KMitch

Blasphemous! Don't you know that football stopped in 1982? Ever since then it's been just oil money, dodgy technology, and tippy tappy shite...

Good stuff happening out on the left with Moreno, Buendia, & Ramsey combining well.

Why? It's pretty black and white he was offsite by a foot. It's not like some of the very subjective "goalkeeper interference" calls which always seem to go against us, but never are called in our favor.

Everyone said the same about KKH when he was recalled in January, but he can't even make the bench which has 2 goalkeepers on it... The point is that we massively overrate our young players and expecting a player failing to stand out in a relegation threatened Championship team to suddenly break into our squad next season, with Emery and a reportedly record high transfer warchest isn't realistic, IMO.

Sounds like he's given the same out of context/misquoted answer he gave L'Equipe a month back when everyone was sure he's off this summer... He's the one player I can see Emery doing everything he can to keep here and build around over the next few seasons. Everyone else is much easier to replace if we do get a good offer for them.

I don't see Tim getting into the squad next season, especially with us splashing the cash on a Guendouzi/Merino midfielder this summer... He's been awful for QPR since Beale fooked off to Rangers and their fans don't have many good things to say about him.

Wan Bissaka is literally the prototypical RB for Emery's system. He's one of the best 1v1 defenders in the Premier League, rapid as fook, and led the league in defensive statistics for Palace before ManUre stalled out his career. He's been playing very well for them this season, but I think they're going to try to offload him this summer for a more attacking fullback.

Earlier today, I rewatched the extended 10-15 minute highlights from all our games under Emery so far. I noticed a lot of little things and trends about our play that I hadn't when watching every match live the first go around, but the biggest thing which stood out to me is just how many points Emi Martinez has won us on his own. It's unreal how many world class saves Dibu has made for us, just under Emery's watch, not to mention under Smith & Gerrard. I don't want to lose him this summer... Unless someone comes in with a 100+ million pound offer for him and he really has his heart set on leaving, we shouldn't even entertain the idea of letting him go because it would be extremely hard to replace him with someone that has just 80% of his quality. I would love nothing more than to see him winning a penalty shootout for the Villa at Wembley while winding up the opposition like he has done for Argentina. Very happy for him winning this award today and that he's finally getting recognition for his ability outside of Argentina & Villa/Arsenal. Other clubs' fans absolutely despise him on the level of a Luiz Suarez/Ronaldo type player both for his shithousing and his genuine world class ability to keep us in games we shouldn't be in.

Great post. Also, typically more space opens up around the pitch in the 2nd half when legs get tired and subs change the original tactical gameplan of both teams. Buendia at Norwich was deadly when given time and space to pick out the right pass, but oftentimes in the Prem he gets tightly marked and muscled off the ball before he can do anything with the ball. To your point about his maturity and frustration, he strikes me as a player always a bit naïve tactically. I think it's because all his past managers gave him a lot of freedom to just be himself on the pitch, because for all his mistakes at times, he's always had that "moment of magic" in him which wins games. Little bad decisions he would usually make under Smith or Gerrard like backheeling to a teammate in our own box, or going down way to easily trying to win a soft foul while our team is overloaded forward causing an opposition counterattack, etc. have started to be cut out these past few games. His decision making is starting to improve and I think he's starting to finally get that high level coaching he needed to be successful in the Premier League.

I honestly don't think Potter would have been a bad appointment instead of Gerrard... but Emery is in another class all together. Potter is in over his head at Chelsea now because they're going all in on this newer younger rebuilding team, but Chelsea the club has always had a "win now" mentality since Abramovich took over their club. Their fans aren't used to seeing them struggle like this and are turning on him. I can't see him surviving the rest of the season at this point and they'll try to bring in another elite manager.

You need to keep in mind too that massive change in team culture doesn't happen overnight. It needs to be drip fed over time to see serious results. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to lose games. We're going to be frustrated as fans at times, but we've already seen glimpses of just how awesome Emeryball can be. The payoff will be worth it. Also, some players are going to take longer to learn and adapt to this style of football than others. Take for example Ollie's form since Emery came to the club. He is a very quick learner and is starting to look like the player we hoped he would be for us when we spent all that money on him a few seasons back. Mings is another very quick learner himself, considering he didn't even play as a central defender until he came to Villa and ended up in the England squad the following season. He's mentioned how Emery's coaching staff is teaching him more about the CB position than he thought was possible and has spoken about how much nuance there is with Emery's tactics. It's paying off and he's already improved a lot, especially in possession. Other players will take a lot longer to adapt to this new way of playing and approach to the game. The only way they're going to learn is by playing, making mistakes, and learning from them. Just saying "we can't afford to make mistakes" and switch back to a low block and hoof ball because a lot of our team hasn't built from the back before is just going to delay the learning process. It would be different if we were Dyche's Burnley and had a back line of thuggish cloggers trying to do this, but we have a world cup winning keeper, 3 international defenders, and Konsa, who is a serviceable enough backup, but will be dropped for a massive upgrade in Diego Carlos when he's fully fit again. These players can do this, but they will need time to figure it out themselves.

Same. Newcastle fans are the biggest knobheads out there and I love watching them suffer.

Karius is a horrific keeper... My god that was pathetic.

Not going to lie, that was one of the worst ref'ed games I've seen this season. I'd be fuming if I was an Everton fan. MOM - Ollie - Outstanding when the ball came his way. Getting back to his best with hold up play. Honorable mentions: Kamara - Outstanding again today as well. Back to his best on both sides of the ball. His passing forward is something special at times and I found myself amazed he was able to thread the needle on several key passes forward. McGinn - I was critical of him in the first half, but he was everywhere in the 2nd half. Buendia on for Bailey allowed him more space on the ball and options forward. Mings - Kept us in the game with his goal line clearance and covering for Konsa's mistakes. Unsung hero at the back once again. Martinez - Another fantastic save in the first half to keep us in the game again. Buendia - Singlehandedly turned around our non-existent attacking threat when he came on. Deserved his goal and worked hard off the ball. Improvement needed: Bailey - N'Zogbia 2.0 again... It's really like playing with 10 men when he can't be bothered. Needs to be the first player replaced this summer. Digne - I don't know if it was because he was playing against Everton and the crowd was on his back or if he's losing confidence, but he was dreadful again today. Blatantly being targeted by the opposition now. JJ - Was a little better in the second half, but was completely anonymous in the first. Short on confidence right now and needs a goal to turn it around now. Manager Performance: Another solid win. Players are short on confidence after 3 losses in a row, but after our two goals, we comfortably saw that out. I'm continuing to back Emery 100%, regardless of the results. He's a proven winner and he's going to get us back into Europe within 3 seasons at this rate. That said, we will win some ugly games like this and lose others we should win, but that's part of the process.

It's like a kid playing dress up in their parents' closet

Set piece defending is still shocking... Some of the worst I've seen in years these past few games.

That goal was 100% from great hold up play from Watkins, who has been outstanding today.

EMI!!!! 3 POINTS!!!

Emi & yellow cards for timewasting... Name a more iconic duo.

Did you not see their knees clacking together when the Everton defender missed the ball all together?

It's as stonewall of a penalty as I've ever seen... No idea what you're on about.

PENO!!!! GET IN THERE!!!

How did that not go in??????? Unlucky there... Good again from Ollie!

No, it's more of the same that we've seen over the past 3 seasons from McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey, & Bailey... The crowd gets on their back and the opposition presses them in possession, and we stop moving to create an option for the ball carrier/make hospital passes and give the ball away. Emery is a serial winner and the players need to step the fook up or get the fook out. Sick and tired of seeing this same behavior, regardless of who is in the manager's dugout. Many of the players starting for us aren't good enough and Emery, Pep, or fooking Mourinho isn't going to magically make them better by playing a low block.

It's not like we're Dyche's Burnley being asked to play Tiki-taka... These are modern footballers being asked to play a very standard style of football in the Premier League today... Emery is doing the right thing. Changing culture is a slow process which requires drip feeding week after week. Doing the opposite and ripping up the gameplan every week when it didn't work and trying something new was what Gerrard did at his worst, and it only made our play worse on the pitch. No, this squad isn't as good as it would appear we should be on paper. If the players can't figure it out, they'll be shipped out this summer and we'll find ones who will fit better.