UEL Semi-Final 1st Leg: Villarreal v Arsenal | Thursday, April 29 | KO: 20:00 BST | BT Sport

[Makingtrax]

Always respected Emery a lot for trying to speak English in interviews. The xenophobic ridicule he got from the parts of the fanbase and media was quite despicable tbh.

I don't think there was any xenophobia about the way Emery was treated. Nobody cared that he wasn't English or that he was Spanish. Neither Wenger nor Arteta are English.

What they did care about was that he was paid millions for a very high profile job where he couldn't communicate with fans or players. He should either have used an interpreter or got some coaching on how to slow down his delivery and work on his pronunciation. Press conferences were a waste of time.

 

[mirrorstare]

That's very harsh but I'd have to agree, just saw his last one and it gets a bit weird in the end, maybe with Emery not having the greatest opinion of english journos.

It sucks though, I have all the time in the world for someone trying to learn a language but at the top level and with the media game those things shouldn't happen I guess

 

[<<reed>>]

I don't think there was any xenophobia about the way Emery was treated. Nobody cared that he wasn't English or that he was Spanish. Neither Wenger nor Arteta are English.

What they did care about was that he was paid millions for a very high profile job where he couldn't communicate with fans or players. He should either have used an interpreter or got some coaching on how to slow down his delivery and work on his pronunciation. Press conferences were a waste of time.

He wanted to learn English as fast as he could so he tried to practice as much as possible, I guess he used to spend most of the time at Colney and just didn't have many other opportunities to use English.
I agree that he should have used an interpreter for communication with the players, but basicall all press-conferences are a waste of time and the same questions/answers again and again, so I don't know why you would care about them honestly

 

[Makingtrax]

He wanted to learn English as fast as he could so he tried to practice as much as possible, I guess he used to spend most of the time at Colney and just didn't have many other opportunities to use English.
I agree that he should have used an interpreter for communication with the players, but basicall all press-conferences are a waste of time and the same questions/answers again and again, so I don't know why you would care about them honestly

When Arsène was here, I loved the press conferences. Even used to record them if I couldn't listen live. His wit, philosophical and off cuff remarks were something else.

 

[Big Poppa]

Arteta’s zonal brand of football annoys me as much as the results. I don’t like watching his team. At all. We’re only willing to move the ball along specific channels and if those channels are blocked, we go backwards rather than take on a man or play it over the top.

 

[OnlyOne]

Do you rate Rodgers? I don’t really buy the hype tbh.

You know what, I actually do really rate him. Pretty much every team he’s joined he’s improved them. He’d make us into top 4 contenders in no time and his experience in the PL makes me want him more than most the other foreign managers really.

He’d cost a lot but and may never win us a league title but we’d be consistent with him top 4 at least with a title challenge somewhere along the road.

Genuinely, if you asked me, EL win and Arteta stays, or no European football and a manager like Rodgers joins I know what I’m picking.

 

[MikeVinna]

If we have KT at leftback and Mikel plays a striker in the return leg we might have a shot. In any case Manure would be too much in the final anyways.

 

[MikelHadADream]

I don't think there was any xenophobia about the way Emery was treated. Nobody cared that he wasn't English or that he was Spanish. Neither Wenger nor Arteta are English.

What they did care about was that he was paid millions for a very high profile job where he couldn't communicate with fans or players. He should either have used an interpreter or got some coaching on how to slow down his delivery and work on his pronunciation. Press conferences were a waste of time.

The mimicking of the Spanish accent when the guy was clearly struggling; yet had the balls to come out and try every week, was certainly xenophobic, there is no way to dress it up mate. Imagine if he was Asain or African and people were mercilessly taking the piss put of how he spoke...

The way Wenger or Arteta were/are treated has nothing to do with the way Emery was treated.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Rodgers would be mad to come here. Low expectations at Leicester. Well run club and talented players vs. a madhouse?

It would be his vanity that would make him sign up for this.

 

[Riou]

 

[Makingtrax]

The mimicking of the Spanish accent when the guy was clearly struggling; yet had the balls to come out and try every week, was certainly xenophobic, there is no way to dress it up mate. Imagine if he was Asain or African and people were mercilessly taking the piss put of how he spoke...

The way Wenger or Arteta were/are treated has nothing to do with the way Emery was treated.

Maybe you’re right. But what about the bloke on here called ‘Tree Points’ with an avi of Roy Keane. Is that xenophobia against the Irish or just acceptable humour. There’s a fine line in there somewhere and I’m not sure where it lies.

Personally I feel there‘s a long way to go to tackle xenophobia, gender equality, equal rights for women and ethnic minorities in Britain, but there are probably a lot bigger battles to fight than ‘Good Ebening’ .

 

[MikelHadADream]

Maybe you’re right. But what about the bloke on here called ‘Tree Points’ with an avi of Roy Keane. Is that xenophobia against the Irish or just acceptable humour. There’s a fine line in there somewhere and I’m not sure where it lies.

Personally I feel there‘s a long way to go to tackle xenophobia, gender equality, equal rights for women and ethnic minorities in Britain, but there are probably a lot bigger battles to fight than ‘Good Ebening’ .

I dunno mate, I haven't really come across him yet and don't know the context behind it or who he is.

Of course there are bigger issues, but again that doesn't make what happened with him acceptable either.

 

[GDeep™]

Sacking Emery was the right thing, saw that again yesterday.

 

[Penn_]

Xenophobic towards Emery

It was light hearted banter with his accent.

 

[dashsnow17]

As abysmal as we were yesterday, we were handed four big slices of luck, that we didn't deserve, but which we can take to the 2nd leg. Capoue and Foyth are out, we got an away goal from a very dubious penalty, and Ceballos has been suspended.

I suppose it doesn't ultimately whether that we didn't deserve it, what's important now is we capitalise on the luck offered to us. And obviously play much, much, much better.

 

[Plutarch]

We were so lucky to escape with only a 2-1 defeat. It says something about Villareal that they weren't able to punish us more, they should have. I'm expecting us to go through now. Though we've mostly been bad this season we've had a few decent performances and this feels like time we'll produce another.

 

[Camus]

Not sure what game people watched that makes them think we're so much better than Villarreal. We were terrible, they cut us open time and time again. Honestly it should have been 4-0 with the quality of chances they had. That Auba shot at the end was nowhere near as clear cut as some of the chances they had and other than that we basically created nothing.

I can easily see them scoring at the Emirates. If not getting 2. So I see us as needing 3-4 goals to proceed.

 

[UnbiasedNeutral]

Villarreal were lucky all your best players were injured. When Luiz and Tierney are back it's a different game. Comfortable win, no doubt.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Sacking Emery was the right thing, saw that again yesterday.

There is no doubt about that. When the players are laughing at the manager, not tracking back....pun not intended, you don't come back from that. He was a dead man walking.

He is clearly an honourable man though.

 

[Rimaal]

Bolasie is a gooner?