Ricardinho
La Liga Correspondent
Yeah, not gonna make much difference at this stage with 10 or a hazard hobbling around unable to contribute.
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Premier League 18/19: Matchday 13
- Thread starter A_G
- Start date
- Replies 234
- Views 18,143
Yeah, not gonna make much difference at this stage with 10 or a hazard hobbling around unable to contribute.
- Thread starter
- #202
Auba has scored a lot of important goals this season against Cardiff, Leicester and Palace.
Country: England
Was only pulling your leg, think you need a holiday.
- Thread starter
- #204
Never know when you’re joking tbh
MaraDon
Wants you to learn about football
He has Ramon Diaz/Wenger/Monaco DNA.
He is all about collective football.
Sniper Mik
Not a Closet Sp**s Fan
Disgraceful tactics from Sarri. But the **** get away with absolute murder from the referees. Disgusting all round.
HBL
Established Member
Confused by this? Hazard is inconsistent and always has been, Messi is levels ahead of Hazard.
Malky
Established Member
Frustrating that we should of done to Chelsea what Sp**s did and exposed them for the average side they are right at the start of the season. Their strikers are ****, Jorginho hasn't done anything worth mentioning, Hazard is inconsistent and has a habit of being a coward in big games (yet never gets the media abuse that Özil unfairly got/gets) and they wasted £70M+ on an average keeper with one good season in La Liga before signing for them.
We can, and should, finish above this Chelsea team.
We can, and should, finish above this Chelsea team.
rich 1990
Not A Big Believer In Diversity
Hazard really is a joke.
Country: Norway
We need a win tomorrow. You can already see that Liverpool and City are running away with top two, top four is another matter. Can we hang on?
4th will be tricky, good news is that 5th should be a doddle. Yay.
Oh_Snap
Well-Known Member
Former Arsenal player gets subbed in and denies the spuds a clean sheet...it's still something.
We better should. "Looks deceive" pretty much describes what we're seeing right now: The team mostly kind of looks better but in terms of countable performance it's exactly the same as last season.
Right now it seems Wenger going was needed in terms of the backstage evolution of the club, but I can't really see a big difference in quality between Emery and Wenger. Yeah, I know, this is a work in progress and Unai prepares and watches videos and makes substitutions and so on - yet it really, really hasn't gotten the club into a better position although he even has a better squad at his disposal.
I have to be honest, I expected a bit more going into the Christmas period in terms of changes in style - and maybe only few better stats. But right now Arsenal is far off the massive impact new managers had at other clubs like Dortmund and Chelsea on the footballing style. And it would kind of be okay to not have a clear change in style, if I could see something in the stats and tables that would suggest something else is getting better - less goals conceded, more goals scored, better league position - but it's basically the same/the margins are so fine they're not worth being mentioned. And I kind of think the games against City and Chelsea are a bit deceiving, too. Lots of people say Arsenal would have lost higher or folded or wouldn't have put in such a performance - in 16/17 we actually beat City in the FA Cup semi and then there's last season's game against United when we played them off the park but still lost, which is exactly the same as the early Chelsea game.
To be honest, I expected more. Not overall and not something specific, certainly not a better league position..but you know, if we're still 5th and leaking goals a great attacking game. Or vice versa: If we can't score more than last season, then to concede less. Klopp took over Liverpool when they were 9th, he only took them to 8th, but you could already see his style taking shape during that first season which is absolutely okay. But right now at Arsenal this is very much same same to me - apart from the needed backstaff shake up which is great, I think.
And I feel we're coming towards a good first moment to evaluate things. Emery knew he was joining before the last season ended, he had a complete pre season with most of the squad of 2 months, now we're about 4 months into the season. He got Leno, Sokratis and Torreira - and basically also Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan. Yet for all the adjustments you perceive - the new shape, a seemingly more organized basic structure, smarter substitutions and in game management - I'm kind of struggling to see what he's trying to do or where he wants to get this team. And sure, the squad is missing some high quality pieces, but that's certainly not the reason holding Emery's plans back - this is still a quality squad and no one can tell me that the stuff against Wolves was the best you can get out of this team or that Mustafi or any other single player is the bane of our problems. Eddie Howe makes it work with a team of plodders anyone of Arsenal's players would walking into. Sure the Liverpool game looked better but in the grander scheme of things that's still just a draw and our only point against 3 big teams.
In the end you change managers 'cause you want to raise the performance in a way. And right now I'm not seeing that really. I'm interested to see where Emery takes this team over the course of the season, but if it's going on like this, even with another big summer transfer window I wouldn't expect much. If he can't develop this team, who's to say he can develop the same team with few additions. The actual change of managers has had the smallest on field impact at Arsenal of all bigger teams changing managers last summer.
If Arsenal are playing great football by March, even without climbing the table or winning a trophy, I'll eat my words and will be much more comfortable with Emery at the helm. But right now I'm not sure if he's the one to manage Arsenal longterm, or just a guy here for 2 or 3 seasons putting the basics of the modern game in place. And that's another point. Work in progress and teaching a team modern tactics fair and well - but how long until that becomes an excuse for underachieving? We changed managers cause the club felt it was underachieving, that is the whole point. So how many seasons do we give him? Lets not kid ourselves, this is a crucial turning point. Can we make it back into top 4 and ultimately title challengers or will we end up the Sevilla of England? And as much people love to go on about players, transfers and the money: In the end it's about what managers do with it.
Tomorrow is a crucial game. A win could see us close the gap on Chelsea and keep in touch with Sp**s. A loss would mean 4 points on 4th, 6 points on 3rd with the North London Derby and United coming up next. After the next two matchdays, at best we could have closed the gap and went on par with Tottenham at 30 points, or at worst sit 9 points behind them well trailing the top 4 in early December already. Emery really has to earn his badges now.
Edit: I may have to add that I looked up Emery's first season at Sevilla. He finished in the same league position as the season before, 9th, and on a similar points tally. The next he took them to 5th and an EL title. So he seems a man of slow starts. Although it would be interesting to look at Sevilla the season right before him and at his first season there to actually get an idea if his implemantation of a distinct style was as invisible and slow in Spain as it is here as of now. I am all for giving him two full seasons to see where it goes, but right now I am not completely sold anymore. I definitely expected more from a guy who made the EL his ***** three times in a row. But then again the quality of that competition has gone up a bit in the last two or maybe three years with a number of underachieving big Guns consistently dropping out of the CL. I mean, Klopp's 8th finishing Liverpool made it to its final in 2016.
So yeah, I don’t have the full picture as I am missing Info on Emery's Sevilla days, but looking at it right now he has to take it up a notch.
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Country: Australia
It'd be depressing for them with their best start ever their still only potentially 3 points ahead of us by the end of the weekend.
They are starting to roll though.
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Country: Australia
Country: Australia
I don't know about that , Chelsea won a title only a season ago , 2 titles in four years , Sp**s have done nothing .
Tir Na Nog
Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes
Country: Ireland
Just look at the amount of mistakes yesterday from Jorginho, this is incredible.
- Thread starter
- #219
Who?At least he puts away tap in's unlike some ...
Country: Australia
Auba and Laca , I'm being facetious though .
