A lot being said about Unai Emery, but let's have a look at the players:
Players who have stood up above the rest
Matteo Guendouzi - currently our best player.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang - Goals are our saving grace
Gabriel Martinelli - Under the right management could be a star.
Players letting us down
Granit Xhaka - Toys out the pram, may never play for us again.
David Luiz - Stop gap nightmare.
Sokratis - Clumsy, over aggressive and mistake ridden.
Lucas Torreira - Not right for this league.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles - Massive regression under Emery.
Mesut Ozil - Not the returning hero some are trying to make us believe he is.
Players who need to step up
Bernd Leno - decent shot stopper, needs to say "fack off" to the playing out from the back.
Rob Holding - Still regaining fitness, but not looking good.
Kieran Tierney - some poor games recently. It's okay doing it against Forest reserves and dodgy Europa teams, but needs to show much higher levels in the PL.
Alexandre Lacazette - Forget the 'works hard' myth, needs to score goals.
Nicolas Pepe - Dead balls aren't enough. Time to have an effect in open play.
Joe Willock - Been given a massive chance this season, needs to show a lot more.
Dani Ceballos - Being neat and tidy isn't enough.
Hopefully we can get rid of a few, hopefully Saliba comes good and we buy a top partner for him. Sell Xhaka and Torreira and buy a PL worthy midfield duo.
The players.
posted on 7/11/19
you guys will be ok next match southbank shin bashers keep it tight at the back you might win
posted on 8/11/19
As for Torreira it wasn’t so long ago that he was one of the best players on the park last season vs Liverpool and spurs at home , we were all raving bout him.
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Xhaka was heavily praised for his performance in the Liverpool game, and Emery was being labelled as a tactical genius after those games, and being praised for uninstalling a tougher mentality in the squad. Look at those two now!
You call me knee-jerk for criticising LT 18 months into his Arsenal career, yet are judging him on 2 of his first appearances for us rather than his time here as a whole.
As for Tierney, maybe I have a different definition of "stepping up". For me that means they have more to give, and we need that extra ASAP. Sadly the situation we are in doesn't allow for players to take a third of the season to settle in before we can even hope they start performing at a high level.
posted on 8/11/19
Harsh on Torriera and Tierney DJ. Alot like Guen, Torriera's flaws can be attributed to age/experience. DM like CB is damned hard to be the total package at being 25+. Torriera being as good as he is at 23 speaks volumes. Particularly because reading gameplay (hardest part) isn't one of the flaws. Not fair to judge him at all on this season because Emery has been a bloody moron in his use of him. Despite his abilty to almost always go forward in play. That boy is an out and out defensive player. Can see he relishes his role as the back line's bodyguard. As easily as you can see he's wholly uncomfortable in the more advanced position.
Tierney I see your point but agree with Henry, 10 games min. The one thing I'll say in his defence is you're right he's been beaten a good few times. But I have noticed an ability to adjust also. He may start a game getting beat but also finishes said game having got the measure of his man. I still think he looks like one who'll be very good at the very least. 10 games min for me to even think about changing that thought, based on what I've seen so far.
posted on 8/11/19
I was excited when we got Torreira because I thought he was a fighter. In reality he's diminutive and fragile. He wasn't Uruguay's best player by a damn sight. If instead we'd bought either or both of Godin and Giminez, we'd have been laughing.
While he may have scored us a couple of goals, Torreira, like many before him, simply isn't suited to this type of football.
posted on 8/11/19
Think some of these are harsh, was always gonna take the guys coming back from injury a little time to get up to speed.
As for the rest, there are players who clearly aren't showing enough BUT, if you're playing out of position in a team with no style or pattern of play then it's only natural that most players will under perform at least for a while. I also don't think he's stuck with players in the same position/system for a long enough time for players to be close to picking them up yet. With Torreira, it's one game in where he plays as an AM, then one game on the bench, then he plays a bit deeper in our reserve teams. How can you ever expect to get top performances out of him like that?
posted on 8/11/19
Can see a pathetic MF look like this tomorrow
Guendouzi - - - Willock
------------Torreira - - - - - - - -
posted on 8/11/19
Torreira is bang average. Not built for the league
posted on 8/11/19
comment by Castor Troy (U8700)
posted 7 seconds ago
Torreira is bang average. Not built for the league
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I honestly don't know what I think of him seen glimpses of him having enough to build on to become a good player in the league, but also seen enough to suggest he could really flop.
At the moment I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt cos the Emery stuff is all such a mess, but if he can't improve under another manager it's time to really look at him carefully.
posted on 8/11/19
Hopefully Torreira has a great game tomorrow and plays himself back into the team and my heart.
posted on 8/11/19
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 31 seconds ago
Hopefully Torreira has a great game tomorrow and plays himself back into the team and my heart.
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Fingers crossed
Still can't see it yet though, Emery seems to prefer Guendo and Willock to play the deeper role so I wouldn't be shocked if we see Castor's MF and another abject performance from LT