via Arsenal Insta
Two points dropped. Right?
The story was a familiar one. A Granit Xhaka mistake costing us a needless goal. Two if you’re being very harsh.
The first came when he and Sokratis made a total mess of a clearance inside 11 minutes. The whole team folded allowing Lamela to fizz a shot across Leno, he parried it into the path of Eriksen, and we went one down.
The second mistake was an inexplicable lunge in the penalty box. Careless, unprofessional, but oh so very Granit Xhaka. Kane buried the penalty like a robot was a two-step special.
I don’t even want to get into the needless fouling towards the end when we were trying to chase the game. He wasn’t even playing players and he was slowing down the play.
It’s all so avoidable. Just don’t pick him. Emery has watched him make mistake after mistake for an entire year… he knows that he can’t stand up to pressure… he knows that he does dim things very consistently… so what does he do? He picks him against Spurs and gives him the captains armband in some sort of weird masochistic show of authority.
The midfield he chose was quite odd. Basically 3 deep-lying midfielders. Very little creativity. It didn’t really give us much solidity, as we were all over the place in the first half, and it gave us real trouble transitioning the ball forward. Lacazette was constantly dropping deep to collect the ball, sometimes from our own penalty box.
Thankfully, the Frenchman came through to save our half. Pepe sliced a ball into his path, he took two very good touches and forced the ball past Lloris from close range. That goal gave us a much-needed boost heading into the second half.
We came out a much more forceful side. The halftime team talk must have focused on urgency, pressure and more adventure moving forward. The game suddenly clicked into a proper North London derby, there was next to no structure, the ball was travelling end to end at a ferocious pace, and defending went out the window for both sides (not like it was ever in the window for us).
The manager introduced Ceballos for LT, and that gave us a different sort of energy. It introduced a link between attack and midfield, and it gave us a bit more mobility in midfield. Still didn’t stop Harry Kane waltzing into the box and ripping a shot off the inside of Leno’s post.
Still, you’d be hard pushed to convince me Arsenal weren’t deserving of a goal, the winds blew heavily in our favour and we looked far more menacing than Spurs.
The goal that levelled it was a thing of beauty. Matteo G threaded an outrageous pass that levelled the whole Spurs team, Auba gliding it past with the lightest of touches. It was out of this world.
We still had time for a Harry Kane dive, he shifted his body inside Sokratis running path and threw himself to the ground. It wasn’t even clever. It was pure out and out cheating. It really, really, really needs to be dealt with. His cheating is out of control. If he weren’t English, he’d be getting lampooned by the media.
So what can we conclude?
The Xhaka thing
Emery has to stop relying on Xhaka. He’s slow, ponderous, bad under pressure and he makes massive errors more often than any Arsenal player I can remember. I can give a pass to him for last season, but now it’s starting to look like a real blindspot.
Bland Midfields
Additionally, the manager needs to start being more aggressive with his line-ups. That midfield was always going to be bland. We shouldn’t have to watch strikers drop deep to make up for a lack of creativity. It made little sense to have 3 similar midfielders sitting in a flat line yesterday, especially when Spurs were there for the taking. We gave them far too much defensive respect and it didn’t even pay off, we conceded 8 shots in the first half, with 7 of them on target. An abomination.
The Masterful
I think that Matteo G just announced himself on the world stage. That performance was nothing short of sensational. He was at the heart of everything. His passing was good, he ran with the ball well, he was ambitious and his attitude was absolutely exceptional all game long. That should be the standard for every game moving forward. Incredible that he’s only 20 years old. A megastar in waiting.
Pepe
I’ve seen some tasteless Arsenal fans comparing him to Gervinho. Utter drivel. The man hasn’t clicked yet, but you can see he’s going to be absolutely class. He has that air of unpredictability we need in that front line, he’s fast, he can pass, he reads the game well and I think he’s going to be capable of explosive moments of brilliance. He just needs a bit of luck, then he’s away.
Defence
Spurs had a lot of good chances yesterday. I think if I watched that game again, I’d be appalled at some of the defending. We are going to need to sharpen up, we are too easy to get at, and we gave key Spurs players far too much time to do their thing yesterday. Leno kept that scoreline acceptable yesterday, but he won’t save us like that all season. David Luiz also needs to be pulled to one side… that’s 4 errors in 3 games from him. Not good enough.
Top 4
I think we’re nailed on for the top 3 this season. Spurs don’t look the same, Chelsea will struggle, and United are utterly average. It’s basically ours to lose, I just hope that isn’t an invitation to coast. Emery needs to tighten the ship and he needs to find a way of unlocking the magic more consistently.
Right, that’s me done, see you in the comments. x
Pochettino has spent £102m on players this season, hardly Poundland budget lol
azed “The only thing Poch is better than Emery at are things that are immeasurable like sauciness and style of play…” That’s not true though is it. Poch went through a whole EPL season conceding only 26 goals. Could you see Emery doing this considering he couldn’t even make significant inroads into Wenger’s poor goals against record last few seasons? The real disappointing thing is that Emery actually stated that Wenger’s team had lost “defensive structure” . Good I thought he has identified a problem here. This means he will address it. Well it wasn’t addressed if the goals against… Read more »
“We’ve seen neither in the last two games mate so have yourself a seat with another belter of a comment there, you must be lightheaded.”
Well Poch style hasn’t delivered any in the last two games……. what’s your point?
Funny thing about all this is Pochettino once felt it necessary to publicly thank Emery for recommending him for a job, that it was an honor and all. As a young coach in Spain he would have picked up a thing or two from Emery.
Even he will argue against the Emery is clueless and garbage line, that’s the one that has stuck with me. Clueless and garbage.. Unai Emery..boggles the mind
Since when ‘gross spend’ has become a thing ? Net spend is all that matters
Net spend is all that matters when you’ve got a weak ass argument. If the argument is austerity and meagre budgets then that’s met with money spent
Azed
Tell us when Emery will go through a whole EPL season conceding only 26 goals.
You have said it’s only about sauciness with Poch.
That is not true.
Since Emery’s arrival Arsenal have been the better team in the 3 league encounters against Spurs
“That goal tally was purely down to us having two potent goal scorers in Auba and Laca. Don’t conflate their effectiveness with Emery’s non existent style.”
TR7
Emery
Big chances created 72
Poch
Big chances created 64
Emery created more big chances with Iwobi and Mhkitaryan…
I await your excuse telling me Iwobi is better than Son.
Pep net spend since joining City is approaching £500m.
Ishola
What was the end result of Poch going the season conceding only 26 goals?
That’s like saying you attended all classes and failed to graduate….What’s the point?
Just don’t let the fact that Saucy Poch is currently their manager make you deny his potential be one of the best managers.
It reeks of jealousy and of the fox and the grapes.
Harry Kane has been a force of nature for years now scoring for fun, guess he isn’t very potent, Pochettino is suffering .
He was comically whiny the other day when discussing his project and our project pre-NLD but he had a point. He said we have bought the best goal scorer in Germany, the best striker in France, then Pepe, and they…..haven’t.
Emphasis on the comically. How many years since the stadium move did we buy those players. Poch himself loves to play the poverty angle
lol where do these stats come from and who compiles them.
Not just these latest ones shown but so many on here.
Stats are only as good as the compiler but yet they are thrown around like the gospel on here.
Marko
‘Net spend is all that matters when you’ve got a weak ass argument. If the argument is austerity and meagre budgets then that’s met with money spent’
If you lose RVP and replace them with Podolski and Giroud, at best you maintain status quo. You don’t grow as team. You grow when you add Podolski.and Giroud on top of RVP. Gross spend is a misleading stat
CC
“Put any of Pep, Klopp, or Poch in charge of our squad and we achieve more than we’re currently getting. Think it’s reached the point where any denial of that is done from a padded room”
100%
azed
They finished 2nd in the league with only 26 goals conceded.
But’s that not the point is it.
The point is you were giving out falsehoods saying Poch is only about worthless style and no substance.
Plenty of substance wouldn’t you think to get wibbly wobbly Spurs to only concede 26 goals throughout a whole season.
And what has been Arsenal’s main weakness for god knows how long now azed?
Azed
‘TR7
Emery
Big chances created 72Poch
Big chances created 64’
This stat is again misleading if you don’t contextualize it with no of chances opposition teams created against Arsenal and Spurs.
Spurs transfer policy has yielded zero trophies. Time to loosen the purse strings and spend some money.
“Stats are only as good as the compiler but yet they are thrown around like the gospel on here.”
You mean the wah you have been using “once conceded 26 goals” as a metric of some sort here? Yea says so much about you Ishola
“Well Poch style hasn’t delivered any in the last two games……. what’s your point?“
Azed you miss the forest for the trees. Earlier you talked up how poor Poch’s record is in 2019….but he still finished above us and made a CL final in tandem.
Poch and Spurs are in a proper state, out of form, players angling for moves, disarray behind the scenes. Still we had to snatch a draw after being 2-0 at home. Your man ain’t special, time to let the smelling salts do their thing.
Tearing Poch down doesn’t build Emery up.
Not sure you’re fit to debate finances if you think gross spend is the way to judge a manager and net spend is ‘weak ass’
Mystic
You are not serious surely.
Are you comparing such a bare stat as goals against to a wider implied stat such as “big” chances created.
How “big” do these chances have to be? Slightly “big, semi- “big”, “big-big” or just plain old “big” lol
In Emery’sfirst season he took a bedraggled Arsenal and finished just 1 point behind the super talented Pochetrino.
A compiler has no room for interpretation Mystic in goals against.
It’s a bare old fact.
The good news for various on here is that Emery likely doesn’t get a contract extension.
“The good news for various on here is that Emery likely doesn’t get a contract extension”
Various?
All surely?
Its amazing the difference that 1 point made last season.
Poch wouldn’t be getting so much air time.
Poch isn’t ruthless enough for my liking. 2-0 up they should of battered us. They still could not find a way to beat us.
And Emery is just a tinker man.
I hope Emery can make significant inroads in regards goals against.
If he can’t then riddance.
Amidst the same pointless drivel as ever it is worth noting how big it is that Guendouzi got his first french call up after a promising start to the season
Marko
Proud of the lad.
Charlie
‘All surely?’
I can’t even imagine the pain Receding will go through if Emery is dumped.
Emery has been in the job for 5 minutes and already Champagne charlie wants rid, this after giving Wenger 10 years of the benefit of the doubt….lol lol
No pain at all, I will simply look at the next manager and hope he succeeds…criticize him when need arises and praise him when he does well under whatever circumstances we happen to find ourselves then.
I certainly won’t come out with words like clueless and garbage.
Is Miki going on loan to Roma lads?
“Stats are only as good as the compiler but yet they are thrown around like the gospel on here.”
So why have you been throwing stats around?
Tr7
Says a lot. The aspirations should be sky high, we should be dreaming of the days we can embarrassingly deride players like Mahrez for being pony.
Instead we’re in a position of saying Torreira will come good and we’re Bellerin away from being transformed. We’re not, he’s good, but we’re not getting judged on our clobber here.
Charlie, there will be some willing to give him more time I’m sure.
Imagine in 2005/2006 someone posted on here that we were rubbish in the league and only finished fourth due to Spurs having players out through food poisoning because Wenger was prioritizing the champions league.
CC
“Quite telling that we’ve spent 200 mil in two seasons”
27m Saliba not here until next season
25m Tierney hasn’t kicked a ball in anger for us yet
72m Pepe has played less than 3 games
That’s 124 of those 200m with less than 3 games between them, but sure, use it as a club to beat Emery with. If we don’t see improvement by January then by all means go crazy but this is just ridiculous.
Azed
Because goals against stat is bare fact.
Big chances created is not a bare fact. It’s a compilers interpretation.
Samesong its been announced as a loan. Some report that theres an option to buy and some say its just a 1 year loan.
Left He looked so happy in the photo. Hope he don’t come back!
If Emery dumps Xhaka (a comical player who Champagne adores) then he deserves a contract extension with bonuses.
Azed
Surely we can agree that Emery needs to make inroads into the poor goals against record.
That he didn’t do this in his first season after talking about lack of defensive structure under Wenger was a poor aspect really in his first year.
Unlike others on here though I hope he can make progress in this aspect.
Freddie
Put the full quote in there, some might think you’re angling.
“Quite telling that we’ve spent 200 mil in two seasons and we’re still hearing excuses from 3 years ago about Xhaka being a fuckwit”
So some folk aren’t talking up how pony some players are and absolving the manager for it? Suggest you have a read at all offerings and not just your fave bunch you like to throw mud at.
4 games into the new season and the players are crap is back in the mix.
“Azed you miss the forest for the trees. Earlier you talked up how poor Poch’s record is in 2019….but he still finished above us and made a CL final in tandem. Poch and Spurs are in a proper state, out of form, players angling for moves, disarray behind the scenes. Still we had to snatch a draw after being 2-0 at home. Your man ain’t special, time to let the smelling salts do their thing.” You are mistaken CC, Its you, Pedro, and TR7 are missing the forest for the trees. If style, vision and Sauce were all you guys… Read more »
Xhaka is a fuckwit though Charlie.
CC
Last season we were told our squad was basically Wenger’s squad even though we added 5 new players. In the current team, only Laca, Auba, Bellerin and Xhaka are Wenger era players of which the first three are valuable to our squad. So quite predictably the usual suspects have started shifting all the blame now on to Xhaka. If only Xhaka weren’t there, Emery would have led us up the golden path. I am not a fan of Xhaka myself but I find it very amusing how the agenda is slowly changing from blame Wenger-Gazidis to blame Xhaka.
“Surely we can agree that Emery needs to make inroads into the poor goals against record.”
Emery said he would rather win 5-4 than 1-0.
Newcastle conceded less goals than us would you rather trade positions with them?
Pedro, I didn’t think Juve fired Allegri? I thought he left for personal reasons, are you saying that’s rubbish?
Xhaka has always been a problem TR7.
Yeah 90 minutes has him as not being renewed too. I thought Allegri left of his own accord. I guess that was just saving face.
“Because goals against stat is bare fact.”
Goals scored is also a bare fact and we scored more than Spurs……
How can a bland, timid Emery team outscore red hot Poch’s team?
Ishola
‘Xhaka has always been a problem TR7.’
Few have railed against Xhaka and Mustafi more than I have on here but I am talking about the subtle shift in agenda of pro Emery guys.
azed
”Emery said he would rather win 5-4 than 1-0.
Newcastle conceded less goals than us would you rather trade positions with them?”
Why are we talking about Newcastle for azed?
We should be looking up.
You don’t want to follow a team that are involved in sunday park football scorelines do you?
That’s amateurish.
“Big chances created is not a bare fact. It’s a compilers interpretation.”
Ishola
Also remember to say this when Pedro and co bring up xG, sauce,blandness and the likes…
The day Xhaka arrived he was a shit player along with Mustafi…
lol xG
Of course.
I upset Gambon on here azed when he was throwing around xG’s.
I have said it before and I would say it again
Pedro should write a post on how we would judge managers at the end of the season.
The only Caveat is all criteria must be measurable and not subject different interpretations.
How many Pro Emery guys are on here though TR7?
Maybe people are talking about Xhaka because he had a poor game just yesterday.. Not everything is geared around agendas
Did we concede two needless goals yesterday through individual errors? Yes
So what’s the agenda?
CC
Well, Xhaka is crap, it’s on Emery that he picks him although I can kind of see where he’s coming from. All our experienced players bar Auba and Laca are our worst performers basically so if none of them play we’re a very young team. Still, Xhaka shouldn’t start for us in the league.
Stop making out like you’re some kind of victim here CC, I just pointed out that your 200m spent claim while technically true doesn’t mean anything at this stage. Grow up.
Azed,
All data is subject to interpretation.
You just tried to frame Emery’s end of season demise as a penalty miss.
I would say it’s those who do not want individual errors mentioned that have an agenda
TR7 I know, the evolution of excuses is something to behold. Utterly predictable too, I think myself and Unaai had a chuckle along the lines that this would be the excuse for next season and what do you know. Some still clinging desperately to the idea anything Wenger contacted is tainted etc. Personally I think we’ve simply brought in someone who hasn’t the meat and veg to impose his ideas (of which are questionable). Even the poor players of the current squad can turn in ‘better’ performances under better management imo, let alone some of the more talented boys. If… Read more »
Ish, Gambon’s xG push proved out. Not sure he’s upset about being correct.
Not sure if Allegri still had a contract past last season, but he was speaking of taking time out from the game. Seems the decision to leave Juve suited both club and coach. The year before he was having English lessons. I would take him instantly if he was interested. I think he would be more keen next summer than he may have been last year. The style discussion is interesting regarding Juve and Sarri. If there is evidence that Sarriball is taking hold but Juve fall short of winning Serie A, would they stick with him? I’m not convinced.… Read more »
We should investigate if we could persue criminal charges for buying Xhaka and Mustafi. There is absolutely no doubt we were royaly shafted!
Chris, interesting to see what Edu decides… he’s come from a pragmatist background in Brazil, so Allegri would be a straight forward choice.
Freddie
Victim? Christ you’re soft.
“Well, Xhaka is crap, it’s on Emery that he picks him although I can kind of see where he’s coming from”
That just about does it for you. Happy to acknowledge an issue and absolve Emery all in the one sentence. Up the hill we go again.
It’s funny how people here can call a manager “great” when he has never won a trophy. It’s also funny how you can discuss great managers and say something like “trophy isn’t all that matters.” Of course, trophies is all that matters. Why are Barca and Real Madrid the biggest team in Spain? Why are Liverpool and Man United the biggest team in England? Not style of play. Trophies. Everything Poch has achieved, Emery has achieved. Plus Emery has 10 more trophies. And for those talking about style of play, Emery has now played Poch 3 times in the league… Read more »
from 7am:
“With Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Cech, Lich, Monreal, Iwobi, Elneny and Jenkinson off the books Arsenal have shaved £44m off the annual expenditures on player salaries. Adding back in Pepe, Ceballos, Luiz, Martinelli, Willock, and Nelson, plus an increase to Guendouzi, Arsenal still saved over £30m in salary this year. ”
Also saving in the 10m we had to pay Wenger and his staff last year so that’s 40m added to the budget just in wages saved. Pretty impressive, just a shame we couldn’t get any decent fees for some of the wasters.
What exactly is Pochettino’s philosophy?
He seems similar to Emery in that whatever players he has available dictates how his teams play. When Delle, Eriksen, Kane, and Son are fit they are all naturally compliment each other, with Delle making off the ball runs and Eriksen dropping deep, yet when anyone of them are injured Spurs basically make it up as they go along. They end up using their physicality in whatever way they can, with very little pattern of play to speak of. Lumping up to Llorente last season was very ‘chameleon’ like.
Receding
‘Did we concede two needless goals yesterday through individual errors? Yes’
Pray tell why we were carved open at the back every time Spurs launched a counter attack on us even as Emery picked 3 DMs in our line up ? Do you think we employed wrong tactics or do you think we are not drilled defensively or all this is just due to Xhaka ? Saying all of it is due to Xhaka is agenda. Deliberately missing the wood for the trees.
“All data is subject to interpretation.
You just tried to frame Emery’s end of season demise as a penalty miss.”
Pedro
Not all data is subject to person interpretation…
You also framed Poch’s end season failure as plan because he was going to the UCL final.
Pedro
I wish we’d went pragmatist right after Wenger, we were crying out for it with the frailties we’d exhibited for the last handful of seasons.
I mean I’d have loved a proper go with it and seen someone green get a look, but with more and more time it seems we’re crying out for someone that can send us out with a shred of sense in how to be hard to beat.
Pedro
Yeah what Edu does next in terms of the coach will be very telling. He will know the defence needs sorting out. I hope the next choice of coach reflects that.
Emery is getting the max out of the Squad. …
Kolasinac-Donkey
Xhaka-2 Donkeys
Maitland-Novice
Mkhitaryan-Joke
Sokratis-Lumbering Ox.
Cellabos-Lightweight
Torriera-Midget
Leno-Butter fingers
Lacazette-Tubby c***
Aubameyang-Lazy
Pepe-Gifted.
TR7 it’s called a counter attack for a reason, means one team were on the attack lost the ball and were countered. Why were Spurs carved open in normal play if they had one of the best managers in the world up against a clueless idiot?
And Guendouzi isn’t a DM nor is Xhaka a defensive anything, this three DM line is nonsense
CC “Suggest you have a read at all offerings and not just your fave bunch you like to throw mud at.” Who’s soft exactly? I see you’re going to do the whole spinning around in circles thing again, I’m not interested. “Well, Xhaka is crap, it’s on Emery that he picks him although I can kind of see where he’s coming from. All our experienced players bar Auba and Laca are our worst performers basically so if none of them play we’re a very young team. Still, Xhaka shouldn’t start for us in the league.” Yeah, I really absolved Emery… Read more »
Pedro
“Gambon’s xG push proved out. Not sure he’s upset about being correct.”
And on another day it won’t prove out.
As you correctly said all open to interpretation.
Can give indications of course but some hold them a bit too dear to their hearts.
CC
Totally agree. I remember when Martinez took over from Moyes at Everton. He benefited from the defensive organisation previously instilled and allowed the players to venture forward more to attack. It worked for one season but sometimes I think we could have enjoyed the reverse of that, if you like. All the attacking qualities we possessed with a defensively sound coach making us hard to beat at the same time.
So many pro spuds people on an arsenal blog. It’s comical. If Poch was this all great coach who is better than Emery, why do people have to defend him so ferociously? If the argument was about klopp and emery, who wins? Or pep and emery?. That we’re here comparing both shows that they are comparable to start with. Emery trumps Poch in all measurable categories. You mention it. I’m not talking about silly tags like sauce or hot or some shit. I’m talking about tangible stats. Let the Poch fans answer that. Forget about context. Just straight up facts.… Read more »
“If I were to assign a percentage to how much Emery is getting out the squad it would be circa 60%. Poch at Spurs I’m recent seasons would be circa 90%, Pep and Klopp circa 95+%.”
Sorry if it seems like I’m picking on you Charlie but when you come out with absolute belters like this it just can’t be helped.
We were getting 60% out of a piss poor unbalanced squad last year and still managed to finish 2 points off 3rd? We must have the best players in the world then, who would have thought. Smh.
Paulinho A well oiled defense further protected by two big guys im front of them of which one sits back while the other plays slightly forward to help in attack but still never loses the sight of his duties in defense. Of the 4 forward players, one guy is entrusted with the task of making off the ball runs while the other 3 are your traditional wingers and strikers. When Spurs don’t have the ball, all players try to either get in to defensive positions or press from their respective positions. Their physical midfielders try to win the ball off… Read more »
Chris I think the whole club needs a stark reminder of what a stable base is all about and why it’s so valuable. I love our progressive and fluid ideology, but it’s not well balanced and in many ways utterly dismissive to the art of defending. We need a hard reset imo, I’d gladly witness the evolution of us into a dogged impenetrable side for a few seasons that will give us a platform for future expansive, but winning, football. Ideally you want both. But next gaffer has to lean on the defensive side if he can’t do the lot… Read more »
Says a lot about our midfield when a kid is MOTM.
I’m still waiting for the answers. I doubt if any would be able to answer tho. And that ladies and gentlemen, is the answer to the arguments.
I missed it, what was your question SilverHawk?
CC Yep, would love to go 1-0 up again and know in all likelihood the game is won. Simeone the closest comparison I can think of in terms of peak George Graham teams. And a surprising amount of people forget that we played some swash buckling stuff under him too, the last couple of years excepted. After the end run of 91-92 we didn’t really sparkle too often under him. I don’t mean to bark back to him at all but that’s the doggedness we need again, and I do believe with all the attacking talent we now have we… Read more »
RH
‘TR7 it’s called a counter attack for a reason, means one team were on the attack lost the ball and were countered. ‘
So you are saying we were not suspect at the back the entire first half ? And that bringing a CAM did not put the pressure back on to Spurs in 2nd half which ideally he should have done when he picked his 11 for the game ?
Oh I just saw Silver, I missed it the first time around! Just for confirmation are you asking people to tell you what areas Poch trumps Emery?
“Of the 4 forward players, one guy is entrusted with the task of making off the ball runs ” This is the thing; whenever Delle is missing I don’t see any off the ball runs in organised play. Delle will make runs beyond even if the opposition are dropping off but when he is not there I only see Sissoko and Co making runs when obvious gaps appear on the counter. I mentioned it last year, but it’s the mental calmness that Poch imparts that seems to be his greatest strength. They never get flustered or rattled, and it was… Read more »
CC
So Benitez for you ^^
How many years? And what aim?
TR7 we were suspect at the back the entire game. This idea Ceballos made us defensively more solid is simply being put forward because many felt he should have started. He gave away the ball for three of the counters in the second half.
And Spurs were under pressure even when we had three alleged DM’s on the pitch.
Chris
I said the same earlier on the subject of whether we should be more pragmatic this season. Some talked about how it would disrupt our attack and for the life of me I can’t see how in this current side.
For me we’re pretty average in attack as is and rely heavily on individual ingenuity vs any pretty patterns of play or dominance. A resolute and competent defence would only serve to strengthen us as I see it. Not buying for a second that we’d suddenly be peak Bolton, more like a sexier Leicester.
We’re basically playing our second string back 4 now, with poor fullbacks and 2 stop gaps at CB, hopefully that will all change over the next couple of weeks with Bellerin Holding and Tierney back. With Saliba coming next season and maybe another addition in CB if needed it’s looking a lot more competent than it does now.
Xhaka obviously also needs replacing asap with a non idiot. If Emery is not cutting it then boot him out in the summer and get someone else in with bad teeth so the usual suspects have something to whinge about.
N5
Yes basically. That’s the question. Let anyone who feels Poch is better rationally outline them. I don’t mean things like he can build a squad, has a pattern, etc. Even Dyche has that and can do that.
I mean basic stats like achievements, win ratio, clubs managed, etc
Wouldn’t it be great if emery was doing a sneaky little madness and giving xhaka the rope to hang himself with , putting him right in the middle of at all to really get exposed
Ohhhh the saucy little bastard he would be if he were doing that – here’s to hoping 😂