cum in a shower.
😁😂
Bamford, no one overlooked the personnel when he smashed the first 22 games without really playing Mesut and Ramsey.
Vintage
I agree that it’s going to take a lot more than £45m to build a good squad. This is why I was saying yesterday that it’s going to take at least two summer windows to do so, IMO.
However, re the owner, given that an owner cannot simply add his personal money to a club’s transfer kitty without running afoul of FFP, what is it that you think ownership should do?
Interesting to see how your view of Emery is shaping up after calling my stance on him stupid?
This is very true
” I keep hearing people make excuses like these aren’t his players, but were they his players when we beat United, played very well against Sp*rs, beat Chelsea, beat Napoli over two legs without conceding etc? “
Bamford
The result was disastrous nevertheless.
Could it have been worse if some lacy youngsters were brought in. Maybe , considering how Iwobi squandered a chance.
On the other hand Bould is capable of drilling discipline in defence. But now he does not even have a job of escorting the substitutes. Emery looks like having a massive ego or complex, don’t know where his attitude fits.
Also not sure how sitting deep against Vardy and Leicester would be seem as smart. They have a midfield of technicians and we don’t have a defence capable of a deep block. Not to mention the fact they scored a goal from a route one goal kick.
Gambon, I remember the drum beating of what a real coach could do for mentality when he was smashing it.
Think your point yesterday about things getting worse at the end of the season doesn’t nothing for Emery’s excuse book.
Read pacy instead of lacy Autocorrect is obsessed with
In terms of personnel, the Arsenal squad is nowhere near good enough for top 4. Man City and Liverpool are so far ahead, they could be in a different galaxy. Man U and Chelsea are closer, but man for man, our players are well short. Anybody who says differently has an obsessional need to blame the manager. We were all aware of this before even the season began. If, perchance, Arsenal end the season in 4th place, it will be because Man U and Chelsea have under-achieved and under-performed. Let’s be honest, Burnley has over-performed, over-achieved. So has Wolves. If… Read more »
Pedro
You mean when he had Holding, Bellerin and Monreal available to him? Yeah, he had better options back then. Much better options.
And by the way, he was playing both Ozil and Ramsey frequently until late October so he was playing both of them during our best period.
Yesterday he was without four players who were crucial to our early-season success: Holding, Bellerin, Monreal and Ramsey.
This squad is razor thin in terms of quality, and not having these players is severely hurting us. There is no way around this.
Pedro
“Interesting to see how your view of Emery is shaping up after calling my stance on him stupid?”
Who are you speaking to here, Pedro?
Ramsey, we missed. But that was Leicester, not City. Our squad should be coping.
You, Bamford.
EnglandsBest, sorry mate, not an argument. We could still finish top 4, so mathmatically, and factually, we are good enough for top 4. Thought this debate was dead in Feb.
Pedro
Our squad has Iwobi and Mikhitaryan with Nketiah on the bench and a broken Koscienly and a useless Mustafi…..It’s a miracle we are where we are with that lot
Madison
Dendoncker
Jota
Moutinho
Maguire
Chilwell
D. Gray
Ndidi
Perreira
I could name 15 players from teams we’ve lost to in the past week who would walk into our stupidly assembled useless set of players
Pedro Sitting deep doesn’t mean giving central midfielders more space, so that is not a good argument. And even if it did mean that — it doesn’t — you ultimately have to pick your poison in football. Do you want them playing in front of you or behind you? Given the slowness of our CBs and CMs, it was perfectly sensible to adopt a deep-sit and force them to play in front of us (rather than their playing in behind or through a stretched, pressing XI,) as Arseblog acknowledges. You are now simply going into Emery-is-terrible-he-will-fail-I-was-absolutely-correct mode, IMO, which is… Read more »
One look at our bench yesterday and another at ours with key injuries and you could see just how bad things are for Arsenal squad wise….Yes we have an inept manager but goodness me don’t we have some apallingly bad group of players at our disposal
Pedro
Well, that’s funny, because I never said that your take on Emery was “stupid”. Certainly not in any basic, general sense. I have been skeptical of him from more or less the outset, so I would have no reason to say this. I did take issue with your wild claims that he was to blame for our injuries and that he had continued to do double days after pre-season. Is this what you’re referring to?
Leno
Torreira
Lacazette
Only one’s I’d keep over the pile of shit currently training at Colney at the moment
That said, I’d be firmly in the Emery out zone of we don’t progress past Valencia, that’s just about the bare minimum now
To win the Europa would undoubtedly be a worthwhile end to an unhappy season. However it is worth remembering that winning the trophy means playing two of the remaining three games away from home.
It astonishes me how many Arsenal fans are still giving Emery a free pass, like it’s all the fault of the players, the management and probably the weather. Losing three games in a row, shipping three goals in each – how much longer will it take people to twig the reality – Emery is way out of his depth here, and has made an utter pig’s ear out of the cards he has been dealt. That’s three mid table teams who have played far better than us, and more importantly have been far better organised, disciplined and tactically astute. We… Read more »
Michael
We should take a good lead to Spain next week if we have a good game…..The final is a one off and if for some reason the manager and players can’t motivate themselves for that then they should be shot at sight….. I’ve always maintained the Europa league is our beat route back to the champions league, we should have just about enough
“However, re the owner, given that an owner cannot simply add his personal money to a club’s transfer kitty without running afoul of FFP, what is it that you think ownership should do?”
Well if the owner investing in the club falls foul of FFP then i stand corrected.
But how do newly promoted Fulham spend £100m yet we will fail FFP by doing the similar?
Bamford, you did.
There was a whole crew of people that were up in arms about my take. Some people even left the blog…
But here we are. Judge me in May time. Not looking great.
Maybe Cesc Appeal will come back and apologise?
Jokes aside, still wouldn’t change the Emery hire. Wenger needed to go. Would have taken Arteta or Jardim though. Gazidis bottled the biggest decision and we will pay for it.
After the Man Utd win, I dont remember anyone saying
– We have fantastic players
– Its all because of our amazing players
Now the shit is hitting the fan, its all the players fault, nothing to do with Emery.
Gambon, same with the two clean sheets against Napoli. The win over Spurs. The 22 game run.
There is no way to argue that a team that is 2 points from 4th at the end of April should be struggling against mid table sides because of quality.
Gambon Don’t think anyone has shifted the blame from the manager, i think the general consensus is that he’s not good enough but the likes of you have made it seem like we have this amazing squad that the manager isn’t properly utilizing which is far from the reality or is the manager responsible for all the points Mustafi has cost us or Xhaka needing a million years to release the ball? It’s called being balanced and realistic about where we are and what the owner has let us become, you should try that sometime rather than only showing up… Read more »
Into the red, great post.
Good post.
I’ll be honest, when Pedro started going in on Emery earlier in the season, I thought to myself “give Emery time”.
It’s now April and we’re still making the same simple mistakes plus we look shi tter than ever.
Say all goes well and we qualify for the CL, we will be embarrassed.
Pedro
“Bamford, you did.”
No, actually I didn’t, and you’re oversimplifying matters. If you are referring to your Arteta-would-have-been-a-better-hire-and-I-know-it campaign, yes, I did think that was stupid. Many here did. But that is a very different thing from simply having questions or doubts about Emery. The latter is and was a reasonable position to hold; the former is and was not.
Batistuta:
“I’ve always maintained the Europa league is our beat route back to the champions league, we should have just about enough”
Totally agree. But two of the three games needed to win the trophy are away from home. That’s all I am saying.
Pedro Going further back, not one person on here was giving Weng any slack last season on account of players being shite – and we’ve only improved since. No, last season it was Weng has no tactics, motivation, no ability to change for the opposition. All fair assessments frankly, but somehow a year on and the same return is yielding a different voice. Funny that. We have an unbalanced squad, that’s clear. But what’s also clear is we have a squad capable of top 4. The fact we haven’t is only ever down to our own performances and the performances… Read more »
To all who are calling Emery a fraud etc, would you be saying the same thing if it was your choice of manager in this current situation?
I really fear for our summer, the problems go deeper than Emery. Why haven’t we hired a replacement for Sven yet? Is Raul seriously going to take on responsibility and deliver us more Denis Suarez types?
I wish people would stop using the hipster millennial term “flip flopping” because it’s really dumb. Being a to change your opinion based on evolving variables is intelligence, sticking to the same bloody minded blinkered view regardless of changing circumstances is just sheer ignorance and lacks intelligence.
Bamford, you were. Nothing to do with Arteta. Specifically Emery. You said my opinion was stupid and lacked credibility. There was a whole crew of you. Dissenter, RH, Dani Altos, Batistuta, CA… on and on the list went.
Well, here we are.
Still might make top 4, but totally clear we are with a dead end coach.
Benny,
True.
I went back to London and a pal told me I should lighten up on the manager and I did. Underpinned by skepticism, but I did lighten up.
I will say, even though I didn’t ever rate him, I am shocked to the core he blew it this badly. I thought he’d get at least 3 points in the run of doom.
… but you are right. Being staunchly one view all the time is a boring read and you have to review your thoughts as you go.
Pedro Yesterday – “Emery has a tough job on his hands. There was only one player out there I’d keep on next season, and that’s the keeper. Everyone else is expendable.” Today – “I can’t have that, no one can say the team isn’t good enough for top 4 now.” Deep breath mate – we’re all pissed off to put it mildly. Why we haven’t got the Tech Director position sorted in what ever manor I don’t know. The squad is unbalanced and there’s some serious work to be done on replacing a chunk of the squad for various reasons.… Read more »
Gbat
I wouldn’t say Emery is a fraud but he REALLY fu**ed up against Crystal Palace and the blame has to lie with him.
I’m still willing to give Emery another season but there must be a HUGE improvement
“… but you are right. Being staunchly one view all the time is a boring read and you have to review your thoughts as you go.”
Agree 100% but switching violently twice a week is going a bit far!
Marc,
Keeping you on your toes.
Season renewals are never an issue. Someone always waiting in the wings.
We don’t deserve top 4… especially with the present owner and his ambition for the club.
Present players and coach are equally culpable.
Pedro Again, no, I never said that. I was skeptical of Emery from more or less the outset, so I would never have said any such thing. Early on, your commentary on Emery was nearly always adjoined to your take on Arteta, so I think you are misrepresenting why you got so much pushback here. Also, you have to look at the arguments you made against Emery and about Emery. Oftentimes your arguments against him were vague and impressionistic — “not sexy,” “lacks sauce” — and this was one reason you got pushback. Other times you combined your take on… Read more »
“I wish people would stop using the hipster millennial term “flip flopping” because it’s really dumb. Being a to change your opinion based on evolving variables is intelligence, sticking to the same bloody minded blinkered view regardless of changing circumstances is just sheer ignorance and lacks intelligence.”
Good post Benny. But the last thing some on here want is intelligent perspective.
Or as the great 20th century economist said: When the facts change, I change my mind.”
Benny, you’re in good company.
What Marc said
You can’t say yesterday u will only keep Leno and today say the squad is good enough
And Charlie no one made squad excuses for Wenger because he bought said players, he decided to pay 70m for Xhaka and Mustafi, decided to assemble a squad lacking pace and power, this is his doing.
Basically Pedro is saying all good things is down to our amazing squad and all the bad is down to the sauce less manager. As you were I guess.
Pedro, Good post but again, Emery didn’t opt to play Elneny and Guendouzi vs Palace he was forced to; Ramsey and Xhaka were injured, Torreira was nursing a groin strain, Monreal was recovering from sickness and Sokratis was suspended. The Everton selection too was forced because of injuries, sickness and suspension yet for some reason you’re deliberately spinning it to suit your Emery criticism, which is entirely justified by the way and there is plenty to lambast Emery for without getting all jackanory with the truth. The Everton and Palace selections were forced not opted. Other than that you called… Read more »
Arteta would have us playing better football, no doubt.
Better on the ball and off it.
But would he have us in the semi of the Europa? Doubt it. I really doubt it.
Has Emery made mistakes? Yes
Is he partly to blame for our current predicament? Yes
No one is dismissing that
However saying he only wanted the Europa League from the onset is unfair. Jose threw in the towel on a top four finish from February in his first season concentrating on the Europa. This man can actually still finish third mathematically speaking so accusing him of prioritizing for the sake of his CV is unfair. You keep ignoring the injuries we had for the palace game pretending he somehow chose to throw that game.
Another thing that is funny about some of the current tirades against Emery is this talk of “mid table teams” bettering us, as though Palace, Everton, Leicester City and Watford are not very good, very tricky teams to beat, especially when away from home. People point to Napoli and say: “any team that beat Napoli should beat these teams.” Well, except that, one, some of these teams may actually be harder to beat than Napoli. Napoli are a decent side, but they were tiny and completely toothless up top. The same is not true of these PL sides, who can… Read more »
Bamford you’re cherry picking a two word quote to make it seem as though the article agrees with your view points It doesn’t Not been close You’re in the minority Allow me to expand on the two word quote you cherry picked “matter.Unai Emery had a chance to basically secure top four this week and Champions League football for next season. He was in a fantastic position to do it, and he failed miserably. I keep hearing people make excuses like these aren’t his players, but were they his players when we beat United, played very well against Sp*rs, beat… Read more »
Receding
No I was joint making the point of things don’t change that much in the course of 24 hours.
Pedro
There’s no evidence that Arteta would have us doing anything. He’s a completely unknown quantity, he could’ve come in and been the new Messiah. He could’ve crumbled under the pressure and been atrocious there’s just way to know until he’s had some actual managerial experience.
He would have been a colossal gamble.
Bam 1) these teams aren’t as good as Napoli (not spurs utd and Chelsea) and you know it. Beating Napoli over two legs is harder than beating Leicester and palace Nice try 2) Aaron Ramsey is not the deciding factor as we beat better teams without him this season Nice try 3) it was an emery masterclass. We had the opportunity to score more and they never actually troubled as as they were constantly offside. Nice try If emery is taking the plaudits for his victories then he carries the can for losses Certainly at this stage in the season… Read more »
Good to see the Old PedRo back on track with a more realistic commentary on the current AFC shenanigans- and I off course thank him for it… “””The reality is this: Emery always wanted to win the Europa League””” Useless Unai, will indeed be happier that The Losers Festival of Football is back on the horizon.- after his weak fron hell( predicted and lucratively exploited by yours truly) He is a One Trick Pony. His whole career will be defined by this 4th rate- soccer tournament- With Wenger we were a CL club (90% time playing naive, fluent eye pleasing… Read more »
Pedro If he had us top four already I’d swap out this semi final. No problems Arsenal aren’t building top class team on the back of a Europa semi. The champions league is our only route back to the top of the game. If he fails in the next fortnight to reach the final then I think it’s fair to say those of us who wanted an Arteta like appointment were right all along. As it stands we have gone sideways at a time when our rivals are there for the taking. I’d rather take risks with arteta than the… Read more »
Marc
Do you not think in hindsight it was a gamble worth taking?
We had nothing to lose really did we? Not as fans. We aren’t exactly chasing glory this season so why not?
“After the Man Utd win, I dont remember anyone saying– We have fantastic players – Its all because of our amazing players” There is no contradiction there. As you said, no one said we had amazing players, the praise was going to Emery to a large extent. Every pundit had United and Spurs to beat us at the Emirates this season, to give some context to those results. Now we are playing at a level – and getting results – more befitting of level of players (squad available, fatigue etc) then Emery is simply not overachieving anymore, so no one… Read more »
Nonsense Don.
EPL teams many of them have more physicality than a side like Napoli.
It’s no surprise that Arsenal can get results against european opponents in the second tier competition but fall short on the road against EPL sides.
This is not about Napoli.
This is about which kind of opponents Arsenal struggle against and those which they are more comfortable playing against.
Un
How can it be a gamble to choose Arteta?
1)He Knows Arsenal
2)He Knows the Prem.
3) He Knows the Opposition
4) He Knows the bloody language
5) He Knows Us.
The gamble was choosing Emery
Who knows none of the above.
The appointment of Emery- was the Worst Judgement Call in the history of the club.
The second was The Ramsey Withdrawal.
Absolutely ludicrous
He has To Go.
Any of Arteta, Vieira,Howe,Benitez
Would improve our morale and performances immediately .
Winning the EL? From what I have seen of Valencia this season and Chelsea yesterday, I fear there is more of a chance of a blind horse winning the National! Until yesterday, we had not lost three consecutive games with opponents scoring three against us since 1967. And we have had some pretty poor teams over that period. Yes miracles happen but this reflects just how poor and listless we are. Dark days indeed. It is a pity we didn’t get Benitez. He would have got something out of this team. Emery looked a fool yesterday, defending the team. Yes,… Read more »
Guys, let’s not forget that Pedro always nose best.
However, those 3 consecutive humiliating defeats are very hard to swallow, and the end of this season could hurt Emery’s credit big time.
A major factor in that win over Man United was that they gave up the midfield and sat deep looking for counters.
This suited Arsenal.
Credit of course to the team for taking advantage in those circumstances and putting them to the sword.
When people say a few of these players are not good enough they don’t mean they are continually awful. It is measured on this team getting back to being a relevance at the top end of football and not squeezing into the top four and playing in the second tier european competition.
Charlie stupid George : take a bow son, Emery isn’t going anywhere.
Bennydevito “Pierre,You really are the master at making up shit and believing it yourself.Ramsey wasn’t dropped he got injured and when he recovered he was back in the side” Ramsey was substituted in the home game to Watford , he came off off shaking his head …… prior to the Watford game ,which we won 2-0 , Ramsey had started our 4 previous league games , all victories. Ramsey was then named as substitute for the next 7 league games , so was obviously not injured ….. he was being treated like a schoolboy for showing his displeasure.Emery only started… Read more »
Ishola
Napoli are the second best side in serie A.
Crystal palace are 12th in the Prem
Too right Napoli are a better side
But let’s flip the argument. Let’s just pretend to inhabit this fantasy world of yours where mid table Prem sides are better than Napoli and the other Italian giants below them.
We are beating these mid table sides at home. But not away. So how come the same players that are beating these sides at home aren’t beating them away?
Same players. Different approach.
Bennydevito
“Emery’s not power hungry or trying to prove a point at all, this is complete nonsense and fantasy made up in your deluded head”
If that is the case then maybe you may be able to explain why a manager would not start a player( Ramsey) for 7 league matches after starting the previous 5 which were all victories…..
Doesn’t look good does it , Ramsey comes off shaking his head after being substituted and then is put on the bench for the next 2 months or so.
CG
But he’s never managed a club ever. That’s th risk. Henry knows the clubs and all that but would you let him manage arsenal? Tony Adams knows the club and all but would you let him manage arsenal?
That’s why it’s a gamble.
Don I have already said to you it is not about Napoli. It is about Arsenal. Whether Napoli beat Crystal Palace nine times out of ten is an irrelevance. It’s about which teams Arsenal are more comfortable playing against and it is no surprise that Arsenal are more comfortable against less physical sides or teams that completely give up the midfield and don’t press. It is nothing to do with technical football. We saw this sort of stuff under Wenger as well. Pedro described Napoli as “lightweight”. That’s all you need to know. This is regardless of how technical they… Read more »
We wont win anything without Ramsey. I’d play him in Eurpoa even if he isn’t fully fit as he gives us something completely different.
Charlie George,
The appointment of Emery- was the Worst Judgement Call in the history of the club.
I can think of more worse calls…
– allowing silent stan on the board
– Sacking David Dein
– Letting Sven Misintat go and not having a plan to replace him
– bidding £40m and £1 for Suarez and not following through. £50m would have bagged him that season.
The list is endless
“The appointment of Emery- was the Worst Judgement Call in the history of the club.”
Priceless.
Charlie stupid George : for your information, the worst decision in the history of the club was allowing wenger to stay and destroy what he has build.
Everybody knows that, except you.