Crazy enough, I dont think our top 4 chances are gone. I still think if we win 2 of our 3 remaining matches we will get it. Obviously there are question marks over if we can do that. But I dont think Chelsea will beat United, so beat Leicester and we are back in 4th.
We've taken 3 points from Everton, Watford, Palace and Wolves. I have no idea what gives you even the slightest bit of confidence we will get anything from Leicester, who have similar players to Wolves that can cause us problems, and a boisterous atmosphere, which we struggle in. Let's not give ourselves false hope. We've blown top 4 over the past 2 games. It's all about the Europa now.
What utter crap. Quite simply we do not deserve top 4 on these performances. I'm so ****ing annoyed with the players at the moment. We've had two golden opportunities to go above Spurs and cement a place in the Top 4 and now we're relying on Chelsea to **** it up. Even then we could still end up losing at least one of our last 3 games ****ed right off here
Really, you dont think this it is Emery's fault right? However, when we win handsomely he is this master tactician right? In my honest opinion, a half decent manager will set up our current squad properly and get the required results. I just hope, we do not waste anymore time with this guy - If the Chelsea Manager could be pilloried in his first season, can someone tell me why this guy gets a free pass. They are both in their first season, I would actually trust Sarri to get it right though!
We've got a better points tally and have improved our away record (even if it's slightly), but this time last season, we only had a Europa League semi-final to look forward to as a way of getting back into the Champions League. Whereas this season, even though I do not think we will get it, we are still within touching distance of the top 4 and we are in the Europa League semi-finals, having knocked out the bookies' favourites. So there has been some improvement from last year, but obviously a lot of us are disappointed that Emery got us into this fantastic position, and now we're doing all we can to mess it all up. We need to remember that a lot of the issues Emery has had to deal with were problems before he even stepped foot into the club. It was always going to take more than one year to turn our fortunes around.
The last two defeats have been crushing. But we're still 1 point off top 4 and in the semi final of the EL. So Emery deserves credit for that, especially in his first season. What I will say though, is that there are far too many players at Arsenal who just don't have the mentality to win games when we need to dig out results. I would happily see us get rid of Mustafi, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Xhaka. They just aren't capable of being able to take command in games and seem to be easily brushed aside when the oppo step it up. You can add Elneny, Lichstiener, Chambers, Jenkinson, Cech, Welbeck to that list. In fact the only one who seems to really fight for this team is Ramsey and he's ****ing off to Juventus.
Lots of Arsenal fans online blaming Leno for their second yet no one mentions the fact that Moutinho and Jonny set up to take the short corner and actually exchanged the ball twice before any Arsenal player even thought to close Jonny down, by which time he had sent the cross into the box under no pressure whatsoever.
I put loss to Palace on Emery. But last night for me is 100% on the players. I think he picked his strongest side considering PEA was out. Our senior players were embarrassing. We all know the problems we have in defence but I haven't seen much talk about our creativity. The quicker we move on from Ozil the better. Mikhi has been a terrible signing. I really hoped he would come alive at the latter part of this season. We have a real problem in AM as well imo. I love Iwobi but I think next season is last chance saloon for him. I would give him 1 more season under Emery. I will say it again we need to go big on dynamic AMs. Strong dribbler/ball carrier, that can shoot and has decent vision. Iwobi is the only ball carrier we have at the club but end product is lacking. We need these type of players across our AM. We see what other top teams do with Sterling, Sane, Silva, Mahrez, Salah, Mane, Firminho, Hazard, Son, Moura, Martial, Rashford, etc. We lack that sort of dynamism with end product. I would be looking to invest in pace next season. We are too slow!
Who was it that was saying Wolves were a poor side lol. I wonder if their view has changed or they're prepared to die on that "they are ****e" hill! They are top 6 slayers this season and can hand any team around their ass any day! Very exciting team.
They're not a great side. Below the top six the rest are15 odd points behind with barely positive goal differences. They're a mile away from the top six which includes. Beating us doesn't make a team 'slayers' or 'very exciting'. They're in the band of four clubs who are quite good.
12 players? That's rather a lot. I'm not going to address most of them, but Iwobi is home grown and club grown, so it's not worth getting rid of him. He's essentially a freebie.
At least nine of them are almost guaranteed to be leaving. Minimum is seven due to contract expirations, retirement or the club not pursuing option to buy clauses. It may not be 12, but there will still be a lot of departures this Summer.
I'll try and answer both questions: Jenkinson - contract expiring this Summer - gone Monreal - contract expiring this Summer - gone Welbeck - contract expiring this Summer - gone Lichtsteiner - contract expiring this Summer - gone Ramsey - free transfer - gone Cech - retiring - gone D. Suarez - option to buy highly unlikely to be pursued - gone Elneny - not good enough, but is on low wages and isn't part of our plans - expected to leave Ospina - Napoli have openly expressed their intention in paying the £4m fee that we've asked at the end of the loan - expected to leave Chambers - I'm not sure where his future lies, but I can't see him breaking into our team. We have defensive midfield covered and I don't expect him to be first or second choice centre-back. Realistically, I think he will be sold. Mustafi - lots of reliable intel saying we've been trying to get rid of him for the past two summers, but haven't been able to find a buyer. I want him to leave, but he's on a reported £90k p/w, so it will be hard to shift him unless we loan him out or he accepts a wage cut - he needs to go. Xhaka - I don't mind him as a squad player, but under no circumstances should be starting for us. Our options are so poor in midfield though, that we are quite reliant on his range of passing and distribution from deep. Ideally, sell, but won't happen. Kolasinac - he's on £180k p/w. His output as an attacking outlet isn't good enough and he can't defend. Sell, but will be hard. Mkhitaryan - also on £180k p/w. Not suited to this league. Only reason why he hasn't been ridiculed more is because Sanchez has been even worse. Neither United or Arsenal benefited from this player swap. Sell, but will be hard. Ozil - we're paying £350k p/w for a player who is only trusted in home matches. This entire saga last year was a situation of our own making and now we're stuck with him. Sell, but won't happen. EDIT: Correction - Kolasinac is reported to be earning £120k per week, not £180k per week.
I know. How do you think I feel FFS This is why I said that the two main men who were largely responsible for this financial mismanagement aren't at the club anymore and don't have to deal with the ****show of their poor decisions. Emery and Raul Sanllehi are the ones, rather bizarrely, getting the brunt of it from a large section of Arsenal fans.