I’m going to start the blog with a philosophical theory.
Occam’s razor (or Ockham’s razor) is a principle from philosophy. Suppose an event has two possible explanations. The explanation that requires the fewest assumptions is usually correct. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation.
Aston Villa triggered me yesterday. The threat of them taking away Emile Smith Rowe felt painful. I reacted.
… but I was wrong.
Why? Occam’s razor.
The fewest assumptions, in relation to Smith Rowe, would have him staying at Arsenal and signing a new deal.
Reasons to go to Aston Villa: Zero
Would he get more minutes? No
Can they pay more money? No
Does he have a bond with the club or the area? No
Is there anything about Aston Villa that is more appealing than Arsenal? No
Next up, do Aston Villa have a reason to pursue Emile Smith Rowe? Yes
They are about the lose Jack Grealish to a major club this summer for big money. This is humiliating. It could basically make them relegation fodder.
So what is a good counter-punch? Trying to unseat Emile Smith Rowe. Villa fans are in the comments under my Youtube video crowing. They genuinely believe this is a real story. I pity them. They have fallen for it.
It’s low-level propaganda people. That is the simplest assumption and most likely the closest to the truth.
The final question we need to ask. Does Mikel Arteta have a history of losing his best players?
Not really.
Emi Martinez is the closest you’ll get on this one. But look, he’d been at Arsenal for a decade, he’d played 12 good games for Arsenal, and we stuck it out with a keeper who’d been a big performer for us. Do I regret that move? Absolutely, I preferred Emi, but let’s not pretend that this is the same thing.
We kept Auba when everyone thought he was leaving last season.
We signed Martinelli to a 5 year deal.
We signed Sir Bukayo Saka to a 5 year deal.
We even managed to tie down Flo Balogun to a 5 year deal, which absolutely no one thought was possible.
Actually, one more area to ponder.
Would Arsenal sell Smith Rowe to fund a bigger purchase?
Edu is in the last chance saloon this summer, he understands the fans, he knows what young players mean to us.
Vinai will absolutely know the power of young players, he’s seen the attachment we formed with players of the past, there’s simply no way our Chief Exec would not see this as a pivotal signing.
Finally, Arteta has made many mistakes, but I simply refuse to believe he doesn’t understand what Smith Rowe did for his career and what he means for the fans. You cannot talk about the values of Arsenal FC and not clearly understand that Smith Rowe is one of our top 3 players going into this season. He was the reasons we went on the post-Xmas run. He is the catalyst for energy in our starting 11. He is Star Boy #2. Arteta had to constantly tell journalists you can’t field 11 kids. He knows what Smith Rowe means to Arsenal fans.
If Occam’s razor could predict, it would probably say the most likely outcome here is that Emile Smith Rowe signs a new deal.
If this doesn’t happen, I am quitting the blog world. I will give the podcast to Johnny and Matt. I will never show my face on the internet again. I absolutely refuse to believe the club I love could do something as stupid as selling a 20 years old sensation like Smith Rowe. If they do, I think it was severely damage my relationship with the club and I think a lot of us feel that way.
So let’s see what Edu has got. If he does the deal here, you have to say, he’s moved us forward with regards to contracts. We’re stemming the flow of Serge Gnabry’s leaving the club. That’s a huge step forward.
In other news, it seems like we’re close to getting Tavares, Ben White, and Lokonga into the club. 3 players sub 24 years old. High levels of technical ability, all with there relevant athletic profile, all feels like they’ve been well scouted.
Ben White will probably take a while. The England player will have to have 4 weeks break and I very much doubt Arsenal are going to want to pick up wages for a player that isn’t at the training ground. There’s money to spend this summer, but remember, this is still the club that was rationing people’s microwave minutes last year to save money.
There will certainly be movement on the attacking midfielder front as well. James Maddison feels like a pipe dream, but who knows. I think Housem Auour at £30m could be the steal of the summer. I also think you have to allow Edu to get his kicks with Brazilians. Barcelona is in deep shit financially and I just can’t imagine Coutinho isn’t on a list somewhere. Say what you will about him, he’s played in the Premier League, he’s hugely experienced, he’s won things, and he’s better than anything we have at the moment. The job of that attacking role is to add goals and final balls. He offers both. I’d prefer it if we aged down, but as Edu deals go, this wouldn’t be the worst if you’re trying to bring Smith Rowe through with someone to learn from.
I also expect a right back to happen. Hector isn’t cutting it, Inter Milan is interested, if we move him on, we need to upgrade and find someone that can do the bits we need. I’d love it to be Ainsley, but I’m not sure he’s going to cut it after a duff loan move and all the other bits of nonsense that go on.
The big question I have is around Lokonga. Are we really going to role with him as a started next season? Seems a touch risky. The Belgian League isn’t strong and he’ll need time to adapt. Who is going to replace Granit Xhaka? The Italian press won’t leave the Premier League rumor alone. There’s talk that he is under a bid from England and it’s a big deal. Juventus hasn’t engaged yet and are obviously skint. He’s a very, very good player… but I just can’t see an Italian moving? They travel worse than English players. BUT… what a signings. AND… he’s a Kia player. Is the Brazilian Transfer Mafia going to do something nice for us this summer? Let’s see…
Ok, lots I’ve just rattled through today. Stay strong on Smith Rowe and believe that our club might have turned the corner on masochistic behavior.
RIGHT. I recorded a new podcast with Johnny… we dropped it on Twitch, people actually showed up… so here’s the video.
If you want the podcast in the normal place, find it here.
Borg could well have hit 20 though Sal you are right.
11 by age 25 is just stupid good.
Anyway, back to football.
PSG having quite the summer. Hakimi, Wijnaldum, Sergio Ramos and Donnarumma and 3 of those 4 on free transfers.
‘ The big 3 blow Sampas out of the water Dissenter’
Spoken like you’ve never watched Sampras before. His period of dominance was ridiculous. He was head and shoulders above everyone for a decent spell.
They’re becoming a bit Juventus like for stockpiling CMs now though.
Verratti, Paredes, Gueye, Danilo, Wijnaldum, Herrera, Rafinha.
PSG are forced to go for free transfer, because the DNCG (The Sport French authority) has told them that they need to sell for €200 millions or make another cash injection.
I expect them to sell many of their fringe players. They may even end up selling MBappe who have just told them he will not sign an extension. He wants to join Real Madrid, but would settle for Liverpool.
Haaland at Chelsea, MBappe at Liverpool, Torres at ManCity, I worry for the EPL defenders!
Liverpool interested in Saul of Atletico Madrid.
Giroud to AC Milan
Keylor Navas getting the hump and threatening to leave PSG because of the imminent arrival of Donnarumma although just today Navas has been given assurances that he will still be seen as No.1
And Barca loan with option to buy a little 18yo baller from Rapid Vienna by the name of Yusuf Demir for 500,00 euros. Will go into the Barca B team.
Brocco
I won’t lie, I wasn’t around for Sampras’ prime. No doubt a great player but 14 slams as impressive as it is, is quite a drop off from 20.
And you can’t say that they played in a weak era either as they had to play each other.
Could make a solid argument for Sampras being the Grass goat maybe, between him, Borg and Federer.
Would love us to go in for Keylor Navas.
Still a world class GK, not the youngest at 34 but it didn’t deter Fergie from getting Van Der Sar at age 35 from Fulham.
And Mourinho clearing the decks at Roma.
Eight players to be discarded by him.
These include Pedro Rodriguez, Justin Kluivert, Robin Olsen, Steven Nzonzi, Davide Santon, Javier Pastore, Ante Coric and Federico Fazio.
Good sign that by clearing the decks they can get Xhaka.
Arsenal has confirmed that our 19-year-old goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has signed a new contract and will be part of the first-team squad next season. He’s a bit of a giant at 6’6″ and he was a regular at under-23 level last season. Another coming through the academy and signing a contract, brilliant news.
Pedro Olumide, so… you’d have preferred to stay 15th all season? Rather that than show some promise and have some green shoots? — I want a guy who got us to consecutive 8th place finishes to get sacked. But you’re asking if I’ll prefer 15th? Maybe you don’t get my point. I’ll explain again. You promoted the ‘top 4 since Christmas’ table for weeks in this blog. If Arteta can achieve top 4 over 6 months, can we expect him to achieve it over a season? It’s a straightforward question. I asked you what success meant at the beginning of… Read more »
EPL is a big No for Mbappe,
it would end his career early because of injuries caused by impact
Nadal, Federer and Djokovic would have won 40+ grand slams each had they played in different eras. That’s why for me nobody comes even close to them, different class altogether.
“I asked you what success meant at the beginning of last season too.”
7th in the EPL with a League Cup win.
Wih no european football we can go all in for the League Cup.
AFC Forever First off, lets look at the current top 4. It consists of:1. Man City – the current Champions 2. Chelsea – the Champions League winners 3. Liverpool – the previous season’s PL winners 4. Man Utd – the big-spending biggest club in the world.Now you will of course have load the dice by claiming Arsenal should earn more points than any of the above. Andy had us within 2 points of Man City in his points prediction but that is fantasyland. Man Utd is probably the most vulnerable in that list, so we could replace them if the… Read more »
Anyone see the La Liga president Javier Tebas having a pop at financial doping? He spoke about the artificial increases in transfer fees and wages due to money coming from outside football, which I have been talking about. This was because of rumours Messi could be off to Man City now he’s a free agent. Tebas said La Liga would not relax their Financial Fair Play rules to allow Messi to stay at the Nou Camp, saying he must take a substantial pay cut. Tebas: “He won’t be able to sign for Barca on the previous conditions, that’s impossible. I… Read more »
AFC Forever Just shows what a good job Arteta has done in turning around the abject failure of Emery. He’s raised all your expectation levels!!I mean, he comes in after Emery dive bombs the team defensively, wins the FA Cup and then goes on a 23 game run second to Man City. No wonder you;re all expecting great things despite calling him names. — Emery finished 5th, 2 points away from 3rd, in his first full season. Arteta finished 8th, 6 points away from 4th, in his first full season (he had 6 months to prepare in the previous season).… Read more »
As for Tennis.The golden age was Bjorg ,Mckenroe,connors etc no question.As to the goat.Before my time & I suspect everyone else was the great Rod Laver who was not allowed to compete as a professional at his peak for many ,many years.Would have racked up a shed load of slam titles.
I watched a lot of tennis during Sampras era. His competitors were Agassi, Pat Rafter, Kafelnikov, Ivanisevic, Juan Carlos, Courier, Henmann, Rudeski, Moya etc. Bar Agassi who wasn’t a real top player himself given how inconsistent he was nobody really challenged Pete Sampras.
Other managers have expectations of what they should achieve.
Arteta has blind faith and can do no wrong.
The big worry is that the cult of Arteta has spread to the majority of fans in the stadium rather than just on here.
Olumide, what’s your plan post Arteta?
You have a coach that turned around a shit start to the season and accrued the second most points after that… who are you bringing in? What’s the plan?
Pedro I think it’s a fair question to ask you what you define success as this coming season in fairness to Olumide.
Pete Sampras retired age 32
Sampras wasn’t going to win many even if he continued post 32. Federer had a better and more rounded game than Sampras on all the courts in which he exceled ( grass and hard)
Post Diet Pep, bring in Mancini or Conte
The curve ball would be Mertesacker -German precision
Upon further reflection Sampras shouldn’t be considered amongst the Fed-Djok-Nad group.
His clay record was appalling, he never even made a French open finals. He was a serve and volley champion.
It’s always hard to compare players in different eras or generations.
Sampras just from checking the record had won 1 slam (2002 US Open) outside of Wimbledon from age 26-32.
Safe to say he was getting nowhere near 20 Slams even if he played into old age.
Sampras is fat Ronaldo, Federer is CR7
Pedro
Emery was 8th when he was sacked. Arteta finished in 8th. Where’s the turning of the form?
I also don’t think Emery took us down to 15th at any point.
Pedro Olumide, what’s your plan post Arteta?You have a coach that turned around a shit start to the season and accrued the second most points after that… who are you bringing in? What’s the plan? — If that coach just came in last season, that would be fine. But he came 8 months before. And he was one of the main reasons we had that shit start in the first place. It’s like commending someone for trying to clean, unsuccessfully, the mess they made. If a manager that was supposed to get us top 4 got us 8th after breaking… Read more »
I only have to suffer Diet Pep this season, very likely half of this season
You can take this to the bank!
‘Sampras is fat Ronaldo, Federer is CR7’
Fat Ronaldo was beautiful to watch, I found Sampras to be a bit boring really. Not quite a one trick pony but he was overly reliant on serve and volley.
The idea that we can chuck names out on a blog as being the right replacement for Arteta is a waste of time – it is interesting that we’re getting close to “you can’t sack Arteta because there’s no one to replace him”.
You bin Arteta and Edu and bring in a competent DOF – Rangnick was available up until a couple of days ago. You then let them bring in a manager, it doesn’t have to be a huge name just the right person. Preferably one who’s actually managed more than just putting cones out previously.
I think pretty much any manager last season would have done better than Arteta both in form and in the transfer market.
Copa America final is perhaps the biggest game for Messi since 2014 WC cup final. Really hoping the great champion wins the trophy. He has been very very unlucky with Argentina. 5 big finals with Argentina but a trophy is still elusive. Emi Martinez was perhaps the missing link in Argentina team
Sid
I did take this to the bank – they said there’s too many noughts
Yeah I am also pulling hard for Messi in the Copa Final tomorrow TR7.
He’s had his best ever Copa tournament, 4 goals and 5 assists and MOTM in all his games played. More than deserves a trophy with Argentina.
Feels inevitable that Brazil win and Neymar scores though. Better team around Neymar than Messi and at home.
Feeling really mixed emotions about this amazon doc. Although gotta say droppin that news right in the middle of a slow transfer window might give a few players cause to rethink n london… I’m so sick of marc posting about arteta. No one who supports him thinks his personality is worth joining a cult for. No one thinks he’s a fucking genius or deserves to be in the position he is. We were watching in the first half of the season when we were shit. We saw it get better in spring and we want more of that. Not a… Read more »
WE
Yes any other team than Brazil and I would have been very confident of Argentina lifting the trophy. Brazil in their own den are quite formidable. But yes would still be tragic if Messi missed out again. Nobody deserves it more than him. Don’t see Argentina contending for the next WC, so perhaps the last chance for Messi.
“it is interesting that we’re getting close to “you can’t sack Arteta because there’s no one to replace him“
Lol marc
Thats what so many have been saying for so long
I’m sorry rangnick was never available to us. Theres a reason we got stuck with mr ebening the first time around. A lot of people are wise to what a mess afc is behind the scenes and want no part when they can go somewhere where theyll have more control.
Olimide “We didn’t sack Emery because he failed to win the FA cup but because he failed to get the Champions League”. WRONG. WRONG. All you Emery apologists talk utter bollocks. Danny S, raptora, Andy & anyone else who thinks Unai Emery was doing a great job are hypocrites. He left us in a fucking mess!! Emery was sacked ………when Arsenal was sitting in 8th position and our performances had been declining for a long time. We had just suffered a shock home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt and boo’s were ringing around the stadium. “No tactics, no formation, nowhere to… Read more »
It’s like 8th in the EPL and out of europe for the first time in eons didn’t happen.
It’s been deleted already in some people’s memory.
To just say that Arteta can improve would seem a little resonable but oh no apparently Arteta is proving his doubters wrong at this point lol
To go out to Emery in the manner he did in the EL and finish 8th in the EPL with no european football is quite clownish tbf.
Evening,
In this day and age, it only takes one rumour from a tabloid to fly around the internet and appear on hundreds of sites, so people then think it’s true.
I have no love for arteta or the rest of the idiots running our club, but I find it hard to believe we would have gone for Ramos or that we are considering letting Esr go.
99% is bullshit from lazy journalists.
Notice that afcforever did not make reference to his personality once. The closest he came was calling him tactically astute.
So much for the cult of personality eh
“I’m so sick of marc posting about arteta.”
I, for one, agree with Marc here. #ArtetaOut
If he plays good football, bring us in Champions League, I will bite my tongue and praise him here.
That’s what a supporter do!
Afc,
Emery did an ok job and was unlucky, he was an auba penalty miss away from third.
He wasnt backed in his first transfer window, and had less control than arteta.
He didnt leave a shit show, sorry but that was all on Wenger.
The club had deteriorated long before emery appeared.
Emery was ousted because he lost the dressing room. Ozil was going bonkers and Xhaka was telling fans to fuck off.
Arteta, saw us 15th and the worst start since I was born. He is still here, buying a 50m CB with a ‘third best defence’, signed Willian, ostracized kids for Willian and you expect us to support him?
I would love to see Konte spending that money. If not, promote big Per.
If Freddie was given some months, you would have seen some more Saka and Balogun playing regular football for us, and called one of the biggest talents of current era.
Freddie was on the right path, nobody can dispute that
Olumide, you don’t have any ideas because most options aren’t that great. You want a rockstar? We just saw where Spurs landed with that. You want a young coach with new ideas… all of them would have gone through the same growing pains at a big club with players that thought they owned the place. Arsenal needed a huge shift and that meant asking big names to do new things. You want to go with Nuno, Martinez, or Rafa? Be my guest, but we know the ceiling with those types. Arteta might not work out, but we’ve had 6 months… Read more »
The only positive I could see is tying up the youngsters. Balogun, Saka, hopefully ESR, Okonkwo. I don’t know if it’s Edu or Arteta, but whoever the fcuk is doing it, is doing great job.
The problem with Freddie was, the players knew he was a stop gap for a few weeks.
He might have been better to throw a few more kids in and go for it.
Could have gone either way but when you consider where we finished Freddie for six months might have worked?
Up
The worst would have been we finishing 8th that year 😉
Pedro
Since your here how about you put us all out of our misery, and tell us where you think we should finish next season and if it isn’t top four should arteta be fired?
What are your expectations for the season?
Brazil haven’t lost a home Copa America game in 46 years, quite an astounding record. Odds stacked against Messi and Co.
Mb,
Have to agree yes it was nice to win the fa cup again, but maybe a ditching of the old players might have been better in the long run.
Up 4 grabs now “The club had deteriorated long before emery appeared”. Yes, I agree. Both Arteta and Emery inherited a damaged squad and a history of poor business. It was a difficult job for them both. However, Arteta inherited the additional problems Emery had caused like the serious defensive tactical deficiencies, the ease at which teams could get at our defence, and the loss of confidence. I liked Unai Emery and I wish him all the best but as someone who doesn’t like sacking managers, I wanted Emery gone. It was the right decision, it was dreadful to watch… Read more »
He has No answer, has No expectations
Pedro,
What do you know that we don’t? Why are you so sure we’re going to have a great summer?
I’m not saying we won’t but why are you so sure we will?
Mb
Yes, we all love seeing the youngsters coming through the academy and being promoted to the first-team squad. Okonkwo is an interesting one because I like to see a ‘big’ goalkeeper. He’s only 19 and he’s 6ft 6″ I believe. Intimidating for strikers.
I think the FA Cup & Carabao cup should do it for Arteta next season . The double is incoming guys , why cant you see it.
Emery damaged the squad by Not replacing players that create between the lines
The same as Diet Pep, thought Willian was a between lines creator
To get Tr4phy a team needs a minimum of 3 between the lines creators.
If Diet pep goes into the season with only ESR, his goose is cooked.
I sense that Be Careful What You Wish For is going to be a very powerful narrative this season.
Afc, Emery lost the dressing room, so he had to go. I have no problem with that. Unfortunately some senior players were trouble makers and they should have been moved on first. Emery inherited a mess and was given 68million to totally renew the squad while teams like west ham wolves Fulham were spending double that. He lost Tierney for huge chunks of his debut season which didn’t help the defence. He also lost bellerin for the season from October and had to rely on a 34 year old stopgap. He stupidly relied on xhaka something that arteta did as… Read more »
Pedro “Arteta might not work out, but we’ve had 6 months of progress. The players understand the system better than they did last season. We’ve got rid of the bums” We had an instant improvement after the debacle that was Emery, including an FA Cup trophy that nobody thought possible at the start of the season. Without the opportunity of enjoying his first pre-season with the players due to Covid-19, we went into a new season and struggled until Arteta bought in players and changed our tactical set-up. At the same time, he had to get shot of some deadwood… Read more »
I am hearing Smith Rowe has signed
Pedro owns a DeLorean. He has seen the future. We are cleaning up next season.
Elmo, we don’t need to run that narrative, because Spurs have just shown us the path that people are pushing here.
They sacked a young an dynamic manager.
They hired in a ‘winner’
Sacked him… because they believed they could land a rockstar
Missed out on about 17 managers… now they are rocking Nuno
At least when I was calling Emery a bum, I had ideas. No one calling for the sack seems to… and I’n sorry, ‘hire Conte’ really isn’t an idea.
Realistically we need four first team regulars to get above 10 league goals.
And probably Auba to be one of those to get above 20.
Play a 442 with Esr and partey in the middle.
Martinelli and auba up top with saka and pepe on the wings.
With wingers the fullbacks don’t have to bomb on so much and that protects the defence.
What’s the worst that will happen we finish eighth again?
All the villa blogs saying ESR has or is about to sign a 5 year deal with us
Up 4 grabs “He stupidly relied on xhaka something that arteta did as well” Arteta got Xhaka performing better because he played to his strengths. It wasn’t luck. Emery played to his weaknesses. I have said this before, in the system Emery deployed Xhaka was often isolated in one on ones which he doesn’t have the pace for, so he made rash decisions. Nobody can ever convince me about Emery, I can’t change my mind from when he was the Manager, the football was just too bad. It was like the Alamo watching teams tearing us apart in transition. There… Read more »
Mr Serge, in doubt for about 12 seconds. ESR love The Arsenal. What a player we have there.
Love the AST response to Arsenal Twitters “You asked for it.We listened” (paraphrasing) in regard to the Amazon doc.
It was along the lines of , no we asked for fan representation and influence on certain decision making, more engagement from the owners with the club and fans, a better performance from the ownership in general.
This documentary will be a horror show in all likelihood. Hard to imagine a stout Arsenal fan being in favour of it although we will all likely be masochists and watch it.
Good news today about the academy keeper signing on though.
Pedro how old is pochetino hardly young and up and coming.
And don’t forget five years and still won bugger all.
So, we have posters defending a manager that lost the dressing room with shit tactics that the players didn’t understand – the height of it was Iwobi coming in as a sub and asking what formation we were on. I can’t but laugh with the look on his face when teams pierce our midfield like we had no one there. The “cojones” mantra came to be.
We were pummeled in the final his apologists used to measure his success.
The “We are Auba penalty miss from top 4) mantra is now shamefully used to showcase their ineptitude of thoughts.
Afc,
Nice to chat, enjoy your steak!
“I’m so sick of marc posting about arteta. ”
I’m so sick of the excuses, the moved goal posts and then more fucking excuses. If you don’t like my posts don’t read them.
Pedro he sure does if it’s correct it’s great news hope he got a good deal
Marc you can’t help reading them they are everywhere lol
Emery missed out on top four by a point and lost the EL final to the future CL winners while playing the likes of headless chicken rebel without a cause Guendouzi , and the crying midget the English weather makes me sad Torreira some 6k >minutes in his midfield……and that was considered a sacking offense by the same posters who no longer have specific goals for Arsenal under Arteta because………… “every other team will improve”, apparently.
Maybe instead of wasting their precious time debating the negative Nellies on here they should go into politics.
They’ll fit right in.
If the ESR stories are true that’s good news. It was always unlikely we’d sell him but it really isn’t what you want to keep hearing.
Serge
I’ve only been commenting on Arteta when he comes up as the subject on here. Beyond that we’re stuck with him for the time being and I’m resigned to that – he’ll get sacked at some point in the season I’d prefer it to sooner but it will happen when it happens. Fans in the stadium will see to it.
Tee, With two games to go auba missed the penalty in the last minute that means we finish fifth instead of third and back in the champions league. That’s how close to emery being declared a success we were. He had to go because senior players downed tools. But history is being rewritten and goal posts moved to accommodate arteta. If fifth is a disgrace and losing to Chelsea in the Europa league final is so bad? what is finishing 8th and getting knocked out by olympiakos Or finishing 8th and getting knocked out by the manager who you replaced?… Read more »
Marc, then stop talking about Arteta every day and talk about other things. You have literally no ideas. You just say ‘guh, my standards are so high, things should be better’
Tell is the masterplan? What are you doing different? Put a view out there that isn’t the exact same one you share every day.
Tom, no… Emery had a exceptionally lucky run, which people called, then once the last remnants of Wenger died… so did everything else.
He choked his first season, the defence was utterly shite, and he never managed to rescue it.
Players hated him, he lost control behind the scenes, and he failed to master the language. He was also hired as part of a dirty Raul deal and he knew it.
So, no, he wasn’t sacked for being amazing and no, what you are seeing now is not the same.
Don’t reimagine the past, we were all there suffering it.
Pedro
I’ve already put up what I’d do – hour or two ago. As for the idea we should talk about everything but the manager is a bit odd. We had a conversation about what business we think we’ll do this summer last night. I’m happy to engage on most subjects around the club or football at large.
Have you heard what the club is doing about changing allocation for final or semi final tickets for example?
I have not heard about it Marc?
The question is has Arsenal already stepped away from seriously competing at the higher end of football for the time being and no FA Cup and League Cup is not the real highest end of football any more with the appointment of Arteta himself. We have already seen the effect Arteta’s appointment has had on many fans. Their demands just a year before of CL qualification via the league was dropped in the words of patience and long run planning. What appointing a bigger name manager does is keep those previous demands which have now gone in place or now… Read more »
Pedro
So they’re changing it from away ticket credits to home attendance credits. Now the club say it’s after consultation with fan groups etc but I wonder if they’re trying to make sure ST holders don’t keep a ticket and keep sticking it up on ticket exchange.
Why are some players being wilfully dim with their comparisons between Emery and Arteta still? If we buy a 28 year old striker with great pedigree in Europe the expectations are relative to that, if we buy a 19 year old hot prospect then the expectations too reflect that. There’s no equivalency simply because they play for Arsenal, their personal circumstances are factored. Finishing 5th wasn’t the reason Emery was sacked, those in charge actually rallied behind him despite the supportive data that pointed to a decline over the 12 months in charge. They doubled down on the appointment and… Read more »
The remit is simple, we are a big club but a sleeping giant if you will, it has to be CL or bust this year – do or die.
I am not a fan in the slightest of Arteta but he will have to get it together for us to attain CL so I obviously want him to do well.
CC
Arsenal have never been a club that you can accuse of being gung ho on firing people – the closet we’ve got to that in “modern” times is with Rioch and he fell out with David Dein.
Not a great idea if you want to keep your job.
Well I just read this from a reliable Twitter account who has gotten almost every deal right last summer and this summer too. It says Houssam Aouar is available for € 20 mil. The sticking point is Lyon want it paid upfront. They lowered the asking price because they need money now. And we don’t have any to pay upfront because we just paid Brighton 35 mil for white upfront and the rest for the lokonga and Tavarez deals. We are waiting to sell players before conducting the rest of our business. And Aouar’s agents are in London for talks… Read more »
In any business in the world if you don’t make your target unless you just narrowly miss it, your probably fired. Finish fourth is the target for emery in his first season. He narrowly missed it emery got a second chance.and was kept on. Second season we were eighth when he got the sack, maybe he might have turned it around? probably not but we’ll never know. Arteta is told get us into fourth, it was unlikely since he had only half a season left and instead we finished in eighth where he found us. He gets the benefit of… Read more »
Up 4 Grabs
“And if arteta doesn’t get us top four is it time to move him on?”
All depends on whether he wins the League Cup or not.
Win that and it’s three trophies in two and a half seasons. FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield.
He would be dripping with trophies the man
We finished a few points off what our actual level last season, and the FA Cup + Europa league exists were meek A new manager has to come in, evaluate the situation, give senior players a chance to fail, then take stock of his lot, and react The reason for that is we don’t have a structure built around the head coach, that the head coach then fits into It’s one thing coming into a structure like Chelsea with the level of talent they have, it’s entirely another to come into one as disorganised and imbalanced as ours I’d rather… Read more »
AFCF Kindly post any quote of mine where I say that Emery was doing a great job or shut the fuck up with your straw man bullshit.