Arsenal need to shoot more but they have an Ö shaped hole in attack

43 comments

1. Well, this certainly passes the eye test.

2. Yeah, this is the huge problem with this season. We’ve certainly had defensive issues, but those have been in large part due to injuries. If we had Bellerin, Kos, Sokratis and Holding all consistently available for a long period, I think the defense would be reasonably good.
   No such excuse on the offensive side. Ozil’s been injured/sick some, as has Ramsey. But by and large, as these numbers show, the attack is a problem. We got away with it during the long unbeaten run through some luck and good conversion. But as the article indicates, we’ve either got to play Ozil more and get him producing more, or we’re going to need a big overhaul. For all the complaints about the poor field, the Bate away match was a perfect example of this problem.

3. I enjoyed this detailed analysis and have no bone to pick with your conclusion. I will just add that the offensive phase doesn’t happen in a vacuum; the team needs better balance from back to front, and to give that balance, you have to sacrifice some offense, at least initially. There can be no doubt Arsenal are a better offensive side with Ozil in the starting XI. The real question though in my mind is are we a better side long term with him or without him? That’s the real crux of the Ozil situation in my mind. It would’ve been so much easier to keep Arsene AND Ozil and keep up our gaudy shots totals, but all the while the club is losing ground on its rivals who are playing a more disciplined, more modern, more cohesive football back to front. In my opinion we are paying for that future with football that is more conservative and at times attritional because our technical leader and chief creative influence can’t be trusted to do his bit for the team consistently when we don’t have the ball. The famously technocratic Emery has surely weighed the offensive contributions of Ozil just as carefully as you present them here, Tim, and found them wanting. Time will tell if he was correct. For now, Arsenal have two excellent forwards which means we do not struggle for Actual Goals, even if we are lacking in the shots and Expected Goals departments.

   1. Just one minor flaw, Doc: we are worse defensively than even last year. Also, every team has players that don’t play defense, Salah is pretty lazy, etc. If were playing defensive football I might cotton to this argument but again, we don’t even press. I don’t understand why people keep making this argument when I’ve debunked it on so many occasions.

      1. When you say things like “I’ve already debunked that” or “here’s what really happened,” it sounds dismissive and a bit punitive. I’m just a follower of your blog and I don’t expect you to care what I think, but that is how it sounds. Remember that post you wrote about how nothing is *just* due to any one thing, about how two people arguing two sides of something are most often probably both correct to some degree? Please try to keep an open mind here, I am engaging with you in good faith. Now, since my first attempt didn’t go well, let me try this horticultural metaphor. Do you garden? I do. I find it tremendously rewarding and validating. You plant something in the ground and *poof* the miracle of nature means you’ve just created a living thing: cucumbers, squash, lettuces, herbs mostly if like me you live in New England, though tomatoes will grow well if properly watered too. It’s amazing. A bit like becoming a parent or adopting a dog. Except at some point you take garden sheers to it and eat it all.

         Emery is tearing up the roots at Arsenal because he is trying to plant the seeds of something new, something that will ultimately grow to be better than what he is replacing. When you first take a hoe to a plot of land that you want to plant, you pull out lots of native plants that were doing extremely well there. In our case we dislodged blackberries, mint, rhubarb and even some bulbs of something that probably would’ve grown into something bright and cheerful had we left them there. It definitely looked like we had killed mother nature. But then we went to the nursery and bought lots of fun things and suddenly the disorderly patch of thickets and shurbs we had before was an orderly garden with 6 kinds of herbs and fresh vegetables that we could pick from the vine every day. It was much better than what we had but it took some time, no small degree of destruction and a lot of faith that it would work out in the end.

         I submit that those things (time, destruction of what we have now, no small degree of faith) are exactly what we need in this rebuild. Yes, it’s a rebuild, full stop, top to bottom, the entire club. And it is the first time for most of us since for most of us we have not been following Arsenal longer than Arsene Wenger has been its chief architect. Now we have a new architect, several new architects in fact, and we aren’t sure if we can trust them. Therefore, when they take a hoe to the native weeds and thickets we know and love, we feel a sense of disenfranchisement and an immediate sense of loss. But the leadership has to believe that whatever they are planting will eventually blossom into something that makes this whole painful transition period worthwhile.

         And let us not forget, we are doing this because what we had before wasn’t working either. I seem to recall arguing with you over the specific point that anyone would be better than Arsene Wenger. I disagreed then and I disagree now. But now we have Unai Emery and he is trying to repot, replant, and resow the Arsenal Garden in his own image. We should know that crops take at least one season to grow. The view of a fallow Earth 4 months in should engender just as much excitement about what might grow as anxiety that the seedlings may never take hold. But they always do. Such is the nature of life and football.

         1. Looks to me like Emery tried to use agent orange on the Ozil patch and it has killed off anything else that he might have been trying to grow. Also, for whatever reason, he still hasn’t dealt with the kudzu. He promised to rip that out and said that we would have an aggressive, assertive plan to deal with it. He even got a bunch of specialist gardeners – Leno, Sokratis, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, and Guendouzi – I don’t know why he left that completely untouched.

            Also, why is the field still growing the exact same crop that it did 13 months ago? Looks like the only thing he’s done is ruin the Ozil and sprinkle water on Kolasinac.

            If I was a multimillionaire and Emery was my gardener, I would be actively looking for a new one.

            I know I was brash and suggested that “anyone” could fix my garden but I guess what I forgot was that there are gardeners out there who are really good in small gardens but maybe out of their depth when they are asked to take care of ancient, important gardens like Versaille and Highbury. Instead of my board hiring a Tuchel, we got Bruce Rioch. With USBs.

         2. Oh and one more thing. What I’m specifically dismissive about is this argument that you made and that everyone else keeps making that “Emery is a defensive coach” and that’s why he needs to drop Ozil. There is zero evidence that Arsenal are a defensive club and Emery has done nothing to shore up the defense.

            If you recall (sorry to use your tone back at you) my specific “anyone could” fix Arsenal was predicated on the idea that they would come in and give us some defensive stability. I was wrong. You are right. I guess it turns out that not anyone could do it because Emery hasn’t. I’m sure his entire promised pressing scheme is just down to benching Ozil and getting Holding back.

            Next year, baby!

4. Ozil? Yes. And? Create space.
   Wouldn’t mind seeing Torreira, Guendouzi or Xhaka each cranking one or two a game from distance. They’ve all got artillery. That it’s a rarity allows opponent’s back 6/7 to lay in wait, deeper and more densely positioned. With greater threat of firing from outside the box? Passing lanes loosen, more deflections occur. The type that Auba has thrived with as a poacher.

   Rigidly dictating an attacking persona onto the team? Mr Emery should take Mr Voltaire to heart– and not allow ‘perfect’ to be an enemy of ‘good’.

   Let it fly. From distance.
   What Mesut does will come more easily.

   jw1

5. Emery trying to repot, resow and replant. I don’t see it. I still have no clue whats going to pop up in this garden of his. But it sure doesnt seem like it will be pretty. We need an Ozil/creator. We have Ozil. Use the Ozil we have until you get the Ozil/creator you want. I would not spend any time in a garden of Kolasinaces.

6. Emery’s got a tough job, which is is, perhaps, unnecessarily complicating.

   Decide who comprises your preferred 13 or 14 (there’s no such thing as a preferred Xi in football… not even Pep has one). Then decide who comprises your matchday squad of 18. You pick according the opponent. You plan your tactics accordingly. Over time/transfer windows, you add and subtract. In time you get the players you want, but in the meantime you work as best as you can with what you have.

   The ostracism of Ozil — notwithstanding Doc’s extended horticultural metaphor — made no footballing sense, either by my simple metric, or Tim’s more scholarly and analytical one. And thanks, Tim, for supporting it with solid data. Emery cant afford to rip up all the vegetation, including the good plants, because (to extend the metaphor a bit) he needs some crops to take to market, or some to feed his family. Now. Not next season. Now.

   He has a position in the table to chase, and a European competition to win. Now. In other words, the metaphor is predicated on not caring, now, whether we finish 10th in the league or were knocked out of Europa by Bate. Which (thankfully) is plainly not the thinking. What do you eat or sell to make a living while you rip up the garden?

   There are good arguments for not picking Ozil in your starting XI, and workrate is one of them. But there’s no good argument for a more expanded, mid-season footballing deep-freeze. That’s just nuts.

   Emery made 2 promises at the start, according to a gushing Ivan Gazidis. He had a detailed dossier on every player, and he submitted a blueprint for improving individual players. Based on that, he made 5 senior players his captains, a move that hinted at continuity rather than upheaval 3 months into the season. And Bellerin in particular is unrecognisable from the Bellerin of last season. Iwobi has flaws in his game, but he’s stepped up under Emery. So the 2nd thing he’s done, the first he hasn’t.

   What we hailed as decisive when he had a habit of halftime subs every game, now looks like a guy who’s unsure of his course, and more crucially, unsure of his course correction.

   Im not terribly satisfied/impressed with what Emery has shown so far, but I can totally accept that he’s at least 2 TWs away from having HIS team, by addition and subtraction. I can accept too that following Wenger AND working within a changed management structure are HUGE challenges, and he needs time. I say 3 years minimum. I can accept too that Ozil isn’t part of his long term plans.

   But he needs some now. There’s no way that Kroenke, Gazidis, Sanllehi told him that 2018/2019 is a loss leader season. He needs some now. And that now calls for playing the players he has, now, who can address the shortcomings that Tim identifies.

7. On a different note, I’d much rather play Bukayo Saka than pay good loan money for Denis Suarez. If we really were a club looking for root and branch upheaval, we wouldnt be as diffident as we have been about playing the young players on our books. Ramsey’s going… play ESR, and let Aaron spend more time with his twins. Of course we’re paying him, but it does make the argument about “jam tomorrow” ring a bit hollow.

   And a note on Nketiah, now on loan. He hasnt played much, but when he has, he hasn’t looked up the required level. I fear for him. With Welbeck out, we need a 3rd striker in case one of Auba or Laca gets injured.

   p.s. Zaha, anyone? Two today, a wide player who can score… 7 goals and 2 assists this season. And his ability to win pens is like assists in its own right. I’d flog Mhki to the nearest buyer, and part-finance the purchase of Zaha.

   1. I know that ESR is on loan. Im just saying that we perhaps should have been giving him games and not sending him out.

   2. We actually never loaned Nketiah out – he had a shot at Augsburg but we blocked that because of the striker shortage. I do share your concerns – in the last decade and a half there’s a long string of prolific academy strikers (Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Akpom, Afobe to name a few) who simply didn’t make the grade in the senior team…

      ESR has yet to play a second for Leipzig – anyone know why that is? I don’t follow the Bundesliga too closely (especially now Nelson is barely playing either).

      1. [never mind – just read ESR was signed despite being injured – light shades of Kallstrom – and has only recently returned to training. Very slim chance he gets to face Nelson’s Hoffenheim]

8. It’s apparent that I can no longer make clear and concise points in my writing. I think this is either due to my own diminishing function, the fact that you all are addicted to Twitter-size ideas, or both. But whatever the reasons let me clarify this piece with some bullets.

   • The idea that Arsenal should just “let fly” the shots is glib and misses out on other factors that have dropped off since January 2018.
     • Arsenal are a team full of players heavily dependent on teammates to create shots for each other. They are 4th worst team in the League in creating individual shots.
     • Arsenal used to have players who could get shots for their teammates but since selling Alexis and dropping Ozil, the team’s shot-creation has dropped off dramatically.
     • Arsenal’s passing has dropped and their ability to get the ball into the final third has dropped.
   • Emery either has to
     • Play Ozil, Arsenal’s best shot creator and Arsenal’s final-third master
     • Buy an Ozil replacement
     • Make an Ozil replacement from the players available
     • Get the rest of the team to take over for Ozil
   • Thus, there is an “Ozil shaped hole” in the attack

   I hope that clarifies what I’m saying below. And now here’s the article…

9. To me it’s a wrong to be seeing the rebuilding process as only a means to an end. More valid is to recognize the means as not only a means but also an end in itself. The exam is everyday. There is not one team that is not “rebuilding” at any given time. By Jove, it is rebuilding and competing all the time. The two are inseparable. @ Claudeivan ” Emery can’t afford to rip up all the vegetation, including the good plants, because he needs some crops to take to the market and some to feed his family. Now”

   And by the way rebuilding does not entail only new recruitment of which we have already made 6, post Wenger! Rebuilding includes giving the team a new mentality, coming up with new tactics, assigning new roles to players, improving existing players and so on. Our xG performance supported by the eye test is real cause for some doubts to begin to creep in. However we need to remain hopeful and supportive. By the end of this season the direction of our movement would have become clearer. Only then hosanna, hosanna or crucify him, crucify him!

10. My thinking is that high press (which is positive), in Emery’s mind, overshadows other positive skill sets. He is therefore unable to value sufficiently what Ozil brings to the team. That is his prejudice. Imo, the best is the balanced vision. A vision that is able to aggregate the different skill sets for the greatest potency. of the team. Ozil brings intelligence to our play apart from his other unique contributions. Emery needs to use him more.

11. Good news is, I think Emery and/or the higher ups have realised this, or been made to by the players. I expect Ozil to be fully integrated with matchday squads going forward. Just based on media output. No special knowledge here.

    The bad news, Emery. Wenger was accused by Tim of getting by on the squad’s talent. I think this very much applies to Emery. I enjoyed the gardening metaphor by Doc, in that maybe it’s a Freudian slip where managers get sent on gardening leave.

    That was a joke before anyone gets on my back about it. I’m not calling for Emery to be fired. I have sympathy for the job he was to do. Sympathy, but not much hope he’ll get there.

    Appeals to trust the process don’t apply here. The 76ers told everyone what the process was. Arsenal and Emery told us what the process would be, and this isn’t it. Not how you build trust.

    1. He’s been dropped for today’s match.

       1. Why I said squad. It’s rotation with Ramsey I think. Auba has been ‘dropped’ too. But we’ll see. We’re actually playing some good football today.

12. I posted this some time ago, but I think most of these stats support what I have been noticing about Ozil over the last few seasons. Esspessially the fact that his increase in key passes and decrease in assists, relate to a deeper role.

    So I have a theory about Ozil’s performances but I don’t have the stats to prove this, I only have ,y observation and as many know, with Ozil, sometimes there is more/less than meets the eye.

    I remember his first 3 seasons with Arsenal and the type of assists he provided during those seasons. His first assist is an example of the kind of assist I am talking about. I have seen him play a more free role in the side when Arteta and later on Carzola were deployed behind him. Their safety in possession, ability to beat a press and playmaking ability, allowed Ozil to push up or drift into further spaces with the knowledge that the ball will be transitioned well.

    I think the combination of Arteta with Ramsey, where Ramsey put in defensive numbers of Coquelin, while adding numbers upfront helped provide him with movement and helped him receive the ball in positions where he can do the most damage. With the Coqzorla combination, the same applied.

    The injury to Carzola left us without a player to pick the ball up from the defence, beat a press by either dribbling or passing around them, as Arteta did. Granit Xhaka is a wonderful player who is good, when he is on the ball and has space to pass through the lines, which is what I thought he was signed for, to give the ball to Ozil in between the lines. What he does not have though is press resistance, and teams figured that out.

    Ramsey and Coquelin can play behind Ozil, if there is a player who we have missed, it is a player to transition the ball from defence, to the final third. Xhaka was targeted and most of his errors last season were in the few first few games where teams pressed the he’ll out of him, and he coughed up the ball e.g. Leicester, Everton, Stoke and Liverpool.

    Since we lost Arteta and Carzola, I have noticed Ozil dropping deeper and deeper, just to get on the ball. This season we have noticed Lacazette drop deep just to get on the ball. Matteo Guendouzi has helped in beating a press, but he still needs the playmaking ability that will help him decide not just when to and where to pass, but also when and where not to pass.

    I would like to see whether the stats show my observations which are:

    1. Mesut has been dropping deeper to make up for our inability to get the ball upfield safely, without goofing it upfront. I would like to see his average positions for each season.

    2. His key passes have turned from assists, to pre-assists because of his tendency to drop deeper. His number of key passes from outside the 18 in the last 2 seasons, compared to his first 3 seasons.

    I just think he has changed his way of playing to make up for our shortcomings in midfield. I do think we can play without him if we can be committed to a style of play that he does not fit into, but if we are to be pragmatic, Ozil and our two strikers must be played.

13. Ozil LANS!

    1. Indeed, he does need to play to make this true.

14. Best I’ve seen us play defensively this season. Every member of the back 4 — Licht, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kosc and Kolasinac — did his job. Kola with a vital block late in the 2nd half. The defending was, for me, the most encouraging thing. Kola was good at both ends. In the middle of the park, Xhaka and Torreira were excellent.

    Mhki was terrific 1st half. He had a hand in both goals, directly and indirectly… shot going wide steered in by Laca (who also had a horrible miss), and his goal. But disappeared 2nd half owing to clever tactical switch by Southampton that didnt let him play out. Gave the ball away for fun 2nd half, as he is wont to do. Would love to see his pass completion stats, particularly 2nd half.

    Now let’s talk about Mesut 🙂

    Anyone still want to argue that shutting him out of the matchday squad — not even getting a place on the bench — is justified? Created about 3 chances in 10 minutes. At the final whistle, Aubameyang could be seen apologising to him for missing the best of the lot. Ozil seems to have worked on his uppefr body strength, holding of a few challenges in possession from bigger guys. Ozil clearly retains the respect and affection of his teammates, and of the Emirates crowd.

    One little quibble….
    In minute 82 we got two corners in the space of a minute. In the box were 3 players who had recently scored from corners — Kosc, Mustafi and Sokratis. What’d we do? Fanny about with short, intricate corner routines. This summed up the game. We were much better than 2-nil, but lacked a bit of the killer instinct.

    But good result against a team that causes us trouble.

15. Thanks to Tim and the others for the comprehensive discussion. We do not agree but that is not necessary to make the exercise worthwhile. Also, apologies for the “seem to recall” if that tone was sharpish, I think I was scarred a little by that whole exchange at the time. To be clear, I absolutely agree Arsenal need more punch in attack, I just interpret the root cause and the context of the situation differently. We are all kind of trying to put the pieces together in order to prognosticate, and it’s an inexact science to say the least.

    I caught only the second half of the Soton game today. Some observations:

    An Opposition with Belief Belies Place in Table…
    — Soton believed they could get something from the game in the second half. They clearly enjoy playing against Arsenal and were up for it with intense pressing in our half to start. Arsenal dealt with it without conceding any big chances (to my eyes) though also never really seized control in the way you might expect a truly top team to do. There was no demoralizing keep ball, no “we’re 2-0 up” ole’s, and the atmosphere was strangely flat. It was almost like the audience too thought Soton could get back into it. The players proved they could not.

    Ozil Looks Like he Cares…
    — Ozil looked more active without the ball, subjectively, than I recall seeing him prior to his “banishment.” There were still instances in which I thought he needed to be more competitive or more switched on. There are still traces of the “token effort, then give up” style of defending he is known for. On the other side of the ball though he had some incredible touches, excellent runs where he carried the ball while holding off 1-2 players, and but for Auba’s profligacy should’ve had 1-2 assists. The point I’m making is I can see why Emery says he’s been training well and why he is back in the fold. Sharpness in the final 3rd, strength on the ball, more than just a token effort off of it. That needs to continue, and if it does, I bet he’ll be starting more and more games.

    The Defense Holds Firm…
    — Unai Emery’s much maligned defense ranks 8th in expected goals against, closer to last place Fulham than first place City since the start of the season. Since the turn of the New Year though, their expected goals against of 8.4 ranks 6th, that’s less than 4 xGA behind leaders City, and just 0.5 xGA behind 3rd place Tottenham. In this game you could see that improvement with “the eye test” despite starting notoriously inconsistent Stefan Licthsteiner and Sead Kolasinac at fullback and finishing the game with Mustafi at RB. Soton, a “bogey team” for this Arsenal, huffed and puffed but barely had a look, finishing the game with a total of 0.6 xGA. Green shoots, y’all! (Source: understat.com)

    1. Also perhaps worth mentioning: Since the New Year, we’re second in accumulated expected goals, behind only Manchester City and comfortably ahead of 3rd place United, and that’s a stretch of football that includes the 3-1 away defeat to City and the 1-0 defeat to West ham.

    2. Nice catch re: xgA since the new year. You could see it today: we went ahead and then rarely attacked. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. I hope that doesn’t anger any PETAphiles.

16. Touchè Tim.
    And I’ll try to be better in replying to an statistical analysis that exceeds my capacity to unpack fully. You do have a gift, in the depth with which you delve.

    Where you read my thoughts as glibness? That is on me, certainly. Not for a lack of respect for your efforts. But in par my understanding well enough the application of statistics to a physical medium such as a sport.

    Football, easily, the most difficult to measure. Particularly across periods of time. The methods of developing capabilities that go further than comparative data sets season-over-season hasn’t yet been standardized. The capacity as of yet to predict progression/regression on a performative basis for individual footballers in an accepted standardized model. Which, IMHO will be the key that unlocks it all.

    And we’re not there yet.

    Had/have and will continue to hold out hope– that Arsenal’s StatDNA project will be the first to do so. But it isn’t going to be a ‘Eureka!’ moment. It’s going to be the long and tedious compilation of data using video-analyzed scoring of matches for as far back as video, tape, and film can be located for the subjects deemed.

    Where I think I failed your expectations– is in how I personally viewed your data. Think my self clever, somewhat bright. But I’m not a maths guy (certainly nowhere near your level). In sports I’ve played and managed, I’ve always been over-prepared– as were my teams/teammates. My use of conceptual data stopped at the sideline. Predictables and probables for situational and strategic moments had been sussed and game-planned for. Then it’s all down to performance and countermanding the opponent’s efforts and ideas. And– I was very good at in-game management. For a very long time. In multiple sports.

    So here, now? I’ll try to do better at not inserting my glib foot(y) in your analysis moving forward.

    jw1

17. *Nor the capacity…

18. Not sure I’ve ever seen a player refuse to come off… and then flub an easy penalty save that would’ve been the difference between winning and losing. Kepa seemed to feel like Sarri was going to be gone soon enough that his moment of dissent wouldn’t cost him too many starts. Also Jorginho took one of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen. Did it remind anyone else of hopscotch?

    1. Couldn’t believe that. I was so happy that Chelsea lost, mainly because it made Kepa look like a fool. However, my concern is that Chelsea replace Sarri soon and we see a resurgence in their form. So…mixed feelings about their humiliation today.

19. Great weekend. Such drama everywhere. Spurs losing to Burnley and Poch getting in Dean’s face, who was concerned about the camera’s view of him being blocked. ManU and LIverpool draw with multiple injuries early and Klopp blaming the opposition’s injuries for Liverpool losing their rhythm. City and Chelsea playing a boring as h*ll cup final, only to give us some hilarious confrontation between keeper and manager right at the end.

    And for once, Arsenal had no drama. Played well first half, decent second. Played all our best players. Kept a clean sheet. Took 3 points to move into 4th place. Thank you very much.

    The Football Gods can be kind sometimes.

20. ‘And for once, Arsenal had no drama.’
    Sitting in a parking lot an hour ago after having lunch with my much-better-half. Trying to lay-splain to her (a non-sports fan) the import of the Kepa/Sarri boilover I’d just read about. Humoring me, allowing me to finish, nodded as if she ‘got it’.

    Then mentioned it had been a very good sports weekend for me. For all the items Shard mentioned– and– that my Houston Rockets beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors last night. Straight-up with an outstanding performance by all who played– sans our star, James Harden (out with a neck strain/flu-ish symptoms).

    For all of it? As enjoyable as it was in parts and as a whole?
    The best of it was: ‘Arsenal had no drama.’ Again.

    jw1

21. 11 games to go and Arsenal are in fourth and some 8 points better off than at this point last season( I think).
    I call it overachieving , lackluster football on display half the time notwithstanding,

    Here’s a quick guide to a modern Arsenal fan psyche.
    1. Set your expectations too high at the outset by convincing yourself Emery’s job was to improve on Wenger’s shortcomings ,while at the same time keeping what was working uninterrupted despite of multiple injuries.
    2. At a first sign of trouble begin to throw other managers’ names around as examples of a definitive improvement and a style Emery’s Arsenal are lacking.
    Sarri and Hasenhuttl just two out of many, many examples.
    3. Freak out when Arsenal lose to the likes of Bate on a disaster of a pitch and call it an embarrassment of the highest order, even though better European clubs lost there in a worst fashion and in better conditions( Bayern 1:3).
    4. Voice a feeling of personal betrayal because the manager said something at the start of the season and thus far might’ve failed to deliver on all his promises
    ( shocker). Where you awake when Wenger and Gazidis painted the glorious picture of toppling the likes of Bayern in Europe , or at least matching them step for step some four years ago? How did that work out, Shard? 🙂
    5. Keep bringing up the money spent ( £70m for 5 players is what Chelsea paid for a keeper and Pool for a CB) and keep over analyzing every transfer decision and how this much personnel improvement should’ve translated into much bigger overall improvement in style and substance, while conveniently ignoring all other PL clubs’ spending and therefore supposedly their improvements: Pool – £170m, Chelsea- £122m, Fulham -£110m, Leicester- £110m, West Ham-£92m, Everton – £86m, City, United, Wolves-£60m or so.
    Liverpool being the only much improved club season over season due to multiple factors of spending and Klopp’s elite management skill.

    I’ll stop now because I don’t want to come across as preaching especially when I might’ve been guilty of some of the same behavior in the past. 🙂

    1. Taking nothing away from the significant achievement of being 8 points better off, can I gently venture that the total and absolute vindication suggested by this post is best left till May, and that it’s only February? No one wants this all to hold more than I do, but we had new dawns after tonking Tottenham and Chelsea at home. You are right about kneejerkism, and then you serve it up yourself

       We are excellent defensively, and that is a good harbinger. So I feel pretty confident about this holding up. But it is not beyond my Arsenal to follow a game like this with a string of bad performances. Let’s hope for consistency. Being out of the FA Cup should help our cause in the league and in Europe.

       1. ****corr

          “We WERE excellent defensively…..” (against Soton yesterday)

    2. I think people are not sold on the narrative that last season defined us as a team. Doing better than Wenger’s worst season ever at Arsenal, which was just a single season. It is a bit underwhelming, and along with the football on display, not something I think many can be proud of. If he gets us into top four, it would shut up a few people, myself included, but if not, this season will just seem like a waste of time.

       We haven’t put any foundations for our style of play in place, so that we are not starting from scratch next season, and if this is the style of play, I don’t think you will ever really see anything other than a pessimistic outlook from the fanbase.

       It’s the nature of the beast. Results bring joy in the present, but performances bring hope for the future. So far both have been hard to get, but results will keep the negativity at bay for a period of time.

    3. That Bayern quote comes up every time someone wants to say the club lied. Gazidis was talking about our financial capabilities becoming on par with theirs, which was a signal of the end of austerity without going the Chelsea/City route of owner backed funds. As such it was an outline of a philosophy and setting an ambition. Arsenal may have failed to match the goals they’d set themselves, but they did not lie about their intentions or the process.

       I never pulled up Emery about results. I think results have been ok to good. Even the Bate thing wasn’t about the result for me. That can happen. But coming on the heels of the Huddersfield performance (win) I felt, for the first time, that the players didn’t believe. Guess what, Ozil’s been rehabilitated in the squad and there’s more belief in management. (Yes, I’m jumping to conclusions, but so are you)

       Also you’ll find I never brought up Sarri or Hassenhutl. All I brought up with Emery was that he’s not doing what he and the club said he would. Not that he’s failing at it. That he’s not even trying. Because you can’t tell me we’ve been setting out to play attacking football, or with an intention of pressing in general.

       Results will help a lot. With belief too and sometimes that can spark good performances. I hope it happens. I want Arsenal to win, to get top 4, win the EL. But I also want Arsenal to play well.

       Lastly, if we’re going about creating strawmen of others’ views, I’d like to say that apparently it was asking for miracles to expect Arsenal to dominate possession and create more shots against Huddersfield so early in Emery’s reign. So yeah, let’s not do that. Mainly because I’m not very good at it. 🙂

    4. There’s one other thing Arsenal supporters do:
       Lecture other fans over and over again about how they are dumb for having feelings, their feelings don’t match reality, and how they need to have your feelings. This is especially prevalent after every half-ass win over a bottom dwelling team.

    5. Well done Tom, perfect summary.

       4 is especially accurate. The acute sense of personal betrayal some people have for Emery is palpable and really quite comical.

22. 8 points for good in 27 first matches but 11-12+ in the same fixtures.

23. Been reading a lot of old Wenger quotes thanks to Tim and of course missing the old man for his wisdom. But perhaps his time had reached it’s end. Emery has been a hit and miss affair. Like any fan every win makes me enthusiastic about the future. But I feel no matter the situation with Ozil, Emery needs our patience. Even if the Football served has been boring at times. Let’s be honest, we had even worse displays over the last few years. So why should we expect Emery to do miracles.

    Personally I loved Wenger’s attacking philosophy. Anyday, I would take it compared to the Football being currently. But let’s see where we are at the end of next season. YES! I am ready to give Emery another season. I think when Emery started with this team, he imagined he could get them to play the pressing game but over time realised that a lot of these players are just not up for it as for years they have been playing Jazz. Discipline is hard to instill in established players. As matches passed and injuries piled on, style and philosophy have taken a back seat; getting to TOP 4 is now the primary target. Results matter more than style. Which means that for Emery grit is more important than style currently. Hence the exit of Ozil. Emery wants to Ensure that we get CL spot to show owners that he can achieve results, get more money for better players and start mounding the team with players who “buy into” his philosophy. Now whether that style is ultimately liked by us Gooners is another story. But let’s atleast give Emery a chance to stamp his style.

    So I am ready to wait before I get entertained.

    1. To add on. I love Ozil. I know he is a “luxury” player but he is still valuable to the team. Even Emery knows it. But right now, Emery has a fragile back line, a new GK, two new mid fielders with 1st Seasons in EPL. Emery sets up his team to avoid a loss. He knows his 2 strikers can score. If he puts Ozil in the middle, he gets creativity but also a defensive headache with the risk of goal being scored against us going up. So his number one priority is to avoid this risk. If we had better, more mature midfield and a stable back four, Emery would love to use Ozil. Hence his desire to make Ozil work harder. Obviously, Ozil hates it. Look at it from his perspective, why should he stop from his main job of creating chances for the team and play defence just because the players around him are lightweight and inexperienced? In his eyes, he see himself as a scapegoat for the team’s imbalance and inexperience. So of course he is frustrated. Maybe, what we need is an upgrade in people around Ozil and not a departure of Ozil.

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