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
“So, assuming Aubameyang will be rested for Frankfurt, who will play number nine? John-Jules, Balogun, some 13 year old ripping up at on the under 15’s?”
Nketiah?….oops ,I forgot we sent hom to Leeds to sit on the bench for the season when he could have been starting 8/10 games for Arsenal before Christmas .
Apparently it was a wise move .
@Pierre have they been benching him? I read that he has scored a couple but I’ve not idea whether he was a starter or not. If he’s benchwarming that was a remarkably silly move.
The only solution to these racist problems rests with the authorities and I just don’t mean UEFA and FIFA.
I personally feel that any black player playing in these environments( not just Italy) should walk away, which would highlight the issue as a national disease, which infact it is.
Banning national/domestic teams for 4 years from all future European and World competitions would go along way to sorting the problems out.
We all know though that UEFA and FIFA don’t have the balls for that.
Chickenshits the lot of them.
Charles – With a sufficient squad he’s good enough for top four. I’ve already said that numerous times so the cards have already been laid out in that regard. Top four is the aim, and that’s it, at least while we still fumigating the rotten stench of the Wenger years. It’s for that reason I was never bothered who succeeded Wenger, because the time and good decisions are the only way we can get to a point where a title charge is a realistic possibility. At the moment we are making good and bad at the same time, are stalling… Read more »
Who the fvck eats 10 bananas?
Just two fills up the tummy
Pierre
To be honest, it’s probably a good thing that Nketiah is away from all of this.
I sense it may get worse.
Yep, I’m well and truly off the fence now.
Put Xhaka as the number nine against Frankfurt.
You never know.
Judging from our European squad expect to see Martinelli playing in the front 3, we can also choose from any youth players according to that.
Pepe may get more games too to build his fitness and confidence, hopefully pick up a goal or two.
It’s useless though, Arsenal are not going to sack Emery this year. I really really doubt it happens. The club will eventually have a decent string of performances at some point and that will be used as reasoning to keep him at least through the end of the season. What we have is definitely not a title winning squad but it’s still a squad good enough to challenge for a CL place. There will inevitably be some moments where the football is good, because things balance out over time and we do have some good players on the team. So… Read more »
Nketiah has not started a Championship game yet, but Marcelo Bielsa has been more than complimentary in his last press conference. According to him, Eddie Nketiah is a complete player. A very good finisher, but not just a finisher, he also has good link-up play. Nketiah scored the first goal after coming on as a substitute and created the second goal by getting the penalty. His current unsustainable xG is 1.88 per game. He really has started the season on fire. Just prove the point that had he been eased into the team last season, he would be a fully… Read more »
N5
He has yet to start a league game , has played about 70 minutes in all ( league games).
However , he started a couple of league cup ties but Leeds are eliminated now so the only games he will get now are league games.
Arsenal have 6 Europa games coming up and a league cup tie v forest next week with the possibility of more league cup games to come ….all of which Nketiah would probably start.
Pedro
Great article but can you please elaborate on your perceptions of Eddie Howe.
Name me one manager who would have done what Howe has done at Bournmouth these past few years.
He was my choice when Wenger left and I still stand by that.
“According to him, Eddie Nketiah is a complete player. A very good finisher, but not just a finisher, he also has good link-up play.”
All the more reason for keeping him instead of loaning him out.
“All the more reason for keeping him instead of loaning him out.”
Pierre
You do realize that the manager wanted to keep him but Eddie want to go and “management” sided with Eddie?
For his self preservation Dick needs to drop out of form players. Poor individual performances are also affecting team moral. Firstly Sokratis. Hopeless at moment. Errors galore. Slow. Has been found out at EPL level. Poor signing by Sven. Chambers all day long. Secondly – Xhaka. Not thrilled at playing kids like Willock or Guen who are making errors themselves. Torreira is out of form as well. Stick Chambers or Luiz in there when Holding is fit. We need a bit of beef in the midfield. Needed to recruit in the summer. Dropped 4 pts needless points in last 2… Read more »
Nketiah is likely to oust Bamford from the Leeds starting 11 especially if he keeps up his form.
If that happens he may start plenty of league games in the Championship.
Arsenal clearly patient with his development and willing to see the potential benefit of his season at Leeds going towards him being a major first team player in the future.
Graham62, Eddie was not ready to take the Arsenal’s job when Wenger left. However he is learning the job at an impressive pace. He just need to qualify his team to a European competition maybe via a domestic cup victory. Once he has that experience of big European game and different continental tactics, then he will be ready. Until then that could be a step to big for him and kill his career. Especially if he were to join a ship in turmoil. David Moyes joined ManUtd and decided to do everything his way and that led to his downfall.… Read more »
Everybody keeps saying Emery won’t be sacked mid season because we as a club don’t sack managers mid-season. I don’t subscribe to the view though. The season has just started and we have at least 50 more games to go. If things do not improve, I can see Emery asked to go by Christmas. There is too much as stake this season for Josh and Raul to put up with abject performances and poor results week after week. At best Emery gets decent results at home but I don’t see our away performances improving, a pattern if it continues till… Read more »
“All the more reason for keeping him instead of loaning him out.” The club have sent him on loan without anyone that can remotely fill in as third choice. Spurs have Moura, we have er… *crickets*. They sold got rid of Mikhi and Iwobi (yay) but didn’t bring in a Coutinho and decided 31 year old Auba working the left like a dog and Reiss Nelson were acceptable options to fire us into top four. They sold our only natural reserve left back that can play in a four. Monreal was still more than good enough for another year, and… Read more »
Eddie Howe, very underated Graham.
I’m just watching the highlights of yesterday’s game …
How we never lost that game I will never know ..6-2 would have been a fair result.
The club seem more ruthless these days
They’ve pushed almost everyone out of the door int he last 3 years and emery will not be above the billet this season if he continues this atrocious form
Dumb crass and wankerish comment on Lukaku.
Not convinced Eddie Howe could fix our defensive woes.
Azed, Management sided with Nketiah, because they have seen how he has been treated by Emery last season. His loan to Augburg was cancelled at the eleventh hour by Emery because he was going to be used during the rest of the season. He played a further 18 minutes in the premiership until the last game of the season during which he scored. With Pepe an additional player who can also play striker, his chance to play were even more remote than last season. So the decision to loan him is more an indictment of the lack of trust in… Read more »
Paulinho
The more you post the more I think you’d be better off on a backgammon blog
I agree with Paulinho on Monreal and Mikhi. I would have kept both of them. Mikhi ,although frustrating, is more than twice the player Nelson is. Monreal was still our best left back when we let him go and he could deputize as a CB too. We should have kept Nketiah too.
Paulinho
Partly agree with you , though Pepe and Ceballos should prove to be adequate replacement for iwobi and Mhkitaryan so no need to sign coutinho.
I’m with you on Nketiah and Monreal ..I would have kept both.
Willock and Guendouzi will benefit playing under a manager who plays with some sort of structure.
Luteo Guenreira ” but it’s still a squad good enough to challenge for a CL place.” The expectations have plummeted basically overnight though haven’t they. A month or so ago 95% of posters on here were saying that third place could be gained in the league and quite comfortably. And now before the blink of an eye it’s gone to just good enough for a top four place. Other than the obvious frailties shown on the pitch there are signs that Mr Emery is slowly unravelling to fail. Signs like him taking the cheap option and blaming young players to… Read more »
Don – I already did. but some cock was going on about Battle Angel or something so I decided to give it a swerve.
It’s been dishwater outside of a period that can be classified as us playing with a ‘new manager smell’. We’re pony, made all the more laughable by this game of pin the tail on the donkey amongst the first XI. It’s the guy on the sidelines ffs, he’s a wizard with powerpoint, not elite footballers. CC Totes. It’s not too late though. The squad has been improved. I just worry that emery after the last few post RvP Wenger years have cemented a culture of failure and acceptance of failure at the club. We need someone to come in and… Read more »
West ham could surprise a few this season
Yarmolenko is a quality player , looking forward to seeing him tonight .
Nice Neville speaking truth.
Both Carragher and Neville ripping into our players. Not manager.
Pierre
Haller is also a very good player.
TR7 It has very little to do with Arsenal’s tendency not to sack managers mid-season. I don’t even think this is a thing actually, I mean we only had one manager for the last two decades and the ownership group/front office is brand new anyway. It’s just the safest move regardless, both fiscally and operationally. Again, not saying the best or smartest move, just what I expect to happen based the situation at hand. If the goal was for Emery to make top 4 and that is in jeopardy, you would need to bring someone else in that can achieve… Read more »
Samesong
West.ham have a very good front 3 in Anderson, Haller and yarmolenko
Paulinho
Haha
Maybe try the “I want to give Ramsey a rusty trombone” blog. Right up your street.
And have you seen battle angel? Was quality. Better than all the poxy marvel nonsense they keep putting out anti western propaganda pieces.
Neville is a hypocrite. He used to always pin all the blame on managers but since his failure at Valencia as a manager, he shies away from criticizing managers.
Paulinho
“Both Carragher and Neville ripping into our players. Not manager.”
They are reluctant to criticise the manager in the fear of themselves looking stupid as they have been singing Emery’s praises, like all the other so called expert pundits.
They will turn on the manager, it’s a matter of time.
Valentin Eddie Howe was more than ready to take over when Wenger left. His qualities and expertise in my opinion, far outweighs Emery He knows the league and its players inside out. He gets his team to play a brand of football that is pleasing to the eye, he is tactically astute and he speaks exceptionally well. As for his lack of European experience, he would soon adapt. If his name was Eduardo Howeiola, he would walk into most top jobs. He has 12 years experience in the coaching and management field and is still only 41. Yeh, but it’s… Read more »
TR7
I like Gary Neville……………as a pundit.
Tr7
That’s not true
Before he went to Valencia he was calling out the players at arsenal for their attitude under wenger
One of the only ones to stick by wenger until the end
Paulinho
Sooooo arsenal fans and ex players are wrong but Nev and Carra are right? Got ya
“Management sided with Nketiah, because they have seen how he has been treated by Emery last season.”
Valentin,
If this is what you tell yourself, who am I to tell you otherwise?
Earlier in the season, you were claiming “Management is forcing young players on Emery, now it’s they seen how he was treated..”
Lacazette and Aubameyang are our two top strikers and Eddie is a distant third so he was not going to get game time.
Martinelli has already played this season and he would play more……Another busting of your lies..
Gary Neville praising the modern day philosophy of playing out from the back.
Norwich are better at it than Arsenal.
Then again, based on yesterday’s debacle, Northwich Victoria are better at it than Arsenal.
Nobody has really mentioned Papa Sokratis in relation to the blame game only Auba’s message.
Papa sent out a message as well. It was my mistake he said. I don’t want to blame others he said. This in relation to yesterday’s match.
This is another message sent to Damien the captain.
Auba and Papa seding out shots to Damien.
A rift between the players is happening before our eyes and from what we see so far the rift has been between Emery/Damien and Auba/Papa.
Think Raul has too much riding on this past summer to indulge Unai for the full term, i’d say unless things drastically change but they won’t, will they? Unai has lost the dressing room and cannot win away from home, thats pretty clear. Players now sending veiled daggers in the press to explain performance, getting ugly. On a playing front zero identity imposed by Emery and his staff after much talk of being protagonists with the clubs history of playing with possession and personality then imposing a heavy pressing game when not on the ball. All I see is a… Read more »
Ishola70 September 16, 2019 10:10:32 Brilliant comment. Emery may not be the one to take us to the next level but I bet it would be a much easier job if he had a team of 18+ world-class players to choose from. Our best players are Laca and PEA. Only two of them appear to be self-driven – which is the least you can expect of any professional. Gone are the days when Arsenal had players good enough to get into any top team. That should tell you all you need to know about the quality of our current bunch.… Read more »
Graham
I prefer listening to pro managers such as Jose, Arsene, Pulis, Allardyce, Hiddink, Martinez etc. Most of the professional pundits are banal and repetitive in their views and offer little insight.
Pelliagrini is another manager I like a lot. We could do a lot worse than appoint him as a replacement for Emery.
Lets not forget that we were very fortunate to come away from Watford with 3 points in April. They played the majority of the game with 10 men and still gave us all sorts of problems. That, itself is pathetic.
Emery needs to be saved from himself.
Azed
“You do realize that the manager wanted to keep him but Eddie want to go and “management” sided with Eddie?”
Yes ,I know.
“A rift between the players is happening before our eyes and from what we see so far the rift has been between Emery/Damien and Auba/Papa.”
I said in pre-season I had concerns about our squad in terms of characters, and how that might effect team spirit.
We just need to hope Tierney’s angelic features and infectious enthusiasm soothe simmering tensions amongst the more egocentric elements of the squad.
Everybody understands Eddie’s action. He was screwed by Emery last season. He didn’t trust Emery will provide him a lot of game times.
One priority for the coaching staff is to figure out how to get Pepe going. They should study tapes how Pepe can get so many goals and assists last season. We have to support him as much as possible.
Just watch the teams coming out. Jack is not starting but is on the bench at least.
Just found your blog, so happy to finally see someone echoing what I’ve been saying about emery since the start. He’s weak and in my opinion should be changed immediately rather than waste any more time. We are really hard to watch and it’s been like this for too long. The one thing I disagree on from one of your comments is on Pépé. Though it’s hard for him to really thrive in this system, I watched some highlights from last season and I have to say I’m not in the least bit surprised – in all the highlights he… Read more »
Sorry for the late reply Pierre. Thank you for the update, I had no idea. What a silly move that is beginning to look then. I wonder if that was manager, player, agent or a combination of?
Don’t u love football/soccer fans?
For crying out loud, it’s a draw. So if it had happened the other way round what will have been said of the coach and players. This is what makes football interesting.
Temper your expectations and enjoy arsenal. Raise it up, and get heart breaks.
It’s OK, I think Azed answered my question re the decision.
@Kay that’s not bad advice really. We know what to expect with this current set up, so to maybe not keep expecting a gimmie with the lower ranked teams. It’s no longer a certainty that we will turn a team over and hasn’t been for a while now.
Talking of gimmies. It was really good to see Norwich beat Man City as well. Their defense was worse than ours at points.
Nelson
City have Aguero and Jesus
UTD have Rashford, Martial
Spurs have Kane
Liverpool have Firmino and Origi
Most teams play one up top, having a third striker is a luxury..
So when Xhaka said the team was “scared”, was he speaking for himself or the whole team? Whatever, it was a really dumb thing to say. Arsenal should be embarrassed by his comments.
If he carries on as captain, my confidence in Raul and Edu will wane. Surely, the bigwigs at the club can overrule Emery on this one.
Paulinho, first off, you are a hero of mine, and I love your work (though I don’t always agree). The very players who are criticising each other were here last season and playing well during our 23 game run. Did you notice how nodby was critical when we were winning? Right. So what do we take from that? We entered the season against Newcastle riding on a wave of optimism. In no time emery’s deflated the lot of it. 5 matches in and the players are at each other while the fans call for the manager to get the bullet.… Read more »
@KAY
I have been one of Emery’s vocal supporters on here but yesterday was horrible and that’s me putting it lightly.
Any manager who’s team capitulates like that especially after leading 2-0 deserves to be sacked and the only reason Emery still has a job is because the Kronke’s are cheap and not really into “soccer”.
What would happen in the normal world is…
Raul, calls in emery total bollocking, sort out tatics sort out team sort out the player you got.
This is an official warning.
Emery calls players in an bollocks them.
If they have failed tatics he takes players to the side an repeats tatics,
Don’t be afraid to drop
Luiz n papa.
Be bold to play chambers n merely or holding Or Marva .
Nelson “One priority for the coaching staff is to figure out how to get Pepe going. They should study tapes how Pepe can get so many goals and assists last season. We have to support him….” I agree because a player like him is exactly what Arsenal need but the EPL is a shock to the system for many players coming from overseas. I watched a Michael Ballack interview over the weekend and he said that it was quite challenging for him when he first arrived at Chelsea. And that it’s the same for many others. The game is played… Read more »
I wish someone don’t that to the Sok when he messed up lol Tyrone Mings style.
Done*
“The very players who are criticising each other were here last season and playing well during our 23 game run.”
True, but I also made the point we had good sorts and leaders in the dressing room like Cech, Ramsey, Koscielny, Monreal, Welbeck. All good lads by all accounts.
So we’ve been left with the divas without the solid types to offset them. We’ve also added Luiz, who makes is presence known in the dressing room, and Ceballos seems one of those types that could very quickly kick up a fuss if not getting enough playing team.
Sokratis is a fucking steaming turd, terrible signing.
Good lads sure but not an ounce of personality or character amongst the five of them.
Ramsey was as bland a character as I’ve seen good player that he was.
Weren’t we told Emery watches lots of video?
Must be black panther he has been watching, not football clips.
Same goes for Feo Walcott.
Souness talks an amazing amount of shite but he was on the money coining us a team of ideal son-in laws.
Ishola we get it mate, you were right on Emery and we were all fools for thinking we had better options than United or Chelsea.
This the United that won their last game with a front 6 of McTominay, Fred, James, Pereirra, Rashford, Mata…
I like Souness
“This man was given the kind of summer wenger hasn’t had since he got Sol. Backed to the hilt by those above him” Someone’s rewriting history. For years Wenger himself “refused” to have that kind of summer; preferring to make Diaby, Wilshere, Rosicky, Walcott, Ramsey, etc. his very own ”new signings” every summer instead. Besides, he didn’t really have anyone above him, did he? Not saying that it was a bad thing to try to do as I would have loved to see Wenger succeed using his self-sustaining ways. However, reality bites, as they say. As if Abramovic wasn’t enough,… Read more »
Hopefully it clicks for Pepe soon. Bit worried about how far off the wavelength of the midfield he looks at times, it’s not going to be like the French League where he has oceans of space to bomb into on the counter.
His touch and short give and go passing has to be sharper, not as worried about the wild finishing because that’s more a confidence thing with him being desperate for that first goal.
WE – I read recently Ramsey was a big character and voice in the dressing room. Someone like Smith said it. Hard to believe I know, but apparently true. It’s more that they are good lads that won’t go around shit-stirring or shifting responsibility or spilling stuff to the media. It’s the toxic stuff that is damaging and can destroy a dressing room. Not really really asking for eleven Tony Adam’s to scream at everyone. It’s more leaders on the pitch as well. We’ve got no one that will call for the ball or take the fight to the opposition… Read more »
WengerEagle
“we get it mate, you were right on Emery and we were all fools for thinking we had better options than United or Chelsea.”
Well Arsenal may still finish above them because if Arsenal have their problems so do of course Chelsea and Man United.
But it’s a mangy dog fight for fourth between these teams.
I’d expect Spurs to get third.
So may still finish above Chelsea and Man United but those that were saying Arsenal third place and comfortably well they will have to have a major re-think over that prediction.
I do too Samesong but I also loved Dunphy and he talked about as much shite as anyone on TV.
Entertainment gold mind and you need both because the football autists can get a bit tiring without the comic relief.
Who has the guts in the team to kick the shit out of the players? Xhaka? Sokratis likely punched himself in his own face before anyone else could. Outside of him taking responsiblity via social media, who is taking charge in the locker room? At this rate, with the back biting, Emery might not even have enough in him to calm any unrest. I see Freddie being the peacemaker mostly. The one who tries to rally the team behind the scenes and someone the team respects. He is an Invincible Im not happy with Emery thus far. Last season I… Read more »
‘Don’t u love football/soccer fans? For crying out loud, it’s a draw. So if it had happened the other way round what will have been said of the coach and players. This is what makes football interesting. Temper your expectations and enjoy arsenal. Raise it up, and get heart breaks.’ Kayboss, Why do you follow football? The entertainment? You could as well follow Mexican dance, very entertaining; Or if you have to follow football you could pick a team in Scotland league two and enjoy the happy pub soccer. When you are a gooner, you have expectations and playing like… Read more »
Paulinho
We had a squad capable of top 4 last season, we unquestionably do this season. Absolute madness to sit and pretend otherwise.
Also, Neville and Carragher have free reign to tear into players as ex-players. It’s seen as crass for them to sit in a studio and rip the manager of any side, Neville was Wenger until the very end so that’s another weak rhetoric.
Paulinho Agree and look I know how it goes at the other end of the spectrum, useless players acting the hard man and floor general like Sokratis and Lichtsteiner, absolute liabilities that cause trouble more than anything else. Ramsey seemed like a determined lad and can’t fault his effort, was a fan of his as you know albeit not a massive one. The lack of proper leaders and personalities is concerning, Xhaka’s a joke and strikes more fear into Leno than the opposition. Luis has something about him but he just can’t shake off these brainfarts and it’s costing us… Read more »
Rodney King
Hope that’s not your name. Very unfortunate if it is.
Where did I say wenger that wenger hadn’t held onto cash?
You won’t find the quote because I didn’t say it
I said he was given the sort of summer wenger hasn’t had since we signed sol Campbell
Better in many respects
We’ve added at least quality 4 starters this summer. Big improvements on what was already here
Name me another like this
“We had a squad capable of top 4 last season, we unquestionably do this season. Absolute madness to sit and pretend otherwise” Think our squad was probably better last season(taking everything into consideration), and that if three important players hadn’t of been out of the season with season ending injuries, and our best player missing for the most important part of the season, we would’ve without doubt made it into the top four. Too many question marks with this squad, at least for this season. How Bellers and Holding come back from injury, how quickly Pepe settles in, can Tierney… Read more »
Should have signed mings, he has already had a row tonight with one of his own team mates for not doing his job defensively.
You have to understand that CR7 would find it difficult under Emery. Pépé was very lively against Liverpool because he was still believing Emery at that point but if you looked closely at him yesterday you could see some sadness in the background of his play. A player like Pépé must be having the ball every other minute so he could try and work the angles. He wasn’t having that and upon that he had to endure watching his teammates making horror comedy at the back. That would depress any new player for sure. Pépé arrived here expecting elite coaching… Read more »
Paulinho
“, and our best player missing for the most important part of the season, we would’ve without doubt made it into the top four.”
Are you conveniently forgetting that our “best player ” (Ramsey I presume) was benched for 9 consecutive league games, he only started something like 13 league games .
Paulinho
Some take that. Sounds like absolute waffle to absolve Emery and pay homage to Ramsey.
With all the money spent in the summer only pepe,ceballos and luiz are on show.. Luiz hasn’t improved the leaky defence, in fact he gave away 2 unnecessary penalties at least cost us 2 points Pepe still finding his feet and i am afraid he won’t get more time before he is labelled “expensive flop” if he is not already been called that!. Ceballos is exciting at the moment, dont know how long it will last though , with all the negative vibes in the dressing room. Emery should’ve never subbed him yesterday..it all went horribly and embarrassingly wrong afterward.… Read more »
Yeah, hot take and POV and all that. Whatever.
Pierre – No I didn’t forget it. Point in there somewhere? Another not so thinly veiled dig at Emery I assume.
I mean, this season has been gash so far. But we’re only a month in, seems a bit silly to state that last season’s squad was better than this one already. On paper it will never be true, but to claim it in reality already seems premature.
Ceballos needs more playing time…. He is a quick study…
The more he plays the better he will get. he will know Aubas runs, Lacas positioning, etc.
This game needed a third goal badly…. and we should have attacked mercilessly after halftime to get it.
didnt happen that way
Pierre
Mings is giving a very good account of himself at PL level so far, he’s a big mean bastard too.
Luteo – 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.
Should have kept Jeff and maylon …the Dutch boy.
Ishola
I don’t remember anyone saying we’d comfortably finish 3rd, vast majority would acknowledge that Spurs have a better side than us in addition to a better gaffer.
Do we have a better side than United and Chelsea? Honestly interested in your take on this.
And if not, do you not rate Emery’s ability to coach over Lampard/OGS?
“Spurs have a better side than us in addition to a better gaffer.”
OH boi