Unai Emery

[Crown Hill]

And again, I also brought it up prior to the Forest game and no-one was saying things like it was 'mental'. You sound strangely precious about this for some reason.

Or just posting my own thoughts? Why don’t you post yours rather than critiquing mine?

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Well, you're certainly not disproving it. Crack on.

[Ianu]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

But the question remains why he wasn’t played there earlier.

Yep loath to start this all up again but the point I was making in this post was that the idea was widely ridiculed at the time (at least on here).

“mental” “ridiculous” “overthinking” “not happening” and then same again after the line up was announced.

So nobody was asking why it took so long at the time. They were asking why it was happening at all. So really it’s 20/20 hindsight to ask why it took so long.

Crown Hill: It’s very important to post views that maybe considered outside of the box. They contribute to the debate and eventually have an impact.

 Six months ago it was heresy to say anything negative about Martinez but I believe the negative comments made by the brave few would have contributed to the upturn in his form. When the world’s No.1 hears that there’s a growing swell of opinion he might not just be as good as he once was, he knuckles down and proves how good he is!!! And we all benefit.

The same could be said for Watkins , Cash and Torres who have all divided opinion. The negative is as important as the positive.

Carry on saying and suggesting even if it takes others a while to catch up/realize.

[Somniloquism]

For awhile Lindelof was the only fit cover for the CB positions so it might have been Unai didn't want to play him there where he felt he had cover with Onana, especially when Lindelof couldn't last 60 mins. All it needed was a CB injury and we would have had to move a very tiring Victor back.

[ChicagoLion]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

But the question remains why he wasn’t played there earlier.

Yep loath to start this all up again but the point I was making in this post was that the idea was widely ridiculed at the time (at least on here).

“mental” “ridiculous” “overthinking” “not happening” and then same again after the line up was announced.

So nobody was asking why it took so long at the time. They were asking why it was happening at all. So really it’s 20/20 hindsight to ask why it took so long.

I was for it.

[eye digress]

He was very much the "man for the moment" over these crucial late season games, making his big game experience count. Kudos.

I do think his impact would wane though, if played there regularly. He's quite a bit less mobile than Bouba and Onana, for example.

[Sexual Ealing]

And her hearing aid started to melt

[Tuscans]

[AV82EC]

This is going to be the meme of the summer/autumn/next season isn’t it.

[PaulWinch again]

He was very much the "man for the moment" over these crucial late season games, making his big game experience count. Kudos.

I do think his impact would wane though, if played there regularly. He's quite a bit less mobile than Bouba and Onana, for example.

I would suspect similar. He did a brilliant job, but I don’t think that automatically means he’s a longer term option there in terms of starting all the time.

[Hookeysmith]

I said a year ago, back this fella and we will be in the title discussion

The man is a football genius