Thursday, March 28, 2024

Arsenal acknowledge poor results, but insist Unai Emery is the right man

Arsenal have today acknowledged that results and performances have been below par, but continue to insist that Unai Emery has their full backing.

The under-fire head coach has presided over a run of form which has seen the Gunners take just two points from the last twelve, and also win just two of their last ten Premier League outings.

Defeat to Leicester on Saturday did little to calm the situation, nor did the inadvisable briefing to David Ornstein which only exacerbated fan frustration [read about that on Arseblog here].

However, after a pre-planned staff get together today, at which communications chief Mark Gonella spoke, along with Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham, the club issued a statement which recognised the poor form, but made it clear that they believe Emery is the right man to achieve this season’s stated goal of a top four finish.

The statement says:

“We are as disappointed as everyone else with both our results and performances at this stage of the season. We share the frustration with our fans, Unai, players and all our staff as they are not at the level we want or expect.

“Things need to improve to meet our objectives for the season, and we firmly believe Unai is the right man for the job, together with the backroom team we have in place. We are all working intensively behind the scenes to turn things around and are confident we will.

“We never take our fantastic support for granted. We hope we can all stick together and get behind the team in this challenging period, as together we are stronger.”

Quite why they think Emery can turn things around is anybody’s guess at this point, but publicly and behind the scenes the club are insistent that they are not planning on replacing him.

It means we’ll have to endure more poor performances and probably more dropped points, and with an eight point gap to the top four already, and a negative goal difference, making the Champions League next season looks more and more remote.

The fact that the club have responded to the ‘noise’ is something, but their actions now speak far louder than any words, and it seems they’re content with the mediocrity being delivered.

Or, perhaps, this is the dreaded vote of confidence that precedes most sackings. Let’s see.

For discussion on Emery, Raul, Edu, the board and lots more, check out the new Arsecast Extra

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This Arsecast Extra was recorded with ipDTL

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BigArse

Madness, just madness. They are throwing our season (any quite possibly many future ones) away.

Gana

We will lose prime Auba & Laca.
Pepe won’t be able to develop into a world class talent – that’s 72 million wasted.
Torreira will leave.
Ozil will be wasted, along with his 350K/week wages.
Loss of sponsors, likely.

Descending into mediocrity, one bad ebening at a time.

Theoptimist

You know all this?

Michael Bolton Wanderers

I think he fears all this

Cultured determination

Bellerin and leno will be scratching their heads too.

Dispossesed by Torreira

Let’s see how they feel with empty seats

Dave M

Apparently they don’t seem to mind, cause dang, there are already a lot of them!

Cyprus The Immortal Gooner

The one thing they mind is empty seats (with all the consequences). Even Wenger couldn’t escape the empty seats…

Dave M

I agree they should, but this inaction is speaking louder than their words. Technically these games are still “sell-outs” and the majority of money comes from television and investments (champs league would help, but we don’t even seem that bothered by champs league – because if we did we’d be making a move). More and more it seems Raul and Venkat might just be another round of yes men. I hope that isn’t the case. I mean every man and his blind dog can see this team is broken and going in the wrong direction under emery. Yet, here we… Read more »

Karmafrench

Things are going a little too far. I dislike emery and want him gone, but i think at the end of the season he will achieve the champions league qualification ( by top 4 or europa league ). Our team is just too good and with depth. He can t fail.

The real concern is the way we are playing and the lack of ambitions from Emery. That will never change.
I hope the board know that is not the right man for getting the club back at the top whatever happen.

Parlour's Paypacket

Bro, he’s already failed once and is failing again. You been watching, yeah?

Karmafrench

As i m french and i like psg, i watch emery since 3 years. I was among the few that were against the décision of making him our coach. I was one of his critics since day one, even during the unbeaten run, because at the time it was obvious that at some point we were going to collapse. I find it funny that the people who are dislike my comments are the same who were disliking the critical comments toward emery last season. I finf it even funnier that MAYBE ( i insist this is hypothetical ) in a… Read more »

Matt in California

So, you’re saying “I told you so” and preparing for the next.
Thanks for the contribution.

Karmafrench

Actually it was just a remark, I don t care if i m wrong or right. But do you see the irony in your comment ?

Twatsloch

I wish I shared your belief in Emery. It would be awesome if you’re right.

mrugunner

no worries wont happen

Neil

About the forgetting after a good run. You’re right. This is commercialized, mediatized mass entertainment and sadly that’s how it works. A 10-game win streak like we had last season even if it’s grinding out boring 1-0 victories will silence many fans.

What was your take on Emery at PSG?

Glory Hunter

You would think your fellow gunners would hope you’re right, but clearly not. I honestly don’t know why ppl want Champs lge anyway, all we got from CL was pain, heartache & thrashing’s. I’m happy with Europa coz unfortunately that’s our level, the sooner we realise it the better

Arthur mills

Champions league for the cash!!

Peter Story Teller

And the kudos! What worthy professional sportsman (or woman) would say I’d rather not enter that competition it’s a bit too hard so I’ll take the second rate one and I will look better???

SB Still

By all accounts, the team is getting worse. I dread to think, where we would finish in the league if Emery continues. EL, we found (with all due respect) Victoria hard, what happens when we get to the knockout stages and when the CL teams drop down! There is no blinking way we are getting top 4 with Emery, irrespective of what we do in the transfer windows. Only Emery can literally have a squad of Auba, Lacazette, Ozil, Pepe and produce 1 shot on target in a whole match! I know you want to believe, my advice hedge your… Read more »

Karmafrench

I dont believe and i don t care anymore. I just wait till emery go back to spain.
I just say what i think will happened because of the quality of our squad.

HelderHughes

I think you make some good points actually man. And I would also like to take this opportunity to thank your country for Wenger, Pires, Henry and Viera. I’m more than prepared to listen to the French guy here as a result.

Tapps

and Michael Silvestre and Sebatian Squillacci!

Jack Action

Lots of very strong, very talented teams have found themselves underperforming dramatically in the past. Not sure why you believe we have enough talent to win in spite of poor management. By my estimates we need to win 15-16 of our final 26 games to close the gap in the table, and hope that Chelsea or Leicester stumble. Not going to happen on current form. Let’s be honest – we’re stuck with Emery until we either crash out or win the Europa League. Even if we win the Europa League I think they’ll do what United did to van Gaal… Read more »

Karmafrench

Yeah achieving champions league qualification by top 4 seems impossible. But not by europa league.
And despite the fact i hate emery i have this weird feeling of him doing it. I was rewatching the highlights of the leicester game and there s à blinch of hope. The 1st period was “fine” with some good things.
For me it s the conservative approach by fear and lack of confidence who are killing us. Yes this is on emery but with a run of win i think the players will be more “free”.

Zosokk

Is that you Raul?

IanH159

Looking at the ratings it seems most readers dislike the idea of us finishing in the top 4 🙂

Martinellis belly

If Leicester and Chelsea wern’t absolutely flying then you might have a point but even getting top 6 is a big ask with Emery’s football.
The Europa is a huge gamble plus we could get to the final and just bottle it against United.

Greg in Seattle

To use a workplace cliche, fail fast, fail forward. They took a chance on Emery, and rather than cutting their losses and learning, and moving to a (presumably) better option, they are doubling down in the face of objective evidence that this is a disaster. When you have fans and sponsorships and competition for top players at stake, you don’t have the luxury. Being a top six club is not a birthright. I have to give some credit to Chelsea here. Much more proactive in recognizing a bad fit and moving on, knowing the stakes are too high to fart… Read more »

Hlebs dancing feet

By ‘they’ I take it you mean the group of guys that invested heavily into the squad? I get all the frustration cause I feel it too but all this gripes aren’t solving anything. These guys are not going to come out and say they are sacking thier head coach because things aren’t done like that. I will say this though, I know Unai isn’t coaching us after this season and that’s a sure bet.
The football is really bad though, like having scrotum skin surgically grafted on your wife’s lips and you still having to kiss her.

ScotchEggsRule

Who’s scrotum skin?

Futsboller

I was going to write long, painful account of how absurd this has become under Emery (and might as well start adding Edu and Raul), but it’s just that: absurd. How can upper management ask us to support something that has absolutely no substance — the stats, the breakdowns, the pundit analysis, the armchair managers, everyone sees that Emery does not fit with Arsenal FC. My entire family cannot comprehend what we are seeing on the pitch any longer, and one at a time, we’re all checking out. Blogs, please send up the flare when Emery’s been relieved, so we… Read more »

Jasonissimo

I don’t think sticking with Emery is the right move. However, the club has now told the fanbase who will be in charge of the home game vs. Southampton and then Frankfurt (most likely). I don’t have to Iike it or believe UE is the right coach to take Arsenal back to the top, but if I were in the stands I would be getting behind my team, the players, and coach. All else at this point is childish. Fans at the Grove getting on the backs of the team at the next sign of adversity would be as detrimental… Read more »

Futsboller

Well, that begs the question: how long do you cheer and clap and sing in the stands and how long do you live and breathe Arsenal (which we all do) everyday when the performances are this bad, consistently? It’s 24 points from our last 19 PL matches; that’s a half-season sampling, and includes some horror shows of football. I understand applauding your team’s effort even when they lose, but when they lose games they shouldn’t be because of poor coaching, when they draw games from a winning position because of poor coaching, consistently, repeatedly, over and over again, how long… Read more »

Jasonissimo

Then don’t go. Don’t show up and contribute to the negative atmosphere in a futile attempt to get management to fire Emery. If the team.continues to lose he will be gone. Don’t worry. It isn’t your job to make it happen on your preferred timeline. Also the club captain was jeered when the result on the day was still in the balance. You can’t pretend all reactions from the stands are in full hindsight of results. Xhaka also spoke to Swiss press about abuse _from crowd_ (not on line) before he was substituted which no one is talking about. Fanbase… Read more »

Futsboller

Sure, I think the response from many fans will begin to be not showing up to games or selling on their tickets. I see what you’re saying and I understand where you are coming from, but a crowd showing their displeasure is never futile – it’s a message that those in charge of the performance would do well to heed. A lot of fans could use behavioural therapy, especially the Arsenal’s, but a lot of fans just want their team to play well, and we’ve not been seeing that because of poor coaching. If performances suddenly get better, as AFC… Read more »

A P

You don’t seem to understand. If Arsenal had been getting results, the unpleasantness wouldn’t happen in the first place!

Which ones pink.

Well you ain’t in the stands and I’m lobbing up £1,400 a season so please excuse me and many others if we make our feelings known. We are being shafted and I’m giving up a lot of hard earned money to watch a complete clown ? manager my team and you think I’m gonna remain positive seeing the shit we are being served up and now a board who are complicit and treating us like idiots. You remain positive on your keypad my friend, I will become extremely positive again when we sack this fool.

jon

Demanding that Emery should be sacked rests on the presumption that the team will improve under a new manager. As statistics show, changing managers give teams a short term advantage, maybe for 8-12 games, before results return to their old level. But clubs that don’t change managers improve by the same rate:) Only 10% of managers take their club higher in the table than simply ranking the teams after their players’ salaries. We are very unlikely to find one of these rare managers mid season. On the other hand, there is a 90 per cent correlation between teams’ wages and… Read more »

nosferatu

While these overall statistics may be true, you can’t look at them as gospel. A lot of the teams that change manager are crap–they don’t have the talent in the squad to sustain a long-scale turnaround.

That’s not the case with this Arsenal squad. The talent is there, so with a new head coach to bring that out, there’s no reason why they would necessarily regress in the same way that, say, Norwich might if they were to sack Daniel Farke.

Atom

Only Liverpool, city & Man U have a higher wage bill than we do at this point. We have a squad who is massively underperforming both relative to talent & wages which suggest we should be top 4. A new manager could have a relatively large impact given how badly the squad has underperformed under Emery

jon

We are underperforming. But I seriously see improvements, and I think we will see some wins in the coming rounds.

Atom

The difficult part is the games we’ve struggled so badly in recently is the easy part of our schedule. The truly difficult period is coming up and given how badly we’ve failed against the teams we’re supposed to beat, we’re absolutely going to have to win games we’re likely to lose against city, Liverpool, Chelsea etc. there’s just too large of body of evidence imo that this is exactly who emery is and if we don’t change anything we shouldn’t really expect results to improve. He is a small club manager who is most comfortable setting up as if he’s… Read more »

Neil

Well Enrique already said he wanted to wait until summer to find a club……so I think we’re stuck with what we have.
What would it take for Emery to play his best players in their best positions?

Atom

I’m a little concerned in that we won’t be an attractive job come summer as Bayern, Madrid, Barcelona and possibly United are likely to be looking for new managers as well. We really need to find someone now

Mintoes

@atom 30% of that wage bill can be attributed to one individual who has under performed for 4 years straight…

A P

Exactly 38.2004% of statistics you read online are true.

Hakuna Matata

what if Liverpool would never have sacked Roy Hodgson, where would they be today?

Gana

Forget Champions League, or even Europa League.
We are in relegation fight till May.

NexPress

Hahaha christ. The hyperbole is real!

Gus Caesar

There’s no set of fans that like a good wallow as much as our’s!

Goonerink

we are 6 points off the last safe position in the league and have 2 more goals in our gd.

its not hyperbole if it has high potential to be true.

Scott P

9 points off Chelsea and Leicester in 2nd/3rd, also 9 points away from relegation. Definition of mid-table.

Tapps

Yep, mid-table. NOT relegation.

jon

In the previous five PL seasons the average number of points to come fourth in the league were 71,6 or 1,88 points per match.

Arsenal has harvested an average of 1,42 points in the first 12 matches. If this continues to the end of the season, the club will get 54 points. That would have given 7. to 9. place the previous five seasons. Eight is a good tip.

But I have faith. I think the average will increase for the rest of the season, albeit maybe not enough to get into the CL.

Mike OC

Disappointed on their stance but encouraged slightly by the fact they are aware of how the noise comment went down. A bit too little too late regardless of what they do now though

Ollie123

That’s the “vote of confidence”. Sacked by Xmas. Just a shame it’ll be 2 months too late…

kaius

Yeah “we are working intensely behind the scenes” sounds very ominous for Emery. Like they’re already contacting possible successors. Once that decision is made and they know someone can start mid-season or not, they’ll know whether we need to appoint a stop-gap.

Until then Emery will be “publicly supported”, that’s pretty much how these situations play out.

Okester

Thinks that’s wishful thinking and we’ve got him until the summer at least. I really hope I’m wrong, but feel if they were going to get rid of him it would have been after the Leicester game- one we all expected him to lose..

Scott P

I felt like that comment was meant as “the managers and players are working intensely to correct our current situation” rather than “the executives and board are working intensely to identify replacements for existing team members”.

I hope I’m wrong.

themadparson

It’ll be too late, period. Even if we replace him at Christmas, the gap between us, Leicester, and Chelsea will be too great. To depend on the faltering of one of the other two is just madness.

That, coupled with an inability to win EL, means we’re not in CL next year–losing Auba and Laca, and possibly Torreira, as well.

We may not be able to salvage the season if we sack Emery right now. But a sacking anytime from Christmas on guarantees we can’t.

kaius

Yes I think the board and pretty much every Gonner knows valuable time is wasting away, but everyone we should be looking at – Marco Rose, ten Hag, Nagelsmann – are all contracted to clubs and prying them away won’t be easy.

Slowly making the right choice is better than quickly making another bad one.

Anonymarse

Gonner seems an appropriate typo

Scott P

This is why some argue for a temporary, internal solution until we can get our long-term man in the summer. Take action while not limiting our choices down the line.

SB Still

If he is gone by Xmas, while it’s too late for this season, atleast it wouldn’t be for the following ones.

2 seasons of Emery nonsense, we would make many of our players like Pepe, Bellerin, Saka so bad that we’ll be crying out for Denilson and Bendtner.

Gus Caesar

Sad, probably stupid, pretty gutless? Yes to all of them.

However, as things aren’t going to change, let’s support the team 100% a week on Saturday. Come on you rip-roaring reds!

Nicolas Pepe

So let’s just support them even if we are 10th let’s just support them. Do you want to end up like Everton. How about let’s boycott the club.

Frank Bascombe

How you boycott the club when you don’t go over there in the first place?

Gus Caesar

I support my club through thick and thin. I’ve seen shit times with Neill, Howe, Graham’s end days. I’ve seen Boards that don’t give two shits about us fans. Those times are transitory, the real fans are permanent. You earn the right to celebrate the good times through being a fan during the good and bad. It doesn’t mean you’re happy, but ‘support’ does mean getting behind the team throughout the 90 minutes. There are too many fickle and spoilt fans nowadays who need to grow up. Too many that jumped on the bandwagon under Wenger and only expect great… Read more »

Begeegs

At least fan power is actually showing as being a tangible thing. I don’t remember it being acknowledged so quickly before.

Goonerink

you mean ”noise” right?

DatguyPepe

I wish they could come out and say what they’ve seen that warrants him the job. What is it they’re seeing that we fans can’t see?

Sola

The European league, like it or not Emery is the master of that competition, 3 wins and one final suggest he is good at it and so the board might just be hoping he wins it with us and get us back into the champions league

themadparson

He didn’t master it last year.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

Theoptimist

Yes! He did in fact fuck it up quite badly, along with the end of the prem season

DaDude

I must admit that I was impressed by all 4 games in the quarter and semi finals though. Good opponents were easily eliminated.

Anonymarse

It’s usually pretty obvious when a club has picked a good manager because they actually make the team better

eg Benitez at Newcastle, Rogers at Leicester, Bielsa at Leeds, Klopp, Guardiola etc

Rob

I wonder what the boards conclusion that Emery is the right man for the job is based on…. Because I’ve seen nothing. What a bad ebening this is.

412Gooner

All this is them realizing they fucked up with what they said regarding the “noise” around Emery and trying to fix it.

Win,lose or draw Emery remains the wrong choice

this is unbelievable…raul doesn’t have the guts to walk up to kroenke to ask for the permission to sack Emery after he persuaded the greedy kroenke to back up Emery this summer with huge funds.. How will Raul now go back to Kroenke to say Emery it’s not the right man?
This is going to be a frustrating season and we can’t get out of it without the fans being toxic from now on

Olivije Žirod

How exactly he persuaded him? If we look both purchases and sales we spent about 50 million.

Amusa

Hid behind Wenger for years now hiding behind Unai.
Fuck Stan he doesnt care why should the board?
Only way to get our club competitive again is to get Stan out.

This is what I said a few weeks ago: ‘They wont sack Emery till Top 4 is out of reach and then point towards his Europa League record as a justification to not fire him during the season.

The actual reason maybe that Kronke doesn’t want to take the financial hit to sack him midway.

Mintoes

True dat…all he wants is 4th place every year.

Sid

Okay so first of all the least we can do is hope that performances do improve and results too of course.
However The way I see the statement with the club coming out to back Unai saying he’s the man, they’ve put the ball firmly in his court which means that if things don’t improve he will be sacked. Over to you now Unai.

Mootilated

‘It means we’ll have to endure more poor performances and probably more dropped points, and with an eight point gap to the top four already, and a negative goal difference, making the Europa League next season looks more and more remote”

Fixed it for you.

Sola

To be honest they have concluded that we cant make top 4 and so are no longer looking at the premier league for that, our only hope is the European league, one which Emery has won 3 times and reached the final with us, they see him as the best coach for that competition and so willing to allow him to use that to make us reach the champions league, that for me is the only logical reasoning behind not sacking him yet and the reach they want to wait till the end of the season, I have lost hope… Read more »

AbsolutelyMarvellous

I read somewhere recently that we’ve taken 24 points in our last 19 games. That’s the equivalent of half a season. This isn’t a short run of poor form we’re having; it’s a clear depiction of the direction we’re heading in.

If the board do not believe such a prolonged run requires change on their end, they must be willing to accept responsibility when our season inevitably ends in failure. This is on them as much as it is on Emery now.

AbsolutelyMarvellous

Last 19 Premier League games*, that is.

Win,lose or draw Emery remains the wrong choice

The board called the deserved criticisms from the fans ‘NOISE’….. this shows you the disrespect we arsenal fans get from the board and i have always talked about this… Can liverpool, chelsea, man u, Barcelona,real madrid,juventus and Bayern Munich boards show this amount of disrespect to the fans
They call us NOISEMAKERS
TOTAL DISRESPECT!!

Twatsloch

I still hate your name.

Win,lose or draw Emery remains the wrong choice

You can actually fuck off to God knows where

Goodebemeyang

Can someone explain why this is being downvoted? Everyone was agitated by the word “noise” here.

Twatsloch

Because this guy is an eternal “manager out” guy. Doesn’t matter who we get. That’s why he sucks.

@win, lose draw…You’re a negative agitating cnt…why don’t you fuck off. You’re not a true fan of the team. If you were you wouldn’t be posting the same shit since last season. Seems to me you and “jai” are one and the same on here…plastic fans. Have you ever been to an Arsenal game or do you just “follow” via the web?

I wouldn’t necessarily include Bayern here, for evidence google “uli hoeness beschimpft fans bei JHV” and watch the videos. Even if you don’t speak german, but the tonality should tell you everything you need to know. Basically their president freaked out and shouted at fans during their annual general meeting for club members after they complained that the club is only a vehicle for vips and not the “real fans”, atmosphere is worse and worse, etc. Basically he told them that they are responsible for the atmosphere themselves and if the fan thinks that the 7 euro ticket of him… Read more »

Oregoon

Good to hear that Hoeness doesn’t have the Bayern platform to go off on his tirades. Maybe now his vileness will not be in the spotlight as much.

lol the irony of a fan screaming in all caps and double exclamation points complaining about being called a noise maker.

too rich

Twatsloch

We have the player material to see us back in the CL next season. What we don’t have is the manager material. Like someone said further up, money spent on Pepe, our strikers potentially leaving and so forth. Massive waste of money!

Give Emery his marching orders now before it’s too late. What are they waiting for?

Win,lose or draw Emery remains the wrong choice

You suck… Now you want his matching orders after you showed him support earlier…fans like you are the reason why this club is stucked

Win,lose or draw Emery remains the wrong choice

*Marching

Twatsloch

Unlike you I waited for confirmation that Emery isn’t the man to achieve with this team what can be achieved. I gave him the time, space and benefit of doubt until it was proven that he can’t. That’s what most fans do. You went all guns blazing from day one and for the moment you’re right but only in the way a broken clock is right twice a day.

I fully expect you to alter your low IQ name to the new manager when he arrives. You’re that kind of “manager out” guy.

Chilli

Your right. I gotta say that your name is even worse though…

Glocken

In other words, we are too tight to pay off Emery & his staff off & have no idea who could replace him.

What an absolute shambles.

Dan

With that said there is nothing more from my point of view do to fix the situation. We can protest and boo the team but that will just damage morale in the team that’s already down and as we have seen the board can just use that as a stick to beat us with. The optimist in me hopes Don Raul and Edu have seen something behind the scenes that we as fans have not I mean at the back of the summer we had i think they are sensible enough not to ruin all the Goodwill they have built… Read more »

MeSoHornsey

Well at least they acknowledged us I suppose that’s something.

I was just thinking; Leicester sacked Ranieri 6 months after winning the title. We sack a manager 6 months after a disastrous end of season run in.

It’s so fun important to have decisive leadership. We don’t appear to have any from top to bottom.

MeSoHornsey

*Can’t sack

Sagebrush Farm

If they stick to what they say then our worry should not be about top 4 finish any more but relegation. It’s only 12 games in and the top is 2x our points tally

Oregoon

Okay we get the work in progress thing, but isn’t there any clarity provided by the last six month’s results that Emery may not be the manager you, the board, thought he was 18 months ago? Is there really a long term plan in place here, or are we going to mirror Manu over the last 4 years and just keep throwing money at the problem? More information is needed, because new summer signings or not, you are failing to provide an on field product that anyone can really support.

Modha

Well maybe we wont even get into the EL and then next year we can start again without a european distraction and a new manager. Shame we will lose our truly world class talent like Auba and Laca but apparently they have faith in Emery

OnlyBeingHonest

Complete and Utter bollocks

BidOnLard

Fuck this, I’m out for this season.

Nicolas Pepe

I don’t think the management care about Arsenal like us. Imagine Emery managed Real Madrid or Barcelona I reckon they would sack him in less then 6 Months. Top clubs don’t have patience to give time they want results right now in the present. Arsenal is a big club and I want results right now in the present.

nosferatu

Even if this is just a business thing (basically being cheap, not wanting to pay off his contract), it seems to me like bad business–the kind of short-sightedness that emanates from a place of arrogance, this thinking that people will always support us, buy tickets and merchandise. But every day that Emery continues in this job will mean fewer young fans investing in the club, fewer adult fans caring about the club with the passion they have in the past, and that’s a recipe for the slow-but-sure rot of any club or business.

Comedian

Empty the stadium, walk out after kick – off. Let them hear “No Noise”.
For a club who treat their fans as just noise, lets show the world how much of silent empty stadium will hold good for them.

Goonergeoffers

Spot on

The Spoon

Like the idea of leaving after kick off, probably not practical though, tickets and transport costs wasted. A mass exodus would be more humiliating than an empty stadium. No buying of concessions.

We won’t win the Europa, last 2 games against a weak Portuguese side show that. And top 4 is out of the question. International break was perfect time to change management, guess he’s here until the summer.

Vince

Any of you who expected Raul and Co. to come out and say they have zero trust in Emery don’t know how institutions operate. They have to say the right words and sound as positive as they can publicly. Pretty sure they’re ringing agents behind the scenes about availability of their clients (the likes of Luis Enrique, etc)

Emmanuel

I don’t like football anymore. Just watching Unai’s Arsenal play from the back pounds my heart doubly!!

Andy

I think there is some unnecessary panic going on here. He is done. We all know it. He will be sacked before Christmas. The Board and Kroenke are not total fools and can see the long term damage from continued absence from CL. Personally I thought it would be today, but the collapse has been so profound that there is no succession plan in place. I think the interlull will be used to line up the replacement and Unai will get the call following the next installment of Emeryball.

Onenil

You may be right, but a delay will guarantee that we cannot make top 4.

Tasmanian Jesus

I just hope they realize the same as us very soon…and I hope even more that they NEVER hire Mourinho.

#allegriin

db10s

Challenging period is since March this year. How long more guys.

A Different George

I thought we were much better, more cohesive and playing as a unit, for much of the game against Leicester than we have recently. But that actually should cut against Emery, not in his favour. Why? Because it was an indication of what he has done wrong up to now, is still only a little better, and is unlikely to change much more. Play Ozil in the middle of the pitch (that was the big improvement). Play four at the back, not three, with Bellerin and Tierney starting. Play three attackers, preferably Lacazette, Aubameyang, and Pepe. Let Pepe and Bellerin… Read more »

George

From one George to another – I agree! How the frack have we not settled on a line-up or system in this time? Granted, all the pieces might not yet be in place, but we should be building towards something and not throwing shite against the wall and seeing what sticks. It feels like Emery has just started.

Rich

You always back your staff, right up until the point you sack them…. I’m not surprised we want some stability, as we’ve had such a high turnover of staff over the past 2 years, and there aren’t any real standout available candidates to take over. I’ve always wanted us to back Emery, provided he retained the support of the dressing room. You never know what to believe in the media, but if he’s lost the dressing room? Then I don’t know a manager who’s come back from that, and the writings on the wall. The next appointment can’t be another… Read more »

themadparson

Those familiar with British employment law, help me out here: If we don’t want to sack Emery because we would have to pay out his contract, can’t we put him on gardening leave and let Freddie be the caretaker until the end of the season? Isn’t gardening leave where an employee is still in their position with their wages, but relieved of their responsibilities?

I’m American, so I might have that wrong.

Oregoon

I don’t know the answer to your question, but one way or another the guy is going to get paid. The club must realize that sacking him before the end of his contract is a possibility and his total payout is already budgeted. If there isn’t some accounting entry/ reserve amount for a possible sacking, it would be very surprising. (Maybe that is why we should still hold out hope that he will be gone quicker than we think.)

DaDude

If they are talking about “sacking the manager”, it is at first always just him being relieved of his responsibilities, but still being employed by the club and receiving his contractual pay. However, as long as he is in that status, he can obviously not take on any other jobs, so as soon as he has an interesting offer, he would have to ask Arsenal to release him first so he can start at another club. Obviously Arsenal would do that to get him off the payroll. In some cases there is an immediate agreement between the club and the… Read more »

Oregoon

What are we paying numb nuts Emery anyway? Now it is a three year contract instead of two with an option?

db10s

My biggest issue is the cycle of negative results and our confidence. It’s spiraling out of Unai’s control. Even though he wakes up tomorrow with Klop/Pep’s brains, I think his words are now lost on the players. I’d imagine it being like working at a company who’s not hitting their quota. After your boss tells you his 42nd bright idea to make things better in a span of 6 months. You won’t have the same motivation/confidence to give it your all especially when the last 41 ideas didn’t work and made things worse overall. We need to hit a hard… Read more »

Goonsquad

The right man based on what criteria? I haven’t seen any significant improvement in any problem areas. If anything we’re worse now.

Hantal

Sounds like they read this mornings blog

Drogheda Gunner

I hate this, I can’t even watch this shit anymore. I hate the way he has this attitude is if he is untouchable and now the board are giving him there vote of confidence. mate your managing arsenal not fucking Watford. I think his job is untenable at this stage.

This is obviously the dreaded “vote of confidence” that precedes the sack. Has to be. The boarded just can’t be this clueless.

George

Hope it’s the dreaded vote, because there is nothing in Unai’s past to suggest he can fix a leaky defence and seeing as he’s already destroyed our ability to score I’m not sure what that leaves.

Herman

One would still hope that the fans get behind the team in matches and don’t create this toxic atmosphere, Emery has done some bad decisions but with an inconsistent recruitment policy and an unbalanced squad that lacks depth in key areas, I think the fans and arseblog are expecting too much, this soon after Wenger. Emery hasn’t impressed but I don’t think we will solve anything in the long run by changing managers right now. Tony Adams addresses this issue well on Sunday after the match, see his comments.

Paul Roberts

“and we firmly believe Unai is the right man for the job, together with the backroom team we have in place” what they didn’t follow that with was “and do you know how expensive it would be to pay them all off”

Tbbro

They are probably looking at our next 4 fixtures in the league and thinking that we can win them, and hoping that it will keep the fans quiet, because they do not have the balls to sack emery. But when we struggle against Southampton and Norwich turns us over at Carrow Road maybe they will wake up and think shit, that guy really does not know what the Fuck he is doing.

PGunner

Well there’s the statement that Blogs asked for on today’s podcast. Yet, I still feel very frustrated at our seeming contendedness at board level with our head coach. Sort it the fuck out Arsenal, you look like and are talking like absolute cunts!

Skip To My Lou

This won’t end well

Herman

I think Emery has handled the situation with the captains badly but apart from that he is doing his best with a squad that has changed a lot during the last years. The recruitment policy has been bad for many years now and we didn’t really fill the gaps this summer either. We don’t really have a good center back, Sokratis is the only decent option in a back 4. Holding and Chambers aren’t top 4 quality. We lack a good CM, and have done that since Ramsey left. Our drop in form came after his injury last season as… Read more »

Drogheda Gunner

They backed him in the summer, he was the one who chose not to renew Ramsey contract. He has had plenty of time, the defence and attack has got worse. I can’t even watch the games anymore we’re that dull to watch.

Herman

Have to disagree. I don’t think he was properly backed as I think he would have liked to keep Iwobi and Mkhitaryan as they were his most trusted players last season, but they were sold/loaned out to get Luiz at the last minute. Luiz seems like a backup to other alternatives that Raul could fix at the last minute. There are strong reports that Pepe was not an Emery choice. Ceballos was a weird one and he looks out of depth in the PL. The Ramsey situation also seems to have depended on the board and his agent. My pint… Read more »

Dennisthamence

Seriously who do we all think we are? we have been battling for 4/5 for the last few season. Yeah we are having a ruff patch and I’m not a emery fan but everyone seems to have this expectancy we should be higher and challenging. We just aren’t that good. Worse fans in the league! never happy and always moaning what happened to support!

Herman

Agree the expectations are way too high. We are in a similar situation as United.

Kanu Believe It

I’m choosing to view this as a vote of confidence, the sort where the manager is out on his arse within a week.

baluku

I guess a boycott of the matches is the way to go

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