Result: BATE Borisov 1-0 Arsenal
Competition: Europa League
Date: 14th February 2019
Venue: Borisov Arena
Starting XI: Cech, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Elneny, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Suarez, Nketiah, Aubameyang
Arsenal will have to come from behind if they are to reach the Europa League quarter-finals after a desperately poor 1-0 defeat to BATE Borisov in Belarus.
Stanislaw Drahun’s header on 44 minutes was enough to seal a famous win for the home side who saw out the game against 10 men after Alex Lacazette was given a straight red card for an elbow.
First half
Unai Emery made only two changes to the lineup that beat Huddersfield at the weekend, most notably returning Granit Xhaka – back from a tight groin – to the centre of midfield in place of Lucas Torreira. The only other change from the team that started the win over Huddersfield was the inclusion of Petr Cech ahead of Bernd Leno. As was the case at the John Smith’s Stadium we set up in a 3-4-3 formation.
Arsenal started very much on the front foot creating three chances, all stemming down the left, inside the first 12 minutes. Mkhitaryan, set up by Kolasinac, had a glorious chance to break the deadlock inside two minutes but keeper Denis Scherbitskiy got down well to make a great save. Mustafi and Koscielny both failed to get a touch on a cross from the Armenian soon after and Iwobi, arguably our brightest player in the opening stages, had a tame effort clawed for a corner.
Unai Emery said before the game that the conditions would not be an excuse for his side but there was no doubting the pitch made it difficult to play a slick passing game. It looked as though a tractor had been taken to it before kick-off and the ball subsequently bobbled all over the place and players regularly slipped over.
We kept plugging away but the pace slowed. Frustratingly, when openings were created, we weren’t ruthless enough. Lacazette thrice fluffed his lines, first heading a Kolasinac cross over the bar from close range and then failing to control a decent ball from Guendouzi and a low cross from Mkhitaryan.
For all our dominance, BATE showed intermittent flashes of their quality. Petr Cech had to make a smart save at his near post and balls from each flank played to the near post also caused problems. The first from the left was cleared for a corner, the second, on the half-hour mark, found Milic who clipped the outside of the post. We should have heeded the warnings. We didn’t.
Just before half time, a free-kick correctly awarded against Nacho Monreal, was whipped into the box and Stanislaw Drahun, left unmarked, headed past Petr Cech. Having notched five clean sheets in a row in the Europa League our efforts to keep a record-breaking sixth were left in tatters. The home fans went absolutely ballistic. (1-0)
The goal was the eighth time this season we’ve conceded in the five minutes before the break; a ridiculous record for a defence that has been plumbing new depths since August.
Second half
Could Arsenal respond? The 10 minutes after the break were promising as Iwobi and Kolasinac probed. Lacazette unleashed a shot from 25-yards that forced a save and came closer still when he had a tap-in disallowed for offside. The assistant referee got the call right, but it was close.
As they did in the first half BATE went out of their way to slow the game. They were happy to sit deep, defend their lead and then try their luck on the break. It wasn’t a bad policy given how naff we were at the back. Hesitation in the Arsenal backline allowed Stasevich to get a shot off that Cech parried clear.
Hleb went off to a standing ovation, dodging a yellow card that would have seen him suspended for the return-leg, before Emery reacted by replacing Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Granit Xhaka with Lucas Torreira and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Kolasinac had a chance to level from a tight angle but his volley on 72 minutes had pace but not direction. He was quickly replaced by Denis Suarez, who delivered another underwhelming cameo. Our passing was atrocious and our corners, of which there were many, were even worse. We were desperately bad and had Cech not been alert to reach a cross, we might even have gone two goals down.
To cap off an awful evening, Lacazette got himself sent off in the dying stages. The Frenchman took a bit of a shove in the back from Alyaksey Ryas trying to control the ball but he reacted by swinging an elbow that caught his opponent square in the face. The referee had no hesitation flashing a red for the offence. We’ll have to find at least two goals at the Emirates without him next week.
While you’d still fancy our chances to progress at home it’s hard to play down just how poor a performance this was. It will go down as one of the club’s worst results in European competition; a truly embarrassing evening.
The club is falling apart quickly for many reasons we know all too well. I’m gonna come out and say it: Emery isn’t the right coach for Arsenal. Never thought he was. I remember how I felt when I heard the appointment: Underwhelmed – We rode our luck for a while on the unbeaten run but I think we are seeing our level in the last couple of months. I’d like to hear a proper discussion about him on the Arsecast on Monday, not the usual stuff from James where any criticism of Emery is conflated with being a ‘bad… Read more »
Let’s continue to support the team including Emery. I think he needs 2 seasons before we judge him.
Team was shit today though.
I’m not saying he should not stay another season but boy does it look like a huge huge gamble right now
He makes clearly Strange decisions. You cannot give this so much time
probably we should give him 2 seasons.
probably we are using klopp as a yardstick and are willing to accept mediocrity for 2 seasons in the hope that we will be title contenders like liverpool by the end of the cycle
Two seasons of this is not acceptable.
I understand that position too but I fear we will drop off dramatically and end up sacking him in like 15 months or so. We don’t have the quality of player to take a gamble
And after his relationships with Neymar and now Özil, I’m not seeing why the kind of talented players we need would want to come to Arsenal to play for him while the club sits outside of CL, can’t legitimately challenge for a league title, clearly resents paying higher-end wages to its players, etc…
You are overreacting.
The thing w/Neymar (an irredeemable, diving cunt) was that he runs PSG. Is the qautari’s crown jewel. (Note how well psg plays w/o neymar).
To now say Ozil and Neymar are the same problem and its emery’s faults is grasping at straws … to put is nicely. And to say its that sort of problem for all “talented players” (whateverthefuck that means) is also a really grasping. In the team and performing (relatively) well are: Auba and Laca – both talented players. Stars, in fact.
Let’s not overreact.
Then let’s talk about Ben Arfa who is certainly not of Özil’s talent but who spent 14 months out of the squad for unknown reasons. Now he is suing the club.
Ben Arfa was no where near good enough to play for PSG and has a history of issues everywhere he goes.
You’re an effing idiot!
It wasn’t only today that was shit. My memory is shoddy but the only good performances I can recall this season were spurs, chelsea and fulham.
Leicester.
Liverpool at the Emirates was a stellar performance by the gunners.
Though the Europa Group stage unscathed and w/a boatload of clean sheets.
Its not all shit. It all seems like shit after the gunners played like shit today. Its just that, as you rightly suggest, there has been way too much shit this season under emery. It feels shitty. I’m really tired of the shit.
No, not just this match. Huddersfield was a truly crap performance against a genuinely crap side. And the defeatism against Man City in the game before that (bringing on Suarez, with no match fitness whatsoever instead of Ozil) should not be excused by Man City’s strength.
Or 10 seasons? Then get our Moyes…
Let’s not. Emery was supposed to be a tactical mastermind who would have Arsenal much better prepared to play against opposing teams and who would sort out the defence. Neither is true. At least under Wenger, even in the bad old days of last season, Arsenal were still capable of playing good football and beating Bate. I watched the first half and it was awful. Arsenal were pedestrian and were crying out for a player who could make a killer pass. If only we had such a guy!
Yeah, I wonder how much it would cost to sign a player who makes key passes for scoring opportunities.
What the heck. This player wouldn’t get to play anyway.
There have been things I have liked about Emery – particularly the way some of the younger players have improved and the mentality (we have a lot more fight back in general vs. past years). We’ve had a few really solid performances as well (Sp*rs in particular). But since we lost Bellerin in particular, he’s just become more and more conservative which is leading to worsening performances. We need to go back to a 4 at the back even if it means having a right back who only defends as the attack simply isn’t working right now. The other part… Read more »
Why couldn’t we have looked at Hasenhuttl or Jardim in the summer (or Favre but I wonder if that was already agreed ages ago)? None of them would’ve been earning what they’d earn at Arsenal and I could see all of them making us a lot more dynamic.
@Crash So I don’t mind Emery in the sense of I’m willing to give him a shot to succeed or fail (2 year in my mind given how much squad restructuring needed to happen). BUT I’m totally with you on this. We’re a team on an extremely limited budget – our entire budget supposedly is 40m which is less than the other top 6 spend on a single player. That means we’re going to have to go with project youth – try to find underrated young players and develop them. If that’s the plan then why not go for a… Read more »
Yes, exactly. I would’ve thrown Nagelsmann in as well, but I reckon that deal was already done.
This club is in TOP10 when it comes to stadium frequency and selling shirts as I saw somewhere last week. And the budget is 40 mil. This is ridiculous. And as everything is happening behind closed doors (I’m not saying it’s bad or good) I can only look and wonder what in the hell is happening.
Hang on: you expect the club to throw open the doors and make public every decision?
Every transfer?
Every deal?
What other club does that…answer is none.
Are you (and others) grumpy b/c the board isn’t asking for your input? Maybe Robbie and his merry band of fuckwits on AFtv should also weigh in.
If Amn and iwobi are the best of project youth then we are in serious trouble..
Sorry but I just don’t see either as great players in the future. Yes they are both young and deserve more time but I just cant see it happening for either of them long term sadly.
Hopefully we have better coming through as we are seriously going to need something because we are not going to buy our way out of this shitstorm.
Iwobi has been one of our best players so far this season (minus 3 or 4 bad games).
He probably has. Which means we’re not getting the best out of several others.
Pleeeaasse leave iwobi out of this, y’all can’t get enough right, plz ds result is demoralizing enough don’t mk it worse,thank you.
Even Eboue would make us more dynamic at the moment, but let’s not go there again.
Emery is as good as assistant coach in my book
It’s awful to watch, agreed. I liked the way we were going with Mislintat’s signings. Now, even that’s gone
I was not impressed by Emery’s decisions tonight, but we should have been able to put out the U23s and comfortably won.
Tonight was about none of the players performing.
I think it’s fair to say that since the start of the season we’ve been taking strides backward rather than forward. We’re playing uglier and uglier and the results are getting worse and worse.
It’s a process man.I’m sure as soon as we get a 25 mill winger and a half decent cb in next summer,we will figure out another way to score apart from passing to kolasinac.
Until then the mystery shall continue.Not Unai’s fault that he is stuck with nketiah and iwobi.If only we had world class attacking options right at this moment we could’ve questioned his methods.sadly we can’t because we have no decent attackers.if we had we wouldn’t have had to loan a barca backup winger and could’ve concentrated on bringing a defender instead..
#Trusttheprocess
This is the best post on this forum all year.
You wrote this: “adly we can’t because we have no decent attackers.”
For a team that has in it: P.E. Aubameyang, A. Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Mktrhyrian(sp), and Hector Bellerin. Sead Kolasinac (most chances created in the Prem this campaign).
You are taking the piss there. Just trolling, surely.
Great comedy. Its hilarious … really well done?
What he should have said is we have no creative attackers that Emery actually uses…are Iwobi/Mkhitaryan creative enough?? I think not
or we spend too much time on ‘tactics’ that the team has forgotten how to play football
And why does he insist all creativity be shunted out to the corners?
I mean, if we still had Giroud as our starting striker, I’d understand, but Lacazette is a good head shorter and can’t muscle the space as well.
Was that too hard to get ? I mean Iwobi and Nketiah only attackers…sheesh
He’s a good coach. He’s been saddled with prima donnas and not backed in the market. If he doesn’t get at least another season, we’re stupider than we look.
Like at PSG? So basically a spanish moyes then who needs old chums and workhorses?
Not backed in the market? Was he promised that he could have any player he wants when he signed to be the manager? Please! Unai knew very well the financial situation, and it would have been made very clear to him. He decided to take the job nonetheless.
Sure. Like it was very clear to all of us that Gazidis was going to bail. Like it was completely clear to Mislintat that we would not sanction any transfers in January.
It’s all Ozil’s fault! Oh wait…
Once again, Ozil did not track back–not once.
We were going well until the club / manager started playing stupid games with the players.
I remember people chanting ‘we’ve got our arsenal back’ on more than one occasion. It wasn’t perfect but we were kicking ass.
Since Xmas we’ve been shit. It’s another Moronho at Man U type situation.
I think there are huge question marks over the managers competency after tonight’s game for me. Things have been poor since the Spurs game way back in November. Yes injuries have played a part, but that’s no excuse for another woeful performance away from home against a team like BATE. A team that haven’t played in 2 months, and a team that every other Premier League side in the top 5 would hand out an absolute towelling to. We are a shambles. Too heavily defensive. No creativity in midfield, compounded by a genuinely ridiculous reliance on our fullbacks to be… Read more »
Emery play regressive as you say because of the defence he has. I am not happy that we got beaten by Bate while Spurs trashed Dortmund but this year is about rebuilding the team.
Let me know when it starts
Today who should we blame, Stan or Gazidi or Wenger? This team should have defeated Bates. It was pathetic performance. Not a big fan of Ozil but without Ozil/Ramsey, we have zero creativity. If you can’t defeat Bates then forget about winning any trophy in coming years. I understand Emry needs time but last few matches were torture.
Shit football with shit results at shit times in shitty grounds in a shit competition. That’s our level this season. Fucking embarrassing.
That’s a lot of Shit…
Wenger is history. Pointing the blame or mentioning his name when such performances come up is quite disrespectful. Emery knew what he was walking into when he took the job. We hired him to fix the damage and fix he must do. Let’s support him and give time.
I agree that we should support Emry. I am supporting him from first day and will continue to do that but supporting does not mean, you can’t criticize your manager or players or ask questions?
Don’t understand the down votes here. If people truly believe that Wenger left behind a squad incapable of easily defeating BATE then there’s no point in even talking about it. *Maybe* it’s still legitimate to criticize his squad imbalance when we play City, Spuds, etc., but BATE? Please.
it occurs to me, now, that the down votes might be based on giving him more time, in which case, fair enough.
We won the same match 4-2 last season with Arsene, but Emery is supposed to have improved the team? Emery is a mid-table, negative coach who plays horrible football, so why should we waste another season on him? He’s not right for Arsenal.
He didn’t play horrible football in any of his previous teams.
But what I detect is a failed attempt of bringing balance to this one. He’s not playing his usual tactics. He’s trying to invent a new formula for Arsenal, and he is failing.
If we go back to the basics we can be much better. Attack attack attack and don’t be afraid to commit many personnel forward.
Emery made the correct decision leaving ozil for this one, or the other matches. If iwobi couldn’t cut it in these matches, no way ozil could.
*sarcasmsarcasmsarcasmsarcasmsarcasmsarcasm*
What is the point of Granit Xhaka? What does he actually bring to the team? It.s a serious question. He couldn.t even take a corner properly last night
Embarrassing on so many levels.
Well played BATE.
Arsenal might not have a dream squad, but surely one can squeeze out more from this group than the dreadful football we’ve been playing during the best part of the season. Tonight was unbelievably bad. I’m not saying it was a mistake to hire Emery, I think at this point one could argue it’s not really working out, is it? I hope we see some glimpses of something we can hold on to in the games to come, but I have to admit, I’ve almost lost hope. Besides his respectable (nothing more) point tally in the PL, he’s done little… Read more »
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
That game was rubbish
Our team was too
Breathtaking lack of quality…. we’ve regressed
What the fuck.
Bring back Arsene Wenger.
Or maybe there are more than 2 managers in world football we could hire.
But look what’s happened when we hired the other one! 😉
Couldn’t even master bate. That’s sad.
Honestly we’ve had some bad performances this season but that was hands down the worst. From the first five minutes of the second half you could see we weren’t going to score. As a starter he shouldn’t have started with 8 defensive minded players.
Fair result….
Based on Transfermarkt.com – If you take out Ozil, Ramsey and Auba from our squad… we are about at the same level as Everton.
For Everton 1-0 away against Bate ?
I think yes – that is a fair result.
That was fucking terrible dunno what to say anymore
Can we leave these cunts in Belarus and start again? All of them including Stan and Emery. Fucking abject losers the lot of them.
Disagree as to Emery, as I think he’s come into a shocking environment, not backed in the transfer market, and left to make due with Ramsey’s contract situation having been utterly neglected, Ozil’s contract and wages, and a squad overall that isn’t his. The rest of the lot, having said that, can bugger off. Gazidis should be hauled into the dock for managerial fucking malpractice.
Nothing positive in there
How to lose matches and alienate fans. Written by Unai Emery. Edited by the Arsenal Board.
We played conservative against the mighty BATE and got a just reward. Team looks clueless, no creativity, just one move – pass to Kolasinac on the left. So predicatable. Fitting when we pick a formation with no offensive midfield set up.
I don’t know if I can take another crap attempted final third entry pass while we have Mesut fucking Ozil still at the club and paid for. At this point Emery is just fucking trolling.
Pathetic and clueless.
The lack of game plan was very clear. The players looked lost. Can’t defend Emery on this one.
Yeah you’re right. Serious questions need to be asked of Emery after that. What was he thinking of tonight, 7 defensive minded players against a team like Bate? No creativity, no pace. The players couldn’t pass to each other, we were brutal. We always played good attacking football and even that’s gone. And never mind the pitch, we banged 10 goals in on them last year. No excuses, that was just dreadful.
Why not? I thought he could do no wrong according to you. The man is sending the team into the gutters with horrible decisions and you are here all the time defending him. I have no personal like or dislike for Emery, my only interest is to see Arsenal do great things again. There was a time Arsenal will lose a match yet you feel satisfied with the performance the team put up but nowadays, a win feels like a defeat. And all we keep hearing is tactics.
Wenger always said – the team plays better when the ball is passed quicker. Tonight they moved the ball so slow or predictablE.
Also sometimes just shoot iwobi the keeper looked a bit crap and nervy with his punches
Protagonists
I really want to support Emery but damn is he making it difficult. We’ve been playing the same bland football that we were playing towards the end of Wenger’s time here. There’s still no clear imprint of his style and he seems devoid of any ideas. The same tactic over and over and over again…pass it to the left wing, hope something happens. We should be embarrassed of ourselves today and this squad needs some real investment and get some players who can play Emery’s style of football
also, we shouldn’t be losing to the likes of BATE. I get we’re still far off from the likes of Liverpool and City but the one good asset we have in our squad are our strikers and if Emery can’t make use of that then serious questions should be asked during the summer
Is there no end to this hole
The toxicity of the fans is only gonna increase from here. Sadly with this kinda performance, Emery suddenly doesn’t have much time to prove himself.
Kroenke, Ozil, bad first halves, uninspiring gameplay.. I fear for what’s to come for my Arsenal
Exactly. I’m generally a supporter of Emery, but he’s not helping himself at all.
Games like these are supposed to be easy. 8 months is long enough to instill a clear system of play that can beat the likes of Bate.
Why blame Özil when it’s Emery who values athleticism over creativity? Whoever thinks Suarez & Guendozi are better players than Özil needs his head examined! I’m glad all those who were part of the “Wenger out” brigade bloody well realise the foolhardiness of mob psychology now that you have this clown for a manager ?
Geez that was as bad as it gets. A mind numbingly boring performance.
Its easy to blame Emery for this, as he’s the one who picks the team, but this result is on the players- piss poor performance against a team we should be beating.
However, this defeat is symptomatic of a larger problem: a lack of defensive investment in the club. We know the team needs players in certain positions and nothing was done to address this in the January window.
When a team consistently plays mediocre to terrible football, you simply cannot only focus on the players.
It’s the lot for me. It’s Emery, the players, the Board, Kroenke…the lot. Changing managers will accomplish exactly fuck all if there’s to be no investment in players. With our long term injuries and a back four who couldn’t keep out a pub side, we went into January with a loan-only approach and brought in a midfielder?? I am loathe to even think it, but I keep coming back to the same conclusion: We’re a club on the verge of crisis.
I think you can when most of those players actually range from mediocre to terrible
The Players should always take responsibility for their performances.
But lack of an effective system is the coach’s fault.
Yes, it’s easy to blame Emery for this, because he’s the manager who trains the team, selects the team, sets the tactics and gives the instructions. Another negative team selection, more horrible football, more three at the back and get the ball to Kolasinac bullshit. Emery is a rubbish manager.
What the fuck was that? Never seen us this clueless, guileless, listless and toothless against such European dross. I mean Hleb, seriously?
People go on about Iwobi and Guendozi but my God, Maitland Niles is terrible. Mikhi looks all of 45 years and I can’t figure out what exactly Emery is trying to do besides competing for the worst style of “attacking” football ever.
And Suarez? Give me a fucking break
You have to get used to Suarez: he’s gonna stay and replace Özil and/or Ramsey.
Arsene Wenger didn’t die for this.
;__;
#we got our Arsenal back.
😀
We indeed got our Arsenal back. The one we had before Arsene Wenger came ?! Pathetic performance
Can you not be a cunt.
What a fucking joke! We’re an embarrassment! I’m sorry but I think Emery must go now: we are going backwards now. It looks to me like the players don’t believe in their boss. There’s nothing here: no tactics, energy or commitment.
This is the absolute nadir of my life as an Arsenal fan: Spuds tearing it up at Wembley while we get dumped on by a League One Eastern European team.
Somebody sort this out!!!!
somebody get this man a large milkshake
I’ll have what he’s having.
This time.
Two large milkshakes comin right up
Ever since Emery joined we have gone back as a football club. He seems arrogant he lost the dressing room at PSG and i feel like he will lose arsenals too. The football is boring and too conservative. He is an experienced manager and at the rate the club is going back would rather have had an arteta cause he would have had an excuse being new and all
He fooled me. Early in the season, he had me believing that the future was bright, attacking wise.
2 mins into injury time. We are 1-0 down, and I see Mustafi trotting in our own half with the ball like he’s in his mum’s garden. He freezes for a whole second every time a ball comes near him. Iwobi – completely indecisive for all his harrying forward. I’d love for Santori to defend his favourites the match today. Xhaka & Torreira need a run together once again, they work coherently together. Guendouzi is a great defender but he’s 19 for ffs Emery is going to run the kid into the ground, he needs rest. His stalling while he’s… Read more »
I only saw the last 20 minutes. That was some of the slowest, unimaginative and predictable football that I’ve seen for a while. This team isn’t ready for the Champions League.
That’s a shame the first 70 minutes we were so majestic and silky. There was magnificent invention and such a speedy closing down on our opponents causing endless panic and I truly feared that their goalie would have a heart attack with the constant athleticism shown keeping us to a clean sheet.
I think we tired in the last 20 mins.
lol
Lol. What does Emery have against creative footballers? If it is a philosophical position, then are we really the right fit for this man given we have enjoyed some of the most entertaining football the premier league has ever seen from some of the most creative footballers…DB10, Pires, Nasri, Cesc, Ozil, etc…are we ready to endure whatever brand of football Emery wants us to play?
Raising the right sort of questions.
And Santi.
That’s the way it is, is it? Yeah? Well, you can fuck off, pal! You can FUCK RIGHT OFF! *kicks bathroom door in*
Not working for Emery. Bate Borisov in Pre-Season at the minute and we cant even score. I don’t care that he’s had limited funds. He can’t integrate our best player, he didn’t fight to keep Ramsey, plays players in the wrong position several positions in fact and changes his formation way too often. Had enough of him, he’ll turn us into the Sevilla or Valencia of Spain with his style.
I think the issue is that he seems to associate us with that level of team. Just look at the loan of Suarez. I know he’s not had much time, but he looks like a nothing player.
When Klopp went to Liverpool he didn’t act like they were also-rans who should be happy with a top 4 spot, and nor should he have. That’s the way the manager needs to act at Arsenal.
At 24, Özil came and after 11′ in Sunderland he gave his first assist.
I’m not ready to blame the manager yet. He’s been left an absolute shambles but his decisions certainly isn’t helping.
We are a joke of a football club from top to bottom with absolutely no direction while the nomads go from strength to strength.
Worst performance of the season by a mile. When you cant even take a corner you know you have problems.
Not sure where the fuck we go from here as a club. Champions league would just be an embarrassment on the pitch and an opportunity for the American to further line his pockets.
Champions League would be embarrassing and that’s the even including the higher tier teams
*not*
Wow! How bang average are we? We are a really poor team with no tactical plan. Emery has been in the job for almost a season and I cannot see what he is trying to do. Some of our players are very poor, I’m sorry but maitland niles is terrible, he is not up to the standard, when we get to the final third we don’t know what to do. We really could have done with an Ozil or Ramsey tonight. We can say Ozil doesn’t put in a shift but I don’t see that from anyone else. It’s very… Read more »
At the beginning of the season I didn’t expect Emery to achieve top 4, I knew it would take time. Having said that, what we have seen so far indicates what Emery is about, slow regressive and timid football with absolutely no improvement whatsoever on our defence. There’s also the player mismanagement. Someone explain to me how Emery will take us forward, because I seriously think we messed this one up, in hindsight, Arteta would have been a better appointment.
Goddamn you Gazidis.
What an exciting UEFA Cup tie!
I will support any manager that emphasizes playing attractive football. I think it’s becoming clear that the “I would prefer to win 5-4 over 1-0” promise made to us by Emery was false, and I can’t support this boring, lethargic style of football where the only incentive is to win. I know others won’t agree with me, but I prefer beautiful football over victory… It’s why I started supporting arsenal in the early 2000’s as a wee lad. Playing like we did against Huddersfield and today, with the amount of talent in our squad (who are shite defensively but fantastic… Read more »
Yes, this please.
Losing while playing attractive attacking football > Ugly wins
Certainly attractive football, win or lose, is better than ugly losses. Does winning ugly at Huddersfield make up for losing ugly at BATE?
Fire three at the back into the fucking sun
For people who say that we aren’t doing well because of our squad lacking “world class” players, I say quit your bullshit. No team in the world is made up entirely of so called world class players. You have 3 or 4, the rest are just good enough. It’s up to the coach to organize them in a way that extracts the most out of them. Emery has completely failed at Arsenal in this regard. Yes, we’re doing slightly better than last season in terms of total points earned, but last season was our worst in more than 20 years!!… Read more »
Totally spot on. Our attack – Auba, Laca, Ozil and Miki – should be a more than strong enough group of players to build around. A decent manager makes sure the rest of the team, whatever skill level they are, can put a shift in to let them play to their strengths and offset their weaknesses. I keep hearing “our squad is shit what is he supposed to do”. It’s not that bad a group of players. Granted we don’t have a team of world beaters, but if BATE’s manager can get that discipline and focus out of his group… Read more »
I’m not getting on emery’s back he’s not been there long enough to that yet but if an arsenal Wenger team had gave us that performance people would be foaming at the mouth!!! The football is fucking awful, there’s no flair , fuck knows what the deal is with Ramsey and ozil at least one of them needs to play! Surely we can improve on xhaka Iwobi Mkhitaryan? There’s not a decent centre half at the club! Suarez is no luis that’s for sure!! Defensively we are worse than last year. Who ever the manager is he’s not going to… Read more »
Played the entire 90 minutes like it was a given we will win by 5 at the Emirates (definitely not me saying we will)
Ozil should have started comments coming in 3….2….1.
Without jumping to conclusion. Or calling Emery clueless. Bate played just like a relegation fighting team in league and we have lost those kind of games in Wenger era as well.
Tonight we needed width. Problem isn’t ozil its lack of natural wingers in current side. Mikhi doesn’t have pace or skill to beat anyone and iwobi we all know has long way to go.
Plus 0/10 for today’s pitch.
He should have started
Agree
? All we had was width. That’s literally the only thing we brought to the match.
We had no link-up through the middle front of the midfield / attack. Nobody in the hole.
Guendouzi > Iwobi > Kolasinac overlap > back to Iwobi > back to Guendouzi
Lather, rinse, repeat.
If that’s the case we don’t have natural wingers. Which is true and I agree. Emery and company knew this. If his whole thing this season was to use wingers than he should have gotten them in the summer and transferred one of the strikers out to fund that along with Ramsey and possible ozil.
You can’t use that as an excuse when he knew what players were here to begin with.
I don’t care who the coach started, subbed on, or left at home. Those were Premier League players against BATE Borisov. They should have ripped them limb from limb with no coach on the sideline. The players need to be responsible for motivating themselves and getting results against opposition as lowly as tonight’s.
Premier League overrated much?
It’s a group of players that dominated a Sp*rs team who just spanked the Bundesliga leaders. They are capable of more that what they’ve been showing.
Regardless, I have confidence we will put this all to bed in a week with a 3-0 win at home. COYG.
If a few players play shit, then you blame the players. If every single one of them plays shit, you blame the manager. Like you said, they should be better than this, even without a coach. Logical conclusion then is that Emery is dragging them back with a negative and creatively impotent mentality.
Arsenal FC have been scammed. Unai “No philosophy, no game plan” Emery is a complete fraud. This is really bad. We have 2 of the best strikers in football and yet next to no chances are being created for them to score. Our games are now very boring to watch.
Who would you expect to create more goal scoring chances for Aubameyang between Guendozi/Suarez/Ramsey and Özil? This joke of a manager would rather ostracise Özil for the sake of his inflated ego!! It must be the hair gel that clouds thinking ?
EMERY OUT. That’s the worst Arsenal team in the last 20 years. No one could have a defence splitting pass. Guendouyzi will be good but isn’t yet, Iwobi is Iwobi. we have a bloody World cup winner who is being humiliated. Get rid of this awful manger.
Good football from our side. we win ugly we lose ugly.
Very disappointing. But then it is only to be expected from the tactically negative, creativity-hating Unai Emery. Emery’s way is disrespectful to our tradition of positive attacking play and he – and his supporters – should be thoroughly ashamed of it.
The problem is not even today’s game. You can count all our good games this season on one hand and you might still have a finger or two left. We don’t even look convincing against teams in the bottom half of the league. Both Huddersfield field games were appalling (we were saved by a Torreira genius in the first leg and conceded 19 shots against them last weekend) and we pummelled a much better Huddersfield side last season. So much for “tactics” and protagonist football, Unai Emery And this has nothing to do with Ozil. He’s just way out of… Read more »
100% This. Great post. My monkey brains is too undeveloped to write this good. Thank you well put argument.
Yep can’t find anything possitive. Just going forward there was no flare nothing special Ramsey wilshire and Ozil all gone/going just leaves a massive hole in that position.. what a shit storm we have on our hands
Made even worse by ‘Spurs’ marching on & upwards. People are saying give Emery at least 2 years. Sarri will be on his way soon even if they win a trophy this season. Worrying was the interview with ‘Ornstein’ last week, which he stated that Emery prefers older players. Please no more 29/30 + year olds with no sell on value ie Banega, Perisic, Nzonzi. Board should tell him that.
I for one would be highly excited by the prospect of 10 Nzonzis running out for the team. Almost as excited as Emery would be….
Wilshere… give us a break, please…
Name one player on that field tonight who ran into space and latched onto finishes inside the box Alex? Not saying he was great but simple point in making is we are not playing with that type of player
Please I love wilshere but he is what he is. Am often injured player that can’t stay healthy long enough to make a true impact.
He hasn’t don’t anything at west ham
Your still missing my point I am talking about the type of player we are missing in our starting 11 if you read my original post. I am not relating to a player’s health or consistency to perform at a top level.. So “please” shut up..
That’s the point you need to be healthy to play and show what you have. When Wilshere was healthy in his last season he wasn’t special he had moments but most of the time he was just another player who had no position.