In politics, if you are susceptible to conspiracy theories or have mused through history books, politicians have through history created situations that prompt the people to have their civil liberties taken away. Take Hitler burning down the Reichstag as an example.
In some ways, the football equivalent of that is happening at Arsenal at the moment.
The Unai Emery shit show is so bad, the people are begging the club to make things worse by bringing in a percieved solution that feels right in the moment (take my freedom to ensure safety), but when things calm down, we’ll realise we’re in a dictatorship we can’t escape (Jose Mourinho soft coup).
The Portuguese manager has, for the first time in his entire career, softened his stance towards the not-so-mighty Arsenal. This week, he was spotted in an exec box at Arsenal catching a bit of Europa League football. As ways of passing time go, this seems suspicious. It’s like finding out your partner has swapped Instagram for Tinder as a way to keep up with her friends. It doesn’t add up. Most Arsenal fans couldn’t muster the energy to go to the game.
A large section of Arsenal fans are clawing for a move that seems obvious. Jose makes sense. He’s won the league in living memory, he has an excellent understanding of the language and culture, he’s probably the purest pragmatist in the modern game, his track record with African players could be beautiful for Pepe. He will absolutely fix our defence with the tools we have on offer. He would more than likely make us a top 4 team this season.
… but there’s a catch. While you’re begging for Jose to bail you out of your footballing misery, consider the following.
Jose Mourinho is a chequebook manager in every sense of the word. He long gave up sharpening his coaching skills in favour of filling his team full of elite players to push his trophy ambitions. Peak Jose, when he was at Inter Milan, appears to be a distant memory. The job he did at United looks increasingly positive against PE coach, OGS, but be honest, for that outlay, the end product was drab.
To counter the above, I was informed that Jose doesn’t have a backroom team at the moment and he’s apparently in the market for one. If he has accepted that his approach has to develop, and he adds some world-class minds to his brain trust, then you might be talking an evolved beast. On paper though, if he’s the same old Jose, he’s only going to work if he has money to burn. Arsenal spent the money for next summer, when he finds out the coffers are empty, he’ll be a nightmare. Excuses galore, leaks to the press, and a grey cloud of misery will cloud the stadium.
Secondly, Jose brings a big backroom team. That means any visions Raul had of controlling the infrastructure would be gone. Hiring in a manager with a big backroom team is a soft coup. It insulates the manager and gives him control of aspects of the club he shouldn’t have control over. It can also cause cliques. If Jose brings the early days of his career back and we’re winning, it’s good times all round, if he doesn’t, firing him could cost us a fortune. His 2007 sacking cost Chelsea £23m. His United sacking last year cost £19m.
Then there’s the football. Wooooah boy, it is not pretty. However, it’s usually effective. But note this, if you go from Emeryball, which is fucking atrocious, then reengineer the squad to Mourinhoball, you basically say goodbye to the beautiful game. WengerDNA would be wiped out within two managers. That means if you ever want to welcome a Fonseca or a Rose, you’ll have to invest in different players, and likely lose a season of competitiveness as the squad gets used to having the ball at their feet.
There’s also the theatrics. Arsenal, is generally a liked club. Jose, generally, does not play by the rules of most managers. He creates a theatre that revolves around him. This is a guy who abused his own physios for doing their jobs, a man that gouged another man’s eye in the El Classico, there are countless shocking behavioural examples that should concern you as you clamour for winnertivity. Remember, in 2008 when Barca were chasing him, they had to end conversations because he wouldn’t abide by their conduct policy (namely, don’t be awful).
… putting all that to one side. The reality for Raul and Edu is they don’t have any wiggle room this season. It’s literally Champions League or bust. They need top 4 and outside Allegri, who hasn’t managed in the Premier League, there’s no other manager that is more suited to rebooting this season (outside maybe Benitez). He would be the ultimate short-term stopgap, but the fear would be the 4 year deal, because you know it’ll end like most Jose adventures… at 3 years, with plenty of tears.
Right, that’s me done. See you tomorrow. x
Left
Agreed. We’re a mess, it’s a literal new coat of paint job to the final couple of Wenger years.
This talk of progression and improvement is such a load of bollocks, we’ve bought some bet r players but arranged them in no discernible pattern whatsoever.
Totally reliant on moments, whether that’s Auba scoring 8 from 9 shots, or a Pepe brace of free kicks.
Palace at home that was today, and we didn’t get a goal from open play, we made comical defensive errors, and traded punches like equals. Crystal fucking Palace.
@Ishola –
“If Arsenal sue regarding VAR then there will be a whole host of teams following suit.”
Then so be it, VAR shouldn’t be fucking anyone over that was meant to be the point of it.
Look I think its clear to all that the PGMOL are corrupt. VAR should be reviewed by an independent panel who have no vested interest in the game.
Emery out!
Dissenter
Xhaka is reacting to being trolled on the internet as well. London Turk from AFTV is spooking him.
It’s ridiculous.
We all know the Xhaka situation is a complete sham.
It has to stop.
freddie til end of season please!!
We’ve become the grievance club
People need the calm the eff up and stop the whining . It’s not the first decision that VAR has gotten wrong, not even the most obvious error.
Ishola
We were getting poor decisions against us even before VAR was introduced in the league. VAR is not the issue.
Rambo “It was never this bad under Wenger. In 22 years. That’s the simple truth.” 6-0 loss to Chelsea 4-0 loss to Southampton 5-1 loss to Liverpool 6-3 loss to Man City 8-2 loss to United 5-1 loss to Bayern 5-1 loss to Bayern 5-1 loss to Tottenham 3-1 loss to Stoke 2-1 loss to Birmingham City (2011 CC) 4-0 loss to Milan 2-0 loss to Sunderland (2012 FAC) I don’t know; I sort of think it was. Many times in fact. A 2-2 draw to a dangerous Crystal Palace team is disappointing, but it’s hardly a low like the… Read more »
I’d actually go as far as getting rid of Emery now. I would stake good money on us not getting top 4.
It doesn’t matter how badly our rivals for top four perform Emery will always be a level worse.
We are regressing as a team and making the mid to lower table clubs look like equals when we play them.
Give Freddie a chance for the rest of the season and play young players.
Pierre, that Karl Pilkington clip isn’t funny a 3rd time either.
Much as I don’t want Xhaka in the team, I don’t blame him for feeling shit about being clapped off. Not a helpful reaction but understandable.
I do blame Emery for picking him.
Highlight of the game Guendouzi wrestling Zaha to the ground. I missed the first two goals due to new contactless turnstiles which everyone was taking a few seconds to work out.
Emery is clueless.
Anybody who argues that we’re making progress does not understand football in any meaningful way.
Ishola
Seriously, if you p[ay a fee to watch Arsenal then you have every right to boo anyone in the stadium.
Was Xhaka racially abused or something? His reaction needs a publicly reported punishment. He’s supposed to be captain FFS.
Please, let’s not get distracted by VAR. Emery is the idiot who has to go!
Have they said why the goal was disallowed.
I only saw one replay of it and there is no way it could be for the chambers challenge.
My first feeling was that it was either a lush by Lacazette at the near post or he came back from an offside position to make the challenge …offside is the favourite for me .
If its the chamber’s challenge then VAR is a farce.
4-0 loss in the FA Cup to Man Utd reserve side while we fielded a full strength side..
Push
TR7
“We were getting poor decisions against us even before VAR was introduced in the league. VAR is not the issue.”
TR7
It seems you are struggling for a response here.
VAR was meant to be a saviour. It isn’t.
I As said it’s mere presence today totally fucked Arsenal over.
Is this twat still going?
Those results (some of which are laughable inclusions) spanned 22 years.
Emery has a number after 1 season.
Palace last season, Leicester, Chelsea 4 fucking 1 in a European final.
Go catch a bus, with your face. Emery is awful.
Champagne charlieOctober 27, 2019 16:45:32
“AKBs coming to Wenger’s defense on Le Grove. Hilarious.“
Using that term 18 months after he’s left the club is more hilarious if you ask me.
Interested to hear more about your peng views of football later this afternoon, don’t run if things go a bit…Emery. Stick around this time.
>>>>>
Using a 14 yr old girl term like peng on a adult football blog is even more hilarious if you ask me.
Fergie fielded 6 defenders in that game and we got turned over no thanks to Wenger lol
Sport news reporting that the ref responsible of the VAR decisions at arsenal is somebody who was hired from Australia!!
Do they do football over there!!??
Fucking PGMOL
Bamford
Yes and we still finished top four despite some bad losses
Emery has had his revamped squad and we are even worse
No amount of digging up old losses changes that
Benny
Peng is urban slang you dribbly spastic, because your 14 year old girl is more socially aware than you doesn’t do anything but make you look a prick.
Also, digest when something’s used ironically.
My cousin was at match today and said the sang we got ozil! After he chucked the armband lol
Bamford, quoting AFC defeats over many years does not mean that we are not clueless now. Those defeats were sandwiched between many satisfactory performances.
The negativity I feel about Emery’s stewardship and competence exceeds any level under Wenger. Frankly comparing it is worthless and irrelevant.
I believe there fans were trying to hurry Xhaka up to get off the field for a game that we were still chasing
Using a 14 yr old girl term like peng on a adult football blog is even more hilarious if you ask me.
Not as hilarious as counting your Syrian Facebook group among your dear friends.
Emery deserves a contract extension after subbing Xhaka.
No way retard Wenger would have subbed Xhaka.
RedtruthOctober 27, 2019 20:23:51
Fergie fielded 6 defenders in that game and we got turned over no thanks to Wenger lol
Rt
Yeah and emery is still considered worse than wenger at his lowest ebb
Samesong
“My cousin was at match today and said the sang we got ozil! After he chucked the armband lol”
Both Xhaka and Ozil need to be moved on.
Bit daft of the fans to keep refering to Ozil really.
The Ozil chant felt like a protest. That being said around me there were quite a few boos at a chant for Ozil. Not good whichever way you look at it.
Bamford is nothing more than a troll now. Better left ignored until he stops trolling.
The positive to come out of the game is pepe’s dead ball delivery is bang on the money.
Guendouzi as our deepest midfielder sort of worked for a while until we went into panic mode .
RedtruthOctober 27, 2019 20:28:42
Emery deserves a contract extension after subbing Xhaka.
No way retard Wenger would have subbed Xhaka.
Wanker ✊🏻🥖
Bamford Who cares about wengers bad results it’s not an either or with wenger and emery it’s about is emery good enough or not and he certainly isn’t . Some of the excuses you come out with to defend emery like it’s on the players is bizarre he trains them to play this garbled mess. He continues to pick the wrong teams . Honestly you need to get some tissue paper and wipe your chin as it’s brown with all the shit your talking . You just defend emery because you know your wrong about him and you can’t admit… Read more »
Redtruth
“Emery deserves a contract extension after subbing Xhaka.”
Not once. Twice now in succession.
Maybe he is letting him hang himself. Setting him up to fail.
A few hinted at that previously.
Red, he fucking picked him in the first place so hardly deserves credit for subbing him or was that an attempt at humour?
Funny watching the usual mugs squirm after ceremoniously celebrating the Spanish clown.
Careful what you wish for….
Unai Emery on Xhaka’s reaction to being booed: “Xhaka was wrong. We are going to speak to him & decide with the club. We will speak about that [if he’ll remain club captain].”
Un na naai
“Yes and we still finished top four despite some bad losses”
He finished top 4 because Arsenal were flat track bullies
You just defend emery because you know your wrong about him and you can’t admit . I backed him last year and guess what I was wrong , see it’s not so hard
Slow clap. They jumped on emery as they thought, wrongly, he was going to show wenger up and immediately blaze a trail. It’s impossible for marko and Bamford and the rest to admit they were wrong.
Top 4 ?
Won’t get top 6 at this rate.
Chelsea look transformed
Leicester are on fire..(wish we had Brendan).
Man U are improving.
So it’s between us and Spuds for 6th.
This is rough, quite possible we see Emery sacked before December were crumbling into a mid table side at pace.
With Wolves and Leicester next up in the league, not optimistic with either those fixtures. This could get ugly quick, Emeryball is rapidly gaining cult status as a step into the twilight zone where mid fields don’t exist.
Rt
Would rather be flat track bullies now than get rolled over by palace, Brighton and Sheffield United every week.
Bamford it’s gone beyond Wenger at this point. He is down, gone finito.
Right now Emery is the manager and he simply isn’t good enough.
I don’t think there’s a way back for Unai bar a miraculous run of games.
The build up is too slow and predictable.
I would put money on Torreira being picked as DM when new coach takes over.
Oh to be a flat track bully!
Donny Regarding Ceballos I was very enthused with his performance against Burnley as was the vast majority on here. But I did say that the guy runs with a gait and was pilloried for it because they wanted it to be seen as Ceballos silky smooth. Your mate Pierre even went as far as stating him as his favourite player. I think on reflection now he isn’t worth buying from Real Madrid. Decent but not anywhere near enough really good to pay out a pretty big fee for him. He would need a massive turn around in form. Maybe if… Read more »
Red we are not even flat track bullies now. I don’t even know what pathetic name to call us now.
The irony is that while a certain section of Arsenal fans are losing their minds at the moment and calling for Emery’s head, I can pretty much guarantee that neither Edu nor Sanllehi is thinking this way in the least bit. They might be thinking we need more athleticism in midfield, they may be thinking we need more pace in the back, they might be thinking Xhaka can no longer be in the XI, but there is absolutely no chance they are thinking that Unai Emery needs to be replaced in the morning. There is literally no chance in the… Read more »
London
Yeah, you’ve missed the point.
Red
We don’t bully any team now we seemed to have become the bullied even by the lesser teams
TR7
It will be interesting to see what happens with Xhaka now, ie stripped of captaincy. I doubt he can keep it unless there is a grovelling apology/statement. Even that probably wouldn’t be enough. Overall a poor decision to make him skipper has now backfired big time.
Wasn’t at the game today but some are saying that the booing only really started after it became apparent he was in no rush to leave the pitch, not sure how true that is?
Pierre I told you these set of three EPL games were tricky.
But you pooh poohed it.
Wolves next. Then Leicester away.
Strap in Pierre.
We have to pray that Emery excludes Xhaka for good but even that may not be enough. It can’t but help though.
Emery has gained my respect.and support.
Emery is delivering the club from it’s pampered culture nurtured by Wenger.
Emery has been playing mind games with Xhaka.
Snap.
You lose Xhaka.
Any sane person would be thinking now that Emery has to be sacked immediately
What planet are you on Bamford?
“I can pretty much guarantee that neither Edu nor Sanllehi is thinking this way in the least bit.“
How can you pretty much guarantee that you lemon?
Same way you guaranteed Mane wasn’t in the same class as Mahrez? or how you guarantee we’ve improve?
You’re a bigger joke than Emery, well done.
You do not have a clue Bamford, you certainly don’t have an inside line to Edu and Sanhelli. If you genuinely don’t think they won’t be making contingency plans and you are not just being contrarian for some Sunday fun, I fear for your footballing sanity.
Emery the type that will probably leave Xhaka out for one game we win, then brings him back for the Leciester game.
That’s the type of manager we are dealing with. If he can be disrespectful like that like Ozil was then surely he deserves to be benched for a long time no?
What actually went wrong? The penalty looked like it changed the whole game. my stream was doing a Xhaka earlier.
Chambers is one of those players also that is not intelligent enough in situations.
Omg and Redtruth too
Comparing him with Wenger which is intellectually pointless
The man is failing badly and needs to go
Liverpool ,wolves and Leicester next there’s 3 losses coming if ever I seen it . Should we wait till then before pulling the trigger on emery .
TR7
“Unai Emery on Xhaka’s reaction to being booed: “Xhaka was wrong. We are going to speak to him & decide with the club. We will speak about that [if he’ll remain club captain].””
Ha ha ha ha ha.
“Then Leicester away”
This one will be pretty bloody….
We play Wolves at home then we go away to Leicester, maybe we stand a chance at home against Wolves, but forget the Leicester game. So potentially, if Leicester win the next game and Chelsea win their next two matches, Leicester and Chelsea will be ahead of us by 7 points assuming we beat Wolves at home. And it’s not yet,December.
What I’m saying is sack Emery tomorrow and don’t wait until top 4 becomes impossible.
VAR is really a fraudulent development in football BTW.
The troll is ‘absolutely confident’ about what two men whom he has never met are thinking.
And why was Sokratis trying to be a right winger at times ?
Bamford
You don’t have a clue what Raul or Edu are thinking.
Raul has come out and stated Emery must get top four with recent investment we can’t afford not to. He’s far more wedded to the top four money than Emery, once that looks lost with Emery helming he goes.
“Unai Emery on Xhaka’s reaction to being booed: “Xhaka was wrong. We are going to speak to him & decide with the club. We will speak about that [if he’ll remain club captain].””
What we should urgently speak about are the terms of Emery’s contract termination.
Anyone praising a flat track bully team shows what a loser they are
TR7
Were you trolling when you said over and over again that Poch was one of the top-3 managers in world football?
You write dumb stuff here too, no different from anyone else.
Bamford has every right to state his position.
“I can pretty much guarantee that neither Edu nor Sanllehi is thinking this way in the least bit.“
I prefer CG to this guy. At least CG trolls with humility.
What would they be thinking? How to get another £120m to spend on Emery in January? Or how to prepare for the 2020-2021 Europa?
You talk shit for fun Bamford.
Sal
Does a draw with Palace ten games in to the season mean we are no longer in the running for top four? No.
Does being four points off of 4th after 10 games mean the season is lost? No.
And this is why neither Edu nor Sanllehi is thinking “Emery needs to be replaced in the morning”.
This plus the fact that today’s result was clearly on our inadequacies in midfield and weaknesses in defense, not on Emery.
New (Xhaka) post 😉
I feel sorry for Saka , coming on and never received one decent pass in the time he was on the pitch.
Patience and composure are way down the list of importance for our manager.
VAR needs to be investigated because we’ve been on the end of some shocking decisions yet Liverpool get it their way every time.
Untold Arsenal are right; we’re getting shafted in a match fixing ring.
‘This plus the fact that today’s result was clearly on our inadequacies in midfield and weaknesses in defense, not on Emery.’
The weaknesses in defense is not on Emery, it’s on the white-bearded old woman who spoon- fed you with pure lemon whenever she visited your nanny.
Emery not supporting Xhaka.
Suggests taking the captaincy away is an option.
To be honest though, I think Emery is a bit of a shit in this situation. He made a very unpopular player who causes the side issues captain. The fans reacted exactly as most predicted they would and now he’s throwing Xhaka under the bus.
I don’t agree with fans booing players but Xhaka was a disgrace. He’s a well paid professional and should have sat on the bench and ignored the fans.
A lot are mad but few are roaming is the case of the retards who go any length to defend this show of shame.
Idiots are even praising Emery for substituting the same xhaka he made the captain.
Waiting for the usual culprits to tell us it’s because bellerin didn’t play, xhaka is poor, we need to spend another 100s of millions before Emery can be judged.
I didn’t watch the game, thank God. But 3things
Emery has to go
Ozil has to go before Emery
Bravo to Xhaka for giving it back to all the stupid Arsenal cunt fans in the stadium that booed him off. My captain ♥️
Benny you are crazy. In what works are fans continually absolved of any blame whatsoever?
Adebayor was right to do what he did all those years back
Xhaka was also right today.
Fuck any cunt fan that would boo players off the pitch. It’s disgraceful
Eboue was once a marauding full back but the fans forgot that and booed him when he was going through a tough time.
Instead of giving Mustafi hope, they fucking destroyed him the more. Ndi ala.
CC,
I’m quite aware peng is urban slang but it’s used by kids, not middle aged men.
Un nai,
I never said my Syrian friends in Facebook are my dear friends, I was saying about how my information is more accurate than most others. My Syrian friends in London However a few are close friends, so what?
Why don’t you stick to rewriting history about how great Wenger’s last few seasons were.
World* not works
“Waiting for the usual culprits to tell us it’s because bellerin didn’t play, xhaka is poor, we need to spend another 100s of millions before Emery can be judged.”
What usual culprits would that be then?
Pretty sure everyone on here wants Emery gone?
Not a single news on Sky or BBC re the VAR fiasco. At the time, the casters said that VAR is checking for a foul, committed by Chambers, before any replay of the situation was shown. So they had info that the goal is overruled precisely for a Chambers foul. Then again, NO replay was shown on the TV screens like it was shown before, of the countless replays that the VAR is looking at. ZERO! Now both Sky and BBC are keeping it low-key and making the Xhaka situation the talking point of the game. And Emery, with the… Read more »
The only things that BBC say on the matter: “As the players returned to the centre circle, referee Atkinson was involved in more debate with Stockley Park, where an apparent foul by Chambers on Milivojevic was detected, causing widespread anger inside an arena that was already boiling over.” And SkySports: “They thought they had finally snatched a dramatic win when Sokratis found the back of the net after a Pepe corner had not been cleared but, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out for an alleged foul by Chambers in the build-up” NOBODY KNOWS WHAT THE GOAL… Read more »
“Apparent foul” and “alleged foul” That’s how they’re calling it. While all of the comments on BBC under the match report are about VAR, BBC are busy making news about Xhaka. Of course it’s going to get swept under the carpet. Same way English branded all Bulgarians as racists, making news like “RACISTS 0 – 6 ENGLAND” while they have racist shouting and jeering on their own leagues every single bloody week in week out. It’s whatever suits them. Nobody is going to rise vs Mike Riley like my country’s Prime Minister asked for and eventually received the resignation of… Read more »
The whole point of VAR was to make decisions fair. It was supposed to give us crystal clear views and while some decisions are too hard to call even after 100 replays it was supposed to give us clarity, objectivity, a view above the one of a flawed individual aka ref. What was clear in tonight’s decision? Nobody knew why the goal got ruled out. Nobody show a replay of the situation with VAR name on the screens. Casters assumed what the problem was and showed their own replays of the situation while VAR showed a bloody line of text… Read more »
“Xhaka was wrong. We are going to speak to him & decide with the club. We will speak about that [if he’ll remain club captain].”
What’s there to decide?
The fact that Emery is unwilling or unable to strip him of his captaincy speaks volumes.
I wonder if Özil was captain whether if he would be as long suffering or understanding.
From arsenal..com The use of VAR was one of the major talking points following our 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. It intervened to award the visitors a penalty and then – more controversially – ruled out what would have been a winning goal for Sokratis. Here’s Unai Emery’s take: on the result… Good evening. It’s 90 minutes and a lot of matters to talk about. We can speak about two directions. We can speak about our performance and also the referee’s decision with VAR. We deserved to win. We started very well with our two goals and we didn’t concede… Read more »
Emery has lost the plot, time for him to move on.
Emery has a losing rate equal to the god Wenger….difference is we are still waiting for a 6-0 or 8-2 thrashing that Monsieur Magoo achieved…..and that useless charlatan still kept his £9m a year job for seasons after.
The biggest success we have had recently is getting the damaging obstacle out of the club. Ok we’ve got a piss poor manager now….but we can shift him quick. Emery can’t claim “I built this club”….and seemingly get to a position where he is almost unsackable.