Unai Emery

[PeterWithesShin]

Olsen was poor against Man Utd, but it wasn't him giving away a penalty and ignoring closing down a player from a corner against Stevenage, he didn't play against Legia, it was a wank overhit backpass to him and it wasn't him doing a shit pass that left Konsa in no man's land. He's not great but the outfield players are fucking up a lot more than he is.

[RamboandBruno]

Olsen was poor against Man Utd, but it wasn't him giving away a penalty and ignoring closing down a player from a corner against Stevenage, he didn't play against Legia, it was a wank overhit backpass to him and it wasn't him doing a shit pass that left Konsa in no man's land. He's not great but the outfield players are fucking up a lot more than he is.

He also made two very good saves in the first half to keep the score down. Not a great keeper by any stretch, but blameless tonight.

At the match i obviously wasn’t paying enough attention and thought Konsa had messed up for their 2nd, but that was a woeful pass by Tielemans.

[tomd2103]

Olsen was poor against Man Utd, but it wasn't him giving away a penalty and ignoring closing down a player from a corner against Stevenage, he didn't play against Legia, it was a wank overhit backpass to him and it wasn't him doing a shit pass that left Konsa in no man's land. He's not great but the outfield players are fucking up a lot more than he is.

Should have never been beaten by that shot against Stevenage.  It was a poor back pass tonight, but he should have dealt with it and then got beaten at his near post.  He was nothing to do with their second, but had a few more mis kicks during the game.

[LeonW]

The thing that I don’t understand right now is that Villa under Emery aren’t great winning games from behind. So why against Legia and Everton have we started with the back ups only to bring first 11 players on any way when we’re already behind? Surely it would make more sense to do it the other way round. If it’s about load management this early on in the season, don’t have them on the bench at all and give them a break.

[Scott Nielsen]

And the Emery kicking has started. Wow.

Well why not? He’s lost 4 out of 10 so far this season  conceding 13 goals whilst doing so. It doesn’t look good.

A 60% win ratio doesn't look good?

Maybe less so when it is accompanied by a 40% loss ratio?

[Ian.]

Moreno, Mings, Ramsey and Buendia. All pivotal to our Spring slaying. All currently unavailable. It's a lot to deal with.

That’s it in a nutshell.

Emery is a superb manager and we will turn this form around, I have no doubt about it.

[RamboandBruno]

Being pissed off with being beaten is understandable. Coming out and saying he's  making similar soundbites as Steven Fucking Gerrard is just laughable and frankly embarrassing

Gerrard for his many faults took the cup games he was in charge for seriously and picked very strong teams.  Emery has pissed about in the ones he's had after basically lying that he wanted to win a trophy.  Sorry, but he can't be trusted

Emery can’t be trusted!! He’s lying to us, quote of the night really. Nothing wrong with being disappointed, and nothing wrong with being critical of team selection, if you believe that to be the issue, but ridiculous over the top post.

[Ian.]

We’re fast approaching our best calendar year in a very long time. We’ve played some of the best football in my lifetime and scored plenty of goals and kept more clean sheets than I can remember.

Even the very best can have a dip in form but we’ve been dealt a huge blow this summer with injuries to our inspirational leader and another very technical player, on top of two already injured key players.

Some of the comments I’ve read today are ridiculous.

[PaulWinch again]

If anyone is turning on Emery it is just stupid, plain and simple. It’s been an up and down start to the season and clearly we need to address the underlying problems of these flat performances. But we’re 6th and doing pretty well.

The McGinn thing was odd but regardless the team that was put out should have been able to compete at a much better level. Also those saying he doesn’t care about the cups are just wrong - note how we unloaded the bench at half time yesterday.

[London Villan]

Is Luke Young available still - a versatile full-back like that would have been a brilliant addition to the squad. I also think a goalkeeper who can pass is vital as back-up. Guaranteeing them 10-15 games a season would been have been an attractive proposition. Olsen is clearly a good shot-stopper, but he can't pass a ball to save his life.

Our backup defence will cost us success this season.

[ChicagoLion]

It’s obvious that the injuries have weakened us, so when we need to rotate we are left even more vulnerable.
He must be worried at this, the inconsistency of many of our first choices and the lack of back up provided by the rest.
The defence continues to look fragile which is miles away from the base he built the exceptional run last season.

[boozey182]

We’re fast approaching our best calendar year in a very long time. We’ve played some of the best football in my lifetime and scored plenty of goals and kept more clean sheets than I can remember.

Even the very best can have a dip in form but we’ve been dealt a huge blow this summer with injuries to our inspirational leader and another very technical player, on top of two already injured key players.

Some of the comments I’ve read today are ridiculous.

I can understand people being frustrated. I went to bed in a foul mood after the match last night, and I imagine if I had posted on here at the time it might have been a lot less generous than this is going to be.

However, we do need a little bit of perspective, and you're absolutely right about this being the best calendar year for a very long time. That doesn't make last night acceptable, but it needs to be put in context. We have come an awfully long way in the last 12 months. And while there are understandable concerns creeping in, particularly around the cup matches, imagine if you'd have been told a year ago that one of your biggest concerns is that you're worried that we're not taking Europe seriously enough this season.

I think our biggest problem at the moment is the injuries, I really do. We can still put out a decent first team thanks to our recruitment over the summer, but we have very little in terms of backup. I know every team has injuries, but how many other clubs at the moment have so many first team players out? Ramsey, Mings, Moreno, Buendia, Carlos - that's half of a very good Premier League team. And what it means is that if we want to rest players, the quality drop-off is much steeper that it should be. Cash to Chambers, Digne to McGinn(!). The way we play, every player has to be completely at ease receiving the ball under pressure, and if you have one (or two, or three) weak links playing like we do, the opposition will smell blood and you're in trouble. That's what keeps happening to us, and that's what Unai needs to solve. The back up players either need to get up to speed (which is, I think, why he wants to play them, but it's costing us games), or we can't use them (which may not be sustainable over a long season).

I'm sick of complaining about injuries though, it feels like we're always hampered by them and it's a boring excuse - and not one that Unai has used, I hasten to add. What was that thread title from a few weeks back "I thought this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen any more" or something like that. I felt that last night - lacklustre performance in front of a half empty crowd. But I'm expecting a(nother) reaction on Saturday in what will possibly be the biggest measure of how good a team we are this season (because I still have no idea). There will be a time, very soon, though that doing well in the league won't make up for dismal cup exits.

[lovejoy]

In the overall scheme of things we don't have the squad depth to compete on 4 fronts so last night might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Also I don't think we should jump to conclusions on players after one bad half (Tielemans for example). Often these fringe players have not had regular game time and in a new team will take a while to adjust.

[London Villan]

Just said it on another thread - but the lack of back-up in vital positions - full-back and keeper - are costing us. How we play is about building from the back and beating the press. You can't do that if full-backs can't control a ball under pressure (Chambers) or the keeper fires passes at players under pressure at chest height (Luiz).

[Vegas]

We hope to play around 55 games this year I reckon. We have to rotate. It’s one of the things virtually every side who sustained a long run in Europe has to do.

This is compounded by our injuries to key players.

He’s getting a lot of flack on here for rotating in the Carabao Cup - do people think we shouldn’t rotate and use the squad at all this year, or do they think we should do it in the league instead?