Unai Emery

[Meanwood Villa]

When people talk about clearouts, that never happens. You can't shift that many players in a window. Emery needs to find a way to get the players we've got winning matches again and I'm confident he'll be able to. Just wish he'd get a move on.

[Clampy]

Yeah, people do go way over the top sadly. It's not great at the minute (in the league anyway) as we all know but this 'what a crap 2024' is just miserable trolling nonsense.

[pauliewalnuts]

Yeah terrible, terrible 2024, what with all that finishing 4th and being in the Champions League, and doing very well in it so far.

Fucking terrible, that.

Much, much worse than year after year of circling the plug hole, watching shite like Bret Holman, Jordan Bowery, Cissoko, literally tens of utter shite players turn out for us.

Short memories in evidence here.

[VillaTim]

There are only 4 points between us in 12th and Brighton in 4th at the moment.

lines like these have been trotted out for weeks now , we had a chance to go joint top a couple of months ago after a favourable set of opening fixtures. Since then we have got progressively worse and glaring issues remain unaddressed

And yet we are still only 4 points off Brighton in fourth.

I am not making any comment as to the football, the shit defending, the poor results of late - we can all see that - my point was, poor though we are, we are still not that far off fourth.

That meaning we're still in touch with the better teams in the league, so all is not lost.

fair enough but unless Emery gets a new plan sorted we will quickly lose touch with top 8 / 9 and be sucked into something abject in lower mid table

[pauliewalnuts]

There are only 4 points between us in 12th and Brighton in 4th at the moment.

lines like these have been trotted out for weeks now , we had a chance to go joint top a couple of months ago after a favourable set of opening fixtures. Since then we have got progressively worse and glaring issues remain unaddressed

And yet we are still only 4 points off Brighton in fourth.

I am not making any comment as to the football, the shit defending, the poor results of late - we can all see that - my point was, poor though we are, we are still not that far off fourth.

That meaning we're still in touch with the better teams in the league, so all is not lost.

fair enough but unless Emery gets a new plan sorted we will quickly lose touch with top 8 / 9 and be sucked into something abject in lower mid table

Yeah of course, if he fucks it up, it's going to get worse, there's no getting away from that, but as my original post said, there is a ton of inconsistency in the league so far (look at Man City even) and the likes of us, West Ham, Newcastle etc, really none of us are showing much consistency.

West Ham are great one week and a schoolboy XI the next, Newcastle are largely awful but fluking the occasional result, we're infuriatingly bad after being decent for a fair while, Man United are hinting at improvement after prolonged shitness, there's just inconsistency everywhere you look, which is what my original post was about - we're lucky we're far from the only side playing poorly at the moment.

[Risso]

I think people are talking about the actual results in the calendar year 2024, which have mostly been mid table level and mediocre, with nearly two goals a game  conceded. Obviously we ended up finishing 4th DURING 2024, but that was mostly as a result of the superb form/results from Aug to Dec 2023. Since then, the defence has gone to absolute shit.

As a comparison, in everybody's favourite Scouser's first season, in his 27 games Villa conceded 34 goals. In Unai's last 27 we've conceded 51. We've taken 3 more points under Unai in that time as well, and people were well sick of Gerrard by the end of his first season. If it was up and down form as we try to manage being in the Champions League, I'd have more patience, but this has been going on for way too long. The football is horrible to watch, and the results are embarrassing. Today wasn't even remotely competent.

[pauliewalnuts]

Yes, but nobody measures football success in calendar years, do they?

You can win all your games pre Jan 1st, and look mediocre after, and still do well.

And we're also doing well in the Champions League, which is thoroughly 2024.

I get it, we are looking poor currently, and he has got a lot of work to do, but people blathering on about 2024 being terrible, jesus christ.

[Risso]

Yes, but nobody measures football success in calendar years, do they?

You can win all your games pre Jan 1st, and look mediocre after, and still do well.

And we're also doing well in the Champions League, which is thoroughly 2024.

I get it, we are looking poor currently, and he has got a lot of work to do, but people blathering on about 2024 being terrible, jesus christ.

The defence in 2024 has been terrible. Sorry if that's inconvenient, but it's true. Nearly a whole year of being absolute garbage at the back. I totally get that we finished 4th while the calendar still has a 2 and a 4 at the end, but teams who can't defend properly for a whole calendar year don't end up being successful, and more importantly their managers don't usually stay in a job. And as I said before, it's not like our form has been up and down this season, we've been really mediocre, even in the games we've won like Wolves and Everton.

There's just no sign of things improving. That was our best eleven today, and they were a badly organised rabble.

[Ads]

I dont think that was our best XI.

[Clampy]

Yes, but nobody measures football success in calendar years, do they?

You can win all your games pre Jan 1st, and look mediocre after, and still do well.

And we're also doing well in the Champions League, which is thoroughly 2024.

I get it, we are looking poor currently, and he has got a lot of work to do, but people blathering on about 2024 being terrible, jesus christ.

Couldn't agree more. Like you said, currently it's not great but saying 2024 has been crap, terrible awful etc just suits their argument. There's no need to exaggerate it.

[Risso]

I dont think that was our best XI.

Stick Ramsey in, and it is. Well, if he'd started Bailey over Philogene it would have been.

[RamboandBruno]

Yes, but nobody measures football success in calendar years, do they?

You can win all your games pre Jan 1st, and look mediocre after, and still do well.

And we're also doing well in the Champions League, which is thoroughly 2024.

I get it, we are looking poor currently, and he has got a lot of work to do, but people blathering on about 2024 being terrible, jesus christ.

The defence in 2024 has been terrible. Sorry if that's inconvenient, but it's true. Nearly a whole year of being absolute garbage at the back. I totally get that we finished 4th while the calendar still has a 2 and a 4 at the end, but teams who can't defend properly for a whole calendar year don't end up being successful, and more importantly their managers don't usually stay in a job. And as I said before, it's not like our form has been up and down this season, we've been really mediocre, even in the games we've won like Wolves and Everton.

There's just no sign of things improving. That was our best eleven today, and they were a badly organised rabble.

So you’re heading down the route here of Emery out, without actually saying it, that in itself is incredible. And you are ignoring the champions league form, you know that competition this fella got us into. There is stuff to sort out obviously, but there is a lot of hyperbole here.

[Demitri_C]

Yeah, people do go way over the top sadly. It's not great at the minute (in the league anyway) as we all know but this 'what a crap 2024' is just miserable trolling nonsense.

Its not " misreable trolling nonsense"

Its factually true if you compare 2024 to 2023 results Can you stop saying its trolling when people are just expressing their opinion. If its different to yours thats not trolling.

Thanks 👍

[Astnor]

I find it a bit worrying that Emery s management seems to depend much on using this one and only strategy with playing out from the deeply back and then through the midfield. Can also be in the "Are you worried" thread.

[VillaTim]

someone once said a week is along time in football. Luckily we have 2 winnable home games in 6 days to banish the blues. Also Heck is doing BOGOF on some GA+ seats wahoooo . Reasons to be positive  . Tempted to go Saturday , can't get there Weds