31 May 2019 05:08:26
I really can't understand how some people can call for sacking Emery after one season.

Our full backs can't cross a road, far less a decent ball. We have been utterly mismanaged and allowed our best players to walk away for nothing.

And you think it's Emery's fault? He looked the most gutted and disgraced after the game.

We have players that do not appreciate what it means to wear the badge, Xhaka had to remind the players to go thank the travelling fans in Baku, they were just going to walk off the pitch after that!

Utter shambles, but Emery is not the problem. He's just gotten here, our decay has been festering for some time now.

{Ed001's Note - oh well if he is the most gutted he can't be the problem obviously. Not like it is his job to organise the team on the pitch or anything.}


1.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 09:29:54
If you owned a business and parted company with your last manager because he was taking your business backwards by failing to organise motivate and utilise your staff effectively why would you then be happy for his replacement to simply carry on where the previous manager had left off.
The answer is obviously you wouldn't be happy at all you'd be extremely concerned and more than a little puzzled as to why the new manager wasn't addressing the obvious issues he knew he was inheriting when he accepted the job which had cost his predecessor his job in the first place.
It's difficult to understand why Emery hasn't gone full tilt at solving the obvious problems the whole of football talked about constantly before he arrived, if he'd tried and failed it would at least show he was on the case but he hasn't he's simply carried on with the free for all shot swapping philosophy that Arsene applied in the false belief his team could outscore other teams.
It didn't work for Arsene and it hasn't worked for Emery and I can't think of any side it's worked for in the past either.


2.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 10:05:53
Ed001 brilliant again, gunner spot on mate I am lover of all leagues and he was awful in pairs and my mate supports Seville and said he couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery, his word.


3.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 11:10:18
Spot on 62 - no other business would put up with this. I don’t want to waste our limited resources on him this summer. Hate to say it but time to change.

Emery said he would rather with a game 5. - 3 than 1 nil. Well he kinda delivered on that message. His defence is there but we haven’t scored enough goals 😂.


4.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 11:47:14
I see the poll on emery stay or go is getting close it’s nearly 50/ 50.


5.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 11:58:35
Emery is most certainly the problem and Kroenke needs to act quickly and decisively, I appreciate he won’t, but any owner worth the name would.

He has not improved the team either as a whole or even improved any single player, some like Torriera even look worse.

He made a total mess of a shoe in for top 4 and oh how we derided the spuds when they finished 3rd in a two horse race.

He seriously hasn’t done a single thing to warrant keeping his job and you’re in denial if you think differently no matter what excuse you try and give him.

The real truth is under Kroenke we will never be going anywhere. He will have to have a total turn around in his thought process re the club and it’s not going to happen.

We look like a genuine mid table pile of dross.


6.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 13:03:22
That's exactly what Arsene used to say too SY mate, both Dick and Arsene are happy with a multiple chances for both sides thinking their attackers will always outscore the opposition attack.
It's naive school boy mentality that belongs on the local green with jumpers for goal posts that simply can't ever work.
Flip a coin and call heeds everytime and you might call right 20 times on the trot but sooner or later 20 tails in a row will surely follow at some point.
Over a 38 game marathon your football philosophy and methods will always find there level and as both Arsene and Emery have proved over and over again.


7.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 14:39:17
I respect the opinions expressed here, yours included Ed. If you don't rate Emery, that's fine.

I am a bit surprised by the lack of patience afforded to him given how long the previous manager had our loyalty, despite obvious signs our mighty club was slipping.

I'm not saying Emery is faultless, but in a time where our best players are being allowed to leave for nothing, pointing at the manager who just got here seems a little reactive.

It was a poor season, and although we didn't meet our top 4 targets or win a trophy, Emery should be given until next summer.

Honestly, the way Ozil walked off as if we were winning 3-1 I cannot believe your biggest problem is Emery.


8.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 14:46:06
Emery also said he's here to get Arsenal competing for top honours once again.

He named the Premier League and Champions League as his targets.

The last manager considered top 4 a trophy.

Give him time.


9.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 15:10:49
AA23,

Ranieri turned relegation fodder into league title winners and no one can tell me he had a better squad.

If we’d shown even an inkling of being better I’d be behind him but we are just going to compound problems by sticking with him.

What has he shown you that warrants more time aside from saying he wants to compete, where are the improvements, who has he improved?

Gazidis said we could run with the big boys re transfers, how did that work out.

None of the players especially Ozil come out of this with any credit but Emery is employed to manage, organise, motivate and turn us into something more than the pathetic side we still follow.


10.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 15:11:34
At the end of his first season as manager Emery finished a place higher in the PL, with more points, closed the gap on top placed Man C and reduced the gap between us and the Toot from 14 points to a single point, whilst reaching the final of the EL. The 4 permanent signings made for £70m have been integrated intelligently into the squad. His hands were clearly tied by the previous regimes wage policy and the weakness of the squad he inherited. Our poor performers were all players he inherited. Would any other manager have done any better with the squad he inherited and having only £70m to spend and having to keep within the PL wage rules?
He has a massive job this summer, having to try and sell underperforming, overpaid players with little or no value and if reports are correct only £40m. Plus sales to spend. The team needs a pair of fullback that can tackle and at least one CB. A wide attcking player and a box to box midfield player. I cn only see a maximum of £50m for the players that seem destined to leave, so he should have a total of £90m ish to spend on 5 players that need to come in. Unless he can sell Ozil and Mkhitaryan, both on absurdly high wages. Mustafi, Koscielny and Monreal are others that could be sold, assuming there are any takers. There are some talented youngsters who can boost the squad; Nelson, Willock, Nketiah, Smith-Rowe, etc. He could use the returning Martinez as the back up keeper.
Emery will clearly need a couple more seasons to from the squad to his satisfaction and the fans have to be patient. Look how long it has taken Liverpool and the Toot to get where they currently are and neither manger has won a single trophy, until tomorrow.


11.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 16:09:27
AA mate what is it about Emery that's impressed you this season?
I'm genuinely interested what you've seen from him that makes you think he might still be the man to make us competitive again?
I didn't expect a dramatic upturn in results or league position but I did expect much much better defensive organisation from whoever replaced Arsene, there is none to be seen under Emery mate?
He's no better no worse than Arsene was in fact the similarity between the two is quite something.


12.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 16:23:28
Thank you Robbie G, spot on.

Stoner, you mention Ranieri winning the league. You forgot to mention how we beat them twice that season and completely capitulated and bottled winning the league ourselves.


13.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 17:39:25
How can anyone who was unhappy with Arsene be happy with Emery?
It's the same as not liking cheese sandwiches but enjoying bread butter and cheese put together?


14.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 17:53:28
AA23,

I didn’t forget that as I haven’t forgotten how we’ve just capitulated and bottled it in not only missing top four but even making a game of the Europa League final.

You seem to have forgotten to mention what you see as any pluses in Emery’s tenure because I’m all ears.


15.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 18:01:22
gunner62,

Emery lost his first two league games then took us on a 22 game unbeaten run, including that epic win vs Sp*ds. They had bullied us the last couple years and we absolutely battered them physically and tactically.

Rob Holding and Bellerin both had season ending injuries and we've played AMN out of position ever since.

Did that affect our defensive stats? I think so.

Also, when you play with 2 strikers up top and a number 10, you need your 10 to track back and press and help out defensively. Aaron Ramsey was a massive miss.


16.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 18:56:31
Hi AA, Emery left Aaron out for the biggest part of the season even though fully fit and quite often both Mesut and Aaron.
As for injuries Jack Caz Theo Ox RvP Kos Aaron (every season) you name them we've used their injury as an excuse for our failings.
How many players have Liverpool had out this season, especially in defence? What about Spurs?, KDB at City? Who wouldn't miss him?
All sides get injuries but it's only us who seem to use them to cover up our failings each and every season.
We have to stop making excuses for ourselves and our managers and expect from our club players and managers every bit as much as Spurs and Liverpool fans enjoy from their Manager and players.
With the greatest respect we are not Leicester city Watford or Wolves we are a huge club and one of the big 6 and it's about time we started acting like it again rather than making excuses for our players and managers like we've done for the last decade.


17.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:02:48
I’m not saying I’m happy with Dick but to bomb him out after one season is mad, if we are no further forward after he has had a transfer window then the pressure will be on, I've said he’s made odd decisions which are baffling but he needs another season, but in reality no matter who is in charge if they haven’t got the money we won’t compete.

Yes Leicester won the league from nothing but look at some of the players they had and I bet many of those would walk into our team right now, we lack so much quality and much of the mediocrity arrived at the club under AW.


18.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:17:35
What’s injuries got to do with common sense in defence and tactics. 2 nil down Vs Liverpool - replace PEA with Laca. WTF! Drop Ozil then make him captain. Say Mustafi can’t play in a back 4 then play him in a back 4. I foul£ organise the defence better. Pay me 1m and flog me in public if I couldn’t get more out of the defence than him.

Wenger earned that time as the most successful manager in our history and still got FA Cups and EL final in his last years. That wasn’t good enough.

Emery is TERRIBLE at organising the team, tinkering and generally not addressing our issues. Sorry to be blunt but what has he done to address the defensive issues. Fullbacks bomb forward, we leave 1 at the back, don’t pick up players in the box, let runners run past us, generally shouting boll because from the touchline that achieves nothing. Rafa could have sorted our defence - any idiot kne2 it was the issue yet he’s done zip. If the defence needed a square peg to fill the only square hole - he would try to fill it with 3 round pegs leaving us weak there and elsewhere on the defence itch.

He’s treatment and dropping of Rambo was plane stupid. He played him when he shouldn’t have and got injured because he refused to stand up to him just like his time in Paris.

Name one club or business that had glaringly obvious issues who hires an expensive experienced manager and accepts the business making exactly the same mistakes over and over again. That’s the definition of stupidity.

If we had money to burn then I would say - throw money at the clown but we don’t and we need to be more like Wenger in his early years - ruthless and decisive. Complete opposite of our attack now.

Let’s sack him and move on. He’s not good enough and sums up the level of competitiveness at our once great club. That final like a number of games - was embarrassing. 2 shots on target and a torn a-hole from Chelsea.

In Emery I no longer trust my club with.


19.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:20:50
Not Just Leicester Banbury mate
What about Spurs? How much has Poch spent? Where were they when he took over? Where were we?
Poor old Arsenal everything is against us, money injury refs decisions and no doubt next season VAR will have it in for us too.
Obviously Spurs and Liverpool are totally out of our league to compare ourselves to and we should stop complaining and celebrate how we finish above a Palace QPR and Chalton consistently despite being of a similar size.


20.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:23:22
Emery before - We want to be among the best teams in Europe. I want the team to make the fans proud of the side. I know they are already but I want to make them even more so.

Emery now: Arsenal aspired to be in the top 10 teams in the world

Keep lowering that bar like our fans do and we will hit it one day

#timeforchange.


21.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:50:15
G62,
You used an interesting analogy above regarding business and staff. I think your spot on but It is Emery trying to utilise Wengers staff. Of the signings Emery has made all bar Lichtsteiner have done well. I’m not completely sold on Emery myself, he tinkers a lot and he hasn’t organised the defence but I do sympathise as the majority are Wengers players and tinkering can happen when your trying to find your best team. Especially when we can look good with a 3/ 4 at the back one game and then abysmal the next. IMHO we should give him another season definitely. The players must share the responsibility of the capitulation at the end of the season. And that’s where everyone’s frustration comes from. Before the season no one thought we’d be in a europa league final and challenging for top 4. We were written off. The Palace game we dropped points also has to be shared. As disappointed I was in that line up, that line up was strong enough at home to beat Palace. Emery needs to get rid of the deadwood poison players who don’t justify their wage and bring in hard working talent. Hard working talent doesn’t have to be expensive. Just the right players.


22.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 19:52:49
4th place is a Trophy?
Emery didn't start it SY he's merely maintaining and replicating the decline in Arsenal managers self expectancy and accountability.


23.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 20:03:35
From what I'm reading, most of us agree boys, we want Arsenal to be firing at full capacity. We're just pointing fingers in different directions.

I'm not making excuses for Emery, I have criticized plenty of his decisions thus far.

At the start of the season most of us were willing to give him his first season to adjust to the EPL while determining who to keep and who to sell.

He must come under scrutiny for the last 6 games of the season including Baku, no doubt. I, for one, would love to know what he told them at half time.


24.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 20:09:37
All of your points are justified about Sp*rs and Liverpool passing us and doing a far better job at rebuilding and competing. But you are blaming the guy who just got here!

This season, he's had to do his best with what he's got, which wasn't much. We have been left mentally fragile and spineless with no accountability being shown from the top down.

We are one year into the big rebuilding job, where Klopp came 7th in his first year and Poch took 4 years to build that team.

Those other teams also don't allow their prized assets to walk away for free, that is inexcusable.

Emery isn't responsible for any of that. He has failed in his first season but let him honour the 2-year contract. If we are unhappy then we don't have to activate the option for the third year.


25.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 20:38:41
Hi ATID mate I take your points but it remains true that we don't have the worst players or defenders in the league but they perform as if they are simply because the philosophy tactics and organisational skills of both Arsene and Emery, will changing the personel put right Emery lack of organisational skills?
I'm not saying sack him but equally i see nothing to expect better next season than this, as for this seasons signings only Suarez was Emery choice the others were Svens signings and would have arrived no matter who was our manager.
Is Emerys outscore the opposition 5 4 philosophy really going to come good next season? Is it really possible to compete without being difficult to score past?


26.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 20:47:37
AA - you agree that our defence was our weakness. Right?

Emery has had a new keeper, two centrehalves ( Sokratis and Mavropanos) plus Lich. He’s had a new CDM.

What has he done to show he can organise a defence?

I can list loads of faults but interested in your opinion as I am certainly not always right and enjoy debate etc

Not picking on you or singling you out in a nasty way so please excuse the direct question.


27.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 20:59:34
I have to agree AA23 to slate him after 1 season is crazy, I’m not saying Dick is the answer but this transfer window will speak volumes .


28.) 31 May 2019
31 May 2019 21:32:45
None of us have a monopoly the truth SY mate we can all only share our own honest opinions mate, the problem with us humans is we have built in confirmation bias where we tend to find facts that support what we already think.

Apparently there is a very successful bloke who has made millions on the stock market who employs a team of 5 people simlpy to argue with him and try and convince him he's investment ideas are wrong simply because he's so aware of how we can all suffer from conformation bias.


29.) 01 Jun 2019
01 Jun 2019 08:26:26
SY4

No offense taken mate, we're all gooners, just with different opinions.

To your point, Emery's strength is certainly not in organizing a defence, that much is clear. His teams like to dominate the ball and dictate the tempo of play.

I also agree with others that there was a lot of tinkering with formations and lineups that really seemed to cause confusion at times.

I am not immune to criticizing Emery, and if you want to have a discussion about that, I'm game. I would say though, judging from the eyeball test, he has improved us.

If you take the whole season and not just the last 6 games, we are much tougher and robust as a team when it comes to playing against teams who have bullied us physically and tactically in recent past. That 22 game unbeaten run comes to mind.

Obviously, the wheels have come off at the end, and it's not acceptable. What I like is that Emery doesn't make excuses and owns up to his shortcomings. No blaming of the refs, the pitch, the fans, the fixture schedule etc.

I don't think he likes this current 3-4-1-2 setup but sees it as best for our current personnel. Kolasinac can't defend in a back-four, some would say he can't defend period.

I think he would like to play with one striker and two good wingers on either side, but because our strength is with Auba and Laca he's made concessions and gone with two up top.

What I'm trying to say is that he's not been able to put his stamp on our club yet. This is still pretty much Wengers team, and all his new signings this far with the exception of Lichsteiner and Suarez have been good.

What I want to see is ruthlessness this summer and give him a real chance to prove himself. He's not here to rest on his laurels, that's for sure. He said with regards to Wenger that he doesn't think anyone should manage a club for more than 4 years.


30.) 01 Jun 2019
01 Jun 2019 10:43:10
AA - I get that but wouldn’t any club expect him to be able to sort our biggest problem out - defence. We don’t need our attack sorting. I haven’t seen anything that gives me confidence that he has the know how to sort it. I wanted to give him two seasons but his sheer ignorance in defence and stubbornness plus poor player management has got me to this point. That’s my issue plus we have limited funds.
The other price was that 22 run was covered in so much luck and good fortune. Opposition ran riot on our defence and still kept missing sitters etc. That just papered over the cracks.
I know I sound too ruthless but I am concerned about our future but I do understand he’s had limited time.
Appreciate the banter and making me think.


31.) 01 Jun 2019
01 Jun 2019 10:44:13
Next season will tell us what we need to know AA mate and if the defence isn't much improved then I think Emery will struggle to get a 3rd season with us.
As much as we all want to see sexy exciting football I think almost all Arsenal fans now accept we can't continue to be a laughing stock at the back and until we become at least reasonably effective defensively we will continue to ride on the coat tails of other top clubs.
No one knows what next season brings but I expect Liverpool City to once again be absolutely formidable and Spurs with no world cup hangover and possibly new reinforcements to be much stronger.
United with Ole look dodgy and
Chelsea have no transfer window to use so 4th place is extremely difficult to predict especially if Everton buy well, mind you I've been predicting Everton to enter the top 4 race for the last 3 years:-)


32.) 01 Jun 2019
01 Jun 2019 15:43:52
Agree G62,
That’s what makes missing out on the champions league so much harder. This window is vital. Without the added funds and the attraction of playing CL football, I’m not very optimistic sadly. After that final performance I am jaded.