There are a lot of rumours doing the rounds that Unai Emery could be entering the ‘win or you’re out’ zone. Sarri heard rumours about a similar situation at Chelsea before the Europa League final last year and basically said, if that’s the view, fire me now, it’s no way to run the football club.
I tend to agree. Don’t sack if you don’t have a plan in the back pocket of what’s next. Also, don’t sack if the plan is terrible.
The stark reality the club are facing is this: Lose against Leicester and you will likely be 9 points behind 3rd and 4th. Not insurmountable, but certainly a huge body blow heading into the dark months of fatigue and rainy days against top 6 sides.
Raul doesn’t have the most elite taste when it comes to managers, my worry with him has always been that he’d see us as a Barca-lite. We know he’s an ego guy that mixes in high society circles. That, in my opinion, has led to a false sense of who we are. I raise that, because when you spend your time hoping to be something you are not, you make bad choices. David Luiz will cost us £40m all in, it looks good on paper, but it’s been a disaster and he’s 32. That sort of move is a high society move.
Dinner with Jose Mourinho is a bad choice. Dig into it though, why would you go to dinner with that man? Because it’s a statement about who you are. It’s star fucking. Is it good for the club? No. But it says something to people who roll those circles.
I think the backlash from most of the major Arsenal media will put an end to Jose dreams, though we can’t be sure. However, I don’t expect that to push us into the path of the sort of manager that will be good for us.
We should be looking at names that do a lot with a little, or coaches that have untapped stardust.
A manager like Lucian Favre is desperately untrendy, but he’s been all around the world and he’s working magic with a superb young cast at Dortmund. He consistently outperforms his xG, the football he plays is exciting and he’s truly a tactical master. The way he turned around that Inter game last week was something else.
He’s not trendy though. There’s nothing saucy about his resume, though he’s built for an underdog job, which is exactly what we are.
There are plenty of hip names out there that could also excite. It’s hard not to pay close attention to the work of Paulo Fonseca; the saucy Portuguese created a mini-Man City over in Donetsk, now he’s sitting in 3rd with Roma. He has style, he’s grounded in Italian football, and the Premier League would be immense for him. He also has real nice hair.
He recently lost to Marco Rose’s Monchengladbach, as you know, he’s my new dream. If you want clarity about who he is, check out his 11 principles of management. He has sauce, he took Salzburg a long way in the Europa League and he went unbeaten in Austria. Now he’s transported his heavy pressing vision of football into Monchengladbach, who are topping the German league.
It’s early days, he could go the way of Ralph H at Southampton, but his partnership with Rene Maric seems to be built on something solid and smart. Here’s some details on his tactics so far this season.
I will run a deeper analysis at some point, but my point here is that now we’re being linked to Luis Enrique. A man that rocked the treble at Barcelona, a player of extreme prestige, someone that is a high society type of guy… but would he be right for Arsenal?
I don’t think the filter of, ‘better than Unai’, is where we need to be looking. We need to be hiring in a manager that has a distinct vision of where the game is going, and we need to have someone that has an underdog mentality. That’s why I like Ralph Rangnick. That’s why Nagelsmann is impressive. Even Allegri to a certain degree was an underdog at the highest levels of European football, the Juve spend to success was impressive, they were run a little like Spurs until recently.
Can you create a competitive edge with top tier managers with with midlevel money, or does that create an imbalance? Jurgen Klopp is still out greatest miss because he was a top tier manager with a midtier mindset to creation. He had never had £200m to spend until he went to Liverpool. He was an underdog. He was the perfect manager for a rebuild. That’s what we need.
I also want to hark back to my point about vision. I know that people associate this sort of babble with hipsterism, but just as oat milk and elite couture shouldn’t be frowned at, an understanding of where the game is going shouldn’t be either. Case in point: Thiago Motta.
He caused ructions in the football world when he played a 2-7-2 in the PSG youth leagues. His belief is you take out the power and pace era by flooding the midfield. He sees the keeper as an integral part of that process. That’s advanced thinking. Here are the details.
Will this work? Who knows. But the exPSG player landed a job at Genoa and this is what he’s producing after three games (also worth checking out the quality of goals here).
How can Thiago Motta have Genoa playing like this after three games pic.twitter.com/eJffGGznKI
— Renato (@rehnato) November 4, 2019
So in short, the next Arsenal manager needs to be a statement of vision, not a big name because it gives the club a short hit of prestige.
Who would you hire for a replacement?
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST WITH MATT:
How s that not handball..
Shotnon target stopped by fella on ground … handball.
It’s dying a death football
What a miss by Lacazette
Yeah! He sat on the floor and stopped the ball with the hand.
Hand ball all day and Var not interested??
Oh we are Arsenal. not L’poo. Same ref btw
I thought that was as much a pen as their one. Handball in there stopped the ball going through.
2 clean sheets in 24 away games?
Lol we’re so shit.
What kind of lineup is this
Watch the number of leicester players all over us when we have possession. WOW. no wonder they are fancied. Arsenal simply do not do that.
I’m at my sons game recording this at home
But I’m cheating and peeking at the score
Nelson…
So why not…
Our best start away from home in a while, sad.
Leicester really aren’t that good, if we cut out all our stupid errors and fouls, we should win here.
Ozil lazy on the run, Laca scuffs it. That was good by Auba though.
At least we have some shot on goals.
Has Laca left his shooting boots at home. He keeps kicking the turf.
Lacazette is just a terrible striker
Luiz will go down as one of the worst Arsenal signings in history. I’d rather have Stepanovs in there ….
I think it’s time we ditched playing out from the back. City we are not.
The weather playing its part…
But you can see ozil class through the rain..
Alarming there is no pressing… when they have the ball.
That field is wet and slick
It’s not easy to control the ball hence the Leno mis-control.
‘What kind of lineup is this’
From not managing a shot at target against mighty Vitoria to managing 3 shots in 20 mins, surely it’s not too bad.
And here is why Leno is a decent keeper but not a great one and why we should upgrade with a player better with his feet.
Laca shit finishing
Leno makes this passing out shit hard
It’s Saturday and Leno on come dancing.?
Parking the his at Leicester is really sad as an arsenal fan.
bus*l
I miss Xhaka, if only he was bossing the middle of the field.
Ha, where art thou o Xhaka.
Holding wanted to run through three players
not everything is down to the shape. It helps we dont have xhaka in the team. Torreira actually playing as a DM and Ozil in the team.
Told you holdin* like he is a 16 year old after that injury…
At least we’re in yellow … I’ll take what I can at this point …
Not a shit start atleast.
Play died when Kolasinac failed to spot the run of Ozil up front, game had to come all the way back and Rob Holding dribbling his way out loses the ball……story of our game. No one spots runs or attempts to make runs sometimes
Guendouzi poor so far
Bellerin doesn’t look great to me.
Why Bellerin kept playing the ball back to the middle. He should send the ball straight forward.
Has Bellerin got his heels on today or something? Can’t trap a bag of cement
Bellerin is having a nightmare.
Arsenal so organized and disciplined here. Leicester not having to do any work to get chances
So far we must’ve made at least 20 mistakes, I just don’t get it.
“Bellerin doesn’t look great to me.”
You mean that player still finding his way back from long term injury?
Dale I completely agree. The creative passing from almost all our players is really bad these days. Only Ozil seems capable of putting a ball between two oppo players.
Commentator: ‘Leicester knocking it about here, probing, trying to open up this Arsenal side sitting deep.’
Oh how the roles have changed.
Auba didn’t take the ball.
Isn’t this Bellerin’s first start in the league in a long while?
Can’t hold on to a lead…
Can’t hold on to the ball in midfield..
“Guendouzi poor so far”
I don’t get the hype around Guen. I think it’s typical for English crowds to love a trier. They will rave over the headless chicken act. He has an engine but I don’t see what else he brings to the elite party.
Dissenter then he shouldn’t be in the team. you do your recovery in U23 and come back when you’re ready for PL action.
Guen has to pass the ball sooner.
Going to be a freak 60 mins.
Speed at which leicester attack is awesome.
Only a matter of time before Leicester score. We are like amateurs.
“Isn’t this Bellerin’s first start in the league in a long while?”
He fucked his ACL against Chelsea last Feb
Don’t like the look of holding doing half Dizen back passes to Leno ended with unnecessary pressure.
Kolac has to stop Blythe back passes
Guen several loose passes and turnovers
Careless and self inflicted.
Otherwise wasn’t too bad and holding Leicester
gazzap
You really think people return back from long term injury and just slot back into top form?
He’s gone through all those phases you describe. You have to give him some time before bringing out the daggers.
How lucky are we holy fk
It is good that Torr is tracking Maditson.
Kolasinac caught ball watching. Ball past him and he isn’t even closing down
Baying
I think he has stagnated a bit. He shouldn’t be starting every pl game.
Bellerin was supposed to pick his form up vs the shit teams in Europa and EFL.
Best bit of play I’ve seen from us in months that, Emery IN
Lac can’t pass the ball well
Ideas was good but Laca seems to have lost his touch and shooting since his rerun from injury
Nearly a great team goal. First possession in about 10 mins!
Emeryball is like attaching customized banana peel heels on your expensive shoes.
It’s not a question of if you’ll fall, just how many falls you’ll eventually have.
We play it out from the back, lose it and then they Attack again.
Good move that.
Kolasinac is useless.
Kay
Agree he probably needs to mature a lot. I believe he could potentially be a good player in time but right now it feels desperate.
Laca about to score a beauty!
Leicester have looked like scoring in every attack they’ve made.
Desperate from Arsenal *
It is a bad idea to appoint a proven manager at a big club because we are an average club which punched above its weight for long. We may have money to a few 30/40 million players but we will not build a team with that.
We have been found out recently. It’s just begun but people will get used to it after a few years.
Dissenter – been equally dodgy in the 5 or so cup games he’s played though. No progression yet. he’s not come back the same player. hopefully he’ll get there but unless he reaches a certain level he should not be in the first team.
Another good counter attack from us, we should stick with 3-4-3 going forward.
We did have some half chances
Bellerin showing what a huge difference he makes going forward.
That Soyuncu has dots all over his name doesn’t he?
Think of the kids you cunt
Mgooner, talking bullshit. Arsenal top ten revenues in Europe. We’ve been punching below our weight!
Ffs holding back passes again.
Guen holds onto the. Ball too long
Laca can’t pass anymore??
We look so rickety trying to pass at the back…
Auba doing more useful stuff with the ball.
Chambers is having one of his better game.
I’ve gone off holding…
Poor to average at the best..
Another Granit Torreira moment
gazzap
Funny enough, I’m not a fan of Bellerin, never understood the hype and have always wished we bought as proper RB to challenge him.
That said, he can’t be expected to be fully match sharp after such long time out.
Torr not doing good
Fair enough RSPCA but shouldn’t forget he’s been out for a long time. Could still be getting rid of the rust, like Bellerin.
Yeah Holding hasn’t come back the same player either. Lucky Chambers is doing great.
CC , predictable, miaow!
Torreira never seems to be in the right position.
Bob
Predictably absent when it’s not one of the whipping boys you mean.
Called consistency.
Another useless attempt to play out from the back.
Laca is poor What’s wrong with his form? Not sharp at all
Great long pass Luiz
We need someone that can switch play from side to side with one pass.
Haha good header you mug
Laca is a bit dramatic sometimes. Maybe spending too much time with the master in Greek tragedy himself Sokratis.
Perez has been such as naughty boy with the referee’s permission
Pepe for Laca if this continues
Any individual player apart, you have to admit that any of these players that come back at this level after an injury like an ACL (or Ramsey / Eduardo for that matter) is fucking amazing. Testament to the medical treatment these fevered egos get bear fats. Bloody amazing.