So we drew to Norwich away, at Norwich but playing away is not an excuse. A team of our calibre should win this game (should not matter that Norwich had a good result vs City).
The positives:
– The team played with more intent going forward
– The team outshot the opposition, albeit by one shot
– Freddie’s reaction at the end of the game on the side line was good, he was annoyed that we didn’t win. His post-match interview was also good
– Leno was clearly MOTM
– Torreira did well when he came on
– Auba scored two
– Xhaka didn’t do poorly
The negatives:
– Conceded two goals on the break. We still can’t defend at the edge of our box.
– Chambers had a good first half and then he had moments but overall he struggled defensively
– Mustafi had the usual lapses of concentration
– Willock was like a ghost on the pitch
– Ozil didn’t really impact the game but seems he was told to play more like a fake winger
– Auba on the right wing worked well initially but he is so much more lethal as a central forward
– Luiz is not acting at a leader at the back
– 2 points lost
Questions for Thursday’s game:
– Will Bellerin, AMN or Chambers play at RB?
– Will Holding or Sok or Mustafi play at CB next to Luiz?
– Will Tierney replace Kola?
– Who will play ahead of Willock or will Freddie trust him again?
– What about Ozil?
– Will Pepe be given a chance?
– Will Auba be back in the centre?
– Will FL and BFG try new players?
Leno – Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Tierney – Chambers, Torreira, Douzi – Laca – Pepe, Auba
Anyways…COYG!
RC78
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thank you RC78, your input lately has been greatly appreciated.
Nice one, RC.
One game in and I’ve seen comments (elsewhere) asking for Freddie to go! Really??
Sheesh! Unbelievable!
FA Cup draw is tonight!! Please not Liverpool!!
Thanks RC
As the old song has it, there are more questions than answers…
Truth to tell, we can’t place too much store in yesterday’s game given Freddie and Big Per only had one training session.
A different mindset in midfield (tactically and individually) is essential.
I would like to see Freddie given a chance of managing Arsenal for more than just till the end of the season. He knows the players and I think we did pretty well on Sunday, considering Freddie didn’t have a lot of time to get the players moulded into his way of playing, but with a few more days before we play again, hopefully we can start winning games and conceding less.
Judith
From a sentimental perspective I agree, but we don’t want to find ourselves in a ManUtd situation where the caretaker (Solskjaer in their case) gets a few good results, is promptly given a long contract and then prove not quite up to the job.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to see how Freddie does for the time being and then take stock.
When I saw the team selection i thought that Emery was still there, well Ljungberg was his right hand so no surprise there. I watched the game and it was the same shit all over again, although I must admit that saed and Xhacka had an ok day and leno and auba a good one. We need a proper manager now Ljungberg is not up to the task, Saka on instead Pepe is absolute bullshit and Guendouzi starting ahead of torreira ????? guendouzi needs a break he has not offered us anything this season except running for 90 m absolutely clueless, I must say I dont understand why Ljungberg is there he worked closely with emery and must have had his doings in the catastrophe currently at Arsenal
RC
Still find it difficult to see how Luiz still gets a place in the centre of your defence.
Leno
AM-N (reluctantly)Chambers Holding, Tierney
Torreira
Smith-Rowe Ouzi Ozil Willock Pepe
Aubang
@peaches – no need to mention. happy to contribute 🙂
I think FL should be given till X-Mas, but be kept as part of the coaching staff by whomever takes over and I am hoping it s Ancelotti because he is struggling at Napoli now so there may be an opening of getting him in.
I think Thursday will give us more insight on Ljungberg and BFG but what was clear is that they wanted experienced and robust players on the pitch that can run up and down…I think that FL would have
– been disappointed by his defensive axis Chambers-Mustafi-Willock on the right side of the pitch so I would expect some changes there;
– been happy with Torreira’s performance when he came in.
FL and BFG know they need to address the defensive gaps and lapses so they may try some other players out OR also try the 3 at the back option, FL played 3 at the back sometimes with the under 23s.
My take is that if you want DL to be your defensive leader, you need to play with 3 at the back and he will play on the left side of this 3 CBs. Holding would then be cour CB in the center and the last spot would be between Chambers and Mustafi.
Leno – Chambers, Holding, Luiz – Bellerin, Torreira, Douzi, Tierney – Pepe, Laca, Auba
In this set-up, you would need Douzi and Laca to basically create the chances in the middle of the park but most of our chances would come through our FBs but can they do it? OR
you don’t play Pepe and you play Ozil or Willock or Ceba or ESR and they are asked to create from the middle of the park as well and there is a but less stress on the FBs…
so many questions 😦 I hope FL and BFG will find the right set-up for the team to win games and to be hard to break and beaten.
@Kalli – I think the team selection was one that was cautious by Freddie. He went with experience in an away game….As for Douzi, he needs to be more effective but he is the only mid that carries the ball forward and actually goes past opponents – Xhaka, Torreira can’t do that. Willock and ESR – we need to see and Ozil and Ceba can do it but only closer to the box so there you go..we still need Douzi’s dynamism in the middle of the park.
@LBG – Luiz is our best defender despite his flaws. I would love to play Chambers-Holding but I d feel more comfortable with a third CB next to them because they can also switch off.
Thanks for the analysis RC.
If only we had consistency of a good kind. Take Chambers, he has had some good games at RB, but yesterday he was woeful in the second half. Willock looked amazing when he came on in the EL final – yesterday he was anonymous .. but he has the excuse of being young and still developing.
I liked Freddie’s interview. He knows the defence has to be worked on. If he can get the same players to concentrate for 90 minutes on the basics of defending then he will have achieved something that neither AW or UE managed.
The energy levels up to when we conceded were very good and the defence wasn’t being tested. Somehow you always expect Mustafi to come out second best with a one on one with a striker. He fell over at a vital time yesterday (as he has done before) and it was only a fantastic save from Leno that prevented them scoring. It’s almost as though he thinks if I go to ground I can’t be blamed.
There is unquestionably room for improvement with the players we have at our disposal. I’d say as long as we can see signs of improvement and hopefully begin to develop some kind of footballing identity, then Freddie will be doing a good job.
Freddie knows the squad. Freddie says he will select his team based on training sessions performance, which is good BUT some players like Hazard, Neymar keep their energies for the game so would be unfair to only base his squad on training sessions especially keeping players like Ozil and Pepe in mind.
Freddie says he wants to be more of a possession-based and wants to also be better in transition when we lose the ball. We all agree with the area that needs improvement. Now does he have the players to improve this area? If not, how does he set up the team to be harder to break on the break?
At this stage and in the past 18 months, which players are guaranteed starts in our team:
– Leno, Douzi, Laca, Auba ?
Our defenders simply need to learn that occasionally it is ok to press the ball if you have cover, it seems we try to stand off too much and hope we can deny them opportunities by crowding them out, a challenge or even attempt to challenge us enough to do one of three things:
1. Win the ball
2. Put attacker off balance/make him change course
3. Give away a foul
Either of the above is better than allowing them to progress to the 18 yard box and give them opportunity to strike through bodies risking deflections.
As for rest of the report RC can’t complain with most of that, don’t think 2 days is enough to judge Freddie’s selection or players performances, as others have said first and foremost we started the game the right way and passes went forward more than sideways early on, it seemed like players started to lose faith in that pattern of play though as the game went on and Norwich started to strengthen.
I think the missed opportunity at 0-0 was key to the shape of the match, at no point did Norwich have to chase the match, and if Willock had passed to PEA or Laca had scored from the same moment we may have had a more positive result. Something about the way we started said Invincibles in so much as we seemed to want to score the first quickly in the first 20 minutes or so, because they didn’t happen I think the team lost a bit of confidence.
There was something very reassuring about having the BFG on the bench.
If he can’t sort the defence out, no one can.
Saka must be amazing in training because so far I haven’t seen anything better than Walcott on a bad day.
Thanks for the post RC
I have always been one to bang on about getting the right set-up, but I think this club has gone backwards far enough that it is no longer as simple as the right or wrong set-up anymore.
We often talk on here about changing this player for that player but after the next game when it hasn’t worked we switch them back around again as a suggestion.
Undoubtedly getting the right set-up with players that compliment each other in the right balanced way, and with the right players in their strongest positions is a must. However, I think that what affects this club is the lack of a high calibre and modern playing style that suits the EPL. There are so many bad habits and incorrect attitudes now at the club that need changing and it will not happen overnight.
Emery has fostered more bad habits onto the playing style and focus of the team and was obviously not the right man to take us on from the Wenger era, but lets not kid ourselves that Arsene, as great as he was, had started to foster bad habits onto the team for a few seasons before he left. The team and its style had started to move backwards under him, so we are not looking at purely a recent malaise that needs to be turned around. Emery and Arsene had some slightly different faults but also some similar ones.
The team often look slow and pedestrian compared to other (even lower table) teams. We seem to lack urgency in our play both going forwards with the ball and when defending. It often looks like we are in a training session when we play matches. The perpetual sideways and backwards passes and lack of incisiveness is something that we have been discussing for the last 4 years of Arsene’s reign, not just recently with Emery.
We have looked poorly coached defensively for a long time. Our game management and reading seems bad. Mental focus is poor. Players don’t seem to know their roles and seem to defer responsibility all too often with no-one accepting the responsibility in certain areas of the pitch, most notably at the base of our midfield.
A manager who wants to play a more urgent and aggressive forward thinking style, but without losing quality when in possession, is required. Someone who also believes in coaching the defence so that the players are focused and understand their roles within the team, and accept the responsibility with this.
Now this could be Freddie, so lets wait and see if he can start to turn us in the right direction. It is why I have been keen on Arteta as well because more than anything I want someone who can slowly progress us into that modern playing style and then eventually challenge at the top again. If he could bring 3/4 of what he has witnessed under Guardiola we would improve significantly.
As I say, the way we train and play is more important right now than any other consideration. I don’t think all the players have the ability to adapt to that style of play that we see Liverpool and City adopt, so I think we will have to be prepared for more ins and outs. Some can and will adapt but just haven’t till now because they have not been coached to do so. Lets see what Freddie does. Reading between the lines his outlook seems to be more about the modern fast aggressive style of play with forward momentum, rather than sideways and backwards, so I am excited to see what happens over the next number of games.
One small positive that hasn’t really been mentioned is that at least we made a comeback in this game to earn a point (twice coming from behind).
Since our last victory we have had a habit of throwing away winning or drawing positions:
Frankfurt – we lost 1-2 after scoring first.
Saints – 2-2 draw – we went ahead, conceded 2 then (untypical) grabbed an injury time equalizer).
Leicester – lost 0-2
Vitoria – 1-1 – we scored after 80 minutes but couldn’t hang on. Vitoria equalized in the 91st.
Wolves – 1-1 – we scored after 21 mins, conceded after 76.
Liverpool (Carabao) – 5-5 – crazy game where the lead kept changing hands.
Palace – 2-2 – we were 2-0 up after 9 mins and blew it.
RC
Sorry Luiz has never been a centre back defender and if he is the best we have got, God help us!!
RC
Cant understand three at the back….
….and are you really saying Luiz is NOT a “switch off at the backer”?…….not track the runner, back off and not challenge attackers, turn his back on shots….. expert.
Mustafi and Sokratis both have more heart…..just less usable ability!!
LBG – Luiz is not the best defender but he is the best we have imho until Holding gets his fitness and concentration back to his normal level. When Luiz played 3 at the back at Chelsea, he was the best CB in the league that season. I m not saying that DL is good and I am not saying that we should play 3 at the back but I am making a point that if we re struggling defensively and if DL is the best CB we got, then the option to play 3 at the back to put him in the best dispositions to perform would need to explored. Also playing three at the back allows our FB to push forward more and all our FBs are better at going forward than at defending. Bellerin is still not back to his best, Tierney is still looking for fitness and Kola is definitely a threat going forward..I am not even putting AMN and Chambers in this list because ther re not real FBs. So there could be some value in playing 3 at the back althouth it seems that FL will play 4 at the back and although my preferred formation is more like 4321 or 4231 BUT I still think that the back 3 should be explored as an option, especially in away games
Following Rocky’s ‘extra positive’, I think it’s worth mentioning that Freddie stated before the game that he wasn’t going to come in and make wholesale changes straight away.
I think you can look at that game as an audition for 5 or 6 of the players. To my mind Mustafi and Chambers (as a RB) failed the audition and Xhaka, Willock, Luiz and Kolasinac may have earned themselves a second look …. all in terms of starting in our best available eleven.
It really shouldn’t be that hard to coach the CD’s for one to push out and intercept and one to hold behind rather than just back off with no pressure on the ball until a player is in shooting range.
I still personally would rather see a back 4 but with either Luiz or Chambers at the base of the midfield. I think my preference at the moment is for Luiz to be pushed forwards and to try and get Chambers and Holding to form a solid dependable CB pairing.
That triangle between the base of the midfield and the 2 CB’s should make us less porous through the middle. It also allows Luiz to cut off much of the danger higher up the pitch but when it does get by him you could instruct Chambers to push out and intercept leaving Holding holding behind (no pun intended). Chambers should be able to do this as Luiz should be then going behind him to cover with Holding.
Get that right and we will be better to some degree, but I also feel our FB’s need some specialist coaching in the modern FB role. Bellerin has needed some specialist coaching for a while now to really become world class. Add that to the stronger triangle and we should be so much better. We could still play a front 3 then with Ozil behind in a free role and a BTB CM operating between him and Luiz.
BFG on the bench?
These were the subs on Sunday …
3 Tierney
5 Papastathopoulos
11 Torreira (s 70′)
19 Pepe
26 Martinez
35 Martinelli (s 89′)
77 Saka (s 78′)
No sign of Holding – is he injured or just out of favour?
Well done, RC, a very good analysis in the Post, altho you will not convince everyone – but that’s what fan blogs are about – without different views none of us would bother. 😁
There have been some extremely good comments today, and that is no surprise on AA, but I am going to say it as I see it — as usual.🥺
I was really looking forward to seeing the new improved Arsenal coach and his picks for the team.
Unfortunately, my eager anticipation far out streaked reality, because it seemed – to me – Embers had put on a ‘Freddie’ mask, with the same old team and the same old shambles.
Clearly I was being unrealistic in my hopes, but I was expecting The Fred to spice things up at least with some more of our kids – not the same old/same old misfits.
That said — let’s be honest, The Fred has had the job for two minutes, and said he did not want to shake things up too much (yet?) and that’s fair enough.
If Kroenke does not carry out an overhaul of the current squad in January then The Fred has no chance. If Kroenke does not overhaul the squad in the summer, then the new guy (The Fred would have gone) would also have little hope of changing things either.
My concern might be overstating the situation and saying ‘if this’ or ‘if that’ is perhaps wishful thinking — but unless there are bloggers who genuinely think our squad has quality, I doubt the downward spiral will continue, because at base, the best coaches/managers will not join us if he/she is not promised an overhaul.
Pessimism on my part? I do not see it like that, it is more of a realistic and perhaps fatalistic view based on having two quality managers in AW and Embers (yes, in different circumstances Embers could have turned things around) neither of whom paid much, if any, attention to the defence, and instead fantasied that Attack for Attack’s sake is all we needed to be successful.
Food for thought — Our best midfielder (Ramsey) let go for nothing; Our then captain, and for a long time our best defender (Kozzer) also let go for nothing(?) — but our potentially excellent forwards were added to with another ‘top’ player, for a lot of money, and so far has been a flop.
The game on Sunday proved nothing one way or the other – but the same old/same old, as mentioned above, is there waiting in the wings — we were lucky not to lose that game — new manager bounce(?) dead cat bounce (?) I didn’t see a lot of ‘bounce’ at all, but I am glad for those who did.
Only Bellerin and Ceballos are listed as injured on arsenal.com … both have hamstring problems.
Lbg going back to your response from yesterday, if we play lacazette and aubameyang up top were would pepe play or ozil play
One of the reasons I don’t mind aubameyang playing out wide cause it allows us to have all our best players on paper in the team
I hope that Holding’s omission is down to some injury or illness that the club haven’t highlighted, and not that he has been squeezed out. I would find that just another example of bizarre decision making and poor management to treat a promising young English defender that way.
One would have to question whether the club has lost all sanity if he has been pushed aside. What is it that he would have done wrong to warrant such treatment? One or two iffy games after returning from a major injury……Pfff, It is hardly as if Mustaffi, Socratis and Luiz have showered themselves in glory enough to suggest he is less worthy sticking with than them.
My gut feeling is that he is experiencing some discomfort in the knee he injured but not necessarily to the level that is considered a fresh injury, just one that requires a bit of extra time to work on away from full games and that the club didn’t feel the need to list him as injured.
RA, picking up on your mention of Kroenke needing to act and come to the fore in helping this situation improve, I fully agree sir. The summer transfer window was reasonably exciting, and seemed a real needed shot in the arm, but I said at the time that this is the only real time that we have seen something positive happening behind the scenes, amidst a number of years of the club slipping into terminal decline under his stewardship.
The Kroenke’s have to do so much more before they convince me that the summer wasn’t just paying lip service to looking ambitious just to generate some temporary fan appeasement. It seems that in Emery’s struggles that they are dodging some bullets themselves when really the attention should be more on them and whether they are serious enough to continue to try and take this club back to somewhere far better.
It has got to this point because of their administration and what they have done, or more accurately not done, and it is harder to claw back to that higher level from where we are now than it would have been to be more pro-active when we were in a stronger position, and less was needed to be done to take us from that comfortable 4th spot to genuine challengers again. They always seemed to be non plussed about just pushing it that bit further at those times and I feel that complacency has come back to bite them on the arse.
I think they thought that we would just hang around in the “not too bad, not too great” zone indefinitely if they just continued as they were and I don’t think they quite realised that in being so complacent and lacking that bit of extra ambition at the key times that we would regress while others would improve and eventually go past us. It is a mess of their own making so they need to own it and put it right.
The last properly decent CB pairing we had was the BFG and Kozzer.
In GoonerB’s prescription, Koz was the intercepter and Big Per was the backstop.
When we had possession at the back, Per would bring it out and usually pass to Arteta, who would then spread it wide or forward as necessary.
It was a nice set-up for a while. Arteta always considered himself more of a creative/attacking midfielder in his career, but in the circumstances I’ve mentioned he played the holding MF role with absolute discipline. We could do with someone doing that these days.
Fred
Ozil behind the front two, and in front of three.
I would not start Pepe at present. He needs more time to settle. Bring him on as (potential) explosive sub after 70 occasionally. Big money, but not ready, and not an egotist. Ready to learn IMO as a youngster. He is the future like many in the squad.
GB,
Phrased very nicely, and thank you for not condemning me out of hand. 😁
The truth is that I thought that Embers needed to go, because he was being crucified on the altar of expediency, but no one comes out of this whole era of maladministration with any credit.
Fingers crossed, the powers that be will listen to the like of us, and your lovely camel, of course, and success will be snatched from the maw of failure. 🥺
Hello All. Not the greatest start to the Freddie era (however long it lasts) but it’s VERY early days. Disappointed to see Xhaka and Luiz start. Xhaka played ok. I thought Luiz did not. Would like to see Holding and Tierney at least in the team. However I also trust Freddie’s intuition and if he and Emery see some things the same, that’s going to be good enough for me, at least for a while. Not everything Emery did was bad and I defer to the things they see in training that I don’t. Still going to take a lot to convince me of Xhaka but if he does, it will also mean he turns his form around which must be good. Not certain he can do much about his physical and mental deficiencies !! I’m also surprised Freddie hasn’t (yet) considered the fans feelings about Xhaka but again, I’d assume he thinks Xhaka can turn it around. Which is slightly worrying !!!
Onwards and upwards Gooners!!!!!!! Hopefully we’ll be discussing a convincing performance and win over Brighton shortly !!!!!!!!
FA cup draw
Arsenal v Leeds United
At home to Leeds!!
I don’t think Eddie can play against us … but they’re not starting him in games any way. Leeds are doing well – that’s not an easy draw.
I’m not so sure about the expediency with Emery RA. I think he has certainly deflected some focus from the Kroenke’s and their merry band of men recently, but I also thought, in the end, he just turned out not to be right for us, although he seemed a decent sort of chap.
He was 80 games into his tenure with us and we didn’t seem to be developing any decent style of play under him that would just require more time to implement properly. He didn’t seem to get the requirements of the EPL and whatever style he was trying to implement didn’t seem to suit this league. I also can’t help but think, like others, that the language barrier has hindered him.
Maybe he was never good enough for this league at the top end or maybe he is but it was the wrong time for him. Who knows, maybe in a few years a different Emery more fluent in English will turn up at an EPL club again with lessons learnt from his first stint and go about it in a different way.
Freddie, or whoever else potentially comes in, will require time to get this team turned around as the problems are chronic in their making. No-one expects the earth immediately, but within an 80 game stint I think we can expect to see it going somewhere positive. In the mean-time I think you, me, and the camels should keep our beady little eyes focused on Stan, Josh and their stooges.
I hear you, GB. 😀😀
I understand why there is a lot of focus on Stan and his son, but I do wonder why Ivan Gazidis appears to be free from blame. Yes KSE owns the shares, but they left the running of the club to Gazidis until his departure. It is like Spurs most of the focus is on Levy who owns a smaller stake than Joe Lewis, a man worth billions who resides in the Bahamas, you never see much criticism of him for not putting more of his own money in.
Gazidis engineered the departure of Wenger the installation of the sporting directors and then recruited Emery, before departing for Italy. But never much blame thrown his way.
I don’t believe we will be spending any money without installing a coach/manager if we do that is a very worrying course of events.
Ok
GIE,
None of us have the facts about what has gone on within the club, so it is impossible to b e objective about what has been done right or wrong.
As fans we can only observe and try to make up our minds about what has gone on in the club, especially the administrative issues on the basis of educated guesses, and leaks from ‘sources’.
What we can do, as well or better than, better than biased pundits, is watch what is happening on the pitch, and that tells us we have not been doing what is expected of a top club.
Gazidis? Who cares? He is history, and after Arsene went, he followed him out the door.
If you feel strongly about Gazidiz then telling us why is fine. For those of us (including me) who are really only interested in the here and now, which will affect the future of the club – that is fine too – isn’t it?
Hi Peaches – sent a post in about one of our players that was taking some heat recently for his performances
Also – look at Pochetinno being linked with Man Utd. He think he ll go there, replace Solskjaer at the end of year and he will do well there with a bunch of young players. Perfect fit for him.
Just did the stadiums tour with Charlie George he thinks Tierney should be captain and Vieira the new coach
Oooh nice one, Fred 👍 I bet you enjoyed that!
Now that Fred is as spot on as you can get!!
Nothing more than I would expect from a leg.
Fred
Are you going on Thursday. Ant and I will be in Faltering Fullback from about 6.30. Love to meet up with another legend.
Just seen on sky sports Arsene being interviewed in his new role with FIFA. I have to say that I miss the mischievous smile, subtle sense of humour, and general all round class and decency of the man.
While he was on, there were some EPL stats being put up on one side of the T.V screen in 5 categories. The first 4 were assists, chances created, tackles won, and fouls won, and they put up the top 5 players in each category.
I imagine you can guess what I am going to say next…..yep no Arsenal player was represented in any category in the top 5. However the likes of Everton, Villa, Norwich, and Crystal Palace were represented in the top 5 in some of those categories, as well as the usual from Liverpool, City and now a few for Leicester.
We topped the 5th category though…….guess what that was……shots saved! Yes Leno came out 4 clear of the next man and all the ensuing 4 were in the relegation zone or bottom half of the table. If we needed more evidence of how far the apple has fallen from the tree then those stats are a slap in the face with a wet kipper. It indicates the size of the job that Freddie, or another, has to do to get this team playing even decent football again
GoonerB – It is just that Emery really wanted to recreate his Sevilla counter-attacking and high-pressing quick transition style with us but:
1. The EPL is not La Liga but our team did well last year in the Europa League so maybe it was just a matter for Emery to maybe find a way to do better in the EPL;
2. Our players were not necessarily suited for his plan.
Freddie was interesting in his interview because he said he wants our team to be more possession based and also to do better in transition phases, especially defensively. It s all about team structure defending and moving forward. I think he will continue with his 4-2-1-2-1 structure vs Brighton but he may have a change of personnel…
Interesting stats in assists…so far our leading assist players are Ceballos (from his first game I believe), Pepe and AMN with 2 assists.
Pepe is also our player with the most take-ons completed.
A team that has good attacking stats players is Everton with Digne and Gylfi creating loads of chances but that s not helping them at the moment.
Anyways – just to say that we may see some players like Ceballos and Pepe in the first XI in lieu of Willock and Ozil
If I had a say on the transfers in January, I d cancel Ceba’s loan and try to get Grealish. I think he d suit us well, he can accelerate our game in the middle of the park and he can also play on the left wing…
Yea LBG will be there Thursday looking forward to meeting you all
What part of the pub do u all usually be, sometimes I don’t get WiFi access so might not be able to send a message when I reach
Charle George was a lot of fun was really nice to meet him
Also meet gunnersaurus
Must say Had a great day
Thursday when I meet the legends ants chas and co will be another great one
Especially if we get our first Freddie win
Fred
We will be “upstairs”in the garden area. Sounds strange but it is a very unique pub. That might be top floor or first floor, you will have to look around and we will look out for you.
You wont see Chas, I’m afraid, but maybe Peaches and Rasp and any other attendees who fancy a pint with the Vines.
Ok no problem see you there
RA, my point was that as much as a new manager inherits the group of players so does the Chief Exec inherit his management team, he has as much to sort out above the playing staff and manager as the manager does with the playing staff.
Both deserve time before we put the knife in.
As you say I think we all want to see some real progression and it starts at the top, unfortunately we apparat rudderless, but I do also wonder if there is a situation of too many cooks in the sports director/contracts/scouting roles. It is a very different Arsenal to the one we are used to.
Morning all
We have a New Post …………..
GIE @8.18, you are right that any new incumbents in any role in the club need time to put right what has been so wrong, and the more wrong it is, the longer it takes to put right. I think each role in the organisation takes on a different persona with this “time” to put it right idea, and the whole concept is also rather subjective. For instance, many will believe that Emery didn’t have enough time to do what he was supposed to.
What is this time frame anyway, and how do we measure it? What does this subjective “time” actually mean in itself. Is it purely measured by the ultimate goal, or is it more about stages of progression?
Personally I think it is a multi-faceted concept that has its own individual nuances depending on which person in which role you are applying it to. Maybe with a manager it is more apt to have short term, medium term, and longer term goals.
Personally I felt Emery hit his short term goals in the first part of last season but that this season we are in the medium term goal area, and he was miles off those. More than that, you couldn’t see any way of him getting back on track for his medium term goals and he ran out of time in his individual assessment. I wasn’t expecting a title challenge right now (longer term goal) but I was expecting far better progress than we were witnessing, and that the team would be starting to look a lot more polished in its playing style.
It is one thing to not be getting the points but to see a team on the cusp of turning the corner, because the performances are good and we have just been a tad unlucky. It is another if we are not getting the points and are also being outplayed at home by relegation threatened teams, and every other team.
What about the Kroenke’s? Well they, as owners, have had the time to be considered somewhere between the medium and longer term goal area right now. That is why I would say, considering where we are now, the big focus should still be on the Kroenke’s. They are the one consistent. Managers, chief execs, scouts e.t.c, can come and go but they have been overseeing it all.
Managers and chief execs are easier to change because the owner can do this as they please. It is far harder to get an owner to reconsider his position at a club, but not impossible. My subjective opinion is that the real recent decline of the club can be measured from 2015, and the Kroenke regime have overall shown a lack of ambition on the playing side and team success side.
The summer transfer business showed some promise and Josh has started to be more vocal and kind of show he gives a damn. At the moment though that only remains a glimmer of hope, (that a different more ambitious attitude is emerging from our owners), amidst the greater evidence of the opposite.
It is so hard to oust an owner anyway, and the manner in which that would have to happen would involve massively unpleasant scenes at the stadium and other protests. For this reason we need to give the Kroenke’s some leeway and see if they follow through on their recent (seeming) positive change of attitude.