Jorge Mendes throws his man into the mixer

by .

We’re in that moment in time where people on Twitter and trying to guess when the manager is going to be moved on.

‘Happening tonight lads’

I know it doesn’t need to be pointed out, but I can assure you, no one at Arsenal has a hotline into a 15-year-old on Twitter called @XhakaMyBae239.

That said, it’s clear that Arsenal aren’t in control of the leaks at the moment. It seems to me that many of the different factions within the club are running different stories in the press.

The alarming story that seemingly blasted out of nowhere yesterday was that Nuno is now a favourite for the role. Like being linked to Charles Nzogbia back in the day, this rumour doesn’t moisten my loins in any way whatsoever. In fact, I’m so dry at the thought, I’m applying Nivea Men to avoid dangerous chafing.

Nuno is a very good manager, he’s done amazing things at Wolves with a small squad of talented players, I’m just not that into the idea.

Two reasons.

  1. Underdog counter-attacking football isn’t where I want to be as a club. We basically hired that mode of operation in with Unai Emery. We’d just be bringing in a manager with better English to deliver that approach. When he was given a Porto side that teams deep blocked against, he couldn’t function and was fired.
  2. I detest the contacts network approach to management appointments. The idea that Raul would bring Mendes into the mixer again would really send a message that we’re fully under control of the super agents. Not a good look. Where has that landed us so far? David Luiz looks a complete horror show of a signing as well as an immense waste of money and agents fees. Unai Emery was straight out the back pocket of Raul, we did no due diligence, the push was so aggressive, people didn’t even care that the manager couldn’t speak English and had been mercilessly mocked for his grasp of French and Russian prior to that.

I just don’t think there’s much of an argument for bringing him into the mixer here. He took Valencia to 4th, Emery took them to 3rd three times. He went to Porto and failed to pick up any trophies or move the club forward in a season. He’s having a moment in the sun with Wolves, but ultimately, I think the stain of being so close to a super agent is too much… he was literally Jorge Mendes first-ever client way back in 1996.

I hope the same machinations pushing Jose and Enrique stories are trying to push Nuno onto the shortlist of managers we should speak to.

Unai Emery is taking charge of the game on Thursday against Frankfurt, some think this could be his last hurrah before he’s moved on, I’m not so sure. He’ll no doubt turn in a win there, then it’s Norwich, Brighton and West Ham… then the club is in the December zone.

Unless things are really rough, it’s hard to imagine us hiring a new person into a stretch of games where they’ll have to face United, City and Chelsea. That would not be a good start. If things really are that bad by December, I’d imagine we’ll bring in Freddie and Bould. Interesting to read that Freddie doesn’t have full UEFA licencing yet to be an actual manager, not sure if that’s accurate, but that could mean Steve Bould in the dugout.

Interesting to read that Unai stopped sending scouts live to watch opposition and doesn’t read dossiers compiled internally by our scouts… because he’d rather do it himself. When a manager starts hoarding responsibility like that, you know you have a bad one. I questioned his epic video analysis when he joined. Players have short attention spans, even shorter if they have to strain to understand the contents of your analysis. I cannot imagine how bad it must be sitting in a video lounge listening to Emery talk about the potency of Southampton’s threat to our defence.

Anyway, it’s coming to an end soon… let’s hope that Raul has something more creative than a Whatsapp ‘please help’ message to Mendes.

Listen to my damn podcast. Thanks!

iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify

214 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Receding Hairline

Nuno Espirito Santo? Color me unimpressed.

Yes he will do a job for a while, then we become a club firmly in Jorge Mende’s pocket, the we become the bridesmaids never the bride.

Someone called it our Pochettino from Southampton move, yes that’s what it is and its uninspiring.

Siddharth14

Going for NES is a safe bet if Allegri and Arteta are having doubts about taking over this Arsenal squad. TBH, Arteta would be wise to stay away from Arsenal at the moment. Let’s not ignore the possibility that Arsenal can negatively impact the career of any budding Manager in the present circumstances.

In such a case, i can see our risk averse board going for a relatively less known decent manager albeit having premiership experience for having a good shout at the top four.

Alex Cutter

“So a week after Spurs sign The Special One and are doing mega deals with Amazon Prime – we are after The Non Descript One (version 2)The ungainly and lanky Wolves manger who looks like he has just come from the Amazon himself would be another appalling choice as Arsenals Coach.He does fit the The Spivs criteria though and ticks all his boxes below in which he chooses Arsenal employeesDopey Pliable Yes Man Bang Averageeg Edu/Emery/NESHe is competent counter attacking coach. His teams have played well on the break ( basically with the speedster Traore) His home form is very… Read more »

CG

RH

“”””Someone called it our Pochettino from Southampton move, yes that’s what it is and its uninspiring.””””

I would call it Marco Silva from Watford to Everton

Hideous.
Doomed to Failure and everyone Knows that – Except Raul it seems!

ps

Congratulations on our PedRo on his Post yesterday- he was the first to gauge what the Spiv was up to before anyone else…..

Kudos!

Receding Hairline

“In such a case, i can see our risk averse board going for a relatively less known decent manager albeit having premiership experience for having a good shout at the top four.”

yea except this has been tried 18 months ago and it did not work

Leedsgunner

Our club is in a mess… the first priority has to be to rid ourselves of Emery.

Receding Hairline

“Our club is in a mess… the first priority has to be to rid ourselves of Emery.”

All well and good

Then you make the wrong appointment and in 10 months time our first priority will be to rid ourselves of *insert name here*

Ishola70

Receding

What was your reaction when Emery was first appointed?

Were you positive about the appointment?

What is the “right” appointment at this time Receding?

Bojangles

Val

If you interpret it in that way we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Ishola70

ANOTHER NEW POST

Aussie Gooner

While we consider all alternative to Emery (my cat could probably do a better job at the moment – his tean selection would be bang on!) how about Paul Davis – off the peg, all the relevant qualifications, Arsenal DNA, very little experience. Take it Wiki – “Davis returned to Arsenal to become a youth coach in 1996, before leaving the club in 2003. In September 2003 Davis joined The Professional Footballers’ Association coaching department. On 27 October 2005, Davis was invited to become assistant manager of Kettering Town F.C. by new manager Paul Gascoigne, he left Kettering at the… Read more »

Receding Hairline

“What was your reaction when Emery was first appointed?” Surprised but it was an okay appointment in my view, not one i would have advised mind you due to the PSG baggage, felt he needed a lower pressure job after that but understood why he got the job short term. “Were you positive about the appointment?” The first question you asked covered this “What is the “right” appointment at this time Receding?” The right appointment at this time should unite the fan base. I know you are getting all giddy envisaging a Portuguese revolution hence the leading questions but permit… Read more »

Distant legrover

The real question is how much does Raul makes from the these agents/contacts deals ? I found the David Luiz deal too convenient.

Distant legrover

From Wenger to Emery to Nuno ? Yikes!

Damn you Wenger !