Well my darlings, here we are, JUDGE ME IN MAY has landed and the judgement is that we made a terrible mistake with the hiring of Unai Emery.
We have nothing to show for the season. No underlying improvement in positive statistics, no sense of style on the pitch, and no belief from the players.
Emery added £73m worth of talent last summer, mostly to the defence, and after a full preseason and a year with the players, we actually look worse.
For a manager that boasts of being the king of video analysis, I again find myself asking what the fuck he’s watching. We had no game plan for one of the most rigid managers in the league.
Emery regularly talks about passion and character, where was it yesterday? He couldn’t motivate his team to turn it on in a cup final.
He speaks of making big decisions, well, it seems like the biggest decision he made this year was binning Aaron Ramsey, but when it came to benching Chelsea’s new Sporting Director, a man that jibed the lack of pressure at Arsenal this week, he faltered. I love Petr Cech, he’s going to be a banging asset for Chelsea now, but that decision set the tone for the evening. Sentimentality over winning.
But be real people, Emery has said on two occasions this season that the reason he likes Arsenal is there isn’t the same pressure to win. He literally said it this week. That thought is a sporting atrocity that could only be said out aloud at Arsenal. I don’t like that anyone is comfortable enough to opine like that as a manager, to say it twice, the second time on the eve of a cup final is outrageous.
The game itself was bland. Both teams were shite. Yet somehow we were the team to concede 4 goals. The defence was utterly shambolic, we had no power in midfield, we created next to nothing for most of the game (two shots on target all game). Ozil hid in the shadows, not his worst game, but yet another example of how uninterested he is in playing for Emery, and how badly the manager has worked with him. Willock came on and immediately looked more dangerous. Chelsea seemed to let Xhaka have all the space he wanted, presumably because his searching balls were mostly feeding players not fit for the one-track system of findings players on the overlap.
The one highlight of the game was Iwobi who scored an absolute screamer. An unreal strike that deserved to be a winner.
So where do we go from here?
Emery finished 5th in the league. He bet it all on Europa glory, in my view, because winning four trophies on the bounce was more attractive for his resume. That adversely impacted our season. We blew games like Palace because of Europa. We took strong teams away to weak teams. We allowed Aaron Ramsey to play injured, because of Europa. We held our judgement on a poor body of work, because of Europa.
Now it’s all said and done, Arsenal have reaped what they hired. We shot for Europa League and we missed. We bottled our hiring policy last year, and we paid the price.
In football, there is no such thing as an interim manager. That’s a mythical crock of shit. You hire for what you aspire to do as a club. We hired in a supposed safe pair of hands that knows Europa League. When you aim low and miss, the consequences are thick, bland and tasteless. We should have hired someone with a vision, someone with ambition, some with charisma and firm grasp of the English language.
The only good thing to come out of yesterday is that Emery’s demise just took a shot of steroids to the arm. That failure was brutal. 4 points from 18 at the backend of the season was a world-class bottle job. 4-1 in a final to a team that’s been shite all season was hugely embarrassing. This was a Kevin Keegan-eque collapse. Tell me this, now the dust is beginning to settle, would any other club aiming to be the best tolerate what has happened at the tail end of the season when ideas are supposed to have settled?
Absolutely not.
Raul can talk about beautiful structures. He can point to a tepid vision of proudness. He can excite you with buzzwords. But the brutal reality of elite sport is if you fill that structure with average talent, you’ll always be average. Arsenal’s owners need to take a realistic look at what they are building and map Raul’s words to reality.
Do we have the best manager for what we’re trying to achieve? No.
Do we have a footballing vision anyone can believe in? No.
If stasis was acceptable, we should have taken a risk on a bolder hire.
If great football and results is what we’re aiming for, we should fire the manager right now and go all in on Allegri. He’s out of a job and nothing looks like it suits him right now. You’d be hiring in Juventus IP, a winner, a man of great charisma, a person that could address a defence inside a year, a manager that up until last year was making Champions League finals with free transfers and small transfer budgets.
David Dein would do it. This is our Bruce Rioch moment, except we’d not be moving on a manager that achieved his goals. We’d be course-correcting a mistake that’s been glaring since November.
Arsenal is at an important crossroads. We have no Technical Director, no Chief Scout, and an average manager we’re about to let loose with a small budget.
Decisive action needs to be taken, otherwise we’re heading towards a mediocrity that is going to become harder and harder to escape.
See you in the comments.
Lol at the idea of Henry working in a call centre cold calling players across the football world to ask if they want to come to Arsenal……PPI style.
Even funnier if there is a few seconds of silence first because he’s using a dialler
“Hello……..Hello?”
“Hello Mr Upamecano…..this is Thierry calling from Arsenal FC. It’s not a sales call….”
Gambon
How much money did Liverpool make from those sales?
Marko
You don’t think Arsenal should ask if Gilberto was available to pitch Arsenal to a Brazilian transfer target that is being sought by other clubs.
Kanu Nwankwo was one of the reasons we almost signed Samuel Chukwueze
Ex-players [on good terms] are deployed in ways that you may never realize.
They aren’t there to negotiate but to reassure.
What’s this net spend bullshit anyway?
Wenger fucked us with the players we have left.
We don’t have a coutihno to sell for 140m
Take away that and klopps net spend doesn’t look so good
He has spent near 500m in incoming transfers. End of
And what does he have to show for it?
Emery in his first year did the same as klopp.
Made a Europa league final. Oh. Yeah. Klopp lost that as well
First full year.
So in klopps first year spent almost 70m
And Finished with same honours as emery
Klopp May be a manager than emery. Sure
Let’s not pretend he’s done it on the cheap ala.
I’d say poch deserves a lot more credit than klopp
I’d take poch over klopp. He’s a better manager.
Joe
What was Klopp recent past as a manager?
Oh, two Bundesliga titles and Champions league finalists with Dortmund playing absolutely electric football – achieved on a budget.
What was Emery’s?
Domestic success in France with PSG and the budget of a nation. Losing firstly to a genuine rival, then buying their best player and walking the league the following season. Before that, the Europa league and absolutely nothing of a domestic assault.
You keep banging the money drum and pretend the two managers are of equal footing.
Emery won 3 Europa.’s on a small Budget
Let’s forget that.
Klopp has also lost 6 or something finals in a row.
You all bag emery for not being able to get the players up for a final and CL spot
Klopp has done the same.
I don’t even care if emery stays or go’s. But to compare his year at arsenal to klopps Liverpool is beyond ridiculous.
And when it’s compared apples to apples you all make excuses for klopp.
Fucken agendas
Joe Klopp has managerial achievements in line with the aspirations of Arsenal. He had those when he went to Liverpool and it was reasonable to assume he could scale them up to a level similar to that which he had at Dortmund – and look at what’s happened. Emery has Europa League as his calling card and he’s blown that here right out the gate. Forgivable in a competitive match, but we weren’t in it and lost 4-1. You’re trying to compare their respective first seasons as the same/similar and suggest Emery is then capable of scaling up like Klopp… Read more »
@Joe,
Did you not argue before the game that it was 50/50 and that Chelsea was not favourite?
I doubt that Emery will be sacked even after this debacle.
He will be plodding along next season and if there is no obvious process, Arsenal will let it known early on that he will not be renewed. No drama, no big payout, just a polite good bye.
Same thing happened to him at PSG.
Only thing that can save him is if he has a terrific season in the league. Even a victory in the Europa League would not save him this time.
Klopp has spent £400m in 4 seasons.
Klopp took over a Liverpool team that nearly won the league 2 seasons before.
Liverpool had £250m for Klopp to spend thanks to the sales of Coutinho, Suarez and Sterling alone.
Our dross are on considerably higher wages than Liverpool’s were and will be harder to sell.
“Their squad is better in every position to ours. Even GIROUD was better than our only positives , laca and auba” Classic Joe to make a point and argue against his own point….whilst making it. Chelsea are better in every position, even though the guy that won the final for them was a player we pushed out for better. Excellent analysis. Yes Joe, he blew the Europa. We made the final, and had two weeks to prepare something for the game. We offered up….? You tell me. I didn’t see a plan, didn’t see any motivation, and ultimately saw a… Read more »
Emery has to go back to the drawing board. Yesterday, his game plan was attack though the wing back and use Ozil to shadow Jorginho. It could work if Kola and AMN can cross the ball to our two strikers. Our players slowed down in the second half and Chelsea started to push back through Emerson, Kante to Hazard and Pedro and finally Giroud. Our defense was old and slow and totally inadequate. If Emery wants to stay with 3 CBs and attack through wing back, he’ll need two much better wing backs and add two better CBs. I would… Read more »
Dissenter, I’m not yo yoing at all. Let me reiterate for you. I never wanted Emery, Allegri was my choice. I said all season Judge Emery in May. I began to have doubts about Emery in January and made them clear but still said judge him in May. After the Wolves game away I had made my mind up that Emery had to go and that position hasnt changed. My defence or supposed yo yoing hasn’t been in defence of Emery, but rather against the ludicrous and agenda driven hysteria by a few absolute hypocrites and slithering idiots who had… Read more »
“He had just as good a Pl season as sarri or poch. Just came up one match short“
So he didn’t have just as good a PL season as them then. They’re in the CL and we’re jot, that’s called a better season mate.
You think of Spurs lose the CL final they’re going to be giving it about them having just as good a season as Liverpool and they were 1 game short? No. They’ll be losers, Liverpool winners. That’s how it works.
Reinventing the wheel for Emery’s sake, absolute levels.
We blew the final big time. We were the better side in the first half and to go in 0 – 0 at half time only to go on and lose 4 – 1 is unforgivable. Fuck only knows what happened during the half time team talk. Cech shouldn’t have started and I wonder whether a younger, more agile and nimble Leno may have made a difference. Ozil was just diabolical and he has to go. AMN is clearly not a RB and should be used more as a holding midfielder. Koscielny and Monreal are finished and need to be… Read more »
fuck those losers. NBA finals in Canada!
benny
The first two goals are stoppable. Cech was too slow to get down.
Playing Petr in this game was huge mistake. He wasn’t bad but still. Total lack of killer instinct and desire.
“Wenger’s leftovers”
So true … and Emery just keeps serving it up.
Just listen to Emery’s post game interview. He said that we are in a process and next year we’ll continue with the process. Since a few youngsters have gained enough experience. They’ll involve in the first team. We’ll also sign players to strengthen some areas.
When asked about whether some players will leave the team, he said that it is too early to talk about it.
Auba and Laca are weird. They will score from nothing or half chance but miss way easier chance.
Rollen, we have the best chance conversion in the league. They aren’t weird, they’ve been outrageous this year.
Pedro stats are not 100% of the picture. We are both right. Leading in conversion and wasted chances. I like them both ofc. Wish we had them when we had Cesc TR 7 and Nasri
How can u be a billionaire and own mediocre stuff?
Raptors full of special sauce. Manager transfer dude strategy guy and players.
Bad ebening.
@rollen : thanks to Leonard, mostly…
I can’t stand the Warriors, but we all know they’ll be winning the finals once again, even if it’s a little bit more difficult this time.
Gambon, You do know Ozil would relish training with the under 12 girls….
So would Pierre …………… who is renown for playing with teenage boys on the golf course.
PEDRO
One point which has not been discussed in last two threads was a comment made by Keown before the game.
He expressed concern that the squad had trained too hard on Tuesday.
When you see how poorly Arsenal played in second half of game it may well
be the case that the team left their form on the training pitch rather than the
game itself.
Benny
I’ve been asking the same question myself. What does emery say at half time? How often have we seen a positive first half followed by capitulation in the second, immediately after the break? Coincidence? Or does his tactical muddling confuse the players?
Un nai, Fuck knows man. At half time me the missus & my lad were all feeling confident we would kick on and score the first goal, then it all went to shit and I’m still fucking dazed and confused by it all now. As you know I’ve defended Emery all season, not because I’m EDL or Emery ultra, but because I was Wenger out and happy to give whoever the new guy was the season to sort it out, but the end of season capitulation followed by the EL 2nd half capitulation is indefensible- there is literally no way… Read more »
Kroenke bought into Arsenal because of the slack rules on foreign ownership and the opportunity presented by the money pouring in through sponsorship, merchandising and tv rights. Add to that the English blind obsession with Football and you have a pretty safe bet that you would make a tidy profit, as indeed many have. The problem is the suns of money you need to access to buy the club, which is why it is often the stuff of billionaires. Because of the guaranteed incomes every year and the high asset values, a Premiership Football club is also a tidy guarantor… Read more »
“Lol at the idea of Henry working in a call centre cold calling players across the football world to ask if they want to come to Arsenal……PPI style.”
Exactly what came into my mind at Dissenter’s suggestion.
Must be nice living in Dissenter’s world of correctness, clarity and fluffy bunnies.
Of course ‘certain’ players will come to us even though we have no CL football, but we don’t have any money, so do you think Henry could overcome that objection, Dissenter?
Anybody seen this? 🤣
https://twitter.com/BennydevitoBen/status/1134329284905099264?s=19
#Wengemery
Moray The reality is that Kroenke is invested primarily in “American” Sports such as Football, Baseball and Basketball. All these sports operate on franchises and the transfer and contract rules are different from those of association football. I think that it would be wrong to suggest that Kroenke and his family have limited interest in Arsenal, but the reality is that the so-called business model he is applying is a definite problem for the club. Also the culture of the club in the last 10-12 years has been a major factor in the club’s demise. Wenger was too focussed on… Read more »
Was a pity that Lacazette and Aubamayang chose the final to have possibly their worst games of the season.. They were poor in possession, poor in decision making , poor in front of goal. Half the problem is our strikers were asked to work , work and work a bit more in closing down the ball and on a warm night in Baku, that will sap a players energy, consequently when our strikers were in decent positions it looked like they didn’t have the legs to produce anything worthwhile . It is always been my belief that a teams striker… Read more »
I can feel my AKB DNA whirling and churning.
Lets give one more year for Emery. Surely next year, with his own players he can implement his game plan.
“whimpers”
“One point which has not been discussed in last two threads ”
@Emiratesstroller : the only “point” which Pedro is interested with is Emery’s head rolling, no matter how shit our players are.
Benny. Good to see you’ve come to your senses. It’s been lacking for pretty much the entire season. The 22 game run (while great) glossed over some really drab performances.
The thing with emery is, whatever his ideas are, he doesn’t seem to have the conviction to implement at bigger clubs.
I still for the life of me don’t know what his instructions to Torreira were and why oh why he didn’t stick him on hazard. For a man who tailors to the opposition is have thought that would be obvious.
Pierre
Let’s not kid ourselves over Aubameyang
That performance in Baku is no different to 90% of his performances for us this season only he didn’t have the fortune of a 3 yard tap in presented to him this time
If Real Madrid really want him for £85m then I say let’s play ball. That’s unbelievable money for a player who contributes so little to the team outside of a tap in and who’s 30 in a month
I’d bite their arm off for that sort of dough
I’d even take what we paid for him.
Sign this player, that player, and give them to our masterful coach.
Emery’s a flip flop manager, he has no grand plan, no improvement for us, so our main objective is to get rid of him
These players might come if we have a good coach, their careers aren’t going toget better with him
“If Real Madrid really want him for £85m”
Yeah right…
Spanishdave, you are fully aware that you’re pal will be there next season, right ??
He doesn’t have to be.
lol
And tomorrow, get ready to see Lloris lift the CL trophy.
If there’s a football God, I would love to ask him why he hates Arsenal that much…
This story will run and run.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/may/30/mesut-ozil-unai-emery-arsenal-europa-league-final
https://twitter.com/JamesOlley/status/1134083305438158851?s=19
More bad press
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-news-europa-league-final-defeat-chelsea-unai-emery-transfer-news-mesut-ozil-a8937671.html
More misery
Un na
Sell Auba…..fine.
Where are we going to find the 20-25 goals he guarantees us?
Without his goals we finish 10th or worse.
Don’t entirely agree with this and think it perhaps needed an additional day to take some of the sensationalism out of it. I think Emery has made mistakes but I personally feel the end of season collapse and final collapse have more to do with the previous 10 years at the club and the mentality that has been allowed to seap into every core of our football club. I also think on the whole the players simply aren’t good enough: technically, physically and mentally. Emery had his hands tied on Ramsey. So had no choice. Early doors he probably tried… Read more »
Mark Xhaka down in the Emery Out group!
He,like Ozil, presumably thinks our pudding of a coach- is an ‘effing pussy’ too
Next season will be fun…..
Buy Arsenal for the Championship?
Untenable!
Stroller
“When you see how poorly Arsenal played in second half of game it may well
be the case that the team left their form on the training pitch rather than the
game itself.”
Could well be the case ..Also, to me it was obvious that we were expending too much energy in the opening half hour and Chelsea were taking advantage of our tiredness towards the end of the first half.
AH, Thanks for sharing that. it’s a very insightful article and it summed up everything that is wrong with the club – boards that lack the conjone to take decision on a bad manager and player. it’s worth the read. if the boards are serious then this is the right time for them to stamp their feet and show they know what they are doing. we can’t continue to pay dross of players high wages and be lenient with a manager who did the opposite of his presentation. I’m happy the fans are now vocal and not backing any shit… Read more »
Tee
It’s really difficult to find any positive vibes around arsenal at the moment.
You’d find more of a party atmosphere at the morgue.
No CL football
Losing to Chelsea in the final
Raul and Vinai’s underwhelming statements
Ozil
Losing Ramsay for nothing
Has beens and dross in the squad
Alleged £40 million budget
Star man Sven leaving
Important back room positions still to be filled
Stan no show in the final
Have had time to reflect and mourn over the past couple of days, like all Arsenal fans, at a performance that was shambolic and yet so familiar. My gut reactions were way off track. “It’s written in the stars”, as I promoted on Wednesday, ended up being a load of tosh. The thing is, from sitting on the fence with regards Emery and giving him the benefit of the doubt, I now find myself seriously questioning his role and motives based on one frigging game. That’s right, just one game! First of all, favouring Cech over Leno was a colossal… Read more »
Hello Graham,
Magnanimous post. ( AIOCTY4I)
So in summary we have the clear Emery REMAINERS:
Elneny,
Sok
Iwobi
Torreira
The clear Emery LEAVERS:
Ozil
Xhaka
Laca
Sead K
Mustafi
Mikki
Emery UNCEDIDED(s)
PEA
Leno
This ain’t – 52%plays 48%
More Like -65% plays 35%
Arsenal Parliament ( Raul /Vinai)
Gridlocked and unable to see beyond a No Deal Emery…
We are currently in Limbo
Tick Tock..
Pierre The problem is not the club playing a “pressing and high intensity game”. After all clubs like Man City, Liverpool and Spurs are playing in that way. However, when you have so many players in our squad/team who are clearly not capable in operating in that fashion it is a problem. Players like Koscielny, Monreal and Lichsteiner are now on their last legs. They lack the pace and fitness to play such a game. Players like Ozil and Mkhitaryan are also not suited to such a style of play. Also our defence is a mess, because under Wenger this… Read more »
Have had time to reflect and mourn over the past couple of days
————————————
I was in mourning when it became clear Dracula was only going for the Europa Cup and completely ignoring the league, not beating Crystal Palace and/or Brighton at home is one of the lowest points in Arsenal’s history. I look at the final league table and just can’t believe it.
Crystal Palace and Brighton – fuckin’ hell.
Stroller
Good points
Is there no players in our defensive unit who are incapable of improving .?
AH Thanks for the article. Really worth the read. This must be reposted over and over to make sure people read it. @ ES Can you email this to someone in the club? We must make sure they read it as this cannot carry on. I do not want them to carry on having their head in the sand. The BoD must understand that we are heading for dire straights if something is not done immediately. I agree with CC about Vinai’s email. There was no fire whatsoever in it. Just regurgitated garbage about our values. Just shows how poorly… Read more »
To follow through what I have just posted.
Man City and Liverpool conceded just 23 and 21 goals respectively in league and that is why they finished first and second in league. They were difficult to beat.
Chelsea and Spurs finished third and fourth conceding 39 goals each. That is
why they were so far behind the top two in league. They were beatable.
Arsenal and Man Utd conceded 51 and 54 goals which is why both teams finished fifth and sixth. Their fragility even against bottom ranked teams indicates just how vulnerable they were.
Seriously
Where has all the money gone.
We are worse off than we were at Highbury.
People should just stop investing in the club
This is so typical of Arsenal. Abject failure in an European cup final. Deathly silence from the management and the owners. I can only assume it is quiet because the club is really afraid of saying anything at the moment and risking a fan backlash. No amount of spin and sweet talk can cover up the footballing crash we have witnessed in the last 2 months. The board should at least have the decency to make a public statement regarding Emery’s future at the earliest. At least the fans can then take off their damaged minds from this horror show… Read more »
Graham
“” Have I made a U-turn?””
……………… (Think U for Unai…)…………
I would say yes- just a little.
Out of interest- if Emery did get hit by a
Very Fast Big Bus coming out of Rymans today- who would you like to see in charge?
Stroller
Where Wenger neglected the defense, for Emery, I think it is just that he does not have the players for his “system”.
Which brings us to the point. His “system” is shit ugly and it won’t work unless he jettisons half the squad.
I think he is very fortunate that the club is going with his jettison strategy since going cheap is the current budget.
Gambon
We use the money to buy in two goal scoring wide players. If we add 2-3 new defenders with the remaining budget and work on our defence then it is possible to lose auba and still finish in the top four next season
We’ve lost far batter strikers and managed
Wright
Henry
Anelka
Bergkamp
Van Persie
Adebayor
All scored goals and contributed to the team. All were replaced within the team (except rvp)
He doesn’t offer enough to the team. Michael Owen was more of an all rounder
Totally agree ES. Due to the stasis under Wenger/Gazidis, overseen by Kroenke, Emery has inherited what is an overwhelming number of requirements for change on this clubs budget with this clubs board. Emery took the job, surely knowing the task, whereas it was reported others wouldnt, I am sure he has tried, but i get the impression he doesnt even know where to start, and if he did, he wouldnt be given the resources. he cannot get rid of all that need to go without fielding virtually a youth team next year. And a penny for Lacca/Aubas thoughts. If only… Read more »
CG
I’ve already told you.
Eddie Howe was always my first choice.
Adebayors name looks odd in that list
Un na naai
Agree ; one of if not both of Auba / Laca should be sold to bring in funds to fix the rest of the squad.
Atletico Madrid will need a Griezmann replacement, Lacazette will be a target. We could get 70M for him. Barca also interested.
Real Madrid want Auba. They can have him for 80M.
150M from those two could get us 2 class wingers and a good striker.
Woke up this morning thinking of the epitaph of our once great football club if God forbid the spuds were to win tomorrow,
Here Lie
ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB
BORN-1886. DIED -MAY 2019
After a very Long induced coma of 15 years by the surgical Dictator ARSENE WENGER , who removed all vital organs for personal gain.
lol Majestic, you’re wrong, it’s Unai’s fault!!
The Legendary BD10 Frankly I would be surprised if the current management at the club are blind to the current situation. I know that Pedro and others attribute blame to Emery as to what happened on Wednesday. However, his playing options were very limited and this was not a match in which to experiment. Emery has made clear that Arsenal need to shift out of club a number of players. Some will leave because they are at end of contract, others because they are past their sell by date and of course others because they are not good enough. The… Read more »
I am with Peds.
I don’t buy this Emery needs better players, need more players suited to his football….
I have decided, Emery out.
I don’t want Emery to define our football where the protagonist is some plucky underdog with 7 man behind the ball looking to fight against the grain with some small time hardworking values.
wow wow wow arsenal as usual… if the kreonkes and the board and some on here why should i… seriously this club AFC is a joke, and some on here dont care… since that everton loss i have lost faith on emery, and i want him out of this club, but i will wait till his contract expires, because he is not the biggest problem in this club. we have no midfielder who can even move the ball, we only depend on predictable passes and cut backs from the wings and edge of the box…. emery cant teach xhaka how… Read more »
This summer
Lacazette 60-70m
Xhaka 30m
Torreira 45-50m
Mkhitaryan loan to Inter/Milan/Roma
Mustafi 10m
Kolasinac 10m
Elneny 7m
Koscielny 3m
———————
That’s 165-180m (won’t happen)
Then you sell Mkhitaryan, Özil (one year left and possibly Hector in 2020
Need a technical director to make the signings. Because Emery should be out the door next summer
Dark Hei
Agree 100%. However, no chance it happens this summer. The Kroenkes don’t want to pay 6m to fire Emery. They’ll make a change when CL qualification is under threat in Nov/December
‘One step more’ does not sound good, there is a whole flight to climb.
Maybe Emery is being cagey?
Guys, guys… you still don’t get that Emery will stay at least for 5 years ??
Arsenal is a living-dead club.
Aubameyang and Lacazette need to be kept because they are the only two REGULAR double digit goalscorers in our squad. Combined they have scored 50 goals this season. If you sell either of these players where are you going to find goalscoring forwards of similar quality? At best you may find an untested goalscorer from a lower league and that is not going to come cheap. I have made the case for investing in our defence and perhaps one midfield addition. You can find defenders who will do a solid job for £20 million and a decent midfielder for £40-50… Read more »
The manner of Arsenal’s dismal implosion in the last 5-6 matches in the premier league,and then in the Europa league final demands a clear-eyed and cold response from Raoul and Vinai, as of course, as everyone knows Silent Stan will remain silent and, at this stage, frankly not too bothered. In my eyes, a clear eyed and cold response would at first focus on squad disposals. Raoul and Vinai are accused by many (including me) of being corporate hacks who talk that etalk. let’s see if they can do a cold-blooded corporate restructuring on the squad. Mustafi not good enough?… Read more »
I understand to some extent why some people are calling for emery to go however I want to see how this transfer window goes, if he addresses the lack of pace and energy in the side then he has my support till december because it would be all down to his coaching and management skills. It’s not all about the transfer fees of the players, it’s getting the right ones, look at how Lyon played against Man City in the champs league, they won at the etihad and gave them a good game at Lyon with no stand out expensive… Read more »
If we sell Aubameyang for the fee being reported then we give ourselves good chance of addressing problem areas. I think we will be alright with Lacazette as our main front man
Stroller
Aubameyang is 30 in a few days
How long do you expect him to last? We need to cut and run and make what we can from him now
The absolute scenes when we still have Mustafi, Xhaka, Kola, Mkhi, and Ozil still stinking the place out at the start of next season.
Shootout between Arsenal and United for Rabiot if the rumours are to be believed.
Who can appeal to him more, doubtless both are offering him what he wants money wise, both are Europa League sides.
Can maybe sell the total dysfunction at United and likely change in manager coming up as uncertainty to him?
We’re more likely to be a CL team with Aubameyang as the main #9 rather than Lacazette.
Is there still a BoD? Haven’t heard a peep from any one of them.
With a sole owner (which is what Stan is, effectively) there is no obligation for a Board of Directors, whose primary role is to protect the interests of the shareholders. If needed, he appoints Officers to do his bidding.
Shame for Chips and the carpet-bagger, No more dinners on the house,, Corona cigars, vintage wine, 18 year old Macallan.
Jamie
They just can’t.
Everyone is hurting right now, but fans will get back behind the club if there are massive changes this summer. They cannot wheel out the exact same crap and expect anyone to have any kind of excitement.
Functionally as well, how many times does this squad have to prove they are a total waste of space? We need to arrive in August with a fresh look. Younger, bigger, faster, more powerful and more tenacious.
Emirates, apologies for not replying to your earlier reply re. Kroenke. You are absolutely correct. US sport is much more of a confection than the Premiership, without relegation etc and (I suspect) lesser local ties between fans and clubs, so Kroenke should not be expected to apply the same model. The fact remains, he has not shown himself to be any more than an investor, and a canny one at that. The immediate effect was letting Wenger stay on way too Long, believing the syrupy bullshit Gazidis was peddling and not getting to grips with the real issues such as… Read more »
Cesc
United will win that shoot-out every single time.
They have played in the CL for two out of the past theee years and have a lot more money than Arsenal.
An engaged Rabiot could be a game changer for us.
Cesc Appeal
Not expecting too much change. It’ll be a one in/one out type of thing
Lichtsteiner out/RB in
One of Koscielny/Mustafi out/ CB in
Ramsey out/CM in
Elneny out/Willock promoted
Welbeck out/a wide forward in
Maybe Mkhi loan
The stupid thing I can see us doing is let Emery make his choices. If he goes in 2020, it means the new guy will have to clear guys out. Our technical director ain’t in place till July/August.
CA – I know it. But I’m so despondent right now, nothing would surprise me at this point. I can just see the PR spin “Players won’t forget the hurt inflicted last season. They’re raring to correct things this season.” I’m not as optimistic as others about our ability to get rid of any of those players. Ozil and Mkhi present the most obvious problems, given their obscene wages. The others are on less than 100k a week each, but they’re toilet. It was said here that Xhaka is a critical player in our tactical setup. We’re shit though, so… Read more »
Un na naii I am well aware that Aubameyang will be 30, but replacing his 30 goals at this stage would be madness. As I have pointed out many times I don’t think that we should or need to be investing in wingers in this transfer window. The club has got on its books at least 3 promising wingers either out on loan or playing in U23s. If you buy someone you are effectively closing door on these prospects before they have chance to prove themselves. By contrast we know already that the locker is bare when we discuss defenders.… Read more »
I think people are tired of the same talk of tradition and values. Wenger and Gazidis exhausted everyone with that nonsense. If Emery doesn’t get that fans have been “handled’ for so long and just want plain action, then he too has to go. For starters, clear out the dross…and I don’t care if the replacement players aren’t any better. I don’t care if the replacement players re all from the academy. Kroenke is going to have to LET THE CLUB SPEND ITS MONEY No one is reaching into his pocket but they need to stop setting arbitrary transfer budgets… Read more »
One thing Wenger was right in, it doesn’t make sense to bring in more than 4-5 squad players in a transfer window.
The idea we are going to ship out ten or so players, regardless of how shit they are, is fanciful. It would also dilute the value we would sell them for.
That is why I see Xhaka staying for sure, though he should ideally he phased out of the first team as the guy is a joke.