What do people think Arteta would have accomplished so far that Emery hasn't? Inherited some excellent attacking players, but a complete cluster******** of a midfield and defense. Midfield is looking a little better, defense is still a mess. It won't change overnight but it will eventually get sorted. Emery has had a pretty good record at managing teams. Arteta has no record. Arteta could be the next Pep. Or he could have been a dumpster fire for us. I am sure he will eventually be our manager in the next 5 years, but for now having an experienced manager come in, clean out a lot of players, bring some talent in was the smart choice. It took Pep 5 or 6 transfer windows to sort City out, along with a solid 300mil. Emery has had 1 transfer window.
We'd score more goals. A 30 goal a year scorer a la RVP can paper over any number of sins of the rest of the squad.
Yeah, probably so. Obviously I was a bit splenetic when I wrote that last comment. That said, it does seem that Emery is emphasizing the implementation of his own system at the expense of winning, which I think is a horrible choice. I have nothing against the Emery system. I hope he is successful with it at Arsenal. But that's not what he's here for. If he wins, the fans will love him, the players will buy into whatever he tells them, the suits upstairs will support whatever he needs in the transfer market, he won't get fired for a long time. If he doesn't win, none of those things will necessarily happen. So, I do wish Emery would be spending his time figuring out how to feed the beast instead of what he's been doing.
This is the mentality that sees clubs roll through managers. We are not competitive. Once you accept that, the necessity of restructuring the club, and playing staff into a system that the staff are less important than the continued function of the system is obviously the best move forward. Trying to win now with our players, and our level of finance is a stupid endeavour. Win what? A cup? Who cares, the goal is to become competitive in the league. Cups will be won along the way because the team will be better structurally. If Arsenal did what you were after I would walk, because the pattern has been played out by 5 or 6 clubs when finance was less important and it almost destroyed those clubs. Liverpool aren't better because they have Klopp and a new set of players. They have Klopp, and a new set of better players because the structure is better.
Suggesting we have a player that could do everything like RVP did. If we had RVP when he last had his purple patch, we would have finished top 3 or 4 last season. But to be fair everything he touched became a goal over a 3 year window.
I don't believe this, but if I did I wonder what the consequences are supposed to be. It doesn't seem to hurt Real or Chelsea very much (or Watford, Southampton and Leicester for that matter).
Really, how good do you think we are now? I don't think we're competitive to win the League, but I do think we are competitive to get 80 points in the League. And if we can, it seems to me we absolutely should. In terms of the quality of players we have access to, getting into the Champions League and showing that we're going to at or close to the top of the table is worth more than putting our eggs in the basket of a manager and his brand of "good football".
While the defense is hard to watch at times, I don’t really feel like it’s worse and I’d say it looks marginally better than last season. We’ve conceded goals, but only 4 big chances compare to 8 in the first four games last season. Also, XGA is slightly less. As for the attack, it’s just not clicking yet most of the time and it seems Emery is still tweaking things. We’ve had a different front 4 in every game. So far, I’d say Laca and PEA are a must except maybe against top 6. I don’t see Ramsey and ozil both playing together. They are all over the place and that leaves the fullbacks isolated a lot just like under AW. Miki or iwobi/Danny has to come in for one of them and the other needs to play centrally. After west ham I still thought torriera needed more time to get used to the PL, but it looks like he has it now. I’d like to see Xhaha/torriera start after the break. Xhaka is already up to 4 yellows I think so he will be out for a game soon and that will be a good time to give torriera/guen a run out. As for cech. I know his playing out is hard to watch, but holy shite we are terrible with his long kicks. Almost every one was an immediate turnover. Maybe time to see Leno. Emery also got his first taste of bottom feeder desperation with the endless barrage of set pieces and balls into the box. It’s games like this I wish we could have gotten Nzonzi or similar midfielder to bring on to help combat these tactics. We were battling that lot without a single player taller 6-1, it was always going to result in chances for them.
I don’t get the arteta love in No one knows how he would coach and he has no track record Even Wenger as an ‘unknown’ had won a league title (would have another if not for the cheating in France) in a European league
It's pretty simple, for me at least. In our system, we try to control the game. As a consequence, a completed pass is a good thing, no matter where on the field it is. The players are also led to believe that it's easier to consolidate position by passing backward instead of forwards. Therefore, even if we have the lion's share of possession, the ball is mostly going to be in our own half. Therefore, our creative players and finishers are not going to be the opportunities they need to create chances and score goals. And finally, we have a lot of quality in our creative players and finishers. That's our comparative advantage relative to other teams in the League, even some good ones. So, we shouldn't be throwing away our meaningful comparative advantage in the service of a system that we don't really understand and don't really have the squad to implement.
Don’t get it either. I guess the bleed over from the Pep-love mixed with the ex player emotion makes up quite a bit of it. I think people hope Arteta will be a Pep-arsene hybrid. Starting with Pep. Lots to like about his tactics and philosophy, but the guy has had it made. While city haven’t signed any neymars or MBappes for him, heyve spent plenty. His only competition in the EPL has been a rebuilding Liverpool and dysfunctional United/Chelsea. His first season, he had a few big losses, barely qualified for the CL, lost to us in the FA cup, Jose in the league cup. After they splashed 200m on a new defense last year, he ran away with the league but still crashed out of the CL to pool and the FA cup to league one Wigan. He’s a great manager, but call me when he wins with a squad that is not the most valuable in their respective league.
There is a lot to be excited about IMO - especially the attack and midfield 8 goals for is very decent given the schedule and the midfield is exciting, Xhaka issues notwithstanding. Ozil looked very good in the 2nd half playing deeper. We need that to progress the ball. Auba, Laca, Ramsey - there are goals there. Defence remains a hot mess. Once can only imagine how awful Leno is in training?
I think you're giving Emery (or most managers in general) way too much credit here. It's not like managers are so skilled and knowledgeable about football that they are masterminds of every situation and facet of the game. They learn from experience and from each other, but none of them have magic wands. Emery probably feels his best chance for success is doing what he's been most successful doing, while learning from the people and environment around him as he goes. In his mind, he probably believes he's doing all he can to feed the beast as you say.
Emery has a great record with Sevilla in Europe and did on with them and Valencia in the league He is introducing much more advanced phases of play out wide imo than Wenger but we have an issue with defensive personnel and I personally do not like a 4231 anymore I think we will see his true ideology come into play in the next 3 months and after x mad if he brings people in I do t think even Dino zoff could organise our defence with the likes of mustafi playing If we sign a good attacking lb, a lw and a quality cb to play with Sokratis (he’s been ok imo) then we are good
When you consider that Pool have only scored 9 goals and haven't played anyone from last season's top 6 yet and that City's 11 goals were padded by a 6-1 dismatiling of Huddlesfield, 8 goals is more than decent. Offensively, Emery's only problem may be keeping everyone happy. With Miki, Ozil, Ramsey, Lacazelle, and PEA competing for 4 positions, Emery may have to sit them down and tell them he is going to rotate them to keep everyone fresh. With respect to the defense, the issue appears to be personnel, not tactics. Any system is going to break down if the players are subject to defensive lapses. People have blamed Arsene's tactics for the "hot mess" that is Arsenal's defense, but in the four years before Mertesacher was injured Arsenal's goals against average was virtually identical to the other teams in last season's top 6. You can blame Wenger for his defensive transfers, but I'm not sure you can blame him for poor defensive tactics. Unfortunately, I don't think the current management set up has done any better looking for defenders in the transfers market. In Stones, Laporte, Walker, Mendy, and Danilo, Pep has spent well over £200m on defenders, Liverpool spent £75m on van Dijk alone, Jose keeps chasing new central defenders because he's not happy with the expensive ones he has already bought. Arsenal will not compete for a title until they have better personnel in their defense. This can be achieved either by splashing the cash, or by hoping that young defenders, like Mavropanos, become world class. Either way, it's not going to happen this year.
Yep This is why I find the endless moaning about Ozil and the attack bizarre the quickest wins are the defence.
I'm skeptical. Folks can correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like most of his promise was demonstrated as more of a wing back when we were playing three CBs. As a true left back, he seems to have struggled with the defensive side of things.
He’s not quick enough imo I like him but he has the physique of a holding player from 10 years ago or a cb Maybe he could convert into a cab left footed?