Unai Emery says Arsenal must focus on Thursday’s game with Valencia after they squandered their chances of finishing in the Premier League’s top four by surrendering a half time lead to draw 1-1 with Brighton at the Emirates.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted from the spot inside 10 minutes to put the Gunners ahead but we were made to pay for our profligacy in front of goal when Anthony Taylor awarded the visitors a penalty, converted by Glenn Murray, on the hour mark.
Chances came and went in the closing stages as we desperately tried to bag a winner but it wasn’t to be on a bitterly disappointing evening that further highlights the damage of recent defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester.
“We knew it was going to be difficult, but at 1-0 we needed to get the second goal,” Emery told the BBC.
“We tried in the first half. Also, they had some situations where they could score. In the 90 minutes we controlled the match and after the first goal we tried to get the second.
“After their goal, we created more chances to score but they defended very well, they are an organised team and very strong defensively and they showed us that today.”
He added: “We tried to win, we tried also today to do a complete match. There was still time after their goal to come back and we created chances but we can say also that they defended very well and they didn’t concede in the last situations, in the box and their goalkeeper saved a lot of shots also.
“They worked well defensively and didn’t give us chances to win the match.”
Arsenal’s hopes of playing Champions League football now rest on us coming through Thursday’s semi-final with Valencia and then a potential showdown with Chelsea in Baku.
“We knew it is going to be difficult but our focus is now the Europa League,” said Emery.
“We have the opportunity in the Europa League to do something important and we will try and do that.”
In his post-match press conference, the Spaniard further hammered home the importance of regrouping ahead of the trip to his former club. “I think we need to be strong and be together for next Thursday,” he said, “it will be a big challenge for us in another competition in which we can do something important. We are going to try to do something.
“We are very, very disappointed. We spoke [before] the game to finish about our ambition and motivation to finish here with a victory and also to take our chances [to try] and finish fourth. But really, today, Brighton worked very well defensively. They deserved this point [because of their work]. But also I think we tired and [missed] chances to score the second.”
I don’t know where to begin. Xhaka’s horrendously silly jab or bringing on a left back when needing a goal.
Kolasinac is not someone you bring in if it is a left back you need.
If anyone thinks the Europa League 2nd leg is a given, is horribly mistaken.. There is no way we can rock up to Valencia and expect to get anything other then pissed on, if we play like we have been playing as of late. The one feature of this truly terrible Arsenal side that drives me fucking crazy is our lack of character. That’s what has really fucked me off more than anything today. How the fuck are we not taking this race for the top 4 to the final day of the season, when all we had to do… Read more »
Well said
dunno what game you’ve been watching mate, but Arsenal had plenty of chances to score, and the second half was so much one way traffic towards Brighton’s goal that I was sure they will. Their keeper made some sublime saves though (as did ours btw), and the rest of the chances (Auba’s header towards the end springs to mind) were fluffed, which is problematic in itself. It’s a terribly frustrating result, but just making shit up about how bad Arsenal was doesn’t help anyone. Arsenal played clearly better than they did the last couple games before that, against a side… Read more »
just checked again: 20 shots, 8 of them on goal. those aren’t stats of a team that played badly in attack. and that’s not counting said goal scoring chances that didn’t result in a shot at all.
anyway, whoever thought a fixture against a team in relegation battle was gonna be easy, was a fool to begin with.
They weren’t battling relegation; they were safe. We were battling our own version of relegation (from the top four), and we relegated ourselves again. We had some good chances to score, and they didn’t come off, but Emery didn’t help us in the end by bringing on Kolasinac when we needed end product. I fully expected to see 2 defenders and 8 attackers on the pitch after they scored, as our top four hopes depended on another goal. Alas.
Who would you have brought on to provide end product?
I certainly would not have taken Mkhi off, despite his errant pass, as he had a decent pop or two at goal earlier in the game and might have hit a lucky third. Nketiah in the final 10 minutes for a centreback — had to go for it, and we didn’t. We drew against Brighton, at home … simply unacceptable.
But of all the players we had on the bench Kolasinac had the most assists, whilst Nketiah has never scored a league goal for us. Emery hardly had a wealth of talent to call upon.
I stand corrected on the relegation part, didnt realize Cardiff had lost the day earlier already.
Good to see you agree with the rest of my comment though. We had plenty chances to score.
Frankly I don’t have the slightest optimism ahead of the new season. We don’t seem to have an identity.
Yes we do, pass the ball to a wingback, and watch them put in a poor cross.
Ed Balls
I’m not being funny, Shane Duffy would seriously improve that Arsenal team.
[Even] I would seriously improve tthis team.
That’s how bad it is.
It’s actually not funny in any way whatsoever. If Mustafi is worth £35m then we’d have to break the world record to sign Duffy, surely.
I think he would as well.
Nothing funny about it at all he’s highly regarded
The results and abysmal lack of player effort from the last 5 prem games have ruined what was a fairly good 1st season for Emery. We have a chance of winning the not-champs league final, which is a silver lining. But I fear, even if we did make the CL, we have little chance of getting past the group stages unless a massive overhaul of the squad takes place.
We need that CL qualif for our squad rebuild, I have faith in emery’s eye for players fitting his game style, with CL secures he will get entry to the transfer market vip department
Suarez? I have no faith at all in Emery identifying players.
Suarez was indeed an epic fail. Does inspire any confidence in me either. The one guy who did seem to have an eye for talent seems to have been run out of the club by threatened egos.
* does NOT – obviously. It’s been a long day already.
I don’t understand why all the hate for Suarez, no one’s seen him play for Arsenal so we can’t really judge him. The fact he’s been signed twice by Barcelona must indicate he has considerable talent. In terms of bad business it really doesn’t rank in the top 10 over the last couple of years, £17m for Peres anyone, the botched contracts renewals of Sanchez, Ramsey, Ozil, the list goes on and on. I think we can give Emery a pass on a short term loaning signing considering the 10 years of poor business dealings his predecessors got away with… Read more »
Well what players do you get without money to spend? Suarez was free!
Tielemans for one. Tell me you’d rather have Guendouzi or Elneny than him in midfield.
That’s why Europa League is essential. The money PLUS the attraction to bigger players. Only kids and retirement players will go to a team that’s been out of the competition so long. One year maybe, two is dodgy, but three years and you’re no longer a regular. This surely has to be the big business motivation behind summer investment. Objectively speaking the simple fact of being a global brand demands more success to expand rather than contract. Kroenke will have to wake up to that fact this summer. Kids in China won’t be buying jerseys for a 5th place team… Read more »
You are deluded if you think there is going to be a rebuild. Its never going to happen in a million years. There will be no rebuild. We will just get told the same old shite. ‘We dont have any money to spend.’ And we will sign absolutely fuck all. All of the absolute shit cunts that have been shite for us this season, and the seasons before, will all still be at the club next year. We need to ship out so many players from our current squad, and then pump in the best part of £100 – 150M… Read more »
Then lets promote these promising youth players.
Why do we have them if theyre not given a chance?
We have these overpriced/over paid players not performing week in, week out.
Through in one of these young guys. They wont stop working their a$$es off all day and i guarantee you, their enthusiasm will be infectious.
*Throw
My rage isnt allowing me to type properly
As much as I like the idea of having a load of youth prospects good enough to come up to the first team, I think it is fairly unrealistic. Sadly there is more to Premier League football then just running around and effort — otherwise players like Mark Noble would have won the league title at least 20 times by now. There still has to be a requisite level or standard of quality that needs to be met before we start handing out first team shirts. The gulf between the youth set up’s and senior first team football is absolutely… Read more »
Nzonzi, Banega….
7 green thumbs for sharing some optimism after a miserable Sunday, not to bad
I know it may sound silly and premature as the season is not over yet but i cant help feeling tired-tired of the uninspiring football we play, tired of majority of these once good today not good enough players and sadly tired of Unai. Even last year there was some light in the tunnel with new manager coming, Sven etc, today i cant see any for short, mid and long term.
Ribéry announced he’s leaving Bayern; is he worth a 1 year punt? Money’s tight and he’s available for free. I also suspect we’ll be back in for either Perisic or Nkunku, as they were Emery targets, not Mislintat’s. Banega too wouldn’t surprise. Defenders? Bellerin, Holding, Chambers back next season, Mavranponos too but he’s less convincing, will add a freshness to our defence without spending any money, so I reckon Emery may only sign one new defender, left sided, to replace Monreal who may be going as he doesn’t appear to have been offered a new contract which expires next month.… Read more »
Raul, is that you? Dusted off your Fifa 14 rolodex and came up with a 36 year old Ribery, eh?
Maybe you can tempt Kaka to come out of retirement while your at it too? ?
Ribery?????? HE IS 36 YEARS OLD AND PAST IT! Jesus Christ, I don’t think it’s possible to have a more clueless transfer suggestion than that
Going to be a few rough years ahead. This team is painfully out of sorts.
Arsenal must focus on finding his replacement. Any half decent manager will do. #EmeryOut
Nonsense!
Sorry mate 100% disagree on change of manager. Looks like a knee jerk reaction. In this difficult time we must stay strong as one family
I don’t know if Emery is the right man for Arsenal. Recent results have certainly cast doubt on that. But if you think that by simply replacing our coach right now that’s going to bring some sort of radical improvement I’m afraid you might be disappointed. A lot of our players are simply not good enough and the real issue has always been and continues to be lack of serious investment in the squad.
This issue is not a lack of investment but bad investment, as well as selling of players.
We could get a darn site more this summer if we’d got £65-70m for Ramsey and Welbeck last summer, or £90-100m-odd for Ozil and Sanchez the previous summer, let alone Wilshere and Cech in the summer just gone.
By which I mean Cech in the summer just gone and Wilshere the previous one.
it was clear the players crossed fingers 60-70% Effort Would be enough, we didn’t tire, we just didn’t go for the kill in 1st half like we should have, which gave Brighton a sense of meaning they probably didn’t have after going 1-0 down. While the players on the pitch need to take a deep look in the mirror, my rationale conclusion is thatWe are short in quality to compete in both EL and CL, we don’t have match winners enough to rotate in both competitions. But given we where out of fa and lc early…. there is more to… Read more »
Lol, I see hmy reference to invincibles was a bit to far fetched for most. I accept that, especially after yesterday, but Against spurs, Liverpool & Chelsea at home I have seen an optimism, belief and leathalness I have not seen since glory days.
Whilst we all feel disappointed now, we knew in our hearts that this team was dodgy.
So disappointing today. I literally punched the screen during that insipid last 10 minutes.
I have always felt suspicious of Xhaka’s weak defending and speed-in my opinion, I hope we have seen the last of him.
The days of Wright and and Adams have disappeared, the days of Henry and Bergkamp are a distant memory…what’s next?
Then we get our Arrrrsenal back, obviously !
Emery out wenger in. At least we had a style system and way of play last year
We are just shit under emery can piss off he thinks ramsey is not worth a contract
Were you in a coma the last 3 years of Wenger’s reign? It’s been years since we’ve played wiith any style or system
Nothing
Can’t see us prevailing over Valencia at their shop, given our current form. What worries me more than the dismal end to this season is that I don’t have any idea what Emery – and the club as a whole – are trying to create. More than ever before the team is a collection of individuals with no cohesion, no backbone, and no clear direction. At least under Wenger, for better or for worse, Arsenal had an identity. Now it just seems like a clueless, skinflint American’s plaything.
I dunno. We seems to be set up as a cup team these last few years. I don’t know what contributes to that, but results would seem to suggest it.
Light foot on gas
Talented team that is fragile, prone to mistakes, and inconsistent = cup team
Don’t be like the rest of the league’s fans. Give a manager a chance. He hasn’t been able to affect change yet in the squad. We’re not being realistic if we expected a top 4 finish this year. The manager’s first year in this league, with players he didn’t select, having to deal with the Ozil fiasco, the Ramsey fiasco, the lack of center backs/wingers, Welbeck/Kos/Ramsey/Holding/Bellerin injuries, given nothing to help in January. A lot was going against him and I think the only thing he had going for him was the forwards (who lost all their backup options to… Read more »
Agree. I honestly think people expect too much of Emery. Do they think Guardiola would somehow transform Mustafi and Xhaka into players with brains? Would Klopp somehow turn back the clock on our aging defence? Our players are average at best, and in several positions I think teams like Watford and Palace and Leicester have higher quality.
For perspective. 2014/15 Liverpool finished 6th. 2015/16 Klopp took over but was working with players that weren’t his. He finished 8th (behind Southampton and West Ham). He also lost the Europa final to Emery’s Sevilla 3-1. That day his team was: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Toure, Moreno, Milner, Can, Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho, Sturridge. Subs: Ward, Skrtel, Henderson, Lucas, Allen, Benteke, Origi Since then he’s gutted that squad. Only three are left as (sometimes) starters. Finished 4th next year (1 point ahead of us). 4th again and now 1st or 2nd. Loan: Clyne Benched: Mignolet, Lovren, Moreno, Sturridge, Origi, Lallana Out: Toure,… Read more »
I would use the same argument and say instead of looking at Klopp’s 1st season at Liverpool, look at Conte’s 1st season at Chelsea. They finished 10th and he wont the league with them the next season. The Klopp comparison Arsenal fans keep trotting out might work if Emery has money to spend, a clear playing style (in his 1st season other than cut backs from Iwobi & Kola) haven’t seen anything resembling a style) and buying players better than what we have (Suarez doesn’t give me the confidence). We must not forget this is the same manager who failed… Read more »
What a load of rubbish, the season before Chelsea finished 10th they were champions and basically went on strike that season. Conte took on a side full of players whom had not only won the league but also the champions league and UEFA cup only a couple season before.
There’s absolutely no comparison between this Arsenal team and the Chelsea team Conte managed.
Conte established a system with a group of player who had not played that system before, and he took it the title. They were losing game after game before he went to a back three — if you forget, we were spark the lit their title run. Managers don’t get to change the team front to back; they have to work with what they have, and Emery did a good job at the beginning of the season (perhaps the players still playing their own way?) and a really poor job at the end. Let’s not forget about Nuno at Wolves… Read more »
“Managers don’t get to change the team front to back; they have to work with what they have” Absolutely, and Conte had league, champions league and UEFA cup winners to pick from, Emery hasn’t. Nunes has built his own squad at great cost and is 7th. Ranieri performed the biggest miracle in the history of English football! Spurs have traded well over several years, buying and selling. Ajax have a culture going back decades of producing top youth talent and their league has suspended there fixtures to give them the best possible opportunity to progress. Not one of those examples… Read more »
You’re going to give Emery a free pass because you still bear a considerable hatred for AW. Fair enough. I expect any manager to take over a team accustomed to the top four to do just that — achieve the top four. He didn’t do that, and that’s grounds for criticism. When AW was manager, it was his fault and not the players; same applies to Emery. He has to do better. Conte took a team in 10th and won the league. Ranieri took a relegation threatened team and won the title. Pochettino has turned some seriously average footballers into… Read more »
I really loved Arsene and really wished he could have achieved his dream with Arsenal, which is getting UCL. However, in latter years, it became clear his ideas and his methods could no longer inspire our players and even famous wengerball was no more. So with Emery, I hoped to see whether the issue was with players or with a manager. I remember seeing an article before Arsene resigned, of players complaining that they don’t know what to do, they don’t get any instructions. Well, now Arsene is gone, they still keep doing the same stuff, they did that got… Read more »
Spuds with Bale very already fairly annoying, I remember we started losing NLDs long before Poch came. Leicester and Ranieri was quite a special set of circumstances, Nuno, as funny as it may sound, probably have more competitive and better balanced squad and finishing 7th. Emery is struggling really badly at the moment, but let’s not pretend that many managers would do better with this squad and with this budget.
That year emery beat Klopp in final, his team didn’t win a single game away from home. I remember sitting over Highbury in 2004 and my friend said “we are being spoilt” he was absolutely right though my own expectations of the team they the Arsenal will always be more than a cup team. Emery will get sacked maybe end of next season fingers crossed ?. Until then I guess we have to suffer his glaring inadequacy.
Sure that is all nice and factual. Way off the mark though.
To be clear, Emery isn’t Klopp. Only Klopp is Klopp.
Just giving any manager time does not mean he will be successful.
Ignoring all the other managers who have crashed and burned in top jobs because they have been out of their depth, and the time wasted on them by those clubs, is an emotional and irrational decision that I hope (but sadly don’t believe) our board is above.
Oh and that being said, more important than changing a manager, would be changing the entire fucking power structure above him.
Even if I don’t think Emery is the best choice for the position, he is far from the worst. The people running this shit show at the top, and our owners, they are waaaaaay from the best choice. Unfortunately they aren’t chosen, the manager is, so he gets that scrutiny that they deserve more.
Never tried to say Emery was Klopp. But Klopp was given time – which nobody here has given Emery. He might well flop over time but I don’t know if you can judge him fairly right now. Haven been given no time or resources yet. Our squad flopped at the end of the season because there’s not enough quality in the squad to get us through a full season. Hasn’t been for years.
No, man. Emery gave Xhaka a new contract at the beginning, saying something to the effect of him being a cornerstone or important or something. Bad judgement when Emery’s superpower is supposedly in making players better. That’s what scares me.
Probably the most sensible comment I have seen in the past few articles. I totally agree with the sentiment that Emery needs time to build up a team and a footballing identity. I also have faith that with the correct setup and backing, he can certainly achieve some trophies. However, what concerns me of late is the constant mishaps behind the scenes. This includes the departure of Sven, lack of a strong recruitment team and the mismanagements of contracts. It would take a god to be able to pull off top 4 in the circumstances he has had. I think… Read more »
The people around him have failed but does that really explain our recent run of form? Does it explain why we can beat Utd and Chelsea at home but then only get one point against Palace and Brighton when it really mattered? Yes the players aren’t good enough, and yes we’ve badly missed Ramsey, but Emery needs to look at himself as well. How we set up, our approach in these games. The pursuit of Dennis Suarez. It’s on him. As for the owner spending money, what you’re saying would be easier to swallow if he wasn’t pissing cash up… Read more »
Beating Utd and Chelsea then getting a point from Palace and Brighton is an improvement from last season and the answer is in your own post, the players aren’t good enough. There’s only so much juice that can be squeezed out. Our complete dependence on Lacazette and Aubameyang to score goals make us predictable and is presumably why we pursued Suarez so intensely, the fact he’s been injured has been bad luck but i think Emery deserves some leeway on a short term loan signing. Letting go of Ramsey and Welbeck is on balance good business, to resign them would… Read more »
I think beating Utd, Spuds and Chelsea is a proof that one of the main issues with this team is their lack of concentration and motivation. We managed to stay our ground against top6 teams this season, mostly thanks to not losing too many 50-50 challenges. I feel like many of these players are not going into games against Wolves, Crystal Palace, Brighton with the same kind of mentality and concentration as against top teams. How else can you explain the fact that Xhaka or Mustafi tend to do less of stupid mistakes against top teams…
Beating Chelsea and United and getting 1 point from Palace and Brighton = 7 points
Last season, beating Palace and Brighton, losing to Man U and drawing to Chelsea = 7 points
Exactly, which is exactly why we have to get better players!
Not an improvement, though, as per your previous comment.
Last season we finished with 63 points and we already have 67 this with a match to go, so it’s an improvement. We have seen a marked improvement in how we play and results against other top 6 teams and in big matches in general. Thats been achieved by playing with a far greater intensity against those teams but the cost of that is it can’t be maintained over a 50-60 game season with the squad we have. We need better players and that takes time. Any manager who got the job after Wenger, whomever that may be, deserved at… Read more »
I agree that Emery deserves more time, but I can’t completely absolve him of blame. There’s very little consistency in how we set up, especially recently, and it’s very hard to follow his logic. Mhkytarian and Torreira as box-to-box CMs? Sure. Kolasinic as a left winger? Why not. Xhaka at CB? Who cares! He’s been dealt a bad hand, but that’s no excuse to play it badly. Nowhere was that more obvious than that baffling team he put out against Palace. Imagine if we had won that game, he’d be under way less pressure now. He did that one to… Read more »
There’s little consistency with how we set up because we just don’t have the squad to play high intensity football consistently, it’s not very difficult to understand. Emery has set up that way against the bigger sides and hoped we had the quality to beat the lesser sides whilst conserving our energy, clearly we don’t have that quality. AS for individual matches, I don’t think the team against Palace was baffling, I don’t know what options he had. We don’t know the physical condition of the players or how fatigued they were. What I do know is that Mhkytaryan or… Read more »
Mediocre. This guy has no clue about where he is, he sets up at home against terrible teams with no desire to attack and control the match
You can see it in his comments and his actions on the sidelines
Get rid and you might save a couple of more years of nothingness.
Why can’t we learn how to defend and counter attack
This might sound strange, but I hope we don’t spend big in summer. Emery was given a 2 year deal + the option for a third, and right from the start it looked to me that he was a safe option to undergo the transition and clearing of the deadwood (Starting this summer with Cech, Welbeck and co.) and try to create a balanced, if limited, squad on a budget while waiting for a proper manager to become available and take us to the next level. I’m probably wrong, but I hope not!
Difficult not to be down hearted but I predicted a win today and for us to get hammered away in Spain and Burnley due to our fuckwits in defence. Hopefully I will be wrong on all 3 matches. I am on holiday in Costa Rica at the moment and have brought a couple of Arsenal shirts to wear around the pool but I am too fucking embarrassed to put them on.1 point from 12 when you are chasing a CL place.
Dear Mr Emery,
Please bench/donate Mustaphi to someone else to give us a fighting chance,
Regards
Terry
Why are you wearing a shirt around the pool?
I still have faith in emry judging by most of the first half of the season performances and results but if he can’t be backed with several quality signings we are hopeless for next season. And from what we hearing that seems to be the case. In fact I think emry has even punched above his weight In having this team compete for top 4 places with this lot of players. Except the two strikers you could argue none of our players get in the teams of the rest of the top six.
I think Arsenal will better off without cl soccer. They wont be able to win it for the next five years unless the US owner is willing to spend at least a few hundred gbp.
Its just to enrich him.
When Guardiola was available why did nt Arsenal go for him?The perennial winner
would ask for at least 500 gbp which he got at MC.
The days when you can win the epl on the cheap are gone forever.
Imho,Arsenalwill soon be another London on the same level with Watford.
Ajax are doing OK, without all this 500 gdp stuff!
I think its gambling all on Europa now.
We have had ample opportunities presented by even our most bitter rivals to make 3rd spot but we have squandered it away.
The damage inflicted over last 3 matches Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester. Today represented a slim opportunity but we made it difficult psychologically because of the failures over previous games.
Return leg against Valencia now holds monumental importance.
I feel sorry for the manager, when I see the Xhaka error. But then he puts 3 useless subs on, kill all the momentum of the team, and I feel his goose is cooked.
There is no evidence of improvement, but more concerning is the lack of any style. Like Jose, focus is more on the game in front of you than creating something long lasting.
The problem with Emery’s passing game is its easy to suffocate the gunners.
Why?The speed of the attack compared to BHA is painfully slow.
Most teams know they can beat Arsenal and Wenger by letting them have endless possession and passing to eternity.
A sudden hit and run will find the gunners 1 down. Soon it will be 2 .
We need more Iwobi style guys. Run at the defenders so they will have no time to mass.
We have to wait and see.
Love the picture. I’ve only noticed after the last week of misery that Emery answers the first question with “good afternoon/evening…” before delivering what seems to be a preplanned speech that rarely answers the question posed
Well we’d better fucking well win the Europa League otherwise this season is a failure. So disappointed with the performances over the last few weeks. We’ve had so many opportunities with the fixtures we’ve had and just pissed it all away.
I think it is safe to say we have missed Holding, Bellerin and Wellbeck!! We would have got third with those three in the squad!!! We also look much better when Kos the boss plays but he is coming to the end of his career!!! We need to purchase a top quality centre back, keep Kos for one more season and I would keep Chambers (don’t sell or loan him out). In midfield we need to purchase a quality centre mid and winger, as well as utilising the quality youth players we have!! In the meantime we have to hope… Read more »
Sad finish to the season. 4 points out of a possible 18 against teams lower than us. The steady decline in the quality of the squad over the past decade – who is at fault for this? For a club that alledgedly doesn’t have much to spend how did we spend almost 70 mill on Xhaka and Mustafi (our 4th and 5th most expensive signings ever!). The club is lacking both on and off the pitch. Let’s see what happens in terms of player signings over the summer – there’s too much to fix in one transfer window but hopefully… Read more »
If you look at many of Wenger’s years over the last decade we would have horrendous results against the other top 6 teams, but usually took care of those in spots 7-20 to get enough points to stay in the top 4. We would play “attractive” football against the mid to bottom half of the table and usually get 3 points and when we didn’t would still dominate them on the stats and usually give up a dumb goal or run into a hot goal when we didn’t win. That style of play didn’t often work against the top six… Read more »
Completely off topic but I have read somewhere that we have received 6 yellows this season for simulation. That’s 2 more than our neighbours from the slums.
I think we lost one against Chelsea(3-2).
That loss really stung. I have rose tinted glasses when it comes to Xhaka, I liked that he bought a bit of toughness to the team and there is talent there fuck me but someone needs to go to Oz and get that man a brain. Xhaka, Mustafi, and to a lesser extent Iwobi need a brain, Ozil and Mhikitarian need courage, the whole team needs heart. We need to pray Chelsea don’t get through, zero chance we don’t bottle that… assuming we find our balls before landing in Valencia. If it wasnt for the money a season out of… Read more »
“we tried to win”… I’m glad he said that, because watching the last bunch of games I have been working under the assumption that we have been trying to fuck up as comedically as possible, so I’m glad he cleared that up.
On another note, I almost died at the “good ebening darkness my old friend”. Top, top quality Andrew ?
Xhaka out!
Mustafi and Xhaka the new chuckle brothers! These pair of clowns cost more than the ENTIRE Leicester team! Oh where oh where did it all go so very wrong?
Well yeah, Bournemouth hammered them 5-0 at home only 5 games/22 days before. Is this the team we are now?
Anyone else feel like things are going to get worse with Arsenal before they get better? I see no silver lining: a)a calculating owner who, by all accounts, is distant and seems to lack passion for the club b)an upper management in some disarray — with no technical director in a context where the higher-ups seem more keen on protecting their own power than focused on a common goal c)a manager who, due to some combination of his ability and more egregiously, resources made available to him, seems to be out of ideas d)a squad unable to translate passion for… Read more »
I remain unconvinced that Emery is going to be the manager to propel us to the top. It feels to me like the club had an opportunity to be bold and dynamic with their choice of new head coach – and depending on what you read, there’s strong suggestion that Gazidis was overruled on Arteta, thus leading to his own departure. I’m not going to suggest we’d have finished higher with Arteta at the helm. But I do believe that we would have a signature to the way we play and and an identified style – you don’t train under… Read more »
hard to know where to begin, what began after 2 defeats then a run of undefeats we started to believe we had ‘our Arsenal back’ our performances not only lately but in some if not most away from home has been pitiful, no need to remind all in certain games how painful to watch this has been. its not helpful to dig out players who have cost us or are not the right quality now. we are 2 games away from having a ‘good’ season, let’s get behind them. .