“Before the coach arrived I was in the shadows, on the bench, and I accepted that. It is a pleasure to play again. Now I am always smiling.” – Paul Pogba after their miraculous 0-1 win over Tottenham Hotspurs at Wembley.
Here’s a controversial opinion, one which I reserve the right to change my mind on given new evidence. The one argument that I can’t get my head around this season is that Unai Emery can’t be expected to fix the problems in this Arsenal team in just 6 months.
The main problems plaguing Arsenal last season were an atrocious away form which was built around an error prone defense. You’ve heard me say this before but it’s worth repeating; Arsenal committed the most defensive errors of any team last season* and are well on our way to a second successive first place finish in the Leno-Xhaka Trophy.
Last season it was Cech who led the way with 6 errors for goals. This season it’s Granit and Leno who have combined for 6. And while most fans agree that Mustafi falling down when he meant to tackle should count as an error, the German has only conceded 1 penalty all season. This shows a bit of the error in these stats because his indecisiveness and often calamitous defending exposes others on the pitch, they then get the error while he gets a “failed tackle”.
But regardless of quibbles with how the stats are collected and their meaning, the fact is that Arsenal are the most comically error-prone defense in the League. A fact that is proven by both stats and the eye test.
This is all I wanted Emery to do this season, make us more solid defensively and less error-prone. Starting with the back, we build a solid foundation from which we can then challenge, next season, with a Top Four Trophy push.
Early on, it looked like he was going to do it. I’ve long been ridiculed for my stance that “signing a Kante” (I also say Gueye and Ndidi fit this) would fix our problems and sure enough, Unai went out and got Torreira.
Comically, some folks tried to compare Torreira to Cazorla but the stats were conclusive: he’s an out-and-out defense-minded midfielder but one with a little more going forward than you might expect.
That signing plus the change to a two-man midfield seemed like the answer to our prayers. We would finally have the midfield shield that we needed and more importantly we would have a midfield partnership that we could build a possession-based offense around.
At the same time, Emery promised us all a “high pressing team” and the club told us that Emery came to the interview with precise details on how he would improve existing players. We all presumed this meant that he would make Xhaka, Özil, and Mustafi better defenders, improve Iwobi in attack, get Ramsey to settle into the midfield, bring Bellerin back from the dead, and turn Sead Kolasinac into an actual defender rather than some perverted winger.
He has improved Iwobi, unquestionably. He has also made Bellerin basically undroppable. But as for the rest of the team, there seems to be little to no improvement. Instead of improving Özil’s pressing, we are now asking what the hell is going on as the two of them seem to be locked in some public war. Xhaka is still a magnificent passer who literally has no clue how to defend. Mustafi gives his own teammates the shits. Ramsey is also undroppable, but in a weird position up top that should be where Ozil is playing, except see above: the Mesut-Unai war. And while Kolasinac is imperious going forward, the back line has more holes in it than one of those $300 pairs of designer jeans.
I’m not at all #emeryout but I do think it’s fair for fans to look around at the other top teams and ask why our manager isn’t fulfilling his promises. Every team in the Premier League has a clear identity, except Arsenal and Everton. Even Cardiff, with their 52% pass completion rate has an identity. So, why can’t we have one?
This is the bit I can’t get my head around. Is it just that he’s new? Do we really need to clear out every player before Unai can instill his vision? That seems awfully frustrating, especially since Arsenal have no money to do that. If I’m honest, I can’t see Arsenal sanctioning a clear out. We just don’t have the funds. We also can’t take a bath on dumping bad players. That means Emery HAS to get the best out of Mustafi, Ozil, and Xhaka.
The teams that made managerial changes this summer were Arsenal, Everton, West Ham, and Chelsea. All of those managers were backed with big money signings. And since the start of the season, Southampton fired Mark Hughes, Man U fired Jose, and Fulham brought in the Tinkerman.
West Ham and Chelsea have a clear identity, Everton and Arsenal not so much. So, it’s a 50-50 right now in terms of managers coming in and getting the team to play the way that they want. I accept that. We can’t just jump right in after 6 months with a team as bad as Arsenal were last season and expect Arsenal to challenge for the Top Four Trophy. As for the other teams and their mid-season managerial changes I think we have to wait a little longer before we can proclaim anything. Though, it is clear that the Manchester United players like playing for Solskjaer.
I joked around on twitter that United needed an Arsene Wenger to come in and just let the players express themselves. Solskjaer seems to have done that, though there are folks like Jonathan Wilson who are ready to proclaim that Ole is the real deal – a true tactical mastermind. If you watched the Tottenham – Man U match I don’t think you could count that second half as a tactics masterclass. United were seriously buffeted by Tottenham and but for some incredible saves by de Gea (plus a horrible miss by Winks) the London team should have at least taken a point.
But the United fans and the United players are having fun. And that for me is the point of all of this. There are only two reasons to follow the football: for fun and for friendship. Most of us aren’t leaving the Arsenal no matter how ugly things get because of the latter but what we REALLY want is the former. We had some of that this season, beating Spurs 4-2 at home was the high point of a 22 game unbeaten run. Maybe that’s our high point. Maybe we slip back into the old Arsenal under Wenger and spend the next 5 months working on problems, trying to get the team’s defense more confident and solid.
Like I said at the start, I don’t know. I do know that it’s all very frustrating. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not calling for Emery’s head. And I don’t think going back to Wenger – even though I love and miss that man – is the answer. I’d just like it if we could play like we did against Spurs more often.
*I count errors that lead to a goal, penalties conceded, and own goals.
Thanks Tim. You’ve summed up my feelings exactly. The 22 game run set unrealistic expectations. It’s all about trajectory and we are now pointing downward. Had we struggled throughout the first part of the season, we would have all chalked it up to the new system. But getting a huge bounce let us see the possibilities and have us hope prematurely. Now we are again staring into the abyss midway through the season and it feels like no progress has been made,bringing back bad memories and old fears. I too will continue to be patient as this was never an easy fix.
I think we all saw this coming, Man U rising from the ashes caused by Mourinho the arsonist.
You could literally go up and down their line up and pick world class talent any top club manager would give his left one to see on his team.
Also, Spurs were unlucky to lose that game.
People compare the Pogba/Mourinho situation with Ozil/ Emery at Arsenal and while from the defensive stand point – both players admit to not liking playing much defense- this might be quite similar , in many other aspects of the game there are major differences between the two.
For starters, Pogba is a physical specimen you can build a squad around, while Ozil in comparison, despite his technical brilliance , is a fragile flower that needs just the right conditions to flourish.
I’ve always said Emery wasn’t in the Pep, Klopp tier and he would need more time to put his stamp on this team but I agree that thus far it’s been underwhelming to say the least.
Table position-wise Arsenal are right where I expected them to be but style-wise , and here I agree with most, it’s been disappointing.
Yeah, I don’t think the comparison with Solksjaer is at all apt. This is a honeymoon period for a manager who is, let’s not forget, getting one of the most talented squads in the league. United fell apart in the second half v Spurs. I’m not buying the idea that Woodward have somehow unearthed a tactical genius.
I’m a bit baffled by Emery, but I also get that he inherited a terrible defender in Mustafi, for example, at the same time that our best defender over the last several years was injured, and then lost Holding (who was starting ahead of Mustafi) to a season-ender. He inherited a squad without a single defensive midfielder, and now wants to avoid burning out the lone player at the club brought in who can play that position. He lost Bellerin for a long spell and had to play Lichtsteiner at times (whom he also inherited from Mislintat and Gazidis). Our defense is so bad that we’re sitting here pining for the return of Rob Holding! I mean, he’s fine, but…really?
Is an overhaul needed? Yes. Are we going to get one. Nope. This is on the club, and, sad to say, Wenger, who, for the last several years, brought in a lot of mediocre talent and shipped some of that for a fraction of what we paid. This team is built from a long, long period of poor decisions in terms of squad-building and contract situations.
As for the current regime. I think they’ve done well bringing in Torreira and Guendouzi (though why the latter gets picked every game is mystifying, and that’s on Emery), and even Sokratis, but there are question marks over Leno (who is better than Cech, though), and Lichsteiner was a gamble (a failed one, obviously) that, for me, highlights a mandate from above: there will be very limited funds available for transfers.
That ‘leaked’ memo, though, about cutting costs in every department…that’s a joke, right? That’s got to be some sort of giant troll job? I don’t know. If true, it makes us look so, so small time. I mean, more than we already look.
Ah well, maybe Denis Suarez (loans only!) can save us!
I would have given Emery a pass on not having the defense sorted at this point. But to take what was clearly perceived as the team’s strength – its attacking players – and completely dismantle it is inexcusable. I don’t understand how he could decide to discard both Ramsey and Ozil and expect to win games. The defense is still not up to that task, and footballistically speaking we are very dull to watch.
I think the new players brought in have been a sign of Arsenal improving with scouting and valuations.
Arsenal paid for Guendouzi €8 m and his current transfermarkt value is at €20.
Torreira from £27m paid to £50m.
Sokratis from £14m to £18m
Leno stayed the same at €25m.
Although this is the same transfermarkt that has Xhaka’s value at €50 ( €41m fee paid) , when most Arsenal fans think he might be the worst Wenger buy in his last few years.
Go figure.
Arsenal fans have a tendency of scapegoating certain players (Iwobi, Bellerin and Mkhitaryan) and not comparing our players with their counterparts at other teams to see how good they really are (Xhaka). There is also a tendency to plainly ignore stats, context and criticize without reason (Ozil).
So transfermarkt doesn’t take the fans of English teams into account, because there is so much change in opinions over short time periods. In a month, a player in England can go from an undropable player for the team, to useless (Xhaka in November, compared to December).
Hell, Ozil is apparently not good enough for games away in the Premier League that he has played in since 2013.
Just want to go on record that I have wanted Xhaka sold since about year two of this slow-moving disaster.
Heh, slow-moving disaster.
Excellent post, Bunburyist.
Also, we’ve got to return to four at the back, don’t we? I mean, if Koscielny is up to it, play him and Sokratis at CB, Bellerin at RB, and Monreal at LB. I think the move to the back three was a reaction to the injury crisis, but with the recent return of those players, we should be able to play that formation. Mind you, that would mean a 4-2-3-1, in all likelihood, which is fine for the 4 and the 2, but when you get to the 3 and 1, there’s a bit of mental gymnastics, given what we have available.
Bun – I think you’ve nailed it here, all around. 3 at the back makes us completely reliant on the wingbacks for attack. And while Kola and Bellerin can help there, we’re bereft of any threat in the middle. 4 atb gives us another player in the middle – and perhaps that’s what Emery would like for Ozil. his defensive liabilities might be more easily masked with 4 atb and 3 in midfield? Hoping… But not very hopeful.
The last few years with Wenger the teams performances were trending downwards. I think that trend has been largely arrested and despite the poor results recently, we’ve stabilized. We’re a 6th place team, I thought that’s where we would end up this year, and Europa League was always going to be our best shot at Champions League.
At what point can we write the season off and let the kids get the bulk of the starts from here on out? What’s the difference between 6th or 8th or 10th? Let’s see which kids are worth keeping, which ones we can recoup some decent money for and let Emery show us what his style would look like on a tabula rasa.
“At what point can we write the season off and let the kids get the bulk of the starts from here on out? “
In the league……if we lose to Chelsea.
But we are still in Europe and it wouldn’t be feasible to play kids in the league while we are still alive in Europe.
“…..and are well on our way to a second successive first place finish in the Leno-Xhaka Trophy”.
I don’t often laugh the place down reading stuff on 7am… I just did. Thanks for the dark humour, Tim.
Excellent, im,
A first class exposition and analysis of the current situation.
I am in the camp of some of the greatest, and most successful managers who have, in their own words, said that a trophy winning team is built from the back.
Obviously ‘back’ in this instance, and just for absolute clarity, means the team’s defence, and frankly, if any proof of this is required just look at how shaky Arsenal looked at the end of AW’s reign and the start of Emery;s reign.
Dodgy defence = inadequate team = trophyless Gunners.
Improving our defense, banishing November wobbles and making us play more consistently over the crowded winter period were my measures for/of Emery. I can cut him some slack with the last 2, but I’m especially disappointed in the clown shoes, panicky defending. We’d have beaten United at Old Trafford but for that, when they were there for the taking under Mourinho. Now that door has closed, and my money is on them putting us out of the FA Cup, and getting something from the league game at the Emirates, probably a win.
Why are Mustafi and Xhaka so bad? Reading of danger, that’s why. 80% of their play is reactive. Commenters have been saying that we are after Ever Banega to replace Ramsey. No, sah. It’s Xhaka suckas! (copyright joshuad).
Mustafi, Xhaka and Kolasinac all struggle with their defensive awareness. Do you think it could be a Bundesliga thing? (I know Mustafi has traveled around but still..)
I’ve no idea, Shard. But Per Mertesacker makes me think otherwise. He was an extremely good reader of the game, and a really good defender until age caught up with him
Hummels has declined a bit, but at his best, he was the complete central defender. Im inclined to think that we broke Mustafi. He was a just outside the automatic picks for Germany, now he’s nowhere near good enough for a recall.
Sad but true.
It was just a thought because watching the Bundesliga a couple of years ago I couldn’t help but think that the defending there is worse than the PL.
Will try to be quick because I have a work call in 5 to talk about boring things.
1. Look at Man Utd. Man for man they are better than us over probably 60-70% of the pitch. Lukaku, Pogba, De Gea, etc. There are top players there. Their problem wasn’t one of quality, it was of motivating and playing for a tool. You’re spot on when you say they ‘need a Wenger’ – they got one in Ole. It’ll fade and they’ll regress to somewhere between where they are now and where they where at the end of Mourinho.
2. I thought Emery could come in and coach these guys into shape, too. But I think it may be a case that much of the team is simply uncoachable. Monreal and Kos, for example, are admirable and solid players, forced into mediocrity by Wenger’s chaos. They’re also old, and ain’t learning new tricks. Xhaka and Mustafi are buffoons and there’s no hope there. Basically, anyone who’s been here for too long and isn’t super young or super willing will not learn and probable needs to move on. Emery has got a few players in and apart from Licht all have got broadly positive reviews. How then isn’t the team better than it was last year? Because half the players are uncoached/uncoachable. Can Kolasinac, Iwobi, Ozil (HA!), Ramsey (HA!), Welbeck, etc. change their ways? Or does Emery need to replace them with players who have learned how to play tactically elsewhere, who can be taught to play as part of a team?
Not sure if the second point is true; it’s my theory for now.
You’d really have Lukaku over Abau or Lacazette? I broadly agree that they have better players in most positions, but I wouldn’t at all agree that Lukaku is one of them.
Thanks Tim. Enjoyed this post. A couple of points from me. I watch AFC for two reasons – for fun and for winning. Like all sports I follow winning is a major part. As a fan of 30 years I have an expectation we have a chance of winning most competitions we enter each year. I think this goes for most fans particularly those who pay to attend games. I believe Emery was set the objective of getting us back into the Top 4 this season, primarily through the league. No-one from the club spoke about transition years; and I believe he will be evaluated by our final league standing as the chief (not sole) criteria. Also factoring that Emery is first team Head Coach and therefore does not have all the other responsibilities Wenger carried (in fact the opposite as Emery has a hit team of specialists supporting him) I think it’s fair to expect more by now. There are several frequent posters who last year claimed all we needed was a half decent coach; the jury’s out as to whether we currently have one. We have a tough immediate schedule. If we exit the FA Cup and lose to Chelski in the league I think it may be too much for many fans. If we finish sixth, say 10 points or more from 4th place and 25 points or more from 1st place is that acceptable?
For a while I saw more flexibility than I expected from Emery but this has turned into obsessive tinkering and stubborn selections. My concern all along was that he would be too tactically rigid, too controlling, he would want functional players executing well-defined functional roles, and that wouldn’t work well with our jazz artisans. Now we have lost Ramsey and Ozil is getting frozen out – two of our most positionally vague, improvisational, nonconforming players. I’m not massively surprised.
I’m still interested to see where this goes, he could still build a really exciting team, but the signs are confusing.
We are 14th in transfer spend since 2010,
https://talksport.com/football/418688/europe-top-20-biggest-spending-clubs-transfer-fees/
and we are the 15th best club in the world according to advanced metrics:
https://talksport.com/football/418688/europe-top-20-biggest-spending-clubs-transfer-fees/
I don’t believe in coincidences in this regard, my friends. Arsenal are performing exactly as you’d expect given the recent level of investment, regardless of whether it’s Wenger or someone else at the helm. Wenger had to go because nobody believed in him anymore, not because he lacked ability.
The identity of your manager matters only if you happen to have one of the few who actually adds (or takes away) something to his team’s expected performance; those are rare and Emery was not one of them in his time with PSG.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329886427_The_impact_of_football_club_managers_on_their_teams'_performance
I believe that clears the whole thing up, so now we can get back to enjoying our usual Arsenal fare without too many delusions of grandeur. We are the comfortable suburban neighborhood of the PL, the one without the fancy fountains but it’s perfectly safe for kids and it will be around forever. Please mail any complaints to Kroenke enterprises, LLC, they will return your messages after the Rams season is over.
Whoops, bad link copying on my part, so now you get two for the price of one. Club elo has us at exactly 14th (http://clubelo.com/) and the euro club index has us at 15th (https://www.euroclubindex.com/).
This is definitely a recognised thing and it even has a name – I think it’s called the attribution error. E.g. studies have shown that most CEOs, despite their astronomical pay, do not affect their company’s fortunes one way or the other, yet we attribute a company’s success to strategy and wisdom of leaders rather than fortune, probability or randomness.
This is kind of what I mean above when calling Emery a tinkerman – I think he thinks he can have a bigger effect on the outcome of matches than he really does. Sure, sometimes your substitutions will have an impact but who’s to say the guy you just took off wasn’t about to score as well?
The counter-evidence is that he got 22 wins on the spin even though we looked shambolic at times, so he was either very lucky or he does know something we don’t.
Hey Doc, you are wrong about Wenger. He was great for a while, but he lost the plot and that was why he was sacked: results were declining and there were several poor recruitment decisions credited to him, which stopped the team from being a top team, petering onto being average in certain positions.
1. Sczseny’s sale. Now we bought Leno to bounce back.
2. Gabriel Paulista sold instead of Mustafi.
3. Matt Debuchy sold instead of Jenkinson.
4. Kolasinac on a free transfer into mega wages.
Perhaps the most disturbing is Kolasinac, how was he scouted? He was so poor defensively that Wenger had to play Maitland Niles ahead of him, when Monreal was injured.
I have just mentioned a few reasons why the team is where it is and we need to at least do the basics well to be regarded as title contenders.
We have poor players in Xhaka and Mustafi, players we paid a premium for, so we can conclude that Wenger was found out, and forced out because he was no longer the high flying manager he was, earlier in his career.
Those are all 6-1, 1/2 dozen or the other to me, LA.
I don’t think we’re too far off from ManU in terms of quality of players. De Gea is clearly better, and you could argue Pogba is better when playing well thanany of our midfielders. They were clearly being held back by Mourinho(and given the results at his last two jobs, you’d have to be pretty stupid to give him a large/long contract at this point). They’re doing better now as they do have a non-Mou bounce, and they have a fair number of folks that have now played together for 2 seasons. And they could easily have lost that game yesterday without a standout performance by DeGea. He was a as good as he was against us in that one ridiculous game.
Emery does deserve some time. He’s had a lot of injuries to deal with and a hangover due to bad transfer/contract business done by Wenger/Gazidis.
But I’m still puzzled by not even wanting Ozil as an option given we’re so thin, and by the constant changing of line-ups even when we don’t have injury issues. The Torreira/Xhaka match seemed to work well, why not stick to it if at all possible?
Sarri wants to replace Fabregas with a similar player…and probably Chelsea could afford his wages… Would you do a deal?
I would. Hazard is probably on his way out, and given Özil’s preferred manner of playing, we might be sending the chavs a bit of a Trojan horse.
Rob Holding.
Until Holding went down there was a semblance of a defense forming. Papa and Rob were working on the start of a partnership. Holding could anchor and Papa (like Loki) could maraud and deploy his bag of dark tricks. Bellerin was leading the team in assists and we were patching together at LB from match to match.
Expecting Emery to get more– or better out of Xhaka or Mustafi? Chances were slim with a full squad. Nil when the two must start (and will refuse conjecture about Ozil at present).
Transition year. All I can muster is a shrug.
What? You thought there was some grand plan to damn-near name Mikel Arteta the Newman– then grab a guy that was on no one’s radar (certainly not Ornstein’s)?
That Ivan (one-foot-in-Milan) Gazidis was going to put up a fight when Unai’s Powerpoint slides and Excel tables convinced everyone else? Not with millions waiting and a one-way ticket waiting at the kiosk. Credit to UE for interviewing like a champ.
But the chances of Unai Emery restitching this crazy-quilt of a roster back into a team that would hold together for 50+ matches? Injury-free? An outside chance. Seemed he really did have something going versus Pool, then Spurs.
Then Rob Holding went down.
jw1
We have to face some hard facts. At the top of it is the fact that AFC with its self sustaining model cannot rebuild the team with a quick turnover of its playing personnel. The City model is out of the question for us.
What it means is that the coach we need is more of a coach with the creative talent for bringing the best from the players available to him. In other words we need a very adaptive coach and not one with a preconceived and rigid idea of what has to be implemented irrespective of the materials at hand.
Klopp’s Dortmond was hinged on gengen pressing, creativity and quick transition from back to front. His Liverpool team is hinged on pressing, hard work and quick brakes.
Is Emery too rigid? Difficult to say, his “face off” with Ozil notwithstanding. Obviously he’s been searching for solutions: formation changes, reshuffling of personnel, pressing and near absence of pressing etc.
I don’t believe it was him who took Ramsey’s contract off the table. He is simply a head coach and he is used to that system. As for his face off with Ozil, I dare to say that since Ozil got his bumper deal his performance nose dived. His game became a bit too nonchalant. Any coach would find that insufferable. The shame is that without Ramsey and Ozil, Auba and Laca are rendered impotent and that’s our season gone. Something has to give!
Can anyone explain the rationale behind Emery’s bizarre half press?
Attack the ball deep in the opponents half, then drop deep and let the opposition have the ball a bit, then press them again once they’ve carried the ball up field so that any missed tackle results in a giant hole in the centre of midfield or behind the defence on the wings…
Also is Leno really that error prone or does he just not command his box much? Thanks.
That’s Emery’s, in his own words “I’ll rather win 5-4 than 1-0” approach..
Aaaah, right. It does seem to take away some of the confidence from the attacking part of Arsenal’s game though, knowing the team is so brittle in their own half.
I just expected Emery to use Reiss Nelson as a #7 wing forward. My main expectation it was. Alas, he was sent on loan, now Mhkitaryan is out, Welbeck’s season is over and we are auditioning Maitland Niles as Right wing forward, certainly not the best situations. I would prefer Xhaka is sold soon and then we use Maitland Niles alongside Guendouzi or Torreira in midfield. Then we can scout a great LB from the UK and improve Mavropanos, Medley, Plegzuelo and Ben Sheaf to take over in defence.
There’s no way to quickly coach Xhaka to play faster, he is not meant for the EPL and the pace of the league means we are playing a guy with a safety handicap, which is not smart thinking including him in competitive games; Kolasinac is not a defender, he is a quasi offensive midfielder, his disgusting act of shirt tugging is a disgrace to the very act of defending. I don’t need to speak about Mustafi because as everyone knows, he has his uses, but he also makes some dumb mistakes.
What everyone is missing is that Koscielny will soon be back to form and he’s enjoying the better defensive coordination under the new coach, I dare say he made a comment about the strikers because coming into the team at the time he did, things were better than last season. And if not for the selection errors and the handicap in midfield we would have played better against West Ham.
Ramsey can be good but Smith Rowe’s emergence means we don’t need to give Ramsey that money, he could actually play box to box better than Xhaka but he may not be defensively inclined 100%, but the contract saga deprived us of this, Õzil might have profited from a complete team with him been the only soft core in our team, but we don’t have that luxury now.
I would be thinking of Osei-Tutu the fullback being promoted as one of the major things we need this season.
I also feel the situation is causing Emery to make judgment errors because he has to rely on some error prone senior players and the inconsistent performances means he cannot evaluate the best way to set up the team. Iwobi is one of the most improved players but his decision making is still suspect and his shooting ability is below par, yet the manager has to rely on him; and the player seems to have reached his ceiling because he’s not busting his gut to do skillful direct plays, which a player of his calibre,position and skill needs to do to excel.
I would love to borrow from Van Persie what Wenger told him: he was asked to list his strengths and weaknesses in his game, and to work on improving on his weaknesses. That was what made RVP the player we sold for £30m to Man Utd.
Do I think Emery needs a transitional time, no. I think he needs 2 players in January, a winger and an attacking midfielder, both players must be good passers of the ball, great dribblers, pacy and with good shooting ability. The return of Bellerin and Monreal with Maitland Niles as back up means we can wait till summer to recruit fullbacks. Mavropanos will turn out as better than Mustafi in tackling and playing defense, he may just need to learn game management and playing to avoid cardable offences.
So my cup is half full, if Emery can make the right calls.
A new manager bounce is exactly that – things that go up tend to return to the ground.
Our bounce was a bit like a balloon that rises and… ooh its not dropping, have we put helium in there (Guen)??!?
Nah, just a gust of wind, we’ve dropped back to normal.
It’ll be interesting to see/hear Man U supporters’ thoughts when OGS’ bounce will eventually return to earth and he’ll have to fall back on tactics (though Fergie may help out there and keep him somewhat aloft till they appoint someone for the long term).
/over-stretched analogy
Rumours going around Sven is leaving. Arseblog saying he heard about it too (but no confirmation). If true, what does that say about what’s happening at Arsenal.
Makes sense…what’s a transfer guru supposed to do with no money to spend
Watching Arsenal play West Ham last weekend it was difficult to notice much difference between to the two. In fact West Ham looked the better balanced, had the two best individuals on the pitch and dispatched Arsenal with an ease that surprised even their own fanbase.
It’s looks a long hard road back to the top of ensglish football for Arsenal on current evidence.
Yes Arsenal are defending poorly, as they did last season, The difference is they’re not creating nearly enough chances at the other end. You can’t score the amount of goals necessary to challenge top four without creating a much greater percentage of chances than this team is currently producing.
Our best creator Mesut Ozil is clearly out of favour, Emery looks to be pushing him out. And Aaron Ramsey is on his way and has apparently signed a pre agreement with Juve. Where are the players who are going to create the chances for our useful forwards?
This is not a good time for supporters of the club. Chelsea arrive this weekend and they look much better balanced in defence and midfield than Arsenal. If Chelsea had our forwards it could be another mauling.
At this moment in time Arsenal FC look more likely to edge towards West Hams League position than Liverpool’s.