Unai Emery

[BFG4]

I think only a couple of people have said he should be sacked now. Most have said he should get until the end of the season to try turn it round.

I don't get the idea of waiting until the end of the season as the glaringly obvious mistakes he is making aren't something that is going to improve as time goes on. How can anyone see the calamitous defence we have and decide to subject them to even more pressure by playing out from the back. How can he be so poor tactically that he allows fucking Watford to have 31 shots on us, and the crowning achievement of shitness, sticking by Xhaka. Such is the shitness of the PL, we will be in the race for the top 4, no matter how bad we are, but that doesn't mean we stick by him when he is clearly the wrong person for the job. It's probably too early to expect the club to get rid but I get the feeling that the coming months will more than prove myself and others correct in wanting change.

[Herd]

I have a life size cardboard cutout of David Bowie on Alladin Zane mode and even he can see Xhaka is shit.

[rodders999]

At least the new shirts are nice

Superb timing Jock.

Adidas can go get fucked and all

[augie]

Emery is not the Coach to move us forward, unfortunately i'm not really sure who is available who could do better. I said last season defensively we were a total shambles and only our ability to score goals kept us as high up as we were, this season we are making identical mistakes with a mix of players, some the same old culprits some new ones, we used to blame Wenger and Bould for the defensive, or lack of defensive, coaching, who gets the blame this season?

I just cannot see him turning things around or changing his way of doing things, every team in the league by now knows we are a defensive liability and cannot play out from the back which means every team will target us this way and we will concede time and again. We are probably more vulnerable now than we were under Wenger and the players know this which makes them lose confidence, the longer this goes on the worse it will get.

He has to go sooner rather than later but unfortunately i cant see us being wise enough to find a decent replacement, KSE and Son seem to want flare and drama and entertainment but that is not what we need right now.

Believe me I am not backtracking on my criticism of emery at the weekend, but I will say though that our defensive liability should be well improved when we get back the 3 of our first choice defenders back - as a team our defensive nous is shocking and a lot of that falls at emery's door, but we currently are playing 2 full backs who cant defend, and one centre back that doesn't want to defend, so hopefully we will improve hugely when those 3 are pushed out

[Nos89]

I wouldn't pull the trigger just yet on Emery.
It is only fair to give him 10 games with a fully fit back line. We should look more balanced with Bellerin, Tierney and Holding back in the team.
Maitlan-Niles has done reasonable job without being a proper RB. He's learning the role but he will get caught out by a player of delofeu's quality.
Essentially, it is the total lack of protection the midfield have given the defence in the last year that makes them so vulnerable. We have the players at the club that can provide better protection in front of the defence. Chambers, Torreira and Luiz can all play the DM role more effectively than Xhaka. I'm looking forward to the team Emery starts with against a very capable Frankfurt team.

[Clash]

Emery's stubborn persistence of playing out from the back is probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a football pitch ... especially when you do not have the players to do it. They look uncomfortable trying to do it and now its gonna be even worse as the opposition can smell blood.

Instead of solving problems, Emery is bringing new problems of his own.

[Jock Gooner]

Emery's stubborn persistence of playing out from the back is probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a football pitch ... especially when you do not have the players to do it. They look uncomfortable trying to do it and now its gonna be even worse as the opposition can smell blood.

Instead of solving problems, Emery is bringing new problems of his own.

I would agree with you there 100%. When have you ever watched a match and gone "oh fu.ck, we've got a goal kick". Beggars belief.

My favourite individual stupidest thing on a football pitch though is still the shamen doing half time at Highbury

[rodders999]

This was the very first game of last season -

phpBB [video]

Progress much?

[DB10GOONER]

Emery's stubborn persistence of playing out from the back is probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a football pitch ... especially when you do not have the players to do it. They look uncomfortable trying to do it and now its gonna be even worse as the opposition can smell blood.

Instead of solving problems, Emery is bringing new problems of his own.

I would agree with you there 100%. When have you ever watched a match and gone "oh fu.ck, we've got a goal kick". Beggars belief.

My favourite individual stupidest thing on a football pitch though is still the shamen doing half time at Highbury

I'll see your shamen and raise you a Roger Daltrey belting out the utter cuntfest that was "Highbury Highs". I developed diabetes just listening to the fucking thing.

[DB10GOONER]

At least the new shirts are nice

Superb timing Jock.

Adidas can go get fucked and all

Fuck that. The only thing I'm still enjoying about this season is the new jerseys.

[augie]

For the ladies and gentlemen who are on the fence about getting rid of emery, I give you mikel arteta - if ever there was a reason to give emery more time, then this is it

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... mery-sack/

[Jock Gooner]

At least the new shirts are nice

Superb timing Jock.

Adidas can go get fucked and all

Fuck that. The only thing I'm still enjoying about this season is the new jerseys.

Thank you DB.

Old Rodders gives it all the big ' Old skool King of Adidas' number yet is ready to ditch them at the first(?) sign of a wobble by Dick this season.

I predict we will see him ranting with the other muppets on AFTV before too long. I thought he was made of sterner stuff

[northbank123]

Callum Chambers is not the answer, but to be fair I thought he played out of his skin at Newcastle and he finds himself dropped whilst Luiz lunges from one calamity to the next.

Torrerira has been quite a big disappointment for me after he was excellent in the first half of last season - I don't think that the bloke is fit enough to be completely honest - but how is he meant to feel watching Xhaka range between ineffective and calamitous. There was one moment at the end of the Watford game where he fucked up a great attacking position with a dreadful pass straight to their full-back, and then made the most half-arsed effort at tracking back that I've seen since the days of Denilson whilst they nearly grabbed a winner. The guy is a fucking disgrace, and a guaranteed starter.

I think Tierney will be a good signing (assuming no ongoing fitness issues), Bellerin might well prosper from being encouraged to bomb forward more and hopefully Holding will look more assured than either of the CBs we currently have. Does anybody believe that any or all of them becoming fit again will see us being anything other than a complete joke defensively?

I know this is sentiment talking, but would like to see Vieira given a crack. Even putting aside his class as a player, his leadership qualities and the hard-as-nails persona, the guy strikes me as a massive pragmatist and meticulous. There are things that I like about Emery, but he is a complete fucking dreamer just like Wenger.

[mcdowell42]

The odds on Unai Emery to be sacked as Arsenal boss before the end of the season have been slashed to just 6/4. Mikel Arteta is 5/1 favourite to take over. Patrick Vieira & Fredrik Ljungberg follow closely behind at 6/1. (Mirror) #afc

[Nos89]

Callum Chambers is not the answer, but to be fair I thought he played out of his skin at Newcastle and he finds himself dropped whilst Luiz lunges from one calamity to the next.

Torrerira has been quite a big disappointment for me after he was excellent in the first half of last season - I don't think that the bloke is fit enough to be completely honest - but how is he meant to feel watching Xhaka range between ineffective and calamitous. There was one moment at the end of the Watford game where he fucked up a great attacking position with a dreadful pass straight to their full-back, and then made the most half-arsed effort at tracking back that I've seen since the days of Denilson whilst they nearly grabbed a winner. The guy is a fucking disgrace, and a guaranteed starter.

I think Tierney will be a good signing (assuming no ongoing fitness issues), Bellerin might well prosper from being encouraged to bomb forward more and hopefully Holding will look more assured than either of the CBs we currently have. Does anybody believe that any or all of them becoming fit again will see us being anything other than a complete joke defensively?

I know this is sentiment talking, but would like to see Vieira given a crack. Even putting aside his class as a player, his leadership qualities and the hard-as-nails persona, the guy strikes me as a massive pragmatist and meticulous. There are things that I like about Emery, but he is a complete fucking dreamer just like Wenger.

Looking at the players that made significant progress under emery last season all got injured. Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck all improved but got serious injuries. Emery can coach players to improve performance. However, the mistakes they make is that down to the infamous football intelligence or lack of it of the player or the coach not being able to install that intelligence in the player. The return of those three defenders should improve the defence. Will Holding take charge and make sure that xhaka and one other do their midfield duties in front of them?
Famously, Adams bould/ keown made it clear to vieira and petit where their position was needed on the pitch, after that blackburn defeat. Its clear that is the ingrediant that is missing.

As awful as denilson was he never finished outside the top 4 in an Arsenal shirt. Same could be said of Eboue and Senderos.

I don't think its just sentiment but I'd welcome vieira ahead of arteta because he would pass on the meaning of being the captain of The Arsenal in the way Adams showed him, who learnt from Graham. That cycle needs to begin again.