Over the weekend, a reporter for the Premier League by the name of Vaishali Bhardwaj, mused on Talksport whether bloggers should be allowed to attend press conferences.
“Journalists are meant to bridge the gap between the fans and the club!”
“I do wonder about the quality of questions we might get.”
Now, just to be clear, there are incredible journos out there that blow my mind with their insightful musings and well thought out arguments. Rory Smith, Rapha Honigstein, Henry Winter, Sid Lowe, Julien Laurens, and Gab Marcotti just to name a few. However, there are also lots of great bloggers that focus on a single-subject topic with laser precision culminating in work that has some of them being snapped up by monied publications like The Athletic. Bloggers don’t have the luxury of MSM backing to gain a huge following. They don’t get the traffic associated with access. The notion that a fancy degree trumps part-time obsession when it comes to being able to ask questions of power really is something. Anyway, skip forward two days, Freddie Ljungberg is being asked about his clothing decisions in the dugout, by a journalist. He was asked two questions about wearing a suit. He had to tell the world about his dry cleaning issues. You couldn’t make it up.
The new manager rifled through a pretty interesting presser regardless, touching on his plan to speak to Arsene and Sven Goran-Eriksson, bemoaning our poor transitional play, and detailing his hopes to improve the defence. No word on whether he’s popping down Kooples for a rock-chic deep navy suit for the weekend.
One thing I’ll never get bored of when it comes to Freddie… clarity. Oh, and data talk. Loved this point.
Other things is that my feeling that we got in behind their midfield and behind their backline a lot, has been backed up by data within the club, which we have been sky rocketed up to be one of the top teams in the league to get into the pockets and behind them. That feels very good that it has been backed up by the data and the feeling I had after the game, and of course we will try to keep on doing that.
It’s exciting to read that we’re improving in an area the manager was coveting. It means he’s paying attention to deficiencies and he’s at least hatching mini-strategems to move the team forward. I also thought he made a very specific call-out when he was asked about Brighton.
‘They look good, they change formations a lot, so we will see what they come with. They try to play out, defend well, they look very organised but for me we need to concentrate on our own game’
It’ll not be lost on him that the Arsenal players disliked the overly negative focus on the opposition under Unai Emery. We have a good squad of players. Not perfect, but we have a lot of talent. There’s no need to play 3 at the back against Southampton, we have the talent to cause any team problems on our day. Freddie’s focus on our strengths is what Arsenal should be all about. Overall, I love the positive vibes he’s bringing to the club, I also liked that he was borrowing ideas from Sven G-E on how to make players feel good.
The ‘who will it be’ news machine is in full swing. It’s hard to decipher what’s real and what’s not. Raul is so unpredictable and the BODs huge shortlist so lacking in a clear through-thread, it really is a toss of a coin as to where we go next.
Dave Ornstein echoed my commentary yesterday about the lack of money at Arsenal likely being a hindrance on some of the bigger name managers. I really struggle to see us shelling out £8-12m a season on someone like Allegri or Pochettino. I also think it’s highly unlikely we’ll be raiding Leicester to pay £14m to buy out Brendan Rodgers, followed by a £10m investment in his backroom team.
We’ll be looking to folk that won’t cost a lot of money, because as I’ve been telling you all season, we pulled money from next year to make the mad summer of 2019 happen.
Marcelino, the recently fired Valencia coach is rumored to be interesting the Arsenal board. My initial reaction was, ‘fuck, this is round two of Nuno’ that we’ll have to fend off. However, upon further inspection, it appears that Marcelino was the antidote to the Mendes era. He took over a club in a dangerous mess and insisted on technical autonomy with Alemany (Sporting Director). The new recipe worked, Marcelino took Valencia to the CL twice, commanded the love of a very demanding fan base, and was widely revered as the best manager they’d had since Rafa B. Peter Lim didn’t like that he’d been proved wrong so binned him at the first chance. Sad.
When it comes to style, Sid Lowe had a great overview here.
That speed, stamina and agility goes hand in hand with his style: playing in a 4-4-2, Marcelino wants the ball and, more importantly, wants it back when they lose it. But he is not interested in possession for its own sake. “A team with 80% possession and only three shots on goal bores me,” he said. Instead, it is the pace and precision of counter-attacks that most occupies him, built on defensive solidity. His teams are, as the Spanish word has it, very vertical, but that doesn’t mean a long ball: instead it means compact and coiled, always ready to spring forward and always in numbers, across the turf, players making runs across each other. The mechanism is built on repetition, carefully planned and conducted with intensity, underlining that while quantification matters individual analysis does not mean individualisation of approach: “You start with the idea that football is collective,” he says. Nor, he insists, can you ask a player to do something he is not capable of, although you can hide defects and maximise qualities.
I also think the nightmare of Arsenal would suit a manager that had to run an aggressive cleanup operation post-Jorge Mendes. We’d be a cakewalk in comparison, but this paragraph spoke to me.
Well, now at last they were fuori, on Voro’s well-placed advice. There was a dressing-room clean out, Enzo Pérez, Álvaro Negredo and Diego Alves among them. “Purge” may be an unpleasant word, but there was something in that. Marcelino called the players who went “prescindible” – expendable. He wasn’t naming names but it was, he admitted with a tinge of sadness “necessary … to change a negative run, there are players we had to get rid of”.
The squad had been made manageable; now he had to manage. Although some players say the serious image is exaggerated, that his demanding nature does not make him draconian, that he engages with players, reaches them and knows how to convince them, that he is likeable, his touch light at times, that Marcelino pushes them and it works. Direct and honest, he has talked about his admiration for Arrigo Sacchi and Rafa Benítez, while Diego Simeone says he identifies with him, and Marcelino insists on a building committed, competitive team. The word Gabriel used for him is “pesado”: roughly, a pain, heavy, hard work, tough going. Intelligent and intense, he wanted a squad that he could lead and that would follow him, creating a climate conducive to a change in culture.
The guy is a serious manager, he was the knight in shining armour for a club that was brutally milked for all it was worth, and he looks good in a suit. He’s also likeable, communicative and a disciplinarian. Main watch-out here is one of the deals he was looking for was Denis Suarez and his English might not be elite. Positives… he’s suited to a shit show, and we are a shit show.
Pochettino wants to get back into the game according to The Times, but all indicators point towards him taking a job in Europe. Bayern Munich has a vacancy that’d suit him and I think PSG will come up at the end of the year. He’s the ideal candidate on paper, but I’d be hard pushed to believe his sort of values would allow him to ditch 5 years of history to take the job at Arsenal.
Some of the stats bloggers have had their say. I’ve seen Roger Schmidt mentioned. He has certainly been under the consideration of Arsenal in the past, even before Wenger was fired. The German has built his career on hardcore tenants of Gegenpressing, he’s a trained engineer which bears little relevance to anything, and he had Bayer Leverkusen playing competitively for a while. He failed in China recently, he’s a free agent, and he can speak good English. It’d be an unspectacular hire, but no doubt a ‘safe’ pair of hands.
Fans are starting to warm to the delights of Marco Rose. The exRB Salzburg invincible is making waves at the top of the Bundesliga this season with Monchengladbach. He’s eloquent, he plays very sexy football, and he has the highly-rated Rene Maric by his side. Again, he’d be a risk because his ways have only been proven in Austria for the most well-funded team, and for a German side for just under half a season. As risks go, he’d certainly be a fun one. His organized disciplined brand of football is pleasing on the eye, and his approach to data and the modern arts of footballing warfare would certainly go down well with the fans. Problem with a manager like this is he’ll be hard to move at this stage of the season.
Some in the press have played up the notion that Freddie is a serious contender, I think it’s pretty clear he’s not. The club are just trying to buy themselves time here. It’s an amateur mind-game they’re using to trick the players into believing they are playing for their future. I love Freddie, but it’s too soon for him and I’m not sure he’s far enough removed from Wenger and Emery to feel like the radical change in approach we need.
Allegri is available right now. He’s an odd one. From what I understand, the club don’t rate him as a person or as a coach. I think the vibe is that the squad isn’t very suited to the game he plays when he’s at his best, nor do they think he has a character suited to the massive challenge ahead. On the face it, he’s hard to ignore. He’s won trophies, outperformed his spend in Europe regularly, and he’s been raised as a manager at club that do things with class and dignity (Milan and Juve). He is prestige, no doubt, I just doubt he’s for us… he’s literally too big for where Arsenal are right now and I think he’s been too successful to build from a very rubbish spot. Could be wrong though. As wrong as the time I told the world Eboue moving into the midfield was the future.
Whatever the decision, one thing is for sure, Don Raul is not looking like much of Don at the moment. The big voices on Arsenal are rounding on him, the papers are questioning his aptitude, and the fans are starting to wonder whether we’ve hired in a snake oil salesman just here for the payday. He has to make a decision that’s good for Arsenal, that’s backed by something smarter than ‘gut feel’… he has to shake the horrendous mistake he made when he shoehorned Emery in the door when Ivan G shit his pants at the thought of hiring Emery.
As a club, Arsenal is finely balanced on a precipice, but the fans won’t be fooled again. This next move has more than one job on the line, and so it should.
Right, see you in the comments. x
P.S. A lot of people jumping on that video of the players ignoring the mascot. Glad to see Big Cal Chambers put then right.
The cameras sometimes only show one side of the story. It’s always great to meet our Junior Gunners mascot in the dressing room before every match. We hope Billy had a great day at Norwich on Sunday and it was a pleasure to meet him. pic.twitter.com/qBBRZz1g8e
— Calum Chambers (@CalumChambers95) December 3, 2019
Charlie
Arsenal are seen as in disaster zone because they fucked up two home matches in a row.
That’s all it took to see them going into this perceived disaster zone.
A team that has been hiding bedind home form for a very, very long time.
Very long time.
WE
“In equally humorous and scary news, we’re now a mere 5 points above the drop. Twice as close to Everton in 18th as we are to Chelsea in 4th.”
That’s a little misleading in so far as there’s only 8 points between Wolves in 5th and Southampton in 17th. Basically outside of Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Leicester everyone outside the bottom 3 is having a shit season.
Absolute nonsense Ishola. Try the fact that we hadn’t won a single PL match all season by two clear goals, were winless in 6 PL matches going back to the first week of October in a match we scraped by Bournemouth, had conceded 19 league goals already in just 13 matches and scoring just 20. The Cup competitions wee his saving grace as our only really impressive performance and victories all season were Nottingham Forest in the League Cup and the Frankfurt and Standard Liege wins in the EL. As soon as results started to go sour in those comps… Read more »
“Arsenal are seen as in disaster zone because they fucked up two home matches in a row.That’s all it took to see them going into this perceived disaster zone.“
Again, complete bollocks.
Trying to make any kind of cogent point fails immediately with claims like that. We’re not where we are on two games of anything.
We’re here because of 6 months of garbage, 6 wins in 21 games.
True Marc, still a sad indictment on where we’re at as a club.
AW didn’t get a pass for bottling the league in 2015/16 with all the top sides taking a year off and underperforming, everyone struggling now shouldn’t offset us having a shit season with Emery’s sacking desperately needed as a kickstart.
WE
It’s not an excuse, in fact we’re lucky because it still gives us an outside (very outside) chance of getting top 4 – of course that will depend on getting the new manager right and then going on a real run.
The two big questions are who and when on the manager.
It’s quite strange how hard Graham bit a week or so ago when I suggested he actually put his hand in his pocket and pay for a ticket.
Then of course it comes out tonight – he’s scouse he doesn’t pay he steals.
Ban him Pedro he’ll steal the blog.
Weagle
The biggest worry for me has transcended the manager, who clearly had to go.
My issue is the board/club doing nothing over the international break except profess their backing, only to pull a 180 2 games later. Nothing changes on that basis, that’s a huge worry and a massive negligence on our part once again.
No idea Charlie. Fat Sam swansong for the shits and giggles perhaps.
No matter how much they’d like to be, Everton simply aren’t an attractive proposition to ambitious gaffers. They’ll likely just pick up somebody else free from the PL manager merry-go-round, a dull choice like a Mark Hughes or a Javi Gracia.
Their best bet would be to go with a left-field up and comer from a smaller European league that’s put together a decent body of work.
Charlie and Weagle. Arsenal’s away EPL form has been very poor for many seasons now. Arsenal have been a team that is very reliant in winning home matches to alleviate this very poor away record. As said all it took was dropping four home points in a row and Arsenal are seen in disaster zone and it goes to pieces. This is due to over reliance on home points and has been for a very, vrey long time. To not see this is buryig your heads in the sand and waving those poms poms. Emery was not good enough and… Read more »
Weagle
The overwhelming opinion now is that David Luiz is a shit signing.
This is pundits and fans alike.
Please explain yourself.
Marc Hard to envisage top 4 with how well Chelsea and Leicester are playing, 10 points [basically 11 with GD] is a significant gap at this stage of the season when we are on a downward slope and they are both bang in form with the exception of Chelsea’s slip up last week. Freddie doesn’t look like he possesses much of a clue really, no aura or conviction about him to galvanise the group and his line-up at Norwich was horrendous, was almost as if he was actively piss-taking and shoe-horning in all of the fodder. I hope he’s just… Read more »
Dream10
December 4, 2019 13:09:12
Everton to hand Liverpool their first loss of the season? I think soThink Villa will beat Chelsea tonight as well.
___
Lol hilarious predictions. Everton, one of the worst teams in the league was going to win away at the league leaders. The same Everton who haven’t won at Anfield since when, 1999? And you think now is the time they will finally get a win? Lol.
Chelsea losing two home games in a row against West Ham and Aston Villa was never going to happen either. Your predictions doesn’t make any sense at all.
Weagle
They hounded Roberto Martinez out the place because he was too attacking and porous at the back. Can’t sit and tell me any of their guys since are better, meanwhile his stock has crept up.
You’re right though, they’re a hard sell. But they should’ve be with the resources on offer. Just have some clueless sorts pulling the strings, their managerial appointments have been dire for a while.
Just seen the Robertson elbow – should not only have been a red but should be reviewed post match.
Nasty stamp from Arnold as well.
Explain what Ishola, was I the only one that thought he’d be a decent low-risk replacement for Koscielny given the fee.
He hasn’t been any worse than any of our other defenders.
Ishola
Why don’t you explain to me once again how N’Zonzi is the answer to all of our CDM midfield anchor problems again such is the rate at which he’s currently tearing down walls in the mighty Turkish League.
WE
What 99% of so called football “experts” don’t understand is that right now if you put VVD or peak Adams or Campbell in out defence they’d look shit. The defence is getting zero protection from midfield.
And no I’m not suggesting that Luiz is as good or better than Adams or Campbell just that if a defence get’s no protection it’s going to look shit no matter who’s playing in it.
No wonder Emery used to say in every pre match presser before home matches how important the home fans were.
Every home pre- match presser
He knew Arsenal were mostly about winning home matches.
And this was why it was doubted that Arsenal would sail into top four as so many predicted on here.
You don’t sail into top four when you have such a poor away record.
Fuck me the Liverpool score line actually flatters Pickford.
My issue is the board/club doing nothing over the international break except profess their backing, only to pull a 180 2 games later
I mean it’s the same ownership that twiddled their thumbs an extra 3-5 years on Wenger so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Wenger Weagle
“was I the only one that thought he’d be a decent low-risk replacement for Koscielny given the fee.”
Were you the only one that thought Arsenal would sail into the top four?
Come on Weagle stand out on your own.
You used to plenty of times.
Now you tag team with Wenger trolls.
How the mighty have fallen.
Marko / Cc
Hasn’t it been reported that it was the Kroenke’s who stopped the trigger being pulled on Emery during the Interlull?
“I mean it’s the same ownership that twiddled their thumbs an extra 3-5 years on Wenger so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Raul, Edu, Vinai, Josh have been running things here longer than I thought then……
Ishola I underestimated just how much we would stagnate under Emery. As patchy as last season was, there were performances in which we looked very decent, even in defeat. The Stamford Bridge one being a stand-out with Auba missing a bucketload of sitters to win it for us. This season it’s been a disaster in the PL from the word go, we were fortunate to beat Newcastle with them gifting us a goal against the run of play and it hasn’t gotten any better since. Not once have we put in a convincing performance all season in the PL and… Read more »
N’Zonzi never signed for Arsenal to confirm how shit he is.
Unfortunately for Arsenal fans Luiz did and is confirming how shit he is.
Such a poor, poor signing.
Marc
No idea, I tend not to treat Stan as a person of involvement since I was told year after year that he’s not to blame for Wenger still being here ‘because he knows fuck all about football’.
Now he’s the guy apparently in the way of those getting daggers drawn at them? Makes all the sense.
A cunt is a cunt mind, wish the prick was nowhere near us. Thing is idk if I’d go to war for any of the guys fitted for a suit at the club, which is a concern.
Weagle Don’t play the old soldier. We all know Emery wasn’t good enough. But it has been pointed out to you now on several occasions that Arsenal were a team that were very reliant on home form and this was way before Emery arrived as coach. It manifested itself in Wenger’s last years. This meant that the team is fragile. It’s not on real firm grounding. This is why I was questioning you at the start of the season in regards implying that Arsenal were nailed on for top four. Drop some points in consecutive home matches that are usually… Read more »
Up to now, I find that Luiz is a ball player and not a CB. He has good skill when he has the ball. But all his long balls were wasted because Auba didn’t challenge those 50/50 ball. Defensively, he needs to partner with another CB who follows the opposing striker. He likes to drop back and do the clean up. He is more suited to play three at the back.
Ishola Why are you blabbering on about away form? A teams home form is always going to be the mainstay of its points. Away day issues points to management and mentality. Two things Emery was tasked to fix, and two things he failed spectacularly at. Yet again you offer a symptom and claim it a source. How long has our away form been such the issue exactly? Sounds like a new fetish. Also good to see David Luiz slowly reaching Xhaka levels of obsession from yourself. Bit weird mind as he’s nothing more than an old head replacing another old… Read more »
“We all know Emery wasn’t good enough.”
Fucking hell think I remember a different calendar year in this space.
Because Arsenal’s away form has been particularly poor Charlie.
No team with such a poor away record that stretches back more than enough years now is on firm grounding.
Not Arsenal. Not any team.
Sal
Yea he’s talking bollocks, has been most of the night. He literally said at the end of the season that asking for Emery to be sacked after a year was mental asylum worthy.
But now he’s having a go at some revision.
Sal
”Fucking hell think I remember a different calendar year in this space.”
Were you another hero who called him out before others?
I’m even more of a hero because I stated even before a ball was kicked by an Arsenal Emery team that I wasn’t expecting much from him.
But that doesn’t stop others or even ones that doubted from the off to see him being given a certain time period before calling time on him.
Of course you see the irony of it all.
Ishola That’s cute so because I found Emery out earlier than most I’m in the AW cheerleading team now? You’re just being lazy at this stage, at least you used to put effort in to your arguments. Yeah I was wrong on Luiz, he’s been shit. Just like Sokratis has been since the moment he was signed for nearly twice the figure of Luiz, a signing that you were behind. Looks like you still haven’t come to terms with having to wipe that egg off your face regarding all of that aggressive defending of Emery that you were putting up… Read more »
Our away form since 2013 reads as follows: 2nd 3rd 3rd 6th 11th (Wenger’s final season) —— seismic shift at the club —— 8th (Emery) 13th (so far this season) Think you can bin your away form patter, the landscape is dead clear and simple. Wenger lost it, it was then in the hands of an equally incompetent manager who prolonged the suffering and dragged us down further. Whatever point you’re trying to spark into life can just be said as is instead of attempting to paint a landscape and pull it all back to a point at a later… Read more »
Well the fact that he’s playing in fucking Turkey in the prime of his career ought to give a clear picture of his abilities.
Not that you’ll hold your hands up on that whopper lol.
No Weagle I find it amusing that you and some suspect Wenger trolls are patting yourselves on the back for calling out Emery before others. As said before you used to be such a better poster on here. Hopefully now he is gone we will see more of the old Weagle. The better version Weagle. The irony is Weagle you doubted Emery so much that you boldly stated Arsenal would comfortably get into top four with such a dud as coach at the beginning of the season. You were proclaiming Arsenal as comfortable top four finishers with Unai at the… Read more »
“At least Bamford had the courage of his convictions backing Emery until the bitter end, even if he was hopelessly wrong.“
What end? This will tickle you, Banford said all of two days ago on Twitter that getting rid of Emery “didn’t even solve one of Arsenal’s issues”.
The guy is full loony 😂😂 not just gone to bat for him, he’s fully bleeding Emery.
Lol, heroes.
Just admit that it took you longer than most to smell the coffee and move on.
Why be a smartarse when you have already been made to look a fool backing a one-legged pony.
Charlie
It is in black and white for you.
Arsenal have a very poor away EPL record stretching back nearing on three years now.
Raul, Edu, Vinai, Josh have been running things here longer than I thought then……
I mean it’s been reported that the extra bit of time Emery got was the Kroenkes delaying. Should be grateful that Raul and co managed to get rid of him midseason. Shame he wasn’t around years ago we might have actually had Klopp back in the summer of 2015 instead of them giving Wenger a new deal
Weagle
Please explain why you tipped Arsenal as certain top four finishers at the start of the season when you also knew that Emery was a dud coach.
That’s strange tbh.
Ishola
Really isn’t, just jot about to sit and claim our woes are away form when it’s nothing more than a symptom of bad coaching.
Wenger lost the plot those last two season and Emery never had it. What do you know? Shit away form those years relative to prior years.
I… just…. can’t…. think…. why….
Ishola
I’m not getting into a pissing contest about who was more in the right and when, i’ve already got a passive aggressive missus in this life and thats enough to sustain that desire.
I ‘ll say this it was a pretty minimal core that wasn’t into ole Unai and this space put out a fatwa on the core on a daily basis. And now its the club paying for that miss hire, picking up the pieces which doesn’t give any pleasure.
Ishola As I said I underestimated Emery taking us backwards, we have been worse in every imaginable way this season than last. I actually overestimated his abilities by backing us to merely stagnate-slightly improve given the summer additions but he completely lost the group a few weeks ago and it’s virtually been a downing tools job since. He hasn’t got any of our summer signings barring Martinelli playing and the existing group have only been getting worse, strikers included. Add in that I underestimated Chelsea and Leicester who have both been excellent, credit to both gaffers. Got it wrong on… Read more »
I’m the fucking hero here lol.
I said Emery wouldn’t do much before a team of his went on the pitch.
Said his unbeaten run was over-rated.
Said he wouldn’t be going on another similar unbeaten run this season.
Then argued with Weagle and so many others on here in doubting that Arsenal were undoubted top four finishers.
I’m the fucking original Emery doubter.
The rest of you are all pretenders to this certain crown.
Marko
Lots of things are reported. Since the avengers were assembled we’ve hardly tore up trees joe have we?
Also reported that lot were high-fiving after last season claiming it an ‘over-achievement’.
So if you don’t mind, allow me my massive reservations for literally every guy in the building with an Arsenal tie.
“Please explain why you tipped Arsenal as certain top four finishers at the start of the season when you also knew that Emery was a dud coach.“ Because Emery had still negotiated us 18 points clear of Leicester and within two of Spurs and Chelsea. Chelsea lost their boss and had a transfer ban, United still had Ole, and something odd was brewing at Spurs which could be seen in the public hissy fits of Pochettino and in particular the sale of Trippier to Atletico – who later lifted the lid to what was coming. That and the bog standard… Read more »
Ishola
We finished 3 points off of Chelsea last season with them losing Eden Hazard, not to mention us adding Pepe, Ceballos, Tierney, Luiz, Martinelli and only losing Ramsey and Kos.
Leicester finished nearly 20 points off of us last season, don’t remember a soul picking them for a nailed on top 4 spot.
How can you not see that we’re in this predicament largely because of Emery’s mismanagement. We’ve brought in plenty of new faces spending the guts of 200m since his appointment and we’re on pace for a worse season than that last horror show under AW.
Ha Charlie 7 seconds difference, pretty much echoing the post.
Weagle
Haha. That was the landscape though, I’m not taking anyone seriously that states they saw this season playing out as it has.
Complete revisionist stuff. Dissenter waffled about Leicester being top 4 within two seasons, but it was one of his ludicrous assertions that looks to finally stick. He gets no credit for it though as I’ve told him because this was shortly after offering Mitrovic up as a striker for a top 6 side. Chat enough bollocks and some will land.
Absolutely lad, I must have dreamt all of those rebuttals in defence of Emery at the end of last season eh Ishola?
Only thing that’s worse than failing to admit you got it badly wrong is nicking a jersey and pretending that you were on the team all along, lol.
Would put Ronald McDonald to shame with that flip-flopping.
No it doesn’t excuse you I’m afraid Weagle.
You tipped Arsenal to be certain top four finishers with Unai Emery as coach.
You should have known he was going to be a catastrophe by the end.
That is true Emery doubting. Not some half baked version.
And who argued with you in saying that in fact Arsenal were not guaranteed top four finishers? Yes moi.
I was proved right.
I am the true Emery doubter.
Charlie
As the great saying goes, fling enough shit and bits will stick.
Dissenter has dropped far too many clangers to he held as a sage for the Leicester shout although credit it to him for it, proved to be solid.
I have nothing wrong Weagle you do.
You said on here that Arsenal were certain top four finishers.
Wrong.
You said David Luiz was a good signing.
Wrong.
And who disagreed with you on both the above points?
Yes moi of course.
And you’re still team tagging with known Wenger trolls Weagle.
For shame Weagle. For shame.
We just hope we can get our old Weagle back.
Come back to us older version Weagle.
Weagle
Exactly that, there’s a few on here that like to cover all the bases with their chat. One of them jabbering as we speak right Ishola? Always dropping little non-committed nuggets you can harp back to for an ‘I told you so’. Except you didn’t, did you pet. Emery shouldn’t go he said, after 12 months viewing. Say no more,
Anyway, who’s your managerial flavour this week Weagle after all the noises of recent times?
Seems like we want someone ‘available’ (define that how you like I guess) and knowing the league if you believe the leaks.
Marc
I should have taken you up on the bet
PierreAugust 1, 2019
“Recently ,I remarked about the similarity of the way the set up of the present Arsenal team to the Tottenham team managed by Ardiles back in the early 90’s…top heavy with attacking players ….klinsman, Sheringham, Dumitrescu, Barmby and Anderton…the famous 5 they called them.
Ardiles was gone by November .”
Marc replied
“Pierre
Do you want to bet a cold beer on a warm day that Emery is still here in November?”
Ishola The amount of doozies you’ve dropped on here, glass houses mate. You batted for an even worse and more expensive defender in Sokratis so it’s hilarious that you’re now acting all smug about Luiz. And you were certainly wrong on it being purely down to the players the collapse of last season, this season has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that Emery lacked a clue. Who’s a known Wenger troll, Charlie. Or Sal, TR7, gambon, Batistuta, Pedro. These were among the most most vocal AW out people on here with the exception of Charlie who’s certainly no troll even… Read more »
If Freddie Ljungberg is to get us back to a position of playing well and winning games then it is imperative that we start playing with a settled team and a formation and style of play which focuses on our strengths rather than weaknesses. As I have pointed out on many occasions the team has not deserved to win any games sofar this season in EPL and that is an indictment not just on our defending, but also allowing our opponents to put us on the back foot. Somehow we need to improve our midfield play in the offensive department… Read more »
Charlie Of those we could pluck tomorrow it’s hard to look beyond Allegri as top choice. Guy’s a winner and has won before he was at Juventus contrary to common belief on him riding on Conte’s coat-tails. Also charismatic and a real authoritative presence which never goes amiss in a manager. It’s nearly 2020, language barrier isn’t as big a factor as it would have been 20 years ago with the max influx of foreign talent. Was never a criticism of mine against Emery his struggle with English. Jorge Jesus would be my left-field choice that’s available, just fresh of… Read more »
Charles was misty over Wenger but he somehow made it commendable. I remember calling him Keyser at one point thinking Keyser had switched handles only to realize CC was far more nuanced in defense once I broke it down.
What we think, how long Freddy going to last?
Barely long enough for Sarri to chainsmoke his way through carton of smokes Sal.
He’s a rabbit in the headlights, did find it hilarious that miserable ginger cunt Scholes having a pop at him for his outfit though especially considering said plonker wore a jumper on his Oldham gaffer debut.
Weagle No prem experience with them mate, is it something that would concern you at all? Personally I’d say not so much with Allegri because he appears to be made of that fabric that just excels whatever the circumstances. Think he’d be a quick study. However, I do think there’s some added importance to this next guy knowing his arse from his elbow in a big way. My big fear is we land another kipper and 18 months later United are back on track with Poch, Fat Frank has Chelsea up a gear, Liverpool/City still battling, and Leicester going for… Read more »
Sal
Freddie has until the Man City game December 15th I reckon.
Full 7 days after that until our next one. They won’t disrupt the EL qualification with another change, and can’t see anyone wanting City as their first match lol
Maybe see a gaffer-to-be in the stands that game or something,
Charlie Wouldn’t be a massive concern of mine, best gaffers in PL history came to this league with no domestic experience and the current top 2 in Klopp and Pep included. Allegri has proven that he can win with a below-elite team against the odds as his Scudetto with that aging Milan side showed. He very nearly won the CL twice with Juventus and they never got past the last 16 under Conte beforehand, he managed to evolve the side that Conte left without compromising their domestic winning power. Conte came over here and won a league title in his… Read more »
Nostalgia wants me to see Freddy prevail, pretty hard to judge that last one on 2x days of training and that being 3rd fixture in 7 days somewhat dictating his first XI. This next one a better barometer, think he potentially makes the new year, long term not sure Freddy has it in his locker. But some are a quick study and rise, he could surprise us. Hard to say what players will respond to, one things for certain it wasn’t Unai Emery and he could be to aligned with that. Beyond that Allegri, Poch make serious sense with Arteta… Read more »
Weagle All very true, just have my concerns about us a regime in and of itself. Not convinced we’re the smooth operation those guys walked into. I mean imagine putting out noises that Allegri didn’t interview well…..after hiring Emery on the strength of a superb interview. The nerve. Clearly not a scooby wtf a good interview looks like if you landed on Un Presenacion de PowerPoint over Allegri. Idk, I want someone that can challenge the culture a bit personally. Allegri would 100% do that, we need defensive calibration beyond belief. Club is a parody of itself at times, needs… Read more »
Jumping in on the Liverpool debate. The club I can take or leave. Scousers are a different proposition. In my early youth my best (only) mate was a scousers and a right cunt he was, probably coloured my general perception of them. I’ve never met a scousers I’d give the time of day to since.
Only teams I hate with a passion is spuds and un**ed.
One things LG should be grateful for is Norma only gets 15 minutes library time a day.
WengerEagleDecember 4, 2019 23:42:59
Leicester finished nearly 20 points off of us last season, don’t remember a soul picking them for a nailed on top 4 spot.
>>>>>
I did. I said not long after Brenda took over they will be a serious threat for a top 4 place.
They have a better starting 11 than us.
However, I still believe were Emery and Rogers to swap places, Arsenal and Leicester would be in opposite places in the league.
“Xhaka taking over central midfield role and Ozil in attacking midfield role” Looks like you had a serious ‘Senior moment’ ES. Neither should ever be playing for us again and you have both in your team. Try vitamin B complex to help with your ageing brain cells. Doesn’t always work – just look at Pierre – but he probably headed the ball too much in his superstar CAM/ 10 playing days. Pierre’s senior moments come fast and often each day and are stuck on Wenger/Ozil obsessions who thinks trolling is funny judging by the amount of times he gets accurately… Read more »
meanwhile in other news: Reports in France? From Valentin or a much more reliable and respected source? Vieira was my first choice some time ago until Charlie made more sense in suggesting Allegri or similar elite and proven experienced manager. To continue that thinking and, as it looks as though Allegri is too big a persona for Raul to deal with, I still want PL experience; therefore, Rogers or Rafa would be up to the task and represent the least risk compared to Vieira or Arteta. Definitely no to NES & Marcelino. “Arsenal ‘make Patrick Vieira favourite to replace Unai… Read more »
Tony Have you got a better solution with the current resources in midfield, which are available. Guendouzi has been a liability all season, which is blindingly obvious when you watch games and as has been suggested on many occasions Torreira should be playing DMF. That leaves very limited options in the other two positions. Ceballos is injured at moment and Smith-Rowe is also injury prone. Let’s be clear we are being outplayed too often this season because we are unbalanced and lightweight in midfield department. Whatever you may think Xhaka despite his limitations would be better in a more advanced… Read more »
ES Sadly I don’t, but Xhaka and Ozil singularly are not right for the team and especially selecting both to play. Both are serial liabilities. Ozil for his poor work rate, cowardly pretending to press, but always standing at least 2 meters away from the player he’s pretending to close down and not tracking runners into our box who go onto score. Xhaka being ponderous and far too slow in his transitioning of the ball. Plus all the other defects in his play that has been posted about here every week. Also his lack of tracking players into dangerous attacking… Read more »
Emery was the hire, on the cheap…the defense and midfield haven’t had real quality investing done at all really. Way over paid for garbage, and the players in those areas in defense and midfield just aren’t world class .In no order Guendouzi , Torreira, Holding,Tierney, young Callum, and Bellerin stay…young guys Willock, Riess, AMN, Martinelli, Emile, Auba,Laca, Pepe,Buka….Their just isn’t enough here. This all belongs to greedy money hungry give two dams about anything else than stripping the club bare to line their pockets.. owner’s. We are crumbling because they won’t invest..if I can win by paying the man that… Read more »
Tony Martinelli is not a central midfielder. He plays wing or striker. Saka might be a better option in midfield, but whenever we play the youngsters as a collective in that department we are being overwhelmed. Xhaka and Ozil are not a solution but probably the best option at present time. Let’s be clear we have an oversupply of forwards and serious limitations in both midfield and defence. Moreover I suspect that there is little or no money available unless Kroenke puts his hand in his pocket. The club is not in a happy situation at moment. As I pointed… Read more »
We are a shambles,
Owner is a clueless robbing prick,
Board are pathetic gutless clowns,
What can we do to salvage this ?
Get back to basics is all that we can do,
We need a manager who knows us,
We need a manager who Kroneke fears,
We need a manager who is fearless,
We need a manager who is respected,
We need Patrick Vieria.
Patrick Viera’s OGC Nice side are doing great in ligue 1 aren’t they? You guys need to get over the invincibles nonsense
Team in the league won’t just start dropping points against us because an invincible is in charge, we need to move as far away from the recent past as possible if we want any kind of success. Nothing to be gained longing for stuff that happened 15 years ago. Not one member of that invincibles squad has so far excelled as a coach. Some of you are burying your heads in the Emery ruined us sand and its hilarious, we are not in this situation because we failed to beat Brighton at home last season, yes that’s what stood between… Read more »
Diego Simeone will save us!!!!
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/diego-simeone-arsenal-manager-predicted-17363383
Aussie
That is the 5th or 6th manager who is coming to save us according to the media be. Simeone is my choice for our next manager, actually wanted him before the Emery debacle but that link is to FL, the biggest click-bait site in the football blogosphere. When he signs on the dotted line I’ll believe it.
Bo
I think that getting Simeone would be a big stretch. He would cost money and want to spend some money on our dire midfield and defence. This will not happen. I thought the idea of running through Football Manager is about as close as we will get to him (and a finish in third place to!).
ES we’ll have to agree to disagree.
We have other options that can be worked round with the right manager.
Martinelli is young and mobile and could move the ball around and link up play far better than the free roaming (away from action) Ozil.
However, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Bojangles
Does Simeone speak English?
Can He deal with the PL?
How many times has AM beaten top PL teams in the CL & EL cups?
Not knocking your first choice but genuinely asking the questions.
Diego Simeone is in his comfort zone at AM.
We all know at Arsenal what happens to coaches when they get out of their comfort zone.
Simeone will not be coming to AFC.
My god Tony you half talk some shite.
Martinelli as a no10? What are you smoking?
Do you still want us to get Bergkamp in as a coach to help the midfield? Hahaha
Stick to copy and pasting the daily mail articles you clueless gobshite.
Martinelli as a no10 is the equivalent of arshavin as a targetman, mr Wenger i know your handwritng!
someone say something?
Oh, right it’s Don MatinellisHead; the knuckle dragging, flat-earther waste of oxygen piping up with what?
Big fat zero football contribution. Just your typical Neanderthal insults.
Over to you then Don dick head (would be a better moniker for you) who would you select?
One day you’ll grow up, but you’ll still be the village idiot you’ve been all your short life thus far.
Not much to look forward to I know but it’s all you have.
That and toilet brushes cleaning other people’s shit.
Those people who think Simeone would come to Arsenal are way off track.
I watched part of the ManUtd Spurs game yesterday and while Spurs were bad, Tanguy NDombele was great. Good pressing off the ball, Tenacious on the ball, good dribbler and powerful runner with the ball and excellent forward pass. Everything our central midfield is missing. When you compare what our summer transfer window had been, I can only despair at people claiming that we won the summer TW with Raul. Instead of Pepe, I would have bought Tanguy NDombele (£54M+£4m agent fee+£8M add-ons instead of £72m+£12m agent fee+£18m add-on). Tierney inexplicably has avoided any criticism of his defensive performances because… Read more »
Good morning Tony.
MisH is a waste of space.
Must be puberty.
Graham You maybe right that Simeone is not likely to come to Arsenal but I’ll take your “he’s in his comfort zone at AM” with a pinch of salt especially after you championing Howe, Wilder and Dyche. Tony He speaks a little but I wouldn’t get caught up in the language thing. It wasn’t Emery’s lack of English that brought him undone, it was his failure to communicate his ideas. Dealing with the PL. Same could have been asked about Klopp and Pep before they managed Pool and Citeh. If the manager is good enough (I think Simeone is) he… Read more »
Regarding Patrick Vieira taking the top job at Arsenal, to be frank I am far from convinced with him as a coach. Nice has a lot of possession but don’t seem to do anything with it: few shots and even fewer goals. In fact for a while their xG vs xGA was negative. A little bit like Emery, lots of possession undone by efficient counter-attacking. I don’t know if their inefficiency in front of goal is due due to the tactic or due to the very young age and poor quality of their forwards. Nice has one of the youngest… Read more »
Valentin
I like Pépé. Think he will come good again.
Yea, Ndombele looks a player. We desperately need a player in CM who can set tempo and make 50-60 passes a match at over 85% accuracy. As long as Cazorla was fit, we were a CL side. Another we might be missing out on is Bruno Guimarães from Brazil. Rumored to be going to Atlético Madrid for 30m euros. Only 22 as well.
No-one would be saying it at the start of the season but Chelsea need Abraham to be available to them. He gives them a focal point in attack from CF. When he was missing in their match against West Ham at home they looked light weight in attack. When he returned last night he scores himself and also sets up the second goal for Mount. Chelsea leak goals so all Arsenal fans should hope that Abraham goes down with a unfortunate injury that sees him out for a lengthy period for any chance of the very slim hopes of catching… Read more »
Ishola
Abraham is on course for his third 20 goal season in league play before turning 23. That is phenomenal.
Abraham and Vardy staying fit likely means we won’t get top 4.
Dream10
“Abraham is on course for his third 20 goal season in league play before turning 23. That is phenomenal.Abraham and Vardy staying fit likely means we won’t get top 4.”
Yeah both of them Abraham and Vardy.
I mentioned Abraham and Chelsea in the first instance just because Arsenal are closer in regards points to Chelsea than Leicester at this time.
But yes Abraham has shown everyone this season just how important he is to this Chelsea side.
Time for a radical change – use what we have because we ain’t getting anymore:
Abu Laca
Pepe Smith-Rowe Martineli
Ceballos Torreira Mavropanos
Tierney Bellerin
Leno
I appreciate that some of them my not be quite ready but we need speed! We get caught too much on the counter, even by the relegation fodder. If we don’t change things quicly then our season is dead and we are officially a mid-table team. We should not worry what other teams are doing, just go for it!
Tony want to explain how Bergkamp would help the Arsenal midfielders?
Another fail for Tony. Go empty the Mrs so she’s ready for her next shift.