Don Raul deals with the ‘noise’ of an empty stadium

by .

Well, the absolute worst outcome for Arsenal happened last night, we played our best striker in a dud game, against a terrible Frankfurt side, and managed to lose. Unai Emery stood on the sidelines like he was 40 feet from his front door watching the police remove his PC in plastic bags. He knows what’s coming, so do the fans.

The Emirates was painfully empty, even when you factor in the Frankfurt ticketing issues, it was embarrassing. No one wanted to be there. I had friends in chat groups desperately trying to give tickets away before the game to no avail. Last night felt like an end-of-days scenario for the manager… the players delivered a performance to match the feeling. Raul was right, the ‘noise’ of the fans did pass, because no one cared enough to show up.

Those that did dealt with familiar themes.

  • We tanked a lead, again
  • Emery insisted on starting Xhaka, again (makes error). Worse, he was all smiles and jokes with the Frankfurt players after the game. Get him out of the club immediately. He’s a disgrace.
  • Brings on Ozil to save game (told the press a month ago he wanted rid)
  • 2-1 down, last roll of the dice, he brings on Torreira (Pepe on the bench)

We could dive into the details of the match, but why bother? We know Emery is finished. Let’s talk about what is next instead, it’s far more urgent.

Raul is bad for Arsenal. He is going to try with all his might to move us down a path that suits his agenda. Everyone who matters at Arsenal knows this.

He’s not Arsenal material I’m afraid, so as supporters, we need to be very alert to what’s coming next, because if it suits him, it’s likely not good for us.

Emery was his idea. Sven left because of his ‘contacts’ approach. We made some very bad decisions this summer on his say so. Judge a man by his actions. Those actions in the cold light of day do not look good.

The next moves he’s hyping look even worse.

Ignore the nonsense coming from Wolves PR team. Nuno is on the Arsenal shortlist because of his relationship with Raul. Move past the bullshit notion that he wouldn’t take the job. We’re the biggest offer that’d ever go near him, there’s simply no chance he’d pass on it because he has ‘good vibes’ with his Wolverhampton squad.

Pay attention to Kike Marin reporting that Enrique is being seduced by a big club, it’s likely Arsenal because we’re in a contacts kind of world. We shouldn’t be giving him the time of day. No one in Europe touched him because he’s expensive and he has a poor reputation despite winning trophies at Barcelona. This is the same issue we had with Emery winning the league with PSG, you look at the wiki page and it excites you, read what the fans and press wrote at the time and it’s a different story. The idea that we’ll hire him after he fails at next years championships with Spain is quite frankly embarrassing. Being Raul’s mate should not be part of the equation, we should stop hiring managers other clubs don’t want.

‘Contacts’ recruitment isn’t good for Arsenal. It’s backroom deals. It’s jobs for the boys. It’s not how professional outfits operate because it removes merit from the equation. I know the ‘who you know’ approach happens in many walks of business, it’s gross regardless, it’s unprofessional, and it’s becoming rarer because it has a deeply negative impact on the culture of a business.

Sport should be the purest form of meritocracy, especially if you’re pushing the idea of an elite performance culture. Why would any player perform to the best of their ability if they had even the slightest suspicion that a teammate who was competing with them was getting preferential treatment because of their agent?

Now imagine the squad know the manager is there because they are pals with Jorge Mendes? Horrifying.

Our next appointment should be made against a strict set of guidelines, one of them should be that no one we bring in should be as deeply tangled in super-agent gunk as Nuno. He’s a no-go. We are too big to be beholden to the whims of a manager that will always have deeper loyalties to his agent than the club. Outside just the agent ties, why would you want to be making an appointment Everton fans would find bland?

Thankfully, most of you understand that this move is a terrible idea. Your response to the blog yesterday gave me hope (read if you didn’t). It showed that 99% of Gooners understand that values are hugely important, even if they have been used to defend mediocrity over the past 10 years. It also showed that together, we will go to war to make sure we’re not turned into a 90s Liverpool by grifters with no love for the club DNA.

Know this, there is a battle underway for the soul of Arsenal.

Take your eye off the ball for a minute and we’re fucked. We have to be vigilant when names are thrown our way. We have to use the power of Arsenal internet to call bullshit if we see something that looks off-key. So make Raul an agenda point with journalists. Tweet the bloggers when you see something that looks ghastly. Remember, the Arsenal agenda is set by the fans because you’re the people clicking adverts. The big publishers will follow your lead. Don’t let up. You have a part to play in making sure Arsenal are not dragged into the swamp.

Right, that’s me done. More tomorrow. x

 

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DM

DM

DM

2

Bankz

Bankz is here for the tr4phy again

DM

Tr4phy

Boomslang

Trofee

DM

knew you’d be lurking today Boomslang, so made sure I was on my game

Boomslang

Nice one DM
Bankz ruined my game.

Vintage Gun

Emery died in Sheffield last month. Blade attack. So let’s not speak bad of the dead.
Or try to ‘connect’ with them either

.The question is why Raul is keeping a stinking rotting corpse in charge?

I wonder if after the summer signings, daddy Kroenke said “Don’t ask me for a Goddamn dime until next summer” and they aren’t sacking him for financial reasons.

I find that hard to believe but then again, who would believe Emery would still be here this morning

Leftsidesanch

No faith in Raul to make the right decision. Are you Ivan in disguise?

Thanos

Ix cdnt believe Emery was not thrown out of the stadium last night
Our ineptitude over replacing a defunct manager is frankly embarrassing

Dick Emery

The spuds make a decisive move, sack their manager and bring a new one in on the same day and then win their next two games. We, on the other hand, mince about do sod all and draw with Southampton and lose against Frankfurt at home. well played Raul, well played.

habesha gooner

Hahaha Pedro still running “Raul the Evil man who is responsible for our failings” agenda I see. In my Eyes the only failures he has been responsible for are he was part of the Emery hire eventhough he wasn’t top dog then and He hasn’t been decisive enough in firing Emery. If the Josh and Stan were in bed with Mendez you theory would have a lot more legs to it.

David Smith

Perhaps nostalgia, and never thought I would say this, but would even take Wenger back at the club, in an upstairs capacity to kill off Rauls plans. Yes, aware that could go wrong, but Wenger is the perfect antidote to Raul. Now we know what Wenger feared so much in his take care of the values statement, and perhaps one of a number of reasons why he stayed so long, the Kroenkes are not capable of running this club properly. If it wasn’t Raul, it would be someone similar. Quite apart from any other issue, the way we are funded… Read more »

Un na naai

Hello

Un na naai

Oh I’m back!!
Thanks Pedro.

Gbat

More ‘contacts’ approach nonsense.

Chika

I don’t want a shoddy attempt at a quick fix, Emery was supposed to be a safe option but the fraud has left us in a complete fiasco.

Give the job to Arteta and let us slowly rebuild with a clear plan.

T

Well written pedro! This was the best piece i have read from you in thr past 10 years 👍

Rambo Ramsey

So after giving years of shit to old fool Wengie for not laying with Super agents, Pedro now agrees with him.

“Sport should be the purest form of meritocracy, especially if you’re pushing the idea of an elite performance culture.”

Rest easy then, as Arsenal aren’t pushing such ideas, haven’t for many years now.

Wasi

Finally the day is here. Lets just Hope the next we manager decision we make is a good one.

Vintage Gun

I used to believe in the “Arsenal values” until Wenger started to blame the fans for poor results (even away ones) as we saw our club slide down the pecking order over the last decade. Fast forward to the now and us fans are being labeled “TOXIC” “DOMESTIC BULLIES” and merely “NOISE” as we preside over our worst run of form since 1992!!! Honestly Pedro i used to believe that our club was classy with Values but looking back over a decade later our class and values went with the marble halls of highbury. All this getting back to “The… Read more »

Wasi

Pedro
. We made some very bad decisions this summer on his say so

Dont know what you are saying here man. This was our best transfer window in some time. Credit to Raul where its due.

Globalgunner

Todays post was the remaining paragraphs of yesterdays post.

Emery is toast. We know that even he knows that. Standing on the sidelines looking like a man having a prostate examination while vertical.

Bring on the replacement. No agenda, just he best man currently available

Davey

Do it, do it now!!!

Receding Hairline

I don’t want Nuno but come on!!

“we should stop hiring managers other clubs don’t want.”

Arteta firmly falls into this category by the way, scratch that he isn’t even a manager

Receding Hairline

“Dont know what you are saying here man. This was our best transfer window in some time. Credit to Raul where its due.”

yea everyone was hailing Raul in the summer. fans making videos stopping his car and thanking him for “saving us”

Now it’s bad decisions

Paddy got bored

Can’t see how you can bang on about not letting someone who hasn’t got our interests at heart when we have the Syrip as our owner???
He defines not having any interest in us apart from the money

CG

The RAUL to Hell (adapted from Chris Rea) We’ll I’m standing by a river but the water doesn’t flow It boils with EVERY POISON you can think of. Then I’m underneath the streetlight. But the light of joy I know Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows. And the PERVERTED FEAR OF VIOLENCE chokes a smile on every face And common sense is ringing out the bells. This ain’t no technological breakdown Oh no, this is the RAUL to hell. And all the roads jam up with credit And there’s nothing you can do It’s all just bits of… Read more »

Pierre

12 months ago Arsenal 4-2 Tottenham Emery had the Arsenal fans eating out of his hand…..how things have changed. 22 games unbeaten , the Emirates was buzzing , what went wrong . I always had the theory that the team still had Wenger’s DNA in them during that run , and it wasnt until Emery’s philosophy started to take shape that the quality of the football took a down turn. Emery deserved credit early on for installing a better work ethic in the side. This work ethic matched with Wenger’s one and 2 touch, pass and move style of football… Read more »

Receding Hairline

Just read from the Mirror that there is a split among the hierarchy about exactly what and how much Ljunberg brings to the table and whether he is ready for such a big role.

Can’t say i blame them, personally i think he is a dud of coach

Receding Hairline

Ornstein says Emery will be sacked imminently and Ljunberg taking temporary charge of the team

Emiratesstroller

Pedro The real concern at the moment is that we have a distant landlord of an owner combined with a Board of Directors which has no material change for several years, is ageing and is clearly not involved in decision making. The power behind throne in football matters appears to be Raul and he appears to be enthusiastic about recruiting a head coach coming from the Spanish, Portuguese or Latin American stable. The management changes at the club in last 2 years may have been necessary, but not to the extent of destabilising club. Emery needs to go and frankly… Read more »

Pierre

RH
“yea everyone was hailing Raul in the summer. fans making videos stopping his car and thanking him for “saving us”

Unfortunately he failed in the one major decision he had to make , and that was to replace the manager.

The manager is THE most important person at a football club .

TR7

Ornstein confirming Emery will be sacked today. Looks like Freddie will be the caretaker manager for a very short period until we find a full time coach. Had we fired Emery during international break, we would probably have found a suitable replacement.

Danny

It was incredibly sad last night watching the game just thinking how we’ve fallen plus the empty stadium and all that. I’ve nothing against Emery, I actually reckon he’s a descent bloke but he’s so far out of his depth it’s just unbelievable.
I remember going to an empty Highbury in 1975 when we were 17th in the league but we won that match to avoid a relegation battle. Last night reminded me of those dark times.

azed

Has Emery been sacked?

Receding Hairline

“Had we fired Emery during international break, we would probably have found a suitable replacement.”

Everyone’s idea of a suitable replacement seems to differ though

China1

Lol a good number of the posters of your previous blog post we’re saying you are fear mongering on the agent talk yesterday Pedro. 99.9% is an interesting number! Regardless I’ve no excitement about nuno. I don’t really have a candidate I think is the perfect choice but the romantic in me would love to see vieira have a try. He’s probably not good enough and we’d fail and I’d be vieira our next year, but we can at least dream of a legendary player doing great things for us. I’m not aware of his management record being overly special… Read more »

Pierre

Stroller
“Let’s be realistic it will be very difficult to find mid season the best possible
replacement.”

Money talks ..

If we double Rodgers wages from 5 million to ten million or offer 10/12 million to Pochettino …they would come to Arsenal like a shot.

Immediate improvement would be as good as guaranteed…they are managers who would enjoy working with the players we have at the club.

Failing that , I’m sure arteta could be lured away from city with a nice lucrative contract.

China1

Yeah I’d like rogers tho dunno if that’s a non starter due to Leicester situation

gambon

“I’ve nothing against Emery, I actually reckon he’s a descent bloke but he’s so far out of his depth it’s just unbelievable.”

That really is the crux of it.

Lets not start “I told you so” – but in the summer there were loads of people here who thought he was a huge success.

Bamford is currently in a frenzy on twitter telling anyone who will listen that Emery is a good manager and isnt the problem.

He desperately needs help for his mental health.

China1

Btw is it just me who finds the sky sports ‘emery future live feed’ a bit tasteless

Like it’s one thing reporting on updates but it does feel a bit sad to turn it into a live feed circus.

We all want him gone but I don’t think we need a second by second update of which part of his torso the vultures just tore off.

It’s a bit tasteless imo (if you’ll excuse the pun lol)

TT

The Gambon is back 😀

Rambo Ramsey

Baldy, you’ll be okay right with the sack news? Stay strong fella.

Samesong

Hearing on talkshite that he going today and with gambon back it seems likely lol.

Leftsidesanch

Unai Emery gone.

China1

Emery could get us relegated and Bamford would be telling us it was progress

He literally become the definition and total embodiment of EKB. We all wanted emery to be a success after wenger, but I guess he wanted to believe emery was better so much that he just couldn’t accept otherwise

Anyway w/e. It’s almost official. Ornstein already said he’s getting sacked this morning. No need to worry anymore

OleGunner

Just announced Emery been fired boys!

Champagne charlie

Gambon

You have your own favoured choices to replace Emery long-term?

Guns of Brixton

Hes gone

Buuut the shite storm bout to begin

Receding Hairline

“Baldy, you’ll be okay right with the sack news? Stay strong fella.”

You have nothing to offer

UTarse

Finally some fucking action from the corpses in charge

Left testicle

He’s gone!

gambon

Charlie

I was against Arteta before, but why not?

He has 18 months more experience now, thats quite significant. I thought he was a bit too raw back in 2018.

Arteta, Pochettino, Allegri all good options.

Rambo Ramsey

Ah ha ha haaaa! What a day, been the most entertaining day as far as this season Arsenal concerned.

Now go on and appoint another dud, cvnts!

InsideRight

CHEERIO CHEERIO CHEERIO.

Thank God that coaching team is gone.

AFC Legend

Good he’s gone.

The next appointment needs to be a sensible one, not a knee jerk one.

DigitalBob

It had to be done. Good luck freddie we are all behind you!

Marc Faber

The only way to fix this is to bring in a head coach who embodies the values, heart and soul that epitomised the best part of the Wenger years. I am old enough to remember when Vieira came on as a sub and began the revolution that led to the success in style and substance. It was no conicedence that our decline began when Wenger got rid of Paddy. He was the heart of that team and Wenger’s biggest mistake was that decision. Bringing him back is the right move. The balance in football has changed in terms of roles/personality.… Read more »

Left testicle

No Nuno.
No Arteta.
No Ljunberg.
No Vieira.

Rambo Ramsey

Baldy, my counsel is highly rated.

Receding Hairline

Emery sacked

it’s on Arsenal.com

David Smith

Best wishes Freddie, hope he does well and stops rauls plans

Davey

UE decisions are more baffling by the match, 1 sub left needs a goal 12 mins left ignores Pepe and Lacca and brings on LT also leaves our top goal scorer on for whole match with Norwich away Sunday.

Champagne charlie

Wish Emery the very best, I’ve personally no ill will towards him and think he’s arguably more a victim of inept leadership decisions in the grander scheme despite his clear misgivings.

Simply not suitable for the role we had in place and I for one have my eyes fixed firmly on the suits at the club as I’m utterly unconvinced by their actions throughout..

Best of luck in the future Unai.

Rafa in for me.

AFC Legend

“Bamford is currently in a frenzy on twitter telling anyone who will listen that Emery is a good manager and isnt the problem.”.

Seriously? How on earth can anyone think Emery knows what he is doing? I suspect the players are ecstatic, he was destroying them.

gambon

I was one of the few people that actually wanted Emery.

However, he’s simply the worst manager i’ve ever seen. From day one he just made the team worse and worse.

Last season we got lucky, very lucky. All the stats suggested we were heading for mid-table, and when his luck ran out he never recovered.

China1

It’s official

Thanks for your effort and good luck Unai. No hard feelings

Now I’m excited to see who is next

Graham62

I can take being called a buffoon, a geriatric, an old codger, a plastic supporter even a frigging c##t! The thing is ,if I still had my ST I would not be going to games, I would not sell my tickets on to others and most likely I would cancel them if persistent failings continued without action(as I once did). Even though it would probably end my chances of ever obtaining a ST again, which it did, I would happily take it on the chin. The only thing that was missing at the Emirates last night was tumbleweed blowing across… Read more »

Ishola70

Pierre “Arsenal 4-2 Tottenham” One swallow doth not make a summer and it’s been said a thousand times now that home form only does not mark a good side. Also note that this game you want to highlight has the opposition scoring two goals on Arsenal playing at home. Says it all. As for your if only Torreira was DM everything would be alright fixation Torreira played DM last season against Wolves and the match was over by half time for Wolves. Torreira played DM against Leicester away last season and Leicester easily won the match. Dominated it. Torreira played… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Gambon

Agreed. Talk he wouldn’t leave mid-season, but you’d have to think a gig as manager would sway him.

Those three would be among my choices of what I’d consider “gettable” in the next 4/5 days.

Dick Emery

Aaaaaaand he’s gone. Wehey

Ishola70

Inevitable that he would go of course and it was said on here by numerous people that he would be sacked pronto after the Wolves fiasco.

Now we need a coach that not only has some fresh ideas but will also bring in a few new recruits into the team to try to implement these new ideas.

Guns of Brixton

IF WE GET POCH

THE SCENES 😂😂😂😂😂

Ben D

Finally, our club is acting like one that has ambition! Thanks Emery for the bad memories. You won’t be missed.

Pierre

CG got it spot on ….November he said .

Thorough

It’s on the. com
Good riddance

Champagne charlie

Pedro

Let Banford back on here mate, would love to see him front up at this point. His ‘well Raul and Edu don’t agree with you’ line deserves a revisiting.

Understandable if you’d rather not mind lol

Waldo

BBC – Unai Emery has been sacked as Arsenal manager after 18 months in charge.

The Spaniard, who previously led Paris St-Germain to the French league title and won three Europa Leagues with Sevilla, was appointed Gunners boss in May 2018, succeeding Arsene Wenger.

He is to be replaced on a temporary basis by assistant and former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg.

gambon

No way could Arteta turn down a managerial role at a big club, along with a 1000% payrise.

Think it may be Pochettino.

He wouldnt have come to us normally, but he wont feel he owes Spurs anything after they sacked him.

guest man aka WW

EMERY : “VOODBYE”..!

AFC Legend

We need an experienced manager with a proven track record at a big club.

We are the Arsenal, a huge club, it’s about time we started behaving like one.

Thanos

Great news

DM

Good luck in the future Unai. Nothing against the guy, and I don’t see what all the doom-and-gloom is about. At least we tried. We finally got rid of Wenger, which was the most important thing, and there was always a major possibility that the next guy – even guys – who comes in to replace him wouldn’t ultimately be the right one. But it’s part of the process. He tried his best, even if it was beyond bizarre at times. Let’s hope the next one does better.

Ishola70

This is only the first step that is necessary.

Hopefully the change will see the team picking up and getting better results which shouldn’t be that difficult considering how low things have got but to see this team improve to the heights that we all want to see other measures have to be implemented as well which means as well as new coach some recruitment for the first team.

HillWood

Bring in Trotter Independent Traders ( T I T ) and all will be cushty
Del Boy Rodney Trigger Uncle Albert Boycie to replace the current shower of shit
You know it makes sense

Guns of Brixton

Please don’t let be bearded Emery aka Nuno Gomes

That would throw me right back into depression.

Champagne charlie

Gambon

If we get Poch in that would be utterly hilarious, but as much as I rate the managers mentioned I can’t help but think there’s barriers to appointing them.

Many of which we lay ourselves

Jaffa

Way overdue he should have months ago

Pierre

Ishola
“btw did you see Luiz’s little cameo as DM last night? Horrendous. I tuned in for a look for around five minutes and in that time I saw Luiz either out of position or beaten by an opponent around three or four times just in that short time period.”

Ishola , you talk out of your arse.

Luiz started off well , we looked as solid through the middle as we have done for weeks.

However he received his injury and was obviously struggling with breathing so came off.

The balance of the team suffered with his substitution.

Receding Hairline

What’s your take on Nuno Gambon?

TR7

One of the very best managers in the world Pochettino is available. If we can get him he would be the best signing of the club in a long while.

gambon

“What’s your take on Nuno Gambon?”

Think he will be another Emery

Would rather someone that is used to managing at the top of the league/CL.

Left testicle

Freddies team selection will speak volumes.
Will he make wholesale changes?
What system will he play?
Will he play more of the younsters?
Will Torreira play as a CDM?
Will Freddie persist with Xhaka?
Will Pepe start?
Who will be captain?
Is Holding available for Sunday?

From doom and gloom I’m now looking forward to Sunday.

CG

Tick and finally Tock.

Raul next.💣

TheBlaster

On the one hand we had got into a proper kamikaze tailspin (did the players know about this a while back?), on the other hand I REALLY don’t want to become anothr club who scrabble around changing staff mid season. As previous posters say… seemed a nice bloke but out of his depth. This league is a bitch, lets face it.

Leftsidesanch

CG well played on your prediction

Victorious

Bye and Goodluck Emery..just about no way he could have held on..how they didn’t pull the plug during the international break boggles the mind as well,huge missed opportunity to have eased in the new coach

Thoughts goes out to his staunch devotees Binford,Redtroll and Rh.it’s well folks,take heart

Paulinho

Take care, Unai.

Ishola70

You do not have a clue Pierre.

I would love to see David Luiz play for a prolonged period at DM just so we can see you squirm in shame at what would unfold.

But unfortunately I don’t think we will see him now him playing there for prolonged periods because only a desperate manager who was dead played him there being last night and that man the stuffed Emery.

I see you didn’t answer any of the other points. Probably because you have no retort to to them.

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