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Unai Emery, half season report card

How satisfied are you with Unai Emery's performance on a scale from 1-10?


  • Total voters
    114

HBL

Established Member
Great post from AG.

I think Emery also had more points than Pep did after 15 games, not sure on the 19 game comparison. It will take time, the fact that we are only 2 points behind Chelsea also shows we aren't doing badly at all. The last 2-3 weeks have been a setback but I think we'll turn it around, just need to let Emery/Sven sort out the squad first.
 

Jae

Well-Known Member
Lot of mediocrity ? really ? Two top , strikers , a midfield pairing that has dominated both Sp**s and Liverpool and extremely decent wing backs and a great Am hardly mediocrity and that's with all the injuries .

Don't think they're low on confidence just yet but if keeps taking of strikers when we are one all and chasing then maybe so .

We have 3 top quality players in our squad. Auba, Laca and Torreira. Nobody else gets into any of the other teams in the top 5. Think you are being a bit generous with the state of our squad.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
We have 3 top quality players in our squad. Auba, Laca and Torreira. Nobody else gets into any of the other teams in the top 5. Think you are being a bit generous with the state of our squad.
Arguable. In terms of individual quality, I don't think we do too badly, it's just that the pieces don't fit together. I feel that's the bigger problem here.
 

squallman

Still Pining for Wenger
We will see in the summer what Emery, Sven and Raul think of this squad.

If there is a full scale clearout fair enough, but if what happened last summer happens this summer and we keep on a bunch of guys who should be sold on June 1st then I won't know what to say.

Actually, I do, if our squad at the start of the season more or less resembles what we have now, i.e. Mustafi starting and Mkhi/Iwobi out on the wings, minus Özil and Ramsey. Then everyone at the club thinks the squad is good enough to go places and will have to live by that decision. Much like Wenger did when he didn't buy anyone the summer before Leicester won the league. I think that failure ultimately cost him his job as it happens.

Too many times in the past, I think we've been far too slow to change up the squad choosing to do it piecemeal out of some outdated notion of squad harmony or an outright overrating of our players. We don't have a team of title winners. If Emery decided to show ten or more players the door come June, I'll have no complaints. We have no more time to waste trying to plug gaps one position per summer. You do that and more problems appear elsewhere in the team
 

bingobob

A-M’s Resident Hunskelper
Trusted ⭐

Country: Scotland
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.
Well, it's an interesting take. We've finished 5th and 6th in the last two seasons. Got beat in the semi final of the Europa League last year also. I'd say it's pretty unreasonable given the lack of changes to assume we will qualify for the CL. One big advantage we have this year is that Aubameyang can play in the Europa League.

Other than that we are in a competitive environment. The team has been neglected or certainly not improved enough over the last few years to say we should be qualifying right away. We still need a winger, a CB, lb and a centre midfielder. We've made progress. Holding has played very well. Xhaka looks like a player. Mustafi has improved. But those improvements aren't enough to just leap frog City, United, Chelsea, Sp**s and Liverpool.

We need to work hard and be consistent. That's a huge turn around from last season were the only consistent we had was terrible away form. Hopefully we can make the CL but overall it shouldn't be that which the manager lives or dies by, this season.
 

Jae

Well-Known Member
Arguable. In terms of individual quality, I don't think we do too badly, it's just that the pieces don't fit together. I feel that's the bigger problem here.

Definitely arguable but that's just my two cents! I agree regarding the pieces not fitting together. Think that's a hangover from Wenger putting square pegs in round holes for years though.
 

Taxi Driver

Well-Known Member
Clever timing, @SA Gunner, I have to admit.

That said, Emery's 7,5 for me - AG mentioned this topic and here's what I've selected:
I'm prepared to write off this season, provided we see some improvements. Lets prepare for 2019/20.

So, naturally, I see our current table position as a good sign - particularly when compared to how our major rivals were doing in a similar situation (thanks @American_Gooner !). It's also worth noting we're only 6 points behind Fraudiola's City at this point - and we all know how much money and time he had.

I will, however, concede that Unai hasn't been able to impose his style on the team just yet - you can see shades of it sometimes, but not quite realized just yet. Next season we should (hopefully) begin to see it. A few summer windows after - perhaps a genuine challenge.

Finally, I can't help but notice that it's usually Arsène's stalwarts who are criticizing Emery the most - I can understand why, but if you thought that Wenger should have been given more time (which he had plenty), then it is only fair to let his successor prove himself before casting judgement. You don't need to look further than Manure to see how difficult the transition can be (and so far we're looking far better off).
 

Gooner Zig

AM's Resident Accountant
Trusted ⭐

Country: Canada
6/10 for me and it would have been 8/10 when we were level on points with Sp**s but the last two weeks have really been poor from Emery.

What ever your thoughts are on Xhaka, his affect on how we progress the ball further up the field is immense. The partnership of Xhaka-Torreira which has been the bedrock of the unbeaten run was inexplicably ripped up by Emery with his decision to deploy Xhaka in just about every defensive position there is. It's no coincidence that since Sp**s, we've been absolute dogshit in midfield.

Then there's been the bizarre substitutions we've seen recently, culminating in the truly weird scenario of taking Lacazette and Özil off when we needed to score goals against Brighton.

The last two weeks Emery has managed us as if we were a mid-table team and that's extremely worrying to me. Some of the respect he's given to teams we should be grinding into the dirt has been bizarre.
 

asukru

Established Member

Country: Canada

Player:Martinelli
I understand we need to be patient so at this point I would give him a 7/10.

He started the season well and to be honest with what we have is doing well, however, recent weeks he has been a little lackluster but I do believe he needs time still. I try not to compare us to other teams and when they first got their managers. I just pray and hope he can make us into what Klopp has done with Liverpool this season.
 

Nemetoss

Active Member
A six for me.

6- falling just out of the top 4
7-In the top 4
8-title challenge and cup wins
9-league champions and cups
10-league+CL+cups
 

lamby22

It's Not Lupus

Country: Scotland
7/10 for me. Results have been better than I thought but we haven't half lost our way performance wise.

A couple of things annoy me though. How often he's getting the starting line-up wrong and having to change it at half-time (though at least he is making changes and not leaving it until 70 mins)

The constant starting of Iwobi and Mhki despite poor performances. I know Ramsey isn't going to be here much longer but whilst we are paying his wages we might as well play him.

Then there's yesterday at Brighton where we needed a goal and he hooks Özil and Laca and leaves us with no creativity. We are better with Laca in the team. And we should be better with Mesut in the team too.

It was never going to be easy for him and it'll take time to put his own stamp on things and I'm prepared to give him a couple more transfer windows before I get my pitchfork out
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
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:
Untitled.jpg


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.

Untitled2.jpg


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:
Untitled3.jpg


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.

This Arsenal squad is clearly better than Sp**s' and 'pool's when poch and Klopp took over. "Klopp only got them to 8th in his first season" doesn't hold up cause that team just wasn't any better than that. Guy came in during the season in October, I think, and got ****ing Ragnar Klavan in the winter. Still, even with muppets like Klavan and Leiva in there you could see the first glimpses of Klopp's trademark style. I have yet to see anything resembling refined football or a distinct style from Emery. That's the big difference. On the basis of what Klopp had done before and what he was doing at Liverpool from day one, it was clear that with additions he would make them a significantly better team. With Emery I have serious question marks over what he's actually doing or envisioning here and thus doubt that even with costly additions he'll be able to pull us back into the Top 4 again - not this season and not next season.
 

Ceballinhos

Cheating on Santi
This Arsenal squad is clearly better than Sp**s' and 'pool's when poch and Klopp took over. "Klopp only got them to 8th in his first season" doesn't hold up cause that team just wasn't any better than that. Guy came in during the season in October, I think, and got ****ing Ragnar Klavan in the winter. Still, even with muppets like Klavan and Leiva in there you could see the first glimpses of Klopp's trademark style. I have yet to see anything resembling refined football or a distinct style from Emery. That's the big difference. On the basis of what Klopp had done before and what he was doing at Liverpool from day one, it was clear that with additions he would make them a significantly better team. With Emery I have serious question marks over what he's actually doing or envisioning here and thus doubt that even with costly additions he'll be able to pull us back into the Top 4 again - not this season and not next season.

They've still finished 6th during Rodgers' last season.
And Klopp only 8th. So they got even worse in the league.

You have a short memory because Liverpool under Klopp during his first season was terrible to watch 80% of the time.
They used to raise their level against bigger opposition and during their EL run and even got some results.
It kinda reminds me our team. We had very good games against the Sp**s and Liverpool at home.

And Emery totally outclassed him in the EL final, with a squad that has half his budget.
 

dj grutto

Member
Results wise it has been pretty good, but the fact that he is pretty horrible at people's management and the lack of attacking structure worry me.
Hopefully we'll get some attacking impulses this january.
 

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