Rival watch

Fred moved his arm towards the ball. Penalty.
VAR has somehow made refs even more inconsistent.

 

Their CL starvation is the equivalent of a wartime nation suffering
a border blockade of essential materials.

And it appears that prior to this summer at least, the transfer activity
has done nothing to offset the above, nor reduce their wage bill. ***


*** I will not crow on the this too much, as Spurs will face similar this summer.

 

I believe (this may be wrong) that there is a caveat in the laws that if a player is falling and uses the arm to break that far and prevent them harming themselves, then if the ball hits that arm it doesn't count as handball. Like I said, I may be wrong in this statement. And even in and of itself, its problematic if its true because its still hugely open to interpretation.

 

Fred moved his arm towards the ground to break his fall - an instinctive reaction. The contact with the ball was incidental and accidental. It all happened in the blink of an eye. It would be ridiculous to award a penalty for that!

On the question of Fred, if the City fan who racially abused him has a problem with black Brazilians, he’s picked the wrong team to support. Ederson, Fernandinho, Jesus. Any others?

 

He's looking straight at it and just sticks his hand out to block it.

It wasn't to break his fall. He was sliding in slowly and was in no danger of hurting himself.
His hand isn't even going down until he uses it to block the ball.

 

The reality of the situation is starting to dawn on many Gooners. The club's unfit for purpose from top to bottom.

The owners have no idea what they're doing. Considering Kroenke's business interests and experience, the extent of their ineffectiveness in addressing the problems is shocking.

They've appointed an executive that don't know what they're doing. They keep buying the wrong players. Lichsteiner, Mkhitaryan and Luiz were laugh out loud funny. A number of the others aren't up to the job. Spending so much on Pepe, without sorting out the defensive issues was hilariously incompetent.

The recently departed Wenger replacement was a terrible fit for what they needed and now, they have sacked him with no idea as to who to turn to next. This really is not a good sign and just underlines the incompetence of all of the management. The one thing that I expected from Daniel Levy was that Mauricio Pochettino's replacement was decisive and immediate. It's what proper leaders do. Arsenal are drifting downwards.

In the last 2 seasons, they've had 2 long runs in the EL, cleared out a lot of high wage earners and they're still unable to break even, without selling players. Their squad was bloated with the likes of Walcott, Coquelin, Debuchy, Wilshere, Gibbs, Welbeck, Ospina etc. but having got rid of a load of them, they're still haemorrhaging money.

If the next drop is losing European football altogether, there will be no hiding from the fact that the current set up is ****ed up beyond any saving and needs to completely rebuilt. It will be very interesting to see who the current incompetents think is the manager to address the malaise?

 

We do have an idea of who to turn to, I just think right now we're not an attractive enough proposition to entice the managers at the top of our list. Allegri didn't impress when he was interviewed in 2018 and, although he has purportedly said he's open to taking over at Arsenal, he's also claimed he'd prefer to wait until the Summer. Even though I personally have my reservations about Allegri, the simple fact is we can't afford to wait that long to appoint a manager when our demise is spiralling out of control.

We wanted Rodgers too, but Leicester gave him an improved contract to fend off any interest and have presumably increased his release clause. Also, he would be a fool to leave Leicester right now with how well they're doing. At the end of the season, it could potentially be a possibility. Again though - we can't afford to wait that long.

Most managers that we want are at clubs where it'd cost a hefty fee to bring them over. The Arsenal board/owners don't seem willing to fork out that much, which means we're having to look for managers that aren't at a club currently, or are currently assistant managers.

Which brings me onto our next - and most likely choice - for Arsenal manager (according to reports): Mikel Arteta. This isn't a choice I'd be happy with. If anything, it would be unbelievably risky considering his lack of managerial experience. He'd also be entering a club that needs a total revamp, and that is something he is not familiar with.

The Kroenkes (Josh in particular) have began to show face a lot more and are trying to build a rapport with the fans. This seems to all be far too late though, as we are still suffering from the decisions made under the previous structure that KSE also oversaw. After all, this malaise is all their doing. It could (and probably will) be a case of no matter which manager we bring in, they will struggle until the root problems at the top are addressed.

But I don't see KSE leaving anytime soon. So the next appointment has to pay off otherwise Raul Sanllehi could be the next one out the door.

 

This comment...

...presupposed that such a manager was available and willing to commit. Arsenal can want and place on a wish list, whoever they like...but as you say, right now, are the brightest and the best willing to go there? If not, that's ****ing pointless.

From what's left, after Allegri has said he's not going anywhere until the summer, Rodgers has tied himself to Leicester and Mauricio Pochettino refuses the gig, who is going to commit to entering the Arsenal of AFTV and no transfer budget? Is there someone out there who can turn the ship around and can the owners and executive management identify him and successfully recruit him?

The point of my post is that nobody within the club knows or has the vision to decide it. Arsenal is now run by committee and it's run badly, as tends to be the case in such circumstances. Sacking Emery, with no idea who to turn to next, is just ****ing incompetent. Get the replacement sorted first and then pull the trigger.

Currently, I'd bet on another bad appointment and more troubled times ahead.

 

Oh absolutely, I think it is one of those things where it will definitely get worse before things get better. We took too long to get rid of Wenger, took too long to get rid of Emery and now we've taken too long to appoint a successor.

My understanding is that, as Ljunberg was someone who's been highly respected at the club and had helped accelerate the progression of our U23s, they wanted to give him every opportunity to prove himself. It was basically an audition for the job at least until the end of the season so that we can reassess our options. The more cynical side of me feels this was a cheapskate way of handing over the reigns to Ljunberg if he'd done well. Unfortunately for them, a fortuitous 2-2 draw at 19th-placed Norwich and a comprehensive beatdown at home by 16th-placed Brighton (a team who had lost their last 4 away games), scuppered those plans.

Now they've realised he isn't capable of turning our fortunes around, they're being forced to hire someone permanently now. Ancelotti was another name that has been mentioned and it could be that they don't want to pay off his contract, so are waiting for him to get sacked from Napoli.

Other reports suggested that there is a split in the Arsenal board over who should be the next manager. These conversations should have taken place and been finalised before Emery was officially sacked. That they're (allegedly) having them now shows the lack of foresight and planning into a very critical time for the club.

Unless we miraculously pull a rabbit out the hat, we are doomed.

 

Have you considered the well respected Italian manager, Sami Allerdici?

 

Isn't Rafa doing nothing at the moment. He could fill a hole fairly well!!!!

 

Benitez? He's managing Dalian Yifang in China.

 

We're 4 points off relegation with some very tricky fixtures coming up. With the way things are going, he may have to be a consideration!

 

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We did this with Tim Sherwood, Everton did with Unsworth. Both pretty terrible failures. Very few internal appointments work for any extended period. .

Kenny Dalglish succeeded at Liverpool but he did take over a side that made the European Cup Final and came second in the league. Turning around a club that's been in decline for a decade is another matter entirely.

Handing Ljungberg the current omnishambles was a big cop out. It smacked of trying something off the wall, in the hope that it couldn't be any worse......and he's a legend, so it'll shut up the rabble. Did anyone ask him precisely what he was going to do to change things?

It was especially desperate as his team selection to solve matters was to put Ozil back in and pick a defence of Chambers, Kolasinac, Mustafi and Luiz. If I had interviewed Ljungberg and he told me that was the solution to the current first team problems, I'd have laughed him out of the club. Respect....sure but it's all about the job and how to do it better.

Arsenal need to appoint someone who really knows what they're doing because they'd be in a minority of one in the club's hierarchy.

 

100% win rate as England manager. Who else can boast that?

 

Judas Campbell left his last club because he didn't get paid, you could get him cheaply

 

One of them legitimately mentioned him on their board. Was tempted to have a little banter but gonna save it until Jose (hopefully) gets us a bit further clear before I start dropping a few wum comments to them

 

I think you'll find that was (one of) HIAG's sock accounts.

 

Still counts.