Unai Emery

[ChicagoLion]

Diaby looked rubbish most of the time, but still contributed a fair number of goals and assists. We've lost those, and we've lost the outright, shit-off-a-stick pace that forces opponents to make allowance for it.

I think diaby even at his worse looked better than philiogene.  Massive step down from diaby. I do kind of feel sorry for philiogene because he shouldnt have been put in this position. He is just not good enough right now.

We made a massive error there. I think philiogene will likely be moved on in summer ifhis performances do not improve. Maybe ipswich might still be interested if they go down for example

It was the most surprising selection decision on Sunday and it took 15 minutes to see why.

[Rigadon]

In addition, I'd just like to say that last season we conceded 1.61 goals per game. This season it's 1.69.

We scored 2 per game last and are at 1.46 this.

It's our forward play that's significantly worse, because those Watkins chances just aren't going in like they were, and Bailey's output is just not there either.

The best teams have a full front line, and replacements, that scare defenders. Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey offer that when their confidence is up and they are in form. Duran scores the odd worldie but offers not much more, Philogene hasn't shown he can produce yet either, so we look toothless in our forward positions.

That's a useful stat and one that confirms what I've been watching!  Bayern aside, we just haven't been scoring big chances at absolutely critical moments in games, and it's making the whole thing look much worse than it seems.  We are also making ridiculous cock ups in a lot of games that would usually be once a season howlers. 

It's time for the players to show some mental strength and dig themselves out of this crap spell.  I can't remember a single 50/50 that we won yesterday.  Chelsea obviously took notes from the Spurs game, where we were physically bullied and then picked off.  That just isn't good enough and if we let Brentford do it I will definitely start to worry we are in for a shocker of a season.

[ChicagoLion]

In addition, I'd just like to say that last season we conceded 1.61 goals per game. This season it's 1.69.

We scored 2 per game last and are at 1.46 this.

It's our forward play that's significantly worse, because those Watkins chances just aren't going in like they were, and Bailey's output is just not there either.

The best teams have a full front line, and replacements, that scare defenders. Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey offer that when their confidence is up and they are in form. Duran scores the odd worldie but offers not much more, Philogene hasn't shown he can produce yet either, so we look toothless in our forward positions.

That's a useful stat and one that confirms what I've been watching!  Bayern aside, we just haven't been scoring big chances at absolutely critical moments in games, and it's making the whole thing look much worse than it seems.  We are also making ridiculous cock ups in a lot of games that would usually be once a season howlers. 

It's time for the players to show some mental strength and dig themselves out of this crap spell.  I can't remember a single 50/50 that we won yesterday.  Chelsea obviously took notes from the Spurs game, where we were physically bullied and then picked off.  That just isn't good enough and if we let Brentford do it I will definitely start to worry we are in for a shocker of a season.

Yep and you know Brentford will not be shy at the physical stuff.

[paul_e]

In addition, I'd just like to say that last season we conceded 1.61 goals per game. This season it's 1.69.

We scored 2 per game last and are at 1.46 this.

It's our forward play that's significantly worse, because those Watkins chances just aren't going in like they were, and Bailey's output is just not there either.

The best teams have a full front line, and replacements, that scare defenders. Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey offer that when their confidence is up and they are in form. Duran scores the odd worldie but offers not much more, Philogene hasn't shown he can produce yet either, so we look toothless in our forward positions.

Yep, we're in a really bad place now where we're not taking the chances we create and we're being punished by teams taking their half-chances.

I know xG is disliked on here but for the 5 games since Fulham we've scored 4 but have an xG of over 10. That doesn't mean we deserve to have won those games but it does mean that our finishing has been fucking shit. What noticeable is that this completely coincides with our poor run, for the season up until the Bournemouth game we were about a half a goal behind expectations but now it's up to 7.

We need to start taking our chances, it's really as simple as that.

[Drummond]

We were ahead of xG last season, and way behind this, as you say, I'm convinced it will click, they will start going in and then we'll be off and running; the question is how long will it take..

[kippaxvilla2]

Does anyone genuinely want him out?

Kipp and Riss are edging towards this, it appears.

Nope.

[ChicagoLion]

In addition, I'd just like to say that last season we conceded 1.61 goals per game. This season it's 1.69.

We scored 2 per game last and are at 1.46 this.

It's our forward play that's significantly worse, because those Watkins chances just aren't going in like they were, and Bailey's output is just not there either.

The best teams have a full front line, and replacements, that scare defenders. Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey offer that when their confidence is up and they are in form. Duran scores the odd worldie but offers not much more, Philogene hasn't shown he can produce yet either, so we look toothless in our forward positions.

Yep, we're in a really bad place now where we're not taking the chances we create and we're being punished by teams taking their half-chances.

I know xG is disliked on here but for the 5 games since Fulham we've scored 4 but have an xG of over 10. That doesn't mean we deserve to have won those games but it does mean that our finishing has been fucking shit. What noticeable is that this completely coincides with our poor run, for the season up until the Bournemouth game we were about a half a goal behind expectations but now it's up to 7.

We need to start taking our chances, it's really as simple as that.

Whenever we are in a bad spell and I think it is the same for every team, you can always point to chances missed and goals conceded easily.
Poor teams do both and if they do it for long enough they get in trouble.

[paul_e]

In addition, I'd just like to say that last season we conceded 1.61 goals per game. This season it's 1.69.

We scored 2 per game last and are at 1.46 this.

It's our forward play that's significantly worse, because those Watkins chances just aren't going in like they were, and Bailey's output is just not there either.

The best teams have a full front line, and replacements, that scare defenders. Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey offer that when their confidence is up and they are in form. Duran scores the odd worldie but offers not much more, Philogene hasn't shown he can produce yet either, so we look toothless in our forward positions.

Yep, we're in a really bad place now where we're not taking the chances we create and we're being punished by teams taking their half-chances.

I know xG is disliked on here but for the 5 games since Fulham we've scored 4 but have an xG of over 10. That doesn't mean we deserve to have won those games but it does mean that our finishing has been fucking shit. What noticeable is that this completely coincides with our poor run, for the season up until the Bournemouth game we were about a half a goal behind expectations but now it's up to 7.

We need to start taking our chances, it's really as simple as that.

Whenever we are in a bad spell and I think it is the same for every team, you can always point to chances missed and goals conceded easily.
Poor teams do both and if they do it for long enough they get in trouble.

I'm not sure that's true, teams in poor form miss chances and concede too many, sure, but genuinely poor teams often have a very low xG to match their poor real figures because they're not even creating chances. If you take the bottom 6 in the league the only 1 who isn't also bottom 6 for xG is Palace and they're still 8th lowest. Teams that are creating plenty of decent chances but just not taking them tend to improve before too long, it's one of the big reasons I'm still not particularly worried about this run of form.

[OCD]

You can't build long-term success on a 1.61/1.69 average goals against column. It's like building a house on sand. We scraped by in the end last season but form was midtable second half of the season. Now we're not converting our chances and the defensive record hasn't improved. It's unlike an Emery team to not have a better defensive record.

[ozzjim]

It's weird. He signed the 2 centre halves at Arsenal, and played a very compact side at Villarreal. The difference there was that the defence had an out ball in Chukweaze, Jackson etc, and Villarreal had a couple of technically exceptional attacking midfielders. If the ball sticks and doesn't come back so much, you don't get hit in transition so much. I think the technical limitations of some of ours are beginning to shine through a bit.

[paul_e]

It's about the centre mids for me.

He's always gone with a Kamara/Onana style pairing in the past, both fairly big, strong and good in the air, with 1 sitting a bit deeper and the other being a ball winner in front.

Tielemans is closer to the players he's always preferred at 10 and Barkley is a good alternative off the bench but he's had to play those 2 regularly as DM/CM so far this year. Onana having problems with his fitness after the first 4-5 games really hasn't helped us.

[caster troy]

I'm surprised Unai hasn't tried some different things now Mings and Kamara are back, even if just for a specific game like yesterday.

Maatsen left wing while Ramsey is out?
Tielemans in the wide/10 role (Barkley in the middle while Onana is out)
352 with Maatsen and Ned as pacy wing backs?
Kamara dropping into the back 3 to allow Cash to get forward (like his first role under Emery)

[kippaxvilla2]

My view on the Manager is;

1. He managed to get players bought for average prices during the Smith and Gerrard eras playing unbelievably beyond their abilities and the group was better than the sum of its parts.  Cash, Konsa, Watkins, McGinn - all bought during Smith's time at the club for a total outlay of £60m.

2. Those players are now playing the way they did back when they joined - in other words some good games, some terrible.  That is what you get with mediocre outlays.

3. The biggest mistake is the summer window.  It was clear we needed to fix the Right Back position and probably a Centre Half as priorities.  Instead we got rid of a perfectly capable deputy at Left Back and shelled out £37m for another one.  To compound that we paid £50m for Onana which was arguably £20m too much.  And we went into the season having not replaced the goals of Diaby and Luiz.  The result of which is not hard to imagine.  Still absolutely awful at the back, the right back area still a problem, the centre half area definitely a problem and a distinct lack of goals in the team that has now shone a light on how bad things were at the back but as we were scoring it didn't matter.  The window was awful.  We were under a tight rein but that then does not explain bringing Philogene back and bringing in Maatsen and worse still the Juve signings that are not contributing at all this season.

So, that is largely on the Manager and Monchi and the owners to fix.  He has earned enough credit to be able to fix things at least in part in January.  In the meantime, he needs to go back to basics and pick a boring team capable of grinding out results starting with meat and potatoes defending.  I am not at all convinced we will get 6 points from the next two if changes are not made.

[Pete3206]

We will come out of this slump. I'm sure of it

[AV82EC]

We know he’s a stubborn old goat and will continue to connect with us in his way but I agree that a return to the boring and negative, results first approach from his first season would be a welcome distraction currently. People love a bit of style and swagger but mostly they just like winning. I’d take two really boring 1-0 wins in the next two to settle our nerves. We saw glimpses of it in both the Liverpool and Juventus games where the opposition created next to nothing from open play when we had our defensive structure and shape sorted. Unfortunately we haven’t got the squad to compete and go toe to toe with the larger 6 at the moment, the odd good performance is possible but we need to be ensuring we absolutely beat the teams in the bottom 10 and those “around us”. If that means back to the basics of playing slightly more conservative style then so be it.

I’ve said it loads on here that PSR will gradually get better as we increase turnover and that player trading is going to have to be a part of the equation. This summers efforts imv were not a good example of smart player trading as it seems to have left us with a situation where we’ve got a stronger squad and probably won’t limp to the end of the season like last year but the quality of that squad is maybe down slightly with the departures of Diaby and Luiz.