Furious
Emery Gone, Telly Back On
:rofl:
You and the likes of @Cazorlinho were banging on about how a new manager would improve this squad to new heights.
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Unai Emery, half season report card
- Thread starter SA Gunner
- Start date
- Replies 168
- Views 15,594
:rofl:
You and the likes of @Cazorlinho were banging on about how a new manager would improve this squad to new heights.
https://arsenal-mania.com/forum/threads/expectations-from-emerys-first-season-2018-19.30995/
Interesting to see the poll results for the expectations people had coming into this season
Interesting to see the poll results for the expectations people had coming into this season
Giroud12
Active Member
Well, I don´t think its that easy. Sokratis had been struggling at Dortmund, Torreira was unproven at this level, many people were questioning Leno, and Lich isn´t exactly helping us out. Wenger would for sure get the same old 4-0 hammerings with these players. That being said, I would agree that if he does 80% of what Wenger did, I´d be very happy too, but I think you can say that about pretty much any manager.
Ceballinhos
Cheating on Santi
And it's been working for most of the players yes.
Cech, Mustafi, Bellerin, Xhaka, Lacazette, Welbeck, Kolasinac Holding are all performing better than they were last year.
We haven't been outplayed a single time this season so far except for the first game of the season.
So that's a massive improvement from last year.
We're working way harder. Our players have a much better mentality. We're winning away games.
Those are facts and are signs that we're improving.
But good coaching can't make up for all the gap there is in squad quality between us and the better teams in the PL.
Especially when you lose Mustafi-Bellerin-Monreal-Welbeck-Mikhi-Holding in such a short span of time who were all important in Emery's plans.
Ricardinho
La Liga Correspondent
And looking ahead to the second half of the season - challenging for the top4 is the aim but finishing above united is a must for Emery. Won't look good if a manager that failed at Cardiff city waltzes in half way through the season and takes united above us.
6/10 for me.. Results wise pretty good, we’re still in a nice position for top 4. Performance wise not so good and I expect much better for the 2nd half of the season
Manberg
Predator
I agree with the majority outcome of the previous poll. Champions League football next season is the minimum requirement for me, whether that is by achieving top 4 or winning the Europa League. Anything less and this season has to go down as a failure. I and surely many others cannot handle being in the Europa League yet again, it is degrading and humiliating.
Other than Fullham, Liverpool, Sp**s and maybe Leicester we've been bang on mediocre. Can't think of any other games where we dominated most of the game.
Think the unbeaten run, while great/amazing, papered over the cracks of how close/lucky we were in some matches (which is a positive for Emery, since some of those we would've lost under Arsène).
tap-in
Nothing Wrong With Me
I agree in terms of performances but I look at the points and position and have to conclude we're doing as well if not better than I could have hoped for. The fact there is so much room for improvement and we're still 5th with 38pts has to be a positive.
7 from 10 our target is to get back to CL football and we doing that he improved our performance in big games when we were totally accepting to get outplayed in every big game last few years he improved our away form.
The few negatives are we are not preforming at home against smaller teams like we did last few seasons he still hasn't found his best 11 yet changing the formation too much 4231 3421 and now 4312 i don't think he'll ever find with current squad because there too many underperforming players
The few negatives are we are not preforming at home against smaller teams like we did last few seasons he still hasn't found his best 11 yet changing the formation too much 4231 3421 and now 4312 i don't think he'll ever find with current squad because there too many underperforming players
Manberg
Predator
In comparison to the teams above us it’s not been that good. We’ve dropped too many points to teams lower in the table whilst the teams above us generally haven’t had such problems. It’s looking likely that we come out of the weekend 10 points behind Sp**s already and that’s pretty appalling if you ask me.
Preacher
Always Crying
Some players improved, some don't, but you can't find a good balance with a half decent team. Lack of width, squad depth at CM and poor defending players are killing us. Team balance is the main key for winning.
I don't remember anything about banging on about how a new manager would improve this squad to new heights(if you consider top 4 a new height when I agree with you), but I made a mistake myself and overrated few players too much. Also I underrated the balance and mentality, which Wenger left us with. Almost all the latest Wenger's transfers didn't make sense and/or was poor signings, you can't fix it all in one transfer window, especially with our budget.
People always compares Emery's results this season to Liverpool and Sp**s, completely ignoring the context that those teams are much further down the "process" as he calls it than we are. If you want a real comparison at this stage it's better to look at where those two managers were after their first 19 matches:
Emery
11 wins
3 losses
5 draws
=38 points
Klopp
8 wins
6 losses
5 draws
=29 points
Pochettino
9 wins
6 losses
4 draws
=31 points
A lot of people make excuses for the latter two in that they didn't have "their players", but don't make such allowances for Emery. It's still a valid point when you look at how their teams have evolved from their first match in charge to now:
Other than Lloris, Dier and Eriksen, it's a different team. Rose and Lamela are squad players, and while Kane came on a sub in this match, he was 3rd in the pecking order at the time. The other 6 are no longer at the club.
Same thing with Liverpool: Milner is still playing a key role, but the team has changed drastically outside of him. Mignolet, Moreno, Clyne, Origi and Lallana are still around as squad players but at least four of them could leave this summer.
Now look at Emery's first Arsenal team:
How many of those players are going to be around in 3/4 years? Leno and Torreira came on as subs, I think they probably will be. Unless they're tempted elsewhere we can add Bellerin, Guendouzi, Xhaka and Aubameyang. Outside of those positions, the defence and attack are going to need major retooling so we still need to see the evolution of the squad under Emery/Sven/Raul.
The last few weeks have been frustrating but I don't want to condemn Emery based on what he's done with another manager's players. He needs a few more transfer windows, and tbf, he also needs to earn the right to make wholesale changes by getting CL football at some point soon. I think the up and down performances will continue until he gets defenders he trusts and upgrades in attack, but the current squad should have enough talent to get the results to achieve top 4. It's up to Emery now to find the formula to do it.
Emery
11 wins
3 losses
5 draws
=38 points
Klopp
8 wins
6 losses
5 draws
=29 points
Pochettino
9 wins
6 losses
4 draws
=31 points
A lot of people make excuses for the latter two in that they didn't have "their players", but don't make such allowances for Emery. It's still a valid point when you look at how their teams have evolved from their first match in charge to now:
Other than Lloris, Dier and Eriksen, it's a different team. Rose and Lamela are squad players, and while Kane came on a sub in this match, he was 3rd in the pecking order at the time. The other 6 are no longer at the club.
Same thing with Liverpool: Milner is still playing a key role, but the team has changed drastically outside of him. Mignolet, Moreno, Clyne, Origi and Lallana are still around as squad players but at least four of them could leave this summer.
Now look at Emery's first Arsenal team:
How many of those players are going to be around in 3/4 years? Leno and Torreira came on as subs, I think they probably will be. Unless they're tempted elsewhere we can add Bellerin, Guendouzi, Xhaka and Aubameyang. Outside of those positions, the defence and attack are going to need major retooling so we still need to see the evolution of the squad under Emery/Sven/Raul.
The last few weeks have been frustrating but I don't want to condemn Emery based on what he's done with another manager's players. He needs a few more transfer windows, and tbf, he also needs to earn the right to make wholesale changes by getting CL football at some point soon. I think the up and down performances will continue until he gets defenders he trusts and upgrades in attack, but the current squad should have enough talent to get the results to achieve top 4. It's up to Emery now to find the formula to do it.
Manberg
Predator
@American_Gooner Why do we need to wait 3 or 4 years? Why couldn’t Emery use the summer to drastically change the squad into his perception of what it should be?
juice man
Can't make his mind up
I could be wrong, but is there any good examples of squads being totally overhauled in one summer to great effect? Sp**s tried to do it when Bale left, and they were left reeling for several seasons after that. It’s just not a feasible approach to sustained success IMO.
I used that time period to compare line-ups because I was comparing him to Pochettino and Klopp, and that's how long they've been at their clubs.
People have been saying things like "Tottenham battered Bournemouth while we can't even beat Brighton", while ignoring that Tottenham have built their squad over a period of 3 years. I do agree that Emery can use the summer to make big changes, and I would expect the XI on matchday 1 to look very different to this season's. However, you look at the two teams I mentioned and it took 4-5 windows for them to build a 25 man squad that can challenge for the title which is what we're all hoping to do.
Again, I'm absolutely not saying give Emery a free pass for years but fixing the first XI and the back-ups takes some time.
grange
Losing my brain cells 🥸
Country: USA
Player:Havertz
He came into an impossible situation and is doing much better than I anticipated. Kroenke and company gave him a disjointed squad missing key pieces in every area except maybe striker. Wenger was a coaching legend and able to keep a squad like that competing year in and year out until the bottom dropped out. He deserves every compliment for that type of achievement but the sport has changed and it's time to move onto the next era.
Yesterday's loss is causing a lot of knee jerk reactions and emotions because, for the first time since the 2016-2017 season, we are actually playing meaningful games for meaningful positioning on the table. We either need to win Europa or achieve a top 4 position in order to give us the needed funding to flesh out the squad that has massive holes everywhere. We haven't had this type of emotional attachment to results since we finished 1 point off of top 4 in that '16-'17 season.
Last season, we had 5 losses after the Boxing Day matchweek. I don't know what Arsenal fans expect out of Emery at this point. They want the impossible it seems. We are no longer a major European power and we build our club through a self sustaining model in a world where billionaires build their favorite starting XI on a whim.
The deck has been and will always be stacked against us in this current climate of buying championships. We live and die on hopes of magical seasons with magical injury free runs.
Yesterday's loss is causing a lot of knee jerk reactions and emotions because, for the first time since the 2016-2017 season, we are actually playing meaningful games for meaningful positioning on the table. We either need to win Europa or achieve a top 4 position in order to give us the needed funding to flesh out the squad that has massive holes everywhere. We haven't had this type of emotional attachment to results since we finished 1 point off of top 4 in that '16-'17 season.
Last season, we had 5 losses after the Boxing Day matchweek. I don't know what Arsenal fans expect out of Emery at this point. They want the impossible it seems. We are no longer a major European power and we build our club through a self sustaining model in a world where billionaires build their favorite starting XI on a whim.
The deck has been and will always be stacked against us in this current climate of buying championships. We live and die on hopes of magical seasons with magical injury free runs.
Manberg
Predator
If revamping the squad into the manager’s vision is so long term then the danger is that fans will lose patience. Getting into the champions league is not an unreasonable expectation for this season but to get there we need to match the results of our rivals, circumstances not withstanding.
grange
Losing my brain cells 🥸
Country: USA
Player:Havertz
Excellent points, @American_Gooner
I think I'd give him a 6.5/10.
I have no concrete judgements on Emery so far, only that I did hope our attacking would have a bit more structure to it but it's not been as consistently good as I would have liked, and I think the goals we've scored this season have really been an overperformance in shot conversion this season. Which makes a change. Maybe that's down to coaching, who knows!
I think he has brought some players up to a higher standard this season. Xhaka looks a bit better, although he's still making silly decisions from time to time. Bellerin improved a lot and looks closer to his former self. Iwobi had performed well at first but not so much now. Making them play with more intensity and upping their physicality has definitely made a positive impact IMO.
He's also done well to get results out of the games we've won. The lineups have been odd but his game management has been mostly on point until the last couple of matches. Being detail oriented has enabled him to hone in on opposition weaknesses quite well and I think that's good for us going forward.
I do have issues with the setup as it is now, and not all of it has to do with Emery. The squad is imbalanced - we don't have a particularly diverse set of CBs. They're all around the same height and defend in a similar way, and none are particularly very athletic in performing their style of defending really (Kos' torn achilles likely to be a hindrance to him too). Mavropanos is the main exception (very tall, athletic) and he's been injured all season. We also don't have a diverse set of wingers within the first team squad.
I think we're quite predictable attacking-wise - we look for the overlap a lot and the attack stops dead when we cannot find it. Every now and then we go for a quick counter which usually results in a decent chance, but we don't do it enough because we move the ball a bit too slowly from the back sometimes, especially when one of Guendouzi, Ramsey or Elneny plays in midfield.
A personal issue I have is his use of the squad beyond the first team, particularly the U21 players. He likes Guendouzi and, to a lesser extent, Smith-Rowe. But I would have liked to see more of Smith-Rowe, AMN, Nketiah and Willock (possibly Saka too) when the iron was hot for them - although in AMN's case, he's been injured and looked well off pace so far. But I really believe they could have made a difference if they were trusted more, especially with the way he wants to set the team up. I feel they can fill in the roles that the experienced players are struggling to fill (particularly wide AM and back-up to #10). Emery is deferring, understandably, to more experience talent but - like last season - the experienced talent isn't really putting in the performances to suggest they merit the amount of chances they get. That's just my opinion so far.
So far, we've had good results despite the faults. More incentive to give Emery a decent chance. I'd like to see our attacking football improve, especially as I don't expect our defense to improve until personnel is revamped. And I'd like to see more of the youngsters. But other than that, he's been OK and things don't look as dire as we might feel it is after the odd poor performance.
I have no concrete judgements on Emery so far, only that I did hope our attacking would have a bit more structure to it but it's not been as consistently good as I would have liked, and I think the goals we've scored this season have really been an overperformance in shot conversion this season. Which makes a change. Maybe that's down to coaching, who knows!
I think he has brought some players up to a higher standard this season. Xhaka looks a bit better, although he's still making silly decisions from time to time. Bellerin improved a lot and looks closer to his former self. Iwobi had performed well at first but not so much now. Making them play with more intensity and upping their physicality has definitely made a positive impact IMO.
He's also done well to get results out of the games we've won. The lineups have been odd but his game management has been mostly on point until the last couple of matches. Being detail oriented has enabled him to hone in on opposition weaknesses quite well and I think that's good for us going forward.
I do have issues with the setup as it is now, and not all of it has to do with Emery. The squad is imbalanced - we don't have a particularly diverse set of CBs. They're all around the same height and defend in a similar way, and none are particularly very athletic in performing their style of defending really (Kos' torn achilles likely to be a hindrance to him too). Mavropanos is the main exception (very tall, athletic) and he's been injured all season. We also don't have a diverse set of wingers within the first team squad.
I think we're quite predictable attacking-wise - we look for the overlap a lot and the attack stops dead when we cannot find it. Every now and then we go for a quick counter which usually results in a decent chance, but we don't do it enough because we move the ball a bit too slowly from the back sometimes, especially when one of Guendouzi, Ramsey or Elneny plays in midfield.
A personal issue I have is his use of the squad beyond the first team, particularly the U21 players. He likes Guendouzi and, to a lesser extent, Smith-Rowe. But I would have liked to see more of Smith-Rowe, AMN, Nketiah and Willock (possibly Saka too) when the iron was hot for them - although in AMN's case, he's been injured and looked well off pace so far. But I really believe they could have made a difference if they were trusted more, especially with the way he wants to set the team up. I feel they can fill in the roles that the experienced players are struggling to fill (particularly wide AM and back-up to #10). Emery is deferring, understandably, to more experience talent but - like last season - the experienced talent isn't really putting in the performances to suggest they merit the amount of chances they get. That's just my opinion so far.
So far, we've had good results despite the faults. More incentive to give Emery a decent chance. I'd like to see our attacking football improve, especially as I don't expect our defense to improve until personnel is revamped. And I'd like to see more of the youngsters. But other than that, he's been OK and things don't look as dire as we might feel it is after the odd poor performance.
