From a more nuanced perspective, it very much needs work. When we win the ball in the middle third, we transition quite well I think. So far we've scored 2 goals doing just that (both goals scored by Auba). The issue is that we are building attacks from very deep in the pitch and not getting numbers forward quickly enough to support the forwards.He’s spot on. He’s been here long enough and our football is still quite ****.
We would need the 3 up top to all have the ability to make it stick if we're gonna get it up to them from so far away. As it were, Laca was rusty today, Auba is not the most adept at it and struggled particularly in the 1st half to simultaneously drop deeper then run in behind, and Nelson didn't have an influence on the game because he was too high up and seemingly doesn't know whether he should stay wide or cut in.
The team IMO needs to be more compact in the build-up, so our attacking moves need much more coordination and thought beyond inside balls to the full-back to cutback into the box. We had our first phase play and our final phase play (mostly) down. First phase you can see Emery's plan, and we were very adept IMO at beating that first press with our midfield today being extremely resistant today. It was the best midfield structure (offensively) we've had in a while, but they were far too removed from the attack.
Emery does need to establish a more coordinated attacking strategy. Our approach play is disjointed currently and we're not making enough chances for a team of our current offensive quality. I appreciate that he's been brave with his selections so far - I've been impressed with some of the adventurous selections he's made, giving Nelson and Willock two starts each in particular. I also liked the midfield structure in this game a hell of a lot better. I just think his attacking is lacking at the moment.