Good morning. Or good evening. Or maybe good day. Hello. Hi.
Arsenal got a great point at Man U. We are continuing our progress toward playing defense at all times and finding a way to make a very poor side – really we can make any team – look good. We want to be protagonists but we play inside ourselves instead.
Today, against a Man U side with no striker, no creative midfielder, and no real midfield to speak of, we played a 433, which dropped into a 442, with two blocks of 4 with one midfielder either making up a 5th or being used on the counter. We also set up with what is essentially a man down by making Torreira man-mark Paul Pogba. Torreira had just 11 passes in his 55 minutes.
On the right, we were forced into playing Chambers in an extremely defensive setup. Chambers did get forward a number of times, but was 0/5 on crosses, all of them blocked. Oh wait, he kicked a cross 100 feet in the air once, when Xhaka tried a cute little set play chip over the top.
We need to give credit to the referees who were very bad but VAR was correctly used for once and overturned what would have been an epic bad referee call. Aubameyang was brilliant keeping his head and scoring when United stopped playing because they thought they were going to get the bad call in their favor. Mike Dean was the VAR ref.
I know this post is difficult to follow.. Maybe you can have Ljungberg translate my post, like he has to do for Saka when Emery gives him instructions.
Saka was so good today. So good that he will inevitably savaged next week when he misses a shot or turns the ball over.
Saka’s line today:
2/4 Dribbles, 2 key passes (tied with Auba and Willock), 1 assist, and 5/6 tackles!
Meanwhile Pepe had a very bad not so good day and people were calling for him to be dropped. This is just how people are now.
I think we need to take a break from criticizing Arsenal’s attacking players. Emery’s system is so gross, so stunted, that it’s really difficult to say anything definitive about a player. Was it just luck that Pepe had such a beautiful highlight reel and put up so many amazing stats last season? Sure, the Leagues are different (which should also make us want to give him more leeway) but he looks a completely different player to what he was at Lille. Maybe he’s just not good enough. But I can’t really say that for sure until I see him play in a system which doesn’t routinely ruin attacking players.
Here’s Ozil’s goal involvements from his first season at Arsenal to his last:
This chart either shows that Ozil fell off a cliff in one season, which isn’t impossible, or that Emery’s system sucks Harry Juuls.
I tend to think it’s the latter because virtually every stat shows that Arsenal are playing passive football. I’ll be publishing an article on Arseblog tomorrow which goes into this problem a bit more detail. But look at the game today. You want to see what our heatmap looked like?
I mean, that’s just awful. We were playing like a Pulis-led team but without the big lump to hit with corners and crosses. Aubameyang is awesome but he’s not scored a single headed goal for Arsenal. So, why we are playing this way?
I don’t know.
What else?
Let’s see.. we got 10 shots. The first shot was the 30th minute, Pepe. Missed. Bad miss. He also had a good chance, but Auba floated the ball to him far too gently so the ponderous United defenders got to close down.
We didn’t want to allow Man U too many shots. We kept them to just 16. Two better than our season average. So we are showing progress.
Guendo had another good game.
Good night.
It is obvious that Emery is not an attacking coach but he is not getting the best out of the defenders even when he sets up in such defensive formation.
Our midfield, not just the defense is the laughing stock of the league. And I don’t blame the players for this. It is the setup.
The assistant coaches like Fred L…… can’t they advise Uni on the system and players deployment? Or he doesn’t listen? Or they are not supposed to? I don’t know surely. Against Man U, the players did well as per Uni’s game plan. Can’t fault them or they will Oziled
“Life has become immeasurably better
since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.”
~HST
I had a discussion with my younger brother, who is a Man United fan and an avid follower of football. He asked me a question that alerted me to something that I had not considered.
As an overseas Arsenal fan who does not come from London or England, you grow up differently. I have met people who support clubs because of influence from family members, friends or just because they grew up in the vicinity of the stadiums. Growing up and loving football, meant that my first love of the game was satiated by the local clubs around where I lived. These sides are your first love and sometimes define you as a fan. These sides are where you usually grow up playing the game, where you learn about the spirit and openness of football, your first steps into your obsession with the beautiful game.
As you grow older and the rest of the world becomes more open/accessible, you then start choosing from a whole entire buffet of football clubs to follow. It’s not as easy as just picking a club to support, it’s an emotional investment to become a true fan, so your choice isn’t as much about what you say but rather, what you feel.
I started watching Arsenal consistently in 07/08. I had no access to the football games before that. I couldn’t watch the invincibles, the 01/02 team or the 97/98 side. I have not seen Patrick Viera in an Arsenal shirt and didn’t even know that the team had ever went unbeaten. I didn’t know anything about the history of this club or what it was all about, but after watching as much football as possible, I had a connection with Arsenal that I didn’t have with any other club.
I started reading about the history of the club, I started looking up stats and getting into debates about the club. Arsenal became my biggest reason to go online, transfer stories and opinion pieces were now being consumed on a daily basis. I was addicted, but all of that didn’t really play as big a part, in my love for this club, as the football itself.
I love Arsenal because I love football, and this club represented what football meant to me at that time and shaped my overall view of it as I grew older. I saw a team that dared to be ambitious on the pitch, even if it was held back by financial restraints off it. I saw a club that mesmerized in games, even if they lost. I saw a team that neutrals loved to watch, imagine what it was like for me to witness. I saw us go almost 10 years with no trophy, my passion never finished and after all the horrific setbacks, my faith never wavered. I believed in a certain of approaching football and I believed in “Wengerball”. It wasn’t perfect, nothing ever is, but what it was, was bold and fearless. If anything, it was held back by its own creator, but it was marvellous to behold on a weekly basis. I loved it dearly, I actually never thought about it ending. Until Arsene left…
Tonight, my younger brother asked me what they should be expecting from Arsenal. This is a simple question, but he has never asked me this question before and his reason for asking was harsh as well. He said that he hadn’t watched any of our games since the Burnley game because he thought we would be different by now. All he had to say was that Arsenal are not appealing to watch anymore, because I knew that is what he meant.
We have lost the joy of our football. We have lost far more than that though. I have travelled across Africa, and Arsenal is like a national side in most countries. It is this way because for the many poor people of the continent, their time is very valuable and the money they are able to put up for football has to be worth it. Unfortunetly, right now we arent repaying the hard work and time of these people with something worthwhile, something to believe in.
Winning at all costs, even to the cost of the entertainment will only reward the players, the club and the owner’s. The fan who spends money to watch has no more gain than the fan who just looked up the result online, because this type of football will never be worth it to most.
Now as a fan, I would like to ask you guys this. Is this what our club should be?
What a great comment.
Yes, this. And why it seems so stupid to me the direction we decided to take. Arsenal didn’t win trophies for almost a decade, were continuously ridiculed for it, and yet we kept adding fans such as yourself throughout the world. Why? What did these fans like about the club? Something beyond just trophies and big money signings obviously.
Now who are we? Even if we win, even if we play attacking football, is that enough? Or does having a club culture and identity such as not trying to push out players who signed on, not even to save money, but as a gangster style warning to others, have some appeal?
I started watching in 97. When there was barely any coverage and had to wait a couple of weeks for bootleg versions of matches or just highlights. I liked the name and the white sleeves. I liked Dennis Bergkamp. I fell in love with the football, but more with the fact that we didn’t trumpet ourselves as the ‘greatest club in the world’ and behaved with class. Offering a replay when Kanu scored. Class. Not diving. Having a coach who loved to win but felt winning cannot be at all costs. That’s the club I fell in love with.
Are we still that club? I only hope Per, Freddie, Bould, and Edu, along with some oldies at the board can push back and ensure it remains, but I seriously doubt it will happen with Josh and Raul in charge.
If we’re going to be the same as every other ‘big’ club then what’s the point of Arsenal?
You guys are reminding me of why I fell for the club. My dad grew up in London and has been an arsenal fan his whole life, so I may have been predisposed to liking them. But it was Bergkamp and Henry and Pires, the style and class cultivated by Wenger, the exciting, progressive football that was like nothing else in the league that made me fall in love with the club.
Our football is bad. We have no discernible style, the only consistency from game to game is fear and conservatism bordering on cowardice.
The attacking players must be miserable. I’m not a huge Ozil fan, but it must be frustrating for someone in the form of Auba having to dine on scraps. That sh!te United team yesterday? Ozil could have torn them apart with ease.
I enjoyed this comment Devlin and read it after I posted mine. I can tell you as a Brit born in the late ‘60s football and supporting football is so incredibly different today . When I was at school in a Yorkshire mining town we had a guy who supported (and was fairly ridiculed for) Chelsea. Everyone else supported one of four local teams. My passion for AFC came when I moved to the city at Uni. Two things dictated this. Firstly everyone seemed to be a ‘Pool fan. Secondly moving from a pretty much exclusively white community to a multicultural city kind of gave me a new perspective on life and I loved that AFC were leading protagonists at the time of promoting young black players. That might sound odd but at the time there were very few young black successful players and I liked that AFC were an ‘open church’.
I’ve been a fan over thirty years now and it’s impossible not to have your fan perspective influenced by Arsene. He left such a large and overwhelmingly positive impact on the club. I truly believe he looked at that side of ‘89 and thought that’s what I love about AFC – attacking football full of young talent regardless of background, culture or creed.
Which I guess is a long-winded way of saying, yep I think we’re losing our soul, and I hope the current custodians see this before it’s too late as to paraphase Arsene ‘class grows slowly, but falls rapidly’.
Great story like my own.
We not where and what we should be.
Another great post, Devlin, thanks.
The obvious answer to your question is a resounding NO. Because fans are the currency of the power of a club and because fans are conquered by style, identity, class and success. I became an Arsenal fan many, many years ago, when the BBC could only be reached if you were at the Belgian seaside. My grandmother had a flat there and I discovered another type of late at night pleasure: MOTD and snooker. And the most appealing football team back then was Arsenal (Jimmy White was my snooker hero), under the tenure of this nerdy French coach who loved to attack.
I think we are now in the process of losing fans or, at least, of not conquering any, damaging the brand, its revenues and its future. Basically, developing nice football is good for business and it is about time to remember that. And nice football is not necessarily attacking football. Atletico Madrid is fine too: an identity, a courage, a discipline, amazing results in spite of the fact that they are plundered season after season. Any identity is fine really. But not this technocratic chameleonesque adaptative boring spineless thing.
Not good.
That said, Old Trafford. Occasion. United will up the game for Arsenal. it’s away for us, etc.
I don’t know. I guess I’m still interested in seeing our performances into October.
That was ugly, and not just because of the weather, though that probably contributed.
But very discouraging from an Arsenal standpoint. This was as good a chance to beat them at old Trafford as we’re likely to have. And Emery plays a conservative lineup. We really should have started Torriera and Guend, and one of either Ozil or Willock. And when Bellerin is back in the starting lineup, we need to move Chambers to CDM.
I’m not so upset about Xhaka and the goal…it was deflected, not sure he could realistically adjusted to get it. More about the stupid fouls.
And Lacazette can’t be back soon enough. Pepe either really isn’t very good, in which case it’s a disaster, as we really can’t afford to waste that much money, or he’s suffering under expectations, in which case we need others to start scoring more.
Absent Auba and his goals, we’d be around the relegation zone.
I’m hopeful for having Bellerin, Tierney, Lacazette and Holding back as options. But it may not help unless Emery is williing to play more aggressively, and to drop Xhaka to fix the midfield.
I echo Devlin – he’s written that better than I can. I can’t watch this football, its atrocious, devoid of hope. Never mind Wengerball, even Graham’s side football was more entertaining than this. This is a team with good players, experienced players, promising players and it is being wasted.
In the feed to my part of the world, Ian Wright and Robin Van Persie couldn’t believe Emery’s negativity. Even Ryan Giggs suggested that if he’d attacked a weak United team, he might have got more. Wright out it well… Arsenal were waiting for something to happen.
You’re right, Tim. Saka was outstanding. Im astonished at his decision-making, which is almost always spot on. He’s very, very cool under pressure. We havea gem there. Pepe, on the other hand, was awful. Off the pace, disjointed and a tad lazy in defence. He needs to show more, and soon.
Aubameyang, man. How much is he worth now. And how long will it be before Real Madrid come for him? On this form, one of the best strikers in the world.
Xhaka was always going to be in the spotlight and the most energy he expended was in conversations withe ref… either suggesting that a United challenge merited a caution, or trying to talk him out of issuing one to an Arsenal player. Predictably, he got a yellow card. Predictably, it was ona player he lacked the athleticism to keep up with. And oh, he ducked under McTominay’s goalbound shot. Hardly brave stuff from the leader of our men.
He didn’t duck. He was trying to head it over, but the ball took a deflection off Sokratis.
That’s being incredibly generous.
He ducked!
I’m not saying I wouldn’t have done the same.
Watch it from the front. He even tries to swing his head towards the ball which went to his right after the deflection.
Who is Unai Emery? Is he a hard a$$ coach? Is he a tactician? Is he a protagonist? Is he a developmental coach? Who or what is he?
The whole reason for our confusion on the pitch is because of him. There is no reason for us to play this way with the squad we have. None. And absolutely no reason for the coach to get away with it, if after choosing to play this way, we are so bad at it.
Saved by Auba, and the lino’s instinct to punish us working against our opponents in the age of VAR. This whole game was a farce. ManU v Arsenal, once the premier game of the premier league, was a boring, low quality game in every way.
They were there for the taking, and once we scored we got the bit between our teeth. But good things happening scare our coach. We have it good enough. No need for more. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, we always have some scapegoats.
I’m not even annoyed at this point. I’m just done with Emery. As a coach, and as a representative of Arsenal.
Just before we played Newcastle, I watched some of Pepe’s highlights and some parts of matches. I think we overpaid for him (and undersold Iwobi) because of the Art of the Deal. But he’s a good player. My comment after the first game was that only two things can prevent him from being a success at the club. Bad refereeing and bad coaching, and on the evidence of the day, he’ll have to deal with both. I think I still subscribe to that view.
Our heat maps are almost constantly ugly. It’s bizarre. It’s horrid. Shameful to play the way we do.
The problem we have with Xhaka, is that he is slow. Incredibly slow. Much too slow for the Premier League. When he tracks back, I’m almost waiting for the referee to overtake him. Some players can overcome lack of pace, by having exceptional positional sense. He is not one of them. He always arrives at a tackle a fraction late, which is why he commits so many fouls. When the opposition go past him, which is often, his only option is to foul. Again!
By getting the other players to vote him in as captain, Emery has basically painted himself into a corner. How does he leave him out and not lose face? He plays in a position which is pivotal to the team. There’s no way in a million years will he lead the team to a new future. No chance.
“Emery has basically painted himself into a corner. How does he leave him out and not lose face? ”
Wenger was ruthless with Vermaelen and Mertesacker and benched them even though they were his captains.
The other problem with playing Xhaka where he is, is that if you want to put Torreira in the side, you’re going to have to play him out of position. In effect you’re losing two players for the price of one. Emery probably thinks that he is too small to play in the centre. In that event, why did they buy him? It was painful to watch him struggle at a job he’s really not cut out for.
If we give Xhaka the benefit of the doubt over the “ducking” incident, the same could not be said about Sokratis, who visibly shrunk when he should have made himself as large as possible to block the goal.
The fact is that our senior, established players aren’t hacking it and almost certainly never will. A shame, because we have some very useful youngsters. The sooner the next generation take over, the better. I’d quite cheerfully sacrifice this season for potentially a much brighter future.
Blimey. Existential Doubt.
Agreed, there wasn’t much about that game that was fun, and Arsenal were not only playing with the handbrake on but also with the car deliberately stuck in second. I hope it’s just the price we have to pay for a few games, especially away games, while we get the defence sorted out. We did just beat Forest 5-0 after all.
Barney Ronay: “So far this season Arsenal have had a pedigree attack and a defence that seems at times to be a kind of satirical art installation. Here they were more solid but stodgy in midfield.”
Two home games now against Standard Liege and Bournemouth. Looking for results but also better football.
4th place and some difficult games out the way..
with Saka, Willock and Nelson it’s starting to feel like 1986 all over again.
onwards and upwards.
Enjoyed your post Tim. When the fun stops resort to humor, sarcasm, anything to get you through:) God this football is so insipid but I don’t have the inclination to keep commenting on our over-promoted coach. I tend to see things through my ‘work lens’ and it does make me question can the DoF and execs responsible for growing revenue and the global fanbase stomach this all season? And then I pinch myself because I know that entertainment is secondary to ending the season in one of the champions league spots. I do fear that most of the ‘attributes’ Arsene bestowed upon AFC are being gradually eroded which makes us less appealing to current and prosperous fans. From a personal perspective I’m far less engaged this season than ever before. please keep the humor flowing.
Prospective but hell prosperous fans too – we’re a broad church here 😉
the soccer on display yesterday was uninspired, indeed. it’s awful to watch what emery’s doing to my beloved arsenal; reminiscent of thomas döll at dortmund. thank heavens for klopp back then and aubameyang right now.
i don’t think pepe is playing poorly. when arsenal signed him, this is who i expected to show up. i argued that i didn’t think he was better than iwobi and if he was, it was only slightly better; certainly not good enough to justify the money arsenal spent. i endeavored to lower fan’s expectations for arsenal’s record signing. unfortunately, i was accused of slagging the guy. the fact is i’ve never been critical of pepe. with that, i agree with tim that we should not be critical of any attacking player under emery’s tutelage. we’ll see how pepe progresses.
i appreciate devlin’s comment higher up (you’re a very welcome addition to the 7am family). i have no expectations of this arsenal. like jw1 implied, don’t take arsenal too seriously or you’ll go mad. i hope to heaven the club move this manager on soon. he’s ruining the careers of some very talented players with his approach. we’ll see.
btw, great first time pass by saka for the goal.
Not sure Unai Emery is suited to manage– the way the PL plays.
This is the pedigree of the manager. Shaping the club to the level of his abilities.
Arsenal are now Sevilla. A 5th to 7th place club. Tailored for secondary competitions.
‘Seemed like the easy thing
To let it go for one more day
Like singing the same old song
And twisting the words
In a different way
Where did the magic go
I searched high and low
I can’t find it no more
I can’t get it back
I can’t find it no more…’
~Neil Young, ‘No More’
Read David Squires in the Guardian on Captain Xhaka. But dont sip any coffee while doing so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/oct/01/david-squires-on-granit-xhaka-and-the-vote-to-be-arsenal-captain
Things will improve…
Bellerin and Tierney are clear upgrades on Chambers and Kolasinac and should give us some more dynamism down the flanks.
Lacazette will give the front three a better hold-up player that Auba and Pepe can feed off of.
Guendouzi is looking more and more like the type of assertive all-action midfielder that gives opposition problems on how to contain. Maybe he starts adding some goals to his game soon.
And I really look forward to Europa and Carling Cup games because the likes of Martinelli, Saka, Willock, Nelson, ESR have me excited.
But can Emery sort out Xhaka? Will Emery drop one of Sokratis or Luiz for Holding? Can we finally put an end to this b.s. about Ozil? What on earth is the plan for Torreira? Is that the best use of Dani Ceballos?
Still think we should make top 4, but Fat Frank is not doing that bad a job at Chelsea, they may be more of a threat than thought, and Leicester is looking pretty damn good too.
Bit brighter day after reading James McNicholas’ piece in ‘The Athletic’ (sub req’d).
A near long-form article–
“Inside the revolution: how Arsenal plan to reclaim place among world’s elite clubs”
A snippet:
“It may ultimately prove to be a good thing that he (Edu) is not as close to Emery as Monchi was. Arsenal are building a model which has the durability to withstand a change in coach. Publicly, they say the advantage of this approach is that it enables the coach to focus on the next game. Contained within that is a tacit admission: not only is a coach’s focus short-term, but increasingly so is their tenure. Emery’s current contract runs no further than 2021; Arsenal have built an infrastructure to outlast him.”
++++
Most of the article revolves around quotes from Mertesacker and Edu. Of the approx 3500 words in the piece– maybe a half-dozen were: ‘Emery’.
If you’re able– the writing at The Athletic is worth the price of admission.
What I find most damning about last night’s game is that, while the team performance was pretty abject, the individual performances were sort of pretty ok.
Leno was good, the defenders didn’t do much stupid, Xhaka only got one booking, Guendouzi was dynamic, torriera did what he was asked and made it 10 on 10 by man marking Pogba, Saka was ace, Aubameyang took his one sniff with aplomb. Pepe had a stinker, but beyond that? Fine to good.
So how can the whole be so shit? That’s purely on Emery. If players have done the tasks set them and they still can’t find an open player then the structure is wrong. If the team can’t offer any consistent threat from any area of the pitch bar lumped balls in from the touchline then the plan is crap. If trying to play from the back sees you getting repeatedly pressed off the ball in your own third then STOP DOING IT IT’S STUPID or employ players who can move the ball in tight spaces.
Emery wants the team to be a chameleon, but has ended with a chimera. Let’s have a pass from the back shape but with a long ball DM but with no target man to aim at but with wide forwards but let’s stick them on the touchline where they’re not very good but let’s give crossing duty to the fullbacks but let’s not play a ten to offer them a short pass or switch flanks but let’s have a DM play top of the midfield but let’s break quickly but let’s not support the players breaking quickly but aaaarrgghgllfluggg… none if it makes any sense! When Emery draws up a plan he must have a vision of success in mind, some glorious path to goal that will unlock defenses and see the team frolick in the sunlit uplands, but for the life of me I can’t see it.
What I find most damning about last night’s game is that, while the team performance was pretty abject, the individual performances were sort of pretty ok.
Leno was good, the defenders didn’t do much stupid, Xhaka only got one booking, Guendouzi was dynamic, torriera did what he was asked and made it 10 on 10 by man marking Pogba, Saka was ace, Aubameyang took his one sniff with aplomb. Pepe had a stinker, but beyond that? Fine to good.
So how can the whole be so shoddy? That’s purely on Emery. If players have done the tasks set them and they still can’t find an open player then the structure is wrong. If the team can’t offer any consistent threat from any area of the pitch bar lumped balls in from the touchline then the plan is crud. If trying to play from the back sees you getting repeatedly pressed off the ball in your own third then STOP DOING IT IT’S STUPID or employ players who can move the ball in tight spaces.
Emery wants the team to be a chameleon, but has ended with a chimera. Let’s have a pass from the back shape but with a long ball DM but with no target man to aim at but with wide forwards but let’s stick them on the touchline where they’re not very good but let’s give crossing duty to the fullbacks but let’s not play a ten to offer them a short pass or switch flanks but let’s have a DM play top of the midfield but let’s break quickly but let’s not support the players breaking quickly but aaaarrgghgllfluggg… none if it makes any sense! When Emery draws up a plan he must have a vision of success in mind, some glorious path to goal that will unlock defenses and see the team frolic in the sunlit uplands, but for the life of me I can’t see it.
He heard that Wenger once drew a wolf on the board before a match, so he’s gone and drawn a beagle.
Remove the emotional attachment while watching this Arsenal side play and you might as well watch paint dry.
Players look confused as does Emery on the sidelines.
The mid of Xhaka , Guen and LT must be one of the slowest and least physical in the league.
Pepe’s confidence is so low at the moment it’s painful to watch.
He’s playing like an academy player not ready for first team action.
How difficult must it be to adapt to a new league, new players , and a system that’s difficult to define.
Was 72 m too high a price for him? Maybe.
For comparison though, Zaha , for whom Palace wanted 80 m , has had less of an impact ( goals/assists) thus far while playing more minutes in a system, club , and for a coach he’s familiar with. So much for hitting the ground running.
Even best dribblers suffer when defenders know that they will try to dribble, and Pepe seem isolated a lot when in possession.
I think that’s on Emery.
Ozil was made a co- captain for a good reason I feel.
Even players left out of the match day squad need representation.
I’m not worried about Pepe. We’re only 7 games in. So far he’s shown me he has the chops to be fantastic. Once Bellerin comes in Pepe can cut inside more often and pose problems for the defenders because they won’t want to leave Bellerin out wide in space. AMN was decent, but Bellerin is more of a threat.
Stealing a little from Terry Pratchett, but I thought using Torreira to mark Pogba was a brilliant little piece of headology. The big man was distinctly out of sorts, and seemed confused by the yapping terrier on his heels, as opposed to the usual hulking brutes. Which is probably why a simple extension of his arm nearly garroted the lad.
Saw the team sheet. Decided not to watch the game. Glad I made that decision.
There are two competing thoughts that tug on me. The first one is that “management” spent the money this summer, has high expectations and hence will not hesitate to make a move to rectify by infusing fresh thinking. And this can and should happen anytime now (or next international break?).
Alternatively, management did have a good plan for the summer and they went about in a methodical manner to achieving success. So, they may also have a plan to tackle boorish fare on the field, and something is being crafted as we blog. So, be patient?
a big thanks to our away support last night they out sang the glory hunting johnny come latelys of wherever man u supporters come from… a 400 mile round trip and never got back to London until the early hours.
Great post, Tim. Emery is the great negator.
It’s said he sets his teams up to negate what opponents do. Hence the hours of video study. Let’s react to what the other team does. In the big 6 matches, (and most away matches), he seems hell-bent on counterattacking. And that might be ok, if he’d commit to the counter 100%.
But our counterattack is incredibly inept for the amount of talent this team has. He’s made an absolute mess of it. You desperately need an attacking player in midfield to make that happen. A player that gains control and plays his speedy front three through. Who is focused on attacking first and foremost. Who has the vision to see runs developing and can find teammates with pinpoint accuracy and exquisite timing. Who loves to play on the break. Nope. No such player on this Arsenal team. If we only had someone like that. Hmmm.
Instead, let’s play Kola in a back four, because he’s dreadful there. Let’s play Xhaka at DM since he can’t defend to save his life. Let’s play Auba on the wing. Let’s put Pepe at striker. Let’s play Torreira in an attacking role. Let’s play David Luiz, who’s played in a back 3 for years at Chelsea, play in a back 4. Let’s stubbornly play out from the back against the best pressing team in the PL.
What Emery negates best is the qualities of his own players. He constantly puts them in positions that negate their qualities. Any by doing so, ensures their failure. I’m really starting to think it’s pathological.
Today’s post and many of the comments summarize what so many felt after the game.
Insipid, flaccid, uninspiring anti-football and it’s hard to say this about an Arsenal side: completely boring.
At least Wenger’s crazy high defensive line with wingers bombing forward chasing a lost lost cause only to get caught on the inevitable counter wasn’t boring.
What’s the difference between Mourinho and Emery? Mourinho’s English is better.
…and mourinho knew what he was doing.
well…….he knew how to best express to his team what he wanted from them.
gnabry beating the spuds on his own.. haha.
oh no we should have kept him blah blah.. Coz I knew what was going on behind the scenes at arsenal at the time blah..
like a book..
big ups to serge…….once a gunner, always a gunner.
It’s always great to see Spurs lose, but that they did so today in large part because of four goals from an ex-Gunner… Well, that’s special!
Of course, I shudder to think of what Bayern Munich would have done to us had it been Arsenal rather than Tottenham today!
Thanks for the post Tim
If everything is Emery’s fault and the set up is so useless then how is Auba winning the golden boot and Lacazette doing so well. The answer is they are both really good players and good players find a way to make things happen. The notion that Emery could somehow turn a supposedly brilliant talent like Ozil into a player who is total useless and suggesting that its all the managers fault and the player is blameless seems incredibly unlikely. The problem is the rest of the squad is just not as good as Auba and Laca. We have 6th place talent in the rest of the squad and we are fortunate that Chelsea Man U and Spurs are not very good this season either.
Regarding Pepe, he is an attacking player and our other 2 attacking forwards are not suffering because of Emery so why is he is struggling so badly? . I hope Pepe just needs time to grow into the league. However, the concern is there have been several players who look like world beaters while playing in France but struggle and never really come good in the PL. Chamkh, Gervinho and Giroud have all seen a significant decrease in their productivity when they came to Arsenal and Lacazette has played well but even his goals/season have been about 50% less then when he played in France. We certainly can’t blame Emery for Gervinho or Chamakh or Giroud and lets hope Pepe does not turn out to be the next Gervinho.
Good question:
Aubameyang is finishing 33% of his chances. That’s unsustainable in any world.
Emery’s system clearly stifles Ozil, lus Ozil clearly hates Emery.
Saka does well because he literally refuses to listen or cannot understand Emery’s instructions. Ljungberg has to translate things for him! He also has a much better midfielder working his side (Guendo) and a much better attacking fullback. Plus Aubameyang likes to move right to left rather than left to right.
I also feel like the comparison to Gervinho is ridiculous. Pepe is significantly better technical player than Gerv. Also, how come you can remember a few players who struggled on arrival but forget Mahrez, Payet, EDEN FRICKIN HAZARD, Van Dijk, Lucas Digne, plus there’s the minor fact that the French just won the World Cup. I mean, come on man!
Its hard for me to understand how a team with a manager whose attacking tactics are so incredibly inept could be the 3rd highest scoring team in the league last season.
Your table of minutes per goal when Ozil is present tells the story of why he is no longer playing very many minutes. You can criticize Emery’s tactics all you want but we scored 73 goals in the league season and Ozil made 24 appearance and played about 1800 minutes and he played with a couple of very good strikers and in had plenty of opportunities to improve our ability to score goals. However, your table certainly suggests that he is no longer having a positive influence on our ability to score goals when he is on the pitch.
Ok, Unai, we get it.
You are exciting, it is just that your players are shit boring.
Ah, I see that we’re STILL on the case of the uselessness of Ozil, a player who didn’t play yesterday. This is getting… mildly concerning.
Anyway, I think that Tim Stillman nails the Ozil/Emery dynamic here.
https://www.unibet.co.uk/blog/football/premier-league/unai-emerys-bizarre-passive-aggressive-management-of-mesut-ozil-makes-no-sesne-1.1268187
One of the reasons I’ll probably never warm to Emery. That and the tactical pap that he serves up.
Claudeivan
I was commenting on a point Tim made in his post. That seems like fair game on a sports blog. Its another bit of evidence which supports my theory.
I am 100% on board with Emery out if he does not fix the defense. We are currently on pace to concede 60 goals in our 38 games this season. That’s unacceptable and he deserves to be sacked if it does not improve. The players have to take some of the blame but Emery ultimately has had plenty of time to fix the problem and at least so far he has failed to stem the tide of goals conceded.
However I think we are going over the top to blame Emery for anything bad that happens and using Emery as the excuse for why some of our favorite players are struggling is wide of the target. IMO.
The idea that Emeryball negatively impacts Pepe when our other forwards are thriving and we are praising Saka who is playing a similar position to Pepe seems illogical to me and may be a case of drawing conclusions based on predetermined bias. Its way to early to give up on Pepe and hopefully he will come good, but so far the evidence suggests that this may be another case where the higher level stats which looked so good may have been misleading.
Bill, there is a level of expectations that comes with a 72 m price tag players like Saka don’t have to deal with.
We should never underestimate this.
Sanchez didn’t become a “bad “player for United over night for no reason.
Different coach and set up had a lot to do with it but the reported 500k per week or so didn’t help either.
I got super excited over Pepe’s transfer but cautioned he might need a good part of the season to get going.
Not only new players and coaches to get accustomed to but also new stadiums, surface, and even things like a new match ball.
I would hazard a guess Pepe hadn’t seen a Nike ball the PL uses before he set foot in England .
Neither the French or International football uses the PL Nike match ball which has a different feel than Adidas, Uhlsport or the Umbro ball Pepe’s been playing through out his career.
I’ve played with all four and the Nike ball has the least action when curled but knockles the most when hit broadly.
I’m not surprised at all Pepe’s side footed shots went either wide of the far post or straight at the keeper like in the Liverpool game.
This isn’t to make excuses for him but rather to point out the simple fact that just because these guys play at the highest level it doesn’t mean they’re not affected by the smallest of things sometimes.
Well, let’s see how this one turns out. Personally, I’ll enjoy it when folks like you who jumped on Pepe after 4 games have to say you were wrong.
Have a great week!
Watford, United and Spurs recent performances put Arsenal’s performance against them in perspective. Granted, City is freakishly good, but Watford lost 2 scored no goals and conceded 10 since nearly beating us.
Spurs tonight showed what they showed coming into the Arsenal game… a team with serious issues. But a team that could have beaten us on the day.
I was struck, at halftime and at the games’s end against United, by how perplexed folks who know far more about football than any of us do , about Emery’s negativity (Van Persie, by the way analyses the game really, really well; and he’s going to be a sought-after analyst).
A really good coach (like Klopp, particularly at Dortmund) makes a team more than the sum of its parts. Emery makes Arsenal look less than the sum of its parts. If his uglyball was effective, that would be one thing, but it isn’t.
And which gooner is not crying into their beer that Serge Gnabry got away? Im not getting into the old blame game, Im just saying. We’d have been better off keeping him and risk letting him go for nothing, than selling him for 5 million or so. I felt so at the time, and said so.
Loaning a rough diamond to Tony Pulis may be one of the worst decisions that the club has ever made.
And that right there is your answer to Bill. Players like Robson, Berahino and James McLean thrived under Tony Pulis’ tactics. Serge Gnabry, who was already a bigger talent at that time, was given the Ozil treatment. He was told that he wasn’t fit enough, he did track back enough and that he wasn’t intense enough. Serge even said that Tony didnt think he was good enough to play Premier League football.
I mean Tony’s tactics got more out of Callum McManaman than Serge Gnabry. So how is it so hard to understand that a tactical system can negate individual players and get others to thrive? Mourinho got more out of Oscar than Debruyne, that didn’t mean Debruyne suddenly became a horrible player or fell off. Managers have even changed approaches at different clubs, and gotten different results from the same players e.g. Allegri’s tactics at AC Milan and Juve, were not the same and Andrea Pirlo was not really being utilised properly at Allegri’s Milan side, but easily fit in when Allegri went to Juve. Mourinho had the same thing with Mata, where he didnt suit his Chelsea tactics, but was suitable for Mourinho’s United tactics.
No one has stated that he is ruining every player, which would be impossible. Even an unqualified coach couldn’t ruin every player in a squad because there are too many styles, personalities and attitudes of player in a squad that it is impossible for a player at Premier League level to be universally inept.
This stand of “Why are Lacazette and Aubameyang thriving, and others are not? Good players find ways to thrive no matter what” is grossly illogical and showing a lack of appreciation for the role tactics play at the highest level of the game. It also ignores the struggles that a player like Aubameyang and Messi have had in replicating their club performances for their nation’s, while a player like Sigurdson can play so well for Iceland.
Tactics will suit certain players and expose others, it doesn’t mean that the players who certain tactics don’t suit are suddenly bad or have fallen off. Here is another example of this. I remeber telling my younger brother that Falcao wouldnt be able to replicate his Atletico performances for United when they signed him. My opinion was based on the difference in tactical setups used in England were very different from those used in Spain, Portugal and France. Different qualities are prioritised by the majority of coaches in these countries and Falcao, like Mesut, is a player whose style is clearly defined. In England, especially for a Van Gaal side, its very hard for a penalty box player to thrive. United didnt have a way of putting the ball into the box, kept possession, which required him to play a part with hold up play and he wasn’t good at that, and he failed.
Falcao didn’t become a bad player, he went in to have his best season in France the moment he got back to a Monaco side that replicated what suited him from Portugal and Spain.
Like many have stated on here before, managers either have a defined style that requires certain types of players to implement their style or adjust to what they have and try to get the most out of what is available. The best of those with a defined style are those whose style is no balanced and covers the different facets of a game best. Examples of theses are Bielsa, Zagallo, Wenger, Rinus Michels, Arragones, Sacchi and more recently, Pep and Klopp. The best of those who adjust, have a vast amount of knowledge of tactics to suit various types of players, an ability to motivate players by personality and charm and the inteligence to know which tactics to utilise to get the most from what you have. Examples are, Ferguson, Capello, Ancelotti, Oscar Tabarez, Hiddink and more recently, Pellegrini, Mourinho and Nagelsman.
Tactics are a very big part about everything you see happening on the pitch. If you have ever tried coaching, you will notice the difference between a well coached side failing because of players, a failing tactical setup exposing players and a clear lack of tactical coaching in a side. At the end of the day though, a coach tries to get the most out of the majority of his squad. Unlike video games, it’s far more than giving instructions or pressing a button, and expecting players to give exactly what you instructed.
So yes, a coach can get more out of some players and expose others. Wenger constantly exposed his defensive players and got more out of his attackers. It’s normal, but the best coaches are those that get the most out of quality players through motivational conversations, the tactical setup and a clear understanding of these players at a personal level.
Que?
Who’s jumping on Pepe?
If anything , I’m justifying his slow start with all kinds of mitigating factors.
Is stating he’s made a slow start , which he did, somehow jumping on him?
Weird.
Unless that was to Bill in which case Im an idiot and disregard my comment Tim.