Embarrassing
Dec 29th, 2018 by 'holic
Unai Emery opted to start Stephan Lichsteiner, the unexpectedly fit Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, and Sead Kolasinac in a back four with Laurent Koscielny on the bench. If that made one nervous at least Granit Xhaka was reunited with Lucas Torreira and Emery reinforced the right flank with Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Disappointingly Alexandre Lacazette was once again left on the bench as Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi started either side of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Also on the bench we had a mix of youth and experience in Petr Cech, Mohamed Elneny, Matteo Guendouzi, Joe Willock, and Bukayo Saka. It was good to see the team wearing black armbands in memory of Peter Hill-Wood.
Not surprisingly Liverpool started on the front foot and Firmino’s drilled shot was flicked a coat of paint wide of the near post by Salah. Mane, complaining about an unseen alleged elbow by Lichsteiner, was a lucky boy to avoid punishment for putting a choke hold on the experienced defender.
A rapid break by Iwobi saw our first opportunity saved by Alisson at his near post. Then from nowhere Iwobi teed up Maitland-Niles at the far post for a tap in. It was the young utility player’s first goal for the Gunners.
Liverpool 0-1 The Arsenal
The lead lasted less than three minutes. Lichsteiner’s attempt to clear Salah’s hopeful ball ricocheted off the unfortunate Mustafi and Firmino tapped the ball into the empty net hastily vacated by Leno.
Liverpool 1-1 The Arsenal
Just ninety seconds later we were behind when Torreira gifted the ball to Liverpool, Firmino danced between weak challenges by Mustafi and Sokratis, and found the bottom corner. I don’t know if Unai Emery was more angry or embarrassed by such schoolboy defending.
Liverpool 2-1 The Arsenal
We avoided further embarrassment when Mane turned the cumbersome Lichsteiner but mercifully shot straight at Leno, who was then called into action as a sweeper when once again a straightforward long ball threatened to open us up.
With just 25 minutes on the clock the travelling faithful were singing the Lacazette song, urging Emery into early action. Robertson hacked down Maitland-Niles as the Gunners threatened down the right and Michael Oliver awarded him the first yellow card of the contest. The free-kick came to nothing because Mustafi wandered offside.
That straightforward long ball unhinged an atrocious defence in the 32nd minute. Salah galloped behind Lichsteiner, who appeared to be towing a full brewery cart, and squared the ball for Mane, who had trotted in front of Sokratis. It was unmissable. From The Arsenal’s point of view it was inexplicable. A slaughter was building.
Liverpool 3-1 The Arsenal
As the half petered out Maitland-Niles looked to double his goal tally before his cross was volleyed over the bar by Ramsey. At least we were showing some, if limited, ambition. Maitland-Niles and Iwobi sent hopeful crosses into the box but another long ball opened up the left side of our defence. Salah dribbled into the box, got the wrong side of Sokratis and inevitably hit the deck despite little, if any, contact.
He took the resulting penalty and smashed it down the middle as Leno dived left. Embarrassing didn’t cover it now. As the teams walked off at the break Sokratis was clearly exchanging frank views with Salah about his inner ear infection.
Liverpool 4-1 The Arsenal
Somehow Lichsteiner survived the break and started the second-half. Mustafi didn’t and Koscielny came on for the German. Two minutes in Sokratis made a superb last ditch challenge to deny the dancing feet of Mane a fifth goal for the hosts. Less than a minute later Salah sped past Koscielny only to be denied by an alert Leno.
We came farcically close to reducing the arrears when Xhaka put Ramsey in the clear in the box. He clipped it goalwards and Aubameyang somehow volleyed it over the bar from point-blank range. The Gabonese striker’s blushes were spared by an erroneous offside flag.
A we pushed forward we were again caught on the break by Mane and fortunately Alexander-Arnold’s shot from his pass was deflected for a corner. That came to nought and Mane was replaced by Henderson. Klopp clearly had an eye on their New Year fixture against Manchester City.
Salah’s backheel gave Fabinho a clear chance but Leno was at full stretch to save. That only delayed the inevitable. From the resulting corner Kolasinac appeared to shove Lovren who tumbled theatrically but Micheal Oliver had no option but to award the penalty this time. Firmino competed his hat-trick. If we were a horse we would have been shot at this point.
Liverpool 5-1 The Arsenal
The long overdue introduction of Lacazette with 20 minutes remaining was made more baffling as he replaced not the ineffective Ramsey, but the starved-of-service Aubameyang. I suppose at 5-1 Emery could claim to have been saving the Premier League’s top scorer for another day? Lacazette engineered space for a shot that was deflected for a corner. Before the corner could be taken Matteo Guendouzi was sent on in place of Kolasinac. Presumably Emery simply forgot that Lichsteiner and Ramsey were still on the pitch?
Lacazette was then clearly brought down by substitute Clyne and even the super-biased McManaman admitted it was a penalty. At 5-1 I suppose it doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things, but dear oh dear.
To put it in perspective we were playing with only one of our best four defenders but that doesn’t alter the fact that Emery’s gamble with a rickety flat back four misfired spectacularly. It was, frankly, more than just a bad day at the office.
61 Responses to “Embarrassing”
Thank God for that final whistle…
Shambled in the midfield and shambles at the back…
Papa, Lichsteiner, Mustafi just awful and don’t get me started on Xhaka because I frankly don’t like him!
Now to read the post!
As depressing as these sort of games are (it’s against big teams with huge following and rivalry that goes years) it’s the Palace, Southampton, Brighton dropped points that frustrate me the most. ‘Pool are currently better than us, a couple yrs ahead I’m terms of building.
Just win games against bottom 10 (home and away), fight as hell against the top sides at home and you have better chance of top 4 – which in itself is one of the rebuilding steps…..finding and attracting better quality players.
Circumstances prevented me watching this one. I feel your pain and would have shared it had I been spectating.
We rode our luck during the run of 22. Soweto’s comments @2 are correct. I didn’t expect to win this game but I did expect wins at Southampton and Brighton against teams on the ropes. The tally from the last four games should have been 9 points from 12.
Thanks for report, Holic. Tomorrow’s a new day.
Sokratis, Lichtensteiner, Kolasinac and Mustafi have 230 international caps between them. There are no more excuses left.
Despite popular belief, whenever things go wrong it’s not always the fault of the officials. Yes, we should have had a penalty and yes, Xhaka should have been sent of for kicking the ball away and getting a second yellow.
I’m just glad that Liverpool have Citeh in a few days time and took their foot off the gas a bit. Otherwise there would have been people having to take socks off to try and keep count.
You learn a lot from days like this. The players tgat show pridedespite getting walloped- Koscielny, Iwobi, Torreira, Leno and Lacazette. I’d add Sokratis who defended badly at times but looked like he cared.
Then you have Xhaka whose body language made Ozil look like a dancing dervish , Auba who in his defence had no service but dies little to help himself on days like this and Ramsey. Kolasinac was meh .
Emery has a big challenge. He hasn’t taken this side forward anything like as much as people would like you to believe and he is too much of a Tinkerman for my liking . He has made our defence if anything worse and we sustain more injuries than we did before.
Injuries affect continuity but I don’t recognise a team pattern, any consistent improvement and he needs to plead for some quality reinforcement in January or its Thursday night football again.
Oliver was next to useless but to focus on him deflects attention away from Unai and his major issues .
I also agree with the comments about captaincy in the mid-game drinks.
We have five captains who include Ozil who is in limbo and Ramsey who is leaving in the summer. Koscielny is feeling his way back after a long injury, Cech is a second choice and Xhaka is not remotely captaincy material. What sort of leadership can emerge from a situation like that ? It’s farcical. Appoint a leader and encourage him to lead don’t play swap the armband.
TTG. We normally sing from the same song sheet but I’m struggling to identify one Arsenal player who made less mistakes than all of the officials combined???
I agree totally re captain and leaders. I would suggest that we have neither. A situation that has needed addressing for several years now. None of today’s failings are new. They were just brutally exposed.
Thanks for another quick report and I must say that you have been generous to our manager.
How can anyone go up against a team consisting of two super quick players in Salah and Mane and play such a high defensive line with such slow defenders like Lichsteiner etc. One long ball behind and we were screwed and how did they allow Firmino to dribble his way without a challenge. The pain on Emery’s face after the first three goals went in was terrible to watch but it showed he cared. Just caring is not enough if competence is missing. UE and his lieutenants did not have a clue about how to organise a defense. I doubt if he is capable of improving our defense and taking it to the level needed.
I was very apprehensive before the start of the Pool game at the Emirates but the way they played that day calmed me down and today I thought we would play reasonably well and may lose by a goal at the most. But we didn’t play anything like we did in the earlier game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we finished outside the top six.
Lichtsteiner came in because he was available for free. As a squad member able to fill in when required – he seemed like a good signing. But it was evident even last season that Bellerin needed competition in the squad and we should have bought a right back to challenge his place in the team. Instead Lichtsteiner was all we got and the results are blindingly obvious. There was a gaping hole in the squad and we failed to plug it. With Monreal also showing wear and tear so regularly this season, we will have to buy one right back, one left back and at least one central defender. Liverpool have shown that spending the right amount of money on the right players is the way to build a squad. If our policy of buying on the cheap and hoping that the manager somehow gets the team to over perform continues, we could have a long wait before we challenge for the league again.
As for the game today, we have to quickly put it behind us and move forward. Defense is one area of the team where every manager wishes to play a the same personnel week in week out. Emery has been unfortunate with so many injuries in defense and almost every week our back four or back five changes. One hopes that Bellerin and Monreal – our first choice full backs return quickly and have a sustained run in the team to give it the right balance. Holding’s injury seems like an even bigger blow now. The decision to send Chambers on loan instead of young Mavropanos seems even more counter productive now. The young greek has just returned to full training and one hopes he can chip in with good contributions for the first team whenever he is called upon. Sokratis made a stupid decision for the Salah tackle but I still think that he is a good defender and suits the Emery style of building from the back as well as winning the ball back early. He is similar to Koscielny in the way he likes to stay absolutely close to the opposition striker and also constantly looks for interceptions. Sokratis could become a very important player for us but with his aggressive style of defending there will be a few free kicks and penalties conceded.
Time to move on quickly from this game and focus on getting the mojo back again. Emery faces his first big challenge now, he has to rally his troops and get them to find some chicken consistency again. The team have also had a feel good factor ever since the new manager started and this will be a test of their character – whether they bounce back quickly enough and go on another winning run again. Intriguing times ahead with the January transfer window adding to the equation.
Why does Emery insist on creating tensions within our squad with his ridiculous “tactical” tinkering? It’s only going to end one way..
My biggest fear for this season is liverpool going unbeating ,there is no one at the moment to beat them.
Maybe we should spread some holiday cheer … 🙂
This is Emery’s first season in English football. The mad chaos of festive schedule will be absolutely novel to him, and it is little wonder he looks to have lost the plot a bit. Some of his decisions today probably were meant to better ensure a 3 pointer at home on the New Year’s Day. As the famous other “title contenders” (when will they ever learn?) today demonstrated, nothing is given in this league.
This is also the first season in England for lot of our key players: Leno, Torreira, Sokratis, Guendouzi. To be honest, they all have done rather okay, sometimes even brilliant. None of them have had any experience of playing a game every 3 days in December.
Before the defensive injuries piled up we were looking cohesive enough at the back. We already have more wins on the road this season than the entirety of last season, all of our previous meetings with top 6 had us compete very well (except for the opening day) and in addition to thumping the “title contenders” we could have won against Pool at home and ManU away.
It is obvious Emery prefers players who are willing to follow his tactical instructions diligently and work very hard. Hence the preference for Guendouzi— find of the season in my opinion — and also someone like Danny (a very unfortunate injury for him as well as the club), and of course Torreira. Hence the complications with Ozil and reluctance about Ramsey. It will need the club at least 2 transfer windows to bring in the players that will fit the style of football we now want to play. It took both Klopp and Guardiola at least that.
I think Emery’s record with Sevilla call for some respect and patience . The Europa final when they beat the mighty Klopp and his Liverpool stars, coming from behind, is the kind of spirited and yet tactically disciplined football that we are looking forward to.
Sorry for those who may have found that as painful to read as it was to write. Writing as it happens means the mood of the moment is captured while it is fresh. I would have probably written something very different tomorrow morning.
Thanks for the report Guvnor – a grim one to
have to write.
On to Fulham and let’s see if we can respond.
Cheers H. That can’t have been a fun one to write.
Our defence was shocking. I like the Doc’s analysis above though and I’ll not be judging Emery on how he gets this lot of bandaged up old-timers (plus Mustafi!) to play against an incredibly talented and hard working side.
If we look anything like this in a year, in terms of personnel or organisation I’ll be judging him then. And catching up with some of the other Holics on my pitchfork sharpening.
The first one we conceded was a Reverse Welbeck. If any other team conceded that I’d be laughing my arse off. (Except no other team can so regularly conjure these moments when wild ineptitude crosses so deliciously with ridiculous misfortune to create the gourmet feast of defensive woe that has become our traditional fare. Caviar? Gone. Sausages? Gone. We’re on to gruel. And the sticky brown thing on top has not been a chocolate ganache for a while…)
Whatever George Graham used to sacrifice to The Gods of Defending was clearly too good. Since we stopped giving it to them they seem to hate us more than I hate listening to Steve Macmannamon say anything. About anything. Ever.
Today was awful football wise. I had a nice turkey risotto though. So that was a plus.
At least someone today took a bunch of pre-used, aging ingredients and turned them into something better than the sum of its parts. You getting the subtext Unai?
And if we had played my turkey risotto at right-back we would not have conceded that first goal either. ?
I’d also like to mention my celebration for our goal, which started off very slowly and gradually built up steam. I could not get going right away as I was just so damn surprised that we’d scored.
That’s never a good sign.?
“…I would have probably written something very different tomorrow morning…”
Liverpool 1 – Arsenal 5
Ach, you were right to be downbeat in your preview H. I haven’t seen anything except the goal clips on the News as I was driving the length of the country. However it was just as I expected given our defensive ineptitude all season during which we had extraordinary luck given the chances we offered every Tom Dick and Harry but escaped punishment until the last four matches. This defence is horrendous even with our first choice back 4/5. I see no hint of better organisation than last season and fear for the future. Top 4 will prove a place or two too far beyond reach unless we get personnel upgrades at the back in January. There’s no escaping that fact.
Steve T
I absolutely accept that we did not lose this game because of the referee. His homer proclivities annoyed me but that as you rightly say is a sideshow.
I was so angered by a defeat I expected ( see my post in the preview) because of its manner and the realisation that we are so far away from being challengers and that this manager may ( and I say only may and not will) turn out to be no better than what we had before.Its too early to say that when he needs at least another year before we can judge him but he got so much wrong here and it’s so hard to be definitive about what is better about this team other than we have some better individuals.
Even very average managers like Pulis and Allardyce and Hodgson can organise a defence to work effectively in a solid team pattern. They can even do it reasonably effectively with average defenders. We are nowhere doing that, in fact my conclusion after six months is that we are even more open and porous than we were. We are back to the days of Magill, McCullough and co of the early sixties when defence was an afterthought. We really are that clueless.
If we can get three at home to Fulham we might salvage a point ?
Shambolic stuff, black Saturday, bad end of year present. Unai should stop keeping high lines against any team until we get the kind of personnel suitable for it. At this point am thinking a Sam Allardyce would have been a better option especially for our defensive woes. This day was always going to come, our games at OT & Saint Marys just to mention a few are clear evidences. Even the smaller teams don’t concede this much against Pool in a game. We’re the f*cking Arsenal for crying out loud.
About Özil…..
If Özil isn’t willing to take instructions from the manager, pls sell him and cut the loses. He could be offloaded together with Ramsey next month.
Unai is still not sure of what to do with Auba & Laca in the same game. Maybe we sell one.
However we will sort out that defence. Eventually. But the gift that keeps on giving from the wrong end of Seven Sisters Road do lift a boy when he is down. ??????
“…you were right to be downbeat in your preview H. I haven’t seen anything…”
how can you right something if you haven’t seen anything?
Have you seen Ozil’s knee?
Didn’t stop a rush to judgment in
that case.
Le genou de Mesut
Indeedy deedy.
I wish that I could speculate
Is that knee articulate?
What a tale it could tell…
Is it knocked or is it well?
Pray tell me now o little knee,
have you fallen out with Emery?
Can you stretch? Can you bend?
Or is this your melancholy end?
Speak up sir, say your piece
If you must, a press release.
No more silence if you please
No more, it’s a tactic tease
We wait to know, SSY and TtG,
Plus Stevie T and little me
Your final word, your testament
Are you fine O pesky ligament?
like taking candy from a baby.
why cant we compete anymore.
everyone of those players and manager should forfeit their pay for their ‘work’ last night. embarrassing is too soft a word for these players.
SSY@22 “how can you right something if you haven’t seen anything?” (sic).
Do you conflate right with write or is there some literary finesse here that mere mortals cannot comprehend?
I can indeed compliment Holic on his wisdom in writing (N.B. he writes his blog and can be either right or wrong) a downbeat and somewhat depressing preview on the basis of the subsequent result even though I have only seen short snapshots of 5 episodes of group or individual iineptitude punished by a team playing with the flair that the team I support once displayed. The additional fact that I chose not to watch the whole game that I had recorded in order not to rub salt into the wound does not detract from my ability to congratulate Holic on his perspicacity.
Go pick your own scabs, sunshine.
Just don’t eat them as well because that’s disgusting.
An interesting take on the officials from today’s Arseblog.
“I’ve seen a lot of people raging at the referee after this game, but I
really think he’s the wrong target for any ire this morning. Ask yourself
this, if Aubameyang had got the wrong side of Lovren – who then had a
couple of nibbles at his ankles in the box – and the striker went down
would you expect a penalty? Of course you would. Is it soft? Sure, but you see them given all the time, and it was stupid defending from Sokratis more than anything else – and I don’t think Michael Oliver got that wrong based on the penalties we see awarded week in, week out.
The second one was perhaps a bit softer, but again it was a barge in the
back from Kolasinac who has a tendency to push, shove, grapple and be
overly tactile in our penalty area. Why wouldn’t the opponent go down? An Arsenal player would, and should, do exactly the same in that situation. Lovren made the most of it, but don’t give him something to make the most of. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t, but Kolasinac has gotten away with a few this season, and yesterday he didn’t. Don’t blame the referee, blame the bloke who barged his man in the back in full sight of the official.”
If it is any measure of progress, after 20 league games we have the same number of wins, a draw more, a defeat less and a point more than after 20 games last season.
Bad day with Chavs winning.
On the plus side I’m getting
happily drunk on Caol Ila in
a nice bar with good friends.
“literary finesse” is what it is. That’s just my way of dealing with frustration.
Sorry if your feelings were hurt. It will never ever happen again…sunshine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh89xp2F6fw
I’m not on Twitter. So I don’t know if Twitter has exploded with chatter about the officials’ performance yesterday and that has coloured the perception of some people. But very little has been made of it * on the Goonerholic website. Which is what I am reading and contributing to.
* apart from the usual posts about how people are wrong to blame the officials and commentary concerned with this.
Why is it that I again feel like the issue that is being complained about is only being stirred up here so that it can be complained about?
Baff @ 27.
I have to agree with that. Well in.
Just watching ManUre conclude a depressing holiday season with them dismantling the cherries (Bailly just sent off with straight red)
Truth be told, both ManUre and Citeh defenses have their problems, but (in ManUre’s case once they shed themselves of Mourinho) they prefer to deal with it by playing with hyper aggression in attack. And that’s what maybe any side with dodgy defense should do at this stage. In the Arsenal’s case, that’s especially true since it would take a king’s ransom in investment to shore up this collection of defenses, and who knows how much time it would take for the newbies to mesh (see Fulham for reference). While bringing in recruits for the backline is obvious, maybe bringing in a pacey dribbling winger to bolster the attack where it’s needed is as important for now.
What’s all the moaning about officiating? That’s bollocks, if you attack well, score the goals and defend well, the officials would have little or no say on how things turn out in the end.
We have to accept the fact that we’re sh*te at the back. Period!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt51rITH3EA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06X5HYynP5E
and we all know wh-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeSqMbevg0w
Also in a rather embarrassing and odd category was the performance of my FFL team, whose 4 bench players outscored the 11 first teamers. The manager cannot escape blame for this one I am afraid. ?
Unfortunately unai is playing silly b***** once again at the expense of arsenal fc. We have a great team. How he still persists to have either or with Özil and Rambo. He should have both on the pitch at the same time as that is our best team. Rambo went money mad at start of season we might see another good player leave. Also he forgot that Özil is our number 10. We would have one the league the year Leic won if we had Auba and Laca on team. Our best team is with both Auba and Laca. And Myra on side. But again because of silly b we lost Myra through injury cos struggled with easy match we should easily won. Rambo should take the position that Cazorla once took. So sad he left. We slumped drastically when he got injured. Rambo could get ball out quickly out from defensive position to Özil as is accurate with passes. And then to Auba or Laca for straight goal. Having defenders or Xaka try score from distance wasting good opportunites not helpful. Xafa least favourite player. Plays dirty when things not working out. Also assumes higher position in team than is deserved. Best defence is anybodies guess. It’s rediculous the amount of goals conceded already and is just over half way. Unai can’t blame Özil again for an embarassment. He was nowhere near the pitch. Have to sort soon otherwise or worst fear that Man U also pass over us bad enough spuds above us. It’s good to win but at any cost. If best on pitch then win easily many times. Need to do something asap.
“We don’t have divers”
Jurgen Klopp
Well that’s the matter settled now
that Klippity has spoken. A good
bloke like him with his well-known
values wouldn’t just sit there
and lie out of his arse.
Anyway onward from futile spats.
Fulham are next, a good chance
to show some gumption. A new
manager for them and a much
more defensive approach. Start
with Laca, Auba please boss.
Klopp said something along the lines that – we know Arsenal don’t deal/adjust well the long/high ball, so we exploited it. Imagine that.
Also must add best team without doubt have Torr and Guen
also possibly Sokr Kola Must and definitely Belerin
Let’s win all remaining matches! : )
The somewhat predictable reality check arrived and all the views expressed above have, as usual, some basis in reality.
The fact remains that we are still always vulnerable to a long ball over the top. We still have too much “meaningless” possession, sideways and backwards without penetration. We still play players out of position.
Thanks to NBN for his observations a few drinks ago about managing players minutes throughout a season. It all makes sense but … what are we saving Laca for? With due deference to the Ropey league we are potentially out of any chance of a renewed Champions league spot before the New Year. We look more dangerous when Laca and Auba play together – why can’t we persist with that?
Anyway, as one who will see the New Year before most of you, happy new year to holics everywhere and especially to Holic himself for again keeping the bar open this year and hopefully into the future.
UTA.
The headline of the article sums it all up, Embarrassing.
Who should be embarrassed? well all of course, maybe we can strike Niles of the list but I find his languid style of playing irritating at times, maybe it is just the weather.
All this talk of Unai inherited this mess etc is bollocks, the shape of the team is absolute shambolic and why isn’t that being addressed is astonishing. It cannot be any inheritance etc, it is because players don’t seem to care and Unai cannot allow that to continue. Mistakes after mistakes and it is the same ones again and again, sorry the buck needs to stop somewhere. I also have a question, what the effervescent —- does Bould do? I really support our manager and I am not once saying he is expected to do miracles but come on what is really happening there? It is a worn-out script which we refuse to change.
We have no chance of a top four unless chelsea and maybe united mess up, this defense and a shapeless midfield just cant handle it when pushed to the wall, the element of luck seems to have disappeared and even if we ride it a bit more, it is bound to end sooner or later.
Kroenke and team need to sort this now, now means now, get at least 3-4 players in Jan and if Ramsey, Ozil is out, then do it immediately to free up the places and wages. We need proven players who will give their lives on the pitch and value playing for The Arsenal, if not this mess aint clearing anytime soon. Beating fulham at home is no solution.
Far more worrying than the predictable thrashing of a disorganised and pathced up defensive unit by an exuberant pacy attack on Sunday is the litany of financially suicidal decisions over recent years that are now coming home to roost.
Far worse than the relative austerity of the decade during which the new stadium was being paid off are the consequences of decisions taken (by whom?) that have seen us spend massive sums on substandard players like Xhaka, Mustafi and Perez and let quality players run down their contracts to hold us over a barrel (Walcott & Ozil), force a move on the cheap (Fabregas, Nasri, van Persi & Sanchez) or leave on a free (Ramsey & Welbeck).
For a club that is trying to live within its means, such behaviour is potentially suicidal. A series of decisions to throw millions away on poor purchases and overinflated salaries and to let assets simply walk out the door demonstrates persistent mismanagement and a level of fiscal negligence that in other walks of life result in business failure and bankruptcy.
How has it come to this? We don’t just need a rescue plan on the pitch, we also need a rescue plan in the boardroom. Otherwise mid-table mediocrity may begin to look like a major achievement.
Eck that was rather Shit but not really unexpected which shows just how far we have fallen, UE did well to paper over the cracks but now weve been ruthlessly exposed due to a couple of injuries, the back ups are nowhere near good enough but sadly either are those they’ve come into replace, We are far to slow all over the park for this league.
Its going to be a long road back to the top. Me personally would let some of the youngsters try and find their feet for the remainder of the season players like Willock, Saka and Smith Rowe and its just a shame we let Nelson leave on loan as at least he could add some pace and verve and has the ability to beat a man which is sadly lacking in our first 11, Maitland Niles also needs to be given a run in his favourite position at the expense of Xhaka who again is far to cumbersome for this league and is still a walking red card.
It will also give the Boss some idea of exactly what positions are in need of an urgent upgrade and which can wait to see if the boys Flourish. It will also provide a solid base on which we can build going forwards.
This season was always going to be one of ups and downs and it will take a good couple of transfer windows before you can really judge the Manager as he was dealt a pretty bad deck of cards but what really worries me and im sure you more is exactly how much Kroenke cares – Me I doubt he gives a shit and that’s the hardest part of it all.
Anyway Up The Arse and 3 points tomorrow please !
All this talk of Unai inherited this mess etc is bollocks, the shape of the team is absolute shambolic and why isn’t that being addressed is astonishing.
Well.. Wenger couldn’t organise basically the same players either, so we either have a lot of very poor players who can never learn anything (and some of these guys are making the same errors they’ve been making since they arrived) or we’ve employed two managers who cannot coach their way out of a paper bag, with staff of equally zero ability.
I think the former, personally.
Made me chuckle to hear Bellerin being talked about as a big miss for our defence during the Liverpool game, when he was one of our biggest problems before his injury.
The old solution of players becoming The Answer when they’re not playing, forgetting how bad they were playing when they were on the pitch, rears its head again.
The problems at this club are deep rooted and will take a long time to fix. We need a completely new defence and half a midfield. And two goalkeepers.
I know people have high hopes for AMN but he’s very average, although young. Could train on but do we have time to wait?
Iwobi reminds me of Aaron Lennon – looks like the busiest player on the pitch but does nothing with the ball most of the time.
Ozil should be sold. It’s no use being the “best player” at the club if you only show it one game in ten and have a heart the size of an atom.
We have bought some bang average players and given some complete wasters new contracts. Haven’t we Granit.
Big job ahead and the least of our problems is the manager.
already for Noosa I think, soon for
me and in a bit for others – but a
Happy New Year to one and all.
May our 2019 be great !!
In his first season Klopp’s Liverpool was on 30 points after 20 games, #8 on the league table.
So maybe some patience based on that example?
We were #1, Leicester #2. The way we had managed to throw away the league that year when everyone else was misfiring or in transition, and then afterwards we congratulated ourselves for #2 position at the end instead of being very honest about the problems — personnel, tactical, attitude… — that led to us falling short underline a core problem at the club: after doing extraordinarily well in a self-sustaining model in the stadium debt pay-off era (I think the magnitude of Arsene’s achievement in keeping us in CL for all those years is now becoming more and more apparent), now that we should be “back” we may have lost the verve, courage and ambition to take necessary risks to do that. It might take a while, or more than a while.
I think cynic has really got all wrong. The only difference between us and the pool up until recently is the amount of goals that we have let in. We had almost the same goals scored. Unai had brought already negativity into the afc and here six months. He has picked on one of our legends early on. Imagine if a manager picked on Bergkamp. There would been uproar. We have a great team players. An embarrassment of riches up front. Two top strikers who both know where the goal is. Passed quickly to either two and almost certain goal. You can’t bully players. Klopp does not this nor Skoljaer and everyone playing at their best. Özil was blamed for early exit of Germany. The defenders like Hummels were not playing well. It is difficult to pick yourself up when you are being picked on. The reason pool are top and not us because we ain’t playing our best team every time and they are full of confidence. I understand everyone has their favourite players but are first fifteen players are second to none. We have better forwards than pool. They have only Salah and sometimes Firmino. And Salah got two penos in successful matches as did theaterical dive. Maybe should not have been in team against us for his antics. We have great players. Even if we did get knew players they won’t be better than players we have. Bellerin should be made a winger not get new winger. It is only football after all. But unai has to realise to respect all players and get best out of all. I was not fan of Giroud but he still won world cup. But we did not have mappe and griezmann. But we do have equals with auba and laca. And good service to them win league easy. We have good defenders too but dont play at same often enough. Only competition was man c but now have lost games. Hope city beat pool and see how things are then. It was ok to lose first two matches at city and chesl but we played a lot worse than then on sat. Why not attack pool from start with best team rather on having on bench and some might not have got there either if weren’t injured. Plans don’t always work out. When all matches are tough cos don’t have best team playing get many injuries. Then things worse. This the toughest league. All teams can be hard to beat and many matches. If don’t try win with ease every match and best players sitting instead of playing than I going to wait until new manager is here when arsenal are great again and not just a business. Have a great 2019 and hoping to win all matches left. : )
“I think Cynic has really got all
wrong”
🙂
The years best post 🙂
Though I must admit I didn’t
agree with most of the other
sentences 🙂
Most people think I’m wrong even when they know I’m right 🙂
Happy New Year 2019 to the Maestro of this fine establishment and all the Holics!
…the truth is… it must be very difficult to be a manager. Unai has one of best recent track records… and he only can pick 11. All fans have valid opinions… maybe if all have a say in picking team and have consensus to narrow down to 22… and have 22 v 11 in all matches… : )Let’s see what new year brings… : )
GoonerForLife, how goes it with you boss?
I think Bath, as he so often does has hit the nail on the head by highlighting the massive mismanagement in our boardroom. One has to ask if Gazidis ever made a correct decision regarding player contracts! Letting expensive assets slip away for nothing at the end of the season is criminally bad financial governance. Ornstein tweets today that there is little money at the club this January so we are looking for loans.
This is because we can’t sell the likes of a Ramsey or Welbeck and because of the stupid contracts we are paying out to players like Ozil and Mkhitaryan ( the latter because a swap for Sanchez who would otherwise leave for nothing was our only option- at least we got some value).
I’m also currently struggling to have any faith in a manager I was lauding to the skies a month ago. I will give him the time he needs to change things – and we should note that transfer windows in which we don’t have money to spend don’t help him much. His immediate rivals can buy a couple of £50 m players should they wish to.
We are suffering because of an incompetent board and because we are owned by a billionaire who grows his cash pile but won’t accelerate investment by financing us from his own fortune. He has conservatively seen this increase by about £ 500 m since he bought into the club. Being rid of Kroenke and finding an Arsenal fan to own the club who wants it to be successful would be the nicest outcome for our great club in 2019.
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