GWT: PL Matchweek 15

bluesfan94

Registered User
Jan 7, 2008
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St. Louis
As bad as Emery was, it was never his team as a lot of those players are from the Wenger era.
Eh. He signed the CBs, the supposed to be starting DM (Torreira), the oft starting midfielder (Guendouzi), the goalie, the supposed to be starting LB (Tierney), the starting RW (Pepe), and promoted/started many youth players (Saka/Nelson/Willock). The only real Wenger starters are Xhaka (by Emery's choice), Bellerin, Laca, and Auba.
 
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Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
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It's not like having a good year at Leicester is guaranteed job security. Just ask Ranieri

Sure. But still less likely.

Not to mention he might actually win something with Leicester.

Anyway. Him signing an extension should leave him out of any Arsenal job for the summer at least.
 

bluesfan94

Registered User
Jan 7, 2008
30,715
8,079
St. Louis
Sure. But still less likely.

Not to mention he might actually win something with Leicester.

Anyway. Him signing an extension should leave him out of any Arsenal job for the summer at least.
Arsenal was in a final last year, but sure, they're not going to win anything.
 

Live in the Now

Registered User
Dec 17, 2005
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Leicester isn’t going to win anything but it doesn’t make sense to leave there for a team in perpetual crisis of late. Arsenal’s best hopes are to hire someone unemployed.
 

YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
Dec 29, 2010
34,543
2,560
No, it just means it's silly to say Arsenal isn't going to win things but Leicester will.
Leicester are playing and looking like a team that could win something. Arsenal haven't given that impression in a while. But some teams (look at Spurs for example) can be great for a while without every collecting silverware...right now the PL has some really historically strong teams so it'll take some great form/luck whatever you want to call it to get a trophy for any team at the top (which Arsenal isn't a part of currently). I can definitely see why they would infer that though comparing the two teams and what appears to be their trajectories and infrastructure.
 

Blender

Registered User
Dec 2, 2009
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Leicester isn't going to win anything, but finishing in a CL spot is massive for them. That they are looking like they will do it with a pretty young team is even better.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
30,706
16,238
Toruń, PL
Hum...what a weird spot Arsenal are in. I thought they’d be better this year but geez not just losing to Brighton at home but being absolutely outplayed is pretty damned bad.
What you're witnessing is a team which has no fighting spirit left, Arsenal easily have the talent to knock Chelsea out of top 4, but no way in hell we're going to do it with zero leaders'. I love Auba, but he should've never been made captain. Xhaka is a terrible captain too, but ripping it away from him pretty much made the entire team into a bunch of goths with no direction.
After results like these, why would Brendan Rodgers leave Leicester to go to a "big club" like Arsenal
Rodgers just signed a five year deal, he's not leaving for anyone barring Man City, Real Madrid, or Man United jobs. And honestly all those teams have the funds to get a better and more superior manager than Brendan.

all the Arsenal fans I know hate those guys. They say AFTV is for the fans of the other teams
AFTV is fans for other clubs because its entertaining as hell seeing Arsenal get curb-stomped and since we're Arsenal Club de Football, we tend to get curb-stomped by pretty much every other game and lose games we should win. For the record Liverpool and Man City have their own AFTV too, but don't get a ton of hype because they pretty much win every game.
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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AFTV is fans for other clubs because its entertaining as hell seeing Arsenal get curb-stomped and since we're Arsenal Club de Football, we tend to get curb-stomped by pretty much every other game and lose games we should win. For the record Liverpool and Man City have their own AFTV too, but don't get a ton of hype because they pretty much win every game.

It did around the time some guy talked about Klopp needing to replace Jordan FOOKIN Henderson as the captain, but the good results came not long after that and like you said, nobody cared.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
30,706
16,238
Toruń, PL
It did around the time some guy talked about Klopp needing to replace Jordan FOOKIN Henderson as the captain, but the good results came not long after that and like you said, nobody cared.
The station that's getting just as good as AFTV is Red Devils and again it's a big (popular) club stuck with incompetent people at the very top leading to awfulness at pitch level.
 

Chimaera

same ol' Caps
Feb 4, 2004
30,888
1,713
La Plata, Maryland
For what it’s worth, Arsenal Fan TV’s eclectic regulars make it the far superior watch. Red Men TV (the Liverpool one) is funny and dumb, but they do much less of the typical crazies like Arsenal. Kelechi, Claude and Troopz alone are worth admission.

it is the lowest common denominator but it’s entertaining hearing people yell at times.
 

Chimaera

same ol' Caps
Feb 4, 2004
30,888
1,713
La Plata, Maryland
Pfft Brendan knows Barca are going to come calling one day. Arsenal job is a laugh for him.

(you know a few deep, I think he should consider it come summer)
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

In the hands of Genius
Aug 8, 2006
45,300
9,465
Leicester isn’t going to win anything but it doesn’t make sense to leave there for a team in perpetual crisis of late. Arsenal’s best hopes are to hire someone unemployed.

exactly and managers have to think about their own legacy and careers. What’s best for them and their careers long term. It isn’t just about $$$ much like players. Especially those who need to rebuild their name.
 

Live in the Now

Registered User
Dec 17, 2005
53,029
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exactly and managers have to think about their own legacy and careers. What’s best for them and their careers long term. It isn’t just about $$$ much like players. Especially those who need to rebuild their name.

Rodgers has also learned foreign languages in anticipation of potentially managing on the continent. That he wants to keep his options open isn't surprising. If he went to Arsenal and couldn't turn that boat around, that would be stuck on his name for the rest of his career. But if he manages Leicester to second or third with that squad he'll have that on his name for the rest of his career.

Allegri is obviously the best they can do, but those youth players everyone likes will never play because he hates youth players. Arsenal supporters aren't going to get to have it both ways. If those young players play more they'll be as bad as they are right now. If older players than them play, some improvement will happen. Other than Poch almost all the good quality managers currently out of a job don't play youth. It's why they don't have jobs.

Getting a good manager who knows they're under pressure immediately both to win and to win with youth players is very difficult.
 
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PeteWorrell

[...]
Aug 31, 2006
4,625
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Rodgers just signed a five year deal, he's not leaving for anyone barring Man City, Real Madrid, or Man United jobs. And honestly all those teams have the funds to get a better and more superior manager than Brendan.
My comment was made before Rodgers got the new contract.
 

Stray Wasp

Registered User
May 5, 2009
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South east London
Thought Newcastle would be relegated. Doesn't look like that so far.

The results are better than expected. Alas, the bottom half of the league is a bunched-up as I feared. And flakiness appears to be spreading through the division like wildfire. While likely 38 points would be good enough to survive, and NUFC is now halfway there, I'd like a return of five points minimum from the next three games to start looking up the table rather than down.

Those three games are: Southampton (home), Burnley (away), Palace (home) and it's just as conceivable that Newcastle could lose them all as win them all. Newcastle has two wins from seven home games (only one defeat creates a feel-good factor, but it's a flimsy one). Southampton has won two wins from seven on their travels, and Palace three from seven. Both teams have scored more away goals than Newcastle has scored home goals.

Burnley, meanwhile, has won four and lost four at home. Newcastle's away form reads: won three, lost five.

Five games have been won so far this season - four by a one-goal margin, which is pretty much all a mid-to-lower table team can expect, but it means no game is easily won, and a potentially good result can be wiped out by one instance of brilliance or error. Saint-Maximin's goal needs to mark an upsurge in scoring from the forwards, otherwise the current positive trend is likely to reverse.

With the number of points already in the bag, Joelinton, ASM and Almiron don't need to be hitting double figures each for the team to achieve 17th. They will, however, need to score at least a dozen between them. Even that looks far from certain right now. I don't think any of the named trio is a bad player. It's just that not being bad isn't a part of the sport's scoring system. Putting the ball in the opposition net is.
 

Stray Wasp

Registered User
May 5, 2009
4,561
1,503
South east London
Steve Bruce is a football genius. Only team this season to win twice with less than 30% possession in each game.

To give him his due, while he's reverted to Benitez's 3-4-3 system from the second half of last season, it's not the exact same style because Joelinton and Saint-Maximin are different players to Rondon and Perez. That fact is a mixed blessing - the greater pace backs up opponents but, as Gary Neville observed, on occasions the decision-making and levels of composure leave much to be desired.

Bruce said of ASM, 'You can't coach him'. Long term, that doesn't seem to me a recipe for successful working relationship.

One might adapt Glenn Roeder's words, and ask why Djokovic, Federer and Nadal ever bothered employing coaches.
 

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