Unai Emery: Adios

[<<reed>>]

But I was told in June the Spanish Bould Juan Carlos Carcedo would be screaming at our defenders in training and that would make them much better.

 

[Toby]

A shaky, weak, uncertain structure can actually make players more nervous and lead to errors, whilst a stable, strong, well-drilled one can increase confidence and minmize errors.

Great insight. That's a core dimension of defending.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

People underrating Kos in his prime again I see. I guess it was magic that kept such a good record when he and Merte played together, since both of them were crap and Wenger couldn't coach defences.

 

[carlito'sway]

Why are people acting like Kos was class before his injury though. He's really not that good.

Holy f**** cow! The revisionism from some posters is mindbogglingly stupid. Kos has been for most of the time he has been here not only the best Arsenal defender but one of the standouts CD's in the EPL. Not acknowledging that is simply insane.

 

[krengon]

People underrating Kos in his prime again I see. I guess it was magic that kept such a good record when he and Merte played together, since both of them were crap and Wenger couldn't coach defences.

Pure coincidence

 

[OnlyOne]

Holy f**** cow! The revisionism from some posters is mindbogglingly stupid. Kos has been for most of the time he has been here not only the best Arsenal defender but one of the standouts CD's in the EPL. Not acknowledging that is simply insane.

I never said he was never world class, but to say he's better than Sokratis at the minute is laughable.

 

[Makingtrax]

I'm with you on the Wenger stuff, just wrote it in my other answer. Highly doubt he didn't work on the defense. But the problem still seems to me more complex than just the personnel. More than just general quality I feel it's about qualities.

Wenger seemed a bit outdated in his defensive concepts against modern, aggressive pressing sides in his last years, and Emery does also seem to struggle giving the defense/team a solid structure.

But a main part certainly lies in the profiles acquired. While contest that Sokratis and Mustafi lack the general quality to play a good role at Arsenal or be part of a structured defense, they're basically Kos Mk 2 and Kos Mk 3, while after Mertesacker we should have brought in an organizer of his ilk.

So we're not neccesarilly too bad in terms of general quality, but lack a CB who has certain qualities or traits which would make it easier to implement a defensive structure and hold that throughout a game.

So I think it's a mix of wrong players and wrong tactics to get fully competent. So I certainly admit there's quality problems but still Emery has to do better. For all the shortcomings there's enough to do better than get the worst defensive record since I don't know when. Right now things look so shambolic, too shambolic, for me to just say "ok get a better CB". With what we have it has to be better. We're not talking about our defense looking generally solid and being the 5th or 6th worst/best just behind Top 4, so all we need is some more quality. The defense right now is one of the worst in the league and while there are underlying quality issues, with what we have the defense plain and simple has to be better by way of organization.

I take your points. Just looking at clean sheets which is always a good overall measure of a defence.
2012/13 3rd
2013/14 2nd
2014/15 6th
2015/16 1st
2016/17 5th
2017/18 6th
2018/19 16th so far

To be fair, I hadn’t looked at this. But Bellerin, Mertersaker, Kos, Monreal in 2015/16 are in a different league to Lich, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kola.

16th is pretty terrible . . . we’re going backwards defensively. Our attack is disguising this problem with our league position.

 

[Makingtrax]

I never said he was never world class, but to say he's better than Sokratis at the minute is laughable.

My point was he’s less likely to give away a goal through rashness. Two of those Liverpool goals were directly down to Sokratis’s poor decisions. Not tracking a runner and tackling a player from behind in the box.

 

[Divided_Pie]

I generally agree with your post but I don't think you can say that there's no "spirit, confidence, competitiveness" - you don't go 22 games unbeaten without a bit of those qualities.

Also, Laca was a sub in the Liverpool game at the Emirates.

Our spirit was good until the unbeaten run got in to Emery's head and he started ruining the players' confidence and spirit with his erratic, ego-driven team selection and substitution choices.

And Lacazette absolutely DID start in that game. It was actually the first time that the top attacking lineup was selected. This from Arsenal.com:

For the first time ever Mkhitaryan, Özil, Aubameyang and Lacazette were all named in the same starting XI, while full-backs Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac both shook off injuries to be selected.

 

[Gooner Zig]

And Lacazette absolutely DID start in that game. It was actually the first time that the top attacking lineup was selected. This from Arsenal.com:

For the first time ever Mkhitaryan, Özil, Aubameyang and Lacazette were all named in the same starting XI, while full-backs Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac both shook off injuries to be selected.

My apologies - I've been conditioned with all of the subbing of Laca to assume he hasn't started :confused:

 

[OnlyOne]

I just don't think for the past 2/3 seasons Kos has been as good as people make out. Maybe it's his partner of Musatfi. Well, lets be honest, Mustafi has made everyone worse. Mustafi is hell.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

People underrating Kos in his prime again I see. I guess it was magic that kept such a good record when he and Merte played together, since both of them were crap and Wenger couldn't coach defences.

It amazes me when people say that one carried the other, do people not realise that what makes good partnerships is two players being able to help mask the others' weaknesses? Kos helped Per's lack of pace, while Mertesacker's reading of the game compensated for times Kos maybe got a little too tight or was a bit too aggressive in trying to win the ball. It's always "Kos carried Per" or "Per carried Kos" when in reality they both played their part in making a pretty good partnership.

But yeah, you can say anything you want about Kos now but between 2011 and 2015 the guy was absolutely brilliant.

 

[A_G]

Our spirit was good until the unbeaten run got in to Emery's head and he started ruining the players' confidence and spirit with his erratic, ego-driven team selection and substitution choices.

The Holding and Bellerin injuries followed by Mustafi and Sokratis suspensions led to this, not Emery's ego.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

I just don't think for the past 2/3 seasons Kos has been as good as people make out. Maybe it's his partner of Musatfi. Well, lets be honest, Mustafi has made everyone worse. Mustafi is hell.

He's certainly past his best and has been for at least a year prior to his injury. We've been shaky at the back ever since him and Merte got old.

Edit: think I misread your original post and thought you were trying to say he wasn't ever good.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

The worst thing is we've tried to partner Kos with similar players in Gabriel and Mustafi. Both aggressive defenders who're prone to moments of rashness. It's no wonder Koscielny's decline over the last while has been accelerated when he's been partnered with guys like that.

 

[Tosker]

The worst thing is we've tried to partner Kos with similar players in Gabriel and Mustafi. Both aggressive defenders who're prone to moments of rashness. It's no wonder Koscielny's decline over the last while has been accelerated when he's been partnered with guys like that.

Holding is the calmest of our current defenders, and it's a real shame Kos's return has coincided with Rob's major injury, as I think they might have made a great team

 

[BigPoppaPump]

But yeah, you can say anything you want about Kos now but between 2011 and 2015 the guy was absolutely brilliant.

Imagine thinking Koscielny was good in 2011. His first 2 years here he was a level below.

Kos struggled until we got the Mertesacker partnership the struggle again after that. I was never impressed by him on his own.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

He said between 2011 and 2015.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Spot 10 differences between 17/18 and 18/19.

Coach is slightly faster with a zipper.

 

[Tourbillion]

Feels good to be back!