Mr Motivator

by .

Well good ebening my wonderful darlings, and how are we today?

Glad to hear it. Let’s crack on.

John Cross leaked the news that the travel booker at Arsenal is running team motivation exercises before the games. I’d heard that Arsenal do some sort of cringe David Brent huddle preseason, but the news that the responsibility is being passed to a guy who is making sure there are no sharp objects in Mustafi’s hotel suite was quite the revelation.

Outside the big fat bag of cringe this whole thing is, I have some questions.

Firstly, who came up with that idea?

Was it Dave Priestly, team psychologist to the meek? Is it one of his brilliant ideas he imported in from Saracens?

If it is… what the fuck are we doing listening to this guy. He’s here to improve mental strength and we’ve just lost three games in a row by 9 goals for the first time since 1966 (true, according to @AngryofN5).

Raul needs to sit this guy down on a bruised banana patterned bean bag and ask, ‘what have you done for me lately’ (Eddie Murphy accent essential here)? Does the team look mentally stronger this year? No. I mean, like, it did for a bit. But right at the season’s money shot, when you hope all those motivational chats would settle in, we’ve flunked terribly. They literally had a collective nervous breakdown. So WHAT is he offering up here? We are in mental strength regression. The LG team has see the motivational posters on the wall at Colney, but WHAT are they doing for the players? Nowt it seems. Maybe the posters could say better things, like…

‘DON’T DIVE IN’

‘LOOK BEHIND YOU’

’VARDY IS FAST’

‘RESIST THE PUSH IF YOU ARE IN THE BOX NEXT TO THE REF’

‘DO NOT LICK THE PLUG’

IMPORTANT QUESTION: What Mystic Dave talking to Mesut about? Is he digging into that childhood past. Asking him if his dad bullied him about being greedy at party buffets. Probing if his mum made him wear hi-tec Velcro’s BEFORE they were hipster cool. THOSE ARE TRIGGERS!

RAUL, the line of questioning he is using is psychological kryptonite.

‘When you see a long ball over the top, do you see your first childhood pet grinding under the wheels of daddy’s new Ford Focus?’

We need less players sitting with him. More help on the posters. Ultimately, maybe we need to bring back Arsene ringing the ‘MENTAL STRENGTH’ bell around Colney like that scary bitch in GoT.

Secondly, if this magical idea came from Emery, answer me this… why is he outsourcing it?

That seems a bit of an odd thing to do. It’s like he’s struggling to motivate these players, and he’s passing the buck. If you are going to make people do a David Brent, I can at worst understand letting the captain do it, but the guy charged with telling the players to NOT urinate in empty Lucozade bottles on the bus? Fucking mental. That’s like me getting my Uber driver to write me a pitch deck. Or my dad asking me to hold the steering wheel on the M25 when I was six because he dropped a Wine Gum under the seat.

I feel like this sort of carry-on shows you how little leadership is going on at the club. How is an operations guy getting charged for fighting in the tunnel at Palace? Who is nipping that in the bud? Who is paying attention to admin staff running the players motivational excercises? Who has a pulse on the training ground to stop bad leaks happening? Because the above reads like it was leaked to JC for a reason, maybe by the players who think this info needs to be out.

Also worth remembering, shared leadership ends in death or a lack of accountability. Where do you think Arsenal are?

EVEN MORE interesting that The Times say the players are frustrated by the tactics of Emery, and that the manager is more concerned with nullifying the other teams strengths than capitalising on what he has at his disposal. He was accused of this at PSG. Again, why do multiple journos have this? Looks like a choreographed leak by agents of players.

Also adds fuel to the thought I posed at the start of the season that he looks at Arsenal more like a small club like Sevilla than a big one. The big man needs to step out of that mindset, because firstly, he’s not doing a very good job of nullifying strengths of mid-table teams, secondly, WE ARE ARSENAL. Gung-ho or go home… pretty sure that’s what the Latin under our old badge meant.

We have Valencia coming up on Thursday, if there’s one pattern in Emery’s career that’s working in our favour, it’s the Europa League.

Valencia aren’t that bad. They went 2-0 up against Barca away and they beat Zidane’s Madrid. They’re also mathematically out of the running for Champions League spots. That makes them dangerous. What also makes them dangerous is we’ve been utter shite of late. Still, we have more quality than them and Emery comes alive in the Europa (kind of).

The manager has to save his season. I think people will struggle to defend him if we finish outside the top 4 and don’t make the final of the Europa. If he makes the final and loses, he’ll save enough to face give people comfort.

So basically, it’s a big game on Thursday.

Right, I’m done, heading to the work roof deck to practice my Arsenal David Brent special.

WE ARE ARSENAL
WE ARE ARSENAL
WE ARE ARSENAL

Damn, I could KILL A BISON RIGHT NOW.

Talking of killing things. Someone told me bears don’t kill deer… I was like, ‘bitch, stfu, they eat deer’… and she was like, ‘no way, bears are pescatarian’… I said, ‘check Youtube, bears do not have dietary requirements’… and oh my. Ruined my weekend and my dreams forever. DON’T LOOK (OR LISTEN).

P.S. Denis Suarez injured himself preening his beautiful hair. Gonna be sad to see him go. Nearly as many goals as Iwobi this season. Good luck. One of the most obvious terrible loan signings in years, and we have had MANY.

P.P.S HUSS MY MAN, you know this guy, get him in!

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Peter

here again for the trophy

Peter

DM where are you

Bankz

Bankz is here for the tr4phy again

Peter

4th

Bankz

Boom

Peter

sorry Bankz ur never a threat.

Peter

that’s 2 in a row. what Man city will do at the end of the season when they defend the EOL

Ozilarsenal

Hello there

Crusaderrabbit

When Emery became our manager I always felt it was a strange fit culturally for the club. However I was prepared to hold judgement, whilst we might not get the excitement and dynamism we craved and our league position might not imrpove that much, at least some of the key club issues (mental strength, defensive fraility) would be addressed and it would signal a positive shift away from the previous era. It’s not happened to any significant degree. That’s why I think ultimately he’s failed, because its in the very areas on which he seemed liked a good hire that… Read more »

Guns of Brixton

“Or my dad asking me to hold the steering wheel on the M25 when I was six because he dropped a Wine Gum under the seat.”
I had to do this once. It was a bout of violent sneezes tho 😂😂😂

Globalgunner

Is it safe to come out yet…or do we have more tankings to go?

Globalgunner

You can never overstate the importance of your last wine gum….It must be retrieved, even at speed

Words on a Blog

Goodbye Denis, we hardly knew you…..

Thomas

Emery sacked yet?

Words on a Blog

I suppose I should know better by now, bein a little long in the toot, but I’m always a little bemused and surprised by the media.

A few weeks ago, after a mini resurgence by Arsenal, and a few important wins, the Telegraph publishes a long article (which I copy and pasted onto the comments here) analysing and praising “Emery’s Tactical Revolution”.

Fast forward a few weeks later, and a run of dismal results, and the Telegraph publishes an article about how players are “confused” by Emery’s tactics!

Champagne Charlie

Crusader

Fair comment there, have to agree. We had our issues post-Wenger and not one of them has been fully addressed since Emery came in.

A lot of mixed talk about what Emery was offering but in short it was supposed to be someone modern, able to address our weaknesses, and extract more from our players. Not been much of that this season at all, powder puff 12 months.

Words on a Blog

Long in the tooth

Dark Hei

Emery is a nice guy Jose Mourinho in football terms. He is like the opposite of Wenger, which might have sold him the spot (fans want CHANGE!)

Where Wenger only sees the big picture, Emery only sees the little details.

Is there a universe where we get Unai Wenger with Sven as DOF?

Free flowing football with a comprehensive game for big matches and a clean transfer record.

Oh yah, its over at Liverpool.

Crusaderrabbit

Champagne Charlie

Absolutely – given the managers that were available to us, each would have had strengths and weaknesses. Emery’s appointment felt odd to me but was sold on the basis of the strengths he brought as a manager. But it seems to me its in these exact areas where we are still massively defficient. Any new manager would have been given licence to fail by the fans as we are so desperate for something new, but it seems in the main we are failing exactly as we did under Wenger.

Champagne Charlie

Crusader You’ve hit the nail on the head there as far as I’m concerned. I personally never set out tangible goals like CL, or EL etc (though hopeful because I appreciate the boost they give us). For me it was always about a guy coming in, seeing/knowing our flaws and doing something about them. We had a shocking away record, porous defence, and brittle mentality under Wenger that I hoped were soon to be consigned to history. I guess they are in some aspect, given Sunday is technically two days ago… We missed the mark with this appointment, he’s not… Read more »

DM

Peter

This 10am post thing is no good for me. I’m either driving at that time or have far too much stuff going on at work to be in front of my computer. That’s why I keep asking for Pedro to fix the time zone settings!! lol

Paulinho

Why are the teams around us faultering? Why are we faultering?Are they just faultering for no specific reason and we’re faltering just because Emery isn’t up to snuff?

Paulinho

*faltering ffs

DaniAltos

🤯 @LCFC’s midfield…

James Maddison: Most chances created in the Premier League.
Wilfred Ndidi: Most tackles made in the Premier League.
Youri Tielemans: Three goals and four assists since he joined.

I still stand by my comment that Leicester fieldeed a better starting 11 than Arsenal football club on Sunday…I never said they had a better squad than ours….I said their starting 11 on Sunday was much better than ours

englandsbest

Pedro

Your piece is like a peep into Alice in Wonderful. They are all nuts at the Emirates.

I am not too sure about you or me either.

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho United have faltered thanks to a deficient squad and a trademark Mourinho meltdown, they’re in a much better position thanks to an OGS record breaking run of results. Chelsea have stumbled again because of an imbalanced squad, and pretty average to poor season from Sarri that might just sneak CL to keep his job. Arsenal have suffered from a deficient squad and manager that hasn’t addressed any of the glaring issues inherent from at least the last two seasons. At United a manager lost his job, at Chelsea the manager was at one point odds on for a mid… Read more »

Paulinho

Emery’s problem is that he was doing too well in the league. Mourinho sacked off the league a few years ago to concentrate on the Europa, and it would’ve been better to be cut adrift in the same way United were and do the same. Now we’re going to be knackered for both comps.

Paulinho

Charlie – So we’ve all got deficient squads, which is shown by the fact the three teams can’t be separated. My point exactly.

OLG and United have reverted back to the mean of their squad’s ability. All the talk of Ollie regenerating United has all falling very silent. He won’t be replicating that ground-breaking run at any point in the future.

OleGunner

Emery will be here 100% next season, champions league qualification fail or not.

So the likes of that champagne fellow, Pierre, the crazed CG and Victorious need to get over it and shut up and support the lads :))

Dissenter

It’s been good fun watching all these public display of grandiose delusions The people who sang ‘one Arsene Wenger’ from the terraces and gyrated to ‘sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good’ in the last three seasons have woken up to the realization that their squad strength is EL standard at best. They won’t point fingers they say and “let’s draw a line under W’ but that won’t stop them from grabbing machetes to go after the manager like Rwandan Interahamwe. Pedro, You spent the better part of the last decade backing Gazidis through every public operation that he… Read more »

Crusaderrabbit

United, Chelsea, and ourselves all have huge issues to address, mainly stemming from the culture and organisation of the club, both on and off the pitch. Chelsea’s and United’s squad is just better than ours. We need to improve the squad but even more importantly, improve the brain trust (including the manager) behind it. Emery to mee sems like a 5/6th rung manager who looking down then ladder, rather than a 5/6th rung manager who’s looking up

Un Na naai

“DaniGreat logic there pal but did it ever occur to you that we don’t want to remain a Europa side and that we as fans aspire to more than kroneke does as an owner?? No it didn’t did?? Well we do, so take your Europa manager and send him back to Spain.”The same fans who gave Wenger over 100 years to perform his circus?..Give me a break.I remember people here saying we are steadily becoming a europa league side only to be dismissed by the cult of you know who thinking Wenger would get top 4 forever. Dani Faultless again… Read more »

Dissenter

Un na
When you get the manager of your choice, are you going to give that pizzaz man improved players too?
Or you think he will turn around Mustafi, reboot Xhaka with a new engine or fit Iwobi with a footballing brain.

Batistuta

Dani Most Arsenal fans live in a bubble and think the same way I mentioned on Sunday that even some of the players on the Leicester bench on Sunday would start for us and i was absolutely bang on….Not saying we don’t have good players but the vast majority of our squad are useless. Wegale was talking up Mhikitaryan and Ozil like we haven’t watched them stink the place out for the past season now. It’s not a defence of the manager as most people here proclaim, it’s the realization that what we have as a squad is just very… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho No it doesn’t much go back to your point on players, I think it’s clear to anyone the squads of 3-6 aren’t a patch on 1 & 2. But the managers of Chelsea and United have come under severe scrutiny throughout this season for underperforming in their respective remits. Mourinho was sacked, and Sarri came how close after the cup debacle with Kepa? Meanwhile some will have us believe Emery has had his hands tied and he could’ve done no better. What was it you said? You wouldn’t give him one pat on the back this season, it’d be… Read more »

bennydevito

Well said Dissenter, DaniAtlos a d OleGunner, great comments.

Bamford10

Dani

Leicester City did field a better XI. You are correct.

bennydevito

Great post Pedro, hilarious anecdotes analogising some embarrassing brutal truths.

Could the fans be being primed for Emery to be gone Rioch style in the summer? I wouldn’t be sad if Emery goes as long as we get a manager in that we ALL want so we can all come here and agree with each other for once.

Batistuta

I mean bringing up Mihkitaryan and what he did at Dortmund and saying he had spells at United when he was good doesn’t change the fact that he can barely make a side ways pass and Mesut has to be always treated like a 6 yr old to perform i mean what does that even mean? We need to come to the realization that we have players who just don’t cut it and it’s not a motivation issue from the manager, as they well had free reign to do as they pleased under Wenger and still finished 5th and 6th…..… Read more »

DM

bennydevito

Not sure what’s been said already but I read your comments from yesterday’s post early this morning and thought you were spot on mate. Looked like you were greatly outnumbered at the time but just wanted to reassure you there are others who think like you!

bennydevito

Yep Leicester’s starting 11 better than ours.

Chilwell, Maguire, Pereira, Tielemans, Choudary, Madison, Ndidi and Vardy all better first 11 than what we have and would all walk into our starting 11.

Guns of Hackney

Called for emery’s head after the first two losses because I could see that we had replaced like for like. Was called a whole manner of things…
…and here we are.

Sometimes you don’t have to wait for the fire to burn the whole house down before you call the fire brigade.

Emery was and will remain the wrong choice for Arsenal. Period.

Batistuta

Benny

I like Vardy but he’s useless when there’s no space to run into….Our strikers are superior and have maybe been why we are where we are since the key injuries in defence

bennydevito

Thanks DM! I can’t remember what I was saying now, oh, was it about transfers and the inflation of the market and comparing what Loverpool have spent on players and how much more expensive that will be now for us to replicate?

bennydevito

Batistuta,

True but can you imagine Vardy paired with Lacazette, would be pretty stellar imo with Aubameyang on the bench or rotated between the two.

Dissenter

It shocked Wenger Eagle to the core when I made the comments that the Leicester staring 11 was far better than the Arsenal starting 11.
It was so shocking that he started running a defense of Mykhitarayan just to prove Arsenal personnel aren’t so bad after all.
Deal with it babies, there are 7-8 players in that Leicester starting 11 that would start for Arsenal…easily.

Nelson

I find that fans over reacted to the recent events and have jumped to conclusions either Emery is shit or our players are worse than those from mid-table teams. If that was the case, we would not be 2 points behind the 4th place and in the semi final of the European League. I have the following theory, in order of severity IMHO: 1. Emery is new to the PL and had no idea of the physical demand on the players. The players are running out of gas at the end of the season. Wenger usually played backup for the… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Dissenter

Why are we 15 points better off than Leicester in your view then, given they have a vastly superior team?

Dissenter

Sven spent most of the last summer chasing Çağlar Söyüncü. We didn’t have the money and he went to Leicester.
The lad is not starting for them because they have better quality.
I’m pretty sure he would be starting games for Arsenal by now because our central defenders are either shit or are geriatrics being held together by plastercine.
That’s how strong Leicester have been; beefing up on young good players while we were buying up the excess fat from Dortmund.

Bamford10

I wouldn’t be surprised if Emery is focusing too much on nullifying the opposition and too little on optimizing our own game, our own strengths. This would explain a lot, actually. This is why we look like a different team in almost every match and also why we seem to lack any defined style of play or approach. It would also explain why we are not exploiting the one strength we actually have: two good central strikers. This hasn’t gotten much talk here, but why is our play not more designed around these two, designed around creating chances and spaces… Read more »

DM

benny Indeed, something along those lines, and a general defense of Emery’s first season in charge I think. Don’t understand all the hate he’s getting. Sure, this season hasn’t been great, and the last couple of weeks in particular have been dire, but all things considered we’re not in a bad place – can still win Europa League, and we did spend the whole season challenging for the Top 4, which is what I would’ve hoped for out of his first season. I honestly think anyone who thinks Emery should leave based on this season is crazy. Likewise, anyone who… Read more »

DaniAltos

“DaniFaultless again there but wenger was sacked, you are aware of this fact aren’t you? We then hired a Europa manager who’s keeping us exactly where we didn’t want to be and producing the kind of performances that got his predecessor sacked. So your heroic defence that it’s not emery’s fault, he’s just a Europa league manager is all well and good but I as an arsenal fan want us to hire better and brighter staff to give us the best chance possible of competing. I know our owner is less than passionate about our club though so I’d hazard… Read more »

Bamford10

“a vastly superior team?”

They don’t have a vastly superior team. They fielded a superior XI on Sunday. That’s a different claim.

Paulinho

Charlie – The reason why Emery didn’t or hasn’t come under any pressure is because every impartial observer realises the circumstances are different with those two clubs. Chelsea by virtue of having two world class players that never get injured (you also love Higuain), and United and Mourinho spent an absolute fortune over three years, with very little to show for it. Emery meanwhile has taking over team/squad not a single partial rates above other other top five; and is arguable not much better than West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Everton in terms of talent or ability.

Paulinho

*impartial observer rates

DaniAltos

It is hypocritical that some of the guys who were saying during the Wenger era that the next coach would have a huge rebuild job have now changed tune.Among the comments I saw regularly in Legrove include ‘the rebuild will be long and painful’…and ‘We will need max 3 transfer windows’..what changed?The 22 game streak?You mean the same one where we had bellerin and holding available?-Two of our starting defenders this season?Also,during this winning streak I remember posters here,week in week out,including Pedro himself saying we were only lucky and it would all come crumbling down…bringing xG stats or whatever…this… Read more »

Dissenter

CC ‘Why are we 15 points better off than Leicester in your view then, given they have a vastly superior team?’ Because they have a young team that needs time to get better. It’s a developmental side that will challenge for top-4 under Brendan in 1-2 seasons. The have a developmental manager who;s going to reinforce that team in the summer with some of the better younger players at Celtic. You were the one talking about club identity, right? Leicester have gotten theirs by buying up some of the best young talent…and it will pay off over time. We don’t… Read more »

Charlie George

“””””Valencia aren’t that bad. They went 2-0 up against Barca away and they beat Zidane’s Madrid. They’re also mathematically out of the running for Champions League spots. That makes them dangerous””””””” Amongst some of the froth spouted by the vacillating PedRo – some very illuminating points he has raised .I thank him for his continued diligence. Watching both matches on Sunday- far from the expected shoot out between Arsenal v Chelsea in Baku. It is looking more and more likely a Frankfurt v Valencia final could take place. I have no interest in The Losers Cup( never watched one match… Read more »

Bamford10

Dani

“Yes I do realize [Wenger was sacked] but what bothers me is, where was this detailed analysis by some of the posters here when we were being smacked 10-2?”

Worse than this hypocrisy, though, is the denial that we are living with the many consequences of Wenger’s many bad decisions. “Wenger is gone,” this crowd shouts. Right, Wenger is gone, but the consequences of his decisions remain. Look at the squad. Look at the wage bill.

Dissenter

Bamford
Thanks for that clarification
People have been trying to twist the comment I made
It was better starting 11 in the day, not better squad.

Come to think of it though. They have players in their squad that will start for Arsenal.
The reason they got Tielemans in January was that they happened to have Adrien Silva as a spare part. He went to Monaco on an exchange loan.
If we had Adrien Silva, he would start most of our games.

gambon

Here we go again.

The super fans trying to make out we’re missing out on CL football because we lost to City, Liverpool and Spurs in the last 3 games.

We have lost to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester.

No scrap that, we have been well beaten by all three.

No scrap that, we have been well beaten, and outplayed by all three, as well as beaten by Everton, and scraping past a 10 man Watford.

Bamford10

To clarify, it might have been better for me to say not that “we” are living with the many consequences of Wenger’s many bad decisions — although we are — but that EMERY is living with the many consequences of Wenger’s many bad decisions. This was more my point.

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho You run a poll of “every impartial observer” (as you see it)? Or just fluff talk to try and establish your view as commonplace? Chelsea haven’t had a striker all season, and I might love Higuain of old (irrelevant comment to draw some criticism) but he’s clearly not adapted or suited to the league at 30 whatever. United can spend as much as they like, we paid 35 mil for Mustafi, they’ve merely done that sort of thing 7/8 times over. Dissenter Haha Leicester will challenge for top 4 inside two seasons? Ok then. I’ll saying nothing on that,… Read more »

gambon

“Because they have a young team that needs time to get better. It’s a developmental side that will challenge for top-4 under Brendan in 1-2 seasons. ”

Lol

Dont be so silly. Leicester will finish about 10th for the next 5 years. Probably fight a relegation battle at some point.

Stop trying to make out we’ve just played Europes finest in the last week.

DaniAltos

I suppose I should know better by now, bein a little long in the toot, but I’m always a little bemused and surprised by the media.A few weeks ago, after a mini resurgence by Arsenal, and a few important wins, the Telegraph publishes a long article (which I copy and pasted onto the comments here) analysing and praising “Emery’s Tactical Revolution”.Fast forward a few weeks later, and a run of dismal results, and the Telegraph publishes an article about how players are “confused” by Emery’s tactics! And guess which one of the two is viewed as the actual gospel truth… Read more »

Dissenter

DaniAltos
What has changed?
They got a manager with brown teeth and a Transylvanian look
They got a manager without pizzaz so they want him out.

I’ve been saying since November; I hope they get the manager of their dreams- white China teeth, excellent media skills and lots of charisma to boot. Experience is not required.

Champagne Charlie

“It was better starting 11 in the day, not better squad.Come to think of it though. They have players in their squad that will start for Arsenal.“

So which is it again dissenter, ties yourself in knots there. They don’t have a better squad, but some of their squad players would be started for us? Makes perfect sense.

But they’re 15 points behind us based on youth? Again, more sense.

Paulinho

It’s not even about Emery. If Arteta was our manager I would be laughing if people thought he could get our rag-tag bunch pinning teams back away from home with tika-taka, and if Benitez was our manager likewise expecting him to turn us into top deep-lying defensive side with Mustafi and AMN, Kola as full backs.

Bamford10

gambon

“We have lost to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester.”

Right, and each of these is a very good team that would cause and has caused even the best teams problems. When Emery had better options — Bellerin, Ramsey, Monreal, Holding — we did well against these teams. Now, with a weaker set of options, forced to play a Mustafi, a Kolasinac, a Maitland-Niles, a Mkhitaryan, we struggle. This isn’t all that surprising, and it isn’t all on the manager.

And the only person saying the above are City is you, mate. You’re resorting to a straw-man argument here.

gambon

Paulinho

Yeah I hear part of Emerys contract was that he was forced to keep Mustafi, Kolasinac and AMN.

Theres no way in the world he couldve sold some players that arent good enough.

He had a 40,000 page dossier on the squad, but didnt know more than most 10 year old fans, who knew the above would be a problem.

Paulinho

“Paulinho
You run a poll of “every impartial observer” (as you see it)? Or just fluff talk to try and establish your view as commonplace?”

It’s literally a fact. Not one single journalist, pundit, or player, that doesn’t have an agenda thinks our squad is under-performing and Emery should be doing better, and not a single fan with a clue about football.

gambon

“Right, and each of these is a very good team ”

Yeah, not reading past this bit.

Dissenter

gambon
Forget your Emery view for one minute
Answer this simple question
On a head-to-head comparison of the Arsenal starting 11 vs Leicester starting 11.
Who comes put on top?

Do you think Adrien Silva would start for Arsenal? He was excess baggage at Leicester, that’s how they got Tielemans in January.
We chased Söyüncü all summer. Do you think he would be starting for us? I would say certainly. He’s only good enough for Leicester’s bench.

gambon

“Not one single journalist, pundit, or player, that doesn’t have an agenda thinks our squad is under-performing”

We’ve just lost 4 games out of 5, all to teams that will finish below us in the table in perpetuity.

Our shots per game, shots allowed per game, xG per game, xGA per game have all gotten notably worse.

There is no question we are under performing.

Emery took a broken dressing room, and somehow hasnt managed to drive ANY improvement.

Paulinho

Gambon – Emery becoming the first manager in history to sell fifteen first team squad players in his first summer as manager. Very likely. Guardiola kept Sagna and Clichy on for a season, when he surely should’ve known they weren’t up to it with his own penchant for detail.

bennydevito

Great comment DM.

Batistuta

Also people seem to ignore the fact that 2 of the key ingredients to our unbeaten run earlier have been out injured….2 players many even feel should be upgraded on….

Have there been bad patches? Yea sure definitely

Has the manager made some shocking decisions? Absolutely he has and he’s been properly blamed for those

But to make it out like we’re 10th and barely getting by is vastly unfair for a new manager in a new league taking over a manager who was there for 20+ yrs

bennydevito

Nelson,

Great comment also.

gambon

Dissenter

Leicester will finish below us this season, next season, the season after, the season after, the season after etc.

I dont remember you coming on saying “Leicester are actually much better than us” when we beat them earlier in the season.

Maybe you could find me them posts.

bennydevito

CC,

Leicester were playing beneath themselves under Puel, just like Utd were under Maureen.

I expect Leicester to be much closer to us next season and don’t forget they were champions 4 – 5 years ago whereas we were last champions 14 – 15 years ago.

TR7

‘Should Arsenal qualify for the Champions League this season, they are likely to have around £70m to spend in the summer, while without it, will have less than £50m before player sales. [@jamesbenge] #afc ‘

Sorry to blow my own trumpet but this is in line with my estimation of our transfer budget this summer.

Bamford10

Dani

Good commentary these last few days. I don’t think we’re battling a consensus, though, a “gospel,” as you put it. I’d say we’re equally divided here: two camps. One says the squad is inadequate and this is the principal reason for our struggles (whatever the manager’s weaknesses); the other says the manager is inadequate and this is the principal reason for our struggles (whatever the squad’s weaknesses).

gambon

Paulinho

Sell 15 players?

He didnt fucking sell ANYONE. He inexplicably loaned out Ospina and Chambers, and didnt sell a single one of the players that have let this club down time and again.

Why are you talking about 15 players?

You seem to think no manager in the history of fotball has sold 5-6 players in order to buy new ones?

Arsenal did less outgoing business last summer than any team in the PL.

Bamford10

TR7

And importantly, we will have that amount because that is the amount we have available to spend, not because the owner is taking money from the pot or preventing anyone from spending money that should otherwise be available.

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho

Who did we sell out of curiosity? Oh, Lucas Perez, for 4 mil.

So Emery would’ve had to have done a bit more to hit the 15 departures you’re waffling on about.

Could’ve sold Ramsey, Welbz (both had a contract decision looming), Chambers, Elneny (club has bids in recent windows for both).

We let Cazorla and Jack go to keep Elneny lol

Champagne Charlie

“Leicester were playing beneath themselves under Puel, just like Utd were under Maureen.“

Sounds like managers have an influence Benny, might want to pass that around at the next meeting. Seems a few need to hear it from someone else.

HighburyLegend

gambon has been totally wengerized.

Bamford10

gambon

He had never even trained these players, yet he was supposed to come in and sell 5-6 of them? Don’t get me wrong: I might have done that, you might have done that, but to say that Emery is blameworthy for wanting to see what these players could do before he made a decision about them is a bit much. Most people would agree that his was a perfectly sensible approach.

Dissenter

Wenger Eagle
Just wanted to remind you that my Leicester comment was not reactionary based on the result.
I started saying this minutes into the game when it dawned on me that my beloved Arsenal’s players aren’t any better than Leicester’s. At the time, t was still 0-0 and AMN was still playing.
This was the first comment I made at the time.

**”DissenterApril 28, 2019 11:34:18
I really think Leicester have BETTER PLAYERS that Arsenal, at least the starting 11 today”**

Paulinho

Gambon – Players Emery got rid of or loaned:

Chambers
Wilshere
Ospina

There a big enough hoopla around letting Wilshere to go that showed Emery doesn’t shirk from making decisions.

Also, to sell players you realise the players you have need to be of sufficient quality to attract buyers? Wenger left him with load of overpaid manure.

He would’ve sold Ozil in a New York minute if he had his choice and someone was interested.

Charlie George

Dissenter

When these SAME Leicester players were playing under Puel – they looked downtrodden and average.

Then Leicester( wisely) appoint an upbeat and bright coach (Rogers) -the same players look 75% better.

Puel =Emery

they are both small of frame, bureaucrats, dull as dishwater and are clearly in the wrong profession.

Undertakers would be perfect.

Bamford10

gambon

“Yeah, not reading past this bit.”

Someone has stopped being reasonable and is also clearly not watching enough PL football (or even enough Arsenal).

Paulinho

“Who did we sell out of curiosity? Oh, Lucas Perez, for 4 mil”

Cheers for that Charlie.

Gambon – Lucas Perez.

Crusaderrabbit

You can make the argument of squad/manager til you’re blue in the face, but my question would be this. Name one existing player (so not including players brought in) who has improved, or addressed the weaknesses in their play, under Emery? All the individual deficiencies are still evident throughout the squad – to me that doesn’t look good on the guy who manages them

Dissenter

gambon
My Leicester comment isn’t a reaction to the loss.
I started saying this minutes into the game when it dawned on me that my beloved Arsenal’s players aren’t any better than Leicester’s. At the time, t was still 0-0 and AMN was still playing.
This was the first comment I made at the time.**”DissenterApril 28, 2019 11:34:18
I really think Leicester have BETTER PLAYERS that Arsenal, at least the starting 11 today”*

Just repeated the stock reply. I think people cannot wrap their minds around the fact that our first 11 -layers re worse that Leicester’s

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho
Not sure that strengthens your argument any. We sold Perez for a bag of quavers and spent that money bringing in Suarez. I know who I’d have preferred for the season.

Banford
Imagine thinking an armchair fan should be more informed than a guy interviewing for, and subsequently getting, a high paid managerial job at a global organisation. You’re a peach

gambon

Paulinho

Yeah, letting 3 backup players go showed Emery was really serious about improving the squad.

Hope the club are hiring a team of negotiators for this summer, its gonna be a herculean effort to get rid of Martinez, Monreal and Elneny.

3 whole players. Raul wont be getting any sleep in June, July or August, thats for sure.

DaniAltos

I am still waiting for the Champions League managers who would walk into the building 70m at hand and do better than two points off 4th with two games remaining.Of course keeping in mind all this is at a club that has been in the europa for two seasons and has been on free fall for the last couple years.

Bamford10

Dissenter

“I think people cannot wrap their minds around the fact that our first 11 -layers re worse that Leicester’s”

Some because they can’t, some because they refuse to, and some because they aren’t actually watching the PL or Arsenal that closely. Teams 7-12 in the PL are pretty darn good sides these days. Anyone watching carefully knows this.

Paulinho

Charlie – It’s not really Emery’s fault is it? Last I heard he was coach not transfer negotiator.

Gambon – Emery would’ve wanted to sell all them.

So, Chambers, Perez, Wilshere, Ospina (Sold), and Kola, AMN, Mustafi, Elneny, Xhaka, Ozil, Mikhi, Iwobi.

So that is twelve players. Still a lot to expect to be binned in one summer with a manager tasked with getting the most out of not much.

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