No idea. Have no idea if it’s true either so hope it’s b%*&s%*^. But frankly the Manson family would be better than the Kroenke family.

Good point John .... but I that comes down to a combo of reasons ... the squad that is multi national , we have no national spine and no leaders .

Both latter day Wenger and our current idiot feel they issue whatever instructions and adhere to that no matter what ...no flexibilty .


Read Alan Ball's autobiography many moons ago ... think it was Terry Neill had this plan using Subbuteo men to play someone ...Derby , QPR .... ?

First half Don Masson was pulling the strings , killing Arsenal we went in half time 1 - 0 down .

Coming out of the tunnel Ball said to Eddie Kelly " forget that dribble you move here and I'll mark Masson " .... Ball sorted Masson out and Arsenal won .

Not sure whether that led to Ball being offloaded to Southampton

I've said it before ........ look at all the influential club captains down the years Adams , McLintock , Roy Keane , Souness , Billy Bonds , Brian Robson , Bremner .... central defence or midfield .... the hub of the side , better to govern the pattern of play .

Aubameyang is there for the coin toss .... useless for anything else .

Second point we all know the Club is in a f*** mess so why do we come on here to moan and groan and give our ulcers another work out ....?

Poch was asked about managing Arsenal and said he'd never be manager of Arsenal or Barcelona because he's too closely tied to Tottenham and Espanyol...he didn't say he didn't want to but seemed to suggest he wouldn't be considered.

He'd take the helm with us if approached. He wouldn't be my first choice though.

He [ Robert ] doesn't look quite as slippery as Stan ... Patriots have been the benchmark NFL franchise in recent years .

They beat Stan's Rams in the last Super Bowl .

Could have a beneficial effect on our club ....having a fellow Yank strutting his stuff nearby ; might stir Kroenke into action

I don't blame Emery entirely for the debacle that has unfolded.

The players are better than the performances they have delivered and even if they have lost faith in the manager they are professionals representing a great club like Arsenal and have a duty to perform to the best of their ability, or at least try to.

I honestly cannot remember one great PL performance since Emery arrived, and you could maybe say the same about the last days of Wenger. There must be something inherently wrong with the way the club is set up in terms of training methods, motivation etc if players are not able to perform to their optimum levels, irrespective of who is the manager.

Of course, you could say the same about what has happened at United, who have spent fortunes and yet remain a PL also-ran despite being arguably the biggest club in the world.

Conversely, Leicester look greater than the sum of their parts at the moment.

It's a funny old game.

As do Sheffield United. A team with a spine and organisation, majorly over performing.

One of the guys being interviewed is a journalist for the Islington Gazette and has an interesting theory about Emery.
Basically that ever since Emery managed PSG to one of the most embarrassing defeats in Champions League history losing the return leg 6:1 having won the first leg 4 nil, he has become scarred and ultra cautious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIg-l72jqVE

Hmmm ...possibly G7 ... but if you aren't communicating with 95% of the forum why bother .

For me it's one of lifes great mysteries .........along with the Mary Celeste and what happened to Glenn Miller , Lord Lucan and Harold Holt .

Why frequent a forum when nearly everyone thinks you are prat and you end up virtually talking to yourself ......

Dear God give me strength ...Socrates has had half glass of Merlot and is now feeling all mellow and forgiving .

Of course it is Emery's fault totally ...you plonker .

He selects the team; he tells them in that f*** gibberish he spouts how to play .

The whole team in the penalty box defending a corner .. the goalkkeeper touches the ball more often than every outfield player ...Chambers at right back , Bellerin in front of him against a team who had picked up 1 point in the last 21 ..........AT HOME

Who comes uo with this visionary **&^%$#$#**

No , no .. not the players , the board , Edu , Ljungberg , Donald Trump , Gordon Brown .............it is Unai Emery

...... [ tops up his rum ]...........and " it's a funny old game "

NO ....... it's not funny at all ... it's f**&%%**** painful

There was a photo of the last game going around showing just our half when we were attacking. Zero So'ton players being 'marked' by six outfield Arsenal players, none of whom looked like they had the slightest intention of moving forward.

The thing is Pete, the Express are reporting today that Emery’s job is ‘safe for now’. If they’re right and it is, doesn’t that make the ownership regime to blame as well? It’s them that have the power to sack him and if they’re choosing to keep him in post, surely that makes them partly responsible for what’s going on? It has to in my view. How can it not?

Not that I'm bored or anything but if you collected every Arsenal membership pack together you'd have...

16 postcards, 12 badges, 8 DVDs and handbooks, 7 book reprints, 6 original books and yearbooks, 3 scarves and card holders*, 2 bottle openers keyrings and hats, and 1 each of snood, pair of gloves, phone charger, medal, memorabiia pack, mousemat, washbag, luggage tag, passport cover, Spirit of Highbury print, pair of earphones, bottle stopper and a pair of beer mats.

The * by card holders is because in 2008 they sent card holders to new members and not old members. Yes, I complained and they sent me a few.

Here's my current theoy. Sack Emery before lining up the replacment and it's name your price for the next bloke, regardless of whether he's top notch or not.
So they will line him up before sacking.

I think nothing but Allegri is good enough but as always Arsenal will have thumb up ass while Man Utd or someone swoop in and get him. Then we'll get Arteta (nice strong leader) or some other mild mannered but equally ineffective plonk. The only other one I'd be happy to see in the dugout would be Vieira but only because he is who he is and representative of the last time Arsenal looked truly world class.

I think you could well be right that they will want to line someone up to avoid the ‘name your own price’ option.

I’d be happy with Allegri. But I wonder if his lack of experience in the Premier League might make some in the Arsenal hierarchy more hesitant about employing him? I hope not but I think it could.

I think we need to be careful what we wish for.....
This from Allegris Wiki page ...
Under Allegri, Juventus became slightly less aggressive and intense in their pressing off the ball while their playing style became more patient and focussed on keeping possession and gaining territorial advantage in order to conserve energy, tactics which he had previously used while at Milan. Although Allegri's team was still effective at winning the ball in midfield and scoring from counter-attacks, the club's attacking play on the ball usually involved a slower build-up, which mainly consisted of short passes, and fewer long balls.
Goalkeeper Buffon also continued to primarily play the ball out from the back with short ground passes to the defenders.......Sound familiar??!!
Don't know enough of him to say if it's true (but if it is......)and it is Wikipedia!!!
What a mess we are

We need someone fresh new up and coming and hungry.
That is why Arteta gets my vote.
Failing that give it to Freddie till the end of the season or .....Rafa Benitez till end of the season( I think he would love to manage us and would be great in organising that excuse of a defence)

Maybe I’m wrong but the impression I get these days when a football manager is sacked is that his back room staff routinely go with him. It’s just happened with Pochettino, hasn’t it? Unless his legendary status saves him, it wouldn’t surprise me if Freddie and others like Carcedo, Villanueva, Garcia and Masach follow Emery out the door.

My choice would be Patrick Vieira, unequivocal legend status that would buy some time and respect from our fans.

That said I think this talk is premature this ridiculous story will run a little further before the car completely crashes

I'd say you're right about the other four (impressed you knew all the names btw) but not Freddie. The 'four' are Emery's men whereas Freddie is Arsenal's man. I'd see it much the same as when Wenger left so did the likes of Boro, but Bouldy stayed.

As for what to do now, I still say sack him and give Freddie the job 'til the summer. We know the kids have a lot of respect for him and I doubt the seniors are any different. I believe we have a very good squad at the club that whilst not at City/Liverpool levels is at least as good as anything else in the league and should be ripping teams like So'ton to pieces and not be sitting back hoping against hope they won't be nasty and score against us.

My friends in Italy all say that Allegri is a good, but very dull manager. Plays dull football. *%^@ it, it’s supposed to be enjoyable and fun. Get someone young in. Experience is for Dr’s and Lawyers and scientists. It’s football FFS.

Just sack Emery! Please!

Can't rememember the last time I watched an Italian game but isn't the whole league dull and full of mainly dull games, or is that outdated?

On a totally different tack I watched this movie at the weekend and it is simply wonderful.

Fair assessment imo.

Talking of films, go and see The Street, a documentary about the gentrification of Hoxton Street in Hackney. I think its only going to be showing this week in London for a very limited run but well worth it.

Didn’t Emery give Ljungberg the job though? If he didn’t, who did? Sanllehi, Venkatesham, Edu?

Even he's available.

Take your pick....

It seems Arsenal fans (and most fans to be fair) want to be served up attacking football. We were served that during wenger’s years but bemoaned the terrible defence and leaky goals.

I wonder how the fans would react to a Simeone-esque approach where defence is absolutely everything. We concede perhaps only 25 goals in a season but don’t score very much, say 50 odd goals. There are lots of tight 1-0’s and 0-0’s because we’re so tight in defence. We win a lot more games as a result.

Nuno Espírito Santos has come out of nowhere to become bookies favourite at 5-2 to replace Emery. Does someone know something we don’t?

Yes to your question.

Another middle-ranker I fear who has won far less trophies than Dick, and would be easy meat for the fans. If we are not getting big experience in then I'd sooner see somebody with strong links to the club.

Came across these odds at Skybet.

Nuno Espirito Santos 6/4
Mikel Arteta 7/2
Rafa Benitez 5/1
Max Allegri 6/1
Mauricio Pochettino 6/1
Freddie Ljungberg 8/1
Eddie Howe 12/1
Patrick Vieira 12/1
Brendan Rodgers 20/1
Steven Gerrard 20/1

Don’t know what the odds are based on, but that’s what they were.

Think you've woven two different scenarios in there ... Bernard .

The shocking football is Emery's fault alone .. the board isn't partly responsible for the sh***t football .

Their fault lies in not sacking the bloke who is to blame . .

So my good mate Soc's point about not totally blaming Emery doesn't hold water

On happier note for me anyway .... my son's mate lost his mother recently ; the father died a few years back

The mate lives in Auusie so came back to sort out her affairs .... gave my son eight bottles of spirits which he can't take back to Oz.

My son in turn pulled out 27 unopened bottles of wine , some in boxes with straw packing [ whether that means anything ] plus a few liquers , some brandy and cognac out of the skip bin that was destined for the dump and gave them to me

Southampton are a poor team, they’re 2nd bottom with minus 18 goal difference, they regularly play 5 at the back. For their trip to us they switched to 4 at the back because they knew they could attack and press us and we’d fold.

Such is the small gap between the midtable teams it wouldn’t take that many more bad results to see us down in 15th or so.

We’re clearly looking at things from different angles. If what is happening on the pitch is totally Emery’s fault, I think the people keeping Emery in post deserve to be looked at critically. Because they have the power to sack him, and are choosing not to.

Just gonna jump in to try and defend Italian footy.

Id consider myself a Roma fan. I probably watch as much Roma as I do Arsenal. Theyre currently rubbish. I started following Italian footy when Gazza went over and channel4 bought the rights and covered everything lazio, so it was natural to back the rival. *%^@ Gazza.

Basically its different. Its an acquired taste, its slow, slow, slow, quick, dive, cheat, appeal dramatically, wave arms, score screamer. Its opera. Emotional. It kind of eats itself tactically as the football is a bit chess like. I guess you have to immerse yourself, much like cricket and baseball. It really isnt everyones cup of tea for sure.

But on the dull point. The Prem for the last few years has been really dull in my view, not just Arsenal. The games are generally the same, a lot of the teams all do the same possession based stuff, or they pack the defence and its one way rubbish. I really dont enjoy watching any of it.

To try and emphasise my point, if youve got a spare 20 mins. Goals from the prem from 05/06 season. I dont see much of this going on any more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqG2cZxy5fU

This is what they were talking about when they said Best League In The World. Its not like this any more. English football now is generally dull, and made worse by how much money has been spent making it duller.

I think the most damning stat is that in the last two seasons under Emery our opponents have had more shots than us. How is that even possible for a team with top four ambitions.

The shot differential last season was 30 something, this season so far it is is apparently 50 something. So opponents had over 30 more shots than us last season, and this season have had 50 more than us.

That statistic is incredible

https://twitter.com/1DavidWall/status/1 ... it-stop%2F

Why is Emery still manager this morning?

My guess is that the Arsenal management having let the situation get out of hand are surely now in the process of sounding out a new manager. I'm assuming the failure to install an interim manager is to save some money in severance pay to Emery and his staff in the short term. It is weird, however that their inaction suggests that they are not that fussed with our top 4 challenge being over by November/December. Even if we know that as a sporting institution, AFC under the Kroenke's aren't motivated by sporting success, surely the financial ramifications of a floundering team only makes the value diminish. Unless there is a long term goal we aren't considering, for example we are guaranteed members of a future money spinning European League so league form doesn't really matter (to KSE)