Arsenal manager Unai Emery has been speaking about the problems with the Arsenal defence and how the whole team has to help out.
He also states that a lot of shots are not that important and do not pose a danger.
“Two things. First, we need to be competitive and we need to improve defensively, but it’s not all down to the defensive players, the goalkeeper, the midfield – it’s for all the team,” he said.
“Secondly, sometimes we are defending deep, more deep than we want to. Our block is more deep than we want usually. We don’t want to defend in that situation, too deep, many times.
“A lot of shots? They are shots. It’s not that important. They’re not a danger for us, really.
“We need to improve. We also need, as a team, to be more compact. We need to start our pressing a little more ahead.
“We could do that work better and, on Sunday at home against Aston Villa, we are going to try to do better.”
OK, where to start? Shots are important, you cannot score a goal without a shot, teams that concede fewer shots concede fewer goals, I am not too sure that Emery is doing himself any favours with that opinion.
He is right about the whole team helping out and that Arsenal defends too deep but the thing is this, he is the coach and this is not a new phenomenon, defending too deep and the whole team not helping out has been going on throughout his tenure.
So, he is not getting his demands across or the players are either ignoring his instructions or are confused by them.
But at least he acknowledges the problems and hopefully, he will find a solution.
“A lot of shots? They are shots. It’s not that important. They’re not a danger for us, really.”
?? WTF is this man on?!!
What kind of coach adopts this mentality?
I’m sorry he might’ve experienced that crap while he was in the farmers league but this is the EPL, where even the smallest teams don’t respect opponents.
How long are we gon bear this delusion?
Till 22nd September i hope
I don’t want to lose to Villa ?
I’m expecting a draw Sue, a loss would not surprise me, because of those 15-20 shots on target good clinical strikers would score 2 or 3.I keep saying that with Unai’s callous approach, we are 0-2 dawn before kick off and the stress lies on the attackers to score minimum 3. He mutters this nonsense as his Xhaka and Guendozi have failed to control the midfield, leading to too many crosses or runs into the box. If you closely analyze Luiz’s penalty, he was going for the ball, but was a second to late.These things happen in a quick tempo game.You cannot solely blame Luiz, the concentration / reflex goes down after 30 years. And to think about Unai wanted Banega and NZonzi to retire at AFC and make us relegation bound.Our CDMs have to be quick. Our CAMs are good, forwards are good. Onus lies to Unai to drop Xhaka and Guendozi.#Unaiout #AdeusUnai
I’m expecting Xhaka to go back to normal… Sokratis to be knackered after his WWE break ? a real bonkers starting 11, probably concede 20+ shots, as this seems to be the norm right now! As does gifting 2 goals ? So your draw prediction might not be too far out!!
I think i shall go with the mindset of exoecting the worst & anything else is a bonus, LC ?
Emery tried to defend himself by saying that crap. Even Arsenal can’t produce that amount of shots frequently, which has been one of their weaknesses since before Emery came
Arsenal tried to imitate Barcelona’s possession based style of play and it is reflected in their low number of shots. I’m afraid Arsenal’s training center and their academy are still implementing this philosophy
If Liverpool prefer to gamble by producing a lot of crosses and shots, Arsenal should not be shy to do it as well. I prefer Klopp’s direct approach, rather than our merry-go-round passing style
Once again you are spot on. What we need in Arsenal at the moment is result and to improve our level not necessarily a mesmerising football?. It’s unforrunate U.Emery doesn’t see anything wrong in many shorts targeted at his team goal post. Too bad he can’t see there is a weakness in the style of play that’s responsible for that. However, it’s alright he admitted there is a need for his team to be compact and not to defend deep.
He plays boring football and I dont see the team achieving anything this season under him. We need a better, brave n exciting football playing manager. I wish we would have signed Aretata instead of UE. It’s pretty evident the only way we can win is to outscore our opponents when you have joke of a defence as we have n a manager you has no clue how to setup the team defensively. Than why we keep playing from back n play more defensive than offensive is beyond me.
One reason we are forced to defend so deep is because Emery continues with this obsession of everything being played out from the back is it not? Or am I missing something?
you are so spot on phil. this playing out from the back is not working, so why cant he admit defeat and go with the conventional goal kick ?i think it is shortening all arsenal fans life expectancy , crap football,it just has to stop.
I’ve aged about 5 years in the last month or so, gerry ???
we all have i think sue, did not think this season was going to be so tough, already, oh dear.
Me neither.. i was expecting a dip in form around November – which was always our worst month – not 5 games in ?
If I age another 5 years I’ll already be in a pine box!!!
Well, Andrew we’d better hope they buck their ideas up!!
Next what? Is he expecting Leno to score goals to help out the team?
Come on, this is getting dafter by the minute. This 3-0 scoreline is like the 22 match unbeaten run last year, that papered over a lot of defects in the system.
I will not criticise his ability to communicate in English, but it’s his thinking that I have a problem with. Last year he tried to make Iwobi and Kolasinac the creative players, while he benched the main creative player. Now he wants to convert Torreira as a box-to-box player and I can’t help myself kicking anything around in my vicinity. Why is he doing this to the club and our lads?
He then criticises that we play too deep in our own half, so he is effectively not the manager then.
He should be concerned, thats where goals come from
Tierney and Bellerin in action tonight for the U23 team.
Balogun scores, 1 nil to the Arse.
This playing from the back with average defenders & midfielders is costing the team. The team is always under siege from the first minute & lose possession easily. He should abandon that kind of play if he wants to survive until end of season. I don’t see any positive play which will make us qualify for Champions League.
Don’t take his words too seriously
I’m sure he is concerned
Managers don’t always tell their true opinions in public. Take it with a grain of salt
He believes we need to improve defensively that’s good enough for me.
Let’s focus on Sunday and win 2 in a row
Just guessing but i think what he means is that the number of shots we concede isn’t as important as the quality of chances we’re giving away- if we press players higher up the pitch and are more compact we can restrict the opposition to long shots, which are obviously far less of a threat.
What I think Emery means is that to a certain degree a lot of the shots against us have been more hit and hopes from poor angles rather than truly dangerous shots…. plus at least he is admitting we need to improve.
Regarding playing out from the back….. Watching the U23s match right now… I’d expect that to improve once our defenders are fit.
I know it’s only U23s but KT, Bellerin and Mavro are all looking comfortable doing so in this match, add in Holding and we could be much improved along the back line….. Only time will tell I guess.
Has anyone seen Darren Farley on YouTube doing Unai Emery ? Haha it’s a must watch ???
I saw it, was really good… one of the comments said was Unai possessed by the grudge ??
Haha very good ??? how did KT and HB get on Sue ?
Balagun again 2-1 to the Arse.
Finished 2-2
I guess people will only look to criticise emery regardless of what he said in his press Conference in read the press Conference and he said what he needed to say. The reaction is a result of people’s feeling towards him than his words and it’s understandable
And Arsene Wenger and all other football managers always told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in every interview?
He wants the team to press yet I don’t see or hear him emphasizing this often enough. The team never presses unless it is a top 6 side. And this is why every bottom table club will get at least a handful of great scoring chances against us. Not convincing statements from Emery.
He is a coach not a politician
Unai Emery is the man