Unai Emery - our manager

[pauliewalnuts]

If we'd had the same ppg all season as we've had so far under Unai we'd be 4th or 5th.

Yep - 22 points taken from 12 league games, after 12 taken from the first 13 matches.

That is remarkable compared to where we were earlier in the season.

We'd be on 46 points now, and 4th in the table.

EDIT that's not actually true about 'would be 4th', but that is where that many points would get you in the current table.

[Toronto Villa]

The table since Emery took over apparently

[edgysatsuma89]

My brother said he went spare at Ramsey and/or Moreno at one point and he said it didn't look like something that warranted going spare at. I like that. Obviously some instruction wasn't followed however small and he makes sure they f**king know.

[eamonn]

Still worse than Liverpool? FFS, they're (red)shite!

[Drummond]

My brother said he went spare at Ramsey and/or Moreno at one point and he said it didn't look like something that warranted going spare at. I like that. Obviously some instruction wasn't followed however small and he makes sure they f**king know.

He lost his shit with Moreno for fucking up a simple short pass and losing possession.

[Drummond]

During the first half against Palace, Emery or one of the coaches was clearly shouting guarda to Moreno and Buendía when in possession of the ball.
That is Spanish.
I rest my case.

I wish.

Anyway, he was shouting at McGinn, it was Garda, and basically telling him to police his part of the pitch, which he did effectively I thought.

[Sexual Ealing]

During the first half against Palace, Emery or one of the coaches was clearly shouting guarda to Moreno and Buendía when in possession of the ball.
That is Spanish.
I rest my case.

I wish.

Anyway, he was shouting at McGinn, it was Garda, and basically telling him to police his part of the pitch, which he did effectively I thought.

Perhaps that trip to Dublin is catching up with him and Emery was warning him that the Irish bizzies had turned up to have a word.

[PeterWithesShin]

If we still had Gerrard and maintained the ppg we had under him this season, we'd currently be at best 18th, and realistically we'd be 20th.

[Rory]

I have got to be honest - and I am not throwing around accusations that anybody wants Emery out or anything silly like that - but some of the negativity does surprise me.

Today was the first game I've been able to afford to get to since the loss to Watford in February (?) last year.

I thought we looked a bit ponderous in the advanced midfield positions, a little rigid in central defence, but overall we dictated the game. We weren't at our best but equally we never really needed to be, and if Watkins & McGinn had buried their missed chances (as they should have) we'd be talking about a 3-0 win.

I feel like some of the expectations of Emery are a tad unrealistic. If that's coloured by our meek exits from both Cups then I understand that, but he took over a team teetering on the brink of relegation form.

In large part we can infer support, excitement, even flattery, from the dissatisfaction, but he's not a miracle worker. When Gerrard was sacked we were 17th, on 9pts from 11 games. We're now 11th with 34 pts from 25 games.

That we didn't win emphatically enough today is not a concern for me right now.

[Toronto Villa]

The negativity isn’t towards him. I think the vast majority are impressed with what he’s been able to do in a short span of time. But you can still be frustrated at aspects of our play despite the win. We were quite ponderous today at times and lacked real invention in the final third. We didn’t have a shot on goal until the second half which isn’t good enough at home. At the back we looked nervy while in possession and bringing the ball out. Those are all honest observations. But that’s not to say most of us don’t believe in him as the manager. On the contrary I think given his proven record he very much is and needs the time and resources to improve us.

[Axl Rose]

If we still had Gerrard and maintained the ppg we had under him this season, we'd currently be at best 18th, and realistically we'd be 20th.

That's a sobering thought, and probably spot on.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

If we still had Gerrard and maintained the ppg we had under him this season, we'd currently be at best 18th, and realistically we'd be 20th.

That's a sobering thought, and probably spot on.

We would definitely have been in the relegation zone. Even Danks would have made a better fist of keeping us just outside the bottom 3 places.

[Neil Hawkes]

The negativity isn’t towards him. I think the vast majority are impressed with what he’s been able to do in a short span of time. But you can still be frustrated at aspects of our play despite the win. We were quite ponderous today at times and lacked real invention in the final third. We didn’t have a shot on goal until the second half which isn’t good enough at home. At the back we looked nervy while in possession and bringing the ball out. Those are all honest observations. But that’s not to say most of us don’t believe in him as the manager. On the contrary I think given his proven record he very much is and needs the time and resources to improve us.

His emphasis is clearly on retaining the ball, which nullifies the opposition.
A case in point for not going gung-ho in attack is the Palace offside goal when we lost possession high up the pitch and after that the whole team played a lot more pragmatic, with minimal long punts when there is nothing on; and it gave us the result we needed.

[ROBBO]

I think it's very clear the way he wants us to play and it's very also clear that he will get frustrated because many of the players are incapable of doing what he wants.

[LeeB]

The negativity isn’t towards him. I think the vast majority are impressed with what he’s been able to do in a short span of time. But you can still be frustrated at aspects of our play despite the win. We were quite ponderous today at times and lacked real invention in the final third. We didn’t have a shot on goal until the second half which isn’t good enough at home. At the back we looked nervy while in possession and bringing the ball out. Those are all honest observations. But that’s not to say most of us don’t believe in him as the manager. On the contrary I think given his proven record he very much is and needs the time and resources to improve us.

His emphasis is clearly on retaining the ball, which nullifies the opposition.
A case in point for not going gung-ho in attack is the Palace offside goal when we lost possession high up the pitch and after that the whole team played a lot more pragmatic, with minimal long punts when there is nothing on; and it gave us the result we needed.

One of our players hoofed the ball from the edge of the box just before half time and he went mad at that. Brilliant, it's about bloody time.