Unai Emery

[curiousorange]

And absolutely no plan B, other than to do a Bruce and make subs far too late to make a difference.

i listened to his interview yesterday and he was pretty dismissive of the FA Cup unless something was being lost in translation

The problem with that is that, if he felt really dismissive of it and had sent out a much weakened side as a result - which he is totally entitled to do - and we'd limped out, that, at least for me, would have been way, way better than putting out a full strength side and getting completely owned at home to a mid table side.

We've been through this already. Regardless of what team he put out , those players were not putting in a full performance. No pressing, no tracking runners . If you can't see that you need specsavers

But - at the risk of making this a circular argument - if you're not arsed about the competition, you send the reserves out and make sure your first XI aren't at risk. Instead, what happened was our best players played and got beat fair and square, not because they were encouraged not to take it seriously.

so how do you explain the lack of intensity

Because Chelsea played better and Pochettino outthought Emery. No big conspiracy.

[edgysatsuma89]

I think that people stating we may have been found out is a fair response even if I don't entirely agree. There are mitigating factors in regards to injuries but if you can't play the same way with certain people out then you simply have to change how you play to accommodate them. There's just no point playing exactly the same way if they're not capable, so mix it up. That's on Emery. I am definitely concerned about the pace of Man United against this back four.

[Footy-Vill]

Elite managers don't have plan Bs they have formulas to deal with situations.
People questioning Emery just don't understand all the nuances of what Emery wants from his players.

[Toronto Villa]

I don’t think we have been found out at all. But Emery has squeezed so much out of this group that inevitably there are going to be these moments. I’m fucking sick after tonight. We had such a good chance to advance deep into this competition. But we are starting to see just how much we have achieved and actually overachieved.

[kippaxvilla2]

I suppose playing a midfield that cost £17m was bound to be found out at some point.

[Risso]

Elite managers don't have plan Bs they have formulas to deal with situations.
People questioning Emery just don't understand all the nuances of what Emery wants from his players.

From somebody with as poor a record of predicting anything as you, I’d hush a bit. Still, at least it’s the team footy member who can string a sentence together tonight, so small mercies and all that.

[edgysatsuma89]

I suppose playing a midfield that cost £17m was bound to be found out at some point.

That's nonsense though, what we paid for them isn't their value now.

[Clampy]

I suppose playing a midfield that cost £17m was bound to be found out at some point.

It's done ok so far. What a stupid thing to say.

[Paul.S]

I didn’t and still don’t think we have the squad to finish higher than 6th. The fact we are where we are is on Emery. He’s got so much out of this squad and I expected a dip. I just hope the dip doesn’t turn out to be a slide but the injuries have really hurt us. He’s definitely going to earn his money over the next few weeks as he tries to put the wheels back on.

[aldridgeboy]

Very annoying performance tonight. With what was our strongest available 11. 
I hoped we’d come out better second half after a “ bollocking. Didn’t understand why no subs at half time.
Really didn’t understand why no subs after they were warming up for an eternity.
He needs to get into them tomorrow and get them firing for Sunday.

I’m sure he will.

[brontebilly]

The last double sub was a bit mean

[ez]

And absolutely no plan B, other than to do a Bruce and make subs far too late to make a difference.

It's strange. I seem to remember last season he was changing things about while the game was in progress. Now he didn't even bother at halftime.

[Richard]

I've a feeling Emery is looking at the bigger picture which is getting into the Champions League and winning the ECL, as let's be honest the opposition in the latter will be a lot weaker than who is left in the FA Cup. I can live with that. However, he can't afford any more home performances like the last 2. Am sure he'll be on it already.

[ChicagoLion]

I've a feeling Emery is looking at the bigger picture which is getting into the Champions League and winning the ECL, as let's be honest the opposition in the latter will be a lot weaker than who is left in the FA Cup. I can live with that. However, he can't afford any more home performances like the last 2. Am sure he'll be on it already.

why did he pick his strongest team then?
If he was not focusing on the FACup surely he gives Tim Chambers Zanolio etc a game.
He went full strength based on availability.

[Villafirst]

You have to question the medical staff. Lucas Digne hasn't played for over 6 weeks with his hamstring injury at Old Trafford. He was pictured back in training after about 2 weeks? Now there seems to be no sign of him returning. The original diagnosis was about 4 weeks. Torres is another - that's nearly 8 weeks out from when he picked the injury up at Brentford. He played about 30 minutes as a sub against Burnley on the 30th December - did he return far too soon and aggravate the injury? Ramsey has been in and out since returning and suffered a reoccurrence on his foot injury.