There is no case for keeping Unai Emery anymore

Emery's task this season is top 4. He's got the players capable of doing that, so there aren't any excuses.

Yes our defensive line up is a makeshift one and you'd hope we'll be better with Bellerin, Holding and Tierney in the team. But at the moment the defensive frailties go far deeper than the personnel in there.

 

Confidence I feel is a big factor, only saw highlights on Google but that goal kick, only seen crap like that Sunday league when you have a gk that can't kick...... Crazy..

 

Our confidence fell away after we conceded that goal, which is worrying in itself. Okay we made a bad mistake, but the team should have woken up and closed ranks after that, instead we just fell apart.

 

For the first half of last Season we all thought he was just trying to figure out his best system for the side. The worry for me is that we can have an excellent performance and that doesnt seem to guarantee anything in regards to shape or personal. Its not working and I cant see how the constant tinkering becomes sustainable.

 

Any manager that gets the board to sanction a £72m deal for Pepe when there's a glaringly obvious problem at CB needs their head checked .

In all seriousness, Emery's had three windows to address your defence now and even if Tierney proves a good buy in time, Luiz won't. The £72m spent on Pepe should've been used on top defensive reinforcements. With Auba and Laca up top, scoring goals is/ was never a problem for you but neglecting the defence again is just madness in my opinion.

 

To be fair. He bought Saliba who looks mustard. But of course we have to loan him back this season which doesn’t help us now.

But other than that, who was actually available ? Slab head for £80m ? No thanks.

Luiz was clearly a stop gap, but he’s a ****ing liability. Don’t really see him being any better than Mustafi tbh.

 

The game yesterday made my mind up on Emre. Not sure if the communication is getting through to the team. I'm not sure there's chemistry there. Something is off. Having poor players doesn't help but some of the body language yesterday was worrying. Looked like they were playing to get him the sack. All the jogging around after giving the ball away countless times. AMN, Xhaka, Ozil and Willock were all culprits. Very worrying signs.

Hope Josh is talking to Allegri's people regardless of where we finish!

 

Many CBs would be available if Arsenal came calling. From the Prem alone; Ake (I want him at Spurs if/ when Toby or Jan go), Dunk and Duffy are such an underrated pairing, Tarkowski, Keane... I'd take any of those over a past-it Luiz.

European market too; Ruben Dias is bound to join a top club sooner or later, Upamecano looks a prospect, Romagnoli is quality, you were actually linked with Rugani, Godin was available on a free before he joined Inter, if Emery wanted a stop-gap there wouldn't have been a better one than him. There's also loads more that I won't know of but that's where scouts earn their dough.

I just think if you lot had £72m to spend, it should've gone on CBs not a wing-forward (or David Luiz). Even if Pepe comes good, it's still arguably a signing you didn't need to make.

 

I was hoping we'd get Upamecano in the summer, and still hope we might go back in for him in Jan. I said on here we should have gone for Godin too, but as good as it is banding about loads of names, getting those deals done can be another matter. Some players want to go elsewhere, some don't want to move and some are just too expensive. The reality is there were several big clubs in for CB's this summer and the only one of note who went anywhere was slabs for £80m. So that speaks volumes.

We got Saliba done, okay we have to wait until next season for him. But at least it's done.

 

Yeah valid point and some are definitely overpriced but that's down to the market we're in. Though if say you had the £70m to spend that you did on Pepe, I'd say all of them fit into that price bracket and most would have left you with a bit of change, some with probably enough to have bought another.

As for Saliba, lot of pressure on him to be an immediate hit next season, still only gonna be 19 by then isn't he?

 

We should have spent that £70m on Upamecano or Dias, but I don't know to be honest if they were actually available. I'm glad we've got Pepe though, it's early days for him and I know the oppo are bantering on him, but he's going to be a big player for us once he's found his feet.

Yes, pressure on Saliba when he comes in, but that's what playing at the top level means. Hopefully we'll get another CB in at some point too as Luiz and Sokratis are full of mistakes. When Holding comes back it will improve as he was really good before his injury.

 

Does he? He hasn't played this season, he's been out injured with a hamstring since the penultimate game last season.
If I were a betting man I'd put money on it becoming a recurring injury.

 

They didn't. It was spread across 5-6 years. Totally normal for a transfer to be paid in installments but the situation with Pepe is that Lille agreed to a thinner spread and less up front than is the norm. Next financial report will reveal the truth but I'd be surprised if the initial payment was more than £20-25m, which simply isn't enough for a decent CB.

I'm also amazed at how many Gooner fans are convinced that Saliba is just going to waltz into the team next season and solve all of their problems single-handedly. The boy is 18 years old and has made a total of 16 starts for a mid-table French side, with zero for the national side. No doubting he's a prospect but he isn't the answer and won't be until at least the 2023-24 season, by which time this all could've spiraled out of control.

Davinson Sanchez is a perfect example of how long it can take young CBs to adapt to the PL. Before we signed him, he'd already completed a season at Ajax (32 starts), won the Eredivise, the Copa Libertadores, played in the EL final and already had 6 caps for Colombia under his belt. Two years down the line and he is still clearly years away from the finished article.

 

Yeah all deals are generally in instalments but it's rare to speak about the structure. Ultimately a team is still going to pay a certain figure and Pepe will cost them £72m. As I've also said, Emery's had three windows as Arsenal boss and he's failed to adequately sign a top CB, two stop-gaps in Sokratis and Luiz plus a prospect in Saliba that can't even play yet, those three combined have cost Arsenal £50m+, for that amount or maybe another £10m, that could've got them a top class CB.

Speaking of Saliba, I agree, it's definitely a risk banking on him being an immediate hit at his age. Not saying you can't be excited at his potential but I think expecting him to have a huge impact from the get go is unrealistic.

 

Again though, it's all very well saying instead of Sokratis, Luiz + £10m we could have got a top CB. We bought Sokratis the season before and for the most part he's been decent enough. Luiz was a stop gap, not a very good I admit, but he was £8m so it's not a huge fee. We got Saliba, yes it's going to take a while for him to come and then bed in, but we've got the deal done.

As I also mentioned, when we get Holding, Bellerin and Tierney back in the team, we should in theory be a long more solid at the back. Although, our defensive cover is also lacking, not in terms of personnel, we've got Torreira and Xhaka who can play DM, but yesterday Torreira was horrible exposed 3-1 in the MF against Watford.

 

Luiz was a stop gap, not a very good I admit, but he was £8m
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Gary Cahill would have been a stop gap, DL is going to cost you millions trying to shift him to someone else. Dreadful buy.

 

Yep. Would have been up for Cahill too.

Luiz isn't going cost us any more than his wages though. And possibly a place in the CL if he carries on ****ing up

 

If you go on social media, a lot of the fanbase seem to have really turned against him. Crazy how fast he's become an unpopular figure at Arsenal.

I have to say though. He 100% deserves to be castigated. He's made far too many errors and doesn't seem to learn from them, which is precisely what Wenger was criticised for. Further to this, for a manager who tinkers a lot/is tactically flexible, he certainly has been stubborn with the whole playing out from the back thing, where it was clear for the entire Watford game it didn't work with the personnel we have. Not only do we always play ourselves into trouble, but the players' starting positions put us at a disadvantage when being high pressed. It happens every game, which means Emery is clearly instructing them to do this. Similar to how he is instructing Torreira to play so high up the field, when he looked class for us as a DM. And continually playing Xhaka in a position that requires good stamina, mobility and spatial awareness when he lacks all these attributes.

He also tries to get the team to soak up pressure and drop deeper whenever the opposition have gained momentum. This makes no sense when we struggle to defend as it is, so we end up inviting even more pressure onto our goal. Against Watford, we were playing so narrow and gave them acres of space in wide positions and central areas, where they ended up killing us in the second half. He also took off our best ball-retainer and ball-carrier in Ceballos, which meant we struggled to get further up the field.

Defensively, I think we are actually worse than under Wenger in his last few years. I didn't think it would get worse.

We've faced 96 shots already this season. 96. We are letting objectively inferior opponents dominate us and it happens far too often for it to be coincidental. Emery wants us to play like this.

His approach to games is like we are a Sevilla. Not an Arsenal.

It's not good enough.

If he was sacked tomorrow, I don't think he could have any complaints. He's turned us into a cowardly, feeble team.

 

I know but I'm pointing out that Emery is signing stop gaps rather than genuine quality in an area you're weak in. You conceded 51 goals last season with Sokratis and co. Utd conceded 54 and Ole prioritised quality defensive reinforcements with Slabhead and AWB, time will tell if they prove worth it but the intent is there to improve that weak point. Tierney could turn out good for you but everyone knew from the moment you signed Luiz he'd never improve your backline.

To somewhat answer the OP's post, my thoughts as an outsider on Emery is that he doesn't know how to address his side's weaknesses and that then has a knock-on effect with regards to tactics and selection.

 

We're going round in circles here though. We've signed a CB and a LB (similarly to Utd) it's just that one is injured and the other is on loan. Yes we should have got another CB in, which we did. Luiz isn't the answer, but he's what we've got currently.

When available our first choice back 4 is Bellerin...Sokratis...Holding..Tierney. But as I said, it's the lack of defensive cover that is more worrying.