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.
- Emery could have won respect of the fans and players by making a decision on Arsenal principles.
- 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
Yo
Engerland
Where are you suckers?
and 4th
4th
Piece of piss.
You snooze, you lose.
Come on you tosspots.
Has there been a nuclear war and I’m the only one left?
“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.”
This is spot on and not only speaks to his limits as a captain but as a player also.
This is why he makes repetitive mistakes. He cannot/will not recognise his failings. If you can’t recognise them you cannot learn from them. Very similar to Wenger and the whole 1346th time’s a charm approach.
Xhaka is a rash, egocentric individual with stunted maturity who refuses to accept responsibility for his actions.
Emery is frankly too gutless to handle an elite club.
I just love the part where Xhaka said he expects the respect to be mutual i.e a simple case of give and take.
Torriera – CDM
Ceballos – CM
Ozil – CAM
Martinelli – LW
Aubameyang – CF
Pepe – RW
I’d like to see the above, let’s attempt some intricate passing and sharp movements. It’s really been so long. 🙁
Good read Pedro. This doesn’t look good for the club. They have been slow to respond all around; 3 days to give out a PR inspired apology, still no statement as to the captaincy. It’s as if they feel that if they say nothing the fans will forget.
Xhaka has made an apology.
Thanks Granit.
The thing is, you’re no longer captain and you’re back in the team only as a last resort.
Oh yeh, by the way, start packing your bags.
See Harry flew out to Japan. Polluting the planet again. Double standards. 😉
We’re still a rudderless ship.
Come on England
Here we go.
Come on England!!
“We’re still a rudderless ship.”
Actually, Sanllehi and Edu are steering the ship, and they are steering the ship just fine. We are in a transition period and any number of difficulties are to be expected.
England expects every man to do his duty.
🏴🏴 🏉
Left
Thanks for the motivational talk.
You’re welcome.
Arsenal expects every man to sulk off the pitch and blame social media.
Goid morning Tony, Graham, Bob and ES.
Really excited about the game.
If they pull off a game like last week, we’ll win.
Eddie will have drilled the team to not underestimate SA. But from watching SA’s games, they haven’t been all that. They have been error prone throughout all their games. They are definitively there for the taking.
It will be, as ever, all about discipline and focus. As long as we don’t concede any cheap mistakes and play on the front foot we’ll do OK.
Come on England!!!
For the moment, let’s just be happy that Xhaka is out of the XI. That is what needed doing, and that is now done. As for Ozil, we do need more creativity in the final third, so let’s hope he helps on this front and continues to put in good performances. He is still the player we have been criticizing for good reason for years here, but he is also our only #10, so needs must. Sanllehi and Edu should think about bringing in a CM and a CAM in January, though.
England not settled yet. Maybe the loss of Sinckler in the manner of the loss.
Took time against the All Blacks
C’mon England!
SA look stronger than us and more determined. Worrying. 😳
Ffs we’re fumbling the ball, missplacing passes, it’s not looking good.
Did we speak too early against NZ? Nothing left in the tank?
*PEAK not speak.
Martinelli Auba Pepe Laca Ozil Guen Torrey Tierney David Bellerin Leno. There you have it, that’s the way to get our flow back. This team would hold the ball, make good passes and create chances, like the old fluent Arsenal. We would blow Wolves away setting up like this. But you know our man would have none of that. He does not seem to have the courage. Arsene Wenger seemed to me a man who didn’t understand the importance of having a good defensive structure or like a man who didn’t know how to put such in place, but maybe… Read more »
Good piece by Robbie Savage on the current situation at Arsenal.
“Arsenal are toxic again”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-toxic-again-could-copy-20790161?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
So many mistakes from England. Need a score to settle nerves.
Hey, South Africa, the 70s have called – they want their hairstyles back!
“Martinelli Auba Pepe
Laca
Ozil Guen
Torrey
Tierney David Bellerin
Leno.”
With all dues respect WTF is this!!
Three at the back with Tierney and Bellerin as defenders?
Yet some of you spend hours on here criticizing actual managers
Yesterday one had AMN starting as a winger in a premier league game
Banford “The situation with Xhaka is an unhappy scenario, but you have to say Emery contributed to it.“ “He has spent £205 million in three transfer windows now, and he appears no closer to establishing an identity for his team.” “I thought Arsenal should have finished in the top four last season, when they blew it by losing at home to Palace on the run-in, and although they reached the Europa League final, their defeat by Chelsea in Baku was embarrassing.“ You’ve argued in some part against literally all of these views in the last year. “My take is that… Read more »
This French ref is not doing us any favours.
He’s a cheese eating, surrender monkey.
No offence Karim.
Let’s see if ozil and Martinelli play and xhaka doesn’t if we can see a clear improvement in the league.
At least our attack should look a chunk better
Not sure if emery will make the right calls defensively tho. I’d put torreira deep and either Ceballos or guen alongside him and see how it goes.
I bet torreira will be b2b and guen will be dm though which makes no sense
How many penalties is this French ref going to let go.?
Bumford
“Actually, Sanllehi and Edu are steering the ship, and they are steering the ship just fine.”
Yeah we’re doing “just fine”, nothing great or exceptional, only “just fine”.
Ffs it’s not looking good. England are playing rubbish.
Game of 2 halves where the Boks have won the first half.
French ref isn’t having the best game overlooking too many Boks penalties.
South Africa’s game to lose now.
Over to Jones to earn his crust.
We’re committing too many mistakes and paying hot them heavily.
The loss of Sinckler has really weakened our scrum. We are finding it very difficult to dominate them.
I really hope we can turn this around in the second half. Not feeling confident at all.
Awful England show so far…favourites?.. they look like a team that’s just glad to be in the final… Totally negated by a well drilled determined non-flambouyant outfit. They could tire….it’s still have o for grabs. I see Xhaka is still the bogeyman to blame all the issues and woes some people appear to be carrying. Xhaka is a by product if a failing system organised and directed by Emery. All that has happened is due to Xhaka being put in a position he was never able to deliver on. He has no captain attributes and he has extreme shortcomings as… Read more »
Gentle I’ve never seen a 3-1-2-1-3 before and that looks risky as hell with two attacking wing backs as part of a back 3 alongside an error prone CB
I haven’t managed to get a stream for the rugby but regardless of performance, what matters is the score and the gap isn’t big atm.
Believe!
SA destroying us in the scrum. 6 – 15 now. We’re done.
I prefer to play Martinelli and only one striker. The other can be subbed in at around the 70th mins. I doubt Emery will be brave enough to do it.
We have no answer to the Bok’s scrum
9-15
Rugby stream link???
ENG 12 – 18 RSA
China, can you not watch it online on ITV player?
I can’t find any streams.
WOW! That guy has blood on his shirt. In hockey, it is not allowed
Oh Benny thanks for the heads up
Might work if I set my vpn to UK
That’s it. It’s over.
Game over that was a great try by SA
South Africa the better team and deserve their lead.
England need something special now, but look ordinary .
Same old performance after a brilliant display in their previous game
Shit! RSA got the ball inside the back field
Well that try by SA was the finishing punch. Unless Engksnd pull off a masterclass, I fear that we have let SA run away with it.
Making up 13 points in 10 minutes is looking more like a mountain to climb as the clock ticks down.
Battering. Its RSA day.
We’ve played absolutely shit. The NZ match burnt us out.
Looks like the team England’s moral has been broken
Agreed Benny it was a game too far for us.
Excellent SA.
Thoroughly deserve it.
England’s limitations eventually surfaced, as I highlighted several weeks back.
Nullify their forwards and power play and not enough natural skill to dig them out of trouble.
Well done SA.
You were brilliant.
Emery must’ve given the team talk for the England Rugby team
Funny. The players have protection for the ears and the teeth.
Thank fook for that , wouldn’t heard the bastard end of it if England had one with the bloody media .
Now go burn your ruddy chariot
What? England forfeits!
Emery or the team bus driver? Haha
Nelson if you don’t know what rugby ‘cauliflower ears’ are there google image search it and you might sympathize with headgear haha
Pffft, so England did an Arsenal…..oh well
The England v SA game got off with bad start with Sinckler getting concussed.
Thereafter we were outplayed in scrum and conceded too many penalties.
Personally I think that this was a bridge too far for England. There was not the
same energy level as against NZ and we made far too many mistakes.
Also I think that we made selection mistakes. Farrell should have been Fly
Half and not Ford. We would have controlled game better.
Overall this was a disappointing result but South Africa deserved their win.
China1
It is the first time I watch a rugby game. Ha! Ha!
Really don’t understand this clamour for Ozil ? Arsenal fans in general must have very short memories, from what I recall from the the last 3 seasons is that he has played a handful of good games and was involved in many games where he went seriously missing ! We also had the numerous missed games through ‘sickness’ . Emery should be moved on , his decision to make Xhaka captain was a terrible one , Xhaka should be moved on also for his tantrum and in an ideal world Ozil should be moved on for his attitude , he’s… Read more »
I think that Emery has very “cats lives” left in his career at Arsenal. He is fortunate that the owners and senior management at club are more patient than their counterparts at most other clubs. Previously I suggested that I thought that the club were unlikely to offload him before the end of season, but the way Arsenal have capitulated in last two games against both Crystal Palace and Liverpool when leading by clear two goal margin raises serious questions about his management and the current morale and tactical nous of team. If Arsenal continue in this fashion I think… Read more »
Charlie.
How do you think we will get on today?
Commiseration to the England team, but today the best team won. South-Africa defense was immense. England has bet everything on the physical aspect of the game and they encountered a team bigger than them. What was disappointing what the fact they did not offload the ball after contact. When they did, there was always a knock-on. I have said before Eddie Jones is the best and worst thing of that England team. He will prepare them to the best of their ability, but he will also suck the unpredictability and ability to think on their feet of this team. When… Read more »
A mature manager will use whatever is available to win a game. If Ozil or Xhaka can help the team NOW to win certain games, I am all for it. Raul and Edu should have a future plan though.
I believe that the only reason Emery is still in the job is because the upper management are afraid. The same pusillanimity shown with the captaincy (say nothing) and Özil treatment (one step forward two steps back) is what keep Emery in his job.
It should be clear that he is not the man to take Arsenal forward. He may chance a Champion’s League qualification but even with Messi, Ronaldo he would not win the EPL because of his inability to organise a defense. So rip the bandage and go for somebody who can.
These AKB’s arseholes are doing my head in.
Dragging the club down with their bellyaching for change after years of resisting change.
Churlish “You’ve argued in some part against literally all of these views in the last year.” Right. You’re pointing to parts of his piece that I disagree with. I still think it’s a good piece, a reasonable piece, a balanced piece. “‘he says Emery should stay until the end of the season because … ‘be careful what you wish for’. [This is] literally the exact same stance as the AKBs you waffled on about for an age.” No, it’s not. Saying that Arsenal fans should be wary of how much negativity is being cultivated around the club and should probably… Read more »
Redtruth
Do not worry about them; they are only an annoyance. Truth always wins out in the end. Yes, they are creating unnecessary and unreasonable negativity around the club at the moment, but so too frankly are some people who were not AKBs.
Bamford,
Why is that different?
Is it like we are better organised and disciplined, you can’t explain it, but you can see it and we should take your word for it.
🤔
Spingboks! Springboks! Spriiiingbooooks
Samesong
It’s magic 8-ball stuff for me atm mate, I could make a dozen feasible predictions.
Wolves are a bit suspect, but they have the most draws in the league so far so maybe that’s the safe bet.
I just think we should be turning them over at home given what’s went on the last ten days. Fully expect a reaction from us, table tennis at Anfield isn’t a reaction. Narrow win, usual disjointed stuff imo. Said with as much hope as expectation.
What do you fancy?
RT
I agree with you.
The thing is, I want Emery out as I wanted Wenger (from 08-09) out.
Those that sat on their backsides all those years, accepting regression, are now gloating because they want Emery out.
You couldn’t make it up.
B10
So does that mean you still think Emery is doing a good job?
Val
That’s exactly what he’s saying. It’s different because now he’s saying it basically.
Be careful what you wish for is a viable muttering where Emery is concerned, just not when Wenger was here.
Another bamfact.
Graham
I’ve never actually said he’s doing “a good job”. The most I’ve said is that some of the criticism of him is unreasonable, unfair and wrong, and that he is a competent manager doing a competent job.
According to Kola, Özil has been doing extra sessions at training in order to save his Arsenal career. If it’s true then maybe Emery’s handling of him was correct.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1199075/Arsenal-news-Mesut-Ozil-Sead-Kolasinac-Unai-Emery-Premier-League-Wolves
RT
When anyone says to me “Wenger definitely lost it at the end”, I just laugh and shake my head.
What else is there to do?
Churlish
“Wolves are a bit suspect”
Right, except for their beating City 2-0 at The Etihad.
B10
😄😄😄😄😄😄👏!!!
B10
What’s the definition of “competent” in the US.
Does it mean shite?
Pedro, interesting point about Edus lack of leadership. But, is it possible he is just giving Emery enough rope, perhaps in the face of board members who wanted to extend Emery last summer, and may lose face if they don’t back him now. Because they appointed him in the first place as a late candidate, clearly without doing any due diligence. Referring to Josh and Raul at a guess Whatever the truth, as the article says, surely not long for Emery. Now seems that he has lost perhaps one of the few players fully behind him with his mental fragility… Read more »
Yeah, Graham, I don’t see how finishing 7 points better and one place higher in the table with a poor squad and during a transition is “shite”. I also don’t see how being 5th and four points off of Chelsea with a still-inadequate squad is “shite”. He’s not pulling up trees, he’s not a genius, he’s getting certain things wrong, but he’s a competent manager doing a competent job. If anyone is mis-describing him or his work at Arsenal so far, I’d say it’s the folks calling him “shite,” not the folks saying he’s doing a competent job but probably… Read more »
Graham 62 I wanted Wenger offloaded over the 6 years before he departed. Also I was/am prepared to give Emery a proper opportunity to prove himself. Last week I suggested that it was highly unlikely that the Board/Senior Management would make a rash decision. That has never been Arsenal’s style in contrast to many other clubs. However, there are serious questions about Emery’s style of management, lack of communication skills and even morale within squad. The way that Arsenal have thrown way a 2 goal lead in last two games against CP and Liverpool raises serious questions about the team.… Read more »
ES
If I’m not mistaken, I thought you said on here, a week or so back, that Emery has to go.
Correct me if I’m wrong.