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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

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
I don't buy this whataboutism that he inherited a poor squad.
A team with Özil, Auba, Laca, Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey and Mkhi offer a great core with a good set of options. Teh signings have also adapted well.

Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey & Mkhi are far from a great core. All 4 of these players can be the weakest link in the team at moments. They would all be back up options in an ideal world. There's even question marks around Özil ad Lacazette if I'm being honest.
 

Wryer

Well-Known Member
I don't get it, his role is to stabilize the team and you give him 10/10 for that even when it's clear that the team is in chaos with key players getting more frustrated and without any clear plan/tactics of how to approach the game. We have some top quality players here, if you mean by keeping it afloat at 5th place is enough, than we didn't need him at all.
Fans wanted change after the chaos that was happening for the last 2 seasons, and with some new quality players I expected that we would have more stability and move forward but none of that happened.
It's the same old stubbornness that I've watched for years just with a different face. If one manager is stupid enough to play Ramsey(or whoever was underpefroming) in every game even when the lad couldn't control a football, and the other uses Laca and Özil as squadies, then I see no difference between them.
From my experience, managers who couldn't see things that are clear to all or refused to see them because of their ego, they didn't last long with the exception of Wenger.

Firstly, the 10/10 was for the results he grinded out and kept us fairly competitive, and more importantly the stability after a Man like Wenger left. I think many people, including yourself, has already taken that for granted. You don't need to look further than our rivals for evidences of the challenge of the job for a new league manager. More so if you have to sweep up 20+ years of ingrained culture, including bad habits that is incredibly hard to change. If you read further on what I wrote, I don't rate his tactical aspect highly either.

What he needs is fairly simple - time. Any positive grading is premature, and any excessively negative grading is just being naive about the situation.
 

say yes

forum master baiter
He's doing the best he can we this trash squad, let's be honest we bought Dortmund's 3rd choice CB and he became out best defender for years. You guys thought Koscielny was world class.

We need some £70m players to get this team right, like we spent 100 mill on 2 strikers with Iwobi as our only winger. One of them can't even play a whole 90 minutes!

:lol:

Spot on. It’s actually pretty easy to see why so many people are unhappy with Emery when you consider how ridiculously overrated half our squad is.
 

squallman

Still Pining for Wenger
:lol:

Spot on. It’s actually pretty easy to see why so many people are unhappy with Emery when you consider how ridiculously overrated half our squad is.

I blame Wenger, the man spent years bigging up this mediocre lot calling them title challengers.

Wenger's football philosophy is the litmus test of a player's ability for me. Wenger gives people freedom to express themselves and do what they want on the pitch. So if you can shine and put in great performances under Wenger's system season in season out, then you're a great player. The best don't need their hand held in a rigid, tailor made systems to perform.

If you can't string ten good performances in a row for the boss then you aren't good enough. It might sound counterintuitive judge players when they lack instructions but if you want to see what someone is made of, a wenger system is the best way to do it.

Hell Mustafi came out early in the season giving it large about how you don't know what to do when no one tells you about your mistakes. Yet he is still out here mucking things up every week
 

rich 1990

Not A Big Believer In Diversity
8 is fair enough. He's doing a good job overall. I might have given him a 9 but he has made needless mistakes in the last couple of weeks.

Saying that, I won't fully judge him until the rif raff/unwanted players like El Neny, Welbeck, Ramsey, Mickey, Bigpoppapump and Say Yes have been disposed of. However, i'm not having the non criticism of him that some are doing when he makes mistakes.
 

Furious

Emery Gone, Telly Back On
8 is fair enough. He's doing a good job overall. I might have given him a 9 but he has made needless mistakes in the last couple of weeks.

Saying that, I won't fully judge him until the rif raff/unwanted players like El Neny, Welbeck, Ramsey, Mickey, Bigpoppapump and Say Yes have been disposed of. However, i'm not having the non criticism of him that some are doing when he makes mistakes.

Have to agree with this. Although I'd go with 7.

The non-criticism part is a joke really, especially when it comes from people who used to say we'd improve significantly with a new manager, but they're now saying we've a trash squad, lol.

Been better this year. People have actually missed him:lol:

Wouldn't surprise me if he comes back and turns to **** again ffs. :rofl:
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
Isn't Wenger proof of this though? When he had the Invincibles attack, or Fabregas/Nasri/RVP, his teams played great football. When he had to start using players like Gervinho and Podolski more often, the quality of play was diminished. I don't think his approach changed in this time, the players he had just weren't capable. After he brought in Özil and Alexis things changed for the better.

IMO he has far more claim to managing a top club than someone like Sarri, who's really done nothing of note compared to Emery.

I know it'll sound like I'm making excuses...but Wenger is kind of a peculiar case. His style of expression and freedom was always heavily reliant on individual quality and his best days were pre modern positional/systemic/ultra athletic football - which to me is less of an argument for player quality being the ultimate decider, but more an argument for the importance of the "modern" game, e.g. ridiculous athleticism and a more systemic approach.

Wenger just simply was beyond the newest developments in football which is why he couldn't make lesser players work - and he couldn't get the players in needed to make his approach work for financial reasons. Keeping Arsenal in the Top 4 for so long under financial constraints and in a world that was clearly evolving past what you had mostly done is actually testament to how good Wenger really was. And at the same time it's the very reason he needed to go.

Any team will play better if you add better players. But the players are not the foundation on what you build your success, it's your system. Guardiola and Klopp are good examples for this. Everyone just says they have better quality, but the truth is they have not only better quality but it fits their managers ideas. And you can see these ideas even when these managers are working with lesser players.

Team chemistry, system and tactics, man management style are all more important for me than individual quality in how I see football. A manager should also be able to implement his basic ideas even with lesser players.

Re: the Sarri stuff: It's not that I don't rate him but he's too old. He's at this point where I think: This guy has figured out how to attack, which is harder than figuring out how to defend - now he just needs to add this and he'll be good. Problem is: He needed his whole career to figure out how to attack and the time is up to add defending to it. 40 years younger and he'd have been regarded a massive talent but the truth is he's an old Italian geezer who's never won and never will win trophies. Don't think Chelsea have made a good choice with him. Seria A runners up manager is his level. Maybe he could have won an EL with Napoli or something. Going by trophies, age and experience Emery sure has a bigger claim to manage a top club - which is exactly why I was initilly happy Arsenal hired him, especially instead of alternatives like Arteta, Henry, Vieira. But now that I've seen Emery's work closely for half a season, I'm thinking he jsut hasn't got what it takes to manager a big club.
 

Preacher

Always Crying
When you're comparing Mustafi with a old declining player who came back to football after very serious injury and shouldn't be playing that many minutes at this stage, yeah he looks like very decent player and the missing link:lol:
 

berric

Established Member

Player:Trossard
I gave him 7/10 but after he was asked about will Özil be involved tomorrow and he responded back with - Why do you ask me about one player? We can always talk about some other players that are maybe not playing a lot - e.g. Jenkinson :lol::lol: He got one more point so it's 8/10 now.
 

Wryer

Well-Known Member
I gave him 7/10 but after he was asked about will Özil be involved tomorrow and he responded back with - Why do you ask me about one player? We can always talk about some other players that are maybe not playing a lot - e.g. Jenkinson :lol::lol: He got one more point so it's 8/10 now.
Until you realize he wasn’t kidding about playing Jenkinson. :lol:

Haven’t watched it though,
 

SA Gunner

Hates Tierney And Wants Him Sold Immediately
Moderator

Country: South Africa

Player:Nketiah
@Toby Andrl your thoughts on who would be a good replacement for Emery, and why?
 

baccy_man

Established Member
I have given a 7 out of 10 because we had that run of games where we went unbeaten,
I think our defending has got a lot of work to be done with it, some of the players are just hoofing the ball anywhere with out looking who is around them and the passing back to the keeper is not good either a lot of times when the ball has been passed back to the keeper it has put the keeper under pressure to get rid of the ball and this has lead to the ball going to an opposing player,
Some work also needs to be done with our midfield we have fallen back into the routine of the ball going sideways then backwards again,
When we have played fast attacking football we have looked very good but this is not happening enough at the moment.
 

SA Gunner

Hates Tierney And Wants Him Sold Immediately
Moderator

Country: South Africa

Player:Nketiah
6/10

I think Emery has maintained a steady transition post Wenger and he deserves credit for that. Overall so far, we have not dropped in our outputs, and when we compare to other clubs, in transition, this is an achievement.

I do not think this is a rubbish squad. Yes the squad is not good enough to challenge for the league, but we have quality players at our disposal... Özil, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Mkitaryan, Torreira, Ramsey, Leno, Monreal. Four of this list joining us this year.
So for us to speak about not having the players to perform doesn’t fly with me, at all.

Of course it would take time for the manager to implement his methods, stabilize and make the team really effective in doing so. But the sticking point for me is the lack of structure to our approach, or the diminishing structure. We have seen some changes to our overall game shape, our attacking and to an extent defensive game, but to now seemingly go backwards is very worrying to me. It seems as though we have been figured out by the opposition and combined with our injuries this adds to our current stutter.

Injuries have a role to play, and the club needs to support Emery here, in addition the manager needs to find a way to get the team performances back on track. How quickly he can do this would impact whether he is the man for us, in my opinion.

Champions League qualification still a must this year, if he fails there he should go. But let us continue to look closer at what he brings to the table, in terms of impact and style. You do not need to see new, better players if there is no effective structure in place.
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
@Toby Andrl your thoughts on who would be a good replacement for Emery, and why?

For all my criticism I still think it's too early to have that debate. In one of my first Emery criticism posts I said I'd eat my words if he was having us play good footie by the end of this season and that I actually think he should get a second season.
While I think most Emery fans overestimate the influence of the past Wenger transition and the lack of quality in the squad, they are clearly a part of what's not going well right now - to deny that would be stupid. Though, my overall stance is still right now I'm not seeing enough by Emery that fills me with the confidence he can make more af Arsenal than the bare sum of its players and shape a team into regular Top 4 and sporadic title contenders, all the while providing the team with a positive, exciting style of play. The turnover might still happen if he gets "fitting" players, I just don't believe in it going by my interpretation of what I currently see. I absolutely follow your remark of when there's no structure/progress to be seen, there's no sense in just throwing better players at him.
And while I hold up that now that Arsenal has let go of their legendary longterm manager Wenger, the gloves should come off and the sentimentality towards managers should be gone. If they don't perform, they should go - they don't have the leverage of being the club's longest serving, most successfull and loveable manager. And while I hold that opinion, I'm also still an opponent of firing too quickly, especially during a season, at least if things don't go completely wrong. There's an area between having someone for 22 years and hiring and firing in half season cycles or every summer. The club just shouldn't be too clingy towards managers if mid to longterm goals are in doubt. And that for example would be missing the CL next season for me.

As for specific candidates: Lucien Favre was my favourite in the summer, but he's gone to Dortmund and if things don't go sour quickly he'll be there for at least three years, I suppose. Don't think we'd be able to lure him away.

Currently I'm warming more and more to Eddie Howe. He's been doing a tremendous job at Bournemouth, he's got a distinct idea about football which he manages to get onto the pitch in a distinct, modern style. He likes to press, he likes to have the ball, he likes to be quick in the final third. He knows how to recruit fitting his system and is described as a great hands on man manager making individuals better.
While I think a job at a club like United would end him just as it ended the guys before him with the Glazers and that muppet Woodward running the club, I think a hierarchy like Arsenal currently employs with good football knowledge in the backstroom staff and hierarchy in Mislintat and Sanllehi, as well as a more reasonable approach to spending money and somewhat lesser public expectations could take pressure off his shoulders and help him settle in more easily. I think he's worth taking a punt on him.

Seeing how Emery is turning out at Arsenal, I'd refrain from other La Liga Top 6 coaches like Marcelino or Machín. The spanish football in general has receded a bit I feel and they're so used to being the underdogs against Real, Barca and Atletico fighting it out for a CL or EL spot.

Leonardo Jardim is still out of a job and is someone I respect as a manager and think who could bring more to this side than Emery.

Nagelsmann should be an obvious candidate but he's off the market for at least another three years I suppose with his transfer to Leipzig next summer. Another interesting Bundesliga prospect is Florian Kohfeldt of Werder Bremen who is reminiscent of Nagelsmann, although probably a little bit more streamlined and conservative/traditional in his possession based attacking style and less of a tinkerer and less outside of the box. But with him it's too early to tell, I guess. He's doing good at Bremen but time will tell. I still highly rate Niko Kovac - who's fighting more battles at Bayern than just to get points on the pitch - and he should be on the club's radar once they let him go - but he just might come good in Munich which would be testament to his actual quality. I also quite like the look of Frankfurt's Adi Hutter who could turn out a sort of second Lucien Favre, but it's early days and I haven't had an in depth look at Eintracht really.

Marcelo Gallardo of River should be on everyone's list really. He looks like a proper coaching fox and is way more successfull than Simeone was in South America.
 
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Ceballinhos

Cheating on Santi
Guardiola and Klopp are good examples for this. Everyone just says they have better quality, but the truth is they have not only better quality but it fits their managers ideas. And you can see these ideas even when these managers are working with lesser players.

Come on mate.
Guardiola has never managed anything else than a squad stacked with top talent.

And Klopp has done worse than Rodgers during his first season with lesser players. He's played some terrible football too. Their campaign in the PL was plain boring outside of the few times they turned out in the biggest games.
And he really struggled when he had lesser players during his Dortmund spell. He had to leave and Tuchel did better with 80% of the same group of players.

We've seen Emery's ideas multiple times this season. We've been solid against the best team in the league. We've totally outplayed Tottenham which is one of the best team in the league in December. We had a great game against one of the best team in Europe right now against Liverpool.
Unfortunately we got injuries and suspension who slowed us down lately.

He's made some mistakes lately and we're not always playing good enough yet.
There's obviously room for improvement.
But there's nothing to worry about so far, I think we've had a positive first half of the season.
He had a huge task and so far he's doing good.

Our club has changed so much in a span of a year, we need to be patient.
We're still paying the price of some terrible mistakes from the previous years.
 

arsmile

Established Member
he's done better than he had any right to do- the unbeaten streak was impressive.

so he can build momentum well when all is going right.

but in the past few weeks I'm not massively keen on 2 things:

-how he's dealt with the CB injuries
-how he's both ostracising Özil and telling Ramsey he can go
 

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