In modern football patience towards coaches and managers is something that is in short supply, however, Arsenal are known for their patience as they showed with Arsene Wenger when results turned sour.
The major factor which cost Wenger his job, which is now being repeated by Unai Emery, is the inability to change a failing approach to the game.
Football like every other aspect of life deserves a good Plan B.
When a manager realizes that his Plan A is not working, he goes for Plan B. Arsenal dropped points last season due to the lack of a Plan B. The same act is being repeated this season. Lack of a good Plan B in the second half caused our defeat against Liverpool. The same thing happened against Watford yesterday.
It is obvious that the majority of Arsenal’s available players find it difficult playing from the back. A weakness which has cost the team goals. A total of fourteen errors leading to goals have been caused by the team since the beginning of last season. I wonder why Emery is not fixing it.
Against Watford, it was funny to hear the cheers from the crowd each time Leno kicked the ball forward, probably out of frustration more than anything else. It is easy for opponents to set their teams in a way where they press Arsenal players constantly expecting to take advantage of their errors.
The midfield setting of Emery has no character. It cannot hold on to the ball, it cannot defend, neither can it cause a quick transition from defence to attack.
He sticks to an obviously failing player due to lack of a planned alternative. Players do have bad days, It is the job of coaches to change players who show obvious weakness. Ainsley Maitland-Niles lost possession 19 times yesterday, yet he played the full game.
Emery has a very good squad of players at his disposal but what is lacking, is proper management and if he doesn’t fix the team as soon as possible, he is going to lose his job sooner rather than later.
By Evbogbai Charles
…. Who would have replaced Niles yesterday? Chambers? Common. Our back four is bad and except for the penalty, Luiz is actually the only player in that defense that played well. Sokratis should be benched on Thursday with Chambers taking his place until Holding is match fit. Niles is a terrible player and the reason Emery wanted another right back but that didn’t happen this summer. We have a bad defense but now Emery knows that he is really under pressure and will do what’s needed from now on starting on Thursday. He is the coach and must be in control at all times.
NILES? Don’t get me started I thought when we bought Chambers he was a right back
I know Arsenal fans love to eat their young at the first sign of weakness but please, I’m begging you all, don’t turn AMN into a villain here. He’s being played out of position and all things considered is doing an okay job. He is not a “terrible” player or any of the other more colourful negative adjectives that some fans are thumbing through their thesaurus to type.
NILES is not a good player either. Stop this his not a bad player his attitude is one of the worst I have seen he thinks he is far better than he is, can’t do the simple things many things about this dude doesn’t just click.
Niles is not a right back. And should not be judged as one. He is being played way out position .
A young player that has been playing in that position for more than 2 seasons and you are still telling me he’s not a defender, Valencia wasn’t a defender but he always plays well for united, Ashley young wasn’t a defender but he’s not as poor as Niles, yesterday Niles can’t even pass the ball, so please stop saying that, all our youngsters that have seen play for us are average with the exception of Wilock who always gave his all and maybe Nketiah and Saka.
???
Nile’s is too careless with his passing and has the habit of making school boy errors. It has nothing to do with him playing out of position not good enough in my opinion
…. Any decent winger will skin Chambers alive. He was bought as a right back but he is not a good one. A club as big as ours should have a back up right back.
Chambers can’t do any worse than Niles, even non-decent wingers make a ghost of this guy Gerard Deulofeu was making a ghost of him yesterday
Even mustafi can play right back and chambers
What ashame is not a coach but maybe a manager
Couldn’t agree more. Niles is not a genuine full back, so is Kolasinac, so why play them there? What if they get injured? The mid field struggled in the second half because Arsenal kept using long high ball forward which were easily intercepted by Watford players, what should the coach do? I think a good should be prepared with those kinds of situation and have the solution. Guenduozy made a couple of errors and luckily escaped so deserved to be replaced. I couldn’t understand with his decision to sub Ceballos and Ozil though, because they were not the main problem Arsenal struggled in the second half.
We needed Xhaka Out and Chambers In, Guendouzi Out Torreira In
……..Auba
…Ozil……Pepe
Kola.Ceba.Torr.Niles
…Luiz.Chamb.Sokr
……..Leno
Emery is stubborn until he’s sacked he won’t change
The bottom line is that Emery is not the right coach to take arsenal to the next level.
He is not a creative coach and he gets confused often and that’s not good for a supposed top coach.
Anyways, I never expect anything short from him. I knew all along that Wenger will be a far better coach than this guy.
If you follow arsenal well you will understand that Niles is always a calamity. No matter how well he plays in a game, he will surely commit blunder in every game.
Fans need to focus on the facts which tell us that our centre backs together with Xhaka have cost us 4 points against Spurs and Watford.Until these players are replaced we will continue to ship goals and drop points.It is also patently obvious that we badly need a physically powerful defensive midfielder as neither Torreria nor Xhaka are up to the job.This should be a priority in the Jan window by which time we are unlikely to be in the top four I’m afraid.These solutions are clearly evident to anyone with any football intelligence and hopefully Emery will see the light before too long.Our current problems have precious little to do with AMN who is a talented young player who is being asked to hold down a position for which he will never be suited.The fans who criticise him on a regular basis need to bear this in mind before they slag him off.
Watford attempted 31 shots in this match, the highest tally Arsenal have faced in a Premier League fixture since 2003/04.Arsenal have conceded more Premier League goals from errors during Unai Emery’s time in charge – since the start of 2018-19 season – than any other top-flight sideArsenal have already suffered 20 away Premier League defeats in just over two seasons.Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga. Some effort that.Only Ben Foster, Craig Dawson and Etienne Capoue failed to have a shot for Watford yesterday.Five players had an effort on target.
Summed it all up at once, Defensively diabolical atm!!
Once Holding, Bellerin & Tierney I will really get on Unai’s case if he hasnt sorted it out with these 3 playing at the back. No excuses then but the excuse are getting very thin now for Emery with these statistics.
Pepe isnt fit just yet and hasnt found his feet, please god not another Gervinho… could well be though!!
No chance,he need to go. A leopard can never change its spot
I even betted last season that arsenal will not qualify to champion football places due to his continuosly tactical tactics of the coach
Why is a club like Arsenal not have a backup rb is beyond my reasoning everything Arsenal is a problem from the backroom staffs to the coach to the players and even the fans.
I was calling for a backup RB all summer. A backup RB was slightly more important than Tierney
Niles isn’t a RB
Maybe we can get one in January.
Emery 2015-2016 season at sevilla
Away games:
Win-0
Draw-9
Loss-10
Mentality zerooooo
If Niles isn’t a right back, what is he?
The problem is that arsenal has so many mediocre players.
Niles as long as I am concerned can’t play effectively in any position on a football field.
Abuja Niles as a CM or RWB its effective and by no means mediocre,
You should analyse a little bit more, yes we draw and was because of subs that were not needed, With Wenger no subs would have been done and with Emery its like he is anxious to make subs. The problem right now is that Emery’s stuck he cannot seem to see what positions would give his players the best performance. As we are right now with injuries and nos wingers whatsoever I would go with 343 setup
……..Auba
….Ozil….Pepe
Kola.Ceba.Torr.Niles
..Cham..Luiz..Sokr.
……..Leno
This would be my strongest available team,
What do you guys think?
I had trust and hope in emery last season.
but after the first few games this season i realise he is not the one to take us foward .each and every game in the premier league we have struggled
since he arrived not one have we been in control.
You might call the upcoming games easy but i am sure we will be sweating in every one of them.
the guy should not stay beyond this season. the team has no urgency effort or passion.Aubameyang lacazette and leno are the reason we are not relegation fodder
Need to play 3 at the back again, and forget Xhaka as our CDM he is better as a CM
………Auba
….Ozil……Pepe
Kola..Ceba..Torr..Niles
..Chamb..Luiz..Sokr/Must/Hold one of them.
……..Leno
What about Laca? Where would you put him? Laca and Auba are our best attack and have good partnership in front. Pepe is our highest transfer and shows some potentials but so far hasn’t proved his 70 mil worth.
Well I did not add him because he is Injured, But if Laca was back I would go with 2 ST
….Auba…Laca
……..ozil
Kola.Ceba.Torr.Niles
..Chamb.Luiz.Sokr
…..Leno
I would ease Bellerin and Tierney to the team to get them fit.
Holding could give a rest to Sokratis
Niles and Kola play better as Wingbacks, Torreira way better CDM than Xhaka.
There is clearly something wrong with emery and his players that they are not telling us. Everything started well we were pressing teams so well when he 1st arrived we saw signs of what he wanted to do. At a point the stats were showing we covered more distance than any other team in the league.so someone have to come and tell us what happened along the road that we regressed since then I have a feeling something went/is going wrong
sack Emery now defensively we are far worse now than we were under wenger i honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we conceded 8 goals at city
Stop abusing Wenger!
I have stopped listening to Emery. Especially when kept defending xhaka. Both seem to be in the same category – idiots .
Chambers is right back. Emery is not a manager.
Of the group of 8 points.
Man U played a top part of the table clash and they won doggedly. Not pretty and need to do more after stumbling against CP. Chelsea too have lost 2 goal leads and only against Wolves (who have struggled so far this season) won well whilst losing 4 zero in a weird game against Man U. Roger’s time in Leicester shows he has picked up the most pts after city and liverpool in the same period of games, they are a top 6 contender. Spurs have been inconsistent and while they blame it on Eriksen drama, it’s mainly because Poch didn’t get what he wanted. He has to replan. We are 2pts off 2nd. City have stumbled too. Self errors just like us.
We need to mix it up against Aston villa at home and get Pepe working, defence confident and get centre midfield proactive. After that let’s see against united away. Longer term I see Holding Bellerin and Tierney are nearer to get on the subs bench. Although we have only lost once, we haven’t looked even 70% capacity.
Arsenal against watford went like this. We started well and learnt their shape. They came out in the second half of the first half but we won the ball (ceballos – 2 important intersections this season so far) high up the field (with watford players in attack) and then it was a matter of getting it to Auba in a key area. His swivel and shot is why he is in the top 3 strikers in the league. Hence his golden boot last season. The 2nd goal was typical arsenal. Pass move time with the move to set it up. All executed with seeing the vision early, N. Miles will get alot of assist, bellerin will offer better away day performances when we have to go to places like wolves, watford and man city. Tierney when he is ready will give his all because football will keep him occupied whilst he is away from home. A lad who will play football and excite.
The errors were poor from arsenal. Gendouzi losing the ball a few times is lackless because they thought they won the game. Yet only half the game was played. It isn’t a fault of a young man, it’s just up to the experienced players to remind the young ones. But sokratis joins in with the same thinking. His error, or otemendi at cities error will become excusable more in time as the new law kicks in and it remains. Tackles at the half way mark or in the box from kick off will all be deemed equal. The new laws allow it. Errors of mispasses and tackles will occur.
But, and a Big But, kick it up top and let Nelson and Willock fight for the ball when the opponent gets the ball down on the ground. If he heads it backwards, let Auba chase it. We lacked what we were doing. No connection between the defenders receiving the ball and the midfield wanting it thereafter. Ozil gets tackled, Gendouzi has already lost it a few times and Xhaka likes receiving it in space (which wasnt on offer) Get the ball up to the top 3 as soon as possible and let the midfield join in. Liverpool do it best. Our style/approach is more like cities – but lacks connection – defence – midfield – forward.
Positives is Watford has 20% conversion rate of goals against shots on target and 30% conversion of chances into shots on goal and we had 50% goal conversion and 35% conversion.
Full backs did well. But maybe they were masked but the poor centre defence? As a unit they did poor. But full backs working well with the wide men, they did excellent. Both full backs with assist. Centre defence with the centre midfield did poor. Ceballos of the 3 helped win the ball for the first goal. Gendouzi over torriera I’m not sure in a game when watford under a new manager was gona want them to fight. Hindsight I know.. Pepe was poor. That’s ok but he has to know what he wants to do. Right now it’s like a dazz. He must need to be direct when he gets the ball. Laca is a miss and his fighting mentally is what I love about him. The fact he scores and assist makes him one of the best supporting top 4 with Son Mane and Sterling. Hes a loss. Ozil filling in with a key pass for the first goal means give him space he will do something. But we have to create space for all top players and so our core needs to work hard to create space constantly. Milner Henderson Fabino and the full backs do this for the forwards and the full backs. City do it well too, even without as vibrate full backs. (They make up for that with strong centre midfielders, de Bruyne Rodri Silva).
• Based on the current performances il like to go back to when we won a few and play Willock Nelson and Chambers in place for Xhaka Pepe and Sokratis.
Emery no doubt need to figure out exactly what the hell he is doing. The play from the back nonsense seem not to work. There is no gainsaying the fact that our defense is below standard of the team “WE THINK WE ARE”. I however do not agree with some of the criticism of the players.
Luiz with his ‘somewhat’ mistake had a decent game, y’all need to go rewatch the match. Even the penalty he caused, half of referees will not call that a penalty. Luiz pulled back his leg, only for Cleverley to fall on it.
AMN is a good player making the best out of the task he is assigned. He’s a midfielder made to act as a defender. We must recognize that he is helpful on the attack from the right too.
I thought Sokratis was our rock when we bash Mustafi? he has suddenly become a spiderweb? I have seen defenders pass ball to opponents in the box, it’s a mistake and it has happended to the VVD of this world too, it doesn’t diminish Sokratis’ positive contribution to the team.
I am concerned about our line up too but there are a lot that we the fans don’t know about what informed the selection.
I think you should stop repeating the same comment in every article…put out something new
The truth is there is nothing he couldve done about RB unless he bought a new player. Chambers is even worse at RB, maybe you can go with Mustafi, but you already have two other clowns in that back 4. AMN is bad at getting back, but the consolation is that he already has 2 assists. I don’t think he’s been as bad as he’s been made out to be. He’s done okay for somebody out of position. Our CB’s are far larger disasters and have been jokes for ages. Solution, was signing the biggest joke of them all. David Luiz without somebody like John Terry next to him, or even Cahill, is an absolute LIABILITY.
for our match against Villa, I’m hoping Emery goes with this line up…
Martinez
AMN
Chambers
Holding
Kola
Torreira
Willock
Cebellos
Ozil
Pepe
Auba
There will be no need to change strategy if Arsenal start winning asap.Bear in mind there are no easy games in the epl as MC have found out.
The speed of the gunner attack aint there .Too many passes when compared to the hornets who surged forward speedily.
TBf,Arsenal were lucky not to have lost.This draw reminds me when NU were 4-0 down to draw. I believe it was the last straw for RVP who left.
Our ace striker may be getting frustrated and itching to go if Arsenal continue to decline or cannot finish off games they are leading.
Hopefully Emery can improve the defence . He shd be able to find his best defence if not time is not on his side.
I have been Gunners fan for nearly 60 years and you would think that I’ve seen it all – but no!! I’m living in Adelaide and generally watch games am here. I’ve found that after 10-15 mins I know how he game is about to pan out and get so frustrated with our lack of understanding and application. How far removed are we from the 2004 era! This is Emery’s fault and whilst the players are ultimately responsible for carrying out his instructions , he has to make the necessary adjustments to counteract the constant mistakes by, Mustafi , Sokratis , Luiz , Ozil and AMN( he is a cm and not a rb) . I am confident we will , with Tierney, Holding and Bellerin improve enough to get into the top 4! What about getting back to the traditional 442 formation instead of the convoluted variations as now. Am I being naieve?
I completely understand you and I’m not a 60 year old fan but I have seen enough of Emery to see that he is stuck with his idea of a midfield of Guendouzi and Xhaka will give the cover that our trembling back four needs. The only solution that i see is to play our players on the positions the perform the best and with no Wingers whatsoever I would go with a 343 setup looking like this.
……..
……..Auba
….Ozil….Pepe
Kola.Ceba.Torr.Niles
..Cham..Luiz..Sokr.
……..Leno
And when we get Our injured players back and they are performing good i would go with this.
….Auba…Laca
……..ozil
Kola.Ceba.Torr.Niles
..Chamb.Luiz.Sokr
…..Leno
What do you think Tom?
It cannot be easy to be an Arsenal defender. Due to a non existing organisation of midfield and forwards the the back line is put under a constant pressure from the opposition. Of course mistakes finally happen under these circumstances. Emery has to come up with something new. His current ideas do not work. The arrival of Hector, Holding and the new left back will not solve that problem.