Unai Emery: Adios

[Tir Na Nog]

It's still October and there is plenty to play for. It's these times I really wish the fans get behind the club/manager/player more than ever, when the chips are down and the players need us most of all. Looking at the table it's not great but at the same time it's not like we are 15th 16th in the league. If that was the case it may be a different story. We just need to hit our patch of good form. We usually have bad Novembers. We seem to be drawing alot of games where we should win. We just need to build up a good run of results and step up the all round performance.

The fans have been behind the manager and have given him more than a season. He's just not up to it. All the evidence so far points that things won't get better. We've been riding our luck most of the season and these past 2 results have been coming because we're just not performing.

Saying we're not 15th is all well and good but the aim is to get top 4 and at the behind we're 4 points behind two teams who most expected us to be ahead of. And to reiterate there's nothing in the performances which suggest we're going to catch up with them. In fact it's showing the opposite. Wolves and Leicester our next two games. I'm not confident with either. We could be in a terrible position after those two games hence why I believe we need to make a decision before we're out of the race for top 4 completely.

 

[teamsoutheast]

The alarm bells should have been ringing when Chelsea who had a transfer ban were still willing to part with Luiz and put faith in a youngster like Tomori and bring back Zouma. But this is Arsenal we do everything by trying to take shortcuts instead of spending proper money on a top CB.

We did though by buying Saliba. He's our long term investment. We also bid big for Upamecano but Leipzig rejected the bid. For a short term investement, Luiz is fine if it's a stop-gap for a longer term plan ie Upamecano, who I think we'll go nback for in January. We really do miss an atheletic CB in the Kolo Toure/Sol Campbell mould.

 

[Mark Tobias]

We seem to be drawing alot of games where we should win. We just need to build up a good run of results and step up the all round performance.

You state these facts but expect fans to back a manager who is clearly incapable of changing said things...
The fans are frustrated that the season is a write-off if we persist with this man..
I get where your post comes from and we should offer support but that doesn't mean we have to mute our dismay. If they can bathe in the glory of our support in good times then they should be able to take our criticisms during the bad.
Having said that I do not condone the booing etc of individual players.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Top post.

You'd have to be totally blind not to see what a rash defender can do to us ie Mustafi. Then we bought 'lookie likie' Sokratis. And if that wasn't enough we bought another, just the same this year.

Don't get me wrong none of these are bad players, just prone to stupid mistakes. We now we have 3 of a kind. OK if you play poker.

Been saying this for a while now and getting verbally abused on here for being negative. How we end up with Mustafi, Sokratis and Luiz as our senior defenders just show either how little thought is put into what defenders we buy or how little money we have.

We needed a defender this summer, instead we got a wide forward that has been shooting blanks so far.

 

[teamsoutheast]

The fans have been behind the manager and have given him more than a season. He's just not up to it. All the evidence so far points that things won't get better. We've been riding our luck most of the season and these past 2 results have been coming because we're just not performing.

Saying we're not 15th is all well and good but the aim is to get top 4 and at the behind we're 4 points behind two teams who most expected us to be ahead of. And to reiterate there's nothing in the performances which suggest we're going to catch up with them. In fact it's showing the opposite. Wolves and Leicester our next two games. I'm not confident with either. We could be in a terrible position after those two games hence why I believe we need to make a decision before we're out of the race for top 4 completely.

I see where you are coming from, but there isn't reason to panic just yet. Alot of people expect us to just blow teams away based on the past but the truth is, the league has improved a hell of alot. It's no longer a 2 horse race as there are plenty teams capable of getting top 4. I actually fancy us against Wolves and Leicester. Wolves looked average against Newcastle and were lucky to get the draw from what was IMO, a goalkeeper's error. I also don't think Wolves have the squad to cope with competing in the league and UEL. Leicester are doing well thus far, but can they keep that momentum going all season? Football can go up and down sometimes (just look at Tottenham). We just need to hit our patch of form like last season and we'll be fine.

 

[Mark Tobias]

I see where you are coming from, but there isn't reason to panic just yet. Alot of people expect us to just blow teams away based on the past but the truth is, the league has improved a hell of alot. .

I stopped reading after this. Not because it is wrong.. I believe it is correct. But it is hugely out of context.
We were 2-0 up AT HOME against Palace man!
We blew a 2-0 lead against Watford!
We struggled desperately against Sheffield.

I agree the league has gotten stronger but did we plummet 18 places in 2 seasons. What am I missing? Did these other midtable/relegation teams completely outspend us or something.

 

[Makingtrax]

Been saying this for a while now and getting verbally abused on here for being negative. How we end up with Mustafi, Sokratis and Luiz as our senior defenders just show either how little thought is put into what defenders we buy or how little money we have.

We needed a defender this summer, instead we got a wide forward that has been shooting blanks so far.

Some of us get abused quite regularly on here bro, for being myopic.

Fancy not nor being able to see how a wide forward could transform our struggling defence.

Or not being able to see how if millions of fans are ranting about the manager and team, it couldn't possibly be the reason he dropped out of the top 4

 

[Pepes blue pill]

Actually gutted to read that emery still has the backing of the board, the man has us playing the worse football I have seen us play, even under graham you know how arsenal played and they did it well, I dont even know what we play under this fraud, well apart from s hit

 

[teamsoutheast]

You state these facts but expect fans to back a manager who is clearly incapable of changing said things...
The fans are frustrated that the season is a write-off if we persist with this man..
I get where your post comes from and we should offer support but that doesn't mean we have to mute our dismay. If they can bathe in the glory of our support in good times then they should be able to take our criticisms during the bad.
Having said that I do not condone the booing etc of individual players.

I think it's too early to say if it'll be a write off as there's still alot to play for. I can understand frustrations, as it seems we aren't making enough progress. I just feel it doesn't help if we make the atmosphere toxic for our players. We need to make the environment toxic for the opposition. That's our job as supporters IMO, be that 12th man. I can guarantee we'd get more out of the players if we did this and at least the players can't complain and say "we weren't behind them when the chips were down", if we show this mentality.

 

[Makingtrax]

I stopped reading after this. Not because it is wrong.. I believe it is correct. But it is hugely out of context.
We were 2-0 up AT HOME against Palace man!
We blew a 2-0 lead against Watford!
We struggled desperately against Sheffield.

I agree the league has gotten stronger but did we plummet 18 places in 2 seasons. What am I missing? Did these other midtable/relegation teams completely outspend us or something.

All this stuff about the league getting stronger. Is it real? The top 6 is weaker in my opinion. Sp**s and United have gone backwards and Chelsea are struggling without their injection of mega bucks recently. And we're pretty poor. Isn't that the reason other teams are getting amongst the top places.

There's only Liverpool and Sp**s blowing away lower teams regularly. Not long ago 6 teams were doing that.

 

[El Duderino]

We just need to hit our patch of form like last season and we'll be fine.

We never had a patch of form, we had a patch of results, tbf.

The signs are only pointing downward at the moment and the fact that he hasn't managed to turn it around after a pre-season and a hefty ammount of investment in the squad does not augur well for him.

Our true form came when the performances we were giving finally caught up to us and now we're on course for a pretty bad calendar year of performances. You just know that we're gifting Wolves a draw a home and at best a draw at Leicester.

That would make 7 points out of our last 6 games and that's just not good enough. If we lose one of the next two league games he HAS to go.

 

[Mark Tobias]

Some of us get abused quite regularly on here bro, for being myopic.

Fancy not nor being able to see how a wide forward could transform our struggling defence.

Or not being able to see how if millions of fans are ranting about the manager and team, it couldn't possibly be the reason he dropped out of the top 4

Yes but Trax you guys are acting like we have a squad incapable of getting 15th and Emery is a bloody hero?
Sokratis and Luiz are not great defenders but are they midtable level? Relegation level? We're playing relegation stuff here mate..

 

[Mark Tobias]

All this stuff about the league getting stronger. Is it real? The top 6 is weaker in my opinion. Sp**s and United have gone backwards and Chelsea are struggling without their injection of mega bucks recently. And we're pretty poor. Isn't that the reason other teams are getting amongst the top places.

There's only Liverpool and Sp**s blowing away lower teams regularly. Not long ago 6 teams were doing that.

I'm not saying we need to whack teams 5-0 like it is 2008 but blowing a 2-0 lead at home. Come on.

 

[Pepes blue pill]

Seriously how can he be allowed to manage us without being able to communicate, what we see on the pitch suggests its a huge issue, you either have to fire him or force him to use a translator

 

[Malky]

If he's given until the end of the season we'll be in some serious ****. He has big, big problems right now, problems that I can't see him fixing.
His own captain just told the fans to " **** off ", how do you even come back from that? Defeat against Liverpool midweek and then against Wolves at the weekend and things could get even more ugly.

 

[Mark Tobias]

I think it's too early to say if it'll be a write off as there's still alot to play for. .

This sort of blind optimism is going to be the end of this club. There are literally NO signs that Unai can turn this around. Nothing, nada, zilch.

 

[Malky]

Also " Brendan Rodgers was mentioned (as potential manager) but wasn't a serious option " the same man that speaks English, has Leicester flying high and playing some brilliant football in his first full season, scoring for fun with a lesser squad than we have? Yeah, that decision worked out brilliant.

 

[tap-in]

All this stuff about the league getting stronger. Is it real? The top 6 is weaker in my opinion. Sp**s and United have gone backwards and Chelsea are struggling without their injection of mega bucks recently. And we're pretty poor. Isn't that the reason other teams are getting amongst the top places.

There's only Liverpool and Sp**s blowing away lower teams regularly. Not long ago 6 teams were doing that.

I don't think Chelsea are struggling, 5 wins in last 6 PL games, we have 2 wins. I agree Utd & Sp**s have gone backwards but then we have Leicester who have stepped up. I thought we would get 3rd when the season started but the way things are going we will struggle for 4th.

 

[Furious]

This sort of blind optimism is going to be the end of this club. There are literally NO signs that Unai can turn this around. Nothing, nada, zilch.

You were posting similar stuff to that guy just a while ago.

Lol. What happened.

 

[El Duderino]

So we're finally at the last gates for the last few who want to back him some way or the other.

Now it's on the fans that don't back him enough during games, that's after he was backed in the transfer window (excuse n.1) and that he needed his fullbacks (excuse n.2).

Only excuse left is blaming the players who are not backing the manager, and once that happens it's pretty clear there's no where else to run.

Tick tock, Unai.