Unai Emery

[PeterWithesShin]

He seems a bit rabbit in the headlights right now. We've always been at our best under him when playing with pace and swagger, we look scared currently, on and off the pitch.

[Somniloquism]

I’m starting to get a bit concerned - Unai is doing stuff that suggests he’s in a negative space. Taking Ollie off at 0-0 is negative. The other bit that concerns me is that if - and I stress if, as I believe he can turn it round - he goes the entire football infrastructure is build around him. It’s not great for contingency.

Hopefully he realises what we are doing, or trying to do, is patently not working. The fact that our players got away from Villa over the international break and looked great is a really big red flag. We need to do something different.

We have taken Ollie off at 0-0, before. His blindness seems to be leaving Rogers on all the time.

[pauliewalnuts]

We look an uninspiring, insipid team nearing the end of the season.

I am not sure what the problem is, but it's a big one.

[PaulWinch again]

We look afraid - not starting any new players is another indication. He looks fearful at the moment.

[Steve67]

Is this the first time in his managerial career that things have been a bit shit?

[eamonn]

Could we do a loan swap with Bournemouth for Iraola for the autumn and see how it goes? A trial separation. Maybe we'll grow to love each other once more in the interim.

[Tuscans]

Is this the first time in his managerial career that things have been a bit shit?

Being 4 nil up the 1st leg against Barcelona and losing 6-5 was pretty shit

[TopDeck113]

Tactically not working and players who were perhaps over-performing 2 or 3 years ago are now performing at the level they always were but with their legs those extra months older.

[Toronto Villa]

Something seems very very wrong. Can’t put my finger on it. I know the summer was always going to be bad but this seems to have started way before that. Palace, Man U and now this season. What an awful few months.

[ez]

For one of Europe's top coaches the lack of chances we are creating is shocking.

[Flamingo Lane]

For one reason or another I have no trips to VP planned for the foreseeable, and I'm glad about that. This way of playing football is simply boring to watch, and the players must be bored with having to play it.

[PeterWithesShin]

Question is, does Unai have another way of playing that can get us out of this rut we're in. As so far we seem to be just doing the same thing each game.

[Tuscans]

I thought there would be a drop off this season but winless without scoring is worse than I thought. It looks as if the players are just done with the same voice, 2 hr long video meetings and same tactics. We all know how we're going to play, so does everyone else. I think Unai did amazing rinsing every bit out of some okay players the first 2 years but that's on the slide. Unless we do a Spurs and look completely different in Europe and win the thing I don't see him being in charge in 26.

[Beard82]

I really dont know what is going wrong.  I get the hands are tided, but the tactics just arent working.  We need to play ourselfs into form.  Its a shame that our League Cup game and first Europa Leage game are tough ones.

So many players just seem devoid of any kind of confidence and form.

[algy]

For one reason or another I have no trips to VP planned for the foreseeable, and I'm glad about that. This way of playing football is simply boring.

Yep, me too on both counts.

I'm happy to keep giving Emery the benefit of the doubt for a while yet, given he's clearly one of the best managers we've had in my lifetime (missed Ron Saunders by a matter of weeks) and arguably top of the pile.  We do need to start looking like we actually want to win games, though.  We're not doing anything to suggest we'll be challenging for the top 4/5 places or even close to that.