Mark Tobias
Mr. Agreeable
He's trying desperately to find things to beat Emery with. Expected a title this season, I'd imagine.
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Unai Emery: Adios
- Thread starter Mo Britain
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Can't remember where I heard it, but someone used the term 'finishers' to describe how Emery uses his subs. I like it a lot, means they feel less useless and have a vital role to play when they come on the pitch.
Yes. It may well be the case with the impact thing and I'm not denying it, but he gets it wrong sometimes, too; see the Huddersfield game. It's great though that he gets it right more often than not. He's got the best record, but not a perfect one - and I just don't like how it's more often than not portrayed as the latter on here. People are almost already as black and white as they were with Wenger in/out. Emery is doing an okay job. Could it be better? Yes. Could it be worse? Yes. It's still far from ultra convincing; currently it's praiseworthy and worthy of criticism at the same time.
I'm starting to get a bit wary of the 45 min double change, though. Would actually be nice if he'd start to get it right with the initial line-up. It takes away the opportunity to influence the game later on if you've already used 2 subs at 45'. There's also a risk regarding injuries and subs.
I maintain my notion that for a guy who's lauded as a great analyst with crazy amounts of preparation it's kind of weird that he gets the starting XI wrong more often than not and has to see 45 mins of the actual game to then get it right. It's praiseworthy he gets the subs right most of the time, but he kind of has to after botching the starting XI and it's great as long as it comes off.
Mark Tobias
Mr. Agreeable
Could this not be a tactic as well? Saving the real energy to sucker punch a tired opposition in the final 45 minutes. You're running on the assumption he gets it wrong but perhaps that is exactly what he is aiming for..
I didn't expect a title this season. I said that to you multiple times. I expected either a more effective challenge for Top 4 which to be fair looks better right now than when we had started our discussion, so I'm happy to concede that one for now and am a bit more satisfied with how things look than two weeks ago.
Or I expected a significant development in footballing style, especially offensively, and I'm still not seeing that.
And btw by now there's a few users on here who are on a similar page to me on that one. There's a few notions on the last pages on how the results make the team look better than it is playing, that the offense is still stuttering, it's still square pegs in round holes, we're still conceding.
Again, I don't want Unai's head, I didn't expect any titles this season but I just can't fathom the notion how he's this holy cow excempt of any criticism for some on here. Yes, it could be worse, but it could be better, too. And I can't understand how you're constantly attacked on here for raising reasonable and arguable criticism. Just as some made Wenger out to be a tactical neanderthal who's **** at everything there's now this need to push Emery to heights he just hasn't achieved (yet).
If you still can't accept that there is some room for criticism, don't bother answering because we have been through this one or two weeks ago. And you're so rock solid on your stance that everything is as perfect as can be and you don't even bother to really address the constant footballing points I make, that if that's still your stance I really don't want to go through this again.
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I have thought about that, but that would be an extremely risky tactic. The sucker punch idea would also suggest he gets the goalscorers on as subs, but e.g. against Huddersfield he took of Laca and brought on Iwobi/Mkhi who can't sucker punch anything - and he's done it that way a couple of times. I'd have to look at all subs but I think he mostly uses these subs to mainly adjust his central midfield.
I'm sure it's a mix. Sometimes he just got it wrong, sometimes he used it as a deliberate tactic. Constanly doing a double sub at 45' is still risky business, though. Just for injuries e.g. You do your 3rd sub at 65', but then a player gets injured and you've already used up all the options. I mean that can happen all the time, but the later or more distributed you sub, the smaller the chance you go down to 10 men on an injury with many minutes to go.
Preacher
Always Crying
Some people like to overanalyze everything, when there isn't any need to do it.
Isn't that the reason you're on this forum? Discussing and analyzing the sport and your favourite team with other football heads in a more in depth and detail orientated way than you would/could with colleagues or regular friends?
If I got that wrong and this is now just about getting pats on the back for having the same opinion, getting likes for witty one liners and staying on the level of analysis as on TV, I should probably stop posting.
Mark Tobias
Mr. Agreeable
No that's fair. I have criticism as well. We are losing our momentum and we're not as sleak as we were a few weeks ago.
He's certainly made some mistakes but I still feel we're so much better off than we were last season. Under Wenger in his last years it felt like a sinking ship. It doesn;t feel that way anymore.
ThlRama
Active Member
Country: Greece
Player:Saka
I think both posts above are correct. People are overanalyzing, and yes, this is in part what a forum is for, but the problem with the current overanalysis is not only that it's early days and Emery is already under pressure (getting those scrappy results means we're in a good position to make a run for top 4 and thus now seeing out games the hard way is the preferred option compared to settling the team's philosophy for the long term,) but also that Emery's reputation comes from his 3 consecutive EL wins. Not that as a manager he has nothing else to show for, but without those EL wins he never ends up at PSG and then possibly not here either.
So, we can go in circles regarding how he is doing in the PL basically, but the main expectation from him should be better showings in Europe, and possibly fewer cup upsets against us, because Wenger had a few of those in his final decade or so. If the playing style problems persist but we win the EL and only lose to very strong opposition in the domestic cups, pushing all inferior opposition over without trouble, then I think Emery's first season will be considered a major success, regardless of where we finish in the league (anything between 3rd and 6th won't make a big difference in my book.)
Can we judge him in Europe or in cups yet? No. So let's reserve judgment. I am an optimist for now, I think that the team has clearly improved in a lot of ways, but jury's still out because we've seen very little of Emery in the cups as of now.
So, we can go in circles regarding how he is doing in the PL basically, but the main expectation from him should be better showings in Europe, and possibly fewer cup upsets against us, because Wenger had a few of those in his final decade or so. If the playing style problems persist but we win the EL and only lose to very strong opposition in the domestic cups, pushing all inferior opposition over without trouble, then I think Emery's first season will be considered a major success, regardless of where we finish in the league (anything between 3rd and 6th won't make a big difference in my book.)
Can we judge him in Europe or in cups yet? No. So let's reserve judgment. I am an optimist for now, I think that the team has clearly improved in a lot of ways, but jury's still out because we've seen very little of Emery in the cups as of now.
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Mo Britain
Doom Monger
I don't think Emery is under any pressure. Don't confuse an Arsenal forum with the real world.
People's expectations were that we would struggle to improve on recent seasons and so far, whether it is 100% real or partly perceptions, the general consensus is that we are better. We may not have that many points against the top sides but, on the other hand, our win against Spuds was convincing and we did not lose games against both Liverpool and United where we were the better team on the day. But for an awful start we would have got something away at Chelsea.
We are not dropping many points against lesser teams either. I don't think Emery would be under serious pressure unless we dropped below 6th (unlikely) and even then he'd probably be given benefit of the doubt.
It is ok to comment and criticise but one person's criticism does not amount to a crisis in confidence - somebody else might disagree with that person.
I don't think he got the team selection wrong on Saturday. I'd rather he'd have kept Laca on cos he was my fantasy captain but he made changes and we won a scrappy game so I'm not complaining.
People's expectations were that we would struggle to improve on recent seasons and so far, whether it is 100% real or partly perceptions, the general consensus is that we are better. We may not have that many points against the top sides but, on the other hand, our win against Spuds was convincing and we did not lose games against both Liverpool and United where we were the better team on the day. But for an awful start we would have got something away at Chelsea.
We are not dropping many points against lesser teams either. I don't think Emery would be under serious pressure unless we dropped below 6th (unlikely) and even then he'd probably be given benefit of the doubt.
It is ok to comment and criticise but one person's criticism does not amount to a crisis in confidence - somebody else might disagree with that person.
I don't think he got the team selection wrong on Saturday. I'd rather he'd have kept Laca on cos he was my fantasy captain but he made changes and we won a scrappy game so I'm not complaining.
Kobi
I Know Who You Are
Top four would be a significant achievement in my opinion, think how long Sp**s for example have had that team and manager together to implement and perfect a system.
He has had, what, six months to completely reinvent something left by a man who was here twenty two years.
Also the squad he was left was frankly a shambles and he has had one transfer window to address it.
Not one actual winger, not one actual defensive midfielder, one right back, no stand out centre back and an old first choice left back with a bloke who can only play wing back to come in.
Plus our highest profile player is very difficult to fit into any modern system and practically needs to have a team built around him.
He (with help from Sven) is doing an excellent job of addressing these problems one by one but there are so many he can't resolve everything instantly, it takes time.
We aren't playing great but we are at least difficult to beat, don't forget we had been playing badly for a good while before he arrived (and losing) he has brought a basic structure and organisation which at least gives us a chance in games.
I said before I will judge him at the end of next season, how we are playng then will be more of a barometer of how good he is but for the moment the consistency of the results (if not performances) is well ahead of anything I personally expected at this point.
He has had, what, six months to completely reinvent something left by a man who was here twenty two years.
Also the squad he was left was frankly a shambles and he has had one transfer window to address it.
Not one actual winger, not one actual defensive midfielder, one right back, no stand out centre back and an old first choice left back with a bloke who can only play wing back to come in.
Plus our highest profile player is very difficult to fit into any modern system and practically needs to have a team built around him.
He (with help from Sven) is doing an excellent job of addressing these problems one by one but there are so many he can't resolve everything instantly, it takes time.
We aren't playing great but we are at least difficult to beat, don't forget we had been playing badly for a good while before he arrived (and losing) he has brought a basic structure and organisation which at least gives us a chance in games.
I said before I will judge him at the end of next season, how we are playng then will be more of a barometer of how good he is but for the moment the consistency of the results (if not performances) is well ahead of anything I personally expected at this point.
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- #373
Mo Britain
Doom Monger
What we suffered was from fatigue. I was a great admirer of Wenger but things were allowed to stagnate and sometimes you need a new broom. It is difficult to drum up the same enthusiasm for your 22nd season as it is for your first, especially when there are factors working against you.
Emery's main success, so far, has been to tighten up the aspects of defending as a team, to encourage more pressing and to toughen up a team - partly with some shrewd buys but also by getting the message through to the old-timers - which had become too easy to bully.
None of these improve the quality of our football but they do make us more competitive. The trick is to keep this level of commitment and (if possible) improve the squad through new players and promotions from the youth team of those players who can make it here. There's a few of those imo.
If he does that Emery will win us trophies although it is hard to see us winning a league title. But if he could fluke a CL win he'd be up there in my pantheon of heroes.
Emery's main success, so far, has been to tighten up the aspects of defending as a team, to encourage more pressing and to toughen up a team - partly with some shrewd buys but also by getting the message through to the old-timers - which had become too easy to bully.
None of these improve the quality of our football but they do make us more competitive. The trick is to keep this level of commitment and (if possible) improve the squad through new players and promotions from the youth team of those players who can make it here. There's a few of those imo.
If he does that Emery will win us trophies although it is hard to see us winning a league title. But if he could fluke a CL win he'd be up there in my pantheon of heroes.
ClubLevel
Active Member
I think this is partly because of the number of games we have played and the team being a bit leggy. Some tricky games too and with some injuries so he hasn't rotated the squad as he would of liked. You could see how desperate he was to win against Huddersfield as he knew how tired the squad was. Hopefully a week to rest the legs (lets assume he will play a young team on Thursday) and then we go again.
Country: England
Sanchez11
Nobody Is Coming!
Country: England
Some people are actually moaning?? 
rich 1990
Not A Big Believer In Diversity
Some people always moan.Some people are actually moaning??
Tir Na Nog
Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes
Country: Ireland
Some people are actually moaning??
Well of course, we're only 21 games unbeaten, if Emery was any good we'd be 210 games unbeaten by now.
Country: Iceland
Tir Na Nog
Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes
Country: Ireland
Isn't our unbeaten run mostly draws so its very uninspiring?
I count 16 wins and 5 draws.
Basically our record under Emery is 23 games played with 16 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. Remembering this is his first season and the 2 losses came in the first two games against two of the top 3 sides in the league, 2 of the last 2 title winners.
I can see why people are moaning tbh.
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