Emery has two excellent decisions forced on him

by .

So it would appear my hunch about Xhaka and the counselling thing being a nonsense was spot on, according to Arseblog the player was angry that Arsenal had packaged the blow-up like that. It really is grim that the club would use ‘mental health’ to deflect standard shitty behaviour and hurt feelings. 10 years ago, when someone famous would get caught with their pants down, they’d come out as a ‘sex addict.’ There would be a serious conversation about the seriousness of addiction, and we’d sympathise with person that simply couldn’t have night out without having to sleep with babes behind their partners back. In 2019, you can pretty much deflect anything by alluding to it being a little deeper, you know, a little more, ‘let’s not talk about this considering the current climate.’

It works as well. So many people calling bullshit on this story yesterday were being slammed for their insensitivity. So it’s a little amusing to find out that the player was annoyed that the narrative was incorrect, he was simply pissed at the fans.

The great thing about this revelation is it helps us cut faster to the clearest interpretation of this whole debacle: Xhaka ain’t captain material.

He couldn’t properly apologise.

He couldn’t formulate a response in good time.

He still doesn’t understand that his behaviour was wrong, regardless of the circumstances.

The manager isn’t going to play him this weekend, part one of Emery being boxed into better decisions by circumstance.

I think it’s absolutely hilarious to watch Emery dance around in tar over the ‘problem’ of Xhaka. Any manager that could read the situation would have seen this issue as a huge opportunity.

  1. Emery could have won respect of the fans and players by making a decision on Arsenal principles.
  2. He could have used the actions of a petulant player to cover for his HORRENDOUS mistake in giving the player the armband in the first place.

Best thing for him is he doesn’t have to start a player that’s a tactical weakness for us for the next month. Let’s be honest, Emery was coming around to the idea that his captain was shit. He subbed him off on 70 against Sheffield United, then on 64 against Palace.

By total fluke, we might start to see a midfield that’s more balanced and fit for the Premier League games.

That’s the good news.

On the bad news front, you can tell the beginnings of the end are upon us for the manager. The club has lost control of the media narrative. Players, agents and journos are not playing ball like the used to. Ultimately, it’s because the media don’t like Emery, I was hearing that last year, now fan sentiment has switched, watch them go for his jugular.

The Independent has a weird story about the players ripping the piss out of Emery behind his back.

There are some other stories about agents raising the ‘bad management’ to senior leadership. Last season, I wouldn’t have believed it, this season, we have mega agents involved and players like David Luiz. Players bring down managers when you’re in bed with super agents.

This isn’t just an attack on Emery, it’s also getting at Edu. Where is his leadership and sharp decision making in all this? It’s a total mess and he’s all over this.

To cap off the nightmare week for Arsenal, Mesut Ozil is posting happy tweets which allude to him starting this weekend.

Once again, Emery has made a public stance about the player, once again, he’s caved.

We all knew he would. But we’ve literally gone from, ‘Edu and Raul told me to do it’ last week, to Mesut starting two games in a row. Mesut has played his hand superbly.

I think it’s the right decision considering how little creativity we’ve had in the squad. We’ve also seen that the player still has it, Mesut dropping a blistering performance in midweek.

… it half looks bad, doesn’t it.

If you are ostracising someone, go all in or don’t go public with what you are doing. Emery is an amateur. He did the same last season with Aaron Ramsey (and Ozil). If you don’t have the guts to follow through, don’t make big statements about players. Very simple.

Still, it appears we’ve landed in two good positions by accident. Our midfield will be more dynamic, and our most creative player will get the chance to succeed or fail.

Right, that’s me done. See you in the comments. x

DropboxiTunes | Stitcher | Spotify

779 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Emery needs to leave the building..

We have hit his ceiling.

Ishola70

Pulisic is proving his worth with every match.

Him and Mount are so dangerous from attacking midfield positions in relation to goal scoring.

If Arsenal want to continue to be poor off the ball and have a suspect midfield and defence at least get in an attacking midfield goalscorer like Chelsea have as some sort of compensate.

Peckobill

Leicester and Chelsea are going to leave us behind . Our season is over and that’s depressing as it’s only November
Our club has plummeted to new depths

Pierre

Ishola
“That unbeaten run last season was down to the novelty of having a new manager in place”

The unbeaten run still had the Wenger’s DNA on the football we played.

As soon as Emery’s philosophy kicked in , we hit a brick wall.

MGooner

We are on our way be cementing our place as a Europa League team.

We were very lucky ro have GG and Wenger hold the fort for so long. We punched above our weight.

The yankees are like snake oil merchants. they will fool the fans to sell tickets and continue the nonsense

Ishola70

Pierre
”The unbeaten run still had the Wenger’s DNA on the football we played.”

Not really.

Even if fans appreciated the unbeaten run last season it was also remarked that the actual performances were a bit sketchy overall. In many cases not overly convincing.

That you feel to need to bring in a false Wenger narrative says it all really.

Redtruth

I’m very glad I’ve managed to snuff out most of the unwarranted criticism of Emery, however their remains a nasty element determined to undermine Emery.

Redtruth

Pierre
“The unbeaten run still had the Wenger’s DNA on the football we played.”

You mean the DNA that finished 6th and ended Wenger’s tenure.

Pierre

Watching the way we play our football, we look like we are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. If we try and play possession football , the passing is too slow , the players have too many touches ,there is a lack of movement and bad decision making. Alternatively, if we try and play back to front with speed, there is no cohesion or off the cuff play . Playing with pace shouldn’t mean frantic and that’s what we look , frantic. Again , the players are not picking the right passes …Ozil had a half decent… Read more »

Ishola70

Chelsea concede again in a match.

But they are compensating for that in other areas.

Ishola70

Pierre

How can you not blame Ceballos for failing to track a runner from a Wolves throw-in that led to their goal and ultimately lost the three points.

It should be basic football for a professional player to track a player from such an obvious throw in.

Arsenal are still shit off the ball.

Just like they were under Wenger for so many seasons.

Emery hasn’t addressed this issue at all.

Pierre

Ishola
I’m sure you understood that I was talking about the style of our football during the unbeaten run …quality performances v Leicester, liverpool and Fulham that we haven’t even come close to repeating in the league this season.

As it stands now, there is no style .

Redtruth

Pierre
“I cant blame the players at the moment as I believe any player would struggle to make an impression the way Emery sets up a team .”

I think you’ll find Ozil has been struggling for years …

Pierre

Ishola
“How can you not blame Ceballos for failing to track a runner from a Wolves throw-in that led to their goal and ultimately lost the three points.”

If Torreira was in his rightful position as a DM then he would have been the one covering the runner.

Defend Emery all you like but if you and he thinks that giving our defence no cover from midfield is going to win us football matches ,then you are sadly mistaken.

Ishola70

Pierre
“I’m sure you understood that I was talking about the style of our football during the unbeaten run …quality performances v Leicester, liverpool and Fulham that we haven’t even come close to repeating in the league this season.”

lol Fulham the worst EPL club in living memory last season.

You are not fooling anyone in trying to imply that Arsenal played stylish football in that unbeaten run overall last season.

People were actually commenting at the time that more than enough of those reults in that unbeaten run last season was down to application rather than stylish football.

MGooner

The next step forward for us would be to appoint a guy like Tony Adams as gaffer.

Or Big Sam or someone like him.

Ishola70

Pierre

I’m not defending Emery at all.

In fact I would ask why Emery is failing to install in his players basic tracking of opposition that we saw from Ceballos today.

Basic.

Ishola70

And remember we were saying for the first few matches of Ceballos that he looked to have something about him off the ball as well as on it.

Today he was criminal in not carrying out basic tracking of the opposition player.

Emery doesn’t have these players on it. They are off.

Ishola70

Arsenal shit off the ball.

As ever.

Looks like Ceballos has caught the disease as well.

vickingz

Wenger came and made us accept 4th position as a trophy, what’s emery gonna make us accept now? That drawing wolves at home means we got out tactics right??

Peckobill

Mgooner
Might as well go for fat Sam or Neil warnock can’t get any worse

vickingz

If Torreira was in his rightful position as a DM then he would have been the one covering the runner.

Was torreira even on the pitch when the equalizer came? Some people self

Redtruth

Pierre thinks one dimensional walking the ball in the net jumpers for goalposts football was ztylish…

vickingz

Chelsea with transfer ban is in third position and emery with all his arsenal sits where? I find it so disgusting that some so called fans are still being blind to emery and his bullcrap. Sussing him out was very easy

Pierre

Ishola Elementary mistakes happen because the players haven’t a clue what’s happening out there on the pitch. The only player who hasn’t caught the Enery disease is Ozil. He gets the ball and passes to a team mate, he finds pockets of space on the pitch and continually probes for openings At a guess I would say he created at least 5 chances today with the minimum of effort. That’s not to say he didn’t work hard as he probably had the most blocks , its just that he makes it look easy . I expect you to disagree of… Read more »

Pierre

Ruth
“Pierre thinks one dimensional walking the ball in the net jumpers for goalposts football was stylish…”

Aah yes, those were the days…

Ishola70

The myth that Torreira is a great covering defender on his own has to stop.

He is a little pack player that needs at least another player alongside him and his major attribute is pressing the ball not being a last man defender before the central defence.

Of course Emery is daft keep playing him further up but he isn’t a last man solitary DM either.

Words on a Blog

Under Wenger, we were great on the ball, but shot off the ball.

This season under Emery we’re shit on the ball, and shit off the ball.

Ishola70

Pierre

Arsenal have been shit off the ball for basically a decade and counting.

The shit we saw from Ceballos today we saw from other Arsenal players ten plus years ago on onwards from that.

It’s a disease that has been embedded in the club for a very long time.

Emery was meant to try to erdicate or if not that try to remedy the disease. He hasn’t. He fails.

Redtruth

“Chelsea with transfer ban is in third position and emery with all his arsenal sits where? I find it so disgusting that some so called fans are still being blind to emery and his bullcrap. Sussing him out was very easy”

Is that the same Chelsea who have spent a £1b on transfers .

Words on a Blog

Why oh why doesn’t Emery play Torreira as DM?

Redtruth

“Under Wenger, we were great on the ball, but shot off the ball.”

Like I said one dimensional walking the ball in the net is not great on the ball.

Pierre

WOB
“Why oh why doesn’t Emery play Torreira as DM?”

Ask ishola.. .he seems to have all the answers.

Redtruth

Who can remember Wenger playing Arteta as a DM who was slow as fuck and couldn’t tackle, he then replaces him with an even worse player in Xhaka

Redtruth
Gentlebris

‘Under Wenger, we were great on the ball, but shot off the ball.This season under Emery we’re shit on the ball, and shit off the ball.’

Brilliant expression.

Words on a Blog

Pierre,

We were so useless at building from the back that Ozil had to keep dropping back to help out….presumably Torreira was too afraid to disobey Emery’s instructions to keep as high up the pitch as possible.

Really, really poor.

Redtruth

“Under Wenger, we were great on the ball, but shot off the ball.This season under Emery we’re shit on the ball, and shit off the ball.’”

Man Utd 8 Arsenal 2

Ishola70

Pierre You know that Torriera played alongside Xhaka in that unbeaten run last season. You have even commented on it yourself. He is not a solitary isolated DM. He needs another player alongside him. And before you go on about this proving that if only Torreira is played alongside Xhaka then is all dandy no. Just no. Leicester absolutely destroyed Arsenal on their own ground last season with Torreira sitting deep with Xhaka. Destroyed Arsenal. As said the unbeaten run last season was due to the novelty of a new manager coming in that wears off over time coupled with… Read more »

Ishola70

Redtruth
“Who can remember Wenger playing Arteta as a DM who was slow as fuck and couldn’t tackle”

He was shit defensively yes.

But yet again fans didn’t care that he was shit off the ball.

They only cared what he did on the ball.

Redtruth

“They only cared what he did on the ball.”

Which was shit too…

HighburyLegend

If the logic is respected at Leicester, that should be really ugly for us.
But then we will know if Edu & Raul have some balls.

Ishola70

Redtruth

“”Which was shit too…”

lol

He knitted the midfield together.

We have heard this term over the last few seasons haven’t we regarding a current player that was ever present until very recently.

Words on a Blog

Sometimes I try to rationalise things and say that we’re just on a run of poor form, but this season Emery’s tactics, team selections and substitutions have been so bizarre that I think he’s trying to outfox opposing managers through fooling them by randomness. They just shrug and stick to their guns, like Nuno did today, and exploit our confusion by creating more chances and outshooting us.

Redtruth

“He knitted the midfield together.”

Yeah right, he was booed most games

RodneyKing

It really sickens me when I see Torreira so far up the pitch. I know he’s scored a couple of goals but a reliable goal-scorer he’s not. On one occasion today, just before we scored, he had the chance to slip the ball to Aubameyang for a tap-in but took a shot instead. Minutes later Lacazette showed him how to do it. Well, he didn’t learn because on another occasion, he tried to score again instead of passing to a teammate. Reminds me of when Ramsey used to vacate his position and got criticized for it. My opinion at the… Read more »

vickingz

Is that the same Chelsea who have spent a £1b on transfers .

@ redtruth, can’t you just for once stop being stupid? What has Chelsea’s transfer business got to do with emery’s performance?

Did Chelsea buy players during the last transfer window? No.

Did Arsenal spend money on players’ acquisition during transfer window? Yes.

Is Chelsea playing better than arsenal? Yes

Is Chelsea topping arsenal on the epl table? Yes

So, what does your £1b transfer transactions of Chelsea offer to the fact that Chelsea is topping us and playing good football even with the transfer ban?

vickingz

It’s the same with Torreira. He’s definitely better at breaking up play and winning back the ball better than anyone at the club yet Emery asks him to play very high up the pitch while asking Guendouzi, who’s very, very poor defensively, to play deeper. I don’t understand what Emery is thinking there. @Rodneyking, this same point has been overflogged here and emery is just being too rigid to learn and adjust. Firstly, he plays torreira higher up and secondly, he subs him in a premeditated fashion. You would have expected emery not to repeat the same mistake he made… Read more »

RodneyKing

@vickingz Another fun fact: Chelsea have a manger who understands “how the EPL works”. I just quoted Lampard. He said so earlier today. Anyway, you can’t really compare Chelsea and Arsenal. Chelsea have been a properly run football club for over a decade now. They knew they were losing Hazard and they went and got Pulisic. Jorginho and Kovacic are both better than what we have in midfield. Judging by the quality of their youngsters – Mount, Tomori, Abraham, Hudson-Odom, etc – they also seem to be doing better than us in that department. Over the years, they’ve spent a… Read more »

Pierre

Ishola
“You know that Torriera played alongside Xhaka in that unbeaten run last season. You have even commented on it yourself.He is not a solitary isolated DM. He needs another player alongside him.”

Yep
2 holding midfielders , exact my preference then as it is now.

4-2-3-1 is my preferred system ..it gives you a bit of everything.

A back 4
2 holding midfielders
A playmaker
2 wide players.

And is flexible .

Pierre

With regard to Chelsea , I’m not sure it is right to brring their recent history into the equation when assessing how well they are playing this season. They lost their most talented player in the summer and have a front line of 3 inexperienced English kids with pulisic recently getting starts. The midfield of jorginho and kovacic were not rated at all by many on here but under the guidance of Lampard they are proving a lot of people wrong. . Also Chelsea have been without Kante and Rudiger , who one would think would be irreplaceable at the… Read more »

WrightIsGod

And to think I was having a debate on here with the likes of Un na nai about how important Mané is over Firmino and even Salah (to a lesser extent) to Liverpool.

Bojangles

Pedro, can you add Wenger to your list of banned words for a week or two.

WrightIsGod

And to think I was having a debate on here with the likes of Un na nai about how important Mané is over Firmino and even Salah (to a lesser extent) to Liverpool.

Mané is not only the all round star of Liverpool but he is criminally underrated. I call him the black Suarez because he never stops defensively and offensively.

Un na naai

Bojangles

Why?

Un na naai

Wright is god

No. You weren’t.
Funny I just saw that. Not me. Fantastical thinking on your part

Un na naai

Fuck off emery
Enough is enough
Just pull the trigger
This man makes the worst version of wenger look like god
Only we have no emotional tie
No history
Nothing to be grateful for

Un na naai

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10267539/emery-insists-he-will-not-quit-arsenal/amp/

You are worse than the worst version of wenger

Why did we hire this goon??
Even RT has given up

Un na naai

Unai Emery is a failure at top level
He failed hard at PSG and is failing harder at arsenal

Un na naai

Auld Lang side

Bye bye Unai bye bye Unai bye bye Unai bye bye

Un na naai

It’s over
He should be gone by Monday

China1

Yeah how about we DONT insult another posters wife just because of their take on emery

Also as much as people all like a heated debate, some of the nasty comments on here are straight up bullying. I argue with Bamford as much as most but people need to make the disagreements less personal. Saying shit about him as a teacher or whatever is really uncalled for

China1

David interesting take on josh maybe being compromised but I don’t think Stan would insists josh keeps emery if it’s costing his business just to prove a point

Stan cares about money and wnerybis a clear drain on ours

Un na naai

China

Then focus on more worthwhile comments
You’re breathing life into the very thing you’re protesting against
Must be another “English” teacher in China pretending he’s cultured

Un na naai

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10266200/arsenal-ratings-aubameyang-stars-tierney-struggles/amp/

Fucking embarrassment
A National newspaper printing your instead of you’re.

I hate this country sometimes

Gonsterous

I’m all for emery out, but not at the expense of getting mourinho.
Or it could just be ironic as the most toxic fan base gets the most toxic manager in the world.

If it were up to me, get freddie to take over till the end of the season. I’m sure a lot of kids look up to him and we could see what he’s made of unlike the arteta signing.

Un na naai

Gons

We are the most toxic fan base. Nail on head there

Un na naai

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jose-mourinho-dines-arsenal-chief-20800649.amp

What did I fucking say???
I said this months ago
Jose was next
Hahahahaha
Woooooweeee
Get in
Score

Luteo Guenreira

With the amount of regular posters and the familiarity with each other around here, I would think people wouldn’t get so sensitive about the insults that fly around on occasion. It’s not like this place is some random Twitter comment feed. No one really knows anyone here beyond their points of views on a few topics anyway, so any insult will be theoretical moreso than personal regardless. For example, even if I were to call Bamford a virgin for fun, it doesn’t mean that I actually believe he’s a virgin. In reality I’m pretty certain he’s made some young man… Read more »

Un na naai

Latest results

Loss – Sheffield United
Win -Vitoria (skin of our teeth)
Draw – crystal palace
Loss – Liverpool
Draw – wolves

Un na naai

Luteo

I’ll remind you of that post.

Remember that time when you called for Le Grover commenters not to get offended?

Un na naai

A perception Emery has struggled to communicate effectively with his players due to a language barrier is believed to be a cause for concern behind the scenes.

Called this over a year ago
So did Pedro

“I think we do well in our work and our way and we go to positions”

Wtf backwards talk is this? Pull the trigger. Can this retard
Send him back to Spain

Un na naai

After the game against Wolves, however, he surprisingly said he was happy with the performance, despite being outplayed. He said he felt it was an equal match, and that the players tried and worked hard, deserving more from the game. But ESPN FC’s Alejandro Moreno was perplexed by his comments and tore into the Gunners boss. What?! What are you talking about?!” he asked, stunned, in response to Emery’s comments. “You get out-shot at home, not just out-shot by a couple – double the amount of shots by Wolves. “They dominated the game in the second half, Arsenal were hanging… Read more »

Un na naai

After the match, the odds that the Gunners’ head coach Unai Emery will end up getting the sack were slashed from 23/1 to 8/1.

CG
This one’s for you
Tick tock

Un na naai

Bamford
Come out and defend emery now??
It’s over. Emery is off and your credibility is down the drain

Un na naai

Travel agent Tony must have got on the single Malt again after the rugby
He’s normally farting his views at this time

China must have got burned with the engrish teacha comment

Un na naai

Emery made his first change on the hour mark, sending on Gabriel Martinelli for Lacazette. A bit odd, but not as odd as then throwing on Bukayo Saka for Torreira in the 73rd minute. Again the Uruguayan was deemed expendable by the manager, but with all due respect to Saka, who I like, why not Pepe? It felt a strange move, and it was hard to work out what our shape was at that point. Minutes later Wolves grabbed their equaliser when Ceballos let his man run off him from a throw in, and the cross was headed home when… Read more »

Un na naai

At home, we desperately need a win, and he’s putting on a left back? What on earth? There was no mention of Pepe in the post-match press conference, which surprised me because it’s a legitimate question. Perhaps he was unfit, and it’s not uncommon for a player incapable of doing 90 minutes to be on the bench in case you need him. But if he wasn’t fit enough for the seven minutes he gave Kolasinac, why was he on there at all? If he was fit enough, why didn’t Emery use him? It’s baffling management, not least because with Chambers,… Read more »

Un na naai

If you look at the subs, it looks like Emery was more afraid of losing the game than he was interested in winning it, which wouldn’t be a surprise given the conservatism and cautiousness he’s displayed since he arrived at the club. Throwing on a couple of kids and then eschewing the club’s record signing when we so badly needed three points is either incompetence or something more pointed. Either way, in terms of game management it left a lot to be desired and it might well cost him his job. Afterwards, when the boos at the final whistle had… Read more »

1 6 7 8