Mikel Arteta, success or failure? - Merged thread.

[OneBardGooner]

Any chance we could send Arteta over to have a chat with the wiggy cu.nt

[GoonerMuzz]

As the season is most likely over do we count his performance so far or does he get a fresh start next season

[A11M11]

Fresh start although we may have to temper our expectations

[GoonerMuzz]

Not really sure we can have much expectation, this whole situation will have thrown all planning out the window, our funding will be even more up the swanny than ever, contracts will be all over the place and the transfer window may be a complete washout due to lack of funds for every club. If UEFA, the FA and the EPL are canny they will either extend the transfer window or leave it open for the whole season to allow clubs to reorganise and restructure as best they can over a longer period, those that survive this anyway.

Unfortunately this gives Wiggy the perfect chance to 'consolidate' funds more than usual and I should imagine our squad next season may be broadly similar to this year

I know none of this really matters in the current emergency but I'm sick of everything Corona virus and want to think about something else more pleasant, relatively

[DB10GOONER]

Not really sure we can have much expectation, this whole situation will have thrown all planning out the window, our funding will be even more up the swanny than ever, contracts will be all over the place and the transfer window may be a complete washout due to lack of funds for every club. If UEFA, the FA and the EPL are canny they will either extend the transfer window or leave it open for the whole season to allow clubs to reorganise and restructure as best they can over a longer period, those that survive this anyway.

Unfortunately this gives Wiggy the perfect chance to 'consolidate' funds more than usual and I should imagine our squad next season may be broadly similar to this year

I know none of this really matters in the current emergency but I'm sick of everything Corona virus and want to think about something else more pleasant, relatively

Agreed 100% mate.

[Herd]

We hard to beat right now

[DB10GOONER]

We hard to beat right now

I'm hoping even SteveO can embrace this unbeaten run.

[Bob Bayliss]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

[SteveO 35]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

We are at the same stage as we were before GG was appointed - an also ran team capable of the odd cup run, miles away from winning the league and full of journeymen who’ve had better days elsewhere

Perhaps all the mocking of my suggestions of Sean Dyche look a bit daft now, when we’ve appointed a tiki taka coach to manage a team unable to string three passes together

It’s not arguable that we’re worse off than we were under Emery - its absolutely undeniable through any stat you want to look at.... league position, win ratio, goals scored

The club is truly getting what it deserved - Emery was on a terrible run but the greater good was that Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were firmly on the way out on the back of all the other shite like Cech, Elneny, Welbeck etc that we’re already gone

We survived 10 years of Wenger post lobotomy but couldn’t afford the next guy 2 years to complete a rebuild

Got what we deserved - a coach miles out of his depth trying to be Manchester City with players more like Bristol City

[augie]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

We are at the same stage as we were before GG was appointed - an also ran team capable of the odd cup run, miles away from winning the league and full of journeymen who’ve had better days elsewhere

Perhaps all the mocking of my suggestions of Sean Dyche look a bit daft now, when we’ve appointed a tiki taka coach to manage a team unable to string three passes together

It’s not arguable that we’re worse off than we were under Emery - its absolutely undeniable through any stat you want to look at.... league position, win ratio, goals scored

The club is truly getting what it deserved - Emery was on a terrible run but the greater good was that Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were firmly on the way out on the back of all the other shite like Cech, Elneny, Welbeck etc that we’re already gone

We survived 10 years of Wenger post lobotomy but couldn’t afford the next guy 2 years to complete a rebuild

Got what we deserved - a coach miles out of his depth trying to be Manchester City with players more like Bristol City

Amen to all that

The highlighted part is the stand out for me - getting shot of those players (plus lard arse iwobi) should have merited a statue outside the stadium for emery imo, but instead he got the tin tack at the first sign of trouble When wrighty got rid of rioch all those years ago I was disgusted if I'm honest - the difference between then and now is that wrighty was a consistant performer who had played no small part in bringing success to the club since he signed, and that brought him respect and standing. C.unts like xhaka and ozil and mustafi havent just been a part in our failures and capitulations ....... they have been core fundamental parts of it, and yet they have been allowed to undermine a manager and get him sacked The board sided with them cos the players are valuable commodities (debatable I know ), but for the fans to show loyalty to players that have constantly let them down disgusts me, and proves to me that fans are continuing to play a big part in the demise of our club.

I'm not gonna stand here this morning and declare that emery was king and everything he did was right - his tactics away v the victims still angers me to this day and maybe always will. What I will say though, is that he inherited an absolute shitfest from the senile old cock and had quickly identified that some of our players were useless c.unts and was well on his way to ridding our club of them (cech, armenian pussy, lard arse iwobi, el ninny, wellshit, with xhaka, ozil and mustafi being squeezed too). He had brought young players like saka and martinelli through and was rebuilding with young hungry players. I see emery critic fans still to this day complaining about the shit players arteta has to work with, and only players like martinelli, sako, torreira and leno being praised by the fans, and they were all emery players. If the club and fans waited 6 more months to get rid of xhaka, ozil and mustafi and then sacked emery, then maybe I would feel a small bit better about the situation - now we have an unqualified guy in charge who immediately restored said players to the starting line-up, and it looks like we are never gonna get shot of them

[Clash]

Some good posts on here.

It will not happen so its futile me even saying this but I would actually like to see us make a change of manager in the summer. I know the arguments against it (more upheaval, finding who is available etc.) but the position we are in and all the problems we have ... the last thing we need is to also have a manager who is earning the ropes in his first managerial role. And one with the possible additional problem that he is a former teammate of a few of the players.

Look at all the greatest managers in the history of the game. How many of them were great from the start? I didn't think we could afford to gamble with appointing a manager like Arteta and while everyone needs time and maybe at least one transfer window etc. I am not seeing the drive and the ruthless streak that many say Arteta possesses. I am seeing someone out of his depth.

Agree with the point that Emery had started the much needed clearout and its very diappointing and a backward step to see some of these gormless lumps returning to the starting line up. Although to be fair Emery did actually bring Xhaka back into the side in the last game he was in charge of - the 2-1 home defeat against Frankfurt. We will never know if Emery would have picked him again for the PL games but Ljungberg continued to and he's been in the side ever since. Along with his fellow neanderthals Kolasinac and Mustafi

Having said all that, while Kroenke remains the owner then the ambition will remain non-existent. Just remaining in the PL is enough for him to make money and while I see some are suggesting we could slip out of the PL in the next few years, I do not see that happening. The PL is just too weak. At least 2 of the 3 promoted sides struggle and there's always the sides like West Ham, Palace and Newcastle that could plummet at any moment.

[SteveO 35]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

We are at the same stage as we were before GG was appointed - an also ran team capable of the odd cup run, miles away from winning the league and full of journeymen who’ve had better days elsewhere

Perhaps all the mocking of my suggestions of Sean Dyche look a bit daft now, when we’ve appointed a tiki taka coach to manage a team unable to string three passes together

It’s not arguable that we’re worse off than we were under Emery - its absolutely undeniable through any stat you want to look at.... league position, win ratio, goals scored

The club is truly getting what it deserved - Emery was on a terrible run but the greater good was that Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were firmly on the way out on the back of all the other shite like Cech, Elneny, Welbeck etc that we’re already gone

We survived 10 years of Wenger post lobotomy but couldn’t afford the next guy 2 years to complete a rebuild

Got what we deserved - a coach miles out of his depth trying to be Manchester City with players more like Bristol City

Amen to all that

The highlighted part is the stand out for me - getting shot of those players (plus lard arse iwobi) should have merited a statue outside the stadium for emery imo, but instead he got the tin tack at the first sign of trouble When wrighty got rid of rioch all those years ago I was disgusted if I'm honest - the difference between then and now is that wrighty was a consistant performer who had played no small part in bringing success to the club since he signed, and that brought him respect and standing. C.unts like xhaka and ozil and mustafi havent just been a part in our failures and capitulations ....... they have been core fundamental parts of it, and yet they have been allowed to undermine a manager and get him sacked The board sided with them cos the players are valuable commodities (debatable I know ), but for the fans to show loyalty to players that have constantly let them down disgusts me, and proves to me that fans are continuing to play a big part in the demise of our club.

I'm not gonna stand here this morning and declare that emery was king and everything he did was right - his tactics away v the victims still angers me to this day and maybe always will. What I will say though, is that he inherited an absolute shitfest from the senile old cock and had quickly identified that some of our players were useless c.unts and was well on his way to ridding our club of them (cech, armenian pussy, lard arse iwobi, el ninny, wellshit, with xhaka, ozil and mustafi being squeezed too). He had brought young players like saka and martinelli through and was rebuilding with young hungry players. I see emery critic fans still to this day complaining about the shit players arteta has to work with, and only players like martinelli, sako, torreira and leno being praised by the fans, and they were all emery players. If the club and fans waited 6 more months to get rid of xhaka, ozil and mustafi and then sacked emery, then maybe I would feel a small bit better about the situation - now we have an unqualified guy in charge who immediately restored said players to the starting line-up, and it looks like we are never gonna get shot of them

I took loads of stick on here for supposedly saying Emery was the greatest manager of all time which he quite clearly isn't....and by god some of those performances in the last few weeks of his reign were frustrating and puzzling.......but absolutely no more than the shite served up yesterday (and on many other occasions by Arteta). Leno, Torreira, Saka and Martinelli have undoubtedly been the bright spots over the past year or so and we know who either bought them or brought them through

The other luxury he was NEVER afforded was the type of big money signing that Wenger made - 60m for Aubameyang, 50m for Lacazette, Ozil for 42m, Mustafi and Xhaka for 30m+ each. With the exception of Auba, how does that little lot stack up? And before anyone says what about 72m for Pepe, fuck me.......72m maximum spread over a period of 5 years and it has already been widely reported that one of the things that most fucked Emery over was that Zaha was his first choice and he was talked down by the board because of so called 're-sale' value of Pepe (not to mention the 5 years of instalments no doubt). Well, how does that re-sale value look now.......about £10m to a team like Watford I'd say

Its about like Sven with Ing-er-lund - one day people will look back and say....perhaps he wasn't such a bad manager after all. Missing the CL by a point and finishing 5th will be a distant pipe dream from now on. The Premier League will be in 3 years time too

[goonersid]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

We are at the same stage as we were before GG was appointed - an also ran team capable of the odd cup run, miles away from winning the league and full of journeymen who’ve had better days elsewhere

Perhaps all the mocking of my suggestions of Sean Dyche look a bit daft now, when we’ve appointed a tiki taka coach to manage a team unable to string three passes together

It’s not arguable that we’re worse off than we were under Emery - its absolutely undeniable through any stat you want to look at.... league position, win ratio, goals scored

The club is truly getting what it deserved - Emery was on a terrible run but the greater good was that Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were firmly on the way out on the back of all the other shite like Cech, Elneny, Welbeck etc that we’re already gone

We survived 10 years of Wenger post lobotomy but couldn’t afford the next guy 2 years to complete a rebuild

Got what we deserved - a coach miles out of his depth trying to be Manchester City with players more like Bristol City

Amen to all that

The highlighted part is the stand out for me - getting shot of those players (plus lard arse iwobi) should have merited a statue outside the stadium for emery imo, but instead he got the tin tack at the first sign of trouble When wrighty got rid of rioch all those years ago I was disgusted if I'm honest - the difference between then and now is that wrighty was a consistant performer who had played no small part in bringing success to the club since he signed, and that brought him respect and standing. C.unts like xhaka and ozil and mustafi havent just been a part in our failures and capitulations ....... they have been core fundamental parts of it, and yet they have been allowed to undermine a manager and get him sacked The board sided with them cos the players are valuable commodities (debatable I know ), but for the fans to show loyalty to players that have constantly let them down disgusts me, and proves to me that fans are continuing to play a big part in the demise of our club.

I'm not gonna stand here this morning and declare that emery was king and everything he did was right - his tactics away v the victims still angers me to this day and maybe always will. What I will say though, is that he inherited an absolute shitfest from the senile old cock and had quickly identified that some of our players were useless c.unts and was well on his way to ridding our club of them (cech, armenian pussy, lard arse iwobi, el ninny, wellshit, with xhaka, ozil and mustafi being squeezed too). He had brought young players like saka and martinelli through and was rebuilding with young hungry players. I see emery critic fans still to this day complaining about the shit players arteta has to work with, and only players like martinelli, sako, torreira and leno being praised by the fans, and they were all emery players. If the club and fans waited 6 more months to get rid of xhaka, ozil and mustafi and then sacked emery, then maybe I would feel a small bit better about the situation - now we have an unqualified guy in charge who immediately restored said players to the starting line-up, and it looks like we are never gonna get shot of them

Absolute bullshit!
Agreed, Arteta doesn’t appear to be the answer.
To suggest that Emery was anything other than incapable tactically bereft clown, is merely a “toys out if the pram I told you so tantrum” and quite frankly absurd!
Remember the bizarre team selections, the embarrassing europa final, the inability to scrape the lge win against bottom of the table shite, that would have secured clge football and all but bankrupt sperz in the process,
Augie, the Rioch comparison is comparable only in that both he and Emery were taking us nowhere, I know he had a fallout with Wrighty, but his treatment of Wright was disgraceful. Backed up in Tony Adams’ book.
As for player power forcing Emery out??
Sword of Damocles, I’d say, since it was he who bestowed them that power, in allowing them to choose “his” captain, because he was too weak to take the responsibility, that’s when he lost their respect as a man, I think he had already lost their respect as a coach!
Based on both your arguements, it wouldn’t be unrealistic to suggest we bring Wenger back!
I’ve no doubt he would have gotten us over the line, like so many times before in those final few games.
I have grave doubts over Arteta, but bar a few loan signings NONE of this squad are his players!! So given that this arguement was used continually to defend Emery (despite 8 signings at start of his first season) then I feel it’s only fair that Arteta be afforded the same defence!
We are in a bad place at the minute, in every area of the club and at 56 I doubt I will see another title win in my lifetime, unless we are taken over by a rich and thrifty owner.

[augie]

We have not progressed under Teflon. Arguably, we are in a worse position than we were at the equivalent stage under Emery, in the sense that we are now touch and go for a Europa Cup spot, rather than simply struggling to compete for top four.

I had two main concerns about his appointment. Firstly, that he lacked top-level experience, other than as Pep's cone-man. Secondly, that everything we knew about him from his playing days suggested that he was not equipped to transform the lightweight, easy-on-the-eye but ultimately inconsequential style of play that has plagued the Club since the invincibles team was dismantled. Those who cited George Graham as an example of how a poacher could turn gamekeeper ignored Graham's impressive apprenticeship at Millwall and the fact that for all his languor as a player he had much more steel about him than the current incumbent appears to possess. There are some other crucial differences: Graham also inherited a very talented clutch of young players. The likes of Willock, Nelson, Nketia and Maitland-Niles are not the heirs of Adams, Rocastle, Thomas and Merson. He also wasted no time in getting shot of the likes of Charlie Nic and Woodcock. I can't imagine Ozil would still have been stinking the place out with GG at the helm.

So I will call it now: Arteta was and remains a dreadful appointment, the antithesis of what we need to transform the club.

We are at the same stage as we were before GG was appointed - an also ran team capable of the odd cup run, miles away from winning the league and full of journeymen who’ve had better days elsewhere

Perhaps all the mocking of my suggestions of Sean Dyche look a bit daft now, when we’ve appointed a tiki taka coach to manage a team unable to string three passes together

It’s not arguable that we’re worse off than we were under Emery - its absolutely undeniable through any stat you want to look at.... league position, win ratio, goals scored

The club is truly getting what it deserved - Emery was on a terrible run but the greater good was that Ozil, Mustafi and Xhaka were firmly on the way out on the back of all the other shite like Cech, Elneny, Welbeck etc that we’re already gone

We survived 10 years of Wenger post lobotomy but couldn’t afford the next guy 2 years to complete a rebuild

Got what we deserved - a coach miles out of his depth trying to be Manchester City with players more like Bristol City

Amen to all that

The highlighted part is the stand out for me - getting shot of those players (plus lard arse iwobi) should have merited a statue outside the stadium for emery imo, but instead he got the tin tack at the first sign of trouble When wrighty got rid of rioch all those years ago I was disgusted if I'm honest - the difference between then and now is that wrighty was a consistant performer who had played no small part in bringing success to the club since he signed, and that brought him respect and standing. C.unts like xhaka and ozil and mustafi havent just been a part in our failures and capitulations ....... they have been core fundamental parts of it, and yet they have been allowed to undermine a manager and get him sacked The board sided with them cos the players are valuable commodities (debatable I know ), but for the fans to show loyalty to players that have constantly let them down disgusts me, and proves to me that fans are continuing to play a big part in the demise of our club.

I'm not gonna stand here this morning and declare that emery was king and everything he did was right - his tactics away v the victims still angers me to this day and maybe always will. What I will say though, is that he inherited an absolute shitfest from the senile old cock and had quickly identified that some of our players were useless c.unts and was well on his way to ridding our club of them (cech, armenian pussy, lard arse iwobi, el ninny, wellshit, with xhaka, ozil and mustafi being squeezed too). He had brought young players like saka and martinelli through and was rebuilding with young hungry players. I see emery critic fans still to this day complaining about the shit players arteta has to work with, and only players like martinelli, sako, torreira and leno being praised by the fans, and they were all emery players. If the club and fans waited 6 more months to get rid of xhaka, ozil and mustafi and then sacked emery, then maybe I would feel a small bit better about the situation - now we have an unqualified guy in charge who immediately restored said players to the starting line-up, and it looks like we are never gonna get shot of them

Absolute bullshit!
Agreed, Arteta doesn’t appear to be the answer.
To suggest that Emery was anything other than incapable tactically bereft clown, is merely a “toys out if the pram I told you so tantrum” and quite frankly absurd!
Remember the bizarre team selections, the embarrassing europa final, the inability to scrape the lge win against bottom of the table shite, that would have secured clge football and all but bankrupt sperz in the process,
Augie, the Rioch comparison is comparable only in that both he and Emery were taking us nowhere, I know he had a fallout with Wrighty, but his treatment of Wright was disgraceful. Backed up in Tony Adams’ book.
As for player power forcing Emery out??
Sword of Damocles, I’d say, since it was he who bestowed them that power, in allowing them to choose “his” captain, because he was too weak to take the responsibility, that’s when he lost their respect as a man, I think he had already lost their respect as a coach!
Based on both your arguements, it wouldn’t be unrealistic to suggest we bring Wenger back!
I’ve no doubt he would have gotten us over the line, like so many times before in those final few games.
I have grave doubts over Arteta, but bar a few loan signings NONE of this squad are his players!! So given that this arguement was used continually to defend Emery (despite 8 signings at start of his first season) then I feel it’s only fair that Arteta be afforded the same defence!
We are in a bad place at the minute, in every area of the club and at 56 I doubt I will see another title win in my lifetime, unless we are taken over by a rich and thrifty owner.

Sid, before I respond to some of your points, let me say that your point that I highlighted was the core point of what I was saying

I said in my post that I dont feel that emery was king, and I knew all along that he wasnt going to be the long term answer, but for me he was the right man at the right time for what we wanted - we wanted someone to come in and clear out all the shite that the french cock accumulated in latter years. If you remember back long before emery was appointed, I continually said that I didnt need the next manager to be THE manager, and if they gave him all of this season to remove a few more duds before sacking him, then that would have met 90% of my requirements for wenger's successor.
There is no hiding the fact that our run in at the end of last season was unacceptable, and his team selection for the palace game at the grove was a disgrace, and it was that game that cost us top 4 imo. I already pointed out my anger at his tactics in scouseland, so I know that he had several weaknesses that he needed to sort out. My points re emery werent so much lauding him as much as pointing out that replacing him with arteta was a shocking decision. You point out that emery made 8 signings, but most of those signings are now the core part of the team and that tells me that his recruitments were putting the club in the right direction.
Re my point about rioch, I know what rioch was signing to wrighty and I agree that it was both laughable and disgraceful - my point was that back then the board was always gonna side with players who were producing for the club against a manager who had done nothing for the club. Last season emery had got the club to a european final and within a whisker of top 4, and was entitled to more backing that c.unts like ozil and xhaka who have been dogshit for us for years, and yet so many fans backed the players, and that disgusted me.

[Jock Gooner]

Normal service has been resumed