Unfortunately I've seen better teams than this relegated, at least better defences.

Really need to buy a cB or two in this window coming up that are battle hardened, and stop starting with the young kids. Willock is doing nothing for us at the moment, and it's going to destroy his confidence.

This was not all the boards fault, they hired a manager in Emery that could have been a good fit. It didn't work, they've fired him early. They gave him money, he spent it. Now we're left where we are with a caretaker manager that may lose confidence himself. The question is how quickly the board respond to put this right now and how much money they will need to spend short term to at least stop us from freefalling.

Oh, and the atmosphere at the Emirates is toxic, absolutely horrible. No chance of our team picking itself up when our own fans are not behind them. They're barely even celebrating the goals we do score anymore.

Famous no 10 wrote:

Unfortunately I've seen better teams than this relegated, at least better defences.

Really need to buy a cB or two in this window coming up that are battle hardened, and stop starting with the young kids. Willock is doing nothing for us at the moment, and it's going to destroy his confidence.

This was not all the boards fault, they hired a manager in Emery that could have been a good fit. It didn't work, they've fired him early. They gave him money, he spent it. Now we're left where we are with a caretaker manager that may lose confidence himself. The question is how quickly the board respond to put this right now and how much money they will need to spend short term to at least stop us from freefalling.

Oh, and the atmosphere at the Emirates is toxic, absolutely horrible. No chance of our team picking itself up when our own fans are not behind them. They're barely even celebrating the goals we do score anymore.

I think we need a big win, a 3-0 or a good result against a top team, to instil a bit of pride and hope in the team and fanbase before we see things really begin to change. But how do we do that when we barely create chances from open play? 

I don't see how we're getting out of this mess. We scored a header last night, but I thought we looked extremely blunt without Mustafi challenging for corners. I'm not arguing for his inclusion based on that, but Luiz and Sokratis don't make a nuisance of themselves in the box the way he does, Mustafi always seems to be involved in the midst of the action on corners. We can't score from open play, we generally don't look dangerous at set plays. Luiz, Ozil, Auba and Pepe can all take a free kick, but we aren't in the final third often enough to win them. It's a shambles from top to bottom. 

We need something to get the fans and the players back onside. Easiest way is to get a highly rated manager in fast. The situation requires urgency, not a 6 month long process where you interview 12 candidates, leaking several names to see how it tests, have a few more discussions before flying over to America to discuss with Stan.

The second way is to get a small run of good wins somehow, but with the fixture list that's coming up and confidence as low as I've ever seen it, that seems unlikely. I don't think it's out of the realms of possibility that we'll be hovering around the relegation zone come March unless something changes fast.

We need to spend a lot of money this Jan, if not we really could be in the bottom half come the end of the season.

Does it really matter at this point? If we're not getting top four I'd rather sacrifice this season (again) and plan well for the summer than potentially waste it in Jan on poor value signings.

I'd agree except we really are so poor.

At this point we need 2-3 experienced signings just to make sure we don't enter a relegation battle.

goon wrote:

Does it really matter at this point? If we're not getting top four I'd rather sacrifice this season (again) and plan well for the summer than potentially waste it in Jan on poor value signings.

I don't know what poor value means anymore - yes, we'll probably pay over the odds but there's a long list of players who can improve our defenders and midfield at this point. Preferably who have some leadership quality.

Paying over the odds in itself isn't the issue, you'll probably end up doing that in the summer anyway. Paying over the odds for players who will ultimately still not be good enough and that we'll be stuck with is the issue.

If there's a short term reward, like top 4, you can go for a short term solution. I just don't see the point point of sacrificing the long term if there's literally nothing to gain in the short term. What's the point?

It's hard enough to get signings right under normal conditions, add January and desperation into the mix and we could be crippled with a shit squad for another couple of years, and we'll be right back here next Jan. If you can get someone who's genuinely on your shortlist, then that's another matter, but history suggests that it's unlikely.

I have spent the last 10 years wishing for a proper midfield. Longer actually.

The problem started with Flamini and Fabregas: good with the ball, decent energy and pressing, but propped up by Hleb and Rosicky playing very narrow and then very good and athletic individual defenders in Sagna, Gallas, Toure and, to a lesser extent, Clichy. But that team and midfield were still rubbish when pushed back, they had no physical presence, and were not good enough tactically from a defensive standpoint.

That was obviously after moving away from a snarling, kicking, powerhouse midfield platform in the form of Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira. I know there is more than one way to skin a cat, City have proven that in this League, but boy you better be good elsewhere if your midfield is going to leak like a sieve and collapse like a souffle under pressure.

It has just gotten worse and worse since.

It is just not okay that we are fielding a 5'5" guy in Torreira that is built like a small child and can't run or compete; or Guendouzi who can't tackle, has no physical presence and is every bit the green 20 year old in terms of tactical understanding; or young Willock who is as weak as Torreira at this point in his development and as green as Guendouzi; then there's Granit Xhaka: can't run, can't tackle, thick as a brick even at 27, and even in his best games will give it to the opposition right in the spots where you can't afford to.

Luiz and Sokratis are not good players, but neither are most of the centrebacks in this league. In my opinion, they are a definite problem and need to be sold because we need good centrebacks, not run of the mill. However, until we change the midfield and move away from this idea that a midfielder's first job is to create, or to get ahead of the ball and score goals (fucking hell), rather than to run, hustle, tackle and balance the team, we will continue to fail.

A god damn decade this shit has plagued us for. We are not a proper team because we have no midfield.

When it rains, it pours: Chelsea transfer ban has been lifted. They’ll look very attractive to targets now.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I have spent the last 10 years wishing for a proper midfield. Longer actually.

The problem started with Flamini and Fabregas: good with the ball, decent energy and pressing, but propped up by Hleb and Rosicky playing very narrow and then very good and athletic individual defenders in Sagna, Gallas, Toure and, to a lesser extent, Clichy. But that team and midfield were still rubbish when pushed back, they had no physical presence, and were not good enough tactically from a defensive standpoint.

That was obviously after moving away from a snarling, kicking, powerhouse midfield platform in the form of Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira. I know there is more than one way to skin a cat, City have proven that in this League, but boy you better be good elsewhere if your midfield is going to leak like a sieve and collapse like a souffle under pressure.

It has just gotten worse and worse since.

It is just not okay that we are fielding a 5'5" guy in Torreira that is built like a small child and can't run or compete; or Guendouzi who can't tackle, has no physical presence and is every bit the green 20 year old in terms of tactical understanding; or young Willock who is as weak as Torreira at this point in his development and as green as Guendouzi; then there's Granit Xhaka: can't run, can't tackle, thick as a brick even at 27, and even in his best games will give it to the opposition right in the spots where you can't afford to.

Luiz and Sokratis are not good players, but neither are most of the centrebacks in this league. In my opinion, they are a definite problem and need to be sold because we need good centrebacks, not run of the mill. However, until we change the midfield and move away from this idea that a midfielder's first job is to create, or to get ahead of the ball and score goals (fucking hell), rather than to run, hustle, tackle and balance the team, we will continue to fail.

A god damn decade this shit has plagued us for. We are not a proper team because we have no midfield.

The midfield is just as bad as the defence. I don't know what people were smoking in the summer with all the shit about third best squad in the league.

We lost Ramsey and brought in a loan. How is that an improvement on our squad? Ramsey himself was never that good but signing a guy a loan was just kicking us in the balls after a vasectomy.

The only area we strengthened was the attack with Pepe and Martinelli. We weakened the midfield and defence after a season where both departments were clear holes that needed filling.

Raul is footballs equivalent of Keyser Soze. Sold half the squad, didn't improve the areas that actually needed improving and distracted the fans with a big money signing. All whilst the rest of the team was stripped. To make matters worse, when it all went to shit, the blame all went on fucking Emery. Jeez. Guy is a bloody genius.

I didn't feel our performances would have been as bad as this, but was not expecting the team to exhibit much progress for about a month. Inheriting a team with no cohesion and low on confidence is an extremely difficult situation for any manager. I don't think the squad needs a complete overhaul, but we have to be looking at a new spine that will form the basis of our next team. For me a CB and CM are key and we should be actively looking at a youngish CF as Auba successor.

Even if results like yesterday's are deflating, stadium support needs to be behind the team otherwise things will get worse. Players want to feel they are being supported during the bad times as well as the good.

We played so badly though. It’s so hard to support the team right now even watching on the telly. Can only imagine how the match going fans were able take in that shower

DK Gooner wrote:

Even if results like yesterday's are deflating, stadium support needs to be behind the team otherwise things will get worse. Players want to feel they are being supported during the bad times as well as the good.

Its a red herring that the support is worse. I was over there for the Soton game and the crowd were louder than back when they were sure they'd get top 4 every year. Theres more on the line so they're louder.

Continue like this and we will finish comfortably in the bottom half. Every bloody game our goal get peppered.

Captain wrote:

Old man Wengs did a better job on his tod than our so called modern management structure. Says it all.

By the same token most of what ails us was either started by him directly or became established under his watch.
That is not to say it is all his fault as IMO the BoD prior to KSE is equally culpable for allowing/enabling it to happen.

This is a huge test of the new structure and the individuals in those roles.
The next steps in our devolution will be the players to want out and the supporters to turn on the players behind the scenes rather than the team, manager or KSE.

Anzac wrote:

Captain wrote:

Old man Wengs did a better job on his tod than our so called modern management structure. Says it all.

By the same token most of what ails us was either started by him directly or became established under his watch.
That is not to say it is all his fault as IMO the BoD prior to KSE is equally culpable for allowing/enabling it to happen.

What started under him? The club has been overhauled from top to bottom and is currently in it's worst slump in 2 million years - absolutely nowt to do with Wenger.

Captain wrote:

Anzac wrote:

By the same token most of what ails us was either started by him directly or became established under his watch.
That is not to say it is all his fault as IMO the BoD prior to KSE is equally culpable for allowing/enabling it to happen.

What started under him? The club has been overhauled from top to bottom and is currently in it's worst slump in 2 million years - absolutely nowt to do with Wenger.

Stagnation, soft centre, lack of leadership, excuse culture, lack of accountability or responsibility, lack of a sustainable style of play, lack of any ambition on or off the pitch, imbalanced recruitment and squad, acceptance of compromise as a constant factor each season, lack of a robust coaching structure, lack of balance in any area of the team - the club and team is not fit for purpose other than with AW holding control as it was conformed to his vision.