PL: Arsenal v Manchester City | August 12th, 2018 16:00 BST | Sky Sports

[razörist]

I rate @razörist as a poster, just wish he wouldn’t give me such a hard time.

That was a bit too much maybe.

 

[razörist]

He did not start the conversation. It went onto it because of yesterday's game spilling over to Guardiola's managerial qualities and then how much money he's always had to spend in his teams. It's called a conversation.

Why not ban everyone? Then no-one will bother you.

Sick of the conversation mate! And don't test me, I still have a free ban card open @American_Gooner and I'm not afraid to use it!

 

[Mo Britain]

Sick of the conversation mate! And don't test me, I still have a free ban card open @American_Gooner and I'm not afraid to use it!

Whatever makes you happy. What happens online really doesn't bother me in the least, it's real life that counts imo.

 

[Gooner Zig]

So Deloitte shows us our revenue was only £40 million less than Citeh. and yet you look at the players on the pitch, and on the bench, and we have one or two players who might just about squeeze into their squad (in terms of cost).

Where does all our money go to then? Or do Citeh spend money which is not included as revenue?

Loans, capital contributions from owners

 

[razörist]

Whatever makes you happy. What happens online really doesn't bother me in the least, it's real life that counts imo.

What is 'real' life?

 

[BobP]

1. I thought Guendouzi was fantastic, a very press resistant player.

2. Criticism of both Guendouzi and the other 3 or 4 players who were constantly involved in our build up play should be prefaced by reiterating that we were up against Guardiola's City. In other words, this is as hard as it's going to get.

3. The average positions of our CMs was higher than I expected it to be. I had a look at the average positions of Sevilla when Emery was there and it was common to see the Sevilla CMs interacting very closely with the CBs, something which was borne out by their average positions.

4. People shouldn't make too much of the Özil on the left VS Özil through the middle debate. Sterling failed to track back on numerous occasions which meant Özil had quite a bit of time to pick his passes, something which he uncharacteristically struggled with. I can also see the value of playing Ramsey through as will be borne out in point No. 5.

5. Our pressing had some interesting elements but remains a work in progress. In saying that, as I said in point No. 2, we were up against some exceptional players coached by an exceptionally astute manager. Nonetheless, our front 3 would sit off City's back 3 and only press in response to certain triggers. For Aubameyang, I think that trigger was Laporte receiving the ball. At the same time, Ramsey would cover Fernandinho so that Laporte could only play the ball to Stones. As soon as Laporte played the ball to Stones, Ramsey, and sometimes Aubameyang, would sprint at Stones. A crucial element was that Ramsey would make his run in a way which cut off the lane to Fernandinho. Aubameyang would do the same for the pass back to Laporte. What killed us was Gundogan's movement. He frequently dropped back and played a wall pass into Fernandinho which enabled City to evade our press. What was disappointing was that although Emery set the team up very narrowly, in order to cover the blind side I presume , in those instances where Gundogan dropped deep Mkhitaryan failed to pay attention to that aspect as he was often fixated upon pressing Walker if Stones decided to play the ball to him.

6. Mendy was a problem for City, when our pressing did succeed, it was often because of how he struggled once he cut inside, something which Delph, as a natural midfielder, was more adept at.. Something to keep in mind for our next fixture.

7. We were a bit passive when it came to pressing City's wide players. I do understand the logic because if the FBs go out to press them, the channel opens up. Could argue for either approach.

Disappointed by the loss of course but a lot to look forward to.

 

[Ceballinhos]

Imo the statement of splitting Wenger's reign into two parts is false, it should be three !

Obviously, the first part very much lasts to the invincibles area and a bit further.
That patch very much ended with the move to the Emirates which has been stated often enough on here and does not require too much in depth explanatio as to why this has been hard and our financial means have been cut, to say the least.

The second part, something Wenger has stated himself and I very much agree to this in most parts, has been his best part and hardest to do. To even keep us in contention for the highest honors, to keep us a household name in world football, to still bring up worldclass players on a consistent basis, to play the beautiful Arsenal-way and to be successfull nonetheless.

The third part isn't so easy to define in regard to its starting point, but it might be a bit before or after the Leicester title winning season.

I think he got caught by time a bit by then and his tactical game was no longer good enough for the biggest level. He also did no longer have the magic touch (and luck) to get the biggest gems in world football or to get the best out of his signings all the time.

One of his biggest strenghts, being (too) trusting in his players became more and more his biggest flaw. He destroyed his own legacy at a time where he finally could've spent a bit more than in all the years with a tight pocket.
The biggest mistake was probably not signing Kante when he was eager to come because he trusted Coquelin and co to do the job.

He was overachieving for two very distinct time periods and it was only very much the last couple of years where he really could and should have done things better/DIFFERENT.

I don't buy into the "tactical game was no longer good enough for the biggest level".

I just think it is just down to having less quality players.
Why?
Because the competition has caught up and we're in a globalized market where every professional club know most of the players and are not affraid to spend money on young foreign talents.

The others have caught up and we were left behind.

20 years ago Arsenal under Wenger's reign has brought most of the french talented players with the likes of Vieira Henry Anelka Wiltord Petit Pirès.
And we have failed to bring even one of the Mbappé, Dembélé, Umtiti, Varane, Kanté, Pogba, Griezmann, Pavard, Mendy generation.

 

[Mo Britain]

What is 'real' life?

Not what happens in your smartphone or laptop. Like when it rains you get wet? When it's hot you sweat? When you have a coffee you actually taste and drink it? Etc,

 

[razörist]

Not what happens in your smartphone or laptop. Like when it rains you get wet? When it's hot you sweat? When you have a coffee you actually taste and drink it? Etc,

What happens on your smartphone is just as real as the rain drops on your skin mate. Lots of people prefer online interactions to offline.

 

[Mo Britain]

What happens on your smartphone is just as real as the rain drops on your skin mate. Lots of people prefer online interactions to offline.

Um...no. If you're hungry the most wonderful pics of food on Instagram won't help you. You may prefer it, but it ain't real.

 

[Makingtrax]

We really need to dissociate Wenger's work between the different eras.

I think Wenger recruiting has been underwhelming since the 2013 summer.

He has failed to build solid fundations.
Emery has inherited from a totally unbalanced squad:

Wenger has left our squad that has:

- A terrible GK & defense situation. Bellerin has been out of form for at least 2 years. Our CB situation was/is a concern. Kolasinac has been a flop so far and Monreal is getting older.

- Our midfield hasn't been working since the Cazorla/Coquelin partnership in 2015.
Our DM situation has been a weak spot for years that I can't even tell I just remember every pundits/fans wanted a DM signing in the early 2010.
And we've never replaced our true leaders in the cm spot that were Cesc (before he was turned into a CAM and then left), Arteta, and finally Cazorla. Ramsey is clearly not that kind of player.

- Our attack is unbalanced. We have really good players there, but we don't have any good wingers in the squad.
We've seen the importance of the Sterling/mahrez type of player yesterday.

Ofc on its day this squad can beat almost any team.
But it has huge flaws that held us back and make us an inconsistent team.
And consistency is what is needed if you want to compete for a championship.

This is, imo Wenger's fault and his staff/the board?
We've made a bunch of pointless signings: Perez, Welbeck, Mustafi, Gabriel, Chambers, Xhaka that haven't improved us at all. And we have to sell them for a big loss.

We've made changes behind the scene a bit too late.

Painting a bleak picture.

Is Cech terrible? Maybe with his feet, he’s not the best playing out. But yesterday he made 4 superb saves. It could easily have been 3 or 4-0. Anyway Emery has Leno to bring in and play the way he likes.

Welbeck is a very good squad member and has scored some crucial goals. Xhaka is like marmite, but has a stack of supporters for his talent on AM, Wenger not alone in liking the player.

All teams have bought players that didn’t work out, we’re not unique.

The bottom line is we don’t have a squad to match the top 4 and we all know why that is, and it’s not because Wenger has filled us with lemons.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Painting a bleak picture.

Is Cech terrible? Maybe with his feet, he’s not the best playing out. But yesterday he made 4 superb saves. It could easily have been 3 or 4-0. Anyway Emery has Leno to bring in and play the way he likes.

Welbeck is a very good squad member and has scored some crucial goals. Xhaka is like marmite, but has a stack of supporters for his talent on AM, Wenger not alone in liking the player.

All teams have bought players that didn’t work out, we’re not unique.

The bottom line is we don’t have a squad to match the top 4 and we all know why that is, and it’s not because Wenger has filled us with lemons.

I agree on most of your points but not the one that says we haven't got a top 4 squad.

I am more concerned about HOW FAST Emery can transform his ideas to the fullest like Pep and Klopp have before with their respective squads. Sure, those two are the extremes as they are a level above anyone else, but all others, Chelsea, Tottenham and ManU are not really superior to us or at least not too far ahead.

It is also always a matter of luck - if we have some good results on the run soon, we might go on to win a lot.

That being said, I expect Emery to need 1 year to make his ideas work, but if he can do it this season he deserves high praise

 

[Ceballinhos]

Painting a bleak picture.

Is Cech terrible? Maybe with his feet, he’s not the best playing out. But yesterday he made 4 superb saves. It could easily have been 3 or 4-0. Anyway Emery has Leno to bring in and play the way he likes.

Welbeck is a very good squad member and has scored some crucial goals. Xhaka is like marmite, but has a stack of supporters for his talent on AM, Wenger not alone in liking the player.

All teams have bought players that didn’t work out, we’re not unique.

The bottom line is we don’t have a squad to match the top 4 and we all know why that is, and it’s not because Wenger has filled us with lemons.

I haven't said Cech was terrible.
And tbf he seems to come back to his best level (at least on his line) and maybe it's thanks to the new coaching staff and Leno's competition?
Idk but by the end of last season Cech was terrible and he has cost us a fair amount of points.
More than the other GK from the top 6.

Welbeck hasn't improved Arsenal by any means. He was just another squad player when we were badly in need for a striker who is able to truely compete with Giroud and has the ability to score 20 goals.
Welbeck wasn't that player. And lacazette is. But we've brought it way too late imo.

I'm not saying Xhaka isn't talented. I think he's a bad fit and he hasn't been consistent enough to prove me wrong.

We don't have the squad to compete because we have less ressources AND wasted so much money on average/squad players instead of using those same funds to buy a quality player and be settled for good.
How much money has been wasted on Gabriel Chambers Mustafi in less than a year? With better scouting we could have brought a very good CB with that amount of money. Or at least a solid one.

We should be doing what Liverpool is doing right now. They don't have an owner who is backing them. They're using their own ressources. And according to most reports we have more incomes than they have.
They're bringing in the best players who aren't playing for a top club yet and addressing their weaknesses really fast. And they came back to the top level very fast. It doesn't take a lot to come back. You need ressources (we do have them but not using them) to fix your squad (we haven't done enough imo) while having a good coach who is going to build a solid team (I think we do).

Let's see what this new team does with the ressources they have. I'm very happy with Torreira, Lich was a good addition, and Sokratis looks solid so far.

 

[razörist]

Um...no. If you're hungry the most wonderful pics of food on Instagram won't help you. You may prefer it, but it ain't real.

So there has to be a tangible component for something to be real? I disagree. What is love? You can't touch it, you can't eat it. Is that not real?

 

[say yes]

People are overreacting far too much to this result tbh. Says absolutely nothing about Emery, the squad, any inidividual, or our chances of top 4.

There’s only one thing we can take from that game and it’s that Man City are absolutely insane.

Weren’t at their swashbuckling best last night but the way they controlled the pitch was immense. One of the very best opposition sides I’ve ever seen live.

 

[bingobob]

I'm not sure where I stand on this. In the cold light of day yesterday's performance was positive and negative.

Mustafi looked a player Xhaka didn't.

 

[say yes]

What happens on your smartphone is just as real as the rain drops on your skin mate. Lots of people prefer online interactions to offline.

 

[Mo Britain]

So there has to be a tangible component for something to be real? I disagree. What is love? You can't touch it, you can't eat it. Is that not real?

Good point. But the answer in strict terms has to be "no". Love is a construct. And ignoring the power of suggestion which can create physical sensations fact is something tangible will affect you in a way that something virtual cannot.

Seriously though, you mean to say when you get a couple of trolls spewing rubbish at you it hurts you as if you were glassed down the pub?

 

[razörist]

Why @say yes, enlighten me?

 

[SingmeasongSong]

People are overreacting far too much to this result tbh. Says absolutely nothing about Emery, the squad, any inidividual, or our chances of top 4.

There’s only one thing we can take from that game and it’s that Man City are absolutely insane.

Weren’t at their swashbuckling best last night but the way they controlled the pitch was immense. One of the very best opposition sides I’ve ever seen live.

Amen.