Unai Emery

[TRO]

14 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I've posted about this before, but now that the Arsenal match has past, we now have had the highest xGA(expected goals allowed) in the entire league since Emery took over. Something needs to be done about this.

 

 

care to explain this?

[Laughable Chimp]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

care to explain this?

Short version, our defense is really really shit. 

Long version, xGA measures the type and quantity of chances we've conceded and predicts how many goals we're expected conceded. Our xGA is the worst in the entire league since Emery took over.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Laughable Chimp

[TRO]

14 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Our defense is really really shit.

you only have to watch the games, to realise that.....its been like it for ages.

you don't concede with the ease we do, for it to be anything else.

buts its interesting to see, the stats support the visuals.

Edited February 19, 2023 by TRO

[TRO]

14 hours ago, supermon said:

He sounded really angry in the interview but tried to reign it in, he will have it out with these players, especially Martinez. Boy was he not happy about him going up for the set piece.

Neither was I....He's like a loose cannon lately.

Edited February 19, 2023 by TRO

[AVFCforever1991]

2 times in the last 3 weeks we've been leading twice in a game and lose the game, please sort it unai, gracias 

[TreeVillan]

5 hours ago, Tom13 said:

I thought that, what a dumb word to use.

Why should an interviewer presume the person they're talking to wouldn't understand? Just because they're foreign? Are you expecting baby talk or something?

[Leeroy]

6 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Short version, our defense is really really shit. 

Long version, xGA measures the type and quantity of chances we've conceded and predicts how many goals we're expected conceded. Our xGA is the worst in the entire league since Emery took over.

It's not just our defence is sh*t, half of that XGA has come in the last three games. Before that our XGA per game was good on the whole, except in the game against Liverpool.

 

Whatever Emery has done in the last three games, he needs to change it pronto. 11 goals conceded in three games didn't even happen under Gerrard at any point and if it had there would have some people calling for his head. There's more patience with Emery because of the success he's had at other clubs but ultimately he should be judged on what he does here. 

 

The sooner we get to 40 points the better, just want the season to end now.

[Stephen_Evans]

I think Emery will have been unhappy in particular with the playing out from the back.  Not the principle but the choices made.  There were times when players made what was a safe choice for themselves but not for the player they were passing to.  We would play back into the high press rather than around or through it.  Which must have been what Emery was talking about when he referred to being braver or words to that effect.

[Vive_La_Villa]

I think with Emery he clearly knows what he wants and he has the track record to back up that what he wants will work.  

It’s going to be a frustrating ride but I’m really glad all the fans are behind him. It will help. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

18 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

It's not just our defence is sh*t, half of that XGA has come in the last three games. Before that our XGA per game was good on the whole, except in the game against Liverpool.

 

Whatever Emery has done in the last three games, he needs to change it pronto. 11 goals conceded in three games didn't even happen under Gerrard at any point and if it had there would have some people calling for his head. There's more patience with Emery because of the success he's had at other clubs but ultimately he should be judged on what he does here. 

 

The sooner we get to 40 points the better, just want the season to end now.

The Leicester game was a strange result and then we played the stand out 2 best teams in the league back to back. Shipping that many goals is poor but the City game aside anybody watching the other two games will know we should have got something out of them.
 

I think you’re getting a little carried away mate. Especially with the last paragraph.

[Delphinho123]

The playing out from the back is completely on Emery. Managers before him have tried that approach with pretty much the same players and it’s always been a bit of a car crash. 

If something isn’t working, it’s on the manager to change it. 

Emery has everybody’s full support but it’s going to get tedious conceding 3 goals in every game. He needs to sort it out. 

[Zatman]

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

The playing out from the back is completely on Emery. Managers before him have tried that approach with pretty much the same players and it’s always been a bit of a car crash. 

If something isn’t working, it’s on the manager to change it. 

Emery has everybody’s full support but it’s going to get tedious conceding 3 goals in every game. He needs to sort it out. 

The 2nd goal yesterday came from playing out from the back and was one of the best team goals we scored at VP in a while

[thunderball]

You shouldn’t take stats over an isolated few games, you have to average it over a long period to properly understand the trend or characterise a team.

Gerard maybe didn’t concede that many but we were an atrocious mess with no attacking intent or ability. 

We are night and day different to when he arrived and this change will take a little time and some new personnel, but surely you can see that we are so much better? 

When Emery arrived we were 1 point above relegation, the brief was to stop the rot (the goals against). That was prioritised. But you need to progress from parking the bus, it only gets you so far, you need to think about winning as well as not losing. This is where we are: the next step. It teething pains while find what works, inevitably it means being a little bit more open and vulnerable.

 Playing out from the back is how Emery plays. It’s going to happen. He will know who can and who can’t, and in the Summer changes will be made to those who can’t play in his system.

Edited February 19, 2023 by thunderball

[Sulberto21]

IMO the Leicester game was an anomaly as we made 4 catastrophic errors and other than that we should have cake walked that game.

There’s a plan , there’s going to be growing pains and some players will move to the bench and then other teams but it’s a process.

[mallett]

There are some long standing issues with the squad that Unai needs to look into. The ‘profiles’ of too many of our players are too similar. There’s not enough pace and height in the team.

Emery is obviously aware of it as he bought two players with pace in the transfer window (although Moreno doesn’t help with the height issue).

The height issue gives us some real problems at set pieces. I rate  Macphee but when you look at the match ups we have to have you can see why we have such issues. We’re always having to try and be clever to make up for a basic mismatch. It’s poor squad building to allow such an imbalance which is really on Lange.

[maltesemike]

I was surprised at how livid he was in the post-match interview, and rightfully so. It’s refreshing to see our manager demand higher standards. My only fear is that this alienates the squad somehow and it backfires. The difference from previous times though is that the fans and owners are behind the manager 100% and the players have nowhere to hide any longer. It’s on them. Problem is that they are probably not strong enough mentally to step up to the plate. I’m curious about how this approach will pan out but I cannot help feel anxious about it.

[Tomaszk]

12 minutes ago, Zatman said:

The 2nd goal yesterday came from playing out from the back and was one of the best team goals we scored at VP in a while

Yes but we lost. We can't keep giving away gilt edged chances.

16 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

The playing out from the back is completely on Emery. Managers before him have tried that approach with pretty much the same players and it’s always been a bit of a car crash. 

If something isn’t working, it’s on the manager to change it. 

I do think the players are good enough. I think Emery is annoyed they can do it in training but not on a matchday.

It'll be easier with a few additions after the summer.

It isn't just on the defenders though. The midfield have to show.

[NeilS]

10 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

The Leicester game was a strange result and then we played the stand out 2 best teams in the league back to back. Shipping that many goals is poor but the City game aside anybody watching the other two games will know we should have got something out of them.
 

I think you’re getting a little carried away mate. Especially with the last paragraph.

You are right, a little context is needed. We were poor against Man City, we deserved nothing from that game, but they are one of the best teams in Europe who were fired up after the week they had.

Arsenal we were minutes from a decent point, two late goals make the score line look worse, again Arsenal have been one of the best teams this season. We may even had snatched a win if Ramsdale hadn’t tipped Bailey’s effort onto the bar. 

Leicester we were undone by errors after it looked like we were up and running early in that game. Leicester had Maddison back after a long time out, and  were clinical, they followed that result by sticking 4 past Spurs as well.

So to summarise, it is frustrating, on paper the results look bad, we do need to improve drastically at the back. I don’t think it is time to judge the manager, he needs time and patience to instil our new way of playing which should fix the problems we are seeing. This will involve players not up to it being sold on.
 

I think people’s frustration has come about because of the good start with Emery as boss, and they were confident we could push for a top 7 spot and European qualification. I always had it in mind that this group of players have never maintained good form at any period, and a drop off in form was likely. I had reconciled that mid table was our likely finishing point this season which I was content with because we looked like relegation fodder after that Fulham match.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Playing a new way takes time. Question is do we allow that time or just scrap it after a few games?

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, NeilS said:

You are right, a little context is needed. We were poor against Man City, we deserved nothing from that game, but they are one of the best teams in Europe who were fired up after the week they had.

Arsenal we were minutes from a decent point, two late goals make the score line look worse, again Arsenal have been one of the best teams this season. We may even had snatched a win if Ramsdale hadn’t tipped Bailey’s effort onto the bar. 

Leicester we were undone by errors after it looked like we were up and running early in that game. Leicester had Maddison back after a long time out, and  were clinical, they followed that result by sticking 4 past Spurs as well.

So to summarise, it is frustrating, on paper the results look bad, we do need to improve drastically at the back. I don’t think it is time to judge the manager, he needs time and patience to instil our new way of playing which should fix the problems we are seeing. This will involve players not up to it being sold on.
 

I think people’s frustration has come about because of the good start with Emery as boss, and they were confident we could push for a top 7 spot and European qualification. I always had it in mind that this group of players have never maintained good form at any period, and a drop off in form was likely. I had reconciled that mid table was our likely finishing point this season which I was content with because we looked like relegation fodder after that Fulham match.

Spot on. It’s why I didn’t get too excited by the start. We saw a new manager bounce under Gerrard and his a charlatan!  They happen: Eventually we were going to come up against better teams and drop points. The Leicester one still hard to take as we were so much better but I expect very tight games in the next 3  and probably 4-6 points.