Why would we give him the power to invoke that option?
Yeah it would be extremely unlikely, that sort of setup only really happens in American sport. Player and or coach options.
Anyways it’ll be fascinating to see what happens if at the end of the 19/20 season we still haven’t got back into the top 4.
I think he’d be gone if he doesn’t get it in two seasons, surely
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I’m on board the Unai express but…see above.
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Sometimes it feels like Emery has already decided what subs he is going to make 1 day prior to the match. Don’t really have any other explanation than that for his subs yesterday.
You know what this squad needs - Giroud
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Yesterday was a fuck up no two ways about it.
The whole actual fucking point is that we have had bad performances throughout the season. I’ve been saying that for a while. The difference now is that the results have caught up with the performances. If that’s not (a bit) worrying I don’t know what is.
But let’s see if next season will be any different and focus on the EL.
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Now that I have some “separation” (TM Arsene Wenger) from the last debacle, let’s see about analyzing first half:
Points: 38 - 2 points/game so extrapolates to 76, but one doesn’t feel good about how we limped into the new year if I am honest… I’d say this is a good haul - if we actually got 76, this would be 13 points above last year. I’d say reasonable over/under would be about 73/74, so this is modest success in that sense… real shame we couldn’t take 3 from BHA as that would put us at 40, which somehow feels a lot better.
Position: At this point, people put way too much on this and frankly, it isn’t something you can fully control anyway… we have 2 teams on pace for 90+ points which is ridiculous. 4th place got: 75, 76, 66, 70, 79, 73 points in the last 6 years (which seems about right to consider the “new” era and have enough sample size). 2nd place got 81, 86, 71, 79, 84, 78… in other words, in the last 6 years, 2nd place got less than 80 points half the time. People are making too much of this surge under Pool (and to some degree City)…
there are no reliable 90+ point teams long-term imho. Things will shift back - maybe we’ll still see high 80’s or occasional 90, but we are in odd period (just like 3 years ago with LC). Frankly our position is fine considering how bad we were last year… we are 2 points out of 4th and only 6/7 points out of 3rd and 2nd. We have same number of losses at City.
Play: meh - not gonna lie… a bit disappointed… like I have said in other threads, there are some good signs (a few players showing more, more resilience to come back), but overall I am not thrilled… too often we look discombobulated and our defensive weaknesses - are they really any better?
Squad and Signings: Holy shnkikey do we have a ton of work to do… yes, most of this was crap left by Wenger, including contract debacles like Ramsey. Torry is good signing and I guess we can count Guen (to be honest, I am not that impressed so far - best I can say is that he looks decent for 19 year old). Leno - FFS wrong move imho and now confirmed (to me)… should have stuck with Cech and Martinez one more year and/or signed a young project… fix other positions while we are rebuilding and then wait to pounce on GK next… we have major gaps all over and our injury crisis and aging squad at the back are showing it badly - I seriously fear for us against Pool. I guess Papa is ok stopgap, but man I would rather invest in fewer better players and try to make do with some of our youngsters… really unlucky to have Holding go down tbh.
Second half needs to be about fighting to get into top 4 and sorting as much as possible (which is now more complicated with injuries)…
Manager: mixed… I’ll give him a B- just on the fact that our points and results are keeping us in the conversation and there are some glimmers, but a result here or there could see that plunge into C/D territory quickly… 2nd half of season starts brutally - Pool, Chelsea, City all in the first 7 games… could see us fall away from top 4 honestly - its what I expect atm with our injury crisis and midfield bizarro-land situation. I don’t expect much more functional performances with our squad situation atm… we are dying for a star wing attacker signing and/or defensive/midfielder… not holding my breath…
We have a chance at top 4 - atm I feel we will need a lot of help to get there… I can’t see us really topping 38 points in second half… I reckon we hit 75ish at this point, so we need big collapse by Chelsea and I can’t see Spurs only taking 30 from the last 19…
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Fair post @ljungbergkamp. 
You have to take into account that Unai hasn’t even got his feet under the table yet and this team still needs a lot of work.
Add to that the top teams have had a very strong first half season, I’d say our position is reasonable.
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I really enjoy it when you do these kind of posts (like with your player ratings).
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Agree - people make too much of position… 38 is decent tally for now… I am just worried that I haven’t seen more progression in other respects and with our injury crisis and squad problems, can see us falling off… I hope I am wrong.
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You’d think that his apology would have been enough. Ridiculous.
What is it with our managers and water bottles?
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Which team doesn’t have bad performances throughout the season???
Even City, the oil money team, is now having a few bad games.
Having expectations is good, but also have to be fair and realistic.
The team that Wenger left Emery, just wasn’t good enough.
I agree, Emery had some strange decisions on his lineup, rotation and substitutions, but in the end, he is our manager for JUST HALF A SEASON.
WAY TOO EARLY TO BE WORRY and PANIC.
WAY TOO EARLY.
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Hilarious how all our shitty performances were blamed on Wenger last season, when it was painfully obvious our team is just mostly…shit. Now the players are blamed cuz the fans are willing to give Emery the benefit of the doubt. Can’t recall how many times I’ve banged on the “we’re the 6th most talented team in the league” drum, now it’s just accepted as truth.
Who bought those players dumbass who left us in this state?
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Wenger said it was only our away form that let us down in winning the league. 
be a smart fish. Ignore that lovely bait on the line which will kill you.
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