Unai Emery

[PaulWinch again]

I’d also argue if you are struggling and consistently doing the same thing the chances teams will work you out goes up. Our unwillingness to change up what isn’t working is not helping us.

As I say, fully understand and expect a drop-off from losing three key players. But the level of drop-off has been disproportionately high - and a big part of that is trying to do the same tactical thing again and again.

[ChicagoLion]

I’d also argue if you are struggling and consistently doing the same thing the chances teams will work you out goes up. Our unwillingness to change up what isn’t working is not helping us.

As I say, fully understand and expect a drop-off from losing three key players. But the level of drop-off has been disproportionately high - and a big part of that is trying to do the same tactical thing again and again.

Exactly.

[TheToffnar]

In fairness, the tempo was slightly quicker first half and he clearly set the team up to soak up pressure and break relatively quick. The problem is that completely stopped second half and we reverted to snails pace.

[PeterWithesShin]

While spending more money obviously helps saying we brought on 20m with 5 subs as we were missing our best players isn't always a full story. The three missing best players cost £0, £0 and £3m.

We could have the Baron and 40m instead of Onana, we could have Jimoh and 30m instead of Guessand as examples.

[Drummond]

Don't get me wrong, I know we're playing crap, I'm just trying to show it's not as straightforward as people saying it's the end of an era, he's lost it, doesn't care, is leaving, and he's inflexible.

We gambled last night, and their signings proved why they cost what they did, whilst ours did likewise.

[gpbarr]

I’m fuming like many - last night was unacceptable - by everyone employed on the football side by the club - coaches, players both.

However, i can’t shake the knowledge that 10 years ago, we languished 15th in the Championship, with a charlatan Chinese fraud as an owner, were weeks from bankruptcy, and on the precipice of survival as a club.

This morning, we sit 4th in the PL, are in real contention for European silverware, have one of the worlds great managers, and forward thinking owners who are driving us upwards.

No debate - the last month has been completely unacceptable - but in the context of the journey we are on, it’s just a blip.

I trust the owners and UE to keep us moving forwards in the long run. It’s the only way to eventually compete on an enduring basis.

Always UTV

[Drummond]

We're only falling below the unbelievably high standards that Emery has himself set.

Put pretty much any other manager in charge and we'd not be where we are.

[john e]

Don't get me wrong, I know we're playing crap, I'm just trying to show it's not as straightforward as people saying it's the end of an era, he's lost it, doesn't care, is leaving, and he's inflexible.

We gambled last night, and their signings proved why they cost what they did, whilst ours did likewise.

I agree it’s not all over and there’s still all to play for

But we didn’t gamble last night we did the exact opposite played a cautious side didn’t change it up played the same out of form players got the same out of form performance and the game was lost when we tried to make changes

I think he and the team bottled it if I’m honest
same as we bottled Palace, Man Utd, Olympiakos we get to a point and we bottle it
I don’t like saying it but I think it’s true, we’ll do the same at Old Trafford in a week or so’s time as well

[Walmley_Villa]

My worry with Unai is that he sometime he panders to the opposition instead of giving them something to think about. We used to overcome the high press by dropping the ball long - Newcastle last season was it or the season before? Now we have Mings and Konsa getting in a mess.

[Villan82]

The Wolves game is the one that pissed me off most. Last night I felt two big decisions went against us.

I also feel the mood at the club has been 'off' all season, even when we were doing well. Other clubs don't seem as utterly obsessed with PSR/FFP/SCR as we are, are we trying to be too clever by half and tripping ourselves up? All the young players bought in the hope of selling on at a profit? Maybe we should keep resources for the first team emergency situations as this January. Maybe Gallagher in our team would replace the drive McGinn brings? Not saying Majo and Alysson won't be good players but maybe we needed the more expensive first team option.

We look like a club that's a bit jaded at the moment. When Emery came in at first it was like a breadth of fresh air and that remained the case for a long time. But the noise around the club's finances has sucked the air out of the fanbase a bit. I don't know, maybe it could have been handled a bit better and maybe everything wouldn't feel so consequential. When things went against us in January it really hit everybody hard

In a related point, if we are gambling on CL qualification that is really poor. Teams with infinite more resources than us struggle to qualify from this league so I would hope NSWE are more savvy than to stake everything on repeated CL qualification.

[Walmley_Villa]

We felt sorry for ourselves in the Summer because we couldn’t spend and had to sell JR, we are now in the same place due to the injuries

[Villan For Life]

The Wolves game is the one that pissed me off most. Last night I felt two big decisions went against us.

I also feel the mood at the club has been 'off' all season, even when we were doing well. Other clubs don't seem as utterly obsessed with PSR/FFP/SCR as we are, are we trying to be too clever by half and tripping ourselves up? All the young players bought in the hope of selling on at a profit? Maybe we should keep resources for the first team emergency situations as this January. Maybe Gallagher in our team would replace the drive McGinn brings? Not saying Majo and Alysson won't be good players but maybe we needed the more expensive first team option.

We look like a club that's a bit jaded at the moment. When Emery came in at first it was like a breadth of fresh air and that remained the case for a long time. But the noise around the club's finances has sucked the air out of the fanbase a bit. I don't know, maybe it could have been handled a bit better and maybe everything wouldn't feel so consequential. When things went against us in January it really hit everybody hard

In a related point, if we are gambling on CL qualification that is really poor. Teams with infinite more resources than us struggle to qualify from this league so I would hope NSWE are more savvy than to stake everything on repeated CL qualification.

I think you’re overthinking it. The clubs around us aren’t massively hampered by PSR, their frequent qualification for the CL means their turnover is much higher than ours. For now. This season we are paying the price for that dreadful day at Old Trafford last season, if we’d have got a result then we’d have qualified for this seasons CL and our PSR situation would be very different.

[Villan82]

The Wolves game is the one that pissed me off most. Last night I felt two big decisions went against us.

I also feel the mood at the club has been 'off' all season, even when we were doing well. Other clubs don't seem as utterly obsessed with PSR/FFP/SCR as we are, are we trying to be too clever by half and tripping ourselves up? All the young players bought in the hope of selling on at a profit? Maybe we should keep resources for the first team emergency situations as this January. Maybe Gallagher in our team would replace the drive McGinn brings? Not saying Majo and Alysson won't be good players but maybe we needed the more expensive first team option.

We look like a club that's a bit jaded at the moment. When Emery came in at first it was like a breadth of fresh air and that remained the case for a long time. But the noise around the club's finances has sucked the air out of the fanbase a bit. I don't know, maybe it could have been handled a bit better and maybe everything wouldn't feel so consequential. When things went against us in January it really hit everybody hard

In a related point, if we are gambling on CL qualification that is really poor. Teams with infinite more resources than us struggle to qualify from this league so I would hope NSWE are more savvy than to stake everything on repeated CL qualification.

I think you’re overthinking it. The clubs around us aren’t massively hampered by PSR, their frequent qualification for the CL means their turnover is much higher than ours. For now. This season we are paying the price for that dreadful day at Old Trafford last season, if we’d have got a result then we’d have qualified for this seasons CL and our PSR situation would be very different.

OK, Newcastle then. I consider them the closest comparison we have right now and they don't seem to be as obsessed as we are, doing all these deals for young players etc. They are hampered, yes, but it doesn't seem to consume them.

How many players have we spent money on in the hope of loaning them out, them doing well, and us selling on at a profit?

[Villan For Life]

The Wolves game is the one that pissed me off most. Last night I felt two big decisions went against us.

I also feel the mood at the club has been 'off' all season, even when we were doing well. Other clubs don't seem as utterly obsessed with PSR/FFP/SCR as we are, are we trying to be too clever by half and tripping ourselves up? All the young players bought in the hope of selling on at a profit? Maybe we should keep resources for the first team emergency situations as this January. Maybe Gallagher in our team would replace the drive McGinn brings? Not saying Majo and Alysson won't be good players but maybe we needed the more expensive first team option.

We look like a club that's a bit jaded at the moment. When Emery came in at first it was like a breadth of fresh air and that remained the case for a long time. But the noise around the club's finances has sucked the air out of the fanbase a bit. I don't know, maybe it could have been handled a bit better and maybe everything wouldn't feel so consequential. When things went against us in January it really hit everybody hard

In a related point, if we are gambling on CL qualification that is really poor. Teams with infinite more resources than us struggle to qualify from this league so I would hope NSWE are more savvy than to stake everything on repeated CL qualification.

I think you’re overthinking it. The clubs around us aren’t massively hampered by PSR, their frequent qualification for the CL means their turnover is much higher than ours. For now. This season we are paying the price for that dreadful day at Old Trafford last season, if we’d have got a result then we’d have qualified for this seasons CL and our PSR situation would be very different.

OK, Newcastle then. I consider them the closest comparison we have right now and they don't seem to be as obsessed as we are, doing all these deals for young players etc. They are hampered, yes, but it doesn't seem to consume them.

How many players have we spent money on in the hope of loaning them out, them doing well, and us selling on at a profit?

Maybe, but they are 12th and not looking like they will qualify for Europe. We are still 4th.

I know a couple of Geordies and they are as pissed off as we are with the restrictions placed on teams like Villa and Newcastle to protect the status quo. In the short term the answer is to ensure we qualify for the CL every season. Longer term the rules need changing.