Fixtures March 31st - Manchester City - Etihad Stadium - 3:30 Pm

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Post #497321  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:18 pm 
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Emery and some of the new signings have given us moments of great optimism this season, some of the big homes games have been absolutely spot on. So much so that it’s gwmes like the last two weeks that it makes you realise what an absolute state this whole club was in when wenger left. Huge amounts of work to do, 5 year rebuilding project really.

Just wish emery had look at palace at home and wolves away and thought we should cement victory in the easier game rather than try to scrape wins in both. With hindsight he rested players for the wrong game


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Post #497322  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:20 pm 
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We’ve played 25 league away games since sanchez left and only won 6


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Post #497323  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:00 pm 
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Considered getting up early to watch this one. Glad I didn't. No point getting to CL because we'd have no chance of competing anyway and all it is doing is filling that hairpiece tosser's bank account.

Sell half this so called team in the summer. Particularly the Wenger children.

Emery then has one go to buy the players he wants and if Arsenal aren't greatly improved by Christmas then get rid of him.


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Post #497324  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:31 pm 
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We scored and had their keeper make 1 other save in 90 minutes. We conceded 3 for the second game running. Kos was involved in both and he was supposed to be part of our solution. We have an aging defence, a number of old forwards, two creative midfielders who are over or near 30 (Özil & Mkhitaryan) and a pile of players who were Wenger indoctrinated, many purchased for plain silly money. A keeper who is prone to moments of real poor play. If Ospina, Almunia had done this then he would have been criticised widely. I am yet to be convinced by Leno and indeed many have apparently forgotten some very ordinary goals conceded earlier in the season. Given Czech is about as mobile as me you can say we need a really good keeper for next season to be or challenge for number one.

May take sometime to turn the club around. I am not convinced Emery can do it. I feel as the season has progressed he has been indoctrinated to be more like Wenger himself. Our play is heading back to tippy tippy, players are never held responsible.

After the Everton game Man Utd chose to make the players and manager apologise. They got some reaction from their players in the City game but were beaten with at least having played well.

I await our reaction.

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Post #497325  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:35 pm 
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Rich wrote:
We’ve played 25 league away games since sanchez left and only won 6

He was that disruptive player who wanted players to press the opposition & who wanted to win sometimes selfishly. Someone who you knew might just spark us with a piece of magic. Glad he moved on.

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Post #497326  Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:52 pm 
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Really shocking how easily we capitulated when the season and CL football is on the line. Shocking. The way we played against the top 6 in recent months gave me a false sense of optimism.

We still have the same issues as before. Lack of testicular fortitude. I have to assume with the amount of research Emery has done to get the job he knows this as well as seeing it first hand.

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Post #497327  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:43 am 
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Gaz from Oz wrote:
Rich wrote:
We’ve played 25 league away games since sanchez left and only won 6

He was that disruptive player who wanted players to press the opposition & who wanted to win sometimes selfishly. Someone who you knew might just spark us with a piece of magic. Glad he moved on.


To be fair, Alex Iwobi has contributed 3 or 4 times as many goals and assists this season & for not much more than a 10th of the wages, despite being one of the worst players in recent years for lacking end product.

Given that Alexis is costing Utd 500k a week for this total lack of impact, I'd say we got rid of him at the right time. The Alexis of 3 years ago would be a godsend however and would have us comfortably in third position.

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Post #497328  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:14 am 
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Oh well, another disappointing game.

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Post #497329  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:44 am 
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lomekian wrote:
Gaz from Oz wrote:
He was that disruptive player who wanted players to press the opposition & who wanted to win sometimes selfishly. Someone who you knew might just spark us with a piece of magic. Glad he moved on.


To be fair, Alex Iwobi has contributed 3 or 4 times as many goals and assists this season & for not much more than a 10th of the wages, despite being one of the worst players in recent years for lacking end product.

Given that Alexis is costing Utd 500k a week for this total lack of impact, I'd say we got rid of him at the right time. The Alexis of 3 years ago would be a godsend however and would have us comfortably in third position.

I am not saying that we could have afforded him. In fact Mourinho who wanted to piss off Man City by buying Sanchez made a big error. I hope Alexi stays with them until the very last day of his contract just to really annoy all the Man U supporters.

But my point, which may not have been obvious, was that he bought to the team some attributes that were not obvious at the time or were called by many disruptive. Those are the qualities that we are totally lacking and need to get a player of that quality, with a will to win, into the club.

What would you say if this offer was made to Man U regarding Alexis. We take him on loan for a year and pay him 50K per week (they have to pick up the rest). They may tell us to get nicked but if you don't ask you will never know. It would be a gamble but may very well cover the Wellbeck departure if they went for it. I want to see some strategic thinking about transfers. Some to get us over a hump and not have to panic long term buy.

Similar idea as I had the other day to get Fabergas back for a while. We have some youngsters who may or may not make it but having around some class to try and get them there could not hurt.

Of course the will to win cannot make up for the lack of defensive nous in our team, which IMO should be our main objective in the summer transfer. Since Mislinat left can anyone tell me who is doing this at the club.

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Post #497330  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:58 am 
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Story about the only players to acknowledge the away support were Sokratis, Leno, Özil and Lacazette. And they want us to all get together as a club. Yeah right. The fact some of our young players did not acknowledge the fans is more than a little disappointing. Good on Leno for facing up. That is the attitude I want to see in a player.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/25/unai-eme ... t-9315323/

I don't think Emery addressed this appropriately when asked.

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Post #497331  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:15 am 
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You look at the last 6 goals we’ve conceded:
Set piece no marking free header
Long ball, don’t win the header, gift a free run to the attacker
Set piece no marking free header
Direct set piece
Set piece no marking free header awful gk
No challenge run clean through the defence awful gk

Every single one with aN individual mistake. How many free headers do Liverpool, spurs, city give away in their box? They may lose a header but they are marking and challenging. Our boys don’t want to get engaged in that physical battle


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Post #497332  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:20 am 
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Saw this stat on Twitter
Arsenal’s record in the away league table

10/11 1st
11/12 3rd
12/13 2nd
13/14 2nd
14/15 3rd
15/16 3rd
16/17 6th
17/18 10th
18/19 10th (2 games to play)

This is a new problem.

To be a threat away from home you need to be able to counter attack at pace. How often to we bemoan teams who come to the emirates and sit deep with 10 men? Well away from home they don’t do that but we have no pace to expose the weaker defenders who are left with less protection.
In the last 2-3 years we lost a huge amount of pace and width from the team. Until we get both back we’ll never be better than 6th


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Post #497333  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:50 am 
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Just look at the players and search your heart.

If you need to go away from home and desperately get a win players like Xhaka, Iwobi and Mhikitaryan aren’t your men. Let’s be honest now no mucking about. There’s just too much mediocrity there and Özil and the 2 strikers can only get you out of trouble so many times. There’s just not enough match winners in that team.

There’s not enough talent in the squad of the right quality to do well (Bellerin,sokratis,Torreira, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Guendozi, only) in the champions league anyway. Like somebody said it would only be preferential for financial reasons.

It’s like a flat circle with arsenal and we are almost back at where we were a month into the season where we realised we were reliant on a handful of players.


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Post #497334  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:56 am 
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Rich wrote:
Saw this stat on Twitter
Arsenal’s record in the away league table

10/11 1st
11/12 3rd
12/13 2nd
13/14 2nd
14/15 3rd
15/16 3rd
16/17 6th
17/18 10th
18/19 10th (2 games to play)

This is a new problem.

To be a threat away from home you need to be able to counter attack at pace. How often to we bemoan teams who come to the emirates and sit deep with 10 men? Well away from home they don’t do that but we have no pace to expose the weaker defenders who are left with less protection.
In the last 2-3 years we lost a huge amount of pace and width from the team. Until we get both back we’ll never be better than 6th


Wide players are critical for any team that aspires to be successful. Every title winning side has them in abundance. Look how many city have, foden sterling, bernardo etc

It was a massive mistake going into the season without one and in my opinion we need 2 to get to rotate.


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Post #497335  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:22 am 
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TOP GUN wrote:
Just look at the players and search your heart.

If you need to go away from home and desperately get a win players like Xhaka, Iwobi and Mhikitaryan aren’t your men. Let’s be honest now no mucking about. There’s just too much mediocrity there and Özil and the 2 strikers can only get you out of trouble so many times. There’s just not enough match winners in that team.

There’s not enough talent in the squad of the right quality to do well (Bellerin,sokratis,Torreira, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Guendozi, only) in the champions league anyway. Like somebody said it would only be preferential for financial reasons.

It’s like a flat circle with arsenal and we are almost back at where we were a month into the season where we realised we were reliant on a handful of players.


I agree with that, TG. I would probably add AMN to the bunch, I think he has potential although probably not as a RB.

However, this club does not have the balls to undertake the kind of mass clear-out needed. Too much mediocrity on too high wages makes it incredibly difficult to offload them but it can be done if you have the right people doing it.

If we don't get CL and have a very limited budget it will be difficult to attract the calibre of player we require as well.

It's a bit of a mess really.


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Post #497336  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:23 am 
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We seem to be stuck between two stools when playing away. At home we generally go very attacking, in some off the best games this has been all out attack, high tempo, high press from kick off and by and large it has been successful.
Away from home the instincts are we can’t be as attacking, but we also don’t want to sit back. So we try to control the play with slow possession and fall in to counter attacking traps.
I’d rather we did one extreme or the other away from home. If we’re facing a bottom half team, front foot attack and pick a team to do so. If we’re facing a strong side then sit back and pick a team to counter attack, invite them on and break - just like the spurs game which on the balance of the game we were actually quite comfortable defending so deep - much like wolves were v us last night.

Those performances aren’t the norm as sadly I don’t think Emery has the players to go all out attack or deep defence/counter when we play away from home.


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Post #497337  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:26 am 
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socrates wrote:
TOP GUN wrote:
Just look at the players and search your heart.

If you need to go away from home and desperately get a win players like Xhaka, Iwobi and Mhikitaryan aren’t your men. Let’s be honest now no mucking about. There’s just too much mediocrity there and Özil and the 2 strikers can only get you out of trouble so many times. There’s just not enough match winners in that team.

There’s not enough talent in the squad of the right quality to do well (Bellerin,sokratis,Torreira, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Guendozi, only) in the champions league anyway. Like somebody said it would only be preferential for financial reasons.

It’s like a flat circle with arsenal and we are almost back at where we were a month into the season where we realised we were reliant on a handful of players.


I agree with that, TG. I would probably add AMN to the bunch, I think he has potential although probably not as a RB.

However, this club does not have the balls to undertake the kind of mass clear-out needed. Too much mediocrity on too high wages makes it incredibly difficult to offload them but it can be done if you have the right people doing it.

If we don't get CL and have a very limited budget it will be difficult to attract the calibre of player we require as well.

It's a bit of a mess really.

And all totally avoidable. Even ignoring the poor quality of players we’ve signed all we had to do was be more sensible and swallow our pride with the players we sell.
Missing out on huge sums for the likes of Sanchez and Ramsey is awful. Not getting proper fees for so many other players adds to it. We’ve lost maybe £250m from poor management of player contracts and sales I reckon.


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Post #497338  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:32 am 
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lomekian wrote:
Time to throw the league, blood more youngsters and focus squarely on the Europa. Better from Guendouzi today, Nketiah has been bright. Lacazatte has worked really hard, and actually our centre-halves weren't too bad today. Xhaka was poor but his set pieces were excellent. No-one else gets any credit at all.

Disagree. We are one point behind Chelsea and two ahead of United and they still have to play each other. If we throw in the towel now and simple concede the superiority of Leicester and Burnley, I simply don't know what to think. We need to turn it around BEFORE the semifinal or we are likely to cave in there too.

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Post #497339  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:44 am 
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Decaf wrote:
lomekian wrote:
Time to throw the league, blood more youngsters and focus squarely on the Europa. Better from Guendouzi today, Nketiah has been bright. Lacazatte has worked really hard, and actually our centre-halves weren't too bad today. Xhaka was poor but his set pieces were excellent. No-one else gets any credit at all.

Disagree. We are one point behind Chelsea and two ahead of United and they still have to play each other. If we throw in the towel now and simple concede the superiority of Leicester and Burnley, I simply don't know what to think. We need to turn it around BEFORE the semifinal or we are likely to cave in there too.


We blew it after the palace game and I wrote it off in my mind. I don’t expect us to get 3 points at Leicester at all and even if we did it’s well within us to blow it v Brighton.

Therefore it’s Europe and hopefully a final againest Chelsea where anything could happen.


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Post #497340  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:49 am 
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Rich wrote:
socrates wrote:

I agree with that, TG. I would probably add AMN to the bunch, I think he has potential although probably not as a RB.

However, this club does not have the balls to undertake the kind of mass clear-out needed. Too much mediocrity on too high wages makes it incredibly difficult to offload them but it can be done if you have the right people doing it.

If we don't get CL and have a very limited budget it will be difficult to attract the calibre of player we require as well.

It's a bit of a mess really.

We’ve lost maybe £250m from poor management of player contracts and sales I reckon.


In Arsene and Gazidis last 2 seasons they failed to sort out the contracts for Ramsey and Sanchez and then failed to sell them whilst spending best part of 100 million on perez, el Nenny, Xhaka and Mustafi.

There’s your 200 million mate.

Frankly disasterous business decisions. Proper brexity and something we will be paying for some time.


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Post #497341  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:13 am 
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socrates wrote:
TOP GUN wrote:
Just look at the players and search your heart.

If you need to go away from home and desperately get a win players like Xhaka, Iwobi and Mhikitaryan aren’t your men. Let’s be honest now no mucking about. There’s just too much mediocrity there and Özil and the 2 strikers can only get you out of trouble so many times. There’s just not enough match winners in that team.

There’s not enough talent in the squad of the right quality to do well (Bellerin,sokratis,Torreira, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Guendozi, only) in the champions league anyway. Like somebody said it would only be preferential for financial reasons.

It’s like a flat circle with arsenal and we are almost back at where we were a month into the season where we realised we were reliant on a handful of players.



However, this club does not have the balls to undertake the kind of mass clear-out needed. Too much mediocrity on too high wages makes it incredibly difficult to offload them but it can be done if you have the right people doing it.

If we don't get CL and have a very limited budget it will be difficult to attract the calibre of player we require as well.

It's a bit of a mess really.


Another issue is we don’t have the understanding and business savvy at the club to undertake a massive clear out and attain the players we need. No Mislintat now just Sanelhi and some chartered accountant.

I don’t expect the Miracle change to occur this summer soc. It would require some extreme business management and massive BALLS to tell certain players who aren’t delivering and on massive money they HAVE to be moved on or will simply languish on the bench.

Kroenke needs to do something like re prioritise budget and cash to give Emery an injection of funds to rebuild or Emery’s tenure will be pointless. I don’t expect this to happen and think we will be getting a combination of Kroenke out protests and people giving Emery grief next season. Simply left it too late to get rid of Wenger and so much damage was done.


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Post #497342  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:44 am 
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TOP GUN wrote:
Kroenke needs to do something like re prioritise budget and cash to give Emery an injection of funds to rebuild or Emery’s tenure will be pointless. I don’t expect this to happen and think we will be getting a combination of Kroenke out protests and people giving Emery grief next season. Simply left it too late to get rid of Wenger and so much damage was done.

I also think it's not unreasonable to have expected a little more from Emery. We're actually less effective offensively this year and still pretty *%^@ defensively. Not seeing any sign of a so-called tactical masterplan.

We're Europa League level, CL would flatter to deceive on the pitch despite it providing the financial boost we so desperately need. I don't expect us to finish top 4. If we do it'll be a lovely if slightly flattering bonus to an absolute curate's egg of a season.

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Post #497343  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:47 am 
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TOP GUN wrote:
Decaf wrote:
Disagree. We are one point behind Chelsea and two ahead of United and they still have to play each other. If we throw in the towel now and simple concede the superiority of Leicester and Burnley, I simply don't know what to think. We need to turn it around BEFORE the semifinal or we are likely to cave in there too.


We blew it after the palace game and I wrote it off in my mind. I don’t expect us to get 3 points at Leicester at all and even if we did it’s well within us to blow it v Brighton.

Therefore it’s Europe and hopefully a final againest Chelsea where anything could happen.

Things are so unpredictable and with our chief rivals playing each other we might well be in pole position again by the end of the weekend. If united beat chelsea even a draw puts us in 4th.

Its quite possible that the team that eventually stumbles to fourth will have a points tally that is well below what people thought would be necessary.

I do understanding that a tough choice will be have to made in the Leicester game.
However, I would still think that we should just take each game as it comes. A bit of momentum is worth any number of birds in the bush ...

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Post #497344  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:51 am 
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Darren wrote:
TOP GUN wrote:
Kroenke needs to do something like re prioritise budget and cash to give Emery an injection of funds to rebuild or Emery’s tenure will be pointless. I don’t expect this to happen and think we will be getting a combination of Kroenke out protests and people giving Emery grief next season. Simply left it too late to get rid of Wenger and so much damage was done.

I also think it's not unreasonable to have expected a little more from Emery. We're actually less effective offensively this year and still pretty *%^@ defensively. Not seeing any sign of a so-called tactical masterplan.

We're Europa League level, CL would flatter to deceive on the pitch despite it providing the financial boost we so desperately need. I don't expect us to finish top 4. If we do it'll be a lovely if slightly flattering bonus to an absolute curate's egg of a season.

What was the point of Saurez? Imagine we had actually got or promoted a decent winger in January...

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Post #497345  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:52 am 
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Darren wrote:
TOP GUN wrote:
Kroenke needs to do something like re prioritise budget and cash to give Emery an injection of funds to rebuild or Emery’s tenure will be pointless. I don’t expect this to happen and think we will be getting a combination of Kroenke out protests and people giving Emery grief next season. Simply left it too late to get rid of Wenger and so much damage was done.

I also think it's not unreasonable to have expected a little more from Emery. We're actually less effective offensively this year and still pretty *%^@ defensively. Not seeing any sign of a so-called tactical masterplan.

.


I don’t think you can have a masterplan with this squad. You can shuffle your pack and try different combinations but if the winners aren’t there you won’t succeed. The quality just isn’t there.

The defence was always going to be shocking again. Our best defence has 3 over 30s in it and xhaka sitting in front of it usually. Most of the players to come out of this season with credit are the new signings plus the 2 strikers.

Average squad, if you put Klopp in charge of this lot we are still finishing 5th or 6th.


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Post #497346  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:19 am 
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Alexis Sanchez scored the most and assisted the most away goals in the Premier League from 14/15 - 17/18.

Since he left, Arsenal have won 6 out of 25 away games.


Scream at Emery all you want. This stuff matters


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Post #497347  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:49 am 
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Decaf wrote:
Darren wrote:
I also think it's not unreasonable to have expected a little more from Emery. We're actually less effective offensively this year and still pretty *%^@ defensively. Not seeing any sign of a so-called tactical masterplan.

We're Europa League level, CL would flatter to deceive on the pitch despite it providing the financial boost we so desperately need. I don't expect us to finish top 4. If we do it'll be a lovely if slightly flattering bonus to an absolute curate's egg of a season.

What was the point of Saurez? Imagine we had actually got or promoted a decent winger in January...

I think Emery probably had memories of a player who could beat players and give us width. Unfortunately he was a broken player and it was just a waste of money. i would take a Limpar type player anytime now.

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Post #497348  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:16 pm 
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Darren wrote:
I also think it's not unreasonable to have expected a little more from Emery. We're actually less effective offensively this year and still pretty *%^@ defensively. Not seeing any sign of a so-called tactical masterplan.

We're Europa League level, CL would flatter to deceive on the pitch despite it providing the financial boost we so desperately need. I don't expect us to finish top 4. If we do it'll be a lovely if slightly flattering bonus to an absolute curate's egg of a season.


I agree, I don't think it was unreasonable to expect some kind of defensive improvement, given Emery's reputation for thoroughness, irrespective of the personnel.

Instead we are a shambles both individually and collectively. Our defensive organisation appears non-existent, our players seem clueless about how to defend in a professional manner and the amount of comedy goals we concede is actually amazing for a team with top four ambitions.

I genuinely do not know if Emery is any good or not, he likes to make a lot of changes but quite often it seems to be because he got the starting line-up wrong in the first place, which is really not a good sign. The jury is very much still out on him for me.


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Post #497349  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:20 pm 
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I think a reasonable assessment of where this team stands is to ask how many of our players would get in City or Liverpool's team.

Aubameyang might be on the fringes but I don't think anyone else comes close.


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Post #497350  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:33 pm 
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Socrates, are you prepared to admit that defensively things have got worse without Mertesacker, despite the arrival of Torreira in midfield?


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Post #497351  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:35 pm 
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lomekian wrote:
Time to throw the league, blood more youngsters and focus squarely on the Europa. Better from Guendouzi today, Nketiah has been bright. Lacazatte has worked really hard, and actually our centre-halves weren't too bad today. Xhaka was poor but his set pieces were excellent. No-one else gets any credit at all.



I've advocated playing the younger players since a while back. I am surprised that Emery is so risk averse. And his tactics is sadly too much like his predecessor. I thought we would be spared that droll, but his team is playing it again. Very sad and disappointed.

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Post #497352  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:37 pm 
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TOP GUN wrote:
Alexis Sanchez scored the most and assisted the most away goals in the Premier League from 14/15 - 17/18.

Since he left, Arsenal have won 6 out of 25 away games.


Scream at Emery all you want. This stuff matters


Alexis had been our most driven player, but sadly, Wenger preferred a "yes" man.

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Post #497353  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:49 pm 
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I think anyone who expected any manager to improve on last season and get top 4 was wildly optimistic. Especially given a manager who does not have a strong command of English, new to the club, country and culture. Also no money (not literally but comparatively) when you look at the other 5 clubs with a realistic chances at either the title or top 4 (yes, Tottenham didn't spend but they started with a much better squad). It's a HUGE ask. And I think Arsenal fans who thought that are simply not living in reality and have proven some pundits assessment of the fanbase to be true.

We are in a top 4 fight. Whether we get there or not, just being in competition for it is a HUGE accomplishment. We haven't been close in a while. We are in the semis of the Europa cup in Emery's first season. It's massive given the aforementioned barriers.

Of course I"m disappointed. As a fan you go into every match wanting to win it whether its a long shot or not. We may still end up in top 4. Until we are mathematically unable to we can't assume anything. I will say this. If we do end up back in the CL I don't expect us to stay there. Unless we make substantial changes in a few areas, one of them being the intangible "team belief", we will be back in Europa in a season. It's a catch 22, we need CL money but won't spend to give ourselves a chance to get back in.

The potential is there. Our recent record and effort against the other top 6 sides shows that. At the end of the day our biggest problem is ownership. Just like with being overly critical of Wenger, he had a boss and that boss sucks. Gazidis wasn't the problem as we see some of the board related issues (money, etc.) is still there. The constant and consistent factor has been the owner. He simply doesn't care. That's long and short of it. No owner who cares would have us in this situation adrift without a lifeline. He cares about the Los Angeles Rams. I was in L.A. the last month and a half and you should see the construction going on around the stadium. Its a sports, entertainment, shopping complex on a huge scale. I was more angry than impressed going past it because I know its at our expense. I lived in that area (Inglewood) for a year when I first moved there. Know it well.

It's going to seem like deja vu next season around this time because we are leaderless from the top.

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Post #497354  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:26 pm 
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Rich wrote:
Just wish emery had look at palace at home and wolves away and thought we should cement victory in the easier game rather than try to scrape wins in both. With hindsight he rested players for the wrong game
Yes, a big mistake. Prior to Palace we had won three games on the bounce and were looking settled. Should have kept momentum going. especially as you suggest the Wolves game away was always going to be a hard one. We now need a show of character.

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Post #497355  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:46 pm 
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AmericanGooner wrote:
At the end of the day our biggest problem is ownership. Just like with being overly critical of Wenger, he had a boss and that boss sucks. Gazidis wasn't the problem as we see some of the board related issues (money, etc.) is still there. The constant and consistent factor has been the owner. He simply doesn't care. That's long and short of it. No owner who cares would have us in this situation adrift without a lifeline. He cares about the Los Angeles Rams. I was in L.A. the last month and a half and you should see the construction going on around the stadium. Its a sports, entertainment, shopping complex on a huge scale. I was more angry than impressed going past it because I know its at our expense. I lived in that area (Inglewood) for a year when I first moved there. Know it well.

It's going to seem like deja vu next season around this time because we are leaderless from the top.

I found the first half (or thereabouts) of his last post less convincing, but there was much in the latter bit of American's most recent post that I actually agree with.


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Post #497356  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:53 pm 
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Man Utd are going to have a tough time selling Pogba. What club is going to spend that type of money on transfer fees and wages and justify it over someone else in that position? PSG maybe. Would Bayern take the chance? They aren't really known for that type of fee. Would either of the two la liga giants think its worth it?
Domestically City doesn't need him and would Chelsea take a punt?

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Post #497357  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:20 pm 
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Bernard wrote:
AmericanGooner wrote:
At the end of the day our biggest problem is ownership. Just like with being overly critical of Wenger, he had a boss and that boss sucks. Gazidis wasn't the problem as we see some of the board related issues (money, etc.) is still there. The constant and consistent factor has been the owner. He simply doesn't care. That's long and short of it. No owner who cares would have us in this situation adrift without a lifeline. He cares about the Los Angeles Rams. I was in L.A. the last month and a half and you should see the construction going on around the stadium. Its a sports, entertainment, shopping complex on a huge scale. I was more angry than impressed going past it because I know its at our expense. I lived in that area (Inglewood) for a year when I first moved there. Know it well.

It's going to seem like deja vu next season around this time because we are leaderless from the top.

I found the first half (or thereabouts) of his last post less convincing, but there was much in the latter bit of American's most recent post that I actually agree with.


Kroenke is personally putting 1.6 billion dollars of equity into the LA stadium project for the Rams.

He so far has put zero dollars into arsenal and borrowed all the money to attain it from deutschebank and took 4 million in consultancy fees out of the club. He’s a completely wretched owner I don’t think he even takes any enjoyment from his investment in us


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Post #497358  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:26 pm 
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socrates wrote:
I think a reasonable assessment of where this team stands is to ask how many of our players would get in City or Liverpool's team.

Aubameyang might be on the fringes but I don't think anyone else comes close.


I saw the PFA team of the year that was leaked and then distributed today. Obviously no arsenal players in it and rightly so.

I thought actually if you had to pick a 2nd 11 would there be an arsenal player in it then ? and my conclusion was probably not. Then I thought literally how many iterations of this team before we got a player in it?

We just don’t have the players anymore


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Post #497359  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:55 pm 
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Yeah, what the hell, I'd take him if he was willing to come. Won't happen but I would be for it.

http://www.sportbible.com/football/news ... sSEqHje3iY
Real Madrid Are Willing To Loan Out Gareth Bale Like They Did With James Rodríguez

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Post #497360  Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:24 pm 
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TOP GUN wrote:
Kroenke is personally putting 1.6 billion dollars of equity into the LA stadium project for the Rams.

He so far has put zero dollars into arsenal and borrowed all the money to attain it from deutschebank and took 4 million in consultancy fees out of the club. He’s a completely wretched owner I don’t think he even takes any enjoyment from his investment in us

I make you right on this Top Gun. I agree, Kroenke is 'a completely wretched owner'.


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