Unai Emery

[HKP90]

12 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.

It sounded to me like the Emi thing was just an example of the team not listening to the coaching. He said (paraphrasing) that they work on a system in training, but that the team do something else completely on the pitch. 

As a parent of small kids I can tell you how massively frustrating it is when people don't listen. Unfortunately unlike UE, I can't sell mine and buy replacements (I jest).

I expect major surgery in the summer, I just hope that we can get there in one piece. 

I'm on the side of Emery here, 100%, but if he loses the dressing room, because of players who are not receptive of change, this could be a long season. 

Hopefully we get the points against Everton, and this problem can get filed away for a few weeks, until it no longer matters. 

I think there will be dark times, but if we can get through them and then give Emery the keys to the Kingdom, we can build something great here. We don't necessarily need brilliant players in the short term, we need players who can execute a plan. Because Emery has loads of them.

Edited February 19, 2023 by HKP90

[Delphinho123]

21 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

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

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.

I agree it’s a collective effort but surely even if it’s working on the training pitch but not on match day, he needs to rein it in a bit. 

Fed up of gifting chances to the opposition because we can’t pass it out properly. 

[Delphinho123]

38 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

Great. What was the score again?

[thunderball]

A few other things to consider:

Context - Beating Leicester meant moving to 8th. That would have been huge, if short lived. Results for others in the table have continued to suggest that these last three results have been expensive. I have to say only Fulham have been consistent and I least expected that!

Man City - bad time to play them. As good as any team in the world at the moment. We rattled them too for 20 minutes.

Home/Away - we have been poor at home, maybe because the expectation is to win and have possession. We currently, and Emery generally, play better on the break, so away results (except Man City) have maybe understandably have been better. We need to improve possession and how we use that to improve results.

Arsenal have done this under Arteta, it’s why they are now so effective. Playing from the back is a big part of controlling a game and improving possession. We lost so much of the 50/50 stuff yesterday and generally conceded midfield. We were at our worst yesterday when Martinez kicked long., and it felt like it happened a lot, more than any other time since Emery’s arrival. Arsenal had so much more final third possession too. We have three positions in that midfield/forward line that we haven’t quite got right. Judge us when this is sorted.

Edited February 19, 2023 by thunderball

[HKP90]

We're trying to change a culture here. The difficulty of this can not be overstated.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Just watched another of his post match pressers.

It's the most vocal and pissed off I think i've seen him.

I love how he basically admits that there is always a " New Manager bounce " with players, but it's about how they go from there.

Some players definitely won't be surviving past summer IMO.

I think the fact that it was Arsenal and we gave away an additional 4th goal which makes the optics look worse really wound him up.

As another poster said, players have been able to outlast and hide behind Managers until they've been sacked.. they'll have no such luxury this time round.

[HKP90]

4 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Just watched another of his post match pressers.

It's the most vocal and pissed off I think i've seen him.

I love how he basically admits that there is always a " New Manager bounce " with players, but it's about how they go from there.

Some players definitely won't be surviving past summer IMO.

I think the fact that it was Arsenal and we gave away an additional 4th goal which makes the optics look worse really wound him up.

As another poster said, players have been able to outlast and hide behind Managers until they've been sacked.. they'll have no such luxury this time round.

Amen. I think this team needs a real shake up.

[jacketspuds]

Hopefully he has a plan for hoofy Dyche-ball at Everton next week as it’s going to be a struggle if not.

The players need to start doing what Emery asks of them, on a consistent basis, otherwise this season will fizzle out.

[Tayls]

Always was going to be a case of having to change the playing personnel once Emery was appointed… that’s if we survive. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 minute ago, Tayls said:

Always was going to be a case of having to change the playing personnel once Emery was appointed… that’s if we survive. 

You don't think we are capable of picking up another 10 - 12 points over the rest of the season?

[Tomaszk]

18 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I agree it’s a collective effort but surely even if it’s working on the training pitch but not on match day, he needs to rein it in a bit. 

Fed up of gifting chances to the opposition because we can’t pass it out properly. 

I don't mind Emery demanding it...for now. We've only had 11 games under him or something. Feels much longer I know.

Next week at Everton, I don't think they'll press us anywhere near as much and I expect us to build some great opportunities.

Two simple things that we can do better on a matchday that will help so much.

The two advanced midfielders need to get in the game when our defence are in possession.

Everyone needs to stop going back to the keeper when it's easy. The relief the other team gets us unreal.

[Zatman]

He still has a 50% league win record and we have played 6 of the top 8 in his first 10 league games

[Tomaszk]

3 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He still has a 50% league win record and we have played 6 of the top 8 in his first 10 league games

Worth remembering.

[Zatman]

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

Worth remembering.

At the end of the day I dont mind losing at home to Arsenal once we give them a game and you could see from there celebrations they were in a game

Around this time last season we played Arsenal similar Saturday midday kick off and we didnt even lay a glove on them. It was gutless

[Sulberto21]

10 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I don't mind Emery demanding it...for now. We've only had 11 games under him or something. Feels much longer I know.

Next week at Everton, I don't think they'll press us anywhere near as much and I expect us to build some great opportunities.

Two simple things that we can do better on a matchday that will help so much.

The two advanced midfielders need to get in the game when our defence are in possession.

Everyone needs to stop going back to the keeper when it's easy. The relief the other team gets us unreal.

I think our second striker needs to improve here as well. Both Bailey and Buendia have given up possession cheaply and it’s not even funny anymore. 

[Tayls]

13 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You don't think we are capable of picking up another 10 - 12 points over the rest of the season?

Who knows what we are capable of! 

[Sulberto21]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

At the end of the day I dont mind losing at home to Arsenal once we give them a game and you could see from there celebrations they were in a game

Around this time last season we played Arsenal similar Saturday midday kick off and we didnt even lay a glove on them. It was gutless

For me the Liverpool and Leicester results rankle me more. We had enough chances in both games to win.

[Laughable Chimp]

10 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He still has a 50% league win record and we have played 6 of the top 8 in his first 10 league games

We've also played 4 of the bottom 6 in his first 10 league games. Lets not try and pretend like he's had a heavily unbalanced fixture list here. If you averaged the current positions of all the teams we've faced with him, its 9.6. Pretty much close to bang on in the middle.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Laughable Chimp

[HKP90]

2 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

I think our second striker needs to improve here as well. Both Bailey and Buendia have given up possession cheaply and it’s not even funny anymore. 

You think Jhon is almost ready for a start? I think I do. That said he was blowing a bit even after his cameo, so maybe we need to build his fitness a bit.

[Tayls]

13 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I don't mind Emery demanding it...for now. We've only had 11 games under him or something. Feels much longer I know.

Next week at Everton, I don't think they'll press us anywhere near as much and I expect us to build some great opportunities.

Two simple things that we can do better on a matchday that will help so much.

The two advanced midfielders need to get in the game when our defence are in possession.

Everyone needs to stop going back to the keeper when it's easy. The relief the other team gets us unreal.

Everton are really really tight now. We will struggle to penetrate through them [kenneth]. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grab a goal very late on via a set piece (queue goal from Dwight McNeil). Will be very worrying then..