Emery struggles to motivate a performance, again

by .

I watched the Arsenal game in New Orleans in a great bar call Finn McCool’s. I am very hungover right now. So bear with me kids.

We’re now into October and Unai Emery has only managed one decent performance this season, that was against a Championship side.

On the face of it, you can boldly look at the on-paper situ and say that we’re sitting in 4th, we’re ahead of two of our main rivals in the race for top 4, and we’re excited about some of the kids.

Or you could be a miserable but realistic person and realize that there are only 3 points between 4th and 11th, our main rivals are in deep transition / we’ve not taken advantage of their woes, and the kids are the only exciting thing because the rest of the squad hasn’t really shown up.

At the core of our problems is our beta manager. Unai Emery went to Old Trafford, a team West Ham bossed, and played with fear again. His midfield lacked ambition, he basically rolled with three holding midfielders, opting to push LT into a more advanced position he really can’t play. Xhaka is Xhaka, you know what you’re going to get and it’s always a different variant of beige. We all love Matteo, but he can’t do it all himself. I really felt for the attack, Auba was dropping into our own penalty box at times to create for the forward players. Petit summer up the side he picked.

‘It sends negative signals by picking 3 defensive midfielders against a team there for the taking’

We went a goal down, there were 9 Arsenal players behind the ball when McTominay fizzed a shot that Xhaka ducked. It was quite startling to be down to a side that’s been so inept this season, but not surprising, we give wind to any club in any sort of crisis. Xhaka ducking a header? Not shocking.

We clawed one back in VAR circumstances. Saka slipped Aub into the box with a lovely first-time pass, the finish was an arrogant little dink, but the linesman called it offside. VAR overturned the decision. De Gea looked like he’d broken the unwritten rule… play on regardless of what you see with you eyes and hear with your ears. The VAR ruled the goal legitimate.

Saka was the one bright spot in a game of darkness. He’s electric, he moves the ball with purpose, he’s extremely bright and he delivers. If we’d spent £80m on him this summer, we’d all be purring right now. What a bright future this guy has.

The rest of the game was pretty grim to watch. The manager tried to spice up our attack with the introduction of  Ceballos. I’m not sure it heavily altered the dynamic, though it did give us a bit more purpose.

We chased the win late on by bringing Reiss Nelson on for the dismal Nicolas Pepe. The Ivorian superstar looked utterly lost once again. He has some lovely flashes, but he has no clue what he’s doing in the Emery system. He’s a lost his sparkle, he needs a goal, I also think he needs a hug, the guy looks very, very miserable.

1-1 was a fair result, but once again, it was a poor one given the context. What made it worse was the glee on Emery’s face, like he’d just taken Sevilla to Barca and nicked a point. It’s so meek.

I’m no fan of Mesut Ozil, but in a game as bad as that, he’d be handy to open up opportunities. The manager named him in his 5 captains, then dropped him from the squad. What does that say about your emotional intelligence as a coach? How do your rationalise that sort of thing? What does that message look like to the other players? It’s farsical considering how little magic was on show yesterday. As someone comically said yesterday, Emery would prefer to play a defensive midfielder as a #10.

Long and short of it. We couldn’t take advantage of Spurs when they were in freefall. We couldn’t take advantage of an OGS mess. We’re in 4th place, sure, but the reality is we’re not playing like a top 4 team and the hangover from last season has carried through. We are a very average team. Some fans aren’t paying attention to the performances becasue they don’t think the table lies. I have news for you, the table always lies, if you didn’t learn that last season during our 22 game unbeaten streak, I feel for you. Emery hasn’t moved us forward, he doesn’t know how to build a defensive structure, his approach to attack is painfully one-dimensional, and worst of all… the players don’t look like they enjoy playing his system.

We’re holding out for Tierney and Hector to save Emery’s vision, the same way many fans were holding onto the idea that buying wide players would make his style tick. It’s fantasy stuff. We were supposed to be hiring in a magician who could work with the tools he was given, we got a one-dimensional manager with less tricks up his sleeve than Wenger. The only thing that’s flexible is his indecision. The only thing that’s visionary is the belief that there’s a good player somewhere in the world of Xhaka. The only thing exciting are the moments of individual magic some of our talent can pull off inspite of the manager.

We hired in asset stripper, the asset he’s selling off is footballing joy and he’s utterly ruthless at it. Unai Emery doesn’t want to have a specific style. He just wants to crawl through each game and take the points any way he can. It’s like watching a mid-table team bar fight after 12 beers. He’s a bad pragmatist, he doesn’t believe in anything, so we’re always going to look confused. We get by at the moment because we have good players, or more to the point, we have an Auba.

That’s not a sustainable model. It didn’t work last season, I have my doubts it will this year. The only thing we’re hopeful of is that Chelsea, Spurs and United continue to be works of transition. That’s such a miserable outlook considering how good some of the talent is.

… but this is us for the forseeable. I can’t see the club doing anything unless things go really badly, we’re just going to aim for 4th and hope the manager finds some sort of rhythm.

A disappointing result, but par the course for Emery.

 

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Goobergooner

Also I feel like I saw Joe back. Get amongst it mate

Dark Hei

“297 comments, & the words Kroenke & Son aren’t mentioned once!”

After netting us Nicholoas Pepe? We aren’t that entitled you know.

Graham62

Heard through the grapevine that Ericksen slept with Vertonghens wife. Massive split in Spuds dressing room.

Oh well, off to work.

Chris

https://www.football365.com/news/pulis-amazed-by-gnabry-development-after-spurs-rout

I remember being disappointed when Gnabry left but for his own sake it was the right call. Ultimately it’s shame but it was no guarantee he would have blossomed into the player he is now if he had stayed.

Despite being an obvious talent sometimes what a player needs is the right conditions to thrive.

Ivan

Gobergooner

Yes, team behind manager is doing better, but Emery is failing and will be replaced.

Only issue is most of us hoped that Emery would fair a bit better than he is.

I was never fan of mid season sacking but would be quite ok if Freedie took reigns till the end of this season when there is still time to salvage smh.

This Xhaka fiasco cemented Emery’s destiny.
Bet Emery has some problems with social skills so Xhaka is used as his voice in dressing room.

raptora

Pierre is back with his agenda driven bs. I agree with what you say. But where was this when it was Wenger instead of Emery, and the team was regressing year after year infront of our very eyes. Individually and collectively. Yet, for you, it was never Wenger ruining them. It was always someone else, something else… – Gibbs was supposed to be our new Ashley Cole. – Ramsey and Wilshere were supposed to be Lampard and Gerrard level of talent. Walcott could have been Sterling before even Sterling came on the scene. – Chambers was to be our John… Read more »

Danialtos

I wonder why the resident poch lovers are avoiding a poch discussion today,because trust me if poch had scrapped a 3-2 win,Legrove would be full of a pochettino wankfest,which always makes me sick.I mean,Emery is not pulling up any trees let’s not lie,but for people to come here day in day out and hail the Argentine as some sort of genius is nauseating, especially considering he has won sweet f*ck all.Even a finished Wenger delivered 3 facups ffs..So I ask again,what has the manager of our bitter rivals done to warrant so much space and love on here among Arsenal… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Gibbs was supposed to be our new Ashley Cole.”

He wasn’t ?? lol

Pierre

Gobbygooner “It was 100% called out before Wenger even left that akbs wouldn’t give whoever the new man was a chance. Bunch of cunts” Let’s say the new manager came in and improved us defensively impro ved us in midfield improved us offensively, Made us more balanced Made us more disciplined. Improved performances on the pitch. It would be a little silly not to give the new manager a chance wouldn’t it. That’s what we all wanted when Wenger left …..improvement. Just because some of us recognised Emery’s failings earlier than those who used to staunchly defend him, doesn’t mean… Read more »

raptora

LoLzzz. Of course that I will add mr Ozil in the list. Considered the best CAM in the world, he came to Arsenal and became a joke of a player. It happened under Wenger. All of it. Ozil was gradually declining as a player and Wenger is recorded saying as feeling sorry that he wasn’t harsher with him. I remember we were laughing when someone said he’d rather have Eriksen than Ozil. Few years down the line and that guy was 100% right. We could have had a KdB level of talent and instead we got a always sick, part-footballer… Read more »

HighburyLegend

Pierre will soon make a porn, available on the You Tube adult channel.

With Arsène and Mesut. Threesome.
The hardcore fans are warned.

Jim Lahey

Christ.. Spurs lost 7-2 at home last night and we are back onto Wenger..

Dark Hei

“Heard through the grapevine that Ericksen slept with Vertonghens wife. Massive split in Spuds dressing room.”

Google says it is the other way round.

Holy cow.

That is one way to orchestrate an exit from the club.

HighburyLegend

@Dark Hei : false.
It was a threesome. One more.

Pierre

Jim
“Christ.. Spurs lost 7-2 at home last night and we are back onto Wenger..”

The obsessives can’t help themselves can they.

Always the same when one points out (correctly)the deficiencies of our present manager.

raptora

Pierre: “reality is now sinking in so instead of being aggressive towards fans who were more perceptive than you”

Spoken by a guy who finally wanted Wenger to leave 5-8 years after his expiration date. Super perception. Yes!

raptora

Pierre,
It’s the grandeur that you are making statements like the one above that is hillarious. Now you see the manager’s fault but for years and years it was anything else but. It’s hillarious and sad at the same time. Same way you are excusing Ozil in EVERY possible way. You do you though.

Guns of Hackney

How did vertonghen and eriksons wife even get it on? Seriously. These stories are such BS.

The logistics for even doing this don’t work.

Anyway, nothing wrong with chucking it up another man’s wife.

“If they are taking care of business, I’d be out of business”

Guns of Hackney

Spurs still did better than us. 10-2. Remember.

Dark Hei

GOH

I guess Spurs fans would love an Arsenal colleague like you around.

Guns of Hackney

Dark

Everyone would enjoy having me around. Just ask my one friend!

Dark Hei

GOH

Well played!

HighburyLegend

“Spurs still did better than us. 10-2. Remember.”

Just wait for the second tie in Munich. lol

shaun ellis

that is the whole point the whole setup is doing a lot better and showing real ambition but the current manager is not and is not going to . That said the defensive new boys should improve the defense slightly but the lack of improvement in the defensive team structure is the most concerning from a man who is supposed to be religious about tactics .We have seen zero improvements in the defense, if anything we are getting worse and that is just not acceptable .Can we please stop the Arteta foolishness .Arsenal deserve a proven top class manager or… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

HL

Oh shit…forgot it was two legs!

Ouch. Mind you, BM would only have to play a reserve side.

Dissenter

If Harry Kane moved to a club where he wasn’t the designated penalty taker, his goal scoring numbers will drop precipitously.
I can imagine his representatives insisting on inserting that clause into his contract when he leaves spurs; Harry Kane will be the designated penalty taker.
I’m sick of watching him tuck away weak penalties and celebrating like he scored the goal that won the World Cup.

Dissenter

Yesterday should have just been about Spuds and their drubbing led by a young gooner who’s still happy to stick it to them
Instead Pierre made it about Emery and then some stupidly started bashing Wenger to spite Pierre.

Jamie

Pierre October 1, 2019 23:59:34 Jamie and Marko… You will have to accept the fact that Emery is not worth defending anymore …. — So still no evidence of me defending Emery after he tanked the run-in and EL Final last season? Just a single quote will do, I’ll wait. Shameful you need to make shit up to try to score points on an anonymous blog, but hardly surprising. You’re prepared to lie to everyone here about your age in the hope that strangers will respect your commitment to a football club, it’s no wonder you’re prepared to lie about… Read more »

HighburyLegend

Kane tuck away.
Xhaka duck away.

UTarse

We missed out on guardiola when the senile fraud refused to budge, hopefully Stan won’t make the same mistake twice, Allegri is a free agent and waiting for one of Manure / Arsenal / Spuds to snap him up.

Let us pray.

Jim Lahey

No word on Pochettino not being exactly what a lot of people on here expected him to be?

Not a single trophy to his name and people throw around terms like “elite”. Oh I’m sure both Real Madrid and United will be in for him again this summer just like they apparently have been the last few seasons!

HighburyLegend

“hopefully Stan won’t make the same mistake twice”
You mean Josh ?? Stan still don’t give a shite of Arsenal.

“No word on Pochettino not being exactly what a lot of people on here expected him to be? ”
3 words : SPICE POCH SAUCE.

Jim Lahey

@UTarse –

“We missed out on guardiola when the senile fraud refused to budge,”

Guardiola would have never come to Arsenal, the man only picks clubs where he is guaranteed to win. Either the club has unlimited resources or is the only team in the league, he isn’t going to go somewhere where he doesn’t have a clear advantage over the rest of the league.

raptora

It was actually a bit different by the way. You and the rest of AKBs had already written off Emery or whoever was to be our new manager. So when Emery is proving that he is not up to the job, it’s not you being visionary or “perceptive”. It’s you and the rest, being negative from day 1, day 2 and so on, with no proof of what would really happen. And now that is obvious that Emery is not good enough, and it couldn’t be obvious till now because of many, many reasons, you take advantage of your agenda.… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Guardiola would have never come to Arsenal, the man only picks clubs where he is guaranteed to win. ”

Correct. But what about Arteta ?? (this one’s for Pedro…)

UTarse

Jim Lahey,

I guess we’ll never find out if he would or wouldn’t have come but I’m sure I read at the time he was on a sabbatical that Arsenal was a very interesting proposition to him should the job have become available.

Normski

Marko

‘Yeah he refused to sign an extension because game time wasn’t forthcoming because the previous 3 seasons he was rarely used’

Over coming a career threatening knee injury tends to limit your game time. Usual flat earthing bullshit for you again.

TitsMcGee

“Guardiola would have never come to Arsenal, the man only picks clubs where he is guaranteed to have a chance win. ”

Fixed it for you.

Normski

Jamie

‘Your game is as weak as Ozil’s.’

Haha that’s rich le grove’s very own beta male talking about male weakness.

Bojangles

This one’s for the Poch fans,

“Boris Johnson offers Mauricio Pochettino job as new Brexit secretary. ‘Nobody can get us out of Europe faster than this guy!’ explains the Prime Minister”

TitsMcGee

– Mustafi was considered a top talent in his Valencia days. Ruined by Wenger’s lack of defensive shape or organization.”

Love your work but Mustafi was always an average player and I am a “Die Mannschaft” fan.

TitsMcGee

You can say what you want about Poch but I’d take him in a heartbeat right now.

Valentin

Raptora,

What is hilarious is you giving people grand observation about football when according your previous comment Ashley Young was playing left back and Tzuanzebe right back. Like you said basic knowledge indeed…

Yet according to most people eyes it was the opposite. Here is an extract from Football365 about the game.

33-year-old converted winger Ashley Young featuring at right-back, centre-half Axel Tuanzebe making his second Premier League start at left-back

Jamie

Normski is Pierre’s alt trying to establish himself as the Alpha of le-grove.

Sad. Are you using a VPN to create this 2nd account so Pete doesn’t notice it’s you, Pierre?

Pierre

Jamie
Back off a bit …

It’s getting a little bit weird your obsession about me and your smutty little comments.

I have as much right as anyone on here to give my opinions about the club and I will continue to do so…

Jamie

Pierre –

“I have as much right as anyone on here to give my opinions about the club and I will continue to do so…”

Doubling-down on your straw man arguments. Show me where I’ve ever said you don’t have a right to share your opinions about the club.

You really should stop trying to attribute comments to me that I haven’t made. Or quote me directly and we can talk.

Pierre

There you go Jamie

“JamieOctober 1, 2019 23:48:42
Poor lad is absolutely obsessed with Ozil. Looking up his highlight reel with a sock in hand before bedtime.”

Now stop embarrassing yourself Jamie..I could probably find a 100 similar comments from you if I could be arsed .

Bamford10

Pierre

“Just because some of us recognised Emery’s failings earlier than those who defended him …”

Except that you didn’t. And any review of your supposedly insightful criticisms of Emery will reveal this clearly. For example, one of your main criticisms was that he was “mistreating” Mesut Ozil. Except that he wasn’t; he was treating Ozil exactly how any demanding top manager would’ve treated him, and Ozil was never the key to our improvement anyways; he was part of the problem and should have been sold.

So, no.

Pierre

Bamford
Pedro knows..

Jamie

Oh Pierre, that quote doesn’t say you “don’t have the right to post your opinions about the club” on this blog.

How about in one of my 100 other quotes? Maybe in one of those?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7VnG1Zmc0

Some material to motivate you during the search.

Bamford10

Cheers, Goobergooner. Agreed.

Guns of Hackney

Going in to bat for Pierre.

After last season and we lost to both Liverpool and City, both myself and Pierre immediately stated that Emery was not up to the task.

Fast forward and I feel vindicated.

Sometimes you just know when something isn’t working out.

Bamford10

Pierre Mesut Ozil of 2019 wouldn’t have helped us one iota the other night. Indeed, his being in the XI would have resulted in our having 10 1/2 players on the pitch. Yes, we could have used a better central midfield, but Ozil is no solution to our problems. Pedro occasionally gets things wrong, and he was wrong to say in his post that Ozil could have helped. Now, Mesut Ozil of 2010 could have helped. Sure. But the world hasn’t seen that Mesut Ozil for years and years now, and the reasons for this can be found in Ozil’s… Read more »

Champagne charlie

“Yes, Emery is getting things wrong, but that doesn’t mean your (or anyone else’s) diagnosis of what he is getting wrong is correct. Yours definitely isn’t.“

Awfully rich coming from someone that claims us organised, and much more so than under Wenger.

Ben D

Is it just me, or is ‘full of sauce’ Poch becoming increasingly incoherent in his press conferences?

TR7

Pierre’s analysis of everything related to Emery has been spot on and of high quality from the very beginning. He is one of the best contributors here. He sees the game unlike many others who just follow the theme of the day/week like a herd of sheep. Like theme of this week on Le Grove is ‘Emery out if he plays Xhaka’ as if that were the only problem with Emery.

bennydevito

Wrong! Guardiola DID want to come to us. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/2880831/pep-guardiola-wanted-to-join-arsenal-before-moving-to-bayern-munich-but-arsene-wenger-decided-to-sign-new-deal/ He also did his preparation for his coaching badges at Arsenal and stayed at Arsenal for a week as Wenger’s guest studying Arsenal’s tactics and video analysis. I can’t find the story on that precisely but remember it in the papers. “The Spaniard also began preparation for his coaching badges at Arsenal and has an affinity with the north London club and its manager.” https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1487221-pep-guardiola-alerts-epl-clubs-after-revealing-desire-to-coach-in-england.amp.html We could have had Guardiola, Gazidas had him lined up but Wenger wouldn’t step down. This was when he still had full control and Stan’s ear.… Read more »

Ray in LA

Ben D: Poch has not become less coherent, he has frequently been hard to fathom — but with the team falling apart he is not being given the benefit of the doubt 🙂

Bamford10

Shaun “A blind man should be able to get this Arsenal team into the top four …” I agree that Emery is not doing well enough, but the above simply isn’t true. United and Tottenham are not doing well at the moment, but both have good squads — better than ours or equal to ours — and both will likely right the ship and compete for top four by season end. Additionally, Leicester City are better than some here realize; they have a good starting XI as well a manager who knows how to get results in the PL; they’re… Read more »

Bamford10

TR7

Nice dishonest post. One, many of us who see Xhaka as a problem know full well that there are other issues in the team and other issues with how Emery sees things.

Two, other than thinking Emery had wronged Ozil — he didn’t, he hadn’t — what astute points has Pierre made about Emery’s approach? Please detail.

Danny

can be found in Ozil’s fragile psychology, not in Unai Emery’s work at Arsenal.
——————-
I again return for the 100th time to last seasons home match against Leicester which is so far our best match since Emery arrived and this was all due to an amazing match by Ozil. So why did Emery drop him not long after that match instead of keeping the momentum going by encouraging Ozil to continue as he played that day?

TR7

Victorious

‘Guy is a closet spuds,hopefully he gets binned anytime he comes out with poch being a top3 manager in the world,no one here deserves to go through the pain of witnessing such idiotic opinion.’

I don’t mind people mocking me for my opinion on Poch but you of all the people should not pretend to be a super fan of Arsenal. You have wished for Arsenal to lose games, so it’s pretty rich coming from you calling me a closet Spurs fan.

Rambo Ramsey

Its clear that this Emery issue has become an ego thing for Mr.Bamford.J. One of the loudest anti-Wenger voices constantly parroting out the ‘Its all on Wenger’ line. ‘Everthing wrong with Arsenal had everything to do with Arsene Wenger and once Wenger was rid, there would be no stopping Arsenal’s upward trajectory to glory’ was Bamford’s simplistic approach. But unfortunately, reality hasn’t been so sweet. More than a year down the line, Arsenal are the same they were in Wenger’s worst months. If we are being completely honest, we are even worse, in all departments. But admitting this would be… Read more »

Dream10

Emery should have been sacked in the summer. Unfortunately, I don’t expect a Kroenke, Raul or Edu to sack Unai until we cannot achieve top 4 and are eliminated from Europa League.

Bamford10

Danny

That was one match, and it was at home. Yeah, he was fantastic, but Ozil had gone missing in scores of previous matches, and he went missing in a score of subsequent matches. Anyone who thinks Mesut Ozil is or was the solution to our problems has honestly not been watching carefully enough. He’s not. For every one match where he plays well, he’ll give you twenty matches where he does nothing or less than nothing. This is not on Unai Emery. This is on Ozil’s mercurial psyche, and this was true long before Emery ever arrived.

Goobergooner

Pierre “It would be a little silly not to give the new manager a chance wouldn’t it. That’s what we all wanted when Wenger left …..improvement.” Well there was some improvement, more points and a place ahead of previous season, albeit with worse playing style (Arsenal fans and their over the too expectations of being Barcelona MK2). “Just because some of us recognised Emery’s failings earlier than those who used to staunchly defend him, doesn’t mean we didn’t want to give the new manager a chance , it means we happen to be more perceptive than others ” Now you’re… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Is it just me, or is ‘full of sauce’ Poch becoming increasingly incoherent in his press conferences?”

He has been Wengerized.
Soon you will have to say “Pocherized”.

Goobergooner

What I love about Bamford is that he continues to aggravate people who talk shit.
Same with marko

Bamford10

Rambo

“‘Everything wrong with Arsenal had everything to do with Arsene Wenger and once Wenger was rid, there would be no stopping Arsenal’s upward trajectory to glory’ was Bamford’s simplistic approach.”

Actually, that was never my line. That was Joe’s line. I never thought our post-Wenger situation would be a simple one, although I did believe — and I was right to believe — that 99% of our problems under Wenger were down to Wenger.

So, you’ve misrepresented my views. Which is to say: sorry, but no.

Goobergooner

raptoraOctober 2, 2019 10:02:50
Pierre,
It’s the grandeur that you are making statements like the one above that is hillarious. Now you see the manager’s fault but for years and years it was anything else but. It’s hillarious and sad at the same time. Same way you are excusing Ozil in EVERY possible way. You do you though.

This hahaha

Champagne charlie

Rambo Ramsey absolutely spot on with that post.

Bojangles

The only teams Pep would have considered were Citeh, Chelsea and possibly Un**ed, no other club could afford the players he would want to buy.

Goobergooner

raptora
October 2, 2019 10:33:44

Well said again mate

Pierre

Danny “——————- I again return for the 100th time to last seasons home match against Leicester which is so far our best match since Emery arrived and this was all due to an amazing match by Ozil. So why did Emery drop him not long after that match instead of keeping the momentum going by encouraging Ozil to continue as he played that day?” It’s all about Emery trying to show who’s boss. Ozil also played very well at home to liverpool , as the team did. However, in the next 2 games Ozil was substituted and showed his displeasure… Read more »

Pierre

Bamford
“That was one match, and it was at home. Yeah, he was fantastic, but Ozil had gone missing in scores of previous matches, ”

Actually Ozil was in the middle of a 4 goals in 6 games run around that time plus the team were also in the middle of their unbeaten run when Emery decided to change formation and personnel.

HighburyLegend

lol

TR7

Bamford Actually it is not just Pierre who has been spot on about Emery and his failings. There have been many others (Charlie, Sal, GoH, Dream, Rambo, Spanishdave, Pedro, Un Nai, Wenger eagle, myself etc.) who have on various occassions pointed out limitations in Emery’s management. My original beef was lack of philosophy and style in his game and if he had a discernible pattern to his game, I would have overlooked his other limitations. Anyway here is a point wise summary of limitations in his management in my view and many others have pointed some of them : 1.… Read more »

raptora

Normski: “Over coming a career threatening knee injury tends to limit your game time. Usual flat earthing bullshit for you again.” Bullshit. In 2012/13 he played a total of 7 mins in the EPL, 7 mins in the UCL. In the domestic cup competitions as a whole we played 3 games in the EFL cup and 4 games in the FA Cup, in which he started once and was used as a substitute once. We played 2 games went beyond Extra time in to penalties. He completed 80 mins in the Football Cup, and 0 mins in the FA Cup.… Read more »

Danny

Bamford10
————-
It’s the manager’s job to motivate players, he mismanaged Ozil but then again we’re talking about a manager who will play Xhaka in every league match this season etc

Danny

It’s basically Wenger choosing Iwobi instead of giving Gnabry a chance.
—————–
and Joel bloody Campbell!

raptora

TLDR:

Gnabry was healthy from February 2015 and started eight U21 and U23 games. He was healthy in the Summer when he played in the UEFA U21 Championship with the German team. He was then sent to get better under a negative manager like Toni Pulis. He remained healthy throughout the whole season. He was given 12 mins in the EPL in August and was never used again in the competition.

He thought Iwobi is a bigger talent than Gnabry.

Nelson

Arguing about Wenger and Ozil is a complete waste of time. We should ask ourselves Are we satisfy with the football Emery is serving? Emery thinks that Xhaka and the team are doing a good job. For him, football is supposed to be played like that. Probably, Emery has never watched an old Arsenal vs Manure game. Around the net, most fans found Monday’s game boring. It would be more helpful to suggest ways of improving the team instead of arguing about Wenger and Ozil.

raptora

In the same 2015/16 Wenger promoted Iwobi, to play in Gnabry’s favorite position and the Nigerian registered more minutes than Gnabry did in 3 seasons in the Arsenal first team.

raptora

Danny,

Ditto.

HighburyLegend

Dildo ??

HighburyLegend

Stop the wenger bashing please.
Stop the Ozil bashing please.

I’m joking Pierre, come back!!

Pierre

The game on monday night typifies Emery and the team for me . We started off slowly , 28% possession mid way through the first half . We then got a footing in the game and looked capable of taking the game to united. However, we conceded a goal on the counter from one of our corners. I have never been an advocate of leaving only one player back on the half way line when we have a corner but to leave us so exposed so close to half time was a tactical mistake. For 20 minutes in the 2nd… Read more »

Marko

Let’s be honest. If he were here he wouldn’t be playing at that level. He’s at a proper club, that fosters growth and development. That’s half the battle with grooming young talent.

This is very true. No telling exactly how Gnabry would have fared under a few more years under Wenger and then a season under Emery but it likely wouldn’t be at the level it is now. In saying that a good player is a good player

raptora

Pierre: “At this point Arsenal fans were thinking , this is our game , we are going to boss it until the end.” You mean like when under Wenger we got 16 pts out of possible 57 in our away games? We had the 9th best away attack, and the 13th best away defence. Change the following – “this doesn’t happen under Emery due to the fear he ingrains into the players and they go into negative mode.” into “this doesn’t happen under Wenger and Emery due to the fear they ingrained into the players and they go into negative… Read more »

China1

Gnabry has obviously been a major loss and the few games he played for us he did look like there was a lot of potential, but he didn’t necessarily look like he’d be this good I’m not defending his sale because he was playing well enough to deserve more playing time at arsenal when he was here, but young players who have a handful of good games are ten a penny but players who go on to deliver at the upper levels of the game are very rare, so hindsight makes this look more clear cut than it is. For… Read more »

For those people saying a point against United was a good result.
Worst start in 30 years, 10th after first 7 games. Only 2 wins out of the last 12 games. Yet people are saying we should be happy with a point. Emery is shit. End of. Genuinely hasn’t got a clue so why keep him till the end of the season. Kick him out now, put Freddie in charge and start planning for next season under a new manager.

Nelson

Maybe I am dreaming. I guess Emery is trying to copy the Pool’s system. The midfield is for pressing and defending. Attack will be through the wingers and FB’s. Goals will be scored by strikers. The reason why he wants to build the team around Xhaka: Xhaka can send the ball to the wingers. His system doesn’t play a traditional #10. The job of the ACM is pressing up front. That’s why he benched Ozil for tactical reason. We don’t have wingers and FB’s like the Pool. I don’t know whether this system works for us. We’ll find out once… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

Poch never had sauce. Who said that?

Danny

He didn’t look world class at arsenal
—————–
True but there was so much talk about his potential, at least that’s what I remember, and last night he showed it and some.

Guns of Hackney

More revisionists on here than in a bible group.

Gnabry was fucking turd at Arsenal. Turd! Same as Vela. Garbage.

We’ve invested tens of years and hundreds of millions over the years chasing ‘potential’. I’m glad we got rid.

It’s like berating Maradona’s under 8 side for letting him go.

Gnabry was crap.

Marko

Over coming a career threatening knee injury tends to limit your game time. Usual flat earthing bullshit for you again. So glad you brought this up he actually made his most senior appearences for us that year he got injured not previous and not after. He got signed played reserve football then the following season made 4 senior appearences while playing reserve football then the following season made his most senior appearences and got injured THEN after his injury it’s back to the reserves for a season and then he goes out on loan only to then come back to… Read more »

raptora

No way Wenger would have turned Gnabry in to what he is now. With that said, he would have still been a better player than Iwobi. Let’s not forget Gnabry didn’t take time to get good in Werder. First season after the WBA fiasco and he scored 11 times in the Bundesliga in 1974 minutes, or 22 full games. That’s 0.5 goal a game or a goal in every 179 mins. He was even better in his 2nd season in Germany playing for Hoffenheim – a goal in every 150 mins, and in his previous season for Bayern – a… Read more »

Paulinho

TR7 – A lot of those ‘failings you listed are subjective, and not necessary failings in an objective sense. Some of them are more observational than anything. Do Emery teams tend to be gritty and uneasy on the eye of the purist? Yes, I pointed out his style the day he arrived, so nothing I’ve seen has surprised me. Does he like playing the long game in terms of starting with a certain XI with a view to using certain subs to impact matches in the latter stages? Yes. Again, could be argued as a positive as much as a… Read more »

Marko

Actually it is not just Pierre who has been spot on about Emery and his failings. There have been many others (Charlie, Sal, GoH, Dream, Rambo, Spanishdave, Pedro, Un Nai, Wenger eagle, myself etc.) who have on various occassions pointed out limitations in Emery’s management. You’re just naming people who don’t like the manager at all. It’s dishonest to that these people have made good points along the way. Un nai’s a known moron GOH I don’t even think watches football and Rambo well hates everything. Anyway I see what you’re doing TR7 doing your very utmost to avoid a… Read more »