flobaba wrote:
Mirth wrote:

Does that really mean much to you? Doesn't to me. I'm sure Emery is keen to work with a player he has an existing relationship with but - as I say - given the parameters he was working under, he was probably the best amongst Perisic, Carrasco and Nkunku.

Put it this way, if he was a shit player with a shit attitude when he worked with him previously why would he be willing to work with him again just because he is available? In my mind, the manager must think he will be able to provide us, at the very least, with Iwobi level performances on a consistent basis. If not, what’s the point? Like I said I would be very disappointed if it’s a signing of convenience rather than an objective assessment of his ability. Of course, ideally, it could be both.

Edit: I only used Iwobi as an example because he is at the moment the low limit of what I expect from an Arsenal quality starting winger.

I mean - yeah, Suarez will more than likely be decent enough to give Iwobi and Mkhi a run for their money and, hopefully, get their place in the first 11 by the end of this month. If that's enough to get you going then more power to you.

And yes, it does kinda matter if Unai Emery personally sanctions a signing in the context of what we are discussing here, i.e. an “Emery player”...

And no, it really doesn't because Emery only had - at best - 3 other players to pick from. It's hardly an astounding insight into Emery's mind.

For a January signing if he is immediately better than Iwobi and Mkhi, yeah that’s significant. By now it’s clear how fine the margins are, and how competitive this top 4 race is going to be. Every little improvement helps.

Then it makes even less sense to have frozen out Ramsey and Ozil.

shrugs It's all a mess to me, hopefully we're just a little less of a mess than Chelsea and United.

flobaba wrote:
Claudius wrote:

He did. But to suggest that there was healthy choice is not fair.
The only advanced discussions that we are aware of is are two very tough negotiations for Carrasco and Perisic. Again other players like Nkunku at PSG were named, but there monetary restrictions connected to him. Suarez at 2m pounds til May sounded the simplest deal.

But it was widely accepted that those names were going to offer us a significant improvement on what we have already. Why should that not be the case with Suarez? And I disagree with your final statement - the deal was not simple at all from all reports leading up to it.

Relative to having to outright buy Nkunku and Carrasco, and find a replacement for Carrasco, sounds simple to me 

Mirth wrote:

And no, it really doesn't because Emery only had - at best - 3 other players to pick from. It's hardly an astounding insight into Emery's mind.

Again. How do we know that this was the case? If you are recruiting for a position and in the end there are 3 finalists, does that somehow mean those were the only 3 that were in the running from the start? I don’t think so. There were probably other names in the hat that we are unaware of, and Suarez was picked, hopefully, because he ticked all or most of the right boxes (not just availability), and even better, had the endorsement of the manager. I’m just saying I have high expectations of him, and I will definitely be watching him closely to see how much he improves our midfield, work rate, and chance creation, otherwise it really makes no sense that we are not using Ozil and Ramsey more.

Mirth wrote:

Then it makes even less sense to have frozen out Ramsey and Ozil.

shrugs It's all a mess to me, hopefully we're just a little less of a mess than Chelsea and United.

What is the mess United are in? They're wracking up wins and they have a great team and at least a couple legit superstars.

Chelsea are much better than us too, they just had the glaring number 9 problem which I think higuain has more than solved it for them. They have most of the rest of the pieces too. 

What kind of discussion is this? You're debating how good a signing Suarez is while at the same time acknowledging you have no basis to make any assumption about him.

And how is this still connected to not playing Ramsey or Özil? The latter has mentally checked out a while ago, people call for Iwobi's head again after he shat the bed at City but Özil has been far worse this season and people still want to see him on the pitch. Ramsey not playing is just as obvious, you're putting out a message for other players that you either commit or at least bring in some coin, besides he hasn't been exactly consistent either. Is this really so hard to get?

flobaba wrote:
Mirth wrote:

And no, it really doesn't because Emery only had - at best - 3 other players to pick from. It's hardly an astounding insight into Emery's mind.

Again. How do we know that this was the case? If you are recruiting for a position and in the end there are 3 finalists, does that somehow mean those were the only 3 that were in the running from the start? I don’t think so. There were probably other names in the hat that we are unaware of, and Suarez was picked, hopefully, because he ticked all or most of the right boxes (not just availability), and even better, had the endorsement of the manager. I’m just saying I have high expectations of him, and I will definitely be watching him closely to see how much he improves our midfield, work rate, and chance creation, otherwise it really makes no sense that we are not using Ozil and Ramsey more.

We don't. I'm speculating but no more than you are.

jones wrote:

And how is this still connected to not playing Ramsey or Özil? The latter has mentally checked out a while ago, people call for Iwobi's head again after he shat the bed at City but Özil has been far worse this season and people still want to see him on the pitch. Ramsey not playing is just as obvious, you're putting out a message for other players that you either commit or at least bring in some coin, besides he hasn't been exactly consistent either. Is this really so hard to get?

I want to finish fourth. Those two are more likely to help us finish fourth than Suarez is.

Is it also so hard to post without being a condescending bell?

I think you’re speculating a bit more than I am. Just a bit. 🙂

I think it's unbelievable that people are questioning Suarez's commitment after a he has played a whopping 20 minutes for us. I don't remember Sicario questioning Emery this way after his first two games in charge.

We all know exactly why Suarez is here. We know we wouldn't have taken him if we had more funds available. He's not coming here with the expectation that he's going to be our best player. He's a decent footballer we gambled on based on profile, availability and the fact that the manager already knew him well. If it doesn't work out then it doesn't work out, but how can people jump on him after a few scrap minutes against Manchester City? Put the blame for our ineptitude where it belongs instead and leave the lad alone.

No one's questioning Suarez other than Sicario who is probably a bot anyway.

Mirth wrote:
jones wrote:

And how is this still connected to not playing Ramsey or Özil? The latter has mentally checked out a while ago, people call for Iwobi's head again after he shat the bed at City but Özil has been far worse this season and people still want to see him on the pitch. Ramsey not playing is just as obvious, you're putting out a message for other players that you either commit or at least bring in some coin, besides he hasn't been exactly consistent either. Is this really so hard to get?

I want to finish fourth. Those two are more likely to help us finish fourth than Suarez is.

Is it also so hard to post without being a condescending bell?

I think unless Özil has some sort of epiphany he won't help us with anything this season. Ramsey more so but adding another talented player certainly isn't going to hurt our chances; and I certainly don't see us becoming better by sticking with what we have and hoping things change somehow by themselves. Both players had their chances and neither convinced in any sense of the word

Also what's with your tone? I think it's tiresome to read the exact same criticisms of the manager every time in every thread; this one is about a new signing who's had like 15 minutes of game time at the club and people are bitching about Emery and their favourites not playing again. Excuse me if I sound like a condescending bell when after a thousand posts it starts to become a tad fucking annoying.

jones wrote:

Also what's with your tone? I think it's tiresome to read the exact same criticisms of the manager every time in every thread; this one is about a new signing who's had like 15 minutes of game time at the club and people are bitching about Emery and their favourites not playing again. Excuse me if I sound like a condescending bell when after a thousand posts it starts to become a tad fucking annoying.

I take out my frustration on here and generally direct it at Arsenal - everyone from Kroenke to Mike Dean. Although I don't think I've criticised Suarez here anyway.

You take it out on other posters. And obviously unlikely to ever change, so I'll just give you a wide berth.

Mirth wrote:

No one's questioning Suarez other than Sicario who is probably a bot anyway.

Sorry, should have specified.

I agree with your point about playing Ramsey and Özil of course, but it is what it is.

Mirth wrote:
jones wrote:

Also what's with your tone? I think it's tiresome to read the exact same criticisms of the manager every time in every thread; this one is about a new signing who's had like 15 minutes of game time at the club and people are bitching about Emery and their favourites not playing again. Excuse me if I sound like a condescending bell when after a thousand posts it starts to become a tad fucking annoying.

I take out my frustration on here and generally direct it at Arsenal - everyone from Kroenke to Mike Dean. Although I don't think I've criticised Suarez here anyway.

You take it out on other posters. And obviously unlikely to ever change, so I'll just give you a wide berth.

Bollocks am I taking it out on other posters. This is not a conversation in person, this is a forum and to me the omnipresent negativity about everything related to the club is a lot worse than someone confronting someone else about his bitching, one can be sorted out by conversation while the other makes this place unreadable.

If you as a mod consider it better to constantly call our manager and players shit in unison instead of a dissenting voice actually supporting them then maybe I should give the forum a wide berth.

Ah. Gentlemen.

Same Team on 3. One two three - “Same team!!!”

Yay, now that felt better, didn’t it? No?

Gut feeling is this was a nothing signing, but we needed a warm body and this is where we are.

Hopefully, with more than a day's worth of training and against worse opposition he will be useful.

Captain wrote:

Gut feeling is this was a nothing signing

I don't really see any reason to have to rely on gut feeling here. It's not like he's some young and/or unknown player. He's an established nothing player.

Looked weaker and more timid than Ozil. Hopefully it was just a result of coincidences.