A Guest Post by Mahdain
Wednesday night. Another match, another disappointing result, and yet another game of questionable decisions from the manager. This just does the head in, doesn’t it? Rare and rarer are the glimpses of brilliance to support the theory that it will get better soon. On the contrary, all evidence points to the opposite. This is Unai Emery’s era and it has been full of disappointments.
This is the same Unai Emery who came to Arsenal Football Club to fill in the massive shoes left by the legendary Arsene Wenger. His appointment caused mixed feelings. Some were hyped, triumphant there was a successor to Wenger, any successor. There were others not as sanguine, many feeling he was a safe option rather than an exciting one. Still he represented the change that a vocal section of Arsenal fanbase wanted and hence optimism for new season was high.
He was showered with praise by the then CEO Ivan Gazidis who told us all what a wonderful coach he was. Stories of his “great” Powerpoint presentation broke out and we were all told how he would transform us and make us more formidable. It was a new era and we were all drinking the kool aid.
Transform us he did but not at all in the way people were expecting. Arsene Wenger left a philosophy and identity for this club. Sit down and watch Arsenal matches today and we are utterly unrecognizable.
Victoria Concordia Crescit, a motto that Arsenal FC has been known about for a better part of its history, and a trait highly recognizable for 20 years, is all but lost.
There is neither the philosophy nor the identity. The guy has managed to suck the soul out of the club in a matter of just a season and a half and traces of the famous Wengerball are all but gone.
Dire and tedious performances
His first season in charge didn’t start well as we lost the two opening matches of the league albeit them being against the big guns. Then followed the unbeaten run in which people threw all kind of plaudits his way even though the performances were not all that. We were eventually going to be found out when the luck runned out and that is exactly what happened.
The performances continued to get dire and it got tedious to watch us play. Fans were scratching their heads wondering what exactly was the manager doing as he continued to shred our identity to pieces. The honeymoon period was over and some of us started to realise that we won’t be getting anywhere with him. That sentiment has carried over to this season and majority now seem to agree with it.
There is no way to sugar coat this; the guy is simply terrible and way out of depth with his poor tactics and management style. He has proven his tactical ineptitude time and time again by his bizzare team selections and decisions. I am not sure he even knows what he wants from the team let alone if he is capable of communicating the same to his players. That becomes very apparent when you watch us play as we are so disjointed and lack any real cohesiveness.
His persistence to keep on playing three defensive minded midfielders in most of matches is a head scratcher. It becomes even more bizarre when you take into account that most of those matches are at home and against bottom half teams who are there for the taking. This has left us void of any creativity in the midfield and as a result our front three are left isolated and need to drop deep to try and affect play. Our chances creation has gone down drastically and his predictable wing play tactics are simply not working. Are we short on creative players in our team? Perhaps. Do we have at least one person who can change that? Yes. So why aren’t we using him?
Terrible man-management
Emery is terrible at man management. He just can’t handle big players and instead of working with them, what does he do? Freeze them out. It happened with Neymar at PSG, it happened with Ramsey last season, and it is happening with Özil this season. What kind of a manager intentionally leaves out his best players just to satisfy his ego? The poor management of Ramsey’s situation led to him going on a free, an utterly stupid decision from the club considering how important a player he was to us.
He is doing the same to Özil this season and is purposefully making us worse for reasons only he knows. Say what you want about the guy but you can’t honestly tell me that Özil doesn’t deserve to start in our current team, and that he won’t massively improve us. You would be lying and making a total mockery of yourself because no one would be that stupid. The situation hasn’t done us any favours as the manager continues to duck the questions about it and hide behind the board which leaves me with the question, until when will this persist? How long is long enough?
Show him the door
I am not saying that our problems start and end with him but I seriously think it is high time that Unai Emery was shown the door. It is way apparent that we will not go anywhere but backwards with him in charge and there is no sense to keep him on as manager. It will just cause further divisions and the atmosphere will get even more toxic thanks to his presence. He has already lost the fanbase and there is no way he is getting us back.
The circus on the pitch has gone long enough and it is high time it was packed and closed up. The circus in the boardroom however is another case but that is another topic for another day.
You can hit me up on twitter through @mahdylody
Shots thank you for this excellent account of the end of the Emery era 😉
I’d just add the note that this clown lost the dressing room before the end of last season. Clearly.
And then had a chance to rebuild some trust within the squad for himself after Koscielny and Monreal walked out on him and his Daddy Raul, after the huge spending and turnover in the squad. As fans unfortunately we don’t have that escape option that Nacho and Lolo took!
and he’s completely F’d that up that new dressing room too, unsurprisingly, as the man is a buffoon. And those left such as Xhaka can not have been impressed by what had gone before.
Daddy Raul’s man.
Laural & Hardy > Raul and Unai
Shotts I haven’t heard a single one of the “I really like Raul” fan boyz call him out in recent weeks. They won’t, will they. This fan club includes the Big Blaggers but props to bergkamp wonderland for hosting a wide range of opinions including some of their hosts simply highlighting our own observations and recordings specifically of Raul’s role in this horror show. I’ve only been able to listen to that show outside of PA and here as it is the only forum where Raul’s lack competency (at best) has been objectively noted by some there.
Otherwise: Omertà.
Bread and the circus is how the Romans distracted from their misrule. New signings are the dole handed out to us, and our version of the circus is the sideshow of all the off field drama with long serving, loyal players suddenly being made the villain.
When will the circus end? It won’t. Not while Raul Sanllehi is playing Caesar at Arsenal.
Meanwhile, I agree with everything said about Emery in this well written article. Thanks.
To be fair to the Roman’s their concept of social welfare came free of charge.
Bloody socialism innit 😉
Raul is charging us mugs to watch Football matches where the best Footballers have been dropped from the Football teams. On the telly, inside he stadium, it doesn’t matter if you are paying to watch these sabateours destroy the reputation of this great Football Club with their greed and ineptitude (the two usually multiply themselves together) then you are being ripped off. Fleeced. Taken the piss out of.
Looking forwards to one of the Big Blaggers mustering the Footballs to point this out to their audience. Perhaps in a few years time after the greater damage has been done.
The circus continues tomorrow with Arsenal v Wolves. As Shard predicted earlier this week, after game-planning Raul’s options, the Don will want to extend and pretend with Emery as long as possible. The early demise of our Spanish coach will not reflect very well on him. So he will try to postpone it as long as possible so he can routinely appoint a new manager while dazzling the lemmings with one or two new signings. Unfortunately for Raul reality comes at you very hard. Lose to Wolves tomorrow, which I am not predicting but which is probable, and the gates of hell will be open on the new regime. Every segment of the Arsenal fanbase is already up in arms and in a state of vocal disaffection. They just need an excuse to pull out their A5 paper and bedroom sheet as banners.
So my friend, Mahdain, that is my answer to the question in the headline. Emery’s tenure is hanging by a very slender lifeline.
The circus rolls on
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-emery-xhaka-ozil-behind-the-scenes-a9180336.html
Raul schooled, yet again the Master of Football Relations is shown up to be…someone who has not been training hard enough!
is Jose already inked in?
His publicised visit to the ground to sit with Daddy Raul coincided with Jose’s PR about working in the PL…
…is that article Raul’s PR?
The noose is tightening for Emery but who will be next for Raul’s rope? That is the question.
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Wolves were unlucky on their visit last season they played Emery’s Gunners off the park.
They’re on a bad run at this moment and as always I hope that continues and the Gunners get the points.
Fins: As all of us sentient football fans are aware one, even two swallows does not make a summer but here is a similar story from a similarly click-baiting publication: https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/01/arsenal-players-openly-mocking-unai-emery-11024261/?ito=newsnow-feed
Almost all these publications have been protecting Emery for months as a way of giving credence to their multi-year long campaign against our greatest ever manager which finally succeeded in 2017. But it seems to me they now see the writing on the wall. There is no doubt in my mind that the bell is tolling for Emery.
Not an entertaining circus, is it? Emery is making a clown of himself but he is not funny at all. Silly decision after silly decision. I even blame him for Ozil having to be subbed. Had the man been match fit he would have been good to go.
I know the circus can end rather quickly. Anyhow things don’t change soon a boycott is in order. What is the point of not enjoying what you enjoy? To heck with that. I’m telling you If this Crap continues I’m tuning out.
The irony of this mans reign. He managed to make the supporters and pundits alike think we did not have good players last season and he needed to get “his” players in (a load of rubbish). He has his players now and said people are saying he does not know what he’s doing! Duh! How does a man who knows what he is doing sit Ramsey and Özil?! What more did they need to see?
I need to say this one more time, I started doubting him when he benched an inform Iwobi the first time we played pool. I just knew something was off but it was too early to sound the alarm.
Get this man out of the club ASAP. I’m sure he is a nice family man and I wish him the best but he is not the man for the job. They ought to bring back Arsene but I know pride would not allow it.
Excellently written. I agree with it word for word.
A misunderstanding has caused no match preview at UnCensored today.
But I must share with you my concern about today’s game. Our midfield under Emery has been a mess and even with Ozil’s expected return it may be better but imo not by much.
The main issue, as we at UA keep repeating, is Emery has abandoned the center of the park which is emblematic of his cowardly, cautious approach. Going up the center of the field not only requires high technical ability but also a manager with a rock hard belief in his players. The latter is plainly lacking in Emery. It is obvious our midfielders are instructed to attack down the sides and it is the main reason for the chronic disconnect between midfield and our attackers. Gone from Arsenal is that interplay in an around the box that creates chances for our forwards or late arriving midfielders.
That is why I doubt there will be any great improvement in the way we play. Hoping for a good result but not optimistic.
Well.
I predicted on PA that Wolves would be the better Football team. With less quality players but a higher quality coach. Any coach!
Wallahi
I swear Emery is not a coach.
Screwed once again by the cowardice of our coach. His last sub of Kola for Tierney simply showed the absolute yellow in the belly of the man. He already strengthened left side with Saka for Ceballos. What about Bellerin (my preference) or Pepe on the other side to push them back and to give us a chance to score? How hard is that? Do we need Big Weng on the sidelines to make those last big game changing moves?
But the idiots said Big Weng didn’t do tactics. LOLOL.
Yes Fins: Going by the shot count 10 for Arsenal, 25 for Wolves, it is easy to see who was the better team.
Most of us on UA are just waiting for the circus to end. As @OmiJaved said, waiting for the “inevitable.”
Does “Don” Raul have the guts to end it though? With Emery’s incompetence in the firing line, nobody is even mentioning him and his part in destroying the Arsenal way.
It’s going to get worse. Raul couldn’t get rid last summer as he’d have destroyed his own rep or what is now left of his rep after Ozil’s agent showed up our expert on Football Relations for the fraud that he is, and he’s clearly lining up Jose.
No AW visit since he left but Jose said to have been at he ground three times in recent weeks?
there couldn’t be a worse candidate the Jose for this divided club with the players now at war with this current coach and by proxy with Raul.
Clearly Jose is a far far far better coach but that’s not related to my above paragraph – the Football might marginally improve, shit on a stick as opposed to Emery’s seaming turds week in week out would still be an improvement but, that won’t be the issue with Jose, the man who flogged Salah and KDB.
Bellerin is my worry. Arsenal through and through as the F Word never was. Pat Rice’s pride ATM no doubt about it. How long will he commit to this circus?
Pat Rice and Bob Wilson are needed back upstairs at the club (not as coaches!), ahead of Jose or any other manager.
When will one of the Blaggers muster the Footballs to repeat what many Arsenal fans would like to see (the two above representing the club in it’s Footballing Relations ahead of the exposed clown Raul).
I agree with everything that has been said so far.
We are witnessing an alarming downward spiral which will get worse whilst UE remains with us.
To have only 10 shots in a home game is an embarrassment, but then to have 25 against us in the same game is positively criminal.
Will it be blamed on Ozil perhaps?
We are seeing that people seem to be more important than the club and those people are not the players, but the people who are making a dog’s dinner of running the club.
When will this nonsense stop?
IMO Raul and Josh are maneuvering trying to get Jose on board but knowing full well the fans are not buying it, at least not yet. It will be interesting which of the big blaggers, the PR specialists as Finsbury describes them, which will be brought on board to sell the idea. Hopefully those of us who are fighting to protect the values of AFC will be ready to disgrace them.
Mourinho, never in a million years.
This is the man who personally insulted aw and he should become our manager?
The thought alone makes me want to vomit.
Uncensored Arsenal is ready for the fight. I am sure we will be alongside Positive Arsenal and other like-minded fans.
I just don’t get the section of this fanbase that want Mourinho. I mean seriously are they stupid? That man is a cancer to any football club and will always leave a club worse than he found it. I don’t want any of the politicking, the throwing of players under the bus, the negative football, and the general toxic atmosphere he brings near our club. Get him as far away as possible