Puppet Master Behind Mesut Ozil Strategy

by .

courtesy @allthatchas

I thought I’d wait to see what the BIG DOG DAVE ORNSTEIN penned on The Athletic this morning before dropping a post on the aftermath of Xhaka-gate yesterday.

Predictably, the piece points towards a familiar story… a lack of leadership at Arsenal.

I’m not calling time on anyone yet, but my deep fear is fancy players aside, the direction of Arsenal is somewhat off-track again, or, more to the point, has never been on track. Rumblings I hear from the club around leadership have been far from positive, and the fact that there was a motion to offer Unai Emery a new deal last summer tells you that the expertise levels in some parts of the boardroom are well off.

The big talking point today was the list of managers that were under consideration in 2018. The shortlist was pretty much where we expected it to be. I was surprised Enrique / Jardim weren’t on the list. I was surprised Lopetigui was on there. Outside that, the shortlist had all the obvious candidates.

Arteta was the frontrunner, the point that is missing for me is that Unai Emery most certainly wasn’t on the original shortlist. From what I understand, he was a last-minute sub when Ivan lost his nerve on Mikael Arteta. I don’t think it’s hard to piece that together from the timeline of events, and I think even the staunchest Emery fan would be hard pushed to convince anyone that Unai was a better candidate than most of the names on the list. I know that his English was raised as a concern by people at interview stage, namely, that he couldn’t speak a word of it. I know from doing my own personal numbers and research he was a bad candidate, so I can’t imagine our number crunchers gave him a thumbs-up, most likely because no analysis was done due to the time crunch. Even a cursory look at Google would tell you he couldn’t organise a defence, he had trouble with egos and the football was overly negative.

So unless every single person on that list rejected the club, it really must have just been Arteta at the death before we switched attention to someone that had been freshly fired.

Arteta’s lack of a backroom team was apparently a problem. Again, it’s another contradiction for me. The club has gone out of its way to talk about the new modern infrastructure, then the first thing we do is let Unai Emery bring in 5 of his own coaching staff, completely unvetted after being fired by PSG? How is that due diligence? We literally bought in a strength and conditioning coach when we already had one that had won a World Cup with Germany and transformed our pitiful operation back in the day. We had an assistant. We had a keeping coach. We had video analysts. We could have just copied what PSG did for Thomas Tuchel, namely, gone out and purchased whoever the best assistant in world football was at the time. If the only problem you have with a candidate is they don’t have 2 additional coaching staff, that’s kind of ideal. It reduces the candidate’s power, gives leadership more control of the direction of the club, and gives everyone the assurance that quality control measures were in place.

Major point here: The club fired Wenger in April. They had time to work out all of these kinks. They had the opportunity to rebuild Arsenal around a vision. Fuck whether that was Arteta or not. The idea was correct. Bring in a young coach with big ideas. Set the bar low with the fans, tell them we’re building an exciting future around kids, and we’re going to build from the ground up, and we’re going to make The Emirates the most exciting place to watch football in the world. Exactly the approach Chelsea took this season.

How could last season have been any worse than what it was? We’d have had a style in place now, a City light. The players would have known what they’re doing. We’d be in year two now and we’d all know exactly where we were heading as a club.

Again, I have to return us to the original point. Some of our leadership team wanted to give Emery a new deal last summer, despite the mountain of evidence he was tanking the squad. This season, seeing that we’re in deep decline again, with fires literally everywhere, we’re being assured the manager will be given time.

Based on what? A lack of a replacement could be a fair point. Not surprisingly, there’s no contingency plan outside Freddie Ljungberg, which is a huge problem and a major red flag. How can no thought have gone into contingency after watching the insipid Europa League final? How can they not have a list of 5 candidates after travelling down to the training and seeing what’s going on? We should have someone waiting by the phone, studying our squad, making plans.

You know what happens when you don’t have a plan? Jose Mourinho. The lack of direction we have is similar to that of United. Because you don’t know where you’re going, you outsource your decisions to super agents. Make no mistake, Mourinho would feel good in the moment, but he’s an arsonist. He’d bury us in 2 seasons. OGS is taking a lot of stick at the moment, no one is out here pointing the finger at Jose for the wreckage he left him to fix.

Interestingly I was told that Edu has been the black hand behind the Mesut Ozil issue that’s going on. Questionable strategy against a player that has public sentiment on his side, not to mention the fact he’s consistently communicated to the media that he’s going nowhere. Again, is this what you’d call leadership? Creating a huge media fuss for what is essentially a losing battle that has in part, contributed to the break-neck speed in which public sentiment has turned against the manager. I would also bet that this inconsistent behaviour has led to some of the dressing room split that lots of papers are reporting on this morning.

Remember this: Arsenal pulled forward transfer budget from this upcoming summer to make last year happen. It wasn’t a gift from Josh. It wasn’t anything clever. It was a major gamble. The missing part of the commendable effort was considering the manager. He’s not very good, we could all see that last season, but Raul has been so invested in the decision, maybe he can’t see beyond his nose here?

Let’s see where it goes, but it’s worth noting we’re in October, two of our captains are in disgrace, the football is terrible, there’s a dressing room split, the fans have turned against a manager so petrified at the moment he has ‘good ebening’ Tourettes syndrome and it’s affecting him in interviews.

Not a good look. We need strong leadership and we need it now. Showing faith in something that’s clearly broken is not that.

What’s the plan, Arsenal?

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Gunnernet

I was always thinking it cant be Emery making such decision to exile Ozil. It must have been backed by higher hierararchy at least and thats a fact. Edu and Raul made that decision in order to rebuild the team from foundation. They deeply believe that Ozil will eventually break down and leave. I think Emery was considering bringing him back to the fold. Remember he used him in the very beginning earlier this season. He knows well we lack creativity big time. Yet he rushed smith-row back and transformed torreira to a 10 role. Willock is a good prospect… Read more »

WengerEagle

Rodgers has got Leicester playing some great football but he’s only been there for nine odd months. Ranieri won them a PL title and top clubs wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole now. Not to take away from how well he had Liverpool playing in the season they finish second but that was largely down to having the best performing player in PL history in Luis Suarez and prime Daniel Sturridge. They lost the title because of their inability to stop conceding soft goals conceding over fifty which is outrageous for a title contender and defensive solidity is much more… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Weagle

Good to hear from you mate, not a Sunday to enjoy was it?

Agree about Rodgers, that inability to tackle a defence is my biggest issue when you consider our needs. Would rather we went for a proper tactician to reset the foundations, treat it like a proper transition if it’s going to be that, or go for someone bigger and better than Rodgers if you want it all.

Graham62

jwl You’re missing the point. We all hoped that, post Wenger, we would be getting a manager who could coach the basics and progress the team. We haven’t. Initially things seemed ok but the underlying truth is that Emery has not met these basic expectations. He has, to all intense and purposes, made us worse. I’m mean, after Wenger, how was this possible? For me to admit that this has nothing to do with Wenger is, as you well know, not easy. This is all based on us hiring a manager that was/is incapable of improving on what we had.… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Good article detailing the current state of things:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11847752/unai-emery-facing-mounting-problems-at-arsenal-following-stormy-crystal-palace-draw

“Improvement” as a certain poster likes to coin it.

Graham62

I mean

Andy d invincebles

The biggest problem here is that everything that’s associated with arsenal has no vision at all including their fans how can u think Rodgers could b a solution to our problems we need a winner a manager whose technical good who can get d best out of our squad coz seriously we ‘ve got some pretty good players here except d 3 senior CB Sokratis, Luiz n Mustafi we need one new CB a leader Kolibally from Napoli as well as his mananger Ancellontie coz seriously Rodgers will only b a top 4 mananger at best n we had enough… Read more »

HillWood

Pedro
I am confused by you saying we are a mess again
Raul and Edu were your Batman and Robin
Or are people above them sticking their noses in places their noses shouldn’t be ?

WengerEagle

CA Not too sure, of the managers that I like there’s the obvious giant in Allegri. After that there’s also Gasperini at Atalanta who has them playing the best attacking football that Serie A has seen this decade and up in CL places to boot, he took over them only three years ago as a lower-relegation battling outfit. Valencia stupidly sacked a very good coach in Marcelino, their fans were disgusted by the decision and the rest of La Liga were shocked by it, seems their owner Peter Lim aka the same knobhead that hired Gary Neville as gaffer who… Read more »

WengerEagle

How are you Charles? Sure as shit wasn’t no, I have that same apathetic and bored feeling watching us as our seasons progress [regress] now under Emery as I did in Wenger’s time. We’re so fucking boring to watch it’s practically a weekly chore at this stage. Look at the buzz at Chelsea under Lampard. Sure it could easily still go tits up and they’re far from perfect, still conceding silly goals and looking vulnerable at the back but my god they are sensational to watch going forward. And before people say that Lamps has a lot more than Emery… Read more »

Graham62

Pedro

So to conclude then Pedro, we still have an incompetent owner and board of directors in charge.

There’s no contingency plan? How can that be? I mean, even a non league team would have that in place.

Welcome to modern day Arsenal.

Valentin

Arsenal have scored fewer open-play goals than Norwich and Burnley this season.

Let that sink in.
We are worse attack wise than Norwich a newly promoted club and Burnley whose main threat is set-pieces.
How the mighty have fallen.

Cesc Appeal

WE Not that you’ve thought about this or anything! Haha. Impressive. The Atalanta guy, defensively they seem to have conceded a fair few though compared to the teams around them. I don’t watch Serie A so that is me purely looking at Goals Against in the league table. Do you have any concerns about Allegri? He was my number one pick but I don’t know, something about him makes me wonder whether he would do well in the EPL? What do you think of Marco Rose? He seems to be one of the flavours of the season. What about Ten… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Weagle Not bad mate, same boat as yourself when it comes to Arsenal though. Locked into it out of ritual, but it’s tiresome and predictable. Lampard at Chelsea is doing much of what I hoped of Arteta way back when. He’s starting from a position of low expectation with the transfer embargo and cutting his teeth whilst laying some exciting brickwork, doing well so far too. Every chav I know is happy with what they’re seeing but also not interested much in concrete ambitions like top 4 or whatever, most I know saying that would be a nice touch…..madness given… Read more »

jwl

Un na naai – I think we are struggling now because of Wenger years and how half assed it was. I don’t care which coach we hired after Wenger, they would be doing about as well as Emery or a lot worse. I think transition to post Wenger era is going to take 3-5 years and Emery is competent coach who willing to play nineteen year olds when most other top coaches want nothing to do with youth. Graham62 – i think you’re missing the point because Emery first season was better than Wenger’s last, which is an achievement in… Read more »

Guns of SF

I like Dani C… I think he has an upside but I feel we are still missing that great dribbler/creator that we need to work the final third.

Dani drop deep a lot, but I think we need someone more advanced.
And NO, not Ozil please.

Just seems we missing this piece still…

PieAFC

What makes you think Rodgers would want to leave Leicester anyway. This could be his own “wenger” moment.

Win a cup or get them into champions league could catapult them further and build on even more on that league win.

We’re a mess. Unless having ties to Arsenal. I can’t see anyone wanting to manage us right now.

Champagne charlie

“I think we are struggling now because of Wenger years and how half assed it was. I don’t care which coach we hired after Wenger, they would be doing about as well as Emery or a lot worse. I think transition to post Wenger era is going to take 3-5 years and Emery is competent coach who willing to play nineteen year olds when most other top coaches want nothing to do with youth.“ – any coach would be doing what Emery is or worse – post-Wenger transition was a 3-5 year thing – Emery a competent coach Might be… Read more »

Guns of SF

If the price is right, we an lure most anyone…

I think Allegri would find us attractive… as others as well. We still have the sauce and the Arsenal brand is worldwide – its a dream job still

Marc

Guns of SF

We were never going to fix all the squad issues in 2 summer windows. Personally I think Sanllehi did a fantastic job this summer just gone and can’t wait to see him build on it.

jwl

“Might be the worst take I’ve read in some time.”

Champagne Charlie – you obviously not reading your own comments if you think I’m worst you read in a while.

WengerEagle

CA Yeah a consequence of their style of play really all-out attack playing the role of aggressive protagonists leads to them leaking at the back, you have to remember though that they haven’t the resources of the top clubs in Italy so they are playing this style of football with pretty average defenders in their ranks. They have scored a ridiculous 28 Serie A goals in just 9 matches this season [compare that to just fifteen PL goals in ten matches for us] and outscored Juventus in the league last season as the league’s top scorers. The journeyman Simon Kjaer… Read more »

Nelson

Emery has a strong preference for certain players even when most of the fans see it differently. He said that he preferred to sign Fabinho and suggested that Torr is suitable to play higher up. He built his team around Xhaka who is a defensive liability. Now that the squad is big enough. Who can trust Emery to fix up the defense, the midfield and efficiently use of our strike force. He couldn’t even train the players to play out from the back. We couldn’t dominate CP in the Emirates Stadium. The players are playing with fear in away games,… Read more »

azed

GSF

Dani C is a CM and not an AM so he would naturally drop deep. I don’t think Dani C is cut out for the EPL as he doesn’t have that pace to get up and down.

Of our current midfielders, I would only keep Guendozi and Willock.
Swap captain Granit for Dacoure or someone in a similar mould.
Swap Dani C for a more attack minded CM.

Champagne charlie

Jwl

Nice juvenile response. You’re claiming Emery competent and that no other coach would’ve bettered what he’s delivering.

I stand by that being among the worst things I’ve read on here. It’s genuinely like you’re not following Arsenal to come out with that sort of thing.

Graham62

jwl

He didn’t “inherit a terrible squad”

He inherited a squad that were demotivated, under cooked and poorly coached.

After the initial positives of the “new coach syndrome” we have seen a gradual decline in our on field playing structure.

Playing the youngsters is the one positive but with Emery in charge you fear for their development if he continues to make ludicrous tactical decisions.

Emery is, I’m afraid, a substandard coach.

He has to go.

Un na naai

Charlie He did lose his best players. Gerrard, Suarez, Strurridge. We are talking 60-70 goals per season there. Nobody is coming back from that. I’m not changing my metrics at all. When Emery can produce anything close to that season for Liverpool or the football served up by Rodgers over the last decade then maybe I’d be willing to give him time. And if we want to discuss metrics, Benitez has been bombing ever since his 05 season. He has made a reputation on it. The fact he got the post at Chelsea or Madrid is nothing short of a… Read more »

azed

“Emery is, I’m afraid, a substandard coach.”

I would say Emery is limited because he’s a poor communicator and so he has problems outside Spain.

“He has to go.”

This I agree with.

Un na naai

Jwl

He’s making us worse. He’s changes nearly the entire playing staff. Had £200m spent on him and we are actually going backwards.

Guns of SF

Azed I agree… however, there is debate about Dani used as a 10, and being the creator… if so, he should play further up.
This is another Emery dillema… where to use DC

Someone like a James Maddison would be great… what a player he turning out to be.

We certainly miss a Cesc type player who can unlock the defenses and parked busses… with Cesc there was never too much an issue… he found a way to get the ball behind the line.

Just shows what you end up missing when its gone…

Guns of Hackney

The weird thing is that you lot all think Pep is totally solo in his magnificent-ness. Bullshit Mr Han Man.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself. History has proven that all great leaders have a brilliant second. Fact.

“Arteta puts out cones”. Anyone who believes this is as stupid as I think you are.

Pricks.

Guns of SF

Yes for Docoure to be in our team…

Intrestly people are failing to realise the fact that Arsenal team lack creativity, the attackers are not getting the supply they need to score goals yet Emery and the board are omitting Ozil from the starting lineup. For now the only creativity player we have is Ozil. As for Emery, he is not the type of manager Arsene should have signed when Wenger left, we should have brought in someone else who can understand the dynamics of Arsenal way of doing things. This is his second season at the club and he is yet to have his first stating eleven.

Champagne charlie

Unaai

You’re all over the place. You paint the walls calling for Mourinho the serial winner, then talk Rodgers up beyond belief and shout down Rafa for “producing little” even though he’s won more than Rodgers who fucked off to Scotland to touch up the CV just like Emery in Paris.

The fact you feel the need to throw mud at Rafa to prop up Rodgers speaks for itself.

Un na naai

We certainly miss a Cesc type player who can unlock the defenses and parked busses… with Cesc there was never too much an issue… he found a way to get the ball behind the line. SF We do but we have enough at the clubright now to be producing much better attacking displays. I’d say we have the 3rd best attacking team in England right now quite comfortably Look at what Lampard is doing. No £72m winger No £100m pair of strikers/golden booted winner/ player of the year No £43m playmaker. Same as Rodgers at Leicester. They are both extracting… Read more »

bennydevito

Good post Pedro, So glad Emery didn’t get a new deal last season – what the hell for? Throwing away 3rd place and subsequently 4th by a point and tanking in the EL ? Jeez. Regarding Emery’s appointment. Gazidas said himself that the list of 8 candidates was shortened to 3 with Emery as one of them and every one was in it until the end and wanted the job. Raul, Gazidis and Sven all went away for a day to mull it over on their own without influencing each other’s decision then reconvened and all put the name of… Read more »

azed

CC

I thought you were a big fan of Rodgers or am I mistaken?

Ishola70

In talking of managers/coaches it can be beneficial to catch them at the right time in their managerial cycle. As well as criticising Emery for his overall managerial ability was he really that hungry after coming directly from managing a club like PSG who are now seen as one of the european bigger hitters? How hungry and how much a coach/manager really wants to impress can be just as important as any overall previous CV they had. Lampard is obviously very hungry and looking to impress after stepping up from the Championship even though there looked to be obvious risk… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Azed

Not me mate, he’s not my cuppa for the job here.

Un na naai

Champers I’m not all over the place Clearly I’d prefer a manager that’s going to get us popping the ball around and actually playing the beautiful game. 100% that’s my preference. It’s harder to win like this though as well you know. So if we are going for dull, pragmatic football then let’s go for a winner. That’s my stance, it won’t change. It’s my firm belief that Rodgers and arsenal would be a great match We may not win a major title (even though I’d hope we would) but I think he would set us back on the path… Read more »

salpardisenyc

Who you fancy to take the reigns next Charlie?

WengerEagle

Charles And i don’t know if you remember but that’s distinctly close to verbatim as to my hopeful expectations re Emery’s impact at Arsenal in his first season a conversation that we had in the summer of last year. It wasn’t make or break for me whether we finished top four, Liverpool finished outside the CL spots under Klopp in his first season but there were performances they gave that showed you their potential and the direction in which they were headed. They also recruited smartly, slowing building them up into a CL side and then a CL contender/PL contender.… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Unaai It’s not hard to cherry pick the good of managers at their respective roles, but you’re refusing to digest the whole picture and extrapolating that one Liverpool season to be reflective of Rodgers as a manager, period. It’s a nonsense. Why didn’t he have the new talent he brought in firing the seasons following? Went from 2nd to 6th then was languishing 10th after 8 games the next again season, had a cavernous arsehole which is exactly what we have so excuse my distaste to the idea of marrying the two. Ranieri won the league with Leicester and they… Read more »

WengerEagle

Fuck man I miss Cesc, guy was a leader of men at the age of nineteen. He at times and for over a season almost single-handedly carried us in his early twenties.

Contrast that to this buffoon Xhaka who’s got the armband now, no talent or heart and a follower rather than a leader. Epitomises us under Emery.

Guns of Hackney

WE

Wrong. Cesc was no leader. Never. Great footballer. No leader.

WengerEagle

Disagree GOH, he was no Vieira and he wasn’t a shouter but he was a top leader in his own right.

Wasn’t his fault that we were defensively a shambles with a waiter in between the sticks, otherwise he’d have been a PL winner with us.

Champagne charlie

Sal Tough one if we were to vacate matters mid season, outside of Allegri its slim pickings. I’ve always fancied Allegri because he’s got the pedigree but he’d be a culture shock that i think we need to establish some balance, so he’d be the pick of the bunch today. In a more caretaker position Rafa would consolidate things as he’s done before at Chelsea, not sold on Freddie taking over but see it as likely if it were to happen. I flirted with the prospect of Gio too and was a bit gutted Man City seemingly have their claws… Read more »

Ishola70

WengerEagle
“Contrast that to this buffoon Xhaka who’s got the armband now, no talent or heart and a follower rather than a leader. Epitomises us under Emery.”

The Xhaka situation was a sham.

I’m saying was a sham rather than is because after yesterday I’m hoping that this sham will have a line drawn under it and it is finished done with.

It doesn’t matter talking about seniority here. Xhaka plays like a kid anyway. Hopefully he himself has had enough and engineers a move out in January.

Cesc Appeal

WE That is certainly a fair point. There are better defenders here as well Tierney, Holding etc and with Saliba arriving in June and Arsenal apparently still looking at Upamecano or Nunez/Torres defensively we offer more personnel wise. Yeah, I mean Rose has got them to top of the table but it could well be the familiar story of a rising star that quickly fades. Agree on Ten Hag, I’m always cautious with Eredivise players so the same applies to managers. Arsenal have got to get this right really. We went safe, understandable, now we really need to make a… Read more »

salpardisenyc

Ten Haag has the spirit, it would be amazing to see what he’d do compared to Emery with same squad.

Graham62

How much would we get for Xhaka now?

Interesting.

Valentin

This version of all three Raul, Vinay and Ivan wrote each a name in an envelop and it was the same rings as true as Rodgers “I have written a name in my envelope”. This may make for great story telling, but I sincerely doubt that it is how things really happened. If true, then I would seriously question their football knowledge and real behind the scene research on the candidates. All the flaws that Emery is currently showing had been in evidence in every single one of his previous job especially the ones outside of Spain. * Poor away… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

WE

I think we have fond memories of a wonderful player in a really shitty side but…I don’t think cesc would get into our best side. I really don’t.

Cesc was made captain when everyone Arsene thought wanted to leave was made captain, hence why the terrible Henry (as captain) was made, captain.

Cesc was great but definitely not a leader in the majority of situations. He also may not even get into the very best Arsenal sides. Just an opinion and I am a big Cesc fan.

Redtruth

Any coach would be substandard coaching Arsenal

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Good reading peter,

However I find it slightly disturbing, w3 are in Groundhog Day again,
Fans hating manage4 fans loving him, fans hating one playe4 fans loving him.

To me the club is fucked.

Only solution would be a cut throat boss wee£ out the shit, or if we can’t afgord that, Freddie and let him do what he wants..

Clubs in crisis , in fact we have been since 2011..

Graham62

RT

What do you mean exactly?

Do you think any coach would have allowed Xhaka to be captain and also get our defence to look even more vulnerable than it did under AW?

Graham62

Anyone watching QPR v Brentford?

Shite, even these teams look better than Arsenal.

Brentford especially.

Guns of SF

I disagree GOH Cesc was cut from a different cloth from these primadonnas. He was trained and bled with the invincibles. Not a yeller I disagree, Ive seen him yell plenty. Not just that, but he also had a fighting spirit in him, not seen much since. 17 yr old Cesc, mixing it up with any player who took him on. Throwing pizza on the red nose in pizza gate. I always felt comfortable with him on the ball, as with TR7. Steady and stable hands… Now, its nothing like those days. When teams park the bus we struggle. Bar… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Who needs Cesc when you’ve got Dani Ceballos

Guns of Hackney

GSF

Xhaka is better than Cesc. Alas, his numbers do back this fact up.

Cesc was worse than Xhaka. Eek.

Guns of SF

GOH

Funny!

Graham62

Guns

Most teams in Europe would die for our attack and although our midfield is lacking a wee bit, it is our transition from defence to attack that is nullifying us.

Look how quickly Brentford get the ball forward and they don’t have the likes of Auba, Lacazette and Pepe at their disposal.

Criminal!

salpardisenyc

2008 Cesc was a thing of beauty, dude was a laser.

Graham62

90 seconds to get the ball past the halfway line.

Criminal!

Guns of Hackney

GSF

Lolz. I loved Cesc but I do stand by and say he would t be in our very best sides. But of course I’m joking. He is a 10 in a world of 4’s at the moment.

Graham62

Cesc was a special talent.

Had a telepathic abilty to know where and when to play a pass.

Guns of Hackney

G62

The day I watch Brentford as a measure against us is the day I absolutely stop watching football forever. And I’m already 99% there!

Guns of Hackney

Cesc failed at Barca.

Let’s hold it down a bit.

Good. Not great. Better but not the best.

Too many misty eyes on here.

Guns of SF

I did shed tears when he left… well almost.

Point is…. cesc in his prime would walk over any mid we have currently.

When he is done playing, its the official end of the Invincibles. No one left on the pitch.

Back then, those were men… not the boys we have now. Not the great captain Xhaka. lol

Graham62

GOH

I know but that’s the problem these days, every other team seem to make it look so simple.

Why can’t we?

Guns of Hackney

Cesc Machine.

salpardisenyc

Even named a band after him… thats special

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE-jz6YeovQ

Graham62

I’d take him back in a heartbeat.

Jesus, he’s only 32.

London gunner

Anyone else feel cesc peaked young and never really hit the top levels we expected of him. Not to say he was bad for barca but he was no ballon dor level player.

Graham62

Never listened to Gazidis when he was at Arsenal, will not listen to him now.

A total sleezeball.

Guns of Hackney

G62 Football is actually really simple. Really really simple. There’s a myth that it’s really complicated but it isn’t. Not at all. Football is about patterns and there are only a certain amount of patterns that one can play. However, if you can play those patterns really well and better than the other team, or have one or two genuine game changers, you have a very good chance of winning that game. When Arsenal were brilliant and we had that fearsome left: Cole, pires and Henry, it was so simple…Cole ran and gave it to pires who gave it to… Read more »

Guns of SF

Cesc peaked at Arsenal. Barca was good but not like he did for us.
Ditto all our players we sold them. None stayed that long and did anything remarkable for them.

Mr Serge

I am with Graham balls to Gstzidis he is a slime ball he did nothing for ten years then hired emery and left
He screwed us at every turn

Graham62

GOH

We all know the game is simple.

Our problem is that our manager loves to overcomplicate things.

bennydevito

Rafa Benitez, lol! Never ceases to get a giggle that one, I’d rather Mourinho and that’s saying something.

Not a bad shout Un Nai regarding Brendan Rodgers. I’ve always found him a bit of a buffoon in the David Brent mold but he certainly knows how to build a stylish competitive football team that’s for sure. Trouble is he’s not even been at Leicester for a year yet so I see next to no chance of him coming to us anytime soon.

Guns of Hackney

Ian Selly was better than Cesc.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Good reading peter,

However I find it slightly disturbing, w3 are in Groundhog Day again,
Fans hating manage4 fans loving him, fans hating one playe4 fans loving him.

To me the club is fucked.

Only solution would be a cut throat boss wee£ out the shit, or if we can’t afgord that, Freddie and let him do what he wants..

Clubs in crisis , in fact we have been since 2011..

Can5 see it changing soon

Guns of Hackney

Rodgers likes younger girls. Not for Arsenal.

Champagne charlie

London

I think Cesc went ‘home’, realised it wasn’t what he dreamed, wanted to come back, and when that never happened he mailed it in from there.

If he stayed with us I think he’d have went up a level still and been much more of what he promised. Still some career. Idiotic decision not to bring him back to us.

Nelson

Ever since Torr scored one or two goals, he suddenly had more appetizer to play as a box to box midfielder. That is the beginning of our midfield problem. During our 22 unbeaten run, we had Torr as DM and Xhaka played ahead of him to distribute the ball. It ended when Torr got injured. Emery should order Torr to station at the DM position. Either Guen or Xhaka can play ahead of him. Ceballos could then play the #8/#10 role. Torr should never advance past the midfield line.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Gun

Saville stories like,
Or Rix …

Champagne charlie

“Rafa Benitez, lol! Never ceases to get a giggle that one, I’d rather Mourinho and that’s saying something.“

Don’t think it’s the mentioning of Rafa that does it mate, you seem much more the giggly spastic type.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Gun

Before his injury against Leicester, smelly would have been da man.

Guns of SF

CC

I agree with you… was pissed when we didnt bring him back.
I thought we had the first right of refusal in his contract with Barca
Stupid Wenger of course.

Graham62

Gazidis was a douchebag from day one at the Emirates.

Could read him like a book.

Gift of the drab, not gab.

Was culpable, along with AW, for our regression.

Champagne charlie

Guns of SF

We did the right thing to put that in the terms of his sale only to pass on it when it came time to collect. Unforgivable move for me, loved Cesc, was gutted to see him in blue.

Wasn’t it because we had Ozil? Rubbish reason. I loved peak Ozil too, but Cesc could’ve easily played as a CM for us. Stupid handling of that situation, bet Arsene regrets that one.

Guns of SF

Our attack has always ticked with our creative mids…
TR7 Cesc Hleb Nasri Reye (winger) Pires etc etc

Ozil did well his first season but downhill since.

We are still missing that one midfielder maestro. Not sure DC can fill this role regardless or not his natural position.

Samesong

That Eze guy at rangers is a work in progress.

Distant legrover

Cesc would still be a great player today if the game hasn’t changed into a pressing game. It’s why he didn’t reach the heights at Barca because he had to do things his body and style just isn’t suited for. Ditto Ozil with the same problem.

It isn’t that Cesc never reached his peak, football changed while he was developing and growing from what it was, which fitted him well to something that doesn’t suit his style.

Guns of SF

Distant legrove

Good analysis on that… the game has evolved… now mids need to have an engine to press and press. The number 10 is dead… all mids need to create.

We just need OURS to do a better job of it

Bamford10

JWL

Good post at 18:02:13. You’re a sensible guy.

Cesc Appeal

Now Emery is apparently asking the Arsenal to vote on whether they want Xhaka to remain as captain.

Distant legrover

It’s why Xhaka is suffering so much grief right now because he’s playing in the wrong era (or league ?). This era requires you to run a lot, move a lot, think fast, be always aware of your surroundings. All things Xhaka suck at. 10, 20 years ago he woulda been a perfect premier league player.

bennydevito

Champagne charlieOctober 28, 2019    20:38:38

“Rafa Benitez, lol! Never ceases to get a giggle that one, I’d rather Mourinho and that’s saying something.“

Don’t think it’s the mentioning of Rafa that does it mate, you seem much more the giggly spastic type.

>>>>>>>

😆😆😆😆

Ooooh Rafa Benitez, you’re so peng.

Fact. 🤤🤤🤤