I dont think a new manager will solve our issues.
We have 170m of attacking talent and scored 22 goals in 15 games
We can stop goals despite lenos best efforts
We are in trouble. 2 points from southampton norwich and now brighton. We have a tough december.
Yep. We passed the critical point a long time ago, around about the time we were all arguing whether Wenger should have a parade or be mildly, though respectfully, criticised. I don't know where the floor is, but we have to hope we'll bounce when we hit it. That floor could be a long way down though. When you take competitiveness out of a sporting organisation and replace it with 1,001 bullshit alternatives that massage the bank balances and egos of prominent individuals, whether that be Kroenke and his desire to turn the club into mortgage security, or individual players who have the nerve to negotiate bigger contracts on the back of abject failure - there's only one direction you can go.Originally Posted by Maestro
I didn't blame the fans at any time during the Wenger debacle. Obviously I laughed at those who thought Wenger should stay, but I could understand the loyalty based on the heights we'd reached when he was sane and in the right place at the right time. But we should have stuck with Emery, a bog standard manager who could have delivered the basics in a half rational environment, and focused our fire on the real culprits. Freddie won't do anything for us, you can't expect a guy with zero experience to be Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. That's the ask right now. Ridiculous. And a new manager won't be able to do a damn thing in the long run either. Sure, an experienced guy might be able to secure us those 40 points - what's Redknapp up to? Or Allardyce? But where does he go after that if the same board is in place, and their same, shitty philosophy?
It took Utd decades to come back. It has taken Liverpool decades. The gypos - decades. The chavs - decades. Don't know if Leeds will ever be back. Aston Villa? Forest?
See you in a couple of decades, when we'll be right up there again. Maybe. If the Kroekne lot are gone or dead.
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Where do I start? Jheeze...we are a complete mess. This season is a write off and if we are honest we have a ton of work to do to get this team even competing for top 4.
Defence needs to be rebuilt, all of our current CB's are dispensable, none of them good enough.
Midfield is a bit of a mess too. We have no standout midfielders, yes the likes of Guen and Willock have potential but they need a strong senior figure to guide them. Xhaka and Torreira aren't that and both are dispensable, as is Ceballos who is another one of those specialist Central Midfielders who only thrives in a team with the right players around him.
Up top is arguably our strongest area, though we are struggling big time. I'd sacrifice one of Auba or Laca, seriously. I think Martinelli is a major talent and is capable of challenging either of Auba or Laca for a starting place. We need to perservere with Pepe, we can't write off a 70+ mill investment and I have seen glimpses of star quality from him so we need to give him time whether we like it or not.
The other flank can be filled by one of many academy graduates we have who I all believe have what it takes to make the grade. I'd personally start Martinelli on one of the flanks, or failing that Saka or Smith-Rowe. I think Nelson has potential too..though he hasn't done himself any favours to date.
I think the only areas which need serious investment are Central Defence and Central Midfield. We also NEED a coach to come in and shake things up properly, a coach to organise the team in a structured manner.
I had high hopes for us this season but have seen enough to understand that we actually lack quality which in itself is contributing to this poor season we are having.
Luiz was a terrible signing, always was going to be, he's never been able to defend, some people actually thought he was a good signing despite years of being a calamity in defence.
What do you expect when you invest in an ageing CB (Sokratis) and then add a guy who can't defend on top of Mustafi one of the worst CBs around.
That leaves us with Chambers, Holding and Mavropanos and to be honest I'd play Mavropanos and Holding out of those.
What we need now is Simeone to instill some structure and discipline, he also has an eye for a decent player and is a great man motivator.
Agreed. I called out Luiz as a disaster signing. Chelsea practically gave him to us and they are now persevering with academy graduates or youngsters as their starting CB's.
Mavropanos and Holding are nowhere near good enough starting CB's for a team wanting Top 4 / CL. Neither of them would make the bench at any of our so called top 4 rivals and I include Leicester in that list.
Classic modern Arsenal signing. We needed a down to earth, basic defender who could do a standard job that defenders from every other team seem to be able to do. Week in, week out. A player that didn't stand out, either because he was spectacular, or (most importantly) because he wasn't shit and cost us points. The exact opposite player to what we needed is Luiz. He has spectacular moments (a few) and he's guaranteed to cost us points.
But he was cheap up front. Probably not cheap on the wages though, which is a double whammy because it means we'll be limited on who we can bring in to replace his arse until his contract runs out or we can find someone stupid enough to take him off our hands.
He really does epitomise the type of player we absolutely cannot afford to have at this club, in any way.
So, of course, we signed him.
I'd hoped his experience might somehow give us a benefit of some sort, like he's totally random and a probably not even a defender, but maybe just the name would give us a boost. But I was desperately clutching at straws because that's all the fans can do these days.
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I agree, but out of the CBs we have those are the best ones, they probably won't make as many calamitous errors as the other and at least at their age they can be coached.
Spot on, if your defence is poor you don't want someone like him, prone to errors, more of a luxury who sometimes does the spectacular, in defence though he's a horror show. Like you said though the fee was cheap so that suited us to the ground, another player we won't be able to sell.
I worry about us, because there's really very little fight in this team and if we do get dragged into the relegation fight we just don't have the kind of players who can get us out of it.
Really we need a big manager to come in with a clean slate, pick the best team he can, then coach them as well as possible to at least get them playing as some kind of unit, it might not make us a great team but we might at least be harder to score against, we have enough up front to get us goals so at least we can stay out of trouble and then hope for a miracle in the EL so we can qualify for the CL and have more money to spend on replacing the duds in this team with proper players.
No, no, no! Dude!
There's no EL miracle, there's no CL. Get that out of your head right now. That would be like a passenger on the Titanic asking if the ship was due to arrive on time, as it was slipping beneath the waves. Top 4 trophies, Europa Second Rate Champs - none of that is within our reach. Don't torture yourself with fantasies.
The remainder of this season has to be about us (the board, the manager, the players, the fans) adjusting to life as a post-Wenger, and therefore obviously second rate, mid-table team. If we can at least accept where we are then we can use that as a starting point to heading somewhere better. Right now though we're all still banging on about being a BIG club. Yeah, in terms of the past, or in terms of hyper inflated ticket prices. But in sporting terms and results? Until that desperate illusion is shattered we'll just keep making big plans for la-la land instead of the harsh reality of a competitive league where every team can beat you if you aren't on your game. Luiz is a symptom of that fantasy. A Brazilian international that has pubbed across the top leagues in Europe for transfer fees that amazed us all (not in the good way). The bloke who helped ship 7 against Germany when the chips were down. But the PR story and the transfer fees went on regardless. Fantasy football at its finest. Fits right in with our delusions of grandeur.
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I don't agree re Holding he's very competent and assured for his age and if we had a coach with any kind of fuhking brain he'd be an automatic starter, and in not too much time i think could become an absolute rock at the back, and with Mavs i agree he's very young but has great potential
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