03/02/19 | Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal | Premier League

[dc16]

Was certainly too late with the subs.

Ozil would have at least given City something to think about, hold the ball up and link with Auba and Laca. There was a glimmer of hope towards the end of the first half when were were actually on top for 5-10 mins but those defensive f-ups to haunt us.

[Ach]

If we were going to lose, glad we lost to a Aguero hat trick

[jayramfootball]

this may be too big a thing for Eemery to pull off... we'll see... so far, meh....

It's too big a job for any manager to rescue the club from the coming decline.

We were so utterly decimated by Wenger, we're going to have to accept a more radical overhaul and a few years of floating around from 6th to 12th. We have so many bad players that a couple out and a couple in is not going to be good enough.

I actually like Torriera and Guenduzi, for example, but they are just going to fade into the background having to play with such utter dross around them. Same with any decent player who comes in.

I have not changed my mind about these players at all - we only have 4, maybe 5 players in the squad who are at the level we need and maybe only 1 at the level of a top 4 starting 11.

in the last 3 yrs i was defo in the camp that called for a change... and yet, i knew it werent gon be easy... as you said..we dont have the players...

If you take Ozil out of the equation (his heart has not been with the club for some time and I don't blame him for that. He was targeted by Wenger fans as a scapegoat and cover for the awful management of the club), I'd say we have 4 players we should keep and we have the makings of a strong central midfield to build around.

But it's looking pretty bleak everywhere else across the pitch.

I think we might be at the point where we need to bring in a #9 who we can lump the ball up to.... someone like Andy Carroll. Play off that and spend the next few years trying to build a team. We simply don't have the players to pass the ball around and play quality football.

it's a tough one - I just don't see how we can make a step forward by tweaking here and there and trying to compete with top teams. We're certainly never getting CL football with these players.

[jayramfootball]

Was certainly too late with the subs.

Ozil would have at least given City something to think about

No, he wouldn't. I like Ozil. I am a fan, but he is simply not the kind of player who is going to turn a game. For him to make an impact we have to have control of a game already. He can unlock defences, he can't change a game. He never could - he's not that type of player.

[Arsenal Tone]

Put bellerin and sokratis (or holding) in the starting xi and that'd have been a different game imo.

[jayramfootball]

Harsh for people to criticise Suarez under these circumstances for a Premier League debut

Amazing isn't it. He gets a few minutes against City away when we're being totally outlassed and he gets stick.
Auba stinks up the pitch for the umpteenth time this season and he gets a free pass.

[Sims]

Put bellerin and sokratis (or holding) in the starting xi and that'd have been a different game imo.

in what way?

we still would've looked clueless. there were no attacking ideas going forward other than booting it to the strikers and making kolasinac and iwobi bomb up field

[Power n Glory]

Never seen a team look more shagged for a whole half

This is why I'm worried. Call me negative, but we look like a mid-table club these days.

There's no vision. Emery acts like a poor man's Jose. And, he doesn't have half the charisma.

We are a mid table team, we're certainly not top 4 that's for sure.

£0 transfer money is actually more like Hull.

We are what are owner is allowing us to be.

We can ring as many changes as you want in summer, fire Emery, we could get Pep in if you like, but I'd love to see what Pep can do on a loan budget only?

We finished 6th last season, has anything happened, any major buys etc to make you think we were going to be better?

We can't even keep our Head of recruitment, Gazidis is gone and left Raul in charge, the rats have jumped off the boat.

I'm actually getting sick of people expecting more, out spent, out managed, out funded, you name it............. what have we done to expect top 4 exactly?

When you have a manager that decides to play a narrow 4-4-2, start Lich against Sterling, play Kola as our left winger and Iwobi right wing, breaking up their partnership, whilst benching Ramsey, Ozil and Saurez...this isn't the time to talk about transfers. There is something fundamentally wrong with Unai's management style. He fails to pick the right formation, players and tactics with what he's given and I think even if he had Qatar billionaire money, he'd fail to win the Premier League. Too much tinkering and I'm uncomfortable at the idea of giving him a huge budget to spend.

[HalHartley]

Wanted subs at half time, way too late

[Zedie]

Put bellerin and sokratis (or holding) in the starting xi and that'd have been a different game imo.

in what way?

we still would've looked clueless. there were no attacking ideas going forward other than booting it to the strikers and making kolasinac and iwobi bomb up field

We would have been less exposed, more solid and more dangerous on the break.

We wouldn't have had a massive target painted on our right side to exploit.

We may not have conceded 3 goals all from the right side.

Our uncertainty at the back forced us to clear and win the ball out of panic or under pressure instead of by design.

Our midfield then gets the ball under pressure and make mistakes passing if the defence hasn't already.

That was the whole pattern of the game apart from that spell at 1-1.

If you're going to sit back, the defence/unit needs to be in control and we had none of that.

We need better in defence because it's the basis that you get success from.

Just look at every other team.

[gooney]

Never seen a team look more shagged for a whole half

This is why I'm worried. Call me negative, but we look like a mid-table club these days.

There's no vision. Emery acts like a poor man's Jose. And, he doesn't have half the charisma.

Emery is small team manager. Today it was a match between small team vs big team. smaller team fought wth everything they had to keep up, but ran out of steam and it became easier and easier as time went on. This is standard match between big team vs small team. . Emery outside psg has always managed small teams built to frustrate and outwork bigger teams. So you cant blame him having small mentality, he tried that at psg and the players went to the board and he was told to knock it off. You constantly hear psg wasnt built to how he wanted and for their own sake thank god. If people think arsenal will compete with big teams under him and this board, they live in fantasy world

[Rockape]

Put bellerin and sokratis (or holding) in the starting xi and that'd have been a different game imo.

in what way?

we still would've looked clueless. there were no attacking ideas going forward other than booting it to the strikers and making kolasinac and iwobi bomb up field

We would have been less exposed, more solid and more dangerous on the break.

We wouldn't have had a massive target painted on our right side to exploit.

We may not have conceded 3 goals all from the right side.

Our uncertainty at the back forced us to clear and win the ball out of panic or under pressure instead of by design.

Our midfield then gets the ball under pressure and make mistakes passing if the defence hasn't already.

That was the whole pattern of the game apart from that spell at 1-1.

If you're going to sit back, the defence/unit needs to be in control and we had none of that.

We need better in defence because it's the basis that you get success from.

Just look at every other team.

I was about to say that we finally saw a defensive performance when Kos was back with some game time, Sokratis, Bellerin and Monreal.....but those injuries keep killing us.

[Santi]

Had enough time to loan/buy a decent rb after Chelsea, our own fault.

[BouncySean]

Why should Suarez escape criticism. He came on got out muscled by players like Aguero and constantly gave the ball away.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for giving him time but his worth ethic when he came on was very poor.

[billie86]

Never seen a team look more shagged for a whole half

This is why I'm worried. Call me negative, but we look like a mid-table club these days.

There's no vision. Emery acts like a poor man's Jose. And, he doesn't have half the charisma.

Emery is small team manager. Today it was a match between small team vs big team. smaller team fought wth everything they had to keep up, but ran out of steam and it became easier and easier as time went on. This is standard match between big team vs small team. . Emery outside psg has always managed small teams built to frustrate and outwork bigger teams. So you cant blame him having small mentality, he tried that at psg and the players went to the board and he was told to knock it off. You constantly hear psg wasnt built to how he wanted and for their own sake thank god. If people think arsenal will compete with big teams under him and this board, they live in fantasy world

We are a small team compared to City, look at the money they have spent and the resources they have compared to us, add to that our 3 best performing defenders this season out injured and what do people expect? Even with everyone fit we would struggle and in fairness we were in the game coming up to half time only to be undone by a brilliant goal.
People are criticising lichsteiner as well, he hasn't been great but he didn't get embarrassed any more than bellerin or Montreal have by sterling in the past.
Fact is we need an overhaul, we need to wait till the summer to see it, we have ozil on the bench earning 350k a week, he will be gone in the summer, so will more of the deadwood, there is no way anyone can really judge Emery as he has had no time and no money given to him.
Even with all that in mind we will still struggle because we don't have the resources to compete with, Man city, man utd, Chelsea and the fact we are up there with Chelsea and man utd is a massive over achievement when you look at expenditure.
Hopefully in the summer if we get the £70 million that's being reported and sell ozil and a few others we can have over £100 million to reinforce the squad, we have some decent strikers, if we can get a world class winger and world class defender alongside what we have now and we are a different team, entirely achievable with that kind of budget but we will see what happens.