(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 3)

The one person you've not mentioned is Benetiz. China isn't working out for him and his season ends very soon if it hasn't ended already. Given all the possible options and reasons he seems a very good candidate to take on an interim basis at least until the end of the season.

Whatever we do I don't want us to lose Freddie.

Absolute outsider who could turn us into a defensive unit and make everyone hate us - Diego Simeone. He's done wonders with Athletico, time to see if he can do it in the EPL and challenge the firepower of an establishing top 2.

I also didn't put in the one guy I'd love to see (Marco Rose) as he doesn't fit the currently available thing that seems to be a driver... he's also not at particularly short odds anywhere that I've seen. Presumably because it's unlikely he'd give up his current (relatively new) role and it's even more unlikely that if he would, KSE would give BM the cash required to nullify his contract - especially given how well they're going.

Lots of noise about Marcelino this morning.

Would be the riskiest appointment for our leadership out of all of them. They aren't making their lives any easier for themselves if they sign this guy. A couple of bad results and the fans will turn instantly, there will be no patience with someone whose record looks like Emery's minus the trophies (although he did win the Copa del Rey last season).

Yeah, the optics aren't great; though from all reports Marcelino is a much better coach.

Rodgers, Pochettino, Allegri and Arteta would all be afforded more patience by the fans than someone like Marcelino.

I know that shouldn't be the main factor in hiring a Manager but given how toxic and frankly sh*thouse our fans are these days, it surely has to come into the thinking.

Our fans could easily ruin a Manager before he's had time to bed in his ideas.

You're absolutely right; though I think fans would turn on anyone if they're losing, and will support anyone if they start to win.

Why the hate for Rafa? He’s won the EL with Chelsea, ECL with Liverpool + FA Cup, and he’s taken Newcastle back the EPL by winning the championship. He’s not exactly spent his career not exactly being successful, and has worked with squads in as bad as shape as our to get results.

Ornsteins piece from the Athletic was interesting. Going into the summer Maguire, Zaha, and Partey were his preferred targets. Would have been possible with UCL money.

Ornstein then listed out the sideshow stuff that Emery had to deal with - definitely unsettling stuff:

We still made the right call, but you can’t say the guy had an easy time, or didn’t have the right ideas on recruitment.

Have you ever watched a Rafa coached side? I think he's passed it; and his defensive style does not suit the players we have.

Also all 3 of Emery's preferred targets would've made us better, to be fair - Partey is exactly the player we need, and would've been better than Torreira.

At this stage I don’t care about style, we need to steady the ship before our entire club collapses. I'd rather put that trust in the hands of someone who has managed Liverpool & Chelsea to results in the EPL than a relatively unknown - even if just through to the end of the season.

Marcellino - what’s the attraction? Has won the Copa Del Ray & the second División in Spain. He’s a worse version of Emery based on output.

interesting team tonight;

Leno

Bellerin Chambers Sokratis Tierney

Torreira Xhaka

Pepe Ozil Martinelli

Aubamayang

I like that front four & midfield, would just rather it was Luiz for Sokratis.

Well.. Freddie has made big changes... Excited to see this lineup finally!
                          Leno
Bellerin-Chambers-Sokratis-Tierney
                 Torreira-Xhaka
               Pepe-Ozil-Martinelli
                    Aubameyang

Excited to see any lineup that doesn't have Luiz in it. 

I kinda see all our CBs as having their own different flaws. If our midfield doesn't step up and provide the protection that's been lacking all season then they will get exposed no matter who has been picked.

It's not been spoken about much, but none of our midfielders have been good without the ball this season. So many times we see our CBs getting exposed and then taking the flak for the errors, without any discussion of the failure higher up on the pitch. It's so easy to cut through us on the counter.

Oops my mistake, Bellerin is not in the squad, must have a niggle or something?

Interesting that AMN comes onto the flank, rather than Chambers there.

Perhaps Freddie is starting to bed his ideas in now? First time his lineup has really strayed from the Emery blueprint.

Oh god so Bellerin was injured in the warm-up.

And now it looks like Tierney has done his shoulder. He's coming off.

So after all this time, we finally play these fullbacks together, and they're both injured within 25 minutes.

ffs

After 30mins....

annnd West ham go a goal up....

Man we are bad. This performance is a lot worse than the last game so far.

And out of nowhere we have a major injury crisis to boot.

The goal was desperately unlucky as well, off his shoulder, hitting AMN which wrong-footed Leno.

Whatever can go wrong, is going wrong.

Man City next too.

Bunker down lads. Through thick and thin....................

Fudgeing get in!

Our attack finally clicked.

The first 60 minutes were awful. We kept possession in our own defensive third more than anywhere else, we created maybe one chance for Ozil. Eventually people started taking more risks - creating chances for them and more importantly chances for us. When we clicked we really clicked. Pepe getting on the ball in the final third is amazing - he's like an upgraded Ozil in that he's assisting and putting them top bins.

Here's hoping this is the beginning of our attack FINALLY clicking. 

Football's such a cod, I'm now feeling hopeful of what we might bring to the table against City!

Awful is an understatement. That first 60 minutes was soooo bad, the worst I've ever seen from us in all honesty. Every single player on the pitch was bad, save for maybe Leno. There did not look to be a way out, we just never looked like scoring. Then 3 quick goals out of nowhere.

This is why we don't need to seriously fear relegation. No matter how bad we are, we do have quality forwards who will score sometimes, and get us enough points to at least avoid the very bottom.

Hopefully some confidence returns now, although it might get swatted away quickly on the weekend. Here's hoping Man City are low as well given recent events. In all honesty a one or two goal loss would be fine! That's how far we've fallen.

I'm stoked the forwards clicked in that formation, I like it. I want to see it again. The midfield is a huge worry though. Didn't work well at all today. And now we have an injury crisis to contend with too.

Thank fudge for Kola/Martinelli - two players unaffected by the current situation.

Tierney has not looked at the races all season, and it's no surprise to hear he's been battling injuries. We've got a real injury prone one on our hands (again).

60 mins of abject horror and 30 mins of good attacking play to keep us hoping. We won't get anything out of City, but let's hope we see more of that second half.

I thought Xhaka was fudgeing terrible; we've got a big problem at CM. At least Torreira stepped up 91% pass accuracy and passed vertically really well.

18 points to go lads...

The result hugely flattered us - but where we are, any glimmer of hope is a golden one so I'll sure as hell take it!

Given the injury problems and a midfield not working I'm hoping Don Raul & Co will learn from their mistakes of last summer and invest in another body in there who can actually do a job - not another injured loan deal.

Ancelotti is available.

How good was Chambers at CB? Had 7 in air duels won, led the time. He certainly has a chance to try and establish himself there for now.

Given we need to win the game to lock in top spot Freddie’s got some tough decisions ahead of the game with an eye on Sunday too.

Injuries are mounting;

Xhaka - concussion 

Pepe, Holding - Knee

Bellerin, Cellabos - Hamstring

Tierney - Shoulder

Also last night Ajax, Benfica, Red Bull and Inter Milan confirmed for next stage of the EL. Tonight we could still get:

Bayern L/Atheltico, Shaktar/Dynamo Zagreb/Atalanta, Olympiacos/Crvena Zvezda, Brugge/Galatasary

Tierney out for 3 months is a huge blow. We'll need to sign a replacement in January as there are no kids coming through.

Bellerin's expected after an ACL. He's not quite there strength wise yet, either, gets bumped off the ball really easily. Will take him a long time to get back to what he was.

watching our defence this morning makes me wonder if we would be better if we played without one...

Saka playing as a wingback this morn. I wonder if he'll be tried there more often, as a back-up to Kolasinac. He's got the skills going forward but would he be good enough defensively to operate in a 4? You wouldn't think so. Kolasinac himself can barely operate in a 4. I wonder if we'll go to 3 at the back while Tierney is out...

Another pretty rubbish performance overall, but like the Westham game we sprang to life late on.

I found that weirdly encouraging. In the first half we played some good football going forward, creating chances you'd hope guys like Ozil, Auba, Martinelli, Pepe would finish. The defenders did keep falling over themselves to give the ball away but I don't think the pitch, the conditions, or their nerves helped. Thankfully we covered each mistake as a collective well.

Then we concede two shockers from deflections. Watching Martinez slip for the first one on the poor mud patch in front of him you've got to wonder if he would have made it without that. Regardless we regress and are 2-0 down - before Saka springs to life in absolute sublime form.

Lacazette didn't do anything in that game to shed the 'away from home' challenges nor did he do enough to drop into midfield and link up. Smith-Rowe was a strong highlight for me too - especially the first half he had.

Can't believe our luck that Frankfurt dropped points to let us finish top, but in a season devoid of it I'll take it.

Sunday's line up with be fascinating.

unsurprising result. Can’t believe how easy we made it - both at the back post where Kolasinac was MIA and ducking in the first. Given the grief Xhaka gets for ducking and walking off slowly both Kola and Ozil deserves some stick for their respective crimes against the fans.

As encouraging as it is to see quality young players out there we are still showing such a lack of quality in our passing, movement, and positioning - pretty much ever element of the game.

Man City were clinical with their chances early on and killed the game. Predictably we aren’t even close to that level, we’re absolutely miles away. We’d have needed them to have a seriously off day just to get a look in.

Some of our play was decent at times but you could see the lack of confidence hanging over the team, and like the rest of our games this year we were amazing at letting the opposition waltz through on the counter attack.

Despite all of that, is anyone else at the end of their tether with Man City’s tactical fouling? It’s absolutely disgusting. They just do it all day long, and no one even talks about this. Kolasinac was injured thanks to that, Pepe took a hammering all game, it’s just relentless, and the refs don’t seem to care what is going on. The yellows need to start earlier, and not stop, with that sort of behaviour. Despite them getting away with a lot of it this morning, they STILL managed 4 yellows before we got a single one, despite a 3 goal lead and superior possession. And then we got a first yellow with a tackle completely identical to many of theirs that had gone unpunished. I don’t recall a single transition from us that didn’t have a Man City foul in it somewhere. If they don’t stop the attack then at the very least they will take a player or two out of it. Pep can lie through his teeth all he wants but it’s 100% clear that they are trained to do this.

Sounds like arteta is our man......

Gotta say I think the club has fudgeed itself over the Ozil comments on Muslim concentration camps in China. It isn't a political issue, its a human rights one. Way to throw a player under the bus. Unfortunately, this doesn't come as surprise as the leadership of the club is lacking at the moment and this is just another shocking example of it.