Big Dave Ornstein has hit the airwaves with his weekly piece in The Athletic, his headline which I think I can talk about without being mercilessly sued is:
- Emery stays
- Fans are noise
- Club is on the right path
It’s the not-so-dreaded vote of confidence Arsenal fans used to hear when Wenger was at the club.
What do we make of it?
I understand it.
As I’ve been saying for the past few weeks, there’s no plan at Arsenal. For the moment, we can perhaps blame that on Edu’s late arrival at Arsenal. Maybe he didn’t notice that Arsenal has been in steep decline the whole of 2019. Maybe he hasn’t been listening to the garbled press conferences. Maybe he thinks the handling of mega players has been consistent and clear. Maybe the football looks nice to him?
Whatever it is, Edu can lean on the crutch of new boy for the moment.
I wrote in the summer that the perfect scenario for Edu was having the fans BEGGING him to make a change. At the moment, we’re not really begging. I don’t think I’ve heard an Emery Out song from the away fans, there has been no march planned walks, and has anyone seen a gofundme for a plane banner? Not me. So are we even angry?
Arsenal fans are so united in thinking Emery is a disaster, I’m not sure we thought we’d need to work too hard on this one, so maybe Raul is right… maybe it’s just noise, because compared to how Barca fans behave when they want changer, this is probably all a bit pony (when it should be a pony head in the bed).
When assessing the market, it’s probably not the worst decision to hold off making a huge decision. Freddie could be our OGS, Mourinho could bring the club down, Enrique is Emery with a nice suit and better sound bites, and don’t even get me started on Eddie Howe.
Here’s the thing though, the stay of execution is only worthwhile if the club is formulating a plan that’ll move us forward next year. If we’re simply delaying a dinosaur hire, that’s a very big worry. I think we’ve seen enough actions from Raul to know that he’s not a particularly original thinker. We know he’s attracted by the bright lights of super-agents and we know he’s captivated by managers that make him feel like he’s dancing with the elite.
What Edu thinks should be the key. The rumblings I’m hearing are that he’s not as active as people would have hoped. Again, early doors, but the vision I had with the Arsenal Technical Director role was that he’d be far more present. That he’d stop the nonsense at the training ground. That he’d have a smarter plan for Mesut Ozil. The Mirror leaked that the player captains vote was Dave Priestly. I wrote in the summer that he was likely the architect of the player reviews that happened at the end of the last season. Priestly is our sports psychologist, and from what I hear, he’s been firmly wedged up Emery’s back passage since day one. He was the sort of person you’d have expected to be moved on, but alas, he’s still here stinking out the joint and not moving the ‘mental strength’ of the squad to a better place. I’m sure the travel guy throwing motivational speeches and fighting in the tunnel is still about. The young players are ripping the shit out of the manager behind his back. All the messy bits that went on last year are still happening this year, but the worse thing is that there’s no control over the media narrative. When a club is porous, it means people are unhappy.
We can forgive though, for now.
The decision to keep Emery on until the summer feels like it’s being driven by ego or fear. Emery is Raul’s man, 100% (as in, his recco). A lot of people blaming Ivan Gazidis, sure, we can bucket him in, but Raul was the day to day football guy that 1) Pulled him in 2) translated his PowerPoint 3) Assured everyone he was the best bet. It was really his first big decision so he has to double down on it, my question really does centre around what it is they are watching that gives them the sense the club is on the right path?
Some theories:
Leicester not the target
Being 9 points from Leicester and Chelsea might not be seen as a big deal. Chelsea are going to be inconsistent this season, Frank Lampard didn’t really move Derby last year, they should be catchable. Leicester also might be attainable, they have a good setup, but maybe the club thinks their run is a bubble.
PR noise
The club don’t have a plan for a replacement manager, so they’d rather not have to make a double sub type signing. If the media sniff that Raul and Edu are going to replace, the players will totally switch off. If they feed the idea Emery is safe, it gives them cover to speak to managers and it gives them time to make the correct decision with the relevant due diligence. It also might cajole the players to put in a bit more effort.
Listening to excuses in Spanish
Edu spent some time working under Emery back in the day when he was hitting 3rd in the league every season for Valencia. There could be a deep level of respect for his work. Emery will be speaking to Edu and Raul in crystal clear Spanish every day and maybe that makes it easier to understand what he’s trying to do and what the future vision is. Remember, this is Raul’s hire, he’ll do anything to make it seem to his bosses that he made a sound decision when he passed up Arteta and made an 8 day panic hire using ‘contacts’ recruitment (LOL that Emery was close to joining Sociedad before we stepped in).
December is going to be a disaster
I’ve been looking at the December crunch of games and hiding behind the couch. That really could be a death spiral of games. This last theory might be very off, but maybe the club worry that putting in a new manager and expecting them to come out of that batch of games with any PR credit is low… so they’d prefer Emery to take the fall and revisit his tenure in early January when the team is out of the woods.
All of the above sound ridiculous considering the nightmare we’re in on the pitch, and off it.
So here we are, Raul does not look like the great white hope, and Edu is still finding his footing after 4 months. Arsenal looks to be a ship lost at sea, so let’s see what happens now they’ve put absolute faith in a captain that’s lost his sea legs, his compass, and the faith of the sailors aboard.
LISTEN TO MY NEW PODCAST:
Very dejecting weekend. Good to know that the board is so contemptuous of the fans.
“… Silly predictive text. I meant to write “being a spectator” …”
It’s cute that you think anyone noticed.
“And they must know that Wenger out was not an unanimous vote while Emery out is a consensus.”
Wenger out is near unanimous. Even the guys that love Wenger realised Arsenal needed him out. We might not be as toxic in our display but we certainly wanted him out.
Emery out is also near unanimous (Bamford, its ok to be different); with the added precedent that the universal response to Emery isn’t love or hate. It is indifference. He is so boring you can’t muster anything to feel about him.
DH, a very pertinent point.
We spoke about that on the podcast, I don’t even think fans can be bothered to fly a banner or plan a protest, it’s so obvious, what’s the point?!
With things being so shambolic at the club thought I’d throw us some old tunes with their best renditions, such as the one here Stairway To Heaven with Clapton, Paige and Beck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuZyMx2NXZM
Green Grass & High Times – The Outlaws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R82OM5tzcrk&list=RDR82OM5tzcrk&start_radio=1&t=123
Do you feel like we do? Frampton’s best ever live version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Yq5m9eLIQ
Best Freebird version live at Knebworth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuZyMx2NXZM
Finally best live version of Genisis’ ‘Ripples’ again at Knebworth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7GOvlcQWLs
That’s it scroll on if not to your taste
Yeah but Pedro you have to remember this is arsenal and the club has only ever made bold moves after the fans kicked up a fuss in the last decade Every major change we’ve seen has come after fans started grumbling. Wenger getting sacked took a full on movement perhaps unprecedented in English football. Signing pepe happened because the fans started complaining in the summer and published their pissed off manifesto. Mustafi got dropped because the fans started booing. Xhaka the same. I can think of next to no proactive decisions taken by the club in the last ten years.… Read more »
After what happened under Wenger there is absolutely no chance the fans will allow things to continue the way they are under Emery.
Emery will not be here by the end of the season. He will not be here by xmas. I personally believe that he is in his final few days at the club.
Oh shite, I was dreaming.
Goodmorning everyone.
I don’t know if it was a one off or a false positive but Arsenal looked a different beast against Leicester in a long long time. Sure, we could have done a lot better against the 2 goals but we finally played as a team. Where we really suffered was going forward and causing problems to the Leicester defence. To put it mildly, we were clueless when reaching the final third. The crosses and passes into the box were a joke. Auba and laca were also largely ineffective and didn’t bother to make runs. In a way, the Leicester game… Read more »
If the fans start chanting (loudly) ‘Raul and edu are you watching?’ At the next game emery will be sacked within 48 hours.
The fans never stopped having the power to force decisions, they just didn’t use it
Siddharth14 Of course you are right. What you have to remember though is that all this negativity surrounding the club has been festering for years. Those players that have been there for several seasons know no different. The newer players have been sucked into it. They hear and read things. They watch Sky and BT and see and feel the problems that exist. Imagine working in an environment where you know things are shite, but are sort of helpless to do anything to prevent things from happening. Yes, you can try and perform but, unfortunately, not all humans are built… Read more »
China1
You also are correct.
Also if your not happy, don’t go.
A stadium only half full would work far more effectively than a few thousand angry voices.
It’s simple.
“But we have to support the team”
Oh boohoo!
you’re not happy
Garth Crooks In explaining his decision to pick Vardy, Crooks said: “Twenty goals in 22 games for Leicester since the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Leicester tells me that the former Liverpool and Celtic manager is doing with Jamie Vardy precisely what Unai Emery is not doing at Arsenal . “Everybody at Leicester looks like they love playing for Rodgers and no-one more so than Vardy. “Meanwhile Emery, who looks like he’s eaten a lemon before his post-match interviews, always appears to be at odds with his players. A manager who is constantly at war with his players is doomed.”… Read more »
Yeah tbh it’s not even about the Leicester game I personally don’t care that much that we lost as it’s just one match at the end of the day and shit happens. Always the thing that matters is the higher level trend and there’s absolutely nothing about our trend that instills any confidence that the manager knows how to get 100% out of his players In another life we could have lost that game and the fans would have still been wildly supportive and unwavering but in that other life, the fans must have been given a reason to believe… Read more »
At the end of the day tactics are critical, selections are critical, player ability is critical, but the players have to want to play for you. Does anybody feel like anyone puts on their shirt and says I can’t wait to get out there today? It feels like such an unhappy slog. Even when we win it rarely feels like fun. Footballers care about money and success but they became footballers first and foremost because the absolutely loved kicking a ball around as kids. Anyone who stops enjoying playing is not going to play at their very best. Just look… Read more »
“Freddie in as caretaker” Really not sold in this one however, at least it would confirm the end of Emery, guess that’s the biggest attraction? Emery is out of contract in 6 months, the club will (I hope) already have its shortlist for a replacement & I can only assume the names on that list are currently unattainable or perhaps the club feels that chucking the new guy into the fire will do more damage than good. For me, Emery can go today, bring in an experienced care taker, start the interview process now and hopefully avoid this shit show… Read more »
“Freddie in as caretaker” Really not sold in this one however, at least it would confirm the end of Emery, guess that’s the biggest attraction? Emery is out of contract in 6 months, the club will (I hope) already have its shortlist for a replacement & I can only assume the names on that list are currently unattainable or perhaps the club feels that chucking the new guy into the fire will do more damage than good. For me, Emery can go today, bring in an experienced care taker, start the interview process now and hopefully avoid this shit show… Read more »
“Freddie in as caretaker” Really not sold in this one however, at least it would confirm the end of Emery, guess that’s the biggest attraction? Emery is out of contract in 6 months, the club will (I hope) already have its shortlist for a replacement & I can only assume the names on that list are currently unattainable or perhaps the club feels that chucking the new guy into the fire will do more damage than good. For me, Emery can go today, bring in an experienced care taker, start the interview process now and hopefully avoid this shit show… Read more »
China I concur. We are presently without a style of play. Since I started supporting afc, this is the first time arsenal loosing matches and I don’t really get moved. Like it is expected. Firstly, the players are not interested in Emery’s game plan. It’s like they see it as too primitive to the level of football in Vogue and they are ready to down tools till he is fired. Also , the board’s planned pathway to success is not visible to fans. We don’t.even know what is expected of Emery in terms of play and team organisation. It’s weird… Read more »
Imagine, for example, if Liverpool had moved into a new stadium in 2006, after just reaching the CL final( yeh, I know, just like Spuds) and after the hierarchy told the fans of moving the club forward and being able to compete at the top table. Now fast forward 13 years and the club has steadily regressed, and please let’s don’t blame the likes of Chelski and MC coming on the scene, and the club finds itself in a situation that they never dreamt possible. Do you think the Liverpool supporters would have allowed this to happen? Of course they… Read more »
Sid You are one of the few who still takes time to analyse last game. As I posted earlier, Emery came up with a tactics to defend an away game. Every player was given a task to do. The problem is, the attack is too weak. Our two strikers are good players inside the box but just average players outside the box. Should we replaced Lac by Martinelli or Pepe, the attack could be better. As I posted earlier, if the tactics can only defend, you’ll have to play a perfect game so as not to lose. The away form… Read more »
Have a great day everyone.
“when he passed up Arteta”
Hahaha Pedro you really do crack me up.
Graham62 Well done trying to fire up the fan base with your accusations. Maybe it will drive us to action? You sure are doing a better job than Emery. He loses and instead of us getting riled up, we just fall asleep. Doctor Sleep is one cunning mofo. But to do change, I will just take the easy route. Stop subscribing to Arsenal and don’t go to matches. It is easy to do so when Doc Sleep gives the footballing version of curing insomnia. Wenger use to give us heart attack. Emeryball is like cup of chamomile before bed. Hit… Read more »
I have always maintained that it is important that the head coach should have good communication skill particularly when you have a squad of players who come from so many different backgrounds. I had from the outset concerns about Emery because of his poor English and that view has not changed in view of his ongoing poor grasp of the language. What has not been discussed is that apart from Freddy Ljungberg all the other coaches handling the First Team Squad and Emery’s appointments are also of Spanish Heritage. How many of these staff members can speak the language? Emery… Read more »
From arseblog :”As for the Xhaka thing, they should very closely analyse Emery’s own role in that and how he contributed to the eruption we saw from both sides.”
Granted, Xhaka should never have behaved like he did in front of the home fans. But the way Emery has hung him out to dry and didn’t protect him at all, it makes me sick.
Nelson, I posted a few comment regarding the tactics used at Leicester. The initial setting made sense and was working. The issue that I had was with the personnel selected. The two strikers were blocking the fullback. However while Lacazette went into that work with zeal, Aubameyang was doing token gesture. Martinelli the Duracell bunny would have been more effective in that role. Kolasinac did not had a terrible game, but Tierney is a much better crosser and with Martinelli on the pitch we would have some aerial threat. In defense Bellerin was clearly struggling and Leno consistently restarting the… Read more »
Val
I agree with what you wrote. Playing Tierney in midweek instead of Kola was a mistake. I just want to point out that for once, Emery came out with a defensive tactics that could work with better players. But against weaker opponents, he better comes up with something aiming to win a game.
Bumford ‘What evidence do you have, Pedro, that Emery’s English is a serious problem for the players and team?’ Really? Have you ever listened to one of his press conferences? You really think broken and garbled english helps get any message across clearly and concisely? No didn’t think so. Bumford ‘ I’ve only claimed that we are more organized and more disciplined than we were under late Wenger. That that is the case should be obvious to everyone with eyes.’ PLease look at this and tell me what it says….ALL METRICS he is worse. If we were better organised and… Read more »
MatinellisHead
Wasting your time with B10 I’m afraid.
The guys a complete basket case.
I hear A.C. Milan or rather Gazidis wants to buy Xhaka. Is it me or Gazidis seems quite lazy with his recruitments. Always trying to buy players that their previous clubs don’t want anymore. No imagination whatsoever.
https://arseblog.news/2019/11/the-7amkickoff-index-arsenal-have-been-here-before-and-failed-to-act/
Fantastic piece which puts Arsenal/Emery’s current predicament in a statistical and historical context. Unequivocally shows that:
1) just as Arsenal’s management were too slow to get rid of Wenger when results declined, they are repeating the process now with Emery.
2) underlying performances by Arsenal are in a pattern of steep decline
3) Peak Emery has at best only just matched “average late era Wenger”
4) it’s time for Emery to go