Europa League Thursday:

Been saying since the start of the knockout stages that Frankfurt are the dark horses for the tournament. Chelsea won't get an easy game against them, particularly in Germany.

I thought Arsenal looked quite good defensively last night. o_O Sokratis improves their defence and I thought the young lad Maitland-Niles had a good game.
 
Some weird Arsenal stats that given the narrative that are a bit surprising.

Arsenal now have 6 clean sheets from 7 games in all competitions.

Napoli have lost only 2 games at home all season, vs Juventus & Arsenal.

Since the start of 2019, Arsenal have conceded fewer goals in the league than Liverpool (which is also when Koscielny came back to fitness).
 
Sebo23 said:
Some weird Arsenal stats that given the narrative that are a bit surprising.

Arsenal now have 6 clean sheets from 7 games in all competitions.

Napoli have lost only 2 games at home all season, vs Juventus & Arsenal.

Since the start of 2019, Arsenal have conceded fewer goals in the league than Liverpool (which is also when Koscielny came back to fitness).
Click to expand...
Also coincides with when Gomez got injured.
 
Sebo23 said:
Some weird Arsenal stats that given the narrative that are a bit surprising.

Arsenal now have 6 clean sheets from 7 games in all competitions.

Napoli have lost only 2 games at home all season, vs Juventus & Arsenal.

Since the start of 2019, Arsenal have conceded fewer goals in the league than Liverpool (which is also when Koscielny came back to fitness).
Click to expand...

I gave Emery some stick around the turn of the year but I think you can start to see what he's trying to do now.

Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal and Kolasinac is a reasonably solid back 5 - and it is a 5 for me not a 3.

With Xhaka (who's been better this season imo) and Torreira sitting infront of it, it's actually a fairly solid set up which then allows whatever 3 he picks from Ramsay, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang to play with freedom.

I thought Leno looked like a bit of a diddy at the start of the season but he's started to come good and even Cech has looked better than he did previously when he's came in for the Europa League games, although his kicking is still poor.

It's so classically Arsenal though that they spent all season trying to get the right shape/personnel and the guy who's right at the heart of it; Ramsay, is leaving for hee haw in a few weeks and might never kick another ball for them after last night.
 
Superrangers said:
Also coincides with when Gomez got injured.
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True. Wasn't a dig at Liverpool by the way, more how Arsenal's defence has improved. I think they've only managed to play their first choice back 3 of Sokratis - Koscielny - Monreal in 7 or 8 games this season.
 
Amato Turn said:
I gave Emery some stick around the turn of the year but I think you can start to see what he's trying to do now.

Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal and Kolasinac is a reasonably solid back 5 - and it is a 5 for me not a 3.

With Xhaka (who's been better this season imo) and Torreira sitting infront of it, it's actually a fairly solid set up which then allows whatever 3 he picks from Ramsay, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang to play with freedom.

I thought Leno looked like a bit of a diddy at the start of the season but he's started to come good and even Cech has looked better than he did previously when he's came in for the Europa League games, although his kicking is still poor.

It's so classically Arsenal though that they spent all season trying to get the right shape/personnel and the guy who's right in the heart of it; Ramsay, is leaving for hee haw in a few weeks and might never kick another ball for them after last night.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as I mentioned in my reply to Superrangers there, when the first choice defence is in place they look at much improved outfit, and I think you've only seen it 7 or 8 times this season due to injuries. I don't like picking on anyone, but half the battle is just cutting out the mistakes that the like of Mustafi makes fairly often.

Leno has been a good buy, arguably Arsenal's best player the past few months. Hes not the best on crosses (reminded me a bit like De Gea when he first came) but he's improved with that & saved Arsenal lots of times this season.

Your right about Ramsey, they will miss him. It's even more galling when the likes of Mkhitaryan (& Ozil to a certain extent) are still there picking up top wages but can't be relied upon.

Will be an interesting summer. Arsenal recruited fairly well last summer for the budget they had, they might nerd a similar summer this time so the Emery transition can move on a stage further.
 
Amato Turn said:
I gave Emery some stick around the turn of the year but I think you can start to see what he's trying to do now.

Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal and Kolasinac is a reasonably solid back 5 - and it is a 5 for me not a 3.

With Xhaka (who's been better this season imo) and Torreira sitting infront of it, it's actually a fairly solid set up which then allows whatever 3 he picks from Ramsay, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang to play with freedom.

I thought Leno looked like a bit of a diddy at the start of the season but he's started to come good and even Cech has looked better than he did previously when he's came in for the Europa League games, although his kicking is still poor.

It's so classically Arsenal though that they spent all season trying to get the right shape/personnel and the guy who's right at the heart of it; Ramsay, is leaving for hee haw in a few weeks and might never kick another ball for them after last night.
Click to expand...

Think Emery's done a really good job for them in the circumstances. He's already got more points than Wenger achieved in the whole of last season, took them to the semi finals of a competition he's won three times on the bounce and built the basis of a pretty good XI going forward. He seems to have gotten more out of Lacazette than Wenger managed as well.

The question is will the board back their man come the summer with the finances ? Or are they, as Marcotti hinted at a few months ago, hamstrung because of previous financial decisions on player contracts such as Ozil, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan ?
 
SDF said:
Think Emery's done a really good job for them in the circumstances. He's already got more points than Wenger achieved in the whole of last season, took them to the semi finals of a competition he's won three times on the bounce and built the basis of a pretty good XI going forward. He seems to have gotten more out of Lacazette than Wenger managed as well.

The question is will the board back their man come the summer with the finances ? Or are they, as Marcotti hinted at a few months ago, hamstrung because of previous financial decisions on player contracts such as Ozil, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan ?
Click to expand...

Theres little doubt they won't have the money the rest of the top 6 bar perhaps Spurs will have. I think getting to the Champions League next year is very important to Arsenal in terms of increasing their budget and allowing Emery a bit more cash to get more of the players in he wants.

A lot will depend on what players he can get out the door. If he can find buyers for the likes of Mustafi, Chambers & Elneny, that should increase his budget. I think he'd also like to get rid of Ozil & Mkhitaryan but that might be more difficult because of the wages they are on.

As I mentioned in my previous post, they bought clever last summer, & will need to do the same this. There's plenty good players to still be had in the £15M to £30M range, its just a matter of getting the right ones to suit what you are trying to do.

I see Arsenal as being where Liverpool where under Klopp a couple of years ago in terms of their development. They went out & bought the likes of Wijnaldum, Mane, Robertson, Salah in that sort of range to take them up a level. They aren't at stage in their where they can buy an Alisson or a Van Dijk yet I don't think.
 
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Sebo23 said:
Theres little doubt they won't have the money the rest of the top 6 bar perhaps Spurs will have. I think getting to the Champions League next year is very important to Arsenal in terms of increasing their budget and allowing Emery a bit more cash to get more of the players in he wants.

A lot will depend on what players he can get out the door. If he can find buyers for the likes of Mustafi, Chambers & Elneny, that should increase his budget. I think he'd also like to get rid of Ozil & Mkhitaryan but that might be more difficult because of the wages they are on.

As I mentioned in my previous post, they bought clever last summer, & will need to do the same this. There's plenty good players to still be had in the £15M to £30M range, its just a matter of getting the right ones to suit what you are trying to do.

I see Arsenal as being where Liverpool where under Klopp a couple of years ago in terms of their development. They went out & bought the likes of Wijnaldum, Mane, Robertson, Salah in that sort of range to take them up a level. They aren't at stage in their where they can buy an Alisson or a Van Dijk yet I don't think.
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Here's the Marcotti piece I was referring to. Three huge decisions in January 2018

Almost £9m a year on wages for Mkhitaryan at 29 years of age
£15m a year on wages for a 30 year old Ozil
£9.8m on wages for Aubameyang at 29 years of age (on top of the £52.6m transfer fee)

That was going to hit any incoming manager hard.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/club/ars...-players-and-the-reason-why-should-worry-fans
 
Emery has done a great job so far. Replacing Wenger and seeing the benefits of change was never going to be an overnight process.

Considering he's had a very small budget compared to other premier league clubs (Everton even outspent them), a whole load of players which aren't his he's done remarkable.

I think if you give this guy another 2 seasons whilst backing him in each Transfer Window Arsenal will be right up there again. I'm sure I read Arsenal have over £250mil in cash reserves so I don't know why funds haven't been released so far. You'd think if they make Champions league next season, Sell the likes of Ozil / Mustafi / Ramsey they will free up a lot of wages and money for bringing in new players.
 
SDF said:
Here's the Marcotti piece I was referring to. Three huge decisions in January 2018

Almost £9m a year on wages for Mkhitaryan at 29 years of age
£15m a year on wages for a 30 year old Ozil
£9.8m on wages for Aubameyang at 29 years of age (on top of the £52.6m transfer fee)

That was going to hit any incoming manager hard.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/club/ars...-players-and-the-reason-why-should-worry-fans
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's no doubt that the decisions the management made (not just Wenger but the out going Gazidas as well) over the last couple of years or Wenger reign were a bit ridiculous.

Ozil & Sanchez should never been allowed to get down to 1 year left on their contract, but as soon as they were, they should have been sold that summer. Man City bid over £60M for Sanchez, Ozil could have perhaps fetched £30M and they could have invested from their. It struck me as Arsenal management trying to save face, almost like a vanity project of trying to prove Arsenal are able to compete with the big boys, but just failing miserabley.

Instead, they swapped Sanchez for a player who flopped at Utd, & gave a player who often flattered to deceive at times in Ozil a massive new long term deal. Aubameyang deal I don't mind as that was almost offset by the sales of Giroud & Walcott the same window.

The club are under a new regime in terms of the football structure, with Gazidas & Wenger gone. Let's see if they can countinue to clear up the imbalance within the squad that they inherited.
 
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