Unai Emery

[Vive_La_Villa]

9 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

Most new managers come in with the let’s become hard to beat approach then focus on our style of play later often the latter  never happens they find success with the initial hard to beat model and stick with it riding that wave of momentum and renewed feel good factor, then it stagnates and the wins turn to draws then the draws turn to losses. Examples of this West Ham and Newcastle. I would rather focus on the way we want to play from the off and build a sustainable identity to our play style like say Brighton.

Great point. It’s crazy how quick fans forget the Steven Gerrard ‘pragmatic’ approach that started grinding out points. 

Anybody that wants to go back to that you’re more than welcome to take my season ticket off me.

Sounds really bizarre considering we just shipped 8 goals in last 2 home games but I’m actually looking forward to going games again. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

14 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Haha very true. Keeps you reading though. 

The latest take i've read on FB, is that there is obviously a conspiracy by the club, to alienate Emi Martinez and make him less popular so that when he is sold people are less upset. 

As well as it being obvious that we need to sell him to generate funds, and this is why we are doing this etc.

That was in a well written post as well.

As if alienating and falling out with your number one keeper and a popular character at the club, on purpose, with a third of the season left to go would make any sort of logical sense. ( Whether that be with regards to team performance or his actual value ) lol

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

The latest take i've read on FB, is that there is obviously a conspiracy by the club, to alienate Emi Martinez and make him less popular so that when he is sold people are less upset. 

As well as it being obvious that we need to sell him to generate funds, and this is why we are doing this etc.

That was in a well written post as well.

As if alienating and falling out with your number one keeper and a popular character at the club, on purpose, with a third of the season left to go would make any sort of logical sense. ( Whether that be with regards to team performance or his actual value ) lol

It’s one of many reasons I deleted my Facebook account years ago mate. 

[CVByrne]

I think we've seen worrying signed in terms of how Emery wants us to progress. It feels very similar to Gerrard. Our performances improved when they both came in based of a solid defensive shape, players working hard and us nicking games with pretty clinical finishing (scoring more goals than our xG). Then when we start to try control games more and build from the back and try dominate possession more you see us start to concede more and have more xGA. I think the flaws in the team are showing again. 

I know Emery will be able to change this with new players. I think he is frustrated that the players just can't execute what he wants on the pitch but they seem to be doing so in training. 

[Made In Aston]

5 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I know Emery will be able to change this with new players. I think he is frustrated that the players just can't execute what he wants on the pitch but they seem to be doing so in training. 

It's a lot more difficult to do it in a match scenario when faced with well coached, tactically astute world class players, which has been the case the last two games. 

[DJBOB]

The key will be whether or not Unai can stick to the program and tweak it to utilize players on hand. 

Like Ten Hag getting embarrassed and everyone questioning Arteta in the beginning, there should rightfully be questions during poor runs. 

But the difference between Unai and Gerrard is that Gerrard continued bashing his head against a wall and then reverted to Brexit ball. I think Unai will find a way and will be backed. 

Im not too fussed about the results against Arsenal and City. 

A more telling measure for the current squad and what Unai can do is this run all the way through Newcastle and Brentford. A mix of teams at or below our level and around the time Gerrard collapsed 

Edited February 20, 2023 by DJBOB

[Tayls]

Does anyone reckon Unai is getting frustrated with the squad? Do we think the players are struggling with his philosophies? (despite what is often said about them listening well etc). I get the feeling that he is hard on himself after each defeat, but is that because he has got things wrong tactically with the team, or because he hasn’t coached individuals properly to do what he wants them to do… 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Tayls

[Tom13]

41 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think we've seen worrying signed in terms of how Emery wants us to progress. It feels very similar to Gerrard. Our performances improved when they both came in based of a solid defensive shape, players working hard and us nicking games with pretty clinical finishing (scoring more goals than our xG). Then when we start to try control games more and build from the back and try dominate possession more you see us start to concede more and have more xGA. I think the flaws in the team are showing again. 

I know Emery will be able to change this with new players. I think he is frustrated that the players just can't execute what he wants on the pitch but they seem to be doing so in training. 

It's almost as if the players pressing them in training (assuming our second XI) aren't as intense in the press as Arsenal and City

[Tom13]

17 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Does anyone reckon Unai is getting frustrated with the squad? Do we think they they are struggling with his philosophies? (despite what is often said about them listening well etc). I get the feeling that he is hard on himself after each defeat, but is that because he has got things wrong tactically with the team, or because he hasn’t coached individuals properly to do what he wants them to do… 

I don't know. I think the interviews on Sat could have been a bit reactionary. He's just lost against his old club, and it meant we had now conceded 11 goals in our last 3 games. Emi obviously irritated him as well. Maybe he's calmed down a bit since and looked at the bigger picture, but we need to start picking up points again, that's for sure.

I actually think the Arsenal performance was the least concerning of the three, but completely understand where he was coming from when he said we have some good transitional moments, but are generally wishing the 90 minutes away. We need a big mentality switch.

[CVByrne]

5 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

It's almost as if the players pressing them in training (assuming our second XI) aren't as intense in the press as Arsenal and City

I was really referring to Leeds

[Tayls]

9 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

I don't know. I think the interviews on Sat could have been a bit reactionary. He's just lost against his old club, and it meant we had now conceded 11 goals in our last 3 games. Emi obviously irritated him as well. Maybe he's calmed down a bit since and looked at the bigger picture, but we need to start picking up points again, that's for sure.

I actually think the Arsenal performance was the least concerning of the three, but completely understand where he was coming from when he said we have some good transitional moments, but are generally wishing the 90 minutes away. We need a big mentality switch.

Yea we really do need a mentality switch. Mindset has been a bit thing for us over the past few seasons and some players just cannot change theirs to what we need it to be - ie, a winning mentality. 

[Rightdm00]

12 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Yea we really do need a mentality switch. Mindset has been a bit thing for us over the past few seasons and some players just cannot change theirs to what we need it to be - ie, a winning mentality. 

Don't how many have gone through a wholesale culture change at work. I am coming out the other end of one and it's been a tedious 2+ years to get here. You have bring in new individuals, retrain everyone from the old regime all while maintaining some level of acceptable production. 

Performance will drop. Their really isn't a way around it. You can't focus on retraining and day to day performance. The human body isn't a machine. People will need to have patience. We are still probably a full season away before we start seeing the wholesale mentality change we all want. 

[Keyblade]

2 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think we've seen worrying signed in terms of how Emery wants us to progress. It feels very similar to Gerrard. Our performances improved when they both came in based of a solid defensive shape, players working hard and us nicking games with pretty clinical finishing (scoring more goals than our xG). Then when we start to try control games more and build from the back and try dominate possession more you see us start to concede more and have more xGA. I think the flaws in the team are showing again. 

I know Emery will be able to change this with new players. I think he is frustrated that the players just can't execute what he wants on the pitch but they seem to be doing so in training. 

I think the key difference is Emery clearly has a plan on how he wants to achieve it and has done so at various clubs in his career, unlike Gerrard who was a complete rookie and caved as soon as things started getting rough.

[ozvillafan]

1 hour ago, Tayls said:

Yea we really do need a mentality switch. Mindset has been a bit thing for us over the past few seasons and some players just cannot change theirs to what we need it to be - ie, a winning mentality. 

Aye - we are missing a ruthless streak. How many times have we been in good positions in games and we let it slip? Apart from the past 2 home games, how about Man City away last year? Or Wolves at home?

How many times do we score, only to concede within the next 5-10 minutes?

Thankfully, I can see what Unai is trying to do. He wants to control games and to do that, you need to control possession. Our play out from the back and general movement of the ball is much better than under our former managers.

I'm hoping it all clicks soon

[useless]

But wins and losses alike are both the greatest of teachers. There will be short term sacrifices for the longer term good.

Edited February 21, 2023 by useless

[MaVilla]

1 hour ago, ozvillafan said:

Aye - we are missing a ruthless streak. How many times have we been in good positions in games and we let it slip? Apart from the past 2 home games, how about Man City away last year? Or Wolves at home?

How many times do we score, only to concede within the next 5-10 minutes?

Thankfully, I can see what Unai is trying to do. He wants to control games and to do that, you need to control possession. Our play out from the back and general movement of the ball is much better than under our former managers.

I'm hoping it all clicks soon

i dont mean this negatively, its just an observation (ie: my opinion), it will click when we improve the team with a few more players who are capable of playing the system Emery wants, i would guess we prob need at least 4 new starters to really have the technical/physical/athletic attributes to suit Emery's style.

I really hope he is backed to the hilt in the summer, because i think Emery's system played well, by an entire team suited to it, would be great to watch.

[birdman]

I see the Arsenal game as generally very positive. Unai was rightly pissed off but we were competing well albeit bringing unnecessary pressure on ourselves. We now need a strong finish to the season. The next 5 games needs to yield at least 8 points hopefully more. I dont have many worries think we're on the right track.

[Vancvillan]

10 hours ago, Rightdm00 said:

Don't how many have gone through a wholesale culture change at work. I am coming out the other end of one and it's been a tedious 2+ years to get here. You have bring in new individuals, retrain everyone from the old regime all while maintaining some level of acceptable production. 

Performance will drop. Their really isn't a way around it. You can't focus on retraining and day to day performance. The human body isn't a machine. People will need to have patience. We are still probably a full season away before we start seeing the wholesale mentality change we all want. 

Can't give this more than one like unfortunately. 

People complain about the culture, and on the other hand don't want to see bad results week to week.

I don't really care where we finish now - we're not getting in Europe and we're not getting relegated. Use the remainder of the season for UE to do what he needs to do to change things.

I also don't buy that new players won't come because we finish 12th instead of 9th.

[romavillan]

7 hours ago, useless said:

But wins and losses alike are both the greatest of teachers. There will be short term sacrifices for the longer term good.

Very wise, too wise for this thread. In here you need to be saying Emery isn't good enough as we've shipped goals against two of the best sides in Europe. Keep up.

[Tayls]

2 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Very wise, too wise for this thread. In here you need to be saying Emery isn't good enough as we've shipped goals against two of the best sides in Europe. Keep up.

(And Leicester - don’t forget the four conceded to them…at home)