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
Frank Lampard knows the game inside out, has played to the highest level and has been tutored by some of the greatest managers in world football.
You can sense it when someone is going to be top notch in their profession. Does he already have an aura about him? Let’s ask the Chelski fans to see what they say.
This has nothing to do with Chelski having a “winning mentality”. This is all to do with them having the right person, at the right time, at the helm.
ARSENAL TRUTH “Identity is overplayed. The objective is to bring a team up to a certain level where other sides have to uniformly adapt to them. At that point they will probably find they have an identity or system of play, but at the moment Emery’s squad has so many weaknesses he’s constantly trying to find a balance by adapting to the opposition, hence no discernible style. I’d say this period of adaptation is entirely normal. What’s abnormal is expecting Arsenal to play with flair and style and dominate sides 14 months after Wenger’s car crash. And that’s not to… Read more »
Graham
I could replace Lampard’s name with OGS and Chelsea with ManU at a certain point last season.
It’s too early to appoint Lampard as the next “sauce” manager, the Poch is still curdling after all.
Marc of course I realise what you mean As I said the last published accounts were for the year 2017/18 . In that season Derby had the 8th biggest wage budget in the Championship. Ok the likes of Sunderland, Wolves,& Fulham didn’t play in the 2018/19 version but all the others did on top of that Stoke and WBA we’re relegated and no doubt would were still committed to paying decent wages. Hey. I really don’t care about Derby and I suspect that FLs players were well paid but I very very much doubt that in one season with all… Read more »
Anything more than a win tomorrow and Emery would be out of a job by the end of the month.
terraloon
Ultimately Lampard’s effect on Derby was no real change there and it’s too early to promote him alongside the great managers of the game.
If he’s doing it come April he’s doing very well – if he’s competing for the PL season after next then yes he is the real deal.
Til then I’ll take the position of the Zen Master who’s story is in Charlie Wilson’s War.
Redtruth
Arsenal are percieved as being serial bottlers by most football fans overseas.
This image was created by Wenger and we all know why this was.
You are right, far too many fans saw qualification for CL as being a major success. 22 years without winning any European trophy is appalling, whatever way you look at things.
The fact of the matter is that there are now far more teams competing to a higher level all over Europe so, in theory, this makes Wenger’s and Arsenal’s lack of success in Europe even more horrendous.
Lampard and OGS are not comparable.
One is a genuine candidate for being a top manager, the other is not.
Sorry Ollie.
Graham
You have no information to back that up other than a current fetish which is exactly what some people had during last season for OSG until it went pear shaped.
Jose with no money to spend… he won’t come.
Jose with no money to spend may have a point to prove tho.
If he comes thomwe may los3 callebos, n luiz.. hooray
Lose against palace, wonder if th8ngs will happen quickly?
Freddie , n paddy could steer the ship if Jose don’t come.
Gentlebris
So you don’t like Rugby. Never mind.
Does that mean you dont like Cricket?
What about Tennis? F1? Athletics? Golf? NFL? NBA ? You know, all competitive sports at the highest level?
The vast majority of football fans are passionate about many sports which means when WC’s are played, as with the Rugby in Japan, some of us let that passion come to the surface.
Embrace it.
Sport is for all.
Leno
Bel holds chambers tier
Torr Gunn callebos
Pepe Saka pea
RSPC
You’re going to move Auba out wide for Saka?
Marc
You may be right but let’s see where both managers are in five years time(or sooner).
I sense that one of them may be fishing for trout somewhere in the Norwegian fjords whilst the other is being headhunted by some of Europes top clubs.
Just a hunch.
I would agree Martinelli needs more game time…
Tenerifegooner
I am currently on your Island
Unfortunately the sun is somewhere else
If Freddie was put in charge at noon tomorrow, we’d beat Palace comfortably.
Again, just a hunch.
Graham
If any of us could predict the future we wouldn’t be wasting time on here!
I’ve no idea what Lampard will be doing in 2 weeks let alone 5 years but the fact is no one else does either.
Have you seen Charlie Wilson’s War?
Hillwood
Well at 11 o’clock at night I’d guess it’s half way round the other side of the world!
Yes I know the sun doesn’t move but the Earth rotates before any of the usual suspects comment.
Everybody watching the game knows that something is wrong in our midfield but can’t put the finger on it. Then on Thursday evening, I overheard a coach saying the problem with our midfield is that they are all square and never on the half turn. Rewatching the game on TV I realised that he was right. Our midfield players receive the ball either fully backward facing their own goal or fully forward facing the opposition goal but very rarely are they on the half turn ready to bypass a line whilst controlling the ball. ESR and Willock used to do… Read more »
If Jose were to come, Arsenal would have to keep him on tight leash, via a water tight contract. At a minimum it should include the followings:
1) Explicit quantifiable targets with possible to sack him without indemnity as soon as the targets cannot mathematically be achieved.
2) Behaviour clauses – no publicly requesting players, no constant recrimination, no insult or libelous talk, no cheap jibes about opponent or referee, …
3) Obligation to attend a certain numbers of U23 games. Obligation to organise X sessions for the U23 team.
Valentin
If those clauses were in his contract; Jose would tell the board where to go!
We need a young and up and coming manager.
Samir, I think he would accept those clauses. Mourinho is desperate for a premiership job in or close to London where his family still lives. Chelsea is not a possibility anymore. Spurs have Levy. WestHam, Crystal Palace, Charlton, QPR do not appeal to him. They are beneath him. Arsenal is really the big prize that he currently wants. Mourinho would sign a short term contract with all this clauses, hoping to then prove his mantle and renegotiate one without them. At ManUtd his initial contract had 1 and 2. Woodward was stupid/naïve to remove them when negotiating his new contract.… Read more »
I would rather Arsenal hired a young and upcoming manager. However I am not sure that we could find one available mid season.
Also transition take time especially without any pre season acclimatation. So if results did not lift immediately, any unknown manager would be straight away under pressure by fans and media.
As expected the decision to drop Ozil was taken by the club and Emery together, should put to rest any notions of him only waiting to outlast the manager. He’s done at the club and at the top of the game, has been evident for a long time to anyone with eyes.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11846367/mesut-ozil-decision-to-drop-arsenal-midfielder-taken-by-whole-club-says-unai-emery
I’m sure Pierre will still fight his corner while wanking into his Mesut adorned sock though, ah well.
Ozil’s away record at big 6 grounds his whole time in England, over 5 years
:GOALS: ZERO
ASSISTS: ONE
MAN OF THE MATCH: ZERO
WINS: ZERO
Red
Your data’s usually bang on, but Ozil’s has scored at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane, even though we lost both games.
Emery just gave an interview where he was saying about how good and useful torreira is as either b2b or AM. All this talk if emery being competent but unspectacular is nonsense. He’s not competent. He does tactics but rarely good tactics. He does strategy but rarely good strategy. He does possession football but never good possession football. He picks the team but usually gets it wrong. He sets out with 3 defensive/b2b midfielder but can’t protect his defense. He plays the wrong players and or the right players in the wrong position The guy isn’t a decent a coach… Read more »
For all emery’s endless video analysis of opposition, the ironic thing is it looks like he doesn’t spend any time watching us.
Only 2 rugby links from me today although I think Gentlebris will feel being left shorthanded 🙂 Good morning Bob, Graham, ES, DB10 and those getting behind England for the final: Got to love Hanson’s response to the Kiwi press pathetic questioning: ‘If you want to spend time outside I’ll give you a rugby education’: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen left fuming at reporter after being questioned over team’s attitude in defeat by England Steve Hansen left fuming after journalist questioned New Zealand’s attitude All Blacks were dumped out of World Cup semi-final by England on Saturday Hansen offered to… Read more »
I wonder whether Tomorrow, Emery still try to play out from the back. Last time, Leon appeared to be totally unsure of what to do. Will we do high pressing? I hope the players are not as confused as us fans.
Valentin
You have been conspicuous by your absence from rugby comments after your French and other predictions all turned out to be laughable at best.
Stick to football although many here take you to task regarding your often contrarian and supposedly IDK views.
Tony Good Morning No-one should be criticising New Zealand after yesterday’s game. Let’s be clear they had played very well in previous games. However, as I posted previously before yesterday’s game the deciding factor was how England performed in scrum. They were completely dominant in that department. Another factor was line outs where NZ were expected to dominate and failed to do so. If you starve NZ of ball to backs as England did then you have chance of winning and that is precisely what we did. I like very much the culture and commitment of current England team. Arsenal… Read more »
Completely agree with your above assessment ES and would add that Raul and Edu should learn from Eddie Jones when selecting the next manager. Jones has punched above his weight with the Japan squad and have the presence to install greatness from both rookies (Underhill & Curry etc) to seasoned pros, such as Marler, Lawes, Cole and many other seasoned pros in the squad. Today’s semi is going to be interesting where I just can’t see Wales living with this SA side. However, very few gave England a chance of beating the ABs that only goes to prove anything can… Read more »
As i have constantly said i can’t fathom us going for Jose at least rn. His signing has more cons than pros. We don’t know what Jose will we be getting. Id wait for one more spell of him before even taking him into consideration. Id give Emery the kick if things dont improve until December and appoint Freddie as caretaker. Then go from there.
Raul and Edu allowing Emery to snub Ozil means he’s got their trust.
Tony
I agree SA should win today. Wales have not played particularly well in last 2
games. I thought that they were fairly average and injury to Williams will be
a huge loss.
However, I think that England has the beating of both of them.
Wasi
Personally I detest Mourinho and would not want to see him as manager at
Arsenal.
The only justification of bringing him would that he would probably sort out
our defence.
Tony/ES /Bob/DB10 Good morning. Still buzzing after yesterday’s performance by England. I’m sort of eating humble pie because I really couldn’t see them beating the AB’s. Wales were fortunate to beat France and not many give them a chance today but that may act in their favour. Let’s wait and see. As for Arsenal, not sure either. We all know they should win but my own concerns are like everyone else’s concerns. How do you solve a problem like Emery and will Zaha come back to haunt us? My son said it’s going to be 2-2 or we could lose.… Read more »
ES
All Arsenal fans should detest Mourinho.
The number of times a certain poster over hears important bits of info is staggering.
One will be forgiven for assuming he is a professional eavesdropper
Also wondered how long it will take before Willocks ordinary and anonymous performances gets blamed on the usual “instructions from Emery”.
That kid can’t get a game at West Ham…he isn’t ready yet.
Emery doesn’t have his own style of management.
He’s just a mishmash of things that never quite work.
Mourinho/Ferguson/Wenger all had a certain approach. Pepe/ Klopp also have clear methods.
It seems to me he has no clear understanding of what he’s trying to do. Too many books and videos one fears.
The players know this as well.
This Ozil debate is same as Wengers few years back.
Ozil went MIA second after he signed his current contract and never come back. Now we have to cut our loses with him and move forward.
All this agitating about him and Emery haplens beacuse Emery cant set his tram right, with Ozil in it his allready wrong set up gets even worse.
Don’t worry Graham I was in 2 minds about our chances of beating the ABs: my head said no whereas my heart said yes. In the end darkness creeped in and I went with my head until the 30 minute marker, and then I was convinced we’d win. So a half dose of hindsight being the catalyst. Palace Game No idea about the Palace game outcome this evening other than only a win will do. Emery is sure to stick with Xhaka, so I would tend to agree with your son. Looking forward to the Pepe v Zaha; didn’t both… Read more »
Will miss the rugby on the TV this morning as I’ll be driving across to Southampton.
BBC Radio 5 Live will have to do.
Let’s hope for another classic.
“As expected the decision to drop Ozil was taken by the club and Emery together, should put to rest any notions of him only waiting to outlast the manager. “ That’s speculative on your part, Emery says there is an ‘agreement as a club’ which for all intents and purposes could simply be the higher ups backing the managers decision not to select and ostracise Ozil. Something that doesn’t make it the right decision for the record. You can go to war with whoever you want as a manger as long as it yields the necessary rewards. Be a bit… Read more »
Distant legrover October 25, 2019 12:50:39 “2008- Arsenal need to buy a DM, upgrade their midfield. 2012- Arsenal need to buy a DM, upgrade their midfield 2015- Arsenal need to buy a DM, upgrade their midfield. 2019- Arsenal need to buy a DM, upgrade their midfield. When will we stop pretending like our midfield hasn’t been our main issue for a decade now.” This comment definitely rings true. Had to re post it. As much as our defensive options are shite, our midfield is weak as piss. Watching xhaka get bypassed game on game is infuriating. Emery not playing torreira… Read more »
CC
You are correct but at the same time you cannot deny that Ozil has brought much of this on himself.
Because of Emery’s general incompetence, Ozil has gained some leverage in his quest to try and dig himself out of a hole.
Yes we need him but at the same time, no we don’t.
Frustrating isn’t it?
Graham I’ve no idea to what end Ozil has brought this unto himself, all I’m interested in is Arsenal applying their talents to get the best possible results week in, week out. Again, I couldn’t care less who is frozen out from the side if it’s for our benefit, but when it happens and the club is clearly not benefitting at all – arguably the reverse – it’s questionable at best. This just seems another shoddy handling of a player from Emery and the club imo, the die was cast with Koscielny. He was given dogs abuse on here but… Read more »
Yes we need him but at the same time, no we don’t
Graham at this point in time I would like to see Ozil getting some minutes as opposed to willock and toreirra.
Emery has punished him enough .
Seems nothing more than a standoff on principle, but in itself is serving as nothing more than a distraction and, more importantly, detraction from offering our best week upon week
I totally concur with his statement.
Fred “As expected the decision to drop Ozil was taken by the club and Emery together, should put to rest any notions of him only waiting to outlast the manager” Of course its all supposition but let’s say you’re right , as stupid as it sounds as the club is throwing one and half million down the drain every month. Then let’s say Emery gets the sack due to poor performances and results …. Let’s say the club bring in another manager. Let’s say the new manager wants to use Ozil . Now this is where this idea that it’s… Read more »
Is Özil really remorse and ready to learn from his off field antics?
Blimey , imagine old arsene’s face if Jose rocks up at the emirates, the ground he built single handily , brick by brick !!
“Off field antics” ?
Graham
‘far too many fans saw qualification for CL as being a major success.’
Most certainly didn’t.
The club itself did though and therein lay the problem.
We’ve been told attitudes have changed at the club since the 4th place trophy days. . Let’s see.
Mourinho comes with a stench of punanny levels
Morning all, Not sure who I want to win the rugby today, feel England ought to win against either opponent. That being said I’d much prefer to lose to SA than the Welsh, can you imagine? I think there is a real danger of Emery ‘losing the dressing room’ at which point he’s gone. I suspect judging on his selection on Thursday he’ll play the usual suspects. I do feel some people are being unrealistic about the levels our youngsters should be reaching, it is not a linear progression. Some people appear almost eager to write off players after a… Read more »
CC, Pierre “Here, we have one agreed strategy as a club and as a team,” he said, when asked if there was any pressure from above to put Ozil back into the team. “Because the most important thing is the club, the team and finding a performance. Previously we were all speaking between us to take that decision.” Seems pretty clear to me that it’s a joint decision. This is not pre 2016 Ozil we are talking about, we gain nothing by having him in the team and lose 350k a week as long as he’s staying, trying to push… Read more »
Tony, You should stop gloating about England victory in rugby where every single one of your comments show your desperation to be taken seriously on a subject you know nothing. Regurgitating comments from rugby forum and pasting links does not give any credibility. You would have notice that I did not post anything at all for a full week. Nothing to to do with rugby but because of a personal tragedy. One of my best friend lost his fiance a while ago. The eve of the supposed wedding, he was found inanimated by his 14 years old son who called… Read more »
Bellerin has said into the media that the whole squad trusts Emery. I put it to you that if they really did, why would anything need to be said?
Rugby finals
Anti europe Vs The European immigrants.
I have never been a fan of Ozil. In fact I have vociferously criticized him in the past but I can’t wrap my head around the idea that Torreira or Willock are better options than him in attacking midfield position.
Bob
“. I believe, as many others do, that Willock could be an outstanding player.”
Agree, at the moment he is playing in a dysfunctional team under a dysfunctional manager , and he has already shown glimpses of his potential.
The fact is , the only player to show any progression under Emery is Guendouzi , I cant think of any other player that has thrived under him.
I am so disappointed that this makes me laugh. The team still has a lot of gelling to do. Our manager is spending his energy on Ozil, who doesn’t give a shit whether he plays or not. If Emery still thinks that he can push him out and those who believes it, all I can say is that you make me laugh .
“The fact is , the only player to show any progression under Emery is Guendouzi , I cant think of any other player that has thrived under him.“
Are you sure Pierre?
Seems to me like the worse Arsenal are performing the better the player Ozil has become.
At least according to you. 🙂
Freddie, Nothing in that comment by Emery indicates that the initial decision to ostracise Özil was the club decision. It is more likely that Emery has said he did not want Özil. The club then accepted Emery decision and is now trying to resolve by completely freezing him out. For information Emery did the same thing with Hatem Ben Arfa at PSG who is now suing the club. On October 16, during his employment trial the club accused HBA of being lazy and not working hard during the training session. Unfortunately some of the players have denied that version of… Read more »
Wengers last 47 games vs Emery’s first
Wins
Wenger 26 emery 25
Goals scored
Wenger 90 emery 86
Clean sheets
Wenger 17 emery 10
😂 😂 😂
The worst version of Arsene Wenger is still better than Unai Emery
What a joke of an appointment
Careful what you wish for bitches
Un na naai
I said yesterday there’s nothing between wengers end and emery now so we basically got the same for same really plus the drab football and a better squad
We should’ve got rid of wenger earlier and we should be getting rid of emery now
This fixation on Ozil is laughable. He’s a semi-retired prima donna whose best attribute was to influence a few games a year from the periphery. He’s a relic of the past, the modern game has made him obsolete. He’s equivalent to the swiftness board operator, no one needs him anymore. The idea that a non tackling, rarely dribbling defensively bereft attacking midfielder will improve us just smack s of agenda. Ozil’s inclination is nit to drive towards the core of the game…it’s to move to the edges. I’ve grown to detest Emery-ism…I cant stand the man and his pallid approach.… Read more »
The majority of the fan base has made up their minds about Emery.
Peck
Yeah we should. But we’d be better off with wenger now than emery with this superior squad
That’s a fact
Emery wants to play football at the back but not through midfield or in opposition half.
What good is tippy tapping around our own area?
Somebody just give this greasy haired buffoon the bullet
It’s over
Dissenter
Emery is the managerial version of ozil
His strategy is to loiter in the fringe of a game
Never really dominating
Just moments from the fringes
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03sGvoAaC2I
Was a supporter of Emery last season. but now I see he hasn’t got the coaching ability to push us forward. appoint Freddie as caretaker now and going for Erik ten hag would be my choice now.
* in the summer I mean ofcourse
“Seems pretty clear to me that it’s a joint decision.“ Only thing clear is you attributing the word ‘agreed strategy’ to meaning a joint decision. There’s no evidence to suggest it was that vs a decision Emery has made, and proposed to the higher ups who have supported it. Edu and Raul could’ve made the decision and given Emery a remit to follow, Emery could’ve made the decision and sought approval/backing. Not the same thing despite similar outcomes. Like I’ve said, because it’s a decision that has backing and a unified front doesn’t make it a correct one. When you… Read more »
“The idea that a non tackling, rarely dribbling defensively bereft attacking midfielder will improve us just smack s of agenda.“ Funny, because that summation of the player smacks of agenda all on its own. Nobody here, besides Pierre perhaps, is siding with Ozil in any manner. They’re siding with the idea we should utilise what we have in whatever form it presents itself. We lack creativity and spark, Ozil can provide it in however fleeting a manner you claim. What’s evident is the ones standing in cannot. Where’s the agenda? Oh, must be wanting Arsenal to actually produce something of… Read more »
“in fact I have vociferously criticized him in the past but I can’t wrap my head around the idea that Torreira or Willock are better options than him in attacking midfield position.” The big thing that Torreira has over Ozil in that role is an ability and willingness to get into the box, especially away from home where Ozil hides. At Old Trafford he got himself into really advanced positions in their box and if he had made a decent connection on that cross at the start of the second half, he would’ve had a goal. Ozil would’ve never got… Read more »
See Dissenter Pierre is right in that Ozil needs that type of arm over the shoulder manager. Let’s forget the wages for a moment.
Emery put his foot down but. We lack creativity which is so underrated. So what if he doesn’t track back and tackle. His strengths are holding up play, linking between midfield and forwards. We dont have this currently.
Seeing himartinelli and Pepe auba link up that’s what we need. Not this drab football game to game.
The DM is reporting rumors from Germany that United wasn’t to sign Thomas Mullet and Kai Havertz.
I hope it’s true.
Only Woodward would approve of signing Thomas Muller.
Paulinho
A willingness to run in to the box is the only box Torr ticks. He can’t make exquisite passes, he doesn’t have a great vision and let’s be honest he can’t bring other attacking players around him in to play. He is not even a goal scorer which despite many shortcomings Ramsey was. He rarely plays one two with others. So question mark remains over utility of Torr as a CAM.
Samesong You do realize that Ozil is now a 31 years old married man. The same guy who had the strength of character to stand up to the German FA. This ‘arm-on-shoulder’ stuff is just nonsense, with all due respect of course. It’s a job he’s compensated for, no one is asking him to find a cure for cancer. David Silva shuttled back and forth from the neonatal ICU to play for man city last season. Wenger reacted to Ozil withdrawing from the German national team selection by suggesting that he will be devoid of motivation to play for Arsenal.… Read more »
It’s possible Spurs will shock Liverpool today.
I think this game will give them an unusual focus for 90 mins, enough to knock Liverpool down a notch. Liverpool have been faltering recently.
TR7 – Yeah it’s not his strong suit, but he nearly played in Saka at Old Trafford, and only Saka’s poor control led to the ball going through to the keeper. Emery also said he is there to trigger a high press, which he is capable of doing a lot better than Ozil. It’s not something I would like to see every week, but in certain games it’s a decent option. I also think Torreira can improve. He’s got very sound technical base, and a sharp mind. If he can stay fit I think we will see a quite a… Read more »
CC
It’s agenda driven because Ozil was on the decline for Germany and Arsenal long before Emery showed up at Arsenal;
He had his chances with two good forward last season, what did he do with that o-portumity?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YRvPNSzbLBU
One thing I simply adore in life is seeing climate change retards get dragged over the coals
I love it.
Paulinho ‘. Emery also said he is there to trigger a high press, which he is capable of doing a lot better than Ozil.’ Agreed but call me old school I am not a fan of a CAM busting his energy in pressing high. The primary job of a CAM should be to create. If he can press high when he does not have the ball , nothing like it but creating chances/coordinating the attack should be his prime job. If Ramsey was playing CAM at the cost of Ozil, no problem. Torreira ? Nah. Besides, Torr should be playing… Read more »
“Yeah we should. But we’d be better off with wenger now than emery with this superior squad
That’s a fact”
Un Nai
Please explain how this is a fact. You are now passing off your opinions as facts?
TR7 – One of the reasons Emery is playing him there is because there is no one else in the squad that can make runs ahead of the ball, and be somewhat proficient at getting on the end of moves even when the opposition have defenders back. Ceballos, Guendouzi, Xhaka….. none of them are capable of doing it at all. Ceballos always drops deep and likes to spread play, and only after a concerted period of possession will he maybe attempt to move towards the box. So we have a plethora of players that like to stay deep, and none… Read more »
It doesn’t help our cause that PEA offers absolutely zilch outside his goals. For a team lacking creativity in midfield, it further compounds the problem.
Getting ready for a likely 2-1 win today but one where Palace have 12 or more attempts over the 90 minutes. If it were me I’d go with: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Torreira, Guendouzi, Dani Ceballos, Martinelli, Auba, Pepe It won’t be that obviously. But I think right now that’s the best we could field in terms of balance. Bellerin still looks a bit away from full fitness, even Holding I’d not be totally sure about playing but CB is less demanding after an ACL than RB. It’s not enough for Arsenal to grab results now, Emery has to… Read more »
Bojangles
Simply
Wenger’s arsenal in his last 47 games (his worst)
Scored more goals, conceded less, had more clean sheets and won more games.
Simple.
All this while trying to run the entire club andwith a worse team
He had both arms tied behind his back and still out performed Emery
Cesc
Not confident of a win, let alone of a good performance. Palace always cause us problems.
Un
How did Wenger have two hands tied behind his back?
Marc
Compared with emery’s role??
When wenger was just a coach he won it all. When dein left wenger didn’t trust anyone to perform his role so he assumed it. His performance levels as a coach suffered as a result
You give him that role again- the role emery currently has and he outperforms him.
Shit
He outperforms him anyway even at his worst
It’s a fact Marc
The very worst version of wenger was still better than emery
Un Nai
It makes little difference how simple it appears to you. It is not a fact, it’s still just your opinion.
I won’t be surprised if Palace get a result today, they will walk away with at least a draw. This time we won’t have Mustafi available to scapegoat.
The reality of Emery’s Arsenal is that we have to play out of our skins to beat the likes of Palace.