Arsenal drop points. Fans get depressed. Everything is shit.
Not at Le Grove, where it’s sunshine and praise for our Dear Leader.
Just kidding, but not.
It’s amazing how quickly some fans fall back into misery and rant about their high expectations not being met.
This season was tanked by Unai Emery, 18 months in the making, the worst start in 38 years. 4 weeks ago, we were bemoaning uncoachable players, now people are angry we’re not destroying teams in every game.
Arteta was hired into a mess, that mess is not going to be solved by this current squad of players right now, but the manager is making solid inroads and we have to take the small positives that will come game to game. This is what happened with Liverpool when Klopp took over, huge highs, some miserable lows, but all levelled out because the scousers had a path that was clear.
Arsenal didn’t put on a great show against Crystal Palace, but there were positives none the less.
Defensive resilience is something we’ve been absolutely begging for, we’re already making inroads there. I’ve read numerous fans state that we folded yesterday, which is simply not the case. Our level dropped for sure, Palace came back into the game, no doubt. But we didn’t fold. In fact, we created far more in the second half than we did in the first half when we dominated (6 attempts to 1).
Also, it’s important to remember the state of their goal. A ricochet over the top of Bernd Leno. It was very lucky. That’s reflected in the xG for yesterday. Arsenal were 1.08, which is not bad for an away game against a tough team, Palace were 0.31. They came back into the game but had nothing to show for it.
If you want to go back to last season when we played them away and drew, Palace had an xG of 2.38. In the home leg, when we were still in the hunt for top 4, they beasted us and recorded an xG of 2.54.
Point here, xG is working in our favour, the goal was unlucky and the numbers point out that the bad luck was the narrative of the game. We didn’t give them much to work with yesterday, we were harder to attack, and we kept their best player quiet using a right-back that hates the position so much he forced a red card under Emery so he didn’t have to play there. We also dealt with a very average referee.
Factor in the side played a brutal game against Leeds in the week with a full stack of seniors, on top of the reality of our new far more intense training regime, and well, you get the picture, it wasn’t that bad a day in the office.
Things aren’t looking very exciting in the transfer window.
“At the moment there is nothing coming up. The club is working on a few things but you know how difficult this window is and I’m not expecting many things.”
Poor Mikel, used to double our normal transfer budget for squad filler in January, he’s now being faced down with real-world economics… if you don’t sell players, you can’t buy them.
It’s a tough scenario here because most of us would have had a few players in mind to shift on, but Mikel has other plans. My guess is the market isn’t flush with talent and he’s likely weighing the bother of bringing in names that either aren’t playing right now, or will have to spend 3 months adapting to a league that is way faster than any of the others. I also wonder if part of the ‘coach them out of mediocrity’ is a sales pitch for summer signings. I’d go to a club that could make Xhaka a functioning player in the Premier League, that’s miracles right there.
Arsenal are not really chasing anything, so working with what we have isn’t the worst idea. I’m not sure there are many instances where panic buys in January work out. I’d be quite happy to see what a fully fit squad can do from now until the end of the season, then make aggressive moves in the summer, very, very early on. A Euros year isn’t exactly ideal, but hopefully, Edu and Cagigao can formulate ideas with Mikel early so we don’t end up going on a mad one with Don Raul taking reccos from the football mafia on who might or might not be a worldy.
I forgot to talk about the players leaving on loan. We have John-Jules heading out to Lincoln City, they sit 16th in the table in League One, so a huge job for him there, and hopefully some minutes. ESR has joined Huddersfield, who dropped from the Premier League, and now sit 20th in the Championship. Quite the fall from grace, you have to say, but again, far more chance ESR will land minutes. Eddie still hasn’t found a club, but there are rumours Villa and Norwich might be interested. I’d be fine with either, as long as he actually lands playing time. No point in warming someone else’s bench.
Right, that’s my lot for today, if you want the match report, it’s here.
Have a good one, see you in the comments!
Interesting
I’m first lol
3
Tr4phy
Maybe this is why he’s been playing like shit:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/10719754/alexandre-lacazette-cheated-girlfriend-nightclub-worker/
I said long ago it wasn’t Wenger , the ethos of the club right down to substitutions hasn’t even changed …. and our team had been continually sold off and bought , in a form of selling club mentality to keep this cash cow profits up …. good management,NOT good football ethos , talking managers don’t change anything , they are hired help , nothing more … follow the cash flow to your problem!
Good man Pedro
I wonder if Nkethia will stay with us for January to play in the games that Aubameyang and Lacazette are suspended for. Nkethia would really help Aston Villa, but Norwich I am not so sure. He is too similar to Pukki and I can’t see Norwich playing both of them together unless shifting Eddie to the wing. However reading the criteria of loan, Arsenal has wised up and would rather send a player to a lower league in exchange for guarantee on his playing position. Tyreece John-Jules was sent to Lincoln a league 1 club because they agreed to play… Read more »
Good post Pedro.
As much as the game was really messy, we ended up drawing in what turned out to he really tough circumstances (Torr out, Auba red etc).
And the CP goal ended up being a bit lucky for them. Had that not gone in, we would have won the game. Yes, it’s all if’s and buts but the point is, we didn’t lose and under all that messy football there is something in there that it starting to shape up.
It will take time for everything to click as the players get gradually used to the new system.
From last post
How can someone really say that we can’t get players better than xhaka for under £30 million.
Ndidi went to leicester for less, sangare if he moves, will certainly go for less. So this notion that we cant get players is very wrong, and what is the point of scouts if we cant get bargains. We simply need to start spending wisely.
I refuse to believe that we cant see better players than xhaka without spending much.
Pedro
I actually don’t think we lost away to crystal palace last season, but i might be wrong.
Backpass, Stop dreaming that the Ligue 1 is an untaped and unknown market in which Arsenal will find very cheap players. Ligue 1 clubs have wised up that they quite often have gems. Decent midfielders do not leave Ligue 1 for less than £25 millions. Young ones need time to adapt to the EPL. Experienced ones are more expensive. Sangaré is unlikely to leave Toulouse for less than £30 millions paid upfront or £35 millions in instalments. Most of the big clubs are after him. Soumaré situation is different in that it looks like he has not signed an extension… Read more »
Well said Pedro, anyone expecting a smooth end to the season are being unrealistic. Guardiola and Klopp both had bumps in the road before building the team’s they wanted. I have faith that we are heading in the right direction under Arteta. We already seem a lot more solid which is a big change considering how crap we have been defensively. The fans need to back Arteta as his job is gonna be difficult enough and I hope my fellow gunners will.
Eddie Nketiah to Villa could be a smart move .
Wesley their first choice striker has unfortunately suffered a long term injury and this can be the perfect moment of One’s loss is someone else’s gain . Eddie is clearly too good for the Under-23s and he has shown his efficiency in the Championship whenever he has played. I think we should definitely be looking to loan him to Villa where I beleive he will get the chances he needs.
We are linked with Hakan Calhonoglu AGAIN !.
Another creative light weight midfielder we definitely dont need right now.
What ever said ligue 1 is an untaped and unknown market?
And what makes you so sure that Sangare will not leave less than £30 million. Are you the Toulouse president ( even though he threatened the players none would be sold if they go down).
Sangare’s contract expires 2021,(18 months left in his contract). Now why do you believe sangare will command more than £30 million in transfer fees. I also follow french football.
Valentin and Pedro pretty much nailing it. There is some talent around, it comes at a very January premium. Then there are various more troubled opportunities, who are not happy at their clubs and their clubs are happy to move them on. Plenty of clues there. Also £30 million in today’s market doesn’t necessarily buy you that much. Even to go and buy unfulfilled South American talent, that is not a princely sum. Arteta needs to a steadying and understanding role, prior to the end of the season, with a view to hatching transfer plans for the summer. With a… Read more »
Last post was addressed to Valentin
“You can’t really expect more from Arteta at this stage.”
1 win in 4 PL games says otherwise.
Wasi “Eddie Nketiah to Villa could be a smart move .” Not sure about that. Martinelli had a great start to his Arsenal career but the fact is he has only scored one goal in his last 15 appearances although many of those were coming on as sub. His season has taken a very similar path to Nketiah in that they both started well scoring goals , they both picked up an injury , the goals have dried up somewhat though as I said, they rarely get a full game. Martinelli is probably ahead of Nketiah in the pecking order… Read more »
Rambo,
1 win in 4.
Naming a new manager who is probably only now reaching double figures on serious training sessions, with the full squad, when not in some kind of recovery warm down, is not an instant fix to winning every game.
Pedro comparison to Klopp was right, there were actually some within the Liverpool support in his first 18 months who had become disgruntled.
These things take time. Can we see improvement. Most definitely.
Un,
I replied on the previous post.
The common claim that Arsenal lack heart and fold didn’t happen yesterday. I feared the worse at 1-1 and a player short. But they didn’t give up any goals after that, and that’s progress, a view substantiated by Pedro’s statistics.
My expectations may have lowered as a result of events pre-Arteta. But I think that we will all feel happier and see it as a symbolic sign of progress when we are above the Spuds in the table.
https://arseblog.news/2020/01/report-nurnberg-to-take-mavropanos-on-loan/
So with Mavrapanos leaving on loan and us trying to shift out Mustafi and Chambers out for the season, that leaves us with Luiz, Sok and a Holding still recovering from injury as our only CBs.
If we don’t dip into the market to fix that the club can’t expect anyone to take them seriously.
‘Arteta was hired into a mess, that mess is not going to be solved by this current squad of players right now’ The slow turnaround keeps going, can’t be solved by this squad, naturally squad evolution in the summer… At least there’s honesty (sort of) about squad level now. Pretty dire display in terms of Arsenal functioning well, sort of fought fire with fire but you can’t fully blame Arteta because this midfield is absolute poverty. I sort of blame him for working hard to convince Xhaka to stay, but I will cut him slack until August and see what… Read more »
Great post Pedro The way it descends into madness on here after we haven’t won 0-8 away from home is crazy – look at where we’ve come from this season , we were playing some of the worst football we’ve ever seen from an arsenal team and we were all crying for it to end – we now have a proper system , everyone knows what’s expected of them and we’ve got Ozil running and tackling ( unfortunately not yesterday , I thought he looked shattered ) and I’m the first person to slag Ozil off – we also have… Read more »
The backpass
————-
Correct it was a 2-2 draw.
I think a target of 30 points in the remaining 16 games this season is a reasonably ambitious target and will take us to the low 60-point range. That may be nearly half as many as Liverpool but will position us well for a top-four spot next season.
How many more points do you think we should regard as reasonable for the remainder of the season?
I’m with Jeff, being realistic, the changes required to get us competitive (in quality) aren’t likely to happen.
Talking of ‘big summers’ at Arsenal? When has this ever happened?
We’re only likely to bring in 1 possibly 2 major additions and this simply isn’t going to be enough.
More mid table mediocrity next year I’m afraid, particularly as many of our senior players are entering the last stage of there careers.
Not optimistic at all.
Completely agree with Pedro’s post. People who quote 1 win in 4 as somehow suggesting a bad start to Arteta’s reign are not worth listening to.
Agree also that how our squad is looking at the close of the TW in August will indicate how soon we can expect to be properly competitive. Hope very much that new acquisitions will, if at all possible, get a full pre season. Saliba and Tiernay will obviously benefit too.
Would be worried if Ozil, Xhaka and Mustafi are still with us.
I’m sorry you’re feeling so negative Unai, I feel quite the opposite!
“‘Arteta was hired into a mess, that mess is not going to be solved by this current squad of players right now’”
Not for nothing, but this sounds like a ‘player poverty’ claim.
Edu, gota be real here, 4 games, 1 win.
Against Chelsea there was hope but I’m not seeing a huge upturn in form here, more a whimper.
Not Arteta’s fault though.
Bob, we will know in summer but our finances and past history tell us, sweeping change is unlikely.
Unai, effectively upgrading Ozil and Xhaka, one new CB coupled with Tiernay and Saliba will make an enormous difference.
Like I’ve said before, we have good players but they aren’t that extra special players required to push into the top 4. Arteta seems to be a better manager than emery and Wenger in terms of addressing problems and raising team spirit.. Looking at the palace game, we seem to have players that have less endurance. Physical strength and speed to pick up ,2nd balls. Its basic power…..we get bullied a lot and overpowered. One bright note is the performance for the much- maligned AMN. Impressed with his combat energy against zaha. He did very well against one of the… Read more »
Un – Agreed. Some [rightly] say 1 win in 4 PL games for Arteta, but that’s a ‘glass half-empty’ viewpoint. Glass half-full, if we’re looking for positives post-Emery, is only 1 loss in 4 PL games under Arteta. Not great, but something with which to work going forward. We’re conceding fewer chances already (albeit small sample size, I know). Now if Arteta can work on having the squad create (and put away) more chances, we’ll climb the table, gain some confidence, and hopefully go on a decent EL Cup run. It’s not all doom and gloom. We’re showing early signs… Read more »
VAR is actually ruining the game…it’s a bit like turning a passionate fast moving game into a game of snooker…it’s still sport but lots of deliberation of positions and judgement calls.
It sickens me to see offsides of 1 centimetre…handballs totally accidental and goals scrubbed off.
Football is being sanitised to a point where passion is getting squeezed away.
Didn’t Palace have like 10 injuries yesterday?
Didn’t Pedro say our team should 100% be getting top4?
Hy Does Arteta get the excuse for a 5 day gap between games?
But Emery doesn’t for playing Thurs-Sunday, and then picking up big injuries himself?
I really like Arteta, think it’s a good appointment, and agree Arteta will probably need a few years to get his house in order.
But Pedro has more excuses than the Labour Party.
“Arsenal are not really chasing anything, so working with what we have isn’t the worst idea.” The club really are chasing something, though: Europa League qualification (with a small hope of CL). Last year EL distributions (prize money / TV pool / co-efficient) brought the club EUR 40m of revenue. If you also lose the 5-7 home games from the EL, and the effects of any step-downs in commercial contracts, you’re easily talking about EUR 50m+ of lost revenue (so a further drop of somewhere from 10-15% of revenue, having already lost 10% of revenue since dropping out the CL,… Read more »
There’s absolutely no reason why we’re not bringing in a cb this window, preferably a cb that can play right or vice versa.
Chambers is out.
Mustafi is pony.
And Mavropanos is at the verge of going on loan to Nuremberg.
Arsenal top 4 ? Come on get real.
We are a mid table team…I think arteta can elevate us to 6th this season…but I’m saying that in a kind of arsenal-,,fan- hope rather than pure football judgement.
When you develop an infatuation for someone you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you.
It doesn’t need to be a good reason. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example.
Now, in the long run, that’s just the kind of dumb, irritating habit that would cause you to split up.
But in the haze of infatuation, it’s just what you’ve been searching for all these years.”
Lol, player poverty is a thing! Who knew that?
Our summer set unrealistic expectations: Tierney £25mill, coming back for a double hernia, which usually involves realignment of the body, no pre-season, and who had giant red warning triangles all over him, after big problems with hips dating back over two years. Saliba £26mill, He might be a big talent? But expecting a 19yr old to fix our defensive issues in the immediate, is fanciful, and did nothing for us this season. Luis £7mill, It’s what you get when you sell an experienced centre half for £4mill, and need to replace him with a similar amount, I like Luiz, he… Read more »
Cesc Appeal with his continued rebranding of what’s said because he so desperately wants his idea of player poverty to become mainstream. We had the talent for top 4 at the start of the season, the reason we ain’t getting it done now with the same lot is because the path they were led down needs to be scaled back up the way before progress is made the other side. At some point that’ll sink in, so will not bringing in 5 players this Jan as a strategy. Will continue to read about how squad evolution is apparently some coverup… Read more »
“Nice to see he’s re-adjusted his expectations, we’re a 8th-14th place squad, with a world class finisher, a few unpolished diamonds, and some young players with large ceilings, but are a good way off, where we need them to be.“
Our worst finish in 20 odd years is 6th place and suddenly we have a 8-14th placed squad? Hahaha that’s just plucking numbers out your arse at this point.
We’ve dealt with the overriding issue of the season (Emery), we’re in recovery from that.
We should be ringing Lampard up and hear if they wanna give us Giroud back for a fair price
Backpass,
The Toulouse president had been shafted by Barcelona and Todibo before. He is not in the mood to let players leave on the cheap again.
Every major clubs has had a look at Sangaré and they like what they have seen. NDombele went for £60 millions, both Soumaré and Sangaré are one level below and don’t have the France international premium, but they are worth more than a third of NDombele. An auction will take place this summer. The Toulouse club president has no incentive to sell him now on the cheap when he could help stave relegation.
Champagne Charlie Not really… We lost the experience of: Cech and replaced him with Martinez. Rambo who was pretty much our only midfield goal threat, and replaced him with someone who might produce similar? Or better? But was highly unlikely to in the immediate. We lost Monreal, and replaced him with a guy with no pre-season, wouldn’t be back until late October, and came with a giant red triangle. We lost Elneny, and replaced him with Willock, Willock May have a much higher ceiling? But it left us with a 19yr old with virtually no first team experience. I think… Read more »
AC Milan midfielder Canalaglu – looks like kite flying by his agent to boost his market. For a moment thought Xhaka would finally go. Does not do enough for his price
Steveg87, I said the same thing before. Unless Edu or Cagigao can find a cheap gem a la Martinelli, otherwise Bring back Giroud on loan for 6 months. Then in the summer we can have a proper long term strategy. Regarding Leno, my opinion that he is an hindrance to the way Arteta wants to play has just been reinforced by Saturday’s display. His distribution is so poor and ponderous, he slows any restart to the point that the position is in place ready to press us before he even releases the ball. Also with his foot he can’t ping… Read more »
Can someone please explain WTF is xG.
Valentin You are missing a key point here..he has 18 months left on his contract. We might add a few pennies or installmental shit like you rightly said, but we could raise xhaka money and maybe part of that iwobi’s money into use. The way i see it, maybe Arteta doesn’t fancy him(sangare), because he really ticks all the boxes for what we need in midfield. Just checked transfermarkt value( I know, I know but…) It has a whopping £14 million as his transfer market value. So lets say x2 = £28 million which is still less than £30 million.… Read more »
Rambo
“1 win in 4 PL games says otherwise.”
I’m sure if we had lost the cup tie to Leeds it would have been ” 2 defeats in 5 ” but as we beat them , unsurprisingly you have omitted the victory as it doesn’t suit your agenda.
Valentin
RE : Sangare is also Ivorian btw, played in the last AFCON ( against algeria).
Also, the underlying issue was always how Emery was always mismanaging the squad and that we had better players to be playing better, after all we finished just 1 point behind the top 4 places last season…Now Emery has been gone for quite a while now and Arteta has been in charge for what 4 matches now and I’m super glad that there seems to be a plan and a style of play of you will… Thing though is this, given that the general consensus and not just on Le grove to be fair was that we have a good… Read more »
This season I think Emery lost the players, and struggled to cope with the amount of change that had been implemented. I’m happy Arteta got the job, but I think he’ll need at least 18-30 months to get his house in order, and wait for young players to mature. I think 3rd with a few games to go was a false position. Dropping Ozil was the right thing to do, and Emery fu*ked up caving to fans demands to bring him back, when Emery has quite rightly realised Ozil was finished at the top level. We had injuries to Welbeck,… Read more »
Bob N16 Agreed. By the start of the season we will know a lot about Arteta. He’s stated to be ruthless etc well let’s see. Because right now his fight to keep hold of Xhaka is worrying me, he’s continued talking up of Ozil is a worry…however, this could just be pragmatism given it’s January and he can’t see a way out of the current situation so it’s best to just try to get a little more out of these players. But if we arrive into the new season and Xhaka is still taking up a CM spot and Ozil… Read more »
“but Mikel has other plans” Hum, let’s see, Pedders… give you a blow job, for all the love letters you write about him ?? Xhaka is shite, but it’s not Lego Hair fault. Ozil is back on fortnite mode, but it’s not the Chosen One’s fault. If we lose vs the chavs or the spuds, it will NOT be you best pal’s fault. Granité disaster will finally stay at the club, but it probably have nothing to do with Handsome Mikel. I’m glad we have finally get rid of Emery, but don’t you think that a bit of objectivity would… Read more »
Rich “Cech and replaced him with Martinez.“ we replaced Cech with Leno and he’s been arguably our best player this season. Ramsey with Ceballos: this was cited at the time as not adequate, but because Ceballos came from Real Madrid all were to surmise he was the dogs. He’s a different type to Ramsey but, and one I’m curious to see under proper management in Arteta. Elneny with Willock: not sure how you say this weakens us with any kind of a straight face. Elneny is a nothing player and Willock offers far, far more to the point of aiding… Read more »
Emery wasn’t really here long enough for us to judge him in a completely factual manner. I’m glad he has been sacked, but I don’t agree he is dogshit. He kind of over achieved when you consider what this squad is doing since. He wasn’t a communicator or motivator…the prem requires a style of management that’s akin to klopp charisma and pure man-motivation…..emery is nowhere near that. The real culprit is the manager that pissed millions away on french duds and lost talents like RVP, Sanchez,etc and started the demise. Devoid of tactics and cleverly deflected by saying “,, t… Read more »
Thank you so much bastituta for that clerification. But whether these lots will get it i dont know. Oh well, you did try your best. Cheers man
Backpass, I think that Sangaré signed an extension until 2022. Last summer Everton’s bid of £22 millions for Sangaré was rejected. Toulouse refused offers in the region of €28 millions so I can’t see them accepting less or the same one year later, when the caliber of suitors has improved. The fact that he is an African international is not necessarily a premium. Because it means lot of travels and tiredness for in most case few benefit in term of commercial exposure. Contrarily to European and France international in particular players who generate a premium due to their overall commercial… Read more »
Thanks Bastituta
spot on.
they will never get. Oh well you tried
Batistuta
Spot on.
Bati
You seem to be back on the player poverty juice you were giving it all last season before the Emery penny dropped.
Quick recap: top 4 quality isn’t Liverpool and City levels in case there’s confusion. Top 4 quality is the ability to finish top 4, which doesn’t take a wildly impressive side if folk aren’t aware – just a good one.
Told you they will never get it.
Kristoman
You’re part of the ‘we don’t have the players to beat Brighton’ sect from last season. You’re in no position to talk about “getting” anything frankly.
Except a taxi, old school soccer AM style.
See what am saying Bati
Valentin
Fair enough, didnt know sangare extended till 2022, following up transfermarkt that says 2021. And like you said Toulouse asked for £24.5 million ( converted ) this past summer. I just dont think they will reject £30 million if offered in the right way.
Besides, this argument was based on the fact that we can’t get a competent midfielder with Xhaka money or £30 million like you said. This however isn’t true with Sangare as an example, besides what is the work of these scouts if they cant find someone better than xhaka.
“Hardly awful is it Rambo you plum”
You said “Can’t expect anything more from Arteta”. And I pointed at the league form which is 1 win in 4.
Pretty low expectations that, coming from a fvckwit who endlessly banged on about Emery. And who endlessly bangs on about how average Auba is and how much better Lacazette is.
Am doing to arteta what they were doing to emery some couple of weeks ago. Oh the irony and hipocracy.
Kristoman
Emery, a couple of weeks ago, had been in the job for 18 months, Arteta has been in charge 18 days.
Oh the inability to tell an orange from an apple.
“Am doing to arteta what they were doing to emery some couple of weeks ago. Oh the irony and hipocracy.”
Well its Un nai naai and his clown brother Charlie. Oh and Pierre.
Interestingly the last ones to stop sucking on Wenger’s balls. They have always had the tendency to judge a man and not the job he does.
Wenger was God, Emery was Devil and now there’s another God.
What’s happened to Matt Macey?
Top prospect.
Charlie Of course we don’t have the Liverpool/City level of players, but this is our 3rd/4th season out of the top4 with certain types still knocking about… We’ve still not fixed the defence or attempted to by penny pinching… Our midfield is probably the worst of the traditional top6, we’ve literary got no runners from midfield…We’ve finally got 2 wingers one which is still a kid and the other trying his best to settle in the league but the holes in the squad have been clear for all to see.. It’s a drum that’s been beat because it’s true, the… Read more »
Another player I like is ronaldo viera from sampdoria..I think he would also count has homegrown, not sure.
He is certainly one to watch for, the last match i watched him was against genoa or cagliari, he can play as a box to box or DM. Maybe Bastituta can say more about him.
And he certainly wouldn’t cost £30 million. Players like this can be gotten.
Backpass, Sorry if my original point came across as aggressive that was not my intention. I thought that like the previous posters you were arguing that replacing Xhaka for a ready made player for less than £20 millions would be easy. Replacing Xhaka is possible and finding better players is possible, however the big questions are at what price and will they be immediately ready. Replacing him with an inferior £20 millions player would be ridiculous. So would be replacing mid season by a player who would need at least 6 months to adapt. Tanguy NDombele who I was advocating… Read more »
Any manager that supports and starts Xhaka is a hopeless case in my opinion.
Pierre I share your concerns but theres no point in keeping Nketiah here if he is gonna be the 4th choice player in his position in his most important years of development. If Villa can guarantee him even 10 starts Edu should be dropping Nketiah to Villa park himself. This season is very much a write off in terms of league finish. Although its still possible to nick 4th its very difficult . We’ll have to make the league our priority and hope that Chelsea drop off in terms of their results. Very slim chance of so many things going… Read more »
With certain type of players, you know what you’ll get 8 times out of 10 which is that they’re going to be inconsistent but we allow ourselves build some type of following with these lads that we don’t know when to hold up our hands and say look, he’s not going to prove us so best to part ways…You see it on twitter with Arsenal fans and certain types who’ve been here while we’ve plummeted down the table, it’s no coincidence to be honest… Also criticism of the squad shouldn’t be seen as criticism of the manager, he has the… Read more »
Valentin
Not at all, cheers though.
You held emery for accountability from the third week of its reign telling us though he is getting result but the football is drab. So yes i dont care how fancy we look i want results. He wasn’t hired for fancy style football but to improve on our result you told us this team is capable of having since emery is not achieving it7 set goals. Arteta will do better with the same you said.
Backpass
I don’t watch a lot of Sampdoria to be fair but haven’t been impressed the few times I’ve seen him but like i sajd, haven’t watched him consistently enough to make any definite judgements
Sky really pushing the Women’s game.
Unfortunately, that will always be the case.
I know it’s all based on equality and promoting the game but let’s not pretend that it will always play second fiddle to the men’s game.
Shoot me.
I actually think if we are giving Arteta till the season then,it is better to get players that he can work with. There is no helping Xhaka and if he continues with xhaka past this summer then, Arteta would deserve anything he gets.
Graham62, Matt Macey was a top prospect for 6 months, then reality set-in. For a tall goalkeeper he is not very good under the high ball. I thought that he had been let go this summer, but it looks like he is still at Arsenal. Martinez is clearly the No2, so at his age Macey may be better off going to a club where he has a chance to play. Other he may have a career a la Stuart Taylor who stay at big clubs because of his HG status without actually ever play. 3 full years at Manchester City… Read more »
Rambo Second time you’ve claimed it about the man vs the job, despite Emery being criticised quite literally because of the failure to outline what job he was implementing – and Arteta praised for just that. Go have a lie down. Bati Again, if you’re going to dismiss the significance of the head coach quite so much then it’s a totally fruitless argument.You’re clamouring for a type of player we’ve had at the club and who Emery oversaw their sale without coming to any conclusion he ought to replace them. The proverbial drum is being beat because it originated as… Read more »
Bastituta
Same here, just watch them occasionally, prefer watching Atalanta…fantastic side to watch, not just because of yesterday’s match. I think they have been playing the best football in seria A for 2 years now.
Rambo,
7 PTS would be the minimum.
Realistically 3 victories and a draw would be my top expectation.
At this stage anything above 10 PTS would be a bonus.
Mike Tyson famously said: “Every fighter has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” Arteta can try to install a philosophy, but if the tools at his disposal aren’t good enough to perform the jobs he needs? Then ultimately he’ll revert to pragmatism and self preservation. Our defenders aren’t good enough to play out of the back, our midfield lacks dynamism, Ozil is a spent force, who is like a squatter refusing to be evicted. We’re haemorrhaging money, our one saving grace is 30, has 18 months on his deal, and will probably leave in the summer. I… Read more »
“Wenger was God, Emery was Devil and now there’s another God.”
Interesting quote… probably a bit of truth in that.
Kristoman I held Emery accountable for not changing the failings of the side that had been seen for numerous years, for not having a discernible style etc. The results were secondary then but championed above all else and quite evidently to our detriment longer term. Same applies to Arteta so forgive me for not harping on about results in the immediate and being more concerned with the failings of the sides being addressed and the inevitable important that will bring in results. Of course you expect all of that to change like a light switch, so little need to exhaust… Read more »
“Also criticism of the squad shouldn’t be seen as criticism of the manager, he has the support of a very large number of fans including myself, just needs to not go the way of the last guy and try and fix broken stuff rather than getting new ones”
So very true, i just hope this Xhaka stuff ends in the summer.
Rich
What is going to take years?
Rich – Yep. There are probably quite a few experienced managers rolling their eyes at Arteta’s idealism of what he wants and is demanding. They know over time the mental scar tissue will set in, the bar will get lowered(already is) when what Arteta wants and what he gets get become increasingly misaligned when certain players are simply not capable of producing what we need.
Back pass
Yea, Atlanta have been playing some amazing football the last 2 years, probably before that even when they played in the Europa league, a true definition of an attacking team, look on course for 2 consecutive years in the UCL too at the rate they’re going… Josip Illicic has been brilliant but so has Papu Gomez and Zapata last season, Muriel is a bit shit these days and Gosens in midfield is quite brilliant
Remember Atlanta ripping Everton apart a few years ago as well.
“If player poverty excuses emery then why did wenger, with a worse squad manage to get top 4 with giroud, flamini, podolski and Walcott and why were the same excuses not made for him?” Is this a serious question Don? Maybe because Wenger was 100% responsible for assembling that squad, putting them on wages way above their skill level so we can’t get rid of them for any decent transfer fees. He was solely responsible for all the footballing decisions for the club for 23 years and was appalling at transfers both in and out in the later half of… Read more »
Rich
“Get ready for a period of mid-table mediocrity”
I take it that you was an admirer of Wenger, do you think the club would be in better shape with Wengerstill as boss as your prediction is slightly negative.