Unai Emery: Adios

[squallman]

picked out some good points here and i believe this is half the problem that Emery is having, He cant get players to stay focused enough. Iwobi, Mkhi, Özil all are very slack when it comes to defending and taking up the right space. Randomly and you see it every week Mustafi will randomly charge off across the back of teh defence to get involved in something that is already covered off. Its not just about the quality of the player, Its about the players being responsible which a lot of these players are not.

That isn't just a Mustafi problem. I watch our games and can't tell half the time what our players are doing. The next time Torreira/Xhaka get on the ball look up the field. Usually, we'll have 5/6 players ahead of the ball and 4 of them will be standing in no mans land. Not contributing to the attack because they're in a poor position to receive the pass and they aren't contributing to the defence because they are out of position.

Its like we're begging teams to hit us on the counter. Pushing players up is fine but far too often those players aren't doing anything and it leaves us vulnerable. Usually, when teams break on us we're lucky if we have 3 of our players near the halfway line and I'm including the center backs in that. Then when we do try to get back I'm still not sure what everyone's role is. Some of our players run back but completely ignore the opposition player running back next to them. At both ends of the pitch it appears to me that our strategy is to just throw bodies at it.

I have always been befuddled at how when we attack there is very little space for us to do so but when teams are attacking us, it seems like they have the freedom of the pitch. We just aren't efficient in anything we do. Yes this problem existed under Wenger but I'd like to see it rectified

 

[Gooner Zig]

Don't really know where to put this but I thought it was an interesting thread on the evolution of the Arsenal and Liverpool squads since our first match against Klopp


There's a pretty decent disparity in spending, Liverpool have spent ~£90m more (gross) than us over this period which equates to one or two class players depending on position. Their spending has been fuelled by their player sales where they have absolutely shown Gazidis and his clueless henchmen how useless they were.

When you think about how much money we've left on the table RE: player sales, it's frightening.

People go on about how we're financially handicapped, Stan won't reach into his pocket etc - if we just ****ing ran this club properly, we wouldn't need to be begging Stan for money.

 

[juice man]

Definitely. Leno, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis & Torreira were signed on his watch... 4 of the back 6 from Liverpool game.

But Sokratis and Torreira have been great successes this season. Under Emery they look twice the players they did last season. Unbelievably harsh to criticize Emery for their performance against Liverpool and conveniently ignore how good they’ve generally been under him.

 

[Toby]

I have always been befuddled at how when we attack there is very little space for us to do so but when teams are attacking us, it seems like they have the freedom of the pitch.

It's missing drills, patterns and triggers of movement up front - we just fail to create space. Doesn't matter if the team is breaking quickly or if the defensive area is congested by the opposition. We lack a clear plan and idea on what to do and where to run to unlock defenses. We can't change the tempo in the attacking third and lack directness - not in our players but more fundamentally in our basic play. pass and move. The most gnawing thing is that the goal by AMN and especially the work done to create that goal by Auba, Ramsey and Iwobi shows this team and these players are basically able to do it going by their raw qualities.

That's been a problem under Wenger, cause he relied on his players' individual creativity and instincts which in this age of football of pure athelticism and the utmost congestion of space can only be relied upon with absolute worldclass players - anyone else has to be 90% taught and drilled into what to do. But if it's still now a problem - and it's honestly hard for me to tell why, cause Emery was made out to be exactly the hands on, modern, systemic tactic fox we'd need, but if he can't get it right, too, he maybe was the wrong guy to choose.

The defensive organization is basically the same problem, only in defensive plays. The stuff I alluded to in my long post about the goals is stuff you can drill into anyone, and the defenders shouldn't think for themselves, basically. The working system becomes a symbiotic living thing so to speak, in which the defender doesn't have to do or think anything besides what he's been told to do so he doesn't disrupt the unit. The added bonus of a wordlcass defender is that on top of executing the drilled stuff right, the probability is higher that he will do right what's maybe not drilled or be able to think further and make a choice of his own better than the manager's. But that's absolute worldclass. Any other defender shouldn't think at all but about their drills and assignments in a perfect system. He reacts to movement and triggers the way he has been drilled to do.

 

[Makingtrax]

Don't really know where to put this but I thought it was an interesting thread on the evolution of the Arsenal and Liverpool squads since our first match against Klopp


There's a pretty decent disparity in spending, Liverpool have spent ~£90m more (gross) than us over this period which equates to one or two class players depending on position. Their spending has been fuelled by their player sales where they have absolutely shown Gazidis and his clueless henchmen how useless they were.

When you think about how much money we've left on the table RE: player sales, it's frightening.

People go on about how we're financially handicapped, Stan won't reach into his pocket etc - if we just ****ing ran this club properly, we wouldn't need to be begging Stan for money.

What a post. This sums up the state of this club perfectly. Money is the major variable in modern football.

You can look at managers, tactics, refereeing decisions, transitional play, YouTube clips etc and you’re just p*ssing in the wind.

The reason we’ved dropped is not about Wenger or Emery. It’s that the three rich clubs have been now been joined by two teams that can compete financially. And they’ve two taken different routes. Liverpool have really splashed the cash and also done some clever wheeler dealing with players, to make large reinvestment sums. Sp**s have acquired some cheaper players with real quality and are hanging on to them.

We on the other hand are making mistakes hand over fist, running down contracts, buying poor players, players past their sell by date, and making losses.

Wenger took the full force of the blame for all this and now Emery is getting the same raw deal.

 

[Gooner Zig]

We on the other hand are making mistakes hand over fist, running down contracts, buying poor players, players past their sell by date, and making losses.

Spending money on quality talent is obviously a big deal, coaching that talent, maximising every ounce of it to form a cohesive unit on the pitch and marrying that with smart investment has what got Liverpool to where they are right now.

Since 13/14 we've done neither. The coaching has been poor and the managing of our resources has been diabolical. Liverpool using their resources at 100% efficiency, they've been super savvy and proactive.

We on the other hand, have been terrible, almost to the point where you question if it's self sabotage. The amount of money we've left on the table because of poorly handled player contracts surely exceeds £100m. Then there's the fact that we simply don't spend the huge resources we have full stop.

 

[Gooner Zig]

If say we get into the CL this season, what do people expect to happen? Are we all of the sudden going to be buying £60-80m players? Do people actually believe this?

We were in the CL for 20 years straight and from 13/14 when the new revenue streams kicked in and we could really go for it, when we actually were in Liverpool's position and all we needed was 2/3 extra quality players to really challenge for titles, what did we do? We did **** all and banked the money.

Why does anyone think it'll be different this time around?

 

[Ceballinhos]

If say we get into the CL this season, what do people expect to happen? Are we all of the sudden going to be buying £60-80m players? Do people actually believe this?

We were in the CL for 20 years straight and from 13/14 when the new revenue streams kicked in and we could really go for it, when we actually were in Liverpool's position and all we needed was 2/3 extra quality players to really challenge for titles, what did we do? We did **** all and banked the money.

Why does anyone think it'll be different this time around?

Because we have Raul Sven and Emery this time so we have a bit more hope.

But I'm tired of this CL excuse too. When we were in the CL we did nothing to really challenge for the title or the CL. We were just happy to get smashed by the first top team we've faced in the knock out stages and happy to make the top 4.

Arsenal is the 6th most valuable club in the world right now according to Forbes.
I'll never believe that we don't have any money available when we haven't spent that much over the last few years.

 

[Ceballinhos]

I'm tired of this "we have no money to spend" ffs

 

[Tourbillion]

Don't really know where to put this but I thought it was an interesting thread on the evolution of the Arsenal and Liverpool squads since our first match against Klopp


There's a pretty decent disparity in spending, Liverpool have spent ~£90m more (gross) than us over this period which equates to one or two class players depending on position. Their spending has been fuelled by their player sales where they have absolutely shown Gazidis and his clueless henchmen how useless they were.

When you think about how much money we've left on the table RE: player sales, it's frightening.

People go on about how we're financially handicapped, Stan won't reach into his pocket etc - if we just ****ing ran this club properly, we wouldn't need to be begging Stan for money.

I am so angry at Wenger, Law and Gazidis.

Absolutely incompetent fools. It beggars belief. Why does Arsenal have to be the cursed one?

 

[Tourbillion]

I'm tired of this "we have no money to spend" ffs

Loans. How exciting. We are basically Scunthorpe.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Because we have Raul Sven and Emery this time so we have a bit more hope.

I'm tired of this "we have no money to spend" ffs

There's your answer. It's not going to be different.

• New Emirates deal gives us ~£20m/year extra;
• Sleeve sponsor (Visit Rwanda) gives us ~£5m/year extra;
• New Addidas deal gives us ~£30m/year extra

The concern is the wage bill though as with Özil's new deal + Auba & Mhki, we'll most likely have a wage bill of ~£210-220m which is disgusting for a team in the EL.

If it were up to me, Mhki would be binned tomorrow.

 

[squallman]

Spending money on quality talent is obviously a big deal, coaching that talent, maximising every ounce of it to form a cohesive unit on the pitch and marrying that with smart investment has what got Liverpool to where they are right now.

Since 13/14 we've done neither. The coaching has been poor and the managing of our resources has been diabolical. Liverpool using their resources at 100% efficiency, they've been super savvy and proactive.

We on the other hand, have been terrible, almost to the point where you question if it's self sabotage. The amount of money we've left on the table because of poorly handled player contracts surely exceeds £100m. Then there's the fact that we simply don't spend the huge resources we have full stop.

We have to thank everyone's saviour Gazidis for that. I don't think any other man has done so much damage to the club in the last twenty years.

Too many people at the club hid behind Wenger and its no surprise now that he's gone and there is nowhere left to hide that they've left.

Penny wise Pound Foolish FC is what we've been over the past few years. Every decision we've made has been poor in the medium to long term. From refusing to sell players who didn't sign a contract just to get one more year out of them. Imagine if we sold Sanchez to City for that 60M and reinvested it. Instead, all we got was Mkhitaryan.

On that note I will never, ever understand our utter refusal to invest in the squad. Has anyone at the club ever heard the mantra of "You have to spend money to make money?" If you invest in the squad and manage to win the league, the club's profile and commercial attraction increase. You can then use that increased attraction to negotiate better commercial deals.

Instead, we tried to cheap our way to the league title, fell short and were stuck. I'm not even going to discuss the fact that our commercial deals should have been far higher than they were regardless of our stagnate nature. Gazidis would come in 2014 and negotiate a shirt sponsorship deal to put us on par with deals that other clubs had agreed in 2010 and fans would trip over themselves to say how great it was. Those same clubs would then eclipse our deal the second they renegotiated in 2015. This isn't even going into our lack of commercial deals from a sheer numbers perspective. How many partners do United have? Or the stadium naming rights debacle.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that they sat on 150M or so in the bank which has done nothing but depreciate in value ever since. What do I mean by that? That 150m around 2010 or so could have bought us 5 world class players. Now we're lucky if we can get two for that price. Even in everyday life, everyone knows its better to buy a property or invest in stock instead of having your money sit in a bank.

Did anyone at the club (besides Wenger) study economics?

Utterly abysmal from top to bottom.

 

[Ceballinhos]

I can't believe I'm wishing we've been bought by Usmanov.

As @squallman said, in order to make money we have to invest.
The longer we go without winning any major titles or making it to the CL, the less money the owner will make in the long run.

It doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I haven't even mentioned the fact that they sat on 150M

It was worse than that. We sat on a historic high of £228M in cash in the 2015/16 season where we were the only team in Europe to not buy an outfield player and went on to lose the title to Leicester ****ing City

 

[Gooner Zig]

I can't believe I'm wishing we've been bought by Usmanov.

As @squallman said, in order to make money we have to invest.
The longer we go without winning any major titles or making it to the CL, the less money the owner will make in the long run.

It doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint.

It all comes down to not having an ambitious owner. Sure management + Wenger could absolutely have done better but they were never under serious pressure to do so. The culture starts from the top and Kroenke doesn't give a ****, that permeates through the whole club. We've paid lip service to being a legitimate big club for years.

That press cutting from Ornstein is 100% spin - no money

 

[squallman]

I'm tired of this "we have no money to spend" ffs

Is Kroenke running a Ponzi scheme out of London Colney?

How is this state of affairs possible? Before anyone mentions that we bought Lacazette and Aubameyang, go back and look at the ins and outs for that season. We made a net profit of 1-2m. The only summers we had a large net spend were the summers we bought Özil, Sanchez and Xhaka respectively. Those sprees surround a summer where we bought no one except Cech, so the 2015 summer and lack of layout there should offset the large outlays in the other years.

How are we broke?

EDIT:
Please don't mention us dropping into the Europa League to me. There are sides below us with worse commercial deals and no money sitting in the bank who have spent just as much if not more than we do.

 

[Ceballinhos]

Is Kroenke running a Ponzi scheme out of London Colney?

How is this state of affairs possible? Before anyone mentions that we bought Lacazette and Aubameyang, go back and look at the ins and outs for that season. We made a net profit of 1-2m. The only summers we had a large net spend were the summers we bought Özil, Sanchez and Xhaka respectively. Those sprees surround a summer where we bought no one except Cech, so the 2015 summer and lack of layout there should offset the large outlays in the other years.

How are we broke?

EDIT:
Please don't mention us dropping into the Europa League to me. There are sides below us with worse commercial deals and no money sitting in the bank who have spent just as much if not more than we do.

And we've won more TV money from our EL run than Man Utd from their CL run...

 

[A_G]

I can't believe I'm wishing we've been bought by Usmanov.

Nah man, Aliko Dangote is the one.

 

[Makingtrax]

Because we have Raul Sven and Emery this time so we have a bit more hope.

But I'm tired of this CL excuse too. When we were in the CL we did nothing to really challenge for the title or the CL. We were just happy to get smashed by the first top team we've faced in the knock out stages and happy to make the top 4.

Arsenal is the 6th most valuable club in the world right now according to Forbes.
I'll never believe that we don't have any money available when we haven't spent that much over the last few years.

Some of that placing is down to the ridiculous value of London assets, like the stadium and training facilities etc. What matters most is cash in the bank and for some inexplicable reasons those sums have never been released.