You know, I do worry about society sometimes. Everyone is offended by everything these days.
‘Why did you look at my soy milk that way’
‘You did a face like you were going to say something offensive’
‘You broke into my house and stole my car’
People are constantly on the hunt for new ways to engineer offence. It’s worrying.
Then I go to the Le Grove comments sections and you’re all brutally cutting each other down… and no one bats an eyelid.
You give me hope.
You know what else gives me hope? The young kids at Arsenal.
I don’t know where they’re going to end up this season, but for me, my disdain for the football style is hugely outweighed this season by the overall likability of the squad.
I know that sounds like a really bland thing to say. The sort of thing that comes from a purists mouth, someone that fondly remembers the 80s when you could have a pint and share a hooker with George Best after a game. But be honest with yourself, when was the last time you really liked an Arsenal squad?
2006? 2008? There haven’t been many. Even when we went close in 2016, the squad was very questionable. That would have been the least interesting league winning side we’ve ever put out (in my living memory at least).
Matteo G has great hair, lots of personality, and he’s growing with every game. I think he needs a bit more aggression and I think he still needs to find his flavour, but he’s a talent and the world really is his lobster
Joe Willock, what a find. He looks like he belongs. He was giving as good as he got against Burnley. He never shies away. He has a high ceiling and the fans already love him. Struggling to think of a young player in that role since Jack to cause such excitement?
AMN, he earns some bad reviews, but the guy gives his all. He’s playing at right-back when he’s a midfielder and he’s not complaining. Put that work rate and power into its correct position and we have a very handy player.
Reiss Nelson has come in for some stick. He hasn’t scored 5 goals in the opening two games. But he’s young, he’s learning a craft, and not everyone can be Jadon. He scored a great disallowed goal and I’m hoping that when this meteoric rise he’s dealing with hits home, he’ll calm down and take a more aggressive approach to his game. He has the tools, let’s see if he can activate them. I think it’s a confidence thing.
Then we have the pretenders. ESR, Saka, Martinelli, and Medley could all sniff out places this season.
It’s an exciting time to be an Arsenal fan. Move on Mustafi and I can live with all the players we have in the squad. Raul has shifted us on a long way in a few weeks, if Emery can execute his ideas effectively, it could be a really good season.
There will be bad games, no doubt. I will bitch and moan for absolute certain, but one thing I won’t complain about is the state of the squad or the kids.
This isn’t a transition year… it’s a top 3 attempt.
Let’s see where we land!
Podcast lands later! x
P.S. ORNSTEIN WITH THE BIG GOSS this morning… can’t believe I’m sleeping through it!
Danialtos
Tuchel has been a worse coach for PSG than Emery.
I personally don’t get the hype surrounding Tuchel. To me, he’s as average as they come.
I’ll pick half the coaches in England ahead of him.
But apparently he has the sauce.
The French expert on here will have no response to this I’m sure. Joker
“This year we have a top-4 squad”
We have a better than top-4 Squad barring the manager. This is a squad worth putting up a fight for the title. Why stick to UE and dim our chances?
Add a smarter manager, and let’s go for the title this year. now!
Needless to say, if UE had it in him to turn this squad into a winning side, there would have been clear signs of that by now. The lack of incisiveness in Arsenal’s attack since March hasn’t improved much.
Let Edu and Raul line up a champion manager.
‘Kolasinac was very instrumental in getting the balls into these positions Aubameyang found himself, Iwobi also. Aubameyang did not beat two or three defenders to then fluff a finish.’ Yes once every twenty minutes. Auba got only three chances against Newcastle and converted one. He had two chances against Burnley and put in one. He would get two dozens of such chances with Liverpool setup behind him. How many will he convert then? For a striker to get a goal scoring chance has more to do with the striker than the provider. Auba makes top top runs and points to… Read more »
Two games two wins into a new season and we are discussing a change of manager
Thumbs up
“ SHUT UP AND SUPPORT THE KIDS”___What if said kids aren’t good enough? “
Please give them advice on things they need to do to improve, on Le Grove
Remember swagger is confidence to achieve. So remember at 17-21 years time is on their side. The time to boo on their face come much later and at that time would be the right thing.
Believe me, Mustafi could find his mojo back in Roma and return here a top quality defender next term to partner Saliba.
Most of his issues are confident based, he would never have been called into the German setup if he was shit from Adam.
Dare to dream…..our £35m Mustafi shall return!
Mustafi is crap
Jose is waiting in the shadows, waiting for the obvious to happen.
Will Raul turn to him? You can bet your best watch he will. Will the Kroenkes approve? I don’t think so.
Someone realistically wants us to challenge for the title this year? Y’all just like a good moan
That Kroenke interview is a good sign. All of a sudden they can be somewhat trusted. I think they’ve decided to at least in the short term invest significantly to get back into the Champions League. It looks like Josh specifically is trusting the new regime. My prediction for January is that Edu has some targets in mind and that’s why Josh has said that we’ll be busy then. Exciting all the same
“Mustafi could find his mojo back in Roma ”
Another priceless quote.
Josh “ I think the fans should understand who we are.”
Well Josh. “Just to remind you it’s the fans that make the club
and all that Bollocks about we are in it together just does not rub
with me.”
It was the massive online petition and the massive fans frustration
that caused the transfer movement.
And only because you and Dad could see this harming your lucrative
income jolly.?
Let’s face it, Emery shows passion but he doesn’t seem like the way forward. An average coach should have limped to top four with those remaining eight fixtures.
What we are waiting for him to prove after that remains unclear to me.
Anyway now he has been better equipped and if he doesn’t make top four while the likes of Chelsea make it, I’m sure he wouldn’t wait to be shown the door.
Raptora Regarding Kroenke interview I think that it is inevitable that the owner needed to react to what has been a blindingly obvious situation at Arsenal for a very long time. Over last 10 years the club has failed to punch its weight with a growing number of teams in EPL either competing or outperforming us and the club dropping down the pecking order. Arsenal are one of the three clubs in Premier League with a serious and historical pedigree. The others are Liverpool and Man Utd. Other clubs like Man City and Chelsea have acquired wealthy owners, but do… Read more »
Two games two wins into a new season and we are discussing a change of manager
I know right. Expect it to get even louder after the likely away defeat to Liverpool. It’ll still be there after the probably home victory over rivals Spurs. It’s basically always going to be here until he’s gone. Even if we were playing great football constantly and consistently they’d likely complain about the defence or the youths or some shite. It’s a lose lose situation
The best sign of all is the Saliba deal, without that deal I would have assumed this summer was just about desperation to get back in the CL wallet. But Saliba deal shows there is genuine intent to restore Arsenal sporting goodwill.
Stroller: “My guess is that Elneny and Mustafi will be offloaded in this transfer window and that will leave Ozil and Mkhitaryan to be shifted out of club next summer.”
Same. I’m still dreaming we shift either of Ozil or Mikki in the winter and with the freed salary fund a move for another exciting player.
Marko Nah i don’t think it’s lose lose for Emery in the eyes of those that matter
If we are judging by comments on here he would not have gotten the gig to begin with
Bonjour le grove from sunny France
Man the French are just an astoundingly beautiful nation of people.
Well Wenger wasn’t he was one fuggly fucker.
Even if we were playing great football constantly and consistently they’d likely complain about the defence or the youths or some shite. It’s a lose lose situation Marko Not really. Not many were complying during the 23 game run or when we were sitting pretty in 3rd with 6 games to go and in the QF of the EL. I personally am happy enough with performance levels over the last two games. What would anyone expect? We have 9 new players in the first team squad and it’s only 2 games into the season with many rusty legs yet to… Read more »
James
We’ve all got our frogs to kiss I guess.
It always stands out whenever I go abroad though how in shape everyone is in comparison to us. The food is better, they look after themselves. It’s embarrassing.
Well.
nobody is asking to change a manager 2 games into the season. Every body is asking to wake up and smell the fact that Emery might not be as good as you think considering the nasty decline we had in the last 10 games of last season.
Even if we were playing great football constantly and consistently they’d likely complain about the defence or the youths or some shite. It’s a lose lose situation
Yea…. “Constantly and consistently” are the words which needs to be emphasized.
Regardless of what you disagree with lineups, strategy, player purchases or loans, front and back office organization, it’s time to back the badge. I cannot wait for this squad to get fully healthy in defense. With the speed coming on the wings and Holding back in the middle, we look dangerous. There will be bumps along the way for sure and mistakes to be made.But we all take it on the chin together and get stronger for it. Time to put the bullshit aside and push this squad back into trophy contention. Trying to think of other bad poster motivational… Read more »
Ashwin I think you’ll find the no one is getting carried away with Emery really in the slightest. I’ve yet to see any signs of a cult like following.
Poch is the new wenger, tuchel is the new sven erickssen
i don’t even get the point Ashwin is making to be honest …no one thinks Emery is at the pinnacle of coaching
GentlebrisAugust 20, 2019 13:30:17 Believe me, Mustafi could find his mojo back in Roma and return here a top quality defender next term to partner Saliba. Most of his issues are confident based, he would never have been called into the German setup if he was shit from Adam.Dare to dream…..our £35m Mustafi shall return! —— Sure he was a good defender when he was at the top of his game but he never was great and never will. Every world class centre back has a these important qualities 1) good feet on the ball 2) either superstrong on the… Read more »
If you are going to keep harping on about the end of season collapse also acknowledge the job done to get to that point. We were not awarded points out of sympathy, our record against the other top six did not just get better on its own, we did not finish two points off third by winning a lottery, someone managed those matches although not to champagne football levels
Absolutely Unai.
They eat better than us by far.
Look after their bodies and exercise more than us
in general they do most things better than us here in the uk.
I think the French are are a bit like the Greeks they close shop
PM if I’m not mistaken.
Anyway Unai enjoy get the Lycra on and start jogging with the locals.
James
😂 already on it!! I thought I was in shape….
RH
Yes the quality of our players got us to That point I’d say. The quality of our strikers mostly.
The fact that we were swiping Napoli and Valencia aside with ease but losing quite heavily to mid table sides like wolves would speak to a motivational and game plane issue rather than one of player quality to me
The fact that we were able to beat Chelsea so comfortably in February but were destroyed 4-1 by a totally demoralized squad who were against their management by this stage also speaks to a motivational and tactical issue
T
Tarzan and Jane the Barca cb legends
The royal arsehole
Great name
Un na nai
I remember the europa league final well
TR7 not one to be easily impressed came on here at half time and called it a tactically great first half
Second half what happened??
Kos loses Giroud for a simple header
Maitland Niles who most of you adore gave away two goals in quick succession through sloppy play
So it’s funny you want to credit the “quality of the players” for every thing good about last season and the “blandness of the manager” for all bad things. It’s hilarious
Raptora I don’t think that both Mkhitaryan and Ozil will be shifted out in January, but one might. Whilst everyone is raving about Ceballos I would like to see a little more than one full game before passing judgment on him. Last Saturday he looked exceptional, but let’s see how he performs in next two games. Personally he looks like the player that Fabregas was when he played his best football for us. If he maintains the same rate of progress this season then I hope that Arsenal will make an offer that Real Madrid cannot refuse. It is rare… Read more »
Jamie Carragher: I was always kicking Ashley Cole, because they always had the ball when we played against that Arsenal team. If you were to ask me what was the toughest thing on the pitch for me, it was playing right-back against that Arsenal team, with Ashley Cole, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, because Henry was like a second left-winger. Including European teams, that Arsenal team from 2002 to 2004 were the best I ever played against. I know Manchester United have been the most successful in the Premier League era, but in terms of individually giving me the most… Read more »
Rh No. Not at all. Emery without doubt was the reason our “top 6” form was so good. All credit to him for that but he failed to motivate the players for the lesser games The quality was there to beat Chelsea spurs United and Liverpool. It was there to beat Leicester wolves and palace It just wasn’t used properly. I will give the man credit where it’s due and OF COURSE want him to succeed for arsenal this season but a spade is a spade and I’ll call it as such. The quality was there to become champions league… Read more »
Raptora
Yes….. what’s your view?
That team was the best team in Europe in 02-04 and we should have had the champions league in 04
Just goes to show though that luck plays it’s part in cups and the league is 100% win by the best team that year
Stroller
Yes I’d keep hold of one.
Incredibly that would be Ozil right now. Mob tartan looks lost
RH My response was to a post wherein it was mentioned that folks will always be unhappy with Emery even if we are playing great football. My point is, Is Emery better than Wenger (when he left) – Yes. Is he the someone who is going to win us PL or CL. – I am not so sure about that. I would be very very glad if he is able to. There were certain signs of improvement last season. We learned to win ugly. We did make progress. But we fell short when it mattered the most. And too rub… Read more »
Un na naai Imo, our Europa league games against Napoli and Valencia took precedence, mentally, over our league run in. If we had not been in the QF of the EL, we would have comfortably made top 4. No doubt about it. Our commitment in the EPL just wasn’t there towards the end. Palace at home, Leicester, Wolves and Everton away and Brighton at home should have seen us pick up the required number of points to secure top 4. By not securing top 4 the pressure against Chelski was cranked up. Yes, Emery was to blame for our mental… Read more »
“No. Not at all. Emery without doubt was the reason our “top 6” form was so good. All credit to him for that but he failed to motivate the players for the lesser games” Lesser games?? We played 38 league matches, won 21, drew 7 lost 10 Considering only three of those 21 wins were against fellow top six sides well we were pretty okay against “lesser teams” Funny thing about all this is beat Brighton, draw Palace we would have finished on 73 points, that’s third place and Emery would have been hailed as a coaching “genius” by some.… Read more »
‘Inter Milan have agreed terms with Manchester United for Alexis Sanchez. The Serie A side will not pay an initial loan fee and will cover less than half of the Chilean’s wages. Inter will, however, have a £14m option to sign Sanchez permanently.’ Not official. But wtf? They will cover half of his wages, not pay a loan fee, and have a £14m option to sign him? It’s still freakin Alexis Sanchez. Who the hell at Manure would make such a bad deal? Imagine there’s a Pierre in the Manure fan base, saying that Solskjaer should have found a way… Read more »
I think, last season,Emery’s mistake is under estimate the heavy schedule of the EPL. The players were both physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the season.
Now that the squad is deeper, I hope he will rotate the squad wisely.
Gentle reminder to many that Arsenal have not played beautiful football in many years, it’s not a new thing that just happened since Emery arrived.
“He was not able to motivate his players to fight as if their lives were dependent on it.”
Ashwin you do not need to go to war to beat Brighton and Palace at home.
Just do your jobs professionally
Don’t try to body check an attacker you don’t know where he is, don’t pull back players in the box, finish off chances from a few yards out
Un na naii There is too many people who attach importance to success in Champions League. Yes it is the pinnacle of club football, but when you take a look at what has happened since its inception it suits some clubs but not others. In Spain Real Madrid have had a stellar outcome in the competition and yet Barcelona with more limited success have been the better team in recent years. The same is the case with Juventus who are streets ahead of any other club in domestic league. Yet they have won Champions League only twice. AC Milan have… Read more »
CG
Your posts read like that of some insane oracle. I imagine some near corpse figure lying in the corner, suddenly sitting bolt upright and waffling some inane paragraphs before collapsing back into some kind of drug induced coma.
Don,
Wenger was a nothing manager in Europe.
2000/01 – first knockout round loss to Valencia
01/02 – 3rd in group
02/03 – 3rd in group
03/04 – quarter-final loss to Chelsea
04/05 – first knockout round to Bayern
Hugely incompetent to fail so badly with the phenomenal team we had at the time.
Luteo Guenreira: “Gentle reminder to many that Arsenal have not played beautiful football in many years, it’s not a new thing that just happened since Emery arrived.”
+1
Luteo Guenreira: “Gentle reminder to many that Arsenal have not played beautiful football in many years, it’s not a new thing that just happened since Emery arrived.”
How dare you!!!
Ah lads
I’m not up for the balls deep debate today. I’m signing out on this note
The league games were easier on papa tee and should have taken precedence.
Beating Leicester wolves and palace may not be easy but 3 points against 3 of those should be a formality.
Emery dropped the ball on this because his ego wanted a trophy in the first season
Ego
Who does that remind you of
Luteo
Oh come on!!
We played beautiful football last season for a while and certainly while Sanchez was at his peak.
What exactly is this beautiful football because last time we actually played that consistently if memory serves me right was in 07/08 when we fell short, that season we played some absolutely brilliant stuff week in week out, have only seen it sparingly since then so what’s this beautiful football many are pinning for again
Why don’t we just put it down to that one Brighton game. Winning and then concede a penalty. That was qualification right there.
To this day I’ve never seen any of the players get nearly as much blame for the season end collapse as the manager. I realize that comes part and parcel with the job but there were individuals significantly at fault for some of the games who frankly got passed over for criticism in lue of the manager. AMN at fault in the final for 3 goals an example Xhaka at fault against Brighton another. I seem to remember the away game at Everton where we fielded about as decent a side as we could get and the performance was absolutely… Read more »
Sometimes, no matter the learning curve, letting the young ones do the face plants while gaining experience, is the best path to success. It is at least exciting once again.
“Beautiful football” was just an euphemism to absolve Wenger of responsibility when he was so clearly off his game.
Beautiful or not, results are what matters.
Give me a string of gritty 1-0 to the Arsenal which leads to the EPL title and you’ll be hard pressed to find to complain.
Leeds
Beautiful football from us was really a myth especially after Fabregas left, i really don’t care about anything asides results, don’t care how, just win the football match
The frogs & bubs do most things better than us? Really? Nearly choked on my cornflakes.mon dieu!
Are you saying you do not want to see a clear philosophy Batistuta ???
Beautiful football from us was really a myth especially after Fabregas left, i really don’t care about anything asides results, don’t care how, just win the football match
I wholly agree with this sentiment. Of course there have been moments of beautiful football in recent years, even last season under Emery there were probably a couple moments as Un has said. But if we’re talking about philosophy and beautiful football being part of Arsenal’s identity, that distinction hasn’t accurately applied to the club probably since before Cesc’s Barca DNA kicked in and he was still invested in being a Gooner.
RVP carried the club for a couple seasons with his left foot after that. It was fun to watch but that was hardly beautiful. Talking about Alex Song lofted balls into RVP like he was Pirlo or something. Yeah fucking right.
Absolutely agree by and large the football and style has been lacking since Cesc left. Which perhaps begs the question is style and substance dependant on one or two individuals rather than a manager persay? In that regard isn’t Raul and now Edu responsible for the philosophy and style of Arsenal much more so than the head coach? I mean you can kinda see it with Ceballos and a winger being first choice over say a CB
Receding
“Are you saying you do not want to see a clear philosophy Batistuta ???”
Winning is a philosophy itself. I’d rather win the Premier league with ugly football than how we played it in 2008.
Receeding
I don’t know mate, I’m old school like that, I rather much prefer my team to win, had enough “philosophy” and “sexy football” without winning to last me a lifetime.
The philosophy bit for for me will have to come from the suits upstairs.
If after Emery the guys upstairs go and hire say a Mourinho, then we’d know our philosophy first and foremost as a club is just to win and has nothing necessarily to do with the style of football itself
Ajax have to play a CL qualifier match?? They were in the semifinal last year.
UEFA coefficients are a joke.
Olumide Yea that’s another part, the more games the players win as a team, the more that mentality and maybe “philosophy” is ingrained in them. Like many said yesterday,watching United under Fergie, it never used to be about any particular pattern really except through individual brilliance and then that mentality that they dare not lose, how they achieved that didn’t really matter i feel and that’s why he won the league with some absolute pant players and all that late late goals, they just kept going till the end whether the ball went in through a brilliant Rooney goal or… Read more »
Luteo Guenreira: “Gentle reminder to many that Arsenal have not played beautiful football in many years, it’s not a new thing that just happened since Emery arrived.”
I actually agree with luteo here.People here have a habit of distorting history especially just to prove a point that Emery is ‘bland’.During Wenger’s final years we played shit football,xhaka sideways passing were a common phenomenal,so I don’t understand the common theme here.
UEFA, FIFA, FA… all jokes anyway.
Guess to an extent it’s the reason why the rivalry with Wenger was so strong back in the day, in came this Frenchman with sexy football and all that philosophy talk to challenge United and their win at all costs style, Fergie did tweak it a bit after Arsene came, tried with his own version of flair players, the Veron experiment, the Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo axis of torment, the difference though with Wenger was he always had a plan B which wasn’t too different from plan A which remained to win at all costs but with us, we could have… Read more »
Dani
It goes further back , i remember that RVP season and the football that season was just plain drab, almost atrocious at times but he kept bailing us out
Beautiful football didn’t take us anyway,still remember when we had Cesc,Nasri,RVP and the others we won nothing,if Emery can play dirty,ugly and we progress as a team am game for it.
I think first we need to instill a winning mentality into the team so all the players yearn for winning and not fancy football,when that has been engrained into our system then we can then talk of playing beautifully
This what Carragher had had to say about the much praised Lampard “philosophy” he has supposedly implemented in two hours
Carragher told Sky Sports: ‘What would worry him [Lampard] most is that it’s like watching a basketball game. People keep talking about them being naive. They have got no organisation in possession.
‘Every clip I look at there is a 40 square by 40 square of space. They are not organised in an attack. It’s too easy to get out, that’s why it becomes a basketball game.”
Some people really refuse to understand the concept of philosophy. Having a philosophy does not mean playing beautiful football. It means having a consistent, coherent way to approach football games.
Ugly football such as ultra deep defending, kicking the opposition, playing counter-attacking football and hoofing the ball to the strikers is a philosophy. Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce have a philosophy.
Even England U21 manager Aidy Boothroyd has a philosophy. It just happen that he can’t even execute it properly and that is backward neanderthal football, but it is a philosophy.
“Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce have a philosophy.”
Unai Emery is the only manager without a philosophy ladies and gents
“Ugly football such as ultra deep defending, kicking the opposition, playing counter-attacking football and hoofing the ball to the strikers is a philosophy.”
But setting up to nullify the strengths of the opposition is not???
‘Beautiful football didn’t take us anyway’
This is not true at all. It was not our flamboyant style of football which came in the way of winning silverware. We didn’t win big trophies in 2005-2011 period only because we were short in at least 2 to 3 positions every season. If anything beautiful football helped us remain in contention for league titles but ultimately gaping holes in our squad cost us every damn season.
Having a philosophy does not mean that your tactic on the day are correct. You can also have the right tactic, but the wrong players or one player let you down by moving in an incorrect position. Wenger and Emery had the same issue where Ramsey was tactically indisciplined, rushing forward leaving gap behind. Lampard issue are tactical and self inflicted. Yes his philosophy is to encourage his team to press forward, but he incorrectly setup his midfield. Once the opposition sussed them out, they keep exploiting the same deficiencies. Issue 1, Mason Mount will sometimes be too eager and… Read more »
If that’s the case then Emery has a philosophy. It’s based on an analytic approach to the opponent and a flexible game plan during the game. It has passing out from the back and it may or may not include a bit of a high press depending on who plays. If Ozil or Mhiki play no press if Nelson or Willock play for example then a press
It’s also based around wide attacking players hence the reason a winger was the first choice target this summer and hence the lack of a number 10 these days
‘Beautiful football didn’t take us anyway’ This is not true at all. It was not our flamboyant style of football which came in the way of winning silverware. We didn’t win big trophies in 2005-2011 period only because we were short in at least 2 to 3 positions every season. If anything beautiful football helped us remain in contention for league titles but ultimately gaping holes in our squad cost us every damn season. Maybe I didn’t think of top 4 from that perspective,I was actually looking at silverware like when we weren’t exactly playing beautifully but won FA Cups,I… Read more »
Receding, Setting up to nullify the strengths of the opposition is not a philosophy. It is a tactic. If team A play slow ball on the floor and team B play high intensity crosses with wingers, then the setup for Arsenal will be completely different. That’s the difference between strategy and tactic. Strategy is the overall plan and method to achieve your goal. Strategy is Macro, Tactic is micro. I have already explained why in the long run having a strategy is helpful for consistent, coherent style and level of play. Having no strategy but tactic is fine for ad-hoc… Read more »
Valentin No one is saying beautiful football is the only philosophy. Far from it. But if you don’t think a pocket of the critics aren’t jumping on the “lack of philosophy” angle because Arsenal have traditionally been known for beautiful football and we’ve lacked it under Emery, you are being naive. This was not even a discussion about Emery and the philosophy thing, I just mentioned the beautiful football bit because a couple posters in the first page alluded to that as part of their issue with Emery. Don’t need to watch the matches and whatever. But since you did… Read more »
For my sins, I listen to Drive on TalkSports, with Adrian Durham and Darren Gough. I’ve always liked AD’s take on everything Arsenal( I wonder why?) because, most of the time, he was 100% correct. Tonight he has been talking up Arsenal’s chances of attaining a top 4 position. He also thinks they should focus their efforts entirely on the league and use the EL as a secondary event. In other words not take it seriously. I actually agree with him. Play the youngsters in the EL along with the fringe first team squad players and see what happens. Protect… Read more »
Ah the philosophy argument rears its ugly head again.
Quick somebody mention Xg stats it’s been so long since we talked about that!
Sexy football under arsenal went missing around the last decade.
It occasionally flashes it knickers every now and again then disappears quicker than Wayne Rooney at a grab a granny disco.
Give me winning football and trophies before we look at sexy football again.
I think “philosophy” is a bit of a misnomer in this conversation. We can blame Van Gaal and his inflated ego. A better would would be “vision”. Every coach has a vision for how they want the game to be played, and will normally set up their teams to play in accordance with that vision.
I mean, philosophy, come on. It’s football, not Plato’s symposium.
It kinda begs the question why so many wanted Arteta as manager despite not knowing if he had a philosophy or not. I was actually thinking recently about managers like Vieira and Nagelsmann who are likely to be in with a shout for next Arsenal manager and sure Nagelsmann does have a philosophy not altogether geared towards good defending or great attacking football the numbers don’t add up but it’s a philosophy. Vieira on the other hand doesn’t really seem to have a particular philosophy. Maybe we should overlook him. Benitez was another one linked with the job and his… Read more »
Love the fact that the Australian PM feels it is wrong for England supporters to be booing Steve Smith.
Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot. I’ve been to Australia and sat in the stands and listened to the foul -mouth abuse dished out to the England players.
Oh yeh and most of that abuse came from the Aussie players!!
Don’t wish any harm on Smith but let’s not forget he will always be seen as a cheat, no matter where he goes.
Suck it up Australia!
Best wishes from a true Pommie Bastard.
foul-mouthed
Luteo, Yes you are right in that in my mind philosophy is the overall pattern of play a manager tries to instill to his team. I have already answered Receding regarding Fergie philosophy, however hard work is not a philosophy, it is a basic requirements of any professional footballer. Pep, Tony Pulis, Klopp, Sam Allardyce, Fergie, Steve Bruce, Emery all expect their players to work hard and follow their instructions. Maybe Emery failed to impose his vision because he did not had the players to do so, but right now like last year our attack relies on set pieces and… Read more »
Arsenal haven’t played particularly good football since about 2010 Some time after that we fell into a really bland game of infinite possession but very little of anything resembling excitement. Very predictable, largely one dimensional and lacking in explosive players or dynamism outside of one or two players (cesc, rvp, Sanchez delivered) We had the odd big win and here and there a wonder goal, but a 90 minute match wasn’t that entertaining, made worse by the fact you never felt secure without a 3 goal lead We could be playing relegation fodder with a 2 goal lead in the… Read more »
Marko not sure if that was satire but if you’re being serious Emery copped fuck all blame on here for the late season collapse, people on here were legitimately saying that he was working with worse players than mid table sides and bending over backwards to just put the blame on the players and away from him.
Santiago also was quality when he was fit
Wengereagle loads of people criticized emery on here for the end of season collapse
I for one said I’d have been glad if he’d been sacked after the EL defeat
That’s how you see things WE and unsurprisingly we know what side of the fence you sit on but by and large it was Emery’s fuck up and that’s okay to a certain point.
Just love seeing Freddie( Mr Calvin Klein) pitchside.
We definitely have the best looking assistant in world football. Most ladies/gents would agree. My wife certainly does.
Looks aside, Freddie is a legend and I’m sure all the players have the utmost respect for the guy.
Yep, Arsenal FC has the Patrick Swayze of football on their side.
Has to count for something.