Arsenal have taken just two points from the last fifteen away from home, and today’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham was a very disappointing result and performance. Declan Rice’s second half goal was enough for the Hammers to take all three points, and in general the Gunners didn’t threaten former teammate Lukasz Fabianski.
Read the West Ham 1-0 Arsenal match report and see the goal here
Ratings
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Emery 0/10, put him out of his misery. #EmeryOuy
“#EmeryOuy” sums your comment up for me.
If you cannot see past a manager, who has actually brought some life into an at best average group of demotivated and confused players he inherited, to the real villians of this piece i.e. our ‘board’… then you’re an even larger muppet than your pitifully misspelled hashtag suggests.
Goonshow Partly disagree, this squad is anything but average. Our attack is definitly better than Chelsea and spuds and can even make a good case against Liverpool’s too. We needed a culture change, bring some defensive solidity and then biild on from there. But instead, we went for a Basque Wenger. As far as Ozil situation is concerned. I think the Neymar situation is still playing on Emery’s mind or may be there are instructions from higher up to pi$$ Ozil off to the point where he asks to leave. I can’t think of any other reason tbh. Emery is… Read more »
Apart from Auba and Laca, who are better than Morata (which is just poor investment: £75M and the club initially wanted Lukaku, who isn’t much better) which of our players would get into a composite team playing 433/4321?? Even if we want to be incredibly generous and say Torreira and Kante play together to accommodate Ozil as a pure 10, the fact is pretty much all their wide forwards would stroll into our first team. Which of our front three would displace Mane, Salah, and Firmino? You could probably argue Lacazette for the latter based on how they play. However,… Read more »
Absolutely, to come to the conclusion that any of our players are better than Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Ali, Kane, Mane, Firmino, Salah or even Song is so blinded to reality it’s beggars belief.
None of those teams would want any of our attackers apart from perhaps Aubameyang or Lacazette, the rest are nowhere near those. Seriously Iwobi is generously at best a lower midtable level player.
How do you bring a nineteen year old kid in and play him at CDM where he is at best average and then surreptitiously change the system, promote him to your CM and the blind can see he doesn’t have the qualities yet to run a top 6 club’s midfield. The kid is improving leaps and bounds but what a responsibility to put on his young shoulders. When did it become good football to have sixty or seventy percent possession in your own defensive third. Not Chelsea nor Liverpool, Tottenham or Manchester City or United spend as much time in… Read more »
Seriously what the fuck is he talking about ? Emerys done wonders for us this season so far. He inherited a team that has consistently underperformed and wasn’t given much of a budget to change things. The signings he has made though are impacting our team in a positive way, look at Torreria prime example. Leno, Sokratis, Guendouzi, have all been good and are in their first seasons so we can expect more in the future. Doesn’t help being owned by Kroenke who wont put even $1 of his own money into the club so we could buy the right… Read more »
who do you replace him with? Really don’t see how sacking emery would be a constructive solution. Issues go well beyond the manager and are gonna take a good while to sort out #kroenkeout
What exactly is sacking Emery going to achieve? Clearly we need better players. I agree that so far Emery has not bowled us over and his team selection frustrates me. Ramsey (letting him go is madness) should start over Douzie every time and he needs to get Ozil playing. But it wasn’t long ago we were singing “we’ve got our Arsenal back’ and this comment section was full of praise for him. Let’s give him a full season before we can judge him, we seem to forget how completely shite we were last year and it is going to take… Read more »
Ramsey gives the ball away far too much. We need another solution entirely.
We were singing UE, yes, and we stopped. Funnily, we sang him when Özil was playing. We stopped when he stopped playing him. Not because of Özil but because of the results and the shitty game plans.
Ozil played almost all the games last year. Still absolutely pish. We need better players, that’s the long and the short of it. About 6 or 7 of the starting line up need replaced.
At least we were absolutely posh with chances created. You said it yourself- 6-7 need replacing. Ozil was never at fault for a lackluster team balance.
Yup. Never said he was
Jardim is available.
Jardim was sacked because they sold all his good players and Henry got stuck with the weak squad. It is all about investment not the manager.
So apparently team selection makes no difference then?
So why have an overpaid manager at all?
Arteta still an option… Was the first choice after all ?
That’s a stupid choice Right there. Might as well go for henry
Really don’t see how Jardim or Arteta could do a better job with no funds. Sacking Emery now would put us back to square one come the start of next season (eg. seeding out the best XI, deciding how we’re gonna play, adapting to new tactics / formation etc). Lets give Emery a bit of time to clear out the dead wood and get something of a cohesive squad together. If we’re still pants 2-3 seasons down the line, fair play at least we tried, hopefully we’ll have moved slightly in the right direction. I’m as frustrated as any other… Read more »
yes, that proven coach of Mikel Arteta wanted by diamond eye Gazidis
The question I have is what happened between the early season run and today? It’s the same manager that we were praising over a month ago. The answer is Ozil. Or, rather his absence. Nobody believes he really is injured, do they? The bad relationship between Ozil and the manager has poisoned the atmosphere.
During the winning run we weren’t playing particularly well – other teams simply weren’t taking their chances. Ozil hasn’t played particularly well since he got the new contract. He’s had the odd great game but by and large has been pretty average at best. Wenger / Gazidis made a real mess of things the past few years with contracts and squad construction. This never was going to be as simple as hiring a new coach fixing everything. Ozil whole talented is also becoming the new Campbell or Perez – the longer he’s out of the team the more a section… Read more »
@Atom I actually started calling it the Joel Campbell Effect; the longer a player is out of action while his team is struggling, the better he becomes in the minds of the fans. Sit out a couple of drubbings and you become a world beater.
There is no bad relation from Özil to UE. The opposite though…
The first part of this response (“who do you replace him with?”), when said to defend Wenger, earned the commenter a rightful caning, fwiw.
Mourinho is available! (Grass greener etc)
Hilarious if intended that way
I am not buying this crap about Ozil not in the squad for tactical reason. For one, I haven’t seen any tactics shift. At least non that obvious that Emery can convince me is beyond Ozil’s talent and that AMN, Iwobi, Ramsey or Mickey are better suited to. Freezing him out of the team is just wise
Typo. Meant to say not wise
Did you say that during out 22 undefeated run. Did you say that when we thrashes Spurs. Yes he has made mistakes but this is his first season so he must be given some time. To sack him after half a season would be madness. The toxicity and knee jerk reactions of some our supporters sickens me
People actually were saying this, yes.
I totally agree but I think there is a legitimate concern the UE has a problem with creative players. The toxic Ozil situation and pushing Ramsey out of the club may be part of a pattern where talented creative types don’t / can’t fit in? That’s a worry for me.
I’d be interested to know on what you base your rather sweeping generalisation that UE has ‘a problem with creative players’`???
It’s all in the biography, he’s always had problems with intelligent players.
This! First letting go of Wilshere and Cazorla, now freezing out Ozil and letting Ramsey go.
All the past problems remained, but now we can’t even pass, create or control the ball, let alone matches…
Really! be sensible, Ask your self, where are Wilshere and Santi now? Whilst we are all delighted that Santi is playing again do you really think that bringing him back is good for the future of the club? No, we need to give UE a lot more time. Remember what was being said about Klopp in his first and second season with Liverpool? Cries of OUT every week, now you could get killed if you said Kloop was no good. He is the best manager currently in the EPL and that is because he was given time and money to… Read more »
Frankly these marks are in general far too high. That was the worst performance of the season. How bad do players actually have to be to get 1s, 2s and 3s
And if we were marking the manager he gets 0/10.
I gave Xhaka a 2..and that was probably 2 generous
We can all see Xhaka’s major weaknesses yet it’s sad but true that most of us would still have to play him if we were in Unai’s position. What does that tell us? That the squad is simply pretty shite.
Xhaka is a good player but he has a huge shorcoming : his body position, xhaka always control the ball in a wrong way, as a consequence he is not able to play fast because he has to take a extra touch before giving the ball. An other consequence is that his body position makes him a target for our opponents, as it is easier to press him, that is for me why xhaka often tends to give the ball back to the player that gave him the ball, contrary to torreira who is often controlling the ball in the… Read more »
As an excercise (and to try to dull the pain of watching that stumbling shambles today) I watched Xhaka in detail for the last 10 of the first half and beginning 10 of the second. In that time he made 14 passes, of which ELEVEN were backwards!!!!
Please can we have our Santi back?
Guendouzi – fine to play him in the league cup or maybe to keep things ticking in midfield when winning comfortably, but do not play him in important games like this.
Yes your right and we need more first team quality but he was always looking for the ball, a ball between the lines a few times and a few decent efforts on goal. The one in the first half goes in were going mad for him fine lines and all that. 19 and this whole season is new for him and was still showing more than some experienced internationals. All that and he is being targeted by other teams players for the roughing up treatment. He needs protecting a bit but I’m sure and hope he will be a fantastic… Read more »
Xhaka cost us the game, if anyone it should be his place in the side up for debate. He’s a total liability.
Like I said a few weeks ago. Emery is digging his own grave with not playing Ozil. No one is questioning the result but the football we are playing. If he doesn’t change his attituted he won’t be here this time next year. Unless Ozil is doing something horrible to him I will be on the German’s side because he has been at the club longer and loves Arsenal. Emery has been here only for 8 months. It is just another job for him.
Lacazette and Aubameyang had very little service. I have to say Emery seems an arrogant obnoxious man in his interviews. He will we sacked by this time next year me thinks. What he’s doing with Ozil sums him up. Rather have Dick Emery at the moment
Lacazette and Aubameyang didn’t get a lot of service but tbh I thought they were poor individually as well. As a top class striker, sometimes you’ve got to make something from nothing, you’ve got to come deep and bring others into play. You’ve got to drive at the defence, challenge for second balls, and generally make a nuisance of yourself. Neither managed that today, or managed to show much quality at all outside the opening 10 minutes.
Laca at least always seems to make some effort. Auba was shockingly disinterested today… ambling around, little of his usual energetic pressing, sloppy passing
I don’t think the players are happy with the manager or the team selections. When you’re a striker having to help out the defence and go deep to collect the ball because there’s no midfield then eventually you’re going to get pissed off. Especially when your friend, the best creator, is left at home because the manager doesn’t like him. Players aren’t machines or idiots, they know who the best players are, and they know what works and doesn’t. All our players bought in to the new training and supported Unai, but they’re starting to question, in exactly the way… Read more »
This is the comment that tried to mirror it well, imho. When a team starts questioning a manager in their minds like the case of Mourinho’s in Chelsea(2), Real, and Man U just now, the issue is not quality of player but mistrust. This then usually results in poor focus and implementation of strategy
Doesn’t like him? I love Ozil but there is NO excuse for the weak hustle he puts in for us, Emery tried to teach him a simple lesson, work hard and you will play… but Ozil seems to be above that?
I agree with your first sentence but I disagree with the rest.
I was replying to “a fleeting glimpse”. Somehow my comments were placed out of sequence. Probably my fault. Sorry – fairly new to this.
What are you on about saying Emery seems arrogant and obnoxious? What interviews are you watching? The Ozil situation is a massive issue but it’s not one that can be placed solely at the feet of the manager. This match summed it up perfectly. West Ham started with three creative players up front: Arnautovic, Anderson, and Nasri. Three players who have the technique to carry the ball, the creativity to make stuff happen, and who can also score goals. Comparatively, we had one: Iwobi. Laca and Auba are forwards, not creators, and that was clear today. Who’s to blame for… Read more »
Ozil and Ramsey at his disposal, neither starts. Emery IS to blame for lack of creativity.
Didn’t realise I supported Ozil FC and not Arsenal football club. Ozils so “PR” heavy I don’t honestly know what he does think, but running his contract down to 6 months didn’t exactly scream “loves the club” so much as “keeping his options open and getting a massive pay day”. The manager > the player for me, always. If we start sacking managers because a player isn’t doing it for them then we’re an absolute joke. You’re right about one thing though, emery has only been here 8 months. If you expected him to turn around 10 years of decline… Read more »
Let’s not forget Ozil, the brand. If he is playing hardly any football, won’t his many sponsors start to be agitated? He needs to start focusing on the reason for those sponsorships, i.e. the football. I sometimes wonder if he just cares about the commercial side of things. He almost doesn’t need to play anyway…
Strongly agree with Bob here.
The amount of Ozil fanbots on here is a bit annoying. Ozil is displaying a poor example for young players by being irresponsible and not fulfilling his CONTRACTUAL obligations to suck it up and put out quality play for the team.
Emery needs time. I’m not always a fan of his lineup choices. But I’m giving him a lot of slack because of the sorry state of the team when he arrived. Not enough depth and too much mediocrity in the squad to compete with improved rivals this year.
I agree shocking display he must play Ozil and Ramsey from the start; and don’t think
AMN isgood enough for us ,he gave the ball away to many times.
AMN is lightweight and avoids the challenges. I was watching on Bein and commentator was all but laughing at his “injury”. I don’t need that.
AMN was shocking today, 4 at best. Guendouzi was overall, as well, though a bit better (5), he made several quality passes.
Whatever happened between Emery and Ozil needs to get sorted out right away. The lack of creativity in the middle is glaring. Does anyone think ownership is trying to sell Ozil this window? There have been now rumors. Any thoughts?
The problem is not from Özil who has always behaved in a very professional way. The club otherwise….
Sorry but there is little professional about the lack of effort he puts in in some games. The salary he is on brings responsibility. He should be busting a gut to prove to Emery that he can fit his system, not sulking because he’s being expected to track back, tackle etc.
Ozil being professional? That is ludicrously BEYOND delusional!
I think they would sell him in a heartbeat if someone were willing to take him off the wage bill / pay a fee but at this point he’s really unlikely to have any top class suitors willing to do that. None of the tier one clubs need / likely want him (Barcelona / Madrid / psg / city/Juventus/baybern ) and his wages are too high for tier 2 (atlerico/Dortmund etc). Think this is case of new regime pretty much stuck with him baring him being willing to go to china
5 defenders, 2 defensive midfielders and three attackers who don’t press. Protagonists indeed.
I agree. The point of 3 at the back is to enable more attacking players in front but we rely on converting defenders into wing backs. AMN wants to solve our winger problem – laughable.
If you are playing Kolasinac, then send him down the wing and give him the ball, wait for the cutback. This may require someone in midfield who can pick out a runner and make a pass. Too bad we have no one like that.
You must be loving this. You’ve been dying for emery to fail since we hired him.
Exactly! Its one thing to give time to New Manager to implement his philosophy. But if he is not using the resources at his disposal correctly consistently, it begs the question of his competance. People who compare Emery to Klopp need to see that Klopp from day one wanted a better version of Dortmund style he had. There were ups and downs but it never looked lost like us.
I haven’t read/heard a single person who understands what philosophy he is aiming for. If you don’t have funds then use what players you have judiciously!
Would give the whole team 0s if I could’ve to rate the team performance. No fight, no heart, no quality. Zero for emery too, that starting lineup had failure written all over it.
Shite day to help wrap up a personally shite week. Cheers arsenal
Everyone likes a silly bush.
That’s how crap today is going. I can’t even get my spell check to work when I want to compliment someone’s silky bush.
We didn’t even deserve to win. It’s just freaking West Ham for God’s sake. If u lose at West Ham, you should be saying “we deserved to win” or “the ref cost us the game” or “we were very unlucky”
But nope, we honestly didn’t deserve to win. It was a deserved loss for such a crap performance.
10/10- the idea that you have Mesut Ozil, undoubtably one of the most creative players In The world, yet still think it’s a good idea to not play him because of your ego, as you sit and watch us be absolutely shit, with ZERO creativity.
Emery needs to go.
a stark example of how everything in and around this club is bad.
fans think the problem is not playing a certain player here or there, the usual clueless-ness about how football is played.
emery needs to “go” because he’s not playing fan favourite M Ozil. not the correct statement.
It’s not one or the other. We have both and for The Arsenal FC to succeed we need both to be doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. It’s really quite simple. Play your best players.
@Red-Sky is 100% correct; it is toxic and too many people are simply clueless. ‘frog’…please understand “Play your best players” is not a tactic, system or strategy! It is incoherent to just put big names together and hope for the best, even Arsene didn’t start Auba and Laca together and yet everyone keeps crying out for it. Real Madrid are the only team to collect the ‘best players’ like infinity stones and firstly, they have a level of performance that doesn’t include at least one brain fart which leads to an opposition goal every game. (We have at least 5… Read more »
This is in fact shows what’s wrong with the club – if Emery fans think by not playing Ozil he is proving a point and getting more out of others then you are wrong. Everything started unraveling due to this feud and Emery needs to put his ego aside for the sake of club and let Ozil play. It’s not just Ozil, I just don’t see anyone in this team pressing or snuffing out attacks early. You can’t just get into a club and say ‘I want to change all players to fit my system’s as the club would have… Read more »
Ozil to play or not to play is not the issue here. Ozil wasn’t all that great in his last games since his injuries. The players Emery inherited are shits. You will only start judging him when he has all his players in place, probably next season. Will you blame the manager when Xhaka is shit or Kocieney aging. There so many factors, which I don’t think are manager’s fault.
Burnley
I think the lack of a route to goal Is more concerning. Yes we have Ozil, but we should still be able to show a semblance of quality in our attacking without him. If we only relied on Ozil for creativity, teams would justinjure him and Arsenal are done. Emery has to come up with an effective and identifiable way of playing for us. He has to startworking on improving our attacking players in attacking. But having Ozil available and keeping him on the bench or out of the side, while your team is lacking what he is actually good… Read more »
Not starting Ozil is one thing but it’s difficult to understand the decision to not even have him as a bench option. I mean, you’re down a goal in the dying stages and Bellerin is the best sub you have?
Same as last season though. If Ozil wasn’t starting he wasn’t in the squad at all… this isn’t all new
There’s obviously something more to this Ozil absence. I have mostly liked what Emery has done, but man management is part of coaching. If he knows Ozil is not going anywhere, he’s got to get him into this team.
Since when has Ozil been “one of the most creative players in the world.”? Ozil is an average player capable of the occasional good performance, living off his reputation from Real Madrid and his impeccable PR machine. I compare Ozil to players like Hazard, De Bruyne, Eriksen, etc. and there’s no contest. For £350k/week that is the standard to which he should be held. Instead he routinely fails to show up in games and throws a tantrum when the system isn’t perfectly set up for him. Emery is right to either hold him to a high standard or get rid… Read more »
“Throws a tantrum”
Where did you pull that from?
Don’t tell me, let me guess……………..
A simple question, giving that Hazard and Ozil are “creative” players, what is the difference between Hazard and Ozil?
Hi John. You asked for the difference between Hazard and Ozil. Just a few thoughts. Hazard scores more, appears to work harder, and less likely to avoid using his weaker foot. There may be other differences but these are the ones that spring to mind.
Ridiculous these Emery out comments. The biggest problem with Arsenal is the fact we have an owner that does not give a crap if we suceed or not. The only way we will progress is for Kroenke to leave and that will only happen if he stops making a profit out of the club. Don’t buy the merchandise, don’t put money in his pocket and then maybe he will lose interest and sell to an owner that wants us to suceed.
Yes, Mesut is a joy to watch and utterly creative ON HIS DAY. I can see that Emery wants more consistency (and so do we fans) from a player who has broken the wage ceiling at the club. Not sure he cares enough.
‘his day’ is usually against Ludogorets or Leicester…
Or west ham
Iwobi was a positive again today. Either he is getting better or the players around him are getting worse…hmmmm
Frightening that he is our most ‘dangerous’ player after Laca and Auba.
Don’t know if it should be “frightening”. Should take it as a small positive, hopefully hemisphere performance level remains and th rest of the squads pick up. He’s had a good run of games recently
Auba would be more dangerous if he didn’t sky the ball half the time he’s near the goal. If he took more of his chances more accurately we’d be higher up the table.
Don’t quite know what to think of Auba.
Clearly he’s doing something right to be joint top scorer in the league. But he fluffs so many opportunities!
As poor a match as some of the turkeys that we have offered over the last Two years. Seriously couldn’t give a single player over a 5 and our future is not looking bright.
So is Xhaka in the Pirlo position now? I think I like Torreira as our deepest midfielder. It seems to me the back three is to compensate for Xhaka as the screening man and his lack of athleticism, and his role is to dictate from deep, compensating for the lack of a true 10. Problem is he isn’t Pirlo, and we’re short on Bonuccis and Chiellinis too.
Xhaka is an awful footballer. The more I watch him, the more I’m convinced he’s mediocre and shouldn’t be here if we want to make it ever back to the elite level. What a waste of money he’s turning out to be honestly.
Not sure about that, he can really spray it about and is great on the dead ball. But he lacks speed and defensive instincts. I think his position in this team is in a central 2 just in front of Torreira if we play a back 3. Or on the left side of midfield in a 4-3-3. Or as a number 8 in a 4-4-2. But having him screen our centre backs is just weakness covering weakness. Not a good strategy. Really he is a bit of a defensive liability, as is Ozil, as, to a lesser extent is Ramsey.… Read more »
The back 3 is to accommodate Kolasinac since while Monreal is out. He can’t play LB. Needs to be attacking too be effective. Can say ther same for the fact Bellerin has been out.
Seems we’ve completely dropped the playing out from the back since we changed to a back three.
The defense and midfield is so fucking slow. If you can’t find a progressive pass within a second or two, move the ball on. Don’t just stand there with the ball for 3-4 seconds. We’re so predictable right now.
Playing out the back died with holding getting injured and monreal as well. None of our other defenders, except Bellerin, are remotely competent at that
Watch some of the games when Santi had been move to his deeper position – took him a few matches to adjust but he was then brilliant… aiways looking up and always looking FORWARDS. And with the feet to confidently beat that first high press almost every time.
It’s not coincidence that the real decline in our game coincided with his injury… Imagine him feeding Auba and Laca
Look, I get that Ozil isn’t an ‘Emery player’ (whatever the fuck that is, apparently a Ligue 2 19 year old), but we have to use him in some capacity. I get Emery wants industry in his teams, but it’s not working. I would also understand the formation and the selection if we were an absolute defensive unit – but we are miles apart from that. It’s just not working. We’re not going to be any less defensively stable with Ozil in the team, so why not just play him to try and outscore the oppositions? Imagine being Auba and… Read more »
Ozil seems to get a lot better when he doesn’t play. Our away record was atrocious last season and he was no small part of it. His numbers have been bad since he signed his new contract. I don’t think he’d be the difference maker today because he so rarely is ever and that isn’t an emery thing.
When things don’t work out, every player benched automatically becomes a hero.
No one wants to remember how this punch of overpaid mediocre footballers were just as bad last season when there was no pressure what so ever, and a manager who was too generous with giving them chance after chance after chance, and who prioritized style over result. But still they failed miserably.
Emery is at fault, but let us not pretend that one player will turn this team around.
It’s a difficult one. I think it’s totally fair to point out that Ozil started games like this last year, in his best position, and we still lost them badly. And it’s also very fair to say he’s come nowhere near justifying his new contract. But on the other hand, you can’t look at that starting line up and say Ozil (or Ramsey for that matter) wouldn’t improve it. Take out the two strikers, and it’s barely top half of the table. Leaving him out of big games for tactical reasons makes a bit of sense, he was left out… Read more »
This is our first loss away to West Ham since 2006. So yes we have lost games, but you are also making the mistake of forgetting his quality. This is the most prolific chance creator in English football history, he didn’t get his stats on the bench or at home. I won’t let hatred of a player blind me from his contribution to Arsenal over the past 5 years. I wonder why Sanchez had never been blamed for our defeats. What people are saying about this Ozil and Emery situation, is akin to having a gun, but fighting using a… Read more »
Have to agree. Very uninspired performance, and that can be laid at the feet of the manager and, ultimately, the players. It seemed like we played as if there was a Liverpool “hangover”, with a lack of confidence and without trying to impose our will on the game. Still hoping that this malaise has been caused by the lack of player rotation due to injuries, and the amount of games played (especially by our newcomers) over the Christmas period. If not, we may have a bit of a crisis, as it does not seem like we have a lot of… Read more »
Bob you don’t like Ozil we get it.
I do like Ozil, but I don’t think the root of our problems is “play Ozil” when we were quite capable of churning out stinkers away from home like this all last season and he was playing then. Even Mustafi’s reputation benefited when he was injured during our injury crisis and, sure enough, as soon as he’s back we all remember he’s a terrible defender. How many assists did Ozil get last season? How many away from home?
I’m not saying playing Ozil would make a difference, but we’re so defensively inept and been unable to sopve that, so why not try and just outscore the opposition. He’d do absolutely no worse than Guendouzi, so at what point do you say “fuck it, it’s worth a go”?
How do you reward Guendouzi for being bang average? Just because he’s 19 and isn’t on a high wage? At least be reasonable and say Ozil is worth a shot as a fucking substitute. Jesus man. He doesn’t even make the bench over half the shit we have on it.
I understand the rationale…but how did “fuck it, its worth a go” work out for the last manager?? The we will outscore them attitude makes absolutely no sense and it is part of why we now have this change of management.
The squad is very poor (acceptance is the first step), so let Emery & Sven do their jobs and tear out the dead parts of this squad to implement change.
Because there is a way to do this thay gets Ozil in that team. Even if you don’t like him, we lack creativity and we cannot even trouble the opposition. I was reading the play by play by blogs and from the 66th minute to the 88th, there was no mention of Laca or Auba. At least Ozil would come back and get the ball to try and make something happen. We need either him or Ramsey in the team, and Ramsey is gone, so if we’re gonna spite ourselves (in some others opinions) let’s do it with someone under… Read more »
But that basically sounds like doing what we did before under Wenger which would surely be a damaging way for emery to go and just be delaying the rebuild we need. I don’t think there’s easy answers, I’m only saying playing Ozil won’t even paper over the cracks in this squad and I don’t think that’s unreasonable. I never said Ozil wasn’t worth a shot as a substitute, it’s insane to me that he isn’t on the bench but without knowing the situation I don’t want to jump to conclusions. Ramsey is leaving too but he’s still on the bench,… Read more »
Ther beat players get more criticism than deserved when things go bad and more praise than deserved when things go well. But ther fact is he is our best player and i would bet the rest of ther team would agree with that entirely. So it’s the managers job to figure out how best to utilize the players at your disposal, and Emery has failed to do that so far.. even when results weren’t so bad we looked poor. But he seems to prefer dribblers rather than passers, so we either need to get rid of Ozil and use that… Read more »
Who dribbles in Arsenal?
Our home record was fantastic last season (yes, fantastic) and I thought he played a role in that. Maybe we should play away just as we play at home. We looked about as good as Liverpool at home, very little to choose, and obviously miles behind at Anfield. Today, I thought we did not look as good as West Ham. We had no one as creative or as technically gifted as Nasri in our midfield (God, that hurts to say).
No one is bigger than the club. Not even Unai Emery. I pointed out his flaws several weeks ago and now others are also beginning to notice them. Zero creativity on the pitch. Zero creativity in Emery’s mind. 0/10 from me.
Might not be a popular opinion, but what exactly has Leno done to warrant the position of being our no.1? The general opinion is he has better passing than Cech, but that’s it. To be fair, I haven’t seen his Ederson/Alisson like distribution in the last games. Nor have I seen him organise the defence in the same manner, collect crosses with ease, or produce a world-class save. What I have witnessed is another goal conceded where he just stands still and doesn’t even attempt to make a safe(on his near post).
As if that’s anywhere close to being one of the bigger problems today. You don’t just keep changing goalkeepers throughout the season. He didn’t have any howlers recently and played ok recently. The goals we conceded recently were in no way his fault.
Give me a break. Leno or Cech, it doesn’t matter.
GK is not the issue at the moment.
If you saw the Man City vs Liverpool match you will have seen both great goalkeeping but also errors from both those worldclass goalkeepers.
I think it’s fair to scrutinise Leno, but tbf he wasn’t at fault for the goal at all and was generally solid today.
His distribution has been markedly poor though, but I don’t think it helps when our current options in defence seem so bad on the ball themselves. Maybe I’m building his importance up in my head because he’s out for the season but holding seemed so crucial to us being able to do that
It’s tough to play out of the back with no creative midfielders to set up the attack.
Although I think Cech is a better goalkeeper than Leno, there was nothing he could have done about that goal.
he’s average, not only because of today, but since he came he’s claim ability of playing playing from the back is absolute bollocks. he can’t get the ball to a player any further than 20-25 yards away. most of his long sideway pass go out of the pitch. he’s reaction and reach are very average. might stop shot close to his body, nothing more.
We should do much better than him.
Almost any and maybe every goalkeeper will conceed goals from the shots we allow. If anything, I feel bad for him that we’re never ever good defensively. He made a couple of mistakes and has saved everything that you can expect a good goalkeeper to make. And anyone who questions is passing is just completely taking it out of context. He has immensely more pressure on him when passing short simply cuz he’s the gk and if you look at the passes he receives compared to Alisson or Ter Stegen or Ederson (ball playing gks), the difference in quality is… Read more »
Blogs just nailed it on Bellerin comment and bonus rating.
Fucking terrible
It was painful because West Ham just straight up beat us. Anderson and Creswell were pushing us around and their defending was good. Nasri played well and that was like getting salt rubbed in with vinegar and razor blades. Torture. No creativity until Ramsey came on and…. Ah, screw it…. We’re flat out not good enough.
Where is the high pressing game that we were promised? We look like 3 separate components of defence, midfield and attack but not a team. There is a disconnection between the 3 areas. Personally I would go to a back 4, drop Guendouzi and Auba. Without Ramsey in the team no one runs beyond the front 2 which makes us easy to defend against. Everything is in front of the other team.
This. So what are we practising in training exactly because it doesn’t appear to be pressing, playing it out from the back, or any other form of consistent strategy. I appreciate that 6 months isn’t long enough to turn round the eff up of the last 5 years or so but surely it’s enough to begin to see some semblance of a change to playing style and development in our obvious defensive weaknesses. Is Emery just Wenger wearing prosthetic make up?
The disconnect is the lack of creative midfielders to stitch everything together
Drop the leagues top scorer?
This is why football is so popular…
On the long run: You get what you deserve!
Just take a look at the table!
Only two points from last 15 away from home? I thought we won 4 times away this season
Yes, but 2 points from the last 15 points, not games
Kroenke will remain alive and well as long as you’re around.
Has he not got an helicopter?
I think we have 2 choices
A react to each game As If its a one-off praising the match winners as potential superstars and castigating eiher the manager and individual players if we lose which of course a run of bad games means a sacking and a new plan
or
2 See this as a long term project where we need 4 or 5 more transfer windows to come anywhere near the top2 with no. promises of success
There the only shows in town foks
This manager is not showing that he’s worth keeping for 4 or 5 more transfer windows. Maybe the club have realized that and it’s part of why there’s no money for transfers. We have some top players who won’t waste their careers if they’re not going to be competitive, and financially we can’t afford to drop to mid table. The football is horrible, the next few months are going to be very interesting.
That logic doesn’t hold up at all. We have a recruitment team outside of the manager that bought players before we even hired emery. They didn’t view Wenger as worth sticking with but they still bought Aubameyang that January. Put down the pipe, Christ.
Who are these top players?! I don’t think we have any
The Guendouzi situation is starting to annoy me. Is he really any better or more productive than say Willock? He’s played nearly every game this season and he is only 19. He’s potentially going to be good, but for heaven’s sake he’s not ready for this level. I think this is Emery’s signing and I feel like he plays him to justify his decision. All the while we have a 350000 pound a week player who seemingly doesn’t fit Emerys system, whatever that is because it changes from week to week.
Arse by name
and that was a pile o the stuff that comes out of one…
I have to firstly start by thanking Arsenal for making my weekend terrible and making me miserable. I will not be spending a single penny on Arsenal any more until I see something that shows me promise that we want to improve and move forward. Secondly, I’m going to rate everyone including the manager 3/10. Because we were shocking. Change can only start with doing it better on the pitch if you don’t buck up your ideas you cannot expect investment because that is a risk. Firstly, stop treating the Premier League like Ligue 1 or La Liga and playing… Read more »
Embarrassed by our supporters at this point. When the manager came in we all thought it would take time, now suddenly we want to be the finished article already. “We got our arsenal back” and then straight back to getting on the managers back as soon as there is a dip in form. Utterly pathetic. Feels like there’s a sizeable amount of people willing the manager to fail so they can beat him with the “Ozil” stick. Well, to that I say Ozil has been shite since he signed his contract and was very much part of our atrocious away… Read more »
Nobody expects the finished article, but people expect some progress (or signs of it). We are no better than we were last season imo. At least we were attacking decently then, even if the defending was shit because now we can’t attack, defend or midfield (whatever that is). You seem to have a really warped reality and are trying to push an agenda that we’re all bastards – when all we really want is to understand what the plan is here. I’m not seeing results of training here, because nothing about this team looks any different than Wenger. You can… Read more »
Progress has been seen, surely, albeit it in flashes. 4-2 against spurs showed progress, our game against Liverpool at home for example. Two holding midfielders, fullbacks that provide width, interior wingers that occupy the half space, a number 10 who instigates the press and playing out from the back are all things Emery has obviously been trying to implement but personnel and injury has affected that. The playing out the back improved, then holding and monreal (and then Bellerin) got injured and we couldn’t do it anymore, he tried Ramsey as the 10 he wants but he didn’t suit the… Read more »
I want to say Emery needs as much time as Klopp. But whereas Liverpool sold Coutinho for £140m and reinvested it in the squad, we’re letting Ramsey go for free and then saying we don’t have money for signings! And boy do we need signings. If we don’t win Europa we’ll need to get used to Thursday night football for the foreseeable future.
Not if we don’t qualify.
Afternoon to forget. Shocking & exhausting performance for the fans. It felt like we sat on 1st or 2nd gear for the entire game, no intensity, no real desire when going forward. No positives to take from today, but let’s not get that stupid ‘Emery out’ bullsh*t. Sacking Emery won’t solve anything. We have such unbalanced squad its nothing but a headache for Emery.. He clearly needs to be supported by the board *cough cough* Kroenke you stingy fcker. As much as I like Matteo, he’s out of his depth at this level. Xhaka? I’ve no words for him today.… Read more »
Emery to bould, “okay so we are lacking any creativity, guendouzi is really pretty poor, no one is linking the back to the front, you know what this game needs? A right back!!!
Given how bad maitland niles was and how many assists Bellerin has this season I’m not getting this comment
Fucking awful performance.
No bite in that team , no passion…….where’s that gone?
Spurs are streets ahead of this outfit, and will stuff man ushitehawks tomorrow.
You may not like it , but if you want to make progress , you have to put aside your parochial hatred and try to learn from what they’ve done………oh yeah and vote that down cause that’s what I’m talking about.
They wear that ugly white shirt with pride.
It’s funny, when games are going well, Emery’s grimace is exaggerated. When things are going poorly the grimace turns into a sad little frown
Harsh on Guendouzi. He is a bright spot in a sea of underperformance. The subs should have started. Ramsey and Torreira should start every game.
My observation is that Unai is trying to be a total control freak and that egos are hurting the team(club) more than they should (Look at Man United). But we need additions !!!!! but here are the questions ? – Where is the money gonna come from – Are we ambitious enough e.g. Buy 80plM+ players – Do we want to buy Managers favourites for short term fixes? e.g Banega,Suarez and all those others linked to previous Emery teams! This season is already a write off, use it to play your strongest 11 on paper and see where it takes… Read more »
1/10 for a ref who penalised us frequently for holding or wrestling (a modern phenomenon). Quite right because this is a game for feet not hands. BUT the same referee usually allowed their players to get away with it. It was like playing against Stoke.
In retrospect despite both being made of glass Santi and Jack are truly missed. Only midfielders we had who could turn on a sixpence or gain a yard and simultaneously play a telling forward pass. Just dont have that at all..Even a Diaby type. Just someon who can dictate and dominate in the middle of the park. Having to watch Xhaxa lumber about taking 5 seconds to get the ball to his left foot for aa sideways pass is torture.Hes as Dire as Dier.
Bit harsh about Xhaka but I agree with your other points. Particularly Santi Cazorla. Two footed genius. All footballers should work on their weaker foot. Look at Robin van Persie (and Robbie Fowler). Both scored some stunning goals with their weaker foot. Also agree about going forward. Far too many passes going backwards.
First job for a manager, above implementing philosophies and systems and other grand plans, is to be able to manage the players at the club. Emery has done this quite poorly the the point where we have one of the most creative players in the league, yet we had to endure that level of uninspired play. If a player is playing shit, you tend to try to get them to focus on the basics and build. Today our manager was shit, and really he needs to go back to basics for what a manager needs to do: manage the club’s… Read more »
Arseblog, is there any chance to add rating option for Emery as well, could be interesting to rate him based on tactics/selections/substitutions/reason not playing Özil this time?
No, sorry. We get asked this quite a bit, but these are player ratings only, and we don’t have any plans to add the manager.
Ozil needs to be pensioned off. Keep Ramsey. Why did we not try and get Cesc? Stan the Cnut out out out
Ozil can’t choose himself in the starting 11.
My guess is lots of fans would dislike Fabregas returning. Personally I would welcome him back. Even past his peak he has a great vision for a forward pass. Many a goal came for Arsenal through his incisive passing (and not slowing it down to take an extra touch like some of our players do).
We need an owner who cares, then the rest will follow.
This could be the least talented Arsenal team that I have seen. Poor defence, limited midfield and wasteful in attack. I started following in 1998 – can anyone remember a worse first 11 in that time? Those supporters who are older can no doubt remember worse teams, but I cant.
Agreed. The most bothersome characteristic of this group is the away form. It has been dropping over the years and got to rock bottom last year. How can we be, seemingly, so mentally frail away from home, while having such a good home record? Believe this is UE’s biggest problem to get his hands around.
In his last season at Seville he didn’t win a single away game, so good luck with that.
Wow, confidence is low and that tidbit didn’t help!
You should have been around in the mid 70s and then again in the early to mid 80s. John Hawley, Ray Hankin, Terry Mancini, Willie Young, Lee Chapman, John Matthews. A sea of dross brightened by a few standout players. But then it only cost me 50 bob to get in and it was better than hanging around the streets of N1 sniffing glue. Now it’s 50 quid or more and that value judgement is a whole lot closer.
I think you are saying that sniffing glue might be a better value than a ticket to Arsenal. Grow up, man. Get adult drugs.
Feel disappointed after today’s performance. I don’t mind us losing some games but I want to see signs of progress in the way we play. First half of the season was very positive not just because of the points but we were playing good football, pressing well, running behind and creating chances. Defence was sh*t but at least we were doing well in the offence. But our performance recently has been dire. The players are not running, no creativity and no urgency. For me, the last few performances are on the manager. The team selection is not good enough…There is… Read more »
Good post.
Made me think – is it possible that the very perceptible decline in performances since late autumn (Spurs apart which was great) is a ‘before and after’ situation to do with team cohesion?….if so that makes me worry about UE
Today Iwobi was the driving force of the team and making things happen. Sadly he was on the left side open begging for the ball and the other players keep turning right, especially Guendouzi. Towards the end i was hoping for him to get on the ball as that was the only time we look like we can cause problems to West Ham. Until the next game then COYG!
He’s garbage and needs to be replaced as a matter of urgency
Squad for every game seems to be experimental. After 22 league games I would expect that the starting squad plus bench will have some measure of predictability by now. Clearly whatever is being “experimented” with is not working, judged by the result and more importantly the manner Arsenal played today. Shocking poor quality of play and tactics with players not even performing the basics at acceptable level. Certainly the manager must take responsibility for the choice of the team. Today Arsenal looked like a bottom 6 team
Xhaka has made the most individual mistakes leading to goals for two year now. Not surprising
Over the season everybody, including the neighbors cat, agree that the best pairing in midfield is X&T. For all the talent Guendouzi hold, he is still not mature enough for this level. He needs to bulk up as he is far too easily intimidated. About the goal. The cross came from a short distance and I think it is harsh to blame Xhaka too much. He tried to instinctly to head the ball away and unfortunately it fell to Nasri. Whenever Xhaka is involved in one of the 712 passes before a goal the slate Xhaka gang fires up. He… Read more »
In recent weeks we ‘ve been bang average, mediocre. Mostafi, sokratis, xhaka and kolasinac are simply not good enough if you have top four aspirations, let alone winning a title. The manager has to take his own share of the blame, especially the way we play. It’s too predictible and they take far too many touches before they pass.They should be playing one, two touch football. There is no agression with and without the ball.
Gee harsh Ramsey rating. I thought he was excellent. 8
The whole team showed a distinct lack of urgency and intensity today even when we fell behind. The endless passing back and sideways is like watching paint dry. If we are not going to start our most creative players, then we need to use the wings to penetrate defences but I’m not sure we have the players to do that.Would love to Felipe Anderson in an Arsenal shirt. Xhaka and Mustafi once again proved today that they are not of the required standard, Xhaka looked ok earlier in the season when paired with Torreira at the base but Emery has… Read more »
Guendouzi was poor, especially his final product. The strikers were also average, although they didn’t get service.
We know for sure now that he’s fallen out with Ozil. When questioned on Ozil’s omission from the squad, he made it fairly clear it wasn’t because of injury. Leaving him out of the whole match day squad?? We really struggled with the quality of our possession and passing in the West Ham halfway – surely Ozil could have helped?
In a big club, when a manager don’t know how to manage big players and big asset of the Club, you change the manager. He didn’t want Ramsey, he doesn’t want Ozil and in the meantime I don’t think Lacazette and Auba are happy to play for him. If Ozil will leave, Laca and Auba will follow. And if we finish outside the CL, next year we will be at the same level of Everton or Wolves. Unfortunately Emery doesn’t have a clear plan like he didn’t have in PSG.