Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 163

Rojo should be off. Idiot of a footballer.

 

I’m convinced we could lose out and still finish 3rd

 

Terrible match.

 

The Bundesliga is similar in that regard. Ignoring Bayerns dominance there are always different teams competing for the CL and EL spots every year. You usually find one or two teams that nobody expected to be there (Frankfurt and Bremen this year). Then you have former CL teams that struggle and fight against relegation (Schalke this year). The league as a whole is just way more interesting and unpredictable than the PL where you always have the same 6 teams at the top every year with the occasional outlier.

 

The issue was that the Leeds winger slows right down as though he's about to put it out of play and once the Villa players stopped trying to challenge him, he plays the through ball to his forward. The reaction from the Villa players was massively over the top though.

 

Has El Ghazi's red card been overturned yet? That was disgraceful.

 

Obviously I'm biased but Emery seemed to have a good CV coming in and y'alls squad has quite a bit of dead weight. Think he's over achieved this season tbh

 

the narrative that he’s over achieved is something i strongly disagree with. His CV coming in is almost entirely built of Europa league success, a competition we don’t even want to be in. He failed to build Sevilla sides that could play attacking, fluid football which should be part of the philosophy at Arsenal, his Sevilla sides also didn’t finish particularly high in the table (i believe it was something like 5th, 5th, and 7th). 2 seasons at PSG, only won the league once, left having lost most of the dressing room and with about half the squad thinking he’s a joke. he’s shown nothing at Arsenal to suggest he can instill a philosophy of possession based football, our rare good performances this year have mostly come when we are set up to counter attack. Our defense has actually gotten worse, despite the additions of Leno/Sokratis/Torreria. Not to mention we have actually been quite lucky and a number of the wins we got early to middle of the season didn’t match the performance at all. His man management at Arsenal has also been shambolic (talking specifically about Ramsey and Özil). Also the fact that Spurs/Chelsea/United are nearly as shambolic as Arsenal shouldn’t make any difference

 

I definitely appreciate hearing the opinion since you support them. I am obviously biased and feel that Arsenal really are missing a midfield that can compete for top 4 and think Mustafi is a huge liability. I think Arsenal are in a position that they either have to spend big money on help or rely on patience and faith that Emery or another potential manager is going to keep them on track to compete for consistent top 4 at the end of a 2-3 season window.

Spurs got lucky through timing and patience with their purchases and manager to get where we are now. But with Poch it seemed like a matter of time before results and CL became routine because it was clear the manager had control of the squad (mainly promoting youth) and was developing players into the philosophy he had implemented (seems Emery hasn't done this at all).

I will say as frustrating and honestly comical as it has been watching United, Arse, Chelsea, and Spurs lose points at this stage of the season, the point totals are pretty close to what 3-6 had last year and y'all have more points than you did last year. I think losing someone with Wenger's influence is naturally going to lead to frustration and the possible need for a new type of footballing philosophy, especially with an attack of Auba and Laca but again when I look at the squad, I don't see a ton of depth or players that I think would start at many other top 4 clubs.

edit- and if you all get top 4 this year (hope not) then it has to be an overall success. Also with Chelsea looking to lose Hazard and United's summer looking to be crazy, next season could be a little better when looking to finish top 4

 

I know that no one is doing this, but I don’t think Spurs should face criticism for the poor finish in league play. Every team is faced with injuries but this year has been on another level for Spurs. Literally can’t catch a break. Combined with a lot of players going deep into the WC, Son leaving for the Asian games, zero incoming players, and the stadium debacle...it’s pretty close to a miracle we’re still in 3rd. I think if we would’ve brought in 2-3 transfers we could be higher in points (but still 3rd). Depth is a real issue and that’s on Levy/Poch.

 

Where I think our disagreement or rather different views on it comes from is performances versus results. Results wise Emery isn't far off what I expected or what I would be okay with. For me, I dont even really care whether we make top 4 this year, win a trophy, win Europa, etc. Would all those things be great? Yes. But whats more important to me is the instilling of a philosophy that is tangible to see on the pitch, to build something, regardless of whether it costs you results the first year. Klopp's first year at Liverpool is a good example of this, they didnt get the results but you could see what he was doing, you could see where he wanted to go, and you have to go through the growing pains to get there. I see nothing from Emery, or rather nothing that I want to see. Against Leicester, before the red card, they out passed us 57 to 234. He sent out a team to sit back and play on the counter like we're a mid to low table side trying to nick a result, and that isn't the first time this year. That kind of playing style will never be acceptable for me, even if it brings results. I dont want to win that way, it isn't enjoyable for me (I know others will disagree). Arsenal will really always be semi competing for the top 4, barring something ridiculous the cellar for Arsenal (and Chelsea/United/Liverpool/City/Spurs) is 6th.

 

The criticism Arsenal/United/Cheslea face I think is all relative to expectation, despite being on similar points totals and expectations are different, Spurs I think are overachieving relative to their expectations. I dont think they should be criticized either. Had Arsenal/United/Chelsea taken advantage of their slip up and it cost them top 4, then maybe cause that would be a very tough pill to swallow, but no danger of that now.

 

I'm seeing on Twitter that Rio Ferdinand has emerged as a candidate for United's Sporting Director...

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that isn't a very good idea.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's a hilarious idea.

 

What a lovely footballing team Ajax are. Hope they go all the way, what a story that would be. Absolutely dominating Spurs so far.

 

Wanyama is so bad. Get him away from this game.

 

Trippier has been awful as well

 

Spurs need to buy van de beek

 

Another disappointing day from Eriksen

 

Obviously not the ideal result but with Son back next week I think we can still advance. Gonna be tough though. Ajax is a damn good team.

 

Thought his distribution in the attacking third was pretty woeful

 

That’s what he’s been most of the season tbh

I don’t know what happened to him

 

not watched all his games but from what I have seen it does seem to be a regular occurrence. bit odd

tie is still very much on, if that second goal goes in then its an enormous task, especially given Ajax seem to always score at home. one goal still changes it all now though

 

Trippier is a pathetic excuse for a right back