Emery struggles to motivate a performance, again

by .

I watched the Arsenal game in New Orleans in a great bar call Finn McCool’s. I am very hungover right now. So bear with me kids.

We’re now into October and Unai Emery has only managed one decent performance this season, that was against a Championship side.

On the face of it, you can boldly look at the on-paper situ and say that we’re sitting in 4th, we’re ahead of two of our main rivals in the race for top 4, and we’re excited about some of the kids.

Or you could be a miserable but realistic person and realize that there are only 3 points between 4th and 11th, our main rivals are in deep transition / we’ve not taken advantage of their woes, and the kids are the only exciting thing because the rest of the squad hasn’t really shown up.

At the core of our problems is our beta manager. Unai Emery went to Old Trafford, a team West Ham bossed, and played with fear again. His midfield lacked ambition, he basically rolled with three holding midfielders, opting to push LT into a more advanced position he really can’t play. Xhaka is Xhaka, you know what you’re going to get and it’s always a different variant of beige. We all love Matteo, but he can’t do it all himself. I really felt for the attack, Auba was dropping into our own penalty box at times to create for the forward players. Petit summer up the side he picked.

‘It sends negative signals by picking 3 defensive midfielders against a team there for the taking’

We went a goal down, there were 9 Arsenal players behind the ball when McTominay fizzed a shot that Xhaka ducked. It was quite startling to be down to a side that’s been so inept this season, but not surprising, we give wind to any club in any sort of crisis. Xhaka ducking a header? Not shocking.

We clawed one back in VAR circumstances. Saka slipped Aub into the box with a lovely first-time pass, the finish was an arrogant little dink, but the linesman called it offside. VAR overturned the decision. De Gea looked like he’d broken the unwritten rule… play on regardless of what you see with you eyes and hear with your ears. The VAR ruled the goal legitimate.

Saka was the one bright spot in a game of darkness. He’s electric, he moves the ball with purpose, he’s extremely bright and he delivers. If we’d spent £80m on him this summer, we’d all be purring right now. What a bright future this guy has.

The rest of the game was pretty grim to watch. The manager tried to spice up our attack with the introduction of  Ceballos. I’m not sure it heavily altered the dynamic, though it did give us a bit more purpose.

We chased the win late on by bringing Reiss Nelson on for the dismal Nicolas Pepe. The Ivorian superstar looked utterly lost once again. He has some lovely flashes, but he has no clue what he’s doing in the Emery system. He’s a lost his sparkle, he needs a goal, I also think he needs a hug, the guy looks very, very miserable.

1-1 was a fair result, but once again, it was a poor one given the context. What made it worse was the glee on Emery’s face, like he’d just taken Sevilla to Barca and nicked a point. It’s so meek.

I’m no fan of Mesut Ozil, but in a game as bad as that, he’d be handy to open up opportunities. The manager named him in his 5 captains, then dropped him from the squad. What does that say about your emotional intelligence as a coach? How do your rationalise that sort of thing? What does that message look like to the other players? It’s farsical considering how little magic was on show yesterday. As someone comically said yesterday, Emery would prefer to play a defensive midfielder as a #10.

Long and short of it. We couldn’t take advantage of Spurs when they were in freefall. We couldn’t take advantage of an OGS mess. We’re in 4th place, sure, but the reality is we’re not playing like a top 4 team and the hangover from last season has carried through. We are a very average team. Some fans aren’t paying attention to the performances becasue they don’t think the table lies. I have news for you, the table always lies, if you didn’t learn that last season during our 22 game unbeaten streak, I feel for you. Emery hasn’t moved us forward, he doesn’t know how to build a defensive structure, his approach to attack is painfully one-dimensional, and worst of all… the players don’t look like they enjoy playing his system.

We’re holding out for Tierney and Hector to save Emery’s vision, the same way many fans were holding onto the idea that buying wide players would make his style tick. It’s fantasy stuff. We were supposed to be hiring in a magician who could work with the tools he was given, we got a one-dimensional manager with less tricks up his sleeve than Wenger. The only thing that’s flexible is his indecision. The only thing that’s visionary is the belief that there’s a good player somewhere in the world of Xhaka. The only thing exciting are the moments of individual magic some of our talent can pull off inspite of the manager.

We hired in asset stripper, the asset he’s selling off is footballing joy and he’s utterly ruthless at it. Unai Emery doesn’t want to have a specific style. He just wants to crawl through each game and take the points any way he can. It’s like watching a mid-table team bar fight after 12 beers. He’s a bad pragmatist, he doesn’t believe in anything, so we’re always going to look confused. We get by at the moment because we have good players, or more to the point, we have an Auba.

That’s not a sustainable model. It didn’t work last season, I have my doubts it will this year. The only thing we’re hopeful of is that Chelsea, Spurs and United continue to be works of transition. That’s such a miserable outlook considering how good some of the talent is.

… but this is us for the forseeable. I can’t see the club doing anything unless things go really badly, we’re just going to aim for 4th and hope the manager finds some sort of rhythm.

A disappointing result, but par the course for Emery.

 

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Pierre

Raptora “Change the following – “this doesn’t happen under Emery due to the fear he ingrains into the players and they go into negative mode.” into “this doesn’t happen under Wenger and Emery due to the fear they ingrained into the players and they go into negative mode.” Actually, I disagree with you . Negativity is something I wouldn’t relate to Wenger, naivety yes. Very rarely would you see an Arsenal side under Wenger try to shut up shop…it would be a case of lets try and get 4 or 5 and sometimes get punished for it ……naivety. Even in… Read more »

Rambo Ramsey

“Un nai’s a known moron GOH I don’t even think watches football and Rambo well hates everything.”

That’s not true.

I love you Marko, you fat potato.

Rambo Ramsey

raptora,

Yea, we get it, Wenger was shite for much of his later tenure.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

raptora

Pierre: “Actually, I disagree with you .”

Who would have thought…

Marko

Again the point of Gnabry isn’t necessarily about what he done with us but more what he was capable of doing. Prior to leaving there was a good year and a half where there were rumours of him getting a call up to the German national team. All while this was happening he was playing reserve football and not senior football. And then lo and behold the summer he leaves us he’s called up for the German national team at the Olympics and he’s never looked back. It’s like he instantly became a proper player the moment he left which… Read more »

TR7

Paulinho ‘Does he like playing the long game in terms of starting with a certain XI with a view to using certain subs to impact matches in the latter stages? Yes. Again, could be argued as a positive as much as a negative when you consider he likes to shake things up.’ How do you see Emery using Torreria for over 50 minutes as a forward midfielder against United ? It was obvious we needed more bodies in the middle of the pitch to take control of the game against an average United mid but we squandered the opportunity. We… Read more »

Sid

My sauces tell me Haka has the key to ozils bedroom, he knows mrs ozils birthday, and ozil goes hidding most times
You heard it here 1st!

TR7

Marko

Feel free to troll me on Poch. I am not shying away from anything.

Redtruth

How many more Gnabry’s have Arsensl lost due to Wenger’s inability to hone a players skill.

Marko

Funny thing is all the arguments these days they’re not really about keeping Emery on or rating Emery persay but about the reasons for why he shouldn’t be here by certain types. Case in point that freak whose Emery points are littered with Ozil nonsense. That guy is to be taken seriously? His points about not rating the manager stem from him not playing arguably the wankest player in the squad. Apparently he makes good points though.

Marko

How do you see Emery using Torreria for over 50 minutes as a forward midfielder against United ?

He was on Pogba that was his job

Paulinho

TR7 – I’ve said quite a few times, last season, that part of Emery’s philosophy is having players high up the pitch off the ball, so that we are more dangerous in counter-attacking situations, and to antagonise the opposition defenders on the ball so that they can’t settle or feel comfortable.

Playing Torreira high up was another example of that, and I thought Torreira did a lot of things. Most of it was off the ball, so of course, it doesn’t register to 95% of fans. I would’ve kept him on, but could see the argument for Ceballos.

Paulinho

*lot of good things

Marko

Feel free to troll me on Poch. I am not shying away from anything.

Ah interesting to see you use the word troll very clever. I don’t need to say anything the facts and common sense everyday show up your original statement(s) on Poch to be ridiculous. No trolling here pal just a lad who got it wrong

Champagne charlie

“Playing Torreira high up was another example of that, and I thought Torreira did a lot of things. Most of it was off the ball, so of course, it doesn’t register to 95% of fans. I would’ve kept him on, but could see the argument for Ceballos.“

Feel blessed to have fans like Paulinho who are part of the elite 5% that see things the 95% dont.

Must be why he sees so much with Emery, he’s not a floundering manager, he’s just elite to levels 95% of fans don’t understand.

Dream10

Paulinho

It’s early days, but I get the feeling that Emery is not convinced by Ceballos. We’ll be seeing more of Willock/Torreira as the guy behind the #9

Marko

Marko said Torr was doing a job on Pogba and perhaps he was but was it really needed ? Would we not have been better off playing our game ? Pogba is not that good a player anyway for us to have a player marking him He’s one of the best midfielders in world football. Despite wanting out of United he contributed to 16 goals and 11 assists last season. You could be right in hindsight maybe we should have just focused on our own game. But again one must remember maybe our appalling record away from home, our record… Read more »

TR7

Paulinho Again the question remains did we really need Torr high up the pitch to not let United defenders settle ? Or to do a job on Pogba as Marko says ? I have seen almost all the United games this season and most, if not all, of their players are ponderous on the ball. They do fuck all with the ball even if accorded time and space on it. And it is no coincidence our best play in the match was right after Torr was taken off and Ceballos was introduced. Pogba did little except one good long range… Read more »

Paulinho

Charlie – My pleasure.

You’ve come a long way from asking such pearlers such as “what does Ramsey offer apart from ‘third man runs’?, so it’s all for the greater good.

Receding Hairline

It’s not trolling to say rating a manager who has won nothing as “top three in the world” was and is still stupid. Most of what you call analysis TR7 is simply what you agree with and what you do not. You think so much of yourself that you believe once you agree with something or someone it means that person is doing things right. You are one of the posters who have taken the dishonest viewpoint of Good=Players, Bad=players. Anything good is down to the players all the bad is down to the manager. For managers you rate it’s… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“He was on Pogba that was his job”

Parental Advisory – Explicit Lyrics.

Paulinho

TR7-

“And it is no coincidence our best play in the match was right after Torr was taken off and Ceballos was introduced”

What I said earlier:

“Does he like playing the long game in terms of starting with a certain XI with a view to using certain subs to impact matches in the latter stages? Yes”

Torreira ‘soften’s United up, fatigues them, and then Ceballos comes on with fresh legs with more space. If Ceballos starts does he have the physical power to impose himself immediately? On the evidence so far, no.

Marko

Feel blessed to have fans like Paulinho who are part of the elite 5% that see things the 95% dont.

Again hate hypocrites. Much like Vic giving TR7 shit for not being a superfan we now have you giving Paulinho shit for apparently seeing something that 95% of people don’t get or understand according to you. Must I remind you about your incessant hipster like approach to everything Xhaka does despite the vast majority of fans, pundits, ex players and football writers thinking that he’s gash.

Marko

Pogba did little except one good long range shot even after Torr went off.

🤔

Sid

Gnabry is another Haka only good in the bundesliga turd in the EPL, telling you this for free!

Danialtos

The ex-Gunner admits to being frustrated by his former team-mate and tried every tactic to provoke a response. Observers have been left scratching their heads as to why the £350,000-a-week playmaker is unable to nail down a regular spot in boss Unai Emery’s starting XI. And Mertesacker says there are steps that Ozil can take to recifty the problem. He said: “I hope Mesut can get fit. Unai requires a certain fitness level. “Unai is fair to everyone. You need to deliver a certain fitness level – then you are available to play. “Unai tries to get through to him.… Read more »

Graham62

I think we all are in agreement now that Emery, to all intense and purposes, is not fit for purpose. Certain things are so obvious, it’s sort of embarrassing to even talk about them. Of course, there are some amongst us who are gloating in the fact that they saw all his failings long ago and that he was never going to be the right fit after Wenger. It’s as if they feel superior to the rest of us because they saw things that we didn’t. Amazing really. Of course each and every one of us( yeh, right!)hoped that Emery… Read more »

Danialtos

Even our big fucking German is at a loss on how to motivate our German baby.

Champagne charlie

“we now have you giving Paulinho shit for apparently seeing something that 95% of people don’t get or understand according to you” No that’s according to him, try and follow what’s being said before tripping over yourself to get something spectacularly wrong. “Must I remind you about your incessant hipster like approach to everything Xhaka does” You can remind me all you like, just be further evidence you can’t follow a thread or POV further than your own interpretation. Just about peak Marko to mention Xhaka our of the blue. Throw in Arteta for good measure too, just whatever you… Read more »

TR7

Paulinho

‘Torreira ‘soften’s United up, fatigues them, and then Ceballos comes on with fresh legs with more space. If Ceballos starts does he have the physical power to impose himself immediately? On the evidence so far, no.’

Well that’s one way to look at it although I find it counter-intuitive.

Danialtos

Emery’s insistence on playing xhaka may eventually be his downfall…but I can see what he is trying to do with the torreira/xhaka swap…a bit like when sarri was criticized for how he played jorginho/kante.Torreira being our kante and xhaka being our jorginho,the only problem with this is that xhaka is not near jorginho and torreira isn’t anywhere near kante.That said,I can also see where Marko is coming from,I watched the game again today and it is true that Torr was actually doing a good job on Pogba,covering his passing lines and moving with him quite alot.

Jim Lahey

Ozil, all the talent in the world, horrendous attitude. Reminds me of Mario Balotelli.

Marko

Just about peak Marko to mention Xhaka our of the blue.

Charles quick mention Emery you just went a whole comment without doing it.

Like I said fucking hypocrites.

Moe

How can anyone have a valid opinion on Emery after the City and L’pool games last year? Sample size was too small and the squad he inherited was beyond shitty, to make an informed, objective decision. You agenda driven hypocrites can’t see how Poch can’t win shit in years to save his life, but clairvoyant on Emery after less than 10 games. Total bullshit!
There is enough evidence now, with a vastly different squad, to jump on Emery.

Paulinho

TR7 – My ideal style of football is what you’re alluding to with Ceballos: flood the midfield, dominate possession, and defend with the ball. Rodgers was my first choice (outside of the elite), because he at least tries to emulate that style.

I’m probably completely on my own in that I’m actually enjoying seeing a different type of football under Emery. Receding jokingly referred to what he attempts as organised chaos, but in some ways it is spot on.

Champagne charlie

“Charles quick mention Emery you just went a whole comment without doing it.“

What’s the title of the post?

It’s as if the managerial change at the club is the first to occur in 20+ years and is kind of relevant to our potential (panic stations for Marko) this season and beyond…

Marko

TR7 I kinda agree with you we should have probably done things differently especially at United and done more to win the game. Where I argue though is with the cautious approach and him taking it being somewhat understandable given our defensive capabilities our appalling away record and our record at United. With those things in mind it’s understandable that he wanted to keep things tight and have a player on their obvious best player. In hindsight the game was there for the taking despite that Old Trafford record

Marko

What’s the title of the post?

Lol I meant in general you incessantly bring up Emery. Even if it’s about something else.

Receding Hairline

I am more interested in what we do with this so called favorable fixture list coming up and how he rotates his players now he has options. All this “we have all come to a universal conclusion Emery is clueless” nonsense is just that, Nonsense

TR7

Paulinho

Good for you that you enjoy the new ‘approach’. I find it painful to be honest with you. I feel starved of good possession football.

Receding Hairline

Everyone prefers possession football…

It might have been easier to swallow if the players actually mastered this new approach but even when we gain possession and want to counter the passes are off, the choices wrong and it all makes for painful viewing.

Having said that Saka belongs in the first team now, Pepe should be the one dropping to the Europa team when Lacazette returns. So much for having a front three to rival Liverpool’s front three with the addition of Pepe.

Paulinho

TR7 – I’ve felt starved of it since 2007/08. I’ve become used to not seeing it.

Wenger’s teams were awful on the ball for the last decade at any decent away ground.

Playing champagne football against Burnley at home on a spring afternoon was about as good as it got.

HighburyLegend

SAUCE!!
Sorry, just woke up from a bad dream…

Marko

Of point I know given that you want to talk about Emery TR7 but any chance you want to rethink your Poch opinion? Seems to be on the cusp of the sack. Surely one of the very best managers in world football doesn’t lose a game like that.

TR7

Marko

Yes, this United team is absolutely ordinary. Look at all the smaller teams which have beat them at Old Trafford in last 24 months. They played without any fear, without giving any respect to United and ended up taking 3 points. Playing at Etihad and Anfield with caution and even fear is fine but at Old Trafford with the current lot of United players ? Nah

Batistuta

Tr7

We’ve had the good possession football that didn’t yield that much did we? All Mourinho or Fergie had to do was 2 banks of 4 and let us tip tap our way to giving it away and hit us on the counter. I’m no saying the football at the moment is pretty to watch but we’ve not done what you’re looking for in a very very long time and to be honest, we don’t have the midfield options to control most games if we’re being honest

Receding Hairline

“Yes, this United team is absolutely ordinary. Look at all the smaller teams which have beat them at Old Trafford in last 24 months.”

On the flip side Leicester and Chelsea left there with ZERO points

“They played without any fear, without giving any respect to United and ended up taking 3 points.”

Man United had 22 shots to Palace’s 5, poor finishing on United’s part was why they lost to Palace not because palace attacked them like prime Barca , Palace had 28% possession that day, that does not scream disrespect

Batistuta

Willock
Guendozi
Xhaka
Torreira
Ceballos
Ozil

Those are our midfield options, not great but not good enough for the possession based football many are looking for

Marko

Look at all the smaller teams which have beat them at Old Trafford in last 24 months

So Cardiff. They’re undefeated at home this season and last season they lost at home to Spurs and City and then Cardiff the last game of the season. A fair few draws sure but you make it sound like their home form recently is a bit of a joke

Champagne charlie

Marko

Pick and choose your fake outrage about hypocrisy mate, that busy telling folk they’ve found their critical voice only recently and here you are claiming the manager as a daily topic incessant.

Only been fixated with Wenger for a decade on here you fucking haribo, and how often his last two years were you flapping your gums?

Thought so, back in the bag.

China1

I don’t mind is having less tha beautiful football or having slightly different tactics than perhaps most people would expect, but so long as it’s effective.

When we had that unbeaten run it was not pretty and a bit different from what we’d expected but it was effective. Now we’nore not especially effective or pretty to watch so I’m not sure what the point of it all is if I’m honest

We just struggle for the sake of struggling. I don’t see the genius in the plan

TR7

Marko I didn’t watch Spurs-Munich game to be honest with you. Through Le Grove comments did I get to know the final scoreline. Again you will say it’s yet another excuse but it’s true that Poch wants to leave and many Spurs players want to leave. How do you play well against a team like Bayern with so much instability ? In hindsight it looks like everyone has had enough of it. Winning the CL was their great dream and mentally they haven’t recovered from that shattered dream. I know you are not going to buy my argument but that’s… Read more »

Receding Hairline

If Kimmich got past Xhaka the way he did Ndombele last night for Bayern’s first goal they would have been a riot on here

Batistuta

Xhaka is toilet though, doesn’t matter what any other midfielder does or doesn’t do, he’s toilet end of

Alexanderhenry

Pedro ‘we’re not playing like a top 4 team’. Things have changed. There are two teams playing like a ‘top two’ side, and then there’s the rest. Largely due to the levelling of the sub city/liverpool playing field, arsenal actually have an excellent chance of making top four this seadon which, despite the profound irony, seems to be the club’s and most fans’ main goal post wenger. So, we’ll be back to that vaguely unsatisfying, annual scramble into fourth. Plus ca change then. I only hope the ownership and new management structure are not satisfied with this and do something… Read more »

Batistuta

Players have bad games which is expected as it’s not a video game but with Xhaka he’s almost guaranteed a mistake every game, i mean we’re not 10 games in and he’s already 1 game away from a suspension. Tell you all you need to know

raptora

RH, Yet not a single word on how Chelsea dominated United for most of the game. Not a single word on how they struck the post twice, that they had 18 to United’s 11 shots, or that they had the ball in 53.8% of the time. Not a word on Leicester’s possession % of 58.3%. But cause Palace had the ball less, it must have meant that Manure were strong. Lolz. In their last 6 home games, they had 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. The games they lost were vs okay City is understandable and then Cardiff City… Read more »

Batistuta

Alex

We have to get back into the champions league though, that would be the first step, 2 consecutive seasons back in the champions league then we’d know more about the ownership and their goals

Batistuta

Yea no defending that performance at Old Trafford on Sunday, they were as weak as poor as we all thought and we somehow made them look good. Formation was a mess and was the starting personnel. We really do need a manager that knows when to be cautious and when to go for a kill and sadly Emery is afraid of every opponent we play

TR7

Receding/Marko

West Ham, Leicester and Palace outplayed United. Chelsea were very unlucky to lose by 4 goals.

Receding Hairline

Raptora does not change the fact that Chelsea and Leicester left Old Trafford with no points. The team which left with three happens to be the ones that ceded possession and shots to them. The ones that played without fear left with nothing but the hollow moral victories every Arsenal fan should be sick of by now. “Winning the CL was their great dream and mentally they haven’t recovered from that shattered dream” Spurs did not start last season looking to win the champions league, Spurs did not loose 13 games in the league because they wanted to win the… Read more »

Receding Hairline

No one considers Arsenal luck on here when we lose so permit me to not give a crap about Chelsea’s luck at Old Trafford. They were naive and got humiliated

Paulinho

Raptora – Chelsea have much better technical midfielders, that are mobile and move between the lines.

Downside? Not many of them can actually get in behind, so once United showed some resolve they didn’t have anything else to offer.

Ross Barkley hasn’t made an off the ball run into the box in his entire career. Ditto Kovacevic/Jorginho. Neither of them would be comfortable playing like Torreira did the other night. Torreira himself probably wasn’t doing cartwheels, but he consistently looked to run stay in advanced positions.

Batistuta

Tr7

How is a team “unlucky” to lose by not 1 or 2 but 4 whole goals?

Receding Hairline

Last nights game did not look like a 2-7 Thrashing but the record books will show Spurs lost 2-7. No one cares about your performance in a result based sport.

Saka finishes Chambers cross on Monday rather than leaning back to sky it over we will be talking about “a very tactical” away victory. Football coaches exist to win games not necessarily entertain you.

vickingz

Emery and his supporters out yet???

Batistuta

Not sure there are Emery supporters to be fair, just differing views on what and what to criticize but a general consensus that moving foward, it’s best for everyone if he moves on after his contract expires

Batistuta

Receeding

Agree results are all that matter but can’t just trudge along and not have occasionally good performances while winning, we barely even control games which we play and there’s no discernible pattern to what we’re trying to do too

Marko

Only been fixated with Wenger for a decade on here you fucking haribo, and how often his last two years were you flapping your gums?Thought so, back in the bag.

???

Marko

Again you will say it’s yet another excuse but it’s true that Poch wants to leave and many Spurs players want to leave. He has a contract and a job to do. The excuse that he wants to leave isn’t much of an excuse. Why didn’t he leave if that’s what he wanted. Oh that’s right money. I know you think that’s a fair excuse but it’s genuinely bullshit. Gotta be said though really fucking weird how you are making excuse after excuse for the failures of the Spurs manager but since 12 games in you’ve been all over the… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Not sure there are Emery supporters to be fair”

I used to be one.
But all my hopes have fallen apart.

A bit like the spurs fans about the Champions League.

raptora

RH, So Cardiff won 0:2 cause they defended and attacked better than us. Cardiff! So Palace won 1:2 cause they defended as bad as we did and attacked better than us. Palace! It’s not black and white you know. But it is certain that in the long run of a season if you were shit for most of the season it’s going to show. And United have been shit for a while and you can easily see it in their results. One game they luck out, next game they are punished. Truth is they are shit and you can see… Read more »

raptora

New post.

Marko

How is a team “unlucky” to lose by not 1 or 2 but 4 whole goals?

Yeah we were shite for drawing at United but Chelsea were unlucky to lose 4-0. Again it’s the consistency I love

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