Pep a blessing in disguise? How do Arsenal break Southampton? by KM
Hello everybody! This transfer window didn’t disappoint! By far the biggest transfer is Pep moving to Manchester City. This puts a new perspective on the League. Next season will be quite a different story from this one. So how does that affect us?
Well, you might assume that Man City is our main title contender, although Leicester and Spurs are really doing a good job. But the fact that so early Pellegrini knows he’ll be out? It’s a double edged sword. He will no doubt try to put a landmark before he leaves, but in the mind of the players Pep definitely plays a part.
Do they raise their form to another level to impress their new manager? Or will they be saving themselves for next season? I know when I left my job I had it in my mind. You do what you have to, but there’s always that thought that it’ll end soon.
We need to step on the gas. Next year is when Klopp will be making his mark at Liverpool. You won’t be surprised to see new managers at Man United and Chelsea too, plus millions of pounds spent in the summer. We will again be stuck with Arsene, but a new challenge will be on the horizon.
Will Pep dominate the league? He’ll once again be equipped with the best squad, but this league is not a one or two man show like Spain and Germany. I am a bit sad we missed out on two great managers, but until they settle in, we need to pounce.
We face Southampton, who arrive in good form with three straight wins paired by clean sheets. We struggle against their style. They’ll want to keep it tight and make us angry. Their coach is doing a superb job there.
I’d like to see us open the score and put pressure on them. We should be fresh from resting some key players. We’ll likely see Alexis start, Le Coq maybe too? This is a huge mental test. We have a favourable fixture list, we also have squad depth.
The problem is if we will step up to the challenge and deliver? Last year our February – April form saved our 3rd place finish. If we can repeat that consistency we will be challengers at the end. Last round I was sure we’d win, but with Arsenal you really never know.
Hopefully we’ll lay foundations on a good run tomorrow. Enjoy.
Konstantin
coming to the premiership is gonna be PEPs biggest challenge so far.
There’s fire on the mountain; Pep has arrived. Honestly, Arsene has got to f**king sit up. If we do not lift the EPL this season, I’m gonna buy a boot for his asssss (with all due respect). It’s gonna be hell next season (United, Chelsea, City, etc____FIRE)
it is sad that we missed out on a great manager like pep.These are some of tge managers who are not afraid to go for quality when they see it .
He is gonna splash the city’s oil money on very great players.
Such as pogba isco lewa and auba
Which is what the fans like and want to see.
While we are left with a managers who does not use all the available resources.
Who never gets a goal against chelsea and loses 6 0 5 1 and 6 3
One tennis set
@goonthinker
Pepsi is soon going to be found out for the effin bluff that he is. If he were such a great manager, then he would have been able achieve great heights without having to poach good players from the top teams in 1/2 team leagues. With the teams he”inherited” even you would have won as many medals…
I tend to disagree with you there NY, come on Pep is a great coach and had he signed for us you and I would have been screaming praises for him till the end of the season.
The fact that he has signed for the most ambitious clubs speaks a lot about him really, why should he settle for less and what has he has to prove really and to who?
If I was in his position I would do the same, why go to a company that is going down (Man U), a company that always fires people and don’t respect them (Chelsea) or a company with a life long boss and not willing to have all the ingredients for success (Arsenal). Man City gave him the best offer, after that he will probably end up at PSG or even R. Madrid, anything is possible.
It’s been reported that Pep will earn £21 Million a Season ? There’s no way that Arsenal would of paid that kind of money, to a Manager.
Reports say 15 million pounds per year not 21 million. 007 has it ever occurred to you that the only way you can prove yourself in life is by taking a challenge? Is managing Man City a challenge knowing that you will have unlimited financial resources at your disposal to bring any player you like. Even Roberto Mancini won the league with Man City and its endless resources. Why didn’t he sign for say Leicester, Everton, or like teams, which we all know consistently knock at big achievements but fall short. He would have used his capabilities as a manager to push them over the line.
You are talking thrash dude, utter tripe…good/great players don’t always translate to success, ask Mourhino….he had excess talent whilst at Madrid and was still unable to win the CL and only had one liga title and Copa del Ray to show for having a squad worth quarter of a billion.Pep took charge of a flailing and out of sort Barca, straight from managing a b side and turned them to one of the best club ever seen and you sit on your fat ass and pontificate about challenges…i doubt if you even know the definition of challenge
I’ll sit on my “fat ass” and pontificate that I think you will find the real person who took on and transformed a truly “failing” and “out of sort” Barcelona was Cruyff 20 years earlier. Who was one of his first signings in 1990? Guardiola. Van Gaal and Rijkaard didn’t do too shabbily after JC either. The “failing” Barcelona whom PG took on in 2008 had won the UCL just two years earlier and had 8 La Liga titles in previous 17 years. (And incidentally, Enrique continues effortlessly after PG with 5 trophies already in 2 seasons). Having Messi entering his prime years aged 21 in 2008 and the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Eto’o, Alves, Toure, Valdes all at their peaks, most with years of assimilation, was pretty helpful to PG. He did a great job but he was no miracle worker.
@jonestownn1…my comment about fat bums on seat was not directed you to start with, I was referring to @The analyzer when he talked about ”a challenging job”….but nevertheless I still disagree with your premises on PG and his worth and standing in the game…credit should be given where due, money helps but its not the be all…..he came up from the academy and took on one of the biggest jobs in the world and was successful….i whilst I agree that Cryuff laid the foundation for the modern Barca team attempting to erase PG’s influence in the club latter day success is spiteful for want of a better word….if money was the sole reason for success then Madrid would not have to wait almost 10 years to win the La Decima and PSG and Man city would have won the CL at least twice in the last couple of year…..and not recognising the way he encourages his teams to play the game the right way is a disservice to his genius and ability….Mourhino won the CL with both Porto and Inter but am sure even his most adoring fan will never qualify both teams as GREAT or memorable…PG’s Cl winning squad will go down in the annals of the game as a yardstick for what and how football should be played…..and failure to recognise thy and credit him is almost criminal
Hey damochy – I recognised you weren’t talking about my “fat ass” but I thought I’d get my defence in first! You should have noticed that I didn’t once talk about money or spending so not sure why your riposte centres on this. My point was the help PG got from the groundwork laid by Cruyff in changing the club set-up and structure, creating a new team mentality, imposing a style of play and NOT getting sucked in to the big spend philosophy by developing players (Xavi, Messi, Valdes, Puyol and Iniesta were in their prime but still had been at the club for a combined total of 35 years by the time he was appointed).
We’ve seen him away from his beloved Barcelona at Bayern – a team who won the UCL under Heynckes the season before he arrived? He won domestic cups but his “genius and ability” did not shine on the European stage. What happened there?
And since when could “he did a great job” be classed as “spiteful”? As said elsewhere, I have said he is a very good, perhaps great, coach. But I’m not ready to deify him just yet.
@The Analyzer I get your point man and fully respect it.
But if you ask me I can never leave my poshy job with a big corner office at the best company in the world to go to a small company that will pay me less for the sake of proving a few people.
I am not Pep’s lawyer nor I am his biggest fan but I am against people blaming him for taking the City job because its the “best team” in the league. Pep is human first before being a Manager plus who knows how long he will be on top in this ever changing world. Pep has earned what’s coming to him from Barca B or C team straight to the top jobs because he is a proven winner. Would we be talking about him right now if he was a failure? So many people have had a shot at coaching these big teams but where are they now.
Why can’t Pep be ambitious? If he can manage the best players in the world with a chance to win trophies, why should he go to Everton?
Do you blame Dicaprio or Clooney for only bedding the most beautiful woman in the world? Why should the best managers in the world not want to manage the players if they can demand it.
The best players in the world don’t guarantee winning, the best team does IMO.
I for one, can’t wait to see what his impact at City will be. With City, Man U and Chelsea all having new managers next season anything can happen but it should help us.
One thing seem obvious to me though and that is we will have a poor transfer window. Man U, Chelski and City will give their new managers a large budget and they all will think they need a world class striker and there are not too many of those around. So for those of us who don’t think you can go far with Giroud, that is a painful realization.
I am agnostic regarding PG. He could be the greatest manager/coach of all time but which ever way you shake it up – titles and cups at Barca and Bayern is not compelling, inarguable evidence. The transition from PG to Enrique has been seamless at Barca and the change of coaches has gone largely unnoticed. The bosses at Bayern expected, demanded, UCL success and didn’t get it. City is the least challenging job in the PL at the moment so no surprises he went there. And on a separate point, can we stop conflating massive spending with “ambition”. “Ambition” denotes challenge, aspiration, beating the odds etc. Writing cheques on behalf of a family who have an estimated wealth of around a trillion pounds sterling has a very weak whiff of ambition.
jonestown
A lot of sense man!
Enough said..
Sorry @Goonthinker, i mistakenly thumbed u down cos u called Pep a great manager but after reading everything you are right.. Our only reward as fans who spend loads and loads of money are WINS & TROPHIES nothing more. We don’t get a % of any profit the club makes or do we become owners of the beautiful stadium.. Its simple as that Anything else apart from WINS & TROPHIES is a loss to we the FANS .. So stop being deluded with wenger gives us stability & de other bunch of bullsh*ts cos I don’t see how we benefit from dem….
Rosicky might have to retire
#AndSoShouldWenger#
Speaking about the deal, Wenger said: “Yes. I was surprised how cheap he was.
“I was surprised that he was on the market and not many teams came in for him.
“He has shown his value straight away when he came on against Man United (scoring the winning goal).”
He also said it suprised & shocked him, meaning he is clueless about player transfers.. #WengerOut# ArsenalIn#
Sorry @Goonthinker, i mistakenly thumbed u down cos u called Pep a great manager but after reading everything you are right.. Our only reward as fans who spend loads and loads of money are WINS & TROPHIES nothing more. We don’t get a % of any profit the club makes or do we become owners of the beautiful stadium.. Its simple as that Anything else apart from WINS & TROPHIES is a loss to we the FANS .. So stop being deluded with wenger gives us stability & de other bunch of crap cos I don’t see how we benefit from dem….
Some deluded fans have unknowingly transferred their love, affection and passion from Arsenal FC onto Wenger. They would rather see Wenger remain on the job than Arsenal FC progressing to the peak of world football.
Eh? Pep’s gonna win next
season’s EPL title already?
Mourinho was supposed
to murder this season’s league
and got sacked after 4 months.
Van Gaal has a stella record yet
his Utd is hanging on to 5th in the EPl
and celebrating making the 5th round of the FA Cup 🙂
Besides Pep has yet to visit Stoke 🙂
Welcome to premier league, looking forward to see him at Britannia stadium.
Next five games are very crucial to our title hope because both city and the surprise package are pacing a tougher games,
Leicester face: Liverpool
Man city
Arsenal
City face: Spurs
Leicester
Stoke
Can we build a gap and then protect it in the last 10 games? Hope so
Yes we can not afford to
get behind because we still
have to go to Everton
Spurs Westham Utd and City.
But we are competing for the title
and the feeling is good.
Am not concerned about the Pep issue a bit..what happens at the etihad should stay there.these next games is a fair chance for us to open a gap between us and the other contenders….
I must confess I don’t think Leicester will drop many points eventho that’s all we all want and expect.they have scaled thru similar tough run this season….you think they will only take 2points from their next 3 like Arsenal did? I don’t think so, but I hope so…
We need to focus on our team
Anyone who thinks Pep will struggle in the EPL is a fool.In fact,he is going to dominate it.City will give him all the cash to spend and why not?At Arsenal, we’d rather pay Kroenke £3m in ‘consultation fees’ rather than invest in the team.It’s not that we do not have the money, after all, we are constantly told that we can afford any player in the world save for Messi and Cr7.So if we are we are not achieving success, it is not because we can’t, but simply because wenger and the board have chosen not to succeed.
I think you’re the fool, the media made the same claims about Mourinho when he came back to Chelsea and even with previous PL experience he eventually got sacked after one season. Playing in England is a completely different ball game to Germany where one team dominates and the rest are below average, or Spain where you have Barca and Madrid and the rest are far behind financially.
Pellegrini is a very very popular man at Man city….the players love him to bits so does the backroom staffs and everybody associated with the club and that includes the owner..they went for Pep because he was the one they have always wanted…as for the impact on us? Personally I think its bad news, what better way for the players to send off the man they love and hold in high esteem than to make sure he leaves the club on a high?..Hope our players and manager knows the severity of the challenges ahead, Man city will not slip up as much as they have done so far, so our players better start owning games and stop been shirkers and chokers when the pressure is on…Man u will probably go for Mourhino now, make of that what you want!!!
After the debacle of
Moyes and Van Gaal
surely Utd will have
learned their lesson
and realize money alone
is not the answer.
Pochettino for me.
Did u just suggest a coach for Manure ????
FFS are u a gooner ???
Wenger Out…. to get revenge against Southampton! ?
@Fatboy
Two sentences there which i strongly wish both come to past..
#WENGER OUT# Summer
#WENGER’S REVENGE# Tonight
We better start those contract negotiations with Sanchez because when Pep comes shopping it will be a massacre out here.
When you see a team like Barca and Bayern trebling on who Pep will want to buy my all my we need prayers and fasting sessions at Arsenal. On the other hand some good players could be on there way out at City so we might want to keep a close eye (Yaya, Bony, Mangala, Navas, Cashri, Fernando, Kolarov, etc).
Just saying
Seriously do you have any standards ? The last thing we need is deadwood from another team, we should be looking at young players like Isco or Draxler.
I have standards, but does Arsene have them? If Arsenal was to sign those young stars we would have bought them by now, what’s stopping us?
Would you also rate Sanchez, Cech and Ozil as deadwood from another team as we bought them when there teams didn’t need them and look how that turned out.
No, because Cech won trophies and was still considered important to Mourinho, Sanchez carried Barca when Messi was injured and only left because he didn’t have the chemistry Suarez has with the Argentinian, and we all know how mad Ronaldo was when Ozil left. The players you mentioned were all important to their team so no none of them are deadwood, hence why I say we should not go for the likes of Yaya who has a nasty attitude and a lazy work ethic or Bony who is no better than Welbeck or Walcott.
Missed out on Pep?????? Urm, that’s what I thought. I used to think Pep is good for Arsenal, but he is not (I mean it). See, guys like pep cannot do without spending and spending (oh please, spending is good, but a good coach should also be able to steadily bring up players from the academy and discover other great lads elsewhere, like Arsene —damn it, I just gave credit to Wenger; he actually deserves it).
You see, guys like Pep are wanderers, we don’t need such. We do need coaches that cannot withstand pressure. I’m not Arsene’s fan (I do like him though) but I must admit he really f******king knows how to handle pressure and he’s not a “quiter”
With due respect to your opinion KickAssFan but even when Arsene joined I bet he had to cut out some players and recruit.
It’s all good wishing for a coach that promotes the youth and all but what if your youth system is garbage what to you do?
Is it Pep’s fault he goes to established teams willing to pump in money into the team?
Come on guys do you actually think if Wenger went to R. Madrid he would have passed on the chance to sign Ronaldo, Bale, Modrich or Isco because he want juniors?
Even Arsene had to sign Sanchez, Ozil and Cech and didn’t have to say I have Schz, Ox and Jack. When a team can afford to buy WC players and are ambitious to rule Europe let them spend, and what better way to hand those finances to a WC coach who knows how to win.
To me there is little doubt that Pep is the most successful manager in the world, followed by Mourinho. What they have in common is that they don’t seem to stay with one club for longer than 3 years. Mourinho burns his bridges. Pep leaves on a high.
I would have loved to see Pep at Arsenal to manage a three year transition after Wenger in the hope he could build a championship team in 3 years. IMO we are not a championship team at the moment.
We can win the PL because of all our competition (Chelsea, Man U, City) shooting themselves in the foot, but that does not make us a championship team as per my definition. For that we need to be a lot more dominant and have a lot less off days with dissapointing losses and draws.
To really be a dominant team we need a world class striker and not just one who is good at holding up the ball, we can not have Per as one of our CD, we would need a leader in midfield and preferable a world class wide player. I believe Pep would have brought in some of the above needed players and likely not for £5 million.
I think City are in trouble, if they will have one or two bad results, it will be hard for Pelligrini to motivate them to play for him. And players like Yaya who IMO have questionable motivation could throw in the towel.
Finally I have to say I feel sorry for Pelligrini and I think he is a class act who carries this painful situation with dignity.
This year will be our best chance to win the PL.