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
London
Don’t use the old ‘lord Wenger’ trick on me. Come up with something more concrete. Everyone knows I have been Wenger out for ages.
DB10
Trust me mate. I come from that part of London. Every fucker i know supports Chelsea and I’ve had it losing finals to them. Sick to death of it. When we used to hear them I was gracious in victory. Never rubbed their noses in it and once drogba happened I was ruined, day in day out. Please Auba and laca give me the opportunity for some payback.
Used to beat them (not hear)
Un na
Kos on his last legs and injured half the season
Monreal past it
Holding and Bellerin missed half the season, luckily Mustafi has been healthy enough to fuck us over all season long.
That’s our entire back four from last season.
Leno improvement on Cech
Sokratis decently solid.
Torreira excellent first half of the season, faded a bit after new year, improvement but we still have Xhaka and Ozil dragging us down
Guen was bought for the future and only got so many games because our other options are worse than ligue 2 level.
Licht was free and we got what we paid for in that case
A midtable spend was never going to fix this defence, anyone thinking that is deluded.
TR7
but I am reasonably certain we are not going to see any significant improvement under him in the next 12 months.
As much as I do hope we win the EL, I am not that positive about his output next season. As much as I am still in the fence with him, I am now genuinely curious as to what we do this TW. I know thst it hinges on whether we qualify for CL or not, but it will be telling of the club’s ambition.
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
You’re one to talk. You don’t debate anyone really pal you insult you condescend and you run away. Also common sense is an answer. Arsene Wenger was incapable of improving us the last 10 years shows that. And common sense would suggest that with enough time and money even your more average to good manager would improve us. Emery is somewhere between that. Anyway look we’ll see how it goes next season
Marko
Lol insult and runaway? I’ve never ran from anyone here, and I asked you basic question that got nothing but your trademark mong answer.
It’s you that doesn’t debate a thing. Too fucking stupid to, only here to goad a select few and rehash the same lines.
No exaggeration, Aubamegang has missed a nigh on dozen sitters….quality my ass.
Marko
Wrong
Most of the wenger types in the squad are gone
Remember wenger likes tippy tappy types. One touch incisive passing. They are all gone. Replaced by journey men robots.
No more Sanchez, santi, Aaron, Jack, tr7, Giroud.
Theo ox welbz cech Coquelin paulista, mertesacker, nacho, jenkison and Elneny all gone or going too.
It’s pretty much his entire squad going into his final season. Gone in 18 months.
When emery falls he will fall on his own sword next season and there will be nowhere for the likes of you or RH to hide.
So stupid to compare Wenger’s time PL to today’s. Everyone keeps improving while Arsenal regresses. Everton Wolves Palace would wipe Wengers cowards every time. Why do u think Gazidis fucked off so quickly? He anticipated way worst season 18/19. Pedro keeps talking about this mythical sauce yet no such person at the club.
The 70 million argument is laughable. We need to be spending that alone on wingers or a CB or two not a whole squads worth
Europa is a must win now!
Freddy
Mid table still don’t have the amount of internationals we have. We’ve got two World Cup winners in our squad who are playing worse than they have in their entire careers.
I guarantee you if you have this squad to half these mid table managers they’d have improved upon last season.
Brilliant common sense.
‘How will Emery improve us where Wenger couldnt’
‘He’ll get better players bought for him, and time’
Sweet. So Emery is an utter irrelevance I’m the “common sense” equation, glad you cleared that up.
3rd, 3rd, 3rd at Valencia
5th, 5th, 7th at Sevilla
There’s my questioning of his capacity to improve us. But your “common sense” answer just undid all that so no worries.
Last few years of Wenger and Gazidis incompetence cost Arsenal hundreds of millions.
Un
And that is one of the many reasons I hope that we beat Chelski in the EL final. It will be even better than that win in the Community Shield where we kicked off Maureen’s meltdown.
asked you basic question that got nothing but your trademark mong answer.
It was more of a preemptive response Charles I know you and I know that you can’t debate or be pleasant in the slightest. It was a bit of a dick thing to say but I really don’t care what you have to say. I was just saving ourselves some time
auba’s penalty miss versus the spuds well fucked us over in the end.
Oh deary me!,here we go again.
So Emery is worse than Wenger after just one season.
Arsenal fans are snobs of the highest order
Ok, we faltered in recent weeks but based on the tools at his disposal, Emery did a more than adequate job. We have a European final to look forward to( our first in 13 years) and the shite that was consuming the club is slowly being flushed out.
I still remain on the fence with regards Emery but at least it’s a step forward, whatever way you want to look at things.
He definitely deserves another season.
If you look at it unemotionally … hard to do…. it’s football.. Emery seems like a “maintainer” type of manager.. so status quo… As I’ve been saying the Club picked the safest option of available managers because they were scared of the slide down the table. Not sure that will move us forward. Then again… it would be nice to win a European tourney… so there is that for now.
Un na
We don’t have that many internationals anymore
we also don’t have 2 german internationals anymore either.
also it’s irrelevant, we still spent like a midtable club last summer, with the worst squad in the top 6 (yeah, I know, you believe in the easter bunny too) with key players getting too old on top of that. why would you expect us to improve relative to our rivals?
If anything the teams below us has gotten stronger than before, maybe because they spend more than us too?
Auba actually missed two sitters that would see us third now
Against Spurs missed penalty
Last week against Brighton from a few yards
He scores a lot of goals though and we should get him a winger next season.
Marko
You’d never heard of a vo2 max, or reference to a 9.5 in football, let’s not pretend you know me. It was just your standard take on all things football alongside the tone you bring daily. Irony being you spend more time than anyone else pointing gingers of blame about the place.
Un na naai
“Most of the wenger types in the squad are gone
Remember wenger likes tippy tappy types.”
Bendtner lol lol
Graham, not sure expecting our manager to improve us is snobby?
There’s my questioning of his capacity to improve us. But your “common sense” answer just undid all that so no worries.
I don’t get how you’re not grasping this mate. We’re poor yeah with a poor squad of players this is not in question anymore and you improve that with signing up better players yeah. That takes time and investment. To improve the squad is also no longer dependent on one man. So whether or not you are or are not totally convinced by the manager isn’t that important (especially you) because if everyone else does their job properly that in itself can improve the squad. You get me? Don’t answer that.
Here’s the thing. Ask any of these critics at the beginning of the season if they would take 5th place with a Europa finals as the route to Champions League. Considering that we finished 12 points off 4th place last year. No one realistically expected us to walk back into the top 4 after Wenger’s demise but the same Emery that is being criticised took them way closer than anyone expected and is now being crucified.
Another thing, to those who are trying to downplay a 7 point gain because we spent 70 million. Using those same parameters, if Arsenal were to spend 100 million this summer and gain 10 more points next season, would you take that right now, yes or no.
Guys, keep it pleasant, blog of love.
Europa is a shit competition. We were dreadful last season and yet nearly knocked Atletico Madrid, the eventual champion, out in semis.
Emery will be judged more harshly next season as it’s his own without any transition stuff to contend with
We win el and lets see him rebuild this team
Can’t wait
He’s done it again
He’s done it again
Oooooh marko he’s done it again
😂
You’d never heard of a vo2 max, or reference to a 9.5 in football, let’s not pretend you know me
That makes sense. I was being honest I never heard 9.5 being used before. Been watching football since I was a kid been getting into petty squabbles on here for a few years and not once ever heard of 9.5. I don’t see why I’d need to know vo2 max
Free
“A midtable spend was never going to fix this defence, anyone thinking that is deluded.”
is it deluded to think that we may have achieved more defensively if the manager had made the defence a priority.
He seemed a little preoccupied with the offensive side of the team , an area which didn’t need addressing in all honesty…..we had scored something like 120 goals the previous season in all competitions.
I don’t think it would have been too much to ask and expect that Emery worked tirelessly on our defensive set up as we were very open to the counter attack from day one .
This was partly due to our full backs being way too advanced at the same time which left gaps down the channels and then changing the role of Torreira half way through the season .
We were excellent defending set pieces up until later in the season when , as the knowledgeable Valentin alluded to , the manager changed from a zonal system at corners which of course resulted in us conceding goals.
Pedro,I think I am still in moderation.Are you able to allow clearance for me to post please. 🙂
1-1 draw at home and losing 0-1 away to Atletico Madrid. How exactly is that nearly knocking someone out.
Emery is getting the “at least he’s not Wenger” buffering treatment.
If Wenger had delivered his season folk would want the super special ‘win the Europa and walk’ routine.
This pining for Emery to transform us comes from a lazy understanding of how change is in fact just change, the better or worse part is to be defined and not a guarantee.
Emery has a 3 year deal essentially (final year option).
I’ll say again:
3rd, 3rd, 3rd Valencia
5th, 5th, 7th Sevilla
2nd, 1st, (over by mutual consent) PSG
5th………………Arsenal
Not sure where the confidence comes from that we’ll make strides next season, yet to see the pattern emerge in Emery’s managerial career to date.
What’s the goals domestically next campaign anyway? Be curious to see some views on that ahead of a mid-late season re-evaluation.
Pedro it is a bit snobby of an Arsenal fan expecting to address the squad and a declining club inside one season. We’re probably 5 years further and significant investment away from even thinking of challenging for a league title
So under Emery we’ve halted two consecutive drops in league position. We’re also in a European cup final. Might not be a perfect season but it’s something to build on.
Wenger spent £100m on strikers yet finished worse off.
Like I’ve said before it wasn’t a given that our strikers performed better this season. The coach has take some credit for that. It’s generally accepted narrative is that an incoming manager brings his own players, no? Instead he has mostly worked with he has found and extracted more from the squad.
TR7
Europa is a shit competition
Do you think the players share that same view as you? The fans that will attend final?
Would you rather we just lost the final because it’s a shit competition?
The euro competition is Arsenal level whether you like it or not. Some of you fans want everything to be perfect without understanding there’s a building process.
If that’s the case then The CL was too good for us.
I’ll be happy to win a European cup.
Aubameyang on the whole is a poor finisher whose goals tally flatter him.
Marko
Straw man, who asked for a title challenge? The point is we’re 12 months on and not a step closer to our next title than last term.
Progression was order of the day, and it wasn’t delivered. Your title chat is an argument nobody is making. Not even close in fact.
Freddy
Look. We have completely differing opinions on this and neither of us is going to concede as it’s not a clear right/wrong debate but one of viewpoint.
The squad is of course sub par
Not denying that
We are spending less than most clubs in our league. Not denying that
But we had two (ozil and Ramsey) big sales on this summer and chose to leave it
We also could have offloaded Mustafi in the summer but chose to leave it.
He was happy with what he had. He didn’t make those sales.
On the whole squad front
Yes. It’s a dull lifeless bland squad. But emery chose to let the flair players leave and the ones that remain are more than capable of beating palace and Brighton.
We thrashed Valencia away with a poor tired squad, they can fucking beat Brighton and palace. We have the games away through poor set up. Poor tactics and non existent motivation
Against Brighton we came out WORSE after emery’s rallying half time battle cry. That wasn’t a second half from a team chasing glory, third place and with a point to prove. Whatever was said at half time was meek and counterproductive. The performance dipped from that point. His team talk deflated the team.
Anyway
We got a cup final to worry about now so let’s hope to god he sends them out revved up and continues his good record against quality opposition rather than his pathetic non emirates form
Arsenal winning the EL it’s a huge shot in the arm for our ability to overhaul things this summer.
We win and it’s a massive get out of jail, we don’t, and there’s no redeeming quality from the season. It’s that precariously poised.
Samesong
‘Would you rather we just lost the final because it’s a shit competition?’
Nah, absolutely essential we win Europa for it will mean more transfer kitty and additional CL revenue next season. My comment was more about suggesting a place in Europa final should not lead any of us believe that we have improved much from where we were last season.
MarkoStraw man, who asked for a title challenge? The point is we’re 12 months on and not a step closer to our next title than last term.
This constant moving of the goal posts exposes the lack of substance their stance presents. If you have to pretend that someone’s point is different to the actual point you’re making then you’re either too dim to get the point or your argument lacks merit and substance.
Nobody expects a title from emery. Don’t be absurd
We expect improvement, not determination after net £70m spend and two of the best strikers in Europe. Not an ounce of improvement.
Let’s put this into perspective for a second.
At the start of the season nobody would have put us in front of city or the bindippers as they were so far ahead.
Squad wise, manager wise and further along in there projects.
The brief from Stan would have been get us back into the champions league,That’s it.
No cups, no winning or even challenging for the league, just get us back into the champions league.
We got 7 more points and one place higher than last season. We missed out on third by 2 points, and don’t forget that’s as high as we could possibly get as we’re so far behind city and the bindippers.
Emery did all this after being given 70 million to completely rebuild the team and squad.
Mahrez scored the third for city today after they spent 69 million on him to sit on the bench.
Mid table, and newly promoted teams out spent us. In some cases by 50 million more.
We might win against Chelsea and have champions league football next season, And have a European trophy to boot. Something we haven’t achieved in 25 years.
If we do win it, it means Emery over achieved.
Nobody of note was eager for the job before he was hired, not too many will be next season especially if the transfer funds are the same.
When you look at the season over all we’re one game away from emery achieving everything he was asked to do.
The guy deserves his second season and a decent war chest to continue the rebuild.
Most sensible people thought this would be a transition season, nothings changed,
9 months later, still in transition heading in the right direction and possibly with a trophy.
Deterioration
I have not watched today’s game, but frankly with the team that was selected I am surprised that we got a victory.
Earlier today I made the case that Arsenal needs to focus on recruiting at least
two defenders and that is an imperative. Our current resources are simply not good enough. We have conceded 52 goals in each of last two seasons.
I don’t know what our budget is but we need to beef up that department preferably with two players who can and will give us several years of service. If
we add in Bellerin and Holding into the equation and find a defensive coach as
well that will solidify this department.
I agree that our midfield lacks pace and physicality and that needs to be also addressed as well. My view is that we will still have on the books next season
Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi and Ozil none of whom offer real pace. There are a number of good players in the market who are not likely to cost us the earth who might fulfil that brief and I would be inclined to offload Elneny and Mkhitaryan to fill that hole.
We need to keep Aubameyang and Lacazette on the books. These two players
have built a good understanding together as well as an offield relationship. I
agree that the contracts of both players should be extended despite some adverse comments posted today. Do we seriously want to lose either player
when they have collectively scored 41 goals this season?
I agree with Pedro that we need to introduce more home grown youth into our
squad. That should be the focus over next few seasons.
Obviously it is disappointing that we have finished 5th but nevertheless we are
a lot closer this season to top 4 than last. We finished last season 12 points behind that position.
Moreover our record against Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd is a lot better than
in recent seasons. Some might argue that was not that important, but at least
we have closed the gap.
Josh Kroenke claimed that both his father and himself are ambitious for the
club so let him prove it by unlocking funds and increasing the transfer budget.
Personally I don’t believe that the club has made a massive loss. That is pure
moonshine. We saw already the interim figures for November and if that was
the case we would have seen an indicator of that. The bank balance actually
increased for the same period compared with last season.
Frankly it does not matter if Arsenal has an indifferent season from a financial perspective. There is enough fat accumulated from previous years to cover one poor year.
Most other clubs and their owners would jump to have our revenues and commercial prudence.
If Wenger had delivered his season folk would want the super special ‘win the Europa and walk’ routine.
Again if you can’t see the difference between guy in job one season and guy in job 22 years and given plenty of time and chances to improve us only to see us decline then I can’t help you out.
3rd, 3rd, 3rd Valencia
5th, 5th, 7th Sevilla
2nd, 1st, (over by mutual consent) PSG
5th………………Arsenal Not sure where the confidence comes from that we’ll make strides next season, yet to see the pattern emerge in Emery’s managerial career to date.
How much improvement are you looking for inside a likely two year contract?
C’mon, Wenger was like a stale moldy bread. Could only have gotten worse, no way Wenger would have improved this team. Not too chuffed about Emery, but will give him one more season. Ownership needs to spend well to make us competitive again, then we can properly assess Emery.
Ozil out
Xhaka out
Monreal out
Elneny absolutely out
Mustafi absolutely out
Trade Mikhi even if part of his wages remain on our books.
Anything less than 5 good signings, we’re fucked for next season.
This is the gospel here for all you laymen.
Straw man, who asked for a title challenge? The point is we’re 12 months on and not a step closer to our next title than last term.
…
I agree we were never going to address the needs of the squad in one season… and many season of decline and ignoring needs in the transfer market.. so a lot to overcome. But we had a lot of the same issues. Poor defensively, Poor on the road., Choking must win games. Things a manager can change.
So its hard to say anything other then we were about the same. We didn’t get worse in terms of position. A few more points actually and we were better against top 6. Made a EL finals being the positives. And we do tactics now so the players should be better prepared for next season.. It’s called modern football… something Wenger didn’t care about.
So basically a push …. in betting terms. And as a “reformed” gambler… I was never happy with a push.
We could accrue the same number of points next season but finish in the top 4. Points accrued is always relative to other clubs. Your finishing position, however, is a more definitive way of setting targets.
Emery’s target shouldn’t differ from Wenger’s – deliver champions league, good cup run and be competitive in the league beyond February.
Obviously it is disappointing that we have finished 5th but nevertheless we are
a lot closer this season to top 4 than last. We finished last season 12 points behind that position.Moreover our record against Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd is a lot better than
in recent seasons. Some might argue that was not that important, but at least
we have closed the gap.
Stroller you are very close to being called an Emery fanboy or getting a ban with that type of talk around here.
Winning the Europa league would be Arsenal’s finest achievement since 2004.
How can the club have made a massive loss?
We sold ox Theo and Giroud for £85m
We brought in lacazette Aubameyang for £90m
Sold coq, paulista Gibbs and szcezney for £36m and spent £62m this sunmet
Net spend £31m
Unless arsenal is now turning a profit for £5m annually then how can this transfer activity incite losses at a time when our stadium payments are highly reduced and PL revenue/sponsorship has greatly increased?
“How much improvement are you looking for inside a likely two year contract?“
How much is reliant on numerous factors, but the ambition should be for improvement, and the assessment based on the amount of improvement made rather than whether there was any.
5th, 3rd, 1st Atletico under Simeone.
He’s a brazen example, but beyond the finishing position and number of points, the Atletico fans would’ve seen their side transforming in front of their eyes, black and white style.
Arsenal this season haven’t done that, we’ve been Arsenal of the last two seasons. It’s been like painting watching us go from crystal white, to chalk white.
*deliver champions league football, even
Rt
Yeah right
Reaching the 06 final pisses all over the European league cup
Marko
I am not an Emery fan boy. Personally I think that he an average but “safe” Head
Coach.
However, whatever others may think he has narrowed the gap between us and
both Chelsea and Spurs AND finished ahead of Man Utd. We have also won 3
and drawn 2 out of 6 games against these three clubs.
Also we are in the Final of Europa Cup with the possibility of reaching Champions League.
When you consider how dreadful our defence is and mediocre we are in midfield frankly I would argue that he has exceeded expectation with this squad.
Let’s be honest Arsenal are not going to recruit a “headline” manager with the
limited budget we have got an the current squad.
If we’ve been so bad this season, and people think we cant get better next season, how did we miss out on 3rd by 2 points!
Last season we missed out on 4th by 12 points.
We’ve improved this year. Yes not as much as everybody wants but it was a transition season. We got closer in the league to regain a champions league spot. And we still might get it through the europa and a trophy.
If we win the europa and the bindippers get the champions league, pochettino goes trophy less again, sarri who people were clamouring for is potless, and utd are in a downward spiral of doom with Ole at the wheel.
The only thing that’s reflected well on emery this year is the demise of Chelsea and untied and the fact spurs have gone all the way to the champions league final
He’s come in at a time when most arsenal managers should be capitalizing on his rivals’ terrible form. He failed to do so
Stroller
He didn’t narrow the gap
They did. Same way they were all shite on 2016 they were shit this season too. At least Wenger finished second that year. If not for an anomalous season from Leicester we’d have won the title.
This season emery snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with 6 games remaining against teams we should be steam rolling through.
Anyway
Bollocks to emery for tonight I’m off to make love to a beautiful woman….
You’ve never looked so lovely as you did tonight, never seen you shine so bright. Lady in reeeeeed
Up for grabs
Your post 18:08
Well said. I agree with near enough every word.
Let’s go to Baku and win this.
Un na naii
The players you have listed were bought and sold in the previous accounting
period.
We will make a financial loss this season, but I doubt that it will be anything
like what is being forecast.
My guess is that the constraints imposed on the clubs potential transfer budget has more to do with Kroenke’s acquisition of shares from Usmanov. He
secured a short term repayment loan from the Dresdener Bank to buy them.
Cheers Chris, it’s nice to know there are a few sane people on the blog with me!
Stroller
But we only spent £67m Are we saying that we doesn’t make somewhere near that (profit) annually when factoring our transfers?
Factoring out transfers
Good on Auba
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/premier-league-top-scorers-golden-boot-race-goal-standings-epl-2019-season-salah-mane-aubameyang-a4140301.html
Winning the Europa league will enhance Arsenal’s profile across Europe and restore some lost reputation.
5th, 3rd, 1st Atletico under Simeone. He’s a brazen example
How would 6th 5th 4th go for you?
Were we one goal against Brighton away from all of Emery’s faults being overlooked? Difference between 5th and 3rd. I doubt it
http://www.travelvivi.com/5-countries-you-should-avoid-visiting/
Little tips for those of you going to Baku
In short, it’s a dangerous crime riddled shit hole. UEFA should be sued for holding it here
Maybe we should have done better in those last 6 games but we had an overstretched team playing on two fronts.
Also With suspended players meaning mustafi and xhaka had to play.
Anyone can beat anyone in this league.
City lost at home to palace, lost to Newcastle and Leicester.
The spuds lost to Watford, Southampton, bournemouth, burnley and west ham.
Chelsea lost to wolves, Everton, Leicester. And like the spuds nicked plenty of games by one goal.
And don’t get me started on utd, a draw at Huddersfield a loss at home today to relegated Cardiff. Etc etc.
Winning the Europa league will enhance Arsenal’s profile across Europe and restore some lost reputation.
Absolutely Red, arsenal are a bit of a joke club in Europe, do you remember bayern players laughing when they drew us.
Burnley 1 Arsenal 3
Pep is such a genius he won the league with absolute dog shite like Aguero, the Silvas, Sterling, Fernandinho, Sane, Laporte, Kompany, etc. These are arguably some of the best individual players in Europe. Anything other than lifting the title would have been seen as a failure.
I’d like to see him win back-to-back titles with players like Xhaka, Mustafi, Iwobi, Ozil and Mkhitaryan. Even Kos would t have survived in his team. He’s arguably one of the best, if not the best but he wins nada without the best players.
5th, 3rd, 1st Atletico under Simeone. He’s a brazen example, but beyond the finishing position and number of points, the Atletico fans would’ve seen their side transforming in front of their eyes, black and white style
Into defensive football, they will finish 2nd miles from Barcelona this year and have been miles away from winning it since they won it five years ago.
Shall we call for his head as he only won that poxy europa league tinpot cup last season?
Why not wait till we win the Europa league before launching a full assault on it to discredit it. We have already been told winning the FA cup is harder and more prestigious.. Doubt we can get any commentary lower than that.
Best scenario:
Afc win EL
Lfc win CL
Spuds mess up CL qualifiers and drop into EL next season..ha.ha
2019 has been entertaining and it’s not over yet.
Un na naai
It’s all about amortisation.
That £67m cost will be written off over the period of the players contracts the problem for Arsenal is the surge in transfer fees over the last few years is impacting years after the players were signed.
The last accounting period saw a bottom line profit of around £70 million but if you take into account player trading generated around £120m profit that was because the players such as Oxlade, Theo,& Giroud were sold . In this trading year little or nothing was added from player sales so just to stand still £50 million extra needed to be generated and that’s before you factor in any increase in wages, other costs and additional amortised sums.
The only plus is the the exceptional item of £17 m which came about following AW pay off will be not be repeated.
There will of course be extra from commercial deals but without player sales there will in all likelihood be a loss even thrash reserves probably will increase again
The goal posts have moved drastically for some on here since the start of the season.
At the start.
This season is a rebuild job, let’s write it off.
Mid season.
We can’t compete with klopp and pep but should finish easily in the top four.
Top three will be easy the spuds will throw it away.
The run in.
Well third is the minimum finish, emery is crap boot him out and get Eddie Howe, or Sean dyche.
Fat Sam is available!
CG
We fucking know the scoreline. Why waste your time posting this. Then again, they are probably your only sensible posts on here.
Emery’s biggest achievement this season is coming up with a system to use the two strikers effectively. From Feb 21 where we defeated BATE 3 – 0 to April 1st where we defeated NewCastle 2 – 0, the team was playing the best football both in defense and attack. Ramsey was the heart of the team and Ozil was the link up man between midfield and attack.
Then we lost Ramsey and Emery had no suitable substitute. He then experimented different formations and the team suffered.
Seeing that we’ll probably continue to employ this split striker formation, our most urgent need is to find a Ramsey replacement. Next is to replace Mustafi and Xhaka who killed our final two home games.
Receding
What about Mourinho for manager?
Is that low enough “commentary” for you?
“http://www.travelvivi.com/5-countries-you-should-avoid-visiting/Little tips for those of you going to Baku
In short, it’s a dangerous crime riddled shit hole. UEFA should be sued for holding it here”
A seven-year-old article is the best you could find, dumb-fuck?
Redtruth
You are 100% correct.
Winning the EL will put us on the footballing map once again.
Sorry, almost forgot, the FA Cup is far more important
This blog attracts so many negative fans its unbelievable , that its an Arsenal blog. But I guess it all comes down to Pedro and how much he likes the manager . Emery for all his faults has improved Arsenal , marginally maybe but its still too big an improvement . How many European finals have we featured in during this last decade ? 0
You wanna bash the manager on defence , sure why not. How good Klopp was with defence in his first season? Fucking stupid this blogs been since few months.
Lol this site brings up some sure argumentative types who could argue in an empty room.
One of them is that Alex Cutter cunt. If you’ve got aggression to burn you can join our boxing gym and let it out constructively.
Divine
Yeh, but they would be saying they want to see improvement, when improvement hasn’t existed at AFC for 13 years.
Frigging unbelievable, the lot of them.
Improvements, are starting to beat utd,Chelsea and the spuds again.
It’s finishing one spot higher than last year.
It’s being 1 point off top four instead of 12.
And two points off of third.
It’s being in a European final for the first time since 2006.
All in a transition year with little money spent compared to those around us.
As long as we kick on again next year we are moving in the right direction.
And emery stopped the rot.
Lets not forget Graham the same sorts were the ones cautioning before the campaign that this would be a season of transition and putting steps in motion to improve in the medium term.
Midwest
I love blackjack too my friend
“Little tips for those of you going to Baku
In short, it’s a dangerous crime riddled shit hole. UEFA should be sued for holding it here”
Fucking hell and we were going to have a whip round and buy Un, CC, CG and Pierre one way tickets there.
Hang on – sorry that’s why we’re having a whip round and buying the tickets.
Fucking hell Auba scores that pen and we’re at least 4th and the Spud’s finish 5th.
Spot on, @Divine, top post.
The issue the anti Emery brigade don’t get is arresting decline is improvement.
It might not be as much as quickly as we’d like but god knows where we would have ended up if Wenger had stayed on.
Marc
Na mate I’m happy enough in my country farm house 😎
If I wanted to live in a dangerous shit hole I’d move back to London
We have stopped the rot.
That’s all that matters.
Right CG?
The same British propaganda press warned fans not to travel to Russia and it turned out to be the safest ever World Cup.
Oh well…season done and dusted.
Didn’t expect the lads to beat Burnley today so fair play to them and Auba.
Now on to Baku and the ELC.
Whatever the case, Unai’s honeymoon (if he ever had one) period is definately over.
Next season will define how long he stays as Gaffer. He needs a reasonable TW and a good start to the league (no excuses on early fixtures or whatever)
I hope he/we gets to win the Europa as it will probably enable him/us get extra funds to spend over the summer.
We have to be proactive this TW and know whom we are getting rid off and whom we are trying to get in. Would help if we can get at least 70% sorted before preseason kicks in, however knowing the club I support I won’t hold my breathe.
Congrats to Pep and his Citizens. For us, on to Baku and the battle against Those Chavs. COYGs (One more final push lads…lets end this season with something (anything) to show for it)
HighburyLegend , Graham62
Just said what I felt mate . Honestly , we have a Golden boot winner since Van Persie ! A European final to look forward to , A missed opportunity maybe looking at the points table but rather that than out of contention for top4 in fcuking March , players throwing the towel in March ! Some of the criticism is deserved but on here its OTT.
Rt
Yeah but France two years before wasn’t very safe was it? Saying that, France is the terror attack capital of Europe.
Un
Miki not being able to travel has nothing to do with the local crime rate – they had a Grand Prix there a few weeks ago – it’s to do with local regional conflicts.
Not exactly a good reason to hold a final there I will admit!
I love blackjack too my friend
________
Yes…. unfortunately Blackjack doesn’t like me.. Although over the years I might have broken even.
As for stopping the rot .. I don’t think we can definitively say that until we see what happens this summer, If Mustafi is still here… then no.. Today’s goal was on him.. again. Stood flat footed and watched his man score. Couldn’t be bothered to move or jump.
I feel good about beating the Evil Empire at Planet Baku… Especially with Auba and Lacazette in form. Long live the Rebellion!
The country itself has an official national ban on Armenians. The country itself has banned Russian Armenians too bringing tensions with Russia.
Yeah. What an awful place. 💩 hole
My opinion or not on the politics.. It seems like a ridiculous place to hold a final. Kind of like Qatar and the World Cup… and if it smells funny given Fifa and Uefa’s track record you can be assured there was some sort of bribe money involved. Or foul play.
Marc
It’s for safety concerns
As inthe people who live there may attempt to attack Mkhitaryan and/or the squad or the hotel or god knows. Meaning the country houses enough unhinged violent people that it’s authorites aren’t sure they can police the situation without additional measures being out in place from external sources
Yeah. Safe as houses.
Same as World Cup in South Africa. It all went off without a too much issue but it was policed to the nines and you weren’t allowed to leave certain safe zones because we all know what South Africa is dont we.
Un
“Meaning the country houses enough unhinged violent people that it’s authorites aren’t sure they can police the situation”
Sounds like Liverpool!
Everywhere is a shit hole to you Don London Baku South Africa Paris. Your poor mother takes a squat down an alley and out pops you and it’s all downhill from there. Nowheres that clean or safe.
In all seriousness
No there are lots of places I’ve enjoyed and felt perfectly safe and comfortable.
But let’s be fair here Baku is not a city in which you want to be holding a European final. The Mkhitaryan situation alone is enough to deter any organization that wants to be taken seriously. The decision by UEFA is nothing short of a disgrace and is further compounded by the allocation of 6000 tickets per club citing poor infrastructure. If there’s insufficient infrastructure in place then why choose the fucking city in the first place?
Un
But it did come with a huge brown paper envelope stuffed with cash.
Let’s be nice about other countries.
Hosting in Baku isn’t great, I get that, but let’s be respectful. Lots of beauty in Azerbaijan.
No such thing as a shithole country… there’s beauty everywhere.
Pedro
Fucking hell mate have you just won a contract from Thomas Cook?
I have always worked on travel brands in advertising. I had TUI in the UK.
Baku looks like a stunning city.
Pedro
And I’ve always taken the piss out of everyone I can.
How bloody dare you
Pedro
On a serious note give me some honest feedback on this. The company I left some months ago because a couple of new managers were shocking leading to the entire sales team leaving – so anyways the marketing team who amongst other things have handled a major rebranding to much applause recently won an industry award for best marketing etc get an email from the new MD – “don’t boast about being top of a shit pile”
Company shocked when head of marketing hands in notice!
Have you ever heard of such demotivating behaviour?
Pedro
Do you work in Digital advertising?
Marc,
That is unbelievable.
As an MD, you’ve got to be championing the success! Especially the lead generators!
Samesong, I do. Social creative specifically.
Pedro
Ok, So do I. (Tech)
Pedro
I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. So glad I’m out.
Did you get your job, Marc?
Give Guardiola his due, being backed by a billionaire is not easy.
Good one Red.
Yea maybe City will go for Emery after Pep, aim for that coveted Europa league title that eludes them
This league is a one horse race with one exception Liverpool who for one season were the reception to the rule.
This league is a one horse race with one exception Liverpool who for one season were the exception to the rule.
Evening Grovers,
All’s well that ends well. City saving the internet from insufferable scousers and Aubameyang sneaking up on the outside for a share of the golden boot, lovely stuff.
So when’s the EL final?
Aubameyang is a hit and miss striker who Arsenal cannot afford at this moment in time.
Tottenham’s last 4 season finishes:
3rd – 70pts
2nd – 86pts
3rd – 77pts
4th – 71pts
So since finishing 2nd, Spurs have dropped a place each season with lesser points each season too.
As trajectories go this could indicate that next season Spurs will finish 5th with less points than this season.
Based on this, what confidence do the Spurs board and fans have in Pochettino taking them on an upwards upward trajectory in the Premier league, not the CL?
Also regarding our future progression, Emery has stopped a rot of Arsenal dropping down the league from 5th to 6th, now back up to 5th, 7pts more than last season and only 2pts from 3rd.
If you base Spurs’ trajectory against ours it has every indication that we will finish above Spurs next season. If we win the EL that should give us the extra attraction to get better players in over the summer.
I’m really optimistic for next season, not that we’re going to challenge for the top 2, but getting 4th should be the absolute minimum and as long as we sort our defence with the dross shipped out and a few quality replacements brought in O think 3rd is a realistic expectation, especially with Man utd being in disarray and Chelsea having a transfer ban and more than likely no longer be a Hazard to our prospects with the garden of Eden flowering in Madrod.
I know we’ve talked about Zaha for us but I just think Woy won’t let him go any lower than at least £60m, so what about Batshuayi?
He’s on loan from Chelsea yes? Could we get him off Chelsea for around £25m? He’s had a pretty good spell at Palace and is younger than Zaha, surely won’t want to go back to Chelsea after his last spell there and could be tempted with CL football if we get it?
New post, balls. Will post over on the new one.
Came across this beautiful nugget
Klopp 1 season – 30 games – 40 conceded – 1.33 goals pm
Emery 1st season -38 games – 52 conceded – 1.36 goals pm
Point being, improvements can be made given time. Regardless of the unjustified uproar emery is going to be here for another season, and no one can really do anything about it. The whole emery back and forth here is getting tiresome.
Next season emery has to get 80 points+ if he does that, he would have shown he can take the next step with the club, if not we find someone who will.