Unai Emery

[RamboandBruno]

Im very very far from a tactician but i think its to draw the opposition forwards and midfield towards us to create space. But your right at the moment the axis of Martinez, Mings and Konsa look uncomfortable with it. I think though we’ve complained slippy G didnt seem to train the players to any great effect, so we have to give Emery a chance to drill want he wants from our current back line, to improve what we have and then if he feels he needs to, bring others in as he goes along.

He’s a coach mate, A good one but he can’t turn water into wine
Our play around the midfield is to negative the ball goes back to often, and I keep saying this to non-ballplaying centre halves
They then panic and lump it forward more often than not

I judge every player on how comfortable he is with the ball on his touch and his technical ability, every player no matter what their position
That’s why a few seasons ago when everyone on here was saying Konsa was going to be the next England centre half for a decade I was saying no he’s not good enough with the ball,
Like Mings he should defend and then give it to someone who can play a bit like John Terry used to
In fairness to Konsa he generally doesn’t try to do things he’s not capable of so he just turns and passes back to the goalkeeper most of the time

You might be right, but we’ll see. The only good thing about this rotten WC, is the fact we got Emery in two weeks before it. He might not be able to perform miracles as you say, but we generally look better drilled already, so lets see what 6 weeks off intensive training running through defensive drills does. 

[john e]

Fair enough but it being better drilled and organised is exactly what Dyche Pulis and Alladyce do, it’s their Opus memorandum

I’m all for it obviously because it makes us a more difficult side to beat
But I also want us to be more positive in our general play, we need to move the ball forward more often more quickly and with more purpose

We were doing that against Man United first time so I am hopeful
But do have a nagging fear that we will become to negative a side

[Pete3206]

If we win games like the last 2 league matches, I'll take that all day long

[PaulWinch again]

Fair enough but it being better drilled and organised is exactly what Dyche Pulis and Alladyce do, it’s their Opus memorandum

I’m all for it obviously because it makes us a more difficult side to beat
But I also want us to be more positive in our general play, we need to move the ball forward more often more quickly and with more purpose

We were doing that against Man United first time so I am hopeful
But do have a nagging fear that we will become to negative a side

I don’t think we will Emery is more astute than that. We only properly shut down late in the game the other day. He’s smart enough to realise the majority of our strength is forward looking.

[eamonn]

So is it always his thing to quickly shake the hand of the opposition manager on the final whistle before fucking-off down the tunnel?

The guy should milk the crowd reaction in good times, and genuflect in front of us when we lose. Tsk, as BE would say.

[Risso]

We've generally played quite well at home this season, even under the previous manager, but the away form has been absolutely abysmal. We've been played off the pitch in the games against Palace, Arsenal, Fulham and Newcastle, so Emery was right to tighten things up before he starts getting a bit more expansive hopefully.

[johnc]

I dont think  we played well at home. I was at the everton and Southampton games amd we were not good by any stretch of the imagination
 We had a good first half against Chelsea, poor agai st West Ham. I have seen more in the three games manGed by Emery than on the previous 12 months

[SoccerHQ]

Fair enough but it being better drilled and organised is exactly what Dyche Pulis and Alladyce do, it’s their Opus memorandum

I’m all for it obviously because it makes us a more difficult side to beat
But I also want us to be more positive in our general play, we need to move the ball forward more often more quickly and with more purpose

We were doing that against Man United first time so I am hopeful
But do have a nagging fear that we will become to negative a side

I actually thought we put together some decent moves first half when we woke up after the poor first 15 minutes.

Was a really nice move from the touchline that had Ramsey running, then passed it to Ings who nearly found McGinn in six yard. That would've been a fine team goal and the move that led to the penalty was good aswell.

It will come. I think for rest of season it will remain tough to beat away from home but more adventurous at VP which is how it should be.

[SoccerHQ]

I dont think  we played well at home. I was at the everton and Southampton games amd we were not good by any stretch of the imagination
 We had a good first half against Chelsea, poor agai st West Ham. I have seen more in the three games manGed by Emery than on the previous 12 months

Results have been quite good though which is an anomaly for us in last 20 years. 4 wins out of our first 7 is miles better than what we usually start seasons and we're going to have plenty of winnable home games from January so this is our best chance to get at least 10 home wins for a long time.

Just 6 home goals conceded is also incredible when Arsenal and Man. City have conceded more I think. Given we've conceded 20 + away that shows the big problem and why I don't have any issue with Unai going safety first so we can find that resilience on the road when under significant pressure. 2nd half at Old Trafford showed we've still got a long way to go in that aspect.

[rob_bridge]

I dont think  we played well at home. I was at the everton and Southampton games amd we were not good by any stretch of the imagination
 We had a good first half against Chelsea, poor agai st West Ham. I have seen more in the three games manGed by Emery than on the previous 12 months

Under Gerrard there was the good first half v Chelsea and 2nd half v Cit-eh, the rest was dire. Even the 2 wins were hard work and bloody boring to watch.

[Drummond]

Fair enough but it being better drilled and organised is exactly what Dyche Pulis and Alladyce do, it’s their Opus memorandum

I’m all for it obviously because it makes us a more difficult side to beat
But I also want us to be more positive in our general play, we need to move the ball forward more often more quickly and with more purpose

We were doing that against Man United first time so I am hopeful
But do have a nagging fear that we will become to negative a side

Modus operandi......

[Monty]

I think with this 'well-drilled' thing, it's important to remember that Emery is doing essentially the same things in attack and defence: move in sync and control the space. When that backline was operating the other day as if with one mind, you could obviously see the training ground work paying off. The same is true in attack though: our first good move of the game, JJ and Ings combining I believe, was all about practiced movements, adapting to situations, attacking the space.

Which is to say that I don't think there's 'negative' or 'positive' with Emery, at least not in terms of what you practice like a whole style. Just that there are the things you work on, your team's whole relationship to the ball, and different situations you respond to in a game.

It's not that complicated, but it's flexibility like I don't think we've seen in ages: since at least the Doug era ended, we've been either dull and negative (ok, mostly), or a 'positive' soft-touch. Nice to think we can react to games differently now.

[Risso]

Every time we've been relatively good, eg under Big Ron, Sir Brian and O'Neill, it's been based first and foremost on a good defence.

[Monty]

Sure, but I think we're more flexible than that now, and we have to be. Defending with the ball and attacking without it, all that jazz.

[coreyfeldman]

Every time we've been relatively good, eg under Big Ron, Sir Brian and O'Neill, it's been based first and foremost on a good defence.

All good teams need to have a good defence. Otherwise you're just Leeds