Two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Arsenal in a comfortable position, taking a 2-0 lead into the half-time break.
We don’t know what Unai Emery said at the break, but we’re guessing it was something like ‘Good eebening, now go out and shit the bed’.
That second half was as bad as anything we’ve ever seen, and in the end we were lucky to escape with a point.
Read the report and see the goals here.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Ratings
The ratings are now hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, give the ratings a few seconds to load.
I genuinely believe you could give Emery the Liverpool or City squad and he wouldn’t win the league. This is the same man who failed to win the league with PSG in 16/17 (which is laughable in itself in Ligue 1) and needed Neymar and Mbappe in 2017 to bully Monaco to the title. He still failed in the CL too which is a whole different topic anyway (as Emery is firmly a Europa League level manager) Scandalous appointment, absolutely ridiculous. Gazidis and the other cunts who appointed Emery have blood on their hands, I’m sure Emery being a free… Read more »
I take it you are a professional hitter of nail heads
Cheers buddy!
I’ve long been an Emery critic on this site. Anyone who looks at post-match reports etc would know that
I knew he wasn’t the right man because if you follow his career, the same mistakes always repeat themselves.
In the league, Sevilla were mediocre at best under him
PSG were bang average under him.
Defensively all his teams always look lost.
Etc, etc
I wish he would have proved me wrong, but right from when we announced him I’ve always been underwhelmed.
I had hoped that last season was him settling in and sorting out his players. But the repetition of the same errors time and again is painful. Why can’t a highly paid professional coach see what everyone else can during matches?
Agreed wholeheartedly. The attack we have would score two goals against this poor Watford side under any manager, but it’s been a year and a half and we still can’t defend, and his insistence on this ridiculous kind of “playing from the back” is simply inexcusable. It doesn’t work with the players I have and it’s way too risky anyways. Removing our two creative players was a sht move. Selling Monreal and not sending Kolasinac home another sht move. I have no problem with Emery but he’s Europa League quality and we need better.
Unfortunately we are Europa league quality.
But we don’t want to be and it really doesn’t look like he has the ability to take us forward.
Agree. Neither Emery nor these players, other than the front 3, have the ability to take us forward, especially when it’s hot outside. I can hardly wait for Emery to tell us in dec that he took ceballos off because it was raining.
We have player to be Champions League quality, but we need the right coach to get us going.
Arsenal are once again the gift that keeps on giving for new opposing managers. Playing Arsenal next week? Get someone in, you’re guaranteed a result every single time.
You can’t play from behind in the English league even Barcelona which very many ball players has failed to do it against them.
also, let this be the last time we buy a defender from chelsea. never works
DAvid Luiz is so horrible more then 5 mistakes these last games
To be fair, there wasn’t really any tier one managers available at the time – Barcelona replaced their manager the same summer and the best they could get was Valverde who was similarly underwhelming. I think he was, and always has been, a pragmatic choice who was willing to work within the budget and had an outside chance of winning us the Europa, hence the short contract.
I remember I was hoping for Conte. Not sure he would want to work on a budget though
I remember when Pep looked the perfect fit but we stayed with Arsene just that bit too long, probably as he was under contract.
Hi there. I guess you can say we couldn’t have done better but some of the things are incorrect. Valverde became Barcelona’s manager a year before last. Tuchel was not announced for PSG by the time Wenger came out with his decision. Conte was available but probably wouldn’t take any jobs for some kinda payment related issues with Chelsea. Saari was available. We probably could have tried harder for Nagalsmen. Maybe getting creative for someone like Marco Rose, who would be linked with every big team starting the end of the season till he actually gets one. But we went… Read more »
What’s in the gunnerthesaurus under “paragraphs”?
This goes way back to April. Despite heavy investment, Emery has just 3 wins in the last 11 League games. 13 points out of 33. Champions League? You’re having a laugh.
Yeah that’s two home wins vs Burnley and a scrappy 0-1 at Newcastle.. impressive. What’s the opposite of protagonist? Asking for a friend.
Cup final and a shocking end to the season? There’s an eerie similarity with Watford here.. and one club has pulled the trigger.
1- Improve the existing players
2- make us more competitive
These were the 2 targets Emery pointed to when asked about his plans. Apparently, he won the board over by laying out his plans to do just that. Now how much of that be has achieved is there for everyone to see. I personally think Wenger was much better..
Nah mate. Just because Emery is a dud doesn’t mean Wenger shouldn’t have left.
It was time for Wenger to go, and the management team royally fucked up his replacement. Simple.
We need to correct it soon because failure this season could lead to catastrophic events further down the line with this squad (which is very talented and needs the right coach)
Wenger, stubborn as he was about change, had a philosophy and you could see that in his team’s no matter the situation or talent at his disposal. His team’s had an identity. We’ve lost that with Emery and on top of that, we now concede way more with him. Wenger, for all his faults still knew how to marginally improve players, I shudder to think what would happen to our Emerging talents under Emery. He has no idea on how to coach.
I didn’t mean we should get Wenger back, hell no. But it wasn’t as bad under as it is gettind under Emery..
You have a short memory. Check how many away wins we got in Wenger’s last season.
I know, apparently losing a 2-0 half time lead and drawing is worse than losing a game we were 2-0 up in with 15 minutes to go or losing a 4-0 half time lead, both of which happened under Wenger plus numerous absolute hammerings!! What’s happening at the moment is the result of 10-15 years of Wenger holding back investment and lowering the standard of the team because he couldn’t find “value in the market” and this was going to happen to ANY manager who took over. This will take a long time to fix and the improvements are going… Read more »
So you’re trying to tell me that Emery isn’t to be blamed? Emery is the one who chooses to play the same mistakes players week in week out. Give Chambers a chance..no….Give Torrira some game time to improve…no. what should we expect then, improvements no….imagine having a tram looking good to make top 4 and then lost three games staright easily to sides that were beatable. That’s on the coach as well
Emery can be blamed for what he’s responsible for, the goals we’re conceding have been shocking and the first yesterday was rank amateurism, although not unique as Man City let in a goal almost identical and England scored one as well against Bulgaria, so we’re just one in a line of teams that have conceded this way. I actually have some sympathy for him though as we’ve yet to see what we’ll look like with a settled first 11, then we can see what vision he has for the team, if indeed he has one. My guess is he wants… Read more »
The only thing I would say… I think we played more entertaining football under wenger in his last 18months.
Today was the day I truly lost faith in Emery
Some of us said so when he was appointed! Good for some who were calling for Wenger’s head, hope you have now got what you prayed for. Emery would not even be considered for the Watford job!!
Wenger needing to go and Emery not being good enough are 2 completely separate points
Should we have taken arteta??
Biggest mistake arsenal made was stick with Arsene Wenger when Pep Guardiola was available before he went to city even Pep was a fan pf arsenal and keen on arsenal because of the work wenger did and how arsenal where the closest to barca in terms of style. But when he realized arsenal weren’t going to get rid of arsene Man city swooped. Big big mistake. Same type of mistakes we have been making in the transfer window missing out on once in a generation players for get the ronaldos and messis etc I remember when Van Dijk was at… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more… I remember when Pep made himself available thinking; YES!!!! He and Arsene respect each other, possibly even on a friendship level… it’s the perfect exit strategy for Arsene – the one younger manager around who has the same footballing philosopy. He would have left his legacy is the best possible hands.
But – whether it was hubris or just the famed Wenger bloody-mindedness – he just wouldn’t hand over sufficient control to make it feasible for Pep to come in. Would that he had…
Yep, Van Dijk went to Southampton and still looked good. Mustafi looked good but came to Arsenal.
Not saying I disagree, but technically Klopp hasn’t yet won the league with the Liverpool squad either!
I’m also not 100% sure how much better Pep or Klopp would do with the squad as it currently is? In the last two games you could argue we’d have had two wins if we didn’t give away two stupid penalties – whatever his failings are, Emery didn’t stick out a leg needlessly yesterday or dive recklessly in on Son…
Felt like Guendouzi getting the France call up went to his head a bit. Made some horrible errors and decisions today which is such a shame after his MoM performance a few weeks ago
Spot on but he’s still a young player and he’ll learn to reign it in. The question is will Emery be the guy to teach him?
It is to be expected…just a bad day at the office for him although, I feel he would have performed better in a better system under a different manager like all the other players too.
He was asleep at 1-2 and didn’t make himself playable to Sokratis (Sokratis could have played Maitland-Niles, however).
It seems that neither Guendouzi nor Torreira really understand the play out from behind-thing. They are not sufficiently good at making themselves playable. The player with the ball needs at least two team mates to pass to. If not, our play will be very predictable and easy to block.
cant defend, cant hold the ball, cant attack
He has proven to do all three of those things in games, very recent games at that. (ahem, NLD…)
nopes…he just gadded around where everyone else covered for him and got an assist….. AMN has 2 assists this season. Doozi has one PL assist and zero goals every since he started playing for Arsenal.
The individual errors are really easy to point to, but at some point you realize that it’s the system and coaching because whoever you put in will make the same moronic mistakes as the last guy.
It’s telling – we find player scapegoats… But it’s not the two defenders’ fault we got close to 30 chances against our door. No matter how good those defenders are, if your system exposes them that much, they will run out of breath and make a mistake eventually.
Why keep on banging on the play out the back door… is this some sort of handicap rule – they all now now, just gather all the players around the Arsenal penalty area, they will nevet kick it across. This must a part of your arsenal, a variation. Not *The Only Way*
All the desperate last ditch challenges are symptomatic of poor or unclear tactics that lead to chaotic situations. Can anyone even guess what our plan was today? Or any day? Against Liverpool? It’s glaringly obvious that Emery either can’t work out what to do or can’t get the players to execute it. Either way, after last season he can’t be allowed to continue for much longer.
Unai Emery’s video analysis prowess was supposed to be a strength, but it does seem it is becoming his greatest undoing. He is trying to change too many things at once. What is our defined style of play? What is our default formation? One week he is playing a diamond, the next it’s three at the back. I am beginning to believe he got lucky with those run of games at the beginning of his tenure. Now it seems the rest of the league have found him out. Have you noticed that teams aren’t afraid to press us. But won’t… Read more »
When I look back to that run of wins at the start of this tenure, an observation from Tim Stillman on the ArsenalVision pod way back during that period always stuck out for me. He mentioned how in those games, the turning point was never a tactical switch or an upward turn in our performance, but a piece of individual brilliance from one of our players. At that time he was referring to a Xhaka free kick away at Newcastle and a great Lacazette goal against Everton I think. What’s changed since? It’s still Auba and Lacazette saving Emery every… Read more »
I really believed in him. I’d thought we pulled a gem bringing him here. Looks like I was wrong.
He’s a great guy, but looks totally unfit for this job now.
Exactly. When Klopp signed for Liverpool, by the end of his first international break you could see the template he was trying to fit his team into. It’s been 18 months with Emery, and the only consistent tactic has been to give it to our technically deficient left back, then pray
I really hate seeing what Jurgen Klopp is doing at L’pool. He’d have been PERFECT for us.
Style? It’s tactics man, just tactics!
Klopp was given loads of cash to spend. If he came to arsenal we’d still be crap without spending. Is arsenal going to spend 80 million on a center back. I don’t see that happening.
I don’t see how anyone can complain about Arsenal’s spending.. at least in total amount spent..
I’d like arsenal to buy two world class center backs and a world class holding midfielder. I’d also like the club to have 3 world class wingers. We have one. And he prefers to play center forward. So, yes, I can complain about our spending because they’ve purchased Luiz, sokratis, torreria who isn’t physically strong enough to play as a holder and guendozi who with a quality manager can become a great player. Leno is ana average keeper. The only players on this team who would start for a top club are Auba, Laca and maybe ceballos. So I don’t… Read more »
We spent 140 million this past transfer window. Are you suggesting Arsenal doesn’t have money?
@laserwolf
We also sold some players too
Plus 100 of that was spent on a winger and LB we really didn’t need
I think it’s very fair to say that Klopp lucked out with his investments. Salah was a Chelsea bust who turned into the EPL’s best and VVD became the best CB in the world. All the various pieces fit perfectly and the young fullbacks developed beyond anyone’s dreams. So he has had some fortune with his buying. But maybe all of that is because his system is so good. I honestly dont know. Probably a mix of the two. I would expect us to be more conservative with our defensive flaws, but we dont seem to have midfielders equipped and… Read more »
Give Emery the same and he will still cock it up with befuddled tactics and rudderless philosophy. He is coward and the Premier league rewards only the brave.
Coward is a little bit strong. It’s true that he has no real plan and the game to game tactics he does employ are poorly thought out, but you cannot field that starting 11 if you’re a coward. He got it all wrong, but he’s no Pulis. At least he’s trying stuff, even if it’s the desperate fumbling incompetent managers get up to
That’s rubbish. That year Liverpool sold Coutinho for reported 140m. Which klopp spent on van dijk and Alison the following window. Klopp also had championship money. Started with abyssimal squad Brendan Rodgers left him with. If you had any sense you would dream of Klopp managing arsenal. There’s no chance now
Taking off Ceballos had me up yelling at the screen. What was he thinking?
Can we add a rating for the coach? 0 this week, of course.
0/10 for emery, tactically inept
Socrates is rubbish. What sad excuse of a defender.
we had 2 summers and 1 winter to buy decent defender, and what do we get?
some heads need to roll.
Also wouldn’t hurt to start scouting for a new manager.
I said this last season, if a geriatric Koscielny could come back in and look comfortably our best defender, virtually playing on one leg, shouldn’t that raise some major questions about Sokratis? Liam Brady said he’s no better than Mustafi, thought it was harsh at the time (he called it after the first few games last season) but it’s hard to argue against. As it is, our experienced CBs aren’t worth their weight in pig shit, and yet their still stopping Chambers from getting a look in. If your Chambers watching that game today you’ve got to be thinking if… Read more »
Very true about Chambers, he must have been scratching his head on the bench today.
I dunno. Yes Sokratis and Luiz were shit, but this Chambers stuff is a bit of the grass on the other side of the fence for me.
I want to see him put in a performance that clearly shows he’s on par or an improvement. Granted he hasn’t had many chances, but I haven’t seen it yet.
A cup tie might be a good time to run him out soon.
I’m afraid the evidence for thinking Chambers is some kind if Van Dyke type defensive rock is very flimsy.
Play Van Dijk and a Prime Nesta in this rudderless and vision less system by Emery and the results will still be the same. I actually think our defence has been marvelous to have limited Watford to just two goals from 31 frigging chances when we could only muster 7 in response. Do you think Watford’s defence is better than David Luiz and Sokratis? They concede 2 goals out of 7 attempts by us. Our problem is not our defence, it is how we are set up by Emery to play like cowards instead of being protagonists. Good evening.
That’s more to do with the quality of Aubameyang as a striker than anything. Give players of any real quality that many chances and you’re looking at a hockey score. If you are conceding that many chances then obviously there is a structural issue, no question. If out of those chances the goals you concede are from mistakes of that magnitude, then you’ve got piss poor defenders who are only compounding the problem. Being a professional footballer and blaming the tactics for litterally passing the ball straight to the wrong man is like being a boxer and blaming your coach… Read more »
But do we really know what that means? Obviously he doesnt instruct them to play like cowards…and weren’t we protagonists to fire in two quick goals? Or was that all Auba’s brilliance? From the off they were making wife open runs from the wings into the box in the acres of space between midfield and defense. Why is that area so exposed? Song was torching us in the derby from those positions too. Is it that we dont play defensive minded midfielders with the dedication and workrate to stay planted at the back and snuff out danger? Xhaka is not… Read more »
Welp ??♂️
Fucking hell!!! The substitutions were absolutely awful. It’s like you play a game in FM and you replay it because you were so embarrassed about your coaching. Sadly you can’t do it here…
For all the positive Ozil brings us on offense he really hurts us on defense, with Emery frequently making halftime changes I am surprised he let Ozil go 25 more minutes in the 2nd half when we had a 2-0 lead and it was his first action of the year on a hot day. He wasn’t the only one doing nothing in the second half, but he certainly was one of the big liabilities on defense. Ceballos being taken off first was idiotic, he was one of the midfielders actually being productive. Defensively we can’t get Holding in there soon… Read more »
Unfortunately, we learned Nelson is still at Bundesliga levels.
Nelson has talent but he looked very soft today, very intimidated. Willock had a good run, should have squared it, but was all over the shop positionally and kinda lost his head. Both are obv very young and will improve, but maybe it’s a little too much too soon, especially when they’re coming into a team that’s so easily bullied and deficient in leadership. It’s not like they can look at Xhaka, Sokratis or Luiz for guidance or stability…
You’ve just watched a team of fairly large players overrun a team with a smallish midfield, Nelson, Willock, Xhaka, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, all were easily knocked off the ball. Their passing was awful, similar problems with e.g. Wolves strength last season. This goes on season after season, it will only change when we get some stronger faster players, models are Vista, Diaby etc.
Vista should read Viera, predicted text problem!
Viera should read Vieira. don’t blame that on the phone as well!
I thought the giant, menacing form of Delofue pushing the much smaller Maitland-Niles off the ball was pretty impressive. Oh, wait.
We’ve conceded more chances than any other team in the top 5 leagues so far. Ozil has only played one game out of a total of 5. There is a systemic problem and blaming Ozil is not looking at the whole picture. If a team can not afford to carry one player defensively, there there is a bigger issue
It’s worse than not looking at the whole picture, it’s denial. Just like waiting for Holding, or blaming everything on Mustafi is denial. Defending involves structure and system. You build a system to take advantage of the talents of your players.
Ozil was actually decent today, he did his job which was to create chances. It’s time people stop expecting him to be Vieira, and acknowledge his limitations.
Compensating for those is the managers job of course, but Unai is happy for his team to repeatedly play suicidal football, and I certainly don’t expect any improvements while he is here. Why waste time, get rid and put freddie in charge. He can’t be any worse can he?
Speaking of Freddie, did you see his face after the whistle?
Glad I wasn’t in that locker room.
Please mate!!! Dont be so fucking biased!! We drew and concede the two goals have got nothing to do with Ozil being on the field or not!! The errors made by our CBs are unacceptable. They are the ones who deserve to be slaughtered. Not Ozil. What do you mean by “lounge arond on defense”?? He is a bloody attacking midfielder and a good one as well. He is not a defensive midfielder, or CBs!! Look at the second goal and judge him on that. He was relax a few seconds before the pass was played to him, but look… Read more »
Defense is the whole teams job…ozil peep and audo stood and watched the entire 2nd half.
I have no idea why this post has so many thumbs down.
You know, attack and defense are intertwined in football, they’re not separate entities. We have a slew of extraordinary attackers, and we should be playing to give them the ball as often as possible, as high up the pitch as possible. Watch our second goal. No Ozil, no goal.
If/when Emery gets sacked I won’t be surprised if some of the players come out and say stuff like “we didn’t really understand what he wanted from us and didn’t really know what we were supposed to be doing”. Surely there should be some discernible improvement to be seen by now?
Well i dont know what the hell hes talking about in press conferences so how do you expect the players to understand
I understand the anger at the manager. The substitutions were poor. The mental collapse is appalling. But how do you blame Emery for the stupidity of David Luiz and Sokratis? Both were brought in to be an experienced defensive force. Luiz’s rash challenges and bad decisions are absolutely Mustafi-like.
Can we not blame him cos he bought Luiz. I mean, he actually spent money on him. I know we are short at the minute CB wise, but surely theres better players we could have paid for
Monreal is a better center back than luiz and sokaratis
Emery did not buy anybody, he’s a head coach, not a manager. It’s not 2006 anymore.
In fairness I believe transfers are largely down to Raul & vinai. That being said, Emery has looked poor of late
It’s inevitable when your team is under that much pressure. It is on the spanish sean dyche. Not the defenders.
Asking players to do things that don’t play to their strengths does in fact make the players look bad, but I personally blame the coach. It’s like if you asked me to fly a plane, and I inevitably crash it, you can blame me “well you crashed the plane!?” but in reality it’s you, (the coach), that put me in the bad situation in the first place.
I actually do blame him for Sokratis’ mistake. We’ve been asking for that goal since the beginning of the game. Actually, since the beginning of the season.
Lay season*
Last* 🙂
Luiz being stupid is not Emery’s fault. It is his fault however that he insist in playing from the back in this ridiculous way. Sokratis’ pass was awful but he never should’ve got into that position in the first place. Emery’s match management is generally quite poor imo and I would be very happy to see his back finally.
Playing from the back is what a lot of teams do now. Complaining about it is like complaining about zonal marking or about a manager not using 4-4-2.
Sokratis fucked up, simple as that. He could have passed to Niles, he could have made the pass better, he could have gone long if there was no other option (I’m sure Emery doesn’t tell them to NEVER go long).
If you watch his reaction, he knows he’s fucked up.
No point in blaming the coach.
Putting all the blame on the coach is giving a free pass to players who have made terrible costly unforced mistakes. It lets them off too easily. If Emery persists in playing Luiz and Sokratis in the center of defense and along with Xhaka in the midfield then it will be on him. If he realizes that today was the last straw and that players who consistently hand goals to the other team have to be held accountable and pay for it by being sent to the bench to give other players a chance, then he can redeem himself. We’ll… Read more »
Emery chooses to play two centre backs who clearly are too similar stylistically. Emery chooses to drop Chambers after an excellent performance. Emery chooses to have us play it out the back when we clearly aren’t comfortable doing so against a high press. Emery takes the blame.
This is not in either of our Center Halves or any of the players. Our problem is systemic. Any approach in football that allows the opposition to barrage you with chances upon chances will eventually lead to goals. Fortune favour the brave. Emery should stop playing Arsenal like we are cowards who only cower behind our own lines in a battle. The best way to defend as always been to attack, not by letting your opponent barrage your goal with 31 shots or do you think Watford have better players than us? Perhaps they have better attack or midfield? Emery’s… Read more »
You blame him for ‘managing’ those players so poorly – because that is his job. His ONLY job… Sokratis is a heart one the sleeve, pretty solid, old-school CB. He is not a nimble footed play-it-from-the back defender. Yet Emery forces him to do just that – and to a midfield that makes no rapid movement to open gaps and assist him? Luiz is a visionary passer but error prone under pressure. We have two of the quickest ‘peel-off-and run’ players in the PL – yet he is not allowed to strike any long balls to those fleet-foots in the… Read more »
If Allegri is willing to join us, we should sign him up faster than…something very fast. We are going nowhere, something has to change pretty fast for Edu to be able to justify keeping Emery until the end of the season.
I’m as excited for his potential as the next person but we have to call a spade a spade, Pepe was shit today.
Allegri is just the same as Emery, a manager who managed a big club, but didnt reallly do anything extraordinary. We need a manager with identity.
Two champions league finals and countless scudetto are not good enough for you? I am not Allegri’s biggest fan either, but the reason is certainly not his lack of results… Also, I’d take him over Emery any day
Allegri “didn’t really do anything extraordinary” Really??
He has won SIX league titles including the last five in a row with Juve – fourbof them league and cup doubles – and got them to two Champions League finals with an innovative brand of attacking football.
The main obstacle to him becoming Arsenal manager is not that he’s not good enough for us – it’s that we’re not good enough to him.
I agree with you about the results but this may be the first time that I read “Allegri” and “innovative brand of attacking football” in the same sentence…
Allegri is a results-based manager, and absolutely not an innovative attacking one. His Juve team relied on organisation until they got schooled so hard by Ajax that he’s had to take the year off.
@charliegeorge “innovative brand of attacking football”??!! The exact lack of that is what got him fired…!! Sari hired to make them much more like Napoli under sari 2 years ago…
@Assshavin, ‘manager with identity’…NO Fat Sam please!!
I don’t know if I’m ready to go through the pain of seeing my fellow supporters ripped apart in rival camps about whether or not to sack the manager. Are we really here already? I love this club and I love the supporters. Sorry guys, I’m going to give Emery more time. This is a big project. Let’s get Bellerin, Tierney and Holding back. Maybe give Chambers a shot in Sokratis’ place. If that’s not working out after a few games, then I will join the chorus.
I give more time to Emery two. Five minutes to clean his office and leave North London.
Eddie Howe is a real coach … surely he could school our first-choice defence and bring some steel and presence in the midfield. Arteta the other candidate.
I remember the win over Spurs at home last season as the high point of Emery’s tenure. It’s gone downhill this season. No top four, no third year.
Emery: Play from the back. Casual fan: It’s not working. Emery: Play from the back. Casual fan: It’s really not working Emery: Play from the the back Casual fan: It’s really not working Emery: Play from the back. Casual fan: Ouch! [Expletive]. They just scored because we were playing from the back. Emery: Play from the back. Casual fan: Ouch! [Expletive]. They just scored because we were playing from the back. Emery: Play from the back. Casual fan: Emery out! I hate watching Arsenal play out from the back. Emery: 0/10 Casual fan: Who cares? We are The Arsenal. We… Read more »
Have not cooled off overnight. Emery is 0/10. Perhaps Arsenal does care. I probably won’t know it until we have a new manager.
Leno pulled us through this one. Auba did well to convert and Ceballos did well covering for Kolasinac and shouldn’t have been subbed. Nothing much to say for the rest. Maitland-Niles was having a tough game, and I would have tried Chambers in his place. Torreira much earlier for Guendouzi; then maybe Willock for Ozil late.
They were simply hungrier.
Delofeu was too quick and too skillful for Maitland-Niles; he created chance after chance for himself and for others. Do you honestly believe Chambers would have been better? Torreirra was badly out of position in the counter that led to the penalty. Maybe it would have happened anyway because, you know, Luiz, but it would have been nice to have some sort of obstacle to impede the drive into the penalty area.
As soon as I saw Guendouzi make that 2-1 gesture to Watford fans I knew we wouldn’t win.
That bonus rating is just terrible. I knew it was bad, but THIS bad? F*cking hell.
Thought he was really poor today…ran around doing nothing and made some big errors.
that’s what he does most games.
“That bonus rating is just terrible. I knew it was bad, but THIS bad? F*cking hell.”
Yeah, it’s an utter disgrace, it really is. And I’m not trying to be melodramatic. Surely it hints at the fact that no one knows what the fuck we’re supposed to be doing out there? Emery most of all.
When did Torreira become so lightweight and running around like a headless chicken without purpose..He looks shot and nothing like himself from the time he joined.
I feel like if Wenger signed a 5 foot 3 defensive midfielder we wouldn’t hear the fucking end of it from critics.
Unai the Butcher’s refusal to use him in his preferred position right in front of the back four for any extended period of time is the reason why.
Amn is not a defender yet we insists on giving him no cover no wonder he get exposed time after time, where is the coaching at this club as we clearly have no plan or tactics for different opposition. Watford were bottom and we should of taken them to the cleaners, emery for me is clearly not the right man for the club. I never understand one thing he says and he dodges all the questions aimed at him and his players!!!
I wonder if Chambers would do better at right back? Maybe give him a game on Thursday at right back in the Europa and see how he does.
Just think he needs to cover whoever plays there as delofoue or whatever hes called looked like Maradona today…he had 2 on him every time…
Nope! He’s far too slow.
He is clearly getting targeted by any team who have a player with basic dribbling ability on that wing… it’s been happening for a year now.
Where is the coaching?? I cant see the defence training at all, too many of the same mistakes time after time. If I can see it why cant a guy who’s PAID see it…emery is a clown
Of course you can’t see it. Our defensive trainings are Top Secret!!!
They certainly are Top Secret. It’s like deja ve all over again….,
So top secret even the players don’t get to see it!
What is AMN’s real position though, would you trust him in midfield, i know i wouldn’t. Wenger never trusted him in midfield even when we were down to bare bones. The mistakes AMN makes aren’t technical. He’s just too casual sometimes. Bellerin is coming back and AMN is laying the red carpet for him. Had a year to make the position his own.
Have to agree. Would love for AMN to have kicked on, but he hasn’t. He’s simply not first team material at this point.
Why do we lay off of people so much in our defensive half? We are getting killed with too many shots and crosses allowed not to mention dribbling by opponents in the box. Of course our desire to play out as we do on goal kicks (vs being smarter about how we play out) just hands them more opportunities over and over again.
Remember when everyone said Emery was a tactical genius because he made subs ar halftime. One can only wonder why he took off our best ball control midfielder and why he played that ball control midfielder on the wing and why we only have two wingers. Balance the books? We are not a accounting firm. Nelson and Wilick are not ready to be thrown on the pitch when trying to hold a lead on the road. The biggest question is why after so many years of crappy defenses we still don’t have two decent center backs or a decent holding… Read more »
Ps? They were 3 of our most consistent players last season.
Pps? Because Pukki is part of a functioning team with a clear plan.
Pukki has been in sensational form but it will die down soon. He’s also been with Norwich for over a season. Pepe has not.
*Ctrl + V*
That was appalling, thank God for Aubameyang
I think it says it all about xhaka that his rating is based upon the fact that he didn’t make any obvious mistakes today. One of our problems is that we make people like this our captain when he should be a squad player at the very most.
Xhaka 5.5? What game was Blogs watching ?
I saw the likes of Dacoure go past him in midfield as if he carrying a fridge on his back. Saw him give away simples passes and at the end couldn’t control a ball in the Watford box and watch moronously as the ball found touch.
Xhaka will not start for Newcastle! Worst Arsenal captain in our history.
All of those happened late in the game when all of our players where knackered… He got a 5.5 not a 7, come on…
He doesn’t deserves more than a 2 rating. And not to be anywhere near the starting eleven
6.5 for Ozil is even worse, the mug had one good pass to AMN to set up the second goal& absolutely nothing else.
You mean without which we would’ve lost 2-1?
That ONE good pass made a big fucking difference to all the wild running, sliding, ball-giving to opponent, misplaced passes, penalty-giving, etc!! That ONE pass opened up the defence completely and created that dangerous goal-scoring opportunity for AMN to make that pass to Auba to finish. He also created another dangerous situation…a right legged pass to Auba in front of goal that he missed. He is there for exactly that….create these moments.
Another waste of space Ozil. Was already gasping for breath at around 55 mins.
In contrast Cleverley with his obvious tactical limitations covered every blade of the Vicarage Road grass.
It was Ozil’s first game of the season.
Emery -10000000. Slimy little cretin. #EmeryOut
We looked like we only sorta half learned the drills like we only had two hours a week to work on things . Shocking for a professional set up . That been said , when shot ain’t working Fock what the manager said and play to your strengths
Apologies for shit spelling. Small touch screen. Massive thumb
You know what they say about big thumbs..
Miki is on the scoresheet in Rome.
So was Nacho.
And Szczesny was man of the match for Juve. Proves nothing.
How long before Auba agitates for a move. He’s 30. He must know now that he has no chance to win a major trophy with this defense and midfield.
Why are we being shit when we don’t have to be?
We’re doing “being shit” so well it’s becoming an art.
If shit was music we’d be an orchestra!
The question is whether possession football is on its way out, at least in the best leagues. Keeping the ball in the team has been the big thing now for many years, and the master is Pep Guardiola. Among his pupils are Wenger and Emery. The philosophy is simple: If we have the ball, they cannot score. But against aggressive, pressing opposition this is very difficult. Klopp also plays out from behind, but his team goes directly and quickly in attack. This entails a high risk of losing the ball, so the possessionists don’t like that. They want to build… Read more »
Emery is the only high profile coach I know that will coach that man city and liverpool best xi combined and still lose a 2 goal lead against the 20th team in EPL. Emery is a joke, he is another Wenger in disguise, maybe worse cos ion think arsenal under Wenger will draw Watford after a 2 goal lead. I hate to say this but EMERY OUT
Can we hire Wenger back now? It’s obvious he did more with less. Perhaps now with the club running other parts be can focus on football only.
No no no no no.
Where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable-Dr Myles Munroe. I knew since last summer that Emery should never have been hired by Arsenal. He has no philosophy about the way Arsenal should play. Nay! He does have one. Play like COWARDS. Sit back in our own half and make sideway passes until there is an opening for Kolasinac. That is the reason he has not been able to get the best out of our playmakers. Ozil, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Guendouzi etc. His set up has not been proactive but reactive. Why is this so? He is a coward that likes to… Read more »
Like Mourinho?
We can’t make top 4 with this type of performance
How long does Emery actually needs to know his best eleven? He had plenty of time to get his plans and bring the players he wanted and in all 4 games we played we have looked average at best. Today was the chance to maintain the lead over Chelsea and Shits from down the lane and what do we do? We fucking blow it. He looked clueless on the side and brings in youngsters in midfield when what we needed was calm organized head in the middle. We play out from the back like headless chicken time and again when… Read more »
Straight off the bat I’ll admit to being a wenger fan, someone who wanted so badly for him to return us to that title winning side of yesteryear… of course it didn’t happen and I’ll admit we should of changed manager much much sooner. But the best 2 managers in Europe are at Man City and Liverpool so I and us gooner have to accept that (and watch on in envy, especially Liverpool at the moment) On to Emery; I liked he’s passion at the start of last year and forgave him for the 2 defeats as it was a… Read more »
Real player ratings (not just for this game) Maitland-Niles – 3/10 you try hard son but you sure as hell won’t get a look in this squad once Hector is back Kolasinac – 1/10 Braindead calamity footballer who’s more suited in the ring than on the pitch. Can’t defend if his life depended upon it. Sokratis – 0.5/10 Awful defender with no real strong attributes. His brain might as well be pea-sized I wouldn’t be surprised. Kamikaze defender. Big reason for the shite we put in the final in Baku Luiz – negative 50/10 Shit cunt never liked him. Never… Read more »
Not sure if it too early for Emery out shouts but..im about to jump on that bandwagon.
Jeezus christ his tactics are abysmal!!!!
I love Auba but has he ever won a header or a goal kick in his.life. its safe to say he is a terrible.target man.
Guenduzi almost cost us a coupe of goals. Second half was one way traffic to.Watfort . Wtf?@@#$$
Change you fin tactics and figure out the danger.
Wake me up when holding bellerin and tierenny.are back.
This team is a shot show.
Pepes not impressing much either.
I was willing to give Unai the chance even when we lose to Liverpool but today was the day for me. Have seen enough. You can lose game with dignity and character, but today none exhibited in this team. Reminds me of a game against United on Arsen’s last season when we lost but left with heads height with 20+ shots on target and worked their socks off. Fans appreciate that. This is a new low.
FAIR ratings from Blogs. Less so some other people who prefer to put on blinkers and not mention inconvenient truths. No Mustafi and we are STILL having unforced errors at the back. 1) Leno – OK match. Lucky to stop Sarr from scoring late on. Hopefully he gets sick of our play out the back tactics and starts to take responsibility kick it up field. I mean we use to do that under wenger with Sagna positioned higher up to receive the ball nearer the midway line. Lets mix it up a little. 2) AMN – Good run for the… Read more »
Dude…this isn’t YOUR blog. It’s a comments section. Keep it short.
So AMN and Xhaka have become your new Iwobi’s Santa – myopically ignoring AMN’s numerous suicide passes which gifted Watford possession? Ah yes – and the ‘tricky’ Delofeu… it’s his bloody job to deal with ‘tricky’ wingers! To get skinned a couple of times by talent is forgiveable – but it was double-figures for Pete’s sakes… Xhaka’s ‘great chance’ toward the end was indeed that – and should been buried, but for the fact that he took his first touch with his lame leg. Clear cut change butchered because he can’t play football with both feet. And let’s not forget… Read more »
Is George Armstrong available? If not, you know boys and girls…Mou is available.
I don’t know who’s more retarded. Emery or the players for listening to Emery. This out from the back no-matter-what bollocks needs to stop.
Can anyone post a link to the petition to register our defence as a charity, can’t find it ?
I think the time for charity has passed. All that remains is to make it as comfortable as possible.
I feel the substitutions killed the game for us – we are expecting too much on Nelson and Willock – they were so weak and easily beaten. They clearly nervous and unable to compose themselves in the game. Back to Wenger’s days, in protecting a 2-1 lead, he usually subbed in a WB or another CB for a forward. He would probably sub in Chambers in for Pepe to provide another passing alternative since midfield got overrun all the time. Emery often go for a 1 for 1 role swap, clearly went for Torreira/Willock for fresh energy but tactics totally… Read more »
Luiz is shot.
Shit
Serious question here, can anybody remember the last time Arsenal played a good 90 minutes of football? It hasn’t been fun to watch them for years now ?
Valencia, Fulham 5-1, spurs 4-2, Leicester 3-1, . I know things are awful at the moment but don’t exaggerate it.
I see top 4 as unrealistic, as we have with Emery a Manager suited for Cup competition, as he takes games in isolation, and does work focusing on rival and occasion to gear players up accordingly, hence the changes. This however is terrible for building momentum in the league where consistency in system, approach and first 11 is key!
Why people don’t see Pepe as a floop? His passing is wayward, his shooting is wayward. He could not conenct with his teammate. We talking about the run, the dribble before he joins, what i had seen so far is so different. Maybe he is just a one season wonder?
Gevinho 2.0
once wenger was out, agents and wheeler dealers make merry and make money
what if it was Wenger who was a big manager, and not Kroenke Arsenal which wws a big club.
The players appear confused, stressed and unable to implement Emery’s tactics, whatever that means. While we may blame individual errors, the growing number (of mistakes) indicates a gap between the tactics and the players comfort level in implementing it. When the statistics emerged that Arsenal has conceded the most shots of any team in the top European leagues (and Watford added 31 of those), the problems appear more deep-rooted. Emery will be relieved by the return of some top players, but it won’t solve the deep-rooted issues, including the performance of new recruits and youngsters.
Arsene Wenger would be doing far better with this squad than Emery has been doing.