The Unai Emery rebuild has been drab; a touch like watching builders plaster your walls. Except it never ends. You’re waiting for the paint to go on so you can think about new furniture and all the sexy Ikea artwork you’re going to put up, but it never happens. The plasterer is still pointing out the mold, blaming Arsene Wenger for not looking after the basics from way back when. The Watford showing felt like us revisiting a familiar damp problem that never really went away.
The game was par the course for Emer-enger. We created very little. Our defence was porous. Our midfield couldn’t match up physically and didn’t offer any cover. Our transitions moving forward were fleeting and stingy. There was no leadership on the pitch. There was no style to speak of.
It was very Unai Emery, the ultimate footballing plasterer.
I am trying to offer up more balance to the way I report on him, but it’s tough. As you know, I was highly sceptical of the search and select process. The owners clearly didn’t do their due diligence / the job spec was wildly off. Emery struggled to control egos at PSG, he was painfully pragmatic, had no pedigree for building a defence, and couldn’t speak English in his interview. His hiring was about as rational as a petrol station birthday present run… NOW 47 in a plastic bag type scenes.
That said, I have to be fair, he had an excuse last season. He was picking up the pieces of a legendary manager that had lost his mind. The club lacked a winning culture. The professional footballers he inherited needed tactical education, they needed fitness, and they needed focus.
… he found the cure immediately and we all celebrated it. We went on a 22 game unbeaten run. The real issues came when Emery’s ideas settled and he’d beaten the last of Wengerball out of the squad.
It’s now been over a year. We can’t continue to make those excuses anymore. We have to judge what we see and we have to hold the manager accountable. So far, it’s very hard to excuse what we’re watching. Yesterday was a dark day.
Arsenal has conceded 96 shots so far this season. That’s the most of any club in the top 5 leagues. We shipped 31 shots against a team that was rooted to the bottom of the league. We have NEVER conceded that many shots in a game. Sure, many of those were speculative, but the reality is, no club should feel comfortable enough to rifle off that many attempts at your goal. No midfield should be gifting so much freedom to below-average players.
We created very little moving forward. Emery’s system lacks imagination and the players don’t seem to know what they’re doing. The brilliance of Auba continues to rescue us. That is not a sustainable plan. If it is the plan, then we need to be brutally solid defence so his goals from nothing count for something.
Arsenal were bullied physically. We couldn’t out-fight Watford for the full 90mins. It’s so simple to get at us, just pressure our defence and midfield. We struggle to play out of the back, our transitions are wildly inconsistent, and when things start going wrong there are no leaders on the pitch to drive us out of the mess.
We are still making individual errors. David Luiz had another poor performance, but look, how can you critique him, the midfield in front of him has no shape or structure. They let Watford bypass them all day, how are centre backs supposed to mitigate zero protection? The midfield was either in the backline defending too deep, or nowhere to be seen.
We are an absolute mess at the minute. Emery has picked up this season where he left off. He has better players, but he’s just as confused about the system he wants to play, and he’s totally out of his depth on how to fix our chronic issues. The job is hard, yes. But what top job isn’t? Did we not hire a coach? Did we not hire a master tactician who could outthink the opposition?
The reality is this: Emery lucked out landing the job at Arsenal. He is not top class. He’s an above-average manager – Everton levels at best. He’s a Quique Flores, a Marco Silva, or an Eddie Howe. He is not an innovator, he’s not a charismatic leader, and he’s not the next level we hoped for.
There’s no philosophy behind what he’s doing. There’s no style of play. We’re moving from game to game just trying not to lose. There’s a view that Arsenal fans can’t cope with pragmatism and that anyone of Emery’s mindset would face the same harsh criticism… maybe that’s true, but the reality is we’re suffering all the blandness of a pragmatic manager, but we’re not reaping the any of the rewards. We play 3 holding midfielders and we leak shots and goals. Today, we played a more attacking line-up and played like we had 3 holding midfielders. We are being slapped with stale football with the defensive rewards of a peak Kevin Keegan starting 11.
Allegri might play dry football. Conte might drill his teams in a robotic way. Peak Mourinho was cancer of the eyes… but they answered the critics with progress and results. Their philosophies earned clean-sheets, wins and trophies.
We’re a year into the new manager who has some beliefs.
No one liked the playing out the back thing last year, Emery persisted, then gave up. We’re back to square one again this season and he’s introducing the 2.0 version. It has been a tactical disaster and it cost us 2 points today. He’ll give up on it after a while, I’ve no doubt, because he doesn’t know how to coach this idea to success. Same with the pressing. Where has it gone? We don’t do it. We’re meek. Characterless. It’s so tough to watch.
Take the coaching out of the equation, let’s talk about what it takes to create a high-performance culture. To achieve this, you cannot have a single bad egg in the mix. One average person brings the entire place down. Elite talent is highly sensitive to shite. If they can smell it, and if it’s tolerated, it destroys the whole culture. That’s in the backroom team, that’s in the squad, that’s certainly in the first team.
If we’re truly trying to create a high-performance culture, tell me this, why is Granit Xhaka anywhere near the captaincy? The most important person on the pitch is the most error-prone, the most likely to throw a teammate under the bus, and the most likely to say beta male things in the post-match interviews. He’s even getting sideswiped by our best striker. Auba had this to say.
‘You could say that us attackers could have killed the game off and score a third goal, so I’m not going to say it is someone’s fault. It is a shame to concede goals like we did’
That is as subtly veiled as turning up to a Tinder first date wearing a condom on your face. When your captain and your best player are taking jabs at each other, it’s hard to believe the training camp is in great shape.
Xhaka is a mistake junkie, his skills are unsuited to the Premier League, and he is so far from high performance it aches my soul.
We still have the psychologist at the club that has overseen a cataclysmic decline in mental strength, we still have the motivational bus driver on the bench, the one that was banned for fighting at Palace, we still have all the bad apples at the club that were there last season. We collect average.
Having a good attitude and loving football does not make you elite. We need new ideas, we need an identity, we need someone that can communicate a vision, and see it through.
The start of the season has been bad. Objectively bad. Everyone excused Liverpool, but the warning signs were there. No one paid attention to Burnley having 18 shots because we won, but that was footballing equivalent of hearing rattles in the Utah lowlands (snakes Terry, snakes). We cannot continue to pretend that what Emery is doing is normal or transitional, because it’s just plain fucking bad. We’re struggling in a nice 26-degree heat to a bottom of the table team. If we don’t sort out our problems now, they will be amplified to a far more dangerous level when the cold sets in. This has to be addressed.
We’ve apparently spent next years money on delivering Champions League football, nothing else is more important than making top 4, the consequences for failure are unthinkable.
Over to Unai. See you in the comments. xx
I think in the interim we should appoint Freddie.
He would then play the correct youths in the correct positions.
Leno
Bel chambers holding tiernay
Torreira calebos Wilcox
Pepe laca pea
We’ve added Pepe and Ceballos on for Ramsey and Iwobi.
Luiz in for Mustafi, Martinelli as a bench option, Tierney in for Monreal although to be fair he’s yet to play.
Not sure how we’ve a weaker side than last season? Sure losing Mhik and not bothering to bring in any more cover wasn’t smart but there’s a far greater gap between Pepe and Iwobi than Ramsey and Ceballos, so we’ve improved the side if not the quantity of it.
Simone would be good but he won’t come…
Allegri .. think he’s waiting for United.
Not sure who we will get , so it’s freddie till end of year.
Stepped in it Sal didn’t I?
I’m settled he’s gone.
He’s lost the room , players not responding to him.
Eagle
I mean I don’t disagree at all but fucking hell mate put up the nuclear defenses.
Nagelsmann, Marcelino and even Vieira are realistic and attractive options for future picks.
Someone/Allegri obviously the elite options but the former is pie in the sky as he’s already all but committed to the Inter Milan gig after he hangs it up at Atleti and Allegri has PSG written all over him as soon as they become wise to the fraud that is Tuchel.
Not tuchel …
2 x PSG flops nah…
But we can’t aford to pay him off, unless Raul….
Bring back Eddie, and get him to take Bielsa with him – a far better manager than Emery can even imagine being.
Since Gilberto left, arsenal have not had a defensive midfielder that has protected the back 4(song, Fabregas, xhaka, torriera, guendouzi etc are water boys that help the defensive midfielder). Flamini was finished when he returned from AC Milan. Arsenal need to be creative in solving this problem before January. Chambers and Luiz can play as defensive midfielders (chambers played there for fulham, while Luiz played there for Chelsea under Benitez). If the back 4 is properly protected, we’ll concede less goals. With a good defensive midfielder in place you can now play guendouzi and Ceballos or torriera and Ceballos or… Read more »
WE There certainly were posters on here talking about third. There was talk that fourth was not enough. Pedro was one of them and plenty of others on here followed suit. I remember talking to you about top four and all you were doing was talking about the faults and problems of the other teams. I then asked you about Arsenal problems though. The bottom line is Arsenal have obvious problems as a team and plenty of posters were over-rating the side pre-season. The problems are obvious. A not very good midfield and problems defensively all wrapped in being not… Read more »
WE “When we made subs this time last season, we brought on Ramsey, Welbeck, Aubameyang/Laca (one was often on the bench), now we are bringing on Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock.” That’s how we are weaker. We won loads of games last season in the second half using the squad. Ceballos isn’t bringing any qualities that Ramsey had, and he isn’t producing much better than Rambo in terms of controlling games from deep. He can evade a press but seemingly cannot accelerate away from a marker which nullifies a lot of his initial good work. Hopefully as he adapts he… Read more »
Can’t believe there are posters here who are all of a sudden thinking that the turd that is Mikhotaryan would be better. Jeez! Absence does make the heart fonder and all that.
Saw the game yesterday and he was his usual do 1 good thing and a billion misplaced passes after
Also Ramsey is not a miss, more time injured than on the field jeez, what has happened to all of you?
To look at Arsenal’s and Emerys problem from a different perspective , the problem that I can see is that if you have a system where the manager has no or little input on outgoing or incoming players , you get a situation where players leave , for instance Monreal and Nletiah , that the manager would want to use , and players come in , for instance Pepe ,Ceballos and Luiz , that the manager maybe has doubts about or wanted a different type of player but is in a situation where he feels obliged to play them .… Read more »
Simeone/ Allegri.
Why?
Freddie is capable. He knows the club and knows what we want.
If all else fails, go for Eddie Howe.
Oh and a big fat LOL to those name dropping Eddie Howe when Allegri and Mourinho, Viera, Ten Hag, Marcelino(???) could all be gotten i mean have you seen Bournemouth play? Do you not see how open their games usually are? Do you want that kinda thing with the brain dead players we’ve assembled?
Graham
Eddie Howe is not an Arsenal level manager, i could have the patience for Freddie but we need experienced hands at the moment to sort this shit show and not someone who looks like they’d be overwhelmed by the job
Mings continues to impress me. I thought he was brilliant against Spurs even though they lost that game. I’d like to see how he gets on the rest of the season. Compared to what we have, anyone who can run, tackle and anticipate danger looks good to me. Things are that bad right now. By the way, Westham should be doing more with the quality they have. I’ve read Pellegrini’s name mentioned here, especially in relation to Emery. But not for me. I don’t think he’s done enough at Westham to suggest that he’d be able to take us beyond… Read more »
Nzonzi is also shit, taller and can tackle but Jesus Christ Steven Nzonzi??? In all of Europe that’s who you’d want in midfield? When last did you watch him play? Did you not see him stink out that horror of a middle with Strootman and co for Roma?
Are you just name dropping players based on 1 match or based on more than that?
Feels like Freddie gets a chance this season to pull an interim roll that Ole ceased on with United. If that doesn’t settle I’d go full next generation.
The whole Mings thing just like with Lascelles last season. Good player but I’d rather have the Brighton lad Dunk.
Also big props to posters who have found a way to remind us that Xhaka is not an absolute waste of space that its the system that he’s playing in that’s meant he’s exposed e.t.c. Typical Wenger rhetoric, he’s been here what 3 years, he shit end of, doesn’t matter who comes in as manager or what system we play, he should be sold or released or whatever
Warming up to seeing Mourinho in the dug out for us, I mean he conceded less with Smalling, Jones, Young and Shaw so there should be hope he’d organize us better than the clown we have in charge at the moment.
CC
“Mings is giving a very good account of himself at PL level so far, he’s a big mean bastard too.”
I watched a fair bit of Mings last season and I was massively impressed with his leadership qualities .
John Terry I believe, took him under his wing and is moulding him into top quality centre half.
He and Godfrey of Norwich would make an exceptional centre back pairing.
Both have leadership qualities .
If Arsenal sold Xhaka tomorrow and replaced him with a player that is seen as a top tier bracket DM/holding midfielder that can function on and off the ball then we would see some significant improvement in the side. That’s how much of a hindrance Xhaka is to the team. It wouldn’t solve all problems but it would sure go some way to see this side improving. And replacing Xhaka doesn’t just mean improvement individual player for individual player. It would mean other centre mids in the team improving as well as they would have a better standard CM to… Read more »
Ishola
We should be finishing third with this squad
no mourinho please
what a shit show that would be.
Managing Chelsea , United and now Arsenal.
I can see the chaos already.
Rather we take Freddy or someone who knows how to organize defense but like to attack..
Not sure the names, but I think Freddy is smart enough
Un na
We should but it’s not a video game, the other teams aren’t just going to lay down and let you roll over, there are no east games so you fight for every single point. It’s not an entitlement that Arsenal finish top 4, it’s something we have to fight for
@Pierre
Good observation re Pepe and how he doesn’t seem to want to defend. Well, I think that’s how he’s been asked to play.
He’s meant to be be the outlet when we counter. However, it hasn’t exactly worked out. He’s often too far away from the rest of his teammates. His game needs some work.
Batistuta
“The whole Mings thing just like with Lascelles last season. Good player but I’d rather have the Brighton lad Dunk.”
Time will tell if mings proves to be top class.
At the moment he is playing in a struggling villa side and doing well….we will see if one of the elite clubs take a chance on him in the next year or 2.
Aston Villa are so going to struggle for goals as the season continues. The striker they started tonight Wesley was wrapped up for the majority of the match and didn’t ever really look like he was going to do any real damage. You were expecting a sub around 60 min mark to see Wesley replaced by a striker on their bench but it never materialised. It never materialised because their options for striker from the bench are weak. In the end they didn’t take Wesley off and only threw on another striker near the end to partner Wesley. They also… Read more »
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/granit-xhaka-bernd-leno-arsenal-16929581.amp
Clearly the players are getting sick of emery’s shit tactics
Guns
Why not Mourinho? We can’t do another season in the Europa league and this is the best chance we’ve got. Rather an experienced hand than a rookie to be honest. Allegri is still out there too and free and Jose knows the league, we are not in a position to turn our noses at proven managers not with the clown we’ve got in charge
Bati
I know but our rivals are weak. We do t even look like top 6 at the moment with a squad that should be challenging for 3rd
That’s my point
He’s got a great group of top level football players getting hammered with shots in every single game mate
Un na naai
“We should be finishing third with this squad”
You said this before Don.
I don’t think many would agree with you that Arsenal have a better starting XI than Spurs but you continue to go down this avenue.
Maybe have a poll on here to see if anyone agrees with you.
You might get one or two that will agree.
Rodney king
I think it is how Emery has asked him to play so no blame attached to Pepe.
However, why didn’t Emery say to Pepe to drop a little deeper to stop the supply to Deulofeu …
He was the obvious danger and Watford tactics were basically, give the ball to Deulofeu.
Not sure the names, but I think Freddy is smart enough
Riiiight
So we did t want arteta because he had no experience and now we want Freddy? Fuck me that’s some turn around
Ishola
You still blaming Wenger for forcing the team selections and tactics?
Pierre
I’d rather Dunk, been in the league a while and Brighton aren’t an ultra defensive team compared to Newcastle or Villa, but yea we’ll see in a gear or two. Just always feel it’s easier to defend in certain set ups than in others
No Don.
My take now is that Xhaka is the reincarnation of Damien out of The Omen and he has put an evil curse on this club since his arrival including evil spells on the managers he works under.
Much more plausible than Arsenal being “better” than Spurs.
Un na
No one really wants Freddie except on temp basis but there are experienced managers without a job that it would’ve foolish to offer a rookie the job and that’s what both Freddie and Arteta are, Rookies
Un na naai September 16, 2019 22:28:34
“Ishola
We should be finishing third with this squad”
I should be having a threesome with Linda, Kate and Naomi or whoever the top 3 models in the world are these days.
Reports of Arsenal’s greatness are greatly exaggerated.
Mind you Don Arsenal making the decision to splash all that cash on Pepe when they were already pretty healthy goalscorers in the league in comparison to how soft they are defensively is a bit Wengerish don’t you think.
You continue though to think that it is beyond the realms of possibility that the club would still give a nod to a manager now and again that had been there several decades previously.
Pedro
Why was my comment deleted yesterday?
You are of course entitled to delete whatever comment you so choose this being your blog but you allowed it to stand at the end of your previous post but deleted it from this one.
For future reference could you post a set of guidelines as to what you consider is acceptable or otherwise.
@Pierre
I wasn’t blaming Pepe. I was just highlighting that the fact that he doesn’t seem to be doing any defending is simply down to instructions from the manager.
Obviously, I think he should be able to drop deeper. At least he’s got plenty of pace. Maybe his energy levels aren’t there yet. He supposedly left the Ivorian camp during the international break to “come back to Arsenal to work on his fitness”.
I mean Don himself gives plenty of nods to Wenger on here still.
Daily nods.
Why shouldn’t the club itself still give nods to him.
Great man that he was.
Why did the club spend all that money on Pepe when they were already healthy goalscorers in the league previously but shit defensively and in comparison go cheap on defence again meaning DM as well as back four players?
And they still look shit defensively so far this season.
Still looks like Arsene FC to me.
Ishola
All we heard last season and over the summer was how wank and overhyped Spurs were who only beat us on goal difference.
We then went and had what was widely accepted the best transfer window of the top sides, so nice to see the old Adidas sliders are out this season already.
Last season we had a squad capable of competing for top 4, this season it’s one capable of competing for top 3 and comfortably better than Chelsea and United.
Gentlebris, calm down. You’re too hot. It’s my take on present day Arsenal not yesteryear Arsenal. Get some water. I’ll be happy if Arsenal win but I’m being realistic. I watch Arsenal with passion and caution. So now Mhki, Ramsey, Iwobi are suddenly stars. Mhki is as inconsistent as a politician. Ramsey is the best pal of Mr. Injuries. Iwobi frustrating as a nagging lady. Yet some clamour for them. No coach guarantees success. So Eddie Howe is now savior. Football fans! IMO Viera ain’t ready for the job neither is Eddie. If nothing at all, learn from the OGS… Read more »
Charlie
Spurs are over-rated in comparison to Liverpool and Man City.
They aren’t over-rated in being better than Arsenal. They have a better balanced team.
They were woeful though last quarter of the season previously though absolutely woeful and Arsenal still couldn’t finish ahead of them. If Arsenal couldn’t finish ahead of them in such circumstances last season then it is unlikely Arsenal finish above them this season.
How about those gals !
It would have been nice to rest a lot of players on Thursday, but it isn’t the easiest of games for a Europa League group stage and also given our situation I actually think we need to field a decent team and start to build some consistency in some areas. I guess that Martinez will be played in goal but I’d go with a Chambers, Holding, Luiz, Kolasinac back line and then just hope that Bellerin and Tierney aren’t too far away. I’d go with the preferred midfield 3 of Torreira at CDM, Guendouzi at CM and Dani Ceballos at… Read more »
Bati, plz no to Mourinho. He’s a living carcass of a dead coach. Guy now can’t coach to save his ego. A big fat NO to Mourinho.
Ishola, I disagree on your take on the purchase of Pepe. We needed a quality wide player and he fits the bill. He’ll definitely come good. Though we could have gone for a quality defender. Sorry, I remember we already have Saliba in the bag albeit next season.
Gooners, calm down. All ain’t lost. We shall surely come better.
The club have said before that they want to uphold certain Arsenal traditions.
What traditions would that be then?
I don’t think they are George Graham traditions do you?
You guys talking so seriously about Eddy taking the role for the rest of the season as if any of us actually believe Arsenal will suddenly grow the balls to be rightly ruthless.
Emery will still be saying good EBENING to us all next May.
We are the Arsenal!
Anybody who has seen Pepe in Ligue 1 last season knew that he would struggle in a different setup. He has been coached at length by Galthier and Bielsa before to play efficiently via some effective well coordinated movement. Those movements are designed to make use of transitions and turn-over.
He is finding it difficult because Arsenal has no coordinated movement. Most of our goals have off the cuff individual movements. Also our attack is slow ponderous . Basically he is a counter-attacking player in a team that does not counter-attack.
I don’t subscribe to us needing Eddie this season We have two elite CFs and an elite WF who can play CF. We also have martinelli whocan play CF I believe If the manager is smart with team selections and rotation, there will be more than enough cover. If he just does a wenger and picks the same 11 with all saidnplayers involved each week then that’s the managers fault rather than squad depth Eddie is going to get 3x more minutes at Leeds. Then by next season he’ll be clearly more developed. We already know at arsenal he’s be… Read more »
Why hasn’t Emery been sacked… it is pointless to waste this year with him. Just pointless.
Sack him now when the season can still be still be saved!
We have the horses to counter attack
Just came out of a chat with some compadres this was the consensus :
Emery’s Arsenal is bad at the things Wenger’s Arsenal was bad at, whilst also being bad at the things big Wang’s Arsenal was good at.
A great combo for banter, no more a recipe for pain.
Leno comments –
The inquisition began immediately after the final whistle in Watford and the German stopper said it took Emery’s calming nature to keep things under control.
‘Everybody was angry and disappointed after this game. The manager is a very positive guy,’ Leno continued. ‘He wants to be positive and he said we will analyse this game with time.
Now everybody was with emotions, very mad and crazy. ‘But that is normal after the game. He said “calm down and then on Tuesday we analyse this game and then on Thursday we have another game.”’
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/16/bernd-leno-says-arsenal-players-left-angry-disappointed-mad-crazy-watford-draw-10754872/?ito=cbshare
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7470619/Ahmed-El-Ghazi-Tyrone-Mings-come-head-head-heated-field-bust-up.html
Our boys throw their toys out the pram in the dressing room after the fact. That fixes nothing and Emery is a soothing mummy saying while dishing out pacifiers, “there there I’ll review the game to see where we went wrong tomorrow”
Seems the Villa boys do it on the pitch with each other where problems can potentially be rectified.
Arsenal will not make progress until and unless they put their Defence in order. That requires the Manager/Head Coach whoever that may be to ‘prioritise’ that department. A solid defence requires 4/5 competent players who play as a ‘collective’ and not as too many at Arsenal do by playing as individuals. Arsenal under both Wenger and now Emery have a history of playing wing backs who are more interested in playing upfield and poor in the defensive department of game. Both Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac are weak in defensively and that creates “stress” in centre back positions. I accept also the… Read more »
‘Why hasn’t Emery been sacked… it is pointless to waste this year with him. Just pointless.‘ Well, the season is still young and we all know that he won’t be sacked after a capitulation that led to a draw. The ownership will look at the table 5 games in and see us level on points with our main rivals this year (Spurs, Chelsea, United, Leicester). Also, the ownership will come to realise that many Arsenal fans are a parody of themselves. All it requires is a response of a victory or three and all will be forgotten. Emery isn’t the… Read more »
And Emerys stubbornness and consistency in trying to be too clever and shooting himself in the foot will likely see to it that his long term future isn’t here.
Words or being angry and disappointed are cheap. You don’t need to wait until Tuesday to analyze what happened because the writing had been on the wall with this kind of play for ages You don’t do something badly 50 times then when the camels back finally breaks say ‘let’s have a look at what happened’. You should notice the creaking knee joints, and sounds of strain long before the back actually breaks Sort it out arsenal that’s some wenger bs right there Leno also said that emery is insisting we keep at this dumbass defensive passing game because it… Read more »
When there is nothing on, go long. This is low risk low reward.
Insisting on going short is high risk low reward.
On what planet does high risk low reward seem like a genius idea?
Spot on China
This has been an issue from day dot under emery and he’s failed to address it
Not only that but he’s taken our better qualities and destroyed them at the same time.
He really is not up to the job of improving arsenal fc
He’s clutching hard and it’s been clear to anyone with a set of eyes that this was on the cards way back in feb/march
Tyrone Mings showed tremendous maturity in not responding to his team mate thrusting his head in his face.
The slightest retaliation from mings would have resulted in a potential red card situation for both players as it could have turned ugly.
China “Eddie is going to get 3x more minutes at Leeds. Then by next season he’ll be clearly more develop.” I’m not sure if you are aware but in the next 3 weeks we are playing Frankfurt, forest and Leige. Nketiah would have started all of those games and also be on the bench for the up and coming league games v villa , United and Bournemouth . He would probably get minutes in the league games as well due to the fact Arsenal will no doubt be chasing the game after conceding early. During this 3 week period Leeds… Read more »
Pierre
Sorry my fellow AKB.
But I don’t think the current team is a condusive place for a young player to learn anything.
He is better off at Leeds developing his confidence instead of getting it shot to bits over here.
Thanks for posting the links every day Tony , your contribution to Le Grove is always welcome , and your quips , what can I say …ingenious .
Looking forward to your next edition of wish you were here, Tony.
Your excellent analysis on which places to go or not to go is always worth a read .
Judith Chalmers cannot hold a candle to your knowledge of holiday destinations.
Dark Hei
“Sorry my fellow AKB.”
Who me !
You could be right about Eddie , let’s loan all the kids out .
Dark hei Took the words out of my mouth He’s throwing players like guendouzi, AMN and Nelson into the lions den among a highly confused bunch of successful senior players. If they can’t carry out his instructions and provide a safe frame work then how can we expect our younger players to get a foothold regularly The tactics employed by emery on Sunday put so much undue negative pressure on Guendouzi and our defence it just cracked again and again and again. He tried this this time last year and was forced to abandon it because he just cannot implement… Read more »
Test
Seems I’m not banned… Just having comments deleted for some reason
Instead od trying to implement various formations (going 4-4-2 to Watford is abysmal btw) Emery coupd try to train action building from the back.
For instance forwards movement and Leno booting it out when opposition comes to our box to press.
Ivan
Exactly
Why not use the cb as a decoy inside the box and clip to a cmf? Then we have acres of space in which to spring an attack or fuckin “transition” 🤮
Or go to the full back? Why are we passing it straight down the throat of their press?
The reason why we don’t clip (not hoof) the ball to a free midfielder is because that would require repeated orchestrated movement from the midfield. As our midfield changes game by game. Constant personnel and tactical tinkering means that Our players can’t learn their part.
I have also severe doubt about the quality of our training session. Training session may be physically more intense than under Wenger, but looking at the result they seem less organised because we have no pattern in defense or attack.
Arsenal stats from Football365 – – Arsenal have made the highest number of errors (14) that have led to opposition goals in the Premier League since the start of last season. That is three more than Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool combined. – The Gunners also hold the record for the highest number of errors leading to shots. Their total of 33 is almost double that of Newcastle (17). – Arsenal have allowed the same number of shots on their goal (96) this season as Chelsea and Manchester United combined (48 each). The Gunners faced as many shots on their… Read more »
I’ve mentioned before, if he going to persevere with playing out from the back why not put our best player at receiving the ball under pressure as the deep lying midfielder. …Ceballos. He can switch the angle of the play in an instant, he is stronger on the ball than he looks , and most importantly, he is confident with a great technique. There are drawbacks of course but Chelsea use Jorginho in this way , it may be worth a try as passing to Guendouzi or Xhaka facing their own goal is a recipe for disaster as they struggle… Read more »
Will attempt to get through what I was trying to say yesterday, I’ll need to change it slightly otherwise it will be deleted again no doubt. I agree with many of the comments about Emery that have been posted here since after the game. I will not however allow the players to get off Scot free. The second half on Sunday was the most insipid, unprofessional display I have ever witnessed in all the years I have been watching Arsenal in particular and football in general and that takes in all football on 4 continents. Every player, with the exception… Read more »
Good morning you all.
I must say it would be interesting to see what happens in the next games, maybe Emery will abandon his unreasonable tactics or maybe he continues with his horror comedy.
But then whatever happens, Emery will be here in May as Arsenal consider necessary ruthless decisions as inappropriate and a lack of class. Then Raul and Unai are pals.
We now know hiring Emery was a mistake but it’s a mistake that could easily be repeated. That’s why I say……JOSE.
‘Every player, with the exception of Ceballos and Leno, should lose a week’s payment for such a display. And none should be allowed to wear the Arsenal shirt with any sort of pride.’
Aubameyang should lose a week pay too? No wonder your comments are being deleted.
Bojangles – I too think players should receive much more grief, we have accumulated too many weak links who seem to make simple errors that cost team considerably and Emery, or anyone else, can’t coach their idiocies out of them.
I also think other players are aware who make most errors, and other players will try to compensate, so they not focused only on their game because they wondering what Xhaka or Sok are going to do next.
Val
I get what you’re saying but it doesn’t take a lot to chip a ball into an area 25-30 yards from goal and we had those options aplenty at Watford
It’s certainly less dangerous than the route emery chose which is a short pass to the edge of our box.
Pedro, A few weeks ago you stated that the training was buzzing and was more happy that it had been in a long time. I did not want to contradict you, but I was told something slightly different. The squad was excited about the new season, but it was more fractioned than before. A lot of cliques were starting to form: the French speaking one, the Muslim one, the young ones, the untrusted and disappointed one and the loners. Xhaka our captain was said to be firmly in the loner camp. In the midst of all that the only player… Read more »
New post
In na naai, Throwing the ball to a midfield player 35 yards away from goal was mostly frown upon by most coaches. If the player is not under pressure yes, otherwise it was a big no. If the ball is intercepted, the opposition player has a direct unopposed run through the midfield. It was viewed as too risky. The irony is that the new decision to play from the back is even more risky. Teams can counteract that pressure by orchestrating specific run and the goalkeeper releasing the ball at an angle which means that even if manmarked the ball… Read more »
Excellent post, Pedro. late comment because couldn’t bring myself up to thinking or reading anything about Arsenal for last 40 hours. in fact, didn’t feel like thinking or reading anything to do with football.
Emery has run his course. His main contribution remains he was the alibi, he was the baton bearer from the start runner to the last sprinter. had he not been there we could have still been under Wenger.
Thanks Emery. Please leave.