A home game against Southampton FC, the league’s penultimate side, you got this Arsenal FC, right? We know the Gunners are super strong at home, and hosting the team with the league’s worst goal differential, it’s a no doubter, right?
Well, actually not, and today’s 2-2 draw, in which Southampton really dropped two points in the final minute, gave the #EmeryOut crowd more material than they’ll ever need to work with. Arsenal manager Unai Emery’s seat had been warming already, but now it’s absolutely scorching as Arsenal managed just a draw against what had been arguably the league’s worst team this season.
Is this what Arsenal have become under Emery? A disorganised mess, a team lacking leadership, direction, strategy, communication, tactical nous, an inability to adapt when things are awry, a lack of creative spark & defensive understanding & a tangible lack of pride in the shirt pic.twitter.com/inlm9IzD8M
— Layth (@laythy29) November 23, 2019
It was also a game that the Gunners absolutely deserved to lose, because as anyone who watched it will tell you- they could have easily scored five goals in this one and definitely should have scored way more than just two. Unai Emery, like most coaches, is an expert at giving platitudes and speaking without saying anything in press conferences.
He’s an expert at regurgitating the party line, but there are no cliches or coachspeak that he can recite to explain away this one. Arsenal, Southampton and Unai Emery are all trending right now on Twitter, but for all the wrong reasons, if you’re a Gooner.
Let’s take a spin through some of the more interesting, though-provoking and sometimes comical Twitter postings on this topic.
https://twitter.com/360Sources/status/1198285608587857920
https://twitter.com/arseblog/status/1198285848170635264
Local Man suffers yet another heartbreak ?. Arsenal o ??.
•#arsenal #southampton #emery #football #emirates #heartbreak pic.twitter.com/aSIAGNKKuW— Dr. Kelechi Anyikude (@KelechiAFC) November 23, 2019
If Arsenal have any ambition they would sack Unai Emery and make a move for Mauricio Pochettino pic.twitter.com/Mae7jyLmoH
— ARSENAL (@tomgunner14) November 23, 2019
It will be interesting to see where Unai Emery and Arsenal go from here, but naturally, as you can see from the tweet above, Mauricio Pochettino speculation will start soon.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.