Unai Emery

We are still massively missing a proper attacking wing to complement the squad… we are also looking a bit scarily thin at CB… I know Koss is coming back, but yikes the injuries are piling up.

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I gotta imagine the club signs at least one defender in January. Looking thin as you said and now Mustafi and Sokratis are out for the next game due to yellow card accumulation.

Thankfully, Moneral is back and Kos soon. I’m guess both start next week?

Seems like the only real option… It would be interesting to see if young Zach Medley (did I get that right) is called up to give depth too. Its nice that Monreal can slot in the middle without looking like a complete dope.

Just how good is Maguire, though? I feel like he is being over rated somewhat because he is English and had a good World Cup. I do like him, but not sure he is worth it – especially as he’d cost a lot. £75m was the price being touted in the summer.

I’ll be disappointed if Svengali’s latest piece of magic is paying close to world record prices for obvious as fuck targets.

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I’m very surprised, as are a lot of Leicester fans, that they didn’t take Manchester United’s money and run after they reportedly offered that in the summer.

Particularly as City signed Johnny Evans and that Greek/Cypriot/Turkish defender (both players we were linked with, incidentally).

He won’t go for £75 ever - yes he is an obvious target but with Sven expect him to be able to arrange deals to work for us. I’d put in a cheeky £50 mill bid otherwise Sven gonna have to unearth some gems !? Either way we need quality reinforcements in Jan !!

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You know football has gone mad when a CB like McGuire has that sort of price tag put on him just because he had a decent World Cup.
I seem to remember his only good games were against mediocre opposition.

I would want a defender as good as Beckenbauer, Maldini or VDV, for that sort of money.

Yeah having watched Soton a handful of times too, who is that guy they spent over 20 million on? He looks shambolic from what I have seen.

I’d like someone like Ake.

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Haha I absolutely love @AbouCuellar. His post (which made some valid points) and the posts directly after were fantastic

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In comparison to what? Your balls being set on fire with thermite?

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Nathan Ake?
Solid reliable player indeed

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You could probably find several centre backs as good as McGuire for half that price in foreign leagues.

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He’ll end up going for big money in the future I think, people were slow to pick up on VVD at first too but in the end a good physical build, technique and premier league experience is always going to demand a premium.

I think the big clubs are sleeping on Ake right now and I could easily see him going for a fortune in a year or two.

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No, you rotate in anticipation for a busy period of games. Ramsey and Ozil have been injured, Mkhi and Iwobi will be key over the coming busy winter period especially with the Liverpool game coming up and question marks over Ozil’s fitness and Ramsey being a hit and miss player with fitness issues of his own.

You don’t run players into the ground and then rotate. So like I said, it doesn’t fit your anti-Emery agenda. I didn’t agree with Emery’s lineup but I can see the sense in rotating and keeping players fresh.

What’s most concerning is that you’ve done a total 360 from being his most ardent supporter to his most ardent opposer. And that’s because you, like everybody else on this forum, can get things wrong sometime. And at the end of the day, if you’re so disappointed in the quality of conversation on this forum then stop lurking on a regular basis reading posts. There are plenty of other football message boards you could join. If you want to actually come and contribute to discussions without adopting a holier-than-thou attitude at every give moment then welcome back. There was a time you were actually a good poster who provided a lot of us with some good insight. Now you’re just permanently sulking because people weren’t interested in your gross overreaction and pessimism to Emery’s appointment over Arteta.

I would be more than happy to have you back regularly but if you’re sole contribution is going to come back after every time to lose to remind us that you were right about Emery (which you haven’t been, because it’s far too early to judge his impact on the squad) then what’s really the point?

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Now you’re just permanently sulking because people weren’t interested in your gross overreaction and pessimism to Emery’s appointment over Arteta.

This is the truth and one he can’t admit to. Instead he just continues his tripe regarding our new manager.

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I do believe he deserves a stint at bigger clubs but I am not sure he is 50-60m good.
If he is, lets hope we are in there before someone else comes in.

Again, this doesn’t make sense, considering all the players with greatest match load played (Torreira, Mustafi, Sokratis, Bellerín, Kola, Auba, etc.) and the ones with least (Iwobi, Mkhitaryan–I didn’t realise Ramsey wasn’t injured in fairness) didn’t. That’s why I said weak. It’s a very weak rationalisation and you should be able to see that. It was a tactical decision–though it’s true he was without the option of Özil or Ramsey–not a fitness management one.

Emery wasn’t just appointed over Arteta. He was appointed over every other possible manager available. Setién, Sarri, Favre, etc.

I posted the 5-3-2 thing because after the mad triumphalism about being in 4th for a couple of seconds last weekend and all the @s I got, I was amazed to read the match thread and the Emery thread as I was forced to eat up that shit against Huddersfield without a single creative player on the pitch, and see not a single comment on the lineup he had chosen. Such is the state of this place, I think even Liverpool fans would be a bit amused.

I’m too old and technology inept to be arsed to get accustomed to a new forum or a new way of digesting my Arsenal news so I’ll continue to “lurk” as I was before, reading player threads and opening the Emery thread only when I’m feeling particularly masochistic, though I guess maybe I should do it logged out given StalkeyBoy is around :eyes: :grimacing:

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The thing is you’re pointing to a one off 5-3-2 during an injury crisis of sorts as backing up you theory that Emery is a defensive manager. But that’s a one game and not a pattern. The pattern thus far has been of an attacking manager. If he starts playing a 5-3-2 regularly you may have a point.

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