Unai Emery: Adios

[lamby22]

I'm still backing him but what a ****show the last week has been. The last two games have been dreadful. One shot on target in each game. Pedestrian performances, no creativity, no desire shown considering what was at stake. That's just not on the players but on the manager too.

 

[MustOezil]

Yes I have great affection towards Arsène, that doesn't stop me from saying that he deserved to leave the club for underachieving in the few past seasons. However, his replacement hasn't been any better.

I never understood the hype around Emery, it was clear that we were overachieving in the first half of the season in terms of results compared to the level of performances. We've been extremely lucky and clinical due to our very good strike force (which was signed by Arsène), and Leno who single-handedly grinded so many points over the course of the season. Our results in the second half really fit the narrative and our level.

Truth is that we didn't improve tactically at all, we've been outplayed in most of our league games. Defence is leaky as it has been in the past , all that talk about building from the back and pressing upfront but we're horrible at deploying that at both ends.

On top of that our creative play has regressed horribly. The numbers back this up as we've achieved the least number of chances created since ever, that's due to several factors: The fact that Emery forced out our creative players like Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey and Özil, but its not only the players, its our general positional play and the emphasis of building from the back forcing the attacking players to come very deep and being vulnerable to pressing. The only real improvement I have seen is our wingplay and committing more people in the box which made us more clinical when it comes to crosses and cutbacks.

At the start of the season I was encouraged by the fact that Emery seems to be tactical flexibly and not scared to change things as early as half time. But soon after you can see that this is only due to how badly we start games and how horribly we prepare for games tactically.

Not only that, the fact that you change your tactics almost every match means that you don't have a chance of drilling patterns of play and tactical transitions, the players are lost as they have to adapt to new tactics and movements every game. To this day we don't have a well defined style of play which really says a lot about how clueless Emery is.

Finally, for those who defend Emery saying that these players are not his but Arsène's, I think that they are delusional if they think that we will sign better players. Arsène has signed the best players in the squad and because of him they arrived at this club. We are NOT going to sign any better players, we are not going to be able to recruit world class players anymore because of the profile of the club now and the limit funds that are available.

Emery is driving out the best players in the club and he's not going to replace them with better or even equally good players. The season is almost over and he didn't leave a footprint when it comes to tactics and style of play at all. There are no signs of improvement in the horizon. This is a sinking ship and its only going to get worse.

Quality post

 

[krackpot]

He has a free pass this season. Needs to be trusted no matter what.

Next season though, I'll be sharpening my pitchfork

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I'm still backing him but what a ****show the last week has been. The last two games have been dreadful. One shot on target in each game. Pedestrian performances, no creativity, no desire shown considering what was at stake. That's just not on the players but on the manager too.

Only crystal Palace game where I can blame him he rotated too much but last 2 games he started with 2 attacking line up i don't think he can do much better than that

 

[SA Gunner]

Are some here saying that we should cut our losses and go for another manager? If so, who?

 

[GDeep™]

Our expectations too high maybe? Our squad is worst in top 6 so he doing what he can.

Oh and replace him won't get us nothing. Beautiful football? Maybe but we'll still losing every away game

Other teams have been very crap this season though.

 

[say yes]

I've backed him all season but he deserves criticism for the recent run of results. His team selections have been awful in two of the defeats. He has improved us in the big games and kept our good home record going but the defense hasn't improved and the away form is just as bad. You can argue he needs another season which is fair but if we don't win the EL he will have failed given the position we were in. It's not like we had all the big teams left in our run-in.

Managers always deserves criticism for a bad run of results so no argument from me there. That’s football.

As I said a few weeks ago, I’d give Emery:
- 9/10 if he wins Europa and finishes top 4;
- 8/10 if he wins Europa or finishes top 4; and
- 7/10 if we accomplish neither.

As you say, it’ll be a disappointing end to the season if we can’t capitalise on the position we were in. Taking a broader perspective over the course of the season however, I’m happy that the club is finally moving in the right direction again.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Other teams have been very crap this season though.

So do we sadly

 

[GDeep™]

So do we sadly

Because Emery has messed up in recent weeks

 

[MkhiMagic]

Are some here saying that we should cut our losses and go for another manager? If so, who?

Jardim. Like we should have done before the start of the season. Hated this appointment from day 1, never thought he’d do a decent job and he hasn’t. I would have even kept Wenger over him without a second thought.

 

[NieThePiet]

He has to treat every same player the same way.

No chance, Iwobi and Mikhi are allowed to start week for week.

 

[lamby22]

Only crystal Palace game where I can blame him he rotated too much but last 2 games he started with 2 attacking line up i don't think he can do much better than that

Agree with you on the Palace game. That was probably our best chance of 3 points out of the 3 games and he got it wrong. As a result of that he's under pressure for us to pick up points in 2 difficult away games and it hasn't worked out at all.

 

[Maybe]

I just hope people do understand that Emery is not here to buy or sell players, he is here to prepare the team and of course, he can give his opinion and he is the one who decides who will play.
Clearing the squad is not his job, buying world class players is not his job and he shouldn't take any credit for bringing Torreira, Leno or Douzi.

I think that our scouts and board members have much more work to do over the summer than Emery.

We all knew that Wenger and Gazidis did huge damage to this club before they left, they set our future and our problems for the next 3 years. We knew before the season started that we have Kola, Mustafi, Elneny, Özil and Mkhi on our books, all of them on huge long term contracts and all of them adding nothing but problems to this team, and it's very hard to sell any of them. We knew that our 2 most valuable players (Laca and Auba) will block each other, sometimes they can play together but very often they can't.

I think the board needs to realise that we can't continue like this, they need to start thinking about our long term future.
Giving up on next season, making transition from this squad to a younger talented squad is the most realistic scenario how to get back to top 4.
We don't have anyone to sell to generate short term money supply and invest 150m to make squad changes (like Liverpool did). We need to create new value to be in a good position in 2 years time (Tottenham approach).
I don't see any other way, if the board decides to keep things like they are, I will take another break from Arsenal like I did in the last year of Wenger. It would be a shame as there is potential within Arsenal brand and infrastructure that we already have here.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Emery absolutely deserves some criticism, it would be crazy to state otherwise.

But, unless you are fighting relegation, why would you want to change managers every season. Suppose the same return happens again next season with someone else in charge - which is quite possible. Change them too?

C’mon, look at the big picture. This season could be going worse in so many more ways.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

He has to treat every same player the same way.

No chance, Iwobi and Mikhi are allowed to start week for week.

Who you expecting to start ahead of them maybe Özil auba and laca? Other than that we got no choice

 

[DanDare]

Without CL how much can he spend? These same problem will be taken into next season.

We're getting outplayed by Leicester, Palace et al

I know what you're saying but we should be able to be better than this even without CL money

 

[kraphtous]

If Thomas Tuchel becomes available I would bin Emery in a minute otherwise there are not really any better options available.

 

[Sanchez11]

Its just years and years of constant let downs. We have no fight at all!!

 

[freeglennhelder2]

We're getting outplayed by Leicester, Palace et al

I know what you're saying but we should be able to be better than this even without CL money

Leicester were better side early doors had lion share of the possession but weren't creating that many clear cut chances. We squandered about 3 decent positions on the break after nicking the ball - same tactics as any team in a fragile sate of mind away from home would use.

2 harsh yellows. Shat the bed. Outplayed after that point yeah.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

If Thomas Tuchel becomes available I would bin Emery in a minute otherwise there are not really any better options available.

So we want someone who has done worse at PSG than Emery. And if he fails next year, who will it be then?