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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?
Holding was a solid 7.5/10 CB before his injury
If he played the same way for even half of the rest of the season and played instead of mustafi we’d have an extra 5 points by now imo
Suarez was a waste of time.. no doubt pointless. It was such a Gazdis/ Wenger type of thing to do…. make a loan for a pointless player to appease the fans calling for a transfer.. to address a need in defense by loaning in a midfielder. Lets be honest It makes me worry about Raul/ Emery as a repeat of the previous duo.. the exact thing I did not want. This summer tw needs to be good.
CC “That’s just not true though is it? We had everything in place last summer to kick on and build something worth getting excited over. To cry foul that Wenger stayed on too long is blame culture at its best.” You don’t think Wenger stayed past his sell-by date? For all your flowery prosy arguments, you don’t seem to get the crux of the issues because your motivation is to isolate Wenger from blame. The Identity issues with Arsenal started with Wenger. He was all over the place with the vision he had in mind and he certainly delayed the… Read more »
Holding is quality, I have always admired his ability. Such a shame he got injured just as he was beginning to grow as a player. Mavrapanos is another one who I rate although I am not sure whether Emery rates him.
Dissenter
Just read the comments for a change instead of wading in to spark argument for arguments sake.
The club allowing Wenger to stay on too long is most definitely the biggest mistake it’s made. Great comment. Selling to Kronke isn’t far behind though.
Since when did a new manager not require a season to get acclimated with the uniqueness of the English game?
Emery is going to be here next season so you can all save your gunpowder. Keep those kegs full because you will need them.
Can someone tell me how much money we stand to gain from CL qualification?
I understand we also get more prize money for the Europa league stages we have passed through. Winning it also ensures more $
_____
Guns- you get 15 mill for qualifying for CL and then whatever we win if we win Europa. Plus whatever the television revenue share Is for PL teams.. But that sounds like a Gambon type question to answer. lol
I’m sure a lot of us forgot about Holding since his injury surely he and Sok are first team.
Dissenter, great comment. Wenger definitely obstructed progress. When Pep was available after Bayern Gazidas wanted to hire him and Pep was interested but Wenger refused to resign or step aside. Wenger obstructed a director of football too. Don’t even get started on all the players we could have signed but Wenger deemed them too expensive. In short Wenger staying on too long has left us in the shit state we’re in now.
CC
I did read the comments.
I wasn’t surprised you took that soft line of Wenger.
He’s not the only one to blame but he’s high on that list of culpable people for whatever “identity issues” we have right now. It’s Kroenke-Wenger-Gazidis, not just Kroenke.
He branded the club with everything but the best for the first 10-12 years then it went south from there. He was lurching from one stupid vision to another in the last decade
Now you’re going to hold the new regime accountable for the lack of identity?
What a disaster of a week,,3 games Zero points,imo its the players that need changing,from the current squad id keep Leno,torreira,guen,auba,holding and bellerin,,keep our good youngsters like amn,eddie,esr and get rid of the rest!!
8M for the round of 16, additional 9M for quarterfinal, additional 10.5 M for making in to semi finals, 13M for finals and the winner earns further 4M or so. All this on top of standard prize money for qualifying for CL.
Atletico received about 15 million for winning the Europa league finals last season
https://www.efe.com/efe/english/sports/atletico-madrid-gets-18-3-million-as-europa-league-champion/50000266-3793111
This year’s CL money wont be as much for the English teams because all four teams went far and have to share the domestic purse.
Mavrapanos is another one who I rate although I am not sure whether Emery rates him
TR7 who knows but he was injured for a long time, the player has time on his side do you think with the recently losses a young player like that will be confident seeing all the other players being shit.
I honestly think that Emery is protecting him.
He needs to be introduced into the cup games next season.
We’ve had a culture of mediocrity that Wenger created. Lots of players believe and play with the mentality that winning is not everything. That is why lots of players with heart left arsenal. It’ll take a while for Emery to clear this mentality, lots of the players earning the big bucks at arsenal are not winners, when the chips are down we can’t count on them to step up. Iwobi has improved but his final ball is very very poor and he is not working on it. He missed the chance to equalize against Crystal palace and also missed the… Read more »
EL winnings are really paltry. It’s only 6.5 million euros for winning the final game
CL winnings for the final game is €19 million , the runner up gets about 15.5 million
After the breakdowns etc read we made upwards £30m for making the Europa semi last season, Liverpool over doubled that with a £72m cut for making CL final. Based on matches played and won with cuts from each TV market share, further progress more cash added on to initial entrance fee. Spurs made around £50m last season.
Frozen out and stirring the pot Cross with another nothing article, hilarious attempt though.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/bizarre-pre-match-routine-led-14969372
I would argue that koscielny is finished at Arsenal. And I’m harsh. But seeing that lacklustre attempt at clearing the ball.
Most of our players are average. I don’t know wtf torreira was doing in the second half trying to dribble on the wind. I thought he was a DM
Miki looks like he never wanted to come to Arsenal every time I see him the guy looks miserable.
As good as you think Bellerin is Perrira for Leicester footballing wise is much better.
I could go on but I can’t be bothered.
Worst sequence of results since 1967.
Spurs in the Champions League semi- final
Emery still speaking in embarrassing pigeon English post matches…his body language-shot to pieces..
DVD player up the spout ,apparently.
More Europa Guff this week
Best player leaving for nothing at the end of the season- because coach favoured Suarez types.
Can things get any worse under The New Regime of Emery/Raul?
Samesong
Any forward thinking club would be replacing Monreal and Koscheilny this summer.
I noticed Kosh stopped running after Vardy in the lead up to the second goal. Had he kept running he may have been in position to make the rebound more difficult.
He’s been a good servant of Arsenal but he’s clearly done at this level. It doesn’t men that he won’t have some good days.
Dissenter Wenger isn’t to blame for our identity issues whatsoever, he had a vision of what he wanted from us, he just didnt have the ability to realise it come the twilight of his career and had accumulated so much say that the club spiralled into the mess it landed in. Wenger our Arsenal on the map for style of football and philosophy of playing, so that’s a bizarre comment at best. That mess btw doesn’t for one second absolve or deny the clear fact that Arsenal were plenty capable of setting up a new era for the club and… Read more »
I guess Koss will stay on for one more year. Licht, Kola, Mustafi and probably Monreal too..so we are looking at 4 changes in our defense even before we get to replacing Koss.
Champagne dropping all pretense
Full blown Wenger apologist
Still doesn’t understand why we sacked Wenger seeing as we didn’t win the league immediately after
Dissenter
I am glad you have the financial figures for the Losers Cup.
Makes you wonder – why we just do not enter the ridiculous thing….or play the youngsters ( if Emery has not loaned them all out)
The Prem League pays the bills.
It’s Real Football
The Losers Cup league blights the domestic calendar….. we should treat it with the contempt it deserves.
…failing that-enter our outstanding, winning Ladies Team
Kos shouldn’t stay on past the last game, he is done. He and mustafi should be the first out the door. Forgotten Stephan even plays for us.
By the way I love how the narrative has changed now, Guendouzi, Torriera and Sokratis are now called Emery signings on here. Guess Leno is the sole Sven signing and the legend Mavropranos
CC I see You’re going to castigate the new regime for failing to re-brand the club or articulate a vision in 10 months that Wenger diluted and botched for over a decade. A fairer assessment would be to give them 3-5 years because there are short-medium structural changes that need to happen. For starters, we have to clear out high earning unproductive players from the squad. Does it mean I trust the regime? , hell no. I don’t trust Raul Sanllehi and I have no idea what he is doing if he’s not the DoF. Does it mean I trust… Read more »
Agree.
Big worry this summer with Emery and Raul running transfers. Would almost prefer them to sign Fa Kin No Wan than set up back into next regime.
Zidane is a shit manager yet wins 3 champions league titles because of Ronaldo.
Now he’s struggling without Ronaldo.
Managers are irrelevant, the best players win all the trophies.
– us back
Emery is going to be here next season so you can all save your gunpowder. Keep those kegs full because you will need them.”
Sad reality and we’ve got brace ourselves
just imagine another full season of watching bland Emery and his bland team dragging the great arsenal through the mud of embarrassing defeats to mid table teams.. Conceding an average 3 goals in doing so
Quite a shuddering thought
It was a different ball game when Wenger took chsrge of Arsenal.
There were no billionaire clubs to rule the roost until Chelsea came along and made Wenger their bitch.
Vic
I’m sure all the years of watching bland Wenger-ball has fortified you for next season.
Without proper finances the club will never be successful.
I just wanted Wenger out because he’s a cunt.
No wonder Barca were trying to dump Suarez on us. The guy was carrying a groin injury.
It makes us look silly a la Kallstrom but at least we insisted on a loan with no permanency clause.
I am counting on Francis Coquelin’s love for Arsenal and quickly gets a red card on Thursday. 🙂
Get Ozil back for Thursday night and we can look forward to some proper quality football .
None of this kick and rush , headless chicken ,schoolboy football …
We will beat Valencia comfortably ,probably 3-0 , Ozil will be MOM and the team will be back to their best. .
I’m sure all the years of watching bland Wenger-ball has fortified you for next season.”
Sure, except last time I checked we have a new man in charge who we all hoped will make the Wenger latter years a distant memory,
he’s making those years not so bad after all.. That’s horrifying..and it could get worse
I mean I didn’t thought it remotely possible there would still be a carry-on of those Wenger banter years
Emery is utterly out of his depth,think the man need saving if he’s brand of football is been compared to wenger’s worst
“he’s making those years not so bad after all.. That’s horrifying..and it could get worse”
For the first time since forever, we went to the old toilet, came out with a draw that felt like a loss.
Ozil is not good enough and belongs in the same category as the previous Manager ‘ONE DIMENSIONAL’
Vic
“I mean I didn’t thought it remotely possible there would still be a carry-on of those Wenger banter years”
You think Emery would turn Ozil into a proper AM, driving runs, dribbling and shooting from distance
You think he will give Mustafi a brain transplant?
You think we will install a turbo booster inside Xhaka
Wenger-purchased players will always be Wenger- purchased players
Azed
Yea as brilliant that felt at the time, our last 3 results has put a damper in it all
Emery has lost 3 on the bounce conceding 10 goals to midtable teams
Sorry a draw at toilet can’t ever make that acceptable
Ozil is not good enough and belongs in the same category as the previous Manager ‘ONE DIMENSIONAL’’
Emery=CUTBACKS
Vic
Step one: Eliminate big game blues …………..check
Step two: Eliminate away blues at smaller teams ……….. Up next.
If you look at Klopp’s history at Liverpool, you would see this was the pattern he followed and now they are competing for the EPL.
Wenger-purchased players will always be Wenger- purchased players”
Do you also credits these Wenger purchased players for our earlier brilliant unbeaten run this season?
All down to the genius Emery I suppose? OK then
“I mean I didn’t thought it remotely possible there would still be a carry-on of those Wenger banter years Emery is utterly out of his depth” that’s your problem right there. We still have mainly the same players, some new faces sure but also some of our previously performing players declining due to age like Kos and Monreal, ozil continues his regression and Mikhi continues being inconsistently shite. We still have some utter clowns that the manager is forced to play because we lack any options (Mustafi, Xhaka) some players have had much more game time than they should have… Read more »
If you look at Klopp’s history at Liverpool, you would see this was the pattern he followed and now they are competing for the EPL”
Looool, don’t do it mate, they’re world’s apart, with dippers you could see what Klopp was up to despite the teething issues
Our players looks as flummoxed as you and I anytime they step on the pitch
Did you miss Iwobi asking a player what formation was been played when he came on in a match recently?
Guy has played 3 different formations in our last 3 games
He’s absolutely clueless.
Koscielny
Mustafi
Xhaka
Kolasinac
Elneny
Chambers
Welbeck
Monreal
Lichtsteiner
Jenkinson
Iwobi
Ozil
Maitland-Niles
Mkhitaryan
Should all fuck off
Arsenal players are mediocre, if it were not so they would be too of the league regardless of who the manager is.
Goal has a good article on how Rodgers beat tactically Emery. https://www.goal.com/en/news/emery-exposed-as-arsenal-embarrassed-again-five-tactical-lessons-/39aejxqihksw1f65094p5tcuy As soon as the line-ups were announced it looked like a mistake. One of the most prominent tactical components of Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City is filtering attacks through James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, who alternate up and down the half-spaces like Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva did last season for Manchester City. Why, then, did Emery play in a flat 4-4-2, leaving just two central midfielders to deal with the Foxes? The visitors were remarkably weak in the middle, mainly because of Emery’s formation; note in the… Read more »
Fred Do you think it would have have been a wiser move to have recruited someone on loan who we needed instead of signing a player ( Suarez) who plays in a position that we were already well stocked. Only asking because you said we were short of players in other positions and I would have thought the January window was the perfect time to bring in reinforcements for the areas we are weak . Especially as we had a bit of a defensive injury crisis in January . Though I do remember receding hairline saying that Suarez is a… Read more »
“Did you miss Iwobi asking a player what formation was been played when he came on in a match recently?”
Shows you the quality of players Wenger left us with.
Valentin Have you even considered the possibility that the Leicester starting 11 were better than what we have in place. I would pick their defense over ours I would pick their midfielder over ours They have proper wide players while we have Iwobi Their main striker has a better premier league record that either of Laca or Auba [who are both competent] Goalkeepers will be a draw..but Kasper Schmeichel has led a club to a league title. They had the better players and had the luck of a daft referring decisions which reduced us to 10-men, even then we has… Read more »
That silly question was on Iwobi and it shows that doesn’t stand a chance as a manager when he does retire someday.
Any player on the bench should know what formation the manager is playing. They would have trained on that formation all week
It shows how tactically dim Iwobi must be or how under-coached he was in the academy.
Dissenter
You forgot one thing ..
I would pick their manager over ours …….ALL DAY LONG
This team will struggle against Valencia.
We might a get a win but it will be small
Like 1 nil
We need to really focus on keeping a clean sheet- our defenders need to get some confidence back.
We need creativity in the middle of the pitch.
seems like such a daunting task as everyone is demoralized
Receding
That’d make sense if there was any apologist talk whatsoever. There’s not however so just leaves you with a rather dim comment saturated in the usual broad stroke akb rubbish you like to paint.
Dissenter
Give the new era 3-5 years to carve an identity?
Hahaha that’s up there with your Mitrovic comment. Wenger has fault for plenty, our identity isn’t one though.
Pierre
Name ONE singular defensive movement in the January transfer wiondow?
Just one….puleeeese
Everyone but you knows it’s virtually impossible to make meaningful signings in January
The only things you get in January are excess fat and the shit off the diapers. .
Dissenter
“It shows how tactically dim Iwobi must be or how under-coached he was in the academy.”
I can’t remember Iwobi not knowing what formation we were playing under Wenger …can you?
Dissenter
Are you telling me there wasn’t one player in world football who we could have enticed to Arsenal to improve our defence, especially as we were looking short at the time ..
Instead we get Suarez , who is a poor man’s Ozil and Mhkitaryan…what a disaster,on par with the Kallstrom deal….
At least Kallstrom scored a penalty to help us into the FA cup final.
“Why, then, did Emery play in a flat 4-4-2, leaving just two central midfielders to deal with the Foxes?” Because the 4-4-2 is a formation that is easy to create a balance between defending and attacking. This was the same formation we used against Chelsea at home(It was actually the diamond style) and it was successful even though Chelsea played with a midfield 3. The 4 in the middle has two defensive midfielders (Xhaka, Torriera) , one wide play maker(Mkhi) and a winger(Iwobi). One of the two in attack is also supposed to drop into midfield to help out(Griezmann does… Read more »
Pierre
“I can’t remember Iwobi not knowing what formation we were playing under Wenger …can you?”
The headless chicken formation.
Pierre
“At least Kallstrom scored a penalty to help us into the FA cup final.”
Didn’t save Wenger’s bacon, he still got sacked.
During the game when Iwobi was confused, we used three formations. Players on the other side of the bench may not have been told of the second change of formation and suddenly picked up that something was wrong. That responsibility may be shared between the coach, the captain or substitute who has not transmitted that information or the player who was dozzing off. The problem is that happen more than once. During the Crystal Palace game, Kolasinac looked at the bench and asked who was supposed to pick a player because he was ending up with two players. To me… Read more »
CC
You don’t think the manger who was in the club for 22 years and controlled most of the footballing business for two-thirds of that era has no role in the lack of identity?
That’s utterly shocking and it just shows where you’re starting from.
You’re willing to whitewash the shoddy processes under Wenger that led us to where we are at but you’re all for using a machete on the new guys because they cannot fix it fast enough.
It’s very revealing.
Pierre
Sure, January would have been great to bring in reinforcements, last summer as well, we should have done much more, this squad needs a purge.
Unfortunately our wage bill has spiralled out of control and we can’t get rid of players because they’re overpaid and money has been pissed away on average shite like mustafi and Xhaka , etc etc, along with not selling or renewing Sanchez, Ozil and Ramsey with 2 years left on their contracts so this wasn’t as easy as you make it seem.
We all know who was responsible for all that mess right?
Going back to the 4-4-2 comment, If Lacazette and Iwobi take the chances we had, we are two nil up and can concentrate on defending the lead. In my opinion, the reason it didn’t work for Emery is because Emery isn’t a defensive manager and I don’t think he has drilled the team defensively enough. That’s fine if you have VVD in your team but when you have players like Mustafi who isn’t the smartest and Koscienly who relies on his recovery pace, you need to spend way more time on defensive shapes till its burned into their memory. On… Read more »
@Azed, Chelsea midfield 3 has a deep laying midfielder. It also has two slow ponderous players who never attack in Jorginho and Kovacic. I think that neither have an assist nor a goal in open play in the premiership. Hardly the penetrative goal threat of Tielemens and Maddison. Also we used a different formation with Ramsey directly sitting on Jorginho and nullifying him completely. Regarding Athletico Madrid, again the formation is different. They play a 4-4-1-1. When defending, Griezman dropped in midfield to switch to a 4-5-1. The EPL is much more physically demanding than La Liga. Referees also tend… Read more »
Dissenter No you’re purposely ignoring what I’ve said, on more than one occasion. Our identity under Wenger was clear, the execution was the sticking point because we didn’t recruit well to enable it, and Wenger had major blind spots as the years went on that were never addressed. The vision was pretty clear though, and widely appreciated in the main by the casual observer when considering Arsenal. Even players like Xavi tipped his cap to our style and approach under Wenger. My gripe is that the importance of this aspect has been totally overlooked when embarking on this new era… Read more »
Looks like having missed Champion’s league football and likely to miss Europa League as well, Marseilles is in financial trouble. Some of their senior players have not delivered despite being on high (for the Ligue 1) wage. They need to sell half their team.
They have a decent young CB and Thauvin a decent dribbling winger.
I say let’s be ruthless and buy their best players on the cheap.
“Regarding Athletico Madrid, again the formation is different. They play a 4-4-1-1. When defending, Griezman dropped in midfield to switch to a 4-5-1. ”
@Valentin
I noted that in my earlier post about how one of the strikers is supposed to drop into midfield to make it a 3 man central midfield.
As for power and pace, its unfortunate we do not have powerful players at the club right now. We need Elneny and Xhaka replaced with an Ndombele kind of player.
Pierre
“I can’t remember Iwobi not knowing what formation we were playing under Wenger …can you?”
Every man and his gold fish knows Wenger didn’t do tactics.
This has been reported widely and corroborated by ex-players as well as current players.
Good teams switch formations 2-4 times during games. That’s what Emery is trying to teach the squad.
@azed,
I have mentioned NDombele of Lyon in previous post. If we need to go the cheap route not necessarily the final article , I would suggest that we go after Mahamadou TOUNKARA of Toulouse. He has a good engine, good feet, follows instructions. Also as a former attacking midfielder, he has a strong shot and an eye for a forward pass.
@Valentin The 4-4-2 is one of the easiest formations to master. It’s also easy to tweak to certify certain scenarios(4-1-2-1-2 aka 442 diamond, 4-4-1-1, etc). The 442 in theory should give you defensive stability because there are two banks of 4 in front of your goal. So I understand Emery going 442 at Leicester but he takes the blame because I don’t think he has drilled the team to understand the basics of defending in a 442. Maddison had time to pick up the ball and cross which should never happen because he was on the side and defending in… Read more »
CC You’re trying too hard to use a micro-scalpel to split a papaya fruit It’s so obvious that Wenger left the club without an identity. “Our identity under Wenger was clear, the execution was the sticking point because we didn’t recruit well to enable it, ” It was clear in Wenger’s head at the time he though it, soon afterwards it changed The manager that refused to buy a proper defensive mid after we lost Gilberto The manager that persisted with Almunia when it was obvious Wenger’s sense of identity was a misplaced sense of loyalty to his players. He… Read more »
“I would suggest that we go after Mahamadou TOUNKARA of Toulouse.”
I don’t really watch the French League but I’ll take a look at him.
Its just sad that we don’t have a DOF already because I don’t want any manager of Arsenal buying players. That should be the DOF’s work as he sets the tempo for the team.
My hope is Raul has a strategy for the summer clear out.
@azed,
The problem is that our central midfielder is not strong powerful and dynamic.
Dynanism and strong upper body strength can overcome strength. See how Kante can best Pogba, However none of the team players relied upon by Emery have those characteristics.
I know you disagree with my suggestion, but AMN, Torreira and Willock to me looks like a better combination that Mhikitarian Torreira and Xhaka against a fit dynamic trio of Tielemens, Maddison and Choudhury.
Iwobi’s been a better player this year than he has been under Wenger that’s for sure.
“I know you disagree with my suggestion, but AMN, Torreira and Willock to me looks like a better combination that Mhikitarian Torreira and Xhaka against a fit dynamic trio of Tielemens, Maddison and Choudhury.”
There’s too much inexperience especially for the EPL in those 3. Also AMN tends to be too casual with his play(same as Xhaka) hence I don’t think he would make a good central midfielder.
No point in arguing with Champagne charlie, he’s Wenger’s No.1 fan.
The identity Wenger crafted for Arsenal disintegrated up his own arse the last few years of his dreadful tenure. Wenger ruined his legacy and the identity he created. The last few years of boring football, dreadful performances and dwindling attendances prove this. Going forward the club need to forge a new identity with new players not infected with Wenger’s ineptitude. It’s going to take a long time and a lot of money. Unfortunately Emery and Raul won’t be up to the job. We need Arsenal men in to do it. Get Overmars in as Dof and Vieira as head coach.… Read more »
Dissenter What was unclear about the aim for technical superiority, the triangular patterns, ball players all across the pitch, the possession based minimal touch style we were familiar for? The issue wasn’t ‘what are we trying to do’, it was we haven’t got guys capable and ‘he’s doubling down on the ones we have insisting they’ll come good’. You’re doing exactly what I state, offering a ‘Wenger card’ for the failures of Emery and those directing the club right now. You can’t tell me what Emeryball looks like, it’s been an amalgam of shite as the season as peaked and… Read more »
If being thrashed 8-2 is a clear identity then leave me out of it.
@ Dissenter And in spite of all that you saw, we ended in the top 4 apart from the couple of years when a toxic atmosphere was engineered to shoot ourselves in the foot. 🙂 I am no Wenger fan, no Emery fan but an Arsenal fan. I have supported this club for a long long time and appreciate the success which we had over the past decades. Football fans used to be very different just 15 20 years ago. You would not shout at your players/gaffer of find someone responsible when your team lost. Winning or losing was part… Read more »
“Wengers inability to enable his vision for Arsenal has no immediate bearing on Emery failing to do the same 12 months in.”
Lol! It has every fucking bearing! 🤣
If Wenger couldn’t execute his own vision how the hell is a complete stranger meant to do it??!!
Loooooooooollll!!!! Priceless. 🤣
CC Nope, I am not offering a Wenger-card in defense of Emery I am holding up Wenger for his mistakes, many of which the current manager has to live with…and will still be judged upon. You’re the one offering up pretentious arguments that suggest as though the current manager was handed a blank slate. I mean you just said you don’t think it will take 3-5 seasons to roll back many of the mistakes we have made, given that we don’t have money to buy our way out? This conversation is very telling about your mindset about the Wenger era.… Read more »
No way Arsenal made top 4 without being flat track bullies.
Shambolic Champions league performances tells you, we were a Europa league team at best.
Those saying time to draw line under Wenger, I agree. Can’t fault Wenger for Emery’s current run, he certainly left a squad needing work but this isn’t on him. Some have touched on this thread but Emery’s just bottled three league games within a weeks span against mid table opposition. Playing three different formations over the three different games getting them all wrong, shipping 9 goals in process. What happened to our pressing game? Leicester walked the ball into our half, lazily passing into the box before receiving any pressure. We’ve conceded more goals away from home this season than… Read more »
Why don’t we all just agree that we are a bit shit at the moment
@axez “This was the same formation we used against Chelsea at home(It was actually the diamond style) and it was successful even though Chelsea played with a midfield 3. The 4 in the middle has two defensive midfielders (Xhaka, Torriera) , one wide play maker(Mkhi) and a winger(Iwobi)” Let me have my say on this. The diamond formation against Chelsea was successful because we have Xhaka stayed at the base of the diagram, Guen and Torr on either side and Ramsey at the top to stop Jorginho. The 4 4 2 formation failed because Mikki and Iwobi were very bad… Read more »
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6972737/Denis-Suarez-reveals-hes-rest-season-playing-just-95-minutes-Arsenal.html
So this explains why Suarez hasn’t been playing.
Salpard
“If Unai couldn’t get it right with PSG and that resource don’t know what many are hoping for here.”
He won the Treble….you ******
Sal
Actually the conversation was about Arsenal’s identity problems, in answering the question. “who are we?”
The new regimen will need some time to deal with that because the answer was a befuddled mess when they came on board.
RT
And he was not renewed by owners you ******
“And he was not renewed by owners ”
More fool them
“More fool them”
Or perhaps they wanted a better return on the 1.2 Billion they’ve spent on players since taking over in 2011, dwarfing other 19 sides in Ligue 1.
Pedro There is a huge difference between clubs like Leipzig and other provincial clubs around Europe and England hiring young ambitious and untested managers and Arsenal doing the same. Indeed until recently I would include Spurs and Liverpool in the same category. Both clubs have not exactly been football heavyweights in last 20-30 years. Arsenal with their history, a new 60,000 seater stadium and their reputation as London’s premier club should have consolidated our reputation in the first 8 years of Wenger’s managership when we were able to recruit world class players. The fact that we have failed to do… Read more »
It’s pretty simple there is no formation that Miki can play in… Once I saw him in lineup it was game over. All the tactical over analysis after that Is pointless.. Would be a very short article I suppose. AMN got his cards trying to make up for Miki being useless. We had no link up play down 50% of the pitch because he is useless. We had no counter attacking because he is useless and screwed up the breakout passes and basically never shows for the ball.. Torriera kept trying to move the ball forward getting out of position… Read more »
Lets put it this way … If it was a GOT battle episode I would put Mkhitaryan and Mustafi in the front row. Just sayin..
Bd
“”.Unfortunately Emery and Raul won’t be up to the job. We need Arsenal men in to do it. Get Overmars in as Dof and Vieira as head coach. Job done.””””
The Molineux experience must have scarred him
I am glad he has come to this sensible conclusion.
Imagine next season:
More Emery & Elneny
More pigeon English Jibberish
More Europa and the introduction of VAR..
When Will our misery ever end …?