Just curious...who do you guys think would be a good/reasonable replacement? I'm taking Allegri and Sampaoli off the table. No way Allegri swaps Juve for London and Sampaoli is going to Barca.
Arsenal 2016-17: Get Ready For A Xhak-attack
- Thread starter sachmoney
- Start date
Isn't it at least possible that some of these players might do better under new management? Just look at post-Ranieri Leicester, for example.
Jardim (Monaco) or Tuchel (Dortmund) would be nice. Honestly, an inanimate carbon rod would be an upgrade at this point.
Get an (italian?) coach with a record for great defenses, or maybe Unai Emery when he´ll be free. If Arsenal wants international success, they need a defense. They cannot play with Barca, Bayern and it would be smart to build it from behind. Chelsea doesn´t have superb defenders, but have a system (and more breaks ATM).
Tuchel is insane. He is a great coach and developper of talent. He had a break after coaching Mainz (although they did not fire him, he stepped down with a year left and they didn´t settle on a financial agreement) for a year and now at Dortmund everything is twice as big and stressful. I doubt he would leave and instantly join another club. He might be annoyed by Dortmund´s bosses calling out for big goals (=reach the CL spots in the Bundesliga) when they are selling everyone and buying teenagers and already said things like that. He is even thinner-skinned than Klopp in a less humored way and with the more annoying media of the BPL and London I doubt that would be a good match (but I don´t know if Emery would be on a personal level).
Last 4 matches against professional teams:
At West Brom, 3 goals allowed, 3-1 L
Bayern Munich, 5 goals allowed, 5-1 L
At Liverpool, 3 goals allowed, 3-1 L
At Bayern Munich, 5 goals allowed, 5-1 L
16 goals allowed in 4 matches. -12 goal differential. The defending is a disgrace and changes need to be made immediately there, even though Wenger isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
This whole mess is going to fester and stew for two more weeks because of the Interlull, and then Man City comes in to probably score another 4 or 5 goals.
At West Brom, 3 goals allowed, 3-1 L
Bayern Munich, 5 goals allowed, 5-1 L
At Liverpool, 3 goals allowed, 3-1 L
At Bayern Munich, 5 goals allowed, 5-1 L
16 goals allowed in 4 matches. -12 goal differential. The defending is a disgrace and changes need to be made immediately there, even though Wenger isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
This whole mess is going to fester and stew for two more weeks because of the Interlull, and then Man City comes in to probably score another 4 or 5 goals.
I don't think Sampaoli will end up at Barca. I actually read a report last week that Barca lost interest.
re Leicester: I was not a fan of the players giving up on Ranieri
I just don't think this team is that good to expect deep runs in 3 major competitions (FA cup, league and UCL). Jose is taking ManU deep in 4 "major" competitions and they are 6th in the league. Chelsea ('16-17 and Leicester ('15-16) are winning/won the league focusing on league play and didn't have to rotate. This Arsenal has dealt with injuries AND rotated - and that depth just isn't that good. Winning a double or treble out of the EPL is extremely hard b'c of the depth in the league. Bayern/Barca/RM are expected to win doubles every season.
We're starting to see Cech, Kocs, Monreal types starting to fall off the cliff - and they play key roles. There is a big dropoff when Ospina, Gabriel/Holding, Gibbs rotate in. Coquelin/Ramsay/whoever haven't been able to fill in since Cazorla's injury.
Arsenal needs better depth to go reach UCL semis and compete for FA Cup/league competition.
Playing Kocs-Mustafi combo non-stop between August-December seems to be catching up.
That great form we saw after the Liverpool season open and before the Everton loss in December was the best this team could have been. I'm afraid this combo of B+ players is getting exposed.
Arsenal's social media team were too depressed (ashamed?) to include anything from the 2nd half in today's Snapchat story
The Sun and the Mirror are both reporting that Wenger is staying at Arsenal - the former based on the conversation Pulis and Wenger had at the full-time whistle yesterday, the latter based on John Cross' inside knowledge of the club.
Great.
Great.
surely Ozil's hamstring will now miraculously recover and Arsenal repeats their August to December run
someone explain to me why Ospina plays so aggressive vs attackers.
Czech usually sits back even vs break aways
Czech usually sits back even vs break aways
My guess: Cech is older and moves slower, while Ospina has better sprint acceleration. Cech has incredible (frankly legendary) reaction time and thus trusts his ability to cover an area of goal wider than what an attacker might assume; Ospina, while being a perfectly good top-flight goalie, does not.
Let's remember that the decisive (first) goal a year and a half ago at home vs Bayern Munich in the group stage came as a result of Neuer - still regarded as the best GK in the world - overpursuing a tweener cross, missing it, and it dropping into the lap of Giroud for a (relatively) easy putaway. Likewise there are plenty of instances of a more stay-at-home keeper like, say, Buffon, staying at home too long against a true 1:1 breakaway and exposing too much of the goal. Point being: neither strategy is without its flaws or occasional screams of "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!", but both are legitimate approaches.
Let's remember that the decisive (first) goal a year and a half ago at home vs Bayern Munich in the group stage came as a result of Neuer - still regarded as the best GK in the world - overpursuing a tweener cross, missing it, and it dropping into the lap of Giroud for a (relatively) easy putaway. Likewise there are plenty of instances of a more stay-at-home keeper like, say, Buffon, staying at home too long against a true 1:1 breakaway and exposing too much of the goal. Point being: neither strategy is without its flaws or occasional screams of "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!", but both are legitimate approaches.
Did Ozil shit out of a 1 v 1 v the goalie near the end of the match. Looked like he didnae fancy it. Henry in the Sky studio wasnae impressed.
He most certainly did. In the announcers words "Ozil has great feet .. but not great heart"
That's quite beautiful really. Sometimes one of the joys of watching live sport is that the announcers can have moments of quiet profundity.
Henry's comment was simply. 'You put your body on the line for the team'. Every week Ozil is banking around £140,000; to shite out of possible match winning opportunities. Makes you fuckin weep.
Why is this only brought up for Özil? He also has great plays, great games. Nobody says "Xhaka is collecting more cards than goals". He also has as much red cards and penalties caused (no stats; saw them: Bournemouth, Stoke) this season as he has assists(2). And he plays bad. And he cost 42mil €. And he earns 90.000p./week. Who is criticizing Xhaka? It´s always "Özil is half-heartedly wandering around without much effort." It´s getting old.
The Wenger situation is just comical at this point. The Arsenal Supporters Trust survey shows 78% of fans want him out, fights are breaking out among the supporters on match day, the team is a total shambles on the pitch and has won one game against top flight opposition in the last two months, and its two best players could leave this summer. Sounds like a good time for a contract extension, right? Everybody knows Wenger needs to leave except Wenger himself and Gazidis and Sir Chips don't have the balls to stop him. Meanwhile, Wenger has probably just been waiting for a good string of results to announce his intentions to stay but the results won't come because the whole club has gone to shit.
Was Xhaka playing? I've not watched as many Arsenal games this season but I've watched the last few and he's not made an impression on me. it's a bit like Pogba. I know they exist, but in my mind, it's almost totally blank. I don't know what to expect from the guy. You know more about him cos you follow the Bundesliga. I don't know what he's meant to be doing...Is he supposed to be a Paul Scholes type of player, running the show from the centre of the park, chipping in ten goals a season?
But Ozil, i've seen him do great things with a football, I think he's world class when he's on his day and things are going well. But, as a fan of the game I want to see him go in for the 50/50 that might win the game and/or get him a sare one. Sanchez, their other marquee player, he'd have have fully committed to the moment.
But, the next time I watch Ozil do something truly amazing in a match, I'll forgive him everything, and forget that he shat out of a challenge. And that's as it should be.
I didn´t watch enough Arsenal games to have a decent opinion. But what you can read in here is often times the same as media coverage. You can read about several players underperforming (Özil, Giroud, Walcott, Ox, to name a few) while others are loved/respected (mostly Sanchez, but also some defenders like Bellerin, Mustafi, Kos,..).
You should be judged on your performance where you play on the field and what you have to do to make the team win. Yes, Özil is often strolling around the field and everyone says it takes the team down. That´s BS. Everyone knows about it and that´s how he plays, period. He´s won titles that way, he played every match in the WC, as Germany won the title.
When you have eight matches in february/march and you go 3-0-5 (two wins vs. Lincoln City and Sutton!) with 14-19 goals, there´s more than Mesut Özil wandering around. It´s just that people get annoyed by it. That defense is a shame.
You should be judged on your performance where you play on the field and what you have to do to make the team win. Yes, Özil is often strolling around the field and everyone says it takes the team down. That´s BS. Everyone knows about it and that´s how he plays, period. He´s won titles that way, he played every match in the WC, as Germany won the title.
When you have eight matches in february/march and you go 3-0-5 (two wins vs. Lincoln City and Sutton!) with 14-19 goals, there´s more than Mesut Özil wandering around. It´s just that people get annoyed by it. That defense is a shame.
I read somewhere the reason why he is attached to Wenger is b'c Arsene allows him to not play defense and that is Ozil's preferred style
take it with a grain of salt, it may have been wiki
Was stuck at work and only saw the highlights.
Nice to see them have a clean sheet with the 3rd string keeper in net.
Nice to see them have a clean sheet with the 3rd string keeper in net.
i was really annoyed that the X1 box only carried the HD feeds...I had to put it on my laptop
West Ham is no West Brom, that's for sure
West Ham is no West Brom, that's for sure
ArsenalFanTV @ArsenalFanTV 3m3 minutes ago
Arsenal have conceded at least three goals in four consecutive top flight away matches for the first time since 1929...
Arsenal have conceded at least three goals in four consecutive top flight away matches for the first time since 1929...
Wenger has lost the capacity to keep the team motivated, which historically has been one of his strengths. The players all know the team is never going anywhere under Wenger and they have no clue whether Wenger will be around in a couple months.
Walcott said after the match that they knew Palace wanted it more from the first whistle. Admitting that says a lot about the toxic mentality at the club.
Walcott said after the match that they knew Palace wanted it more from the first whistle. Admitting that says a lot about the toxic mentality at the club.
Many reports say we've signed a precontract with 23-year-old Schalke LB Sead Kolasinac, who will come on a free in the summer. I can't say much about him but a lot of people seem to really like him as a top shelf young LB. So that's a small bit of good news in an otherwise shitty spring.
I'm all for experimenting with the formation because, really, why not at this point. But this has been dire so far.
That is quality stuff from Alexis.
The last 10-15 minutes have actually been pretty good. This formation certainly gets the best out of Ox.
The last 10-15 minutes have actually been pretty good. This formation certainly gets the best out of Ox.
Arsenal are just so...feckless. This game seems totally predictable. Lots of possession. Barely any finishing product. One special moment from Alexis. And nothing else. Maybe they can salvage something in the last half hour if Boro tire, if they conjure something out of the possession. But would it suprise if they fell behind?
Second was a nice goal combo. Very nice finish off of two nice passes. Arsenal seem to be playing tentative and also just getting in each other's way. Also their through balls as of late have been horrible. There were a ton of very low quality passes today that were either off target or easily intercepted.
Wilshere has a broken leg.
I'm not even going to comment on absurdity of his injury history. But it will be interesting to see what the club does with his contract, which is up in June.
The best thing for Wilshere would be to get fit and leave Arsenal for Italy or Spain, where he might stand a slim chance of actually making it through a full season without injury.
I'm not even going to comment on absurdity of his injury history. But it will be interesting to see what the club does with his contract, which is up in June.
The best thing for Wilshere would be to get fit and leave Arsenal for Italy or Spain, where he might stand a slim chance of actually making it through a full season without injury.
A british footballer in a foreign league...that only happens if he´s a superstar (no), a youngster (no), is interested in exploring the World (um...no) or needs money (no).
If there´s a bet on that (without looking it up), I put my 10€ on Wilshere staying with a team that finishes the Premier League season between 8-17.
If there´s a bet on that (without looking it up), I put my 10€ on Wilshere staying with a team that finishes the Premier League season between 8-17.
Wilshere should go back to Bolton where he actually looked talented at one point in his life.
His skill level fits where Bolton is in the table too.
His skill level fits where Bolton is in the table too.
for once in a long time I thought Wenger got tactics correct and the squad executed on the pitch. it felt like like all 18 players were playing in front of Cech whenever City tried to attack. There were no passing lanes and suffocated any attacks. The cross bar came up huge too.
when was the last come from behind win for this team? 2014?
when was the last come from behind win for this team? 2014?
nice dive by Alexis at the end of the match today. on a Leicester City throw in by Christian Fuchs, Alexis tries to block it on the touchline. Fuchs gets frustrated and throws it off Alexis' shoulder.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/26/alexis-sanchez-displays-fat-lip-embarrassing-reaction-having/
Arsenal wins on an own goal
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/26/alexis-sanchez-displays-fat-lip-embarrassing-reaction-having/
Arsenal wins on an own goal