Freddie Ljungberg says he’ll keep plugging away as he looks to get Arsenal back on track after Brighton became the latest side to take points at the Emirates.
Adam Webster’s strike nine minutes before half time was a just reward for the visitors’ early dominance against a Gunners side fraught with nerves.
While we fought back in the second half through Alex Lacazette’s headed equaliser, prospects of a first home win since October were killed off when Neal Maupay beat David Luiz in the box with 10 minutes remaining.
No wins in nine consecutive games represents our worst run of form since 1977. We’re 10th in the table, four points off relegation and ten adrift of the Champions League places. We’ve also conceded 253 shots on goal this season, 15 more than champions Manchester City allowed against them all last season. (Stats via @Orbinho)
It. Is. A. Grim. State. Of. Affairs.
Afterwards, Ljungberg reflected: “If you score the first goal you don’t have to chase the game, you don’t have to open up as much because you can control the game so that’s something that, in my opinion, we need to change that a little bit.
“We won the balls but you’re right, when they ran at us it often ends with a shot on target. We’ve had one training session but we’ll keep on working.
He added: “It’s never easy when you sack a manager and you’re low on confidence.
“We started really well at Norwich. We started the second half really well and I was sure we were going to win the game and get going again.
“We get a sucker punch on a counter or as they play down one side. It’s hard to take but we keep plugging away.”
The fact that the club sacked Emery without a clear plan about what to do next, doesn’t bode particularly well. It’s almost like they were completely blind to the problems under the Spaniard until the ‘noise’ grew too much for them to ignore.
Since a week ago, a huge number of names have been touted to take the head coach role on a permanent basis, including Ljungberg’s. He says he’ll do whatever the club asks of him.
“It’s up to the club and what they want to do,” he said.
“There’s nothing I can get involved with I said I love this football club and I’ll help them with whatever they need help with and it’s up to them to make a decision.”
Get Rafa Benitez.. The King of Bad Times
I love freddy. I’m sure we all do. But Rafa ticks a lot of the boxes we desperately need ticking right now. Surely?
Freddie needs to do a couple of things off the pitch. No player should come to training in a luxury car. They will all come to training in used Honda Civic. I can seĺl mine to one of them.
So basically, you are selling a car?
I’d work out a trade if I were you.
How many miles/kilometers. Good engine on a Civic, as good as most unmodded sedan engines for that size.
Make them all the same level else they will never be a team?
Someone once said that “it is a sick society when the rich can only enjoy being rich when others are poor”.
Agreed. We need him in a battle against going down and he is a man with great experience in that. Another elit candidates are for the teams competing at the top, therefore no need to waste talent in the bottom half.
We don’t have the players to do what everyone wants Rafa Benitez to do — which is batten down the hatches, play 8 in holding/defensive positions, and see out matches by the narrowest of margins. We need 14 new players for that. This team is a mess at the moment, a combination of all-out attackers and not-so-good holding/defensive ones, a combination of the old regime and the new, because we haven’t any ingrained sense of how we want to play football. Emery had no discernible identity to stamp on the team for the past year, and we won’t just go… Read more »
Too right. I disagree we need 14 new players but we are certainly short in capability in key areas unaddressed by Sanlehi last summer. We went for wow factor in Pepe but paying out 72m has a down side with risk of making a player less hungry. We could have spent way less on Ziyech or Fekir (kept Iwobi one more season for experience) and put good money into an immediate Cback in Soyoncu instead of Saliba. Central midfield also a problem as Cebellos (himself temporary) not entirely the Santi Carzola many prefer to imagine him. For that matter, Torreira… Read more »
I like this post. It’s closer to the thing I expect to see from our knowledgeable fan base. It’s easy to have knee jerk reactions but they don’t actually help the situation at all.
Yup. We need to look for similarities when we hire. Rafa has the experience of working with a shit owner. He’ll do well.
Funny that you think notorious cheapskates kse would bring in rafa, who reportedly would cost 20m to get out of his contract in China…
Tone deaf KSE. I guess Wenger made their job so easy in the past decade they never learned how to manage a proper football club. Let’s hope Freddy and all the real Arsenal guys in the staff can get the club through this crisis. Edu – I hope you’re one of us!
Mate this is how they run all of their franchises, by literally not running them. The only one they’re trying to do something with are the Rams, but even they’re still fucking pants, sure they made the Super Bowl last season, but that was down to the structure of the draft picks, not because of anything the Kroenkes have done. All the teams in their portfolio are all absolutely dire. And since they’ve been involved at Arsenal they are running us into the ground. One of our friends works at the Colorado Rapids, and he basically said told us that… Read more »
I think everyone is missing the point that the reason the Kroenke’s were selected in the first place is precisely because they didn’t interfere with the club. Wenger was in full control and Arsenal didn’t want owners who were present and proactive because that would undermine him. They should step up now he’s gone, but that is not and never has been how they work.
We selected the Kroenkes?! Lol…Sit down my son, we have some things to talk about in regards to capitalism.
Where did i say that? They were chosen by the ex Arsenal board as they didn’t interfere with the football side of the club. Son
Here:
“I think everyone is missing the point that THE REASON THE KROENKE’S WERE SELECTED in the first place is precisely because they didn’t interfere with the club.”
I think you are wrong, Nketibag said that they were chosen, which they were by the old board. They didn’t have to sell to them but they did because they CHOSE to. They would have known all about KSE and what they bring to the table. The rot set in a long time ago my friend.
Once again i think your missing the point of how these things work. They sold to them because the Kroenkes offered them a lot of money…I’m sure sentiment played very little part in it at all, but sure they told fans it was all about that to make themselves look and feel better. But seriously you going to buy that rubbish that the board “chose” the Kroenkes like they were some destiny’s child? Money talks…
@Dave M You’re exactly right. Its now become completely clear thats exactly what the Emirates project was. It had nothing to do with making us as big as Man United or more competitive. Which is what we were led to believe at the time. Pain and simply, they wanted to build Arsenal a new stadium so they could drive the shareprice up, to then fucking sell us. Which they did. David Dein absolutely fucked us. He bought 16% stake in the club for £292,000 in 1983. And hes made fucking shit loads off of that investment. They all have. Hillwood,… Read more »
@Nketibag They didnt select the Kroenkes. There wasnt some sort of selection process where they got to choose betwen various candidates, eventually opting to go with KSE. Dein pretty much just tipped up to Arsenal one day with Kroenke, and was trying facilitate a sale. The board pretty much were like, who the fuck is that guy? Then it came to light that basically Dein previously knew Kroenke, as he brokered the deal that saw Stan buy ITV’s 9.9% stake in Arsenal, which they didnt know about either. So the Arsenal board rightly felt that Dein had well over stepped… Read more »
Correct.
Dein was obviously an influential part of our success in the Wenger years, but I’m always amazed he’s viewed as a kind of saviour rather than the man who set in motion the chain of events that has us where we are today.
The rams only got the draft picks you’ve mentioned because stan threw a fit in St Louis and traded away his players after the city refused to buy his private business a new home.
What I am wondering is… what did josh say to the players when emery was sacked? Did he even need to be there at training? I think probably not, and what he did/said was more harm than good.
I completely agree, but how do we get these vampires out of our club. Its almost impossible as long as they are turning a profit. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FANS
I think the players are taking the lead on this one—when they get AFC into a relegation battle, KSE will have to care a bit more.
then don’t give a fuck about them if a partner did that to you im sure you would fuck them off if you had tried to support them and if they just took the piss fuck em off regardless of the hit to your pocket it will be theirs that suffers in the long run as some fans are doing now by showing the love to the club and voting with their feet and they are season ticket holder full respect to them from me for standing up for theirselves and us
I’m glad a few of us have seen the light for a while. Kroenke had been a disaster for AFC.
The comparison is pretty simple. Sports in the United States is a fixed proposition. Vast amounts of money come in via TV rights, the owners have fixed salary caps, and there is no risk of being relegated to a lower league. What does that lead to? For the most part, good organizations stay near the top, average ones may rise to the top occasionally, and poor ones usual stay at the bottom. Last up not least, Americans love sports and seem to be willing to spend money going to games to watch mediocre on field product without giving a toss.… Read more »
then empty the stadium and stop buying the merch talk is cheap like them
It hurts man. But remember, it was often said about Wenger leaving, “It could get worse before it gets better”… Only way I see this club coning out of this is a really clever/lucky managerial appointment or KSE seliing the fuck up. I do not think either will happen quickly. Buckle up.
It’s fine.. need to keep trying.. Liverpool wandered around the mid table from 2010-2016 before they became what they are today..
I used to give my flatmate (Liverpool fan) so much shit for Liverpool being that average mid table team for all those years, and now…now we’re them! He gloats, I deserve it.
And to think. We probably could’ve had Klopp if we were a bit more proactive in spotting the start of our decline.
Many fans at the time didn’t want him. It was “Klopp the Flop” and all that. As far as flops go, he’s done alright since then.
Freddie was the only sensible short term answer but unless/until there is a long term solution (which is desperately needed – and quickly) which addresses failings at executive and boardroom level then the footballing side of things is always going to be unpredictable at best and a slow train wreck at worst.
Freddie is just too close to the current squad. He needs to make a career somewhere else first – stepping up from assistant at the same club (one that is a current train wreck) is not the right option – he’s too close to the situation and simply has to hold sympathies for the players. We need someone fresh to not have these pre-determined relationships.His selection smacks of this. Anyone who thinks xhaka should be playing has zero idea about modern football. His limitations (slow, inability to travel with the ball, terrible against counters) make us completely unable to control… Read more »
A lot of right points, but not all
Mooy is totally one-paced, and was possibly the least athletic player on the pitch yesterday. But what I think he has over our midfield is composure and the capacity to work in tight situations. The collective absence of those qualities has hurt us since Cazorla got injured like four years ago. We miss midfielders who can read the game and anticipate, both defensively and in attack. That’s a long-term problem. When Ljungberg came in he said he wasn’t going to rock the boat too much. It would be silly if the personnel isn’t there anyway. He probably has a long-term… Read more »
You won’t get an argument from me about Mooy not being the most athletic player in the world. But neither was cesc fabregas, neither was Pirlo, neither was Xavi, neither was Arteta (even Santi – although he had some impressive acceleration). Not everyone has to be, but if they are not they need to make up for it with tight ball control, vision, ability to deal with the press and defensive positioning and tackling. Mooy has all those things. Xhaka has one or two (vision when he has space and positioning is generally pretty good). But he also sticks to… Read more »
I think Mooy is good enough that everyone at Brighton and Australia can defer to him, and he can be the main playmaker. Maybe it’s a bit like, say, Joe Allen at Swansea. But the step up to a big club may mean he won’t be able to play with the same authority. Obviously I don’t know for sure. What gets me is that there was this archetypal Arsenal midfielder – think Hleb, Rosicky, Cesc, Nasri – that everyone assumed we had too many of. And then about seven years ago we stopped recruiting them. Arteta and Cazorla were the… Read more »
Ljungberg needs to sink this boat never mind rocking it. This team needs an absolute overhaul. Blogs said he thinks we should get Benitez in, I would have never of said that before but now that I think about it, his brand is crisis and we are definitely that.
Remember that tgisnis bot Freddie’s mess, this is purely and 100% Unai Emery’s and blame needs to lie in his shoulders, not a bit on Freddie’s. So after being in charge for 1 week its impossible for him to make massive changes or improve players or team play, but unlike that confusing lot Unai he speaks clear, honest and proper stuff about our current state and where to improve. I thought to emulate what unai would have said after yesterdays game, but even thought of that was too painfull. We need to give Freddie some time and accept the fact… Read more »
Play a front three of Auba, Laca, Pepe with Ozil in the number 10 position behind them. something that surprisingly the fans haven’t seen at all. For one reason or the other we haven’t played players in their best positions. Only Auba gets defended for being out of position. looking at minute 74, Auba pretends to be falling back to cover defensively, then stops, then realises there’s danger then tries getting back. A minute later he does the very same thing only that this time the danger is more severe. You could actually see a furious Luiz point towards the… Read more »
Mate, it’s obvious, if you want the type of player with the natural grit to defend as a unit, you could pick carefully out of this lazy bunch (i’ve had enough of the circus clowns of Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, and the slow granny Xhaka). Martinelli (press hard and track back), Ceballos if fit and maybe Laca, but you could only choose 1 with Auba still I think deserved the lone CF position (so Laca will be dropped to the bench), then if freddie can change the mentality of this bunch, why didn’t he try the brenda’s similar formation of 4-1-4-1,… Read more »
100%
.Only difference I’d make is Ceballos for Willock (unless we know we’re going to keep him). But I’m ok with Ceballos too. (If Ceballos stays) they are both a huge part of our future!
Give the reigns to the kids. The experienced guys are the source of this rubbish and yet they keep getting trotted out there. I’m sure they are all nice likeable guys, but FFS this isn’t about being nice! That is an has been Arsenal’s problem for the last decade…too nice!
Proud Arse, I totally agree with your formation (and I rarely agree with anyone’s formation). These are, I think, our best eleven players at the moment, and, if all fit, should be starting.
The defense has been a problem for several years. But now the midfield is in a state of implotion too. Four players on top won’t help.
Auba is a bloody striker!! I mean come on. Every man and his dog can see his best position and here you are saying to keep him out wide because that is “our best attackers in positions they excel in”…
Give the keys to the kids. The adults have failed again. Reminds me of the global problems we face. The adults have failed, so why the fuk do we keep persisting with old white men in charge. Time for the kids to give it a go, it really can’t get much worse.
bit racist you twat
I would sayin Auba’s defence it seems he had diaorreah and I can’t think of a worse scenario than having diaorreah in the middle of a match in front of 60,000 fans. Imagine if he turned his shorts brown.
rest of the team did
We never got it? That’s what we got yesterday after Pepe was subbed on. And a front 3 of Auba Laca Pepe with Ozil behind is somewhat abysmal, in case you missed how our 2nd half transpired. No balance whatsoever. And Ozil is reverting to form again, offering absolutely nothing in attack and neither in defense.
I really feel relegation is a possibility this season. After West Ham away, which we could lose, we have 3 games against City, Chelsea and United. Then I think we’re away at Bournemouth and Everton, who will have a better manager in by then. We’re 5 points off 18th place. Even if we manage to win one of those 6 games and the teams around the bottom pick up wins here and there, we’ll slide down the table. By then Auba and Laca will probably have made the decision to quit. Sorry for the doom and gloom, but this is… Read more »
Well if Freddie and Mert were allowed to play on the field, they would defend and organised better midfield than this shower of shy.
We need to get the king of short term solutions and defensive stability Rafa in ASAP. Regardless of if we keep Fred or no I think we need to score more goals yes but also need to get back to basics . Laca – Auba – Ozil is not working nor wont for the predicament we are in . We need a LW to work their bullox off, Saka is an exciting option and maybe needs a run of games but I think Nelson might actually be more inline with what we need just now . Nelson on front of… Read more »
“Shower of shy”
I love how this is -presumably- a mistake for shit, but still describes our shambles of a team.
Im so worried about relegation that I will happily accept if we bring Rafa benitez at the club. At least he knows a bit about what to do to avoid relegation
No manager will be able to change this around those players mental state is shot to pieces!
After the summer business I said it was only the start, it would take 2 or 3 windows (min) to sort the player roster and build a defence/midfield even capable of withstanding bottom table teams (which we now are….). Socratis was wrong a year ago. Luiz was never the answer. Meanwhile Maitland-Niles, Willock – now even Guendouzi – have been sacrificed too soon in their nascent playing careers. KSE budget constraints are now seen to be the problem they always were. Forget top 4, avoid relegation, try for Europa wins but expect more player churn for a couple of seasons… Read more »
I liked Arsene and Unai. Freddie is also very likeable. But this might be too big for him. During the Brighton match, the television cameras frequently zoomed in on Freddie and BFG on the bench, looking absolute clueless. As the audience, they hardly belived what they saw.
I think this calls for an older coach with tons of experience, confidence and a proven record: Carlo Ancelotti.
Ancellotti ruined Napoli
Our problems began with Wenger signing too many unknown and unproven players. Signing weak meek and feeble players the likes of Ozil and mustafi .Too many wasted transfer windows not solving our most urgent matters letting player contracts run down loosing our best players till the whole squad has become a liability. Giving blind faith to fringe players Rosiscky diaby Wilshere stayed for too long. The list goes on and on and on. The problem continued in the Emery era not knowing our main problems ,loosing mislintat, Loosing all our creative players in the summer bar Ozil and only replacing… Read more »
I attended WestHam-Sheffield United some weeks ago. When WestHam had the ball, United played a very traditional defense – four defenders with four midfielders in front, both fours in straight lines with little space between. Like Milan 1990. But it is very effective. If United had had at least one decent attacker, they would have won by several goals. Switch to Arsenal-Brighton. We were organized like a chicken flock. The central defenders were approximately where they should, but the midfield that should protect them were all over the place. As for now, “keine experimente”. One has to return to something… Read more »
Blogs, please stop going on about some magical formation being the solution. Over the past 10 years, we have either gone bargain basement or specifically recruited players with one attribute. They can spray the ball about a bit. Ozil, Zhaka, Mustafi, Luis can put in a decent pass but offer nothing else. Some of our kids might end up ok in 3 or 4 years time.
Major investment in big tough athletes has been seen as beneath us. It will take 5 years of recruitment to fix.
Surely Freddie knows the players and their best positions? Team is so unbalanced. Why doesn’t he tell Torreira just to seat in front of the back four. We are making teams look like Barcelona. Proper coach in now
When you surrender the first goal and fans boo you off the pitch at the half….sitting back in defense at Arsenal with our players will lose you the managers job in 3.5 matches. That is why you do not tell Torreira to just sit back
went to the match yesterday, the first after many months, having decided I did not want to watch that kind of football. But I thought this was the time to give them a chance again and show support. I have to say we are much better than under previous manager in the attacking part fo our game and almost always dangerous when we get there. the point is that we do not manage to control the game at all, so the chances to be in the attacking section are not enough. to get Ozil at full speed we need to… Read more »
The key question is rapidly becoming “What is Stan’s get rid point?”.
It will take the managerial appointment of a lifetime to prevent what looks like an unarrestable slide further into mediocrity for years.
I dont think this lot have that type of move in their locker.
So, how much shitter will we have to become before Stan moves on?
Start burning the effigies mate, Kroenke doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks about him until the pitchforks are out.
Freddie has to be brave now with the centre back pairing and going forward he has to drop Laca for Auba (alternate between the two maybe depending on the opposition). We are in desperate need of tricky wingers so Pepe has to start. Ozil, as much as people now want him out, is our most creative player. I’d also play Martinelli or/and Saka. I would keep Freddie in charge until at least Standard Liege because I still think our worst performances came under Emery. Tactics aside, the earlier lack of identity and the owners not acting earlier has sapped all… Read more »
Like most Arsenal fans I absolutely love Freddie. He was a great player and a very likeable personality around the club. But it already looks like he’s the wrong man for the deep crisis that we’re in right now. The club needs to move very quickly and bring in a caretaker manager who can stop the rot and stabilise the team. We are in free-fall and are heading for a relegation battle. An experienced boss is what’s required immediately, along with a serious injection of cash to allow us to bolster our tragically awful defence. But don’t expect anything dramatic… Read more »
There is too much risk going with a Premier League unproven right now, the wrong appointment now could spell disaster.
Do we really want to appoint Arteta, Viera or another manager that has never managed an EPL game at this dire stage?
That would be madness.
If they don’t go with Benitez or Ancelotti then they’re fucking clueless.
They’ve established long ago they are fucking clueless so it’s best to bet on the most ridiculous and ineffective outcome.
The most talented manager in the Premier League was at the Grove Thursday: Graham Potter.
Anyone has suggestions on line up, playing style? Pls reply and post.
The idea of a head of football controlling the transfers and focusing on academy is to be able to play a certain style. A football identity. Like farca and their tiki taka style. So any manager who comes in must play tiki taka.
So raul is in charge of transfers. What has he bought to indicate the style of play for us?
this is pretty outlandish stuff, but at this stage it’s got to be worth a try – maybe our defenders could try to close down opposition players when they’re about to cross the ball?
Our ‘defenders’ would reply, “What is this ‘closing down’ you speak of?”
Have some faith in Freddie!
Gonna get the win v West Ham
I am more than happy for Freddie to continue but feel he is working with his hands tied. Because players he can be out in next weeks or end of season, I dont think they are putting in much effort for him. Also his approach also depends on how long he knows he is going to do the job. E.g. if he was appointed as the permanent head coach, he could start by working on the defense and then look at the attacking side. But as it stands now he is looking to deliver wins which puts the emphasis to… Read more »
Did you really think these frauds wouldn’t let down a legend like Freddie? Give Freddie a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. These idiots need a massive kick up the arse. Not fit to wear the shirt. We need a massive George Graham style clear out. And a hard as fuck disciplinarian manager to find out the few that should be allowed to stay. Ancelotti would do for me. Stop bigging up these crap players at our club (not all gooners, but some go on as though Xhaka or Ozil are world beaters). They’re shit. And if you allow this… Read more »
Play chambers and holding as defenders
Toriera not to cross the half way mark
Only one wing back goes to other half at any given time
Don’t just go for the easy passes , sometimes give it the other way
Ozil should not run back..and should not be given ball in tight situations.Make sure you get a team yellow every game.
Try different types of corners..ins outs and back to the play near the box
Try Luiz in holding role
May be we will do better
Chambers and Holding are even worse than Sokratis and Luiz. What we are missing is organisation.
Play the u23 side next match instead. At least they give a shit… or hell, play the ladies (likely unable to because different league) because they are thrashing other sides.
Freddy needs time to get it right but that is now a luxury he does not have, look at our next 6 premiership fixtures, away to West Ham, Bournemouth and Everton and home to Man City Chelsea and united. On current form how many points realistically would you expect from that lot? We are in big trouble and could well find ourselves in a relegation scrap come January. The board need to act decisively now, that is in no way meant as any disrespect to Freddy but this job is to big for him at this point in his coaching… Read more »
I realistically expect 1 or perhaps 2 points from those 6 matches….Please explain why I should expect more
Is Tierney injured? If not, why is Kolasinac playing in his spot?
I did not see any Tierney master class when he came on. In fact we leaked a goal and our left was very open.
I thought Kolasinac was very good on the day and competitive.
You actually watching the game?
Did we ever stop to consider that a big part of the reason our manager was fired without a plan in place to replace him….that is because it is the fans and not ownership making the decision on when and how to fire him? If you want a functional ownership ( they both deserve to be questioned while also manage many other sports franchises ) stop trying to make their decisions and timelines for them.
Worst excuse I’ve ever seen for Kroenke shitshow. Congratulations.
Dunk, their captain quoted “ we knew if we got on top of them their own fans would turn on them “. Potential managers, other teams, our manager, our players. They all know too many Arsenal fans are fair weather fans.
One of the poorest supporters in the league. So easily to bait them into crisis (see media) No Wenger still a problem. No Unai still a problem. No Flamini still no midfield. No Mustafi still leaking in defense. No Granit we were still poor. They love to scapegoat and frankly contribute to a lousy and tetchy atmosphere. I don’t think many key players care to fight for us at the moment. These sort of things cut both ways, idiots on AFTV demanding to be respected well you also have to respect and support your own players. Be careful what you… Read more »
Take a deep breath, replacing or not replacing the manager at this point in the season, with new managers all knowing our fans will turn on them at a moments notice….this will take time. Our locker room is blowing up, the team/players struggling. Might get worse before better. We need to behave like true fans and adults, not spoiled kids angry because we don’t always get what we want.
Absolutely right. Fans need to get a grip. We live in the real world. More than likely this will get worse before it gets better. We do not want to rush into appointing managers willy nilly and firing them 6 months down. It will cost us even more in terms of restructuring undoing further mistakes and we will bleed key players (we are already commited to 20m each window on the unproductive Pepe and the unavailable Saliba) Freddy has to do his best for now but the gut feeling at the moment is he is in deep waters when only… Read more »
Not his fault. Freddy is trying his best for us but he has yet to accumulate the experience necessary and frankly does not look like he has grasped what needs to be done. 1) Midfield. This should not be confused with our midfielders not doing their job rather they do not seem to know what they are suppose to be doing. Midfield has been a continued problem for some time. Unai had issue (partially bc of personnel) with either going for venture and risking leaks or erring on caution and curtailing the attack. Add to that how to accommodate Ozil… Read more »
…good to see a lot of Santori length comments.;)
Lady something sold her shares to the yanks and a few years later come out and said she’d made a bad decision & wished she’d sold them to the Russians.
The other thing is there will be now plenty of people trying to blame the board. Frankly they have been culpable of not prosecuting a better summer for Unai. BUT blame can be attributed to board, manager, players , fans even. Its ot one over arching issue but many that have niggled away at this club. At present, its hard (indeed a bit shallow) to say the board should have been more prepared before firing Emery. Of course they would have preferred that Unai could turn things around. BUT timing is always an issue and they have less control of… Read more »
There was some great optimism after this Summer’s business when we got the left back we needed to replace Monreal, signed a center back for the future, had Holding and Bellerin coming back from long term injury, broke our transfer record buying Pepe, signed Ceballos on loan, had a number of promising young players promoted (and bought), etc.. However, there now are so many holes in this roster that it is really scary when thinking about how long it will take to get the ship righted. Unfortunately the biggest holes are in some of the most important areas of the… Read more »
I feel really sorry for Fred, talk about being chucked in the deep end and I bet the board put plenty of pressure on him to accept the position. Most managers would struggle to motivate and improve the team at the moment let alone someone who has never managed a 1st team before.
This is embarrassing. There is something extremely rotten in the squad. No bounce back and no effort from many.
“If you score the first goal you don’t have to chase the game” Thats been our downfall leading up to the current state of affairs. Every time we sat back and defended 1 goal, we ended up giving one away. You chase the game(sensibly) til you have scored 3 goals or even more. If you need to sit back, the team is unfit and has no hunger. It seems the whole game philosophy is wrong since a long time. One has to control the game by making it difficult for the opposition to play. It does not matter who they… Read more »
Controversial but I would go for this swap given age differential, desire of Jovic, fact that he is very well suited for Premiership and eorks his guts out:-
https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/06/arsenal-real-madrid-luka-jovic-swap-pierre-emerick-aubameyang-11339554/
I think Auba will be sold(to recoup Pepe money)Nketia recalled, dead wood released and the youth becomes the new Arsenal. This will take a lot of patience from fans though. I just cant see Arsenal paying millions for a coach when the squad needs replenishing. At least that is if Arsenal are not ready to step up as they lately promised fans But if they are serious, then the wait for the top coach and his assistant will be worth it, but where is the money for players going to come from? Are we going to use the youth? Will… Read more »