Match Reaction v Vitoria SC (away)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Oh dear.

Even the Europa lads don't know what they are doing now.

It's difficult to deny the next managerial appointment for a reason of boring football.

[Marc Overmars]

Emery has done the impossible.

He's somehow made the team worse and got the fans even less engaged than Wenger's final years. Bravo.

Soul destroying, that is the life of an Arsenal fan these days.

[Globalgunner]

Emery has got to go. Or maybe the fans need to stay away again to get the message across.

[topgun]

Emery=How to make highly paid pro footballers look like headless chickens.

[Letters]

Emery has done the impossible.

He's somehow made the team worse and got the fans even less engaged than Wenger's final years. Bravo.

Be CaReFuL wHaT yOu WiSh FoR

:cool:

[Marc Overmars]

You almost sound happy. Revelling in the misery, isn't that what you've called out certain others for in the past...

[Letters]

You almost sound happy. Revelling in the misery, isn't that what you've called out certain others for in the past...
I feel somewhat vindicated. I’m not revelling in anything, I share the misery. It’s depressing how crap we are.

But while Wenger had to go I never bought into the nonsense about how he was the worst manager in football - people were literally saying that - and that anyone would be better. I always said the club had other problems and while Kronke was in charge simply removing Wenger wouldn’t fix everything.

So while you’re saying Emery has done the impossible you might want to acknowledge that not everyone thought it to be impossible.

As for where we go from here, clearly Emery needs to sod off. I honestly don’t care who we get next, within reason. The best thing about Wenger being gone is his legacy has gone too. Any new manager can be judged purely on how he does for us without it being coloured by the good will built up in Wenger’s early years with us.

I was wrong to keep the faith in Wenger too long.
I was right that some of the stuff on here about him was hyperbolic bollox.

[dazthegooner]

Wenger as we all know stayed on too long but to say he was the worst manager in football was pushing it, so it looks like we made a mistake with Emery he doen't seem to be able to get the best out of the players we have (and tbh we do have quite a few quality players in the squad) who else could take over? I have no idea but think a decision needs to be made soon before we are too far behind a top 4 place.

[Xhaka Can’t]

The longer we stick with Emery, the longer the odds of our chances of a top 4 spot.

I’m close to giving up on this season.

[Mac76]

Don't worry when Leicester put 15 past us he'll go for sure...

[dostoy]

Yet again Arsenal cannot keep a lead.

I don't think its something that we will need to worry about against Leicester.

There was an improvement last season but this season its gone back to the crap that Wenger used to serve up.

[Letters]

There was incremental improvement at best last year and the collapse at the end when Spurs were all but holding the top 4 door open for us was very Wengery.

[dazthegooner]

"We are not good enough defensively" Emery stating the fucking obvious...

[Özim]

Problem is that this club always wants to do things on the cheap, the shortlist of managers wasn't great, then we narrowed it down to Arteta (what an awful option - a guy who has never managed and wasn't even a particularly good player for us either) and Emery.

Based on that choice Emery was obviously going to be the clear winner, at least he'd won something, on paper it looked like an ok choice given his time at Sevilla, but what we didnt know was just how negative he was and the kind of limited manager he was.

It's fair to say no fans would have chosen him given the choice, it would have been someone like Simeone, Allegri, Ancelotti, someone proven basically, or if you want to take a punt on a less tried and test option, someone like Jardim to see if he can repeat what he did with the young players at Monaco.

In the end we got Emery and everyone was excited to see the back of Wenger and to see if we can finally see some progress, a new style of football and some more logic applied, it seems that we've somehow manager to pick a manager who can't see the obvious issues again and makes many illogical decisions as Wenger did.

I think if we replace him we now need to go for someone proven, no more going for the cheap option. The blame lies squarely at Ivan Gazidis' doors though, who proved to be a disastrous chief executive, he probably realised he'd made a mess picking Emery and made sure he made it out of the door before it all unfolded and he took the brunt of the fans anger.

[Letters]

Problem is that this club always wants to do things on the cheap.

That's not as true as it used to be. Last 5 years only City and Utd have a higher net spend

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/fuenfjahresvergleich/wettbewerb/GB1

And our wage bill is 4th highest

https://www.footballfancast.com/exclude/every-premier-league-clubs-wage-bill-in-2019-2020/17

I'd be OK with Freddie as caretaker for the rest of this season, he has a lot of good will from the fans and might bring a bit of unity between fans and club.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

It was always pretty obvious to me that no matter how bad he got, not just anyone could come in and do a better job than Wenger. However it got so toxic to the end that pointing that out on here was seen as Wenger support and started endless tedious debates. So I mostly didn't bother.

I didn't watch the game as I was working like most and doesn't sound like I missed anything and yet I will still go back and watch it when I can. A glutton for punishment perhaps.

I think if we somehow miraculously won against Leicester it would save his job, but I think under this regime there is the remotest chance he will be pushed out if we lose.

As an aside people keep saying Chelsea reaped success because they kept firing managers as if THAT in itself was the key factor. Nothing to do with the bucket loads of money they kept throwing at it up until recently then....:rolleyes:

[Marc Overmars]

As an aside people keep saying Chelsea reaped success because they kept firing managers as if THAT in itself was the key factor. Nothing to do with the bucket loads of money they kept throwing at it up until recently then....:rolleyes:

I think managers for them have mostly been inconsequential but I think standards at Chelsea are very much higher. Different culture and way more collectively driven as a club. The fans hated Sarri even though he delivered top 4 and the EL because they believed they should be better than that. If Emery did that for us last year he'd be the saviour.

[Özim]

That's not as true as it used to be. Last 5 years only City and Utd have a higher net spend

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/fuenfjahresvergleich/wettbewerb/GB1

And our wage bill is 4th highest

https://www.footballfancast.com/exclude/every-premier-league-clubs-wage-bill-in-2019-2020/17

I'd be OK with Freddie as caretaker for the rest of this season, he has a lot of good will from the fans and might bring a bit of unity between fans and club.

You know what I mean, we cut corners wherever we can. When looking for a manager we weren't looking for a top class manager because we didn't want to pay the salary or give them the transfer kitty they may ask for, so in the end we got Emery.

We should have really gone for someone top class rather than Emery.

[Özim]

I think managers for them have mostly been inconsequential but I think standards at Chelsea are very much higher. Different culture and way more collectively driven as a club.

Agreed, at Chelsea they demand success and if you don't deliver you lose your job, it's worked pretty well for them on the whole as they've won a stackful of trophies. Yes there are dips but they almost always pickup again and win.

[Letters]

You know what I mean, we cut corners wherever we can.
I don't really understand your stance on the club in this area. You simultaneously say this and also say that we waste far too much money on salaries for mediocre players (something I agree with).
So which is it? Do we cut corners wherever we can or waste money?

[fakeyank]

Problem is that this club always wants to do things on the cheap, the shortlist of managers wasn't great, then we narrowed it down to Arteta (what an awful option - a guy who has never managed and wasn't even a particularly good player for us either) and Emery.

I see nothing wrong with Arteta tbh.. that guy is highly rated by pretty much every person who has interacted with him. Lampard was expected to fail gloriously, but has really turned on the style and results at Chelsea. IF we were to go back to Arteta, he will have my full support.. experience is good to have, but I'd rather have someone hungry who is going to make us a good team to watch.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Agreed, at Chelsea they demand success and if you don't deliver you lose your job, it's worked pretty well for them on the whole as they've won a stackful of trophies. Yes there are dips but they almost always pickup again and win.

They demand success because for ages they had a bottomless pit of money. In those circumstances you would demand success. No point in spending 3/4/5 times what your entired poxy chavvy little 2 bob club is worth on players if none of the fans expect more than they were getting.

I do take the overall point though, we are well within our rights to expect more and as someone has already said.....there were decent grounds to sack him after Baku, never mind now.

[Penguin]

I see nothing wrong with Arteta tbh.. that guy is highly rated by pretty much every person who has interacted with him. Lampard was expected to fail gloriously, but has really turned on the style and results at Chelsea. IF we were to go back to Arteta, he will have my full support.. experience is good to have, but I'd rather have someone hungry who is going to make us a good team to watch.

People saw nothing wrong with Emery either. :coffee:

Lets get someone who knows more than the art of putting out cones and nodding to everything Pep says.

[Globalgunner]

Arteta's reputation is built on nothing but thin air. Pure rumour. The guy hasn't even coached City's under 12 team and suddenly his first ever job should be at Arsenal?. We swapped one failed manager for another and now we want to give a total novice a try?. Sounds a lot like Brexit thinking to me. Let's leap into the unknown. Shit happens. No offence FY. But some of us would actually like to see this club win the CL in our lifetimes

[dazthegooner]

Back to Emery we need to get rid now we need champions league football next season or we will lose Auba,Laca and Torreira as they won't want to play in the Europa league again (and we don't either) we need to start winning we have the players but not a coach get the best out of them so again EMERY OUT NOW!!!

[Özim]

I don't really understand your stance on the club in this area. You simultaneously say this and also say that we waste far too much money on salaries for mediocre players (something I agree with).
So which is it? Do we cut corners wherever we can or waste money?

We do waste too much money on salaries, we pay average players too much (or at least we use to), my point is that we do cut corners, there's very little planning on the whole and when we do sign expensive players it's reactionary rather than planned, we react to fan pressure basically.

By cutting corners I mean that when we were looking for a manager we just weren't interested in top managers, we didn't want to pay the salary or offer them the transfer pot they would want, this is pretty unusual for a top club, most top clubs try to recruit the best managers on the whole, ocassionally they deviate from this but on the whole it's the case.

This club doesn't do anything properly, so we let Ramsey and Sanchez run down their contracts and yet give new contracts to the likes of Xhaka. Now we have Aubameyang and Lacazette running down their contracts so it's happening again, so basically we re-sign the rubbish but let out best players run down their contracts and eventually leave.

In the summer we needed a CB desperately, what do we go and do , we sign a kid who can't play for a year, as much as I'm glad we've signed him we need a CB to play now.

[Özim]

I see nothing wrong with Arteta tbh.. that guy is highly rated by pretty much every person who has interacted with him. Lampard was expected to fail gloriously, but has really turned on the style and results at Chelsea. IF we were to go back to Arteta, he will have my full support.. experience is good to have, but I'd rather have someone hungry who is going to make us a good team to watch.

Lampard had done well at Derby, assistant managers have been proven to be not so great managers over the years, just look at McClaren and Queiros who we credited with working wonders at Man U.

Arteta has never even managed one game, Guardiola was winning way before he ever worked with Arteta, he wasn't even a club legend or important player for us, I know that's not the end of the world, but if you have no management experience I think it's more important for a job at a top club.

I reckon when Arteta does eventually get a job he may well flop like a lot the assistant managers who have moved to management before him, it's a different skillset IMO.

[Özim]

They demand success because for ages they had a bottomless pit of money. In those circumstances you would demand success. No point in spending 3/4/5 times what your entired poxy chavvy little 2 bob club is worth on players if none of the fans expect more than they were getting.

I do take the overall point though, we are well within our rights to expect more and as someone has already said.....there were decent grounds to sack him after Baku, never mind now.

I think they demand success because the owner loves football and wants to see his team succeed, that's where it stems from, yes they have had money (although less so now), but their club philosophy is to be successful, not just get into the top 4. At Arsenal it's rather different sadly.

[Özim]

Back to Emery we need to get rid now we need champions league football next season or we will lose Auba,Laca and Torreira as they won't want to play in the Europa league again (and we don't either) we need to start winning we have the players but not a coach get the best out of them so again EMERY OUT NOW!!!

Totally agree, we desperately need to get another manager in, preferably someone high profile who has done it, Simeone, Allegri, Ancelotti, as mentioned before I'd also take Mourinho because like him or loathe him, his goal is sucess and he's not happy to settle for anything less and I think we need a more single minded manager who isn't just happy pottering along from one year to the next, we've had years and years of that now, our successful era is now 15 years ago now.

[Mac76]

I agree with Ozim about Arteta, i just can't get excited about the idea, he's unproven and all he does is sit there with that plastic one-piece hair and scowl, what's supposed to be so good about him?

[Marc Overmars]

The trouble is we are highly unlikely to pull any top manager out of a job mid-season. Which is why I don't mind if Freddie gets it till the end of the season and then we can assess where we are from there, also it's being reported that the players respond better to him than Emery anyway.

If we're going for the young, unproven at a high level option then I'd like it to be Vieira or Howe. Not interested in Arteta at all.

[dazthegooner]

The last Howe we had didn't go down to well ;)

[Özim]

That's not as true as it used to be. Last 5 years only City and Utd have a higher net spend

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/fuenfjahresvergleich/wettbewerb/GB1

And our wage bill is 4th highest

https://www.footballfancast.com/exclude/every-premier-league-clubs-wage-bill-in-2019-2020/17

I'd be OK with Freddie as caretaker for the rest of this season, he has a lot of good will from the fans and might bring a bit of unity between fans and club.

I think net spend is misleading, in the last 5 years we haven't got a lot for players we have sold I don't think, we've either let their value drop to nothing or sold them cheaply, whereas the other clubs have perhaps got more for their players, would be interesting to see the players sold and how much they raised. If they have raised a lot more, then of course they would have had more to spend, I know we've lost quite a few valuable players for peanuts.

[Özim]

The trouble is we are highly unlikely to pull any top manager out of a job mid-season. Which is why I don't mind if Freddie gets it till the end of the season and then we can assess where we are from there, also it's being reported that the players respond better to him than Emery anyway.

If we're going for the young, unproven at a high level option then I'd like it to be Vieira or Howe. Not interested in Arteta at all.

Allegri is available, an unpopular choice perhaps but Mourinho is also available. If you want them badly enough though, I think you an get them, it's all about what you can offer them and how much ambition you show (this might a problem for us).

We probably won't even try though as it would cost us too much, which in the end is always the primary criteria with us, that's why we could end up with a guy like Arteta.

Agree for unproven Vieira for me would be a good shout, he's done a decent job managing so far and is a legend and his style of play was always a job to watch, definitely one of my favourite players of all time, how we could use a player with a fraction of his ability and aggression now.

We sold him far too early for next to nothing, should have kept him until he retired.

[Bumble]

I have said before I would like to see Vieira giving a go... at the end of the day if we miss out on the CL and also miss out on the EL hardly end of the world stuff.

Emery has to go. I would take a defeat to Leicester to see Emery on his way.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think they demand success because the owner loves football and wants to see his team succeed, that's where it stems from, yes they have had money (although less so now), but their club philosophy is to be successful, not just get into the top 4. At Arsenal it's rather different sadly.

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

[Bumble]

The trouble is we are highly unlikely to pull any top manager out of a job mid-season. Which is why I don't mind if Freddie gets it till the end of the season and then we can assess where we are from there, also it's being reported that the players respond better to him than Emery anyway.

If we're going for the young, unproven at a high level option then I'd like it to be Vieira or Howe. Not interested in Arteta at all.

The good thing about Howe and Vieira is at least they know English football, so shouldn't be a learning curve.

Cant see Allegri wanting to come to Arsenal when the Bayern job is available and possibly the United job at some point. Bigger clubs than us.

[Bumble]

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

The Liverpool model is what we should be emulating... they sell a player for massive money and reinvest in the required areas and also not afraid to spend what it takes. However, this didn't happen over night... it took a few years for Klopp to build the team.

We just need to find a manager who can mimic what Klopp has done.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I'd rather it wasn't an ex legend unless the evidence to their managerial credentials are overwhelming.....and there's none out there that fit that bill.

Most managerial appointments end in the sack however disguised....so it is likely to end up in thinking of the legend differently.

[Marc Overmars]

The Liverpool model is what we should be emulating... they sell a player for massive money and reinvest in the required areas and also not afraid to spend what it takes. However, this didn't happen over night... it took a few years for Klopp to build the team.

We just need to find a manager who can mimic what Klopp has done.

Easier said than done. Klopp is one of the best coaches of the decade and guys like him don't grow on trees. If only Wenger had buggered off earlier.

[IBK]

Problem is that this club always wants to do things on the cheap, the shortlist of managers wasn't great, then we narrowed it down to Arteta (what an awful option - a guy who has never managed and wasn't even a particularly good player for us either) and Emery.

Based on that choice Emery was obviously going to be the clear winner, at least he'd won something, on paper it looked like an ok choice given his time at Sevilla, but what we didnt know was just how negative he was and the kind of limited manager he was.

It's fair to say no fans would have chosen him given the choice, it would have been someone like Simeone, Allegri, Ancelotti, someone proven basically, or if you want to take a punt on a less tried and test option, someone like Jardim to see if he can repeat what he did with the young players at Monaco.

In the end we got Emery and everyone was excited to see the back of Wenger and to see if we can finally see some progress, a new style of football and some more logic applied, it seems that we've somehow manager to pick a manager who can't see the obvious issues again and makes many illogical decisions as Wenger did.

I think if we replace him we now need to go for someone proven, no more going for the cheap option. The blame lies squarely at Ivan Gazidis' doors though, who proved to be a disastrous chief executive, he probably realised he'd made a mess picking Emery and made sure he made it out of the door before it all unfolded and he took the brunt of the fans anger.

I disagree with you here. The board have done OK since Wenger left IMO. After so long under Wenger, I think it made sense to appoint an interim manager to ride out the transition, and Emery's credentials looked OK as regards potential top 4 - either via the Europa League or via steadying the ship in the EPL. And it almost worked. Until April/May and the shambolic Europa League final we were looking set to achieve Emery's brief.

The board have hardly cheapskated it since - and gave Emery excellent signings to kick on. For me it is squarely down to the manager's failings and cowardice that we are in our present clusterfuck.

What we need now is not a 'showpiece' manager. we need someone to unify the club and show some clarity and balls. Arteta or even Freddie would do for me.

[Özim]

I disagree with you here. The board have done OK since Wenger left IMO. After so long under Wenger, I think it made sense to appoint an interim manager to ride out the transition, and Emery's credentials looked OK as regards potential top 4 - either via the Europa League or via steadying the ship in the EPL. And it almost worked. Until April/May and the shambolic Europa League final we were looking set to achieve Emery's brief.

The board have hardly cheapskated it since - and gave Emery excellent signings to kick on. For me it is squarely down to the manager's failings and cowardice that we are in our present clusterfuck. I'm not sure why we needed an interim manager, this makes no sense for me, you bring someone in who can build something and develop the team, what's the point in bringing in someone to fill in?

What we need now is not a 'showpiece' manager. we need someone to unify the club and show some clarity and balls. Arteta or even Freddie would do for me.

When looking for a manager our shorlist was shocking to be honest (we've got Gazidis to thank for that, a guy who failed miserably when with us, he did literally nothing right in his time with us).

Emery on paper looked ok, I was happy to have him over Arteta, however dig a bit deeper and his credentials aren't quite as glowing as they seem, fans of Sevilla talk about his negative tactics and how they would never have him back, at PSG he was outdone by Monaco despite having a huge pot of talent and of course there was that calamitous collapse against Barcelona and that's before mentioning the problems he had with Neymar.

With regards to the signings, we've actually spent very little this year, a lot of it was deferred over several years meaning it will really hit us if we don't qualify for the CL and really curtail our ability to spend, I think our net spend this summer was around the 50 or so million quoted before. I agree the manager is at fault, because he got a few decent players in and his tactics, lineups and decisions have been terrible.

But I still think when replacing Wenger we chose the cheap option, had we been willing to pay more, offered a decent transfer budget and more flexibility and perhaps ambition we may have attracted someone better.

I totally disagree, Arteta is totally unproven and if you want to see what happens when you employ someone like Ljungberg, just look at how Solkjaer is getting on at Man U, Freddie is unproven, I'd let him have a go but in all probability he's unlikely to be the answer. We need a top manager, to shake things up, apply tactics that work, pick our best players and motivate them because this is distinctly lacking here.

They've been there done it and know how to be sucessful and what we need is someone with a proven track record, if we're to take a punt I'd rather have Vieira a guy known for his battling qualities who has been doing a decent job in management thus far.

[Letters]

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

I'm not sure if Abramovic cares about football as a sport, my feel is he just enjoyed the reflected glory of the team he owned doing well and had enough money that he could make it happen.
Might be wrong, he did go to games to be fair, but always seemed more of a vanity project than being about love for the game.

[Özim]

Without getting into the chicken and egg thing, most owners (at the time Abramovich joined at least) loved football and want to see their team succeed. the undeniable difference is, Abramovich was far richer than the rest. We've had and spent money money poorly and now we have an average manager.

Abamovich came in had money and was willing to put it in to succeed, but importantly he also clearly loved football, he went to a lot of matches (which surely showed he enjoyed it), I agree that maybe at that time there were plenty of people who were the same at board level, however this has changed, certainly with us, once Dein left it became clear that money was the motivation for our board and not football. Abramovich is still around today, despite a lot of people saying at the time saying Chelsea will be finished when he leaves in a few years, he hasn't, he's continued with them when he could have sold them off if he'd wanted to.

[Özim]

Easier said than done. Klopp is one of the best coaches of the decade and guys like him don't grow on trees. If only Wenger had buggered off earlier.

Pretty much, not many Klopps around the guy worked wonders at Dortmund for most of his time there.

[Özim]

I'm not sure if Abramovic cares about football as a sport, my feel is he just enjoyed the reflected glory of the team he owned doing well and had enough money that he could make it happen.
Might be wrong, he did go to games to be fair, but always seemed more of a vanity project than being about love for the game.

I think he clearly cared about football, why would you go to so many matches otherwise and why would you stick around for 15 years or so?

[Letters]

but importantly he also clearly loved football, he went to a lot of matches (which surely showed he enjoyed it).

"He gave one interview, to the BBC, saying that he had wanted to buy a football club, essentially, because he was bored and wanted a new challenge."

https://www.tifofootball.com/features/why-did-roman-abramovich-buy-chelsea/

:lol: I think he loved the adulation he got, not sure he gave a monkeys about the game or which club he bought, Chelsea just became available.
That said, the end result is the same - success for the club. You don't need to have love for the game or the club to achieve that, you just need deep pockets and a desire to succeed no matter the cost.

[Globalgunner]

Abramovich clearly loves football it doesn't matter that he was ready to buy any top team available back then. He loves the sport and he's in it to win.
Besides, he could have bought a rugby club and didn't

[Letters]

It always felt like a bit of a vanity project, Rugby is nowhere near as high profile. As a global sport football is where it's at.
But...whatever, it's a slightly pointless debate. None of us know the fella, and the key thing is he was committed to success and willing to spend as much as it took to make that happen.
Even if he does love the sport he has no particular affiliation with Chelsea, he just saw a club he could buy and pumped in enough money to make them succeed.

[dazthegooner]

If I remember Chelski wasn't even his first choice and as you said they had just beome available.

[Globalgunner]

It always felt like a bit of a vanity project, Rugby is nowhere near as high profile. As a global sport football is where it's at.
But...whatever, it's a slightly pointless debate. None of us know the fella, and the key thing is he was committed to success and willing to spend as much as it took to make that happen.
Even if he does love the sport he has no particular affiliation with Chelsea, he just saw a club he could buy and pumped in enough money to make them succeed.

Just pointing out that he could have done anything with his mo ey. Horses. F1 Americas cup. He clearly loves football. As do all of us here. If we had a few billion Bob we too could be owning the Arsenal. Bill Gates has all the money's in the world and cares for no sport as far as I know. I know a certain Billionaire that owns a London club decked in red that doesn't give two cents for the game. We should have gone with the Uzbek. I blame Letters amongst others

[Letters]

I blame Letters amongst others

:gp:






Hey! :angry:

[IBK]

When looking for a manager our shorlist was shocking to be honest (we've got Gazidis to thank for that, a guy who failed miserably when with us, he did literally nothing right in his time with us).

Emery on paper looked ok, I was happy to have him over Arteta, however dig a bit deeper and his credentials aren't quite as glowing as they seem, fans of Sevilla talk about his negative tactics and how they would never have him back, at PSG he was outdone by Monaco despite having a huge pot of talent and of course there was that calamitous collapse against Barcelona and that's before mentioning the problems he had with Neymar.

With regards to the signings, we've actually spent very little this year, a lot of it was deferred over several years meaning it will really hit us if we don't qualify for the CL and really curtail our ability to spend, I think our net spend this summer was around the 50 or so million quoted before. I agree the manager is at fault, because he got a few decent players in and his tactics, lineups and decisions have been terrible.

But I still think when replacing Wenger we chose the cheap option, had we been willing to pay more, offered a decent transfer budget and more flexibility and perhaps ambition we may have attracted someone better.

I totally disagree, Arteta is totally unproven and if you want to see what happens when you employ someone like Ljungberg, just look at how Solkjaer is getting on at Man U, Freddie is unproven, I'd let him have a go but in all probability he's unlikely to be the answer. We need a top manager, to shake things up, apply tactics that work, pick our best players and motivate them because this is distinctly lacking here.

They've been there done it and know how to be sucessful and what we need is someone with a proven track record, if we're to take a punt I'd rather have Vieira a guy known for his battling qualities who has been doing a decent job in management thus far.

Re a replacement for Emery, I get where you are coming from, Zim - and I agree 100% with the unproven part. The thing is that I want Emery gone now, and we ain't getting anyone illustrious at this stage in the season. IMO we desperately need an interim manager who can reunite the club with its fan base, and an ex player with no expectations is what I think we need to try to get rid of the toxicity that pervades Arsenal ATM. Like Lampard is doing at Chelsea (and like Solskjær did initially at Manure) I think that we need a manager who has no ego and can work with the players to get the best out of this current team. If it works until the end of the season great. If not, the board can have time to plan succession properly.