Impossible to draw any conclusions against this City side. They embarrassed us worse last year.
Unai Emery - Ex-Arsenal Manager
- Thread starter crossy1686
- Start date
It wasn't really disjointed tactics that lost them the game today though. Both goals were from lazy individual defending.
Hard to draw conclusions about the new boys or the system. However it was the same old suspects who let us down and let us down badly. Cech, Xhaka and Bellerin. Ramsey and Mustafi didn't cover themselves in glory either.
My patience with Emery will greatly depend on how often Cech and Xhaka start for us this season, injuries notwithstanding. If Emery wanted a season to evaluate this team and see what he's got, fair enough, although I still think he should have gutted the squad this season. Its not like we finished 5 points behind the Champions or even 15 points. There is no point holding on to proven, mediocre at best players.
Even if we finish in the top 4 next season, I would still like half of this squad to be shipped out, because even if every player performs to his absolute best, we're nowhere near winning the league because the ceiling for a lot of these players isn't very high.
No need to get on Emery's back. He is managing the worst squad in the top 6 with the worst mentality, the worst owner (Kroenke) and the worst possible starts (first two games being City and Chelsea). Cut him some slack.
His league record is shaky, but he isn't a completely clueless tactician. Give him a couple of seasons and Arsenal will likely be in a decent position.
His league record is shaky, but he isn't a completely clueless tactician. Give him a couple of seasons and Arsenal will likely be in a decent position.
Let down by his players ineptitude today. They set up well.
They were really poor today.
That Turkish guy that looks like Kermit was awful
That Turkish guy that looks like Kermit was awful
Same shit, different manager.
We can't wait a couple of seasons, we need top 4 right now. If he came in 3 seasons ago, then sure but we are a Europa League team for 2 years running and cannot afford a third.
Kroenke isn't John Henry or Abramovich who would spend a lot of money to get the club back to the top. If we find ourselves in the Europa League for 3 or 4 years, then Kroenke isn't going to pull out his wallet to get us back in the top 4 Our commercial attractiveness will also decrease as will our revenue.
Fans can point at us signing Lacazette and Aubameyang but we made a net profit in both those windows.
If we find ourselves out of the top 4, then unless Kroenke changes his whole business model then its back to the youth project and trying to sign good players on the cheap, while competing with three super rich clubs.
If we make it back in the top 4, then we can use CL football to attract better players and push on from there.
This is what makes Sven/Emery's jobs tricky. They have to strike a balance between being as competitive as possible this season and developing younger players with an eye toward the future.
In the end, the mediocrity of some of the established players will help in this regard. Are we really worse off with Torreira and Guendouzi in CM, as opposed to Xhaka? Or with Holding partnering Sokratis rather than Mustafi? Or with Leno in goal rather than Cech? We may find that a younger lineup ends up being our most competitive anyway.
What are the expectations of most Arsenal fans for this season?
Look today was always going to be difficult but I couldn't understand why he refused to remove Ozil or Mkhitaryn.
The other bizarre call for me was the young lad in midfield, he's clearly very talented but he hung him out to dry today and I was cringing when the ball bounced over him into Aguero's path.
I'd say he's got an awful task shifting out the dross Wenger has given him, so many just don't try hard enough.
The other bizarre call for me was the young lad in midfield, he's clearly very talented but he hung him out to dry today and I was cringing when the ball bounced over him into Aguero's path.
I'd say he's got an awful task shifting out the dross Wenger has given him, so many just don't try hard enough.
I'm starting to think that some of our established players are not even mediocre, but worse than that.
Arteta was mediocre, as was Mertesacker but I would give my right arm for both of them right now. I want us to have a team of superstars but I would be alright if we simply had a team of steady, reliable players who won't win you games like a Neymar but will give you a 6/10 performance every week without making stupid mistakes.
Half the players in our team fluctuate between 3/10 and 7/10 and every single game do something dumb that costs us or could have cost us. If Leno doesn't do any stupid, then I would have him start ahead of Cech, even if he's only the 6th best keeper in the league. Football is a game of fine margins and there is no point in the team playing well for 85 minutes when our keeper made a bad mistake in the first half to give the opposition the lead. The same goes for El Neny in midfield, he's a nothing player at times but I can't remember a time I watched him pick his nose while the opposition waltzed in and scored or saw him give the ball away in a dangerous spot.
Right now, we don't need spectacular, we need steady. A team full of steady players will get us into the top 4. One containing too many Xhaka's and Mustafi's will beat Everton at Goodison one week but lose 3-0 to Newcastle at home the next thanks to stupid mistakes, then follow that up with a draw at Palace.
Emery needs to get back to basics and play the guys who can at least do those well without making a mess of it.
Top 4, Europa League and FA Cup
Well you can expect somebody to win the league in their first season...except maybe for Wenger.
It’s not the easiest of starts for him. It’ll take a while to get it right, especially at the back. Cech shouldn’t be in goal for them if Emery wants to play out from the back. Today served as proof of that.
How’s Leno with the ball at his feet?
How’s Leno with the ball at his feet?
It was always going to be a difficult match but he made some school boy errors in tactics. You play Mkhi and Ozil against the two most athletic and dynamic fullbacks in the league, playing a 19 year old kid from the French second division in his league debut against City, you play out from the back with a unit of Cech, Mustafi and Papasthapoulos...against the best team in the league without the ball.
To me sounds like he took the game as a free hit.
To me sounds like he took the game as a free hit.
This game was always a free hit. Last season Arsenal would have been hit for 6. In my book he has already made some improvement
Ozil and Mkhi at fault for ball watching and poor final ball, Xhaka at fault for not being a footballer. We will see what Emery is made of, if he can get these established players to do the less glamorous parts of football.
He looks like he sold junk bonds in a previous life.
He's decent, a fantastic shot stopper but he relies heavily on his reflexes. Think Arsenal will concede a fair few from set pieces with him in goal, he's not great with crosses.
He needs a few more transfer windows and Kroenke needs to get his wallet out to get some quality in. Until that happens they are battling for top six for a while.
Very true. Hard to get people in whilst getting others out. Biggest problem is they are working in one of the most difficult markets ever. Whatever they need, so does everyone else.....and everyone's got money too.
Shit transfer window for them the players signed will make little to no difference to last year no matter who manages them.
I mean if Pep was in charge if that lot he wouldn’t win the league.
I mean if Pep was in charge if that lot he wouldn’t win the league.
It sure looked that way when Özil, David Luiz jr and Mkhi couldn’t be bothered tracking back when City were 5 on 4. City didn’t impress (to put it mildly - they created next to nothing by themselves and let in Arsenal several times just to see them spoil the situations), Arsenal looked like there are several players not understanding how to play together just yet.
they didn't look worse then if we played them last year and they finished 16 points off us... not saying they will finish 2nd but it was one of their toughest fixtures right from the off, let's see after more games but of course I don t think noone thinks they will fight for the title but have a top4 finish they can do it imo, who will drop out though? Chelsea, Spurs, us?
It's the swept back greasy hair and sharp features.... peddaling the CLOs right now
I feel that if they give Unai Emery the 3 or 4 transfer windows he'll need. He'll probably win Arsenal a Europa League and get them into the top four but I've always considered this quite an underwhelming appoint. Arsenal needed to learn from our mistake and when Wenger left they needed to go out and get a top quality manager. Instead they went for Emery whose certainly a good manager, some would say very good, but he's top of the B list.
He needs to shift 1 of Ozil / Mkhitaryan, you can't have them both in the team.
I think he got the defensive shape wrong today, giving city's wingers space was asking for trouble. Then again they're so strong everywhere you've got to try something.
Definitely needs Leno to be better with his feet than Cech
I think he got the defensive shape wrong today, giving city's wingers space was asking for trouble. Then again they're so strong everywhere you've got to try something.
Definitely needs Leno to be better with his feet than Cech
There was no lazy defending both the goals were from great City moves. And I meant disjointed in attack, players looked like they were strangers constantly playing passes behind each other or getting in each others way. The pressing also lacked cohesion, though it must be said even the half arsed pressing led to City coughing up the ball several times. We just lacked that little bit of sharpness to make use of it, but hope the other teams are taking notes. That might be the only way to play against them as Liverpool have already showed. Even Ederson looked shaky when put under a bit of pressure.
First goal two Arsenal defenders just let Sterling run past them into the middle of the goal area to shoot. Second goal the left back had no idea Silva was running into wide open space in the middle of the area. Both easily preventable goals and Emery would have rightly been fuming about both.
I’d give him a fair assessment 18 games into the season. Absolute waste of time till then
IMO - if Arsenal finish top-4 or even very close to top-4, the manager has done a brilliant job in his first season. With what Arsenal had left when the season ended - it could quite easily turn into a horrible season if he fails to perform. It's not unrealistic to hope for a top-4 position - but Arsenal certainly aren't favourites for it.
Too early to judge, I mean most Arsenal fans will realise you cannot make any sort of accurate judgements against a really good Manchester City team and then Chelsea away. Question marks about whether was enough investment in the defense, having said that they invested more than Spurs.
Old boss, same as the new boss.
Is it me or it seems that this team is even slower than the Wenger team. Aubu cant beat Stones on a sprint? The only one with any speed is Lacca. The rest are like joggers when everyone else were sprinters.
Plus its amazing how narrow the team plays.
Is it me or it seems that this team is even slower than the Wenger team. Aubu cant beat Stones on a sprint? The only one with any speed is Lacca. The rest are like joggers when everyone else were sprinters.
Plus its amazing how narrow the team plays.
It’s really pointless to evaluate him until at least Christmas. He’s in a similar situation to Klopp and Pochettino when they first arrived in the league and it took them about a season to really make the team play to the level they wanted.
I think this Arsenal squad is as bad as it's been since the days of Andre Santos.
Even in forward positions they lack balance. Aubameyang, Ozil and Mkhitaryan are good players, but who do they have that can beat a man with a bit of trickery or whip a ball into the box? Iwobi? I think they're going to need to rely on Aubameyang hitting the numbers he did at Dortmund to have a good season.
Torreira might work well in midfield, but other than Ramsey (who can be hit and miss) I don't rate their options in midfield in the slightest.
As for the defence. Jesus (no, not a player). Mustafi, Sokratis, Holding and Mavropanos? There are clubs like Leicester that have better options at centre half. I still don't understand why they don't have a proper left back either, although I'm sure Arsenal supporters could argue that back to us.
Emery has his work cut out. Top four would be a huge achievement.
Even in forward positions they lack balance. Aubameyang, Ozil and Mkhitaryan are good players, but who do they have that can beat a man with a bit of trickery or whip a ball into the box? Iwobi? I think they're going to need to rely on Aubameyang hitting the numbers he did at Dortmund to have a good season.
Torreira might work well in midfield, but other than Ramsey (who can be hit and miss) I don't rate their options in midfield in the slightest.
As for the defence. Jesus (no, not a player). Mustafi, Sokratis, Holding and Mavropanos? There are clubs like Leicester that have better options at centre half. I still don't understand why they don't have a proper left back either, although I'm sure Arsenal supporters could argue that back to us.
Emery has his work cut out. Top four would be a huge achievement.
I don't understand Arsenal's infatuation with signing mediocre older center backs from foreign leagues. Even a manager like Klopp who doesn't have a reputation for defensive organisation realised he had an issue and invested heavily into Van Diik and then proceeded to buy a proper goalkeeper. Arsenal keep going season after season placing plasters on flesh wounds by under investing in key areas like defensive midfield and center back while splashing the cash for an additional attacking midfielder or a striker.
Emery's record against Pep is abysmal. He has yet to win a single match against Pep in his managerial career. Now eleven games without a win.
Notably Emery has never beaten Mourinho either. But he has a good record against Pochettino.
Notably Emery has never beaten Mourinho either. But he has a good record against Pochettino.
Yep. Pretty much. If there is a club that (maybe) needed to go out and spend £60-70 million on the likes of Maguire then surely it was Arsenal. Their defence is a position they seem to willingly neglect year after year.
After years of fiddling about with shite like Coquelin and Elneny it seems they've eventually gone out and spotted a proper player in Torreira in that midfield spot. Then again, I'm sure that was said about Xhaka. You just don't know.
Well they spent a ton of money in Mustafi who was highly rated until he put on an Arsenal shirt. And they spent money on Xhaka, Elneny and now Torriera.
No wonder he was considered the perfect candidate for Arsenal.