Pundit said Liverpool has never lost whenever Firmino starts. Obviously channeling the spirit of a certain previous Liverpool player who had a longer record.

If Emery is sacked it will be interested how much luster still remains on The Arsenal name. I can see pretty much any UK manager raking the job, it's still a prize job. As far as international managers? Hmmm....remains to be seen. If we were spending money? Yes. But these days the top managers almost always will only work at clubs where they have a blank check to sign players.

Be careful what you ask for Arsenal fans.

I think you nailed it.

I agree that It’s inconceivable. And anyway in the parallel universe where giant football clubs like AFC can’t afford to pay off a years salary of a manager, there are things called banks/investors who would be delighted to lend them some cash...

What specifically dude? I always thought you were a good sport

Welcome back btw

Rather lively!

I doubt it will end 2-0.

I’m not sure that stands for much though.

Until they pull the trigger they have to say the opposite till the bitter end.

If they aren’t careful it will go to a place where the greatest hits come out from the crowd

“You don’t know what your doing”

“Your not fit to wear the shirt”

“Sacked in the morning “


Etc etc .... then planes and banners and stuff.

Not sure they can just put blinkers on and deny it’s happening as we fall down the table

They 've done it before.

Where is my Xanax? I'm having anxiety driven thoughts of Liverpool going unbeaten, 100+ points and sweeping all domestic trophies.

Our top 2 sides could easily replicate their league positions in any league in the world. Barca would be hard pressed to beat either. May even shade Liverpool as better.

There was always the feeling that there was still a level of respect for Wenger in the stadium which is why it never got too nasty towards him within the stadium, despite threatening to do so. Emery won’t get the same courtesy you feel. We are only a couple of further bad homes games away from the crowd venting.

Sounds unlikely to me, for starters we only spent around £50M this summer, the rest was set as future payments so would come out over the next 2 or 3 seasons, I would imagine we had enough cash reserves to spend £50M given that we had over £100M in the last accounts before KSE got their filthy hands on 100% shares.

Next summer is a different story though, stuck in the EL again or out of Europe completely, I doubt we'll have any transfer budget, it will be truly "sell to buy" time, so you can say goodbye to Aubameyang and Lacazette, then we will be in another "project youth" phase again not as a plan of any sort but just because we have no other choice.

Typically 3-1 down away at Anfield, you would assume the game is dead and buried, but not if its this City squad.

I’m with you. Also doesn’t ffp prohibit this? I thought an owner can’t just loan their club’s millions anymore and the only way they could get round it would be over inflated sponsorship these days

I think back to two of the best performances under Emery, Man U at home and Chelsea at home. The press and intensity was there from the first minute, we swarmed all over both of them and I’m pretty sure we got early goals in each.
Why hasn’t emery been able to reproduce that type of intensity, he’ll even if it didn’t end up in early goals or us even winning games, I just want to see the intensity in our game!

Oh well, looks like we're just going to have to protect our own invincible season with a home win against Liverpool.

Was Pep trolling? I'm hearing him say, I'm so proud of my team. We are champions, we play in a way why we are back to back champions, yadda, yadda.

I am proclaiming the league race officially over. lol. Ladbrokes, take my advice payout the bets having Liverpool winning it.
Be prepared for a plethora of media induced over the top nostalgic celebrations, interviews with the 1990 side, etc, etc.

I don't envy any non LFC fan living in England at that time.

The fact that Liverpool and Leicester are above ₽₽₽₽$$$$ and د.إد.إد.إد.إ$$$$$ is something I can live with.

It was a spirited, skillful performance, let down by their weakened defence and some poor finishing by the likes of Aguero.

Nothing to be ashamed of unlike ....

A black player is racially abused for shaktar in a Ukrainian league game, he swears at the crowd and kicks the ball in to the crowd. The ref sends him off. If ever there was a huge backward step in tackling racism in football here it is

I said a couple of weeks back December is a bit of a killer in the league for us. We play city and chelsea and have to go to Goodison and play United on New Year’s Day.

How will he survive that run of games. If he could organise the team and get some confidence back but goodness me it’s flat at the moment. I just can’t see it.

Camden said on twitter earlier it will cost the club 15 million to sack Emery and his staff. It’s a healthy amount but the alternative is fan anguish, horrendous PR, star players leaving and no real hope left.

They are fools if they think they can sit this one out.

Yes, I agree with that. Truth is for many, me included, he was an uninspiring appointment at a time when the fans really wanted a manager to get the pulse racing - either a proven league winner or somebody with impeccable Arsenal connections. Unless there was a big improvement under him, Emery was always going to be given limited leeway. After a brightish start the engine has stalled, and the driver can hear many a loud horn blowing in his ear. Soon it may get even louder.

To be honest right now I’d be happy with 11 players who give 100% and a coach who coaches them, has a plan, plays attractive high tempo attacking football and shows a sense of understanding. What to do without the ball and how to organise a defence.
If that team is made up of a team of 21 year olds and a rookie coach then so be it.

Knowing what your predictions are like, thanks for giving me at least a little hope that Liverpool might not win it.

Nice to see you back Exiled, hope you are well.

Not sure what is worse, our recent form or Bernard's transparent attempts to include Ljungberg as culpable alongside Emery.

Probably the latter.

Do you think he can be totally blameless then? Seriously? The main blame lies with Emery undoubtedly. I’ve said that before. But as Emery’s assistant, might be not have some sort of responsibility for what’s happening, even if it’s much less than Emery? If he takes training responsibilities for organising the team (including the defence), might he discuss tactics with Emery, the style of play, even team selection, doesn’t that make Ljungberg partly responsible? How can it not?

Otherwise if Fred is no more than a cone man and has no influence over what’s happening or therefore having any responsibility for it, what does that say about the strength of his personality? Certainly weaker than Emery, who has never struck me as that strong either. I do feel, however, that we need a strong character to be manager of this club.

Whichever possibility is the truth, I don’t think either supports the idea of Ljungberg taking over once Emery leaves.

The main benefit I can see for giving Fred the job is that he’s an Arsenal legend and will presumably thus get far more support, and vitally their patience, than someone without Arsenal ‘DNA’ would get. If nothing changed from Emery to Ljungberg, I would expect the level of fan criticism to fall.

I don't think Ljungberg should be the next manager, but I see Juan Carlos Carcedo as Emery's assistant rather than Freddie. Ljungberg was touted as more a conduit with the younger players coming into the squad.

If the suggestions that we won't sack Emery because we don't want to pay him and his backroom staff off is true then that really is small time. We are one of the richest clubs in the world and hiring and firing just goes with the territory. Ask United.

So is Ljungberg a cone man in your view? What else does he do? I agree with you, however, when you say you don’t think Ljungberg should be Arsenal’s next manager. But it seems some people do.

No I wouldn't descrbe him as a cone man, I'm sure he has an input mainly in regard to the younger players. However, I'd say Emery & Carcedo run the first team themselves and call the shots.

Caught a little of the action between Pool & City. Boy, do they move so much faster. Emery's style is so boringly slow.

City and 'Pool is video game football. That's another level altogether.
As for Emery, he didn't become a bad manager overnight. The guy is a proven manager He has managed sides with both less and more talent than The Arsenal. I'm inclined to give him more than a year and third of a season, the players he needs, to prove himself.

Where and who needs replacing?
What type of players does he need? And to play what type of football?

I think he has a very expensive buy in Pépé, who he has not been able to get much out of. Or is Pépé really that bad?
Ceballos is another supposed good player. But he has given very little in terms of end-product to our very strong frontline.
Why is Kola preferred to Tierney, when Tierney is clearly better in what he does.

I put it down to the inability to organise the team, and coach them to success. Week-in, week-out, look at how disjointed the play is.

"on the gap between us and the top four...
It depends because now Chelsea and Leicester are with Liverpool and Manchester City - they have got a difference between them and us. But also, we have Manchester United and Tottenham behind us. It's been a very equal competition with a lot of teams, but really now the difference that Chelsea and Leicester have created with us... they've had time to be consistent. The competition is 38 matches and now we are behind them with nine points difference. It's good for them but we have time to achieve and recover that difference."

He forgot Sheff Utd, yes Sheff Utd, is ahead of us!

If emery and the arsenal hierarchy are churning out the ‘patience’ line, saying there is plenty of time to close the gap to top 4 shows they really have no idea about the Arsenal fan base. We are the fans that have been told to be patient for 14 years. Any outside criticism of impatience from Arsenal fans is hugely misplaced.

Chelsea are doing really well so far, they’re even ahead of City at the moment. And they have a worse defense on paper than Arsenal. We need to strengthen certain positions, but there’s no excuse for the terrible football we’ve played the last year and there are virtually no signs we’re about to improve.

Hoping things turn around fast though, I've just managed to get tickets to the Southampton game. It will be my first Arsenal visit in about 10 years, but watching us play this season I'm not sure it's a great decision...

Exactly, but Chelsea have a simple system 4 at the back, 2 holding mids, 3 attacking mids and 1 front man.

The 4 defenders know their shape, positioning and discipline - and they have chopped and changed that defence with young players like Tomori and James coming in. The 2 in midfield, again, hold their shape - you don't see Jorginho/Kovacic/Kante wandering out to the wing and it is rare their are gaping holes for players to run straight at the back 4.
The 3 attacking mids are able to keep their width, track back and get in the box.

Really the 4-2-3-1 is dead simple. It offers natural balance in nearly all aspects of the game.