Arsenal Banter Archive December 29 2018

29 Dec 2018 22:55:20
Wow what a performance, I said it a week or so ago we need centre backs at least one leader! The way Firmino walked through was ridiculous, there should be no talk of any transfers apart from defenders.

29 Dec 2018 21:42:45
Terrible performance. we were shambles especially at the back.

Can't fault Emery much. He has a rubbishty squad. How many of our players will get into that Liverpool team? Maybe only torreira and aubameyang. How do you expect emery to compete with such a team?

Where is this club heading to? What vision does the owner have? So many unanswered questions.

I have always said that Arsenal's biggest problem wasn't wenger, it was the owner and it still is.

So long as kroenke is around, we will be going around in circles. The club needs serious investment in personnel. There is no going about it. The so called self sustaining policy is just an excuse not to spend.

29 Dec 2018 22:03:13
Punani, wenger was our problem, that's why we are where we are today but i obviously agree, kronk needs to nail his colours to the mast and let Dick get what he needs.

29 Dec 2018 22:03:23
Been banging that drum for years - they don’t want to invest enough to compete but just enough for top 4. Wenger wasn’t held accounable as he maintained top 4. Board has no ambition. Sad but true. Does Emery have the desire to demand funds that compete - who knows. Hope so as I want m Arsenal back.

29 Dec 2018 22:05:04
Soon the spotlight will be on Kroenke if he is responsible for what the club has become. We will find out in the coming window and that in the summer. Hope we bounce back.

29 Dec 2018 22:13:37
January will give us more idea of what The club Sven and Dick are going to do about the obvious problems we have.
No new defenders and improvement is virtually impossible to see happening as Dick looks to have Exhausted all current possibilities without any sign of improvement.

29 Dec 2018 22:18:58
Willy - I hope so.

Ex-Liverpool midfielder Nigel Spackman thinks Arsenal have gone backwards under Unai Emery this season and need to focus on qualifying for the Champions League by winning the Europa League.

Keown slamming the lack of work and quality in defence

Feeding on scraps since we moved to the new ground.

29 Dec 2018 22:22:18
I'm still struggling to understand why the club made poor old Arsene buy Mustafi Xhaka for 70 million and a host of other poor buys with their money.

29 Dec 2018 22:37:06
Kroenke doesn't communicate, he is almost Machiavellian. The fact that he rarely communicates shows the level of disdain he has for the fans.

{Ed0333's Note - how much does Roman communicate with the fans? He’s been pretty successful at winning titles.

29 Dec 2018 22:39:25
gunner mate apparently wenger was against ozil's new contract and he did not approve of mustafi signing. apparently mustafi's signing had to do with statdna.

29 Dec 2018 22:41:12
Issue still exists and we need some change at the top in the board:

Liverpool are reportedly on the verge of bringing Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic to the club in January after they bid £45m for a player Arsenal wanted to pay £35m for.

{Ed0333's Note - who said Liverpool are buying Pulisic in January?

29 Dec 2018 22:43:13
62 - I don’t disagree. BUT any club with the right control would ensure there is the right sign off before it parts with 30m. The board allowed it to happen and accepted the performances. I am not excusing Wenger by the way but I am concentrating on the future.

29 Dec 2018 23:10:10
The clubs gone backwards since Arsene left? Nigel Spackman your memory isn't your strong point is it!
Today was horrible but hardly unusual at Anfield, not to mention St Mary's Stamford Bridge Old Trafford or most other grounds in recent seasons.
Today wasn't good enough but hardly anything we haven't experienced frequently in recent years, we've a long way to sink yet before we are worse than before Dick arrived Nigel me old boy.
Today was horrible awful and simply unacceptable but we've know a lot lot worse under Arsene and let's not pretend otherwise and paint over the our true past.

29 Dec 2018 23:18:26
Punani, wenger was rightly against ozils new contract but only because it put him on more money than him. He was right but for the wrong reasons.

29 Dec 2018 23:27:22
True point 62 - as always :)

30 Dec 2018 01:37:00
Steve you really need to get a grip of the fantasy you have going on. Wenger isn't our manager, Emery is. No manager is world football comes into a new club and magically gets the 11 new players he wants or needs. They all make do with what was there before and then add. Most do very well with the payers they have. You can't reasonably expect any sane person to buy into this whole "It's still Wenger's fault" routine you have cooking.

And this "Wenger didn't want Ozil to earn more than he did" story, let me guess, you read it online at one time. If it's on the internet, it must be true.

The bottom line is that our latest capitulation is no more Wenger's fault than it is Emery's. These players just aren't putting in the performance. They don't play for club, the don't play for manager, they don't play for fans, and even worse, they don't play for self pride. They're a bunch of spineless numpties.

30 Dec 2018 04:33:50
Steve steve Steve, I’ve never heard so much garbage out of one persons mouth, that Ozil Wenger comment, I can’t take you serious after that,

{Ed001's Note - I can tell you exactly why Wenger was against Ozil's contract and it was nothing to do with Wenger's money, though he did think managers should be on more money than players, he had accepted it couldn't happen. The reason Wenger was against it was simple, it meant he was earning too much more than the other players. Wenger tried to keep all the wages within a small spread in an attempt to stop jealousy amongst the squad. He didn't want one player on so much more than the rest of the team as he knew it just meant that every other player would demand much bigger contracts as a result. With good reason as Ramsey did exactly that.}

30 Dec 2018 04:56:28
Thanks for clearing that up Ed001; another myth busted!

{Ed001's Note - very welcome. It is something Wenger has spoken about at length publicly on a number of occasions. He did believe the man at the top should be paid the most, as they are in most businesses, ie the CEO. And then the manager. Then the staff. But he had long since realised that was not possible and broke that rule when he signed Sanchez and Ozil had a 'match highest paid player' clause which put him ahead of Wenger. So he was already on more than Wenger (by a small amount but still). I can see his point, when you hand one player an increase, every other player starts looking at their own pay packet and complaining. On the other hand, it can be a good motivational tool - if you play well then you can also get a pay rise. I think the key to it all is whether or not it adversely affected the wage budget, which was already groaning under the weight of new signings on substantially larger salaries than the players who were there previously.}

30 Dec 2018 05:14:21
Thanks for clearing that up ed, rather than hear say from silly posters lol.

{Ed001's Note - to be fair, as I pointed out steve's post did have a sound foundation, as Wenger has often talked about not wanting players being the highest paid in the club. So it is easy to see where he got the idea from.}

29 Dec 2018 19:49:45
I’m a big supporter of Dick and will review my thoughts after a couple of transfer windows . Defenders are a must, more so than any other position, we must remember how close to the season starting he joined us.

29 Dec 2018 19:58:24
Agree BG a bit soon to start blaming Dick. My big problem with him is his reliance on Iwobi and xhaka, not starting lacca and playing ramsey at all. The defence is something he has inherited and the injuries have left us bare. He will show us over the next few windows what he is trying to do. Disappointing today but its not a disaster in the great scheme.

29 Dec 2018 20:02:43
Michael Owen, albeit a tool, just hit the nail on the head, instead of being able to spend large sums on a player to finish a team we’re spreading what paltry sum we have available across countless positions we need to upgrade.

Months of schooling this defence with a shiney new defensive midfielder and we are still utterly shocking.

The managers name may have changed but very very little else has, spineless, weak and insipid, still results like today.

Kroenke at the helm is like dragging the Burj Khalifa behind us or Lukaku who is a similar size.

29 Dec 2018 20:04:34
Yes let's have a good buy. If we don't get them in now, the prices will always go up. So whatever the price for a very good, quality defender is, we should go all out for him.

29 Dec 2018 20:05:45
Absolutely Banbury but none of us want to see this again from any Arsenal team, we'd had enough this long before Dick got here and fight passion commitment are a prerequisite not a treat.
Sorry Dick but it's on your shoulders now mate, what you inherited was poor but you need deliver better than we were already fed up with before you got here.
You can make a start by getting Pea and Lacasette on from the beginning and stop making our least committed players our captain, if it had worked out well then it would be a master stroke of man management but it hasn't so it's a huge mistake not to be repeated, please,

29 Dec 2018 20:12:26
Steve - did he not know our defence sucked last year? Did he not know we were short of CBs before Chambers went on loan? Seriously.

I support him but the lack of decent defensive cover was disastrously poor.

29 Dec 2018 20:32:28
Gunner, this is not Unai's fight. He inherited this team and the damage had long been done so the best thing to do is to get the best defenders in to sort out the defence. And then move on from there.

29 Dec 2018 20:59:10
Sy, i'm sure he did, or someone did, that's why we got a new central defender. Maybe he though at 35 mil wenger had bought a good defender for that money, in mustaffi, that the great wenger bought us, maybe he thought or someone thought we needed to buy a shield, so they got one. But maybe he misjudged and didn't think that kos would come back rubbish, monreal would always be injured and holding and bellerin wouldn't be injured either.

He should have known that his entire defence would have got injured and he would be left with two 34 year old and a 21 year old rookie playing. But maybe now he has actually had a chance to assess his misjudgement, he may be given a chance to rectify it. Then get rid of that 35 mil piece of rubbish that wenger bought us for midfield. But he should have sorted all that by now, shouldn't he.

29 Dec 2018 20:59:29
Sorry Willy but when you take on a job your take on responsibility for the staff you manage and it's up to you to get them up to scratch or out the door. What happend before you take over is not your fault but once you take the job you automatically take responsibility for those you select to do a job.

This 5 captains rubbish needs to stop too, Ozil Ramsey who next week Stuart Robson? I thought it was terrible giving Mertesacker the captaincy after he ducked again Stoke then Liverpool but it's getting worse, the captaincy is supposed to be a reward and a deserved honour.

29 Dec 2018 21:21:23
Steve - Nacho, Kola, Kos plus the Greek dude we’re all out well before the window closed. Our preseason friendliest showed how crap the defence was. He then put Chambers on loan. How’s he not to blame? I will give him time but he’s not doing himself any favours by - poor signings, lack of change, first half performances, stubbornness on players, Laca treatment etc etc

You told me once to take the rose tinted specs off - I have and I am being completely honest. He’s been asked some big questions and failed to answer many. Next 2 windows are key for me.

We said - at least the energy levels are there. That’s gone now.

29 Dec 2018 21:26:04
Sy i'm not going to get into a capability argument but we have, Kos, mavropanos, papa, holding and mustaffi. Take van dyke and lovren out of Liverpool, how many do they have to come in. 5 should be enough, injury takes its toll and every team has a limit. Take auderweld and vertongen out of spuds are they replaced with similar quality. I don't think so.

29 Dec 2018 21:32:00
Steve - he only needed to look st our away form and goals conceded last season to see the issue. Our defence has the thirdvleast clean sheets in the league.,
I don’t care who signed Mustafi but in Wengers first season he added exactly what was needed and did that again and again before something happened whereby he got player blindness. Other managers do the same - why should I not expect that from a top manager at a top club.

29 Dec 2018 21:45:21
Sy, he wasn't interested in us last year he was managing PSG, why would he know about our defence? Crystal vall? After the start of the season he had two weeks before his first window shut. Do you not understand it isn't fifa manager. The defence is only one of his many problems he has to sort, he isn't penn and teller.

29 Dec 2018 21:48:02
Banbury mate, how will you review Emery after two transfer windows when he won't be given money to spend?

As usual, they will give him peanuts due to theis ridiculous self sustaining policy. Well how can we compete then? It is like taking a sword to a gun fight. Liverpool spent our entire transfer budget on one goalkeeper. Shows you the different levels of ambition really.

Unless the Arsenal owner changes his philosophy (which i don't expect by the way) , i don't see any change in our fortunes.

29 Dec 2018 21:52:34
Anyone taking on the Arsenal job from Arsene knew the things that needed sorting out first and foremost, because the whole of football has been talking about then for a decade and more.
1 break up the cosy club
2 bring back a healthy fighting mentality
3 build a defence worthy of the name.
4 months is no time at all but the captaincy saga is madness, the defence isn't improving at all and the early upturn in effort and mentality seem to be back in decline.
Emery needs to reinforce his hand by bringing in playes who want to play for us and get rid of those who don't want to be Arsenal players, certainly not make them our captain.

29 Dec 2018 22:06:01
His captains are letting him down but he didn't bring any of them to the club. He is learning a lot about his phoney captains.

29 Dec 2018 22:12:17
Steve - seriously? He prepared for an interview and did an analysis on the squad. My wife has not interest in Arsenal but knew the defence sucked as did the spine of the side. That BS if you think or believe he was unaware - he shouldn’t be manager if not aware. It’s the Premiership and Arsenal - not a park team. Did you steal my rose tinted glasses?
We completed our signings very early - defence should have been addressed
Would Juve let a quality player leave on a free. Nope just like Silvestra
Emery F’d up - that’s ok. Now he needs to show he’s learned in this window. That’s patience in my book. He had a full preseason to address a simple ball over the top.

29 Dec 2018 22:49:56
The 5 captains is just nonsense, Xhaka Ramsey Ozil David Tenant and a Darlek if I remember right, the Darlek being the most deserving choice of the 5.

29 Dec 2018 22:58:23
Sy calm down you will have a seisure, the only players that i understand emery had a say in was Gouendouzi and torreira, the others were already sorted. The budget was spent. You really are talking irrationally. Dick got the job because his CV was impressive, that's what his homework was. I doubt he knew the problems that excisted below the surface and i ewill ask you again would Liverpool and spuds be as tight, if van dyke and lovren got injured or vertongen or auderweld got injured. And don't tell me yes, look at what's going on, we have a state of emergency in defence, not bad planning. Before these injuries we were actually doing ok but when they became critical, so did our defending.

{Ed0333's Note - great post Steve

29 Dec 2018 23:56:29
Tbf Steve our defending has been critical all season, the injuries have exacerbated the problem, but even when they are all fit, do you have any faith in any named on the team sheet? mustafi, costly and should be hitting his peak, but has never lived up to his price in our shirt and is widely derided by supporters, holding has shown promice this season, but is still young and should still be considered one for the future, he shouldn't of been relied upon as much as he has this year, mavroponos is still young and has barely played a game, can't rely on him, kos has only just come back and is ageing so you couldn't rely on him at the start of the season, that leaves sokratis as one CB you might have faith in, but who had only just joined and never played in the league, the defence was clearly shaky, I don't know if I would blame emery, it seems he's taking the brunt now things aren't going well, yet the signings that have worked have been credited as seven and Raul, they should of known how weak the defence was even if emery didnt.

{Ed0333's Note - emery has a massive rebuilding job to do and is above par for the season. You pretty much need a brand new defense and ship out some of the crap you have stockpiled. It’s a midterm project which will take at least 2 windows to remedy and then that’s just the first team, a strong squad will take more time. I truly hope Emery gets the time to what’s needed, I think the man is the personification of class and dignity.

30 Dec 2018 01:01:05
Eden, no i was not happy with the defence, it needed and needs stregthening, too right. But we were managing, we drew liverpool, beat spud and drew away to utd. We had just gone three at the back, holding, soc and mustaffi. Not brill granted but at that time they were all fit, we had just had three clean sheets out of four. We were playing with kol at left wing back and bellerin at right wing back, we had monreal on the bench and lich on the bench with kos just coming back.

Not world class but we were doing a bit better, then injuries, holding, kol, mustaffi and bellerin all within a week or so, then monreal. We are now playing with a botched 4 at the back and players are having to play out of position and are being rushed back when obviously they could have done with longer. No the defence wasnt the greatest but it was actually starting to look like it had a shape and purpose, unlike now, when it and the whole team are all over. If you haven't got a settled defence, you haven't got a defence.

29 Dec 2018 19:25:51
Got to say in Iwobis defence today, he was one of the better players but that only shows how the rest let us down, if he stuck out.

29 Dec 2018 18:34:31
Dicks work really starts from here, having to deal with the wilting violets of Ozil, ramsey, xhaka, mustaffi and kochelny is really going to test him. One way or another, they are all letting this club down or past it and that is going to take a miracle. Todays result whatever it ends up is the past really starting to bite. The dregs of the wenger era are really baring their teeth now. We need a pretty smart january just to keep the engine ticking over.

29 Dec 2018 09:32:32
Liverpool fan in peace.

So it’s game day and a massive game for both sides. Emery has you moving in the right direction without a doubt, you remind me of us a few years ago, devastating in attack, shaky in defence and horribly inconsistent.

I’ve seen a few of you worried about today, which just shows how far we have come, but we cannot take you for granted or you will punish us. We definitely don’t think today will be a walk over by any means but hopefully we can keep our winning streak going and take real momentum into the city game.

I wish you well for the rest of the season, just not today! Always had real respect for arsenal as to remain competitive for those top positions year in year out is impressive. And it goes without saying the invincibles were just a freak of nature.

Think you will get top four which will be your first step then think you will be challenging for the title within a season or two.

Hope you lads enjoy the rest of your Christmas break and have a good new year.

29 Dec 2018 10:02:36
Good luck in the league after today! I hope you don’t go unbeaten but win the league! Think you would take that. You boys are playing nice football which I respect a lot.

29 Dec 2018 10:36:05
Hi Red I see us very much in the same position as you were 3 years ago when Klopp first joined you, we have some fantastic attributes but equally some horrendous weaknesses and it's those weaknesses that many fans want to see improved on before they get excited.
Also like you 3 years back we don't have the money to buy instant solutions so we need to work hard and buy well and hopefully 2 years from now we will have a much better basis to add the finishing touches to with just 1 or 2 really good top class signings.
The first step was always going to be to find our own version of Jurgen Klopp and I think we've done that but where you did it just in time we have left it a bit late but obviously it's never too late in football.
The competition and standard at the top is much much tougher now than it was 3 years ago when City Liverpool United Chelsea and Spurs all had new managers trying to rebuild each club, obviously Liverpool City and Spurs got it spot on with their choice of management which is why your all where you are now United are still looking for a manager that can bring sustainable progression and us and Chelsea are hoping we've found ours already.
It's always tough at the top but I can't remember it ever being this tough before as City and Spurs points total is outstanding at the half way mark but this season it's just not quite good enough.