A flat back four. No Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, or Mesut Ozil. We juggled the squad for a critical match. The travelling faithful were at it from the off. “Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal”. What would unfold at the King Power? Or indeed at Brighton where the Arsenal women could clinch their title with a win? Two screens were fired up.
We put the first meaningful attack together in the fifth minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wriggled free on the right and Alex Iwobi’s header was deflected away for a corner that yielded nought. Leicester attempted to strike back with an Evans header from a set piece straight at Bernd Leno.
Unai Emery was fuming when Aubameyang was denied a free-kick from an obvious foul by Tielemans and Ainsley Maitland-Niles saw yellow for his first foul, a tame tug back. His mood wasn’t helped when Choudhury appeared to stamp back into the chest of a grounded Lucas Torreira. Finally Ndidi was shown the yellow for an over the top challenge on Xhaka. At the Withdean the captains shook hands. Good luck girls.
Maddison’s shot just wide of Leno’s right hand post was an indicator that we really had started slowly. Nearly twenty minutes in, and Leicester were looking fresher and more determined. “Come on Arsenal” bellowed an increasingly frustrated away support. Then, from nowhere, a golden opportunity when Iwobi’s cross found an unmarked Alexandre Lacazette on the penalty spot but he half-volleyed it wide.
At that moment Vivianne Miedema struck at Brighton. The title was inching closer to North London. At least one of our travelling teams was at the races. At Leicester the men survived when Leno pulled off a magnificent flying save from Ndidi’s goal bound header. The contrast between the two matches was marked. Vardy was sent galloping in behind a static defence to lob both Leno and the crossbar. It was becoming a painful watch.
Another break, and Aubameyang freed Iwobi. If only it had been the other way round. Schmeichel saved comfortably with his left foot. Disaster struck ten minutes from the break. Maitland-Niles, having picked up one absurdly soft yellow card, made another challenge on the play-acting Maddison that Michael Oliver deemed worthy of a second yellow. Any contact was minimal, to say the least. Ainsley could clearly be seen to tell the ‘victim’ “That’s poor”. Let me say I think Oliver is the best of an extremely poor PGMOL list. This wasn’t his finest moment. Unai Emery was apopleptic on the touchline, not without reason.
Leno denied Vardy at the near post as the hosts poured forward. At Brighton the action was mercifully at the other end. A second Gunners goal surely wasn’t far away? As the whistle blew at Leicester Katie McCabe’s delicious left foot chipped volley found the net and the women were all but home and dry. Thank goodness we had one team to watch that had turned up today.
At half-time Koscielny was introduced for Iwobi enabling Shkodran Mustafi to take over at right-back. Brendan Rodgers, sensing blood, sent on Barnes for Ndidi to provide even more of an attacking threat. At Brighton the half-time whistle blew with a much better mood in evidence.
Under the cosh, the men had to be grateful to Leno for dealing with early crosses from Barnes and Albrighton. Somehow the ‘holic pound was still alive. For how long though? The answer was not even an hour. Maddison, of all people, was given an age to cross unchallenged and Tielemans headed beyond Leno. All so inevitable. All so pathetic. The really motivated Gunners eleven restarted at Brighton.
Another Maddison dive when Sokratis Papastathopoulos stood his ground brought another yellow card. Unai Emery, rightly outraged, was also spoken to by Oliver. “You don’t know what you’re doing” roared the travelling support. It was impossible to tell if it was being directed at the referee, the team, or the head coach, all having an absolute ‘mare. Chilwell saw a card too for tripping a rampaging Sokratis.
Evans took out Torreira with an arm in the area. That we didn’t deserve a penalty shouldn’t come into it. It was blatant. It was ignored. It wasn’t even a surprise these days. Even the BBC live feed agreed. “Replays seem to suggest the Gunners could have had a decent penalty shout”. Mkhitaryan was withdrawn to allow Guendouzi to add some energy to a lacklustre performance. At just one down we had to try something. Unai Emery’s ridicule of the fourth official was now becoming the feature of an otherwise tedious affair.
At Brighton the story was so different. The women, in complete control, were seeking a third goal without leaving gaps behind them. The Brighton women were showing more fight than those in arrears further north. With twelve minutes to go Emery finally made the obvious overdue change, bringing on attacking talent Eddie Nketiah, strangely for Lacazette. His decisions all day suggested he is putting all his eggs in the Europa League basket.
With four minutes to go a long clearance from Schmeichel unhinged a shit defence and Vardy netted at the second attempt when his lob came back off the bar. Mercifully at Brighton there was pure joy as the Gunners clinched glory with a magnificent 25 yard strike from Beth Mead.
Leno saved further blushes when denying Barnes in a one on one. Yet further joy at Brighton as Danielle van de Donk curled a seventeen yard effort into the far corner to give the new champions a 4-0 advantage. It was no more than the player of the match deserved. What a joy we have been to watch this season
In contrast, sadly their embarrassing male counterparts were put into deeper despair by an unmarked Vardy six yards out. Final score 3-0. Words fail most of us, I suspect. The Arsenal of April 2019 are the worst I have seen since the mid-eighties. Devoid of ambition, courage, or entertainment value. They have sucked the joy out of even me.
The celebrations at the Withdean were deserved. The Arsenal, a dominant force in the womens game until the Chelsea and Manchester City tanks came rolling into the FAWSL firing oil dollars at random, have succeeded against the odds. They deserve all the praise that is coming their way.
69 Responses to “Women Are Magnificent Champions But Gutless Gunners Men Are Embarrassing”
1
The same amount of shots on target
Shameful!!!
I was half surprised Laca was the one taken off and half not. From what I saw, which was only one a bit halves, his body language was that of a man who has given up.
He was still far more involved than Auba though and I would have hooked him, although it was irrelevant in the end with that defence.
Cheers H.
Not seen any of the game and only caught sporadic clips on the radio. Stats and commentary shows we were well and truly second best. Radio pundits agreed that the dismal was harsh.
9 points squandered in a week and not one performance where we can honestly say we deserved more than we got. To lose 3-0 at Leicester is one thing. To do so and have Leno as our best player unfortunately tells you a lot more about where we currently are I would suggest.
Our strike force is a joke, unless it is absolutely on a plate for them then it is no good, they make zero effort to run behind, chase down or put in any damn kind of shift.
Our defence has somehow become worse as the season has gone on which should seem impossible, we have all grown so used to our defeats now that the ignominy of it all does not even exist within us.
I am deeply afraid for the future of this once proud club, the days of us outscoring our opponents or scoring for fun seem to be so far behind us now it is almost impossible to remember when it was even standard for us, the team is almost as a unit utterly bereft of courage or motivation.
Where on earth do we go from here?
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
What to say indeed.
Congratulations to the Arsenal
Women – clinching the title 4-0
away from home is winning in
real style.
And to the U18s too – nice to
see some titles coming to The
Arsenal.
“Brenda Rogers, sensing blood……..” pretty much says it all unless you’re referring to the torrent from his nose should he dare to walk anywhere close to Celtic Park, Holic?
We’ve got our Arsenal back apparently, or so some sang. Bit premature that, as was the torrent of praise for Unai’s coaching capabilities. Yep, worst since the mid-80’s I’d agree.
North London is still red though, at least for the women. Delicate shade of pink with frilly edges for the gutless.
In fairness though, a Euro Cup win would still make the season a successful one, so here’s hoping we can pull that off. (P.S. I’m not holding my breath 🙂 )
Hugely entertaining to re-run Leicester’s third goal and watch Kolasinac trying to defend in Kolasinac fashion. He tackles in the style of Stanley Laurel (good Scot but never could tackle) and barges people over leading with his elbow in the style of Ollie Hardy.
He’s just got to go hasn’t he? Maybe we can do a two for one deal with him and Mustafi back to the Bundesliga?
Been a horrible week. Hard to see any positives at the minute.
I don’t believe we’ll win the Europa League either, certainly not with Cech in goal.
We have no players to offload that will bring in enough money to get the kind of players we need to progress. Silent Stan won’t help. With him around we’ll be a mid table club before long. We now have the likes of Everton, Wolves and Leicester making us look like we’re competing for a Top 8 spot.
Something is very wrong at our club. No head of recruitment in place and a gutless team. Plus Ramsey leaves on a free transfer.
Come on Stan, show us some leadership. What a joke.
Book your tickets for Baku . Emery can win those sort of ties . What he can’t do is orchestrate an English league season with the sort of resources an owner like Kroenke will allow him .
I have harked on about the Suarez and Ramsey deals a lot but that shows you the sort of intellect Sanllehi has. You really need bright decisions with relatively scant resources. You mustn’t give away your talisman and sign someone who offers you nothing different from what your existing squad does…and then not play him until he gets injured anyway . If Emery wins the Europa League and he well might it still doesn’t suggest he knows how to orchestrate a league season with his constant switches between defensive systems.
Praise to Leno . One of the few players good enough to get into the ladies side ?
Thinking about it, most of our dross is ex Bundesliga.
Kolasinac is a typically Arsenal player really. Not good enough to play a specific role but gets by enough to be able to play anywhere you want.
The real hope for CL football is the hope (probably a vain one) that it will free up more money to spend in the summer.
There’s no point being in it thinking we can win it, it will be purely for the wedge.
Oliver hasn’t had a good match in charge of Arsenal for years. It is never worth betting on a win with him in charge.
I appreciate the parallel report on the Arsenal Ladies they’ll always be Ladies for me!), Guvna. Congratulations to the Ladies for a fine season and a historic championship victory.
Unfortunately it was much as expected from the first team but still very disappointing. I did think we played better at the beginning of the SH than we did at the beginning of the FH and briefly had hope that we would see one of those classic ten men victories. Sadly it wasn’t to be. Hard as it is 10 v 11, our lack of spine and soft under-belly are more characteristic of a worm than any creature to be feared.
Apparently we have 9 more points than at this stage last season despite throwing away the last 9 points. I fear that may be as good as it gets this season.
This first team squad has serious deficiencies that will take a fire sale and several windows of rebuilding to address.
Fingers crossed for the Europa League. I’m not sure that I can bear to watch it though.
Valencia lost again today. They have just 12 wins and 52 points from 35 league games this season.
I know we’re on a bad run ourselves, but if we can’t beat them over two legs then I doubt we deserve to be in the Europa League next season let alone the Champions League.
Great point Barack . That has to be where our focus should bev
We won’t get anywhere without addressing our defensive frailties..
Till then I’d rather we concentrate on the Europa than the CL, at the very least there’s a glimmer of a chance to lift that cup.
Yet another abysmal performance from the team!
Iwobi had a sitter but he couldn’t compose himself to beat the keeper, every time he touched the ball he lost it!
Harsh second yellow on AMN but in all honesty we were dire yet again!
I’m not for words with what is happening in the team!
* I’m lost for words
I’m not sure where to go from here, I have recorded this match as I went for a bike ride with some great friends and it was fun but too much of a distance for my first trip this season. In agony I was anticipating to get home and start watching the game.
We were second best to every ball or tackle and Leicester controlled the game. First yellow on AMN was harsh and the tackle on Miki could have been red as well.
Laca and Leno best players for Arsenal…
Iwobi just frustrates me so does Miki, now I have a double agony to deal with…
Gooner supporter Sir Mo Farah finishes sixth in London marathon.
An omen ?
Congratulations to the women and fie on the men.
Congratulations to the Arsenal ladies. Manuel and Chelsea draw.
The really frustrating thing is that we’ve dropped 9 points in a week but still sit only 4 points off third. If we actually had a back bone and the odd player with a pair of bollocks then we could be third and 5 points clear of 4th.
All a bit sad and pathetic really.
Manure / Chavs draw means we
still have a shot – not a good one
judging by our form but it’s a funny
old game cliche cliche ad infinitum
So, we need to win our final two games, and hope that Chelsea drop points in either one of theirs.
Not sure which of those is more unlikely?
How can Unai say we started well at Leicester, I know the sending off changed the game but for crying out loud we didn’t and not so sure if he watched the same game of football as me.
We were dire, not balls as Steve T mentioned above the lack of putting in shift is frightening for me. Dejected, no passion no desire to press the opposition.
I could go on forever here…
What can you say after that!
Thank God for the 1-1 draw at OT.
We do have long term injuries, I get that but what is the problem.up front. JHC!
Thanks Dave as always.
Well done, Holic,
Don’t know how you could face writing about that.
We are, sadly, a mess. Top to bottom. Gutless, clueless.
My optimism has to rest with Leno, AMN, Eddie, Reiss Nelson, ESR, Torreira and one or two other shining lights from the U23 side to inject some energy and pace into our play and balanced with a select few of the older heads to settle them in.
That Wolves chap, Nuno Spirito Santo knows how to organise a side if we could tempt him onto our rudderless, sinking ship.
A sad day indeed.
Well done ladies !
Minimum 70-80 % of empty seats on every game at The Grove next season and Stanley will bend but sadly that’s not gonna happen. Gutless supporters, gutless players.
Gutlessness is contagious, my sweet Caroline.
The nuts in May are early.
My God, toys are really flying out of prams here. I just hope the supporters attending on Thursday, unlike those here, really get behind the team, all the players including Mustafi, the Manager and the club. I haven’t bothered posting this year, because I’m still pissed off with the way our so-called supporters got rid of our last Manager. Cut the pathetic whingeing and get behind the team!!!!!
Long time since i have heard you so depressed H.
Your post match summary has certainly not helped the mood in the bar.
I must be in the minority,that whilst disappointed that our top 4 hopes seem to have all but evaporated,looking at the squad at the start of the season, my expectations were never very high to begin with.
Unfortunately the 22 match unbeaten run papered over the cracks until the visit to Southampton in December,when a team that hadn’t won a league match for months,made us look second rate.
It has been with a few exceptions,all downhill since then.
The blame game and spiteful invective towards the team has reached a crescendo after equaling the unwanted record of our 1966 squad,who were the last Arsenal team to concede 3 goals in each of 3 successive league defeats.
We have to accept that several in our squad are simply not up to the task at the top level,but till they depart and new blood arrives,,they are all we have,and with a massive game at the Ems on Thursday,it ‘s up to the Supporters to let the team know that they are behind them 100%.
The boys are in a funk,the mood is very downbeat,but we are only one good performance away from having one foot in the EL final.
Let’s hope the mood in what has been a very depressing bar recently, is bouncing off the walls with a positive vibe on Thursday evening.
Agree totally with Trev’s observation that the current Wolves manager would be sort of guy to move us forward. He organizes his defences well, has an eye for the right type of players for the team, can operate with a limited budget and is passionate about the game. Just the guy Arsenal need.
I’ll be focusing on Valencia and how our current manager navigates that one. Apparently others have already started the search for a new manager that Stan won’t hire anyway. I cannot imagine a bigger waste of time. He won’t get rid of Unai after one season, even if don’t win Europa.
The last week has been rubbish, no way round that. Let’s hope the next one is better.
Cheers for all the reports Boss.
Now, I’m off to write Santa to ask for a few Mediterranean islands and a billion quid. And a Batman costume. I gotta convince him that I’m eight or he won’t get me anything, will he?
No excuses fot that limp lettuce of a performance BUT Maddison – a player I and many others have rated very highly this season – turns out to be a complete cheating arsewipe. Even the anti Arsenal pundits on MOTD were not impressed with his play acting that got AMN sent off.
Hugely impressed with the highlights of the ladies game. As the father of a 12 year old daughter who plays I can attest that they are hugely inspirarional to the next generation. A huge congratulations to the team and all involved.
Load of nonsense on Arseblog this morning but he seems to have a hair up his arse about this manager, after a decade of defending the last one.
The approach yesterday was fine, in terms of team selection. I saw the first few minutes before watching the women and there was some surprise expressed that we’d picked both Aubameyang and Lacazette. We picked our attackingmost (Hi Stan) formation.
If there was any timidity and fear it was the players. Not the manager.
Blaming the manager for the manner of our three defeats this week is also cobblers.
Did Emery make Mustafi have a complete personal nightmare against Palace that lost us the game?
Did Emery cause Leno to have an error strewn match against Wolves?
Did Emery turn Koscielny and Sokratis into mindless incompetents (nope, they already were)
Koscielny has been at the heart of a dysfunctional defence all his Arsenal career and although he has his fans, I’ve never been one of them. He makes far too many mistakes, is slow and doesn’t read the game. That he is the most important player we have fit at the moment, to play there, just tells you how abject the others have been.
In short, expecting Emery to work a miracle with the dross he was left and the rubbish he’s been given to work with after joining us is daft. I would actually argue he has already worked that miracle though. We’re fifth with a mid table squad, could still squeak into the top four although it is highly unlikely and would be down to incompetence of others. And he could still do something even the Sainted Wenger never did. Win a European trophy.
The problem is not the manager, it’s the crap he’s working with.
I wonder how we are still in contention given our recent results. Is it an anomaly of MCity and L’pool both having about 90 points? If so then Emery hasn’t been working any miracles. He and his squad have been a bit fortunate and are still what they are. A bit shit. Not unlike Sarri and his squad and OGS and his squad. Top 4 is so important in order get some dosh in to try and improve the squad.
Glad the Women’s team offered you the opportunity to weave some joy through an otherwise downbeat match report, ‘Holic — deserved congratulations to them.
The games recently have come too thick and fast for the men’s squad, which lacks the depth in quality to cope. Each loss has amplified how tired and jaded the team looks. I don’t blame Emery for rotating to rest tired legs or dropping players during a run of losses. But he has got a mighty task in picking them up for the Valencia games. Losing becomes as much of a habit as winning, and I worry that we won’t get past the semi-final.
Cynic,
Just as much nonsense as Unai came up with after the game:
“We started the game well” 😀
RIP Stevie Chalmers.
Another Lisbon Lion passes. The man who scored the winner in 1967. Truly a fox in the box. According to an ex-team mate, ‘just a nice guy’.
ATG – We managed to line up without anyone falling over. Just about.
ATG @41, I think Unai meant that after only a single false start, we managed to execute the kick off properly. There’s not a shred of other evidence for that statement.
This team is under-performing. A better manager would win us the big ears in a few years time. Wagner ahhht !!!
The team is really not up to it. Not the fault of the current manager. Wagner ahhht ahhht ahhht !!!
TTG’s favourite loanee of all time will not play for us again this season because of injury
Interesting to see several drinkers want Nuno Espirito Santo to come to Arsenal in place of our “formerly shiny” new manager. I agree, he seems to be doing an outstanding job at Wolves. I do think others with deeper pockets may also have noticed, and wouldn’t be surprised to see him at Chelsea next season. At any rate, I don’t think it’s time to call Unai Emery our “formerly shiny” new manager and will stick with him at least to see what he does in the summer transfer window. Probably the first thing he will do is to announce that the club does not have any transfer funds to make signings, only loans.
What a week. Nightmare on Ems Street. I have not one clue what happened. Possibly just a toxic mix of fatigue and minor complacency after dispatching Napoli so impressively, but I merely speculate. I don’t give a sh*t about analysing rotation, selection, gameplans, any of that. I’ve read so many bloody experts the last few days. The truth is we don’t know what happened. Sport can kick you in the nuts, hard. The Manager analysed, prepared and executed. He knows more than us and he’s done great up to now. Mind you, the copy book was blotted somewhat with the Suarez fiasco when it was clear we needed Full/Centre back cover. Even Chambers would have come in dead handy and, while I think of it, he really needed to integrate young Mav much earlier, rather than just throwing him in like that. Strange…when he seems so measured and thorough otherwise. The players look jaded now so the only hope, in fact, is that almost subconsciously they have been concentrating on claiming the Europa prize and get their mojo again Thursday, after a few days rest and driven on by a raucous, good old European-night crowd. We are the Arsenal, we can do it, in Baku too. This manager and squad have got us here, right in the mix, at the business end. So they deserve unqualified support – and let’s not forget Chelsea still have two very tricky league games. Remember how unlikely Anfield ’89 and Lasagna day were, on the face of it. Let’s have Victoria (as in a win, not posh spice) and the Concordia will flow again I’m sure. Fans need to hold their nerve in these situations, paying customers or not. COYG.
I’ve travelled to the land of CBA today and have just enjoyed a medicinal Guinness. It’s has mellowed my mood and I can’t even get seriously upset by the farce of the Suarez loan ( see Cynic earlier).
I do think we might win the Cup with small ears. If we did it would mark a better season than I expected but I’m not sure about Unai. We don’t have a clear style. Wenger wouldn’t sub players until the 671/2 th minute but he occasionally picked a sensible starting team . Emery often doesn’t and has to rip up Plan A at half time. Remember we didn’t lead at half time until halfway through the season.
Apart from a poor defence we have a badly balanced midfield. We have little creativity without Ramsey and I can’t wait until he gets back next season …….sorry you mean he won’t be back. Well at least we got a hefty fee for a top midfielder….you say what.
The summer of 2016 was a disaster for our club. We signed the excellent Holding and the three stooges- Mustafi, Perez and Xhaka. To me Xhaka is one of the biggest failures we’ve had recently. I’m not sure what he is because he isn’t really anything . He can’t defend, tackle or create. He isn’t quick but under no pressure he can ping long passes to people . So please ask teams not to press him it isn’t fair. We wasted almost £90 million that summer and selling those three will ultimately raise about three pence. A good partner for Torreira with some courage and properly channelled aggression would be a better framework for a creative midfielder to feed our strikers who stand upfield isolated from everyone .
Obviously I didn’t drink enough Guinness
“We want to get with this club to the point where we are the best club in England and the world”
great but
how and when, that’s all i wanna know
How we win is by not pulling the trigger on a manager who’s had one season and long before he has anything like his own squad around him. We are judging him largely on Wenger’s players and there’s no surprise they’re not exactly setting the world on fire because they never have been able to.
Who signed the others? Mislintat or Sanlehi? How much consultation was done with Emery? If very little, will he ever get the players he wants, or will he be at the whim of the Spaniard?
Unanswerable questions.
But expecting Emery (or anyone else) to turn Mustafi into a defender is pie in the sky stuff. How we paid £35m for that (and shit loads for Xhaka and a few others others) I do not know. It’s like we suddenly, after years of paying next to nothing for players, decided the stadium was paid for and it was time we stepped into the Big Money Market. Then stayed in Lidl and spunked Harrods levels of cash anyway.
And yeah, Wenger may not have had much of a chance either with this lot, but he bought the fuckers.
When has already happened of course. 🙂
Laying into the manager now is a tad premature I feel. Cynic and TTG make more than valid points above.
For years now our dealings in the transfer market have not been good. Perez and Mustsfi were both panic buys. Then you have the shambles with Sanchez and subsequently Mkhitaryan. On the back of that cane the came the Ozil new contract and those ridiculous wages. There are numerous other signings you can throw into the mix of being poor deals. All of which we are paying for now and all will take more than one season to sort out.
The way we have handled contracts over recent years has been horrendous. Rambo, Alexis, Ozil, AOC to name but a few.
For me, Gazidis has to take a large of the blame. Quite simply, he was just massively out of his depth.
So, where are we now? Despite the catastrophic implosion of the last 10 days the season I would suggest has more than a few positives. Our signings last summer were definitely steps in the right direction. Leno looks a top addition. Sokratis is only short term but is more than capable of doing a job. Torreira looks a bargain and Guendozi looks a real prospect. Lacazette and Aubameyang look a handful for any defence.
All of that said we do need some major changes and some major investment. The defence needs considerable quality adding to it. We still need that quality leader in midfield and we still lack genuine width.
The manager inherited a total shambles. We have made steps in the right direction but this boys and girls, is just the start. We may be a few years yet from being a side that can genuinely challenge but that is hardly surprising. The boss needs time and the support of the board. I would suggest that it’s way to early to start to judge.
Keep the Faith
Very good and measured posts by Cynic and Steve T.
I’m currently reading the Queen of Cups in which this blindingly intelligent bloke Dave Faber plays a starring role. If only he was a real bloke !
The books look at the way in which Arsenal failed over the ages to show ambition in the transfer market and shipped out great players unnecessarily. It’s perversely exciting to see who could have played for us and then realise we ended up with John Hawley and Terry Mancini. The basic message is transfer strategy is very difficult but Steve is right about Gazidis. The man earnt vast sums for doing large parts of his job incredibly ineptly. He has left a legacy of confusion and chaos .
I wouldn’t blame Emery too much and would give him time but I’m not sure the way he and Sanllehi approached the January window fills me with confidence. Dodgy groin or whatever aside we didn’t need Suarez and he was an awful choice given limited finance.
We need to show much greater intelligence than Wenger ( latterly ) , Gazidis and co showed in contract and acquisition strategy. We have so much pruning that needs to be done that we can’t do it all in one or even two seasons. What we want and expect is sensible progress.
Good stuff from Cynic, Steve T and TTG. It’s quite clear that sacking Emery as a knee jerk response to the dreadful performances in the past three games would be nonsense.
Moreover it wouldn’t change the trajectory of the club which as Steve T has observed (for some time) is the result of many years of poor decision making.
It remains to be seen whether the Kroenke ownership have a strategy that will turn this ‘franchise’ around by giving the manager the backroom support and resources to build a squad to challenge at the top level.
This summer will tell us. I have my doubts.
Been away from the group a couple of weeks and actually been to the Himalayas and still managed to find a tv set to watch the games. Frankly should have missed all and sat in a cave which was of plenty.
We are a very average team and have been for the last couple of seasons for sure, the difference is even when last season we totaled our lowest points in a long time, at least in the home games we still had some sort of swagger or should I say the Wengerball. Currently, with due respect to Emery, i am not sure what are we playing and what are the tactics. Personnel are poor is true but blaming Wenger is an easy excuse. Unai had his time and space at the club and it makes me wonder what is he trying to achieve.
How long will we continue like this? How many more free lunches for the likes of Mustafi, Elneny, Iwobi, Kola, Mhki, how long will we continue to persist with kos and Monreal when it is clear they can’t play at the highest level consistently, how many more times will guendouzi be run into the ground and allowed to not track back? What do we do with ozil who just feels no one should touch him and he be allowed to play as he wants, how about auba? 19 goals and all fine but boy poor in hold up play, passing and what not, the list is never ending and even the ones who held some promise, the likes of xhaka and torreira are following the same route, it is a mess out there and no, Europa won’t solve the issue. It is deeply imbibed in the team and what we need is a complete revamp, we wont be able to do it is also known and hence this mediocrity will continue. Unai aint a miracle worker but then he isnt as good as he was touted to be either.
I know we didn’t sell Ramsey in January and only announced Suarez on Jan 31st, but maybe part of the thinking was getting shot of Ramsey and having Suarez as a replacement, and we did the loan anyway because it was all arranged, with a view to bedding him in?
Ramsey was in and out of the side in January (out at the start of the month, used with the likes of Willock in the FA Cup against Blackpool, then played against Chelsea but was benched again for Cardiff) so that might have played a large part in why we signed Amaury Bischoff Jnr.
Amaury Bischoff. There’s a name you don’t hear often. Now or then. But only on the losing side once in his Arsenal playing career, which spanned a full 75 minutes on the pitch before he was prised away by the Turkish second division.
The wise old heads above are right that Emery needs to be given time to build the team he wants playing the way he wants, and that throwing him out of the pram with any other toys after a week of bad results will not solve the underlying problems of the squad.
Wholesale clear-outs are difficult to manage. You tend to end up having to sell cheaply and buy expensively, and then have to bed in a large number of new players.
We can still do things right sometimes, although having the badge on there is asking for it get vandalised
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48103584
van de beek
oh van de yes
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – it looks like the noisy neighbours have been watching us play!
Yes, Silly Second Yella, this Ayax team can play. They are making spurs look second class all over the pitch. Anyone who has got them playing like that will be in great demand.
I drove forty miles to watch the Totts game with my grandson because his dad was in Thailand on business ( I hope it’s business)
After a good start by Ajax it was a game of kick and rush and Ajax will be marmalised in the final if they play like that . Possibly the worst CL semi ever played?
Aaron Ramsey has kicked his last ball for us. A sad way to end an important career . In the last few months he has shown an exemplary attitude , a big contrast to the examples of players looking to ease out managers they diner like or to move on to a bigger paycheque.
This is an ENORMOUS error by Arsenal and the absence of Ramsey is very much behind the slump in our form recently. If we played Chelsea-
in Baku it is hard not to recall the way he destroyed Jorginho in January. Nobody else can or would replicate that .
A sad day and I wish the lad well
Good wishes to Aaron Ramsey on his future, and thanks for his many big contributions to our successes during his years at Arsenal. His highlight reel would make the vast majority of professional footballers incredibly jealous, and we were lucky to have him. Other than that I couldn’t add anything to TTG’s praises above.
French Ligue relegation and promotion update:
Dijon, home of boeuf bourguignon, are in position to be relegated.
Metz, home of quiche lorraine, are in position to be promoted.
In other words a bit lighter fare may be in sight but watch out for second helpings of the quiche. If Metz survive a first season they have this history to overcome:
In 2015 they won promotion to Ligue 1 but were relegated after their second season.
Gabriel Paulista interview in The Independent is well worth a read.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What a player, Messi. Liverpool can concentrate on the EPL now?.
indoor playground
Goonerholic: Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Drink, Arsenal