Tag Archives: She Wore

Unai Emery leads 46% improvement in The Arsenal

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Arsene Wenger announced he was leaving Arsenal on the 20th April 2018. This after a run that saw Arsenal win just 7 of their previous 19 Premier League games.

During that period, Arsenal’s full league record was:

P 19

W 7

D 5

L 7

Pts 26

It was the horrendous run that led the Arsenal board (wether it be Ivan Gazidis, Raul Sanllehi or the Kroenke’s) to decide enough was enough and that Wenger was to leave at the end of the season.

At the time of the announcement, Arsenal had averaged 1.36 points a game and fallen out of contention in the race for the Champions League. We were more worried that Burnley might pip us to 6th place.

Unai Emery has now managed Arsenal for his first half of a season. We are exactly 19 games into the new era.

Emery’s record in the first 19 games reads:

P 19

W 11

D 5

L 3

Pts 38

That is exactly 2 points per game. Or a 46% improvement on the 19 games before Wenger announced he was leaving.

Even if you take these statistics back to Wenger’s last 19 league games – to include the last 5 games of the season – Emery has led the team to 33% more points.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1078309681938997254?s=21

Anyone that denies that we have improved, and are improving, is clearly either deluded or agenda driven.

Arsenal are currently on course to get 76 points. Last year Tottenham finished 3rd with 77 points. Liverpool 4th with 75 points

We finished 6th with 63 points. Emery has clearly improved us from the 2nd half of last season.

It may not be a big an improvement some had hoped for; and it perhaps highlights just how far we had fallen under Wenger, but we are clearly recovering.

From finishing 37 points behind Manchester City and well off the pace for the race for 4th, we now sit just 6 points behind the big spenders, and just 2 points off 4th.

There is still plenty of room for improvement, but as Liverpool are

showing; it is important to keep the faith if you believe you have recruited the right manager.

Unai Emery is the right manager.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1076795874225909760?s=21

Unai Emery gives Arsenal fans plenty to ponder

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As I sit here in the post Christmas / Boxing Day slumber, I have a few random thoughts to share about the current state of Arsenal.

For a start, we all surely knew before the season started that it would be one of ups and downs. Highs and lows.

Anyone who would have thought that Unai Emery coming in would immediately turn Arsenal from a side who finished 37 points off the top in 2017/18 to title challengers was unrealistic. There is a longer term project in place. Plenty of rebuilding to do.

After 22 years of Arsene Wenger and 10 of Ivan Gazidis, the entire club is having to re-learn. Learn from Unai Emery, who he is and what he is about. The same with Raul Sanllehi and ASven Mislintant.

Look at what happened to Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill left.

Man U finished the 7th in the first non-Fergie season in 27-years. David moyes had the pre-season champions to work with. Emery is working with a side that finished 6th last season.

What we are now seeing is how much of a state the club, the squad, was in during that last 18 months of the Wenger / Gazidis era.

Emery is being hampered by not having enough quality players at his disposal.

By the time you throw in the injury problems we have at the back, alongside not having enough good defenders, we end up in the defensive crisis that saw Arsenal’s unbeaten run come to an end.

The squad really is a state.

We made some good signings last January, and further good signings over the summer. another two transfer windows will probably have seen a 40% squad turnover in 18 months – with plenty more still to go.

This highlights how bad the squad that Arsene Wenger left was.

Emery is also still learning.

He is not training or coaching a single player that he has dealt with before. A World Cup summer robbed him of some key players. It will take a while for him to learn about the players he has, how to play them, how to get them to tick, and how to get the best out of them.

There have been some odd calls from Emery – both in starters and substitutions – but he will learn from them. Change does not happen overnight and it is miles too early for people to be slagging him off.

This January the management trio of Emery, Mislintat and Sanllehi need to be backed by Stan Kroenke. Even if that backing is simply encouraging them to spend the funds that sit within the clubs bank account.

Saying that, we also need to buy the right players. There is no point buying someone for the sake of it and end up with another £35m Lucas Perez.

This is a building season. Over the next two transfer windows we need a central defender, left back and wide forward. We will not get them all in January. Just one would be nice. We need to buy in January, but not panic buy.

what yesterday’s game against Brighton showed is just how much we miss Hector Bellerin. He may have his critics, but he is a superb right back. The threat he poses on that right flank is incredible. He gives us a lot of natural width. We miss him.

We also miss Nacho Monreal of last season.

The Spanish left back is 33-years-old in January and injuries are catching up on him. Is Sead Kolasinac the answer? Possibly not.

Further up the pitch, Unai Emery clearly does not fancy Mesut Ozil.

The Ozil-circus has affected the start of the Unai Emery era. The manager needs to ensure it does not define it.

One of the odd calls by Emery is his attempt to start Pierre-Emeirck Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil in the same team. It does not work and it feels like he is playing Ozil for the sake of it.

The German’s time at Arsenal is running out. Emery needs to be brave and sell him in the summer. Most fans would back the decision.

Arsenal already have the Ger,man’s replacement within the squad. Aaron Ramsey.

The Welshman has created more goals for Arsenal this season than any other player. He needs to sack his agent, sign a new deal, and get that number 10 shirt.

I am concerned about this weekend and the game against Liverpool. They are rampant at the moment and we could see a repeat of the 2014 5-1 defeat.

It is what it is.

Emery took over a team that finished 6th in the league. That could not win away. That were knocked out of the cup by Nottingham Forest. He has got that team, dragged us up and we are now back in the race for 4th.

The race for 4th is what most fans realistically expected. It is where we are. Best of 4th, worst of 5th.

All that said we are going in the right direction, our best players this season have been the players bought in under Mislintat. Another 2 windows will see 40% turnover in the squad.

Emery is clearly a good coach. He has improved the likes of Bellerin, Alex Iwobi and Granit Xhaka. The likes of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi have also excelled under him.

There have been plenty to enjoy in the first half of the season.

We destroyed Tottenham in the Premier League and went on a 22 game unbeaten run. We have a great chance of silverware in the Europa League, and the FA Cup is yet to start.

The highlight so far is the youngsters getting bloodied in the cup competitions. Many of which are London boys who have been at the club from kids.

There will be more highs this season, and there will be some lows.

VCC

ps: that away kit is horrible. Bring on Adidas

*GC*

Match Report: Brighton 1 – 1 Arsenal

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Brighton and Hove Albion (1) 1 Arsenal (1) 1
Premier League
American Express Community Stadium, Village Way, Brighton BN1 9BL
Sunday, 26th December 2018. Kick-off time: 5.15pm

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Koscielny, Kolašinac; Xhaka; Torreira; Guendouzi, Özil, Lacazette; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Čech, Elneny, Ramsey, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Nketiah, Willock.
Scorers: Aubameyang
Yellow Cards: Kolašinac
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 30,608

Boxing Day at Brighton, shivering on the South Coast! We were defeated here back in March by the odd goal in three with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang grabbing our only goal on the day. Nine months ago, we were floundering with our points tally of 45 in 29 matches which happened to ber our worst record since 1995. Still, it’s a new season with a new manager, so we’ll wait to see what good things that St. Stephen’s Day may hold for us down in Sussex!

Sure enough, seven minutes from the start, our questions were answered with a superb strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that put us ahead in the match; some sterling work by Alexandre Lacazette ensured our top-scoring striker made no mistake with an excellent finish that was destined for the back of the Brighton net the very second that the ball left PEA’s boot. For the next half hour we were in the ascendancy with two very good chances from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that brought out the best in the Brighton goalkeeper, Mat Ryan, who to be fair, kept them in the match more than once at this point in time. Then, as in a few matches in the Premiership this season, we somehow pushed the self-destruct button. A ball that was seemingly going nowhere, was headed into the direction of Brighton’s centre-forward Jurgen Locadia, who simply went around Bernd Leno to equalise the scores. For the remaining ten mintues of the first half, we appeared to lose the control we once had earlier, and it has to be said that the half-time whistle was a blessing in disguise.

After the break, Mesut Ozil was substituted for young Alex Iwobi, but unfortunately the second half appeared to continue in the same vein as the end of the first for us. Our creativity and ingenuity went awry, whilst The Seagulls sensed that a chance for them to take all three points was now a real possible outcome of the match, with them capitalising on every missed tackle and stray pass that we had the misfortune to do. Bearing in mind that the home side had already had a goal against us ruled out for a foul in the previous half, it seemed to be that they now had the key to the door of our defence. When we did move forward, it was thanks to the creative vision of Mattéo Guendouzi, who tirelessly tried to find ways through the Brighton defence, and in doing so became the recipient of some very strong and physical tackling, most of which were unnecessary assaults on the young midfielder. Mr. Emery replaced Alexandre Lacazette with Aaron Ramsey after the hour, and ten mintues later, the still not-quite-match-fit Laurent Koscielny headed for the bench with Ainsley Maitland-Niles taking the field in his place. It didn’t matter either way as the home side found renewed confidence and endlessly put together chances to try and sneak in the winner during the latter stages of the match. Thankfully, despite one or two close shaves, we got away with a point from a match that in essence was in places quite a dull affair with sparks of action.

In less than a week’s time, the January transfer window opens, and with it arrives the opportunity for Mr. Emery to flex his financial muscles and purchase new players to add to his squad – and boy, don’t we need it! If we are to progress to cup finals and regular top four places in the Premiership, then we surely need players that will mirror our ambitions, because at the moment, we are there for the taking, and it has been some kind of miracle that we have not been punished badly for our weaknesses in defence. Our next match is the rampant Liverpool at Anfield on early Saturday evening, and it has to be said that despite our injuries, we need to get a result from that game, but after viewing the events of today’s match at Brighton, it could be a very difficult game for us. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.