Arsenal

[Art Vandelay]

His football is so joyless. I’d be a bit disappointed with him to be honest, despite how big of a statement it would be. I’d be tempted to get Rafa and see where the chips fall this summer.

[suzzopher]

Honestly, I am not sure who I want as the new boss. I don't have faith in the club to make the right appointment.

[Art Vandelay]

It’s bound to be another technocrat the club can control. The idea of having some balls out maniac like Simeone or even a personality like Klopp is so far from what the new executive structure would want there’s no point us dreaming of such an appointment.

[hercules]

I'm glad hes gone, for me it took way too long for people to see he needed to go. The latest i would've sacked him was the summer. We have now lost this season due to Raul and Vinai not being decisive. Personally i have no faith that they will make the right choice. onto who should replace Emery, i'd still happily take Benitez and believe he is still attainable. As for Rodgers i feel we have missed the boat. Realistically why would he come to us now, in the middle of what is a great season for Leicester. Don't want Allegri as to me he is just a name, the football would be boring. I feel we need to take a punt into the unkown, get a young up and coming manager with a clear philosophy of playing attacking football whilst bedding in youngsters which we have an abundance of. In that regard Marco Rose or Nagelsman wouldn't be bad choices. Personally considering he is well regarded i hope freddie smashes it until the summer and gets the job full time.

[JamesTW]

Bruce Rioch is available, it was meant to be 

[Larsen B]

 

"You mean I'm supposed to progress the ball up the field?"

[humdrum]

2 hours ago, Larsen B said:

 

"You mean I'm supposed to progress the ball up the field?"

I just imagine Ozil, going to Freddy, " you'r next if you fucking bench me" 

[stefcha]

1 hour ago, humdrum said:

I just imagine Ozil, going to Freddy, " your next if you fucking bench me" 

 

I'd just like to say, that when you're the last to post and your avatar is the one showing up in the thread listings next to "Arsenal", it's absolutely bloody perfect.

[The Fox]

On 28/11/2019 at 16:13, Gotters said:

 

Yeah, I'm pretty 'meh' about that one - but it's better than the weird obsession with Pep's cone putter outer in chief and 100 appearance club non-legend Mikel Arteta.

 

What a strange post. People suggesting him as an option doesn't mean they're "obsessing".

 

If you can't see why some people like the sound of a former club captain who was a very good, intelligent, important player for us, who knows the club and the league, speaks fluent English, and has had an excellent, modern football education, I don't really know what to say. He might be shite in reality, but it's surely pretty clear why he's a potentially attractive proposition on paper.

[Gotters]

I find it stranger that you’d consider appointing a first timer to be the focal point of an asset valued at over $2 billion based on the fact they played 100 games for us, speak the language and have been an assistant to somebody exceptionally good. In what other industry would this be considered a rational move ?

 

He may have a cv developing that one day will see him be a top level manager, should we be giving him his first head coach/manager job though ? Not in my opinion, he’s a totally unattractive proposition, unless we’ve fallen so far you think we are now a proving ground for first timers to be learning their trade before going to a big club.

[Silent Runner]

Ornstein bringing the noise today.

 

 

[Shook]

18 hours ago, Gotters said:

I find it stranger that you’d consider appointing a first timer to be the focal point of an asset valued at over $2 billion based on the fact they played 100 games for us, speak the language and have been an assistant to somebody exceptionally good. In what other industry would this be considered a rational move ?

 

He may have a cv developing that one day will see him be a top level manager, should we be giving him his first head coach/manager job though ? Not in my opinion, he’s a totally unattractive proposition, unless we’ve fallen so far you think we are now a proving ground for first timers to be learning their trade before going to a big club.

 

It would be a risk for sure, but Emery had loads of experience, a strong CV and spent good money while at Arsenal and that didn't work at all.

[Starbreaker]

Business sport. I love Arsenal but I find football as a proposition entirely fucking grim right now. Tough to divide club loyalty and personal agenda when it gets down to it, I can't sit down and enjoy football on a Saturday afternoon any more. 

 

Nice to see Phil McNulty providing impartial analysis as always. The simultaneous attempted hand wringing about "oh woe is a once great club" coupled with the obvious attempt to stick the boot in is quite interesting. 

[wev]

16 hours ago, Gotters said:

I find it stranger that you’d consider appointing a first timer to be the focal point of an asset valued at over $2 billion based on the fact they played 100 games for us, speak the language and have been an assistant to somebody exceptionally good. In what other industry would this be considered a rational move ?

 

He may have a cv developing that one day will see him be a top level manager, should we be giving him his first head coach/manager job though ? Not in my opinion, he’s a totally unattractive proposition, unless we’ve fallen so far you think we are now a proving ground for first timers to be learning their trade before going to a big club.

 

Id say Arsenal are on the rung just above "give promising assistant first job as head coach", so would be in the bracket of "give manager at club punching above their weight a go at a bigger club" now, so candidates in both brackets are just as likely to be seen. I'd say alot of Arsenal fans still see the club as bigger than they really are on a footballing level (not the business side of things)

[Shook]

There’s all this talk about Nuno. Imagine the difference for him though. Wolves have got that proper family vibe thing going on. Like Leicester. So much love and passion and belief. 
 

He’ll sure as hell not have any of that at arsenal if he moved. If I was him I wouldn’t do it. 

I had a season ticket for years and years and live less than a mile from the emirates but stopped going regularly a couple of seasons ago. Mainly because of the ridiculous expense (and time, I’ve got two young kids) but the deluded and entitled fans started getting to me.

 

We can’t get one of the biggest managers at the moment, we’re not at that level. 

[Stagger Lee]

Line up: Meh

[Silent Runner]

Leno, Chambers, Mustafi, David Luiz, Kola, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Willock, Ozil, Auba, Laca

 

Mustafi and Xhaka in his first team? 

[suzzopher]

That’s not a line up I expected to see.

[Art Vandelay]

The ref was so weak in the build up to that penalty. Cut down on the antics and this won’t be an issue. Pathetic officiating.

[Silent Runner]

In fairness to the referee he booked Krul. Shocking penalty for the first one but nice to get a break. We'd been playing really well up to their goal. 

[Art Vandelay]

Ah, didn’t see the Krul booking. I don’t mind a bit of shithousery but the ref is just letting the game wash over him.

[Art Vandelay]

And there you go. Let’s a load of bookings go and bottles dealing with a red card challenge. At what stage does VAR get involved in that?

[Silent Runner]

Yeah, that was a shocking tackle on Guen. 

 

Good first half, I thought. But typical Arsenal to concede from the only two attacks they had. Reasonably confident of getting something in the second half. 

[Gotters]

I can only assume the missing UEFA coaching badge Ljungberg is missing is ‘how to pick a CB pairing’

 

Seriously anybody picking Luiz and Mustafi shouldn’t coach a kids team

[wev]

It's funny seeing just how many people seem to think Ljunberg will have been able to completely change Arsenal's defensive abilities in the space of 48 hours 

[Gotters]

Of course he can’t fix things years in the making - but playing both your disaster in waiting CBs seems to be an avoidable burden. Both goals conceded when the pair of them back off.

[wev]

I don't disagree, though Sokrates has hardly put in a decent and confident performance this season either, so, what Chambers and Holding? Any reason Bellerin and Tierney didn't start?

[SeanR]

by the by, my son correctly predicted not just the score, but the order in which the goals would be scored.

 

That's twice now.

 

I'm putting money on him next time.

[The Fox]

This is a very odd way to publicly answer questions about Pepe.

 

[Gotters]

From Ornstein on the Athletic - there is so much that makes you shake your head with this (wanting to do it on the cheap rather than right, Allegri speaking less English than Emery etc)

 

Spoiler

Arsenal eye up free agent to replace Emery…and Rodgers ‘happy at Leicester’

Life after Unai Emery began for Arsenal with a 2-2 draw at Norwich City and, although the club have confidence in Freddie Ljungberg to lead the first team for as long as necessary, their work behind the scenes to appoint a new permanent head coach is well under way.

While there is no specific period for Ljungberg’s interim role and he should not be completely discounted as a full-time option, the expectation is that the job will go to an external candidate. The Athletic understands Arsenal have priority names and the initial focus is on candidates who are immediately available.

That would point towards the likes of former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri and ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, while some believe Manchester City assistant coach Mikel Arteta would fall into the same category if he asked to leave the Etihad Stadium.

Complicating matters is an apparent preference not to spend heavily on acquiring the next boss, which would be a problem for most people currently in management and possibly even for those who are not — depending on the terms of their severance agreements with previous employers.

Admiration for Allegri and Pochettino was strong in 2018, when Arsenal eventually chose Emery to succeed Arsene Wenger, but Allegri did not interview well and Pochettino was settled at Spurs. But data analysis reflected well on both men and defensively, where the team’s main weaknesses lie, it is said that Allegri posted the most impressive numbers of all the candidates.

A major stumbling block with Allegri was communication — sources say he did not even make smalltalk in English and that his agent spoke more English than Allegri did Italian. Arsenal were also understood to be unimpressed with the 52-year-old’s request to bring in nine members of backroom staff.

Sources claim Allegri now has concerns about the quality of Arsenal’s squad and would rather wait until the summer to return to the dugout, yet the club are known to retain their fondness for him.

It is unclear how wounded Arteta was to miss out on the post when Emery proved the shock pick, and how close the Spaniard is to taking over from City boss Pep Guardiola in the future.

Keeping a close eye on that situation will be Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who is essentially undertaking a traineeship with City. Despite reports indicating he would be placed at the helm of their Major League Soccer sister club New York City, he remains in Manchester and is highly regarded.

A guest in the directors’ box for Tuesday’s Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk, Van Bronckhorst was joined for the first time by his wife Marieke and son Jake and held conversations with City executives.

Links between Arsenal and Brendan Rodgers persist, too. Sources are aware of his desire to at some stage lead one of the so-called ‘top six’ clubs again following his spell with Liverpool, but The Athletic has been told he will not be leaving Leicester City — currently riding high in second place in the Premier League — for now.

While Arsenal did consider Rodgers in 2018, the then-Celtic boss was not interviewed because of doubts over whether his personality and stature were right for them at that moment in time. It is thought the Northern Irishman is back in their thoughts and that tentative enquiries have been made, only for a clear message to be relayed that Rodgers is happy and going nowhere.

After seeing his side beat Everton on Sunday, Rodgers said: “Most managers’ contracts will have something in (like a release clause), but my focus is here.”