Contrary to popular belief, Arsenal are actually progressing this season

Cheer Up We Have made Progress! by AndersS

It is rather depressing reading most of the posts and comments here lately. The only positive thing to say about them is, they mostly say the same, so you don’t have to read all of them very carefully:

1) Kroenke is a greedy bastard ruining our club
2) Emery is a fool, who never can select the right team, and most of the time he is using the wrong tactics
3) The players are generally useless
4) We are in the worst state in modern history

I am sorry, but I don’t see it that way. In fact, I think we may have stopped the slide that we have seen in the last 2-3 years, and we may even be progressing. So if you are a Kroenke hater or Emery hater, stop reading. Your blood pressure could reach dangerous levels ?

But if you have 5 minutes, read on and let me explain my point of view.

There is no way around it; money is a very important factor in top football. Most top clubs have to be run as businesses in order to generate income for the exorbitant sums to buy and pay players, that can produce the results you desire. This is true for all the clubs we are competing against in the PL. The only exceptions to this are possibly Man City and Chelsea. Their owners don’t seem to be running a sound business. They are treating their respective clubs as personal toy’s or personal hobbies, and they seem to be willing to spend a chunk of their own personal fortune to make the clubs win titles. But they are exceptions to the rule, and in a way they make the playing field somewhat unfair. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem impossible to compete against them.

It hurts to write it, but in a way we should take it as a good sign Liverpool could become champions this year. In fact, if we can put all other things aside, we should even take it as a good sign that the Spuds are close as well. I don’t hope they win, but I appreciate they are challenging.

For years until the season of 2016/17 we more often than not finished above Liverpool in the PL and we finished in front of the Spuds every year. But we have to admit, over the last few seasons, they have made a big improvement, and we have arguably stood still or even gone backwards.

Neither Liverpool’s nor Tottenham’s progress have come about because they have owners more willing to spend than we do. I am sure our net spend on transfers over the last 5-6 years is much higher than Tottenham’s and it is possibly also higher than Liverpools. As are our salaries to players.

Instead those 2 clubs have been more clever in management off the field and possibly also on the field. Both clubs have endured selling arguably their best players in this process. Liverpool twice (Suarez & Coutinho) and Tottenham with Bale.

In general it seems they have invested cleverly in getting the right new players in the right areas, or invested in developing players with the right skills and also in getting managers that can cope with modern football, or in fact managers that shape modern football. All the time making progress.

And what have we done in the same period? Yes, we have won a couple of FA Cups, but in spite of being able to spend more (net), we have not spent on the right combination of players. We have not improved the team in the areas we needed. We have not developed and improved players that we could sell for large sums to reinvest in more players. In fact, potentially our most valuable players have almost been allowed to dictate their own terms and to run down their contracts, so they have almost been financial liabilities rather than financial assets. Finally, it has to be said, Arsene Wenger’s management of the team got outdated.

In my point of view, Liverpool and Tottenham have beaten us the last few years both on and off the field, simply by being more clever. Not by being richer or by spending more money.

It is as simple as that. There are no solid facts in our financial affairs, that suggest Kroenke is a more greedy owner than the owners of Liverpool or Spurs. Suggestions, he should be “milking” the club are not based on facts, as the financial reports tell the story. It is of course true, he doesn’t put his own money in like the owners of Man City and Chelsea. But nor do the owners of Liverpool or Spurs, or the owners of Man Utd or any other team for that matter.

So for all I know, Kroenke may be a greedy bastard. I don’t know him. But unless you actually think somewhere there is a billionaire just dying to buy us PL titles with his money, the self sustaining business model is actually the framework we have to work within. Just like most of our competitors.

Within this model Kroenke’s interests and ours/Arsenals are aligned to a certain extent. Over the last couple of years our revenue has come under pressure, among other things due to misssing out on the Champions League. This is becoming a negative spiral. Less revenue means less to reinvest in players and in player development. This in turn leads to us being less competitive, which again can lead to less revenue and so it goes on, until we break this cycle.

Kroenke has no interest in seeing this happening. It is not a better business model for him. In fact just the opposite. In theory the cycle can be broken by Kroenke throwing, say 150 millions into getting new players. But is there a guarantee of success? Not at all. There is no instant success guaranteed. And from a business point of view, it is probably not the way to go. It is the Man City and Chelsea way to go, if you like. The rest of us have to build on what we have.

I think the way we are aiming to go, is the Liverpool and Spurs way. A clever, steady progress that may take years, but eventually can succeed. Unfortunately it took much too long before we started realising we were being overtaken and many have only just begun to understand how far we had fallen. The gap is bigger than what it needed to be, but that is just the way it is. If only…. Doesn’t help us.

As I see it, we have stopped the rot, and we may even have started a slow progress. This season we actually have 5 more points from 26 games than we did last season. If we can win just 14 points from our remaining 12 games, we will have more points than last year. I am confident, this will be achieved by some margin. Our current league position is 5-6th, one point off 4th. Last year we were 6th at this stage, 4 points behind 5th and 5 points behind 4th. Meaning we are also doing better position wise.

We are also much closer to the league leaders this year, than we were last year.

Last year we won a grand total of 6 points in 10 matches against the other top 6 teams. This year we have won 8 points in 8 matches. So if we lose the remaining 2 games against Spurs and United, we still will have done better, and if we get 4 point from those 2 matches, we have doubled the points in that “internal league”. A clear improvement could be on the way here.

I know we have just had a terrible result in the Europa League. And there is still a long way to go in the league. We can still end up worse than last year. But looking at it, I think the most likely end result will be, we have done better.

So let us wait a bit with all the doom and gloom. Let us admit, that maybe, jut maybe, Emery is doing some things more right than some fans would have us believe. And maybe, just maybe, our player are able to do better than they have done before.

There are positives, and we can still end up with a season, where we have taken quite a big step towards improvement in the first season after Wenger. And this is important. Let us remind ourselves, Wenger’s age dictated, he would have to be replaced some time soon, if he hadn’t been replaced before this season. No matter if you think he should he have been replaced much earlier, or you think he should have been allowed to continue, changing a manager like that, is a challenge. And so far we seem to have done it and making progress at the same time. No mean achievement if you compare to Man U.

Anders S

52 Comments

  1. The team is a mess ,emerys tactics are a mess ,his team selections are baffling,I don’t see any improvement from last year at all .
    The football we are playing now is some of the worst I’ve seen in the last 10 years ,defensively I’ve never seen so bad ,fans will point to injuries but that is no excuse ,I mean he’s playing with 7 defensive players every match and we still look wide open .
    The only player we got in January (who was abit part player under emery before )looks light weight and a pretty pointless signing imo .
    8months in charge is long enough to get a team in decent working order,he hasn’t done that
    Seasons over so we will have to wait till the summer to see the direction this club is going until then we will just have to grin and bare it .

    1. The big defeats against Man United and Liverpool before Emery came were the worst I have seen in this decade

    2. did you read and understand the article?I guess not,I can,t believe you didn’t recognise yourself in the people who think everything is gloom and doom,like the writer said you can,t back up anything you said with facts,one thing reassure me is people with the same view as yours don,t seem to be the most(ok I,ll say it)intelligent bunch around!!

      1. Was that aimed at me because the way you wrote that I’m not sure ,it is a Monday morning maybe I’m being a bit dumb

      2. Tissiam, what about the facts given to gotanidea at 3.22?

        If your ready to attack others who haven’t got your ideas, how about writing something that does actually CONTAIN FACTS rather than your views.

        Just what is it that he has said that you find so wrong?

        By the way, for SUCH an intelligent person, your use of punctuation, paragraphs and sentences need to be re-visited, if you are to retain membership of mensa!!

        As a footnote, I disagree with his view about the season being over, but I might be able to have an intelligent civil debate with him…what do you think?

        1. It’s fine Ken I’ve had worse insults ?
          BTW it’s xxnofx I just changed my name to my proper one just in case you didn’t know or you thought I had disappeared of this forum

    3. @Dan Kit

      Did you ever watch Arsenal under Wenger against big teams for about the last decade or so? Constant humiliations, none worse than almost conceding double figures in just one game, against our bitter rivals!

      We’ve made improvements in the big games because we finally have a manager who actually watches what’s going on and applies tactics.

      If you want to go back to zero tactics, gung-ho football, and the consistent thrashings, then be my guest. Get Wenger back then. Haha!!

        1. TMJW, if we have made improvements in the” big” games, how do you explain the performances in the “little” games?

          Cardiff, Huddersfield and last Thursday?

          Sandwiched between those, of course were the “big team” humiliations of a 2-0 drubbing at home to Utd, a 5-1 drubbing away to Pool, plus a further home defeat by spuds 0f 2-0.
          What was UE watching during those games?

          All six in just FOUR WEEKS, “not a decade or two”
          If your content with that, don’t question UE… Hahaha.

          Funny how it’s never mentioned that we beat City in the semi-final and Chelsea in the final when discussing big team performances and our last trophy, but that’s the norm with some on here.

          Why, because we question UE’s tactics, does the battlecry of “wenger” always appear?
          We are discussing the current manager and his shortcomings..that’s all, nothing to do with anyone else, wenger, kronkie, gazidis, mourinho, poch, klopp or even uncle tom cobbley…just Unai Emery!!

          Why would you mention him and draw comparisions, when Dan kit hadn’t? Attack being the only form of defence maybe?

          If UE’s tactics and substitutions are so much better, let’s have the reasons for these c@@p performances..or shouldn’t we be allowed to ask?

          We all know and have discussed the historical humiliations, let’s get up to date and dusciss the current ones.

          1. If you think Emery is the major problem here, then you’re conveniently ignoring the facts.

            Did Emery inherit a complete mess? YES!

            What is the mess? An unbalanced and average squad, that was mentally frail. Average players on ridiculous wages, that are proving almost impossible to move on, which is then having a direct impact on future investments. Our reputation in big games was that of joke under Wenger, which Emery is doing well to turn around.

            Now add to that mess, the insane amount of injuries, specifically in defense, and hardly any funds to improve the squad, and not to mention the fact, that the club is going through a huge transitional phase off the pitch as well.

            I don’t mind the micro criticisms of Emery, but I’m getting fed up with people calling him a fool and judging the poor guy when he hasn’t even completed a season! And a season that he shouldn’t even be judged on anyway, given what he took over!

            And the reason Wenger keeps getting brought into the debate, is because he is mostly responsible for the mess. E.g. The Ozil problem is 100% of Wenger and Gazidis’s making. It’s a huge problem that could easily last for almost another 2 years!

            Finally, what are the expectations for you fans who want Emery out then? Did you expect us to be top of the league or challenging, given the mess and injuries Emery has had to deal with?

            1. TMJW, last things first:
              please first of all, refer me to any one single post since UE was given the job where I have said I want him out? IMPOSSIBLE!

              Secondly, I never expected to be top of the league, or even challenging, did anyone on this forum ever say that? NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE!

              My expectations? To judge him at the end of the season and, meanwhile, question and analyise his performances…I would have thought that was reasonable/loyal. YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

              Thirdly, why is Ozil not being selected to play 100% the fault of AW and gazidis?
              UE has decided not to play him and banish him from the squad, thus reducing any sell on value that the player has.
              Why would anyone want a player deemed not good enough to feature in a squad of 16 against a team we humiliated last year 10-2 on our way to the europa semi-final?

              If your referring to his salary as the two year problem, why are you using Aw’s name?
              It was gazidis who brought in Huss Fahmy as Contract Negotiater just about 12th June 2017 as part of the transitional off the field phase you alluded to.
              Ozil signed his contract extension in January 2018. no AW conspiracy there then eh? JUST KRONKIE, GAZIDIS AND FAHMY!!

              It was these three that actually controlled the contract negotiations of the following players:
              Sanchez, Ozil, Wilshere, Gibbs, Szczesny and the Ox.

              It’s all out in the media, if one really wants the truth, rather than making up scenarios. That’s where I get my FACTS from.

              The injuries? Terrible, probably the worst in my memory.
              The really interesting thing though, is the fact that the two defenders who have made such an impact on UE’s system are both part of the “complete mess” that some love to quote.
              Along with Welbeck, Bellerin and Holding are the long term injuries, all part of the “complete mess”, so WHY have they had such an impact if they were dross, mentally frail and part of an unbalanced squad?
              Surely the six new signings should have addressed this unbalanced mess, especially as they work out at 37.5% of a fifteen man squad? Four of them were defensive players after all!

              All I can say is, congrats to both managers for keeping such an “unbalanced mess” in the top five/six, one for twenty two years and the other for seven months and counting.

              Ridiculous wages? So, how are you expecting to compete with the other top five clubs, once UE gets rid of these “average players on ridiculous wages”, who will replace them?
              Better players on peanut salaries? OF COURSE NOT.
              Average players on even less peanut salaries? OF COURSE NOT.

              Is Sanchez worth a reported £400,000 a week? Not in my view, neither is Ozil worth £350,000, but unless we, as a club, realise that we have to at least be prepared to compete at some equal level with such clubs, we will only ever get less than average players on peanuts.

              Does this all mean I still want UE to succeed?
              Too bl**dy right it does…if Unai succeeds then The Arsenal succeeds and I am a very happy supporter.
              I want him to be even more successful than AW, wouldn’t that be wonderful?

              Finally, UE took this job on, knowing full well what was required. Whether it was your scenario of a complete mess, or other of needing a few players to become a very good side.
              His portfolio of every single players ability and strength was detailed out and got him the job. His words at the time?

              “I AM HONOURED TO BE HERE-THERE’S NO BETTER CLUB THAN ARSENAL, FROM THE FIRST MEETINGS I HAD, I HAD A VERY GOOD FEELING ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER AND THAT WE COULD CREATE A NEW PRESENT AND FUTURE ARSENAL”.

              Hardly the words of a man inheriting your vision of what he walked into is it.

  2. Mostly agree with you, Anders S:

    “1) Kroenke is a greedy b—-rd ruining our club”:

    Then how could Arsenal buy Lacazette and Aubameyang in the same season? I believe we would see big transfer(s) before next season starts

    “2) Emery is a f–l, who never can select the right team, and most of the time he is using the wrong tactics”:

    Arsenal still have good chances in EL and EPL, however it can change if they fail in the next five games. If Emery is f–l despite getting three EL and one Ligue 1 trophies, then what are the foul-mouths, that like to bring stats into their arguments?

    “3) The players are generally useless”:

    Eventually only the players can decide whether they want to go the extra miles in the field or not. The club, coaches and staffs can motivate and discipline them, but it’s difficult to encourage people that get stuck in comfort zone and unwilling to take high risks

    “4) We are in the worst state in modern history”

    At least Arsenal got three FA Cups in the last decade under Wenger. Liverpool, Newcastle and Tottenham are still fighting to get their own glory

    1. gotanidea, the reason we could buy Lacs and Aba in the same season, was the fact that we sold players that meant the ACTUAL OUTLAY was less than £10,000,000.

      Check it out on wickepedia, it’s all there in black and white, but just to make sure, I’ll give it to you one more time:

      Brought In:
      Lacs = £46,500,000
      Auba=£56,000,000
      Leno=£19,300,000
      Mavro ££2, 200,000
      Total=£124,000,000

      Sold:
      Hinds = £2,000,000 W/SBURGH
      Szschy =£10,000,000 JUVE
      Toral =£3,000,000 HULL
      Gibbs =£7,000,000 WBA
      OX =£35,000,000 LIVERPOOL
      Coqs =£12,000,000 VALENCIA so called dross
      Wlcott =£20,000,000 EVERTON so called dross
      Giroud =£18,000,000 CHELSEA so called dross
      Gabriel =£10,000,000 (undisclosed so a guess) so called dross
      Halen = £2,000,000 (undisclosed so a guess)
      Total =£117,000,000

      DIFFERENCE = £8,000,000. (maybe saved in salaries?)

      YOUR COMMENTS GOTANIDEA ?

      I guess that might look like a self sufficient running club to kronkie, but let’s not run away with the idea that he is a knight in shining armour!!!!
      By the way, for those that say we, as a club, don’t fare well in the transfer market, the above is food for thought, don’t you think?

  3. We can not charge Emery for all the Messes we are having now. Any new Manager needs 2 to 3 Summer windows to show progress. He has been really unlucky with the injury of 2 key players. Holding and Bellerin. This has messed up the entire defense. Welbeck also got injured at a bad time. Lets give him at least one Summer window to put things on track again. We need to be with the team . I guess we need to score at least 3 goals to go through as 2-0 is not possible as any team can score goals against us, meaning 2-1 we are out. Ozil should play as I believe he only has the quality to turn it around

    1. Lads I think we,re wasting our time trying to explain these nay sayers how football works,the ins and outs….no matter what they,ll stick to their opinion snd for sure never admit they are wrong!

  4. Since Emery was appointed there have been some highs…. but there have been more lows imo… after 26 PL games this season (joint with 11/12 season) is the most goals we’ve conceded
    I know things weren’t going to change overnight & he’s having to work with what he inherited..and you can’t polish a turd blah blah blah… but I’m not impressed with the way ONE player is being frozen out, just to prove a point… the way we’ve played & lost recently has been pretty awful, now I’m not saying that one player is Arsenal’s saviour, but come on get him in the team, we can’t play any worse surely??? .. I’m fed up with these poor performances (especially last Thursday – absolutely shocking) and if we bow out to those farmers, well then there’ll be uproar – and rightly so!!
    I know the injuries haven’t helped, but that shouldn’t have to be used as an excuse. I know our squad depth isn’t at City’s level though!!
    So come on UE motivate the players, play your BEST team & let’s put in a decent performance & get back to winning ways…. that’s all I ever want!!

    1. Everything you’ve said is true and despite your preference for one player you actually see that beside the lows there are still highs. Some like dan kit only see the negatives and repeatedly whine . Basically i see 3 types of fans on this site right now:
      1st the fans who only see the positives e.g the article,
      2nd fans e.g the first comment who see everything bad
      3rd those who see and acknowledge both the positves and negatives.

      i just we had more of the 3rd option.

      1. Ackshay, great post and what a shame you didn’t see those type of fans previously.

        How did you see yourself over the last two seasons and do you agree that it would have been nice to have had more of the third option during thos two seasons?

        1. I see both the positives and negatives and have argued in both camps in the last few years. I was in support of a new coach and like emery but that does not blind me from being pissed off by his defensive formation and the absence of a beautiful playstyle for most of this season.

          I have been on this site for a long time and I understand that emotions can lead to nasty arguements which you and myself have unfortunately been guilty of but some people are 100% negative, nothing is good they see no freaking positives. It just pisses people off.

          1. Ackshay, we are in total agreement then.

            I’m really looking forward to the last sixteen europa drawd, finishing in the top four and qualifiying for the CL, our season is far from over under Unai Emery…just bring Ozil in for the remaining games!!

  5. We are still 6th place with mostly Wenger’s men
    I don’t see how we are worse.
    You can’t turn average players into Top players
    Also if we finish 5th wouldn’t that make us better

    Attacking Emery for making us worse is nonsensical

    1. Really? Wasn’t Emery appointed to right the supposed wrongs being done by Wenger. Didn’t people here attack Wenger for some of these same reasons.
      So why is it nonsensical when we question Mr Emery on how the team is playing and the way forward.
      It is about time we swallow our pride and accept the fact that Mr Emery has been a disappointment so far.
      Nobody is against him. All that we pray for is the progress of our dear team The Arsenal.
      He will always have the backing of some of us. But when he fails to meet the teams expectation we will not hesitate to pass comments

      1. Francis Cudjoe, what a sensible post.

        Not taking sides, just stating facts.

        Brilliant last sentence , surely that must apply to every real gooner!!

    2. I think over time, Emery is going to divide us the way Wenger did in his last years. I can take the bad results as work in progress but does this team looks like one being built for the future? We’re not heading in a particular direction. We can point to Sarri in Chelsea. He’s failing but we know why. He’s trying a method which may/may not work. What exactly is Emery trying to turn us into? All I can see is a defending team and we still suck at that. With this trend, if given time, we’ll be a Mou’s team. This is what I don’t want to become

      1. Bouwatife, spot on. It is the direction of travel that worries, and the trend of things, and then the results. Losing games is not my problem, but how we lose and to who. Some performances are not excusable from Arsenal Football Club. And we are gradually thinking we don’t deserve to be better than where we are. When I first entered the uni, an advisor said that if I want to score a B then I should read for A, if I want a C, then I should read for a B, etc. If we are playing like this and we think it is not bad then we are planning to fail. There is no replacement for EXCELLENCE !!!!!! Arsenal was always counting top 4 as an achievement, but look at were we are now. Fighting to enter top 4, while those fighting for the trophy are granteed a top 4.

  6. ‘Tissiam you need to realise that not everyone shares your view of things and not everyone shares Dan’s views. A difference of opinion doesn’t give anyone the right to name call someone because they don’t agree with you. Debate properly and make your points as to why you agree or don’t agree and don’t revert to the lowest level. I agree with you Sue that he either needs to play Ozil or come out with an honest statement why he’s not playing one of our better players. I do think our defence was improving until Holding, Sokratis and Bellerin got injured. I would like to know what had happened to our style as we don’t seem to have one at present unless it’s called pass the ball to Kolasinac on the overlap and get him to put it across, which frankly is getting boring and predictable.

    1. In fairness, that overlapping move is something that the players are relying heavily on rather than it being Emery telling them or training them for that move alone. Iwobi looks for him allot, but it was also done well when Bellerin was playing far side. Wenger too and most teams use the sidelines to free people in that area that city destroyed us in. It’s a good tactic and its been a focal point ever since the term ‘modern day fullback. Every week no matter the game you will see teams trying to do it fairly often throughout. We need more creativity for sure and that is what makes the Ozil decision even baffling at times to fans who don’t particularly rate him as high as others do. We were still one of the most dangerous teams when our players were all fit, we troubled every teams backlines. Then Emery changed things in trying to deal with the defensive issues, also the injury list could’ve played a part with his decisions as well as them disturbing our form. The defensive frailties look like a hard fix which Emery probably knows right about now. This is why we give managers time, it is why so many fans seen this season as a right-off season. I know not all fans looked at it this way as we have many impatient fans.

      1. Break on Through, a good post.
        Firstly, I now realise what you were on about regarding Ozil and UE, I didn’t realise it wasn’t a new issue.
        My views on that report are , that if the club really do want him to go, this would have been the perfect vehicle to blacken Ozil and swing the whole fanbase behind their actions.

        Do you know what, I don’t see this season as a write off at all and I am always impatient!!
        We should win on Thursday and that puts us into the last 16, where the luck of the draw plays such an important part.
        We are also one point below fourth place, with a point to prove against Utd when we play them in the league.
        Our run in looks good, without counting our chickens, so there is that to play for as well.

        The real issue is whether this run of bad results are due to bad tactics and selection issues, or something not in the control of UE.

        I believe he is in control and has to address these problems, as they are of his making alone.
        Sue and GB’s points are well made and that’s why it might come over as being impatient, but all is required is an explanation and/or a change of plan.

  7. I agree with you with this article.
    We have made some progress. It just doesn’t seem that way because the performances haven’t been up to par.
    Very likely to go through to the next round of Europa and still well in the race for 4th place. Its not all doom and gloom.

    Hopefully next season we can sort some of our issues out and then we can push on from there.

  8. Anders, I agree with almost all you write, except about Kroenke. It is clear that the team is better than last season and MORE IMPORTANTLY that we now have a regime in charge who are realists and who , given time, will maximise our player value. Selling Ozil will be a big step forward and I firmly believe that will be accomplished this summer. We need a basis of younger, hungry and less well paid players as our core. Many are already here in Holding, Guendouzi and our younger set. Huge millions were catastrophically wasted by Gazidis and Wenger and having them both gone is a massive start in cleaning up the mess BOTH left behind. We needed to shift Sanchez AND Ozil AND Ramsey. One down; two to go . Ramsey is effectively gone and Ozil will be the third this summer. THAT is a massive financial saving and achievment. Sanchez and Ozil are clearly in decline and Ramsey’s peak was always way below both of theirs and he proved unreliable, even though he works hard. A new realism now runs day to day matters and at last we have a manager who will not indulge ANY individual who does not regularly contribute and will get spongers out the door. I am IN a minority who thinks this but it remains the truth. Unlike so many, I know that Emery, nor even God Almighty , can seriously be expected to make proper defenders out of the clowns bequeathed by Wenger and properly replacing ALL those clowns will take time.

    Because of our Kroenke handicap, real progress will take some time and several windows. We need to buy wisely; no more Xhakas, Mustafis and all the other dud CB’s brought in by Wenger, going right back to Senderos. No more Walcott sick jokes, no more Diaby and Wilshere hospital patients, no more Denilsons, Elnenys, Santos’s, Almunias, and all the other countless WASTE of our severely limited transfer and wages fund. Better management and CEO is already here. We need some PATIENCE to allow it to work. Patience and fans are oil and water. But that PATIENCE remains the truth , even so.

    1. It is clear don’t believe in God almighty otherwise you wouldn’t extend disrespect to him.
      If you want to discuss competitive sports, leave God out it for your own benefit.

      1. @Gily.
        The god concept is the most nonsensical nonsense ever. I used to be a Theist up until 2017.
        Now I can’t believe in even ever took that rubbish seriously.

        1. @Goonster!
          Clap for yourself.
          There are superabundant evidence to support the existence of the Almighty.
          If you find a common spoon in a no man’s land, you don’t need to be told it had a manufacturer. Because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent. If that is the case, then you don’t have a brain ‘cos you can’t see it.

      2. I don’t see any improvement as we still have rubbish players that have peaked and this is where they belong (5th or 6th).
        Next season is when I am going to get serious with Emery. I want to see a defined style of football. I want to see progression next season.

        This season I am right behind him because of the poor squad currently.

  9. Liverpool and Spurs are better than us at present because they have more quality players.Until we clear out the dross and replace them with upgrades or youngsters with real potential(like Gendouzi) we will not bridge the gap which has developed because of bad management on and off the pitch.

  10. You’ll wanna know if arsenal players are a team? Then just sit and watch them embarrass Unai Emery game after game until he bows out like “Jose’.

  11. Good article. In a week’s time I figure we will be in Europa Cup round of 16 and in fourth place in PL. Does that just paper over cracks? Maybe. But it’s not bad for a team trying to reinvent itself. The verdict is still out in terms of whether the new regime will manage the assets any better than the previous lot. For me the signs aren’t great but let’s give them time.

  12. Because we as fans of arsenal F.C. have been able to enjoy a lucrative past with trophies. Our expectations are high. But in times of change we have to accept a slower passage to growth again. We where blessed when Wenger done it all so quickly. But consider today’s football world? Poch hasn’t won anything but is in growth steady mode. Chelsea have been yo-yo for years, players there determine the law. United have stumbled hard since fergie. Now a 4th manager and who knows. Liverpool have and are waiting 29 years for the league. And city are the only ones who live in another world. Like psg and barca Madrid juve and munich.

    If it was me I would look at how juve heritage keeps them good. The free signings they have made in recent years is Llorente Can, Coman, Khedira, Cannavaro, Pirlo, Pogda, Alves and now Ramsay.
    In truth selling pogda meant they could sign Ronaldo. They must of made over £100m on free transfers and spent the same.

    I am not saying that is what we should do…no what that is what I am saying what we should do.

    We won’t sign a lot of good free players in one season but you work hard. If rabiot is got with £200k weekly salary then sold in 4 years at £65m then it is because with a lot of these good players, maybe 7 who play weekly then we should of also won the league at least once and the European Champions League in that 4 years.

    Equally we can start that cycle now with selling kosalinac for £20m. Pure profit minus his wages for 3 years.

    Arsenal should also be looking at Brahimi, Munir, Herrera (Porto), Kompany and Mangala, Pereira (United), Mata (United).

    Unfortunately now when you look to sign you just don’t look at what he brings you. You have to look at salary, sell on value and balance in current team.

    My selling list would be
    Mustafi
    Ramsay gone
    Welbeck going
    Cech retire
    Litch released
    Ozil

    (You will see kosalinac is not on my list but used as an example of selling in a previous paragraph. That is just an example of how to buy and sell and not able the player. Consider the idea then the name and you see my point)

    I wrote ozil not because I dislike him. He is doing a job that was meant to firstly be about Wenger building a team around him. Wenger saw a player who in today’s market should be worth £50m. But recent critics, of arsenal and ozil from the media has dented his market value.
    For new arsenal to progress they need to sell ozil unfortunately. I just can’t see a younger talisman to come in otherwise. Torriera gendouzi Leno, yes we must continue

    And a little related topic of a bad example of free transfer is Sanchez to United by United. Here’s a free laugh for you arsenal fans.

    £30m united paid for Sanchez because City were sniffing around…although by now you should say United were sniffing around.
    There contract to him is 5 years at £93m but they just need 2 or 3 years from him at £54m cost. So that will cost them £84m.

    While we got also mhkit for a 3 year deal making us £2m after the £30m united gave. But in truth mkhit will only be here another season max. So we could make £11m on the final deal.

    We make they lost. Lol

  13. I’m not sure Emery is the right man for the job ,we have to give him more time , look we will start to play better but Emery needs to be given a chance to bring his type of players and coaching to work its only been not even 1 season yet if we start changing managers like Chelsea we will go even further backwards especially with not as much cash as the way Chelsea work .. we have to give him at least 3 seasons.we also have been unlucky with injuries .we have to get behind the manager and the players give them confidence. Otherwise if we start feeling negative the players will to and the manager so don’t you worry Arsenal fans it will come good in the End ?

  14. Great article. I’ve been thinking along the same lines for some time. As many of us said at the start of the season, it’s going to take time to re-vamp the team and it will require years, not months as Emery has had so far.

    True Kroenke does seem like a money-grabbing tight-fisted owner, but what about Tottenham’s Joe Lewis? He’s not short of a few quid! Liverpool and Tottenham have been smart in recent times, and I hope that the Emery-era will see us playing smart too and getting a steady progression to improvement over the forthcoming years.

    1. Levy is a proper hustler keeping all these players and that manager with no wage hike mighty impressive if we are frank, ours is a billionaire playing or hoping to be one huge difference!

      it pains me to say they are doing a better job at the relocation process as well with all the problems that occured in construction, a better job than us, they just can’t win a trophy i would never hear the end of it!!

  15. i like your article but you seem blinded that kronke is treating our club the same as the other owners, the two other have passion for their club do you remember any saga’s? the owner was right there in the middle of it fighting to keep his player or buy a new one, do you ever remember our silent guy doing that?

    yes both clubs mentioned and chelsea and man u and leicster have all recruited better players than us, that’s management fault for not forking out the extra 1-5 mil to get the deal, the problem with us we try to hustle every time but we come the meeting in a RR it makes no sense!!

    we are not a poor club but we lost out on so many good players because we are cheap, to me that’s management’s fault fork out the cash and have some vision, he doesn’t seem to have a problem doing that with his American based teams!!

    my problem is he views us as a Cash Cow, and i for one will never accept that, my team always comes first, and he will eventually sell as i don’t beleive it to be his Legacy, as for his son don’t see him doing us any good either, not anyone’s fault just no football knowledge …and even if you hire the best how would you know as an owner that they are the best with no base in the beautiful game? the other owners as you mentioned or better ones like Aulas from Lyon, are owners that understand the players the game the coach etc…. yes they have the same capabilities as us, we are even richer with a bigger fan base, the difference is the owner knows something about football, even the russian Billionaire and Mansour who treat the club like play things understand football, that’s the difference!!

    ps; i got my guard up if i’m honest, because i had your impression at the beginning of the season but the sven situtation and the not backing the manager has me worried that we haven’t learnt from our mistakes!

    you want to know how this club is really viewed by the owners go to youtube, roll back the years and listen to MJ song they don’t care about us 😉

  16. please when did united pay £30m for Sanchez?

    was is not a straight up swap with mikki? or I my getting something wrong here.

  17. Its quite unfortunate the way this writer rubbishes our comments.The good thing is that he admits he doesn’t read them carefully may be then he would have gotten some sense.
    Ill say that it is more depressing to be an arsenal fan than reading our comments here.
    This post is almost entirely talking about how over the years Liverpool and Totts have become by far better teams than us.It then beats the logic of you saying we are improving.
    Your admission that this 2clubs have been more clever in on &off field management answers the 4conserns you’ve raised above.
    1.1) Kroenke is a greedy bastard ruining our club(this is fact that needs not to be debated.If this man cant invest any of his money in the club to jump start our progress then let him plough back the money we get from selling players and get us quality replacements rather than lumping it in his already fat account.He should also show interest in the club by consistently attending our matches like other owners do for him to see first hand how shambolic we are)
    2.2) Emery is a fool, who never can select the right team, and most of the time he is using the wrong tactics(Well,Emery may not be a fool but he is yet to figure out our starting 11 and the formation to get the best out of them.Also this Ozil situation is not doing him any good.He has to put his feet on the ground ASAP and fix this team cos we will judge him on its performance)
    3.3) The players are generally useless(This is why liverpool bought a worldclass goalkeeper and defender at the rate they did because they new what they needed to perform.We are crying out on glaring shortfalls eg C.A.M and wide players but nothing happens.If we had any quality in our team then AMN&Guenduzi should be learning the ropes from the bench and not as dependable players.
    4) We are in the worst state in modern history( Very true,we used to compete for the title.Then we started viewing top 4 as a trophy.Right now we are hanging in there for a top six finish,isn’t this a downward trajectory?unfortunately with the management we have it threatens to get worse.
    So please Anders S you have to understand that the fans are talking about the existing reality of our club.

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