I try not to be reactive. I try not to be emotional. That’s not my inherent inclination, I am actually a very emotionally driven person. Instead of turning myself over to the “Dark Side” I seek refuge in the data to help pull me back from the brink when I’m watching Arsenal. But that first 45 minutes of Arsenal against Southampton today was both subjectively and objectively one of the worst performances I have seen from Arsenal.
It was painful to watch. We didn’t look like a team that wanted to win that game. We looked like a team that didn’t want to lose. Emery started with a back three and told them not to venture forward. Then he kept the double pivot low and told the fullbacks not to venture too far forward. His “tactics” left three players up top, isolated from the midfield, unable to get the ball into attacking positions. It was shit in attack. We were shit in attack.
I guess I could accept that if we were playing like a van Gaal side and controlling possession, killing the game off, preventing the opposition from getting chances. Or I could accept it if we were just not great at attack but we were fighting to win possession back, pressing, harassing, and playing fantastic defense. But it was shit in defense. We were shit in defense.
And the stats back up my feelings. First half, 3 shots to 10, zero big chances to 1. Maybe you feel aggrieved by the referee allowing their first goal. Ok, that was awful. But, here’s my counter point:
ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB STILL ONLY CREATED THREE SHOTS IN 45 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL AT HOME AGAINST THE 19TH PLACED TEAM IN THE LEAGUE A TEAM WHO CONCEDED 75 SHOTS IN THE LAST THREE GAMES AND WHO GAVE UP 9 GOALS LAST MONTH TO LEICESTER CITY.
And that is completely down to how the manager set up that team today. Even Emery admitted as much in the post-match.
The first half, we were drawing but it wasn’t enough with how we were playing. The second half we started better, we changed. The best 20 minutes in all the season were in the second half, that moment.
We were better in those 20 minutes. He’d dumped the back three and brought on Pepe. Pepe had a shot, Pepe had a breakaway which he squandered, Auba had a big chance, and Southampton only had 3 chances, all from distance.
And Emery’s right about those 20 minutes. After the turgid first half, those 20 minutes felt so good, like a relief, like maybe something had broken open inside Arsenal and we were going to play attacking football. Like Emery had finally had an epiphany that he should play to the strengths of his squad and play players in their best positions.
This sounds so trite but football is fun when your team is trying to win. It’s not so fun when your team is trying not to lose. For most of the season and for the last 12 months Arsenal play like a team trying not to lose. So, for once I agree with Emery, the best 20 minutes all season were those 20 minutes when Arsenal were trying to win.
But then they got a pen, Leno saved, none of the Arsenal players followed in the shot, Ward-Prowse pounced, Arsenal were down 2-1.
I get that it’s a soft pen. I wouldn’t complain if we were awarded the same penalty and I also know in my heart that we will probably never be awarded such a penalty. But what followed from that was just utter chaos from Arsenal.
Emery switched from a 442 to a 343. It seemed like every Arsenal attack fizzled out and resulted in a counter. Arsenal tackled a ton in those last 20 minutes (20 tackles, actually) but they still got 6 good shots off at us. And even weirder, Pepe, who had been brought on to increase the attack basically spent the final 20 minutes playing defense: he won 3/4 tackles and his touch map was almost entirely in his own defensive third:
Emery’s own assessment is telling:
Then when we were attacking more, we had 20 or 25 minutes where we were better offensively but then defensively we lost a little bit of that balance and conceded more chances than we wanted. That is the issue. I need to work, I need to analyse, I need to find a solution. Today I tried that, starting with the centre backs, changing in the first half when we were drawing because we wanted to win. We wanted to achieve more risks to attack and to get more players in the attacking third. But then we struggled defensively then with their transition. Now we are going to analyse it and find solutions as to whether we are better with three or two centre backs, the balance, and then work out how we can be stronger defensively and offensively. We lost that balance. We had a strong start to the second half in the first 20 or 25 minutes, but then we lost that balance and defensively we struggled more than we needed.
This is telling for at least two reasons. First, he’s admitting what we are all seeing. That’s good! That means we aren’t going crazy. But second, this is a professional football manager who has been in charge of 686 football matches. He doesn’t know how to get the balance right between attack and defense? He doesn’t know how to stop transitions? He can’t figure out how to get the players to keep possession or win possession back?
I get that a manager needs time to adjust to a new league and new players but this.. this is just a man out of his depth. It’s refreshing to read that he knows what’s wrong and that we are all right that he’s chopping and changing lineups because he literally doesn’t know what else to do. But it’s also depressing that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
At this point I think we have exhausted everything Emery has to give. It’s time for the club to end this misery.
Post Script: Something I noticed about Tottenham, Man U, and Liverpool over the last 20 years is that managerial appointments are hard. How many successful coaches have those three clubs had? Other than Fergie, Man U haven’t had much success compared to the money they have spent: one FA Cup, one League Cup, and the Europa League. Tottenham have had just one League Cup since Daniel Levy was appointed – nine coaches ago. And Liverpool won just one League Cup in the five years before they appointed Klopp. This explains why Levy took a chance on Mourinho. I feel like we are in for a bit more pain before we get the managerial/coach appointment right.
I think my biggest concern is that the firer and hirer is Sanllehi. His experience is Barca where they get to pick the cream of the crop. Talent literally falls into their lap. Arsenal are officially ‘damaged goods’ now, much as it pains me to say that. Yes we’re based in London, have elite facilities and a high wage bill but we’re so dysfunctional, why would an achiever want to join? Can Sanllehi source, recruit and empower the right replacement? I’d say there’s a 33% probability he gets it right.
That famous, mythical dossier Emery presented at his interview that landed him this job had better included Raul’s pee tape from one of his visits to Moscow.
Can’t think of any other reason why Unai Emery would still be in this job.
Matt, I disagree.
Arsenal job is still one of the most attractive managerial appointments around.
Any potential candidate must be thinking to themselves” what does it take to get fired over there? “
I stand by it Tom. I know you jest that you’d never get fired but that wouldn’t be the right candidate. As an example of where our stock is at would Rodgers come to us now? Lampard? Arteta? And I haven’t even begun outside the EPL. The club is in a mess, the fanbase is beyond highly strung, there’s no money to spend. C’mon Tom, pitch Arsenal to me. Sell me the plan that sees us returning to be contenders. ‘Cause I think Sanllehi is trying but nobody is interested. I’m not being negative. I just don’t think we’re quite the draw we were eighteen months ago.
Yes, yes and yes. Arsenal’s managerial position is highly coveted. We are 6th on the Forbes money list and have a track record of long term appointments. You’d be crazy not to want this job.
I also wouldn’t hire Brendan Rodgers or Frank Lampard. They’ve landed in the right situation for them, and that’s why they are thriving. Arsenal need to find the right fit for Arsenal.
The best 20 minutes of this season was easily the second half against Spurs.
Rail’s refusal to press the button is getting bizarre now. It’s actually affecting his reputation worse to keep him rather than to fire him. We can only hope they’re doing a ‘Levy’ and lining someone up as we speak.
I don’t want to defend Emery. But maybe these players are crap? Maybe we’re over estimating what they can actually do? Torreira is not a holding midfielder for a top 10 team, forget top 4. Guendouzi covers a lot of turf – that’s the sign sometimes of an unintelligent midfielder. Why is he on the sides so much if he’s a pivot? Sokratis is a cast off from a B league. Luiz was surplus to needs at Chelsea. Pepe has already been scouted out. Chambers? How far down the table would you need to go before you find a team he would start in? I guess that’s 8th, where we are. Ozil is icing on a cake – but you need a cake first. Tierney can deliver a helluva cross, but he’s a poor defender. Bellerin is a shadow of what he was. Ceballos is a Real cast off. Xhaka? Oh my God.
Maybe Emery is chopping and changing because he’s got nothing to work with. Maybe we’re all snowed into believing this roster is more talented than it really is. Emery ain’t a great manager, but you know the saying – great players make great managers. These players ain’t great. They’re totally average.
I think you make a decent point. I had a similar conversation with Giantgooner on twitter: I can’t think of any of these players who would get into the Chelsea first team.
But at the same time, I wonder how much better these players could be in a system that maximizes their potential and a coach who teaches them how to play?
I don’t think Blackarse makes a good point at all. Do you seriously think that Auba, Laca, Ozil, and Pepe wouldn’t start at Chelsea?
If you lined Tom Brady up at tight end, I reckon he’d be bog average, too.
Utilizing a system that maximizes your strengths, to get more shots, would be a solid start.
We have the pieces for a pretty solid orchestra, our players most certainly are not “crap”, we just need a maestro. Or even a serviceable band director.
At this point in time for what Chelsea are playing Tammy Abraham starts ahead of Aubameyang or Lacazette. Willian and Pulisic are both better than Pepe. Lampard has Kovacevic playing fantastic – swap him for Ozil? Are you taking a piss?
You can’t add up transfer dollars and say a team should be good. Fred cost €50 and is garbage. Pogba is the 5th highest paid player in the world, I wouldn’t put him in the Chelsea team either. Adding up the transfer values of our players and saying they should be that level is nonsense.
I think these players are going to get the next manager fired too. Some of these guys are losers. Patrick Vieira would murder these losers in his prime.
With this same team, just a few tweaks and we would be doing well.
Just play a 4-2-3-1 and drop one of the strikers allow a strong team to play with Ozil in the hole, play this team consistently and the results would improve.
It’s a waste when you have Aubameyang playing on the wings just because he can score at anytime, when we could give a strong player the opportunity to play on the wing and then we have a better team identity. That’s really all it is.
Remember when Iwobi came on last season, asking what formation the team was playing? That’s when the alarm bells should have rung about how the coaching is poor.
Emery is confused, fearful and unsettled. If he hadn’t spent a sizeable chunk of his energy trying to freeze Ozil out of the team, and yet make it tick, he wouldn’t be in this bind.
Now he has wasted time, he doesn’t have a solution or option, the performances have fallen and he can’t quite figure out what exactly he has done wrong, so he blamed Koscielny leaving the team.
Look for Mhki’s interview about the way the coach wanted him to play last season, you would realize Emery wasted a lot of time, dishing inconsistent instructions, because formations were always changing be ever so often.
So how do you make confused people play a convincing game of Football?
I’m with Blackarse. The who would get into what team argument changes month to month as the leaves change, form changes and perceptions change. Chelsea right now are playing great football and Arsenal right now are playing awful football. I don’t think we need to pile more misery on ourselves than that.
Watford and Southampton – the two worst clubs in the PL – outplayed and out shot Arsenal 52 to 19 in 180 minutes of play.
Arsenal should’ve lost both games comfortably if not for their wasteful finishing
Unless someone believes Arsenal squad valued at over 700m is inferior talent wise to the PL bottom dwellers, there’s only one conclusion to be made.
Tom knows.
I like your points and there’s no doubt there is room for squad improvement. But, I can’t name even one player whose game has improved since Emery arrived. In fact quite the opposite. Two examples; Xhaka and Torreira are under-performing for us but playing as well as possible for their national teams. It can’t be a coincidence. I’m 100% with Tim that the players aren’t hitting their potential because they are being asked to play in a highly restrictive system.
Ozil is icing on a cake – but you need a cake first.
————
This made me chuckle because it’s so true.
I think these two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Arsenal squad IS about average, especially in midfield, but also Emery isn’t getting the best out of them.
I was watching City/ Chelsea game and as much praise as Lampard is getting his midfield is way better than ours.
The goal Kante scored on Mendy ….,no Arsenal midfielder scores that goal, ever.
Did you see Lacazette’s face after he scored? For a second there he realized he had unwittingly extended Emery’s lifeline and immediately regretted scoring that second goal. I think I also saw a few angry faces flash at Willock when he made that interception near goal line. Pretty sure Aubameyang had a word with him in the tunnel afterwards. Kid is a quick learner though. I expect he will learn from his mistake today and get out of the way next time if Emery is still in charge.
I agree with Blackarse’s comment @ 5:08PM.
Finding the proper balance between attack and defense is not an exact science and there its never going to be perfect. Wenger struggled with finding the right balance throughout the entire Emirates era after the invincibles were broken up. Arsene often said his teams would play with “the handbrake on” and I am 100% certain the handbrake was never Arsene’s part of Arsene’s strategy but once the players go out on the pitch a manager can do very little if the players are not executing the way he wants. A managers ability to find the correct balance between attack and defense is completely dependent on his players ability to execute whatever strategy he has decided to use.
IMO after watching the team for the last 2 years its reasonably clear that Ozil’s ability to be icing on the cake has really faded. He had a wonderful career and at one time he was perhaps the most exciting and dynamic creative midfielder in the world and he he would always find a way to make something happen when he had the ball at his feet. However, he has morphed into a slightly more elegant version of someone like Mo Elneny. Unfortunately Father Time eventually catches up with every player
Laca and Auba are the best players we have and they are still finding a way to make positive things happen. Unfortunately the whole team is currently in a terrible run of form and rising tide raises all ships but a dropping tide lowers all ships and our terrible form is dragging other players who are not as good as Auba and Laca with it. At some point the only option is to change managers and hope that the shock will bring an end to the doldrums similar to what happen when ManU changed managers last season.
Watched the game tape delayed this evening. After an hour or so of beer consumption to help me recover from the latest offering from Arsenal, my wife and I watched the movie “Central Intelligence”. Its was a fairly rubbish but the resemblance between bad Agent Phil and Carl Jenkinson was quite striking. That’s my most positive Arsenal thought of the day.
LOL!
I think we are the 5th or 6th best team in the league talent wise and we should be winning most games against the teams in the bottom half of the table such as Southampton. Unfortunately we are in a prolonged run of hopelessly bad form and its now become a problem that has settled between the ears of most of the players. I don’t think the issue is managerial tactics but its become a mental issue. There are no tactical changes a manager can make when a team is in hopelessly poor form. If this continues we might end up in mid table and outside of the Europa league spots instead of 5th or 6th place where we belong.
I don’t believe Emery is the long term answer and hanging on to him in hopes that he can pull the squad out of the nosedive is not a good option, IMO. Sometimes the only way to break out of this sort of prolonged slump is to sack the manager and go in a new direction.
This is a decent Arsenal side with several quality players that’s being run into the ground by a clueless coach.
The acres of no man’s land between forwards and midfielders, players out of natural positions, young players (Saka, Smith Rowe and others) who badly need PL minutes. I could go on.
The sooner we make a change the sooner we can start to sort ourselves out, even that means finishing bottom half. At least we’d be spared Europa League next season.
The last complete match I saw was Standard Liege back in October so, yes please, put us out of our misery because this has become unwatchable.
Tim, I disagree with you on the difficulty of of appointing the right managers. It’s not as difficult as it has been made to be and your references have been more based on British clubs.
Top clubs either use money or a defined philosophy, preferably both, for sustained success.
The one thing that has led all the club’s you mentioned, is their lack of a definitive style/philosophy. British football, esspecially at the traditional big clubs (United and Liverpool) and the traditional big club wannabe (Sp*rs), is they have, more than most, defined English football and been the basis of the national team as well by playing some really illogical style of football. The focus on intensity, emotion and aggression has left these clubs with squads which aren’t purpose built for any particular style and with recruitment teams that had a similar focus, the possibility of altering the style was even less. Unfortunately for them, any team can replicate those characteristics.
Liverpool’s current resurgence and temporary resurgence in 13/14, was based on management with a defined style that dictated recruitment, training sessions and development. Sp*rs best ever manager brought with him a philosophy that allowed him to trim the squad, recruit accordingly and explicit performances from a side that, based on talent, I don’t really rate that much. United have not really had much luck, and for me, it’s because of an absence of a defined philosophy.
Now, not just any philosophy will work, which is why the top sides in Europe will either use money to bring in the very best in order to compete or develop their own philosophy that works to keep them on pace with the rich clubs. But Barcelona haven’t struggled to remain successful with changing managers because they know what type of manager is needed for the club. Ajax have had a very successful 10 year period where they have changed coaches often, but kept a stylistic criteria for the type of coaches who play a similar way. Borussia Dortmund have been able to stay competitive after adopting the basics of Klopps football as their template, not just for playing but also in recruitment of both managers and players.
Since we don’t have money to be the PGS, Bayern or Real Madrid of the Premier League, a basic style for the club at all levels is needed.
Here is why having a philosophy can help in recruitment:
1. By having a philosophy in place for a club, there will not be problems in players not suiting a manager since the recruitment of both is based on their suitability for playing the club’s particular style of football, so the adjustment period is smaller.
2. Planning becomes easier in how mangers are appointed and the direction of the club will be clearer. An example is this, for a team that is looking to play a possession based style, a manager like Van Gaal can be appointed to lay a plartform by developing the existing style to its purest and sometimes boring form, develop young players and integrate new signings. After that, a plartform will be in place for a Guardiola, Ten Haag, Lopetegui, Enrique, etc.
3. Your options in terms of managers becomes clearer. Not because the team once played a certain way, but because the foundation’s of the club are in such a way that only certain types of managers can be hired in order for the club to be competitive.
So the failures of the English clubs is so laughable at times that you wonder how naive the people working at these top clubs are. United had a very ball dominant manager in place, and then hired Mourinho afterwards who had to start from scratch. Imagine if Pep had found Man City after Van Gaal had laid the foundation that Pep had to do in his miserable first season, he would have won the title in his first year.
We pulled the Man United approach in going the complete opposite of the style that was entrenched in the club for the past 20 years, and now it’s surprising that Emery (who is already a bad coach at this level) is failing? No, it was very predictable.
So unless we will be spending like City, we could decide to bring in Bielsa to lay a foundation, and then our list of candidates will be the many young mangers who play a type of football that is based on his style e.g. Semione, Pochetino, Pellegrino, Berizzo, Gallardo, Guardiola, etc.
It’s hard to have a mission statement at the club when the hierarchy has been in total upheaval. The club was in its halcyon days when the establishment of greybeard London bankers and Wenger were totally aligned. The acrimonious departure of club pillar Dein, the appointment of Gazidis and the takeover by Kroenke set the stage for serious rifts within the club that are still felt today. There has been divisions everywhere in this great club whose motto is “Victory grows through Harmony.” We have experienced anything but harmony at all levels since that great 2004-2005 season, from the ownership to the club’s direct leadership, the coaching staff, players, and especially the supporters. It’s not even recognizably the same club 15 years on except for the name, its general geographic location and some of its fans. The stadium is different, the owners are different, the coach is different, and the players are different. It’s no wonder we don’t know who we are.
Specifically to your point Devlin, I think it’s pretty clear to all that we need a True North. The club did draft such a manifesto, as outlined by R&V in their preseason promo video. Now, getting everyone to pull in that direction is the tough part. Unfortunately they got their first major appointment wrong, and that has set the club back as a whole. As Tim said, getting these appointments right is difficult. Manchester United are still searching, 6 years post Fergie.
It is open to debate whether a different (read better under the current climate) manager could reasonably be expected to make the top four with the assets at his disposal.
Emery’s chaordic approach of playing players in mysterious positions, abandoning any semblance of a meritocracy and swapping formations willy nilly has in some ways masked greater concerns around the quality of recruitment.
My short list of observations:
1. Torreira receives the most praise when he doesn’t play.
2. Holding is a class act but only in our memories, when partnering Koscielny.
3. Ramsey was our best midfielder and his loss is now horribly apparent.
4. If Emery found a formation that only included a goalkeeper and strikers, we would make top 4. I propose a 3-1 formation.
5. It will be a combination of blind luck and good judgement that will lead to a better managerial appointment.
6. My point above about good judgement is not true, it is blind luck.
Good ebening.
First of all i wasn’t surprised by either the performance or the result. Secondly, i don’t even know what to say…
so good ebening.
I feel sorry for Unai Emery. He looks and sounds like a man in over his head. Like a dead man walking. And I dont dislike anyone enough to wish on them a hostile work environment, which is what it sounds like his dressing room is.
He’s a decent man, and a good guy, notwithstanding his man management shortcomings. But his Arsenal ship has sailed. It’s now a matter of when, not if, he departs. These must be tough, tough days for him.
Southampton are a poor team, and are where they are in the table because they are bad. I apologise in advance for any Saints fans who comes into this comments section to hit me on that. My fear before the game was that we’d make them look much better than they actually are, and we did. Soton fans in my Facebook feed are actually mad at the team for not winning a game in which they were clearly better than the opposition.
I disagree with the assessment of this collective that says they are a bad bunch. Theyre not. We have a better collection of players than Chelsea, and it makes me mad when I hear people say X and Y cant get into this Chelsea team. Ahead of whom? Mason Mount? It’s all being wise after the events, and I dont think that this is an assessment that would have been made at the start of the season. It’s purely reactive. And the assessment of Guendouzi is beyond harsh. Ask Didier Deschamps.
To say that is to absolve the head coach. He has a team of talented players performing at a level that’s far less than the sum of their parts, and Tim’s tactical summary of how he set them up tells us why. A good coach would have this very Arsenal team 10 points better off. Change the coach and watch them throw off the shackles.
The headline nails the current situation. We would be doing it not just for Arsenal FC, but for the coach.
Claude.
We all want to believe the players are better then they are. I think we are a Europa league level team which which has hit a prolonged slump and is currently heavily underperforming and something needs to be done to reverse the downward spiral. No way Emery is the manager next season so what is the point of waiting to make the change? Hopefully a managerial change can shock us out of the current malaise the way it did with ManU last season. If we don’t change managers quickly we may risk missing the Europa league next season.
With all due respect, we are not a EL team. The truth is, the level of PL football is just to good at the moment. There are a plenty of interesting and tactically disciplined teams with sound ballers (that is also a little bit why both CL and EL finals were full English). Nonetheless, we have a squad fair enough to be around 4-6th place. And no matter what, the squad by far exceeds the EL standard and would be a serious competitor in CL. I mean, not with Unai and we would not compete for the finals, but we instantly are stronger than half of the teams there (only if we had slightly smarter manager.) The players would be also motivated a bit more… But seriously, do you think our squad is any worse than the squad of Brugges? Galatasaray? Crvena Zvezda? Olympiacos? Shaktar? Zagreb? Atalanta?We beat both Napoli and Valencia in EL last year, both teams are not doing badly in CL group stages, now. I mean, yes. The squad sounds a little bit better on paper than it practically is due to the fact, that the team sheet is quite unbalanced (and even a new gaffer will have problems adapting the best names we´ve got to play in starting eleven.) And we definitely cannot with City or Liverpool in the long-term. But the team still is sound. The difference in this season is, it took Chelsea quite some time to find its way at the beginning of the new season. Spurs are/were struggling (though, they do not look in such a worse position, now), the same goes for Manure as OGS simply is not a strong coach. So this season could be easier for us to get to TOP4 only if we didn´t have the coach who makes us collectively worse.
And please pardon my English as it is not my native language (no matter how weak this excuse is).
You are on 7amkickoff, it’s a global fanbase here. Trust me, everyone understands. I have been making a lot of mistakes, but also learning a lot here.
Some people say we “don’t want to be like the Spuddies” but I disagree. They saw a problem, identified an available manager and sacked the one they had.
Why won’t our bosses do that? God knows.
Forget the spuddies – we are only comparable to Manure in the Manager stakes because we are the only two clubs with similar circumstances – replacing long term largely successful Managers.
So we should be looking at United’s efforts at replacing Ferguson and try to take some short cuts.
They too tried a Ferguson “anointed” choice who turned out to be a bum steer and out of his depth at a top 4 club. Then they tried Giggs who was obviously too close to the players before turning to disciplinarian, Van Gaal. These approached failed dismally. Next they sourced the One who failed to win over the talent at his disposal and he was sacked and now finds himself at The Shitpots. When Solskjaer and he had a terrific start. Then things went badly, but their hierarchy stuck with him, and now they appear to be turning a corner.
At this point in time, I’d say we have our own version of Moyes, but are putting up with him for much longer that the Scot managed at Old Trafford (less than a year). Our observations are that Emery has lost the fans AND the dressing room . (No team plays like that otherwise).
So, what’s the answer?
The club’s response is to assess after the next 4 easily winnable games culmunating after the one against fast fading West Ham on December 9. We’ve hung on to salvage a point from the first one. Heads will drop further; fans will boo louder.
Even if the board do decide to sack Emery on December 9, what then? Will they appoint an internal “Caretaker” till the end of the season – and if so, who? Many are saying Freddie, but I think the more wise choice would be Per Mertersacker. Even so, I think the hierarchy should be planning for an immediate replacement NOW, sounding out people like Allegri, Benitez, Potchetino (:-( ) and especially, Mikel Arteta.
Rafa and Potch would be almost “Van Gaal” type appointments whilst we would have jumped several of Man Utd’s steps if we appointed Arteta.
In addition to the comment I wrote in response to BlackArse, I think I like Devlin’s take on the issue.
If we accept Wenger’s philosophy as a plan, we could have done better recruiting new players.
How was Sokratis recruited? For his experience and shithousery. How was Torreira recruited? For his aggressive ball pinching tricks.
The question was not asked, if that would be enough in the EPL, or if the player but suited the team, and the new head coach’s style. We lacked a DOF, and the HOR at the time specialized in bringing his past recruits, so we recruited poorly without a sense of the Arsenal identity which we would have loved to create.
Emery’s fabled dossier on all our players was right, except he never mentioned he was always more obsessed with the opposition, than instilling a style in his team
Emery fought the wrong battles, he blamed Ramsey, Koscielny and Ozil for various reasons. But his most obvious errors were freezing Ozil out of the team, and not settling on a consistent formation.
The players know what they are doing, they are playing to instructions and not using their initiative to create plays. The new players don’t understand, e.g. Pepe & Martinelli.
In a way the club supported the ostracizing of Ozil to force him out, and Emery was complicit. Now, the lack of cohesion is obvious, the time wasted is glaring, the opportunities to build momentum are crushed by constant formation change.
It can only get worse for Emery and Arsenal. If Raul does nothing, it is because he was behind the decision to force Ozil out, without knowing the best dynamic of the team.
Remember there were issues during Wenger’s last seasons, Alexis wanting out due to an obscure ambition, the lack of team spirit because of Alexis nature, the porous midfield with Xhaka and Elneny as culprits, the left back situation with Sead K, Oxlade’s departure and the lack of a replacement at that time, and the absence of quality wingers or goal scoring wide forwards, and the injured Santi Cazorla, who never played for Arsenal again.
I have listed a good number of issues, Wenger left and some were solved just this season, while some issues like Xhaka remain unresolved.
I don’t think it was wise for Emery to have picked on Ozil, with all the issues on ground, he might have been oblivious to them initially, but you don’t remove a key player without a proper replacement.
The cutback tactic was to move chance creation from central areas to the wings, how many times did that work last season ? Where did we end last season, did we buy players able to create and implement these ideas in the new season? Why did the idea fail? What formation suited the squad ?
As much as Unai might seem a decent guy, I think he doesn’t know why his squad capitulated last season and he can’t ask or answer the questions critical to his success.
In addition to the comment I wrote in response to BlackArse, I think I like Devlin’s take on the issue.
If we accept Wenger’s philosophy as a plan, we could have done better recruiting new players.
How was Sokratis recruited? For his experience and thuggery. How was Torreira recruited? For his aggressive ball pinching tricks.
The question was not asked, if that would be enough in the EPL, or if the player but suited the team, and the new head coach’s style. We lacked a DOF, and the HOR at the time specialized in bringing his past recruits, so we recruited poorly without a sense of the Arsenal identity which we would have loved to create.
Emery’s fabled dossier on all our players was right, except he never mentioned he was always more obsessed with the opposition, than instilling a style in his team
Emery fought the wrong battles, he blamed Ramsey, Koscielny and Ozil for various reasons. But his most obvious errors were freezing Ozil out of the team, and not settling on a consistent formation.
The players know what they are doing, they are playing to instructions and not using their initiative to create plays. The new players don’t understand, e.g. Pepe & Martinelli.
In a way the club supported the ostracizing of Ozil to force him out, and Emery was complicit. Now, the lack of cohesion is obvious, the time wasted is glaring, the opportunities to build momentum are crushed by constant formation change.
It can only get worse for Emery and Arsenal. If Raul does nothing, it is because he was behind the decision to force Ozil out, without knowing the best dynamic of the team.
Remember there were issues during Wenger’s last seasons, Alexis wanting out due to an obscure ambition, the lack of team spirit because of Alexis nature, the porous midfield with Xhaka and Elneny as culprits, the left back situation with Sead K, Oxlade’s departure and the lack of a replacement at that time, and the absence of quality wingers or goal scoring wide forwards, and the injured Santi Cazorla, who never played for Arsenal again.
I have listed a good number of issues, Wenger left and some were solved just this season, while some issues like Xhaka remain unresolved.
I don’t think it was wise for Emery to have picked on Ozil, with all the issues on ground, he might have been oblivious to them initially, but you don’t remove a key player without a proper replacement.
The cutback tactic was to move chance creation from central areas to the wings, how many times did that work last season ? Where did we end last season, did we buy players able to create and implement these ideas in the new season? Why did the idea fail? What formation suited the squad ?
As much as Unai might seem a decent guy, I think he doesn’t know why his squad capitulated last season and he can’t ask or answer the questions critical to his success.
Wow. Sheffield United.
Wh’s winning the race to the bottom? United or Arsenal?
It’s going to be neck and neck but I think it’ll be our necks first. Man U are only a point behind us currently but with GD of +4 while we are at -1.
They have Aston Villa next and we have Norwich next. Matches that in the AW and SAF days would have been laugh-a-thons.
I think we’ll flirt with the relegation zone before the season’s done, maybe more than once.
OGS sounds just as clueless in his post game interview as Emery but in better English.
Bunch of platitudes like they wanted it more and football is a funny game and change of momentum, but nothing about his tactical set up in the first half that helped SU boss the game.
I hope Man U keep him.
I think Man U plight under OGS is keeping Emery in the job and Freddie L on the bench.
Crucial question: are his players behind him or not? Hard to tell when the same performance encapsulates both the best and the worst of the season. Maybe the players themselves don’t know either.
I don’t think it’s really debatable at this point though that this team is less than the sum of its parts. I also don’t think it’s any one thing. This is what it looks like when a talented collection of individuals are not all pulling in the same direction. I’m reminded of my Boston Celtics last season. Infighting, poor effort, poor discipline, conflicting agendas, fingers being pointed and lots of losing despite having what “on paper” appeared to be a lock to top the East last season.
It’s a big divided camp.
Jabberwocky
IMO This squad does not have the talent to compete with the 16 teams that are currently leading their group in the CL. We are not looking like a strong bet for a top 4 team in the PL. Obviously there is no way to prove it but if we had somehow gotten into the CL I think the best we could hope for would be to finish 3rd in a group and drop down to the Europa league. Bottom line is right now we are a team that is probably capable of making a run to the quarter or semifinals of the Europa league but not much more.
Appoint Arteta.
Right man, right time, available and Arsenal DNA….
Is this team even this good? Why are people asking this question when it’s obvious that the team is not this bad? That’s the problem. The coach is clearly the problem. The players know it too. They’ve known it for a while and if we didn’t have the culture of Wenger and old Arsenal ingrained, we’d have seen them push Emery out long ago.
I watched the game after the fact and I didn’t think the first half was as bad as was made out. I also didn’t think the 20 minutes were as good. We’re a bit of nothing, and I reckon the only reason we look even a little better against Leicester and now Soton is because the players are no longer trying. Sounds counter intuitive but I think they no longer care about sticking to minute instructions and that lends to some amount of freedom.
Things are at breaking point now. There’s no coming back. But what next? The club has been trying to distance itself from Wenger and his legacy. Quite sloppily in fact. If that continues, we will remain rudderless. Embrace it and build on it and we have our direction set. The one that made us into a global brand.
There seems to be some split in the club executives too. If it’s true that the Chairman is thinking of resigning after being opposed on getting O’Leary on board, then there’s big problems. Why should football opinion be confined only through Raul? Per recently broke ranks to speak up in favour of Koscielny, Wenger and the possibility of working with Arteta.
Personally, I think Raul came in and acted like he’d taken over in a coup, and now there’s some pushback after it hasn’t worked.I hope he doesn’t get his way in appointing the next guy in charge. I hope it’s Arteta. (I know, I know. But it’s a strong feeling)
It’s remarkable to me how detached I have become when watching these performances. There’s a knot of cold, hard rage bubbling underneath (which likes to flare up around the 70 minute mark…), but mostly I go into the game resigned as to what’s about to happen and without any hope to lose it’s hard to feel that much worse. I guess I have entirely given up on this season and am only interested in what’s going to impact on the next one.
The real questions for me now are once again off the pitch. What on earth is going through the head of Sanllehi and/or. Josh Kroenke? All I can come up with is that they think the Europa League is a realistic route to the champions league, and Emery’s record in the competition makes it a likely outcome. In which case they are incompetents unfit to run a burger van, much less a football club. Even if the team wasn’t playing like relegation fodder winning any knockout takes a ton of luck from all the random chance involved. It’s like basing your future plans around winning the lottery! And this gives us Emery – the also ran who hit the jackpot three times (!) and, cursed to be lucky, has peter principled his way into top jobs he’s not remotely qualified to handle as a result.
The deeper problem is Raul “Harry-Redknapp-in-Armani” Sanllehi wheeler-dealering away without any evident footballing strategy beyond banking on lightning striking a fourth time. Should we have faith in him getting the next manager right? Beter buy a lottery ticket I suppose 🙁
Why has no one talked about benching Gendouzi. Why has no one talked about how it’s so easy for opponents to receive passes infront of our defense. Also, watching the team play I don’t think they have given up on the manager. That may be the reason he is not fired yet
Guendouzi is not being coached properly. And he’s not being helped by the set-up.
See Guendouzi dribbling? That’s because there’s no short passing options available. See Guendouzi hovering in or near the outside channel? That’s because he’s trying to join the build-up, which is being done through the full/wing-backs, not the center-midfield where good teams build through. See Guendouzi switch off and miss opposing midfielders making runs from deep? That’s because he isn’t being mentally conditioned in training to stop ball watching.
My beef with Wenger towards the end was he threw young players into the deep end of the pool, and while the odd one managed to swim (ex Bellerin), more often than not they drowned (ex Ox, Iwobi). Young players need to be told do a, b, c, d… then you can improvise within that framework. Guendouzi’s gone rogue. There’s no tactical intelligence to what he’s doing out there. He’s a younger version of Ramsey, and I was a critic of Ramsey’s inability to play with tactical discipline. And now Guendouzi is part of the problem because he is trying so hard to do things that he vacates his position in the middle of the park, leaves Torreira (who doesn’t have great speed) isolated and it creates waves of 3 v 2 for… Southampton!?! ffs
The caption hits the nail on the head. Not much more to say, wish I could emmerse myself in the data until the joy comes back.
Emery comments in the press conference that the system and attitudes were not a problem is still bugging me. Really! Therein lies the denial and delusion.
I can only reiterate what I have said before: act decisively and get a new coach in before Xmas. Someone who has their own version of the Arsenal way. Bring clarity of focus, cohesion, and expression back into to the team.
Also, try to bring in an experienced ball playing, attack-minded, orchestrating midfield maestro in the January window. I know, I know!
None of this will happen unless we dismantle this pointless ‘board’ and put in place a small, highly respected management team to oversee Raul, Edu et al.
and, more importantly, interface with the owners on a regular basis and in a timely fashion which educates them to the nuances of the English and European footballing culture and Arsenal Football Club. Until something along those lines happens there will be no real change at our club.
One image from the ManU game yesterday was the shot from the stands of Fergie, the current and previous Chairmen and some others clearly interacting with each other and generating a picture of people who know and love the club together behind their head coach. In good times and in bad. That is precisely part of what Arsenal is missing.
Strong rumours that Everton will fire Silva and replace him with Arteta, you’ve got to hope moves are being made behind the scenes with us..
Strong rumours that Everton will fire Silva and replace him with Arteta, you’ve got to hope moves are being made behind the scenes with us…
I would put good money on Emery being our coach the last game of the season.
There is nobody out there who would convince REVHK that this man is worth a three year contract.
Pocchetino isn’t coming to Arsenal, never.
Allegri is your traditional, Italian, pragmatist. The fan base would turn on him in just a few short months.
Nagelsman isn’t leaving his team in mid-season. Same for Bielsa. ten Hag wouldn’t and is earmarked for Bayern next season.
What are you left with then? Vieira? Maybe… because Nice are getting ready to fire him – what’s that say for his managerial abilities? Marcelino? It says a lot that nobody’s hired him since Valencia.
I think they’ve decided to just hope for the best.
I agree that Emery is it for the rest of the season. I’ve thought about it and I figure the execs think we might as well tank the [league] season – that it’s currently irredeemable in terms of top 4. I share that pessimism.
But if that’s their thinking, Emery can only save his job (and then again, maybe it won’t be enough) by winning the Europa League. I’m not excusing the rudeness of their “noise” comment, but perhaps that’s their reasoning.
Execs don’t decide to “tank” seasons. You’re engaging in a complete fantasy.
With one-third of the season gone, 25 games to play and a maximum 75 points to get, Arsenal are in 8th place, and 8 points off fourth. It would be totally irresponsible and mathematically insane to write off Top 4 at this stage. If they decided to that, they should join you in never managing a football operation 🙂
Sheesh.
Arsenal are a business. Kroenke didnt buy us because he loves our history. Being out of the Champions League is a revenue loser. And the main thing that the men who run the club is going to be guided by is financials.
Champions League was Emery’s remit. His bosses have said so often, and publicly. The thing that they would be most intent on maintaining is the remit, not the coach. Emery’s position is much more precarious than people seem to realise. In this position or 10th post Christmas and he’s gone.
There’s going to come a point where taking the financial hit on a year and a half payoff in remaining salary is less painful than putting up with the lacxk of direction. I think we’re very close to that point.
Here’s what I’m getting at, Claude, that you may have misread or I may have miswritten – if his remit is Champions League, and it wasn’t specified that it had to be via the league, then they’re clutching at that Europa straw. Which is irresponsible, yes, I completely agree,. I just think getting someone else in would surely improve us in the league, but cups are cups. I don’t think we can improve enough in the league to still make the top 4, no matter who we bring in – maybe they see it that way too. And in the Europa League, Emery is [historically] as good as anyone. They may be gambling on that. And if they are, lessons from literally just last season have clearly not been learned.
That said, I half agree with Jack. True, they have to bide their time putting in a replacement, but that does not necessarily mean that Emery stays. This smells “caretaker till the end of the season.” Freddie, in other words. Freddie would then compete for, but not necessarily win the full-time role.
That’s the only thing I see. But it will only be Freddie once we’re out of the running for Europa League.