Nah, as I said, I don't think it would happen. Poch seems like a man of principle. Also, it's far too soon for him to to be in charge of an arch rival. I'd have to seriously question his mental state if he joined us so soon after leaving you! Loads of names are being linked with the job, but the four-man shortlist commonly being reported is Allegri, Arteta, Nuno and Ancelotti. I have reservations about all of these choices. However, beggars can't be choosers, and we're not in a position to be super picky when we need results to pick up asap. Let's see how Ljunberg does. He purportedly has aspirations of being a manager himself. He also commands respect from the Arsenal players at every level - something Emery was incapable of.
I've said it elsewhere on here. As much as Emery has under performed, he's been badly let down by those in charge of recruitment. This Gary Neville article sets it out. .. https://www.skysports.com/football/...etic-recruitment-policy-as-arsenal-head-coach Some of the recruitment has been a ****ing joke. To solve Arsenal's defensive problems, they've signed Lichsteiner, Sokratis, David Luiz and a bloke they've loaned out for a season. That is just nuts and those in charge want sacking more than the manager.
I semi-agree with what Neville has said, and when you lay it out like that, it doesn't look good at all. However, Neville also believed Emery shouldn't have been sacked and is attributing more of the blame to the players/the recruitment team, instead of the head coach too. They all deserve criticism to varying degrees. Before I go into this, let's go through those players you've mentioned individually: Lichtsteiner - terrible signing, but played more than he was meant to. I understood the signing at the time (experienced, leadership, won trophies etc), it just didn't work out. Sokratis - If I'd known he wanted £90k a week, I'd have aborted this move. Silly money he's on. However, he was actually decent (albeit unspectacular) for us up until the final 7-8 games of last season. Unfortunately, that rubbish form seems to have extended into this season. Emery is the one who's kept selecting him, so he needs to take ownership of that decision. Luiz - in theory, it made sense. £8m for an experienced player who's won pretty much everything there is to win and is a leader in the dressing room. Short-term stop gap whilst we ease Saliba in for next season. He's performed far worse than anyone expected though. Again - is this because of his lack of discipline or down to Emery's confusing tactics? It's hard to judge some of these players when they're demotivated and are forced to play in roles they're not comfortable with. There's been a lack of protection in front of the defence because Emery insisted on playing Torreira as a CAM, for example. We have no other DMs in our team. Xhaka is Xhaka, and Guendouzi is more of a box-to-box type of player. Baring in mind Emery's never been able to organise a defence in his managerial career. It's always been one of his major flaws. Even if you think those players individually are ****e, there are no excuses for conceding 20+ shots per game to relegation candidates. I don't think any of those aforementioned names are elite quality. By equal measure though, they certainly aren't as bad as they've been made to look under an uninspiring coach.
The unwillingness to accept that defending is a key part of the game goes back to the last 10 years of Wenger's tenure. Emery's team seemed to have all the same flaws. Ironic given that Wenger's successes were based on that solid back four with two great holding midfielders in front.
I'm sorry but Lichsteiner was done when you signed him. Players coming in from Italy tend to struggle with the pace in the PL, being mid-30's and starting to slow, this was never going to work. Luiz is a decent footballer but is a loose cannon (sorry!) He's always liable to do something daft, which is exactly what you didn't need to add to your existing defensive issues. I laughed out loud when I heard that you'd signed him. He's the defensive Xhaka. Sokratis is by far the best of the three. However, he's got the turning circle of an oil tanker and no pace. He shouldn't play in a high line. It has to be taken into account that 2 of these players were to be added to the ageing Koscielny and error prone Mustafi. It's heaping problem upon problem. Additionally, they were short term responses to long term problems, so the problems still remain to be solved. It's said that money's been tight but in recent seasons you've spent the thick end of £200m on Aubameyang, Lacazette and "Saints preserve us, Nicolas Pepe". If it was my club, I'd clean house.
I'm not saying I agreed with the Lichtsteiner signing, I'm saying I could understand why we went for that sort of player. My guess is he was meant to provide a positive influence and bastardry in the dressing room to a bunch of meek players. It didn't work out that way and his performances weren't good. Luiz wasn't our first or second choice. In fact, some journalists said he was 4th or 5th on our list of defenders. However, we needed an extra body coming in with Koscielny forcing a move. He hasn't been great so far, but the system he's played under and the lack of protection have done him no favours. Sokratis hasn't been good at all this season. He needs a long spell on the bench. Emery kept choosing him despite his rubbish displays, so he creates a rod for his own back there. I agree that more has to be done to improve on our current options, and we didn't spend our money as wisely as we should have. But we should still be capable of defending better and conceding less goals than we have. Emery did nothing to reverse that trend. If anything, he made it worse with a better squad than last year.
Been saying it for a few years...this guy is brilliant. Now he fits even better because he seems like a Jose striker...a bit of a bastard in other words.
Won 4 out of 4 currently...well placed for to challenge for a play off spot...but the Championship is one long slog.
I caught a snippet of the radio commentary of Newcastle/Citeh earlier, in which Fernandinho was given a yellow card for a tactical foul. My son and I looked at each other and could hardly believe it. Normal service was resumed later however when on 87 mins he does a similar thing but doesn't get a second yellow. Luckily justice was done a minute later with the equaliser.
My Gooner supporting cousin gave me significant **** over our new manager's appointment. You would be correct if you imagined that I am extremely pleased to see that the appointment of Freddie Ljungberg may not have got off to the best of starts... Having selected a defence of Chambers, Luiz, Mustafi and Kolasinac, he was foaming at the mouth and used words that made even me blush a bit. After they just about fluked a 2-2 draw at Norwich, he's turned his 'phone off...
Man U look stale with little bursts of life when the front 3 get it but they have no spearhead so the menace just fizzles away If we play with confidence we can dismantle them on Wednesday
Leicester fail to get a VAR decision in their favour. That's a first for a while. The pundits don't like to talk about it but VAR has "contributed" to their current run of form. No doubt Liverpool would have got that pen however.
