How Much More Time Should Arsenal Give Emery?

Maybe the problem wasn't Wenger, but the parkas.

This past Sunday, Arsenal lost 3-1 to Manchester City. It dropped Arsenal to 6th place in the Premier League. It was the 21st consecutive time that Arsenal had played an away game against one of the PL's other "top six" teams -- also including Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but not, of course, including themselves -- and failed to win. Played 21, lost 14, drawn 12, won exactly none.

Changing the manager from Arsène Wenger to Unai Emery this past offseason has not changed that: 4 of those 21 have been this season, under Emery.

Many of the games that Arsenal have lost or drawn under Emery are due to his refusal to play certain players. He leaves midfielder Mesut Özil, one of the best players in the world, on the bench -- sometimes, off the team sheet entirely. He has 2 world-class forwards in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, but he often does not start both -- and, when he does, he usually, as was the case on Sunday, doesn't start Özil to provide them with the best possible passing.

A small but loud and obnoxious minority of Arsenal fans believed that all that needed to happen was for Wenger to go and for a new manager, not old and set in his ways, to come in. Wenger is 69, Emery is 47.

It hasn't worked out that way. Instead, Emery is following the pattern he set at Paris Saint-Germain, of alienating his best player (in the case of PSG, Brazilian superstar Neymar), and the team underachieves as a result.

His failure has begun to be noticed. Over the weekend, I saw some tweets from reasonable Arsenal fans objecting to his team selection. I'll leave the names of the Twitterers out:

"You can't keep sending a team out each week with a different formation and expect any fluency. There may be injuries but this team is not functioning because the manager's strategy and tactics are all over the place."

"Do we have the players to stick to a certain style? In my opinion we don't. We need to make tactical changes and prepare for certain sides. Do we need to change it that often? Also don't think so... "

"No defined patterns of play whatsoever so hard for the players to find any sort of consistency"

"He needs more players to beat Cardiff comfortably at home. An impossible task I get it"

And that was before Sunday's game against Manchester City.

The argument is that Özil "doesn't fit Emery's system." Well, apparently, Alex Iwobi does, and these same fans are heaping abuse on Iwobi, who, while talented, just hasn't made it happen at Arsenal. Yet.

If Alex Iwobi fits your system, and Mesut Özil doesn't, you change your system. If you don't, you're the problem.

"Give him time," Emery's supporters say. Most of those were people who refused to give Wenger any more time.

How much more time should we give Emery? To the end of this season? Do you want to finish 8th?

How much more time should we give Emery? Yet another full season? Do you want to be in a relegation scrap?

How much more time should we give Emery? A 3rd full season? Where would you rather spend a Tuesday evening: In a major European city, or Bristol?

The success of former Manchester United player Ole Gunnar Solskjær in reviving that team after firing the much-accomplished, but past-it, manager Jose Mourinho proves that you don't need to give a failing manager more time.

You don't need 3 full seasons to turn a team around. You don't need 2. You don't need 1. You just need one game. Start Özil, and the team will start winning again.

In August 1977, with the Yankees stuck in a 3-way race for the American League Eastern Division title with the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, and manager Billy Martin refusing to bat his big slugger, Reggie Jackson, in the 4th spot in the order, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner called Billy into his office, and issued an ultimatum: "Billy, bat Reggie 4th, every day, or you're fired."

With 2 exceptions, both intended to give Reggie a day's rest down the stretch, Billy started Reggie every game for the rest of the season. In every start, Billy batted Reggie 4th. The Yankees went on to win the World Series.

Unai, play Mesut all 90 minutes, every League game, or you deserve to be fired.

It remains to be seen whether Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke -- perhaps still bummed out over his Los Angeles Rams' capitulation to the New England Patriots in that other game played this past Sunday -- or whoever he has in place to make such a decision will do the right thing.

But the right thing is this: Make Emery play Özil every League game, or fire him.

Arsenal cannot afford to fuck around with this any longer.

Have Arsenal Turned the Corner?

Laurent Koscielny celebrates his goal.

Matteo Guendouzi assists... on the celebration, not on the goal.

In their 1st 2 games of the 2018-19 season, their 1st 2 competitive matches with Unai Emery as their new manager, Arsenal Football Club of North London had bad losses to Manchester City and West London team Chelsea.

This was followed, over all competitions, by a 14-game winning streak and a 22-game unbeaten streak. The people who told us that Arsène Wenger was the problem were ecstatic. They said they had "their Arsenal" back.

Then came the defensive injury crisis, one which Wenger seemed to have to negotiate his way through every year, and Emery did not do it as well.

On top of this, Emery was showing great disrespect to 3 of his 4 best players: He frequently leaves midfielder Mesut Özil off the team sheet entirely, only plays forward Alexandre Lacazette for a half (if at all), and has done both with midfielder Aaron Ramsey. (The other of the 4, forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, has played nearly every minute of the Premier League season.)

Emery cited "tactical reasons" for leaving Özil out. There was talk that Özil "doesn't fit the system."

Mesut Özil is one of the most accomplished active soccer players -- and rises further up the list when you take out players who have cheated, or have benefited from their teammates' cheating. If Mesut Özil does not fit your system, you change your system. You don't punish your teammates by leaving your best player out of the lineup completely.

Arsenal had fallen to 16 points out of 1st place. 7 points behind North London arch-rivals Tottenham, in spite of having beaten them 4-2. 2 points from 15 against good teams (draws with Liverpool and Manchester United, losses to Liverpool and, as previously stated, Manchester City and Chelsea). The most goals allowed by an Arsenal team at this point in the season in the Premier League era.

For the small minority of Arsenal fans who wanted "change," this was the result: Arsenal were looking as bad as they had in the mid-1990s, when George Graham had to leave the manager's post due to corruption charges, and Wenger hadn't yet come in.

Oh yes, they had their Arsenal back. The rest of us, not so much.

But yesterday, Arsenal played Chelsea at home, and decisively beat them, 2-0. Özil was at least put on the bench, but was not permitted to enter the game. Lacazette was, in the starting XI, and showed why his manager should have faith in him, as he scored in the 14th minute. Laurent Koscielny, recovered from a torn Achilles tendon, returned to the centreback position that has given Arsenal so much grief lately, and scored in the 39th. Arsenal played defense the rest of the way, and held the Chavs off.

Was this Arsenal playing very well, confirming Emery's belief in his team selection? Or was it Chelsea simply being bad?

Personally, I don't care which one it was, as long as Arsenal win. And Chelsea, well, we know that there a cheating team run by a Russian mobster, with Nazi fans. As the saying goes, "I hate Tottenham because I'm an Arsenal fan, but I hate Chelsea because I'm a human being."

But all was not well. Right back Hector Bellerin had to leave the game due to a knee injury, and he could be out for the rest of the season, or even at the start of next season. This would be a tremendous loss, as Arsenal are still loaded with defensive injuries, even with the return of Koscielny, who was terrific yesterday, on both offense and defense.

The January transfer window is still underway, and, theoretically, Arsenal could still bring somebody over. But who's kidding who? Arsenal almost never bring in important players in the January transfer window.

It remains to be seen whether this team has turned the corner. I hope they have. I never wanted Arsenal to lose under the new manager, just to justify my desire to have Wenger stay. Surely, Wenger wants Arsenal to win, no matter who their manager is.

Nevertheless, this was by far the biggest game Emery has ever won as Arsenal manager. The hope is that it will lead to other big wins, including Friday night's FA Cup 4th Round match at home to Manchester United.

The fear is that it was a blip on the radar screen, a fluke, an anomaly. And that Arsenal will go back to not getting the job done because of Emery's usual poor team selection.

We shall see.

*

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced: 2, this Tuesday night at 6:00. Yankee Legend Mariano Rivera is expected to be overwhelmingly elected. Mike Mussina is also believed to have a good chance at election.

Days until Arsenal play again: 5, at 2:55 PM New York time this Friday, home to Manchester United, in the 4th round of the FA Cup. West London team Fulham. Hopefully, they can bounce back from the 5-1 disaster away to Liverpool this past Saturday.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 11, on on Thursday night, January 31, 2019, at the Prudential Center, against the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum. The next game against the New York Islanders will be on Thursday night, February 7, at home. The next game against the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth, will be on Friday night, March 1, at home.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 13, on February 2, 2019, a friendly (exhibition game) against Costa Rica at Avaya Stadium, home of the San Jose Earthquakes. Under 2 weeks.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 31, on Wednesday, February 20, away to Atlético Pantoja in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, in the 1st Leg of the Round of 16 of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Days until the next North London Derby: 41, on March 2, with Tottenham as the home team. Whether the "New Tottenham Stadium" will finally be open remains to be seen. This game could be at the new Wembley Stadium. Or at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes. Or, who knows. At any rate, it will be in less than 6 weeks.

Days until the Yankees' 2019 Opening Day: 67, on Thursday, March 28, home to the Baltimore Orioles. A little over 2 months.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 86, on Tuesday, April 16, at Yankee Stadium II. Under 3 months.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 90, on Saturday night, April 20, against the New England Revolution, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The next game against the Philadelphia Union will be on Saturday night, June 8, at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania. The next game against New York City FC will be on Sunday night, July 14, at Red Bull Arena. The next game against D.C. United will be on Wednesday night, August 21, at Audi Field in Washington.

Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 138,  on June 7,  in France. A little under 5 months. The U.S. team is 3-time and defending Champions, but just lost a friendly to the hosts, France.

Days until the Yankees and Red Sox play each other in London: 160, on June 29. A little over 5 months.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 223, on August 31, home to the University of Massachusetts. A little over 7 months.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, because the 2019 schedule hasn't been released yet. Usually, the next season begins on the 1st Friday in September, which would be September 6, which would be 229 days. It has been announced that East Brunswick and Old Bridge would no longer play each other on Thanksgiving Day. That game will now be played earlier in the season, but we don't yet know when.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 314, on Saturday, November 30, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. A little over 10 months.

Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 332, on December 18, 2019. Just 11 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 366, on January 21, 2020. Almost exactly 1 year, or 12 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 551, on July 24, 2020. A shade over a year and a half, or just over 18 months.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 653, on November 3, 2020. Under 2 years, or a little over 21 months.

Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene, and the Republicans can do nothing about it: 714, on January 3, 2021. Under 2 years, or a little under 24 months.

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Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 1,111, on February 4, 2022. A shade over 3 years, or a little over 36 months.

Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off: 1,401, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 4 years, or under 46 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.