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:
Marc
I think the referee was afraid to give a penalty so early at Anfield. That crowd does get very loud as you better know.
The handball rule is very clear. it was a penalty. the VAR review is meaningless because it hardly ever reverses the ref …unless it’s against Arsenal.
Marc
C’mon did you read the full post.
Valentin You are so full of shit it’s funny. I don’t use language like “light up the league”. You wanted to let Kos leave on a free hence my use of the “Cheese eating surrender monkey” joke from the Simpson’s. You then cried and called me xenophobic, something you’ve repeated numerous times even though I’ve explained the source of the joke. You don’t even realise you’re doing it half the time. Your last comment when I said about you saying the Spud’s would compete for the League – your response “I am happy to be wrong on Spurs. I saw… Read more »
Dissenter
“Marc
C’mon did you read the full post.”
Sorry mate not with you?
The premier league needs to donate those high def TV screens installed at every game for referee review since they aren’t going to use them
I’m sure there are local charities that will bet happy to have them.
Dissenter
You wouldn’t have thought ref’s would be able to make themselves look any more incompetent than they have for years.
But wait we’ll introduce technology to help us make better decisions and get even more wrong!
City’s reserve keeper is pants.
This game is a joke, they’ve scored everybody attack. City will be sick
How is the Cutter?
Whilst I was back in solitary – I could not wish you well.
So.
Hope you are well…
Another solid post PedRo.
Many thanks.
I would like to add some ‘Noise’ to the debate.
Edu is a lanky, no good useles Ponce.
For a so called Teck Deck (and we waited a year for this wretch)- to continually sit at the games and do nothing shows what type of man he is.
5 year contract!
🚮
I note his boy is on the payroll, though.
Gary Neville on Bravo “The goalkeeper, he is why he is…” lol
Really bad goalkeeping. Think the keeper could have judged the cross better
Bravo shouldn’t be reserve goalie at a top top club.
At some point the punter will stop taking bets, still too early.
*what 😁
This game reminds.me.of City (Pep) – Chelsea (Conte) game in Pep’s first season in EPL. City were all over Chelsea but lost the game by 3 goals.
Game.Set.Match
Stunning cross by Henderson.
Chris
I don’t think Gary Neville’s allowed to refer to someone as a useless cunt on live TV?
Any of out midfielders cross like that?
£100 million of left back on bench
Marc
Haha. He just put it in a refreshing honest and slightly cryptic way.
It’s good to see more and more pundits calling a spade a spade.
“…so they’d prefer Emery to take the fall and revisit his tenure in early January when the team is out of the woods.” Pedro – I think this is very probable scenario. Many times I’ve seen in business world a company will bring in new CEO to restructure company – 30% employees fired kind of thing – and all anger and bitterness gets directed at CEO. After 2-3 years the CEO is fired with nice severance package and new, kinder CEO is brought in to get company back on track and past employee anger. Emery job is thankless task –… Read more »
Expect city to bring out the checkbook for the genius Guardiola next summer.
Oh yeah that’s right Val predicted a Spurs league or champions league or some such nonsense. Quickly backtracked I see. Literally the definition of cheese eating surrendering
Liverpool’s long range passing is excuisite
You’d think City will soon put all the eggs in the CL basket, the one they really want.
We just need one team to take 3 points off Liverpool, maybe us at the Emirates eh?!
Insane how good Liverpool look, battering arguably the greatest ever PL team here.
jwl
I agree with some of your post but “there are no obvious candidates to take over job” well Allegri, Enrique and Mourinho (I feel dirty even mentioning his name) are all out of work.
Lack of possibilities is the same excuse used by AKB’s when Wenger was in charge.
Pep OUT!!!
Marc, You are rewriting history. I never said to let Koscielny leave on a free. I said that asking for a 10 millions fee was going to be counter-productive in the long run. We would not get 10 millions and Koscielny would be so pissed off that we wouldn’t be able to use him anyway. In the end the fee that we negotiated is pretty close to the opening offer from both Bordeaux and Rennes. Look at WestHam and Arnautovic. No public stern message, just get rid of at an acceptable price as quickly as possible. As usual, you start… Read more »
Marko
“Quickly backtracked I see. Literally the definition of cheese eating surrendering”
That’s racist and very rude. The correct term is “Pacifist Simian with a fondness for dairy products”
Please apologise.
The only loss I can see Pool having is City at City’s patch. They don’t look a side that will lose more than 1-2 Prem games all year.
Liverpool are gonna have a 9 point gap after this game….Odds they bottle it again?
Pedro
Arsenal are in a mess at the moment – no doubt about that.
On and off the field the club have no coherence that I can see.
Ideally they should sack Emery now and get Freddie in until the end of the season.
If that doesn’t work out it’s not the end of the world.
This season looks like a write off already.
What’s vital is that we have a more ideal candidate lined up for next season.
We’ve employed a brains trust to usher in the new arsenal era.
They have to deliver.
Look at WestHam and Arnautovic. No public stern message, just get rid of at an acceptable price as quickly as possible.
Arnautovic didn’t go on strike you dimwit
Left
They’re gonna lose at some point… They’ve been letting in more shots and conceding more
Also seems the refs and whole country is willing Liverpool to win the league with some of the decisions that have gone their way this season…Absolutely scandalous
Mane is probably the most valuable player in the world right now just behind Messi. Scores important goals in big matches and contributes a lot in defense too.
Also, why is the premier league the only one where there aren’t any on pitch monitors so the refs can review these VAR decisions? They’ve gotten more decisions wring than they have right….
Away at City, Leicester, Wolves a few banana skins possibly for Liverpool.
They come to us the first weekend of May. If they are still unbeaten at that point and still in a position to be reeled in by another team for the title that will be a corker.
Aguero has been in England how many seasons now and never scored at Anfield? Absolute crazy stats
MANE > salah
Salah is quality but his level after his purple patch is lower than Mane.
Don’t feel sorry at all for Pep he’s failing with a billion pound squad. He’s literally spend 100’s of millions on the defence and he keeps 50 million LB’s out of the team and plays a CM in there. He won’t change though expect a world record bid for Skriniar in January to “address” the problem.
I hope so Bati, their fans are insufferable and even worse as my Father in Law is a gloating Liverpool supporter.
MANE > salah
Yeah but Mahrez > Mane
Marko
City’s defence is absolutely shit…They’ve bought fairly poorly there but Fernandinho is probably a better CB than Stones and Otamendi
Marc,
Arnautovic never went on strike.
Who is now talking utter bollox?
He Just threaten to do so if denied his move.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-ham-slam-door-marko-17590930
Bati
“City’s defence is absolutely shit”
Sorry mate but this makes no sense after their dominance of domestic competition for the past two seasons.
Ronaldo never scored at Anfield either for Man United he only managed it finally at Real Madrid, it’s one of the toughest places to score as a CF.
Valentin Oh dear. You really are thick as shit. “Sorry but if I were to call you an ignoramus cretin. Would you find it funny because it was used in one of my favourite film. No you would still consider that as an insult” Not really first thought would be “pot and kettle” “Then in the very hypocritical behaviour, you pretend to be offended on behalf of Marko because I call him LeGrove resident Irish Flat Earther. I don’t remember you being offended when you were calling Bamford the Harvard XXX” Firstly I’ve never called Bamford anything to do with… Read more »
It’s Liverpool’s workmanlike midfield that’s something that i love…Not flashy or exotic just very hardworking…You’d think Klopp would love someone like Guendozi, loves to run a lot…
Wjnaldum, Milner, Henderson, Fabinho…… They’ve just got so much organization and work ethic it’s amazing
Game on
“Marc,
Arnautovic never went on strike.
Who is now talking utter bollox?
He Just threaten to do so if denied his move.
”
That wasn’t me you fucking retarded cunt. It was another poster.
It’s not shit but Bati has a point, they were winning all of those matches nearly in spite of their defence due to the absurd options in CM and going forward.
It’s been ruthlessly exposed in the CL in recent years by Liverpool and Spurs and once again today in a top of the table 6 pointer.
Wjnaldum is the most complete CM in the league IMO. It is isn’t just work ethic there’s craft too.
Dissenter
There’s a reason City and Pep have failed in Europe, that defence is for the most part usually patched up but because they are so good on the ball, there’s usually less pressure on them defensively… Watch them in Europe against any team that team that gets at them…
Not saying they’re bad but they’re not great either so “shit” may have been the wrong term to use
City’s defence is absolutely shit…They’ve bought fairly poorly there but Fernandinho is probably a better CB than Stones and Otamendi
He’s spent over 400 million on defenders. Much more if you want to start counting keepers and defensive midfielders. No excuses
WE
No one was saying city defense was shit at any point in the last two seasons because they were defending well enough to win the league very convincingly.
There was a time when John Stones was playing super well for City. City’s defense has been weakened by injuries this season.
Pep having a meltdown, calm it lad
City have opened Liverpool open enough times to have score 3 or more goals. If City have a ‘shit’ defence they aren’t the only ones.
Dissenter
City’s defence in most games didn’t have much to do – the opposition couldn’t get near the ball!
Arnautovic never went on strike.
Who is now talking utter bollox? He Just threaten to do so if denied his move.
So he never went on strike. Koscielny did hence the public statement by Arsenal. Are you alright you’re having a mare today you thick fuck.
Bati
You’;re talking European competition ….I’m talking about a near total dominance of domestic competition.
How do you win trebles and 100-point league championships with a “shit defense” ?
Absolutely brilliant watching Gundogan in midfield, almost goes unnoticed but puts in 8/10 performances regularly
Dissenter
I corrected the shit defence term…Still not a great one too
Radio
Its not just been this game though, Liverpool have given up a lot of changes this season, more than usual hence why I feel they’ll drop points at some period of the season
Bati
Whilst Liverpool do look very good there’s still an awful lot of points still to play for. People handing out the title and CL places are all a little premature.
Liverpool conceded 27 goals in 38 games in 2017-2018 [[best in the division] = shit defense
Liverpool conceded 23 goals in 2018-2019 [one more than Liverpool] = shit defense
Give me that “shit” everyday.
This season they have had injuries to key players, not one …not two players.
Post match interviews are going to be interesting.
I’d actually like to see a manager grow a pair and call the ref out properly.
Bati
I had posted my last post before reading your retraction of ‘shit”
Cheers
“…Allegri, Enrique and Mourinho” Marc – I think Allegri and Mourinho are top tier coaches who don’t want to do 3-5 year projects which Arsenal are in process of doing and Enrique only did well as manager when he at Barca and had one of best squads ever assembled, his other jobs as coach were not so successful. I think our next manager has to be younger guy with proven track record of making teams punch above their weight and is now ready to prove himself in most competitive/difficult football league in Europe. I have no idea who that is… Read more »
Batistuta
Correct, hence, why the league is no where near bring sown up for Liverpool. If they do win it it’ll be a lot closer than 9 points.
*being
Marc’
Calling out the ref properly is just giving money to the league in the form of fines.
It’s better to donate that money to a charity imo.
I fucking hate Liverpool. Any fan that remembers the 80s should as well with as much passion as I.
I can not describe how disappointing it is that Liverpool are likely to win the league this season. Just a dreadful turn of events
Actually don’t like Liverpool at all but it’s not out of rivalry or anything just pure jealousy…
Jealous at how they went from Jovanovic and Aquilani and Shelvley and Carroll and Jay Spearing and David Ngog(Benitez’s boy) and Kenny Daglish and Roy Hodgson to what they have now…Absolutely brilliant
Liverpool are on course to break City’s point total record …if they continue any this pace.
I still think they will dissemble when December hits. That trip to Japan in December will rattle them.
Is anyone saying that Liverpool have a shit defence?
jwl “I think our next manager has to be younger guy with proven track record of making teams punch above their weight and is now ready to prove himself in most competitive/difficult football league in Europe. I have no idea who that is but he not unemployed at the moment.” I won’t disagree with that but there’s a good chance that the right “manager” is not at a super club. We can get them is we really want them, if it’s genuinely not possible to get them now – get the deal done for the summer and look at a… Read more »
My hatred for Liverpool [and the stupid fans] is tempered by the admiration of how they rebuilt themselves the old fashioned way – without any sugar daddy.
Pep going over to thank the away fans while Arteta goes down the tunnel. We know who the manager is that’s for sure
Dissenter
Pep can not only afford it but should come out after and offer the same amount to a charity and challenge the PL to do the same.
Until we see a real push against the “we’re not allowed to criticise the ref’s” we won’t see improvement.
As for the Nevilles I hope they shut the fuck up (except they’re commentating on women’s handball). Both brothers have proved they’re crap managing football teams – men and women. Bloody clowns. I’m not sure why people keep referencing Neville.
I think city winning three consecutive league titles would have diminished the “most competitive league” toga of the PL.
Glad someone can knock them back on butts…even though it’s Liverpool.
The only difference between Man City and Arsenal is that they have a better midfield.
What exactly does a “sugar daddy” mean? I’d give an arm and a leg for a sugar daddy type who would be interested in making us truly competitive again….Don’t think a lot of fans care much for all of that to be honest….
I mean we’ve seen “sugar daddies” rock up at other clubs and run away after a year but to infuse money into the club and make sure you’ve got the right hands running it means the owners at least have the club at heart
“The only difference between Man City and Arsenal is that they have a better midfield.”
Well technically one plays in blue and the other in red!
Is anyone saying that Liverpool have a shit defence?
Doubt it. The two most inform fullbacks in Europe in the last 18-24 months and arguably the best CB in Europe with a brilliant keeper. Can even make Lovren look decent. I think Bati originally meant to say that they’re not as strong as they were last season.
I’ve mentioned it before, but one of my colleagues at work went back to university a decade ago to do masters in business admin and his thesis was about how it often goes very wrong for successful companies after a influential, long term CEO leaves the firm.
My colleague bet $1,000 last season that Arsenal would finish between eighth and eleventh and I just got angry email from him about how it going to go pear shaped for Arsenal this season instead of last and he should have saved his bet for this year.
The difference between Arsenal and these two are their mindsets. In terms of ability I don’t believe we’re that far off.
Radio
Gary’s a sneaky little weasel as well, he’s managed to quietly rebuild his rep through his punditry and he’s now pretending that the reason that he failed so spectacularly as a manager is simply because his heart wasn’t in it and he wasn’t interested rather than a lack of clue that really resulted in him failing.
Gives him complete carte blanche to go back to lynching struggling gaffers on TV, hopefully he’s not fooling too many.
Where’s Valentin?
I haven’t bitch slapped him for at least 10 minutes.
Bati’s on the money re Citeh’s defence. They’ll have their pants pulled down again in the CL knockout stages by one of PSG, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern.
VVD is head and shoulders above anybody that City have in defence, Laporte included.
Robertson has a very punchable face.
WE
Not that I disagree with you but that begs a question. Where do Pep and City go now?
City’s owners brought in Pep to dominate in the PL and win the CL. Obviously he’s done well so far in the PL but I can’t see them winning the CL this season. If the PL results drop off and they’re going out of the CL in the Qtr’s or earlier when does he get fired?
Marc probably cheese eating somewhere. Possibly surrendering as well
A sugar daddy has helped Man City win titles under Mancini and Pellegrini.
Marko
It could be worse he could have surrendered to a block of cheese!
Give it to FA for already deciding to give this year’s EPL to Liverpool
Wengereagle Weasel is a good word for him. There must be a lot of weasels in the media for him to have succeeded in his ruse. Can’t stand the fraud. He was invited to a select committee of MPs to give his opinion on the sale of Wembley. The ignorant buffoon went on a rant about how selling Wembley amounted to selling ‘our souls for profit’ blah blah. Thing is the old Wembley was always privately owned never belonged to the FA. That’s the thing I dislike about him – it’s all hot air and no substance with him. Life… Read more »
Man up Pep – “the ref’s a cunt, the ass ref’s are cunts, the 4th official is a massive cunt and the retards at VAR are useless cunts”
That’s how you give an interview!