Damn George… it just means we still have a lot of work to do that’s all. It’s not the end of the world.
We could still make it into the UCL.
‘Tis but a game after all.
Home record this season W14 D3 L2 GF42 GA16 GD26 Pts45
Home record last season W15 D2 L2 GF54 GA20 GD34 Pts47
we currently have 6pts more away from home than we got last season, with one game to play we have scored away 8 extra but let in 3 more
we need to score 4 to equal last season goal tally, and not let in any to better what we conceded, we are sure to finish with at least 4pts more than last season, with a max of 7pts more
regardless of who the players we actually sign this summer are, I say they need to have genuine speed, this team of ours lacks pace at the back and in midfield, plus out wide
If my auntie had balls etc and other cliches, but if we had Ramsey, we would have won today, and prob other games, he would have just willed it.
Interesting comment in last thread about not trusting Raul and Emery with transfers, if Suarez is a true example, can only agree. Just hope a TD is already there in all but name and is working with scouts with a few targets from a position that is not compromised by doing so. If they have no idea on who this person may be after all this time, or cannot attract decent people, I genuinely despair, and worry at what prospective candidates may be afraid of, but we wait and see on that front.
Suspect this summer will be telling on quite a few associated with the club, Raul and emery paramount.
AW would have gotten into the top 4 if given the same final 6-game run we had this season. FACT.
BECAUSE of :
His superior knowledge of the EPL. Primarily it’s physical demands on its players. Like all rookie coaches, UE has had to experience it to come to grips with it. Coaching this team with this owner in games officiated by this PGMOL at this time is one hell of a task. Given what I have seen this season UE has my vote for another season.
Quite a few changes are in the offing. Money might still be a problem but a good 1-2 transfer windows and with the solid foundation of players we have, a more than decent squad can be assembled for sure.
Today was painful but honestly not as gut wrenching as some years past.
Win or lose it’s been eventful and it’s still not over yet. You never know, Rambo may yet be in Baku come the 29th. Keep the faith positivistas.
so the club basically announced that Welbeck is leaving this summer too, he like Ramsey and Cech got a presentation on the pitch from our Chairman Sir Chips Keswick
Emery deserves another season, hopefully with a Europa victory, but he needs to do a lot better than this collapse at the business end of the league season.
As Eduardo mentioned, we need speed in the team, I would add width, and a bit more unpredictability. I really think we miss players like , whisper it quietly, Sanchez at his peak, Theo and Ox this season. Sanchez ,especially had his faults was a source of menace to opponents and scared them in a way that some current players, for all their endeavours do not.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I suspect it will take a while for emery to get in the players he wants, and to rid himself of players he doesn’t want, some of whom may be on premium salaries and may not fancy China or Turkey. Whether emery gets the time to do what he may want will depend on a lot of factors , starting in the next couple of weeks.
If emery doesn’t perform, Paddy waits in the wings, as does Arteta unless the club have pissed him right off ( but perhaps they can blame Ivan and Sven if they ever do want MA)
Our head coach faced the media after the match to discuss the result, and you can read a full transcript below:
on the result…
We had the idea to continue taking chances for the opportunity against Burnley next week, but today we drew. We know they are very organised and strong defensively so the key was scoring the second goal. We tried to do that and they gave us some minutes to come back, and again we tried for the second goal and made chances, but their defence done very well and their goalkeeper made some big saves. I think we worked and tried but didn’t get the result for taking chances next week. Now our way is to be strong in our focus for Thursday.
on whether nerves took control…
Overall if you score the second goal and make a difference, it can be more calm to play with this, but when they drew level you need to push on again a lot – and we did that. We created chances to score but they defended very well and played very well today. They didn’t give us the opportunity to win this match.
on why we’ve fallen short of a top-four finish…
I think we can speak now about the different situations and issues in the season, but it’s better to take the focus for Thursday against Valencia – and we are going to do the analysis also. In the Premier league because it’s our first target and we didn’t take this position like we wanted, but I think we tried today for this victory. We were feeling very well here with our supporters but in the last two matches we haven’t been able to win against Crystal Palace and Brighton. I think we deserved more from the last two matches.
on how we’ll be stronger next season…
It’s not the moment to talk about next season. I think we need to be strong and be together for next Thursday, which will be a big challenge for us in another competition in which we can do something important. We are going to try to do something. We are very, very disappointed. We spoke [before] the game to finish about our ambition and motivation to finish here with a victory and also to take our chances [to try] and finish fourth. But really, today, Brighton worked very well defensively. They deserved this point [because of their work]. But also I think we tired and [missed] chances to score the second.
on the disappointment of today having an effect on our spirit in Valencia…
We are going to be stronger in our mentality to prepare for the match on Thursday and we are going to give the best individual and collective performances in the last matches, above all [against] Burnley.
on how we can close the gap to the Premier League leaders…
At the moment, for us and for me, we’ve spoken with the players. The Premier League is the best competition to give us our regularity, our consistency. If we are 27 points behind the leaders, that’s the difference. But we are going to work and build up our future. This season is also about learning and continuing to create our way. Our way is in the future to make the difference in the table less to these teams.
on the importance of getting into the Champions League…
We know it’s going to be very difficult. There are six teams going for the top four and we fight with very big teams. Our way is to make the difference [smaller] to them. Then we have another competition, the Europa League, and we are doing our way [in that]. On Thursday we have the second leg and have this one title to play for. It’s a way to get into the Champions League. Above all, for us the Premier League is the first competition and we couldn’t be in the top four. We are close to that, with Chelsea and Tottenham, but there’s a big difference to Manchester City and Liverpool. Our work in the future is to reduce this difference.
on if Welbeck is leaving the club…
I spoke with the club about this situation. The decision is he’s going to leave.
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
All the time thinking I should prob get wordpress account. Got one. It’s a piece of shit. Wasn’t working well so repeatedly tried posting old fashioned way but each time wordpress kicks in, asking for pword, then post doesn’t show on here.
Balls. not what I need with mood I’m in. Using different, old email now so that prob won’t work either!!
Moderation. That will do. Try again with real moan then.
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
We haven’t improved in any way.
We are playing worst football than we ever did, despite having 2 of the best PL strikers and Assist provider.
We bought a top GK, a decent DM, and a decent CB;as well as improved the backroom staff.
Nicely ambiguous statement on Danny from Emery, a bit like with another player I can think of
To “the decision”as opposed to “my decision”implies it is the club, but Emerys English and other factors may obscure this, or maybe both parties are in agreement. Again, hope they have a replacement, and most importantly, good luck to Danny
you know my biggest concern with Emery is that it looks like he is not a man of his convictions, the main thrust of the training during the summer and early season was focused on playing out from the back, no matter what the pressure was, early season he even had Cech doing it, which quickly led to Leno taking over in goal, we persisted with it in almost every game during our 22 game unbeaten run, although it often went out the window for second half of games as our tactical genius brought on half time subs to try and sort out our first half mess. Then low and behold, we lost to Southampton and I for the life of me can’t recall seeing very much at all of this playing out from the back.
So without Playing out from the back, what is our style, what is Emery’s style, yes we persisted with trying to create by getting our fullbacks/wingbacks in on the over lap and cutting the ball back, but anytime Ramsey was not in the team, we never had enough players in the area for this to have a good chance of working.
Ramsey and ozil not wanted, now we see Welbeck not wanted too. No sign of our Academy players being wanted either.
I suspect if he either will not ,or cannot integrate a few more young players, with our business model, his tenure will be limited and he will be replaced by someone who can do such things.
In my opinion only, because it takes more than one year to build a team PG, also Emery will be finishing higher than the much venerated Klopp and Poch in their first years in this league. If you believe the media, both of them are now doing ok, or more than ok.
He will have finished on a similar level to the final year of a legacy manager in the league. He may yet do something impressive that will seriously help this club.or he might not.
And whatever some wish for, Stan isn’t the type to sack him after a single season, not that this equates to deserves of course, but Stan is not Roman A.
And as mentioned in other posts, we don’t know if some seemingly silly decisions are down to Emery, Raul or the club.
Deserve or not, Emery will get another year, especially if he wins the Europa league, which he might, unless Monchi tempts him back, or he gets Sven/Monchi/ Overmars Edu??? type cold feet over some aspect of the club, Emery needs a boost to his rep if he wants to stay elite, if he feels he won’t get it here maybe he could walk.
But complete and utter conjecture aside , we can assume Emery will be here next year. My personal opinion he deserves that year, but on a serious countdown, he needs to sort a few things
confirmed that Cech, Ramsey and Welbeck are leaving, major doubts about the Arsenal futures of Koscielny who said earlier this week that he will have talks with the club this summer to decide if he continues here or not, Monreal who has of yet not signed a contract extension so could be off for free this summer too, and Lichtsteiner who is also waiting on a decision about any contract extension.
there has to be major doubts over Jenkinson and Eleney too, so that is 3 confirmed going, 2 more out of contract, and 3 more with major doubts, so we could see 8 players from this season’s 25 man squad leave, about 1/3 of the squad, with very little in the way of fees coming in for them, so how are we to replace them. Even £120M would only average out at £15M a signing.
Many think ozil and Mustafi will certainly go too, I doubt either will go, if one of them goes for me its more likely to be Mustafi. Many rumors that Mkhitaryan will be sold if we can get a buyer to take on his massive wages.
Emery chased Denis Suarez all January, so do we trust him to replace 8-10 or more of the squad this summer.
In the last few weeks Emery said Willock might replace Ramsey, this despite him making one sub appearance in the BPL this season.
I think Emmi Martinez is most likely to replace Cech in the squad, well this is if Ospina is finally sold, I see Napoli once again did not play him tonight, as one more game is said to trigger an automatic buy clause in his loan deal.
That’s a big list to replace. I wonder if some players know Emery would quite like them out and are performing accordingly?
Going on the Ramsey situation, it is not a stretch to believe Emery/Raul/Club would quite happily rid us of Ozil Mik and others. Whether they will or can is another question.
The other issue, who in the club will get in the replacements. Maybe Edu is about to be appointed and has a bunch of Brazilians on tap, ditto Overmars and Dutch players.
If it is just emery and Raul, things are not encouraging especially with that amount of players
well Mandy I too think Emery will be here next season, and most certainly if he wins the Europa League, no doubt about that. But this soundbite that he is finishing higher than Klopp or pep or poch in his first season as a reason he deserves to be kept is for me nonsense. I would say that the main difference in klopp and pep’s first seasons with that of Emery’s is that you could actually see the style of play that they were trying to play, Klopp tried his gengen press game, pep his possession based attacking play, Many of their players found wanting, but so far what exactly is the style Emery has tried to play, play out from the back abandoned, we’ve flipped flopped from 3 to 4 to 5 at the back, from 2 to 3 in midfield, he I think only started Ozil, Ramsey, PEA and Lacca 4 times together,
what is the actual style Emery wants to play, he is here just over 11 Months and I for one haven’t a clue what is the style he wants to play, or what even is his desired formation. you know if it was clear to me, even if it was something I disagreed with, I would still feel much happier about Emery, at least I’d know he actually does have a plan, i do keep seeing fans say we have to stick with Emery, we have to stick with the plan, none of them so far have been able to tell me what this actual plan is.
in an above post I said that its more likely Mustafi will go than ozil, it was meant to be more likely Ozil than Mustafi, I think simply put Emery rates Mustafi, hence why he has started more games than any other AFC player, and that Emery does not rate Ozil, hence why he has only played in half our games this season.
Maybe he just cannot get the bulk of these players to play in his style Eduardo, or at least those remaining fit to the latter stages of the season.
Poch and Klopp didn’t replace legacy managers, much easier to imprint their preferred patterns of play, and their, to me at least , suspicious levels of fitness at times, and of course their little helpers in black.
Perhaps more helpful to compare Emerys situation with that of the hapless Moyes, tho at least DM knew this league and spoke the language, but ultimately caution and confusion took over a bit with him, the players didn’t seem to take, and yes, that did not end well, not did his successors , and Arsenal don’t have a fraction of their cash reserves.
Emery has been dealt, but has willingly and lucratively taken a very difficult hand, how on earth do you follow Wenger? Give a good job interview, but ultimately, Try and play wengers way, your own way, a hybrid, up against a backdrop of injuries to very key players, and the PGMOL?
Emerys reputation may now end up defined by this job. I suspect he will only really succeed his way if he rips this team apart, and that might not be an option
The Emirates Cup will return this summer, in a new one-day format, on Sunday, July 28 at Emirates Stadium.
For the first time, FA WSL Champions Arsenal Women will kick the action off, with the men’s first team playing in the second match of the day. Both opposition teams will be confirmed in the very near future.
One ticket will give access to both matches on the day and will be priced from £25 and £12 for concessions.
Both teams will take on leading European teams, giving supporters the first chance to watch the teams play ahead of the new season.
We look forward to announcing full details of the Emirates Cup 2019 in due course.
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
Mandy the only first choice player who has missed a large chunk of the season is Bellerin, is that enough for a manager to abandon the way he wants to play.
if Emery has to rip this team apart then everything said when he was appointed was pure bullshit, or should I say lies,
Maybe the biggest lie was from Emery himself when he said the one thing we would see from his teams was us being the protagonists
When Emery applied for this job he knew exactly what it was about, in fact all the applicants knew what they applied for. And because Emery had a power point plan as well as a 100 page dossier to build on Wenger’s foundations he got the job. We can’t now turnaround and say everything needs to be blown up so he can start building from the ground. It sounds nice but it’s impractical.
After results like these many on twatter love saying “the cannon is too heavy” for this player, “the shirt is too heavy” for that player.
So whether we think Emery “deserve” another year is moot because he will get another one. Inthe midst of next season there will be a review, then the question will be does he deserve the 3rd year clause in his contract triggered or could it be found that the Arsenal shirt may, indeed, be too heavy for him too?
I would also say Rob Holding was fast becoming a key player Eduardo, and along with Kos, Sok Monreal and other defenders being out for large chunks of the season, especially over Xmas,I don’t think the team have ever recovered from that defensive instability.
I agree with you, he probably lied through his teeth at the job interview, many do, or maybe underestimated his job, maybe assuming , rightly or wrongly, that once you have a foot in the door at this club, you are likely to at least see out your contract.
As posted yesterday, I strongly suspect that a win in Europe would be strongly favoured and possibly rewarded by the upper echelons. But win or lose, emery is going to have to seriously step up next season, and conspicuously so, or he will do the impossible, and completely unite the fan base, against him. That will make things very difficult for him to last beyond next year. It is said Stan isnt the most engaged owner, true or not, I think we have recent evidence he can and will act on bigger fish than Emery if there is too much negativity, and empty seats. Emery has some very serious questions to answer with such a slump against mid table teams at the business end, whatever expectations were on him from above, he has really screwed up in the league.
At the moment, who would sack and recruit should Emery fall too far from what he promised at the start, or the clubs stated values of which it seems Raúl and Vinay are now custodians. But next year, I am assuming such a man, or woman will be in place, I don’t really understand the real nature of these roles, but sincerely hope it is someone with a large bit of Arsenal history and values.
Emery needs to watch himself, if he screws up this job, that could seriously and maybe further damage his rep at top clubs, and be seen as damaged goods. If he really thinks this job is too big for him for whatever reason, there might even be a very remote chance he could walk, back to Spain, and a setup he may feel better suited to, my understanding, he is much more highly rated over there than here.
Emery ideally needs a win in Baku, a good summer, a replacement for Ramsey, somehow, a good start next season with some intent, better defending , less predictable attacking, someone in place who will keep him honest to the clubs recent traditions. Failure to do so and I am pretty sure next season will be his last, especially if Stan overturns Ivan’s reported last minute change of heart in bringing in a young ex player as head coach
For a lot of people its a low point. But in Arsenals history, there have been much worse moments. In the boiling emotions of frustration, fear and anger, perspective doesnt make things come into focus, the blind ignorance of anger takes over and we dont have a chance to see anything and move on with a bit more hope.
To me it was a shame that many fans left and didnt see the parade, I dont agree with only supporting your the club when they are winning and giving you the delusion of feeling superior to other teams. The AW years brought many fans in, and many of them seem to be the first to leave?
Rambo knows that many of the fans were on his case over the years, as they are with whoever the lastest scapegoat is, sure is the quickest way to fuck a player off, even worse in our social slagging media world.
Sorry I dont mean this in a patronising way, but watching the screaming and ranting and blaming at aftv just seems a bit shallow, theres too much of it in the game these days. I understand, but it should this be the way? These people are pulling in big numbers, brainwashing people, and are poison in a club I love. Dont get me wrong, Ive done it too, but stopped about the age of 15, but at some point we have to collect our thoughts and move on, or we stay boiling in fear and anger and blame? And what will that achieve? AW gave all the players the chance to grow personally on the field, thats why we had Wengerball, Wenger ball came out of confidence, positivity, trust and understanding. Im not sure the player/manager relationship is working that way from what I see on the pitch, but at times it does work.
But my thoughts will always have a counter argument, and with some will be unpopular, but I dont want to sit in shite, much of my own life has been pretty horrible, so I refuse to be flushed down the bog with aftv, LG and all the other places that Arent suporting the lads especially when the storm is over. But the powerful illusion of football is strong, but identity politics is a rabbit hole of bs and the further you scrabble down it the more potty it becomes, non? Then what is not changing in life?
Whatever the many causes are, Arsenal seemed pretty good in the first half, already Brighton started defending well in that period, something they did really well in the second. Why is it the opposition are taken out of the picture when assessing a game? All the ‘shite teams’ weve played in the run-in have all played well like their lives depended on it. There is a horrible divide in the PL, I dont like it, but there are no shite teams.
Certainly we had our moments, its true its less relevant, but maybe an AW side would have given the fans what they wanted a couple more goals and to feel happy customers and talk about on we go to Valencia, maybe maybe not, but Wenger sides still had a killer instinct, and the side yesterday just didnt quite reach it. On another day, three or four would have gone in. But thats football! It might be a cliché, but its because it really is how the game is structured. Thats why we all watch it year in year out otherwise we would look at something else, the infinite chance of possibility is what hooks people in.
What made me feel more positive was my favourite therapy, yep, aftv. Just listening to the bloke from the sticks makes me see whats partly wrong. If Im a dinosaur (always the ugly head ageism rises in our society)and not welcome at Arsenal because I dont agree with those people and they know everything, then perhaps we should at least think about what they say: “Ive seen better defending in kids Sunday football”. Well thats bullshit for a start. And blaming everyone for not having your end of year party is bs too. These things happen. They are as much at fault as the manager and players themselves. The come across as spoilt and jealous and quick to blame and slow to praise unless the goods are delivered. Supermarket sweep!
Ive seen worse performances from other Arsenal sides, but the Wenger years did spoil everyone, even when the years of not winning silverware, there was silky champagne football to watch and seemingly endless champions league participation. AW gave the lads a mind, UE gave them a system, what works better? A mixture of both? I dont know. But I do know that this team can bounce back, we didnt lose yesterday, ok we have missed out on top four, Spurs are above us, and we are way off the top two, but we are still in with a chance of a trophy and CL, and things are rapidly changing with many players going ( I felt sad for Danny, really sad, a likeable bloke who deserved more but did give us some great moments) and things could get worse still, but we have to take some things in our stride, and what grows out of negativity: a bitter fruit. But the tree of positivity yields something sweeter. Am I Pollyanna? No, Im a twat, but fuck it, Im not sitting in my own shit or others if I can help it when the simple medicine it there to be taken, and not even with a spoon of sugar.
Amen.
Jeez. I’d had Viera floating about as a possibility for the future. Was aware his team was based on very mean defence but thought I’d check before mentioning it.
31 conceded in 35 games. Hmmm. pretty good. Hadn’t realised though what goals for was like. 27.
Been struggling to post here since setting up wordpress, so some thoughts now seems i can again.
Aaaargh. Exceptionally painful game. Can’t separate pain for us from pain at gifting CL to Chelsea and Spurs. Latter particularly egregious. Missing out at this point had potential to hurt them very badly, and could have threatened this damnable progress they have made in recent years.
It was brutal to stop dead in its tracks, really, the recent gripping consolatory drama of their struggles. Boom. Gone. Like it never was. Now they can give it their best crack in 2nd leg, minds free of any prem thoughts. Fuck fuck fuck.
We have the Europa lifeline- for the enjoyment of a possible final, the bigger enjoyment of possibly winning it- but still, whatever happens we completely blew the chance to see them hurt. Now we can only hope we do not suffer that punishing financial hit of missing CL ourselves. Meanwhile the grim spectre of an already CL qualified Chelsea winning Europa, possibly against us, is fully within view…
Mandy: a win in Baku would be great, but we still have to qualify and on recent evidence that is far from a given. I would also say that in a one-off final against Chelsea they would likely start favourites to beat us, so I suspect we will finish the season in 6th, will win no trophy, and will have to start again from scratch next season. I would of course love it to be otherwise, and I would also love Emery to settle down, find the right balance of players and set the Arsenal on a new path to success.
People are quite rightly pointing to a terrible run of results and perfomances over the last 6 games or so, but so many little things have conspired against us which added up have not helped at all. And one big thing of course, as Ramsey’s injury cost us dear, as it has so often in the past few seasons. You can probably just about manage without a Ramsey if you have a Cazorla, or Wilshere, or Rosicky to step up: we don’t have those players any more. Likewise, you can possibly just about manage without a Bellerin if you have a Maitland-Niles to take his place (albeit in a non-preferred position), but if he gets harshly sent-off and then misses a game it all gets tricky. All those sides we should have beaten have had a week between games, we have had three days.
Yes, we should have been able to do better, of course we should, but I think it also worthwhile remembering the context.
Thanks Mills: as ever you bring a different perspective and remind me that there is more to life etc. But I should have known the weekend was not going to turn out quite as well as it might after an unfortunate miss on Saturday. Umpiring a game of Under 15s school cricket, I was impressed with the oppo’s opening bowler, a big tall lad, fresh faced and with an amusing manner. After the game I mentioned how well he’d played, only to be told by my fellow coach that he was Tony Adam’s son, and that the legend had been on the boundary for most of the game (unseen by me, of course).
Most of my comments not showing last few days since updating to wordpress. Bit rough when some venting required.
Anyway, the width thing. We lived and died and indeed died by it in league this year and i wonder what chances are of same going forward.
Will it again be mostly fullbacks. In which case will we try build with idea in mind that not only do we need amazing full backs to excel at it, almost certainly ones with great speed to get up and, crucially, back, but we surely need good speed elsewhere- centre mids and/or centre backs- for when it simply isn’t possible for full/wing back to get back in time?
Or…winger types/ wide forwards. In theory that could mean at least a little less demands on cm’s and or cb’s to be first rate physically, although it does sound suspiciously neat as a solution.
I feel it was grimly appropriate that we were caught out yesterday trying to get the full back in wide, despite him being physically incapable of getting back rapidly if move breaks down, while the cm’s are also badly suited to covering large space on quick counter, and neither cb excels in that scenario either.
The season possibly hinged on that moment. Undone by something that could be predicted beforehand as an obvious threat to us, but which we didn’t appear to have accommodated for. We still just had to play it like that, even at 1-0 up.
Mkhi playing the aberrant pass was also a kind of dark icing on a shitty cake. Some brief spells of better form aside, that’s kind of how it’s been with him. 50:50 if we will get even relatively simple passes right or not.
Like you I too suspect next season we will do better. We may still find ourselves way off some of the top teams but at the least we should improve our results against the lesser teams.
Emery will no doubt review his first season and knowing that a third season with us not guaranteed the first thing he’ll need doing is stop being so all over the place. Find your best XI and stick by them. The deliberate causing of “friction” with senior players is counter productive. We need to pull everybody together in the same direction.
With Europa now our ‘salvation’, just take off the trailer and throw the kitchen sink at it. God knows we can do with the extra injection of cash if we want to “put presser” on giving top four a real push next season, because should we win Europa (fingers crossed), there will be no plan B backdoor.
The goal as many have been this season was all about forwards and midfielders and not about defenders.
This is supposed to be a season of transition but I see very little. I would expect a transitional team to get better in the last ten games of the season not worse.
We still don’t know before the game if we are going to play well or struggle. If this was a test season for many players then most have failed.
Unfortunately some of the best players are leaving and those who are supposed to be the best are falling short.
Our little Uraguyan seems tired needs the season to end and Auba is a terrible finisher and needs many chances to score.
Maybe we are going to build a team on the basis of our youth system and I’ve always been in favour of this but it will take patience our fans just don’t have even with our young players.
The style of play doesn’t suggest the backroom staff are any better and big injuries to key players still seem high.
I have always said any manager needs three seasons to really be judged but ok its hard not to start forming a opinion now.
Mandy you ask who might we get if Emery is let go, well what about getting in Erik ten Hag before one of the really big boys of Europe snap him up from Ajax
Mills you say Emery has given the team a “system”, has he really, what is it, as I really can’t see it, formation changes from game to game, in fact from half to half and more, playing out from the back was the be all and end all, but it don’t seem to be there anymore, and I do think, rightly or wrongly, that its the not seeing a “system” that we have been told is there, that has me and many others worried, maybe there is a system there but my layman eyes can not see it, if so I would be grateful if someone would point it out to me, explain it to me.
Ed, you’re tempting me off course with that suggestion. Especially as Freddie would make a natural assistant, given Ten Hag worked with Pep and, apparently, Freddie has a big interest in Pep’s style and works on a lot of similar ideas with u23’s. Might even be able to Mr T a certain I-aint-getting-on-no-plane Dutchman and get him over here.
Positively Arsenal 
Damn George… it just means we still have a lot of work to do that’s all. It’s not the end of the world.
We could still make it into the UCL.
‘Tis but a game after all.
LikeLike
its all alright though as Emery was waving his arms about like a demented pigeon during the game
LikeLiked by 2 people
Home record this season W14 D3 L2 GF42 GA16 GD26 Pts45
Home record last season W15 D2 L2 GF54 GA20 GD34 Pts47
we currently have 6pts more away from home than we got last season, with one game to play we have scored away 8 extra but let in 3 more
we need to score 4 to equal last season goal tally, and not let in any to better what we conceded, we are sure to finish with at least 4pts more than last season, with a max of 7pts more
LikeLiked by 1 person
regardless of who the players we actually sign this summer are, I say they need to have genuine speed, this team of ours lacks pace at the back and in midfield, plus out wide
LikeLiked by 1 person
such a pity the stadium was basically empty when the club made its presentation to Ramsey after the game, he deserved better
LikeLiked by 3 people
If my auntie had balls etc and other cliches, but if we had Ramsey, we would have won today, and prob other games, he would have just willed it.
Interesting comment in last thread about not trusting Raul and Emery with transfers, if Suarez is a true example, can only agree. Just hope a TD is already there in all but name and is working with scouts with a few targets from a position that is not compromised by doing so. If they have no idea on who this person may be after all this time, or cannot attract decent people, I genuinely despair, and worry at what prospective candidates may be afraid of, but we wait and see on that front.
Suspect this summer will be telling on quite a few associated with the club, Raul and emery paramount.
LikeLiked by 2 people
AW would have gotten into the top 4 if given the same final 6-game run we had this season. FACT.
BECAUSE of :
His superior knowledge of the EPL. Primarily it’s physical demands on its players. Like all rookie coaches, UE has had to experience it to come to grips with it. Coaching this team with this owner in games officiated by this PGMOL at this time is one hell of a task. Given what I have seen this season UE has my vote for another season.
Quite a few changes are in the offing. Money might still be a problem but a good 1-2 transfer windows and with the solid foundation of players we have, a more than decent squad can be assembled for sure.
Today was painful but honestly not as gut wrenching as some years past.
Win or lose it’s been eventful and it’s still not over yet. You never know, Rambo may yet be in Baku come the 29th. Keep the faith positivistas.
COYG!!!!
LikeLike
so the club basically announced that Welbeck is leaving this summer too, he like Ramsey and Cech got a presentation on the pitch from our Chairman Sir Chips Keswick
LikeLiked by 2 people
so in just over a year we have lost Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Welbeck and Cech for free. I wonder why our transfer budget is so low.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Emery deserves another season, hopefully with a Europa victory, but he needs to do a lot better than this collapse at the business end of the league season.
As Eduardo mentioned, we need speed in the team, I would add width, and a bit more unpredictability. I really think we miss players like , whisper it quietly, Sanchez at his peak, Theo and Ox this season. Sanchez ,especially had his faults was a source of menace to opponents and scared them in a way that some current players, for all their endeavours do not.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I suspect it will take a while for emery to get in the players he wants, and to rid himself of players he doesn’t want, some of whom may be on premium salaries and may not fancy China or Turkey. Whether emery gets the time to do what he may want will depend on a lot of factors , starting in the next couple of weeks.
If emery doesn’t perform, Paddy waits in the wings, as does Arteta unless the club have pissed him right off ( but perhaps they can blame Ivan and Sven if they ever do want MA)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Didn’t do too well on Sanchez either Eduardo
LikeLiked by 2 people
Our head coach faced the media after the match to discuss the result, and you can read a full transcript below:
on the result…
We had the idea to continue taking chances for the opportunity against Burnley next week, but today we drew. We know they are very organised and strong defensively so the key was scoring the second goal. We tried to do that and they gave us some minutes to come back, and again we tried for the second goal and made chances, but their defence done very well and their goalkeeper made some big saves. I think we worked and tried but didn’t get the result for taking chances next week. Now our way is to be strong in our focus for Thursday.
on whether nerves took control…
Overall if you score the second goal and make a difference, it can be more calm to play with this, but when they drew level you need to push on again a lot – and we did that. We created chances to score but they defended very well and played very well today. They didn’t give us the opportunity to win this match.
on why we’ve fallen short of a top-four finish…
I think we can speak now about the different situations and issues in the season, but it’s better to take the focus for Thursday against Valencia – and we are going to do the analysis also. In the Premier league because it’s our first target and we didn’t take this position like we wanted, but I think we tried today for this victory. We were feeling very well here with our supporters but in the last two matches we haven’t been able to win against Crystal Palace and Brighton. I think we deserved more from the last two matches.
on how we’ll be stronger next season…
It’s not the moment to talk about next season. I think we need to be strong and be together for next Thursday, which will be a big challenge for us in another competition in which we can do something important. We are going to try to do something. We are very, very disappointed. We spoke [before] the game to finish about our ambition and motivation to finish here with a victory and also to take our chances [to try] and finish fourth. But really, today, Brighton worked very well defensively. They deserved this point [because of their work]. But also I think we tired and [missed] chances to score the second.
on the disappointment of today having an effect on our spirit in Valencia…
We are going to be stronger in our mentality to prepare for the match on Thursday and we are going to give the best individual and collective performances in the last matches, above all [against] Burnley.
on how we can close the gap to the Premier League leaders…
At the moment, for us and for me, we’ve spoken with the players. The Premier League is the best competition to give us our regularity, our consistency. If we are 27 points behind the leaders, that’s the difference. But we are going to work and build up our future. This season is also about learning and continuing to create our way. Our way is in the future to make the difference in the table less to these teams.
on the importance of getting into the Champions League…
We know it’s going to be very difficult. There are six teams going for the top four and we fight with very big teams. Our way is to make the difference [smaller] to them. Then we have another competition, the Europa League, and we are doing our way [in that]. On Thursday we have the second leg and have this one title to play for. It’s a way to get into the Champions League. Above all, for us the Premier League is the first competition and we couldn’t be in the top four. We are close to that, with Chelsea and Tottenham, but there’s a big difference to Manchester City and Liverpool. Our work in the future is to reduce this difference.
on if Welbeck is leaving the club…
I spoke with the club about this situation. The decision is he’s going to leave.
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
LikeLike
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
LikeLike
All the time thinking I should prob get wordpress account. Got one. It’s a piece of shit. Wasn’t working well so repeatedly tried posting old fashioned way but each time wordpress kicks in, asking for pword, then post doesn’t show on here.
Balls. not what I need with mood I’m in. Using different, old email now so that prob won’t work either!!
LikeLike
Moderation. That will do. Try again with real moan then.
Urgh. Their threat was made up almost exclusively of turnovers/counter play, as was guaranteed, and at 1 up we conspired to give away that goal.
The ageing full back pushed on, a poor pass from a guy who unfortunately makes a few too many; the two cm’s who can’t make up distances running back; then a foolish, foolish decision to make a challenge of sorts and gift player a chance to go over.
Of many things i don’t like seeing, that is right up there, being caught out in a predictable manner by something that could have been anticipated beforehand, if only by looking at purely physical capabilities of players: Licht won’t be able to get back if up field; centre mids can’t catch anyone on breakaway, neither centre back lightening quick, so should we not tell Licht to stay back in place.
I guess it encapsulates season pretty well : over-reliance on full/wing backs for width; struggle to break down organised heavily-numbered defences without it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
quote Emery on if Welbeck is leaving the club…
I spoke with the club about this situation. The decision is he’s going to leave.
so was it Emery’s decision to let Welbeck go or was it those above him at the club.
LikeLiked by 1 person
slingtonGoonerAFC
@Born_a_gooner
We haven’t improved in any way.
We are playing worst football than we ever did, despite having 2 of the best PL strikers and Assist provider.
We bought a top GK, a decent DM, and a decent CB;as well as improved the backroom staff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicely ambiguous statement on Danny from Emery, a bit like with another player I can think of
To “the decision”as opposed to “my decision”implies it is the club, but Emerys English and other factors may obscure this, or maybe both parties are in agreement. Again, hope they have a replacement, and most importantly, good luck to Danny
LikeLiked by 2 people
you know my biggest concern with Emery is that it looks like he is not a man of his convictions, the main thrust of the training during the summer and early season was focused on playing out from the back, no matter what the pressure was, early season he even had Cech doing it, which quickly led to Leno taking over in goal, we persisted with it in almost every game during our 22 game unbeaten run, although it often went out the window for second half of games as our tactical genius brought on half time subs to try and sort out our first half mess. Then low and behold, we lost to Southampton and I for the life of me can’t recall seeing very much at all of this playing out from the back.
So without Playing out from the back, what is our style, what is Emery’s style, yes we persisted with trying to create by getting our fullbacks/wingbacks in on the over lap and cutting the ball back, but anytime Ramsey was not in the team, we never had enough players in the area for this to have a good chance of working.
Ramsey and ozil not wanted, now we see Welbeck not wanted too. No sign of our Academy players being wanted either.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I suspect if he either will not ,or cannot integrate a few more young players, with our business model, his tenure will be limited and he will be replaced by someone who can do such things.
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 2 people
we drew 1-1 both home and away to Brighton, I think all the other top 6 sides took full 6pts off them
LikeLike
Why does Emery “deserve” another year?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think Mansfield would take 6 points off them
LikeLike
In my opinion only, because it takes more than one year to build a team PG, also Emery will be finishing higher than the much venerated Klopp and Poch in their first years in this league. If you believe the media, both of them are now doing ok, or more than ok.
He will have finished on a similar level to the final year of a legacy manager in the league. He may yet do something impressive that will seriously help this club.or he might not.
And whatever some wish for, Stan isn’t the type to sack him after a single season, not that this equates to deserves of course, but Stan is not Roman A.
And as mentioned in other posts, we don’t know if some seemingly silly decisions are down to Emery, Raul or the club.
Deserve or not, Emery will get another year, especially if he wins the Europa league, which he might, unless Monchi tempts him back, or he gets Sven/Monchi/ Overmars Edu??? type cold feet over some aspect of the club, Emery needs a boost to his rep if he wants to stay elite, if he feels he won’t get it here maybe he could walk.
But complete and utter conjecture aside , we can assume Emery will be here next year. My personal opinion he deserves that year, but on a serious countdown, he needs to sort a few things
LikeLike
confirmed that Cech, Ramsey and Welbeck are leaving, major doubts about the Arsenal futures of Koscielny who said earlier this week that he will have talks with the club this summer to decide if he continues here or not, Monreal who has of yet not signed a contract extension so could be off for free this summer too, and Lichtsteiner who is also waiting on a decision about any contract extension.
there has to be major doubts over Jenkinson and Eleney too, so that is 3 confirmed going, 2 more out of contract, and 3 more with major doubts, so we could see 8 players from this season’s 25 man squad leave, about 1/3 of the squad, with very little in the way of fees coming in for them, so how are we to replace them. Even £120M would only average out at £15M a signing.
Many think ozil and Mustafi will certainly go too, I doubt either will go, if one of them goes for me its more likely to be Mustafi. Many rumors that Mkhitaryan will be sold if we can get a buyer to take on his massive wages.
Emery chased Denis Suarez all January, so do we trust him to replace 8-10 or more of the squad this summer.
In the last few weeks Emery said Willock might replace Ramsey, this despite him making one sub appearance in the BPL this season.
I think Emmi Martinez is most likely to replace Cech in the squad, well this is if Ospina is finally sold, I see Napoli once again did not play him tonight, as one more game is said to trigger an automatic buy clause in his loan deal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a big list to replace. I wonder if some players know Emery would quite like them out and are performing accordingly?
Going on the Ramsey situation, it is not a stretch to believe Emery/Raul/Club would quite happily rid us of Ozil Mik and others. Whether they will or can is another question.
The other issue, who in the club will get in the replacements. Maybe Edu is about to be appointed and has a bunch of Brazilians on tap, ditto Overmars and Dutch players.
If it is just emery and Raul, things are not encouraging especially with that amount of players
LikeLike
well Mandy I too think Emery will be here next season, and most certainly if he wins the Europa League, no doubt about that. But this soundbite that he is finishing higher than Klopp or pep or poch in his first season as a reason he deserves to be kept is for me nonsense. I would say that the main difference in klopp and pep’s first seasons with that of Emery’s is that you could actually see the style of play that they were trying to play, Klopp tried his gengen press game, pep his possession based attacking play, Many of their players found wanting, but so far what exactly is the style Emery has tried to play, play out from the back abandoned, we’ve flipped flopped from 3 to 4 to 5 at the back, from 2 to 3 in midfield, he I think only started Ozil, Ramsey, PEA and Lacca 4 times together,
what is the actual style Emery wants to play, he is here just over 11 Months and I for one haven’t a clue what is the style he wants to play, or what even is his desired formation. you know if it was clear to me, even if it was something I disagreed with, I would still feel much happier about Emery, at least I’d know he actually does have a plan, i do keep seeing fans say we have to stick with Emery, we have to stick with the plan, none of them so far have been able to tell me what this actual plan is.
LikeLiked by 3 people
in an above post I said that its more likely Mustafi will go than ozil, it was meant to be more likely Ozil than Mustafi, I think simply put Emery rates Mustafi, hence why he has started more games than any other AFC player, and that Emery does not rate Ozil, hence why he has only played in half our games this season.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe he just cannot get the bulk of these players to play in his style Eduardo, or at least those remaining fit to the latter stages of the season.
Poch and Klopp didn’t replace legacy managers, much easier to imprint their preferred patterns of play, and their, to me at least , suspicious levels of fitness at times, and of course their little helpers in black.
Perhaps more helpful to compare Emerys situation with that of the hapless Moyes, tho at least DM knew this league and spoke the language, but ultimately caution and confusion took over a bit with him, the players didn’t seem to take, and yes, that did not end well, not did his successors , and Arsenal don’t have a fraction of their cash reserves.
Emery has been dealt, but has willingly and lucratively taken a very difficult hand, how on earth do you follow Wenger? Give a good job interview, but ultimately, Try and play wengers way, your own way, a hybrid, up against a backdrop of injuries to very key players, and the PGMOL?
Emerys reputation may now end up defined by this job. I suspect he will only really succeed his way if he rips this team apart, and that might not be an option
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Emirates Cup will return this summer, in a new one-day format, on Sunday, July 28 at Emirates Stadium.
For the first time, FA WSL Champions Arsenal Women will kick the action off, with the men’s first team playing in the second match of the day. Both opposition teams will be confirmed in the very near future.
One ticket will give access to both matches on the day and will be priced from £25 and £12 for concessions.
Both teams will take on leading European teams, giving supporters the first chance to watch the teams play ahead of the new season.
We look forward to announcing full details of the Emirates Cup 2019 in due course.
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mandy the only first choice player who has missed a large chunk of the season is Bellerin, is that enough for a manager to abandon the way he wants to play.
if Emery has to rip this team apart then everything said when he was appointed was pure bullshit, or should I say lies,
Maybe the biggest lie was from Emery himself when he said the one thing we would see from his teams was us being the protagonists
LikeLiked by 2 people
7амкicкоff
@7amkickoff
3h3 hours ago
Arsenal 2018/19:
Matchday 1-19 –
38 pts (2ppg)
3 losses
41 GF
25 GA
24.5 xGA
+6.71 NPxGD
Matchday 20-37 –
29 pts (1.6ppg)
7 losses
29 GF
25 GA
31.07 xGA
+1.57 NPxGD
LikeLiked by 1 person
When Emery applied for this job he knew exactly what it was about, in fact all the applicants knew what they applied for. And because Emery had a power point plan as well as a 100 page dossier to build on Wenger’s foundations he got the job. We can’t now turnaround and say everything needs to be blown up so he can start building from the ground. It sounds nice but it’s impractical.
After results like these many on twatter love saying “the cannon is too heavy” for this player, “the shirt is too heavy” for that player.
So whether we think Emery “deserve” another year is moot because he will get another one. Inthe midst of next season there will be a review, then the question will be does he deserve the 3rd year clause in his contract triggered or could it be found that the Arsenal shirt may, indeed, be too heavy for him too?
LikeLiked by 4 people
I would also say Rob Holding was fast becoming a key player Eduardo, and along with Kos, Sok Monreal and other defenders being out for large chunks of the season, especially over Xmas,I don’t think the team have ever recovered from that defensive instability.
I agree with you, he probably lied through his teeth at the job interview, many do, or maybe underestimated his job, maybe assuming , rightly or wrongly, that once you have a foot in the door at this club, you are likely to at least see out your contract.
As posted yesterday, I strongly suspect that a win in Europe would be strongly favoured and possibly rewarded by the upper echelons. But win or lose, emery is going to have to seriously step up next season, and conspicuously so, or he will do the impossible, and completely unite the fan base, against him. That will make things very difficult for him to last beyond next year. It is said Stan isnt the most engaged owner, true or not, I think we have recent evidence he can and will act on bigger fish than Emery if there is too much negativity, and empty seats. Emery has some very serious questions to answer with such a slump against mid table teams at the business end, whatever expectations were on him from above, he has really screwed up in the league.
At the moment, who would sack and recruit should Emery fall too far from what he promised at the start, or the clubs stated values of which it seems Raúl and Vinay are now custodians. But next year, I am assuming such a man, or woman will be in place, I don’t really understand the real nature of these roles, but sincerely hope it is someone with a large bit of Arsenal history and values.
Emery needs to watch himself, if he screws up this job, that could seriously and maybe further damage his rep at top clubs, and be seen as damaged goods. If he really thinks this job is too big for him for whatever reason, there might even be a very remote chance he could walk, back to Spain, and a setup he may feel better suited to, my understanding, he is much more highly rated over there than here.
Emery ideally needs a win in Baku, a good summer, a replacement for Ramsey, somehow, a good start next season with some intent, better defending , less predictable attacking, someone in place who will keep him honest to the clubs recent traditions. Failure to do so and I am pretty sure next season will be his last, especially if Stan overturns Ivan’s reported last minute change of heart in bringing in a young ex player as head coach
LikeLiked by 3 people
For a lot of people its a low point. But in Arsenals history, there have been much worse moments. In the boiling emotions of frustration, fear and anger, perspective doesnt make things come into focus, the blind ignorance of anger takes over and we dont have a chance to see anything and move on with a bit more hope.
To me it was a shame that many fans left and didnt see the parade, I dont agree with only supporting your the club when they are winning and giving you the delusion of feeling superior to other teams. The AW years brought many fans in, and many of them seem to be the first to leave?
Rambo knows that many of the fans were on his case over the years, as they are with whoever the lastest scapegoat is, sure is the quickest way to fuck a player off, even worse in our social slagging media world.
Sorry I dont mean this in a patronising way, but watching the screaming and ranting and blaming at aftv just seems a bit shallow, theres too much of it in the game these days. I understand, but it should this be the way? These people are pulling in big numbers, brainwashing people, and are poison in a club I love. Dont get me wrong, Ive done it too, but stopped about the age of 15, but at some point we have to collect our thoughts and move on, or we stay boiling in fear and anger and blame? And what will that achieve? AW gave all the players the chance to grow personally on the field, thats why we had Wengerball, Wenger ball came out of confidence, positivity, trust and understanding. Im not sure the player/manager relationship is working that way from what I see on the pitch, but at times it does work.
But my thoughts will always have a counter argument, and with some will be unpopular, but I dont want to sit in shite, much of my own life has been pretty horrible, so I refuse to be flushed down the bog with aftv, LG and all the other places that Arent suporting the lads especially when the storm is over. But the powerful illusion of football is strong, but identity politics is a rabbit hole of bs and the further you scrabble down it the more potty it becomes, non? Then what is not changing in life?
Whatever the many causes are, Arsenal seemed pretty good in the first half, already Brighton started defending well in that period, something they did really well in the second. Why is it the opposition are taken out of the picture when assessing a game? All the ‘shite teams’ weve played in the run-in have all played well like their lives depended on it. There is a horrible divide in the PL, I dont like it, but there are no shite teams.
Certainly we had our moments, its true its less relevant, but maybe an AW side would have given the fans what they wanted a couple more goals and to feel happy customers and talk about on we go to Valencia, maybe maybe not, but Wenger sides still had a killer instinct, and the side yesterday just didnt quite reach it. On another day, three or four would have gone in. But thats football! It might be a cliché, but its because it really is how the game is structured. Thats why we all watch it year in year out otherwise we would look at something else, the infinite chance of possibility is what hooks people in.
What made me feel more positive was my favourite therapy, yep, aftv. Just listening to the bloke from the sticks makes me see whats partly wrong. If Im a dinosaur (always the ugly head ageism rises in our society)and not welcome at Arsenal because I dont agree with those people and they know everything, then perhaps we should at least think about what they say: “Ive seen better defending in kids Sunday football”. Well thats bullshit for a start. And blaming everyone for not having your end of year party is bs too. These things happen. They are as much at fault as the manager and players themselves. The come across as spoilt and jealous and quick to blame and slow to praise unless the goods are delivered. Supermarket sweep!
Ive seen worse performances from other Arsenal sides, but the Wenger years did spoil everyone, even when the years of not winning silverware, there was silky champagne football to watch and seemingly endless champions league participation. AW gave the lads a mind, UE gave them a system, what works better? A mixture of both? I dont know. But I do know that this team can bounce back, we didnt lose yesterday, ok we have missed out on top four, Spurs are above us, and we are way off the top two, but we are still in with a chance of a trophy and CL, and things are rapidly changing with many players going ( I felt sad for Danny, really sad, a likeable bloke who deserved more but did give us some great moments) and things could get worse still, but we have to take some things in our stride, and what grows out of negativity: a bitter fruit. But the tree of positivity yields something sweeter. Am I Pollyanna? No, Im a twat, but fuck it, Im not sitting in my own shit or others if I can help it when the simple medicine it there to be taken, and not even with a spoon of sugar.
Amen.
COYG!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Jeez. I’d had Viera floating about as a possibility for the future. Was aware his team was based on very mean defence but thought I’d check before mentioning it.
31 conceded in 35 games. Hmmm. pretty good. Hadn’t realised though what goals for was like. 27.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Been struggling to post here since setting up wordpress, so some thoughts now seems i can again.
Aaaargh. Exceptionally painful game. Can’t separate pain for us from pain at gifting CL to Chelsea and Spurs. Latter particularly egregious. Missing out at this point had potential to hurt them very badly, and could have threatened this damnable progress they have made in recent years.
It was brutal to stop dead in its tracks, really, the recent gripping consolatory drama of their struggles. Boom. Gone. Like it never was. Now they can give it their best crack in 2nd leg, minds free of any prem thoughts. Fuck fuck fuck.
We have the Europa lifeline- for the enjoyment of a possible final, the bigger enjoyment of possibly winning it- but still, whatever happens we completely blew the chance to see them hurt. Now we can only hope we do not suffer that punishing financial hit of missing CL ourselves. Meanwhile the grim spectre of an already CL qualified Chelsea winning Europa, possibly against us, is fully within view…
So…aaargh.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Mandy: a win in Baku would be great, but we still have to qualify and on recent evidence that is far from a given. I would also say that in a one-off final against Chelsea they would likely start favourites to beat us, so I suspect we will finish the season in 6th, will win no trophy, and will have to start again from scratch next season. I would of course love it to be otherwise, and I would also love Emery to settle down, find the right balance of players and set the Arsenal on a new path to success.
People are quite rightly pointing to a terrible run of results and perfomances over the last 6 games or so, but so many little things have conspired against us which added up have not helped at all. And one big thing of course, as Ramsey’s injury cost us dear, as it has so often in the past few seasons. You can probably just about manage without a Ramsey if you have a Cazorla, or Wilshere, or Rosicky to step up: we don’t have those players any more. Likewise, you can possibly just about manage without a Bellerin if you have a Maitland-Niles to take his place (albeit in a non-preferred position), but if he gets harshly sent-off and then misses a game it all gets tricky. All those sides we should have beaten have had a week between games, we have had three days.
Yes, we should have been able to do better, of course we should, but I think it also worthwhile remembering the context.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks Mills: as ever you bring a different perspective and remind me that there is more to life etc. But I should have known the weekend was not going to turn out quite as well as it might after an unfortunate miss on Saturday. Umpiring a game of Under 15s school cricket, I was impressed with the oppo’s opening bowler, a big tall lad, fresh faced and with an amusing manner. After the game I mentioned how well he’d played, only to be told by my fellow coach that he was Tony Adam’s son, and that the legend had been on the boundary for most of the game (unseen by me, of course).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Most of my comments not showing last few days since updating to wordpress. Bit rough when some venting required.
Anyway, the width thing. We lived and died and indeed died by it in league this year and i wonder what chances are of same going forward.
Will it again be mostly fullbacks. In which case will we try build with idea in mind that not only do we need amazing full backs to excel at it, almost certainly ones with great speed to get up and, crucially, back, but we surely need good speed elsewhere- centre mids and/or centre backs- for when it simply isn’t possible for full/wing back to get back in time?
Or…winger types/ wide forwards. In theory that could mean at least a little less demands on cm’s and or cb’s to be first rate physically, although it does sound suspiciously neat as a solution.
I feel it was grimly appropriate that we were caught out yesterday trying to get the full back in wide, despite him being physically incapable of getting back rapidly if move breaks down, while the cm’s are also badly suited to covering large space on quick counter, and neither cb excels in that scenario either.
The season possibly hinged on that moment. Undone by something that could be predicted beforehand as an obvious threat to us, but which we didn’t appear to have accommodated for. We still just had to play it like that, even at 1-0 up.
Mkhi playing the aberrant pass was also a kind of dark icing on a shitty cake. Some brief spells of better form aside, that’s kind of how it’s been with him. 50:50 if we will get even relatively simple passes right or not.
LikeLike
Mandy 10:11.
Like you I too suspect next season we will do better. We may still find ourselves way off some of the top teams but at the least we should improve our results against the lesser teams.
Emery will no doubt review his first season and knowing that a third season with us not guaranteed the first thing he’ll need doing is stop being so all over the place. Find your best XI and stick by them. The deliberate causing of “friction” with senior players is counter productive. We need to pull everybody together in the same direction.
With Europa now our ‘salvation’, just take off the trailer and throw the kitchen sink at it. God knows we can do with the extra injection of cash if we want to “put presser” on giving top four a real push next season, because should we win Europa (fingers crossed), there will be no plan B backdoor.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The goal as many have been this season was all about forwards and midfielders and not about defenders.
This is supposed to be a season of transition but I see very little. I would expect a transitional team to get better in the last ten games of the season not worse.
We still don’t know before the game if we are going to play well or struggle. If this was a test season for many players then most have failed.
Unfortunately some of the best players are leaving and those who are supposed to be the best are falling short.
Our little Uraguyan seems tired needs the season to end and Auba is a terrible finisher and needs many chances to score.
Maybe we are going to build a team on the basis of our youth system and I’ve always been in favour of this but it will take patience our fans just don’t have even with our young players.
The style of play doesn’t suggest the backroom staff are any better and big injuries to key players still seem high.
I have always said any manager needs three seasons to really be judged but ok its hard not to start forming a opinion now.
LikeLike
Test
LikeLiked by 1 person
Might it be that UE realised half-way through the season that passing out from the back the whole time does not work in the PL.
The fitness of the players and their ability to shut down meant that all too often the passing around at the back became dangerous.
I simply feel that he is out of his depth at this level.
Being positive means that one should hope for the best.
Blogging here means that one should not insulting or derogatory, but does that mean lone should only be complimentary?
LikeLiked by 3 people
Very well said, mills @10:50am. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mandy you ask who might we get if Emery is let go, well what about getting in Erik ten Hag before one of the really big boys of Europe snap him up from Ajax
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mills you say Emery has given the team a “system”, has he really, what is it, as I really can’t see it, formation changes from game to game, in fact from half to half and more, playing out from the back was the be all and end all, but it don’t seem to be there anymore, and I do think, rightly or wrongly, that its the not seeing a “system” that we have been told is there, that has me and many others worried, maybe there is a system there but my layman eyes can not see it, if so I would be grateful if someone would point it out to me, explain it to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ed, you’re tempting me off course with that suggestion. Especially as Freddie would make a natural assistant, given Ten Hag worked with Pep and, apparently, Freddie has a big interest in Pep’s style and works on a lot of similar ideas with u23’s. Might even be able to Mr T a certain I-aint-getting-on-no-plane Dutchman and get him over here.
LikeLiked by 3 people