Arsenal News Daily Poll

Daily Poll – Who was the most responsible for Arsenal end of season collapse?

There is no denying that Arsenal collapsed like a pack of cards at the end of the season and opinion appears to be split on who was to blame.

In my opinion, there are just three possible candidates, the board which includes Stan Kroenke, the manager, the players.

I suspect that for some Arsene Wenger or individual players can be held accountable but I think it would be unfair to target individual players and I cannot accept that Wenger is to blame, yes he left the club in a shambles but where do you draw the line with ex-employees? Should Ivan Gazidis also be included? Not for me, he and Wenger were not there when we sat third with the easiest run in and I firmly believe that the poll would not be credible to include anyone that could not have made a difference when it really mattered, which was the end of the season.

So, I am not including Arsene Wenger or Ivan Gazidis and I am also not going to single out any particular player because that would open up a can of worms too volatile to contain and anyway, it would be far too subjective and the poll would simply be too long.

I include Stan Kroenke as part of the board because he is the owner and the board answers to him.

What is included are four simple options and I feel they cover all the bases.

Poll closes at 23.59 UK time on the 13th June.

Who was the most responsible for Arsenal end of season collapse?

  • Unai Emery (33%, 145 Votes)
  • All equally to blame (31%, 136 Votes)
  • The players (24%, 107 Votes)
  • The Board (including Stan Kroenke) (12%, 55 Votes)

Total Voters: 443

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60 Comments

  1. The players shows they are bottlers regardless of anything
    Emery yes contributed some quota but man did he tell Mustafi to commit blunder against palace or xhaka against Brighton….

    The team was ran over by lichester and wolves and it was not formation problem because the game was played like it was a preseason match…is that even acceptable as a preseason match I rather watch catoon than watching football played at that pace especially at lechester the players was totally not up 4 the fight and had no idea what to do in the pitch I thought great teams win ugly when necessary not this team too many bottlers

    1. So Emery,who had trained and coached these bottlers is blameless is he?Of course not.Wengerceas hung out to dry and rightly so.Emery is the Manager who failed to secure a CL spot from the last 8 games which had the easiest run in of all the top sides.Leicester LOST Palace LOST Wolves LOST Everton LOST Brighton DREW.Thats 14 points DROPPED that would have ensured THIRD PLACE.
      How anybody cannot hold Emery responsible is beyond reason.
      Let’s put it this way.If these were our first five games and we ended with a single point out of fifteen everyone would have rightly questioned the manager being given the job in the first place.These were. FIVE WINNABLE GAMES and we got ONE SINGLE POINT.
      That alone brings his job on the line for me

      1. 100% right Phil and well said. Obviously he gets another season but I’m expecting Champions League football next season at least

        1. Agree with you both Phil and Kenny ,the way we crumbled at the end of the season was embarrassing and the cup final ,which in turn was even more embarrassing in some ways .
          We are going to get the usual excuses “wengers players “
          “A lot of injuries “no money in January “
          A few excuses wenger was never aloud to use .

          If this season is no improvement then I would like us to go Down the route of maybe Vieira ,bergkamp,Pirès .the ex player route
          See if that way can make us more competitive ,with no money coming from the club maybe they can get more out the players ,because the way Emery works it looks like he can’t manage it .

      2. Emery has part of the blame too….
        But if u put it that way .. you have
        To consider he also put us in a position to challenge
        And fight till the end..ehen did our season end last two
        Seasons ago January/February..thou we dnt cross the lines
        We will be happy we hard the chance to challenge till the end
        In top four race and Europe..so he dnt get all wrong as well

      3. Phil, all you need to do see people biased opinions is replaced Emery’s name with Wenger’s. The coach will no doubt has 99.9% of the votes. If Wenger was blamed for these players why Emery can’t.

    2. Dead right, Emery didn’t ask Mustafi to make the errors but he picked him knowing that every game or so there is brain fart in him.

  2. Our mentality is weak, only up for some matches. Players tend to adopt the approach of the leader biggest weakness we don’t have leaders. Without looking at the arm band for liverpool or mancity we know who their leaders are on the field

    1. agreed mate leaders we defo lack bottlers we do not, but Emery is in my opinion partly to blame, the buck stops with him I don’t think he is the man for the job and the bloke who appointed him has jumped ship, however I am prepared to give him one more season and if he does not get it right I will be screaming for him and Kroenke to join Gazidis.

  3. Most players have been at the club for several seasons and were guided by two world class managers, yet they disappoint us again in this season

    Emery just manages Arsenal for one season and he has improved the team’s position a little in EPL, so he deserves one more season to be judged

    Whereas Kroenke has spent more than 200 M to assemble our lacklustre squad and has been paying them with millions, hence we can’t blame him for the players’ low motivation. If a player like Ozil dislikes the way his team is managed, the door is always open, unless if he still likes his mega salary

  4. Emery is at fault here. He’s fully responsible for the team’s expected collapse at the end of the season. Playing against a much better, resilient and superior teams like Wolves and Leicester is difficult enough with Mustafi, Ozil and Xhaka playing, and with the inept tactical knowledge in Emery, to lose by 3 goals is a blessing. Should’ve sacked the imbecile Emery and replace him with the much better manager in Arteta!

    1. Netrunner, I look forward to your application for the job when it becomes available. The board looks forward to perusing your CV.
      As stated above by Nonny at least under Emery Arsenal were competing for a Champions League place this past season. The core of this squad has now let down two respected coach/managers in Wenger and now Emery. A conspiracy theorist would say, that the injection of funds from qualifying for the Champions League would guarantee transfer money for their replacement and therefore the players ran dead. More likely they proved again they are not good enough to perform under the pressure.

    2. Netrunner and others, I look forward to your applications for the job when it becomes available. The board looks forward to perusing your CV’s.
      As stated above by Nonny at least under Emery Arsenal were competing for a Champions League place this past season. The core of this squad has now let down two respected coach/managers in Wenger and now Emery. A conspiracy theorist would say, that the injection of funds from qualifying for the Champions League would guarantee transfer money for their replacement and therefore the players ran dead. More likely they proved again they are not good enough to perform under the pressure.

        1. ?Xxnofx, I missed out on project managing the Emirates construction; they wouldn’t put out for the airfare (LOL).

  5. Martin, I’m sure you mean well, however unless you’re glued to JustArsenal all day it’s more or less impossible to keep up with the amount of articles that’s being written. I mean you send a reply and suddenly it’s old news. Please, slow down the articles, we’ve all got lives to get on with.

      1. Only six, one every four hours, wow. Two a day would be my preferred maximum, even just one would suffice. But then it’s not my website or me needing lots of clicks.

  6. For its mainly the board. They could see Emery had a plan and was doing well. They should have supported him and given him the funds to strengthen the team. If that was done we could have easily have made top 4 and won Europa League.

  7. Emery and the players. I remember criticising both team selection and players performance during that bad 4 match run

    BTW Wenger wasted so much money on our team of average players: Mustafi, Ozil and Xhaka alone cost about £115 million in total

  8. The lost of Ramsey marked the beginning of bad runs just like the lost of Santi Carsola marked the end of 4th place trophy…. To avoid the same fate this season, we need to replace Ramsey with an intelligent player or better still replace Santi

  9. Emery should also share the blame. He is responsible for selecting the team. The players also cannot continue hiding under the coach. Wenger defended them for so long. I was not actually surprise we collapsed but it was the timing.

  11. Everyone is to blame…the coach
    The players
    The boardroom
    Getting a player who could have contributed for our team would have shown intent of actually getting the job done and would have boosted the team so much in January window…what did they do getting in Suarez to keep the fans shut when we know how thin and quality devoid we are at centerback,rightback and wings….
    Which later proves very costly how many Goals did we conside from blunders coming directly from Niles and Mustafi how many Goals did our midfield create or scored

    Everything went wrong at same time….

    1. True, but honestly things started going downhill when Emery tinkered with the line up and included Jenkinson, Guendouzi and El Neny in the same starting line up. Dropping 11 points out of 12 has got to have been down to the manager though Xhaka and Mustafi did their level best to sabotage Emery. Emery really must be ruthless with those 2 clowns and get rid of them before they cost him his job. AMN as well cost us the Leicester game with his silly red card, we probably need to buy a new RB and ship out AMN.

  12. Emery’s poor team selection (the woeful Elneny/Guendouzi combo in particular!)
    The player’s fight went AWOL, when needed the most.. hence missing out on 3rd/4th place
    The weekly brain farts from Mustafi & Xhaka (which proved to be very costly)
    I’d say team & manager are equally to blame & I hope we see an improvement next season.. being a gooner ain’t for the faint of heart!!!

    1. Emery must purge Mustafi, Xhaka and AMN out of the team. If he cannot see what is clear as day, that these individuals are trojan horses, then he must follow them out when we eventually fail again next season. It will be simply unacceptable to start the season with the blunder boys still here.

      1. I agree, QD.. if they are still here come August 10 & in the starting line up, surely questions have got to be asked of the manager!!
        Who would buy Xhaka/Mustafi though?
        I really am gutted for Ainsley though, for a while I really liked what I saw… but in the final, he was dreadful ?

  13. Not a criticism of the poll but I think there is a name missing. Maybe, just maybe, it was down to Darren Burgess, Director of Performance (fitness etc). Seems odd that news has just broken that he was sacked straight after we lost to Chelsea in the EL final. Of the people in the vote, I voted Emery. Can’t see why the board has much to do with it as they have little or no influence on how the team plays except perhaps to let Emery know they are not pleased with things but that would come from Emery’s direct boss. Yes the players have much to do with it as they are the ones who are on the pitch trying or not trying, as the case may. So no, ultimately it has to be Emery. He picks the team, he trains and coaches the team, he calls the shots on how we play, who gets subbed and when subs get made. Out of the three choices, must be Emery but, Burgess going clouds it a little for me.

  14. I say 60% players fault and 40% Emery’s fault.
    But 100% Silent Stan fault on the grand scheme.
    ?

    1. Am afraid Stan cannot be blamed for this. He has allowed the club to run itself pretty much autonomously. Tens of millions have been spent on poor acquisitions while hundreds of thousands have been paid out as wages to sub par players. Even if we say Stan doesn’t put in money, well City owners have put in money and now they are in problems with FFP.

        1. My main moan about Silent Stan when it comes to funds is his reluctance to loan Arsenal funds, an interest free loan could be obtained from him and over such a duration (while he remains owner) that it doesn’t affect us as much as our current finances restrict us.

          If I wanted to get into a good moan then I could ask why he doesn’t get the Walmart family (his wife side) to sponsor Arsenal, they own ASDA and I’d much prefer to have ASDA on the front than an airline named after the country with human right issues.

          Why don’t we loan some players to Silent Stans other sports teams? If he cared about sports so much then he could help us out and his USA ‘soccer’ teams out by arranging a partnership.

          When it comes to Arsenals finances, I do think he leaves people he hires to deal with the finer points, those people are the ones I would like to see Arsenal fans point the finger at.

          I’d go as far as to be saying that such poor management has cost Silent Stan a small fortune already, point to how he could be worth more if Arsenal were ran better.

          Maybe his ears will twitch if he hears that he is losing wealth, relatively to what we could be worth.

    2. Goonster, I don’t need to say who is fault has my vote ha done that for me. I just want to say blaming Kroenke here is like blaming your wife when he can’t give you a male child. She took your pounding, took your scum, carried it her belly for minimum 7 months and when through with that excruciating layout and when all you had to do is put in a vibrant Y- chromosome. The Y chromosome in Arsenal is the autonomous way of running stated by QD.

  15. Both Emery and the players take the blame for that. I remember the lineup of the match against Everton & it was disgraceful from Emery. However, the players refused to show up against Wolves, stupid mistakes against Brighton & Palace and a shit performance in the 2nd half of the Europa League.
    Our team is full of mediocre players who make silly mistakes at critical moments. Mustafi against Palace, Xhaka & Mhki against Brighton & Niles choosing a final to have a brain fart. To top it all, we have players who are inconsistent & lack any desire & hardwork.
    Emery has had his share of criminal lineups but he’s only had a season to work with these players & let’s be honest, not many managers would do great things with these lot.
    All in all, it was a season of low expectations for me & I hope Emery can right some of the wrongs this coming season.
    I’ll be very happy if we can get rid of players like Xhaka, Mustafi, Ozil, Mhki, and Kolasinac. These are the players who’ve disappointed me greatly.

  18. The quote attributed to OZIL that Emery is no coach may have an element of truth about it. Based on some of the tactical line-ups he employed in certain matches seems to support that as well. What is also a general view of some respected football experts is that Emery is not a good man manager. I think this is backed up by the fact that he “resigned” from PSG after one year after well documented disagreements with some of the most talented footballers in the world. However,slightly in his defence,the ELP is probably the toughest league in the world for a manager to adapt to,and this shown by the continuous sacking and hiring of quality and previously successful managers by ELP clubs. I also think that however great a managers record is it never counts for much. You are only as good as your last match. To sum it up I think the failures of last season can be attributed to the manager, staff and the players. People calling for the sack of Emery are, in my opinion, being irrational. Be careful what you wish for, it could be a lot worse.

      1. You are right PSG did not renew his contract which considering what they achieved in his stint is strange. Mind you it would have been a very poor manager not achieve what he did with the talent he had available.I believe that the reason for the non-renewal was his inability to manage that talent. You well may be right about OZIL but I believe Emery could have managed the man in a better way. Emery should have told him quite clearly that he did not feature in his plans in the same way as he apparently told Ramsey. If he had done so perhaps we would not be where are with OZIL today.

    3. PatH Arsenal should just sack Emery, if he doesn’t decide to leave this shambles of a “so called top club” of his own volition. It appears that it is easier for the board to retain underperforming, comfortable, overpaid players than to support the manager with adequate funds to rehabilitate the squad. The core of these players have failed to achieve a top four finish for three seasons under two well respected managers.
      Who would want to come to the Emirates given the expectation of supporters, the lack of quality in the squad, the inability of the club to move on under performing players and attract replacements, the available transfer budget, a disinterested owner and self sustaining financial model?
      Unfortunately Arsenal dont have the funds of a Chelsea or Manchester United to churn through managers, because the contract payout would take a large chunk of the available transfer budget.

      1. “Arsenal should just sack Emery”
        Fully agree OG.

        Many people have said “Who would you replace him with”, while we didn’t have a great season, it was still better than Monaco. At least we have EU football.

        I wonder if Jardim could be tempted to join us, can you imagine how well our kids could do with a manager who is used to developing stars of tomorrow…

        1. Midkemma, if UE was sacked, the repercussions would split the fans yet again.
          AW would be blamed for leaving such a talentless, dross, lazy, overpaid squad, that only a miracle worker (which UE is not) could have turned around.

          But if we had secured those three points needed to finish third at the end of the season, UE would have been the new messiah, turning the same players into great players and AW would have been shown just how to use tactics etc etc.

          As much as I feel UE cost us dearly at the end of the season, I want to see if he is as good as some on here say and that can only be judged at the end of another season, working under the same restraints (kronkie) as the previous manager.

          I have no idea how he will get rid of all these so called dud AW players, who would buy such awful dross anyway, especially at the values being put on them by the same fans who describe them as useless.
          I guess all the young players come under that umbrella, along with every one except the six (forget Suarez) that were signed at the start of the season.

          No, I disagree with you, let’s see what he really can do and if he proves to be the most successful manager in the club’s history, I assume that you, like me, will be over the moon.
          Of course, if he doesn’t, we both know who will get the blame don’t we?

  19. we dont want to say it but whenever Ramsey is out of the team Arsenal becomes a mid-table club. I have observed that for the last 3 or so seasons. He was the most important player. His injury is to blame for that woeful run. With him on top of Jorgihno, Arsenal would have beaten Chelsea nice and easy. With the funds we are floating, he will be missed hugely

  20. You can’t lookat those options and say even one of them hold zero responsibility. Arsenal’s problems are systemic, so owner and board are most at fault. Players, just aren’t good enough, some don’t care, some just want money. Emery, put together poor lineups, trusted the wrong players, put all his eggs in Europa basket when we were points away from getting the job done. overall, everybody bears a piece of responsibility.

  21. RSH, so with that critique of UE fully explained, can you tell me why anyone would not, having followed your posts regarding our previous manager, not think that you were actually explaining and critiqueing the previous regime?

    Any differences at all?

    1. I’d say most of the season he avoided these problems. Injuries to Ramsey gave him little choice with Ozil unfortunately, but I still think he should’ve made lineups that put less emphasis on him since he is so unreliable. But for majority of the season he put up lineups that fans didn’t like but got results. Most of my criticism of him is because of his actions in the last couple of months. Wenger, this was long term and done season after season and he is part of the reason for our systemic issues of disastrous defending and overall weak mentality as a club. Every manager will put together bad lineups at some point as well so that’s not a problem unique to Wenger, or to Emery. You just can’t always get it right. But when you are doing it for close to a decade, buying bad players, relying on Wilshere, Walcott’s of the world to win you titles, then the issue is much larger than a few mistakes. As of right now, Emery has made a few mistakes that have cost us.

      1. RSH, but season after season with disastrous defending, as you put it, AW was still able to finish in the top four and qualify for the CL.
        That just cannot be achieved with what you see as “weak mentality” can it?

        I would love to know how you can explain these two obvious contradictions, because I cannot possibly see how AW did what he did with what you accuse him of!!
        Unless you are judging him on his last two seasons maybe?

        One further thought for you to ponder over RSH, what happened to the money that the club received from those CL qualifications etc?
        Why DID he have to rely on players that you deem “bad”?
        UE is going to have the same transfer scenario as his predecessor and Lichsteiner and Suarez are proof that that kind of kitty involves a gamble and sometimes it doesn’t work out.
        Crumbs from the top table sums it up rather nicely…anyway would love to get your thoughts.
        I personallythink that your 3.08pm thoughts were spot on by the way.

        1. The you think Asene Wenger will make today’s top 4
          That will be in your dreams considering how strong pool,Tottenham and man city have become

          2. NONNY, No I don’t think AW would make the top four this season and you give the reason why in your post perfectly and I agree completely
            His last season, especially, was a disaster and UE did a very good job in motivating the players to, what should have been, CL qualification and a european final.

            What I am trying to get from you and RSH is this…how did AW manage to achieve 8 top four, 8 CL qualification and 3 fa cup wins, if the squad was as weak as you seem to suggest in the last decade?

            That’s all I am asking and it really is a simple question…but I never seem to get a realistic and well thought out response.
            So I can only carry on thinking that AW was a magician, who performed miracles.

  22. The core of this squad have now failed to achieve a Champions League place over three seasons under two well credentialled respected managers. Not good enough, end of story.
    Without a major overhaul of this squad, given the strength of the squads of the other top six clubs, their willingness to spend on upgrades and the potential improvement of Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City and West Ham United, next season is worrying.
    Unai Emery is not Merlin the Magician and Stan Kroenke is not King Arthur.

        1. Yes thanks Sue and hope you are well too.
          It seems I had an issue with the new link and therefor my comments were not coming through to the site.
          Has Pat had her twins yet?

          Really hoping I can get an answer from NONNY or RSH this time by the way, try as I may, I never actually do get one.

          1. Good, glad to hear it! No, not yet Ken..but I don’t think it will be much longer..
            Reckon you’ll have more luck with RSH ?

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