Can Arsenal fans be patient with Unai Emery?

Right now, as Arsenal approach the final games of the season, we find ourselves just outside the Top Four and in the semi-Finals of the Europa League. We desperately need to achieve one of those targets if we are going to play Champions League football next season, and it is hard to believe we will achieve either at this point in time.

But, to be fair, if you had told Arsenal fans last summer that we would still be in with a chance with three weeks to go, most fans would have bitten your hand off and be delighted, especially considering that it is Unai Emery’s first season in the EPL. So here we are, and Emery has announced that he has high hopes for Arsenal, but we cannot expect instant miracles (like so many Just Arsenal fans expect) and needs some time to reach great heights. “We want to get with this club to point where we the best club in England and the world,” he said. “But it is a long process. Sometimes, like today, we need to talk about patience.

“We want to play in the Champions League but also we know our process needs to be with patience because there are another five very strong teams with very good players and very big performances.

“The Premier League is the most difficult championship in all the world. There is not another country with this difficulty to take the top four places and play in the Champions League. Maybe now in Spain, they have something similar – Valencia are struggling for the top four also. But here the biggest teams in the world play in one championship.”

“We are playing a lot of matches.” Emery said. “Two competitions with less rest mentally and physically. But we want that. We want to be in these two competitions.”

Is Emery pleading for patience as he knows we have little chance of beating Leicester, and it is very likely that he will rotate again to save his best XI for the winnable game against Valencia. Perhaps he has given up on the Top Four and now pining all his hopes on the Europa League?

If we lose on both fronts, are Arsenal fans willing to be patient and look for further improvement next season?

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28 Comments

  1. The fifth position is also an improvement, since we finished at the sixth last season. Emery has to be given one free season, as what Klopp and Guardiola had

    Suppose he manages to replace the aging players and the overpaid ones like Ozil/ Mkhitaryan with his own players next season. If the club give him 140+ M transfer budget next season and he still cannot enter the Champions League, then we don’t need to extend his contract

  2. Totally agree, we need to be patient. Earlier in the season this team played 22 unbeaten.

    Though there weren’t many away wins but they put in a shift.

    If we get to the final of Europa that is an improvement to me.

  3. Yes I am one of those, who at the start of the season, never thought we’d be in the position we are in.. so I am grateful for that…. but… there’s always a but….. I didn’t think we’d see anymore of these ‘I can’t be bothered to play football today’ games…. so this is not just about UE, but Arsenal as a whole… this really does need resolving, as my patience is wearing thin.. I know he’s not a miracle worker (I mean is there anyone out there who could turn the likes of Elneny & Mustafi into Messi-esque players? No I didn’t think so either!) I just don’t expect this type of attitude from the players, under him. So come on UE, sort it out – crack the whip,, chuck the hairdryer. I do not want to see it again tomorrow and then have to listen to all the excuses about how we’ll promise to give it our all in the next game! Too late… act now! I want results! I’m fed up with feeling let down & disappointed

  4. As I have beeb saying all season, Emery deserves another summer transfer window and another season to buy his own preferred players and implement his own style.
    What has gotten me a bit skeptical about him so far is his unconvincing wins. I hardly have felt that we were on top the majority of the time. We seem to have bursts of 15-30 minutes where we are on top but then after that we defending for our lives, backs to the wall, last minute tackles and last gasp goal-line clearace kind of thing. To me that type of playing style is unreliable / luck driven and will most likely lead to defeats once your luck runs out. Like it has been proven countless times so far this season.

    Maybe it’s because the players he has right now at his disposal are the reason the football / style is not convincing and he needs his own.

    But apart from that I am all patient and more than happy to give him another summer / season.

        1. Absolutely QD… so Ajax have been given the weekend off, to prepare, so Poch is moaning. It’s beginning to dawn on me that they might actually make the final… and what if they went onto win it?! Oh my let’s not go there ??

          1. Where would we put our faces? They finish above us 2 years in a row and win the champions league trophy as well as finish above us on the 3rd! Dreaded power shift would have been confirmed.

              1. Okay! Now final scenario..worst case… Imagine Chelsea get 4th and win Europa, Spurs 3rd with Champions league, Liverpool win the premier league and Man utd nick 5th from us ???

                1. Oh jeez… I would definitely jump out from a plane (without my parachute!) that really would be the pits!!
                  One would need counselling ???

          2. I wouldn’t worry to much Sue even if spuds did reach the final if you look at there records when the big games come they usually bottle it and get beat they been in contention for tittle last 2 seasons and gone to pieces when the pressure is on and long may it continue is it now 6 years without a trophy for there so called great manager who has won zero???

            1. That is very true, Dan. One of my favourites was them coming 3rd in a 2 horse race ??
              In all honesty I’d be amazed if they were to beat Barca or Liverpool! So let’s hope Ajax do us all a favour & put them out of their misery!

    1. Both options suck, but I’d prefer Chelsea to win Europa. Because people would forget about it after a while, as what happened to Man United

      But if the spuds win Champions League, people would remember them as one of the greats because they would do it without any new players and they have a lot of English players in their main squad

      Liverpool won Champions League once with Benitez and people remember that achievement. We can’t let any EPL club win Champions League, until Arsenal win it

    2. QD,” would you rather ” mistakenly assumes you either want one or the other. I suggest THE OBVIOUS POINT that no Gooner wants either.

  5. I don’t really blame Emery. We have the 5th or 6th best squad in the league and we are 5th so about right. However, some of the recent performances have been poor. That may well be that the players are now worn as a whole squad given they have been playing under a completely new management. That is though disappointing because we should be around 4 points better off.

    I do still have faith Emery will do better next season however it is painful being an Arsenal fan.

  6. First – I consider myself a loyal fan – so I never will be anti manager or team when they are doing better than 15 other teams in the Premiership – a point we often loose
    Now onto the question of patience
    1) We need to be patient with emery but time must be running out for the regime above him who still fail to back the club or deliver what was promised from funds generated by a new stadium
    Would I wish Dein back to rune the directors board – YES
    2) We need a more ruthless streak throughout the club – although I remained a Wengerite till the end even i admit our loyalty to him and his tenure was extended too long (I still remain grateful for what he did for our club) But – we cannot accept status quo or finishing 4th (5th) as acceptable – we bayed for Wengers blood on this – why accept it now
    3) Our players and Manger must step up and stop the erratic performance of late and as for Iwobi and his we must move on after those last two performances – sums up a lack of respect for those who have supported the club for 4 generations. So may other players need to step up too
    4) we cannot tolerate mistakes like letting Ramsey go (from letting his contract run down to the lack of truth behind the contract withdrawal..) Quite frankly the correlation between Ramsey playing and good performance is beyond compare – we need him or a replacement to be the lifeblood of our team
    All in all whilst not disappointed with our season nor can I celebrate -with S**** still a better team than us we cannot and must not be happy – but I urge like a true gunner for us to support the club and not get angry with it – lets remember our true crest VICTORY THROUGH HARMONY

      1. All I want is the players to be professional, show commitment and be proud to wear the shirt and the badge, follow the coach’s instructions and leave everything on the field for the money they earn.
        If they do this the results should come. Unfortunately that is not what they have been delivering in many games over the last 3 seasons.

  7. Sounds negative I know but missing out on Europe next season may not be so bad if we take the opportunity (or allowed to take the opportunity) to rebuild . Still, win, lose or draw Europe puts more money into Kroenkes pocket.

  8. In modern life , let alone just football fans, polarisation is rife. Many things are, unjustly, just ” right OR wrong” to immature and unthinking folk of all ages. Life , in reality , is rarely completely black OR white. Shades of grey of opinion are too taxing a concept for the brains of the many reactionary folk on social media , in general , not just on here, and like two year old children they demand things be as they wish and “right now”. There is no reasoning with many of them; no true thought at all in what they write and they are the bane of social media. They include trolls and social inadequates of all types but sadly football has its full share of these dim brains as any football site amply shows. So, to many of them Emery is either a hero or a villain, as that last Arsenal result dictates. It does not occur to them that no man is ever a miracle worker and no man -or woman- can make silk purses from sows ears. Our defence is full of sows ears and has been for years past. Without a lot of fresh names in the club this will not much change. Anyone who actually belives that Mustafi can ever be made into a decent enough defender is living in make believe land . Mustafi is far from alone in this; though he is the most hopeless we have currently, even so. A mature and thinking person would certainly see that given the huge handicaps of Kroenkes meanness and the peanuts allowed on fresh blood, plus the weak minded players Emery inherited and cannot easily move on, what he HAS achieved is way, way, above what any reasonable fan could have ever expected. But reasonable fans , seemingly, and at least on here, are becoming an endangered species.

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