Emery DESTROYS Valencia

by .

via @Arsenal Instagram LOVE THESE TWO

Another Europa night, another devastating pummelling of a prestige team.

The big man in charge, Sir Unai Emery, inflicted defeat over Valencia in a pretty poor match at The Emirates.

Unai opted for what some thought was an attacking formation, with some thinking it was defensive. I thought it looked like a 3-5-2 at home, with 7 defensive players on the pitch, with a view to keeping a clean sheet for the second leg. Others thought it looked like a wrecking machine with two strikers and Ozil free to create havoc.

Havoc we created. The opening 20 minutes were straight out of the dustbin. Matteo and Xhaka were all over the place, the defence was getting pulled every which way and there was no intensity to our play. We even managed to concede from a setpiece (which is pretty rare), a long ball to the back post was nodded back into the mixer, Xhaka was nowhere and he was beaten to ball by Diakhaby who headed home.

The Swiss really isn’t fit for purpose… it makes me so sad that when he has a few ok games and all the usual suspects revert back to him being peak-Gilberto when it comes to football enigmas. He’s not. He’s bang average. There is nothing smart in the long-form editorial suck up pieces that lambast social media obsessed millennials who just don’t understand the beautiful game because they can’t see the beauty in Xhaka. Football fans are OBSESSED with other fans who celebrate shit players in militant fashion because it’s so bizarre, you worry you truly are missing something. You’re not. You weren’t with Senderos. You weren’t with Denilson. You’re not with Xhaka. Move on.

Up the other end, 7 minutes later, Lacazette played a perfectly weighted ball to Auba, he cut back and gave his buddy the gift of an open goal from ten yards. What a gentleman. I love those two. If they had a child, it’d be one helluva striker… would probs dress nice too.

7 minutes later, Xhaka showed why the usual suspects menace themselves to bedroom posters of his radar maps. He whipped a beautiful first-time diagonal ball into the box, Lacazette made a yard on his centre back and headed into the ground, the keeper claimed the ball didn’t cross the line but the refs watch buzzed… techhhhhhnology wins again. Xhaka… what a cross, I really think if you ignore the OTT critique of Xhaka, there’s a great player in there, I guess some people just don’t get it.

The second half just didn’t feel particularly smart. We were chasing the third goal and leaving Laurent Kos and Sokratis completely exposed on the counter. It was really tough to watch, Cech kept us in the tie when he denied Kevin Gameiro with a great block. Kos nursed an injury for as long as he could before limping off, we really have to pray he’s going to be ok. That block where he threw his head at a foot late on was something else.

Late on, Kola found Auba at the back post on a tight angle, the ball was struck awkwardly but crept in at the near post. A real shame most fans had gone home by that point. A sad indictment of the fans? The drab football? The Europa League? Who knows.

3-1. That’ll do nicely. £100m worth of strikers to the rescue. Another example of how dependent we are on superhuman finishing.

There’s no point in analysing the game too much. The football was awful, we looked a mess, but we did the job. We’ll shithouse ourselves to the final and then it’s a coin toss… and there’s no manager that knows this trophy as well as Unai.

Whatever my thoughts on his long-term future, watching him twitching out on the sidelines shows how much passion he has for the project. When that third goal landed at the end, he lost his damn mind. It’s great to see. He’s a hard worker, a trophy in his first season would be epic, it’d be even better if we didn’t have to play Chelsea.

Also… does a cup final count as an away game? Answers in the comments.

I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s see if we can go away from home and not concede 3 goals… not as easy as one would think.

Right, see you in the comments you total meltbags xx

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DM

DM

Bankz

Bankz is here for the tr4phy again

Bankz

Let’s do this!!!

DM

Tr4phy

Bankz

4

DM

No problemo Bankz 😉

Cheers for fixing time zone Pedro!

Bankz

Fuck off DM.
I thought I had you

DM

Never! 😀

HighburyLegend

LOL about Xhaka.
Love this facetious post.

HighburyLegend

“Where would Arsenal be without Lacazette and Aubameyang?”

Question from Sky Sports.
Answer : probably in a battle to avoid relegation.

lari03

Well, you could be forgiven, if you think every Europa league game is a home game, because we are so poor, and seem to have found our level,

Danny

Will be interesting who he picks against Brighton, I reckon it’ll be mostly reserve players.
Emery has proved that he’s only been interested in this Thursday night cup, not because winning puts us in the Champions League but simply because he enjoys winning it and knows how to motivate his players to do it. We’ll go all out for attack next Thursday to get an away goal as quick as possible.
Is this ok for Arsenal to have a new manager who only cares about winning the Europa League or should we have a manager who wants to aim higher?

HighburyLegend

“Aim higher ??”
With the squad that wenger has put in place ?? Hilarious, indeed…

GillespieRoadNoMore

Loving the Xhaka irony.

Pierre

Tactically,I find Emery very similar to Wenger…they are both willing to leave the midfield very open which I find particularly frustrating . Sarri is a similar type of manager whereas pochettino, klopp and Pep like control in the middle. I have always believed that the 2 central midfielders are the most important part of the team , they can control the game offensively and defensively if they are positionally aware. Petit and Vieira were the perfect combination as they created a perfect barrier for the defence , were technically very good and worked very well in tandem with eachother. Without… Read more »

HighburyLegend

As facetious as Pedro’s post is, you can clearly feel that he can’t wait for Emery being sacked.
(lol ?)

HighburyLegend

And Pierre also, of course…

Danny

Highbury
LegendMay 3, 2019 09:17:37
———————–
Fair enough but there’s no reason we shouldn’t have nailed down 3rd and be on course to win the Europe Cup, even that would show more ambition than what he’s done this season.

Dark Hei

Pierre

Tactically Emery is as far from Wenger as you can imagine.

I don’t think Emery is better or worse, just extremely different.

Both of them view the game and pursue very different objectives within the game itself.

Its like Jon Jones vs Khabib.

HighburyLegend

Spot on.

Leftsidesanch

Throwing the Brighton game would be ignorant at this stage, you never know how how results will fall on the last game of the season so you need to take each game as it comes.

There’s only potentially 4 bloody games left for crying out loud.

From Brighton at home, to a hopefully safe Burnley away v Valencia and potentially Chelsea away in the EL final I know which ones I’d prefer anyway.

Pierre

Dark Hei They are not so far apart as you may think . They both regard the defensive side of the game as of secondary importance and they both appear to be content in having an open midfield. The main difference in their philosophy is Emery prefers workers and Wenger has always gone for high technical ability though some would say that some of his more recent signings have not reach that level …which I tend to agree.. Emery’s football is more bland but again , the last couple of seasons under Wenger have been nothing to write home about…… Read more »

Danny

Throwing the Brighton game would be ignorant at this stage,
———————–
Expect to see Jenkinson, Elneny, Nketiah etc on Sunday.

Emiratesstroller

Pedro Personally I have no problem including Xhaka in my starting X1 BUT we need to play him alongside other Midfield Players who will compensate for his deficiencies. Guendouzi runs around like a rabbit but there is frankly not a lot of substance to what he actually does on the pitch. Personally I don’t think that he is a major upgrade on some of the talent which we have got in our youth programme. On the other hand at £9 million he is good enough as a squad player. Personally I don’t understand why we don’t play Torreira in starting… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Expect to see Jenkinson, Elneny, Nketiah etc on Sunday.”

As long as YOU are not there…

Leftsidesanch

I don’t expect to see them, I’m not sure why your so convinced that he will do that either.

Pierre

Leftsidesanch
Agree ..play the best possible side .

Monreal to replace Kosielny
Torreira to replace Guendouzi.
Leno to replace Cech.
And a decision to be made on who to replace AMN if he is suspended.

Leftsidesanch

Yes, I can agree with those selection choices Pierre.

siddharth14

What is a sad indictment right now, is that we are regularly struggling to create chances. If it had not been for Auba and Laca last night, we might be discussing the next manager right now. I think it’s no coincidence that our offensive play has gone downhill since the loss of form of our two strikers. It will be really interesting to see the contribution of both in terms of assists during our 22 game unbeaten run. Our midfield looks sunday league and has been since our defeat at Everton. There is no way to improve it with the… Read more »

Emerytes

Think the super human finishing point is a bit forgetful. Lacazette also missed two really easy chances that he should have scored and the goals scored every striker should do. It wasn’t particularly good finishing, it was open goals/free headers

Danny

Leftsidesanch
May 3, 2019 09:59:24
I don’t expect to see them, I’m not sure why your so convinced that he will do that either.
———————————-
Simply because Emery couldn’t give a shit about getting top 4.
We do, he doesn’t.

HighburyLegend

@Danny, stfu please…

Leftsidesanch

And how do you know this Danny?

Batistuta

Danny

And you know that how exactly?

siddharth14

Danny

I’m sure every incoming Manager (Emery included) would value themselves guiding the team to a top four finish after taking over a squad finishing 6th. I know, Emery does not fill us with confidence with regards to where and how we want Arsenal to be. But to suggest that he doesn’t give a shit about finishing in Top 4 is absolutely wrong.

Danny

because we’ve played so well in our last 5 league matches thats why………..

Danny

If you lot reckon after our last 5 league matches that Emery wants top 4 then I’ll have whatever you’re all trippin’ on.
We all saw his passion last night, his desire, his wanting to win, where the fuck was that against Everton, Palace etc?

Jamie

Mustafi in midfield?!!! Get him in the bin; it’s where he belongs.

He can’t pass, can’t defend, has poor positional awareness.. just no.

Dark Hei

Jamie

Play Mustafi as striker, but mix it in as one of Brighton’s defenders.

Somehow they will then concede.

Jamie

Dark Hei –

Good belly roar from that one!

China1

I’m sure mustafi is a lovely bloke but he belongs dumped in the sea…metaphorically speaking of course…

HighburyLegend

I doubt that Mustafi could not be worse as a striker than as a defender.

HighburyLegend

Your comment anywhere ??

HighburyLegend

“I doubt that Mustafi could be worse as a striker than as a defender.”

That’s better!! lol

Jamie

Now that I think about it, the further way Mustafi is from out goal, the less likely we are to concede. Playing him up front might help us keep clean sheets..

He’ll pick up a bunch of clumsy yellows smashing into their goalie and trying to undress their central defenders though, obviously.

Jamie

from our* goal

Sam

I don’t usually comment on here but I read the posts most days….

Anyone else notice the lack of reaction from Steve Bould when the 3rd goal went in? The rest of the coaching staff went nuts and he just starred across the pitch. Does he have a future come the summer?

edthered

We are close to playing our first European Final in 13 years, 25 years after we last won European Trophy (therefore never under Wenger) and Danny is questioning direction we’re taking, or something. Have to question Danny’s motivation for writing such silly statements.

HighburyLegend

He’s just another member of the “Emery Out Brigade”.

HighburyLegend

“Manchester United are prepared to pay half of Alexis Sanchez’s mammoth £26m salary to secure him a move this summer.”

lol

Danny

edthered
May 3, 2019 11:06:21
We are close to playing our first European Final in 13 years, 25 years after we last won European Trophy (therefore never under Wenger) and Danny is questioning direction we’re taking, or something. Have to question Danny’s motivation for writing such silly statements.
——————————————
I didn’t question shit. Learn to read.

HighburyLegend
May 3, 2019 11:18:48
He’s just another member of the “Emery Out Brigade”.
————————–
I’ve never said “Emery Out” you stupid wanker.

London gunner

League is not over.

Chelsea have watford and Leicester I think they will get a win and a draw and finish on 72 points.

We have brighton and burnley two wins and we finish on 72 and comes between goal difference with us and chelsea.

Nelson

I think Emery is doing the best he can with the players available to him. The defense is weak and Kos is old and tired. AMN and Kola are better as wing backs. Therefore, playing 3 CBs with wing back suits the players. As for midfield, ideally, he would like to have Xhaka and Ramsey. Xhaka is slow and immobile. He can only play as a deep lying midfielder. He thought Guen is closer to replace Ramsey. But Guen is no Ramsey. Not only he is weak defensively. He can’t control the game upfield. With Torr, at least the defense… Read more »

Rainman

“The Swiss really isn’t fit for purpose… it makes me so sad that when he has a few ok games and all the usual suspects revert back to him being peak-Gilberto when it comes to football enigmas. He’s not. He’s bang average. ”

Then

“I really think if you ignore the OTT critique of Xhaka, there’s a great player in there, I guess some people just don’t get it.”

lol, I see what you did there Pedro

HighburyLegend

He do the same with Emery.

Bamford10

Danny

You’re getting shit because your comment was a little silly. Emery obviously wants to compete for both top four and the Europa League; he’s not deliberately blowing off PL matches. The players may be getting more up for Valencia at home in the Europa than they are for Leicester or Watford away in the PL, but not because Emery is telling them to do so.

Some people are also underestimating how good a Leicester or Watford are, especially at home, and especially against our somewhat hamstrung and inadequate first 13-14 players.

Jamie

It’s satire, folks..

Bamford10

Dani

To answer your question from the previous, it’s because certain people here can be a bit petty, unfair and unfriendly at times. It’s also because I have accumulated a few “haters” in my time here. Cheers.

Danny

Emery obviously wants to compete for both top four and the Europa League
————————————
Why obviously?
Our last 5 league games prove otherwise.
Forget about it.

Dissenter

What does the assistant next to the goal line do?
I ask because that second goal was like one foot behind the goal line. It shouldn’t even have been a controversy.
The damn official should have immediately indicated to the referee that it was a goal.

Dissenter

Pierre
‘Tactically,I find Emery very similar to Wenger…they are both willing to leave the midfield very open which I find particularly frustrating .
Sarri is a similar type of manager whereas pochettino, klopp and Pep like control in the middle’

Emery too likes to control the midfield but he has to rely on the shite midfielders left for him. We don’t have any midfielder that can control the pace or tempo of a game, not one.

Bamford10

Nelson I think there’s a chance they viewed this entire first season as a kind of trial for the existing squad. When you look at the riches (in terms of quality) Emery enjoyed at PSG, especially at wide attacking positions, it’s hard to believe he would be satisfied with so little quality in this squad. I wonder if he/they did a minimum in the summer and in January in part because of financial realities but in part because the plan was to use this first season to assess where things really stand personnel-wise, who should stay, who should go, what… Read more »

Bamford10

Danny

Right, but “Emery doesn’t give a shit about top four” isn’t a reasonable explanation for those results. There are several better and more plausible explanations.

Dissenter

What’s the use of Ozil when he’s shit in a crucial home game against substandard opposition.
He’s shit at home. He’s shit away. It’s friday so he’s just sucked another 350k from the club.

CG

Arsenal 3 Valencia 1

Arse&Nose©

Pedro, that’s the best summary of The Xhaka delusion that I’ve ever read. Top work!

Bamford10

Pedro

No, I don’t. One, because I’m not really “patronizing”. It’s true that I have been a bit of a dick here and there at times, but that’s true of 50% of the guys here. Two, because there are other factors at work.

Not a big deal.

Bamford10

Pedro

Further, as for tone, have you taken a good look at your own tone on here when dealing with people who disagree with you? Like with Dissenter the other night? Well beyond “patronizing”. All of the following — “condescending”, “arrogant”, “dismissive” and “aristocratic” — would aptly describe it.

Again, not a big deal, though.

HighburyLegend

“but that’s true of 50% of the guys here.”

Let’s say it’s closer to 80%.

Bamford10

Pedro Except that his take — “Emery doesn’t give a duck about finishing top four” — is silly. That is absolutely correct word for it. And did you see how others replied to it? A lot less friendlier than I did. As for your “mid-table” point, this is sophistry. The PL has improved a great deal; teams 7-12 might be “mid-table” by definition, but they are not lacking in quality. In their own way, all of these teams are good and difficult to beat, especisliy at home. This is borne out by how much difficulty they have given other top… Read more »

azed

Pierre

With Xhaka, Torriera, Elneny, Guendozi and Ramsey as your midfielders, you its almost impossible to get the right balance.

There’s no pace or strength and very limited mobility in two of them.

Bamford10

* I should’ve capitalized “is” above for emphasis, i.e., “IS silly”

Champagne Charlie

Banford You’ve got huge issues with engagement and debate, you’re incapable of doing any without feeling threatened intellectually when argued against. The evidence is stunning. Also, the levels of narcissism are something else. You rehashed neymargate for the 37373th time yesterday because you’re incapable of taking any needle. There’s a reason your hero dressed you down as he did, should lead to some introspective thinking, but I’ve learned it won’t. Even now with Pedro you’re posturing and saying this absurd idea about you having “haters” is not down to your manner of interactions, but other factors….. riiight. Because you’re so… Read more »

Vintage Gun

I agree with Bamford on this.

Wolves, Leicster and Watford away are tricky fixtures. Simple as. For example at home Wolves have beaten ManYoo twice, Us, got a result against Man City and that’s just off the top of my head.

I’m disappointed when we lose to theses teams but by no means are the three points “Easy” away to those teams.

Pierre

Dissenter “Emery too likes to control the midfield but he has to rely on the shite midfielders left for him. We don’t have any midfielder that can control the pace or tempo of a game, not one.” I’m not sure that Guendouzi and Torreira were left for him ..plus He seems reluctant to play Torriera which I find slightly strange. He could have played the more disciplined( this season) Ramsey but chose to have him on the bench more often than he played him which again, I found slightly strange . As for Emery wanting to control the midfield, playing… Read more »

Pierre

Asks* seems

Dissenter

Pierre
Keep writing your brand of balderdash
Emery has had only one season to rectify the midfield, Wenger had more than enough.
We don’t have none that can control that tempo of a game, until we do, it is what it is.

Champagne Charlie

The table doesn’t lie. That’s something stated annually and there’s truth in that. You can coin the mid table teams better than mid table teams of a decade ago but in relative terms (the most important factor) they’re mid table teams compared to Arsenal Also, nobody is bemoaning a loss, losses happen regardless of how annoying at times. We lost 3 in a row. Except we didn’t just lose 3 in a row, we were completely mauled 3 times in a row and conceded three goals every game with fuck all response. To come out at call any of them… Read more »

Danny

I think it was pretty clear from his Palace line up where he thought the best chance of top 4 was.
————————————–
Pedro
Thanks

Dissenter

Pedro
You realize that you’re just as guilty of patronizing people, like you did to Cesc Appeal when asked to prove your absurd double-training claim.

It’s your blog so you’re always right, it sometimes seems

Pierre

Azed “With Xhaka, Torriera, Elneny, Guendozi and Ramsey as your midfielders, you its almost impossible to get the right balance.There’s no pace or strength and very limited mobility in two of them.” The most important aspects of a centre midfielder ‘s game is not strength , pace of mobility( though it would help) , it is being able to read the game , positional awareness , anticipation and sensing danger… Gilberto did not have strength ,pace or mobility but his reading of the game was exceptional . Claude Makelele superb in midfield…again ,it was his reading of the game that… Read more »

Bamford10

Pedro

“If he does neither, it’s hard to justify him staying on.”

Unless, of course, it’s determined that he was working with a less than top-four caliber squad, that he did a reasonably good job with what he had, and that he has a reasonably good vision for the team’s near future.

In that case, the men in charge would/will probably keep him on for another year.

That you believe the above three things are not the case does not make it so.

Champagne Charlie

Dissenter

Pedro wasn’t lambasting Banford for being patronising. He was saying it’s the reason he has apparent “haters”, given Banford was intent such people decide to be that way on a whim.

CG

Scanning the papers from my boutique London hotel this morning- who in their right mind- thought next seasons away kit would be acceptable?

Secondly- in this current climate- with regards to environmentalism- who thought it was wise to litter the N5 area with 60 000 plastic bags last night?

if we can not get these important ‘little’ decisions right- we most certainly will not get the ‘bigger’ ones too. ( ie recruitment and hires, etc)

A good morning to you all and sincere thanks to PedRo- for his excellent recent posts by the way.

Bamford10

“I think it was pretty clear from his Palace line up where he thought the best chance of top 4 was.”

Please tell us who he should have played instead. Be specific. Show us the XI he deployed vs. the XI he should have deployed.

You won’t be able to do this, because the truth is he had very few other options. The above is actually a good example of the shallowness and superficiality of some of the arguments made against Emery.

Bamford10

Charlie

“they’re mid table teams compared to Arsenal”

Right, and in some years 7 is closer to 6 than in previous years. In some years, depending on any number of variables — injuries, home vs. away, fatigue, etc. — 11 is closer to 5 or 6 in previous years. Sometimes they’re even better than them.

As has been explained ad nauseam now, Leicester City’s XI was better than ours on Sunday. You can point to the table all you like, you can repeat “mid-table” all you like, it won’t change this basic fact.

Alan

” I really think if you ignore the OTT critique of Xhaka, there’s a great player in there, I guess some people just don’t get it”

Haha, nicely played sir!

Un Na naai

Pedro I do think there is a point to analysing the game and I dont think we were that horrible. One thing i noticed was that we played though the middle and what a difference!! Variety is the spice and all If the opposition expect you to just play in the wing backs and have them pop a cut back across then we are easy to defend against Last night laca and auba ran off the defenders giving ozil and xakha someone to aim for and how it worked We need much more of this. We ha e two of… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“It’s your blog so you’re always right, it sometimes seems”

No answer… just a coincidence ??
(lol)

Bamford10

Vintage

“I agree with Bamford on this.”

Sensible man.

Un Na naai

Bamford

The 11 he deployed against palace should have been enough to win the game regardless. Or at the very least, not lose it. You’re fighting a losing battle here but 10/10 for persistence

Champagne Charlie

“As has been explained ad nauseam now, Leicester City’s XI was better than ours on Sunday. You can point to the table all you like, you can repeat “mid-table” all you like, it won’t change this basic fact.“ I’ll steal something from your above retort to Pedro: “That you believe the above three things are not the case does not make it so.” I think this works here given you’re rather obvious attempts to turn opinion into fact. Leicester have a better XI than Arsenal by your own view, not by fact. If you want to tread the line of… Read more »

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