Category Archives: Unai Emery

How Do You Think Arsenal Are Doing Now We’re Half Way Through The Season?

Posted on by
Reply

Arsenal lost against West Ham 1-0 today as we still sit in 5th place, which could change depending what happens to Manchester United tomorrow.

The question is how has our season been so far? Has Unai Emery done a good job so far? Is he underachieving or overachieving?

Personally, I think his impact has been overwhelmingly positive and he’s brought new ideas to the club. For me, he needs time and with the amount of money Silent Stan will give him he needs at least 3/4 seasons to make his mark.

After this weekend Arsenal would have played 22 games – having won 12, drawn 5 and lost 5.

With the mess of a squad he inherited, I think Unai Emery has done a great job. Several players like Hector Bellerin, Granit Xhaka and Alexander Iwobi have improved under the Spaniard, and we do play with more of a structured system.

The ridiculous scenarios regarding Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey are in no way down to him and a result of the mis-management from Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis. Under Emery, he can improve things.

So how do you think we’re doing this season? Are you happy with the progress we’re making so far?

Leave your thoughts and comments in the section below!

 

What Should We Do With Mesut Özil? Cast Your Vote Here!

Posted on by
8

There is no player in the Arsenal squad that divides opinion more than Mesut Özil.

Some people think he’s lazy, others think he’s under appreciated – it’s hard to know what to think of him.

On one hand he is capable of doing things no-one else can do with a football – and that is no exaggeration. I can’t think of anyone else who can see a pass like this guy. In terms of vision, execution and delivery he is a one off. He is consistently top of all the assist leader boards, and has been for the last few seasons. He was a massive part of Germany winning the World Cup in 2014 and has won honours with Real Madrid and Arsenal. On his day, he is unplayable.

But on the other he is frustrating. We all know he is capable of 10 out of 10 performances but they don’t come often enough. The problem is he isn’t like Messi, Ronaldo or even Neymar – players who earn huge money but can in the blink of an eye pull off something special – score from a free-kick, lash one in from 30 yards, take on 3/4 players and score – basically inspire the team when the going gets tough. If Arsenal are having a bad day at the office, then so is Özil.

The problem now is Emery is (quite rightly) a manager who expects certain things from his players. If we want to support the new manager and want the club to move forwards then the players have to adapt. We’ve seen a marked improvement from players like Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin, Alex Iwobi and others, yet some like Özil have been left behind.

The other big problem is the size of Özil’s wage packet. He’s on superstar money and according to various sources the second highest paid player in the Premier League.

List of highest paid players in the Premier League:

1. Alexis Sanchez (Manchester United) – £500,000 a week
2. Mesut Özil (Arsenal) – £350,000 a week
3. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) – £290,000 a week
4. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) – £260,000 a week
5. Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) – £250,000 a week
6. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) – £220,000 a week
7. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – £200,000 a week
= Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) – £200,000 a week
= David de Gea (Manchester United) – £200,000 a week
= Pierre Emerick Aubameyang  (Arsenal) – £200,000 a week
= Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – £200,000 a week
= Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) – £200,000 a week

As you can see Manchester United, unsurprisingly, have some mega stars on their books, which makes sense as they are constantly at the top of the richest football clubs in the world. City have a few names in there, which also doesn’t surprise anyone and we also have Aubameyang on high wages, as he was cheap from Dortmund and to his credit, he keeps scoring goals.

But to have Mesut Özil as the second highest earner in the entire league is just ludicrous! And he’d be the highest earner if we didn’t balls up the whole Alexis Sanchez situation and kept him at the club (which for the record, we should have).

Arsene Wenger did many great things at Arsenal but giving Özil a truly astonishing pay rise was crazy. The money would have been far better spent trying to keep Alexis Sanchez (who was our best player by a mile) as well as trying to hold on to Aaron Ramsey.

The issue now is finding another club who would be stupid enough to pay Özil that kind of money. The only way Arsenal could find a willing buyer would be to drastically reduce the fee for the player – so a footballer who is probably worth around £45 million in the current climate is probably only worth around £20 million now, and that’s if we’re lucky.

But what do you think we should do with Özil? Keep him? Sell him in the summer? Sell him now? 

Cast your vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments section!

find bike trails

 

Many Positives For Unai Emery But Mesut Özil Needs To Be Sold!

Posted on by
8

Arsenal lost 2-0 in their opening game of the 2018/2019 season and although we were outplayed at times, the future looks positive.

The young Frenchman, Matteo Guendouzi, looked excellent in central midfield and although he was a bit rash at times, overall he was fantastic – making important tackles, getting around the pitch and putting in a real team performance.

Lucas Torreira looked good once he came on to replace Granit Xhaka, and when introduced Stephen Lichtsteiner looked like a handy addition as well.

Manchester City where as you would expect – a team with seasons under their belt with an experienced manager, who were clear winners in the Premier League last year.

And Arsenal, were also where you would expect – a team in transition after a seismic change this summer.

There were some positives we can build on, but also a few negatives.

Mesut Özil was playing as if he was asleep and if he was more alert we could have scored a couple of goals – the first opportunity went begging after his mis-control went straight into the hands of Ederson and the second after he got in the way and got penalised for being offside when Lacazette was clean through.

And then there was the chance he had from a Lichtsteiner cut back, which he. managed to miss completely and fall over in the process.

With Aaron Ramsey in the team, the side doesn’t look balanced with Özil in the team and if you ask me which one should make way, it has to be the German (former) international.

 

Positives For Unai Emery But Mesut Özil Needs To Be Dropped!

Posted on by

Arsenal lost 2-0 in their opening game of the 2018/2019 season and although we were outplayed at times, the future looks positive.

The young Frenchman, Matteo Guendouzi, looked excellent in central midfield and although he was a bit rash at times, overall he was fantastic – making important tackles, getting around the pitch and putting in a real team performance.

Read More >>

 

Do Arsenal Need Mesut Özil? Should They Sell Him?

Posted on by
7

Exciting times are ahead for Arsenal – we’ve got a new manager in Unai Emery which is a seismic change after the reign of Arsene Wenger and we’ve also made a lot of signings to boot, with the signings of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Mattéo Guendouzi who will all add strength and depth to the squad.

With all the new faces coming in, we’ve only really lost 3 players, and even then two of them hardly featured last season. Per Mertesacker has moved into a coaching role at Arsenal, and Santi Cazorla was victim of a horrific injury / surgery scare and has gone back to Spain. Jack Wilshere to West Ham on a free is the only real departure of note so at the moment at least, the squad is a bit heavy on numbers.

So the question is after spending around £67 million on new arrivals, who are we going to see leave? Jack Wilshere has gone for nothing (one of the many failings of the Arsene regime) but the fact is some players will need to be moved on. And a big consideration is how much we can recoup.

And that’s why Mesut Özil’s name pops up. Is he an Unai Emery player? From my limited knowledge of his tactics and style of play with Sevilla and PSG, I had the impression he liked teams that pressed with intensity and purpose, and sadly Özil is a luxury player in that regard.

We have Lacazette and Aubameyang who look like they might start together, and the bottom line is that Mkhitaryan is a player with Özil’s vision and passing, but also runs for the team and has more pace and has a better team work ethic – so in that sense Özil is almost surplus to requirements.

He is also a player who would still command a decent price, so would make the Arsenal accountants happy.

So what are your thoughts? Should we cut Mesut Özil loose and get some money back? Or do you think he has a place in this Arsenal team and would be a key to any future success?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!