Unai Emery

[eamonn]

I mean we were poor but Stevenage were very lucky. They were given two gimme goals.

[wittonwarrior]

Emery would have known by now that several squad players are not good enough, so why risk them in a situation where he publicly has spouted out that he wants to win a cup.  Perhaps he will be more careful if people start sending them their tickets and travel bills from today and Man utd league cup game.

[eamonn]

Emery was badly at fault today, not for making changes, but for making so many changes, for failing to see the poor team performance he might get from his collective of fringe players and players out of form, and in turn for engendering a complacency and lethargy throughout the team which seeped its way through into the substitutions. Terribly disappointing, and I'm not as confident in this fella as I was yesterday.

Don’t forget, many on here were saying that these “fringe players” only needed “proper coaching” to take us into Europe. Here is the proof that that isn’t the case. An average player is an average player no matter who is coaching them

So what makes a good coach/manager? A blank chequebook?

[Flamingo Lane]

Why were none of you calling out these concerns before the match? Because to a man you all believed he'd picked a strong enough  team to comfortably win.

Not so. And in any case, it's the manager's job to pick a team to win a game, if he then hasn't done so it's the fans role to question the selection. And really, would any one seeing this line up not have cause to question - at the very least - the absolute lack of energy and pace throughout the side?

[Risso]

Emery was badly at fault today, not for making changes, but for making so many changes, for failing to see the poor team performance he might get from his collective of fringe players and players out of form, and in turn for engendering a complacency and lethargy throughout the team which seeped its way through into the substitutions. Terribly disappointing, and I'm not as confident in this fella as I was yesterday.

Don’t forget, many on here were saying that these “fringe players” only needed “proper coaching” to take us into Europe. Here is the proof that that isn’t the case. An average player is an average player no matter who is coaching them

I'm not a fan of Dean Saunders as a pundit, but after the Wolves game he was saying that this group of players is never, ever going to finish in a decent top half position.

[Clampy]

Why were none of you calling out these concerns before the match? Because to a man you all believed he'd picked a strong enough  team to comfortably win.

Not so. And in any case, it's the manager's job to pick a team to win a game, if he then hasn't done so it's the fans role to question the selection. And really, would any one seeing this line up not have cause to question - at the very least - the absolute lack of energy and pace throughout the side?

Like Luke says though, how many said that before the match?

[Risso]

Why were none of you calling out these concerns before the match? Because to a man you all believed he'd picked a strong enough  team to comfortably win.

Not so. And in any case, it's the manager's job to pick a team to win a game, if he then hasn't done so it's the fans role to question the selection. And really, would any one seeing this line up not have cause to question - at the very least - the absolute lack of energy and pace throughout the side?

Like Luke says though, how many said that before the match?

I can't speak for anybody else, but I had to nip out and buy some milk before the shops shut. I still found time to say that Olsen is shite though. Which he is.

[Allan C]

Emery was badly at fault today, not for making changes, but for making so many changes, for failing to see the poor team performance he might get from his collective of fringe players and players out of form, and in turn for engendering a complacency and lethargy throughout the team which seeped its way through into the substitutions. Terribly disappointing, and I'm not as confident in this fella as I was yesterday.

Don’t forget, many on here were saying that these “fringe players” only needed “proper coaching” to take us into Europe. Here is the proof that that isn’t the case. An average player is an average player no matter who is coaching them

So what makes a good coach/manager? A blank chequebook?

I think Emery is a good coach, certainly the best we’ve had since god knows when. But he’ll need the raw ingredient to work with. He can’t however work miracles. We have too many players who are already at their limit and they’re at best average. Yes, using the cheque book to bring in the raw ingredient but also developing young players (I think releasing Archer on loan was a mistake) and I believe Emery will do both well.

[Drummond]

He can join the list of managers who've fucked up hugely in the Cup.

[Lastfootstamper]

I'm not sure if it was deliberate, but there was a point towards the end, before the equaliser, when we were shuffling it endlessly around sideways and we'd foregone any pretence of looking like wanting to score, but were instead auditioning for One Man And His Dog by attempting to corral the entire Stevenage side into one corner of the pitch. Fair play to us though, we did come very close to pulling it off.

[Paul.S]

Emery was badly at fault today, not for making changes, but for making so many changes, for failing to see the poor team performance he might get from his collective of fringe players and players out of form, and in turn for engendering a complacency and lethargy throughout the team which seeped its way through into the substitutions. Terribly disappointing, and I'm not as confident in this fella as I was yesterday.

Don’t forget, many on here were saying that these “fringe players” only needed “proper coaching” to take us into Europe. Here is the proof that that isn’t the case. An average player is an average player no matter who is coaching them

So what makes a good coach/manager? A blank chequebook?

I think Emery is a good coach, certainly the best we’ve had since god knows when. But he’ll need the raw ingredient to work with. He can’t however work miracles. We have too many players who are already at their limit and they’re at best average. Yes, using the cheque book to bring in the raw ingredient but also developing young players (I think releasing Archer on loan was a mistake) and I believe Emery will do both well.

He nearly has worked miracles with this team by winning away at Brighton and Spurs and at home to Man Utd. He’s had to use every ounce of his ability because as sure as night follows day, without new players this month this squad won’t keep it up. They simply aren’t good enough consistently and as we’ve seen today, he can’t exactly rely on squad depth to change it.

[Flamingo Lane]

Why were none of you calling out these concerns before the match? Because to a man you all believed he'd picked a strong enough  team to comfortably win.

Not so. And in any case, it's the manager's job to pick a team to win a game, if he then hasn't done so it's the fans role to question the selection. And really, would any one seeing this line up not have cause to question - at the very least - the absolute lack of energy and pace throughout the side?

Like Luke says though, how many said that before the match?

Perhaps the fans who didn't comment before the game on the terrible line up didn't have time to do so - speaking personally, I arrived home at 1635 from a family gathering. Alternatively, perhaps they/we were lulled into a sense of complacency not out of kilter to that of the head coach.

[kippaxvilla2]

He’s put himself on the back foot and blotted his copybook when there was no need to.  I don’t think any of these managers has a clue about what it means to a club like ours to end this FA Cup nightmare.  Stop fcuking about with selections.  Play your best team.  Get into the next round.  Worry about the rest afterwards.  He needs to be backed in the market but he had no need to fcuk up like he did today.

[RamboandBruno]

6/7 games in and he’s blotted his copybook, Jesus wept.

[ChicagoLion]

Why were none of you calling out these concerns before the match? Because to a man you all believed he'd picked a strong enough  team to comfortably win.

Not so. And in any case, it's the manager's job to pick a team to win a game, if he then hasn't done so it's the fans role to question the selection. And really, would any one seeing this line up not have cause to question - at the very least - the absolute lack of energy and pace throughout the side?

Like Luke says though, how many said that before the match?

I can't speak for anybody else, but I had to nip out and buy some milk before the shops shut. I still found time to say that Olsen is shite though. Which he is.

I wasn’t on here commenting but I was worried that he had made too many changes.
At no point during the game did I feel comfortable with the easy we were playing or the attitude of the team.
The point is though that we don’t watch these guys every day, see how they are as people and with each other.
The manager does and he fucked up.