What standard of success should Arsenal (and for that matter, Unai Emery) be measured against this campaign? What's fair and reasonable for this lot to achieve? Will they achieve it? Who will put more pressure on Emery: the fans , the media , or the board ? Will the players embrace and adapt to Emery's style of play? For how long? Will there be a tipping point? Who wore it better David Luiz or Mattéo Guendouzi?
We finished 6th last season and AW got canned. I think a Trophy and 5th place would be success given that every team above us on paper, is better. Ideally, we would finish 4th and win Europa and/or FA.
Should achieve/can achieve: Top 4 Media will put most pressure on him, fans will fight among themselves, for the 400th ********ing time, the board hasn't existed since like 2009. I think Ozil will find himself occupying a bench spot. I think Iwobi looked like he might thrive under Unai. Best version of the hair...
Probably not. Last year we lost 11 games away from home. Losing this week is bad but the points can be made up by playing better on the road.
West Ham really suck though not saying Pellegrini cant get it together in time but currently they are awful. At least Arsenal have some great young players who look desperate to win.
I just want a team that looks organized. If they play an offensive trap, they are organized, and it works. If they press, the whole team presses, and it works. I want to see the young players improving, and the stars players put in positions to succeed. I want Emery’s style implemented by season’s end, and I want for Emery to fix the defensive blunders. I expect in-game subs that make sense and the team to compete and to show the infamous word “grit.” This would be success this year to me. Good football with a serious challenge for 4th. Nothing less than 6th.
I think a combination of Shen-O's and wayne_stirrear's responses above really set the tone of what this season should be about for Arsenal. Do all the things Wayne said while achieving all the things Shen said. Even if they fail at all of it, I'm genuinely interested in watching Arsenal play football again!
We have a 100m defense—lowest value among the top 6. Even with a great attack, I can’t see us being consistent enough for a top 4 finish this season unless something magical happens. My expectations are simply improvement in some glaring areas of the past. Here is my list: 10% Fewer XG conceded Our GK in the top 1/2 of the XG save chart instead of near bottom like last season. Top 6 or higher in both the away table and home table. 40+ combined league goals from auba+laca. Faster progression through midfield and into the final third. Finishing the season in a good run of form in the league (top 4 over last 10 games maybe). Reaching at at least the EL final. I think if all those boxes are ticked, I’ll be pleased irrespective of league finish. Hopefully we can do some good work in Jan and next summer on personnel and then make a serious run next year.
And a gooner at that! p.s. If we can somehow develop a credible defense with this lot, that will be quite the achievement!
For the most part, my goals for this season aren't really concrete as much as abstract. We need to beat relegation, of course, and on the upside my primary objective is the same every year, 80 points in the League, no matter what place finish that is. For the more abstract objectives (which again, are more important for us this year), after some reasonable number of games, (say 5, 10, definitely no more than 20) we should consistently achieve performances and results commensurate with our player quality. If our players suck and the other team is just better, there's nothing we can do about that but we shouldn't be getting beat for any other reason. If our results are being held back by players who definitively aren't going to make it, either because of a lack of quality or a system mismatch, we replace them at the first available window or even sooner if there is an internal solution available. We should treat our players fairly, but we shouldn't be taking any shit off them either, especially players who want to economically exploit us and but haven't succeeded with us enough to justify their money demands. We should never be in Ozil, Ramsey, Alexis type situations again. For our youngh-ish players, either somewhere in the academy or on the fringe of the senior squad, those who have the ability to play at our level should be making concrete progress toward contributing to the first team. If we do these things, I can live with wherever we finish.
For me I just want to see some development with the younger players coming through, a more coherent game plan, players who actually put in a shift win lose or draw. Last year I was so frustrated and disillusioned with the team because some days they came out and looked like a top 3 team, and some games we looked like relegation fodder. So far this year we have lost, but it wouldn't have been as bad had our players taken our chances. We really should have only lost 2-1 to City and a draw with Chelsea would have been fair.
Finishing top 4 would mean 2 of Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, and United have collapsed, due to injuries or a manager meltdown or otherwise. I think it's more realistic to win the EL than finish top 4. Looked good in moments against Chelsea... but they too have issues. This is a great list IMO. Throw in a good FA cup run or maybe even a League Cup final with the right luck/draw, and this would be a very successful season. I might amend it to say EL quarter or semi... I don't think this defense is an EL finalist kind of group... but then again they could get lucky with the draws, so who knows on that front. I like Emery, I like the new young CMs, it's possible if the attack is really clicking.
First and foremost I want to see us obviously playing to the manager's selected style with confidence. Without that we will achieve nothing. This could be a painful process, but having the manager trying to implement a playing style and some of the players not doing it, not believing in it or just not being able to play that way will hinder any other objectives we have. If we can embed the manager's philosophy over the first few weeks of the season and start playing at a level commensurate with the players we have in the squad, I will be looking for consistent results in the league and a dramatic upturn in our form away from home compared to last year. I'm loathe to state a final finishing position as I fear we may give up some points early on where we make mistakes during the adaptation period. Into the second half of the season, we should be bearing the fruits of the new system (and possibly new signings in January if deemed necessary) and be at a consistent level. Then a good run in the FA Cup and Europa League (as I think we should breeze through the group whatever) should be the minimum for this year. If we're still in the League Cup come January then this should be a focus too as you should never dismiss silverware lightly. If we go out we go out narrowly, even to the best teams, and we definitely don't go down without a fight as we did against City at Wembley this year. I have fairly low expectations for this season, which won't stop me being totally frustrated when things go wrong by the way, but I am looking forward to seeing the team take shape under Emery with a view to pushing up towards the top of the league in seasons 2 and 3.
Would love a cup run or two, but it’s not a priority and I don’t think it’s indicative of progress. The reason I said EL final is because that’s Emery’s playground. I think it’s a major factor for why he got the job. The knock outs will be in February and he should have the team in decent shape by then and I doubt we will face serious competition until at least the quarters. So finals would be max two opponents of decent level over two legs. No guarantee, but I’d consider it a disappointment if we didn’t reach the final.
No As I think that emery has a lot of work to do Coach shouldn’t be judged on first 3 games of season in light of this squad needing a lot of work
There are still huge issues but some improvement I like how we use our width quicker now and get behind But transitional defence and wayward passes are still prevalent Also I don’t like the 4231
I think emery is still trying to play two cm that both go back forward rather than trusting in a true DM. Until he gives that up we are stuck with a mismatch in midfield.
I would like a top 4 finish at the cost of United. My fear is that they might actually do something sensible, like hire a good manager and let good players play football for a change versus parking the bus. Let's say they fired Mou and hired someone like Jardim then I'd be petrified. Otherwise, we can sneak into top 4. CL would be huge. One or two deep cup runs would be good too.
I want us to at least make the Europa League again as I don't see how we finish top4 with this defense and odd XI choices so far. I expect a decent run in at least 2 of the cups. That is about it for league and cups. Most teams that lose a legend manager struggle and I think we will too. I mostly want to see serious progress at midseason and in May from where we start. I want the team's defense structure and performance getting better and better and outperforming last season by at least 7 to 10 GA. I want our attackers to outperform last season GPG rate. I'd like some hint that younger players were getting introduced and not just loan fodder. I also want real competition for starts at most/all positions and reasonable timely subs made. Finally if his preferred formation isn't working or the high press and offside trap plan continues to struggle then I want manager to adapt to Prem before it is too late.