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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

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
Come on mate.
Guardiola has never managed anything else than a squad stacked with top talent.

Yes. This was clearly meant in relative terms in a purely Guardiola context: This season his squad is even better than last season's, but he still won the league. And that team was better than the 16/17 team with which he came 3rd - and though you could see Guardiola doing his thing back then, even if it didn't result in immediate success.

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.

Klopp's first season wasn't a full season. Rodgers had misguided them and I think they were sitting in 10th or something when Klopp took over. They were a bit boring but definitely better than under Rodgers that season and managed to turn up against big sides with an absolute rubbish squad bar few players. And let's not forget while they were rather unstable in the league, he got them into an EL final. In his first full season they looked a completely different animal and went straight back into the Top 4.
Dortmund's struggle during Klopp's last season has nothing directly to do with having lesser players. It's a bit part role. If you don't know stuff about other clubs don't use them as examples - in another thread you also showed you had no clue about the background of Auba's striking at Dortmund and subsequent transfer to Arsenal.

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.

We've by now seen about a myriad of ideas by Emery which over the last month or two started to get ever more bizarre and backfire. More worryingly I haven't yet seen a clear idea about what he's up to here. 3421, 4312, 4222, 442, 4231, 433, 352, playing out from the back then reverting to more high balls again, aggressive pressing and then back to situational pressing again, Ramsey is the core of my Arsenal, Ramsey frozen out, the Özil saga, the persistence with Guendouzi, Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, the failure to recognize Xhaka is worth more at CM and ripping him and Torreira apart, constantly getting the starting line up wrong and having to correct that mistake at half time, ripping Aubamezette apart....that may be a lot of ideas or hunches, but it speaks volumes about Emery's lack of a clear idea/vision about what he wants to build here - and don't use that "oh it's the **** squad" argument" - you were one of those saying the squad was fine it only needed few additions (which it got) and an able manager. Now you're flip flopping and shedding your opinion 'cause you fell in love with Emery or something.

We outplayed Tottenham only to mess up again after that - very vintage Arsenal. That's not progress. Same goes for the Liverpool game. It's nice the lads were able to turn up in these to games, but most games after the Leicester game have been very dodgy. The good games are the minority.

I seriously don't get the stuff about this huge task. Just because United absolutely ****ed up their post Ferguson time cause they have a **** CEO doesn't mean it's such a huge task - and handling that transition has mostly been done by Gazidis, Mislintat and Sanllehi - not Emery. He's only the manager the transition handlers have chosen for the time being. His task lies on the field.
The transition away from Wenger had been started well before Emery arrived, the club hierarchy had been restructered already and filled with football acumen. It's not like Emery was handed the keys to a messy house and had to do all the cleaning up. It was a house in good order and with good staff. And actually thanks to Wenger's late downfall, there was basically only one way: Up. And a lot of people even are ok with another 5th or 6th - if there's progress and you get the feeling this is going somewhere; and unfortunately I don't feel that.
And now don't tell me it's all such a huge task cause the ****ing club chef or physios had to get to know the new guy. Keep in mind that now, post transition, the manager, Emery, is a far smaller and less important and imposing part of the hierarchy than the one man show Wenger was. And on top of that: The guy has been here for half a season now, the getting to know and feeling each other up phase should have been over for a while now, but it still gets used as an apology for Emery being indecisive and jumpy. It takes a bit to take to a new manager's character and methods, but if it takes 6 months there's something wrong with him. Emery even got decent reinforcements in Leno, Sokratis and Torreira for the first XI.
 

LG10

Well-Known Member
6/10, we’re where we should be in the table based on squad quality. The hope was that emery would over achieve with the players he has and get us into the top 4. We’re starting to slip away in the league, sign a defender in January and focus on the Europa league which is looking pretty weak this season Chelsea aside.

Not seen much improvement in our play tbh but you have to give him a whole season to judge.
 

Ceballinhos

Cheating on Santi
They were a bit boring but definitely better than under Rodgers that season and managed to turn up against big sides with an absolute rubbish squad bar few players. And let's not forget while they were rather unstable in the league, he got them into an EL final. In his first full season they looked a completely different animal and went straight back into the Top 4.

Our season is not over yet and Emery can still make it into the top 4 though and get us to the EL final.

We've by now seen about a myriad of ideas by Emery which over the last month or two started to get ever more bizarre and backfire. More worryingly I haven't yet seen a clear idea about what he's up to here. 3421, 4312, 4222, 442, 4231, 433, 352, playing out from the back then reverting to more high balls again, aggressive pressing and then back to situational pressing again

He's adapting to what he has and to the opposition.
Wenger was slaughtered for his lack of adaptability and plan B.

And so far, it has been more positive than negative resultwise.

He was starting to find some balance but then injuries got in the way.
You can't downplay Bellerin's influence to our season so far he's the only player in the squad who brings a threat on the right side.
Holding was becoming an important part of the squad and the back 3 with sokratis and Holding was looking really solid against Tottenham.
Mustafi has been decent too.

Ramsey is the core of my Arsenal, Ramsey frozen out

But he won't sign a new contract so what's the point of building a team around him?
We don't even know whose call it was about not giving the money Ramsey wanted.
And when he's started games, he wasn't even that good. He's still the same unreliable player who's capable of moments of magic and being totally anonymous the next game.

the Özil saga

We don't even know what is happening with him.
And people are making a huge thing about it when Özil has played 12 PL game. More than Iwobi & Mkhitaryan. And he has his usual injury/flue issue.
It's not like he was frozen out.
It was a bad decision against Brighton to sub him off. That I agree.

the persistence with Guendouzi, Iwobi and Mkhitaryan

Guendouzi is the best CM we have in the squad behind Torreira & Xhaka, and who's actually staying at the club.
I'd rather play Guendouzi than Elneny.

Iwobi has been good at the beginning of the season and now not so much he's been mediocre. Emery is so far sticking with him and it's not like he has tons of options either. He's brought something different to the team when he was actually good. Something no other players in the squad can bring, he was taking on defenders... When he was good he was the closest thing we've had to a decent winger.

Mkhitaryan has been mediocre so far. But once again it's not like we did have much choice. He's been decent in his production though. 4 goals & 1 assist in the league in 9 starts.

Emery has a different approach than what we were used to with Wenger.
Arsène wasn't involving enough his bench players and was sticking with the same group of players until our bench players totally lose their confidence and become useless.

Unai is involving them more and it was paying off at the start of the season when Welbeck & Iwobi looked much much better than they did during the previous years.

failure to recognize Xhaka is worth more at CM and ripping him and Torreira apart

He's not playing Xhaka out of position for the sake of it.
We had injuries & suspensions who forced him to play him out of position.
Every single game where our defenders were available, Xhaka was playing as a CM.

"oh it's the **** squad" argument" - you were one of those saying the squad was fine it only needed few additions (which it got) and an able manager. Now you're flip flopping and shedding your opinion 'cause you fell in love with Emery or something.

:lol:
This is ridiculous. I've always said the task was really hard because I think the squad isn't as good as the competition.
I said Emery could improve us from last year and so far he did resultwise and most players are looking better and stronger than last year. Cech Kolasinac Holding Mustafi Bellerin Xhaka Iwobi (even if he's been bad lately) Welbeck Lacazette.
The only player who's looking worse from last year is Mkhitaryan.
Özil hasn't improved but he hasn't been worse. He's still the same player.

I've also said we've needed a winger + a CB in order to have the squad to really compete. But we didn't.

It is unbalanced and that is a fact.
We don't have any player in the squad who can bring some width and be a genuine threat from his side in our team except Monreal (always injured) Kolasinac (unreliable and injury prone) and Bellerin (injured).
Especially in the modern game it's no coincidence if the best teams in the league have great wingers. Mané/Salah , Sané Mahrez Sterling, Son has been on fire this season, Hazard (even though he's been playing as a striker) and Willian.

Our CB selection is the worst in the top 5. Especially with the Holding injury. :lol:

And our only decent CM sitting on the bench is a 19 yrs old coming from Ligue 2.


Resultwise if we didn't have all those individual mistakes who cost us a goal/game we would have a different conversation.
Something even good coaching can't do nothing about.
It evens hurts our performances like it did against Brighton. We were all over them we could have been 2/0 up but then a mistake kills our flow in the game and hurts our confidence while boosting theirs.

And guess what, Klopp had the exact same issue during his first couple of seasons with Liverpool, they gave away so many cheap goals.
He had to buy a £70M defender and a £65M keeper to fix it and to make them genuine contender for the biggest titles.


And finally I'm not in love with Emery (what a stupid thing to say btw), I'm just tired of this meltdown just because we've been through a rough month where we lost our first game since August because all of our CBs were injured, and drew 2 games because of individual mistakes (the Kolasinac one against Utd & Lichsteiner against Brighton).
I've never said he's done a perfect job or he can't be criticized. But a lot of reactions are exaggerated.
I'm tired of reading this crap about how a coach who has won 3 consecutive European titles might be a "midtable bum".
 

boonthegoon

Arteta In by November

Country: USA

Player:Smith-Rowe
5/10 for me. Yes he has steadied the ship instead of falling down even further (like Moyes) but our gameplay has been bad in many games. Injuries hasn't helped him but he's making it worse for himself with decisions like in the Brighton game. Early subs are good but he has started over doing it. Still not even close to finding his best 11 and falling out with your best player within few months is really bad. And according to reports, he held Ramsey highly when he initially came. Handling of Ramsey contract is partly down to him as well. Hoping for his Europa magic, as top 4 is not realistic but I will always hope for the best.
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
First things first: Learn to quote properly cause I've just randomly stumbled upon your latest two answers...

Our season is not over yet and Emery can still make it into the top 4 though and get us to the EL final.

I've said enough times now that I'll eat my words if Emery gets us to play good footie and that he should get a second season. And I've been rather sound with my observations up until now and that this team has problems that will surface sooner or later, but I'm not a fortune teller. so yeah, let's see.

He's adapting to what he has and to the opposition.
Wenger was slaughtered for his lack of adaptability and plan B.

And so far, it has been more positive than negative resultwise.

He was starting to find some balance but then injuries got in the way.
You can't downplay Bellerin's influence to our season so far he's the only player in the squad who brings a threat on the right side.
Holding was becoming an important part of the squad and the back 3 with sokratis and Holding was looking really solid against Tottenham.
Mustafi has been decent too.

What Emery is doing isn't adapting it's tinkering without a clear idea in mind. But opinions differ, so if you think it's adapting keep on thinking that.

Injuries are a problem right now, but he problems I'm alluding to and talking about have been there way before the injury crisis. Look it up.

I'll give you that Mustafi and Holding have looked rather good, but I've never been a massive enemy of Shkodran, although I have to concede Holding has surprised me.

The back three has barely looked solid or organized this season.

He's not playing Xhaka out of position for the sake of it.
We had injuries & suspensions who forced him to play him out of position.

There were enough alternatives to not play Xhaka out of position but Emery failed to recognize his value at CM far outweigths the negatives of playing someone else at CB. Multiple times in a row even.


I was about to go on answering you point for point, but you know what? I can't be arsed. I'll rely on another poster's work whom I won't name right now, but I'll just give you this:

:lol:
This is ridiculous. I've always said the task was really hard because I think the squad isn't as good as the competition.

That's what you said tonight. Now for your past opinions:


a>


Your plausability is down the drain with that, sorry.

And btw you just keep on harping about the squad and unbalanced and ****. You don't even bother to go into tactical stuff and maybe have a slight look at Emery. It's so ****ing biased. You harp on about the Klopp and Guardiola comparisons making excuses for why Emery just isn't as good as those two. And again, I'm not part of the recent meltdown, I have been saying this stuff for a long while before this run of bad games, but you also fail to address that. Now I'm taking a ****ing break from you cause all I'm gonna get here is uh oh unbalanced uh oh but Klopp.

Get yourself an opinion and stick to it.
 
Last edited:

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
:rofl:How does one recover from this ffs.

But, but Klopp and Guardiola....:(

For months I've had various of these people on my back and I always try to stay reasonable and give them an honest, elaborate answer so that they can further follow and understand, argue against and even might entertain the idea of at least accepting it. But no. I'm bombarded with buts, and ifs, and Klopps and balance and Ramsey and Ozils and useless unbeaten runs. Gloves are off. The blind Emery boys' choir gets on my nerves more than the Arteta boyband did.
 

A_G

Rice Rice Baby 🎼🎵
A-M CL Draft Campeón 🏆
The best thing you can say about Emery is that other than City in the opening match, no one has outplayed us. We created enough to win at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge which hadn’t happened under Wenger in years, it was just individual errors from the defence that cost the team a result. Not to mention that Klopp’s Liverpool scored 3 or 4 goals in every game against Wenger, but they didn’t find it as easy against Emery.

Honestly, most of the meltdowns on here came after Southampton and if Sok/Mustafi had been available that would’ve been a win.
 

kraphtous

Raul Stanllehi
The best thing you can say about Emery is that other than City in the opening match, no one has outplayed us. We created enough to win at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge which hadn’t happened under Wenger in years, it was just individual errors from the defence that cost the team a result. Not to mention that Klopp’s Liverpool scored 3 or 4 goals in every game against Wenger, but they didn’t find it as easy against Emery.

Honestly, most of the meltdowns on here came after Southampton and if Sok/Mustafi had been available that would’ve been a win.
It's true that we haven't been outplayed against the big teams but it's not true for all games. We've even been outplayed in some games we (barely) won.

Still, our good performances against Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham give me hope for tonight.
 

Hope

Less
Position in the league wise, would give a solid 7. Auba gets huge credit for that.

As a new manager to bring in something new, exciting and a plan then would give him a 3-4. Nothing is exciting right now.
 

Tosker

Does Not Hate Foreigners
It's true that we haven't been outplayed against the big teams but it's not true for all games. We've even been outplayed in some games we (barely) won.

Still, our good performances against Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham give me hope for tonight.
'Abandon hope all ye who enter here' might well replace 'You'll never walk alone' above the gates to Anfield before this season is over
 

rich 1990

Not A Big Believer In Diversity
Liverpool weren't great today, they were handed two generous penalties as well.

Not compared to the way we were blown away at Anfield in the 5-0 or 4-0 last season.
Denied a stonewaller too. Their first one was a pen although why Salah took 4 years to go down, I don't know. The second one was sickening. Oliver gave them everything today. The definition of home team performance from a ref.
 
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blaze_of_glory

Moderator
Moderator

Country: Canada
Yeah, the scoreline flattered due to Oliver once again showing why he's an awful referee, but that was still at 3-1 game and we never looked like getting anything after they immediately made it 1-1.
 

#254

Well-Known Member
Yes. This was clearly meant in relative terms in a purely Guardiola context: This season his squad is even better than last season's, but he still won the league. And that team was better than the 16/17 team with which he came 3rd - and though you could see Guardiola doing his thing back then, even if it didn't result in immediate success.



Klopp's first season wasn't a full season. Rodgers had misguided them and I think they were sitting in 10th or something when Klopp took over. They were a bit boring but definitely better than under Rodgers that season and managed to turn up against big sides with an absolute rubbish squad bar few players. And let's not forget while they were rather unstable in the league, he got them into an EL final. In his first full season they looked a completely different animal and went straight back into the Top 4.
Dortmund's struggle during Klopp's last season has nothing directly to do with having lesser players. It's a bit part role. If you don't know stuff about other clubs don't use them as examples - in another thread you also showed you had no clue about the background of Auba's striking at Dortmund and subsequent transfer to Arsenal.



We've by now seen about a myriad of ideas by Emery which over the last month or two started to get ever more bizarre and backfire. More worryingly I haven't yet seen a clear idea about what he's up to here. 3421, 4312, 4222, 442, 4231, 433, 352, playing out from the back then reverting to more high balls again, aggressive pressing and then back to situational pressing again, Ramsey is the core of my Arsenal, Ramsey frozen out, the Özil saga, the persistence with Guendouzi, Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, the failure to recognize Xhaka is worth more at CM and ripping him and Torreira apart, constantly getting the starting line up wrong and having to correct that mistake at half time, ripping Aubamezette apart....that may be a lot of ideas or hunches, but it speaks volumes about Emery's lack of a clear idea/vision about what he wants to build here - and don't use that "oh it's the **** squad" argument" - you were one of those saying the squad was fine it only needed few additions (which it got) and an able manager. Now you're flip flopping and shedding your opinion 'cause you fell in love with Emery or something.

We outplayed Tottenham only to mess up again after that - very vintage Arsenal. That's not progress. Same goes for the Liverpool game. It's nice the lads were able to turn up in these to games, but most games after the Leicester game have been very dodgy. The good games are the minority.

I seriously don't get the stuff about this huge task. Just because United absolutely ****ed up their post Ferguson time cause they have a **** CEO doesn't mean it's such a huge task - and handling that transition has mostly been done by Gazidis, Mislintat and Sanllehi - not Emery. He's only the manager the transition handlers have chosen for the time being. His task lies on the field.
The transition away from Wenger had been started well before Emery arrived, the club hierarchy had been restructered already and filled with football acumen. It's not like Emery was handed the keys to a messy house and had to do all the cleaning up. It was a house in good order and with good staff. And actually thanks to Wenger's late downfall, there was basically only one way: Up. And a lot of people even are ok with another 5th or 6th - if there's progress and you get the feeling this is going somewhere; and unfortunately I don't feel that.
And now don't tell me it's all such a huge task cause the ****ing club chef or physios had to get to know the new guy. Keep in mind that now, post transition, the manager, Emery, is a far smaller and less important and imposing part of the hierarchy than the one man show Wenger was. And on top of that: The guy has been here for half a season now, the getting to know and feeling each other up phase should have been over for a while now, but it still gets used as an apology for Emery being indecisive and jumpy. It takes a bit to take to a new manager's character and methods, but if it takes 6 months there's something wrong with him. Emery even got decent reinforcements in Leno, Sokratis and Torreira for the first XI.
Very good post
 

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