Unai Emery

[Monty]

I like Maatsen and I don't think Digne's in the greatest form, but I honestly don't think this is even in the top twenty problems we've got honestly.

You can't just keep reducing everything to the form problems of individual players (and presumably their moral failings) - 10 previously excellent players don't all suddenly suffer drops in personal performance at the same time. The issues are structural.

I think backbone, moral fibre, having a functioning brain and a distinct lack of cowardice are vitally important characteristics, which we seem to be lacking.

See every other word of the post!

[ROBBO]

Emery was screaming at the players towards the end of the game, obviously players not following instructions. Part of a managers job is to send out a united team we seem nothing like it.

[brontebilly]

I like Maatsen and I don't think Digne's in the greatest form, but I honestly don't think this is even in the top twenty problems we've got honestly.

You can't just keep reducing everything to the form problems of individual players (and presumably their moral failings) - 10 previously excellent players don't all suddenly suffer drops in personal performance at the same time. The issues are structural.

Both things can be true. Structural - yes. Even out of possession in the first half, why was McGinn told to drop onto KDH and leave Grealish with yards of space. It was addressed at half time but that tactical error should have finished us. With the ball, no clue what we are at. It's the same structure that has been so successful for us but Digne for one is a tactical problem as he can't or won't push on. So we have no width whatsoever.

All that aside, structure doesn't account for Rogers passing the ball to an Everton shirt all day. Or Konsa ball watching constantly. The fear is that the core of the team Emery inherited is on the slide, quicker than any of us expected.

[Ads]

A slide so quick its just this moment happened, having been the best side in the league over the last 3rd of the season? That explanation sounds as ill founded as it is speculative.

[Somniloquism]

I like Maatsen and I don't think Digne's in the greatest form, but I honestly don't think this is even in the top twenty problems we've got honestly.

You can't just keep reducing everything to the form problems of individual players (and presumably their moral failings) - 10 previously excellent players don't all suddenly suffer drops in personal performance at the same time. The issues are structural.

Both things can be true. Structural - yes. Even out of possession in the first half, why was McGinn told to drop onto KDH and leave Grealish with yards of space. It was addressed at half time but that tactical error should have finished us. With the ball, no clue what we are at. It's the same structure that has been so successful for us but Digne for one is a tactical problem as he can't or won't push on. So we have no width whatsoever.

All that aside, structure doesn't account for Rogers passing the ball to an Everton shirt all day. Or Konsa ball watching constantly. The fear is that the core of the team Emery inherited is on the slide, quicker than any of us expected.

Probably because in the last game when Everton scored, it was KDH running through unmarked to a Grealish pass that was a big feature of them scoring. He also had a reasonable hand in the two against Brighton, running forward and passing to Joe for the first and making an off the ball run which dragged defenders away for Garner.

[Beard82]

I think the fact were missing Barkley, Tilemans, Kamara and Onnana, and are chosing Mings for more of defensive over Torres means were not able to build anything. 

I think that means were asking our creative players to work mircales and they arent

[boozey182]

I think the entire club is experiencing the same thing. We've had three years of, pretty much, unparalleled progress over the last three years. So much has been going right or us, up until kick off at Wembley for the Semi-Final. Since then, we've really struggled to find any kind of spark. The way the league finished was gut-wrenching in every possible way. The way the summer has panned out was miserable (even if I think we partly rescued that on the final day). The Martinez fiasco certainly didn't help. And this season has started in the most insipid way possible.

I can't think of any better word than 'flat'. That's how everything feels. The players, coaching staff, fans - we've all lost that spark, that optimism, that passion. It seems to have evaporated.

And the way we play, you need that zip. You need to sprint into space, you need to fire the pass in as soon as the opportunity arises, you need to press with purpose. We're not good enough to beat teams without all of this, and it relies on a positive, robust mindset that isn't there. It all starts to fall apart.

As many others have said, these players haven't become useless overnight. Rogers' flick for England last week was better than anything he's done for Villa for months. He's a good player, playing poorly. Just like the rest of them.

I don't think it will take much to reignite whatever has been fuelling the players over the last few years. But I don't know how to manufacture it. It's Unai's job to do it. I reckon he will, and I reckon we'll be a decent team again soon. But the longer we go without scoring or winning, the harder it might be to jolt ourselves back again. The cup game this week could be a godsend. Or it could make everything look much worse.

Not sure there's much insight in this post - everything's a bit shit right now, but we'll probably get better soon. Unless we don't.