Winter Transfer Window Intrigue and Excitement.

[SMatthews]

That's all pretty reasonable, but the people who hated Wenger and wouldn’t hear a good word said for him were a loud and irritating presence particularly on line over the last couple of seasons. Any attempt I made to say that maybe things were a bit less black and white than that were met with howls of derision.
That said, Wenger definitely had become "a problem". I'm starting to feel a bit disappointed in Emery though. I wasn't expecting miracles but while we are better off points wise than at this stage last year it's not by that much. Two of Wenger's big flaws were a lack of tactical nous and a lack of ability to motivate the team. Emery seems better in those departments but the results so far haven't been that markedly different.

As we are the 5th/6th best team, I’m not sure what else there is to expect. The expectations after only 6 months on a new manager are ridiculous.

But in reality, the frustrations of the past few years are still being felt and now placed onto the new managers back. Hardly anyone is willing to give him a ‘free pass’. Even if we do get into the CL via Europa or 4th, he still won’t be given enough credit for it, even though most fans thought we’d miss out at the start of the season. But again, how online fans react to those in the stadium are two different worlds in the most part.

[Mac76]

As we are the 5th/6th best team, I’m not sure what else there is to expect. The expectations after only 6 months on a new manager are ridiculous.

i expect him to work out far more quickly than he has that Xhaka, Mustafi, Iwobi and Lichsteiner are shit

i expect him not to set up the team so defensively over Christmas against mid-lower table teams and throw away a load of points

i expect him not to get so huffy with one of our few creative players, to the point where instead he brings on a mediocre new loan signing, straight off the plane, against Man City

i expect him not to risk pissing off one our few quality players by constantly subbing him on 65 minutes

need more...?

[SMatthews]

i expect him to work out far more quickly than he has that Xhaka, Mustafi, Iwobi and Lichsteiner are shit

i expect him not to set up the team so defensively over Christmas against mid-lower table teams and throw away a load of points

i expect him not to get so huffy with one of our few creative players, to the point where instead he brings on a mediocre new loan signing, straight off the plane, against Man City

i expect him not to risk pissing off one our few quality players by constantly subbing him on 65 minutes

need more...?

You expect, you expect - too many fans online have no idea how easy or difficult it is to change the culture of our club and deal with the current infrastructure. To most, it's like a game of FIFA or Football Manager.

The great is, the over expectations of fans will only lead to more frustration due to the way our club is set up. Dump the manager, get a new one in and see just how little things would change right now.

[Mac76]

You expect, you expect - too many fans online have no idea how easy or difficult it is to change the culture of our club and deal with the current infrastructure. To most, it's like a game of FIFA or Football Manager.

The great is, the over expectations of fans will only lead to more frustration due to the way our club is set up. Dump the manager, get a new one in and see just how little things would change right now.

well he is being paid more money a year than i will ever earn in my lifetime so i expect him to be super good at working out basics like which players are League 1 level as opposed to which are upper-PL level.

i'm not suggesting sacking him at all, and clearly the Kroenkes etc are not helpng but i'm underwhelmed so far tbh.

judging from his press conferences i do wonder whether language is still an issue also - i for one still can't understand a word he says

[SMatthews]

well he is being paid more money a year than i will ever earn in my lifetime so i expect him to be super good at working out basics like which players are League 1 level as opposed to which are upper-PL level.

i'm not suggesting sacking him at all, and clearly the Kroenkes etc are not helpng but i'm underwhelmed so far tbh.

judging from his press conferences i do wonder whether language is still an issue also - i for one still can't understand a word he says

Again, it's boiled down to the most simplistic analysis - he earns loads of money so he should have all it covered. Come off it.

The frustration levels are already bordering on the edge of moving on from Emery. Imagine we start next season with one or two poor results - you don't have to imagine what fans would be asking for then.

Of course you're going to be underwhelmed - that's where we are as a club. It's a big hole to climb out of. Man Utd went from champions to also rans. Sure, they finished second last season, but they were never in the title race. Then look what happened for half of this season.

Let's for a minute imagine there was a magic wand that sorted out all of those problems you mentioned above - where do you think we'd be in the league if none of those existed?

[Marc Overmars]

I'd say the one thing Emery doesn't have any excuse for is the defending. It's somehow worse than it was with Wenger and that's even with a lot of defensive signings last summer.

[SMatthews]

We all suffer from it, but perception of how things were a year ago in anything to do with life are often forgotten. That's definitely the case with the defending.

It was just as bad last year and has been for years. We've sat here for years as fans biting our nails in the last ten minutes of games scared shitless the opposition would score. The biggest problem almost every fan thought we'd have to overcome this season is the defence. It's no surprise that is exactly how it's panned out.

Last season we conceded 51 shots on target, this season it's 36 so far. There really isn't much difference there.

What I'm not saying is Emery is perfect or immune from criticism. But what I am saying is the frustration that has hung over this club for years has not disappeared with a new manager, and given what he has at his disposal, it was never going to.

Free passes have already been thrown out the window and its getting ridiculously intense when he already has one hand behind his back with the mess upstairs and restricted money to change things. He's a big boy and I'm sure he can take it, but fans - especially online - have to get a better grip of where we are as a club right now and what we can achieve. He needs time - at least two seasons - but frustration levels are so high he won't get it.