Well, well, well my dears.
The season draws to a close and the major battle is who finishes 5th or 6th (a distant chance at 4th). My money would be on United. They have an easier game, they don’t have a European final to play, our manager has a history of fielding weak players when he has the vivid taste of Europa in his mouth.
At this point, who really cares?
The objective of the season was Champions League football, so there’s no way Emery is going to do anything damaging in this game for the sake of a few million in prize money.
What I’d like to see is some of the kids given a game. I’d have hoped the manager was going field a few more younger players this season. The age-old banter years conundrum of ‘should I blood a player that’s maybe not ready, or an experienced player that’s shite.’ Today, it’s clear, give the kids a go.
Emery is being clear that his selection is about fitness and preparedness after landing at 6am after the Valencia game… WHICH, my brother, dad, brother in law and his dad went to… and were furious I didn’t mention (photo from brother, who is a DJ if you like trance). Anyway, back to Emery.
“Tomorrow we are going to prepare for Sunday’s match but I am going to decide with the players who are hungry and in good physical condition to play this match.”
The gameplan is simple.
“We are going to play with the idea of imposing our gameplan, our capacity and our team against them. We know it’s going to be a difficult match with long balls, second actions and set-pieces, so we need to defend well in these situations.”
Yep, we’re going to impose the game plan.
Key output of today is that we don’t pick up any injuries… then we can prepare with as much of our squad available as possible. Then it’s with the gods.
I’ll keep this post brief. If you want a great podcast to listen to, jump on the SECOND Arsenal Opinion of the week, this latest was done with guest star, Demian Arriaga. He grew up in Venezuela, so he has some great stories about how he got into Arsenal, and there’s a nice piece on the time he met Edu. He also played SNL last night, pretty epic.
Follow him @DemianArriaga
Leftsidesanch
‘re Thomas: what makes it more curious is he actually wants us to be better (nothing wrong there), but probably even better than Chelski. I mean, how is he going to react if we beat Chelski in Baku?? … he’ll be the only one bitter on the night on the blog.
Man City now with more PL titles than Arsenal.
Worth a bet on Ole being sacked by November
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/9656197/Robin-van-Persie-clicks-with-Wayne-Rooney-at-Manchester-United-because-they-are-both-nine-and-a-halves.html
Read up dumb dumb
Arsenal have kept just one league clean sheet away from home this season, their fewest in a single top-flight campaign since 1967-68 (also one). Gunned
– OptaJie (@OptaJoe)
https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/1127596167393681412?s=19
This is what ultimately cost us the top 4 position and the stupid penalty Aubameyang penalty miss.
Auba.needs to get one more to be the outright golden boot winner
Anyone who thought City will struggle to beat Brighton was clearly joking.
We could have wrapped up the game in the first half in both matches against them. The four points dropped against them would see us third
What can we say with the Auba misse.
Auba scores 20+ but also misses the most big chance in the PL… he could have done a van Perie and single handedly put us in the 3rd.
Would be another no. 14 legend!
‘Arsenal have kept just one league clean sheet away from home this season, their fewest in a single top-flight campaign since 1967-68 (also one).’
That too against a 10 men Watford team
22 is below Auba standards tbh. Would’ve hit 30 if he hadn’t been benched or played wide to accommodate Laca.
Worst away performance from arsenal since the 60s
There you go.
I can’t bear the idea of Chelsea beating us in the final.
Tr7
And a magnificent performance from Leno at that. They could have had 3-4 goals that day
We absolutely blew the top 4.
Embarrassingly so
If Auba played at City or Liverpool he’d easily have 30 goals in the league. If he had actually decent widemen feeding him instead of Ozil, Iwobi and Mhiki he’d be close to 30 goals
Un
I can’t bear the idea of Chelsea beating us in the final.
So do I. I hate Chelski more that the Spuds (yes this is possible).
This is why we, imo, must win at all costs.
Miss me with the idea Guardiola is anything but the best manager alive. Liverpool just came 2nd with 97 points….97.
Guardiola raises the bar unlike any other manager.
…aside from Unai obviously..
Auba would have been player of the year for us if he works like this game throughout season!!
Poor poor pass from Guendouzi
Eddie scored a debut goal.
Eddie with a goal
Pedro, the king of moderators… Who allows Thomas the chav to post here, fucking hilarious, indeed.
EDDIE
51 PL goals conceded too equaling last season’s total. Scored our 73rd goal there too, nearly identical to last season where we scored 74.
Auba should have the Golden Boot here.
Eddie scores
Impressive Auba.
Golden boot in the first full season.
Why all the sourpuss comments. As it stands- 17/18-P 38,W 19, D 6, L 13, GF 74, GA 51, GD 23. 63 points- 6th 18/19-P 38,W 21, D 7, L 10, GF 72, GA 51, GD 21. 70 points- 5th We’ve gained 7 points and a place on last season in Emery’s first season playing with basically a Wenger team. Yes our defense is shit, but it was left shit before he came, by a man who had 22 years to build a decent defense. Why crucify Emery who is in his first season. Also, dont forget, we have a… Read more »
has ogs been sacked yet
Pep G the fucking king…
Eddie on the score sheet!!!
Well we won away!! Who would have thought that possible. To be fair, this was one of our better away performances. How seriously Burnley took this is up for debate.
Yep pretty ridiculous how high City have raised the bar, Liverpool’s 97 points would have been a PL record barring City’s 100/98 these last two seasons in any other PL campaign.
And they finish 2nd. Leicester won the PL with 81 points.
51 goals conceded lol.
Emery out now. Even more clueless than Wenger.
Weagle
He’s unreal, first back to back title winners in the history of the club too. Most points ever, most goals etc. It’s ridiculous the levels he aspires to.
Omar, because you don’t judge a manager by a single data point.
7 points improvement on Arsene Wenger in his worst ever season is hardly cause for celebration.
The defence went backwards, our football is worse and we’re lucking out on an unreal conversion rate in front of goal.
Emery is a bland manager, and we’re about to give him another season in charge.
did auba get the golden boot. please tell me now
70 points two points off third isn’t a disaster by any means if looked at in isolation.
Its just frustrating we could have really announced ourselves with a third place finish if we had just continued our immaculate home form for the last two home games of the season.
We were doing so great at home then it fell apart…so frustrating but we have a new manager and I hope he learns from this experience.
Now smash Chelsea in the final, we need it far more than they do.
Pleased for Eddie, grim goal, but he’ll take that!
Guns of BrixtonMay 12, 2019 16:56:20
Impressive Auba.Golden boot in the first full season.
___
Only joint Golden boot. Had some ridiculous misses this season.
Auba Salah and Mane all have 22 will share it
I agree with Pedro:
Man United to get 4th because Emery only cares about the Europa…..will field a weak side and will prove to everyone that Valentin and Pedro were right….about everything.
Rumors in the English press that Pedro and Valentin will be added to Arsenal management.
Pep’s City won 14 games on the trot to win the league. Post his defeat against Newcastle he said his team couldn’t afford any more let up and he actually delivered on his target. The greatest manager in the game right now .
198 points in two seasons 😂😂
Fraudiola
@omar,
Basically we spend £70 millions to be 7 PTS better off. Defense the same despite better goalkeeper and better defender in Sokratis, offense slightly worse despite having a fully bedded Lacazette and Aubameyang.
But let’s blame Wenger for the away defeats!
ok, we now need the team ready to battle chelsea who are already in it.
hazard will want to go out on top… last game for Chelsea so he will be motivated.
Some other too- like Pedro Willian etc. I think they will leave likely.
Dracula better have us ready to play. The game will be a nail biter!!!!!
Omar
We may have seven more points than last season, but our underlying numbers are worse than last season. We had 47 points at home last season, 45 this season. However, we created less and allowed more chances. Improvement is needed
I’ve seen into the future.
Season 2019-2020 we were shit again barely scraping in 6th.
Kroenke buys a new 300 million pound ranch.
End of season Emery gets the sack
2020-2021 season, shit again barely scraping into top10
Kroenke buys a new 400 million pound ranch.
2021-2022 season, even shitter this season fighting relegation.
Kroenke buys a 700 million pound ranch
why the fvck are we will talking about Wenger on here?????
Sheesh no one wants to let go…. his stench is that strong!
Guardiola raises the bar unlike any other manager.
He’s only doing twice in a row what Arsene Wenger was able to do once in 22 years. Sir Alex 3 times with United also got 88/89 points 4 times
Emery is worse than what Wenger was in his last two seasons.
But…but… we finished with 7 more points than last season.
Well done Man City. I am “happy” that they have. Better than having to see Pool win it.
Well I beg to differ Pedro
I know you believe 70m spent by Sven is enough for a us to catch up to Spurs (who many said were light years ahead of us) and Chelsea. But the reality is it isn’t.
Our bland manager came in and in his first season in England finished a point behind special sauce Pochettino.
Overall points isn’t the only thing to consider, certainly not in one season. The premier league has been won with varying totals, the variables each season factor in. We’ve had another shot domestic campaign in keeping with the last two from what I’ve witnessed week after week. It’s purely hope and not expectation that we improve from here, this season hasn’t offered a glimpse toward anything. Auba joined in Jan last season and ineligible in the Europa, we could’ve easily been 7 points better off if we had him from the start like this one. Same with Europe. To say… Read more »
Anyway I don’t have the strength for some nonsensical back and forth so do enjoy your manager mocking
Guarxiola would not be winning the league if he had only £70m to spend.
It seems like some on here genuinely want Emery to fail so it can fit their narrative. The guy just inherited Wenger’s shit and got more points and finished higher. At least give the man 2 or 3 seasons, for f**k sake we gave Arsene 22 seasons. Wenger had been bland since 2008 and look how long he was allowed to stink up the place. One position higher and a 7 point gain and Pedro is sulking because Emery will be manager next season. Seems like he believed that Emery should have come in and win the title in his… Read more »
Hats off to both pep and Aubameyang I hate the way city steam roll everything with their oil money but hats off to their domination of the league Aubameyang Well well, golden boot. He’s been absolutely atrocious at times. Anonymous for 90 mins far too frequently. He’s found his form again in the latter stages of the season though so hopefully he can carry this through the final and into next season I do feel that the shift from playing through the wing backs has accentuated his performances though and I’m glad as nothing was as frustrating as watching those… Read more »
Just a shame Guardiola can’t transcend to his high levels of greatness in the CL. Continually loses out to lesser teams. Lolz
We’d have finished 6th last year with our points total and GD
Auba wins the golden boot
DDkingz, I can complete your statement…
‘In the bin’
Loosing to Palace at home proved costly.
We won’t be close next year.
Cup competitions are far more luck dependant, the league is bread and butter and he roasts it year after year.
“Basically we spend £70 millions to be 7 points better off.” Yeah, give this a rest will ya. It’s a midtable spend. Fulham Wolves and Everton spent more ffs. Sure it was only 7 points better off than Wengers worst season but we were steadily getting worse and with an aging squad, that worst season was last year for a reason, our crap squad. That was never going to get fixed in 1 summer, spending less than our rivals do on a goalkeeper. Disappointing that we faltered at the the home stretch but this was still better than I expected… Read more »
Emery is worse than what Wenger was in his last two seasons.
Maybe. But he’s capable of improvement unlike the old goat
Shopping list:
Winger
Fullback
Central Def
Play Maker
DM
Followed by some good coaching drills to tighten us up.
£40m isn’t going to be enough
“Maybe. But he’s capable of improvement unlike the old goat“
What do you base this on out of curiosity?
We’d have finished 10th this year with Wenger still in charge.
Well done by Emery to stop the rot and improving us 🙂 🙂
Well…. you can’t judge a manager by one data point however if you look at how the PL table finished.. That would be exactly how I rate the top 6 squads in terms of talent.
So basically you could say Emery failed to out perform the squad talent level.. and clearly we choked away 4th place. You could also say however he didn’t make us worse.
Pretty meh finish to what could have been an exciting season.. It did keep me interested all season though unlike the majority of them the past seasons.
Bring on Chelski..
RH
Alongside Walsh and Mane. Fuckin’ he’ll, thsts 2 pool of piss players.
Oh well, glad that he has won it nonetheless as they share it. I really hope he continues his form with our game vs Chelski in Baku.
DB10
Same. Spurs were never really London rivals in my time
Usually closer to relegation than competing with us.
Wenger would have fucked up the el competition unlike emery
We would have fielded a second team that would have bowed out a while ago
Anyhow next season will be better. Need to get rid of the rot
New blood will help
A central creator with pace and skills will make sure our full backs stay back
Walsh should read Salah. Oops.
Un na
“Just goes to show that Wenger didn’t leave dross for him after all.”
Yeah, no one has complained about our strikers, it’s just all the rest of the team that is not up to scratch, especially for those of you expecting free flowing football with a water tight defence.
“What do you base this on out of curiosity?”
Our games against top 6.
We wouldnt have finished with 70pts if Wenger was still coach. Or got to a Euro final. Emery isnt perfect but name a realistic alternative.
Arteta doesnt count.
Midwest, he didn’t make us worse?
Wenger finished with 75 points in his penultimate season, 5 more than our current point tally. Our underlying expected goals, chance created, defense related stats this season are worse than last season. The fact that we have more points is solely down to our two strikers who got time to bed in last season and as a result have performed well this season. I know Emery is here to stay for one more season but I am reasonably certain we are not going to see any significant improvement under him in the next 12 months.
Goonah
Don’t be ridiculous. As Charlie rightly pointed out he’d lost most of his best players last season and was bedding in 3 new first team attackers come jan. Sanchez has poisoned the water hole. He probably would have had us roughly where we are now. Let’s not resort to fantasy in attempt to disguise emery’s appointment as anything other than failure thus far.
Azed
Still got to play everyone outside the top 6 mate, so not much of a reason.
Pedro-
Nope… about the same if you ask me.
We didn’t win a game away to the top 10 this season. Just two draws and seven losses in nine matches.
“We didn’t win a game away to the top 10 this season. Just two draws and seven losses in nine matches.“
Over to you Azed…
We shouldn’t be going for same.. though.
One thing that changed in the last two games is that Aubameyang starting position was from the right rather than the left. That means that he can make better use of his lethal right foot. Asking him to play on the wing is doing him a disservice. Asking him to play on the left wing is nullifying all his threats. Pires had the opposite spacial awareness blockage despite being also right footed. He was a world class left inside forward, but a mediocre right inside forward. He explained that he could not see the movements of the passes from the… Read more »
Freddy
Who said anything about water tight haha?
He’s signed 5 defensive players and we are worse off than (known to be shite defensively) wenger’s final and worst ever season.
There no dressing this up. It’s woefully inept. The man is no better than wenger in his worst season. A failure of an appointment by the failures running the club. Better get used to that word cos it’s going to be synonymous with arsenal for the next year or two at least
What do you base this on out of curiosity? Common sense and history. Wenger had this club declining. He assembled and bought a poor squad. He went year after year adding but not improving said squad. He went year after year ignoring obvious needs and squad deficiencies like goalkeeper, DM and wingers. There are people in charge of areas now that even if you don’t trust Emery to improve the squad they likely will. Over time. Now before you reply Charles I don’t care what you have to say or whatever bullshit comes out of your mouth it doesn’t matter.… Read more »
70 million = 7 points
So we basically need 350 million to win the league. Plus a good gaffer.
That’s about what City and the likes spend.
Jeez, Pep has 20+ technical staff in the line to receive the medal!
Bigger squad than our first team!
TR7.
.great mate do you want us bring back your lord wenger the great? Sure he will be rousing success and can bring back the good times.
Will be interesting to see if Emery goes for both Lacazette and Aubameyang in the final. Pep second guessed himself quite a bit in the CL and played it safe. Wonder if Unai follows a similar pattern
Valentin
I was the same. Left footed. Preferred cutting in. If I was played on the left I would drift in on my right foot as I just wasn’t an out and out wide man.
Dismal.
This has been one drab season.
Emery failed the audition.
Ffs. There ‘management team’ on top of the 20+ tech staff.
What a budget…
Guardiola has achieved what Emery achieved with PSG.
“Now before you reply Charles I don’t care what you have to say or whatever bullshit comes out of your mouth it doesn’t matter.“
Marko the great debater.
Common sense isn’t an answer, also, you’ve fuck all so who you’re attempting to fool is beyond me.
Asked a civil and sensible question and your fanny splutters that mess. Typical. Be on here with your ‘looking for arguments’ patter at me soon enough. Fucking jersey royal
Un
I agree re Chelski. I have always seen them as more serious rivsks than Spuds, as much as this has indeed changed (a bit; they had to finish behind Chelski still!).
But for me I just can’t stand that club from top to bottom: It’s fans, it’s players and it’s owner (whoever it will be considering that Abramovic is selling).
Dream
He would be mental to drop either. Lacazette dominated the chavs last time he played them. I expect him to be our likely match winner come the final. Let’s see if Aubameyang can continue this form though
Fingers crossed
We still have the Europa league
Europa league title trumps top 4 position by a country mile.
Ones a trophy and equals CL football one isnt a trophy and equals top 4.
‘Our underlying expected goals, chance created, defense related stats this season are worse than last season. The fact that we have more points is solely down to our two strikers who got time to bed in last season and as a result have performed well this season. I know Emery is here to stay for one more season but I am reasonably certain we are not going to see any significant improvement under him in the next 12 months.’
Yeah can’t really argue with any of this.
Lots to improve upon lots to work on for Emery next season in the league for sure. Hopefully a good summer and some good signings can help in that regard. From him I’d like to see him pick a formation stick with it and ask for players to suit the formation. Only then will we be able to properly judge what it is that he’s actually trying to do. Cause contrary to what you might think it’s not his squad there’s still far too many Wenger types in there
@ Un na naai
Better get used to that word cos it’s going to be synonymous with arsenal for the next year or two at least
only 2 3 yrs…Very optimistic imo 🙂
If I were to rate the top 6 squads in terms of managers… would be Pep, Klopp, Poch, Sarri, Emery, OGS.
Just about how it finished.. Poch bottled it too.. To be honest it felt like a Wenger 2.0 season.