Unai Emery - Initial thoughts: Page 7 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Unai Emery - Initial thoughts

Anzac

Already has more Away wins in 2 wins from 3, than last season in total and only via a win in the last game.
Also the first time we've had back to back Away wins in the PL for 18 months.

goon

We won 4 away games last season.

Not that it really means much regardless, our away form was so bad last year that even Wenger would have been certain to improve on it significantly.

I think it’s more interesting that we’re not playing very well as a team nor as individuals and yet we are winning and creating chances. The hope is that at some point it will all start to click.

Anzac

goon wrote:
We won 4 away games last season.

Not that it really means much regardless, our away form was so bad last year that even Wenger would have been certain to improve on it significantly.

I think it’s more interesting that we’re not playing very well as a team nor as individuals and yet we are winning and creating chances. The hope is that at some point it will all start to click.

Yup - my bad - must have misheard it and it was probably meant for the calendar year?

Bold Tone

Bosscielny wrote:
Bold Tone wrote:
I cannot prove who's had the tougher start but i know Cardiff are a dogshit relegation candidate and Newcastle are in no better form.

No point talking about a team we’ve both played.

😆
Simply follow the conversation.

Anzac

https://paininthearsenal.com/2018/09/15/arsenal-vs-newcastle-united-second-half-improvements-vindicate-unai-emery/

"The drastic improvements of Arsenal in the second halves of almost every game they have played so far this season illustrate that the problems in the first half do not lie with the system but the execution of the system. As proven after Emery has made his substitutions and had the chance to provide his instructions and alterations, the system is successful. It falls short when the players are unable to aptly execute it in the manner that Emery desires.

That’s not to say that these players are not good enough. For some, that is certainly the case. For others, it might just be that they do not understand what Emery is precisely asking of them to the level that allows them to act on instinct when they are on the pitch. And when players are thinking too much, they hesitate, the tempo of the play slows, mistakes are made and the system can look disjointed and awkward."

Thought this was interesting - particularly in light of the impact Torreira has to our play with the ball. Could be that the lack of the impetus he gives is the root cause to the poor performances from the players in attack as they are essentially unable to execute their roles as intended, and in turn they tend to revert to what they already 'know' rather than what is new or intended?

Sicario

Emery has four home games in a row now (in different competitions) so a real good chance to build serious momentum.

Captain

The system is successful, but only after it has failed massively and had to be fixed at half time? Jeez.

Irishgunner

I think we have massive issues maintaining the ball, and we lack good central linkage imo.

Funneling play down the flanks is also somewhat questionable given our lack of quality out wide, although the full-backs have been doing a good job finding space and delivering balls in.

Disappointed he hasn't gotten Auba firing, he's been very peripheral in every game. Same for Ramsey, I thought he'd thrive as the advanced central player. Also I have to say, I think Giroud would be great as the focal point for this setup...

Overall I'm still positive, early doors and there's a clear plan/way of playing that he's trying to instill. Just needs to continue tweaking and possibly bring in better suited personnel. Also needs to start Torreiera.

Burnwinter

Agree with your comments about Giroud. The way Lacazette was positioned yesterday made me think fondly of Olly's ability to hold up the ball.

That said, we won the match fairly comfortably, with 70% possession, and our tactical approach overall should not be focused on this kind of encounter, one in which quality should make the difference.

Captain wrote:
The system is successful, but only after it has failed massively and had to be fixed at half time? Jeez.

The narrative / tea-leaf reading in that article is so speculative it's not really meaningful. But I'm enjoying the half time substitutions, and I think it's interesting that the player who was getting the most criticism, Xhaka, was not the one to make way for Torreira.

I think Emery also deserves credit for his persistence with Cech in dodgy mode. Emery's demonstrating some authority there. Cech seems to be under strict instructions to prove he can play the ball out to keep his place, but he's also being given a chance to develop his confidence and understanding with the defence under those constraints.

Edit: reversed the meaning of a sentence above. D'oh.

speedy

Anzac wrote:
https://paininthearsenal.com/2018/09/15/arsenal-vs-newcastle-united-second-half-improvements-vindicate-unai-emery/

"The drastic improvements of Arsenal in the second halves of almost every game they have played so far this season illustrate that the problems in the first half do not lie with the system but the execution of the system. As proven after Emery has made his substitutions and had the chance to provide his instructions and alterations, the system is successful. It falls short when the players are unable to aptly execute it in the manner that Emery desires.

That’s not to say that these players are not good enough. For some, that is certainly the case. For others, it might just be that they do not understand what Emery is precisely asking of them to the level that allows them to act on instinct when they are on the pitch. And when players are thinking too much, they hesitate, the tempo of the play slows, mistakes are made and the system can look disjointed and awkward."

Thought this was interesting - particularly in light of the impact Torreira has to our play with the ball. Could be that the lack of the impetus he gives is the root cause to the poor performances from the players in attack as they are essentially unable to execute their roles as intended, and in turn they tend to revert to what they already 'know' rather than what is new or intended?

We were great against Chelsea in the first half and woeful in the second.

MistaT

That's not quite true speedy.

We were shit for 20 mins, which is why there were fairly up 2-0....turned it around for 25 or so minutes, but it certainly wasn't a great first half, just a good response.

Anzac

I wonder if Guendouzi was better v MC & CFC simply because he wasn't able to roam as much as v WHam, Cardiff & NUFC?

speedy

MistaT wrote:
That's not quite true speedy.

We were shit for 20 mins, which is why there were fairly up 2-0....turned it around for 25 or so minutes, but it certainly wasn't a great first half, just a good response.

We ripped them. Should she scored more but auba blasting over an easy chance ect. Isn't the systems fault.

We probably just don't have the confidence in how we play the system yet so it takes us longer to settle into games.

Bold Tone

You are right we could've scored more (4, maybe 5) in that period but no team takes all their chances.
Personally, i think MrT's estimates are generous as chelsea dominated us for more than 20 mins as i thought we were rubbish for more than half an hour.
It was around the time of Mkhi's guilt-edged miss that we got them rattled.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2018-19/huge-miss-by-mkhitaryan-2018-08-18.html

Anzac

speedy wrote:
MistaT wrote:
That's not quite true speedy.

We were shit for 20 mins, which is why there were fairly up 2-0....turned it around for 25 or so minutes, but it certainly wasn't a great first half, just a good response.

We ripped them. Should she scored more but auba blasting over an easy chance ect. Isn't the systems fault.

We probably just don't have the confidence in how we play the system yet so it takes us longer to settle into games.

Agreed with the comments we should have scored more and confidence in the system was an issue.
That doesn't mean Mr T was wrong that we started the half poorly.
I also think that we were forced to be more decisive in our transition against better opposition.

So far the CFC game seems to still be our better performance in terms of chances created once we got going, but also think we are scoring at least 1 goal per game (when we do score) from cut backs from the by-line rather than a cross.

So far we have yet to start a game playing well from the off & it will be interesting to see what happens when we do.

MistaT

I just have a hard time labeling a performance as great, if you were losing 2-0 at some point.

Anywho....that 25 mins in which we did dominate Chelsea has certainly been our best showing yet.

Bold Tone

Anzac wrote:
I wonder if Guendouzi was better v MC & CFC simply because he wasn't able to roam as much as v WHam, Cardiff & NUFC?

Maybe it was because he had a defined role.
He was the DLP and this dictated his positioning.
Now it seems, he's often in no man's land, peripheral to the play.

banduan

Bold Tone wrote:
Anzac wrote:
I wonder if Guendouzi was better v MC & CFC simply because he wasn't able to roam as much as v WHam, Cardiff & NUFC?

Maybe it was because he had a defined role.
He was the DLP and this dictated his positioning.
Now it seems, he's often in no man's land, peripheral to the play.

Thing is I don't think Guendozi was particularly bad against Cardiff or Newcastle. He just doesn't fit partnering Xhaka. If we're absolutely intent on playing Xhaka, we need a sitter beside him.

Anzac

banduan wrote:
Bold Tone wrote:
Maybe it was because he had a defined role.
He was the DLP and this dictated his positioning.
Now it seems, he's often in no man's land, peripheral to the play.

Thing is I don't think Guendozi was particularly bad against Cardiff or Newcastle. He just doesn't fit partnering Xhaka. If we're absolutely intent on playing Xhaka, we need a sitter beside him.

I think Xhaka's positioning is more in line with the style of play focusing on the flanks, whereas Guendouzi seems to be playing without any particular focus. IMO he needs to provide more support to his flank.

That said it would be interesting to see him partnered with Torreira and with Lichtsteiner as RB.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Could a three of Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi work? I feel like all three are needed.

« Previous Page Next Page »